Wait, What? (Who Does God Belong To?)

It feels good to say woo, right?

And there's a lot of reasons to do that.

So the minute we have an unstoppable gum, how mustum is them?

Muslim.

Let's just talk about this for a second.

That is that is worthy, um, um woo.

One more time.

Why are we gonna finish it?

Make it less confident, isn't it?

It's starting some confident.

That's all good.

No, no, this is exciting.

I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna ask you guys one more time and just trust me on this.

Um another big round of applause for a few reasons, and I'll explain why.

Maybe the break is a three and one.

We can give a round of applause for that, okay?

But also, also, I'm I I want you to be excited for for you for a few reasons.

Um, it is Halloween, and you're a church.

That's a big deal.

That's how you know.

That's how you know how dedicated you really are.

And those of you watching from home, you get partial credit, okay?

But I'm just teasing.

I'm really just teasing.

And I know a lot of you guys were up really late last night uh watching the game.

It's really exciting.

Uh, but also, I hope that we're excited this morning.

I'm excited at least, for what we're gonna do over the course of the next few weeks.

We are about to start a conversation on Romans 9 through 11.

All right.

And hey, this is something I'm asking for a little bit of personal revelation.

Some of you guys are gonna have to be vulnerable for a second.

Anyone here have a tattoo of like a Bible verse?

Like even just a reference somewhere, like, okay, show of hands.

Be proud if you got a tattoo of the Bible.

That's all good.

Okay?

How many of you have a tattoo of anything between Romans 9 and 11?

I don't think anyone on the planet does.

So, just for some context, maybe you're here for the first time.

If that's so, uh, welcome.

My name's Justin.

We've been going through this letter in the New Testament of the Bible called Romans, written by a man named Paul who wrote much of the New Testament.

He's one of the foremost leaders of the early church.

We owe a lot to Paul and his relationship with God and the things God showed him and his ability to communicate that.

He may actually be the most read author in human history.

So, you know, kind of a big deal.

And he wrote this letter called Romans, which might just be, I think it is, the most comprehensive explanation of who Jesus is, of what Jesus actually does for us.

What does it mean to have a relationship with Jesus?

And how do we live our lives in light of what Jesus has done and who he is?

Like it's the most comprehensive explanation of that.

And that's why Romans is filled, just filled to the brim with all of these sayings and scriptures that everybody loves, that everybody gets excited about, the things that make people say, woo.

For example, Romans chapter 8, verses 38 and 39.

Romans 8:38

These are the very last two verses of Romans chapter 8, which we went through a few weeks ago, a few months ago.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Here's what it says.

I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love, neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today, nor our worries about tomorrow, not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love.

No power in the sky above or in the earth below, indeed, nothing in all of creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

That makes you say, woo, right?

And there are lots of tattoos that say Romans 8, you know, 38, 39, something like that.

Romans 9 through 11.

There's really not many woos.

It's a very, very complicated and interesting section of scripture.

It's kind of like Paul is writing it, and he's just written this climactic, epic thing, and then maybe like, I don't know if he went to sleep, and then he woke up, and he has all these like, but hold on, I need to get these thoughts out.

And as you read Romans, you know, you get to Romans chapter 8, you're excited, you turn the page, you start reading Romans 9, and and and you start going, what is going on?

Romans 8 · chapter mention

It's very, it's very complicated, it's very nuanced, it's very difficult in many ways.

But but look, guys, this is how we grow.

This is how we grow.

Now, one of the things I love about his hands, I've been part of this church for a third of my life, is there's so many exciting things that happen here.

You know, we got to start our morning with baptisms.

Worship was awesome.

We're gonna have more people get baptized here in just a few minutes.

That's a normal thing for us.

We get to do all kinds of big stuff.

Last week we showed a highlight video of some of the things that have happened this year.

It's just been amazing.

I love the fact that this is an exciting church, but what I love even more than the fact that it's exciting, personally, is it's a place where God has equipped me.

It's one thing to be excited, but it's another thing to be equipped.

Because woos don't win battles.

Does that make sense?

They don't.

You know, if you ever see a movie that takes place like in medieval times, you know, swords, spear, shields, that kind of thing, and oftentimes there are these big battles, and some king gives a speech and he gets the army all riled up and he's like, we're gonna do this, we're gonna win this battle, we're gonna conquer our enemy, let's go, and everyone's like, yeah, that's great, that excitement is awesome.

But if those soldiers aren't equipped, you know, if they haven't been trained in the finer points of, you know, like fighting, then they're gonna die.

They're just gonna die excited.

Right?

Woo will be the last thing they say.

Being excited is great, but being equipped is even better.

And what I love about this church is God has equipped me here.

I've been able to grow and learn.

And that's a commitment that we make.

Romans 9 through 11, trust me, there's a huge part of me that just wants to skip it.

In fact, uh Pete Zephyr, I don't know if Pete's here today or not, um, not trying to call Pete out, but Pete came to me when we were doing our last series, difficult, because what we often do is we'll we'll go through a chunk of scripture and then I'll have like a month where we'll do something sort of as an in-between.

