Jesus was Just Camping | Todd Jones

So grateful that we get to be together and we

get to just make it here today and we get to

worship God. And I know that for some of you

it was difficult getting here because I've realized

Easter can be kind of stressful. Easter can be

stressful. How many of you got in a fight with

your spouse on the way to church today? Don't

answer that. Come on now, that was a trap question.

I was trying to get you. Don't answer that. Easter

can be stressful. Tensions can be kind of high.

You've got to figure some stuff out. You've got

to pick out the right outfit. How many of you

ladies, this is your fourth outfit that you tried

on? Again, don't answer that. Come on now. It

can be kind of stressful. You got the right clothes.

Parents in the room, it can be kind of stressful

getting the Easter basket together for your kids.

You're like, this is a lot of work. And then

whoever invented this, come on now, dying Easter

eggs, dear Lord, that is not acceptable. I'm

just saying, it's stressful. When are we going

to do this? When are we going to make this happen?

All right, one of the most stressful things around

this time of year is doing everything you can

do to avoid the peeps candy, because that's stuff

nasty. All right, that's nasty. I'm just saying.

You got to avoid it. All right, some of you disagree

with me. It's okay. You can be wrong. We still

love you. We're glad you're here. All right,

that's stuff nasty. I can be stressful around

this time of year, and I'm going to be honest,

for some of you, walking into church today can

be stressful too. Maybe you feel like you don't

belong. Maybe it's not part of your regular rhythm

when it comes to just your life. And so a church

is kind of a weird place for you to be at. Maybe

you're like, I just, I don't fit in here. I don't

know what's going to happen in this building.

I don't know what to expect. And so maybe you

feel a little stressful just being in here. And

I want to put your mind at ease right now. Listen,

we don't have any expectations on you. We don't

want anything from you. In fact, we want something

for you. We hope that you are able to rest in

Jesus this morning. All right, that's what we

want for you this morning when it comes to your

experience. So you can just take a deep breath.

You can rest. You can relax. It doesn't need

to be a stressful situation for you. When it

comes to speaking, I'm going to break the speaking

code here because as a speaker, we're taught

you got to kind of build it up. You can't tell

them exactly what you're talking about. You got

to lead them to that. And I don't break all those

rules right now. I'm going to tell you today,

this is what this is about. I want you to get

this today. I want you to understand that Jesus

wants to meet you where you are to take you where

he is. Jesus wants to meet you where you are

to take you where he is. Let me pray for us real

quick. God, speak to us today. Amen. What? Were

you guys expecting something else? I told you

I was praying real quick. Some of you did not

believe me. That's because you've listened to

Pastor John before. And when he says real quick,

book your whole afternoon. I'm just saying. How

many of you ever been on a camping trip that

didn't go as planned? You planned it, but it

didn't go as planned, right? Like maybe you planned

everything, all the details, and you're like,

I got everything that I need to go hike to this

rural place because I'm not going to have access

to anything. So I got to pack everything and

you packed perfect and you get there and you

realize you forgot water and you're going to

die because you have no water. Or maybe everything,

the plan was perfect and you got everything planned

out perfect and then you get to where you are

camping and it rains and that changes everything.

Right? We have these experiences where we plan

out but then it doesn't go as planned. You know

what I'm talking about if you've ever gone to

sleep on an air mattress and woke up on the ground.

You know what I'm talking about? When it just

starts deflating and you're like, whoa, this

was not fun. You know that for sure. If you have

shared an air mattress with someone that deflated

and it turns into a taco and you're like laying

on them in the middle of the night, you're like,

this is not how this was supposed to go. We can

have plans and we can plan as much as we want,

but oftentimes things don't go as planned. But

God's plans never fail. God's plans never fail.

And God had the perfect plan. By sending Jesus

to come camping on this earth. This was not his

home. He was just camping. You're going to go

on this camping trip on this earth. And in so

doing, making it so that we could live this life

like we are just camping. Over the last several

months at Heights, we've been talking about this

concept of just camping. The concept is this.

This is not your final home. You were never created

to live here forever. And oftentimes we set up

shop like this is it. This is all that matters.

