Master Plan: Masterpiece with Pastor Clayton Tyner

Welcome to the Medicurch podcast.

My name's Clayton.

I'm the pastor here at Medicurch.

And my hope is that today's podcast finds you at the perfect time to get alive.

God uses it to inspire and enlighten you.

I hope that you enjoy today's message.

So good to see everybody here.

If you're new with us, my name's Clayton.

I'm the lead pastor here at MetaCurch.

I really believe baptism services, they are the best thing that we do here at MetaCurch.

Man, we're celebrating today.

We have over 30 people signed up to get baptized.

That's great news.

I know many of you came, you signed up, you're registered, you're ready to get baptized today, you got your nice purple shirt on, and uh that's wonderful.

We're so excited for you.

Um I also always say uh before our baptisms that some of you may not have come ready to get baptized, but at some point in today's service, God is going to grip your heart.

It could be during this message, it could be once the music starts or the baptisms start today.

And uh, you might not have come ready for us, but we always show up ready for you.

We have clothes for you, we have a towel for you.

We had uh several people who decided in the moment to get baptized in our last service.

One of them, like, they took their shot right at the buzzer, the songs were over, and we just stayed and waited because that's what we're here to do is to make room for whatever God wants to do in this service and whatever God is doing in your life.

Today we're also wrapping up our master plan series where we've been looking at the bigger picture of God's rescue and redemption plan for humanity.

We spent most of that time focusing on the Easter narrative, the life, death, and last week, Easter, we looked at the resurrection of Jesus.

However, the resurrection was not the end of the master plan.

As a matter of fact, it was a crucial and critical means to the master plan continuing.

And today, to really understand where the plan is going, we have to understand the masterpiece.

Masterpiece.

Would you guys pray with me?

Jesus, we love you, and we're here to celebrate all that you're doing among us in this movement, all that you're doing in our community through the people who make up Metachurch, and we're just rejoicing with all that you have brought to us, lives made new, public declarations of faith through baptism.

And I pray that you would teach us something new today.

We love you.

And we pray these things in Jesus' name.

And if you're ready to get going, say amen.

Amen.

The master plan did not end at the resurrection, and evidence of that is that Jesus didn't resurrect and then just immediately ascend back to heaven.

If he didn't have anything else to teach, if he didn't have any assignments to give out, then really, if the work was done once he rose again, he could have just ascended back to heaven, kicked it for a few thousand years till he's ready to come back and judge the earth.

He stayed for 40 days.

And remember what we're doing in this series is we're really slowing down with the story and trying to understand it and try to connect all of these ideas.

Think about Jesus on earth for 40 days post-resurrection, new things to teach, and of course, big assignments to give.

We see the evening after resurrection, the emotional state of the disciples.

You know, you might think, if you're not looking at the bigger picture of Easter, that as soon as the news of Jesus coming back to life hit the disciples, his closest friends, his closest followers, that they would be in the streets celebrating.

They'd be organizing a get together, they'd be roaming around looking for Jesus.

And yet that's the farthest thing from the truth.

In John 20, verse 19, it says, When it was evening on that first day of the week, evening of resurrection Sunday, the disciples were gathered together with the doors locked, because they feared the Jews.

John 20:19

Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, Peace be with you.

Now the disciples have already heard that Jesus is alive.

Several of them have already seen the empty tomb.

They've actually heard a report from an angel verifying that Jesus is back alive, and yet they are in the upper room, doors locked, hiding away, filled with fear.

And I want you to really put a pin in that thought of the disciples' emotional state and how they were riddled with fear, because we're gonna come back to that later today.

In verse 20, having said this, Jesus showed them his hands and his side.

And so the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

Jesus just proved it.

He showed up, he showed them the scars in his hands, the scar on his side, the actual evidence of the crucifixion.

It's just letting them know like, this isn't a ghost, bro.

This isn't a vision, this is not a group hallucination.

This is real, real.

This is Jesus back in the flesh.

And when they saw that, of course, they rejoiced that their leader and their friend really had come back to life.

And in verse 21, Jesus said to them again, peace be with you, as the Father has sent me, as the Father has sent me, I also send you.

In essence, Jesus is passing the baton.

