WEBVTT 00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:21.679 Thank you for joining us. 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:28.960 Hopefully you worked out the time change and uh enjoyed uh that extra hour in bed. 00:00:29.039 --> 00:00:35.679 If indeed you don't have uh small children, uh it's great to uh be able to speak with you. 00:00:35.840 --> 00:00:48.240 I was gonna say to be with you, but to be able to speak with you uh this morning from uh the passage that Charlotte read from uh for us uh from Matthew uh chapter five. 00:00:48.320 --> 00:01:03.679 We're going through the Sermon on the Mount at the moment and looking at uh at many things that um cut right to the heart, and and I trust that this one is is no different because Jesus is a he's a master heart surgeon, really, isn't he? 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:12.400 And so he he brings things to to light, not in order to condemn, but in order to help us to uh to grow and uh to change. 00:01:12.480 --> 00:01:18.079 So why don't we pray uh in light of that and ask that he would continue to do that by his spirit? 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:20.159 Let's pray together. 00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:52.480 Our Heavenly Father, we do ask uh that you would uh by your spirit uh be at work in each of our hearts as we as we watch this stream, help us uh to uh to consider the ways in which uh we need to change, grow, uh, repent, turn from uh various patterns and ways, and live lives of truthfulness and integrity that commend the gospel to those around us and to the watching uh world. 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:56.159 Help us now, uh we pray in the name of Jesus. 00:01:56.480 --> 00:01:57.120 Amen. 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:05.920 We uh have all experienced, uh, haven't we, what it is uh to have promises broken. 00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:11.919 Uh we know what it is uh to be let down by someone. 00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:26.000 Maybe uh in your past you asked a friend or a family member uh to keep a confidence, uh to keep a secret, and they didn't, and they let you down. 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:29.039 They they broke that promise. 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:37.439 Maybe you remember growing up uh a parent promising something and they didn't follow through. 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:39.439 They broke that promise. 00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:45.280 To say nothing of uh our our leaders, it's almost expected, isn't it? 00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:54.960 Uh, that those uh in the corridors of power, uh they tend to promise much and and deliver little. 00:02:55.120 --> 00:02:58.000 It's almost kind of baked into the cake at this point. 00:03:00.400 --> 00:03:16.159 Some of you watching this have made promises, promises of love, promises of fidelity, promises of commitment, and you have had them broken, and you have felt that betrayal. 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:38.560 But a moment's reflection uh and honesty in the in the quietness of our own hearts leads us to the conclusion that not only have we had promises broken uh to us, that we have broken promises ourselves, that we have let people down, we have said one thing and we've done another. 00:03:38.879 --> 00:03:40.240 I know I have. 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:49.360 We have broken confidences, we have told those secrets after making the the promise not to. 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:53.280 We even have been unfaithful. 00:03:54.719 --> 00:04:10.000 We as parents have let and will probably continue to let our children down, and so Jesus is taking aim again at something that we all wrestle with. 00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:27.839 We all need him this morning to do this heart surgery for us so that we might grow, so that we might mature and develop, both as individuals and as a community of faith. 00:04:28.399 --> 00:04:36.639 And the issue that Jesus is taking aim at is the issue of truthfulness and integrity. 00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:42.240 Uh, last year uh Phil and I watched the mini-series Chernobyl. 00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:59.120 Uh, maybe you watched it about six or so uh episodes uh chronicling and retelling the uh the nuclear disaster that happened in that part of uh of Soviet-controlled uh Ukraine back in uh I think the year that I was born, I think around about 1986. 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:18.240 And while the series shows the uh the physical damage of radiation poisoning and the physical damage of the uh of the explosion, uh what the program focuses on is not the physical toll, but the moral fallout. 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:25.439 The moral fallout in a society that ignores and suppresses uh the truth. 00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:30.480 See the enemy in Chernobyl, it's not it's not a big batting. 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:36.560 Uh it's not a it's not a monster, it's not a it's not a creature, it's a system. 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:45.839 It's a system in which the truth is starved of oxygen, where truthfulness dies. 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:50.639 We often justify lies, don't we? 