John 7:14-24 - ”Religious Death” - Abundant Life (Gospel of John)

The Old Testament reading is Isaiah

Isaiah 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12.

>> [clears throat]

>> You will say in that day, "I will give

thanks to you, O Lord,

for though you were angry with me, your

anger turned away, that you might

comfort me."

Behold, God is my salvation. I will

trust and not be afraid.

For the Lord God is my strength and my

song, and he has become my salvation.

With joy, you will draw water from the

wells of salvation, and you will say in

that day,

"Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his

name,

make known his deeds among the peoples,

proclaim that his name is exalted.

Sing praises to the Lord, for he has

done gloriously.

Let this be made known in all the earth.

Shout and sing for joy, O inhabitant of

Zion,

for great in your midst is the Holy One

of Israel."

The New Testament reading is John

John 7:14–24

chapter 7 verses 14 through 24.

About the middle of the feast, Jesus

went up into the temple and began

teaching.

The Jews, therefore, marveled, saying,

"How is it that this man has learning

when he has never studied?"

>> [clears throat]

>> So, Jesus answered them,

"My teaching is not mine, but his who

sent me.

If anyone's will is to do God's will, he

will know whether the teaching is from

God or whether I am speaking on my own

authority.

The one who speaks on his own authority

seeks his own glory.

But the one who seeks the glory of him

who sent him

is true, and in him there is no

falsehood.

Has not Moses given you the law?

Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do

you seek to kill me?

The crowd answered, "You have a demon.

Who is seeking to kill you?"

Jesus answered them, "I did one work,

and you all marvel at it. Moses gave you

circumcision, not that it is from Moses,

but from the fathers,

and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.

If on the Sabbath a man receives

circumcision, so that the law of Moses

may not be broken,

are you angry with me because on the

Sabbath I made a man's whole body well?

Do not judge by appearances, but judge

with right judgment."

This is the word of the Lord.

>> Thanks be to God.

Religious death sounds like an oxymoron

to a lot of people.

But what if I told you that religion

kills more people than anything else?

It's true.

And that unfortunately the Christian

religion

properly mis- properly understood has

destroyed many people.

People say, "Well, that's crazy, Emery.

That's We have the right religion." No,

we have the right God.

There's a difference.

Religion is human beings

attempt

to worship the God they think exists.

And sometimes

that is not what

God is like at all.

And you see it all the time in

Christianity. And to deny it

is foolish.

So, I'm going to give you an example.

When I came here,

there were those signs. They weren't

quite as pretty as that.

And they were all over our main doors.

Do you remember that, Ross? Is Ross

here?

Remember that?

No.

You do?

Now, I was new. I came in November of

that year and I saw these signs and like

so many things you see I saw all kinds

of things that if you attended

regularly, here's a reality when you

attend somewhere regularly, you stop

noticing things.

Okay? And so, I came in I was new and I

noticed these things. They stood out.

And it just there were a few things. I

won't mention which one, but this one

stood out as another example of jeez, um

I didn't feel very welcomed.

Do you know what I mean?

Well, I wouldn't have said anything cuz

I had a rule that I was going to try and

find the bathrooms first before I made

changes. And I hadn't even found the

bathrooms.

But that Christmas Eve an event happened

that forced my hand.

Sitting right over there. I came up

here. I was getting ready

and two young folks came in. They were

children of somebody in the church.

And they were uh

carrying Tim Hortons cups.

Yes, I wish somebody had the scary music

right now.

And a lady who was sitting somewhere

who I won't mention cuz I don't remember

which one it was.

Came down

and walked up to these young chil- kids

and

said something. I couldn't see what they

were being said and these kids abruptly

came out, went outside

and came back in without their cups.

Oh, okay. So,

afterwards,

I V-lined to them because this is in the

day where

if you could get a young person, you

tied them down in this place cuz there

were no young people.

And I asked them what had happened

and with anger in their voice they said,

"We were told that we were disrespectful

of God's sanctuary

because we had brought

tea and coffee into the church."

Well,

that made me angry.

I waited until the next Sunday

that I was on

and I made sure

that I did this.

I got right up to the front and

>> [clears throat]

>> I guess and I went

Why would I do that?

