Don't Play Church (Matthew 7:24-29) | Louis Azuma

Speaker 5: We are continuing on the gospel of Matthew.

We're going to be in Matthew.

Matthew chapter 7, we're finishing up the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7, 24 to 29.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

So why don't you turn there in your Bibles, Matthew 7, 24 to 29.

After this, we're going to be going real fast.

We're going to be doing a chapter a week starting next week.

So make sure you're, you're ready for that.

While you're turning there, I want to ask you a question.

If you were driving, what would you do if you got this text?

If you were dryou're in the car, you're at least an hour or two away

from any place of, of refuge, what would you do if you got this text?

Tornado warning, right?

Tornado sighted.

Seek shelter immediately, right?

Your car is not a safe refuge.

You don't want to stay in the car because your windows are going to get

blown out and you're going to die.

You don't want to stay in your car, so you have to find a

place that will keep you safe.

You've got to find somewhere, right, no windows, inside of a

building, hopefully underground.

That's where you've got to be, because otherwise, something bad

is going to happen to you, right?

I was in this exact situation not too long ago.

In May of last year, I was driving down to Texas.

And I got not one, but two of these when I was driving.

I'm on I 35.

It's like 10 at night.

Thunderstorms, raining.

People are going through puddles on the freeway.

Everyone's got their hazards on.

It's 45 on the freeway.

We're driving, we're supposed to be driving 75.

We're driving like 40 miles an hour on the freeway.

You can't see very far in front of you.

And I get one of these.

So, my first thought, being, having been in Kansas City in the past

couple years was, no big deal, right?

We get these all the time.

That was my first thought.

Everyone else who's on the freeway, I'm good.

So I keep going, I'm like an hour away from where I'm trying to go,

I really gotta go to the bathroom.

So I was like, alright, I'm just gonna pull into this gas station,

use the bathroom, keep going.

On my way out of the bathroom, I get another one of these.

And there's people sitting on the floor, in the hallway,

leading up to the bathroom.

So I was like, alright, this is probably, probably a big deal.

So I called my fiancé at the time, and I was like, hey babe, I

won't, I won't be there on time.

I'm gonna have to wait here at this gas station for a bit.

While I'm on the phone, power goes out.

Then, I'm like, alright, I'm gonna go, love you.

Someone yells, Everyone get in the hallway, right now.

Alright, bye Shay, love you.

See you later.

So I get in the hallway, go to his bathroom, crouch down, and you know

they always say, it sounds like a train.

I don't know if that's true because I plug my ears, but the ceiling starts

falling down and you can just feel the building shaking and there's dust and

then you can start feeling the water.

You know why?

Because there's no ceiling anymore.

That's why I was in a gas station that got hit directly by a tornado.

I was inside there.

This is what it looked like the night of.

So I, I could have taken this photo.

I have a photo that looks just like this.

So I walked out of that building.

If you want to see it in the daylight, that's what it looks like.

That's super blurry.

The reason I have this picture is because, see this blue car right here?

That's my car.

That's my car with all my stuff in it.

That's my car.

So, when there's a storm coming, right, when you get your tornado warning text

on your phone and you hear someone yell, everyone get in the hallway

right now, you want to make sure that the building you're in is strong.

You want to make sure that the building you're in will keep

you safe and protect you, right?

I don't, I don't really care about.

Anything else at that moment.

I don't care if the building has Wi Fi.

I don't care if the building, the gas station has good snacks.

I don't even care what the price is of the gas, right?

All I care about is, is this building going to keep me safe?

And see, your safety is dependent on the strength of this building.

In our passage we're looking at today, tonight, there's a storm in this passage.

And it's much worse than this tornado.

And your safety, according to this passage, depends not on the strength

of the building you choose to hide in, but on your response to Jesus words.

Your safety, your well being, is dependent on how you respond to what Jesus says.

We're going to be looking at Matthew 7, 24 29,

and what I want you to understand is that Jesus isn't to be taken lightly.

