Perseverance

Series: To The Seven Churches

November 14, 2021 – David Stockton

We're going through the letter to the seven churches, not letters, it's one letter and it's written to seven different churches. They all got the same letter and they all kind of got to read each other's mail; because within this letter, there is a message to each of the seven churches that are in Asia Minor, first century. John the Apostle was kind of an overseer of those things, and Jesus, through John, is delivering a message to them.

We're kind of breaking up this message and using it as a bit of a guide for the whole of Revelation. So we started out the first week talking about to him who… you know and then there's the description of Jesus given to each of the churches. 

So I actually asked some people, if there were some kids that were in the service, that they would draw some pictures of this. So I've got some slides, too. They're not as good as the elder’s slides, but there they are. That's my slide right there. So kids in the church drew some of these things. A Revelation one image of Jesus. You see the lamp stands and then the sash there and there's white — all the hair.

You can go the next one. Yeah, I love the cloud hair situation here on this one. So good. Got a good sword. Yes! A whole lot of yes coming out of this right here. So much majesty. It's pretty cool.

Go ahead. And then you got this, this is a little older person. They did a good job. Look at Jesus’ radiance coming off of his face there. It’s just glorious. 

And then this one. Jesus’ head’s coming off a little bit. But, you know, it's Revelations. That works. 

And I love this one. When I showed this to my wife, she was like, “Oh, it looks like a little bit like a rabbit.” And it's true. 

So these are so awesome. So if you saw these pictures up here, whether you're online or in person, you guys won the prizes, you can expect something in the mail. Thank you for doing that. 

But yeah, so that was the beginning. We kind of just took that phrase to the one who you know, is in the description of Jesus. Last week, Ryan — which I thought was an awesome message, I’ll kind of actually touch on it again today — but he just took the phrase “to the angel,” and then it was to the angel of each of the churches. Angel of Thyatira, or Sardis, or Smyrna, or whatever.  And so we just kind of showed how the angel represents that there's these two realms that the church impacts is a really great message. 

And so then today we're just taking the phrase, “I know your deeds.” So in each of the seven churches, Jesus says, “I know your deeds,” and then has a little bit of description. And so we're going to jump into that. So this is actually supposed to be an affirming message like Jesus is coming to saying, “This is what you are doing really well.” He was saying that to the different churches. 

So let's jump in and see what he has to say. Revelation two verse two through three to Ephesus, he says: 

I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

So that's when Jesus looked at that community. He was saying, “This is beautiful in my eyes. This is something that I take so much joy in in your community,” and a lot of it has to do with perseverance.

Revelation 2:9 Smyrna:

 I I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 

To Pergamum, verse 13: 

I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.

To Thyatira, verse 19: 

I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.

Even though you’re gong through really tough times, you’re actually increasing. You’re seeing increase. 

Chapter three, Sardis, verses one and four: 

I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 

So not that great. 

Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God.

OK, so they have some deeds. They're just not finished. I'm trying. I'm trying to be generous and like, find some good things in here. But some of these are a little bit skinny, you know? 

Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.  

Philadelphia, eight and ten: 

I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name…. Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will …

And then Laiodicea, verse 19… This one’s not so good. That other one was kind of skinny. This one is just like, Oh, it’s just bones. This is nothing:

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. 

That’s all Jesus has got for them. “I looked at you. I was looking hard to see what I could affirm. I love you and because I love you, I will rebuke you. That was about the good of Laodicea there, so not a great example for us therein what to affirm.

 But anyways, this was Jesus coming and he was affirming. He was trying to draw out the beauty, what he sees and values, what the economy of heaven values, what is true righteousness. So we've been seeking that all year. 

And what he says basically boils down to two things. For the most part, when the first one is just so obvious. That what Jesus really was affirming in the church, what Jesus was longing to see in the church, what Jesus valued for his followers was patience, endurance, perseverance.  That's what Jesus was wanting to see produce, that's what Jesus was, was really glorying in when he looked at his bride. There, in this representation of it in these seven churches: patient endurance.

I have bad news and good news. We'll get to the good news at the end, but the bad news is first. To follow Christ, it is going to take immense, intense patient endurance. It is going to take great perseverance. It is going to cost you. It is going to feel a lot like carrying a cross, or being crucified on that cross at times — if you want to continue to follow Christ. 

Anybody else that's telling you otherwise is just selling something. There is no doubt about it. Jesus made it clear, the New Testament makes it clear, and here Revelation is basically saying the exact same thing in super-poetic, wild form.

But to follow Christ is to sign up for perseverance and patient endurance. You see it there in the message to the churches: 

"Endure hardships for my name and have not grown weary.” 

"You did not renounce your faith in me even though people were dying.”

“I know your perseverance and that you're doing more than you did at first.” 

“You have a few people who have not soiled their clothes like everybody else has.” 

“You have kept my word and not denied my name.” 

“You've kept my command to endure patiently.”

This is the resounding message of Jesus to these churches, that what Jesus really wants to see is them endure patiently. Now this is rough because enduring patiently means that you're going to go through some really, really challenging things, hard things.

And we know from the Book of James Chapter one that we should rejoice when we go through various kinds of tribulation. Now, James did not read the Book of Revelation, I get that. It wasn't there, you know, for him to read at that point. So maybe he would change his mind and be like, “Except for all that stuff going down in Revelation. All the other various kinds of tribulation you should rejoice in.” 

No, he's talking about all of it. He would have included it. We're supposed to, as Christians, rejoice when we go through various kinds of tribulation, because the testing of our faith produces — what? Anyone? Shout it out! Come on. It's church, people. Perseverance! Perseverance. Yes. It produces perseverance. Who wants perseverance? Nobody! Right?

Like, we're supposed to rejoice because, if we go through hell, we're going to get joy, right? Peace, love, happiness. We're going to get persoeverance. What kind of promise is that? 

If I was to tell my kid, “Hey, I want you to clean your room and afterwards I'm going to give you a whole bunch of perseverance.” That room would never get clean. Nobody wants perseverance. You know how you get perseverance? 

You know how a football coach, builds perseverance into their football players? They get them out there in the summer in Phoenix and they do two-a-days of conditioning until they puke. And it's horrible. It's miserable. But the coach is trying to build something into them that will not matter in practice. It won't do them any good when they're winning. It won't do them good in the first quarter, second quarter, won't do them good in the third quarter. But in the fourth quarter, they will have something that no one else has. 

When it really, really matters in your marriage — not for the good times or when you’re first married — but when all of a sudden your marriage is about over. When your wife serves you papers. Or when your love is growing cold. That's when you're going to want something called perseverance.

When the temptation is so much, that you can hardly stand against it anymore. But you know if you give in, you're going to lose everything, that’s the time where you're going to really want perseverance. 

And all of us know people in our lives — if we're not the ones — that right now really, really need perseverance. And so it is a great gift. Now for us again, we think of the gifts of the Spirit, right? The fruits of the Spirit, Galatians Chapter six, the fruits of the Spirit are what? Love, joy, peace. Mm hmm. Right. There's a whole bunch more after that. 

But we're like, “The fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, peace. Yeah, what's up? I nailed it.” Now, you know, there's like six more. And the very next one, and the reason we stop after peace is because the next one, we don't want to say it. We don't want to hear it. Doesn’t sound good. “The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience.” And they even throw a “self-control” at the end. Well, “The fruits of the Spirit are patience and self-control” is just as true a phrase as “The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy and peace.” But we're not interested in those. 

But those are so vital for our Christian faith. Those virtues are so important, especially in the tough times. And that is what the Spirit wants to produce in our lives, wants to give to us. That's what's supposed to be coming out of the trees of our lives, that kind of fruit. Patience, self-control. And Revelations, again, just gives us a wild, poetic, crazy picture of how that all plays out. Perseverance is what we need.

Dan Riccio who’s a part of the church, he’s an elder and he's awesome. He teaches me so much. But he said this: 

As a summary, most of the good the churches are commended for is endurance. They do long obedience in the same direction for a long time. They endure persecution from adversaries outside, as well as false teachers on the inside. 

And this is what's challenging is we don't just have people outside that are trying to trip us up and throw us off, that are trying to come against us. We've got people on the inside, as well, within the church, that sometimes can drive us absolutely insane. Or from our own families — and the truth is, even from our own hearts, we receive condemnation and things that are against the ways of God. And so we need patient endurance, we need perseverance, we need to be able to stand in those days. 

Revelation Chapter 14 sums this up pretty well for us — actually 13 and 14. Revelation 6 through 19 is basically like tribulation. You've got you got seal judgments. (Not like seals like in the animal, but like seals open). And then you've got trumpet judgments and then you've got these bold judgments. It’s basically hell breaking loose on the earth. Intense. 

But Revelation 13 and 14 is kind of this culmination, it’s this climactic moment where the devil as a dragon joins forces with a beast that comes out of the sea and this antichrist. Basically, they form this unholy trinity to kind of counterfeit what God is, and also to deceive many people. And they start to demand worship and all these type of things. And and it's this full power in the world is going their way, and they introduce this mark of the beast, that basically is just kind of, you know, "If you really are with us, you'll receive this.”

And again, it's not something that's going to be scary, It’s something that's going to make a lot of sense. The devil always comes as an angel of light.

And so this moment comes and when this is all happening, when the climax of evil is all at its greatest and about to be unleashed on the world. It even says in there “And they were given power over the saints for a season.” I hate that verse so much. But in that moment, there's these three refrains that John writes in as an apocalyptic writer into this moment.

And Revelation 13:10 says this:

…This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on behalf of the saints. 

Revelation 14:12. 

This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus. 

Right in the midst of all of the chaos, there's this refrain. This right now calls for patient endurance. And as Jesus came and visited the church, he was looking and he was trying to find a righteousness. He was trying to find something that he deemed so beautiful. He was trying to find, do they have endurance and perseverance? And he found it in some money. He found it lacking in others. 

And my prayer is that we will be people who say, “OK, Jesus, I'm going to pray that prayer that people told me not to pray. I'm going to pray for patience. I'm going to pray for perseverance. I'm going to do what it takes in the good times to build that into my life so that when the times aren't good, I'll be able to stand with you.” 

It's a very important part of the message of Revelation.

The second thing that we need to really notice here is, I call it prudent resistance. So here in these passages: 

You can't tolerate wicked people, you're resisting those. 

You live where Satan’s synagogue is. You’re resisting that. 

You live where Satan has his throne. You're resisting the power of Satan in that regard.

Antipas was put to death where Satan lives. 

And so there's this combination of resistance — you're resisting the deception, you're resisting all that the enemy is trying to sway people into — but you also have this prudence, this discernment and wisdom as you go into resistance. And this is a little tricky because I feel like sometimes Christians are just like anti-everything, looking for a devil everywhere. And it's like, OK, that's a little weird.

But if you can add prudence to that, then I think we're in the right spot. Because not everything is the devil. Not everything is evil. Actually, God made this world and the people around you are made in the image of God. And so we need prudence to try and discern what is evil and what is right. 

And it has been tricky lately. Again, because the devil doesn't come looking evil. He comes looking like an angel of light. The devil doesn't speak his words of deceit as some kind of really dumb or stupid thing. It actually seems very sensible and and maybe even loving or kind. And it becomes very, very tricky. 

And so it's important for us to have discernment. We need to resist wickedness. We need to resist deception. We need to resist the devil's authority. We need to resist even to the point of death. 

You know, when Jesus was tempted, the devil came and said, “I will give you all the kingdoms of the earth.” And Jesus didn’t say, “Hey, you don't have authority to do that.”

No, Jesus said, “I'm not going to worship you. I'm going to resist this temptation.” Because the devil does — if we know nothing else from Revelation, we know there is a powerful adversary against us in the spirit that shows up in the natural. And we need prudence in our resistance. We need to resist all those things. 

They understand the devil is trying to bring about failure of nerve, failure of heart, falling away. We talked about that two weeks ago, that all of the challenge of the last couple of years have led us to this place where many of us are on the brink of some sort of failure. We've been resisting as best we can, but we're out of energy. We're out of of reserves. We're out of adrenalin. And we're just kind of in this place where we're like, “I don't know.” And it's gotten really thin. 

And Jesus came to Peter, remember? He said “Satan desires to sift you like wheat.” I hate that Bible verse, too. And it's true. We have an adversary that is trying to bring you to the edge of ruin and collapse. He wants to see you stolen and killed and destroyed. And if you're not paying attention, and if you're not strengthening yourself in the Lord, your resistance will wear out, and you'll see yourself fall away. 

The devil's always throwing fiery darts, as Ephesians tells us. And these fiery darts are deceptive ideas that play to our disordered desires that are normalized in our sinful society. This is a phrase — I mentioned it a few weeks ago. It's so important. I want our church to know this phrase: Deceptive ideas that played a disordered desires that are normalized in a sinful society. 

This is the challenge that we have. And we've got to learn to resist deceptive ideas. And some of the deceptive ideas that the devil throws at us through culture or even into our own minds, thoughts that come. Some of them aren't hard to resist. Certain temptations that hit us are like, “Um, that's not hard.” 

But those certain deceptive ideas hit somebody else, and it might really land with one of their disordered desires. And sometimes I'll be hit with something and I'll be like, “Uh-oh.” Those other five or six, they're just kind of balanced. Bam, bam, bam, no problem. But then that one? I got to watch that one. Because that's playing to a disordered desire within me. 

And our culture is telling me all desires are good, any resistance of your desires is oppression and you're a victim. I'm like, “Eh, society, no, thanks. Not really looking to you for my righteousness.” 

But then our society around us is normalizing so many deceptive ideas, so many sinful realities that it's become really, really tricky. And we need prudent resistance, need to figure out how to dissect all these things. 

And the best way to do that is we have the word of God. We have a guide that is more trustworthy than our desires. It's more trustworthy than our reasonable capabilities. It's way more trustworthy than our democracy, popularity, majority rules. More discerning and wiser than the Supreme Court — whatever it might be. 

This book is been there, done that. It's seen societies like us come and go. And yet it's remained the same and true. And it's trustworthy. It's inspired by God. It's stood the test of time. And this will be a great filter for us as these ideas come and challenge us. We need to resist the disruptive ideas, resist the disordered desires, and discern how we can best resist society.

So whether it's critical theory, personhood, theory, secular humanistic globalism, or nationalism, some woke progressivism, or any other manmade ideology, we need discernment so that we can resist well. 

There are endless varieties of idolatry and immorality that require resistance. We're going to talk a little bit about this — what I just read – more next week as Jesus comes to the churches and he says, “I have this against you.”  So this one's a little more affirming the good, but then it's like calling out the things that they're not doing very well. 

But this whole desire thing is so important in our society today. Desires are not reliable. They're not the Spirit of God. And we have good desires and we have bad desires, but we're all called to resistance. 

I tell you this story. I'll probably get some emails, which is cool. Email I'm so into emails right now with some of the stuff, like, literally email me anything. I'm fine with it because we need to discuss this stuff. It's important. And I did a whole congregational meeting one time to to like, “Let's discuss all these big things.” And then there wasn't tons of people that came. So I was like, “All right, we're just back to emails.” 

But anyway, I was sitting down with lunch with a guy a few years ago, and he's not in our church or anything. Just so you're like, “Who is it?” 

But I was asking him and you know, I didn't him know well and I was trying to get to know him. And it's funny with with guys — it might be true with the girls, but I don't really meet with them lot. But I was meeting with this guy and I was trying to get into his heart a little bit. And I asked him about his girlfriend. I was like, “Do you have a girlfriend?” Because it's funny. I've worked with guys a lot, and if you can talk to them about their girlfriend, basically their heart is like open and you're like, Oh, I'm in there now, messing. 

But but I asked him about his girlfriend and he was like, “No, I don't have a girlfriend.” And he said it kind of weird like that. And I was like. That was weird, and somehow, I don't know if it was the Spirit or just, you know, times are weird these days, I was like, "You got a boyfriend?” And I was kind of joking, but kind of like, Eh, I think you might be saying something.

And he was like, “Uh,” and you could tell you're so nervous in the moment for two reasons. Because technically, he doesn't have a boyfriend because he told me he just broke up with a boy. And I was like, OK, so then we just had this conversation. I was like, “Man, that must have been difficult.” 

He was kind of unpacking how hard it's been and all these things, and we were  just kind of walking through it and talking to him. And it's so interesting because we got to this place where he was just really like, “What do you think? What are you saying?” And basically I just told him I was like, “Well, my opinion on all of that stuff is that we all have something to resist. You know, welcome to the resistance. We all have these disordered desires that, you know, pull us into things that are outside what the Bible would counsel us. And we have all these things that, you know, we want.” I said, “I've got them too, man. I've got things that I'm tempted in or I'm tempted towards and and I've got to resist those too. That resistance is actually a huge part of following Christ.” 

And we were able to kind of connect on some of those things, but it was just really interesting to navigate that. And it's true, you guys. We all have things we have to resist. We all have things that we've got to fight against and stand against, even that come from within our own souls. And we need great discernment.

So to cap that with Revelation Chapter 13, verse 18. Again, in that same moment where there was this call for patient endurance, Revelation 13:18 says this:

This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.

So again, the mark of the beast. You can't go through Revelation without talking about the mark of the Beast. Everybody'd be so disappointed. So here's my little take on the mark of the Beast. This was a time where everything was getting intense and all of this, and there was a call for wisdom and insight in regards to these things.

And so for today in our age, I don't think the vaccine is the mark of the beast, just in case anybody is wondering. And some people are laughing, and some people are super upset right now. I'm cool with that. Whatever. No problem. I don't think it is. And just hear me out, please. I think the vaccine has been helpful for a lot of people. And I mean, I'm grateful for it. 

However, does the vaccine create avenues for other type of things that evil people can do things with? Uh-huh, y es, I absolutely do think that, as a society goes, we continue to have things show up that really do create avenues and pathways that make you think, Huh? This isn't so far fetched anymore! Some of what it's talking about — about not being able to buy and sell if you don't have a mark. Totally. 

But I also feel like, in some ways, the mark of the Beast has always been here, just like John says in his letters to the church and Ephesus. He talks about how the spirit of Antichrist is already among us, and he was living in first century Israel. 

And so I believe a lot of that stuff is already at play. I do think there will be a culmination where it becomes much more pervasive and clear as to how these things are actually influencing the world. But I know, when I think of like big government, Big Pharma, you know, Big Tech, you know, all of these, I don't think these guys are all, you know, gaining all this intense power over society and they have Kingdom of Heaven motives. I don't really think that's what they're doing with all the information and data they're gaining on us. I don't think Amazon is like: Hmm, how do I form them more into the image of Christ with all these things that Alexa is telling me about them? And I don't think Apple is out there being like, You know what we really need is we need people to be formed into the image of Christ and so, Siri, let's do this together. 

And I think the government, I mean, you think about the government like the 1960s, they were wanting to wiretap and bug every household. They were power-hungry in that regard. They dreamed of the day people would be putting things in their homes that would listen to every word they say. You do know that, right? Alexa is listening to every single word you say. And Siri’s listening. I mean, I know you can shut them off. I don't know how to shut Alexa off. I've whispered near Alexa before. How embarrassing is that? How embarrassing is that? 

It's creepy. They have more data on us than any government ever dreamed of having on us. And I don't think that their goal is to really try and figure out how to form us into the image of Christ. And there's great, great powers at work in our world today, no doubt about it. So, I'm also like even though the vaccines I don't think it's the mark of the Beast, I do think we need to be people that are prudent resisters.

That's one of the things I actually love about the church is, anytime someone has power and is like telling the Church what to do, the Church is like, “No, no.” And all the crazy people come to the front and they're like, “No, man, we ain't doing nothing! This is persecution!” You know, “Let's fight ‘em all!”

And it's like, in some ways, I stand back and I'm like, “Yeah, yeah.” 

It's really hard for people to pull things over on the Church because that’s what God is building in us is prudence and resistance. I think that's one of the American ideals that I love. I'm so glad our veterans fought for. Is this freedom that we can we can be built on these ideals of a biblical worldview, so that when we're oppressed and when people start to come, we're like, “Wait a second, that doesn't seem right. You can't be taxing us if we're not even having representation. Like, we’re looking for things that are wrong and all. We're critical resisters. And I think there's something good about that, something beautiful about that.

But it requires prudence. Don't be just the crazy, telling everybody they're a devil and everything's a devil. That's not helpful, either, because you're talking trash about the image of God in people. We can't be doing that. So anyway, Mark of the Beast. Super clear, now. Everybody knows exactly what it is. 

So thelast thing here, I don't want us to miss this. It's a it's a heavy thing to know that that's what Revelation is trying to produce in us; and that true righteousness looks a lot like patient endurance and prudent resistance. 

But the good news of Revelation and Ryan actually brought this out in his message last week  I thought it was so good — is in Revelation we see that we have a powerful, powerful enemy. No doubt about it. Super powerful adversary of your soul, of your marriage, of your family, of your kids, of your church, of your city, of your nation. There is an adversary planted and trying to ruin. No doubt about it.

But if if that's all we see from Revelation, we have completely missed the point. Because more clear in Revelation is that we have a God who is way more powerful. Somebody should say ‘amen’ to that. Like, just be with me here. We have a God that is way more powerful and he is for humanity. He is for us. His pleasure, his glory is human flourishing. That is what he created in the beginning. We screwed it up. And his ultimate destination is back to the garden, back to human flourishing. That is the will of God.  And so we can take great hope in that. And what stands between us and that is this adversary. And let me tell you, just a little bit about this adversary. Revelation 12:7.

Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough…

Who? The devil! Whatever battle you are facing, if you hang on to Jesus, you will find that the devil is not strong enough. Stay close to Jesus. 

Revelation 19:

Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army.

That’s Jesus, by the way.

But the beast was captured…

…and ultimately he was thrown alive into the lake of burning sulfur. So the devil musters all of his troops and comes to fight against the one who is returning. And Jesus comes down and is like, “Huh.” And he's captured. He picks him up and just chucks him. 

Now, Loki and the Hulk, Loki and the Hulk, Loki and the Hulk, Loki and the Hulk. The whole movie was set up that there was this battle between Loki and the Hulk; and Loki comes in and he's like this demigod or something. And the Hulk’s there. The Hulk’s not so bright, but he's strong. And Loki comes up and there was going to be this epic battle, like Star Wars’ end scene battle. But then they surprised you because the Hulk took him by the legs and just started like beating him on things. Just started whipping him like a ragdoll. It was awesome.

That's what Revelation is trying to teach us. There isn't a battle. There isn't a contest. Check this out. Revelation chapter 20: 

And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven…

It wasn't God versus Satan. An angel came down having the key to the Abyss and he’s holding a great chain. And he just ties up the dragon and throws him. Every time you see them dealing with the devil, they're throwing him.

It's the word evilatha. It's so funny. It’s literally like they're just playing catch with the devil. They're like, “Ha! Throw him over there. Go get him.” “Chuck them over there.” “Get him over.” “Throw him over there.”

There is no power in comparison with our God. “No weapon formed against you shall prosper” if you can stay in Christ Jesus. No weapon formed against your family will prosper if you can stay in Christ Jesus. No weapon formed against your marriage will ultimately prosper if you stay in Christ Jesus. 

God knows how to take things that are broken and make something beautiful out of them. Not even death can stop the will of the Lord. So, know this: 

Take heart, family of God. Strengthen yourself in the Lord. We have very good news. The sovereignty of God is absolute. The will of God cannot be thwarted. The plans of God are for your good. The promise of God is he is always with you, and the presence of God will give you whatever you need in the day of opposition. Our job is to stay close to and focused on Jesus while we endure with patience and resist with prudence. 

And the imagery I want to lead us with is just kind of go back to a couple of weeks ago where I saw this picture of the people of God walking out into the sea and out to sea there was this just super-intense storm, a storm like never, never seen before. And it was causing massive waves and tons of wind. And the people of God walked out and some were to their knees, some were waist deep and some were just like their head was the only thing sticking out. And they were literally, just barely staying up, but they were standing there resolute because they were standing against the storm. Because they did not want to see it come. 

And as they stood there, I saw that some of the people lost heart. Some of the people were overwhelmed and they just walked away and gave up. But what Jesus was wanting me to focus on was there were some that stayed standing in that storm being tossed to and fro, but standing against; They had prudent resistance, they were patiently enduring. And Jesus was saying, “These people are beautiful to me.” 

This calls for patient endurance on behalf of the Saints. We are in a time right now: 2017, 2018, 2019, we didn't need the same type of prudent resistance and patient endurance. 2020, 2021 we do. 

God is calling us to stand in that gap, and when he sees you standing there — and some of you have been doing it for a long time, and please know that Jesus looks at you and says you are so beautiful in his eyes. There isn't a day, there isn't a pain that you haven't swallowed that he hasn't felt and he doesn't have a reward for. Keep standing and keep fighting. Don't fall away. Don't fall away. 

Lord Jesus, we thank you that you didn't fall away. You went all the way to that cross for us and for our salvation, and for our good. And Jesus, we ask that you would come close to us and you’d fill us with your strength. Teach us to be dependent on you.

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Unless otherwise marked, scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.The "NIV" and "New International Version" trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica. Use of either trademark requires the permission of Biblica.

Spiritual Realms and the Community

Series: To The Seven Churches

November 7, 2021 – Ryan Romeo

The very first section of Revelation. Revelation 1:1, it says:

The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.

I feel a little bit like we're almost cheating because it says "Blessed are those who read this aloud.” I feel like I could just stand up here and just read the book of Revelation, and we would gain a blessing from it, you know? But the very first line of Revelation Chapter one is the thing that we need to to look through at the Book of Revelation. This is that the exclamation point at the end of the Bible. This is the final word on the written, canonized word of God. And it says, "The revelation of Jesus Christ.” 

David, last week, he said, no matter what you're going through, what you need is more of Jesus. No matter what you are going through, you need more of Jesus. And the Book of Revelation, it says the Revelation of Jesus Christ. It’s revealing things through Jesus. So Jesus is coming to to us through John, through the angels.

And he's saying, "Hey, I have this revelation for you.” And he tells us things that are to pass, things that are good for us now, and a mixture of everything in between. So he is the vehicle of that revelation. But at the end of the day, Jesus Christ himself is the substance of the revelation. He's revealing himself to us in his fullness. 

And David, last week, when he was saying John saw Jesus more alive in this vision of him in revelation than he saw him in the flesh. And that is true. We're seeing the true nature of who Jesus is, and that is the backdrop of the Book of Revelation. And it is the point that we need to look at. This is the revelation of Jesus by Jesus.

But as I was reading these different letters, you know, there's this thing that happens when you ruminate on the word of God, when you just kind of keep going over it and you keep chewing on it. I read the letter to the seven churches multiple times, and the first time you read it, you go, “OK, I don't want to be lukewarm,” like you want to be on fire for the Lord. You know, “I don't want to forget my first love of Jesus.” There's all these warnings in there. There's things that are like, “Hey, you're doing awesome in these things, but I have this against you,” and we're going to dive into all of those, for sure. 

But as I was reading through the different letters, there was this thing that started coming out, and when you read the word of God over and over, there is like new meaning that starts to come out. You start to hear things you didn't hear before. 

And as I was going through them, I started to realize that every message to each church — because it's one letter to seven different churches — each message to the church is bookended by the same exact thing. Though each church has different things that they're doing great, some things they’re doing awesome, some things they’re not doing so awesome. But there's this bookend that Jesus puts around each message to each church. And I think we need to pay attention to him.

So today we're going to go through those two things that Jesus says to each one of the churches. So let's dive into our our main scripture for the day. It’s Revelation chapter two, starting in verse eight (ESV). We talked a little bit about the church at Ephesus. And again, we're going to kind of go back through some of these. But today I want to read the message to the church in Smyrna, starting in verse eight. 

And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: “The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.

“I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.”

Yikes. Don't want to be a part of that synagogue.

“Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.”

I could have picked any one of the messages to the seven churches to kind of illustrate this, because again, there's there's this bookending that's going on. But I do think there's something about the Church of Smear, not just for us as a as a side note, Jesus is saying, you know, “Hey, you're about to go through some tribulation, you're about to go through some hard times and you need to be faithful unto death.”

I think that's something for us, that is something for every single season of the church. I think it's something that's been going on for a long time and a lot of people are going, “Is this the end?” And they've been probably asking that for 2,000 years. They have been asking that for 2,000 years. And at the end of the day, what we have to do is we have to be able to look in the mirror and say, “Am I going to be faithful unto death for Jesus?” It's the question each one of us has to answer. which is a complete side note. It's not even in my notes. So you could just take that. I believe that for what it is. 

But did you notice the very first section of that of that passage?

Let's read it one more time:

And to the angel of the church in Smyrna…

To the angel of the church in Smyrna. The more I read this, the more they started to stick out to me and I started to realize, Oh my goodness. Like, he's not writing this letter, he's not going “Hey, to the church leader … to the really important people in that church.” He's not writing the letter “Hey, to the richest people in that church … to the to the ones that get the best seats in the church.” He says, “To the angel of the Church in Smyrna.” And he says that in every single church.Yyou could go down the down the row, all seven churches. He says, "To the angel of…” that church. 

And I started to think about that and I started to go, “Wow, OK, to the angel of that church.”Who's the angel of Living Streams? You know, I started to think, Who is that? What is that spiritual being that's over our church? And if we have an angel over Living Streams, what is the foe that is against that angel that is dedicated to Living Streams?

This is not something that you see alone in Revelation. In Daniel, there's a story when Daniel's been praying and fasting and he's been asking the Lord to come, and an angel shows up after a couple of weeks of him praying. And the angel shows up and says, “I'm so sorry I'm late, Daniel. I was stuck battling the Prince of Persia, but now I'm here to help you.” 

And you read that and you go, What? The Prince of Persia? So obviously there is this demonic force that's over this city, over this country, or whatever, and the angel’s been battling that. And then he's like, “I'm so sorry, I was late, Daniel, here I am. I'm here. I'm ready to help,” you know. 

Number one, the thing that we have to remember, the very first thing that that Jesus does when he bookends his messages to the church. The church impacts two realms simultaneously. The church impacts two realms simultaneously. 

We are primarily a spiritual body, though, I know we're looking around and we're sitting on pews and we can feel the wood. You're hearing a message that I was working hard on and preparing in the flesh — all of that. There's a lot of things that happen in the in the realm of of what we can see and touch and smell. 

But there is another realm that we are a part of and we cannot forget that. First and foremost, Jesus is saying, “Remember, you are part of a spiritual body.” There are things happening in this room. There are things happening right now. There’s things happening at home when you're sitting and watching church. There are things that are going on. There is a battle that is raging around us and we can't see it. We can't smell it, but we can sense it in the spirit of God when we're in tune to him. There is a battle going on, and we are primarily part of a spiritual body.

Back in 2002, I was drumming in a worship band, so I was super cool. I was in college. I was like, I love, I really love drumming. David one time talked about how he wished he was a drummer. I really, like, when I was a drummer. I was like, I love it. It was so fun. And we would travel around and we would do different events. 

At the time, there's a really big event which is still happening called Passion. And it was really influential for me and a lot of us. We are seeing Passion and guys like Chris Tomlin and, you know, David Crowder and and Louie Giglio and these people, you're going, “Oh man, this is so cool,” you know? And I always wanted to be a part of something like that, like deep down in me, there's just always been this thing with me and doing worship events and and seeing people come together. 

And this band that I was a part of, we started to dream about doing something like that, and it was the first time I had ever dove into that realm. And one day we were just sitting and dreaming and praying, and we were like, “What if we did like a Passion in Tucson”— which is where I'm from. Born and raised in Tucson. Go Wildcats!

So we started dreaming about doing an event in Tucson — which is not the Bible Belt. I mean, Tucson, Tucson is a little like Portland, Oregon. It's like another planet, more than another city.

But we just started to have this dream. Like, what if we did an event? What if we had worship? What if we brought people together? And so we went out, we found a venue, this outdoor venue that could stretch out to like 1,000 people because in our mind, we're going, “Well,

we need at least 1,000 people,” right, for it to be important. So we booked this venue and we got sponsors, and every weekend we'd go to a different church and we'd go, “Hey, does your youth group want to come to this event?”

We were working so hard. We were hitting the pavement for months and months and months, and we had built all these relationships. And so we had every hope of a huge, massive, like, Tucson-shifting event that would happen, you know? And the night before the event, we showed up and a lot of us are thinking about the logistics. And we had reached out to a worship leader that we really looked up to named Charlie Hall. He was a a part of the Passion movement in the beginning. And so Charlie came out. And so we were so excited. Like, we got Charlie Hall here. We got like local bands here. We got missionaries here. We had all this stuff that we were going to be talking about and praying through. 

And so we went the night before and we were like, “OK, let's pray over the spot.” — because that's what we're supposed to do as Christians. We pray over the spot. So we showed up. And in the back of our stage, somebody had spray painted this like really kind of nasty thing. And then we saw this kind of note there, and it was basically something from the local Wickens in Tucson, and they had showed up and done a bunch of stuff to our stage because we were going to be doing an event the next day. 

And we walked around and like on the ground, we found these like little bundles of like sticks and human hair that was like tied. And it was this moment . And we found them like in the shape of a pentagram around the stage, too. It was like, this is super on purpose. You know, you have those moments where you're like doing your day to day life and you're just living your life, going, “Man, we're going to do this event is going to be great.” And all of a sudden, the spiritual realm comes crashing into your reality. 

And that was what was happening. We were going, “Oh my gosh, there are people, there are forces opposed to what we're doing. We've been so caught up in whether we should do it and how we could do it and how many people were going to be there. We forgot about the spiritual warfare.”

So we covered up the back of the stage and got rid of all the stuff. We prayed. We anointed it with oil. We did like all the stuff, you know, and we went to bed that night and we showed up the next day. And the next day we were like even more pumped. We were like, "If the enemy is attacking us, then how much more is God going to, do?” 

And so we were getting ready, and this line of people starts lining up outside of the event. And we quickly realized there was probably about 20 or 30 people that were lined up for our event and it included a lot of our parents. And we were so bummed. We were like, “It's all day. Maybe people are going to be trickling in.” And so and people did trickle in, but we really never had any more than 50 people in front of us.

And when Charlie Hall was about to go on, we brought him in and we were like, “We're so sorry, Charlie. We don't know why. We worked so hard on it.” And he he turned to our team and he said, “You know, it doesn't matter how many people are here.” He said, “We are worshiping downtown in Tucson.” He's like, “Our worship is blasting holes in the wall of the enemy. Our worship is powerful. And even if there's just, you know, five or ten of us here, what we're doing is significant in the spiritual realm.”

And we can't discount that. And he finished and we were like, “Yeah, you know, it was like the opposite of the night before.” We realized there was an enemy that was against us. But the next day we realized there was a God that was for us.

And it was like, “Oh yeah.” And worship. I mean, I've said this before. I think I even said this last week, it's like worship is not just our music time for a Sunday morning. Yes, it's a time where we play some music, but there's something so significant that happens in the spiritual realm. We are powerful in the spiritual realm, and we have to know that we have the Spirit of the living God inside of us. And that's not a light thing. We carry a spiritual weapon that is poised and ready to take the enemy out. And so few of us remember that we are primarily part of a spiritual body. 

A couple of years back, I was reading in the Book of Ephesians — and I'd read the Book of Ephesians a lot of times, and I love it. It's great. It's like that default. You're like, I don't know what to read today. Ephesians is a great place to just dove right in, you know? 

And so I was reading Ephesians and I was in Chapter three and I was reading about the Church and the power of the Church and the power of the gospel and Paul is laying this foundation, saying, “The mystery of the gospel.” There's this thing that's been going on since the beginning of time. Paul's using all this literary language to build anticipation. And he says, “It’s Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Paul is diving into this. This is the power of the gospel. But there was a verse in the middle of it that I had read over and over, and it just hadn't impacted me. And this day that I read it, I was like, “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. This is indicative of the power that we have as a Church.” 

And so Ephesians Chapter three, verse ten, he's talking about the gospel, and he says:

so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

I read that and I was, like, mind blown. Now, I don't know if you guys’ mind was as blown as mine was, so let's let's read it one more time. We'll break it out. But he said, 

so that… 

you know, all the mystery, the power of Jesus, all of this crazy language about the gospel, 

so that the church that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God…

So through the church — you and I, physical people. The imperfect people that are sitting in the pews or on this platform, it doesn't really matter. Those of us in the church that through us… 

the manifold wisdom of God… 

Manifold is just a fancy word for multifaceted. Like, there's these endless ways to see the wisdom of God. There's so many different facets to who God is, you really can't fully get a grasp of him. You could learn something new about him every day and learn a new facet.

So the “multifaceted” wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 

Here's the Ryan Romeo translation: 

The church is so powerful, so amazing that each one of us, when we're operating in our gifting, in the things that God has given us when we're doing it with passion and purpose, that we reflect a different part of the nature of God. And that teaches the angels about the character of God. The angels are looking at the Church and they are literally learning about the character of God when they see us.

Mind blowing. We are reflecting the nature of God. I love what Nick was saying. Like those of you that are walking into this room going, “Who am I? What am I doing?” You know, maybe there's wasted years. And with Jesus, there are no wasted years. You reflect the nature of God when you are operating in your giftings and you teach angels about God's character when deep down your heart is rooted in Jesus, rooted in the Holy Spirit. This is the power that we wield.

Angels are watching us right now. There is a heavenly realm that is operating right now. And whenever we talk about anything else in the church, we talk about, you know, any of the practical things, all of that stuff is beautiful, all that stuff is so, so good. But we have to know that primarily, first and foremost, we are spiritual beings. So when you choose sin, you affect the heavenly realm. When you fight that and you choose holiness, you affect the heavenly realm. 

We don't talk about holiness so that we could just be a cleaned up club, that we all think the same things and have the same political persuasion. We're not the Lions Club. We’re not a group of people that just come and hang out so that we could feel good about ourselves. We don't try to clean ourselves up so that we look great to other people. That is not who we are. We're not a club. We are primarily the body of Christ. We are the representation of Jesus to a hurting world. We are part of the greatest movement in history. 

“The Church is the single most dominant force for good the world has ever seen” is the thing that we teach in Explore. It is true. We are part of the greatest movement in the world, you and I. It's not a club. When we talk about things like church discipline — which the Bible talks about church discipline, and it's hard and it's difficult — but we don't do it so that we could feel good about ourselves and not have people in our group that are messing it up. That's not what it is. That is not what it is. We are first and foremost part of a spiritual body. 

So when things are not going well and false teachers are going like, we have a responsibility to say, “No, that doesn't fit in this place," because we're not trying to clean up our club. We are representing Jesus to the world around us, and we have to know that, first and foremost, we are a spiritual body. 

So you and I, what we do, what we choose to do when we wield that spiritual sword, we can affect a lot of things. And when we do it in unity, when we do it together in a room like this and we're singing worship songs, we’re wielding a really powerful sword — we really are. But if you and I can wield that sword, the question is: How do we know when to wield the sword? How do we know the things we need to go after? 

Maybe you’re like, “Ryan, you know my my day to day, my nine-to-five takes up a lot of my energy. I don't really know. I'm not really sure.” The second thing that Jesus says to each one of the churches, that second bookend is the thing that gives us the instructions, so let's go back. 

Revelation Chapter two. Oh, boy. I took my bookmark up. I should just use the digital. I should just like jump on the 21st century here. OK? The end of Revelation Chapter two, verse eleven. It says:

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

So we are part of a spiritual body. We can affect angels. We can affect demons. Angels are looking at us learning about the nature of God. That's amazing. That's beautiful. But what does that mean for us? What that means for us is that we need to be primarily, first and foremost, and this is number two, we need to first and foremost, be a listening church. The primary responsibility of the church is to listen to the Spirit. 

If you are a parent in this room, this this verse makes a lot of sense. Our kids are getting a little bit older, they're still young enough that this really does matter. But when they were younger, my wife and I used to tell them, “You have two jobs. You only have two jobs. Like everybody else, all the grown-ups, we have to worry about paying the bills. We have to worry about all this other stuff. You don't have any of that worry at all as a young child, but you have two rules: you have to listen and obey. That's all. Like all, the law is summed up in these two things: listen and obey.

And why? Because we're control freaks? Well, sometimes. Sometimes we're control freaks. But if you love your kids and if you really care about them, the reason you're telling them to listen is because, if they listen in the small things, they're going to listen in the big things. So you say, “Hey, hey, don't run away from me while I'm here.” Well, when you're sitting in the church, that might not be anything more than an irritation. But when you're sitting by a parking lot and that kid runs out in front of a car, if you say, “Hey, stop!” and they listen to you, it saves their life, you know? And we, as parents, we know that. “If you just do one thing…” I mean, with my kids, I'm like, “Just listen to me. Of all the other rules, this is the big thing. Just listen to me.” 

And as a good father, as a good heavenly Father, it's the same thing. Jesus is going, “Hey, listen to me. if I tell you that iron is hot and it's going to burn you, it’s not because I don't want you to have fun and play with that iron. It's because it's hot and it's going to burn you. If I tell you don't run out in the street, it's because I don't want you to get hit by a car.” 

And when he says this, you know, he says this phrase all over the Bible: “He was ear to hear, let him hear it.” Is this deeper sense of listening that those of us here in the spiritual realm, as we're wielding these powerful swords and all of that, primarily what we needed to be doing, is listening to the Holy Spirit to know where and when we need to engage with the enemy. We need to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church. 

And when you have other things in your life that are coming in and they're clouding it and you're not hearing from the Holy Spirit, you have to say no to those things, you have to cut them out. Because listening to the Lord is better. Hearing the wisdom of Jesus is better than anything else. 

In Matthew, Chapter 13, Jesus talks about the parable of the sower and I love this story. I mean, he talks about, you know, spreading the seed of the word of God. And if you remember he talks about if you spread it and it goes on to the hard ground and it won't spring up, or if you throw it on the shallow soil, it'll spring up real quick, but it'll die. 

And as he was explaining this, he was he was telling it to these people and again, he's giving these parables going, "Listen between the lines. Listen to what the Spirit says to the Church.” He's going, “Listen.”

Jesus talked in parables all the time. Why? Like he said some sermons sometimes, and I’m like, “Dang, Jesus. A little explanation would have really helped you out there.” He didn't care. He would let that out and he'd be like, “You sift through that.” And it's a trust in the Holy Spirit. It's a trust in God, sifting that out, especially as written scripture for us to be able to hear what the Spirit is saying. But he pulls his disciples aside a little bit later, and he explains what it is.

Let's dive in Matthew. Chapter 13, verse 19 (NIV). He says:

Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

We follow a God who speaks to us. And the question for us today is: Are we listening? Are we listening to the things of the Spirit and what he's saying to us? Here's my question for us as we dive in and I want to take a little bit of time. Give us a little bit of space to listen and to pray, and we're going to take communion here in a minute. But the question is: What is the condition of your hearing this morning? Are your ears hard and calloused, so hardened that the seed bounces off? Are your ears so open that everything germinates, but nothing really takes root? Are the seeds of God's word choked out because the weeds of this world are causing the garden of your mind to be chaos? Or are your ears a well-tended garden where the seed of the word can take root? 

When we know we're a part of a spiritual body, a lot of us, maybe we know that in theory, maybe we come into this room and go, “Great. Awesome, let’s  worship," or whatever. But at the end of the day, we have to have a posture of “Lord, what are you saying right now? Speak, Lord. Here I am. Your servant is here. I am listening.” 

The words of God are powerful. He spoke creation into being. There's something so holy about just listening. So I want to take just a minute right there, wherever you're at, and if you could bow your heads with me.

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Unless otherwise marked, scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.The "NIV" and "New International Version" trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica. Use of either trademark requires the permission of Biblica.

Scripture marked ESV is from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers

Jesus, All Dressed Up

Series: To the Seven Churches
October 31, 2021 - David Stockton

First of all, as we go into the Book of Revelation, it can bring out the crazy and make us confused, but it's supposed to actually make things clearer. There's a guy named Eugene Peterson and he wrote a kind of a book on Revelation. And he has some interesting things to say, but he says: 

“I read Revelation not to get more information but to revive my imagination. Familiarity dulls my perceptions. Hurry scatters my attention. Ambition fogs my intelligence, selfishness restricts my range. Anxiety robs me of appetite. Envy distracts me from what is good and blessed right before me…Saint John's apocalyptic vision brings me to my senses, body and soul. 

And all of those things that he described in the beginning really do seem to describe our society well. And there's something about Revelation that is jarring, that wakes us up. What I wrote was that:

Revelation doesn't add new teachings to which Jesus's life in the New Testament epistles teach us. 

It's not like we're getting something new. That we haven't heard already in the New Testament.

But what we're getting is it's putting those teachings in a supernatural and poetic light to keep us from allowing those things to become dull or commonplace. Revelation gives us a fuller perspective of the urgency and the importance of everything we do.

And as we go through the Book of Revelation, this is our hope, as I think about the messages lined up ahead of us. We're going to get to know Jesus more. If you go through Revelation and you don't know Jesus more, you failed. It's a revelation of Jesus Christ. 

And so we're going to spend a lot of time really looking at Jesus today. We'll see Jesus as way more than just a baby in Bethlehem who became a man killed on a cross. We’ll discover the spiritual world is way more permanent than the natural or physical world, and that is a really tough thing for us to understand. Our empirical senses have been guiding us our entire life, but but God's trying to teach us that there's more to it than that.

• We'll learn about how Jesus sees his Church as a community of collectives, as family more than individuals. There's an individualism that kind of is an American thing, which has done some good things for civil liberties and all of that. But at the same time, we have to remember that too much individualism is actually a really bad thing. And that when Jesus comes, he doesn't write seven letters to seven different churches — he writes one letter that all seven churches are supposed to chew on. There's a community that Jesus is trying to create.

• We'll see how highly Jesus values patient endurance, suffering well, faithfulness to his name and teachings and overcoming.

• We'll see also how Jesus's disciple despises tolerance of false teachings and wants our communities to be pure in thought.

• We will learn how to be one who overcomes the challenges, darkness, tribulation and adversity in this temporary life.

• And finally, we'll see how God has great rewards for those who remain faithful to him until the end.

It's going to be rich, it's going to be good, it's going to be wild, it's going to be challenging and I hope you can track with us.  We’re going to have some different things put in our minds, kind of images that we’ll borrow from later on as we go through the series. And if you could stick with us through the whole thing, I think you'll have a real rich perspective on how you can process Revelation on your own, but also what messages we can receive from the Book of Revelation and how it applies today. Because Revelation, as we all know, is full of tribulation. It's full of really, really tough things. 

There was a time where these demons are given power over the Saints for a certain season. It was a time where the martyrs are under the throne and they're crying out, saying, “How long do we have to wait?” 

And the reason that's so important is because Jesus was coming to John, who had been through 60 years — since Jesus’ resurrection — of persecution, of pain. He had watched all of the other disciples be killed in horrible ways because of the name of Jesus. He had watched many others that he loved, and people in his church that he pastored in Ephesus, and the rest of these in Asia Minor. He’d watched them be tormented and tortured and killed because of the name of Jesus. 

And he himself, what tradition tells us is he himself went through much persecution, even to the point at which they dipped him in boiling oil to try and kill him. But he survived. They didn't quite know what to do with him, so they exiled him to this island where he lived out there as a prisoner, alone, forsaken in his old age. He knew what tribulation was. He knew what suffering was. He was experiencing pain and Jesus visited him.

And he visited him with a message to tell him, that’s the message of Revelation: “John, your tribulations will result in triumph.” And he showed up to John in an image that is so stark, different, so drastically in opposition to what John saw as Jesus was in the flesh, was in weakness with small town, was oppressed, and ultimately crucified as a criminal. When Jesus shows up, he shows John the full reality of life in abundance. 

Let's read about that in Revelation Chapter one. 

Now kids, whether you're online or in person, if you're online, totally understand how we really want to track together, though. So for kids — and when I say kids, I'm old enough now that means 18 and under — I think I'm old enough to say that now feel I feel old enough to say that now — 18 and under, but anyway, kids, it's a little contest for you.

There is a prize, there's Dutch Bros gift cards for the winners. There’ll be multiple winners. We’ll put them into categories depending on how many I get. All of this is going to be fair. It's going to be real good. You're going to be real happy you did it.

But I'm going to read this image of Jesus that John gets in Revelation chapter one. We're going to borrow from this a bunch as we go through Revelation. But if you want you to draw it, you can draw it now if you're bored in here — but don't say you’re bored because I'm teaching. But you can do it later on. Either way, parents, you can send their pictures to me, David@livingstreams.org. You can email to me. I'll check them all out. Should be fun. Could be fun. Anyway, I'm going to read this image. If you draw it and send it to me, if you're over 18 and you feel like a kid and you want to draw it, just do it. Try it. I’d love to see it, you know? Anyway. OK. 

Revelation 1:12 

 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man,…

It looked human.

…dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

And that’s the imagery I want you to draw. But here’s a little bit more detail in this interaction between Jesus and his suffering servant, John.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead…

As you saw, John, you saw me on that cross,

 …and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! 

Ooh, this is good stuff right here.

And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

“Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: 

This is what I love. Revelation interprets Revelation. Yes, we’ve got to borrow from the epistles. We've got to borrow from the life of Jesus. We've got to borrow from the Old Testament. Really got to borrow from the Book of Daniel. But the nice thing is Revelation, obviously at times, just interprets itself here. So what's the mystery of the seven stars? Well, here it is.

The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

And this is what directs our study into this letter. It was written one letter to the seven churches to encourage them. Because, just as Jesus was wanting to encourage his suffering servant, John, he was giving John a vision, a message to take to the suffering servants in the churches of Asia Minor. To share with them, to give them hope, to teach them how to endure well and persevere well, even in the face of horrific challenge and tribulation.

And then ultimately, that message is now being passed on to us. And it's a weird thing to say, but I'm really convinced of it, that one of the most righteous things that we can do as followers of Christ, one of the most beautiful things in God's eyes that we practice, is suffering well. There's times in Revelation where all hell is literally breaking loose, and then this voice will cry out and say this calls for patience, endurance, on behalf of the Saints. And that is the message of Revelation. That was the message from Jesus to John. “John, I’m so proud of how you've endured well. And I want you to hold on until the end.” 

And John's message to the churches of Asia Minor. “You are going to go through severe punishment and persecution for following Christ. But I want you to hold on. I don't want you to lose hope. I don't want you to lose heart. I don't want you to lose reward. This is now the way that you can bring the most glory to the name of Jesus is to endure with patience. And persevere with peace.” 

And as James says, learn to rejoice in trials, knowing that it's going to produce, knowing that ultimately all tribulation will be swallowed up in triumph. This is the hard, hard message of Revelation, but it's consistent and thorough, and it's for us today because we live in a world full of tribulation. 

Now our tribulation is different than what these were experiencing, at least in our neck of the woods. There are people in our in our world today that are definitely going through extensive persecution for the name of Jesus, losing their life, losing all kinds of privileges and and liberties. All of that, no doubt about it. But for us, we don't quite have the same level of persecution as they were actually losing their live. 

But we all we all are going through some tribulation. The pandemic is real. And it has fostered a lot of other things that are real, that are challenging. And we've been kind of trying to hold on and hold in, and some of our marriages have just been really like challenging, and some of our families have been really challenging. And added to all of the normal challenges of life, we have just this constant, incessant pressure and stress from the world around us. 

And what has happened is, is what you know, this sociologist writes, he calls it a failure of heart, failure of nerve and falling away. 

And I've been chewing on this for months and months and months now, because I really think this is this is the stage that a lot of us are entering into now, even if we've tried to stay strong in Christ or stay strong for each other. We're running out of gas. And I'm getting texts from people and emails from people all the time that are falling down. 

And so failure of heart. What have we got? 

Failure of Nerve is the first one.

This is described as: 

I do not have the internal fortitude to handle the disorientation and anxiety of the people around me, therefore for the sake of personal comfort, I will collapse back into their acceptance and anxiety. 

Basically, it's just, “I've been trying to stay strong. I've been trying to stay true. But around me, it's just become so different than where I am that I feel like it's just time for me to give in and to give way.”

You think of the thermostat or a thermometer. It’s like, “I'm trying to be a thermostat and set the temperature in my marriage, and my family, and in my workplace, and all these things, but it's just become too difficult. So I'm just going to become a thermometer and go to whatever temperature might be in the room.” 

And though that is a strong temptation that's not fitting for the people of Christ. That's a failure of nerve.

Failure of Heart is where: 

I may be able to keep going, but I stopped doing it with love and compassion. So as a result of Christian faithfulness without Christian love, which is ultimately just noise.

So we grid ourselves and we lock ourselves in and we say, "All right, fine. The world around me is going crazy, so I'm going to separate, I'm going to consecrate, and I'm just going to be a jerk about it. I'm just going to talk trash about everybody else, and that somehow is going to make me more holy.” 

And this is what I think Jesus would say if you're in that space, he just wants to spit you out of his mouth because you don't taste good. There's no fragrance of Christ in that. That's what the Pharisees were doing. Jesus wasn't wasn't pleased with them. That's a failure of heart and where many of us, ugh, that's a real situation for us.

And then the last thing is the Falling Away. 

I'm done. The Christian faith following Jesus is either not true or not for me. 

It's just, “This is too hard, so I'm out.” And some of us know people that are in that state as well. Or they're trying to just kind of tweak the faith to be something that that does fit what they want. 

And this is the result of tribulation, this is what the result of prolonged disorientation, prolonged uncertainty, which we're going through. And so it's so important for us to now have the the book of Revelation, this message, speak to our hearts, wake us up, and teach us how to be those who practice the perseverance. Figuring out how to do that, so that's what we're going to do.

So let's go to Revelation Chapter two, and what we're going to do is we're going to take the little imagery of each of these that was given to each of these churches about Jesus. Again, we're going to be borrowing from chapter one a lot. But each of these churches doesn't get the full vision of Jesus. They get a part of the vision for Jesus. So I want to kind of unpack each of these in our study today. 

So Chapter two, verse one:

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:

These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. 

So to the church and emphasis the image that they received, the piece of the image that they received of Christ was this one who was holding the seven stars and walking in the seven golden lampstands. And I think what that meant to John, what was so important about John to hear that was that Jesus was dressed with this robe from shoulder to feet, and he had this white sash on him. And the imagery that must have gone in John's mind, as he saw this image of Jesus dressed that way among the golden lamp stands, is he had to have harkened back with his Jewish mindset to the priest. The priest of the Tabernacle or the temple, they were the ones that would go into that holy place, and their job as a priest was to tend to the golden lampstand that was in that place — to make sure it was burning, to trim the wicks, to make sure there was oil. And they would be dressed in something very similar.

And so John — who is a pastor, who is one of the only people left that was connected to Jesus in that way, and he's shepherding and trying to to see the people of God come into fullness of life and understanding — he’s been removed from the churches that he was overseeing. And he's grieving. He knows they're going to go through tough times, but he's not going to be there to help them. And yet what he sees from Jesus is this image of Jesus as a priest among the lampstands. And this is a very comforting thing for a pastor's heart. Hopefully, it's a comforting thing for all of our hearts that Jesus is the one who is tending to the Church. Jesus is committed to his Church. Jesus is the one who is constantly trimming and tending and supplying everything needed so that his people, his Church, can be the light of the world. 

And for John, that must have been so comforting as he thought, I wish I could be there. I wish I could help but to know Jesus is among the church with two or three are gathered he's there in their midst. He will go with us to the ends of the Earth. These promises were so meaningful to John. 

The second image that that comes with to the Angel of Smyrna.

To the Angel of the Church in Smyrna, write:

These are the words of him was the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. 

This is something that's sung over and over. Whenever there's these songs that are spoken in the Book of Revelation, they continually talk about how Jesus was the one who was, who died, and has come back to life again. And in the church in Smyrna, what we know of Smyrna is they were going through serious persecution. That's where persecution broke out first. And they were suffering. 

And the imagery that comes to John, that ultimately he spoke to Smyrna was that Jesus is someone who has passed through death but has not state dead. And the message to them and to John was, “Look, John, look at Jesus.” 

As John saw this image in Revelation one, Jesus’ face the shining bright as the sun. Jesus is beautiful in all these ways. Death has not diminished him at all. Suffering, pain, crucifixion, injustice has not diminished him, but actually, somehow, caused him to enter into this space where he is above every other name. Every tongue confess confesses he is Lord, every knee bows at his authority. 

And John gets to see him. And what a message to John to just say, “John, look, there is coming a time where death will be swallowed up by life. All tribulation will be completely eaten by triumph.” 

Or as Jon Foreman, one of my favorite songwriters, says:

Until the sea of glass we meet
At last completed and complete
Where the tide of tears and pain subside
and laughter drinks them dry.

He's talking about that moment at which we enter into that space where the laughter and joy of God completely consumes all the sorrow and pain in the world. That was the message that John was getting. “He was dead, but he's alive again, more alive than he even was when he was in the flesh."

Did you hear what I just said? I don't know how to understand it. Revelation just sometimes points us to things that I don't understand, but it's pointing that way, so I’ve got to point that way.

In this moment, John was seeing Jesus more alive than he had ever seen him when Jesus was walking in the flesh. Chew on that for a little bit if you want. 

All right, the next one is Chapter two, verse twelve: 

To the angel of the church in Pergamum, write:

These are the words of him who has the sharp, double edged sword. 

This is an interesting image, this is not one that you know makes you want to hang out with Jesus so much. Sword coming out of his mouth. It's quite intense. However, Jesus is super intense about the truth. We know from Hebrews that the word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword. We know in Revelation 19, when Jesus returns, the picture of Jesus riding this horse, and he's coming to Earth to basically finish all that is evil. And written across him in this sash, says “Word of God.” And he comes in at that point, and he does. He casts Satan into the lake of Fire, binds everything. He brings this finality to it. 

And that's the beauty of what God's word can do. God's word seeks and destroys all lies. It sets us free. And so this image to this part of the church was that Jesus speaks the words. If you stick with his words, it's going to cut through all the crap in life. And we have so much misinformation, disinformation in our world today. But the words of Jesus, they know how to cut right through, divide joint and marrow, soul and spirit. They cut through all of it. 

And the truth is is we don't just have all of the junk swirling around us, but we got junk coming from within us. Our own hearts, our own minds have been tainted and broken through the fall of sin. And yet the words of Jesus are trustworthy. They even come and cleanse what's going on in our own souls and our own minds. We’ve got to stay faithful to his word. 

