Raising the Bar

Alright, so I want to start with a question.

And this is kind of like confession time.

Okay?

You guys ready?

Who here?

I want you to raise your hands if this is you.

Who here has eaten the Popeye's chicken sandwich?

Raise your hand.

Raise them high.

Who's had it?

Anybody?

Anybody?

Who's tried to have the Popeyes chicken sandwich?

Who doesn't know why I'm talking about the Popeyes chicken sandwich?

You're a little out of the loop.

Alright, let me let me explain.

Let me explain.

By the way, again, those of you that have had this, raise your hand again.

I just want to say it's not that many of you.

Anyone in the room who refuses to even try because you are loyal to Chick-fil-A and you will you will okay.

Alright, let me give some context.

This is this is this has almost brought our nation to the brink of civil war in the last couple of weeks.

If you've been out of the loop, here's what's going on.

Popeyes, Popeyes came out with a new chicken sandwich.

This is what it is.

And by the way, I always know that on Sunday mornings when lunch is in the near horizon, showing giant pictures of food, especially food that you can't get, is kind of like torture.

I apologize.

So just bear with me.

This is the Popeye's chicken sandwich.

Came out.

People are raving about this thing.

They're saying it's it's the best, it's the best chicken sandwich that you can get at a restaurant.

Everyone's going nuts about this chicken sandwich.

Well, here's the problem there's already like a reigning chicken sandwich king, and it's Chick-fil-A, right?

The Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich.

The enthusiasm here in Georgia for Chick-fil-A is intense.

By the way, I've lived in a lot of places in the country.

I've never seen people as excited about a restaurant, like people feel like we all own Chick-fil-A, you know?

It's almost like they've given Georgians stock options in Chick-fil-A, and we're all rooting that it goes really well.

I love Chick-fil-A.

And the thing about Chick-fil-A is that Chick-fil-A is a very unique organization.

Like they don't make sense.

They they just became the third highest revenue-producing restaurant chain in America this last year.

Third.

And uh again, you're cheering as if you own stock in Chick-fil-A.

It's like Georgia Pride, Chick-fil-A, yeah.

Um, we're waiting for UGA to do some big things, but until then, we've got Chick-fil-A.

I'm sorry.

Um football season just started, anything can happen.

It's just, we got Chick-fil-A, let's hold on to that.

So Chick-fil-A became the third, the third highest revenue-producing restaurant in the nation.

But here's what's crazy they rank 29th in the number of locations that they have.

And so, like McDonald's is number one, but they're number two in locations behind Subway.

They have 38,000 locations McDonald's has.

Starbucks is number two in revenue, and they have 30,000 locations.

Chick-fil-A is number three in revenue, they have less than 3,000 locations, and they take Sundays off.

So the rest of the restaurant world is looking at them and they're like, they're going, this doesn't make sense.

They have 14 times fewer the locations than KFC, Taco Bell, other places like that, and yet they're they're blowing them out of the water when it comes to revenue.

So everyone's trying to like take a shot at Chick-fil-A, trying to knock Chick-fil-A out.

And who would have thought that the restaurant that would really come after them the hardest would be Popeyes of all places?

Like in my mind, and if this offends, I don't know that like Popeyes and Bojangles might as well be the same restaurant to me.

It's just that other that other chicken restaurant.

I just that's that's how I think about it.

I don't, I can't say for sure if I've ever been in one of them.

I think I have, but I don't know which one.

And so so here's what happened.

Popeyes comes out with their chicken sandwich, people are raving about it, and Chick-fil-A puts out a tweet.

This is about two weeks ago.

They just put out this tweet, and we have it right here.

Um, and all it says is bun plus chicken plus pickles equals all the love for the original, okay?

That's all they did.

And some people thought they were maybe like taking a shot at Popeyes because their chicken sandwich, strikingly similar to the Chick-fil-a chicken sandwich, just a little crispier, you know, some other things on it, but but pretty much that.

So then Popeyes retweets Chick-fil-A, okay?

And all they said was, y'all good?

You know?

