What The World Needs Now

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Let's pray together.

Father, oftentimes we sing great things in the church and things we need to be reminded of and remember and reoriented around and towards.

And a couple of those happened in that song we just sang, where we just kind of reminded ourselves that my shepherd will defend me.

I'm not just loved, and that's enough, but I am defended, and my shepherd will defend me.

I am the sheep, we are the sheep of your pasture.

And so come to our aid, God, come to our defense, rise up as a mighty man of war, someone that is intent on accomplishing a certain outcome on the behest and for the good of your people.

Our shepherd will defend us.

So whoever we need defending today, we're asking you to rise up and come to that place, come to that moment, come to that area of our life where we need defending, where just the circumstances of life are beating us down, and we need to be defended.

That's why you're a shepherd, and we are the sheep of your pasture.

We are remembered people.

And we confess to the Lord tonight, that this morning, God, that the night is dark.

Ah, but we're not forsaken.

And so we're not gonna live in fear.

The night is dark and the light shines brightest against the darkness.

And so it is it is dark, but it is opportunity, God, for us to give a reason for the hope that is within us.

And Lord, also, we just sang and said, and day by day, He will renew me.

And so finally, Lord, I just want to pray that you would renew us from your word and by your spirit renew us, stir up in us reminders of the power of the gospel and the capacity we have and the responsibility we have as those who have received the gospel.

The gospel came to us on its way to someone else.

And so let us take our clues for this parable that we see in your word this morning.

Holy Spirit, illuminate the scripture and cast shadow on everything else.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

If you got a Bible, you can take it and uh open it up to Luke chapter 10.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

As you know, we've been in a series this summer.

The staff has.

I've not been here because I've been on sabbatical, and after today, I will go back on sabbatical.

I've got to go uh uh a free climb, L Cap.

But anyway, uh I I I uh uh uh we're in a series on parables.

I said, give me a parable.

And so uh uh under the smiling hand of Providence, one of the parables I was given was the parable of the Good Samaritan.

And I want to talk to you from Luke chapter 10, starting verse 25, uh from the parable what's known as the parable of the good Samaritan.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

And here's where I want to talk to you about what the world needs now.

What the world needs now.

And the answer is not love, sweet love.

Uh and so let me just read in Luke chapter 10, starting verse 25, uh down to verse 37.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

Uh, and then uh I want to, Mr.

White wants to cook a little bit, and then we'll get out of here.

Uh Luke chapter 10, verse 25, Jesus, the Bible says this, and behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test.

Luke 10:25

Bad idea.

Bad idea.

Uh uh a lawyer, some some cocky, arrogant young kid with braided leather suspenders and a nice suit that was tailored, stands up to take on Jesus.

Not a good idea.

You got two problems there.

That kind of stupidity is motivated by two things.

Number one, you think too much of yourself.

And number two, you don't think enough of Jesus.

But Jesus is merciful, even with cocky, arrogant people who ask questions to make a point.

And so this lawyer stood up to put Jesus to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

He said to him, What is written in the law?

How do you read it?

And he answered, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

And he said to him, You have answered correctly.

Do this, and you will live.

Which what Jesus understands is this is impossible apart from the gospel.

But he, the lawyer, the young kid, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor?

And Jesus replied, A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.

Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion on him.

He went to him and he bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, and then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.

And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.

Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?

He, the lawyer, said to him, the one who showed him mercy.

And Jesus said to him, You go and do likewise.

You go and do likewise.

And so what is the world what the world needs now is four uh really clear understanding, uh uh uh uh understanding of four things that come from the text.

The first one is simply this that salvation is determined by your fidelity to the law of the gospel.

Salvation is determined by your fidelity, your faithfulness to the law of the gospel.

Look at verse 25 again.

The lawyer stands up and he puts Jesus to the test.

Uh and now if you haven't, but he asks this great question, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

If you haven't wondered about that question, let me suggest to you that you should think about that question early and often.

And when you think about it, you think about it in terms of the principles of Scripture, not the sentiment of the individual.

Let me say that again.

When you think about eternal life, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

Translation, how do I get to heaven?

How do I get from this whirling dirt ball of chaos and fire and protest and upheaval and uncertainty and virus and shutdown and oh we're gathering as a church?

Yay! Oh no, we're not.

Boo! How do you get from this world to the perfection of heaven?

If there was ever a time that that bright question needed to be pondered, it is right now, beloved.

It's been pondered for since man was created.

How do I, if there is another life, how do I get to it?

Great question.

But when you think about it, think about it in terms of the principles of scripture, not the sentiment of the individual.

And what'll help is to notice two things.

Notice number one, what Jesus doesn't say, and then secondly, notice what Jesus does say in response to the question, what what what what what can I do to inherit eternal life?

I mean, how do I how do I get to heaven?

Number one, what Jesus doesn't say, he doesn't say, pray the prayer.

