David Stockton 5/30/21 David Stockton 5/30/21

Lust and Shame

You guys know what today is? It’s Pentecost Sunday! Woo! It’s the day that we remember when the Spirit of God was poured out upon the Church and everything changed. So, when David asked me to speak on my anger story, I thought, How am I going to tie that into Pentecost Sunday? I will do it! One of the things I want to say is…

Series: The Sermon on the Mount
May 30, 2021 - Alec Seekins

We’re just going to dive right into things. I’m kind of hoping that you guys will be willing to follow me to a place that will be pretty uncomfortable but ends someplace pretty awesome. I’m kind of hoping that, at some point of time during the service or during the course of your day, that each of us will allow ourselves and our heart to kind of sink into a place where we’re willing to feel some of the weight of our sin and our shame, whether present or past.

Please don’t be confused. What I don’t mean is that we would camp out there. I don’t think that Jesus wants us to live in a place where we’re rolling around in our sin and shame. I absolutely don’t mean that I think Jesus wants us to go back to something that he’s already set us free from. But I suspect that there is probably quite a few of us that think we’ve really dealt with our sin, but all we’ve done is managed our shame effectively.

Jesus doesn’t want us to just manage our shame. He wants us to actually move past that. He wants us to end up in a place of transformation. I think that, in order to end up in a place of transformation, we have to experience it at his feet, by his blood. I think in order to do that, we have to be moved to repentance. I think in order to be moved to repentance, for many of us it can be really helpful to feel some of the weight of our sin and our shame. To allow ourselves to be re-sensitized to that, so that again we would repent and let the Lord actually deal with the root of the shame, which is our sin. Because he is absolutely able to do that.

Without Jesus, I don’t think we have hope in this area. But with Jesus wee have hope to get through this on our knees, by his blood. I’m not asking you to follow me into this difficult and painful place to find hopelessness. I’m asking you to follow me there so we can follow Jesus out of there for good.

A lot of you guys know, because I got to share this a few months ago, that last year my wife and I spent the year in southeast Asia, working with an anti-trafficking ministry. When we had been there for a little while, I was asked if I could teach English for these two women who not too long ago had left their lives as prostitutes. They had subsequently come to Jesus and now they were engaged in this year-long discipleship program. So me and a woman from our team would teach that class twice a week for a couple of hours each class and we would just go over English stuff.

Before too long, we decided, you know, why don’t we kill two birds with one stone, because these women are brand new in their faith, they’ve never really been exposed to very much of the Bible, let’s kill two birds with one stone and start reading through stories in the book of Genesis.

What I was thinking of when we made that decision was like how the book of Genesis is all these cute, fun little children’s stories that are so great for learning English, right? Like Noah and the fluffy animals and Joseph and his really cool coat and all that kind of stuff. But if you’ve ever read that book as an adult —I don’t know why this didn’t click for me because I’ve read it many times as an adult — you realize really quickly this is not fluffy animals and cool, colorful coat. This book is full of scandal and sexual brokenness. It’s rated TV-MA if it was going to be on Netflix, for sure. It’s not PG, I promise you.

So we started reading these stories. And every time we would read one of these stories that had to do with sexual brokenness and depravity and this wickedness, I would start to feel super awkward. I’m the only guy in the room. Two of the women in the room, not too long ago were prostitutes. I am profoundly and acutely aware of the fact that my very presence might make them feel threatened. And now we’re reading stories like, you know, Noah passed out naked and drunk. Abraham’s got tons of them, right? Multiple occasions Abraham takes his wife and passes her on to another man and says, “Nah, she’s not my wife. Go for it.”

Then some years down the road in his relationship with Sarah, his wife, they’re having a hard time getting pregnant, so Sarah comes up with a brilliant idea and says, “Why don’t you take my servant, Hagar, and why don’t you sleep with her and she’ll get pregnant and she’ll have a kid and the kid will kind of be our kid a little bit.”

And then they do that. Then, surprise, surprise. Sarah ends up really angry and frustrated and bitter and jealous of Hagar. So she goes to her husband and says, “Why don’t you take the servant, the slave woman and her son and dump them in the desert?”

And he does that. Father Abraham had many sons, and one of them he left in the desert. It’s kind of messed up. And it continues from there. It doesn’t stop. It goes on and on and on. We look at Lot and his daughters and Judah and his daughter-in-law. And it just continues from there. And it’s usually at the hands of the protagonists, or the man characters or the heroes of the faith that this wickedness is being done.

I had these moments when we would read these stories. It kind of felt like, if you remember being a teenager and you’d watch a raunchy comedy with your friends, and you think it’s so funny because you’re all teenagers. And, gosh, it’s so funny how gross that is. Then a few months later you go to Blockbuster if you’re old enough, or whatever, and you rent the DVD and then you bring it home. And what you don’t think about is how raunchy that comedy was. It was so funny, but now you’re watching the movie and Mom or Grandma are in the room. And Will Ferrell’s not so funny anymore, is he?

And we have these experiences where we’re reading these children’s stories and they don’t really feel like children’s stories. And I’m acutely aware of that. And as we would read these, I started to get concerned that my friends, who were so new in their faith, that they might hear the stories of the depravity of the heroes of the faith and it might confuse them. And they might think, Do I really want to follow a God whose holy book is full of these broken people?

So every time we would get to the end of one of these stories, I would start explaining it away. I’d say, “Before we move on to talk about grammar, let me just talk about this a little bit. Just because the main characters are doing this, doesn’t mean that God or the Bible wants us to emulate what they’re doing. They’re not the cartoons that we grew up watching, where the main character, the protagonist ends up in a moral quandary and they wrestle with it a little bit, but ultimately they end up deciding to the right thing and if we emulate their behavior then we’re doing pretty good too. That’s not how the Old Testament is written. It’s very different from that.

So I would explain this away out of fear that my friends would see themselves in the shoes of the victims of the heroes of the faith. And one of these times, maybe the fourth or fifth time I had done this, I think we were talking about how Abraham had abandoned Hagar and her son in the desert place at the tail end of tons of wickedness. And I’m explaining it away, one of my friends stops me and says, “Alec, I don’t think you understand what the story means to us.” I said, “What do you mean?” She said, “Well, it’s really good news for me that Abraham did this.” I said, “What?” She said, “Yeah, because God still used him, right?” I said, “Yeah.” And she said, “So, he’ll still use me, won’t he?” And I said, “Yeah, he will. He absolutely will.”

That was the beginning for her of realizing how far Jesus was going to take her. That Abraham was so messed up and God still used him. Because, for her, the shame of the things that she had done and the shame of the things that had been done to her, in her heart they were inextricably interwoven. You couldn’t pull them apart. It didn’t really matter to her if Jesus was going to pull the things apart and define them and put them in their own nice, neat, tidy little boxes before he took her sin along with her shame and cast it as far from her as the east is from the west. For her, all that mattered is that Jesus was going to get her clean, and that Jesus used horrible people like Abraham, and that we look back and call them righteous. And that God was going to use a person who had done the things that she had done and that we could look back and certainly God could, and call her righteous.

A few weeks later this same woman came to me and said, “I’ve been going on this treasure hunt through the Old Testament to find all the stories of the women who have been sexually broken and have done some sexual breaking of their own. And it’s a pretty good treasure hunt.”

The moment she said that, I don’t think I was able to see the Bible the same way and I don’t think I ever will be, after realizing all of a sudden that, yeah, this thing is full of these stories. The tip of the iceberg is pointing out the fact that there are at least two women in the line of King David, and ultimately Jesus, who played the prostitute. That holy lineage that we trace painstakingly throughout the Bible. There’s even an entire book that’s all about a man pursuing a woman who was a prostitute and setting her free. And then her coming and finding some freedom and then abandoning him and leaving, and then him going back and chasing after her again. And God wants us to know that we are that woman.

I started to wonder. Man, was this book written primarily for an audience of prostitutes? That’s confusing for me. Because I know so many people who have never been prostitutes who have experienced so much freedom in these words, who have encountered the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit through the words of the Bible. And they weren’t prostitutes. So how could that be?

And as I’ve chewed on this question for about a year now, where I’m starting to land is I think perhaps the Bible was really not necessarily exclusively written for prostitutes, but the Bible was written for people who are willing to sit in the same seat that prostitutes do when they look at themselves. For people who are willing to look at themselves from the same perspective that a prostitute was when they compared themselves to everyone else in the room.

See, for my friends the gospel was so obvious and so powerful and so clear, that they saw it in the story of Abraham abandoning the woman that he had abused. Because, for them, the story of the gospel was, “I am filthy. Jesus makes me clean. Then he sets me free. Then we move forward from there, as he makes me holy.” It was that simple and that powerful, that they can see it in the most broken stories of the Bible.

But for you and me, I think we lack this advantage of a prostitute when it comes to looking at the gospel. I think we lack perhaps what Jesus was pointing to a few verses before the ones we’ll read today, where he said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Because for you and me, we get so stuck on step one. We start to complicate and convolute the gospel when we say, not “I’m filthy.” But we say, “I’m okay and I’m not the worst person in the room. I’m a pretty decent human being. Yeah, there are people that are better than me, but I’m not the worst.”

So we have to do all these weird aerobics and gymnastics and strange things as we contort ourselves to fit into the gospel. Why? Because we’ve deceived ourselves into thinking that we are somewhere where we’re not. We’ve deceived ourselves into thinking that God is grading holiness on a curve. And that’s not how it works. And Jesus wants to make it clear to us, “No, actually, if you want the gospel to come alive, you’re going to have to realize that you don’t live up here in this better space than everyone else, than anyone else.” Jesus is saying, “I want you to come down here.” Because the people who are going to get this message understand that they cannot look around the room and say, “I’m any better than anyone else.”

My friends didn’t need to hear this message. When Jesus clarifies to a group of people that they’re probably guilty of adultery even if they don’t think so. Why? Because there were mornings when my friends would wake up and they would eat breakfast with the money they had made committing adultery the night before. You and I have these useless veils that enable us to pretend that we’re not guilty and full of sin and shame without Jesus.

So Jesus wants to make that point clear and so in Matthew chapter 5:27-28, he says this:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

And then he’ll go on to talk about how, if your eye is causing you to sin, cut it out. If your hand is causing you to sin, chop it off. It’s better that you would do that than that you would be cast into hell. There’s something more serious that you don’t understand about the depths and the weight of your sin and of your shame. And you may be able to tell yourself, “I have never cheated on my spouse, therefore I’m not an adulterer.” And Jesus is saying, “No, you missed it. If there’s lust in your heart, it’s that serious.”

Righteousness is not graded on the curve. It’s pass/fail and chances are most of us, if not all of us in the room, have failed. Why does Jesus want me to feel so bad? I think because he wants us to understand the good news.

For me, the place in my life that I can look back to and say, “Yeah, that was complete and total failure,” that’s the place in my life where I began to be able to sit down next to my friends that I didn’t know yet, that I wouldn’t know for years to come, where I could sit down with them and say, “I’m absolutely the same as you. It’s good news to me that Abraham would do those things.”

That time of life for me was when I was nine years old. I started looking at pornography and I entered into a season of four or five years of my life where my heart and my mind were completely wrapped up and intertwined with lust and brokenness. Where I couldn’t even look at my friends without being ashamed of the things that were happening in my mind and in my heart.

In that season of life I began to become really acquainted with some of the different strategies that we can employ to manage our shame. I want to walk you through three of those today. Then there’s a fourth one that’s very different from the first three.

The first of those strategies that I started to encounter, what I would consider the most base of those strategies, the most primitive of them. It’s what I would call self-pity. Or a better way to put it maybe is just wallowing in your shame. And that’s the most base because it’s just what you do. You feel shame and what are you going to do? You’re going to feel the shame so you roll around in it and you stick with it and you carry it with you in the back of your mind and the back of your heart and you don’t know what to do with it. And you try to figure out What can I do with this shame? Then, all of a sudden, you slip back into the same sin that precipitated the shame in the first place. And you find a little bit of relief from the shame. It changes your mood and you feel better for just a little bit.

For me, in that season of life, it was pornography. But I think that’s probably a good example, because it’s really good at conjuring up shame for us. But you could probably plug in any different sin that you want to. Right? So you go back to the sin and you find some relief from your shame and it feels good for a little bit, for a few seconds, a few moments, or at best until the next morning. But then the shame snaps back stronger than it ever was before. So you carry it again until the next private moment when you fall into this sin again and find some momentary relief. But every time you do this, the relief you get is not as strong, and the shame becomes stronger.

Those of us who use this as our primary strategy of shame management, the same thing happens by two different avenues. We continue to walk deeper and deeper into more and more and darker and darker sins, because lust will fill any space you give it. And once it’s filled that space it will begin to fill the next spaces. We find ourselves needing to do more sin, more frequent and more dark sin, just to find the same amount of relief that we got int he beginning, like any other addiction.

At the same time that’s happening, we’re starting to actually grow an addiction, not just to the sin, but to the shame itself. We start to like that feeling. We start to love what we do. We start to love that we hate ourselves. Eventually, people who stick with this long enough, they’ll need to hop into a whole different kind of sin that’s probably more public. Because they need the thoughts and words and condemnations of other people to magnify their own shame, because they love to hate themselves. Because we love to hate ourselves when we’re wrapped up in this self-pity strategy of shame management.

For me, this wasn’t good enough. I didn’t like the feeling. I didn’t want to revel in my shame very long. So, before too long, I had to move on to another strategy. Had to move on to what I’m going to call self-justification. Convincing myself that what I was doing wasn’t wrong. I think for most of us this strategy begins with the very same question that greased the wheels to for sin to enter the world in the first place. “Did God really say? Did he really say that that was wrong?” And I would start to ask myself, “Could this really be wrong? I don’t know. It doesn’t seem to be hurting anyone. It doesn’t seem to be unhealthy. Everything seems to be find. What could be wrong with this?”

For those of us who stick in this strategy, we start to convince ourselves of that, and eventually maybe it’s not good enough. Maybe we need to move past, “Did God really say” and we start saying, “Does God really even have the authority to say…” Right? “Does God even have any moral authority or claim over my life?” Or “Does God even exist at all?”

If we’re honest with ourselves, we’re doing this why? Because we’re managing our shame. We’re tired of feeling ashamed and feeling like someone gets to tell that what we’re doing is wrong. So we start to convince ourselves that it’s not. This is very dangerous because this is perhaps the most effective of these strategies of shame management. Because with this strategy you can turn down the volume on your shame. And I think you can effectively mute it. Once you figure out you can mute it with one sin and the following shame, you realize you can do that to any sin and the shame that comes.

Then, at some point in time in the process, you’ll start to buttress up your opinions and your beliefs that, no, this isn’t wrong, by gathering other people around you that you can convince no, that’s not wrong. And help you convince yourself that, no, this isn’t wrong. And eventually you’ll have a little community, a little bubble of men and women who are just yes men and yes women. Eventually that can grow into a philosophy, a theology, into an ideology, even into a religion of people who are simply saying, “You do you. Do whatever makes you happy, as long as it feels good.”

I would ask you to pause just for a second right there, because I think there are some people here who are like me, who are already hearing this and starting to take it and use it to do strategy number three, self-righteousness. I think we’re hearing this and thinking, “Yeah, that’s what that person does. I don’t do that. Yeah, that’s what that group of people, that’s where that ideology, that’s where that thought process came from. And I don’t do that.” And I don’t think that’s the most fruitful use of this classification. I think the most fruitful us of this information is for us to look and say, “Am I doing this? Have I been convincing myself that, no, this isn’t wrong because it helps me dampen the volume on my shame.”

Again, for me, this strategy didn’t work for too long because I couldn’t convince myself that God was saying that what I was falling into was okay. It was clear to me in verses like the one we just read that God was saying, “No, this is wrong.” Then I wasn’t willing to abandon Jesus, to walk away from him, to throw out his word in my journey to mute my shame. So I had to move on to a new strategy that I will call self-righteousness. Really self-righteousness is just a sub-strategy under hiding.

There are so many different ways to hide, but some of us literally will go into this little corner and we’ll hide in that corner where “No one can see me, where no one can find me. I stopped going to church because I feel so bad about what I’m doing and I don’t want to talk to anybody and I don’t want anybody to know what I’m doing.”

Some people stop having friends, they stop engaging. Some people just really stay very quiet so that no one can see their shame. I couldn’t do that for very long, because I’m way too extroverted for that. So I needed to find another strategy, another way of getting out into the open where I could hide. I realized that I had these very convenient personality traits that were true of me, that I could hide behind in front of everybody else. Yeah, I was someone who really usually does follow the rules. I was someone who really did have a relationship with Jesus. I was someone who really was plugging into church and into youth group. I could hide behind those things and a little bit of vulnerability, a little bit of transparency, and no one would ever know. No one would ever suspect. No one would ever ask me if there was anything below the surface.

Growing up I was a really bad liar. So I knew that if I was going to get away with anything with my parents, I had to hide any suspicion from them. Because the moment they asked me a question, I was either going to accidentally straight up just going to tell them truth before I had the opportunity to decide to lie; or I was going to muster up the courage to lie and they were going to see right through it immediately.

So, the result of that, of me revelling in really what was my favorite, probably still is my favorite strategy of shame management, is that I hid my shame and my sin so much that, even though it started at nine years old, I was fourteen years old and almost on the other side of it before either of my parents — who are good parents, who cared about these things, who talked about these things with me — before either of them ever asked me directly, “Have you ever looked at pornography?” And the answer that I was honestly able to give my mom when she asked me that question was, “Yes, I have. But I’m not really doing it anymore.” I hid it so well. I even hid it when I was finding freedom from it.

This is the strategy that is so deadly because it grows and festers when we keep it in the darkness. Right? This is the strategy that leads to headlines: Pastor. Clergyman. Politician. Celebrity. Secret affair. Secret substance abuse. Money laundering. Insert the blank. Right?

As I’ve been prepping for this message I’ve been thinking, I doubt that those men and women start off thinking My life is going to be a scam. That’s where I’m going. I think they start off as kids who have something they really want to hide and they can just never figure out how to bring it out. And in that process, you begin to kind of split into two different people. There’s this public person, this person that everyone else sees that is righteous, that is better, that is successful, that is honest. And then there’s this other person that carries all the shame in private. This person grows and grows and grows the more this person looks better and better and better.

At some point in time, I just couldn’t deal with the fact that I felt so two-faced. I felt there were two different human beings growing inside of me. And one of them was so disgusting and the other one just felt like such a lie, even there was some truth to him. So I started going to my youth pastors, to David Stockton, to Mike Phifer, and I said, “This is what’s happening in secret.” And they gave me a lot of really good, practical advise. We could give a whole message on practical advice, trying to get over this, trying to conquer it, trying to access the freedom that Jesus is offering you.

But the best advice that they both gave me was “Repent. Go from this place of feeling the weight of your sin and shame to Jesus and lay it down at his feet and acknowledge how wrong this is, and repent and let him restore you and make you clean. Begin the years long process of allowing him to renew your mind, to transform you by the renewal of your mind, rather than being conformed to the patterns of the world.”

That’s what I did and that’s where I landed. That Jesus really transformed me to the place where I felt comfortable with my own mind and heart. Where Jesus didn’t just manage my shame. The moment I stopped managing my shame, I let him manage my sin and cast it away from me, and slowly heal and renew me to the point where none of that baggage that I was so terrified was going to follow me the rest of my life, none of that baggage really followed me into my marriage.

One of my primary love languages is words of affirmation. My wife knows this about me. Her primary love language is gifts. This last Valentine’s Day, we were kind of between jobs and spaces and really between life, and we didn’t know what to do. She wanted to give me a good gift. So she sat down to make a gift and she ended up making the best gift she’s ever given me. She sat down for an hour or two and wrote down like a hundred and one or even more really kind things to me on little pieces of paper that she hole-punched and tied together with a ribbon and gave it to me. It looked like something your kids might take home from Sunday school today.

She thought I was going to open it up and tear through it read everything she wrote. But instead, I decided that I was going to savor it and just flip it every so often to the next page and read it. Last week, when I was starting to get ready to prep for this message, I flipped the page on my nightstand and I saw a page that said, “I trust you fully.” There’s no one in this world who knows my heart better than my wife, outside of the Lord.

And this is words written from a woman who’s had her own struggle with insecurity. Words written to a husband who, at nine years old, couldn’t walk in public without feeling the shame of his brokenness and the weight of adultery in my heart. And this is on the tail end of a year spending time in brothels and red light districts and befriending prostitutes, when all the work that the Lord had done was really put to the est. And she looks at me and she says, “I trust you fully.” And she writes it down.

Because the hope that Jesus has for you this morning — as you stop managing your shame and you let him manage your sin — it’s not just hope. I mean, hope is a beautiful and a great thing. But it’s not just hope it’s tangible. Right? It’s a real thing that you actually have access to.

I don’t just hope that I’m going to have a bowl of ice cream tonight. I know that there’s ice cream in my freezer. And I’m going to go home and I’m going to eat the ice cream. And I expect it, and I’m excited for it, and I have evidence of it.

In the same way, we don’t just hope for what the Lord can do with us. Expect it. Know that it’s there, sitting in the fridge, waiting for you. Jesus can take you and heal you. It comes through repentance.

David’s going to come up and wrap us up as we just do some business with the Lord along these lines.

DAVID:

Thanks, Alec. One of the things we wanted to make sure we did as we were going through this stuff, and especially the intensity of it, is we figure out how to move from a classroom to a hospital as a church. So we wanted to make sure there wasn’t just like a message that kind of had some good thoughts and we could all think a little better, but that we’d leave room for the Spirit of God to do the next part. Let this stuff work into our heart and actually maybe bring some transformation.

So that’s what we’re going to do now. I didn’t do a lot of sermon prep this Sunday, obviously. But I did a lot of prayer prep. I’m going to read some things that I feel like the Spirit was saying about today. Some of these might connect with you. If they do, then you can trust it’s for you, and you and the Lord can talk about that and figure out where to go from there.

We have this number that we’ll put up and we’ll put it up at the end of the service, too. If you want to text anonymously, or you can put your name, whatever, and get in contact with a pastor that can help you navigate some of what you might be going through. A safe space for all of that, so that will pop up at the end of the service and you can text that number. We’ll also close and have some people up here that would love to pray for you. If you can muster the courage to come and do that, it would be wonderful. You’ll leave feeling lighter, I’ll tell you that much.

But we also know that some of those things are hard. So I just want to share some things that the Lord was saying and see if these land.

I really felt as I was praying that the Lord was saying that, because of this message and because of some of the people hearing this message today, they were going to understand the dangers of lust and they were not ever going to fall prey to addiction to porn or anything else because of this message. I was very excited about that. Because by God’s grace that’s been my story.

Early on, for whatever reason, I felt like the Lord helped me build the walls. So anytime something was like, Woosh, I’ve just good wall reflex. Walls up. I feel like the Lord’s wanting to do that for some people here. So, young people, please hear this message and trust the Lord. Trust the Lord.

Then I felt like there was a message for some people who are overcome with lust. You don’t think you could ever get free. Maybe you’ve even tried and you’re still stuck. I felt like there were some people that the Lord was actually wanting to give one of those miracles, one of those supernatural manifestations of his Spirit, that come from time to time and completely set you free instantaneously.

If you feel some of that stirring in your heart, whether you’re online or here, he really does want to set you free. He really can set you free. Brand new neuro-pathways and everything, the whole package. And if you feel the Lord stirring that in you, I would respond. If he’s knocking in that way, I would open the door and let him come in. Get some prayer.

Then there’s some who have gotten really good at all of those shame management strategies, sin management strategies, and today, though, you’ve been found out. Pride would keep you from doing this. Deception would keep you from doing this. Some of you, the intensity of it is very different than a nine to fourteen year old and the ramifications that that would bring. Because you are married. You do have a family. You are older and the stakes seem too big. And though that might be true, Jesus is telling you, he’s telling you he can set you free. That’s why you’re here hearing this message. It’s not so you can go further away, or feel more condemned or ashamed. It’s because he really does have a plan purchased by his blood and empowered by his Spirit to get you to a place of wholeness and freedom.

I didn’t say this last service, but I felt like the Lord told me while I was sitting there. Some of you need to do this because, if you can do this now, your kids won’t have to deal with this like you’ve had to deal with it. You can break this in your family. But you can’t do it alone and you can’t do it with hiding. You’ve got to tell somebody.

Then, the last one is the person whose heart is bitterly, bitterly broken, not because of their own lust, but because of a loved one or maybe a spouse’s lust. And even hearing this today is like drinking a whole glass of bitterness. You have your own shame, not because of your lust, but because of the person you’re connected to’s lust. I fell like what Jesus wanted me to tell you was it’s not always going to be this way. That he really is going to come back and he’s going to do away with the sinful nature forevermore. It might seem very far away, but it’s not.

Also, he wants you to know that you’re not supposed to carry this alone either. You kind of feel like you carrying it is honoring the person or something like that, but actually you’re hiding your shame too. It’s super-scary but he wants you tell someone. Now tell someone that you can trust, and even try and tell someone that you think the loved one can trust. But you’re not supposed to carry this alone. It’s too heavy. But it is time for you to invite someone in to walk with you, because you need to be able to discern.

I’m going to say this and please, please be very careful with this. Please email me before you do anything crazy. Because, in the Scriptures, there are caveats in the marriage relationship that can help in times of real, real pain and agony. I mean, the Bible says at times there is an okay reality of divorce with sexual immorality. Now, again, I’m saying don’t unpack that on your own. We have people that would really love to help you, that have been through this, that can help you with that discernment. But you have some really good options that you might not be aware of that are totally in line with the scriptures.

Now, again, nobody get divorced between now and next Sunday. Next Sunday that’s what we’re talking about. Please come back next Sunday, because we’re going to have some ladies speak to us in a way that’s going to be really, really powerful and beautiful. And it’s going to allow the Spirit of God to come in way more fully than right now because of the work that will be done next week.

That’s ultimately what all this is. Jesus is trying to get some of the junk out so more fullness of the Spirit can come in.

And so we’re going to have a little time of prayer. I’ve said these things. If one of those lands or one of those struck your heart, this is your time to be silent before the Lord or confess to the Lord or cry out to the Lord. But we do want to make sure we don’t move on too fast from this.

They’re going to start playing a song and all of that a, and that’s fine, but this is for you and the Lord.

Father, we do just ask that you’ll be with us in this moment, that your Spirit would be so close and so present and so powerful that it would overcome our fears, our pride, our confusion and we’d receive what you have for us this morning.

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David Stockton 5/23/21 David Stockton 5/23/21

Overcoming Destructive Anger

Series: The Sermon on the Mount
May 23, 2021 - Kurt Cotter

One of the things I want to say is, David talked about last week, he said that the way we really experience change is we walk in the Spirit. In Galatians 5 it says “Walk in step with the Holy Spirit.”

The way I look at it is, I like to think of Jesus introduced the Holy Spirit in John 14, 15 and 16, and he called him our helper. He called him our comforter, our counselor, our teacher. And he invited us into a relationship with God the Holy Spirit. So I want you to know that what I’m going to share today, it didn’t happen by might or by my power, but by the Spirit of God. He’s our helper.

So I hope you guys will learn how to work with the Holy Spirit and let him give you the power to fulfill what the scripture says. So let’s pray as we open up in Matthew 5:21.

Father, we thank you for your presence that’s here. We celebrate the coming of your Holy Spirit, and we invite you into this room, that you would work in our lives, that you would show forth Jesus through us. And we ask it in your name. Amen.

Okay. Matthew 5:21 through 24 is the scripture I’m going to focus on today.

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

We all know that God looks at the heart. Man looks at the outward appearance. But when he sees inside of a heart of a person anger, it’s a serious issue with God. We can tell by what we were just reading. Here Jesus says, “Yes, you’ve heard it said if you murder someone you’re subject to judgment. But I say if you’re angry with a brother or sister you’re subject to judgment. In fact, if you call them a fool you’re also in danger of judgment.”

Now, I know firsthand about the damage that can happen in relationship because of destructive anger. And the things I spoke out of my mouth to those that I love, especially. I think everyone agrees that, when you first give your life to Christ, you become a new creature. Old things are passed away. All things have become new. And you change, right? But a lot of people don’t realize that even after thirty years of walking with Jesus, he still wants to change us and he wants to transform us into his likeness.

So, how can we change? Jesus is changing us from glory to glory. It says this in 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV), which is not in front of you. But you all know this one.

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

So we are being changed as we gaze upon the face of Jesus and behold his glory. He’s changing us from glory to glory. Anybody know what’s in between the glories? A whole lot of painful things to change your life. That’s what I’m going to talk about.

Also, the other verse that’s very familiar to you is Romans 12:2 (NKJV). It says:

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

So, as we surrender our lives to Jesus every single day, he’s renewing us and transforming us by the renewing of our minds. Our minds need to change. They need to be renewed.

So, today I want to share a practical side of what it means to walk in the Spirit, what it means to see a change by the grace of God, the power of God’s word, as God changed me from having a horrible anger problem.

I’m originally from West Covina, California. I’m one of seven kids. I’m number five and I have a twin brother who doesn’t even look like my brother. He’s four minutes older than me. We’re fraternal twins.

My dad was a World War II vet. He was a marine raider and a gunner in the South Pacific. He went in when he was sixteen. I still have his uniform. He came out and he had PTSD. They called it being shell shocked in those days. One of the issues that a person with PTSD struggles with is a lot of anger. And so I saw it growing up very much.

So, at the age of sixteen, I was the first one in my family to ask Jesus Christ to be the Lord of my life and my Savior. It was during the Jesus People Movement — especially in SouthernCalifornia it was really rocking.

My mom and dad didn’t really like the changes they saw in me. My life changed so radically they thought I was involved in a cult. So my dad actually found, he looked in a law book to see if he could find a law that, if you can’t control your minor, then you can turn them over to the police, to the juvenile authorities. He found one and took me to the police station and he made me promise I wouldn’t go back to church until I was eighteen.

The police officer dropped his jaw on the ground and was like, “What? You don’t want your son to go to church?” He said, “Well, doesn’t this law say this?” And he said, “Yes, Mr. Cotter, it does.”

So I had to promise I wouldn’t go back to church. So during that time I remember the guy who discipled me, Andre Jackson, he stayed in touch with me and prayed for me. Then one day I took a loving stand and I just came down and said, “Mom and Dad, I love you, but I love Jesus more and I want to go back to church.”

So, to make a long story short, my mom beat me. She said, “How would you like a beating for Jesus?” I said, “Go for it.” So she just slapped me. After that, she came with me to church. She found out that it wasn’t a cult. She almost came to Christ that day.

For me, it was like this was real. I saw light and darkness. I knew what it was like to just really give it all to Jesus. So I continued to serve Jesus and ended up feeling a call to ministry. So straight out of high school in 1976 I moved out here to go to Bible college. It was called Sweetwater Bible College and it was part of Sweetwater Church. A couple of years after that, I met my beautiful wife, Faith, who plays the keyboards. You guys know her. The week after I graduated from Bible college, we got married. It was May 30, 1980, which we’re celebrating our anniversary next week.

Fast forward to 1993. We came to Living Streams and I was a youth pastor, believe it or not, here, with our little family. A little after I came on staff here, Faith and my two older kids, Melody and Jason, they were trying to help me see a blind spot. Anybody have blind spots? It got so bad, my anger problem was so bad that Faith was considering leaving me if I didn’t change. So she fasted and prayed and she and my two oldest kids lovingly confronted me on one Saturday.

They said, “You have an anger problem.” I remember I had a bigger problem called denial. It’s not a river in Egypt. It’s a reality and it was in my life. I would say, “You think this is anger? I’m a puppy dog compared to my dad!”

I have this funny thing. I like to talk to the Lord and he talks to me when I mow the lawn. So, on Saturday — I love mowing the lawn. I still do. I did it yesterday. — So I’m out there mowing the lawn after I just lived in denial.

By the way, you guys. We all know the verses that say, “Be anger and sin not.” And we go and say, “Well, Jesus made a whip and drove out the money changers in the temple.” I knew all of that and I used to use it in my denial.

Anyway, I asked the Lord, I said, “Lord, do I have an anger problem?” And I’m over there mowing the lawn. And he said, “Either those you love most are wrong again and you’re right again, or it’s the other way around.” And I go, “Oh, wow! You’re saying I have an anger problem.”

I remember coming into the house and just breaking and crying. I said, “I know I’ve said I’m sorry a hundred times, but this time I want to change.” And I said, “Please, help me.” So I asked them for their forgiveness. This time I knew I had to repent if I was ever going to really, really change. So I camped out in Psalm 51. You guys know the Psalm where David is repenting from his sin with Bathsheba? It’s a place of humility. It’s a place of being broken at the foot of the cross.

So then I asked my family, I said, “So help me understand what I do.” They would let me know that, not only was it my words, but my body language. They said, “You scream at us with your eyes and you get this vein popping out on your neck.” It was also my tone, a condescending tone, angry tone. Fifty-five percent of communication is body language, you guys. Thirty-seven percent is tone. So you’re going to have to work on those parts, too.

One of the things I learned about repentance is that I couldn’t blame anybody. I had to stop being defensive and stop blaming people for it and making excuses. I needed to come to a place where I owned how I made them feel, how my yelling hurt them, the ones that I loved the most.

So Jesus took me on a journey and he started to show me the roots of my anger. One of the roots that he showed me was that I would feel frustrated and I would get pictures in my mind. I would feel like a dog that’s being cornered, that would growl. I remember saying many times, “What do you want me to do?” When I was frustrated. And I couldn’t show frustration with out showing anger. I didn’t know how. That was one of my roots. I had to deal with the frustration in my life.

The second root was what I call the pressure cooker. I would let all the things, the stressful things people said or did, just build up and build up and build up. Sometimes it was passive aggressive. You know? You just hold it in, thinking, Oh, I’ll be fine. Then, when you least expect it, with those you love most, you explode. And that’s what was happening all the time in my life. And I didn’t like it.

Then, the third root was when I felt disrespected. I think we as men, I think women do too, we like to be respected. Even Ephesians 5 says, “Husbands love your wife as Christ loved the Church, wives respect your husband.”

I was doing all the wrong things to get respect. So there was this thing the Lord began to show me. There’s this principles that, if you believe a lie you get into bondage. But if you believe the truth the truth shall set you free. Right? So the Holy Spirit began to show me the lies I was believing. I know there were many of them.

But one of them happened on one of the Saturdays, I remember, with my two older kids. I don’t know. To me it’s chore day. Right? I’m still old school. So I was like, not only I’m doing chores, but I said to my older kids, “You need to clean your room.” So I told them, “Please clean your room.” Then, an hour later, I went over and checked the rooms and nothing happened in both rooms. So I went back to them and I said, and I turned the volume up the next time, and then I waited another hour and then I checked both rooms. Nothing was done. So this time, I went ballistic and just began to scream at them until I saw them actually go into the rooms.

In my mind I started believing this lie. See? It works! They respect me when I yell at them. But when I came to my senses, I go, “How many angry people do I respect?” Did I respect my dad when he was angry? I became fearful of him. So I was destroying my relationship with my kids, thinking I was getting respect from them.

So I really started to believe, when I came to my senses, that really what kids respect is when they see you with a humble heart lead by example, be honest about your faults, and don’t just sit there and use your anger. That doesn’t get respect.

After that, I started to go through this thing of being accountable to my family. I don’t know why Saturdays, but I decided to ask them to give me a grade. I would say, “How am I doing, guys?” And I remember, Jason, my oldest son, he goes, “I’ll give you a C+.” And I’m like, “Aw. What do I need to do?”

You know, one of the things that really helped me was asking them, because I have this cluelessness. Anybody ever struggle with cluelessness and insensitivity? I didn’t know how I came across to them. So my grade my started getting up to A’s. And God began to work in me.

The other thing was, when I talk to couples, I like to talk about environment in your home. So my relationship with my kids and my wife, at that time, I had walls come between us and I had a picture of egg shells everywhere. It was like, when dad comes home everybody just kind of goes in their room. “Mister Grump’s home again.” So I needed to learn how to sweep up the egg shells, tear down the walls and build an environment that’s like a well-watered garden.

One of the things that I wanted to learn to do is to develop a communication with my family where it was safe for them to open up, even about things that they’re having a struggle with me. I encourage you guys. Provide a safe environment where they can talk about anything that’s maybe bothering them about you.

I learned how to be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to get angry.

I mentioned that my dad and the anger I saw in him growing up. I realized I needed to own my anger and I couldn’t blame my dad for my anger problem. But I did realize that I needed to forgive my dad and I needed to honor him that it may go well with me and my days will be long on the earth. Isn’t that the promise of God?

So I asked the Lord and the Lord had me write out a letter to my dad. He had me go on what I call a gold mining trip. I started to remember all the camping trips my dad took me on, and all the fishing trips he took me on, the way he gave one of his kidneys to one of my sisters at UCLA Medical Center when her kidney failed. And he stayed with my mom fifty years. And I wrote it all out to thank him. And you know what happened? I began to have all this unforgiveness go out the door. I was no longer offended.

So the next point is, stay unoffended. The last part of this verse that we just read was telling us that, if we remember someone that has something against us, leave your gift at the altar and go be reconciled to him. So part of my freedom was learning to forgive quickly and be unoffended. You know, when Jesus taught us to pray “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” so, even on a daily basis I take inventory and I say, “Lord, is there anybody I need to forgive? I release forgiveness right now. Open the cage and let them go free. You forgave me a great debt. So I forgive them.”

I found out my dad carried that letter with him until it became a little rag. Then something happened and my mom got Alzheimers later. Soon after that she died. My dad was still in the same house that were raised in in West Covina. He became very feeble and he needed my help. I became the pastor of the family. So I kept going back and forth. It was during that process that we became so close, we were like best friends. And I can tell you my dad gave his heart to Jesus right before he died. It’s so beautiful what the Lord did.

I’m here to tell you — my daughter over there, that’s why I’m crying. Rachel is 22 and she said, “Daddy, I’ve never seen your anger.” God changed me, you guys. I’m here to give you hope. If he can change a grouchy old man like me, he can change you, too.

But if I was to pick the most important thing about my lesson that I learned after being a Christian for many, many years and even a pastor, I needed to repent in order to change. So I would say repentance is a process. There’s a godly sorrow that’s works repentance. And there’s a change of mind. That’s what the word repent means. It means to change your mind and then you turn and the word of God renews your mind and you become a different person.

Bringing you back to the Day of Pentecost — I told you I would bring it back to Pentecost Sunday — when Peter preached the gospel, he focused on the resurrection of Jesus. At the end, with these 3,000 people, they said, “What must we do to be saved?” He said, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Then, in Acts 3:19 (NKJV), it says this in another sermon that Peter preached:

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

You know what the word refreshing means in the Greek? Revival. When you repent and you turn your heart, you just surrender. The Holy Spirit begins to bring times of refreshing and a personal revival. May you experience a personal revival in your life today.

God bless you.

DAVID:

All right. Well, again, we came into this understanding that, as we speak about some very specific issues, I mean, our world wants us to focus on lots of different issues of what is making America or making society not great. It’s got our attention all over the place. But Jesus is trying to drill in to some weighty, weighty matters within humanity.

We knew that, as we would do this, it would probably stir up some stuff in our hearts, especially anger. Anger is not a 3%, 10%, 15% of the population type thing, but we probably all have a story whether our own anger produced something that is ugly, painful, or someone else’s anger that has done that to us.

We knew we were going to be doing this, so we wanted to create this time at the end. A little differently, a little more thorough than we usually do. And just ask the Spirit to come and minister his word deep into our souls in a supernatural way. So, Kurt and I, as we prayed and as Kurt prepared and even this morning as I was praying, there are a few things that came to mind that I feel like our people who are listening on line — just because you’re online don’t think you’re escaping this — and people in this room that the Spirit of God really wants to talk to right now. Wants to do something with this message besides just leave you hanging or unsure. Wants to come close. Like I said, we’re moving from a classroom to a hospital at this moment.

If you can hang in there, and if you can kind of try and fight off the birds of pride and the birds of fear that wants to come and nest in your soul, and allow the Spirit of God to come. I know it’s tempting to kind of just shut off and ignore when the Spirit pricks our hearts, to just run. But this is the time to really allow the Lord to come close and see what he has for us.

The first thing that I wrote down was somebody that basically just, in light of last year, they don’t have PTSD, they have PPSD. Post Pandemic Stress Disorder in some ways. The amount of beating they took, kind of like what Kurt was saying, the frustration, the pressure cooker of last year. It could be all of the little things, or it could be some big things like divorce or loss of certain relationships or family dynamics. And you just have found yourself now where, your skin is so thin and you don’t know how to get back to a place where you’re not so frustrated, you’re not so upset, you’re not so easily angered all the time.

What I felt the Spirit said was, that person, if they’ll acknowledge that, if they can receive that, then I’m supposed to minister to them the verse that Jesus said, “Come to me all that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” The Greek word for rest there is anapauō. It says “to cause or permit one to cease from any movement or striving in order to recover and collect their strength.” If we’ll figure out how to, instead of trying to figure it out more or try harder or strive more, if we’ll learn to quiet ourselves and really kind of practice silence and solitude, to try and get away with the Spirit of God like Jesus often did, that, what will happen is we’ll find that refreshing, that restoring, that replenishing. The gathering of strength, the collecting of strength will happen and we won’t be so quickly and easily angered.

The second person, was someone that really, when Kurt was talking about feeling disrespected. This is the person, whether you did it subconsciously or cognitively, you’ve really come now to the place where you are using anger as a tool to get love, to get respect, but it is a lesser and a counterfeit love that is never going to satisfy you. It might scratch an itch, but that’s it. You’ve been relying on anger to produce this and you’ve been using it to think, Maybe I have the power and authority. And it makes you feel better about yourself. But really you’re creating some sort of slavery, not some loving relationship.

In the face of that, I really felt like you were creating — when Kurt said that in this service, it really resonated in my heart — this egg shell environment for the people who you really love. You might not realize it because you don’t walk on egg shells, but everybody around you is, and can’t wait for the day to be away from you.

What’s so beautiful about Kurt’s story is he woke up before his wife decided, “I can’t be here anymore.” By God’s grace he woke up before his kids said, “Forget it. I’m done with this guy. I’m sick and tired of the egg shells he’s created.”

That was beautiful and wonderful and Kurt was able to repent. And Kurt has now, through the help of his kids, but really the Spirit, he gets to that place where, whenever he feels like he needs to act out in anger in order to get the thing done, to get the feeling that he wants, he now stops himself and says, “Okay, God, I’m giving you control. I’m letting you come in.” And when we give control to the Spirit, what happens is he gives us self-control. It’s one of the fruits of the Spirit.

The third thing is there’s someone out there who’s been holding on to offense and unforgiveness. They basically keep drinking that poison helping it will kill the person that they hate. It’s totally foolish. And it’s hard, because sometimes we really do get hurt. Injustice does happen in this life, in this fallen world.

And what Jesus is saying to you is you need to repent and you need to forgive. Not forgive once they sorry in the right way. But forgive because of what Jesus Christ has forgiven you. And to go ahead and write that note. Remember how he just started going on a treasure hunt and wrote down the things his dad did that were good, and all of those things, and trying to see past the other things. Because that’s what Christ has done for us. And that forgiveness slowly but surely took root in his heart and overcame the unforgiveness and bitterness. And that’s a word for you.

Another one is, as I thought of this one I started to weep a little bit, because there are people, again online or in here, that are just stuck. The damage has been done. They didn’t wake up before the wife left and the kids wrote them off. And now they’re alone and they’re angry. And they don’t really believe that anything good can change them. They’re too broken, too shattered.

In 1 Corinthians 12 we’re told that one of the gifts that the Spirit gives us is a gift of faith. I felt like the Spirit was telling me right there as we were singing these songs and I was listening to Kurt, that he wants to give the gift of faith to someone who’s in this situation. That without the Spirit actually quickening their soul in some supernatural way, there is no way that they could actually start hoping again and believing that they can be restored with their family.

But God is speaking to you. The Spirit is drawing near to you. The Spirit is quickening in your soul even now and he’s telling you, “Hey, it’s time to start believing. It’s time to start walking with Jesus, staying close to him and, in time, you will get to see redemption. That which was lost becoming found. That which was broken becoming whole. The years that the locust have eaten being restored to you in some sort of supernatural way.”

As you try and receive this, all of the fear of disappointment, all of the walls that you’ve put up, everything in you is just raging against this gift of faith that the Spirit wants to bring you. Yet, if you let it in, that faith will help you see mountains moved.

And the last thing was new for this service. The skeptic. There are people in here, again, you’ve heard it but you don’t believe it, that God intervenes. What I wrote down was: You don’t know if God intervenes, but you do know that anger controls you.

And God is meeting you here in this moment and he is saying, “Hey, you want to see what I can do? Walk with me and you will see your anger gone. It will not rule you anymore if you surrender your life to Jesus.”

Let’s pray:

Jesus, this was a lot. I don’t know where people are at in light of these specific things, but I pray that you would bring clarity and, Lord, that you would intervene. I pray specifically for that skeptic who’s listening. Whether it’s in this moment today or somehow they hear this later on on the internet, whatever it is, Lord, I pray that they would know that you’re speaking to them and they would trust you, they would surrender to you, and you would steal their anger away and you’d replace it with your peace. Thank you, Lord.
Lord, we pray that we really would receive everything you want. We want the greater righteousness, Lord, even though it scares us. But thank you for giving us your Spirit that can lead us there. Amen.

Will you guys stand with me as we kind of close with a song here. We have some people up front that would love to pray with you.

One last thing before we go, we have this text number that we’re going to pop up on the screen. We’re going to have this up throughout the next part of this series because we know this stuff can be a little personal and a little intense. We don’t anyone to go alone. We don’t want anyone to feel they have to do this stuff alone. So if you text this number you can stay anonymous or not, but we’re going to connect you with a pastor. And we’re going to connect you with something that will really help walk with you as you go through this journey. Because we want to see the full freedom coming. 602-932-1520

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David Stockton 5/16/21 David Stockton 5/16/21

The Law of the Spirit

We’re in Matthew 5 if you want to grab a Bible and turn there. We’ve been trying to understand the way of Jesus. We’ve been trying to get a vision for the righteousness of God. In particular, we’ve been sitting on the side of a hill with Jesus as he give us the Sermon on the Mount, as he is inviting his followers to know and understand what it would look like, what it would feel like, what it would taste like, smell like if they followed…

Series: The Sermon on the Mount
May 16, 2021 - David Stockton

We were doing great until we got to Matthew 5:17 through 20. If you‘ve been with us the last four weeks, you understand why I say that. Because we were just supposed to do one week with Matthew 5:17-20, but this is our fourth week with it. Because it’s such deep waters. I think it’s so important for understanding and unlocking the rest of the Sermon on the Mount.

Basically, he talks about the law here. In some ways Jesus is so much more than a rabbi. He’s so much more than a teacher. But in another way, he really is helping his disciples understand ethics. Ethics is basically when you have a decision to make, which way are you supposed to go, what are you supposed to do.

I had two young guys call me this week for advise. At first I was like, “Yeah, man. I’ve got young guys calling me for advice. Maybe they think I know some things.” Then I realized it’s probably just that I’m older and I know them. And they’re like, “He’s the only old guy I know. Maybe I should call him.”

The first one was calling me because he had an ethical dilemma. His dilemma was that he’s a musician and musicians had a really rough year last year. So he was wanting to gather some of the other musicians he’s known and done tours with, all together for kind of like a retreat or conference where they get together and pray and encourage each other, and listen to the Lord and worship. And they kind of set their sites on what’s forward out of this retreat. He was really inspired by the Lord to do this. So he, of his own volition, was looking for places to do it. He found this one place that he could afford and it seemed to good. He went and visited it and he felt like the Lord was saying this is it, this is so good.

But then, he found out that what the denomination of the place was, and some of their stances on cultural issues today, as well as some of their practices, he was kind of having some questions. It didn’t quite line up with exactly the way he believed. He thought — and it’s not anything horrific or anything — it’s just some little issues.

So he called me to say, “I don’t know what to do. I feel like the Spirit’s saying ‘go,’ but then, when I think about some of the rules and regulations that I know are in the scriptures, and some of what these guys say, we kind of vary. We differ a little bit on some things.”

And I was like, “I’m so glad you called me this week, because, basically, what I’m teaching this Sunday is ‘to the pure all things are pure.’ And ‘where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.’” And I said, “I’m excited you called. Because I know you know the word of God and you want to apply the word of God, and you submit to the word of God, and you’re inviting community into your life to help you process all of this. But I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt, if the Spirit says, ‘Go’ — go!”

And he was like, “What?” Because he thought for sure I was going to tell him, “Yes, you should be more careful. Yes, this isn’t going to line up perfectly, so you shouldn’t do it.” And he was surprised that I was able to tell him, “No, man. We understand that the Law is good, but there is a higher law that we live by — the Law of the Spirit. And we’ve got to graduate into that if we’re really going to see this world changed.

So another guy called me the next day. He was saying, “I just got invited — I’ve been hanging out with this guy and I’ve been trying to find a way to continue to get to know him and share Christ with him. He just invited me over to his house for Ramadan dinner.” He was like, “I really thought that was great and I feel like this is what I’ve been praying for, an opportunity to go and meet his family. Yet, I’m like, ‘What do I do?’”

“I’m so glad you called me, young man. To the pure, all things are pure. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Yes, I understand. You are right. There are things we need to navigate. There are things we need to understand. Absolutely. And if the Spirit is saying, ‘Don’t do it,’ You shouldn’t do it.

But if you have the Law, and you’ve processed the Law and you’re saying, “Okay, I understand that. That’s good. I’m affirming that. I’m inviting community around me to help me process this so I’m not just doing my own thing. And through all that process, the Spirit is saying, ‘Go,’ go, man! Go! You have the Spirit of God. We’re called to be salt and light. And salt and light needs to get out of the walls of the church and get into society. That’s where it’s the most effective and the most powerful.

And he’s way more prone to legalism, like I am. Like, he loves good legalism. “Give me some rules, man. Yeah. I love it. It feels so good here with all these rules. It’s nice. Yeah. Check them off.” So it was really hard for him to process what I was saying. And because some of you might know the danger of what I’m saying, as well, if people want to abuse the freedom that Christ has given us.

And there are people these days, you know — those are kind of some light and fluffy ethical issues where there isn’t major ramifications. But then we have others. Racism. Sexuality. These are ethical issues that we’re navigating right now. It’s funny, because I’ve been processing a little bit. I don’t know if you know Ibram X. Kendi and some of the anti-racism ideology that he’s putting out there, that is actually making its way not into headlines, but actually making its way into schools around the country, and also Arizona. So it’s something that I’ve been, like, “Okay, I really need to know what’s going on here.”

It’s so interesting, because at first, what Ibram X. Kendi says, is basically it’s not enough to be not a racist, you have to be anti-racist. There are only two camps. You’re either a racist or an anti-racist. Please track with me here. Send me emails if you need clarification. I’m not trying to make some massive point here. I’m trying to help use this as an illustration of why we need the word of God and we need the Spirit of God.

But his idea sounds kind of similar to what Jesus would say, honestly, that “You’ve heard it said that you shouldn’t be a racist. But I say to you you need to be anti-racist. You actually need to be proactive and make sure racism doesn’t happen.” And I think that is kind of actually what Jesus does say in the Sermon on the Mount. “You’ve heard it said, ‘Don’t commit murder. But I say you shouldn’t be angry with your brother.” Jesus kind of takes it to this next place. So you have that. But the sad and scary thing is, the very next step for Ibram X. Kendi, and really the ideology that’s being accepted worldwide goes to this place:

The only remedy to racist discrimination is anti-racist discrimination. The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. And the only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.

Which is absolute crap and horrible evil. It’s the exact opposite of what the entire civil rights movement was trying to put forward. It’s so against the way of Jesus. But you see the subtitles in the ethical issues that we’re dealing with today. And the importance that we know the way of Jesus, that we understand the Law of God, but also we are led by the Spirit.

Again, there’s way more conversation to have over this. I’m happy to have those conversations. I had one last week. I actually love it. I love processing this stuff, because we’ve got a lot to learn these days. But we also have to be able to figure out how to navigate these extremely challenging and difficult ethical issues that we go through, whether they’re in the grand scheme of society and culture or whether they’re inside our own hearts and our own souls, or maybe in our own marriages and families.

So that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to understand the way of Jesus. And what he does in Matthew 5:17, is he says this:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

He’s affirming the Law of God and how good it is. The rules.

Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

So here he’s saying, “I’ve not come to abolish all the rules, regulations, the Law, all of those things.” The covenant God made with Moses. The 613 mitzvot that have been passed down through Judaism. The Judeo-Christian ethic, as we would understand it. Not coming to get rid of those things. Those things are good and helpful and right. Scriptures are good and helpful and right. “I haven’t come to abolish them. I’ve come to fulfill them.”

And what he means by fulfill them, the word fulfill there, means “I’ve come to complete. I’ve come to fulfill it so that next thing can come.” And that’s where we have old covenant and new covenant. We have Old Testament and New Testament. Jesus fulfilled something in order to usher in something new. A new covenant. A new relationship that we have with God.

And that’s what we’ve been trying to do over the last four weeks. And I admit, I haven’t done that great. But honestly, I’m learning this along with you. But I feel like each week we’ve gotten a little more piece of the puzzle, a little more clarity. Like we’re trying to turn a corner. We’ve really been kind of diving into the scriptures and how important they are for us, especially insight of all the craziness around. But we’ve got to turn this corner to not just be relying on the laws of God, but relying on the Spirit of God. Not just living according to the Law, but living according to the Spirit. And that’s what we’re trying to get into.

So to reaffirm what we’ve said. There’s three things we’ve talked about:

1. The Law is good for training us in righteousness.

2 Timothy 3:16 says:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

That’s how I got that super clever point out of that.

2. The Law is good for showing us we are unrighteous.

Now that doesn’t sound like a good thing, but it is important. You need to know when you’re getting it wrong so that you don’t keep getting it wrong. And this comes from Galatians 3:

For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.”

So basically the Law is good in helping us know that we are unrighteous. And this is where it’s a little interesting. If I were to murder someone and then say, “You know what I’m going to do? I’m just going to do so many lawful things. I’m going to drive the speed limit. I’m going to pay my traffic picture fine thing. I’m going to pay my taxes.” Whatever. I’m trying to think of more laws.

But the more laws we fulfill, it doesn’t take away the guilt from the law that we did. I can’t go into a courtroom and go, “Yes, I murdered him in cold blood. However, I drove the speed limit my whole life. So that should at least take away what I did here.”

It’s not the way it works. We need the law. We need the guidelines. We need the structure to help us know when we’re in and we’re out. And that’s a thing that God gave us. And it’s a good thing. It doesn’t feel good. It feels horrible when we find ourselves outside. But at least it wakes us up to the reality of where we’re at. So the law is good in that way.

Another way we talked about last week:

3. The Law is good at being a strict tutor holding us until maturity comes.

Galatians 3 in the Message says this:

Until the time when we were mature enough to respond freely in faith to the living God, we were carefully surrounded and protected by the Mosaic law. The law was like those Greek tutors, with which you are familiar, who escort children to school and protect them from danger or distraction, making sure the children will really get to the place they set out for. But now you have arrived at your destination: By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God. Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe—Christ’s life, the fulfillment of God’s original promise.

So what he’s saying is that the Law was this tutor that was kind of trying to keep us together. We said the Law was like a mom (on Mother’s Day. You know, you’ve got to use moms there.) So it’s like a mom holding you together. You’ve got all these rules and laws to keep you from sitting on the couch you’re not supposed to sit on. (Again. Last week.) Until the day you have enough maturity, common sense and self-control that the mom can say, “All right. Go.” And you’re good. She trusts you. You’ve got this. And that’s what the Law was doing.

Yet, for some reason, sometimes Christians just want to stay there. It would be like this. You guys have seen those big eagle nests. Bald eagle nests in northern Arizona or somewhere else. Way in the tops of those trees, giant eagle nests with these branches kind of woven together somehow by these eagles. And they actually have sticks that are pointing in at the top to make sure that the eagles don’t fall out.

So the Law is like this eagle’s nest. It’s there to keep us from falling out. It’s there to keep us from going in the wrong way, or from danger, all of these things. But when the eagle grows up and is not a little baby anymore and it’s got these wings, it’s got these talons, it would be so weird, lame and dumb if the eagle was just like, “This is it, man. I’m just staying right here. Yes. Check me out. I’m going to be the best eagle nest person there ever has been.”

It’s honestly what it looks like when Christians try and get really good at church. When all they want to do is be good at church, it’s annoying and weird sometimes. Some of the stuff they come up with, you’re just like, “What are you doing, man?” It’s like a different language or whatever.

But they’re really good at church. They’re really good at the eagle’s nest. That’s what the Pharisees were. They were these puffed up little eagles saying, "Check me out I know all the laws so well. I can go around in circles in this eagle’s nest all day long, going, ‘Look at me. Look at me. Look at me.’”

And Jesus comes and says, “When are you going to learn to fly? When are you going to understand this was an old covenant that was just here until the new covenant could come where the Spirit now is the wind beneath your wings.”

This is what we’re trying to do. This is what you and I have to get to. The eagle’s nest is not bad. It’s actually wonderful. Especially for new believers. Especially if you’re not sure what to do. Especially when times of shaking happen. I think it’s okay. Fly back to the eagle’s nest and sit in there a little bit.

And that’s what we’ve done. The winds have gotten crazy around our society. So we as a church have said, “Hey, let’s get back to the scriptures. Let’s really make sure we’re good on what God wants and requires. Let’s really understand how God has worked in times past. Let’s really understand this.” But that’s only the start.

My prayer has shifted. I don’t want our church to be only good at the Law. I want us to know God’s ways. I want us to know God’s word, definitely. But I want our church to be filled with the Spirit way more, and walking in the Spirit, and learning to live by the Spirit. What the world needs is eagles that fly, not eagles stuck in a nest. So we’ve got to make this shift to living by the Spirit. So that’s what we’re going to try and teach today.

First of all, we’ve got to understand the connection. The Law was good for training us in righteousness, but it was powerless to help us become righteous. But living by the Spirit, when the Spirit comes, he not only leads us in righteousness, but he empowers us to be righteous. It’s a big shift that happens.

2 Corinthians 3:7 says it this way:

Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?

What’s better? An eagle in a nest or an eagle flying around. Yeah, flying.

If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

This is Paul understanding there’s something new that’s come. He’s trying to help his readers understand there’s something new that’s come. Living by the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit. It’s the graduation from the Law. It’s what’s going to bring life. It’s what’s going to bring righteousness. It’s what’s going to bring salt and light in the world, which is what we’re trying to do.

Secondly the Law was good for showing us our unrighteousness. But watch what happens here in Romans 8. The Spirit actually accomplishes righteousness in us. Romans 8:1-4, which, by the way, Romans 8 is the most single important understanding of this. Romans 8, you should memorize it. I should memorize it. I don’t have it memorized. I should memorize it and then tell you to memorize. That would be better.

It’s so good. You know they tell you, like, if you could have one book on a desert island and that’s all you could have. I mean, if you could get the Bible, great. If they’re like, “No, it’s too big.” Get Romans. If you can’t get Romans, get Romans 8, okay? That’s basically what I’m trying to say.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

What about when I acted out in my homosexuality before I came to Jesus? Can I be free from condemnation. Yes! In Christ Jesus, you can! No doubt about it.

What about when I really, really hurt those people in that way? What about when I really let my wife down? What about when I left my kids? Whatever it might be. Whatever it might be. Once you’re in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation. What that means is God does not have any anger toward you. God is not disappointed in you. God has completely forgotten all about it. Your sins and iniquity he remembers no more. There’s no condemnation. You are justified in Christ Jesus. It’s just as if you’ve never sinned at all.

What about my sexuality and what was done to me or what I did to somebody? No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And he goes on:

because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

And this is where something begins to change when the Spirit comes. All of a sudden he starts to write his will on the table of your heart. Another way to say it is he starts putting desires in your heart that are beautiful. He starts putting desires in your heart that are true righteousness — not the lesser or the counterfeit righteousness, but the greater righteousness. The kind of righteousness that doesn’t just make you righteous, but it actually rights the wrongs in the world, which we’re going to be talking about in the next six weeks.

It’s a fascinating thing that God comes and begins to do that work in us so that now, when we walk in this world, we’re walking in a different way. It’s a different flavor coming out. It’s salty. It’s light-y. It’s righteousness.

Then, the last thing, the Law was good at being a temporary tutor for us, but the Spirit brings something brand new. The Spirit brings freedom forever. Now, 2 Corinthians 3:

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

And then, even more risky than that, Titus 1:15 teaches:

To the pure, all things are pure…

Now, this I don’t want my daughters to read. They are not allowed to read this verse until they’re like 80. Because as soon as they get a hold of this verse — they’re not in here, are they? Yeah. Make sure they’re not in here. No, I’m just kidding. As soon as they get a hold of this verse, they could throw this at me no matter what I say. “To the pure all things are pure, Dad. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. What are you talking about? We’re not going back into that legalism.”

This is not safe. But this is the truth. If you ask me this, God made a mistake here by giving people this kind of freedom. But it’s what God wants to do. To the point where Paul had to write this verse in the Bible:

Because of this freedom … because to the pure all things are pure … because we can do whatever we want and we’re forgiven, we’re cleansed, there’s no condemnation no matter what. Why don’t we just go sin, then? We get the pleasures of this world and the forgiveness of God. He literally was like, “I know what I’m saying is leading you to this, but it’s antinomianism.”

It’s this idea where people say, “Okay, if God’s going to do all that, why don’t I just get both?” And Paul’s like, “You can You can. If that’s what you want to do with the gift that God has given you, you can.”

So should we sin that grace may abound? But his next line is, “God forbid.” Why would you do that? Why would you do that with the love of God? Why would you do that with the gift of God?

It’s the same thing that Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery, as she says, “Hey, there’s no more accusers. There’s no one here to condemn me.” And Jesus could have said, “Except me.” Right? Like, “I’m the one without sin, and yeah, what you did was wrong. So let’s talk about that.”

He said, “Go your way and sin no more.” Like, “There is no condemnation for you, even from me, who has the right to condemn you. But go your way and be free. Use your freedom to do righteousness. Use your freedom to help others. Use your freedom to honor God. Use your freedom in those ways.”

And Paul has to caution. There’s so much freedom that we have. He says, “Don’t use your freedom to cause your brothers to struggle, or your sisters to stumble, who might be struggling with the very thing you’re saying, ‘Hey, look, I’m free. I can do this.” But if it causes others to stumble, you’re not using your freedom properly.

So Paul has to do some teachings on how to properly use your freedom. Because you’re that free in Christ Jesus.

Another verse:

All things are lawful, but not everything is profitable.

He’s trying to teach people on the other side of their freedom, “to the pure all things are pure,” now, just don’t abuse it though. Because it’s that ridiculous what God has given you. It’s that good of news that Jesus ushered in in this new covenant. Now where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is absolute freedom. And to the pure all things are pure.

Now you know why I don’t want my daughters to know about that. Because I’m the eagle’s nest. I’m like, “Heh, heh. Come on. Get in my nest. Get in the nest here, little eagles.” And then my oldest daughter’s like, “What are those people doing over there?” I’m like, “They’re not doing anything! Why do you have to have these wings? You don’t have wings!”

But that’s a bad dad. That’s a liar. And Jesus is too good to do that to us. He wants us to be free, so free. He wants us to fly. And so we’ve got to learn to walk into living by the Spirit. And there are cautions, for sure. And there’s the importance of the Law of God.

That’s why, when those guys asked me about their ethical dilemmas, I know they know God’s word. And I know they submit to it. That’s why they’re asking me. I know they understand that they need other people to help them process things. That’s why they were asking me. And because of all those things, I was able to say, “Go, be free. Go free and be bold. The gates of hell cannot stand against you.” So we’ve got to learn to live into this. I want to give you a couple of examples about what this looks like.

First of all, the way the Spirit works in our life is kind of like an electric bike. I wrote an email about this this week. I write a weekly email every week. If you want to get it, then just email me and I’ll get you on the list and you’ll get a weekly email from me right in your Inbox all the time. You could just delete it. I don’t care. But I try and write them. Sometimes they’re good. Sometimes they’re less good.

But I was writing about it this time because this is helping me understand this. My wife and I went to Coronado Island on spring break. It was just the two of us. We wanted to go kind of bike around the island. So we went to this place where you could rent electric bikes. They gave us this map. It was kind of like all of these cool places you could see on the island. So it was like, “Oh, that would be great.” But it was pretty far. So we were like, “I don’t know.” And we were only budgeted for an hour of money. So then it was like, “Okay, I don’t know how we’re going to do this. Maybe we should just not do as much.”

But then, when we got on those electric bikes, we had never done it. We didn’t know how awesome those things were. One pedal is worth like a hundred pedals because you’re hooked up to the power. I didn’t figure out that there were different levels. My wife was on high and I was on economy. I was just like working to try to keep up with her. I was like, “What is up with this lady.” But then I switched it and it was not bad.

It’s not the bike doing all the work for you. It’s that there is really a union. Your effort and energy, which is so pitiful and weak and couldn’t get the job done, connected with the full power of that battery. We cruised that entire island. We got back with time to spare and then went over to another place and got lost. (It was weird.) We could have had so little if we just had us. But connected to that it was like we got this much fuller experience.

The Spirit comes into our lives. The new covenant is God dwells inside of us and our five loaves and two fish can now feed five thousand. We can be the little be that just has a little bit to offer and say, “Well, Jesus, I’m putting it in your hands.” He’s like, “Well, stick with me, kid, and watch.” Boom!

And, honestly, that happens every single Sunday morning as I get up here. And all I have is just something real little. And last week I had maybe one loaf of stale bread. And what was so funny is a bunch of people told me that the Lord really spoke to them last week. And I was like, “Heh, heh. Electric bike.”

Or think about the disciples. These guys don’t know what’s going on. They’ve been with Jesus. And now they’re walking by a guy at the temple who can’t walk, that they’ve seen their whole lives maybe. And there’s just this little bit of stirring in their souls. A little of compassion. A little bit of consideration that was different, maybe, than other days. And they guy is saying, “Can you give me some money?” He’s like, ‘Silver and gold have I none, but I’m going to give you what I do have. And it’s small and it’s puny, but it’s connected to the living God.” The next thing you know, that guy is dancing around in the church, causing a whole ruckus.

And it looks like my mom, like I said last week, was on her death bed, cancer was wracking her brain. She knows the end is coming. She knows she’s losing everything. She knows she’s leaving us and that breaks her heart. With all the full weight of all of that, she had perfect peace. She had that peace that passes understanding. It made no sense as I was talking with her. Because the Spirit of God was there. And her little bit of faith, her little bit of courage, her little bit of strength, coupled with the Spirit of God was enough to give her perfect peace in such a challenging situation.

And for me, as a young man, I remember I was reading 1 Samuel 14 about Jonathan and his armor bearer, and how they went and fought against the Philistines. And what happened was, Jonathan was saying to his armor bearer, his buddy, he’s like, “Hey, all the Israelites are hiding in caves because they’re so scared of the Philistines.” But he’s like, “There’s something in me. This is not right. We are the children of God. This is not right.” So he says to him, “Let’s go over to the Philistine camp where they’re all camped out on that cliff. Let’s go show ourselves to them.” Which was like the whole of their plan, which is not a lot.

But then, his next line is, “And we’ll see what the Lord might do.” So they did. And the Lord basically not only helped them to conquer that, but all the noise of that battle caused all of the Israelite arm to come out of the caves and to drive off the Philistines. I just thought, Man, let’s see what the Lord can do!

So I was graduating college and this was kind of stirring in me. The Spirit was just like Boom, boom! I’ve got to see what the Lord can do. What can I do? I’ve got to see what the Lord can do. And I ended up coming up with this idea of going to Ireland. So I talked three friends into going with me. We bought a ticket and we were going to Ireland and we were coming back three months later. The whole plan, except for we wanted to see what the Lord might do.

I have so many stories to tell, but within three days we had a place to live, we had jobs, and we had our names sent out to basically all of the high schools and, kind of like Young Life Ministries, high school ministries of Northern Ireland, literally every two days we would get on a bus and I’d say, “Can you take us to this Bali-whatever, you know, Balihooli, Bali-whatever…” and they would take us to those places and we would share with the high schoolers that were there after school or in school. Sometimes we’d be doing the assembly so there’d be like two thousand high schoolers. And me and my friends would be like, “Hey, we don’t know what we’re doing here.” And we’d share the word with them. Tell them about Jesus.

I just remember at the end of that time, going, “Wow. Man, the Lord can do a lot with a little.” We really got to see what the Lord could do.

And what is fascinating is that that gave me the courage when my wife — I married a crazy lady — and Brittany Stockton, who was in Belize last week — and any time she comes back from Belize, I’m like, “Yes! She didn’t stay!” You know? Like, “She came back to me! All right! It’s awesome.” Because of the way her heart is and all of that.

Yet, she felt like the Lord was saying we should go to Belize for a year. This was a while ago. And I was like, “Why?” And she said, “Let’s just see what the Lord can do.” And I was like, “Oh, don’t say that!” Big time stuff.

So we do. We had a one-year-old daughter and we moved to this tiny little village that didn’t have running water. We just wanted to see what the Lord could do. And part of our idea was we’d get to see someone from Belize who was raised up to oversee the churches. Because, as it was, the only time there was church was when a missionary came to town.

Sure enough, long story short, everybody knows a little something about this, the guy who preached four weeks ago, his name is Kenny Welch, and he’s been leading two churches there for a long time now. We got to see what the Lord could do. Not because we had anything great. Because the Spirit was moving. We were living by the Spirit.Now, don’t think I’m saying living by the Spirit means you’ve got to go to another country. Not at all. That’s not what I’m saying. But you’ve got to go do what the Lord’s asking you to do.

One other time that was helpful for us trying to figure out how to live by the Spirit, we were going back to Dangriga, which is the next town down, next village down in Belize. I was going to be there for two days. We needed to find a place to live and what ministry connection we were going to do, because we didn’t know anyone in the town. And my wife and I got down on our knees and we got a pen and paper out. We were like, “Okay, Lord, we’re just going to sit here and we’re going to write down anything your Spirit brings to mind.”

So we each wrote down a few things. A couple of them in particular, my wife had this picture of this house. There was like a veranda upstairs and there was a young boy kind of staring out like he was looking at the sea. Then I wrote the name down “Raul,” which is funny because we were going to central America. But I was like, it was Raul or something like that.

Lo and behold, I get to Dangriga. I’m there and there were only like a couple of minutes left. We had like a half hour before we had to go back. We hadn’t really found a place to live. And I saw a truck with a ladder in the back. This is how desperate it had gotten. I said, “Let’s go talk to that guy.” I said, “Do you know any places that are available for rent?” Because you can’t just Google that in Dangriga. He gave us the name of this lady.

So we talked to this lady. And we went over there and there was this house. And I didn’t even think of it. But I took a picture of the house and I sent it to Brittany. And she was like, “That is the house that I saw!” And one of the nephews of one of the guys with us was standing upstairs on the veranda and he was looking out at the sea. She was like, “That’s it!” And I was like, “awesome.”

But this is me. That was more expensive than the other house that we were kind of thinking about. And I was like, “I don’t know.” But then, one of the guys we were with had a dream that night that something horrible happened to my family in the other house. And I was like, “All right. Where are we signing up?” But this is how the Spirit needs to work with me. I need extra credit type stuff to get me there.

Then the name Raul was so interesting because we were trying to figure out this ministry connection. We were driving in and we saw all these people broke down and we stopped to help them. They didn’t need help. But I remember this guy was wearing this shirt that said “Kids Connect for Jesus.” I thought That’s a weird shirt.

Then we drive into town. We met with this pastor and he was like, “Man, I think you guys should work with Kids Connect for Jesus. They seem like a ministry you could connect with. I’m like, “Oh, okay.”

Then I had an ear infection. I was like, “Could we just stop at a doctor’s office real quick because I’d love to get some drops or something.” So we go to the place that those guys knew and it was too crowded. The guy’s like, “Hey, we’ve got too many people so we’re not going to see you today. But if you go down the street there’s another guy.” So we go down the street. Little house, podunk thing. But there’s a guy in there, he’s a doctor and he’s actually from India. And his name is Dr. Raul. When I saw Raul, I was like, “Raul? What? No way!”

And as we walked into the office, literally, we almost crashed into this lady as we were walking in. She had a big shirt that said, “Kids Connect for Jesus.” And we ended up connecting with Kids Connect for Jesus and doing ministry with them. It was like, Wow! This is living by the Spirit.

Now, again, that sounds all magical and mystical. But it was very natural. It was very simple. It was stuff that we were dealing with and God was leading us and guiding us. It didn’t mean that we didn’t have the structure and all of the goodness of the Law and the scriptures and all those things. Like I said, the whole “See what the Lord might do,” that came out of the scriptures. The Spirit loves to use the scriptures to guide us. But at the end of the day, we can’t negate or forget about the Spirit and just live out of the scriptures, because in that there is death. But when the Spirit comes, there’s life.

I have so many more stories to tell. And I know many of you have stories of how the Lord has led you and guided you. And it’s my job as the pastor, a teacher, whatever I am in this place, to help us understand and see what Jesus is really trying to do.

Again, it would be so much easier for us to just buckle down into some legalism. Especially me. I love it. But it would be so much less than what God really wants to do. And, ultimately, it wouldn’t create the salt and the light that this world desperately needs. You are free in Christ, in ways that you would never actually believe if you could. Well continue trying to live into this freedom that he has given us and keep trying to learn how to do it.

A couple of guys that are smart — C.S. Lewis writes it this way. He says:

Our faith is not a matter of our hearing what Christ said long ago and “trying to carry it out.” Rather, “The real Son of God is at your side. He is beginning to turn you into the same kind of thing as himself. He is beginning, so to speak, to ‘inject’ his kind of life and thought, his zoe [life], into you; beginning to turn the tin soldier into a live man. The part of you that does not like it is the part that is still tin.”

And Dallas Willard says it this way:

“Now, what we can do by our unassisted strength is. try small. What we can do acting with mechanical, electrical, or atomic power is much greater. Often what can be accomplished is so great that it is hard to believe or imagine without some experience of it. But what we can do with these means is still very small compared to what we could do acting in union with God himself, who created and ultimately controls all other forces.”

Let’s pray:

Lord, I pray for each person in this room that is facing an ethical dilemma — whether it be within their own soul or household or in our society — whether it be a friend of their who has just confessed some really heavy things— whether it be a daughter or a son who has decided they are homosexual or identifying in some other way outside of what you prescribe — whether it’s some sort of anger issue or someone has wronged them or offended them and they just want their version of justice — or whether it’s just a decision about what to do and where to go — I thank you that your Spirit has come. And I pray your Spirit would lead them and guide them and empower them to walk in your ways, and they would be able to see what the Lord can do, and they would trust you and they would surrender to you, they would have courage to step out in whatever you do say and speak to them. I pray all this in your name, Jesus. Amen.

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David Stockton 5/9/21 David Stockton 5/9/21

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You

We’re going to be in Matthew chapter 5 if you want to grab a Bible and turn there. We’re also going to be in Galatians chapter 3 if you want to make a mark there as well. It’s Mother’s Day. My mom is not around anymore these days. She was awesome, though, in a lot of ways. She had an interesting experience of becoming a mother. She was 17 when she got married and 18 when my brother showed up, and then had another one of my brothers at 19-1/2…

Series: The Sermon on the Mount
May 9, 2021 - David Stockton

We’re going to be in Matthew chapter 5 if you want to grab a Bible and turn there. We’re also going to be in Galatians chapter 3 if you want to make a mark there as well.

It’s Mother’s Day. My mom is not around anymore these days. She was awesome, though, in a lot of ways. She had an interesting experience of becoming a mother. She was 17 when she got married and 18 when my brother showed up, and then had another one of my brothers at 19-1/2 and had me by the time she was 23. So three boys by the time she was 23.

And my dad was actually 27 when I was born, but he was probably going on about 20 as far as his maturity level. So my mom really had her hands full with a bunch of boys in the house. And yet, my mom, she was strong. She was small but she was strong. And she did set us in line and taught us a lot of things.

I was thinking, you know, we’ve been talking about the law as far as when Jesus was saying in Matthew 5:17 that he didn’t come to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law. So we’ve actually spent a couple of weeks talking about the law of God as brought to us through the Mosaic covenant. And we’re going to be talking about the law again today.

I was thinking about my first interaction with any concept of law was my mom. She was the one who laid down the law in our house. And like that little film was joking, I mean, all those are rules, right? Those are laws that moms come up with that kids violate continually, that’s why they never say those things.

One of the things that came to mind real strong was my mom got a couch one day. I don’t know if it was a nice couch and she had always wanted a nice couch and finally got a couch. I have no idea what the couch was, I just remember the law was we weren’t allowed to sit in it. So I thought, okay, there’s a nice couch coming. We destroy everything. She doesn’t want us to sit in the couch. But the couch was right in the middle of our house in our living room. So it wasn’t like a couch in her bedroom, it was a couch in a room where people sit a lot. And we weren’t allowed to sit on that couch.

I can still picture that couch and how pristine it was, in my mind, just wondering what it would have been like to sit on it and to feel that couch underneath me. But that wasn’t enough. I don’t know exactly what took place, but that rule of not sitting on the couch quickly became we weren’t allowed to go into the room that couch was in. So the entire living room, we were not allowed in, me and my three boys. There weren’t a lot of other people living in the house besides my mom and dad. But we weren’t allowed in it. We were allowed in this tv room, but I actually can picture the difference of those two rooms. This room the carpet was clean and still was sticking up, you know. Then the tv room where we were allowed to go was rough. It was a rough space in the house.

Those are some rules. We used to get a nickel for every pair of socks we could put together. Anybody else have something like that? And you’d think, “Wow, that seems like a lot of money.” We’d get like four pairs is all we could ever find each. It sounded like this really big deal but it never worked out that great for us. We had some interesting things.

Then I remember my mom came up with this real clever, like legal system for us as far as chores goes. Every time we’d do a chore we’d get a thumbtack on this little tack board she put up there. So clever and trying to get us responsible and all those things. We’d get a certain amount of money for every thumb tack that we got when we completed a chore. Sounds very normal. I just remember, because I was the youngest, it didn’t matter how hard I worked or how many chores I did, I couldn’t get more thumbtacks on the board. It would always stay the same few numbers. But my brothers, who never seemed to do any chores, just kept growing thumbtacks all the time. It took me a while. I was a little dense as a kid. They’d just walk up and it would be like bam, bam. They were just stealing them.

It didn’t matter what rules my mom made, we violated them and made a mess of them. But somehow we got through.

Talking about the law. Matthew 5:17. Let’s read Matthew 5:17-20. This is super, super important passage of scripture, passage of the Sermon on the Mount, as Jesus is trying to help the people he gathered understand what it’s going to be like if they follow him. Understand what’s it’s going to be like to walk in his ways. Understand what he was on earth to do was to bring in something new, something different. So this is what he says:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets;

Which is a past thing. He’s speaking to Jews primarily. He’s speaking about this covenant that God made with Moses. That the people had basically been participating in for thousands of years.

I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

So again, he’s just saying this is so important. All of those commands, all of the stuff you learned in the Law and the Prophets. The Torah, the Prophets, all of those things. So important they are from God. They are good. And they will not pass away.

Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

So the law is good. It’s not going to be abolished. It’s super important and yet, you need to have a righteousness that’s better than the Pharisees or you’re not even going to make it. So this is what we’ve been talking about.

It’s funny. I’v been finding a lot of help for this sermon series from a guy named Jonathan Pennington, super-cleverly on the Sermon on the Mount and it’s called The Sermon on the Mount. You can check it if you want. But he wrote in there about this passage of scripture, which just kind of confirms so much of why I just felt we needed to camp out here. He said this:

The compactness of Matthew 5:17-20 is at once its power and its difficulty. By virtue of its pithy, contrastive statements we get a large-scale snapshot of the issue; but its brevity and super-concentrated collection of weighty terms and ideas mean that every sentence is a spark that sets off a fire in a different direction. Like good poetry, this short passage is thick with meaning and in need of deep reflection.

So we’ve camped out here and you might be sick of these verses. You might be saying, “Why are we talking so much about the Law? I thought we were Christians living under grace.” And all of that is true. But I’m really trying to make sure that we hear from Jesus in this time as best we can before we go forward.

So we have been doing a lot of affirming of the Law, because that’s in here. Jesus is doing that. Affirming of the commands that God had given us. Now again, that’s a tricky, complicated thing. Because what is Jesus really referring to when he says the Law and the Prophets. There’s a lot of debate. There was a lot of debate at that time.

There were four main sects at that time: Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots and Essenes. They all had different worldviews, different philosophies on how to do that. Kind of like what we have today with Democrats, Republicans, liberals, conservatives, progressives, whatever you want to talk about. They even had these Zealots. And the Zealots were basically like, “We just want to fight. We just want to find the Romans and get rid of them because they are oppressors.” It’s kind of like the social justice warriors of this time.

They were all trying to unpack this in a different way. And then you had schools of thought. You had the school of Hillel and the school of Shammai. One of these was taking a little looser understanding of the scriptures and kind of giving a little more room to wiggle. And others were tightening it up and making it really, really strict.

So there was this constant challenge of, well, what is the Law? In the Mitzvot was the 613 confirmed commandments that came through the Torah. Torah is the first five books of the Bible, which another name for it is Pentateuch. But then it gets even a little deeper because those 613 Mitzvot commandments that came from the written Law of the Torah needed interpretation and commentary to figure out how they really applied to life.

So they came up with something called the Oral Law. The Oral Law eventually gave way and became something called the Talmud. The Talmud was basically the most general adopted orthodox traditions and teachings and commentaries on the Mitzvot which came out of the Pentateuch and the Torah. Then the Talmud was broken up into two main kind of documents. One was a little bit prior and one was a bit little after that. That was the Mishnah. Then the Gemara.

You see the complexities? This is the stuff we’re trying to do. We’re trying to gain a vision of the righteousness of God for our time. God, what do you want us to do with the issues that we are facing today? And last year, 2020, a lot of these issues came to the surface because a lot of us were feeling real insecure. And what happened was a lot of people started shouting and preaching about what righteousness and justice really were. And they were coming up with their own backing of those type of things, their own reasoning for those things. But not a lot of them were coming from a scriptural point of view, a Judeo-Christian ethic. In fact, I would even call them anti-Biblical.

So we really did have to kind of all of a sudden say, “Okay, God. I’m being pulled in so many different directions. These are some powerful ideologies being passed out. Some of them sound so good. I don’t know what to do.” So we dove into the scriptures, the safety that’s there. And we affirmed the goodness of the Law of God. And we unpacked it and tried to understand. We went back to 1 Kings and really looked at what was the idolatry of that day. Where did they go astray so that we won’t fall into the same traps. And we really affirmed the Law.

We’ve been doing that the last two weeks. Two weeks ago, remember Kenny? He was here preaching about those who relax on the Law of God are the least in the kingdom. We don’t want that. We don’t want to be the least in the kingdom so we’ve got to be careful we don’t relax on the Law of God or teach others that they can relax on the Law of God. We talked last week about how we don’t want to mess with the truth because the truth is what sets us free. Then if we mess with the truth we’re really messing with our freedom. And if we diminish or water down the truth, we’re really diminishing or watering down our ability to be free as the Lord as prescribes it.

All of that is good and right and wonderful. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t have done that. But I’m saying that is partial. And you’ve got to track with me here. And I don’t even know if I’m going to do a good job of explaining this, but I’m trying. I’m trying and I will keep trying until we can understand it. Because the New Testament is full of this relationship. What is the role of the Law in the life of the believer? Where does it stop being a good thing and become a bad thing? Because that happens.

And that’s where Jesus brings in the example of the Pharisees. Because the Pharisees knew the Law. They loved the Law. They searched the Scriptures constantly. They put them in little boxes on their head and wore them around. They put them on their doorposts. They were trying to really unpack and understand how to live righteously according to God’s standards. They committed themselves to it.

But Jesus said their righteousness wouldn’t even get them into heaven. So something was missing. In some ways the picture in mind as I’ve been trying to understand this for myself, is picture a bunch of logs on a fireplace. There’s no fire, but the logs are in there. For me, I love bonfires in a little bit of a too much way. At least that’s what my mother-in-law says to me all the time. But the kids that I have and the cousins that are around a lot, they don’t think so at all. They think it’s awesome.

But I love to build these bonfires, build them, and you can build a box one. You can lean things together and make little teepee. It’s really fun to build these things. Basically, that’s what it seems like these Pharisees were doing. They were building all these things and in some ways it seems like they were building their own Tower of Babel trying to reach to the righteousness of God.

And was Jesus was saying was, “I haven’t come to get rid of all that but I’ve come to set fire to it. I’ve come to bring the fire that will actually make this thing come alive, make this thing good, make this thing bring warmth to the people who need warmth; and healing to the people who need healing.” But the Pharisees had no fire. They had none of the Spirit of God or the Spirit of the Law. They just had the substance and their righteousness was completely empty, according to Jesus.

So we’ve talked about that. Now we’re trying to shift into this understanding of what Jesus was moving into. “I’ve not come to abolish the Law, but I’ve come to fulfill it.” That word fulfill means complete or satisfy. And that’s what I like. It’s like, “I haven’t come to get rid of this bonfire, but I’ve come to actually bring fire that will now ignite this thing in such a beautiful, world-healing, individual healing way.” That’s the righteousness that he’s really after. Not these empty towers of righteousness that often religiosity brings about; but a true relationship with Jesus that causes justice to flow into the world out of each one of us. So that’s what we’re trying to move into.

So let’s go to Galatians chapter 3, because here is where Paul — who is just such a perfect example of what was happening here — Paul was writing to the Galatians about the Law of God and what its purpose is and what it was supposed to be about. He’s trying to help them shift from this understanding of walking in the Law to now walking in the Spirit. This kind of thing that Jesus ushered in, moving us from an old covenant to a new covenant reality.

Paul is coming, not just from a person who’s understanding this from revelation from God, but he’s coming because he’s actually experienced all of this in his own personal life. We first meet Paul as someone who is so filled with anger and murderous threats in his pursuit of righteousness. He was someone who was zealous for the Law. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, he says of himself. He said, “According to the Law, I was blameless.” Yet what he had inside his heart was anger and frustration and murderous threats. Literally, he was trying to go kill people who were following the way of Jesus. That’s what all of that religiosity, that’s what the Law brought him until Jesus came and said, “Hey, what are you doing? What you’re doing is not righteousness.” And Jesus began to interact with him and teach him the way of Jesus.

It’s kind of interesting. We did mention last week, remember, how Jesus was trying to help people understand that murder, according to the Pharisees and according to the law is if you don’t kill somebody. But Jesus is saying that’s not the righteousness that God’s after so you won’t kill somebody. God’s actually wanting to see that the anger in your heart, you call people Raca, you call people fool, something in your heart turns from anger to love. He’s wanting to get at these divisions and bring unity and peace.

And Paul experienced that firsthand in his own heart. When he met Jesus, Jesus stole his anger. And the very people that he was trying to kill, literally, he now became a champion for, someone who served them and cared for them and built the Church of God. Which is so fascinating that that shift happened because the Spirit came. He went from old covenant to new covenant in a beautiful way.

Let’s read what he says in Chapter 3 about the Law. Now verse 2 is where we’re going to start:

I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain? So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?

So, first of all, we’ve got to understand that the Law is actually a covenant. So when these people were hearing Jesus talk about the Law, I mean, when we talk about the law, we think cops and robbers, right? We think of courtrooms and all of those things. We think of governments trying to pass laws, which they’re doing right now. That’s where our mind goes.

But when these people were hearing about Law, they were hearing a lot more the word covenant. Because that’s what the Law was. The Law was where God, who had set the Israelite’s free from slavery in Egypt, had sustained them in the wilderness, had led them to the Promised Land, had been so kind and good to them, had been so close and faithful to them, was now saying, “As you go into this new place, here’s the relationship I want to have with you. I will be your God and I will give you blessing and I will watch over you and I will prosper you. And here’s what I want you to do in return. I want you to love me, have no other gods before me. Don’t take my name in vain. And I don’t want you to kill each other. I don’t want you to commit adultery.”

He gives them the Ten Commandments. This is basically the relationship. It’s almost as if you’re at a wedding. What happens at a wedding? You have a guy standing up there. You have a girl standing up there. They look at each other before the authority, the priest or whatever, and they give vows. “I promise that this is what I’m going to do. I promise that this is how I’m going to be. I promise that I’ll never leave you, til death do us part.” We make all these promises. That’s a lot more, when they hear the Law, they think more of vows, of covenant, of relationship.

That’s ultimately what God was trying to do with the laws he was giving to Israel. He was trying to draw them in close to say, “Hey, this is how we’re going to have the best relationship.” But what happened in Israel was they began to make the laws all about the laws. They began to just focus so much on the laws, they forgot to even focus on the Lord. They started focusing on doing all the things God was asking them to do, and really gave no attention or care to God at all.

We have to remember that all of the laws that we’ve been given, all the commandments are ultimately to cultivate a relationship with Jesus, which produces righteousness. Not a righteousness that, someday if we get it all right, God will bless us. It’s such a challenging thing for us to not fall back into those things.

The Galatians, when Paul came there, the Galatians didn’t know the Law. They didn’t know what God was up to. And Paul preached to them and he shared with them about who Jesus is. and he basically told them that the world has all been set up and your life is just going to be empty until the Spirit comes. The Spirit’s going to bring fire to all of this and then your life can be shining bright.

And they were like, “Yeah, we believe. We know we need forgiveness. We’re stuck in our sins. We can’t stop doing that. We have hatred. We have all these things you’re talking about. We need forgiveness. We need the Spirit.” They received it. They received what Jesus did on the cross. They received his Spirit in their lives. And signs and wonders broke out in Galatia. People were being healed. People were being set free. Beautiful things were happening. And it was wonderful.

Then, shortly after that, the people started to just kind of be all about rules. And they started to create just religion. And they really forgot to just kind of be walking in the Spirit in relationship with Jesus. And Paul was saying that you’ve got to remember that the Law is a covenant with a person, the person of Jesus Christ. That’s what it’s all about. It’s not to make you righteous. It’s to make you closer to Jesus, because Jesus is the one who makes you righteous.

The second thing he says here is the Law is a measure for us. 3:10 through 11:

For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.”

So here, what he’s saying is basically the Law given to us, the Ten Commandments — all of these things — one of their purposes in our lives is to help us know what righteousness is and, therefore, to know that we’re not righteous. That’s literally one of the reasons God gave the Law to the people, so that they would know what righteousness is, but then in the very next breath they would remember that they are not righteous, because they’re not fulfilling those things. They have the hatred in their heart. They can’t get free from the lust. When somebody does something to them they lash back. They don’t love their enemies. They don’t stay faithful to their contracts and vows, including marriage.

These are the things that Jesus was describing and unpacking. When we measure ourselves against all that God desires, all that God asks of us, if we’re honest, we fall short. And he’s saying here, if you even do one, you could nine out of ten and your righteousness is still not enough to get into heaven. That’s the way he finishes up this little part of it. He says, “Be perfect, even as my Father in heaven is perfect.” That’s the kind of righteousness that he’s requiring.

So when we’re face to face with the Law, it’s totally appropriate for us to affirm the goodness that is described there, but then we also have to acknowledge that we are sinners. That’s bad news for just a second, right? Everybody’s feeling a little heavy right now. Everybody’s like, “Why is he saying this? Is he trying to be mean?”

It’s important. This is one of the reasons the Law is there, to help us know we can’t make it, which then makes us then go, “God, I need you.” And he’s like, “Cool. I just sent my Son. Bam. All your sins are forgiven. Righteousness just like me. Bam. We won.” It’s all there. But we have to understand our insufficiency if we’re ever really going to be able to receive the sufficiency that Christ is.

If we keep falling back to just saying, “Well, maybe I’ll get it right this time,” and not rely on his strength, not fall into his grace, not live out of grace, we’re going to be brutal to ourselves and we’re going to be brutal to those the Lord has around us. We need to be full of his grace in the face of his Law.

So the Law is covenant. The Law is a measure for us. Then this one is interesting. The Law is a tutor. I’m going to read from The Message translation (MSG), but it’s the same chapter 3 verse 23 through 27. This is what Paul says about the Law:

Until the time when we were mature enough to respond freely in faith to the living God, we were carefully surrounded and protected by the Mosaic law. The law was like those Greek tutors, with which you are familiar, who escort children to school and protect them from danger or distraction, making sure the children will really get to the place they set out for.
But now you have arrived at your destination: By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God. Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe—Christ’s life, the fulfillment of God’s original promise.

Basically, what he says is the Law is kind of like a tutor. The Law was given to us to hold us there, to keep us safe until the day something else kicked in. When I think about my mom’s laws, that’s exactly what they were. My mom was basically trying to provide a little structure, a little shelter to these three boys that were insane, until the day — and she prayed a lot — that maybe a little maturity would show up, maybe a little common sense would kick in, the tiniest bit of self-control might be there. She had to war with us. She had to fight with us. She had to try to get my dad on the page, because she would make the laws and he would enforce the laws, but he would also break a lot of the laws. It was like the enforcer/breaker. We were just the breaker/receivers of the enforcement. Anyway.

All those laws were put there to try to protect, until the day she was just hoping and praying, one day we would be able to make a good decision all by ourselves. That’s what that was. Basically, that’s what Paul was saying the Law was. God gave the Law to his people to kind of hold them together, to teach them the way, to keep them from falling off the cliff until the day that something much better showed up. That “something much better” is the Spirit of Go, who wants to not just teach us about what God’s ways are, but he wants to write them as desires on our heart. He wants to come inside of us and navigate us. Not only that, but the best part of it is to empower us to walk in those things.

Jesus was, they said of him, that John came to baptize with water, but Jesus came to baptize with the Spirit and with fire. He was saying, “I’ve not come to abolish that whole Law, but I’ve come to fulfill it. I’ve come to put the fire in it. I’ve come to release my Spirit into you so that you can now walk in this righteousness.”

It’s a major, major thing. I know it’s so hard for us to grasp totally what he’s saying. I’m not saying you. I’m saying me, too. The intensity of what he’s saying. But the rest of the epistles in the New Testament are all unpacking this new covenant, this new thing that God created in Christ Jesus, where we can be made just as righteous as God the Father. Justified. Just as if we never sinned — by the life of Jesus, by the death of Jesus, and by the resurrection of Jesus. All the work that he did applied to us gets us into the fulness of righteousness.

Now the Law of God, for the life of a believer, is now we’re going from righteousness to the Law to be guided. Not trying to use the Law to gain some sort of righteousness. So now we have to figure out what it means to walk in the Spirit, that there is a much more important Law, a greater Law over our lives than the Law of Moses or the Law of the old covenant.

So we’re now living into what does it mean to live in this new covenant life? This new relationship with God. Walking by the Spirit. This is what we’re trying to unpack. I’m saying this because I know it’s hard to understand what that’s like, to walk in the Spirit. Paul is continually trying to help people understand what it means to walk in the Spirit. So I’m going to give you a couple of examples to finish up here. But more importantly than anything, I want you to start figuring it out on your own, what it means to walk by the Spirit.

Like I said, for Paul, what it meant when the Spirit came in was he no longer living according to the works of the Law, but now he was trying to follow what God was asking him to do. He just started doing what God asked him to do in this relational way. He wouldn’t go to the Law, necessarily, to figure out what God would want. He would go to prayer. He would go to his relationship with the Spirit to figure out what God wanted. And yes, more often than not, what God wanted him to do was totally in line with the scriptures. Absolutely. This is God’s favorite tool. But don’t ever make this God. Don’t seek this God where you think you have eternal life by doing this or you’ll fall way, way short like the Pharisees. This is just trying to help us know about Jesus and the relationship we’re supposed to have with him by the Spirit.

But going back to my mom, my mom had to really figure out what it meant to walk in the Spirit. She had to figure out how to live by the Spirit because her dad took off on her when she was really young and left her to try to figure out some things on her own. Then her mom kind of went super cold because she was trying to figure out how to raise some kids and pay the bills. So my mom was really kind of left alone to figure out a lot of things on her own.

Then, when she was seventeen, she met my dad. Through my grandmother, my dad’s mom, she ended up meeting Jesus. And she invited Jesus into her life and she began to learn of his ways. She began to navigate this exact thing that we’re talking about, not falling back into the antinomism of no law, but not falling into the legalism of too much law. Trying to learn how to walk in the Spirit. She loved the scriptures. She loved to teach them.

I remember the day when my dad took his life and her having to navigate that situation. Yes, the scriptures were helpful, but what she really needed was something a lot more powerful than just the scriptures. She needed God to show up. She needed the Spirit of God to be enough for her at that time. I watched her lean into Jesus and cry out to Jesus. And I watched Jesus be enough and give her peace and comfort and strength to keep going.

Then, shortly after that, she ended up getting cancer. That cancer was going to be something that was easily taken care of, but then it metastisized to her brain. And real quickly, her life was leaving her. I remember staying with her on her death bed and I knew she had a relationship with Jesus. I knew what the scriptures taught and I knew God could work all things out to good, but that wasn’t doing anything for me. So I asked her a question. I said, “Mom, what’s Jesus saying to you?” And she just smiled and looked at me and said, “Jesus told me that his power is over me to heal me.” And she had so much peace as she said it. That’s not a bible verse, by the way. I mean there are Bible verses that affirm that, for sure. That’s why the Bible is so important. But she was just having a conversation with Jesus in this place. And the Spirit of God made it clear to her that God’s intention was to have his power all over her to heal her.

I was like, “Does that mean he’s going to heal you?” And she said, “No. He just wanted me to know how close he was. That he could do it if he felt it was the right thing, but he has a better plan.”

That message to her right there gave her so much peace in the face of death, in the face of leaving this world, in the face of leaving us, her sons, who still needed a lot more common sense and self-control and maturity. But the Spirit of God was enough. It was more than enough. If all she had was just a tower of wood and structure and religiosity, it would have been dead and insufficient. But what she had was, she had a living, real relationship with the living, real Spirit of Jesus Christ, who rose from the dead.

So Jesus didn’t come to abolish the old covenant, the old Law. He came to fulfill it, giving way to something new. And you and I, today, we have a decision to make. Are we going to completely forsake all that God teaches and says and come up with our own way? Because the world around us is dong that like crazy. Or, are we going to really dig into this and try to earn some sort of righteousness by following the works of this law? Because there have been Christians like you and I who have wasted so much time and energy and left themselves raw and exhausted trying to do that. Or are we going to receive the Spirit of God that is a gift of this new covenant that Jesus purchased by his blood and begin to learn to walk in the Spirit, day in and day out? Begin to hear what he has to say each day, and trust that and go.

Yes, look to the scriptures and community to confirm that we’re not just hearing whatever weird pizza put in us last night. This is still an important thing. It’s still a tutor for us. But this is not what you really, really need. What you need is a relationship with Jesus. You need the Spirit of God to come in with his fire and consume your disordered desires, and speak to you and teach you and sustain you and empower you to walk in righteousness, so that those around you can really know what it means to be in Christ Jesus, so that the fruits of the Spirit, the love, the joy, the peace, the patience, the kindness, the meekness, the gentleness, the self-control can show up in our lives, not because of our effort, but because of our connection with Jesus.

Lets pray:

Jesus, I’m sorry that I so often just fall back into religiosity and rule following and I leave you. But, Lord, I really do pray that you would help me to learn to walk in your Spirit every single day, not only so that I will have the guidance and power that I need for my life, but so that I could actually help the people around me with true guidance and power that comes from you.
And I pray for the people who are facing really tough decisions or really struggling with some disordered desires or addictions, or maybe they had someone that they really love come to them and say something that was really hard and they don’t know how to handle it. Lord, I pray you would visit them by your Spirit. I pray that they would be still and they would seek you and your Spirit would speak to them. That they wouldn’t just live off past scriptures or past experiences, but, Lord, they would seek you new and fresh every day.
Let this be a church that, yes, is full of your word, but Lord, more so, way more so, let us be filled with your Spirit. I pray that your Spirit would really break out in this place, that you’d come with your baptism of fire and of Spirit and baptize us anew, Lord.

Watch

David Stockton 5/2/21 David Stockton 5/2/21

You Have Heard It Said

How’s everybody? Yeah? We doing okay? We’ve got the month of May now, which is fun. You heard new service times for the summer. Woo? You don’t have to woo it. It’s just business. Yeah, for the summer we’re going to do 9 and 10:30, so you right here will have to split. Somehow figure out what you’re going to do. The 8 am is easy, they’ll just come at 9 am. The 11 am it’s easy, 10:30. But you guys have the big decision.

Series: The Sermon on the Mount
May 2, 2021 - David Stockton

But, we’re doing that not next week. We’re doing it the week after because next week is Mother’s Day. And Mother’s Day is the day we’re expecting the mothers to use all the power of Mother’s Day to bring their families together for church next week. And I mean that jokingly, but I also mean that sincerely because I know there’s a lot of division within families, there are a lot of people who have decided different things over topics last year. I know the heart of a mother is to see everybody join together. I really do encourage you to have them join together and come to church, whether they like it or not. You’ve got power. Be bold. Be courageous and use that power wisely to bring your family together and we’ll have a good time next Sunday. Then the following Sunday we’ll get down to two services for the summer and see how that goes.

Thanks for everybody tuning in online. You do whatever you want to do. You can go to both services, you can do one service. You can just watch it later, too. No problem there.

We’re going to be in the Sermon on the Mount again today. This is our fourth message on the Sermon on the Most. If you want to grab a Bible and turn to Matthew chapter 5. You’ve got Bibles in the pew in front of you or you could use your phone app Bible if you want, as well. Matthew chapter 5. We’re going to be talking about murder and adultery today. Woohoo! Yeah!

This has been a real fun message for me to get all prepared for. Yeah. So let me read the words of Jesus. Don’t get mad at me. If you’re going to get mad, get mad at Jesus, it’s his words. Just sharing his words. But yeah, here we go. Jesus is teaching on murder and adultery. Ready for it?

"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago…

Think Moses’ day, bringing the Ten Commandments…

'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother [or sister] will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca, '

Anybody done that recently? It means ‘idiot’ or ‘moron.’ “You idiot!” “Oh, they’re just such idiots!” They didn’t have cars back then. “Idiot!” You know? Yeah.

is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.
Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.
"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

And continuing about adultery…

"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 marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Yeah. How’s everybody doing? Yeah? Are we done? Are we done already?

So, a couple of things before we start to unpack this a little bit, that I think it’s important for us to remember. First of all, that Jesus just said prior to this section, “I have not come to abolish the law.” Now, if you spent time with Jesus, if you listened to the teachings of Jesus, you probably would start to think because he’s not like the Pharisees, because he doesn’t teach like the Pharisees and teachers of the law at that time, that he doesn’t even care about the law of God.

But Jesus is saying, “Hold on a minute. I have not come to abolish the law. I’ve come to fulfill it.” Because Jesus’ understanding about the law of God given through Moses was that it was good and it was right and it was true and it was helpful. And he’s later on said this little passage that many of us have heard, that it’s the truth that sets us free. So Jesus is making sure that his disciples understood, “I am not messing with the truth. I am not diluting the truth. I am not changing the truth. I’m not giving you a new truth. It is the truth that sets you free and I don’t want to give you anything but the truth because I really want to see you free.”

In our world today, we’ve talked about this much, we are wanting to minimize the truth or dilute the truth, or because the truth that comes through God’s word is hard, we want to decrease it a little bit. But what we need to understand is, if you mess with the truth, you mess with your freedom. If you decrease the truth, you decrease your freedom.

And what Jesus says is that those who want to relax on God’s law and teach others to do that, they are the least in the kingdom of heaven. But those who hold on tight and teach exactly what Jesus taught, they’ll be the greatest in the kingdom.

And then you have the Pharisees, who are teaching about God’s law in a way that’s going to keep them out of God’s kingdom. Some big time words, where Jesus is really trying to teach that the righteousness of God, the righteousness that is taught in the Law, the way of God taught by the Law is good and right and helpful for us learning about righteousness and living in righteousness.

So that’s the first point. The truth is important. So even though emotionally or culturally we want to shrink the truth a little bit, or be a little bit sheepish about the truth, then we’re really just shrinking people’s freedom and being sheepish about the freedom. If you want someone to get healed of a disease, you give them the full medicine and treatment. And you tell them to take that treatment even after they feel better, right? Finish that antibiotic round. You don’t lighten it up, because you really to see them whole.

So that’s what Jesus is doing here. He’s trying to really help people understand the truth and get the truth in them. That’s the first thing we need to understand.

