WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:03.919 Look, I understand some of you don't like the Chiefs, and that's called jealousy. 00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:10.480 Because either you're a 49ers fan, which stops shooting your people. 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:14.400 Yeah, stop attacking your players, you'll be good. 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:17.600 He agrees. 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:20.640 Or you're a Raiders fan. 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:26.239 And if that's you, my only word to you is okay. 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:29.920 Anyway, now we have that out of the way. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:31.199 My name is Caleb. 00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:33.520 And um, I am from Kansas City, by the way. 00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:34.799 I'm not a Swifty. 00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:37.439 Hopefully we can get that out of the way. 00:00:37.759 --> 00:00:43.520 My wife got me a shirt, a red shirt with a yellow letter in that said, not a swifty, but supportive. 00:00:43.759 --> 00:00:45.439 I refuse to wear it. 00:00:45.759 --> 00:00:47.439 Anyway, glad to be here. 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:53.200 I live in Los Angeles with my wife and my son, who's in college, and my daughter who's in high school. 00:00:53.359 --> 00:00:55.439 Uh, glad to be with all of you. 00:00:55.679 --> 00:00:58.240 Um, and by the way, I love Pastor Nate. 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:00.079 You guys love Pastor Nate if you're attending here. 00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:01.359 You guys love Nate. 00:01:03.439 --> 00:01:05.040 Man, Nate is a good dude. 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:06.239 Nate is a good dude. 00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:09.280 Like, I don't I don't care what Jesus says about him. 00:01:09.359 --> 00:01:10.079 He's a good dude. 00:01:10.319 --> 00:01:10.959 I'm just kidding. 00:01:11.120 --> 00:01:17.280 Like, seriously, we met back in 2018 at Biola University and uh just stayed in touch. 00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:23.120 And just to let you know, if I live in this area, this is where I would attend, because this is a place where it's okay not to be okay. 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:27.120 But all of us join together and we follow Jesus no matter where we are on the journey. 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:34.640 So I pray that somewhere, somehow, you guys feel like if you're visiting, checking this out, keep on coming. 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:37.200 This is a place where it's okay not to be okay. 00:01:37.359 --> 00:01:39.519 And uh God's word is also gonna be held up. 00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:44.239 So I'm on staff at a sister church down in Southern California called Shepherd Church. 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:50.640 So if you're ever in Northridge, Chatsworth, San Fernando Valley, Simi Valley, I don't know why you would be. 00:01:50.959 --> 00:01:54.719 But if you are, you can come visit us at Shepherd Church. 00:01:54.959 --> 00:01:56.959 Um, so anyway, hopefully you will. 00:01:57.040 --> 00:01:58.159 Uh, I'm gonna make a statement here. 00:01:58.239 --> 00:01:59.599 Some of you aren't gonna agree with it. 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:01.120 It's okay for you to be wrong. 00:02:01.359 --> 00:02:02.400 Um, I agree. 00:02:02.480 --> 00:02:07.040 Listen, nobody buys into my opinions like I do, and nobody buys into your opinions like you do. 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:08.560 That's what I know about you, okay? 00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:10.479 So this is just my opinion, okay? 00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:12.960 I have never met a human being that is not crazy. 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:15.919 Honestly, I've never met a non-crazy human being. 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:20.800 Every human, every Homo sapien I have ever met is insane. 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:23.599 And if you don't believe me, go to the airport. 00:02:23.759 --> 00:02:25.039 Go to the airport, okay? 00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:26.719 I'll give you an example, I'll give you an example. 00:02:26.879 --> 00:02:31.439 Those of you who are skeptical, obviously, I don't know if you've seen life or not, but you're skeptical. 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:33.680 Here, here's how you can know I'm telling the truth. 00:02:33.919 --> 00:02:35.439 A couple years ago, I'm flying. 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:37.199 I fly a lot for what I do. 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:38.639 Um, and I don't like flying. 00:02:38.719 --> 00:02:40.240 And it's not because I'm afraid to die. 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:42.240 I figured it's a good way to go. 00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:45.199 It'll be memorable and you'll pass out before you hit the ground. 