WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:01.199 We're gonna jump in. 00:00:01.280 --> 00:00:02.799 We're in a series of messages right now. 00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:04.719 We're calling the kingdom of God. 00:00:05.360 --> 00:00:08.480 It's what Jesus talked about when He uh Jesus came to earth. 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:10.560 He said, Hey, uh, good news. 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:13.599 The kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:14.320 It's here. 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:19.039 You've been looking for something, you've been waiting on something, and now it's here in front of you. 00:00:19.199 --> 00:00:29.039 And so we're taking some time to look at what did he mean by that and what's the difference between, you know, the kingdom of God uh here on earth and then other kingdoms that we see. 00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:30.640 And so we started in week one. 00:00:30.879 --> 00:00:36.240 We created a contrast between the empires of the world all throughout human history. 00:00:36.320 --> 00:00:37.359 Uh they come and go. 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:39.119 We Blaze just sang it a moment ago. 00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:41.359 Kings and kingdoms may all pass away. 00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:43.439 But there's something about that name. 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:50.640 Uh we we looked at empire and how uh regardless of what era or who they were, they were really driven by two things. 00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:53.520 One was uh the love of power. 00:00:53.759 --> 00:00:59.039 And you know, sometimes people love power because they love to manipulate, because they're just twisted like that. 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:02.560 But then some people love power because they just don't want to be vulnerable. 00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:10.480 If I've got more money and more strength and I'm got a bigger military, or I'm you know, stronger, then I'm protected, I'm safer. 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:13.840 And which then brings up the second thing, which is the power of fear. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:17.599 So you got the power, the love of power and the power of fear. 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:29.519 And oftentimes uh uh countries, kingdoms, empires are driven by emperors, kings, and presidents that are operating in their own fears and then try to control people through fear. 00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:33.760 And that's just that's just standard operating procedure for empire. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:39.840 Jesus shows up and says, You've seen all of that in the world, you're probably sick of it at this point and hoping for something better. 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:51.359 He says, uh, you know, I I came uh not to be served, but to serve and to give my life as a ransom, and and ultimately he gives us the the power of love, not the love of power. 00:01:51.519 --> 00:01:55.040 So we've been talking about what that means, and we've been talking about authority in the kingdom. 00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:58.319 And last week we looked at being citizens in the kingdom. 00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:08.800 We have rights and we have responsibilities, and we talked about those and the the Old Testament prophecy that we would be a royal priesthood, which is like, oh, wait, I never thought of myself that way. 00:02:08.879 --> 00:02:14.400 Yeah, but there are four responsibilities in Leviticus of priests and that we are still responsible for. 00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:16.000 We talked about that last week. 00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:18.240 Today, what I want to do is I want to talk about law. 00:02:18.479 --> 00:02:23.039 I want to talk about law in the kingdom, to be law-abiding citizens. 00:02:23.199 --> 00:02:24.400 What does that even mean? 00:02:24.560 --> 00:02:26.639 And now we have uh you know we have our Bibles. 00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:47.520 If you have your Bible in front of you, you've got the Old Testament and the New Testament, you've got the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, you've got all kinds of laws in the Torah or the old uh first five books of the Old Testament, and then in the New Testament, you've got a bunch of arguments and conversations about how that law is supposed to play out. 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:52.080 And if you're like me, I I want to I want to be a good law-abiding citizen. 00:02:52.159 --> 00:03:03.360 I want to honor God with my life, I want to be obedient to what God has me to do, but I don't want to be out here um you know abiding by or living by a bunch of laws that really have nothing to do with what God's up to. 00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:06.800 So so how do we how do we work our way through this? 00:03:07.039 --> 00:03:08.319 Okay, that's what we're gonna do today. 00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:16.639 Let's start with the concept uh here of you have the spirit of a law and you have the letter of the law. 00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:18.960 So let's think of something that's not biblical. 00:03:19.039 --> 00:03:22.639 Let's just say um we were in charge of creating a law. 00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:29.599 Let's say it was 2,000 years ago, and we were in charge of creating a law, and the spirit of the law, in other words, why do we have this law? 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:31.919 What's the heart of the law? 00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:35.280 The spirit of the law is we want to keep our citizens safe. 00:03:35.439 --> 00:03:38.719 We don't want anybody getting hurt unnecessarily. 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:41.680 And so we might come up with a very specific law. 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:47.599 So it'd be like this: we'd look around the universe and we'd say, hey, there are laws in the universe like gravity. 00:03:47.759 --> 00:03:49.280 And gravity's not going anywhere. 00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:50.800 Gravity will always be there. 