WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.399 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.560 --> 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. 00:00:18.719 --> 00:00:21.280 All right, thanks for taking time to greet one another. 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:26.480 And uh listen, if you're new here today, my name is Dave, one of the pastors here, and uh we're so glad that you're here. 00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:32.479 And we hope this is a space that you can authentically and safely just explore who Jesus is. 00:00:32.560 --> 00:00:37.679 Uh we're all on a journey, and we're just trying to better follow the heart and the practices of Jesus here. 00:00:37.759 --> 00:00:40.880 And so we're really grateful that you're along this journey with us. 00:00:41.039 --> 00:01:06.159 And uh, you've actually entered into the end of a teaching series that we've called Love Local, and it's a way in which we're seeking to determine how God wants to move through us and have an impact when it comes to loving our local church, loving our local community, and then also loving the locals within our lives, which are made up of friends and family members, we have neighbors and co-workers and classmates, really all those people that we cross paths with on a normal basis. 00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:09.519 And that's gonna be the focus of our teaching here today. 00:01:09.680 --> 00:01:18.159 And when Ryan kicked off this series two weeks ago, he actually illustrated our discipleship pathway to kind of allow us to see how this series fits within that. 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:21.439 And I want to reiterate that again as we begin here. 00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:34.560 And when it comes to our discipleship pathway or our spiritual formation pathway, it's really uh seeking to cultivate five key characteristics that we see within scripture that emulate or reflect a follower of Jesus. 00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:39.680 And those five characteristics, I'm just gonna use uh a contagious faith, all right? 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:40.879 I'm just gonna use the first letters here. 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:42.560 But they have a contagious faith. 00:01:42.719 --> 00:01:47.920 They actually have life-giving practices like holy habits, studying scripture and prayer. 00:01:48.079 --> 00:02:00.879 They also uh are a part of uh authentic community, and so there's this there's this authentic community that they're a part of where they're sharing and connected to God and each other, uh, usually foundations of prayer and scripture. 00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:03.680 We also see that they're a part of a meaningful ministry. 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:28.400 They recognize that they have spiritual gifts that the Holy Spirit infuses within them when they cross that line of faith that are to be distributed throughout the church, and we also see that they have extravagant generosity, which is a little bit about meaningful ministry, recognizing that they do have time and talents, but also treasure, that we want to be surrendered, recognizing that all we have comes from our Creator, and again, is to be distributed for his purposes. 00:02:28.560 --> 00:02:34.479 Now, our spiritual formation pathway, our discipleship pathway, we illustrate it through four circles. 00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:38.000 Uh, the first one being just really come to know Jesus. 00:02:38.159 --> 00:02:39.120 And we do this every week. 00:02:39.199 --> 00:02:40.000 It's the gathering. 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:43.680 We see it within the temple courts in the early church. 00:02:43.759 --> 00:02:50.560 They would meet, gather, give God worship, sit under teaching, and there was this whole idea of this just corporate praise to our Creator. 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:56.000 But every time we entered into that space, we learn and we come to know him in a different way. 00:02:56.159 --> 00:03:02.400 Now, we also know that when we see that early church, they not only met in temple courts, they actually met in homes too. 00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:04.719 So they went from rows to circles. 00:03:04.879 --> 00:03:10.319 And so when it came to that space, it's about growing as a disciple of Jesus. 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:13.439 And so that growth happens in connection with one another. 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:20.000 That growth happens again with those holy habits and spiritual disciplines that we begin to place in the regular rhythms of our lives. 00:03:20.159 --> 00:03:25.199 And then we also see that we need to serve in the name of Jesus. 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:37.120 And this has been a really key focal point the last two weeks when it comes to, again, spiritual gifts that we have, but also to recognize, like last week, that when it comes to serving in the name of Jesus, you do that within the workplace. 