And things got real.

Like, like, number one, everyone in the nation who is A, eating chicken and B has a social media account took took to like social media posting all about their preferred one piece lines, lines at Popeye's like wrapped around the building, two-hour waits to get chicken sandwiches are happening.

People are talking about this.

Meanwhile, those of you in the room who are Chick-fil-A lovers, how many of you, I'm just gonna ask it, raise your hand proudly because you've been cheering already.

How many of you, for some reason, got online in the last two weeks to defend Chick-fil-A?

You made a post, and a couple of people.

They didn't do anything.

People are posting about Chick-fil-A as if Chick-fil-A's been convicted of a crime or accused of something, and people are like, Chick-fil-A's, no one accused Chick-fil-A of anything, but everyone's like taking sides.

It's it's like a civil war.

It's happening.

Popeyes versus Chick-fil-A, how's this gonna work out?

You know, it got crazy.

People were quitting Popeyes because they were having to work so many hours because the demand was so great.

In Houston, Texas, a man at a Popeye's, this actually happened, pulled out a gun, not demanding cash from the register, but demanding a chicken sandwich.

Because the Popeyes was out and he pulled a gun and said, I want the chicken sandwich.

That happened.

That's a real thing that happened in our country.

Someone tried to hold up a Popeyes for an item that they sell for four dollars.

Okay?

Because this chicken thing got really, really intense.

And the good news is um, if you want a chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A today, you can't get one.

But if you want one from Popeyes, you can't get one today either, even though they're open.

Because they are out.

Like they are they they sold through their stock, they are out of chicken for the time being, which is a problem for a chicken restaurant.

Uh so pray for Popeyes, I guess.

Pray for Popeyes.

So here's the deal.

Here's the deal.

No matter what happens, it's a good thing.

I believe it's a very good thing when someone raises the bar.

It's a good thing when the bar gets raised.

Because when when someone raises the bar for whatever reason, maybe they're coming after somebody that they want to beat or whatever it is.

When people raise the bar, it forces others to step up.

And so, like, I'm excited that this is happening.

Because everyone's taking notice, and I'm excited to see what happens.

Like, there was like this weird thing where Wendy's tried to chime in, and Wendy's actually tweeted this.

It said, y'all are out here fighting over which has the second best sandwich, and everyone's kind of like, okay, Wendy's, you know, I'm fine with Wendy's, but come on, you don't belong in this convert.

Like, go go do your thing, you know?

But it's good, it's good whenever people raise the bar because someone's gonna step up.

And so if you're this big Chick-fil-a fan, you should not feel threatened.

You should feel excited because what is Chick-fil-A gonna do in response?

Like, I saw someone tweet out a Photoshop picture of Chick-fil-A selling a bucket of chicken, and everyone was like, oh, they could do that, and that would change the world, you know?

And it was like, be careful, Popeyes, you don't wanna you don't wanna wake up this sleeping giant, you don't want to make them mad.

Don't don't poke the bear.

So I'm excited to see what the response is gonna be.

It's good when someone raises the bar because it makes people step up.

And today we're gonna look at a teaching of Jesus where where Jesus raises the bar big time.

Big time on what it means to actually be a human being and live life.

Like I said, it's good when someone raises the bar.

Now, the good news is Jesus isn't raising the bar to like come after somebody.

He's raising the bar because he believes that we are capable of more than we could ever imagine.

It's an interesting dynamic to think about the fact that no one has ever had a higher opinion of you than Jesus.

No one has ever thought you're capable of living life to the degree that Jesus believes you're capable of living life.

And so when we when we open up scripture and we read the teaching of Jesus, sometimes it feels like Jesus is is challenging us, you know, he's not quite sub-tweeting us, y'all good?

But he's he's he's poking at us a little bit.

And it's because Jesus believes that you are capable of living a completely different life than most people live.

And and he refuses to see you settle for less.

For some context, we're in a series right now called A King and His Kingdom.

We're looking at the teachings of Jesus.

