Not All It's Cracked Up to Be: Why Nehemiah Is So Negative

Wes McAdams: After a sermon is over, have you ever wanted to make a comment, ask a question, or listen to the preacher say more about a particular idea? If so, this podcast is for you. My name is Wes McAdams, and I'll be sitting down with one of my fellow McDermott Road ministers to discuss comments, questions, and thoughts that have come up after the sermon is over. Welcome to P.S., the Post-Sermon Podcast.

Barrett: Hey, welcome to the Post Sermon Podcast. My name is Barrett. I'm one of the ministers at the McDermott Road Church of Christ, and joined by the voice that you've already heard in the intro to the podcast, and our preaching minister at McDermott Road, Wes McAdams. Wes, how are you today?

Wes McAdams: I'm great, brother. How are you?

Barrett: I'm doing very well. I we both we had a lunch together today, a little ETS

Wes McAdams: Yeah.

Barrett: behind the scenes. We had a lunch and I think we both ate more bread than we're accustomed to and now we're

Wes McAdams: Definitely.

Barrett: recording a podcast, so if you just see me nod off, feel free to

Wes McAdams: I won't take it personally.

Barrett: Yeah, just come on down to my office and

Wes McAdams: Come wake you up.

Barrett: That's right, yeah. I'm but I'm doing great. Coming off of a vacation couldn't be better, right?

Wes McAdams: Yeah, welcome back.

Barrett: Hey, thanks. Happy to be back. man, great sermon yesterday. I thought

Wes McAdams: Thanks.

Barrett: it went really well. How did you feel like wrapping up this series, correct?

Wes McAdams: Yeah, last last sermon of this series, I've I felt like I was trying to pack a lot into this sermon. I really wanted to bridge the gap between sort of a negative series. I feel like I've been kind of picking on Ezra and Nehemiah and and talking about how their 93 years of trying to get things right really ultimately failed. But I think that's the point. And I think that it leaves us anticipating and expecting the Messiah to come. And so I really wanted to lean into that. And so we spent some time. We read from James and from Galatians and from Romans. And we really packed in a lot more New Testament this week than we have in weeks past. But but yeah, we we wrapped up our Ezra-Nehemiah series.

Barrett: Yeah, I thought it went very well. And I I agree, I felt like there was a and we'll talk some more about this in a moment, but it did feel like there was kind of a a n almost I'll say like a negative connotation around this series. But I think that's a good thing in that, like you said, like in that the point in that the point of why this is in scripture. But yeah, the first thing one of the first things you mentioned to me yesterday morning was like it is gonna be a longer sermon. I'm trying to do a little more and I'm I'm just curious, kind of again, a little behind the scenes for the podcast and for the sermon, but Why was that the case? Like how did you know? Is it just the positive spin you were trying to put on it and getting more New Testament scripture in there? Or like how do you even estimate the time of your sermon? I've seen some of your notes. They all look pretty similar, you know.

Wes McAdams: Yeah, it's true. And and my notes scroll. So it's not like I have pages. I have no idea how many pages of notes it would be on a regular basis. I just kinda know how much scripture I tend to use. And I tend to to just break things out by slide by how much scripture is on a slide at a time. And then a couple of bullet points under those. So my my notes are pretty minimal, but I just know that when I'm when I'm trying to move away from one text and I'm going to integrate a different text into the sermon. It's gonna take a little bit because I I've got to somehow transition to this other text. And this time I was trying to not only tie in Nehemiah, but then also James, and then also get into some Paul with his letter to the Galatians and then his letter to the Romans. There was just a lot to get through, just a lot of text to to work through. And so I knew that it was gonna be a little longer. I mean, literally it was only two or three minutes longer than than the typical West sermon, but I knew it was gonna be a l slightly longer than usual.

Barrett: Well, in both pre worship meetings that we were both in, you're like, Guys, it's gonna be a little longer And then by the time it was all said and done I like, Yeah, maybe a little bit Yeah. It was

Wes McAdams: Yeah.

Barrett: barely worth noting to me. but it was just funny that you're like, We've gotta give everybody a heads up. It is

Wes McAdams: I made the I made the joke in both services that be glad that we're not doing what they did during the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. I'm not making you stand outside all day and listen to the word being being preached. First service thought that was funny, second service not so much, but

Barrett: That's so interesting. I I was in first service and then listened to second service online in kind of preparation for this. And I felt like there was more laughter picked up in second service than I was anticipating based on your comment of like, didn't go so well. But

Wes McAdams: Ha.