He said, Hey, are you just doing this series to delay Romans 9?

And I was like, maybe.

So what if I am?

Praying about it, thinking about it.

It's it's difficult.

It's nuanced.

And our culture doesn't have a lot of value for nuance anymore.

But if you find me the most successful person in any any sphere of life, I don't care if it's if it's leadership, if it's business, if it's athletics, if it's music, if it's a chef, a parent, you name it.

That person understands the nuances of what they do.

They know the finer details.

That's how we grow.

And so when we get to stuff like this as a church, we're not gonna skip it.

We're gonna go through it, we're gonna explore it, we're gonna tackle it, and we're gonna grow, we're gonna have fun with it as well.

And the result is that we have a more mature, developed faith that they can stand up to the challenges.

Because the woos, they don't win battles.

That comes with experience.

Now, here's what's really exciting about this for those of you maybe that are new to church, maybe this is your very first time.

And look, if you're like at church for the very first time and you're in Romans chapter 9, I am sorry.

Romans 9 · chapter mention

Uh, but not really, because here's what you got to understand.

Even if you're young in your faith, I uh it doesn't matter how old you are, how long you've been following Jesus, we say this pretty often, but it needs to be repeated.

You have been created by God with the capacity to understand spiritual things.

You are a spiritual person.

You have it within you to understand the deepest aspects of God as he has revealed them to us.

And so we don't ever need to be intimidated.

In fact, we should be excited about the challenging stuff because that's how we grow.

I had a conversation with a gentleman that I've gotten to know over the last few months.

He's really gotten plugged in here at his hands, and he said something really interesting.

He said, You know, man, there's just so many David and Goliath messages that you can listen to until you've kind of heard them all.

And he wasn't knocking David and Goliath, great story.

I enjoy teaching on that story.

His point was simply this sometimes church can become this just sort of like cliched, neatly packaged, nice pep talk kind of experience.

But if we don't actually get into the details of our faith, then we're not equipped.

And I'm excited about being equipped.

Now, because of the nature of what Romans 9 through 11 is, here is the title of our series.

It is called, wait, what?

That's what this is called.

That's what we're gonna talk about for the next few weeks, because that is what should pop in your mind.

That is definitely what popped in the minds of the readers that Paul was originally writing to.

When he writes some of these things, he's just gotten done going, like, yeah, God is for us, nothing can separate us, and then you turn the page, and a few moments in, you're like, wait, what?

This took a turn.

I'll give you some examples.

These are not what we're gonna cover today, this one's actually next week.

Uh, you get to Romans 9.13.

Just as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.

You're like, wait, what?

Didn't you just say, like a few minutes ago, that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God?

Jacob, I loved, Esau I hated.

I did not see that coming.

Or you get to Romans chapter 9, verses 17 through 18, for the scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, this is talking about the time when the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, God told Pharaoh, I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the earth.

Romans 9:17–18

So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others who refuse, so they refuse to listen to him.

No one's got a tattoo of that verse.

Unless it's ironic and it's like on their heart.

But like, that's that's no one's that's that's tough.

That's like a wait, what?

God hardens hearts.

I don't like that.

I don't like that idea at all.

What's that about?

This is the stuff that if we tackle it, if we wrap our arms around it, if we're willing to ask these questions, like, wait, what?

And then we we answer them to the best of our ability, we grow.

And so with that said, anybody ready for us to just jump into Romans 9 and figure it out?

Anybody at all?

Alright, good, good.

So here we go.

I'm gonna read verses 1 through 8.

This might be the sort of easiest wait, what that we're gonna cover, so I'm grateful that Paul at least allowed us to ease into it, all right?

Uh, but for the original readers, this may have actually been the toughest.

So here's what he says: With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness.

My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it.

My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters.

I'd be willing to be forever cursed, cut off from Christ if that would save them.

They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God's adopted children.

God revealed his glory to them.

He made covenants with them and he gave them his law.

He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors.

And Christ Himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned.

And he's God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise?

Amen.

Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel?

No.

For not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God's people.

Being descendants of Abraham doesn't make them truly Abraham's children, for the scriptures say Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.

Though Abraham had other children too.

This means that Abraham's physical descendants are not necessarily children of God, only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham's children.

For some context of what Paul is talking about here, you have to understand that at this moment in history, when Paul is writing, the message of Jesus, the movement of Jesus, has begun to spread like crazy.

But it's actually reached this point where now it's spreading in non-Jewish communities faster than it is spreading among Jewish communities.

And that's a very interesting development.

And so what's happening is these people who haven't grown up Jewish are being told about the Jewish Messiah, the promised one, Jesus, who is God in the flesh.

Now, from our perspective, like we know the stories of David and Goliath, and we know the stories of Moses, and even if you're someone who hasn't grown up in church, you know many of those stories.

And that's in large part because of Jesus.