Jesus isn't a tornado warning text that you can just hope you can ignore and

outrun and maybe you'll make it through.

Maybe if I didn't stop at the gas station I could have made it through.

Jesus is much more serious than that.

There's much more at stake than even your life, your physical life, in this sermon

and in your response to what Jesus says.

Your eternal destiny is at stake and Jesus is not to be ignored or

muted or maybe I'll take his advice.

This is a big deal, and this isn't anything to be trifled with.

I want you to take Jesus as seriously as you possibly can, because His

words determine life or death for you.

So we're finishing up the Sermon on the Mount, right, Jesus is teaching,

and we're coming to the conclusion of the greatest sermon of all time.

So read with me, Matthew 7, verse 24.

Matthew 7:24

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a

wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain fell and the floods

came and the winds blew and beat on that house but it did not fall because

it had been founded on the rock.

And

everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them We'll be

like a foolish man who built his house on the sand, and the rain fell,

and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat against that house,

and it fell, and great was its fall.

There's a lot at stake here in this passage.

The difference between these two people, whether they're wise or foolish,

whether they survive or not, is not how much they listen to Jesus, It's

not whether they read their Bible.

It's not whether they serve at church.

It's not whether they're a good kid.

It's not whether they like Jesus or respect Jesus.

The difference is whether they obey Him or not.

It's whether they do what He says.

Both people hear Jesus words.

You see that?

Both people hear the same words.

They get the same message.

They sit in True North and hear the same sermons.

They go to Compass Bible Church North Texas and hear the same pastor.

But they have two very different futures, two very different

lives that they end up living.

See, knowing a lot about Jesus, hearing his teaching week in and week

out, growing up in church, knowing your Christian terms, serving in kids

ministry, hearing and knowing Jesus words are not what Jesus is after.

Familiarity with Jesus is not good enough.

Jesus is calling for a response to his words.

So our first point tonight, don't mistake familiarity for obedience.

If you make the mistake of being familiar with Jesus words and never

doing anything about them, according to this passage, you'll die.

You'll be destroyed.

The storm comes and your house won't stand up.

Hearing and knowing what Jesus says, doing the church thing, but not the Jesus thing,

will not protect you.

See, there's a contrast here, right?

Jesus is setting up this, this mini parable of two people, right?

And this is really the difference, right?

Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them is wise.

Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them is foolish.

So, Jesus is saying the smartest thing you can do is do what I say.

The dumbest thing you can do is the opposite, is not do what I say.

It's ridiculous not to do it.

That's it.

Dumb.

Right?

But it's actually smart.

It's genius to do what Jesus says.

See, it's foolish to think you can have a surface level relationship with Jesus

and not, or and make it to heaven.

It's foolish to think you can have a surface level relationship

with Jesus and make it to heaven.

Religious activity is not enough.

Remember, Pastor Rod, a few weeks ago, or a few months ago, maybe at

this point, preached on Matthew 5, and he brought a bowl of fake fruit.

Remember that?

And he talked about, oh, what, you know, is this fruit edible?

Is this fruit good for you?

Is this fruit anything worth eating?

And we're all like, no, right?

It's not anywhere close to real fruit.

It might look like it from far away, but once you feel it,

once you smell it, it's Right?

If you try to put it in a blender, it's not, not gonna work.

So a surface level relationship, a plastic fruit relationship with Jesus

is foolish.

It's foolish to expect that to get you anywhere close to eternal life.

You're, the only person you're tricking is yourself.

Jesus isn't fooled.

Jesus knows your heart.

Jesus knows.

He knows.

Exactly what's going on in your life.

Jesus half brother, James, puts it this way.

He says, You believe that God is one?

You do well.

Even the demons believe that, and shudder.

Is the extent of your Christian life one that Satan could check a box to?

Would Satan be able to say, Yeah, I agree with everything that

that person believes about God?

Great.

Satan would love for you to believe all the right things and

never do anything about them.

Because then you'd be just like him.

And then James goes on to say, The body apart from the spirit is dead.

