John 1:35-51 - ”What Are You Seeking” - Abundant Life (Gospel of John)

Amen.

The Old Testament lesson this morning is

from Genesis 28:es

10-17.

Jacob left Beers Sheeba and went toward

Haron. And he came to a certain place

and stayed there that night because the

sun had set. Taking one of the stones of

the place, he put it under his head and

lay down in that place to sleep. And he

dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder

set up on the earth, and the top of it

reached to heaven, and behold, the

angels of God were ascending and

descending on it. And behold, the Lord

stood above it and said, "I am the Lord,

the God of Abraham, your father, and the

God of Isaac. The land on which you lie,

I will give to you and to your

offspring.

Your offspring shall be like the dust of

the earth, and you shall spread abroad

to the west and to the east and to the

north and to the south. And in you and

your offspring shall all the families of

the earth be blessed.

Behold, I am with you and will keep you

wherever you go and will bring you back

to this land. for I will not leave you

until I have done what I have promised

you."

Then Jacob Jacob awoke from his sleep

and said, "Surely the Lord is in this

place and I did not know it." And he was

afraid and said, "How awesome is this

place?

There is none other than this is none

other than the house of God and this is

the gate of heaven."

The New Testament reading is from the

first chapter of John verses 1535-51.

The next day again John was standing

with two of his disciples and he looked

at Jesus as he walked by and said,

"Behold the lamb of God."

The two disciples heard him say this,

and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned

and saw them following and said to them,

"What are you seeking?"

And they said to him, "Rabbi,"

which means teacher, "where are you

staying?" He said to them, "Come, and

you will see."

So they came and saw where he was

staying, and they stayed with him that

day, for it was about the 10th hour. One

of the two who heard John speak and

followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's

brother. He first found his own brother

Simon and said to him, "We have found

the Messiah," which means Christ.

He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at

him and said, "You are Simon, the son of

John.

You shall be called Cphas," which means

Peter.

The next day, Jesus decided to go to

Galilee. He found Philillip and said to

him, "Follow me." Now Philillip was from

Bethida, the city of Andrew and Peter.

Philip found Nathaniel and said to him,

"We have found him of whom Moses in the

law and also the prophets wrote Jesus of

Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Nathaniel

said to him, "Can anything good come out

of Nazareth?"

Philip said to him, "Come and see."

Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him

and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite

indeed in whom there is no deceit."

Nathaniel said to him, "How do you know

me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip

called you, when you were under the fig

tree, I saw you." Nathaniel answered

him, "Rabbi,

you are the son of God.

You are the king of Israel."

Jesus answered him, "Because I said to

you, I saw you under the fig tree. Do

you believe? You will see greater things

than these?" And he said to him, "Truly,

truly, I say to you, you will see heaven

opened." and the angels of God ascending

and descending on the Son of Man. This

is the word of the Lord.

>> Thanks be to God.

Yeah, you're right, Ross. It's been a

crazy week, eh? And unfortunately, as as

one professor told me in undergrad, he

said, "The hardest part for our

generation is you find out withinth of a

second on Twitter about a news event

about a transgender individual shooting

a bunch of kids in Tumblr Ridge. You

even find out all those details.

Whereas, you know, our great

grandparents, it took weeks often before

they would find out this information.

And it was it didn't hit so fast or

hard. Right? I say that because we are

in a time of great great anger.

We're in a time of great great division

in this world. Massive division.

[snorts]

People go online and they read of

opinions of this political thing or that

political thing and it just explodes and

explodes. All our media now it's called

clickbait. Have you heard about this?

So, they create more and more uh

creative truths. Let's put it that way.

I won't call it fake news because I

don't want to be tied to the uh

politician that shouldn't be named. Um

[snorts]

there's a reality that everyone's doing

it.

It was designed this way. If you want to

know the truth is they know us as human

beings and they created more and more of

this stuff in the social media

atmosphere and it's meant to you work

our minds. They had psychiatrists that

did this Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.