The second thing we need to understand is that Matthew 7:28 is the verse that comes after the Sermon on the Mount. Don’t ever forget this. If you don’t get anything out of this whole series, just remember this, Matthew 7:28 says that, after the people heard the words of Jesus, they heard the sermon, it says they were amazed at his words, that he didn’t sound like the Pharisees who always made them feel bad and far away from God. Instead, his words were substantial and actually gave them hope that maybe, just maybe they could be close to God.

So we have to remember that. After we read through some of these things, we’re going to be like, “Ugh, that’s heavy. Whoa. I don’t know if I should be here anymore. I think it’s time to leave or check out, because he’s describing me right now, but it’s not the good way, it’s the bad way.”

But that’s not the way these people heard the words of Jesus because of the smile on his face and the tone of voice that he talked with. They heard Jesus teach these things and they thought, I think he’s teaching us because he thinks we can actually get it right. Which, for these people, no one had ever done before.

Now think about this: Jesus is on the side of a mountain and he’s talking about the Law of God. He’s teaching those who are gathered to him as disciples. Matthew’s made a really big deal of talking about the genealogy of Jesus and how he’s a king. He’s talked about Jesus actually going to Egypt and coming out of Egypt into his ministry. So Matthew is really trying to connect Jesus to Moses. And Moses, if you remember, when he was talking about the Law and he was interpreting God’s Law for the people and sat in judgment, he continued to tell the people about this One that would come and help them know fully what God was talking about when he gave us the Law.

It’s called that prophet. There’s kind of this theology of that prophet. There’s this prophecy, this promise given way back when that there would come One who would be that prophet. And he would come and he would make clear what are the ways of God.

So Jesus, on the side of this mountain, who has come out of Egypt, is teaching his disciples in a very Mosaic type way. Jesus is stepping into his role as the Master Rabbi, the actual authority on the way of God, who’s now coming as that prophet, fulfilling that scripture, to help make it clear what is the way of God for people.

And in that moment, Jesus is doing something really special. And the people he’s talking to are — I was trying to figure out the best way to describe these people. Anybody here ever been to Gila Bend? Why are you laughing? There are people who live in Gila Bend and you’re laughing because I said Gila Bend. No, I get it. They’ve got the Space Age Lodge there. Right? Which has been there forever. And the Space Age Lodge, believe it or not, I know a guy who took his wife there honeymoon night and they’re still married. The Space Age Lodge. Too much?

Gila Bend is about — we’re starting to get to a little bit of who Jesus is talking to. These are not people from the big city of Jerusalem. These are people kind of from the outskirts, back woods, hillbillies, who, all their life under Roman oppression have had nothing but extensive taxation and poverty. Their souls have been beaten down. Any time they do anything good it’s ripped right from them by Roman oppression. And, not only that, but any kind of hope they’ve had to be right in God’s eyes have been completely stripped away from them by a Pharisaical hierarchy of religious system. And they’re just out there, completely impoverished.

And remember, Jesus was talking about “Blessed are the poor in spirit”? These people were poor in every way imaginable, including spirit. And Jesus talked about those who are hungry for justice. These are the people who have experienced nonstop injustice for generations. And he comes to them and he teaches them about the Beatitudes, basically saying, “Hey, just so you know. God’s really paying attention to you. And you’re a lot closer to the kingdom of heaven than you think.”

And then he starts to teach them and give them time, give them attention. The way he’s teaching them is making them think, He’s telling us to come closer. He’s calling disciples to follow him and if they follow him then he’s going to lead them into God’s kingdom. Us? Gila Benders, Bendites, Gila Bendonians, I don’t know what you call them.

Again, when they heard this they were amazed. “No one has ever talked to us like this before. Every time the Pharisees come out we just feel like we get a whooping. But when Jesus talks to us, it’s still truth, and actually even more intense, but it makes me believe. It fills me with hope that maybe, just maybe no matter how broken or messed up I am, if I stay close to Jesus, I might end up in the right spot.”

That’s the way we have to hear this. Even the intensity of what’s being said today. Really, Jesus is trying to give us the difference between the true righteousness that God desires, the lesser righteousness, and then the actual fake righteousness of the Pharisees. So he kind of gives us that little teaching in verse 17 through 21, Kenny talked about that last week, and now we’re going to get examples of what he’s talking about.

The fake righteousness, or the lesser righteousness is that which is external. You’ve heard it said if you don’t murder, you’re righteous. That’s great. But I want to talk to you about something much more. So I’m going to tell us a few things about the true righteousness. Five things, actually.

True righteousness, first of all, if you’re taking notes, is internal over external. It’s the inside out kingdom, remember?

The second thing is true righteousness doesn’t delay. There’s an urgency to it.

The third thing is true righteousness seeks rewards in the next life over the now life, which is really hard for us, especially living in America and the prosperity that we have.

Someone texted me after first service. I’m saying it because I should have said it in the first service, but I didn’t think of it. He said it. So now I’m saying it to you and maybe you’ll think, Wow, that guy is so smart. But it actually came from somebody else who texted me because my message didn’t have it in it. It’s the concept that we, as Americans, in right desire we seek for our children that they’ll be successful, they’ll be powerful, they’ll be safe. But really, what God is interested in is making us holy and righteous. And there’s a reason for all of that. But seek rewards in the next life over this life.

Then true righteousness brings peace. We’re going to see that in a really special way.

And true righteousness comes from staying close to Jesus.

1: True righteousness is internal over external. We have Jesus’ examples here. It’s very simple. He says, “You’ve heard it said that if you don’t kill someone, if you don’t murder someone, then you’re righteous.” And Jesus is like, “Well, that’s a lesser kind of righteousness.” He’s not saying that it’s okay to kill people. He’s saying that’s not the whole deal. The true righteousness, the kind of righteousness that God is wanting to produce from our lives and see from our lives is an internal righteousness.

And so he goes on to say, “Hey, if you have anger in your heart toward a brother or sister, in God’s eyes, you’re committing murder. If you’ve lashed out at someone and called them an idiot, in God’s eyes, you’re guilty of murder. If you in your anger have lashed out and called someone a fool, you now have the judgment of God on you as a murderer.”

I’m just saying what Jesus is saying here. And there’s a reason for this intensity, because God really does want us to be holy. In just a bit, Jesus is going to say, “Be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” So we can’t go lightly on this stuff. We can’t say, “Well, it’s not that big a deal that I have this,” or whatever. No. Jesus is going after your heart because he wants you free.

Right now in our culture of virtue signaling, where if I wear the shirt or if I post the post, or something like that, I’m somehow accomplishing the righteousness of God or justice. The Pharisees were the best at that. And Jesus is saying it’s a real empty righteousness. God’s coming for your heart.

2: True righteousness doesn’t delay. Here he says, “Don’t wait.” When he talks about if you’ve found yourself with some of that trouble with the neighbor, an adversary that wants to take you to court. “Do it while you’re still with them on the way.” Don’t wait. Don’t delay until you get to the court. Don’t wait for the judge to tell you what’s righteous. You know what’s righteous. Go ahead and do that right now. And if you wait, it’s not going to go good. It’s not going to be right. You need to do it now.

When I think of this kind of urgency to this, I think a little bit of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I don’t know if you know his story. He grew up as a contemporary of Adolf Hitler in a lot of ways. And he grew up and kind of was watching what Adolf Hitler was teaching and he was watching the church and their response to it and realizing that none of that was good. He came over to America because he was brilliant and he was teaching ethics here in America, and really talking about the right way and what is good and what is pleasing to the Lord, and all these different things. The whole time he was hearing reports about what was happening to the Jews and what Hitler was up to and what the church was not doing in Germany. He eventually decided, “I can’t stay here. I can’t stay here in this place. I need to go back.”

So he left and went back to Germany. And it ended up costing him his life. But he came back and was trying to wake up the church to the urgency of the matter at hand, that evil had come and they needed to rise up and stand against it.

I think also Martin Luther King, Jr., if you ever read the letters from the Birmingham prison, they are so incredible, not only what he does with words and the literary excellence of it; but, basically what was happening was the pastors around him were saying, “Just chill out, Martin. Chill out. You’re in too much of a hurry.”

His response was so beautiful. “How long are we supposed to wait? Don’t you know that the righteousness of God has an urgency to it? It demands that we act. We don’t wait until it’s convenient. We don’t wait until it’s comfortable. We don’t wait until we can figure out how to make it come out to our good. We do it and we do it now to see that justice come.” There’s an urgency to it. That was true of Jesus, as well.

3: True righteousness seeks rewards in the next life over the now life. This is where we go to the part that’s so fun about it’s better for you to lose part of your body now than for your whole body to miss out on what’s next. Even gouging your eyes out or cutting your hand off. Whoa. I see everybody’s got two eyes in here today, so you haven’t really taken this verse literally Everybody got their hands, you know? Maybe not everybody. I have both of mine, just so you know. I have both eyes, both hands.

But what Jesus is getting at here is just really trying to help us shift our priorities. There are things in this life that you should go without because it will affect your next life. And you should have an intensity to this. I mean, obviously — I have to be very careful here — the Holy Spirit will make you understand what it is he’s wanting you to rid yourself of. But obviously you could think of things like Netflix. Maybe Netflix is something that does cause you to stumble. It causes you to kind of have some thoughts or some feelings that you don’t want or shouldn’t have. Just cancel it. I don’t have stock in Netflix. Just kidding. Just cancel it. It might be your phone. Maybe your phone. It’s like it’s so convenient to have your phone and all these things, and to put all those different blocks and all those things are so inconvenient. A little inconvenience in this life could have great impact in the next life.

Jesus is saying you need to be serious enough about this stuff, intense enough, that it would almost be like you would cut out your own eye to try and help out; so that you don’t stand before God every day as an adulterer.

There are things that we need to cut out of our lives to help us in our pursuit of righteousness. No doubt about it. Jesus is teaching that. We don’t hear the story of his disciples going and cutting out their eyes or cutting off their hands. So, obviously there’s more to it than just that. But there needs to be an intensity to this. There needs to be an evaluation of what’s in the next life over this life. Because that life is more real than this life. Remember we talked about the rope? This seventy years is just a blip on the radar compared to everlasting life. So we do lose things in this life to gain things in that life. That’s true of the righteousness of God.

4: True righteousness brings peace. Here again, Jesus is talking about the anger in your heart. He says that if you have this anger in your heart toward your brother or sister, you need to make it right. If you’ve been calling people idiots, if you’ve been calling people fools, you need to deal with that. Even if you’re not killing them. Even if they don’t know about it. God does. The true righteousness that he wants to see in the world and produce in your own soul is something that really does resist and fight against those things so that you can be free of those things.

When I think about this, I think about how easy it has been this last year to foster contempt for “the other.” Whatever the other might be. The other could be the other side of the aisle. You continue to watch certain news or listen to certain podcasts and it just breeds more and more “Raca!” You fool! They’re so stupid! They’re idiots!

I’m not saying there isn’t right and wrong. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be passionate about those things. I think there is. But we just can never do it motivated from anger. Paul the Apostle was a guy who was very zealous for the Law, zealous for the Lord. And Jesus came and slapped him in the face one day and said, “Your zeal is driven by your murderous anger in your heart, not from the Spirit of God.” And we’ve got to watch that.

Now, again, there is right and wrong. So when you’re persecuted for righteousness’ sake and that stirs up anger and frustration, that’s different than if you’re doing something wrong to somebody and it’s causing you the frustration. So the Beatitudes give us that little caveat. Blessed are you when you’re persecuted for righteousness. So if someone has something against you, but it’s not because you’ve done anything, and you have no anger in your heart, that doesn’t mean you have to go make it right. Instead, you can rejoice with a quiet confidence that God is with you in that moment. Then you have to keep watching out that your heart doesn’t pick up anger, contempt or bitterness or pride in that.

Here’s what the scriptures say about the righteousness of God. In Isaiah 48, it says:

Thus says the Lord,

your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“I am the Lord your God,

who teaches you to profit,

who leads you in the way you should go.

Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments!

Then your peace would have been like a river,

and your righteousness like the waves of the sea”

The righteousness of God produces peace in our lives and through our lives like a river.

Isaiah 32:17

And the effect of righteousness will be peace,
and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.

And then, lastly, from Hebrews 1:9 (ESV):

You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions.

The true righteousness of God produces peace in the face of anger and adversaries, and joyful, quiet confidence in the face of lust and unwanted desires. That’s the righteousness of God.

As I’ve said things, I think all of us are feeling a little more unrighteous maybe than we came in with. That’s okay. We’re face to face with Jesus. And everybody in the Bible who comes face to face with Jesus, you know what they do? They fall on the ground and they say, “I’m an unclean person with unclean lips.” And it’s not a bad thing for us to have that. Our hearts get pricked and feel the need for repentance, when face to face with the true righteousness. How far we are from it.

But remember, these people, after Jesus was done, did not feel like they had no options. Did not feel like they were stuck in their unrighteousness. Did not feel like Jesus was telling them, “There’s no shot for you.” Instead, somehow what they heard from Jesus was, “Okay. He sees me. He knows me. He’s not playing games. I can’t trick him. He knows what’s really going on in my heart. He knows that I have anger and lust there that I’ve been trying to get rid of on my own and haven’t been able to do it. He knows that stuff is there, and yet, he’s still spending the time with me. He’s still talking to me. He still has that look in his eyes and that tone in his voice that makes me think if I stick around him long enough, maybe I’ll be able to see myself the way he sees me.”

The reason that Jesus was able to feel that was because Jesus knew what was going on. Jesus knew he had to teach them about the true righteousness. But Jesus also knew that he was going to make a way for them to become true righteousness.

Now, remember, we’re on this side of Jesus. We’re looking back to the life of Jesus, so we have the New Testament perspective. We have the cross. We have the resurrection perspective. So Jesus is teaching this message. It’s heavy, but Jesus had this hope in his voice that caused these people, especially the twelve, maybe seventy, maybe one hundred and twenty, that were disciples gathered around him that were saying, “Hey, we’re going to try and follow him and spend time with him.”

Because Jesus knew that he was going to do something to make righteousness possible for them. He knew that he wasn’t going to be dependent on them getting it right. He wasn’t dependent on their energy, or effort, or wisdom, or smarts, or skill, or self-control to produce that righteousness. He said, “I haven’t come to abolish the law. I’ve come to fulfill it.” And here’s how Jesus makes you and I accomplish the righteousness of God. You ready for it?

First of all, we are made righteous by the work Jesus did in his daily life of fulfilling the Law. So first of all he came and walked it out so we could know what it looks like. So we could know and understand the righteousness of God. It’s important for us to learn the Law of God, the commands of God, the decrees of God. It’s important for us to rejoice in all of those things so we can better fully understand the righteousness of God, especially when everyone is telling us what the righteousness is, what the high moral ground is these days. We really need to see Jesus and walk with Jesus so we can know the righteousness of God.

But secondly — please don’t miss this — we are made righteous by his death on the cross where he paid for all of our unrighteousness. This is a really big deal. Jesus was talking to these people, teaching them the way of God, teaching them about righteousness, not so they would never get there. But he knew there was coming a day where he will have fulfilled all righteousness and was going to lay down his life as a payment for all of their unrighteousness and ours as well.

The way the New Testament says it is, He who knew no sin became sin, dying on that cross so that you and I could become the righteousness of God. So, somehow, because of what Jesus did on the cross, all of our unrighteousness is forgiven, it’s washed away, it’s cleansed, it’s gone, it’s removed forevermore. Actually, “Your sin and iniquity I will remember no more,” God says. He doesn’t even remember it. This is the good news of the cross. This is why Jesus could share with these people in a way that invited them in closer. Because he was going to pay the price for all their unrighteousness past, present and future.

So, first we’ve got to learn and understand the righteousness of Jesus. And when we do, we all fall short and we all go, “Oh, no.” But then we’ve got to understand that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, which gives us a fresh start every single day, to walk out in his righteousness. But he didn’t stop there. He rose from the dead. He rose from the dead and he poured out his Spirit on anyone that would come to him.

What his Spirit does is his Spirit comes into our lives and continues to teach us the way, continues to remind us of our forgiveness and then gives us the power to get it right sometimes. He gives us the power to overcome our sinful nature and disordered desires.

So, ultimately, Jesus has done everything we need. So here’s the really complicated thing for you and me. How do we walk in this? How do we navigate this? How is it hopeful for us? If you’ll just stay close to Jesus, he’ll make something beautiful out of your life. That’s what these people heard.

“I don’t get exactly all he’s talking about. Am I supposed to cut my hand off now?” They didn’t get all the intricacies of all Jesus was saying bout the Law. These were unlearned and ignorant people in some ways. But what they got from the Sermon on the Mount was, “This guy knows what he’s talking about. If I stay close to him, maybe, just maybe I’m going to find the kingdom of God.”

And, sure enough, at least twelve of them did. Eleven of them. Sorry. And those eleven “Gila Benders”, they literally turned the world upside down. You and I are in this church building today talking about Jesus, seeking Jesus because of those “Gila Benders.” Not because they mustered their own strength, not because they finally figured it out. No. It’s because they stayed close to Jesus and for them it got a little weird. Right? They stayed close to Jesus in person, in the flesh. But then Jesus died, rose again, showed up in this new form. And they received the Spirit of God, Acts 2. And they stayed close to Jesus by walking in the Spirit.

Walking in the Spirit, which is what we are trying to learn how to do. We don’t get the opportunity to be with Jesus in the flesh like they did, but we get to walk with Jesus in the Spirit, which Jesus and the disciples all attested to that it was better. It’s better what we have because God is with us everywhere we go. And he can produce in us a heart of righteousness. And our world so desperately needs people who are living out true righteousness. Not the fake or the lesser kind. We got a lot of that last year and it didn’t bring any peace. Stay close to Jesus and you’ll find the true righteousness.

Let’s pray. Again, just a reminder that, when we say “let’s pray,” it doesn’t always mean “Let’s talk.” A lot of times it’s a lot more listening than it is talk. Right now it’s important for us to listen, to listen to see what the Spirit might say. Those of you who know Christ and have the Spirit living inside of you, maybe he’ll bring up the name of someone, a brother or a sister, or maybe even an adversary that you’ve got some anger or contempt or bitterness for. He’s wanting to meet you there, wanting to give you his righteousness and help you walk in it to overcome the unrighteousness.

Maybe you’ve got a lot of lust in your heart and you’re losing the battle in your mind. Please hear what Jesus says. He’s not saying therefore you’re an adulterer and there’s no hope for you. He’s saying, yes, it’s true, and it’s going to lead you to less freedom, less flourishing and destruction. But if you take his hand, you’ll find his wisdom, you’ll find his forgiveness, and you’ll find his power to live a different way when you stay close to him.

Maybe some of you don’t even have the Spirit of God in you. You’re kind of new to this thing. Well, today would be a great day for you to say: Jesus, come into my life. I need your help. You can whisper that prayer even now and know that he hears and loves to take that which is unrighteous and make it righteous, that which is broken and make it beautiful.

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David Stockton 4/25/21 David Stockton 4/25/21

Fulfilling God's Law

So this morning we are going to be talking about the law. And before some of you get up and run, just know that Jesus talked about the Law. So we’re talking about it because Jesus talked about it. And also, if there is one man from the scripture that we would want to grab some advice from in regards to

Series: The Sermon on the Mount
April 25, 2021 - Kenny Welch

Good morning. Let’s pray:

Father in heaven, we just come before you this morning, Lord, as your humble servants. We just have a great desire to hear from you today, Lord, to learn from you. We give you great thanks for all the things you’re doing in our lives, for all the things you’re doing through us, in us and around us. We just ask Holy Spirit that you would come in right now, that you be teaching our hearts, that you would be circumcising our hearts to make us more and more like the character of Jesus Christ. It is in his name that we ask these things. Amen.

This is what King David had to say about the Law of God. In Psalm 19:7-11, it says:

The law of the Lord is perfect,
    reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
    making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
    rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
    enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is clean,
    enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
    and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
    even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
   and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
    in keeping them there is great reward.

If we could see and understand this, the world around us would be a far better place. To get our souls revived, to be made wise, to keep the heart rejoicing, to enlighten our eyes, to warn and be rewarded all comes from the law of the Lord. This is what King David had to say.

Now, I know this might raise some questions as we have people in here who like to challenge things a bit. You might be thinking, Well what about all the Levitical laws, and ceremonial laws, and all those things? So, here is what we’re going to do with those concerns. While they will not be addressed right here today, I want you to take all your questions that you have about all those and just flood the inbox of every pastor on campus. Just email everybody all the questions you have in one day. They’ll answer them. Or, if it makes you feel better, you can always come visit me in Belize and we can talk about it. Right? So you choose which one you want to do.

We have before us this morning, as we continue to go through the Sermon on the Mount, we land in Matthew 5:17-20. That’s where we are at this morning. So if you have a Bible, pull it out, if not, put it on your phone, your tablet, whatever it is you have, and open your app to Matthew 5:17-20.

It reads as follows:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Now, given the time that we have, I would like to draw your attention here to three important things as stated by Jesus here in this section of scripture. Three important things, and also three groups of people that Jesus is talking about. Our focus this morning, as you hear the words the law of God, I want you to keep in mind that we’re talking about God’s moral law, his standard for morality in our lives and the lives of the people around us. As I said before, the Levitical law, the ceremonial law, the questions you have about those, send it to every pastor and they’ll deal with that. So when you hear law, or God’s Law this morning, think about God’s standard for morality. Right? His moral laws.

Now, Jesus, right off the bat, as soon as he got to this section of scripture, he said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets.” In that, we see Jesus is saying that the Law of God is important. And you and I, for as much as we know that we need to make sure that this sinks in. It is important. The entire scripture as we have it, or as they had it, Jesus talking to his disciples and the other people who were standing around, it is important.

Now we would ask, Why would Jesus be specific about this? Why would he draw their attention to this? As we look at what is going on right here in the surrounding sphere of Jesus. Jesus was very different. He was almost as if a new type of human being to the people around him. He didn’t talk the same as the religious leaders. He didn’t walk the same. He didn’t interact. He didn’t live with people the same way the religious leaders lived with people. He was so different than they all were.

As a result, the people who were around, as they flooded to Jesus, they were probably thinking in their mind, This guy is going to come because he’s so different, so he’s going to come and he’s going to give us new things. He’s going to remove all these old yoke and burden that we have had and he’s going to give us some new things. He’s maybe even going to institute some kind of new commandment for us to live by.

So before they could even get to that, even if it was their expectation, Jesus just kind of popped the brakes on them for a minute. He said, “I’m not here to abolish. I’m not here to dissolve the Law. All the word of the Law that you have, it is God’s Law and it stands. But guess what? I am going to fulfill this Law.”

You see, people back then, just like us, for a long time had been moved from what the true intent of the Law of God was to what their leaders taught it should be. This is why they were always looking to the scribes and the Pharisees to see, you know, what’s next. What should we do in regards to this? In regards to that? How are we supposed to perform? So they were moved from the true intent.

When the scribes and the Pharisees would law on them all these external requirements for the Law, the people were never able to keep them. And so, as a result, they were probably happy that this Jesus guy is now on the scene, who is so different from everybody else, and thinking he is probably going to bring us something new. He’s probably going to give us new instructions.

I mean, not even the scribes and the Pharisees were able to keep the very laws that they had produced to the people. You know? But they presented themselves to the people in such a way that the people looked at them and said, “These guys have it all together. We will never be able to get to where these guys are. But maybe if we follow this Jesus guy, he’s going to give us something more easy to follow, something more easy to live up to.” You know? They were done, sick and tired of the heavy burden that they had, because this old physical image that they constantly had to be putting on was never the true intent of the Law for the people.

As Jesus gets ready to give them what the true intent of the Law was, he’s setting them up to receive his information in a way that is going to help them to understand the Law of God. We are going to see as the Sermon on the Mount continues to go, Jesus in multiple instances he’s going to say it to them, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, but I say to you…” In large degree, as soon as you hear words like that, the first thing that comes to mind is, “Oh, he’s changing it. He’s removing what was said and now he’s giving us something new.” But that is not it at all.

So Jesus starts off by making sure that they understand, “We’re not throwing away these things that were said of old. But what I am doing is I am helping you to understand, because you have drifted so far away from the true intent. I am helping you understand what the true intention was in these things that were said of old.” Right?

So Jesus is getting them ready to receive the information that he’s going to give to them. So we often look at the actions of Jesus and what he did for us on the cross. We look at all the prophecies that he fulfilled and we see that is how he fulfills the law. But we look at the Lamb that was slain, we look at the One who is our true Passover, the One who is the true righteousness, who is the substitute for us. And we can go on and on about all the things that he is, and say that is how he fulfilled it.

For as much as that is true — and that is a huge bulk of the fulfillment of the Law — we need to also see that an important aspect of Jesus fulfilling the Law is Jesus giving you and I in the scripture the true intent of the Law. Not only in what he’s doing, but in what he’s given to us. The true intent of the Law. It is Jesus pointing us and leading us to a place where we understand that in our righteousness is an important, more so than the outward profession of our faith. He’s pointing us to the fact that, if we are righteous, if we become righteous and holy on the inside, then that will lead to an external profession of what true holiness and righteousness is.

Because Jesus is here to fulfill — or we may see it to be the fulfillment of this Law — we need to know that none of us is able to follow the Law as God lays it all for us. None of us is able to follow it in a way that it was intended to be followed apart from Jesus Christ. If we are not in Christ, we will never be able to follow and be obedient to the Law the way God designed for us to be obedient to the Law.

So for those of you who are probably thinking, Yeah, I am more of a New Testament person, you know, so I don’t worry about the Old Testament laws — guess what? Jesus is saying, “Hey, this Law is important. The standard for morality that has been given to you and I from the olden days, it still stands. It is important.”

He said, “For I say to you,” in verse 18, “until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”

Now, the last time I checked, heaven and earth hasn’t passed away yet. At least not in my neck of the woods. I don’t know about around here. Things look weird around here, so this might be new. Right? But it hasn’t. So what Jesus is saying, it still stands, this standard for morality, you know, is given to us for moral living, still stands.

In Galatians, Paul tells us that this Law that is given to you and I, it works. It operates as schoolmaster that drives us to Christ. So if we see it done away with, then what are we going to have to help steer people towards Christ when we minister to them? It’s the purpose of the Law. It’s right here. It’s still useful. Right now. Today. Still useful. Still has its function. Jesus says the Law is important.

The next thing he pointed out to them in verse 19 is that our obedience to the Law and what you and I teaches about the Law is important. So he said in verse 19, “Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

Now when it comes to the laws, especially the law of the land, I am the guy who likes to say, “I wonder what is going to happen if we do exactly what they tell us not to do.” Right? That’s just how I operate inside. Now you guys can be dishonest and say you don’t think that way. But that’s just me. Right? I am the guy that asks, “I wonder what would happen.”

Just for example, my family and I have been visiting some stores while we’ve been here and, of course, everybody has a big sign that says “Masks are required for entering this store.” And I always go, “What are they going to do if I walk in without a mask?” You know? Like, what’s going to happen.

So we visited the zoo one time back home in Belize, and, you know, nice place, just feels like you’re in the jungle while you’re in the zoo. I met a guy the other night, he said that none of the enclosures seem fit for the animals that they have in the zoo, as if they’re just going to run right out.

So we were walking by where they have these crocodiles, and it’s probably only like a two foot fence or whatever near the kids. Keep in mind these are fourteen- fifteen-foot crocodiles laying around near the pond. And of course there’s a big sign that says, “Don’t play with the animals.” “Don’t poke the animals.” So, being the guy that I am, I go, “I wonder what would happen if I do poke the crocodile.” Right? And — true story, my wife’s right here, I’m not lying — I got a stick and I leaned over. Because, in my mind, I’m thinking, we watch movies all the time. They say that these crocodiles are fast. I don’t believe they are. There is no way something that big can be that fast. Right?

So I got this stick, leaned over, and I poked the crocodile. This is, like, the movies are not real. This thing wasn’t just fast. This thing was lightning fast. There is no way something that big should be able to spin around that fast. I poked the crocodile. It was like, “whap!” Of course I learned my lesson. It just flashed through my mind. Read the headlines. “Pastor got eaten by a crocodile at the zoo.” Right?

But that is just where I am at. I look at rules and laws, especially some of the ridiculous ones they’ve been passing these days. And I go, “I wonder what will happen if I do exactly what they’re saying not to do.” Right?

But thanks be to God, when it come to his Laws, when it comes to what we find in the Bible, I’ve learned to not live my life that way. I’ve learned to not say, “I wonder what will happen if I do exactly what God said I should not do.” Because then that would be bad.

Jesus said because this is the Law of God, which stands forever, if you and I would relax any of it, if you and I would make it as if it is unimportant, if we would treat it like it’s no big deal or, worse yet, if we would be teaching other people to look at his laws that way, you will be least in the kingdom. And for every single person, there is a temptation here that we face to mess around with the moral Laws of God when it suits us best.

Now you might say, “Well, lying isn’t that bad. Don’t beat up yourself about lying. But murdering someone is bad so beat up yourself about that.” Or you might say, “Coveting isn’t that bad. Don’t beat up yourself about that. But if you’re committing adultery, then that’s bad. Beat up yourself about that.” There’s always this temptation for us to mess around with it, for us to kind of, what Jesus said here, relax some of the laws that we feel like, these moral laws that we think it’s not that big a deal. And Jesus said if you do that, or worse yet, if you’re teaching teaching other people to do that as well, you will be called least in the kingdom.

Now, there’s also something interesting in this section of scripture today that we’re going through. Jesus said that you’d be placed in one of two categories. He actually introduced us to three different types of people here. Right? The first two, we can see right here that there’s those who are great in the kingdom and there’s those who are least in the kingdom, which I find weird. Because we’re thinking heaven one big happy family. Everybody’s on the same page. But Jesus seems to be saying something different here. How you interact with the Law and how you teach others to do the same is going to determine whether or not you are great in the kingdom or least in the kingdom.

Now, the least in the kingdom, Jesus said, are those of who like to relax the Law. Those of us who teach other people to relax the Law, who look at certain portions of the moral Law as no big deal. Jesus says, for that you are least. But for the person who obeys the Law, who looks at it as if it is as important as David says it is important, and you teach other people to uphold God’s moral Law as important, Jesus says, you will be great in the kingdom. Now I don’t think this is hard for us to understand, these two sections of people that Jesus puts before us. Right?

It is plain that, of course, Jesus is not celebrating any kind of mediocrity. He’s not telling you and I to settle for any portion of it. He’s not saying, “Oh, be the least if you want to be the least.” No, his desire, his heart is that you and I would be great in the kingdo, is that you and I would not dare to relax any of the Law or dare to teach anyone to relax the Law, but that we would be those who would stand firm, stand steady in the fear. Those who recognize that the Law stands and we surrender to the One who can bring us into the true obedience of the Law. And that is you and I surrendering to Jesus Christ.

Now, the third thing that he points out to us here is that your righteousness is important. Just in case you were thinking, Nah, it’s not that important. Jesus said yes, it is. “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Now those are strong words. Sounds like he’s judging you from back then.

Jesus said if your righteousness does not surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom. Now here we have, back in his time, two sets of leaders that the people were looking up to. If there was anyone who could figure it out or get it right, it would be these guys.

We have the scribes. These were those who were the most noted teachers of the Law during Jesus’ time. And then we have the Pharisees, who were said to be the most celebrated professors of the Law during Jesus’ time. So one group was very good at teaching it and thinking it through. And then the other groups was very good at living out for everybody to see. So, between the two of them, you would say we have just what we need in order for us to live a life obedient to the Laws of God.

And Jesus said you have to be more right than these guys if you want to make it in. That’s as plain as he’s saying, “Hey, look, these guys that you have that you uphold so high, these guys that have it all together, they’re not even coming into the kingdom.”

And to this, you might say some of the people were nodding with hopeless, saying, “Well, if these guys who have it all together are not going to get in, what chance do we have? We look to them as though they are the standard for living right and living the way God wants us to live. And if they’re not going to make it in, how are we supposed to make it in?”

See, Jesus looked right at them and said, “Unless you are more right, unless your righteousness exceeds their righteousness, you won’t make it into the kingdom of heaven.” Now, are they doomed or not? We have many people among us that live this way. They needed to realize the same thing that you and I need to realize right now, which is the only way for our righteousness to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees is for you and I to be found in Jesus. That is the only way for us to be more righteous than them. Right?

This brings us face to face with the third group of people that Jesus introduces. Those who won’t make it into the kingdom. We have people like this around us on a daily basis. They are people who think that you have to live your live based on, it’s a checklist, you know? We have a heavenly report card and I figure out all the do’s and don’t’s and when I check them off I’m good to go.

We look at the world and we make an honest assessment and we say there are terrible people who we don’t think are going to make it in. There are people whose lives look like they are rejecting Jesus. We don’t think they are going to make it in. But then there are nice people. They have a chance. There are very kind people over here. They might make it in. And guess what? Jesus is saying, “No. No. No.” It is not based solely on what you do. See, this is what the scribes and the Pharisees have turned the people’s attention to. Only external things. Do, do and do. They know Jesus existed, but they had no intentions of getting to know Jesus on a personal level.

And we have people like that among us today. They know about the Savior, but they have no intentions of getting to know the Savior personally. And you might have in your community, you know, your neighborhood, wherever you live, you might have some of the nicest people on earth, but they have no relationship with Jesus whatsoever. And them being such good and great people is not going to get them into the kingdom. But them knowing Jesus is going to get them into the kingdom.

This is where you come in. Helping to carry out this Law that Jesus said is important. As I said before, in Galatians it tells us that the purpose of the Law is to point people towards Christ. You come in to say, “Hey, look. I know you’ve been trying as hard as you can to follow this standard of morality that has been given to you. But the only way for you to accomplish that is if you would surrender to Jesus Christ.”

See, I’ve come to a place where, personally, I’ve seen and understand how important it is to be obedient to the Laws of God. I grew up in a home where I didn’t have a physical dad to teach me obedience to the Law, to teach me obedience to the standard of morality that God has placed for us to follow. But when I got saved, I came to realize that it is only through Jesus and following these instructions we may see that he laid out for us that we can truly, truly be in a place where we feel just like King David. In a place where our souls are revived. In a place where, for as much as I’m a simple person, I’m also wise. In a place where our heart can continually be rejoicing. In a place where our eyes are enlightened. A place where we are warned because we follow the Laws of God, and we will be rewarded one day because we are obedient to it and we teach others to do so.

For as much as the culture right now, and the society that you are in seems completely different to the things that you are called to do, if you really want to know what life is like, feeling revived, being wise, having a heart that’s rejoicing all the time, being enlightened — if you truly want to know what it feels like to be that way, or what it’s like to feel that, however the saying goes, then you need to submit and surrender to Jesus Christ. It is the only way for you to have this true experience. It is the only way for you to continue to delight in this Law of God that he has set over you.

And that’s my encouragement for you this morning. That you would run after Jesus with all that you are. Like David reminded when us he came up today, he said it earlier this week in the staff meeting, that sometimes we might be chasing righteousness over here. We might go chase holiness over here. We seek for peace in that direction. And we’re looking, spreading ourselves thin trying to find all these things. But guess what? If you would only come to Jesus and pursue him, you will have all those things. You won’t need to be searching in multiple directions. You need to come to Jesus. He is the one that has all these things for our lives. Only though him will be able to enjoy following the Law of God. Only through him will we be able to completely be obedient to the Law of God.

Father, we just thank you this morning, Lord, for your words. We thank you, Jesus, for speaking to us about the importance of your Law. We ask Holy Spirit that you would come, in. That you would be stirring our hearts. That you would move us to a place where we would not only see, but also experience the joy that comes from being obedient to the Law of God. The joy that comes from teaching others to be obedient to the Law of God. We ask for your guidance, your blessings, your protection over us. Holy Spirit, go before us as we leave here. We pray all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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Ryan Romeo 4/18/21 Ryan Romeo 4/18/21

Salt and Light

We’re diving into the Sermon on the Mount series. Matthew 5:13 is where we are at today. We’re continuing from David Stockton, who kicked us off really great last week. He talked about the Beatitudes…

Series: The Sermon on the Mount

April 18, 2021 - Ryan Romeo

We’re diving into the Sermon on the Mount series. Matthew 5:13 is where we are at today. We’re continuing from David Stockton, who kicked us off really great last week. He talked about the Beatitudes. If you missed that sermon, you should go check it out because it was really, really good.

He talked about the Beatitudes representing this attitude, not just what we should strive to be, or if we find ourselves happening to be in that place, what we should be aware of, the blessedness that we have, really, David was saying Jesus was explaining himself when he was talking about blessed are the meek, blessed are poor in spirit. This is Jesus. Jesus was a man of sorrows. Yes, he was a man that conquered death and he is coming back on the clouds. It’s going to be amazing. But he was also a man that was acquainted with death and sorrow just like we are. He’s not aloof and separate from us.

The story of Jesus coming is this beautiful story. And the Sermon on the Mount is the greatest sermon ever preached. I know that’s a bold statement. But this is the greatest sermon ever preached. We’ve been studying it for a very long time and we still have more to gain from it this morning.

I love it because David talked about how it started, but then he talked about how this sermon ended. In Matthew 7, when Jesus is wrapping up this Sermon on the Mount with his followers, he says, “Blessed are you if you build your life upon my teaching.” And he said it’s like those who build their house on a sure rock foundation. The people afterward were amazed by Jesus. Why? Because he was so handsome and eloquent? Because he had so many Instagram followers? No. They were impressed by Jesus because he taught with such authority. It said the people went away amazed because of at the authority that Jesus preached with.

If you pay attention to the wording in there, he’s going, “If you build your life on my words, you are on a sure foundation.” That is a bold statement. Jesus is coming at it with authority. He’s going, “Hey, I’m not just giving you a really nice sermon, or another way to think about the law, I’m giving you something that will hold you steady and it will be way abetter than the person who builds their house on the sand, the shifting sands of culture or governmental authorities, whatever it is. If you’re trying to build your house on anything else, it will shift. It will change. But my words are the rock.” And how much do we ned that right now.

For those of us building our house or tempted to build our house on the shifting sands of culture, we’re going to find ourselves very confused, very fearful, very stressed out. But Jesus is going, “Come to me. Put your anchor into me and I will give you sure footing.” So Jesus is coming with authority.

With that as a backdrop, let’s turn to Matthew 5:13. I’m reading out of the ESV translation:

13 You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.
14 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

I’m going to read the exact same passage again, but I’m going to read it out of the Message. The Message is just a paraphrased translation, but I love the way the author puts it. Matthew 5:13 in the Message (MSG) says:

13 “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.
14-16 “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.

Amen. I could just read that over and over, I feel like, for us this morning. Jesus is saying something that’s bolder than just, “Hey, this is a good idea about us.” Jesus doesn’t say, “Hey, work really hard to be salt.” Or, “Maybe if you memorize enough scripture, you’ll be light.” Jesus is saying something about our identity as followers of him. He said, “You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.”

He’s giving us this sort of identity anchor — something for us again in the tumultuous seasons of life that come and go in our society — he’s giving us something that we can anchor ourselves into. He’s saying, “Anchor into this value that I’m placing on you,” saying, “You are salt and light.”

Now, if we’re being honest, when we hear this we go, “Okay, you’re the salt of the world,” it’s kind of like Jesus saying, “You’re the paprika of the world.” I guess if we’re the flavor of the world, it’s kind of nice. The habanero of the world, yeah, I like that. Jesus isn’t just talking about this spice that we could go, in our society, we could just go to the dollar store and get a collar worth of salt that’s probably like this big. It’s no big deal for us. We use salt all the time. We get it. We have access to it all over the place.

But in this time, things were really different. Historians say there were times in the Roman Empire where salt was more valuable than gold. Salt was one of those things that was given out to people as payment for their work. So Roman soldiers that put in their two weeks, and they would go get their bag of salt — I don’t know if they got paid every two weeks. I’m just making that up. They would get paid in salt. They’d get a digital deposit of salt into their bank account. They would go get a bag of salt. This is the payment that they would be getting, they would receive for the work they put in. Salt is valuable.

Jesus is saying, “You are the salt of the earth.” He’s not saying you’re this thing that you can go to the 99 cent store and get a bunch of. He’s saying, “No, you are very, very valuable.” In fact, the word salary that we use right now, that first part sal comes from the root of salt. So we’re still getting paid in salt. Our salary still harkens back to the time where salt was so valuable.

And Jesus is saying, “You are the salt of the earth.” You carry a lot of value, much more than you understand. The thing about salt, it was valuable, but it was very useful too. If you were carrying gold around and you were starving, or you needed to preserve food or do something, gold didn’t do anything for you. It looked pretty, but it was pretty heavy to carry around. Salt was really different.

Salt was used as a preservative for the time. They would use it as a preservative for meat. So they would have the family animal out back. Maybe they would slaughter old Bessie out back. They probably didn’t have a cow. Maybe they had Frank the goat that they slaughtered out back. They would eat like half of it as a family, and there would be this other half of the meat left over. They couldn’t just put it in a Ziploc bag and put it in their freezer like we do. They had to either let it rot or they would put salt on it. Salt was very useful.

If you had an animal and it was very expensive and you slaughtered it to feed your family, you didn’t want it to just feed your family for one night and then throw the rest out and let it rot. You needed it to sustain you longer. When people put salt on meat, it pushed back against the decay. It created a barrier against decay and rot of the meat.

We are salt. We are called to push back on the decay of culture. Whether culture knows it or not — and most of the time they don’t — the church has this value of holding things fast and preserving things that would get lost otherwise. If you look at the history of the world, you can see so many times, so many different major players in the world, when morality started to decline, it signaled the decline of that society. We could look at history and it happened over and over again.

We know, as the church we are here to preserve certain things. We’re preserving the word of God. We’re preserving church. We’re preserving the gathering together of the saints and worshiping together. There are certain things that we are holding our ground on and going, “This is so important.” Whether society knows it or not, we are helping a lot. Whether you know it or not, we’re helping a lot.

One of the things that, when you read this passage though, you know you hear this, “We’re preservative. We’re valuable,” and all of that. But one of the things that is so important when we’re reading scripture is, what does it actually say, too? So there’s the reading between the lines, absolutely. But what does Jesus actually say? He says, “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?”

We are that God flavoring. I love the way the Message puts it. We are to be “the salt seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth.” Whether the world knows it or not, the things that they are trotting out as brand new is not brand new. It’s been trotted out many, many times over the years. It’s something that, when you pay attention to it, you go, “This is the exact same thing that we’ve heard.” And if you want to know the roots of all of it, go back to Genesis 3 and hear what the serpent said to Eve. He said, “Did God really say…? Did God really say not to do that? Did God really say that?” He’s putting this second guess into the nature of God, going, “Did God really way that? Does he really have your best interests at heart?” Then he throws in this other thing and says, “God knows that if you ate of that fruit that you would be like him.”

And the root of everything that we’re seeing in our society is not brand new. I don’t care if it’s just posted on TikTok or now it’s internet based. That doesn’t matter. That tool is interesting, but the prescriptions that the world is trotting out is bland and predictable. It is the same over and over and over again. And we are that salt flavoring to the world.

I went to art school, surprisingly. I went to UofA because it’s better than ASU. I would say I’m joking, but I’m not. I went to art school at UofA. It is not a normal thing for a Christian to be in art school. I’m just throwing this out. I sat in art classes and there were many people that found out I was a Christian and they were like, “What? Christians don’t make art. Christians are boring.” You know? “They just sit around and read the Bible and judge everybody.” I mean, that’s what they think we’re all about.

I found myself —not that I’m judging other people’s hearts, but I am judging just a little bit — they would trot out these same ideas, like the same, basically, you would start to see the root of it in this idea that, “I am God. I’m in control. The Christians are bad. The people that talk about morality are just trying to judge you.” It was like this same thing over and over and over. I had moments where I would look around the class going, “Does anybody else see this?” It’s kind of the same thing, you know.

We are the God-flavoring of the world. There is something the world is missing. It is bland without us. We don’t hold on to that very often. A lot of times, when you watch pop culture, you don’t feel like that. But we are adding flavoring to the world. We are adding this God-flavoring to the world that everybody’s hungry for. Without it, the world is bland.

We see this with Jesus when he comes onto the scene. You look at the Beatitudes. This attitude that Jesus brought to us was so different. He was not the kind of leader that we’re used to seeing. He didn’t lord it over everybody. He didn’t beat it over anyone’s head. He was lowly. He was humble. He met with the people he shouldn’t have. This was Jesus. He did everything against the social norms. And we are called to walk in that same path. We are salt and light in our community. We are called to be a separate community. There is something about us that should stick out in the world around us.

As I was looking at it, I started to see, you know, what are some of the things the world says, and some of the things that are impacting us right now. You know, they kind of trot out the same prescriptions over and over again. But I see the world saying this right now and saying it over and over again in history. The antidote to injustice is vengeance. The antidote to fear is control. The antidote for shame is justification of behavior.

You see injustice and people are not just saying, “Hey let’s try to make it right.” They’re going, ”Let’s get even. We’ve got to get even.” And I’m a huge fan of the Count of Monte Cristo. I get it. It feels really good to have vengeance. But what did Jesus do in the face of injustice? He was lowly. He didn’t open his mouth. He was murdered completely unjustly. And he took it on his shoulders as a servant. Serving people. Loving them. Doing the exact opposite of what anybody thought he would do.

The antidote for fear is control. We see this in the world all the time. And if you and I are honest, we exercise this in our private life all the time. When we feel fear, when we come up against something that we can’t control, we try to grab control as much as we can. Maybe we hear something about financial trouble, so we start checking on our 401k , or start saying, “Maybe we should pull money out.” You’re trying to traverse everything as much as you can. You’re hearing things in the world that are going wrong and you’re like, “Maybe I need to pay attention more to the news to find out what’s happening.” We’re trying to grab control. We’re white-knuckling things that we really have no business white-knuckling.

Jesus. What did he do in the face of fear? Because he felt that in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was faithful. The antidote for fear is faith. The antidote for fear of going, “Okay, I’m completely out of control, but Lord, I am going to pour myself deeper into prayer. I’m going to pour myself deeper into understanding that I’m not in control. And I’m going to relinquish it to you.”

The antidote for shame is justification of behavior. This is one of those things that is not new. I’m sorry. 2021 did not invent the justification of wrong behavior. When we walk in shame, and shame is kind of the darker version of feeling this sense of like, “Okay, I did something wrong.” But it’s repentance. That is the antidote. Repent. Turn away and go, “Hey, I get it. This is not right and this is not good for me. I’m going to turn away.”

Again, over and over society tells us that’s an old idea. “That is no good. It doesn’t matter anymore. We don’t need to do that. We need to take control of our lives. We need to take control.” We should see it for what it is. It’s a Genesis 3 lie. It’s been around for a long time. But as Christians, we are called to be salt and light.

Jesus says this interesting phrase. He says, “You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?” Jesus is giving us a bit of a warning here, saying, “Hey, you can lose that salty flavor. Though your identity is salt, you can lose your flavor as that granule of salt.”

I saw this in two different ways. One, I think we can dilute our saltiness by living a flavorless life that just echoes the world. We’re just bringing in the philosophies of the world. It’s so interesting when Jesus says, “If it loses its saltiness,” the word that he uses in there is this word moraino and it’s the root for the word moron. If you have lost your flavoring…I read that and I thought Man, I don’t know if I’ll ever read that passage the same! It’s like don’t be foolish. There’s this sense of like you’re trading something of such value for something that’s so foolish.

It’s sad to see this happen over and over. There are a lot of people I know that are following Jesus and they’re going, “You know what? I’m going to just kind of add a little bit this and add a little bit of that.” Pretty soon they’re not salty. They’re not living a life that’s separate at all from anybody else. At some point they just completely exchange their life in Jesus for what the world is telling them is life. We know it’s foolish. We know it’s not going to fill. Yet, we see people doing that all the time.

If we’re being honest, we’re tempted to do that all the time too. “Did God really say that?” “Do I have to really do that?” How many of you today are going, “I didn’t even really want to come to church.” Or, “I argued with my kids on the way here.” I’ll just say it was me, too. I was like, “I don’t know if I really want to come to church today.” But we are pushing back against the entropy of the world. We are pushing back against the decay of the world in our own spheres and our own lives, and going, “No. I’m not going to lose my saltiness.”

So you could dilute it by bringing in things of the world. You can dilute by bringing in old trotted out philosophies that don’t line up with scriptures, that don’t line up with the teachings of Jesus. But you could go the opposite direction, too. You could lose your saltiness from self-righteousness. Now, later on in this passage it hit me really hard. Later on when he says, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden,” and he says, “In the same way let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” I started going, Okay, we’re not saved by works, I get that. But seeing our good works and glorifying our Father in heaven felt a little contrary to the next chapter.

If you turn over to Matthew 6, the very beginning he says, “Beware of practicing righteousness in front of other people like then Pharisees do, because you’ll get no reward at all.” I started going, “Okay, well, you do want people to see our good works, Jesus. But you don’t want us to be walking in righteousness just to be viewed by other people. So what is the difference here?”

I think if you’re walking in self-righteousness, practicing righteousness just to be seen by other people, you’re doing it on a heart level for different motivations than you would for good works. With everything Jesus says, it’s all about heart posture. It’s all about understanding the heart behind this.

Practicing righteousness in front of other people is to be noticed. You’re acting superior, so you’re doing it in a way to be noticed and to gain leverage and superiority over people around you. If you find yourself trying to memorize Bible verses to make sure you’re the sharpest one in the room so that you’re impressing people – you’re not. That is operating in this sense of “I’m going to practice righteousness to make everybody think I’m doing great.” At the end of the day, it’s not bringing glory to God. It’s bringing glory to yourself. So don’t do that. Jesus is going, “Don’t do that. Don’t fall into that trap of trying to practice righteousness.”

But he does say, “Let your good works shine in front of other people.” So what are good works? What does that mean? What is the difference there? Well, the heart posture for good works are to genuinely impact people’s lives. You’re coming to the table and going, “I just want to make a difference here.” Maybe my neighbor is going through something hard and I want to bring him a meal. Maybe there’s a neighbor that hasn’t been around people for a long time and I’m going to give him a call and see how they’re doing.

These small acts or big acts, these things that are, “I just want to make an impact for the kingdom,” and it’s coming from this heart posture of displaying humility and love. You want to come to the table and go, “I’m not a big deal. I’m not coming to you because I have everything sorted out and I’m perfect. I’m coming to you because I love you and I want to display the love of Jesus to you who was perfect. He lived the perfect life and I just want to tell you about him.”

At the end of the day, good works give glory to God, not to you. At the end of the day good works are one of those things that you walk in, and people don’t go, “Wow. Wasn’t that person amazing?” They go, “Wow. Wasn’t God amazing?” This is what it means to be salt. This is what it means to be light. This is what it means to walk that out in the community around us.

But I have some encouragement for us this morning, as we’re looking around and we’re seeing the world. As the world gets darker, our light shines brighter. I’m going to say that again, because I feel like that needs to sink in. As the world gets darker, our light shines brighter. It becomes easier and easier to walk in the ways of God when the darkness around us is so palpable and so different. When we’re living a simply different life than other people, it’s easier to become a light.

In 2005, I think, we spent a few years before that doing missions work. In 2005 we went to Cambodia. The last time I spoke I talked about the first time I went to Cambodia right out of high school in 2000. It was real war torn. I saw the red light district of Cambodia. It was a kind of oppressive darkness that I couldn’t really handle. It seemed that it felt so dirty, I just, honestly, on an emotional level, “Lord, I can’t even handle the darkness of what’s going on here.”

A few laters later, five years later, we felt like the Lord was calling us to go back to Cambodia. So my wife and I led a team. We were in Phnom Penh. We started working with a church. And the think you notice about the Cambodian people, there are so many things about the culture that are beautiful. I really do love Cambodian culture. But there is this sort of sense of darkness and lost-ness that is very, very evident. You just see the people walking around with their heads down. There is just this deep sadness. They’ve gone through things that you and I would never understand. I mean, there are parents selling their kids into the sex trade. Things that we just really don’t understand, can’t wrap our head around, and they feel the darkness of that. Even if they didn’t experience it, chances are half of their friends experienced it. And they have this weight and this darkness as they’re walking around. And you just see it in the people. Their heads are down, their eyes are not bright. There’s just this utter helplessness.

I remember the first church that we went to in Cambodia, and you showed up and it was just like, “Wow, something’s really different here.” And the worship was really different. They all sang in Khmer. I had no idea what was going on. It was probably like three steps higher than I could sing. I didn’t know what was going on. Lots of symbols clashing. It was completely different in terms of style. I had no idea what the sermon was about; because, again, it was in Khmer. My wife and I just sat there for an hour and a half, just not really understanding.

