Planted to Display His Splendor - Part 2: Living the Good Life | Pastor Phil Holcomb

This morning I'm aware of being thankful of a

couple of things. One of them is the... gift

of being able to take time this week and just

dive deeply into such a significant and beautiful

passage of God's word. But I'm also thankful

to be able to look out at this point as we've

gathered around the one who we love, Jesus, and

see faces I know, names I know, the honor of

knowing many of your stories and your journeys.

And so may this be a place where we are shaped

and formed once again into the likeness of Jesus

Christ. If you are joining us for the first time,

we have been in a series looking back because

we are celebrating 60 years of God planting ECB

as a church. And so we've taken quite a bit of

time to look at stories and the different shapings

and things, the people who helped to found this

church community. But now we've shifted and we're

looking more ahead and we're asking, Lord, if

you've planted us here, would you please display

your splendor in and through us? And we draw

those words from the prophet Isaiah, one of these

Old Testament authors who captures in Isaiah

61 this incredible poem of wrestling through

with... Lord, you're going to come and make everything

that is wrong right again. Start doing that now,

and we want to see this good life that is coming.

And so he writes this. He says, they will be

called, talking about the people that had been

called to God. They will be called oaks of what?

Righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the

display of his splendor. Now, this word righteousness

isn't typically a word we use, right? We don't.

Even if you're a native English speaker, if it's

your first or second language, you don't usually

use this word. I have a history of being a snowboarder

and we did use this word, right? If you did something

awesome, you'd be like, that's totally righteous,

man. This is not what God is meaning by righteousness,

although there's some connection to it. So what

does righteousness mean? Righteousness in the

most easy sense for us to understand is about

right relationship with God. and right relationship

with one another. Right relationship, God, and

right relationship with one another, which can

include how we engage with the world around us

as well. And when God speaks of us being oaks

of righteousness to display his splendor, what

he is saying is that we actually reflect him,

the nature of who he is, the significance of

his character to the world around when we live

in right relationship with him and with each

other. Another way to consider this is to say

that this is the good life. Living the good life.

Now this is a phrase that we may use and we know,

right? This is, to me, a picture of the good

life. This is not an AI -generated image. This

is an image simply taken from pulling the car

over on the side of the road and pulling out

the camera and taking a picture of God's incredible

creation in the Andes Mountains. I think this

is where the good life is for me. And we were

on this journey a number of years ago. We had

taken some time as a family with some friends

and had gone out away from the city of Quito

where we lived, up into the mountains, and we

took about a week of vacation. Now, as the time

went on, it was raining and raining and raining,

which is not necessarily typical, especially

in this time of the year. As our time at the

place came to an end, we... very, me, strategically,

carefully planned out how to get home. Why? Because

we had young kids in the car, and we wanted to

make sure that they were napping and sleeping

as much as possible for their own health. Actually,

that's not true. It was for my own peace. So

strategically thinking, how do we get from point

A to point B? We've got a number of people in

the car. They get car sick, and you've got this

windy mountain roads, and I want to just enjoy

this good life. So I've strategically thought

through, okay, how are we going to do this? We

left at the exact right time and everything was

going according to plan. The kids fell asleep.

The angels started singing and we're going along.

And then we come around the corner and the weather

changes. And there's this man standing on the

side of the road in plain clothes, holding a

handkerchief and simply. Doing this, waving us

in the direction of that little tiny mountain

path or road. Just doing this. Cars are going

by us, keeping on going down the lane. And I'm

sitting here and I'm like, this is a costly interruption.

Do I or do I not follow this man's direction?