Jesus is our king, and when you read the teachings of Jesus, there's this one thing that constantly keeps showing up, and it's this idea of kingdom, the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven.

He's always talking about the kingdom of God is this, the kingdom of heaven is this, and what that is, is life under the reign or rule of God.

When you submit your life to Jesus, I know not all of us have made that decision yet, but when you submit your life to Jesus, he's your king.

Someone was baptized last Sunday, and Kim Skurris, who was doing the baptism, used this metaphor that now he has the pen and he's the one writing the story now.

We submit our lives to him, he's our king, and we have to learn what it's like to live in his kingdom because his kingdom is different.

It is different.

It's a whole different way of living.

And so we're studying these teachings of Jesus to what it what it really means to live as part of his kingdom.

Today we're gonna look at this huge chunk of text.

Pretty much the entirety of Matthew chapter 5.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

We started Matthew 5 last week.

We're gonna go through the entire rest of it this week.

I think it's good sometimes just to read Jesus uninterrupted.

And we're gonna read what it looks like for Jesus to raise the bar, to challenge us to live in a way that most people would think is impossible.

You guys ready?

So we're gonna open up to Matthew chapter 5, and we're gonna start in verse 13.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

Jesus says, You are the salt of the earth.

But what good is salt if it's lost its flavor?

Can you make it salty again?

It'll be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.

You are the light of the world, like a sitting on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.

No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket.

Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand where it gives light to everyone in the house.

In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

He says, Don't misunderstand why I've come.

I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets.

No, I came to accomplish their purpose.

I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God's law will disappear until its purpose is achieved.

So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.

But anyone who obeys God's law and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

But I warn you, unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

He says, You've heard that our ancestors were told, you must not murder.

If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.

But I say, if you're even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment.

If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court.

And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.

So if you're presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar.

Go and be reconciled to that person, then come and offer your sacrifice to God.

When you are on the way to court with your adversary, settle your differences quickly.

Otherwise, your accuser may hand you over to the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, and you'll be thrown in prison.

And if that happens, you surely won't be free again until you've paid the last penny.

He says, You've heard the commandment that says, You must not commit adultery.

But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

So if your eye, even your good eye, causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away.

It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

And if your hand, even your stronger hand, causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.

It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

He says, You've heard that the law says a man can divorce his wife by merely giving her a written notice of divorce, but I say that a man who divorces his wife, unless she has been unfaithful, causes her to commit adultery.

And anyone who marries a divorced woman also commits adultery.

You've also heard that our ancestors were told, You must not break your vows.

You must carry out the vows you make to the Lord.

But I say, Don't even make any vows.

Do not say by heaven, because heaven is God's throne.

And do not say by the earth because the earth is his footstool, and do not say by Jerusalem, for Jerusalem is the city of the great king.

Do not even say, by my head, for you can't turn one hair white or black.

Just say a simple yes, I will, or no, I won't.

Anything beyond this is from the evil one.

Jesus says, You've heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

But I say, Do not resist an evil person.

If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also.

If your suit in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat too.

If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles.

Give to those who ask, and don't turn away from those who want to borrow.

You've heard the law that says, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I say, love your enemies.

Pray for those who persecute you.

In that way you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven.

For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and unjust alike.

If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that?

Even corrupt tax collectors do that much.

If you're kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else?

Even pagans do that, but you are to be perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect.

No pressure.

Jesus is awesome.

And it's so important for us, if we're going to be Jesus' followers, to understand Jesus.

That makes sense.

First thing we have to understand about Jesus is he's incredibly compassionate.

So if you read, if you read a teaching like this and you think Jesus just judges everyone and says not good enough, that's not Jesus at all.

We see Jesus interact with all kinds of people who had all kinds of issues.

Those of us in the room who read this and hear these words and we start going, oh man, I've got this in my life, that in my life, oh no.

There's a story in scripture of Jesus interacting with someone just like you and showing them tremendous compassion and love.

He has tremendous compassion and love.

Hebrews chapter 4 says that this high priest of ours, talking about Jesus, understands our weaknesses, for he faced all the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

Jesus understands how hard life is.

