WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.640 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:20.480 Thank you very much. 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:28.960 This is my first time ever at Awakenings, and I've known about you all and followed you from afar and cheered you on. 00:00:29.679 --> 00:00:37.840 I love, I deeply value my friendship with Ryan, and he and Jenny are just terrific people, so take real good care of them. 00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:41.280 And um thank you for letting me be here with you. 00:00:41.439 --> 00:01:08.480 Ryan was telling me we were together not too long ago about how you have been walking through, he's been teaching on some of the naughtyest naughty, is that not naughty, naughty passages in the Sermon on the Mount, which is, you know, the most influential, most widely read, most widely studied, most impactful talk in the history of all humanity. 00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:13.840 And so I thought, I I kind of like things to be pretty informal, if that's okay with you all. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:16.400 I thought I would start with my own summary of the Sermon on the Mount. 00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:17.599 It just takes about three minutes. 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:20.959 It's a little unusual, so I may not do it again at the next service. 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:22.239 We'll see how it goes here. 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:24.799 But this is the Sermon on the Mount in a nutshell. 00:01:24.959 --> 00:01:27.120 Blessed are the poor and the sore and the meek. 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:29.519 Blessed are the pure, the unsure and the weak. 00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:31.760 Blessed are the short, blessed are the slow. 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:35.359 Blessed are the dropouts and the washouts and the burnouts and the left-outs. 00:01:35.519 --> 00:01:39.200 Blessed are you when you've been dissed and dismissed on account of me. 00:01:39.359 --> 00:01:40.879 Be glad, be very glad. 00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:42.079 You're living the dream. 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:43.359 It's mostly unseen. 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:45.120 Things are not what they seem. 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:46.560 You're the salt of the earth. 00:01:46.719 --> 00:01:47.680 Don't lose your flavor. 00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:48.879 Don't lose the savor. 00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:50.079 You're the light of the world. 00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:51.040 Let it shine. 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:53.920 Do not think I've come to abolish the law and the prophets. 00:01:54.079 --> 00:01:55.599 I have not come to still them. 00:01:55.760 --> 00:01:57.120 I have come to fulfill them. 00:01:57.359 --> 00:02:02.400 The law is not the source of goodness, but it is forever the course of goodness. 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:06.719 So don't be conformed on the outside, be transformed on the inside. 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:10.960 People think you're good with God if you don't murder, but take it from me. 00:02:11.199 --> 00:02:12.560 Anger will murder you. 00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:14.240 Leave your gift at the altar. 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:19.840 Your heart will be an altar, or your heart will be altered by anger into a factory of hate. 00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:23.039 People think sexual purity is scandal avoidance. 00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:27.360 Cut off your hands, pluck out your eyes, spiritual maturity by dismemberment. 00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:31.840 Or you could let me change your heart, give you a new start, take over each part. 00:02:32.080 --> 00:02:34.000 I could change the course of your divorce. 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:36.080 I can change the force of your discourse. 00:02:36.240 --> 00:02:39.039 Let your yes be yes, let your no be no. 00:02:39.199 --> 00:02:42.000 Every spin or sin comes from down below. 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:44.879 Turn the cheek, give the shirt, go the mile. 00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:47.199 Love leaves, love bleeds, be like that. 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:51.120 Don't practice your righteousness in front of others to be approved by them. 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:53.280 It's an addiction, it's an affliction. 00:02:53.439 --> 00:02:54.719 You'll become a fiction. 00:02:54.960 --> 00:02:58.000 Make giving like tying your tie, like tying your shoes. 00:02:58.080 --> 00:02:58.800 It's not even news. 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:00.400 Keep your left hand in the dark. 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:02.080 Hypocrites pray to look good. 00:03:02.159 --> 00:03:02.960 They want applause. 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:04.240 They're a lost cause. 00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:07.919 Unseen, unknown, in secret, alone. 00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:10.240 He hears, he's near. 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:12.960 When you're fasting, you can be feasting. 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:15.199 Don't advertise disguise. 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:18.000 Don't store up for yourselves treasure on earth. 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:19.599 Recognize worth. 00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:21.680 Rust, moth, thief. 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:23.439 Put your money where your mouth is. 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:24.319 Your heart will follow. 00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:25.599 Greed is hollow. 00:03:25.919 --> 00:03:27.360 So don't worry about your life. 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:28.800 Look at the birds of the air. 00:03:28.879 --> 00:03:33.919 No ulcers, no colitis, no high blood pressure, but they're fed by chef God. 00:03:34.080 --> 00:03:35.120 Look at the lilies. 