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:46.080 So why not? 00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:46.639 Okay. 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:49.039 Death doesn't scare me. 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:49.919 It really doesn't. 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:50.240 Okay. 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:51.599 My soul's prepared. 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:55.360 Um, what I don't like about flying are the other people. 00:02:55.599 --> 00:02:57.439 And some of you like, Caleb, that's snobby. 00:02:57.680 --> 00:02:58.159 No, it's not. 00:02:58.240 --> 00:02:59.280 It's called reality. 00:02:59.439 --> 00:02:59.680 Okay. 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:02.240 It's because people forget they're around other people. 00:03:02.319 --> 00:03:05.439 Have you ever met those people that forget that other people are around them? 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:09.759 So I'm one time, a couple years ago, I'm sitting in the aisle seat. 00:03:10.319 --> 00:03:13.439 The lady is sitting next to me, middle seat, don't know who she is. 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:19.599 We get to cruising altitude, and homegirl takes off her shoes and socks and starts clipping her toenails. 00:03:20.159 --> 00:03:28.159 Um like a wood chipper, just I've seen people do a lot of things. 00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:36.479 You look at my social media on Instagram, I have like three different collections of stories about weird things in airports and airplanes people have done. 00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:39.120 This time I said something, I just said one word. 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:41.680 I looked at her and I said, Seriously? 00:03:43.199 --> 00:03:45.120 And she said, Is this bothering you? 00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:47.919 And I said, Your toenails on my shoe. 00:03:50.479 --> 00:03:52.879 Said it wasn't there a few minutes ago. 00:03:53.759 --> 00:03:56.400 She's like, Well, maybe I could do this when I get home. 00:03:56.560 --> 00:03:58.400 And I said, I love that plan. 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:00.319 Let's go with that plan. 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:01.840 I love when a plan comes together. 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:05.520 And I said, That's when I clip my toenails at home. 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:07.919 I mean, people, I've been married 22 years. 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:09.840 My wife has never seen me clip my toenails. 00:04:09.919 --> 00:04:10.639 She never will. 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:11.120 Okay? 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:15.439 And then this lady says, I would never clip my toenails at home. 00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:16.639 I'll try that. 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:22.959 Dude, listen, this is why we don't murder for two reasons. 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:24.160 Number one, Jesus. 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:27.199 Number two, that's who's waiting for you in the jury box. 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:31.199 That's who's going to decide if you get the chair or not. 00:04:31.519 --> 00:04:33.199 The toenail lady. 00:04:34.079 --> 00:04:37.360 That's what we're dealing with in this society right now. 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:38.480 People are crazy. 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:39.519 I'll go one further. 00:04:39.680 --> 00:04:41.920 People are messy just in who they are. 00:04:42.079 --> 00:04:49.439 Um, and and what's interesting is we usually think people who are messy in the same ways that we are in their lives, you know, that they're messy. 00:04:49.519 --> 00:04:53.120 And we're really just transposing what we don't like about ourselves and other people. 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:57.040 And today I want to come and talk to you about this question. 00:04:57.199 --> 00:05:06.319 How can we love people that are different from us, that think differently, that have different values, but more specifically, even with that, how do we how do we love people? 00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:14.160 And and I'll do you one better, how do you like people and even get along with people that have different views and identity and sexuality and gender than you do? 00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:18.079 Um, I know this is hard to believe, but people do disagree with you. 00:05:18.240 --> 00:05:24.319 Um, I understand nobody buys into your opinion like you do, nobody buys into my opinion like I do, but people do disagree with us. 00:05:24.399 --> 00:05:28.160 And we live in a society where dialogue is more and more of a dying art. 00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:36.160 I mean, goodness forbid, you disagree with somebody without it being called oppression or aggression or that kind of a thing, because it's not people. 00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:45.279 Okay, this if if you deal with somebody where they say disagreement equals oppression, you're dealing with somebody who is an extremist. 