I think this is the right way to go, but he's

sending me in a way that looks contrary to what

the life I know and was planning. It's a costly

interruption. Why should I follow? Jesus comes

and brings a costly interruption. You don't add

him on to your life as an accessory. You become

the one who changes based on what he has brought

and the good life that he has initiated. And

in that way, you could think about it being like

Jesus standing on the side of the road and we're

going along with all of our plans and we know

what things should be and how they should be

going forward. And he's simply saying, hey, head

in this other direction. And the direction he

points us to looks contrary to the good life

that we may think and know. And this is how Matthew,

when he writes in the gospel according to Matthew,

describes the coming of Jesus. He says he goes

out and he's tempted and then he goes into the

region of Galilee, which Pastor Pablo mentioned

last week, and he's performing these significant

reversals, healing the sick. freeing people from

demonic oppression and so many other things in

these crowds of people. And then he says the

following. He says, from that time on, as Jesus

was doing this, he said what? Repent, for the

kingdom of heaven has come near. It's another

word we don't use often. If you use this with

your friends, we need to have a chat about this

after. Repent is not a typical word, but what

does it mean? Repent simply means in its easiest

sense, a turning of direction. We are going in

one way and we're turning direction and we're

going to go in a different direction. So Jesus

comes and he asks for a costly interruption.

He says, you were heading in one way and I'm

inviting you to turn and go to a different direction.

And after this, he outlines in 2000 words, about

111 verses, the most. comprehensive selection

of his teaching and what we call the Sermon on

the Mount. It's this call to turn into a different

direction, to live in right relationship with

God and one another. Now, I want you to think

if the crowds that he's been drawing to himself

are the sick, the needy, the poor, those who

are injured, those who are needing to be free.

When he is giving this message, they have drawn

around him, right? Because he's promising the

good life and they're listening. What is the

good life? And this sermon, it's as though Jesus

invented the sermon. It's quite classic in its

form. You have the beginning, the introduction,

where he gives some kind of a way of drawing

you in. And then he sets a vision for where he's

going. And then in the middle part, it's the

chunk of the main part of what he's going to

be calling us to the good life. And then what's

going to come at the end? an invitation or application.

He's going to say, hey, now make a decision based

on this. And so I want you to keep that framework

in mind as we continue to go forward. So imagine

all these people are flocking to Jesus. They're

coming around him. And it begins by saying the

following. When Jesus saw the crowds, he went

up on the mountain and then he sat down. And

after his disciples came to him, he began to

speak and he taught them saying. And now he begins

his sermon, right? So you've got this group of

people that are all sitting around him and they're

like, okay, what's this good life that you're

promising? Now, what he starts with is what we

would call nine beatitudes, nine blessings. But

this isn't a way to say, bless you, I'm speaking

favor upon you. Actually, the word that Jesus

would have used either in Hebrew or probably

Aramaic at that point would have been ashray.

Can you say that? Ashray. I don't speak Aramaic

or Hebrew, so I probably just totally led you

astray, but at least you sounded good. Asherah,

what does this mean? Well, to understand what

this means, let's look at another rabbi who lived

around the same time as Jesus, also by the name

of Yeshua, who gave a bunch of lists of things

that he called Asherah are these people, which

is essentially saying the good life belongs to

these people. All right, so let's listen to some

of these. Here's his list of things. He says

the good life or asherah belongs to the one who

finds joy in their children, right? Does that

make sense? It's a good life. If somebody has

kids and they're like, oh, why? Kind of like

I was just complaining about them being awake,

right? Asherah is the one who finds joy in their

children. That makes sense. What about lives

to see the downfall of their enemies? Asherah

is the one who sees the downfall of their enemies.

Park Jesus for a moment. Stop being so holy.

Do you want your enemies to be brought to justice

in their downfall? Yes. So Asherah, that. Lives

with a sensible spouse. Now I changed this. He

actually says with a sensible wife because he

thought, it doesn't matter if I'm sensible. Asherah

is the person who lives with a sensible wife.

Asherah is the one who doesn't sin with his tongue

or doesn't serve an inferior. Should I serve

an inferior? Asherah is the one who doesn't serve

his inferior. He goes on, he says, Asherah is

the one who does not plow with mismatched animals.