00:03:37.199 --> 00:03:56.479 And at the same time, there is something corporately, individually that we are to be doing as a church to be the hands and feet and realize that we are to bring forth God's kingdom, that there is a restorative movement that God wants to be of us, God wants us to be a part of, that there's this community renewal that we are to be a part of, and we do that in the name of Jesus. 00:03:56.719 --> 00:04:00.719 Now, the final bucket here is share the love of Jesus. 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:03.759 That's a big one. 00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:17.120 When it comes to us having a compelling faith and sharing the love of Jesus, we have to have a disproportionate urgency and passion to ensure that this circle is big enough to include anyone. 00:04:17.759 --> 00:04:20.319 That we can share the love of Jesus with everyone. 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:28.319 Because when you look at that image back there of that circle, we want that circle, the influence of Jesus to continue to expand throughout the Bay Area. 00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:37.040 That circle will not expand unless our personal circles of who we are willing to share the love of Jesus with expands. 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:43.839 The Apostle Paul says this in the New Testament: everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. 00:04:44.959 --> 00:04:49.519 So the main question for us today is: how big is my everyone? 00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:53.120 How big is my circle? 00:04:53.439 --> 00:04:58.800 Can I truly be in relationship with anyone to then invite them into a conversation or community? 00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:10.800 Throughout the New Testament, we find those with the smallest circles having a limited capacity for the other, were the religious leaders of Jesus' day. 00:05:10.959 --> 00:05:12.560 We know who they are, the Pharisees. 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:23.759 And this was not only due to the self-righteous systems that diminished their need for grace, therefore to extend grace, but it was also due to this psychological phenomenon that we are all wired with. 00:05:23.839 --> 00:05:26.079 It's within us, it's called disgust. 00:05:26.480 --> 00:05:36.480 You see, within recent years, there's been new research on the psychology of disgust, and so we're actually gonna go a little bit deeper on this subject matter, and we're gonna have a little experiment to go ahead and test the waters of disgust. 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:39.680 So I'm gonna have Serena and Marty just join us up on stage here. 00:05:39.839 --> 00:05:42.560 Let's give it a hand for Serena and Marty, yes? 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:46.000 All right. 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:50.480 Now, the reason why I got a strong applause over here, they are youth volunteers, so thank you for that. 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:56.959 Go ahead and take this gum here, and I'm gonna have you both open those up and go ahead and give it a good chew, if you don't mind. 00:05:57.120 --> 00:06:03.439 Now, Serena is also our director of communications and connections, and she does an amazing job behind the scenes for us. 00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:05.519 And go ahead and take that. 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:06.480 All right, very good. 00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:15.920 So, yeah, so we want that gum all chewed up, and we want to make sure it gets all like this is not this is a technical term, saliva-e, but we want to make sure that that just your saliva is really, you know, a part of that gum. 00:06:16.079 --> 00:06:19.360 And uh what we want you to do now is to go ahead and swap that gum. 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:21.279 All right, let's go ahead and do that. 00:06:22.560 --> 00:06:23.199 All right. 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:26.000 Not the first time, right? 00:06:26.959 --> 00:06:27.600 Really? 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:30.639 This is not the first time they've swapped spit people, okay? 00:06:30.720 --> 00:06:32.800 This is a married couple here, okay? 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:37.279 All right, so I want to go ahead here in the Lao Serena. 00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:39.040 Actually, Marty, this time. 00:06:39.279 --> 00:06:41.839 Marty, I want you to go ahead and take that piece of gum out. 00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:44.879 I want you to go ahead and eat some of that salami. 00:06:46.240 --> 00:06:47.839 All right, go ahead and eat that up for you. 00:06:47.920 --> 00:06:50.720 And we want that those salami, and this is very important, Marty. 00:06:50.959 --> 00:06:52.000 Salami juices. 00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:54.560 We want them all throughout your mouth, okay? 00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:56.480 Get those salami juices going. 