00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:46.240 100%. 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:50.079 But yet God still calls us to love people, no matter what. 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:50.560 Okay. 00:05:51.279 --> 00:05:54.480 Jesus, while he was dying on the cross, said, Father, forgive them. 00:05:54.639 --> 00:05:55.519 They don't know what they do. 00:05:55.600 --> 00:05:56.639 The people that were murdering them. 00:05:56.800 --> 00:06:00.800 So I think you and I can do a better job at loving and forgiving people that disagree with us. 00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:01.680 So, how do we do that? 00:06:01.759 --> 00:06:03.839 I want to go to a time in Jesus' life. 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:08.639 Um, that some of you may have read this story, some of you may not, but it's one of my favorite stories about Jesus. 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:14.319 And Jesus is in the middle of his ministry, and I'm gonna start out reading John chapter eight. 00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:17.519 Oh, well, God bless you and whatever happened there. 00:06:17.759 --> 00:06:24.879 Um, I want to start off reading John chapter eight, beginning in verse two and ending in the middle of verse six. 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:30.800 At dawn he went to the temple again, and all the people were coming to him. 00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:32.959 He sat down and began to teach them. 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:38.240 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, making her stand in the center. 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:42.560 Teach her, they said to him, This woman was caught in the act of committing adultery in the law. 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:45.360 Moses commanded us to stone such women. 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:46.959 So what do you say? 00:06:47.199 --> 00:06:53.519 And they asked this to trap him in order that they might have evidence to accuse him. 00:06:53.759 --> 00:06:57.120 Now, let me just set the scene for you, real quick, if that's okay. 00:06:57.360 --> 00:07:01.680 You have Jesus here teaching in the temple courts, the temple in Jerusalem. 00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:04.800 Um, and and he that would be like the church lobby. 00:07:04.879 --> 00:07:07.600 Okay, that's like a pastor Nate's out in the church lobby, he's preaching. 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:11.600 And then you have all these people listening to him, and then you have the Pharisees and the scribes. 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:14.560 Now, the Pharisees were like the celebrity pastors of the day. 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:20.000 They're the ones who had the their, if today they were around, they'd have their podcasts and books and everything like that. 00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:27.199 The Pharisees, they like there were some 6,000 of them who lived in the land of Judea in Jesus' time. 00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:34.000 Now, the scribes or the teachers of the law in some translations are like the Bible college professors, the seminary professors. 00:07:34.240 --> 00:07:42.319 Um, and and they hated Jesus because we learned in John chapter 1, verses 14 and 17 that Jesus Christ came full of both grace and truth. 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:48.079 That was in direct contrast to how the Pharisees led, where they controlled people through fear. 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:51.519 Like, I'm gonna give you some advice if you ever want to win an election. 00:07:51.680 --> 00:07:54.879 Here's how you win an election today: just make people afraid. 00:07:55.199 --> 00:07:57.120 That's how you win elections today. 00:07:57.279 --> 00:07:59.920 Because when people are afraid, they are easy to control. 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:03.759 That's how the Pharisees ruled religiously. 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:08.639 And yet here comes Jesus full of grace and truth, compassion and conviction, love and principle. 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:09.439 And he's different. 00:08:09.519 --> 00:08:12.800 And people are leaving them and going to Jesus and they're losing influence. 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:13.279 They hate him. 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:14.399 And so what do they do? 00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:18.560 They're always trying to trick him, and they find this woman caught in the act of adultery. 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:19.600 Do you hear what I said? 00:08:19.680 --> 00:08:23.759 They catch her in the act, in in the act. 00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:24.959 You're like, how? 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:27.120 And I'm like, I don't know, they're creepers, right? 00:08:27.199 --> 00:08:36.480 And so they take her and they drag her through town and they put her right in front of Jesus, humiliating her and everything. 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:38.639 They're like, hey, Moses told us we could stone her. 