MidTree Church
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MidTree Church
Mastering Conflict with Wisdom: Lessons from Jesus in Luke 20 | Pastor Will Hawk | February 2nd, 2024
Have you ever found yourself awestruck by the wisdom of someone so much that it changes your entire perspective? Will shares his experiences of being starstruck by influential figures like David Crowder and John Piper, drawing parallels with the profound impact of Jesus' teachings in Luke 20. Through his famous advice to "render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's," Jesus not only silenced his critics but left an enduring message of how we should navigate tricky interactions with wisdom and grace. We explore the importance of turning admiration into actionable change, inspired by Jesus as a model for managing difficult relationships.
Imagine using your opponent's strength against them, not in a fight, but in a conversation. This week, we unravel how Jesus, much like a skilled judoka, masterfully navigates conflicts, such as the contentious issue of paying taxes to Caesar. His approach introduces a 'third way,' demonstrating the gospel's unique method of transcending binary choices. As we dissect these encounters, we delve into the rich layers of meaning behind Jesus' responses, emphasizing the heart over material concerns and encouraging us to embody peace and confidence in our daily interactions.
Do you wonder how the belief in resurrection shapes our lives today? We examine a thought-provoking dialogue between Jesus and the Sadducees that challenges the concept of resurrection, revealing deeper truths about life after death. This episode sheds light on how setting our minds on heavenly things can transform our earthly struggles, offering hope and accountability. We conclude by reflecting on the gentle grace of Christ through communion, celebrating the ongoing transformation in our faith journey and the call to live a life marked by forgiveness and love. Join us for an exploration of how these timeless teachings continue to resonate and inspire change.
If you want to learn more about the MidTree story or connect with us, go to our website HERE or text us at 812-MID-TREE.
Okay, so, like Will said, go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Luke 20. We'll start in 19. In your pew Bibles it's on page 879. I'll give you a minute to turn there. The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he told this parable against them. But they feared the people. So they watched him and sent spies who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor. So they asked him. They said Caesars. He said to them then render to Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are God's. And they were not able, in the presence of the people, to catch him in what he said. But, marveling at his answer, they became silent. This is the word of God.
Speaker 2:Hey guys in the back, if y'all would leave that up for just a minute, here is where I hope every one of us find ourself by the end of our time navigating God's Word together this morning, marveling at his answer, they became silent. That's what I'm shooting for. So if you have other stuff going on in your mind, if you have other stuff going on in your life, let me just be straight up with you. We are going to look at some incredible passages in God's Word. Additionally, we're probably gonna look at some passages that are pretty familiar to you. I don't want us to ever get to the point where we feel like the word of God is common. Instead, I want us to get to a place where we are marveling at who God is, what he is doing, et cetera, and so on, and they're gonna find themselves here. The problem is, they get to this place and they never move forward from it. I want us to get to this place, and I think God's word wants us to get to this place, but I think there's somewhere else that we need to go. So, as I say, this one question that I would have for you is this have you ever been sort of stunned into silence. It's a hard thing, maybe, to ask has there ever been someone who amazed you hey, y'all got me back there. Am I good? I'm looking at my own child. You're saying yes, but I'm seeing no. Now I believe you. So somebody that you have run into, or a situation where you have absolutely marveled and been left speechless.
Speaker 2:Let me give you two of my favorites in my entire life. Both of them this is going to sound real nerdy and pastor and I'm super sorry. I'll try to give you more tractor stories next week. One of them, or both of them, happened at a conference. One of them was a passion conference. I can't remember where it was, maybe Atlanta, probably because we would try to save money and do it close and then the other was a pastor's conference. When I went to the passion conference, a buddy of mine, blake Jones, was a big fan of David Crowder. Anybody know David Crowder David Crowder, by the way. If you've only ever looked at his album art, you've never actually met the man. He's an interesting looking guy and at the end Blake was like man, I really wish I could meet David Crowder and I was like we can make this happen, like we can pull this off. We are going to make this happen, and so I set into great effort to try to pull that off.