There is a great documentary that will

really sober you up on Facebook and I I

forget the name of it but it's about the

reason they made these things and they

all admit that we absolutely did this to

create division to create clicks to

spend your time.

Since I've been in ministry for 25

years, I must say the first 10 to 15,

people had a political opinions. They

they would say it sometimes, George Bush

is a he's a tyrant, you know, that kind

of thing. Bill Clinton's a communist.

You get those. But nobody went and

stopped eating dinner with family.

Nobody left churches.

At least not where I was. People had

opinions, but you know, they were

usually big things. And it came around

election time. Now, in this beautiful

world, we can't even enjoy a Super Bowl

anymore.

It's There we go.

We got Bugs, Bunny, and Kid Rock.

>> That's not Bugs. What's his name?

>> Bad Bunny.

Sorry, I knew I was going to screw that

up.

And you could tell what character you

had if you read these articles of which

one you watched.

If you were a good caring person on the

left, you loved the Spanish-speaking

Bunny. I'm just going to call him Bunny.

Bunny.

And if you were a we're going to stay

stay the fight uh patriot and we're

going to stick things through and we're

we believe in Jesus. We going to have

the gospel presented. You're kid rock.

Now I want you to step back for a second

just for a second.

That's idiotic that you are separating

people by these two musicians who are

belist at best.

I've listened to both. I don't like

either of them.

But this is the world we now live in and

people are passionate and lines have

been divided and hatred is out there and

everyone's accusing everyone of being

everything from a Nazi to a communist.

There is no love in the in the streets.

They're talking about that this is the

most divided that America's ever been. I

don't agree because they actually went

to war with each other at one time.

But it's bad.

The worst part is the church is starting

to get involved like we always do.

The church has chosen to decide whether

to support Kid Rock. And if you know Kid

Rock's background, this ain't St. Kid

Rock.

and Bugs

Bad Bunny is by no means going to be the

second coming.

Apparently, both their lyrics are full

of sexual inno and everything else. It

was like, who could go to the lower end

of the sewer?

Guess what? There's nothing new.

There's nothing new under the sun. And

guess what else?

God came to save us from this.

And this text today is going to show you

just how serious he is.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you so much

for the grace that you've poured upon

us. We thank you that you are the one

true God

that we don't have to get caught in

these pmics

because we have a God that triumphs over

them both.

Amen.

We're going to go into the John's call

here.

The next day again, John was standing

with two of his disciples. Now, if you

remember, the last week was really heavy

where I showed you guys that John the

Baptist announced Jesus. He said he is

the one who brings the repentance, the

water. But Jesus is going to pay for the

sin when he calls him the lamb of God.

And then ultimately shows him the

ultimate end of salvation. He will give

you the spirit. Right? Remember that?

Well, this week we got John standing

there with his two disciples the next

day. And he is not just looking. He is

staring, searing, staring at is the word

in Greek at Jesus as he walked by and

said, "Behold." Notice how many times I

say behold. Behold means take a real

look beyond what you see. That's what

that means. Behold. And then he

announces again the lamb of God. Let us

never forget what John means. John is

speaking about Isaiah 53. The lamb that

was slain because of our iniquities.

So he sees somehow in Jesus right away.

And no one else used this term lamb of

God before John the Baptist. We've

looked, we can't find it. But he has

made the correlation that Jesus is going

to be the lamb of God. And the only

place in Isaiah that is found is in

Isaiah 53.

Behold the lamb of God. So he's telling

them who he really is.

The two disciples heard him and they

say this and they followed Jesus. Not

because Jesus called them. They're just

going to follow along.

The next day again, whoops, why is my

thing not working? There we go. Jesus

turned and saw them following and he

said to them, and this is the key point

to John's prericopy. This is the key

question.

Jesus says, "What are you seeking?"

When people come to Jesus, here's the

words they're going to he's going to ask

you every time. What do you want? What

are you really seeking? You're seeking

something because you're coming to

follow me. What are you seeking?

And they're going to find out what

they're seeking is not who Jesus is.