The next thing was Thyatira. It says:

To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: 

These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.

And so the feet being like burnished bronze speaks of Jesus having to walk through all of the pain and agony and tribulation that we do. He was refined. It says that Jesus learned obedience through the things that he suffered in the Book of Hebrews. 

But I want you to focus on these eyes for a second. These eyes of fire. These eyes were of flame. And I've always kind of wondered what that was like. Is that a good thing? Is that a bad thing? Is that is that going to hurt? Is that going to feel good? And I think it's a mixture of it all. You see, the Bible in Revelation Chapter 21, talks about Jesus wiping away the tears from our eyes, and this is just the way that I kind of unpack some scripture. This is the way I think it's going to go down when we actually see Jesus and these eyes of fire. I think in that moment, we're going to look at Jesus’ eyes, his eyes are going to meet ours and we're going to be completely consumed in the fullness of his love, in the fullness of his passion, in the fullness of his purity. 

And in that moment, like what Paul says, that all of our works are going to pass through as though passing through a fire and everything that's wood, hay and stubble will be burnt away. Everything that we did that was selfish, or that wasn't for for God, or that wasn't done in a heavenly mind, will be burned away in that instant. 

And I think that's what happens. I think when we see Jesus, it's all a moment, and we see Jesus and those eyes are able to penetrate us and immediately we are burnt. We are consumed. All of the stuff of Earth is consumed. All of the times we should have, and we didn’t. All the times we shouldn’t have and we did. All of those things are just going to burn through us. 

And we're going to weep. It's the only time there will be tears in heaven, I think, is that first moment when we see him. We’re going to weep for all the lost opportunity. All the times we didn’t. We're going to weep. And Jesus is going to come with those eyes of fire and he's going to wipe away our tears. And there's going to be a newness. There's going to be a freshness, and then we move into the place where there won't be no more crying, no more weeping, no more sorrow, no more pain. There's something about his eyes. They’re so important. 

And then you've got the Church of Sardis. In Chapter three, verse one:

To the Angel of the Church in Sardis, write:

 These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

This, I think, speaks of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit and his angels. Jesus is the one who can give the Holy Spirit, which is what guides us to live free and full, no matter what the circumstances we’re in. Revelation, two and three have this haunting refrain that says, “He who has ears let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches today.” 

And Jesus is basically saying, “Just so, you know, John, I am going to be speaking and I'm going to be giving my Spirit to the churches to empower them.” 

And if you try and go through tribulation without the Comforter, without the Spirit of God, without the guide that Jesus gives us — foolish. But we're so thankful that Jesus freely gives that. 

And then to the church in Philadelphia: 

These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 

God is holy and true. There's this image in Revelation Chapter 16, where it's basically all hell has broken loose on the world. It's crazy town. People dying all over, meteors coming down called wormwoods, destroying people, darkness covering a third of the earth, I think two-thirds of the earth, something burning. It's not a good time. It's not a good time to take a vacation or anything like that. 

And yet in that moment, all of a sudden, it's like the camera pans up into the throne room of heaven and the angels who are witnessing all that's going on. And it just seems like it's so horrible. The angels cry out to the throne, cry out to God and say, "Righteous and true are your judgments, Lord. We know that everything you're doing is good and right and will bring about the best.”

That's a hard teaching to hear. But it's consistent throughout the book of Revelation that what you're going through right now — no matter how horrific it could be, no matter how wrong it may be — there will be a day where you will be able to stand with God and look at this exact moment of pain, and you'll be able to declare, "Righteous and true are your judgments, Lord. I see it now. I get it. I see how that was working for these things.” 

Right now, I don't think you can see it. But you can hope. And you can believe and you can trust that one day even your heart, your broken, broken heart will be able to say over the brokenness, “God, I get it. Righteous and true to your judgments.”  That's the refrain that's spoken in heaven.

 And then the last one, the Church in Laodicea:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. 

And there's this imagery in Chapter five where John is there and he's weeping. He’s weeping as he looks and he sees on the throne, there's God, and on his lap is like the scroll that has these seals on it. And John's weeping because no one's able to open the scroll. So the scroll has something to do with renewal, has something to do with revival, has something to do with with what the world needs, is not is not being able to give given to the world because no one's able to open the book. 

And yet an angel, an elder comes up to John, taps on the shoulder and is like, “Hey man, not really supposed to be crying up here.” And he says, “Behold the Lamb. He is worthy to open the book.” 

And there's something about Jesus becoming the ruler of creation, that he came on to Earth, not just to rescue us — for sure, he came to rescue us — but he also came to rescue all of God's creation. Somehow, it's as if when God created Adam and Eve, he gave them dominion. He gave them the title deeds of the Earth. And when they sinned, they gave that to Satan. And Satan comes to Jesus in temptation when Jesus was here and says to him, “I will give you all the kingdoms of the Earth.” 

And Jesus didn't say, “You can't do that.” Jesus said, “No, I'm not going to bow to you.” 

But somehow through the cross and the resurrection, Jesus has won back the authority and the dominion over all of creation. And I don't know why he hasn't used it yet. This seems a little weird, but we're in Revelation. But what we heard in the Book of Acts is that Jesus has set down at the right hand of the Father. And from there he will come. On the day appointed he will come and he will restore everything. 

So we are in a bit of a waiting season. A time for perseverance and endurance. But there is coming a time where, the promise is Jesus will come and he will restore everything.There won't be one place you can find the shadow of death anymore. 

And, as Tim Keller says it — I love this — he says that “On that day, everything sad will come untrue. But it will somehow be better for having once been broken.”

Again, I have no idea what that means. How to access that with my broken heart and my futile mind. But I see the gospel pointing to that. And so I'm putting my hope in it. And that's what Jesus is revealing here to the people of Laodicea, that he's the ruler of all creation. 

So to wrap this whole thing up, here’s the deal. If you're going through hell, keep going. Don't stop. Don't quit. Don't fall down. Don't try and make the most of it. Keep going. And how do you keep going? You grab on to Jesus’ hand. And you join up with Jesus' family. All you ever need — please hear me, no matter what you're going through — all we ever need is more Jesus. He is the answer for the world today. 

There never has been and never will be anything needed in addition to him. The whole world revolves not around the sun, but around Jesus. He is what upholds the whole world together. He's the atomic glue. It keeps the protons and neutrons and electrons from not flying apart. He’s everything. And the whole reason you have a beat in your heart and breath in your lungs and a mind is so that you can know him. 

And whatever you're going through, ultimately what you really need, is not a new wife. It's not a new husband. It's not new kids or new parents. It's not a new job. What you need is more Jesus. What you need is more Jesus. 

And when we go through tribulation, this is the last of the imagery  I'll share with you. Like, I think of an earthquake. You know how when an earthquake comes, you know, in the movies you always see it like creates these big cracks in the world. The tectonic plates are shifting and it creates all these changes. And I feel like when we go through tribulation and hard times, what happens is there are cracks that open up in our soul. No no doubt about it. And some of you are very aware of those cracks that you've experienced over the last, whatever, 18 months. 

But those cracks, you know, something's going to seep into those cracks, and it's either going to be more of the world or more of heaven. And Revelation is really trying to teach us how to make sure it's more of heaven that seeps in. The Kingdom of Heaven is among us, Jesus said. The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and it's the violent people that take it by force. That requires intensity, that requires fight to make sure that the world is not able to seep in to those cracks. But what is of heaven, what is Jesus comes in. 

And it's so important to remember because, you know, every time you go through pain, you have a choice. The world has so many things they can offer you to numb the pain. So many options to numb the pain, but if you choose the world's options to numb the pain, more of the world seeps in. And pain, whether we like it or not, is the greatest former of our souls. But it doesn't determine which direction the formation happens. That is determined by your choices in the pain. 

Are you going to cling to Jesus? Are you going to set yourself in the community of the Saints? Are you going to trust his word or are you going to find the the other things that can numb the pain. This is our challenge. 

Lord Jesus, we thank you for your word, we thank you that heaven can even find us. Thank you that you found us. 

And Lord, I pray for those who are going through real brokenness, Lord, that right now would be a moment where a lot of heaven seeps in. 

Well just stay in this place of quiet, if you would, and we're going to sing a song. I just encourage you to really just just do your best to try and let the words of Jesus and the Kingdom of Heaven seep in to the places of pain.

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The Tongue

Series: Kinetic Righteousness
October 24, 2021 - Beth Coker

Everybody, I am Beth Coker, and I hail from southern Oregon. The first service Ryan introduced me and he gets off the stage and it's like, “Oh my gosh, I forgot to tell them you're coming.” I said “Ryan, I got this,” so I'm just excited to be back here with you again this morning.

And the last time I was here, the Phoenix Suns were rocking it on the basketball court, and this time the Cardinals are the only undefeated team left in the NFL. Phoenix, you're doing something right here. Awesome. 

So it's my privilege this morning to keep tracking with you through the James book. He is an in-your-face kind of writer, and so we're going to be looking this morning at James Chapter three. So open your Bibles with me or your apps on your phones, your iPads, however you like to look at the word of God. We are going to be in James 3:1-12.

Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.

When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

On the morning of September 18 or September 8 a year ago —

Sorry. Is this working now? Oh, I like to teach with my hands and now I can't teach with my hands because they have to hold this mic. David broke the other head mic. So this is a new one and it's not working. Wait until I talk to David. 

Anyway, on the morning of September 8 last year, a small brushfire lurched to life in a dry brush field north of Ashland, Oregon, parallel to Interstate 5. Strong winds soon pushed the fire along a bike path, burning eventually power poles, blackberry vines and eventually homes. There was a red flag warning, predicting gusts of wind upward of 50 miles an hour, which was devastating news for Oregon firefighters.

There were no resources available due to the other fires already burning in California. And moments later, there were notifications of other fires started along the same bike path and the Alameda Fire quickly roared to life. Winds carried embers hundreds of feet ahead of the fire line, starting spot fires and overwhelming firefighting efforts.

This was the work of an arson. Cell phone video captured burning asphalt driveways, homes, fire hydrants and downtown businesses. Firefighters reported 30-feet tall flames on either side of them, pushed by powerful winds and destroying entire neighborhoods in a matter of minutes.

Even fire hydrants were running dry, and the fire chief was quoted as saying, “We did everything we could to stop this thing. And we just couldn't. There was nothing we could do to save homes, businesses, even lives. We felt so defeated when we knew there was no help coming. There was just no stopping it.” 

The Alameda Fire burned more than 3,500 acres and destroyed over 3,000 homes and structures, including one of the district's firehouses. Death and destruction by fire. 

The tongue is just as capable of this level of destruction. And we just read that James writes about the tongue, and he says, “See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire.” 

And although it is not the strongest muscle in the body, the tongue is made up of eight different muscles. And like our heart, it is always working even when we're sleeping. The tongue is constantly pushing saliva down our throat. It never gets tired. It is so powerful it can destroy lives with a single spark and wreak havoc that lasts for years before any rebuilding is accomplished.

Now, scientists and ecologists tell us that it takes an average of eleven years for land to recover after it has been burned by a wildfire. Think how much longer it takes a person to recover after the damage done to them by someone's tongue.

And yet we are built for words. We are made Imago Day — in the image of God. In Genesis one, we read that God spoke the very worlds into being. This was how he created us. 

Our tongues enable us to chew, to taste, to swallow and articulate distinct sounds so that we can communicate. Words are what set human beings apart from the animals. Now, studies show that the average person speaks about 11 million words a year. It's easier to believe that about some people than others. I have friends — and maybe a few family members — who can possibly speak 11 million words in a month.

We have an incessant need for words, and our words are incredibly powerful. Military leaders throughout history realized that the spoken word was the most powerful weapon in the world, and they use that in propaganda. Words can build up, encourage, motivate people. Winston Churchill was the master of it. “Never give in. Never, never, never, never.” And yet the enemy uses propaganda to tear down. Our words are like that. We can either build up or tear down hurt and cause horrible scars.

Finish this sentence for me. “Sticks and stones can break my bones…” 

I don't know who came up with that, but they lied. Words can break your heart. And some of us are living with the scars of the hurtful words of others, from our parents, from siblings, from friends.

I grew up with a father who was verbally abusive. Angry words came from him — and nothing I did growing up was ever good enough. It didn't matter if I excelled academically or in sports or in music endeavors. There was always something I could have done better. I was never good enough. It took me years to silence that voice. And sadly, some of that behavior carried into my own parenting when my girls were young. 

And this verse hit me very early on in parenting Proverbs 18:21: “Life and death are in the power of the tongue.” Life and death. 

You see in a surgeon’s skilled hand a scalpel can help preserve life, but a criminal can use that same sharpened blade to bring death. A nurse can administer and use a needle to give medicine and promote healing, but a drug pusher can use that same needle to cause death. 

The power of life and death is in our tongue. And you've known that with words that you've spoken to people. The smile on your child's face when you tell them, “You are so special, you can do great things.” Or the hurt that registers on their face when you criticize them with words like this, "You'll never amount to anything. Why can't you be more like your brother? You're not good enough.” Or your spouse. You withdraw after you're under constant criticism. You verbally attack the spouse and they don't want to be around anymore. Friends stop texting you to hang out because of your cutting sarcasm, your acerbic wit. They don't want to be on the brunt end of that. A teacher or coach can inspire you to do great things and push you and motivate you to be incredible, or they can put you down in front of the classroom or the whole team and cause you to never want to try again. Our words are powerful and our words matter to God. 

Remember what happened to Miriam, the sister of Moses, in Numbers one, when she spoke against Moses with criticism and she used rude, racist words about his Ethiopian wife? God struck her with leprosy. Our words matter to God, and he's listening. 

Matthew 12:36, Jesus said this, “I tell you that on the day of judgment, people will have to account for every careless word they speak.”

That should sober us immediately and cause us to ask God to put a guard over our mouths, as David did in Psalm 140:13. He said, “Set a guard over my mouth, Lord. Keep watch over the door of my lips.”

Abraham Lincoln said this: “It is better to remain silent and thought a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt.” 

For over 6,000 years, the tongue has been the tool that men and women have used to cause more heartache, more pain, more mistrust and more anger than all the other muscles in our body put together. Our tongue is so powerful that it causes betrayals, murders, wars and riots. Prejudice has been passed down from generation to generation. Hate has been seeded into family lines, and slander has been planted by the old into the young. 

The tongue is a factor in the destruction of friendships, relationships and families, and it is a major factor in separation and divorces. A sharp tongue is the only edged tool that gets sharper with constant use. I must say that again. A sharp tongue is the only edged tool that gets sharper with constant use. 

This is what James is addressing in chapter three of his book. And he starts the chapter by giving a warning to teachers or any believer wanting to become a teacher. He says to us, “Don't run quickly to the role of teaching.” Why? You become a target. Every word you speak is scrutinized, and it is a huge responsibility when you teach, he says to us that we are all teachers at some point, not just up here on the stage. In the home, we teach. In friendships, we teach, we counsel. On our campus, we are teachers. People are watching us. In a sport team, we’re teachers. In a musical ensemble, we can be teachers. Whenever we open our mouths, what comes out of us can be used as teaching.

And James gives us a warning about the tongue in the power of our words. He says, “Speak truth, not personal opinions.” And then he warns us: don't take the handling of God's word lightly. Too many people's lives are at stake to just wing it.

In counseling with other people, be so careful that what you're speaking is scripture and you know it to be so. I cringe when I hear believers sharing things that are colloquialisms like, “Well, where God shuts the door, he opens a window.” That is not in the Bible. It’s in the Sound of Music. And I hear it often quoted as a biblical reference. 

As teachers, we're expected to live the truth, not just teach it. Would those closest to you, say that you live what you teach? As I dug into this passage in James and studied it, prayed about it, I spent a couple of weeks with my girls and there were many times I had to apologize for my words, a critical word, or the tone of my words. Am I living what I teach to those closest around me?

Now, James goes on to use examples to illustrate the power of our tongue in verse 3. He tells us that the tongue is like a bit in the horse's mouth. It's just a small piece of metal or a few straps of leather that can control the movement of the entire horse.

I grew up with horses, and when I was in high school and college, I had a horse that was 17 hands high. She was an American Saddlebred — powerful — and she could run like the wind. My dad clocked her at about 40 miles an hour. I was really glad for that bit in her mouth, that I could stop her and I could control her, or she would have run away with me. The bit in the mouth can control that whole horse. 

In verse 4, James tells us the tongue is like a rudder on a ship. Powerful ocean liners, these massive hulks of steel, can be steered by a small flap of metal, and it determines the course of that ship. 

Now, both of these things are similes. The tongue is like a bit. The tongue is like a rudder. And to work properly and to accomplish good things, both bit and rudder have to be under the control of a strong hand. And my tongue must overcome the contrary force of my flesh and be under God's wise control if it is going to accomplish anything good. 

A few weeks ago, I spent some time with my daughter on the Air Force Base, where she is a fighter pilot down there. And as I walked down to the flight line each morning just to watch her take off in her jet, I would stand by the control tower to know when she would receive the all clear for takeoff. 

Now in a jet, you can hear it before you can see it and the ground starts to shake. So I was standing there waiting for her to take off, and all these other little planes were buzzing around or taking off from the runways. And I would think to myself, Would you little planes just get out of the way so I can watch my daughter take off on her jet?

And then I looked over at the control tower in this busy airspace and I thought how important that control tower was. The words coming from the person in that control tower would say things like, “Clear for takeoff on runway one. Tail number 548 to go around again. Not clear for takeoff.” It’s really busy. And that control tower gave clearance for everything that happened on the runway. Nothing happened without permission from them.

If there was no control tower and the pilots didn't heed that warning, planes would crash, they’d land on top of each other, or they'd have to quickly go off the runway to avoid the powerful jets coming down. Death and destruction would ensue.

It was a powerful illustration to me of how busy my mind is with words. There are so many words flying around in my head all the time, waiting to take off or land. And I'm often idling on the runway, waiting for those who are speaking their little words to hurry up so my big, important words can fly. I need a control tower guiding my tongue. “Beth, that hurtful word — don’t say it. But that word of encouragement let it take off. That's a go. Send that DM to that person. They need to hear your word of encouragement today. It'll make them smile. But that critical word, you don't need to share that. If you do, you will destroy them with your afterburner fire.” 

You see, the plane that my daughter flies, the F-15, is always loaded with missiles ready to fire. The missiles are laser or radar guided, and they lock onto the target and they seek it out until they have destroyed it. And the missiles are called “fire and forget,” because once it is locked onto the target, the pilot can just fire and forget it, knowing that that missile will seek out and destroy what it was sent to. 

So, too with my tongue. I can send deadly missiles aimed at a certain person, knowing they're going to hit the target. I need the Holy Spirit to be my control tower. 

Now, James is so emphatic about the power of the tongue that in verse 5, he switches to using a metaphor, stating that the tongue is a fire, and he does this to illustrate the devastation of the tongue, as we talked about previously. If we do not use our tongues with great caution, we are like spiritual arsonists lighting careless fires that cause widespread destruction. 

And in verse 6, he writes, “Our tongue is a world of iniquity. It defiles our whole body. It sets on fire the course of our life. It is set on fire by hell itself.” 

Those are harsh words from James. He's saying that the full range of our sin, our immorality finds an outlet through our tongue. And hell is just waiting for a chance to influence our tongues, an opportunity to span that spark into a fire. You see, it's almost impossible to seethe with anger without expressing our rage in words. 

When my girls were little, Sunday mornings just seemed to be a morning full of strife all the time. I'd be hustling them through breakfast to get them ready on time to get to church. I’d say, “Hurry up and get done with your breakfast. I need you to go put the dresses on that I laid out for you.”

“Mom, I don't want to put a dress on. I want to wear shorts.” 

“You're going to wear the dress that I set out for. You were going to church.”

“But I hate dresses. They're itchy, Mom.” 

“Put the dress on and find your shoes and socks and get ready for church!”

We'd load up in the car. One person wouldn't be there and I'd go in the house. “I can't find my shoes.” 

“You have one minute to find your shoes and get in the car or we're leaving without you.”

That was Christlike behavior going to church. So we'd finally get in the car and I'd apologize over half the way to church for my angry words. I think the enemy just knew on Sunday mornings to come after me with my tongue. Maybe that's not your house on a Sunday morning, but that was ours. Harsh, angry words. 

Maybe bitterness sours your speech. Remember the Israelites grumbling in the wilderness that Moses brought them out there and then, “We don't have any food, we don't have any water.” Their murmuring led to rebellion and sin, and they did not enter the promised land. 

How often aren't we complaining and bitter about something in life that came our way? What about our pride? David taught a few weeks ago on Chapter 4 in James and he touched on this as a roadblock to righteousness. Our pride rambles on and on. We think we have such important things to say and we need to be heard. Or at least we need to be the one with the last word in the argument and be right all the time.

Not Jesus. He didn't come to be right. He came to love. We don't need to be right and win the argument and lose that relationship. 

What about hate? Hate explodes from our lips, the vitriolic language we use in our social media posts. To me, social media is the Coward's Palace. People will post things on there that they would never say to someone face to face. They'll even post anonymously to rip other people apart. It is heartbreaking to me to read of tragic stories of teens being bullied online with words that drive them to suicide. These things should not be. 

What about gossip? Well, we don't gossip in the church, do we? No, we cover it over like this: “I need you to pray about something. I need you to pray for someone. Let me tell you what I need you to pray about for them.” 

And I'll stop people right there, and I'll say, “Can I quote you on this?” 

“Well, no, no, I just need you to pray for them.” 

“I know. But can I quote you on what you're going to say?” 

That's the end of the conversation.

Right there,  the tongue can turn suddenly a gentle person into a monster. We slander one another. That's defamation of character with the intent to destroy a relationship. Happens on junior high and high school and college campuses daily, destroying a reputation. 

In James 4:11, he writes, “Don't speak evil against each other, brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God's law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you slandering one another.”

We play the role of judge. We imagine ourselves as superior to other Christians, and we put them down using the law. News flash: there is one judge — and you are not it. 

We see slander in social media and attacks from one believer to another. Facebook, Twitter, they're full of them. God is the law giver and judge. He alone is able to save and destroy. James goes on in verse 12 and packs a real punch in the Greek. He says, “Who are you to judge your neighbor?”

And we could paraphrase that, saying. “Who do you think you are? Who made you God?” 

James uses some powerful words here to tell us that our tongue has some connection to hell, that tongue is set on fire by hell itself. Now the Greek word there translated “hell” is gehenna. And the Jews that James is addressing would have caught his meaning instantly. You see, Gehenna refers to the Hinnom Valley, which runs along the south side of Jerusalem, and during the time of James’ writing, residents of Jerusalem would stack all their garbage and filth in the Hinnom Valley, where it was often burned. So it is as if James is saying to his readers, “You know that stinky, smoldering trash dump south of town? Our tongues are just like that.” 

When we start our uncontrolled dump of consciousness, the garbage in our hearts is set on fire. And like the putrid smoke that reminds us that garbage is burning in that Hinnom Valley, our tongues let everybody hear the wickedness in our hearts. Most of us speak out against murder, sex trafficking, social injustice and other heinous sins. Yet we tolerate gossip, slander. We complain. We speak deceit. We speak half truths. We use sarcastic put-downs. Crude jokes or language, and we do other sins of the tongue as if they are no big deal. They destroy other people and we must be bold enough to confront these sins in our own hearts.

In Luke 6 Jesus is telling his disciples a parable about trees being known for their fruit, and he says to them, "A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.”

What you say flows from what is in your heart. We don't have the ability to keep our tongues in check. But when God sits on the throne of our hearts, the power of the Holy Spirit can transform our heart and take full control of our tongues.

Now I'm a pickleball player. I love to play pickleball. I play in tournaments and with a lot of different social groups. And sometimes a new person will walk onto the court and maybe they'll have a T-shirt on that has scripture on it. And I noticed one man the other day. He had a T-shirt that came out and it had Ephesians 6 on about the armor of God and the power of God. And I was like, "Way to go! Boldness of your faith. That is fantastic.” And I couldn't wait to meet him. It only took me five minutes watching him play and listening to his language that would make a military general blush. I was so disheartened. Oh, he was talking to Jesus Christ and God, but not in a prayerful or reverent way at all. I almost wanted him to take the shirt off right then. I thought, You are not repping what a Christ follower should sound like. You sound like the world. The treasury of his heart was clearly evident through his language.

James, 1:26: “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, his religion is worthless.” 

And only when Jesus is Lord of our lives will he also be Lord of our lips. Our tongue is the barometer of our spiritual walk. And I want you to ask yourself this morning, is your tongue lit by heaven or hell? Is it connected to the Spirit or to the sewer? In verse 8, James tells us with our tongue, we bless our Lord and Father, and with it, we use it to curse men who are made in the image of God. From the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. 

Is the fountain from your tongue sending out both fresh and bitter water? We sing praises to God on Sunday mornings. We bless you, Lord. We love you, Jesus. We sang it this morning and immediately some of you will walk out these doors and complain about the loud music, or someone you saw at church, or what they were wearing, or the parking issues, or the idiots on the road when you leave this place, and you will talk about it through lunch. There are people listening to your words. Your children are listening.

Blessing and cursing. Are they coming from the same mouth? What flows from our mouths and our tongues can cause our minds and hearts to become bitter and begin to poison everything within us, if we give in to it. We need the cross to remove the bitterness from our hearts before bitterness spews from our tongues.

In Exodus 15 (NASB), we read about how Moses is leading the Israelites out of Egypt, and it says 

Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, because they were bitter; for that reason it was named Marah. So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?” Then he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet.

The tree. The cross. Let God change the anger or bitterness stored in your heart by putting the cross in. We need the sweetness of the redemptive work of the cross to cleanse our hearts and tongues from bitterness, cynicism, sarcasm, hurtful, angry words that we aim at people. 

No man can tame the tongue, but God can. He can do that by changing our hearts. Ask him to change yours. Maybe you're sitting there thinking, Well, you know, great, Beth, but that's just how God made me. I'm just a vocal person. I'm opinionated and strong, and I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut. That is just a really lame excuse for not wanting to change. 

God can begin this work in us. So I give you an assignment for this week, something to practice for this week, to think about the words before you speak or post, or send an email. And use this acrostic: THINK T? Is it True? H. Is it Helpful? Is it Inspiring? Is it Necessary? Is it Kind? 

Practice this when you’ve had a hard day at work, maybe failed a test at school, your team lost again, the drivers on the road. A friend lied to you. Your roommate left the dishes in the sink again. The kids are bugging you. Stop. Take a deep breath and think about the consequences of your words before they come out of your mouth; because the moment they leave your mouth, it's impossible to take them back.

Delete the email that is sarcastic or cynical or hurtful. You don't have to respond to everything or argue about everything. You don't have to win every argument. Some of the words that we say take a few seconds to say them, but years to repair and recover from the devastating fire that we've done.

Speak words of life to those around us. The power of life and death is in the tongue. Jesus spoke words of life. He spoke words of peace. He spoke words of healing. He spoke words of hope. His was a heart of love, to heal, to restore, to bring help to a hurting world. Is yours a heart of love this week? Use your words to encourage the disheartened. Inspire the weak and the weary. Heal a broken heart. Offer someone hope. Apologize. Never underestimate the power of an apology. 

What you say flows from what is in your heart. Ask God to change your heart and let the Holy Spirit be your control tower. May the words of your mouth and the meditations of your heart be acceptable in his sight, oh Lord, your rock and your redeemer. 

Pray with me, please. 

Father, we come before you this morning. We confess that our tongue is full of poison. It's a restless evil. We're so quick to speak, Lord, and slow to listen.

Forgive us. Lord, we ask and repent. We ask your forgiveness, Lord, for the hurtful things we've said. We're sorry, Lord, for the words we’ve spoken in anger or gossip. Change our hearts this morning, Lord. Holy Spirit, be our control tower.

Lord, help us to be people who are full of loving words — words of grace and mercy, words of truth. We submit our hearts to you this morning, Father.

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Scripture marked NASB is taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.

Kinetic Faith

Well, we're going to be in James chapter two, if you want to grab a Bible and turn there. You can do it on your phone, but the phone is going to try and get you to think about other things while you're turning to the book of James, so use the book if you can. This thing is called a book. It's been around awhile. It's pretty good. 

But yeah, James, chapter two is where we're going to be and we're in the series “Kinetic Righteousness.” Hopefully it's starting to make a little more sense to you — not just some vague term — but the idea is that the the righteousness that God desires, the righteousness that God seeks, the righteousness that counts in his economy, the righteousness that he takes delight in, is a righteousness that is active. It's a righteousness that has hands and feet and finds the places where unrighteousness has caused damage. And it goes there with the righteousness of God and it makes things right. Right relationship, restoration, healing. That's the righteousness that God is after.

And the frustrating thing for Jesus was the righteousness that the Pharisees were after. They were practicing a righteousness, but it was much more about being righteous than doing righteousness. And as you read through the scriptures, and especially in the book of James, you see that the righteousness that God is after is kinetic. 

A line that I just don't want us to miss, and all of the words that I'm going to say today, a key verse here from the book of James is, you see that a person is considered righteous by what they do, not by faith alone. Now, that kind of talk is what has gotten some people to actually think James should not be in the New Testament, because it's a little bit dangerous. And it's true. You can take this too far and you can try and be legalistic. You can try and earn your salvation through works or deeds or righteousness. And that's not true. 

Hear me very clearly as we're going into this book. We are made righteous by Jesus Christ’s work on the cross. There is no other way to become righteous, but by Jesus Christ and being hid in him. One hundred percent, absolute, no doubt about it. 

However, Jesus has not made us righteous so that we can stand there and look pretty. He has not shown us mercy so that we can just sit there and be like, “Wow, this is so great. Check me out. Covered in mercy. He has not put light inside our souls so that we can just sit there and kind of look in a mirror and marvel, or get around each other and just be like, “Hey, you got light. You got light. We got light. It’s a good light.” 

He has made us righteous so that we can then go into places of unrighteousness and make a change. He has given us mercy, just like Jeff said last week. Such an awesome message. He has shown us mercy so we will multiply that mercy into the places where people aren't experiencing mercy, they're experiencing a lot more shame and pain. I loved when he told the story about run — we want to be a church that runs into the places of pain. Not so that God will love us and save us, no. That’s already been established on the cross. But because God loves us and saved us, we want to be those who run into that pain, and we want to be those who are so grateful for the light the Christ has given us through his word, through his Spirit, through his family. And we take that light into the darkest places so they can get a taste of what Jesus really is all about. 

This is what we're trying to do is be kinetic in our righteous. And righteousness is such an important thing.

I grew up mostly coming to church and I had a few years at a Christian school. And the righteousness that I grew up hearing about and experiencing in those places, a lot of times was  a righteousness I just was not interested in. It was a lot more about, like, achievement. It was a lot more about kind of winning. It was a lot more about rules. It really looked a lot like religiosity. And even though they talked bad about the Pharisees and Sadducees, I was like, “Why you talking bad about them? That's what you are.” 

And so I just I kind of had a real distaste in my mouth for the idea of righteousness. But the more I've read the scriptures, and the more I've experienced the righteousness of God showing up, the more beautiful I have really seen it is. And I think it was getting kind of confused by these other people. 

And on Wednesday night, when the panel was sharing the stories of kinetic, when righteousness became kinetic and showed up in their lives, it was so beautiful. It was like, I want to see that so badly in my life and the lives of our church. 

Psalm 112, I think, gives us a good picture of what righteousness looks like when it shows up in our lives and in the lives of others. And I'll read it to you:

Blessed are those who fear the Lord,
   who find great delight in his commands.

Even though some of those commandments are tough!

Their children will be mighty in the land;
    the generation of the upright will be blessed.
Wealth and riches are in their houses,
    and their righteousness endures forever.

It's not about right now. It's what comes later. 

Even in darkness light dawns for the upright,
    for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous.

Gracious and compassionate go along with righteousness.

Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely,
    who conduct their affairs with justice.
Surely the righteous will never be shaken;
    they will be remembered forever.
They will have no fear of bad news;
    their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord.
Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear;
    in the end they will look in triumph on their foes.
They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor,
    their righteousness endures forever;
    their horn will be lifted high in honor.

The wicked will see and be vexed,
    they will gnash their teeth and waste away;
    the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.

There is pleasure in sin for a season, but then comes destruction. There is nothing lasting in there. There there's nothing beneficial in there. And especially not for the generation to come after you. But with righteousness, if we can get this stuff right, if we can walk into the beautiful, compelling righteousness that the Bible puts forth, it's going to affect those who come after us. It's going to affect your children. It's going to affect the generation that you're in, and the generation to come. It will create something that lasts. It will affect the poor. It will affect those who need somebody to lend to them. And what it will do is, it will cause something to ripple and continue on long after you're gone.

This is the kind of righteousness that God is calling us into, that we're trying to learn about and walk into. And our guide for us here is James. “James the Just.” So let's read James, chapter two, verse 14:

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

“I'm more on the faith side. I’m more in the mental ascent. I'm more in the kind of saying the right things, learning the right things. But I'm not so big on actually doing all of those things. We're just different in that regard.” 

But then James says:

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

James is, as you know from the last couple of weeks, he's kind of like the guy that, like, let's say you were getting in a fight with James. It's what it feels like. Whether you like it or not, reading in James, you think he's fighting you. You don't know why, but he's the kind of guy that goes into the fight and doesn't kind of like, you know, size up the opponent. He's not the guy that goes into the fight and just kind of like dances around a little bit. He's the guy who goes into the fight and starts with a head butt. Just comes right at you. You know? Now, what are we going to do? 

So here he's basically talking to his church, because he was a pastor of a church and he's telling them they're just like demons.

Verse 20:

You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

Now, again, you can see how someone could kind of make way too big a deal for works-based righteousness or works-based salvation. Not talking about that all. What James is saying here is, yes, there is a reality where we come into a relationship with Christ, we come into a submission, a surrender to Christ and what he did on the cross. And we find a justification, a righteousness, a salvation in that, no doubt about it. But then there is a working out of that salvation. There is a walking out of that. 

And he even says that our salvation, our righteousness, our faith is made complete as we walk that out. And so we’ve got to watch out for that kind of far extreme, but at the same time, we’ve got to hear what James is trying to say to us, Wwat he's trying to teach us. 

And James the Just is a guy who has a very interesting perspective on what it means to be Christlike; because he grew up in the same house as Jesus. Alec talked about this in his awesome message a few weeks ago.

I told those guys to stop doing such a good job when I'm out, because, you know, I got a little weird, you know, and they're so good. No, I didn't say that at all.  They’re just so good. I loved it.

But James grew up. He was the half-brother of Jesus, right? Not the same dad. It was virgin birth. Christmas. You with me on this? So James is the half-brother of Jesus, the younger brother of Jesus, and he grew up in the same house.

And I think James is so interesting, because I've always wondered what happened between 12 and 30 for Jesus, like Jesus was born in Bethlehem. We know tons about that, right? We sing about it. We celebrate it. And then at one time, at 12 years old, he spent the night at the church. And then it's just like radio silence. And then 30 — bam! Here he is, you know a lot about those next three years. But James knows what happened in those years. He knows all about those years. 

Younger brothers, they study their older brothers. How do I know? I got two older brothers. And they study them. They study them, you know, to find out what good they're doing. But they also study up, you know, so they know what stupid things not to do.

And I had great examples of both. As a young brother, I had two older brothers. They were both state wrestlers. And I was a basketball player. So they punished me all the time for that. But I learned from them and there were so many times they would actually, like, make it so that I was not able to do certain things — even though they were doing them; because they knew they weren’t right and they knew they weren't beneficial. But they wanted to make sure that I didn't fall into those traps.

It was so interesting to me. But I got to study them. I got to see what good they were doing and kind of exemplify those things they were doing and stay away from those things. 

And James was that as well. He grew up watching Jesus as a younger brother, and also it was probably the most frustrating thing in the world. Because James, you know, he’s, like, going to mess up every once in a while. He’s going to break something, he’s going to do something, and then he'll be like, "No, it wasn't me, it was Jesus.”

And then Mary would be like “James, um, I'm going to go ask Jesus if it was him. So what do you want to do right now?” 

Because Jesus never sinned! Jesus never told a lie. James did not follow Jesus. James did not think highly of Jesus until after the resurrection. And I don't blame him. It would have been so frustrating to always be like,  “What went down?” Mary would be like,  “All of you stop talking! Jesus, what happened?” You know?

And I know a little bit about that, because I grew up with with two older brothers and the three of us, we broke a lot of things. We did a lot of dumb things. We fought a lot. We did all the things. And I had a best friend named Phillip Buckley. 

By the way, Mark and Kristina Buckley started Living Streams Church in their living room thirty seven years ago last Monday. Living Streams is thirty-seven years old. Watch out. Um, and and it's just awesome to see what the Lord has done. They have tons of stories. 

But Mark and Kristina's son, Phillip, their second son, and I were best friends growing up. And Phillip never told a lie either. And he's the best friend, he was so awesome. He's also like the worst friend. Because, same thing in our house. My dad would be like, “What happened? Who broke that?" 

And you know, Peter, my brother Peter, he loves to talk. He loves to tell stories. He doesn't know what exaggeration is. He just think it's like a game. And so he would come up with seven stories on the spot — he’s brilliant. 

And then my brother Jon would just kind of like grunt and and like, you know, just not really say what happened. He’d just kind of avoid saying things. And that I would just kind of, you know, I was a little manipulative and I'd always somehow get Jon in trouble, I think.

We just we all had the way we come at it. Whenever Phillip was there, he would just — no, we weren't allowed to talk. He'd say, “Philip, what happened?” And we all would kind of hang our heads a little bit, because we knew were we were going down. We were going down, for sure. 

That's what it was like for James. But he learned about Jesus. He learned what it was like. And then, after the resurrection, he just, you know, I mean, fascinating to think what happened in his heart and soul after the resurrection. And then calling his older brother, “the Lord, the Messiah.” I mean, that's the place he came to. And he committed the rest of his life to following his example and living for his glory. 

And he became the leader of the first church in Israel as they decided, you know, who was going to be the leader of the church. Yes, the apostles are there, but they kind of spread out in different places. And James became the leader of that first church. He was cultivating that community. And his job was he was trying to help that community look and feel the most like Christ. And he had some of the best perspective on that. And so he was doing that. 

And so he's writing this book about 30 years after the resurrection. So the community of Christ has really taken some shape and form. And actually, a.d. 30 is when Jerusalem was destroyed and they went through all of that. So it's right before that. It's kind of a very interesting time. And James puts this letter out to the community of faith, and he's saying, “I think you guys are kind of really emphasizing a little too much the right things to say, the right things to think, and you're not emphasizing enough the aspect of Jesus that was so just service-based. You've become so good at statements, but you've lost the heart of service.” 

And he goes through all of this and we've got a little outline that we've been looking at. In James Chapter one, he talks about the kind of religion that that God accepts. And again, he's got the whole image of Jesus in his mind. And he's saying that the religion God accepts is one that is all about orphans and widows in their distress, and keeping yourself unspotted from the world.

And when James looks back and thinks about what Jesus is all about, he was all about the vulnerable. And James is saying we can't forget that as we're walking out as the community of Christ. 

And the second thing we talked about, which is last week, Jeff took us through “mercy triumphs over judgment.” James got to see that lived out, that Jesus lived perfectly righteous. And yet he didn't hold that over people. Instead, he showed people mercy. He got to learn that mercy is what's more important than anything else. 

And it's funny, because in this Kinetic Righteousness series, I've been really looking at justice, because justice really is kind of like kinetic righteousness. It's doing justice. And I've been studying justice. I've been diving in. And I know our culture right now is wanting to really understand and see justice happen. 

And the more I've studied justice, the more I think justice is not really what we want. What we want is mercy. Because if really everybody got what was just, then there would be a lot of inequity. Because some people work harder, some people have more abilities, those type of things, so it would kind of create this weird type of thing. 

But the only true place that we have equity is actually in our sin — that we have all fallen short of the glory of God. And therefore, we are all in desperate need of mercy. Mercy is what's going to bring us together. Mercy is what really we long for. 

And somehow God, in his amazing wisdom, accomplishes justice through mercy instead of judgment. Fascinating stuff. Fascinating stuff. 

And then, actually, we started off the series because, you know, my whole Covid month, with Ryan teaching us about “Those who sow in peace will reap a harvest of righteousness.” And again, I've been chewing on that big time. Today we're talking about kinetic faith. And then we've got a couple more teachings: “The tongue and unrighteousness.” James is real big on the tongue. And all of us understand that the tongue is probably one of the greatest purveyors of unrighteousness in our day — and James would say the same thing about his day. 

And then and then in James Chapter five, it's interesting because the heading in your Bible, which has been around for a long, long time, is “Warning to rich oppressors.” And I just think it's so awesome that the Bible's been there, done that. You know, society is really doing a lot of critique on a lot of different things in our society. And I don't think that's necessarily bad. Critique is not bad. But I don't think society really has the best perspective on what righteousness is. So I love that we can go to the scriptures and we can have a whole section that's warning to rich oppressors. And we're going to be going through that. So maybe go to a different church for a few weeks or something. But, you know, it's good for us. It’s what we need to hear. And so that's a little bit of our outline.

And then we've got this passage, and in this passage, James unpacks for us three different examples I want to look at, of what he what he would say helps us in the process of having kinetic faith or kinetic righteousness. And the examples he gives, there are three of them. And I've got a point for each one of them. You can put the points up there:

First of all, he gives an example that helps us remember we need to get proximate and generous. If we want to do righteousness, it has a lot to do with being proximate to pain and generous in the face of needs. 

The second point is we need to be obedient and sacrificial. Obedient and sacrificial. Oftentimes, when God tells us to do something, it comes with sacrifice — just as a heads up.

And then the last thing is we need to take care of the vulnerable. 

And so the first example he gives is the story of you come across someone who's hungry and doesn't have enough clothes, whether they're they're naked, or whether it's cold and they just don't have enough warm clothes.You come across the situation of the person in need, and James says so often the church nowadays is saying, “Hey, be warmed and filled. I pray a blessing over you. I'll give you a tract, or or I'll tell you a Bible verse and then be on our way.”

And James is just saying that is not at all what Jesus would have done. That is not like Christ. What James would say is you need to get in there. You need to get proximate to the hunger, proximate to the nakedness, proximate to the pain, and the lack, and the poverty. You need to get so close that you actually are close enough to get your shoulder underneath the burden that person might be carrying. And you need to be generous and meet those needs. 

And I don't know your situation, I know there's a lot of people in this church that they are champions of this. They are doing so well at this. We had the panel on Wednesday night. They did such a good job of sharing their stories from their lives of how they got proximate and how, again, the proximity is not so that we can come and rescue; but somehow we can enter into this space where there's this mutual rescuing, which is so beautiful, and exquisite mutuality, and extraordinary kinship. 

But if we spend all of our lives avoiding pain — whereas Jesus told the story, you know, those who walked on the other side of the road from the person who was in pain — we’re going to miss out so much on the beauty of righteousness that God wants to produce in and through us, and the beauty of the blessing of of having that mutual rescuing go on — that only God can do — of mercy showing up. So we need to get proximate and we need to be generous. 

The second example he gives is Abraham offering up Isaac. If you don't know that story, way back in the Old Testament, Abraham, father of faith Abraham, is just a guy who actually was a was in idolatry. He was worshiping other gods. But then somehow Yahweh called to him and said, “Hey, I want you to leave everything and go to the place I show you.” 

And Abraham, “OK.” So he takes his whole family and he goes to this desert and he's just out there and God continues to give him Step-By-Step instructions about what to do and where to go. And at one point, Abraham, you know, he was old and he and his wife were old and they wanted to have a son. They weren't able to have a son together. And finally they had a son, Isaac, in their old age. And there was this beautiful accomplishment of this promise. And he was so excited. 

And then one day God says to him, “Abraham, I want you to take your son Isaac up onto the mountain and I want you to sacrifice him to honor me.” 

And Abraham did it. He got his son. He got the wood for the sacrifice. He took them up the hill. He got out the knife. He laid his son Isaac on the altar and he went to kill him. And an angel actually stopped his hand. He said “Abraham, I don't want you to kill, I take no delight in human sacrifice. But what I delight in is you have chosen to cherish me above everything else.” 

And Abraham was willing to be obedient. He was willing to be sacrificial. And it counted as this beautiful righteousness. 

And God's calling you and me to get uncomfortable. He's calling all of us into an obedience that is going to make our flesh so upset, that’s going to make us vulnerable, that’s going to make us experience pain and discomfort, that’s going to make us sacrifice. And I would be lying to you as a pastor if I didn't tell you that following Christ is going to cost you. But everything that you pay in, every price you pay, everything you sacrifice, God keeps track of. And he will reward those who diligently seek him. 

But it's so important, according to James, as he remembers the life of Christ and he's trying to form this community that he loves and cares for, it’s so important that they remember they need to be obedient and they need to be sacrificial. 

And the last thing is he gives us is the example of Rahab, protecting the spies. And the title here is Taking Care of the Vulnerable, and Rahab, is so fascinating. Rahab is a prostitute in Jericho, like Jericho, the Canaanites, the ones God was sending his people in to, kind of wipe out because he had given them 400 years to turn to him and they have continued further and further into their debauchery.

And here's a prostitute living in the walls of Jericho that the Bible talks about all the time as this example of beautiful righteousness. And what she did is, the Israelites sent spies into Jericho to kind of check things out, and they found themselves where the guards of the of the soldiers of Jericho found out they were there and they were coming to kill them. And they were running and hiding. Don't know how it happened exactly — watch the movie when we get to heaven. 

But they ended up finding their way into Rahab's house. And somehow she knew what was going on. And somehow she had heard about the God Yahweh and what was happening and and really was convinced that that was the true God. And so she ends up protecting the spies, hiding them away, and the soldiers come and she's like, “No, they're not here. They just went that way. If you go quick, you will catch them.” 

So she's lying. She's a prostitute  liar. And the Bible’s like, "Dude, check her out. You got to check this lady out. Just so, so righteous.” 

And that act ends up bringing salvation to her whole household. She somehow becomes a community of the Israelites. And not only that, but then she actually becomes in the lineage of Messiah of Jesus Christ. She's like the great, great, great, great, great, great, great, (whatever) grandma of Jesus. Rahab, is like the great, great, great, great grandma of David the King of Israel. And time and time again in the New Testament, they're like, “Oh, yeah, remember how righteous Rahab was?” 

So, first of all, whatever your past is doesn't matter. The righteousness of God is always more powerful than our own righteousness. Every second of every day. It’s not even a contest. Our righteousness comes in with a head butt, bam. And unrighteousness is like boom. 

But in this story, what James is wanting to understand is she took care of the vulnerable. She didn't have it all figured out. Her faith was not dialed in. She didn't know all the things to say. Her statements probably were not in order. But she took care of the vulnerable. She took care of the foreigner. She took care of the illegal. And it was counted onto her as righteousness. And they got the other stuff worked out later, for sure. Taking care of the vulnerable is a really big deal for the heart of Jesus. And what James is trying to remind us of. 

When I say vulnerable, we're talking about the ones downriver. We mentioned that a few weeks ago, there's a whole bunch of people that live downriver from you. And what you do with the river, what you do with what you have is either kind of stealing everything from them or it's helping them experience some of that. And right now, as an American, guess what? You're at the front of the river. You have all the resources of the river. And the whole world, in some extent, lives down river from us. And we're going to be judged accordingly. We need to keep that in mind as we do business. 

The other thing that I think is important, the vulnerable, the ones the amendments don't stand up for, the ones that don't fit into your plans. I feel like the Lord’s stirring up, you know — when I was reading this and studying this — abortion. I mean, I have a daughter with a special need, and when we found out in the womb that she was going to, the first thing the doctor said was, “Do you want to abort?” Like, “What?” Talk about vulnerable.

And the way that Jesus described it was the least of these, the least. The ones society has totally forgotten, the ones that no one would ever pay attention to. Poverty of health, poverty of wealth or opportunity, poverty of spirit or education relationship, poverty of mental health. These are the ones that Jesus really wants us to learn and know. 

Tim Keller, a guy who teaches and I think it does a really a lot of great things. I'm going to say what he said, because I am too nervous to say it myself. He said, “If you don't know the name of the poor, you don't know the name of Jesus.” I thought that was very James-like. 

And so these three things have worked themselves out in my life in a couple of different ways Recently getting proximate, I met a kid, eight years old. I was twenty-three. We met at this summer camp. And after the summer camp, I was like, "Hey, man, let's hang out.” 

And so I used to show up and take them, you know, to out to eat or to go do some fun things around his birthday, Christmas kind of big brother stuff. And I got a little insight into the world that he lived in with his family. And it was hell. And every time I would drop them off after we hung out, I would just drive away begging the Lord for mercy, for him to cover him somehow, because it was really rough. 

And years went by and years went by. And I continued to just kind of — and I would lose him sometimes because they moved a lot and he didn’t have a consistent cell number. And I would lose him. But then somehow I'd always, like, find him. Literally. Like one time I was at Magic Mountain and he showed up and I was just like, “What? What's your number now?” We reconnected.  It was total God thing. 

But for 20 years, you know, we've just been hanging out and kind of showing up a little, wishing I could do more. There were times where I thought, Man, could he come live with me and my wife? I don't know. And I was newly married. Like there's just all these different things, all these challenges. But I just felt like, I'll just show up and give what I can.

And then his mom called me one time and told me he had been arrested and he was in a mental hospital. And so I went and visited him and we talked. I went home and I was telling my wife about it. And my wife, who is just so unafraid. She said, “Why don't we why don't you ask him if he'll come live with us now?” 

And I mean, the thought had never crossed my — I got three daughters and he's got schizophrenia, he's got serious mental illness, all these things.  Again, I'm not saying you should invite everybody into your home. Please don't hear that. But what we really felt like the Lord was saying was, "This is the moment." 

And so he came and lived with us for a year, and we were able to really find out some interesting things. He had voices speaking to him all the time. But because of all those years, because all that time of proximity that we had together, he could trust my voice. I was the only voice in the multiplicity of voices that he had ruining and ruling his life. He could trust me and he would come to me and he'd say, “I hear the voices are saying this.” 

And I'd say, “That's the voices. That's not real.” 

And you could see it was so difficult for him. But he knew he could trust my voice. And so we were able to get him some help. We were able to get him with some doctors, were able to get him with some system. We got him on things and he's like winning the battle with schizophrenia right now. And we're still walking together. 

And I had no idea that all those little bits, I mean, I was just literally hanging out. I'd take him out to eat. We’d go see a movie at Christmas. When I was a high school youth pastor, or whatever, I'd take him on weird trips and he’d be like, all the high schoolers and there was this guy. And he was just like soaking it up. I didn't know. I didn't know the Lord was building something so important for a season in his life. I had no idea how beautiful it would be when the righteousness of God showed up and how powerful it would be. Now we would get to experience it together and find that rescue together. 

And so it doesn't have to be some grand, massive thing, it could just be one kid you just walk with for years and years. Getting proximate. 

And then the other thing, the Lord’s really challenging me right now is, is I feel like the Lord told me he wants me, and us somehow, to strengthen the church in South Phoenix. And I'm like the poster child for “not the person you want coming in to help minority communities or anything like that,” and I get that. Totally understand. But the Lord put it on my heart, so I'm trying to be obedient and walk into this thing. 

And I just went to an all black church last Sunday because I was all cleared and everything with protocol but they told me not to come here. So I just walked in and it’s a friend of mine’s church. We've been kind of getting to know each other, building a little bit of relationship. And I showed up and I walked in. And you know it was very different from here. There were about 30 people. And I walked in and I was trying to be really considerate and set everybody at ease. And, you know, obviously, I was very different. And so there was lots of reactions I would get.

I remember when I walked in, like, you know, it was cool because they were like, "Oh, well, what's up with this guy? Is he lost? What's going on?” 

But then they leaned in. They were like, “You know, come on.” And, you know, they were very welcoming. It was awesome. And then I was sitting there and I remember a couple of times, you know, someone would look back and then they'd see me. And there was a couple of people  — and it grieved my heart because I think the reaction was either suspicion or fear. And the reality was that they've heard about white guys like me going into churches and shooting people up like those. And so, like, legitimately, they have to process that out. And it just broke my heart that there's this like challenge between us. That is a reality. 

And so they would kind of like overcome that and I would try and set them at ease. But we ended up having this wonderful time together. Again, you know, 30 people and me just sitting there and the worship time was just rich and awesome. And the Lord totally ministered to my heavy heart. 

And then I got to listen to the message. And the guy was preaching in a way that I was like, “Dude, I got to learn to preach, man.” These guys know how to preach and I don't even know how to preach. 

Yeah, I remember he had like you would do like three wipes with this towel on his forehead, and then it was a full wipe. It was like three wipes and a full wipe. It was like this rhythm. I was like, “Yeah,” it was so awesome. It was wonderful. And the Lord spoke some deep guidance to some questions in my heart, and I loved it. And then I just sat there and in the last song was going on, I was like, “Lord, OK, what do you what what do I need to learn?” 

And I felt like the Lord said that this church, this church of thirty people — and obviously there's more and there's a whole history with this church, but there's more online and all that — but he said this church, this church has alleviated just as much pain as all the big churches in this city. This church pound for pound is one of the best paying elevators in this city. They know how to be generous and be proximate. They know how to be obedient and sacrificial. They really care about taking care of the vulnerable.

And I just, my heart just both broke and soared at the same time. And I want us to be a church that can alleviate pain, that runs in to it. That pound for pound, we are alleviating pain in the city, we are taking care of the vulnerable. And you're not going to find them unless you go. And you're not going to find them unless you somehow help them know they don't have to be afraid of you, you’re not coming to do some sort of project, but you actually come to just get underneath their burden and walk with them. You're not better than them in any other way. You're just full of mercy because of what Jesus has done. And you want to see if they want some mercy. 

And my example means nothing in comparison to Jesus's example. And Jesus, more than anyone else, he became proximate. The whole incarnation. He was in glory with the Father in heaven. And yet he saw us in our pain. He saw it in our lack. And he became not some royal priest, but he came a babe in Bethlehem, born in an awkward situation. A lot of people thought illegitimate. And he lived consistently, that he didn't break out of poverty. He didn't break out of oppression. He continued to live in it. 

And we're still talking about him today, all these years later, in a far off place. And not only was he proximate, but he was obedient. Philippians 2 tells us he was obedient and sacrificial even to death on the cross. He was not afraid to sacrifice, even though he had never sinned. And we know very clearly he took care of the vulnerable. One — actually with signs and wonders and preaching good news to the poor. But also he took care of all of us who are vulnerable because we were stuck in our sin and we were headed for hell and he provided the rescue we need to be with him forever more. 

What an awesome God, what an awesome Savior. Worth following and worth emulating. In our world today, let's pray:

Jesus, we love you. We want more of you. We want to be a community that just looks, smells, feels and tastes just like you. So we need your blood to cleanse us and make us righteous. We need your Spirit to fill us and empower us. And we need to know what things you want us to step into, Lord. Bring people to mind or bring situations to mind. I pray ou would use this kinetic righteousness deal to connect people in this room to people in pain, if they're not sure how to do that. 

But Lord, I also want to pray for those who are experiencing a lot of pain right now, experiencing a lot of poverty right now, whether they're online or in person. I pray that they would just know how proximate you are and feel your comfort. That they would cry out to you and you would be found, Lord. 

I pray for those who don't know you or aren't walking with you. I pray that today, Lord, that would all change and they would step out of the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light. That they would receive you, Jesus, and find you such a faithful friend. 

We pray all this in your name, Amen.

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The Law Gives Freedom

Series: Kinetic Righteousness
September 26, 2021 - Jeff Gokee

We're going to read out of James two, starting in verse one. If you are able to stand, why don't you stand with me and let's read the word of God here.

James 2:1: 

My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

This is the reading of the word of God. And all God's people said amen. You may be seated. 

So, I tend to talk a lot about India because it's been a place that really changed me. Twelve  years ago, I went for the first time to lead a pastor's conference. And I felt like I met Jesus again in India. I met Jesus again among the poor, among the people that they just kind of push aside. They don't matter. And actually, really, one of the groups that really made a huge impact where I really felt the presence of God was with this leper colony that we got to spend time with. 

That morning — now, this is my first time to India. I knew we were going to go go be spending time with these lepers. And I really thought that was kind of like an Old Testament kind of thing, like New Testament, you know, like it's a Bible thing. It's not like now thing. And so I was honestly pretty overwhelmed by the whole idea of like spend time with them, you know. 

And if you don't know about leprosy, leprosy is a neurological disease that essentially kills your nerves and then limbs fall off. And so, you know, can I touch them? I was kind of nervous, overwhelmed by the whole experience. 

So standing on the fourth floor, and they're going to bring, Harvest. India was bringing them to the campus. They live in these colonies because the country pushes them to these colonies. So they live in these colonies and take care of one another. So we were bringing them to the campus, so they they start showing up. 

And so I go on this fourth floor, I'm like overlooking and I see all this commotion down on the street side where all the shops are. And as the lepers are showing up, the business owners are coming out  — no joke — with brooms and and yelling. Right? And there's all this commotion. Right? And what I found out was that, you know, lepers had the worst karma, like the worst karma. And they don't want that bad karma anywhere near their business or they'll lose business.

And so they're like, “Get away, get away from my business, get away from here.” And they're like, literally with a broom because they don't want to lose their customers. And I don't know, as I was telling that story, if you felt something inside of you like, That's wrong. Do you feel that? Like there's something about that. There's something inside of us that tells us that's not right. That's wrong. 

And I remember thinking like, Thank goodness that doesn't exist here. But it does, right? Like we all know it does. And, you know, one of the more dangerous places that happens is here in local churches, where we kind of shove people away and go, “No, no, no, you got to look like this, you've got to act like this.”

“No, no, no. You're going to taint this place.” 

When in reality, the kingdom of God is like open doors.”Come all of you who are weary and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest.” 

And it's this tragic thing that James is trying to help us connect with. This deep truth that we know what's wrong. We feel it, but we are unaware of why oftentimes we keep perpetuating the same problem. And what James is trying to do, throughout his whole letter, is trying to say this, “The gospel is good news.” Because it is about a God who extends a generous, holy eternity-changing mercy to anyone who will receive it. 