Right?

That's, that's how you know someone's dead.

If their, their spirit is gone.

The spirit is what animates the body.

I heard one pastor talk about it.

It's like the software to the hardware of your body.

So like a computer needs software to run.

Otherwise it's just a piece of metal.

Your body needs a spirit.

It needs a soul to animate it, to make it alive.

Your faith, your trust in Jesus, without any animation, without any

life to it, without any software, without any electricity, is dead.

It's useless.

Which, James, what, right here, what he means by faith, is believing

the right things about God.

Your doctrine, your theology, your belief.

It's dead.

It's useless.

It won't get you anywhere.

It's, in fact, demonic.

It's like exactly what Satan believes.

So don't mistake familiarity with obedience.

You can know all the right things, hear all the right words, and not

have a relationship with Jesus.

See, I grew up in this category.

I grew up being familiar with Jesus.

Going to church.

I knew all the books of the Bible.

I liked going to church even, but I had no relationship with Jesus.

And something that was really helpful for me was a list that a pastor

put together of, and he titled it differently, but it's characteristics

easily mistaken for being saved.

Things that a lot of people think, oh yeah, if I have all of

these things, I'm a Christian.

And I think a lot of you might be in this boat.

A lot of you say, yeah, I'm a good person, right?

I'm not that kid at school.

I'm not doing drugs.

I'm not going to all those parties.

I'm not looking at that stuff online.

I'm not saying those things.

I'm not making those jokes.

I'm a relatively good person.

Or I know a lot about God.

I know a lot about the Bible.

I'm involved at church.

I feel bad when I sin.

I'm sure I'm saved, even.

I know I'm saved.

Or, you have an experience when you got saved.

You walked the aisle, you prayed a prayer, you had an emotional moment at camp.

None of these things mean that you're saved.

Right?

Good people, being a good person.

Great.

You can be a Mormon and be a good person.

Cool.

You can know a lot about God in the Bible.

Satan knows a lot about God in the Bible.

You can be involved in church.

Pharisees were pretty involved at church.

You can feel bad about your sin.

Judas felt really bad about his sin, and he hung himself, and guess what?

Didn't repent.

Didn't turn from his sin.

You can be sure you're saved.

A lot of people are sure they're saved.

Remember what we heard last week?

I never knew you.

You can have a memorable experience when you think you became a Christian.

You can have a moment where you feel like you responded to the gospel.

The moment doesn't save you.

Jesus saves you.

So don't put your trust in, in a moment.

It's an easy mistake to make, and Jesus loves you enough to tell you, to warn you.

Don't make this mistake.

Don't mistake being familiar with God, growing up in church, having Christian

parents, being a pastor's kid, knowing all the right answers in small groups.

Don't make that mistake of saying, Oh, if I have all those things, I'm good.

That means I have a relationship with God.

So what kind of obedience is Jesus really talking about?

Because didn't he just say, right, your, your righteousness has to exceed

that of the scribes and Pharisees.

Isn't this all about faith?

What happened?

Where did, where did saved by faith and grace and not by works go, Lewis?

What happened?

Well, what words, Jesus, these words of mine, what words has Jesus

been talking about this whole time?

He's, he, he just preached a sermon.

. So what did he say?

Well, look at, think about the Beatitudes.

The beatitudes are all heart postures, right?

These are all external things, except maybe feeling bad about your sin, but

the beatitudes are being poor in spirit.

Being humble, being meek, mourning.

Hungering and thirsting for righteousness, having a desire for God and for His ways.

Being pure in heart.

It's pure in heart, not pure externally.

Being a peacemaker, being persecuted for righteousness sake.

These are all heart things.

These are all things that come from your desires.

And you're a new, changed life.

Not from an external, outside in conformity, because you

grew up in a Christian home.

Or even think about when he does talk about Pharisees,

what does he go after that?

He says, you've heard it said, right, the external command, don't

murder, don't commit adultery, don't retaliate, pray like this.

Those are all external things.