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:53.840 It doesn't change, it's an unchanging law of the universe. 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:56.240 We know that what goes up comes down. 00:03:56.400 --> 00:03:57.439 And that's a good thing. 00:03:57.520 --> 00:03:59.439 It keeps us literally down to earth. 00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:03.439 But if you don't handle gravity the right way, gravity can kill you. 00:04:03.599 --> 00:04:07.680 Okay, gravity could break your neck if you do the wrong thing in the wrong way. 00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:11.759 So the spirit of the law is we want everyone to be safe and healthy. 00:04:11.919 --> 00:04:12.879 That's our heart. 00:04:13.039 --> 00:04:19.600 But the letter of the law, then we would 2,000 years ago, we would have sat down and said, all right, what what specific law are we gonna make? 00:04:19.839 --> 00:04:28.000 We say, well, you know, anything above probably 10 feet, like if you if you jump off of 10 feet, you're prone to getting hurt pretty bad. 00:04:28.079 --> 00:04:29.040 You know, you could hurt yourself. 00:04:29.120 --> 00:04:36.639 I mean, I'm sure there's plenty of people who could land it, you know, beyond that, but usually you're starting to mess with it, you know, especially if you're landing on the ground. 00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:44.160 Okay, so we'd have some counsel and we'd sit around and we'd have, you know, uh conversation, and we'd come out with a law. 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:52.800 And we would create the letter of the law, and we would say, Thou shalt not jump off of any height exceeding 10 feet. 00:04:52.959 --> 00:04:56.160 Okay, spirit of the law is we want everyone safe. 00:04:56.399 --> 00:05:01.920 Letter of the law literally is a tape measure, and well, they didn't have them 2,000 years ago, but you know what I'm talking about. 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:04.160 Ten feet, you can't go beyond that. 00:05:04.319 --> 00:05:04.800 All right. 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:29.199 Okay, so technology happens, context changes, the world changes, and somebody creates an airplane and somebody creates a parachute, and somebody creates a hang glider, and somebody creates a bungee cord, and so now you can actually fulfill the spirit of the law, which is to be pretty safe, and yet also be able to change where you can get in a parachute and you can land it. 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:31.759 Okay, so that's way above 10 feet. 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:33.600 So, how do we handle this, right? 00:05:33.759 --> 00:05:44.399 I if I'm the type of person that just falls in love with the letter of the law, because for 2,000 years, I think they created the like the uh the free fall parachute in like the 19 early 1900s. 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:48.639 So for 19 years, we said everything above 10 feet was a sin. 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:56.480 And so now when I see somebody in a parachute, do I go, I saw you on Facebook and you were in a parachute, you are in sin. 00:05:56.639 --> 00:06:05.279 Okay, you are living in sin because the law says anything above 10 feet, but the spirit of the law, okay, is to keep people safe. 00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:11.360 And we can do that within a new context, which means the letter of the law, the codes will change. 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:16.240 There will be new laws that will always embody the spirit of the law, the spirit of the law is what matters. 00:06:16.399 --> 00:06:23.360 This is, by the way, what Jesus means when he says in Matthew 5, 17, don't misunderstand why I have come. 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:26.399 I did not come to abolish the law of Moses. 00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:34.319 Although what Jesus would do would say, some of the letter of the law, the ancient law, some of it is no longer necessary. 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:46.240 So we're gonna change some code, but don't get freaked out when I start saying you can go above 10 feet because what I'm not doing is abolishing the law. 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:50.399 He says, No, I didn't come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. 00:06:50.560 --> 00:06:52.800 I came to accomplish their purpose. 00:06:52.959 --> 00:06:54.800 Some of your Bibles say fulfill the law. 00:06:54.959 --> 00:07:01.199 In other words, I came to honor the spirit of the law now in a day where some things have changed. 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:02.720 We're not losing it. 00:07:02.879 --> 00:07:11.759 We know the difference between gravity, something that never changes, and the letter of the law, something that will change. 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:17.839 Um, Jesus uh, you know, uh embodies this in his own lifetime. 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:24.800 We see if you were uh look and read Mark chapter 2, there was a law, the law of the Sabbath. 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:39.839 And if you remember, we did a message earlier this year on the Sabbath, and the spirit of the Sabbath was you had the children of Israel had been in slavery for 430 years, and they finally come out, and all they've done is make bricks for the Egyptians for 430 years. 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:51.680 So you and your parents and your grandparents and your great-grandparents, generations of just brickmakers, seven days a week, you don't rest, and if you can't make bricks, you die, and everything, everybody you love is at risk. 00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:59.439 So their full identity and their even their security, uh, their survival was around brickmaking. 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:07.759 So they get a few months out of slavery to the mount to Mount Sinai, and God says, I want you to learn how to rest. 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:10.720 In Genesis 1, they begin to learn how to rest. 00:08:10.879 --> 00:08:13.839 Genesis 2, I want you to learn how to rest. 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:17.279 I want you to learn how to take a break, so he creates the Sabbath. 00:08:17.680 --> 00:08:28.480 And the Sabbath is I stop working and I'm unproductive for a day so that I can be reminded that my value and my identity is not in my productivity. 