But there was something that we did understand when we looked around at the people. There was this difference in them. They were so different. And the biggest thing that was different about them was that they smiled. They just smiled. And they were hearing a sermon. I’ll bet more than half the people in the room couldn’t even read or write. Nobody had a theology degree. Nobody had the pedigree to quote due ministry. But there was this movement of the Spirit that was so palpable in the room. You’re going, “The Spirit of God is in this place.” And being a light was really, really simple. They didn’t need to be experts. They didn’t need to be the smartest people in the room. They sat at the feet of Jesus. They sat in community with each other. And they worshiped God. And it brought such a difference to them.

And, church, as the world gets darker, it’s going to become a lot easier for you to shine your light. It really will be. It will be easier when you sit down. I started writing some things down, going, “What does it meant to be salt and light? What are the things that we can do?” And it’s so simple:

Put yourself under the authority of Jesus. We’re hearing all sorts of people tell themselves and each other, “Hey, put yourself under this authority.” Or “Listen to this new book.” Or “Check out this new show.” Or “Listen to this new YouTube channel,” or whatever. At the end of the day, the only voice that has authority in our life to give us stability in unstable times is the voice of Jesus. We have to understand it. We have to put ourselves under his authority and go, “No matter what the world tells us, Jesus, I trust you. If you’re the last one I can trust, Jesus, I trust you.” Put yourself under the authority of Jesus.
Anchor your hope in him. Have a hope that doesn’t make sense, like Paul said. It absolutely makes no sense to be walking around with hope. But we need to be the people that are smiling. We need to be the people that, when we’re burying ourselves under the news, and when we’re burying ourselves under all the hopelessness of what we see in the world, trying to get a grasp on it, we have to push back occasionally. We have to go sit with our kids, sit with our family, sit with our friends, slow down and remember the hope that we have in Jesus that is surpassing anything else that the world would give us.
This is the most important thing: Spend time with him and spend time in community. The second one is a lot like the first one. Spend time with Jesus and spend time in community, because iron sharpens iron. We need people around us that don’t think exactly like us. We need to show the sort of crazy unity under the lordship of Jesus where we could hear from each other and push back against each other and bring out new ideas of scripture with one another. We need community. If 2020 taught us one thing, it was this. Community is beautiful and it’s not to be taken for granted. Even as I stand in front of you today, I think, God, what if this is the last time we stand in front of our church? What if this is the last time we get together? What are we going to say to each other? What are we going to spur one another on? That’s the gift of 2020 that I feel like I’ll carry the rest of my life. Community is not something we take for granted. And spending time with Jesus every morning. It’s not something to take for granted.

So church, we are called to be salt and light. But it’s a lot easier than you and I think. Jesus said his yoke is easy, his burden is light. There’s something so beautiful about sitting under the teachings of Jesus and just receiving. Let’s pray:

Jesus, we thank you that you call us salt and light. Thank you that we didn’t earn it, Jesus. You earned it for us on the cross. Thank you that there’s one mediator between God and man, and that is you, Jesus.
Holy Spirit, we thank you that you guide us in our life. We thank you that you’re that dove on our shoulder, leading us, guiding us, speaking to us.
And God, we want to be salt and light. We want to be a city on a hill. We want to be a culture that is counter to the culture that we’re seeing in this world. God, not from a distant, judgmental way, but, Lord, as salt flavoring that brings out the God-flavors of the world around us. Lord, help us to be set apart for you.
We pray for more of what we’re seeing in our church, more of what we’re seeing in our church and other churches, God. More of a move of your Spirit. More of a move of worship. More of a move of your gospel, of putting ourselves under the authority of your teaching, Jesus. Right now we just repent. We’re sorry, Lord. Anything that we’ve put ourselves under this week — any authority that we’ve put ourselves under this week, Lord, we’re sorry. Right now we put ourselves under the authority of your word, under the authority of your teaching. And we sit at the feet of the beautiful, joyful, hopeful King that is one day coming back in splendor and power, and it’s going to split the sky in two and, in one moment it’s going to be so clear. So strengthen us before that day, Jesus.

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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.

Watch

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

Stories of Defiance

Yes, Jesus, we praise you. We thank you. We turn our eyes toward you. And Lord, we just really want you to be lifted high. We want you to be honored in this place. Let’s shout it out one more time. Jesus! Jesus!

Series; Easter

April 4, 2021 - David Stockton

Yes, Jesus, we praise you. We thank you. We turn our eyes toward you. And Lord, we just really want you to be lifted high. We want you to be honored in this place. Let’s shout it out one more time. Jesus! Jesus!
Lord, we need you now more than ever. We know that you are alive and we know that the grave has no victory and death has no sting anymore. We want to be able to live in the truth that to live is Christ and to die is gain. Lord, we need your help. We need your Spirit to come and help our fear give way to faith and our heartbreak give way to hope.
And so we look to you, because there is no one else who can do it. You alone can turn graves into gardens, Lord. You alone are the rescuer, the redeemer. And so we do, we run to you. We leave everything else. We even leave our own pride, independence, self-centeredness. Lord we leave all that behind and we run to you.
Jesus, we do pray that this would be a great morning. Lord, I thank you for those who are getting baptized today. I pray that they would just really sense your Spirit and you would seal their hearts for you. Give them the strength that they need for the journey. I pray that there might be some others that would be willing to just surrender their lives to you this morning. That they would feel you knocking on the door of their hearts and they would say yes to you, and they would get to know what it means to have your hope, your defiant hope, your defiant joy and your defiant love. Thank you, Lord Jesus. I pray all these things in your name.

And everybody said ‘Amen.” You can have a seat. Make yourself comfortable. If you’re online at home, make yourself comfortable. It’s great to have you. Thanks to al the Living Streams family that are here. Thanks for coming at 8 o’clock and not 9:30. Been through that before. Thanks for all the visitors who here. Thanks for coming out and joining us, whether that’s online or in person. It’s great to have you. You’re welcome in this place. It’s a good day to be here.

We had a service last night, which was like a pretend Easter service. I mean, it was like full on Easter service, but it was just on a Saturday. We had Good Friday services, and some interesting times, but really good times. It’s been awesome.

I love this church. This is a great place. I love what the Lord’s doing here. And I’ve just been so encouraged because I really do think there is a turning away from Jesus that is happening in our society, whether it’s post-Christian, secularization, whatever you want to call it. I do see that and you hear about that. But there is also a great turning toward the Lord. There is a great hunger that is being stirred up within the Bride of Christ, within the Church, but there is also a great hunger being stirred up with people who are just kind of sick and tired of what the world has to offer. And they are hungry for Jesus.

So don’t miss them, you know, getting caught up in all the people turning away. Just look, because the Lord is bringing people right to you that are just ready to receive what he has for them. That’s what we want to do today is receive what he has for us.

Easter is a great time to party. Easter Sunday service should be like a party. It should be fun. Everybody’s dressed up. Everybody is gathered together. It is a little early in the morning, so it is weird in that regard, like an early morning party. But it’s a great time to party. There are other great times to party, whenever you’ve conquered something, you’ve finished something, you’ve overcome something, it’s a great time to party.

I think of graduation. Anybody going to graduate soon? Yeah? Nice! Very nice. You’ve kind of thrown off. You’re like, “Hey, teacher, leave those kids alone,” kind of deal. You’ve overcome. There’s no more testing. You just can throw that thing off. Throw it behind you and move forward.

Retirement I think is another one of those things. Anybody retired? Yeah! You show-offs! Yeah. Retirement. I just image that being a time when you’ve conquered this journey. You’re at this place and you can kind of say to everyone, “Take this job and shove it. I ain’t working here no more.” The old song.

Then I also think of when Baylor is going to win the championship tomorrow. I mean, Gonzaga is going to win the championship tomorrow. You’ve conquered all the teams. There’s no one left to conquer. You’ve beat everybody and it’s all behind you. It’s good time to celebrate.

But there is no time like Easter to party. Because this is the time where the two foes of humanity, sin and death, who have never been defeated, our greatest champion, Adam, succumbed to it all. And we’ve been living under the curse. And the devil and the flesh and the world have been in authority from that day on.

Yet, Jesus came as the second Adam. He came as our Champion. And he came to take on sin and death. And he took on sin every single moment of his life, as he was tempted in every way that we are, yet never succumbing. Ultimately the world, the devil and the flesh threw everything they could at him on the cross. And all of man’s evil and wickedness, all summoned together and they fired their guns as the same time. And man’s unrighteousness was on its fullest display.

Yet, Jesus rose from the dead, proving forevermore that the unrighteousness of man is not more powerful than the righteousness of God. And that is such great hope for us. Because all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory. But the righteousness of God is enough to bring cleansing, forgiveness and redemption to even us. And sin and death, they have no claim. They have no authority on the people of God anymore. It’s a great, great day to party.

Luke 24 is the story of the first Easter and the party that was thrown in honor of what Jesus did and all that he accomplished. It wasn’t a great party, by the way.

1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.

So here we have the beginnings of the party. Mary and some of the other women have gathered the spices and they’re going to the tomb where Jeuss has been buried. Now Jesus has already told them, “I’m going to die at the hands of sinful men, but then I’m going to rise. It’s going to be awesome.”

So they’re coming to the tomb with the expectation that Jesus is going to be risen, because he told them that. No. False statement. Not true at all. They knew what Jesus was going to do. He had told them. And when he said things that happened, he had never given them any reason to mistrust what he said. So when they come to the tomb with the spices to mourn and to grieve, and when they’re met with a stone rolled away, which was a miracle, and they’re met with the body not being there, which is a miracle, what it says is they were troubled and then they’re met with these men, angels, whose clothes look like lightning, and they’re going, “What are you doing here? Why are you looking for the living among the dead? Remember? Jesus told you what was going to happen. This is why you come to the party?”

And it says that they were very frightened by these guys. “Oh, this is even worse.” And he says “Don’t you remember? Jesus told you this, that this was going to be the greatest day in history. He told you all about it.” And then they remembered his words. That’s the summation of that part of the party. But maybe it gets better. At least you know, the disciples will get this right.

9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven …

Judas wasn’t there. He had taken his life.

…and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles.

So these are Jesus’ guys. They’re ready to party. They know what Jesus said.

11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.

Jesus had told them. In fact, Jesus had been so clear on this fact that, actually, when Jesus went through all the different courts where he stood before all the different people, before going to the cross, as they were trying to figure out something wrong with him, as they were trying to pin crimes against him, one of the things they brought up is that he counted to talk about how, if you destroy the temple of his body that in three days he was gong to rebuild the temple. It was troubling. Even they knew what he was claiming to do. And here the eleven hear what these women have to say, they hear the message, the gospel being preached for the first time, and they’re like, “These women are crazy. These women don’t know what they’re talkinga about. They’re troubled. They’re blubbering, crying all the time.” I don’t know what they’re saying.

12 Peter, however,…

Come on now! Peter. He gets it right all the time.

… got up and ran to the tomb.

He was so moved. He’s like, “Let’s go to the party!”

Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

That’s what he must have done. And we know by their actions what the disciples did. They went into hiding. They were like, “This is not good. People are going to think we stole the body and they’re going to come after us. And they’re going to do to us what they did to Jesus.” And they hid. They were scared. They ran away.

When I read this and I think about today and what we’re supposed to do. It’s Easter. We’re celebrating that Jesus conquered sin and death. We’re celebrating that the gates of heaven got flung open wide to pieces of junk like you and me. All of our sin and all of our failing — what the resurrection was is Jesus saying, “I want all of you.” And the gates of heaven were flung wide open to you and me. No matter what we’ve done, no matter what we’re going to do, his righteousness can overcome all of our unrighteousness if we let him. This is a great day and we’re supposed to celebrate.

Like these disciples, we have the same problem. We are conditioned in this life against faith, against hope, and against joy. The heartbreaks that we experience in this life have caused our hearts to be so hardened. Sometimes we can even miss Jesus. Sometimes we can miss what he wants to do. Like I said, our fear does not give way to faith, it just stays as fear. And our heartbreak does not find its way to hope, it just remains heartbreak. Even with all the evidence that they saw, even though they were face to face with an empty tomb, they were face to face with angels declaring this, reminding them of what Jesus had already told them, they still had so much trouble believing.

I’ve been thinking about some images that came to mind as we were preparing for our Easter weekend, you know, some months ago. Trying to figure out what the Lord was wanting us to say and how to frame it all. One of the images that came to mind when we were thinking about it was I was remembering going with my family to QT one time. We were going to get some health food and stuff. It was by our house. We were walking down the sidewalk by Greenway. It was a busy street. It was summertime and it was hot. It was this concrete and asphalt everywhere.

As we were walking, I remember seeing through this tiny little crack there was this flower that had come up. Like, in the midst of the summer heat, so oppressive, in the midst of this concrete jungle and asphalt laid over everything, this flower was like, “What’s up?” And it was in full bloom. We have an image, and obviously this is more beautiful than the one that I saw. There was no filter on the one I saw.

I just was looking at it and it struck me like, “What a defiant little flower!” We did our best to just say, “You will not grow here.” And we laid out our concrete and asphalt just to make sure no life, nothing could get in the way. Yet this flower just had the audacity to just believe that what God had made it to do could happen in the midst of whatever situation it found itself in. And it just popped right up. And it was shining bright and it was beautiful.

God used that little flower to give me a little hope, that no matter what kind of hardness, no matter what I feel buried under, with Christ all things are possible. And the resurrection declares that it does not matter what the world, the devil and the flesh throw at me. What God has put in me can come into full bloom.

That’s the message for you. I don’t know what you’re buried under. Addiction, debt, heartbreak. If you allow Jesus in, he will come and you will experience this defiant hope rise up. This defiant faith in the midst of fear. A defiant joy at times.

There was another image that came to mind as I was thinking about this. I remember making a decision in my life that really just kind of ruined everything. I thought I was doing the right thing. I had done something and it really put me in a place where I was about to lose everything that I held dear. It was very heavy. I remember I was in a seminary class. I should have been listening but I didn’t listen that much in those classes. And I just started drawing this tree. I was so troubled, I just felt like all I could do was draw this tree. I drew this tree and making it as barren and dead looking as possible. Like, “This is how my soul feels.” As I was doing this, the one thing that I did learn in seminary is to hear God’s voice. I felt as I was drawing this tree with no leaves, I was making sure there wasn’t a leaf on it I kept hearing the Spirit of God saying, “:ut a leaf on that tree.” And I was like, “No. I’m not putting a leaf on this tree. I’m not feeling good about anything right now.” I was feeling the, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And it was real. It was like, “Put a leaf on it” I was like “No.” I was fighting with God . In the end, I was like, “Oh man.” And I had to put a leaf on. It was true. Even though outwardly and inwardly I was feeling crushed and so unsure and so uncertain and so insecure, I just still had this defiant drop of hope that I could not quite shake. It’s weird that I was even trying to. But I just could not shake it

I found this image later on. This is not what I drew. My tree was really lame looking. But I have this in my office to remember that moment where God wouldn’t let me give in. What is cool is I love this bird in this tree too, because it was like the Holy Spirit saying, “Put a leaf on that tree.” I had to wrestle with God but are enough, you know, hanging onto Jesus and allowing his hope to grow, that decision I made has actually turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. And God knew that. I did not. But he knew what was on the other side.

Then, even just more recently I was thinking at the beginning of this year, we had gotten through 2020. Whew. There’s a little celebration right there. 2020 you can’t come back (I don’t think). And 2021, we kicked it off and did our fasting season where we were just trying to get a hunger and a vision for the righteousness of God.

By the way, next week we’re starting a whole sermon series on the Sermon on the Mount. We’re going to hear from Jesus what he thinks justice and beauty is. So, if you aren’t going to a church somewhere, it’s time to get in here and get the word of God into you. And, oh, it’s going to be good.

I got done with that kickoff of the year and I remember going home, and, I’m always wiped out after Sunday mornings. And I usually about Monday afternoon start to bounce back. But this time, Monday afternoon came and went and there was no bounce. Then Tuesday, then Wednesday, then Thursday, and I was like, “Huh. This is different.” I was numb. Even in m prayer life there was no passion, no excitement. Thinking about preaching another message felt like death. I was just kind of stuck.

I had a picture. You know that bottle cap, once it’s pressed down, it stays down. I was depressed. I was like pressed down and couldn’t find any bounce back. It just kept going. Then what was crazy was, at some point, I thought, What if I never bounce back? And I know some of you who deal with depression, that’s kind of the cycle. Then once you get to that point where, Maybe I’ll never bounce back, there’s kind of a new level of depression that sets in.

It continued on for a few weeks. All I knew to do was to keep hanging on to Jesus. Then sure enough, I did bounce back. But I know some of you have been in that spot for a long time. But the resurrection’s message is there will always be a bounce back. There will always be a leaf on the tree. It doesn’t matter what kind of a thing you are buried under, Jesus can always bring out beauty and flowers.

That’s kind of been a little bit of a theme for our whole church. My daughter Bella, who’s had to overcome a lot of adversity, she was praying about this year 2021, and she said she still felt there was a lot of adversity, but there were flowers everywhere. So that’s been something we’ve continued to talk about. We’re looking for the flowers in the midst of the pain.

That’s that defiant hope, that defiant faith, that defiant joy that show up. And, sure enough, for the apostles, as they continued, they didn’t get it right away. They didn’t come to the party very well prepared. But Jesus showed up to them multiple times. Eventually they allowed their faith to overcome their fear. They allowed that hope to once gain come into that place where disappointment reigned. They allowed his joy to come and be his strength. And these men and women, because of that fact, not only were the now fearless, not only were they walking in triumph and victory in a very adverse situation, but their lives even became evidence to the resurrection.

Those that got to be around them and discipled by them, they followed suit, and their lives became evidence that Jesus is alive. And on and on and on and further and wider, until the gospel, the message that Jesus was alive had spread over the entire Roman Empire And there have been saints that have come throughout every generation from all over this world that have witnessed for themselves the evidence that Jesus is alive. And they have received it into themselves, experiencing a defiant hope and joy and love and peace that he brings. And one and on until today.

I’m just one person who can tell you stories of when my dad took his life and how the hope of God held like an anchor in my soul. And when my mom died of cancer way too young, and how the presence of God and the peace of God came. And how over time my heartbreak has turned into hope. It’s given way. And as the challenges continue to come, the presence of Christ in my life, the living Christ that I walk with day after day, that I carry my burdens to, that I receive from, it has given me what I need to continue to overcome in my battle with sin and temptation, to continue to overcome when fear comes banging down the door .

Last year it was so awesome to see all the people in this fellowship who were unwavered by all of the disruption and uncertainty that came upon us. So the offering is to you today. If you don't know Jesus, today is a great day to look at the evidence and to receive him, to allow your fear to give way to faith, to allow your pride to give way to surrender, so that he can come in and he can lead you on that path of the just that shines every brighter to the perfect day. And then, ultimately, the greatest joy of all is that one day, because of what Jesus did, we will die but that will only be giving us access to resurrection life.

Death no longer ends man’s story. But death is actually something that helps us get to fullness of life that Christ is preparing for us even now. And all of that can be yours. If you hear Jesus knocking on your heart, you can let him in and receive all that he has.

Let’s do that now. Let’s pray. If you’re on line or if you’re in person, I’m going to say a quick prayer and you can repeat it after me if you’re ready to say, “Jesus I need you. Jesus take control. Just repeat these words after me:

Lord Jesus, thank you for loving me. Thank you for dying for me. Thank you for rising from the dead for me. Please come and wash away all my sins. Please come and fill me with your Spirit. And help my heartbreak turn to hope. And help my fear turn to faith. And help my pride turn to holy surrender. And when I die, Jesus, please take me to be with you. Amen.

Watch

David Stockton 3/28/21 David Stockton 3/28/21

The King Who Conquered Sin

1 Kings is where we are at. Today we celebrate the day Jesus announced to the world that he was a peaceful King who had conquered a foe. The event is called The Triumphal Entry. The Sunday that commemorates it is called Palm Sunday. Jesus is thirty-three years old. He knows he’s in his final days, so he sets his face toward the big city and enters Jerusalem the same way a king would after conquering a foe.

Series: A Kingdom Divided
March 28, 2021 - David Stockton

So what was the conquered foe Jesus was declaring victory over? He had not conquered the oppressive Rome. He had not overthrown the evil King Herod. He had not really done much damage or changed much of the arrogant structure that the Pharisees and the Sadducees had set up in the religious system and caste system of that day.

So what did he conquer? What was he declaring as he rode into Jerusalem and basically sent people out ahead of him to announce that he was coming, and to have this parade of disciples cheering, “Hosanna! The Savior has come. He’s saved us. He’s the King. Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the King who comes in the name of David.”

What had he conquered that made him want to go public with being a King for the first time in his life? Well, I think the answer is he had conquered sin.

What’s interesting here is that on the cross we know Jesus conquered a lot. He paid the price for our sin. The resurrection was proof that he had conquered death once and forever. He had become the sacrifice that could take away the sins of the world. But Jesus conquered sin every moment of every day as temptation would come and he would not succumb. He is the only one who has been tempted like humanity is tempted, yet without sin. There was one other who came on the sin who was not sinful, but was tempted, and that was Adam. Yet Adam succumbed and brought great devastation to the world that we’re still living under today.

But Jesus Christ, as he was going around healing people and performing miracles, he was demonstrating to everyone that he had authority to undo all the damage that sin had done. And then, as he was transfigured on the mount of transfiguration, he was glorified. And he was there with Moses and Elijah before the presence of God. Basically that was symbolizing that Jesus had passed the test. He had, at that point, been tempted in every way that you and I are ever tempted, yet without sin.

And in that moment he had a decision to make. He had fulfilled the law of God. He had done what God had asked him to do. And was that enough? Or would he go down that mount of transfiguration and go to the cross? And the only reason that he would go down the mount of transfiguration to the cross is because he had not yet paid the price for you and I. He had fulfilled the law. He had become the sinless King. But we were still guilty of our sin. And because of his great love for us, he walked down that mount of transfiguration and he resolutely set his face toward Jerusalem.

Now he comes into Jerusalem announcing as a King, as a peaceful King — because he rode a donkey, not a horse — as a peaceful King, he was coming to declare that he had conquered sin and was now the King above all kings. The sinless King who was able to provide a sinless sacrifice for the sin debt of humanity.

It’s a day worth celebrating. This Triumphal Entry. That’s why it’s called Triumphal Entry, because he triumphed over the thing that you and I could never and have never been able to triumph over, the foe of sin.

So we spend a moment thinking about that, because, in our series in 1 Kings, we’ve been looking at king after king after king after king after king who, when tempted with sin, succumbed. Not only succumbed, but subtly and in small ways made these little compromises that ultimately led Israel further and further into idolatry and ultimately ruin.

So we look at 1 Kings and we see that, in this time in history, God’s people were becoming numb and blind to idolatry and sin. And we’re doing this because we do not want to become God’s people in our day and age who are becoming blind and numb to idolatry and sin. So we’re taking the word of God and we’re allowing it, like a magnifying glass, to look into our lives. No matter how pretty or how ugly we come out. But we do not want to fall prey to the same things they fell prey to.

It was just a few hundred years between King Saul, King David and King Solomon until Israel was completely destroyed. I do think in our society as Americans — and I don’t say this lightly and I don’t say this judgtngly — but I do think our society is progressing away from the things of God and more into the things of this world, or the things that are incongruent with the lines of God, that he has drawn for our own freedom and flourishing.

Though that is something I see taking place — and I’m praying for a great awakening, because we’ve had awakenings in America before that swept across from sea to shining sea, that turned hearts back to God and his ways. And it’s been beautiful and wonderful. I’m praying for some more of that. Anybody with me? Yeah? I’m not like, Oh, all hope is lost. Down with America. No! Not at all. I’m just trying to say I think I’m seeing these things so I’m praying that I’ll be able to see the opposite happen. And I think we all should be doing that. We should have hope. We should pray. Because God can do it.

At the same time, I’m also trying to give warning to my own soul and to my own household and to us as a church that these things are creeping their way into the household of faith. I’m having conversations with people who are brothers and sisters in Christ and people who have walked with us for a while who are now saying that they don’t think sin is sin, according to what the Bible teaches. It’s creating moments where there’s pressure and it’s causing some divisions.

It’s so important for us to look at God’s word again and say, “Okay, Lord. You get to speak. We’re putting you on the throne to decide what is good and right and wrong. And we’re not going to let our culture be on the throne. We’re not going to let our own desires be on the throne. We’re not going to let our sinful flesh be on the throne. We’re going to watch out for selfishness and we’re going to watch out for the idols of comfort, security and convenience. And we’re going to make sure you are the one on the throne deciding what is right and what is not right.” And it’s been challenging. It’s been tricky. It’s been unpopular. But it’s okay. It’s okay.

We’re looking at 1 Kings because they were going through a lot of similar things. We have Jeremiah, who wrote this book — according to tradition — and he’s writing this to help people wake up from their stupor, wake up to the reality of the decline that’s taking place all around them. And we really did make sure that, even though he’s kind of a weeping prophet and he’s moaning and groaning, he’s not a bullfrog. Jeremiah is not a bullfrog. He was a weeping prophet. We had to clear that u p earlier on in this series.

But he’s basically speaking about how the people of God slowly but surely kind of give in to these things. He’s talking to us about a lot of different things. Just to sum up, I’m going to read some real quick summarizations from Jeremiah about these kings and what they did.

Under Rehoboam, in 1 Kings 14:22-24

Judah did evil in the eyes of the Lord. By the sins they committed they stirred up his jealous anger more than those who were before them had done. They also set up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.

Israel was a consecrated people, set apart as God’s people. They continued to want to more and more be like the nations around them. It was more and more bringing in their idolatry, more and more bringing in their thoughts, more and more bringing all these things in, until, eventually they were a people that God was angry at. His jealous anger was enraged. It’s true that God is slow to anger, but God is angry at sin and those who are walking in it. That’s the most loving thing he can do at that point, to be angry against the those who were leading people into idolatry and sinfulness and ruin.

And God was angry at them. Right there, this is talking about God’s people. “There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land.” Solomon had set up worship to all these other gods and some of those gods required you to have sex to worship them. And so you would go and it just so happened to have male prostitutes, so if you were male or female, you would go have sex with these people to worship these gods. It was a way that you would honor them. It wasn’t just stupid, but it was that you would get the reward. You would get the blessing of fertility of your land or your family by doing this. This was going on in the nation of God, that God had blessed and led out of captivity, giving them their land.

1 Kings 15:30

Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him.He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him.

So he was setting up Baal worship. Baal worship, at this point in Israel, it was like worship of Yahweh. They never really stopped worshipping Yahweh, but at this point in Israel’s history, definitely Baal was the main god of the Israelites, and Yahweh was the “side God,” which was very upsetting to the Lord.

And under Ahaz (2 Kings 16:3-

…he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God. He followed the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, engaging in the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree.

Now, I don’t know what a spreading tree in this regard, but I’m sure you can look in commentaries and they’ll talk about it for a long, long time — which is fun about commentaries and also so boring sometimes. But anyway…

He’s offering his own son as a sacrifice in the fire, which was a practice of the god Molek, again to get fertility and prosperity. And we look at these things and we think these people are crazy, for them to be so bizarre in their sexual immorality and to be so bizarre in what they’re willing to sacrifice and kill — even of their own families — for these gods. And yet, I think if we’re honest, in our society we see some very similar type things.

That’s the scary thing about sin. The sin that we commit, we don’t get to decide what the consequence is or who suffers the consequence. As we see it in the story of Solomon, Solomon was very sexually immoral. Yet he didn’t suffer the consequence. His son did, and all of the people of Israel, ultimately.

When we choose the idolatry of greed, of money, or we choose the idolatry of sex, power, position, so oftentimes it’s our kids that get sacrificed at those altars. In some ways I bet every one in this room or listening online could tell a story of something that they experienced because of the idolatry of their parents, or maybe something their kids have experienced because of their idolatry and sin. It’s very heavy stuff. These kings were people just like you and me.

But then, just before we get too bummed out, we keep going. There are some other kings. Now I read about three kings who did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord. And then I’m going to read three kings that did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Don’t for a second think that it was kind of an even spread. Basically, you’ve got about three, maybe five, if you really want to stretch you’ve got about eight out of fifty kings did any good at all. The rest were horrible.

Here’s some good news. Asa. 1 Kings 15:11-14

Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done. He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his ancestors had made. He even deposed his grandmother Maakah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive image for the worship of Asherah. Asa cut it down and burned it in the Kidron Valley. Although he did not remove the high places, Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life.

So here’s good news. It is funny to read in the Bible about a guy getting rid of his grandmother in this way. But it’s not funny what many of us are going through in our own families, as we navigate the differences and the challenges that are presented there when loved ones make decisions that are not in line with the scriptures or the lines that God has given us and we’re trying to uphold those lines, and at the same time love them. It’s tricky. This is where the love of God is so much deeper than the love that we have and the Hallmark channel teaches us about.

Love is patient, love is kind, but it rejoices in the truth at the same time. It is deep and it is rich and it is challenging for people like us . Sometimes we have to draw those lines. Jesus taught us that there are times in our following of him where we’re going to have to hate our brother and hate our sister. He’s not actually saying we should hate them. He’s saying that they’re going to perceive what you’re doing as hate, when really, all you’re doing is try to follow them and love them. And those become very difficult times, good times to pray and good times to sing about a God who chases down people on their prodigal roads. A good time to think about a God who wants to come into our lives and restore our broken lives. A good time to sing about a God who, there’s no mountain he won’t climb, right? There’s no wall he won’t break down. It’s good to think about God in those times and to pray.

The next king. Hezekiah. 2 Kings 18:3-

He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done. He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it.

Here’s the story of even something that was done in memory of God and what God had done, they had made an idol of that and were worshiping that instead of the Creator. And then we get on to Josiah. And we’re going to spend a little more time talking about Josiah. I’ve chopped up the full portion of the story about Josiah. You can read it later, if you want, but I’m giving us some little highlights. I’ve been watching a a lot of March Madness highlights and it’s just all highlights. I love highlights. It’s like I don’t have to watch freethrows and all the boring stuff. Jus watching the highlights and Baylor’s still in it, so my bracket’s still alive. Yeah!

2 Kings 22 Josiah…

2…did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and followed completely the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left..
11 When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes. 12 He gave these orders to Hilkiah the priest,… 13 “Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord’s anger that burns against us because those who have gone before us have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.

It’s a fascinating moment in the history of Israel, because we’re in 2 Kings now when we get to Josiah. We’ve gone through a lot of kings asa we’re toward the end of the time of the kings before they actually go into exile in Babylon and Judah, before they get taken over by the Assyrians in Israel up north.

Here Josiah becomes king and wants to do what’s right int he eyes of the Lord. So he starts to try and figure out what that is. He knows the high places are evil, so he starts working on those things. But one of the things he wants to do is get the temple of Yahweh back in action. And he starts cleaning it out and doing all these things, and in the process of doing that, a guy finds a scroll and he doesn’t know what the scroll is. So then he takes it to some different people. They finally get to a priest and they’re like, “What is this thing?” And the priest is like, “That’s the Torah! That’s the law of God. That’s the thing that God gave Moses as they were on that Mount Sinai in Egypt. That’s the thing that teaches us God’s ways.”

So he brought it to the king and he says, “King, I want to show you something we found.” They didn’t know where it was. It had been buried. It had been forgotten. It had been totally rendered unimportant for long enough to where now they didn’t even know where it was. And he starts to read it to King Josiah. And Josiah… the reason I’m having trouble is because I’ve been praying for Josiahs to show up in our day.

Josiah gets hit in the face with this stuff. He gets his heart chopped up by the word of God and he repents. He falls on his knees. He tears his clothes and he says, “God, I’m sorry. But thank you so much for your word. Thank you so much for letting it come to the surface. Thank you so much for helping us awake to the reality of what’s going on.”

And he tells his guys, “Go and figure out every single thing in this book that we’re doing wrong, and let’s make it right.” It was such a beautiful, beautiful response. So he finds some things that they’re doing wrong.

2 Kings 23:
4 The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests next in rank and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the Lord all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley and took the ashes to Bethel. 5 He did away with the idolatrous priests appointed by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the towns of Judah and on those around Jerusalem.… 6 He took the Asherah pole from the temple of the Lord…

We’re talking about this stuff in the temple of the Lord.

… to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem and burned it there. He ground it to powder and scattered the dust over the graves of the common people.

Again, common people? What? Where did that come from? He’s fired up.

7 He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the temple of the Lord…

Did you hear what I just said? In the temple of the Lord that Solomon built for Yahweh, there was a portion that was used to house the male shrine prostitutes. Josiah kicked some booty that day. And that was also…

…the quarters where women did weaving for Asherah.

I don’t know what that’s about.

12 He pulled down the altars the kings of Judah had erected on the roof near the upper room of Ahaz, and the altars Manasseh had built in the two courts of the temple of the Lord. He removed them from there, smashed them to pieces and threw the rubble into the Kidron Valley. 13 The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption—the ones Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the people of Ammon. 14 Josiah smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles and covered the sites with human bones.

It’s serious. Very serious.

24 Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the Lord. 25 Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.

Hallelujah. And just in case you think he was a big jerk and didn’t know how to have fun…

21 The king gave this order to all the people: “Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” 22 Neither in the days of the judges who led Israel nor in the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah had any such Passover been observed.

He threw a huge party across the whole land to celebrate what God had done for the Passover. And there was great rejoicing in God’s heart. His anger was stayed as he looked down and he saw Josiah whose heart was a fully his.

But Josiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and he did all of these other things. He was proactive in that. He knew that, as the word of God came to him, he was supposed to respond by doing that boundary maintenance we talked about early on, for not only his own soul, but his household and the institutions that he was a part of. Just so happens he was the king of the whole nation.

The zeal of the Lord consumed him. He was hungry and thirsty for righteousness. And as he walked that out, he was filled. He chose to seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness above everything else. This is what it looked like for him in his time. And it pleased the Lord. It was a beautiful thing in his eyes.

So what does it look like for us to do this in our day with our own souls and households and institutions? I don’t know. That’s why you’ve got the Spirit of God living inside of you.

But what I love about this is, when the line of God came and basically dissected Josiah and his people, when the line of God came and cut his heart in half, helping him to realize that he was outside the lines of God, he was outside where God needed to be, they were so far off. He did not respond thinking that God doesn’t love him or want him. He actually, by the grace of God, was able to respond to say, “Actually God has helped me see the lines because he loves me that much and doesn’t want me to head off into decay and depravity and destruction. He actually has drawn these lines to help me know, like a roadmap, how to get back in. Also, he’s drawn these lines to help me become aware of how badly I need him.”

Each and every time we’ve been in one of these messes, and each and every time you hear the word of God taught, or you read it for yourselves, and one of those lines that God has drawn is coming to you and making you feel like you are not right, you are incongruent, there is something in your life that is outside the boundaries of God, the devil wants to come in that moment and say, “See? You don’t belong. See? They don’t love you or want you. See? God doesn’t love you or want you.” And that is the devil talking and he is very faithful to do that.

At the same time, when that line hits you, when your heart is pricked as the Bible describes it, like Josiah was, what God wants you to hear is that he loves you and he wants to see you get into the fullness of what he has for you and that he can rescue you and he can heal you and he can make you whole.

That’s the message that Jesus came to bring. That’s the message that Jesus was declaring as he rode that donkey into Jerusalem all those years later. That’s the message that he cried on the cross as he gave up his last breath and said, “It is finished.” And as his blood flowed, basically, what he was saying to you and me was, when you find yourself outside the lines that God has drawn, when you find yourself with your heart pricked, when you find yourself in trouble, outside, alone, apart from God, you’re supposed to look up at that cross and see his arms stretched wide, ready to receive you. You’re supposed to see his blood and know that blood was a sacrifice that can wash you clean. No matter what heinous sin you’ve committed or you’re in right now, his blood is way more powerful. Always has been and always will be.

Then you’re also supposed to see him as that resurrected Lord offering freely his Spirit to empower us, to win our battles against sin. To find victory from time to time over the sin that’s inside of us, that’s lying at the door waiting to devour us. That’s what Jesus came to declare to each one of us.

I’m praying, whether you’re online or in person, if these messages, if the word of God has come and has hit you, or it has cut you, that you would realize that that is what the word is supposed to do. Actually, the New Testament says that the law of God is the schoolmaster that leads us to Christ; basically like that angry, mean teacher that was always telling you when you were doing something wrong, so that you would know you need a rescuer, you need a savior, so that you would come to Christ and you would find out that he’s been there all along, only one step away.

What’s cool is that the Lord has been raising up some Josiahs in our fellowship. We have a guy that I know told me the story of him basically just hearing these words recently and saying, “That’s it.” And he put away all of his sexually immoral paraphernalia that he’d been practicing and playing with and he’s distancing himself — not because of Covid — he’s distancing himself from people that he knows were leading him in the wrong way. What he told me was the result was he’s never been able to hear from the Lord so often.

That’s why Jesus wants us to get in these lines because he wants to talk to us, wants to love us. Out there we can’t hear him.

We had a guy just show up on the lawn out here about a month ago. He just dumped a bunch of cocaine and other drugs on the lawn and said, “I’m sick of it.” And we were like, “Should we call the police?” And the guys who handled him said, “No.” They said, “Let’s go flush this down the toilet.” And they actually got some other people to make sure nobody thought they snuck it out the back door. They flushed it down the toilet. Then we connected that guy with Kurt to try to help him figure out what Jesus is doing. Because he was walking around out there in the darkness and he just got so sick of it. And he looked over and he thought, “Maybe they have some light.”

We’ve got some people that have decided that they weren’t going to worship at the altar of convenience, comfort and security. But instead, they have aging parents and they’ve decided to bring those aging parents back home with them to give them honor and dignity as they finish their days — at great inconvenience to them, for sure.

And another guy actually, he and his wife just moved away from us and everything that they loved and all the goodness they were experiencing to go do the same thing, to make sure his parents were getting loved and cared for.

I’ll tell you what, that’s something that God is really pleased with. I could go on and on. It might just seem little to you, but it’s not little to the Lord. Actually, my wife went to a birthday party yesterday for a kid who’s been quarantined his whole life because of autoimmune diseases. Instead of birthdays, he asked if everybody could donate to the food pantry here. He’s like ten years old! He’s a little Josiah.

So it falls to us. We have a great, great history. Ever since Jesus rode that donkey into Jerusalem declaring that victory over sin, there’s been a long line of parade, a great cloud of witnesses that have been following his lead and gaining victory over sin and doing away with high places and idolatry in their lives and in their families and in the institutions they’re a part of, many different ways. What are we going to do? What is the Lord asking you to do?

I know someone in our fellowship that they have been together for along time as boyfriend and girlfriend and they’ve got kids and all of that. They’re saying, “We’re ready to get married before the Lord.”

There are a lot of things that we can do to follow him. Some people built an underground railroad. Some people built a hiding place. Some missionaries have gone and it’s cost them their life, but then their family went to the same people and saw them get saved.

Lots of ways that we can serve the Lord.

Let’s pray:

Wow, Lord. You just keep it coming. Lord, I pray that you really would help us to not fall prey to our desires for sex, money, self, individualism, convenience, security, comfort or even idealogical popular or significance. Instead, Lord, we would just have your word hidden in our hearts, that we might not sin against you. That your word would be a light unto our path and we would walk in it, Lord. I pray that we, as a church, Lord, I pray for the whole church, but I really pray for us, Living Streams, right now in Phoenix in 2021, I pray that we would be the salt and light that you want us to be. Lord, where we’ve lost any salt in this, please forgive us and heal us. We know, Lord, you want us to stand against the decay in our society, but at the same time bring healing. We know. You want us to be a city set on a hill so that those who are walking in darkness and finally get sick of it can look and find someplace to run. Please help us, Lord, to not be like the older brother who rejects people who come home, but instead to be just like you, Father, and receive them and robe them. We thank you, Jesus, that you found us, that we were once lost and blind, but now we’re found and we see. Thank you, Lord.

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Mark Buckley 3/21/21 Mark Buckley 3/21/21

What I Learned from the Kings

Well, good morning, Living Streams. It’s a joy for me to be with you guys today. I want to say a special hello to the Grand Canyon students, because it’s a big weekend, you guys having your team at the big dance. We’re proud of you. It was a little difficult yesterday but to get into the dance is one thing. But actually, dancing is a whole different ball game, right?

Series: A Kingdom Divided
March 21, 2021 - Mark Buckley

I also want to say hi to the online community. I’ve been part of the online community for the past year. My wife had a heart transplant and we had to keep a big social distance. But there’s nothing like being back in live church! It’s a whole different ball game.

I was literally weeping this morning as we prayed before the first service. The Holy Spirit was ministering in a powerful way. We’ve got an awesome team of people in this church. If you don’t know the pastors personally, Veronica Morrison, Faith Cummings, Kurt Cotter, Arthur Le, some of these guys and gals are wonderful. And our elders are wonderful men of God. If you have a chance to get to know them, you’re going to find even more of God’s kingdom in this place than you’ve ever experienced before.

I’m going to be talking today about What I Learned from the Kings. At the end of the service we’re going to have communion. If you’re online, go get your bread, go get your cup. If it’s too early for wine, get some juice, whatever. We’re going to take communion. It’ll be good.

I’m going to give you lessons from three different righteous kings—things that have stuck with me over the years. Even the righteous kings were flawed. The first part of this message is going to be a little bit dark at times, a little bit politically incorrect at times; but if you stick with it, it’ll be worth it in the end,

First lesson from the kings:

1. Immorality has consequences for everyone.

Looking at the life of Solomon. Solomon was a king who pleased God from the time he began. He was a young guy. He knew that he needed wisdom. He asked God for wisdom and the Lord said, “I’m going to give you wisdom. And because you weren’t asking for much more than that, I’m going to give you wealth, I’m going to give you power, I’m going to give you more than you ever anticipated.”

Then it says in 1 Kings 11,

King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter…

which was his first wife.

Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.

Let’s pray:

Father, I ask that you’d help me speak this word with clarity and power and that your grace will minister and that your kingdom will come more fully in our lives than ever before. In Jesus’ name.

So Solomon went from being this wonderful young guy with a heart for God, who gained wisdom, who gained understanding, who understand how flowers worked and plants grew, and how cities should be built, and aqueducts, and how an army should be formed, and his palace had such great order that people came and were amazed at what God did through Solomon. He built this magnificent temple and overlaid it with gold. It was a phenomenal place.

But as he wanted, in the lust of his heart, more and more women—it wasn’t just one wife that was beautiful, it wasn’t just two, it became seven hundred wives, three hundred concubines, which were basically sex slaves. There’s no other way to put it. It occupied his heart. His heart became dark. And his latter years he did not leave the legacy of blessing. The kingdom got divided because his heart was dark, and his son followed his dark ways and took unwise counsel.

I have a deep concern for our society today. I watched my own dad’s life turn dark because of immorality. I watched my pastor’s life become dark because of immorality. I saw the consequences in our family. I saw the consequences in the ministry I was part of when I was a young guy. It grieved my heart.

And today we’re having an explosion of immorality that is like none other. Now, in the sixties, we had free love, sex, peace, rock ’n roll and partying, basically. But the media, for the most part, was trying to warn people that it wasn’t going to end well. If you go to Height Ashbury and see the fruit of the hippie movement, you’ll see the burned out skeletons of people, those who are still alive. You see the bad fruit of that lifestyle.

But today, Kristina and I were watching Netflix the other day. And, a quick aside, thank you for those who have prayed for my dear wife. She’s doing much better. She’s getting stronger. Her transplant is working really good and we really appreciate your love.

So we were watching Netflix and it says in the upper corner “Language and Smoking,” you know, so keep your eyes out. If somebody smokes, that could really infiltrate your heart and make you want to go smoke or something like that, or you might say a bad word too. It says absolutely nothing about the fact that one guy after another in this show is sleeping with whatever woman he can get his hands on. And women are in bed with other women. The whole thing is rampant immorality. That’s normal. It’s being promoted in our society.

And then people act shocked when a guy down in Atlanta goes and kills eight people. Now that is tragic. And you know, if you do the back story on the guy, he was part of a bible-believing church. And he took a very Old Testament approach to try to get rid of his sin. You know? He was enslaved by his sin. He called himself a sex addict. Well, Jesus said that those who sin become slaves to sin. There is an addiction factor, because it doesn’t provide fulfillment. It provides degradation. So he took an Old Testament approach, kills eight people, which spreads fear and grief and pain.

Whether you try to gain a political solution through violence, a moral solution through violence, or you’re just being an angry person, that does not produce the righteousness of God. We’re here to proclaim the kingdom and to invite people into the kingdom. And we all have urges. We all have temptations. We all have desires that we have to say no to. The New Testament is about saying no to that which corrupts so you can say yes to the kingdom. There is something better that God has for each and every one of us that we don’t want to miss out on.

In 2 Kings 18, another king that you might not know as well as Solomon, his name is Hezekiah:

In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done. … Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.

He was pleasing to God. He did what was right. He believed God. Yet we’re going to see in a moment that Hezekiah had all kinds of trials. Some people erroneously believe that, if you love God, if you do everything right, then you’re going to have a shield of protection, a hedge of protection, some kind of invisible bubble that’s going to prevent any bad news from actually affecting you, either from the outside or any kind of personal crisis. But that’s not the story of the Bible. That’s not the truth, folks.

What I would really urge you all to do is study, not just the New Testament, but the Old Testament, because you’ll get a more full picture of who God really is. So let’s look at what happens.

2. Even the righteous face crises.

In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.”

So here is this righteous king and he still gets attacked. Major army of Assyria. Hundreds of thousands of people marching against Judah, capturing the outlying cities. And it says:

…the king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents[c] of silver and thirty talents[d] of gold. So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace. At this time Hezekiah king of Judah stripped off the gold with which he had covered the doors and doorposts of the temple of the Lord, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

He made two false assumptions. One assumption was that it was because he did something wrong that he got attacked. He didn’t get attacked because he had done something wrong. He got attacked because there is evil in the world, and evil has a tendency to want to destroy those who are trying to do right. It says in the New Testament that all who live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. It goes with the territory. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers. They will be sons of God.” We need peacemakers because there’s conflict. There’s conflict because men have fallen.

So another false assumption he made is that, if he goes into a treaty with the king of Assyria, that the king of Assyria is going to honor his word. It’s like trying to make a pact with the devil. You try and make a pact with the devil for your success or for your protection or whatever, and it’s a temporary deception that leads to further bondage.

Neville Chamberlain, in the late 1930’s, tried to make a pact with Adolph Hitler. The pact was this: we will let you have Austria, we will let you have part of Czechoslovakia, but that’s as far as you go. And Hitler goes, “Yeah. That’s as far as I want to go. We just want to reclaim the German-held territories from these other places and we’ll be good to go.”

Well, Chamberlain comes back to Great Britain, claims to the world, “We have a peace treaty. Hitler’s going to be fine.” And what happens? Within months Hitler’s invading Poland and then he goes after Russia and the whole world is inflamed in war. Why? Because he had an intent from the beginning to dominate and control and make the Aryan race the predominate force on the world.

So, what happens to Hezekiah if you get into the story is that, after he gives the gold, after he gives the silver, the king of Assyria still attacks. He’s got the gold but now he wants complete and utter control. He’s a picture of Satan in the Old Testament.

Now, by the grace of God, Hezekiah and the people of the Lord are delivered from that. But that’s not the end of Hezekiah’s challenges. In 2 Kings 20, it says this:

In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”

Now we don’t know what his problem was. We don’t know if it was some kind of cancer, some kind of an infection. All we know is that sickness was a sickness unto death and Isaiah the prophet recognized it and said, “Buddy, make sure your will is good. Make sure you kiss your wife goodbye and say what you want to your kids, because this is the end.”

Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, “Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

I know a little bit of what this feels like. In 1979 I was a young pastor. I had a wife and two kids and a growing church in Northern California. We had a day of fasting and prayer. I’m fasting on my own, in my office, kneeling before the couch in my office, and I heard a voice in my heart. The voice said, “I’m going to take you home.”

It totally caught me off guard. You’re going to take me home? This is God speaking? I’m going to die? What the heck is going on?

I literally got up off my knees, sat down on my couch, a few minutes later I left my office. I’m walking around, I’m jumpy. I’m irritated. Am I going to die? Was that God? Was that the devil? What happened,

Well, four days later my wife, Kristina, and I left on a trip. We borrowed a Volkswagen camper van. We left our boys with my brother and his wife. We were up in Northern California to go trout fishing, The Volkswagen camper dies and we have to push-start it. I had to gather a bunch of campers together to help me push-start it. Kristina’s in the driver’s seat. We push it to get it going and and it doesn’t start. Then it turns out she had the key off, which was a little embarrassing. So we push it again. There were about five of us. We push it as hard as we can. She pops the clutch and it doesn’t start, because she had it in reverse.

Now, my wife is usually very mechanical and very responsible. It was very irritating. And four of the guys helping me push the van walked away in disgust. So they leave and it’s just me and one other guy. Now we’re pushing with all our might. We push and she pops the clutch. It starts. And I’m hit with this massive headache. I mean, massive. And within a moment or two I’m literally laying in the dirt, throwing up. It was a bad scene. Kristina gets out of the van, says, “What’s happening?” I said, “I think I’m going to die, and you’d better get me to a hospital.”

She takes me to the hospital, where they do a spinal tap when they see the mess I’m in. They say, “You’ve got a brain bleed” They fly me in a private air evac down to Marin County, and basically said, “We don’t know if you’re going to live or die, but 90% of people that have this kind of brain bleed die.” Obviously, you know how that part of the story ends. I don’t die, by the grace of God.

But I had been in my office praying, I had been in my office crying after hearing that word that I was going to die. What comforted me is what happened to Hezekiah. This is what I want to say in my third point:

3. The mercy of God is amazing.

Isaiah said in verse 4:

Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the Lord. I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’”

In other words, what God is saying is, “I have a plan bigger than you, Hezekiah. The way you were living your life, you might have ended in death. But I have heard your plea for mercy and I’m adding fifteen years to your life.”

So when I had remembered that story, it really encouraged me. And when you’re twenty-nine years old, fifteen years sounds like a long, long time.

Let’s go to our final king. In 2 Kings 22, it says this:

Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. His mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah; she was from Bozkath. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and followed completely the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.

So Josiah, at eight years old he becomes king. As he grows up, turns a teenager and into his twenties, he is the most dedicated king in the history of Israel. He tells them to rebuild the temple. The temple had fallen into disrepair. He finds the law of God in the temple and they begin to practice the law of God. They have it read to all the people. They begin to humble themselves. They reinstitute the Passover. They reinstitute the festivals. They reinstitute obedience to God. They finally rebuild the army. They rebuild the cities around Judah. And he has done a phenomenal job. Great guy. There’s about four pages of the Old Testament written about him. Then something happens.

4. Getting overextended has serious consequences.

2 Kings 23:

While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went up to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah marched out to meet him in battle, but Necho faced him and killed him at Megiddo.

What’s happening? Josiah finds out that the arch enemy of Israel, which is Assyria, is going to be helped by Necho, King of Egypt. Josiah says, “I don’t want anybody helping Assyria. We hate those guys. They took the gold out of our temple years ago and we hate those guys.”

So he marches out in battle. He gets into a battle that God had not called him into. He gets overextended. I deal all the time with guys who are believers who get overextended and it’s not pretty.

So, 1994, Kristina and I are in a cabin in northern Washington. Kurt Cotter and I had flown up there because a young man in our church was in a coma. He had rolled his car over at a Christian camp. It had settled to the bottom of a pond. He was almost brain dead. He had been in a coma for several days. We went up there to pray for him, to ask God to heal him.

Two years before that, our oldest son had drown. Now, this kid, Daniel Murrow, we had helped raise for three and half years while his dad was in prison. So he was really close to our family. He was the oldest of six kids who lived next door to us. They were in and out of our house all the time. We loved these guys. We were praying over Daniel, asking God to heal him.

On the way up there, I had told Kurt, “I’m in trouble.” I had been in Alaska, trying to minister to some pastors whose kids were killed in a car wreck. I had been in California at a missions conference, where the churches were having a battle with each other. I had been on a bunch of trips that left me very drained, one right after another. I had nothing left in the tank. Now I had an emergency. I was living my life right on the edge, trying to please God by serving him with all my strength all the time, every day, and leaving nothing behind. Now an emergency comes and I’ve got nothing to give. I’m so wound up I couldn’t even sleep.