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:40.000 No labor, no stress, but all Kardashian and GQ in the way they dress. 00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:41.120 I wouldn't worry. 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:42.400 Eliminate hurry. 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:43.439 Look for God. 00:03:43.599 --> 00:03:46.240 Everywhere, every minute, because he's in it. 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:47.280 I wouldn't worry. 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:48.319 Don't judge. 00:03:48.479 --> 00:03:50.400 Your measure will be your treasure. 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:52.560 Remember the speck and the plank. 00:03:52.719 --> 00:03:54.479 Remember the pearl and the pig. 00:03:54.639 --> 00:03:55.360 Help the pig. 00:03:55.520 --> 00:03:56.479 Save the pearl. 00:03:56.639 --> 00:03:58.080 Ask, seek, knock. 00:03:58.159 --> 00:03:59.599 It's how the universe works. 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:04.000 Do unto others what you would have them do unto you, for this is the Bible in a tweet. 00:04:04.159 --> 00:04:05.759 Now, choose this day. 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:07.199 Will you do what I say? 00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:08.159 Will you obey? 00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:09.599 Follow the narrow way. 00:04:09.919 --> 00:04:11.360 Or follow the herd. 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:12.560 Ignore my word. 00:04:12.719 --> 00:04:15.039 Let your heart be unwashed, uncured. 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:17.199 Everybody's building a house. 00:04:17.439 --> 00:04:19.120 Everybody's facing a storm. 00:04:19.279 --> 00:04:20.639 It will come without trying. 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:22.319 It will come when you're dying. 00:04:22.480 --> 00:04:23.439 Build it strong. 00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:24.480 Face it well. 00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:26.560 And he finished, and they were amazed. 00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:34.399 Salt of the earth, light of the world, second mile, birds of the air, lilies of the field, treasure in heaven, house on the rock, kingdom of God. 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:36.319 Ask, seek, knock. 00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:38.800 Blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed. 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:39.360 Amen. 00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:41.360 That's the Sermon of the Mount in three minutes. 00:04:41.519 --> 00:04:55.199 So best, most sublime, most unbelievable the impact that that talk has had on humanity over 2,000 years. 00:04:55.600 --> 00:05:05.279 I was thinking, as we were praying today for peace in Israel, there's a remarkable leader, spiritual figure there, Eliash Shakur, that you may know. 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:10.160 And he is a Palestinian, Israeli Arab Christian. 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:15.759 I think three different times. 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:22.800 His ministry, life seeking to bring reconciliation to that part of the world, has been extraordinary. 00:05:22.959 --> 00:05:26.959 He started about 20 years ago a church there that's called the Church of the Sermon on the Mount. 00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:28.639 Is that a great name for a church? 00:05:29.279 --> 00:05:33.839 Just where everybody, all ethnicities, all religions are welcome. 00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:39.600 And that is very related to what I want to talk with you about during these moments today. 00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:55.600 And it often raises a lot of questions, a lot of red flags in people's minds about the Christian faith, religion in general, Christianity in particular. 00:05:55.759 --> 00:06:00.959 And it's when Jesus says this enter through the narrow gate. 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:05.199 For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction. 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:07.360 And many enter through it. 00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:13.680 But small is the gate, narrow is the way that leads to life. 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:16.319 And only a few find it. 00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:22.399 And this is remarkable teaching about how things are, how life works. 00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:40.000 But this picture of a narrow gate touches on a real deep concern a lot of thoughtful folks in our world, in our society have about Christianity and tolerance, especially on a weekend like this one, where, again, violence that seems to have so much religion at its root is taking place. 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:44.079 Christianity says that certain beliefs are wrong. 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:47.600 Christianity calls certain behaviors immoral. 00:06:48.319 --> 00:06:56.000 And therefore, it impinges on human freedom by telling people, here's what you're supposed to think, here's how you're supposed to live. 00:06:56.240 --> 00:06:58.160 And that's a concern for a lot of folks. 00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:03.279 Furthermore, Christians claim that they know absolute truth. 00:07:03.680 --> 00:07:11.360 And therefore, this thinking goes, people who disagree with them are wrong, not just wrong, but condemned before wrong, before God. 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:21.680 The French Enlightenment thinker Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote, it is impossible to live at peace with those we regard as damned. 00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:23.439 That's a real problem. 00:07:24.560 --> 00:07:38.160 Therefore, again, the thinking is Christians must be intolerant to atheists and agnostics, to people of other religions, even to other kinds of Christians, Catholic versus Protestant or liberal versus conservative or so on. 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:47.040 Instead, often in our day it's thought that humility means giving up claims to exclusive truth. 