SPEAKER_01: Going to be talking to you for a few minutes about something uh of which I know virtually nothing, and that is soccer.
SPEAKER_01: Now, apparently, every four years, almost every country on the planet uh collects the greatest players inside of their sphere of influence, and they come together and they compete in this tournament called the World Cup.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is, without comparison, the largest sporting event on the planet.
SPEAKER_01: It is bigger than the Super Bowl.
SPEAKER_01: It is bigger than March Madness.
SPEAKER_01: It's bigger than the World Series combined.
SPEAKER_01: That's how huge this thing is.
SPEAKER_01: And this year, the World Cup is being played here in this country.
SPEAKER_01: Now, for some of you, you don't know, but the U.S.
SPEAKER_01: actually has a soccer team and they compete in this particular tournament, not always with great effect.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but they they work well.
SPEAKER_01: I usually do uh very well, in fact.
SPEAKER_01: But um, you know, it's soccer's not really our our thing in this country, right?
SPEAKER_01: When we say football, we mean the kind of football you play with your hands.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know why, but it's just what we do.
SPEAKER_01: So uh there's an individual, his name is uh Greg.
SPEAKER_01: Uh see here's how much I know about this.
SPEAKER_01: Greg Burrhalter is his name.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Greg Burrhalter.
SPEAKER_01: Uh he was coach uh for several years.
SPEAKER_01: He retired about two years ago, and uh Greg was uh the leader of the World Cup the last time that it was played in Qatar.
SPEAKER_01: And as he played, uh led the team there in Qatar, in the stands was an individual who had petitioned him to play on his team, the U.S.
SPEAKER_01: team in Qatar.
SPEAKER_01: And Greg had told him, You're not ready, you're nowhere near ready, you need to work a lot harder.
SPEAKER_01: Now that happens as a coach, that's one of the things that you have to do is you have to tell people when they are or are not ready.
SPEAKER_01: Dads, that's tough, right?
SPEAKER_01: When we're the coach in our home, it's sometimes tough to tell our kids the truth when they're ready and when they're not ready.
SPEAKER_01: Well, for Greg, that's the challenge he faced because the individual who was in the stands who wanted to be on the U.S.
SPEAKER_01: team was actually a young man named Sebastian, and that was Greg's son.
SPEAKER_01: He had to say to his own son, you're not ready yet.
SPEAKER_01: If you can't compete in your own club, you're nowhere near ready to compete in the club that I'm playing with.
SPEAKER_01: Tough words, but they meant a lot to Sebastian.
SPEAKER_01: Sebastian went out and he bought a little uh a mock World Cup trophy and he took it home and he set it on his shelf just to motivate him to work and to dedicate himself to the game that his father loved so dearly.
SPEAKER_01: And now, uh two years later, four years later, Sebastian is playing on the U.S.
SPEAKER_01: soccer team.
SPEAKER_01: Greg's no longer uh coach, so this isn't nepotism, but Sebastian has earned his way to the team that he so desperately wanted to play for whenever his father was coach.
SPEAKER_01: Now, the FIFA has these moments, they call them uh letters that unite, where players receive letters from family members and they read them on air.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you're here this morning and you're looking for a good, healthy, happy cry later today, you need to pull this video up because it is a real moving tear jerker.
SPEAKER_01: I won't lie to you.
SPEAKER_01: Like I watched it, and Kim was over next to me and she was working, and I'm like, I'm like bopping my looking away because I didn't want her to see that I was crying watching this video.
SPEAKER_01: So as Sebastian read this letter from his father, because what his father did is his father reminded him.
SPEAKER_01: He said, It was tough to tell you that you weren't ready, but it was needful, and you've worked hard, and I'm so happy that now you're going to be on this field playing in the World Cup.
SPEAKER_01: And at the end of the letter, Sebastian read a particular a particular paragraph that caused him to break up and he started to cry.
SPEAKER_01: And the the phrase was this his father said, I'm proud of you because of who you are, not because of what you have accomplished.
SPEAKER_01: That's a significant word of encouragement to a son.
SPEAKER_01: To know that you are not in a performance-based relationship.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm just going to tell you, there is nothing worse, nothing worse in a marriage.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing more difficult in a family, there's nothing more complicated in a church or a business setting, even though, like in business, we got business to do than living in a performance-based environment.
SPEAKER_01: It takes the joy out of everything.
SPEAKER_01: And yet, as fathers, we know we have to challenge our children to do better, to do more, to do right, to avoid wrong.
SPEAKER_01: Like we're called to challenge them to do those things, but yet our love for them, our affirmation of them isn't based on what they accomplish.
SPEAKER_01: It is based on who they are to us.