00:08:28.720 --> 00:08:30.800 Because the word the empire tells me it is. 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:32.480 Pharaoh told me it was. 00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:40.320 I feel like it is, but I gotta have that one day where I put it aside and I worship God and I connect and I just think about you know what? 00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:46.879 This is I'm more than my work, I'm more than my bricks, I'm more than my productivity, so it's a gift to people. 00:08:47.120 --> 00:08:55.519 In Mark chapter 2, Jesus is out with his disciples, they're hungry, he breaks off some grain and they're eating it as they're walking, getting a snack. 00:08:55.759 --> 00:09:06.159 And in in some letter of the law, people said, You broke the law because you harvested on the Sabbath, and we've prohibited that. 00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:08.399 You can't harvest on the Sabbath, that's work. 00:09:08.639 --> 00:09:10.720 And Jesus says, Man, you got it twisted. 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:15.360 You you've lost sight, you've gotten so hung up in the letter of the law that you've lost the spirit of the law. 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:21.120 And he said, Man wasn't made for Sabbath, Sabbath was made for man. 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:23.840 Okay, so so again, what happened? 00:09:23.919 --> 00:09:30.159 It's it's very easy to get so hung up in the letter of the law that you lose sight of the spirit of the law. 00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:33.519 And and there's a whole bunch of things where this happens. 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:46.639 One of the things you're gonna see when you read in the New Testament that's gonna be probably a little weird for you, but today we're gonna unweird it and it's gonna make a lot of sense, is you're gonna see a bunch of like arguments and conversation about circumcision. 00:09:46.799 --> 00:09:52.240 All right, so circumcision is you know what it is, you don't need me to tell you, but it's the cutting away of the flesh. 00:09:52.399 --> 00:09:53.360 And what's the point? 00:09:53.519 --> 00:09:54.639 What's the spirit of the law? 00:09:54.720 --> 00:10:07.440 It's all the way back, okay, in the Old Testament, but it was set up, the spirit of the law was God says, Hey, uh, through the nation, Abraham, I'm gonna create a great nation through you, and I'm gonna set you apart. 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:14.159 I'm gonna have you do something different, I'm gonna make a covenant with you, and you're gonna do things differently than the other nations. 00:10:14.639 --> 00:10:17.519 This isn't to make you superior to other nations. 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:19.200 This is not about superiority. 00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:21.759 This is about I'm gonna set you apart and do something different. 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:27.679 You're gonna be a nation that's not operating by the love of uh of power or the power of fear. 00:10:27.759 --> 00:10:30.559 So and you're gonna be I'm gonna make you different. 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:38.559 And so I want you to do certain things different so you're reminded that you're not supposed to look at the world and do what they do, but you're supposed to do what I've commanded you to do. 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:43.840 So you're gonna like eat kosher, you're gonna eat differently, um, you're gonna wear certain things. 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:53.519 And and then even uh for the the males, the cutting away of the flesh, the circumcision is a is a reminder of the covenant that I've made you different. 00:10:53.759 --> 00:11:15.120 What happened over time was people got so caught up in the letter of the law that the setting uh instead of it just being set apart, okay, it became elevated above, and it became even a prerequisite to being in relationship, or even you wouldn't sit at the table with a Gentile who was uncircumcised because now I'm not set apart anymore. 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:27.360 Now I'm we're equal and we're sitting in community and relationship, and and so so uh for what they viewed it was this person's unclean, and now I'm connecting to something clean, and I've offended God. 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:30.000 It became a very warped belief. 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:42.000 And so now you have you know Jesus who's come to fulfill the law, three chapters of the Sermon on the Mount going deep into the heart of a person into the law of why why are we doing this? 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:53.759 Okay, and so now Jesus you know ascends to heaven, and you have the apostle Paul who is taking the gospel to the Gentiles. 00:11:54.399 --> 00:12:03.600 Okay, you have Peter and James and a bunch of other people, but primarily these people, Peter and James are working with Jewish people. 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:12.799 Peter's working with some Gentiles as well, but Paul really exclusively is working, he's working a lot with Gentile people. 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:15.840 And and so here's what here's what happens. 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:21.600 If you read the book of Galatians, it's a letter to a church, a group of people in Asia Minor. 00:12:21.759 --> 00:12:29.200 In Asia Minor, you have a lot of, there were a lot of Gentile believers mixing with some very conservative Jewish believers. 00:12:29.360 --> 00:12:39.279 So here's what happens the Apostle Paul writes in Galatians 1, he's like, I was the most letter of the law person you've ever met in your life. 00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:43.039 He said, I was so letter of the law, I was violent about it. 00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:46.799 He said, I didn't know anybody more letter of the law than me. 00:12:47.039 --> 00:12:49.440 He said, and then I encountered Jesus. 00:12:49.679 --> 00:13:04.159 And he goes, I took three years to unlearn and to go back and rethink because change is super hard, especially something that you've just accepted, like this is how you're right with God, or how you make God like you, and if you don't, you're subject to his wrath. 