00:07:48.160 --> 00:08:00.560 If we could affirm that nobody can claim to know what's really true, if instead we could just say, I have my truth, you have your truth, that we're in no position to judge, then that will lead to tolerance and acceptance. 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:16.319 Many people think when Jesus was giving his message, the narrow gate and the narrow way are really about having a narrow mind, unthinking, irrational, blindly compliant to authority, intolerant bigots, that that's what the faith would produce. 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:19.360 And of course, very often, sadly, it does. 00:08:19.519 --> 00:08:24.160 Very often, those of us who call ourselves Christians are guilty of such things. 00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:26.959 I grew up Baptist back in the Midwest. 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:34.799 I'm very grateful for that heritage, but sometimes we were pretty sure we would make up almost everybody who might end up in heaven. 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:49.360 We thought there would be a few Lutherans there, represented by Martin Luther, and a few Wesleans represented by John Wesley, maybe a few Catholics, represented by the Pope, and then the Baptists, represented by Jesus. 00:08:51.120 --> 00:08:57.519 Sometimes Christians can sound like they almost enjoy thinking about God keeping people out of it. 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:09.519 But if you really carefully examine the life and teachings of Jesus, you notice what looks in our day like a really strange paradox. 00:09:10.960 --> 00:09:18.720 On the one hand, Jesus makes statements that strike us as outrageously, staggeringly exclusive. 00:09:19.840 --> 00:09:22.879 He prayed one time in John chapter 17. 00:09:23.279 --> 00:09:25.279 This is eternal life. 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:33.679 By the way, this is the only time the Bible defines the nature of eternal life, and it's quite different than what most people think when they hear that phrase. 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:37.519 This is eternal life that people may know you. 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:41.039 The only true God. 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:44.639 And Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 00:09:46.799 --> 00:09:53.519 And most famously, Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, the life. 00:09:54.960 --> 00:09:58.879 No one comes to the Father except through me. 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:08.720 Now it's worth pointing out here, he does not say no one can go to heaven when they die unless they profess the right things about me. 00:10:08.879 --> 00:10:10.000 That's not what he's saying here. 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:24.879 He's saying if you want to actually know what the Father is like and how to interact with him, how to engage in a participative relationship with him, how to experience life together with him, I am the unique authority on that one. 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:32.159 He doesn't present his teachings as optional suggestions for a better life. 00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:36.000 He claims to know how things are. 00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:39.120 Never been anybody like this before. 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:49.600 He claims that what he said was not just wise, but it's true, and that this truth mattered more than anything else in the world. 00:10:50.879 --> 00:10:57.600 And often, as you will have seen, as Ryan has walked through the Sermon of the Mount, he says something other rabbis generally wouldn't say. 00:10:57.759 --> 00:11:04.639 They would usually quote uh other rabbi authorities as uh kind of evidence for their rightness. 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:07.200 Jesus would just say, I say to you, I say to you. 00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:09.039 You have heard it said, but I say. 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:35.759 And yet, and yet, and yet, this man who made claims that were staggeringly and breathtakingly exclusive, pursued relational connections with people, loved people, talked to people, hung out with people, ate with people, embraced people in ways that were breathtakingly and scandalously inclusive. 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:40.799 He deliberately touched a leper that nobody else, especially not another rabbi, would touch. 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:45.919 He allowed a known prostitute to bathe his feet with her tears and dry them with her hair. 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:48.559 He commended a hated Roman centurion. 00:11:48.720 --> 00:11:51.360 He partied with despised tax collectors. 00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:53.600 This was almost his signature. 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:56.480 I'll give you one very striking example of this. 00:11:56.639 --> 00:11:58.639 Jesus is approached one time by ten lepers. 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:00.720 If you're a Bible person, you know this story. 00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:04.480 Some of them are Jewish, but at least one of them is a Samaritan. 00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:06.639 And Jesus heals them. 00:12:06.799 --> 00:12:07.440 He cleansed them. 00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:11.679 Lepers were considered unclean, so they had to be not just healed, but cleansed. 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:13.440 And then he gives them a command. 00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:15.600 This is Luke 17, verse 14. 00:12:15.919 --> 00:12:18.799 Go show yourself to the priests. 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:25.039 Now, the reason for going to a priest in that day is the priest was also kind of like a doctor. 00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:30.320 They would give a leper a clean bill of health that would allow the leper to rejoin society. 00:12:31.440 --> 00:12:36.639 We would expect Jesus to say, go show yourself to the nearest priest. 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:38.000 Singular. 00:12:38.159 --> 00:12:39.759 Why does he use the plural? 00:12:41.200 --> 00:12:49.759 Well, because the Jewish lepers would go to a Jewish priest, and the Samaritan leper would go to a Samaritan priest. 