Because we made a choice

to put a rule of law

over human beings.

We had made a choice that our beloved

sanctuary

was more important than the souls of two

young kids

who came to hear God's word.

I'm going to tell you the truth. I'm not

going to leave this up here cuz it's

tempting.

Um

This happens all the time.

We make choices, we make rules, we put

values and we forget the whole purpose

of what God is doing this for.

Human beings.

And sometimes we put these rules and we

destroy human beings. That young couple

never came back and I don't blame them.

And we forget why and what is important.

And that's exactly what Jesus is dealing

with today.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you

that you've given us Jesus and you can

show us this stuff.

We pray by your grace that you will open

our eyes and our ears.

And that we

will leave this place different.

And may the words of my mouth and the

meditation of my heart be pleasing unto

you.

The story we're about to talk about is

happening in the middle of a festival.

Jason talked about it a bit on the last

Sunday. The Festival of Booths or Feast

of Tabernacles. A little bit of history

there and there's a little bit of a

booth where they would have had it. It's

the main emphasis was water,

light,

and feast because it was the end of the

the season where they were to bringing

in the the all of the all of the uh

grain, all of their

everything that mattered to them. This

was it. This was the harvest festival.

They brought in the harvest.

And they had this harvest festival, but

it had symbolic meaning to their own

story. That's what's important.

The reason they had water wasn't just

cuz they God provides water and it's

important for grain,

but because they had remembered from the

Exodus story that God had brought water

out of a rock.

Water provided for the people

practically. Thus, the bowls of water.

And the lights, why did they have the

lights and why did they have this and it

glow Apparently, Jerusalem would just

light up. It was beautiful.

Because God led them by the tower of

fire, the light, and he led them

through.

And this was all about God's presence on

earth, okay? This is God's presence

amongst his people and they celebrated

it as it was the feast. But they had one

other element of this feast

that added to it even more and it was

that they reminded them that God one day

would give everyone an eschatological

feast once he comes back and sets things

into order.

So this was a very politically

uh

charged

celebration when Jesus came.

Because they thought the Moses figure

would come, the David figure who would

deliver them and then we'd host this

feast. And they were waiting for him.

Would he come on Passover? Would he come

on the Feast of Tabernacles?

Well, this time of Jesus, he's living in

a revolutionary time in the world.

And he's sitting there and they're all

waiting and John's brother or Jesus'

brothers and they were his brothers,

sorry my Catholic friends, they weren't

cousins. Um

No no ex-Catholics here getting that

joke, okay.

Um

They even cuz they think like the world,

let's get our little brother out there,

right? Before and Jesus Jason was

saying, let's get him out so that hey,

we can sell him as a political figure.

But Jesus says, "No, my time is not

come. I will not be coming to your

feast."

He comes to this feast though. Well, why

not your feast? Because the feast they

think they want is not the real feast.

They want the feast of the Messianic

political figure. Jesus comes and shows

him the God of the feast.

Now, the feast also had one thing it

said

the feast only exist, the rabbi said, if

the I Am is there, the presence of God.

Without the I Am, there is no feast.

And they always waited for the I Am to

come. And the other thing I will say

about it, cuz we can be a little bit um

curmudgeony in the Presbyterian church,

if you know anything about us,

is this was a party.

Like they partied. Like God provided.

They actually had a pretty awesome

dancing, singing, they raised their

hands.

I don't know.

>> [panting and sighs]

>> Certainly were no Presbyterian elders

there.

Into this world,

we hear the story.

About at the middle of the feast, Jesus

went up into the temple and began

teaching.

The Jews therefore marveled, "How is it

that this man has I'd like this The

Greek word is words, grammaton or

something,

when he has never studied?" How does he

have these words? He shouldn't have

them. You have to study to know things.

And in the ancient world, just like

today, we tend to worship people who

studied under certain people.

And the way they would come across and

debate this, they would always quote the

guy that their hero was. So, they'd be

like, "Rabbi Shammai said this, thus I

say this." Or, "Rabbi Hillel said this."

That's what they said. They were

building up on these stories and

history. They were read, and they wanted

to be seen as having read, because it

gave them status.

