David Stockton 4/11/21 David Stockton 4/11/21

The Beatitudes

This is part of our year-long commitment and lifelong commitment to really try and get a vision for the righteousness of God. Last year, and all of our lives, but last year became very, very prominent that…

Series: The Sermon on the Mount

April 11, 2021 - David Stockton

This is part of our year-long commitment and lifelong commitment to really try and get a vision for the righteousness of God. Last year, and all of our lives, but last year became very, very prominent that there were a lot of different visions about what is righteousness that will produce justice. They were coming from left sides, right sides, top sides, down sides. There are all these different basic gospels — in a lot of ways — these ideologies that were being presented and claiming to have Christ on their side.

So we heard all of that. So we committed the first of this year. We fasted for twenty-one days to say, “God, we want to have a vision for righteousness that comes straight from you. And we want to have a hunger for it.” Because we know that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. So we want to have a hunger for it. So we’ve stayed hungry. We’re still hungry. And we’re really trying to figure out what God’s view of righteousness in our day and age is. So that’s why we’re going to the Sermon on the Mount.

As we’re unpacking this, and as you’re dealing with this in your own relationships — I mean, I know of a marriage that, basically one of the spouses said, “If you don’t come to my point of view on this ideology, our marriage is over.” We have people in the church that have left us because they cannot track with us and stay in the same direction that we’re headed as far as what we’re teaching coming from the scriptures.

You guys are dealing with this in your own families, your own communities. This is everywhere and there’s lots of division, there’s lots of challenge, there’s lots of confusion. So one of the things we’re going to do is just say, “Hey, Jesus, we just want to hear from you. Nothing else will do. Nothing else will do.”

It’s so sweet to trust in Jesus and take him at his word. And it’s very hard to do these days. But that song will always be true. It is so sweet to just say, “Okay, Jesus, what’s going on inside me is killing me. What’s going on around me is killing me. But I’m just going to sit here and take you at your word.”

So that’s what we’re going to try and do. We’re going to try to put ourself in that space going into the Sermon on the Mount. I need to give us as a church a couple of tools that have been very helpful for me. I’m hoping they’ll be helpful for you as you process your own concept of the righteousness of God, but also as you interact with others who are doing that as well.

The first one is Weslyan quadrilateral. You’ve heard me mention it before. If you’ve been through our Explore class I bring out there too. But I think this is very, very important. This is not super ancient. This is John Wesley, so it’s not that long ago. But I love what he did. Most of the theologians that came before him said, “Scripture, tradition and reason,” but he actually added “experience” and I think that’s important for us today.

The way that this goes down is super important. As you’re trying to figure out what truth is, what is important, what is valuable, what is good, what is right, all of those things. This is the way that Wesley said you come to it. You start with the scripture. The scripture is at the bottom, but it’s at the bottom because that’s the foundation. That is the starting point. Anything you think or feel or anything that comes to you, you first apply the scripture to it and see if it jives or not. Scripture is the foundation. That has got to be the beginning. Because there are lots of ideas. I mean, basically, we’ve had six thousand years of recorded human thought. Right? For six thousand years people have been writing down, “I think this.” And it’s led to a lot of different religions, a lot of different philosophies, a lot of different ideas.

So how can we say that we stand in the truth? First of all, we have the Spirit of God. God didn’t leave it up to us to figure out, but he sent his Spirit to guide us into all truth. But second he’s given us all these type of things to help us process this stuff out.

So you’ve got scripture, first and foremost. And in this church, you’ve heard it over and over again, we’re going to be about scripture. The Old Testament. The New Testament. The life of Jesus. The words of Jesus. The best thing you can do if you’re really trying to figure out what you should fight for or not fight for, maybe more importantly, is start with the words of Jesus, see how it’s unpacked by the epistles and the rest of the New Testament, and then look for concrete pictures that basically teach it in the Old Testament as well. It’s a good way to use the scriptures.

So first of all scriptures. But then we have tradition. So if it passes the scripture test, then you go to the tradition test. The tradition test is basically, we don’t like that word tradition because we’re Americans and we got rid of the British. Sorry if you’re British. But we don’t like tradition. But tradition, think of it more in the sense of the community. Basically we have a community of faith right here, Living Streams Church. But we’re just one tiny, little dot in the grand community of Christ.

So, first of all, we have to start with the community. We have to be able to test all of these ideas with the community that God has placed us in. Not only that, but we have to add to it the community that has come before us. Historic Christianity is so important. We are not the first people to ever face these things. The questions that you have in your heart, there have been so many Christians that have had those questions way before you. Some of them have done some really good work in helping us know what we should do when we face these things.

So that’s the next phase. So scripture first and foremost. It passes that test, then it’s got to go through the historic Christianity perspective and your own community perspective. After that, then you go to reason. God gave you a brain. He gave us sociology. He gave us science. He gave us psychology. These studies that help us understand what is good and right and what isn’t at all.

Like I said in my weekly email, I’m praying that right now, just like the sexual revolution of the sixties, where everyone thought it’s really important to get sex outside of that tiny, narrow space of marriage and let sex be enjoyed by everybody, even if they’re not married — that right there. Sociology, psychology. If you apply those reasonable sciences to that decision and what happened in America, you can see the results of those things. STD’s. Abortion. Adoption. Foster care. You can look at the sciences and you can see the result of some of these things.

I’ve been praying that, just like that sexual revolution created this great Jesus Movement in the 70’s — I’m praying that whatever we’re going through in this sexual confusion of today will give rise to a beautiful Jesus Movement, as well, and that the Church will do really, really well in this time. She’ll be beautiful. She’ll be redemptive. She’ll be kind. And she’ll be faithful. We’ll get to see some really cool things happen. I think we already seeing some of the stuff, by the way. There’s a hunger for the righteousness in God, which is awesome.

Then the last one is experience. It’s at the top, but that doesn’t mean it’s the most important. It’s the smallest one. And yet, Wesley was willing to add experience. The theologians before him were like, “Forget about experience. People are crazy. You can’t add experience because then they’ll get all crazy and get Joseph Smith and things like that.”

But at the same time, he was saying, “But, I don’t think we can just pretend like we don’t have experiences.” So he added experience. And I think it’s a very important thing. But again, we have to remember that it’s the smallest and it’s the last.

Now experience can lead us to the scriptures and to tradition and all those things. But we have to put experience in its place. What our culture is trying to tell us today is that experience is the foundation. Our thoughts and our feelings are the way to truth. Cold Play said it best, “Science and progress do not speak as loud as my heart.” That is the cry of the post-modern, post-Christian, progressive-Christianity. I’m not saying progressive in the sense of politics. I’m saying in the sense of theology. I really feel like they’re making experience way too important to the understanding of truth. I don’t think we should get rid of experience. I think it’s valid and important, but it has to be submitted to those other things.