He doesn't say, oh man, that's that's that's that's easy.

Let me explain to you.

Just pray this prayer.

Because every TV preacher, see, one of the I try not to, but I get up early on Sundays because I've used to get up early on Sundays to kind of get liquored up on caffeine and stare at my sermon notes.

And so now I get up early on Sundays and I watch TV preachers and I've shot three TVs.

Uh I need another TV because at the end of every one of them, they look in the camera and go, we don't like to end our broadcast giving you the opportunity to make Jesus Lord of your life.

If you would like Jesus to be Lord of your life, just say this prayer with me.

That is nowhere in the Bible.

That's not how people get to heaven.

And what happens is you give people this false assurance that I've I've said some kind of chant, some poem, some incantation.

I prayed the prayer, uh, quote unquote.

And now, and matter of fact, that's no, not only is that nowhere in the Bible, and we are warned against this kind of unbiblical zeal.

Matthew chapter 23, verse 15, Jesus is laying out these seven woes against the Pharisees and the teachers, the religious leadership structure of the day.

Matthew 23:15

And he says this in Matthew 23, 15, he says, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, if you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, a convert.

And when he becomes a proselyte, a convert, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

Let me ask you a question.

Do you have anybody in your life that talks that honestly with you?

Can you just feel, wouldn't you like to be at once in your life, be at a dinner party where someone just got off the reservation and just laid down the social mores and just dropped the mic on somebody else?

Where somebody just kind of said, Hey, hey, how's the chicken?

It's kind of dry.

Clearly you didn't pay attention, you were cooking and got distracted and you half burned it, but I choked it down to be nice anyway.

I hope dessert is better.

Anyone?

I mean, don't you want to be at that where you're just like, oh yes?

Jesus just says, loves these people enough.

And by the way, this kind of talking doesn't come from a place of hate.

This kind of talking comes from a place of love.

I mean, think about it.

I know that's that goes contrary to public opinion, but but but but if you you're around somebody and they are religious and they are, as Jesus said, you know, a child of hell, you make them twice as much a son of hell as you are.

I mean, give me a break.

You're headed to hell being religious all the way to the gates, dude.

And you go out and teach people to be like you by just saying, hey, say this and do this.

This is what Jesus doesn't say.

Notice what he doesn't say in response to the question, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

He doesn't say, do this, which there are thousands, I would say millions of people in America who live these powerless lives that are overwhelmed with guilt because they can't seem to do this.

And all they keep telling themselves was that, well, I prayed the prayer.

That's nowhere in the Bible.

Notice what Jesus does say.

This is why I say salvation is determined by your fidelity to the gospel.

What does he say?

He has two important questions in verse 26.

He says, What is written in the law?

That's exposition.

And then he says, How do you read it?

This is interpretation.

How do you understand?

How do you interpret and understand the Bible?

Now, one of those is never at the mercy of the other, while one is always at the mercy of the other.

And so let's get real clear.

There's a lot of people that are there there's this uh their sense of activism is the new atonement.

I'm I'm working out my salvation with fear and trembling by righting all the wrongs in culture, and I'm protesting this.

Activism is a new form of atonement.

And the and I just want to say it's never gonna atone for your sins.

It's not gonna atone for your sins, the sins of your forefathers, the sins of a generation uh thousands of years ago.

The only thing that atones for the sins of humanity is the blood of Jesus Christ.

Everything else pales in comparison.

It's just political blather, and it will come to nothing when it comes to your sins.

Now, what does Jesus say?

He points him back to the law because salvation is determined by your fidelity to the law of the gospel.

And the reality is that none of us can keep the law.

None of us can keep the law.

So we need somebody who's perfect.

An imperfect person like me, despite my best religious efforts, needs a perfect person who's kept the law in my place.

And then not only that, but he died in my place for the fact that I couldn't keep the law.

Just file that away.

And so with two simple questions, Jesus just turns this lawyer on his ear and says, Thank you for your degree.

I'm glad you went to Stanford for your undergrad, and I'm glad you went to Harvard and got your law degree, and I'm glad you work at a prestigious firm and got a corner office.

But you, my man, are bringing Kool-Aid to a gin party, okay?

With two questions, I'll send you home crying to your mama.

And they're simply this what is written in the law, the unchanging certainty that governs all of the universe, the law of God.

And secondly, how do you read it?

The second thing the text tells us that the world needs is it to understand that man's natural inclination is towards self-justification.

Man's natural inclination is towards self-justification.

You say, I don't know what you mean.

Look at verse 29.

But he, the lawyer, after Jesus drops this on him and says, Hey, what's written in the law?

How do you read it?

Man, this guy's a great law student.

He says, Oh, you should love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

And he said to him, You have answered correctly.

Do this and you will live.

Verse 29.

But he, this is what I mean when I say man's natural inclination is towards self-justification.