He understands how tough it is for us to live the life that we want to live, that we struggle, that we have issues, we have sin.

He gets it.

He's compassionate.

But we have to be really careful to understand what Jesus actually asks us to do because sometimes the message of Jesus gets twisted into basically Jesus going, hey, I love you, I forgive you, I think you're great, I think you're awesome, and you know, don't worry about it.

Just try your best.

I don't really expect that much.

That is not the message of Jesus.

That is not the message of the New Testament.

The message of the New Testament is a message of empowerment.

The message of Jesus, the gospel as it's called, is an empowering message because it actually tells us that through faith we are capable of more.

So Jesus says, Yes, I love you, and I have mercy and grace, and I forgive you, and there's nothing that you can do that I will not forgive.

And yes, I understand that you struggle, I understand that you have weakness, I understand that you have sin, but I believe you can live a completely different life.

And I'm calling you to live a completely different life.

Jesus calls that.

In fact, the word church, the word we actually translate church in our language, literally means the called-out ones.

God has called you out.

He's called all of us out.

He's called us out of the old way of life and into a new way of life, and that new way of life is totally different, as he lays out here.

So let's just let's go through this a little bit and understand as we do that this is Jesus raising the bar.

The question is, will we respond?

So, verse 17.

Actually, let's go to verse 13.

Um, he says, You are the salt of the earth.

But what good is salt if it's lost its flavor?

Can you make it salty again?

It'll be thrown out, trampled underfoot as worthless.

He says, You're the light of the world, like a sitting on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.

No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket.

Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand where it gives light to everyone in the house.

In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

This is Jesus raising the bar.

It's Jesus raising the bar.

One of the most famous statements of Jesus is Luke chapter 6, verse 31, where Jesus says, Do to others what you would want them to do to you.

Luke 6:31

You've probably all heard this, right?

You probably had this written on a poster at the school you went to as a kid.

Do to others as you would have them do to you.

That poster may have not said Jesus next to it, but that's who said it.

It's Jesus raising the bar.

Here's why.

Because the typical standard for human behavior is just don't be darkness.

Don't do bad things.

In fact, Jesus saying, do to others what you would want them to do to you.

That was Jesus doing something he often did.

We kind of looked at this last week, where he would take something that was commonly said in his world, put a totally different spin on it.

And so prior to Jesus, there's this thing that we we now call the silver rule, and it was very common, and it was don't do to others what you wouldn't want done to you, which doesn't roll off the tongue quite the same.

There's a lot of don'ts there.

Don't do to others what you wouldn't want them to do to you.

But the idea is very simple: just don't do bad things, don't harm someone, don't hurt someone.

And that's the standard.

The standard has never really been be light, it's just don't be darkness.

Jesus raises the bar and he makes it proactive.

Because he understands that you can actually live your life just vowing to never do anything wrong, and at the same time never doing anything useful, never making an impact on those around.

I can live my whole life dedicated to not offending or upsetting or harming the people around me, but but at the same time avoiding actually going out on a limb and serving them.

I can follow all the rules, follow all the laws of the land and still never bless someone, still still never be generous with someone, but Jesus flips it, he makes it proactive.

He says, No, no, no, do to others what you would want done to you.

And so, would you want someone to help you out financially if you were struggling?

Well, then go be generous.

That's very different than saying I've never I've never robbed someone, I've never stolen money from someone.

Well, good.

But have you given?

That's what Jesus does.

He twists it.

Jesus would say, Hey, would you want to be encouraged if you were going through a difficult time?

Well then go encourage people.

Speak life into people.

But typical human behavior just says, Don't, don't say bad things, don't insult people.

And Jesus is like, yeah, that's fine, but don't stop there.

No, no, take it to another level.

He raises the bar, speak life into people.

This is Jesus raising the standard.

Saying it's not enough just to not do bad, do good.

And he continues.

Verse 17.

He says, Don't misunderstand why I've come.

I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets.

No, I came to accomplish their purpose.

I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God's law will disappear until its purpose is achieved.