When the elders found out about that, they literally had me sent to a mental hospital for two weeks. Then to a treatment for another two weeks. I want to just tell you, if you’re the senior pastor of a church and you get sent to a mental hospital, it does not look good on a resume. Do you know what I mean? It’s not something you want to brag about to your friends or put in your newsletter. You’re hoping nobody’s going to find out. Yeah. Good luck with that.

“Where’s Mark? I haven’t seen him for a few weeks.”

“Well, you know how those things go, don’t you?”

Nobody ever gossips or anything. Nevertheless, I was out of the pulpit for four months. And our church held together. Living Streams held together because of love and because of mercy. They loved us. We loved them. And the fruit of the church has been better than ever. But I had to learn a really painful lesson.

I want to tell you how I ended up in that mental institution. I ended up there because, one night when we were at that Christian camp after we had prayed for Daniel all day long, I was trying to go to sleep. David Stockton’s parents were sharing this bungalow with us They were asleep. Kristina was asleep. My son, Phil, was in there. He was asleep. And I feel like my heart is starting to race and beat so fast that I’m having a heart attack. I’m thinking maybe I’m dying or something like that. I hear fireworks going off in the distance and I realize it’s Fourth of July and there’s fireworks. It’s 1994. And, oh, by the way, 1994, the last time I thought I was going to die was 1979, that’s fifteen years ago, and that happened to have been on the Fourth of July weekend. My fifteen years is up! I’m not paranoid. I’m about to die. Literally, that’s what I thought. That’s what flipped me out.

So the mercy of God is amazing. I did not die. But…but the reason I had the mercy of God is because I am part of a really loving, supportive community. Not everybody has that benefit. A lot of people, when they have a breakdown, which is what I had, it takes years and years to recover from. And some people have a hard time ever recovering.

The Body of Christ is a healing place. Don’t ever let people tell you, “I don’t really need church because I’ve got all I need from God.” Well, you’ve got all you need from God until you have a crisis. And if you’re a believer, you’re going to have a crisis, believe me. You’re going to get attacked. There’s going to be health issues. There’s going to be stuff happen. There is no magic protection that’s going to guarantee that your family is always going to escape through the trials of life. You’re going to need your brothers and sisters, and they’re going to need you, too.

Now I want to close this message by talking about the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and a little contrast between the limitations of the righteous king and what Jesus does in our life.

In Revelation 19:11 & 16, it says:

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and lord of lords.

King of kings and Lord of lords. Heaven was open and the apostle saw Jesus, the Word of God, alive and well and true. The Eternal Word through which all things are formed, all things are made, that which established the universe, literally became flesh and dwelt among us, he said, “And I got to touch him. I got to feel him.”

A couple of weeks ago, maybe a little less than that, I was over at a golf course, and I run into a guy who is a judge, who I’ve known for a long time, who was part of our church. And I said, “How’s it going?” And he said, “Well, did you know my golf clubs got stolen?” And I said, “No, I didn’t know that. Did you get any new ones?” And he goes, “No, no, as a matter of fact, one of the detectives caught the guy. He was fencing my golf clubs. And because he was fencing my golf clubs and they’re worth so much money, he’s got a class 4 felony. He’s going to prison.”

And then I’m like, “Oh, really?”

And he goes, “Yeah, but my driver, he gave away to somebody. So he’s making restitution. He’s paying me $17 a month for my driver.”

Now under normal circumstances, I’d say, “Yeah, they got the bad guy!” You know what I mean? We can’t let people steal golf clubs. What would become of people like me that like to play golf, if you just let them take golf clubs? You’ve got to send them to prison.

But that very day, I had heard about a lady taking a very different approach. We had a memorial service for Celia Clifton, the mom of Adriana Gruber, who is part of our staff. Celia Clifton heard from Adriana, when Adriana was a teenager, that when Adriana went on a particular day to get her car washed, somebody at the car wash stole a bunch of stuff out of her car. So she goes home and tells her mom right away, “Mom, I realized that somebody stole my stuff.”

Her mom says, “Which car wash?” She goes right down there. She marches down there. She’s this fiery little Mexican lady who loves Jesus. She tells the manager of the car wash, “I want to talk to all of your guys!”

“All of my guys/]?”

“Yeah. Someobody stole stuff out of my daughter’s car. I want to talk to all your guys.”

The guy literally shuts down the car wash, gathers twenty employees all together. And Celia begins to preach the gospel. She tells them that she knows that they’re sinners because we’re all sinners. She knows somebody’s a thief, but Jesus Christ came to die on the cross so thieves could be forgiven, so immoral people can be transformed, so people can enter the kingdom of God.

During the course of her message, one of the guys starts weeping and he confesses that he had stolen the stuff out of the car. And she leads him to the Lord and twenty of those guys pray to receive Christ. Then she goes to the manager of the car wash and says, “I do not want you to fire him. I want you promote him. You hear me? I do not want you to fire him. I want you to promote him because he’s honest and he’s going to be a man of God.”

So I wanted to say to my friend, the judge, “Hold on a second. There’s a better way than just sending the bad guys who steal your golf clubs to prison. There’s a better way. There’s a more powerful way.”

He can take those of us who have fallen and make us new. Jesus said, “there’s somebody more powerful than Solomon here.”

Solomon had people come from all over the world to hear his wisdom. And Jesus said what he could do was better. You know why? Because Solomon in his wisdom could find out which of the women is lying. But Jesus, in his power, can turn the liar into a truth teller.

Moses with his authority could have the adulterer put to death. But Jesus, with his authority, can turn the adulterer into a covenant keeper. There’s somebody more powerful than Moses here.

And here’s what Jesus had to say. Last point here.

5. The King of kings makes simple great.

Matthew 11:11

Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Greater than John the Baptist. Greater than Moses. Greater than Solomon. Who? Whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven. You may be least in the kingdom of heaven. You are aware that you don’t think right sometimes. You don’t act right sometimes. But you’re not to be disqualified because you weren’t qualified. None of us are qualified because we’re always thinking right we’re always acting right. We’re qualified by what Jesus has done for us, by his gift for us. And if you’re least in the kingdom, you’ve got an awesome gift. An awesome gift.

My sister is visiting from California this weekend. The last time she came here was over thirty years ago. Living Streams had about fifteen people. I was going door to door. I was doing everything I could to try and reach people. I was going to the parks. I reached a few people and brought them to church.

She came when she was having trouble. She stayed in our house with our four kids. She invited a friend to our church. And her friend brought her boyfriend, Ben. Robin brought Ben. Ben brought J.B.. J.B. brought his parents, Ewell and Betsy. Ewell and Betsy brought George and Mary Ellen. George was the head of surgery at Good Sam Hospital. Ewell was the head of the Shearson Leemon Hutton brokerage. Ben brought Steve Ontiveros, a pitcher for the Oakland A’s.

I had been exhausting myself, trying to do whatever I could. Katey shows up, starts inviting somebody and the whole church starts to grow. She had a gift from God. I don’t even know if she knew she had a gift from God.

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Guest User 3/14/21 Guest User 3/14/21

The Convenience of Idolatry

My name is Jeff. I’m so excited to be back here in the Valley. We were here for 11 years. Then we were in California for the last 4 1/2 years and then we’ve now just returned three weeks ago. I’m so glad to be here.

I really love this series that you’ve been in.

Series: A Kingdom Divided
March 14, 2021 - Jeff Gokee

I really love this series that you’ve been in. If you haven’t listened to David, your pastor, his last three sermons, I can’t encourage you enough. I did listen to them. Powerful. So powerful. They’re going to give you an overview of Kings. First and Second Kings was actually one book that they cut in half because they were like, “I don’t know if people can get through the whole thing.” So the divided it into one narrative. And that narrative is really, really important, because it’s really about small amounts of success and massive amounts of failure.

That’s why, a lot of times as we look at the Old Testament, it’s kind of like, “Oh, let’s get to the New Testament, the good stuff.” No, no, no. We’ve got to learn about the failure part. There is success int here, of course, but the failure part helps us understand all the good stuff. It helps us understand why we need Jesus.

I’ve got three kids. One of them is a GCU student, whoo! So, as a father, I’m constantly telling my kids where I’ve made mistakes. The reason I do that is “Don’t do what I did. Don’t repeat those same mistakes.”

The Old Testament is like, “Listen, let me tell you why we need Jesus. Look at all the failure.” And it’s really important as we go through this, that you kind of sit in that a bit. Sit in how you’ve made mistakes. Sit in how you’ve failed. Allow yourself to receive the redemption that Jesus Christ gave to you, the grace you’ve received that you did not earn.

This is why the Old Testament is so helpful for us. It’s helping us bring into the New Testament where Jesus was the fulfillment of it all. You can’t separate these two. This isn’t old and new. This is wholistic way of telling the gospel narrative. It comes in its final moments in Jesus’ death and resurrection and his kingdom come and his will be done in earth as it is in heaven. That’s why it’s so important and that’s why I love this church, that we’re actually diving into the failures of the past to help us see where we need to go, and why we really need Jesus. So, I hope you face yourself today.

Much of what I’ve been doing in this last year has been facing myself, dealing with myself. A year and a half ago, I’ve been going to a counselor for the last three and a half years; and he asked me this question, “How do you care for yourself? How do you self care?” And I was like, “I don’t even know what that means.” And he said, “When’s the last time you went to a doctor.” And I was like, “I don’t know. Like ten years ago.” And he was like, “Yeah, maybe we’ll start there. Maybe go to the doctor. You’re forty-three, so it’s probably time to do that.”

So I walked into the doctor being that guy—you know, the guy who hasn’t been to the doctor in ten years. And they’re like, “Hey, that guy.” So I sit with the doctor and she has me go and do some blood work and she calls me back and says, “Hey, I need you to come back in. We saw some stuff.” So I sit back down with her and she says, “We need to send you to a hematologist.”

Now our family knows blood pretty well in this way. Our son was diagnosed with leukemia when he was eight (so nine years ago). So she sends us to a hematologist for me to sit through. We knew what that meant. So the hematologist says to us, “You have cancer.” Okay. “So, what happens. What’s going on?”

He asked me this question, “How do you feel anxious? How does that come out in your life?”

And I was like, “I don’t even know what you mean.”

And he said, “No, like, how often are you anxious?

And I’m like, “I never feel anxious. I’m that annoying guy that wakes up in the morning at 5:30 going, ‘This is the greatest day ever!’”

Right? I’m like lollipops and sugarplums. I’m like, “I’m so happy to be alive every single day.”

And he said this, “You have been anxious for a very, very, very long time. And this cancer is activated by anxiety.”

What I didn’t realize was I had a place of worship, a high place of worship, a different reality than the throne where God is supposed to sit. I created my own. It was wrapped around insecurity, power, position. I’m a 3 on the Enneagram. I want to get stuff done. And when I get stuff done, I feel successful. I want influence. I didn’t realize that over a period of time it actually triggered something genetically, biologically in me that caused cancer. It’s as if God was saying to me, “I want that place back. You keep filling it with all this other stuff, the approval of man, power, and that’s your reward. That’s all you get. But I want you. I’m a jealous God. I want all of you.”

This last year for me has been about repentance. And I resonate with Paul when he says, “I’m the chief of all sinners.” I stand before you today not as somebody who has it all figured out. I am broken and I am beautiful. Because the King of kings and the Lord of lords has rescued my life and he’s rescued your life.

That’s why it’s so important that we look at both the successes of the past and the failures of what we move forward. And because we look at King David, we go, “Wow, a man after God’s own heart.” Yeah, an adulterer and a murderer. Right?

And we move to Solomon. “Wow. Wisest man who’s ever existed.” Oh, a thousand wives. Idolatrous. He starts to divide the kingdom.

His son Rehoboam takes over for him and decides he wants to prove to Daddy that he’s a somebody. So he starts taxing the people so hard and grinding them down, that God as a result of the failures of Solomon goes to this man Jeroboam and says to Jeroboam, “Jeroboam, I’m going to bless you. You’re going to take these ten tribes. I’m going to bless you. Because of the failures of what’s happening with Solomon and Rehoboam.”

And listen to this in 1 Kings 11:38-39:

38 If you do whatever I command you and walk in obedience to me and do what is right in my eyes by obeying my decrees and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you.

By the way, that’s the win. “I will be with you. My presence will be with you. My power will be with you. My influence will be with you.”

I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you. 39 I will humble David’s descendants because of this, but not forever.’”

Here’s what I want to say. How gracious is God? He just lays it all out. Look what God is doing. God is not a cruel God who doesn’t set expectation for us. He goes to Jeroboam, “I want to bless you. I want you to take these ten tribes and I want you to lead them well by the power of God to be a light unto the nations for the world to see that there is a king who is on the throne. And I want to do that through you. But you need to be obedient. You need to follow after my laws. You need to obey in the same way that David did, repent in the same way that David did.”

He’s not cruel. He doesn’t make us guess. As followers of God, he’s not making us guess. He’s making it clear: with obedience and righteousness comes blessing. When we choose to do something different, there is a responsibility to that. He releases us. It’s terrifying. In Romans 1, he releases us to our desires. You want to go do that? Go do that.

What we find in Jeroboam is a significant problem. God has made everything clear. And maybe you find this in yourself. I would imagine you would. But what happens in Jeroboam is an individualism steps in. God has given the promise. God has made clear what he will do and how he will bless. But Jeroboam all of a sudden gets this individualistic urge in him that so many of us have and I want to go after this morning.

I did a lot of research on individualism. And honestly, the best thing I found was the Webster’s Dictionary definition and it is says this, “Individualism is a doctrine that the interests of the individual are or ought to be ethically paramount.”

It’s a doctrine. It’s a doctrine that the interests of me, what I want, what I desire are ethically paramount to anything else God included.

I was driving down the 10 there around University of Phoenix. If you go to the east Valley, you hate that turn, because it’s jam-packed So I’m on this turn this week, which I thought was kind of interesting. I’m on this turn and there’s a billboard for Gila River, and it said this: “Reclaim what’s yours. You do you.”

I was like, “That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. You do you?” Eh? You love money and want to be greedy? You do you. You like to sleep around? You do you. If you want to get ripped every weekend because you think it’s fun, you do you. You like to have affairs? You do you. Right? You don’t like your church? Don’t go! You do you.

This is the cancer that’s killing our culture. What’s more terrifying is it’s made its way into the church. It’s made its way into believers who profess Jesus as Lord and Savior, their King of kings and their Lord of lords. And where the angels lay down and say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come,” and we’re like, “Yeah but that’s kind of inconvenient for me. That doesn’t really fit in my box right now. I just don’t have time for it.”

This is what happens to Jeroboam. All that God has promised him, all that God has laid out to him, all the blessing, Jeroboam is, “But I’ve got a plan. I’ve got a different thing.” And what he does is he creates his own religion of individualism. And I wonder if many of us have done the same thing. In 1 Kings 12:26, I want you to listen to all the personal pronouns here. It’s really important.

26 Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David.

So now he’s moved these ten tribes and he’s starting to think to himself. It’s a dangerous thing to go, “What about me?”

27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.”

It starts to create this insecurity. “Oh my gosh, what about me? Oh my gosh, what if they leave?”

28 After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves.

This should transport you back to the exodus. This should transport you back to the mountain where Moses is up getting the Ten Commandments, and because the people are impatient, Aaron creates these calves. This should transport you back to that.

He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

How wrong.

29 One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. 30 And this thing became a sin; the people came to worship the one at Bethel and went as far as Dan to worship the other. 31 Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. 32 He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made. 33 On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, he offered sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel. So he instituted the festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to make offerings.

Where is God? He, he, he, me, my. This is the way that Jeroboam is deciding to lead the people of Israel, the people of God rescued out of Egypt for His names’ sake to be a light unto the nations. And what does Jeroboam do? He does what so many of us do. “Well, what about me? Me, me, me, me, my.”

This is a complete and utter rejection of all that God had promised, that all that God has promised us. As I was thinking of it, there are many things that individualism fuel, but in the context of this passage, there are two things that I think are core, that stand out in this passage.

I think number one is fear. Fear. Listen to that first part of that narrative. He’s like, “Oh my gosh. They’re going to go to Jerusalem.” By the way, the place they’re supposed to go to honor God—the system that had been established by God Almighty, carried out from generation to generation, he’s like, “Oh, I don’t want them to go there. Because they might follow that king.”

No, no, no. If they go to Jerusalem, they’ll try to follow God, not a king. “No, no, no. I can’t do that. The might dethrone me. They actually might kill me.” Jeroboam was more worried about the people not following him than following God. I think that’s true so often in our lives. But here’s what I’ve been wrestling with this week. That fear is always in conflict with faith. Always. Fear is always in conflict with faith.

What we fear we follow. I wonder what you follow. Because is about the things unseen, Hebrews tells us. It’s this mysterious moment when we stand on the edge of the boat of whatever situation we find in our lives, and God’s like, “Just trust me. I know physics says this is impossible. I know science says this is not possible. Trust me.”

And this is the movement of faith. We step into the water. But fear says, “You could drown. You could die.” I think in our culture, what I find so interesting that fear is doing, is we are so afraid, we are so fearful that we might offend people, that we are willing to offend God. We’re so worried, “Well, what if we offend somebody.” I’ll just make it easy for you. You will. You’re going to offend people if you follow Jesus.

But so many of us are like, “I can’t live that way. I can’t say that thing. I can’t really, truly abide by all the scripture is saying. I mean, bits and pieces of course. But not all of it, because, if do that, I’ll offend people.” And in that process I’m willing to offend God but I’m not willing to offend others. That is another altar at a high place.

That is the opposite of what God is inviting you into. Because fear is where false gods come from. It’s a false god in your life that you’ve maybe created, because instead of being guided by the Spirit of God who inspired the scriptures of God, we are led by the hand of a fearful culture that we were called to do a transformation over. Right? This is heavy stuff. But we have to face ourselves. We have to deal with ourselves.

This is why Isaiah 53:6 says, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned” – what? “To our own way.”

What I want to propose to you is this: Fear God and fear not. Fear God and fear not. Do you know this is a beautiful thing in scripture. This fear not thing is a gift that God gives to us. In fact, he gave it to us in the scriptures 365 times. Do you know why? Because he wants you to wake up every single morning reminding yourself that you were bought with a price. You are a precious son and daughter of the most high God. You carry the commission in your bloodstream, made to go help people come to see Jesus. Fear God and fear not in this world.

We are unstoppable in this world when we live this way. But when we become just like everybody else, because fear has emasculated the gospel, we miss out on the mission and the joy of what it is to join Jesus, his hands and feet in this world reaching. So fear not. Fear God and fear not.

I want this image in your head. Psalm 23. Say this with me. There are enemies all around us. And what are we doing? We’re at a table with the Good Shepherd. You can hear all the voices. “Don’t do that.” “You can’t do this.” “Go this way.” “Do you know that you could get this?” “If you don’t have this…” “If you don’t vote for this…” They’re all around you. You can hear all the voices. And it’s just you and God laughing hysterically and enjoying a meal. Because he makes a banquet table in the midst of our enemies, because he’s a good God, he’s a Good Shepherd and he’s leading his people into the Promised Land. Not just for ourselves, but for the sake of others. But if we’re so fearful, we’re going to miss out on the calling that he gave to us, which is to have life and life to the fullest.

The second thing that I see that individualism breeds, and what we see with Jeroboam, is convenience. He goes, “Don’t go all the way to Jerusalem.” Like it’s so far away. “Let me make it easy for you. Let me make it easy for you.”

You know what I have found that historically the easier things have become, the farther we have moved away from God; because we can get whatever what we want just like that. I can go on an app and I can order whatever I want whenever I want how I want it when I want it. And so I just went like this, “I bet God works the same way. I bet I can do that with my Christian faith. Just make it convenient. Because it is all about me.” And what we’ve done in the process is replaced our theology for me-ology, and made it all about us instead of all about God. Our lives, as Christians, are not about convenience. It’s about crucifixion. “I am crucified with Christ,” Paul says, “Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. He’s literally doing the opposite of what Jeroboam did, where it’s like, “I did this. I made it. I happen.” Paul’s going, “I need to die to all that.” And dying is inconvenient.

Ryan brought this up and it triggered in my brain, I realize I really struggle with Good Friday. I’m trying to get past Good Friday as fast as I can to get to Easter Sunday. Because that’s where the party is. He is risen! Everything’s great now, right? But at Good Friday, I get to deal with what I did to Jesus, how I’ve betrayed God. And I don’t want to deal with. Are you with me? I don’t want to deal with my sin, my depravity. I want all the good stuff. I want convenience, happiness, all the good stuff. I don’t want to deal with the fact that my sin put him there. I don’t want to deal with that. So get past Good Friday and go to Easter. That’s easier, more convenient.

And I struggle with that. Maybe you do too. Because convenience will always be in conflict with the cross. Always. And it’s what we’re being invited, not only to die to ourselves, but also commissioned to help other people do the same thing. It crushes our evangelism. It crushes our calling in this life.

So what’s the answer? Matthew 6:33 says this. This is something I write in my journal every single morning because I have to because I might forget. “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.” Make it all about Jesus. Make it all about his kingdom. Make it all about his power, his joy, his peace, his love.

Then what happens in that mistrial exchange? Everything we’ve been longing for, hoping for, desiring for comes to fruition. But it comes to fruition in the person of Jesus, not in what I want, how I want it, when I get it.

This is where Jeroboam fails. It says in 1 Kings 14:9, because he led the people astray:

9 You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made for yourself other gods, idols made of metal; you have aroused my anger and turned your back on me.

May we not do that, church. Because of our individualism, because of the fear that we feel so deep in our soul that Satan keeps sparking day after day, because of the convenience that we desire that’s become a part of our ethos, the way we think, the way we act.

Jeroboam’s legacy, as we talk about it thousands of years later, is that he led a people astray. He had an opportunity to call them to be who God wanted them to be, and instead he created a counter-gospel. He will be ever known as the man who led Israel away into conflict, not blessing, but curse. That’s what happens when we release God’s will and we take up our own.

But here’s the beautiful thing that scripture always does. Scripture is always about redemption. And where Jeroboam failed, come on let’s preach, where Jeroboam failed, Jesus succeeded. Where our sin kept us in the grave, Jesus resurrected from the grave. Our eternity is heaven because Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords, loved us enough to lay down his life to come to us. Emmanuel, God with us, gave his life so that we could be set free, which has now commissioned us to be the people of God for the glory of God. This is what we’re being invited into. This is how beautiful, where mankind fails, Jesus wins. We are the people of Jesus, called to live this out in our lives.

I know it’s not easy. I want you to know, I know your pastoral staff here, it is so weighty to be up here. I have to deal with me first. Sometimes a bunch of people think, just because I get up here and speak, that I’ve got this all figured out. And I don’t. I don’t. I’m struggling so deeply to find the grace and mercy that covers a multitude of sins. It’s not easy. I don’t have it all figured out. But I am obediently, to the best of my ability, following after Jesus. And when I fail, I repent.

I would invite you into the same thing, invite you to the same journey that I’m trying to do as a believer in Jesus Christ, to the best of my ability. It’s not easy. And what David’s been talking about the last few weeks—not easy. But so important because this is a turning point for the local church, in my opinion. This is an opportunity for us to regain what it means to be a city on a hill for the world to see that he is the King. He is the King. All the power, all the glory, all the honor belongs to him. But we get to display that and live that in our lives daily.

I told you about my son nine years ago. He was diagnosed with leukemia as an eight year old. Walk into the hospital, and their marketing department must have done a whole rebrand. We walk in and the first thing is “It’s all about you.” That seems appropriate, right? You have a little kid that’s going through cancer. Like, “It’s all about you, buddy. It’s all about you.”

There’s nothing that could be more toxic to an eight-year-old heart, or to your heart or to my heart than to hear, “It’s all about you.” So we feel like we did everything we possibly could do. “Buddy, it’s not about you. It’s not about you.”

It’s not about you. I know it’s painful. I know it’s hard. It’s not about you. It’s about Jesus and entering into his suffering, in selflessly suffering to serve other people. Do what you’re going to do. It’s difficult. It’s not convenient. And it takes a whole lot of faith to go through. It was so painful. But we were doing everything we could to help him not believe it was all about him.

The thousands of children that have come before my son who have died so that he could have life, so he could have the protocol, the treatment, the chemo. Thousands of kids had to die. How dangerous for me to tell my son, “It’s all about you.” How dangerous for you, the carriers of the cross, the good news of Jesus Christ, for you to believe that it’s all about you, that life is all about you, your hopes and your dreams. It is all about Jesus. It will always be about Jesus. That will liberate you. It’s going to liberate you. It’s going to liberate you to live like Jesus.

As I sat in my home hospital room three weeks after getting a diagnosis of cancer, the doctor said, “I don’t use words like this. But you’re healed. It’s gone. As doctors we don’t have a lot of words for this.”

“I do. It’s a miracle.” Because he’s rescued my life. He’s trying to get my attention. “I want that altar. That’s my rightful place. You keep putting other people’s opinions and your lack of identity in that. I want you and I want all of you.”

He wants all of you. He wants all of you. He loves you so much. So I want to slow down and I want to invite you into something, something Joshua did before he dies. He was a father, he fathered these people. And he says this to them. And I want you to slow down. I know I’ve been ramping up. I want you to slow down and I want you to hear these words from Joshua, but I want you to hear them from theLord. I want you to trust the Spirit of God in your life right now that he is speaking to you.

Joshua 24:14-15 (ESV):

14 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord

Put away social media, the fear of social media. Put away the fear of whatever the news is trying to tell you. Whatever political system is trying to tell you. Put away those fathers that you serve beyond the rivers and in Egypt.

15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites…

…or the gods of Hollywood, the gods of power and wealth in the institutions all across this world that tell you you need to achieve more, you’ve got to do more, you’ve got to be more…

…in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

We will serve the Lord. Choose today who you will serve. You can’t serve both. No man can serve two masters. Today is a day where we receive the gift and the grace that Jesus has given to us through his death and his resurrection. We say amen. We choose today to live in light of that. Don’t abuse it. Choose to live in light of the fact that he paid the price, the ultimate price, for you to be alive. He knit you together in your mother’s womb, not so you could have a good life, but so that you could have a God life. So that you could be his hands and his feet in this world, sharing this good news that will transform people’s lives. When people’s lives transform, cities transforms. And when cities transform, states transform. And when states transform, countries transform. And when countries transform, the world transforms. Right?

Because this is the work that Jesus has been doing, that God has been doing from the beginning of time and he’s inviting you into today. Choose today whom you will serve. But as for this church and the leadership here, we’re going to serve the Lord. May he invite you into that. May you be convicted by the Spirit of God, who today will you serve? Will you serve all the other gods? Or will you serve the King of kings and the Lord of lords for his glory and his honor, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And God’s church said, Amen.

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David Stockton 3/7/21 David Stockton 3/7/21

A Divided Heart

Series: A Kingdom Divided
March 7, 2021 - David Stockton

Good morning. It’s very, very, very encouraging to see people here after the last two weeks of messages. Uneasy laughter. It makes sense. It’s been a bit dicey the last couple of weeks. We’ve been going through First Kings. We’re getting a heavy dose of something. And I really am thankful that people are coming to hear God’s word. I’m thankful for the people who are encouraging me. Because you know that I’m just kind of trying to do my best. I’m not perfect in any way and don’t have all this stuff figured out. But I’m trying to really dissect what our cultural moment is describing to us as a vision for God’s righteousness; and trying to get into the biblical narrative and find out what is really a vision for God’s righteousness—against what is popular in our culture, and maybe what is against what’s going on in our own souls and minds.

I don’t claim to be good at it or perfect at it in any way. But I’m doing my best. And thankfully, we have the word of God. I have some people that I’m able to process with. I really do feel like the messages that I’ve been preaching really do represent our elder team and our leadership team here, our staff, all of those things. So I feel good about all of that. But I also know that words can go different ways and they can hit people in different ways. So I’m also thankful for all the people who have been engaging in some dialogue with me through email, saying, “I heard you say this. I want to unpack that a little bit and make sure I’m hearing what you’re saying.”

I know there are people who are deciding whether they really want to stick with Living Streams or not. Because we’re really kind of drawing some lines that are not super popular in society today. So some people are deciding to move on. And I don’t blame them, you know, if that’s what they feel; because we’re not going to adjust or budge or try and let the culture dictate what we preach or what the word of God says. We’re going to let the word of God interpret our culture for us. It’s interesting. I do feel a lot of encouragement. The most encouragement I feel is when someone is actually willing to dialogue. So if you’re thinking about leaving or thinking about saying, “I can’t be here anymore,” I totally understand. But I would like to be able to have a conversation before you go, just to make sure we are dividing over what we are actually dividing over, and not just that you heard something strange or weird that I was saying. Because I know I can mess up too.

That being said, thanks for being here. Hopefully we’ll see you next week. We’re still in First Kings. We’re going to be going through First Kings again, we’ve been looking at this super, super ancient, near-eastern document that’s been preserved for all this time. It’s very old. It’s very outdated. It’s a very different cultur. All of these things. And yet, we think it’s the inspired word of God and has a lot to say to us, because people really aren’t that different from the way they’ve always been. We have the same problems and challenges.

We’ve seen lots of connections from First Kings. There are uneasy transfers of power, which is something we’ve experienced in America. There are debates and divisions over taxes. Again, America. There’s lots of division over political issues. They’re building a wall, which is fun. And it’s a time in Israel’s history where there is tons of prosperity. Prominence, prosperity, world power, all of that is going on. And that’s what we’re experiencing.

At the same time this is going on, the writer, who most likely is Jeremiah, is recording for us a lot of the idolatry that was taking place in the midst of the prosperity. So I think we’re experiencing right now in America, that all of our prosperity has led us to some forms of idolatry in our nation, that displeases God.

So this prophet was writing to his people in his day to try to warn them to not fall into these traps. I’m using this book and we’re trying to warn ourselves from the same traps, so we don’t fall into some of those things. There was a continuous redefining God and what worship is to be. We’ve described that in our context, we have a cross up here. In their day, they had the worship of Yahweh, the God that brought them out of Egypt and made them into a nation, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and on and on. So they would worship Yahweh.

But over time they decided that they didn’t just want to worship Yahweh. All the other nations around them had other gods, as well. So they decided, “Maybe if we worship Yahweh and the other gods, we’ll get like double, triple love. We’ll get triple the blessings. We’ll get it all.” So they began to bring in things like Baal worship. They began to bring in things like Asherah poles. They never took down the cross, so to speak. They just started adding other things to their worship.

What they didn’t realize is that the God of the Bible, Yahweh, is a very jealous God. Not in the petty, junior high type jealousy. But in the idea of a woman who’s married to a man and all of a sudden he decides he wants to bring in other women to the relationship. The jealousy that she would feel for her husband would be righteous and right. Saying, “This is not right.” And God himself is the source of that righteous jealousy. God says, “No. I’m not going to stand here and let you add other gods to the worship of Me. You get Me or you get nothing.”

That’s ultimately what happened in Israel’s history. Jeremiah, as he was prophesying, he was called The Weeping Prophet because people kept going, “Eh, you’re annoying.” He kept prophesying and they were like, “Hey, throw him in prison.” He kept prophesy and they’d say, “Hey, put him in a pit. That way we can’t hear him anymore. Just leave him in a pit for a while.”

He was the weeping prophet because he was prophesying as he watched this unfold before his eyes, as people continued to practice idolatry and, ultimately the nation of Israel was completely destroyed, in just a few hundred years.

America, where are you? America, are you willing to listen? We’re coming up on a few hundred years. And where are we going to be?

I don’t know how to change America. I can pray for it, we can reach out, we can do all of those things. But what we really want to do is make sure none of those things show up inside our church, inside our fellowship and our family. So we’re going to preach about it.

Tim Keller wrote a book called Counterfeit Gods, as he was trying to help the church in America understand culturally what the idolatry of today is. Some of the things that he said is:

An idol is something we cannot live without. We must have it, therefore it drives us to break rules we once honored to harm others, even ourselves, in order to get it…

So it’s basically these things we used to hold as true and right, we now want these other things and these things are standing in our way, so we just kind of put those to the side. Maybe something like this right here (bible). It’s happening today. Sorry if that freaked you out super bad. Just trying to make a point. But it came out a little bit abrupt.

…An idol is anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give, anything that is so central and essential to your life, that should you lose it, your life would feel hardly worth living.

The first thing that came to my mind was the song “Driver’s License.” Sorry. If you don’t know what that is, good. You’re good.

…If I have that, then I will feel like my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, and I’ll feel significant and secure.

The “that,” which he is referring to are the idols in our lives. Some people that I’ve been asking recently, “What are you seeing as the idols of our day,”:

“Comfort, convenience, safety and security.” Tyler Johnson, who’s a pastor here in Phoenix. He says, “Those are the idols of our day.”
Tim Keller, in his book Counterfeit Gods, talks bout “Money, sex and power,” being the idols of our day.
Dan Riccio says, “Self,” (uh-oh, that one gets to the point), “Self is an idol in our day. Sex, money, power, acclaim, security,” are the idols of our day. We want those things even more than we want God.We’re willing to compromise even what God has asked of us in order to get those things.

Then one of the things that I feel has been important for me to bring out, and this is just me, I only came up with one, those other guys had a bunch of items, but our desires. I think that’s the idolatry of America today. But I think that’s the idolatry that’s sneaking into our churches. Somehow we’re allowing our desires to dictate what is right and wrong.

You hear it in society. “You do you.” You know, whatever you want, that’s what you should be, that’s who you should be. But our desires do not belong on the throne of our lives. That’s one of the reasons why we keep this cross up here. Yes, to remind us of what Jesus did for us, the sacrifice that he paid so that we never have to fear God ever again. We never have to fear death ever again. But also as a reminder to us that ninety-nine, (I’ve been saying ninety, I’m going up to ninety-nine now)—ninety-nine percent of following Jesus is denying ourselves, taking up our cross, and following him. Denying ourselves means: Do not give in to disordered desires. We are constantly battling between what is a desire that is within us that is of God, and what is a desire within us that is not of God. And we deny the ones that are disordered. And we live into the ones that are not. This is very hard stuff. It’s very hard stuff. I’m not saying it’s easy. I’m not saying, “Oh, just go do it.” It’s very hard stuff. And that’s why he was a weeping prophet.

So 1 Kings 11. Let’s jump in here:

11 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love.
Idolatry. He called it love.
3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.
7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.

Wow. We’re in a different place here. Last week we were reading 1 Kings 3, where Solomon prays this beautiful prayer. God is asking Solomon, “I’ll give you anything. What do you want?” And instead of asking for all the idolatry-type things, Solomon says, “God, can you give me a heart that listens to you? I don’t want to even have a heart that knows the truth, so to speak, because then I might put myself on the throne and decide what is true and right.” He said, “Could you just give me a heart that listens to you, that can hear you? Because you’re the only one that sees clearly. You’re the only one that should be on the throne.”

Hallelujah! It’s a beautiful, beautiful prayer. We should be praying it every day because we live in a crazy world.

And then we get to see the display of that, where Solomon was able to bring absolute justice, beautiful, righteous justice into a very troubling, street-level justice issue between two prostitutes and one baby. And it was just awesome. And everyone who got to see it was so refreshed that justice and truth could happen in our day. And it was just awesome.

Then, that’s chapter 3. Chapter 3 through 10 you just get to see that Solomon’s bringing out the wisdom. He’s executing justice. He’s ordering Israel in such a way that is causing the most flourishing and freedom for everybody there. The nations around them, instead of warring with them, they send delegations to sit at the feet of Solomon, just to listen to what he might have to say, so that they could experience a little bit of the freedom and flourishing that came through the Judeo ethic.

Solomon builds the temple for the Lord. Solomon builds a palace for himself. Solomon built a wall around Jerusalem. And it starts to describe all of the grain that was brought to Solomon every day because of all the fruitfulness of all the fields. Then it describes all of the flour that was brought in for his table as they made all the food for all the people. Then he talks bout all the gold that was brought in as tribute from other nations, and the wealth and the prominence and the prosperity. It was amazing. Actually, the title of the last chunk of scripture in chapter 10 is “Solomon’s Splendor.” It’s beautiful what the Lord had done, and what Solomon and the people of Israel were experiencing.

And then the weeping prophet, who’s recording for us a little bit of what happened, he says, “However, Solomon loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter.” There was a disordered desire within Solomon that was not in line with decrees and statutes and commands of God. And Solomon went for it.

Maybe he thought: I’m doing everything else the Lord is asking me to do. What’s the problem with this one little one? He wasn’t willing to deal with the “little foxes” like we talked about two weeks ago.

And I don’t think that when Solomon married Pharaoh’s daughter, the first one, I don’t think he thought, All right. One down and 999 to go. I don’t think that was the vision that he had. I don’t think he thought, I’ll marry Pharaoh’s daughter and then I’ll marry a whole bunch of others. Just like those who get married don’t come to the altar and profess their vows to each other thinking, Maybe. Even though half of them, so to speak, end in divorce. I don’t think half of them are going, Yeah, we’ll see how this goes.

But little foxes come in and then other little foxes, other little foxes. So Solomon basically made one decision of compromise, sexually. And it led to another and another and another and another and another and another and another. Because sin is never satisfied. Sex is never satisfied. And many of us sitting in this room or listening online can think about the one time we made a compromise and how many more compromises it led to, until, ultimately, you’re in bondage.

Solomon, the wisest person of all—he fell in this way. And he ended up with a thousand wives. Well, seven hundred of royal birth wives, and then three hundred concubines, which are basically illegitimate wives. Because he decided to go for one.

Not only that, but then he decided to keep those wives happy. He started building high places of worship. He built the temple for Yahweh and then he started building temples for all the other gods. Just in case you don’t quite understand historically what it means to build a high place of worship for another god, the gods that were described in here—basically what was happening was Solomon built the correct form of Yahweh and a temple for that. Then he built these other temples.

These other temples, a lot of them had to do with fertility, these gods. It was an agrerian society. So if you wanted your lands to be fertile, if you wanted your family to be fertile, your wives to be fertile, then you would pray to these gods and they would cause your lands to be fertile, which was a really important deal when you’re trying to grow stuff. And your wives to be fertile was really important if you want to survive—have people to work the fields, maybe.

So a lot of these gods had this kind of concept. “If you worship me then you will be prosperous. You’ll be fertile.” But what they required as worship was for you to give up your sexuality, to give up your virginity. Practicing worship for these gods, had oftentimes going and linking yourself with a temple prostitute of some sort. Or giving up your virginity to one of these priests or priestesses. And if you offer that sacrifice, then this god will bless you with fertility. Sex became rampant.

Then, sad to say, others of these gods were gods that actually required human sacrifice. One tradition talks about the god Molek described here as this statue of iron that had a head of an ox of some sort. He would have his arms out and then inside the belly was this hollowed out thing where they would build a fire. That fire would warm up the iron and warm up the hands until it was red hot. Then they would come and lay their babies on his hands and watch their babies burn up as a sacrifice so that they could be fertile.

This is what Solomon produced in Israel. And Israel never recovered until it was destroyed. And if we don’t think we have a sex problem in America, if we don’t think we’ve created an idol out of sex and the compromise and the giving of ourselves in all these different sexual ways, we’re so blind. And, sad to say, what Solomon probably didn’t even know until he saw it was the sexual kind of reality of all this idolatry ultimately led to the killing of babies. If we don’t think we have that problem in our society, we’re blind as well. Our lust, our giving over to sexual desires that are disordered and outside the context of scriptures, has not led to a little, it’s led to a lot of damage for our society. Sad to say, it’s led to a lot of damage for a generation of unborn.

And we get to see it in Solomon’s day and you get to hear the weeping prophet Jeremiah say, “Please wake up.” We get to read the scriptures and there’s so much detail about sex in the Bible. And whenever sex is done outside the context of one man and one woman, it does not lead to anything good. It leads to destruction. And most often it’s not even the destruction of the person, it’s the destruction of the people that come after them.

The scariest thing about sin is you get to choose your sin, but you don’t get to choose the consequence. And even scarier than that is you don’t get to choose who gets the consequence. Most often it’s the ones that go after you. It’s the ones who you love the most that suffer. That’s true in Solomon’s day, as well.

Now you see why I’m thankful that people keep showing up. I’m just saying things and…yeah.

This is our reality. This is us. We read about Solomon and you’re like, “Yeah, that’s me, except for all the rich and smart stuff.” The way Paul describes it in the New Testament, is he actually describes a war going on inside of us. He uses the word war when he describes the battle between our spirit and our flesh. Our ordered desires and our disordered desires. It’s a war. It’s a challenge. It’s a difficulty. It’s something that causes pain and frustration and agony and sleepless nights and prayers and groanings within us.

If we’re honest, we all know that war. We have a nature inside of us that was given to us from Adam that wants to go against the things of God. And those of us who have given our life to Christ, we now have the Spirit inside of us who is compelling us to go toward the things of Christ. But it’s a war. It’s a battle.

Just the other day I was with a family, and one of their daughters who is young, it was so funny because she wanted to say something that was going to be like gossipy. She wanted to say something about what everyone was saying about this person; and the mom was like, “No.” And she was like, “Well, let me just…” “No!” “But, what…” “No!” It was just like, what is happening here? She could not keep it in. It was like she needed to say this juicy morsel of gossip so bad. And her mom was just cutting it off. And I was like, This is so interesting. Then it was funny because she finally stopped and the mom was like, “As soon as we go inside later she’s going to still say it.” Like she can’t help it. It’s the way it is within us. It’s alive in us. It was alive in Solomon.

That is truth. All that we’ve been saying these last few weeks, this is the truth we need to hear. God is setting before us a blessing and a curse. If you walk in this way you will be free. You will flourish in the things of God, and you will be setting up your children and the generations to come for prosperity and goodness in the Lord.

This is true. We have to hear this. We have to know this. But, thanks be to God that there’s more to the story to who our God is. He’s full of truth and he’s full of grace. And as I was reading, I stumbled across something that I want us all to hear. It’s so important. I’m so excited about this.

9 The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command. 11 So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. 12 Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”

So God visited Solomon again, finding him in all of this idolatry, going from a discerning heart to a divided heart, leading his people into all of this disgusting, detestable idolatry, paving the way for pain and agony for his children and the children of Israel. And God comes to him because he hates sin and what it does. He says, “Solomon, I’m going to have to punish you and I’m going to tear the kingdom away from you. Nevertheless, I’m not going to do it in your lifetime, for the sake of David. But I’m going to tear it from your son. Yet, I’m not going to tear it all from him, for the sake of David.”

If God was just all about truth, Solomon would be over. And to be honest, humanity would be over already, as well. But the God of the Bible is very peculiar. The God of the Bible is very scandalous, because there’s this razor’s edge to his character that’s described in Exodus 34. He is for sure not going to leave the guilty unpunished. But he is also abounding in mercy and kindness and faithfulness. And he loves to forgive.

In this chapter we get to see the nature of God. He’s disgusted and heartbroken over the idolatry and what it’s going to produce and what it’s going to cost—not just for Solomon, but for his children. And that stuff does play out. There are consequences to sin every single time. There is pleasure in sin for a season, but then it’s destruction. And sad to say, it’s not just destruction for you. It’s also for the ones you love. But, at the same time, God always is full of grace and mercy.

Here it is in the Old Testament. We see a little bit of a picture of a New Testament principle. When God says, “For the sake of David, Solomon you’re going to escape punishment. For the sake of David, Solomon, the promise that I made that David will always have someone sit on the throne will remain intact. And, sure enough, that promise did remain intact all the way until there was one born of the seed of David, or the line of David. His name was Jesus. He’s become King that reigns forevermore.

What the New Testament picks up right there is kind of bouncing off this. For the sake of David, Solomon escaped punishment and received the promise. And for the sake of Jesus Christ, everyone who believes in him escapes punishment and receives the full promise of God. This is the way Paul says it in Romans 5:

18 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man…

Now, Paul’s talking about Adam, but you could also talk about Solomon—or you could put your own name in there.

For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. 20 The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Message translation (MSG) says it this way:

18-19 Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, …

That’s you and me and Adam and Solomon.

…another person did it right and got us out of it….

That’s Jesus.

…But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right.
20-21 All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that’s the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.

For the sake of David, Solomon escaped punishment and the promise stayed intact. And for the sake of Jesus, you and I, who have the same heart as Solomon, you and I who have stories of divorce, you and I who have stories of sexual immorality, you and I who have story after story of compromise, of little foxes, you and I that can think of all the times we blew it, which led to all the times we blew it, you and I who have no right to escape the punishment for our sins, and you and I who have no right to the full promise of God, which is that we are co-heirs with Christ of everything.

The promise of God is that you and I get everything that God wants to give Jesus. You and I get to experience the full realization of the promise of God, which comes in “kingdom come.” You and I get to know the resurrection life that Jesus brought into our world. And you and I also get to know the redemption that God can do, where he even takes our most heinous and disgusting sins and produces something good through them.

This is the scandal. The more you sin, the more God’s grace comes to you. The more you sin, the more God’s forgiveness is for you. In fact, God, in some ways Paul is saying, go ahead and try him if you want. Go ahead and test it if you want. You cannot outdo God’s love, grace and forgiveness. Even the sins you haven’t committed yet God has already provided grace and forgiveness for that. Your unrighteousness, no matter how hard you try, or no matter how badly you fail because you’re trying to do right, will never be more powerful than the righteousness and forgiveness and grace of God.

The very next thing Paul is saying after this is: Should we sin that grace may abound? God forbid! But he has to say that because, basically, he was saying the more you sin the more grace will abound. But he said don’t go that way because you also need to understand that your righteousness can produce life just like your wickedness can produce death. So be about the righteousness.

But when you fall and when you fail, and all of us sitting in this room or sitting at home, we are right now before God sinners. We are right now before God facing the wrath that he has against sin because we’re sinners. Yet, if we link ourselves to Christ, then he will come and, instead of giving us the punishment, he’ll apply it to the cross where Jesus took it. Instead of disqualifying us from the promise, he’ll apply the blood of Jesus to us, which includes us into the promise. This is the scandalous mystery of God’s grace that is for you and me, no matter what we have done, and the truth is, no matter what we’re going to do.

Paul, in 1 Corinthians 6, says, Don’t you know that you are temples of the living God? His Spirit is inside of you. And if you were going to go join yourself to a prostitute, in some sick way you would be joining together God and the prostitute. You need to understand this is what you are doing.

As I was kind of unpacking that in my mind, and as we were singing that song about Egypt today, I just felt the Lord was saying, “David, the ones you’re praying for, the ones you know that are filled with my Spirit and yet they’re kind of going off,” he said, “I want you to know that I’m going with them.” It broke my heart. Not because of what these people are doing in their foolishness or deception, but because of how much God loves them. That he’s willing to even go into the sickness, into the depravity, into the detestable things in order to be one step away from them, so that the minute they turn around like that prodigal, he’s right there with open arms.

Basically, he was saying, “Hey, David, my holiness can handle whatever sin someone might throw at me.” There is a lot more to unpack there and we don’t have the time. But I just want you to know that God is with you, and he will go to the ends of the earth. He will go into whatever you take him into in order to be one step away from your salvation and your redemption, and to get you back into the promise that he so longs to give you and the generations after you.

Let’s pray. It’s always important for us to remember that when we say, “Let’s pray,” at Living Streams we don’t necessarily mean let’s say some more words. Prayer really is more about listening than talking. So I want to create this time of response right now where we can listen to the Spirit of God and see what he’s saying to the church today. His Spirit alone knows how to make correct application in each of our lives. The Spirit alone knows how to bring conviction instead of condemnation into our hearts. So please don’t hear anything I have to say. Just listen to what the Spirit is saying.

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David Stockton 2/28/21 David Stockton 2/28/21

A Discerning Heart

Well welcome to Living Streams. We’re going to be in First Kings. So if you want to grab a bible and turn there. First Kings is super old, so old. It’s like major old, old, old writings. So old that, if you’re cool, you would never even pay attention to them. But we’re not trying to be cool. We’re trying to be correct. We’re trying to find the Lord in it all. This is the Old Testament.

Series: A Kingdom Divided
February 28, 2021 - David Stockton

Well, welcome to Living Streams. We’re going to be in First Kings. So if you want to grab a bible and turn there. First Kings is super old, so old. It’s like major old, old, old writings. So old that, if you’re cool, you would never even pay attention to them. But we’re not trying to be cool. We’re trying to be correct. We’re trying to find the Lord in it all. This is the Old Testament. There are a lot of people in society who wouldn’t call it the Old Testament, they’d just call it the Tanakh. But in our testament structure of the Christian church, we have Old Testament and New Testament. This is old, Old Testament. It’s not even like new Old Testament.

But these words, it’s so amazing how much truth and health they have for us today and what we’re dealing with in our super advanced, 2021 culture, where we know the answer to everything now, or at least can ask Siri what it is. But in this passage we talked about last week, that there’s lots of connections to today. There is uneasy transfer of power. There’s debates and divisions over taxes. Yeah. Political issues. There is building of walls, whether we should build the walls around Jerusalem and fortify them or not. And there’s a continuous redefining of who God is and what his role is in society.

We, as Americans, the framers of our nation said some phrases that still stand strong today. “One nation under God” is something that we claim. We also put “In God we trust” on our money. Which is just hilarious, right? Because, what do we really trust in, right? Sorry. I thought that was funny. You can laugh. It’s church, but you can laugh. But if it’s just a bad joke, you don’t have to laugh.

Anyway, the word God there, when the framers of our nation were using that word, yes, there’s some debate about how they felt about God, but there’s no debate about whether they were talking about the Judeo-Christian concept of who God is. But nowadays, when we say, “One nation under God,” or “in God we trust,” our politicians, our presidents, and our society as a whole, have done a lot of expansive work to that word, God.

And that was true of what was happening in Israel in that day. Israel was God’s nation. They were the nation of Yahweh. They were rescued by Yahweh from Egyptian slavery. Yahweh, the burning bush God that became a burning mountain God, that defeated all of the gods of Egypt. And it basically carved out a space in Israel, in the land of Canaan, for his people, and defeated all the gods of Canaanites. He had established himself as the God above all gods. And Israel knew that and believed that and accepted that.

But now, as we follow the history of First and Second Kings, what we’re seeing is that God is kind of being redefined. And, in fact, we mentioned last week that, like we have a cross in here that represents Jesus, that represents that Jesus Christ loved us and died for us. And if God was willing to send his own Son to die for us, how would he not be willing to give us every good thing so we can rest as sheep following the Shepherd and really say, “I shall not want.”

And we look at this cross and we’re reminded that Jesus told us that if we really want to follow him, 90% of the time, and maybe even more—I’m just too scared to say it—we’ll be dying to ourselves, taking up our cross, and following him. Denying yourself. Denying your desires. Putting those things secondary to the word of God. That is the life of a Christian. And this cross is here to remind us. But this cross represents something to us.

And in Israel’s day, in First King’s day, in their worship places, they never really took down Yahweh or the worship of Yahweh, but they started to add other things. They put a little something for Baal over there. A little something for Asherah over there. And basically, they just started to redefine the name of God and redefine what it meant to worship God. They thought, if we’re going to get the goodness of the Yahweh God, why don’t we get a little goodness of Baal god? A little goodness of Asherah? We’ll get a lot of goodness.

Not realizing that the God of the Bible, Yahweh, is a jealous God. That doesn’t mean he’s like that weird girlfriend or boyfriend you had in junior high. What that means is, he’s jealous like a wife would be if a husband decides he wants other wives also. It is right for that woman to not stand for that. It’s a righteous jealousy. And God is jealous for you. He doesn’t want to be one of your gods. He says, “I’m the whole thing, or I’m out.”

And what happened in Israel is, they continued to say, “We want more than just Yahweh.” And at one point God said, “I’m out.” And they fell into destruction and captivity and exile and lost everything.

That’s the story of First Kings. Jeremiah was the writer of First Kings. And Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet. And the reason he’s known as the weeping prophet is because he was called by God to prophesy to Israel during all this time. And he was telling them, “Hey, don’t add other gods. Don’t do this. Don’t do this. Don’t do this.” And every time he did they would just take him and put him in prison, or stick him in a pit or something. Or just reject him or laugh at him or make fun of him. That was basically the history of his prophecy. He was speaking the words of truth, but they were not receiving it as a society.

And then Jeremiah sits down, now that they’ve all been destroyed or taken into exile, and he’s writing the books of First and Second Kings to remind the generations to come of what took place in Israel, God’s chosen, holy people,, and how they basically prostituted themselves to other gods.