00:06:56.639 --> 00:06:58.560 All right, and make sure you do swallow it. 00:06:58.720 --> 00:06:59.839 We are, you know. 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:00.399 Okay. 00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:03.120 All right, put that gum back in. 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:09.360 And we want that gum to absorb a lot of those salami juices, okay? 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:12.720 We just want that's that's this is, yes, this is perfect. 00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:13.199 Okay. 00:07:13.360 --> 00:07:16.720 And now, once again, let's go ahead and swap that piece of gum. 00:07:17.120 --> 00:07:18.720 All right, there we go. 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:21.199 Very good, awesome. 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:22.000 Yes. 00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:25.600 That that that face you have, that's disgust, isn't that awesome? 00:07:25.759 --> 00:07:26.879 Okay, can we give them a hand? 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:28.399 All right, very good. 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:31.360 All right. 00:07:31.519 --> 00:07:35.839 In case you're wondering what the application process is to work with students, it's right there. 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:36.879 Okay, so. 00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:43.839 But guys, this small activity actually illustrates just a sliver of what the psychology of disgust is all about. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:52.800 Because first and foremost, when researchers started to look at uh disgust, they found out it was actually this face you made of over a distasteful food, right? 00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:55.439 Did some of you talk about some of the food that you refused to eat? 00:07:55.600 --> 00:07:56.399 What were some of them? 00:07:57.519 --> 00:07:57.839 What? 00:07:59.519 --> 00:08:00.079 Licorice? 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:02.480 Sweet potatoes, really? 00:08:02.639 --> 00:08:03.759 Oh, okay, all right, all right. 00:08:04.079 --> 00:08:05.839 Minus celery, have no idea why. 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:06.560 All right. 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:18.000 But aside from these unpleasant tasting foods, we also experience disgust when we are concerned with a contamination from something that is offensive. 00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:24.879 Because our minds, hear me, our minds are wired in a way that assumes dirty things make clean things dirty. 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:39.679 For example, in that last gum swap that we just had, your disgust meter was triggered because we imagined, like, oh, Serena's, you know, so-called clean mouth, right, is gonna be contaminated with this slami-infested piece of gum. 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:46.879 And actually we thought that, you know, that Marty's gum would actually like make her mouth dirty, right? 00:08:46.960 --> 00:08:52.720 No one here thought, oh good, that salami gum's gonna go in Serena's mouth and her mouth will clean it, right? 00:08:53.039 --> 00:09:02.240 Because we are wired in a way that thinks dirty things make clean things dirty, but clean things can't make dirty things clean. 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:03.440 I'm gonna say that one more time. 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:10.480 We are wired to think that dirty things make clean things dirty, but clean things can't make dirty things clean. 00:09:10.639 --> 00:09:25.840 We're gonna unpack that some more, but what you need to know is the natural assumption that's within all of us, it actually affects our relationships, and it actually shrinks our capacity of who can be in our circle of those that we share the love of Jesus with. 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:40.480 How you see the psychology of discuss played out in the lives of the Pharisees was through boundaries that they placed around them, to the so-called dirty and contaminated of their day, the tax collectors, people of other religions, even lepers. 00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:47.039 You see, for the Pharisees to them, it was always guilt by association, it was never grace by association. 00:09:47.679 --> 00:10:04.799 And when it came to lepers, many of them, they when it came to them, that many of them had this, not many of them, but as many of you know, leprosy was this horrible disease, not only physically tormenting a person, but it was actually mentally and socially scarring as well. 00:10:04.960 --> 00:10:28.320 We actually see a little uh snapshot of what their life was like when we look at the book of Leviticus, chapter 13, verses 45, uh 45 through 46, it says this anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkept, cover their lower part of their face, and cry out, unclean, unclean, as long as they have the disease, they remain unclean. 00:10:28.399 --> 00:10:29.759 They must live alone. 