Speaker 2:The second was Kwame, who many of you guys know from the early days of Midtree, and Kwame and I were at a conference and John Piper was having lunch at a table and he was like well, it's John Piper. And I was like let's go, man, let's go and meet him. And he was like you're crazy, I'm going to date how old this was by the quality of the pictures. I still look that exact same way if I shave the beard, by the way. David Crowder in the middle, one of the wackiest looking dudes with some of the best theology and wonderful rhythms, and then John Piper off to the side.
Speaker 2:And after that moment it was this sort of and I know that this is nerdy like this is in Christian circles. You know, none of us went and met you know some huge pop star or something like that, but for us it was a big deal and it was all we could talk about for the rest of the day. This is what happens when Jesus begins speaking. Let me get your attention on this, not to his fans, but to his enemies. How impressive does a person have to be to leave you starstruck when you walk near them, desiring to oppose them, wanting to confront their thoughts on life and the world and relationships, and all of a sudden you are left feeling so thin and so empty because you realize that individual Jesus is so far above and so far beyond that. The only thing that leaves you not wanting him is your sin, and you know it and you hate it. But in this case, they choose to remain in it and in this, jesus is going to teach us how to handle hard conversations and difficult people. The beauty of that is everybody in the room has to deal with this. In fact, I would encourage you to come up with in these moments a hard conversation you have had or you know is coming, and a difficult person. Please do not point. All right, and don't you dare look at your spouse. You save that for Saturdays and Mondays, all right, how do I handle hard conversations and how do I handle difficult people? When we turn to Luke, chapter 20, we're going to be in verse 19. Last week we did the beginning of this chapter all the way to verse 18. And let me just see if we have a pretty decent memory on us.
Speaker 2:Jesus tells a parable about a man who had these guys who were overseeing his property. Whoa, I spoke in youth last week. I shouldn't do it None of this week. Hey, kids, what were? And you can cheat by looking left in your Bible, it's allowed what were the people who were overseeing God's property called Starts with a T? They were the tenants. And the tenants looked at this property that God had given them to take care of and they started to feel a lot of ownership of it. They started to feel pretty important, honestly. And next thing, you know, god sends a couple of servants. The servants would be the this is going to be a harder one the prophets. Thank you, shane, appreciate that.
Speaker 2:God sends the prophets. Three of them come, symbolizing all of the prophets that God had sent, and they were treated quite poorly. They were mistreated, they were abused and they were sent away, even though all they were asking was that God's people would give God what is due, what is his devotion and affection and love. And so God comes up with a plan. He says well, if they reject my prophets, maybe I will send my own son. And they do not, they conspire against him, they decide to kill the son. And the parable ends with God saying they have spurred my prophets. They have rejected them. They have mistreated them. When I sent them the greatest gift I could possibly have sent them in my son, they killed him, thinking that they would inherit the kingdom. What should I do with them? And if you look in verse 18, I'm not going to put it up, but if you're in your Bibles, you can see this they get crushed, utterly crushed. No matter how they approach it, they end up crushed.
Speaker 2:The reason it's important for you to know this is I want you to feel free to laugh at what we are about to read. In the very next passage, jesus tells this huge story. We know who it is about. It is obvious who it is about. And then, in verse 19, this is too great.
Speaker 2:The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they I'm stepping away into Will's version for a minute and all of their inspired, deep, divine wisdom perceived that he had told this parable against them. You think so? Do you think that's what happened? You're literally playing out the script? And now they're like oh, he's talking bad about us. He's talking bad about us in public. Well, there are only two things we can do. We can either repent and follow the son of God, or we can try to put our hands on him. Why don't we get real violent, real quick? And that's exactly what we see happen. They perceived that Jesus had told this parable against them, but they feared the people. So I want you to notice what they do.
Speaker 2:A few things begin to happen. They watch him, they send spies, but that isn't enough. They step it up. Those spies then begin talking. They pretend to be sincere to Jesus, all to accomplish two things, and you need to know this as you read this text. They have two goals they want to catch him and they want to deliver him up. They want to get their hands on him, they want to restrict his movement, they want to restrict his teaching and, honestly, they want the life monitor to go long, solid line. They don't want to deal with this anymore. They're tired of being embarrassed by the one whose wisdom is always beyond theirs. Here's what I want you to wrestle with in this moment, before we read anything about how Jesus deals with these people.