So that’s a little bit of what we’re applying as we go through this. The second thing is something I learned in theology by Irv Bredlinger, who was my theology professor in Bible school. This was interesting. I’m actually supposed to draw two of these circles, I realized after first service. So you’re going to have to do a little extra work.

Basically, he drew one circle where the thought quadrant, the opinions quadrant, the beliefs quadrant and the dogma quadrant were all giant circles. There was very thin space between all of them. He said this is an immature Christian. This is someone whose dogma is so big, everything they’ve ever believed is so important they’ve got to fight everybody about it. We’ve all probably been through phases like this, where we’re willing to fight about anything and everything instead of understanding that some of what we’re calling dogma — core beliefs —should actually be a little bit more in the thought and feeling realm; or maybe the opinion realm, or maybe the belief realm, but not necessarily things we should be telling our spouse, “It’s over between us.”

There’s a challenge, there’s a maturing that needs to happen where we begin to understand what we should fight about and what we shouldn’t fight about. That’s an important maturing process, as Christians, that we’re going through. It feels a lot like deconstruction. It feels a lot like you’re losing your faith; but you might actually just be losing some stuff that you think was belief, but it was really just more opinion.

So I think it’s important we go through that process. And you don’t have the choice, those of you who are going through this in your family dynamic. You are going through this process, and trying to figure out where are the lines that I need to fight and avoid, and where are the lines that I can continue to live with? And I think it’s important for us to do this as Christians. Jesus never said it would be easy for us to walk this out. That’s a little heady stuff for you.

Last year, more than ever, many of our thoughts, feelings and political opinions became religious beliefs and dogmas. We’re continuing to see friends, families, marriages and church communities going through painful divisions because of humanistic and demonic ideas claiming to have the high moral ground. I’m not saying there’s no right and wrong. I’m not saying there are not things we should divide over. But I do think we need to make very sure we are diligently working to have Jesus’ vision for righteousness, not a man-made or devil-made ideology.

Anybody with me? Paul the Apostle, who wrote long ago, not in America, but somehow knows exactly what we’re thinking, said this to his young mentoree in 2 Timothy 4:2-5:

Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come…

He could have said “in 2021,” but he said:

…when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

So is the Bible outdated and irrelevant, or does that seem to really resonate and hit home? I need some encouragement this morning. You think this is easy? I am so alone up here! Where is everybody at? Nobody. You’re all there. Come on. Let’s do this together. Or, if you’re like, “No! That doesn’t sound right,” say that! I’m totally fine with that. I mean, maybe. We’ll see. But no. I want to hear from you guys, for sure. This is important stuff.

With that being said, with all the swirling winds of ideologies around us, we as a church fasted and prayed, committed ourselves to seek first Jesus’ kingdom and his righteousness. We believe Jesus’ way is the way to produce true justice and the greatest freedom and flourishing in this life. So we turn our attention for the next few months to the Sermon on the Mount.

In this sermon Jesus is creating distinction between his way and the religious ideologies of his day. Did you hear that? As you read this, Jesus is intentionally saying, “You have heard it said…but I say.” He’s creating distinction between the way of Jesus and all the other political and religious ideologies of his day. And that’s what we’re trying to do. That’s what we want to do. That’s what we have the Spirit of God helping us to do as we go through this.

This is Jesus’ manifesto — his public declaration of the motives, values and intentions of his kingdom. These are awesome, awesome words. Super awesome. As we go into this, there are a few things that have been helpful to keep in mind. I know I’m unpacking a lot of things right here, but I’m kind of front-loading this because I’m going to borrow a lot of this stuff as we go further into this sermon. I think it’s really important, before we jump in, to get some framework for this.

Tim Keller gives good framework when he says, when you think of the way of Jesus as opposed to all the other ways or gospels or whatever views of righteousness, he said you’ve got to think of it as the inside out kingdom and the upside down kingdom. As Americans we have a very consumeristic, individualistic, success-oriented economy. We really look at the external. How do they dress? How do they look? What car do they drive? What house do they live in? Are they beautiful or not beautiful? And we esteem and give credit to so many external things. And we really value those things.

What Jesus is trying to put forth, according to Tim Keller, is that Jesus’ kingdom is much more inside out than outside in. So Jesus really is more interested in what’s happening inside your soul than what’s coming out, if that makes sense.

Then the upside down kingdom. We look at people at the top of their game, so to speak, the top of their industry, so to speak, the top of all of these things. We look at them and think, “Wow, they are blessed! God has been good to them. Wow. They should be able to speak into our lives and speak into our culture. We should learn from them.”

But Jesus has an upside down kingdom. Whereas you read, you just continually hear that. No, those people, that’s fine. He doesn’t have a problem with them. But the real goal, the real beauty are those who are down and out, those who society just kind of passes right over and you might not even notice at all. Those are the ones that God is paying attention to. Those are the ones that will have the best perspective on the kingdom of heaven. That’s wild stuff right there.

That’s why a lot of you, when you go on a missions trip to a foreign place and you see people who are extremely poor and yet they have so much joy, you go, “Whoa! I’ve got some thinking to do.” Yeah. Right. It’s proof of what Jesus is trying to teach in the Sermon on the Mount. So I love that.

Anytime you’re like, “This is is so…I don’t get it.” Inside out. Upside down. Everybody say it. It’s because you’re going to get hit with stuff and you’re going to be like, “Ugh! What?” Inside out. Upside down. Thank you, Tim Keller.

There’s a guy named Jonathan Pennington who has spent like five years just trying to unpack and understand how to interpret the Beatitudes. And he had the audacity, as I’m trying to do this, he had the audacity to say to me (through a podcast), “After all my efforts, I don’t feel like I’ve ever found anything that really does it.” I was like, “You jerk. How am I supposed to feel good about what I’m doing?” Five years. And these guys are brilliant. Anyway, it always gives me a little hope, because if he can’t get it right, maybe I’ll get it right just by chance, you know?

But anyway, he says that the way of Jesus, as you go through the Sermon on the Mount, the way of Jesus looks a lot like a cross. That’s basically what he said. He said the way of Jesus is very low and very cross-shaped. So when you’re facing a decision or facing like, “I don’t know what is right or what is true. Jesus, what’s your way in all of this?” Whatever looks the lowest and the most like a cross, that’s probably the way of Jesus.