Okay, now we're like, you lost me. I don't understand

this one. I think what he's getting at is to

say that if I'm plowing with mismatched animals,

it's going to be awkward. It's probably going

to be crooked lines in the fields. And it probably

means that I only have two animals to choose

from. But if I have a bunch to choose from, I

can line them up exactly perfectly. So Asherah

is the one who's wealthy. Asherah is the one

who finds a true friend. This one makes sense.

I really like number eight. Asherah is the one

who speaks to attentive listeners. Asherah is

the one who attains wisdom. Are you getting the

concept of Asherah? It's basically saying if

I'm walking by those people over there, if this

is what is about them, They've got the good life.

So now 150 or so years later, Yeshua, Jesus comes

along and he gives a different list. He says,

Asherah are the poor in spirit. Asherah are those

who mourn. Asherah are the meek or the gentle

or those on the margins. Asherah are those who

hunger and thirst for righteousness. The good

life belongs to the merciful, the pure in heart.

the peacemaker, the persecuted, those who are

reviled and those who have been spoken evil against

them on behalf of my name. What? I kind of like

the last list better. How is this evidence of

the good life? But you see, Jesus is speaking

to these people and he's looking out upon them.

And what he says on the second part is more of

his blessing upon them. And he says, blessed.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom

of heaven is theirs. Blessed are those who mourn,

for they will be comforted. Blessed are those

who are gentle, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful,

for they will receive mercy. See God, blessed

are the peacemakers for they will be called children

of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted

for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Blessed

are you when people speak horrible things against

you on behalf of my name because your reward

in heaven is great. See how he's flipped things

around and what he said is to enter into this

way of life with Jesus, you and I need to have

a posture where we want a different journey forward.

If I have heaven on earth, why would I look for

heaven? And then he gives a vision and he says,

you are the salt of the earth. What good is salt

if it's lost its taste? It's good for nothing

to be dethroned out and tossed underfoot, right?

And then he says, you're the light of the world.

A city on a hill can't be hidden. No one lights

a lamp and places it under a bushel basket and

hides it. No, you put it on a stand and you want

it to shine out for the world to see. What he's

talking about with these two symbols. is things

that if you were sitting in that crowd, you would

have known. Salt is a symbol of the covenant,

the everlasting connection between us as people

and God who said, I will make sure that you and

I are together forever. Just like food is preserved

with salt, you will be the symbol of my foreverness

with you. And not only that, but you're going

to also reflect. My character, like a light goes

out into the darkness and you're going to reflect

that. So what Jesus has done is he set a vision

at the end. He said, this is how you enter into

the kingdom. And this is what it's going to look

like at the end. So the question we want to ask

ourself is, have you entered into that good life?

And here's a small tip. The way you enter is

the way you continue on the journey. You continue

in that same posture. of being slowly and carefully

brought into, in a surrendered position to say,

Jesus, I want this new life. So now Jesus gets

into the main bulk. It's this big chunk of teaching,

and it's really divided into three sections.

If you have our app, at the end, there's a link

to the Bible Project's exploration of this, and

he goes into so much detail on this. And I've

drawn a lot of my own understanding from the

Sermon on the Mount from that. But the question

that Jesus is trying to address at the beginning

is, how do you and how do I live the good life?

How do I live in right relationship with God

and with one another? So we're going to keep

that question in mind as we go forward. And here's

how he starts. For I tell you that unless your

righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and

the Pharisees, you will what? Never enter the

kingdom of heaven? Okay, Jesus, I'm going to

walk quietly around your sermon and wait for

you to say something a little bit easier for

me to hear. This is what we do. We domesticate

it. We take his sermon and we're like, it's not

really meant for us. We're going to talk about

that in a little bit here. But what he's saying

is if the entire point of what you and I were

created for is to live in perfect unity with

God and in right relationship with one another.

The scribes and the Pharisees that had developed

an entire system of living in a way that looked

right was not going to cut it. And you're going

to see how Jesus begins to undo that. Not to

erase it, but to actually build it into something

more than we would have ever thought from before.

So the way he's going to do that is he's going

to say, That I didn't come to abolish the law

and the prophets, but I came to fulfill them.

