Grace Levels the Playing Field: Reading the Bible Without the Hierarchy Lens | Better Ways to Read the Bible | Robert Vargas

Today I want to talk about resilient through grace.

I want to speak about how we live out our faith and how that approach to faith and scripture

share shapes our lives, especially in the journey of resilience through hope and anchored

in God's grace.

So we are continuing the series "Better Ways to Read the Bible" by Zach Lambert.

Did everybody get their book that needed their book?

This series invites us to recognize how to come to scripture and to a life of faith with

lenses.

We all come with our own perspectives and our own views, the ways we see things.

That affects what we hear, how we live, and how we relate to one another.

So in chapter 6 of this book, Zach addresses what he calls the hierarchy lens, which is

the stance of reading scripture in ways that uphold power struggles, authority, how we

view submission, how we view who's in charge, and who gets to decide what we do and don't

do.

So we are going to explore that lens today, but I want to talk about how it can limit

us, how it can wound us, but most importantly, how we are invited to a different lens.

One of grace, of hope, and of resilience rooted in the one that we as a community follow,

which is Jesus.

Zach writes that the hierarchy lens can masquerade as faithful service, submit to authority as

you submit to God, and on the surface, that looks like order, discipline, obedience.

But there's a risk in looking at things in that perspective.

Reading scripture or living out faith in such a way that some people are elevated to elders.

I'm joking, and others are diminished, I'm joking, I'm joking.

Some voices are silenced, submission becomes coercion, and justice becomes performance,

and the vulnerable become invisible.

As we've grown up, for those of us that have grown up in church, and not just in church,

but in the world around us, we're told that's just the way it is, right?

That's just the way scripture is interpreted.

As a way to kind of silence questions and tell people, I'm in charge and you're not.

We've also seen it as power wielded in the name of God, rather than service.

The hope and grace of Jesus overshadowed by rules, hierarchies, and control.

When we live under the lens of hierarchy, scriptures can feel heavy, they can feel burdensome,

even oppressive.

I know growing up, I was always told, but you need to read your Bible.

And sometimes this was super stressful just to pick up my Bible and read it because I

didn't understand the days and the hours and the arts, and so it was really stressful.

And so it can stifle resilience and spiritual growth rather than nurture it.

In Matthew chapter 20, verse 25 through 28, Jesus called his disciples together and he

Matthew 20:25–28

said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles, Lord, it, the law, over them, and their high

officials exercise authority over them.

Not so with you, instead, whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant and

whoever wants to be first must be your slave.

Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life

as a ransom for many.

Contrary to what people would like us to think, Jesus overturns worldly hierarchy.

His kingdom is built on humility and service, not dominance and control.

This directly challenges the hierarchy lens that I know many of us grew up with, right?

You had the pastor, you had the authority, you had the priest.

And if they were not happy with you, then you weren't right in the eyes of God, right?

I always attribute it to the theory that is instead of living our lives as unto the Lord,

we were taught to live our lives as unto the church and unto the people.

And if everybody in church thought that you had your stuff together and you looked good

and you were dressed well, then you were spiritual and righteous and full of grace, right?

But that's not what God has called us to do.

Jesus overturned that worldly hierarchy.

The gospel of Jesus offers another path, one of grace.

Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 through 9, that for by grace you have been

Ephesians 2:8–9

saved through faith and not through works so that no one may boast.

The good news is that we, you are accepted, you're loved, you're forgiven, not because

you earned it, not because you obey perfectly, but because God in Christ lavishes grace upon

us.

You memorize the scripture John 3, 16 growing up, for God so loved the world that he gave

his only begotten son, who ever believes in him, shall not perish, but ever rest in life.

But my favorite verse is 3, 17, and it's not in my notes, just so you know.

It was like, where's the scripture and I don't see it.

But 3, 17 says that for Christ came not to condemn the world, but that through him we

might be saved.

