WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:03.919 So I want to begin with talking about a principle. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:08.800 I think perhaps it's a principle that might explain something in your life. 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:25.039 Maybe perhaps it might explain why a relationship has not been as good as it could be, or perhaps as good as you thought it would be, or maybe why you haven't quite been able to connect with a certain person in your life, or maybe even why you haven't necessarily understood God or understood some things that have happened in your life. 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:32.479 So up until three years ago, up until three years ago, the last three years I've been okay with this, not perfect, but okay. 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:38.479 But before that, I would get home from work, and Christy works on and off throughout the week. 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:45.679 And but most of the time she would be at home before I would, and we have little girls that make our house a mess. 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:48.320 And so most days she was there before me. 00:00:48.560 --> 00:01:01.759 I would get home and I'd walk in the house, and if the house was straight and orderly, out would come my love and affection, and you know what a great day this has been. 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:03.920 And uh you are such a wonderful wife. 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:05.599 I do, in fact, love you. 00:01:05.680 --> 00:01:07.680 Uh, this is what well done, honey. 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:08.159 Well done. 00:01:08.239 --> 00:01:09.920 You you have done a good job today. 00:01:10.319 --> 00:01:16.480 And if the house was a wreck, I would open the door and there's just like chaos and you know, dishes in the sink. 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:29.519 I mean, I would quietly place my bag in the chair, uh, passively withhold perhaps affection, maybe not a full hug, maybe just a little side like, hi, how are you? 00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:39.920 Not a big I love you would come out, and then I would get to work because I would passively want to show her how much I could get done in 15 minutes. 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:51.040 You know, and maybe be a little bit loud while you do it, make sure she's taking notice that I am doing something, and look at how much I can accomplish in 15 minutes. 00:01:51.680 --> 00:01:53.599 And here's what I didn't understand. 00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:55.439 Took me 12 years of marriage. 00:01:55.599 --> 00:01:57.760 I don't know why it took me that long, but it did. 00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:02.480 Took me 12 years of marriage to realize my wife's a helper. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:07.439 She she she wanted me to be happy the whole time. 00:02:07.599 --> 00:02:12.240 She wasn't like leaving the house messy, a thing that she knows kind of bothers me. 00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:13.759 It's kind of a neat freak. 00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:16.479 She wasn't doing that to spite me. 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:23.120 She's a helper, but she's not just a helper for me, she's a helper for other people. 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:23.680 Right? 00:02:23.759 --> 00:02:27.280 So maybe I get home and the house is not clean, it's a little messy. 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:30.960 By the way, it only takes about five minutes for a family, a whole family is straight in a house. 00:02:31.039 --> 00:02:33.199 It's not really that big of a deal. 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:38.400 But maybe it's a little bit messy because maybe she was playing with our children. 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:41.120 Or maybe she was having a conversation with one of them. 00:02:41.360 --> 00:02:46.400 Maybe she was on the phone with a hurting friend, maybe she went for a walk with somebody who needed to talk. 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:48.240 Maybe all those things are possible. 00:02:48.319 --> 00:02:51.840 And she maybe she wasn't leaving it messy despite me. 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:54.479 Maybe she just hadn't gotten to it yet. 00:02:54.719 --> 00:02:57.840 Maybe it was bothering her more than it was bothering me. 00:02:59.280 --> 00:03:03.520 And so just that understanding, that changed everything. 00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:06.400 Because now, here's what I know now. 00:03:06.719 --> 00:03:07.919 Took me 12 years. 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:14.879 Here's what I know now is that first off, I can straighten the house, and she has just as much right to leave it messy as I have the right to leave it messy. 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:19.039 That groundbreaking took me a little chauvinist progress here. 00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:37.919 The second is this is if if I walk into the house and she's been at home, I I I already know, I already know that she she wants it to be straight because she knows like that kind of when I get home after maybe some stressful day or something, and she knows that I kind of like that when I walk in and it's straight. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:42.960 I mean, she knows, so if it's not that way, I I know she had a busy day. 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:47.120 I know she had a day, she had something. 00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:55.280 So I don't have to like move into like this action of like like show her how great I am and how fast I am, and look what I can do, and I can hug my child and do the dishes. 00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:57.599 Like, I don't have to do that, right? 