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:39.279 What do you think? 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:46.879 They're trying to checkmate Jesus, catch 22 of them, because you know, they think, okay, if Jesus says stone her, he's keeping the law, the people will hate him. 00:08:46.960 --> 00:08:53.759 But if he says don't stone her, then all of a sudden he's not keeping the law, he's breaking it, even though the people will love him. 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:58.320 And if you're not familiar with reading the gospels, here's some advice again from me to you. 00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:01.039 Don't ever try to checkmate Jesus. 00:09:01.759 --> 00:09:03.440 It doesn't go well. 00:09:04.320 --> 00:09:09.200 And so what I think is interesting is it does say different context, different time. 00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:10.879 Deuteronomy 22. 00:09:11.360 --> 00:09:19.279 God does say if you find somebody caught in the act of adultery, you take the man and woman, you put them on trial, and then if you want, you can stone them. 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:21.039 Now, here's what's interesting. 00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:24.639 Number one, there's no trial, so they're not even following the word of God. 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:26.720 Number two, where's the dude? 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:36.480 Like, I checked, I actually had Pastor Nate check too before we came in here, and he is not in here, he's nowhere in here. 00:09:36.879 --> 00:09:42.159 And so what makes me mad is that just proves that they don't care about her or what she's been through. 00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:46.320 They are using her as much as the man who's having an affair with her was using her. 00:09:46.480 --> 00:09:49.200 And I don't care who you are, that's messed up. 00:09:49.440 --> 00:09:51.919 And so here's Jesus's response. 00:09:52.080 --> 00:10:01.279 I don't know what your response would be if you would be like emotionally reactive, or you know, if you just bottle it all in like a psychopath, or you would just be indifferent or whatever. 00:10:01.440 --> 00:10:03.279 Here's what Jesus does, it's weird. 00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:08.159 Um, then to verse six Jesus stooped down and started writing on the ground with his finger. 00:10:08.399 --> 00:10:12.320 Now I've had people say, Caleb, don't call what Jesus does weird. 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:13.200 Why would you do that? 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:16.240 I'm not insulting him, I'm not saying he's a creeper. 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:18.399 I'm saying that's awkward. 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:23.440 And if you don't believe me, when was the last time you were in an argument and you said, hold on. 00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:26.559 Never, right? 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:27.360 How about never? 00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:28.320 I'll answer for you. 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:28.960 Never. 00:10:29.120 --> 00:10:31.600 You know, I tried it two or three weeks ago with my wife. 00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:33.440 We were disagreeing about something. 00:10:33.679 --> 00:10:35.440 And so I thought, okay, I'll write on the ground. 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:36.399 She's like, what are you doing? 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:38.000 And I said, I'm acting like Jesus. 00:10:38.080 --> 00:10:39.679 I figured one of us should. 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:44.159 Yes, yes, I did not say that. 00:10:46.320 --> 00:10:51.360 I am married to a Mui Caliente Latina who has that Latina fire. 00:10:51.440 --> 00:10:56.879 If I had said that, I would be the subject of a true crime podcast right now called Where's Caleb? 00:10:57.039 --> 00:10:59.279 And they would interview her and she'd be like, I don't know. 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:01.519 He just went crazy one day and just left. 00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:02.639 I don't know where he went. 00:11:02.879 --> 00:11:07.120 And so, like, I don't after 22 years of marriage, I try to learn to keep my mouth shut. 00:11:07.200 --> 00:11:09.279 I'm always good at it, but I would never do that. 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:10.480 That would be a death penalty. 00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:14.879 So a lot of people try to figure out what in the world was Jesus writing on the ground? 00:11:15.039 --> 00:11:19.679 Was he writing like um verses of scripture or different sins? 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:23.200 I think I found something that answers this question. 00:11:23.279 --> 00:11:25.200 Uh it's all the way back in the Old Testament. 00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:26.320 See if you can make the connection. 00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:27.759 Jeremiah 17, 13. 00:11:27.919 --> 00:11:31.120 Lord, the hope of Israel, all who abandon you will be put to shame. 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:35.759 All who turn away from me will be written in the dirt. 