We have to understand that from this point in history, Jesus and his fame and the movement of Jesus has actually done a lot to elevate the Jewish scriptures and spread them to people who never would have read them.

But at the time that Paul is writing this, if you were someone who didn't grow up Jewish, you might be completely and totally unaware of the Jewish faith.

Because the people of Israel at this point in history that Paul's writing, they're not major players on the world stage.

They haven't been for centuries and centuries and centuries.

All the big players, they're the ones who have conquered Israel, and over the course of the last several centuries, except for a really brief period of independence, Israel's just sort of changed hands.

They're just this group of people, and the Jewish religion is this small, closed religion that just seems very odd to the rest of the world.

And so when the Babylonians conquered the Israelites, and then the Persians conquered them, and then eventually it's the Greeks, and then it's the Romans, the Israelites, and their faith and their religion and all their beliefs, to the average person who hears about them, there's very little known.

It doesn't really register.

It's not, it's not like a big deal.

It's a very odd thing.

And so these people now, they're being told about Jesus, and they're being told about the fulfillment of all these prophecies, and their response may have just been like, wait, like, are you talking about the Jewish God?

Nope, let's go one more.

That was a spoiler.

The Jewish God?

Like that, that, that God?

Is that who we're talking about?

Think about it this way.

In uh in the movie industry, very often there will be a casting decision that doesn't make a lot of sense.

And at first, when people find out that this certain person has been cast in a certain role, they're like, wait, that guy?

No.

It happens all the time, especially in like superhero movies.

So this is uh this is kind of hard to think about, but like Robert Downey Jr.

is Iron Man.

And if anyone else was Iron Man, that just wouldn't make any sense.

Like, correct?

Does anyone agree with that?

That like he is Iron Man.

But when he was cast as Iron Man, that was an incredibly controversial choice for a few reasons.

Number one, he had really battled with drug addiction, and it had hampered his career tremendously.

He wasn't viewed as a reliable person.

He'd had a lot of run-ins with you know authorities and all kinds of stuff.

And look, as a church that's that's filled with a lot of people with histories and pasts, and we don't worry about hiding that stuff, many of us can relate.

Many of us have been through addiction, go through addiction, I've been through addiction.

But in that industry, when you're paying people millions of dollars, you need them to show up.

That's important.

And he had had a reputation for not doing that.

Number two, before he was cast as Iron Man, he had never been the starring role, he had never been like the top build actor in pretty much anything that had been successful.

He was known as a good actor.

He was in a bunch of ensemble movies where he's one of many known actors, and he'd been in a few romantic comedies where he was the romantic lead, but even in those movies, it was really the female actress that was the most famous.

And so here's Marvel.

They're getting ready to start the most ambitious movie project in cinema history.

Iron Man was their very first one, and they choose for their leading role to launch this whole thing, someone who most people would have just gone, wait, what, the that guy?

With the the guy that got arrested a few years ago?

That that's the I don't know about that.

Now it seems like an obvious choice, but at the time, a lot of people were scratching their heads.

You have uh Chris Pratt.

Chris Pratt in uh Guardians of the Galaxy.

Yeah, Chris Pratt, everybody likes Chris Pratt.

I have a love-hate relationship with Chris Pratt because people used to say that I reminded them of Chris Pratt, but that was only before he lost weight and became a superhero actor.

That was just when he played a big dumb idiot on Parks and Recreation.

Um so before I ever watched Parks and Rec, people were like, you gotta watch the show, you are just like this guy named Andy on Parks and Rec.

And then I watched it and I was mad.

Um but you know, prior, prior, prior to him being cast in this lead role in this superhero movie, he just played this sort of goofy buffoon who was like a little chubby, and then he's cast in this action role, and people are like, what that?

The dumb guy from Parks and Rec?

That doesn't make any sense.

When Heath Ledger was cast as the Joker, people laughed.

And that makes sense because it's the Joker, but that wasn't the intention.

And then, you know, his performance is iconic.

When Michael Keaton was cast as the first Batman, who's old enough to remember the excitement about the first Batman movie?

There have been like 37 Batman movies.

But the first time, alright, some of you were like, no, Adam West, he's the original Batman.

Not really.

Like, you can clap, but I don't know how long it's been since you've watched the Adam West Batman.

It's it's interesting.

So, like Michael Keaton, the most famous role he had had before Batman was Beetlejuice.

And on Halloween, it's appropriate, I think, to show a picture of Beetlejuice.

It's hard to look at that picture and be like, oh, that's Batman right there.

That is that's the guy that strikes fear into the hearts of criminals, right?

So when he was cast, he was like, everyone said, like, the Betelgeuse?

That guy?

Batman?

Uh that's not gonna work.

And so you have to understand that that when this movement of Jesus takes off, and all these people who haven't grown up Jewish in the Roman Empire are being told about this Messiah, their response would have likely been, like, hold on.

God has come into the world.