Barrett: it probably took it well. And I'm so

Wes McAdams: That's good.

Barrett: grateful, I mean, especially yesterday, that we were not standing outside for the meaning of the word. I would be

Wes McAdams: Can you imagine? I can't.

Barrett: Poor follower if I was having a stand outside to hear 'cause I I'd

Wes McAdams: Right.

Barrett: be sweaty. so any any speaking of first and second service and and kind of a longer sermon for yourself, but like any major differences between first and second and why you chose to put second online and that sort thing?

Wes McAdams: Yeah, yeah. Typically I just let put whatever whatever version they want online. And typically it's first service that gets put online. But this week I was like, I I felt like we landed the plane. I landed the plane a little bit better in second service than I did in first. And I felt like I concluded and wrapped it up a little bit better. I talked more about the frustration maybe we feel with ourselves and with other people and how maybe one of the applications of receiving the good life as opposed to trying to achieve the good life was really about letting. go of that that frustration that we have with other people or the frustration that we have with ourselves for falling short, because we all have fallen short and everybody in our life has fallen short of of what God wanted for us. We we if if it was by our own power, by our own works, by our own wisdom, by our own strength, we all have failed and If we're not careful, we get really frustrated with ourselves and with other people. And part of the application here is letting go of that frustration and that anger that we have with other people and with ourselves and trusting Jesus that he gives this good life, this blessed life to us to receive as a gift. And it's not something that we can achieve through our own works.

Barrett: That's great. Well, you kicked off you know, talking about the isms that are different kind of worldviews from legalism to consumerism and presenting, you know, what's wrong with the world and then the the formula on how to achieve the good life and they all kind of have this you know, these isms have these same ingredients. and so when you were prepping this sermon and you're thinking about maybe yourself or the world or are even our church, like, you know, what what do you see people struggling with and they're trying to achieve the good life through what isms come to mind and like w what do you think is something that people struggle with the most?

Wes McAdams: Well I think that the the most obvious One, the most obvious ideology that you could take away from this sermon would be legalism. The idea that through the following of the law we can achieve the good life. We can achieve the removal of the curse and the blessings of God by keeping the law, by doing what we're supposed to be doing. But I wanted to be really careful because when we when we condemn one sin or one way of messing up, it's really easy to point our finger at other people and say, Yeah, I know some of those. Legalists and yeah, those legalists, they've got a real problem with X, Y, and Z. I wanted people to understand that, yeah, but we also do that with liberalism or individualism or consumerism. All of these ideologies are essentially the same thing. It may not be a following of a specific law, but we have some conception, some theory about what's wrong with the world. And so if somebody is a is is, you know. Doubling down on individualism, they might say, Well, what's wrong with the world is that people see themselves as part of a group and people are following this group. And what you really have to do is express your individuality and lean into who I am, who my true self is, and follow my heart and do my own thing. Well, they have a theory about what's wrong with the world and a picture of What the good life would be. The good life would be every individual just doing whatever their heart desires and having whatever they want and pursuing their own happiness. And then here's the rules. Like here's what you need to do. You need to express yourself. You need to whatever it is. They they have also developed a plan, a procedure, a recipe to achieve the good life. Everybody has done that. And it's really easy for us to point our finger at someone else who has adopted a different ideology. And say, you people, you're the ones that Wes is talking about. You're the ones that the Bible is talking about. When really, like we used to say, when you point your finger at somebody, there's three more pointing back at you. I wanted people to understand that all of us have done this. It's not just Ezra and Nehemiah. It's not just the quote unquote legalists who have done this. We've all been legalistic in some to some degree, if by that we mean we've made up a set of rules or we've been given a set of rules and we feel like by following that set of rules we can achieve the good life for ourselves. We've all done that. It just depends on what set of rules we're talking about.