And not only that, when we receive it, the other part of the good news is, we now extend it back, that we become mercy multipliers because we've experienced that mercy. We've experienced the overwhelming holy nature of that mercy that we now multiply. That's called kingdom economics. Right? 

There's this passage in Luke 12 that a lot of us know. It says, “To whom much is given, much is required.” And sadly, what most people do with that passage, they go, "Oh, that is just about money.” Like we we like to do that. 

How many of you love Skittles? How many? We love Skittles. Raise your hand if you love Skittles. OK, how many of you like to pick a color with Skittles like you like. I like the red ones. I'm a red guy. Right. So I like the red ones.

So this is what we've done with Christianity on the whole. We just go like, “Oh, I like the red ones. I'm not saying I don't want to eat the rest of the Skittles, because they're all Skittles. I just like the red ones most.”

This is what we do. It's Skittle Christianity. It's Skittle Christianity. “I like this part. But I don't know if I really want to do all that.” Right? And as it relates to this particular passage in James, and what Luke is trying to say as a result, as much as it's helping us understand about kingdom economics is like this: “To whom much is given, much is required.” 

That's all of you. All of you. Your mercy is to be multiplied. Your finances are to be multiplied. Right? Because we will use that passage and say, “Oh, this is about money.” No, it's not. It's a whole life passage. Your mercy. To whom much mercy has been given, much mercy is required to give back. That's kingdom economy. This is what Jesus died for. This is what Jesus displayed. 

This is what James is trying to help this beautiful church, this first church, up and going. If you know that James is one of the earliest books written in the Bible, he wrote it about twenty years after Jesus died and rose again. And he's coming to this small Jewish community who's living in a gentile world that doesn't look like them, doesn't act like them. And he's trying to say, “Hey, listen, we are now defined by this mercy and we need to go multiply this mercy.” And he's very, very honest all throughout his book about how to do that. He's trying to move us to righteousness.

But he's doing it in this very awesome, bizarre way, because he's Jesus's brother, half-brother. He watched Jesus grow up. He saw what Jesus looked like as a kid when he saw what he looked like as a son, as a carpenter. We don't have a lot of historical reference about all that, but James was there as Jesus was being raised. He was living in that annoying home where the mom kept going, “He's the messiah,” you know, and he's like, “I hate that.” Right? 

But James was also there when Jesus died. James probably dealt with the fact that he wasn't like Jesus keeps saying and proclaiming over the last three and a half years, that he is the Messiah, and James is like, “Yean, but he’s like my brother.” Like he wants to believe it, but, you know, there's like  this tension and then all of a sudden he like goes throughout out these villages and he sees the kingdom economy that's being displayed for the world. 

And then he sees Jesus on the cross extend his hands and say, "Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.” Mercy. And James is coming to this young church and going, “Multiply it, multiply it. Stop taking advantage of it. Multiply it. I know. I was one of them. I know. I struggle with it, too. But he changed the world. That's good news.” 

And he's inviting us all into that. James is trying to define what righteousness is. As he observed it in his brother, Jesus. 

Suresh, who’s the president of Harvest India, has this great quote, one of my favorite quotes, and he says this: “Everybody’s doing, but nobody's getting anything done.” He’s specifically talking about believers. Everybody's busy doing, but nobody's getting anything done. James would have been like, “Amen!” Right?

Because what Suresh is saying is we're all busy doing the wrong stuff and we're busying ourself. What are we doing to do kingdom impact? Make a difference in this world? Because I'll tell you what our culture is telling you. It's telling you to create partiality. It's telling you you've got to be on this side, or this side is telling you you got to pick a politician. It's telling you have to pick a policy. It's telling you you have to pick a party. You have to pick a race. And Jesus is like, “Stop it!” James is like, “Stop it.” 

“I died for the world. My mercy extends to the world. It extends to blue and to red. And I love them all!” 

As goofy and crazy as we all are, he loves us all. And he's like, “If you have experienced that mercy, you will multiply that.” 

I hope you're feeling the conviction I have been feeling all week long. This is a beautiful freedom that we've been given. And I'll tell you what, you've heard these passages before, haven't you? We know the truth, don't we? But why is it that we continue to run against this good news that that Jesus has given to us, that James is trying to help us understand?

My wife — we've been married this year, I think 23 years. Awesome — and my wife at 40, like so many of us, we’re, you know, thinking that, you know, “I feel great.” And then all of a sudden, her eyes started going and she didn't want to really deal with the fact.

How many of you hate the optometrist's? Hate it. She hates the optometrist's. I mean, loathes it. And I'm sure they're wonderful people, but she despises that place. Right? And so she decided that she'd just figure it out. But then we go out to eat, right? And we're sitting and she's trying to do the menu and she's doing one of these bits like, you know, like. And so I got to run out to the car. I got to get her readers, like bring them back in. And I'm like, “Why don't you just get Lasik?” 

And she's like, “I'm not letting them do touch my eye.” But she got glasses. She got prescription glasses and she puts them on. 

And this is what James is inviting us to do. We're living in this kind of blurry theology. And you see the theology of Jesus that James is trying to help us understand is not this ethereal truths. It's practical ethics that we live out. And mercy is moving us forward.

But will we listen? Will we do it? Will we put on the lenses that he's trying to give to us so we can see clearly the path before it, that we would lean not into our own understanding, but in all of our ways, acknowledge who? Him! And what will he do? He'll direct our paths, and that's what we need. 

And so he starts off first with basically this proposition, this petition of we need to prohibit, as believers, we need to prohibit partiality. He says this in verse one.

And I love the way he says this. “My brothers and sisters, believers,” and you can feel it. I want you to feel it. Sometimes we don't humanize the scriptures enough. Right? Be there in the room when he's saying this. Feel the feels. And he's like looking over these people as a spiritual father. And he's just looking at them going, “My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus — my brother — we must not show favoritism. We've got to stop this. We've got to stop doing that. 

And then he does the story in verses two through four, a story that honestly Jesus has told. And you can imagine, like, you know, Jesus is such a great storyteller and James is like, I'm just going to pick up that legacy. And so he tells the story. He tells the story about the rich man who walks in. Right? And he's got these clothes, his very colorful clothes. And he's got rings. In fact, they would wear multiple rings when they would walk in to try to say to everyone, “Hey, I'm a big deal.”

How many of you have heard — raise of hands — of peacocking? Anyone ever heard of peacocking? Right. You ever gone to a zoo? Like peacocks are ugly birds. They're not beautiful birds. And then all of a sudden everyone's like, “What an ugly bird.” And then they're like, “Oh, yeah.” Right? Feathers up, right? Everyone's like, “Whoa! My gosh!” Right? They’re peacocking. Peacocks are prideful birds. Right?  Because they're like, “Oh, you don't think… well, check this out!”

Right? But that's literally what's happening in this area. This man is walking into the synagogue and he's peacocking. He's going like, “Look at my bright clothes. Look at my gold rings. I'm a big deal.”

And here's the problem. The church doesn't go, "Hey, man, humble yourself in the sight of the Lord.” No, we go, “Oh, have a seat right here in the front. Hey, could you guys move over? This big deal person’s coming in."

And then the contrast is this. There's a poor man. He walks in. And everyone’s like “Uh, that guy again. Hey, just find, just in the back. You can sit on the floor. I don't care. Just so inconvenient.” 

We know that story, right? We feel that story. But why isn't that story changing us? Why isn't it just wrecking us? Because I think we struggle with an understanding that there is no partiality in the kingdom of God. There is no place for it. Jesus came to us. God came to us, Emmanuel. And what did he do? Did he go hang out with all the politicians? No. He met with the religious. He met with government people. Right? But what he did is, he went and hung out with the Samaritans. Why? Because the Jews hated the Samaritans. Hated them, despised them, called them lower than dogs. 

And what did Jesus do? He takes them to a Samaritan village. And the disciples are hungry. They're like, “We're hungry. We got to get some food.” 

He's like, “Just go into town.” 

And they're like, “No.” 

“Just go into town. You’re hungry. Go get some food.” 

“But if we eat, we’ll be unclean.”

“Just go get some food.”

And he has this conversation with the Samaritan woman. Right? He tells a story about what? A good Samaritan. He's bringing conflict because they liked this partiality. They liked these, you know, “You're over here. They’re over here. We're good. You're bad." 

And Jesus kind of flips the script because he’s like, “In my kingdom, it doesn't work like that. There's equality in my kingdom.” Right? He hangs out with the lepers. In modern day, it's the same thing. We put lepers in villages. We try to get sick people away. “I don’t want that all over me.” And what did Jesus do? He goes to the leper, touches the leper, heals the leper. Goes to the poor, goes to the vagabond, is called and lives like a vagabond. Is called a glutton and a drunk, a friend of sinners. He goes to Zacchaeus, and says, “Dude, I want to go to your house for dinner.” 

And everyone's like, “He's the worst. That guy's the worst.” 

And he's like, “I came to seek and save the lost." 

Mercy upon mercy given out to all of us. Displaying for us what the kingdom of God is all about. 

And you can almost hear James as he's going through this, “Brothers and sisters, brothers and sisters.” He's going like this, “I get it. I thought he was crazy, too. I thought he was crazy too, but he’s not.  He's changed the world.” 

And that's why it's good news that we're all being invited into. Right? Paul says this. I love that Paul kind of jumps on it and goes, in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, nor slave nor free. There was neither male or female. For you all are one in Christ Jesus.” 

That's good news. That's rejecting the plurality and the favoritism in our culture, is that we all have access to Jesus. And his love wasn't just for one people group, one political system, it was for the world.

And James is like, ‘Do you feel that?” 

Paul is like, “Do you feel that? Feel it deeply in your soul?” 

Because there is equality at the foot of the cross. Jesus died so all could be set free. All could experience the redeeming mercy and grace that he wants to extend. And now he hands you and I the baton, and said, “Will you multiply this? Will you go do this?” 

And as I was talking about this passage with a friend this week, he was like, “I love this passage, but it's so frustrating.”

I'm like, “Why?” 

He goes, “Because we all know that this is a problem. We all know it's a problem.” 

And I said, “Well, what do you think?” 

And he goes, “I think we were looking at it wrong. I think the reason why we want to be associated with that rich person is because it makes us feel good. Like we don't want to be associated with the poor.” 

We want to be associated with the rich because, with the rich, then I get popularity. I get power. I get influence. Right? But with the poor, it's like there's no impoverished people in India that are influencers on Instagram; because our culture doesn't want that. You don't want that. You reject that. “No. If you were good, then you would be doing this. You would look like this.”

And we want to be associated — whether we want to believe it or not — with the winning team. And who's winning? The rich are. The popular are. The powerful are. So my ego, my insecurity wants to go here. 

And meanwhile, Jesus is born in a barn in Bethlehem.

And I got to be honest, the struggle for me this week is realizing I would have been in the crowd screaming, "Crucify him!” 

Have you ever been in the crowd? Thank you. Put yourself there, you should. I realize I am hard wired for partiality. Like, all of a sudden, this guy, everyone starts talking about Jesus and what he's doing, I'm like, “What is this guy? We've got a system. We got to, you know…” 

I really believe — and I wish I didn't believe that about myself — but I do think I would be in the crowd and I'll be mocking and jeering at him. Meanwhile, he's extending his hands and going, “Mercy, mercy on you. Mercy on you. Mercy on you.” 

James knows this. James experienced this. That's why he keeps coming back to this church, going, “Could we just talk? Can we work through this together? Because the problem is that we keep perpetuating partiality.” 

And that's why in verses five through eleven, he's going, “Can't you see this is a problem? This is this is a significant problem.” 

But what we need to deal with — and this will unleash us — we always think about poverty in the context of money, but we don't think about it in the context of relationship. We don't think about it as it relates to health. The poverty is so much bigger, and we don't want to see ourselves as weak, except that the scriptures keep telling us, “You’re weak, you're weak, you can't do anything to earn the grace of God.” 

And we hate that. We want to convince ourselves that the more powerful we become, the more influence we have, that we're going to be better. And the truth is, it's a lie that Satan has created from the beginning of time to distract you from the mercy of God.

And that's why James just keeps coming back and going, “This isn't going to work. As we move this good news forward, it's not going to work for you to continue to be distracted by this. You have to deal with the fact if you've broken one law, you've broken them all. And for the wages of sin is death. All have fallen short of the glory of God.” 

I think Isaiah says, “All of our good deeds are as filthy rags before a holy God,” but we struggled with that. And it's why we struggle to see hurting people, impoverished people. And many — not just economically— in all different aspects, because we're not dealing with our own spiritual poverty. 

And the mercy of God is trying to wake us up to that truth. This is so much bigger than rich and poor. It is the context of this passage. And it was a huge problem in the first century church, and it's a huge problem today. But we all have to deal with the fact that we are poor and we need Jesus. We have to deal with that. And he's desperately trying to help them understand that. 

And the one word that really stood out to me in this passage — and I've missed it all the other times that I've kind of worked through this passage — was in verse seven. It says this, “Are they not the ones (talking about the rich, or if you want in our culture, just the world, the kingdom of this world) Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of whom you belong?” 

And that word belong got me this week. And I started studying it and I was like, “Wow. When you receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you belong to him.”

You know, we adopted our daughter Mika when she was four years old from the state of Arizona. And we went through the whole thing and the judge, and he was like, you know, “You're a Gokee.” And we're like, "It's so cool.”

And it was like real. But it became really real when we went around the corner and we walked in this office and they wrote a birth certificate, and on the birth certificate, it said that Patti was the biological mother. Like Patty's name is on there as Mika's mother. She's a Gokee. That's her identity. That's who she is. She belongs to the Gokee family. 

You and I, we're Christians. Christ is our Savior. God is our Father. It's him that we belong to. We do not belong to this world. We are aliens in this world. But we keep pretending and acting. And James is like, “Stop! Stop! Just live like the one you belong to. Let him bring you life.” 

And so he transitions into this whole beautiful point about about the laws, the different laws that govern us. So he first starts off in in verse seven and he says, “You need to go by the royal law.” 

And the royal law was to love your neighbor as yourself. This was taking a play, Jesus did, remember this story where they come and they say, “Hey, summarize the whole law.” And Jesus basically quotes the Shemmah, adds components to it. And one of the things he added was, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and then love others.”

This was the wholeness of what gospel was. Was this — the mercy of God. I love God. I receive his mercy and I extend that mercy out. And I love other people. This is the fulfillment of the entire law.

And James is like, “When we live this way, we are living as people of mercy. We are multiplying mercy. We are living in kingdom economics.” 

And this is what he's empowering us to do. But then he moves on to this other law in verse 12. It's the law of liberty. And this verse says, this, "Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom.” 

This law wasn't this overwhelming law. It was a law that brought freedom and clarity. Right? We have a law summarizing all 613 laws, very complex. And Jesus goes, “Let me make it easy for you. Love me and love other people.” 

It's that clear. And that clarity helps us to move forward. And what we're called to do, it brings us freedom.

I do a decent amount of marriage counseling, and I'll have husbands and wives who will come in and sit with me. And ultimately, at some point, the wife will say, “He should just know. He should just know.” 

And and I'm looking at the dude's face and he's like, “Uhhh.” I want to tell you, we are simple, men are simple creatures. You are setting us up for failure. If you just go, “Well, he should just know, he should just know I'm not in a good mood. He should just know I hate flowers.” 

Like, we don't know. We don't know. It's so confusing. Tell us what to do. Right? We're like puppies, right? Stop peeing in the house. Right? Men are like puppies. “Just tell me what to do. To the best of my ability, I want to serve you.” 

But when our wives are like, “You should just know,” you're like setting us up for failure, right? Because we need clarity. 

I tell my wife all the time, “I'm the worst guesser in the world. If you make me guess, I'll get it wrong and it'll be frustrating.” 

So, you're welcome. I just saved you thousands of dollars in marriage counseling.

Don't make your husbands guess. Be very clear. “Listen, you're being an idiot. Stop it.” 

“Oh, OK. Well, I've got to figure that out,” right? Right. 

So we don't have that with this law. The laws that God has given to us through Jesus is saying, “Let me summarize all of this and say this. Love me, love the other people. And when you do that, you are moving forward.” 

The good news of Jesus Christ. I love this quote by one of my favorite commentators named William Barkley. And he says this. This is so beautiful.

“Unlike the Pharisees and the Orthodox Jew, the Christian is not a man whose life is governed by external pressures of a whole series of rules and regulations imposed on him from without. He is governed by…

 This is beautiful. Receive this. 

…He is governed by the inner compulsion of love. He follows the right way, the way of the love to God and to love men. Not because of any external law compels him to do so, nor because any threat of punishment frightens him into doing so, but because the love of Christ within his heart makes him to desire so. 

It's this. When we fully come to understand that we were impoverished, we are poor and we needed saving, we experienced the rescue — his mercy, which helps us love him. And as we love him, we cannot help but loving other people. It compels us, not because somebody tells us to do it. Well, there's this law that's thumping us on the head. It's going, “Be released. Be loved. Receive the love and give the love. Receive the mercy, give the mercy. Kingdom economy. Keep multiplying that over and over and over,.” 

Which leads us into this law of mercy in verse 13, “Because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” 

In this period of my life I have come to understand my depravity. More than any other time in my life. I stand before you as a man who is trying his best to pursue after the Lord. I often get up, and James 3 talks about, “Teachers beware. Just beware that you hop up here…” 

And everyone thinks I got it all put together. Don’t. Like I'm trying. I should be a statistic. I should statistically have had an affair on my wife and led into really painful, awful addictions, and hurt a lot of people — and my kids included. I feel the mercy of God. I cannot believe at this point in my life. 

And so as a result of that, it's shifting things in me. Like, when people come and sit in my office with horrible, awful struggles, I used to judge them. I used to be like, “Get it together. What's wrong with you? You know the truth. Just do it.” Right? 

I go, “I get it. I'm the chief of all sinners. And I have received the mercy of God,” and I want to go reciprocate that, and so I want to walk with people in their pain. I want to work with people in their depravity instead of judging them from a distance; because my King of kings and my Lord of Lords did not do that to me. He rescued me. 

And this is the law of mercy and mercy triumphs over judgment. We are brought into accountability like in Matthew 5. Remember we just got through this series on righteousness. That “blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” Blessed are those who are merciful to people. 

And this is going like, “Extend mercy.” You're not ever going to be able to truly enjoy life and life to the full — this gospel good news if you are not experiencing the mercy of God — you're not going to be able to reciprocate that to a plural world, a separated, favoritism world. 

And the good news is like, “No, we've got Jesus,” right? Amen. We’ve got Jesus and he loves us and he saved us. And he rescues us. Because reciprocation will happen as a result of us understanding our emancipation. We will continue to love and care for people as we come and deal with the fact that we were poor, broken, sinful. And he mercifully came and died on the cross for us. This is the law of mercy, and mercy triumphs over judgment.

If you committed your life to Jesus Christ, you are under the law of mercy. And mercy triumphs over judgment. But what you do with that is what James is trying to encourage and challenge us into. 

Last night, my family and I went to a GCU soccer game. I'd never been — my son's a GCU student. I had I had never been to a soccer game at GCU. And we were having a great time. I mean, the goalie was like incredible. This dude was unbelievable. He was having the game of his life. Forty five seconds left. He makes this block. Then, all of a sudden, we're like, “What in the world?” And then all of a sudden the whole stadium just went quiet. And this goalie is laying on the ground. And the whole stadium, we watched people rush in on them. Players are crying. Like coaches are like, we're like, “What is going on? What is happening?” 

For 30 minutes we're watching people care. We don't know if they're trying to resuscitate him. We don't know if he broke  his… we don't know what's happening. And everyone in the crowd is going like, “Somebody’s got to do something.” Like, you know, everyone's going like, “Where's the ambulance?” And we were listening. Everyone's listening. And we're like, “What's going on? What's happened?” 

Like that feeling of helplessness of like, “I want to do something. I want to help, but I can't help.” And the stadium is just quiet, completely quiet. And all of a sudden the fire truck shows up, way far away, and the firemen start walking on the field and somebody yells, “Run! You need to run!” 

And so the whole crowd, that has just been quiet for 30 minutes, finally feels like they can do something. And they're like, “Run! You need to run.” And the guys are like, "You got to come over.” And the police and the firemen are just kind of walking. But everyone's feeling like, “You got to go, man! This guy's hurt. Something really bad has happened. You can't walk.” 

You're the player on the field. Jesus is the one who ran to you, rescued you, came to you, extended his mercy to you. He ran. Look at the prodigal son. He doesn't stand on his front porch and say, “I'll wait for you to show up.” He runs to the son, embraces him and kisses him. This is the picture of the love and the mercy of God that is extended to each and every one of you. And when we finally understand that. We will run to others. 

But so often we find ourselves in the stands feeling like, “Well, are we allowed to do something? Should we not do something?” Participate in crushing this partiality that's happening in our world. Extend mercy, because much has been given to you. Live in the kingdom economics, that Jesus so beautifully displayed to us. His upsidedown kingdom. When you have life and life to the full, it will be as a direct result of you dying and giving your life up the way he did. 

And I feel it so deeply in my soul. And I desire for the local church to be a beautiful light on a stand for the world to see. But let us extend the mercy. Let us extend this narrative that says, “This good news that mercy triumphs over judgment. That's who our King is. That's who our King is, and that's what he's done for you and me out of great love and a great sacrifice.”

Let's go do the same. This is what he's inviting us into. This is what James is passionately preaching to these people.

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The Righteousness of God

Series: Kinetic Righteousness
Alec Seekins

Good morning, Living Streams, how are you guys doing today? Really? That bad, huh? You guys doing all right? OK, OK. Still waiting for the coffee to kick in. First service, I feel like gets that excuse. Second service? I don't know. It's wearing off. You guys should be a little more awake. 

Well, if you haven't noticed, I'm not David Stockton. He's a little bit less hairy than me. David Stockton is at home. He wasn't feeling so good earlier this week. Don't worry, he's doing just fine. But he'll be back with us as soon as he can and as as soon as it's just, you know, responsible to do so. 

But my name is Alec Seekins. For those of you who don't know me, I've been around here for a little while — since I was about three years old. Living Streams has been my home about as long as I can remember. I spent some years here as one of the youth pastors, and then last year, with some really good timing, Living Streams kicked me and my wife out of the country and sent us to Southeast Asia for all of 2020.

So we missed the good stuff. Just kidding. It was pretty awesome. There was a little bit, it felt like maybe that was horrible timing. And then we started seeing the news and we started thinking, Oh, I think this is good timing and it's good, good to be in another country right now.

We spent 2020 in Southeast Asia working with a ministry. And I got to share a bunch about this right when we came back. We were working with an anti-trafficking ministry, and we got to see the Lord do some absolutely mind-blowing things. We saw a bunch of women come out of the sex trade and move into a different type of lifestyle. We saw women coming to the Lord. We saw even a couple of pimps leave that lifestyle and come to the Lord.

There's a brothel — or what was once the brothel — that’s now a community center where people get to hear about Jesus on a pretty regular basis there. And we got to see even a couple of women who came into a year of discipleship out of prostitution, with really not enough strength to continue on in their own life. And they left with surplus strength, that they're now on staff and they're able to give that surplus strength to other women to help them have a hope for coming out of slavery into the freedom that can only be found in Jesus. And it's a beautiful thing. 

And we're moving into the season of “Kinetic,” right? We're kind of in it, where we’ve been doing this series called Kinetic Righteousness. And really that’s, I think, what my wife and I, what we experienced last year is what we're hoping that we as a family can experience. Seeing the power of God at work in ways that we did not expect has messed both of us up in some really good ways, because we were so excited. Because it's like like Netflix just doesn't do it for me anymore. I find myself constantly looking around and seeing God. Where  is the place where I can beg your power to show up in a way I haven't seen before. I want to see more of this. And I don't think I could live a content life with just kind of the normal “par for the course” situation without seeing the power of God on display in some significant ways. 

And I'm praying this over you guys. And that's what we're hoping to do with this kinetic season. Please, please, please. I know if David were here, he would be begging you guys to just show up on Wednesday night. Connect with us, engage with us. We're hoping that this won't just be a season — that this will be something that will mess with the rest of your life. 

I mean, it starts with some community. It starts with some training. It starts with some conversation about how do we get kinetic, how do we get active watching the righteousness of God come through us. So please show up this Wednesday at six o'clock. There's going to be food, there's going to be community. And it's the beginning of three Wednesdays where we're going to figure out as a community, how do we get to see the power of God at work and then through our lives in a way that will not allow us to remain the same moving forward. We’ll be engaging and connecting with ministries all over the Valley, just hoping to see God move in a really cool way. And I think you really will. Yeah. 

So that was a beautiful year and at this point in time, my wife and I are back here and I'm working as an online pastor. So online, folks, good to see you guys. I see you all the time. You'll see videos of me before and after. You'll get way too much of me if you're online today. But for those of you guys here, it's good to see you. 

But yeah, so I don't know about you guys, but I've watched a fair share of movies and TV in my life, probably more than is healthy. And there's these number of tropes, right. That we see over and over and over again — these cliches that start to get kind of annoying. And if you've watched any hero movies, or read any hero books, or played any video games with the hero/villain dynamic, there's this one scene that always plays out.

You guys know the scene so very well. It’s when the villain finally has a hero in his clutches, when the bad guy finally has the good guy captive. Right now, he starts telling them about all of his evil plans and he unveils the fact that, “Oh, it was me who murdered your parents, it was me who blew up the building, and it's me who's going to take over the world and do all this thing and all these bad things and steal your girlfriend,” and da da da da da da da da da, da, da, right.

And somewhere in this scene, the bad guy starts laughing, because he just revels in his own wickedness. Right. He just says, “Man, I love doing bad things. I am the villain. It's so great.” And this is bad storytelling.

Really. I mean, I think we all roll our eyes when we see the scene coming, for so many reasons. Right? Like one of the reasons is bad storytelling is because the writers, they were just too lazy to show you the tension and the danger. So they just did this kind of cop-out and had the bad guy tell you, “Oh, everything is dangerous, I'm going to do bad things.” Right? And it's not just bad storytelling because of that. It’s not just bad storytelling because like it's predictable and we've seen it happen over and over and over again. And you know the bad guy is going to tell his plans and then the good guy is going to get out, and he's going to use that information to stop the bad guy’s plans. Right? And it's not just bad storytelling, because you're telling me this evil genius is smart enough to come up with some machine that can blow up the universe. But he's not smart enough to know that you shouldn't tell the hero your plans. 

But but I think the more subtle reason — I mean, all those are good reasons why this is bad storytelling. But I think the more subtle reason that this is bad storytelling is because — I don't know about you, but I've never met a villain like that in my life, who believes that they're doing what's wrong, and they enjoy that it's wrong, and they think that they shouldn't do it, and they just love doing the things that they think they shouldn't do. I haven't met that guy. Maybe that guy exists, but I've yet to meet him if he does. 

In my experience, it is very difficult for human beings to simultaneously acknowledge this is wrong and to revel in the wrongness of it. In my own life, I have to kind of shut that off, if I'm going to enjoy something that's sinful. I have to ignore the fact that I think it's sinful for a little bit, or maybe I have to even convince myself that it's right.

And I think this is true of the villains and life, of the worst human beings. I've met some people who've done some pretty despicable things that I could fairly and easily call evil, and I've never heard them say, “I just like doing things that make me feel bad. I just like doing things that are wrong.” 

Why is it that there's this thing in our hearts that has to justify it? I think God maybe put this this, like this governor in our hearts. That we can't go too fast into wickedness without trying to convince ourselves that it's righteousness. 

If you've ever tried to hit like 130 in your car — which I promise I've never done, definitely not in a rental or anything like that — and you try to hit 130 or whatever; wherever the governor is at, and you get to like 129 and the car just goes bloop.

I think our hearts do the same thing if we're trying to go too deep in the sand. Something about our hearts just kind of says, “I can't do that anymore.” And so we have to kind of like hack our way around it and convince ourselves that what we're doing isn't evil, it’s actually good. It's righteous. 

Why do we have philosophers like Friedrich Nietzsche who fueled some of the greatest atrocities of the last century? When you summarize their philosophies, it always comes down to something like “Might Makes Right,” as opposed to, "Because I'm strong, I can do what I know is wrong.” We have to convince ourselves that it's OK.

And you can look back in history and you could say, “Clearly history has good examples of the bad guy, or the villain who loves doing what's wrong because he knows it's wrong.”

But when you get into the lives of people like Hitler, or Stalin, or Genghis Khan, or Mao Zedong, when you get into their lives, it doesn't seem that they really believed what they were doing was wrong. It seemed like they really believed, “Hey, I'm doing the right thing. This is righteousness.”

Hitler, believed, “If I can just get rid of everybody I don't like, everybody that I think is weaker than me and the world will be a better place.” 

Stalin believed, “Hey, if I can just create this new world order, everything will be more fair underneath me.”

And that should be a little bit scary for us, because when we reel that back, when we look into the microcosms of this that are happening every single day in our lives. I don't see any camps that fly the flag that says "We're the bad guys and we know it, clap your hands.” Everybody seems to say, “We're the good guys.” 

And there are these lines that are drawn all over the place — in society, in politics, in the world at large, in our families, in our relationships, in our marriages, at work — over issues big and small. We have these lines drawn all over the place on every side, on either side of those lines, every single one of them. There seems to be a person or group of people who are pointing their finger across the line to the other people on the other side saying, “I'm right. You're wrong. I'm righteous. You’re wicked. I'm good. You’re bad.” 

But then there's someone on the very other side of that same line pointing back at them, saying, “No, I'm right and you're wrong. I'm good and you're bad. I'm righteous and you're wicked.”

And lately, it feels like we've been having this shift in our culture, where some of those lines, it used to feel like we all existed on the same side of the line. And we'd say, "Hey, it looks like we all agree that this is the side of the line to be on.”

But recently it seems like a number of people have been changing to other sides of the lines and saying, "No, no, no, no, no. You've been wrong all this time.” And it feels to me like we're getting pointed at and saying, “Hey, what you have always believed to be righteousness is in fact wickedness.” 

And I don't know about you guys, but I have experiences in my own life, people that I've looked up to, people that I've admired, people that I love very much, people in my own family who draw lines and point across the line to me and say, “What you believe is righteous I call wicked, I call abusive.” 

And it is profoundly disorienting. I don't know about you guys, but I feel sometimes like I'm just in an ocean, getting just tossed around by these waves as they smash into me. Because things that once once felt solid, I now have to ask myself, Is this solid ground? How do we know what righteousness is? 

I wish the world were divided into two camps of people that said, "We are unrighteous and we love it,” and other people who said, “We're righteous.” It would be so easy. I could do that. Well, I'm going to be in the camp that says we're righteous. Those guys are telling me that they're wrong. Why would I follow them? 

But it isn't. And it's disorienting. Where do we go for this? Where do we go to find out what real righteousness is?

There is this beautiful poem that was written a long time ago, and this poem has in it the seeds of change for humanity. It's covered in rhythm. It's dripping in imagery and meaning. This poem has influenced all of human history. It has sowed the seeds that it actually carries in it, the first commissioned to mankind to take care of the environment. It has sown the seeds that time and time and time again in little windows of history has allowed women who have been oppressed to kind of pop up over the men who are just lording over the fact that they're physically stronger than them. And to come in and see something of beauty and equality between the two of them. 

It is literally the poem in which we find the seeds that, when they germinated, they turned into the end of legal slavery in the entire world. And it's the poem that begins the Bible, the book of Genesis. This introductory poem of God creating. And like I said, it is dripping with meaning. 

And we could talk for this poem for a year. But one of the rhythms that we see in this poem is that God creates something, or he orders something. And then when he's done, he steps back at the end of the day, and he says, “Oh, it's good.” And then he creates something else and he orders something else, and he steps back and he says, “Oh, it's good, this is good.”

And then he makes man, and he sees man, and he sees that he's alone. And he says, “I don't know that a bachelor is a good thing.” If you're a bachelor, I'm just kidding. God recognizes you're awesome. But then he makes woman and he says, “Man, I've made this partner, this ally, this friend, this wife, this other half.” And he says, “It's very good.” 

And so we see this rhythm where it's God who is seeing, and who is saying, and who is defining what is good, what is good, what is not good, what is very good. Right? 

And then God places this tree in the middle of the garden where the man and where the woman, where they live, and it's called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And things are wonderful and they're beautiful and they're good, and God says, “Hey, just leave that tree alone.”

And then things start to get sticky one day when the man and his wife, when they're on a stroll. And she sees the fruit on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and she says, “This looks good to eat.”

So it was God who was always saying what's good and what's good and what's not good and what's very good. And now, all of a sudden Eve is thinking, “This seems good to me.” 

And so the woman and the man they take of the fruit and they bite, and say, “I think this tastes good.” And all of a sudden something shifts, something changes in their minds, in their hearts. And the reality of their being that shifted in humanity from that day till this, where all of a sudden humanity has just enough knowledge of good and evil to sometimes get it right on our own. And just enough brokenness to sometimes get it wrong. Enter the human condition. The tension in every story that has been told from that day to this, the tension that will fill the pages of history from this day moving forward, as well as moving backwards.

How do we know what's good when sometimes we can get it right? God was always meant to be the one that we leaned on to know what is good and what is bad. And things get really messy when we step in and think, That looks good to me.

And this is a theme that you can see stretch across the entire body of the scriptures, and we see it most beautifully, I think, in the book of Judges. It comes up again with another rhythm of words, another poem, another repetition that happens, kind of stretched across the entirety of the book of Judges. 

When the author of the book of judges — If you know that book — it’s a downward spiral of the people of Israel as they turn to the Lord, and then they turn away from the Lord and things get bad. And they turn to the Lord and things are good and they turn away and things get bad. And every time they turn away, every time things are really bad and dark and depraved, the author says this, you know, kind of throws in this beat and the author says, “And everyone did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

And then they turn back to God and he delivers them and everything's great. And then they turn away and everyone does what is evil in the eyes of God. And they turn back and things are great. And they turn away and everyone does what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.

And then, towards the end of the book, right when the context, when things get the darkest, arguably, that they ever get in any story in the scriptures, the author changes the refrain. He changes the beat, and instead of saying “They did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord,” he says, “And everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” 

And in the context of the story, we see sexual assault, we see murder, we see a dead body literally butchered and sent in the mail across the nation. We see civil war. We see two counts of what we could easily call genocide, and we see human trafficking, and those are just the highlights of this story. When everyone did what was right in their own eyes, all the people who did all of those things that I just listed off, they were doing what was right in their own eyes. It got real dangerous when the Lord stopped being the reference point for what is good and what is evil.

And I think the words of God have something to say towards what is good. I think we can look in history and we can see what they have produced and we can say there is a righteousness, there is good, there is fruit out of this. It tends towards human thriving both for individuals and society if we commit ourselves to figure out what is God saying — and not “what do I think is good”. 

One of the places in scripture that we can go and we can get some really practical meat for what is good is the book of James. There's a lot to say on that. When I was more youth-y than I am today, David Stockton was my youth pastor. I'm not that old yet, but I don't get to count as a youth anymore, I don't think. And I remember hearing David say that — and I think I've heard him say on this platform a couple of times — that righteousness is not just doing the right thing. It's doing the right thing at the right time in the right way in the right place. And that's always been really helpful for me to realize that righteousness is more than just a default, that you can just apply to every decision you make. It is more complex than that. 

But then we get a layer beneath that definition of righteousness. And we're still left a little confused, because how do I know what the right thing is? How do I know what the right way is, what the right place is, what the right time is? Where do I figure that out? Because I always try to do what seems right to me, what seems good to me, what I want to do sometimes. Is that what's right? I don't know. And it seems to make a mess. 

We know that saying, “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for life.” That's wonderful and beautiful, but if you come across a starving man, you can't just say, “Well, get your fishing rod, let's go get some food." You give him a fish first, get some calories in the guy. And then when he's got some calories and he's recovered, you pick up and you go together and you teach him how to fish. 

And the Bible is very concerned with both of these approaches. It tells us, hey, fishing is going to God. Fishing is figuring out how to get in the water. That's what the Bible is here for, so that we can fish for the word of God as we learn how to hear from God directly, as we learn to hear from God just in our quiet time, as we learn to hear from God, as we look at nature and all the things around us, and listen to the traditions of the church and listen to the community that we're in right now and how God is speaking to us through those. But as we listen to those things, we can get a fish.

I mean, Jesus literally gave people fish at one point in time. We get something practical that we need for now because it's hard sometimes to hear from God. It's hard sometimes for us to tune in and to get rid of distractions, to figure out what God is saying.

And James, does this a lot. The book of James will hit a number of times as we go through this series on Kinetic Righteousness. Because James is very much an authority on practical righteousness. James was such an authority on righteousness that the early church, at some point in time, they started calling him “James the Just” because he just had a desire and a burn for justice and goodness and righteousness in his heart, that it just didn't feel right for people to call him James anymore.

I would love to have that happen in my life. I would love to so beautifully fulfill the character of God that people felt like they couldn't just call me Alec anymore, that they had to call me by some attribute of the goodness and holiness of God. That it would just seem like it was such a part of my identity, I hope, when I'm an old man, that that's the case. 

James was also the half-brother of Jesus. At any point in James's life, if he didn't know what righteousness was, he could close his eyes and recall the literal face of righteousness himself. His older brother, Jesus. He could think of Jesus at 15, at 20, 25, at 30, or hanging on a tree at 33, with blood that is the righteousness of you and me. That was way more rhyme-y than I meant it to be. But I'll go with it. Or he could think of Jesus after the resurrection. He could picture a call to memory the face of righteousness and say, “Yeah, that's what righteousness would look like in this situation.”

James, we're told, was so devoted to prayer on his knees that his knees began to look like camel's knees — cracked and dried and calloused. Which just makes me think, can someone get the man like an Ultra gift card? I'm pretty sure my wife has some creams and things that could do something for that. 

But what a beautiful thing that he was so devoted to that ,tradition tells us. And he was so devoted to the righteousness of God, to the law of God, that it actually confused the Pharisees into thinking that he was one of them. And one day when they realized that he wasn't one of them, they shoved him off the top of the temple to try to kill him. And when he landed on the ground, he wasn't quite dead. His body was broken and he got up on those camel knees and began to pray for the crowd that was swarming in around him, “God, would you forgive them? They don't know what they're doing.” (The same prayer that his half brother Jesus prayed as he was being crucified.)

I think James the Just has some words to listen to about what is righteousness. I think he's an authority on the subject, more so than the people that we follow on Instagram. And so, James, he's going to offer us a number of fish.

And in James chapter 1:19, here's the first one that he gives us today. He says:

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.

James’ first little practical bit of how do we figure out what God is saying, is a warning. Hey, when you're angry, you are at risk for leaning on whatever it is we may or may not have gained from eating of that fruit. You're at risk for leaning on your own understanding of what is good and what is evil, and not realizing that God has something else to say. He says when you're angry, try to connect with what God is telling you to do and not what your anger is telling you to do.

Now, I really believe, and my guess would be that James probably believed as well, that there is such a thing as righteous anger. But I also think that righteous anger still falls under the umbrella of what James is saying here, that it doesn't matter if you're angry because you're wrong or you're angry because you are being wronged. Your anger does not produce the righteousness of God. 

And I know that there are so many of us in this room who are very familiar with righteous anger. Maybe you are experiencing it right now. Maybe you've been experiencing righteous anger for so long that it's turned into bitterness. Because your spouse cheated on you. Because your parents left you. Because your friends abandoned you. Because your boss is just not a good person. Because you've been abused, you've been hurt, you've been wronged. You've been the recipient of bigotry, of hatred. Feeling the injustice. 

And it makes you righteously angry, and my guess is it makes God even more angry. And yet even that righteous anger still will not produce the righteousness of God in the moment when you're feeling that righteous anger. What I would encourage you to do is to stop and to go to God and say, “God, what do I do with this anger? This anger is telling me something. But what are you telling me to do with it? How do I move forward from here in a way that will produce your righteousness and not my false righteousness?” 

I think one of the most beautiful examples of this in recent history is the civil rights movement, where you have tons and tons, thousands upon thousands, if not millions of men and women who have been witnessing and experiencing firsthand some profound injustice. And they are righteously angry. And they could have done what people have done since the beginning of time and taken that anger and tried to get justice the way their anger tells them to get justice — but instead they went and they listened to the Lord and they listened to men and women who are listening to the Lord, and they said, “God, what are you telling us to do?” 

And so they responded in what they came to call civil disobedience and put themselves in the face of that injustice, put themselves in the face of the things that were stirring up their righteous anger. And they received more and more of the injustice, more of the hate, more of the violence. And it changed the world in a way the world has rarely been changed before. Because they responded not out of their righteous anger, but they responded out of the peace of God.

And my guess is that if you and I could learn to find our anger and in that moment to let the anger be a trigger for us, that tells us, “Wait a minute, hold up. I'm angry. I need to go to God, not to my anger.”

And if we could do that in our relationship with our spouses, with our kids, with our friends, with our bosses, with our families, our brothers and sisters, our parents, our coworkers, the people we disagree with on social media, or in society — if we could do that, I think we would see our relationships with those people changed in a way that they have rarely been changed before, perhaps changed in a way that they have never been changed before.

The next thing that James has to give us, the next little fish he offers us is in verse 26 of Chapter one. It says, 

Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

There's so much we could talk about in there, but I'm just going to home in on what he's talking about when he talks about the orphans and the widows.

David, as recently, I think a few months ago, I heard him using the terminology sins of commission and sins of omission. And for me, the terminology like passive and active sins help a little bit more. The active sins are the ones that are easier to see, the sins of commission, the things that you commit. Right? They're easier to see there when you break one of the rules. You know, the don't murder, don't lie, don't cheat. Don't steal it. Well, you did that and it was an act of sin. And those are a little easy to wrap your mind around. 

But James is pointing out to us that there are also these these passive sins, the sins of omission, these things that are sins, not because you did, but because you didn't do.

Jesus tells a parable about a man who was condemned by God because he allowed another man to live on his doorstep in suffering. Now, the condemned man wasn't the cause of the man's suffering. He just didn't do anything about it. That's scary. I think James would say that if you lived your entire life keeping yourself unstained from the world, which is a good thing, which he encourages in this very sentence, if you lived your entire life keeping yourself unstained from the world, then you stayed at home praying and worshiping. You would still be living a very sinful life because you were committing all of these passive sins: not going out, not being kinetic, doing the things that God has called you to. You are disobeying God as much by your inactivity as you might be by your sinful activity.

And that's a little sobering for me, because I only can do kind of one thing at a time. How do I make sure that the thing I'm doing is the righteous thing, and thank God we have his mercy and his grace, and he forgives our active and our passive sins as we stumble our way through life, trying to figure out what his righteousness is. But I want to live in his righteousness. I don't want to take advantage of his mercy. I want to be fueled by his mercy. 

And he's talking about these people, as David talked about the other week, who are, you know, downstream from us when he talks about the orphans and the widows — the people in society, of the people in your life who can only take more than they're able to give because they just don't have much to give. I think it's natural for us to want to associate with the people who can give more than they take. Whether it's because they're wealthier than us or more influential or because they have more followers, or whatever. But James here is saying, “No, no, no, associate with the lowly.” That's the righteousness that God wants. 

I want to tell you about one of the literal best days of my life. It sits on a plateau with just a handful of days as a beautiful moment. And I hope all of you have maybe a couple that you could pull out of your pocket and say, “Oh, this is a beautiful, beautiful day,” or “I saw the Lord do something so beautiful.”

But last year, about halfway through the year, there was this one particular brothel where a team had gotten really, really close to these women, had really connected with them, built friendship that, you know, the women on the team, they would often take them out to the beach or to to dinner to get some coffee or to hang out or something like that. And our relationship with them had grown so close that even some of the men on the team, we started to know these women because they started to feel safe around us. 

And one day, one of the women on our team, she had this idea, "What if we could take these women out for a retreat just to hang out to love on them, to have fun, to get out of it for a little bit?” And with some prayer and some favor that the Lord gave us with their pimps, we got permission to take them out for the weekend and hang out with them.

So we rented out this beautiful, gorgeous villa that was like not far from the beach, and it was kind of in the woods and all alone. And there were dogs around that would keep us safe. And it was just gorgeous, there was a pool and we hung out for the whole weekend. And we ate more food than human beings are supposed to eat. I felt like a cow constantly grazing on all this food. We taught these women who live in Southeast Asia, and have never seen a taco before. We taught them how to make tortillas and tacos. It was hilarious because they thought the tortilla was like the paper you put it on, like a disposable plate to eat off of. And they were so confused, like they were eating the insides of the taco out like this.

We took him to the beach and there was music and we did some karaoke. And then at the end of the last night of this weekend, and just hanging out with them and blessing them and loving them and laughing with them and eating way too much with them, we had a time of worship. And these women who didn't know Jesus yet, they still are so excited to connect with God. 

And then, when we were done with that time of worship, we had this time of just connecting with them and talking with them and sharing our hearts and letting them share their hearts.

And I remember listening to my friend Sinta on our ministry team, and she said to these women, “You know, we just really wanted to love you this week.” She said, “We know that so many people, that most people in society think that you guys are way down there and they're way up here,; and we really don't believe that. We really believe that you are the same as us.” 

And these women, they know their price better than you and I hopefully ever will. They know to the dollar what an hour of them is worth, and they know to the dollar what their life is worth as they look at the debt that hangs over their life, that holds them and the lifestyle they're stuck in. But as my friend Sinta said this to them, it was clear that they did not know their value.

There's something that happens when we try to put a metric on something that is priceless, when we try to put a price on the priceless, it obscures its real value. Right? Can you imagine if I told you I'm going to charge you a million dollars to see this sunset? It would still cheapen the sunset. It's not meant to have a price because it has a value that is greater than anything that one person can get from it or anything that a thousand people can get from it. 

The value of human beings is not in what you and I get from them. And to us, to human beings, it seems right. It seems good to associate with those who have more than us in one way, shape or form. But to God, when we do that, we are obscuring the value of his children, who he made in his image — his greatest work of art. 

And so what is the righteousness that is acceptable to God? It's to do away with our flimsy righteousness of building our own kingdom and hanging out with the more influential and the more wealthy, and the more beautiful, and the more — fill in the blank. It's getting in line with the way God made the world, that we would recognize the inherent value and beauty of absolutely every one of his children, even if in the secret place in your heart they feel like a burden to you. Because, you know, they're going to take more than they give. 

And so, in this season of kinetic righteousness, one of the things that I am praying happens for all of us is that we learn to to not say, “Hey, I'm better than you, I'm up here and you're down here and I'm going to pull you out of the muck.” But we learn to just sit in the muck with people. Then we learn to just hang out with them the way God just hangs out with us and all of our yuck. And we go into those places and we communicate to people that, “You are valuable. It's not that you have a high price, it's that you have a high value.” 

And I hope for you, honestly, my my dare to you, is if you're not already doing this over and over and over, if your life isn't already saturated with these kind of people, I dare you to find some people, in this next season of life, who feel like a burden, if you're honest. And to stare at them long enough that you see the image of God in them and you recognize the real value, and that you love them as friends, as peers, as brothers and sisters made in the image of the same God. I dare you to let that mess your life up. 

And I'm telling you, it will cause some disruption. I think the disruption is profoundly worth it. And if you're all lost in this and you don't know where to take any of this or what to do with any of this message or any of these fish that that James is handing us, that they just feel strange to you, I would just say come this Wednesday, please, please, please, please. We're a family and this is what we're doing. If you at all can, please show up for it. We're going to do community and we're going to talk about and we're going to figure out and we're going to stop talking and we're going to start doing kinetic. We're going to start doing the righteousness of God. 

Let's pray:

Jesus, we love you so much and we worship you and we thank you. And God, this this this message. It's hard to swallow because it disrupts our comfort and our convenience. And Lord, let us not swing too far that we forget your mercy and your grace and your forgiveness that carries us through. That is the place where we find salvation, Lord Jesus. But may we live a righteous life that reflects you well. As individuals and as a community Lord Jesus, may we see some kinetic righteousness, your goodness working through us. Amen.

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Wisdom from Heaven

Series: Kinetic Righteousness
September 5, 2021 - Ryan Romeo

If you're new in the last few months, or maybe even this is your first week, you're probably like, “Who is this guy?” I am not the lead pastor. My name is Ryan Romeo. I am one of the pastors here. And I'm a bit deer-in-the-headlights today because it is my first Sunday back after three months of sabbatical. And it really feels so good to be back. But some people are like, “Does it feel like you never left?”

I'm like, “No, it it feels like I left.” I came back and I'm like, “What is going on?” And David and I were talking. I was going, you know, it'll be nice to just kind of ease back in. It'll be nice to just kind of like show up, hang out in the background a little bit, you know. And then on Friday, he called me. He’s like, “Hey, I was exposed to Covid. So why don't you preach on your first day back?”

And I was like, "OK, well, so much for easing in. I'm diving into the deep end.” 

But as I'm coming back, the feeling that I'm feeling more than anything else is I am just so thankful and grateful to be a part of this community. I really am. And getting a little bit of space, getting a little distance really gives you that perspective. But I'm thankful for our elder team. They lead us really, really well. They value rest — even long term rest. That's so countercultural. Our culture is so addicted to the artificial and superficial busyness that we just wrap around ourselves to feel important. And our elder team really stands behind the staff and says, “No, we think every, you know, six years you need to get out, spend a little bit of time with your family, spend a little time with the Lord. Get reset.” 

And that's what my family and I just went through. And it was so, so good. I'm so thankful for David Stockton, who really leads us well. He imparted this and he lives out this rhythm of rest in our life. It's just so important. 

But it's funny. When I was getting ready to go on sabbatical, I really wouldn't have gone if David hadn't pushed me. I'm an Enneagram three. If you love Enneagram, I'm an Enneagram three. I'm a workaholic. Really. I love working. It's like, you know, people like, “What do you do for fun?” I'm like, “Well, I work. It's fun.” Like, I love being at the church. I love pushing the team. I love working with the team. I love all of that. 

And so David's like, “OK, we're serious. This summer you need to go take a sabbatical.” 

I was like, “OK,” you know, and the lead up to going, people were asking me, like, “Are you so excited about going on sabbatical?”

And I said, “Yeah,” you know, and on the outside, I probably smiled. And if you asked me that, I was probably very polite to you. And I said, “Yeah, I'm excited.” On the inside I was going I'm excited about sabbatical like you're excited to go to the doctor and get a physical. I knew I needed to do it. I knew that it was something that I had to do, and I'd be glad that I did it. But there'd be some really uncomfortable moments in there. And that happens in a in a physical. And it happened on sabbatical. 

There were some some moments just for me, like the artificial, superficial busyness that we get into, whether we're aware of it or not. We really do that as a self-protection, especially in America. We love to do that. We wear it as a badge of honor. “How are you doing today?" “Oh, my goodness. I'm so busy,” you know. I mean, I'm sure you might have even said that today.

Chances are on the way in here, if somebody is like, “How are you?” You’re like, “Oh, I'm so busy.” 

I do the same thing. We just kind of wear it as a badge of honor. 

But pushing against that entropy, pushing against that gravity in the world to pull us down into that is difficult because it exposes you. Being busy numbs you, you know. If you don't know how to deal with what's going on with you and the Lord, or you and your family, or you and your spouse. It numbs you. It distracts you. And so every day you're moving. And if you stop moving, you start to feel a little bit of pain and you go, “I got to keep moving,” you know. And sabbatical was like that for me. 

Blake, my wife, and, when we first started talking about sabbatical, we knew we wanted to really get out of our day-to-day. And we have some friends that run a ministry down in Peru. They're amazing. They just got a hold of some land that they used to have. They lost it and they got it back. And so they're dreaming about what they could be doing down there. 

We dropped everything. We went down to Peru and we spent one month in the Amazon jungle. And it was good. It was so good. It was like the first the first two weeks, there was no Wi-Fi in the house the first two weeks. And they're like, “Oh, yeah, you know, it's coming at some point.” And we're going, “Oh, OK.” And we’re side-eyeing each other going, here we are, our kids, you know, are like, “What are we going to do today? What are we going to do?”

And I'm like, “You could play a board game. You could read a book like.” 

“Other than that, what can we do?” 

And I'm like, “You could play outside or, you know…” and it was it was good. You know, it's one of those things that, even as an adult, when you're under that sort of like pressure, you revert back to that five-year-old version of yourself. 

There were a few times, I'm like, I'm loving it. It's really great. But then five-year-old Ryan came out a few times and, you know, it only happened one or two dozen times on sabbatical. But it was really just, it was a detox in so many ways — a detox of the busyness. And we had a great time. My son Toby was fishing. He caught piranhas and all sorts of crazy stuff. He was riding dirt bikes. Our kids after like day three, they were running around with the other kids just barefoot in the jungle. And it was just so amazing. 

We took a road trip in the middle of the Amazon with our friends to the Andes to go rappelling down waterfalls in like a Third World, little, little town down the Andes. And it was incredibly dangerous. It was like so dangerous and so amazing. My wife and I were looking at each other like, “Are we cool with this? This doesn't seem, you know, it's not up to OCEA standards.” 

But it was just so good. It was so good for our family. We had so many stories. We got to see my family on the East Coast and spend some time in D.C. I love U.S. history. And so we got to go walk around the monuments and all that stuff. And we had great stories, great things that happened. 

But it's funny. It's like, have you ever gone on a vacation and you come back and people ask you like, “Hey, how was your vacation?” What is it that you say afterward? "I need a vacation from my vacation.” You come back and you're like, “It was restful, but you know, I didn't quite get out of it what I thought.” 

And ultimately, it's just kind of this phrase that it is funny, but it points to something a little bit more in our heart that we imagined, we had an expectation that taking a vacation would solve all of our problems. We'd feel great. We'd be ready to work when we get back. And when that didn't happen, we're kind of bitterly going, “Well, we could use a vacation from the vacation.”

And it's funny, coming back from a sabbatical, it feels a little bit like that. Not that I need a vacation. It's not what it is. It's when you take time off and you realize that time off doesn't equal rest, necessarily. And when you take some time off and the Lord starts working on things, there's a lot of feelings in me like this is just the beginning of what God's working out in me. 

Last week as we are gearing to come back into work, I was asking the Lord, “OK, God, we've had some amazing times with our family and everything else, but what else have I gained?” And I had this like sinking suspicion, like I didn't gain I didn't get everything out of sabbatical that I wanted to get out.

And the Lord kind of lovingly, just like after some time of me getting frustrated and going, “OK, I'm getting ready to go back in and I'm getting like angsty." 

And God goes, "You know what, Ryan? What I gave you was perspective.”

And as I took a step back, it's like, you know, the boiling frog analogy. It works in the inverse, too. And it was like the Lord did little things in my life all along the way. And I look back and I go, “OK, there's a lot that's changed.”

But one of the main things I have is a shift in perspective. And when I started praying, I was like, “OK, Lord, what do you say about Living Streams?” Because I've been kind of putting Living Streams off to the side. I’m like, “I need a break from all of that. I just I need to, you know, focus on family, work and…” But that last week of sabbatical is gone. “OK, Lord, I'm ready. Tell me about Living Streams.” 

And honestly, I felt like the Lord just gave me such an overwhelming feeling of love for this community, an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for this community. But more than anything, I felt like the Lord was saying this community — Living Streams — is poised to make big impact for the kingdom in Phoenix and beyond. And I started to feel that deep down in me going, I know that God has something special for us.

There are things that I love about this church. I love that Mark Buckley — who started our church — had the humility to hand it off to David. I think that was so foundational to so much breakthrough that we've experienced here. I love David. I love when he preaches, how he preaches, I love all of that. 

But there's something beyond personality when you show up in a church — and there should be something beyond personality. There’s something deeper that's happening. We are part of the Church, the bride of Christ. We know the end of the story. We are on the winning team. And those things seem really uncertain right now. And we're going to be talking about that. We will be talking about finding wisdom in kind of uncertain times. 

And those things seem uncertain. We have a storm that hit us in 2020. And a lot of us are getting really tired because we thought 2021 would be a lot better and it's proving to be kind of better, but kind of not. And and it's wearing us down. 

And as the Church, though, we need to know that the end of the story in Revelation is the church is there ‘til the end. Jesus does come back. He does set everything right. We're on the winning team. And for those of us who keep showing up at the church, there’s something really special for those that endure. 

In 2020, Barna said that a third of practicing Christians stopped practicing in America. And it's not just that 30 percent started watching online and stopped coming to in-person. No, it's much worse than that. It's that 30 percent of them just stopped practicing. And though that might seem like bad news, again, the perspective that I'm feeling from the Lord as I'm coming back and I'm fresh — and you may not get this version of Ryan again — as I'm coming back. This is the thing that I'm sensing more than ever, is that God has something so special for those of us that are persevering, that are pushing through this season, that seek after his wisdom, not worldly wisdom.

For those of us who keep coming to the table, no matter what our emotions are doing, there is a special blessing in that. And to remind us that we are on the winning team. And if you come here, great, and if you sink your roots in, I think you're going to look back a year from now — not because we have great preaching and personality and worship — and all that stuff is great, but it's the tip of the iceberg. If you come and you engage, I think you're going to look back — like I felt over sabbatical — and you're going to go, “God did a lot in my life in this last year, showing up to the people of God, showing up in the House of God, expecting him to do something.” 

And that is what I'm feeling more than ever. And we need the wisdom of God, right? We need the wisdom of God in this season. If you're like me, you feel a little bit like you're grasping at straws. You feel a little bit like you don't know what to trust. And today, we are going to dive into the word of God and we're going to dive into what God says about wisdom.

We're going to be talking out of James 3, which James is like the proverbs of the New Testament. James is incredibly practical. James is the half-brother of Jesus. He is very intense, like his half brother. There's a few things Jesus said. I'm like, “Oh, man, I wish you had said that lighter,” you know. James is the same way. It's like, “Oh, do you have to say that that way?” 

James just says it like it is. More than half the verses in James are imperatives. So James is going, "You have to do this. We got to do this,” you know. And so there's something very, very practical about the book of James. It's one of the only epistles that doesn't really talk about the gospel, though he says he is a servant of Jesus Christ, who was his brother. And so should speak volumes to to the impact that Jesus made on James's life. I would never say that I'm the servant of my brother. So there's something really special about this.