You're saying that that the God who created everything has revealed himself to all of us, and he's come, and he's he's lived among us, and he's done miracles, and it was that Jewish God?

That one?

It wasn't it wasn't like the Roman gods or the Greek gods or the Egyptian gods, it was that that invisible Jewish God, that that small group of people.

That's how this has come about.

That would have been the response of the average person, some confusion.

And then on top of that, you have to understand that the Jewish people were very closed and and their faith was an ethnic faith.

If you weren't Jewish, you didn't really believe in the Jewish God, and the Jewish people weren't super interested in spreading belief in their God to people who weren't Jewish.

And so it begs this question, and this is kind of the main question we're gonna we're gonna answer today or try to, who does God belong to?

Like, like, who does God belong to?

Because the world at that time would have seen the Jewish God as clearly belonging to the Jewish people, but now it's spreading beyond that, and that's unprecedented.

And then on top of that, Paul's trying to think through the idea that wait a minute, if if it's the Jewish God that's coming to the world and he's the real God, and now he's for everybody, not just the Jewish people, then why have so many of the Jewish people rejected it?

Did he abandon them?

Did he did he let go of them?

Has he moved on from them?

What's missing?

Something is something's off here.

It's like, wait, wait, wait, what?

And with that in mind, let's go back and let's read what Paul wrote one more time.

He says, With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness.

My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it.

My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters.

I would be willing to be forever cursed, cut off from Christ if that would save them.

They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God's adopted children.

God revealed his glory to them, he made covenants with them, he gave them his law, he gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors.

And Christ Himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned, and he's God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise.

Amen.

Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel?

No.

For not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God's people.

Now, now this would have been like a big weight, what?

Being descendants of Abraham doesn't make them truly Abraham's children.

Again, confusing.

I'm pretty sure it does.

Like all the children who are descended from me are my children.

He says, no, there's something more to it.

For the scriptures say Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.

Though Abraham had other children too.

This means that Abraham's physical descendants are not necessarily children of God.

Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham's children.

Now, what Paul's doing right here is he is plowing through a big chunk of the history of the Jewish people.

And he mentions a few people in particular, Abraham.

Abraham might be the first ever interesting casting decision made by anyone.

Because you have God wanting to start a movement to bring the entire world back to him, and he chooses this guy who's a shepherd, who doesn't have any children, he's not an important person, right?

This is an interesting casting choice.

But he calls Abraham to follow him, and he makes Abraham two promises.

He said, number one, I'm going to give you a land that will belong to you and your descendants.

He says, number two, I'm going to make your people, your descendants, into a mighty people, numerous, like a nation.

And Abraham has no children.

Abraham decides to follow him.

And God specifically promises it's going to be through you and your wife Sarah that this child will be born.

But Sarah's older and they haven't been able to have kids and it's not working, and they've tried a lot and they've kind of given up on it, so they have this idea.

Well, what if we just take matters into our own hands?

Anytime we try to do God's job for him, things go wrong.

Alright?

Raise your hand if you've learned that you're not good at being God.

I've learned this in my life.

I'm bad at being God.

Even in my marriage, my marriage goes well when I try to be Jesus.

My marriage goes poorly when I try to be God.

I'm not saying Jesus isn't God.

I mean when I try to be Jesus as a servant and love my wife, it's good.

When I try to be God and like control the way everything goes, it's bad.

See, we we do that.

In fact, I was just having a conversation backstage before we got started with some of the people that are on our baptism team.

I'm so excited about how many people we've had baptized this year.

In fact, what's really cool, if you guys know about the light fixture in our lobby, every time someone gets baptized, we turn another light on.

When it fills up, we put another little display of our tree of life graphic on the ground.

Every one of those represents 300 people.

And the next time we put a graphic down, which will be pretty soon, uh, we will have crossed over 2,000 people being baptized since we started as a church, which is really cool.

That's awesome.

But that's a woo moment, right?

But what I love about it is it's not because we're pushing it, we're not manufacturing that.

It's not because we're we're trying to create these emotional moments where we're like, so let's go do it, and people go, oh, fine, I'll do it.

Because it's easy sometimes to make these things a manufactured experience.

I think about it a lot in these terms.

Um anyone here ever surfed before?

Any surfers?

I've never surfed.

I've never done it, but I I think I get it.

Not that I can do it, but I sort of feel like I understand surfing.

You find a wave and then you ride it.

Right?

You don't you don't make the waves if you're a surfer.

You don't generate the waves.

You just learn to discern where the waves will be, and then you put yourself in that place, and when the wave comes, you ride it and you ride it until it ends, and then you go find another one.

That's the way that the Holy Spirit operates very often, is he moves, and when he moves is his people, we want to move with them.

But sometimes what happens, and it's really easy to happen in church cultures, is it's like, man, I don't like how unpredictable the Holy Spirit is.

So instead of having the ocean, let's just make a wave pool.

We've all been to Whitewater at some point in time.

Maybe you have, maybe you haven't, I don't know.

