WEBVTT 00:00:01.604 --> 00:00:01.985 Hey, what up? 00:00:01.985 --> 00:00:02.587 It's Mark Carter. 00:00:02.587 --> 00:00:03.870 I'm the pastor of Fierce Church. 00:00:03.870 --> 00:00:04.892 Welcome to our podcast. 00:00:04.892 --> 00:00:07.229 I'm so pumped that you're able to join us today. 00:00:07.229 --> 00:00:16.728 I hope this encourages you, inspires you, strengthens you, gives you hope to keep pressing on, and it's my prayer that this sermon gives you a more expansive view of God's love for you. 00:00:16.728 --> 00:00:17.871 Enjoy the message. 00:00:17.871 --> 00:00:18.821 Today. 00:00:18.821 --> 00:00:23.551 I want to talk to you about living in such a way that people can see what God is like. 00:00:24.092 --> 00:00:26.478 Have you ever done something wrong? 00:00:26.478 --> 00:00:31.951 Though you were meaning to do it right, it actually did damage because of the way you did it. 00:00:31.951 --> 00:00:35.927 When I was a very young pastor, a woman came to me and she was concerned. 00:00:35.927 --> 00:00:39.286 Her daughter was getting married and she was like I don't know about this guy. 00:00:39.286 --> 00:00:40.652 Now, this guy was a Christian. 00:00:40.652 --> 00:00:44.444 I knew them a little and I said to her I don't think it's a problem. 00:00:44.444 --> 00:00:45.546 You know what's the big deal? 00:00:45.546 --> 00:00:49.722 It seems like you know it's better, as the Bible says, to marry than to burn, so why don't you? 00:00:49.722 --> 00:00:51.207 Just I mean, it sounds good to me. 00:00:51.207 --> 00:01:03.750 And guys, I regret speaking so fast because for years after that, though they were both Christians, they had incredible tension and that mom was coming to me to ask my opinion Now I don't know that they wouldn't have gotten married anyway. 00:01:03.750 --> 00:01:04.971 But what did I do? 00:01:04.971 --> 00:01:12.346 I was trying to be helpful but I ended up not, at least not being as helpful as I might've been, because I was just moving too fast. 00:01:12.367 --> 00:01:12.849 You ever done that. 00:01:12.849 --> 00:01:16.007 You ever try to do something good and you end up doing something bad. 00:01:16.007 --> 00:01:16.992 Maybe for some. 00:01:16.992 --> 00:01:25.522 You know you were trying to demonstrate your own independence with parents but you broke trust a little bit because you were trying so hard and that created distance. 00:01:25.522 --> 00:01:36.507 Maybe you're one who you're really trying to work, you're trying to bring it home for the family, but because you're working so much, you're actually neglecting family and it's turning out bad and resentment is beginning to build. 00:01:36.507 --> 00:01:39.316 What about some parents and parents? 00:01:39.316 --> 00:01:57.926 I'm not trying to diss you, but some parents you so want to control every little thing that your kid does, that even as they grow, you're trying to shape every environment, every decision and what happens is you actually hold them back and they underdevelop their responsibility and you wanted to help, but you ended up hurting a little bit. 00:01:57.926 --> 00:01:59.971 Anybody ever done that? 00:01:59.971 --> 00:02:02.563 I know I have Some couples. 00:02:03.486 --> 00:02:04.349 You know what this is like. 00:02:04.349 --> 00:02:07.088 It doesn't have to be a couple, but it's especially hard in marriage. 00:02:07.088 --> 00:02:13.287 You want to not bring conflict into the situation, and so you just zip it and what you do is you sweep it under the rug. 00:02:13.287 --> 00:02:15.548 The problem is, everything stays under the rug. 00:02:15.548 --> 00:02:25.312 The rug doesn't magically make it go somewhere, it just piles up under the rug and then at some point there is an explosion because you've dealt with it for so long and all the stuff comes out at the same time. 00:02:25.312 --> 00:02:30.888 You wanted to be helpful by not engaging in conflict, but actually that potentially made it worse. 00:02:30.888 --> 00:02:33.635 We all know what that's like. 00:02:34.177 --> 00:02:37.066 We're in this series called the applause of heaven We've been going through so far. 00:02:37.066 --> 00:02:39.319 The first part of the sermon on the mount. 00:02:39.319 --> 00:02:40.542 This was the beatitudes. 00:02:40.542 --> 00:02:41.623 Remember what the beatitudes are? 00:02:42.284 --> 00:02:49.074 These are truth statements where Jesus is saying this is what it's like for those who are going to live in proximity to Yahweh. 00:02:49.074 --> 00:02:55.223 If they're going to get to know him and develop his heart more and more, they're actually going to start acting more and more like Jesus. 00:02:55.223 --> 00:02:58.116 They're going to be merciful when they're tempted to not be. 00:02:58.116 --> 00:03:02.645 They're going to be courageous and confident in God when they're tempted to not be. 00:03:02.645 --> 00:03:03.826 They're going to try to bring peace. 00:03:03.826 --> 00:03:06.330 Where there's already division forming. 00:03:06.330 --> 00:03:10.582 They're going to be meek when everyone else would try to weigh in very heavy-handed. 00:03:10.582 --> 00:03:16.454 They're going to be very different, and we talked about last week. 00:03:16.454 --> 00:03:22.393 If you are going to be very different, you're going to experience ridicule and rejection. 