But when you understand that your faith and trust

is in Jesus, your life is in his hands, you can

view this life that we live as just camping.

Because this isn't our future home. We're just

stopping by. And so we're going to look more

at what this idea of just camping is and how

Jesus just camped so that we could live our life

like we're just camping. A couple of months ago,

I gave in to my kids asking and asking and asking

and asking. Parents, you know what I'm talking

about, right? When they get to like the 474 ask

and you're like, fine, whatever you want. And

so we got a dog and they had finally asked enough

to where I said, yes. Why are you clapping for

that? Come on now. This is crazy. I get no support

from you guys. You guys are always on their side.

And so I said yes to getting this dog in. We

got this dog in. He's only like five months old

now, but this dude, he wants to be up in your

business at every moment. You know what I'm talking

about? Like he wants to be where the people are.

Like you come and sit on my couch and he's going

to be like right here. You're like, bro, personal

space. Like this is crazy. If you put him outside

because you're like, okay, people are here. I

know you want to be where the people are. You

put him outside and he just stands right at the

window. You're like, dude, come on now. All right,

so that's him. He wants to be where the people

are at all times. He's like, I just want to be

with you. For all of human history, since the

beginning of time, God wants to be with his people.

God set in motion this idea of living in union

with people, in relationship with them, in creation.

He created everything. And he put Adam and Eve

in a garden and he walked with them. In relationship

with them, he's saying, I want to be with my

people. And because of sin, the relationship

was broken and God's going, I still want to be

with my people. And so as the Israelite people,

God's people are wandering and they're moving

about, they had this thing called the tabernacle

where God's presence was in it because he's saying,

I just want to be with my people. And as the

nation of Israel is conquered and they're fighting

battles and they're doing all these things, it

gets to a place where God goes, okay, here we

go. I want to be with my people. And so he sends.

Jesus. He sends Jesus as God to be with his people.

It says in 1 John 1, 14, the word became flesh

and made his dwelling among us. All right, Jesus

became flesh. He put on flesh and blood and came

to this earth. And we have seen his glory, the

glory of the one and only son who came from the

father full of grace and truth. God looked at

Jesus and he says, hey, listen, I've got a wild

camping trip for you. I'm sending you on a camping

trip right now. And he sent Jesus as a human.

And the only way humans make their way into the

world is by being born. And so he sent Jesus

as a baby to be born. And we celebrate at Christmas

time this baby that was born, that was promised,

that was foretold, that was prophesied. And this

baby Jesus was born into the world. And this

baby did not stay a baby. He continued to grow.

And the Bible says he grew in wisdom and stature.

And as he continued to grow in wisdom and stature,

it became very clear that he was not just a normal

person, right? Because he was fully human, yes,

but he was also fully God. And that this person

who was fully, fully human and also fully God

found himself in a place where he came for a

purpose. And it says in 2 Corinthians 5, this

will be our main text for this morning, 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 5:21

5, verse 21. It says, God made him who had no

sin. Jesus who had no sin. Jesus did what we

could not do. He never sinned. And that's crazy,

right? That's wild because for a lot of us, you're

like, how do you go without sinning? Like I've

literally sinned like four times since I've been

on stage right now. I've judged some of what

you're wearing. I was like, ooh, that's what

we wore to church today. Cool. Like I judged

you. I sinned just being here. And some of, don't

be, don't act like you're better. You judge someone

too. You're like, oh. We sin. It's our nature.

Some of you, you're like, wait a sec. I didn't

sin. I can stay away from sin. That's in our

nature. You cannot stay away from sin. You have

sin nature. If you don't believe me, let me ask

you this. Have you ever met a two -year -old

before? They're evil. And nobody had to teach

them how to be evil. Like you never sat your

two -year -old down and were like, okay, listen,

I want you to yell no. Now I want you to yell

mine. Now I want you to yell, no, mine, and hit

someone. Like you never had to do that. They

just know. It's in them. They're evil. Because

they have sin nature like all of us. We have

this nature in us that is bent to sin. We have

a sin problem. And that is all of us. So what

it means for you is this, is you can drop the

act here. Heights is not a church where you have

to show up and pretend to be perfect. You can

drop the act. All right, you're a mess. I'm a

mess, right? Some of you walked in, you're like,

if this guy can do it, then I know I can, right?