And they said to him, "Raboni," which

meant uh it wasn't rabbi like we have in

our rabbitic uh Judaism. It meant just a

honored person who could teach, which

means teacher. Where are you abiding?

This word, remember what John said. And

the word abided, attented amongst us.

Remember, they don't know what they're

even asking. This happens constantly.

Where are you abiding? Well, it's God

abiding on earth, isn't it?

But he can't answer that.

He said to them, "Come and you will

see."

All these double meanings in John. Come

and you will see because you're blind

right now. So they came to and saw where

he was staying and they stayed with him

that day for it was about the 10th hour.

People say, "Why do they put things like

the 10th hour?" Well, it could be that

it was really the 10th hour in the day,

but this genre doesn't demand that. They

don't care about chronology. Nobody did

when they wrote biographies back then.

The word tenth means fulfillment. I

think that's really what's going on

because of the end. So keep your eye on

that.

One of the two who heard John speak and

followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's

brother. He first found his own brother,

Simon, and said to him, "We have found

the Messiah." First hint, they don't

know what they look they're seeking. See

a Messiah to them or the Christ or the

anointed one. they all believed was the

militant king that was going to come and

deliver them from Rome. A David figure.

David was a Christ, a king. He was an

anointed one. Do you see? Jesus wasn't

the only Christ that ever came.

And in their world, when they said he's

the Christ, they don't mean Jesus.

Christ, by the way, G Christ is not

Jesus' last name.

people who believe that

he he it was his title.

Okay, but what kind of Christ are what

does that mean? It means king. And how

do we know they don't mean know they

don't understand it? How they do know

that they believe this is a militant

king? Cuz what happens after the feeding

of the 5,000? You remember the crowds

grab Jesus and they want to make him

Christ by force,

right?

They want that kind of king even if he

won't do it.

He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at

him and said, "You are Simon the son of

John. You shall be called Cphus, which

means Peter or introduction to Peter."

The next day Jesus decided to go to

Galilee. He found Philillip and he said

to him, "Follow me." Now Philip was was

from Betha, the city of Andrew and

Peter. Philip found Nathaniel and said

to him, "We have found one whom the

Moses in the law and also the prophets

wrote,"Jesus of Nazareth, the son of

Joseph." Well, right away we know they

don't understand Jesus. They don't know

his birth narrative or they wouldn't

have called him Jesus Ben Joseph because

who was Jesus' dad

if you knew that.

The other thing too is they're right

that it is what Moses wrote in the law

and the prophets. But what they said or

believed is that God through the

prophets had promised us a great and

mighty deliverer. They were saying the

same thing about the Christ. This is our

man. We're going to finally get the

Romans off our back. The swords are

going to come and we are going to be an

independent nation.

Everything they thought was geopolitics.

Well, Jesus continues.

Nathaniel came to him. and said to him,

"Can anything good come out of

Nazareth?" Nazareth was a dump. It had a

bunch of Gentiles living there amongst

Jews. There were 10 cities of Gentiles

around there. Jesus undoubtedly

regularly interacted with Gentiles. And

the fact being

when you interacted with a gentile, you

were seen as unclean. So you have to

understand they looked at these people

as less than and they weren't even

considered very worthy. They might be

part of God's resurrection when he

resurrected good Jews, but they better

have a big bath before they get there.

That's how they saw the world. That's

how he sees the world.

Philip said to him, "Come in.

See, this is going to be constantly the

call of John for disciples and he's

speaking to us." Jesus saw Nathaniel

coming toward him and said, "Behold, an

Israelite indeed of who of whom there's

no deceit." First of all, he calls him

an Israelite.

And then he says he has no deceit. He

labels who this man is and where he

finds his identity. He finds his

identity in the nation

Israel

and in whom there is means of no deceit

is he is not going to swing back and

forth. There's no there's no swaying him

from his passion to be a good Israelite.

This is like the I don't know the guy

who's in a political party who will

never leave. He is a Republican for life

or a liberal for life. You know what I

mean? That's what he's saying. Might be

like a true Canadian. He's not going to

put on his flag one day and take it

down. It's up 24/7. Elbows up, right?