00:03:22.393 --> 00:03:28.413 If you keep doing this thing, where you're getting closer to Jesus, you're going to start acting more like him and it just comes with a little bit of antagonism. 00:03:28.413 --> 00:03:31.925 Now, being like Jesus man, that's an interesting thing. 00:03:32.987 --> 00:03:36.521 Jesus is said to be the very image of the invisible God. 00:03:36.521 --> 00:03:37.865 It says in Colossians 1.15,. 00:03:37.865 --> 00:03:43.044 The son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 00:03:43.044 --> 00:03:44.828 What is this image of God thing? 00:03:44.828 --> 00:03:48.747 There's a theologian named Athanasius in the fourth century. 00:03:48.747 --> 00:03:53.723 He had a great way of explaining how to understand Jesus as the image of God. 00:03:53.723 --> 00:04:02.150 He said when Adam was made, he was said to be this he's made in God's image and it's kind of like a portrait was made of Adam and a portrait of Adam was really, in some ways, a portrait of God. 00:04:02.150 --> 00:04:06.084 You know what God is like because Adam was made of Adam and a portrait of Adam was really, in some ways, a portrait of God. 00:04:06.084 --> 00:04:08.955 You know what God is like because Adam was made in his image. 00:04:09.197 --> 00:04:10.221 But then the fall happened. 00:04:10.221 --> 00:04:17.824 And when the fall happened, human nature fell and got corrupted and corroded and Adam became something that he wasn't at all. 00:04:17.824 --> 00:04:25.488 He became vicious, he became angry, he became adulterous, he became murderous, he became all these things, and it marred the image of God. 00:04:25.488 --> 00:04:29.961 In fact, it marred it so much that nobody remembers what the original image looked like. 00:04:29.961 --> 00:04:35.600 The painting got so strange that everyone would try and they'd try to like, invent different religions. 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:37.887 Let's try to get back to what the original image looked like. 00:04:37.887 --> 00:04:39.401 But nobody knew what it looked like. 00:04:39.401 --> 00:04:42.586 And so they try, and they try, and they try really hard. 00:04:42.586 --> 00:04:45.391 They'd have rules and they'd try, but no one could get back there. 00:04:45.572 --> 00:04:47.904 Until one day God said I'll tell you what I need to do. 00:04:47.904 --> 00:04:50.427 I need to send my son. 00:04:50.427 --> 00:04:54.247 He is the image of God and he will show everybody. 00:04:54.247 --> 00:04:56.572 This is what God is like. 00:04:56.572 --> 00:04:58.324 You've lost the image. 00:04:58.324 --> 00:04:59.127 Here it is again. 00:04:59.127 --> 00:05:01.908 It's in the person of Jesus Christ. 00:05:01.908 --> 00:05:08.851 When we see the image of the invisible God in Jesus Christ, now we understand what God is trying to say. 00:05:08.851 --> 00:05:11.483 And now we understand this is what we're trying to, with his help, be conformed to. 00:05:11.483 --> 00:05:17.744 This is what we're supposed to be like this is the man who always loved the Lord as God with all his heart, mind, soul and strength. 00:05:17.744 --> 00:05:20.009 He always loved his neighbor as himself. 00:05:20.009 --> 00:05:21.661 He's the one doing it right. 00:05:21.661 --> 00:05:26.569 That's the one we're supposed to be synchronizing to Now. 00:05:26.569 --> 00:05:32.781 When we're synchronizing to Jesus, not everybody likes it and sometimes we're tempted to hide. 00:05:32.802 --> 00:05:34.605 Nicodemus was actually a good example of this. 00:05:34.605 --> 00:05:36.028 Some of you remember Nicodemus. 00:05:36.028 --> 00:05:45.726 He was a Pharisee, he was one of the leading people, and he was also a little bit embarrassed or ashamed of Jesus or something, because he went to meet him at night. 00:05:45.726 --> 00:05:59.151 He wanted to like kind of get near Jesus, but it was too costly to come out in public and be understood as one of the disciples of Jesus, and so he kind of hid away until Jesus had already been murdered on the cross, and then he finally started to help out a little bit. 00:05:59.151 --> 00:06:09.362 Have you ever been like Nicodemus, where you want to be Jesus's person, but you don't want anyone to necessarily, you don't want to flaunt it, you don't want to create any waves, you don't want anyone to know. 00:06:09.362 --> 00:06:15.362 That's one temptation that comes along with knowing Jesus, as you might be tempted to veil it a little bit. 00:06:15.362 --> 00:06:20.680 But there's another temptation, and we see this in the ruling class, the Pharisees. 00:06:20.680 --> 00:06:22.524 They were the ruling party and just so we know. 00:06:22.584 --> 00:06:23.906 Not every Pharisee was bad. 00:06:23.906 --> 00:06:25.711 There were certainly some good Pharisees. 00:06:25.711 --> 00:06:35.112 But when the Bible, primarily the New Testament, is referring to Pharisees, it's talking about the folks who were in charge and they were doing all the things wrong. 00:06:35.112 --> 00:06:43.829 They were supposed to be like the religious go-betweens, but they were giving an image of God that was not correct and it created very negative culture for the people of the time, the people listening to the Sermon on the Mount. 00:06:43.829 --> 00:06:47.754 They've had some really not healthy spiritual models. 