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:41.279 Or that word in Hebrew for dirt can also mean mud, ground, sand. 00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:42.240 Why? 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:46.080 They have abandoned the Lord, the fountain of living water. 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:53.279 And I think the Pharisees and the scribes, I think Jesus was writing their names in the dirt. 00:11:53.519 --> 00:11:55.200 And I think they knew that. 00:11:55.440 --> 00:12:05.279 And I think the Pharisees and scribes thought that they were so close to God because of what they knew, and this woman was so far away, and Jesus was telling them, God doesn't care what you know if you don't have any love to show. 00:12:06.399 --> 00:12:12.000 God could give a rip how much of this book you have memorized if you don't love people. 00:12:12.159 --> 00:12:19.360 Paul goes further and says that doing things like that without love is like a clanging symbol in the ear of God. 00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:20.879 You don't want to annoy God. 00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:23.360 You've read the Old Testament, don't annoy him. 00:12:24.159 --> 00:12:28.000 And and that's what happens when we do things without love. 00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:30.240 And yet they don't get it. 00:12:30.399 --> 00:12:34.080 Because do any of us really get it when somebody first holds a mirror up to our face? 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:35.519 I'll answer for you again. 00:12:35.679 --> 00:12:36.559 No, we don't. 00:12:36.799 --> 00:12:39.360 Look at verse 7, John 8 7. 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:47.440 When they kept on questioning Jesus, he stood up and said to them, The one without sin among you should be the first to throw a stone at her. 00:12:47.679 --> 00:12:50.559 And then he stooped down again and he continued writing on the ground. 00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:51.679 Now that's brilliant. 00:12:51.840 --> 00:12:52.720 And I'll tell you why. 00:12:52.799 --> 00:12:56.320 Jesus knew after saying that they would never throw a stone for two reasons. 00:12:56.480 --> 00:13:04.159 Number one, they believed back then what I believe, Pastor Nate believes, what the leadership here believes, that God is the only sinless being in existence. 00:13:04.399 --> 00:13:05.919 Everybody else has sin. 00:13:06.080 --> 00:13:12.720 And so if they picked up a rock and threw it at this woman after Jesus issued that challenge, they would be lying. 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:19.360 And out of the 613 commands in the Old Testament that make up the law, God put lying in the top 10. 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:23.919 Because lying breaks the relationship in some cases. 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:25.360 It hurts the relationship. 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:27.200 God takes it very seriously. 00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:40.159 But he also knew that they wouldn't throw a stone after his challenge because if they picked up a rock claiming to be sinless and threw it, and God is the only sinless being in existence, in that moment they're claiming to be God. 00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:42.240 And that's blasphemy. 00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:44.000 That's an automatic death penalty. 00:13:44.080 --> 00:13:49.039 And so the very rock that they use to throw at her would be used to throw right back at them. 00:13:49.200 --> 00:13:50.159 This is brilliant. 00:13:50.559 --> 00:13:58.480 Like I tell people, you know, unchurch people, unbelievers, I'm like, look, you may not believe in Jesus yet when we talk about this, but I'm like, you gotta admit, he's got mad skills. 00:13:59.759 --> 00:14:02.720 You do not want to get in an argument with Jesus. 00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:06.399 And verse 9, it shows us the the result of this. 00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:07.600 It's almost comical. 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:11.919 When they heard this, they left one by one, starting with the older men. 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:15.440 Only Jesus was left with the woman in the center. 00:14:15.840 --> 00:14:19.279 When Jesus stood up, he said to her, Woman, where are they? 00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:20.960 Has no one condemned you? 00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:22.799 No one, Lord, she said. 00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:25.279 And in just a second, we're gonna go through. 00:14:25.360 --> 00:14:28.240 I'm gonna read the last part of verse 11 in just a second. 00:14:28.399 --> 00:14:32.080 It is one long line in the original language. 00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:40.399 It is and it holds a principle for how we can love people who are different from us, who disagree with us on this issue and on other issues. 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:41.519 Here it is. 00:14:41.759 --> 00:14:45.440 It says this neither do I condemn you, said Jesus. 00:14:45.679 --> 00:14:49.200 Go and from now on do not sin anymore. 