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:56.399 In other words, Jesus does not say, now I've healed you, you have to convert to the correct religion. 00:12:56.720 --> 00:13:05.840 He enters into a healing relationship with unclean, unorthodox, untouchable, unjewish lepers, and actually sends them to their own priest. 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:12.799 It's almost like he thinks that a relationship with him is now transcending even human religious categories. 00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:26.000 It's almost like the more narrow he is in his devotion to God, the more broad-minded he is in his love for, ability to be with, connect with, empathize with, care about human beings. 00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:30.720 His followers, gang, often miss this. 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:32.799 The church often misses this. 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:35.759 There's a research group called the Barna Group. 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:36.480 You might know of them. 00:13:36.559 --> 00:13:48.240 They recently did research that finds, as we all know, American culture is increasingly splintered, divided, balkanized, hostile, polarized. 00:13:48.480 --> 00:14:06.720 Most Americans indicate they think it would be difficult to have a natural and normal conversation with minority groups who are different than them, other than them, like a Muslim or an atheist or an evangelical or a member of the LGBTQ community or a Mormon Moman. 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:21.120 The single group that has the hardest time having natural and normal conversations with minority groups are evangelical Christians, followers of Jesus. 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:38.559 In fact, not only do evangelicals have the hardest time having normal conversations with atheists or Muslims or people of a different sexual orientation, 28% of evangelicals, I'm not making this up, say they would have a hard time having a normal conversation with other evangelicals. 00:14:39.360 --> 00:14:58.159 By contrast, the longest conversation recorded in the Bible is between Jesus and a pagan Samaritan five times married, currently living with a man, scandal-making woman, that no other rabbi ever would have gone near. 00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:11.200 In other words, oddly, followers of the most inclusive man in human history have become the most exclusive people in American culture. 00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:21.039 Often we can be quite lax in our devotion to God, but very narrow-minded in our relationships with other people. 00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:23.279 Jesus was exactly the opposite. 00:15:23.519 --> 00:15:32.960 Jesus was remarkably narrow, focused in his devotion to God, but outrageously broad-minded and inclusive in his relationships. 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:34.240 Why is that? 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:38.320 Well, maybe he was inconsistent. 00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:40.960 Maybe he was a nice guy, but not really a serious thinker. 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:42.960 Didn't apply what he said that he believed. 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:43.840 Maybe. 00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:55.840 Some have said that maybe those claims of Jesus' exclusive authority, authority, got made up by Paul and others and got kind of retrofitted back into the Gospels. 00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:07.519 But maybe, just maybe, the truth that Jesus taught explains the life that Jesus led. 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:20.559 Maybe the possibility of finding deep truth and offering broad tolerance are not mutually incompatible. 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:22.879 Maybe they're actually mutually connected. 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:25.279 Maybe they're actually inextricable. 00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:30.639 Now, we talk a lot about tolerance in our day. 00:16:30.799 --> 00:16:35.919 You will notice if you read through the Sermon of the Mouth that Jesus does not command tolerance. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:37.600 It never says be tolerant. 00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:38.639 Why is that? 00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:44.480 Well, tolerance has a kind of minimal quality to it. 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:57.039 It comes from a Latin word tolerantia that means to endure or put up with, bear with, but it's not actually what we all crave, to be tolerated. 00:16:57.200 --> 00:17:11.200 When Nancy and I got married, I did not say, I promise to tolerate you from this day forward, for better or worse, rich or poor, sickness and health, to put up with you and your strange rashes until death shall bring relief. 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:19.599 When somebody has a birthday, parents don't sing, I tolerate you, I tolerate you, I'm stuck till you're 18. 00:17:19.759 --> 00:17:20.720 What else can I do? 00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:21.920 They don't sing that. 00:17:22.559 --> 00:17:25.119 Might think it sometimes, but we don't sing it. 00:17:25.599 --> 00:17:30.079 In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus didn't say tolerate your enemies, put up with those who persecute you. 00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:37.440 He doesn't say if you're offering your gift at the altar and you remember your brother or sister has something against you and they're a difficult person, tolerate them. 00:17:37.680 --> 00:17:42.960 He doesn't say if somebody forces you to go with them one mile, put up with it. 00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:47.279 Tolerance is a good thing as far as it goes. 00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:49.519 It is way better than intolerance. 00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:51.759 We see that every day. 00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:54.960 But tolerance is kind of a low bar. 00:17:55.200 --> 00:18:00.640 You can tolerate somebody without loving them, but you cannot love somebody intolerantly. 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:09.200 And Jesus is inviting us to live in a kingdom whose central law is love. 