00:06:47.754 --> 00:06:49.036 Anybody ever had something like that. 00:06:49.036 --> 00:06:52.367 You've been in an environment you're like I don't know that. 00:06:52.367 --> 00:06:56.093 This is the image, I don't know that this is what I'm supposed to be synchronizing to. 00:06:56.093 --> 00:07:01.651 So maybe you experienced something like these early listeners of the Sermon on the Mount. 00:07:01.670 --> 00:07:14.711 Maybe what they experienced listeners of the Sermon on the Mount, what they experienced they probably experienced the fruit of the Pharisees being so meticulous about the law that they forgot the people that the law was training them to love. 00:07:14.711 --> 00:07:26.624 They were so involved in the details that they missed the heart of compassion that God was trying to create and they would get hung up on little things and they'd miss giant things. 00:07:26.624 --> 00:07:30.235 They were so desiring to separate. 00:07:30.235 --> 00:07:31.961 They wanted okay, the goodies are over here. 00:07:31.961 --> 00:07:33.369 We're the goodies and those are the baddies. 00:07:33.369 --> 00:07:35.680 These are the pure ones and those are the not pure ones. 00:07:35.860 --> 00:07:46.380 And it created a culture of division where half the people walk around feeling like I'm just not enough and the others walk around feeling like they're super awesome and important. 00:07:46.380 --> 00:08:02.944 And they really focused on exteriors instead of interiors and they made everybody afraid, because if you step out of bounds, we're going to point it out and it's creating distance from God rather than closeness to God. 00:08:02.944 --> 00:08:07.172 They were trying to do something good, but it ended up being bad. 00:08:07.172 --> 00:08:13.127 Some of you might've had spiritual models who, many of them maybe, were trying to do something good. 00:08:13.127 --> 00:08:16.822 Maybe that was just what they were modeled and so they were just doing what they saw to do. 00:08:17.584 --> 00:08:21.702 But whatever it was, it created a culture that you began to suspect and you're like I don't know that this is right. 00:08:21.702 --> 00:08:23.547 I don't know that we're supposed to be divided like this. 00:08:23.547 --> 00:08:25.430 I don't know that we're supposed to be angry at everybody out there. 00:08:25.430 --> 00:08:28.322 I wonder if I'm not supposed to be afraid of them. 00:08:28.322 --> 00:08:35.893 Maybe we're supposed to all like, feel like family, and maybe this is supposed to be closing the distance between us and God instead of creating distance. 00:08:35.893 --> 00:08:48.826 Well, anyway, that's what they were like, and so the question for them and us becomes what are the characteristics of the kingdom subjects, and how do we do that differently than the ruling class Pharisees did it? 00:08:48.826 --> 00:08:54.428 How do we buck our models and do it in a different way that actually does begin to image the son of God again? 00:08:54.769 --> 00:08:55.711 Jesus has got our answer. 00:08:55.711 --> 00:08:57.443 It's right here, in verse 13 of chapter five. 00:08:57.443 --> 00:09:04.125 You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? 00:09:04.125 --> 00:09:08.014 It's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. 00:09:08.014 --> 00:09:10.166 You are the light of the world. 00:09:10.166 --> 00:09:19.591 A city on a hill can't be hidden, nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but put it on a lampstand and it gives light to all who are in the house. 00:09:19.591 --> 00:09:26.894 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, who is in heaven. 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:30.990 Do not think I came to abolish the law and the prophets. 00:09:30.990 --> 00:09:33.509 I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 00:09:33.509 --> 00:09:37.912 Jesus says hey, just in case there's questions about this, I'm not getting rid of the law. 00:09:37.912 --> 00:09:40.589 In fact, I'm fulfilling it. 00:09:40.589 --> 00:09:46.448 For, truly, I said to you until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the law. 00:09:46.448 --> 00:09:55.547 Until it's all accomplished, whoever annuls one of the least of these commandments he's talking to the Pharisees and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. 00:09:55.547 --> 00:09:59.342 But whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 00:09:59.342 --> 00:10:06.221 For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of God. 00:10:06.221 --> 00:10:16.821 And we've mentioned before this had to make every heart out on the mount sink because they're like these are our best guys, these are the all-stars, and we have to be better than them. 00:10:16.821 --> 00:10:18.043 I can't even be them. 00:10:18.043 --> 00:10:25.708 And yet Jesus is showing a different way, a way that isn't by the way the Pharisees do it with laws. 00:10:25.708 --> 00:10:30.750 He's doing it with grace, and he says he fulfills, he fulfills it. 00:10:30.820 --> 00:10:32.866 I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. 00:10:32.866 --> 00:10:33.288 What does that mean? 00:10:33.288 --> 00:10:38.331 Well, on one level, it means Jesus obeyed in every way that we disobeyed. 00:10:38.331 --> 00:10:47.611 So he was the perfect image of God and instead of doing all the things wrong that marred up the portrait, he did everything right and he gave it to us. 00:10:47.611 --> 00:10:49.094 But there's something else that he did. 00:10:49.094 --> 00:10:53.630 He made sense of the Old Testament. 