I mentioned last week that image of the frog. If you take a frog and put it in boiling water it will just jump out because it’s hot and it doesn’t like it. But if you take a frog and put it in a cold pot of water and then bring it up to boil, the frog will stay in there and die. Again, I’ve never tried it. I’ve heard it’s true. But I do need to apologize to everybody. Because last week I talked about it. The whole time I was talking about a frog. I was talking about Jeremiah. And I never once mentioned that Jeremiah was a bullfrog. And I actually had people come up to me afterwards and said, “Dude. You could have just said it one time. I couldn’t get through the rest of the message because you didn’t say it.” So Jeremiah was a bullfrog. Got it. Everybody’s cool with that. Sorry. I should have seen it. I should have made a. joke. But I missed it. My bad.

Which, by the way, brings me to one other confession. For all those who came to the Christmas Eve service, I was wearing a sweatshirt that my wife got me. It’s a picture of Jesus and on it, it says, “YOLO, J/K, BRB.” So to translate, that means, “You only live one. Just kidding. Be right back.” So that’s what it said. But I was wearing a coat over it that basically was obscuring a lot of the letters. So you saw it. And I’d point over here and you’d get that part. Then I’d be like ‘over here’ and you’d get a little bit more. But you could never get the whole thing at once. And I mentioned in one of the services, but I didn’t in the others. So you never got it. Total mistake. Messed with everybody’s brain. I hoarded about that a, too, afterwards. Those are the people I love to hear from, honestly. It’s so fun. Because it’s like, “Did you hear anything I said?” No. It’s more fun that way.

Anyway, Jeremiah was a bullfrog. Weeping prophet. The two hundred to three hundred years of decline in Israel’s history as they were forsaking Yahweh by adding other gods. We mentioned last week some of the gods, some of the idolatry that’s trying to work its way into the church. Obviously we have to talk about greed and pride. Jesus himself talked about the weeds that choke out the good seed: the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of riches. We want to talk about that. I want to add to that list a couple of forms of idolatry trying to work its way into the church right now. One would be American nationalism. One would be American progressivism. If you don’t know what I mean by that, but those are two political agendas that are borrowing Christian language, that are trying to hijack Christianity and use it for their own gains. They are camouflaging as Christianity, but they are really evil, deceptive idolatries. And one is housed on the political left and one is housed on the political right. And many of us bit into that idolatry last year and we need to repent. We need to get back to what is true and what is right and watch out for those things. But I’m offending both sides, so…either everyone’s angry or everyone’s happy. I don’t know.

One last thing before we jump in. This is a little timeline. It’s one of the most helpful things that I’ve ever received in studying the Bible, getting these timelines. This is one for First Kings and Second Kings. It’s so important. United Kingdom. Divided Kingdom. At the beginning of First Kings, Solomon is king. In Israel, Saul was the first king. Then David, then Solomon. And all twelve tribes were united in one kingdom called Israel. And then, by Solomon’s day, Israel had really become world-power status. David had conquered everybody. They had peace all around. Solomon was wise. And then Solomon’s son was Rehoboam.

But Rehoboam thought it would be good to tax everybody and kind of be this really strong dictator presence, because that was what Solomon sort of was. But Rehoboam wasn’t able to cash the checks he was writing, so to speak, so the ten tribes of the north—it wasn’t really a civil war, it was more of a civil ‘peace out.' “We’re out. We don’t want to be part of you guys anymore.” So the ten tribes of the north made Jeroboam their king. They retained the name Israel. Then the two tribes in the south, Judah and Benjamin, they became the kingdom of Judah. So as you read through, you read about the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.

They are actually kind of united in those twelve tribes, but they are divided as a nation now. And then Israel was in the north. They were conquered by Assyria around 722 and then in the south, Babylon came and exiled those in Judah in 586 B.C. and that’s where you pick up new prophets and new books in the Bible.

So anyway, that’s what’s going on. So 1 Kings 3, Solomon is now king. In chapter 2 he was firmly established, even though there was not a peaceful transfer of power. And this is what he does in his first acts as king, according to the writer of First Kings.

1 Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem. 2 The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places, because a temple had not yet been built for the Name of the Lord. 3 Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the instructions given him by his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.

So there’s tons of foreshadowing going on right here. Just so you know—you don’t have to pick it all up now—but when it talks about one of the very first things that Solomon did was marry a daughter from a foreign king, that is the beginning, that was one of the next thousand of these kind of relationships that Solomon would get involved in. And it didn’t end up being a good thing, just so you know.

And then the high places. People were sacrificing at high places. There wasn’t a really clear, consolidated idea of where and how to worship Yahweh. People were making up their own thing a little bit.

And then Solomon was actually doing what at the Lord asked him to do. He was following the commandments passed down by Moses and David adhered to, except one big thing. He was worshiping in the high places.

4 The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”
6 Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.
7 “Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. 8 Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. 9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”

So there’s this moment where Solomon is not doing everything quite right. But the Lord is still faithful to show up to him and he says, “Solomon, ask for anything and I’ll give it to you.” And Solomon decides that want he wants to ask for is he wants a listening heart, a discerning heart, a heart that can listen and hear, and find God’s perspective, find what is true and right, find what is true and false. And as you keep reading, the Lord is so pleased with what Solomon asks for, he kind of goes off for a little bit. He’s just pumped. He’s so pleased at what Solomon is doing, that he says, “Solomon, not only and I going to give you a heart of wisdom, I’m going to give you a heart of wisdom that is better than anyone that’s ever come before you, and better than anyone that ever comes after you. And in addition to that, I’m going to give you power and wealth and all these others things, because that’s what I thought you were going to ask for.” Not really. He’s God. He knows what he was going to ask for.

He was so pleased by what Solomon asked for. It meant so much to God that he was doing this. In some ways, I think it kind of made God feel like Solomon was also a man after his heart, just like David, his father. We talked bout what that meant last week. But I think, and Dan Riccio was helping me with all this—he’s a guy in our church that’s a scholar and he helps me a lot—but he kind of unpacked this for me.

Why was it so pleasing to God for Solomon to ask this? And what he drew out of there was, basically, what Solomon was doing was refusing to set himself up as the judge of what is right and wrong. He was basically in this thing saying, “God, I don ’t know what to do. I’m this little child. I need a heart that can listen. I need a heart that can hear you. I need a heart that is submitted to you. Because you alone can see things right and true. And you alone can know what is just and right.” And by refusing to do this, he was honoring God. He was worshiping God. He was giving God that highest place. Not only in his own life, but in the nation of Israel.

And for us, if we really want to follow the Lord, we will have to continually refuse to take the throne of our own lives. We will have to ask he Lord to help us be those who discern what is right and true, not determine what is right and true, if that makes sense. In our society, we don’t want to listen and learn. We want to yell and scream and say, “This is right and true.” We want to determine. We want to throw off the bondage of the oppressive, antiquated scriptures that God has given us, so that we can determine for ourselves what is right. And that was not Solomon’s heart at all, and it pleased the Lord so much.

And the second thing that pleased the Lord so much was his refusal to just be about what pleases him, or what is popular in society. He was saying, “God, I don’t just want to know how to please myself, or how to please the people. I want to know how to do what pleases you.” And, again, our society is totally given over at this point to “whatever pleases you must be the right thing. Whatever is most popular must be the right thing.” And that’s absolute idolatry. And the refusal of those things brings honor to God. It’s worship to God. It pleases his heart.

And then the writer goes on and tells us a story to show and demonstrate how Solomon received this gift, that it wasn’t just kind of ethereal, like, “Oh, Solomon. You’re so smart now.” But he gives us a story of how this worked out in practical life. He talks about these two prostitutes.

They were sleeping one night. It sounds like they might have been int he same home. Maybe the same brothel or something. And they’re in there. They both have newborn babies, which again, brings all kinds of things to mind. Challenges, difficulties. But even worse than that is, they go to bed one night, and one of the moms rolls over and smothers her child to death, and wakes up in the middle of the night and realizes she has killed her own child. And in that moment of heartbreak and despair, she decides to do something. She takes the dead child and lays it next to this other woman and takes her living child and comes and puts it next to her without anyone knowing.

And so, in the morning, when they wake up, this woman finds out that there’s this child that she was sleeping with is dead. But as she looks at the child, she knows, as only a mother can know, “This is not my child.” And as she looks across, she sees her child with this other woman. The woman is saying, “No, no no. This is my child. You’re just saying that because you’re upset because you killed your baby.”

And whatever happens, this very street-level, small town kind of situation spreads out into other people who hear about it. No one can tell what’s going on. Ultimately, these two prostitutes have this situation that’s so hard to know what to do, and so heart-wrenching, it spreads across all Israel to finally make it into King Solomon’s courts. It basically makes it to the Supreme Court. No one knows what to do about this heart-wrenching, difficult situation.

And this is what Solomon begins as a king to deal with and decide upon. And so, in this moment the whole court is gathered together and Solomon is presented with the case. He’s got to decide what to do. And some of you know the story, so you’re cheaters. Stop cheating for just a second. And just catch how intense this moment must have been.

In some ways it seems like a moment that maybe we’re dealing with right now. When we have people with genuine gender dysphoria or challenging sexual desires that ago against so much of biology and society. And they don’t know what to do. And it’s very difficult. It’s been difficult since the desires or the confusion first showed up. And now we’re living in a society that is saying all kinds of different messages about what is right and true. And in a society that basically is saying the word of God is old and oppressive and should be done away with, or just interpreted to serve whatever you think is right.

It’s a tough situation. It’s challenging because it’s real and painful, and it’s hard. Do we stick with what the word of God says very clearly from beginning to end? Do we take what God wrote into the fabric of humanity about gender and marriage and family? Or do we allow something within us to go, “No. Maybe that’s not true.” Or, “Maybe that’s not true for me.” It’s very, very difficult.

Or think about what’s going on in the black community, as they experience all this confusion and hardship, some of what Michael described. That’s just one story among many. They look around and they’re not quite sure where they fit in society. They look around and they see other people experiencing things that they don’t know if they’ll ever be able to experience. They see people with their own color skin going through struggles. And we have to figure out what we can do to help the situation. And some people are saying we should go this way, some people we should go this way. All kinds of different offerings are being offered, some of them in line with biblical values, some of them way off and even against biblical values.

We have to decide, “What do we do?” And the first thing I want you to realize is King Solomon so he’s got to decide this thing. But he could also just write this off, ignore it, pretend it didn’t happen. He’s still king. But for you and I, we are called to be a kingdom of priests. Kings and priests of God. We are supposed to be salt and light in this world. We need to go into situations like this and bring the truth and love of God so that justice can actually happen. We don’t sit around and wait for society to figure it out. They never will. We have the Spirit of God. We’ve been cleansed with the blood of Jesus. We have the word of God. And we need to be going and finding situations and not shrinking away from them, but begging God for the wisdom to actually do something that helps. It’s our call. That’s what Jesus did.

So Solomon, in this situation of impossible, no way to know. Solomon didn’t know what was right. He didn’t know who was lying and who was telling the truth. But he had asked the Lord for a discerning heart. In this moment, something came into his mind. Not what was true or what was right, but a way to find out what was true or right. So he calls to someone and says, “Bring me a sword.” So they bring him a sword. At that time there were a lot more swords lying around, I guess. If I just said, “Bring me a sword,” I don’t know how long it would take for me to actually get a sword. But it was quick. He got a sword.

Then he walks down to this little baby and he says, “Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to cut the baby in half and I’m going to give half to that mom, half to that mom.” And you can almost feel the collective sigh in the room, “Great. Our new king is absolutely insane. This is not going to be good. How could he do that?”

If the media was there, think of all the story lines that would go out. And as he lifts that sword to go chop that baby, one of the moms cries out and says, “Please stop! Just give her the baby. Please do not hurt the baby!”

Solomon puts the sword down and says, “I’m going to make my ruling now. Take this baby and give it to the woman that was willing to give up that son’s life just to protect him. Because she’s the true mom.” And everyone in the room didn’t have to debate what was true and right. They didn’t have to wonder, “Oh, was this really right?” Everyone in that moment knew exactly what was true and what was right. And they all rejoiced.

Solomon’s renown obviously spread as a great king of wisdom. But this is, and I mean I don’t know how else to say it, this is what we as the people of God are called to do. To be salt and light. To execute justice in our world. To right the wrongs in society. Just like Solomon was able to do in this moment. Just like Jesus, the one we’re following, did time and time again when they came and put him in an impossible situation. “Jesus, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law says we should stone her. What do you say?”

And Jesus was able to create a moment, come up with another option that caused everyone to know that God is in this place, and go home with their pride and their judgment that was false, and this woman to walk free and to know the love of God.

We are the Church. We are the Bride of Christ. We are his sons and daughters. This is our call, to walk in this way. So how do we do it? How do we do it? Well, first I think we’ve got to pray and ask the Lord for a listening heart, a discerning heart. Absolutely. And then, after we’ve done that, we’ve go to go to this place where, when we are faced with this situation, we’ve got to listen. A discerning heart is a listening heart.

So when someone comes to you with something they are carrying, you don’t immediately say this or that, you listen to what’s going on. You hear them out. And you listen for what the Lord is saying. And in this moment, somehow the Lord put in Solomon’s mind, Get a sword. Pretend to chop the baby. Then you’ll find out what’s true.

For me and my wife, one time it was, Go to Belize and see what I have for you there. It was like, “Whoa. We’ve got a one-year-old daughter. We can’t just be going to Belize. It doesn’t make any sense. We’ve got all kinds of people telling us that.”

Then the second time the Lord told us to go, I had a kid in a wheelchair. You can’t just go places with kids in wheelchairs. It didn’t make any sense. But we had this idea that we were supposed to go.

Solomon had this idea. But he also had the courage to walk in it. The courage to try it out. And so he got the sword and he went for it. What came was a revelation that made it clear for everybody that it was right.

And by God’s grace, we’ve come back from Belize. Everyone that knows us, that knows our story, they’re like, “Yeah, I think that was right.” Now you say that. Telling us, “Don’t do it.” Now you’re saying, “Oh, yeah. That was the Lord. That was great.” That’s the way it goes sometimes.

But one last thing. We’ve got to pray for a discerning heart, definitely. We’ve got to make sure we listen when he Lord is speaking to us in each and every situation. And we’ve got to have the courage to walk those things out. So that not only us, but everybody else can see what the Lord’s doing.

But one last thing that we cannot forget is that Solomon asked for a sword. He asked for a sword and, in the scriptures, it’s very clear to us in Hebrews chapter 4:

12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

What we have in this book right here, whether you like it or not, whether it adheres to your desires or not, whether it’s popular in society or not, this is the sword that we have to cut through the crap. This is the sword that we have. And this is not this sword’s first rodeo. Societies come and go but the word of God has stood forever, and will withstand whatever our society decides it wants to do. This is living and powerful. We’re reading a book that is thousands of years old and it’s speaking right to the core of our society today. It’s alive. And it is powerful. And it is trustworthy. You can stand on this. And it is becoming more and more unpopular, more and more resisted, and more and more offensive—not because anything’s wrong with this. But Solomon used a sword.

And Jesus is doing the same thing with us. He’s telling us we need to use the sword. When you look at Jesus’ life. When the devil came and tempted him. He gave him three temptations. When we read those temptations, it’s almost fairytale. But those were falling right at the core identity that was in Jesus. He was hungry. He was God. And the temptations actually kind of went right at the core of those issues. And yet, Jesus Christ answered every single one of those temptations with a scripture that actually came straight from the Old Testament. He knew how important in the day of opposition, in the day of temptation, to use the word of God and know the word of God.

For us, as people, if we want to get it right in 2021, if we don’t want to be blown to and fro by every wind of doctrine, we need to know the word of God. We need to stand on the word of God.

There’s one organization I’m investigating right now, especially in the idea of justice. They’re called the AND Campaign. There are all these social justice organizations that are basically resisting or anti-biblical values. Why can’t it be social justice and biblical values? Why can’t we understand that our biblical values actually command and demand us to do social justice. But also, if we try to do social justice without biblical values, we’re just causing more harm than good. There are lots of organizations like that right now.

Solomon used the sword. Solomon prayed for a discerning heart. He listened to see what the Lord might say. He walked courageously in that. And he never forgot to use the sword.

Will you guys pray with me? I thought it would be good for us to just go to our knees right now if you’re able. Online or in person, just spend a moment coming before the throne of God, our Father Almighty, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, Who has never spoken a word that wasn’t true. Who’s never thought a thought that wasn’t beautiful. Who’s never done a single thing that wasn’t for our good.

Father in heaven, you are holy. You see everything clearly. You cannot be moved. You can’t be manipulated. You cannot be deceived. And you are so hungry for justice. So we, Lord, we ask that you would give us a discerning heart. I pray for each person right now that is touched by one of these difficult situations we’ve mentioned, someone who is feeling all of the burden of the divide of race in our country, whether it’s their own personal feelings or someone they love, I pray you’d give them a discerning heart, Lord. That they’d be able to do something beautiful in their community, just like Solomon did on this day.
I pray for those with gender dysphoria, or are dealing with sexual attractions that don’t fit in line with your scriptures. I pray you’d meet them right where they are, that they’d know that you’re for them, you love them, and you are a great rewarder of those who honor you, no matter what the cost is.
We need your wisdom in our day. Jesus, we thank you for your words and your life example.

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Guest User 2/21/21 Guest User 2/21/21

A Man After God's Heart

Series: A Kingdom Divided
February 21, 2021 - David Stockton

It’s a day for a new sermon series. We’re going to be going into the book of 1 Kings, if you want to grab a bible and turn there, or flip there or scroll there, whatever you do on your phone. 1 Kings. It’s in the Old Testament. Not everybody in the world calls it the Old Testament, but it’s definitely a part of the library of scriptures that we hold to as being very important and relevant. We think it’s inspired just like the New Testament. We’re so thankful that we have the New Testament to help us interpret the Old Testament in order to make application of it today.

We’re going to be in 1 Kings for a little while and learn from some ancient writers and some ancient prophets and see what the Lord was doing in that time. Because I think it actually is very relevant for our time today.

It’s a good time to be a Christian, even though it might not feel like it. As the world around us, at least in America, society seems to be less interested and less excited about the ways of God through the library of scriptures and Christian doctrine and Judeo-Christian ethic. It actually is a time where Christianity shines brightest, whenever there’s an adverse situation it finds itself in. I’m not saying it’s the most enjoyable for Christians. But the more adverse, usually the more powerful Christianity shows itself to be. So it’s a great time to be a Christian.

It’s a good time to be part of Living Streams. We’re kicking off a bunch of new things. We’ve got our Explore class going on right now. Some new people being added to the number of people who are knitting their lives together here. We have a bunch of Life Groups, which are our primary discipleship vehicle. We always make sure that everybody who comes on Sunday mornings for this hour, that they remember that following Christ really is not a one-hour a week deal. Being part of a church community is going to be very shallow, empty and maybe even trivial if you are only a one-hour a week type part of the community. So make sure you find other ways to connect with people outside of this. And obviously serve the Lord outside of this, as well.

That being said, 1 Kings is where we’re going. It’s going to be a fun book. The challenges that we’re facing today are real and are large, but the bride of Christ is alive and well all over the world. I got some letters in the mail this week from non-profits, Christian non-profits. I was just sitting there thinking about these and how they represent so many others—churches around town, churches around the world, Christian organizations around town, around the world that are fighting for what’s right, that are fighting for the unborn, that are fighting for justice, that are fighting to make sure our homeless, our elderly, or people with addictions or people in sex trafficking, that someone is really advocating and fighting for them.

I just think the challenges are so great and the sadness is so real, but it really is cool to see that there are so many people, you and I included, that are actually trying to see the kingdom of God come and his will be done right here on earth as it is in heaven.

So I was encouraged. I was discouraged and encouraged at the same time, if that makes sense. Okay, it’s going to be a little tight this morning. I get it. No problem. No problem.

You know I make fun of second service a lot, right? Everybody’s with me on that? Like, first service I was thanking them so much for being first service, I said, “I don’t thank the second service people for anything really.” And I’m going to say this, too. I tell people who are guest speaking here that, just because second service doesn’t laugh or give them any kind of feedback, doesn’t mean they aren’t with you. They really are.

And I know you guys are. As I was watching you worship, I was feeling like the Lord was saying, “These are people are hungry. These people want to see me move.” So I know that’s true. But sometimes I wonder with you guys. Sometimes I wonder.

Anyway, 1 Kings was written by Jeremiah, tradition tells us. Jeremiah was a prophet of God. He was actually called the Weeping Prophet, because he lived in a time of Israel and prophesied to the people in a time when they had great prosperity, but for some reason they did not really continue to serve the Lord. What Jeremiah saw—I want to put a few images in your mind—was basically like that old adage we hear all the time about the frog that you put in the boiling pot of water. I know it sounds weird. But I’ve heard, I’ve never done this because it seems a little mean. But if you take a frog and put it in a boiling pot of water, it’ll jump right out because it’s hot. But if you take a frog and put it in a cold pot of water and then you turn up the heat, it will actually die because it will never actually notice what’s happening and it will burn to death or something. People talk about it all the time as a good illustration. Man, it’s brutal.

But anyway, so that was one thing that I want you to see. That’s what was happening in Israel’s day when Jeremiah was prophesying. He’s like, “The water’s getting hotter! Do you understand? The water’s getting hotter!”

And the people were like, “Ah, Jeremiah and his hot water stuff.”

And they just never would listen until, eventually, Israel found itself in exile, taken over. The Assyrians took over the north and the Babylonians took over the south. They basically had seen their people be ripped from their own land. The temple of God was destroyed. And now they were living as slaves in another place. And Jeremiah watched all that happen.

Another image that comes to mind is, I don’t know where it came from, I feel like it’s Jack and the Beanstalk or something. You’ve got the big giant and they didn’t know how to beat the giant, so after he fell asleep they tied him up. And then, when he woke up he couldn’t do anything. And that’s the idea of this big giant that’s so powerful, but as it falls to sleep, it’s susceptible.

Which made my mind then go to Samson because I’m a Bible guy. And I was thinking about Samson who had all this power and strength and was able to deliver the people of God in great ways. But he didn’t take seriously the Nazarite vow that he had committed to. He was playing around with it. He was with Delilah. He started to even mention his hair. “If you tie my hair up I’ll be weak like anybody else.” He just kind of slowly but surely compromised. He didn’t think it was a big deal but, ultimately, I think he started to feel so secure in his own strength and wisdom that he wasn’t sure he really needed all that hair. So he told her, “If you cut my hair I’ll be weak.” Then one of the saddest verses in the Bible happened. It says he woke up, the Philistines were upon him, and he had no idea that the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him.

And Jeremiah was constantly calling to the people of God, “You’re going to wake up one day and not realize that the Spirit of the Lord has departed from you.” And it wasn’t just a spiritual thing, but it was a real, practical thing, as well, as they watched the armies besiege them and take away all their young people, and, ultimately, take away everybody to become slaves in Babylon.

Then, also, the image of Jesus when he’s teaching about the parable of the sower, and he talks about the goodness that was there and then it gets choked out by the weeds. Little by little, the choking happens until, ultimately, all the good seed, all the goodness that had been there has died out.

So this is why Jeremiah was called the weeping prophet, because he was just continuing to see this decline. So he’s writing this book probably during the time of the exile; so all of that has now happened. He prophesied against it. Now that it’s all happened, he started to write a book, the annals of the kings or the history of that time period. And he’s talking about what happens. And he talks about what kings helped the people follow the Lord and what kings didn’t help the people. And there are very few that actually helped the people follow the Lord.

And this was probably circulated after they had come back from the exile, back to Jerusalem, back to Israel to kind of build back better, so to speak. And there in that place Jeremiah said, “I want to make sure everyone knows this.” And it was circulated, this book of First and Second Kings so people would be reminded how they got to that place of exile, that they would never forget the slow and steady decline that took place. They’d take heart next time to know there were divisions; because there are divisions all over this book. It’s a nation divided, a people divided.

Then all the secularization that came, where they never stopped worshipping Yahweh, they just started adding other things. It would be like in this place; if one day you saw there was no cross there, but instead there was some other sign of some other religion up there. You would be like, “I think Living Streams might have changed a little bit. I think something’s a little different here.” And you would be right. That should be a real indicator you should go somewhere else.

But what they did is, they never took down the cross, so to speak. They just put something else over there, and maybe a little something else over there, and it just was slowly, it became this kind fo pluralistic idea. “If one God’s going to give us goodness, then how about all these other gods? Maybe we can get all the goodness they can give us.” Not realizing that the God of the Bible is a jealous God. He doesn’t want to be one of our many wives. He says, “It’s all me or I’m out.”

And this is the state of Israel at this time. The divisions include—for those of you who are bible students some of this might ring a bell and if it doesn’t, you should probably read your bible more—but Saul versus David. We have that division of the people, where Saul was a guy who kind of started out all right but then he started to care more about what the people thought than what God though. And God said, “I’m getting rid of this guy because I want someone who’s going to be in here that only cares what I think.” That’s why David was called a man after God’s heart. Even when public opinion was going the opposite way, David said, “No, we’re going this way.”

David versus Absalom. Davis was king and his own son, Absalom rose up a coup and tried to take over power. So we have that here.

Adonijah and Solomon in this time period, and that was actually in chapter 1 where David’s two sons kind of were fighting for power after David passed away.

Rehoboam versus Jeroboam. And this comes that, Solomon, after he passed away, Rehoboam was his son. And Rehoboam decided that, instead of listening to the older elders and advisers and kind of going easy on the people and easing in and earning a voice with them, he listened to the younger people who said, “If you really want to be strong, you’ve got to impose taxes and you’ve got to tell these people who’s the boss right now.” So he did that. He just imposed taxes. He tried to really be strong and the ten tribes of the north said, “Nah. We’re good.” And they just broke off and made Jeroboam their king. Super confusing. I wish they could have had different names, because I never know. Was it Jeroboam in the north or Rehoboam in the south? Come on. I mix the names up.

But Rehoboam was Solomon’s son and he maintained power over the two southern tribes; whereas Jeroboam maintained power over the northern ten tribes. Then we now have a divided kingdom, which we’ll talk more about later.

Israel versus Judah. The name of the northern ten tribes remained Israel, but name of the two southern tribes became Judah.

Jerusalem versus Samaria. Jerusalem was the capital of the southern tribes, and that’s where God was worshiped. That’s where his temple was; whereas Samaria was the capital of the northern ten tribes, and Jeroboam didn’t want his people going to worship in Jerusalem, so he built his own temple and basically his own form of worship, worshiping Yahweh but not in the ways of Yahweh. Very bizarre.

Yahweh versus Baal. Monotheism versus polytheism, like we discussed. They didn’t stop worshiping Yahweh, they just added other gods.

Do we want to be like the other nations? Or are we good with being set apart from the other nations? This is always a constant question to Christians. We don’t like being the alternative community. We don’t like being countercultural. We want to be like the other nations. We want to be cool. We want to be hip. But as soon as we do that, we lose. We lose. We lose so much.

More taxes versus less taxes was actually a big theme in this book, which is funny these days, right? You guys aren’t laughing at that? Why aren’t you laughing at that? April 15th, how are you doing?

God’s ways are old fashioned versus God’s ways are right and true, was a big debate in this time. It was a huge debate in this time, as we’ll see in just a minute.

So, ultimately, you have the nation of Israel was in slavery in Egypt for four hundred years. The Lord brings them out with a great deliverance. He gives them a land and he starts making them into a nation. And you have all this wonderful time where God is their king. But the people want to be like the other nations so they say, “Give us a man king.” God’s like, “It’s not going to be good. Men aren’t that cool. Women, you’re not that cool, either.” But he felt like they were rejecting him as king, but he said, “I’ll give you what you want.” So he gave them Saul as king. When he passed away David became king. And when he passed away Solomon became king. And then that’s where that divided kingdom. So three kings of a united kingdom and then like twenty-five different kings within the divided kingdom. And First Kings helps us understand that whole process.

Are you with me? You’re like, “Is this school or is this church?” It’s both. It’s church school, maybe. I don’t know.

I want us to notice this one more moment. Because you’ll have some of these revivals. We’re all praying for revival. We want an awakening in our America. We want awakening in our church, where people will just really run back, will catch the vision for the righteousness of God, will hunger and thirst for that above everything else so that we won’t be tossed to and fro by all the winds of doctrine and all the people claiming to have the high moral ground right now. Yes, that’s what we want.

So there were times where that took place in First and Second Kings. One of them was on the top of a mountain called Carmel. There was Mount Carmel, and they were up there. And Elijah is the prophet of Yahweh. He feels like he’s the only one left because of the gross secularization by the king and his wife Jezebel. And they basically brought in the worship of Baal as a mainstream thing.

So Elijah calls then prophets of Ball to a duel, a battle. So he’s up on the top of Mount Carmel and opposing him are four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. And all the people have gathered around, and the setup is in First Kings 18:21, it was in our video too.

Elijah went before the pope and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; if Baal is God, follow him.”

So he sets up this mighty duel. I wish I could do this, but I don’t know. But he says basically, “What we’re going to do is we’re going to both make a sacrifice, and whatever God answers by fire will demonstrate that he is the true God and we should follow him.”

So Elijah is up on this mountain and says, “You guys go first.” So the four hundred fifty prophets of Baal gather together animal sacrifice. They put together their altar and they start doing their Baal worship type stuff. They get to the point where they’re just screaming and crying out and they start cutting themselves because they want to show how sincere they were in their worship. They’re doing all these things and it just goes on and on and on.

And Elijah is sitting there watching, all the people are watching, and there’s no fire coming, nothing happening. Then Elijah says to them, “Maybe you should just scream a little louder.” Seriously, Elijah is talking trash. I didn’t know you were allowed to do that, but you are. And then that doesn’t change anything and he’s like, “Oh, you guys. Maybe he’s in the bathroom or something. Maybe just keep going because he’ll come back out if he’s in the bathroom.” I’m not joking. This stuff is in there.

And then nothing happened and eventually they give up and Elijah says, “Now my turn.” So he just puts some stones together in a very Mosaic law kind of way. He prepares the sacrifice just like ordained in the the law of Moses. Then he actually says to everyone, I don’t know why, just to show off, he says, “Why don’t you go get all the water you can find,” even though they were in a drought, “and pour it all over the sacrifice. Actually dig a trench around here and let’s fill it with water too.”

And then he just prays a real simple prayer. “God will show them? Will you show them?” And fire comes out of the sky and consumes all of the water, consumes the sacrifice. And there’s this moment, momentary sad to say, but a moment where the people’s hearts were once again turned back to the Lord. They got to see that, got to experience that. Their hearts were turned back to the Lord momentarily. Momentarily.

So there are these moments of revival that happen in here, which are so encouraging. And that’s what I’m praying for us in our day and age, that we will somehow be inspired by God to go and create moments in people’s lives where they can see the reality of the power and goodness of God. I’m not saying you should go and challenge somebody on the top of Square Peak to some sort of sacrificial fire deal. I’m saying we should listen to what the Spirit is leading us to do and we should go for it with all of our hearts. We should be bold and courageous, whatever it might be, and God will show himself faithful.

First Kings chapter 2 is where we are going to begin, because First Kings chapter 1 is kind of a weird fight. It looks like in First Kings chapter 2, as we read this, that there was a peaceful transition of power, but actually in First Kings chapter 1 you realize it wasn’t that peaceful. Then if you keep reading in chapter 2 and3, it still wasn’t that peaceful. A lot of challenge for who wants the power there.

First Kings chapter 2:

When the time drew near for David to die, he gave a charge to Solomon his son.
2 “I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, act like a man, 3 and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go 4 and that the Lord may keep his promise to me: ‘If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’

So this is his charge as he’s telling Solomon, “Hey, I’m about done here. And I want you to become king.” He says to him, “I’m going to go the way of all the earth.” There’s a humility there, an understanding, this is the destiny of us all, that our strength is failing, our strength is not enough. And he says to him, “I want you to observe all that the Lord has commanded you. And I want you to walk in it. I want you to obey what the Lord has commanded you. Don’t just observe it. Don’t just be a hearer, but be a doer as well. Observe all the Lord has commanded you in the law of Moses, all the decrees, all the laws, all these things.”

And as you’re reading it, you just get more and more bored. All these words. These are the most boring words in the world: decrees, commands, laws, requirements, right? Ugh. And in the law of Moses? “Oh, Dad, don’t be talking about Moses again. Moses is so old.” This is probably about four hundred or five hundred years after Moses was around, that David is charging his son as king, “Follow the way of Moses. Remember all of those words, those laws, those decrees that are found in the book of Moses, in the Torah. Observe those. Learn those. Get them into your soul. And then walk them out.”

You can imagine a young man who has grown up his whole life in a palace. All he’s ever known of Israel is that it’s a world power. Prosperity galore. Victory over all the other nations. Immense popularity for his dad, the king. And here David’s telling him, “You need to keep real close watch to all of those old, old, old laws and decrees of Moses. And not only jus observe them, but do them. Walk in them. They will be a guide for you. They will bring you to prosperity.”

And obviously I hope you get what I’m getting at here. There is a real challenge right now in our society to say, “Those things, that Judeo-Christian ethic, that library of scriptures, that’s old news. That’s antiquated. In fact, that’s oppressive.” It’s the same thing that David was saying to Solomon. “Don’t listen to that. Don’t listen to that. Maintain these things. This is what will lead you to preparing.”

And I’ve said before the Judeo-Christian ethic that has been kind of the shaping of this nation and other nations, whenever the Judeo-Christian ethic is applied to a society, it creates the most freedom and the most flourishing. And yet, for some reason, we want to get rid of it.

And David is saying, “As for me and my house, we listen, we observe, we obey these things. We don’t consider them old and antiquated. And Solomon, if you will do this, you will experience prosperity.”

Now, I know for many of us in the church, we hear that word and that sounds great. We want to prosper. But we’ve got to be so careful to interpret prosperity through the New Testament and what God is actually saying. I’m not saying that God doesn’t want to give you riches, doesn’t want to help you with the American Dream and all those things, what God has. But the prosperity promised by God has a lot more to do with the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, meekness, gentleness and self-control. It has a lot more of being able to overcome the challenges that you face, than never having to face a challenge.

Please hear me, you guys. Following Christ does not get rid of all of the challenges, but it gives you the strength, by the power of the Spirit, to overcome the challenges. And then you wake up the next day and, guess what? New challenges. Because some people are starting to think, “If I really can’t seem to get free from this thing, then maybe God isn’t real and he doesn’t really love me.”

No. God sometimes will heal you and set you free from something completely, but oftentimes he gives you the strength that you need to overcome every single day. And for those who persevere, for those who hang on, there is the reward. But the prosperity is the strength that you need. The prosperity that he gives you is found in Psalm 23.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He leads me beside still waters and green pastures. He leads me and is with me in the valley of the shadow of death. It’s not that he doesn’t ever take us through those things. My cup runs over even in the midst of those situations.

One of the things that I think is the best gift of all that he can give to an American is peace, enough peace so they actually sleep at night. It just seems to be one of the biggest banes on our society. So many of our challenges and problems are because people can’t sleep anymore. They’re too stressed out. They’re too busy, too distracted. Their brains don’t know how to shut down so they can actually sleep. That’s part of the prosperity. The Bible actually says, “He gives his beloved sleep.” You get good sleep, all of a sudden it’s like, “Hey, life’s not that bad anymore.”

It’s one of the things we really found out with the homeless community. One of the best things we could do was give them a space where they could come take a nap. They’d wake up from that nap and they could think a little clearer, feel a little stronger. They’re more at peace. We were able to do that with that house over on the west side of the campus.

But these are the prosperities that God wants to bring. And the kind of prosperity, when you’re on your death bed and you look back and these are the things you’re really thankful for. What you did in your relationship with the people that you love. That’s the prosperity he gives us. Not even to mention what happens in the next life.

But this is the call of David. And he wants Solomon to be a man after God’s own heart. Seek God. Search God. Find out what makes him happy. Get a vision for the righteousness of God. And just so you know, the law of Moses is really helpful. But don’t just get a vision for it. Then walk in it. Be obedient to it. And it’s going to take faithfulness as he says down here:

If they’ll walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul. Faithfulness. Doing the things of God real consistently. I think this is what encourages me in the church at this time. It is the power that’s represented even in just this room. If all of us will just do the little things faithfully, that will be a lot of things that will make big impact.

So God right now is calling each of you, who is his bride, to do some things. To walk in some things faithfully. And if you’ll do that, the bride will show itself strong. That’s what David is trying to get Solomon to do, to be a man after God’s own heart.

To kind of recap that, David was a man after God’s own heart when he sought to do what was right in God’s eyes more than what was right in the eyes of the people around him, or in his own eyes. So David, it’s tricky. Because, when we say David was a man after God’s own heart, he also made a ton of mistakes. But this is when he was a man after God’s own heart. When he cared about what God wanted.

And there was a challenge. Think about that story, when he’s standing before Goliath, and all of the people, all of the army is there. And David walks up there. And he just knew in that moment what God was up to, what God was thinking. Everyone else there was either scared or unsure or confused. Even the king, Saul was just like, “I don’t know what to do here.” All of the people in the army were like, “I don’t know what to do.” David’s brothers were like, “David what do you think you’re going to do? You can’t take this guy on. You just want to be out here and get in the action. Spoiled brat.”

He was the youngest. I was the youngest of three boys. They always called me a spoiled brat. I might have been.

But nobody in that whole army, nobody in all of that was catching and willing to do what God was saying to do, except for this young man named David who just took off running down that valley, flinging his little slingshot, and defeated the giant. He caught what was in God’s heart in that moment.

And that was a great thing. That’s the way he started out. But if you remember, at one point David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then tried to cover it up by murdering Uriah, her husband. Definitely not after God’s own heart. He lost his way.

But then Nathan the prophet came to him and said, “What you’ve done is wrong.” And in that moment when David’s heart was pricked, when David realized that he had been busted, at that moment he wanted to do what was right in the eyes of the Lord and he confessed and he repented.

And then another time David was taking a census and it was kind of filling him up with pride. God had told him not to number the army. And he does this. And God’s against him and people are dying. And David catches it and figures out what to do. And then he knows he’s supposed to go buy this field and make a sacrifice and do all this type of stuff. And, as he’s about to buy the field, the guy’s like, “Dude, you can just take the field. You’re the king. You don’t have to give me any money for this field.”

And he says, “No, I want to pay full price for this field. I don’t want to skimp or compromise at all in what God is asking me to do.”

So there are all these moments when David was doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord. And those were the times when he was a man after God’s own heart. And for us, that’s what we need to be doing.

The world around us is claiming the high moral ground through its clever and cunning humanistic philosophies and ideologies. But they are just castles made of sand. We need a hunger for the vision for the righteousness of God so we can hold the line by observing what the Lord God requires and walking in obedience. That is where freedom and flourishing are found. Sorry, Cardi B. The best fruit isn’t always forbidden. It just feels that way because it’s only found through a lifetime of faithfulness to God and his ways.

So that was the first way that David was a man after God’s own heart. Now let’s read this strange next passage. Verse 5. So David gives this charge to Solomon and now he’s saying:

5 “Now you yourself know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me—what he did to the two commanders of Israel’s armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. He killed them, shedding their blood in peacetime as if in battle, and with that blood he stained the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet. 6 Deal with him according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to the grave in peace.
7 “But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai of Gilead and let them be among those who eat at your table. They stood by me when I fled from your brother Absalom.
8 “And remember, you have with you Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, who called down bitter curses on me the day I went to Mahanaim. When he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the Lord: ‘I will not put you to death by the sword.’ 9 But now, do not consider him innocent. You are a man of wisdom; you will know what to do to him. Bring his gray head down to the grave in blood.”
10 Then David rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. 11 He had reigned forty years over Israel—seven years in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem. 12 So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his rule was firmly established.

So here in this interesting thing, David is giving a charge to observe and obey the things of God. Do what is right in the eyes of God. Don’t fall prey to doing what’s right in the eyes of yourself or the people. Seek first what God is having you do.

And then the second thing that I think shows kind of another picture into the life of David. He was a man after God’s own heart because he was willing to deal with the little foxes that destroy the vineyard. That phrase actually comes from Song of Solomon. Solomon actually wrote these words about the little foxes that destroy t he vineyard. And here David is basically saying, “Okay, Solomon, when you come into power, when you have the authority, you’re going to have to consistently and constantly deal with insurrection. You’re gong to have to consistently and strongly deal with divisions. You’re going to have to constantly watch out for the little things and deal with them when they’re small so they don’t cause huge problems.”

Now David did not do this well in his own house. He didn’t deal with Absalom well. He didn’t deal with the rape that happened within his own children. He didn’t deal well even in this situation, with Adonijah and Solomon and their war. But he also did deal with things often. And this is a sign of him saying, “Solomon, when you come in, there are a few things you need to deal with right away so they don’t become massive problems.”

Now Joab was his general. Joab was the person in charge of all of David’s army. But Joab’s heart had turned, and David had seen it, but David hadn’t done anything about it. So he said, “Solomon, you’ve got to make sure and deal with Joab, or you’re going to have a big problem.”

And sure enough, as you read these passages, it happened. And David in his life, we know he tended his own soul. He was quick to repent when he found out the things that were wrong, both in his own life, and in the nation around him. Both when it was his fault or somebody else’s fault. David was quick to deal with the little foxes and not let them take root.

For us, we need to be those who are watching out for the little foxes trying to destroy the vineyard of our souls, our households, or the institutions that we’re a part of. It’s so easy for us to allow certain little compromises or hold on to different sins or weights that this world offers us. We can become dull and numb to the deceiver and the destroyer and not realize our hearts are being turned away from the things of God.

It was interesting this last summer. I felt like we were really all called to search ourselves and search our institutions to see if there was racism, or systemic racism there. That’s a good thing for us to have to do, to search our souls and search our hearts. And I know a lot of people have landed in different places. But I remember in that search I didn’t see a lot of racism in my own life and I didn’t see much racism or systemic racism in the institutions I’ve been a part of, not to say those things aren’t real and those things don’t exist; but what I did find very clearly was greed and pride. I found a lot of deception. And so I’ve really spent the rest of the time just saying, “Lord, okay, help us figure some of that stuff out.”

And greed, pride and deception can lead to all kinds of things, including racism and injustice in those regards. The scary thing was I started to see some of that stuff seep into the church, as well. And so part of the motivation for this is I want us to be able to kind of go though this time, as the kings saw this decline, as they saw the idolatry kind of come and take root, I want to be able, for us as a church, to be able to go into these times and really discover what is taking root in our lives. What idolatry have we allowed to come in? So that we can name it and we can get rid of it.

That’s our call as believers, to be consecrated, to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. We have to watch out for the little foxes that are trying to take root.

So, as we conclude I want to talk about what some of those little foxes might be for you and for me. Greed shows up in little ways, a little fudging on your taxes, a little skimping on your giving to the Lord. Relying on your savings and securities instead of trusting in the Lord.

The writer of 1 Kings wanted to really make sure and help us remember that it took Solomon seven years to build the temple for God, and it took him thirteen years to build his own palace. So when Solomon was weighed in the balance by Jeremiah the prophet, he saw something that wasn’t quite right.

What God wants us to do is to build his kingdom. The reason he’s given you a brain, the reason he’s given you a body, the reason he’s given you a beat and breath, the reason he’s given you resources, talent, treasure, time, is so that you would build his kingdom. But are we doing more building of our own kingdom? It’s real easy to check. If you look at your time, if you look at your talent, if you look at your treasure, and how those are invested, it’s pretty easy to see which way you’re weighted.

And I know it might seem like, Oh, tithing is such an old thing. The New Testament doesn’t even talk about it. It talks about giving, for sure, and it’s way more than a tithe, but these simple practices defeat the greed in our lives. They keep greed from being able to take root in our lives. And I’m serious, if you think this is me just trying to get you to give to this church, please don’t. But give somewhere. Give to some church or something somewhere. I think this is a really good place and I know the integrity is really strong here, but I just know how important it is for us to fight against greed, because we are sitting in a very prosperous situation.

And we know the love of money is the root of all evil, so we ask the question, do we love money? We don’t need to ask that question. We love money. You love it. I love it. And we just have to constantly watch out and make sure it doesn’t become a first love, a love above God.

And then pride. Pride shows up in an unforgiving spirit or an unwillingness to say, “Sorry.” Pride shows up in unhealthy ambition and striving. It shows up in seeking first your kingdom and satisfaction before God and others. It shows up in hatred or belittling of others. And even if it’s just small in your life, you’ve got to pay attention to it. You’ve got to take it before the Lord.

And what’s awesome about this is the Lord has given us practices to counteract these things. For instance, worship in the place of worry. It’s always a good place to start with the scriptures. Jesus said what chokes out the good seed, the weeds that choke it out are the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth. That’s what Jesus said,

And how do you counteract the worries of this life that we’re full of? Worship. Every time you feel worry coming on, you get to your knees and you start worshiping. You remember that the big challenges or the big struggle that you face, you take it and compare it to who God is and allow that thing to shrink and become what it’s supposed to be. Worship is a powerful thing. It’s a very powerful thing. And it doesn’t just have to do with singing songs, by the way.

In the place of greed we can give. And we talked a little bit about that. If you feel like you’re a little greedy or you’re a little unsure whether you’re greedy or not, it might be a good time to start giving generously or giving faithfully or giving sacrificially.

That was one thing, as our church, we mentioned before, we qualified for the PPP, but thanks to all the giving, we were able to pay for all of our staff and not tap into our reserves. So we went through this long process and the elders decided the only we could absolutely, 100% assure ourselves that there are no little greedy foxes at all is, let’s just give it all back. So we gave it all back. And I’m not saying everyone should do that. I’m not saying that. I’m just saying, as for us, that was one way that we knew we could make sure that greed was not going to have a place in Living Streams. We need to take those assessments.

And one last thing is distractions. That was something that came up. And I know the Lord has kind of checked me a little about distractions. That Wordscape. Has anybody played that little app? Dude. I’m into it for some reason. It’s just like relaxing, but then it’s not. I get all stressed out because I’m like, “I don’t know what that one word is.” And the next I knew I was playing it a lot.

That’s one silly thing, but think about all the distractions at our fingertips these days. We really need to be those who are cultivating silence and solitude, just like Jesus did. And if we’re not actively cultivating those in our lives, we’re way too distracted.

Let’s pray:

Lord, we thank you for your word that doesn’t let us stay stuck, that doesn’t let us find our way back to slavery. And I pray that we would not just hear it, but that we would really receive it deep into the fibers of our being and we would walk in it, Lord. Thank you, Jesus.

We’re going to finish with communion. But everyone’s going to take it on their own. Just want to create a little time for you and Jesus to be one on one today. To remember his broken body. To remember his shed blood. To kind of recommit your life to him or, if this is the first time you’ve ever committed your life to him you can do that by receiving the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus in this way. But talk to him about whatever little foxes might be there. Confess those things and ask him to give you the strength to overcome them. If some shame has come in through something that’s been said today, remember the blood that cleanses you and forgives you, as we sing this last song, take this time with the Lord.

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Guest User 2/14/21 Guest User 2/14/21

Extravagantly, Relentlessly Loved

Series: As For Me and My House
February 14, 2021 - Don Worcester

And if you ever get introduced, make sure it’s Veronica introducing you. So a weird praise report, I found a gift card just the other day. I don’t know if that connects to anything here, but, Praise God! I’m going to go spend it this afternoon.

Welcome to our online community. Wish you were here. But some of you are in different time zones and different zip codes. Thank you for being with us and bless you, and I hope that we’re a blessing, too.

So this weekend, some couples did a Marriage & Go experience from Living Streams. Don and Renee Worcester put that together. It’s couple that I know. Here’s what Marriage & Go is. We’re hosting it. Living Streams is hosting it between — some folks did it this weekend, but it’s going to be live on the Living Streams website until February 28. So that’s two more weeks. Here’s the deal.

If you have a chance to get away somewhere, what the Marriage & Go is designed to do is: if you can get a little time and a little space, last spring we had a whole bunch of folks who we were going to get to be with in person, and then Covid changed everything. One of the pastors that we were going to be with said, “Hey, could you possibly put something together that would be fun, engaging and helpful, and you could package it?” And I just go, “Wow, I don’t think we can. But we’ll pray about it.”

So we prayed about it. We got some other people praying with us. We got a team around us. And we started putting together some different elements, kind of with an idea that we could deliver this kind of via the internet. So if you have an internet connection, if you have wifi, we put the whole package together. So there’s teaching in there. There are activities in there. There’s other engagement things for couples. And if you can get away, there are four major sessions and if you can get somewhere, that’s awesome. But we’ve had couples that have done Marriage & Go on their back patio after their kids went to bed, over the course of a couple of nights. You can decide. I had one couple that did it in their car because they have five kids and that’s the only place they could kind of get away from their kids.

It’s going to be on the website until the 28th. Here’s the thing. If you need a little wellness shot for your marriage, this just might be a little something to just affirm and confirm good things that are happening. If you’ve got a few things going on and you’re a little. Stuck, or a little sideways, we’re going to have some conversations that could really be helpful. And if you’re just stuck and going on the rails, maybe this would just kind of give you the beginning of a fresh start. Marriage & Go. It’s on the Living Streams website. If you take a look at it, see what you think.

Okay. It’s Valentine’s Day. I want to tell you that I remembered that today was Valentine’s Day. How many people here remembered that before today, that it is Valentine’s Day. Yes. God bless you. I see your hand. Not as many from the guys. But I will tell you, the very first year we were married—Renee and I have been married twenty-five years—and the first year we were married, I got to February 14th, and quite frankly, there’s a whole bunch of things I did that day, but it did not occur to me, maybe in the back of my brain, February 14th, what is that? I don’t know. But when I walked in the door at the end of the day, and Renee had this beautiful table set, it just looked lovely, and she looked lovely, and there was a Valentine’s card right there. And I walked in, and my ADD distracted brain goes, “It’s Valentine’s Day!” Okay? It’s hitting my brain just as I’m getting a hug from my amazing, beautiful, thoughtful wife. And I kind of panicked. Okay? I mean, so busted!

I’m just looking for anything to distract. I go, “Oh, you got me a card!. Yeah, I couldn’t find a recycled card that I thought would capture my feelings, so I just wanted to share them.” I am just making stuff up. I am so totally busted. I’ve got nothing, right? And she’s got dinner and she’s got the rest of it, and I go, “Okay, so I guess in your tradition, you celebrate Valentine’s Day on the actual day. Is that what you do? You know, we’ve never even talked about this. That’s so interesting. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with, if you want to do it today. I wish we’d talked bout it.”

I mean, I am just trying to not look like what I am—a totally clueless, brand-new husband who dropped the ball. And she was so gracious. You know, she goes, “Okay. Yeah. Did you want to keep running with this whole theme, or do you just want to have a nice dinner?”

I go, “Okay. I totally forgot everything.”

She goes, “Yeah, yeah. It’s pretty clear. Okay. I love you. I’ll bet you’ll do better next year. Let’s have dinner.”

So gracious. So kind to sort of kind of just invite me in in this gracious way. You know, there’s something gentle and good about the kind of love that draws us in, even when we drop the ball. Particularly when we drop the ball. Today is St. Valentine’s Day. So when David said, “Can you preach on February 14,” my brain now, many years later, goes, “That’s Valentine’s Day.”

So I do want you to know that there really is a St. Valentine. He lived in the third century in Rome. He was a member of the clergy at that time. Claudius II was really bent on building up his forces at that time. Claudius came to this observation that bachelors fought better than married men. And so, in an effort to kind of keep his military strong, he banned marriage. He said, “None of you guys can get married. We want to keep you focused on being a soldier. Marriage gets you all distracted.” So he banned it. It was illegal in Rome during Claudio II for people to marry.

As a member of the clergy, Valentine said, “Well, I’m going to continue to marry people. If they’re in love and they’re ready to make a commitment…” He was warned to not do that. This was really against the law and Claudius had been really clear about that. He continued. He would not repent. He would not relent. He was arrested and ultimately beheaded because he just wouldn’t back down.

Here’s the thing. It wasn’t that Valentine was in love with love. He was not. He wasn’t in love with love. He was in love with God. And he felt like he was walking out and working out the call of God on his life to say, “Two people that love each other and are committed, that is a good, holy thing. I’m going to continue to do that.” He wasn’t in love with love.