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:53.519 We have there's black lies and there's we white lies. 00:05:55.040 --> 00:06:00.160 And white lies, they don't really matter, they're just a they're just a small thing. 00:06:01.199 --> 00:06:19.199 But what happens, and Chernobyl shows us this, what happens when a whole community, a whole society speaks lies all the time, where no one says what they mean or means what they say? 00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:27.120 What happens to a community like that when lies just chip off our tongues all the time? 00:06:27.920 --> 00:06:40.560 Well, we lose trust in one another, we lose cohesion as a community, we lose the ability to recognize anything true at all. 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:45.199 That's exactly what happened in Soviet Russia and Chernobyl's just that in microcosm. 00:06:45.279 --> 00:06:56.720 But that's what happened throughout the Soviet era, is that people were given to lying all the time, and what that bred was mistrust, and the society began to disintegrate. 00:06:57.360 --> 00:07:06.399 Lies are like radiation poisoning, you can't see it, but it's no less deadly. 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:17.759 People uh might think that murder or even adultery are more important of the things that we've already looked at in the Sermon of the Mind in previous weeks. 00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:35.360 You can see the effects of murder, you can see the effect of adultery, but lying, deceit, broken promises, lacking integrity, over the long run, they are no less deadly for a community. 00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:37.839 And remember what Jesus is doing. 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:47.120 Jesus is creating a counterculture for the common good, he's making a new society and he's calling us to join it. 00:07:47.759 --> 00:07:58.639 And in that new society, he's saying we cannot disintegrate by lying to one another, by breeding mistrust, by lacking integrity. 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:08.720 The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus' manifesto for a new grace-built community. 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:21.759 And what we're looking at this morning is that the community of faith, as expressed in our gathering and city church, our our family together. 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:29.279 It is to be a place where the truth and truthfulness flourish. 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:34.399 When we do that, we will be a city on a hill. 00:08:36.720 --> 00:08:39.759 What was the issue that Jesus was addressing? 00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:43.279 Uh, thank you, Charlotte, for recording the reading for us. 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:50.399 At first glance, you might think, well, this is rather strange, it's rather detached uh from our reality. 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:54.000 It's around this uh this idea of oath-taking. 00:08:54.159 --> 00:08:57.519 Uh, I swear by such and such a thing. 00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:11.200 And in order to understand it, what we need to recognize is uh what was going on, what was uh standing behind the uh the tradition of oath taking. 00:09:11.360 --> 00:09:23.919 Well, oath-taking was supposed to encourage truthfulness, it was supposed to promote uh integrity and people doing what they say and uh saying what they mean and all of those things. 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:27.360 It was supposed to promote truthfulness. 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:33.440 In fact, in various parts of the Bible, God swears an oath. 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:49.360 Uh so Hebrews uh chapter 6, for example, God swears an oath, and the point of God swearing an oath is it's supposed to confirm and assure the reader of uh of the promises, of the truthfulness of God. 00:09:49.759 --> 00:09:51.600 That's what they were supposed to do. 00:09:51.919 --> 00:10:08.000 But as with the other uh commandments, as with the other injunctions, a religious system had grown up around this injunction, kind of like weeds, and and the truth of the matter had gotten lost. 00:10:08.399 --> 00:10:28.240 What had happened is that a system of loopholes had grown up, and so, and Jesus alludes to it in uh in these words, and so what would happen, this is actually the case, if you swore towards Jerusalem, you were bound by your oath. 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:32.000 If you swore towards Jerusalem, you were bound by your oath. 00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:38.399 But if you swore by Jerusalem, I swear by Jerusalem, you weren't. 00:10:38.960 --> 00:10:41.440 You didn't have to keep your word. 00:10:43.039 --> 00:10:48.559 It was the ancient equivalent of making a promise and crossing your fingers behind your back. 00:10:48.799 --> 00:10:50.399 That's what was going on. 00:10:50.799 --> 00:10:54.879 Saying one thing, but actually your fingers were crossed. 00:10:55.440 --> 00:11:03.679 And so the provision of oath swearing, which was supposed to enhance truthfulness, actually helped people be deceitful. 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:05.759 It helped people lie. 00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:17.200 And again, this is what religious people always religious people want to make the grand proclamations and have their fingers crossed behind their back. 00:11:17.360 --> 00:11:25.200 They want to have the external show of truthfulness without having to actually follow through. 