But, Then Jesus Included

All right, good morning, everybody. My name is

Greg Hampton. I am one of the pastors here at

the house. And if you see me squinting, it is

because I put on the wrong glasses today. These

are my glasses from five years ago. I went to

get, I usually go and get coffee on Sunday morning

and look through my notes. And I was looking,

I was like, you know, I sit maybe not even this

far from that wall from where like the menu is

and stuff or where people are ordering. And I

was like, taking my glasses off and cleaning

them. And I put them back on, and I'm like, what

is wrong with my eyes today? I'm feeling that

everything's blurry. I started thinking, do I

suddenly have a blood sugar problem I don't know

about? And then I just realized, oh, no, these

are my old glasses. So if you see me squinting,

that is the reason. If we've never met, I would

love to meet you, either before you head out

today. or I would love to buy you a coffee at

a coffee shop or something like that, this week

I'll try to wear the right glasses so that I

can see well. We are in our fourth and final

week of our series that we're calling But Then

Jesus, because these are words that you see quite

often throughout the Gospels. You see then Jesus,

then they, but Jesus. When you put them together,

you get this idea that things were going in one

direction, and then Jesus decided this is something

that needs to be redirected. There's this moment.

where it's just like, okay, something needs to

change. And so today I just want to jump right

in to our scripture. Let's open up our Bibles

to Luke chapter 9, Luke 9. If you don't have

Luke 9 · chapter mention

a Bible, there are blue Bibles on each of the

tables. There's also Bibles on the bookshelf

in the lobby that you are welcome to take home

with you if you need one. Otherwise, maybe download

one from one of the digital app stores. You can

really look at any version that you like. I believe

that today's version I'm reading from is the

New Living Translation. I really like the NRSVU

as well. This is Luke. It goes Matthew, Mark,

Luke, John, Acts, Matthew, Mark, Luke, Luke chapter

Luke 9 · chapter mention

9. All right, and we have a tradition of just

giving the scriptures our full attention. While

they're read in the context of a sermon, you

can do that any way you see fit. But if you'd

like to stand with me as I read it, you're also

welcome to do that. It says this, Luke 9, starting

in verse 46. Then his disciples began arguing

about which of them was the greatest. But Jesus

knew their thoughts. We heard that last couple

weeks, didn't we? Jesus knew their thoughts,

so he brought a little child to his side. Then

he said to them, Anyone who welcomes a little

child like this on my behalf welcomes me. Anyone

who welcomes me also welcomes my Father who sent

me. Whoever is the least among you is the greatest.

John said to Jesus, Master. We saw someone using

your name to cast out demons, but we told him

to stop because he isn't one of ours or in our

group. The NRSV says he does not follow with

us. Verse 50, but Jesus said, do not stop him.

Anyone who is not against you is for you. Let

us pray. God of every tribe, every tongue, every

color, every nation, we thank you for the scriptures

that they have. that persisted throughout the

millennia that we still have them to read, to

consider, to learn from. And I pray that whatever

you have for us to learn today, that it would

stick, that it would become a part of the framework

of our faith as our faith becomes stronger, as

we become more like your son, Jesus. Amen. Thanks,

y 'all. You can have a seat. All right, a couple

weeks ago, I talked about Jesus and kids, so

I won't. preach that sermon again, but I'm going

to hit the highlights, okay? Because it was in

today's passage too. Because it is so, so, so

with like 11 O's after, so important to bring

your kids to church. Every hour of church you

can, because every hour of church for a kid counts.

And it's not just because of the lessons. It's

not just because of the teaching. It's because

of the people that they get to be. in relationship

with and in family with. Last time I talked about

Rosalie and Levon, like the older grandma -aged

ladies at the church that I grew up that would

hug me every Sunday that made me know that I

belonged there, even when I didn't know for sure.

But there was also Chris Owens and Mark Kauzia.