But he is coming from this assumption that we know about grace. We know about salvation. We understand the free gift of God. We know that works don't have this sort of like salvation aspect to it. It is simply an outpouring of what is happening on the interior of our life, built on the foundation of the gospel. Does that make sense? 

Before we left for for for summer, we were wrestling a lot with this. But ultimately, good works are just an outflowing of relationship with Jesus. It's the fruit of relationship with Jesus, but doesn't earn you anything. It's just what we do as Christians. 

But James 3, this is where I want to hone in on. He talks a lot about wisdom. And we're in this stage where we're going, “God, where do I find wisdom?” You know, where can we find wisdom? 

Right now, a poll in America — and I actually think this is probably even a little inflated — a recent poll in America, said that nine percent of Americans trust the media. And I feel like that may be even exaggerated a little bit. 

Another poll that said 12 percent of Americans trust Congress to do what's right and what's in the Americans’ best interests. 

So when we start looking at the things around us, more and more we're going, “Uh, I don’t trust what you have to say. It doesn't make any sense.” 

So we are really hungry to know what wisdom is. Luckily, James lays it out really clear. So part of our reverence for the word of God, let's stand up. Let's just all stand up for the word of God. I know it's old school of me. I'm just feeling feeling like this is what we need to do. But I'm going to read starting in James 3:13 (ESV). 

Who is wise and understanding among you?  Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

It's the word of the Lord. Go ahead and have a seat. 

I think I think if you're like me, we all kind of remember the first time we heard of the phrase quarantine or shut down. This was not something that was in our vocabulary. 2019 Ryan had no idea what that meant. I was blissfully unaware of what any of that meant. And I remember my wife and I, we were at our friends’ house and and we were just having like a dinner party, hanging out. And we were sitting out in the backyard. All the kids were playing. Everything seemed normal. We were just having conversation and talking about church, talking about whatever. 

Then my wife got a text from one of her friends and the text said, “Hey, I have a friend that works in the government and he just said that we might go into a nationwide quarantine next week.” And so we were looking at it going, “OK,” you know, and you start rationalizing and you start running into your head. I was like, “I have no idea what that means.” I don't know what compartment to put that in emotionally. And all of us at the table were like, “Wow, sounds like a bit of a conspiracy.” We don't really know. It's like a friend of a friend says that the government is saying we're going to go into some sort of shutdown. “Let's just continue with our dinner,” as if nothing happened. Which is exactly what we did. Kept talking, kept saying it out and everything was lighthearted. 

Then all of a sudden, somebody else in the dinner got a text too. And that text said, “Hey, I have a friend that works in the CDC and they say that they think a nationwide quarantine is about to happen.” And as soon as they read that to us, we were all like, “OK, well, what does that mean?” And we started looking at each other. 

I'm sure you guys probably remember that moment too. Everyone's looking at each other going, “Is this real? Is this for real? Is this actually happening?” 

And the more we are talking about it, the more the angst started building, the more the questions started coming up. I mean, I had like zombie apocalypse, like, bunny suits in mine. I'm like, “Quarantine? Like we're going to have, you know, like we're going to have to wear suits everywhere.” And it wasn't actually all that much better than that. But I just had nowhere to put that in my mind. 

From that point on, this weird thing started creeping into my life, this feeling like I'm making the wrong decision. This feeling like like all the decisions I have to make are really, really consequential. And I remember, all of our wives were there. We were talking and they were like, “Maybe we should go grocery shopping.” And this is like nine o'clock at night. We are getting ready to take our kids home and all of us were like, “Yeah, maybe that's a good idea.” 

And they went out and they got groceries. And in hindsight, they probably should have gotten a lot more toilet paper. But it was this first inkling of like, “Oh, man, this is consequential. There's something really serious happening.” 

We've lived in a couple of generations of relative peace and relaxation. We don't have anybody from like 1918 going, “Oh, you guys, yeah, we went through this in the Spanish flu. This what you do.” 

You know, we really didn't have that. And we were looking for wisdom. And, I'll never forget, we sat as a direction team, the leaders, we kind of oversee different areas of the church. We all sat down. We sat down with Mark Buckley, who's been doing ministry for a very, very long time. We all sat there and were like, “OK, I guess we need to shut the church down. We don't really know.” Everything seemed really confusing. All of a sudden, we're canceling all of our plans and we're on a church leadership level going, “Lord, what do we do with this? How do we get wisdom? How do we know the right thing to do?”

Because we started to merge all these voices going, “Don't give in to fear and shut down.” And then other people go, “You don't care about other people if you don't shut down.” 

Things started to get real divisive real quick. And we all turned to Mark because, you know, Mark's there, he’s been through it all. He knows what's going on. And we're like, “Mark, what do we do here? How do we lead through this?”

And I will never forget Mark kind of looking at all of us, and he goes. “I don't know. I've never been through anything like this.”

And we were like, “What? Are you kidding?” The younger leaders were like, we could do this, you know, we could solve this ourselves. But every now and then, we get real desperate, and like, “Mark, what do we do? How do we tackle this?” And even on that low level of us going, “We have no idea,” Mark is going, “Hey, I'm actually right there with you guys. I don't know.” 

We really needed to seek the Lord. We really needed to understand wisdom. We really needed to pursue what God was saying to us. And it started to get more and more heated. And again, we would kind of bitterly joke at that time, we’re like, “If we do all the things just right and we try to walk that line just perfect, we're going to make everyone mad at us.” That was how we were feeling in 2020.

But in me, it wasn't just in work life. It started to happen in my home life, too. And maybe this started happening to you. You started hearing about things like cryptocurrency, you know, like, “Hmm, maybe I should invest in that.” You know? You’re going. “Is my job going to be around? Is this the right career path for me? Should we move? Should I go buy some land in the middle of nowhere and start living off the grid?” Like these are questions — and maybe I'm alone in asking these questions — but I started asking myself some weird questions in 2020 that I didn't ask myself in 2019. 

I think as a culture, this is where we're at. We are hungry for wisdom. We are actually desperate for wisdom. We know we can't get it from social media. We know we can't get it from mainstream media. We know we can't get it from our political leaders. And we are flailing. Am I “off” in saying that we're flailing a little bit right now? Like we are still, in 2021, going, “How do I find wisdom?” 

And even those of us that are following Jesus, we have this sort of sinking suspicion that we're making the wrong choice. 

My wife and I were having a birthday lunch for my wife and we were hanging out and a friend popped in and we started talking to her a little bit. And and we'd been just dealing with our kids, with having to quarantine and send the kids home. And we're going, “Oh, my goodness, this is so hard.”

And and they were like, “Did you hear so-and-so had to go home? And half of this class is at home.” 

And we started, like even in the conversation, like within a five-minute conversation of bumping into somebody at a pizza shop, you know, like all of a sudden we're getting deep and we're getting frustrated and we're getting angsty and we're going, "Should we pull our kids out? What do we need to do? Do we need to change schools? But even if we change schools, are we going to have the same problem over here?” 

There's just this constant background noise in our life of going, “We need to know the wisdom of God.” 

But the good news is that those of us who follow Jesus, we have wisdom at our grasp. Yes, we have wisdom. Yes, thank you, Lord. Wisdom is that thing James says, “Are you lacking wisdom? Ask the Lord for it. He will give it to you. He does not give with partiality.” He doesn't go, “Oh, well, now you want wisdom?” That's not how God's posture is. He will give you wisdom if you ask for it. 

So all of us in this time, we need to be asking for wisdom. We need it now more than ever. We are off kilter and some of us are not making it. And we're thinking we're going to make it by leaving the House of God. But let me tell you, it is a cold, hard world outside of fellowship with people who love Jesus. It really is. And it may seem good for a season, but being in the church is the lifeline. This is a life raft that we have being in this room together right now or even watching online, connecting with believers. This is what keeps us going. 

So, James, when he starts talking about wisdom, he starts to talk about the fruit of wisdom. And I love in Proverbs, you know, we kind of talk about wisdom as personified as a woman. And in Proverbs, it says that wisdom is known by her children. So by the fruit is how we know wisdom is around. And luckily, we have James, who's incredibly down to the point. He just says it like it is. And he lays out what we need to be paying attention to when it comes to wisdom. 

But let me just say off the bat, wisdom is not necessarily years lived on earth. Yes, wisdom can be be gained by experience and failure and getting back up and all of that. There's something very, very valuable in that. But I've met a lot of people who have — how do I say it nicely? — maybe a generous amount of years under their belt. and still were not operating in wisdom. There was still this different sort of worldly wisdom that they had fully given themselves over to that was not the wisdom of God. And so wisdom is not necessarily gained through years. Yes, it can be. And yes, we should honor people who have gone through a lot of things like that. But wisdom, especially in this season, is really gained by understanding the source of wisdom, and that is Jesus. Jesus gives us the source of wisdom. It's anchoring ourselves to something that's not real popular these days. But the Bible, I know that, even in this room, there might be some people going, “Mmm, I don't know.” But no, no, no. As a church, this is one of the things that we consistently choose at Living Streams — to keep coming back to the foundation of the Bible and going, look, no matter what is going on in the world, no matter how we're feeling about things, this is the foundation of wisdom that we need to come back to time and time again. 

James lays this out, he goes, “OK, well, you know, wisdom really is…” — one of the phrases I love is skills in the art of living is really what wisdom is. It's like the skill in the art of living. And we gain that through Holy Spirit interaction. We gain that through properly setting our perspective. We gain that through the word of God. 

The word of God teaches us what is the fruit of the wisdom that we're up against. So when you're looking at things politically, you're looking at things that are coming against you, if you're going, “Man, maybe I should buy some land in northern Arizona,” — or maybe you already have, I don't know — like you're looking through all this framework — before you start beating yourself up and going, “I'm making the wrong choice, I'm doing the wrong thing, I'm behind the times. Should have put money in Bitcoin,” — though you probably should have and I should have too. You look at the things in your life and you go, “No, no. God has equipped me to understand the right choices I need to make right now.” He has equipped you to make the right choices that you need right now. 

So what does that look like? I love this. Just pause a minute and let the word of God wash over you. The more I read this list, the more I was going, “Ah, OK, I am getting a vision of godly wisdom.” This is what James says: “But the wisdom from above is, first, pure. Then peaceable. Gentle. Open to reason.” How rare is that right now? “Open to reason. Full of mercy.” It's full of mercy and grace. It's not that you made the wrong choice and you've screwed up the rest of your life. No, there is mercy and grace and the wisdom of God. “It is full of good fruits,” Love. Joy. Peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control, all of the good fruits of the spirit. It is impartial. It's impartial, it didn't come to the table with a decision already made, wisdom is impartial. And it is sincere. It's genuine. It's sincere. It's one of those things that there's no hidden motive behind it. You know, no, no, no. This is sincerely what wisdom is telling me. It's sincere. 

And sometimes, guys, it's so simple, I mean, I've had to remind myself of this time and time again this year, that this is the fruit of good wisdom. This is the fruit of godly wisdom. This is what wisdom looks like. 

When Jesus was sharing wisdom with his disciples, it didn't always look like what they thought in the natural. It was something a little bit different. When Jesus goes, “Hey, it's better that I leave here and the helper comes than if I stay,”  I'm sure if I was the disciples, I'd be like, “Are you sure? I feel like it might be better if you stayed around, Jesus.” But godly wisdom doesn't always look like that. That's that's not what it always looks like.

There’s something so other than the way that the world gives us wisdom. The world gives us a different sort of wisdom. And when I look at that, honestly, this was the thing in this passage that woke me up. Because I think deep down we know the fruit of good wisdom. We really understand like, hey, in this season, this is what it should look like. 

I remember there was somebody that was talking to me recently saying, “You know, I feel like I'm called into missions.” They're like, “I want to do mission. I feel like I'm called to, but I'm getting a little bit like angsty. I don't know where God's calling me to. I don't know what country God's calling me to.” 

And I had this moment, again, a perspective on the outside of somebody else's life. I just said, "You know, this may sound really stupid and really simple, but if you don't know what country God is sending you to, you don't know what country God’s sending you to. So don't worry about it. Just rest. God will make it clear when it's supposed to be clear.” You know? 

And how many times do we need to hear that? It's like, you don't know? That's OK, because God hasn't made it clear to you yet. Just rest. Just take a deep breath. It's OK. You're not messing everything up. If you're you're following Jesus, you're close to him. 

There's so much mercy in the wisdom of God. There's so much grace in the wisdom of God. There's so much more heart behind the wisdom of God than we think. It's not just cold, and telling you like it is, and making you feel terrible. Now, there is this softness to the wisdom of God.

But there's another kind of wisdom. And James says it a lot like his half brother again. It's like, James, did you have to say it that intense? He says, “Where there is bitter jealousy, selfish ambition, this is the foundation of a wisdom that comes not from above.”

So there's a different kind of wisdom. “There's a wisdom that does not come from above, but is earthly.” OK, I could wrap my head around that. OK, “It's earthly. It's unspiritual.” So it's completely secular in nature. “It's unspiritual and it's demonic.” I thought, yikes! James, are you sure? Do we have to go to that, like like horns and red-, like do we have to go down that direction with it? But yes. No, there is a demonic force of wisdom that is at play in the world right now. And we have to know it. We have to be wary of it. 

I love that he says these two things, and you can really look at life and go, OK, these are two really major problems in our world today. If we're being honest, it's something wrong inside of us, too. 

“But if you have bitter jealousy.” So you're looking at somebody else going, “Why do they have that?” You know, like what? “Why does Ryan get to stand up there and say stuff? I have stuff to say.” You know, like there's this bitter jealousy that rises up. You go, “Why does why does that person have that successful business?" Or, “How did that guy make that right investment I've been working for years for that.” These little seeds of jealousy start to make their way into our heart. Social media is a hotbed of that, you know. 

Then the other thing he says is “selfish ambition.” Bitter jealousy and selfish ambition. This word ambition in the Greek really is to gain more followers through gifting. Gaining followers before, you know, Instagram made it official. It was still something that people wanted to wrap around themselves. They want people to think that they're awesome. To think that they've got everything together. They want to pull their little group together and go, "Let's celebrate me for a little while.” 

And if you have those two things in your heart, what's going to come out is really, really bad. What's going to come out is this wisdom — and this is what we're seeing all over the world — there is this wisdom that is coming out. And I have to say it just the way that James said it, it is demonic. It does not have your best interests at heart. It really does not. The enemy has come to steal, kill and destroy. 

I started to think through this as I was reading it since Friday — because that's when I heard from David. I thought, “OK, Lord, what what do you want to say here?” And I started to look at this list of qualities of fruit of God, that wisdom. I really wish that James had laid out a list of the fruit of the demonic wisdom. I wish he had laid all that stuff out for me. I'm sure I can infer it from other passages, you know. And I felt like the Lord is like, “Well, just take the list. That's good and say the opposite.” That's the list that we need to be looking at. That's the thing that we need to be wary of when we see it in the world. 

So here is the fruit of the wisdom. And when we're hearing it around us and we're hearing it in politics or your friends or whatever, like we can run it through this list and go, “OK, is this right wisdom for me?” So if godly wisdom is pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere — the seven characteristics — demonic wisdom is impure. It's got an agenda, there's something behind it that just doesn't taste right, it's impure. It's not peaceable, it's looking for a fight. It's looking to separate you. It's looking to get you fighting with one another. It's harsh, it's not gentle, it's really harsh. It's saying things that are impugning you. Deep down, they're calling you names and making you feel like you you'll never make it or you made the wrong choice or that you're worthless. It is harsh, harsh words against you. It's not willing to listen to reason. 

Isn't that happening everywhere? I'm sorry. Any time I look at any news or anything, I'm like, oh, my gosh, this is like we are separating into people that just will not talk to each other, not willing to listen to reason. It is merciless. The enemy is merciless. He will not let you off the hook. He will continue to beat you up over the things that you did, the choices you're going to make, the choices that you already made, the things that you should have done. The enemy is merciless on you. It's biased and it's insincere. 

People of God, we have to get this. I have to get this. We all have to get this. Part of what the Lord has given me is that this storm that we experienced in 2020 is is not over. And I know that sounds like bad news, but it's not in the kingdom of God. That's good news. 

I was on sabbatical. I started writing again. I've written a couple of books and I started writing a third book that I don't know if it'll ever make the the light of day because it was based on is totally different than any book I've ever written. It was based on a prophetic dream I had in Peru. And if you want to learn more about that, I'll tell you, I won't take it down that rabbit trail. 

But in the future, in the things that are coming up, the people of God are going to have to be very quick at discerning what is true and what is not true. We're going to have to be people that are so close to Jesus, so close to each other, and so rooted in the word of God that we know when we hear something, we go, “Oh, that's not right. That's not for me.” Because this wisdom is the foundation of something really beautiful. 

And this is what James finishes with. After he finishes listing all the good things going, “This is what godly wisdom looks like. It's pure, it's peaceable, it's impartial, it's sincere,” he finishes with this verse, “and a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” 

If you're like me, you're scratching your head a little bit. That's OK. I read over this thing over and over, read every different translation of it. I was going, “OK, I'm getting it now.” When you are operating out of godly wisdom, you will be at peace with all the decisions of your life. Whether you went to the right college or not, all those things, the things that wake you up in the middle of the night, going, “Maybe I made a huge mistake with my career.” “Maybe I married the wrong person.” "Maybe I'm never going to get married.” 

These questions that come into your mind, this is the enemy trying to take you down. And the people of God that are at peace, that have wisdom from God and go, “No, no, no. That's the the wisdom of the of the world. That's the wisdom of the enemy. I'm not going to listen to that.” You will be harbingers of peace. You will carry peace everywhere you go. 

At the end of James chapter three, he said, “You will reap righteousness.”

This interior living, this interior following of Jesus will start to spill out on the outside. And people will see you and go, “Why are you so at peace? Don't you know the world is falling apart?” And you get to say, “Well, maybe it is politically, but I am just fine today. I'm in the kingdom of God. I'm doing OK. I'm doing great,” you know? 

And it's it's not shallow optimism. I'm not saying that you can't lament what's going on in our country. You can. And it's OK and it's acceptable. But we're not called to wallow in it. We are not called to walk in that wisdom that tells us you should be depressed all the time and beat down all the time. No, there is a better wisdom for the people of God that leads to peace. And it is a display of righteousness to the world. 

Let’s all bow our hearts just for a minute. When I was getting ready, I was really sensing that there's a few people in this room that were just overwhelmed. Overwhelmed with the fear of making a wrong decision. Overwhelmed with the regret of saying, “I made a wrong decision in the past and I'll never get over it.” 

This morning, I felt like there are people that didn't sleep last night because of this, that they were just so afraid of what's going on.

And this morning, the Lord is speaking peace over you. The Lord is speaking his peace over you. He's going, “That is not the fruit of my peace that's keeping you up at night. That is not the fruit of the wisdom that I'm trying to give you.”

And there are some other people in here that I really felt like you're feeling like you're doing OK, but the numbness and the busyness that's keeping you distracted from from interacting with the interior of your heart. God is saying, “You're missing something, you're skipping over something. Though it may be painful, I'm offering you my peace in the area where you don't even know you need my peace.” 

And some of us have this background noise of pressure and stress in our life and the Lord's going, “I want to release you from it, even if you're not aware of it.”

So right now, Jesus, we surrender to you. We joyfully surrender to you, God. We open our hands. We give you everything that we've got, the mistakes we've made, the bad choices we've made, the bad choices we've yet to make.

And Lord, we want your peace that comes from godly wisdom. We need it now more than ever. God, there's not a book that we could read other than the Bible. There's not a book that we could read that will give it to us. There is not a podcast out there that's going to solve all the questions that we have in our mind — whether its investments or changing jobs or picking the right college or whatever it is. 

God, right now we confess that we need you above anything else. And as a people of God, as just a group of family in this room, we collectively lay down the burdens that we have. And Jesus, we choose right now to build our life on the foundation of your love, on the foundation of your word, on the foundation of the peace that you give us. 

God, I’m reminded of the very first time you appeared to the disciples, you walked in and what did you say to everybody? “Peace. Peace.” And Lord, we need it right now more than ever. We love you, Jesus.

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Amazed at His Word

Series: The Sermon on the Mount
August 29, 2021 - David Stockton

David: To get us kicked off, we're going to bring up our reader for today. He's going to come up and read our passage of scripture. Yeah. Yeah.

Jake: Hello. My name is Jake Shores, and I'm in the high school group here at Living Streams. I had a good joke, but they won't let me tell it. So… 

David: No jokes allowed. 

Jake: I’ll be reading Matthew 7:24-29:

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

This is the word of the Lord.

David: Thanks be to God. Very nice. Very nice. Yeah. So this is the wrap-up. We have kind of the last words of Jesus, the last little kind of analogy that he gives. He talks about the the foolish builder and the wise builder. And the wise builder is the one who takes his words, literally his words, and puts them into practice — not just hears them, not just understands them but actually puts them into practice — is like someone who is really set, who's prepared for whatever might come, who can withstand the winds and the waves and the crashing and all of that that goes on. Someone who's planted firmly on a rock that's going to, you know, kind of stand the test of time. And as the tides come, and as things change, and feelings come, and emotions go, and thoughts come, and philosophies come, and doctrines come, and all these things, they're going to be able to find themselves not falling, not crashing, not being destroyed. 

And that's the way he ends his sermon. He basically gave us the whole, you know, it's three chapters in the book of Matthew, but all of these words — about 15 to 20 minutes, if you were to read the whole thing — and then he sums it up with that. 

And then immediately Matthew, the commentator says, “And when Jesus had finished these words,” when he finished the sermon, Matthew noted what happened to all the people that were listening. Now we know he primarily had pulled his disciples and he was using this as a time to teach them. But there was a larger crowd than just his disciples that were there. And they were on the side of the hill looking over the Sea of Galilee. 

And Jesus had probably done this many different places around the Sea of Galilee. That was his circuit of ministry and teaching. And he was teaching people about the kingdom, but he was also ushering in the manifestation of the kingdom of God right in that moment. And people were getting healed, people were getting set free. Good news was being preached to the poor. They had the hope rise up in their hearts against the political and socioeconomic backdrop in which they were living. 

But Matthew notes here, in that moment when Jesus is finished the sermon, there was silence, there was hush, there was stillness, you could hear the breeze, you could hear maybe a little bit of the sea. And he says in that moment there was this amazement, this kind of like awe that settled in on all the people. And they actually remarked — he remembers them saying — they were amazed at his words. 

And what was so amazing to them was that Jesus was teaching unlike anyone that they had ever heard. He taught with authority, unlike the teachers of the law. And that's settled amazement was something that stuck with those disciples. That settled amazement is really what caused those disciples to continue to stay with Jesus. That settled amazement as you read through the the gospels you'll hear that over and over again. When Jesus said this, everyone was amazed. When Jesus said this they were shocked. They were in awe when Jesus said this. They didn't know what to do. 

Later on, John, who was one of Jesus's followers, as he was writing about these two guys that were Jesus followers on the road to Emmaus. He describes it as them saying, “Did not our hearts burn within us upon the road as he spoke to us?” 

I don't know what it was like to actually hear Jesus in the flesh speaking. I don't know if his voice was like high pitched or like super low. I'm sure as he spoke there was a lot of “hcch” because he mostly spoke Hebrew. But I don't know what it would have been like to actually hear it. And then also what Mathew says they were amazed. I just think when Jesus spoke these words, if you've been with us in the Sermon on the Mount, it's heavy. It's like a punch in the gut. Sometimes it's intense. It's challenging. 

Jesus says that we're supposed to call our God in heaven Daddy, as opposed to what the Jews were teaching at that time, that you're not even allowed to write the name out because it's too holy and reverent. It was shocking. It was amazing. 

But as Jesus finished, there was no condemnation for the people that heard it, and guess what, these people were not checking off all the boxes as Jesus taught this. They weren't saying, “Oh, yeah, I do all that stuff perfectly. Glad you said that.” But there was something about the tone of his voice, there was something about the look in his eyes, there was something away that he moved, that really helped all of these people believe that the one who was speaking actually was telling them this because he thought they could get there. That they could be perfect, even as their Father in heaven is perfect. It was an invitation more than a condemnation.

And yes, they were convicted. Yes, they knew, when he was talking about anger, “I was like looking at the ground on that one.” When he was talking about adultery, “I just thought maybe I should leave right now. But then I thought, everybody know I just committed adultery so I stayed.” All these different emotions as Jesus was pinning one by one, all these different things that we deal with as humanity, was calling out the depravity in us.

He even, at one point, says, “You are evil, and yet you know how to give good gifts. How much more will my Father in heaven give good gifts, who’s not evil.” Some intensity in all of this. And yet the people's response was not to go further away from Jesus. It was to get closer. It was to say, “Maybe, just maybe, if I stay close to this guy, some of the beauty that he just spoke of, some of the truth that he just shared, will start to show up in my life.” The words of Jesus — powerful. The words of God are so good. 

And this is not just true in this little passage here, but we see this consistently throughout the whole of scripture. Way back in the Old Testament. It all begins with God doing what? Speaking. It says, “God said, let there be light.” And everything changed. There was light. There were stained glass windows. There were lights that are, like, blinding me right now. He created light when he spoke. He didn't have to speak.

He could have just done like the Jedi. You know, he could have just thought it. But for whatever reason, he spoke into that darkness to create light. He spoke to the ocean and it filled with fish. And life. He spoke to the cosmos and all of a sudden the sun and moon and stars appeared. There is so much power in the word of God. 

And then you continue on and it's story after story in the Old Testament, how God visited someone — and what did he do? He spoke to him through a burning bush. He spoke to him somehow, just in his heart. He spoke in a vision. We don't know exactly all the different ways that God spoke to people, but we do know that God spoke to people and they recorded it for us time and time again. And it caused great change in their life. 

In fact, in a real bizarre way, you ready to get crazy here? So the book of Ezekiel. Don't read it before you’re going to bed. It's creepy. It's totally bizarre. The Book of Revelation. You should read it because it's actually the only book in the Bible that says if you read it, you will be blessed. You just got to read it. You don’t have to understand it. Just read it and you'll be blessed. Just take the word for the word, what it's saying. But it also is just crazy out there. 

And in both of these stories, you have this interesting thing. Both of them. One’s Old, one’s New. They're not connected at all. But you have these visions. Sorry, in case you're like wondering what's going on here. I know there's kids in the room and my wife's in the room, too. She's kind of like a kid in her brain.

But I hurt my my finger playing football yesterday because I'm old. 

But anyway. So in these visions, you have Ezekiel and he's there and he's kind of caught up in the heavenly realm. There's angels and there's the throne of God. And all of a sudden he sees a scroll. And he hears this voice, this voice that says, “Take up the scroll.” And all the attention is put on the scroll. 

And he takes up the scroll and then the voice says, “Eat it.” It's true. And I don't know how, if it was like tear a little piece off, eat it, drink a little water, I don't know how, put a little barbecue sauce on it, where he ate the scroll in the vision. 

And same thing in Revelation. John's having this revelation. He’s there, caught up in the heavens. He’s like, “Oh, this is crazy, this is awesome.” And then the scroll appears. He’s like, “Oh, a scroll. That's cool.” And then he’s like, “Go take the scroll.” He takes the scroll and guess what the voice says? “Eat it.” So, he eats the scroll. He eats it. And both of them remark that as they ate the scroll, it tasted so sweet in their mouths. Like rocky road ice cream. Maybe a Bosa donut — like the chocolate covered one that's just fresh. Maybe four of them at the same time, stacked up, smashed down, or whatever. It was sweet in their mouth as they tasted it. They remarked. There was something about the word that was just amazing and wonderful as they took it in. But then it says, “And then when it got to their belly, it became sour.” Began to kind of shake things up. It didn't sit well in their stomachs. 

And I think that's just a picture of how we're really supposed to take in the word of God. As Jesus spoke these words, the people heard it, and as they heard it, they were amazed. It was sweet in their hearing. But

And there are people right now who read different parts of the scripture and it's painful. It's disturbing. It cuts them in half. And there's a real sense in our society today to try and take God's word that's been preserved for us, and to kind of just throw it out, and not really let it have a voice at the table anymore. Or what's to me even maybe a little bit more dangerous, is it can stay at the table, but it's got to sit at the little kids’ table, you know, off in the corner, or the little baby seat. And we've stripped it of all of its authority. 

Yet these people, when they heard the words of Jesus, that wasn't their response. They were challenged by it. And in fact, these disciples, they stuck with Jesus long enough to where it really cost them everything, including their own lives — to continue to walk in his ways and to put his ways above what they were feeling, what they were experiencing, what society was telling them to do. 

And so we have a statement here at Living Streams that we really believe that this book — Old the New Testament, the full canon of scriptures preserved for us — it’s all inspired by the word of God, by God and by the breath of God. It's inspired. It's God-breathed. It's come to us because God has helped form this. Yes, there were humans involved. Yes, the chapters and verses were supposed to be helpful and sometimes they’re not helpful at all. It spans all kinds of different cultures and spans all kinds of years. So it takes interpretation. No doubt about it. And careful application. And it's been used horribly and abusively in many different situations. No doubt about it. However, it is the word of God breathed out by God himself for us, to help us know how to navigate the challenges that continue to rise in our own hearts and in our world around us. 

And the other word that we call it, is we call it authoritative. It sits at the head of the table. And the community of faith, it's got a voice for us to help unpack it. The historical interpretations and traditions sit at the table to help us unpack it. And our experiences, our feelings, our emotions, those around us, the world around us, that has a voice, too. But it's the one sitting in the baby chair. Because it really does cause us to be confused sometimes. Because it's the least trustworthy, it's the least inspired, it's the least authoritative.

It takes me back to what Jesus said, that we could have a decision. Jesus said, “I'm going to share these words with you and they're going to taste sweet in your mouth. But when they get down in, there's going to be difficult. It's going to be challenging to walk this stuff out. It's going to be challenging to hold and stand your ground in these places when everyone else is falling away, when everyone else that you love is hurting because of some of these things, it's going to be tough. It's going to be tricky. There's going to look like there's a lot of other rocks that you're going to want to stand on. There's a lot of other ground that's going to look like maybe it's better.” But Jesus is saying this is the only rock that's going to be able to stand when the when the storm really comes. When all hell breaks loose, if you find yourself standing on anything else you're going to get washed away. And we don't want to be a people washed away and we don't want to teach our kids things that would help cause them to be washed away later on.

Kids in the room, you're going to hear a lot of different things about this book. But just hear me say that this book is trustworthy. It's a great guide for your life. No matter what the world might say around you, this book has withstood a lot of different worlds, a lot of different philosophies. A lot of people have tried to throw off the authority of this thing, and they've done so to their own peril. 

So why are Jesus's words, why is God's word so important and so moving? Well, the first thing I want us to remember is the incarnation, right? So Jesus came into this world. He came from a place into this world. Now, it's a little tricky with God because God's outside of time and we are not. God is not confined in any way. We're confined in lots of ways. But God — who was God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit in the triune nature — at one point decided within our human experience to have Jesus come and take on human flesh. Actually, the way John his follower calls him — as he was trying to figure out what's the best way I can describe Jesus — he says I'm going to call him the Word that came in flesh. Because ultimately that's what Jesus was to John. He was this Word. He was this understanding. He was this moving language that was spoken to him that changed everything.

So in the incarnation, Jesus came from the kingdom of heaven into the kingdom of earth. So it made sense that, as you spoke about the kingdom of heaven, it was like nothing anyone had ever heard. If you came to me and you were like, “Hey, tell me about Morocco.” I'll be like, “It's over there somewhere. Starts with an M.” But I could probably find somebody that's been there, done that, and they can teach you about it. But then if you ask my wife and I about Belize, we'd be like, “Blah, blah, blah.” It would just come shooting out. Lots of stories to tell about Belize. And still, we don't really totally know about believe. 

But Jesus came to us in incarnate from the kingdom of heaven, which also means that he was there when the world was created. And in fact, it was his own word that the Bible says is what created it, created everything; and it's his word that actually holds it all together still today. The word of Christ. 

So when Jesus came and spoke about the kingdom of earth and the kingdom of heaven and the way people are supposed to live, it was a perspective so deep, so rich, so powerful, so undeniable. The incarnation. 

The second thing was very interesting to me is that Jesus's words were so powerful because he linked his words to the inspired word of God. Multiple times in his life, and actually two different times in this little short sermon, Jesus talks about the law and the prophets as confirming what he's saying. He's not creating separation and distance between his words and the law and the prophets. He's actually linking them together because he knows that they are trustworthy and true. And he spoke of them in that way. 

In this day and age, the Old Testament is getting a lot of bad press. And I get it, there are some tough things that need some cultural lenses. I'm so thankful we have Jesus's words in the New Testament to help us interpret the Old Testament. But the Old Testament is alive and well and important. It's a great revelation of how God works with people. It’s a great revelation of who God is. And Jesus was not embarrassed about it or nervous about it. He actually used it time and time again and linked his teaching to it — which is fascinating to me. Sometimes I wish he didn't do it. I'd love to write that whole thing off. But I would do so to my own peril because it's teaching us about who God is, in his full nature.

And yes, it needs to be interpreted through the New Testament and through the words of Jesus. But the truth is, you can't really understand the New Testament without reading and knowing the Old Testament. They're so connected. They're all inspired by God. I know this is super unpopular teaching, by the way. And I know that there's scriptures that really do hurt when we read them. In fact, if we're honest, all of us hurt to some degree, but some more than others and I understand that. But I really, really feel like it's my job to make sure and try and give us the things that are going to be good seed that ultimately would lead to good fruit. 

I think there's just a lot of bad seed being planted in our nation. And I don't want it to be planted in our churches and I don't want it to be planted in our families. It might seem like really good seed. Just like Jesus talked about in these couple of parables before the the foolish and wise builder, it might look like a good seed. It might actually look like a good tree, too. But it's going to bear real bad fruit. And I feel like our nation is just grabbing so much bad fruit right now, trying to get some sort of satisfaction. And the Tree of Life is just sitting right over there. But they need to see it planted and expressed in us.  They need to see the fruit coming out of our lives as we apply the word of God, as we put these things into practice, unlike a fool.

A couple of stories on that. I just love you people at this church. You guys are so awesome. I get a call from a young guy in our church and I was just like, "Hey, what's up, man?” He’s like, “I just want to catch you up. I've been gone for the summer.” 

I was like, “Okay, what's happening?” 

He's like, “Well, I got I got my first job.” And it's a big deal for a number of reasons. But he got his first job and he's going to get a paycheck and he's like, “I'm going to get this paycheck.” And, you know, they were paying him like a pretty good amount of money for, you know, like just the guy first starting out with a job. At least for me, it seemed like that because I was like “Dang, man, you’re making the same amount I”m making. What's going on here anyways?” 

No, no, no big deal there. But it he was serious. He was so excited about about this new job that he had and that he was getting his paycheck. And I was just like, “That's cool, man. I'm so happy for you,” because, you know, he's even had some like, you know, visa type stuff and all the things. So it really is kind of a miraculous, wonderful thing that he's got this. But he's so excited about this paycheck and he just keeps talking about this paycheck.

And I was like, “What do you what are you asking about your paycheck, man?” I don't get it. And ultimately, he was saying, “I just want to give it to the Lord. And I want to talk to you about how do you do that. Like you just give the whole thing or should I give part of it or should I give some over here and some over here?” He was like, “What do you recommend?” 

And I was just like. Oh, man. This is unbelievable. This guy is just so thankful to the Lord that he just wants to give firstfruits right to God. Not because, you know, he's burdened under some, you know, heavy, heavy teaching. Because he just wants so badly to please the Lord. He’s so thankful to the Lord. He wants to plant his life firmly on what he believes to be the words of Jesus. 

So I said, “Give it all to me, man." No, I didn’t say that. Say, “I’m a pastor, man. You're supposed to give it straight to me. You know, and it's going to work out.” 

No, I didn't say that at all. I didn't say that! Oh, I didn't say anything. 

But anyways, we talked a little bit about tithing and 10 percent.  And we talk about savings. We talked a little bit. And he  talked a little about his family who had helped him through college. So it was cool.Just so you know, I'm not getting any of the money at all. Zero. Zero. Zero.

But anyway, so that was one story that was just like this is putting the words of Jesus into practice. It’s putting the word of God into practice. And it doesn't have to be this like heavy, hard, painful thing. We're actually supposed to, in the New Testament, interpret the Old Testament. We're supposed to give cheerfully. And this is a beautiful story of this kid just saying, “I'm so excited to finally be able to do this for Jesus. Because for the first time I have a job." I love it. 

Second little story about applying the word of God in some really cool ways. We've been talking about the words of Jesus. A couple of years ago, we actually did a sermon series called "Church Around the Table,” and how we really feel like, you know, it's cool to to be able to meet together and all of these things. But really, the the some of the most special, some of the most challenging, some of the richest pay dirt in our spiritual formation and maybe even in evangelism, is around our own tables, in our own homes. And we were challenging people to kind of take the word of God and apply it to your own table at home and what would it look like? Remember Jesus was inviting himself over to people's tables, and he was meeting with tax collectors and sinners, and he was kind of bringing people together that didn't seem like they were allowed to be together.

And so what this guy and his wife decided to do was to create these dinners where they call them MGen, so they invite multiple generations to sit at the table together; because they're they're in the older generation. And so they literally are old enough to where they were able to invite five different generations together at this table. It was funny for Britney, you know, because we're no longer like the young generation. We're like in that middle aged generation. We were like, “Oh, it's happening.” 

And then, you know, my finger and stuff. But anyway, so we're sitting around this table and there's this couple that are in their older generation, and then there's us, and then there's one couple that's younger, and then there was a couple that's older, and then another couple that was, you know, older and we all just started to share stories. I knew going in that, you know, not all of us were were believers in Jesus Christ, followers of Jesus Christ. I knew one of the couples was was a homosexual couple. So we just all sat there and we all just kind of shared our stories, shared about life. 

And they went first and they got real. So then it was like, OK, well, they're setting the standard there. Everybody else was going as real as they could, you know. But Brittany and I went next. And I mean, as the believers around the table are sharing their stories, obviously they're just full of what Jesus has done, full of what Jesus has done. And yet no, like, challenge or weirdness there. And then everyone else is able to share their story and where they're at. And they felt a little bit obligated to share what their spiritual formation is like. And, you know, we all just kind of listen and that was it. We just had dinner together. We sat in the same space and enjoyed our time together and got to know each other. I thought it was just such a beautiful, beautiful way of applying the word of God and saying, “Okay, we don't want to just kind of do this one hour a week on Sunday morning.

We don't just want to do this when we go on a little missions trip and we go involve ourselves in a part of society that’s maybe not the exact same. We want it right here at our table. We want to go all the way in. And it was just so beautiful to see, so challenging. As I sat there and saw the word of God applied, but then also felt compelled, Okay, Lord, where do I go from here?

Those are the type of seeds that need to be planted right now. Those are the type of seeds that are going to lead to good fruit, are going to cause our nation — whatever kind of craziness it wants to do or not do — but ultimately, people are going to come to the end of themselves. They're going to come face to face with their own depravity, and they're going to say, “Is there any good fruit out there?” 

And Lord willing, we'll have fostered relationships and we'll have allowed the word of God to abide in us to where it’s bearing good fruit in our life. They're going to say, “What do you have to offer?” And we’ll be like, “What’s up? Bam.” Apple. We'll have good fruit to offer. And people will get to know who God is and what he can do in their lives.

It all starts with the words of Jesus, and the words of Jesus are definitely here in the gospels, the four accounts: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The words of Jesus expand beyond those gospels into the New Testament. The words of Jesus fill the whole Old Testament, as well. All of this counsel is so good for us. The words of Jesus come to us from other places, as well. Come from sermons, come from friends. The Bible talks about creation, speaking about the invisible attributes of God. We have the Spirit of God that's been given to us who've accepted Christ, speaks to us from that. We have the saints of old that have answered a lot of the questions that we have, giving us information. The words of Jesus come to us from a lot of different places.

If we really want to hear God's word when he speaks, we’ve got to remember that he's teaching us the kingdom of heaven’s way. So when it is different than the kingdom of earth way that we're so familiar with, we should not be shocked. We should not argue, and we should not rebel. We should receive it and get in line with it, no matter how hard it is. 

Because God is not really trying to help us win in the kingdom of earth economy. And if you haven’t figured that out through the Sermon on the Mount, listen to again. He's teaching us how to win at the economy of heaven, which is ultimately what really matters. 

And if we want to hear from God's word, we must remember that it will be in line with the scriptures. I try to tell people all the time who want to prophesy to do it and don't be afraid. We're supposed to eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially prophecy, speak the word of God. Do it. Be bold. Be excited about that. 

But I also tell them that as you're about to do it — whether it's with someone on a one-on-one or whether it's from the platform here or whatever it might be — I say, “Try and think of a Bible verse that says the same thing that you're feeling compelled to say and just use that instead, as a good rule of thumb, or at least use a Bible verse in conjunction with what you're saying to confirm what you're saying.” It's a really good practice because God's word is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. God's word is alive. 

One time there was a guy talking to me, “How do you really preach God's word? Like, what's the best way to go about it?” 

I said, “Just let it out of its cage.”

God's word is so powerful. It’s been changing lives for a long, long time. Long, long time. And so to conclude, I just want to read a verse that sums this up, Isaiah 55:11-13 (GW)  gives us one last picture. 

And so, kids, this one's for you, this is a little picture. Remember how it was raining a bunch recently? All that rain coming down.You’ve got to think about that rain coming down. Or remember, I guess it’d be like February or something, when you wake up and the grass is all covered in dew? This is what that verse is all going to be about. 

So, “My word,” God says, “which comes from my mouth,”
It will not come back to me without results.
It will accomplish whatever I want
and achieve whatever I send it to do.”
You will go out with joy and be led out in peace.
The mountains and the hills
will break into songs of joy in your presence,
and all the trees will clap their hands.
Cypress trees will grow where thornbushes grew.
Myrtle trees will grow where briars grew.
This will be a reminder of the Lord’s name
and an everlasting sign that will never be destroyed. 

So just like when that rain comes down and settles on the earth, the earth does not stay the same.It might seem at first, like the earth all the same, but underneath that, you know, there's little seeds  (and a lot of them are weeds, especially now) but there's little seeds — good seeds, bad seeds — all underneath the ground. And as God's words come, it causes those things to be quick and to come to life, those seeds to die, and all of a sudden, these shoots to start coming up and coming out. 

I believe a little bit of 2020 and the shaking that we've been through is a little bit of God kind of bringing to fruition a lot of the seeds that we have planted as individuals and as a nation. And it ain't pretty. Except for where it's pretty. 

My prayer is that we, right now as the church, God's instrument in this world, to help his name and his kingdom and his glory be known and felt. That we would be planting seeds right now like never before. We will be allowing the word of God to abide in us more than ever before. We would be speaking out and teaching our kids and our families and our communities the word of God like never before. So that, in due time — whether it just be the rains and blessings of God that bring it to fruition, or there's more shaking that comes that brings to fruition — we would get to see a lot of good fruit show up from the people of God. And it's happened many times before, where the people of God have been able to usher in awakening and renewal, and that's what I'm praying for again. 

So we've got the words of Jesus. We just now have to put them into practice — like wise builders — and allow the good fruit to show up for our own families, but also for the community around us. Amen. 

I mean, you did so good kids. Let's hear it for the kids.

GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God’s Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.

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Unless otherwise marked, scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.The "NIV" and "New International Version" trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica. Use of either trademark requires the permission of Biblica.

Scripture marked “GW” is taken from GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)
Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God’s Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.

The Good Gifts of Wisdom, Unity and Restoration

Series: The Sermon on the Mount
August 22, 2021 - David Stockton

Well, let's go to Matthew, 7:7-12:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?” 

Nobody answer that, please. Some of you might have been there before. I've been close.

Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 

Hopefully nobody's been there. 

“If you, then, though you are evil…”

Jesus Christ is talking to his disciples and, we can safely say, to us. He's calling us evil, which is interesting, and we are, in comparison with God. If we’re evil and we know. How to give good gifts to our children…

“…how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

So basically, we're at our third chapter of of the book of Matthew on the Sermon on the Mount. And what that means is that Matthew, who was writing this, you know, a long time ago, who was a disciple of Jesus, he had spent time with Jesus. He'd spent years with Jesus following him around, touring with him as Jesus went around the Sea of Galilee and preached about the kingdom of heaven. 

Now, Jesus, three times we know, went to Jerusalem to go and teach there as well. But most of the time, Jesus stayed in a very small town, a very village-type environment. And he would speak to people around the Sea of Galilee. He would proclaim to them the kingdom of heaven, which again is so wild to think about what the teachings of Jesus and the name of Jesus has meant to the world over — when Jesus was such a small town individual. And yet he would preach about the kingdom of heaven. 

So this sermon we've talked about is a little bit like Jesus’ stump speech. Matthew was able to record this, and it's recorded in Luke too, in mostly the same shape. He was able to record this some some years after Jesus was gone because it was so familiar to him, because every village that Jesus would go to, Jesus would say, “Hey, let me tell you about the kingdom of heaven.” And he would basically share this similar type thing. 

So we have in Chapter five where Jesus kind of shocks us with the Beatitudes. He says, “Let me tell you about the kingdom of heaven. The blessed are the ones who are poor in spirit,” which is such a reverse to our economy. The economy of the world is — if you're poor in spirit, you're not blessed in any way. But in the economy of heaven, it's kind of an upside down kingdom. 

As one commentary talks about, really, there's a reversal in the key role. The first shall be last, the last shall be first. There's this understanding that we have to — if we really want to be good or rich in the kingdom of heaven, we're going to have to learn the kingdom of heaven’s economy — which is almost in direct opposition to the economy of this world. So we've been kind of digging into that. 

And then he goes right after that and he talks about the kingdom of heaven is not only upside down, but it's more of an inside out kingdom. And he starts to talk about the hypocrites and those who seem really great on the outside, but their hearts are far from God. They seem to be doing all the Christian things really well, but there's no relationship with God in the secret place. 

So the kingdom of heaven, according to Jesus, is a real inside out kingdom. It doesn't really matter what the outside looks like, but as we know, we all judge from the exterior. It used to be that we were judged based on the way someone looks in any moment, but now we judge them based on the way they look in Instagram after they’re all prettied up and their life looks so awesome. We're so external in the way that we judge or value things, but that's not the way it is in the kingdom of heaven. 

And so Jesus is kind of unpacking and reversing things and the disciples, as they're hearing these words, their lives are literally being turned inside out and upside down. And those of us who've been with this for four months, we've kind of felt some of that.

And Jesus gets to chapter six and he really starts to talk about not just our relationship around the world with us, but our relationship with God. And he kind of turns some things on its head there. And in the midst of that, he gives us the Lord's Prayer, which is such a beautiful way for us to react and and interact with God. He actually says that we're supposed to use the word Daddy when we pray, which in a first century Jewish custom would be so blasphemous and offensive. That's what Jesus taught his disciples to do. Call him Daddy when you pray. You need to realize how close he is and how for you he is. 

Then, right after that, he launches into this,”Don't worry, don't be anxious for anything.” You know, “Look at the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. God's taking care of them. So you who God loves so much more, he's going to take care of you.” It’s this real hopeful thing and it was way, you know, better and comforting than Chapter five. 

And now we're in Chapter seven. And in some ways, it does seem to be like a closing to the to the sermon. Right after all of that nicety, all of that kindness and the generosity of God at the end of Chapter six, he hits us in Chapter seven with, “Don’t be a judgmental jerk.” And in some ways, he's almost saying, “All of these teachings I've given you, don't use them against other people. You're supposed to use them against yourself. But you're going to have this tendency. Once you've been with me for a while and you start to feel a little progress in these areas, and you start to get to know the rules pretty good, and you start to get to know the ways pretty good, that instead of using them to apply to your relationship with me and your walk with me, you're going to start wanting to use them to tell other people about how much better you are than them and how horrible they are. That's going to make you feel better in some weird, sick way.” 

And so Jesus, at the end of this message, is starting to caution his people, saying, “Hey, don't ever use this stuff against somebody else.” And he uses the funny illustration of, “Don’t start looking at the speck in someone else's eye and say, ‘Let me help you with that,’ while you got this giant plank coming out of your eye.” He's saying, “Don't be so judgmental, don't use this stuff against people.”

But then he kind of balances that out. He says also, “Don't let the dogs and the pigs, you know, into what is sacred, because they'll tear it to pieces.” And so this is kind of the lead up that we have to Matthew 7:7. It's this, “Don't be judgmental, but also be careful that you don't let the dogs and the pigs in too close.” And then we have our passage. And then you know how this thing finishes? With Jesus teaching on false prophets, false teachers and foolish builders.

There are two things that I want to do today. I want to first look at this passage and unpack it a little bit, but then I want to back us up a little bit and try and figure out why this passage about prayer, basically, and the good gifts that God wants to give wasn't put in Chapter 6, when Jesus was teaching all of those things. Why Jesus, or Matthew, or both, decided to put this good gifts in prayer teaching right in the midst of judgmental, right in the midst of, you know, being careful you don't let the dogs and the pigs get too close, and false teachers, false prophets and foolish builders.

So at first it's going to be pretty easy going, but then you're gonna have to do some work. All right? School's back in session, so guess what? Church school back in session today. We're going through some exegesis, hermeneutics, staying away from eisegesis. You with me? No, you don't have to be. It'll make sense, hopefully, in a little bit. 

All right. So ask, seek and knock. Jesus is teaching, Matthew's recording it for us. He says:

 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

This is awesome teaching on prayer. This is awesome teaching about our relationship with God. It has two things. First, we're supposed to be bold. It's bold to just go up and ask. 

It's interesting because we have foster kids that live in our home from time to time. We have one right now. And it's interesting to see the way my kids will ask for things. And then, you know, a foster kid, when they first get with us, whether they feel the the comfort of asking for something or not, we have to help them start to feel a little more bold. And then at some point, it's like, “Okay, you can back up the boldness a little bit, maybe.” Feeling a little bit bold. No, we don't want that. I mean, we kind of want that, but not want that. We don't want that.

But there's a boldness that Jesus is saying. Again, we can hearken back to the context of the Sermon on the Mount and think about the Daddy. The Daddy. I wrote these things down. Daddy over the heavens is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. You should be asking God because God is so excited about giving you things, is what Jesus is trying to say. Daddy over the heavens is a rewarder for the secret good we do. 

Do you remember that God is always watching what we do in secret? We learned from Matthew Chapter 6 he cares more about what we do in secret than what we do publicly. Doesn't mean he doesn't care what you do publicly. I think that's important. But he cares about what you're do in secret. Jesus constantly said, “And your father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you openly.” So God is watching the secret place of your life, what you do in secret, not so that he can say, “Ha! Caught you doing something!” No, he's looking there because he wants to reward you for the good you do in secret. 

And our daddy over the heavens cares more about you than the birds of the air, or the flowers of the field, and they're taken care of and they're beautiful in their own way. That's what Jesus is pointing out. And your father in heaven cares so much about you. So you should come to him boldly asking and seeking and knocking. 

But then in this also, there's a persistence to it. There's a persistent succumbing to God, and there's actually kind of a little bit of that conjugation going on in the original language here of this, like persistent, keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. Don't stop pounding on the door. And there's an importance to that and I just heard this recently, I know a lot of us are burdened about Afghanistan and other things going on in the world, Haiti and then, even closer to home. There's these challenges, these very difficult situations. And I liked what this person said about outcry being a form of prayer, where we just kind of cry out to the Lord. And let that be enough. 

And what he says is, 

“The outcry is great. And as tragic as that is, it's very important for there to be an outcry. Why? Because scripture gives witness to the God of the Bible is One who responds to outcry.” 

God's not put off by outcry.

“Outcry is actually a form of hope that says there has to be something better — that this is not the way it should be. Outcry is filled with hope because it refuses to sign off on the status quo.” 

And then what he was saying was, 

“May we join in the outcry that rises up from Afghanistan as we offer our prayers to God and anticipate that God will act and bring deliverance.” 

A form of prayer, outcry prayer coming from Habakkuk. Just in case you don't know what that is, it says, 

“How long, Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen. Or cry out to you, Violence, but you do not save. Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me. There is strife and conflict abounds. Therefore, the law is paralyzed and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that the justice is perverted.”

And this is what was coming out of Habakkuk’s heart as he came to the Lord in his day and age. And the Lord did meet him there. And there's more to that story. But outcry is a good form of prayer, because ultimately it is a hopeful prayer. And then what is so hard is he says that we need to come with these outcries to the Lord with anticipation. 

That's what I think Jesus is trying to encourage to his disciples. Remember, they were in a rough situation. They were under complete and total Roman domination. They were under complete oppression from the religious leaders and the wealthy of that day. So much so that Jesus, he continued to say the things he was doing, do the things he was doing, and they actually pinned him to a tree. That was the kind of society he was living in in that day. The animosity and the demonization that was going on led them to that point. And yet Jesus was telling them to pray with anticipation. To pray to a God who loves to give good gifts. 

That's tough for me sometimes in my own troubles, and when I look at the world's situations, it's hard for me to pray with expectation and hope of answers. 

And there's this quote from a guy named William Carey, who was actually a missionary in India, and his big quote that I've heard many times, but I've never really been able to trust it, but it says: 

“Expect great things from God and attempt great things for God.” 

And I think that is a way that we're supposed to come to the Lord — asking, seeking and knocking, that we just are expecting great things to come from God.

My wife just recently, I guess it's been probably a couple of years now, but she just was kind of at this point of like this tension between praying and having expectation, and praying and just being like, “Nothing ever happens.” And so she just started writing prayers on our wall and in our TV room. And it was like at first it was like, “Okay, a couple of prayers right there.” But she just kept writing. And now there's like whole corner of the wall that was just like written with all these things. And it's not like it's like all artistically done. It is just like Blaah! Right there on the wall. 

And what's interesting, though, is because they're written they're on the wall, like for us to see she's gone back from time to time and she's written an answer. Like, “This happened,” and “this happened.” “This still hasn't happened.” And then sometimes she'll like write some arrows and be like, “Well, this happened, but it was kind of like over here on this side.” It's interesting the way she's connected some of the dots. But it's actually given our family just now a little bit of proof that the good gifts do come. They don't always come in the way that we're wanting them to come, but the Lord is very faithful to answer and to give good gifts to those who ask and seek and knock with some boldness and some persistence. 

So that's simple there. We've got that. No problem. And then we've got the good gifts that he wants, the way we all would love good gifts. We love to think about God wanting to give us good gifts. But that's kind of the easy unpacking of this, because this is this passage is put right in the midst of a context that Matthew has connected — inspired by the Holy Spirit — and the very last verse in this section says, “So ask, seek, knock. Expectation, boldness, persistence. God loves to give good gifts you. So do unto others as you would have them do unto you. So all of that I just told you is so that you will begin to do unto others as you would have done unto you.”

Which brings us back to the other bookend of that where basically, Jesus says in verse two of this section, “Judge others in the way that you want to be judged.” And so all of this really does tie together in the writer Matthew's mind and in Jesus's mind as he’ teaching.

And so this is where it's been a little bit more difficult to kind of say, “Back up. Why does this fit here? Why didn't this passage on prayer get put in with all the other passengers on prayer in Chapter 6? And all the happy times, thinking about God as someone who cares for the birds and the flowers. Why is it put right in the midst of this about judging and all of that?” 

So that's what we're going to kind of work on now. So exegesis  — Jesus is basically trying to draw out what the person writing the scriptures meant to the people that they were writing to. So it's trying to get your mind back into a first century Jewish perspective. Right? And think about it along those lines. 

So Jesus is teaching, and we know Jesus, Incarnate Word of God. He's got a pretty good understanding of what the kingdom of heaven is. And he's teaching his disciples and his disciples, interestingly enough, we think of them — or at least I've been thinking about this — I think of them as the disciple, like there's this one disciple, but it's disciples. There's like 12 of them. Cookie cutter, whatever. 

But the truth is, we think about the disciples that Jesus chose, you’ve got people in such various forms on the political spectrum, various forms on the socioeconomic perspectives. I mean, you've got you've got a zealot, who's basically like, “Burn Rome to the ground —yesterday!” Like, “Let's go, let's do this.” When they beheaded John the Baptist, the 5,000 men that went out to Jesus, those 5,000 men were coming out to say, “Jesus, let's march.” And Jesus gave him some bread. They tried to make Jesus king and he departed from them to a quiet place. So there was that kind of political intensity going on and some of Jesus’ disciples were totally bought in to the “Down with Rome. Let’s revolt.” 

And then you had Matthew, who, a tax collector who's basically like, “Nah, we could work with Rome. That’s cool. They are, you know, they're not that bad, I guess.” 

And then he had everybody in between. 

You had the Sons of Thunder, John, his brother James. I don't know exactly what that means, except for they probably liked to fight. They're like the Enneagram eights. They're like those people scrolling through on Instagram just looking for somebody to chomp. You know? Like, “Come on, baby, somebody say something because I'm ready to thunder.” You guys know who I'm talking about. Some of you were like, “Why is he talking about me?” 

They were different people, and Jesus was drawing them together into something — a unity that was supposed to be more powerful than all their differences, somewhere a little bit further along in their theological understandings.

Some were rich, some were poor. And Jesus was trying to bring this brood into something beautiful. And he's teaching them about,  “Don’t be a judgmental jerk and use these teachings against others; but also sometimes remember that there is a little bit of healthy separation necessary watching out for the pigs and the dogs, false teachers, false prophets, foolish builders. And ultimately, as you're seeking me and praying all these things, I want you to remember to do unto others as you'd have them do to you.” 

It's kind of this interesting type thing. And so here's the way I would unpack it. Someone who is prone to being critical — it’s interesting because well, two things. First, you need to know about me, when I walk home, like I open the door to my house and it's like instantaneous. There's 15 things I can point out that are not going right. Now some of those things I shouldn't take too much, you know, fault for, because like they leave the door — I go home and it's like every day the doors are wide open. And obviously, in the summer in Phenix, that's a problem for a guy who's got to pay the bills. Right? So everybody gets that. 

But there's a deeper kind of challenge there, because when the doors are open in my house, that means, yeah, for sure, all the hot air is just like, whoosh, flowing out the door. That's hard. But that also means there's probably a chicken or a tortoise inside my house. I'm glad you think that's funny. It's not. I don't go home and think, Oh, how funny is this? That there's a chicken or a tortoise? Because you know what chickens and tortoises do inside your house? They poop! I can't tell you how many days I've come home in the last week. And there's just like chicken poop all over. And then I'm like, “What is going on?” 