00:10:53.630 --> 00:10:56.321 He said all these laws, all the things the prophets were saying. 00:10:56.321 --> 00:10:58.570 That was actually about me, in fact. 00:10:58.870 --> 00:11:04.868 Once he was resurrected, he appeared to some disciples who were walking on the road to Emmaus and they didn't know that it was him. 00:11:04.868 --> 00:11:09.668 He was kind of veiling himself at first and this is what he said to them they're kind of depressed because they're like man, you know the Messiah. 00:11:09.668 --> 00:11:12.327 We thought it was him and now they put Jesus to death. 00:11:12.327 --> 00:11:13.191 It's really kind of sad. 00:11:13.191 --> 00:11:20.027 And he says this in Luke 24, how foolish you are and slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken. 00:11:20.027 --> 00:11:23.532 Suffer these things and enter his glory. 00:11:23.532 --> 00:11:29.610 And, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself. 00:11:29.610 --> 00:11:33.294 Can you imagine that's got to be the most awesome Bible study in the history of the world. 00:11:33.657 --> 00:11:35.202 Jesus is taking these guys line by line. 00:11:35.202 --> 00:11:36.767 This is about me, this is about me. 00:11:36.767 --> 00:11:38.270 This is about me, this is about me. 00:11:38.270 --> 00:11:38.941 Do you not see? 00:11:38.941 --> 00:11:40.001 This is all about me. 00:11:40.001 --> 00:11:41.364 It had to happen this way. 00:11:41.364 --> 00:11:43.647 It was already foretold it would happen this way. 00:11:43.647 --> 00:11:49.515 Jesus says this was all about me and I'm bringing the resolution to the cord. 00:11:49.515 --> 00:11:53.086 Everyone was wondering when it's finally going to be okay. 00:11:53.086 --> 00:11:54.188 I make it okay. 00:11:54.188 --> 00:11:59.869 I'm the one who obeys all the laws and explains to you the way God really is. 00:12:00.269 --> 00:12:06.427 And see, once these people got this, once these people listening to the sermon, once they can get this, they get free. 00:12:06.427 --> 00:12:17.193 See, now, unlike their instructors and the people that were modeling for them, now they don't have to be preoccupied with getting every little thing right. 00:12:17.193 --> 00:12:22.801 They don't have to be preoccupied with creating divisions between people because some are better than others. 00:12:22.801 --> 00:12:31.782 They don't have to be preoccupied with their moral record, because Jesus Christ has already solved that problem and fulfilled the law on their behalf. 00:12:31.782 --> 00:12:34.931 They don't need to go back and now fill up something with regard to the law. 00:12:34.931 --> 00:12:35.461 That's empty. 00:12:35.461 --> 00:12:37.565 Jesus already did the whole thing. 00:12:37.946 --> 00:12:41.793 Now you can just walk as someone who is forgiven. 00:12:41.793 --> 00:12:43.664 You're just forgiven now. 00:12:43.664 --> 00:12:44.910 If you've trusted Jesus Christ, you are just forgiven. 00:12:44.910 --> 00:12:45.493 You're just forgiven now. 00:12:45.493 --> 00:12:45.754 You're just. 00:12:45.754 --> 00:12:47.461 If you've trusted Jesus Christ, you are just forgiven. 00:12:47.461 --> 00:12:48.443 That's your identity. 00:12:48.443 --> 00:12:57.645 You don't need to keep going back to the law and and I got to do this so that God's finally pleased with me I got to be like those spiritual leaders over there, maybe, or someone else that was really impactful to me. 00:12:57.966 --> 00:13:00.072 No, you do not Stop. 00:13:00.072 --> 00:13:07.128 You need to go directly to the throne of Jesus and say I accept your gift of perfection. 00:13:07.128 --> 00:13:13.307 I am now viewed by God as having obeyed just like Jesus, and I just receive it. 00:13:13.307 --> 00:13:18.924 And that makes everybody, even Everyone's, even Everyone's level, at the foot of the cross. 00:13:18.924 --> 00:13:27.782 Everybody's now forgiven, not to mention, I mean, jesus has already told these people did you see this External righteousness, like the righteousness that the Pharisees have? 00:13:27.782 --> 00:13:28.905 That doesn't even help you. 00:13:28.905 --> 00:13:40.118 So even if, like you're the dope jam in that, even if you're doing it great, he says in verse 20, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 00:13:40.118 --> 00:13:44.767 It's not helping you to work so hard and your example doesn't help anybody else. 00:13:44.767 --> 00:13:46.376 So why don't you just stop it? 00:13:46.376 --> 00:13:47.883 Why don't you just let that go? 00:13:47.883 --> 00:13:50.011 Why don't you let Jesus be enough? 00:13:50.011 --> 00:13:50.835 Because there's another way. 00:13:50.835 --> 00:13:52.779 There's a non-law way, and it's Romans 8.1. 00:13:52.779 --> 00:13:57.418 There is therefore now no condemnation for those that are in Christ. 00:13:57.418 --> 00:13:59.081 As we decide. 00:13:59.081 --> 00:14:00.783 I'm not going by law, I'm going by grace. 00:14:00.783 --> 00:14:04.971 I'm becoming Jesus's little woman, I'm becoming Jesus's little man. 00:14:04.971 --> 00:14:12.852 Paul said in Romans, chapter 10, for Jesus Christ is the end of the law for everyone who believes. 00:14:12.852 --> 00:14:18.386 If you're going to go the law way, baby, you got to obey the whole thing perfectly and sorry, you're already disqualified. 