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:32.960 They want to make grand promises and proclamations in the moment because they're all about the external. 00:11:33.360 --> 00:11:36.799 Religious people and religion is all about the external. 00:11:36.960 --> 00:11:41.440 What you can see on the face, it's never about the heart, it's never about the inside. 00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:59.600 And Jesus will have none of it because to follow Jesus is all about the heart, it's all about what flows out from within your intention, where your heart is at matters, and so Jesus will have none of it. 00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:15.120 He says, if you're gonna do this whole system of swearing oaths, you know, uh, if you swore, uh if you swore by the altar, for example, if you swore by the altar, you didn't have to keep your word, but if you swore by the sacrifice on the altar, you did. 00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:18.639 And Jesus elsewhere in Matthew's gospel is like, no, no, no, you've got this all wrong. 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:23.919 If you're gonna, if you're gonna kind of develop all these loopholes and split all of these hairs, what's Jesus' answer? 00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:26.080 Jesus' answer is don't swear at all. 00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:29.919 Just say yes or no. 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:35.279 And when you say yes, mean yes, and when you say no, mean no. 00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:41.279 He says, Don't swear at all. 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:44.960 Have a look with me. 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:47.919 Uh verses 34 uh through to 36. 00:12:48.080 --> 00:13:04.559 But I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the great city of the king, and do not take an oath uh by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 00:13:04.879 --> 00:13:08.000 Let what you say simply be yes or no. 00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:12.960 Why does Jesus say, Don't take an oath at all? 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:22.639 Well, it has to do with all of the stuff about uh about the about heaven being his uh God's throne and earth being God's foot footstool. 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:27.519 Jerusalem is the city of God's king. 00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:29.440 God owns the hairs in your head. 00:13:29.519 --> 00:13:30.480 So what's Jesus saying? 00:13:30.639 --> 00:13:41.759 Jesus is saying, if you swear by anything, heaven, earth, Jerusalem, your own head, whatever you pick, it ultimately goes back to God. 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:48.320 Because God ultimately owns it, God's in charge of it, God's in control of it, you can't change your hair color. 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:51.679 Uh only God can do that. 00:13:52.960 --> 00:13:57.679 All of these things devolve ultimately back to God. 00:13:58.480 --> 00:14:02.879 And so, if you take an oath, you're really swearing by God Himself. 00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:09.600 And if you're swearing by God Himself, there is no justification for evasion. 00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:13.919 There's no justification for breaking your word if you swear by God. 00:14:14.159 --> 00:14:15.360 That's Jesus' point. 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:20.399 There's no loophole, there's no get-out clause, and so what is better? 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:25.120 Simply say yes or no and mean that. 00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:47.840 Jesus' answer is for us all to be straightforward with one another, to be truthful, to say what we mean and mean what we say, to have integrity, to not say one thing and do another, to not make a commitment and then break it. 00:14:52.159 --> 00:14:55.919 Some uh have taken this to mean, let me just clear this up quickly. 00:14:56.080 --> 00:15:03.679 Some have taken this to mean uh that because of Jesus' words here, you can't swear an oath, for example, in a courtroom. 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:10.080 You place your hand on the Bible and say, uh, you know, I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God. 00:15:10.480 --> 00:15:13.519 Say, well, as a Christian, you can't do that. 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:21.360 That I'm afraid would be to uh to miss the broader point of what Jesus is talking about. 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:36.399 The point is that followers of Jesus are in every sphere of life to be those of truthfulness, honesty, and integrity. 00:15:40.799 --> 00:15:42.639 Let's think a little bit further. 00:15:43.279 --> 00:15:49.039 Why does Jesus or sorry, let me put it differently. 00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:54.080 Why does truthfulness matter to Jesus? 00:15:54.960 --> 00:15:59.440 Why does truthfulness matter to Jesus? 00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:11.840 The first thing to note is that because it is because deceit, so to be untruthful is to be self-loving. 00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:16.639 Deceit is self-love. 00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:20.240 What have we always talked about at City Church? 00:16:20.399 --> 00:16:33.679 So the essence of sin is self-love, to love ourselves more than God and more than others, to be obsessed with ourselves, to be turned in on ourselves, to be self-loving. 