And then I hear, “Baaaahr.” And then I have to go find the chicken and get the chicken out. Pick up the poop. And one time — I’m not joking — I came home and I was just like, “This is not chicken poop. This is larger.

And we have dogs. And it's like, “But this doesn't look like dog and it looks smeared everywhere.” And it was a tortoise. And we have those giant desert turtles and they do come in. They've been like, “Hey, this is cool.” And it pooped. And then it walked this way and then it walked back. And they don't have a lot of, like, you know, clearance going on. And so when it came back, it just like, scrrrrrrr, all the way into my bedroom, it was in the corner of the bedroom on top of my guitar. Yeah. You guys think it's so funny. 

But it's interesting because that critical nature, it's weird because I've noticed like one of my gifts, you know, Romans, 12-type gifts that God has given me is is to be an encourager. And so, it's so funny how my encouragement gift when I, like, encourage people can distort into, “I'm really encouraging you to do the things I want you to do.” And really, it's coming off very critical. I don't know if some of you struggle with that same thing, but like I'm supposed to encourage people and build them up, but instead in my unhealth, I use words of encouragement to really belittle people and to critique them. 

And what's sad is, sometimes I'll see it on my daughter's faces. I’ve had to apologize so many times. And we have to watch that in our own lives. Again as we start to develop in the Lord and get better, and the more we got to watch that, it doesn't just turn into, “Here. Let me encourage you. Let me pray for you,” in a way that's really going to be demeaning and belittling. 

But anyway, so with all of that, we've got to try and figure out what Jesus is talking about, why this was put in this context, and this is what I did. So to exegete this chapter, I think this was what we would say: 

Don't be judgmental. Don't be a judgmental jerk to those around you. The fellow struggling Jews, the fellow disciples you disagree with might be exegesis in that context. Don't be the judgmental jerk to the Pharisees or the Romans, even though you might be tempted to. And don't be judgmental to those who don't get to be as close to Jesus as you did, disciples. Understand that the grace that you've been given, the mercy you've been given, is a generosity from God and extend that generosity.

But instead ask, seek and knock in prayer on their behalf for God to give them the gift of waking up to the kingdom of heaven — not to your version — but to the actual kingdom of heaven. I think that's why Jesus is putting this,”Ask, seek and knock, because you're going to get into tough relationships and I want you to ask, seek and knock on their behalf that they would be able to awaken and understand what God is doing in their life. 

And remember to not let someone who is selfish or couldn't care less — the pigs and the dogs — have access to what is holy and sacred in your life. Remember that the healthy separation is good.” 

And I think this is a bit of what Jesus is trying to teach us in this passage, is all of this is pointed to the judgment of the the people we critique, the people who are not like us, the people who are hard for us. And one way to think about it easily is maybe it's a child of yours that's that's gone astray. And you're supposed to consistently, persistently, boldly be asking and seeking and knocking that the Way Maker would make a way for them to return. 

It's supposed to be like that prodigal father who goes to the edge of your property every single day just to look and see if maybe they're coming home. And to watch your heart from becoming cold and judgmental and critical towards them, so that the day when they do come, you'll be able to pull out the robe and the ring and have a party. 

And then the good gifts he talks about actually — sorry, let's continue to talk about — so now the hermeneutic for us today: Don't be a judgmental jerk to those around you, your fellow Christians, those who are different on politics, race, sexuality, gender roles and Covid. Ever heard of those things? Use Jesus' teaching. Don't use Jesus’ teaching to judge others before you judge yourselves with it. It's better to ask, seek and knock in prayer on their behalf for God to give them the waking up to your ways that are right and you know it? No! That they would wake up to Jesus’ ways which are right. And we're all trying to fall in line as best we can. 

And remember: You don't have to let someone selfish, who couldn't care less, have too much access to you. This is an important point, I think, that we need to have; because a lot of you are embracing the tension of loving in a really difficult way. And that's awesome. But what Jesus is the saying here about the pigs and the dogs is there are people who are like dogs. They really are just trying to get what they can get. You know, think of the dog, like, going up on the table, you know, trying to snag that whatever piece of bread. The dog's not thinking about who needs the bread or what's best. The dog is just trying to get what they can get.

And there are people in your lives that are claiming to really want the truth and want genuine relationship. But really, they're just trying to get what they want to get. And in those situations, Jesus is saying, “Don't give what is sacred to those. Don't give the sacredness of a fellowship that's built on where you're trying to trust each other and really find common ground and figure out the unity of the Spirit. Don't trust those things to the dogs who really are just trying to get whatever they can get.”

And then the pigs who couldn't care less. These are people who might act like they really want to be in relationship. They act like they really want to, but really, they just don't care. They don't care the way you do.

And what happens is, if you let those people in too much or too often, you find yourself with kind of this depleted amount of grace and patience all the time for the relationships that really do matter. It's important as believers that we kind of have that healthy separation, so maybe those relationships, those friendships that you've lost in light of all of the ideological warfare going on lately, maybe some of them, you said, “Hey, why don't we get together every year instead of every day? Why don't we have a conversation maybe every few months instead of weekly?” Because there's a proverb that says, “Guard your heart, for out of it springs the issues of life.” And if you're not paying attention to that sacred, holy place, that secret place in there, it might cause the rest of your life to not be making much sense either.

And then ultimately, to conclude, let's talk about the gifts that I think Jesus is wanting to give here, what Jesus is talking about, when in this context of all of this relational challenge, he talks about these good gifts that God wants to give. 

And I think the good gifts that God wants to give are different than the gifts that we want. For us, we want, you know, gifts like gift card to Chipotle or something like that, in case you get hungry. We want gifts like Suns tickets, because now they’re worth going to watch. We have all these different ideas of gifts that we want to bring, but if you're going to go with the kingdom of heaven and the economy of heaven, what are the gifts that God thinks are good? What are the gifts that he longs to bring? 

And we have scriptures that help us with that. First of all, we know that God loves to give wisdom generously. James teaches us, “Anyone who asks of God for wisdom, he will give generously.” It's one of his favorite things to give, is wisdom. And we need wisdom and direction right now. How to navigate these times that we're living in. How to love those that are really hard for us. We need wisdom. We need guidance. Who are the pigs and the dogs? And, “How come I can't call everyone a pig and a dog in life?” They aren't all pigs and dogs, if you're calling everyone a pig and dog, you do need some wisdom. 

But this is the good gift that God loves to give. That's why I think it was tucked into here as opposed to the other things. The other things are a little bit more about the provisions and needs that we have in this life, physical felt needs. But here the gifts that God wants to give a little bit more about the wisdom, of how to navigate all of these relationships. 

And another gift that God loves to give is unity. “Behold how good and how pleasant it is when we dwell together in unity. There the Lord commands a blessing.” 

When we actually unify, when we come together, whether it's easy or hard, but we come together in genuineness, God can't help it. He's just like,”Bam. Where’s my checkbook?” You know, he doesn’t have a checkbook, but like, you know, he's just like, “I just love to see you guys as one.” 

And ultimately, John 17, the last thing that Jesus prayed, for his disciples, in front of his disciples, before he went to the cross, he prayed that they would be one.

And in some magical, seemingly almost-blasphemous-unless-Jesus-said-it way, that our oneness would not just be with each other, but also with the Godhead. This is the gift ultimately that Jesus came to bring, that we would have a oneness with the Father, a oneness with the Son, a oneness with the Spirit and a oneness with His Bride, which is all of us — the Church, the family of God. 

So what are the good gifts that Jesus wants to give and why is it tucked into this section about false prophets, false teachers, foolish builders, judgmental pigs and dogs? That's because I think these are the gifts that Jesus wants to give us. And I think these are the gifts that we really need to be crying out for right now: wisdom and guidance and unity and restored relationships.

I have some of those relationships where people have decided that I'm wrong, and they have to go somewhere else now. And we've been together for a long time. But I mean, I haven't really changed, but they just decided, you know, “I need to go over here because you're wrong.” 

And there's this whole concept of progressive Christianity where it's like, “Hey, we need to rethink everything. We go through deconstruction.” And I'm all for deconstruction. I'm all for progress. No doubt about it. And I think the evangelical church, me, my own life, our church, our society, America, everything has things that need to be deconstructed and reevaluated and reformed. No doubt about it. And I'm all for that. 

But like one of my pastor friends says, as he says, everybody I've seen go progressive Christianity, it’s really just one step before post-Christianity. And he wasn't saying that to call them bad or anything, he was just grieving because he's seen so many people kind of step outside the fellowship, outside of the scriptures, outside of these things, and they don't come back. They don't make it back. Or they go through healthy deconstruction, which is good, but healthy deconstruction, as the world's describing it now, has no hope of reconstruction. As soon as you start to construct anything, they say that you're bad. 

And so you have people just in deconstruction long enough to where, eventually, they just have nothing. And when I read this and when I was hearing the Lord say, “Ask, seek and knock,” I started to just have this hope and think maybe, just maybe what you want me to pray for some comeback stories in some of these relationships. Whether it's a family member, whether it's a child, whether it's a friend, whether it's someone that used to have sweet fellowship with in the Lord and now it's gone. And I think Jesus is saying, “I want you to keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking, and know that one of the best gifts I love to give is these comeback stories. Remember that story I told about the prodigal came back home.”

And I don't want people to come back to my way of thinking, I want people to come back to the Lord's way of thinking and realize we can walk together, that the unity of the Spirit has to be stronger and better and bigger than all of the differences we might have politically, even though those things can be important. 

And so I'm asking I'm seeking, I'm knocking. And I think Matthew and Jesus are inviting us to do the same. 

So let's pray: 

“Jesus, we do so much, that you just don't let us do our own thing, but you keep teaching us and guiding us. And I pray that we would know how to interpret it as well as apply all of this teaching today. For your glory, Lord, in Jesus’ name, amen.

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Judgment

Series: The Sermon on the Mount
August 15, 2021 - Mark Buckley

Well, good morning, Living Streams. It’s a blessing and a privilege for me to be with you today. David and the guys are at the men's retreat. And if you sent somebody to the men's retreat, make sure you ask them, “What did the Lord do in your life?” Because some significant things are happening up there with the guys.

Speaking of significant, Friday night I was trying to go to sleep and there was like rumbles and rumbles and rumbles. And I went out and opened our front door and there was lightning flashes one after another after the other. And I'm like, “I've never seen this before.” I mean, it went on for over an hour. That's not like Phoenix, Arizona. And it reminded me that the Lord can still surprise us. He can still do things that we never experienced before. I actually had a couple of those things this week. If I get to one of the other ones as well. 

But this message is going to be about judgment, passing judgment. And a significant number of reasons. Because if we get our relationships right, if we know how to love one another, if we know how to relate in a healthy way, then we have the potential to have a rich and full life, a flourishing church, and to demonstrate to people that Jesus is alive. If we don't get them right, then all kinds of dysfunction happens in our church, in our family, in our personal life. 

So this message is not out of context. It is in the context of the whole Sermon on the Mount, which is one of my favorite passages. We named our first son Matthew because I loved the Sermon on the Mount. It shows me that Matthew the Apostle was really close to Jesus, and there's something precious about it. The context of the Sermon on the Mount is about, it starts with “Blessed are the pure in heart, blessed are the meek.They will inherit the earth, the pure in heart will see God. It goes on to talking about responding to persecution and being blessed by God, being salt and light in the world, not being angry at your brother and incurring judgment on yourself, being able to give, being able to forgive, being able to pray in secret and fast In secret, and seek first the kingdom of God. 

And then when we get to Matthew 7:1, he says, “Do not judge or you too will be judged.” And in the context, it’s "Don't try and categorize everybody else and how they're doing with the Lord,” okay? “Do not go there because you're going to get it wrong. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” 

Let's pray: 

Father, God help me to get this right and to speak in a way that your Holy Spirit can illuminate to the church what you want us to know. Let the truth set us free. In Jesus’ name. 

So, you know, we're in a time in our American history that has been very divided. We got Democrats and Republicans judging each other, sometimes people within their own parties judging each other. We've got people judging the CDC and the medical community and vaccers and anti-vaccers. And everybody knows what they believe. And you know that you're right in the middle. There's the extremes on all sides. But you're right in the middle, right? You know the truth. If only they would listen to people like you and me, we could solve everything. 

I was preparing this message a few weeks ago, after David asked me to give it, and I was doing a video presentation for another church. I spotted a guy on it and I said, “Hey, can we take your picture?” And some of you are going to recognize this picture. I asked him a question. And first of all, the man in the picture, you can see certain things about this guy just from this picture. If you could see his dreds, you'd know they'd go below his waist.

And when guys are like that, you know they've got a history, right? And I said, “Well, how many times have you smoked weed? How many times have you used psychedelic drugs? What have you done with with taking care of your brain or whatever? How many times?” 

And he gave me an answer. And it might surprise you. There's a zero there. Because, usually guys that are dressed like Bob Marley have got a certain lifestyle, a certain approach to drugs, to women.

And I knew this guy had traveled around the country, traveled around the world, been in many different nations. And I said, “Well, if it isn't drugs, maybe it's women. How many different women have you been intimately involved with throughout the course of your entire life?”

And he gave me a number. And the number is one — his wife, Colleen, who's on our worship team. Because this guy is a man of God. He doesn't dress like a typical man of God. He doesn't act like a typical pastor. But in some ways, he's more brilliant than most pastors you’re ever going to meet ,or more people you're ever going to meet. Because he's lived a dedicated life to Jesus Christ almost his entire life. And the pure in heart see God and to know God and communicate his grace in very special ways.

But he told me a story that I wanted to relate to you. Alec Seekins did. He was on a youth group trip and he was an overseer and they were in Guatemala about to fly back to the United States. And so he had gathered the youth as best he could. And then he spotted somebody across the terminal that looked sort of nefarious, looked sort of dangerous, and he wanted to to really guard the kids. 

So as soon as he got the kids settled down, he walks through the terminal, gets to the far side and spots the guy. And actually, he was looking in a full length mirror. He had seen his own image across the terminal and he knew the guy was dangerous. 

I thought that was such a great story. 

When I was pastoring in California, we had a young church. Most of the people were getting saved in the church. We had young families, not a lot of money, but the people were having a lot of babies. We decided to start a Christian school. And in those days, most of our people, their lives revolved around the church. They went to Sunday morning, many of them Sunday night. We had Bible studies. During the week, we had prayer meetings. We had evangelistic outreaches. 

This guy made an appointment to see me. And he wasn't the kind of guy that would show up at all the meetings. He came on Sunday. He had a wife and kids. He managed a bike store, and I didn't know what he wanted to talk about. So I said, “Jeff, what's up, man? What do you want to talk about?” 

And he goes, “I want to talk about the Christian school that we're going to start.” And he said, “I know you're having trouble funding it.” 

I said, “Well, that's going to be a challenge.” 

And he said, “Well, I've got an idea. How about if we have everybody double their tithe?” 

I looked at him and I was sort of shocked, because I didn't think he was that committed, because I was judging our people on the basis of how many meetings are you showing up at. And this guy, who was taking care of his family, managing the bike store, barely making it financially, already giving 10 percent of his income to the church, was proposing that his family and everybody else start giving 20 percent.

And for just a moment, I was tempted. Then I said, “Nope, we're not doing that, Jeff, but I really appreciate your commitment. I really appreciate your heart.” 

It was one of many illustrations that I've had over the years that I cannot judge people's, you know, their spirituality, their commitment, their love for Jesus on the basis of what meetings they attend, on the basis of what their haircut looks like, on the basis of whether or not they've got whatever hanging from their body or etched into themselves. And neither can you, most likely. So Jesus said don't do it. Don't go there. 

Verse 3, 

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

Now, one of the things I love about Jesus is that he rewards us by giving us insight, by giving us wisdom, by giving us understanding so that we can help people, so that we can make a difference. And sometimes our temptation is to be hunting for the problems in people's lives to our own detriment. It's easy to spot a problem sometimes. It's really hard to find the solution for that problem. 

One of the premises I want to live by is to look for the treasure and not for the flaw. I wrote a little newsletter this week that some of you received, Reflections. And I told a story: 

It was our forty-eighth wedding anniversary, so this is a story about my dear wife. We were up in the mountains and I had grabbed my fishing pole before we left on the trip, or I actually grabbed Kristina's fishing rod, fly fishing rod, because I was in a hurry. And we we went up for a couple of days. I caught some beautiful trout on her fly rod.

We’re driving home and I'm just sort of reminiscing. I said, “This has been the greatest trip. I've really enjoyed this time. I hadn't caught any fish like that in a couple of years. And I'm really thankful for the the rod that Jim got for both me and you.” 

And she goes, “Well that rod came from Steve.

And I said, “No, no, that was from Jim. About 20 years ago, he gave us both fly rods. And I know it was from Jim because it even has “To Kristina, God bless you,” stenciled in it. 

And she goes, “Yeah, that was from Steve when I used to work with him at Blue Mule Outfitters.”

And I I'm getting a little frustrated, you know what I mean? That she doesn't believe me. So I know I'll fix it. I'll call Jim. I get Jim, call him up on the phone, put it on speakerphone. She's driving and and she can listen to the conversation.

I said, “Jim, I've been thinking about you this weekend. I just got some beautiful trout on the fly rod that you gave us and wanted to thank you.” And we're chatting back and forth and talk about life a little bit. And then I hang up, smiled at my wife. 

She looks at me. “That was from Steve.” 

Now I'm sort of losing my joy on this trip, you know what I mean? I had been feeling really good. So I know I got an idea how to get it back. I said, “I'll bet you. I'll bet you a hundred dollars that that Rod came from Jim.” 

And she said, “Okay,”

So now I'm at peace because I got something to look forward to when I get home. I start reading the newspaper. We get home. I'm unpacking all our stuff. She disappears while I'm in the kitchen putting stuff in the refrigerator. 

She shows back up with two fly rods. From Jim. The one from Steve — that I'd been fishing with — was on the table. And I realize she's right. I'm wrong.

So I go into the the office, I get an envelope, I write out a note. “Dear Kristina, You were right, I was wrong. Please forgive me. I'm sorry. I love you.” 

And then I know where she stashes her money, so I went and got two fifty dollar bills out of her stash spot, put it in the envelope and give it to her. And a little while later, she comes up to me and she has a big smile and she says, “You can keep the money. I love you. It's all about winning to me.” 

And it just reminded me why I have this philosophy: Focus on the treasure, not on the flaw.

Because sometimes if people focus on my flaws, I'm sunk. You know what I mean? Because I've got them. And sometimes I'm absolutely 100 percent convinced I'm right. I will bet in the old days and actually I'm done. I'm done. Don't ever do that. It's evil if you do that. 

Now, in verse six, Jesus says this:

“Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”

Jesus had just been talking about not judging and now he's calling some people dogs and others pigs. What's up with that? Spiritually speaking, dogs are narcissistic, immoral, spiritual beings. He’s not a cat lover, but it's a description. Other people are like pigs. Their behavior is totally self-centered. Their behavior does not take into consideration anybody else's feelings. 

We're not to be going around judging people casually and making decisions about their whole life on the basis of one event. But on the basis of multiple experiences with people, on the basis of obvious behavior, there are times when this verse applies. 

So Jesus is not telling us in this whole Sermon on the Mount that we're to be ignorant, naive people that get trampled on by everybody. He's telling us to protect ourselves in a way and ina little bit we'll get in a few verses on false prophets. False prophets are people who distort the image of God, distort what relationships are supposed to be all about, distort love. God is love, but love is not just making people feel good right, now all the time, no matter what. 

Now, how do we figure these things out? In verse seven Jesus says:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Spiritually speaking, we want discernment. In First Corinthians 12, discernment is one of the gifts that the Lord releases through the Holy Spirit when we want to help people. Sometimes we're not sure if their problem is a natural problem, or a consequence of physiological imbalance in their life, or if it's a spiritually rooted problem that is a consequence of dark and demonic forces that are operating in their life, or if it's some kind of a chemical imbalance. We need the gift of discernment. 

So Jesus says, “Ask, seek, knock,” because sometimes, just like God buries gold in the earth and you've got to dig for it, he buries wisdom and understanding in ways that when you dig, when you ask, when you seek a new knock, it opens up.

Some friends and I fasted one time for three days. We were pastors, we were working in northern California where a lot of the people had come out of drug backgrounds, some of them had been involved in occult backgrounds, they came from dysfunctional families. And when they came to us for ministry, we wanted to get it right. 

One of the the guys that I remember having to make a decision about was in jail. And I had gone to northern California for a visit, and there's this guy, his friends came up to me and said, “We think he's innocent. He's in jail for child molesting and we think he's innocent. And we want you to go talk to him and pray for him and help him get out.” And I’m, like — that’s really not what I would consider a fun thing to do, if you know what I mean. That's not something that I'm looking forward to do, but because I love the people that were asking me, I went ahead and accepted the offer. 

So I go there to the Marin County jail in San Rafael. And I'm talking with the guy, and he is not convincing me that he's innocent, but I'm not sure. I don't know what really happened. And then he decides to do something. He says, “I don't have any money to pay you to help me, but I'm going to help you out. I'm going to give you a map to the Lost Dutchman's gold mine.” 

And I'm in my heart saying, Thank you very much for showing me that I can't trust you for an inch, man. Because that is the typical fraud thing to give somebody is a map to the Lost Dutchman gold mine. There's been thousands of them sold and secretively handed off. And nobody's ever found that gold yet. It's probably out there, but it's not going to be from a map that somebody in jail gives you as a payoff for getting them out.

When Jesus talks about these same verses in Luke 11, here's what he says. Well, first, Matthew 7:11:

“If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

Jesus explained that the good gift is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives us the grace to discern between right and wrong, between truth and error. The Holy Spirit can give us the key to unlock the needs in people's hearts. That's what he wants to equip us with. 

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

How do we navigate these challenging relationships in life? We navigate them by treating the people in front of us just like we want to be treated. Exactly. 

I had one of the pastors come up to me after our first service this morning, and he said, “Do you want some help with your message?”

And I said, (gulp), “Yes.” 

He gave me an idea or two about leaving out a story that confused some people. And I said, “Thank you very much,” because I want people to tell me the truth. I want real feedback from my life. I know that I don't always see it like I should. 

And so that's how I treat people. And it takes courage to tell somebody what you really think. It takes love to love some of them enough so that you will overcome the fear of being rejected. But a wise person will thank you. A scoffer will hate you if you bring him correction. A wise person appreciates it. And we want to reap what we sew. We want to reap wisdom and encouragement and understanding. 

Also because I need forgiveness for my sins, I also try and give forgiveness no matter how painful it is. I was talking to a friend recently who left the church and we didn't want to get into a lot of depth about the reasons why he left the church. I just wanted to make sure that he knew that I loved him. And he said to me, “Sometimes relationships are too painful.” 

And I responded to him and said this, “Jesus hasn’t asked me and you to go to Africa to live. He hasn't asked us to give our testimonies in Iran or Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan, even though there are believers in those places that are suffering, especially right now in Afghanistan. It's a very dangerous place for them to be. He hasn't asked us to suffer that way. But he might ask us to pick up our cross and suffer in our relationships right here, right in this fellowship, even, because every church, just like every family, has some painful and difficult relationships to navigate and to get it right. To learn how to love one another, to process through the pain of life and come out the other side brings a great reward.” 

Here's how Jesus describes it. 

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

He's not talking here about going to heaven when you die. He's talking about navigating the relationships of life in such a way that they will lead to life — a narrow road, a small gate that gets us to a place where it opens up into the kingdom of God. 

Sometimes people focus on the road. They focus on the gate. I had a friend. His name is Ben Burt, and he invited me to Skywalker Ranch. That's where his magnificent ranch that George Lucas, spent hundreds of millions of dollars building for his animation and for his production studios in San Rafael, California. To get the Skywalker Ranch, you go down Lucas Valley Road — which was not named after him — it's one lane in each direction from Highway 101 heading west towards the coast. And you wind around for 10 or 12 miles and go up past Big Rock and down the other side. And about, I think a mile and a half or so past Big Rock, there's a little road and you take that second right under that road and it leads to a guard gate. And that's how you get there. You can't get there any other way. You can come east or you can come west. But it's a two lane road and it's a narrow guard gate for everybody. 

And when you get to the guard gate, you’ve got to know somebody and they've got to be expecting you in order to get through. But once you get through, then it opens up into vineyards and a lake and Olympic swimming pool and horseback riding and organic gardens and gymnasiums and and châteaux built to look like a Tuscan winery, and it's the most phenomenal place.

Inside they have artifacts like Luke Skywalker’s original light saber and Darth Vader's mask and all of the original stuff. It's really a geek's paradise. And even as a non-geek, I appreciated being there and seeing it. 

But the real magnificence is not the road and it's not the gate. The road and the gate are essential. But it's what opens up in this vast valley that, even though I had spent the first thirty-four years of my life hiking those hills and living nearby, I'd never been in that valley before.

And the kingdom of God is a vast kingdom, it's a mighty spectacular, magnificent place. Don't get too hung up on the road. You’ve got to get there on the road. You’ve got to go through the gate. And Jesus is the gatekeeper. But don't get too hung up on the road and the gate, because that's just the beginning of what it means to experience the kingdom of God. 

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”

They're there to take advantage of you. And again, if we were to never judge anybody or anything, we could never call anybody a false prophet. But a false prophet is somebody who distorts the image of God, distorts what love is all about for their own gain and to their own demise.

By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.

Now I have a ministry to pastors and leaders. I was talking to a pastor the other day and he said to me, “I feel like a failure.”

I listened to his heart and it made me sad. Then I said this to him, I said, "It's too late for you to be a failure. I've known you for over 30 years. You've been a blessing to me all those years. You've been faithful to your wife. You've raised beautiful kids. You've been faithful in your congregations. Yeah, I get it that your ministry hasn't been as big as you wanted it to be. I get it. Neither of us are famous and we're not going to be famous. I get all of that. But you are not a failure if you abide in Christ.” 

As a matter of fact. If you abide in Christ, you can't fail, because “Every branch,” Jesus said, “that abides in me will bear much fruit.” It may be down line. It may be your kids or your grandkids, naturally or spiritually. It may be people you don't even know who you've made an impact on. But if you abide in Christ and you keep his word like he tells you to, it's going to open up the kingdom of God to you and to those who follow in your footsteps. 

Now, in closing, I want to talk a little bit about judgment from 1 Corinthians 2:14-15. 

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 

In Matthew 7, Jesus says there's a good gift the father wants to give you. That good gift is the Spirit. Without the spirit none of this really makes sense. 

 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 

We judge all things. We judge is there value or is there harm? It doesn't matter if we're watching a Netflix, or we're choosing to read a book, or we're reading an article about a certain theory or a form of government, or whatever. We make value judgments because we've got the Spirit of God and we have the mind of Christ and the Spirit of God. The mind of Christ, which comes to us through the word of God, gives us the ability to discern the value or lack thereof in all kinds of things.

1 Corinthians 5 says this: 

But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”

Now, over the years at Living Streams, we've had to remove a couple of swindlers because they were financially taking advantage of people through lies and deception. We've had to remove a couple of immoral people, not because they made a slip or made a mistake or did something they were sorry for, but because they were preying on somebody or somebodies in our congregation in an ongoing way that is contrary to the word of God.

And at such times, the Church, not as an individual pastor, leader or any, but the Church collectively in the leadership will make a judgment that, if somebody is practicing ongoing immorality, swindling or whatever these things Jesus is mentioning through 1 Corinthians 5, then we make a judgment that that person needs to be removed until such time as they're willing to follow Jesus the way we're all supposed to follow Jesus, which is in honesty and truth and humility.

Our final scripture, 2 Corinthians 5:10, says this: 

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

In just a moment, we're going to take communion, so if you're at home and watching this, you can grab some bread and and some a cup of wine or juice or whatever you want. 

We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. It specifically says in 1 Corinthians 11 that when we receive communion, that we're to judge ourselves. And when I judge myself, I know I fall short. So I'm always asking for forgiveness. I specifically ask forgiveness when I am beginning to evaluate myself in terms of other people and exalting myself and putting them down, because everybody in Christ has a treasure. Everybody in Christ has a value. He has children. And his children are all really, really important to him, every single one of us. So we're going to be held accountable someday for how we've lived our life, what we've done.

And I want to ask you if you want your reward in this world or in the world to come. 

In this world, we may have suffering. In this world, we may have pain. In this world we have challenges, each and every one of us. 

In the world to come, by his grace, there will be no more tears, no more sorrow, no more suffering. 

In this world we can overcome those things by the grace that he gives us, by the power of his Holy Spirit. We can navigate our relationships, because he gives us wisdom, because he delights in us. He said, “I've overcome the world and so will you.” 

And this bread and this cup helps us in that regard. Jesus said, “this is my body. Which is broken for you.”

Lord, thank you that you were willing to let your body be broken so that we could be made whole, so we could be part of your family, so we could have a place in your kingdom. Thank you, Jesus.

He said, “Take and eat. This is my body which is broken for you. As often as you do so do so in remembrance of me.” 

Jesus said, "This cop is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for you.”

Jesus, we need your blood. We need your forgiveness. We ask you to heal our hearts. We ask you to heal our church. We ask you to heal our nation. You've got the power to do it. Help us, Lord, receive this forgiveness and renew this covenant with you.

Take and drink. This is the new covenant in his blood. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. 

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Worry, Anxiety and Over-Concern

Series: The Sermon on the Mount
August 8, 2021 - David Stockton

If you want to grab a Bible and turn to Matthew Chapter six. That's what we're going to be today. Jesus has been talking to us for a little while. We've been on the Sermon in the Mount for the last four months. Basically, it's been all red letters. Everything that we've been studying and reading — our culture today is trying to tell us what is righteousness, what is justice — and we want to be about righteousness and justice, but we just really want to hear what God has to say, more so than our pundits and and all of those things. 

So we've been really focusing on that all year of vision for the righteousness of God. We want to look to the Bible to teach us that, because the Bible has been there, done that through many generations, through many cultures, through many ideologies. The Bible has proven itself time and time again to be trustworthy and true and a good guide for the human soul, even the hard things.

 And so that's that's what we've been doing. And it is we're in Matthew Chapter six. We're in our 15th teaching on the Sermon on the Mount. We've only got a few more. But if you want to read with me in Matthew, chapter six, verse twenty five, the words of Jesus: 

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life…

Everybody good there?

what you will eat or drink or about your body. What you will wear is not life more than food and the body more than clothes.…

And as my favorite song writer, John Forman says, when he was younger and what married lives more than girls.

…Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? …

Weak faith. Blurry faith.

…So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well… 

What things? The food and drink and the clothes.

…Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

So this is the word of the Lord. And more specifically, this is the words of Jesus when he was incarnate as God in the flesh, walking around this planet in a place called Israel.

And it's interesting because Jesus is doing this thing that we call the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew gives it to us in Matthew chapters five, six and seven. Also this this is similar sermon. It's called the Sermon on the Plain when when Luke writes it. It's basically all the same material. Matthew has more than Luke does, but a lot of the same material in these two different gospel accounts, which makes us think that this is probably Jesus’ “stump speech” in some ways. This is what Jesus, when he would go from town to town to town around Galilee and then kind of made broader concentric circles as he was doing his ministry, he would go around preaching about the kingdom of heaven. And this is basically what he would say almost every time to the people that he would gather as he would heal them, and he would meet their needs and that type of stuff. 

And so, Matthew records it a little differently than Luke. And we haven't really got much into that. But you can check that out if you want. Luke was a doctor, and so he's recording some of those things. He actually talks a little bit more about the healings that Jesus did in those times. Interestingly enough, he was a doctor, whereas Matthew was not a doctor. 

What was Matthew? He was a tax collector. He's the money man. And what he does is he talks a lot about what Jesus taught on money in his sermons. So, interestingly enough, that's kind of what was brought out in all of this. And so when Matthew was writing this — and this was just kind of really important as we were going to jump in and Jesus is talking about not worrying about some of these practical needs — Matthew was someone that was intricately aware of what was going on in the socio economic climate of that day. As a tax collector, he was he was Jewish, but he worked for the Romans, and the Romans were the oppressors. 

And what his job was to do was to go and get the taxes from the people, the Jewish people, and give it to the Romans. And in the process, what was very common in that day was the Romans would have a set tax, but then they would always ask for a little bit more. They'd kind of extort the people and get a little extra. But then they gave the Jewish employee of theirs the right to extort whatever he wanted or whatever he could get, as well. 

So it was basically, “Here's the tax plus what I'm stealing from you, plus what Rome’s stealing from you.” And ultimately, it all feels like stealing because Rome is a foreign empire that's ruling us. 

But as they would come to him, Matthew would be intricately involved with people's stories. “Matthew, I can't pay taxes because I've got no food for my family.” “Matthew, I can't pay taxes because I can't even get clothes for my family.” “Matthew…” so Matthew was aware of all of the challenge for all of the poor people and their taxes. He was aware of all of the rich people and maybe how they were getting out of taxes, I don't know. 

But had a very specific, intricate look into all of that challenge that people were going through. And so when Jesus said, “Don't worry about those things,” for Matthew, that stuck out as something extremely significant and maybe even something that was very, very hard to grasp. And maybe even he felt wasn't safe. “Jesus, you don't know. You don't know what I know. Jesus, how can you say this? Because there are some people out there that I mean, they need to worry." 

And yet he records this for us, not just when Jesus said it first time. Remember Jesus said it over and over and over again as they walked with him. But he records this for us years after Jesus has died on a cross, risen from the dead. When this actually began to really get circulated was probably about 60 or 70 A.D. So Jesus was gone around 33-ish, you know, so we've got about a 30 years before this really is kind of a preserved teaching. But Matthew made sure that this was part that really made it in there. Because what happened in Matthew's life, as he heard Jesus teach this — and it was very hard to receive — but as he watched Jesus live, he saw the father provide. Not just for Jesus and them, but but the people that Jesus was working with, as well. He saw what Jesus was saying was true. “You don't need to worry because God will add what you need when you need it.” 

And he not only saw all of that, but he also saw it in his own life after Jesus left. He began to not worry and see God show up in his life. And so he teaches us, he preserves this part of this teaching of Jesus for us to know. Because he saw it realized and he knew it was the truth, not just a shocking, hard teaching. 

And so we're going to unpack this a little bit as we go into this. It's all kind of connected in the sermon. It's not just a random thought, but it actually is connected to what's before here. I want to talk a little bit about what worry is. I mean, obviously, most of us are probably pretty clear on what worry is. We have this word today that is used a lot: anxiety. Anxiety. We’re a very anxious society. Some of you, when I say the word anxiety, you get anxiety. Or some of you, when I say the word anxiety, you’re, like, already there. 

And so we are trying to understand a little bit of what worry is. To start out and we’ve got to, you know, always look at the translations here. And so in the original language, Timothy Lane brings this out. But do not worry — the Greek word is merimnaó. I said that exactly the way it's supposed to be said, just so you know. No, I don't know how to say it, but merimnaó. It literally means a distracted mind or a double mind. 

Track with me here for just a second and we'll visit this again. But every once in a while, I go with one of my daughters, to go see Dr. Michael Johnson. Dr. Michael Johnson's a friend of mine, a super cool guy, but he's also an eye doctor. And so we go to his office and we go in there and and he, you know, puts my daughter in this thing and was like flipping through things. And he’s like, “Does it look good, does that look good?”  And he's telling us all kinds of cool stories while he's doing it, too. And the last time I went, he was like, “Hey, do you want to see what your daughter sees without glasses?” 

And I was like, “Yeah, that sounds cool.” And so he put the thing on me and he totally jacked up my vision — which was not a great doctor thing, but he was just showing you what she sees. And I was like, “Wow, like, there it is. This is what she sees without glasses.” And it was blurry. Everything is just blurry. 

But she goes without her glasses all the time because it's good enough for her. She's like, “I can see what’s happening." We’re watching shows and I'm just like, “I know what you see now and it's not that great.” But she she's just like, “Whatever.” She gets it, you know, and she's more about the words and the story and the character. I don't know. Something, 

But it was just kind of fascinating to see that. And and and I think this is a little bit of the connotation of what this word is getting at. Because when things get blurry, you get more disconcerted. Right? Let's say, not just in your vision, but let's say in your life things get blurry. Something happens and now you can't really see why or how. It could be something small like, you know, needs and practical needs. How is this going to work out? I don't know how this is going to work out. Everything seems blurry and confused. Or it could be something massive, like a loved one who dies in a freak accident. There's lots of different things that can all of a sudden cause us and our worlds to become blurry. And it's in those situations that we can become disconcerted. 

And that's exactly what this word is connotating. It's like, hey, do not worry when things get blurry in some ways. Sorry. I t rhymes. I don't want it to. It sounds horrible when you say it that way. But that's a little bit of what this word is connotating. The blurring, the disconcertion that comes from things all of a sudden not looking right.

I think of some of those movies where it's like these people are in a vulnerable situation and they got good guys and they got bad guys — and think Star Wars or something — and yet way off in the horizon, there's something like coming towards them and they're not sure, “Is this going to be somebody who's for us or somebody who's the enemy?”

And it just gets clearer and clearer as it comes what the situation is. And that's that sense of anxiety. That's that sense of worry that that can happen. And in a Psychology Today article, they were talking about trying to understand worry against anxiety. Worry, they said, tends to be experienced more in our heads. And anxiety is a little bit more like everywhere else. It's more of a feeling. It's more of a gut, like you can have worry in your thoughts, but then at some point, it just kind of settles in and you just feel worried or anxious.

Worry tends to be a temporary state, but anxiety is more persistent and lingering. Again, some of you I'm describing you right now in a big way, and I understand that. Worry tends to be more specific while anxiety is more general. To differentiate, worry would be like, “I'm worried we're going to be late for my flight.” Anxiety would be more like, “I'm worried about travel.” Like, “I am worried that I'm going to miss my flight. But there's about forty seven thousand things leading up to that and then a hundred thousand things after that that I'm worried about.” That's that sense of anxiety. It's more general in that regard. 

Johnny Cash. This is what he says about worry. The songwriter. He's not a theologian. He says:

The place I go to draw my pay,
close the door on me today,
told me just to stay away
and then don't come back again.
I told my mama,
‘Baby, you don't cry.
I'll get a job before the day go by.’
I don't know where.
And that is why
I'm a worried man.
Worried man, worried man.
I'm a very worried man.
Hungry babies don't understand.
Papa is a worried man. 

I sing that to my kids all the time, that chorus. They don't understand at all. And I don't know if I do either, but it makes me feel better.
All right. How about Olivia, Roderigo? I was on a road trip with my family. Everybody gets a turn. But I think she does understand worry or anxieties. She says:

I see everyone getting all the things I want
and I'm happy for them. But then again, I'm not
Just cool vintage clothes and vacation photos.
I can't stand it. Oh, I sound crazy.
Their win is not my loss.
I know it's true, but I can't help get caught up in it all.
Comparison is killing me slowly.
I think I think too much about kids who don't know me.
I'm so sick of myself.
I'd rather be rather be anyone, anyone else. 

Jealousy. Another source of anxiety these days is basically online. Well, what we're projecting ourselves online and we're having to manage whether or not our projection online is acceptable or not. It's hard enough to manage this, let alone trying to project something that I have to manage. It's a challenging world. And some of you older people are like, “Oh, yeah, those stupid kids over there.” That's fine, you know, except for some of you I know are trying to be cool and hip. And I see you on there sometimes. But but for everybody, let's say 30 and under, I mean, this is true. This is a reality. This is a source of anxiety. And I like what she says that, “I think I think too much about people who don't even know me.”And that's really a true source of anxiety and worry. 

Rich Mullins, who's somebody I would recommend a lot more than these other two. I think it says a lot. This is basically like if I was going to do a movie on the Sermon on the Mount, which I'm not, by the way. Oh and I know like the Chosen did it all over that, so. But this would be like a good soundtrack, because I feel like he just captures so many different nuggets of the Sermon on the Mount in this poetic song that he writes. He says:

There’s more that dances on the prairie
than the wind,
more that pulses in the ocean
than the tide.
There's a love that is fiercer
than the love between friends.
More gentle than a mother’s
when her baby's at her side.
And there's a loyalty that's deeper
than mere sentiments
And a music higher than the songs
that I can sing,
the stuff of Earth competes
for the allegiance
I owe only to the Giver
of all good things.
So if I stand, let me stand on the promise
that you will pull me through.
And if I can't, let me fall on the grace
that first brought me to you,
and if I sing, let me sing for the joy
that has borne in me these songs
And if I weep, let it be as a man
who's longing for his home. 

Sermon on the Mount. Right there. Heaven over earth. Right there. Do not worry. There is more than what you can see right now. It's blurry for you, but it's not for Jesus. And you can stand on the promises that he gives here in this passage. 

A couple of other things about worry real quick. This guy, Colin Hanson, who's actually Vice President of the Gospel Coalition, which is basically an online resource for people who want to know more about what the Bible says about anything. I highly recommend it. It's not perfect. It's helpful. It can be helpful. 

But he says:

We have to understand that the goal of Twitter is to worry us to death. 

So much of life is solved in that statement. 

We spend a lot of time worrying about things we can't control, like a tanker stuck in the Suez Canal and spreading that anxiety through means guaranteed to make no difference. During this past year, I'm convinced that we flipped our primary orientation from physical to digital.

That might not be true of you, but that is true of society. 

Now we are first. What we project ourselves to be online and pixels, and only second who we are in flesh and blood. We constantly are worried about how we're portrayed and regarded online. 

Here's the biggest challenge, all of that. God did not does not care about, Jesus did not die for the online version of you. He will not meet you there. He will only meet with you and who he knows you to be. He loves to meet you there. Don't lose yourself. 

Not only that, but he said:

Today, worrying seems to be the universal sign that we care about the world. 

Let that sink in for a second, the more worried you are about things, the more woke you are — is kind of the way things are. The more worried you are about things, the more you care about justice. 

Now I'm not saying there aren't things that we need to wake up to, there aren't things that we should get involved in, and we should be caring about in all of those things. But I am trying to teach you what Jesus said to his followers who are living in very challenging times as well. “Do not worry about yourself and your life.”

And then, lastly, just to throw this in there, because I'm on a little bit of a rant here. A few years ago, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said of Netflix that their greatest competition is sleep. Are you scared? The greatest competition is sleep. And the lack of sleep can definitely cause us to be more anxious. So whatever there. 

All right, so now let's jump into what the Bible says about worry and what Jesus is trying to teach his disciples. I think this is a cohesive argument that Jesus is laying out. And what we're going to do is basically look at this word therefore. Twenty-five starts with the word therefore. In biblical studies, it's real good whenever you see the word therefore, you've got to look and see what it's there for, you know.

So what led up to that moment? Because it's almost like, “Now I'm making my closing argument. All of this evidence presenting, all of these arguments that I've said is all leading up to this closing statement argument,” whatever it is. So I want to look at what Jesus teaches us, where anxiety comes from, because ultimately then we know we can do the opposite. 

So first, before the therefore, anxiety happens when we don't understand the blessing of the low and cross like life. If you don't know what I'm talking, we're harkening back to our first teaching on this sermon where Jesus is unpacking the Beatitudes. “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Come again? “Blessed are those who are persecuted.” Huh? 

There is a blurriness to our understanding of those things. But if we will be the ones who continue to walk with Jesus, even into those spaces, we will eventually find that there is a blessing in the low and Christlike life that Jesus himself walked and calls us to follow in his footsteps. If we can't understand that, we will be anxious. No doubt about it. 

Anxiety happens when we try to create external forms of righteousness with our hearts, far from God. Sum this up: hypocrisy, hypocrisy. If you are being hypocritical, if you are living two different lives, you are going to be anxious — not because God's mad at you. Because you're creating that, and this is so true. This is so true. You think you might be fooling people. You're not fooling anybody. Definitely not fooling God. 

Most of the time, the people who have a little too much of Jesus in them to enjoy the world are miserable and miserable to be with. And then you have the people who have too much world in them to really enjoy Jesus — miserable, miserable to be with. So you're miserable. Everyone knows you're miserable. It's not fun to be around you. It's miserable. So please stop. It's not it's not working. 

So that's what causes anxiety. When you're trying to live out external forms of righteousness, when your heart is far from God. 

Anxiety happens when we diminish the fact that God is our heavenly Father. And we talked about this last week. Transcendent Abba, the one who holds all of the cosmos together and yet wants you to call him Daddy when you talk to him. That's what Jesus taught. And whenever we get that focus, whenever we start to forget that Jesus wants us to call God ‘Daddy,’ we're going to get more anxious. Did anybody call Jesus Daddy when they prayed last week? That was our assignment, America. Like America's Funniest Home Videos. One person? I'm not raising my hand either, by the way. I forgot to do it too, thought about it one time, but yeah, that's what we're supposed to do.

Anxiety happens when we store up treasures in this life. This is just super hard teaching. Because Jesus said, if you store up treasures in this life, then you got to worry about them because moths and thieves can take them and destroy them. And rust. And so basically, I mean, you think about your bank account right now and if you've got a lot of stored up treasure, however it is or whatever it is, you have to have a conversation with God about this.

I'm not necessarily saying it's wrong to have those things, but Jesus said don't store up treasure in this life. And so you just got to kind of walk that out with him. And maybe you are using it in the right way, maybe or not. I do know that when Jesus met a rich young ruler who was saying, “OK, what should I do?” Jesus told him, “I want you to go sell everything you have, give it to the poor, and come follow me.”

And I think there are those times in our life where Jesus wants us to sell out and know what it feels like to have only him as our security. And if you have never done that, have a conversation with Jesus. And if you need to get rid of all of your massive wealth and possessions, we can take it here, you know? Well, we'll use it in a good way, you know. But if says give it to the poor, then you can just do that too. Just do what he says. 

Anxiety will happen when we seek more than one thing. This is the part where Jesus talks about if you have a healthy eye, you'll be full of light. If you have an unhealthy eye, you'll be full of darkness. 

The healthy eye is so confusing, but I finally feel like I'm getting it. The word healthy there is singular. You have to have a singular eye. And I think this whole blurry vision thing is really what Jesus is getting at. If you are seeing the kingdom of of of Earth overlaid and prioritized over the kingdom of heaven, everything is going to be blurry and you will be filled with darkness and not know what to do. But if you can get to a place where the kingdom of heaven becomes the priority and overlays the kingdom of this earth, you will have light — a healthy eye. You will have singular vision. You won't be double-minded, like James says, and unstable in all your ways. 

Kierkegaard said it this way:

Purity of heart is to will one thing. 

And to finally always come back to that place where the whole reason that you have a beat in your heart and breath in your lungs, is so that you could know God and glorify him. If anything else becomes more important to you, here comes the anxiety train. Choo Choo. It doesn't sound like that. It’s like CHOO CHOO! You know, it's much more intense than that or some sort of like grading and chalkboard noise or something.

Anxiety happens when we try and serve something other than God. This is what Jesus said. You cannot serve God and mammon. Again, mammon is money. You know this. And again, Matthew is using all of these illustrations because it's important to him. But mamman is anything you treasure in this life, basically. And the way that that is saying is “You will hate the one and you'll love the other.” So if you think you're pulling it off, you're wrong. If there is anything else that you are seeking above God, you are despising and hating God. You can only serve one master. And if you try and serve anything other than God, anxiety, anxiety, anxiety. So that's all what happens before the “therefore.”

Now, after the “therefore,” closing arguments. Jesus says anxiety happens when we care about temporal things more than eternal things. This is where he talks about what you eat, what you drink, what you wear. Those are things that that God knows we have need of, like a father knows you have need of that. But he also knows that some of the things you want aren't in your best interest. And he has the wisdom to withhold those things. It's very frustrating sometimes. 

Anxiety also happens when we forget to see how much God cares for us and knows our needs. This is what Jesus says. Look at the birds of the air and the flowers of the field. And he's basically saying, “Look, God cares for them and God doesn't care about them nearly as much as he cares about you.” There is a truth to that. We are the Imago Dei. Made in the image of God. God put his breath in our lungs, not in any other aspect of creation. And he cares deeply for our needs. 

He knows exactly what you need today and tomorrow. And he taught us to pray, “Give us today our daily bread.” Don't worry about tomorrow. He knows and he cares 

Anxiety happens when we forget that if we take care of God's business, he will take care of ours. And this is the great summation of this whole passage. “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these things will be added unto you.” 

Actually, there's one more. Anxiety happens when we start to worry about tomorrow and not stay present in today. 

But that whole summation to “seek first God's righteousness and and his kingdom and all these things will be added to you," — that right there, I mean, it’s everything. And there's a phrase that came out of that that continues to like just stick with me through all my years of walking with Jesus, that if you take care of his business, he'll take care of your business. Who do you want taking care of your business, right? You want the God of the universe taking care of your business. And it's true. This is a promise that Jesus has given: if you will, take care of his business, he will take care of your business. 

And basically, the way that came to me as a 17-year-old young man, when I was first deciding what to do with my life, I felt like the Spirit of God visited me and said, “Hey, you want to do life your way? Or do you want to see what I have in store?” 

And what was interesting is, I remember in that moment, it wasn't like God was saying like, orthe preacher saying, “If you if you go your way, you will kill everyone and be a murderer or something.” It was basically like, “If you go your way and do things your way, it'll be fine. But do you want to see what I have in store?” 

And at that point that's really why I decided I was going to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. I was going to do my best to see what he had in store. And let him take care of everything else. And I can tell you, no doubt about it, in my life, 17 years old, basically like I was aiming at the North Pole, and where I am today, sitting in front of you as a preacher is South Pole. Like I am as far away from where I wanted to b,e thought I should be. 

I remember in my senior class having to give a five-minute presentation in front of 12 people. And I, I literally thought I was going to die. And I gave them everything I had and it was like three minutes long. And I thought it was seven hours. Nothing like this, this sounded horrible.  Still today. It was funny. I was saying this in first service. I don't know when I first started really being excited about being a pastor because I don't think it's ever happened. I still, when people call me pastor, I'm like, “eww.” Something just like in the back of my neck just squishes. But I can tell you that this is the direction that God was leading me and has led me.

I've literally worked at a church ever since I was 17 years old and never wanted to. I think I can honestly say that. But this is the direction. But when I think of what has been added to me because of the direction that the Lord has led me, I wouldn't trade anything for the world. The places that the Lord has allowed me to go, the people I've met, the seasons. I hate that the good ones end, but they give way to other good ones. 

And I'm so thankful to my my daddy in heaven who has allowed me to pretend I'm really taking care of his business. And all the while, he's been taking care of my business. And it doesn't mean everything's been rosy. There's been times where it's been real blurry and I've been mad at my daddy. But if I keep going, eventually clarity comes. And I say, “Oh. I like that. I'm glad you gave me what you wanted, not what I wanted.” 

And with all of that together, Jesus comes to us and says, “Hey, little children. Hey, friends, don't worry. Don't be anxious when that stuff comes. Remember all these other things? Remember how close your daddy is? How badly he knows everything you want? How badly he wants to give it to you?”

The way that Romans 8:32, Paul says it:

If he is willing to sacrifice his only son for you, how much more would he will he not freely give you all good things? 

That's the kind of love we're dealing with. That he was willing to sacrifice his own son to give you what you needed, that you didn't even know you needed. How will he not give you every good thing? In time, in the right way, in the right form. But he'll give you every good thing. 

I'm being haunted by this other phrase by William Carey, who was a missionary who did some crazy things. And he says: 

Expect great things from God and attempt great things for God. 

And I am one of the people who, I've had enough pain in my life that it is really scary for me to have expectations. Like I'm scared of hope these days. But I love that William Carey was saying, “No, we need to expect great things from God.” And this is not some prosperity gospel: you’re going to get whatever you want. But you can, based on what Jesus taught us here, you can expect great things from God. You might have to hang on for a long time, but you can absolutely, without a doubt, have full assurance of common good if you're following Christ. I dare you to hope. 

And lastly, just practically, if you're feeling anxious, if you're feeling worried, this is what Philippians 4:6-7 says: 

Don't be anxious about anything…

Echoing Jesus's words.

…but in every situation…

 where you feel the worry or the anxiety coming 

…through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 

That's our part. Through prayer, petition. Remember, prayer is a lot of listening, not just talking. But petition. Tell him what you're going through. But also thanksgiving for all that he's done. If you go through that process, then what the promise is is that the peace of God, which transcends understanding, will come and it will guard your hearts and minds in Christ.

I love that promise — that if we will walk in these steps, if we’ll cast our cares on him, if we’ll through thanksgiving and through petition and through listening, will present this anxiety and worry to the Lord, then what he's going to do is he's going to send his peace to transcend. It's not even going to stop here. It's just going to go straight past our understanding and set up a defense for our hearts and for our minds, so that the anxious world around us can't get in, and we can become like Jesus, these non-anxious presences.

Every single where we go in our own homes, in our workplaces, and it will be such a bizarre, foreign thing to the people around you when you're able to pass on to them something besides worry and anxiety as a believer in Christ, who holds to his promises. 

Let's pray. And just so you know, you don't have to wait for me to say anything after I say, “Let's pray.” That's full freedom for you to begin to listen to your Father in heaven — your daddy — to call him Daddy, to present your petitions. But also remember to thank him. 

And Lord, as we present our petitions and needs and couple it with thanksgiving, I do pray that, supernaturally, your Spirit right now would impart peace — your perfect peace, your powerful peace to come right now and chase away any anxiousness or any worry and to set up a beautiful defense over our hearts and minds. I pray for those who've been anxious every day of their life, that right now, Lord, your Spirit would do a work, that they would wake up tomorrow and they would live their first day anxiety-free.

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Treasures in Heaven

Series: The Sermon on the Mount
August 1, 2021 - David Stockton

We’re in Matthew, Chapter six, if you want to grab a Bible and turn there. Today we're looking at the words of Jesus again in the Sermon on the Mount and praying that his Spirit will open our eyes and our ears and our hearts to get a vision for the righteousness of God.

And what I mean by that is we want to know what is righteous in God's eyes. Our culture or our pundits these days are telling us what justice and righteousness are and I’m not that interested in hearing what they have to say. I really want to know what God thinks. And that's what we're doing. We want to know how to be approved unto God. We want to know what pleases God. We even sang about it this morning: What moves your heart? 

We want to know how to be rich in God's economy, more than being rich in this economy. So anti-American. It's so difficult for us. We are so steeped and we are so good at defining success in this economy. In the kingdom of heaven, in the temporal kingdom of this world, we are so good at it, and what Jesus is trying to teach his disciples and ultimately us, is what the economy of heaven is like, what God values. And that's where we get the word righteousness. That's what God values. And ultimately, we want to know how to live in a way that helps us to hear Jesus say, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” the moment after we take our last breath on this earth.

In Chapter five, Jesus was teaching his disciples about the greater righteousness. You've heard me mention this time and time again. Jonathan Pennington, if you want to go deeper into that, wrote a book and really just constantly comes back to that, the greater righteousness as opposed to the counterfeit righteousness or the lesser righteousness. 

Again, coming out of our cultural context, last year there was lots of claims to righteousness. We need to be those who are able to discern which ones are counterfeit righteousness, which ones are lesser and which one's greater righteousness. And so Jesus uses six very common human situations to help us understand and begin to unpack and discern the difference between lesser and greater righteousness. Those six common human situations, maybe you've heard of them: anger, lust, divorce, breaking of promises or deceit, vengeance, and enemies.

So in case you're familiar with any of those in the human situation, you can go back and listen to the podcast of the teachings online and… yeah, it was intense. It was real. And we're better,  we're better because of it. But it was it was intense. And it hit us right in the heart. 

So now in Chapter six, which for the last three weeks, we've been kind of spending some time and Jesus is teaching about the greater righteousness in our relation to God in some very common religious practices, so to speak: giving to the poor, prayer and fasting. And those are the three things that Jesus talked about. 

So, first of all, the greater righteousness in regards to our neighbor and then the greater righteousness in regards to our relationship with God is is what Jesus is unpacking here.And as he does this, he's giving us a glimpse of of the greater righteousness. And it's beautiful and it's almost breathtaking. It's sometimes even discouraging when we think of where we are and what Jesus is depicting. It also is very challenging because it hits us and helps us see how far removed we are from this. 

As Tim Keller writes, he basically, as you're reading through the Sermon on the Mount, you're understanding the inside out kingdom. So basically, we are such an external society. We base everything on external appearance. What who what you look like, what you have. And the kingdom of God, you know, measures everything internally. And so it's just so hard. It's inside out.

And then the other thing is, it's upside down. And that's where you have the Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the persecuted. Blessed are those who are mourning, blessed are the pure in spirit. Whereas our our society and culture would say the exact same thing.

And the weakest is the strongest. The greatest is the least. All this kind of Upside-Down Kingdom stuff. So it's a little disorienting sometimes as we read Jesus's words. But it's not because Jesus is off. It’s because we're off and he's trying to help us get back on on track with who God is.

So as we've done this, a couple of things to note over Chapter six and our relation to God. Three things about God that have been brought up. One is God hates hypocrisy. As you see in this whole chapter, he continues to say, you know, "Don't be like the hypocrites. Don't do what the hypocrites do. This is hypocrisy. Don't do things just so other people will think you're cool if you're trying to do it for God. God hates it.” 

And as you read through the entirety of the scriptures, God hates hypocrisy. He hates hypocrisy. He detests it. Isaiah, chapter one, if you want to get further into it, he's like, “I stop my ears when you're singing your hypocritical songs in church. It just makes my stomach churn. I want to spit you out of my mouth.”

This is the kind of things that God feels towards hypocrisy and sad to say, Christians. We are some of the best hypocrites in the world. We have created a complete art of it. We are awesome at it. And Jeff Gokee taught two weeks or three weeks ago on hypocrisy, did a great job. So you can go back and listen to that if you want. 

But that's one thing that Jesus is really trying to make it very clear. You're not fooling God. You might be fooling everybody else, but you're not fooling God. He sees it and literally he hates hypocrisy. He hates it. And we’ve got to remember that as we process how we're living our lives and even in our worship to the Lord, we can even get that so messed up, which is crazy.