Having spent eight years post-graduate

school, I can tell you that doesn't

change.

Educated people like to remind you who

they've read.

So, Jesus answered them,

"And how is it they say that this man is

learning when he has never studied? This

could not happen." And Jesus answered

them, "The teaching is not mine." See,

they're saying it's his teaching, cuz

they only do their own teaching. But

what Jesus says is it's not actually my

teaching.

And I do have a rabbi. He's the one who

sent me. You happen to call him the I

Am.

Father.

And I'm not going to quote him because

he created everything.

He's not one of the others around.

If anyone's will is to do God's will,

Jesus says in this world,

he will know whether the teaching is

from God or if I am speaking of my own

authority.

I want you to read that closely. What he

just said is if you really want to

follow God, you'll be listening to me.

What does that say about who he thinks

he is?

Do you imagine how offensive this was to

a first-century Second Temple Jew who

are questioning him?

And he says basically, he just keeps

doubling down. I am more curious. People

say, "Oh, why did Jesus have to die?" My

point is, I'm shocked he didn't die

sooner.

I mean, he just doesn't let off the gas.

And he goes, "The one who speaks on his

own authority seeks his own glory." He's

looking right at them.

They give their pronouncements out of

their own wisdom and their learning

they've had.

But why do they do it? The same reason

we do it when we sit in these education

seminars and they tell us their profound

new idea.

Because guess what? Whether you like it

or not, people have egos.

Did you know that?

I know it's

And you get up in the education system

and you get around guys with these these

three letters.

I I like to call it piled high and deep.

PhD.

And I can assure you I know these people

because I rub shoulders with them. And

they have all profound ideas and they

want you to know them. Why? So that you

grow in Jesus Christ? No, so that you

grow in Bob Jimbo

and his wisdom and knowledge.

The one who speaks on his own authority

seeks his own glory. But the one who

seeks the glory of him who has sent him

is true and in him there is no

falsehood. Who is he speaking of?

Himself.

He's not there trying to wait woo them.

He's not there saying, "Look how well I

know Hillel or or or Shammai or all the

other ones Gamaliel."

He's there saying in front of them,

"I'm telling you what I know cuz I seek

the Lord and if you want the Lord,

you've got to go after this, too."

Now, I want to remind you of something

right now, just before we get to the

next part.

The Jews believed

that following the law was the only way

God would forgive them. Okay?

And the Jews believed cuz the Pharisees

told them that if they followed the law,

the Torah, for seven straight days, God

would have to send his deliverer down

and he would deliver them

and the Romans would be wiped out and we

would get

we'd be the

big cheese on the campus.

So, you got to remember that. So, when

they were fighting people doing the law

or not doing the law, they didn't care

about them going to heaven or not.

Why they were concerned about the law

being done is because if you didn't do

the law and you're part of the nation,

you are stopping God from sending our

deliverer. Do you see that?

So, it was considered

uh

treasonous to not do the law. Do you see

what I mean? It was very serious.

That's why you see the hatred of the tax

collectors and sinners in the Bible.

It's not just cuz they think I'm better

than you cuz I do more moral things.

They hate them because they do bad

things all the time and they're stopping

from this revolution.

I want you to remember that cuz we're

now going to get into the law.

Okay.

And Jesus says, "Have not Moses given

you the law, yet none of you keeps the

law." Now, what did I just say?

That if you don't keep the law, you're

what?

Treasonous.

What did Jesus just say to them? I'm

trying to get you to understand how

offensive he is.

Let me say that again. Remember, if you

don't keep the law, you're treasonous.

Has not Moses given you the law, yet

none of you keeps the law. What did he

just say to them?

You're a bunch of Benedict Arnolds.

Woo.

And then he says, "Why do you seek to

kill me?" Well, of course, what's the

one one of the first laws? Thou shall

not

murder.

Well, the crowd is now getting upset.

They answered, "You have a demon."

That's always their answer to Jesus

wisdom, isn't it?

They can't beat him in a regular

argument. It's kind of like if you're in

a debate with somebody and and you know

you've won when they said, "Yeah, well,

you got a big chin." Like it it's

they're not arguing the issue. They

always just bring in a non sequitur.