Yeah.

tough crowd

indeed in whom has no deceit. But that's

what's going on. Nathaniel said to him,

"How do you know me?" Jesus answers,

"Before Philip called you, you were

under the fig tree I saw you." What's so

powerful about him? He calls him this

true Israelite who loves Israel. And

what does he put him under? The fig

tree. Do you know what the fig tree

represents?

It's if if the Maple Leaf represents

Canada, the the fig tree is Israel.

If they had hockey jerseys right now in

the Olympics, they'd have a bunch of fig

trees on the front. So when Jesus says,

"I saw you under the fig tree." He says,

"You're a true Israelite." This isn't by

chance. He's making a point. You're an

Israelite. You're under Israel. You're

ready.

And no wonder you look at others as half

you like the Nazerites.

Nathaniel is shocked by this and says,

"Raboni, you are the son of God."

Everyone goes right away when we read

this. If we don't know better, we go,

"Oh, he just saw him as God the second

member of the Trinity." Nope.

They had no concept of the Trinity in

the first century second temple world.

When they said, "You are the son of

God." Go back to Psalm 2. It is an

earthly God

as how they saw it that God would anoint

to take over the world. All he's saying

is you're the king. It's another way of

saying it. And then he doubles down by

proving it. So it's like saying it

twice. You are the son of God. You are

the king of Israel. Now they're all

right and they're all wrong.

Everything they're saying is true. He is

the Messiah. He is the anointed one. He

is the one that Abraham and all the

prophets wrote about. He is the son of

God and he is the king of Israel, right?

But not in any way they understood

and not in any political system they've

ever seen.

Jesus answered him, and this is where

you get to find out how much they don't

get it.

Because I said to you, I saw you under

the fig tree. Do you believe?

I mean, this is one thing about John.

Signs and wonders

are not the end all to be all. In fact,

they're kind of looked at. If you get

your faith from signs and wonders, you'd

need a bigger faith.

And we see that again and again.

He says, "You will see greater things

than these." And then he said to him,

and he gives them exactly who he is, and

it's so much better and greater than a

geopolitical king of a nation. Now, and

this is why he answers this. But we have

to understand what he's actually saying

here.

He says, "Truly, truly." Now, remember

what I said when he says amen twice.

He's saying, "Listen,

this is the truth. Your stuff is

halftruth.

I'm going to tell you the truth.

I say unto you, you will see heaven

opened. He starts off with one Old

Testament text.

They're not c all these three texts are

not in each the other. So we have to go

to three because in one sentence he

emphasizes three components about his

identity.

First one, you saw heaven opened. He's

pointing right to this Isaiah 64:1.

Isaiah 64:1

Oh, the prophet says that you would renm

the heavens and come down that the

mountains might quake at your presence.

The first thing he says is that the

heavens have been opened. I am not a God

just about taking over this world. I'm

the God that comes from heaven to make

things right.

The heavens opened. Oh, that you would

ren the heavens opened

and I have come down. That's the first

one.

Then he goes back

and he says,

"And the angels of God ascending and

descending

on the son of man." Well, there's two

going on here. The first one is the

famous dream of Jacob. You know the

dream. And there's a big ladder and the

angels are going up and down onto the

earth. The important point why Jesus

would point out that is it's not just

God taking his angels up and down in

Israel.

He's putting them up and down on the son

of man. What that means even Genesis

lets us know

and he was afraid it says and said how

awesome is this place. This is none

other than the house of God and this is

the gate of heaven. Jesus by saying

this, he says, "I'm the location. I'm

the gate to heaven and this is the

father's house."

You see what he's just done there? Jesus

has now said, "I'm the one that's going

to make the mountain shake. I'm the one

that controls the nations. Number two,

I'm the place where heaven and earth

comes, and I'm the house of God, and I'm

the one that's the gate to heaven."

Not enough yet? Well, then he ends by

saying

descending on and this is the most

important one, the son of man.

In this text, he quotes three Old

Testament texts. And the third one is

equally important

comes out of Daniel.

