(Luke 10:1-24) - Episode 35

Hey friend, welcome to another episode of the Sunday Sit down

and if you are watching, our seats have been reversed.

If you're listening, our seats have been reversed and.

It makes no difference. It makes no difference because

we sound the same. But this is a great, this is a

great opportunity that I have to sit down with Justin, who

preached this past Sunday on a long passage.

I gave him a long passage. I have.

Been doing to me. I know I've been, we've been

going so like close to verse by verse, like just 46 verses at a

time and now 24 verses on Communion Sunday, World

Communion Sunday, no less, and. I missed out on that, sorry.

No, I, yes, that's fine. I think I, I appreciate that.

What I, what I intend for our community is there will be years

where we talk about that kind of stuff and there will be years

where we don't, because what's most important is still our own

community. Like we've always been this way.

Like aren't we doing the like preaching politics?

And this is what's going on in the world.

And we're going to talk about this and we're going to preach

on that. Like we don't do that because.

We're going through. Like, you get it.

Yeah, exactly. For a long time.

You get enough of that in your life.

You're bombarded by stuff all the time.

And one of the rhythms that you talked about this week is this

rhythm of being gathered together, like sitting in God's

presence, wrestling out what it means to be known by Jesus and

to know Jesus and then to wrestle out our scent.

Ness. Yeah.

Back into the world. So.

So should preaching be completely disconnected from

what's going on in the world? No, Absolutely not.

No. But there are also seasons and

moments where, like, that's not what it's about.

It's about Jesus. We root ourselves in Scripture

and there's a little bit of like a respite and retreat.

And, you know, we need to sit in in with a community, the

presence of God, and then feel like we can go back into the

world. No, like that's like some of the

rhythm of what we do, which is just great because that informed

so much of the large arc of your sermon.

But 24 verses, loop 10, one to 24.

We're not going to read all of it.

No. If you wanna pause, maybe we'll

drop a link to Bible Gateway or the You Version app in the

description. You can go and read it yourself.

It's a great passage. Jesus sending out the disciples.

And initially didn't think that like I was like, this could be 3

sermons. But actually I think it was the

the right, the right call to make this one cohesive package.

It's, it's a particular, it's a particular thing that Jesus and

his disciples do. And then they unpack it and then

they move on. And next week is going to be,

you know, you'll be preaching from the, the Good Samaritan,

the story of the Good Samaritan. And, and so it's a very clear

delineation of like, hey, this was Jesus sending out the 72 and

then they talk about it. Yeah.

The thing that I that I actually was noticing as you were

preaching. So as you're preaching, and this

is like occupational hazard and a little bit again, of like

insider baseball. Yeah.

But like, as you're preaching, I'm all in.

I'm like, I've got like a full page of notes from your sermon

and to the right. Like that's on the left side of

my notebook. On the right side of my

notebook. I was just, like, firing out

thoughts. These whole lot of connections

to where we're headed this coming Sunday.

So you're ready to? Go yeah, we'll be happy to help

almost yeah. So it was like it's this that

dual, like you're always you're in and because of how you're

preaching and what you're really leaning into, I'm oh, that's the

tie in for next week. And here's how we go into the

Good Samaritan. All these things are happening.

It's actually I think so I noticed this as you're preaching

as I was reading. I think it might actually be

one. Still the same instance.

That he's expanding on what's happening here at the with his

dialogue with the disciples. I think so because it's it's

from the crowd that they're rises this expert in the law to

challenge Jesus who? And so it's like it's almost

like it's so it's happening very much at the same time in the way

Luke presents it. So anyway, but we're gonna save

that for next week. Yeah, where where we had thought

about starting today is 24 versus you're gonna leave a lot

on the cutting floor in order to preach that in less than 24

hours. So there's a lot going on in

this passage around connection to the Old Testament and the

imagery that Jesus is using in his language.

You know, before off camera we were taught you're like, I just

want some time to nerd out on some of these details.

I need it. I need it like there's so much.

And I was talking with someone after the service yesterday who

mentioned in this person is very knowledgeable on on like Old

Testament, like he, he's a he's a geography nerd when it comes

to biogeography. And she was talking about some

interesting facts about about the the places Jesus mentioned,

like Beth, Sada, Burnham, Korzen, like, and so I kind of

like fed him a little bit more. I was like, Hey, well let me

tell you these other like crazy facts that are happening that

didn't preach well but were like, we're going to

undergirding some of this. So let's let's fill in that for

people. And we would say this like, if

this is just so boring that you can't stand it, don't turn it

off. Skip ahead.

I can't give you the timestamp because we're recording this

right now. Probably like 4 or 5 minutes.

I'll try shorter, double that. Yeah, yeah.

We're going to, we're going to go into, I think, 4 really

practical questions after this. So the whole, the whole podcast

episode won't be this like deep dive into the background.

We're going to do a little bit of deep dive and we're going to

get into four really practical questions.

So you can skip ahead to those 4 practical questions.

If we think about it, we'll leave that in the show notes so

you can check it. Out or go on like 1.5 speed and

just be like, OK, maybe this is interesting, maybe it's not.