Speaker 2:If somebody was constantly harassing you, if somebody was constantly against you, if somebody was always trying to catch you in something you said, something you did, point out any flaw in you, and you're just trying to love them the whole time. Would your response be gentle, day after day, week after week, month after month and year after year? Hear me on this. Christians in the room, this can be your response. This is not something that is outside of the realm of possibility for you, but how do we get there? I want to be there, I want to be that guy. I'm assuming many of you in this room want to be that person. How do we do this? And so, in a text that is almost like the TV show Scandal meeting Sherlock Holmes, it's going to be a lot of spies, a lot of trying to catch people in words, but this one guy is so slippery, so intelligent. It's almost as though he knows everything and created the world around you. Sarcasm intended.
Speaker 2:Jesus continues to do judo with these people's arguments. As I was reading through this this week, I was like judo is the right word for this. Like he is so hard to pin down and he is fighting with them, but he's using all of their energy against them. And so, as I was writing, I was like what is judo. I took jujitsu as a kid bring it on but I never took judo. I know it's an Olympic sport Ronda Rousey, I think, was a gold medalist a number of times for it but I didn't know this Judo. This is Japanese. The characters literally mean gentle path or gentle way. The concept of judo and I want to put this in your brain as you watch Jesus navigate conflict it's reflecting this idea of using someone else's force against them rather than directly opposing it. Instead of meeting strength with strength and you'll see this it's using leverage and balance and timing and wisdom to deal with your enemies in the most gentle, wise, non-combative way possible. And this may be Japanese, but I think there's a lot of Hebrew tucked into that concept. There's a lot of Greek tucked into that concept, because there's a lot of Christ tucked into that concept.
Speaker 2:If you guys grew up playing games like Street Fighter, when I turn to this page, I just want you to know what happens in my head. I see this. I see Luke 20, 21 to 23. So they asked him round one fight. That's what I see when I turn the page. Welcome to round one of them attacking Jesus. So they asked him teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly. Oh, these are good guys. You show no partiality, you truly teach the way of God.
Speaker 2:Just a quick question for you, jesus Inoculus, this is round one. Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar or not? That's the whole question. That's the whole beginning of the fight. That is the first punch thrown. But Jesus perceived their craftiness. Where else have we seen the word crafty in scripture? Yeah, all the way back, genesis 3. All the way back in the beginning, these 11 words is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar or not? It looks like a fair enough question. I'll be honest. I get questions about taxes quite frequently from Christians. What kind of loopholes am I allowed to go after? If the law says this, can I do this, et cetera, and so on. This is not necessarily a bad question. The problem is their motive in it. They are being crafty, this kind of crafty.
Speaker 2:Now, the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord, god, had made. And we remember, when you remember the setup of how these people ended up in front of Jesus, how they would listen, how they sent spies, how they started to say things to try to catch him. All of a sudden we see someone who said to the woman, which means he had been watching. Now he is going to give a seemingly small little argument Did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? That's a great question, shouldn't we know what God says? But tucked into the Satan here and tucked into the enemies, there is a level of craftiness. The good news is, jesus handles craftiness. The word of God does as well. The wisdom of this world is folly with God, for it is written, he catches the wise in their craftiness. So let's watch Jesus catch them. They were basically asking this question is it lawful to follow the law? Which may not sound like a great question, but if you've ever heard this one, can God make a rock so heavy he can't lift it. You know what they're trying to do here. They are not being sincere. They're being ridiculous. They are intentionally trying to catch Jesus by saying is it a lawful thing for me to follow the law? Now, when they do this, they know where they are and they know who is with them. They are setting themselves up for a win-win scenario.
Speaker 2:You've been talking about authority. Jesus, remember that parable? You spoke about us, killing the prophets and killing the son of God. Really, jesus, if you want to talk about authority, let's talk about authority. Should I pay taxes to a Roman conquering government that I didn't vote for, I didn't elect, and abuses my family and my people? Jesus, should I pay taxes to that authority?