And I saw in the night visions, and

behold, with the clouds of heaven, there

came one like a

son of man. And he pressed Pentecostals

in here.

And he came to the ancient of days and

was presented before him.

And to him was given dominion and glory

and king and a kingdom that all people,

nations, and languages should serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion

which shall not pass away and his

kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

There's something in here that's really

interesting.

Remember they wanted a king for Israel.

But look at that first line. And to him

was given dominion and glory and a

kingdom that how many people?

All peoples,

nations, and languages

should serve him his dominion in an

everlasting dominion.

So, not only do we have in Jesus'

answer, they're looking for a

geopolitical king like our people today

look for politicians to save.

Exactly the same. And Jesus says, "Guess

what? You follow me. You've got the you

got the stairway to heaven. You got

heaven and earth coming together.

You have the very God's presence being

rendered open through the a the heavens

itself.

And you have the one who makes all the

peoples for eternity in under his

kingship.

Do you think they understood this? They

didn't.

Do you know when they understood this?

These disciples we so look up to

the resurrection.

There's no evidence they ever

understood. Why? Because they have been

living in this geopolitical world, have

had to see God in the world. And it's so

small that they can only through it see

it through tribal Israel

and the people around them. And Jesus is

coming in and saying, "Why are you

seeking?" Because he's trying to say to

them, "You're seeking so little.

You have no idea what's here.

What are we seeking?

What are we seeking church in North

America? Now, I'm going to guess some of

you here are probably apolitical. God

bless you.

Perhaps some of you are, well, I know

that this is really hot, but I'm going

to stay out of the fight and just kind

of love each other. Good for you.

But I'm going to tell you, this stuff is

seeping in and it's wanting us to take

sides

again and again. Everything you read

wants you to take a side.

And there's nothing new under the sun.

So what did Jesus do? Would you all can

we all agree that Jesus said to follow

him? Do we all agree at least with that?

So Jesus is walking in a world. Do you

know who the Sadducees were?

He's hanging out. He's having dinner

with Sadducees and they loved the Romans

and they were political and they loved

Herod because he got the money and he

hung out with them and he didn't sit

there and protest.

He just told the truth about himself.

And then he hung out with the Pharisees

and the drag dagger men. And these guys

were the revolutions. These are the guys

that are willing to kill for the cause,

the Marxists, the fascists of their day.

Did he call them out? Did he stop their

cars?

He just couldn't had dinner with them.

And how often did he get to debates with

them about their politics?

Find me a spot. He gets in a debate on

local politics.

And then he runs in. Let's get out of

Israel for a while. Oh, he also runs

into Herod, the f the vassal king.

What does he say to him? Does he say,

"Herod, you know what? This group has

been marginalized for a long time, and I

need you to stop the marginalization of

this group."

Or, "We have too many immigrants, Herod.

We need to kick more out."

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing. Go look.

And then he stands before Rome himself

in the person of Nero.

What does he say to him?

If it was if I was had a kingdom like

this, you'd already be wiped out,

but my kingdom is not of this world of

power.

So, we're supposed to follow Jesus and

then run on Twitter and tell everyone

why they're wrong in local politics.

Jesus never

allowed himself to be defined by the

political conflicts of his day and

neither should we.

Let me say that again. Jesus never

allowed himself to be defined by the

polit politics, the political conflicts

of his day. And neither should we.

the 1930s

there was an actual Hitler in not the

ones that we all say are Hitlers. There

was there was actually Hitler in power

and there was a group of people like

Bonhoffer and Bart and these other

Germans and how the German church went

political and they all started putting

swastikas in their buildings

and these guys refused to do it. But

what did they do? Did they grab placards

and protest?

Did they start talking about social

justice in this day from their pulpits?

Nope.

You know what they did? They had

something figured out. You know, if we

keep preaching this, they're getting

angry when I'm preaching the word

because the word undoes their evil.

So instead of preaching their politics,

they preach the truth of the word. And

why do all the death spots want to get

rid of the Bible? You ever wonder?