In fact, not one part of it is going to be erased

until everything has been accomplished under

my name. And what Jesus then does is he says,

you have heard that it was said, this whole part

of scripture, the whole Old Testament part, you've

heard that it was said back there. And he goes

to list some things, but then he says, but I

say to you, and what does he do? He takes it

up a step. So let's look at a couple examples

of these. He says, you have heard that it was

said that you shall not murder. Hey, we all agree

with this. Do you like that one? Don't tell me

if you don't. But I say to you, says Jesus, if

you're even angry with your brother or sister,

you're liable to the courts. If you call your

brother a fool or you have contempt for them,

you're liable to the fires of hell. So Jesus

says, it's not just about this outward behavior.

It's about a heart that is actually transformed

from the inside out. He's ratcheted up there.

And then he goes on and he's going to talk about

our sexuality. What does it look like to live

in a honoring, integrous relationship in our

sexuality? In the context of marriage, a man

and a wife. And he says, If you've heard that

it was said you shouldn't commit adultery, and

we're like, yeah, we agree with that. But then

Jesus says, but I say to you, that if you even

look at another person with lust, you have already

committed adultery with them in your heart. Oh,

it's taking it down to a whole different level.

If you see another human being as simply a commodity

in order for your own pleasure, you've already

committed adultery with them in your heart. Man.

Jesus' teaching is significant, right? And then

what about retaliation and enemy love? He goes

back and he says, you heard that it was said,

an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. This

is how you repay somebody who has done something

to you. But I say to you, turn the other cheek.

Jesus, this is extreme. Or love your enemies.

It says even the pagans love their friends. So

what good is that? You actually have to take

it a step further and love those who have caused

you great harm. So what Jesus has done is he

hasn't erased what has come before. He's instead

taken it and he's brought it down to an even

deeper level of significance of inner heart transformation.

And then he ends that section with this, be perfect

as your heavenly father is perfect. Whoa, that's

a lot of perfectness. And it's helpful to think

about this in the relationship to right relationship

with God and others because if I am designed

to live in a certain way, you know what? I have

not arrived and you have not either. And the

ironic reality about following Jesus is the longer

we journey forward, if we entered the way that

he invited us to, the larger the gap of between

us and Jesus is actually going to be. Now we

would think the longer I go, I'm going to close

the gap, right? It's not that I'm getting worse.

It's that the more I get to know Jesus, the further

and the more righteous he is and the more humble

I'm going to be at journeying forward because

he didn't stop at anything less than perfection.

Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.

Then he goes and he talks to us church folks

and he says, beware of practicing your piety,

your religious practices. Beware of doing that

before others in order to be seen by them. My

daughter and I were running in outskirts of Manila

in the Philippines a couple years ago. And each

day we were trying to get our time just a little

bit down and pushing ourselves. And we were running

up in this forested, hilly region where we almost

never saw anybody when we were running. Halfway

through our time there, one of our runs we got

there and we came around this corner and there's

a group of people and all of a sudden we speed

up. You know this because you do this too. Don't

deny it. We sped up. And then as soon as we turn

the corner again and there's no people, you slow

back down again, right? And you can watch it

tracked on the app. Wow, look at what we did

in that place. You see, we're actually built

for an audience. But that audience is meant to

be an audience of one, God himself. And so Jesus

comes and he says, hey, the way that you are

going to be practicing your religious, your rhythms

of disciplines, fasting and prayer and all that,

it needs to be with me in mind, not with how

other people see you. And so he's going to talk

about the secrecy and generosity. Don't let one

hand know what the other hand is doing. In other

words, be so like habituated in your generosity

that you're not like. Hey, guess how much I gave

ECB last Sunday? Instead, you're just simply

giving it as an expression. I was talking with

a life group leader last week and his efforts

to help with the flood damage. And I was like,

tell me some stories. What have you been doing?

And he was struggling and he's like, we've just

been passing out food and we've been taking some

medicine to these people and we've been helping

them clean their homes. And I was like, yeah,

those are the stories. And he's like, I didn't

even really think about them. They were just,

why would you do anything different? His expression

of loving others was just flowing out of him.