You look at the Old Testament, you have the patriarchs and the kings and the prophets and the judges.

They're all the pre-story setting Jesus up and handing him the baton so he can run with it.

And boy, did he run with it! All the way to the cross, to the grave, resurrection, getting ready to ascend back to heaven.

And now Jesus says, as the Father has sent me, I'm now sending you.

In other words, the master plan is only just beginning.

And this is a wild thought.

And my hope is that at the early part of this message, the weight of this, the reality of just how crazy this actually is, would fall on us in this room, fall on those who are streaming online.

The same way Jesus was sent, he now sends us.

This is crazy because what it means is the master plan is in our hands.

The master plan didn't end 2,000 years ago.

It has been carried on by us.

And when I say us, I mean the church.

And y'all know this.

When I say church, I mean every individual member of the movement of Jesus.

The master plan is in our hands.

Now, we can't fall into pride and start to think that we are Jesus Himself, that we are God's gift to humanity.

Because some people get so caught up in their ability to push their religion and their idea and their ideas and their agendas that pretty soon they start trying to follow the master plan of God without God.

We can't get so prideful that we think it all depends on us or that we aren't completely contingent on Jesus' power and the Holy Spirit inside of us.

But I have a bigger concern.

My concern is when we say something like the master plan is in our hands, that he left it with the church, that Jesus, right before he ascended back to heaven, said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

And what am I gonna do with that authority?

I'm going to send you.

You go to the ends of the earth and preach the gospel and make disciples and baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus looked at these flawed, broken, jacked up, finite human beings, just like me and just like you.

And he put the whole plan, which by the way, he had just paid for with his own life, he put it in our hands.

And so sometimes we get so caught up thinking that we are actually the answer, we are actually the God.

But an equal concern is Christian abdication, where scripture calls us the hands and feet of Jesus, calls us ambassadors of God on the earth, tells us that it is our time to move, and that it is our job to live a life in such a way, following Jesus, taking up our cross, denying ourselves that we become bright light and potent salt in a world that desperately needs the hope that we have.

And so many people in their Christian circles will hear the master plan is in our hands and think, well, I don't know.

That doesn't sound very humble, you know.

I mean, it's just God, it's God's plan.

Jesus is gonna do it, he's gonna have his way.

Like, I have some jobs.

This is how a lot of people treat Christianity, like I know I have some jobs in this, you know.

Like I've gotta attend church on Sunday, right?

Like that's what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna sing sometimes, and I'm gonna come on Sunday, you know, if it's convenient, I mean, if I have other stuff going on, or if it's really nice out, I mean I could go to the lake, or if it's rainy, I don't want to really get out, or if my favorite team's playing, or if I'm hungover, but I will come sometimes, you know.

And it's like I'll do this, and you know, sometimes if someone convinces me, I'll go to a class, and I'll pray when things are really bad, you know, and I actually need something.

And we think that the plan for the rescue and redemption that Jesus paid for with his life and proved out by defeating death itself, that it's just going to happen somehow without the followers of Jesus playing a daily active role in it.

And I need you to realize, maybe for the first time, that the Easter story 2,000 years ago is still being played out today, every day, by followers of Jesus who decide to wake up and actually live out their part of the plan.

The early followers of Jesus, they started to understand this very quickly.

The theology behind this radical claim, I would say, is on every page of the Christian scriptures.

And the good news is that just like we saw Jesus do all throughout this series, he called his shot before he ever even went to the cross.

In John 14, he says, Truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do, and he will do even greater works than these because I'm going to the Father.

Jesus is like, I'm I'm heading out and leaving it in your hands, and because of that, you're gonna do even greater things.

You're gonna have even greater impact than Jesus.

And we have to understand what that means because there will never be a single individual person who will live a more impactful and significant life than Jesus Christ.

Can we agree with that?

There will never be one single individual with a more significant and impactful life than Jesus Christ.

So, what does he mean?

He means that there is power in numbers that collectively, together, if we actually take this seriously and actually understand that he has passed the baton and actually understand that we have a real job to do as believers in Jesus, to take this message and the good news of Jesus into our circles of influence, into our community, into our families, into our world.

When we take that seriously, like the earliest followers of Jesus did, we can change the world.

And that's what they did.