Because they're terrified of the power

within it,

the word of God.

[clears throat]

Dietrich Bonhaofer, an act an actual

martyr said, "Politics are not the task

of a Christian."

Why does he say that?

Because of this.

We have a much much greater God than

lives in the dreiness of politics.

What has John's gospel tell us about

Jesus so far? He is the word of God, the

one who created everything.

He has become in fleshed and sat amongst

us. He is the God that brings the exodus

and repentance. He is the God who pays

for the sins of the world. When's there

last time a politician's done that for

you?

He's the one that brings new life, new

eternal life, and promises us. Have you

ever had a promise like that from a

politician?

Jesus of Nazareth

is so incredible

that it's idolatrous to shove his name

in the pits of political debate.

Do you know why? Cuz he is so far above

because he is the king of kings and the

lord of lords. And he there was not even

a reason to debate Nero or Herod because

they so were outside of who he was. He

could have gone like that and they would

have disappeared. But he didn't.

Our problem when we get so wrapped in

politics is we forget how great a God we

have

and then we think God's on our team,

right?

And then we're back to Nathaniel. This

is why he why he thinks Nazareth is so

gross because he sees the world down on

the lens of the political world.

And that's what happens to Christians

that get wrapped up into politics.

Pretty soon you'll be talking to them

and you'll say, "Oh yeah, that's my

friend Ed. He's a Democrat." What good

can come out of Democrats?

Because his face is not on Jesus Christ.

I'll tell you what, if God wants to use

Democrats, he'll make them something

special and turn this world around if

God so wills.

Cuz he's way bigger than AOC.

Is she the new star? I don't know.

And if he wants to use Republicans,

he could do it tomorrow.

Did you know that

he's even more powerful than the

politician that shall not be named?

I know that politician may not believe

that

he's so much greater. And these

disciples had to figure that out.

He's so much greater.

I love what NT Wright says because it's

so true.

It is not a great faith you need. It is

faith in a great God.

I'm telling you the reason not to get

into the bugs

bad bunny

kid rock thing for number one it's the

stupidest thing. If people could just

use their brains that this has become

the line of whether I'm good person or

not.

so much greater than that.

The greatest moment you will have this

week is not watching social media and

getting angry about it. The greatest

moment is you're sitting right here

together because where two or more are

gathered. This God, this God where

heaven and earth meets. This God who is

the King of Kings and is going to reign

forever. This God who created everything

is here.

We need to believe in God. And that's

why you have to hear these truths that

John's saying about who he is and stop

seeking the world that keeps lying to

you. And by the way, I've been around

long enough. I'm 56.

I'm going to tell you a little secret.

Media and politicians are lying to you

all the time. You figured that out yet?

And the ones that you believe in are the

ones that you like their team. So, I'm

going to believe those liars.

And if you don't believe that, I'm

sorry.

So, how do I live then? M

how do I live if I want to follow Jesus

and I don't want to get caught up? Well,

here's where it gets tough in this

world.

True disciplehip is a crucififor life.

So I'm going to tell you the difference

between the politics of today and the

politics of Jesus.

The politics of today found

foundationally work on power. Okay?

It's all powerbased.

So you either have all power and the

other ones have none or that you don't

have power and the other ones have all.

And that is why when the election comes,

people kill themselves when their party

doesn't get in because they believe

that.

That's the foundation of and how it's

been since Nero.

We need to have a radical change of

mind,

a renewing of our minds in this area

because nothing's new.

It's not just now. It's always been the

case.

Frederick Douglas the great abolitionist

says between said of his church in his

day between the Christianity of this

land and the Christianity of Christ I

recognize the widest possible difference

so wide that to receive the one as good

and pure and holy is of necessity to

reject the other as bad corrupt and

wicked.

He wrote that in the height of the civil

war,

the height of the greatest division in

the world.

And what he saw in the church is what

people are seen in the church today,

taking political sides,

racial sides.

And he wrote this.

So how do we be the one

that is good, pure, and holy?