You have a demon who is seeking to kill

you.

They know.

And Jesus answered them,

"I did one work and you all marveled at

it." What do you think that work was? Do

you remember?

He did one work about two chapters

before and he I'll give you a hint, he

did it on the Sabbath.

Healed the man in the pool of Siloam.

And it says here, "I did one work and

you all" and here's where you have to

have Greek to see this. The marvel here

is a the marveling in the sense of

sneering marvel, marvel that you would

dare do that.

It wasn't marvel like, "Oh man, you're

an amazing thing." They were sneering at

this. They marveled at the fact that he

would even dare do that.

Moses, Jesus goes on. Remember they

wanted to talk about Moses, they want to

talk about obeying the law, that's the

key. And you have to do it right and he

healed on the Sabbath a man, so he must

have been wrong, remember?

Well, Jesus goes back and he throws

something at them.

He says, "Moses gave you circumcision

which he didn't actually, but he kind of

codified it. Not that it was from Moses,

but it came from the Father. So, it

actually even predates

the law.

And you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.

Now, if you circumcise a man on the

Sabbath, what are you doing on the

Sabbath?

Working, right? So, the very thing that

they're attacking him for, they do

themselves. If you are born on a certain

day, 8 days later

after the birth of that child, you have

to do circumcision. That's the law. So,

if that day lands on the Sabbath, you

have to clip off the foreskin. It's

that's that's the rules.

But the problem is, it's on the Sabbath,

we shouldn't be working. So, what they

said, and there was this big argument at

the time amongst the rabbis, should we

do this or should we not? And but

because the baby, when the for that the

symbolism of the removal of the foreskin

is you're being cut off from the world,

you're becoming part of the covenant

people of God and you're being made

whole covenantally.

That's the purpose. And so they said,

"Well, that's more important than

whether we work on a Sabbath. So this

rule, by making this child somewhat

better because of the circumcision, at

least that member of his body is now

sanctified."

That's why we can do it on the Sabbath.

Do you understand so far? Does that make

sense?

It's a Jewish argument. I'm not going to

try and

Anyways, that's why you go to small

groups cuz then you can talk about it.

"If on the Sabbath man receives

circumcision so that the law of Moses

may not be broken, are you angry with

me? So you let these people do this and

cut off the foreskin on a Sabbath

because you want to see a small part of

this person become purified and become

part of the covenant people of Israel,

yet now you're mad at me because I

healed a whole body."

And when you heal a body in their world,

that meant they were fully sanctified,

not just one little part.

You see Jesus' point?

You're mad at me for healing someone on

the Sabbath. You do this little thing on

the Sabbath cuz you think it's all

right. I'm actually healing the whole

body. You know why they don't care about

what the Jesus healing?

Because they didn't care about the guy.

That's the one thing religion does is it

will put

the emphasis on the law over the human

being who's suffering under it.

That is the key problem with Torah and

how we use it.

So he's saying, "I made this whole body

well and you're mad I I it on the

Sabbath. You do this little bit for this

little baby to become part of the

community and you're fine with that.

Do you see he's already pointed out

they're nuts.

But they're nuts

because they worship their rules as they

understand them.

And they don't put people

over the law.

Well, Jesus gives this one thing.

Do not judge by appearances. By the way,

the the idol in our culture right now is

do not judge. Some people think that's

the only line in the Bible.

Let me assure you it's not.

That is because we worship self and we

don't want anyone telling us what we

shouldn't do unless we'd like to do

whatever we want. So, how dare you judge

me? You know what I mean?

That actual section where it says do not

judge, he's talking about eschatological

judge. The one thing we're not allowed

to do just you know is say look down the

pew and say I know Bobby

I don't know if there's a Bobby here. Uh

Fernando, we don't have no Fernandos. Um

I know Fernando's going to hell.

That's what it's talking about. But

listen to what Jesus says, do not judge

by appearances but judge with right

judgment. It's not that there isn't a

judgment or a discernment to do, it is

discern

with right discernment because if you

discern with wrong discernment, you kill

people.

All right?

Has that made sense?