It is true. That’s basically what Jesus was teaching. So inside out. Upside down. Low. And like a cross. Those are going to be helpful things for us. And lastly, Jesus finishes the Sermon on the Mount with three analogies that I think are important as we go back to try and unpack. The three analogies are the small gate and narrow road versus the broad way to destruction. So the way of Jesus is small and narrow and few that find it, as opposed to the not way of Jesus is broad. It’s basically like anything you want to do. There are lots of options. There isn’t even a gate. It’s just like, zoom, go for it. But the way of Jesus is small and narrow and few find it. So you have that analogy.

You also have the prophet and the false prophet. The prophets both look like fruitful trees. They both bear fruit. But the false prophet’s fruit is bad. And the good prophet’s fruit is good. Again, we talked about how it takes time. There’s nothing instantaneous in this. There are counterfeits. It’s tricky. The way of Jesus — how do you know? It actually produces freedom and human flourishing — in time. It produces the peaceable fruit of righteousness. So that’s how we can judge between which way is true. Whatever the fruit that is produced from those things.

The last thing is, one is the rock and one is the sand. Right?

The wise man builds his house on the rock — that which has withstood the test of time. It doesn’t matter what the wind does. It doesn’t matter what the waves do. It doesn’t matter what the tide brings in. It’s solid. That’s where you build your house.

Whereas, you have the sand — which is this picture of here today, gone tomorrow. It’s whatever the tide brings in. It’s whatever’s new. It’s whatever’s temporary. It’s whatever fad there might be. If you build your house on those type of things, you’re going to get washed away.

So these are the analogies. These are the pictures we have from Jesus and from some others, to help us now as we get into this to understand and not get lost as we go to the Sermon on the Mounts. Matthew 5:1:

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them.

He’s teaching. It’s a sermon.

He said:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

And if you’ll do me a favor, I’m going to read you the very last verse after the Sermon on the Mount is concluded. Matthew 7:28:

28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

So here we have very famous text, very famous passage. It’s very sermon-like. It has a rhythm to it. It’s almost poetic the way it rolls out. Jesus is on the mountainside, so you got to think maybe, like, hippies out there. Kind of out in the country. Small town. You’ve got to think not a lot of education in these people that he’s teaching. There’s nothing about it that is that special except that Jesus has been going around Galilee, this little sea in Israel. And he’s been going around from village to village, small village to small village. He would show up there and he would do some ministry. He would talk to some people and find out what they were struggling with. He would minister truth. He would minister the power of the Spirit. He would bring some healings to them. Then he would proclaim to them that the kingdom of God has come. It is here. That God is for them. These people were so amazed by all he was doing, that every once in a while when Jesus would go out, whole crowds would gather around to see what he would do and hear what he would say.

In this one instance, he sits on the side of a hill. He’s already gathered disciples. He’s got disciples. At this point it is tricky. It could be twelve, but it’s probably more than that; because it was later on in another teaching that Jesus did, where his whole congregation got whittled down to twelve because it was very hard what he was teaching. But here in this moment, there’s probably a lot more than just twelve disciples — people were saying, “We want to be with Jesus.” And then there’s the crowds that are gathering, looking for a miracle or something. And he sits down and he starts to teach these people.

Now these people are not American. Right? Track with me here. I’m not trying to be racist or anything like this. I’m trying to give us context. These people are not American. They didn’t grow up with the internet. They’re not white. They’re not black. Could be a little sprinkling in there. Who knows? But they are jewish. And they are small-town. They are uneducated. They don’t have a lot going for them. They’re barely scraping to get by. They are deep, deep under Roman domination, even in their home town. They can’t do anything without Rome really telling them what to do. The taxes are brutal — to where they can never really gain any ground.

Not only that, but they are deep, deep under religious, kind of hierarchical oppression. The religious leaders of that day have convinced everybody of what is good and right and true. And it looks a lot like a Pharisee. And anyone who doesn’t look a lot like a Pharisee is worthless and wrong and God doesn’t really love them. So they’re wrestling with that. And these guys are also at the bottom of whatever kind of caste system was there, these men and women out there on the side of a hill listening to a rabbi that was kind of a wanna-be at this point. Yet, as he speaks to them, he speaks in such a peculiar way, such a simple way, but such a different way, that, when they heard his words, they were amazed.

As we read through this sermon, it’s going to be interesting. Because we’re going to read through this sermon and there are times when it’s just like, What? That’s too heavy. That’s too narrow. There’s no way. What? Jesus? Come on! It’s going to be rough. But we’ve got to remember to hear it the way they heard it. When they heard it, their response was, “This is awesome! This is awesome!” Not only that, but they’re like, “This sounds so different from what I’ve heard all my life from the religious leaders. This feels like it has authority to it. This feels like it has substance to it. This sounds like something I can trust in.”

So, as we read through this, no matter what, we’re going to hit some passages and you’re going to be like, “Oh, no! What? Brutal.” Even when you just hear the words, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” the truth is, as Americans, we think of times maybe that we were poor in spirit, but I think it’s not natural for us to think Jesus is talking to us. Whereas, the people he’s talking to in that day, when he said, “poor in spirit,” they were like, “Oh, he’s talking about me? He’s calling me blessed?” That’s what they did. That’s how it hit them. And they were so encouraged by it. So we’ve got to keep that frame of reference as we go through this, to let the Sermon on the Mount create that in us.

The second thing we’ve got to remember is you go through here just like Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for this is coming your way. Blessed are those who mourn, because this is coming your way.” He keeps reminding them that, if they will diligently do the way of Jesus, it will produce really great things. There will be rewards. Jesus is not afraid to use the word reward. He actually says it. He says, “When they do all kinds of evil against you because of me, rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven.”

So as you go through the sermon, you’re going to see the juxtaposition of the now life and the next life. Jesus is not afraid to say that a lot of the things that you do today are going to affect your reality in heaven. There’s lots of verses here to back this up. He says, “Rejoice and be glad. Great is your reward in heaven.” He talks about, “If you do this, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” “Truly, I tell you they have received their reward in full.” They’ve received their reward in this life, which means they’re going to get anything in the next life. “Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” “Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full in this life.” They’re not getting what’s next. “He sees what is done in secret will reward you.” “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” There’s a whole big, long part of the sermon where Jesus is talking about storing up treasures in heaven where moth and rust can’t get to it.

The next life vs. now life is a consistent theme in here. I think it’s important for us to understand that, for Jesus, the priority was the next life. It says about Jesus that it was for the joy set before him that he endured the cross. So everything you endure, everything you go through now that is challenging or hard, actually is an opportunity to invest in the next life.