He says, you've heard it one way, but I want to bring out the

true intention of God's word.

The true intention is about your heart, right?

If you, about anger.

Rather than just not being You know, a murderer, how about dealing

with the anger in your heart?

That's the obedience that Jesus is after.

He's after heart obedience.

Or rather than just not committing adultery, are you pure in heart?

Do you have pure thoughts?

Or what about your anxiety?

Maybe you're on the outside all good, but on the inside you don't trust God.

Jesus is after righteousness from the heart.

That's why it has to be different than the scribes Because outwardly They're

more righteous than, than most of us.

They look more Christian than a lot of us do.

Probably had more scripture memorized than all of us combined in the room.

But Jesus is after righteousness from the heart, and it's foolish to try to impress

Jesus with your external righteousness.

With your church involvement, or with your Christian heritage even from your parents.

You see, perfect righteousness is required to enter heaven.

Jesus said that in, in Matthew 5 as well, remember?

He said, uh, um, You have to be perfect, just as my heavenly Father is perfect.

So really, Jesus is not saying that your works get you into heaven.

But, what He is saying is that a true relationship with God produces

heartfelt obedience to God, as a response to what He's done for you.

So, Jesus is after heartfelt, real obedience, and the only way that's gonna

come is if you first trust God, and have a relationship with Him, where you

say, you know what, I'm not good enough.

That's what the whole Beatitudes are about.

I'm not good enough to enter on my own.

I'm never gonna be more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees.

Jesus, I can't obey the way you're telling me to, unless God changes me,

and God puts his Holy Spirit inside me and gives me a new desire to love him.

That's the only way I'm going to be able to do anything from the heart.

Because as Jesus is pointing out through this whole sermon

is we're not good enough.

Our obedience, no matter how hard we try, is never going to get us into heaven.

And so we need heartfelt obedience that only comes after We trust Jesus

and turn from our sin and realize we know we're not good enough

to make it to heaven on our own.

We have to give up our pharisaical

desire to be good enough to say, God, look at all my works.

Isn't that what the people in last week's sermon did?

They said, Lord, Lord, did I not do all these things for you?

They're never going to be good enough because they're never perfect.

So it's foolish to think you can have your superficial, surface level

relationship with Jesus and impress Him.

You can't bring your spiritual resume to the table and say, Oh,

here Jesus, let me into heaven.

It's never going to be good enough.

It has to be a heartfelt, I, I need you, Jesus.

I'm a sinner.

Please save me.

And that's going to produce obedience from the heart, like we've been talking about.

Now, I also want you to see how Jesus describes these men.

Because maybe you're not just thinking, oh, I've tried to do the right thing

and fit in at church and be a good kid.

Maybe you're the person who says, I heard Jesus words and I don't want them.

I've heard Jesus words, they're not, they're not my thing.

They're boring.

They're lame.

Jesus isn't for me.

I want to go do my thing.

I want to live the way I want to live.

And maybe you're just waiting until you move out of your parents house and go to

college and you can do whatever you want.

You've heard Jesus words and you've said, I don't want to do them.

If that's you, I, I, I really want you to see that it is foolish to

think you can hear Jesus teaching and ignore it without any consequence.

Jesus has only put two people in this story.

There's a wise man and there's a foolish man.

The wise man is the one who obeys.

The foolish man is foolish because he doesn't disobey,

or he, he, he does disobey.

Sorry.

The foolish man is, he's foolish because he disobeys and he

thinks he's going to be fine.

Right?

He goes on building his house.

Both of these men are building a house, right?

They're both building a house, and it's foolish to build a house

when you know it won't stand up.

Right?

That's why people, you've heard the phrase, the house,

the house of cards, right?

It's foolish to build a house of something that will just get blown over.

Both of these men are building their lives.

They're living their lives, and there's a different foundation

that they're living out of.

One of them is living on a foundation of rock.

One of them is living on a foundation of sand.

If you are living your life ignoring Jesus teaching, you hear

it, and you say, I don't want it.