Our pastors are a mess and that should give you

hope. I literally, last night, I almost had to

sleep on the couch for my conversation with my

wife because I was picking out what I was going

to wear today. And I was like, I think this is

the perfect shirt. I'm going to wear it. And

she goes, that is see -through. And if you wear

that, you need to wear an undershirt. And I was

like, I'm not wearing an undershirt. And she

was like, yes, you are. And so you can thank

her today for all the things that you're not

seeing right now, okay? I'm just saying. Again,

that's crazy. That's wild that you're clapping

for that. Yes, thank you. Thank her for that.

I'm a mess. We're all a mess. And this is where

we find ourselves, the mess that we are, but

Jesus was not. It says in 2 Corinthians 5 .21,

God made him who knew no sin. Jesus never sinned

to be sinned. for us. Jesus became sin on our

behalf. Jesus became sin on our side. He took

your sin. He took my sin. He took all sin in

order to pay the price for sin. He said, I'm

going to take all of the sin, even though I did

not, I'm going to become sin on your behalf to

pay the penalty for that sin, right? Jesus was

just camping. And when you go camping, you have

a purpose. You don't just show up and go, okay,

what happens? Whatever happens, happens. All

right, and some of you are like, no, that is

my camping trip. I just want to sit in one spot

and drink as much soda as I can. All right, that's

what you want to do. But that was your purpose.

You knew that's what you were going to do. Jesus

came camping with a purpose. This is not his

final home, but he was here for a reason. And

this is what it says about Jesus. Hebrews 4 .15,

for we do not have a high priest who is unable

to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have

one who has been tempted in every way. just as

we are, yet he did not sin. He can empathize

with us. Jesus gets it. He gets it. You ever

been betrayed by a friend before? Jesus understands.

So is he. You ever gone through a difficult time

in your life where you're going, God, why am

I even going through this? Can you take this

away from me? I don't even want to go through

this. Jesus has to. Have you ever been in a painful

spot where you have pain and suffering in your

life? Jesus can relate because he has too. Have

you ever had your closest friends turn their

back on you and walk away when you needed them

the most? Listen, Jesus can relate because he

has too. Jesus gets it. Jesus understands what

it's like. We don't have to look at Jesus and

go, okay, he doesn't understand because Jesus

meets us where we are. Jesus wants to meet you

where you're at. I think some of you don't like

church or the Bible because you're tired of hearing

about perfect people. You're like, I would read

the Bible, but it's just, I can't relate because

it's full of perfect people and I'm just not

that. I would go to church more, but I just can't

relate because it's full of perfect people. I

get it. I grew up in church and growing up in

church for me, it was like, I think I'm okay

with this Jesus thing. I think I like Jesus.

But I looked at the pastor and I'm like, man,

I can never be him. He's perfect. Like he drove

a perfect car. He wore the perfect suit and the

perfect tie every time. The guy was perfect.

His hair didn't go gray. It went silver. I don't

even know how it happened. I was like, this is

wonderful. You're majestic. He was so perfect.

I'm like, I can't do that. And I think sometimes

we look at the scriptures and we go, it's full

of perfect people. We think it's just this all

-star lineup in scripture. And it is. We see

these characters in scripture, these people in

scripture, and they are an all -star lineup.

You have people like Peter who walked with Jesus.

He was Jesus' right -hand man. Like, how cool

is that? He walked with Jesus as Jesus' right

-hand man. And Jesus looked at him and he said,

listen, upon this rock, I will build my church,

Peter. And Peter got to push the church forward.

The first century church was driven by Peter

obeying what God had done. He's an all -star,

man. I would look at guys like Paul. Paul wrote

most of the New Testament. Right, guys in here,

some of you, you won't even write a note to your

wife. This guy wrote most of the Bible. This

guy's an all -star. This guy planted churches,

and most of the reason that we do church the

way that we do today is because of what Paul

did, the way he started it, the way he set into

motion. Paul's an all -star. All right, ladies,

Mary Magdalene. She's an all -star. She's amazing.