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:14.000 Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:16.480 Love your neighbor as yourself. 00:18:18.240 --> 00:18:23.279 And then these remarkable kind of statements, love your enemy. 00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:30.799 It was not widely embraced in the ancient world or in our world today. 00:18:32.559 --> 00:18:35.839 Forgiveness was not generally recognized as a virtue. 00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:42.640 One study of the ancient Roman world, its monograph title is Helping Friends, Hurting Enemies. 00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:44.240 That's what was generally admired. 00:18:44.400 --> 00:18:47.680 What Jesus was bringing to the world was something quite strange. 00:18:50.880 --> 00:18:54.400 Now, his kingdom will certainly include the virtue of tolerance. 00:18:54.559 --> 00:19:00.640 Jesus would reject intolerance, he would embrace tolerance, and then just keep right on going to love. 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:06.720 And here's a key just for you all to consider. 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:15.759 A real important question doesn't often get raised in our day, is the question of why should we practice tolerance? 00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:19.279 Tolerance self-requires a foundation. 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:21.680 That has not been the law of the world for the most part. 00:19:21.839 --> 00:19:30.400 The general way of the world has been take care of people who are inside our group and then take care of people that are outside our group in a whole different way. 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:38.880 That division of us versus them, you know, tribal friction, that's the way the world has generally worked throughout history. 00:19:39.119 --> 00:19:45.440 Tolerance itself requires a foundation, a rationale, something to stand on if it's going to be sustainable. 00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:54.160 In our day, gang, it is sometimes argued that the claim of absolute truth leads to hatred and war. 00:19:54.799 --> 00:20:01.200 So what we need is the practice of charity without the divisiveness of beliefs. 00:20:01.440 --> 00:20:09.839 But the claim that all human beings are equal in dignity and that they all deserve our tolerance, that itself is a belief. 00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:11.680 It is a moral and spiritual belief. 00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:13.039 What makes that belief true? 00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:17.839 Why should I believe that that's true, that everybody has worth, that everybody has dignity? 00:20:19.359 --> 00:20:27.119 In other words, the cure for arrogance and intolerance is not that we should embrace uncertainty, it's that we should embrace humility. 00:20:27.359 --> 00:20:30.079 You can be right about something and still be humble. 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:33.279 You can be uncertain and still be arrogant. 00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:35.440 There's a wonderful Christian thinker, G.K. 00:20:35.599 --> 00:20:38.319 Chestern, and he wrote this about 100 years ago. 00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:42.400 What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. 00:20:43.680 --> 00:20:57.200 He said, modesty has moved from the organ of ambition, that is the will, pride, ego, and settled upon the organ of conviction, that is the mind, logic, the ability to understand what's true, where it was never meant to be. 00:20:57.440 --> 00:21:02.000 A person was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth. 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:04.000 This has been exactly reversed. 00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:09.599 In other words, we're all terribly sure of ourselves, but unsure if we can know if anything is true. 00:21:09.759 --> 00:21:16.079 We are on the road to producing a race of people too mentally modest to believe in the multiplication table. 00:21:17.920 --> 00:21:22.880 And in fact, Jesus taught the great foundation for both tolerance and love. 00:21:23.279 --> 00:21:35.440 People should be prized because they are loved by God, and people should be free because God gave them a will, a tiny little kingdom where they can exercise dominion. 00:21:35.839 --> 00:21:37.920 That's what that kingdom language is about. 00:21:38.160 --> 00:21:51.599 There's a Yale theologian, Miroslav Wolff, and he writes It's no accident that the first government in the world that broke religion and the state apart created religious freedom. 00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:57.039 First time this happened in history, because in the ancient world, you know, there was no separation there. 00:21:57.119 --> 00:21:59.039 Whoever was in charge was in charge of everything. 00:21:59.279 --> 00:21:59.519 Religion. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:03.200 Was kind of how you kept the state of the tribe together. 00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:10.559 Religious freedom got created in the colony of Rhode Island in the 1600s by actually a Baptist minister named Roger Williams. 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:11.680 This is part of what he wrote. 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:28.480 It is the will and command of God that since the coming of his Son, the Lord Jesus, a permission, that is freedom, of the most paganish, Jewish, Turkish, or anti-Christian's consciences and worship be granted in all nations and country. 00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:32.079 Everybody ought to be free to worship, however they want, or not. 00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:43.519 And that they are only to be fought with that sword which is only in soul matters able to conquer the sword of God's Spirit, the Word of God. 00:22:43.680 --> 00:22:48.960 In other words, the idea of the freedom of conscience didn't just appear out of thin air. 00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:51.200 It was not apparent in the ancient world. 00:22:51.440 --> 00:23:02.799 Williams said, it's because every human being is created equal in God's sight that forced worship, coerced worship, he said, stinks in God's nostrils. 00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:15.279 And once again, we see it's exactly the narrowness of Roger Williams' devotion to God that led to the staggering broad-mindedness of the government that he founded. 