00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:31.919 They must live outside the camp. 00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:37.279 You see, due to the religious systems of their day, lepers were considered walking dead. 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:40.399 They could be a contagion to those in their path. 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:46.879 And so with the psychology of disgust at work, it created a number of purity laws. 00:10:47.039 --> 00:10:55.759 One of them being this if we have a tree, umbrella, okay, all right, a tree? 00:10:56.559 --> 00:10:58.320 Okay, okay, all right, all right. 00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:06.240 And we have a dirty man underneath this tree, a leper, and a clean man walks by. 00:11:06.879 --> 00:11:09.519 This clean man is now unclean. 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:17.039 If you flip it, we have a clean man under the tree, and this dirty man walks by. 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:20.159 Clean man stays clean. 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:23.679 Dirty man stays dirty. 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:27.120 Dirty person can make a clean person dirty. 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:30.080 It's never the other way around. 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:44.240 Yet the gospel, the gospel flips this thinking in having a perfect, spotless God reach out and touch dirty, imperfect, narcissistic sinners like ourselves, and he makes them clean. 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:52.240 This was the new kingdom that Jesus was foreshadowing while he was here on earth, dismantling all the social barriers of his day. 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:56.639 This is what actually theologians call, they call it the Great Reversal. 00:11:57.039 --> 00:12:18.320 And it was shaped by Jesus' ministry when he purposefully sought out to elevate the marginalized of his time, the widows, the orphans, the refugees, the prostitutes, the tax collectors, people with disabilities, women, children, people of other religions, and even lepers. 00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:24.080 One of my favorite authors, and a priest, Brennan Manning, says this. 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:32.480 He says it this way one of the strangest mysteries of the gospel tradition is the strange attraction of Jesus for the unattractive. 00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:35.519 This strange desire for the undesirable. 00:12:36.639 --> 00:12:39.360 This strange love for the unlovely. 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:49.200 One of the many examples where Jesus has love and desire over disgust, when he has attraction and transformation over contamination, occurs in Mark chapter 1. 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:58.399 Starts in verse 40, where it reads, A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, if you are willing, you can make me clean. 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:01.039 And then it says Jesus was indignant. 00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:10.720 And by indignant, it meant that Jesus was actually filled with righteous anger towards the brokenness of our world displayed by this leper. 00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:21.600 You see, he hated to see sin and disease and death and how it took its toll on humanity because Jesus knew this wasn't the way it was supposed to be. 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:27.120 And so as Jesus is frustrated with the realities of this world, he's also equally compassionate. 00:13:28.080 --> 00:13:30.080 And the text continues in verse 41. 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:34.960 It states, he reached out his hand and he touched the man. 00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:42.000 You have to understand this was much worse than swapping some salami gum. 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:50.399 I mean, people all around, when they saw this, they dropped everything. 00:13:53.519 --> 00:14:00.080 You have to know that Jesus, he could have easily healed this man with a simple verbal command. 00:14:00.240 --> 00:14:08.399 Yet he suspends any temptation towards disgust and he physically reaches out and he touches him. 00:14:08.879 --> 00:14:13.759 This was an unheard, this was an unheard of act of compassion. 00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:19.840 You have to realize that this man probably hadn't been touched in years. 00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:29.200 This was not only an act of compassion, but it was also a clear act of rebellion to the religious authorities of his day. 00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:40.799 Showing the world no law, no power will ever separate a person from the intimacy of Jesus. 00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:47.840 You see, for Jesus, everyone, everyone was in his circle of love. 00:14:49.120 --> 00:14:52.399 Now to the leper's desperate request to be healed, Jesus responds. 