Speaker 2:Here's what they knew. They knew that the loyalists would say yes, they are the government. We must support the government. If we don't support the government, we will be seen as revolutionaries. They will come through with swords and spears and shields the government. We will be seen as revolutionaries. They will come through with swords and spears and shields and they will end our people. So we must give taxes to Caesar. But they also knew that the rebels and the revolutionaries, the regular Jews, would say no, jesus, great teacher, please tell me, I do not have to pay money to a government that is oppressing me. And so they look at one another.
Speaker 2:They probably sat in a room around a table eating bread and drinking drink and saying okay, guys, pull out, chat GPT. What is the best question? We can ask Jesus to catch him. And this is what they came to after six hours of candlelit study. This is going to be the question.
Speaker 2:But Jesus all of a sudden offers a third way. Please hear me on this. The gospel is almost always a third way. It is not usually a second way, non-gospel gospel. There are so many ways to not follow Jesus that this represents lots of different potential paths. So what is it that Jesus does? Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar or not? You'll see that in verse 22,. But he perceived their craftiness and he said to them show me a denarius whose likeness, whose face is on this thing and whose words are on it. They said Caesars. And he said to them then render to Caesar's the things that are Caesar's, give him his stuff, and to God the things that are God's, give Caesar all of his stuff. If it's his, give it to him, but if it's God's, give it to him as well. And they were not able, in the presence of the people remember this was their goal to catch him in what he said. But instead they find themselves marveling at his answer and getting awfully, awfully quiet.
Speaker 2:Jesus says Caesar is an authority, a legitimate authority. You guys haven't read Romans 13 yet because I haven't written it yet, but it's coming and when you get it what you will realize is all authority on earth is instituted by God good ones and bad ones. And that does not bring into question whether or not God is sovereign, whether he is in control, or whether God is good. He has purposes in good governments. He has purposes in bad governments. This is why last week we can ask the question should my hope change when politicians change, or should, as a Christian, my hope be in Christ, and shall it remain eternal? Jesus says Caesar is an authority that is instituted by God. Give him his due. But God is a capital, a authority over all things. Give him his as well. And I don't know if you noticed this or not, but I really love Jesus's question.
Speaker 2:You think Jesus has never seen? You think he's such a good teacher that people just buy him lunch everywhere he goes, and he's never actually held a coin before. No, he's not above us in the kind of way where he's like I'm not touching your dirty money. If I'm hungry, man, I will fall down. It didn't play out like that. He navigated life like us.
Speaker 2:He says whose face is on it and whose words are in it, and then he says here's Caesar and here's God.
Speaker 2:Do you see what Jesus is saying? Caesar may care about your money, but God cares about your heart because he put his face on you. He created you in his own image. He has written on you, even if you've never memorized a Bible verse, an understanding of conscience, this reality of right and wrong. That may not be perfect, but there is something in you where the image of God and where the words of God reside in you compared to anything else in all creation. Take a look out the window. There is nothing like you that ever has or will be created, and what they think they're going to do is catch them. But what they do is they put on display for us a reality and I would write this down if I were you that in almost every situation in life there are three ways for us to operate. If you want to say two ways, that's fine, just combine one and two. There are non-religious and religious ways to navigate. And then there is a gospel way. There is a third way.
Speaker 2:The non-religious people would say run from God and be free. Pay taxes or don't pay taxes, do what you want, just so long as you find happiness in your own life. If you can get away with it, get away with it. If you're afraid you're going to get caught, then don't Just go after whatever. You want to be free, and then there will be others who say, no, you pay every single tax. You do every little thing. You never go over the speed limit. There are no excuses for rule breaking.
Speaker 2:By the way, this would be the Pharisees. You run to God and you earn his love. You show him how dedicated you are, how sacrificial you are, how lucky he would be to have you on his team. And these are what they present to Jesus. And he looks at them and pulls a little bit of Jesus judo.
Speaker 2:Now, keep in mind he could have opposed them directly. He could have said taxes, taxes. Why don't you go fishing for a minute and see what you're gonna find in the mouth of a fish? Taxes and gold just piles up in front of him. He could say arguments against me and quiet and like Neo from the Matrix, their mouths just cover up. Jesus could oppose them with incredible force, but instead he takes all of this energy and he turns it and he says what if, instead of trying to catch me, what if, instead of trying to have a perfect life for you or living a perfect life today, what if, instead, you said God, you have run towards me. What does it look like for me to appreciate that and run to the people who have yet to see that from you? This is the gospel, this is the third way. And when you look at it I put this question in the bottom left corner when you realize there is a third way what fear, what doubt, what insecurity would be replaced with peace and confidence if you found this third way, a non-binary way of just saying this is right and this is wrong?