So if you ignore the least commandment, you teach others to do the same, you will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

But anyone who obeys God's laws and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

But I warn you, unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Now this would have thrown his listeners for a loop big time.

Because the Pharisees, the religious leaders, they were viewed as totally righteous.

And Jesus says, no, no, you have to be even more righteous than they are.

What's that about?

Well, the reality about the Pharisees is they were they were outwardly righteous, but inwardly corrupt.

So Jesus actually says in Matthew 23, verse 25, what sorrow awaits you, teachers of religious law and Pharisees?

Matthew 23:25

Hypocrites.

For you're so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you're filthy, full of greed and self-indulgence.

You blind Pharisee, first wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean too.

What sorrow awaits you, teachers of religious law, and you Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs, beautiful on the outside, but filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity.

Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.

When he says that you've got to be more righteous than the Pharisees, this is Jesus raising the bar.

He says, Hey, those people that you look at that you think are so righteous, yeah, they do all the outward stuff, but in their heart it's darkness, it's filth, it's corruption.

They don't actually love people.

They don't care.

They don't care what people go through, they don't care what people experience.

They're just doing their thing because it brings them glory, because it brings them satisfaction.

But you can, you have to be different.

Jesus always challenges us to be different.

You see that in his words when he says, How would you be any different to anyone else if you just love those who love you?

There's an expectation from Jesus that we're to be different.

Scripture actually calls us a peculiar people.

You're supposed to be weird.

Some of you are, uh, but he wants you to be weird in a different way.

No, like he wants us to be peculiar to.

To love in a way that's strange and foreign to the world around us.

He tells them, no, no, it's not enough just to be righteous like the Pharisees who do all the right things on the outside.

I'm looking at your heart.

First Samuel tells us that man looks at the outward appearance, but God judges the heart.

And then Jesus actually gets specific, which is awesome.

Because a lot of times leaders or people who are supposed leaders in culture, they refuse to get specific about what they actually mean.

They speak in generalities, right?

They say things like, we have to take a stand.

We've got to let our voices be heard.

We've got to do something.

And everyone goes, Yeah, we should do something.

What's something?

Don't know.

It's something.

You know?

It's hard when people aren't specific.

But Jesus gets really specific, probably more specific here than we would like him to be.

Because he says, hey, don't murder.

Great.

Good for you.

But are you angry with anyone?

Are you burning with hatred for someone?

For a group of people?

Anyone?

Jesus says, God doesn't see that much different than murder.

That's a big deal.

He says, have you ever called someone an idiot?

Seriously?

That's the standard?

Raise your hand if you've called someone an idiot in your life.

Right?

I know some of you called me idiots before.

I won't ask you to raise your hand, but I know that's true.

Like, like, come on.

He says, if you've called someone an idiot, you're in trouble.

That's not good news.

He says, look, it's so serious to God that if you're about to make an offering, if you're about to make an offering, you're at you're at church in our culture, maybe you're at church and you've worshipped and you're about to give financially, and then you realize that there's someone out there that you're not reconciled with, someone that you've offended, you've harmed in some way, you have anger there, leave it.

Forget it.

Go be reconciled to that person first because that's what God cares about the most.

This is Jesus raising the bar, saying it's not enough just to say, Well, I've never killed anybody.

Well, good for you.

Do you actually need the Holy Spirit working inside of you to not kill people?

You do need the Holy Spirit working inside of you, changing who you are from the core to not live with anger and hatred for people.

And then he goes on.

He says, Hey, adultery, and he's specifically talking to men here.

Not that women don't struggle with this or deal with lust, but it's important to know Jesus is talking to men.

He says, Hey, you say you've never committed adultery, but have you undressed a woman with your eyes?

Because you've already committed adultery in your heart.

This is a big one.

Job chapter 31, 1.

Job 31 · chapter mention

Job said, I've made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust at a young woman.

Jesus here, he's not talking about temptation, he's not saying when you're tempted, when a thought runs into your mind because you see something or whatever.