You're living a life that's gonna just wash away in a storm.

It's gonna be destroyed.

You're gonna come up empty.

You can build your perfect house, your perfect life.

You can get the job you want, the career you want, the friends you

want, the reputation you want.

And you'll stand before God and you'll watch it all burn up.

Because your house will be on sand.

You're building a house that will just fall down.

Every time you're rejecting Jesus words, every time you're saying,

I don't want what you have to say.

The storm will come, either when you stand before God, or it might even come sooner.

You might realize, like King Solomon did, after years of trying

to do what he wanted to do, living for himself, he tried everything.

He tried pleasure, he tried money, he tried fame, he tried everything.

And he came up empty, and broken, and he realized there's, there's nothing here.

It's just a mirage.

It's like trying to grab smoke.

That's what it is trying to find pleasure apart from God.

It, you just need more and more and more and it never satisfies.

It's foolish to chase after.

It's foolish to ask the world to fill you up.

You're building a house that's just gonna come crashing down.

And see, the opposite is that Jesus offers, He offers

you a secure, stable life.

You don't have to worry about your house falling down in a storm.

See, living by Jesus teaching keeps you safe.

The wise man builds his house on the rock.

And he doesn't have to worry about his house falling down.

He knows the storm is going to come, but he also knows he's going to be okay.

He knows he's gonna make it.

The first thing that Jesus, obeying Jesus keeps you safe from is the wrath of God.

Because if you're obeying Jesus, the, Jesus intention here is that you're

obeying him out of love and trust.

You have a relationship with him.

And so obeying Jesus keeps you safe from the wrath of God.

But also, if we're thinking about the Sermon on the Mount,

right, we're thinking about being

People who realize we're not good enough to work our way to heaven, so it

keeps us safe from self righteousness.

We're not gonna say, Jesus, look how much I obeyed you.

Aren't you proud of me?

Don't I deserve to be in heaven?

Because Jesus commands, how he started the sermon, was you should be sad.

You should mourn.

You should be humble.

You should not try to work your way to heaven.

That's how he started his sermon.

And so, if you're obeying Jesus words, you'll be protected

from self righteousness.

You'll also be protected from the trap of believing the world has more

to offer, just like we talked about.

Because you'll realize, you know what?

It will leave me empty.

It is just like building a house that'll fall down.

Even though many people go down the narrow, the wide road, the narrow

road is the one that leads to life.

And so you'll be protected from, from this lie of believing.

That it's better for you to disobey Jesus and do whatever you want.

Living by Jesus teaching also keeps you safe from hearing I never knew you.

It keeps you safe from self deception.

This is what we've been talking about at the beginning of this sermon,

is so many people go to heaven,

or stand before, sorry, stand before God in heaven and

realize I'm not going to be in.

I'm not going to make it.

I'm not, I've thought I was a Christian this whole time.

But really, I've always built my house on my own works.

I've built my spiritual resume and tried to be good enough, or I've relied on

one of those things we talked about.

I've relied on my church involvement, I've relied on my spiritual experience

that I had at camp, or I prayed this prayer with my mom when I was eight.

Hearing Jesus words and doing them will protect you from standing before

God and realizing He never knew me.

I never had a relationship with Jesus.

It also keeps you safe from turning your back on God and abandoning Him.

Because you're establishing a pattern of doing what Jesus

says and living by His words.

You're not going to stray off the narrow road.

Living by Jesus teaching keeps you safe from ruining your life.

Sin will kill you.

It'll either kill you on this earth, or it'll kill you forever in hell, or both.

Jesus isn't trying to give you a bunch of rules to ruin your life.

The rules are to help you not ruin your life.

That's the goal.

Jesus doesn't want you to be anxious.

He wants to take care of you.

He doesn't want you to be enslaved by sin.

Because every sin you commit isn't looking out for your best interest.

It's looking to, to keep you, to hook you, to trap you, to rope you in and

pull you and keep you coming back to it.

Every sin is trying to master you.