In other words, I want to justify myself.

I want to live and breathe and move and spend money and demonstrate my morals in a way that says, I do not need a sinless savior to keep the law for me and be sacrificed for me, because through my activism or through my political affiliation, or through, hey, whatever, whoever I vote for, I'm making the world a better place.

I am my own Messiah.

That is self-justification.

Verse 29, after Jesus lays this down, he says, You've answered correctly.

Do this and you will live.

But desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, and who is my neighbor?

I mean, who is my neighbor?

I mean, we live in such a global village.

I mean, when you say neighbor, is that this house over on my right, this house on the left, is it two houses to the left, and two houses to the right?

Is it everybody on my street in cul-de-sac?

There are 14 houses, 11 different nationalities, ethnic people groups are represented on my little street in cul-de-sac.

Okay?

And they're all my neighbors.

And the people I meet walking my dog, they're now my neighbors.

And the people that live two streets over who are like, hey, I think I know you, and like, they're my neighbor.

So this guy, because we want to justify ourselves, this is what we do, this is our nature, it is our preference, it is what we do, it's the way we function.

Now, I realize that self-justification may not be a term or a phrase that you're familiar with, so let me give you a description and a definition of self-justification because this is the bent of human nature.

And this is why this guy, he, he, desiring to justify himself, asked Jesus the clarifying question.

And who exactly is my neighbor?

When you say neighbor, I mean we're getting kind of particular here, don't you think?

Jesus, this kind of feels like you're hating on me here by neighbor.

Do I get to decide?

Do you get to decide?

Because we at our heart.

And here's one thing I want you to understand today.

I want you to understand that at the core of your being on your best day, your natural tendency is to justify yourself.

It just is.

It's the thumbprint of Adam on all of us.

Here's a description and definition.

Essentially, we create a narrative about the world that reflects our beliefs about the kind of person we are, and we assign to this narrative a truth which does not, in fact, exist.

It is not the same thing as lying or making excuses.

It is more powerful and more dangerous than the explicit lie.

It allows people to convince themselves that what they did was the best thing they could have done.

In fact, come to think of it, it was the right thing.

Just breathe that in in the context of what's going on in our country right now.

As we tear down statues and monuments and we want to, hey, history starts today.

Nothing existed before we got here.

It allows people to convince themselves that what they did was the best thing they could have done.

In fact, come to think of it, it was the right thing.

Self-justification is a portrayal of the brain that, despite its stated goals or desires, is not interested in truth, but rather self-preservation.

And that, beloved, I just want to submit to you from the Bible, verse 29 of Luke 10, desiring to justify himself.

This is every one of us, apart from the gospel.

And even after the gospel, we have to wrestle ourselves away from self-justification.

That's why you don't confess your sin as much as you should.

You give an explanation for why you did what you did.

You don't say to your mom and dad when you miss curfew, you know what?

Because my heart is deceitfully wicked and I don't want to submit to you, that's why I was 40 minutes late.

Wouldn't you love your kids to come home at least one day and say that to you?

Just one night you're sitting at the bottom of the stairs, got your wife meter on, dad, and your son comes in, he's like, What are you doing?

I tell you what I'm doing.

I'm about to get up in your chili real quick.

And you better pray to God your mom doesn't come get me before I get you, okay?

Because I'm tired of this.

Wouldn't you be just refreshing if your son just came in and said, You know what, Dad?

I just want to confess that yet again, despite the fact that you're gracious and generous and you provide well, and you're a great spiritual example, and you live a very moral life, I offended your goodness again by taking advantage of you because I don't want to submit to anything but my own will.

And that's terrible, Dad.

And I think you should punish me more than you ever have before.

Can you imagine any of your children ever saying that?

Wouldn't you just be like, I don't want to punish you anymore.

Because if you could live in light of this understanding, you would be a different kid the rest of your life.

But self-justification always provides explanations.

Two main ways we seek to justify ourselves ignorance and effort.

Both of them are manifested in this lawyer in this passage.

Ignorance.

First of all, he pleads, he kinds of put the question in terms of that that are unanswerable, so he cannot be held accountable or responsible for the answer.

I mean, and who is my neighbor?

I mean, it's almost like it's not like an earnest, hey, who's my neighbor?

Because I'm down with that kind of thing.

I want to be right, I want to treat the people around me right.

No, no, it's like, ah, I mean, really, who is my neighbor?

I mean, if we're getting particular here, Jesus, and Jesus is like, yeah, this is what I mean by by ignorance.

He's just pleading ignorance.

Well, I didn't know.

I didn't know.

And then, secondly, one of the ways we seek to justify ourselves is through effort.

This is an initial question.

What must I do to inherit eternal life?

What must I do?

Now, by the way, before we do anything, we have to trust what's already been done.

This is how you kill self-justification.

You realize I I can't do anything.