00:14:18.386 --> 00:14:22.039 So let's just go the Jesus way. 00:14:22.039 --> 00:14:24.857 Somebody say Jesus way, say Carter. 00:14:25.239 --> 00:14:27.559 But the thing is I can tell I'm actually better than people. 00:14:27.559 --> 00:14:31.472 I can tell See, doesn't that count for anything? 00:14:31.472 --> 00:14:37.327 I'm better than some of these other people Like I know that they're okay, but I'm way better than so-and-so. 00:14:37.327 --> 00:14:39.337 And yeah, there's people somewhere better than me. 00:14:39.337 --> 00:14:42.965 But I know the people around me and I can't help but notice that I'm just. 00:14:42.965 --> 00:14:47.159 I'm more loving, I'm more obedient, I'm more walking in the fear of God. 00:14:47.159 --> 00:14:54.769 And okay, possibly, that's true, you're definitely going to find people that are further along than you and you're further along than some. 00:14:54.769 --> 00:14:56.998 But let me give you this illustration that I've given before. 00:14:56.998 --> 00:15:06.816 It's kind of like everyone's in a swim contest and you can say dude, I can swim two whole doggone miles, and that little pud, he can barely swim across the swimming pool. 00:15:06.816 --> 00:15:15.624 Now you might even say I know there's people somewhere they can swim 10 miles, but I can still swim two, and that's pretty doggone good. 00:15:15.624 --> 00:15:16.606 Doesn't that count for something? 00:15:16.606 --> 00:15:21.226 And the answer is no, it doesn't count for anything, because the contest is not against them. 00:15:22.556 --> 00:15:25.524 The contest was can you love the Lord, your God, perfectly? 00:15:25.524 --> 00:15:27.476 Can you image Jesus, the way that Jesus was? 00:15:27.476 --> 00:15:33.254 What that means is, my friend, you'd have to swim to the moon and you'll never do it. 00:15:33.254 --> 00:15:35.760 Now the good news is you don't have to. 00:15:35.760 --> 00:15:40.457 But once you recognize none of us can swim to the moon, we're all in trouble without Jesus. 00:15:40.457 --> 00:15:43.543 He's the only one that can come, get us and bring us where we need to go. 00:15:43.543 --> 00:15:51.025 And once we're ready to do that, we're ready to live in such a way that people can sense what God is like through us. 00:15:51.715 --> 00:15:57.741 So I just think for some, for some, we might want to get a little more confidence and you got to practice it a little bit, man. 00:15:57.741 --> 00:16:03.227 Get a little more confidence in I'm going to rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ. 00:16:03.227 --> 00:16:05.261 I'm just going to let him love me. 00:16:05.261 --> 00:16:10.865 That means, when I sin and I'm aware of it, yes, I'm going to go straight to Jesus and say Lord, I'm sorry I did it again. 00:16:10.865 --> 00:16:11.917 Please forgive me. 00:16:11.917 --> 00:16:14.203 I know your blood covers me and then I'm going to. 00:16:14.203 --> 00:16:16.375 I'm not going to strut, but I'm going to walk confidently. 00:16:16.375 --> 00:16:19.500 I can't get the favor to rub off man. 00:16:19.500 --> 00:16:22.184 I keep trying to get it off, but the blood doesn't go anywhere. 00:16:22.184 --> 00:16:32.298 I am covered, I am forgiven, I am accepted and loved by my God and I don't need to keep working for it. 00:16:32.298 --> 00:16:32.961 I'm just going to walk. 00:16:32.980 --> 00:16:36.855 How happy do you think it makes the enemy when you go and ask God for forgiveness and then you beat yourself up for like three days? 00:16:36.855 --> 00:16:39.126 He's like this person is not going to love anybody. 00:16:39.126 --> 00:16:39.448 Why? 00:16:39.448 --> 00:16:41.840 Because they're going to be so focused on themselves. 00:16:41.840 --> 00:16:47.683 They're going to be so focused on oh man, I got to do a little better and I got to be so focused on this. 00:16:47.683 --> 00:16:49.772 No, you don't need to be so focused on that. 00:16:49.772 --> 00:16:56.975 Be a little focused on that, but instead just say okay, forgiven on to loving people better, on to making it about other people. 00:16:56.975 --> 00:16:58.498 That's what I was forgiven for. 00:16:58.498 --> 00:17:00.321 That's why Jesus came. 00:17:00.321 --> 00:17:03.846 He came to empower me to be just like him in a little mini way. 00:17:03.846 --> 00:17:14.923 So that's what I'm going to get after, and what we find is that, once kingdom subjects are no longer preoccupied with themselves and when you're preoccupied with yourself. 00:17:14.923 --> 00:17:18.981 So let's just clarify you're not serving anybody when you're focused on you. 00:17:18.981 --> 00:17:26.663 Even if you're kind of playing like you are, even if you're serving somewhere, you're not really serving if you're really just focusing on you Now. 00:17:26.804 --> 00:17:31.319 Once your focus is not on you, because you don't have to keep your moral record perfect, jesus is already doing that for you. 00:17:31.319 --> 00:17:37.237 Once you're there, now you can focus on glorifying God by doing good. 00:17:37.237 --> 00:17:45.481 Glory means when we glorify God, that means we do things in such a way that people can tell where it really came from. 00:17:45.481 --> 00:17:52.306 People can tell, ah, whoa, that is something different than what is on earth. 