Anxiety is trying to master you.

Lust is trying to master you.

Anger is trying to dominate you and control you.

Pride, they're all trying to be a snare and control your life.

To make that the dominating influence in who you are.

But living by Jesus words will keep you safe from those things.

That's why Jesus gives you command.

That's why Jesus says don't do things.

It's cause he's a loving parent who says don't drink the poison, it'll kill you.

Or don't do the drugs, you'll get addicted.

It's a loving command.

It's a wise command.

It's a good command.

It's not a burden to make you feel bad.

That's why Jesus gives you commands.

That's why Jesus comes across so strongly.

That's why these sermons come across so strongly.

It's not because Jesus hates you.

It's because He loves you.

And we're messed up, and we think poison tastes good.

And so we want to drink it.

And Jesus is like, no, stop.

That's why He gives us commands.

See, these last two verses here are the crowd's reaction.

Jesus has been talking for a long time.

If you have a red letter Bible, it's been all red for like two chapters.

And you're finally about to get out of the red into the black.

Maybe we should call it Black Wednesday.

I don't know.

But, that was mostly for the adults because no one understands why it's called

Black Friday except grown ups, I guess.

But, I'm not gonna explain that right now.

But, the last two verses are the crowd's reaction to the whole sermon, which is

Kind of cool, because when the Bible gives you, like, an, an author's reaction

to something, that's really helpful.

Like when the author of the book tells you, hey, here's what people

thought about what Jesus just said.

That's a really good thing to see.

So when you're reading the Bible, keep your eye out for those type of things.

But this is what, does Matthew want you to know about how the

audience responded to Jesus sermon?

What does Matthew think the crowd thought?

What does Matthew think the people listening to Jesus Thought.

How did the audience respond to the greatest sermon of all time?

Well, let's look.

Matthew 7 28.

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching.

They're shocked.

They're amazed.

For he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

Probably could have put that on screen for you.

There you go.

The crowd is shocked.

They're amazed.

They're like, whoa.

And what are they amazed at?

They're not amazed at necessarily what He said.

They're amazed at the implication.

They're amazed at what Jesus is saying means that Jesus is claiming authority.

Unlike anyone they've ever heard.

They've never heard anyone teach like Jesus before.

They're not amazed at the specific things He said, but they're shocked and amazed

at His authority with which He says them.

Now, if you just read through this in your Bible, I don't think this

is the conclusion you'd come to.

Right?

If you just read through Matthew 5 or 7, you wouldn't be like, Whoa,

Jesus is claiming so much authority.

I don't, I don't think that's how you respond.

So that means we're missing something.

Right?

We have to put our shoes or in the sandals, we have to put our

feet in the sandals of this.

Those Jews who heard Jesus and think, okay, what, what happened here?

Well, the whole sermon, Jesus has been establishing self

as more than just a teacher.

He's been saying, you heard it taught one way, but I say to you now, most

Jewish rabbis would never say that they would never say, here's what I say.

They would say, well, see, I say this because the other rabbi and this rabbi and

this rabbi and this rabbi, I'll say that.

And that's kind of our tradition.

And that's what we teach.

Jesus isn't appealing to anyone.

He's saying, you've heard it this way, but I say to you.

Jesus is claiming that He has the right interpretation of God's law.

He's saying, I am, and if you've really followed Matthew's point, He's saying,

I am actually the prophet like Moses who was prophesied going to come.

Jesus is on a mountain, and He comes down the mountain, With a law.

Well, how does that sound like?

It sounds like Moses, right?

He also, if you think about it before, Jesus, in Matthew 3, he goes through

the water when he gets baptized, and he goes into the wilderness, and

then he comes up to the mountain.

Now, what does that sound like?

That sounds like Exodus, right?

So, we're getting this idea of, Matthew was showing us that Jesus

is more than just a teacher.

Jesus It is the long awaited, promised King of Israel who would bring to pass all

the promises of God in the Old Testament, establish the Kingdom of God to the ends

of the earth, bring all the nations under his authority, destroy sin, destroy Satan.