00:14:52.559 --> 00:14:57.600 He responds not only with this compassionate touch, but he also responds with this very powerful pronouncement. 00:14:57.759 --> 00:15:00.399 Continues reading in verses 41 through 42. 00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:02.720 I am willing, he said, be clean. 00:15:02.960 --> 00:15:06.480 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. 00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:27.360 And so, with our natural posture to think that dirty things make clean things dirty, thereby removing others from our circle, limiting the scope of who we are willing to share the love of Jesus with, we discover that with Jesus, contact cleanses rather than pollutes. 00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:37.840 Jesus reverses everything, declaring that there is a new day where everyone is a part of his inclusive circle of love. 00:15:38.879 --> 00:15:57.200 And yet we know when we are left to our own devices without the power and the heart of Jesus, are bent towards judgmental disgust, our fear towards guilt by association, it can take control, it shrinks our circles, and it limits the ones of who we will share the love of Jesus with. 00:15:59.039 --> 00:16:18.159 Number of years ago, when I was a youth pastor in the Midwest, a subpar youth pastor, by the way, um, one of my former students, James, he was 19 at the time, he asked me if I would go to him, would go with him to his family, so that he wanted to tell them that he was gay. 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:21.519 The announcement didn't go well. 00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:30.559 And following that announcement, several weeks of conflict, uh, James decided to move out of his house. 00:16:30.799 --> 00:16:36.559 And he decided to embrace fully the gay lifestyle he moved in with his 30-year-old boyfriend. 00:16:38.159 --> 00:16:48.480 However, after several months, he believed the Spirit of God was convicting him towards a sexual doctrine similar to what we have here at Awakening. 00:16:49.200 --> 00:17:03.440 That though he was oriented with same-sex attraction, he really concluded based on what the Spirit was guiding him, and as he sought the scriptures, that sexual intimacy was designed by God to be reserved for a man and woman within a marriage covenant. 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:13.599 He believed his orientation didn't come with a different set of sexual standards, and so therefore, he was confident that God was leading him towards celibacy. 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:26.079 And so he broke up with his boyfriend, he moved back home, and then he asked me if I would support and counsel uh Dan, his former 30-year-old boyfriend. 00:17:27.119 --> 00:17:30.720 You see, Dan had taken the breakup extremely hard. 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:39.519 And though he had always received condemnation from the Christian community, he was seen as a social leper. 00:17:40.079 --> 00:17:45.680 He was desperate for anyone to touch and heal his emotional pain agreeing to meet with me. 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:54.480 And so Dan and I we started to meet for coffee on a regular basis just to talk through his relational loss, encouraging him in his journey back to emotional health. 00:17:54.640 --> 00:18:00.240 And you need to understand, my my plan was simple: just comfort, just encourage. 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:04.559 If an opportunity arises, just talk about the unconditional love of Jesus. 00:18:05.119 --> 00:18:09.599 And on one occasion when I was meeting with Dan, he was so stressed out about his car. 00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:11.519 He just didn't have the funds. 00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:13.920 He said something was up with the tires, he wasn't sure. 00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:17.599 I said, you know what, let me take a look at it next week. 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:19.920 If you know me, I'm mechanically illiterate. 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:22.640 So that you never want me to look at your car, okay? 00:18:23.599 --> 00:18:30.960 But I grabbed a handyman from our church named Wade and just had him come along to assess the car while Dan was at work. 00:18:31.119 --> 00:18:43.039 The car was in the apartment complex, and and we were there in the parking lot and examining the car, and Wade actually had a tire iron, and he was tightening up some of the lug nuts on the tire. 00:18:43.680 --> 00:18:46.000 And he asked me, Hey, how do you know Dan? 00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:49.599 And I said, He's James' boyfriend. 00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:56.640 He's just going through a tough time right now, or was James's boyfriend, and he's going through a tough time right now, and we're just trying to help him out. 00:18:56.799 --> 00:19:05.599 And it all began to compute in Wade's head, and he was like, Are you saying he's gay? 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:10.000 I kid you not, he dropped it and walked away like that. 