SPEAKER_01: Now, the reason we're beginning with this story this morning is because I wanted to take us to Matthew chapter three, because Sebastian wasn't the first son to hear a word from his father, a word of affirmation.
SPEAKER_01: And we're going to see how Jesus hears that same word.
SPEAKER_01: Of course, Jesus, well, he has a whole different skill set than Sebastian did.
SPEAKER_01: And yet, whenever the father looked at him, the love of the father was based not on what Jesus had done, although he had already done a lot and was going to do much more, but it was based on who he was to the Father.
SPEAKER_01: So let's just look at this text together.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what we're going to do.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to walk through this text very briefly, and then we're going to talk quickly about two applications for us as fathers.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're here this morning and you're not a father, this still applies to you because we are all coaching, we are all parenting, we are all leaders.
SPEAKER_01: If you are called to salvation, you are called to service.
SPEAKER_01: And service in the Christian world is leadership.
SPEAKER_01: The two are synonymous.
SPEAKER_01: And so this is going to apply to you as well.
SPEAKER_01: But let's look, if you will, with me down to verse number 11.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is John the Baptist.
SPEAKER_01: He's in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_01: He has started his ministry by a proclamation that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
SPEAKER_01: This is how preaching always started in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_01: Whenever John started his ministry, his proclamation ministry, the message was the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God is at hand.
SPEAKER_01: When Jesus started his ministry, same message.
SPEAKER_01: The kingdom of God is at hand.
SPEAKER_01: Now, of course, the kingdom of God being at hand comes with a great deal of celebration for those of us who are in the kingdom, who are in Christ, but it comes with a great deal of warning for those who are not.
SPEAKER_01: And John warns the people, especially one particular group.
SPEAKER_01: There were a group of religious leaders who had come down to the Jordan River where John was baptizing at way out in the wilderness, out in the sticks.
SPEAKER_01: And whenever they showed up, John had some words for them.
SPEAKER_01: They were heavy words.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes heavy words are necessary words.
SPEAKER_01: Can I get a witness?
SPEAKER_01: Like sometimes you got to tell people the truth, and it's not easy, but it's necessary for them to hear.
SPEAKER_01: John's message message is really heavy.
SPEAKER_01: Arguably, maybe maybe it misses something.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to what he says here.
SPEAKER_01: He says to the crowd, he says, I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than me, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.
SPEAKER_01: He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
SPEAKER_01: Now, John the Baptist had already spoke to these religious leaders in particular and had said to them, Who is it that has warned you to escape from the fires of judgment?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the heavy hand of that was simply, hey, you're about to be judged for your unrighteousness, masked as righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: And then he turned to them and he says, This concerning what this Messiah figure was going to do, the one who was coming after him, whose sandals he was not worthy to pick up and carry and untie.
SPEAKER_01: What was that individual going to do?
SPEAKER_01: Look at what John the Baptist says here.
SPEAKER_01: He says, his winnowing fork, and that's not a good thing, right?
SPEAKER_01: The one that he stabs into the earth and flings up in the air.
SPEAKER_01: That's never fun, is it, to get stabbed and flung up in the air for God to winnow us?
SPEAKER_01: It's not easy, but his winnowing fork is in his hand and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.
SPEAKER_01: Gary, I've heard a sermon or two like this once in a while, haven't you?
SPEAKER_01: Man, this is how the old timers would preach it.
SPEAKER_01: They'd preach hell so hot, they say, hell so hot that you could feel it.
SPEAKER_01: There's a place for the proclamation of judgment because it is true.
SPEAKER_01: God does have wrath towards sin, and sinners who connect themselves to their sin and refuse to let go of it are going to be consumed by that same wrath.
SPEAKER_01: There's no question about that.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm not sure exactly what's going through John's heart.
SPEAKER_01: Someday I want to ask him what the rest of that sermon sounds like, but I do know there's a big, there's a significant contrast between what John says here about the Messiah and what he experiences.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, see, if you've heard these two verses and you didn't know anything about Jesus, you might expect whenever he shows up, he's going to have like this red face, this scalinous face, he's gonna be he's gonna be angry, and he's gonna be hot, and he's gonna be sharp, and he's gonna be direct, and he's not gonna joke about anything, and he's nothing if we're not careful, we can imagine a Jesus that's nothing like the one presented in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_01: Because the one who shows up here before uh before John is radically different from the message he has just spoken.
SPEAKER_01: He's there, right?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus does say specifically that he's going to judge the world.
SPEAKER_01: Like that's going to happen.
SPEAKER_01: But here on the banks of this river, well, there's a contrast.
SPEAKER_01: Let's see if you see it.
SPEAKER_01: Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him.