Barrett: Yeah, I think that's great to get to the the heart of that question is not, you know, what group do you see us struggle with the most? But hey, we're all in the struggle bus, right? We're all dealing with these issues. And I'm very thankful for the McDermott Road Church family of like we've got everybody on every end of all sorts of spectrums and thoughts and but I'm thankful that kind of despite that Despite all of our backgrounds and and differences, it's like man, we're excited to be here and excited to be a part of you know kingdom things and kingdom work here and willing to acknowledge more often than not, like so many families here are like, yeah, I've come from this background and there's a reason why I'm here. I've come from this background and there's a reason why I want to work with people that, you know, feel differently or think differently than I do currently or did in the past. And so it's been I thought that was a very interesting thought getting into the sermon yesterday, especially in our context for our church family. But Nehemiah through twelve yesterday and you know a lot of highlights for God's people like revival and you know they're reading the law outside standing but they're reading the law and it says they're attentive. I lo I love that you highlighted that 'cause it's like they're interested, they're involved and they're you know repenting and there's a lot going on positive wise. But then it ends on, you know, end of thirteen is very Yeah, just kind of a almost anticlimactic, very serious of like Nehemiah's like, You're not getting it, he's inking out hair. Why do you think scripture leaves us kind of in that that spot? Like, why is that the ending to this story?

Wes McAdams: Yeah. Well, I think that that is the question. That's the chief question here is why? And I think that if we only read the Bible in a prescriptive way rather than a descriptive way, we don't ask that. We say, well, this is what the Bible says, so it must be what I'm supposed to do. It's what I'm supposed to follow. It's it's an example for me to follow. Well, sometimes it's an example and sometimes it's an example of what not to do. It just because the Bible says this is what has happened doesn't necessarily mean that it's what should have happened or what we're supposed we are supposed to do. There are plenty of examples in the Bible that are descriptive, not prescriptive. And this is one of those series of stories where we're supposed to, I think, meditate on them. And I think there is wisdom in meditating on these to say, why is this here? Like, why were these stories preserved for us? And why are they told in this way? And why does it end like this? Why does it end, like you said, so anticlimactically? Like it could have ended with all the people signing on the dotted line saying, We agree, we will do what the Lord commands. Yay, success. We we reformed the people, and then it ends on this high note, but it keeps going after the the high note, and then it goes to another low note, and then it ends on the low note. It's like, why? Why did you end on the low note rather than on the high note? Or it could have ended after the walls were completed. Yay, the walls were completed and and all of our enemies, they are they they realize that God helped us in in what what we did, but then it goes back down and it keeps going up and down and up and down, and then it ends on a down note. And I think that's what we're supposed to do is say, why? Well, I think that when we look at hist historically, the fact that they would spend the next 500 years On a low note of waiting and anticipating and still saying, and the prophets coming to say, Why have you still not gotten your act together? I think that that the whole point is we need something that Ezra couldn't offer. We need something that Nehemiah couldn't offer. They were good and they did what they could do, but they were not perfect. They were not the Messiah. They were not the anointed one. They were not God coming in the flesh. Which is why the good news is as good as it is, because we all feel this tension, this waiting, this anticipation and expectation. And I think that's what Ezra and Nehemiah do for us. They they help us to see ourselves and they help us to anticipate the coming of the Messiah.

Barrett: That's great. I I love anything pointing to the gospel. All right. let's skip down to a couple of questions we got via email. to the podcast and and just a reminder to everybody watching and listening, we would love for you to be an intimate part of this conversation. And so you can leave comments below. You can send in your questions, especially to our McDermott Road family and those that are listening. Wes does a great job of sneaking in the QR code there at the end of the sermon. And so take advantage of that and send us questions. But we've got a couple that we wanted to get to. We received an email from Mark Maxey and he asked, What lessons can parents and leaders learn from Ezra and Nehemiah? And what can we do to avoid the despair of inevitable failure? And I think that goes with what we were just talking about, right? Like there are high notes, there are low notes. We know it all points to the cross and the gospel, a coming Messiah then and a messiah that's reigning now, right? But with kind of staring down, you know Despair and failure, like things are not always gonna go like we hoped and intended. You know, what are the lessons that we learn from Ezra and Nehemiah in particular?