Speaker 2:Now, scripture says that about many things, but you read in the New Testament and what you will also find is that there are some things that are sin for you, that are not necessarily sin for you. There are some things that are universally sin for all, and some things that will cause you to stumble, that will not cause somebody else to, and we have got to figure out how to navigate life and grace with people who are not exactly us. How is it that we handle hard conversations and difficult people? We realize that Christ has given us a third way, where it doesn't have to be about us and it doesn't have to be about being impressive. It can actually be about wanting them to see the truth and find the hope and the joy and the love that is tucked into it. Now we turn to verse 27. If I'm reading this, here's what I'm seeing.
Speaker 2:Round two fight, all right, but there's a difference and you'll see this. One, two, three, four, five, six words in the Pharisees have marveled. They have become silent. They got nothing else to say. They are dealing with their own grossness because that's all that's left after attacking Jesus and they're still allowed to live with it and look at it and cringe at their own self. But the Sadducees come up Now. The Sadducees and the Pharisees are a little bit different and I can't go into every difference and that's probably too small for you to see. But I do want to note a couple. Can y'all see that sort of All right, look, just know this. Well, here I'm gonna help more.
Speaker 2:Pharisees would have been middle class, sadducees would have been upper class. They would have been aristocrats. Pharisees controlled the synagogue, they were a lot about teaching, but they didn't just live at church, they went and taught in communities. They knew the people, they were the people, they were of the people. The Sadducees were above it all. The Pharisees accepted both written law and oral law. This is important for you to know. But when it comes to these Sadducees we're about to see all they cared about was the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible Genesis, exodus, leviticus, numbers, deuteronomy. That was their book.
Speaker 2:This is going to matter in what we're going to look at, and you also need to know that Jesus knows them well. He knows that the Pharisees believe in the resurrection, but the Sadducees do not. They do not believe that you are resurrected at the end of the time. If you want that, by the way, I'll give it to you. If you've always wondered what's the difference in the Pharisees and the Sadducees, I will hook you up with that. Also, if you've ever seen the word Sanhedrin and you're like there's a lot of confusing words in scripture, sanhedrin would be the basket. All of them would sit in with the scribes as well, and so you have all these different groups of people.
Speaker 2:But what I really wanted to point out to you was that when it came to social status, they disagreed. They disagreed on religious influence, beliefs about the law, all of these things they disagree on. But can I ask you, do you know what one thing they all agree on? Anybody want to say it out loud. What do they all agree on? We got to get rid of Jesus. This would be like who is it right now? Eagles and Chiefs? Is that who's making it Super Bowl? This would be Eagles and Chiefs fans saying we're going to team up and deal with the refs. That's what's happening. This is Democrats and Republicans saying we're putting down every disagreement we have because we want to get rid of this person or that person. I just need you to know. They are so vehemently against Jesus because his authority threatens every authority that doesn't bow to his capital, a authority. They will put down every difference in the book just so that they can get rid of him.
Speaker 2:There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection. Thank you very much for that, luke. We needed to know it if somebody wasn't going to give us a chart about it. And they asked him a question, saying teacher, moses wrote for us oh, they're good. Oh, we know our Bibles, jesus, we're not going to ask you a question about taxes. Our Bibles, jesus. We're not going to ask you a question about taxes, worldly dirty money. No, let's talk about Moses.
Speaker 2:Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Let me take this out of biblical vernacular and make it easy for you. If a woman got married and had no children with her husband and the husband died, there was no social security there. A woman got married and had no children with her husband and the husband died. There was no social security, there was no Medicare, there was no Medicaid, there was no social safety net. So leveret marriage by the way you read about this in the book of Luke leveret marriage was the concept that a brother would step in to care for this woman. It is built out of love and charity and care, not in trying to build a harem, not in trying to make life more complicated, but stepping into the difficulties of life and trying to care for one another.