What does it mean for our reading of scripture and for our lives to live through grace?

It means we approach the Bible, we come to church, not primarily to reinforce who's in

charge, but to discover how God loves, rescues, and restores you.

It means that we live our lives through the lens of God's love and invitation, not fear

of failing a standard.

It means we live resiliently because we are held by God, not merely judged by a system.

I always like to say that while Santa is a lovely person and he brings gifts and he does

all these wonderful things that we love, God is not like Santa.

He's not keeping a list, he's not checking it twice, he's not trying to find out if you're

not, you're nice.

He already knows, we kind of mess things up sometimes, right, and he loves us anyway.

One of my favorite scriptures, it's one that I live my life on, it's Philippians 3, 12.

It says not that I've already obtained this or have already arrived at my goal, but I

press on to take hold of that for which Jesus took hold of me.

I do not consider myself yet to have been made perfect, but one thing I do, forgetting

what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win

the prize for which God has called me heavenward.

My favorite part about this verse is forgetting what is behind and straining towards what

is ahead.

You know, we were talking this morning about how this week has been challenging for a lot

of us and the world is challenging, life is challenging, but one of the biggest things

you have to overcome is forgetting what's behind.

You may have messed up, you may have said the wrong thing, you may not have done what

you were supposed to do in that moment, but you have to forgive yourself and move on because

God already forgave you.

The Bible says that a righteous man will fall 70 times, seven times and still get up again.

But the challenge is not getting God to love you and getting God to forgive you.

It's allowing yourself to forget what is behind and say I'm going to move forward, I'm going

to press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heaven forward.

Grace levels the plague field.

No one earns a more spiritual rank because they give a lot of money to church or they

give a lot of money to charity or they do or say the right things, everyone stands equally

loved and accepted in Christ.

This is the heart and the goal of the gospel.

This is the antidote, the healing to hierarchy.

Now I want to turn away from a moment from the hierarchical lens and look towards resilience

because as people of faith, the reason we come to church, the reason we, the reason we

come to church and surround ourselves with people of faith, brothers and sisters in the

church.

I said brothers and sisters.

Yeah, I'm very old school.

I grew up Pentecostal.

Y'all are lucky.

I didn't have Mark play the organ.

Yeah, I was ready for it.

I was like, I was ready.

I was ready.

Chad said no, so okay.

But resilience, it's not about being stoic or hardened.

It's resilience in the Christian life is hope-filled.

It says even when this is hard, even when I mess up, God is still at work and we can

lean on the one who carried us because your story is not over.

Consider the words of Jesus in John 10, 10.

He said, I came that you may have life and have it abundantly.

Jesus didn't come to keep us under authority waiting for us to fail, but to bring life

and life in abundance.

This is the hope.

So when we apply this to Scripture and to faith, we can open the Bible.

We can come to church.

We can listen to these sermons expecting to find that God is with us, not standing there

condemning us or commanding us.

We recognize that our struggles, our doubts, our humanity, they're not disqualifications.

They are a part of the journey and the perfectly imperfect person that you were created to

be.

God is not looking down from heaven, going, oh, my Lord, this person says cuss words every

now and then.

Look, we all love Jesus.

We all cuss a little, right?

I'm not saying that's okay, but God's not shocked by that.

He sees the imperfection.

God is not shocked when you throw a tantrum or have an emotional reaction, right?

But what is the blessing is that when you have that humanity, when you have those moments

of weakness, the best thing you can do is pause, take a breath, say, okay, that was not my

best.

Sorry.

Whether you need to apologize to the people around you, because sometimes the most powerful

thing you can do is look at the friend that you offended and say, you know what, I said

that.

I didn't mean it like that.

I heard it.

It came out.

Believe me, I have a lot of those moments where it's like, you know what, I said that

I didn't mean it that way, I'm sorry, but I'm going to try to move forward.

I promise I'm going to do a little better.