SPEAKER_01: Now, John was the famous one in the family.
SPEAKER_01: He was the one everyone knew about.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone whispered about this outlier, John, who was telling the rich people what for and putting the religious elite in their place.
SPEAKER_01: Like John would preach very well, very well.
SPEAKER_01: If John were alive today, he'd have a podcast.
SPEAKER_01: There's no doubt about it.
SPEAKER_01: That's what he would do.
SPEAKER_01: And he and like it would be huge.
SPEAKER_01: It would be huge.
SPEAKER_01: And so Jesus shows up, specifically, we're told, from Galilee.
SPEAKER_01: And of course, everyone knows how people felt about people from Galilee.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing good came from Nazareth because nothing good came from Galilee.
SPEAKER_01: If you were a holy person, you were in the holy city or they're close by.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus comes down out of obscurity.
SPEAKER_01: For 30 years, he's been in Galilee, apparently mastering the art of chairbuilding or something, working as a carpenter, and he's up there in obscurity, and he's coming down to John to be baptized, and he's about to become very well known.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you know that dwelling in obscurity, serving in obscurity is often required before doing anything great?
SPEAKER_01: It takes a while to work.
SPEAKER_01: It takes a while to be ready.
SPEAKER_01: This is what Jesus has done here in his ministry, not that the Son of God needs to be ready for anything, but yet he has been in obscurity and he shows up here before his very well-known cousin to be baptized from him.
SPEAKER_01: And John's response is understandable.
SPEAKER_01: John's response is probably our response.
SPEAKER_01: John looks at Jesus and says, Whoa, literally, Matthew says he would prevent him.
SPEAKER_01: The idea here is like this isn't just like him being all shucks.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think maybe we shouldn't do it this way.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, No, absolutely not.
SPEAKER_01: Are you, no?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I know you're not crazy because you're God in the flesh, but seriously?
SPEAKER_01: I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me.
SPEAKER_01: This did not make sense to him that John found himself in this place, this person who he has just been preaching, who has the winnowing fork in his hand, whose sandals he's not worthy to bear in any fashion, now has come to him and says, Hey, listen, I need to be baptized.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be baptized by you.
SPEAKER_01: Now, in this day, baptism was already being practiced for many, many years.
SPEAKER_01: And it was a way of someone identifying with the teachings of a particular person.
SPEAKER_01: And so if you were under a rabbi and then you went and left and went to another rabbi, you would be baptized again.
SPEAKER_01: You would be baptized, immersed into their teachings, and you would come out demonstrating that you died to that old teaching, to that old way of life, and you're raised now to a new way of life.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we baptize today.
SPEAKER_01: It's why we're Baptists, is because it illustrates what God has done in your heart as an individual.
SPEAKER_01: It has nothing to do with your connection to the state.
SPEAKER_01: It has nothing to do with your connection to the church, it has everything to do with your personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing Jesus Christ already has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you, that's way too deep for you.
SPEAKER_01: Like he didn't need to be baptized.
SPEAKER_01: He was already okay.
SPEAKER_01: Like there was no right.
SPEAKER_01: John to one point was correct.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't need to be to be baptized by John.
SPEAKER_01: He was perfect.
SPEAKER_01: And yet Jesus presents himself.
SPEAKER_01: Why is he doing this?
SPEAKER_01: Look at the next verse because Jesus tries to explain this to John as best he can in the moment.
SPEAKER_01: He says, but Jesus answered him and says, Let it be now.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to do this.
SPEAKER_01: I understand you don't want to, and it makes you very uncomfortable, but you're going to do this.
SPEAKER_01: Let it be so now.
SPEAKER_01: For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: Now here is the son of righteousness, the very embodiment of righteousness, the fountain of righteousness from which each of us must draw.
SPEAKER_01: You will not manufacture your own righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: You will not create your own goodness.
SPEAKER_01: Give it up.
SPEAKER_01: It's not going to happen.
SPEAKER_01: Not going to happen.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Do good, you should.
SPEAKER_01: Do right, you should.
SPEAKER_01: You're not going to earn or create or manufacture your own righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: If you have righteousness, you get it from the same place everyone else in history has ever gotten it.
SPEAKER_01: John the Baptist included, you're getting it, you get it from the man who's about to be baptized.
SPEAKER_01: And yet here he is, he says, this is necessary for us to fulfill our righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: Now, why is he doing this?
SPEAKER_01: Well, you probably know, if you've heard this story many times, you understand what's happening here, that Jesus is, he's identifying with sinners, which is why he came.
SPEAKER_01: He's not some God somewhere out there, like the gods who are worshiped throughout this world and throughout history, that give you a checklist.