Speaker 2:And so they come up with this question and they say Jesus, here's the deal. There's this guy and he's got a bunch of brothers. He got married, never had a kid and he dies. So what is going to happen? Verse 29, now there were seven brothers. They are not thinking of a family here, they're picking a number that in their culture means seven, 70, 700, 7,000. Jesus, we're just giving you a hypothetical here. The first took a wife and he died without children. Now, jesus, you know, somebody's got to step in and help her out. And the second stepped in to help out, but they had no children. And then the third took her and likewise, all seven left no children and they died Afterward. The woman also died.
Speaker 2:Best line in this whole thing, here is their first punch being thrown In the resurrection flag on the field time out. You don't believe that and I know it. Remember this is what Luke, the doctor, who is inspired by the Holy Spirit, is writing for you 2,000 years to see. Sadducees are those who deny that there is a resurrection. And here is their question hey, jesus in the resurrection, how's it going to work out? What are they doing? They are saying gotcha, no way, there is no way that you would be on board with this woman having seven husbands in heaven. How could that even be heaven? It sounds like Jerry Springer. This does not sound like something that is going to bring praise and glory to God. The resurrection cannot work because of how life works here on earth. Therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For seven? Had her as wife? It would be a fair question.
Speaker 2:Let me ask you this what is their question? I would love for somebody to respond. It's completely okay for you to get this wrong. What is their question about? What's their question about? Okay, I'll make it easy. Raise your hand if this question is about marriage. Raise your hand if this question is about marriage. Oh, how dare you be so smart? What's the question about? This is a question about resurrection. Does it sound like a question about resurrection? No, it sounds like a question about marriage.
Speaker 2:Let me tell you exactly what's happening here, because if you ever watch a reel, you will see this happen today. Hey, I've got a question about a pro-life perspective. I've got a question about a pro-life perspective. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm not going to talk to you about being created in the image of God. I'm not going to talk to you about when life begins. I'm not going to talk to you about any of those things. I'm going to take you to a, for instance. That makes your position hard to bear. This is the exact same thing and what Jesus will do. What we should do is simply say this I will answer every hard question you have to the best of my ability. If I don't know, I'll tell you I don't know and I'll try to find somebody who is smarter in scripture than me, or I will get my nose in my book and my knees on the floor. I will try to figure this out.
Speaker 2:But we can't move to marriage when the question is about resurrection. First we need to say is the resurrection real? Then we can say how does this affect marriage if you have been divorced and remarried? How does this affect if you have been married and you lost your husband, or you lost your wife and you have been remarried and all of you end up responding to the gospel and ending up in heaven? The question is not about marriage. The question is about resurrection. Answer that and then we will work back from there. Do you see what I'm saying?
Speaker 2:The question, the pro-life position, is what is life? Once we determine that, without anybody trying to skate around it, then we can talk about the horrible circumstances in this world that make life seem unlivable. But we must first start with what is life? Is the resurrection real? And Jesus answers them. One of the things I would encourage you to know remember the whole thing is judo. He easily could have crushed them. He could have said you want to know what resurrection looks like? And dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead. And they all just like and go down and he's like I'll show you what resurrection looks like. You want to talk to my dad for a minute? I'll send you. It's not going to go well. Well, I'm trying to give you guys some more time so that you can respond to the true gospel, you can put faith and trust in the son of God who you keep trying to kill, by the way so that when you do see God you're like resurrection is a very good thing. I'm glad we kind of came around on that. He could have ended it, but instead he doesn't. And if Jesus patiently answered the ridiculous and endured the ridiculing, surely he will welcome your real questions with grace and truth.
Speaker 2:Let me just leave this up. I started by saying what questions have you struggled with? If you're in the room and you're a seeker, you're not sure if you want to trust in Christ, but the world has been an empty place for you and this is where you're not sure if you want to trust in Christ, but the world has been an empty place for you and this is where you're turning right now. I'm really glad you're here. If you're a skeptic and you're like I'm going to go, just so that I can catch all of the problems. We have many of you in this room. Many of you are now believers in Christ. Many of those skeptics became believers and have stood here and have shared God's word with other skeptics. I would just simply ask this If you're going to talk to the creator of the universe, don't waste your time on ridiculous and ridiculing questions. Just give him the real question, and every pastor at this church would cherish the opportunity to walk through your real questions. Every one of us would.