And this is one of those things where like yeah, we don't want

this to be the focal point, right?

Like this is not the most important thing, but sometimes

it's helpful to remember what Luke is doing here and and what,

what Jesus in some of his language and actions is drawing

the people back to, right. In this case, it's Moses.

And and we've seen that a number of times with throughout Luke

already where where there are these callbacks and illusions

with an A back to the Old Testament to particularly Moses

and, you know, Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus coming down

the mountain. Like all these are like it's

it's very they're making it pretty clear Jesus is a new

Moses. Hmm.

And so the backdrop here, as some scholars were were sharing

in the commentaries, is that this passage seems to be

happening somewhere around what is called the the Feast of

Tabernacles or the Feast of Booths in I think in Hebrew.

It's a so-called I probably butchered that.

I'm so sorry to our Jewish friends.

I tried and Sukkot happens several days after Yom Kippur,

which was last week. My, my daughter was telling me

she was learning about that in school because they, they had

tend to learn about all the different festivals and their in

their, you know, in, in their school, which is, which is

pretty cool actually. So here's what's crazy.

So I'm preaching this passage that the backdrop of it is the

Feast of Tabernacles, which we'll get into that's starts

tonight in real time. So this is I'm, we're recording

this on October 6th, 2025, and the Feast of Tabernacles falls

on the evening of October 20 or October 6th, 2025 for the next

week. It's a it's a festival that

traditionally people would pilgrimage for, to, to

Jerusalem, to the temple. And this is an important holiday

that calls back to G to Moses and the Israelites in the

wilderness in God's provision of of manna and the quail and just

food, and eventually became more about just God's provision of

the harvest. Right.

And so all of a sudden, when Jesus says the harvest is

plentiful, hmm, they're thinking, Oh yeah, a feast of

tabernacles. That's, that's exactly, that's

exactly what's happening. I'm the harvest is plentiful,

but the workers are few. And so pray to the Lord of the

harvest, right. And so like, it brings so this

greater depth to what Jesus is saying when you know this.

And again, in the, in the way that I had kind of been

structuring my sermon, it just, it did not fit, but it was just,

it was underlying there. And I was like, I just got to

talk about it because it's just cool.

And then even later on in the passage, you know, when Jesus

talks about, you know, this little kind of obscure language

where he talks about Satan falling from heaven and, and

like a lightning, like a rod of lightning.

And then and then you know, that they will trample on on snakes

and scorpions. And I mentioned a little bit of

this in the sermon that the snake is definitely, I think an

allusion to Genesis chapter 3. But also Moses in talking to the

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

people were also, we're also commanding them that you will,

you know, you will be safe from harm from snakes and scorpions

and poisonous snakes and scorpions in particular in the

desert. And the final thing, and then

I'll then I'll be quiet for a second, is that Jesus is set,

like I said, sending out 70 or 72 depending on how you count,

which is the amount of elders that Moses commissioned.

It was particularly in the context of Moses realizing he

can't do it all. He all the kind of pastoral care

type stuff all over the decisions that need to be made.

He can't do it all. And, and so his father-in-law

came to him and was like, Moses, sort your stuff out here, dude,

Like you can't do it. And, and, and then, so then they

developed this system of, of elders that are responsible for

the groups in of Israelites, right?

Which then turns into eventually becomes sort of the Sanhedrin

so. I cannot picture how long those

meetings were. 72 elders, Little long meetings, that's all.

That's all you got to say. We have what, 5?

Yeah, shorter meetings. Sure.

Yeah. So I think the last thing too

that I see in it is Jesus sending out the disciples,

sending and sending out the 7072 with nothing as as again, just

saying, hey, you you've seen, you know, what God has done for

his people in the wilderness, how he provided.

So go with that same faith that he will continue to provide.

Yeah. And you know, he's like, so

don't take a coat, don't take any, don't take extra things,

don't take food. Like, just go and be where you

are and lean into those relationships and eat what's put

in front of you, which is its own, you know, interesting

statement. All of this with this backdrop

of one of the three feasts where, like, Jewish men were

commanded to go to Jerusalem and to go and make sacrifice at the

temple. And here's the same moment where

Jesus is saying no, go out, be sent out with nothing, Don't

take anything and eat what's in front of you and go with the

Kingdom. Like all of it.

I think all of it. What we've talked about so far

is all of this is Luke setting up this large narrative where

the reader ought to see Jesus as the new Moses and his Kingdom as

the new Israel. Like this is what this is what

Luke is doing. I think this is what Jesus is

doing. I think this is what God is

doing. But, you know, and obviously we

don't want to go too far down, like there's, you know, some

dangerous roads of supersessionism.

And like, yes. But really what Jesus is doing

is saying all of these longings, all of these pieces of identity,

all of these stories, all of this history has been leading us

and showing us and revealing to us God's heart for us, God's

heart for the world. And there's more yet to come.

And that God is doing a new thing here.

And, and when you look at, you know, again, context for the,

the Jewish people in Jesus's day, they are, you know, in this

land that they had been living in for centuries and now

occupied by, you know, multiple difference groups of like

political entities over the centuries.