00:17:52.527 --> 00:18:13.844 Most of the time you probably heard this before you saw somebody maybe somebody said it to you but you meet somebody and they've just got really good manners, like they're just, they're kind of like super nice, they'll hold the door for you, they always say the right thing at the right time. 00:18:13.844 --> 00:18:14.465 They've got a lot of integrity. 00:18:14.465 --> 00:18:18.638 They'll sometimes speak to you in a way that's like yes, sir, or yes, ma'am, and occasionally someone will notice that and they'll say, wow, you were just raised right. 00:18:18.638 --> 00:18:22.086 You must've been raised right Now. 00:18:22.086 --> 00:18:27.778 When they say that to you, they're not really complimenting you as much as they're complimenting your parents. 00:18:27.778 --> 00:18:32.438 They're saying somebody else, whoever raised you, they did something really right. 00:18:32.479 --> 00:18:37.355 That's why you're like this and we want to have our good that we're doing in Jesus' name. 00:18:37.355 --> 00:18:42.284 We don't want to do it in such a way that people say you know, I know a lot about your God by the way. 00:18:42.284 --> 00:18:44.946 You're doing that and it's not a pharisaical version. 00:18:44.946 --> 00:18:49.413 I'm not learning that God is very angry at everyone who's not getting it perfectly right. 00:18:49.413 --> 00:18:51.920 I'm not learning that God is primarily focused on exteriors. 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:57.821 I'm learning what God is really like and he looks a whole lot like, exactly like, jesus Christ, by what you do. 00:18:57.821 --> 00:19:01.067 I learn about God by looking at you. 00:19:01.067 --> 00:19:03.401 That's glorifying the Father as we go. 00:19:03.401 --> 00:19:05.045 So how do we glorify God? 00:19:05.045 --> 00:19:08.039 Great question here's number one Transformed people. 00:19:08.039 --> 00:19:11.395 Those are the folks that have come and asked Jesus Christ to forgive them. 00:19:11.395 --> 00:19:16.407 Transformed people now resist now, resist now. 00:19:16.407 --> 00:19:18.451 They resist moral decay. 00:19:19.575 --> 00:19:22.602 You are the salt of the earth, salt in Jesus' time. 00:19:22.602 --> 00:19:27.557 It's not that it was never used for flavoring, but it was primarily used as a preservative, meaning folks. 00:19:27.557 --> 00:19:33.240 They didn't have any refrigerator, so if they're going to have some fish or beef or whatever they've got, they're going to have to salt it. 00:19:33.240 --> 00:19:35.804 So salt is understood as this is a preservative. 00:19:35.804 --> 00:19:43.988 It keeps the moral decay away and my people, jesus, says you're going to be that preservative for the world. 00:19:43.988 --> 00:19:53.816 Let me give you an example, because you might be Christians kind of have a bad reputation right now in world history, but it has not always been so, and I want to show you one of the reasons. 00:19:53.816 --> 00:19:55.759 Why is because Christians have consistently improved society. 00:19:55.759 --> 00:20:03.967 As moral decay happens, they've consistently stepped up and they said this isn't right, I'm not comfortable with this, this isn't what should be happening. 00:20:04.007 --> 00:20:10.212 You might've heard of William Wilberforce In 1785, he became a Christian. 00:20:10.212 --> 00:20:13.520 He had been raised in wealth and money, but he became a Christian. 00:20:13.520 --> 00:20:18.803 And as he became a Christian he began to see the slave trade and he said this is not right. 00:20:18.803 --> 00:20:31.365 And so he joined an abolitionist movement and he spent the rest of his life petitioning and trying to get bills signed and trying to come against the idea that humans should be sold and used by one another. 00:20:31.365 --> 00:20:32.328 Now check it out, guys. 00:20:32.328 --> 00:20:36.385 For all of history before that, no one really seemed to have a problem with slavery. 00:20:36.385 --> 00:20:46.588 Slavery was everywhere, all over the world, and yet a Christian, because of his confidence in Jesus and his looking at the real image, saying this isn't what God would do, this isn't what Jesus wants. 00:20:46.588 --> 00:20:50.067 And so he spent the rest of his life, right up until just before he died. 00:20:50.067 --> 00:20:58.281 And that's when the abolition you can look it up the abolitionist act or something Finally they were free. 00:20:59.105 --> 00:21:01.150 Slaves were free in the UK, but not only that. 00:21:01.150 --> 00:21:10.663 Because of his work, the entire British Navy spent what was it? 00:21:10.663 --> 00:21:10.863 52? 00:21:10.863 --> 00:21:17.181 52 years policing the Atlantic, finding folks who were slave trading, arresting them and freeing those slaves. 00:21:17.181 --> 00:21:24.801 And over that 52 years, they freed 150,000 slaves, and they did it at their own expense. 00:21:24.801 --> 00:21:27.278 They were just like we did something wrong, we need to do something right. 00:21:27.479 --> 00:21:32.992 And there was also a compounding effect, as that affected other nations and they said, wow, this is wrong. 00:21:32.992 --> 00:21:36.769 And it was because a Christian said I need to preserve. 00:21:36.769 --> 00:21:40.025 This is moral decay, I need to step in and we need to make this right. 00:21:40.025 --> 00:21:43.665 We need to turn this back to the way God wants it to be. 00:21:43.665 --> 00:21:45.951 Guys, do you see your lineage? 