Speaker 2:God's word desires this. One of the things that I think separates a theologian from a doubter is simply how we come to these things. Jesus said to them the sons of this age marry they're given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy to attain that age, the resurrection notice he is taking their marriage question and he is shooting it right back into a resurrection concept. The sons of this age marry they're given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy to attain that age and the resurrection from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage. There's no marriage in heaven period. Does that give you some questions? Great, I'll give you a resource on that, because it would be a little bit of a deviation from what God's word is actually doing here. But I know the moment I point that out there are people like time out. I really like my husband. I really like my wife. It's going to be a little weird if we're just high-fiving in heaven. Right, can we agree on that? I'll give you some resources on that. But let's keep the main thing, the main thing, as Jesus does. They cannot die anymore because they are equal to angels Maybe you have questions on that. They are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.
Speaker 2:And now Jesus said this is my favorite part in the entire text but that the dead are raised. Even Moses gotcha answered Okay, look, if you can't appreciate it, that's okay. I know I get paid to read this a lot and not everybody in the room gets paid to read their Bible and read study notes. I love, love, love, love this. I love that the Sadducees are like those dumb Pharisees talking about taxes. You got to get to the word and in the word, moses gave us this concept of leverant marriage. All we got to do is give it to Jesus, win, win. And Jesus is like Moses. Eh, I remember making him Great guy, by the way. He says you wanna talk some Moses? Let's talk some Moses. Even Moses showed in the passage about the bush Love this.
Speaker 2:Y'all remember that story, like caught on fire. This is how Jesus is teaching them. Hey, sadducees, y'all remember that coloring book? You did that one time and there's flames coming out. Moses had to take his shoes off.
Speaker 2:Remember that one when he calls the Lord the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. What he's saying here is God's word. Does not say I am the God that was for Abraham. Does not say I am the God that was for Abraham, I was Isaac's God, I was Jacob's God. But when they have been long dead and six feet under, god says I am the God of Abraham. Well, he's gone. Unless there's a resurrection, I am the God of Isaac, I am the God of Jacob. You do not see them. All that remains of them are their bones. But I know them, I see them, I talk with them. Verse 38. Now, he is not the God of the dead, but of the living For all. Live to him.
Speaker 2:Then some of the scribes answered. Notice, the scribes now chime in. You know who's not talking now? The Sadducees. They're kicking their cans and cursing under their breath and probably repenting of it. What's happening here is the scribes this other group in the Sanhedrin are like Jesus got them, and what's tucked into this in my mind is they want a round three. The scribes want their own shot at this. Pharisees strike one, sadducees strike two. And the scribes are like teacher, you have spoken well, and they no longer dared to ask him any more questions.
Speaker 2:The resurrection, the hope that we have in the resurrection, is not just hope that Jesus came back from the dead. That is where our hope is based. The hope of the resurrection is simply this Do you believe you will live again? Do you believe that you will live again? Because if the answer is yes, it changes how you live here. If you believe that all that happens is your eyes close and things go dark, it doesn't change what's going to happen. The resurrection is real, but it will change how you live here on earth. And now Jesus, in this perfect judo, has received their attack. He has redirected them.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry, this is the worst illustration in a deep point of a sermon. But if you've ever watched Napoleon Dynamite and if you remember when Kip decides he is going to go to Rexquando and he's going to learn how to defend himself, he gets called up and he says grab my arm, my other arm, your other arm right, I don't know if you remember this or not Give me your best shot. He like tries to sweep him not bad and then he pops him in the back of the head. Jesus could crush them. Not only does he not crush them, he treats them gently. But here's what I do not want you to miss as he is treating them gently, it's as though he's not even looking at them. It's as though he's looking at you and saying do you not see that I have the answer to every question you could have? Do you not see that all of your wrestlings I can handle? It's as though he is looking at us in the midst of the greatest attacks and being gentle with his attackers.