The second thing that we need to note as we go through Chapter six is God is our daddy. Literally daddy. The word, our father in heaven. And it’s Abba, or translation of Abba. And it means daddy. So when Jesus was saying, “Here, let me tell you how you should pray, you should say, ‘Daddy in heaven.” And is super uncomfortable.Tthe way I know it's uncomfortable, because after all these years of Jesus telling me to pray that way, I still don't. I'm like, “Our father who art in heaven.” You know, like old English or something when I say that prayer, because it just feels more serious. Then Jesus is like, “No, he’s still not getting it.” 

And then, you know that like dred pirate guy that was doing the announcements just a second ago — his name is Alec. And he actually does this. He says, “Daddy," when he starts out praying and he's like, “Daddy." And I'm like, “What? Oh.” You know every time still today when he says that it like throws me off.  I have intimacy issues, maybe. 

But yeah, but that's what Jesus was saying. Like he is your father. He's your daddy. And you don't have to say a whole bunch, you don't have to get everything right, you just kind of talk to him about what's going on in the day. I mean, it's such a simple prayer. And again, Jeff Gokee taught on that last week. It was awesome. He unpacked that really well, gave us a lot to think about. 

And so in that idea that God is our daddy, he's close to us. He is transcendent, no doubt. He's our father in heaven. And he's the father, not just of you. He's our father. So you need to remember that you're not the only child. It's really important for us to remember that. And it's very sad that we don't in our prayers and oftentimes even in our, you know, our faith. We a lot of times think that it's all about us. And we we judge God according to what he does for us alone, not understanding that he's kind of got a bigger job than just us.

So I think there's the transcendence of it is so important that God is big and he's created this entire world. And, you know, there's like two trillion galaxies. You know, our galaxy is just one of them and two trillion in our galaxy.

There's all these planets and everything is working in order. And we're on this place called the Earth. That's literally going sixty seven thousand miles an hour around the sun. Now it's in a circle, too. So it's like sixty seven thousand miles an hour straight, has a certain kind of like intensity to it. But the centrifugal force of sixty seven thousand miles an hour going in a circle, that's intense. Like I went on a Slip and Slide for about 30 minutes the other day and threw my back out. Seriously, like seriously sitting down. Back brace. I wasn't like showing them my super cool abs or anything. Just from doing that. 

And we're going sixty seven thousand miles around the sun at the same time were spinning on our axis at — how fast? I wrote it down. I didn't know — it's on this page. It's not on this page, I don't know, it's like a thousand miles an hour. Anybody know? Come on, somebody out there knows. Ten thousand or a thousand?A thousand miles an hour. We're spinning on the axis while we're going six or seven.

I mean, and what I'm doing, I'm talking about the transcendence. He's the Creator of the heavens and all these things. And yet Jesus tells us to call him daddy. Anybody said when they prayed, they called him daddy. Yeah, Kurt, of course. Of course I love it. 

Nobody else says that Jesus said, you're supposed to say daddy and none of us say, daddy. There’s some daddy's back there. All right. Try it this week. Try it this week. I'll try to.

Daddy. Daddy in heaven. He cares so much. We're going to get into that a little bit more next week. And as we continue on in the Sermon on the Mount, helping to know how God really does pay attention to every single detail of your life.

And the word daddy I know can be a little weird for some. It can have a bad connotation. But it's daddy in the best sense of the word. Daddy honestly, in the sense of the word that none of us have ever experienced in our earthly relationships. This is the way God wants you to see him and relate to him — as a daddy. 

So the third thing to note again, Jeff, did those things last two weeks or last three weeks, which is awesome. 

And today I want to unpack the idea that God is a rewarder. God is a rewarder. And yeah, it's interesting. But we see that clearly leading up to this point where God is a rewarder. Consistently he says, you know, “If you practice your righteousness before other people, I hope you enjoyed your reward,” kind of.

So if you're if you're going to fast, and you're going to kind of moan and groan so that other people will think that you're really holy, he says, “I hope you enjoyed that, because that's the only reward you're getting.” You know, when you pray and you're like, “Oh, Lord, God of the universe, you are so good and I am so bad,” like when you start praying like that, everybody thinks you're so holy. He's like, “I hope you enjoyed that, because that's all you're getting.” There's no reward for that at all. 

And then the same thing when you give to the poor. But he says, “If you're willing to do those things in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you openly.” 

So there's this constant, continuous theme that God is wanting to give you reward in result of your righteousness. So he is a rewarder. And we have that in Hebrews 11 verse six, you know, says that if we want to come to God, we must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. And reward is a huge concept, you know, in Revelation, all these type of things. But we'll get into that. 

So God is a rewarder is what we're going to be looking at today. So, Matthew, chapter six, verse 19:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and … 

…mammon is the word. And money is a good translation, but it's more than that, actually. The word treasure has a whole kind of broad sense of it differently than just treasure. And money is not quite there. Mammon has a little bit broader sense. The things we value, the things that that that we that we have desire for, the things that we honor and give value to. 

So anyway, we've just gotten through Jesus talking about the greater righteousness in these human examples, the greater righteousness, our relationship with God examples. And then he kind of goes into what almost seems like three completely separate proverbs. And it took me a while to kind of try and unpack, “OK, Jesus, what are you getting out here? Why is this after this?” I mean, I even started thinking like did Jesus, like the Jesus work on this message before this moment where he's sitting on a hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee and he calls the disciples to him. Was it something that he was like had already worked on or was it just like catching a moment and saying, “Hey, guys, I want to share some things with you," and just kind of, you know, vamping a little bit? And and I don't know, obviously. But what it does seem like is, because it's recorded in a couple of the different gospel accounts, and because Jesus really was going around the Sea of Galilee and teaching on the kingdom of heaven, it almost really is more like Jesus's stump speech. Now, there was probably some variations where basically Jesus was going around from from village to village around the Sea of Galilee. And this was his speech, as you would call his people together.

That's another reason why it's recorded with such clarity is because it was such a familiar thing that the disciples had heard over and over and over and over and over again, which gives me a little better feeling that we've been in it for four months, and we're going to be doing it for the rest of this month, too. But it was this repetition that these guys really were trying to understand and Jesus was doing this. So there were variations. But Jesus definitely at this point was was moving away from those examples. 

And he was talking about this this next life. He was talking about the kingdom of heaven that we are going to to dwell in and that economy that's there. And so he's talking about, “Don't store up treasures in this life. But store up treasures, things of value in the next life.”

That's the goal and what he says here, and actually when he's talking about the lamp, he's talking about, you know, if you're able to discern, if you're able to see what is truly a value, then what will happen is your whole soul will be filled with light. And the word there value, actually, it's like when your eye is singular, when when your eye is singular and what it values. It's like, I think it's Kierkegaard who says, “Purity of heart is to will one thing.” And the way James says it is, “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

And there's something about Jesus saying here that we need to be singular in our focus and attention. We need to make sure that the kingdom of heaven, and the economy that's there, is our singular focus; that we're not necessarily trying to win in this life and that life. 

And now we're beginning to hear those other words of Jesus, “What will you gain if you get this whole world and lose your soul?” There's this this kind of challenge where Jesus is now trying to help, “Hey, I do care about everything you're going through. I do care about your daily bread and all of those things. But I want you to understand that what I'm trying to do is help you gain a desire, gain a passion, gain a singularity in your focus for the next life.” 

And this is where Christians start to sound a little crazy. And I'm totally OK with that, because the world view of the scriptures, the world view of Jesus and the New Testament, for sure, is that we are going to live on after our final breath on Earth, and the life that we live there is the real life. It is more real than this life. This is the temporal life. This is the fading life. This is the shadow. That is the reality. And Jesus is saying we need to keep that in mind. We need to focus on that, because when we get to that life, the things that are valuable there are the things that we are going to wish we had. 

And oftentimes when we lose in this life, we actually are gaining in that life, like the Beatitudes teach. Oftentimes death in this life leads to resurrection life. Oftentimes sacrificial love in this life leads to something beautiful in the kingdom of heaven. 

And you can look at the life of Jesus, and that's exactly what he did. He didn't just teach these things, but then he lived out those things. Basically, there's a moment in Jesus's life on earth where you can apply each beatitude to it. And the reason that he was doing that wasn't just because he was so masochistic. He was doing that because he understood the the value of heaven, and he understood if he gave himself in this life, he would gain so much more. And that gaining of so much more was you and I could be with him. And so he had joy while he was on the cross. “It was for the joy set before him that he endured the cross.” Because he understood the economy of heaven. 

And that's what we're trying to do. It’s what we're trying to get to, is understanding that type of thing. Some of us are understanding a little better than others. Some of us get it some days and totally far away the other days. 

I was teaching this to the third through fifth graders on Wednesday night. My wife is in charge of that group and she asked me to to speak to it. And she has a lot more pull than anybody else around here. So I was I was in there speaking. I was talking to them about how God is a rewarder. And it was so funny because the best example of that I could give to the third through fifth graders was like Brittany, my wife. You know, I was like, “She's a rewarder, right?” And they were like, “What?” I said, “Think about how much candy she gives you.” And they were like, “Oh, yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah!” 

I mean, that’s the number one complaint about Brittany. She does a thousand things so well. But people are just like, why she gotta give my kids so much Candy? And I'll tell you, because she's a rewarder. And so you should just be thankful because she's teaching your kids about God and his character, because she gives them candy for, like, showing up. She gives him candy for, you know, being good after they were bad. She gives him candy just because sometimes she's bored. She gives them candy … there are just endless amounts of reasons that they can give. 

But that's literally, as you look through, the way that the Bible talks about God is he is a rewarder. He is such a great rewarder. 

Jesus told this story about God's heart when it comes to rewards, and it's the worst parable by far.

He told a parable of this, this master employer that went and was telling people, “Hey, if you come work in my field today, I will give you this much in pay.” And so there were, you know, some people heard the news and one guy showed up 8:00 a.m. the next day. He was all ready to go, you know, and he started working in the field, excited about the pay that he would get. And he worked, you know, eight hours, or whatever it was. 

The next guy shows up about 10:00 a.m. and he's like, “Hey, can I work?” And the master was like, “Sure, jump in!”  And so he works the rest of that day. 

One guy shows up at noon. He jumps in. He's like, "Hey, man, I know I'm late, but can I work?” And the master was like, “Dude, work it up. Let’s go!” 

And so they're all doing this work. And then one joker Enneagram 9 shows up five minutes before it's over, five minutes before the sun's down, whatever, it was the end of the day. And he's like, “Hey, can I work?” And the master is like, “Sure. Jump in, man.” So he jumps in and he's just working so hard for five minutes. And then the bell rings. Day’s over. And they all line up to get their pay.

 And, you know, the guy who was there for five minutes goes up first and and the master gives them the full amount, as if he worked the whole day, because he said, “If you come and work in my field, I'm going to give you this amount.” So the guy works for five minutes, gets the full pay. And the guy who was there at 8:00 am was like, “If he's getting that, I'm going to get big! This is going to be awesome.” 

And so the next guy who came at noon goes up there and he gets paid the same amount as the five minute guy — the same amount that the guy said he would pay everybody if they came and worked. So he was like, “Oh, okay. It seems a little weird.” And then he takes off. 

The guy who showed up at 10 a.m. shows up and he gets the same pay as the rest of them. He's like, “It doesn't seem right. Well, I got paid, you know, and at least I didn’t work as much as that guy.”

And the 8:00 a.m. guy shows up and he gets paid the same as everybody else, including the five minute guy. And he's ticked. He's American. He is offended at this point. And he will not lay down quietly. This is injustice. This is not fair. And he's like, "Come on! What's the deal?”Starts throwing tea in the ocean and, you know, he's like, “No, man! This is not right!”

And so this is the way the parable ends. It's basically like, “What is it to you if God wants to give somebody else something good?” That’s the resolve of this thing? I'm not resolved in my spirit here. And again, that it's totally justice. You know, the master did exactly what he said he was going to do. 

However, there was there was someone that experienced mercy. Experienced grace. And in this story, what Jesus is trying to say is, “You got to understand, when you see God as a rewarder it should cause your heart to rejoice whether it be you or somebody else. You've got to start to value mercy — even more so than sacrifice. It's just so upside down. It's so bizarre when you put it into real life context. But that's what Jesus is trying to get them to do. “You’ve got to learn to store up and treasure and be singular in your focus and and really value the things that I value.” 

And so when you see that situation, if our hearts were right, we would go, “Wow. Who is this master? What is this mercy? And how do I worship him, honor him? How do I get to know him? How do I get closer to him?” That's a bit of the shift that Jesus is wanting to do. 

And in this last section, he talks about, "No one can serve two masters.” So it's kind of the same type of thing. You have to be singular in your worship. You can't actually worship God and mammon. If you start to value or treasure anything else on equal or greater than God, you've completely lost God.

Just recently, I was reading about, you know, the story of King David, who was a man after God's own heart, right? I mean, he basically was seeking exactly the way that we're seeking to know what moved God's heart. And yet at one point, David slipped. David messed up and he saw Bathsheba bathing on this rooftop. And there was something in his heart that begin to value that and to long for that, and he treasured that above his relationship with God.

And you know the story. That got him to where he was lying, he committed adultery, ended up murdering Bathsheba's husband and then taking Bathsheba as his wife. And when Nathan, the prophet, comes and busts him and basically says, “Look, God knows what you did and doesn't think it's that cool.” What he actually says is "You have despised the Lord. What God felt in that — it wasn't that, oh, you tried to love two things. You actually despised the Lord.”

 And ultimately, whatJesus is trying to do is get us to value the things that the kingdom of heaven values. And ultimately there's nothing more valuable than God. He is the treasure. He is the reward.

This is what John Piper says about this passage. He says: 

“You have a good eye if you look on heaven and love to maximize the reward of God's fellowship there. You have a good eye if you look at Master-money and Master-God and see Master-God as infinitely more valuable.” 

This is really tough for us Americans. 

In other words, a “good eye” is a valuing eye, a discerning eye, treasuring eye.  It doesn't just see the facts about money and God. It doesn't just perceive what is true and false. It sees beauty and ugliness, it senses value and worthlessness, it discerns what is really desirable and what is undesirable. The seeing of the good eye is not neutral when it sees God. It sees God-as-beautiful and it sees God-as-desirable. 

It's a singular focus. Not wanting what God can do for us — wanting God. Treasuring him, and as we do these things that that are done in secret, as we mentioned, as we store up this treasure in heaven, there's something that happens in our heart. As we as we discern things well and correctly in our singular, our focus, it does things to our soul. All these intense inner parts of us are stimulated and stirred in interesting ways. 

And I think this leads us to a little fuller understanding of rewards and the scriptures. We have the story of the wood, hay and stubble, which a lot of us have heard about where Paul is trying to teach that believers, those who are believing in Christ, when we go and stand before God, we don't stand in judgment whether we're going to heaven or hell. We already have that assurance because we gave our life to Jesus. He bled on the cross for us, and he's put his Spirit inside us as a guarantee. So we have complete assurance that when we breathe our last, we are going to be with Jesus.

But we also will go through a judgment as believers. And it's not, again, heaven or hell. It's more what did we do that matters — and what did we do that doesn't matter. And the way Paul describes it is that we pass through a fire and whatever we did that was economy of heaven that was pleasing to God will become these precious metals that are not burnt by the fire. And whatever we did that was for critical, whatever we did that we did not honor, please God in the way that Jesus taught, it will become wood, hay and stubble, and it will just be consumed.

And it's hilarious, actually, if you read through it. Basically Paul kind of describes like, we're all going to pass through that and some of you are going to come through and there's going to be a lot of smoke on you. There's not going to be a lot of meat left on the bones after you get through, because you've been living like a hypocrite. And basically it's like you're going to come through and you're going to be like, “Yeah, I made it! Woohoo!” And all of us are going to be looking at you, like, Where’s all that smoke coming from, man? Well, you got to stop, drop and roll quick! You’re burning!” 

And another way that it's described in the New Testament — and Paul alludes to this and it's picked up in Revelation and is having to do with crowns. So Paul is basically sharing with Timothy and Second Timothy four that he's come to the end of his life, he's been poured out, he's fought the good fight, he knows his time is coming to depart from this life and enter into the next life. And what he says is, “Timothy, I want you to know that there is stored up for me a crown of righteousness for all the all the things that I have done, all the times I've valued Christ above everything else. It's now created for me a crown of righteousness for when I get to heaven.” 

And then later, it's picked up in Revelation, where we see this vision of heaven and all these angelic beings. And there's these elders and they have these crowns. And at some point in this worship service, they take these crowns and they go lay them at the feet of Jesus. 

Again, this is a little strange for us, because, you know, my daughters were into the crowns for a little bit when they were younger, but I've never been in the crowns. I've never been like, “Dude, I want a crown so bad!” 

But think of it more like, you know, the Olympics right now. So if you were to ask Michael Phelps when he was twelve years old, like, “Hey, man, could I get you a necklace with a cool, big, old medallion on it?”

He'd have been like, “No, weirdo, go away!”  But then in the nature of that context, now that he's standing in the Olympic Village, and as he's, you know, gathered and the whole world is watching, you know, when they go and they put that necklace on him with a big old medallion, and it's like he really, really wants that. And when we get to heaven, when they start passing out crowns, we're going to care very, very much about the crowns. 

You can also think about the NBA or the NFL. You know, like if you ask these big strong guys like, “Hey, man, you know, I got you this ring..” It’s "Get away from me, weirdo!” But like after they win the Super Bowl, after they win the finals — or not— you know, then they get the ring. And that really means a lot. They're really into rings, even though they've never been into rings their whole life. They're really into rings. 

And I know I shouldn't have left the Suns. I should have stayed. I mean, I watched and I did my best to not jinx them and stuff, but I just should have stayed and they could have probably got that game four. And then they would’ve been … anyway. 

But like those rings mean something in that moment. And when we get to heaven, what Paul is trying to help Timothy understand is that when we get there, these crowns are going to mean a lot. These are the rewards, so to speak. This is the treasure that we're storing up in heaven, these crowns of righteousness. 

 And again, that's a kingdom of heaven principle. A nd we want to take kingdom of earth perspective and think, you know, we want big, old mansions and we sing songs about how big our mansion is going to be, maybe. And then we're looking at everyone else and, “Look at your stupid mansion.” 

But that's kingdom of earth perspective on a kingdom of heaven principle. And that's not right, because this is what's going to happen when we get those, when we stand in that line and they start giving out those crowns of righteousness. And some of us just barely made it through the fire. And ours is like kind of that crown that's made from the weeds, you know, that you just pick out of the out of the field and just kind of wrap them up and you put it on. Some of us are going to be like, “What's up? We've got a crown. I mean, like I got a crown.” And then when it's time to lay that before Jesus, we're going to understand we're giving him everything we have. But it's less than what we know could have happened. And maybe that's the point at where we start to weep and Jesus wipes the tears from our eyes. But there's going to be that moment where we're going to lay down at Jesus' feet our crown.

And some of us, you know, might have liked that pope, you know, like that pope thing is super tall and it's just like bling all around, all the way up, even in the back, maybe on the inside, too, where nobody could see, but you and Jesus like, “Jesus, just check it, bam.” You know, doing it in secret. Doing it in secret. But it's just like all blinged out. And then you're going to be able to lay that before Jesus. And again, it's not going to be a comparison thing where you're going to be like, “Dude, I'm so much better than them.” You're just going to be so glad that you get to lay this thing down before your King. And what it's going to mean between you as you lay down. 

So the storing up treasure in heaven is, again, it's not an earthly thing where you're trying to stock up and become some baller. It's again, even the rewards that we're storing up in heaven ultimately lead back to more worship, and more value, and more treasuring, and more singular focus on who Jesus is. 

And so Jesus is saying, “You want to get that right now, you want to figure that out now. And begin to have worship, purity now and singular focus now. And then in that day, it's going to matter so much.” 

And just in case, it's still not making sense. When I got married in 2004 to my wife, Brittany, I remember about our one-year anniversary. I was looking at her and I told her I loved her and I said, “I love you.” And, for whatever reason, I remember saying it and maybe it was the look on her face or maybe it was how cheesy I can be sometimes or what, but I just in my mind, I was like saying, I love you with one year of emphasis behind it. It just felt so weak. It felt like I barely even got it out. And part of that was because, you know, I knew other people who have been married for a long time. I mean, I just you know, I know people in our church have been married sixty-five plus years. I know my grandparents are married sixty-five plus years. And I'm like, you know, I got this like one year, you know, nothing thing.

But I also know that, you know, Brittany's dad said, “I love you” to his wife and his kids for twenty-two years and then left. And so in my wife's heart and mind, so to speak, until I get to year twenty-three, my “I love you” doesn't even fill the hole.

You with me? Now, it's not totally true, and the grace of God changes things, and ultimately she needs God, not me, all of those things, but in our relationship, my “I love you,” it's only got sixteen years of weight behind it. And I'm excited about that because the hole is smaller. And I'm longing for the day when I get to say, “I love you” on year twenty-three, and to see what that feels like for her. But ultimately, I've told her this many times before, I can't wait to be married for fifty years and be like, “Oh, I love you." Like the weight of saying “I love you” at that point, all the, you know, the times where I've treasured her above everything else, all the times of kindness, all the times we've had to turn the corner, because our hearts were really hurting, all the times where she's forgiven me and I've forgiven her. I long for that end. And just, so you know, I'm saying fifty is kind of like a goal, but I'll keep going after that point. Is not like 50 — it's over — did my job. See you. You know, like, I’ll keep going.

But just the weight of that phrase, with all that backing is going to be very different. And I think that's what we're cultivating with our relationship with God. That ultimately the rewards we're after are not something God can give us if we're seeking God for what he can give us, we're losing from the very beginning. We're not hearing the words of Jesus. We're treasuring what he can give more than who he is, and really the goal of our entire lives is is to be intimate with God. It's to say, “Daddy.” It's to know and be able to receive the fullness of his love for us. 

As Paul puts it one place, “I count everything as crap compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ.” He is the prize, he's the treasurer, he's the reward, and really, ultimately, the greatest reward we can receive in this life is a greater intimacy with him. And so that's why the rewards are so important, because they're going to represent a deeper intimacy with him. They're going to represent that “I love you” that has so much more effort behind it.

And and I'm sorry if this message is not helping you. I'm sorry if you know you're having trouble getting this, but this really is the gospel. Everything else, somebody's selling you something. The chief end of mankind is to know God and enjoy him forever.

So every joy, every pain in your life, ultimately, is God allowing it so that you will be closer to him. And if you can't see that, you're not a Christian and you're not practicing Christianity. You're practicing some form of Christianity that has no real heart behind it.

And we have to continually try and get pure in heart so we can see God. We have to continue to try and look at at our worship and see if we're really trying to value two things, or if we're really just being singular in our valuing of who God is. And we have to remember that the reward that we really long for, the reward that God really wants to give, the best thing we can get is to be able to have a greater intimacy with God in this life and the next. That is to the end for which you are made, why you have a beat in your heart, breath in your lungs and a mind that can know, it's for him.

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The Lord's Prayer

Series: Sermon on the Mount
July 25, 2021 - Jeff Gokee

Thank you, thank you. I’m actually having a really hard time. That song, you know, Jesus we love you, Jesus we love you. I’m really struggling in a beautiful way. I do love him. I do sense his presence. I don’t even want to transition. I just want to sit in that moment for a second and just feel it. Do you know how much he loves you? Do you know how much he loves us? Do you? He loves you so much. 

I can’t even imagine what so many of you are going through in this time of your life. But just know he loves you. Please know he loves you. Don’t forget that. Don’t forget that. He loves you. He loves you. He loves you. He loves me. I sense it. I feel it. For so much of my life just longing to find other loves that only he can give me. And man, that messed me up. I hope it messed you up. I hope the love of Jesus messes you up, because it’s messing me up right now. I’m like, Dude, I’ve got to preach. What am I doing?

Matthew 6:7-13 

And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

“This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from the evil one.’

Eight years ago my son was diagnosed with leukemia. Thankfully, last week we celebrated six years off of chemotherapy, which was like a huge celebration for our family. He’s healthy and doing great. Seventeen years old. He’ll be eighteen in a couple of months.

For the first three months his protocol was a certain chemo and that chemo set him into anaphylactic shock. It was very painful, very hard, very scary. So they draw us into this back room and they say, “Hey, without this chemo his chances of surviving drop dramatically. But we have another option and that other option is not approved by the FDA. It’s going to cost you an arm and a leg. It’s going to be very, very expensive, but we think it will save his life.”

Basically, the option was, for three times a week for about six months they had to give him leg shots, deep tissue leg shots right in the muscle. Very painful. So we brought him in for that first one and that happened and it’s so painful, so overwhelming. Now we’ve got to do this three times a week for the next six months. How do we do this?

What ended up happening was, I would show up to the hospital with him and he would start freaking out because he’s thinking about the pain.  He’s thinking about the hurt. So I ended up taking laps with him on the inner part of the hospital and just talking to him. “Buddy, you’ve got this. You’ve got this. Come on. Stay focused.”

One of the things Cooper said to us early on in his diagnosis was, “God and I have got this.” Right? So I was like, “You and Jesus. You and God. You’ve got this. Just stay focused in on him. You’ve got to stay loose.” Because if he didn’t stay loose, his muscles would get tight and it would be even more painful. So I’m talking through him, kind of rallying him toward this thing that he has to go through, this difficult thing. Then he’d go in the room and try to calm his heart and get the shots.

I realized something this week as I was thinking about all the study I’ve done around the Lord’s Prayer over the last month or so, and actually diving in deep into the Lord’s prayer is this: I  used to think of the Lord’s Prayer kind of like this very somber, quiet thing. I realized this week it’s a rally cry. It’s like a war cry. It’s this anthem that we are in the kingdom of God right now. We are his children. He is our Father and we are coming up against all that our culture is deeming appropriate. When he’s going, “It’s not. That’s the kingdom of this world. I want to invite you into kingdom mentality, kingdom thinking.”

So it reframed the way I was reading and praying through the Lord’s Prayer. It’s a rally cry. Culture shaping, life shaping, day shaping, mind shaping, spirit shaping prayer that Jesus is inviting us into.

I want to tell you this, it’s going to radically change your life, if you don’t just say these words, but really apply them to the way you live your life. This is the kingdom of God life, the kingdom of God prayer that he’s inviting us into. 

And much like me taking Cooper around the inside of the hospital going, You’ve got this,” Jesus is going, “I’ve got you. Stay focused. My kingdom’s here. I’m your Father. I’m hallowed. I’m going to take care of your needs. I’m going to provide for you. I’ve got you.” 

And it’s a rally cry. So I hope as we go through this together that it is this very personal, somber thing, but it’s also this rally cry that’s coming up against the kingdom of this earth. He is introducing us once again to his kingdom and what exists there. 

The Lord’s Prayer is a framework not just for prayer, but for life. I don’t know if you know this but so often we get caught up into the idea that this is a prayer. This is a framework for life and the way that we are to live this life. 

Over the last couple of months we’ve been trying to learn what it looks like to live in the kingdom of God. Once again Jesus is providing us a framework through prayer that is actually a wholistic, a whole life thing that he’s inviting us into. 

Before we move on, kind of the background of the Lord’s prayer, and we see it all throughout this passage in Matthew 6 — and we talked about it a few weeks ago — what happened is the Gentiles had all these complex prayers to the gods. Basically those complex prayers were filled with uncertainties. So they used all these words more and more, because they’re trying to get the gods to interact with their lives. And of course Jesus says, “Don’t be like that.”

In my mind I had this image of Elijah on top of the mountain, and the prophets of Baal, all day long cutting themselves and saying tons of words. That’s the image that comes to my mind. And Elijah’s kind of mocking them, “What? Is he going to the bathroom? Eh - I guess your god’s asleep.”

This is what Jesus is trying to help his disciples understand. “Don’t be like them. Don’t just continue babbling on and babbling on with this level of uncertainty. I’m here in your presence. I’m Emmanuel, God with You right now. You don’t have to be babbling on. I know what you need. Because I know what you need and I know how I want to love you, I want to present for you a structure in the way that you can live your life and a framework in which you can pray.” 

William Barclay, he is a commentator, he says this, and then we’ll move forward. He says:

We need to bring our whole life to the whole of God and bring the whole fo God to the whole of life.

This is so important as we move forward in understand the Lord’s Prayer and what he’s actually inviting us into. It’s all of him. It’s all of him. But it takes all of us. Are we willing to be obedient to who he’s called us to be because of who he is? 

So he starts off by saying, “Our Father in heaven…” Right there we have these two beautiful things. “Our Father.” This is love. Then “in heaven.” Power. He is loving. He is our Father. But he is above it all. He is both far away and very near. And we live in that tension. Right? He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He is the beginning and the end. But he is so near to us right now.

He starts off with our “Our Father in heaven,” and you’ll see this word occur all through this prayer: our. Because I think what happens so often in the Christian life is, it doesn’t say “My Father,” it says, “Our Father.” Jesus is inviting us into the Ecclesia, the Body. This is why Church is so important. Church is not just something you attend on Sunday. It’s who we are because of who he is. And Jesus is trying to help us understand that this myopic way in which we approach him is misguided. 

So he starts off by going, “No, this is a corporate declaration, not just an individual declaration.” It’s a corporate declaration. Why? Because it’s resisting and revolting about what Satan wants to do to you and me. And what he wants to do is have it all be about you. He wants the individualism that our culture loves to seep into your mind. 

I find it so interesting that the pieces of technology we have in our life are literally drawing us away from one another. We have an iPhone. Right? An iPhone. When I grew up, we had our phone. We only had one phone in the house. How many only had one phone in the house? Now y’all got a phone, individually, in your hand. It’s your phone. It has your preferences. You call whoever you want.

What we don’t realize is that we’ve applied that to our understanding of who God is. And it’s false. He’s our Father. All Satan wants to do is pull you away from the flock, pull you away from the body, because there you are most vulnerable. All throughout Scripture it’s talking about a body with many parts: “A three cord strand cannot be easily broken,” “Where two or more are gathered In his name there’s — what? There’s much power.” Because there’s power in the Body, in the Ecclesia. This is what he’s inviting us into.

The power of the Lord’s Prayer is not just in personal petition, but corporate declaration. This is who we are. This is what we’re praying. This is what we believe.

He then says, “Our Father.” Everything starts here. For over two decades my father and I have been kind of on the outs. I love my father. He’s a good man. But there’s been a lot of hurt. There’s been a lot of pain. What I realized was my view of my heavenly Father has been dramatically impacted by my experience with my earthly father. This is where, for a lot of you, it breaks down. 

This is why you struggle with prayer. This is why we continue to struggle to live and be obedient, because we don’t really know him as Father. I know for so many of you, you’ve had really painful experiences with your earthly fathers. They’ve not set a great example of heavenly Father. We know that most of the social problems in our world are as a direct result of fathers who have abandoned families. Fathers who have hurt and abused and all these different things.What we end up doing, whether we know it or not, is start applying that. So this term, “Our Father,” we sort of struggle with. But everything starts there.

 A.W. Tozer, a great theologian, says this:

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.

The Lord’s Prayer starts here. It has to start here. Because if we don’t know him as Father, the rest of it’s not going to follow. The rest of it’s not going to make sense. We’re going to continue to battle in this world. So we really do have to get honest with how do I believe? Who do I believe God to be? Do I believe him to be this distant diety who’s sitting on a rocking chair up in heaven? Or is he my — our — Father?

We have to deal with that. Otherwise the rest of the prayer we’re going to continue to struggle with. Otherwise I’m going to continue as a pastor to hear over and over, “I just don’t feel God. I don’t sense God. I don’t see God. I don’t hear God. I don’t feel God.” Because we’re struggling with who he is as Father. 

So the question is do you really believe he is your Father? When we sing, Jesus, we love you, there’s something inside of you that just longs. That’s who he is to us. And it starts here. You have to start here. 

And then you have to transition into this next part, which is “hallowed be your name.” Holy is who God is. It’s who he is. Holy is who God is. Isaiah is having a vision of the throne room of God, where the angels are falling on their faces and they say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.” And as a result of that, Isaiah says, “I am a man of unclean lips. And I live among a people in the same way.” As a result of understanding that God our Father is holy, holy, holy. 

But I think where we’ve moved as a culture is we’ve moved away from that vision, that very sacred vision that Isaiah is inviting us into. We’ve moved to a very sacreligious vision of the holiness of God, where we’ve made him our home boy — like, “Jesus is my home boy,” — where we use the name of God as if it doesn’t have any reverence behind it. As if it isn’t holy. We use it in common phrases. 

I think there’s something about us that needs to back up. We need to back up, back into that sacred space. Not a legalistic place, but a sacred place to go, “God is holy.” Our Father, yes, he’s loving, but he is holy. Jesus wants us to pray in a way that says, “Our Father is hallowed. He’s holy.”

R.C. Sproul, another theologian, says:

If you don’t delight in the fact that your Father is holy, holy, holy, then you are spiritually dead…

And I believe that to be true because I’ve experienced it in my life.

…You may be in a church. You may go to a Christian school. But if there is no delight in your soul for the holiness of God, you don’t know God. You don’t love God. You’re out of touch with God. You’re asleep to his character. 

Like smelling salts, Jesus is trying to awake our souls, that God is our Father and he is holy, holy, holy. And that should bring a reverence. It should draw our hearts into who he is, his whole character, and that we would desire him deeply in that way; because hallowed, as it’s translated in the Greek, isn’t just about knowing the name of God. Satan knows the name of God. The demons know the name of God. Hallowed is, at least in the Greek, it’s pulling us in. It’s for those who intimately want to know the character and the nature of God and they trust him. This is what it means to live into the holiness, the hallowed ness of God.

Here’s the reality: The holiness of God does not keep us at an arm’s distance. Because who is teaching us to pray this way? Jesus. And where is Jesus? Emmanual, God with Us come to earth. How beautiful! And then Jesus dies and resurrects and who does he send? The Spirit of God who is here right now, near to us. This holy, holy, holy God is not keeping us at an arm’s distance, but drawing us near. But do you want to experience the holiness of God? Because we see, even in Old Testament and New Testament, he’s inviting us into this. But we have to be available to deal with who God is in the invitation that he’s provided for us.

Psalm 9:10 was really helpful for me this week in trying to work through this. It says this:

    Those who know your name trust in you,
for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

How beautiful. How beautiful for you and me to have this understanding that he is our Father and he is holy, but he loves us and cares for us and Jesus is inviting us in, to the point where now he transitions and he says, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” 

Whose kingdom? His kingdom. Whose will? His will. Not our kingdom, not our will. His kingdom. His will. We want it to be done. As we read through this we find out something really interesting. We find out there’s something very right that’s happening. We find out also that there’s something very wrong. 

I hate that I love McDonald’s. I hate that I love their French fries. Because there’s something so good about it and there’s something that’s so, so very bad about it. Do you know they put sugar in their salt on the fries? Right? To just draw us in. “Come, come, have my magical, delicious brownness in your belly.” But it’s so bad for us. It’s going to clog up our arteries and give us heart attacks. But we’re like, “Arrrh..” Because there’s something very nostalgic about it, at least for me, right?

There’s something very, very wrong that Jesus is exposing, but he’s also talking about what’s right. What’s right is we’ve neglected the kingdom of God. We’ve pushed it away. That’s why we have to invite it in. Our sin nature, our depravity is continuing to push against God’s plan, his kingdom come, his will be done. It’s pushing up against it. 

Jesus is like, “We need to invite it in.” So there’s both a negative and a positive here. It’s a problem for so many of us. We talk like this, but we don’t really want it. It’s a very dangerous thing to invite into your life because it’s going to transform you. It’s going to help you and open your eyes to the holiness of your heavenly Father. This is what it means to pray for this. 

Here’s the other thing. I find this so interesting. And you’re going to have to allow me to rant for just a little second, okay? I find that, especially during the last eighteen months, honestly, for most of my life, any time when stuff gets hard, everybody’s like, “It’s our time to get out of here.” Our ecclesiology gets all crazy, right? Our end times stuff. We go, “He’s coming back! He’s coming back! He’s coming back!”

And that may be the case. But sometimes we’re so busy trying to get out of here instead of inviting him here. He’s here. This is his kingdom come and his will be done on earth — not get out of here — as it is in heaven. And sometimes we’re too busy trying to get out of here when he’s inviting us to be here with him.

All right. Rant’s over. I feel so much better. Thank you.

The other thing I’ll say around this that I think is really important — Peter’s going to draw this out for us. We tend to always think about the negative things that are going to get us out of here, right? Peter goes, “Do you know what hastens the day of Christ? When believers in Jesus Christ choose to be obedient to the call of Christ.” That’s what hastens the day of Christ. That’s a positive thing. We’re always looking at all the negative. I want you to look at the positive. 

As we move forward in this way of thinking, we’re hastening the day of Christ. Instead of going, “Hey, God, get me out of here,” we’re going, “I’m here, baby. I’m going to be obedient to what you’ve called me to do and where you’ve called me to go.” That’s empowering. Do you feel empowered by that this morning? You should be. You should be. 

You matter in the kingdom of God and we should be saying, “Please come. Please come. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth. We want to bring heaven here. Not get out of here. We want heaven here. We want more people to come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior through the way that we obey and follow after him.” So maybe this would shift the way we start thinking about “kingdom come and will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

So the question that arises, Are we living in a way that says kingdom come? Are we living that way? Is it impacting every part of your life? The way I’ll describe it is, do we live in a participatory lifestyle? Which simply means this: I know some of you in here are teachers. You start school tomorrow. Glory be to God. God bless you, okay? You start school tomorrow. What would it look like to invite the kingdom of God into your classroom? Come on! What would it look like for us to realize there’s a bunch of kids in there that desperately need to see Jesus through the way we live this out.

You know all these prayers are a daily thing. He’s going to move on to Matthew 6 and he’s going to talk about, “Don’t worry about tomorrow.” This is how we need to live today. So what does it look like to anticipate the kingdom of God today? This has been so convicting to me this week. I’m always thinking about tomorrow, when he’s like, “I’ve only given you today.”

And what does it look like to invite the kingdom of God into your workplace, into your family, into your finances? Get micro on this. We’re always thinking of it on a macro scale. “Come on. Rain it down.” And he’s like, ‘What about your finances? What about your marriage? What about your parenting? What about your job?” Invite the kingdom of God into that to redeem that as it is in heaven. This is what we’re being invited into. This is a declaration to get earth out of us. To get earth out of us.

Paul says, “I’m crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I but who lives in me? Christ! He lives in me.” 

This is what it is to invite the kingdom of God, his kingdom come, his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This is what he’s wanting us to do.

So now we transition into this other part. But these are more little practical things. But actually, they’re very important things, wholistic things. He says, “Give us today our daily bread.” I find something really interesting. Costco is like Disneyland for adults, right? You walk into Costco and you watch a bunch of adults go, “Whoo! I didn’t know I needed four thousand batteries. I didn’t know I needed six toothbrushes.” And there’s a guy in there selling knives. And you go, “I didn’t know I needed Ginsu knives. I didn’t know I needed that. I do need that.” “I need four trillion bagels for my family.”

All of a sudden we get all — I call it the Costco complex. We get in there and we go, “Whoo!” Right? Nothing against Costco but I think it’s actually framing up for us this very consumeristic thing. It’s exposing something in us. “I want all this.” 

How many of you have filled up your Costco cart, paid for it, got in the cart and go, “I over-bought. I overdid that.” How many of you? Be honest before the Lord. All of us have. If you’ve been to Costco, you’ve over-bought. 

He’s revolting against this. Why? Because, remember in alms giving, he’s like, “Don’t be like everybody else.” And he says, “Our daily bread.” Which I find again is very interesting. What does it look like for us to simplify our lives. Because there’s a bunch of people in the world that don’t have. What does it look like to remind ourselves to be mercy-minded. That’s what it means to be an alms giver. To go like, “Do you know what’s been done for us? Now I just want to do that.”

See, something like Costco is going to bring that into conflict because all we can think of is more, more, more, more, more. And who is it that’s providing our daily bread? God is providing our daily bread.

This word daily in the Greek is actually one of the most complicated words in the Bible to translate. It’s one of the most complicated words. The reason is because it’s not found anywhere else in Greek literature. So recently they found a shopping list on a piece of papyrus and the shopping list was basically things to do. This word occurred. 

Here’s what’s really interesting about this word daily. It literally means, help me get the things that are on my shopping list daily. That’s what he’s inviting us into. It’s a daily reminder that he is the one that provides for us. He is the one that cares. 

And it cannot only be preached once or prayed once to yourself. You don’t just pray it once and go, “Hey, once and done.” This is a daily thing.

I went to Kenya three years ago. I go in this dung hut. We walk in and the lady is so excited to see us. So she invites us outside and we walk outside and I was asking about her daily life. “Tell me about your daily life.” She goes, “Well, I get up and I pray every morning, ‘God I need food. I don’t have any food.’ And do you know, some days he does it and some days he doesn’t. And he’s so faithful.” 

And she was so happy and we were just so humbled that this connection that she had with her heavenly Father that he was the one that provided for her. She found so much peace in it. I find it so bizarre that, as it relates to our daily needs — and by the way, this is not just about bread. This is about all our needs in our lives — when we bring those before the Lord, this is a submission. This is as humble declaration that, “God, you’re the one who cares for me. You’re the one who loves me. You’re the one who sees me. You’re the one who provides for me.”

We’ve seen God do this all throughout scripture. Manna. A cloud by day. Fire by night. Water. He’s providing for the Israelites to say to us, are we living our lives in a participatory way of going, “You take care of me. You love me. You see me.” 

Here’s the thing. God doesn’t need to be reminded to care for you, but we need to be reminded who’s caring for us. God doesn’t need you to go, “Don’t forget to take care of me!” What we need to do is remind ourselves who’s taking care of us. Isn’t that so important. 

So as you come to this particular place in the Lord’s prayer, remind yourself he’s the one who’s doing it. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord. He is doing it.

Transitions into “forgive our debt as we also have forgiven our debtors.” So convicting. We need to practice what we preach. Remember, this is what Jesus is saying all throughout this. “Don’t be like the hypocrites. Don’t be like the hypocrites. Stop acting.” Remember this from last time? “Stop acting.” We’re acting. Many of us are acting, pretending. He’s like, “Stop. stop. Stop.” We need to practice what we preach because we do for others what has been done for us. Jesus is inviting this into our lives, that we would confess this out loud.

In fact, the literal translation of this, according to William Barclay — this was so convicting for me this week — forgive us our sins in proportion as we forgive those who sin against us. In proportion.

And we would say, “Oh, oh, hold on. Hold on.” Because this is what I did this week. “ Wait. Wait. He’s already paid our sins.” Right? He died and our sins are washed away. We’re white as snow. Right? Yes! Except that he also says, “To whom much is given, much is required.” That those of us who have received that redemption have an expectation to live that out in the spaces and places that he’s called us to. “To whom much is given, much is required.”

We should be known for forgiveness. Is the local church, is the ecclesia, known for forgiveness because of what’s been done for us? I don’t believe so. In fact, Keith Green, many of you might know who Keith Green was. Back in the ’70’s he was this kind of prophetic worship leader. He had a song called Asleep in the Light. I grew up listening to Keith Green and he says this in this line in the song, it always gets me.

O Bless me, Lord, bless me, Lord.
That’s all I ever hear.
No one aches. No one hurts.
No one even sheds a tear.
But He cries. He weeps. He bleeds.
And He cares for your needs.
And you just lay back and keep soaking it in.
Can’t you see it’s such sin?

That’s super convicting. Because “to whom much is given, much is required.” So what does it look like to live like people who are forgiven? That the death and resurrection of Jesus has covered a multitude of sins? Therefore, now, we go out. I wonder what this would look like for you this week. What would it look like — because what I know about the last eighteen months is there’s been lots of division, lots of pain — what would it look like to go on social media and say, “I’m so sorry about the divisive comments I’ve made over the last eighteen months. I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.”

And then, what about forgiving people who have an opposing view to what you believe, and forgiving them for the way that they’ve maybe treated you? Can you see how beautiful that would be? That’s redemption! That’s redemptive because we know what’s been done for us. We know that there’s a people out there watching the body of Christ and saying, “Will they actually do and be who he’s called them to be? They speak the Lord’s Prayer but do they really live it out in their lives?” 

So this was really convicting for me. And I hope it’s convicting for you. But it’s also beautiful and liberating and freeing. And that’s what he’s inviting us into.

So he ends with this part, “And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.” People get hung up on the word tempt. Test is probably a better word, because people are like, “Well, wait. Can God tempt me into sin?” No. But if you remind yourself when Jesus was baptized, he was baptized, Father God said, “This is my Son in whom I am well pleased.” And then it says this in the passage, “And then immediately the Spirit of God took him to the desert to be tempted (or to be tested).”

Really, what this prayer is saying is this. It is a humble declaration of our vulnerability. We see how Jesus was tested, how overwhelming and hard that is. What we’re saying is, “Hey, God, “I’m not Job! Please don’t test me. God, I’m not like Elijah. I’m not like Moses. Please. I need your help! Because that overwhelming testing, I need your help.” 

This isn’t about winning. This is about God sparing us and asking him to spare us from that testing. And ultimately what this passage is about, what this declaration is about is about rescue. “Deliver us from the evil one. Rescue me from Satan.” That would be a cry of your heart. “Rescue me from my depravity. Rescue me from my sin. I’m not the one who can do it. Only you can do it. I can’t do it on my own. I need you.”

What I love about the Lord’s Prayer is that it starts with a focus on a holy Father who is in heaven and it ends with Emmanuel, God with Us, and inviting us to beg him to free us from evil, which by the way, Jesus would say, “I’m going to defeat evil. I’m going to do that. I have the kingdom of God. I have brought the kingdom of God to earth. I am going to die for the sins of the world because my Father is holy. And because he’s holy he needs a perfect sacrifice and I am going to be that perfect sacrifice for all who are not willing and cannot make it on their own, I am going to be the propitiation for your sins. And I do all of this because he is my Father. And I will do the will of my Father.”

This is a prayer of redemption and rescue, but the posture of our heart should be, “Come, Lord, Jesus, come.  I’m a man of unclean lips and I live among a people that are unclean. And we need you. We need you.” This prayer is, “We need you.” It’s inviting us into a right understanding of the kingdom of God and who we are in that kingdom. 

Twelve years ago — I told you a little about this a few weeks ago — I went to India FOR the first time. I told you I talked to a bunch of pastors there. And that was a deeply impactful thing. But the other thing that was really impactful is I met a little girl. That little girl, we were going to sponsor. But what transpired as a result of that is we started an adoption process. Her name is Wasunta. Wasunta is a true orphan, abandoned by her mother and father. And she, as a four-year-old, lived on the streets with her younger brother.

The place where I went actually brought her in. So, again, I was just going to sponsor her, but then what happened was we began a two-year process to adopt her. It was a really crazy process. But every year I would go back to India and I would bring people with me because I wanted to be with the pastors and I also wanted a bunch of other people to see and experience what I had experienced in India. The other reason I would go was to spend time with Wasunta. She’s going to be in our home someday so we want to figure out what this looks like. I want to learn more about her.

That second trip I came back, she’s sitting on my lap and we’re eating chicken. If you know anything about the Indian culture that should not be surprising at all. They eat a lot of chick. So she’s sitting on my lap and we’re eating chicken. We get through eating the chicken and she starts eating the chicken bones. I’m like, “Whoa, whoa! Don’t do that.” And she gets angry at me. She takes the chicken bones. She eats them all and leaves.

I look to the guy she’s living with, because we’re paying for somebody to take care of her. And I’m going, “Hold on. What’s going on here? I’m taking care of this little one. I’m sending you money to take care of her and make sure she goes to school. And she’s eating chicken bones. What’s going on?”

And said this. “My friend, this little girl still thinks she’s an orphan. She’s not come to understand that she’s a daughter.”

That just broke my heart. He said, “She’s stealing mangos. She eats so much she gets sick and throws up, because she’s nervous.”

It just broke my heart because there’s no words I can say, nothing I can do. So I come back the next year and Wasunta’s getting older. And she sits on my lap again. And we start eating chicken. I’m like, “Here we go.” You know? And she eats the chicken, she leaves the bone and she runs away. I’m like, “Huh. What happened?” He goes, “Oh, my friend. Your daughter has finally understood she’s not an orphan, that she’s a daughter, and it’s changed the way she’s lived her life.”

Here’s the interesting thing, I think, that applies for us. So many of us are still living like orphans, when this prayer starts off with saying you’ve got a Father and he’s in heaven and his name is holy. And you can pray that his kingdom is come and his will would be done on earth as in heaven. And guess what? He’s got you. He sees you. He knows you. You can pray for your daily bread. You can pray for your sins to be forgiven, and you can pray that you will not be tempted and that the evil one will leave. Because we have the Spirit of God and he lives into us because he is our Father. You are loved.

My question for us, and I would love to end here with this: Do you know Jesus? Do you know him as your heavenly Father? The King of kings and Lord of lords. Because this prayer will transform your life. It is a framework for life but you have to understand who he is and who you are in order to really allow it to be transformational.

So what I want to do is slow down in this prayer. And I want to say this with you. So we’re going to corporately go through the Lord’s Prayer. So say this with me and we’re going to go slow:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed by your name.
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread,
And forgive us our debts,
As we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.

And I’ll end as we have historically ended for so many years, all these years of church history:

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory,
Forever and ever.

And God’s Church said: Amen.

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Giving and Prayer

Series: Sermon on the Mount
July 11, 2021 - Jeff Gokee

Hey, hey! Morning! Today is the day the that Lord has made, let’s rejoice and be glad in it! Are you with me?

I was reminded in the first service, and even right now as I was listening to worship, how special it is that we’re together. You know, it wasn’t so long ago that we weren’t together and we felt the desire to be together and worship together. Now we’re here and so here’s what I want to say: let us not ever forget there was a time that we couldn’t gather. So when we gather, it’s just really exciting.

For those of you who are watching online, if you’re in proximity, come on! Now, I know there’s some health stuff. I get it. But if you’re in proximity to this church, this body, come. Be a part of the local church. It’s special. And I don’t ever want to forget how good it is to be together. Are you with me? Good.

My name is Jeff. I’m the Executive Director of Phoenix One. At Phoenix One our job is really just to care for the local church both internally and externally. We just want to serve the local body. We believe in not just this church — and this happens to be my church, my family’s church — but we believe in the Church as a whole, that when we come together as one that people are going to come together and see Jesus through the way we love one another. 

Isn’t that a beautiful vision that Jesus gave to us, that we would be one so people will see Jesus— so people will see Jesus through the way we love and care for one another. So I love to do that. But today I love that I’m here. I love that I’m at my church and I get to teach here and I’m so excited to walk through what we’re going to go through. 

So if you have your bibles, we’re going to be in Matthew 6 today. 

I got married when I was 21 years old, my junior year in college, which I suggest for everyone because it was so easy. I got married at 21, my second semester of my junior year. In the brochure they said that there was something called the honeymoon period and I bought into it hook, line and sinker. I was like, “Oh, man, give me the honeymoon period. Give me all the ‘I love yous’ and all the stuff that comes on the brochure.” I’m sure you know what all that stuff is on the brochure. 

So I was like fully into whatever that was. So I was like, “I love you,” all over the place. “I love you, I love you, I love you.” And my wife would always say, “Okay.” Or, “Thank you.” And I’m like, ‘Wait a second. That’s not what the brochure says. You’re supposed to reciprocate that.” Right?

So every time I talked to her on the phone, “I love you,” and she’d say, “Thank you. See you later tonight.” And I’m like, “Man, what is going on?”

Like most men, I came up with a strategy. I decided one night I’m going to just dial it in really good. I’m going do a really good I love you, because we’re in our honeymoon period. It’s in the brochure. So we’re ready to go to sleep and I go, “Hey, listen, you’re the moon to my ocean.” No, I never said that. But I was like, “I love you so much and I’m so glad that God gave you to me. He saw you and he saw me and he put us together. It’s so beautiful. I’m so grateful for you and I love you so much.”

And she said, “Thank you. Good night.” And I was like, “What’s your deal? Honestly! What’s your deal? Why won’t you reciprocate this? What is going on? Am I doing something wrong? I’m putting a lot of stuff out there. I’m putting a lot of ‘I love you’ out there and not getting a lot back.”

She said, “Yeah. That’s the problem. Because your ‘I love you’ is not for me. It’s for you. Your ‘I love you’ is for you because you’re insecure because your mom left when you were twelve years old and you’re worried that I’m going to do the same thing. So you’re going to try to manipulate the system to manufacture some form of love to try to tamper down some deep   level of insecurity in your life. And I won’t have it.”

She was pointing me to Jesus. She was saying, “I can’t be Jesus in your life and you want me to be Jesus in your life. You want me to fill up all that love bucket and I won’t do it and I can’t do it.”

That’s why I said it’s good to not be alone. Man, thank goodness that God created a wife and that wife convicted my heart and showed me there’s something deeper going on inside of me. I wonder for you, I wonder if there’s something deeper going on inside of you. David’s been taking us through the Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus is exposing these things in us. We all tend to deal with the Christian life on the outside and Jesus is trying to get deep on the inside. What is really going on inside of us? 

That’s why I think one of the great passages in Scripture is Proverbs 4:23. It’s an umbrella passage over all of our lives. Solomon’s writing Proverbs and there’s so much wisdom. It’s the book of wisdom. There’s so much wisdom in there and yet he says this:

Above all else…

Which means this. I’m about to tell you a bunch of really good, wise, wisdom things that you can go live your life for the Lord. But above all else…

guard your heart,
    for everything you do flows from it.

There is something inside of us, deep inside of us, that is impacting the way we relate with the Lord and relate with the world that’s around us. And Jesus is coming after our hearts because he loves you. He loves me. He wants to go, “No, can we just be honest? Can we just be real?”

So this is my encouragement this morning. Can we just be honest? Can we just be real? Can we deal with the conviction that the Spirit of God is going to bring to the teaching of Jesus? He’s going to do a much better job of teaching than I am. The Spirit of God is the Helper, so he’s going to open your hearts to what Jesus is about to take us through. 

It’s really important, I would say this morning, it’s really important to feel the feels. Allow yourself to deal with the weight of what’s going on. Because what you do in secret will impact who you are in public. And what you do in public will impact how you connect with God in the secret. This is what this passage is coming after. This is what Jesus has been doing all throughout the Sermon on the Mount. This is a vision of the righteousness of God to the people that are supposed to be righteously following after him.

What Pastor David’s been taking us through the last few months is the vision of the righteousness of God. He’s challenging us to shift the way we think. The upside down reality of the way that the God of the Universe, Emmanuel With Us, is living and acting. To the point like as radical — as David brought to us last week — love your enemies. Love your enemies. I know the world says to hate them. But love them. That’s radical. And what he’s going to invite us into in this next section is no less radical.

He’s starting to get into the disciplines that maybe you and I as Christians have followed. And he’s going to come after those because there’s something deeper that’s going on inside of you and me. 

Matthew 6:1-18 is where we’re going to go. 

Before I move on, I want to say this. Today we’re going to talk a little bit about what the problem is. Why is it that we struggle to connect with God through these things that he’s talking to us about? Next week the worship team is putting on a time of prayer and worship. It’s just going to be prayer and worship. You’re going to love it. It’s going to convict you. It’s going to bless you. It’s going to be a beautiful time next week. 

Then on the 25th I’m going to come back and teach on the Lord’s Prayer. I’m going to teach the Lord’s Prayer, which is essentially what we do. But today is going to be what the problem is, what the struggle is. I want to help you understand that. Then, as we go through this passage, I want you to start looking for the common themes that you see all throughout this passage.

Matthew 6:1 says this: 

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven…”

If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. If you practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. I want you to feel the weight of that as we go into this. I want you to feel the weight of that. And now he goes on…

“…So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray…

Listen to the personal pronouns. 

“…go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

So the question is, what do we need? Well, Jesus is like, “Let me tell you what you need. You need to learn how to pray. And this is how you pray.”

“This, then, is how you should pray:
‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from the evil one.’

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

This is the word of the Lord. And everybody said – Amen! 

When I was a kid, I grew up in the church my whole life. In the tradition that I grew up in, they would bring the children up front and they would pray over them and then kind of dismiss them to Sunday school. Anybody grow up in a tradition like that or experience anything like that? Okay. That’s how I grew up. And every once in a while, the pastor would invite one of the kids up to like pray. 

And I was the kid that was like, “Put me in, Coach. I am ready. I am a warrior. I’m ready to pray this house down.” I was always waiting for my opportunity to pray, because I was going to crush, okay? So one day I was sitting there and Pastor Roger Curson (sp), he was my pastor, I grew up in the same church my whole life. He said, “Jeff Gokee is going to come up and pray for us.” And I was like, “Whew! Now it’s time! Let’s go! I’ve been waiting for this. I’ve been preparing for this. I’m ready to go.” 

I don’t know what happened, but my seven-year-old self turned into a sixteen hundreds English preacher. I started talking about eschatology, ecclesiology, soteriology, right? I’m talking about the propitiation of Jesus’ death and resurrection in the name of the Father, the Son and Spirit, amen. And I sat down next to my mom and I looked at her and I said, “That was a good prayer.”

She smacked me. Whack! She said, “Don’t you ever talk about prayer that way. You are praying to God Almighty. He gets all the glory. Not you.”

And I thought, “Wow!” 

But isn’t that true? No different than what Patty was trying to teach me. I take a long time to learn lessons. You with me? It took a long time to understand there’s a deep rooted thing inside of us, a deep rooted insecurity. We just want to be known. We just want to be known for the wrong things. We don’t want to be known by the King of kings and the Lord of lords who knit us together in our mother’s womb. We want to be known by the masses. We want to be affirmed by them to make sure that we feel okay.

What I find really interesting is that Jesus is talking about three really good things here. These aren’t bad things. These are good things. Right? These were the pillars of what it meant to be a good Jew in that time. He talks about alms giving. A lot of times when we think about alms giving, we think about doling out cash to really poor people. That’s what we think. But actually, in the Greek, the way it’s translated is mercy mindedness. It’s this right here: In the secret place I know how merciful God has been to me and I find this deep level of gratitude in my soul so that when I awaken and open my eyes and go out in the public place I can’t help but be giving mercy wherever I go. Which means, sometimes there’s people who have financial needs. I can’t wait to meet that need because I just sense the mercy of God in my own life and it has changed my perspective on the world. The mercy mindedness is what alms giving really meant.