If I could do anything to affect change in myself spiritually, then why does Jesus have to come?

If I could do anything, but that's that's human nature, it's effort.

This is again how we kill self-justification.

We realize there's nothing I can do to make myself right with a holy God, but God sent his son to be payment for my sin, and it became sin for me so that so that I can become righteous in God's sight.

It's not just, oh, your sin got paid for, be grateful.

No, no, no.

It's not just payment, it's identity.

I become righteous.

He took my sin and he gave me his righteousness.

Righteousness, to use a Puritan word, was imputed to me.

I became through through through through conversion something I could never do on my own.

I didn't do it, I received it.

And so this is how, again, how you kill self-justification.

And as a consequence of this reality, what I do now reflects the nature, worth, beauty, glory, and intimacy of the gospel.

And when the Bible says conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel, I don't feel pressure like, oh my God, are you kidding me?

That's so much pressure.

I feel motivation.

I feel like, yes, and why would I not conduct myself in a manner worthy of the gospel?

The gospel is not the door that I opened by praying a prayer when I was 10 and got into the kingdom.

It is the air that I breathe.

It's the scratch and sniff that I'd say, oh my God, that smells so good.

Have you smelled this?

It smells like leather.

I mean, you may not have been here.

If you're watching at home right now, you should tell your kids, we're gonna come to the church this week and we're gonna come to Cam, the new youth guy's office, because it smells like leather.

He's like the love child of Tom Landry and John Wayne, okay?

You walk by and it's like, dude, are you skinning cows in there?

And I just smile now because I just the gospel is that pungent.

It's that aromatic, it's that fragrant.

Mike Rice, one of our elders, prayed earlier, case sense that the Lord is good.

The Bible appeals to all your senses because the gospel captures all your senses.

It also says crazy things like this that we're the fragrant aroma of Christ to those who are perishing.

You should take some time today and ask yourself hey, with all that's going on, what do I smell like?

Do I still smell like Jesus?

Do I smell like sweat, determination, and fear?

Or is the fragrant aroma of Christ being manifested in me, on me, and out of me?

Because man's natural.

What the world needs now is to understand that man's natural inclination is towards self-justification.

I have friends from all races, had a great conversation, got a little spirited with a friend of mine who's African-American who wanted to talk about reparations.

And I said, Yeah, I'm I talk, tell me about reparations.

And he gave me his spirited case reparations.

And basically, reparations, if you don't know, is that that white people should pay black people for the sins of our forefathers in slavery, and there's a lot more to it.

That's a real simple version.

And I said, Here's the problem with that, okay?

Uh the problem with that is it makes white people responsible for your success.

And you do not need white people to succeed.

And he said, That's a good point.

I gotta think about that.

And I and I said, This is just another form of self-justification.

I mean, we who live today cannot do anything about the evils of slavery besides call it what it was, okay?

But I love Dwight Howard.

Dwight Howard, who's been pampered since he was 16, a basketball player in the NBA, said the other day, and I quote, we're no longer slaves.

You were never a slave, Dwight.

Please get off the cross.

Somebody's already made sufficient use of the wood.

You don't get to say that.

That is an offense to people who are really slaves.

But see how how ingrained in the culture self-justification he drops that phrase and then he asks for something from the from the world at large.

Give me a break.

I don't believe you.

You are the fat man trying to sell me slim fast.

No, sir.

Not buying it.

Why?

Because that's self-justification.

I've got my own standard of oughtness, and this ought to happen because I just what I just said.

Please, you got drafted in the NBA right out of high school.

You made millions of dollars.

And here's the worst part.

You're not that good anymore.

You're just riding LeBron James coattails to a ring.

Thank you.

Here's the third thing the Bible tells us is that Jesus calls us from a neighborhood to a brotherhood.

He calls us from a neighborhood to a brotherhood.

It's verse 30.

Now, before I start reading verse 30, this again, I want to just give you a little background.

This is a Samaritan.

It's called the Good Samaritan.

That's not like a race of people, the Good Samaritans.

The Samaritans were not good people.

There was, matter of fact, the Jews, the religious leadership of the day, God's people, they hated Samaritans.

John chapter 4, there's a story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well.

John 4 · chapter mention

And this woman is so perplexed that Jesus is even talking to her.

He says to her, hey, I mean, she says to him, Hey, you're a Jew and I'm a Samaritan.

Why are you even talking to me?

You're talking about racial division.

I mean, a Jew would get up every day and thank God for three things.

Number one, I thank you that I'm not a dog, a woman, or a Samaritan.

I mean, I mean, you you offended three of the biggest people groups in America.

Dogs, we spend billions of dollars on our dogs.

We have to order a special kind of dog food.

It came in the mail this past week.

I repented to my dead father because my wife said, Oh, he's got to have this.

And I'm like, what?

Dog food should not come in the mail.

It just shouldn't.