They actually believed this.

And Jesus goes on to say, You're gonna do greater things than these because I'm gonna send a helper, the Holy Spirit promised in the life of every single believer.

And with the power of God inside of you, and with the power in numbers, the gospel spread around the world to the point where we live in a nation who created its laws based off the principles of a created order that you find in Scripture.

And in fact, we are so surrounded by the structure that Christianity created that we take the movement and the master plan for granted.

And we think that we can live status quo lives and still experience the purpose, power, and significance that comes from actually following Jesus.

In Ephesians chapter 2, it says, For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

Check this out, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

If you remember in week two, what we talked about was the depth of the Easter story and how the plan for Jesus to come to earth, to live a perfect life, to offer his life as a sacrifice in exchange for our own, to defeat death itself, making a way for all to have eternal life and be in relationship with our Heavenly Father.

That plan was put into place before the foundations of the world itself.

And here the Apostle Paul is telling us in the book of Ephesians that we have been a part of that plan from the very beginning.

You were created for good works, prepared for you beforehand, ahead of time, that the purpose for your life already existed before your life existed.

The church is not plan B because Jesus couldn't get it done the first time he came.

This is a part of the master plan, and we are the stewards of it.

And you guys know this at MetaCurch.

What we believe is the church is not this building, it's not the service you're sitting in, it's certainly not just the pastoral and other staff that work at the church.

You are the church.

This is your movement, which means this is your plan.

The question is, are we living it out?

It says we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works.

And we live like surrounded with all the statistics that are just skyrocketing anxiety and depression and loneliness and confusion and anger and division and you know, if you're experiencing those things and you're a believer in Jesus, the first thing that you should do, the quickest path out, the quickest path to peace and a life of purpose, is to look for the good works that God created for you to do, to actually live in love like Jesus, to take the pain that is in your life, and instead of trying to self-medicate your way out of it or ignore it or push it on to other people, to accept that life is painful and to live like Jesus is to bear up under the pain of this world for the betterment of the lives of others around you.

Every one of us created to carry on the master plan.

It's incredible.

Every one of us who have believed in Jesus, having the Holy Spirit inside of us, we are resourced, gifted, inspired, and yet we live with a Western Christian culture that stands in abdication, feeling like we've done something because we sit in a Sunday service sometimes when it's convenient.

Not actually having the full effect of our eternal life show up in our everyday actions and decisions.

And I think it's because we don't know who we are.

For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of it for us to do.

We are his workmanship.

The Greek word that Paul used is the word poema, which is where we get our word for poem.

It's it's a statement of artistry.

And every time it's used in scripture, it's talking about God as his role and creator, the artist of all artists.

And when it says we are his workmanship, what it is saying is that the creator of all creators, the artist of all artists, the one who is perfect.

You guys know this because you've been to the beach and you have that moment in between daiquires, you know, when you look out and you're like, this is pretty big, you know?

And I feel pretty small.

I mean, just the amount of water.

Like I'm looking, and like the next thing I would hit is Asia or something, you know?

Like this is wild.

Some of you have been to the top of a mountain and looked out at the majesty of creation.

This word, you are God's workmanship, it's like saying, you are his magnum opus.

You think about the greatest act of creation, the greatest art, the greatest beauty that you've ever seen, and you need to know in God's eyes, you sit above and beyond all of that.

You are his workmanship, you are his greatest creative endeavor, you are the pinnacle of creation for the creator.

In other words, we are his masterpiece.

And we live locking ourselves behind the doors, hiding away, unsure of who we are, crippled by fear, crippled by shame.

It just strikes me as so relatable that the very evening that Jesus has come back to life, his disciples are hiding.

They're filled with fear.

In John 20, 19, when it was evening on the first day of the week, the disciples were gathered together with the doors locked.

All series, we have sought to understand the mental and emotional state of the disciples.

It's some of our best clues for how to really understand what was happening in the master plan.

And scripture tells us they were genuinely afraid that the same people who killed Jesus might just kill them as well.

And maybe you've never thought of it this way, but the fact that the tomb was empty and Jesus had come back to life, that was like the greatest news because Jesus was their friend, he was their leader, he was their rabbi.

It was the greatest news.

