Are your "I"s aligned?

Preached by Jaren Singh on 9/29/24

Transcript

0:50

Hello and welcome to the Kalamazoo church of Christ podcast. Thank you so much for listening. We're startup church. We just planted in September, 2020 and at the Kalamazoo church, we believe that Christianity is done best when it is done together. And so if you live in the Kalamazoo area, we would love to connect, be it coming to a Sunday service, one of our small groups, or even just grabbing coffee with a member to learn more. You can visit kalamazoo.church in order to do that. We pray that you are inspired by what you hear today. So we're, we're in Matthew 22 and uh, you know, this lesson is, uh, what we're going to talk about is two words that begin with I, we're going to talk about our image and our identity and you know, our, our image is what we project and what we promote and what we look like on the outside, our identity. We'd understand as Christians, our identity is Jesus and, and what that looks like, like living a life devoted to and dedicated to him. Um, as disciples or as Christians, this should serve as perhaps a reminder, um, for what you already believe. You're like, I've got it set up and I've already, I already do a great job. That's awesome. Keep doing a great job. Um, I think this also should serve perhaps if you are a follower of Christ, but you're, you know, up and down or struggling, or maybe you're in a low point or maybe you're in a struggle, uh, you know, struggle season. I would say this should serve as a bit of a, maybe a pebble in your shoe that, oh man, there's something more there. There's something I got to change and uh, you know, this is not, I hope I was, I was writing it. I wasn't preparing it this way. You know, there's perhaps some lessons where we listened to and we're like, man, that person really has to hear that one. Uh, maybe I should send it to them. Um, I hope this is not that I think we would probably, we probably, maybe we missed the boat if that's ever how we feel 100%, but for sure with this lesson, there'll be something in here for you. Amen. Uh, you know, if you're not yet a Christian or you're not yet fully committed, uh, let this be and I just, our manifesto of sorts, like this is our standard. This is what we're going to hold ourselves to if we're going to call ourselves followers of Christ. And I think these, these realities, these concepts that we're going to talk through, they, they, they can permeate every area and aspect of our lives. Uh, there's going to be something for everyone in here though. We're going to be in Matthew 22. We're just going to read the first little bit and we're going to break down the scripture in Matthew 22. Jesus is by all accounts kind of entering into the last phase of his ministry. He'd spent time preaching and teaching and healing and things are coming to a head right now. Things are coming to a head and that he realizes in just a few chapters. Well, it doesn't, it says it in a parallel account. It says that Jesus from that point on, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. Like he knows this is where I'm going to be crucified. And um, and so in Matthew 22 it says in verse 15, then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians teacher. They said, we know that you're a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by others because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? Stop here. And so immediately we have these two groups of people that were taught that there's Pharisees and there's Herodians and they're setting up to try to trap him and they're currying his favor and they're saying nice things about him and they say, you're not swayed by what other people think. We know you're a good man. And you know, it's interesting. A few chapters really at the beginning, it's Mark three, you don't got to turn there, but it says basically Jesus, he heals a guy on the Sabbath, a crippled man. And they say now at that point, the Pharisees went to the Herodians and started to conspire like how we can, what we can drum up to ask Jesus or to manipulate Jesus or to crucify Jesus or to at least remove him from where he is right now. What, what can we do? And, uh, you know, it got, it got me thinking that, uh, well, these are just a little bit of, uh, who the Pharisees would have been or what we're talking about here. Perhaps you already know this. Maybe you have a little bit less understanding of the Herodians Pharisees. This is the, this is a massive religious sect inside of Judaism. It was, it was relatively popular amongst the Jewish people. They valued personal piety and some of the two, especially in Jesus's time, there were two big schools or schools of thought. One was from Rabbi Shammai. The other was Rabbi Hillel and Rabbi Shammai had this very strict approach and it was very, it was anti Rome, um, especially anti Rome taxation. And there's, there's just this deep disdain that he would have taught his people inside of this Jewish, uh, this Jewish cult based or Jewish sect of a Christian or Jewish sect. He would have taught them, this is how we operate. We're