Praying. The Jews were prayers. In fact to be Jewish was to be a prayer. They prayed a pray called the Shema that roots all the way back to Moses. The Shema. They prayed it every day. They also had a section of eighteen prayers that they would pray every single day. The Jewish culture was a praying culture. So they were known for their prayers. They were known to be a praying people. To connect with the God of the Universe, to connect with Yahweh they would pray. 

And they would also fast. Fasting was interesting because these people were used to going to the temple and making a sacrifice. Fasting was very much a very personal sacrifice. It was sacrificing some aspect of their life to focus in on God. So it became a personal sacrifice. It was a good thing. It was what they were known for.

What Jesus is saying is these are good things that you’ve turned bad, that are now, instead of allowing you to connect with the God of the Universe, it’s creating a disonnance between you and him because it’s no longer about God. It’s about everybody else. 

It’s interesting. Sometimes good things can be really bad. Did you know this? Did you know that drinking too much water can kill you? That’s why I drink coffee, okay? I’m going to avoid that altogether and go straight to coffee. No, but water, if you drink too much water, it can kill you. Now, we all know that if you don’t drink water it will kill you. But did you know that drinking too much water can kill you? 

If your intentions around alms giving, around prayer and fasting is wrong, it can kill you, spiritually speaking. And it can kill others. This is what Jesus is trying to get at. He’s trying to get to the heart of things and going, “The things I’ve given you to connect with me are there to bring you life and life to the full. To allow you to be a light unto the nations for the world” to see, who? Me? No! To see God. To bring glory to him! We’ve come up against those good things and we’ve made them me things. When it’s all about him. This is where the problem starts. 

Psalm 51 has been a really important Psalm to me. Verses 16 and 17. I want you to hear this. It’s so important.

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
    you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart
    you, God, will not despise.

See we’re all in the marketplace going, “Look at me! Look at me! Look at me!” And he’s going, “I don’t need you to do that. I just want you to be broken. I want a broken and contrite heart that goes, ‘I just want you. I just want to bring you bring you glory. I just want to know you intimately in the innermost being of my life.’”

Jesus, knowing this, is saying, “We have a problem and we need to talk about it.” 

The thing we need to talk about is this thing he repeats over and over and over, which is this, “Do not be like the hypocrites. Do not be like the hypocrites.” And what are the hypocrites? Well, in the Greek, the word literally means actors. The actors. 

You know, I’ve grown up in the church my whole life. I went to church. I went to Christian school. I went to Bible college. In high school, I won the Best Christian in the school. That’s a real thing. I have a plaque. I have two of them. I have two plaques that said… do you know what that does for a teenager’s heart? Right? It’s no different than pouring fuel on the fire of that seven-year-old that got in front of that church and said, “I’m a somebody!” So I know the game. I played the game. 

In fact, let me just tell you this — maybe you don’t know this about people who come up here and teach. It’s hard because I’m doing everything I can not to get your affirmation, that you would think of me as a good teacher. Now, I’m going to serve the Lord to the best of my ability, that he gets all the glory. But it’s painful for me. I have to pray and ask for God to sanctify my heart as I come up here and bring his word. Because I feel unworthy. That I might receive something from you that he wants to give me. It’s hard and it’s heavy. 

Because, what I find so often in the local churches is that I’ve got to come into these spaces and places where it feels at times like we’re just acting. Like we’re playing the part that you play in the church. Do you know the local church is the easiest place to fake it. You say the right words and do the right things and everyone assumes that you are just a solid believer in Jesus Christ. It’s easy to fake it here.

Jesus knows it. He’s exposing that in you and me. He’s like, “Stop acting. Stop pretending to be something. Come before me. Repent before me but don’t act.”

I’ve realized in my own life, would I give? Would I be generous if I didn’t get a writeoff from the government? We get rewarded from our government for giving money away. Would I do it if I did not get that reward? Man! 

I think one of the prayers that I feel are some of the most sacrilegious prayers are mealtime prayers. Because we’re not thinking about God. We’re thinking about, “How do I get into this burrito as fast I can? I’ve got to get through this Christian pageantry so I can get to the good stuff.” He’s the good stuff! He’s provided this. He’s given us the provision. And all we can think about is, “Let’s get through the routine so I can get to my burrito.” When in reality, we should be like, “Oh my gosh! I have a burrito. Oh my gosh! You love me and you care for me and you see me. And there’s people all around the world that don’t have — and I do.” But we’re trying to rush through that because it’s a part of the pageantry that we’ve become accustomed to. 

We have Christian idioms like, “I’ll pray for you.” Think of how often we say that to people or that’s being said to us. Are we really praying for people? Do we not wear the weight of what those words mean? Are we just acting and pretending here and playing a game? Like in a Christian drama? Like it’s like church as a theater, Christianity as a theater. And Jesus is like, “Don’t do it. It’s killing you. Not only that, but it’s killing your witness in this world.”

Here’s the scary thing. Here’s the real scary thing. The consequences, we receive the fullness of that reward in other people’s view of us, not Jesus, which means we don’t get Jesus. We don’t sense his pleasure. We don’t sense his peace. We don’t sense his joy. No, because we’re doling out all of this stuff and hoping to get something in return that only he can give us, and it’s killing us. That should feel weighty. Like Romans 1 says, He releases us, listen to this. It’s so heavy. He releases us to the desires of our hearts.

If the desire of your heart is to be known by the masses, he will release you to that desire and you miss out on the presence of God that is nearer to you than your own heartbeat. And he desperately wants to connect with you in that way. 

So often what we’re trying to look for is an ROI on our righteousness. ROI on our righteous deeds, right? “Oh, God, I’m going to pray to you, but you’d better answer that prayer.” 

“Oh, God, I’m going to give, but you’d better hook a brother up if I give. Right? I want an ROI on that righteousness.”

“I’ll fast. I’ll lay something down. But you’d better honor me and reward me for that.”

And it’s killing us. Do you know this generation is the most depressed, medicated generation of all time? Suicide is at an all-time high. Why? Because we’re trying to get filled up in all the wrong places. We’re trying and begging and hoping that something else will feed us up. 

I find this so interesting. You see this right here? (Indicates taking a selfie.) You ever see this? Maybe you’re one of these people. I’m sorry, but I’m going to go after it a little bit. Just hang with me, all right? You’re one of these people, and God’s like this, “Stop it!” You’re trying to put something out there that’s not real in hopes that you get a Like or a Comment back that will affirm you, when he’s like, “I want to do that for you. I want to fill that desire in you. I want you to sense my presence. I want you to feel my love, but you’re so busy getting it from others.” You get your reward there and it’s crushing you. 

Remember the story in the scriptures of the Pharisee and the tax collector? The Pharisee stands in the temple like so many of us do. “Thank you that I’m not like them. Thank you I’m not a sinner like them. I give my money. I pray. I’m faithful. I stick by all 613 laws and follow the sacrificial system to the 9’s. God you’re so blessed to have me in your kingdom.” And he points to the tax collector and says, “Thank you I’m not like him.” 

Then all of a sudden it transitions to the tax collector and he says, “Have mercy on me, oh God. I’m a sinner.” That’s soul talk. That’s heart talk. That’s conviction talk. This is what Jesus is trying to get after with you and me. But we’ve got to listen to the word of God, to the teaching of Jesus that he has given to don’t be like the hypocrites. Don’t get your reward from the world, from the kingdom of the world, get it from the kingdom of God. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. All these things will be added to you.

Ten years ago I started Phoenix One. The reason why we started it is because the largest generation of our time, the Millennials, all the research was coming out and they were called Nones. It means they grew up around the church and they got tired of the drama. They got tired of the acting. Because moms and dads would come to church and raise their hands and pray and then come home and fake it. And the kids of that generation said, “I’m out. I’m done.” 

So we were doing everything we could to reconnect them back to the local church, reconnect them back to Jesus. What I want to say is this has to stop. We are at a crossroads in Church history, where we need to stop faking it. What we do in here matters. But what you do out there, it matters. We have got to stop faking it. We have got to stop being a part of this drama and allow the Lord to meet us and convict us and to use us once again. He will if we allow ourselves to slow down to meet him in the secret place. That’s the solution. It runs contrary to the way we process through things. He wants to meet you in that secret place. 

This quote has been so helpful for me. It says this:

I must turn my attention away from a group-consciousness as a ruling norm of my actions and fasten my glance on the source, rather than the impact, of my actions, and this in the sight of God, who is in heaven.” –Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis

It’s going like this, “It’s all about Jesus.” Let him do the ministry. He will. And he will use you as a result of you coming to rest in the secret place with him. All throughout this place. It’s in the secret in your heart. Why? Because it runs your whole life. That’s why you need to guard your heart. It affects everything you do. It directs your life and he wants to meet you there and minister to you there. Why? So you can go out and be a ministry to other people. 

This is what he’s inviting us into. He wants you to come in the secret place. He wants you to be silent. He wants you to be ministered to by him because he loves you. That’s why he sent the Helper. That’s why his death and resurrection made possible the release of the Spirit of God. You are the temple of God. And the Spirit of God — if you’ve made a commitment to follow after Jesus is in you. He’s nearer to you than your own heartbeat. But do you know him? Where is God? God is in the secret and he’s meeting you there, maybe right now he is meeting you there. And the weight of conviction you’re feeling, I hope you are. I am. I am.

He loves you and he sees you and he wants you to know him intimately the way he knows you. I’ll tell you where he’s not. God is not on the street corners blowing trumpets and trying to get all the attention. He’s not in the contorted face in fasting. He’s not in hypocrisy. He’s not in self-promotion. He’s not in religious devotion who steals for himself or herself the glory of God. He’s not in glory thieving. That’s what a lot of us are. We’re glory thieves. 

He’s in the place that he see you. In the secret place. In the place where you first met him and you felt the conviction that allowed you to make your life right before the God of the Universe as a result of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

I was trying to think, “How do we move forward from here?” The best passage I can give you is John 12:25:

Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

That is a paradox. The paradox is a part of what it means to follow after Jesus. A paradox is like two illogical turns that come together and we’re like, “That doesn’t make sense.” Welcome to the Christian life. If you lost your life, if you lay it down, if you lay down all this public affirmation, all this stuff that we’re putting out there, if you lay that down you get Jesus. You sense his presence. You move forward in holiness and righteousness. You receive peace and joy. Not in the things of this world but in him. This is what Jesus is getting after.

And the Christian life is a paradox. I want you to listen to this: 

As Christians we see unseen things. We conquer by yielding. We find rest under a yoke. We reign by serving. We are made great by becoming small. We are exalted when we are humble. We become wise by being fools for Christ’s sake. We are made free by becoming bond servants. We gain strength when we are weak. We triumph through defeat. We find victory by glorifying God in our infirmities. We live by dying.  

This is what it means to be a Christian. This is what it means to follow after Jesus. We live in these paradoxical, upside down, kingdom-come-will-be-done realities here on earth. The problem for so many of us is we’re resisting that. We’ve created a counter strategy that’s not only killing us but it’s killing the gospel message that we’re called to give in his world. 

Jesus is like, “Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop faking. Stop acting. Stop it. Repent. Return to the Lord.”

Hosea 6:1 says this: 

Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces
    but he will heal us;
he has injured us
    but he will bind up our wounds.

Right now some of us need some wounded-ness so that we can be healed by the Spirit of God and remind us who we are in him so we can go out in this world and be the presentation that only he can give. We’re just clay. He’s the one who molds us and puts us together. 

I’ve spent a good portion of my life in India. I love India. India is kind of like my home away from home. I love it there. Twelve years ago I got to lead a pastors conference for seven hundred Indian pastors. I thought I was just going to go there and bless their socks off. They rocked me. You know why? Because those paradoxical statements I just read you, they live those out. That’s who they are. That’s what they were doing. It was costly for them to follow after Jesus. 

Here I was, this American pastor, and it really hasn’t cost me much to follow Jesus. And they taught me and I was humbled. And I was convicted. And I repented because I was like, “Oh my gosh. I’ve just gone astray.” 

There’s a picture that’s going to come up. This is Pastor Abraham. I was in his village a couple of years ago, in a village outside of Padafrom (sp), which is in Southern India. It’s the second largest red light district in the country. I was meeting with him and I asked him some simple questions. “Why? Why did you choose to be a pastor?” Because if you choose to be a pastor in India, you’re choosing to be abused. You’re choosing abject poverty. You’re choosing to be mocked. You’re choosing to be flogged. Not only you, but your wife and your children. You’re choosing to have your house be burnt to the ground. You’re choosing that. And I said, “Why? Why would you do that? Why would you pick that?” 

And he says, “Because Jesus loves me. Because Jesus loves me.”

And I wanted to argue with him. “No, no. It’s far more complex than that. There’s way more to it than that.”

And he was like, “I love Jesus. I want other people to see Jesus.”

We need to learn to love Jesus. We need to learn to live for Jesus. This is what it means to be a body of Christ, coming together as one. We’ve got to stop faking it and start sacrificing in order that others may see this gospel, this good news that Jesus loves them and died for them and cares for them. But we’re glory thieves. We’re trying to rob that to fill our own insecurities. We need to stop.

I’m telling you, I stand before you the chief of all sinners. I feel so unworthy to preach this. I’m so unworthy, as I’ve gone through this week, I’m going to tell you, it’s been heavy. I’ve been excited to bring God’s word. I’ve been really excited to bring this word from Jesus. But I feel so unworthy. I feel so challenged by this passage, so convicted by it because what I realize is this. The statement that I made:

What you do in secret will impact who you are in public, and what you do in public will impact how you connect with God in secret. 

I want us to wear that. I want us to feel that. I want us to be convicted by Jesus’ word, the best teacher of all time. He says this in 6:1: 

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven…

That’s weighty. I feel convicted by that. I don’t know about you. But I hope this morning you’re convicted by the word of God; but I hope that conviction doesn’t leave you in despair, but pushes you toward the hope that we find in the resurrected Jesus. He didn’t leave us in hopelessness. He became that hope for us, so that we can bring hope into the spaces and places that he’s called us to. This is what it means to be the Church. This is what Jesus was trying to help people understand what it meant to be a part of the kingdom. 

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Love Your Enemies

Series: Sermon on the Mount
July 4, 2021 - David Stockton

Good morning, good morning. Happy Fourth of July! Whoo hoo! Living in America. It’s good living in America. I lived in another country. It’s nice living in America.  A lot of great things here and it is really good, it’s worth celebrating, for sure, what we have. And I’m thankful to be in America. I’m also thankful to be in church and able to share the word of God and learn from the word of God with you today.

It’s funny how these things happen. We’re going through the Sermon on the Mount and we’re kind of coming to the end of this little mini-series within the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus gives six examples of the greater righteousness that he wants us all to live into. And he talks about anger and lust and divorce and keeping your promises and bearing false witness and how to love each other and not respond in resentment, but deal with people correctly. 

Then today our sermon is on loving your enemies. And it’s the Fourth of July and America is the way it is. I was like, “aye-aye-aye.” On one hand, we’re super clever to figure out how to be so strategic in the way we’re planning these things. That didn’t happen. This is all by default. And if we knew this was coming we probably wouldn’t have planned it this way. 

But with all that being said, I’m going to sit down for this message, so that what I say feels a little less offensive, maybe. In first service they gave me a little chair. I was literally sitting in a stool way down here for the whole intro. And I could not get over how awkward it felt. And finally I said something and Nick Orso ran up and got me a big boy chair. So I’m feeling a little bit better.

But maybe I needed to start so low and be so unoffensive, and even look like a little kid, because first service, they’ve got problems, you know? Maybe.

Jesus actually was sitting down when he preached this message. He was sitting on a hillside with his people he was calling to him saying, “Hey, come follow me. And if you follow me, let me tell you what it’s going to be like.” And he was sharing with them. So it was real encouraging, Jesus kind of saying, “Stick with me and this is what’s going to happen.” And today he does talk about loving your enemies. 

I need to start out asking if you can feel the tension. Can you feel the tension in America? Can you feel the tension in church in America? Can you feel the tension in your own families? Maybe even in your own soul? 

If you can’t, how about this? Mask or no mask? Vaccine or no vaccine? Conservative or liberal? Woke or not woke? Racist or anti-racist? Affirming or not affirming? Love is love or homosexuality is a sin? Now can you feel the tension? In case you didn’t you feel a little more tension? Yeah. 

Well, if none of that has really stirred up the tension, then what if I say the name Patrick Beverley? Teaching on loving our enemies, got to say Patrick Beverley. 

For those of you who don’t know Patrick Beverley, he plays for the Los Angeles Clippers and was enemy number one for the Phoenix Suns basketball team. I literally wrote this out. His defense and cheap shots and trash talk and flagrant fouls will not be quickly forgotten by any Suns fan. However, there’s consolation for all of us because we won! 

And I do mean “we,” because I was very strategic about what I would say when I was watching their games as if not to jinx them in any way possible. I actually have — I’m going out on a limb here — I have Kawhi Leonard shoes. But he was injured and so when I played basketball last time, I decided it was okay to wear them because he was injured. If he was not injured, I would not have worn them. I would have found some other shoes to wear. Okay. Nobody’s with me anymore.

But if we would have lost, oh, the hatred and tension would have been even more palpable. Basically, think like Phoenix needed this win for us to be able to walk forward in unity. We actually have a men’s retreat, and I’m speaking at it pretty soon. And I was like, Man, if the Suns can pull off this championship, this men’s retreat is going to go so well. If they can’t, we really got to deal with a lot of unity problems, you know? 

But in this tension, in this reality that we go through, and obviously I’m joking about all of these things with the Suns and all that, it’s fun and all of that, but it has its place. And Patrick Beverley and all, I’m sure he’s just doing his job. And I don’t like the way he’s doing it and stuff like that. 

Anyway, there’s this picture that came to my mind when I was in a worship time recently and about to speak to a group. And if you don’t know, this is Nebula and this is from Avengers Infinity War. Basically, this lady is being tortured by her dad because he betrayed her. It’s not a real prodigal son father story. It’s much the opposite.

But this image, what it is is, basically, he has this power over her, and when he squeezes his hand it pulls her apart. Like, literally, you can see the parts of her head being pulled apart, and her arm being extended. And what I felt like the Lord was saying is that so many people are walking around with this kind of tension. They feel — if they’ve hung in there at all — if they haven’t gotten drunk every day, or found other ways to ignore or escape the pain — if they stayed in the relationships that are so difficult for them because all these medial, political or theological differences, they feel like they are fragmented. They feel like they are fractured, literally. As if their heart is being pulled apart and it is not whole anymore. It hurts. It has been such a prolonged disruption that they’re barely making it. 

Yet that tension of being in relationships and loving in a way that costs you something is the love that Jesus is calling us into. He’s calling us into that tension as priests called by his name with one hand holding on to heaven and one hand holding onto earth. There’s a tension. There’s a pull. We’re standing in the gap in a way that does cause a lot of challenge and pain. That’s why we need each other. That’s why we need biblical counsel. That’s why we need Life Groups. That’s why we need mentorship. That’s why we need the Spirit of God every single day, to be at his feet in quiet and stillness so he can bring us back to wholeness. So that we can love in the way that we’re supposed to. That’s a little bit of what Jesus is trying to teach us when he tells us to love our enemies.

And just so we know that this isn’t just happening out in society, this isn’t just a Republican/Democrat situation, but this fracturing is actually happening inside the Church. It’s not unsusceptible to it. 

This guy wrote an article, and if you’re trying to deal with some of that world where you’re having divisions theologically or within the Church and you want some good information on that, this article is so good. Just email me and I can send it to you.

It’s a guy named Skyler Flowers, he’s a pastor in Mississippi or something like that, somewhere down south. This is what he says: 

New fractures are forming within the American evangelical movement, fractures that do not run along the usual regional, denominational, ethnic, or political lines. Couples, families, friends, and congregations once united in their commitment to Christ are now dividing over seemingly irreconcilable views of the world. In fact, they are not merely dividing but becoming incomprehensible to one another.

Can I get an amen? Anybody feeling that tension? I am. Majorly. 

It’s into this space that Jesus says this in Matthew 5:43:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

This is the way he kind of rounds out the six examples of what the greater righteousness is. He’s trying to teach us something about God’s love and the love that he’s trying to lead us into. He’s trying to teach us a little bit about his worldview and the worldview of those who are following him. 

And again, his disciples, when they heard this, those who had gathered, they didn’t hear this and then feel beat up afterwards. In Matthew 7:28, I’ve said it so many times already, when they heard this, it says that they were amazed at his words. And that they were amazed because he spoke as one having authority, unlike the Pharisees. 

And basically what they were saying is, when they heard this, they felt like this was amazing that he actually believed they could live into this. And that he had so much substance to what he was saying that they could actually follow him, stay close to him, and he would get them there. That was the response that they had to these words.

Again, I appeal to you, as you hear this and as it hits you— wherever you might be — please hear the tone of Jesus’ voice, please see the look in his eyes as he’s saying this to you, just saying, “If you will stick with me, if you will take my hand, if you will tuck your life right in here behind me and go with me, you will see this stuff show up in your life. And more importantly, the people around you who God has called you to love, they’ll start to see this stuff show up in your life.”

We brought testimony after testimony of people coming up and saying, “I was here, I took Jesus’ hand, and it took a year, it took five years, it took ten years, it took whatever, and now I’m here and this stuff is showing up, even to those around me,” saying, “The Lord has shown up.” And it’s been fun. It’s been good.

This is the last of those. Be perfect. So I want to unpack a few of these phrases, and then ultimately I want to talk about love, a biblical view of love, the love of God, the love that Jesus is wanting to produce in our lives and have us live into.

Here he says, “Love your enemies and pray for the persecutors.” And basically this is that greater righteousness that he’s calling us to. Not a shallow love. Not a love those who love you, but loving those who are hard for you and difficult for you.

This is only possible, remember this greater righteousness is only possible with the blood of Jesus that he gave freely, that washes us clean of all of our unrighteousness. We have to remember every day as we fall, as we falter, and as those around us do as well, that the righteousness of God is and always will be stronger than the unrighteousness of man. That is one of the best news of the gospel. 

That’s the whole point of the resurrection. Man’s unrighteousness — we did our best to get Jesus down in that grave — but God’s righteousness was greater. And Jesus rose from the dead. So it’s his blood that gets us there, but it’s also his Spirit living inside of us that empowers us to walk in this way, in this greater righteousness.

So, in this aspect of loving your enemies, he says if we love them we will be children of our Father in heaven. I thought that was an interesting phrase, that somehow when we live into this type of love it’s identifying ourselves as children of our Father in heaven. Jesus alluded to this in kind of a little bit of a way when he said that, “They’ll know you’re my disciples by your love for one another. They’ll know that you’re kind of with me because you’ll be so good at loving one another.”

Here Jesus is saying that if you’ll love your enemies, you’re actually kind of living into his aspect of being part of the family of God. And this is challenging for us. But God loves the whole world. God loves everyone. He delights in every person that he has created, even the ones you hate. He loves them. He delights in them. He looks at them and he sees a bit of his own reflection. They carry that Imago Dei, that Image of God. They were formed from the same dirt as you were — all of them. They were endowed by the breath of their Creator in the same way that every single of one of us was. Whether they’ve chosen to do good with that or evil, it doesn’t change the fact that they are still a person that God made, that God loves, that God has a good plan for, that Jesus died for. And that’s really hard to believe sometimes. It’s really hard to receive sometimes. 

But then Jesus goes on and says, “Not only are you living into that family of God, that kind of universal love of God,” but he’s saying, “Just remember that God sends his rain on the just and the unjust, that God lets his sun rise on the evil and the good. That basically, God every day is giving good gifts to the most evil person on the planet by giving him life or giving her the sun or the rain.”

That kind of love, that kind of unconditional, benevolent love is very hard to grasp and understand. But that’s who our God is. It’s who Jesus is. If we follow him, he’s wanting some of that love to stir up in us. That’s a challenge.

And then he goes on to say, “If you love those who love you…” is the next phrase… “What good is it if you love those who love you? What good is it if you greet your own people?” What an interesting way to unpack that. Love your enemies. That feels safer. That’s broad. It’s like, Whoa. Think of our enemies. Think of the Hitlers out there. That was like dubbed out. When I said Hitler. We don’t even say that name here. That was cool. But anyway, like, it’s like we talk about enemies and oh, those evil people over there. It kind of removes it. 

But then Jesus brings it so close to home when he says, “What good is it if you only greet your own people?” And this is where my sermon is like, oh, no. Fourth of July. No. Because I started thinking about who my enemies were and it was like, “Ah. I don’t know if I have enemies. I mean, come on.” But then, if I think about the people who I would consider not my people, the people who I disagree with, particularly medically, politically or theologically, oh, I’ve got some of those people. Oh yeah, I’ve got some of those people. Ooh. The tension. Tension.

But that’s what Jesus is saying here. And I love the word greet, which is so interesting. Because in the Greek, the word greet basically has a little bit of a spectrum to it. It could mean enfold in your arms, which is a pretty serious greeting, you know? Like French greeting or something, I don’t know. In Europe they’re always kissing each other or something. But this is like greeting in that way. But then there’s also another kind of other side of it where it’s salute. And I’m like, okay. I love how Jesus gives us a little bit of like, “Okay, maybe you can only salute right now. That’s okay. When you’re dealing with somebody you disagree with, that’s not your people, that’s on the other side of the political aisle, or the other side of the Covid aisle, the other side of the theological aisle, maybe it’s hard for you. Maybe all you can muster is a salute.” He said, “I’ll take that and we’ll work on the ‘enfolding in your arms’ later.” 

But it just got so real when you put it in that context. Because we’ve had a lot to divide over. And the demonization that we have begun to practice, not just as Americans, but as Christians, is super intense and I think super grievous to the Spirit of God. 

I was asked what my sermon title was today and I said, “Love Your Enemies,” because it’s general and nice and all of that. But I think if I was really going to pin it down, I feel like then Spirit is saying that we need to stop demonizing people. That’s the first step toward loving our enemies. Just because they wear a mask or don’t wear a mask, doesn’t mean they’re a demon. And your little jokes about it, or your little comments, Jesus hears them. And I think it really does grieve our Father’s heart just as if my kids are belittling each other or demonizing each other. 

And I get that there’s deception out there. I get that there is right and wrong, good and evil. No doubt about it. But we’ve got to be careful with the way we’re talking about God’s family, God’s kids, and dealing with them. And we need to be willing to greet even people who are not our people. This is where that confirmation bias — you know we just love hearing what we love to hear. 

Jesus isn’t necessarily saying you’ve got to go and fold them in your arms all the time, but we need to at least salute them. Salute them from afar. Sometimes that all you can do. “Hey, kid, bye, that’s all I’ve got, man.” It’s okay.

And lastly he says, “Be perfect.” And the word perfect here obviously is a huge challenge to us. And I don’t want to take away too much of what Jesus is saying here, because Jesus does have high hopes for us. But the word in the Greek is teleios, which means a little bit more like complete. Be complete. And we can take that a step further and be mature. Like this is something that God is wanting us to grow into. 

Jesus’ followers will be complete in their love for others. Whether they deserve it or not, whether they agree with you or not, whether they have done absolute evil or not, there is a reality of love that God wants us to do. And it’s going to take a lot of maturity to love in those hard places. A lot of maturity to handle that tension. 

Going back to basketball, whenever I think of the word maturity, I think of Michael Jordan at the free throw line, at the end of the game in a stadium that’s not his own, just how intense those moments are, and yet his basketball maturity was in a place where he could just do exactly what needed to be done in that moment.

The goal for us is that Jesus wants to grow us up. And the people that are so similar to him, so filled with his Spirit, that when we’re faced with those super intense moments, what comes out of us is love — his love. 

So we need to define what love is. Think of the person who has hurt you so bad, or who is currently trying to ruin your life when you think about loving your enemy. If you can’t think of anyone — hallelujah! That’s awesome. It’s wonderful. In Jesus’ day, they could think of them. It wasn’t hard for them to think of them. The fragmentation happening within Judaism in that day was intense. Within the Jewish community there was so much division and hatred for the other. Within the nations surrounding them, Samaria which was part of them, so much ethnic hatred and division. And all of that was just underneath this massive hatred and division of the Roman Empire, where basically the Romans were citizens and had rights as citizens — everybody who wasn’t a Roman citizen was basically just worthless and their lives didn’t matter. 

When Jesus was talking about loving your enemies, for them it was a little easier to come by maybe than us. And I’m not trying to say that’s true of you. You might be very easily coming up with enemies. But in that context he’s saying we need to love each other.

So now, think of the person or persons who have disagreed with you. Jesus says we need to love them. In fact, he says that if you don’t love them, you have a lesser or Pharisaical, counterfeit righteousness that won’t help you into the kingdom of heaven. He’s serious about this.

So what does it mean to love practically? St. Thomas Aquinas — I love this. I use this all the time  I love this definition of love. Kind of weird to say, but ..

To love is to will the good of the other.

Real simply. That’s where love is a choice more than an emotion. If you haven’t figured that out yet, figure it out right now. It’s an act of our will. Emotions can follow. But emotions are not in charge of whether that decision is made. But to will the good of another and if you look at love in that context, it becomes a little simpler. To get to a place where in my heart of hearts, as I’m considering or as I’m confronted with my enemy, that ultimately, at the end of the day, my prayers, my speech, my conduct toward this person is in line with this definition of love where I really do will the good of them. I want them to find God’s plan for them and to flourish in what God has for them in my heart of hearts.

There’s another guy, Francis Turretins, and he was trying to unpack a Jonathan Edwards or John Wesley, I forget which one of them — sorry. I mixed myself up now. But anyway, this is a little bit of trying to unpack what he was saying about God’s love. And what he did was he divided God’s love into three different aspects: Love of complacency, love of benevolence and love of beneficence. 

These are just old English words, so bear with us here. But complacency, not at all what we mean before, but it actually means to delight and the play on that is that you’re so comfortable in that person’s love. Like, why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near? You have this complacency that you settle into every time this person is near. Again, old English whatever. But basically it means that you delight in this person. 

This is what’s so amazing about the love of our God. He delights in every single person. His goal, his hope is that we would have every tribe, every tongue, every nation gathered before him. Of all their different political beliefs. Of all their different maybe even theological beliefs to some extent. All under the supremacy of Christ.

I’m not saying there is multiple ways of heaven. Jesus is the only way to heaven. Absolutely. But we all come to Jesus with different kind of baggage. Different opinions and beliefs and theologies that need to be submitted to the greater council of Christ. But we all come and God’s plan is he wants it all represented under the blood of Christ. Not just one color. Not just one creed. Not just one faith. Not just one denomination. He wants it all. It absolutely has to come through the very narrow door that is Jesus Christ. No doubt about it. It’s only his blood that gets us in.

But we’re going to all get to heaven, a bunch of us, and we’re going to get their with some great disagreement in a lot of earthly things, a lot of nonessentials. We might not even be sure what are essential and nonessential. We have different lists there, too. But God delights in everyone. Like, literally, every morning when everyone wakes up on the earth, God’s like, “Oh, I like that one. Do you see this one, what he’s doing? I put this little weird thing there. I love that weird.” He put it in all of us.

So that’s an aspect of God’s love that I think is extremely difficult for us. I’ve seen people that are a little more like this in their love, and they’re amazing to be around. And I’ve seen people who have zero of this in their love, and they’re kind of fun to be around because they’re hilarious how they talk about people and how much they don’t like people. So I think they’re funny, too. It’s something we’ve got to grow in. But this is something I think in some ways it’s not directly what Jesus was talking about in this passage. 

But love of benevolence. This is to will the good of the other unconditionally. This is what I was talking about with Thomas Aquinas, that God really does have a good plan for everyone. And that’s his will that non should perish but all should come to everlasting life.

And love of beneficence. This one’s a little different. But this is where delight and the will come to action. This is to act kindly toward another. And os this is a little bit fuller definition of a biblical perspective of love, that God is wanting to grow us up in each one of these things.

Maybe you’re good at one of these things and you’re not at the other two. You need to hang on to Jesus and see what he can do.

Then we have 1 Corinthians 13 definition of love that is so different than anything American or Valentine’s Day or Hallmark Channel, whatever. “Love is patient, love is kind.” What I think is interesting is that it rejoices in the truth at the same time. Then he finishes that all up saying, “Love always hopes, always trusts, always perseveres.” No matter what the other does. No matter what at the feeling is. This is the way God loves us and this is the way he wants us to love his children.

In this, it was interesting because then my mind started to go into all these ethical dilemmas and scenarios. Should Dietrich Bonhoeffer have tried to assassinate Hitler? Did he unpack these scriptures correctly or not? It’s Fourth of July. We’re going to pray for the military. Aaah! How do we unpack these things in a nationalistic type way? Have mercy, Lord. And again, I am not that brilliant. And there have been a lot of brilliant people who have written a lot of brilliant things, and they are not quite sure what to do. And I get all of that. And I would like to have conversations, and I hope this message actually stirs some of those conversations. 

But what I can offer to you is what I think Jesus would say. How in the world could I have the audacity to say what Jesus would say? Well, because he told us some stories that he used to illustrate the kind of love that he longs for. Actually, one time he was asked by someone about loving, or like what I should do. And Jesus said, “Well, you should love your neighbor. That’s the greatest commandment.” And he said, “Who’s my neighbor?” And so Jesus answered what it means to love your neighbor in that context. But interestingly enough, he told the story of the Good Samaritan, right? So the Samaritan is the enemy of the person asking the question. In multiple ways. The Samaritan represents the enemy.

So basically, Jesus, who’s so sneaky and just kind of like undoing people all the time, he answers the question about what it means to love your neighbor by showing this person how the enemy loved the neighbor. He uses the enemy as the example. And in this story you have a guy who was walking down the road and he gets beat up by thieves and robbers and left for dead on the side of the road. And then a priest comes by and has things to do so he kind of goes to the other side of the road and carries on. 

Then a Levite, who basically was supposed to be a priest. He comes by and again, he’s got the same situation where it’s like, “Oh, it’s almost the holy day. I can’t really get unclean if that guy’s dead so I’m moving on.”

Then a Samaritan, the hero of the story, and you get the connotation a little bit by Jesus that this Samaritan is someone who’s a true Samaritan, he’s been marginalized. He’s been outcast. Maybe hurt, abused, oppressed in some way. Yet he’s walking down this road and he looks and sees a Jew beat up on the side of the road and he goes to him. He tends to his wounds and he gets him up on his donkey and takes him to the next town. He puts down money to make sure the guy’s got a place to stay so he can heal. He gives a little extra money so the guy’s got some food. And he says, “I’m going to be back to check on him in a little bit.” 

Then Jesus said, “Who loved their neighbor?”

In this Jesus was doing something extremely, extremely challenging. He probably sat down when he said it. Because this is the kind of love that he’s asking us to live into. And, yes, we need to will the good of the other, but then we need to be looking for those opportunities that God’s going to put in our path to actually do something about that will. 

So I had to unpack this, because I have some situations in my life. I have a guy who’s basically said he cannot walk with me anymore because of a theological stance that I have that we’re divided on. I don’t think it’s a salvation essential issue, but it’s one that I’m definitely not anywhere and he said he can’t walk with me anymore. And this is a good friend. 

And I have another situation where I’ve been kind of friends with a guy who’s homosexual. And I was there the first time I found out he was homosexual because I was asking him about his girlfriend and he answered weird. And I was like, “So do you have a boyfriend?” And he was like, “I just broke up with my boyfriend.” So we were able to engage in that situation and kind of talk about how the struggle and the pain that he’s going through and kind of minister in there. He knows where I stand and I know where he stands. He was genuinely kind of asking the question, “Can I honor God as a homosexual?” And I was like, “Uh, I don’t think so. But I still can be in a relationship with you and still be friends and we can still embrace each other.”

And then years go by and he ended up getting engaged to that same person he broke up with and he’s super excited about it. He’s now convinced that he can honor God as a homosexual and he wants to show the world how to do it. So sometimes all I’ve got is the salute. It’s a little tougher. But I still want to live into the relationship as God sees fit. So if an opportunity comes to show love or kindness I want to be ready there. I don’t want my heart to have gone cold. 

Then I’ve got another person who is a pastor of a church here in Phoenix. We’ve been getting to know each other more and more. We’ve had some great times together. He’s awesome in a million ways. Loves Jesus deeply. We finally got to the end of our last conversation. I was asking him questions and listening and basically found out that he feels like the best way that I could really kind of support him and serve him and what the Lord’s calling his church to is to get super politically motivated and active and inline with what he believes is important politically. And I was like, “Oh…” My heart just sank a bit because the conversation ended. He doesn’t know where I stand. I know where I stand. And we’re very, very in opposition politically. 

But this question came up in my spirit. Can we serve each other and serve alongside each other so that Christ can be magnified in our city even though we differ politically? And I was just kind of stuck. Then I felt this other question come up in my spirit, which maybe wasn’t so much from my spirit, maybe more from God’s Spirit. Is the unity of the Spirit more powerful than the disagreements or divisions in politics? And I didn’t want to answer that question. But the answer is yes, obviously. The unity we have in the Spirit has to be more powerful and stronger than any of our political divides. 

And then there was another question that came. If we can’t do this in the Church, why are we praying for this to happen in society? We’ve got to start with the family of God first. It’s where the Awakening is always supposed to start. So we’ve got to live into some tension. And we’ve got to find a love that is not ours. Because ours is not going to endure the tension. We’ve got to tap into a love that made the world. A love that sent his own son to die for the sins of the world. A love that is so consistent. A love like that Samaritan, who’s ready.

And the second example of love that Jesus gives us is the story of the Prodigal Son. This is that same love of God expressed, where the son came to the father and said, “I don’t want to be your people anymore. I disagree with you. I think you’re wrong. I think you’re old fashioned. And I want my inheritance from you, because to me, it’s as if you are already dead.”  And the father says, “Okay,” and gives the son the inheritance. The son leaves the boundaries. Leaves the perimeter of what the father has given him and goes out and spends the money in the way that he wants to. 

And we follow the story of the son a little bit. But I want to talk about the father, because I’ve always been intrigued. What was the father doing while the son was away. And the only way we can guess what the father was doing while the son was away was to know that someday, on a random day, not a day that the father knew, the son was walking home and the father had seen him a long way off. So in some ways, that means to me that every day I think the father went to the edge of his boundary, the edge of his property, knowing he couldn’t go with his son into all the sin, but he was not going to stay so far away, he was not going to pull to the other side, but he was going to say, “I will go all the way to the edge and I will look with a longing, with a prayer, with a hope in my heart, with love in my heart, hoping that one day I might see you coming back home.” 

And in this story he did. When the son got there and the son had the whole plan, “Father, I’ve sinned against you and I’ve sinned against heaven,” the father interrupted and said, “No, no, no. We’ll get to all of that stuff. But right now what you need to know is I love you and I never stopped. I never will. And you belong right here and here’s a robe and here’s a ring. I’ve been coming out here every day and I can’t tell you how happy I am that you came home.”

That’s the heart that should be in the followers of Christ — even to someone who basically left you for dead. We’ve got to be careful we don’t create walls for the people that have left. The Church is a place where some of that deconstruction, healthy deconstruction should happen so people don’t have to go and do it in the world. So we need people like Jesus who are willing to go eat with tax collectors and sinners. People who are willing to go to the edge of the boundaries, into the margins with the love of God. Secure in their understanding and orthodoxy, but not afraid to go into those spaces where people are really struggling, trying to figure out what’s true, what’s up and what’s down, what’s right and what’s wrong.

I’m not telling you I know how to do this perfectly. But I’m trying in a few relationships to continue to live into this. To break it all down, I think we should will the good of our enemies or those who are not our people or disagree with us. When presented with an opportunity, we should try and do good for them somehow, some way. If it can be an envelopment in your arms, great. If it can just be a little salute, hey, take what you can get. 

We should, on occasion as the Spirit leads, we should even create opportunities. We should try and put ourselves in places that are hard and the tension is real. Not so often that it’s killing us, but from time to time. And maybe take somebody with you. 

I love what one of my teachers, Dan Riccio says:

Learning to live with extreme tensions can be decades long as a process. But also, I feel like there is grace for us to take one step at a time.

He’s saying this out of his own pain and his own experience. 

So I just want to take a minute now and pray. I want to pray for our enemies. And if that word applies, go ahead and start there. But if you’re not sure how to use that word enemies, you could pray for those who are not your people, those who are on the other side of you with some sort of ideology, maybe even theologically.

Now, just so you know, I’m super theological. I’m big on theology. I thin kit’s so important. I love it. That’s the place where I have the hardest time dividing with people. So I’m not trying to say there aren’t real essential things. But I’m saying there are a lot of things that are not essential that we make way too important — more important than Jesus does, I think. So you can pray for those people. Let’s just be still for a minute.

Jesus, we thank you that you love us just the way we are, but you love us enough to not leave us the way we are. What our nation needs is you. The only thing really worth uniting under is your name, Jesus. I pray that your name would really be magnified in America. And Jesus, I also want to echo your prayer for your church, for your people, that we would be one, that we would be willing to living within that tension to see you glorified and you’d raise up prophets and pastors and preachers and leaders in the church that would really help us see how to get there. 

Lord, I pray that you would really help us to do our part to stop the demonizing. Thank you that you didn’t demonize us, Lord, but instead you reached out and gave your life for us. We do pray that America would be great, great in all the economy of heaven’s measurements, Lord. We pray that your great wisdom would fall upon our nation and that true justice would show up here, Lord. Another great move of love would flow out of your church, Lord, and build your kingdom right here. Thank you, Lord. Amen. 

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Resentment and Revenge

Series: Sermon on the Mount
June 27, 2021 - David Stockton

We’re going to talk about resentment today. Yeah. Resentment is where we’re going. We’re going through the Sermon on the Mount. We’ve talked about anger. We’ve talked about lust. We’ve talked about divorce. We’ve talked about deceit. And really how prevalent those are in our lives, even as believers in Christ, followers of Christ — and how those really are the things that Jesus wanted his guys, his followers to be paying attention to, even more so than other things that society might want to pay attention to.

So today we’re talking about resentment. We’re talking about what to do when you’ve been wronged. Resentment meaning bitter indignation at being treated unfairly. Have you ever had a breath or a sip of resentment? Have you ever had that moment where you feel bitter indignation at being treated unfairly? That’s resentment. And resentment is something that Jesus wanted to talk to his guys about.

Right now, in our current societal moment, cultural moment, it definitely seems like resentment has become the marketers’ tool of choice. It’s a powerful, powerful motivator. It’s a powerful, powerful unifier. If I can find other people that feel the same resentment, there’s an immediate, deep bond that I have with them. And, if that can be used to motivate me, it’s a very, very powerful motivator. It seems like in society, our political left, our political right, they’re using resentment.

Even racial relations in your life. You should probably go listen to two weeks ago, when we talked bout the deception thing. That might be a good little refresher for you. Then come back to this one.

But basically, we’ve just got to measure those kinds of resentment, bitterness, and see what Jesus would say to us in that space.

On a little bit more serious note, you know, this week we received the sentence of Derek Chauvin, the 22-1/2 years that he was sentenced for his part in the killing of Mr. Floyd. That stirs up a lot of different things in people’s hearts and minds. I read the response of his siblings and family. Interesting enough, they were pretty across the spectrum. Some feeling that this was a really great sign of justice, some feelings it was a great injustice. I haven’t heard anything from the Chauvin family and what their take on all of this was. But you can understand, there are real, real situations in society that are very, very, very troubling and hard and difficult. 

I spoke on the phone with a guy last week that I haven’t talked to in literally twenty-two years. And we spoke for an hour and forty-five minutes as he shared to me all of the pain and the resentment and all of that that’s been in his life over the last twenty-two years, because his marriage of twenty-two years just ended. He wasn’t at all trying to say that he wasn’t at fault. He was just unloading years and years and years and years of pain from the marriage that he had had and no longer has. 

And there’s just tons of realities in life. We’re always finding ourselves in situations where resentment has a chance to prosper and grow.

And today we’re going to hear from Jesus, what he prescribes when we find ourselves hurt by evil or by an evil person. Matthew chapter 5. 

38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’

Jesus, again, is on the side of a hill in first century Israel, outside of Jerusalem by the Sea of Galilee with a number of people who had been gathered to him. He’s talking to them about the Torah, he’s talking to them about the Levitical law. And sure enough, if you read Leviticus, Deuteronomy, oftentimes you come across this idea of God telling the people that the way that they’re supposed to judge situations is eye for eye and tooth for tooth. It was actually a good law that God had given his people to help govern them.

It didn’t mean that, if somebody comes and like, you know, cuts my leg off, I’m supposed to go cut their leg off. If somebody cuts my leg off, we’re supposed to go to the judge. And the judge, who has the authority, would decide between the two, what was the right recompense, or right judgement in that situation. 

And so this is what Jesus is saying. It was a good thing. It was something God gave to his people to kind of give them a little bit of fear in the way that they would act toward one another. It gave them a little bit of pause before they would do something to hurt someone, knowing that the law of the land was that if they did that to someone, it could be done to them.

But the people, like always, they were manipulating and twisting it in a way that God didn’t intend. So Jesus was trying to get it back on track. And so he said: 

39 But I tell you…

What God was trying to produce and create in society by that law.. was that you would not…

…resist an evil person. 

I hate this verse. I don’t know if you’re allowed to hate Bible verses, but if you are, I hate this verse. And so I dug in to the Greek and commentaries, and all the people who have done ethics writings and all, just, okay, what is this really saying? And their words, those who did it with nuance and clever thinking and spinning, they were able to kind of really make this say something that is much more palatable. 

But then there were a lot of others that were basically like, “No. It just sucks. It’s just a really hard, hard, hard thing that Jesus was teaching his followers. That you are not to resist an evil person. That translation is actually pretty good. It’s pointing us in the right direction. And when you know Jesus, he said audacious things, right? He was a shocker. And it seems very inline with Jesus, that he would say it just like it sounds as I’m reading it. “Do not resist an evil person.” 

And Jesus didn’t say this because he’s foolish or he’s trying to wax eloquent. He was saying this because he really believes this is the best way. This is what will cause the kingdom of heaven to show up in your life and in your society. This is the most powerful thing you can do. This is not passivism, where you’re just supposed to lay down and die. This is some sort of passivism where you are pacifying the evil. You are actually not resisting them, but pacifying them with your righteousness.

And it’s a challenging thing for us, and we’re not first century Jewish people living by the Sea of Galilee, who actually, every single day of their life, experienced completely unfair treatment. They were in absolute bondage, hard, rough, oppressive bondage to the Romans in their own homeland. They were considered less than the Romans, less than human. They were taxed to where they could basically make no real progress in their life. They were hated, they were despised and, even within their Jewish community, they were bottom of the barrel. Fishermen and shepherds. Tax collectors. They were hated and despised because of what they did and where they were raised. And they knew the sting. They knew that bitter indignation at being treated unfairly. That’s all they had ever really known in their life. And now Jesus is saying, “Don’t resist an evil person.” And then he goes on to say…

If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 

Now, this is actually speaking specifically to a Roman law, where the Romans were able to say at any time, “Hey, boy, come carry this for me.” Or, “Hey, I want you to go with me so you can take this thing back for me,” and if you don’t do it, there are actual legal ramifications for you and your household. 

So Jesus is saying, “If they come to you and say, ‘Hey, I want you to carry this thing a mile,’” he’s saying, “I want you to go a little bit farther, at least far enough to where they’ll notice it. And then the last one:

 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Now, again, this is in reference to the evil person. All of this is in reference to the evil person. This isn’t, “Hey, if there’s somebody that’s really cool and you like them a lot and they ask you to borrow something, be like, 'Hey, what’s up man…” He’s saying if that same evil person comes to you and says, “Hey, could I borrow something,” you give it to them.

Now, just like we’ve been talking about with anger, lust, divorce, all these things. Super heavy. Super intense. Super challenging. But Matthew 7:28, which is the verse that just comes after the Sermon on the Mount, it says that all the people who heard the words of Jesus were amazed. And they were amazed because he spoke as one having authority, unlike the Pharisees. 

And what they were meaning by that was, after the heard the words of Jesus, after these heavy, challenging, no way, impossible words of Jesus, they didn’t feel pushed away by Jesus. Instead, the sound of his voice, the look in his eyes, whatever it was, he brought this message across to where they though Jesus really could get them to this place. They were basically hearing from Jesus, “Hey, if you take my hand, and if you stick with me long enough, this is what’s going to show up in your life.”And they believed him. 

And sure enough, those disciples that followed him, we get to follow their stories, and that’s where they ended up. And the message for us, as you hear this, it’s not, “Oh, man, this is impossible. No way. I’m out. Forget this. Jesus can never…” It’s if you will stick with Jesus, not strive in your own strength or read a bunch of self-help books on resentment, but if you will literally take Jesus’ hand and walk with him and let his words abide in you and his Spirit abide in you, you will find this being the fruit that ultimately comes out of your life. This will be the heart that beats inside of you, as we follow him.

This is very heavy. It’s very intense. We’re more familiar with revenge, retaliation, recompense, retribution — these are kind of the prescriptions that are being offered in our day. Although those things have a place and all of that, it doesn’t seem to be the thing that Jesus is prescribing. 

We also have this natural thing built in to us, literally, biologically, the fight or flight. So when we’re hit with this trauma, when we’re hit by these hard things, when evil shows up and hurts us, we have these responses. Some are fight and some are flight. Some of you are fight people. It doesn’t matter what happens, you’re just like, “Aww” and you want to tear someone apart. You want to come at them. And you’re kind of going, “Heh.” And the people next to you are going, “Heh, heh.” Because they know it. And it’s intense. And it’s a reaction. And I get it. It’s something that’s there. It’s biological. 

But then, for other people, there’s this flight thing, where, basically, when this stuff happens you just want to run. You want to hide. You want to hide. You want to medicate. You want to substance abuse. You want to do all these things. You just want to stuff, stuff, stuff, and you’re like, “Oh, look, there’s a little part over there. Jam some more down there.” And you just stuff and you just stuff and you just stuff. And, honestly, you’re the most scary people. Because every once in a while you explode.

And Jesus is wanting to teach us another way. That fight or flight that’s there to serve you in those intense situations, but it’s not supposed to be the action that you live off and live on in to. He wants to teach us to forgive. Forgiveness is a huge part of this kingdom. It’s one of the biggest attributes or virtues in the life of a follower of Jesus: 
1) Receiving forgiveness from God and
2) Forgiving others as we have been forgiven. 

So how can we get there? Well, Jesus said it, so we should try and live into it. We should take his hand and allow him to lead us into it. But here’s biblically some other reasons why I think it’s so important for us to learn to walk in this way. 

The first one is that God has promised he will avenge. Now this sounds really weird for Christians. It’s funny — when we talk about the character of God and the nature of God and the name of God in Exodus 34, he’s abounding in love and faithfulness and merciful and kind and slow to anger and he sheds mercy and faithfulness to thousands of generations. But the very last line of that same whole thing is, “Yet, he will not leave the guilty unpunished.” 

It’s just so funny because we always sing about the nature of God, but that line is never in any of the worship songs I’ve ever heard. “Yeah, Lord, you’re so good and you will not leave the guilty unpunished.” Just one time I want a song that’s got that in there. And I’ll be like, “Yeah, now we are seriously worshiping God in Spirit and in truth.” Because that is a reality to our God. He does not make any bones about that. And, honestly, if you’ve been the one on the wrong side of evil, you really long for God to do something about it. You want someone to fight for you. And this is what God says in Deuteronomy 32:35:

It is mine to avenge; I will repay.
    In due time their foot will slip;
their day of disaster is near
    and their doom rushes upon them.

In Psalm 94:1

The Lord is a God who avenges.
    O God who avenges, shine forth.
2 Rise up, Judge of the earth;
    pay back to the proud what they deserve.

You can find countless scriptures about this. And just in case you think these are all Old Testament, Hebrews 10:30

“It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 

God will not leave the guilty unpunished, not even for a second, not even for a day, not even for a lifetime. He will always do what is right. He is the only one that can actually execute justice. He’s the only one that knows.

I love what Dallas Willard says:

Anger and condemnation, like vengeance, are safely left to God. We must beware of believing that it is okay for us to condemn as long as we are condemning the right things. It is not so simple as all that. I can trust Jesus to go into the temple and drive out those who were profiting from religion, beating them with a rope. I cannot trust myself to do so.

Any time we take matters into our own hands we’re basically pushing God aside and saying, “God, you don’t know what to do. You can’t be trusted.” And God wants you to know, consistently throughout the whole of scripture, that he takes these matters very seriously, and he will make things right. He is a God of vengeance, but always in the perfect way. Because he’s the only one that can see perfectly.

So we need to let go. We need to release. We need to trust God with all of these things, because he’s the only one that can truly handle them correctly.

The second reason why we should try and live into this and trust God in this way is you will gain a blessing. We’re Christians. We love the blessing. “Oh bless this. Bless you, child.” We’re just all about the blessing. We’ve got songs called The Blessing. We just sing them over and over and they never end. We just keep singing it and singing it and singing it. Just blessings all over. Bless you and bless them and bless everybody. And it’s awesome. It’s good. Because there is a lot of blessing in following God.

In 1 Peter 3:9 it says: 

9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult…

Ugh. I’d have to just erase my whole junior high years right there. Didn’t do a great job of that. And some of you need to go close your accounts online right now.

…On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

Literally, Peter is writing to encourage the people he loves and cares for who are going through great persecution — loss of life persecution. He says to them, “Repay evil with blessing.” Just like Jesus said, “Because to this you were called as a follower of Christ and you will inherit a blessing.”

So what is the blessing? Psalm 37:5-6

5 Commit your way to the Lord;
    trust in him and he will do this:
6  He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
    your vindication like the noonday sun.

I forget which prophet it is, but he writes and says, “I will be patient as the Lord punishes me for the wrongs I’ve done against him. Because after that he’ll take my cause and he’ll bring me to light and to justice for all I have suffered.” 

The blessing that God promises is that there will be. Day when everything will be revealed and your righteousness will shine forth if you walk in this way, and your vindication like the noonday sun. You will get to stand in that day and you will be honored and you will receive all that God has for you if you walk in this way. You will gain a blessing. 

And then, the third reason, so God will avenge so you can give it to him and trust him. Then you’ll gain a blessing, because we all want a blessing, and at the last thing, and I think it’s the most important, is that you’ll put God’s glory on display. 

Matthew 5:14-16

14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

This is what he says as an intro to set up his teachings on anger, lust, divorce and now vengeance. He’s saying, basically, If you’ll walk in this way, it will be like this light that shines in society. And it’s true that some people hate the light. But it’s also true that there are some people who are getting sick of the darkness, and when they turn and they see the light, they long for it, and they run to it, and they’re saved.

We have a story about that with Paul, right? Paul and Silas were in prison, totally treated unfairly, unjustly, and an earthquake comes and shakes everything up. And all the shackles are off. They’re set free. The doors are open and they’re just hanging out and they just keep singing. And the jailer comes in, the very one who put them in those bondages and whatever else he did to them. And he’s just about to kill himself, and Paul’s like, “Hey, man! We’re all just hanging out. What are you doing? Why you getting so serious over there, all emo?”

And the guy looks over and he’s like, “What’s going on?” And he says, “We’re just praising the Lord and we think he’s with us and he could be with you, too.” And they bless him and the guy ends up saying, “What can I do to be saved?” They pray for him and he and his whole family get saved. He was tired of the darkness and when he saw this light it was like, “This seems very different. What is this?” And as they explained it to him, he was able to receive it and the light came. 

Then John 21:18-19, Jesus is talking to Peter after the resurrection. Peter’s asking him some questions about what’s coming and he says: 

18 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

Basically Jesus was saying, “Hey, Peter, it’s going to be tough, man. You’re going to go through a lot of injustice, even to the point of being killed. But Peter, you need to know that, if you can bless and not curse, if you can walk in this way that I’m teaching you, this way that I’m walking and have walked, then your life is going to glorify God.”

Now, we need to understand what that means. For us, when he said, “Hey, your life can glorify God,” I don’t know how that hits you. But the way it’s supposed to hit you is as the most important thing you could ever do with every part of your life. The very fact that you have a beat in your heart or a breath in your lungs, the very fact that you have any resource at all, mentally, physically, everything that you have has one purpose in mind. It has been given to you so you can glorify God. That’s the whole thing. That’s why you exist and move and have your being. 

And Jesus is saying to Peter, “Look, Peter, you will achieve the end to which you have been created if you’ll walk in this way. You’ll continue to release that resentment, that bitterness and continue to bless and not resist the evil person. Your life will glorify God.”

And, sure enough, we’re still talking about Peter all these days later because his life glorified God. And his words have authority because of that. And at the promise that we have is if we will walk in these ways, if we will release these things to God and bless instead of curse, then our lives will glorify God in a significant way. 

We have got to get to a place where we understand that our lives are not about our gratification. That is a lie from the devil that has taken root in America and in the American church. Your gratification is not what God is most interested in. It shouldn’t be what you are most interested in. What God is most interested in is your life bringing his glorification. And that’s where our lives need to get to, where we understand that glorifying God is the ultimate. It is the highest achievement, the greatest gift. It is the blessing.

On this side of eternity, I know it’s hard for us to really grasp and understand — but I know on the other side of death we’re going to get it immediately. Everything we did to glorify God will be all that matters in that economy. So we’ve got to make this shift. If we do this, we will glorify God in heaven. There can be no greater thing at all. 

So those are some reasons why we should do this. I know this is a complicated ethical issue, so I have some rules of thumb. Like how do we decide when we’re supposed to resist or fight, or what are we supposed to do. The great theologian, Mike Phifer, who’s my brother-in-law, we were debating this when we were young and trying to solve all the world’s problems. And yet, what he said has stuck with me. Because we’re looking at Jesus’ life and he never fought, but then there’s got to be some time we’re supposed to fight. So this is just helpful. This is not gospel, it’s not in the Bible. This will just help you. He said, “It’s only right to fight as long as it’s not for yourself.” So as a rule of thumb, a little helpful guide. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, he got to a place as an ethicist, as a pacifist originally, someone who had a brilliant mind, he determined the best thing he could do to serve God was to try and assassinate Hitler. 