00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:38.399 And lies come from that self-loving place, don't they? 00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:40.720 Think about it. 00:16:41.039 --> 00:16:42.879 Why do we lie to people? 00:16:43.279 --> 00:16:45.039 Why do I lie to people? 00:16:46.399 --> 00:16:56.799 Well, if we've done something wrong, we do it in order to cover up what we've done in order to avoid the consequences. 00:16:57.519 --> 00:17:01.840 Isn't it remarkable that we don't need to teach our children to lie? 00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:10.480 That when they've done something wrong, they'll run and hide, and then when you catch them, they'll just bareface lie to you. 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:12.160 Why? 00:17:13.279 --> 00:17:18.720 Because they are loving themselves and trying to avoid the consequences. 00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:21.519 Why else do we lie? 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:27.680 We lie because we don't want people to think badly of us. 00:17:28.319 --> 00:17:31.200 We don't want to go down in a person's estimation. 00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:35.599 It's all about preserving ourselves. 00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:41.200 But that self-preservation comes at a price, doesn't it? 00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:45.119 Isn't lying exhausting? 00:17:46.799 --> 00:17:50.720 Isn't anxiety, or sorry, isn't lying anxiety ridden? 00:17:51.200 --> 00:18:04.240 Because one of the things that you've got to do if you really get a pulled down or marred into lying, is you've got to constantly keep a record of what you've said to who and when you've said it. 00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:08.799 And you've got to make sure that your story is always lining up. 00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:12.480 It's absolutely exhausting. 00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:19.359 It leads, doesn't it, to deeper and deeper lies? 00:18:20.079 --> 00:18:22.799 To more and more deceit. 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:33.039 What is that uh that idiom, that phrase, uh what a tangled web we weave when first we conspire to deceive. 00:18:35.599 --> 00:18:40.000 Soon our lies become this web in which we catch ourselves. 00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:44.720 It comes as a price at a price. 00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:48.400 There are examples in the Bible of lying coming as a price. 00:18:48.480 --> 00:19:03.680 You think of David, David who has uh this adulterous affair with with Bathsheba and tries to deceive Uriah, her husband, uh, into thinking that the baby that she's pregnant with isn't uh isn't David's. 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:09.359 He tries to uh to to to dupe him, to deceive him, but it doesn't work. 00:19:09.599 --> 00:19:15.119 And so his lies lead him down a path ultimately to Uriah's murder. 00:19:16.160 --> 00:19:19.440 Our lying comes at a price. 00:19:21.519 --> 00:19:25.440 But the gospel offers us hope. 00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:33.839 You see, the gospel is about Jesus' death for our self-love, for our sin, for our lying. 00:19:34.799 --> 00:19:37.119 He pays the price. 00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:44.799 He's the one who is thought badly of, mocked, spat upon, jeered at. 00:19:45.279 --> 00:20:04.640 He takes those consequences so that liars like me, liars like you, could experience love and approval and acceptance, those things that our hearts crave. 00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:10.480 Not by men, but by God. 00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:16.000 Not by men temporarily, but by God eternally. 00:20:20.319 --> 00:20:28.559 We don't always lie to cover the sins that we've committed, though that is one motivation for lying. 00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:42.480 Sometimes we lie in order to present ourselves as better than we are, in order to present a more polished version of ourselves. 00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:58.240 I suspect that you do do this if you own an Instagram account, Snapchat account, Facebook account, Twitter account, a TikTok account. 00:20:59.680 --> 00:21:09.359 You are presenting to the world a persona that is not really the true you because you get to edit it. 00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:12.160 You get to put a filter on it. 00:21:12.880 --> 00:21:16.880 You get to show the world what you want them to see. 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:26.240 You don't show the things that you don't want them to see, you don't often show them how your life truly is. 00:21:29.039 --> 00:21:37.680 Some of us present a very different version of reality to the one that you experience in your everyday life. 00:21:39.440 --> 00:21:44.000 But all of us get sucked into this social media temptation. 00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:48.240 Have you ever wondered why? 00:21:49.440 --> 00:21:51.759 Have you ever wondered why it's got such a grip on us? 00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:53.440 Why it's got such a grip on you? 00:21:55.920 --> 00:21:58.880 Could it be for some of us? 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:08.480 That it's because you don't want to face the reality of the problems that you know are there. 00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:13.839 So to present this persona, it's a it's an escape mechanism. 