Do you know that Mary Magdalene funded Jesus's

ministry? His ministry wasn't free. Somebody

had to pay for it, and she funded it. She's Moneybags

Mary. That's who she is. She funded his ministry.

We all need a Moneybags Mary in our life. And

that's not to be disrespectful. That is such

an honor that Mary got to fund Jesus' ministry.

She got to take her hard -earned money, and she

got to pour it into advancing the gospel through

Jesus. That is an honor. We look at these people

in scripture and we go, man, they are amazing.

They're all -stars. And yes, they are. But do

you truly know their story? Do you truly know

their story, right? Because Peter, that we look

at and we go, this guy's an all -star. This guy

was getting rebuked by Jesus all the time. Jesus

looked at Peter one time and said, get behind

me, Satan. He called him the devil. You think

you're having a bad day? Jesus called Peter the

devil. He was rebuking him all the time. Peter's

like, man, Jesus, I got your back. Number one

homie right here. Ride or die. And then as soon

as Jesus gets arrested, you know what Peter does?

He goes, I don't even know him. I don't even

know who he is. He denies that he even knows

Jesus. Not once, not twice. Three times he denies

that he even knows him. Some of you have maybe

denied Jesus and said, Jesus, I don't even know

you. But you know what Jesus did? Jesus met Peter

in his mess. He met him where he was. In the

mess that was Peter, he met him and the resurrected

Jesus goes to him and he says, Peter, do you

love me? He says, then work for me. Then join

my team. Then feed my sheep. He restores him.

He met him in his mess and he restored him. Mary

Magdalene, the Bible tells us that she... had

seven demons that possessed her. She was possessed

by seven demons. And we don't have a detailed

account of how that manifested, what she did

with those demons, but I'm guessing she wasn't

a joy to be around. I'm guessing she was involved

in some pretty scandalous activity. In fact,

there's speculation that she was involved in

prostitution, that she was involved in sin, that

she was involved in a lot of things. And Jesus

met her in her mess and he restored her. All

right, Paul. Paul was the guy who walked around

and Paul was like, listen, I want to kill Christians.

That's what he did. In fact, not only did he

kill them, he had people that worked for him

that killed him. He was like the mob boss that

would order hits on Christians. He's like, go

kill them. Go kill them. Bible says he was breathing

out murderous threats against Christians. And

in the middle of that, when he's going, I want

nothing to do with Jesus. And maybe that's some

of you. I want nothing to do with Jesus. Jesus

met him exactly where he was at in his mess and

he restored him. He said, hey, come follow me.

Come be on my team. Not because you've done amazing

things, but in your mess that you are, saying,

hey, come be a part of my team. See, I don't

know how you walked in today, but maybe you feel

like you're too messed up. Maybe you feel like

you are too much of a mess because of what you

were doing last night or the night before. or

the addiction that you have, or the thing that

you walked in. And I need you to understand this.

It doesn't matter how messed up you feel. Jesus

wants to meet you in your mess. Jesus came exactly

right now, and you are sitting here right now

because he wants to meet you in your mess. Not

because you deserve it, but because he loves

you enough to say, I want to restore you. And

I think that we have this misconception often

that we say, I got to get my life together, and

then I'll come to Jesus. I just got to get some

stuff together. I'm going through some stuff

right now. And once I get that together, then

I'm going to come to Jesus. And we have it backwards

because you can't get your life together enough

to come to Jesus. Jesus is what gets your life

together. Jesus wants to meet you exactly where

you're at. Second Corinthians 521, God made him

who had no sin, right? Jesus to become sin for

us. Why? So that in him, we might become the

righteousness. He wants to meet you where you

are to take you where he is. Jesus camped for

the purpose of building something permanent.

He said, I'm just here to camp, but I'm building

something permanent for you. I'm building something

permanent that is not this world. Because it

doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out

that our world is a mess. All you have to do

is get on your phone. All you have to do is turn

on the news. All right, when was the last time

you turned on the news and it was like, tonight

at 10, great news. Wonderful things happening.