Wes McAdams: Yeah. I love this word that he used, despair. And that's definitely something we want to avoid. We want to avoid despair because despair is hopelessness. And if there's anything that we have, it's hope. It's hope because not only are we anticipating The coming Messiah, which we still are. We are still anticipating the coming Messiah. But we have the benefit that Ezra and Nehemiah didn't have. We've already seen him. He's already appeared. He's already come. And so there is an already sense to this in that our hope, the hope that they had, has already been realized. Yes, there is a not yet aspect to this where we're still anticipating and expecting the coming Messiah, but we have a at least partially realized hope. Our hope has already been realized in Christ. We know who the Christ is. He's Jesus. We know how the Christ is freeing us, liberating us from the curse of sin, because he's already done it and we've already received the the good life. There's already a sense in which we're walking in and living in this good life. So there is no reason that the Christian should read this and despair because We have the New Testament. We have the coming of the king. We know the good news. But there is something that we should experience here, and I think it's disillusionment. And that can be a really positive thing. I think we need to allow our children to be disillusioned by the world's illusions. We are all under various illusions. Our ideologies come with it an illusion that. That this is the way the good life is achieved. And we all have this illusion. We all think if I if I only could do this, or if I only had that, if I was rich, I was famous, if I had power, if I had this, that, or the other, if this person was elected to office, if this person did this, then we would achieve the good life. We need to be disillusioned. We need to have those illusions shaken free from our mind and from our heart. We need to recognize that that's all a chasing after the wind. It's a Reason that I think Ecclesiastes is such a powerful book and a great introduction to the gospel because it tells us, hey, it's all, it's all smoke and mirrors, all of this. Every ism, every ideology is smoke and mirrors. It promises so much. It promises the world and it delivers not just delivers nothing or delivers less, it delivers slavery. We become more and more entangled, more and more in bondage the more we believe the lies. And we have the spirit of truth, the spirit of truth who reveals the the illusion of the world, but also the reality of the kingdom of God. And so we need to we need to recognize that just as Ezra and Nehemiah kind of got disillusioned as they went about their work to say, everything's gonna be great now. We're back in Jerusalem, the temple's rebuilt, we're we're sacrificing again, we're keeping the feast of booths, everybody's agreed to keep the law. And then they're like, wow, that really, as you said, was anticlimactic. It it didn't live up to the expectation. We need to allow our kids to experience that. We need to allow people to experience that with the world and discuss it with them to say, what did you, what did you hope was gonna happen? Like you thought if you pursued this job, if you pursued popularity, when I was in high school, like that was that was it, man. Like sitting at the right table, having the right friends, being quote unquote popular. I thought that was it. But then whether you experience it or not, at some point you have to come to grips with the the realization that, none of this is as cracked up as I thought it. It's not cracked up. What's the saying? Not not what it's cracked up to be. Yeah, yeah, there it is. Not what it's cracked up to be.

Barrett: Not correct. The B what Yeah.

Wes McAdams: It's not. None of it's as cracked up, whatever the saying is. It's not what it's cracked up to be. I I

Barrett: Yeah.

Wes McAdams: we all have to recognize that that's true of everything worldly, everything of the flesh, that the only one who keeps his promises, who delivers that good life is Jesus, and everything else is chasing after the wind.

Barrett: No, I'm real hung up on the etymology of it's not all it's cracked up to be. where did that

Wes McAdams: There it is. There it is.

Barrett: where did that come from? Why is that a phrase? Why is that a thing? no, I as a parent. I I think that's great. I think you to build, you know, Jenna and I talk about our boys like developing resiliency, therefore like experience f failure and disillusionment. And like you need to understand that sooner rather than later. And so I think that's a great lesson. I think what you've already mentioned like that there are ups and downs in this book of the Bible. Like what a great lesson for parents to teach their kids, but also to have in the back of their mind when you're like, I I'm trying to be like Ezra and Nehemiah here, I am reading you scripture, I'm teaching you these lessons, and we're all gonna fail afterwards. Like there's this inevitable failure that we're all gonna face, even though we're all doing the right things and we're all making this you know, the best effort that we can to be more like Jesus, like we're still gonna have low notes. We're still gonna hit these, you know, skids and so but to not fall into, you know, this ultimate despair that there's still hope that there is, you know, a high note coming, I think is a great lesson to learn. we're I acted like but in our pre show notes and kinda going over stuff, I acted like we were gonna end on this. But since we're already down here on these listener emails, I thought I would get to this second one and then we'll kinda go back and hit a couple more. But this one's from your son. He emailed it.

Wes McAdams: Who was out of town, by the way. He was out of town. He's w w staying with his grandparents in Abilene and and I got this right after first service and I was like, how cool. He was watching online and he sent in a question. I love it.

Barrett: My wife would say, What a sweet boy.

Wes McAdams: Yes.

Barrett: Yeah, he's a sweet boy. sweet boy move. Listening to his dad's sermon on a Sunday, sending in a question. That's probably his way of saying like I miss you two, you know, sort of vibe. But very honest email. I really liked this one. he said this summer we've talked a lot about not trying to fix your own life, but letting God do it. So how in a practical way do we actually do that? I want to, but I struggle with how do I actually let God fix things instead of doing it myself. Great question.