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:53.039 Neither do I condemn you, grace. 00:14:53.519 --> 00:14:56.240 Go and sin no more, truth. 00:14:56.559 --> 00:15:04.000 You see, like I quoted earlier in John chapter 1, seven chapters earlier, Jesus came full of both grace and truth. 00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:12.879 And you see this when you read John's writings, like first, second, third John, uh Revelation and the Gospel of John, but especially Gospel of John, you see this grace and truth motif. 00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:21.039 You see it in John chapter 3 when he's talking to Nicodemus, the Pharisee, and he in his conversation, he begins with truth and he ends with grace. 00:15:21.200 --> 00:15:29.600 But then in the very next chapter in John chapter 4, when he's talking at this woman by the well in Samaria, he begins with grace and he ends in truth. 00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:34.480 And you see this grace and truth all throughout uh the Gospel of John. 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:41.519 And it's within that that we find our principle of how we can love and even like people and disagree with them at the same time. 00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:42.080 Okay. 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:47.519 And and here's before I give the principle, here's kind of the best way that I can explain it to you. 00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:49.360 It's like a rubber band. 00:15:49.759 --> 00:15:50.080 Okay. 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:52.080 I'm gonna categorize all of you here. 00:15:52.240 --> 00:15:56.240 I apologize, but I think again, this is real, okay? 00:15:56.559 --> 00:15:58.159 There are two kinds of people in this room. 00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:01.200 You're either all about the grace or all about the truth, naturally. 00:16:01.360 --> 00:16:10.799 Now, some of you may have learned to be all about both, but in your muscle habit, some of you are all about the grace. 00:16:10.879 --> 00:16:13.200 And we love you, but you're annoying. 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:17.120 Now they're annoying too, but first the grace people, you're annoying. 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:23.919 You're the ones who are like, you know, you send text with scripture verses, you're in a Bible study, you get to Romans 1 where it says the wrath of God. 00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:26.480 You're like, well, let's just skip over that. 00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:27.919 Let's not talk about that. 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:31.519 Let's just, you know, why throw a what blanket on God's love? 00:16:31.679 --> 00:16:40.559 You're like, you know, my kids when we play any kind of card game or board game, the rules merely a suggestion until they start losing. 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:43.440 Then the rules count and they make up new ones. 00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:44.480 Okay? 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:48.080 That's what it's like when you're all about grace without truth. 00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:49.039 There's no power there. 00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:52.240 It's weak and flimsy, like holding a rubber band from one side. 00:16:52.399 --> 00:16:55.600 But some of you, you're annoying because you're all about the truth without grace. 00:16:55.679 --> 00:16:59.600 And you think, okay, but you're still annoying. 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:00.879 You know these people. 00:17:01.039 --> 00:17:13.119 These are the people when you play games, card game, board game, whatever, they're like, well, let's all read the rules first, because rules control the fun, and rules make fun more fun. 00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:21.279 You know, my wife will do that, and then I'm like, you know, I'm gonna sit the game out because after listening to the rule book, I I've had too much fun with that. 00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:24.960 So I'm just gonna go sit and stare at the wall. 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:27.519 Um, we can only have so much fun in one day. 00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:29.119 Too much fun is not good, right? 00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:32.480 So you know these people, you've been in Bible studies with them. 00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:38.960 They're the ones where, you know, you're like, well, Paul said in Colossians, da da da, they're like, Philippians, he said that in Philippians. 00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:42.079 All right, thank you for your correction. 00:17:42.400 --> 00:17:43.680 Hope you get the stomach flu. 00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:47.519 Anyway, no, these are these people right here, and you know these people, right? 00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:50.559 They're annoying, but they're weak and flimsy, no power. 00:17:50.640 --> 00:17:53.279 It's like holding a rubber band from one side. 00:17:53.680 --> 00:17:57.680 This is why it's ridiculous to take sides between grace and truth. 