not going to pay taxes. It's not, it's not lawful for us. And then Rabbi Hillel would have been a little bit looser. He might've taught, uh, that, you know, it's okay, but don't bow down in this way and whatever. But most of the people in that time would have likely identified with the top one or at least the, the common folk would have said, okay, this top guy, he's the one who we want to, uh, you know, place our allegiance to if we're going to do that. The Herodians were, uh, this is, we, we know a lot less about the Herodians. We, uh, there's, it's talked about twice in the, in the Bible, but there's not an awful lot of stuff outside of the Bible that, that talks about Herodians. We understand them to be Jewish people who supported Herod. Uh, they were, these were likely promoters of Hellenistic culture, uh, maybe at the expense of their Jewish identity. Uh, we don't, we're not positive, maybe at the expense of their Jewish identity. Uh, they viewed Herod as a way for there to be peace and security, even if it was just for a finite time. And so these guys, if you, if you're understanding it, how the Bible intends for us to understand it, then they would be pretty opposed to each other. Like naturally the Pharisees and the Herodians would not see eye to eye on an awful lot of things. But on the topic of Jesus, it seems like they saw eye to eye with each other. Um, the guy, it gets me thinking, I think for, for us, as we look at, we even begin the conversation on what is our image, what is our identity? I think we ought to, uh, if we're doing things, if we're living a life that is offensive in some ways to people who identify as being religious. And if we are living a life that is offensive to people who do not identify as being religious and identify as a very like earthly beings, I think we're getting closer to where we should be. I think if we're living a life, uh, as followers of Jesus, that means there's a religious people that the religious people are going to look at us and be confused and be frustrated and look down on us. And I think that's okay. And if we are living a life for Jesus, then certainly people in the world who put their allegiance in the world are going to look at us and they're going to be confused and they're going to be frustrated. And that's okay. We now, now it's not like it's just maybe a, maybe it's more of a gauge than it is. If you're doing it, you're doing everything right. You know that, but it's more of a gauge for us to consider. So you've got these, these two groups of people and Jesus, uh, it says, it says this, it says in verse 18, Jesus knowing their evil intent said, you hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? You know, this, this question, it was an important question for them to ask him if they were going to try to trap him. Like it seems like there's, there's no way out. Uh, if they were to say, if Jesus says, yes, pay taxes, do that, that people would have been frustrated with them. This, uh, the, the Pharisees would have looked at him and he would have been identified perhaps as a bit of a, a, a bit, a bit like Corodian in nature. Um, and he didn't want to do that. He was not identifying with a political group or a group in general. Um, if you were to say, no, don't pay taxes, that would be against what, what the teaching of the law of the day is. And so he would be confronted with that. And so there's like, if you're picturing, I think the proper way he's hemmed in on all sides, it says these, this, this thing though, it says Jesus knowing their evil intent. And then, and then he speaks, there's a parallel, there's two parallel accounts of this. And I found it really interesting that, uh, so in Matthew, it says he knows their evil intent in Mark. It says he knows their hypocrisy and in Luke, it says he sees their duplicity. And you know, we, these words are similar or perhaps they, they give similar connotations, but they do mean different things. Um, in the, in the Greek, I pulled the Greek out of it. Uh, so in, in, you know, Mark, this, this word hypocrisy, it's like this, a stage player, basically like you're putting on a show and we all know you're putting on a show, but you're putting on a show and he sees, it says he knows their hypocrisy. In Luke, this duplicity is a false wisdom or craftiness, or I'm trying to skirt my way around, around what, what you're saying. And then in Matthew, uh, the evil intent, Matthew, I mean, he speaks pretty plainly about it. This is malice, ill-intentioned actions, and all of that. And Jesus sees all of that. And I would say for us, we ought to become experts at seeing that in, in people as well. Work with me here. Like we, we, we should strive to become great at seeing and knowing when, uh, when, when people are acting in these types of ways, we're never going to be like Jesus. We're never going to have my Jesus. He had an, a great understanding. Like he had a perfect understanding. We can think, man, somebody is being a hypocrite. Maybe they're living in an authentic life, you know, but Jesus had a perfect understanding. We ought to strive to be like