Speaker 2:If the resurrection and if eternity are real, then it matters. Because if you do not believe this, if you don't believe that there is a life afterward or any accountability for how you live in your life, you will live your life using people, and it seems like the way to get ahead, but it is the greatest way to get behind and to be most alone. If I don't believe there's a life ahead, I'll do anything that I must in this life to get ahead. But if I do believe that the resurrection matters, if I do believe that there is something after it, then I can realize that if, then, I have been raised with Christ. By the way, this is written to Christians in Colossae who are alive, they are living here on earth, but they are counted through the Spirit of God as though they have already died to this life and they are tasting and experiencing the realities of heaven today.
Speaker 2:If you have been raised with Christ, christian, this is you. This is what baptism, by the way, symbolizes. It's not that you were dirty Now you're clean, that's the teeniest little piece of it. It's that you were alive and you have seen yourself as dead. And even in your walking in this world Sunday to Sunday, you are alive in Christ, which means here's the great news, here's the vision, here's the hope for you.
Speaker 2:You actually can seek the things that are above. You do not have to get caught up in taxes and complicated relationships. You do not have to get bogged down by the things of this world. You can walk with life with your head at a 15 degree tilt, looking above all of the mess because Christ deals with all of the mess. Where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, set your minds. This is not just telling you what should happen. What you must actively do, you must choose to set your mind on things above Folks in the room that struggle with anxiety, depression and fear.
Speaker 2:If you are in Christ, you are being called to set your mind on things that are above and you may set it on the shelf and it slides right off. Set it back up. Let it slide off, set it back up, call other people into your life. I am trying not to be crippled by this fear, this anxiety, this depression, but every time I set my mind on the things of Christ, I slide down. Invite them in, because you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Speaker 2:How many of us have unanswered questions? You can do a show of hands. If you have unanswered questions about God, just throw your hands up. I'd say this not for those of you who are Christians. I do that. For those of you in the room who might not be Welcome to a bunch of people with a bunch of questions, the difference in somebody who doubts and a theologian is very, very small.
Speaker 2:A doubter believes that they must fully understand. A theologian knows they never fully can understand, but they find fulfillment in the pursuit. There is no space in this life for having answers to all of the questions. That would be you building a rock too heavy for you to lift. I guess you could build it well.
Speaker 2:Anyway, you get my point. This is an unending reality. I'll be honest you. I hope it continues like this in heaven. I hope we don't get it all figured out, but our knowledge just grows and grows and it expands. Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable are his ways. And this is where Jesus leaves us and where he leaves them marveling at his answers. They become silent. They no longer dare to ask him any question. You should keep asking the questions when Job finds himself in this place.
Speaker 2:Job answered the Lord and he said behold, I'm of small account. What shall I answer you, god? I have questioned you so many times in my heart and now I lay my hand on my head. I've spoken once, and it was far too many times. I will not answer twice, but I will proceed. No further. I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, no further. I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you.
Speaker 2:What is it that we do when we take communion? I can't see Jesus right now and I can't see God, but it's not because he's too small, it's because he's too great. And so he gives us this small gift, this small, tangible reminder of his gentility and grace toward me, when I ought to have been opposed, when I was yelling, crucify him and put him on the cross. He said Father, forgive him, for he knows not what he does. This is the gentility of Christ. Therefore, I despise myself and I repent in dust and ashes.
Speaker 2:What we have just read are people marveling at a good teacher that leaves them speechless. What you do not see are people following a marvelous teacher who leaves them speechless. Follow the one who has the answers, even if you cannot comprehend them all yourself. If you cannot comprehend them all yourself. This is what it can look like. Christians, you are called to this. Non-believers, you are offered this through the blood of Christ.
Speaker 2:I'm not gonna read this passage to you, but I ask Stokes to just leave it up. This is what the Christian who lives like Christ lived in this passage looks like. And I leave this up here for you for two reasons. Don't you dare only beat yourself up here. If you want to find a couple of verses that sort of push your face into the carpet and say step it up, christian, I am fine with that. But also think about how much you have grown in Christ. Think about where gentleness has replaced anger, where a desire for others has replaced a desire for self. And then let us come to the table, to the one who desired you enough To put difficulty on himself, and we'll respond in communion. Stokes, if you'd give us a couple of words on that when you're ready.