00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:19.839 Everybody ought to be free to worship in the way that she or he would want to. 00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:29.599 And that brings us to the narrow gate of Jesus, which is so often misunderstood, and that I want you to see however you decide to respond to it in all of its beauty. 00:23:29.759 --> 00:23:32.559 The narrow gate is not narrow-mindedness. 00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:38.079 The narrow gate is not that you gotta be doctrinal correctness or you're in trouble with God. 00:23:38.240 --> 00:23:43.359 The narrow gate is not religious intolerance or exclusive relationships. 00:23:43.519 --> 00:23:48.880 The narrow gate is doing what Jesus said to do, what he's been talking about in the Sermon of the Mount. 00:23:49.440 --> 00:23:53.599 Primarily all founded in love, including love for enemies. 00:23:53.759 --> 00:23:54.880 That's the narrow gate. 00:23:55.039 --> 00:23:57.119 The narrow gate is obeying. 00:23:57.359 --> 00:24:08.400 Creatively, intelligently, joyfully, faltering, with relaxed hands and ungritted teeth, with ever-growing confidence in his presence and his help. 00:24:08.559 --> 00:24:15.759 The narrow gate is obeying the one who alone has thoroughly mastered life and death, the one who knows how it is. 00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:16.799 That's the narrow gate. 00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:18.000 Do it, I say. 00:24:18.720 --> 00:24:25.359 Not in a legalistic mechanical fear, just with my help, creatively, freely. 00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:28.720 What's the broad gate? 00:24:29.519 --> 00:24:32.799 Well, the broad gate is just doing anything else. 00:24:32.880 --> 00:24:34.400 That's the broad gate. 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:40.079 And it is only in this narrow gate that we find freedom. 00:24:40.480 --> 00:24:43.440 Another word that is so often misunderstood in our day. 00:24:43.759 --> 00:24:52.480 Another time Jesus said, If you obey my teaching, you really are my disciples, then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. 00:24:52.720 --> 00:25:04.960 Now, those words, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free, are inscribed on more university campuses than any other saying, but they often don't include the prior phrase, if you will obey my teaching. 00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:26.480 When I was a kid, one of our pet, uh one of our first pets was a goldfish, and my sister Barbie, who is a humanitarian, felt bad for the fish being cooped up in a tiny fish bowl all day. 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:39.920 So one day, when my mom was in the other room, Barbie liberated that fish, took him out of his glass prison, and set him on the carpet where he could breathe the fresh air of freedom and boldly go where no fish had gone before. 00:25:40.240 --> 00:25:43.039 Anyone want to guess what happened to that little fish? 00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:44.640 Wasn't good. 00:25:44.720 --> 00:25:48.079 You don't even want to hear what happened to our pet turtle nickname Cyclops. 00:25:49.279 --> 00:25:53.359 In order to be free to live, a fish must be confined to water. 00:25:53.519 --> 00:25:56.640 It's the fish's nature, it's how life works. 00:25:56.880 --> 00:26:02.799 Very often, when Jesus teaches, he's not, very often he's not giving directions, he's just saying this is how life is. 00:26:03.839 --> 00:26:10.000 Freedom is not primarily about just the absence of restrictions, it's finding the right restrictions. 00:26:10.160 --> 00:26:19.680 It is swimming in the moral and spiritual reality of God and his kingdom for which our little nature, our little kingdoms were made. 00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:28.720 The whole issue Jesus is pushing on very hard from here to the end of this Sermon on the Mount is whose disciple will you be? 00:26:32.160 --> 00:26:37.519 Most people think that the church exists to make Christians. 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:43.200 And that Christians are people who believe that you have to profess certain things. 00:26:43.359 --> 00:26:49.119 You have to believe in the right stuff in order for a kind of narrow-minded God to let you into heaven. 00:26:49.279 --> 00:26:53.359 That's the picture lots of folks in and outside of the church in our day have. 00:26:53.599 --> 00:26:57.440 But Jesus never called anybody to be a Christian. 00:26:57.680 --> 00:26:59.759 You don't believe this, go back and look at the Bible. 00:26:59.920 --> 00:27:02.240 The word Christian is only there three times. 00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:05.839 The word disciple is in the Bible 269 times. 00:27:06.079 --> 00:27:09.440 Jesus called everybody to be his disciple. 00:27:09.519 --> 00:27:13.200 And disciple, rightly understood, is not confusing or mysterious. 00:27:13.279 --> 00:27:15.759 It's not even particularly religious. 00:27:16.640 --> 00:27:18.640 You are a disciple. 00:27:18.960 --> 00:27:21.279 You are somebody's disciple. 00:27:21.440 --> 00:27:26.079 That is to say, you have learned how to live from somebody. 00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:29.839 Somebody taught you how to walk and how to talk. 00:27:30.079 --> 00:27:31.920 I have two little grandchildren right now. 00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:32.880 They are so much fun. 00:27:32.960 --> 00:27:37.920 If I knew how much fun grandchildren were, I would have skipped having kids and gone right to grandkids. 00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:47.440 Good friend said to me, When my kids came along, I realized I would kill for my kids, but then my grandchildren were born and I would realize I would kill my kids for my grandkids. 00:27:47.519 --> 00:27:48.880 And it's kind of that way. 00:27:50.640 --> 00:28:05.920 Human beings are the kind of creatures where we have to learn how to walk and talk from somebody, how to relate to other people, how to navigate friendship, how to handle your time, how to handle your money. 00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:07.759 We all have to learn this from somebody. 00:28:07.920 --> 00:28:10.799 Who's the greatest financial expert of all time? 00:28:12.079 --> 00:28:12.880 Take a guess. 00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:15.359 Who's the greatest financial expert of all time? 00:28:17.119 --> 00:28:18.640 Jesus would be the correct answer. 