This is what the whole Bible's about.

Now, that's probably not amazing news for you.

That's probably either old news for you, or you didn't care.

And see, you're actually more similar to the crowds.

than you might think.

See, the crowds were very impressed with Jesus.

I'm sure they were interested in what he had to say.

I'm sure they would like to come listen to him teach.

But, less than three years later, guess what these crowds are doing?

In three years, they would make fun of him, trade him for a criminal,

and scream until he was crucified.

That's what these crowds would do with the man that they were

so amazed by in these verses.

For all their amazement about Jesus and his teaching, these crowds

have no desire to worship Jesus.

They have no affection for Jesus.

They have no sense of loyalty to Jesus.

He's just interesting.

He's just respected.

He's not worshipped and loved.

And I think you can make the same mistake they do, and I really don't want you to.

So our second point is don't mistake respect for worship.

Don't be like the crowds who respect Jesus and have no loyalty, no affection,

no true heartfelt worship for Him.

See, one of Matthew's main points throughout his whole gospel is

that Jesus has all authority.

That's why he started with a big long list of names.

Jesus, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Jesus is the king, the son of David.

That's why David's first in that sentence, before Abraham.

You wouldn't put David before Abraham unless you were trying to say something.

Jesus is the king.

David's the king.

Abraham wasn't a king.

Jesus is a king like David.

And then, Matthew ends his gospel with, All authority in heaven and

on earth has been given to Jesus.

And then he says, Go, and make disciples.

So Matthew has presented his whole story of Jesus life with the intent to

communicate, Jesus has all authority.

Jesus isn't just to be considered, or respected, or admired.

Jesus is to be worshipped.

Jesus is to be submitted to, to be bowed before.

And it seems like these crowds get it, don't they?

They're astonished.

They're amazed.

Jesus is teaching them.

They're like, Whoa, Jesus, you're amazing.

You're unique.

No one's ever taught like you.

And I think a lot of us are similar.

See, it might seem like you get it.

It might seem like you like Jesus.

You agree with Jesus teaching.

You think most of it makes sense.

If Jesus was a teacher at your school, you would pay attention in class.

If Jesus was a coach on your team, you would do his drills, and you

wouldn't roll your eyes too often.

Maybe.

But, like the crowds, when push comes to shove

He isn't your master.

You might agree with what he says on the surface, or you might agree that

God exists or that the Bible's true, but you want Jesus to stay in his

corner and not interfere with your life.

You respect Jesus enough not to totally, openly reject him, but you

want him to stay over there and not mess with your personal life too much.

I heard one person illustrate this, as you, you want Jesus to be a guest

in your house, but not the owner.

You want to keep Jesus in his room.

My mother in law just stayed with us this past weekend, and it's funny

when you, when one of your parents come stay at your house, it's,

it's always interesting, right?

Because they're like, Like, they raised you, they're in charge, they were in

charge of you for a while, and then they stay at your house, and you're like,

okay, well, like, you know, we're not gonna like, give up our bed, because

we only have one, but like, you know, I feel bad making her sleep on the couch.

It's a real awkward kind of situation.

When you have a guest in your house, what if the guest in your house, what

if Shay's mom just starts, you know, we're getting ready for bed, and she's

like, oh, just heads right into our room, puts her PJs on, gets in bed,

and we're like, wait, hang on, what?

Like, that would be weird.

Because she's a guest, right?

We want her to stay over there.

We want her kind of out of our space.

Right?

When you're a guest in someone's house.

I spent a lot of time at the Daniel's house this summer.

Partly because I got hit by a tornado.

But, um, I was a guest.

Right?

I didn't just come in and be like, alright guys, here's what

I'm doing today in your house.

Right?

No.

That would be weird.

That would be kind of wrong.

I'm sure I would not have stayed as long at their house

as I did if I had done that.

I even did my own dishes.

Anyway, so, um,

A lot of you probably feel that way about Jesus.