No, the world's on fire. Everything's burning.

Things are blowing up. It's terrible. We live

in a messed up world. And oftentimes we go, okay,

this world is a mess. I just want to escape it.

I just want to get past this. I want some hope

in the middle of this mess. And here's what this

is. The hope in the middle of the mess that we

have is this, is the permanent home that he paved

the way to by becoming sin on our behalf is in

his presence. It's paradise. It's no more pain.

It's no more suffering. It's no more brokenness.

It's just restoration in the presence of the

Lord. That's what he came to build. It's freedom.

It says in 2 Corinthians 3 .17, Where the spirit

of the Lord is, there is freedom. And I don't

know how you walked in today, but what I know

is this. The freedom that you've been searching

for in your life is not when you reach a certain

dollar amount. The freedom you've been searching

for in your life is not in that drink. It's not

in that drug. It's not in that relationship.

It's not in any of the things that you try to

escape your life to find the freedom in. The

freedom that you are searching for is only found

in Jesus. That is the only place you find freedom.

Years and years ago, a year before I started

dating my wife, and we started dating when we

were teenagers, so a long, long time ago, my

wife and her family was living in a small town,

and this small town was about an hour away from

any town where they could do any real shopping.

And so my wife and her sister, they drove, to

town to do some shopping. And the town that they

lived in was a mountain town. And so it took

some very sharp mountain roads to get to their

town with cliffs on one side and a mountain on

the other. And as they were driving home from

shopping this day, their car failed and their

car failed in their steering and their brakes.

So they found themselves on this mountainous

road with no steering and no brakes. They went

towards the mountain to try to stop. And as they

went up, they ended up rolling. They rolled across

the street, and they rolled down about a 300

-foot cliff. And over and over and over as they

rolled down this hill, not knowing when it's

going to stop, not knowing what is going to happen,

fearing that this is the end of their life, by

God's grace, the car landed on all four tires

at the bottom of the hill. And they put the car

in park, and they took the keys out. They kind

of checked if they had everything. They said,

we've got to get out of here. And so they took

off, and as they ran, they were about 50 feet

away from the car when the car blew up. It caused

a 50 -acre forest fire. And by God's grace, as

this is happening, there were some firefighters

nearby that were cutting line, and they immediately

saw this accident. And again, living in a small

town, the firefighters knew the car, they knew

who it belonged to, and they immediately rushed

to the scene of the accident. And at the road,

they stopped. Without following protocol and

tying down to the truck or to anything else,

they immediately just ran down the hill and they

passed by. My wife, who was running up the hill

as the fire was chasing her, they said, was there

anyone else in the car with you? And she says,

my sister. The firefighters continue to go down.

And again, by God's grace, in the middle of the

fire, there was one circle of green where she

had passed out and she was laying right there.

And they picked her up. And they took her out

of danger. These firefighters showed up in the

middle of a dangerous situation, in the middle

of a mess. And they said, we are going to run

in the mess to rescue you and take you out to

a better place. And by God's grace today, they

are both alive to tell of his story, to tell

of his grace. But man, I think about those firefighters

that had a choice to run into the flame, to run

into the mess, to run into the brokenness, to

save somebody and bring them to a better place.

1 Peter 2 .24 says this, he himself bore our

sins in his body on the cross so that we might

die to sins and live for righteousness. By his

wounds, you have been healed. Jesus's camping

trip was actually a rescue mission. And Jesus

came into the mess that is this world to do what

you and I cannot do to save you and take you

to a better place. Jesus camped so that we could

live like we are just camping. But here's the

thing. If we're going to live like we are just

camping, you're able to live like you are just

camping if your eternity is secure. So what does

this mean for us? What does this mean for you

and me and all of us today? It means this, that

Jesus switched places with you. What you deserve

because of your sin, because of your brokenness,

because of your mess is to pay the penalty for

your sin, which is death. But Jesus took your

place and he took your punishment on a cross.