Resilience is not relying on ourselves and our humanity, but relying on the one who

empowers us.

Lambert points out that the hierarchy lens can lead to spiritual trauma.

When scripture is wielded as a weapon, then as a word of life, you know, I had a good

friend of mine who I used to hang out with a long time ago, we'll call him John.

There with, I was out, hanging out with him and his kids.

And the little boy, the little one, Michael, was just beating up on the older kid, just

the entire day.

He was just beating up, being mean to him, bullying him for lack of better words.

And then at some point towards the end of the hangout, Michael, the little one, trips

and falls.

And he scrapes his knee and he's crying and his dad tells him, "Well, see, God's punishing

you.

You were so mean to your brother all day, God's punishing you."

And I was just mind-blown by this thought that this dad was telling his four-year-old

at the time, "Well, God is punishing you."

And I thought, "That is not the God I've learned about in scripture.

That's not who I was raised to love and know."

And so we've been taught a lot of these principles.

We've been taught that God is always up there judging and waiting for us to fail.

But in order to live healthy lives, not just for your spiritual health, but for your mental

health, we have to approach faith in ways that free, heal, and restore not just ourselves

but the world around us.

There's a scripture, Romans 15, 13, that says, "May the God of hope fill you with joy and

peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy

Spirit."

And I've always thought of overflowing in hope like abundance, right?

God has called us to abundance.

He gives us abundance, all that good stuff.

But that hope that overflows isn't just so that you can be gluttonous and hold on to

all this hope.

And now I'm overflowing with hope.

Look at me, full of hope, right?

It's so that that hope and that grace, you can then extend to others.

Even when reading scripture of living a life of faith, while it may feel hard, hope flows

from trusting in God's power, hope sustains, and resilience keeps us rooted in grace.

I know that it's easy to say, it's an easy thing to say, it's great to hear, you know,

I want you to have hope, I want you to have resilience, now go figure it out.

Now this week, y'all go be faithful, have hope, and resilience.

But I want to encourage you to exercise your faith daily so that you can build that hope

and that resilience.

What does that mean?

Exercising your faith is not like waving a magic little fairy dust wand and everything

is going to get better.

You know, life happens, you're just going to say, "Oh no, I have faith now and you're

going to be all better and move on."

Now it's a muscle.

I always attribute faith to being a muscle.

It's a muscle that you have to work out and as you work out your muscle, it gets stronger

as life moves on and as you practice your faith.

Every challenge that you experience, every struggle that you've been through and everything

that you felt you couldn't overcome in that moment makes that faith muscle stronger.

I want you to take a moment and think with me.

Take a breath.

Breathe in, breathe out.

It's not going to be weird, I promise.

Think about the last week, the last month, over the last year.

What was one of the biggest challenges that you faced?

That thing that felt impossible.

I don't want you to say it out loud, but just think about it.

Think about that stress and the fact that you didn't think you were going to overcome.

Guess what?

You're sitting here, you overcame it, you won, you beat it.

Maybe you're a bit tattered afterwards, maybe a little bruised, but you overcame it.

In that moment, your faith got stronger and God's grace was with you.

No matter what you're facing, no matter how hard your week was, no matter how hard your

week is going to be next week, you are going to overcome it because you are going to use

the grace that God has given you, that strength that you've obtained in your faith muscle,

and you're going to use that to overcome.

How do we live out this faith as a community and as individuals?

There's three practical markers that I would encourage you to use.

Number one, recognize your lens that you're looking through and shift it.

There are times when life happens and you begin to react a certain way.

It's okay to stop and say, wait a minute, I'm looking at this the wrong way.

I need to change this.

I need to evolve this.

Have I been, ask yourself, have I been.

Am I living out my faith in this moment?

Is this authority?

Is this fear?

Is this performance?

Is this hierarchy?

Or do I need to approach this from a place of grace?

Recognizing that the first step to change, as Lambert reminds us, is not to just move

on, it's to stop and take a breath.