00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:18.640 It's a way of distracting you from reality. 00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:23.440 So you market yourself. 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:53.039 You market yourself as in control, you market yourself as beautiful, you market yourself as skillful, smart, witty, when all the while you feel nothing but you feel out of control, you feel ugly, you feel anxious, you feel stupid. 00:22:54.799 --> 00:23:15.759 But rather than facing those things head-on, bringing them out into the light, asking for help to navigate them, it's easier, isn't it, to put them under the rug, into the cover, to lock those things away and to present the filtered image. 00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:28.880 Could it be also because you crave, you need the validation that social media gives you? 00:23:30.720 --> 00:23:46.319 There's been lots done in recent years about the uh the chemical, the neurochemical hit uh that we get when we see uh nine new notifications, that little red number. 00:23:46.640 --> 00:23:55.920 The higher that red number is on your Facebook app, you're like, oh my goodness, lots of people have been interacting with me in the posts that I put up. 00:23:56.079 --> 00:24:05.599 And look at the I posted this picture just a couple of days ago, and look, it's got 20, 40, 80, 100, 120 likes. 00:24:05.759 --> 00:24:06.880 How many comments is it got? 00:24:07.039 --> 00:24:08.799 Oh, it's got a new comment. 00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:11.200 Is that comment a positive one? 00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:20.319 Yes, it is, and neurochemically, every time we do that, we're getting a dopamine hit, we're getting the endorphins rushing round our brain. 00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:25.039 It's like we're taking a little uh a little hint of uh of something. 00:24:25.759 --> 00:24:26.799 It's a drug. 00:24:29.440 --> 00:24:34.480 And we need those hearts, those retweets, those quotes. 00:24:35.759 --> 00:24:42.400 Imagine somebody, somebody that you respect, somebody you admire retweets you. 00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:52.640 All because you crave that sense of approval, that sense of validation. 00:24:52.799 --> 00:24:56.720 And folks, I'm not immune to that. 00:25:03.039 --> 00:25:14.400 One of the things that the Lord Jesus has been reminding me this week, and I would remind you, is that in the gospel, you don't need to fake it. 00:25:16.079 --> 00:25:18.480 Jesus knows what you're like anyway. 00:25:18.960 --> 00:25:25.119 Jesus knows your needs, your fears, the things that you struggle with, all that stuff that's in that lock cupboard that we just talked about. 00:25:25.359 --> 00:25:26.799 Jesus knows it all. 00:25:27.599 --> 00:25:29.599 You don't need to fake it with him. 00:25:31.200 --> 00:25:33.599 He would invite you not to try. 00:25:39.680 --> 00:25:45.839 Not on the basis of the things that you have done, but on the basis of what he has done for you. 00:25:47.119 --> 00:25:49.359 And so you can stop. 00:25:50.559 --> 00:26:01.119 You can get off the hamster wheel of seeking validation through likes, comments, shares, quotes, retweets, hearts, followers. 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:04.960 He loves you. 00:26:07.599 --> 00:26:09.519 He approves of you. 00:26:11.759 --> 00:26:18.480 He's already declared his opinion of you when he died for you. 00:26:21.279 --> 00:26:31.359 The gospel tells us that we are fully known towards and all, unfiltered. 00:26:34.079 --> 00:26:36.559 But it also tells us that we are fully loved. 00:26:39.200 --> 00:26:42.079 Often in spite of our own self-love. 00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:54.240 Jesus hates deceit because that deceit is self-love, and that self-love is ultimately destructive to us. 00:26:55.119 --> 00:26:58.640 He would come and liberate us from that. 00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:30.960 I remember uh when I was at theological college living with a uh a guy, his name was Jonathan, and he did something that just always boggled my brain, but now I get it. 00:27:31.920 --> 00:27:41.759 Whenever Jonathan had made a commitment to something, it didn't matter that something better had come up, it didn't matter that there was a better option. 00:27:42.480 --> 00:27:57.759 No, Jonathan always said, no, no, no, I've I've made this prior commitment, and yeah, I would have I would have liked to have done that, I would have liked to have gone this place, but I said to this person that I was going to do this thing, and so I'm going to do it. 00:27:58.000 --> 00:28:01.039 I'm going to let my yes be yes and my no be no. 00:28:02.079 --> 00:28:09.680 I used to to go to him as how immature I was and be like, but but why this is this is clearly better. 00:28:09.839 --> 00:28:11.759 Like, why wouldn't you just blow that off? 00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:15.039 Like they won't mind, they won't care, what does it matter? 00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:16.720 Go and do this thing. 00:28:17.039 --> 00:28:18.160 Come with us. 00:28:18.480 --> 00:28:19.599 He said, No. 00:28:20.160 --> 00:28:25.839 I've said yes to this, and so I'm gonna follow through. 00:28:27.680 --> 00:28:29.519 He was absolutely right. 00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:48.640 He understood Jesus' words, and it was growing in him a heart of integrity, and that meant I trust that I'm back now. 00:28:48.799 --> 00:29:03.440 What I was saying was that um that Jesus was growing in him a heart of integrity, and what that caused him to do is that he had to trust in God's timing and provision, that God had brought this thing to him first for a reason. 