There’s this guy, Francis Chan, he’s a great preacher and he actually has a long rope. I don’t have a long rope so you’ve just got to think about the long rope in my hand here. It’s a huge rope that goes from that wall all the way to that wall. You know, and I can fling it. You see it? He had a rope. I can’t figure out how to get a long rope. But basically like a long tug-of-war rope. He was trying to express to everybody like eternity is this rope but forever. So God is eternal. Right? God has no beginning so you can go back as far as you want with this rope this way and you’ll never get to the beginning of God. And God has no end, so you can go as far you want that way and you’ll never get to the end of God.

But he said, for us, even though sometimes in songs we use the word eternity about us — we’re not eternal. We’re not eternal because you can go back to our beginning. Right? We had a beginning. Now, we are everlasting. We have no end. And that is true. But what Francis Chan was trying to illustrate — he took a Sharpie and drew a black line on the rope. He was like, “See this? This is your now life. See this? That’s your next life.” And this is why Jesus says, “Why would you sell your soul to gain something in the now life and lose it for the next life?”

Or in the sermon he says, “Why would you keep your eyes if they’re causing you to stumble? Instead, cut out your eye in this life so that in the next life you’ll make it and you’ll have all you need.”

He’s talking about the now life or the next life. This is a little weird for us especially because there’s like crypto-currency out there right now! Right? It’s like investment time is good right now. And Jesus is not saying, “You shouldn’t invest and be wise in this life.” But he was saying, “You’ve got to make sure that you are investing in the next life, more so. More time, attention, resource, energy be given to the investment in the next life than in this life. Otherwise, you are a fool building your house on the sand. Otherwise, you are a false prophet that are going to wish you had some good fruit in the next life, but you’re not going to have any. Otherwise, you’re going to find yourself on a broad way leading to destruction, instead of the narrow way.

We’ve got to figure out the now life vs. the next life concept. This is going to come up a bunch in the Sermon on the Mount. This is a motivation and Jesus isn’t afraid to say it. Now I’m not saying the kingdom of heaven hasn’t come and isn’t in this life. We do get appetizers in this life. But the real meal is coming. And Jesus said that that’s really important that you think about investing and preparing for that.

That also was makes the Beatitudes so true and right and good, if we can see them from that perspective. Because Jesus is not lying or just trying to make people who are poor in spirit feel better. He’s really trying to understand that, when you’re poor in spirit, when you’re broken down, when you feel alone and you feel isolated, and you feel like God is so far from you, in those moments you have such an opportunity to gain something that’s everlasting. That’s why you’re blessed.

It’s not because Christianity is some sort of masichistic, weird thing, like, “Oh yeah, look, I’m bleeding. Isn’t that awesome?” No. Jesus is trying to say that, really, you’ve got to see these things differently. You are blessed with an opportunity to invest in what’s next, to receive the kingdom. To see God. To receive the comfort of God. To receive the reward he has for you. You are so blessed when you’re in those moments, because God’s attention is on you. God’s focus is on you. God’s presence is so near to the broken-hearted.

That’s why you’re blessed. That’s why you’re flourishing in these moments. That’s why you’re standing in the right place when you’re standing with the poor in spirit, or when you’re poor in spirit yourself. Because, right there in that moment, the kingdom of heaven has never been closer.

Ultimately, when you read these Beatitudes, Jesus is just describing himself. Right? Jesus is declaring something that he knows and he believes and he walked out. Blessed am I when I am poor in spirit because he who knew no sin, he who is seated at the throne of God became sin and entered our world. He became poor in spirit because he knew that there was a blessing there. There was an opportunity to gain you and I forevermore. He became the person who mourned and wept. I mean Jesus is describing himself. Jesus is describing the way that he walked so that we could follow him in this way, in this upside down, inside out blessing that he offers to us.

Now, to finish, I rewrote the Beatitudes, even though Pennington told me that I shouldn’t. He didn’t say that. But I just felt like this was the way this was speaking to me. And I felt that this is the way the Beatitudes kind of speak to our moment in time. So I’m going to read through this. You can follow along and maybe one of these things will stand out to you. Maybe more than one. That’s fine. But here’s what I kind of feel like Jesus is trying to say to us today at Living Streams with the Beatitudes.

When you’re poor in spirit, rejoice with a quiet confidence because the kingdom of heaven is made up of people who know what it means to be poor in spirit.
When you’re in mourning (because of broken relationships, because of battles within, whatever you might be going through) rejoice with a quiet confidence because God is very near to the broken hearted, and he himself will make sure that you are comforted.
When you’re humble, rejoice with a quiet confidence, because it’s only a matter of time until you get to experience God lifting you up in this life.
When the injustice in the world causes you to feel desperate for righteousness, rejoice with a quiet confidence because God is going to make sure you have a front row seat when he rids the world of all wickedness and restores everything as if evil never existed.
When you see heartbreaking situations and are compelled to give mercy, rejoice with a quiet confidence, because God will be happy to show you mercy when you need it.
When you deny yourself and miss out on the things in this life, rejoice with a quiet confidence, because God’s way will be more clear to you because of your sacrifice.
When anger and hatred are escalating, but you choose to speak peacefully to defuse the situation, rejoice with a quiet confidence because God will claim you as his own forevermore.
When you do the right thing and it costs you friendships, comfort, finances, and even your health or safety, rejoice with a quiet confidence, because God is going to repay you tenfold with heavenly treasures which cannot spoil or depreciate.
When your love for Jesus causes you to lose out or be lied about, rejoice with a quiet confidence, because God is keeping track and will reward you just like he rewarded the prophets of old.

Let’s pray:

Jesus, we want to see things the way you do. We want to live into the kingdom. We want to invest in the kingdom. We want to establish your kingdom here. I thank you, Jesus, that you came and suffered so much and lost so much and denied yourself so much, so that you could show us the way.
And Lord, I pray that we would fall in love with you all over again, that we’d fall in love with your way, and that you really would use our lives, and even our pain and struggle to pave the way for others to know your love. Help us to be able to stand in this narrow way, to walk this narrow road and love those who are not.
I thank you for your Spirit that you promised to fill us with to empower us to walk in this way. I thank you for your blood which cleanses us each and every time we fall or fail. I really pray that we would be people that can find your way. And I pray that this would be a church that has so many rewards in heaven because of each and every sacrifice they make here. We really believe that you are a rewarder of those who diligently seek you, so help us keep seeking you.
I pray for those who are battling, Lord, those who are really mourning, poor in spirit, because of internal struggles or external struggles, Lord. I pray that you would really help them get to a place where they can just trust you and take you at your word, and you would hold them, Lord, and you would go with them and you’d lead them to life, Lord.
For those who have been away for a long time but know they need to come back right now, Lord, I pray that they would know that you are a Father who receives them with a robe and a ring, and they can come back any time. We love you, Jesus. We thank you for your word. Amen.