You want Jesus to stay in His corner.

You want Him in your room.

You want to keep your space the way it is, and you want Jesus to stay over there.

You don't want Him to interfere with, Oh, Jesus, you can't tell me who to date.

Jesus you can't tell me what videos to watch.

Jesus you can't decide what sport I play or how I talk to my siblings.

Jesus, you can tell me how to feel?

You want Jesus to do some stuff for you?

Right?

Oh, Jesus, can you get me to heaven?

Great.

Then just leave me alone until I get there?

That's not worship.

That's not even a relationship with Jesus.

You just want Jesus, bumper sticker, and go on with your life.

Worship means complete submission to Jesus.

Jesus isn't just a guest in your life.

He owns every room of your life.

That's what worshiping Jesus is.

That's what a real Christian is.

And I think even for us Christians, if you're a Christian in the room, you can be

in danger of making this mistake as well.

There can be times where you and I We don't want to worship Jesus, even

though we still trust him and love him as a general pattern of our life.

Maybe illustrate it like this, Jesus bought your house already, but sometimes

we wish we could have our own space, or have a pet that he doesn't like,

or throw a party without him knowing.

So,

see, maybe you want to date that person that you know is bad for you,

or you're putting off baptism because you're scared of being in front of

people, or you read the Bible but you don't give it your best effort, or

you're afraid to freely mention to your friends, what'd you do this weekend?

Oh, I went to church.

It was great.

Bad move, right?

You look stupid.

Do you love Jesus?

Are you embarrassed by Him?

Or maybe you really don't feel like having a good attitude when your

parents tell you to do something.

Jesus has authority over that.

Maybe you're not putting up much of a fight against lustful

thoughts or angry words.

Jesus has authority over those.

So worship motivates an enduring desire to live for Jesus.

See the difference between a crowd member who respects Jesus and a disciple

who worships Jesus is that worship for Jesus is fueled by love, trust, and awe.

You love Jesus.

He's precious to you.

He's your treasure.

He's the most important thing in your life.

He's the thing you most want, the person you most want to be with.

That's what love for Jesus really is.

You trust Jesus, right?

He's wise.

He's good.

He's powerful.

You want to do what he says.

When, when you have a conflict, you're like, well, Jesus is smarter than me.

I'll do what he says.

That's trust.

And awe, or as the Bible would put it, even fear.

Jesus is the king, he's holy, he's glorious, and he's terrifying.

That's what Jesus really is.

Don't settle for a tame Jesus who you only give respect to and

leave in one corner of your life.

Jesus is the king of kings and he deserves everything you have to give.

Everything is on the table when you follow Jesus.

You can't partly give him some of your life.

He has all authority.

See, Jesus words are the focus.

He says, these words of mine, everyone who hears them and does them, is a

wise person, who builds his house on a rock, perfectly safe in a storm.

That's because Jesus words are the very words of God.

Believing him is like planting yourself.

Into a solid rock, never to be shaken or moved, right?

The grass withers, the flower, flower flit, fades.

Well, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.

Right?

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.

Jesus words bring the dead to life.

His words always accomplish their purpose.

They never return unsuccessful.

They guard the souls of Christians and their swords to fight the devil himself.

Jesus words are sweeter than honey, a delight to your heart.

His words are a guide and a light when you don't know what to do.

They're living active, piercing between the thoughts and intentions of your heart.

His words cannot be broken.

Every word of God proves true, Proverbs says.

See, Jesus words are to live by.

They're everything because they're from God.

They're God's words.

And they claim all authority in your life.

Let's pray.

Father, I pray that you help us to take your son seriously.

I pray that we would not just isolate him to part of our life.

I pray that we would not just I don't want to have a label that says we

like Jesus, but I pray that we would see that Jesus is worthy of our full

attention, our full devotion, all of our affection in our very lives.

Help us to focus in small groups, help us to be respectful of our leaders and

of each other, help us to be honest, and help us to give glory to you.

I pray this in Jesus name, Amen.