00:29:03.599 --> 00:29:10.400 And just because something better had come along didn't mean that he had to uh to turn aside, to blow that thing off. 00:29:12.319 --> 00:29:16.799 Our world has a problem with commitment. 00:29:18.640 --> 00:29:25.839 Our world, our community, our city, is often commitment phobic. 00:29:28.160 --> 00:29:35.039 Here in Dublin, and I'm sure you've experienced this in Dublin as well as in other cities, people lack dependency. 00:29:37.680 --> 00:29:43.200 People say yes to something, and they don't follow through. 00:29:44.640 --> 00:29:46.720 Is that something that you have done? 00:29:49.519 --> 00:29:54.559 Perhaps it is because we're always looking for the better option, and so all we're doing is we're hedging our bets. 00:29:54.640 --> 00:29:56.480 We say, yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:29:56.640 --> 00:29:59.839 And you think, okay, I'm gonna pick the one that I like. 00:30:00.960 --> 00:30:02.880 We're looking for the better option. 00:30:03.119 --> 00:30:12.880 You say yes to one thing, knowing that if something better comes along or it inconveniences you in the moment to follow through, then you'll just blow it off. 00:30:13.119 --> 00:30:14.160 Doesn't matter. 00:30:17.519 --> 00:30:25.359 The other reason why we say yes when people ask us is because of our own fear of man, we don't want to let people down to their faces. 00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:28.720 We don't want to say no to a person. 00:30:29.680 --> 00:30:36.319 And so uh rather than disappointing them there in the moment, we simply go quiet. 00:30:36.880 --> 00:30:45.039 We don't reply to their messages, we see them coming up on WhatsApp, but we make sure that they don't get double blue tick because then they know that we've read them. 00:30:46.319 --> 00:30:49.440 And we say, oh, sorry, completely forgot. 00:30:50.480 --> 00:30:53.440 All the while we know that we have blown them off. 00:30:57.680 --> 00:31:18.319 If we are to heed Jesus' call to be a counterculture for the common good, we need to expose and to counter the flakiness that exists in our own hearts, that exists, dare I say, amongst us. 00:31:20.240 --> 00:31:44.400 In the gospel, God pledges himself unwaveringly to his people, he commits himself to those whom he loves, to follow him, to image him to one another and to a watching world is to be faithful and committed in that same way. 00:31:47.680 --> 00:32:14.319 When we lack integrity, when we flake out on one another, when we flake out on the commitments that we make, it harms our discipleship, it harms our life together, it prevents us from developing deep connections, particularly, I think, probably in the in the context of community group. 00:32:15.599 --> 00:32:32.880 You think about it, this happens so often that uh people come to me or one of the other leaders and they say something like, I just don't, I just don't really feel like I know anybody, I just don't really feel uh connected, I don't really feel like I'm I'm friends with anybody here. 00:32:34.799 --> 00:32:44.960 And by and large, though not always, but by and large, one of the things that we might say is um, well, have you been have you been plugged into your community group? 00:32:45.039 --> 00:32:47.839 Have you been going along faithfully every week, getting to know people? 00:32:47.920 --> 00:32:51.759 And look, I know that Zoom Community Group is not the same as the real thing. 00:32:53.920 --> 00:32:55.839 Have you been prioritizing that? 00:32:57.119 --> 00:33:03.119 And so often, though not always, but often what comes up is well, they haven't. 00:33:03.920 --> 00:33:07.279 Community group is it's an optional extra. 00:33:07.599 --> 00:33:14.559 I'll tune into the stream, and uh if I get along on a Tuesday or Wednesday, then fine. 00:33:15.359 --> 00:33:30.319 But if something else comes up, if something more fun, if something more in your mind pressing comes along, then community grip goes out the window. 00:33:31.279 --> 00:33:36.799 Or you come onto the Zoom call, but you're not really there. 00:33:38.079 --> 00:33:47.279 You're there, your name is displayed, but the camera's not on, your microphone's muted, you're not really engaging. 00:33:49.440 --> 00:34:00.240 It is no surprise that you would feel disconnected from the life of the church if that happens more and more and more. 00:34:03.440 --> 00:34:12.719 To flake out on one another prevents deep connection, the deep connection that we so desperately need and are longing for in this season. 00:34:13.920 --> 00:34:20.000 So many of us are lonely, feel cut off from the life of the church. 00:34:20.960 --> 00:34:23.599 We need to press into our life together. 00:34:23.920 --> 00:34:26.960 We need to make good on our commitments to one another. 00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:31.280 It not only affects deep connections, but it affects our mission. 00:34:31.599 --> 00:34:46.880 It affects our mission together because when we when we flake out, when we don't follow through on our commitments, what it communicates to uh to everyone is that we can't be depended on. 00:34:47.199 --> 00:34:54.079 We can't be counted on as a as a partner in a mission in the mission to see the gospel go out to the city. 00:34:56.559 --> 00:34:58.559 And that lessens our impact. 00:35:01.519 --> 00:35:20.239 It prevents deep connection, it affects our mission because it says that we cannot be to other people is that this following Jesus stuff, it's part-time, other stuff can uh can come in and surplant it, that there are better options. 