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Guest User 7/14/19 Guest User 7/14/19

Generational Blessing

Video (Jim Watkins): “In terms of a legacy, let me recite a saying that I picked up out of a book that said, 'Push back against the age as hard as it pushes against you.’ I look at life, and most people do, I think, in four quarters. You know, there’s 1-20, 20-40, 40-60, 60-80.

David Stockton
Series: Generational Blessing

Video (Jim Watkins):

“In terms of a legacy, let me recite a saying that I picked up out of a book that said, 'Push back against the age as hard as it pushes against you.’ I look at life, and most people do, I think, in four quarters. You know, there’s 1-20, 20-40, 40-60, 60-80. In that first quarter of life, 1-20, I thought I knew God, but as I reflect on it, fortunately, God knew me. As I look back at some of the reckless decisions and shameful behaviors that I had during that time of life, I realize that he was really giving me cover. I wouldn’t see that until hindsight. After I had accepted the Lord and I look back on my life, and I look at all of those times that things could have just gone off the rails—even to the point of death—and think that the Lord’s hand was upon me, saving me for a relationship with him.
“I was married, starting to raise children, trying to get established in my career. It was toward the end of that second season when I went and met the Lord. That was a significant change in my life, It was interesting. My wife told me that after I came home from that week all zealous, that I would be tested. She said, ‘Expect that you will be tested.’ Well, the following week I found out that I was going to lose my job—it had been eliminated. So, during that second season, after I had met the Lord, he had other things in mind for us, and brought us into the desert.
“In that third season I began to go deeper in my faith. I started getting involved in Bible studies, I started teaching Bible studies and facilitating them.
“The fourth season, which is the one I’m in right now, things were good. Empty nest. Kids were gone, off the payroll. Things were good there. And then there was a speed bump. My wife got breast cancer. During that period, I never got mad at God. ‘Why is going this way? Why does it have to end this way?’ I thought The Lord’s will in this will eventually be apparent to me.
“It was an opportunity to take my relationship with my wife even deeper. I can remember a few days before she died, I asked her, ‘Are there any wounds that I’ve caused that I need to ask forgiveness for?’
“It was one of those priceless moments because she said, ‘I’ve never felt more loved.’ Little did I know when we had that conversation that within two or three days she’d be gone. So it was a nice way to end our life together.
“So after several months, I talked with Mark Buckley and said, ‘Mark, you know, I’m feeling isolated and kind of lonely. I’d like to try to find a companion.’
“His answer was straight out of Genesis. He said, ‘It’s not good for a man to be alone.’
“As an example that you can teach an old dog new tricks, I went online, used social media, went on Christian Mingle, and connected with my second wife, Angie.
“In terms of an overarching theme, I think I can only respond to that in the current time. I can’t go way back and say, ‘This was my theme going forward,’ other than, at the time, I wanted to be a good father, a good family man, I wanted to be full of honesty and integrity in my life; but as I look at an overarching theme now in terms of how do I want to finish and how do I want to finish strong, I think that theme would be: Build on the past, always be consciously grateful for what the Lord has done in my life; and whenever there’s a scintilla of doubt, just look back on how he’s gotten me through so many problems. The Lord has always been there. He’s never failed me. And I know he’ll never fail me in the future.”

Amen to that. We are starting a new series called “Generational Blessing.” There’s going to be a lot more of that. We ‘re going to try to get some perspective from the Bible, but we’re also trying to get a little perspective from some of those who have walked a great many years in this life, and walked a great many years with Jesus—learning things. It’s going to be interesting. A little sobering, hopefully, at times—a little humbling. But it should be really good.

We actually have four things that we hope this series produces in us as a church family. We want to resist our culture’s urge to honor the young and famous, and try to figure out how to be more biblical and honor the old and humble. It’s definitely the way of the Bible. We want to engage with and embrace those outside of our generation. We’re hoping this series will stimulate you to say, “Man, I want to call somebody who’s older or younger and find the riches that are there in that multi-generational life.”

The church is made up of every tribe, every tongue from every corner of the earth, from every age. The Bride that Jesus Christ died for and is drawing together is a bride that literally is not just millennial and baby boomer. It’s all ages since the beginning until the end. There will be people that are a part of that Bride of Christ, part of that heavenly body that come from every age. It’s just mind-blowing. And God’s vision is always so much bigger and broader than ours.

Another thing we hope is that we will begin to acknowledge and appreciate the frailty and brevity of life that will let the winds of eternity blow in and, though we can’t comprehend them, we’ll let them stir in us and help us understand that really our life is very short, very frail, very brief and very precious. Every breath is a gift. Every day is a gift and can be used in good ways and ways that aren’t so good.

And another thing we to happen is that we will get to know Jesus more, as always. We want to grow more dependent on the faithful Rock of Ages. Set our feet more firmly into that Rock that has been faithful for all time and will be faithful forevermore.

That’s what we’re hoping for. Trying to build our lives on the good things. We know that there are different generations, even alive today. I just had the opportunity to go camping with Jim Watkins, the guy on the video. He’s the chairman of our elder board. He invited me—he’s invited me multiple times to go to the Black River, fishing with him. It hasn’t worked out, but then this year it did. I told a little bit of those stories. But it was incredible to be with a guy who’s in his mid-seventies. He drove his truck until, literally, you couldn’t go any further because he had run over so many trees. We were like, “What’s that smell?” Well, basically, that’s trees under us that are burning because we’re just romping right over them.

We get there and everyone gets their heavy backpacks on and we hike down this mountain about an hour and a half. He’s just leading the charge, no problem. It was really amazing to be with a guy who’s fortunate enough, by God’s grace to be at that age and still really healthy in a lot of ways. But he does have a weakness. I was following him down this trail. We were just hiking and hiking. Again, I’m going, “Man, this guy is so incredible.” And I hear a rattle snake. It’s rattling really loud. But he just kept marching through. He has been bitten by a rattle snake in the last year. And I’m thinking, “Man, this guy is so tough that not even a rattle snake moves him.” He’s just walking right by. And I saw the rattle snake. And I was just, “Ahhh! Jim! A rattle snake!”

He came over and he was poking it and prodding it. He’s like, “Yeah. Look at that rattle snake.”

I’m like, “Man, this guy is hard core. He’s really hard core.”

Later on, I was asking him, “How many rattle snakes have you seen out here?”

He said, “I’ve never seen any rattle snakes. Maybe one time when I first came, thirty-five years ago or something.”