SPEAKER_01: And if you fulfill that checklist just well enough and you die just the right moment, whenever you don't have sin in your heart, then you'll be okay with the deity.
SPEAKER_01: We don't serve a God like that, ladies and gentlemen.
SPEAKER_01: We serve a God who loved us so much that he came down to be one of us, to suffer like us, to experience the consequences of my sin.
SPEAKER_01: He came for that.
SPEAKER_01: Now, the reason he did that is because he loves us.
SPEAKER_01: And the reason he loves us is not because it's something he's chosen to do because we're so great.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not great.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not lovable.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, some days I may be lovable, but my family will tell you there are other days they won't tell you today because it's Father's Day.
SPEAKER_01: But ask them tomorrow when it's Father's Day and over, and they'll tell you.
SPEAKER_01: They'll tell you, some days he's not lovable.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not lovable enough.
SPEAKER_01: I am loved by the Father because he is love.
SPEAKER_01: He's love.
SPEAKER_01: Now we've talked about this before, but let me just remind you what that means.
SPEAKER_01: What that means is love is not something that God does, it's not an act he performs, it's not something that he created.
SPEAKER_01: The triune God for all eternity past has existed in a relationship within himself.
SPEAKER_01: The Father loving the Son, the Son loving the Father, the Spirit loving the Son, the Spirit loving the Father, the Father loving both the Son and the Spirit, and this beautiful connection for eternity, he's existed in this state of loving each other.
SPEAKER_01: And so, whenever at some point in history past, in in eternity past, whenever God decides he's going to create the first human, and he's going to define the relationship, or let's say the first being, not human.
SPEAKER_01: When God decides he's going to create the first being other than himself, he also has to define the relationship he's going to have with that person.
SPEAKER_01: What kind of relationship is that is that going to be?
SPEAKER_01: It's the same kind of relationship that's inside him.
SPEAKER_01: Now that's huge.
SPEAKER_01: I know that's deep, but stay with me.
SPEAKER_01: That's huge.
SPEAKER_01: That means God did not create love as some idea whenever he created the first being.
SPEAKER_01: God simply shared what was in his nature.
SPEAKER_01: The love of God is as old as God is.
SPEAKER_01: And if it's as old as God is and part of his nature, it will not change.
SPEAKER_01: That's when you got that.
SPEAKER_01: That's good news.
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm going to change and not always for the better.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to alter myself.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to make decisions I shouldn't make.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to be the same on my best day, like that's just going to be my best day.
SPEAKER_01: And every other day is going to be a day downhill from there.
SPEAKER_01: And I need something that's going to be consistent for me.
SPEAKER_01: I need the love of God.
SPEAKER_01: Now we're going to see the love of God here in this passage illustrated.
SPEAKER_01: So John relents to simply, it's a very short phrase, but it's deep and profound in its in its meaning.
SPEAKER_01: All Matthew tells us is then he consented.
SPEAKER_01: Like I would have loved to have seen the image of this take place.
SPEAKER_01: Of like, what does John say?
SPEAKER_01: John's like, okay, if you insist, but I don't know about this.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, like the the words he must have chosen as they walked down in that water together must have been rich.
SPEAKER_01: John consented.
SPEAKER_01: He baptizes Jesus, and then when Jesus comes out, look at verse number 16.
SPEAKER_01: When Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down and resting on him.
SPEAKER_01: What's happening here?
SPEAKER_01: It's a very interesting passage.
SPEAKER_01: And let's be honest for a moment.
SPEAKER_01: It it kind of comes out of left field.
SPEAKER_01: The spirit comes down.
SPEAKER_01: It looks like a dove.
SPEAKER_01: And out of all things, the spirit could have looked like he comes down and he looks like a dove.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, it could have like a bunny rabbits are cute, you know, that would have been okay.
SPEAKER_01: Or, you know, uh eagles.
SPEAKER_01: What about an eagle?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, look at but but a dove.
SPEAKER_01: Why a dove?
SPEAKER_01: Watch what's happening here.
SPEAKER_01: In this moment, you have the triune God concentrated right here in this little spot on earth.
SPEAKER_01: Pretty cool, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: The essence of all that God is is is going to manifest himself right here.
SPEAKER_01: The Son of God steps out, drenched with water, the Spirit descends like a dove and lands on top of him, and then the Father God speaks and says, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
SPEAKER_01: So it's like the entirety of who God is is involving himself in this moment.
SPEAKER_01: You and I are the deep affections of the entire essence of God.
SPEAKER_01: It's huge.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not this isn't just the work of the spirit of the Son dying for us.
SPEAKER_01: Now the Spirit walks with us day by day.