Learning out our faith also means embracing the gospel of grace daily.

Resilience is not built on self-will alone, but it's built on something stronger.

It's God's sustaining presence when we fail, when we fall, when we wonder, when we must

bring our lens back into focus on the cross, on the resurrection, until the living Lord

who says come to me.

In faith we find God's forgiveness, God's presence, and God's renewal.

And see, live towards flourishing and faithfulness.

If the hierarchy lens says obey and you'll learn, the gospel says live and you'll flourish.

Jesus promises abundant life.

Our reading of Scripture, therefore, should lead to greater joy, peace, patience, and

kindness in ourselves and others.

Lambert says that by their fruit you will recognize them.

So resilient lives are not marked by rigid rulekeeping, but by the fruit of the Spirit

and the flourishing of communities.

Second Corinthians chapter 4 verse 8 through 9 says, "We are afflicted in every way, but

2 Corinthians 4:8–9

not crushed.

We're perplexed, but not driven to despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down,

but not destroyed."

Now here's a question for those of you that grew up in church.

Who remembers this song, "I'm trading my sorrows"?

Okay, your homework is to go listen to the song, "I'm trading my sorrows."

It's an awesome song.

It reminds us that we're pressed but not crushed, persecuted not abandoned, we're struck down,

but not destroyed.

And listen, living a life of faith, coming to church is not about being perfect.

It's about recognizing that we are imperfect people that just need encouragement, that

needs strength.

Paul implores us to resilience, strength anchored in God's presence.

Grace empowers believers to adore hardships with courage and steady fast – and steady,

excuse me, steadfast in our faith, steady in our faith, blah, blah, blah, sorry.

So how do we anchor ourselves in God's presence?

I think it's simple.

It's – look, we are human beings living out of faith and living in a world that God

created for us.

Sometimes it's the choices that we make that help shift our mood and in our moment, like

Mark was talking about having a scary dream and then turning on worship music.

Sometimes it takes reprogramming and desensitizing yourself to say, "You know what?

I'm going to trigger my brain whenever I have this thing, I'm going to do this instead."

Some people are musical inclined, right?

Listening to music.

Some people do really well with like downloading the Bible app and get a daily scripture reminder.

Listening to positive music, it doesn't just have to be Christian music, it could be positive

music that encourages and uplifts.

Now I use this example, if you're going through a breakup, maybe you don't listen

to country music that tells you to go bash their car in, maybe don't do that, right?

That's not a positive way to approach grace.

Maybe you listen to something more positive, right?

Don't like – if you're going through relationship problems, maybe ladies don't read

the books that lead to things that are outside of marriage, you know, you know, those books.

I'm just going to say like that, move yourself in a direction that creates positive engagement

that hopefully has some sort of faith-centered value.

I know for me, when life gets tough, it's spending time around community.

Let me tell you this week, Chad realized that he was going to have to go out of town, and

so he asked me to preach, and I don't know if the universe was like, "Oh, you're going

to preach, so I'm going to throw every challenge I can in your way."

So my clients were all mad at me, you know, life was just hard.

And I was like, you know, I knew I was going to talk on faith and resilience as guys like,

"Oh, really?

You're resilient?

Let's see how you handle these things."

I'm teasing.

And so it was a tough week, and Friday, I really didn't feel like being here, honestly,

but I, you know, I had committed to Chad that I would fill in and just kind of be helpful

and be around, and I came to the trunk retreat, and man, it was just so energizing, being around

all of those kids and all those parents, and, you know, let me tell you, if you ever want

to give some away for Halloween giveaway pickles, the kids were like in love with the pickles.

It was the best.

So we gave away pickles and popcorn, and that's what this community is about.

It's not just about, "Hey, come here, get righteous, go to heaven."

This community, this group, this body that we are building exists because of your presence.

It exists because of your participation.

Don't worry, I'm not going to ask for money.