I mean, I tried my best but

I didn't write it either.

So, there's a few things then that I

think we have to take out of this.

And I hope this makes sense.

First of all, should we speak for

ourselves?

Should we speak on our own ideas and and

and and and it should that be our main

emphasis to come up with a new religious

and symbolic ideas. Get Should we sit

around? I've been in Bible studies.

Anybody been in the Bible studies?

And and and they and and they take a

text

and then you read it and they go, "What

does that text mean to you?"

Ever been in those?

And you hear some of the most

interesting interpretations, for sure.

But it's always on the self,

you know?

There's actually a reason

I don't preach topical sermons. Do you

know what I mean by that?

>> [clears throat]

>> Topical sermons is you get a topic, you

speak about it maybe

seven steps to a happy marriage or how

to beat your kids, I don't know,

whatever one it is.

And what you do is you come up with some

ideas and you often come up with some

ideas and you can just as likely get

them out of a psychology book as

anywhere else. And I did this for years

when I was in the Vineyard. I don't know

but you know this about me. I preached

for 10 years before I got ordained.

And I'm so glad there were so few people

there cuz they were terrible sermons.

Because what I was doing is I was giving

my ideas

and they reeked of the culture.

The truth be known

and this was what wonderful and you see

that I go through the text

is cuz it's not my job to give you my

opinion.

It's my job

to speak about the one

who shows us God.

And that can only be done as we go

through these texts.

I've seen so many people

come up in churches. I saw somebody in

our prayers of the people and they

talked about how their politics was what

they wanted to emphasize. I remember one

guy, Ross will remember this. He came up

to do a scripture reading and started

reading his poems.

Remember that?

When the preacher comes up, we should

take into account what Jesus says.

When we speak to ourselves, we do not

speak for God.

I love this quote.

Self-seekers are self-speakers.

And in our world, it's only getting

worse. How many of you talked about an

issue and they go, "My truth."

Who cares?

You know, all of these people that say,

"My truth." I'm like, "Boy, your truth

sucks."

Or they I remember for a while there in

the charismatic church, and this is

years ago, guys would come up and they

had their sermon. It became very, very

holy to in the middle of your sermon.

You're just getting up there and and

then you grab this thing and go, "God

told me I'm just supposed to talk about

what's on my heart right now." And they

would throw their sermon.

"God inspired me." And I my friend

leaned over to me after one particularly

bad one and he says, "Man, God is

uninspiring."

Yeah, he was talking about his own

stuff.

We have this word given to us and Jesus

is not leaving the story of God.

And we should not be leaving that

either.

Okay?

But why do we do it?

Because we like

the attention.

And all of us can do this.

We speak about our wisdom and our

insights, our personal ones.

Because we like when someone comes up

and go, "You're a genius."

Mhm.

The great Karl Bart

In short, the glory which a man may

ascribe to himself or allow others to

ascribe to him

has nothing whatsoever to do with the

glory of Jesus.

Yikes.

But we do it.

And we say all kinds of things that

aren't in scripture or are at best your

interpretation.

And we tell people stories often from

the pulpit and then we wonder why the

church becomes less healthy.

It might become more full

especially if you're telling them what

they want to hear.

But it's not what Jesus says. Have you

just noticed how Jesus kind of just

offends there?

If you're going to a church where you're

never feeling uncomfortable by Jesus'

words, you may wonder about the church.

He says some uncomfortable stuff.

The reason we get there is this thing

called religious idolatry.

And put simply, religious idolatry is

once we have a set of ideas about God

and then we begin to create that God in

our [music] image.

We may call that God Jesus. Maybe we

call that God Allah. It doesn't matter.

Every tradition has idolatry.

But what we do is we put our own

emphasis over the revelation of God

gifted to us. We emphasize things that

God never even emphasized.

Now I have worked hard. I have read

these scriptures and I have yet to see

no tea and coffee in the sanctuary.

I haven't.

I looked.

Maybe it's in the back of the book

somewhere. I don't know.

I've never once seen that we should

protect our sanctuary as a sanctified

place

and kick the unbeliever out.

Who would dare cross

such a holy place?

See, religious idolatry comes from us

because it comes from our arrogance.