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:18.559 It was the psychology of disgust that displayed right before me the actual fear of contamination. 00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:24.480 For Wade, Dan had no room in his circle. 00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:35.359 An awakening, the question that we have to wrestle with are who are those people that make you drop the tire iron? 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:39.680 Who are those people that trigger your disgust meter? 00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:41.839 Is it the sexual minority? 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:44.960 Is it a person on the other side of the political aisle? 00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:51.279 A person of another color or nation, someone from a different economic status, whether rich or poor. 00:19:52.640 --> 00:19:54.880 Obviously, Dodger fans, we know that. 00:19:55.039 --> 00:19:59.119 I mean, we can't, we're not miracle workers here, you know. 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:05.359 God's wired me in a way, and it's not anything like mature. 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:11.839 He's just wired me in a way, like I'm oh like I have a welcoming heart to like the antagonistic atheist or to the addict. 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:18.319 Uh, but my tire iron owl. 00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:25.680 It drops when I'm confronted with a legalistic Pharisee. 00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:38.240 Guys, when I cross paths with a person who has rooted their superiority and their identity in being morally right, wanting the police, every questionable act, I want to run the other direction. 00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:42.319 And yes, guys, Jesus had stern warnings to the Pharisees. 00:20:42.559 --> 00:20:47.759 He realized that their judgmental hearts actually smothered the gospel, but you need to hear me on this. 00:20:48.720 --> 00:20:59.440 Jesus loved the Pharisee, He was drawn to them, He ate with them, He cried with compassion over them. 00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:10.720 And so, as I'm supposed to be one that champions and teaches a God of unconditional love, I stand here as a hypocrite, having only a limited love for the over-religious. 00:21:10.880 --> 00:21:14.559 Guys, no one is immune from the psychology of disgust. 00:21:16.160 --> 00:21:26.559 And awakening, we have to recognize that with each internal, external act of disgust, it actually shrinks our circle of who we can share the love of Jesus with. 00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:37.680 Whether it's the bully down the hallway, whether it's the addict in your neighborhood, or whether it's the dysfunctional family member at Thanksgiving dinner. 00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:41.440 And just remember, we are all someone's dysfunctional headache, right? 00:21:43.039 --> 00:21:56.559 German pastor, theologian, Nazi resister Dietrich Bonhoeff, he states this all too often the church holds up a mirror, reflecting back the society around it, rather than a window. 00:21:57.519 --> 00:21:58.079 Right? 00:21:58.799 --> 00:22:00.319 Revealing a different Way. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:01.440 Awakening. 00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:04.480 We need to reveal a different way. 00:22:05.839 --> 00:22:07.680 We need the way of Christ. 00:22:07.920 --> 00:22:13.440 And so, how do we suspend our disgust and embrace anyone like Jesus modeled for us? 00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:24.559 Well, actually, research in disgust psychology, they've noticed that individuals have the ability to suspend their disgust and lead with love towards family members. 00:22:24.640 --> 00:22:27.039 It's what they call the kinship bond. 00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:31.839 This is why Marty and Serena could pretty much swap gum pretty easily, right? 00:22:31.920 --> 00:22:32.960 Because they're married. 00:22:33.119 --> 00:22:34.400 Would they do that with me? 00:22:34.640 --> 00:22:34.880 No. 00:22:35.039 --> 00:22:36.240 All right, that's disgusting. 00:22:36.400 --> 00:22:38.000 And some boundaries are good. 00:22:38.160 --> 00:22:42.160 This is why I could change the diapers of all six of my kids. 00:22:42.319 --> 00:22:42.720 Yeah. 00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:48.480 But with my nephews and nieces, it was like, eh, disgust meter up, and you know, no, thank you. 00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:53.200 And I didn't want to, you know, take that loving act away from their parents. 00:22:53.599 --> 00:23:01.839 So we actually see the kinship bond displayed within the New Testament of the Pharisees. 00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:05.200 They actually had three circles of purity. 00:23:06.160 --> 00:23:13.119 They had the sanctuary, they had the home, and they actually had the table. 