Like somebody, what'd your dogs eat when you were a kid?

Whatever we didn't eat off the table.

Oh, he can't eat bad.

He can't eat people food.

Hey, he eats it a lot when you're not looking, Marcy, but I ain't saying anything.

So the Jews would say, hey, I'm not a dog, I'm not a woman.

Could you be more offensive?

And I'm not a Samaritan.

I mean, you think racism is bad today.

It was horribly ingrained in the culture back then.

And yet Jesus comes along and it says he is made from two, the Jew and the Gentile.

Two people have nothing in common, one new man.

For racism to proliferate in America is an offense to the crucifixion.

Because it says that basically, now I'm not here to determine who is the racist and who isn't.

I'm just telling you, one of the reasons I'm not is because it's an offense to the crucifixion.

It says that Jesus did not accomplish what he accomplished on the cross for the sake of all of humanity.

Jesus calls us from a neighborhood to a brotherhood.

Hear these words again.

I want you to picture a world in which this was lived out on a daily basis by individuals, not organizations or institutions or movements or, God forbid, the government.

Hear this, verse 30.

But desiring to justify himself, he said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor?

And Jesus replied, A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho.

And he fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.

Now by chance, a priest.

Hello.

Now by chance, Pastor Neil was going down that road.

And when he saw him, he passed, he crossed the street and passed on the other side.

One thing my African-American friend said to me, he said, You know what looks like?

I said, I don't.

He said, I'll be walking down the road.

People will see me and they'll cross over.

And I said, I'm so sorry.

But I'm not morally responsible for that.

This is what the Bible's talking about.

He passed by on the other side.

Verse 32.

So likewise, a Levite, you know what a Levite was?

They were the tribe that was responsible for worship taking place in the temple 24-7.

So to contemporize it, so likewise, Pastor Clyde, our worship leader, when he came to the place and saw him, he crossed the street and walked down the other sidewalk.

But a Samaritan, a greasy, low-class, spit upon, sat upon, spat upon, ratted on, Samaritan, who Jews hated.

Samaritan.

As he journeyed.

Mark those three little words.

As he journeyed, he went on a mission trip.

Somebody said to me, Oh, I'm really sad we're not taking any mission trips this summer.

I said, Are you going to the grocery store?

Are you going anywhere with your kids?

Are you leaving your house?

Then you're going on a mission trip.

Oh, you ain't got to get off.

I'm not mad.

I'm just, I'm sick and tired of Christians thinking missions means I get a stamp in my passport.

Let me tell you something, beloved.

Missions is breathing.

If you're breathing, you're on a mission trip.

That's the way I want our whole church to think about it.

If you're breathing, you're on a mission trip.

It's not, oh, well, I hate that we didn't get to go to France.

Oh, I hate that we're not going to Costa Rica anymore.

When are you going to go back to Romania?

And blah, blah, blah.

It's great.

When are you going to do something about your neighbor?

You can't trip over your neighbors on your way out the door to Romania.

That's not missions, that's hypocrisy.

Jesus calls us from this neighbor.

This guy's talking about who's my neighbor.

And Jesus, Jesus is not neighborhood.

Jesus is talking about brotherhood.

He's like, give me a break.

Get what this Samaritan does.

This, as he journeyed, he came to where he was.

When he saw him, he had compassion.

He went to him and he bound up his wounds and poured on oil and wine.

And then he said on his own animal.

By the way, caring for people displaces you.

If he sets this guy on his own animal, he's walking now.

He sets him on his own animal and he brought him to an inn and he took care of him.

And the next day he took out two denarii and he gave it to the innkeeper, saying, Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.

Well, caring about people involves two other things.

This is free, it's not in the notes.

It involves, you know, your resources, your stuff, but also your reputation.

Do you have the reputation that you could say to a hospital nowadays, hey, take care of this guy?

Here's a couple thousand, and I'll be back in a couple weeks, and whatever you spend more, I'll settle up with you then.

That's what happens here.

He says, I'll pay you when I come back.

Jesus says, which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?

See, Jesus calls us from neighborhood to a brotherhood.

The lawyer's thinking in terms of neighborhood.

Jesus is speaking in terms of brotherhood.

I have a friend, my friend Larry sent me this quote this past week, and I was like, oh, that's making it into the sermon.

And by the way, before I read this quote, uh, this quote was written in 1935.

Just let that land on you.

1935, a man named Philip Gibbs wrote a book called The Cross of Peace.

And in the book he says this Today there are all sorts of zigzagging, crisscrossing, separating fences running through the races and the people of the world.

Modern progress has made the world a neighborhood.

God has given us the task of making it a brotherhood.

In these days of dividing walls of race and class and creed, we must shake the earth anew with the message of the all-inclusive Christ, in whom there is neither bond nor free, Jew nor Greek, Scythian nor barbarian, but all are one.