Jesus in this way, though. Yeah, we should strive to identify these characteristics from those we listened to and those we let into our lives. Uh, the goal understanding of this is not to be jaded, uh, and seeing like somebody always has an angle. There's always, they're always trying to get me. That's not what I'm communicating. Uh, what I will say though, is as we're trying to understand this, we understand this, then we'll understand, okay, this is how they're trying to trap me. You're trying to manipulate me. And now I'm going to respond in a spiritual way. Often, perhaps you, you might have, uh, you know, there's, there's been, there's one time in particular that I look at in my life where somebody was acting for sure with some duplicity and I just fed into it entirely. There was another Christian group on campus and I think his job was like inside of the Christian group, his job was to incite conflict, uh, in, in, in, in general, like he did everything he could. Like he would, uh, the people that we were, we were studying the Bible with a few people and he would just come in randomly and try to be our friend. And he'd sit down, Hey guys, what's up? And then afterwards he tried to get their numbers and try to tell them how, uh, the group that I was leading was a fake Christian group. We didn't have real values. We are a dead church. Like that was his goal on campus. But every time I interacted with him, he seemed like a nice guy. Like, like he, he went about his way and we would talk. And I remember the first time I met him, he said, Hey, great to see you. You remind me just like my old campus minister, man, I can tell you're a spiritual guy. And he was speaking all of these words. And in my head, I'm like, man, I was told one thing like he, he kind of developed a little bit of a reputation. Um, but I thought, you know, I'll give him a chance. And, uh, perhaps that was the right action. Uh, but over time it became clear, like his, his speech was, was duplicitous. Like he, he would say one thing to me and then he would say something else to the people that I was studying the Bible with. And he would look to me and say one thing, say he's living this type of life. And then behind the scenes, there was a number of areas that became clear that, uh, maybe he was a super pious in one area, but he was missing a lot of other areas. And I remember getting sucked in to this conversation. It happened at least twice, but one time in particular, so much so that I just got on the phone and I talked, I just made, I made a fool of myself. Uh, but I wasn't trying to, and I think this is what happens a lot of times when we're not aware of evil. Like we, we come in with sincere hearts, sincere motives, and yet it feels like we just get undressed. Like, I, I just, I remember, uh, you know, he asked me, what about this? And what about this? And what, what about here? And I was like, you know, we're trying to live a spiritual life, dude. I mean, I don't, I mean, I'm, we're not perfect yet. Hey, what about your group sin? And I said, no, bro, my group does have sin. Like, I think your group does too. I mean, we're trying to not have sin. I don't like, well, you know, what would you do if you were me? And I'm, I'm, I, my, my heart was sincere. And yet, uh, because of my lack of awareness of evil, I, uh, I just fell right into the trap that the Pharisees and the Herodians wanted Jesus to fall into. Since your heart, I, I, I wanted to, I don't even know if I, I certainly I could have done better and I did do better in the, in the coming weeks as we had interactions, but I don't even think I'm to blame necessarily. I just, I wasn't very aware. And our awareness of this stuff has to be quite high. You know, where our awareness is not quite high. I would say is great to see you Festus, dude. What's up, man? Oh, bro. It's so good to see you, dude. Festus is in school over in Chicago. If you, if you didn't know, that's why we haven't seen it for a little bit. You know, our, our awareness, uh, our awareness is maybe face to face, pretty, pretty good. I would say when we, when we interact face to face, I kind of know that person. There's something more going on where it lacks is, uh, when we're looking at somebody through a screen, you can go on, uh, any kind of social media. You can get some, uh, health advice. You can get parenting advice. You can see a number of ads telling you why this person is great. And a number of ads telling you why this person is not great. You can, uh, you can listen to a bunch of music that doesn't affect you. And you can watch a lot of movies that have no effect on you. And you can watch advertisements that you are not swayed by. And if we are not looking to be aware of the hypocrisy or the duplicity or the evil intent, we are going to fall victim to the same thing that the Herodians and the Pharisees were trying to make Jesus a victim to. That's not understanding your identity. You're making your image, something that's not your identity. You know, this is a, it's a gauge again, we're looking at gauges and maybe you're in a great spot with us. Maybe you're