We have to seek and find the real Jesus.

The Apostle Paul, as you guys know,

was the Jew of Jews. He was so

political, he was going to go out and

kill Christians. He hated Romans and he

knew exactly what he believed. And then

one day, he ran into the living Christ.

It was all about violence, power, and

being on the right team and not the

wrong. And something happened to him.

And then many years later, the man who

hated Gentiles wrote to a bunch of ex

centurions

in Philippi these words.

So if there's any encouragement in

Christ, any comfort from love, any

participation in the spirit, any

affection or sympathy, complete my joy

by being of the what?

Can you imagine if that happened today?

Having the same

being in full accord and of

Huh?

Do nothing from selfish ambition or

conceit,

but in humility count others more

significant than yourself.

Anybody else feeling that?

That each of you not look only to his

own interests but also to the interests

of others. Have this mind amongst

yourselves, which is yours in Jesus

Christ, who though he was the form man,

did not count equality with God, a thing

to be grasped, but made himself nothing

by taking the form of a servant, being

born in the likeness of men.

And being found in human form, he did

what? He humbled himself

by becoming obedient to the point of

death, even death on a cross. He wants

us to be like that.

Therefore, and only once we've done

that, therefore, God has highly exalted

him and bestowed on him the name that is

above every name, so that at the name of

Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven

and on earth and under the earth.

and every tongue confess that Jesus is

Lord to the glory of the Father.

How do we beat it? Exactly like Paul

says,

we realize first we're not better than

each other because of our politics.

And you're not, by the way, and can I

tell you something? I don't know, maybe

there's a liberal in this congregation

somewhere.

You're a sinner. You're a big sinner.

Oh, and to my conservative friends,

you're a big sinner. A really big

sinner.

And guess why you're able to come here

today?

Not because your politics are better.

You imagine Jesus going, "Oh, well, you

had that view of ice. Okay, come on in."

You're coming in because he said, "It is

finished." and he took all your sin upon

himself.

And until you believe that, you will

never love the person different than

you. And you will always say, "What good

can come out of a Democrat? What good

can come out of a Republican? What good

can come out of a conservative, a

liberal?

He has saved us by grace alone and

offered us eternity with the God I just

described.

Why would you waste your time in the

pits

of politics?

Well,

twice in my ministry now since 2016 when

the politician that shall not be named

came on the scene, I have lost friends

because I wouldn't take a side.

Twice I was asked more than twice that I

should go and speak out against this pre

president or speak out against this

action.

Why won't you take a stand, Emry? and

won't even said you're a coward for not.

Hm.

Okay, I'll answer why.

But you asked

because I think that if your politics

are that deep, you're an idol

worshipper. And I really do. And I think

you need to be saved.

I think if you are so wrapped up in your

politics that you can't worship with

someone who thinks different, then you

need to be saved,

that you are seeking the wrong God.

And I'm going to say it again. If your

politics make it so that you can't hang

out with your community

of people that aren't like you, you need

to be saved because your salvation, your

reason for being together is no longer

grace alone.

It is now based on a ideology that you

have no control over for people who

don't care a bit about you.

That's strong enough.

I'm not usually this passionate if

you're new,

but I had to say it.

And I'm going to tell you something

else.

If you come to Mountain View Church

and you don't like the man who shouldn't

be named or you love the man who

shouldn't be named, you are welcomed

here

because this is Jesus church, not mine.

And if you like liberals or

conservatives, even if you like Trudeau,

okay, even then,

you get to come here and you will never

be ashamed of it because we only sit in

these pews because of the grace of our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And the only way you would ever be asked

to leave is if you started shaming and

lighting up against people who didn't

believe your politics.

It's the only way.

Brian Xan said, "In the politics of

Jesus, the world will be [sighs] will be

changed by non-cor love or not at all."

It is not the task of the church to

change the world by legislative force.

It is the ch task of the church to be

the world changed by Christ. This is

the revolutionary. This is revolution in

a way that conventional politics can

never be

because our hermeneutic is not power.

Our hermeneutic is love.