He was also kind of, not necessarily, I think he thought love was awesome, I don’t know if he would have a love is love tee shirt, but he would certainly say what John tells us, that God is love. However great love may be, that he would say, “God is love.” Right? It’s not that God is loving as a quality or characteristic, that he is the very source of love. He’s the very definition of love. It’s not a quality about him, it’s actually him. He is the definition, if we want to know what it is.

Valentine sort of had this foundation that motivated him and pulled him. Romance is great. Romance kind of really took off in Europe in the 1800’s, when there was a lot of industrial revolution going on, saying, “Life is all about work.” And the enlightenment was saying, “No, life is all about thinking.” This idea of going, “Yeah, but we have hearts and relationships.” So romanticism sort of emphasized those things, it was a pretty significant movement. There is part of that in our culture. Romanticism and tenderness and affection, those are really good features of a relationship. But they’re not always a sufficient foundation for a relationship. But they’re really good features, right?

In Revelation chapter 2, John is writing to the churches and he kind of says in writing to the church at Ephesus, “You’ve been really faithful. You’ve been consistent. You’ve served. But here’s the one thing. You’ve lost your first love.” And he doesn’t say, “No big deal. DOn’t worry about it.” He actually says, “You’ve lost your first love and that kind of affection and love and those elements,.”

He goes, “I don’t want that to be expendable in your relationship. I don’t want to have a church that loses that love. If I have a church that loses love, it’s not a church. I don’t want your relationships to just be like the church at Ephesus to go, ‘We’re faithful. We’re good roommates. We’re doing this”

He goes, “How’s your first love? How’s your tenderness? How’s your connection?” Those elements that he says, “Hey, you know what? Go back. Actually repent and reconnect to that.” Because there is something about our hearts being connected that God goes, “That’s essential. That’s good. Don’t be casual to that.”

Now Valentine also lived in a very secular culture. He was a spiritual man living in a secular culture. In the secular culture of first century Rome, and probably a lot of our experience as well, there aren’t sacred things. There aren’t spiritual things. There are just things. There are just bodies. There are just needs. There are just ideas. And whatever is real in the world is just whatever we can see right here. Just a material world. So meaning, or purpose, or sacred, is really just some outside concept that’s not real.

For Valentine, as a spiritual man in a secular world, those things are real. Right? The secular culture just says, “Hey, this is just a marketplace. Love and relationships and sexuality are just an open market. We shouldn’t restrict it. We shouldn’t restrain it. We should just let it happen. We should just buy and sell.” That’s what the Romans did.

And here’s the thing. When we take things and reduce them down to just this secular world, flesh, we lose so much. It’s a reduction of what God has. If we’re working in that small world where we have to go, “Hey, go out and prove your value. Go out and prove your beauty. Go out and prove your significance.” If we’re living in a secular wold that says we’ve got to earn it, we’ve got to prove it, we’ve got to win it, we’ve got to deserve it, that can be exhausting, on any given day, to prove that you’re beautiful or valuable or smart or funny or capable or athletic. That can be exhausting that we’re constantly working for love. That’s not enough. That’s not it. The word of Christ says you don’t work for love, you work from love.

I’m going to pull something out and I want you to guess where this came from. Anybody? Yeah. You know what? I hear a bunch of right answers. Nobody said a lemon factory. That’s weird. A lemon factory. Nobody said a lemon kit. Right? Like, everybody looked and said, “Oh, that’s a lemon. It came from a lemon tree.” Right? And here’s the thing. This lemon wasn’t manufactured by my tree. The lemon tree doesn’t have to prove it’s a lemon tree. It doesn’t have to be popular. As far as I know, my lemon tree has no followers on Facebook. I don’t know where it gets its self esteem. I mean, no followers on Facebook. Right?

But the lemon tree didn’t manufacture this. Here’s the thing. I’ve never heard my lemon tree kind of god, “Whew. I’m tired.” It does not appear to be exhausted from producing lemons. The lemons are coming out of something that’s alive inside of the tree. It’s the fruit of the tree, right?

And, as far as I can tell, my lemon tree doesn’t even need lemons. Like, what does a lemon tree need lemons for? It’s producing hundreds of them. It doesn’t need them, right? And here’s the thing. The fruitfulness that comes out of our lives, you know what? It’s not for us. God produces fruit out of our lives. You go, “Well, what do we need the fruit for?” Well, there’s other people that need fruit. We just get to give it away, to go on. And there’s seeds to grow another lemon tree inside.

I’d say the manufacturing of our value, the manufacturing of our work, it goes, “prove it, show it, win it, wow us,” that’s a kind of secular pressure that comes on us. That is not the good news. There’s something very different, but it doesn’t intuitively make sense to us because Paul tells us that it’s really not of this world. Beyond this romantic notion, and beyond this secular notion, there’s this other kind of relenting worldview, this relenting truth.

It’s hard to recognize this in our world, because it’s not from here. And in Galatians 1:11& 12, the church in Galatia was struggling with some of these same things. All these alternative gospels of where the good life is. So Galatians 1:11&12:

11 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

Paul is kind of saying, if you’re really going to embrace this gospel love, this relentless love, you need to know it’s not of human origin. It won’t make sense through the framework of this culture. Romantically, practically, intellectually. It won’t make sense. It’s not from here. If you’re going to be gripped by this bigger love, it’s going to feel a little alien, because it is. Because it’s not from here. Paul goes, nobody taught me this. This wasn’t handed down from a tradition. And he didn’t learn it.

When Jesus asked the disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” They said, “Well, some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah.” And then, here’s the big question. He looks at them and goes, “Hey, who do you say that I am?”

I think everybody freezes for just a minute on that question. “Who do you say that I am?” And then, out from Peter, who’s kind of impulsive, he goes, “You’re the Messiah. The Son of God.” And then Jesus goes, “Peter, no man taught you that. You didn’t read a book on that. You’re not in a program on that. You didn’t go to a seminar on that. You didn’t educate yourself into that position. That wasn’t an observation. That’s not a speculation.” He goes, “My Father revealed it to you. He opened up your heart to something and showed you.”

And if God gives us a new revelation, that may be the beginning of a transformation. When God takes a truth and opens it up inside of us, that’s revelation. And that can open up spaces in us that can transform us from the inside out.

What is the gospel truth? What is this bigger truth that goes beyond romance and goes beyond a secular understand? Here’s the gospel truth. And here’s why the world goes a little sideways. The gospel truth, the gospel proclamation, declaration over all of us is this: We are each so completely broken, broken on the inside, broken. And we are completely, extravagantly, relentlessly loved and pursued by God.

Well, which one is it? And you go, “It’s both.” Unless we have both, we won’t have anything. It’s both. We’re really broken. And God wants to enter the brokenness and do something beyond what we can do. And that is, in this world and in our own lives, it’s hard to picture how we can connect to our brokenness and then connect to any kind of sense of love from God. And I think our culture kind of promotes that idea. You kind of go, “Hey, if you’re broken, you’ve got to go get cleaned up and then you can maybe qualify for something. Maybe you can put in a spiritual application somewhere and see what you can get.” And that’s not the gospel, that you can clean yourself up and do it.

My oldest son works in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He supervises a salvage yard. It’s a very big, active yard. They buy scrap metals and other things from all over the state, and even around the United States. But here’s the basis of a salvage yard. Whatever value all of these things had, and it’s a wide collection of things, but whatever value they originally had, they’re broken. And now they’re going to a salvage yard. They’re going to get parted out. There’s something inside those computer boards. There’s some metals you can melt down and extract. It’s an airplane engine, but it’s got all kinds of precious metals if you take it apart and pull them out.

Here’s a broken thing that maybe has a part that’s valuable. I think, because we’re broken the world tells us, “You know your best option? Just part yourself out, because you’re broken. And you know what you’re hiding. Maybe there’s a part of you that you can trade out. Maybe there’s a part of you that someone wants, but just go ahead and part yourself out.”

People sell stuff cheap at the scrap yard. You know what? Some of us have given ourselves away or sold ourselves cheap, too. And God does not look at us that way. God doesn’t take that perspective. If you didn’t hear Alec Seekins’ message last week on enemy love, man. Do yourself a favor and listen to a message on enemy love. And listen to Alec’s story about what happens when relentless love catches up to the brokenness of people. Something not of this world, right? There’s a bigger, more powerful message.

When people are just parting themselves out, when people are being torn apart and literally scrapped, that is a lie of the culture. That is a lie sometimes of our own hearts. That’s the guilt and the shame inside of us. But this bigger truth, that Jesus comes and he goes, “You know what? I’m not trying to salvage some part of you.” The gospel is not about salvage. The gospel’s about salvation.

Salvage is about picking through a broken thing and finding something valuable. But salvation is about a healing of all of us. Right? Jesus says he’s the Messiah who’s come to bind up broken hearts, not scrap them. He’s come to open our eyes to see new things. He’s come to release us from the places that we’re hurt and hiding, and he’s got the key. And he’s come to go, “You know what? I’m going to give you your life back. We’re going to start again. I’m going to restore you.” That’s salvation, not salvage. It’s good news. But that’s God’s news to us. That’s not something we can generate for ourselves.

My youngest daughter, Abigail, turned eighteen recently. I was so sad and so excited about that, because I do not know how this little baby girl got to be eighteen, but she did. And I’m excited. She has collected snow globes when we go places, which is a very fun little tradition. This particular snow globe is from Nashville. There’s a really cool giant guitar that is bigger than the skyline of Nashville. It’s very cool. We got this back.

Here’s the thing about a snow globe. Every part of a snow globe is essential and important. The globe is critical in a snow globe. It kind of matters. You need the globe. The snow is critical in a snow globe. You’ve got to have snow in a snow globe. The water lets it kind of shimmer and float and do all that. So you need the water. And the really cool icon, the really cool image in the center, man, that’s cool. That’s Nashville, and apparently it’s snowing in Nashville right now. All of it is essential.

God is not interested in salvaging part of our lives, cracking us open and taking out the middle. God goes, “Man, I gave you a body. You know what? No matter what you’ve done with your body—guess what? It’s precious to me. And I gave you a heart and I want to restore and redeem and bind it up. It’s precious. And I gave you a mind, and how you think and how you understand matters to me. I want to engage you, and I want to help you understand and think. And I gave you a soul.”

And here’s the deal. Our souls are always hungry for the light. Our souls are always hungry for the light. And there’s a lie that tells us we’re supposed to conquer sin in the dark so we can somehow get to the light. And that is a lie from the pit of hell. Scripture never asked us to conquer sin in the dark, because we can’t. It’s a lie. We’re not designed to be in the dark conquering sin. We’re designed to confess sin in the light. That’s what we’re designed for. That’s what wholeness looks like. That’s what the good news, that’s what love looks like, the love that enters that.

In 1 John 1:7-9, it says this:

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Part of what happens, when we bring that brokenness, when we say, “I’m not going to hide this. I’m not going to try to figure this out. I’m not going to be doing this on my own and working it out so I can somehow present myself. I’m going to just say, ‘God, I’m a mess. I’m just going to open the door to your love and your grace and your mercy.’”

When we do that, when we kind of acknowledge,”You know what, I’m not doing well. This is not working out. My heart is broken. I have been hiding this.” When we open that door and the love of God floods in, something really different can happen in our lives. And part of that something is healing. And part of that something is power. And part of that something is hope. But it brings us to a different presence. It makes us present to his presence. And when we get present to his presence—which is powerful and beautiful and capable—something on the inside can really also begin to heal. It can really also begin to believe. It can really also believe to be connected, to go, “God says all of who I am is important.”

If you’ve scrapped yourself out, I want you to know, God wants you back. If somebody took something from you, God purchased it and he’s giving it back. If you gave something away and you’re carrying guilt or shame, God goes, “You know what? I brought that back to you.” Because that’s who he is. And he wants you to know who you are.

The sin and the brokenness never has the last word. God has the last word. And if he buys you back, you’re bought back. And if he says you’re clear, you’re clear. And if he says you’re good, you’re good. And if he says you’re beautiful, no matter what you’ve heard or thought or what anyone else has said, he’s right. Letting that truth get to our hearts and our lives, letting our souls have that truth, man, that opens up something beautiful.

When our kids were young, it must have been fifteen years ago because Abigail was three. She was on my hip. We went on a hike in Colorado. And we hiked back a mile or two to this waterfall. And it was a pretty good waterfall. It was coming off of a glacier. But there was a relatively shallow pond that you could walk out towards the waterfall. So we initially were just going to take a picture of the waterfall. You know. Worcesters, waterfall, cool. But Jacob and Emma started taking their shoes off. They went into the water, you know. And then they started venturing closer to the waterfall. And so, the two fo them were heading out on the waterfall, and then Abigail wanted to go. So I put her on my hip and I went out. None of us planned on going in the water. We just had our regular clothes on, but still. The waterfall, there’s something compelling about a waterfall. Something sort of like draws you in.

So we’re being drawn into this waterfall. We get all the way out to it. Jacob and Emma are doing this thing where they’re starting to touch it. And it is cold and loud and thundering. And you can see this, “I’m excited and I’m scared. This is great.” All those things. And Jacob finally turns to me and goes, “Dad, can I go in?” And I go, “Do you want to go in?” And he kind of had this “Yeah. No. Yeah. I do. I…” He goes, “Will I be okay?” And I go, “Don’t know. I’ve never been in this waterfall.” Which is another I don’t know. Right? And Emma is right on his shoulder, behind him, and he’s still pausing. “I don’t know.” Something is going to happen. Right? And then he just turns and he goes, “I’m going in!” And he steps in.

I heard the scream and then he disappeared into the waterfall. And he’s inside the waterfall somewhere and everything else. And I don’t know that he was in a long time, but he came out of the waterfall and man, he was very present. He was very alive. He was still screaming, I think, when he came out. Emma only hesitated minute. “If he can do it, I can do it. I’m going in!” She went in, screams, disappeared. Giant waterfall going on.

Abigail, the three-year-old, is watching older brothers and sisters go in. And she’s looking, and she’s got this same kind of perplexed, and I’m going, “She’s three, and I really don’t know what will happen if we go in the waterfall.” But she’s kind of got the look. And I go, “Abigail, do you want to go in the waterfall?” And she just tightens up her grip on me. She said, “Yes.” She just holds me tight. I go, “Let’s go.” And we stepped into the waterfall.

If you haven’t stepped into a Colorado glacier waterfall in a while, it’s a little brisk. A little abrupt. I think I heard myself screaming, and I think I heard Abigail screaming. And the waterfall’s coming down. It’s cold. It’s pounding. Visually, you are underneath and it is flooding you. We’re screaming. But no one can hear us. I can feel her gripping me. She just got a good grip and said, “Yeah. Let’s go in.”

Maybe you have to hold on to God a little stronger to go, “Take me in.” But here’s what happens. That’s holiness. That’s holiness that hits us and rinses us and revives us and brings us back. It’s holiness. That’s not some abstract concept. Eugene Peterson, in his book The Jesus Way, talks about what a poor definition we have of holiness. What a horrible idea we have of holiness. That it’s bland. That its stiff. That it’s restrictive. And he says in his book The Jesus Way:

But holiness is in wild and furious opposition to all such blandness. The God life cannot be domesticated or used. It can only be entered on its own terms. Holiness does not make God smaller so that he can be used in convenient and manageable projects. It makes us larger so that God can live out through us extravagantly, spontaneously. The holy is an interior fire,…

And I think of a beautiful waterfall.

…a passion for living in and for God. A capacity for exuberance in the presence of God. Holiness is the most intense experience we can ever get out of sheer life, authentic, undiluted, firsthand living, not life looked at and enjoyed from a distance.

When God’s love captures and renovates our brokenness, we’re on holy ground. We’re in a waterfall of grace and love that washes us, cleanses us, revives us. And I’ll tell you what. Things heal on hot ground. Things restore on holy ground. Things connect on holy ground. And it’s not holy boring. It’s holy awesome.

When Isaiah had his encounter with the holy in Isaiah chapter 6, he has this event. He’s going in to sacrifice to God and then the whole temple is filled with the glory of God. So he has this up-close, personal encounter with God. In Isaiah 6:5, here’s what he says. When you get that close to the waterfall. When you get that close to holy:

5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.

Isaiah is in this situation. The revelation of the glory and holiness of God is there. And he goes, “I’m a dead man.” What happens when you touch the holy? What happens when you enter the waterfall? And then he has the angel with the live burning coal coming to touch his lips.

7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

I think Isaiah thinks that coal is going to burn him up. But when God touches us with holiness, it burns up the sin in us. It burns up the guilt. It burns up the fear. Maybe he thought the holiness was going to burn him out. But it didn’t. The holiness actually animates us. It burns out everything that’s not from God, which is all the stuff we don’t need and all the stuff that doesn’t make us alive. And then he says this:

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

The guy who was terrified and said, “I’m a dead man,” after he is touched by the furious love of God, he isn’t afraid of his sin anymore. Isn’t afraid of his capacity anymore. Isn’t afraid of going anymore. And when God says, “I wonder who should go,” there’s his hand up. “Send me. Not because I’m perfect, but I am broken. I’ve been bought back by a love that’s perfect. You can send me.”

If there’s a place that you’re hiding this morning, if there’s a place that you’re stuck, a place that you’ve given away, we’re gong to have people up. Man, don’t be fighting int he dark. You’re not meant for the dark. God welcomes us to the light. We don’t have to be afraid of his grace and mercy. We can come as we are, where we are and let him minister. If you’re hiding, don’t hide. If you’re hiding, let that love come and touch you.

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Guest User 2/9/21 Guest User 2/9/21

We Will Love Our Enemies

Series: As for Me and My House

Alec Seekins

My name is Alec Seekins. Living Streams has been my home since I was three years old. Like he said, he was my youth pastor when I was a wee laddie. I was as pudgy back then, so maybe “wee” is the wrong word. I’ve been here my whole life. Up until about year ago, I spent time volunteering or working in our youth ministry, hanging out with these guys quite a bit. I spent a chunk of that time as our mission pastor as well. Living Streams is the only church my wife has ever known. She came here and to the Lord a little bit later in life.

About a year ago we quit our jobs. We packed all of our extra stuff in our parents’ spare bedrooms in their houses. We went to an island in southeast Asia, where we didn’t have any friends and we didn’t know the language—just to the follow the Lord. And I kind of followed my wife into this ministry where we were working in anti-sex trafficking, trying to connect with women and build friendships and relationships, just to see what the Lord might do. If there were some women who were hoping to get out and to see if maybe we could help them make that happen.

When we showed up for that, I think we really were prepared to experience the love of God for the victims. That’s something we had seen enough of the lord taking people that have been kicked around little bit, people that people think are too scarred and too dirty. Sinners, people that are the lowest. We had really seen the Lord do some cool stuff with people who believe that they are lower than everyone else, people who everyone else believes are lower than them.

So we expected to build those kind of mutual friendships that the Lord so loves to use. Not those “I’m up here and you’re down there” kind fo relationships, but just like real friendships, laughing and sharing life together—those things that the Lord uses to bring healing and life and fullness to everyone involved. We expected to see that. And we were shocked to see how quickly we saw that. I was talking to someone last night.

And I don’t know how much of it was the culture of where we were or how much was the Holy Spirit going before us. But we didn’t find a lot of barriers to building relationships with these women very, very quickly and to calling them friends very quickly, to celebrating birthdays and sitting down and laughing with them and playing games with them. And also, just having serious conversations with them and sharing struggles and sharing joys with these women. Like I said, I think we really were prepared to experience the love of God for the victims when we got there.

What we were not prepared for was to experience the love of God for the violators. I don’t think we were ready for that at all. I don’t think we were ready to have pimps and traffickers that we called “friend.” I don’t think we were ready to have violators that have meaning to us, that we care for. I don’t think we were ready to celebrate birthdays and exchange gifts with people who were actively engaged in something I think we could all rightly call evil. But the love of God is a lot bigger than my heart. It’s just so much bigger.

The way I’ve been thinking about it is, like in my life, I don’t know when I’m going to used to the reality that God’s love is bigger than I think it is. It feels like, every once in a while I turn a corner and I see a new facet of his love and I’m like, “Whoa. Where did that come from? There’s no way that was there before.” But also, there’s no way it hasn’t been there forever. And then I think that’s it. I’ve seen the fullness of the love of God. That’s as big as it gets. There’s no way it could be bigger than that. Then I see there’s another corner and I turn it and it’s just bigger. Eventually I hope to just figure out that his love is just bigger. I hope to be amazed but not shocked at the greatness of his love and the power of his Holy Spirit.

I didn’t say this last service, but I just want to say this. If there’s nothing else that you hear me say today, I would just say, please figure out how to hear the voice of God and then just obey and follow. Whatever that means. If that’s crazy, if it’s mundane, there’s so much richness in following the Lord. I never thought I was going to see the things that I saw the Lord do this last year, and yet I’ve seen them and it’s amazing, and it’s beautiful.

In March, as we know, things got a little weird. And on this particular island where we were, about 60% of the economy is tourism. So, as you can imagine, it dried up real quick. And these women that we had come to love and call friends, there was this bitter sweet situation for them, and for us as we engaged in a relationship with them. On the one hand it was sweet, because these women we had come to love and call friends, they were no longer being purchased quite so frequently by men who didn’t know their true value. But it was bitter because they were no longer able to purchase food quite so frequently for themselves.

So the ministry we were working with over night decided to shift gears and try to figure out how to meet this immediate physical need and, in the course of it, continue to build new relationships and strengthen existing ones. So we pivoted and starting trying to bring food to these women. And I really want to thank Living Streams, because you guys funded about 80 to 90% of the project that came out of that. And for three months, 80 women, and whoever was peripheral to their lives, every single week got these giant bags of fruit and veggies and proteins and rice. And it opened doors that literally led to actual freedom, both physical and spiritual. And I think those doors are still being walked through. So there’s no way to really even count the impact that you guys had on the kingdom.

So there was this one particular brothel that we would go to, among all the brothels that we would go to on a weekly basis. And for some reason, there we just had a lot of favor. We had more and more and more significant relationships. And our relationships were growing deeper and deeper and we were even occasionally having conversations about Jesus and about freedom in this particular brothel.

And in this brothel, there was a pimp. And we’re going to just call her name Grace, which I know might be a little surprising, but actually there’s a significant minority of the pimps who are women. And Grace had the kind of presence that you might imagine from a pimp. She had a very oppressive and heavy and aggressive presence to her. When she walked in the room, you could see shoulders kind of tighten up, and when she walked out, you would see an emotional, almost spiritual sigh of relief when she wasn’t there anymore.

And Grace was personally responsible for deceiving, trafficking, capturing and pimping out a number of our friends. And I remember on one particular day when we were there—we would often play games with the women at this location. A lot of the kind of games that we would play with the youth like Ninja, and that weird water bottle game where you throw it around, and ultimate spoons and stuff like that. And we were playing this game where we throw a water bottle around and Grace decided she wanted to join the game. So, obviously, a good number of the women who were on the fence decided they no longer wanted to play the game.

As we were playing this game, I remember connecting with Grace. And I remember feeling like the Lord was saying, “Hey, I want you to really develop this connection here.” And I saw her laughing and having fun for the first time. And she was overjoyed when she won because we let her win. Yeah. It was definitely a “let the Wookie win” kind of a situation. I just remember feeling the weird dissonance in my heart, of loving this woman who was actively engaged in oppressing and violating friends of mine. But it was the love of God and there was nothing I could do about it. Because his love is just so much bigger than my heart.

And I even realized later that day that this is the same woman who had been kind of pushing against Colleen a little bit in a weird, passive-aggressive way, walking around saying, “This is my wife,” on a day when I wasn’t around. (Which is very upsetting to hear.) And, fortunately, my wife is strong and capable and knew how to say, “Huh-uh,” in a way that didn’t rock the boat too much. But there was nothing I could do about this love that was creeping up.

Let’s rewind a little way back. I remember before shut-down there was a prayer meeting we were having. We always had these long prayer meetings before any outreach. And I felt like the Lord started to tell me that he wanted me to begin praying for pimps that they would go from being captors to liberators. So I started praying that prayer on a regular basis. I prayed it for a few months. But I really need to be honest with you guys. It didn’t matter how boldly the words were coming out of my mouth every time I prayed that prayer, there wasn’t that much bold going on on the inside.

On a really good day, all that was happening in my mind and my heart was something like, “God, I know you can do this, but you’re not going to.” And on a bad day is was more like, “God, do you do this? Are you good enough? Strong enough? Powerful enough? Real enough to do this kind of stuff? I’ll just pray anyway.”

But Jesus wasn’t joking when he talked about mustard seeds. He knew what he was saying when he said, “Just a little bit of faith can move mountains into the oceans. And just a little bit of faith can take captors and turn them into liberators.” And I’m so grateful for that reality.

So fast forward back up a couple of weeks after that interaction, playing a game with Grace, and all of a sudden at that location, we hear something crazy is going on. And we don’t know. There was some drama and we’re concerned it might have had something to do with some conversations we might have had with someone about Jesus or freedom. So we thought maybe we need to lean back a little bit. And the next thing we know, Grace and about half the women from that brothel have disappeared.

No one is responding to text messages or phone calls, and we’re super concerned about it. And then, after a few days, we hear back from a couple of women who are saying, “Hey, Grace just took us all and we’re scared and we want to go home.” And we start to get a trickle in of conversation. On one particular night, maybe a couple of weeks after they had all initially disappeared, a few people from our ministry team started hearing back from Grace and all at the women with her at the same time. They were texting and they were saying, “Hey, we want to talk. We want to meet. Can we talk right now? Not tomorrow. Not in the morning. Right now. Where we can we meet? When can we meet? Where are we meeting?”

So our friends dropped their plans for that evening and they went to meet with Grace and these women and they found that what had happened was Grace had had some sort of a disagreement with one of the other pimps, and Grace said, “I’m going to take these women and I’m going to start my own brothel.”

So she took these women and she tried to start her own brothel, but then she failed. And she had this thought, “Maybe I need to be done.” And she knew that our ministry had been an off ramp for women in the past. She knew she couldn’t wait for the morning. Her resolve might change. So they reached out and they had this meeting. Our friends began to talk with them about what freedom might look like and what Jesus looks like and what freedom in Jesus might look like. Then they began to pray. They began to worship. And the Holy Spirit came down in that room and started moving in the hearts of these women who barely even knew his name.

And the Holy Spirit planted something in Grace’s heart that night that really took root. And that oppressive spirit began to be replaced with a joy and lightness. To make a long and beautiful story—that is still very much in process—short, we were able to find a place for these women to live. We were able to find legitimate income for them. Grace was actually able to get a job with a local pastor for a few months where she was working in his Corona side gig and getting bible study and discipleship every morning along with the rest of the staff. These women got hungry for the word of God.

Grace, when we would talk about the word of God, or when we would pray or worship, she would have this weird, goofy smile on her face, and would almost rock for the joy that was in her. And we knew that this was real, because the women around Grace were starting to relax around her, and starting to feel comfortable letting her know when they were leaving, instead of trying to slip out like they were before.

And then, eventually, they started inviting us into this home to do like a little mini church with them every week to worship and pray and talk about the things that they were giving over to Jesus this week. And I got to see the power of God in a way that I’ve never seen it before, because God gave us the love for an enemy.

In Matthew 5, Jesus says this,

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 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. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?

I read this passage a couple of weeks ago as I was starting to prepare for this message. And all of a sudden, what Jesus is talking about, that reward that you get—it brought a whole new light for me. I’ve known for a long time it’s not this weird, flimsy theology of prosperity gospel that you do what Jesus asks and then boom there’s a bonus at work, or a raise, or you find a bunch of miracle money. I’ve actually, some of the few legitimate miracles that I’ve experienced in my life was miracle money. And the money itself was pretty lame. The promise that God gave was way more meaningful. And I’m still holding on to that. The money disappeared years ago. It didn’t last that long. Money tends to not last long. But that promise is still sticking around.

So I started thinking that, maybe the rewards that are eternal that the Bible talks about, maybe I could just imagine them like there’s this room that the Father’s preparing for me. In that room there’s this treasure chest that’s kind of closed. And every time the Lord’s like, “Here’s a gift for you,” he hides it in that treasure chest. And one day, after Jesus comes back, I’m going to go into that room, I’m going to pop open the treasure chest and be like, “Oh, that’s the reward you gave me on that day. Oh that’s so cool. What an awesome mystery that’s not a mystery anymore.”

But I don’t even think of it that way anymore. Because I feel like I’m holding some of those rewards in my hand today. I feel like those rewards are continuing to grow in value. And there’s going to be a day when their value is going to skyrocket. When Jesus comes back to say, “Behold, I make all things new.” And the value is going to be more significant of an increase than anybody who bought stock in GameStop last year. It’s a big deal. Jesus knows what he’s doing. He’s got some good rewards for us.

And Jesus says, “What reward, if you love those who love you? Maybe they’ll buy you lunch after you buy them lunch. Maybe you show up for them at a really hard time, and later in life they come into some money and they buy you a free car. That’s pretty cool.” But lunch is gone in a couple of minutes, if you’re a fatty like me. And a car is gone in a few years.

But I have this friendship with this amazing, redeemed woman that we’re calling Grace. And I got to see the power of God at work in an enemy, in a way that I never imagined I would see the power of God. Paul elsewhere says that our battle is not against flesh and blood, it’s against spirits and principalities. Usually when we read that verse, we read it as a spiritual call to arms. And it is that. But lately, I’ve been focused on our battle is not against flesh and blood. Our enemies are not really our enemies.

I think that, if we think we have enemies that have flesh and blood, I think it’s very likely that we’ve actually been deceived by the real enemy, that our enemies are just decoy enemies. That if we think people, any people, regardless of what evil they do, or what wrong things they believe, if we think they’re the enemy, I think we’ve been deceived by the very same enemy that deceived them into believing or doing the things that we find so reprehensible. We’re missing the real fight. If evil people are our enemies, it’s the spirits that are deceiving them.

And the way we fight the real enemy is not with fists or with Facebook, but it’s with enemy love. It’s with sacrifice. It’s with turning the other cheek. It’s with walking an extra mile with an oppressive authority who’s forced you to carry their burden for one. It’s with giving our shirt to people who would steal our coat. That’s how we fight the real enemy.

I think our enemies are actually like the redemptive power of God pressed into something like potential energy. Like a spring that’s been pressed down, waiting to be released so it can come into life. Or like a battery that’s been hiding in a drawer alone, waiting to be plugged into some device of God and bring it to life. Because God is wanting to take your enemies and show off his power and his goodness in the midst of their darkness.

One of the greatest joys, I think, of my life to date, is that I have another story to share with you this morning, of another captor turned liberator. We’re going to call him Bapok. That’s just a common honorific in this particular part of the world, on this island.

Bapok, he’s a really big, bad guy. Bapok is not just a pimp who owns a decent-sized brothel in the second largest red-light district that we know of. There’s usually about 150 women working there on any given night. Bapok is also part of the association of pimps in that area. Bapok is also part of the local mafia, and he’s also a low level government enforcer. You don’t mess with Bapok for good reason.

When we started going there, early on last year, we met Bapok and we met his wife. She was really hungry for something good and clean and right in her life. So she would invite us and chat with us longer than anyone else. We would talk with her for hours. It wasn’t long before she was inviting us in for meals. It wasn’t long before both of them were asking us to pray for them over and over and over again. I’ve never prayed for anyone more than this couple, because they continually asked for it. We built relationship and we were invited to birthday parties.

Then there came a point in our relationship where we trusted them so much, and felt the next step was actually to invite them to our home, where we sleep, for a meal. And we prayed about it. We talked together, me and Colleen, and we talked to our oversights in the ministry. And we felt like, yeah, this is where the Lord was leading. Because we just loved them that much and we just trusted them that much.

And we began to see the Lord change their hearts. And we began to see the way they interacted with the women who were under them changing and holding them with more of an open hand. Letting them leave if they wanted to leave. We learned about the fact that Bapok actually had cancer, has cancer. Because of at the state of health care over there, it’s just unclear whether he’s just got months or many more years to live.

There came a day where there was a woman from another brothel in that red light district who had upset her pimp somehow, so he kicked her out on the streets and blacklisted her. She ran to Bapok for safety. And Bapok harbored her at their place. Then that other pimp took Bapok to the association of pimps to bring his grievance before them, and said, “This man is harboring a woman that I blacklisted. Do something about it.”

And Bapok addressed the association of pimps and he said this. He said, “We have been living in sin our entire lives. I don’t know how much longer mine’s going to be. How am I going to get clean?” He said, “I don’t really care what you do or say. This woman’s going to be safe with me until she’s ready to go home.” And that was the end of the situation. That woman was safe with him until she was ready to go home.

Then, a little while later, Bapok and his wife made a really significant, earth shattering decision. They decided that they were going to enable all of their women to go home. As soon as they had all gone home, they were going to close down their doors, and they were going to reopen as a community center, where kids could come and hear about Jesus, and learn English, where they could get tutoring in the morning. There’s hopes this next year to put something like a little clinic in there.

And then, a week later, the boat started rocking. And Bapok’s wife had a dream in the night. And she heard a voice after that, saying, “I have medicine for your husband.” So she got up early in the morning before the sun was up. She didn’t tell her husband where she was going, and she went to a Hindu temple to pray for a day and a half. And then, as you can imagine, that upset him. It caused some issues between the two of them. Our whole team that was heavily involved in community with them was really concerned. What’s going on? She’s hearing from these other spirits right at that time when it felt like something really good was happening.

But I felt like the Holy Spirit was saying, “You know, this isn’t another spirit she’s hearing from. She just doesn’t understand what I’m saying.”

So we went to their house and I asked her, “Would you tell me about the dream you had?”

She said, “It wasn’t just a dream. I had a dream and then I woke up and I had a waking vision. Then I heard this audible voice.”

And I said, “The Holy Spirit, I think, is the one speaking to you. So would you tell me and I’ll ask the Holy Spirit what the meaning is?”

And the dream was essentially this vision of her, this dream of her on top of this giant, beautiful valley with waterfalls and rainbows and all this kind of stuff. And it was the Holy Spirit telling her, “I’m calling you into the kingdom fo heaven. This is the kingdom of heaven and I want you to enter into it.”

And then she woke up from that and she went outside. It was still dark, like two or three in the morning. And she saw a light that had no light source. And she went to the light, and as soon as she got to the light, it disappeared. And she didn’t see a light bulb or anything that made any sense. And she was so confused. And this was the Holy Spirit saying, “You’ve been pursuing me, but that’s not how it works. I pursue you. You surrender to Jesus. You let Jesus come after you and that’s how you enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

And then the voice that she said she heard said, “I have medicine for your husband.” That’s the Holy Spirit saying, “I have medicine but it’s not necessarily for his body. I have medicine that he really wants for his spirit to be cleaned.”

And a week later, they were both in the hospital. Him with complications from his ongoing condition, and her with typhoid. One of our friends from the ministry went to go visit them. In the course of that visit, Bapok’s wife gave her life to Jesus. Right after that, so did he. And a few weeks later, it was two days before Christmas, and that former brothel hosted a Christmas party. Sixty women from the surrounding community showed up. And they heard the story of the birth of Jesus, and they heard the gospel. And they heard the testimony of one our good friends about how Jesus saved her from the sex trade, and then he saved her from sin and death. And there was weeping in that former brothel, but the kind of tears that come from hope.

Jesus is pretty powerful. Jesus has a very different way of dealing with evil than our natural inclination. Our natural inclination, our best efforts on our own, they just fall short. And they’re just lame. And they tend to just make the problem worse. You hit me in the cheek, I’m not turning the other cheek. I’m hitting you back in the face. That’s what I want to do. You come at me with a sword, I’m coming back with a sword, or a gun, if I can find one. But Jesus didn’t fight with a sword. He fought with a sacrifice.

And I know that that is really controversial right now. But it’s not new. It’s always been offensive. It’s always offensive. It has always been offensive to love the enemy. It has always been hard to turn the other cheek. It has always felt like just lying down for evil. But we’ve seen Jesus’ way start to take root in some really powerful ways. Over the last couple of hundred years, for some reason or another, there have been more and more men and women who have followed Jesus in this way of enemy love. And it has made a marked difference on goodness, righteousness and justice here on earth.

We’ve seen men and women like Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu. People like Mother Teresa, William Wilberforce, Rosa Parks. And even people like Mahatma Ghandi, who don’t follow Jesus, but just take his words really seriously. And it has made a notable difference for goodness in the world. Because the way of Jesus is powerful. Because enemy love is tapping into the love of God. And he knows what he’s talking about. He’s not messing around when he says it’s time for us to turn the other cheek. It’s time for us to love our enemies.

I have been watching through my phone this last year and the last couple of weeks, as I’ve gotten here, as this strange divide is kind of welling up around us in our culture. I’m not here at all to say there isn’t truth and there isn’t a lie, that there isn’t good ideas and good ideologies, and bad ideas and bad ideologies. But I think if we’ve landed on either side of the strange divide, I think we’ve landed on the wrong side. Because Jesus has never been on the other side of his enemies.

When Jesus showed up in the Old Testament to talk to Joshua and Joshua said, “Are your on our side or on their side?” And Jesus said, “Nah. That’s not how it works.”

When the Pharisees would ask him, “Is it this or this?” And he would say, “No, it’s that.”

When the Scribes would say, “Is it this situation or is it like that?” He would say, “You just don’t get it.”

And we’re doing the same thing right now in our culture, saying, “Is it me? Or is it me?” And Jesus is saying, “No. If you’re on the other side of your enemy, you’ve missed it completely. You should be on the same side of your enemy. Not to say you agree with them or follow them in wickedness, but you should be standing next to your enemy and loving them, even if it hurts. Even if it costs you your life.”

And if God himself would reach across that strange divide of sin and death to love us, to save us, and to even die for us, then what are we doing drawing lines in the sand that end with anything else but us standing up and saying, “Neither do I condemn you.”

Jesus has laid out a very different way.

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Serve the Lord

Some of the things we’ve talked about, we’re longing for this hunger for this God. And whether it’s happened or not, I love what Meister Eckhart says. He says: The soul must long for God in order to be set aflame by God’s love;… It’s true. It’s wonderful. That’s what we’re praying for. But then I love this. He says: …but if the soul cannot yet feel the longing, then it must long for the longing.

Series: As for Me and My House

David Stockton

Some of the things we’ve talked about, we’re longing for this hunger for this God. And whether it’s happened or not, I love what Meister Eckhart says. He says:

The soul must long for God in order to be set aflame by God’s love;…

It’s true. It’s wonderful. That’s what we’re praying for. But then I love this. He says:

…but if the soul cannot yet feel the longing, then it must long for the longing. To long for the longing is also from God.

I love that. It’s a little bit of ease, a little bit of comfort a little bit of saying, “It’s okay, young one. It’s okay if don’t have it all figured out. Just come close. Draw near to the Lord and he will draw near to you.”

We talked about what John Tyson says:

The soil of secularism doesn’t have the nutrients for the human heart to flourish in environments like this. We need more for times like this than our culture has the capacity to give us.

And that’s something that’s been so evident and true and on grand display last year, 2020 in particular, how there was so much energy, effort and ideas being offered, and yet there was no real satisfaction in anything that was being offered to us by our culture. That’s why we need the Lord and his word.

Then Mark Sayers, a guy from Australia who’s kind of like a cultural prophet in some ways, he describes the progressive vision fo the word that’s been inundating us as:

We want the kingdom without the King. We want all of God’s blessings—without submitting to his loving rule and reign. We want progress—without His presence. We want justice—without His justification. We want the horizontal implications of the gospel for society—without the vertical reconciliation of sinners with God. We want society to conform to our standard of moral purity—without God’s standard of personal holiness.

So there are all of these visions of what righteousness looks like, what justice looks like in our world. We’ve been told over and over and over again by many different people, “This is what justice looks like,” Then we have people saying, “No, that’s wrong. This is what justice looks like. This is what righteousness looks like.”

So what we’re saying is we don’t want to hear anything else. We want to silence our own hearts. We want to silence the world around us, because we want God to speak. We want to hear what his vision of righteousness is. We want to be like Jesus said in the Beatitudes. We want to hunger and thirst for his righteousness. We want to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness; because that’s the only righteousness that comes with the promise that you will be filled.

So that’s what we’re doing. We’re just really jumping in there. I’ve already got our next two sermon series dialed in. It’s all going to push us further into getting that vision for the righteousness of God. I’m excited about that. I’m not a planner so this is really weird for me to have the next few months all planned out. But I feel like it’s because the Lord is guiding us.

This is more personally, and as a church, as a pastor I felt there were a few things the Lord wanted us to focus on first. They come from 1 Thessalonians 5. They are:

As for me and my house, we will cultivate gratitude. Something so necessary ad we’ll see that in the scripture. And we talked about that two weeks ago.

As for me and my house, we will consecrate ourselves. We see that in Thessalonians 5. We talked about it last week. It was kind of a serious message. I had to shave my mustache because I didn’t feel like I could preach that message with a mustache. It just didn’t seem to fit for me. I’m weird, I know.

And then, today we’re going to be, As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

So 1 Thessalonians 5, let’s jump in there:

12 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.

And then he says in this next section, what we talked about two weeks ago, cultivating gratitude:

16 Rejoice always,
Anybody joyful today? Well, you all have to be, because the Bible says.
17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances;
Does he say that because things were great in Thessalonica? No. He says that because they needed a reminder because the circumstances were rough.
for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil.
23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

Again, that last part we talked bout last week. The sanctification, what that means, the being blameless, the testing everything, avoiding evil, clinging to what is good; and then the beautiful promise at the end there is at the end of the day you’re going to fail, but you’ve connected your life to someone who is faithful beyond measure and he will do it. He will do it. It’s such a relief to fall always into the hands of God’s grace.

Now we’re going to look at this first section. Serving the Lord. This is what Paul is writing again to the people of Thessalonica. He didn’t get to spend a lot of time with them, so I think he was a little nervous as a father in the faith, as a pastor. He wanted to give them some final instructions at the end of this letter to try to help them. This is how you keep going. This is what you put into practice after what we’ve experienced together. And in this first part, he says, “Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you.”

Now some of this might be coming because t he people that were put over the people in Thessalonica were pretty new. Paul, as far as we know, only got to spend a a few months in Thessalonica. As he was doing his missionary travels, he would go to a town, he would go to a synagogue, he would preach the gospel. And everyone int he synagogue would get all fired up and half of the people would be like, “We want to hear more.” Half of the people would be like, “We want to kill you.”

He would talk to the people who want to hear more and he would kind of form a little bit of a fellowship. And they would meet regularly. In that time, over time, getting to know the people, he would recognize who had authority, or who was really getting the gospel in clarity and he would appoint them as elders or deacons in those fellowships. And they were supposed to continue on in the Lord. And then Paul would move on. But he would be able to write back letters. They would be able to interact and he would be able to support them from afar. That was kind of the rhythm he was in.

So when Paul is saying this to the people in Thessalonica, he’s probably going, “Hey, you know those two people I put in charge? You need to be okay with them. They might be new. They might not get it right. They might not be perfect, but I’m putting them in charge over you and I want you to respect those who work hard among you. I want you to respect those who admonish you.”

Now, this is a very anti-American thing, where we have to set ourselves aside and be able to live into the kingdom culture described in the scriptures. Because we rebel, right? No taxation without representation, man! Give me some tea, we’re going to throw that in the river. We have this rebel spirit. It’s been a good thing. We have this rugged individualism. In some ways it’s served us well, but in some ways it’s really, really served us poorly.

Because, if someone, especially nowadays—and I’m sorry millennials, but this is true of you—if someone was to admonish you, you would react very interestingly. You would “unfriend” them or something. It’s true within all of us, though. If someone wants to admonish us, if someone sees something that is lacking in us and brings that to attention, whether they do it in the right way or the wrong way, in our culture these days, we don’t receive any correction at all. We just rebel about it. We make excuses for it. Or we call them some sort of bad person. Or we find fault in them and we say therefore everything they say doesn’t count. It’s an absolutely foolish way to live.

Paul is saying, “You guys need to be receptive of those admonitions, those challenges that come to you.”

Then he says, “Hold them in high regard because of their work.” So the people who are working for you. You can think about this. The leaders. Whether those are church leaders—hey! —or civic leaders or you know, people within your organization. Your bosses, those type of things, employers. This is a consistent theme throughout scripture. Whether they’re getting it right or wrong, you still honor them.

One of the key commandments in the Ten Commandments, the ten boundaries that God gave his people, right at the core of the Judeo-Christian ethic is “honor your father and mother.” And then there’s a caveat: if they get it right. No, that’s not in there. It’s not. It’s just honor your father and mother.

Now, honor, obviously you have to define. It’s not do everything they tell you to do even if it’s going against God’s law. No. Absolutely not. But even if you had to go in a different direction from them, you would do it in an honorable way. We’re supposed to honor those in authority over us. There’s a lot of humility necessary for that. And we don’t do it necessarily to make those people feel good about themselves. We do it because we love Jesus. We do it because he’s worthy and he’s asked us to do it. It’s a way that we can serve the Lord.

It’s important in our day and age, right now while there’s so much animosity built up and there’s so much frustration built up. And I’m not saying that everything our leaders have been doing and saying is right. Please. No way. But we still need to figure out how to be that alternative community, that kingdom culture, that finds a way to honor those in authority over us.

Then he goes on to say, “Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.”

I asked Dan Riccio, our resident scholar to kind of unpack these things. He said these really come out to disciplining the ones who do anything unhelpful and also the ones who aren’t doing anything that is helpful. Right? You have both kinds of unhelpful. Ones who don’t do anything. But also the ones who are doing things that are unhelpful and damaging. And we need to admonish them. We need to give them a piece of our mind. There’s a time and a place for that. We need to speak out against, stand against, bring correction and discipline. It’s absolutely true.

But then he goes on to say we need to encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure nobody pays back wrong for wrong. Try to be kind to each other and everyone else. There’s this moment of, yes, we need to give people a piece of our mind, but then he almost goes into a much fuller and longer exhortation that we need to give people a piece of our shoulder.

And what I mean by that is, so often we come to people and we see some of the struggles they have, we see some of the things that they’re doing wrong and we’ll just kind of blast them. And though there is a time and a place for that, I think what overarchingly you see in the scriptures, and even in this little passage, you see what God really wants us to do is lend people our shoulder, to figure out what’s really hard for them, what burden they’re carrying. Instead of just saying, “Why are you doing that?” Or “Why is that so bad? What decisions have you made to bring you to this place?” Instead to just come alongside of them and say, “Can you put some of that burden on my shoulder and we could walk to gather for a little while?”

So there’s that little imagery. Serving the Lord, yes. There is a time to give people a piece of your mind, to give them the truth. But so often it’s much more important to give people a piece of your shoulder, to get your shoulder under the burden they’re carrying. Because then, over time, you’ll start to realize things. Walk a mile in their shoes and then you’re admonishing, or your piece of mind might change, and how you might change what you would speak to them.

That’s 1 Thessalonians talking to us about serving the Lord. Some practical things from Paul there. We have a whole Bible that’s always continuing to challenge us and call us to serve the Lord. Actually, the phrase, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord,” comes from way back in the Old Testament, where Joshua had led the people into the Promised Land. He formed them into a nation. It’s carrying on the work of Moses, delivering the people who were slaves into a nation. At the end of it he says for them blessings and curses. He says, “If you follow the Lord and do these things you’ll be blessed. If you don’t follow the Lord and do these things, you’ll be cursed.” So he said, “I set these things before you. But as for me and my house, we’re going to serve the Lord. We’re going to serve the Lord.”

Then you have all this time through the scriptures. Basically, think about the very beginning. What did it mean to serve the Lord for Adam and Eve, who were basically gardening. Right? Gardening and then not eating of that one tree, which didn’t work out so good.

But then you have the very next story that we kind of come across. You have a guy who’s serving the Lord, building a big boat. I guess for his family, serving the Lord was not thinking their dad or husband was an absolute fool, but kind of joining in the work.

Then you have a guy that serving the Lord for him meant leaving his father and mother’s household and the ways that would worship, and going to a place and becoming a sojourner. In some ways Abraham was the first missionary, just going to wander around and helping people know what it looked like to have a relationship with this God that he knew very little about.

And you continue on. And you have Moses. Serving the Lord meant going back to face past demons and helping to set slaves free and lead them into a Promised Land. And on and on it goes. All these different ways. The reason I’m saying this is because serving the Lord has so much creativity. There’s so much diversity. God has made you and fashioned you as a specific tool, unlike anyone else in the world. And, what the scripture tells us in Ephesians 2, he’s also formed works for you to walk in. He’s formed opportunities. He’s set things up in your life that you’re going to stumble into. And you’re going to realize you’re the only person that has been uniquely designed to actually serve in this way. God loves to see those moments when you are able to serve him in the way that he’s created you to serve.

But I can’t get up here and say that, if you really want to serve the Lord, you’ll become one of the singers. And sometimes that’s the way we feel. If you really wanted to serve the Lord, you’d be up on this platform preaching. The rest of you are just kind of so-so servers. In the scripture, the preachers? Usually not doing so well. Usually God’s having to yell at them. But each one of us is called to serve the Lord. And each one of us has to find what the Lord’s calling us to do. It’s actually a very exciting thing, a very wonderful thing.

Isaiah 58, right here in the middle of the Old Testament, we have this passage in the Message (MSG) Translation. I think this is really helpful to help us understand the heart behind serving the Lord. He says:

1-3 “Shout! A full-throated shout!
    Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout!
Tell my people what’s wrong with their lives,
    face my family Jacob with their sins!
They’re busy, busy, busy at worship,
    and love studying all about me.
To all appearances they’re a nation of right-living people—
    law-abiding, God-honoring.
They ask me, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’
    and love having me on their side.
But they also complain,
    ‘Why do we fast and you don’t look our way?
    Why do we humble ourselves and you don’t even notice?’
    “Well, here’s why:
“The bottom line on your ‘fast days’ is profit.

Basically, you’re seeking the Lord as kind of a genie. You kind of rubbing the lamp with your fast to get what you want instead of really submitting to the Lord.
You drive your employees much too hard.

You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight.
    You fast, but you swing a mean fist.
The kind of fasting you do
    won’t get your prayers off the ground.
Do you think this is the kind of fast day I’m after:
    a day to show off humility?
To put on a pious long face
    and parade around solemnly in black?
Do you call that fasting,
    a fast day that I, God, would like?
“This is the kind of fast day I’m after:
    to break the chains of injustice,
    get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
    free the oppressed,
    cancel debts.
What I’m interested in seeing you do is:
    sharing your food with the hungry,
    inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
    putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
    being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on
    and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
    The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’

That’s the kind of fast that God is after, that he longs to see us. You get on to the New Testament. You have Jesus, who comes on the scene, representing the perfect reality of what it looks like if God were to be here and to walk among us and to serve. He said he came to seek and serve. And what he says is the Spirit of the Lord was upon him and because he had anointed him to proclaim good news to the poor. He said, “He sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for he blind, to set the oppressed free and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. “

That sounds like a lot of shoulder work to me. A lot more so than giving people a piece of his mind. And guess what? He saw clearly. And he did. He definitely stood against. He definitely spoke out against. He gave people the truth. But he got his shoulder underneath the burden of the people he walked with. It’s so amazing.

One of the most fascinating things about Jesus, I think, is when it says that the common people heard him gladly. It was like the people that have their stuff together, the people that weren’t educated, they really liked to be around him. And I think that’s fascinating because Jesus is God, totally. He knows everything. If they really could see who he was in some ways they should shudder in fear. But instead, the way he came off, full of grace and truth, it caused people to just want to be around him. I think that’s the way Christians should be, too. People that others really want to be around.

And then, James 1:27. James, the brother of Jesus, kind of sums up for us real simply what it looks like to serve the Lord, as far as he’s concerned. He says:

27 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.

This is kind of a joke I always say in our Explore Class—that’s a big part of what our Explore Class is—just so you know, it’s coming up soon—is to kind of help people move through a process where ultimately they’re done with those weeks and they know what God is calling them to do at this point of their life. They know what gifting the Lord has given them, and they know, maybe, how they can put those into play right now in 2021 at this church, or in this city, or whatever situation they’re in. So, if you’re not quite sure, if you have some of those questions, it would be a great class to go to.

But in there I always talk about how, at the end of this class, if you’re still not quite sure, just find some orphans and some widows and start there. Literally. I mean you’re just not going to go wrong if you go there. And if you need help finding those, we can help, for sure. But I mean, at least you could start there and you know you’re getting it right. It might be that God has something else for you, or something more specific, but that’s a great place to start. It’s a great place to start.