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:09.679 And he's like, So I didn't want to eat something I'm not supposed to eat and have God's wrath, or other people have God's wrath. 00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:11.039 He goes, it took me three years. 00:13:11.120 --> 00:13:25.200 He goes, I actually had to get away from my hometown, I had to get away from where I went to school, I had to get away from my professors and and and from my mentors, and I had to go all the way to Arabia, he says, and I was there for three years, and in three years I sorted it all out. 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:28.240 And I came back to Jerusalem and I got together. 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:31.519 I said, Peter, you're like everybody thinks you're the leader, so I gotta talk to you. 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:32.720 And James, you come here. 00:13:32.799 --> 00:13:35.120 Okay, he goes, Listen, here's what I believe. 00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:37.279 What Jesus has done is brought a new covenant. 00:13:37.360 --> 00:13:37.919 You guys agree? 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:39.200 They're like, Yeah, we walked with him. 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:39.840 We know he did. 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:40.799 He's like, exactly. 00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:54.399 Okay, so within this new covenant, some of these things of the old covenant, like we still shouldn't kill people, and we still shouldn't lie because that kills relationships, and we shouldn't be deceitful, and we shouldn't make oaths and not live up to them, because Jesus talked about that. 00:13:54.480 --> 00:13:57.200 That's deception, that's the spirit of the law. 00:13:57.360 --> 00:14:03.759 But there's a bunch of this stuff like eating kosher and circumcision and all this that aren't really that big a deal. 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:06.159 But some people are gonna really hold to it. 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:08.240 I just need to find out from you guys as leaders. 00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:09.440 Are we on the same page? 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:13.840 Because I'm about to go to a bunch of Gentiles, and here's what I'm gonna tell them. 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:16.080 I've got the best theology you've ever heard. 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:17.360 You've heard all these theologies. 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:18.879 Let me tell you what God's really like. 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:20.320 And I'm gonna tell the story of Jesus. 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:21.279 He came to earth. 00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:25.919 The people who wanted him, when he came to earth, they didn't want him because he wasn't empire. 00:14:26.080 --> 00:14:28.480 And the people who he came to did not receive him. 00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:30.799 They not only rejected him, but they killed him. 00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:38.720 And he had the power to scorch the earth and call down 10,000 angels and to be vindictive, but his heart is love and forgiveness. 00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:42.720 So even those who were killing him, he said, Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they do. 00:14:42.799 --> 00:14:49.840 And when he resurrected, even his best friend who stabbed him in the back, he brought him and he reconciled with him and he reinstated him. 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:53.039 And so he's full of grace and truth. 00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:54.559 I'm about to go tell people that. 00:14:54.720 --> 00:15:04.399 What I can't have happen is me go tell them that, and they go, That makes sense, and they have a revelation of Jesus which really matters, and then y'all are gonna tell them they got to be circumcised. 00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:07.360 Okay, that's Galatians 1. 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:12.320 Okay, and so Peter and James are like, no man, we're with you. 00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:13.440 He's like, Thank you. 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:24.320 He goes away for 14 years, comes back in Galatians 2, 14 years later, with his boy named Titus, who is Greek, who is Gentile, who is uncircumcised. 00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:25.919 He comes back 14 years later. 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:27.279 We already talked about this. 00:15:27.519 --> 00:15:36.240 14 years later, he comes back, James is cool, Peter's cool, but then some people within the church came up and said, Excuse me, you're Greek? 00:15:36.399 --> 00:15:37.360 Are you circumcised? 00:15:37.519 --> 00:15:39.120 No, and they're all over Titus. 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:41.440 He's like, Okay, we already talked about this. 00:15:41.600 --> 00:15:43.039 This was 14 years ago. 00:15:43.279 --> 00:15:59.279 And now there are there's a group of people who are operating out of a sincere fear, okay, especially from the sect of people, the Pharisees, who felt like all the bad that we see in the world is because we aren't adhering to the letter of the law well enough. 00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:00.879 Therefore, God is angry with us. 00:16:00.960 --> 00:16:02.639 That's their sincere belief. 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:25.919 And so every time Paul leaves somewhere, or even he's bringing all of these Gentile believers who didn't grow up with your 613 laws, who didn't grow up eating kosher, who didn't grow up with circumcision, and now they're 40 years old, they hear the message of Jesus, they accept the message of Jesus, they are truly open to what God wants them to do, and you go, congratulations, you've accepted the gospel. 00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:27.519 We have a new believers class. 00:16:27.679 --> 00:16:29.679 The first step is surgery. 00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:38.639 And then we got 612 um rules after that. 00:16:38.879 --> 00:16:42.080 Not to mention the thousands of oral traditions that we've come up with. 00:16:42.159 --> 00:16:44.879 You're gonna need to spit out your gum, take out, take off your hat. 