not. I, one of the gauges that I try to use is to ask myself how are, in what way are people trying to take my money? And in what way are people trying to get my support? And if your assumption, as you're looking on social media, or as you're listening to music, or as you're watching, whatever you're watching, if your assumption is someone's trying to take my money and someone's trying to get my support, you, uh, you might become a little bit more aware of some of the evil that's going on that you, you, you wouldn't ordinarily see. I have a, an illustration that I put down here of a, uh, of an artist who has done a masterful job of convincing her followers that, uh, that, that she really cares about them, but I'm not even going to say that this one, I'm going to, you're going to, or you can talk to me later. I have opinions. Um, but, but I just, I, it probably would, I, it would lose, it would lose some value if I, if I said it here. Uh, let, let's keep going. Let's go to Matthew 22. I got you interested. So Jesus knows their evil intent. And he says, you hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? And then he says, show me the coin used for paying the tax. So they brought him a denarius and he asked them whose image is this? And who's inscription Caesars? They replied. Then he said to them, so give back to Caesar. What is Caesars and to gods? What is gods? When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away. The fact alone that they, they brought a coin would have meant that they were already, uh, they were already doing dealings with, uh, with, with Rome. Like they were, they weren't living off the grid. They were experiencing whatever safety, perhaps, uh, hemmed in safety, or perhaps it was, uh, safety with also some restrictions, but they were already participating in this, this, you know, native, this culture of the Romans. So it says, give me your coin. They show them the coin. It says, give the Caesar with Caesars give to gods. What is gods? And so we have to ask ourselves, well, well, what is, what is, what is Caesars? Like, that's a good question, I think, to ask. And how, how is that relevant? People have taken the scripture and it's really interesting. This one in particular, people have taken it to say, okay, well, this means that we definitely need to pay taxes and be subject to every law of our country, and people have also taken it to say, this means that we do not need to pay taxes at all to our country. And people have taken both and there's, there's sects of Christianity on either side. And I was, I was surprised hearing this as well. There's various degrees of what is, what point do I give tax? And who do I give tax to? And what does this mean? Is it just the money I give? Or is it also, what is, what, is it everything else? Is it the land? I think it's perhaps more valuable for us to identify what is gods. And if we do that and we can learn where, where, where Caesar has reigned or where our culture has reigned or where our government has reigned and we can also learn though, where, where God has reigned, what is gods? This is the more relevant question. And so I would ask you whose inscription do humans have? We're made in God's image, right? In the same way that a denarius has the image of Caesar and was made in accordance with how Caesar desired and made, we, we were made by God and in his image, and that's what we ought to bear. We are, we are his special possession. The Bible says it's first Peter two. You can just reference it. It says you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. You are God's special possession. So what does God own more than certainly he can own whatever he wants. He does own everything. Absolutely. If you ask him, what's the most important thing for you? If you, God, you know, this is, you know, we're, we're getting weird here. If we said, God, you can only own one thing, what would it be? He would just say humanity. It wouldn't even, it wouldn't be a question. Of course he would choose you guys. If that's the case, then our image ought to reflect our identity. If we are made in God's image, that's our identity. Then that's then everything that we project should, should promote that. You know, there's, there's hear me now, and this is, I'm going to, I'll qualify it. If this hits you in a, in a way where you're, you pull back a little bit, then I would ask that just let me finish. And if it hits you in a way that you're like, yeah, they need to hear that. Then I would ask that, that you say a quick prayer for humility. There's, there's no there's no politician who has your best interest in mind as a Christian. Now, if you, if you primarily identify as something other than a Christian, then perhaps they, they do have your best interest in mind. Like if you identify as a black Christian, you can probably find a good politician for that. If you identify as a white Christian, you'd find a good politician for that. An Asian or Hispanic Christian, you'd probably find somebody for that. If you're a poor Christian, then you'd find a politician for you. If you're a rich Christian, then