00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:28.160 And with each inner layer, there was a higher degree of disgust as you moved more towards the center, having more of a disgust towards the outsider, because the table was considered the most intimate social setting. 00:23:28.319 --> 00:23:33.680 It was where food consumption was reserved primarily for family. 00:23:34.559 --> 00:23:45.039 And our creator, Jesus, he knew it was way easier for us to suspend disgust towards a family member at the table rather than a stranger or an enemy. 00:23:45.680 --> 00:23:48.559 He challenged his followers in Matthew chapter 5. 00:23:48.640 --> 00:23:53.599 He says this He says, If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? 00:23:54.319 --> 00:23:56.160 Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 00:23:56.319 --> 00:23:59.839 And if you greet only your people, what are you doing more than others? 00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:02.000 Do not even pagans do that. 00:24:02.240 --> 00:24:11.680 And so for Jesus, leading with love over disgust to a family member or mutual friend, he says, you know what, that isn't a great demonstration of what the Christian faith is all about. 00:24:11.920 --> 00:24:38.480 Because even those far from God do this, but but we are called to a revolutionary love, a love that moves us towards those people that we are most tempted to avoid, whether it's the grieving, whether it's the depressed, whether it's the angry, and to see them as a human being made in the image of God that demands and deserves dignity. 00:24:39.759 --> 00:24:45.039 Again, for Jesus, everyone was family. 00:24:46.160 --> 00:24:49.119 Anyone could sit at his table. 00:24:49.599 --> 00:24:51.920 Anyone could sit at his table. 00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:58.000 Before Jesus' death and resurrection, he actually had one final meal with some of his best friends. 00:24:58.240 --> 00:25:07.279 In the New Testament, the book of Matthew, chapter 26, illustrates this large and inclusive circle of Jesus when he sits at the table with them. 00:25:07.680 --> 00:25:08.799 Starts in verse 20. 00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:12.880 It says, When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the twelve. 00:25:12.960 --> 00:25:19.119 And while they were eating, he said, Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me. 00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:23.839 Then Judas, the one who betrayed him, said, Surely you don't mean me, Rabbi. 00:25:24.319 --> 00:25:26.640 Jesus answered, You have said so. 00:25:26.880 --> 00:25:30.880 This was a cryptic conversation just between Judas and Jesus. 00:25:31.039 --> 00:25:32.160 No one else was getting it. 00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:34.240 And pretty much Jesus meant by that. 00:25:34.319 --> 00:25:38.400 What he meant by that is, hey, you know it, I know it. 00:25:39.279 --> 00:25:41.759 Jesus knew Judas had already betrayed him. 00:25:41.920 --> 00:25:48.480 The wheels were in motion for Jesus' captivity, for his torture, for his crucifixion. 00:25:49.279 --> 00:26:00.640 And Jesus then, he actually has this disloyal deceiver sit at the table and he shares a meal with him. 00:26:01.440 --> 00:26:09.920 Awakening our Creator, he calls us to lead out in this world with a vulnerable, risky, and a very costly love. 00:26:10.079 --> 00:26:20.160 If we are to be the hands and feet of Jesus, modeling such radical love, there's one question I would love for us all to wrestle with this week. 00:26:20.319 --> 00:26:21.519 It's this one right here. 00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:30.400 Who is needing to sit at my table in the next several weeks that stretches my circle of who I will share the love of Jesus with? 00:26:31.359 --> 00:26:32.960 Who's hard for you to love? 00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:34.960 Who's the person you've been avoiding? 00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:36.880 Who's the person you cut off? 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:41.440 Is it time to sit at the table with them? 00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:48.000 Opening up your circle, expanding your table, guys, it isn't about trying to win them to Jesus. 00:26:48.160 --> 00:26:50.880 It's just simply warming them with his love. 00:26:51.359 --> 00:27:03.279 To be a person of genuine care and curiosity, to be a person of peace, to be just present, realizing that you are an extension of Christ in you. 00:27:04.640 --> 00:27:13.440 British theologian John Stott, he's often illustrated our needed posture for situations like this. 00:27:14.160 --> 00:27:28.880 Here's how the poem goes He says, not merely in the words you say, not only in your deeds confessed, but in the most unconscious way is Christ expect expressed. 00:27:30.079 --> 00:27:33.039 Is it a beatific smile, a holy light upon your brow? 00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:36.160 Oh no, I felt his presence when you laughed just now. 00:27:37.279 --> 00:27:44.799 To me, 'twas not the truth you taught, to you so clear, to me still dim, but when you came, you brought a sense of him. 00:27:45.279 --> 00:27:54.079 And from your eyes he beckons me, and from your heart his love is shed till I lose sight of you and see the Christ instead. 