Wes McAdams: Yeah.

Barrett: I love anybody that's asking the, you know, practical questions that's right up my alley of like, yeah, we can discuss the, you know, theology behind a lot of this stuff, but what does it look like, right, in my day to day? So I love this question.

Wes McAdams: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, me too. Thank you, Noah, for for sending that in. Cause I think that that that and that's exactly what this podcast is all about. Is about, okay, let's get into the nitty-gritty. Let's get into like what is that supposed to look like? And it I I'm glad that this question came because it's not that Receiving rather than achieving means being passive. It doesn't mean not doing anything. Because, like you said, we're still trying to do what's right, do what's good, follow Jesus, be like Jesus, but we're doing it with a totally different motivation. We're doing some of the same things. I mean, there's some of the same things that a person who is receiving the good life rather than trying to achieve the good life may be doing some of the same things as the people on the other side of that equation. We when we are When we're receiving that good life from Jesus, when we're walking in faith, we're walking by the Spirit, we're still saying our prayers, we're still reading scripture, we're still going to worship, we're still, you know, giving to the poor, we're still doing good works, but we're doing them with a totally different motivation. It is not in order to try to earn a relationship with God or earn the lifting of the curse or earn good things happening to us. We're doing it out of gratitude. We're doing it because we're saying. Jesus has already rescued me. The curse has already been lifted from me. I've already been forgiven. I'm already indwelt with the Holy Spirit. I am already new creation. And because I believe that those things are true, even when they don't feel true, I'm going to act as if they are true because I know that they are by faith. And I'm going to do whatever Jesus tells me to do. I'm going to act in faith. I'm going to act fearlessly and faithfully, following Jesus. knowing that he is going to take care of me, he's gonna bless me, I'm gonna, I'm gonna obey and leave the the results or the consequences up to Jesus. And I'm gonna I'm gonna trust that everything is going to go in in the right way because my good and loving father is in charge and my older brother and my king has already paid the the price and I've already been set free and the spirit is already living in me. Like if we believe those things then how we act, it may not change from the the legalistic like rule following, but why we do that and the peace we feel when we inevitably fall short of that, Paul would say things like, when you bear one another's burdens, you are fulfilling the law of Christ. But if we we get, if we look at that from a legalistic standpoint, we say, well, when am I when am I done bearing one another's burdens? How many of Barrett's burdens am I supposed to bear? How many, you know, times am I supposed to forgive somebody who wrongs me? And Jesus would in in other words say, keep forgiving them seven times 70, like forgive them an infinite number of times. Like you, you can never check it off of a list. And so if you're trying to achieve, if you're trying to earn, if you're trying to work your way into a right relationship with God, you know, you you always feel anxious. You always feel like you're never done. Like, am I, have I been good enough? And I can't tell you how many times I've sat with people who are dying that have wondered, have I done enough? Am I good enough? And the answer is no, of course not. You haven't done enough. But if you receive the good life and you say, He's already done enough, it's not about that. I'm already in a right relationship with God. Then we can obey, we can pray, we can read our Bible, we can help the poor, we can become more and more like Jesus, knowing that. We're already rescued. We're already blessed. We already have the blessed life. So practically speaking, that's what it looks like. And it looks like letting go of the fear, letting go of the anxiety of trying to be enough and to recognize you already are. You already are forgiven. You already are accepted. You already are. Justified, and nothing in the world that you could do could make you any more justified or in a right relationship with God than you already are. So now go and obey, not out of a sense of trying to be good enough, not out of a sense of trying to achieve, but out of a gratitude that you have already received. It changes, it changes everything. It changes how we pray, it changes why we pray, it changes. How we help other people. It changes why we do. It changes how we show up for worship. So instead of showing up for worship because we feel like I gotta, I gotta do what God wants me to do. If I don't come to church enough, I might not make it to heaven. Like instead of that being our attitude, we're like, how could I be anywhere else? I just want to be where your people are. I just want to tell you thank you for everything that you've done. And that when that becomes our attitude, when when we're working out of an overflow of joy and gratitude and praise, it changes not only what we do, but how we attract other people to the Lord because they see in us like you're not you're not scared of being condemned. You're not scared of of what happens next. You're not you you can fearlessly love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you and turn the other cheek and follow the Sermon on the Mount, not out of a sense of Anxiety and fear and frustration, but out of a sense of gratitude, how do you do that? And like Peter says, when somebody asks you a reason for the hope that's within you, you can be prepared to give an answer. And we could say it's not me, it's him. And when he becomes the main character in our story, it changes everything. So that's my that's my encouragement is let him become the main character and and work and serve and obey. Out of a allegiance and loyalty and gratitude and joy rather than out of a sense of of trying to be good enough.