But if you've been to Whitewater, you've been you've been to a wave pool, and you stand on the wave pool and you're like, it kind of feels like the ocean, sort of.

It's predictable, it's controlled, it's manufactured, but it's not the ocean.

And we have to be really careful as people that we don't we don't just create wave pools instead of waiting for for the real waves.

And this has been something that people who have followed God throughout history have struggled with.

Abraham and Sarah are a great example because they get tired of waiting for God's promise to be fulfilled to have this child, and they have this idea.

It's actually Sarah's idea, which is crazy.

Hey, Abraham, this doesn't seem to be working.

So what if stay with me?

I'm just trying to picture this marriage conversation.

What if what if you slept with my servant Hagar, and then when she got pregnant, we'll have a child through her, but it'll be ours.

And Abraham, like, I just I don't, I know this is awkward, but I just I have no idea how Abraham, like, is this a trap.

This is clearly this is a test.

It had to be.

It had to be, like, but shockingly, he he goes along.

And they it happens.

They have this child through Hagar, and they're like, this is it, the promise has been fulfilled.

They name him Ishmael, and they're living life as if God has given them exactly what he promised.

But God's like, no, that's not what I said.

I said I was going to give you a child through Sarah.

And then Sarah got pregnant at a very old age, and the promise was fulfilled, and now they have two sons.

They have Ishmael, they have Isaac.

Both are the descendants of Abraham.

Both are his offspring, as far as blood is concerned, but only one is the child of the promise.

And it's that child who who the nation of Israel comes through.

And then even then, and this is what Paul was talking about, he then there's there's two sons of Isaac.

There's Jacob and there's Esau.

And Esau is the oldest.

And honestly, if you read the story, he's kind of better than Jacob.

Like Esau's way, I would much rather hang out with Esau than hang out with Jacob when I read their stories.

Jacob's just kind of like the worst.

He really is.

He's just a liar and a deceiver and he's a trickster and it's selfish.

He's always manipulating people.

It kind of never stops.

But God chooses to build his nation through Jacob, not because Jacob is more worthy, it's just what brings God glory.

It's what he decided to do.

Now, both both Esau and Jacob were the descendants of Isaac, who is the descendant of Abraham, but yet only one of them ends up being the one that God uses to build the nation.

The point that Paul is making is really, really clear, and this would have been a huge weight what for these early followers of Jesus.

He's saying, look, guys, I know this is going to sound crazy, but being right with God is not about your bloodline, it's about your belief.

Being right with God is not about who you are in terms of your birth, where you've grown up.

It's about belief.

It's not about flesh, it's about faith.

In fact, he goes on later to talk about the fact that many times in the history of the nation of Israel, even at the time of Jesus, the people became convinced that it was their works, it was their flesh, it was what they had done that had earned them the love of God.

They had forgotten that the love of God was a gift that was given to them simply because Abraham believed.

What made Abraham righteous before God was not his blood, it was his belief, it was his faith.

It was always that.

And this would have been a huge head scratcher, a huge weight.

What are you talking about?

Especially to the people of Israel, because they had grown up believing that their God was, you know, their God.

It's like they forgot for a second that, hey, God isn't Jewish.

Now he became Jewish when Jesus, the Son, was born in the flesh.

But God is not a God who belongs to one group of people, to one ethnic group.

The question again, who does God belong to?

I know some may take issue with the wording of that question, by the way.

Like, God belongs to no one, we belong to him.

Yes, that's that's true, but read Jeremiah chapter 32, verses 38.

Jeremiah 32:38

We'll just read one verse.

They will be my people, and I will be their God.

This is something that God actually says to Jeremiah many times.

It always speaks to me because God gives us the ability not just to say that we're his, but that he's ours.

I don't get to live my life just saying, oh, I belong to God.

I can actually say, He's mine.

He's my God.

Who does God belong to?

And the answer, clearly, in scripture, clearly, is everyone.

It's everybody.

Everybody who is who is willing to put their faith in him, he is their God.

And this was always the plan, by the way.

You go back to Genesis chapter 12, the original promise that God gave to Abraham, the call in his life.

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

It says the Lord said to Abraham, which is what he was called before God changed his name to Abraham, leave your native country, your relatives, and your father's family, and go to the land that I will show you.

I will make you into a great nation.

I will bless you and make you famous.

You'll be a blessing to others.

I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt.

All the families on the earth will be blessed through you.

That original call that God put on Abraham's life, it wasn't for one group of people.

It wasn't for one family, it wasn't for one bloodline, it was for all the families of the earth.

God chose the people of Israel, this amazing group of people who lived a story that's unreal, incredible, difficult, challenging, inspiring to be the vehicle through which he brings his son into the world, but his son came for everybody, and at that point in time, many in his community couldn't get their heads around that.

Because they had this sort of us versus them mentality that we're God's people and they're not.

And church, I believe that we live in a time when that us versus them mentality is growing stronger and stronger by the day.

And it's vital in a culture like the culture that we're in right now that we remember constantly that God is for everyone.