He says he's talking about if you indulge that, if you if you if you stare, if you intentionally think on those things and fantasize and do all that.

And and guys, like can we just be honest?

We live in a culture that makes it very difficult to live that out.

Because like just turn on a TV.

It's everywhere.

And Jesus has compassion for that.

But but I want men, I want you to really ask this question in your in your hearts.

Do you actually believe that that's possible?

Do you actually believe that it's possible for you to live your life not lusting after women?

Jesus does.

He believes you're capable of viewing women the way that he does.

As his creation.

This is a challenging thing.

It's not enough just to say you haven't committed adultery.

Do you lust?

Well, you know.

Sometimes.

He's like, no, you he's raising the bar.

And he continues.

He talks about he talks about divorce.

And that's a big one for us because I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand if you've had a divorce, but I know there'd be hands raised.

Divorce is something that's very common in our culture.

It was very common in their culture as well.

Again, we have to understand who Jesus is talking to.

He was talking specifically to men here, because in that culture, men were the only ones who had the authority to divorce.

If a woman wanted to divorce her husband in Jewish culture, she could not.

But a man could decide he wanted to divorce his wife in a heartbeat and she was just cast out.

So what was happening is men were deciding to divorce their wives, they would go marry someone else, and that wife now she had no options.

And women were actually refusing to get married in that culture at the time because better to never have been married and be taken care of by your parents than to get married to someone who would discard you and then you're tainted.

That's how their culture worked.

And so Jesus was really coming at the men who were doing this to the women in their culture.

And he's saying, Look, you heard it said that you're allowed to get divorced.

I think in this specific scenario, he would be talking, probably the biggest parallel to us would be like being divorced for irreconcilable differences.

Can I just say this?

In the kingdom of heaven, there is no such thing as an irreconcilable difference.

That does not exist in God's economy.

Like if you were to go to God and say, like, you know, I just we just we don't mesh.

He's going, Excuse me?

Do you know what I did so that we could mesh?

Like the Holy Spirit literally lives with us.

When you give your life to Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes, makes his home in your heart.

So you think it's possible for you to mesh with God but not mesh with another person?

He's challenging, he's raising the bar, he's saying, Look, don't do that.

And look, for those of us that have been divorced, the past is the past.

But but we have life right now.

And we need to understand that Jesus tells us that we are capable of so much more.

There is no such thing in God's kingdom as an irreconcilable difference.

It doesn't work.

Because when you have mercy and forgiveness and grace and a commitment to grow, you can do anything.

And God wants some of you guys to know right now that your marriage is something, if it's hard right now, if you're feeling it, he wants you to understand that your marriage can become a story.

It can become a testimony that inspires people to stick it out because it's worth it.

He continues on.

He says a lot of different things about making vows and all kinds of stuff like that.

And then he talks about your enemies.

He gets to that point.

Specifically, he says, hey, love your enemies.

Love them.

No.

Like there's part of me that just wants to go.

No.

You don't know what those people have said about me or or done.

Right?

Like, who in the room has someone that at some point in time you would say is an enemy?

Just a person, a group of people.

Yeah.

Someone's waving.

Like, woo, I got lots of enemies.

He says you should love your enemies, serve them.

Like, can we just be honest that this is crazy talk?

Love your enemies.

What if they don't love you back?

Serve your enemies.

What if they don't they don't serve you back?

Like this is, it seems like Jesus, you're raising the bar.

I appreciate that.

I'm glad you're challenging me to step up, but I think that bar is a little high.

Like I think it's a little out of reach.

Who in the world would ever do that?

Who in the world would ever love their enemies?

And the answer is actually God.

This is what he does.

Romans chapter 5, verse 10 says, For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his son.

Romans 5:10

This is something God does.

He loves his enemies.

Jesus said it this way in Matthew 12, 30: anyone who isn't with me opposes me, and anyone who isn't working with me is actually working against me.

We have to understand that there's no such thing as being neutral to God.

There's no such thing as being God neutral.

Sometimes we like to think that there are people who are for God, there are people who are against God, and there's a lot of people in the middle who are just, you know, God neutral.