SPEAKER_01: It's it's for me is a huge blessing to think about the fact that God is all in whenever it comes to my redemption.
SPEAKER_01: It's huge, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: Alright, so here's here's what we want to talk about.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Because I know you're saying to yourself right now, well, okay, great, that's f but it's Father's Day.
SPEAKER_01: Like what why what's all this about?
SPEAKER_01: Here's the thing, ladies and gentlemen, is depending on who you talk to, what it means to be father has a wide range of meanings.
SPEAKER_01: I read an article this week um out of um New York, where New York State has just appointed a head of fatherhood for the state.
SPEAKER_01: So uh his title is uh uh the the head Of fatherhood care, I think is what it is.
SPEAKER_01: The state has done this.
SPEAKER_01: And the idea is, is the state's beginning to recognize that fatherhood is important.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you knew that like from the time you were a little boy or girl?
SPEAKER_01: Like fatherhood's very, very important.
SPEAKER_01: Even if like you didn't have a great dad, like that just underscored in your heart even more so.
SPEAKER_01: Like it like one having one of those would be very, very helpful.
SPEAKER_01: And so the state's beginning to recognize that, and they're trying to create this atmosphere and this attitude where fathers are active in their families.
SPEAKER_01: It's an interesting stats.
SPEAKER_01: Actually, it's the case that fathers who are fathers, like actually who have children, actual fathers, are more engaged now than they were 40 years ago.
SPEAKER_01: That's a word of encouragement.
SPEAKER_01: But at the same time, fewer people are having children because we are so consumed with doing things for ourselves and avoiding responsibility at all cost.
SPEAKER_01: And I have heard that having children requires quite a bit of responsibility.
SPEAKER_01: So uh there's there's that.
SPEAKER_01: And so the point being is like there's a there's a whole lot of like, what does it look like to be a father?
SPEAKER_01: And you know, and and and what path do you choose, right?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, are you gonna be the heavy-handed kind of father who's like the drill sergeant who's gonna make sure that your kid is disciplined enough to go out and to conquer the world, or are you gonna be the friend who's like always there for your kid and you know, ready to hear and to listen and to, you know, to walk with them, and the kind of person who's like, hey, they can come and share anything with you.
SPEAKER_01: Like, what kind of what kind of father are you gonna be?
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna suggest to you that maybe the best plan that you and I could have is to attempt to emulate the fatherhood of God.
SPEAKER_01: He is the father, right?
SPEAKER_01: See, sometimes we think of the metaphor that, like, okay, we're fathers, and so this is what we know, and so if we want to understand who God is, then we understand him as father based on what we know about fathers down here.
SPEAKER_01: The problem is, is that for a lot of folks in this room, imagining God being like your dad is not necessarily a great thing.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's it's problematic, and it's also backwards.
SPEAKER_01: We are not the example to understand to metaphor who God is, God is the example through which we should understand what our responsibility is.
SPEAKER_01: And here in this moment, the father is well, he's being father to the son.
SPEAKER_01: And and I see specifically two things that he's doing here.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna show them to you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm very excited about this moment because it's not very often that I get to share something with you that I've never read in a commentary.
SPEAKER_01: It's a little unnerving because that that does make me worry that maybe it's not true, but I think this is.
SPEAKER_01: But more importantly, I want to share it with you because this is something that I feel like God has just revealed in my studies to you, and and it hits me hard because it's something that I've not been great at as a father.
SPEAKER_01: I think what God is doing here is he is first off bathing his son in the word.
SPEAKER_01: Bathing his son, his child in the in the word of the living God.
SPEAKER_01: You can do no better.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna bathe your children in something, you're gonna wrap them in something, you're going to instruct them in something.
SPEAKER_01: Man, if you want to see my ire get up, if you want to see me like get all carnal, then come to me and say, Yeah, I just want my kids to make their own decision.
SPEAKER_01: I don't really want to impose my religion on them.
SPEAKER_01: Come on now.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that itself is imposing a religion on them.
SPEAKER_01: And if your religion happens to be right, then maybe it's the kind of thing you should impose on them.
SPEAKER_01: Kind of like you say to them, don't go near the road.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to impose that yellow line on them, right?
SPEAKER_01: Don't touch the, you know, don't put that fork inside of the outlet.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to impose that rule on them because you know that's the best thing for them.
SPEAKER_01: Well, if you've read the gospel and you understand what's happening in the spirit, the work of the spirit through Jesus Christ, then you know the best thing for your kid is faith in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: There's none of this, let them make the I'm not saying you like you chain them up and drag them to church.
SPEAKER_01: I like I get it, that we have to not be militant about this and we have to woo our kids in, but the wooing should be the objective of our faith.