He's not Jewish because he's God.

Like he preexists to all that, right?

He's not American.

He's not.

I'm not saying he doesn't love America, but it's really important that we remember that like God is way older than our flag.

And sometimes we get really patriotic, and it's fun to be patriotic.

And we're thinking, like, man, when you know when Jesus comes back, he's gonna make the whole world America.

Amen.

And all baseball teams will be the Braves, you know, and the world will be put right.

But actually, this is pretty intense.

It actually says in Revelation that when Jesus comes back, that he will oppose all nations.

See, we have to remember some things about Jesus and his life.

He's so unique.

You know, the the two biggest groups in in Jesus' day in the religious community were the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

And the Pharisees were were very fundamentalist.

They were very conservative in their interpretation of Scripture and their laws.

And then the Sadducees, they were they were pretty liberal.

They were open to all kinds of different ideas.

They didn't really take the scriptures as seriously as the Pharisees did.

And these two groups didn't really get along.

The Pharisees and Sadducees, they didn't see eye to eye very much.

Does that remind us of anything in our culture?

But you know what they all agreed on?

Killing Jesus.

That seemed like a great idea to all of them.

Because Jesus would not fit in any of their boxes.

We live in a culture in a time when people are becoming more and more tribal.

And it's very easy in that culture to start believing that God is ours and the rest of you.

He's clearly not for you.

The Jewish people would have been raised to believe this.

And that's why Jesus throws him for a loop, because he does crazy stuff like he goes to Samaria and talks to Samaritans and his disciples are like, why?

No.

That's them.

You're the Jewish Messiah.

They're not Jewish.

They were kind of Jewish.

They were like Jewish-ish.

Who does God belong to?

He belongs to everyone.

Now, what does this mean for us?

What does this mean for you and me, practically speaking?

Well, it means a few things.

Number one, it means that God is for you.

This is exciting.

It doesn't matter who you were born as, it doesn't matter how you've grown up, it doesn't matter your nationality, your ethnicity, your socioeconomic status, it doesn't matter your background, it doesn't matter who you voted for in the last election.

None of that has any bearing on the fact that the God of the universe has created you and he loves you and he's for you.

And if you want to have a relationship with him, all you gotta do is choose him.

Because he's already chosen you.

He's already revealed himself to you.

All you gotta do is choose him and take him.

You put your faith in him and he's for you.

One of the things that's really cool about this idea, too, is it changes the way we see scripture.

Like, I don't I don't I don't know this a hundred percent, but I I don't I don't have any known Jewish heritage from a from an earthly standpoint, my bloodline.

Uh a lot of Irish and Native American, which is an interesting mixture.

That's that's me.

The complexion is Irish.

Um, if you can't tell.

It's a complexion of glue.

Uh it's the same thing.

That's my complexion.

But you know what's so cool is when I read the scriptures, when I read the stories of Abraham and I read the stories of the prophets.

Those are my people.

Those are my spiritual ancestors.

Those are the ones that put their faith in God and followed God, just like I've put my faith in God and I'm trying to follow God.

And when I read their mistakes, I'm like, yeah, I I make mistakes too, and it doesn't change the way that God sees me and loves me.

There's been this actual push in the last decade, especially in our in our kind of American Christian faith, to say, do we really need the Old Testament?

Yeah, we do.

Because that's our story.

If you follow Jesus, these are your spiritual ancestors.

It it opens up this this whole new world to you, and you can read it and and learn these stories and see yourself in it because it's it's your history too.

Because you're a child of the promise if you put your faith in Jesus.

It's that simple.

But number three, and this is a big one, this is really important.

Worship team, you guys can make your way out.

God is is for everyone, so we're supposed to tell everyone.

Like we've got to be people who tell everyone about Jesus.

Now, I don't know if this will shock you.

Um, I like to talk to people.

In fact, Megan has these moments, and I've gotten better the older I've gotten as a husband, where I listen to my wife.

I really do.

Uh, but previously, when I was younger, like we would be out, we would be out in some place where we didn't know anybody, and I would just see someone with a t-shirt of like a team that I root for, and I'd start what she'd be like, please don't go talk to that person.

And I was like, no, no, no, no, no.

And I would go and just start a conversation, and she'd just be mortified.

You know what I mean?

Last night I was I was uh sitting down somewhere, I needed to work on the message just a little bit more, and so I asked Megan, hey, can I go out for a little while and just do that and have some time?

And she's like, Yeah.

And I was at Chipotle because they took Apple Pay and I didn't have my card on me.

It was the third restaurant that I went to, no one else had Apple Pay.

So I was like, fine, I went to Chipotle, and I'm just sitting and I'm on my iPad and typing some stuff, and I see a guy in line, and he's like six foot five, and he's got a basketball like sweatshirt that looks official on, and I'm like, he plays basketball.

And I just, this is me.

This is a just I'm so introverts in the room, you're like, why would you do this?