But at the same time, it was also kind of a problem.

As the rumors began to swirl and make their way back into the ears of the same leaders who had nailed him to a cross that Jesus is back alive, the tension raises.

The heat is on.

It's the best thing that could have ever happened to them.

Also, it caused them even greater fear.

And I think if we pay attention to the context of the gospels and the context of what's happening when Jesus shows up in this room, it's not the only thing they're afraid of.

When Jesus shows up in verse 19, Jesus came and stood among them and he said to them, Peace be with you.

And then he shows them his scars and his hands and a scar on his side.

And the next thing he says, in verse 21, he says, again, peace be with you.

In what we have recorded, there's no break between him saying the same thing back to back.

Peace be with you.

Relax.

I'm here.

It's really me.

Before he says anything else, he repeats it.

No, really.

Peace.

Be with you.

When you read the accounts in the gospels after the resurrection, one thing that is quite clear is that the disciples didn't know where they stood with Jesus.

Remember, when Jesus was arrested, the last time they saw him, everyone ran away.

And at the Last Supper, Jesus told them they would do that.

And you remember, Peter was like, nah, bro, I will die for you, man.

I would catch you a grenade for you.

That's when that song was written, all the way back then.

He's like Bruno Marsing in the moment.

I meant, I'm your guy, you're my guy, bros to the end.

Like, let's do this.

And then they arrest Jesus and everyone runs, and Peter denies Jesus three times publicly.

And Peter gets a bad rap because on one hand, at least he was staying close enough to Jesus to get accused.

Everyone else was long gone.

And now the disciples hear, Jesus has come back to life.

Somebody betrays you, all your friends betray you in your deepest, most dire moment of need.

If it's me, I'll be honest, I'm probably getting some new friends.

Most leaders throughout all of history, maybe every leader throughout all of history gets betrayed like this by the people they have walked with and ate with and traveled with and given their life away to for three years, only for them to turn and run when their life is on the line.

Most leaders are gonna find some new disciples.

And so there are two sides to the fear in the room.

They're hiding behind locked doors because they're afraid for their lives.

And they're hiding behind locked doors because they are afraid that they might have just disqualified themselves for the mission that they had been on with Jesus.

And Jesus shows up in the room, and I feel like God is saying, Some of you have already thought, I should probably get baptized today.

You know, he said they've got clothes for us, and you immediately locked that door.

You locked it, you did you ate the key, you swallowed it, you're you're like, not today, man.

I'm not trying to get wet today.

I'm not trying to have frizzy hair today.

I'm not trying to be a spectacle today.

I'm not trying to make a stand today.

And you locked that door about 15 minutes ago.

And you need to know in John 19: locked doors don't keep Jesus out.

He stood in the middle and said, peace be with you.

No, no, no, it's me.

It's really me.

It's really me.

No, really.

Peace be with you.

And they have a million questions.

Is he here to castigate us, to punish us, and to tell us all, to ask us where we were and how could you?

Jesus said to them, peace be with you.

As the Father has sent me, I also send you.

So we're gonna pick up right where we left off.

Like we were doing this thing, and then we hurt you in a way that like no one could come back from.

And the first thing he tells them after he assures them that they're okay is it's time to get back on mission.

And every one of us has the ability to hide our life behind locked doors.

And some of you are securely behind the locked door of fear.

And this was part of the disciples' issue because they knew that going public with their faith was going to cost them.

And it might just cost them their life.

And maybe going public with your faith would cost you, and that's what baptism is.

You don't have to get baptized to have eternal life.

You just have to believe in Jesus.

Baptism is a public act to say, I'm coming out of hiding, I'm unlocking the doors, I'm gonna live it out, I'm getting bold with my faith, I'm letting you know, I'm asking for accountability, I'm asking for your help.

But you might know what that could cost you.

What will it cost you in your friend group for them to know that you're active in your faith now, that you're bold?

What's it gonna do to some of your friendships when you're not willing to stay in the same patterns, with the same behaviors, with the same actions, with the same gossip, with the same lusts, with the same hookups, when you know that you're gonna stop doing those things?

It might cause some friendships to get called into question.

What is your family gonna think?

What is your work gonna think?

What about the patterns that really have a hold of you?