Yeah, now under Roman rule. And, and so they are feeling the

pinch of this. And then Jesus is like, well,

God's, God's gonna do something really cool here, here and here

and here. Here is the, the enacting and

living out of this new thing that God is doing.

And so it it makes a lot of sense that Jesus would be

intentionally setting setting it up this way.

Yeah. And I think using language and

story that makes sense to the people in a way that I think

like I read and I go, you would hope that they see, you know,

Roman occupation and go, what is God gonna do?

Like we know this story. Yeah.

Like we've been, our people have been here before and God has

always done something like this. So I think I do.

I think Jesus is setting all of this up.

And I think Luke especially is setting it up so that we, we're

supposed to be asking that question, what is God doing?

Where is Jesus taking us? Where are we headed?

What is going to happen? Like we're supposed to be

anticipating all of these things as we read our way through Luke,

ultimately culminating with the cross and Jesus death or

resurrection, new life church. You know, Luke is already

setting up Acts where, you know, he he's gonna continue the story

through the early church. But like I, I think we're

supposed to be anticipating some move of God.

And that's something that like, I would love for our church for

listeners to hold on to and go, man, what a moment where like at

every moment where the people of Israel here with the disciples

still the people of Israel in Luke, like at every moment where

they could have gone like this is the end.

Like, this is it. This is like, how are we here

again? Like despair and doom and gloom

And, you know, the world is at war and it's chaotic and there's

no peace and, you know, I can't make my own decisions about

life. All of these things.

You just go, no, like God's gonna do something.

And like, you listen. Like I, I think a lot of people

wake up every morning and go, there's a lot of chaos and yeah,

it can lead to doom and despair. And I I just got what like what

is got remaining curious to what God might do.

I, I left after my, after I was, you know, done the bulk of my

sermon prep. I left this passage feeling an

immense hope, actually, you know, in, in a way that not, not

that I like, I don't usually walk away from sermon writing in

despair, sure, but I, I felt like, I felt a real like, sense

of hope of, of like God, God's doing stuff.

God is doing new things and, and, and, and just be praying

for us as a church that we remain open to that even you

know 2000 years later that we remain open to what God is

doing. Yeah.

So you just to jump off that you talked about the rhythm toward

the end of the sermon, the rhythm of our as the church sent

witness is how I would describe it.

This reality that for the church, we exist for Christians,

we exist inside of this rhythm of being gathered together and

being sent out and being gathered and being sent.

We've talked about this on Sunday mornings.

And you know, I think one of my one of my mentors says that our

gathering is 4 hour sending, that the reason we gather is to

then be sent out. I have another friend of mine,

long time passer says like the most important moment of the

Christian worship service is the benediction.

Yeah, because it's when you're sent back to where you get to

take the gospel to. So I want to talk a little bit

about that. So Jesus, Jesus is sending the

72. He sends them ahead of him to

every town and place that he intended to go, which is an

interesting line. Yeah, I didn't even get into

that. But like that was like, that is

such a fascinating approach, like that he's sending them

ahead and that they're gonna lay the groundwork and then he's

gonna go and. And yeah, yeah, it's.

Cool. And again, like this imagery of,

you know, messengers that we saw last week and that word being

the same as angels, you know, he's sending them on.

Again, this is this is Old Testament story imagery all

through throughout, but he sends these 72 on.

And so the really practical question is, I think, what do

you think it looks like for us to live as sent people into our

own backyards neighborhoods, because I think that's the myth

is that, you know, for so long in in the Christian Church in

the West, we talked about mission, the mission work Oregon

arm of the church as being like global overseas mission trip.

I'm using air quotes here style missions.

And again, like one of my early mentors said, like your, the,

the mission field is no longer overseas.

You no longer have to get on or about to go and be on mission

like your, your, your backyard. Like the Mission field is your

backyard. And especially when you

consider, I mean, here in our context in Canada start

increasingly an international place, right?

And and so the nations are not out there.

The nations are here, right? And so and so that's a very

different. And I mean, what's, what's

interesting, I mean, even for us as a church, we've had lots of

new friends coming from various parts of Africa and, and you

know, they are already long-term committed, you know, some of

them even Presbyterian, which is like been so much fun.

And so I mean, that just reminded me in and of itself,

like, hey, actually like the, the mission, mission work isn't

out there across an ocean. Sorry.

It is, But it, it isn't solely that, but that there is work

right here. And, and so I, I tend to think,

I mean, I think there's some, there are some professions that

are easier than others to sort of think through that lens.

I think about like someone like a teacher, you know, and

there's, I know some churches that have actually like

commissioned their teachers in, in the church and said like,

Hey, you guys are going out there and not just the ones who

are teaching at the Christian School.

But those were going into the public system, into the Catholic

board, whatever. And and so like they, you know,

they get commissioned because they're going on there shaping

these kids minds, right? They are, they have a very

obvious on ramp, right. But then you have like someone

who are like, you know, someone in middle management who is just

sort of like doing his daily grind.

Like what what about that person, right?