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:02.080 I can just I can just say, hey, like, how was your day? 00:04:02.159 --> 00:04:03.039 What happened? 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:04.560 What's going on? 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:06.400 Right? 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:14.400 Because I didn't grasp the fullness of who she is, I couldn't properly relate to her or embrace her regard to me. 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:21.439 Because I didn't grasp the fullness of who she is, I couldn't properly relate to her or embrace her regard to me. 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:23.600 I was just in a reactionary stance the whole time. 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:25.199 So here's the principle. 00:04:25.759 --> 00:04:27.279 We'll put it up on the screen. 00:04:27.519 --> 00:04:35.279 You can have the wrong understanding of something or someone, and all the while that thing remains true. 00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:42.079 But moving into the right understanding can change your life. 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:44.319 Change your relationship. 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:49.120 It can change how you think about God. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:55.439 Because some of us have been given, perhaps you've been given a um your best life now, God. 00:04:57.120 --> 00:05:01.759 And you were told certain things about God and what he would do for you, and those certain things haven't happened. 00:05:02.560 --> 00:05:04.720 And you've had to come to grips with that. 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:08.079 Everything was supposed to be easy, hadn't been easy. 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:20.160 Maybe you were given like a bodyguard God, you know, protect you from horrible stuff and suffering and illness, and that hadn't happened. 00:05:22.399 --> 00:05:23.920 That hadn't worked out. 00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:27.839 Or maybe you were given a put put you to work, God. 00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:53.759 And maybe it was cloaked in a lot of Christian language, so you didn't pick up on it for a while, but over time what happened was is you just kept feeling more and more kind of exhaustion and shame and condemnation because after all, you know, you weren't as good as Cindy Joe and all her missional work who you're comparing yourself to, and so you just slowly felt like just not as good as other Christians, because this God you were given was a put you to work God. 00:05:55.439 --> 00:05:57.680 And many of us have walked away from God. 00:05:58.879 --> 00:06:00.800 Not physically, you're here. 00:06:01.120 --> 00:06:03.759 Not physically, but in your heart. 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:07.040 You've just sort of moved away from God. 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:18.959 Because the God that you were given has not lined up with the disappointment and the condemnation you've experienced in life. 00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:22.079 But, and here's what I wonder. 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:24.160 Here's what I'm wondering. 00:06:24.560 --> 00:06:25.360 What if? 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:28.399 Just consider it, consider it this morning. 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:29.600 What if? 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:33.199 What if the problem is not with God? 00:06:33.839 --> 00:06:37.600 What if the problem is with your understanding of God? 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:46.079 So we've been looking at John's letter, 1 John, but we can also look at John's writing the Gospel of John. 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:50.079 Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, that book, the Gospel. 00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:52.639 Here's what we're reading, John 14, 7. 00:06:52.720 --> 00:06:55.839 And this is John writing Jesus' words. 00:06:56.000 --> 00:06:57.519 Verse 7, this is Jesus. 00:06:57.680 --> 00:07:00.399 If you had known me, you would have known my father also. 00:07:00.560 --> 00:07:02.560 So Jesus talking to a group of his disciples. 00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:05.680 If you'd known me, you would have known my father also. 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:09.439 From now on, you do know him and have seen him. 00:07:09.920 --> 00:07:12.079 Now the disciples are always a little bit slow. 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:13.279 It's good for us. 00:07:13.439 --> 00:07:14.639 We're just like them. 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:16.480 Philip's not picking up on all this. 00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:21.680 So, verse 8, Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. 00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:29.199 Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long and you still do not know me, Philip? 00:07:29.439 --> 00:07:33.279 Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. 00:07:34.639 --> 00:07:34.959 Right? 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:38.959 I mean, so disciples are saying, Hey, we want to know what God is like. 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:41.680 We want to have an understanding of God. 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:43.759 Can you do that for us? 00:07:43.920 --> 00:07:46.800 Jesus, you seem like a pretty enlightened guy. 00:07:47.439 --> 00:07:48.879 You're doing some miracles. 00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:50.079 We're impressed. 00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:52.160 Apparently, you're from God. 00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:54.399 Can you tell us? 00:07:56.079 --> 00:07:58.079 Can you show us what God is like? 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:02.399 And Jesus, so radical, says, I'm God. 