SPEAKER_01: And like I'm with you, like there are days, even as pastor, I'm telling you, I preach the word to my kids, and I'm not sure, man.
SPEAKER_01: This has to be bathed in grace.
SPEAKER_01: More on that in a minute.
SPEAKER_01: Because I know some of you are that you're there and you're like, okay, yeah, how's he bathing Jesus in the word of God?
SPEAKER_01: God's speaking, and so Jesus is being bathed in the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: Pastor, you're just cheating.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm not.
SPEAKER_01: Watch what happens here.
SPEAKER_01: Now, in the New Testament times, they had their copies, versions of Scripture the same way that we do.
SPEAKER_01: They were usually in different languages, but they were organized usually the same way.
SPEAKER_01: They were organized into law, uh, prophet, and writings.
SPEAKER_01: This is what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_01: In uh the book of Luke, he talks about how that all of the Bible, Old Testament points to him, and the law, the writings, the prophets, rather, and the writings, Jesus says.
SPEAKER_01: And so he takes the Old Testament and he divides it into these three categories.
SPEAKER_01: It's how they would have understood their Bible.
SPEAKER_01: In the same way you think Old Testament, New Testament, in your Bible, they would have thought law, writings, prophets.
SPEAKER_01: Real simple.
SPEAKER_01: Now, watch what happens here whenever whenever God speaks from heaven.
SPEAKER_01: He gives a single sentence, but it's in two phrases.
SPEAKER_01: And each of these phrases refers back to an Old Testament passage.
SPEAKER_01: The first one comes from the writings.
SPEAKER_01: Now, the the writings began with the book of Psalms.
SPEAKER_01: The book of Psalms was the head book, the lead book for the writings.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, sometimes it wasn't called the writings, it was just called the Psalms.
SPEAKER_01: That entire section of their Bible.
SPEAKER_01: It'd be kind of like us referring to the New Testament as the book of Matthew.
SPEAKER_01: It's what they did.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh whenever whenever the Father speaks, he begins with the very first Psalm.
SPEAKER_01: Now, caveat here, I know what's on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: It says Psalm chapter 2, and I can count, I promise you.
SPEAKER_01: But originally Psalm 1 and 2 were the same psalm.
SPEAKER_01: It was all this messianic king is coming psalm, and in the middle of it, the psalmist writes, As for me, I have set my king in Zion.
SPEAKER_01: This is God speaking through the psalmist now.
SPEAKER_01: I have set my king in Zion, my holy hill.
SPEAKER_01: I will tell of this decree.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to announce this decree.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord said to me, You are my son.
SPEAKER_01: Today I have begotten you.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is most theologians think.
SPEAKER_01: This is a very clear allusion back to this passage, whenever the Father announces from heaven a decree.
SPEAKER_01: This is my beloved son.
SPEAKER_01: He's not just son, he's beloved son.
SPEAKER_01: Now, the prophecy comes from Isaiah 42, 1 and 2, where the Father says, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
SPEAKER_01: Isaiah chapter 42, verse 1 is the beginning of the servant, of the servant Messiah prophecies.
SPEAKER_01: And so it's a critical shift in the book of Isaiah, where Isaiah is now talking about the work and the Messiah and what he's going to do.
SPEAKER_01: And in the very opening verses, this is what it said: Behold, my servant who I uphold, my chosen in whom my soul delights.
SPEAKER_01: The second phrase in this proclamation from heaven is that very phrase.
SPEAKER_01: This is my beloved son in whom I delight.
SPEAKER_01: It's translated differently because it's Hebrew and not Greek, but it's the same idea.
SPEAKER_01: This is my beloved son, Psalm chapter 2, in whom my soul delights, Isaiah 42.
SPEAKER_01: I know what you're sitting there thinking, Pastor, but you still got the law.
SPEAKER_01: You got the prophets and you got the writings.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus has been wrapped in the word of God, is what we're talking about.
SPEAKER_01: But where's the law?
SPEAKER_01: And you may notice that we're out of words in this verse, don't you?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, but no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: Preachers are never out of words.
SPEAKER_01: I could go to two o'clock, I promise you.
SPEAKER_01: We are never out of words.
SPEAKER_01: Well, the passage doesn't open with when the passage, this section opens, when Jesus comes out of the water, water, do you recall what happens?
SPEAKER_01: An angel or the spirit descends as a dove and lands on him.
SPEAKER_01: Well, if you were a Hebrew and you knew your, you know, your your Tanakh, your your Torah, Nephilim and Kephalim, your Tanakh, you knew your law.
SPEAKER_01: Well, this would remind you of some very important passages out of the law, out of the book of Genesis, Genesis 1 and 2, for example.