You see, ultimately, when you start to

go to the rules, the rules are the rules

that the inside team have and the

outside team doesn't.

And what it does is it makes you holier

because you're doing the right works.

You're doing the right thing. You're

making God happy.

They're notable things that your friends

who are doing the same things can say,

"Bravo."

And it can also delineate you from

someone else.

My pastor, who was a Southern Baptist

pastor named Beaver Brooks, that's true

story.

When I was in university, said when he

was in school down in the South, if you

were wearing jeans, you were an

unbeliever.

If you were wearing khakis, you were a

seeker. And if you were wearing a

three-points point

suit,

you were a true believer.

You imagine that?

These rules are everywhere.

Martin Luther said, "Not only the

adoration of images as idolatry, but

also trust in one's own righteous works

and merits and putting confidence in

riches and power at

as the latter is the commonest that is

also the most noxious."

You know, the first hint you have

that religious idolatry's taken over

your church is when you can look at

people looking down at each other cuz

they

brought the wrong thing in the wrong

place.

Like coffee and tea into a sanctuary.

You see because Jesus says we need to

judge rightly.

Right?

So, what does it mean to judge rightly?

People keeping.

There's one thing you need to know about

Jesus.

That every time he went against the law,

he didn't do it just to snoot and to PO

I should be careful with my words here.

To make angry

the Pharisees.

He did it because he cared about them

and the people under them.

And he knew what was happening was

destroying them.

This idea, when you think about it, that

there was a young man who had for 30

years had been a lame, could not be part

of the part of Israel, and Jesus comes

and heals him, and they're mad cuz he

does it on the Sabbath.

Religious idolatry.

That they want to kill Jesus because he

killed a man on the Sabbath.

Because he dared put the person over

their rules.

They now want to kill him.

Because that's what happens when we take

the rules that we create and we

pontificate about that gives us special

status over others.

Is we end up killing the others we're

supposed to care for.

Wesley Newbeggin, it follows that in

their judgment upon Jesus, the Jews are

under the cover of the appearance of

legality in fact violating the law.

He gives life, they want to kill.

This is what happens and will always

happen when the attempt is made to

capture the revelation of God and make

it a possession of man.

Instead of being under the word, we

control the word. Instead of being under

what it says about how to treat people,

we take our systems and destroy people.

Jesus was hated for one reason.

And my professor Rick Watts said it so

well and it's why he was killed.

For Jesus, Rick says, when it comes to

people keeping or law keeping, too bad

for the law. Notice that.

Every time he's doing something where

the law is not it anymore. He didn't

hate the law, he created the law. But as

he says to them, I created the law for

people.

So that we would care for people.

We create laws to protect and surround

ourselves and keep others out.

And here's the truth.

If you've been in the church for any

time, you've been there.

You have looked down at others and seen

things

that perhaps

you didn't agree with. They weren't in

your

judgement good.

So I'm going to give you a couple that

are going to make you uncomfortable.

Let's say

you are convicted convinced Calvinist.

You love covenant theology and you

believe that that child should be

baptized into the covenant community.

And your friend down the road who's a

Baptist says, "Well, we don't do that,

but we're going to go and baptize my

13-year-old kid."

Okay?

You know you've got a religious problem

if you're not willing to go.

You know you've got a religious problem

if you're not willing to go and

celebrate that because some kid is

coming into the kingdom of God.

Oh, they don't do it like you?

And that keeps you from celebrating?

Or or or, let me use the other side.

Let's say you're a devout

believer's baptism.

Okay? You believe that they got to be

cognitively aware there, I don't know

the number, age 12 or whatever it is.

And that's all about baptism. We we

we do other things for that. I forget

what it's called.

And then your friend sends you an invite

and it says, "I am going to baptize my

child here at Mountain View Church."

If you can't come because you think that

you theologically have it so figured out

that you're not going to go and see

that,

you've missed the point.

If you can't come in, even if your views

are different, and celebrate that those

two parents who love Jesus Christ want

to bring this kid into a covenant

relationship,

if you can't see that and celebrate

that, you've missed the point.