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:46.960 You're gonna change your hair, you can't wear that. 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:54.879 Okay, and so now that he's going, you're making it really hard on these people, and what you're doing is you're majoring on things that are no longer relevant. 00:16:55.039 --> 00:16:58.320 You're telling them they can't go above 10 feet, and I'm handing them a parachute. 00:16:58.559 --> 00:17:00.639 We we gotta we gotta figure this out. 00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:06.240 And so he he he describes in Galatians, he goes, This was super dicey. 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:10.640 He goes, because even Peter, who acknowledged it at times, he was a hypocrite. 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:15.519 He'd be around the Gentiles, and as long as he was with only Gentiles, he was like, cool with it. 00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:18.240 Yeah, yeah, come on, let's eat together, let's be friends. 00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:27.039 He goes, the moment that the super conservative people from James or from the essentially Jerusalem, these letter of the law people showed up. 00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:33.839 Now he starts, is Paul literally says he was afraid of their criticism. 00:17:34.160 --> 00:17:37.119 And because of that, now he treats them differently. 00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:40.799 Can you imagine these Gentile people are like, what in the world, man? 00:17:40.880 --> 00:17:45.920 I came in, you accepted me fully, and now these other people come and now you're treating me some kind of way. 00:17:46.079 --> 00:17:52.640 And Paul is he is righteously indignant, and he stands up and goes, We talked about this 14 years ago. 00:17:52.799 --> 00:17:54.000 This is what we talked about. 00:17:54.160 --> 00:17:59.279 You're we're gonna screw this whole thing up because we don't understand the difference between the letter and the spirit. 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:02.240 And he calls Peter out in front of the whole group. 00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:04.000 This is normally would have been a sidebar. 00:18:04.079 --> 00:18:05.599 He's like, No, I'm doing this in front of everybody. 00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:20.480 You did it publicly, we're gonna talk about it publicly, and a bunch of y'all got caught up in it, because I'm not gonna have you doing these Gentile people like this and having them believe things that aren't true, and having them feel like second-class citizens in this community because they didn't do a bunch of stuff that Jesus said we don't have to do. 00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:24.240 The Bible is so awesome. 00:18:25.680 --> 00:18:34.160 So if he builds it all the way up then in the crescendo of the book of Galatians, in this letter that he has is in Galatians 5, 6. 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:41.759 He said, For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or uncircumcised. 00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:43.680 In other words, you know what? 00:18:43.759 --> 00:18:49.920 It's okay if you eat kosher, it's okay if you do circumcision, it's okay if you want to keep a lot of these traditions. 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:51.119 There's it's okay. 00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:53.440 Just make sure you're doing it for the right reason. 00:18:53.599 --> 00:19:04.880 Make sure when the cutting away is happening, or make sure that when you're doing um, you know, you're eating kosher, make sure it's not that you think you're better than everybody, and everybody who doesn't eat like you is less than you. 00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:08.480 So go ahead and do it to be set apart if that's what you want to do. 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:14.000 But if it becomes something you're looking down at somebody, he goes, it's good to do it, but it's fine not to do it. 00:19:14.160 --> 00:19:15.680 He said, That's not really what matters. 00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:20.640 He said, What's important is faith expressing itself in love. 00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:29.839 You know, I I have a lot of empathy for this because it's one of those things, if we're not careful, we go, you know, circumcision in our world is sort of a non-issue. 00:19:30.079 --> 00:19:33.920 It's like, man, I mean, you you haven't been thinking about that, you haven't been worried about that. 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:36.240 We don't, you know, it's not it's a non-issue to us. 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:44.400 But I like these non-issues to us because if you look back and you go, no, I totally get, I totally get why this was a hot button to them. 00:19:44.640 --> 00:19:56.000 Because for them, number one, uh, some of the people who couldn't come off of this letter of the law mentality, yeah, some of them are just people who just absolutely hate change. 00:19:56.160 --> 00:19:58.079 And some people are that way, and maybe that's you. 00:19:58.160 --> 00:20:00.960 Maybe you're like, I really, really hate change. 00:20:01.119 --> 00:20:04.880 I mean, everybody struggles with change, but some people really struggle with change. 00:20:05.039 --> 00:20:09.839 And I have a lot of empathy for someone who really struggles with change and then change like this. 00:20:10.960 --> 00:20:31.039 Change from the moment that you could think you were being told this is what God cares about, and all the bad you see in the world, it's being constantly affirmed by your community that all the bad that's happening in the world is because all those people out there aren't doing the letter of the law God's way, and that's why God's doing this to us. 00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:40.960 If you had come up in an environment that was taught set apart, but set apart really meant us and them, there was a whole lot of us and them, and it's really about us. 00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:46.319 And that there was maybe they didn't come out and say we're above, but it really was that. 00:20:46.480 --> 00:21:04.480 And so if if your whole life has been that, and then all of a sudden now later in life, it's like, no, but here's what Jesus did, and now I gotta rethink all that, and all these things that I've, you know, behaviors and traditions that I've clung to, I'm supposed to let go of it, it just feels wrong. 