And I, and I think about what it, what it is to like be the

best middle manager you could possibly be and to, to do your,

your work with integrity, to be a, a source of, of positivity,

to be a source of joy in, in your workplace.

And I think obviously there are some practical things to do to

be more just vocal about. And I'm careful as I say that

because I was the moment, the moment I think about someone

being vocal about their faith, honestly, But my connotation is

automatically negative, right? Which is not a good thing.

That's the, that's not a good thing.

That's where my mind goes. But it does.

Because when, when someone says you got to be more vocal about

your faith, I think, oh, that person is going to be a jerk.

Yeah, yeah. Whereas I think that when, when

I think about that, I think about just like someone who is

able to freely really talk about, Hey, this, this part of

my life is important, you know, and, and, and that hopefully we,

we back it up by the way, we're living right?

That, that it's not like, hey, this part of my life is really

important, that I'm a follower of Jesus.

And then they end up being poor examples for Jesus in their

workplace or whatever. But also like in our in our

neighborhoods, I think about some friends who they they after

school, for instance. So a lot of a lot of parents

will gather after school. One of the things that I see

happening a lot of the times is the moms and dads just

connecting and just letting the kids play at the playgrounds and

letting them hang out and the parents get to have like some

adult time, like just get to chat and just be, you know, not

think about all that. And I'm like, what an

opportunity that is there just to, to be present to, to care

for one another. We've, we've had that.

There was an instance in my daughter's school, the tragic

situation that happened. And, and I would say it was some

of some of the Christians that I know in, in my daughter's school

who stepped up to, to be a light to, to be the one to sort of

like I'm gonna help start the meal train.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna do all the things like that is the way that

Christians can show up in a profound way.

Yeah, yeah. And so like a really practical

way, like we're going to, we're going to make sure that, you

know, this situation's got food for as long as they need.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely.

That's amazing. Yeah.

So, you know, I, I think one of the one of the questions that I

would love people to wrestle out, I need to wrestle out every

day. Though admittedly, I think our

occupation here makes it different.

Little bit the moment we're in the public and someone like,

what do you do? Wow, how do I answer?

Let me bore you in 30 seconds. No, I think the the one of the

questions that I would love people to wrestle out is how is

how is my how is my job? How is the job I do different

because I am a follower of Jesus?

Is it is the culture of my employer, employment company?

Like is is anything different because I am a Christian?

It should be. It should be, yeah.

And I think that's a that's a sobering question to ask because

I think sometimes we just check our, you know, not brains at the

door, but you just kind of go into this like autopilot and

you're like, I just gotta get this job, job done.

Yeah. And then I can go back to life.

And so I think that's that's a question that might help people

wrestle that out, right. How how is how is this place

different? Because I am here Because I

think here's the here's the second part of the question is

like what? What would change in your daily

posture toward others, toward your workplace, toward people,

if you expected Jesus to show up in your workplace or in your

neighborhood? Are you talking like show up

like Rapture? Through, not through you, yeah,

Yeah. Just just clarify.

No, no. So I like, I think, I think

sometimes we, I think sometimes we distance ourselves from like

the yeah, we love for God to show up and like.

In the church gathering. Well, or even, like in the

world. Yeah, in a way that I'm still,

like, distant from like, yeah, God, you do your thing.

Like, you show up, you speak to that person, you convict.

Like I'm going to pray for them. Great thing to do, pray for

people never gonna say that's a bad thing.

But I think sometimes we can, like we can distance ourselves

from the actual relationships by saying, oh, well, I pray for

them. Like I pray for my colleagues at

work and I pray that they change, you know, their hearts

and their minds about who Jesus is.

And, and and you know, when I land on the work floor, I just

do my job as though nothing changes.

But I'm praying for you. And you know, I think the

expectation is no. So Jesus, Jesus doesn't show up

himself to all these towns and places, but he sends 72 into

them. Hmm.

And so I think, you know, one of the things that we need to be

open to is the fact that the Jesus might be intending to show

up through you. It's like, Dang it, I, I thought

I was just a forklift driver, you know, like, yeah, sorry,

actually the, the responsibility is greater than that.

Yeah, I say that as I had a brief stint as a forklift driver

in my when I was 2019 or 20 and I was not a great Christian

witness and I probably had a bad attitude a lot of the time.

And, and I, I think back as just as I'm thinking about this, I'm

like, man, I, I could have been such a greater, um, a greater

witness in that, in that, in that season where I, but I

probably looked a little bit too much and acted a little bit too

much like everyone else there. I think I tried sometimes like

where, you know, like some of the, some of the attitude and

content that was coming out of these, that this group of these

group of guys there, like it was not always great.

And, and, and I, you know, I tried to very gently just say

like, Hey, I'm not into that guys, you know, but like that

even that can be that's not particularly helpful for like

letting them see Jesus in some profound way.

But I do think about like, you know, other work settings, that

one is challenging, but I think about like some work settings

people actually have done like like alpha courses in their in

their workplace. That's like a very specific

thing. Like that's like a very like,

hey, like I'm going to be intentionally evangelistic.

And here's the thing I'm going to do.