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:03.839 Just look at me. 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:06.560 I'm the manifestation of God for you to know. 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:07.680 Just look at me. 00:08:07.759 --> 00:08:18.800 If you want to know, there's gonna be a whole bunch you don't understand, but if you just want to know, you can look at me. 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:20.240 Look at my life. 00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:21.600 Look at how I love people. 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:22.959 Look at how I treat people. 00:08:23.120 --> 00:08:24.639 Look at what I stand for. 00:08:25.279 --> 00:08:26.639 Look at how I love. 00:08:27.439 --> 00:08:30.319 Verse 9, how can you say, show us the Father? 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:31.439 Jesus talking. 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:32.639 How can you how can you say that? 00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:33.360 Do you not get it? 00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:36.000 Do you not get that I'm I'm the picture for you? 00:08:36.399 --> 00:08:40.559 Verse 10, do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? 00:08:40.799 --> 00:08:46.639 The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 00:08:46.879 --> 00:08:49.360 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:55.120 Says it again, that's the main point here, or else believe on account of the works themselves. 00:08:55.279 --> 00:08:58.480 Now that last phrase is a real gift to us. 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:02.639 Man, that last phrase, believe on the account of the works themselves. 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:07.759 So Jesus is saying, I know all of this is a lot to embrace. 00:09:08.720 --> 00:09:19.840 The idea of God who created everything manifests himself into his own creation in the form of a human being. 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:23.279 I know that's a lot, is what Jesus says. 00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:28.480 So just look at the works themselves. 00:09:29.039 --> 00:09:30.720 Just look at my life. 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:35.440 Just look at my death and look at my resurrection, which will come. 00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:43.039 That is a great gift for us to be able to work to look at the works themselves. 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:48.240 When I was in the sixth grade, I began to lose sight of uh the blackboard. 00:09:48.559 --> 00:09:49.759 Anybody else? 00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:50.879 You know that? 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:51.360 Right? 00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:55.440 You didn't want to get glasses, you know, and so you put it off, and you put it off, and you put it off. 00:09:55.519 --> 00:09:56.639 Finally, you go to the doctor. 00:09:56.799 --> 00:10:01.759 I went to the doctor, sure enough, you know, failed the test, can't see anything out there. 00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:06.960 Uh I could read, so anything close in I could see, and so I was nearsighted. 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:10.720 I could see close up, couldn't see far away. 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:20.559 And a lot of us have a spiritual nearsightedness because we had some bad church experience. 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:24.399 We're so emotional about it, rightfully emotionally about it. 00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:34.159 That we don't see the entire narrative of God and the world and the entire narrative of the scriptures because we are so reactionary in the emotional wound that we have. 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:43.600 Or maybe you have some woundedness from life and from a person and something that happens shouldn't have happened, and it taints your understanding of God. 00:10:43.679 --> 00:10:48.320 You can't see the whole story because you're so emotional, it gets you so nearsighted. 00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:53.759 Or maybe it's just a like a Bible story. 00:10:53.919 --> 00:10:59.759 Like you read in the Bible, you keep reading stuff in the Bible, stuff in the Old Testament, you keep reading again, like I can't reconcile this. 00:10:59.840 --> 00:11:01.440 And so you just like move away. 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:05.039 You're like, I'm not even gonna try to reconcile it, or you don't investigate it, you don't study for it. 00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:07.679 You just go like, oh, I can't, you know, none of that makes sense. 00:11:07.759 --> 00:11:08.960 How could a God of love do this? 00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:10.639 I'm you know, I'm out. 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:18.080 And you lose sight of the entirety of the biblical story that God is revealing Himself over time for us. 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:34.559 Yes, there in the beginning we're learning about the power and the justice and the holiness, and all of that's coming into fruition as we move into the New Testament to understand how deep and great and unbelievable this love and this grace of God is, that he could be this and he is also this for us. 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:40.960 But when we get nearsighted, we lose sight of the entirety of that biblical narrative. 00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:44.159 Now, here's today's text. 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:45.600 That was our introduction there. 00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:48.399 Today's text is 1 John 5, 6. 00:11:48.879 --> 00:11:52.080 This is he who came by water and blood. 00:11:53.120 --> 00:11:56.559 That's a phrasing to talk about Jesus. 00:11:57.600 --> 00:12:02.639 His baptism by water and then blood, that he will one day die. 00:12:02.799 --> 00:12:04.559 He'll be the final sacrifice. 