SPEAKER_01: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
SPEAKER_01: Here it is at the very beginning of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
SPEAKER_01: The earth was without form and void.
SPEAKER_01: Um, darkness was upon the face of the earth, and the what does that say?
SPEAKER_01: The spirit was hovering over the face of the deep.
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't landing anywhere, it was just hovering, it hadn't made quite made contact with the earth.
SPEAKER_01: It was just, he was just hovering over the face of the earth.
SPEAKER_01: And then later in the story of Noah, whenever Noah sends out the birds, he sends out that last what is it?
SPEAKER_01: I forget.
SPEAKER_00: He sends it out, and the dove does not return to find a nest.
SPEAKER_01: I think what's happening here is this is an allusion to the beginning of scripture, the law.
SPEAKER_01: And so out of this, what is happening is the spirit is descending.
SPEAKER_01: It couldn't, like it didn't, it didn't land in Genesis at creation.
SPEAKER_01: It didn't land at Genesis chapter six after the great flood.
SPEAKER_01: The spirit lands as a dove on the Son of God at the baptism.
SPEAKER_01: You see, it didn't come out of left field at all.
SPEAKER_01: It makes perfect sense given what's happening here because the next thing, the next thing the Father does is he has just illustrated the law.
SPEAKER_01: He is speaking the writings and he is speaking the prophecy.
SPEAKER_01: He's wrapped his son in the word.
SPEAKER_01: Can I just tell you we can do no different, even like if you don't buy that, and I think you should because it's so cool.
SPEAKER_01: The truth is, the truth is, what you see there is the Father speaking his word over the Son.
SPEAKER_01: And throughout Scripture, we are just encouraged to do the same thing, to speak the truth of God's words over each other.
SPEAKER_01: And to, as the proverbs would tell us, to teach our sons in the way that they should go.
SPEAKER_01: Dads, you can do no better than to point your children to the word.
SPEAKER_01: That is tough.
SPEAKER_01: Show them the truth.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I know that's difficult to do because for many of us, like showing them the truth is complicated because we're not, I mean, at times we're not very good at it.
SPEAKER_01: But everywhere we go, we should try to live up to the teachings of Deuteronomy chapter 6 that as we go out and as we come in, as we walk by and past, and in the morning and the evenings, we teach our children the Lord's ways.
SPEAKER_01: To love the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, to implant their word.
SPEAKER_01: We're always looking for an angle where we can drop in truth about the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we're doing this series, by the way.
SPEAKER_01: We're taking cultural moments and showing how that a God like ours cannot be hid anywhere.
SPEAKER_01: Anywhere.
SPEAKER_01: If you're looking for a great resource for that, go to the church's website, look for the resource tab, and go to a ministry called Axis, A-X-I-S, where they take current events, memes, stories, songs, movies, and they explain how you can get from G get to Jesus from where your children, your grandchildren are.
SPEAKER_01: They need to be bathed in the word.
SPEAKER_01: We should be, I know that sounds like work, that's because it is, but we should be intentional about finding ways to get our to get the word of God into the heart of our children and grandchildren.
SPEAKER_01: Let me just say one other word of encouragement regarding this.
SPEAKER_01: It's important that we live that word out.
SPEAKER_01: Because if we don't live that word out, our kids are pretty easy, pretty good at spotting hypocrisy.
SPEAKER_01: See, that that brings us to the next point.
SPEAKER_01: We show them the truth, and the truest thing you can show them is unconditional love.
SPEAKER_01: Huge importance.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because they need to see that you right, you're gonna fail, you know you're going to fail, and the enemy would want you to live in shame after that failure.
SPEAKER_01: And yet, if you have taught them not a religious system but the gospel, you don't live in shame, you don't demonstrate shame, you demonstrate humility and redemption by saying, Yeah, okay, dad, fail, mom, fail, mom should have done better, dad should not have done that, and yet, because you have illustrated to them and your relationship with them that forgiveness is always there, that love is always present, and that you're proud of them and you love them, not because of what they've accomplished, but because of who they are.
SPEAKER_01: It's huge.
SPEAKER_01: Let me just tell you, like that's you're going to drop the ball.
SPEAKER_01: There's going to come a moment where you're going to not live up to the standards that you're presenting.
SPEAKER_01: I read a story back in 2022 of a mother who had posted on Reddit.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, please, please continue to post your drama on Reddit.
SPEAKER_01: I don't have enough drama in my life.
SPEAKER_01: I would rather live vicariously through your drama.
SPEAKER_01: And so please continue to do that.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, she uh gave her herself the pseudonym ThrewAway 9707.
SPEAKER_01: And the story went like this.
SPEAKER_01: She got online and she explained that her son and her husband fought a lot.