00:35:21.119 --> 00:35:24.000 The following Jesus can come in second place. 00:35:26.400 --> 00:35:40.480 One of the things that I have learned over the course of lockdown, as I have gotten to know non-Christians around about us here, is that our integrity is what matters to them more than anything else. 00:35:41.039 --> 00:35:47.599 The non-Christian friends that we're developing here in our neighborhood don't care about what I do. 00:35:48.079 --> 00:35:58.079 They don't care about my convictions about the resurrection, they don't care about my theology of justification, they don't care about my theology of baptism, they don't give a monkeys. 00:35:59.840 --> 00:36:05.119 What they are looking for and what they do care about is am I somebody who has integrity? 00:36:05.280 --> 00:36:08.079 Do I say one thing and do another? 00:36:10.400 --> 00:36:12.639 Do I make a commitment and then flake out? 00:36:12.800 --> 00:36:14.159 No, don't get me wrong. 00:36:14.320 --> 00:36:20.800 Of course, there are always reasons for saying that you'll do something and then something comes up and then you can't do it. 00:36:20.960 --> 00:36:24.320 And not, of course, there are always exceptions. 00:36:24.559 --> 00:36:33.119 You so don't think that you know, if I make a commitment, but then you know my legs hanging off and I'm at Connolly Hospital, you know, I've got to kind of drag drag myself to wherever I've made the commitment. 00:36:33.280 --> 00:36:36.559 Of course, that would be that'd be a wrong way of thinking about it. 00:36:37.039 --> 00:36:48.480 But there are many times when we make commitments and don't follow through simply because we don't want to anymore, or something better has come up. 00:36:48.880 --> 00:36:56.639 That affects our witness, it affects our discipleship, it affects how you grow as a follower of Jesus. 00:36:58.400 --> 00:37:10.079 When you say yes to something and something that you prefer comes up, it raises in that moment the question: do I trust God's timing here? 00:37:10.719 --> 00:37:15.840 Do I trust God's provision in letting this other thing that I would prefer sail by? 00:37:19.119 --> 00:37:30.159 Dishonesty will always bring you material benefits, but it will reap other damages. 00:37:33.119 --> 00:37:36.719 Dishonesty will always get you short-term advantages. 00:37:36.800 --> 00:37:43.119 You maybe you'll have to pay somebody less for labor because it's not going through the books. 00:37:44.559 --> 00:37:47.679 The question there is a discipleshood question, am I going to have integrity? 00:37:47.760 --> 00:37:53.840 And say, no, no, we're going to pay tax on this, even if it means shelling out another couple of hundred euro. 00:37:54.400 --> 00:37:55.920 Am I going to have integrity? 00:37:56.079 --> 00:38:05.039 Don't think that those little sins, those little white eyes, don't pretend that they're not radiation poisoning in your bones. 00:38:07.440 --> 00:38:16.159 Maybe you'll have to miss out on a on a short-term gain or promotion because you aren't willing to compromise your integrity. 00:38:16.400 --> 00:38:21.920 You're not willing to tell your boss simply what he wants to hear to embellish your CV. 00:38:25.199 --> 00:38:28.719 But in the long term, your honesty will commend you. 00:38:29.440 --> 00:38:32.719 It will commend you to those around you. 00:38:35.199 --> 00:38:36.960 Remember, we are to be salt. 00:38:37.199 --> 00:38:38.320 That's what Jesus calls us to. 00:38:38.400 --> 00:38:39.360 We're to be salt. 00:38:39.840 --> 00:38:42.880 That is to preserve moral decay. 00:38:45.280 --> 00:38:49.679 If we join in in the rot, it will never stop. 00:38:54.000 --> 00:38:55.599 What's Jesus' answer? 00:38:56.480 --> 00:39:04.480 Jesus' answer here is simple, clear, and honest speech. 00:39:05.280 --> 00:39:11.679 If you say yes to something, mean yes and follow through. 00:39:11.920 --> 00:39:14.800 If you say no, mean no. 00:39:17.039 --> 00:39:22.639 If you take a stand against something in public, stand against it in private. 00:39:25.599 --> 00:39:27.679 What does that look like for you? 00:39:28.880 --> 00:39:32.320 Are you a not a social light? 00:39:32.559 --> 00:39:34.159 Are you a social liar? 00:39:35.519 --> 00:39:36.719 You say yes to everything. 00:39:36.800 --> 00:39:37.920 You say, Yeah, I'll be there. 00:39:38.000 --> 00:39:39.360 Yeah, see you then. 00:39:40.079 --> 00:39:42.079 And you have no intention of showing up. 00:39:42.400 --> 00:39:45.599 Why I'll say, No, look, I can't. 00:39:47.679 --> 00:39:49.440 Do you make a commitment? 00:39:50.239 --> 00:39:54.159 But then if something better comes around, you turn aside. 00:39:54.559 --> 00:39:55.519 I've done that. 00:39:55.679 --> 00:39:56.880 I know I've done that. 00:39:57.119 --> 00:39:58.719 I'm guilty of that. 00:39:59.840 --> 00:40:07.360 Jesus, as with all of these Sermon of the Mountain sermons, is calling me to faith and repentance. 00:40:08.880 --> 00:40:14.400 Let me ask also: are you the same person online as you are in real life? 00:40:15.199 --> 00:40:17.199 And that can go to extremes. 00:40:17.440 --> 00:40:20.719 If you're given to catfishing, you need to repent of that. 00:40:21.039 --> 00:40:23.760 To confess that sin and to turn from it. 00:40:28.320 --> 00:40:37.840 But in the everyday, are you presenting a what you know to be a false, exaggerated persona? 00:40:39.840 --> 00:40:48.559 If that is you, then Jesus does not stand on this mountain to condemn you. 00:40:49.199 --> 00:41:02.800 He might be convicting you in the same way that he's been convicting me, but he's doing that so that he might drive us to him and to the grace that he offers. 00:41:04.000 --> 00:41:07.519 You see, our world is searching. 