But here's the thing, we're not here to celebrate

a cross today. A cross is an instrument of death.

And many, many people died on a Roman cross.

Thousands and thousands of people died on a Roman

cross. It is not unique in any way, shape, or

form that somebody would die on a Roman cross,

but there is only one person that died on a Roman

cross that did not stay dead. And Jesus... The

miracle is not in the death, it is in the resurrection

because we are here to celebrate a resurrection

today. We are here to celebrate that the tomb

is empty. And when Jesus resurrected from the

dead, what he did is he broke the power of sin

and death. What he did is he broke the power

of sin and death for all time and in your life

as well to pave a way for you to be with him

in eternity. Because of his resurrection, you

don't have to live like you're dead. Because

of his resurrection, you don't have to suffer

the consequences of your sin. Jesus made a way.

And we get to celebrate that resurrection. Because

what the resurrection means is it means that

he's given you a free gift. A free gift. Say,

I paid for you. And here's the thing about a

free gift. You don't have to do anything to earn

a free gift. That's why it's free. It's already

been paid. It's not because you're good enough.

It's because Jesus loves you. But you do have

to receive it. You do have to receive the free

gift. The payment was made, but if you don't

let him make that payment, then you have to make

that payment. At the wages of sin is death. And

he says, I paid for it. And I broke that. And

we cannot talk about heaven without talking about

hell. And we don't like this part. And I think

I have to address the elephant in the room here,

that I think a lot of times when it comes to

a block between us accepting what God has done

is we go, okay, but I can't understand or accept

how a loving God would send people to hell. And

I need you to understand this. God doesn't send

people to hell. People's sin sends them to hell.

God is inviting you to heaven. God is saying,

I paid the price for you, but God will not force

you to go to heaven. God will not force you to

make that choice. And when we in this life go,

God, I wanna live how I wanna live and I wanna

push against the free gift that you've given.

I wanna choose to not accept it. God is not gonna

force you to go to heaven. He's gonna go, you

chose to pay for it yourself. You chose to do

it on your own. And he's gonna allow you to go

where you choose to not take his. Payment for

what you've done. And so today what God is inviting

you to is to accept the invitation of his free

gift. And I want to give you the opportunity

to accept the free gift that God has offered

by meeting you in your mess. Not because you

have it together, but because you don't. He said,

I'm going to meet you where you are to take you

where I am. And so I want to give you an opportunity

to respond. To that today, some of you, you need

to respond for the very first time saying, I

accept what Jesus has done on my behalf. And

some of you, maybe you've accepted it, but you

need to realign your life to say, I need to live

like I believe that. And so would you just bow

your heads right now? This isn't anything special

or it's just to focus right now. And so if you're

here right now and you know that you need to

accept his payment on the cross, that he's trying

to meet you where you're at. so that you can

walk in victory. Why don't you just talk to God

right now and tell him this, and this isn't a

special prayer or anything. All it is is just

saying, hey, I agree. I need you. Tell Jesus

this. Just say, God, I know that I'm a mess,

but I know that you took my sin on to pay the

penalty that I owed. Accept your payment. God,

I pray that I can walk in the truth of accepting

your payment, that I can walk in victory. Now,

if you prayed that, this isn't anything special

either. This is just, there's something about

making a physical motion to signify a spiritual

decision. And so if you prayed for the very first

time to allow. Jesus' payment on the cross and

his victory over death into your life, I want

you to just put your hand up. Just say, that's

me. I prayed that today. Say, that's me. Yes,

Jesus, I acknowledge that this is me. For those

of you in here who maybe you've prayed that before,

you've said, yes, I acknowledge, Jesus, that

you paid for my sin and you resurrected from

the grave. But maybe you need to realign. Just

talk to him right now. Invite him in to talk

to him. God, I wanna invite you into this place

right now. God, that your Holy Spirit is working

on hearts right now. Lord, I thank you for the

gift of salvation through Jesus and through the

empty tomb. We celebrate the empty tomb. God,

I am so humbled that you would allow me the mess

that I am. to find salvation in you. Thank you,

Jesus. We praise you. We worship you. We pray

this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.