SPEAKER_01: And what would happen is they would get into these arguments, and apparently the father would start to lose, as does happen sometimes.
SPEAKER_01: And so he would get angry and he would start calling his kids, his kid names, like brutal names, like you know, just the worst sort of, you know, challenging his intelligence and his work ethic and just all kinds of and his son finally got tired of it and said, You're gonna stop doing that, or I'm gonna, I'm gonna throw something away of yours.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna throw it away.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna, I'm gonna, you're gonna go looking for it, you're not gonna know where it is, and it's gonna be gone.
SPEAKER_01: So the father's thinking, like, tools, you know, something out of the car, his car key, something really important.
SPEAKER_01: His father did not stop berating his son.
SPEAKER_01: And so the son went and found his father's Bible and he threw it away.
SPEAKER_01: Brutal, right?
SPEAKER_01: Not what you want your child to do.
SPEAKER_01: Um the mother came to the son and said, Do you have you seen your dad's Bible?
SPEAKER_01: And the son said, No, I threw it away.
SPEAKER_01: And the the son said, uh, the mother said, Hey, you got to go find it.
SPEAKER_01: That's your dad's Bible.
SPEAKER_01: And the son's like, it's been gone, it's like it's in the trash, it's gone.
SPEAKER_01: And so she got online to Reddit, threw away 9707 to ask, Hey, what should you do?
SPEAKER_01: Like, what do I do about this?
SPEAKER_01: Like, what how do you handle this kind of thing?
SPEAKER_01: And and she got a lot of comments.
SPEAKER_01: I love reading the comments more than I love reading the stories, just gonna tell you.
SPEAKER_01: One of the comments, though, really nailed it.
SPEAKER_01: And this was covered in Newsweek, and um, she the the author brought that brought out that the best comment she said, um, that the comment was, uh, you it sounds like your husband threw his Bible away a long time before your son did.
SPEAKER_01: That's tough, right?
SPEAKER_01: Folks, we have to live truth, we have to live grace.
SPEAKER_01: This is what we present to our children.
SPEAKER_01: We have to show them the truth, and the truest thing that we can show them is to show them unconditional love because that's the love we receive from the Father.
SPEAKER_01: This is what I think the the what Jesus would say, because the whole series here is what would Jesus post.
SPEAKER_01: I I think if Jesus were going to post something about this, I think he would just be about ready to post whenever the father would take the keyboard or the or the microphone away and he would say, This is my beloved son.
SPEAKER_01: Let me demonstrate to you what fatherhood should look like.
SPEAKER_01: This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
SPEAKER_01: Can I just ask you, dads, have you experienced the unconditional love of the father?
SPEAKER_01: And I'm man, I I know it's like these are kids can be tough.
SPEAKER_01: They can be frustrating, they can be infuriating at times.
SPEAKER_01: But the love of the father sets an example for you and I that our passion for them, our relationship with them is not based on what they accomplish.
SPEAKER_01: It's not based on their performance, it's based on their identity, who they are.
SPEAKER_01: See, some of you, you've read like this story, and you've read like, oh, the father is yelling down that uh you know, this is my beloved son.
SPEAKER_01: I'm well pleased with him because he just got baptized.
SPEAKER_01: If that's how you're reading it, I just want you to know you're reading it wrong.
SPEAKER_01: Because the affirmation from the Father came long before the baptism.
SPEAKER_01: It came all the way back in Isaiah chapter 42, before the first sermon, before he was born in a manger, before the first miracles, before any of that, the father said, You are my son.
SPEAKER_01: Today I have begotten you.
SPEAKER_01: I am pleased with you because the love of the Father is not based on the performance of the object of that love, it's based on his nature, and the nature of the father is love.
SPEAKER_01: Ladies and gentlemen, this is what we show to our children.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we challenge them to be their best.
SPEAKER_01: We confront them.
SPEAKER_01: We tell them when they can't make the team, we tell them they can't make the team.
SPEAKER_01: You're just not good enough, you're not ready.
SPEAKER_01: We tell them the truth, but at the end of that truth is not some relationship-breaking kind of breach.
SPEAKER_01: It's I'm I'm I'm I'm telling you this because I love you.
SPEAKER_01: And if you never make the team, if you if you never get the job, if you never get into that college, if you never accomplish these things, then I want you to know I'm I'm gonna challenge you, I'm gonna confront you, I'm gonna be your biggest coach and your biggest chairperson.
SPEAKER_01: But at the end of the day, my love for you is not based on what you accomplished.
SPEAKER_01: My love for you is based on who you are and who you are to me.
SPEAKER_01: That's the love of the Father.
SPEAKER_01: Have you experienced that?