When I was little, maybe third grade, I went

to a school called Temple Christian Academy,

and they had bring your grandparents to school

day. Anyone? Have that at their school growing

up, bringing grandparents to school day. Well,

my grandparents lived an hour away. And so I

thought, I'm going to ask Chris Owens. Chris

Owens was not a grandfather. Chris Owens was

a brand new dad. Chris Owens was like 32 tops.

He was like younger than Alex over here. Like

just 32 tops, but I just, I don't know. Eight,

nine -year -old Greg just thought he was awesome.

And I'm like. Everyone's bringing their grandparents.

I'm going to bring up Chris Owens. And so I asked

Chris Owens at church, would you come for my

grandparents' day? All you guys in your 30s are

like, what in the world? You think I'm 60? He

said yes. And he came and he was my grandpa for

the day. Or Mark Calzia. My family, I didn't

have family that had gone away to college. And

so I'm talking to Mark Cowsey when I'm a senior

about, hey, what do you think I should do? He

said, well, my daughter goes to this school and

she seems to like it and you want to be in ministry

and it's a Bible school. Maybe you should check

that out. And so I did. And then you know what?

You know who took me to my college campus preview?

Mark Cowsey. Do you know how far away that campus

was? Three hours. Right. He took me there and

back. Church is more than the lessons, y 'all.

Church is the people. And every kid will have

more hours going to school in one year than they

could have coming to church in their entire lives.

So every hour counts because every relationship

becomes something that connects them to who God

is. All right, so I already preached that, so

I'll stop there, right? Let's look at those last

two verses again. Verse 49 said this. John said

to Jesus, Master, we saw someone using your name

to cast out demons, but we told him to stop.

Aren't you proud of us? Because he isn't in our

group. But Jesus said, don't stop him. Anyone

who is not against you is for you. So why do

the disciples want him? What are they worried

about? You've heard me say this before, but the

disciples are thinking that there's a rebellion

right around the corner. They're thinking, all

right, we've got to get ready for what Jesus

is about to do. So at the very least, part of

their concern is about who gets to use the power

that comes along with the name of Jesus. They

already know. that Jesus' name can cast out demons.

They want to use his name to cast out an emperor

and the rulers that are controlling their country.

And it's noble. It's noble. It is noble to care

if your country is free. It is noble to care

if someone will dilute that possibility by hijacking

the name and power of the leader that might give

you freedom. That's a lot of the problems that

we're experiencing in the world today, around

the world, in America and other places. We see

the way that Christianity or religion gets used,

the way that the power of a name gets used. And

everyone argues with each other about who gets

the right to the power of Jesus' name. But I

think their primary concern is actually far less

noble than that. Because if you back up in this

passage to the parts that we didn't read, The

part just before what we read today, you'll actually

see that a dad. Why did Jesus bring a kid in

front of him? Well, it's because someone had

brought some kids. It says that a dad brought

his son and asked Jesus, can you heal my son?

He's possessed by a demon. And then he says in

verse 40, I asked your disciples. Actually, he

says, I begged your disciples to cast it out.

But they could not. Nine verses later, the disciples

see another guy, some guy they don't know, succeeding

in casting out a demon where they had failed.

I think the deeper issue here is that the disciples

feel insecure. They feel embarrassed. Maybe they

even feel ashamed and afraid. They're thinking,

we follow Jesus. We're the disciples, aren't

we? Aren't we the ones that do and believe the

right things? What if people don't follow Jesus

because we failed? What if that guy over there

has the wrong motives? What if he doesn't believe

all the right things? Even though he did the

right thing, but what if he doesn't believe all

the right things because he doesn't run with

us? What if people end up believing the wrong

things because that guy did something good in

the name of Jesus? Shame and disappointment about

our own failures can lead us to have a lot of

feelings about other people. Shame and disappointment

and fear make us do a lot of funny things, like

trying to stop someone from healing someone in

the name of Jesus because we do not know them.