I was like, “Wow. That’s crazy,”

So, then when we’re hiking out, there were four of us, and Jim’s leading the way. We’re all trudging through and he’s having no trouble. We get to the top and we’re just about back to the car when, all of a sudden, I hear that rattle again. I was freaking out and saying, “Rattle snake! Rattle snake!”

He’s like, “What’s that?”

He turned around and I was like, “There’s a rattle snake right there!”

This thing was just so loud. And Jim comes over and he’s like, “Wow! There he is!”

And I go, “Jim, can you hear that?”

He goes, “It’s making noise?”

I was like, “It’s screaming at us! It’s so loud!” I turned on the camera and I was like, “Listen to this!”

And the first time he didn’t have a hearing aid in and he couldn’t hear it, which makes sense. The second time, he had his hearing aid in, but whatever the frequency, he couldn’t hear it. He literally looks at me and says, “Maybe that’s why I haven’t seen one in thirty-five years!”

I was like, “Oh, my goodness!”

We were about done with the trip. But I vowed that, any time I’m with Jim I’m staying right next to him because I don’t want him to get bit by another rattle snake.

I tell that story, One, because it’s amazing what he is able to do all of that, but I can’t emphasize to you enough what a privilege and blessing I feel right now to have somebody like Jim in my life. I’ve told him this numerous times and, this isn’t a surprise to him, but just to have a guy like that who’s rooting for me, cheering for me—and he’s the chairman of an elder board. So, in my position, I have a bunch of volunteer elders who are all just trying to say, “We just don’t want this guy to fail. How do we keep correcting him when he’s getting off and encouraging him when he’s not?” They are literally trying to make me succeed in everything I do. It is such an honor and a privilege and a joy and a strength. I’m so thankful for it.

Jim and I have had many talks. We’ve been on adventures together. It’s just so rich. And if you don’t have something like that, I would encourage you to start praying very, very fervently that the Lord would bring something like that into your life. And if you’re saying, “Everybody older than me is dead, because I’m really old,” then go ahead and pray that the Lord would start showing you who you could be that for. It is so needed and necessary in this Christian life, let alone life in itself. We need each other.

Our goal at Living Streams is to be a multi-generational church, which is the most miserable way you can do church. Right? It’s like, “Let’s be all young with our everything and then at least the young people are happy.” And the old people are grumpy. “All right. Let’s just make it a little more old with everything. We’ll get the old people happy.” “Let’s be multi-generational.” Then everybody’s unhappy. Right? I mean, that’s basically what we’ve said. “Okay, Lord, we’re going to be multi-generational.” But it’s because we believe there is a treasure and a richness there that we desperately want. It’s worth whatever kind of discomfort or misery we might go through.

The generations that we know are alive today:

The Traditionalists born before 1945. Again, the dates aren’t quite as important, they’ve discovered it’s more the collective experiences that that age group has gone through. The Traditionalists went through World Wars, the Great Depression, and they remember when they got sliced bread, I guess.

The Baby Boomers are those who remember living through Vietnam, the Cold War, Civil Rights Movement, Moon Landing, Woodstock and when they got their first TV.

Generation X. Both parents worked a lot, so less supervision. Music Videos changed everything. And they remember when they got their first computer as a family.

And then the Millennial generation. They remember all the technological advances. They remember when they got their first phone. Facebook, Instagram. The world got a lot smaller because of the ease of travel and communication. This is their shared experience. You guys keep thinking I’m going to make fun of them. “You said Millennials, where’s the joke?” It’s all right. We’re trying to honor everybody right now. I’ll make fun of you later.

Generation Z. Those that are born from 1996. Basically, there are four necessities of life: Air, Water, WiFi, Food. Basically, that’s it. “Food is okay, as long as I’ve got WiFi.” Their online personality and relationships are just as important as their offline in time spent and investment. Now, I don’t think anyone would actually say that at this point. But it’s kind of interesting that they’ve always lived with kind of an online personality. So the two of them are very important. Their interactions in both places are very important and they shape them differently than the other generations.

Again, when the Bible is talking, it’s not just talking about America in 2019. It’s speaking things that are relevant way beyond America, way beyond our generations that we can name at this point: every age, every nation, every tribe, every tongue.

I want to turn to Psalm 90, if you would. We’re going to work through Psalm 90 a bit. It’s a Psalm by Moses, which is weird if you know anything about the Psalms. It’s the only Psalm by Moses. All the other Psalms are written by David, or a lot of times were at the same time that David was alive or just after that with Asaph. This Psalm by Moses had been preserved by the Israelites into the Psalms. It’s been preserved by both those involved in Judaism and Christianity today.

Psalm 90 is the start of a new book of Psalms, Book Number 4 of Psalms, which, if that doesn’t make sense, do a little research. It’s kind of fun. A little breakdown of the book of Psalms.

We don’t know exactly, but Moses was probably old—real old. What we know of him, he was about eighty when he started his relationship with Jahweh, the God of the Bible. And so, it’s after that, between 80 and 120, somewhere in there is when Moses was probably writing this thing. You’ll see how that makes a lot more sense as we go through this Psalm.

Psalm 90:

1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place
throughout all generations.

2 Before the mountains were born
or you brought forth the whole world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Moses starts out and we don’t know what is stirring in him that is causing him to pray at all, or to pray specifically in this way. You guys know there are times in your life where all of a sudden you’re stirred to pray. Maybe you have a need or lack, or maybe you’re just feeling caught up in something you’ve seen that’s beautiful, and so you’re stirred to pray. But then, what you pray actually is also coming from what you are experiencing in life. We don’t know exactly, except that he’s old. And he’s come to this point where the intensity of his mortality is great. He’s probably thinking about death a lot more than when he was younger.

There are people in this room who are at that stage. They are thinking about their mortality. It is yelling at them. It’s tapping them on the shoulder. “Hey. Hey. Hey.” All the time. Now, all of us know that life could end at any minute, but Moses was probably in that stage where he was dealing with the reality of death. And he’s saying, “God, you have been a refuge to every generation. I know that you are way bigger than I could ever comprehend. That you are not just my God and the God of my time, but you are the God beyond time.”

And he even talks about, “You are ageless, going back. Timeless, going back. Timeless, going forward.” This is an interesting concept for Moses to be grasping. This is eternity, which is a very, very vast concept that causes even our great scientists to stumble and kind of falter in trying to explain eternity. Basically, no beginning and no end.

That’s different that you and me. The Bible teaches that we are not eternal. It might sound funny, and, obviously it’s semantics. We don’t inherit eternal life from God, even though that’s what the interpretation is. We inherit everlasting life. The difference is that we have a beginning. God has no beginning and no end. We have a beginning and we have no end.