And sometimes it's worked amazingly.

That is probably not going to work in a lot of contexts.

Hmm. You never know.

Yeah, like a mentor of mine tells the story of two

neighbors, right? And two families fairly similar

to empty nesters married couple and so, you know, kids are gone

off to university work, etc, whatever.

Like, you know, maybe they're mids kind of mid 60s at this

point. And I don't know if this is

made-up story. I think it is.

But anyways, he so he tells the story of to two different roads

that you can take as a as a Christian.

And the one is that I'm going to, I'm going to wait until

something happens in your life. And in that moment, I'm going to

be there. I'm going to support you and I'm

going to say, hey, you know, I'm going to invite you to church.

Can I pray for you? Like, you know, what can I do?

And and and they go, OK, that's, that's not a bad option, right?

But the other option or the other route is so here are these

two neighbors and and he actually fleshes out this story.

So here are these two neighbors and one of the spouses, one of

the wives dies. You know, she's going through

cancer dies. And in that moment, buddy show

his next door neighbor shows up like they've waved at each

other, had kind of the neighborly talks whatever come

across troubling snow. And so he shows up and he's

like, hey, do you want to come to church with me?

Like you want to talk to a pastor?

Like you wanna do this? Cool, great.

Maybe that goes somewhere, right?

Here's the other option. Neighbor moves in early on,

figures out that this next door neighbor loves cars.

Part of a car club. But he's like, hey, you know, I

want to get to know my neighbor. Neighbors, not a Christian.

I think you should know Jesus. I'm gonna join that.

I'm gonna join that car group. Not not as like a project to

work on like as like a, you know, a kind of last minute like

switch like well, tricked you, but like I'm gonna genuinely

invest in this guy Like he he he enjoys this thing.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna join the thing and I'm gonna go to the

like, I'm gonna build a relationship with him.

Yeah. And, you know, they do that.

They become great friends. He's open about his faith.

He you know one neighbor knows that the other is a Christian.

Other neighbor died, his wife dies.

And in that moment you have all of those years of cultivating

meaningful, genuine friendship relationship around these

things. So, you know, my my one is one

of my professors at seminary. And like he uses that story to

just talk about our the opportunity that we have as

Christians to be intentional about building relationship and

earning the right to be heard. And, you know, the one moment

waits until something horrible has happened.

And then you're like, hey, you know, can I talk to you about

Jesus? Like, dude, like, what are you

doing? Like, yeah, this isn't like,

this isn't great. Like this is not great.

Like you, you know, I don't know you.

You don't know me well, like Shot, like don't talk to me

about this stuff. Like I'm, I'm grieving.

But if the trust has been built, yeah, and and they're as like

you have, you have the the genuine relationship.

And you've shared your faith like it's you can't, it can't be

the bait and switch. It can't be like, oh, you

thought I was like you tricked. You can't let me tell you why I

was really here. Like it has to be a genuine part

of the relationship all like the whole way through.

But those are two very different outcomes to the same event in

somebody's life. Yeah, right.

So I think that's the piece, Like, every single day you have

the opportunity to earn the right to be heard and to develop

meaningful relationships with people around you who are

wrestling life out. Yeah.

And, and who will go through very difficult seasons and who

we believe need to know Jesus. I can stand at the corner of my

street and wave a, you know, sign at them every morning, or I

can actually invest in. Be in their life.

And yeah, because 11 is is about trust and genuine friendship and

and and and mutuality. The other can border on

predatory. Like I'm going to wait until

you're at your most vulnerable. That's like, that's icky.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

So like, listen, like if I'm going to choose one for like the

culture of our church, our way of being, it's gonna be that

like, hey, get into your communities, invest in people,

build real, authentic, meaningful relationships, share

your faith. Don't hide who that part of you

is. Be an integrated person.

Like, you know, use that language.

Don't become somebody else to earn their friendship and then

flip on the Christian ease. Like just be yourself and and

then I think be surprised by how God's gonna use you in those

relationships. Yeah, in ways that you never

would have imagined. So like that for like for the

culture of our church that that's.

It and it's slow and inefficient.

Yeah. But it but it does it, it, it

it's going to produce a better result, Yeah.

So, yeah, sent to people. OK, so that's one question.

Here's another question. So Jesus says when you enter a

house, first say peace to that house.

And I started thinking about John 14 and here's this prayer.

I'm going to flip over to it and read it.

So this is in the context of like John's got this kind of

long drawn out series of teachings and and then prayers.

What do they call that again? Preparation.

The the so that's the farewell discourse, right?

Yeah, is is part of it. So, but in in John 14, we get

this great line. And so I think so I wrote it

down so I wouldn't forget. It's verse 27.

So, so he's, he's in this, this is the start of it.

He says these things. I've spoken to you while I'm

still with you, but the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father

will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring

to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

So this is like we said so. So Jesus is starting to get his

disciples ready for the day where he will not be with them.

And then he says, peace. I leave with you my peace.

I give to you not as the world gives do I give to you.

Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

And then he says, you've heard me say to you, I am going away.