It's not all that different from the kind of

thing that happens today. We might see someone

doing something good, even in the name of Jesus,

and maybe we question their motives. Maybe they're

not from the right church or denomination or

background or religion. Modern Christianity is

still just as obsessed with being right, being

the only ones, just like the first disciples

were. Listen, I think that it is logical to admit

that there are too many thousands of kinds of

Christianity around the world to expect that

any one of us has everything right. The reason

there are so many different ones is because they're

like, you're wrong about that, we're starting

our own thing. Matter of fact, I've shown this

before, but I love this meme. Put that up there,

Kathy, it's the best. So that is a graph on the

left of church history, Christian movements.

Right there at the end, the speaker says, and

this is where our movement came along and got

the Bible right. And the people sitting there,

Jesus is so lucky to have us. This is how we

can be sometimes, y 'all. This is how we can

think about our beliefs. So I actually thought

that we should spend a little bit of time talking

about, How to believe and how to order what it

is that we believe. And I shared this tool five

years ago, but you know what? I don't know how

many of you were here five years ago on that

Sunday. And so I'm going to share it again. This

is a tool that's called Fido, F -I -D -O. And

Fido helps us put our beliefs into categories

in context with each other. And the most important

spot in Fido. are the foundations. This first

one, F, foundations. And foundations are exactly

what they sound like, right? These are the foundational

ideas of what it means to be a Christian. So

for instance, we read the Nicene Creed. I asked

you, hey, is there a part in that that's hard

for you to believe? Well, I've got good news.

The most basic foundational thing about being

a christian is do you follow jesus if you follow

that's it do you follow jesus if you follow jesus

you are a christian because a christian very

literally is a follower of jesus the christ a

little christ other things in that category we

could say that all right it's foundational that

jesus is god we could say that uh foundational

idea is that he had he was crucified or that

he was resurrected, or like in the Nicene Creed,

how it starts. At the very beginning, we could

say that it's a foundational idea to believe

that God is the creator of the heavens and the

earth. But maybe you also notice that the first

circle is pretty small, right? You see how small

that circle is? There aren't that many things

that need to go in that circle, y 'all. But we

do believe a lot of things, don't we? We believe

a lot more than just the three things I just

mentioned. And so around that circle is a bigger

circle that's called interpretations. Interpretations

answer the question, how or why? Things like,

all right, Jesus is God, but how? How? How? He's

historically, biblical scholars agree, he's a

person that existed. They would say, just generally

speaking, scholars would go, he was a human being.

Christians would say he was also God. How? Right?

There's interpretations that are required to

go, okay, I'm going to look at these passages,

and then I'm going to explain how it is that

Jesus is God. What does it mean for Jesus to

be God and man? That's an interpretation. What

does it mean that he was born of a virgin, of

Mary? There's interpretations. Around it, it's

a foundational idea that Jesus is God, but how

that is true is a matter of interpretations or

creation, right? We believe in God the Father,

creator of heaven and earth. You'll notice that

the Nicene Creed doesn't say very much about

it. It just says that is what we believe. It

doesn't get into the nitty -gritty of exactly

how that happened. Was it six literal days? Was

it eras? Did God use evolution? Did he set off

a big bang? These are things that as people of

faith believe that God created, there's interpretation

that we can hold to about the concept that God

created. Or we could ask, okay, what does it

mean that Jesus was crucified for our sins? Why

does it matter that he was resurrected? Which

version of the atonement theory is correct? If

there is a hell, is it a permanent punishment

or is it a permanent judgment because those two

things aren't necessarily the same? Or under

interpretations, we could talk about what the

Bible says about social issues. Not all, but

most evangelicals, Anglicans, and Baptists believe

that same -sex attraction is wrong because of

the way they interpret the Bible. But then not

all, but most, Episcopals, Methodists, Presbyterians,

Lutherans, and others, including myself, interpret

the scriptures differently. We interpret and

understand the context of the scriptures in a

way that makes room for the LGBTQ community to

be fully included without limits, in part because

we see that the same way scripture was interpreted

in the past to exclude the LGBTQIA community.