Barrett: Did you get that, Noah? No, that's great. and you mentioned two big ideas and and I wanna, you know, the the big takeaway core message was like, good life is not achieved, it's received, right? And so I wanted to have you hit on you know, how do you navigate that tension of you know, when you catch yourself in that Achieving mindset. And I think we hit on it a lot with Noah's answer. So I'm gonna ask kind of a twofold here, but like, is there more that you would say to somebody who's like, Man, I'm I get hung up on the achieving piece and how do I, you know, focus on that receiving one? and then the the idea of the good life is really We've received it and we are receiving it. We will receive it. The already not yet, which I think is a fantastic theme and you know, it's kind of a core message that runs across a lot of what you preach. It's also a lot of our mission and vision and what we talk about here at McDermott Road. It's definitely a huge part of the podcast. Like I feel like I come back to the already not yet kingdom tension all the time in our conversations because a lot of our hope comes from that. But with the idea of sliding back into the achievement mindset and the tension with already not yet, you know, where does our our hope come from? And for the Christian who's fighting those mindsets, like, you know, how does keeping that in mind really bring hope to the forefront of a Christian today? Phew, long working, terrible question.

Wes McAdams: Yeah. Yeah. That that's a lot. That's a lot. So tell me if I if I miss any of the the nuances of that question. But but yeah, I think that the we have to constantly keep in mind that we walk by faith and not by sight. And we are accepting that we have received the good life and we are receiving the good life right now, the blessed life, that we are, as the Beatitudes say, we are Blessed, like we have the blessed life if we are the people that the Beatitudes say are blessed. Like, are we hungry and thirsty for the righteousness of God? Are we, are we mourning? Are we meek? Like, if we are these kinds of people, then we believe that we are blessed. But the the irony is that the tension is that those kind of people don't feel like they have the blessed life. That doesn't look like the blessed life. The people that cry. That's the blessed life. The people that are persecuted for righteousness' sake, that's the blessed life. We believe that the kingdom of God has arrived and is arriving, that we have received and are receiving the blessed life. And we accept that that's true even when it doesn't feel true. We accept that Jesus is king, even though it doesn't feel like Jesus is king sometimes. We accept that Jesus Has all authority in heaven and on earth. Everything has been given to him, and he is already in the process of making all things new. The resurrection has already begun in the resurrection of Jesus. Like we accept that these things are true, even though they don't always feel like it. And I think addressing that tension is so important that we have to say, I'm gonna live and act as if these things are already true because I believe that they are already true. And the Holy Spirit working in us produces love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control. And I think when when we recognize that we are not walking in and by and through the spirit, when we're producing works of the flesh, that's the opposite of love and the opposite of joy and the opposite of peace and the opposite of patience. When we find ourselves frustrated and angry and hostile and harsh, then we ought to stop and say, Do I really believe that I have received and am receiving the kingdom of God, the good life right now? If I did, would I be responding to myself or to other people this way? Like if I'm responding to myself in a way that's frustrated and angry and harsh, if I'm pulling out their hair or my hair, if I'm beating them and cursing them, even in my heart. Like, do I believe that the kingdom of God is is here and that the curse has already begun to be lifted? If I did, would I be responding to their shortcomings or my shortcomings this way? The answer is always no. Like I wouldn't respond in harshness and anger and frustration this way in in being hostile towards people, if I really believed that the good news is good and the good news is true. But again, as you said, there's this tension that it's not just already, it's not just that it did happen or even that it is happening, but that also that it will happen. And we have to acknowledge that the the kingdom hasn't come in its fullness yet, that God's will is not yet done on earth as it is in heaven. It's already begun in Christ, but it hasn't yet reached its fullness. And so we have to recognize that while I walk by faith and I walk by the Spirit and I'm trying to let the Spirit's fruit become manifest in my life, I also have to recognize that that's challenging and difficult because there is still pain and poverty and injustice and and all of these harmful, hurtful things all around us, that we are people of the age to come. People of the future world that are living in this present broken world. And this present broken world will pass away and Jesus will make all things new. But we are living now in the present as if the future was already a reality because in Christ it is a reality. And that that tension is hard to live with, but that's that's what we're striving for. That's the practicality of all of this. Is that we are living in love and joy and peace. We're forgiving our enemies. We're acting as if everything is okay, even though we at the exact same time acknowledge, but it's not okay yet. And even though it's not okay yet, it will be. It will be okay. Jesus will make all things new. And it's living in that where we can hold joy in one hand and grief in the other because of this hope that we have in Christ that says that the the the promises of the prophets and the promises of Jesus and the prophet promises of the apostles are already true for us and they are coming true even right now in in the very in this very present moment and they will one day reach their full climax in Christ and He is coming back and all things will culminate in His return. All of those things we try to hold in our heart and our hands and our head simultaneously And it's really, really difficult. And we have to give room for people to express their lament about the brokenness of the world and at the same time remind one another of what we have, what we are receiving, and what we will receive when he comes.