This is the earth-shaking message of the gospel.

Unless we see everything we encounter through the lens of the gospel and we ask, how does the gospel speak to this?

Then the lesser affections of our heart will manifest themselves and we will misrepresent not only ourselves, but we'll represent both God and the gospel in the process.

And the danger in this setting is twofold, okay?

It's twofold.

Number one, that we'll forget the gospel, and secondly, that something else will become the gospel.

That we'll forget the gospel.

And I'm not mad at anybody.

I'm not.

I just we're forgetting the gospel.

In this age of protest and outrage.

Well, how does the gospel inform what you're doing right now?

We forget the gospel, and something else becomes the gospel, and what becomes the gospel is whatever you're most passionate about, the biggest change you want to see.

And to help us see brotherhood over neighborhood.

John writes in these words in 1 John chapter 3, starting verse 11.

1 John 3 · chapter mention

Just listen for the brotherhood in this.

For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning: that we should love one another.

We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother.

And why did he murder him?

Because his own deeds were evil and his brothers righteous.

Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.

We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers.

Whoever does not love abides in death.

Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

By this we know love.

They laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?

Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth.

By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him.

For whoever for whenever our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.

Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God.

And whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandment and do what pleases him.

And this is his commandment that we believe in the name of his son Jesus Christ and we love one another, just as he has commanded us.

Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God and God in him.

And by this we know that he abides in us by the Spirit whom he has given us.

Let me just draw your attention to that about four, the last five sentences there.

He says, Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God, and whatever we ask, we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

I was meeting with someone for counseling not while not too far not too long ago, a couple months maybe.

Uh this was already going on.

But the person came to me and said, Hey, I just I don't pray anymore.

Prayers are a waste of time.

I don't fucking anything's happening.

I mean, God's not answering my prayers.

And I just said, Is there any reason God shouldn't be answering your prayers?

Here's what do you mean?

God always answers prayers.

I said, Well, yeah, he always answers prayer, yes, no, and wait.

But I mean, you act like if I said it, I should get it.

And he goes, What?

Yeah, I mean, and I just said, instead of blaming God, I want you to look inside of you.

Is there any reason?

He said, Well, and I referenced this, I said, Does your heart condemn you?

Here's what do you mean?

I said, When you pray, is there a part of you that like, is there anything going on in your life?

Are you engaged in any sinful behavior?

That if God were to answer your prayer, it would be an offense to the nature of God.

Well, you're getting me all confused.

I don't think I am.

I'm a very simple person.

What I'm asking is what John says in 1 John 3.

Does your heart condemn you?

Does your heart kind of like, come on, poser, who are you kidding here?

Really?

You don't mean these words?

Because you're you're self-justifying.

You're gonna get it yourself.

Well, I mean, I'm not perfect or anything.

Oh, here we go.

Get off the cross, you two.

No say anything about being perfect.

I'm saying when you pray, does your heart condemn you?

Are you choking on the fumes of your own hypocrisy?

Or if your heart doesn't condemn you, you have confidence before God and whatever we ask, we receive from him.

Why?

Because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

What father would not want to give to his children who do what he says, who keep his commandments and do whatever pleases him?

That wouldn't move the heart of a father.

See, you've come to my office to defend the integrity of our heavenly father, because this man's a believer as well.

And I'm not hating, I'm loving you enough to say, I think your heart's condemning you, but you're not listening.

You should listen to your heart instead of blaming God.

And I think your prayers will get sorted.

Well, is that it?

I said, That's it.

And we prayed, and I prayed.

He goes, Well, I don't want to pray.

I feel bad.

I said, I don't feel bad.

I just think it's our human nature is to blame God.

And like God said to Cain back in Genesis, hey, the problem's you.

Look, look inside you.

What can be kidding our world if we all just said, you know what, before I look anywhere else, I want to look inside me.

Here's the last thing the text tells us that the world needs right now is to grasp that mercy makes us all responsible.

Mercy makes us all responsible.

Verse 36, he says, Jesus says, Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?

And the lawyer gets it right, finally.

He said, the one who showed him mercy.

And Jesus said to him, You go and do likewise.

Now, that word mercy, let me give you the definition for it, is simply this it's kindness or goodwill towards the miserable and the afflicted joined with a desire to help them.

Let that end just for a moment.

We're just about done.

You still with me?

Uh uh just just re- re- re- re-reset the kids' DVD up in the game room.

Uh it's mercy is kindness or goodwill towards the miserable and the afflicted, joined with a desire to help them.

It's not just pity, it's not just a oh, it's not just a feeling.

It's a it's a feeling that leads to an action.

And this is important because this is the directive that Jesus ends this section with.

And to be clear, it's not works-based salvation.

Jesus says, hey, go and do likewise.

This is not how you inherit eternal life.

That's what I mean when I say it's not a works-based salvation.

Oh, go be merciful.