Moses is grasping in this moment the reality of God being timeless, not ever dealing with mortality. Not ever dealing with limit. Not being finite.

Then he goes on to say:

3 You turn people back to dust,
    saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”
4 A thousand years in your sight
    are like a day that has just gone by,
    or like a watch in the night.
5 Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—
they are like the new grass of the morning:
6 In the morning it springs up new,
    but by evening it is dry and withered.

Again, Moses is trying to be in this moment, and he’s saying, “Not only are you eternal and immortal and limitless, but when I look at humanity—pitiful. So brief. So frail. So small.” And he’s just caught up in this reality. He knows that death is coming at any minute, no matter how hard he fights, no matter how much he flexes, no matter what he does, he can’t beat it. And he’s been experiencing it little by little his entire life.

Death is not something that’s brand new in his life. Death is something that’s always been there. And we, mankind, though we think we’re so fit and strong and big, we’re just like a blade of grass that grows up in the morning and is gone in the evening.

And then he says:

7 We are consumed by your anger
    and terrified by your indignation.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
    our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 All our days pass away under your wrath;
    we finish our years with a moan.
10 Our days may come to seventy years,
    or eighty, if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
    for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
11 If only we knew the power of your anger!
    Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.

So here, Moses is speaking to the pain of life, not only is God limitless, immortal, infinite, and we’re so brief and frail, but this existence that we have here in life is rough. It’s full of pain, challenge, loneliness, loss, heartbreak. Welcome to church, everybody, Hope you’re really getting built up by this.

And he says,“You know, I understand that this is linked to our sin, that we hurt each other, that wars happen, that people are brutal and angry and spiteful. Not only do we have pain in our bodies, but we inflict pain so often.” He’s just being honest. It’s like all of this truth is being presented to him and he’s not rejecting or ignoring it. He’s just embracing it.

It’s funny. In Ecclesiastes Chapter 12, there’s another writer in the Bible. He speaks to aging. He speaks to old age, It’s the wisest man, Solomon, who is writing.

In Ecclesiastes 12 (NCV), he says it this way:

1 Remember your Creator
    while you are young,
before the days of trouble come
    and the years when you say,
    “I find no pleasure in them.”
2 When you get old,
    the light from the sun, moon, and stars will grow dark;
    the rain clouds will never seem to go away.
3 At that time your arms will shake
    and your legs will become weak.
Your teeth will fall out so you cannot chew,
    and your eyes will not see clearly.
4 Your ears will be deaf to the noise in the streets,
    and you will barely hear the millstone grinding grain.
You’ll wake up when a bird starts singing,
    but you will barely hear singing.
5 You will fear high places
    and will be afraid to go for a walk
Your hair will become white like the flowers on an almond tree.
    You will limp along like a grasshopper when you walk.
    Your appetite will be gone.
Then you will go to your everlasting home,
    and people will go to your funeral.
6 Soon your life will snap like a silver chain
    or break like a golden bowl.
You will be like a broken pitcher at a spring,
    or a broken wheel at a well.
7 You will turn back into the dust of the earth again,
    but your spirit will return to God who gave it.
8 Everything is useless!
    The Teacher says that everything is useless.

We can read this, and I think everyone is here because they are somewhat able bodied. We kind of laugh a little bit, even though some of us might feel a lot more of this than others. But this is real. If you’re ninety, maybe you can laugh at this, but it’s a different kind of laughter because you’re feeling it.

Every one of these things is just a reminder that death really is what’s happening. Death really is a reality. And, just like Moses is describing, our life lives under the shadow of death. There is a curse over this life. It’s true. Adam and Eve were in the garden and there was paradise. There was no death, no pain, no sorrow, no shame, no guilt. There was none of these things that he describes. And then, one day mankind, Adam and Eve, decided to trust something other than what God had said. Whether they trusted the word of the serpent, whether they trusted their own discernment and understanding. Whether Adam trusted Eve or Eve trusted Adam—it’s hard to know exactly. But they trusted something other than what God had sad. And immediately there was a curse on this world and this life that we endure every day.

Now, by God’s grace, God said, “Let us not also let them eat of the tree of life and let them live forever under that curse. But let us get them out of the garden so that, at some point, they will die so that they can once again be free from the curse.”

Moses is alluding to the curse, the reality of death and the shadow, and that death is having its work in us each and every day.

He goes on in Psalm 90, in light of all of that, the agelessness of God, the frailty of humanity and the curse that we live under, this is what Moses prays for, what he asks for towards the end of his life:

12 Teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

He doesn’t pray, “Lord, could you make my hip stop feeling like that? Or could you just give me one tooth back so I can chew? Lord, will you just take me away and let death come right now?” He doesn’t pray any of those prayers. He says, “Lord, will you help me to know how best to use each one of the days that I have left?”

It’s sad, I think, to the Lord and maybe to Moses, that we would have to wait until the end of our life to pray prayers like that. Hopefully somehow we can stir up a little bit of that understanding. Then he also prays:

13 Relent, Lord! How long will it be?
    Have compassion on your servants.
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
    that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    for as many years as we have seen trouble.

I think this is a very interesting prayer here. Again, he doesn’t pray that God will take away the reality of death and what it works in our bodies and in our lives. But he says “God, I pray that as death increases, as the pain of aging increases, I pray that your joy, your unfailing love and your gladness would increase at a greater rate; because I know that you are more than enough for me. You were more than enough for me when I faced Pharaoh and the Egyptian army. You were more than enough for me when I faced the Red Sea. You were more than enough for me when I walked through the wilderness with no food or water. Lord, you’re shown how sufficient you are. That you really are the I AM. And I pray that now, as I face this whole different kind of enemy, I pray that once again you would be more than enough for me.”

That’s a beautiful prayer. It’s the kind of prayer that I’ve been praying for my daughter, Bella, who’s in a wheel chair. I would love for the Lord to heal her and not make her go through a lot of the things she goes through, but when I prayed those prayers, it just felt like ‘eh. And I remember at one point I was stirred by the Lord to pray a prayer like this:

“God, I just pray actually that you would heal her in the way that’s most significant for her relationship with you. And I’ll just butt out, if that’s okay.”

And I felt like the Lord said, “Now, I hear you. Now I hear you. You don’t even know the moment I have set up between me and her.”

I said, “Okay. And I’ll just do my best to fill her with joy and love and gladness so that she can overcome whatever hard may come.”

And it’s true for all of my kids, not just her.

And then he goes on to pray one more prayer:

16 May your deeds be shown to your servants,
your splendor to their children.
17 May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us;
establish the work of our hands for us—
yes, establish the work of our hands.