Barrett: the only and I hate to tag such a great answer to such a botched question, but despite all of my failings, great answer you tag to all of it, and so I hate to add anything to it, but I do think the idea of, you know, comfort, like comfortably uncomfortable, like comes to mind of like, I think we should feel that all the time. Like We should be comfortable and whatever and content, you know, to use Paul's language, like I'm content whether I've got it all like whether everything's lined up or none of it is. And We should expect both ends of that to be happening at any given time. Like that's where we're supposed to be living because that is the tension that we're living in, that we're called to live in. Like that is the Sermon on the Mount. Those are the beatitudes, are these weird tensions between like, hey, you know, blessed are the peacemakers because they're gonna be sons of God, but you're a peacemaker in a war torn culture and world and time and you know think about I mean you could do that with all of them, but hopefully we are living comfortably uncomfortable and dealing with that tension and and finding hope in that. So Wes, thanks again for a great sermon yesterday and so much of your time this afternoon. what are we doing next month now? What's what's it gonna look like sermon series wise?

Wes McAdams: Yeah. Well, thanks thanks for your encouraging thoughts. I I love that idea of comfortably uncomfortable. That's really that's really good. I think it we always have to be fighting against those false dichotomies to say, is it this or this? Should Christians be happy or sad? And the answer is yes. It's both. And and yeah, we have to live in that tension. That's really good, Barry. Thank you.

Barrett: Well when you said it, I was like, dang, well now I'm wondering if you said that and that's where I got that idea. 'Cause I'm sure it's yeah.

Wes McAdams: No, not me. Not me.

Barrett: Comfortably uncomfortable might be something you've said a year ago and it just popped out in my mind. Yeah.

Wes McAdams: Not that I'm aware of. Okay, well, next month we are starting a new series on the book of James called Talk Is Cheap. In fact, I should have mentioned that on Sunday when I brought up James, but we're gonna start a new series called Talk Is Cheap. James is one of these books I love and I'm I'm so excited about this series because He's like, don't tell me, show me. And and the more talk that you have, like, yeah, yeah, yeah. You say you're religious, you say you're loving, you say you have faith, show me. Like, show me your faith, show me your love, show me that you're religious by caring for the widows and the orphans. And so we're gonna talk about this idea of so much. It's in so many eras, our religion is mere talk and we have to put our money where our mouth is, so to speak. We have to put our actions where our talk is and we ha it has to become real. It's exactly what Noah brought up in his question. Let's let's get practical here and let's talk about what do we do. It's not just about what we think and it's certainly not just about what we say, but it's about what we do.

Barrett: Hmm. That's great. I cannot wait. Sounds very exciting. And thank you all for listening and for watching. We appreciate our audience here and wherever you're listening and watching from. it goes a long way when you guys give us feedback and when you pour in your questions. So thanks for making it happen. We appreciate all of you. And thanks again, Wes. And we will catch you next time on the Post Sermon Podcast.

Wes McAdams: Thanks so much for listening to P.S., the Post Sermon Podcast. To find out more about this podcast or about the Church of Christ on McDermott Road, you can visit our website at ccmcdermott.org slash P.S. If this has been an encouragement to you, we also hope you will rate and review the show wherever you're listening, as well as share it with a friend. Because we believe sermons are not just for Sunday, but for our whole week and our whole life.