Give away some clothes that you don't wear anymore to the poor people.

No, no, no, no, no.

No.

It's not works-based salvation.

But it is this: hey, people that have received mercy, they are people of mercy.

It is not work, but works-based salvation, it is a demonstration of true conversion, of true salvation.

And so this is, I've received mercy, okay?

Translation: God has shown kindness and goodwill to this miserable affected person.

Do you remember how miserable you were before God revealed himself to you?

And this person, I received mercy.

This miserable, affected person, God has shown kindness and goodwill towards me.

And in so doing, he has helped me.

Therefore, I now want to demonstrate to the world in which I live.

I'm not waiting for it to be legislated or demanded or required of me.

It flows freely from me with great consequence.

And uh one of the consequences is comfort.

I mean, can you just imagine a world that's a wash in this kind of mercy?

Can you imagine a world full of Christians who take a lesson from a Samaritan, somebody that is of a different race than them, and says, you know what?

That is awesome.

The preacher and the worship leader got it wrong.

You got it right, and I am so glad that you did.

I'm convicted by the way you were displaced, the way you saw this person and went to them and you poured the oil and the wine.

And I want to just close this morning by saying, can you imagine, can you envision a world within which this kind of behavior happens, not as a legislation from the government.

Stop waiting on the government to fix your problems.

But just as individuals, we just kind of said, Hey, God has shown me mercy.

And therefore, I'm gonna be a steward, a conduit of this kind of mercy, is in the warp and woof, is like the Samaritan.

As I journey, I don't need an organized special trip.

I'm just kind of going.

I'm not waiting for it to happen because for me, missions is breathing.

And just I want you to envision a world in which people embrace this.

Uh uh, hey, this is I've received mercy, and therefore, as I'm journeying, whether I'm going to HEB, whether I'm going to the beach for the weekend with my family, whether I'm going to the golf course, whether I'm going to the office, whatever, wherever I'm going, I'm a person who's received mercy, and therefore I can bring mercy, this kind of compassion that sees and meets needs in Jesus' name to any circumstance and situation I find myself in.

Then here's the question that comes from at the end of all that.

Just envision that world and then ask yourself if that was really happening, would we ever need a protest?

Unless you don't have to email me and say, What were you saying?

I didn't quite get what you were saying there at the end.

Are you saying protests are bad?

I didn't say that.

I can be responsible for what I say and what I write.

I cannot be responsible for what that makes you think or feel.

Put your big boy pants on and own that yourself.

I'm just saying, what would it be like if we just had a world where people just demonstrated this kind of I receive mercy?

And God has shown kindness and goodwill to this miserable affected person, and evidence that I've I that the gospel has came to me, evidence that I have eternal life?

Is it I I I give mercy.

And I just suggest to you, I don't think we would ever need a protest.

I'm not getting into all the hot topics of the day.

Not what this is about.

Because none of those are the gospel.

This is the gospel.

And you have to ask ourselves.

Because you can go down there and pump your fist and hold a sign and give money and never know Jesus.

Never have your heart converted by the good news of Jesus Christ.

God didn't just send his son to pay for your sin.

God sent his son to give you righteousness, to make you right with God.

Something you could never do on your own.

So there's nothing I can do to inherit eternal life.

What I can do is embrace and believe and accept what Christ has done for me to receive it as a gift.

Let's pray together.

We like to uh preach the gospel and give you some space to think about it.

And so some questions will come up on the screen just for your mental worship, just for you to kind of orient your mind and your affections and your intellect around the gospel, uh, not your feelings.

Uh so let me voice a prayer and let's just kind of marinate in these juices for a moment before we're dismissed.

Father, thanks for the gospel.

It's so thought-provoking.

Uh uh, it doesn't mock anybody, it doesn't make fun of anybody.

And to be clear, I'm not doing that today.

Uh, people are having to protest because Christians have withheld mercy from the public square.

And we've received mercy, God, and we just want to be good stewards of that.

We don't want to waste our life being an activist because activism is not a path to atonement.

It doesn't forgive the fact I'm living with my boyfriend if I go protest at a Black Lives Matter rally.

It doesn't change that one iota.

I'm still living in sin.

And I'm not mad at that person, God.

I'm just like, don't fall for the hype.

Activism is not a form of atonement.

The only thing that can atone for my sins is that a perfect God sacrificed himself on the cross for a wretched, damnable sinner like me.

Not just so I can be forgiven, but so I can be righteous.

Because I received mercy, God, I can give mercy.

When I act mercifully to the culture around me, it's not a statement about me, it's a statement about you.

People ought to smell the fragrant aroma of King Jesus.

Get a whiff of Jesus, boys and girls.

This is what he smells like.

He does not smell like a Molotov cocktail and a black Sharpie and cardboard.

He smells winsome and free, liberated.

Those are all the things we were created for.