He first prays that the Lord would teach him to number his days, to make the most of them, to have a wisdom for how to use them in a wonderful, beautiful way. But then he prays not that God would remove all the pain from his life, but that God’s sufficiency would be more than the pain. That’s a prayer that God loves to answer, by the way.

And then the last thing he prays is that, “God, somehow, in light of all of this, you would produce something from my life that lasts beyond my life. I just want something I do to be meaningful for those who come after me. Establish the work of my hands.

The way he says it there, “May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children.”

“Lord, I pray that you would do something in me that helps my kids and their kids and their kids all be able to pray the same thing that I’m praying. Lord, you have been a dwelling place to every generation.”

Moses could think of the stories that had come before him, how God had been so faithful. He’s praying that now his kids and their kids would look at his life and think, “Wow, God, you have been faithful.”

And I love it that he’s kind of ending his prayer with the beginning. He’s saying, “Lord, establish the work of my hands.”

And yes, we know Moses for a lot of other things, but in this Psalm, the very prayer that Moses prays God actually preserves in answer to his prayer. Do you see what I’m saying? He prays, “God, let something that I do, something of my life last beyond my life.”

And God says, “Well, I’m going to take this prayer you just prayed and I’m going to make that the very answer to the prayer you just prayer.”

And now, four thousand years later, we’re reading this prayer—preserved, established by Moses and God together. And I pray that we would be able to pray in that way, that we would have that picture of eternity. The parade of history is going past and we can only see this one section, about seventy or eighty years. And maybe we can look back and say, “Yeah. I heard some stories from before. Yeah, I can see the future a little bit, what’s going to happen.” But it’s still so small. And yet, God is above. He’s kind of like up in the blimp and he sees the end from he beginning, and ever twist and turn and corner.

Moses is teaching us that, when we pray, we should try to get up with God and get a picture of what sovereignty sees, what eternity sees, and pray those type of prayers. So we can take this prayer and measure it against the prayers that we’re praying, and see if we’re too focused not he here and now—the momentary. If we’re too caught up in the economy of this world instead of the economy of heaven, and learn to pray prayers that God really wants to answer.

Why don’t we do that now. Bow your heads and close your eyes. We’ll take a moment here:

Lord Jesus, we do pray that, right now in this moment, Lord, pray that you really would breathe your breath on us, that you’d help us see things the way you see them. That you’d open our eyes to our blind spots. And Lord, you would put some prayers in our heart that are worth praying. Prayers that will honor you and bring you glory. I pray this in your name. Amen.

I want to show you one more illustration. Many of you have probably seen this. It was done by a man named Francis Chan. He was trying to give an illustration of forever vs. today. He did it pretty smooth. I’m obviously not, right now. I’m going to try this one more time. Boom. Look at that. Pretend this rope goes on a long way, way further than it went. This is forever. Basically, we’ve got this rope and it goes on forever. And that’s our plan. God says that we’re created forever. We have this life in this body, but once we die, our being exists on. God intended it that way because he wants us to experience life to the full and life to forever. That’s the way we’re made. This is what we should be thinking about. This is what we should be worried about. Instead, this is what we’re worried about. We spend all of our life, energy, time, really trying to make the most of this [tiny portion of the rope] instead of making the most of this [the whole rope].

The illustration is that same thing that Moses said, “Teach us to number our days.” Teach us to realize how insignificant this life is, this seventy, eighty, ninety years is in comparison with what you’ve made us for. Now, the marvel of Scripture is that what happens in this life affects the rest of this, so this is important; but, for some reason, we get so focused on this, and I think God is just going, “What are you doing? I want to talk to you about this and you’re saying, ‘We just want to talk about this.’”

But there’s something about this small section that the Bible teaches is so vitally important. Because there are two ways that we go into forever. One is forever in life. The other is forever in not life—in death. Heaven and hell is the way that they’re described. And it’s not a popular thing to say, but the Bible is very clear that what you do with Jesus Christ in this life affects what your forever is going to be like. God created hell not for people. The Bible is very clear. He created it for the devil and his angels. And yet, those people who reject Christ, who do not surrender to the love and forgiveness of Christ, God says, “Well, I’m not going to force you to receive my life. If you want to be without my life, I’ll honor that. But you’re going to have to do it over my dead body, literally, the body of Christ.”

And some of us still, in our stubbornness and pride think we’ve got this all by ourselves. I’m hoping that, somehow, the light of all of this breaks some of that pride and you’ll come to Jesus and receive the life, the forgiveness that he wants to give.

I love the way that hymn says it. I thought this was so great. In Christ, if you’ll come to him, if you’ll surrender to him, you’ll receive “pardon for sin and a peace that endures.” And then you’ll receive God’s own presence to “cheer and to guide you along the way.”

Most of us are here because we’re experienced that. And the only one keeping you from Jesus right now is you.

We’re going to finish with communion. We’re all going to take a piece of bread and a cup and hold on to it and we’ll take it together. If you are someone who is not surrendered to Jesus, this is a golden opportunity for you. What we do with this is remember Jesus’ broken body. He was broken so that we could be made whole. And his shed blood. He allowed his blood to be shed on that cross so that we could be washed clean, past, present and forevermore. So we take this and we remember Jesus. We invite Jesus to come in again. But if this is your first time, you could take this and invite Jesus to come in for the first time. And he will come in and he will fill you with cheer, gladness, love, and forgiveness. And he’ll lead you to life everlasting

As they are passing this out, just take a moment and talk to the Lord. Confess your sin. Confess your forgiveness. Just allow him to speak to your heart in a moment of silence.

As I was praying this morning for all of us, especially those who are here that don’t really know Jesus or haven’t really surrendered, I just had a picture that I think was from God, of someone who just kept going down these streets and running into dead ends. I don’t know if you keep trying new things, thinking they’re going to bring you new life and they just keep ending up as dead ends. But the way of Jesus is a path that shines ever brighter to the perfect day. It doesn’t end. Jesus wants to take your hand and lead you down that path, if you’re ready. If you’re ready to say ‘no’ to all the other dead ends.

So Jesus, we do come to you right now. We’re all at different stages in our relationship with you. But I pray that, as we remember your broken body, you really would come and fill us. That you would shape us and form us to be more like you. Thank you for your broken body.

Let’s take the bread.

And Jesus, I pray that you would also come once again and cleanse us. That you’d just wash away all of our shame, all of our guilt, all of our fear, all of our self-righteousness. That you would just make us clean and you’d help us to believe it, as well.

Let’s take the cup.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® NIV®,
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.