00:27:55.200 --> 00:28:08.160 You see, when we expand our circles to share the love of Christ, it's actually creating a sacred space for him to show up in the most natural and unassuming ways. 00:28:08.240 --> 00:28:18.640 It simply requires you to see the other, to see that they're made in the image of God, that they are family, and simply make an invitation for connection. 00:28:20.559 --> 00:28:26.640 Now, with this one challenge I'm giving us, which is who is God wanting to have me sit at my table? 00:28:27.599 --> 00:28:30.000 There's two reminders I want to give you. 00:28:30.960 --> 00:28:35.759 The first one is this a sacrificial love doesn't mean a stupid love. 00:28:36.880 --> 00:28:39.200 Yes, grace is scandalous. 00:28:39.519 --> 00:28:45.920 That doesn't mean, though, that everyone should get a free pass into your life if they are not safe. 00:28:46.720 --> 00:28:52.559 Guys, trust still needs to be earned with those that have deeply wounded you or others. 00:28:52.799 --> 00:28:58.400 Therefore, wise and healthy boundaries are needed with those that have a track record of abuse. 00:28:58.559 --> 00:29:01.839 The bottom line is you're not God. 00:29:04.240 --> 00:29:14.960 Second, we can only make room at our table when we're reminded that God has made room at his table for us. 00:29:15.839 --> 00:29:21.599 For many of us in this room, we know that that meal with Jesus and his disciples was a foreshadowing of what was to come. 00:29:21.839 --> 00:29:24.880 Matthew 20, it continues, reading verse 26. 00:29:24.960 --> 00:29:32.799 It says, while they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given that given thanks, he broke it and gave it to the disciples, saying, Take and eat, this is my body. 00:29:32.960 --> 00:29:38.559 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink from it all of you. 00:29:38.640 --> 00:29:43.519 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 00:29:43.680 --> 00:29:53.359 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until the day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom. 00:29:54.319 --> 00:30:00.400 Those disciples that surrounded Jesus at that table, they were a microcosm of all of humanity. 00:30:00.559 --> 00:30:11.119 They were traitors, they were racists, they were thieves, they were men that struggled with anger and jealousy and pride and deceit, and yet Jesus wasn't repelled by them. 00:30:12.880 --> 00:30:15.839 And he wasn't repelled by all of humanity's condition. 00:30:16.079 --> 00:30:17.759 He didn't run from us. 00:30:19.119 --> 00:30:30.799 He ran to us and onto the cross to take our deserved sin penalty so that we may be made whole and brought back into a relationship with our Creator. 00:30:31.920 --> 00:30:41.200 With the promise of one day sitting around that great banquet table as one complete, unified family in our Father's kingdom. 00:30:43.279 --> 00:30:53.519 And so we want to respond, we want to remind ourselves about the seat that we have at the table so that we can make room for that person that God is putting on our heart to put at our table. 00:30:53.759 --> 00:30:56.720 One of the best ways we can do that is through communion. 00:30:57.599 --> 00:31:07.440 Robbie and the team here, they're gonna lead us in several songs, but I encourage you to use this time to first ask God, God, who are you asking me to bring to the table? 00:31:08.559 --> 00:31:13.920 And then as you approach the communion table, we have two up front, we have one in the back, gluten-free. 00:31:16.480 --> 00:31:24.000 But as you go ahead and remind yourself that you have a seat at the table, ask yourself, who will have a seat at mine? 00:31:26.720 --> 00:31:32.240 When I see crackers, sometimes I'm like, oh, crackers, I want bread, I want it to, you know, like all that. 00:31:32.480 --> 00:31:35.200 There's something nice about the crackers and just dipping it. 00:31:35.279 --> 00:31:38.400 You're gonna take the cracker, you're gonna dip it in the in the cup. 00:31:38.640 --> 00:31:40.400 And there's something messy about that. 00:31:41.119 --> 00:31:43.279 The juice just doesn't stick on it. 00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:45.599 It just spills. 00:31:46.720 --> 00:31:49.920 Reminding us of that spilled blood on our behalf. 00:31:50.480 --> 00:31:54.000 It's it's not bread, it's not like, oh, this is nice soft bread. 00:31:54.079 --> 00:31:55.519 No, it's it's a cracker. 00:31:55.680 --> 00:31:56.480 It breaks. 00:31:56.640 --> 00:31:58.160 You hear it, you feel it. 00:31:58.720 --> 00:32:03.279 Let that remind you of the broken body on our behalf. 00:32:04.400 --> 00:32:06.960 Undeserved love, infinite grace. 00:32:08.559 --> 00:32:10.400 He's given us a seat. 00:32:11.359 --> 00:32:13.680 Who's gonna have a seat at your table? 00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:18.240 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:32:18.480 --> 00:32:22.880 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:32:23.039 --> 00:32:25.119 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:31.200 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash 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