00:21:45.951 --> 00:21:46.819 Do you see where you come from? 00:21:46.819 --> 00:21:47.803 Do you see the kind of people you are? 00:21:47.803 --> 00:21:49.347 So it's not time to be quiet right now. 00:21:49.347 --> 00:21:55.487 Now you do it with gentleness and you do it with respect, but we speak up and we say you know, that's just really not the way of God. 00:21:55.487 --> 00:21:57.329 God doesn't want it to go that way. 00:21:57.329 --> 00:22:05.108 He wants it to go this way, and we start with us, and when we do that, we begin to leave a Jesus-y taste in people's mouths. 00:22:05.108 --> 00:22:06.330 That's what he wants. 00:22:06.330 --> 00:22:08.202 That's how he wants us to be the salt of the earth. 00:22:08.202 --> 00:22:13.980 He wants people to be around us and they go wow, you're just different. 00:22:13.980 --> 00:22:15.624 There's something different about you. 00:22:17.086 --> 00:22:19.069 I'll tell you some of the most impactful people in my life. 00:22:19.069 --> 00:22:26.151 It's not that they were super obedient, it's not that they were like, wow, you just really obey better than anybody else. 00:22:26.151 --> 00:22:30.310 Now, in many cases they did obey, but it was coming from somewhere else. 00:22:30.310 --> 00:22:32.785 It was coming from dude. 00:22:32.785 --> 00:22:33.928 They were just big hearted. 00:22:33.928 --> 00:22:35.230 They just loved God. 00:22:35.230 --> 00:22:36.113 They just had passion. 00:22:36.113 --> 00:22:37.486 They were the folks that were generous. 00:22:37.486 --> 00:22:40.949 They were the folks that when you walk in the room, they make you feel like the room is about you. 00:22:40.949 --> 00:22:43.835 They're always into your thing. 00:22:43.835 --> 00:22:45.547 They're always wanting to know how they can help you. 00:22:45.547 --> 00:22:48.429 Those are the kinds of people that, as I began to meet them in my life. 00:22:48.429 --> 00:22:49.663 I was like doggone. 00:22:51.288 --> 00:22:55.484 I taste something and I don't taste it anywhere else and I want it. 00:22:55.484 --> 00:23:05.229 You see, jesus wants us to live life in such a way that people get a sense of what God is like and they start to say I want it, I want that. 00:23:05.229 --> 00:23:08.805 I don't understand, and they might have to watch you for 10 years at work, but they're still like. 00:23:08.805 --> 00:23:12.586 This always tastes different, though, man, they're doing something different. 00:23:12.586 --> 00:23:13.210 I don't know what it is. 00:23:13.210 --> 00:23:21.648 One of the things that they're doing is they're recognizing that a disciple without saltiness is worthless. 00:23:21.648 --> 00:23:25.233 Uh-oh, I didn't say it, jesus did. 00:23:25.233 --> 00:23:28.950 But if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? 00:23:28.950 --> 00:23:33.665 It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. 00:23:34.307 --> 00:23:36.800 That doesn't mean that Jesus doesn't value that person. 00:23:36.800 --> 00:23:41.251 He just says you're super unhelpful to what the kingdom is actually trying to do. 00:23:41.251 --> 00:23:44.051 If you're not salty, you're not helping. 00:23:44.051 --> 00:23:49.047 You're just kind of standing there, or maybe you're hiding like Nicodemus, but you're so diluted. 00:23:49.047 --> 00:23:53.962 And I don't mean diluted like you're delusional, I mean you're diluted like you're too mixed. 00:23:53.962 --> 00:24:04.210 You're so mixed with the world that nobody can taste any difference around you, and so it's not helping me Now, we don't all have to be at the same level, but Jesus wants the crowd of hearts. 00:24:04.371 --> 00:24:04.731 What did he say? 00:24:04.731 --> 00:24:06.801 He said you are the salt of the world. 00:24:06.801 --> 00:24:10.260 See, he's not saying like the Pharisees, why don't you come up and finally get your act together? 00:24:10.260 --> 00:24:11.902 He says look, you're already this. 00:24:11.902 --> 00:24:13.584 I just need you to behave like it. 00:24:13.584 --> 00:24:15.185 I already made you this. 00:24:15.185 --> 00:24:18.589 Now begin to cooperate with me and stay salty. 00:24:18.589 --> 00:24:20.050 Slap your neighbors, tell them, stay salty. 00:24:20.050 --> 00:24:24.336 And they do it differently than the Pharisees did it. 00:24:24.336 --> 00:24:29.392 They do it differently than the Pharisees did it Because the Pharisees loved God's law. 00:24:29.412 --> 00:24:32.544 They put it first and salty kingdom bringers. 00:24:32.544 --> 00:24:35.833 They also love God's law, but they include grace. 00:24:35.833 --> 00:24:41.949 They make grace the primary operating system and they say yes, we do love this law because it informs us. 00:24:41.949 --> 00:24:48.632 Now, it's not how we understand ourselves, it informs us how we love, so that we can do it according to God's ways. 00:24:48.632 --> 00:24:58.384 And what that looks like, my friend, is there's going to be, as you know, there's people in your life and they're sinning in different ways than you are and you're a little bit like I don't know if I should be around that. 00:24:58.384 --> 00:25:01.469 What you should do is you don't need to embrace that sin. 00:25:01.469 --> 00:25:04.213 But you need to stay warm, you need to stay inviting. 00:25:04.213 --> 00:25:11.807 You need to remember that acceptance is where the conversation begins. 