And you're working on them, but as soon as you come out, you're gonna be seen as a hypocrite for the things that you're still dealing with.

Some of us are behind the door of fear, and others are like the other side of the disciples.

Yeah, they're afraid of the religious leaders, but they're also a little bit afraid to meet Jesus.

And only you know you.

Like the only person who knows you more than you is God.

No one knows me like I know me.

Which is why for many years, when I was living in rebellion against God, I convinced myself that I was disqualified.

How could God use my life when I have just spit in his face again and again and again?

And only you know how many skeletons you have and exactly how many closets.

Only you know the lust that has a grip on you, the anger that has a grip on you.

Only you know the depth of depravity that all of us are capable of.

And maybe you want so desperately to jump into this life of purpose we always talk about, to not just believe in Jesus and wait for heaven, but actually follow Jesus and start living in a way where you see evidence of heaven right here on earth, but you're hiding.

Because you're convinced that you're just not qualified.

And in this one moment, in this one picture, Jesus dispels both of those myths.

In this one moment, Jesus unlocks every door that could keep you from him.

I know you're afraid.

I know that you're trying to count the cost and you're not sure that you're willing to pay it, but I'm back.

I defeated death itself.

And if death itself cannot hold you, what else could possibly keep you bound in fear?

I'm back.

And yes, you hurt me in a way that only you could because these 12 are the only ones he let that close.

And I'm not gonna miss a beat.

I'm coming in peace and I'm calling you right back to the mission, right where we left off.

And God created you.

Here's what Ephesians 2.10 says to me You are God's masterpiece.

That might be hard for you to believe because you you don't see yourself as a masterpiece, you see yourself as a piece of something.

And I just am here to remind you that your value to God was worth the life of Jesus.

Nothing more needs to be said.

You are God's masterpiece, created on purpose.

You are on planet earth for a reason.

It is not by accident that you exist.

Created with purpose.

God has placed gifts inside of you and talents inside of you, a personality inside of you, vision inside of you, dreams inside of you.

There is a purpose inside of you that the world needs.

It's a part of the master plan.

You are God's masterpiece, created on purpose, created with purpose as a part of the master plan.

And too many Christians are hiding behind locked doors, hiding because of fear, hiding because of shame, hiding because you're not willing to count the cost.

And today is the day to come out.

You're not perfect.

Like, are any of us even qualified?

Probably not.

And there's an old saying that God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called who are willing to go out and move.

Do you know what happened when the disciples unlocked the door?

It's recorded for us in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

The first time they came out, the first time they went public.

They proclaimed boldly the gospel of Jesus.

And 3,000 people believed in Jesus.

3,000 people got baptized.

And there is no telling the impact that your life could have.

Easter shows us the reason.

The reason for us to go all in, the reason for us to give our lives to this.

Today, for those of you who get baptized, some of you came ready, some of you are gonna get in this water, even though you didn't think that was gonna be your plan today.

When you go through this water, you're making a public statement.

No more locked doors, no more hiding.

We're coming out and being bold with our faith because the world needs the master plan to move.

Let me pray.

Holy Spirit, I pray for uh just every heart that you are working on in this room right now to be receptive to what you are saying or how you are prompting them.

I pray that no one would leave here with the regret of, I wish I would have, or I should have, or today could have been my day.

God, I pray we would be bold with our faith, that we would not hide from fear because perfect love casts out fear.

And your perfect love took you to a cross and in a grave where you defeated even death itself, and we no longer have to be bound by that fear.

I pray that we would not be held back behind the doors of shame, convincing ourselves that we are not a part of the plan when you gave your life to certify us as parts of your movement.

And so I just pray nothing would hold us back, that we truly would be open and we would be making room for whatever you're wanting to do in our lives and whatever you're wanting to do through this movement we call Metachurch.

We love you and we pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thanks so much for listening to the message today.

If this was helpful to you and you want to help us get the word out, you can subscribe to this podcast, you can rate and review or share it with your friends.

If you want to get connected further with what MetaCurch is doing, you can go online to metachurch.tv.

There you can learn how to take next steps.

You can learn where our different venues are at if you ever wanted to visit, and you can also give financially to help push this movement forward.

And I love you guys, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.