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:08.159 We don't have to keep sacrificing ourselves or making our own sacrifices. 00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:12.720 We are made right with God by himself, Jesus. 00:12:13.279 --> 00:12:21.039 Not by the water only, but by the water and the blood, and the Spirit is the one who testifies because the Spirit is the truth. 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:29.519 Point number one is this God shows himself in history as a spiritual teacher, but more importantly, is God our Savior. 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:35.519 So he's not just one that teaches us how to live, but he's also our Savior. 00:12:38.799 --> 00:12:42.240 So here in this setting, we have John writing, he's writing to a church. 00:12:42.320 --> 00:12:53.360 If you remember this setup, this situation, he's writing to a church, and this church has gone through a real issue because there's been a group of people who decided they believe something different about Jesus, and so they leave, and then while they leave, they're causing problems. 00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:59.840 John's writing back to this church to say, hey, be loving to those people, be loving to yourselves, and he does that. 00:12:59.919 --> 00:13:03.360 He says, hey, be loving to them, be loving people. 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:08.399 But what's interesting is he doesn't just like keep hammering them to love. 00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:16.960 He says, hey, love them, but the way in which that he empowers them to be people of love is to draw them back to Jesus. 00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:20.480 This is a huge point for us. 00:13:20.720 --> 00:13:24.000 This is a huge point for our personal lives and for our church. 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:28.240 And this is why, this is why our church doesn't have a new vision every year. 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:30.399 We don't have a new vision. 00:13:30.639 --> 00:13:32.159 We always have the same vision. 00:13:32.399 --> 00:13:35.279 The vision is the gospel, the vision is the good news. 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:38.559 You are made right with God by Christ's death and resurrection. 00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:43.360 Your sin is put upon the cross, his righteousness is given to you, and you are made forever beloved. 00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:44.559 That's our only vision. 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:49.440 It'll be our only vision because that's the very thing that birth fruit. 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:54.799 That's the thing that keeps people motivated, empowered, and united. 00:13:54.960 --> 00:13:56.799 That's what John is doing. 00:13:57.120 --> 00:13:59.039 Yeah, be people of love. 00:13:59.919 --> 00:14:04.240 Be people of transformation, but you gotta come back to Jesus. 00:14:04.399 --> 00:14:06.639 It has to start with Jesus. 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:11.279 That's our heartbeat. 00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:18.799 It is not, and we'll put this up on the screen, it is not Jesus plus everything I do. 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:21.679 I'm approved by God. 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:24.399 That is not it. 00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:32.480 The vision is always the truth, the good news is always Jesus plus nothing. 00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:35.759 Equals our belovedness. 00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:40.399 Verses seven through nine. 00:14:40.720 --> 00:14:45.519 For there are three that testify, the spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. 00:14:45.679 --> 00:14:49.120 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater. 00:14:49.279 --> 00:14:53.039 For this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his son. 00:14:53.279 --> 00:14:57.120 So point number two is this God shows himself in history in Christ. 00:14:57.200 --> 00:14:58.399 That's a real gift to us. 00:14:58.639 --> 00:15:02.879 We have something reliable, objective, historic for us to rest our faith in. 00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:10.559 God shows himself in history in Christ and speaks to us by his Holy Spirit. 00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:20.399 So John is saying that belief comes by faith in the historic reality of Christ manifested, lived, died, resurrected. 00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:27.759 That's something for us to be grounded in, apart from our emotional ups and downs, the strength and the weakness of our faith. 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:38.320 And John says, and that faith, the creation of it, the sustaining of it, that is the work of the Holy Spirit inside of you. 00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:47.360 And all of this is good news because it sort of removes us away out of this kind of vicious religious cycle of like faith in your own faith. 00:15:47.519 --> 00:15:52.799 Like, oh, you're in the family of God by grace, but now you're sort of like put to work in the faith of your own faith. 00:15:52.879 --> 00:15:57.679 So you just you put you just have your own faith in your own faith rather than faith in Christ. 00:15:57.759 --> 00:15:59.759 And these two things are different. 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:12.320 Because one on a day in and day out rests deeper and finds your identity growing more and more in God's love for you and Christ, and the other is you just becoming more and more religious by what you do. 00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:21.279 It's not Jesus plus everything I do equals belovedness, it's Jesus plus nothing equals belovedness. 00:16:22.480 --> 00:16:28.399 So anything that we do in faith is rooted back into Jesus over and over again. 00:16:29.759 --> 00:16:30.960 Verses 10 through 12. 