WEBVTT 00:00:01.520 --> 00:00:04.719 Well, that's the uplifting passage for Mother's Day. 00:00:05.679 --> 00:00:06.959 Happy Mother's Day. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:08.560 Start with that. 00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:14.000 I think we can get to something hopeful out of it. 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:17.519 So it's our last week going through the book of Ecclesiastes. 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:19.600 So congratulations on that. 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:30.239 It's been a few months going through Ecclesiastes, and this book is filled with these kind of what we just felt of Christian reading from Ecclesiastes 12, these poetic ramblings. 00:00:30.879 --> 00:00:46.719 Very poetic, a little cynical at times, but what Solomon is saying is he's saying everything under the sun is vanity, is that word uh Havel, vapor. 00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:49.920 Like it's it's here for just a little bit and then it's gone. 00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:51.520 It's meaningless. 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:57.520 And so what he's saying, and you felt this, and I felt this, we've all felt this, is power, say power. 00:00:57.600 --> 00:00:59.280 It's like more and more influence you have. 00:00:59.359 --> 00:01:08.239 So more and more influence you have in your friend group or you know, in school, or at your job, neighborhood, more and more influence you have, you think, oh, that's gonna be the thing. 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:10.480 That'll be the thing that gives me meaning. 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:13.040 That'll be the thing that I can finally grab a hold of. 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:15.599 And he says, ah, vapor on that. 00:01:15.760 --> 00:01:22.239 Okay, well, well, money, money will be the thing, or like the next car, the next job, the next status, the next, the next level. 00:01:22.319 --> 00:01:26.959 Like you'll get that that next raise, and that'll be that'll be the one. 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:28.959 That will be the one. 00:01:29.359 --> 00:01:39.040 Or the next romance, or romance in general, oh, you know, just to be in love and have someone to love and love me, and that's good, and a lot of these things are good, right? 00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:40.719 I mean, these are good things. 00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:44.079 And he says to all these things, I'm trying I've tried them all. 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:57.599 But when it comes to delivering us from our condition and our need to be truly loved, absolved of sin, these things are these things are vapor. 00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:00.640 Because we always carry our insecurities into them. 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:02.799 None of them can really, really save us. 00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:13.919 And you know this, and I know that you you know it because you went from a corolla to a Camry, and then and then some to a Cadillac, right? 00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:16.240 Or maybe you're still in the Corolla, right? 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:18.719 Maybe you're still in the Corolla, but you've seen it. 00:02:18.879 --> 00:02:21.759 Go from the Corolla to the Camry to the Cadillac, you get to the Cadillac. 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:29.919 I'm not picking on Cadillac, I just saw a Cadillac commercial yesterday, and I I thought to myself, man, like I really think I'd be happier. 00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:35.280 Like by the end of the commercial, I don't know if you've seen the commercial, it was fantastic, it was unbelievable. 00:02:35.439 --> 00:02:36.319 I was convinced. 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:39.120 30 seconds, and I was convinced. 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:42.080 But you get the Cadillac, and we've done this. 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:44.159 You get the Cadillac, you've done it. 00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:47.759 And then you sort of miss the Corolla, right? 00:02:48.879 --> 00:02:50.240 Because it doesn't work. 00:02:50.479 --> 00:02:54.400 These things, and they're fine with drive, Cadillac, Corolla, I don't care what you drive. 00:02:55.120 --> 00:02:57.360 No matter what you, they can't deliver you. 00:02:57.520 --> 00:03:02.000 They can't bring you lasting joy, they can't deliver you. 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:06.960 And now here's what the the here's what the book of Ecclesiastes is saying. 00:03:07.199 --> 00:03:12.000 So here are some 12 books representing 12 chapters. 00:03:12.159 --> 00:03:12.960 I think there's 12. 00:03:13.039 --> 00:03:16.719 I counted them out pretty quickly, but 12 books, 12 chapters of Ecclesiastes. 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:19.199 Got a bookend on this side, a bookend on this side. 00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:22.639 So the book of Ecclesiastes, this is how the book of Ecclesiastes is structured. 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:26.479 You have a bookend at the beginning, a narrator, opens it up. 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:35.199 Kind of gives a little bit of summary, opens up the this whole book of Ecclesiastes, and then you get uh, and all in between, you get what's called the preacher. 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:36.879 And this is the voice of Solomon. 00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:39.360 Probably written by somebody else, but it's the voice of Solomon. 00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:40.960 It's written in his voice. 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:47.039 You get lots of rambling, lots of poetry, you get some wisdom, get a lot of emotion, you know how his preachers are. 00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:53.840 This is the voice of the preacher, and it's just boom, boom, boom, boom, all the way through, and then you get to chapter 12, and you get the book end on the end. 00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:56.400 So you get narrator, preacher, narrator. 00:03:56.560 --> 00:03:57.840 This is the structure of Ecclesiastes. 00:03:58.000 --> 00:03:59.280 You want to understand Ecclesiastes? 00:03:59.439 --> 00:03:59.840 Here it is. 00:03:59.919 --> 00:04:02.240 This is how it is framed up for us. 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:16.879 And you have this narrator at the beginning and the end, and the narrator is clear, very level-headed, a very clear voice, much more clear than the in-between that we've been like rooting our way through and figuring our way through the last few months. 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:20.720 The narrator is what we tend to think when we think about reading the Bible. 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:23.360 Like, just kind of straightforward. 00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:33.040 But the preacher is what we tend to forget about the Bible, and it's that it's written by people, inspired by God, but still filled with emotion and problems and issues. 00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:37.920 So in between is this preacher, all this poetry and wisdom. 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:42.000 But we get to the end, this book end on the end, chapter 12. 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:44.240 I'll reread a couple of the verses. 00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:56.879 Verse 1 remember also your creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw near, of which you will say, I have no pleasure in them. 00:04:57.040 --> 00:04:58.160 So here's the bookend. 00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:00.240 So three points we're gonna have this morning. 