00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:15.440 So there's a lot of people that just couldn't let go of that, and then there are people that maybe are maybe less change averse, they're more willing to change, but this is freaky, man. 00:21:15.519 --> 00:21:17.359 It's like, are we doing too much? 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:21.039 You know, we're really, is this really what Jesus did? 00:21:21.200 --> 00:21:32.480 Like Jesus' death and resurrection on the cross now means that these things that were a picture of something God wanted to tell us have been fulfilled and they're no longer necessary. 00:21:33.119 --> 00:21:43.680 And and the idea that the concern that all of this legacy that's been handed down to me could die on my watch because of me, and because of us. 00:21:44.319 --> 00:21:59.440 And if we are wrong about this, and if Paul is wrong about this and Peter and James are wrong about this, and I follow along, then I'm gonna incur the wrath of God, and I'm gonna delude something that's divine, and I might be deleted or punished. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:01.920 Or lose his favor. 00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:16.079 So you have people who are operating in fear, and what they're doing is because of the magnitude of their fear, in their minds, what they're doing is speaking truth. 00:22:16.720 --> 00:22:20.160 But what they're doing is expressing truth. 00:22:20.799 --> 00:22:23.599 They're expressing fear through truth. 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:26.079 Look at it, it's black and white right here. 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:27.920 It says circumcision. 00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:30.160 What's so hard to read about that? 00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:34.640 They see it as truth, but what's happened is actually they've not brought their fears to God. 00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:36.480 They've not worked their way through their fears. 00:22:36.559 --> 00:22:53.279 And because their fears are their greatest reality, they're holding on to the letter of Allah that is no longer relevant, and they're doing damage, whereas in themselves their fear is causing them to become rooted in what they believe to be true. 00:22:53.440 --> 00:22:55.839 But what it's not, it's not. 00:22:56.079 --> 00:23:15.680 And what Paul is saying is be careful that you don't allow what you think is the truth or the letter of a law that has changed to cause you to be rooted in something instead of to be expressing uh faith through love, faith expressing itself through love. 00:23:15.920 --> 00:23:20.160 All right, this all hits a crescendo in the book of Acts, chapter 15. 00:23:20.400 --> 00:23:22.799 So, real quick Bible lesson. 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:25.759 If you think about Bible genres, right? 00:23:25.839 --> 00:23:29.440 Your Bible's collection of 66 books, it's a bunch of different genres. 00:23:29.680 --> 00:23:36.319 In the New Testament, you have Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which are the Gospels or the story of Jesus' life. 00:23:36.480 --> 00:23:38.319 After that, you have the book of Acts. 00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:41.039 Acts was written by Luke. 00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:43.039 So Matthew, Mark, Luke. 00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:46.160 Luke wrote Acts and Luke at the same time. 00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:49.839 He wrote them as one book, and they were later separated into two. 00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:51.759 So it's almost like a part one, part two. 00:23:52.079 --> 00:23:52.880 What is Acts? 00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:53.920 What does that even mean? 00:23:54.400 --> 00:23:56.640 Acts is the Acts of the Apostles. 00:23:56.720 --> 00:23:58.559 That's the whole name, whole name of the book. 00:23:58.799 --> 00:24:10.720 So what Luke writes is the story of Jesus, and then after Jesus leaves, the disciples as a historic narrative, that's what the genre of the book of Acts is a historic narrative of what happened. 00:24:10.960 --> 00:24:34.079 So you see the apostle Paul shows up in the historic narrative of Acts, and he goes on three missionary journeys all throughout the Mediterranean rim, and he begins gospel-centered, Jesus-centered communities based on the new covenant, based on the law of love, the spirit of the law, and what God's up to now. 00:24:34.720 --> 00:24:39.359 And a lot of these arguments and things end up ensuing. 00:24:39.599 --> 00:24:51.519 What you see then for the rest of your Bible, or the next several books of your Bible, you go after Acts, you have Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. 00:24:51.680 --> 00:24:52.720 What are these books? 00:24:52.960 --> 00:24:58.000 These are letters, okay, so that you can almost lay them over the book of Acts. 00:24:58.240 --> 00:25:05.119 These are letters that Paul writes to the churches or to the communities that he builds in the cities. 00:25:05.359 --> 00:25:13.119 Okay, so the Corinthians is the church in Corinth, Colossians, Thessalonians, you got it, Romans, you know where they were from. 00:25:13.279 --> 00:25:17.200 So the idea is he's communicating back to them, he's writing letters to them. 00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:22.880 So what we just described was Galatians, but look, let's go back to the historic narrative. 00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:31.839 It's around the same time, a little bit after Paul has this conflict with the Galatians that he's describing. 00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:40.400 In Acts chapter 15, this whole concept of circumcision comes up, but really don't even think circumcision, think letter of the law. 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:42.240 All right, here we go, verse one. 00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:49.200 While Paul and Barnabas were in Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived. 00:25:49.279 --> 00:25:53.519 And okay, so again, these would have been uh letter of the law people. 