It's a little bit of what Jesus is talking about

here. What about prayer? We like to think of

prayer as this, oh Lord, let me say amazing things

in front of these people so that they can be

impressed by what I have said. Amen. And Jesus

comes and he says, prayer is this special, intimate

gift between you and me that helps to form you.

And it does happen in the corporate spaces, but

make sure that you're not doing it as a way to

appear righteous in front of other people. And

it's formational because in the prayer that he

provides, it actually gives the entire gospel

there, that he is king, that we are to surrender

to that, that we have been forgiven, we are to

forgive, and he goes on and on. What about fasting?

I'm fasting today, sorry, I can't eat, right?

We do this, and then people are like, oh, okay.

And Jesus is like, no, no, no, comb your hair.

Wash your face and allow this internal movement

within you to be aware of your need for God just

as you're aware of your need for food to be a

gift that carries you on in your practice. So

Jesus is talking about these different forms

of religious practice. How are we doing with

that? Then he switches and he talks about kind

of the framework of how it interacts with one

another and he says, do not store up for yourself

treasures on earth because I'm going to function

with a scarcity mindset. But God says, allow

me to open that and realize that I am a generous

God who has ultimate resources. And your life

here on earth is really short. Practice an eternal

perspective with how you live your life. Therefore,

I tell you, do not worry about your life, what

you eat or you drink. And he goes on to say,

I care for everything around you, the lilies

in the field and all these things. Can't I also

care for you, my most important creation? Now,

what are we doing? We are taking a 30 ,000 -foot

flight from Bangkok all the way up to Chiang

Mai over the Sermon on the Mount. There's a lot

of stuff that we are passing over, but I want

you to get the general framework of this sermon

because it has got a lot of rich teaching in

it. And Jesus ends with what we would call a

mic drop, this section. A mic drop, if you don't

know what it is, is you're speaking and you finally

say something that nothing else needs to be said

after and you just drop the mic. And it's as

though Jesus says, hey, I'm going to kind of

end this with the ultimate, the golden rule.

In everything due to others as you would have

them do to you. For this is the law and the prophets.

Remember how he started this main body? It was

about the law and the prophets. Go forward and

he ends this main section with the law and the

prophets. He says, everything that I'm telling

you here is about right relationship with God

and others. And if you really want to know how

to do it, be proactive about doing good to others,

bringing the goodness, the beauty, and the life

of Christ into the life of others. Now what's

interesting about the golden rule is this is

not completely uncommon around the world, but

often it's done in a reserved way. Only do to

others what they have done to you or something

along those lines. But Jesus reframes it and

he says, actively looking to do good to others.

So are you living the good life? When that guy

is standing on the side of the road and he points

in a direction that seems so contrary to where

our heart would naturally go, are you living

the good life? There's a brother who I've shared

a number of conversations with about the Sermon

on the Mount, one of our ECB brothers and his

wife. And I reached out to him this week and

I just said, hey, I know this has been an important

text to you for... 30 plus years of your life

and it's helped to shape and form you. And what

does it actually look like in your life? And

I was saying, you know, we like to domesticate

it. We like to kind of avoid it and do these

different things with it. What does it look like

for you to wrestle through with it? And this

is what he wrote back to me. He says, the language

and the content of the Sermon on the Mount are

all relational, not only to God, but to the community.

and even our adversaries. We're to be merciful

and peacemaking and to be persecuted for righteousness'

sake, to love our enemies. We're called to be

salt and light and to bear fruit, to bless others

with our lives so they can glorify God. To do

so, we have to go out from our comfort zone,

to go through the small gate and the narrow road,

to where there are hurts and injustice and comfort

and heal and make peace and act justly for his

kingdom's sake. Growing up by nature, He's reflecting

back. He says, I was completely the opposite,

self -absorbed, ignorant, deceitful, but by God's

grace, I was saved by what Jesus has done on

the cross for me and empowered by his word and

the Holy Spirit. And it changed me. Not overnight,

but God gave me many good mentors. Little by

little, God used them to help me see what he

sees and feel how he feels. Then he literally

pushed me out of my comfort zone again and again.