And so so it's that one line like peace I leave with you, my

peace I give to you. And I started thinking through

this idea of so polarized anxious cultural moment.

We have talked for a long time about being in that, like in the

age of anxiety. So, you know, I don't think

people need too much explanation to understand how anxious our

culture has been and is and how pervasive that is just

generalized and acute, both of these things.

So here's the question. I think we talk about peace as

something that we want to consume.

Like we pray that I would experience peace or that you

would experience peace, that it's something we receive and it

is like peace is a gift from God.

Absolutely. The benediction go in peace.

Yes, and that's like that is a blessing that we're going to

speak over you. It's not a we hope you

experience peace. No, go knowing the peace of God

like go knowing the love of God's grace, the Lord Jesus

Christ friends with this piece of those like those are things

that we say go with. We're speaking them over you as

a blessing, yes. OK, so to kind of riff off that,

how do you think we can shift from being people who just want

to experience peace ourselves to be people who speak that piece

over others? So Jesus speaks it over his

disciples, just actually prays for it for all, all, all people

speaks it over you, speaks it over you, listener.

And yes, it's for you. But also, we know Jesus says

blessed are the peacemakers. So yeah, how do we shift from

just wanting to experience peace ourselves to not only being ones

who pray for peace, but who actually speak it into and over

people's lives? I wonder if like, so there's a

part of me thinking myself, OK, but like, if I am going to be so

the person who is, is able to extend peace, not just be a

consumer of peace, but to be a, a person of peace, a peacemaker,

someone who is going and, and being a in the, in the embodied

piece of Jesus wherever I go, you know, like in this passage

in, in Lieutenant. So he says, Jesus says when you

enter a house for say peace to this house, if someone who

promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them.

If not, it will return to you. And, and I think about the piece

that I want to offer others. First off, I have to have it

right. I have to, I have to be be a

recipient of that piece. So, and I maybe like countering

your question a little bit of like actually we do need to

consume it first, like we we need to.

Maybe receiving is a is a better word though.

To receive the peace of Christ, to know that it is present, to

be able to be still and know that he's God, to be able to.

And, and I'm, and I'm noticing even as I'm talking about this,

I'm like, I'm, I'm kind of settling into my seat a bit more

because I'm like reminding myself of these truths.

And all of a sudden it's like I'm breathing a little deeper

because I'm like, OK, let me settle into the piece of Christ,

right? That he offers And and it, and

it is, it is something that can, I would say, reduce or even

eliminate my anxiety. And I don't necessarily mean

that I want to be careful in like that.

There, there is, there's clinical anxiety that sometimes

we need medication for. And this is our weekly pitch for

therapy and things like that. Yeah, exactly.

But but as someone who's done all that, as someone who's done

all the things, like I know all the tools, I know all the

techniques I've done. I've done all the things that

my, that my therapist and psychologist told me to do, but

also something amazing happens when I sit quietly and I calm my

mind before God. Hmm.

And I bring my stuff before God and I breathe.

You know, I love the idea of like breathing in the presence

of God, like they're this rhythm of that.

All of a sudden I am these recipients of God's peace.

I am no longer operating out of this, this cluttered, anxious

mind. And then and then I can be that

person to the I think it's like this contagiousness, right?

Like that. If you, if you walk into a room,

I mean, you've seen it with people, right, Where someone is

a highly anxious personality type, get them in a certain

scenario and and the anxiety spreads like you can feel.

I, I remember, I remember there was a particularly challenging

previous church challenging Christmas Eve service that we

were planning and there was someone who was helping run, run

it. I can't remember who it was, but

they were very anxious personality and it just made

everything anxious. Yeah.

And what a difference when someone can come in and just be

like, hey, everything's alright. Like, hey, we're like, we're,

you know, we're gonna, we're gonna make it through this.

Everyone just take a second and, and just like centre yourself

before God, you know, like there's, there's something the

difference in the room when when that person A versus person B

comes in and, and if they're helping lead and shape the tone

of that room. And I think about that, yeah.

Peace. I leave you and I And then so

like you can, you can be that person for your workplace, for

your home, for yourself. Like it's amazing.

Yeah. Yeah, I so I read a book that

I'll recommend. It's called so it's by Mark

Sayers and he writes a book called Non Anxious Presence.

And so it's, it really is like learning to be non anxious

presence in and in an anxious world.

And so, I mean, there's lots of, there's lots of great, great

quotes from it. But he talks about one of the

things he talks about is that as like as a system is flooded with

anxiety, one of the central markers of that system becomes

reactivity. Yeah.

So you're just constantly reacting to things.

Boy, that sounds familiar to our general state of being.

Right. 2025. Right.

Yeah. So that's one of the reasons why

I like how how Jesus, both, both both of these lines.

So my piece, I give to you like peace, I give to you, my peace,

I leave with you. I do not give as the world

gives. So therefore don't be afraid.

And what does that mean? So it's, it's not reactive, it's

not conditional, It's not, you know, if you feel it, it's not

when you feel it, it's this is a gift from God.