So I'm like, I got up to him, I was like, hey, do you play basketball?

It was clear that he did.

He's like, yeah, I'm like, who do you play for?

He's like, oh, I play for Reinhardt University.

I was like, awesome.

Hey, when you get your food, you should come sit by me.

I'll show you some videos of my son.

He's really good.

And the guy was like, You can tell he didn't really want to, but what are you gonna say?

And he was like, Alright.

And he did.

And I was like, check this out, isn't this awesome?

He was like, Yeah, and I was like, Alright, man, well, see you later.

I just like to talk to people.

I like to talk to people.

Listen to what Paul says in Romans chapter 10.

Romans 10 · chapter mention

If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Not if you're Jewish or if you are of a certain descent or if you follow the law of the Old Testament perfectly, you'll be saved.

No, no, if you if you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved.

For it is by believing in your heart that you're made right with God.

It is by openly declaring your faith that you're saved, as the scriptures say, anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.

Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect.

They have the same Lord who gives generously to all who call on him, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

But how can they call on him unless they believe in him?

And how can they believe in him if they've never heard about him?

And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?

And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent?

That is why the scriptures say how beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news.

This is calling back to uh actually scripture in Isaiah.

How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.

I don't know if any of us would describe feet as beautiful.

Feet are strange.

When you get home, look at your feet.

They're gross, they're weird.

Toes are odd-looking things, toenails are maybe like the grossest part of the human body.

If not, they're on the top five, right?

So why would you describe feet as beautiful?

I'm in a weird mood today.

Why would you describe feet as beautiful?

Here's why.

Because in these ancient cultures, when there would be like a battle going on, there would be a messenger who would be sent.

Now keep in mind this is long before you have closed-toed shoes or anything like that.

And these these messengers, when the battle was over, would need to go give word to what happened.

Did we win the battle?

And they would run.

And they're running often in just in sandals, sometimes barefoot.

Imagine what miles and miles and miles of running like that would do to feet.

Those are disgusting features.

They're dirty, they're bloody, they're bruised.

But if they were bringing the news of victory, they're beautiful.

We are called to be people who deliver good news.

Every single one of us in this room knows someone right now who's desperate for some good news.

They're broken, they're hurting, they're struggling, they're depressed, they're anxious, they're discouraged.

And the good news is that the God of the universe sees them, knows them, loves them.

Doesn't matter what they've done, doesn't matter where they've been, doesn't matter what their bloodline is, doesn't matter what their views are about issues today, all of that, put that to the side.

God has created them, he loves them, he's for them, he's theirs if they want him.

That's good news.

God belongs to everyone who will take him.

But we're the ones who have to tell people about it.

And it's amazing in our culture right now how comfortable we are with putting our beliefs out there.

Some of us a little too comfortable, right?

I mean, we'll we'll get on social media and we'll tell the whole world what we think about all kinds of stuff.

But when's the last time we've sat down and told someone about Jesus and about our hope in him?

About why we believe, why we're not consumed with fear about the world we live in, and everything's just terrible and awful, and it's all just gonna get worse and worse and worse.

It's kind of like what we talked about last week.

We're not freaked out.

It's Jesus.

You know, it's just it's kind of why, like, I get into politics, but I don't let it go too far because hear me on this.

Who the president is doesn't matter as much as who the king is.

Jesus is my king, right?

And like no one is gonna run against him.

Death already tried that.

It lost.

But but we have to be people who tell.

You know, I mentioned earlier that that light fixture in the lobby with those light bulbs, when I walk out there, I get excited about the light bulbs that are on, but I always like to look at the ones that aren't on yet.

And I need us to understand that someone in your life, someone that you know, that's them.

And you personally, you are God's plan A for them to know about Jesus.

You are God's plan A.

And it's time for us as a church to just be people who say, Lord, who do you want me to tell?

Who do you want me to tell about you?

Lord, put someone on my heart, on my mind.

If you're around someone, talk to them.

Share your faith.

Look for opportunities.

And if it goes poorly, it's okay.

As long as it's done in love and it's respectful and it's kind, it's fine.

Like people love to be prayed for.

Just give you an example.

I've never known anyone who, if you said, hey, and I'm not talking about just like walking up to someone at Chipotle and being like, Can I pray for you?

You can.

But I've yet to meet someone who, if I'm talking to them a little bit, like, oh, hey, would you mind if I actually pray for you?

They're like, never, ever, ever do that.

They're like, yeah.

You know how you know how rarely people get prayed for?

A lot of people?

Will we be people who tell everyone?

Because we actually believe that God is for everyone.

As a church, we're going to create all kinds of opportunities for you to have something to tell people about.

I mean, we will.

We've got, you know, we've got Parents Night Out coming up in just a few weeks.

And uh registration is open.

So parents with kids, register your kids, have a night out.

But but for us, it's not just Parents Night Out, it's like Parents Night Outreach.

It's an opportunity for you to tell friends, hey, drop your kids off at my church.