00:25:53.680 --> 00:26:02.480 They arrived and began to teach the believers unless you are circumcised, as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved. 00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:23.119 Okay, so what they're telling these uncircumcised Gentiles who are accepting Jesus, that unless you go follow this circumcision, unless you go have this surgery, not only are you not accepted by us in our community, but you are rejected by God Himself. 00:26:23.599 --> 00:26:26.160 And to say the least, this upset Paul. 00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:29.759 Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them, arguing vehemently. 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:33.440 Finally, the church decided to send Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem. 00:26:33.519 --> 00:26:39.440 We got to resolve this, accompanied by some local believers to talk to the apostles and elders about this question. 00:26:39.599 --> 00:26:42.079 We got to get on the same page and figure out what we're gonna do. 00:26:42.240 --> 00:26:49.599 Verse 3, the church sent the delegates to Jerusalem, headquarters, and they stopped along the way to Phoenicia and Samaria to visit the believers. 00:26:49.759 --> 00:26:54.319 They told them, much to everyone's joy, that the Gentiles too were being converted. 00:26:54.559 --> 00:26:56.640 God's up to something with this group of people. 00:26:56.799 --> 00:27:05.119 We thought we were other, we thought we were cut away from, we thought that we thought that we were supposed to be set apart from, and now we're being sent into relationship with them. 00:27:05.279 --> 00:27:11.279 When they arrived in Jerusalem, Barnabas and Paul are welcomed by the whole church, including the apostles and elders. 00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:13.680 They reported everything God had done through them. 00:27:13.839 --> 00:27:18.799 But some of the believers who belonged to the sect of Pharisees stood up and said, Hey, that's cute, that's nice. 00:27:18.960 --> 00:27:23.839 I'm glad to hear all this nice thing that these Gentile converts are doing and this cool thing that God's up to. 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:29.519 But the Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow the law of Moses. 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:33.039 So the apostles and elders met together to resolve this issue. 00:27:33.119 --> 00:27:35.279 We're gonna have a conflict over this, we're gonna figure it out. 00:27:35.440 --> 00:27:40.880 Nobody wants to hurt anybody, nobody wants to dishonor God, but we gotta we gotta get together and figure this out. 00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:54.319 Verse 7 At the meeting, after a long discussion, Peter stood and addressed them as follows Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so they can hear the good news and believe. 00:27:54.640 --> 00:28:01.440 God knows people's hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us. 00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:02.000 Okay? 00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:07.839 We used to think we were cut away, we used to think we were set apart, we used to think, okay, God's brought us together. 00:28:08.079 --> 00:28:10.240 Unity matters, and he's treating us the same. 00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:11.039 Verse 9. 00:28:11.279 --> 00:28:16.799 He made no distinction between them and us, for he cleansed their hearts through faith. 00:28:17.119 --> 00:28:27.279 So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? 00:28:27.599 --> 00:28:31.519 We tried to keep the 613 laws and it was crushing our souls. 00:28:31.680 --> 00:28:43.200 Why are we going to now take somebody who came in at 30, 40, 50 years old and go, hey, here's your 613 new rules, plus our 2,000 oral rules that you better figure out as quickly as possible. 00:28:43.519 --> 00:28:48.640 We believe that we are all saved the same way by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus. 00:28:48.880 --> 00:28:55.839 Everyone, listen quietly as Barnabas and Paul told about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. 00:28:55.920 --> 00:28:59.839 And when they finished, James stood up and said, Brothers, listen to me. 00:29:00.079 --> 00:29:05.920 Peter has told you about the time God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for himself. 00:29:06.240 --> 00:29:08.400 God loves them, guys, just like he does us. 00:29:08.559 --> 00:29:16.079 Yes, at one point we were to be cut away so that we could be an example for the world, but don't forget it's so that the world would be blessed through us. 00:29:16.240 --> 00:29:17.759 And now God's fulfilling that. 00:29:17.920 --> 00:29:22.880 He said, in this conversion of Gentiles is exactly what the prophets predicted. 00:29:23.039 --> 00:29:28.480 In other words, you're worried that we're coming up with something new, but let me take you to something older than old. 00:29:28.720 --> 00:29:30.319 Let me take you to something very old. 00:29:30.480 --> 00:29:32.079 It's it was prophesied. 00:29:32.319 --> 00:29:33.279 Verse 16. 00:29:33.519 --> 00:29:44.319 Afterwards I will return and restore the fallen house of David, and I will rebuild its ruins and restore it, so that the rest of humanity might seek the Lord, including the Gentiles. 00:29:44.480 --> 00:29:46.319 All those I've called to be mine. 00:29:46.559 --> 00:29:47.680 The Lord has spoken. 00:29:47.920 --> 00:29:50.160 He who made these things known so long ago. 00:29:50.240 --> 00:29:55.839 And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 00:29:56.079 --> 00:30:07.440 Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from eating food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from eating meat of strangled animals, and from consuming blood. 00:30:07.759 --> 00:30:12.720 And if you keep reading later, they'll come back and they'll write that letter and say, Here's what we want you to do. 00:30:12.799 --> 00:30:15.279 I know it's 613 laws, I know it's a lot of stuff. 00:30:15.359 --> 00:30:19.039 And by the way, I mean, it goes unsaid, don't murder anyone. 00:30:19.119 --> 00:30:19.440 Okay? 00:30:19.599 --> 00:30:20.480 Everybody got that, okay. 00:30:20.559 --> 00:30:22.160 I don't feel like I need to throw that in there. 00:30:22.319 --> 00:30:24.319 We didn't just go, oh, he didn't put murder in. 00:30:24.480 --> 00:30:26.640 Okay, I think we know the spirit of the law. 00:30:26.799 --> 00:30:27.200 All right. 00:30:27.359 --> 00:30:34.240 He's taken a few hot button issues and he brings it to them, and he said, Do these four things and you'll do well. 00:30:34.559 --> 00:30:34.880 Okay. 00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:40.400 It's an unsettling text because it's like, oh my goodness. 