But I will say, you know, "Come hang out with us, participate and be a part of the community."

To anyone that's been wounded by faith, by the church, by scripture, scripture being

used as a tool of control and condemnation, I want you to know that God sees you.

God loves you.

Your questions are valid.

Your journey and you as an individual matter, not just to God, but to me, and to each and

every one of you around this church, I will tell you, work has been crazy for me.

And it's a crazy time to work in the field that I'm in.

And Cameron, the other day, sent me a text randomly, he's like, "Hey, I haven't seen you

in church.

I was thinking about you, if you ever need a ride, if you ever need anything, just let

me know."

You know, in that moment, you didn't know that I was like having a horrible mental health

day.

And I did respond to your text because I'm a terrible human being, and my 80D kicks in,

and I don't always see text messages.

But in that moment, it told me that I mattered, and that I valued, and it was just such a

special thing that he did as a member of this community, and we were friends, right?

Do that to people.

Remind them that they're loved, remind them that their journey matters.

In Christ, there is new life, there is healing, there is hope.

The fact that you still show up, that you wrestle, still believing in something better,

that is you practicing resilience.

And to those who maybe are not struggling with that, you feel strong and steady, lead

with grace, not with power.

May your faith and the love that you have free others, not bind them.

May your living out your faith open doors rather than build walls of hierarchy.

Isaiah 61 verse 1 and 3 says, "The spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me."

Isaiah 61:1

As I read this scripture, I want you to think about this scripture, and I want you to repeat

it.

In your head, we're not going to do the whole repeat it out loud.

I'm not asking you to tell your neighbor.

But in your mind, I want to read this scripture and I want you to think about it.

I want you to hear this scripture.

I want you to think about it, and if you can, repeat it in your head.

The spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim

good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom to the captives, to comfort

all who mourn, to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead

of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

Listen, y'all, our world is tough.

It's always crazy, but it's going to get a little crazier because of the political back

and forth, and I'm not going to talk about politics, but there's a lot of political back

and forth, but there's going to be a lot of people in need.

There's going to be a lot of people who are going to have to go without.

I'm not talking just federal, there's federal employees who are struggling.

There's people who are on snap benefits, so it's like people from all across the spectrum.

But the spirit of the Lord is upon you to proclaim freedom to the captives, to comfort

all who are struggling, to give them love instead of despair.

This prophetic message embodies God's grace-filled, healing message.

It speaks to those hurt or weary because in Christ, beauty, joy, and restoration are possible.

So in conclusion, I want you to leave here today with this charge.

Number one, live out your faith, not simply to maintain appearances or structures, but

to truly know the one who is truth and love.

May you live your lives, may we live our lives, not simply by rule obeying, but by grace,

by being grace receiving, hope holding, love giving representations of Christ to the world

around us.

And stand resilient, not by your own might, but know that the one who strengthens and sustains

you is with you every single day.

And if you need somebody to call on, don't be afraid to call and talk to a friend from

church, a family member, and say, "Hey, how's your day going?

Tell me something good because I need to hear it."

You are loved, you are perfect, and you are who God created you to be.

Will you stand with me?

Father God, your word says that you created us for such a time as this.

And Lord, sometimes these times don't make sense, sometimes life is challenging.

But Father, you said that whatever we ask in your name, it shall be done.

Father, you said that we should lean on you and not our own understanding.

So as we go throughout this week, Father, we ask for your grace to sustain us, to redeem

us, and to give us the ability to love the world around us, Father.

Thank you that you accept us and you love us despite our imperfections.

Thank you that you came not to condemn the world, but that through you we might be saved.

So Lord, I pray for each and every individual in this room, Father, as they go throughout

the week, give them the love and guidance that they need.

Father, fill their cup.

May the Lord bless you and keep you, may His face shine upon you, and may there be peace

in your hearts and in your homes this week.

God bless you guys.

Go love well.

Have a great week.