I think you, you'd be able to find your politician. Perhaps one of them has your back. If, if you put any image of yourself before you identify as a Christian, then, then there's going to be someone for you. But if you are just a disciple, if you're just a Christian and there's going to be nobody who has your best interest in mind, we ought to live a life that is, is counter-cultural, we're called to live a life that projects Christ in every area and every facet of our being. We are called the world, the world should hate it. It's not, it's not even the world's fault necessarily. Like it should hate it if we're doing it correctly. I've seen the lives of so many Christians be sapped of their joy because they see themselves as primarily something else before a follower of Jesus. This is, this is not just political. Because I'm, I'm proud to be a husband of Bianca. I'm proud to be the father of Jordan and Madison and a baby boy. I'm proud to be the son of Calvin and Kim, and I'm proud to have Angela as a mother as well. I'm grateful to be a minister. I'm proud to be half Indian and half white. I am proud to be an American. I'm so grateful to God that I was chosen to live in this country. I believe it to be the greatest country in the world. My opinion doesn't mean an awful lot, but I, I believe it to be the greatest country in the world. I don't plan to go anywhere else. I love being a Midwesterner. I'm, I'm proud of, I'm proud of the Midwest. I'm a, I'm happy to be a Packer fan. And, and, and when somebody else says it, I, I, I get a little defensive because don't you dare talk bad about Kalamazoo. There's not, there's not great ethnic food, but we got some great diners. This is what I tell people. But none of these things should hold more weight than me being a Christian. None of them. In my relationship with my spouse, it cannot be, I, I can't, I can't be more concerned with my relationship with my spouse than I am with her relationship with God and my relationship with God. I can't be concerned with keeping the peace first. I can't be concerned exclusively with what will please her. My allegiance is to Jesus first. And so was yours. In my parenting, I need to be a Christian first. I can't be a parent before I am a disciple. I need a parent, my, my, my children out of a reverence for God. My love for America and the Midwest and Kalamazoo, it cannot shape my view of people or my view of politics. It's all through the lens of Christianity first, where I spend my money. It ought to be a reflection of my love for God. This is if you squint too hard, you're just going to get a headache. If you look at this picture too long, this is what happens when things aren't really aligned all of that. Like you see the outline of, of a city. It looks like it's probably the evening. There's some lights. Yeah. Maybe there's some water underneath there. I guess I can't, I can't see very well. And maybe it was just rain. We don't really know. We see the makings of something, but we don't see it all that well. This is the life that you and I live. When we decide that our identity is going to be secondary to whatever image that we care about more. So what do we do with this? What, what, what, what do you, what are we supposed to do? Well, there's a scripture. I think it has some pretty perhaps not clear, but direct direct objectives that we can, we can strive to. If we're going to be those who live a life where our identity, Matt, or our image, excuse me, matches our identity in Christ this is Paul talking to Timothy. Perhaps it's his last letter, certainly written to Timothy, but perhaps it's his last letter that we have recorded. It says no one's serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer, similar, similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor's crown except by competing. According to the rules, the hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. Reflect on what I am saying for the Lord will give you insight into all this. It's going to be an amazing day when I can be old enough where I can just read something and say a few like cool lines and say, you know what? Just pray about that one. It's going to make sense later. That's what Paul's doing here. But think about, I mean, on a much grander scale, like he knows that we're going to be reading this and he's writing it and he says, that's going to give you some insight. Uh, I don't have, I don't have absolute insight. I got a little bit though. Uh, it says, uh, no soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, tries to please their commanding officer. This is our, what's our objective. Our objective needs to be to please God. Like we cannot be concerned with the world, the world's values. And we cannot forget that we're soldiers. Uh, there's, there's a number of songs like rah rah songs that we talk about being a soldier, but a soldier is a protector. A soldier is an advancer as well. And we need to protect the gospel and we need to advance the gospel. And it says anyone who competes as an athlete, doesn't receive the victor's crown, except competing according to the rules. What