And so I think there is something to be said about whole

like holding on to that. So this is what you're like

receiving this gift. Then I start thinking about, OK,

I don't need to be the one running around anxiously trying

to find peace, right? It is like anybody who's

experienced any level of anxiety knows that the number one thing

you can't do when you're anxious is go.

I can't be anxious. I need to stop being anxious,

right? Like it's, it's kind of like

you, you gotta, you gotta let it ride a little bit like it.

It is something that you have to move through.

Like the more you fight anxiety, the more anxious you become.

And you know, I think the more you fight for peace, the more

you try to find it, the more you try to be the one who like who

gets it, the obviously the less peaceful your life is going to

be, the more reactive it's going to be.

Really. Practically like, So this was

you and I did this in, in real time where back in the winter we

had a big snowstorm that, you know, dumped like 3 feet of

snow. And so we went ahead knowing it

was coming and did a pre record. And it, we, we, I think we were

all having some like pandemic flashbacks.

Yes, I was definitely. And I feel, I remember, is it OK

if I say you, you were, you were feeling.

It I was. Absolutely.

And and and I was feeling OK. I was like and not, I'm not

saying that I like pat myself on the back, but I was, I was

feeling OK and I, but I, I saw, I saw and that's not normally

you. That's not normally you, right?

And I, but I saw it and I was like, OK, everyone, let's just,

we're gonna gather around and we're going to pray and we're

just gonna like take a moment to be still.

Yep. Because like and, and like that,

that I think changed the dynamic because I think that there was a

little bit of like anxiety and stress just present in the room.

And it's like, we, we got it. We that that's not going to the

result is not going to be what we want if that's the way we're

approaching this. Yeah, that was a great moment.

That was absolutely a great moment just to name this and go,

hey, we're going to pray. I'm trying to throw you under

the bus, Grant. We're feeling, No, I mean,

listen, I'm happy to talk about it.

Like absolutely was like I and I don't know where I was.

I think I was surprised by it. Yeah.

Yeah, I was like, man, like, what are we doing?

I think what it was was like, I really didn't wanna cancel the

service. I'm like, we can't do it.

The last time we cancelled it, we didn't come back for two

years. And that's what I was feeling

was like the weight of this, like if we do this, what's gonna

happen next, right? Which is how that like, it's how

that anxiety grows and, and it's like it, it how it is how it

starts to shape the decisions you make.

And you made a great, you made a great leadership move and just

spiritual move to name it, right, which is so important and

say, hey, I think we're like you said, hey, I think we're all

feeling this. Yeah.

And so let's pray about it. Let's just pray.

Let's settle down and then go. And you can feel in that moment,

you could feel the temperature of the room shift.

And then we recorded everything and had a great time doing it.

And we went on our way. And that was.

It and Lindsey and my daughter and I built an awesome snow Fort

in in our driveway or in our in our front lawn the next day

after the church service and it was awesome.

And then next Sunday, we were. Back.

Yeah, that's great. But I like that.

So that is a just to say a couple like so a name, you named

it, which is so important. And then you pray into it, which

is so important. I think you did those things so,

so well in that moment. So it's.

Yeah. I think even to even to just

simply take that as like the practical, OK, So what it you

might not feel peaceful in the way that you assume you need to

in order to be one who makes peace, because it's not about

giving your peace. It's about bringing Jesus peace.

Yeah. And so you can name that while

not fully experiencing it yourself all the time.

And one other, one other thought is kind of correlating this to

back to Genesis 12, the call of Abraham, where, where you know,

they're, they're this people of this family is called to be a

blessing to the nations. And the language I often use is

that they were not called to be hoarders of, of blessing.

And in a similar way, we are not called to be hoarders of peace

that we don't peace is not the end.

It is, it is not, it is not the end result just to have peace

for me, right. The idea is that peace is is

shared and spread to those around us as we experience it.

So it's it's similar track. Yeah.

And dropping stuff, I think in in the same way that we would

articulate salvation. The end of salvation isn't your

own sadness. Yeah, right.

And we see this. This is what we see in you tease

this out in the at the beginning of the sermon where Jesus is

called at the beginning of Luke hmm's and then he calls his

disciples and then those 12 are sent out and then more gather.

Now he's sending out 72. We're already like this thing is

ramping up. Yeah, beyond, you know what we

initially picture when we're like, OK, Jesus 12 disciples, 13

of them walking around. No, like there's hundreds at

this point of people who are just crowds constantly.

So no, so good. OK, last question and I had to

go to my real time written in a book sermon notes as I was

listening writing these down. OK.

So to flip off that probably related to being peacemakers,

you talked about having single minded urgency.

Yeah. And so here is the I don't

believe paradox, but I think where we could fall into maybe

like a false dichotomy is like, what does it look like for us

today to have urgency for the Kingdom of God going out while

also still being non anxious peacemakers?

They feel like they're at odds. They do feel like they're at

odds. And and you see, I think it was,

was it was it last week or the week before the Rapture was

apparently supposed to happen? Yeah.

And then, and then apparently there was a miscalculation.