Sacrificial love.

Love of enemies. Remember when he said

that he meant it.

The incredible thing about the politics

of Jesus is he went around all those

politics and here was the craziest

thing. He loved them all.

Do you remember when the Pharisees left

one time and he says his heart was sore

because he loved them so?

But that means we have to believe in the

God that carried the cross.

The God that's going to win whoever wins

the next election. It doesn't matter.

He's already won. And we have to live as

if that's true and not get ourselves so

wound up

about who's in power again.

And then get together and worship Jesus.

Because I'm going to tell you something

that stands out to me.

There are people on the left side of the

political world who I call friends.

And they're really truly human people.

and they're nice people.

They don't they they have certain views.

Some I don't agree with,

but they're human and I'm called to

love. And when you love somebody like

that, then they go, "Oh, you're not my

enemy."

And there are people on the right

and they're just as human and just as

nice. Oh, there's jerks on both sides.

We know that.

But there are real people. And when we

come together, when we walk into this

place, we empty ourselves of all that

and love one another because we have a

story that triumphs this world.

I don't know your politics. I know where

some lean. But you know what? I don't

see you through that lens. I see you

through the lens of Jesus of Nazareth

as a child of God.

And that's the only way we overcome.

Finally,

Michael Gorman.

Faith then for Paul is first of all

crucififor participation with Christ

that liberates participants from the

hostile powers that rule human existence

and brings them into the powerful sphere

of Christ's benevolent lordship and

community.

We're supposed to be a witness, aren't

we?

I want to ask you an honest question. If

you came in this church and we were

fighting politics, what witness would

that be to the world?

What if I just had a church of

Republicans

or just had a church of Democrats or

liberals or conservatives? You say, "Why

do I bring up American politics? Because

that's all I hear."

Do you think that would be the Christian

church?

The church that Jesus Christ came to

build truly is based around him and his

love. And it is not a church

foundationally based on what your

political appetites are.

I pray for those people who have lost

their soul through this because some

have. And I pray they'll come back

because Jesus is the only way. And you

have to lay down those idols or they

will kill you. Because I've seen

something both on the right and the left

of the people that are sold out. They

are the most unhappy people I've ever

met.

And what did Jesus say? What did John

say this whole gospel was about? That we

might believe in God the Father and have

Zoe abundant life.

You will only have abundant life if you

keep your eyes on the true king, the one

that runs creation. And one day, by the

way, all of these politics will

disappear.

And there'll be one king on the throne.

Amen. And he's the only one worth

worshiping cuz he'll be the only one

that ever died for you and rose again.

None of these other guys have ever done

nor would they.

There's only one king. Worship him and

love your neighbor. And let's go out

into this world and love people who

don't think like us. Like really love

them. Not like, "Oh, pat on the head.

You're an idiot."

I've seen that to you. I'm talking look

them in the eye and say,

"I just want to hang out."

Because you know what? Deep inside,

people are much more broken than you

think. And these politics are just

feeding their outside self. And Jesus

wants to get inside.

Everyone's quiet now. I'm nervous.

You can throw tomatoes at me after.

So, let's go and let's be the people of

God.

Question to us today is what are you

seeking?

And the answer is either we're seeking

Jesus or we're seeking something else.

and only one leads to eternal life.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you that you

are the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

We thank you that you are the one who

created all things. Blows our minds

that you are the one that where heaven

and earth come together. You are the one

where the new life pours out of you. You

are the one where the where the payment

for our sin goes. You are the one where

we're reconciled and can we can repent

in front of. You are the one who is

going to be king of kings. The ancient

of days is going to accept you. You are

the one who have come down from heaven

so that we might be free.

Lord, please by your holy spirit reveal

to us how much greater that is than this

world.

And Lord, I pray I pray for the people

wrapped up in this that we as a church

can be a witness of a thing called love

in a world of power and anger.

And may they see in us in our community

people who love one another as Christ

loved his church.

And maybe people will see the world

differently

through the lens

of the one who carried his cross.

Amen.

Here

we do communion.