00:30:40.480 --> 00:30:43.759 I mean, imagine, imagine how that sits. 00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:46.640 You go, Who are these people? 00:30:47.359 --> 00:30:59.440 Who are these people that take 613 laws and all these thousands of years of precedent and all these 2,000 oral traditions and to take all this and to take it down to four things and write a letter and say, do this and you'll do well? 00:31:00.480 --> 00:31:16.000 But really, what it does is it introduces within the new covenant as people who are filled with the spirit that raised Christ from the dead that lives within us, understanding the spirit of the law, we've been given a great responsibility, and it's quite difficult. 00:31:16.880 --> 00:31:32.319 Because in order to do the law correctly in the kingdom of God as designed by Jesus, we're gonna have to love people, and we're gonna have to know the spirit of the law well enough to go through a process of two difficult things. 00:31:32.480 --> 00:31:44.640 One, really studying and learning and looking for and discovering and rediscovering and recalibrating to the spirit of the law to really understanding the heart of God expressed through Jesus. 00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:51.039 But the second thing is you have to go through the process of loving people so you know how to contextualize it. 00:31:52.480 --> 00:31:54.240 How do you love someone? 00:31:56.160 --> 00:32:00.240 You meet them, you get to know them. 00:32:00.720 --> 00:32:05.359 Once you get to know them, you decide if you want to accept them. 00:32:05.759 --> 00:32:15.359 The reality is in our relationships, you meet someone, you get to know something about them, and you accept them, and then you get to know more about them and sometimes you reject them. 00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:18.960 That's our story, that's our baggage in relationships. 00:32:19.119 --> 00:32:22.480 Once they got to know this, I was rejected. 00:32:22.720 --> 00:32:31.039 It's one of the interesting things about parenting, being a mom or dad, is you love someone you don't really know yet. 00:32:31.359 --> 00:32:40.160 They're born, God shoots off this designed you to have these brain chemicals shoot off in your brain to bond you to you go, I don't even know what you're gonna be like. 00:32:40.240 --> 00:32:43.359 I don't know if you're gonna be mouthy, I don't know if you're gonna be quiet. 00:32:43.519 --> 00:32:45.039 I don't know if you're gonna be snuggly. 00:32:45.279 --> 00:32:46.640 I don't know if you're gonna be a rebel. 00:32:46.799 --> 00:32:48.640 I don't know if you're gonna drive me nuts. 00:32:48.799 --> 00:32:50.319 I don't know if you're gonna, I'm gonna worry. 00:32:50.799 --> 00:32:52.559 I don't know, I don't know what you're gonna be like. 00:32:52.640 --> 00:32:53.680 I don't know what you're gonna be into. 00:32:53.759 --> 00:32:55.599 I don't know what you're gonna hate, what you're gonna love. 00:32:55.759 --> 00:32:59.440 You're probably gonna break my heart and make me proud all in the same day. 00:32:59.839 --> 00:33:01.519 And yet uh you're gonna evolve. 00:33:01.599 --> 00:33:14.720 You're gonna be kind of like this, and there'll be some glimpses of what you'll be as an adult as a kid, but then you're gonna do some stuff as an adult that's gonna be totally different than what I ever thought as a kid, and you're gonna take me on this crazy roller coaster and I'm gonna accept you the whole time. 00:33:14.960 --> 00:33:16.559 I choose I'm gonna love you. 00:33:16.720 --> 00:33:27.359 The reality is in our relationships, most of the time, you get to know somebody, and over time, if you fully knew them and accepted them, that's called love. 00:33:27.599 --> 00:33:38.480 Now you get to that point and you're at that place, and now we go, how do we administer the spirit of the law in our decision making in our lives? 00:33:38.720 --> 00:33:43.279 And it's a lot easier to just hide behind a law. 00:33:43.519 --> 00:34:09.840 It's a lot easier to hide behind a rule than to do the work of digging to understand the spirit of Yahweh, to understand the spirit of the law expressed through the fulfillment of Jesus Christ, to understand who he really is, what he really thought, how he thought, to understand that, and then to get to know people enough to you get to know them and you accept them and you love them, and then you sit down and in conversation and counsel, we decide what is loving action. 00:34:09.920 --> 00:34:19.440 How does the what is the loving thing for the law to be expressed in your situation and to do our version of Acts 15? 00:34:19.679 --> 00:34:23.840 Acts 15 makes people uncomfortable because it's like, how are you gonna come up with four things? 00:34:23.920 --> 00:34:25.760 And by the way, it's kind of a weird four things. 00:34:25.840 --> 00:34:27.920 One of them is like, don't eat meat sacrificed to idols. 00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:29.199 That's not even in the Torah. 00:34:29.360 --> 00:34:33.440 That's something Paul later is gonna go, hey, it's really not that big a deal, it's just meat. 00:34:33.599 --> 00:34:34.239 But you know what? 00:34:34.320 --> 00:34:38.159 Right now it's hot and it's dividing people, so let's just, you know what? 00:34:38.400 --> 00:34:44.800 Today, today we're gonna create a law to not do that because people think that you're worshiping these guys. 00:34:44.880 --> 00:34:50.400 I know you're not, I know it's just medium rare and it tastes great, and it doesn't matter because it's a dead God anyway, it doesn't even matter. 00:34:50.480 --> 00:34:52.320 But he's like, you know what, for Acts 15? 00:34:52.480 --> 00:34:53.679 Just don't do it. 00:34:53.920 --> 00:34:54.400 Why? 00:34:54.639 --> 00:34:56.400 Spirit of the law, unity. 00:34:57.440 --> 00:35:07.599 So to be able to, as a church, what do how do we as a church live in holiness and purity and to follow God's law in the right way? 00:35:08.960 --> 00:35:12.079 Bro, it's a lot easier to just hide behind a rule book. 00:35:12.239 --> 00:35:18.239 It's a lot harder to understand the spirit of the law, to fulfill it through the law of love. 00:35:18.719 --> 00:35:20.480 What the heck is the law of love, Greg? 00:35:20.559 --> 00:35:21.199 What are you talking about? 00:35:21.360 --> 00:35:21.920 Thanks for asking. 00:35:22.079 --> 00:35:23.760 Matthew 22, 35. 00:35:24.000 --> 00:35:28.079 An expert in religious law tried to trap Jesus with this question. 00:35:28.320 --> 00:35:31.119 Teacher, what is the most important law? 00:35:31.519 --> 00:35:34.719 What is the most important commandment in the law of Moses? 00:35:35.039 --> 00:35:36.639