So, with all that being said, that’s the biblical perspective of this. The way that this has been kind of fleshed out in my life really comes down to these three words. When I think about what it means to serve the Lord, what I’ve discovered serving the Lord is, the first one is sacrifice. We actually kind of played with changing the title from “As For Me and My House We Will Serve the Lord” to “As For Me and My House We Will Figure Out What It Means to Do Sacrificial Love” but it’s a real long title. But sacrificial love is really something that we need to think about when we talk about what it means to serve the Lord. Then support. That’s when we’ll talk a little more about the shoulder. And then faithfulness. Faithfulness.

So when it comes to serving the Lord, sacrifice. That was a big deal for me. Because all of my life, growing up, until I was about eighteen years old, I was really important to myself. I mean, I still am, more so than I want, but I was one of the most arrogant, condescending individuals you could ever meet. My brothers, I have two older brothers, and they called me The Tyrant. Which is a little strange, right? Because I was small and weak. They were big and strong. And yet, still they would call me the tyrant. Because I had a lot of confidence. I had a lot of arrogance. I thought I was better and what I thought I wanted was more important than everybody else.

I had one friend. I won’t mention his name. But all my life I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him because every time we would hang out, he would start to get so uncomfortable in all these situations. But I realized, literally, what I thought was wrong with him, was actually him uncomfortable with me being so arrogant and condescending everywhere we would go. And I never realized it until later on. So, anyway… enough about me.

That was a huge shift. When I gave my life to the Lord and said, “Okay, Jesus, I want to follow you,” that was the salvation that came to my life. All of a sudden I actually was aware of others. Now, again, I know this sounds so ridiculous and horrible—and it really was. But it was like, all of a sudden, someone else’s pain mattered to me. And I cared about it.

Here, this super arrogant, self-centered, condescending individually, Jesus came and totally took over my life. I look back and this is so silly, but every Friday night when I should go try and hang out with my friends, or go and try to meet a girl or something, all I wanted to do was I wanted to go hang out with thees like fourth through sixth grade. I was working at this church and I was in charge of the fourth through sixth graders. And I just wanted them to make sure they had the funnest Friday night they could.

So I would go round up like ten of them. We’d go to Peter Piper Pizza and we’d go out there. And I thought it was so fun. I was loving it. To try to help these kids have this wonderful time. And on and on it went. I just wanted to give my life away. I just wanted to prop somebody else up. It was like this salvation had come. I just wanted to serve the Lord. And whatever they were going through was more important than what I was going through. I really did happen. This shift. And now sacrificial love was now a joy for me. I did want to decrease so the Lord could increase. It was fascinating. It was cool.

Yesterday I was watching some basketball. And I don’t know if you follow college basketball, but Baylor is like number two in the country. They’re undefeated and they’re really good and all that. They were doing an interview with one of the main guys. He’s going to go NBA and he’s going to make millions of dollars. He’s amazing. They were doing an interview with him. One of the questions this guy asked him was, “Hey, you know, we heard that on Sundays you do something very different and interesting.”

And he was like, “Yeah, yeah. I’m glad you brought that up.” What he does is, he goes and works at his church. He teaches the second and third graders every Sunday at his church. It was just so shocking for me to be sitting there and being like, “Oh, this guy. He’s so cool. This guy is so big time.” And he’s just talking about how he loves Sundays, how he just learns so much from those kids. It is just so cool to be able to do that. He feels like it’s the biggest gift in his life.

And I’m just like, “Yeah! He’s serving the Lord!” He’s actually going to have a challenge because he’s going to have a lot of other opportunities to do things. So he’s going to need to stay grounded. But he’s serving the lord. He’s serving the Lord in the face of all of those other things, which is so beautiful to see.

I remember one story too, that was so interesting when this was happening. So I had gotten serious about serving the Lord, and, like I said, I was up in Oregon, I was like a worship leader. That’s what I did all the time. Down in Phoenix, they’re like, “You’re not very good at it so we don’t want you.” But that was cool. It’s cool. So I remember I had signed up to go, they asked me at the college I was at if I would lead this concert of prayer. They needed music at this concert of prayer. And I knew it was going to be. It was basically like senior citizens, kind of going there and doing that. And I was like, “Yeah, I want to serve the Lord.”

I didn’t realize that it was Valentine’s Day. And I was invited to this party where this girl that I liked was going to be at. I didn’t know her very well, but I had been trying to get to know her. So it was this opportunity. Valentine’s Day party. And guess what? You know—same time. You know, like, am I going to go lead this concert of prayer for the senior citizens or am I going to go to this party with this girl that I wanted to get to know more?

So I decided I was going to go for the concert of prayer. And I was walking across campus and—just to add insult to injury—I was walking across campus and we crossed paths, as she was going to the party and I was going to—just randomly crossed paths. And I was like, “What the heck are you doing here?” And it was so funny just to go through that experience. But just fast forward a couple thousand years—I’m married to Brittany and I like her so much. And guess when her birthday is? Valentine’s Day! So it all worked out great for me. So now the Lord’s like, “Hmm? I got you, man. I got you.” So it was kind of fun serving the Lord.

Because, you know, when you’re young, you’re like, “If I serve the Lord he’s going to give me everything I want.” And it is true, but it’s just way down the road, way down the road. So, anyway, so sacrifice. That’s sacrifice. Think that.

If it doesn’t break your heart, it isn’t love. If it doesn’t cost you something it’s not worship. Those are important things to remember.

Support. This book, Tatoos on the Heart was super helpful for my wife and then she taught me and I read the book. Here’s what he says about serving the Lord:

Here’s what we seek. A compassion that can stand in awe at what the poor have to carry, rather than stand in judgment at how they carry it.

So this is that concept. He’s just realized. He works with gangsters in L.A. He calls them home boys. And he realized that, really what they needed—more than someone to tell them they’re bad and doing it wrong, which they were already very aware of—what they needed was someone to just get their shoulder under their burden and feel what it was like to be loved in that way. Then they could see life change.

Then the last thing is faithfulness. Faithfulness. 1 Corinthians 4:2 says the one thing God requires of his servants is they be found faithful. And moms and dads, what your kids need more than anything else from you is they need you to be faithful. What a friend needs more than anything else is someone who’ll be faithful. Faithfulness.

It doesn’t count as faithfulness until it goes against your desires or will. If I went to the Valentine’s party instead of the prayer service no one would have described me as super faithful. But when you’re tired of doing something and you keep doing it, that’s when it becomes faithfulness. When you’re afraid of doing something, but you do it anyway, that’s when it’s called faithfulness. When you won’t gain anything and maybe even be criticized or ridiculed for doing something, but you do it anyway, that’s faithfulness.

And as Jesus said that when we live and die seeking God’s will and his desires to be done instead of our own will and desires, one day we’re going to stand before him, and he’s going to look us in the eyes and he’s going to say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into your rest.”

Whether or not that’s a big deal to you now, to be able to hear those words from Jesus, I promise you, please understand that there will be a day where you will stand before Jesus and that will be the thing you long to hear more than anything you’ve ever heard before. When you stand before your Maker, who loves you so much that he served you, he gave himself to you, he sacrificed, he shows support, he’s faithful to you. And on that day, for the first time in your whole life, everything will make sense, and you will long to hear him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” And you won’t regret one sacrifice that you made. You’ll be so thankful for every time you denied yourself for his name’s sake. Every time you got your shoulder under someone else’s burden and walked with them. Every time you served the Lord.

Just to share a little bit of a vision with you—we have a lot of opportunities for you to serve here at the church. We’re going to be laying those things out more and more. But if the Lord is stirring your heart and you know you’re not really serving the Lord, but you’d like to, please let us know. Please contact us. And we can help you. We won’t just throw you out there, but we can help you get to a place where you feel like you are serving the Lord. But also don’t need us. You can pray and see what the Lord would lead.

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Guest User 1/17/21 Guest User 1/17/21

Consecration

We’re going to continue in 1 Thessalonians 5. We’re in the middle of a twenty-one day season of fasting and praying for God to light a fire in our hearts that creates a hunger and a thirst for God as well as a hunger and a thirst for his righteousness. We’re doing this because Jesus promised that, if we hunger and thirst for righteousness, we’ll be filled.

Series: As For Me and My House

David Stockton

The message today that we’re going to be talking about is consecrating ourselves. I was so impressed by the Lord—and I want to say this now because we’re going to say a lot of things over the next four hours of being together (that’s a joke)—but I don’t want to miss this. Some people, I think, have forgotten that maybe ninety percent of our Christianity, ninety percent of what it means to follow is Jesus is denying yourself. It’s acknowledging that you have disordered desires that you have to say no to every single day of your life.

Jesus said, “If anyone wants to follow me, come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.” It is so easy—I mean I feel like I forgot this last year, and many of us have—it’s so hard in the culture we’re living in to remember that you shouldn’t just “do you.” That will lead you to selfishness and emptiness. But you should do what Jesus is asking you to do and be who Jesus knows you can be.

It’s this challenging thing that we’re in, but denying ourselves is a huge part of our relationship with God for now. So, this message has a little bit to do with that. So, again, you should leave right now if that doesn’t super exciting to you.

I will say, denying yourself is not just a matter of God wanting you to be miserable. Denying yourself is actually a sign of your love for him. So he receives that as love for him. It’s a beautiful thing. He is worthy of that. And also, denying yourself gets you into the place where you’re going to be able to be with him forevermore. And every single thing that you’ve denied in this life will count as a reward in the life to come. And the glory that shall be revealed to be worthy to be compared with the sufferings that we go through now. These verses are in the Bible for a reason, because denying ourself is such a huge part of our relationship with God.

We’re trying to cultivate this hunger. We’re trying to stir up this hunger. I heard someone say recently, that challenged me a bunch—when the prodigal was hungry, remember the prodigal son who took all of his father’s stuff and spoiled it on licentious living, then he got to a place where he was hungry? When he was hungry, he went to the pigs. But when he was starving, he went back to the father. When I say we’re praying for a hunger, I’m not just praying for a hunger that will get us back to the pigs, I’m praying for a kind of hunger that will actually get us to go home to the father, because we’ve all gone astray.

And our world is full of counterfeit righteousness. Tables have been set before us, full of humanistic ideologies and popular political propaganda claiming to have the high moral ground, claiming that they can satisfy the hunger and solve the problems. But communism, capitalism, socialism, nationalism, progressivism—and all of their friends—have left us high and dry just like all of the societies who looked to them before us. They will never, can never satisfy the human soul and solve any of the problems that we have. Though we try to satisfy our souls with many things, we only truly live, grow and progress by feeding on God’s nutrient-rich word.

Amen? Amen? Scream ‘amen’ kind of deal I think is the only way I think we’re going to counteract the marketing and the propaganda and the populism of our day. In case that happens again, you can scream it.

Augustine said:

“You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.”

Pascal, who liked to follow science, said:

“There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.”

And Ronald Rolheiser, who is a Catholic priests who wrote about longing, said:

“There is within us a fundamental dis-ease, an unquenchable fire that renders us incapable, in this life, of ever coming to full peace. This desire lies at the center of our lives, in the marrow of our bones, and in the deep recesses of the soul. Spiritualty is, ultimately, about what we do with that desire. What we do with our longings, both in terms of handling the pain and the hope they bring us, that is our spirituality.”

We have appetites. We have hunger. We have deceptive ideas in our world that play to disordered desires within us that are normalized and even celebrated in our central society. The challenge is great. The way Mark Sayers says this:

Mark Sayers describes the progressive vision of the world as “the kingdom without the King.” We want all of God’s blessings—without submitting to his loving rule and reign. We want progress—without his presence. We want justice—with his justification. We want the horizontal implications of the gospel for society—with the vertical reconciliation of sinners with God. We want society to conform to our standard of moral purity—without God’s standard of personal holiness.

Yes. That’s where we’re at. That’s where we’re at. It’s a problem. It’s a challenge. And those who deny it or try to ignore it will succumb to it. We're called to consecrate ourselves.

So what do we do with the dis-ease and unquenchable desires that we have within us? Well, 1 Thessalonians 5 is Paul, who spent just a few months with these people in Thessalonica, and God did something so supernatural and wonderful that it like stoked a fire in their hearts. And they all decided that they wanted God instead of what the world offered them. They all came together as a community and Paul was teaching them. But, because of persecution, Paul had to leave.

So this young church was just a few months old and Paul had to go on to the next town. But he wrote this letter, 1 Thessalonians, to help encourage them and give them what they need so they could go forward. He tried to give them the nutrients of God’s word so they could go forward and navigate the challenges of life. And these are some final instructions as he’s kind of summing up.

He says this in 1 Thessalonians 5:

12 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.

Then, as we talked about last week, we’re supposed to cultivate gratitude.

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil. 23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

We’ve broken this section into three weeks. Last week we talked about how to cultivate gratitude and how that can help stoke the fire within us, the hunger within us. This week we’re going to focus on verse 20 through 24, the last part, as this is some way that we can continue to make sure the Spirit is not quenched within us. And we’re going to talk about what consecration means. Then, next week, we’ll look at verse 12 through 15 and talk about what we’re going to do to serve the Lord.

So we’ve kind of housed this all as As for Me and My House. Going into 2021, we will cultivate gratitude. As for Me and My House, we will consecrate ourselves. We’ll figure out what that means for us in 2021. And As for Me and My House, we’ll serve the Lord. We’ll talk about that next week.

So, consecrate ourselves. This is one of the things that we have to do to make sure that the Spirit’s fire is not quenched within us and within the ones that God has given us. Ultimately, God has called you not to change America and make sure all the laws of the land are perfect. I’m not saying that’s a bad work. I’m not saying we shouldn’t put effort there. But what I am saying is that what God has called us to do is take care of the ones that he has given us.

Remember Jesus? Jesus came to this earth and had a big job. And yet, he was extremely small town. Extremely small town. And in the end, when he prayed in John 17, he said, “Father, I have kept the ones you have given me.” And that’s ultimately what God is calling you and me to do. And we are so connected, supposedly, with all of the federalists, nationalistic and even global situations that are in the world—and again, I’m not saying that’s wrong or that’s bad. But sometimes it can make us feel like that’s what we’re supposed to be engaging in. And we spend all our effort doing that and we get discouraged when we don’t see things go our way. We forget to do the really most important work, just to take care of the ones the Lord has given you, that are right there in your own house.

That’s why Jesus didn’t say, “Love everyone.” He said, “Love your neighbor.” And if everyone would just love their neighbor, guess what? Everyone gets the love of Christ.

So we’ve got to take care of the ones the Lord has given us. Start there and that will make a huge difference.

Just look at Jesus’ life. He took care of the ones the Lord had given him. And Christianity’s done pretty well the world over, yeah? He just took care of the ones the Lord gave him and — bam— the single most dominant force for good the world has ever seen in every area, every season of time, every age, every nationality, every language. It has been the single most dominant force for good in the world. It’s encouraging. So, if we can do that, we can take hope that God will take that and use it to make something great.

But here we have, “Do not treat prophecies with contempt, but test them all.” This is something we learned last year, for sure. There were all these people claiming to speak the truth or speak what was right. And we learned how important it is for us to hold on a minute and test these things. We all got duped. We all got fooled quite a bit last year by very powerful marketing campaigns that really housed something that was more poisonous and toxic. And we had to do some research. We had to test everything. We had to develop our filters so that we could hold on to the good and reject what is evil. That’s something that we need to continue. We need to develop our filters.

How do you develop a filter so that you will not be fooled? You get to know the word of God. It’s that simple. I mean, some people say you’ve got to climb up the mountain and stare at your belly button for a little while. You could try it. I don’t know. But I know this will work. This right here will work. It’s served a lot of people for a lot of time that were in much more dire situations than us. It withstood the test of time. It’s trustworthy. It’s true. And it can help us so much filter out what is not good and what is not right. The Bible actually describes itself as a sword that can cut through joint and marrow and really get to the heart of everything. So we’ve got to know the word of God, absolutely.

“May God himself, the God of peace sanctify you through and through.” I love what Paul is saying to these people. He’s not saying, “You need to go and sanctify yourselves.” He’s saying, “I pray that God will sanctify you.” Just like when Jesus said to his disciples, “If you follow me, I will make you into fishers of men. All you have to do is stay close to me. I will do the work to make you into the person that you’re supposed to be.”

So sanctification is an important process of consecration. We need to be set apart. We need to be holy. We need to be other. We need to be alternative. We need to realize that following Jesus is going to require us to go against the grain. And it may require that more and more and more, depending on how our society goes. But that’s what we’re called to be, a peculiar people.

Then, lastly, he says, “May your whole spirit, body and soul be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus.” All of those matter. Body, soul and spirit are all extremely important. Your whole being is to be kept blameless.

Now this is tricky, because we think, “How am I going to be blameless? You don’t know what I’ve done. You don’t know what I’m dealing with.” It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter to God because your unrighteousness will never be more powerful than his righteousness. And through the blood of Jesus Christ, his righteousness is applied to you. How about some good news right there? The blood of Jesus, applied to your life washes out, cancels out everything. In fact, now when God sees you, he sees you as blameless, he sees you robed in the righteousness of Christ when we come to him.

And his whole goal, the work of the Spirit, the work of the word of God in our lives is to get us to the day when we go stand before Jesus, we are presented as a spotless bride. I know it’s a little weird for some of us guys, but just take the analogy. A spotless bride. Blameless. It’s what God’s plan for your life is, if you’ll hold on to him. So this is what Paul was encouraging them with.

So I want to kind of unpack consecration a little bit more. We’re going to do three things. We’re going to think biblically, which is so important for us these days. Think biblically. Think theologically. We’ve got a lot of help. A lot of people have fought some of these battles and sorted through some of this chaos before, and they’ve got some good things to say to us. And we’re going to think practically, because it’s 2021 and we’ve got to leave this place. I mean, leave the church, that’s all I’m saying. You have to walk out of this place. Not like, whoa, leave this place. Not being crazy. Test those prophecies, you know? Whatever. But think biblically, think theologically, and think practically.

First of all, biblically. It’s so important for us to be thinking biblically these days. The Bible has a lot to say about consecration. First of all—brace yourself—when I say consecration, thinking biblically, you should be thinking about circumcision. Now, it’s very rare times where any pastor is going to tell you you should be thinking about circumcision. But if you think about what God was doing in his people, he said to Abraham, “I want you to circumcise every male in your household, and this is going to be a sign that you belong to me. This is going to be a sign of my relationship with you. This is going to be part of your consecration. This is going to be part of your sanctification. I’m calling you out. I’m calling you to be different than all the other nations. The reason I’m doing it is because I want you to be an example of what it’s like to be in a relationship with me, for all of the other nations.”

So Abraham circumcised everybody, including himself. Whoa. And that circumcision carried on as a sign of God’s covenant with the nation of Israel. And there are all kinds of ramifications you can make, but absolutely, one of them is sexual. God wanted his people to be very different sexually than every other nation. Because every other nation didn’t have any boundaries as far as sexuality. Even in their worship of their gods, there was often a sexual element. But God said, “My people are going to be very different sexually.”

Sexuality is a hugely important reality for the flourishing of human society or the demise. When God created the world and there was nothing but goodness, what he did to make sure that goodness could be maintained was he created something in his image and he called it male and female, nothing else. And as soon as we start messing with male and female, we lose the greatest picture of the image of God that he gave us. And then he said that male and female, to even take this further, “I’m going to put them together in some sort of sacred, holy covenant of marriage, where they’re going to become one. And they’re going to produce family. And if everyone will just take care of their own family, then everyone will be taken care of and the goodness can be maintained.” It’s that simple.

Yet, we’re moving the boundaries. We’re wanting to change what God has set in order for our greatest freedom and our greatest flourishing. So he calls his people to consecrate themselves in what seems like very radical, even challenging, self-denial, sacrificial ways, but it’s not because he doesn’t love us. It’s because he’s creating the boundaries that we need for the greatest freedom and the greatest human floushing.

So not only think about circumcision—we’ll move on—think about Samson. Samson was called to be different, to be set apart. So he had this Nazarite vow in the scriptures, which was, he wasn’t supposed to cut his hair, he wasn’t supposed to go near any dead thing, and he wasn’t supposed to —anyone? Anyone? I’m saying that because I can’t remember the third one right now. I remembered it first service. No alcohol! He wasn’t supposed to go near any fermented thing. Whew. Almost had to quit the message right in the middle there. Just kidding. Samson. Nazarite vow.

Think about Daniel. Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego. They’re taken from their place. They’re young men. They’re pulled into Babylon and they’re getting to see what basically, you know, total indulgence looks like. Babylonian culture was powerful, luxurious, all of those things. And these young men just felt this need to consecrate themselves. They said, “We will not eat the king’s meat and we will not drink his wine.” And they consecrated themselves against all the others. And, in the end, they were shown to be wiser, stronger and faster, but they had that call to consecrate themselves. They understood the need, in that moment, that they would be completely overcome by the power and persuasion of that culture if they didn’t real quickly figure out how to cultivate hunger for God. They consecrated themselves.

In the Old Testament, think about Sabbath. Think about tithing. These were things that set apart that community, that they would give a tenth of everything that they made. They would just go and give it to the priest. They would give it to the community at large. That was so bizarre, so different. And that carried on.

And Sabbath. Every once in a while, one day a week they would just chill, and just rejoice and thank God for all that’s been given to them. And there were times where those lines were blurred in Israel’s society and it ended up causing them to go into exile. God was very serious about those things. God considered it robbery when they would not give him a tenth of what they had produced. These were things that would set them apart.

Now go to the New Testament. In the New Testament, the best thing, I think to do is to think about the book of Acts community. And, again, if this is hard for you to understand, you need to read your Bible more. I know I’m going through these things quickly, but you should be reading your Bible. You should be cultivating that in your life, so that when we talk about these things, you’re, “Oh, yeah, yeah. I know what you’re talking about. The book of Acts community.” This is basically the first church, and they were set apart. There was one time where it says that all the people around that first church were in awe and in fear of them, and none of them dared join them. I know that sounds a little weird. They weren’t saying that no one was joining them. They’re saying that people were a little unsure of what to do about them. And daily the Lord was adding to their number those that were being saved.

They were such an alternative community. They were a city on the hill. They were the salt and the light in their communities. It was tangible and evident. And the four things that stuck out were, they would gather together, all of them. And it wasn’t just gathering together that was so fascinating. What was fascinating is that they would gather together as rich and poor and everybody felt the same. They would gather together as Jew and Gentile. But they would love each other. They would gather together, though they all had different political backgrounds or ideologies, but it was no problem when they met together, because there was something that was stronger than all of those. That was the bond of the Spirit and the unity of Christ. And it was remarkable to everybody else who couldn’t get along. Can I get an amen here? You see how this is working out, right?

So the second things was they shared everything in common. Again, a further explanation of this tithing idea. They constantly brought things in together to make sure everybody was okay. They were generous. They were kind. They were not greedy. And it was a puzzle. It was confusing to all those who were trying to get ahead and get rich. And they cared for the sick and the poor. Like, literally, they would go and take care of lepers, even though, at that time they thought leprosy was contagious and could kill them, it didn’t stop them. When the plagues would hit and those type of things, they would go and get the dead and bury them, risking all of that danger. To where Roman writers were saying, basically, “Those Christians are taking better care of the Roman dead, poor and sick than we are, and we’re the empire.” Amen? Amen? Amen?

And then the last thing, and probably the most fascinating to everybody at that point that caused them to be so set apart and so different was the concept of enemy love. When the experienced persecution, hatred, disadvantage, whatever it was, they would respond with love. They would respond with the good news of Jesus Christ. Enemy love. Picture better than anywhere else when Stephen is being martyred and the religious leaders are throwing rocks at him. And they will keep throwing rocks until he’s not breathing anymore. And as the rocks are hitting them, he just cries out, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.” He’s full of love for them.

It was radical. It was beautiful. It was alternative. It was different. It was set apart. It was consecrated. And it’s our inheritance. It’s our heritage to live up and into that. It’s so necessary for us to figure out consecration.

So that’s thinking biblically. Now let’s think theologically. This might be a little bit painful, but hopefully not. Theologically. Basically, when we talk about soteriology, that’s the study of salvation, we know that Jesus is the Savior. He came. To save us. But the salvation that is unpacked in the scriptures anymore through theology has three different aspects to it. Salvation that we experience with Jesus first of all is justification.

That’s what we receive. When we receive Jesus, when we confess our sins and say, “Jesus, I need you,” and we call on his name, we are saved. But the first step is justification, which basically, now God looks as you just as if you never sinned at all. His righteousness, the blood of Jesus is that powerful, that it completely wipes out all debt, all sin forevermore. Even to the extent where, if you sin in the future, bam, his price that he paid is counted for that as well. And so you are justified, you are seated in heavenly places. It’s done. Your names in the book. Over. Justification. It’s one of the greatest things to unpack and understand.

But when I hang out with you, I don’t see you that way. There is a reality. We all know inside of us, though we have been justified, though we are saved, though we know our place is in heaven, we’re all good to go with God, we look in the mirror and say, “There’s still some things wrong.” I hang out with you a little while and I’m like, “There’s some things wrong.” You get to know me and you’re like, disappointed.

Because there is another aspect to our salvation that is called sanctification. And sanctification is the journey. It’s the work of God every day in the life of a believer to renew them, renew them back into their original design, to get them back into the image of who God wants them to be. Ultimately, the image of Christ. And it’s this daily work. Sanctification. Sanctification. Where God is renewing, he’s setting us apart, he’s making us holy. And that’s the work that God does every day.

The way the Westminster Catechism says it, again, a theological document. It says sanctification is…

“…the work of God’s free grace,…”

Hallelujah! God didn’t make us figure this out. He said, “You’re not going to figure it out, so let me send my Son to do it.

…whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God,…

I just explained some of that. And catch this, this is so important:

…and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.”

This is where what I said in the beginning comes into play. Ultimately, the goal of the work of the Spirit of God, yes, it’s to get you to be able to live beautifully and wonderfully and experience all that God has for you; but one of the main things that the work of the Spirit in your life is supposed to do is hep you win the battle with your disordered desires. It’s to help you deny yourself so that you’re not overcome by the sinful nature and desires that are housed still within you until the day you die or Jesus comes back.

I mean, that’s good/bad news, right? It’s bad news because the truth of the Scripture is, until the day we die we’re going to have some of these desires. We’re going to have some of these things within us that long for the things that will kill us and destroy our relationship with God.

But the good news is, you’re not alone. The good news is God puts his Spirit inside you, puts his community around you. He puts his words in you to help you combat those things so that you don’t have to succumb to those things.

And just because you have some of those disordered desires does not disqualify you from living under righteousness and being extremely fruitful in your life. And, somehow, even those disordered desires, the only reason the Lord leaves them there is because he knows they’re going to work in you a dependency on him and a sympathy for those around you, or an empathy for those around you, that’s going to be very, very fruitful.

But you’ve got to understand, there are deceptive ideas in our world that play to disordered desires within us that are normalized and being even celebrated in our sinful society. And we need that sanctification process.

The really great news is there’s one more aspect to the soteriology, the salvation, is glorification. You’ve got justification, sanctification, glorification. Glorification, summed up real easy, is when Jesus comes back or we go to be with him, no more sinful nature. No more disordered desires. We are free forevermore to just live into the righteousness and goodness of God. Amen? Amen.

Lastly, thinking practically, I’m just going to give you a little illustration here of thinking practically about consecration. Where I live, some of you have been over at my house, by where I live, there are thirteen humans, including me. Most of them are smaller. There are twelve chickens. There are two little goats. There are two giant tortoises. I think they’re still there. They’ve been underground for a while lately. There’s a bearded dragon. I don’t see him very much, but I guess he’s there.

One of the things we’ve had to do is we’ve had to build some pens, right? Chicken coop, a goat pen, built some fencing around. And we’ve done this because we’ve had animals before that haven’t made it. They haven’t made it because we have coyotes and we have bobcats and we have raccoons. They’ve got to eat too, you know?

One of the things that I’ve had to do is I’ve had to get really good at building these coops and these pens to make sure the bad guys don’t get in there to get the animals, right? And I build them, and that’s fine and all, but raccoons are smart. They’ve got opposable thumbs and they’re like, rrrrr rrrr, little by little, rrrr, rrrr, and so I have to go and do boundary maintenance. I have to continue to mend the fences. I have to continue to check and see where the holes are and build those things back up.

And I also have to do something else. I had to get a German Shepherd. It’s actually my daughter’s dog. His name is Lucky. And I leave him out there at night. He wants a job. He’s a German Shepherd. He loves jobs. And he goes out there at night and he sits in a chair. Literally, this big comfy chairs and he just sits there and watches. It’s a cartoon, but it’s my life. And we’ve got no problems. If I’ll mend the fences, if I’ll do the boundary maintenance and I’ll keep Lucky out there, we don’t have any problems. And what we’re supposed to do for our own souls and four the people that the Lord has given us, is we’re supposed to be people who do boundary maintenance.

And our society now is wanting to completely erase all of the boundaries. They think that freedom is “no boundaries.” They think that, if we really loved the chickens and the goats, we would get rid of all of those things that are holding them in. And what has happened to every society before us who’s done that, who’s tried to throw off the old, archaic, oppressive word of God and biblical boundaries—they get decimated. They get destroyed. God knows what he’s doing. He has set the boundaries in a place, not to limit our joy, but to give us the most freedom possible in this life, and to set up the greatest chance for human flourishing. But the boundaries are important.

And we, as people of God, are to be about boundary maintenance. I don’t know how to legislate righteousness. I don’t know how to vote in this or that. I mean, obviously the Democrat and Republican parties are both lost. Neither of them house the word of God. You might think one does more than another. But go ahead and talk to another Christian, and they’re going to convince you another way. We’re not building that. We’re building the Kingdom of God. And I think we should fight the federalist and nationalistic battles. We should fight for Arizona. We should fight for the things we believe in, absolutely. But, at the end of the day, what we’re measured on is what we’ve done with the ones that the Lord’s give us.

As for me and my house, we will consecrate ourselves. We will do boundary maintenance. As for me and role as a father, I will let my daughter have a phone. And I will do boundary maintenance every half hour for the rest of her life. And I do. Because there are coyotes. There are raccoons. There are bobcats. And way worse.

And it’s not that I just create these boundaries and suffocate her. But I have to figure out how to create boundaries and do boundary maintenance, and then teach her to do that for her own soul. Because, at some point, she’s gone. And if I haven’t helped her learn how to do boundary maintenance and see the beauty and wonder of it all, it doesn’t matter what I said or didn’t. And that’s what we need to be doing.

Just to unpack it a little bit more, as we’re thinking practically here. Ten Commandments. Start there. Start there. But not in King James Version. Like, start with “You shall have no other Gods before me,” and figure out what that means. “Remember the Sabbath.” Figure out what that means for you right now. “Honor your father and mother.” And on and on. Unpack those things. Those are boundaries that God has given us for human flourishing. And, ultimately, those things have become the Judeo-Christian ethic.

And the Judeo-Christian ethic is the best thing that has ever been given to a society. Wherever the Judeo-Christian ethic has been applied and embraced as a society, you have experienced freedom and human flourishing. Ever heard of Israel? Against all the opposition and challenge that they have experienced, if you go there, there is flourishing and there is freedom. And the American experiment was that same thing. Let’s apply the Judeo-Christian ethic in a Constitutional governmental form. And what has it caused? It has caused freedom and flourishing, no doubt about it.

And yet, we want to get rid of it. We want to throw it off as oppressive, abusive and archaic, and call it progressivism. As for this house, Living Streams Church, as long as I have breath in me, no. It will not live here. I don’t care if there’s two people left in this church, it will not live here. I don’t care if they shut us down. I don’t care what happens, that’s not going to happen here. We’re going to be about boundary maintenance. And we have really good boundaries, and a really kind God, who knows how to get us where we need to be. And I’m so thankful that, ultimately, I’m going to lose the breath in my lungs. And, ultimately, I can talk big, but I’m nothing. But the last verse in this section says, “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.”

So, in my daughter’s life, ultimately, I can try, but it’s a promise of my father that he’s going to do it. And it’s a promise of the father that, if you let him, he will do it.

If you’re working ninety hours a week in pursuit of the almighty dollar, understand that you move the boundaries. The boundaries in your life are in the wrong place. There may an underlying issue that’s driving you to move the boundaries in the wrong place. So boundary maintenance would involved moving the boundary back to the right place, as well as addressing the underlying heart issues that drive you to move the boundary to the wrong place.

If someone has a sexual partner outside the boundaries of scripture, the covenant of marriage, one man, one woman, then boundary maintenance would be to end the out-of-boundary relationship, deal with the issues driving you to engage in that behavior, and do the ministering of healing the heart of everyone affected by the moving of those boundaries.

None of this disqualifies you. It’s not like God said, “Hey, you moved the boundary. Sorry.” It’s just a matter of coming home. It’s just a matter of returning to the Father, and he’ll say, “Okay, let’s get the boundaries back in place. Let’s start doing the healing. Let’s get back on track.” And here we go. That’s the good news of Jesus.

Let’s pray. Let’s just bow our heads and listen in as we close. And as you’re trying to hear from the Lord, I want to read this verse and just see if something pops out as maybe the Spirit is highlighting this. It’s Galatians 5 [paraphrase]:

The things your sinful old self want is sexual sins, sinful desires, wild living, worshiping false gods, witchcraft, hating, fighting, being jealous, being angry, arguing, dividing into little groups and thinking the other groups are wrong, false teachings, wanting something someone else has, killing other people, using strong drink and wild parties, and all things like this. I told you before and I’m telling you again that those who do these things have no place in the holy nation of God. But the fruit that comes from having the Holy Spirit in our lives is love, joy, peace, not giving up, being kind, being good, having faith, being gentle and being the boss over our own desires.

Jesus, we are undone before you. As we hear this, we are reminded of how weak and frail we are against the challenges in our lives. But Lord, we don’t lose heart. We don’t despair because you, you are able and you are willing and you are for us and you are with us, no matter what we’ve done. So restore unto us the joy of our salvation and renew a right spirit within us. Create in us a clean heart, God. And show us where we’ve allowed the boundaries to be moved and help us put them back in place, Lord. We pray all this in your name, Jesus. Amen.

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Cultivate Gratitude

We’re gong to be in Psalm chapter 42, if you want to turn there. We are going, as a church, into January fasting season for the last ten years we’ve kicked off our year with a season of fasting. Not because we hate ourselves or we’re some sort of weird-o’s. But we really believed it’s cultivated some good things in us.

Series: As For Me and My House

David Stockton

There are four questions we’re trying to answer in this season. The first is :

1. What do you want Jesus to do for you? What do you want God to do for you? You can write that down as we go through the service.

2. What are you going to do to limit the “junk food”?

If you don’t know what that’s talking about, we talked about that last week. We put up a list of things like social media, tv, news, friend group, if you’ve got a boyfriend that’s junk food you should probably take a break from that for a while, or forever.

3. What are you going to do to eliminate hurry from your life and create space?

Sometimes we just try and jam more good or Christian or self-help type stuff in there. But the point of this is to actually create more empty space for the presence of God to move in. In that regard, we talked about dedicate your lunch hour to quiet yourself before God. Quit your job. Quit the extra hours at your job. Dedicate an hour before bed. Dedicate your drive time to be silent before the Lord. Some things like that.

4. Who will you spend time with that is hungry?

If there’s somebody you know that seems to have a hunger for God, intentionally spend some time with them. Or if it’s someone that you know is in a dry spot, or actually is hungry physically or in a hurting situation. It’s amazing when you link your life with somebody like that how your prayer life or your hunger for God goes up quite a bit as you’re trying to call out to God on their behalf, not just your own behalf.

Write some things down. I think it would be a good practice for us to engage in. Then please, above all that, join us on Wednesday nights. We want to be a praying church. I know a lot of times we say, “Hey come to the church and we’re going to pray,” and you didn’t even hear me when I said that; or it didn’t sound good because there’s nothing sexy about it, there’s nothing cool about it. “Go pray at the church.” But I really think that it’s an important time. I think it’s something that blesses the Lord’s heart. And it’s good for us to be together in that way. So we’re going to be live-streaming it and we’re also going to be doing it in person. Fast on Wednesday. It just means don’t eat food. And then come pray together. Make sense? Everything else is online too, if you want to find out more details on that.

1 Thessalonians 5. We’ll start out with this little intro. There have been a lot of Sundays this past year where I’ve walked up these little stairs knowing I need to say something about some troubling news or some disturbing event that has happened during the week. I mean, 2020, so many times I walked up those stairs, going, “uh…here we go.” I’m supposed to say something that makes us all feel better after we saw something really hard or challenging. And I was hoping that was just a 2020 thing.

But this is a new year and this week brought about the same type of things. COVID is still going strong. Our political unrest erupted into troubling and disturbing violence at the Capitol building. And for us, on a personal note at Living Streams a big change is upon us with Jay launching out. So there’s some heaviness.

It was neat because, as we were downstairs praying, one of the guys was like, “If you feel like the Lord’s speaking something to you, why don’t you just say it and pray it.” Everyone was saying and praying so much, I never got to say mine. It’s true. I felt like the Lord said something to me about Nathan, the guy who’s going to be hanging out with us for a while. It was just that he has a humility, a joy and kind of this light touch that he brings into a heavy room. I was like, “Wow, that’s so encouraging.” Because I am feeling like I wanted to bring some of that into a potentially heavy room. And it’s not all up to me because now the Lord is bringing somebody who’s going to help with that.

Then, as we were worshiping, I got the sense that, “Hey, wait a second. There’s a lot of people in this room that have been doing a lot of work this week to find their own soul in a place where they’re feeling light, they’re feeling joy in the Lord, they’ve been doing that work.” Then all of a sudden, the burden was gone. It’s not up to me. It never is. I’m thankful that a lot of you are already doing this work. You’re already seeking and finding the Lord and actually sharing that.

With all that being said, I want to offer something that I know has withstood the test of time, has seen many situations like we’re experiencing, as well as much worse, and has always been reliable, helpful, relevant, solid and stabilizing. It’s God’s word. God’s word is what we need to hear right now. God’s word has been there, done that for a long time. God’s word spoke the world into existence. It took the “to-hu va-vo-hu,” the “without form and void” chaos of the world, and brought about beauty and light and order. It’s God’s word that we need in our own souls and in our city and in our country these days. And God’s word is thankfully found in the library of scripture that we’re turning to.

This guy, Jon Tyson, said this about our society, which I think is so good.

The soil of secularism [progressivism, progressive Christianity, all these things] don’t have the nutrients for the human heart to flourish in environments like this. We need more for times like this than our culture as the capacity to give us.

Can everyone say ‘amen’? I mean, if you haven’t figured out that by now, I don’t know. I don’t know what to say to you. Our world is lost. We have blind leading blind. No doubt about it. Yet, we have before us the scriptures. In 1 Peter 2 (MSG), Peter is writing to the people he cares about, the people of God he’s connected to. He says this:

13-17 Make the Master proud of you by being good citizens. Respect the authorities, whatever their level; they are God’s emissaries for keeping order. It is God’s will that by doing good, you might cure the ignorance of the fools who think you’re a danger to society. Exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking the rules. Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family. Revere God. Respect the government.

I know there are a thousand different emotions that might stir up in you when you hear that, but guess what. Let God win. Let his word win. Submit yourself to his word. Don’t make his word submit to you. There is such a temptation in our day to do the wrong thing in this regard. God’s word. Peter is not talking to people to have it easy and rosy. They were dealing with Roman emperors and extreme persecution. And yet this is what he writes. So let’s let the word of God rule in our hearts and minds.

Then we have Paul, who is writing to this town of Thessolonica and this little church that he had helped form there. These are some final instructions he gives them. We’re going to unpack them in the next three weeks. But let’s read it right now.

1 Thessalonians 5

12 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work.

Seems a little self-serving there, right? We won’t focus on this part today.

Live in peace with each other. 14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil.
23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

So in this section, I see three different things that we’re going to bring up over the next three Sundays. The first one is cultivate gratitude, so we’re going to focus on that today. Next week we’re going to focus on what it means to consecrate ourselves. It’s going to get serious. Don’t come to church next week. It’s going to be serious. If you want to just keep doing life the way you’re doing it and not have to make any changes, don’t come to church next week. Because it’s going to be serious. It’s going to be good. The last week we’re going to talk about what it means to serve the Lord in our day and age. So we’re going to unpack those things on Wednesday nights as well. This actually goes along with all of that.

Cultivate gratitude. I want to focus on verse 16, 17, 18 and 19. So “be joyful always” is what Paul is admonishing the Thessalonians to do. To be joyful always. Does anybody know what “always” in the Greek is? Always. It’s not that complicated. He’s saying, “Be joyful always.” And then he says, “and pray continually.” It’s both and. There are always going to be situations where you need to be praying. But no matter how heavy the situation is, you need to be rejoicing. Rejoicing in the Lord always.

And Paul’s not talking to a people that, again, have it made in the shade. In the Thessalonian church, there was a bustling city, it was a happening place, but the Christians were being persecuted. Ray Stedman writes in his intro to Thessalonians:

The pagans of Thessolonica were severely persecuting the Christians, threatening them and taking away their property. So these early Christians were called upon to endure hard things for the cause of Christ. In that city, sexual promiscuity was common, was even regarded as a religious rite. To live a life of chastity was to be regarded as a freak. Therefore, as is the case today, there was great pressure upon these new Christians to fall into line with the common practices of their day.

So there was a challenge to their way of life. There was a challenge to the way of the gospel, to the way of Christ. Following Jesus was difficult and persecuted. It actually cost them something in the natural and in the practical. Yet Paul says to them, “I just want you to remember to rejoice in all things.”

And Paul, who’s writing these words, we know his situation. He’s been beaten. He’s been flogged. He’s been imprisoned unjustly. He’s constantly ridiculed, even by the Christians, as being not one who should be listened to because he wasn’t one of the twelve apostles. Yet he felt called by God to be this apostle and to speak in that way. In all of his trials and troubles, he’s a person who has realized it’s so important to rejoice always. We’ve got to figure out how to cultivate gratitude in this time, in this time of challenge in our world.

And another reason, if you look through the whole of scripture, gratitude and thankfulness is such an important thing. Actually it says that we access God’s presence, we enter his gates with thanksgiving. That’s how important thanksgiving is. The Bible talks about the joy of the Lord is our strength. If we can figure out how to find the joy in the presence of the Lord, we’ll be able to rejoice and that joy somehow becomes strength for us as we go into life and go into challenge and go into heaviness and despair.

If we’re not learning to rejoice in the Lord, we’re going to be kind of working off of our own joy. And our own joy is so fleeting. It’s so conditional. Which means our strength will be fleeting and conditional, as well.

If you look into the life of Jonah. You know the guy. "Go to Nineveh and preach forty days in judgment.” And he’s like, “That’s cool. No, I’m going the opposite way to Tarsus.” He’s down in Tarsus and he’s all, “Let’s get on a boat.” And, bam. A fish and he’s inside. He’s inside this fish. In Jonah chapter 2, he kind of goes into this kind of prophetic, poetic utterance. The way it starts out, “I cried out to you from the depths of Sheol.” Basically, Jonah thought he went to hell. Based on his understanding at that day and age of what hell was. It was darkness, it was burning, it was all those things that Jesus kind of unpacked a little bit more. And where is he? He’s inside a fish, so it’s dark. He’s inside a fish, there’s a little burning. It’s called stomach acid, but he didn’t know that. He thought he had died. He thought it was over.

Yet in that place, as he goes on, he ultimately gets to the end of this poetic, prophetic utterance. He says, “Then I offered to you thanksgiving.” And like the very next verse says, “And the Lord commanded the fish to spit him out.” Somehow when his heart began to turn towards gratitude, it moved God in a way that to him right where he needed to be.

And you think about Paul. Same thing. Before he went to Thessalonica to plant this church, he was in a place called Philippi. And he had been arrested and put in prison. He and Silas were in locks and stocks and they were in the prison. They are just kind of lying there all tangled up. It says at midnight, what did they do? They started singing. “Way Maker, Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, Light in the Darkness.” They probably sang a different song. But they started singing it out, filling the whole jail with gratitude and thanksgiving for all that God had done for them. For who Jesus was, with them right at that moment.

And what happened? An earthquake. Everything started shaking and the stocks and the locks came off and the prison doors opened. And they just kept singing. They kept singing until the Philippian jailer was about to kill himself. And they’re like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Chill out, man! We’re all still here!” And then he ends up giving his whole life to the Lord, and his family, as well.

So Paul is coming off of this. He knows the power of gratitude. He’s seen it in action. So he’s calling to the Thessalonians, “Hey I know you’re going through hard times. I know I didn’t get to spend time with you long enough. I know you’re new in faith. I know you’re new in the Lord and not sure what to do in the face of all these challenges.” But he said, “Here’s some final things. Rejoice always and pray continually.”

And then he takes it a little deeper. He says, “Give thanks in all circumstances. Just in case you weren’t sure what ‘rejoice always’ means, give thanks in all circumstances. All circumstances.” Paul is not naive. He’s not ignorant. He’s saying, “all circumstances,” because he knows some circumstances suck horribly. Give thanks in those circumstances. This is what the people of God do. This is what the followers of Christ do. They give thanks in all those circumstances.

Then, to take it even further, “for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” It’s very rare that you see that. We’re always, “God, what’s your will for my life?” There are a few times in scripture where it actually spells it out. This is God’s will for you. This is one of them. 1 Thessalonians 5:18. Give thanks in all circumstances. God’s will for you.

1 Thessalonians 4, just a chapter earlier, it says, “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified; that you should avoid sexual immorality;” Bam. Next week. Can’t talk about it now. Consecration. It’s all there. Coming at you.

1 Peter 2:15 “For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.” We read that verse already in light of all the chaos.

Then 2 Peter 3:9, it says, “It’s God’s will that no one should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” This is God’s will for us.

One of the things that is God’s will is that we are thankful. I know it seems silly. I know it seems almost New Age-y or something. There are all kinds of psychological, sociological studies that you can do that show the benefit of your own soul if you can cultivate gratitude and thanksgiving, if you can dwell on the good and think about those things. But it’s deeper than just some sort of self-help in this regard.

This is what he’s saying. Then what’s so interesting, and I think verse 19 is kind of the key to this whole section. Basically, I look at verse 19, “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire.” It’s like, if we do the things from 12 through 24, then we’ll find ourselves stoking the Spirit’s fire within us. But if we neglect these things, we’ll find the Spirit dwindling and diminishing.

That’s our hope this whole fasting season. We’re wanting to develop a hunger for God. A hunger for righteousness. We want to see the Spirit of God stoked into a bigger flame than it’s ever been in our hearts, as we go into another year that might have all headwind against us again.

Somehow, when we cultivate gratitude in our own soul, cultivate gratitude in our marriages or in our households. Yeah, I’m talking about your roommates or your friends. “Let’s take time to give thanks.” Cultivate gratitude. Stopping before you eat. Cultivating gratitude. Giving thanks. All of these things are beneficial practices. Ultimately, in our world, if we could figure out how to cultivate gratitude instead of standing against and fighting and adding to the noise—be a beautiful contribution that the church would be making to do this type of stuff.

I’ve been unpacking this. I talked about it last week a little bit. It’s a lesson that’s ongoing in my life, so I’m sorry if it seems a little confusing or redundant. Last week I talked about how my wife sat us down for prayer. My daughter, Bella, said she saw 2020 as a ship in a storm, but then 2021 she saw flowers everywhere. I was like, “Oh, that’s a nice thought.” I made some jokes about it.

But then I went home and this guy emailed me and said, “Hey, your daughter’s not just blowing smoke there. It’s actually the Bible says that, as well.” He sent me Song of Songs 2. And I can read it to you.

10 My beloved spoke and said to me,
    “Arise, my darling,
    my beautiful one, come with me.
11 See! The winter is past;
   the rains are over and gone.
12 Flowers appear on the earth;
    the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
    is heard in our land.

I just know, because I’ve watched the Lord interact with my daughter, and I know this was just like a confirmation, making me realize that it wasn’t just a sentiment from an 11-year-old daughter, but it’s actually the Lord wanting to speak to this. It was so encouraging to get that. I need to put this everywhere. I need to put this in my office, in my houses, this verse, because it’s confirming.

But then Wednesday happened. I was playing basketball with these guys and they kept showing me, “Check this out, check this out.” And I was like, “That doesn’t look like flowers.” Some of those guys did not look like flowers. And you know, it was this crash between, “Maybe the Lord wasn’t really saying that. Maybe I got it wrong.” Or, “Maybe the Lord was saying that and it’s coming.”

I was wrestling this through, but then I started thinking about my daughter, Bella. And it made perfect sense to me. My daughter, Bella, when she wakes up, she doesn’t see flowers. You know what she sees when she wakes up? She sees a wheelchair. And she jumps in that thing and goes through life. Her life is full of flowers, if you ask her, though.

And then, I’ve been on dates with my daughter. So I’ll get in a wheelchair and we’ll go together. A wheelchair date. It’s kind of fun. And I’ll get to see the way people see us, the way people see her. So many people, when they see my daughter, Bella, what they see is a wheelchair. And they are the stupidest idiots in t he world. Because that is such a miniscule part of her life. She’s a chef. She has been a cheerleader. She gets up on the stage at our Christmas plays and just like, bam, steals the show. She can memorize lines. It is so crazy. I wouldn’t get in front of anybody, ever, when I was a kid. She’s been a Disney model. She’s a great swimmer. She’s a total goofball. She’s hilarious. She’s great at telling stories. And she is the sweetest, most comforting thing that you have ever met in your life.

The other day, it’s a weird other story, but we have these two goats. And I don’t know what was going on, but they were just screaming so much. And they usually don’t do that. But this day they were just screaming all the time. And I was like, I said, “Bella, could you go hang out with the goats for a little bit. I think if I go out there, it won’t help.” And she was like, “Yeah.” Because she knows. We named her Bella Rapha, which is beautiful healer. Because, although she needs healing, we know she’s going to give healing to the world. And we’ve seen it time and time again. So she went out there and I didn’t hear the goats anymore.

And we watch football. She can’t watch football games with us, at least not to the end. Because she knows one team’s going to lose. And she’s like, “They just put the camera on them for so long and I just can’t…” She can’t take it when she sees a team lose. This is who she is. And if you miss that, you’re an idiot. And it’s the same thing. She has to cultivate gratitude. When God says there’s going to be flowers everywhere, Bella believes there’s going to be flowers everywhere. It doesn’t mean that everything’s going to change for her. She’s still got challenges. But the flowers are there for those who will find it. I love that in Song of Songs. It says, “Arise and come with me.” It’s like you need to come up out of the situation you’re in and let me show you the flowers.

And I think about when Jesus said to his disciples, “Hey, guys. You’re going to go through hard times. I know you are not Romans, so you have no rights. You have oppression. I know you’re not well-to-do Jews. You’re kind of the lower class, the worthless. And you’ve left all you have to follow me. And you basically have nothing at all.” But he said, “I want you to, every once in a while, when it’s feeling really heavy, I want you to look and see the flowers.”

The best way to do that, and we’re going to finish with this, is right here. The word eucharist describes this moment, this bread and this cup. The word eucharist actually means thanksgiving. I’m not sure if you knew that. I forget it all the time, and I’m like, “I think it might,” and I look it up and I’m like, “Oh, yeah, it does.”

What we’re going to do is to cultivate some gratitude that’s not based in wishful thinking or some sort of hopeful sentiment. But this is historical reality. That God sent his Son into the world because he knew the world was stuck and lost and confused. And not only that, but we were trapped in our trespasses and sins. So Jesus came and he lived a sinless life. And this bread represents his body. Perfect. And yet it was broken. It was broken by our sin. It was broken by the anger and corruption in the world. It was broken by the attack of the devil. It was broken for us.

And as we remember this, we do remember the horrors of that day, but what we remember is that Jesus did it because he loved us. And he did it so that we could be made whole. So with a grateful heart, let’s take this bread.

Jesus, we do. We take this and we remember what you did for us. And we are grateful.

And he didn’t just make us whole through his broken body, but he allowed his blood to flow, to wash us clean, so that we could stand before the Father without any fear, without any shame, and know we would be received.

So Jesus, we remember with gratitude, with joy, with thankfulness, that you have washed us clean of all of our sins.

Let’s take the cup.

And now, this is a time for you to spend some more time with Jesus. You can sing to him, if that’s what you want to do. You can sit down and write some of the commitments you want to make to him. You can come forward for prayer. We’ll have some people up here for prayer. But don’t leave this place without really pressing in to the Lord and see what he has for you.

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