But he always provided me with the necessary

resources, including these mentors, people with

deeper insight, courage, knowledge, skill, and

experience to lead and guide me on. When I have

somebody that I am speaking with and I realize

that they need to dive into the good life that

God has given them, I send them to Stephen Lowe.

Because I know that Stephen Lowe will journey

along with them because he has already been going

in this direction for a very long time. And Stephen

and Sung have had multiple impact as being planted

as oaks of righteousness, where multiple generations

have come to know Christ, and there's impact

there in how that looks. Things that we often

will do when we see the Sermon on the Mount.

And I want to invite you to be willing to listen

to what your heart is doing with this. And maybe

you'll find yourself in one of these three. Do

you typically avoid the Sermon on the Mount?

And you see it and you're like, I'm going to

walk around it. There's a lot in there. Or maybe

we avoid it by doing this. We say, Jesus set

the bar this high because he knew I was going

to fail. And therefore, it's just a constant

reminder of the grace that I need and to point

to the cross. That's actually partially accurate.

But he also calls you to that standard. He's

not just saying, hey, here's a standard. I'm

setting something that is completely impossible

for you to do for no reason except to simply

ask you to come and say, I'm sorry. He's actually

inviting you into the good life. So we can avoid

it in different ways. We can also strive to achieve

it. What does this look like? Communities have

shaped their entire way of life around this.

And oftentimes if a person is trying really hard,

okay, I'm going to invite you to do this. Take

your fist, clench them really hard, and then

grit your teeth together. We're going to love

other people, right? Do you feel loved when I

do that? I had a person very close to me tell

me when I was calling this person to love another

person to say, it feels like you're suffocating

me with your righteousness. This is a symbol

of me. striving with everything inside of me

to be righteous and you're going to get that

flavor on me when you interact with me. So there's

lots of ways that we can go around the sermon

on the route. Another one is to admire it from

a distance. Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi wrestled

with whether or not Jesus was Lord and Savior

and whether or not he would gift his entire life

to him and ultimately he decided no. But instead,

he took this passage, these three chapters, and

he said it was incredible. So he formed a rhythm,

reading it twice a day for 40 to 45 years of

his life. He was an admirer of the Sermon on

the Mount. And it changed a lot of how he lived

his life. But he refused to go on the journey

with the one who is the Sermon on the Mount,

Jesus Christ. And there's a difference there.

So will you choose this good life? And this is

where Jesus lands the sermon. And he knows exactly

what you and I typically do when we come to something

that is impossible for us. Just like the Beatitudes

at the beginning. You come to this thing that

we can't find our way out of. And he says, I

know that's what it's going to be like. So let

me give you these symbolic understandings of

these different choices. He talks about these

two roads, a wide gate and a narrow gate, and

then these open up to different ways going forward.

So then the road analogy makes sense. The way

that we would rationally think about life seems

like a wide open road. Let's just go. But Jesus

says, hey, let me take you down this other slower

journey with me, and I promise it is going to

be the good life. Then he gives the example of

two trees. Now how are two trees related to this?

One is a tree of good fruit and one is a tree

of bad fruit. And what he's essentially saying

is be careful who you allow to speak truth into

your lives. Because they may be promising things

that this sermon does not actually call you to.

Avoid those because those are bad fruit trees.

Put yourself under those who mentor you just

as Stephen Lowe had reflected on of somebody

who says this is the good way of life. Let me

surrender to it again and again. And then probably

the most famous one, the two houses, right? We

know this. There's a guy who built it on the

rock on a firm foundation and then there's a

guy who built it where? On the sand. And then

the storm, the flood came up. Storms came. This

is a little too soon to have this story in here.