00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:34.480 Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:42.240 Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his son. 00:16:42.480 --> 00:16:45.279 And this is the testimony that God gave us eternal life. 00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:47.200 And this life is in his son. 00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:49.120 Whoever has the son has life. 00:16:49.279 --> 00:16:52.559 Whoever does not have the son of God does not have life. 00:16:52.799 --> 00:17:00.240 So point number three is this we have life here, now, and forever with God, by belief in Jesus, nothing else. 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:03.919 This is what John is hammering over and over and over again. 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:08.000 In verses 11 and 12, John says, Hey, you really need to contemplate this. 00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:10.240 Like you need to treat this seriously. 00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:17.680 Whatever culture says, you know, is what culture's saying, but you need to contemplate this truth right here of what you believe about Jesus. 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:21.039 Because this affects all of life and all of time. 00:17:21.200 --> 00:17:24.799 This affects here, now, and forever. 00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:27.839 And John's asking this question. 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:32.400 He's doing it here in 1 John, he's doing it in his gospel, he's asking this question. 00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:44.160 He's looking at all that he knows based on his life and the Old Testament, the scriptures he has, the Hebrew scriptures, and then he's looking at this guy, Jesus, that he knows of, and he's asking this question like, what is God like? 00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:50.319 How do I sum that up? 00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:52.000 How do I understand this? 00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:57.519 How do I understand all that Old Testament, some of the stories that you have a hard time reconciling? 00:17:57.680 --> 00:18:03.440 And then this person, Jesus, who's claiming to be God, and this person of love and acceptance. 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:05.599 Like, how do I reconcile that? 00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:14.880 And what John finally gets to in the middle of his letter, which we've already talked about a couple sermons ago, is just three words, and it was a radical Christian thought. 00:18:15.839 --> 00:18:21.200 It's a little more common now, but at the time, this was an unbelievable thought about God. 00:18:21.359 --> 00:18:29.839 Other nations' gods were they weren't saying this about those gods, but John says, God is love. 00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:43.200 Here we have the scriptures, the entirety of the scriptures, the full blackboard, progressively revealing who God is. 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:56.480 So we get through the Old Testament and the Old Covenant, we get into the New Testament, we see New Covenant, and we see a God who is powerful and just and holy. 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:02.799 And that helps us to see, oh my God, it's unbelievable. 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:07.440 This manifest God would be so vulnerable and accepting and loving. 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:11.920 Maybe he could accept me. 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:23.599 We look at this Jesus, and Jesus called all people on their sin. 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:26.480 But he didn't shame any of them. 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:36.480 Jesus moved toward the broken while calling anybody who thought they were put together to realize you're not really that, not really that put together. 00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:42.960 Jesus welcomed and pursued thieves and whores. 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:51.200 He ate and drank with sinners to the point where the religious people were so offended. 00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:56.079 Jesus loved people fully from the beginning. 00:19:56.240 --> 00:20:00.880 And as he loved them, he out of that love, he called them to honor God. 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:03.920 But never, never with shame. 00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:06.160 Never with condemnation. 00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:09.279 I don't know your understanding of God. 00:20:10.079 --> 00:20:14.240 I don't know where you got it from, where it came from, who put it on you. 00:20:15.039 --> 00:20:25.279 Maybe you're still trying to shake off like a judgmental God, a non-loving God, or kind of like a half-loving God, but not like half-loving and like half, like really, really putting you to work and keeping score on you. 00:20:25.359 --> 00:20:32.240 Maybe you're trying to shake that off a little bit, and like even being here is like you're not quite sure if you should go somewhere else because you're not quite sure about all this. 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:43.680 Or maybe you just never considered that God revealed Himself over time in the scriptures, and then all the scriptures give us the fullness of God. 00:20:44.880 --> 00:20:50.720 But what Jesus and John are saying is that can be hard to hold on to all that. 00:20:50.799 --> 00:20:58.880 And John says, if you need something a little bit more simple to hold on to, God is love. 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:05.839 And Jesus says, Oh, if all of that's hard to get your mind around, hey, I get it, just just look at me. 00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:06.720 Just look at me. 00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:08.400 That'll be enough. 