00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:19.599 This is church, people. 00:28:19.680 --> 00:28:20.000 Come on. 00:28:20.160 --> 00:28:21.519 Wake up, it's awakenings. 00:28:23.119 --> 00:28:30.720 In our world, as a general rule, when it comes to money, the broad way is one single word, more. 00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:32.640 That's the broad way. 00:28:32.799 --> 00:28:36.640 You're not content now, or you shouldn't be, but you would be if you just had more. 00:28:36.880 --> 00:28:41.440 Buy me, use me, try me, wear me, own me, drive me, eat me, drink me, put me in your hair. 00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:48.160 The narrow way says that between more and enough is a chasm that will never be crossed. 00:28:48.319 --> 00:28:49.519 Who is more content? 00:28:49.759 --> 00:28:53.279 The man with twelve children or the man with the million dollars? 00:28:53.599 --> 00:28:58.160 The correct answer is the man with twelve children, because he doesn't want any more. 00:29:00.160 --> 00:29:01.279 Think about that one for a minute. 00:29:01.359 --> 00:29:03.359 Don't applaud, just think. 00:29:04.720 --> 00:29:07.920 Now, Jesus teaches there is a way when it comes to money. 00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:09.839 It's more blessed to give than to receive. 00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:12.000 Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. 00:29:12.160 --> 00:29:13.599 Consider the birds of the air. 00:29:13.680 --> 00:29:16.799 They don't reap or sow or stow away, but your heavenly father feeds them. 00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:18.400 Consider the lilies of the field. 00:29:18.640 --> 00:29:20.319 Be rich towards God. 00:29:20.559 --> 00:29:27.039 Now, to be somebody's disciple means to choose to be with them, to learn from them how to do what they do. 00:29:27.200 --> 00:29:29.519 You are somebody's disciple right now. 00:29:29.759 --> 00:29:30.720 We all are. 00:29:31.279 --> 00:29:36.000 Generally our parents at first, and then maybe peers or teachers or somebody. 00:29:37.519 --> 00:29:47.920 But Jesus comes to say, now you can evaluate the results of that discipleship in your life and perhaps choose a different master, perhaps a better one, one master above all. 00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:56.960 The narrow way and the broad way, again, are just a picture of how life works. 00:29:58.319 --> 00:30:04.799 If you want the freedom to make great music, you must arrange your life around practicing and lessons and scales and studies and so. 00:30:04.960 --> 00:30:14.000 If you want the freedom to play great basketball, you must arrange your life around certain exercises and drills and dribbling and coaching and practicing and shooting. 00:30:14.160 --> 00:30:23.519 If you're an alcoholic and you want to be free to be sober, you must arrange your life around surrendering your will and to fearless moral inventory and going to meetings and having. 00:30:23.680 --> 00:30:30.240 The narrow way of life is just the way of life through which you receive the power to live the vision, whatever the vision is. 00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:34.960 And the broad way is just do anything else. 00:30:35.200 --> 00:30:37.759 Just do what you feel like doing. 00:30:38.480 --> 00:30:39.599 Just drift. 00:30:39.759 --> 00:30:40.400 That's the broad. 00:30:40.880 --> 00:30:44.000 Jesus is an unbelievably brilliant person. 00:30:44.960 --> 00:30:49.519 Not, he is the farthest thing from narrow minded, and he was in the way that he lived. 00:30:49.759 --> 00:30:51.519 He just knew how it was. 00:30:51.599 --> 00:30:56.880 And he taught it, and that's why his teachings have had unparalleled impact in the world. 00:30:57.119 --> 00:31:05.119 When he says that many take the broad road and few take the narrow road, he is not predicting how many people will end up in heaven. 00:31:05.200 --> 00:31:09.039 He is simply noting that the broad way is the default mode of life. 00:31:09.200 --> 00:31:11.039 I'll do what I feel like doing. 00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:15.759 Generally, people tend to drift by habit and by preference. 00:31:16.960 --> 00:31:20.240 So, at least this is a great question. 00:31:20.400 --> 00:31:22.480 Have you become a disciple of Jesus? 00:31:22.640 --> 00:31:24.799 Have you gone through the narrow gate? 00:31:26.559 --> 00:31:31.119 Is living the way that Jesus would live if he were in your place your top priority? 00:31:32.960 --> 00:31:44.559 Or are you a disciple of success, work, money, security, power, addiction, image, safety? 00:31:47.200 --> 00:31:49.279 And the grand invitation lies before you. 00:31:49.440 --> 00:31:52.160 If you're willing to run an experiment, give it an actual try. 00:31:52.240 --> 00:31:53.599 I'll tell you a real simple way. 00:31:53.759 --> 00:31:57.039 A guy named Doug Coe told me this story many years ago now. 00:31:57.920 --> 00:32:01.519 He was talking with, Doug Coe had a ministry in Washington, D.C. 00:32:01.680 --> 00:32:03.119 Doug passed away a few years ago. 00:32:03.279 --> 00:32:07.039 But he had a ministry there, worked with a lot of people in government and statecraft. 00:32:07.119 --> 00:32:19.359 But one time he met a guy who was in insurance, not particularly connected or anything, named Bob, who became a Christian and saw where Jesus said, if you're my disciple, you can ask anything in my name, and I'll do it. 00:32:19.440 --> 00:32:21.759 And Bob asked, Doug, is that really true? 00:32:22.240 --> 00:32:24.960 And Doug said, Well, you know, it's not a blank check. 00:32:25.039 --> 00:32:27.599 You can't use it to be selfish or so on. 00:32:27.759 --> 00:32:32.480 Um, but yeah, it's teaching God loves to answer prayer. 00:32:33.519 --> 00:32:36.720 And so Doug said to Bob, You ought to do that. 00:32:37.440 --> 00:32:39.279 And Bob said, Oh, I've never done that before. 00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:40.319 What would it look like? 00:32:40.480 --> 00:32:42.799 And and so Doug issued him a challenge. 00:32:42.880 --> 00:32:46.400 He said, Um, Bob, what would you like to pray for? 00:32:47.200 --> 00:32:49.680 And Bob said, Africa. 00:32:50.480 --> 00:32:53.119 And Doug said, You narrow it down a little bit? 00:32:53.200 --> 00:32:54.000 Okay, Uganda. 00:32:54.319 --> 00:32:56.720 And Bob asked him, Have you ever been there? 00:32:57.039 --> 00:32:57.839 You know somebody? 