They'll watch your kids for free because they love you, and then just go and enjoy some time.

Or maybe invite them to dinner and talk with them and share life with them, and at some point maybe share Jesus with them.

And we've got Christmas Eve coming up.

So excited about Christmas Eve this year.

You're not supposed to talk about Christmas until after Halloween, so I can't go into all the details because some people get really mad about that.

Alright?

But after tomorrow, it's fair game.

Okay?

But I'm really excited about what our theme for Christmas is.

I'm so excited about it.

We're gonna have three services, which means we've got to fill this room up three times.

You're gonna have to tell some people.

I'm sorry, it's the only way it's gonna work.

You're gonna have to tell some people.

Like we'll create those opportunities, and that's great.

But nothing replaces, nothing in this world replaces the power of just a personal, a personal testimony, a personal story, a personal invitation.

God is for everyone, he belongs to everyone who will take him.

And so here we are, we're the church, we're the feet, we're his hands, we're also his feet.

It's a longer name.

We're not gonna change it.

But but we're meant to be the ones who go and who tell.

Will we be those people?

That's something that only you can decide.

But I read this and I go back to how Paul began and the heartbreak that he expresses at just the idea of anyone that's part of his heritage not knowing Jesus.

He says, I would, I would be cut off from Christ.

He says that I would, I would literally be cut off from Christ if that would mean they would be saved.

Do we do we hurt for people like that who don't know Jesus, who haven't experienced the love of God, the people in our lives and our families, the people we work with, the people we live next to?

Do we have that kind of love for people that we would say to ourselves, man, I would give up everything I have just for them to know Jesus?

Do we care enough to tell people about our God?

We'll wrap up.

I don't want to just keep going for no reason, but I'm just, I don't know.

This culture we live in, everyone's so loud about what they're angry about.

Everyone's so loud about what they oppose.

And there's a lot of stuff to oppose.

There always has been, there always will be.

But what if we, as Jesus followers, were the loudest about not our principles, which are very important for us as Jesus followers to have?

We have to have principles that are informed by our faith.

Not not loud about our convictions.

Yeah, be a person of conviction, live by those convictions, be willing to share those convictions, take stands.

I like to take a stand.

It's good to be loud about that, but what if the thing we were the loudest about was actually Jesus and who he is and his love for people?

What if we were the loudest about that?

What if that's what we we talked about the most?

What if we were known to just be people that said, I want to tell the world about Jesus who loves them, who's come for them, who saves them, who accepts them, who forgives them of everything.

What if that is what we were the loudest about, the most passionate about?

I'm telling you, that would change everything because every person desperately needs to be loved.

And no one loves like God.

But who's gonna tell them if not us?

And so the challenge this morning is if you're someone who follows Jesus, start talking about him.

Now don't be weird.

You know, that's for you to figure out.

I can't tell you what that means, but you know what it means.

But but hear me out.

Be willing to be a little awkward.

It's awkward to talk about your faith sometimes.

But lots of important things are awkward.

I've had a lot of awkward conversations in my life.

A lot of them have been here.

Some of you.

I've had a lot of awkward conversation with my children.

Awkward's okay.

That's usually just our own personal hang ups.

He's not for us to keep, he's for us to share.

So let's be those people who tell.

And this week, seriously, I pray right now, Lord.

If someone puts someone on my heart, and if he puts someone on your heart, you gotta tell him.

That's between you and him.

Let's pray.

Father God, thank you so much.

Thank you for being the God who belongs to everyone who will believe in you.

That you're not a God who limits yourself to a specific group of people.

You're not a God who closes yourself off.

You're not a God who keeps your distance.

In fact, Jesus, you've proven that you left heaven, you came to us, you closed that distance completely and totally.

You lived among us, served us, saved us, you heal us.

Lord, I pray that you would stir up a passion inside of us as Jesus followers, to be people who tell about you, to be to be loud about it, but in a in a way that's that's loving and not grating.

Not in a way that desires to get in people's faces, but, God, more importantly, to get in people's hearts, to show every person that we encounter that they're valuable, that they're dearly loved by you, that you desire to know them, to walk with them, to teach them, to disciple them, to mold them and transform them into the people that you've created them to be.

And it's only through knowing you that we can have that experience, Jesus.

I pray that you put it on our hearts to be people who tell the world about you, about what you've done, about who you are, because you are the answer, Lord.

You are the answer.

So, God, fill us with that passion.

Make it, I'm serious, Lord, make us a church.

God, I just pray that you make us a church that we create crises in terms of how many people we tell, where we have to figure out all kinds of crazy logistics, like, oh wow, how are we gonna meet the needs of all these people?

I pray for the day that we have those conversations, Lord.

But that only happens when when your people, when your people care enough about the world to tell the world about you.

So, Lord, let us be the bringers.

Let us be the ones that you speak of when you say, How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news, Lord.

Let us be the people who do that.

Put that on our hearts, Lord.

Let us follow through with that.

And we pray all this in your name.

Amen.