Nope.

Not according to Jesus.

There is no such thing as God neutral.

You are either for him and you are working in concert with his purposes in this world, or you are working against him.

Jesus makes that very clear.

And because that that's true, that means there are a lot of people who are working against God, even if they don't know it.

There are a lot of people who are enemies of God.

And yet, what does God do to those people?

He sends his son to die on the cross for them.

While we were his enemies, he loved us.

God never asks us to do anything that he has not already done.

He says, Love your enemies.

This is Jesus raising the bar.

He just raises it higher and higher and higher.

This is the beautiful thing about all of this.

If you're thinking like, this sounds great, but it's a pipe dream.

Who in the world could do this?

I want you to understand that Jesus is not trying to give you a burden today that there's no way you can ever live out.

You ever have someone do that?

Someone give you an impossible task that there's just no way.

It's completely unrealistic.

Someone asks you, maybe it works.

Someone says, I want you to do this, accomplish this, and you're like, okay.

Well, you bring me a magic genie and I'll happily do that for you, you know, but you're not living in reality.

I want you to understand, Jesus, he actually hated it when people did that.

He said this about the Pharisees in Matthew chapter 23.

Matthew 23 · chapter mention

If you want to read Jesus just going off, read Matthew 23, the whole thing.

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses.

So practice in obeying whatever they tell you, but do not follow their example.

For they don't practice what they preach, they crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.

It offended Jesus that the Pharisees crushed people with unbearable religious demands, burdens they could not carry, and then did not lift a finger to help.

They just said, do this, do more, do better, not good enough, keep trying, not quite.

That's what religion always says.

And Jesus was opposed to that.

So if we read Matthew 5 and Jesus is saying, hey, take the bar, raise it higher.

Forget about murder, love.

Don't commit adultery, don't lust.

And it just feels like, hey, this, when are you gonna stop raising the bar?

Jesus, is there ever gonna be a moment where you say this?

Because I don't think I can get there.

What we have to understand is that that that's not the heart of Jesus, just to make you feel like you're you're less significant, less capable.

It's the opposite.

Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 11.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

This is Jesus' heart.

Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, let me teach you, because I'm humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.

That's the opposite of what Jesus said about the Pharisees, but let me ask you this question and worship team, you guys can make your way out.

When you read Matthew 5, which we just went through, does it seem like Jesus is giving us a light burden?

Does it seem like Jesus is giving us something easy to bear?

Or does it feel, when you read that stuff, does it feel a little overwhelming?

Like, how in the world could I possibly do this?

Well, the key to it is is really simple.

We see it when Jesus says, Take my yoke upon you.

It's easy to bear.

See, that language, really specific.

Whenever they would have, whenever they would have oxen in their culture and they would be training oxen, what they would do is they would attach a young oxen with a yoke to a larger, stronger oxen.

And they would go plow a field side by side.

And that young oxen would feel, because it's going side by side with the big oxen, it would feel like it's doing the work.

It's like, yeah, I'm doing this.

Me and you together, we're doing this.

And the big oxen's like, yeah, yeah.

The two of us.

Anyone ever have a situation like that where you're supposed to be doing something with a partner and you're kind of like doing all the work?

And you're like, and they say, they say, like, we did it, and you're like, mad?

We sure did, you know.

With my kids at home, I get to actually do stuff like that all the time where they want to help with stuff, and so we'll give them some really small thing to do, but then we get to make them feel like they're just they're they've done just as much as we have.

Well, that that's the picture is that Jesus, he's that strong oxen, and we're the we're not as strong as Jesus.

Let's just be honest.

And he's doing most of the work.

That's why his burden is light.

That's why when we read Matthew 5, and it's just this laundry list of like, raise the bar, raise the bar, things take it to a whole other level, and you're going, how do I do that?

It's because you don't do it alone.

Jesus doesn't just raise the bar, he lifts you over it.

Because he partners with you.

It's a relationship.

It's not a religion.

We have to understand this.

We have to say this over and over again.