Before that, it was used to exclude women from

preaching. Last week, Pastor Marissa preached.

The week before that, Pastor Jen preached. Before

that, it was used to exclude interracial couples

from marrying. It wasn't that long ago that interpretations

of the Bible were the foundational idea for justifying

and even encouraging slavery or Jim Crow or segregation.

Some people in this room were alive when segregation

was legally ended in our country. It was not

that long ago that the Bible was used to justify

those things. They are matters of interpretation.

And then... Around the circle of interpretations,

we have the D for deductions. These are the things

that maybe don't have more than one verse that

speak directly to it or about it. Maybe it's

even something there is not a single verse that

says something specifically about it. These are

the things that people are like, Sherlock Holmes

in it. They're like, all right, half this verse

over here. half that verse over there, and this

one smells kind of like it means that, and so

this is what it obviously means, right? These

are things like, we know that Jesus said that

no one knows when he will return, but that doesn't

stop people from deducing, based on the signs

and times, when Jesus will return. I have lost

track of how many times in my lifetime, I'm 48,

just in my own lifetime, how many times war in

the Middle East has been used to explain why

Jesus is coming back soon. It's a deduction.

Or maybe someone deduces what candidate you should

vote for or how many drinks or cigarettes you

can have or how far you can go with your boyfriend

or girlfriend before it's sin. They're deductions.

Now, it doesn't mean deductions and opinions

are not important. It just means that they belong

in certain places that do not exclude people

from the centrality. of being a Christian. And

then last, around our foundations and our interpretations

and deductions are our opinions. You've heard

it said, opinions are like noses. We all have

one and they all smell. There are other ways

to say that. I chose the appropriate one because

there's children in the room. Opinions are things

like, what kind of music should we play? Should

we do hymns? Should we have an organ? Should

we have acoustic guitar and drums? These are

opinions. Maybe on the more important side of

that is how often should we have baptisms? How

often should we share communion with each other?

We know that those are things that are central

to our faith, but it becomes an opinion about

how often those things need to happen. Now when

I... felt called to start this church, and we

came together and planted this church, we decided

it's going to be our tradition that we receive

communion every week. Because we didn't want

to go a week without being reminded of the goodness

of what Jesus had done. But when it comes down

to it, there's no reason for us to go, that's

gospel. It has to be done every week or we are

wrong. We need to remember that the differences

between our beliefs are just that. They're interpretations.

They're often deductions. And they're often opinions.

And they are not meant to stake our faith in

Jesus on. Now, part of why it's wise to keep

this in mind is that on this next slide, you'll

see that the IDO. That's what I do. Or you could

point at yourself. You go, everyone, one, two,

three, point at yourself and go, that's what

I do. Yeah. Who's got two thumbs and has opinions?

This guy, right? It's all of us. Who's got two

thumbs and has got some deductions about what

the Bible means? Who's got two thumbs and has

got some interpretations that don't line up with

some other people's interpretations? That's all

of us. These are the three things that for sure

we go, those are the things that I'm doing. The

trouble is that we often make the things that

I do the things that say that they don't belong.

I know that sometimes Greg's being hyperbolic.

In other words, Greg's exaggerating. And in a

sermon, when you've got 25 minutes to talk about

something, sometimes you have to be hyperbolic.

But I am not being hyperbolic about this. It

is so often that we use the beliefs that I do

to say that they don't. Last year, I started

leading a cohort of pastors, September to April.

And right now I'm putting together a new cohort

of ministry leaders that will meet between September

and April to pray and discern about what God

might want to be doing in the kingdom of God

here in the Quad Cities. And so what that means

is that I'm reaching out to some pastors that

I don't know, that I didn't previously know.

And one of the goals is for that room to be full

of people that are ethnically diverse, gender

diverse, Christian background diverse. The point

is for it to be ecumenical, meaning that we don't

all believe the same things or come from the

same places. I felt long and hard about whether

I should share this with you because three weeks

ago when I preached, I bragged on another church.