00:25:11.807 --> 00:25:13.473 You need to be the salt of Jesus's love and affection around them. 00:25:13.493 --> 00:25:19.146 As we get into the next couple of weeks and people are talking about their political ideas and aims, you can stay chill. 00:25:19.146 --> 00:25:27.941 You can say, hey, I love you, no matter what you think about anything, and I think a lot of different people understand different things about different things. 00:25:27.941 --> 00:25:29.766 But I just want you to know I'm going to explain my case. 00:25:29.766 --> 00:25:40.989 I'll make my case, maybe like William Wilberforce, but I like you just the way you are and your life, your real life, is more than this life and your real life isn't decided in the next two weeks. 00:25:40.989 --> 00:25:49.000 They keep on loving. 00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:49.883 Here's what else they do Transform people. 00:25:49.883 --> 00:25:52.327 Now they illuminate the way they illuminate the way You're the light of the world. 00:25:53.068 --> 00:25:54.471 City on the hill can't be hidden. 00:25:54.471 --> 00:25:55.833 What does light do? 00:25:55.833 --> 00:26:00.457 Light makes clear what's actually there and it casts out darkness. 00:26:00.457 --> 00:26:01.877 That's who God says his people are. 00:26:01.877 --> 00:26:06.156 You make people aware of what's really there and you cast out darkness. 00:26:06.156 --> 00:26:09.365 Now, in Jesus' time, remember there's no like street lamps. 00:26:09.365 --> 00:26:13.423 There's nothing like around you know the wilderness like oh, here's where we are. 00:26:13.423 --> 00:26:14.486 It's all pitch black, man. 00:26:14.486 --> 00:26:17.982 So when you see a city at night, it's lit up. 00:26:17.982 --> 00:26:19.567 So they didn't have streetlights there either. 00:26:19.567 --> 00:26:26.743 But many of the cities were made of limestone and they were very bright, and so, even like torchlight, it'd shine off the sides of those buildings and it would be very bright. 00:26:26.743 --> 00:26:27.647 You'd be off in the distance. 00:26:27.647 --> 00:26:29.265 You'd be like, oh my gosh, there's a city over there. 00:26:29.265 --> 00:26:32.547 It's obvious, and that city is telling you something. 00:26:32.547 --> 00:26:46.109 One of the things it's telling you is you might want to camp here, you might want to come in here because there's safety here. 00:26:46.510 --> 00:26:51.674 And one of the things that people that are lighting the way do is they tell the truth. 00:26:51.674 --> 00:26:53.760 They tell the truth about Jesus. 00:26:53.760 --> 00:27:10.345 They don't veil it, they don't hold it, they're not trying to offend anybody, but they recognize my purpose is to be a light, so I have to be salty and act like it, but I'm also supposed to tell people this is the way, this is how it goes, this is what is right. 00:27:10.345 --> 00:27:12.269 I'm so glad. 00:27:13.210 --> 00:27:26.343 When I first met my wife, she was my girlfriend and guys, I did not do everything right, I wasn't super tactful, but I made very clear to her hey, sweetheart, all of your religious stuff and your background. 00:27:26.343 --> 00:27:31.670 That's fine and I'm sure it's meaningful, but it doesn't do anything for your soul. 00:27:31.670 --> 00:27:37.048 If you want to be in heaven with Jesus, jesus himself needs to save you. 00:27:37.048 --> 00:27:39.165 Now I was kind of tactless. 00:27:39.165 --> 00:27:43.743 I would say it in a very discourteous way, because I was just so fiery and dumb then. 00:27:45.567 --> 00:27:55.251 But you know, what's interesting is that because the power is in the gospel and not me, let me say that again the power is in the gospel, not me. 00:27:55.251 --> 00:28:04.804 That's why Paul says in Romans 1 16, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of salvation to everyone who believes. 00:28:04.804 --> 00:28:08.151 It's the content of the gospel itself. 00:28:08.151 --> 00:28:09.093 The Spirit anoints that. 00:28:09.093 --> 00:28:10.203 He doesn't really anoint us. 00:28:10.203 --> 00:28:11.710 He anoints the gospel. 00:28:11.710 --> 00:28:17.307 And when people hear the gospel, it doesn't matter if you did it kind of good or really good or even pretty poor. 00:28:17.307 --> 00:28:22.661 He still honors it and empowers the gospel to help people come to know Christ. 00:28:22.661 --> 00:28:31.347 And what we need to be able to say to them is hey, if I could go say it friendly again to Kenzie Beck in the day, I'll say God loves you more than anybody else. 00:28:31.347 --> 00:28:32.951 He super loves you. 00:28:33.172 --> 00:28:37.606 But one of the things he needs you to know, because he loves you, is your soul is in danger. 00:28:37.606 --> 00:28:42.855 Until you entrust it to Jesus for eternity, your soul is in danger. 00:28:42.855 --> 00:28:44.384 He doesn't want it in danger. 00:28:44.384 --> 00:28:50.008 I don't want it in danger and you know you're not lobbing that into the middle of Thanksgiving table, unless that's kind of what's going on. 00:28:50.008 --> 00:28:53.744 But as people are, you see, people begin to look for the light. 00:28:53.744 --> 00:29:03.023 People begin to be like man, it is dark around me and you're just not quiet about it. 00:29:03.023 --> 00:29:04.529 You're like, hey, man, this is the real way of Jesus. 00:29:04.529 --> 00:29:06.176