00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:01.920 True Christians don't take sides, they stand for both. 00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:07.279 Because look, when you stand for both grace and truth, where does the power lie? 00:18:07.759 --> 00:18:10.079 The power lies in the tension of the two. 00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:15.119 And here's the principle that love is the tension of grace and truth. 00:18:15.599 --> 00:18:20.160 That tension that you feel between grace and truth, it's love. 00:18:20.319 --> 00:18:26.880 You're like, well, the Bible says this, but I'm struggling with this, and I like this, but I know I shouldn't. 00:18:27.039 --> 00:18:33.359 Or my friend is doing this, but Jesus said the opposite, and I love my friend, and I don't want that relationship to end. 00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:39.519 But over here, this is what Jesus said, or my family's doing this, and Paul said this, and you feel this struggle back and forth. 00:18:39.759 --> 00:18:41.519 Everybody's felt it, right? 00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:45.039 And it's lazy to take sides, spiritual laziness. 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:47.839 When I see people take sides, here's what I think weak. 00:18:48.400 --> 00:19:00.000 It takes no effort on your part to be all about the grace if you naturally are all about the truth, but it takes all the dependence on God to be stretched towards grace if you're about the truth, or to stretch towards truth if you're about the grace. 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:05.440 And look, if you don't like what I'm saying, you might want to consider another religion. 00:19:05.839 --> 00:19:09.599 Like, I don't know if that's in the script, Nate, but let's find out. 00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:10.640 Like, seriously. 00:19:10.960 --> 00:19:14.559 Because you got tension all throughout your faith, you just don't realize it. 00:19:14.799 --> 00:19:18.559 Okay, so you believe in one God and the Trinity. 00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:23.039 Like, if you ever try to explain the Trinity to somebody, that's fun. 00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:28.480 Okay, you believe that God is in control but allows us to have free will. 00:19:28.640 --> 00:19:29.839 How is that not tension? 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:32.960 That Jesus is fully human, fully God? 00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:39.440 That God wrote and inspired the Bible but used sinful people to write the Bible, there's no tension there. 00:19:39.839 --> 00:19:42.400 The virgin birth, Christmas, hello. 00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:47.279 What about anybody in here ever read Revelation? 00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:50.000 What about the wrath of the lamb? 00:19:51.200 --> 00:19:52.640 You ever seen a wrathful lamb? 00:19:52.799 --> 00:19:53.839 Me neither. 00:19:54.400 --> 00:19:54.720 Okay? 00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:56.640 Is there no tension there? 00:19:57.039 --> 00:19:59.519 Okay, you can be a good preacher and still have hair. 00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:00.640 Tension. 00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:06.160 So why do we get caught up in the tension of grace and truth? 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:07.200 And I'll tell you why. 00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:14.240 Because grace and truth always have to do with your relationships, with your emotional attachments. 00:20:14.640 --> 00:20:18.720 That's why you probably never stayed up all night thinking, how can Jesus be fully God and fully human? 00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:19.279 I don't understand. 00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:23.759 100% and 100% should equal 200%, but God says they equal 100%, and I don't understand. 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:24.640 What am I gonna do? 00:20:25.839 --> 00:20:30.000 But you probably stayed up all night worrying about somebody you love, right? 00:20:30.720 --> 00:20:32.160 Or somebody who passed away. 00:20:32.319 --> 00:20:32.880 Why? 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:36.160 Emotional attachment, tension. 00:20:36.319 --> 00:20:38.400 Love is the tension between grace and truth. 00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:40.960 So my question is this you're not supposed to take sides. 00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:44.559 The most Christ-like thing you can do is to stand for both grace and truth. 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:49.279 So, who is the person in your life that you need to live in the tension of grace and truth with? 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:53.519 Let me tell you about the people that I've lived my most of my life in the tension of grace and truth with. 00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:54.960 It's my mom and my dad. 00:20:55.119 --> 00:21:00.319 When I was uh two years old, my parents were both professors at the University of Missouri Columbia. 00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:03.759 They divorced and they both went into same-sex relationships. 00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:06.480 My dad never had a monogamous relationship. 