00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:16.880 So we learn about justice and the holiness in big ways in the Old Testament. 00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:23.200 And they lead us to understand even more about the love and the acceptance that we know from Jesus in the New Testament. 00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:29.519 And we can talk about God as just and powerful and all-knowing and all-powerful and all of time and the attributes of God. 00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:30.640 We're going to talk about all that. 00:21:30.720 --> 00:21:31.599 We will talk about that. 00:21:31.680 --> 00:21:33.440 That is good to talk about. 00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:38.640 We can even talk about how an all-loving God allows suffering. 00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:40.160 We can talk about that. 00:21:43.519 --> 00:21:50.400 There's answers for those things, but those answers will never give you peace in your heart. 00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:58.400 At the end of all those conversations, it's still possible for your heart to not be at peace. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:06.640 Those conversations inform you, maybe they equip your faith, but they cannot deliver you. 00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:10.799 The grace and the love of God is what delivers us. 00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:14.240 John's considering all that. 00:22:14.960 --> 00:22:16.559 All that he sees in Jesus. 00:22:16.720 --> 00:22:19.839 It just keeps pointing us back, drawing us back to Jesus. 00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:22.960 John's going, like, how do I how do I motivate a broken church? 00:22:23.279 --> 00:22:23.920 Isn't that amazing? 00:22:24.079 --> 00:22:26.720 John's going, how do I motivate a broken church to be loving? 00:22:26.880 --> 00:22:28.079 How do you do that? 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:33.359 Well, God is love. 00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:40.319 Back in that John 14 where Jesus is talking, there's something in there we could easily pass over. 00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:42.400 I mean, Jesus is saying, look at me. 00:22:42.720 --> 00:22:46.400 Like if you need if you need an understanding of God, look at me. 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:51.680 And I would just say, you know what, like for you, maybe you don't even need to trust me this morning. 00:22:51.839 --> 00:22:53.440 Just go read the Gospel of John. 00:22:53.759 --> 00:22:54.480 That would be great. 00:22:54.640 --> 00:22:56.720 Just go read the Gospel of John just to yourself. 00:22:56.880 --> 00:22:58.240 Say, who is this? 00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:00.160 Who is Jesus showing himself to be? 00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:01.279 What is he like? 00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:08.559 The entire time in John 14, I don't know if you picked up on it when Jesus is talking, he keeps referring to God as Father. 00:23:09.279 --> 00:23:14.559 And we pass that by a lot of times, and it wasn't a new thought to the people listening, the Jewish listeners there. 00:23:14.720 --> 00:23:15.680 That wasn't a new thought. 00:23:15.759 --> 00:23:21.519 I mean Jewish people would call God Father at times, but it wasn't the dominant way they thought about God. 00:23:21.599 --> 00:23:30.880 But then when Jesus shows up and he's teaching and he's relating and he's referring back to God, he just keeps saying, Father, Father, my father, my father's in me, I'm in my father, father, father. 00:23:31.119 --> 00:23:33.839 We pray to the father, pray to the father, father, God, I'll have a father. 00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:36.880 He just does over and over and over again. 00:23:37.680 --> 00:23:42.720 And here's what Jesus is saying: Jesus is saying, look at me, look at me. 00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:45.519 If you need an understanding of God, look at me. 00:23:45.680 --> 00:23:46.880 What am I like? 00:23:48.160 --> 00:24:07.920 And if you need an idea about what God is like, it's gonna be hard, it's not gonna be easy, but the best way, the best way to think about God is the most perfectly loving Father you could dare to dream of. 00:24:10.400 --> 00:24:20.160 I don't know what understanding you have of God, but I know moving into the right understanding can change your life. 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:24.400 My brothers and sisters, this is our vision. 00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:30.000 Christ Jesus alone and a God who is love and is our Father. 00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:31.599 Let's pray together. 00:24:34.960 --> 00:24:49.519 God, thank you for this good word that in the midst of being called to love people and to be people united as a group, John calls them back to Jesus. 00:24:51.440 --> 00:24:59.599 That our understanding of you should be entirely wrapped up in your manifestation to us. 00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:11.920 What you were like, how you treated people, how you loved people, how you welcomed people, how you accepted people, how you called people out of their sin, you never shamed them. 00:25:13.440 --> 00:25:18.480 Would we understand and know that more to ourselves, to our own hearts? 00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:24.559 We have so many questions when it comes to this life, to hurt, to doubt. 00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:29.839 But in the love of God, would we be at peace? 00:25:31.039 --> 00:25:33.359 Would we move forward in peace? 00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:39.759 Confident that you love us, even when we do not understand all things. 00:25:40.799 --> 00:25:44.559 That you are our perfectly loving Father. 00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:47.359 More than we could ever dare to dream. 00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:51.039 In Jesus' name and power, we pray. 00:25:51.359 --> 00:25:52.000 Amen.