If you come to a communion service

and you think, "Well, they just do this

as a symbol. They don't get it, so I'm

not going to take it. You've missed the

point.

You should be celebrating that people of

faith want to have this remembrance as

they say it.

And if you come into another church and

they think it literally becomes the body

and blood and you think you're so much

better than them that you don't take it

because you know better.

You've missed the point.

You've made the law

over people.

That doesn't mean you don't hold your

views. I hold my views very strongly,

but I'll tell you what, I hold my views

in humility because as someone who has

spent all those years studying this, you

can't be sure of any of these, by the

way.

And churches that have been destroyed

are those who put the coffee and tea

over the human beings

that are there to hear the word.

I have had this thought exercise ever

since then. What if, and I don't know

what happened to them.

This is 9 years ago.

But what if

they were not mentioned and they sat

there and they heard something that lit

into them.

What if

we laid down our coffee and tea Torah

and they left that place and they said

to their mom and dad, you know what, I

felt loved.

I might come back.

Maybe 5 years down the line, what if

they came back when their life was in

crisis and they remembered that moment

of love.

And we killed it.

>> [snorts]

>> Anybody uncomfortable yet?

>> [snorts]

>> Cuz I'm really uncomfortable.

The truth is if we want God,

we will follow Jesus.

That's what he just said.

And if we're going to follow Jesus,

you're going to have to follow a guy who

hung out with tax collectors and

sinners.

You're going to have to

sit beside people who are prostitutes,

who are divorced, who have uh

two kids from two different dads.

And you're going to have to treat them

their your their equal.

Or you're not following Jesus at all.

The toughest part of following Jesus

for me

is myself.

Anybody else?

Jesus really did give himself to the

Father and that's why he did these

things.

My problem is

the Pharisee in me.

The one who has my own rules.

And that's why I got to go back and

listen to Jesus and I want to hear

sermons about Jesus, not about people's

ideas cuz I want to be challenged so I

don't get caught in that death trap of

rules.

And I've realized in the last little

while again,

that when I'm following Jesus, you know

what it means?

I have to let go of all my stuff

and just trust.

And it makes no sense in the world.

Cuz I'd like to tell you guys something.

I'm a sinner.

I'm a big sinner.

I blow it all the time.

And there's no reason I should be here.

But his mercy.

Lesslie Newbigin

There is no way of receiving God's

revelation of himself except one which

involves the abandonment of every

intellectual and spiritual security

in order to come to Jesus.

At this point

there is required a simplicity which

must appear to the philosophers of

religion

at best naive and at worst arbitrary and

even arrogant.

But the reality is

the only way

that religion doesn't start to seep into

us and destroy us is if we abandon

ourself our religion and trust in Jesus.

Now this doesn't mean we don't discern

or we don't have lives

and we don't have ethics.

But when we have those ethics and we've

abandoned ourselves and see ourselves

as sinners

saved by grace. When we share those

ethics with others, we will do it from

love, not from pride.

When we talk to them

about why there's a way to be sexual

why there's a way to be integrity, to

have honor

we won't do it from an arrogant place

like how how great I've arrived.

But from a place of saying God showed us

what it means to be human.

And I love you and I'm going to share it

with you.

I believe there are two types of people

who will walk out of church this Sunday.

Two types.

And I take this right from Jesus cuz

he's the one who said it.

One is going to be sitting in church

looking down and saying, "Thank God you

didn't make me like that person.

Thank God you've made me arrived. You've

held me.

And don't worry, God. I've got it all

figured out.

I'll just follow the rules."

And there's going to be another person

here

who's going to pound his chest

unable to lift his eyes up

and cry out,

"Have mercy on me, God, a sinner."

Don't forget.

Only one of those two leaves

forgiven.

Leaves sanctified.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father,

I thank you that you are willing to come

into our lives.

That you take the

amazing action of giving us your

revelation

knowing how quickly we will make it a

religious system.

We ask you, Holy Spirit, to come and

convict each one of us

of that which keeps us from you because

we follow the religious ideals and rules

that are not even there.

And help us, Father, to be people people

people keepers

as you were.

And where we have laws that are hurting

other people

help us to say too bad for the law.

In Jesus name.

Amen.