00:21:06.559 --> 00:21:07.519 He stayed in Columbia. 00:21:07.599 --> 00:21:10.480 My mom moved two hours away to Kansas City. 00:21:10.559 --> 00:21:14.000 Uh she was in a 22-year monogamous relationship with a woman named Vera. 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:18.960 My parents were on the board of directors for GLAD, Gay and Lesbian Awareness Against Discrimination. 00:21:19.119 --> 00:21:31.519 In the 80s and 90s, I grew up being taken to pride parades, marches, activist events, gay clubs, gay bars as a kid, house parties, campouts, everything. 00:21:31.759 --> 00:21:35.440 And this is what I learned that Christians hate gay people. 00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:38.000 If you are not like them, they will not like you. 00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:39.599 I learned that over and over again. 00:21:39.759 --> 00:21:51.119 I saw Christians in pride parades holding up signs saying God hates you, Jesus has no room for you, throwing water and urine on people in the parade, saying this is what Jesus really thinks of you. 00:21:51.279 --> 00:21:59.599 I saw young men in the 80s and 90s dying of AIDS in the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, and their parents wouldn't even visit them because they were taking a moral. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:00.400 Stand. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:01.839 No, they were being morons. 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:03.519 There's a difference between the two. 00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:07.359 And if they did visit them, they wouldn't touch them or talk to them or anything. 00:22:07.519 --> 00:22:09.519 And I would ask my mom, why are they acting like that? 00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:11.279 She said, Caleb, they are Christians. 00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:12.880 Christians hate gay people. 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:15.680 If you're not like them, they will not like you. 00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:20.960 And I never wanted to be a Christian because I thought if Christians are this bad, I can't imagine how awful Jesus is. 00:22:21.200 --> 00:22:28.079 And I think we underestimate how much our words and actions will either encourage or discourage somebody from following Jesus. 00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:41.680 And so by the time I got to be 16, like I was living it up, partying, sneaking out at night, and I got invited by a Christian in my high school, another sophomore, to go to his house for a Bible study for Christians. 00:22:41.759 --> 00:22:43.279 And I thought this is going to be perfect. 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:47.119 I'm going to go as a ninja Christian and dismantle their faith. 00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:49.039 And that worked out real well, as you can tell. 00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:52.240 That was a it was a great plan. 00:22:52.319 --> 00:23:00.400 I showed up as an unchurched, unbelieving kid, you know, hardly ever been to church or hardly ever been to a Christian household. 00:23:00.559 --> 00:23:05.680 I walked in, they had a frame picture of a sheep on the wall. 00:23:06.559 --> 00:23:08.960 And then a lamb with a Bible verse. 00:23:09.200 --> 00:23:11.599 And I'm like, these people are weird. 00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:19.359 I'd never walked into a house and seen somebody frame a picture of a sheep and throw it up on their wall. 00:23:19.839 --> 00:23:23.759 I'm like, was this, are these the animals they killed in the last Bible study? 00:23:23.839 --> 00:23:27.599 They sacrificed, are we gonna there's gonna be a chicken on the wall next week? 00:23:27.839 --> 00:23:29.279 Like I was terrified. 00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:34.319 Then my friend came up from the basement and said, Ah, we circled up downstairs, won't you join us? 00:23:34.400 --> 00:23:38.240 And I'm like, well, wow, this is like a horror movie. 00:23:38.960 --> 00:23:42.480 I'm like, the beginning credits haven't even rolled, and I'm heading down to the basement. 00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:45.519 I mean, that's why I never go camping. 00:23:45.599 --> 00:23:47.599 I know what happens in the woods, okay? 00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:52.640 When you go missing, they look for you in the woods, nobody just comes out and says, Hey, everybody, just going for a walk. 00:23:52.799 --> 00:24:03.119 Same thing with basements, but we go down there and everybody circled up and they're reading from 1 Chronicles, and I didn't know the Bible had a, I didn't know God put a table of contents in here. 00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:05.759 And so I couldn't find First Corinthians. 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:11.200 So I just read a verse from like First Chronicles about some dude getting impaled. 00:24:11.839 --> 00:24:14.720 And they're like, what verse is that in Corinthians? 00:24:14.799 --> 00:24:16.079 And I'm like, well, it's uh something. 00:24:17.279 --> 00:24:18.319 They're like, What? 00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:19.599 You're not in Corinthians. 00:24:19.680 --> 00:24:20.559 I'm like, Yes, I am. 00:24:20.640 --> 00:24:22.640