Do you remember that? Today, I don't have good

news, y 'all. And I'm not going to share names

or churches. I won't even imply. But I want to

share with you what the reality is that is happening

in the kingdom. I reached out to these different

pastors, and I got this email. It said this.

While I understand and agree with the importance

of this kind of group, I do have to draw the

line and do not think I can sit with. those who

are at odds with our churches and Christianities,

historical and orthodox understanding, and theology.

These are beliefs. He's talking about beliefs.

I can't sit down with people that disagree with

these beliefs. And he says on these three things,

on human sexuality, sexual and gender identity,

and the sanctity of life. And just in case you

think that people only say things like this in

emails or online. I was on the phone with someone

on Friday, inviting them to see if they would

like to be a part of this cohort. And they said,

you mentioned it being diverse. Does that mean

it will include homosexuals and trans? I don't

think that I can pray with them because they're

praying to a different God. Listen, let me be

clear. None of their objections, none of the

things and the idea over them, none of those

beliefs, none of those things are central or

foundational. to whether you have a relationship

with Jesus or not. None of those things will

change, you know, hyperbolically. When you walk

up to the pearly gates, whether Peter will let

you in or not. Believe in Jesus. You follow with

Jesus. That's the most important. Now I think

that there's something more uncomfortable that

I should say. Those two people were from different

denominations. They're from different ages and

generations even. And I believe that they both

love Jesus. And I believe that they are both

doing their very best to lead their congregations

in the way that they believe to be the best.

They have in their life and in their faith and

in their doctrine and in their study, they have

fallen in different places in those circles.

And I'm not bashing them. I want you to understand

that Jesus loves them. And Jesus includes them.

That when something about how someone else believes

in Jesus excludes somebody else, Jesus is still

trying to include that person. He's still trying

to pull that person in and say, look, my body

and my blood is for you. Look, look. Look what

I did for you. You might not yet understand that

it is also for them, but look what I did for

you. You belong. You can be in the kingdom. And

listen, y 'all, there's going to be a lot of

really surprised eyes and looks when people experience

the fullness of God because they're going to

look across the fullness and glory of God and

see people they did not know were praying to

the same God as them. And you know what they

will feel in that moment? It will not be what

the disciples felt. It will not be shame or fear

or embarrassment. It will be joy because they

will be in the fullness of the presence of God.

And their mind will be that of Christ. And they

will realize in that moment, not that they should

feel shame that they excluded, but joy that now

I see the truth. And that is what we are trying

to bring. The will of God as it is in heaven.

On earth. And if any part of us thinks inside

of the interpretation, deduction, opinions, if

any part of us believes there is the chance that

they will all, the people that we have excluded

will be with us, then we should treat them now

like they belong with us here. Because Jesus

keeps on bringing children into their midst.

Kids don't understand the hypostatic union, y

'all. Kids don't understand whether it's transubstantiation

or consubstantiation. People do not understand

incarnational ministry. And yet, they know how

to believe in Jesus. Because our beliefs are

not our God, Jesus is. Let us find ourselves

caring about what finds its way into the foundations

and accepting the idea that all of these other

things that I do are held loosely with open hands.

And the more loosely... We hold these things

knowing that they are not the foundation. The

wider we will find our arms, that we might embrace

all of those that find themselves drawn into

the circle of Christ. Let's pray. Good God. I

believe that we will be together. The fullness

of your glory will be so joyous. I pray that

we walk with kindness. That we walk with wide

arms. That we confess and even repent of the

times and places that we are prideful about being

right. And that we would find your gentleness,

the fruit of your spirit, gentleness. And we

might be kind to ourselves. That we might let

go of the shame and fear and embarrassment that

we have felt. That we might instead receive the

love, the joy, the peace that you give. And let

us share that fruit with all of those around

us. In the name of Jesus, amen.