00:41:07.920 --> 00:41:12.880 We are searching for truth in a world of lies. 00:41:15.360 --> 00:41:18.159 We grew up hearing that everyone had their own truth. 00:41:18.320 --> 00:41:20.159 Your truth, my truth. 00:41:21.199 --> 00:41:24.239 But more and more, I think that people are searching for something more. 00:41:24.400 --> 00:41:26.639 They're realizing that there must be something more. 00:41:26.800 --> 00:41:29.280 There must be an objective form of truthfulness. 00:41:29.360 --> 00:41:32.159 There must be an objective form of reality. 00:41:32.639 --> 00:41:40.800 Because they see the disconnection and disintegration that your truth and my truth brings because it just breeds lies. 00:41:42.800 --> 00:41:48.719 Jesus offers you, Jesus offers us something better. 00:41:50.320 --> 00:41:55.119 He is the truth that came and laid down his life for the lie. 00:41:56.400 --> 00:42:04.239 He knows what it is to have someone pretend to be one thing and yet to be another. 00:42:04.960 --> 00:42:11.280 Judas adopted a false persona in order to betray him. 00:42:12.480 --> 00:42:18.800 Peter heaped up promises, promise after promise, not to betray, not to deny. 00:42:19.840 --> 00:42:25.760 And yet, when push came to shove, he betrayed his Lord. 00:42:28.400 --> 00:42:36.480 Jesus died for the lie, that we are the masters of our own destiny, that we are our own gods. 00:42:36.800 --> 00:42:43.360 He died for the lie that God is not good, that his timing isn't perfect, that his provision is not trustworthy. 00:42:46.719 --> 00:42:52.079 And on the cross we see that goodness in full array. 00:42:53.519 --> 00:43:01.119 We see the perfection of his timing, the glory of his provision, of his salvation. 00:43:01.280 --> 00:43:04.800 And he calls you again to trust that. 00:43:25.199 --> 00:43:26.960 He died for flakes. 00:43:28.079 --> 00:43:39.679 He died for our deceit, for our exaggeration, for our false personas, for our exhausting addiction to being liked. 00:43:42.239 --> 00:43:43.840 And what does he offer? 00:43:45.840 --> 00:43:47.840 He offers to make us whole. 00:43:49.199 --> 00:43:59.440 Gives us grace upon grace and pours his spirit into our hearts so that we can live anew. 00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:09.679 So that we can bring the lies that we have told, the lies that we believe, out into the light and find cleansing and acceptance. 00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:22.639 He gives us his spirit, and his spirit weans us off this toxic dependency on the validation of others that is so fleeting. 00:44:23.039 --> 00:44:27.920 Don't you know how destroyed you feel when you don't get those likes? 00:44:28.079 --> 00:44:33.760 Even worse when somebody makes a bad comment or puts on that angry emoji. 00:44:33.920 --> 00:44:36.400 Don't you feel how crippling that is? 00:44:36.719 --> 00:44:38.079 Jesus calls you. 00:44:38.239 --> 00:44:42.000 Jesus offers you something so much better. 00:44:42.159 --> 00:44:49.280 Jesus offers to wean you off that toxic addiction and to set you free. 00:44:52.800 --> 00:45:08.400 He gives you his spirit so that you can be fueled to have integrity, to live lives of integrity and honesty, of saying what you mean and meaning what you say. 00:45:09.840 --> 00:45:17.119 Some of you have been you have grown up in contexts where nobody told you the truth. 00:45:17.280 --> 00:45:50.239 Everybody led you down, nobody had integrity around you, and you have an opportunity to create a new legacy in your life, to create a new legacy in your family by the power of the Holy Spirit, that you will speak truthfully in your interactions, that you will speak simply and plainly, that you will not be part of the rot, that you will not be part of the disintegration anymore. 00:45:52.079 --> 00:46:01.760 You will speak in a way that preserves, that brings life, that brings light, that shows the truthfulness of Jesus. 00:46:03.039 --> 00:46:08.400 If we do that, if we do that, God help us, let us do that. 00:46:08.719 --> 00:46:21.360 If we do that as a community, as a community of faith, as a church, as city church, we I promise you, we will be a city on a hill. 00:46:22.000 --> 00:46:24.880 Our light could not be hidden. 00:46:25.840 --> 00:46:46.320 If we are so committed to one another, if we're so committed to the truth, if we are so committed to having integrity, to falling through on our speech, our light, the light of the gospel through us, it simply could not be hidden. 00:46:47.280 --> 00:46:50.639 Will you join us on that mission? 00:46:51.840 --> 00:46:53.039 Let's pray. 00:46:57.679 --> 00:47:01.440 Why I lead us in an act of confession. 00:47:09.119 --> 00:47:21.360 Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought and word and deed, and we have not loved our neighbor as ourselves. 00:47:22.559 --> 00:47:25.760 We have sinned in our false speech. 00:47:26.079 --> 00:47:32.079 We have sinned in our undisclosed intentions, in our false intentions. 00:47:32.960 --> 00:47:35.360 We have sinned in our exaggeration. 00:47:36.880 --> 00:47:40.000 We have sinned in our false personas. 00:47:41.840 --> 00:47:52.800 Thank you that Jesus liberates us from that exhausting hamster wheel of self-love, of lies, of anxiety. 00:47:53.039 --> 00:48:00.800 Thank you that he died for those of for those of us who lie often so easily. 00:48:03.679 --> 00:48:33.679 May his truth take root deeply in our hearts, so that we might live lives of integrity, honesty, clarity of speech, that cause us to flourish as people, that causes the people that we love to flourish in relationship with us, and causes us to shine as that city on a hill for the glory of Jesus' name. 00:48:34.639 --> 00:48:35.280 Amen. 00:48:37.280 --> 00:48:37.920 Amen. 00:48:38.320 --> 00:48:40.320 Have a great day, everybody.