The Holy Spirit just brood over us while we just think for a little bit before we're dismissed.

Father, thanks for your word.

Thanks for uh its uh its effect on our life.

It's like a threshing sledge, new and sharp with many teeth.

It doesn't hurt us, it just strips away the husks to get down to the seed, that which has potential and power.

So Holy Spirit, uh let the seed of your word uh take root and bear fruit in our lives this week, in our thoughts and in our conversations.

And if it's spurred questions in us, let us ask those questions, not to make a point, but to actually get clarity, to get knowledge, and to get freedom.

Jesus, you said we'll know the truth, and the truth will set us free.

We want to be freer men and women as a result of what we heard today.

Now, God, thanks for that you made my little friend Jimmy and he came to church today.

Uh, I'm just honored to have met him and to get to hear your word uh and just read it.

That that I never get over that.

So thank you for that privilege.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

We have a couple of uh, uh by the way, if you're wondering who, if you're out there at home, you're wondering who Jimmy is.

We have a couple families that show up today because they're like, I'm just coming to church.

And so if next week you just want to come to church, I'm not saying just come to church, but just show up, bring a brisket, taco for Moody's, and I'll look the other way.

Anyway, uh, we have a couple things by way of announcement we want to make you aware of.

Uh the first one is that we scheduled an empower conference, uh like a half day training on mental health issues, like mainly anxiety.

We had to cancel that because of the coronavirus, which we're getting sick of, by the way.

And we're about done with in Jesus' name.

But anyway, we have rescheduled the Empower Conference.

So I want to just give you a little reminder by way of video.

So just watch this video and we'll be right back.

Why are you interested in offering mental health training to faith communities?

In the United States, individuals in psychological distress are more likely to go to a clergy before they go to a mental health care provider or a physician.

Majority of people in the United States with mental health problems never receive any treatment.

It's a disturbing statistic.

Many times the individual doesn't even realize they're dealing with a mental health problem.

They just know they're dealing with a problem.

And we're better to go than a faith community where people are supposed to care for you.

You know, you might be a lay counselor at a faith community and maybe they set you up with this guy because he said he was having some problems.

And then you're talking to him and you're like, you know, this is more than just a problem.

We need to get somebody else involved, in addition to you working with him.

Stigma is one of the top two reasons that people don't ever get any care.

Because there are barriers that keep people from getting care.

And there are reasons that people do not seek care.

What is a mental health crisis?

You know, what you might call a crisis, I might not call a crisis.

Crisis is serious.

How do you talk to somebody that is in a crisis so that you actually can have an interaction with them and move forward and make some progress?

You have to narrow your focus back to it's only that person that matters at the moment.

And in God's economy, that is what matters right now, is that person.

What causes a mental disorder?

We're all born with weaknesses and vulnerability.

The combination of the vulnerability and the stressors is what causes a psychological or psychiatric disorder.

If you have a parent with a mental illness, you are five times more likely than the general population to have a mental illness as an adult yourself.

So obviously, there's a heritable aspect.

How do we figure out who do we make a referral for?

Faith communities have an opportunity to really kind of turn the tables and really put people in a position to where they are more likely to heal.

And hopefully you'll be a little bit better equipped to deal with mental health issues in those that you encounter moving forward from here.

And that is the empower training.

You can register online.

We'd love you to be a part of that.

We'd love for our lay pastors to be a part of that.

Uh anyone that's like, hey, I'm curious, I've got somebody in my family that struggles with some of these issues, it is free, but we need you to register so we can plan accordingly.

Uh, it is coming up in August.

Uh, we'll be pushing the dates and the information out to you.

One last thing by way of announcement.

We are one of our missional partners here in the city.

It's an organization called the Landing.

Uh, they fight human trafficking in all forms, both sex trafficking and labor trafficking.

Uh, next Sunday from 12 to 1.30, we are collecting different items for them.

They're on the slide there in front of you.

Uh, you'll just pull up in front of the church.

We'll have collection uh stuff going out here in front.

You'll get an email from Blake this week giving you the exact details uh and by way of reminder.

But we would love to bless the landing uh uh with as much stuff as we can collect.

We'll be receiving it next Sunday, June 28th, from 12 to 1.30, okay?

One last announcement.

Next Sunday is also my birthday, so we'll also be receiving pies and I'm just kidding.

Uh anyway, uh that we'd love to conclude our service with a spoken blessing.

So if you would uh stand up.

Uh if you're watching uh online, get off the couch.

Uh, kids, give your dad the guilty face.

Tell him it's Father's Day, get up and lead by example.

Hold your hands out.

You by nature are objects of wrath, which means God should have destroyed you and I.

But instead he had mercy.

Remember that the next time you want to destroy somebody.

In thought, in word, or in deed.

Because you've been given mercy, you have the capacity to give mercy.

Envision a world, awash in biblical mercy.

Participated in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.