I read Dallas Willard’s quote, basically “I can trust Jesus to go into the temple and drive out those who were profiting from religion, beating them with a rope. I cannot trust myself to do so.”  We’ve got to let him do it.

Instead of trying to really solve all those problems, and if you do have any kind of challenge or any kind of thing to process together, you can email me at BrittanyStockton@livingstreams.org/ Just kidding, David@livingstreams.org. Because I’m trying to learn and process all this as well. But the best way to get what Jesus intended when he said these words I think is to just look at the example of his life. 

So we’re just going to take a moment now and do that. When Jesus was hit on the cheek, literally, when Pilate ordered him to be beaten in hopes that he might confess some sort of sin that he could punish him for, he sent him off with the soldiers, and in one account of the gospels they just took their fists and started punching him in the face and they actually ripped out his beard. In another account they took sticks and put a bag over his head and started hitting him in the face with these sticks, beating him, saying, “Hey, you’re a prophet. Why don’t you tell us which one hit you?”

And in the face of that, Jesus responded with, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.”

And then the very next example he gives us, “If someone wants your shirt, give them your cloak.” And there Jesus was, dying on the cross and they had stripped him naked. The only thing we know happening with his clothes at that point is that there were soldiers at the bottom of the cross and they were casting lots to see who could get his cloak. And Jesus looked down on them and said, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.”

Then, instead of walking a mile or two miles like the Romans said, he was told to carry his own cross beam. And he didn’t just carry it a little way, he carried it until he literally couldn’t carry it anymore and he collapsed under the weight. And his response to them was, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.” 

Then, as he stood there on that cross, and he was weighed down by the sins of all of humanity, the sins of those there who were crucifying him, the sins of those who weren’t there, you and I, our sin was put upon him in that moment. The wrath of God was poured out on him that should have been ours. And we will never know how much it cost. We will never know the full extent of what Jesus went through on that cross. It was way more than the physical pain. And he did that because of us. Yet, we are told by him, “If you come to me and you confess your sins, I will be faithful and just to forgive your sins.”

We who have no right to even come to him and say, “Hey, will you forgive us,” because we were the ones who actually did the injury. Yet, when we come, he says that he forgives us freely and completely and justifies us as if we never sinned before. He sends our sins as far as the east is from the west. And he forgives us not just past but present as well as future. So generous and kind. This is what Jesus did in the face of evil. This is what he’s asking his followers to trust him and to take his hand and to walk into.

Let’s pray. If you want to grab the communion cup, we’ll make this part of our prayer time.

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he taught them to ask the Father to forgive them for their sins, but also to do that as they are forgiving those who have sinned against them. So somehow in this communion there’s a combination that’s supposed to happen. One is we  receive forgiveness for our sin, but in the same breath, the same moment we then release forgiveness for those who have sinned against us, whatever it might be. To kind of get our minds around that, there’s this guy, Voddie Baucham, Jr. who’s been teaching me some things. In regards to forgiveness, he says:

If we refuse to forgive, we have stepped into dangerous waters. First, refusing to forgive is to put ourselves in the place of God, as though vengeance were our prerogative, not his. Second, unforgiveness says God’s wrath is insufficient. For the unbeliever, we are saying that an eternity in hell is not enough; they need our slap in the face or cold shoulder to “even the scales” of justice. For the believer, we are saying that Christ’s humiliation and death are not enough. In other words, we shake our fists at God and say, “Your standards may have been satisfied, but my standard is higher!” Finally, refusing to forgive is the highest form of arrogance. Here we stand forgiven, and as we bask in the forgiveness of a perfectly holy and righteous God, we turn to our brother and say, “My sins are forgivable, but yours are not.” In other words, we act as though the sins of others are too significant to forgive while simultaneously believing that ours are not significant enough to matter.” 

– Voddie Baucham from Joseph and the Gospel of Many Colors; Reading an Old Story in a New Way

And Jesus, we are so sorry for the way we have treated your forgiveness, that we have accepted it and not extend it. We are so thankful that you came when we were rejecting you. You came when we wanted nothing to do with you. And you gave yourself freely and allowed your body to be broken so we could be made whole. And, Jesus, we receive that right now. Fill us with your forgiveness, Jesus. And Jesus, we thank you for your blood that was shed to wash away all of our sins, past present and future. We pray that, as we receive your forgiveness once again, we would really be able to release forgiveness to those who have hurt us. We can’t do it without you. But with you all things are possible.

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Father's Day

June 20, 2021 - Brittany Stockton

This is weird for me, because usually I teach third through fifth graders and they are neither quiet nor respectful up there. So the fact that you guys listen just freaks me out a little bit. So, to make me more comfortable, if anyone wants to act up and I can throw you out of here,  it would be really good for me. And I don’t have my candy bucket. That’s, like, how I get kids to do anything.

Okay. So I made the mistake long ago of telling my husband that, I mean, he’s asked me multiple times to speak on a Sunday. I hate it. So I’ve always said no. But I made the mistake of telling him the only time I would ever speak is on Father’s Day. He remembered and now I’m regretting my life decisions. 

But there are two reasons for that. The first is, I have kind of lived in two worlds when it comes to a father. For the first I would say nine or ten years of my life I had a really good dad. I idolized him. I feel like kids when they’re little they just think their dads are the greatest thing. So for those ten years I really did idolize my dad. I just thought he was amazing. And he was everything that I needed in a dad. He was really funny. He has a really sarcastic, witty sense of humor that I loved. He was a history teacher, so he knew everything about everything. 

We would take these longs trips across the country and we would stop at every historical monument possible. As a kid, I hated it. Now as an adult I think that’s so cool. I walked around Martin Luther King Jr.’s house. We walked the street where JFK was shot. It was really fun. 

And my dad was also raised Jewish. He was bar mitzvahed and it wasn’t until later in life that he became a Christian. So he developed all these really good arguments for why he was a Christian. For my walk and my faith, that was really important for me. So he was just this perfect dad.

Then, without getting into too much of the minutiae or the details of what happened, by the time I was fourteen my dad was gone. And I mean gone gone. He didn’t fight for custody of us. He was not in my life. And for the last twenty years I have lived without a father. And so I recognize how important dads are, because I’ve had the fullness of that and then I’ve had the complete lack of that. 

So today I want to do a couple f things. First I want to just dispel some of the lies about fatherhood that I feel are propagated by our American culture. And two, I just want to encourage you dads. 

So I want to start by reading from Genesis. You can open if you want, but I’ll just read through it. It’s Genesis 27 and this is a story of Isaac. He had two sons, Jacob and Esau. Jacob was a deceiver, right? He stole his brother’s birthright — well really he didn’t steal it, his brother was kind of dumb about it — but he took his brother’s birthright and he stole his brother’s blessing. 

The birthright was really the inheritance. The first son was given a double portion. So if a father had three sons, they would divvy everything out by four and the first son would get the birthright, which was that double portion of the inheritance. 

The blessing was really a spoken word. It was very prophetic. It had a lot of weight. It provided a scaffolding for the child’s life from that point on. So I’m going to pick up in the story right after Jacob had come in and stolen Isaac’s blessing.

30 After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. 31 He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, “My father, please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.”

32 His father Isaac asked him, “Who are you?”

“I am your son,” he answered, “your firstborn, Esau.”

33 Isaac trembled violently and said, “Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him—and indeed he will be blessed!”

34 When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me—me too, my father!”

35 But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”

36 Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob[a]? This is the second time he has taken advantage of me: He took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing!” Then he asked, “Haven’t you reserved any blessing for me?”

37 Isaac answered Esau, “I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?”

38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” Then Esau wept aloud.

There’s lots of things that we can unpack from that. This is a pretty heartbreaking story. But I want to focus on the one thing and that is that Esau really understood the power of a father’s words. He understood that there is weight and there is substance to what a father could give him. I feel like a little bit in our society we’ve forgotten how important fathers are. 

So today I want to talk about three lies that I feel like have kind of infiltrated themselves into our society. Then I want to encourage you dads.

The first lie is, dads, that you might hear, is that you’re not important. You can take my word for it or I just found some articles from major publications in the United States and I’ll just read their titles. 

The Atlantic Magazine just had an article that said, “Are Fathers Necessary? A Paternal Contribution May Not be as Essential as We Think”

The New York Times held a discussion panel called “What Are Fathers For?” Where Hannah Rosen, one of their contributors said, “I’m not sure whether a child needs a father.”

The Huff Post just wrote an article simply stated “Fathers Are Not Needed.”

So that is something I think is being told to fathers over and over again. And I’m here to tell you as a daughter of a father who left, it’s a lie. It is a lie. Dads, you are so important. You are so important.

I’m going to read some statistics because I’m kind of nerdy and I love statistics. You guys have probably heard things like this before. I’ve heard them a bunch of times, but every time I hear them, I’m shocked by them. These are just statistics of kids growing up without fathers. And just so you know, the United States just topped the world in our fatherless rate. We are number one.

85% of youth who are currently in prison grew up in a fatherless home. 85%

71% of all high school dropouts come from a fatherless home

Teen girls from fatherless homes are 4 times more likely to become teen moms. 

63% of youth suicides — 63%!  — are kids from fatherless homes

75% of adolescent patients treated in substance abuse centers are from fatherless homes

90% of the youth in the United States who run away or become homeless for any reason originally came from a fatherless home

Children who live in fatherless homes are 279% more likely to deal drugs or carry firearms for offensive purposes

85% of all children who show behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes

So, while our society writes articles stating fathers are not needed, the statistics show otherwise. Dads, we need you. We need you in the home. You are so, so important.

Lie number two is dads, you are not necessary. This sounds like the first, so let me dissect this a little bit. Also, my hope is not to offend anyone in what I’m about to say. Just hear me out. If you are offended, you can leave a comment at david@livingstreams.org and just let me know. 

But dads are not necessary. I feel like this is very rooted in the feminist movement. Now, understand, I’m a woman. I am raising three daughters. I am very, very, very pro woman. But there is something that happened in the third wave of the feminist movement. The first wave I’m all about. I would have been there marching in the streets. The second wave got a little iffy for me. The third wave I feel is very destructive. 

Here’s what it does. It tells women that we can take over the role of any man anywhere, including a father. That we can provide everything that a father would provide. And it tells men, hey, what you bring to the table is not only not necessary, but is actually offensive and oppressive. We tell men that their strength is offensive. We tell them that their masculinity is oppressive. If they open a door for us, that’s offensive. If they don’t open a door, that’s also offensive. Right? We’ve trapped them and we’ve told them, “We don’t need you. We can play that role, too.” But that’s also a lie.

I grew up without a dad. My mom provided everything that she could. She was a great mom. But she couldn’t provide everything. Dads, you are necessary, because what you bring to the table is very different from what a mom brings to the table. And that’s important. That’s why God did it, right?

They did a study in Boston Children’s hospital. They took these 8-week old babies and they hooked them up to all these wires (because Americans are crazy and we do this kind of stuff to children). But they put it so they could monitor their brain activity and their heart rate, and then they put them in a room. They were monitoring in there and they brought Mom in the room. As they monitored, the heart rate went down. The brain activity went down. The hands and feet stopped moving. The eyes got a little droopy. Because moms have this amazing ability to nurture their child, to calm their child. It’s a beautiful thing. 

Now, they did the same thing, hooked the baby up, monitoring in there. They brought the dad in. The exact opposite happened. The brain activity went up, the heart rate went up, the hands started moving, right? The eyes got really wide. Because dads bring something very different.

When I come home from work, my daughters just crowd around me. I’ll be cooking dinner, they’re talking, sitting not he counter. We’re just like engaging that way.

When my husband comes home from work, he walks through the door and my girls are like, “Dad, let’s go play soccer! Let’s go do this!”

And I remember when they were little I always dressed them in these onesy pajamas because I’m like the world’s laziest mom. They never got out of those. (Actually, my daughter’s wearing pajama’s today. It’s just a thing.) But my husband would walk through the door, and he would grab them by the collar of that thing and he would lift them up into the air and they would be like so excited, flailing around, and then he would just throw them onto a couch, or throw them onto a bed. I was like, “What is happening?” Right?

Or they do this thing, wrestling on the bed. The girls always want to do it. I do not know why, because there are like twenty near-death experiences every time. When they start doing that, I go to Target because I know it’s going to end in crying. I know it. 

But dads have this amazing thing that they bring. It’s just natural. He’s not trying. But when I walk in the room, my first thought isn’t, “I’m going to lift my daughter up by the collar and flail her in the air.” But it’s his first thought. Right? Dads are very different. You guys bring something so different and so necessary. So you are very important. We need you because you can anchor us the way a mom can’t. You bring things that a mom can’t and you are necessary because what you give us, your strength, your protection, your masculinity — those are very important to your children.

All right. Let’s move to the third lie. So I know that when you look at that, when you see how important your presence is and you see how necessary your presence is, it might feel very daunting. It might feel very overwhelming. “How could I possibly fill this role?” Right? It’s so significant in your kid’s life. And I know you might have moments, and I know with my dad, just hearing his story, there were moments like that. He got too scared of how big this role was that he ran away from it. 

But I’m going to let you in on a little secret here today. Kids are not expecting you to do some big, grand thing. When the Bible talks about these fathers giving their blessing, it wasn’t some huge ordeal. And I was reading — Gary Smalley writes a lot of books on marriage and family. I think he did the Love Languages. But he was writing this book on fatherhood and he did tons of interviews before this. And he interviewed all these kids and he just asked them, “When was it, what specifically do you remember, what was the moment that you said, ‘I have received my father’s blessing’?” And I just want to read some of the responses.

One boy said, “My father would let me practice pitching to him for a long time when he got home from work.” That was the moment he realized he had his father’s blessing.

“I wrecked my parents’ car and my father’s first reaction was to hug me and let me cry instead of yelling at me.” I know what his second reaction was, though. But his first reaction was a hug. That was the moment that kid realized they had their father’s blessing, that very substantial thing.

One kid said, “When I was thirteen my dad trusted me to use his favorite hunting rifle.”

And one more, “My father would put his arm around me in church and let me lay his head on his shoulder.”

And here’s the thing. It  may seem daunting, but your kids are just looking for these consistent, small things. You do not know the moment that that blessing is being transferred from you to your child. It could be when you’re throwing them on the bed, right? It could be when you’re holding their hand and you walk across the street. It could be when you teach them to drive. It doesn’t have to be something big and grand. Your kids just want you to show up in little ways. They’re not expecting perfection. They know you’re not perfect. I idolized my dad for ten years. I knew he wasn’t perfect. They just want you to be there in small, little ways. Put your arm them. Hold their hand. It doesn’t have to be a big thing.

I don’t feel like I received my father’s blessing. He left before I really felt like that. But I was trying to remember the moment I felt the most loved by my dad. I was in my room and I had like a thousand stuffed animals. He was in there and he was just piling them on top of me. Then I’d pop out. And then I’d lie back down and then he piled them on top of me again and I’d pop back up. It was like the dumbest game in the world but I felt so loved by my dad. It was such a small thing, but it wasn’t a small thing to me. It was a huge thing. And in all those ten years, that’s the one moment I pull out and say, “That was when I felt loved by my dad.”

So dads, please know, it doesn’t have to be anything huge. It doesn’t have to be anything grand. We just want it to be consistent. That’s it. 

I want to read a couple of things in closing. I’m not really a good closer because, honestly, by the time I’m done teaching up there, the kids are not listening anymore. Right? I never have to close because I feel like sometimes they’ll look up at me and they will be shocked that I’m still teaching. Right? They’ll be doing their thing and they’re like, “What? She’s still up there? What is happening?” So I’ve never been a good closer because I’ve never had to be.

But I want to read through a couple of things just to some groups. Because Father’s Day, while I want to encourage you dads, because I think dads are just so important, I also know Father’s Day can be pretty heavy and pretty hard. So I want to read a few things just directed at a few groups that maybe you find yourself in here on Father’s Day.

The first one is to dads. Oh my gosh. I’m going to cry. I hate this so much. Dads, you are essential workers. I want to say it again. You are important. You are necessary. And we need you to be just consistently show up in small ways. When I was looking for a bible story about a good dad, I honestly struggled to find one. I do believe there is something uniquely hard about fatherhood. And while that’s not an excuse, let it serve as an encouragement for you to get the help you need to do this well, because it’s crucial. Please find a counselor or a good friend or a life group. Get plugged in and stay plugged in because your kids really do need you. That pain of having a father leave, it will never leave me. So please, please stay. Please do what you have to do to stay. 

To single moms. You are our Deborahs. You stepped up when it was necessary. I was raised by a single mother and she did an incredible job. So you can do it. You can do this. That’s my simple encouragement to single moms. You can do it. His grace is so sufficient. And while there is still pain, my mom raised four pretty well-adjusted children, okay? 

To fathers with no father. You are the dam builders. You are a powerful force working to change the flow and it’s no easy task. It would be simple to be swept away by what took your father and maybe fathers in your family line for generations, but I’m begging you not to stop the work. What you’re doing is not only good, it is necessary. It’s the hard work and I am and we are all grateful for you.

To those walking without the blessing of their father. You are not fatherless. I’ve walked in your shoes almost all of my life. Trust me when I say I know the pain. I’ve been there. I know the insecurity that comes with that kind of rejection. I know the heartache of not being able to ask for advice or simply have a shoulder to rest your head on. But I also know how good of a Father I have. I am not fatherless. And neither are you.

To fathers who have withheld the blessing. You’re late. But you’re not too late. I would take my father’s blessing today if that were possible. I don’t quite understand how all of this works, but there is a deep ache that comes with having to live without your father’s approval, without his words of life and without his impact. So, if it’s right, give the blessing. It’s not too late.

And to all the men in the room who are not fathers, maybe not yet, or maybe you’ll never be fathers. You are the pinch hitters. You are the sixth men. The closers. We need you. I had men step into my life in different areas. Coaches, youth leaders, husband. And it changed everything for me. You really can step into that role and love a kid who doesn’t have a father. And while you’re not going to save them from all the pain, you can make a huge, huge difference. 

I’m going to pray really quick and then I think someone’s going to sing a song or something. All right.

God, I just thank you so much that you are a good Father. Ultimately we have you and I’m so grateful for that. But God, today I want to pray for all the fathers in the room. I pray that they would understand how important they are. I pray for everyone who knows a good father in the room. I pray that we would be their cheer leaders, that we would constantly be supporting them; because without fathers, our society really does fail. So God, just encourage them today. Just bless them in this pursuit, this journey of fatherhood. Thank you that they don’t have to be perfect. But help them keep showing up. Amen.

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Unless otherwise marked, scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.The "NIV" and "New International Version" trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica. Use of either trademark requires the permission of Biblica.

Bearing False Witness

Series: The Sermon on the Mount
June 13, 2021 - David Stockton

We’re going to pick up another thing today. We’re going to talk about oaths. Say that word. It’w impossible to say without feeling weird. 

Basically, Jesus has been equating anger with murder, harkening back to those days when the command was Thou shalt not murder. What people had done with that command, they’d kind of make it say whatever they wanted. But Jesus is saying, “No, this is the true intent of that, that God doesn’t even want to see anger towards brothers and sisters in your heart.” Then he says, “You’ve heard it said you should not commit adultery, but basically if you’re lusting after someone, then in God’s eyes that’s adultery. You’re breaking that commandment.”

Then he goes on a little further and says if you’ve divorced someone without the specific caveats that are given in scripture, that deal with the covenant you made before God and that person, that actually your divorce has created an adulterous situation for you and your divorced spouse. 

Some heavy stuff. And now, today what he’s doing is taking us to another commandment. I believe, and you can correct me if I’m wrong, but I really think that Jesus is equating this whole dealing with oaths with kind of our word, with what we’re saying we’re going to do, with what we’re saying we want to do, with all of this with “Thou shalt not bear false witness. Or Thou shalt not lie.” I think he’s equating the way that we make promises and break those promises with lying. 

So I titled the message today, “Bearing False Witness.” Let’s read Matthew Chapter 5:33. 

“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

Now, it took me a long time to dig into this. I was trying so hard to figure out culturally what this meant. Did these kind of words really ring true? They’re like they know exactly what Jesus was talking about. But it did take me a while to figure out what was going on. There are some commentaries that led me to believe — I think it makes sense, but don’t quote me on this stuff — but basically there was probably some sort of practice within the church at that time that the Pharisees had set up, or the religious leaders had set up, where you could come to the church and you could make some sort of vow. You could make some sort of promise or covenant or commitment. And the way that you would do that commitment, whether you would swear by one thing or swear by another thing was really showing how sincere and serious you were about it. 

So there were levels of commitment. So this person would come and he’d be like, “I swear by the goat I have, because it’s pretty much all I’ve got.” And they’d go, “Oh, that’s a cute little covenant.” 

And then some guy would come and he’d be like, “I swear by God in heaven.” They’d be like, “Now this guy really means it.” 

So there was this hierarchy being created. There was this greater righteousness and lesser righteousness being created in their minds, which was not true in the kingdom of heaven. 

Then some people would not just commit certain things, but it was the way that they would do it. The language that they did it. It would kind of evoke these different type of things. Basically, what it was in God’s eyes, it was all deceit. It was bearing false witness. It was not pleasing to the Lord for you to say, and kind of conjure up with a bunch of religious words, some seriously intense commitment. That didn’t move God’s heart. It didn’t change anything for him. Because he wasn’t interested in what you were doing externally, or what your words were saying. He was looking at your heart. That’s what Jesus ultimately saying. Just let your yes be yes and your no be no.

When I think about the way that we spin things as a culture these days, the way we use words to try and cover or garner some sort of power in a relationship, or to make things seem better than they are, I started to really feel like God was starting to speak to me in regards to this. 

There’s a guy named Jon Forman, who is my hero when it comes to words. And he wrote a song and he says this about basically our culture and our situation with bearing false witness:

Opinions are easier to swallow than facts
The great instead of the whites and the blacks
If you shoot it too straight it won’t come back
We’re selling the news

America listens as the story is told
With the eye on the truth as the story unfolds
But the ratings determine which story was sold
We’re selling the news

Begging the question, mongering fears
Stroking the eyes and tickling ears
The truth is seldom just as it appears
We’re selling the news…

…Substance, oh, substance, where have you been?
You’ve been replaced by the masters of spin
Who make good looking books and write history in
We’re selling the news…

…When nothing is sacred, there’s nothing to lose
When nothing is sacred, all is consumed
We’re still on the air, it must be the truth
We’re selling the news

– Switchfoot’s “Selling the News” by Jon Foreman

Ouch. Some of you are like, “Yeah. Down with Fox News and CNN.” Jesus isn’t talking to them. He’s talking to you. He’s talking to them, too. Don’t get me wrong. But he’s talking to us. In our litigious society these days, there are so many connections being made, contractually, to make sure no one ever has to actually do anything they said they would do. There is so much protection in all the contracts today. You can’t even buy a dishwasher without having to buy insurance from Home Depot just to make sure the manufacturer will do what they said they would do! Sorry about that. I mean, the layers of litigation, the layers of contracts, the layers of signing and documentation, it has created a society where there is actually no skin in the game for anybody, because, if you can find the loophole, you have negated any possibility of deceit. You are no longer a liar because you found a loophole. That’s where our society lives. And that’s the way Christians have the decision if they’re going to live that way or not. “They’re doing it. So if I don’t do it then I’m going to be taken advantage of.” 

Look at Jesus’ life. It’s serious in here. And I’m not talking trash on lawyers or media people. I’m begging lawyers and media people to really try and walk out the kingdom of heaven in their industry. 

“But, no. If I make this sale I will use so much of the money for the good of other people.” Is your yes yes? And is your no no? Are you telling it like it is? 

I’m telling you, the reason I’m preaching this one isn’t because someone else couldn’t do a better job. This is one I needed to preach. Because for a Stockton, exaggeration is a family trait. We are masters of spin. We can make such a boring experience sound like it was awesome. We’ve been Instagramming with our mouths for generations. And we have the justification. My grandmother was born in Belfast, Ireland, so you know, it’s like an Irish thing for us to totally exaggerate and make you think we’re way better than we are so that we can have more authority or power in your life, if you really want to be honest.

But it’s fun! It’s not a big deal. Until it’s a big deal. And we have to walk that out. Figure out where we’re crossing lines. And it’s not a big deal until it’s a big deal. And it happened to become a big deal in my life one moment. I’ve always tried to teach my kids to tell the truth. I named my daughter Alethea Reese, which means Strong in the Truth. I talk to her all the time about lying, when they lie. I didn’t teach them to lie, but they’re so good at it. 

On Christmas Eve we have all the candles in the sanctuary. We turn off all the lights, but everybody’s holding a candle. And it’s this beautiful glow and there’s so much light you can see everything. But there’s a soft, beautiful glow. And I say, “Every time we tell a lie it’s like we’re blowing out a candle. Every lie that’s told another candle goes out. Another candle goes out. Another candle goes out. Until, ultimately, enough candles go out where you can’t see clearly and then the devil can have a heyday.

I don’t know what happened last year. I don’t know if more people told lies, or if they just got louder, or if we were all just shaken, but man, last year it got hard to figure things out. It was hard to see the way. I’m like a preacher man and I was having trouble seeing the way. Because a great wind of deceit blew through our nation. And a lot of lies came and blew out a lot of light. 

But, by the grace of God, the light never went out. And the light can never go out. His truth is always and will always be marching on. And we need to be people that are so careful with our words that we are not blowing out the light or bringing out some sort of strange light. Even if that means we just need to be silent before our accusers sometimes like Jesus was. Our yes needs to be yes. Our no needs to be no. We’ve got to be telling the truth.

One day I was having an argument with my wife. We’ve had like one or two … billion. And I’m seven years older than her. I’m a preacher, pastor guy. I’ve got a master’s degree. I’m a Stockton. So I have a license to exaggerate that my grandmother gave me, that the Irish gave her, that the world gave to Irish people. You want to keep going? I’ll take you back to the beginning. See? I’m exaggerating. 

We were arguing and we had just been married for a few years. And I was telling her what I thought. And she looked at me with a new look in her eyes that I hadn’t seen before. She said, “I need you to stop talking.” She’d told me to shut up before, but this was, “I need you to stop talking.” And it was different. And she said, “Because if you keep talking I know you’re going not convince me that what you’re saying is right. But I know it’s wrong.” And she was right. And I was just spinning away. Spin, spin, spin. 

I was using whatever the Lord has given me, the ability to put some words together. I was using to, in an altruistic way, make her think and see everything exactly the way I wanted her to. So that, ultimately, I could get my way. 

I wasn’t covering some deep, dark secret — just in case you’re wondering. It was literally just everyday interactions. It was just every day telling her just the way it was. I was telling her everything the way I wanted her to hear it so she would come to the same conclusions as me. And I was lying to my wife. I was deceiving her. I had gotten her mind so twisted that she could not even think straight. And I was starting to lose her. She was starting to wonder if there was anything at all that I had ever said that was true, including what I say up here.

I had to repent before God and before her. And I had to try and learn how to unlearn a lot of things. That temptation is always there with me. But by God’s grace, and thanks to my wife, I’m winning that battle. And I can even be honest before you and let you in on a little secret I have, that I have to be careful, that I have to show restraint, submit myself to God all the time. I have to drive home from this every day and remember what Proverbs says: “In a multitude of words there is much sin.”

How’s that for a preacher? Oh, that’s fun. I just spoke a multitude of words. Sin. Sin. Sin. Sin. sin. The very next thing I do is say, “God I know that’s true. And I plead your blood over thing I said, that you would please wash away all the filth, anything that was just of me. Please, Lord Jesus.” 

And it’s a practice I’ve had to continue to foster in my life. And now, when people say to me, “Eh…” they don’t even have to say, “Stop talking.” I can see the look in their eyes when I’m doing it. And I have to stop and say, “I’m sorry.”

Now, if you’re wrong and I’m talking to you, don’t use this against me. Okay? Because I still sometimes get it right. But anyway, that was this change that needed to happen. And I was so sophisticated in my language. I was so clear on my religiosity. Basically I had convinced myself that I was just doing what’s best. And really, I was just lying. I was bearing false witness and it needed to change.

When Jesus says here, “And you have heard it said ‘Don’t break your oaths and promises..” Again, what we’re talking about, Jesus is not trying to abolish the old way. He’s not saying, “Don’t worry about that.” He’s saying, “No, that is good. You should not break your promises. If you make an oath you should fulfill your oath.” No doubt about it. But he’s saying, “But I want to take this deeper. And I want you to not even make oaths.” He says, “But I say do not make oaths at all.” Don’t even make promises.

Now, again, he’s not referring to things like, you know, a promise you make to your wife and all those type of things, marriage vows, or those things. But he’s saying, “What matters more, the greater righteousness is not what you promise to do, it’s when it shows up.” So this virtue signaling concept that we have, where it’s like, “I’m saying all the right things. I’m talking so woke. I’m Instagramming or posting all the right stuff.” But if my life does’t match that, if nothing’s showing up, in God’s eyes it’s deceit. It’s lying. 

And this is what God says about lying, by the way, just in case you were wondering. Jesus said this to some people who were doing this. He said: 

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. – John 8:44

So when we’re doing this, when we’re spinning things, we are doing the devil’s work. No other way to put it. Anything else is from the devil. 

I remember a friend of mine was in town. He runs an organization that’s doing a lot of good for minorities and people who are in poverty. And he was telling me about this business man who wanted to give him a big chunk of change. He was really excited about it. The more he talked with the person, he was beginning to feel like, “You know what? I think the reason this person is doing this is for the photo shoot. It’s for the press that he’ll get from this.” And he had to come to this point where he actually said, “No, thank you.” And it made the person super made. But he said he had to walk away from it because he was getting the sense that something wasn’t right here. And he didn’t even want to take the money because it ultimately was somehow going to be connected to the devil’s work.

I was so proud of him that Living Streams gave him a big chunk of change. But we didn’t tell anybody about it. I just told you about it! I think it’s okay. I don’t know. You don’t know who it is. It’s okay.

But I just loved his heart in all of that, just making sure there is no guile. It says of Jesus there was no guile in him at all. He desires truth in the innermost being. That’s what this person was hungering for. The greater righteousness even though it was going to cost him. I love that. No virtual signaling for followers of Christ.

Then he says, “Don’t swear by…” and he starts to list these type of things. And we’ve talked about that. Don’t use religious language or, “The Lord told me…” and that kind of more emphasizes what you’re committing or what you’re saying to this person. Ultimately it helps you get more power over someone. He’s saying, “Don’t use that type of stuff. Don’t do that thing.”

I remember a young woman when I was younger, we knew each other a little bit. But I remember she was being mentored by this lady. And this lady that I trusted told me that I should meet with this girl. So I was like, “Okay, I’ll do that.” And I met with the girl and she told me in the meeting that we had that the Lord told her that we were going to be married. And by God’s grace, I was not convinced that the Lord had told her that. And I was able to reply to her, “Well, I will let you know if the Lord tells me anything like that. Because he’s not saying anything like that to me.” I don’t know what the Lord was doing in her life, but obviously, it wasn’t what the Lord was doing in my life and all of that. 

But we’ve got to be careful when we say things like, “The Lord said…” We are a church that really emphasizes and long for the kind of listening prayer, or prophetic prayer, where, as we’re praying we really think that maybe God is speaking so sometimes we should be quiet and listen. And when God does speak to us, we want to share that with the others. Kind of like what we’ve been doing with the VBS prayer. Like, we’re listening and we’re speaking those things. But we always need to speak that with some humility and say, “This is for you to process between you and God and see if it’s something the Lord is saying.”

That doesn’t mean God doesn’t sometimes speak to people. I know people who said, “The Lord told me I was going to marry her and I married her and we’ve been married twenty years.” Okay. Two decades, I’ll give it to you now. Not nineteen years. Two decades. Bam. Now I believe you.

Then he said everything else is from the devil. We’ve talked about that, how the devil is just so at work. He’s a deceiver. That’s what he’s done. That’s what created the fall of humanity in the first place. And he’s continuing to mix truth and lies to cause us to miss out on what God has for us. And we’ve got to wake up to it. We’ve got to see it for what it is. And we’ve got to run in the opposite direction — especially for us who are in the Church, who are followers of Christ. We’ve got to be about the truth.

And then, to close I want to talk to you about Jesus, if that’s okay. Anybody want to hear about Jesus? So Jesus spoke these words and they heard his words and said, “He’s one who has authority.” He was speaking in a way that the people who heard him were like, “Oh, snap. This guy knows what he’s talking about. Oh my goodness, this guy actually lives this way. And this guy actually believes that we can live this way.”

And John, who sat there and heard Jesus’ words as he spoke in that Sermon on the Mount, he writes a book later called Revelation, and he calls it The Revelation of Jesus Christ. So he saw Jesus in this incarnate, earthly kind of babe — he didn’t see him as a baby — but a fleshly form. Then he saw Jesus in this resurrected, glorified form. Then, later on, towards the end of John’s life, he was in exile on the Isle of Patmos, and he sees another revelation of Jesus Christ. He sees his old friend, the one who rescued him and taught him how to live, the one that washed his sins away, the one that filled him with his Spirit and empowered him to win the battles that he had been losing his whole life. 

And he sees him. In Revelation 19, this is the way he describes him. After all the tribulation, after all the chaos of what he saw, he says he saw heaven opened and there was a white horse that was standing there. On that horse was a rider and his name was Faithful and True, for he can judge fairly and he wages a righteous war. Never gets it wrong. In the midst of all the chaos of Revelation 6 through 19, where literally hell is breaking forth on earth, we get a glimpse into the throne room of God. There in that throne room the angels are gathered and they’re crying out, “Righteous and true are your judgments, O God. Every single thing you do, whether it hurts or whether it helps, we know it is absolute righteousness and it’s accomplishing the good that ultimately everyone longs for.”

Jesus is the Faithful and the True. I am not. The government is not. Sports people are not. Your spouse, your husband, your heroes, they’re not. Jesus is Faithful and True. When it comes to Jesus, he doesn’t give you any spin at all. It’s nothing but truth that will set you free. Sometimes easy and helpful to hear. Sometimes it hurts. Jesus is faithful to every promise he has ever made and will ever make forevermore. He’s not done with Israel, just so you know. He’s faithful. 

When I was thinking about the opposite of all of things that I have known and I’ve been complicit in, I think opposite, obviously, is faithful and true, but also humble and vulnerable. And Jesus was humble. He didn’t think more lowly of himself than he ought. He didn’t think more highly than himself that he ought. Even though he was equal with God. He made himself of no reputation. And he’s asking us to not write checks that we can’t cash. Not make promises that are too big. Not use words to try and make ourselves look like something we’re not, or can do something that we can’t. But just to shut our mouths and let who we are be enough, because God thinks it is. To not try and garner relational capital, financial capital, whatever it might be, with these words and this exaggeration. But just trust God that who you are and what you have is enough for today. And let him decide what comes and what goes. And you just keep blessing the name of the Lord.

Jesus was vulnerable. To be truthful you’ve got to be vulnerable. And Jesus was truthful with us. He came in the full reality of who God was, fully God and fully man. He became vulnerable as a baby. He became vulnerable as a poor man. And he became vulnerable even to the point of death on a cross. He showed us the truth of who God is and we murdered it and said, “We will not have this man rule over us.” And he died for us, so that he could rise for us. And though we’re so sinful he could lead us to life forevermore.

Will you bow your heads?

Lord Jesus, we thank you that you’re near to us. We pray you would come by your Spirit and you would speak to our hearts, speak to our minds and bring your truth. 

It’s the most dangerous safe place, to be in the presence of God. 

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Unless otherwise marked, scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.The "NIV" and "New International Version" trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica. Use of either trademark requires the permission of Biblica.

Divorce

Series: Sermon on the Mount
June 6, 2021 - Beth Coker

This morning it is my joy to be with you and to share from the word of God. 

About a month ago, the media and newspaper headlines blew up with the announcement of one of America’s most influential, affluential, philanthropic, visible couples, that they were divorcing. Now they had always appeared to be the Mazda automobile version of the American couple — not very glamorous but really reliable and very unlikely to break down. 

Photos hit the internet immediately of them standing together on stages, smiling, looking at each other with adoring eyes. This was Hollywood’s attempt to glamorize the brokenness of a marriage and home once again.

When the news about Bill and Melinda Gates getting divorced hit the news, everyone was stunned, like, what happened? They had been married for twenty-seven years. They raised three children together. They built foundations that are impacting millions of lives and they’re now saying that they can no longer grow together. 

We say the same thing when we hear about couples in the church divorcing. What happened?

My heart grieves whenever I hear about a divorce or a family breaking up. It’s difficult to hear about the death of a marriage and the brokenness and the breakup of a family. May we never get desensitized to hearing about the pain of a divorce.

Divorce has reached epidemic proportions in our land. Like a plague, divorce has swept through and brought death to the heart of our society: the home. We must stand and fight the enemy who wants nothing more than to destroy and dismantle the family institution. The view on divorce in our society today is multifaceted. 

Some people view it this way: Why marry at all? Just live together. Avoid divorce. Just don’t get married. 

Other people have this mindset: Well, divorce, but you can never get remarried. It’s unbiblical.

Other feel people this very strongly: You stay married no matter what. Abuse, not safe in the home, doesn’t matter. You stay married. It’s the unpardonable sin to get divorced.

Other people have this mindset: You know what? Stay married only if you’re fulfilled. When it’s no longer fun or meeting your needs, call it quits and get out. They kind of have this escape lever mindset, like in an escape room that, if you just can’t handle it, get out. Or maybe they see it as an exit sign off the freeway “You know, this just isn’t working for me. I think I’m going to take another route.” It’s all about self-fulfillment in those kind of views.

None of these, none of these are God’s view of divorce. He said strongly in Malachi 2:16, “I hate divorce.” It grieves his heart. 

This morning we are studying a passage that some consider the most controversial in all the Sermon on the Mount. Thank you, David, for giving me this assignment. In Matthew 5:31,32, it’s a passage in which Jesus addresses divorce and remarriage. It’s a very sensitive subject because divorce has affected so many people in the church and in our families. Just the mere mention of the word divorce feels like I’m ripping a scab off of an old wound, and it hurts. Emotions bubble up in us when we hear that word divorce. Some emotions of hurt, some of sorrow, some of loss. Emotions of anger, regret, and shame. And for many, this passage brings up painful memories and deep, personal losses.

Some of you sitting in here have walked through a divorce yourself. Some of you are walking through a divorce right now. Some of you heard David mention last week that we would be talking about divorce this morning and you chose not to come and you’re watching online. For that, I’m grateful you’re watching online. I’ve been there. To talk about divorce when you’re divorced or in the midst of one, it’s a painful thing.

Many of you have watched your parents walk through a divorce and it has left deep scars on your life. For others of you, the mere mention of a teaching on divorce elicits a response of fear and apprehension, because it raises questions of a situation you’re in right now. And I want to remind us, before we got to the worlds in Matthew 5:31,32 that Jesus is teaching here on marriage and divorce, and he is our loving, forgiving, redeeming Savior. He teaches the subject with grace and gentleness and truth. 

We serve a God of unlimited grace and he offers hope to those who put their trust in him. He offers hope to those of us who have suffered the personal devastation of divorce, even to those who are guilty of ending their marriages illegitimately, not according to biblical premises, or prematurely. 

I’m hear to tell you that divorce is not the unpardonable sin. It is not the unforgivable sin. I stand before you this morning as a woman who has walked through a divorce. It was one of the most painful times in my life and something I never would have dreamed would happen to me. I certainly never thought it would be an area of ministry I would be a subject matter in. But here I am, forgiven, redeemed, and being used again in the kingdom of God. And today I can say I am more in love with my Jesus than I ever have been in my life, and it’s largely in part due to walking through the crucible of divorce.

So whatever has formed your opinion about divorce this morning — maybe it’s something somebody taught you — maybe you formed your opinion by a book you read on divorce — maybe you formed your opinion about divorce in walking through it in your own family — we must base our opinions solely on the truth of God’s word and what Jesus taught us.

So turn with me, if you would please, to Matthew 5:31, 32, two short verses Jesus addresses in the Sermon on the Mount on divorce and remarriage, but they’re packed with a lot of power. In Matthew 5:31, Jesus starts and he says:

“It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Now, I want to set the scene a little bit. Matthew 5, chapter 1 opens with Jesus. He’s up on a hillside and he sees the crowd before him. Now, when Jesus sees a crowd, it’s different than the way you or I see a crowd. Jesus can look into the hearts and the minds of the people there. That’s how he sees us this morning. He could look around that crowd and he could see someone and say, “Oh, that one’s had too many affairs.” “This one over here, unforgiveness in their heart.” “Oh, that one, lusting after his secretary.” “This one down in front of me, broken beyond repair. In need of having their head lifted in hope.” “This one over here, hatred in their heart, therefore, committing the act of murder.” “This one just doesn’t like his wife’s cooking Wants to divorce her.”

That’s how Jesus sees the crowd. And as he looks t that crowd, he goes sup farther on the mountain. And he calls his disciples to him, and he begins to teach them the way of righteous living. Not more laws or rules. He’s contrasting the way of the old teaching of the Scribes and Pharisees. When Jesus said, “You have heard it said,” he’s referring to what the Scribes and Pharisees had taught. “You have heard it said.” 

But he is saying, “But I say…I bring to you a new teaching of the life in the Spirit. A life of repentance. Living by the Spirit of the law.” The Sermon on the Mount addresses issues of the heart. Tough subject. It addresses murder. It addresses anger. Jesus addresses forgiveness in the Sermon on the Mount. Last week you heard him address the issue of lust in the heart. And now, in these scriptures this morning, we’re looking at the issue of the heart surrounding divorce. 

Now, as we read these two verses, so many people get hung up on the exception clause, when Jesus says, “Except on the grounds of sexual immorality.” They think that’s the main point to the passage. But it’s not. Jesus expounds a little bit more on the subject in Matthew 19 and in Mark 10. And we see that what Jesus is saying here in these two verses is so much deeper than the exception clause. He’s teaching us to imitate God’s own example of commitment in a covenant bond of love.

Jesus is teaching in these passages to love and act toward our spouses just as God acts and loves toward us. He is a God of covenant relationship. How do I know that? He tells us in an Old Testament story how committed God is to those he loves. 

In the Old Testament there’s a story of God’s love for his covenant people, Israel, his chosen nation. A love that is faithful and committed, even though his people were not, in the story as recorded in the book of Hosea chapters 1 through 3. Now, Hosea is a prophet. The book in the Old Testament, Hosea, is a minor prophet. Hosea is a man of God. And this book opens, right in verse 2 of chapter 1, “And God commanded Hosea, go out and marry a woman named Gomer.” Now, marrying a woman named Gomer would be hard enough, but God also says — sorry if anyone is named Gomer in here — my bad — but God also tells Hosea she will prove to be a prostitute. So God tells Hosea, “Go take yourself a wife inclined to harlotry. And children of harlotry. For the land commits a flagrant harlotry abandoning the Lord.”

Hosea had to be thinking, “What? Did I hear you right? I’ve never been married and you’re commanding me to go marry this woman named Gomer and she’s going to be a prostitute? That’s what you’re asking me to do, Lord?”

God says, “Uh-huh. Because Gomer is going to prove to be an illustration of the nation of Israel and God’s covenant relationship with her.”

So Hosea marries her. And during the time that Gomer is married to Hosea, she has two sons and one daughter. And God tells Hosea, “Name that first born son God Scatters. Name your daughter No Mercy. And name your second son Not Mine.”

What a heartbreak it must have been. Poor, godly Hosea, who was a prophet in Israel. Can you imagine him introducing someone to his prostitute wife and his children who he wasn’t even sure were his, and saying their names. 

Gomer continues to wander again and again, away into the arms of other men. But Hosea continued to care for her and provide for her. And he brought her back home. But there was a time when she was away for a long, long time. And she eventually became auctioned off as a cheap slave. She was so abused, used and thrown out. Any other husband would have said, “Serves her right. She didn’t love me anyway. Let some other man have her.”

But God commanded Hosea, “Go buy her back. Go buy her back.” And Hosea did. Hosea went and paid the price to redeem her and he brought her back home again. This is our covenant-keeping, committed God. Through this story, God wanted to show his own commitment to his people Israel in spite of her unfaithfulness. He has done the same with us. When we have wandered off, he has sought us out, even in our sinful state. He has redeemed us back to himself and he affirms his unchanging love for us.

Now, in Matthew 5:31,32, God is asking the same of us toward our spouses. Jesus is teaching about faithful love in the bond of marriage. He’s not just teaching about when divorce can happen and when it cannot happen. He’s not just teaching who can marry afterward and who can’t. It’s about a covenant commitment.

You see, in Jesus’ day, the Pharisees were focused on the letter of the law. Their righteousness, their puffed up personalities was based on observing the letter of the law alone. They tried to catch Jesus on the letter of the law.

Turn with me over just a couple of chapters to Matthew 19. We’re going to read what the Pharisees tried to catch Jesus in here. 

When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”

“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

“Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”

Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

So the Pharisees come to Jesus and they say to him, “Jesus, is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?”

Jesus doesn’t even engage in what they’re trying to do. He goes right back to the beginning in Genesis. He says, “God created them and said ‘The two shall be one flesh.’ What God has joined together let not men separate.”

The Pharisees didn’t quit. They just kept coming after Jesus. “Well, why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and send her away?” 

The Pharisees, you can just see them standing there quite smug and saying, “Well, Jesus, you’re saying we shouldn’t get divorced, but Moses said we could. Gotcha.”

You see, in that day, there were two different schools of thought taught by the rabbis. The first was the conservative Shammai school. Those rabbis taught that Moses was saying if a man discovered his wife had been caught in adultery, he could divorce her. But remember the cultural setting at that time in the Old Testament. There was much pressure to stay married because of financial complications. You see, if a man wanted to divorce his wife, the dowry had to be given back to the bride. At the marriage ceremony there would have been large sums of money exchanged to the husband and he would have to give all of that back also. So, in that day, men thought twice about divorcing their wives, because they had to give a lot of money back to the people who gave it to them. I think maybe they were onto something in that day.

There was a second school of rabbinical teaching. It was the liberal Hillel school. And this thought was, “Anything you don’t like about that wife of yours, give her a certificate of divorce. She spoils your food. She burns the toast. Certificate of divorce. She twirls in the street. She talks with a male stranger. She let her hair down in public. Give her a certificate of divorce. She has any physical defect. She has any physical defect and you just fall out of love with her. You’ve found someone more beautiful. Give her a certificate of divorce. It’s okay. That was the mindset the Pharisees wanted to embrace.

And Jesus looks at these men and he says to them, “Because of the hardness of your heart, Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.” It’s always an issue of the heart. There was a hardness in these men. A hardness seeps in when we seek for a divorce. Our hearts of flesh have been turned to hearts of stone. And Jesus is teaching here in the Sermon on the Mount it is always an issue of the heart.

The Pharisees were trying to test Jesus. They just wanted to trap him. Their objective was to maintain a permissive, liberal divorce policy. Because divorce was relatively easy in those days, as it is today. And the Pharisees intended to keep it that way. But Jesus is telling them, “Marriage his not a consumer relationship or a contract that you can just walk away from. Marriage is a covenant and it was established that way from the beginning of time.”

Divorce should be as radical as amputating an arm or a leg. No doctor would amputate your arm for a hangnail. No doctor would amputate your leg if you had a sprained ankle or ugly freckles or a varicose vein. Amputation should be the last thing you do. And that’s what Jesus is pointing out. You can’t divorce your wife for these silly reasons. Twirling in the street. Burning the toast. You found another woman. No. Divorce was never commanded by God. It was permitted in the case of sexual immorality or adultery. 

The Greek word that Jesus uses here in chapter 19 verse 9, of immorality, adultery, is the Greek word porneia. It’s the word we get our modern word pornography from. It refers to any immoral or adulterous act. 

Adultery kills the covenant of marriage. Hence the exemption clause in Matthew 5:31, 32, “except in the case of adultery.” Divorce was permitted when the covenant was killed through adultery or through abandonment. The Apostle Paul deals with the issues of abandonment in 1 Corinthians 7, when an unbelieving spouse leaves the marriage. 

Jesus permitted divorce on these grounds. He did not command it. God’s heart is always that of restoration. Always. And I know so many marriages that have been restored, even after an adulterous affair. Oh, it takes hard work. The trust has been broken. But it can be done. God’s heart is always to restore.

And so important to the Lord is the marriage bond, that to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Lord directed the Apostle Paul to address divorce even further in 1 Corinthians 7:10-11. Paul writes in that chapter that maybe a time of separation might be wise counsel, purposely and solely for the goal of reconciliation. Paul writes this:

To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.

The issues surrounding divorce are so complex, and those who are looking for a divorce will look for any loophole they can to say, “See? I have biblical grounds for divorce.”

But maybe in some situations, a time of separation might be the best course of action if both spouses sincerely want to do a work in their own hearts and in their marriage and they seek godly counsel. 

My mom and dad needed this after forty plus years of marriage. They got to a point in their marriage that was so ugly and so hostile in their home that they could not be in the same house together. And so they decided to separate for a time to seek the Lord, to search their hearts, to seek godly counsel. And the Lord works when we humble ourselves before him. And after that time of separation, they came back together and their marriage was more beautiful than we had ever seen it the last eight to ten years of my dad’s life. God is in the business of restoring marriages. In the business of restoring relationships.

Not only is the marriage covenant killed through adultery, it is killed also through abuse. Because we are precious to God, we are not required to stay in a marriage when we have been betrayed through abuse. To abuse your spouse is to violate the “one flesh” union of marriage that God established from the beginning. 

The Apostle Paul wrote in Titus 2:15, “Do not let anyone despise you.” And the idea there is, “Don’t let anyone abuse you.” If abuse is happening in the home, it’s no longer safe for an abused spouse or the children to stay in that environment. Run. Seek help. Seek shelter. Seek safety. Don’t stay in that unsafe situation. Run from that continual exposure of family members to destroying addictions and perversions that will ruin the lives of innocent children. Get out of that situation.

I’m grieved if you have been taught that you must stay in an abusive or perverted marriage no matter what. Protect yourself and your children from danger. Do not submit to abuse. 

God’s heart must weep as he sees the brokenness of our world, our society, our church. Sin has destroyed so much of the beauty of marriage and the family he created. I don’t know how a teaching on divorce touches your life this morning. But divorce is a part of my story. It’s very personal. 

I was raised in a pastor’s home. Yes, my parents who needed to separate for a while after forty years. My dad was a pastor. The word divorce was never, ever mentioned in our home. Even if your marriage was unhealthy — and my mom and dad’s was for many, many years — you u just toughed it out. You stayed in it no matter what. We were raised to think that divorce is the unthinkable, unforgivable sin. It was the one thing you couldn’t come back from. You were branded with a scarlet D on the front of you that you would carry for the rest of your life.

So, in my own marriage, we were a family very involved in the church. I served in women’s ministry. I taught Bible studies, I taught Sunday school, we were involved in home fellowships, we hosted a home fellowship, I was on worship teams, my husband at that time was in leadership in the church. From all outward appearances, we were seen as a solid family in the church. No one had any idea that things were slowly eroding from the inside. Our marriage was crumbling and our three precious girls were suffering from it. You see, they keep the pain, the hurt, the confusion all bottled up and suppressed inside of them. We just plastered on our Sunday smiles and we kept up this persona of having it all together when we were in public. But the enemy, the enemy was dismantling our home brick by brick, and the walls just came tumbling down.

As I faced the reality of an impending divorce, it was humiliating and deeply hurtful. My extended family didn’t know how to handle it. They just didn’t know what to say to us, didn’t know how to minister to us. My name was slandered and rumors flew around the church and in our small valley. It was a very scary time for myself and for my girls. I had no idea how to walk through the valley of the shadow of death of a divorce. I had to go back into the work force I hadn’t been in for about twenty years. I had to sell our home. I had to change schools for my girls. They were in private, they had to go to public. I had to fill both roles of mom and dad. I had to try to keep my girls’ lives as normal as possible.

Through that time I chose to model the life of Joseph in the Old Testament, that, when he was accused of wrongdoing by Potiphar’s wife, Joseph did not fight back with words. When Potiphar’s wife accused Joseph of attempted sexual assault, he ran from her, but he never fought back with words. He didn’t even defend himself when Potiphar sent him to jail. Joseph let God be his defense lawyer. 

So I wanted to trust God to do that for me, too. I clung to my heavenly Father during that time like I never had before in my life. I let him defend me and he did. He fought for me. He was my keeper. He was my protector. I was in a place of needing his strength to guide me daily, just to be able to get up in the morning and to be strong for my girls and figure out how we were going to walk this road. This was the first time in my life I just couldn’t pull myself up by my boot straps and keep pushing through. I had always been able to do that, but not through a divorce. I needed my God more than ever before.

I pressed into his arms and I let him carry me so many times when I couldn’t walk on my own. I didn’t know where to go, I didn’t know where to turn. But I drew so close to the Lord during that time that, as I just turned my face to the side, my God was right there. He was with me in the fire. He never let go of me. He was my Father to my girls. He was our Provider. The Head of our household. My Comfort and my Shield. In the days and months that followed the divorce, I experienced the grace and forgiveness from my loving heavenly Father that disproved the legalistic view of being branded as a failure in God’s eyes because of divorce.

In time, I learned that I was not branded with this flaming D and defined as a divorced woman. Rather, I wore a blood-stained F as a woman forgiven. Forgiven. My marriage had failed by I was not a failure in God’s eyes. He wrapped his loving arms around me and he held me safe in his arms. It’s a beautiful thing to feel that depth of love from him.

My three girls needed to see me press into my heavenly Father for strength, guidance as we walked a very painful road. The divorce was damaging for them. It is never without cards. One daughter built walls so high no one could penetrate them. She was not going to get hurt like that again. One daughter longed for a father’s love to teach her to hunt, to fish, to rock climb, how to throw a football. My other daughter looked for approval from men and just longed to be accepted by one. 

Divorce leaves deep emotional scars. And as the years went on, people would watch my life and they’d think, “Beth, your life is like a divorce success story. How did you do it?”

And they’d want to come to me when they were contemplating divorce and ask me, “How did you do it? How did you do this life?”

And I’m just honest with them. And I’ll look at them and I’ll say, “Well, friends will feel bad when they hear that you’re going to get a divorce. But they’ll quickly say, ‘Ah, you’ll be okay. You’ll make it through.’ No. You won’t. Not without pain. Not without deep sadness of heart. Brokenness. Not without anger or hatred or deep wounds. Divorce is a death. It is death of a marriage.”

But those who come to me, who have been divorced and feel broken and like they’re worthless. I can look at them and say, “But God will bring beauty from your ashes.” But my God. 

My life and the lives of my girls are testimony of his power and his grace. How did we do it? It came from being able to forgive and let go of any bitterness that I had in my heart, and to teach my girls to do the same. 

This morning, by asking God to change your heart, you can be whole again. You can feel his love, his forgiveness. You can trust God with your future. You can count on his love forever. You have come to the place for healing this morning. If you’re here this morning and you’re divorced and you still harbor a hardness or a hatred in your heart, may today be the day that you repent and let God give you a new heart, a heart of flesh. As God this morning to change your heart and he will.

“Father, give me a heart of flesh. Take away this heart of stone.” Oh, I hear so many divorced men and women still slandering their ex-spouses. They put the blame on the other person. They’re hard hearted. Bitterness spews from them. They’ve never had the heart surgery it takes to turn their heart back into a heart of flesh. They take that same hardness into their new marriage, their new home, their new circle of friends. 

Don’t look to a new mate to change you or to complete you or turn you around. A different spouse won’t produce a new you. Only God can. If you’re divorced and single here this morning, you’ve never been married, embrace the singleness. Paul exhorts us to remain as he was, as single. You have no idea how God can use you for the kingdom. That’s where my life is a success story, to have stayed single after divorce and let God use me for his kingdom. 

Maybe you’re here this morning and you’re contemplating divorce. Search your heart. Maybe you just can’t stand your spouse anymore and you want out. Oh, humble your heart. Remember the power of the gospel. God can change us. Consider the hard work of reconciliation. Hosea did with Gomer again and again and again. God’s heart is always reconciliation, always restoration.

Consider the hard work of reconciliation before you do that knee-jerk reaction of “I have grounds for divorce and I’m not stopping until I get it.” I hear so many believers in that boat. Filling out those divorce papers will only trade one heartache for an even deeper one. 

Maybe you’re at the point this morning where a time of separation would be what God would speak to you. Ask him. Seek him. 

If you’re sitting here this morning and you’re abusing your spouse in any way, get down on your knees and ask God to forgive you and give you the strength to change. Get counseling. Get an accountability partner. Get help. Abuse breaks the covenant of marriage. 

And if you hear this teaching this morning and you’re thinking, “God can never love me again. I’ve been divorced a few times and I’ve been divorced for unbiblical reasons and I feel guilty.” Repent of that. God forgives. He restores. All he asks us to do is repent and ask forgiveness.

If you’re sitting here this morning and you feel tossed out like a soiled rag, you’ve been replaced by someone else in your marriage, you don’t even seem as if God sees you. Oh, our God sees you. Hagar felt like that when she was dumped in the wilderness. And God said, “Hagar I see you. Open your eyes. There’s a well of refreshing, living water right next to you.” El Roi sees you. 

For all of us this morning, look to Jesus in your marriages. He can bring beauty out of brokenness. Nothing can ever separate you from God’s love. He will bring beauty from the ash heap of destruction of divorce.

Would you bow your heads with me this morning as we have a time of silence? I pray that you would listen right now to what Holy Spirit is saying to you, to each individual heart. May your prayer be, “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation.”

If you’re thinking of divorce, soften your heart. If you need to repent of harboring unforgiveness, do that this morning.

Father in heaven, help us. We’re living in a culture that has forgotten your pattern for marriage. Your word is being ignored. Forgive us. Give us strength to believe in the power of the gospel to change lives, to change marriages this morning. We trust you, God, to heal our marriages, heal our hearts, restore broken relationships. May we be Christ followers who walk alongside those whose marriages are struggling, loving them, speaking the truth of your word over them. Holy Spirit, blow through this sanctuary this morning with a mighty rushing wind. Begin a new work in the lives of your people in our hearts this morning. We surrender marriages to you this morning, Lord, be a miracle wonder-working God in the marriages in this church. Thank you for loving us, for being a God of restoration and brining beauty from ashes.

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