We'll be saying it for years and years to come.

This is not a religion.

If you follow Jesus, it's not a religion.

It's not a God who's a distant, demanding ruler on some mountaintop, demanding that you do more.

And if you see him that way, you'll miss it.

If you read Matthew 5 and you see Jesus laying just demand after demand on you and raising the bar higher and higher, and you're feeling discouraged, that's because you're seeing it through the eyes of religion.

You see it like it's Jesus up there going, not good enough.

Come on, do more.

That's not what's happening.

Jesus is with us, he partners with us, he does the work, he does the heavy lifting.

It's a relationship.

And when you give your life to Jesus, you don't have to do anything alone.

It's of God, not for God.

Of God, not for God.

We don't live for God.

You don't need to do anything, anything for God.

Because He's with you.

Through Jesus, we get to live of God.

His power working through us.

Jeremiah chapter 17 puts it beautifully.

Jeremiah 17 · chapter mention

Verses 5 through 8.

This is what the Lord says.

Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord.

They are like stunted shrubs in the desert with no hope for the future.

They will live in the barren wilderness in uninhabited, salty land.

But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.

They are like trees planted along a riverbank with roots that reach deep into the water.

Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought.

Their leaves stay green and they never stop producing fruit.

That's what it looks like to live connected to God.

It's living of God, it's his strength, it's his power, it's his love, his wisdom.

He's the one that's pulling the weight.

You're you're you're the vessel.

It's a beautiful thing.

And this morning, the message is really, really simple and clear.

I hope, anyway, if it's done well.

Popeye's chicken.

That's the message, right?

No, the message is this: Jesus has raised the bar.

I want us to understand this.

Jesus followers, He has raised the bar and He expects us to live very differently than what the world tells us we should live like.

We need to understand that He expects a lot out of us because He believes in us tremendously.

He expects much.

But He never expects us to do it on our own.

He never expects us to live this way, disconnected from Him.

He is not the Pharisee who's demanding you to do something and then not lifting a finger to help.

He's the one who's asking you to do something, commanding you to do something, and then grabbing that weight and taking it upon himself and saying, Come walk with me.

And if you're here this morning and you read this or you hear this and you want to do more, you want to live better, that's good.

You should want to be better.

You should want to be a better husband, a better wife, a better father, a better mother, a better worker, a better student, a better boss.

You should want to be a better sibling, a better person.

You should want that because God believes you're capable of more.

He wants you to be better.

He's gonna empower you to be better, but you have to understand that it's only through a relationship with him and a daily relationship with him that you have any hope of doing that.

And so if you want to be better, be better, but live with Jesus, connected to him, abide in him, live in him, understand that he's with you everywhere you go and rely on his strength working inside of you.

And if you feel like you're weak and you can't do it, there's good news because scripture says that when we are at our weakest, he is at his strongest, that his strength is made perfect in our weakness.

And so we're not supposed to walk out of here on Sunday mornings going, man, I gotta try harder.

We should walk out of here on Sunday mornings with a greater vision for what life could be.

Because you are capable of more.

I promise, you are capable of more.

But we should walk out of here excited about what Jesus is going to do in us to make that possible.

So this morning, if you haven't given your life to Jesus, if you haven't committed your life to him, I just want you to know that he loves you, that you are capable of a life that you can't even imagine, but you cannot do this on your own.

You need him.

Give your life to him, sign up to get baptized, start this process.

But for the rest of us who have done this, it's like a broken record over and over again.

Live connected to him.

When you get up tomorrow, when you go about the rest of your day today, whatever it is you desire to be better at, more of, do not try to do it on your own.

It will not work.

But if you make your heart's prayer, Lord, partner with me, Lord, put your yoke upon me.

Let me walk side by side with you.

And I'm gonna let you, I'm gonna let you carry the load, Jesus.

I'm gonna let you do it.

Work in my heart, change me from the inside out.

If that's that's the way you think, you are gonna you're gonna raise to the level that Jesus has called you to.

I promise you that.

He raises the bar, but he carries us over it.