00:32:58.000 --> 00:32:59.119 No, I just want to pray for it. 00:32:59.279 --> 00:33:01.599 So Doug made a challenge to Bob. 00:33:01.839 --> 00:33:05.759 Doug said, You pray every day for 45 days for Uganda. 00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:12.480 And if God doesn't clearly answer your prayers, if something clearly doesn't happen there, I will pay you$500. 00:33:13.920 --> 00:33:18.559 But if something does happen, if God does answer your prayers, you pay me$500. 00:33:18.880 --> 00:33:21.680 And if you don't pray every day for 45 days, the deal's off. 00:33:21.920 --> 00:33:26.799 So Bob felt, well, that's kind of weird, you know, praying for$500, but okay, I'll do it. 00:33:26.960 --> 00:33:30.319 So he starts praying for a long time, about a month, nothing really happens. 00:33:30.480 --> 00:33:39.759 He's at a dinner one night, and there's a woman at his table, and it turns out she helps to run the largest kind of orphanage slash medical clinic in Uganda. 00:33:40.400 --> 00:33:44.880 So Bob, who's just been silent up to this point, starts pounding her with questions. 00:33:45.039 --> 00:33:47.759 She finally asks, You're very interested in what I do. 00:33:47.920 --> 00:33:49.039 You've been to my country? 00:33:49.200 --> 00:33:49.599 Nope. 00:33:49.839 --> 00:33:51.519 Well, you know people in Uganda? 00:33:51.599 --> 00:33:52.000 Nope. 00:33:52.240 --> 00:33:53.839 Well, why are you so interested? 00:33:54.079 --> 00:33:55.359 Again, Doug told me the story. 00:33:55.519 --> 00:33:59.200 Bob said, Well, this guy's kind of paying me$500 to pray. 00:34:00.799 --> 00:34:05.200 So she said, Would you like to come over and see what we're doing? 00:34:05.920 --> 00:34:06.799 And he said, Yeah. 00:34:06.880 --> 00:34:16.480 So Bob flies all the way over to Uganda and sees this facility, comes back, and he's just appalled by the poverty and the uh pain and suffering. 00:34:16.639 --> 00:34:26.480 So he starts to write, uh, among others, big multinational pharmaceutical companies, because Bob hadn't been a Christian long enough to know you don't actually do stuff. 00:34:26.800 --> 00:34:28.960 And say to them, there's this tremendous need. 00:34:29.119 --> 00:34:32.400 You guys throw away millions of dollars of supplies every year. 00:34:32.480 --> 00:34:33.840 You ought to send it to this place. 00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:40.639 And some of them do, and the place ends up getting over a million dollars worth of supplies, and they write back to Bob again and tell him what's happened. 00:34:40.719 --> 00:34:42.800 We want to have a big celebration, we want you to come. 00:34:42.960 --> 00:34:43.760 Would you come back? 00:34:43.920 --> 00:34:45.280 So Bob does. 00:34:45.760 --> 00:34:56.079 And while he's there, the president of Uganda, it's not a real large country, and this is the largest facility of its kind, meets with Bob and takes him on a little tour of the Capitol. 00:34:56.159 --> 00:35:00.800 And at one point they see a group of people there, and Bob asks, What's the story with those guys? 00:35:01.039 --> 00:35:04.880 And the president tells him, These are political prisoners. 00:35:05.119 --> 00:35:07.039 And Bob says, Oh, that's not a good idea. 00:35:07.119 --> 00:35:08.480 You ought to let them go. 00:35:08.880 --> 00:35:11.199 Finishes his tour, goes back to the States. 00:35:11.440 --> 00:35:14.480 A couple of months later, he gets a phone call from somebody from the U.S. 00:35:14.639 --> 00:35:15.840 State Department. 00:35:16.159 --> 00:35:17.599 Is this Bob? 00:35:19.840 --> 00:35:20.320 Yeah? 00:35:20.559 --> 00:35:22.800 Bob, you've been to Uganda recently? 00:35:23.119 --> 00:35:23.760 Yeah? 00:35:24.719 --> 00:35:27.679 Make any statements to the president while you were there? 00:35:28.000 --> 00:35:30.079 Say anything about political prisoners? 00:35:30.400 --> 00:35:31.039 Yeah? 00:35:31.519 --> 00:35:34.880 Guy from the State Department goes on to tell him, again, Doug told me this story. 00:35:35.039 --> 00:35:37.039 Uh, that the U.S. 00:35:37.119 --> 00:35:47.679 government had just been found out, had just found out that a group of political prisoners in Uganda had been freed, and we're told that it was partly because of Bob. 00:35:49.920 --> 00:35:59.920 Sometime later, gets another call from the president who is gonna select a new cabinet and ask Bob if Bob will come over and pray for him while he is selecting a new cabinet. 00:36:02.400 --> 00:36:10.480 That's doesn't have to look dramatic, doesn't have to be a scale, but something happens when people begin to follow Jesus. 00:36:10.639 --> 00:36:16.000 So that's the challenge I want to present to you for the next 45 days. 00:36:16.239 --> 00:36:17.360 I want to challenge you. 00:36:17.599 --> 00:36:24.559 Narrow gate, narrow way, pick something in your life and pray and ask God to be at work. 00:36:24.719 --> 00:36:27.920 Not a selfish thing, but something that you're generally concerned about. 00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:31.519 And pray for it every day for the next 45 days. 00:36:31.760 --> 00:36:37.440 And if God doesn't clearly move in that area, Ryan will pay you$500. 00:36:39.760 --> 00:36:41.599 No, not really, not really. 00:36:41.760 --> 00:36:44.719 But but I'd love to hear what that's the invitation. 00:36:44.880 --> 00:36:50.000 Just just pick some area in your life, start praying, pray for 45 days, see if God doesn't show up. 00:36:50.159 --> 00:36:52.159 So I'm gonna ask the band if they would come back out. 00:36:52.320 --> 00:36:53.280 I'm a little bit over time. 00:36:53.440 --> 00:37:01.360 Would you pray together with me as they come up and and we get ready to worship, close out this service, and then and then go out, follow the narrow way. 00:37:01.679 --> 00:37:12.800 God, thank you for Jesus and uh his unique person and presence and offer for the kingdom that he came to bring that is real. 00:37:13.119 --> 00:37:16.159 And I pray for everybody here, pray for our world. 00:37:16.400 --> 00:37:23.760 We pray again for people in the Gaza Strip, for people in Africa, for where there is hunger, for where there is need. 00:37:25.440 --> 00:37:27.440 Would your kingdom come, your kingdom come. 00:37:28.719 --> 00:37:34.880 Help us to understand him better so we can love him better, so we can follow him better. 00:37:35.199 --> 00:37:36.159 In Jesus' name. 00:37:36.320 --> 00:37:36.800 Amen. 00:37:38.480 --> 00:37:40.719 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:37:40.960 --> 00:37:45.360 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:37:45.519 --> 00:37:47.599 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:37:47.760 --> 00:37:53.599 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.