Came forward and things hit and one of the houses

did not survive. From the beginning, these houses

looked exactly the same. From the outside, we

can appear a certain way. But where are you and

I actually putting our 100 % complete trust?

Is it in Jesus and is in his good way of life?

Or am I adding him on to something for me? This

is actually what this man was trying to help

me avoid. This is not an AI picture. You see,

this is the road that we had traveled on a week

before. We had made it up there and when we were

turning around and coming back, because of the

rain, a part of the mountain had come flying

down in a landslide and severed the very road

right in half. And there was a 15 to 20 meter

drop off on the road there. And this man dressed

in ordinary clothes, waving us on, was not waving

us on to ruin my life, although it felt like

a frustrating distraction, a costly disruption.

He was actually leading me to the path that would

get me home. And he knew this because this was

his area. He had been here. He knew exactly where

things had gone wrong. And he said, hey, let

me invite you into a new journey forward. And

so the question for us is, are we choosing that

life? And I want to invite you to have grace

with yourself because you know what? This is

more what it looks like. Not, okay, I was heading

in this direction and I did a U -turn and now

look. it actually usually looks a little bit

like this. I'm heading in this direction and

I repented and I took a U -turn and I'm like,

and it becomes this journey that we go on because

it's not what we were on before and it's not

what we're used to and so it changes and forms

us over time. And that's okay because every time

you do that, you say, Lord, I'm sorry. I didn't

live in right relationship with you or others.

Thank you for your righteousness that has already

been given to me and I want to continue on in

this journey. He does it again and again. And

the best part about it is that we don't live

this good life alone. We live this good life

with the one who promised that he will never

leave us and forsake us. And we live this good

life not left to our own abilities or our own

strength, but instead his power in and through

us. Isaiah ends this chapter 61 with this beautiful

picture using another metaphor garden. We've

got a lot of metaphors for you today. For as

the earth brings forth its shoots and as a garden

causes what it's sown in to spring up, so the

Lord God will cause righteousness, right relationship

with him and others, and praise to spring up

before all nations. How are we an oak of righteousness

to display his splendor? By sticking close to

the one who is righteous. The one who has accomplished

all of that for us. We just sang about from Philippians

2, he came and humbled himself, not thinking

of equality with God as something to be grasped,

but instead took on the form of a slave and emptied

himself on your and my behalf. You and I were

his enemies and he loved us. Rather than retaliating

against us, he gave his very life in order that

we may have that life. And then he... journeyed

forward in what would have had to have been poor

in spirit in the garden when he's weeping before

God and saying, my God, would you please take

this cup from me? Or my God, my God, why have

you forsaken me? His spirit was crying out and

he did all of this, not because he's sitting

there saying, hey, go this direction. He's actually

journeyed it with before us and he's journeying

it with us. That's the kind of God that we are

invited to live this good life with. And what

he has started, he will continue within you.

So here's the invitation for us. We've just sat

through Jesus's most powerful, comprehensive

teaching in these three chapters. But as I said,

we flew over it. And I have a crazy friend who

actually rode his bike from Bangkok to Chiang

Mai. And I want to invite you to do that with

a Sermon on the Mount. I want to invite you to

go through it section by section, slowly. allowing

every single part and piece of it to be Jesus

shaping you and forming you. We just did that

flyover. Now is your turn to come and do it slowly.

Yeshua will be there with you throughout the

entire journey, causing things to spring up within

you as he has done with so many that have come

before us. So I want to invite you right now

to actually take time with God. You say, Lord,

what are the things that resonate with me? And

what are the things that I'm resisting? Would

you bring those to light with me? And it's going

to be an awkward couple minutes of silence in

here for you to just pray. So go ahead and take

time to do that. We do not earn our way into

the good life. We are gifted it through the righteousness

of Jesus. But we have been invited, honored to

actually participate in this life with him. And

may we do so that we could be oaks of righteousness

to display his splendor increasingly with one

another and the community around. And may we

do so for the glory of God. Thank you for tuning

in to the ECB sermon podcast. Whether near or

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And remember to join us next week. God bless

you.