says we got to compete? Like there, when I, when I'm interacting with people, when you're interacting with people and there's a little bit of fight, there's a little bit of energy, it raises your energy. Even if you think it's for something foolish, there's a little bit of energy being raised. Um, even if it's for fantasy football, there's a little bit of energy being raised, right? This is, it's a, it's, it's dumb. It's menial. And yet when you, when you find somebody that really likes it, you're like, okay, I can, I can get myself into this thing. Or maybe, uh, you know, you can fill in whatever you want to fill in there. Compete. Uh, but it says compete according to the rules and allow yourself to be subject to someone else. I don't need the rules. You, I mean, man, I deep inside of us, I think we all, maybe we like rules, but the people who like rules probably the ones that made them growing up. Um, like I, I don't know. I mean, I, I just interact with my children. Like my, my girls, they know everything already. I don't, I have nothing to give to them. Uh, they already know it all, right? Uh, they already know exactly what to do and I can try to teach them and train them, but deep inside of all of us is something that says, no, I think I know a little bit better. This is saying, Hey, you got to follow the rules. Um, you gotta be subject to someone. You have to allow yourself to be under somebody. And this, this third thing, the hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. Does work hard, uh, and identify those who work hard. Uh, because there's times when you're working and you realize I'm not the hardworking farmer today. Somebody else is, let me let them go. Uh, there's, there's a self-awareness that's necessary. If we are going to, uh, follow what the Bible teaches and it's saying, you got to realize that you work hard today. Uh, and if you did great, like you're going to receive something. If you didn't work hard tomorrow, work hard a little bit later. I think if we are focused on living our true identity as, as Christians above everything else, then, then there's something in here for all of us. We're not going to get entangled. We are going to allow ourselves to be subject, but we're also going to be self-aware enough to realize when someone does well, we're going to identify it. And when something's wrong, we're going to identify it and we're doing well. We're going to, we're going to feel great about that because we will receive an award, a reward in the end. Amen. We are going to, uh, we're going to get ready to take communion here. And, um, it was a passage that, that Jesus shares, uh, that Jesus says basically it's in John 18 and he's interacting with, with Pilate in verse 33 says, then in John 18, excuse me. It says, then Pilate went back inside the palace and summoned Jesus and asked him, are you the King of the Jews? Is that your own idea? Jesus asked, or did others talk to you about me? Am I a Jew? Pilate replied, your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done? Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world. If I were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place. You are a King. Said Pilate, Jesus answered. You say that I'm a King. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me. Jesus says, my kingdom is of another place. And this is the place that you and I are looking forward to. This is a place whose rules we are called to live out. Even right now, as, as interesting, as crazy, as deep of a concept as that is. And us taking communion is a reflection that Jesus, you have done the work. We, uh, we remember your blood shed on a cross. We remember your body broken for us to give us the chance to, to listen to you, to give us a chance to be on the side of truth. Amen. Let's, let's pray right now. Dear God, Lord, uh, we, we love you. We are, we, we want to, we want to live lives that project you and promote you. And not because of anything more than that is who we are, Lord. We know that, that the world has perverted the idea of living an authentic life or being true to yourself, or we realized that God, we want to turn to you in an effort to live who you made us to be Jesus, we're so grateful that you saw us as worthy before we were worthy. We are so grateful that you saw us as good when we were not good. We're so grateful that you saw us as loving when we were just full of hate. Lord, we, we pray that you will, uh, you, you will use us, but Lord, that you will, uh, just push yourself onto us, Lord, that you will give us a no choice, but to follow you Lord. I pray that our awareness of what you're doing and what you've done will, will only grow. Jesus, we love you. We thank you so much for your sacrifice on the cross. This is in your name that we pray. Thank you so much for listening to the Kalamazoo church of Christ podcast. If you're in the Kalamazoo area, we'd love to get connected. Please go to kalamazoo.church and fill in your information to come to a Sunday service or any other event that we have going on in any case, you'll be hearing from us next week. We love you so much.