And maybe it's supposed to be like this week or the next week

or whatever. I can't remember, but that ain't

it. So that that all that does is,

is and I don't, I don't really use TikTok, but like all I heard

from from my friends was like everyone on TikTok is going

insane about like and like genuinely like they're genuinely

like the time is now. People like this is urgent.

We need to like and, and I'm like, OK, OK, OK, back up, back

up. Like one day we should like talk

about the rapture and, and what Jesus actually said.

But I'll leave that for today. I'll set that aside and just say

that is not the sort of single minded urgency that I would be

after, nor do I think it is what Jesus is after.

Because in this case they had the the you know, the urgency

was there because the time, you know, the time was short,

practically speaking, for before Jesus was to go to Jerusalem,

right. So there is, there is a very

specific need for urgency. Yeah.

That doesn't, that doesn't mean we're not urgent.

That doesn't mean that that, that that doesn't mean there

isn't an urgency today, because life is short and finite.

And we do we do want to see the Kingdom of God made manifest on

earth in the same way we do want to see hope.

Hope brought to people and life brought to people and peace

brought to people and and I think here's how I here's how I

would think about this. We talked, you talked about a

moment ago about the how acutely and generally anxious we are as

a generation and as a people. The urgency, I think for me is

actually like our world so desperately needs to know the

peace of Christ. Our world so desperately needs

to know the message of and hope of the good news of the Kingdom

of God and to be anxious in our to be anxious and, and sort of

like careless in the way that we go about sending that message,

extending that message, verbalizing that message.

You're going to have the opposite effect you want.

And so, so I, I think about like just not not wasting

opportunities when they present themselves like, because maybe

there won't be another opportunity, you know, and I and

I, you know, I don't mean that in a way of like, like dramatic,

you know, maybe they're going to die tomorrow, but but maybe, but

maybe. And so if we take the

opportunities, if we seize the opportunities that are before

us, that sometimes the Holy Spirit brings, prompts us to you

and brings us to like, don't miss out on those.

Don't. And sometimes they're really

simple, just like, Hey, I, Justin, I want you to give a, a

note of encouragements to that cashier who looks like they're

having a really junkie day, you know, and, and I, and I've done

that before. And then there are times where I

think I've ignored God's push and called to say or do

something right. And but I just think seizing

every opportunity, they're not at odds, you're right.

But they could so easily be. Hmm.

Yeah, I think it's why so at the risk of going too far down that

rapture rabbit hole, like it it, it is why I think our theology

informs and changes how we live every day.

Because what I would articulate, I believe about about heaven and

eternity is that yes, there is, There is eternity with Jesus.

And what I think the Bible articulates is with Jesus's

life, that Kingdom of God that will be and come in its fullness

as a future oriented thing, is also in process of coming into

being with Jesus now and is still.

It's this weird place of it. It's here and now and it is not

here fully. Um, and what I actually believe,

you know. So like, do do do people die

every day without knowing Jesus? Yes, but people also live every

day without knowing Jesus. And, and I genuinely believe

that life is better for knowing Jesus now.

And all of the things that we know into eternity begin now.

Yeah. And and so it's, it's, it is,

you're right. Like it is people's experience

of peace in its fullest sense, like fullness of life,

wholeness, health, peace with God's, peace with others,

rightness of relationship and life, all of it.

Not as like a believe now and you'll eventually get there,

yeah, but as a start to experience them now, start to

like your life can actually begin to change now because of

it. And so in that there's urgency.

I'm not urgent. Like I'm not.

I don't think there's urgency because I want to get people to

heaven when they die. I think there's urgency because

I want people to experience heaven today.

Well, and that's that idea of, you know, I mean, in the Lord's

Prayer, like your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it

is in heaven. And, and the, the inference

there is that we want to see more of heaven on earth, right?

And, and I mean, we can go down the weeds of like the

eschatological implications or whatever, Like, you know, it's

complicated, it's complicated. But the reality is when I think

about the things that our world so desperately needs, it is man

I I look at the the devastation of of conflicts and violence

and, and if, if these places knew and truly lived out and

understood the Kingdom, how different that would.

Be. Yeah.

And, and it would, it would change the landscape of our

world quite literally. And, and, and so I that's, yeah,

that's where it feels more urgent because there, there is

so many terrible things happening, both like events,

world events, and then just like ways of being for people, for

our our kids generation, that man without Jesus.

I I truly think that there is without Jesus.

There is something so deeply missing.

So we want people to experience, receive the gift of peace, Hmm.

So that they can turn around and be non anxious peacemakers who

still have urgency. Yeah.

Because the Kingdom matters and life inside the Kingdom happens

today. Yeah.

And I think that's a great place to end.

Love it. Awesome.

So 24 versus in under 30 minutes?

I don't know how I did it. Yeah, this podcast is not under.

30 Definitely, definitely not, no.

But hopefully this was helpful for you.

And as just as we unpack some of the nerdy stuff, but also some

of the practical stuff as well. If you have questions, you can

send them to questions at courtrightchurch.org and we'd be

happy to incorporate those into our weekly discussions over

these sermons. And I want to bless you into

your week and maybe even leave you with go in peace similar to

the the benediction. So go in peace.

God bless.