00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:03.199 It's nothing new because it's the bookend, right? 00:05:03.279 --> 00:05:04.639 It's the review of the whole book. 00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:05.839 So nothing new this morning. 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:07.519 If you want to leave, just go ahead and leave. 00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:08.959 Nothing new this morning. 00:05:09.279 --> 00:05:13.600 Point number one life is not always rainbows and lollipops. 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:17.120 Everybody's on the same page there, right? 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:18.560 Everybody's on the same page, yeah. 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:20.319 The reality of suffering, right? 00:05:20.399 --> 00:05:27.680 I could have worded it more theological, intellectual, but I think we all understand life is not always rainbows and lollipops. 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:31.120 This is what he's saying when he's saying the days are evil. 00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:33.199 Life is not a glory train. 00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:36.800 Life as a Christian is not a glory train, right? 00:05:37.040 --> 00:05:43.759 You don't always get the Cadillac, and if you get the Cadillac, the day you get the Cadillac, you find out you get you have cancer. 00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:46.399 The day you get the Cadillac, it breaks. 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:47.920 You get in a wreck on the way home. 00:05:48.399 --> 00:05:58.240 Your kid gets sick, or you don't get into the college that you want to, or you aren't the success you thought you would be, or the romance that was going to deliver you. 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:00.160 It ends. 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:03.040 Or it's harder. 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:05.439 It's just harder than you thought it would be. 00:06:07.279 --> 00:06:14.639 At our house this week, uh have a laundry room being renovated, and so laundry's been backing up. 00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:16.079 Uh this is evil. 00:06:16.319 --> 00:06:21.360 Laundry backing up, this is this is evil in our our world at this point of lots of little kids. 00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:24.639 Laundry's backing up, washing machine's not available yet. 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:28.879 The day the washing machine is available, it breaks. 00:06:29.279 --> 00:06:30.879 You're like, evil. 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:35.279 The days are evil, even unto the most littlest things, right? 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:39.680 Like we see it in the littlest things, we see it in big things. 00:06:40.560 --> 00:06:44.240 Now, while I'm being incredibly positive, again, happy Mother's Day. 00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:48.879 The days are evil, but I don't have to tell you that because you know that. 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:51.279 Like moms, you know this. 00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:56.399 You give out so much love, and for that we are so grateful. 00:06:56.959 --> 00:07:07.199 But you know the feeling of the days are evil, and that's that's a really strong way to say there are days where you are zapped of freedom and joy and energy. 00:07:07.279 --> 00:07:10.560 And if you're a mom, you know exactly what I'm talking about. 00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:12.560 And that's just a reality. 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:21.360 Maybe you work outside the home as a mom, and then and then you come home and then you're thinking about dinner and groceries and all of that. 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:22.639 Maybe you're a single mom. 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:24.560 And you're going, like, this is hard. 00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:26.959 Eat, I mean, and you wish, you wish, you wish. 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:28.240 I wish for you. 00:07:28.399 --> 00:07:34.639 You wish the smiley, perfect Christian, like Christian mom thing. 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:36.480 Like you wish that was true. 00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:38.800 Hey, let me, it's not. 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:42.000 It's not true for anybody, okay? 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:45.839 Like the mom you think it's true for, it's not true. 00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:47.439 I'm I'm the pastor. 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:48.399 Trust me, okay? 00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:49.680 Trust me on this one. 00:07:49.839 --> 00:07:50.720 It's not true. 00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:53.199 This should be incredibly freeing for you. 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:53.759 Right? 00:07:53.920 --> 00:07:59.040 The smiley, perfect Christian mom image thing, not true. 00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:05.600 There's just difficulty in life, even with the things that we love the most. 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:06.480 Right? 00:08:06.639 --> 00:08:07.839 Like being a mom. 00:08:08.079 --> 00:08:14.319 Like there's nothing that you probably love more than being a mom, and yet that can be incredibly difficult. 00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:15.759 You don't have to say, Amen. 00:08:15.839 --> 00:08:20.560 I know you're nodding along inside your hearts, but life is not always rainbows and lollipops. 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:22.959 My birthday was last week. 00:08:23.600 --> 00:08:25.600 I turned 38 years old. 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:31.199 Uh, I have not done birthdays well in my mid-30s. 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:33.039 I don't know why. 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:34.799 I'm trying to figure that out. 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:38.960 There's there's something legit to like midlife crisis stuff. 00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:40.639 Like I'm beginning to see that. 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:46.320 If I show up in a red convertible, you know, I traded in my 401k and I'm having real issues. 00:08:46.559 --> 00:08:52.399 Talk to the elders to send me to counseling if you see me in a red convertible because I've gone over the edge. 00:08:52.639 --> 00:08:58.799 Something about something about uh birth for me, the last few years, birthdays. 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:07.120 I just take a little too much inventory of my life, and uh inevitably I turn that into like a comparison game with other people. 00:09:07.200 --> 00:09:18.960 You know, I'm talking about you've done it with like Cindy Joe down the street and Tommy, who you know works at Wells Fargo and he's doing so good, and then you look at your life, you're like, oh, you know, I never really hit that income level I thought I was going to. 00:09:19.039 --> 00:09:22.000 Or you do it with just a kid in your class, your grade. 00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:24.240 And comparison's always a thief of joy. 00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:32.080 And so for just a couple days last week, like the day before my birthday, my birthday, maybe the day after, like not birthday fun, not rainbows and lollipops. 00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:33.759 I'm not having a great time. 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:42.399 I'm just sort of down, just like a couple days of a couple days of evil, a couple days of without freedom and joy and life. 00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:44.320 And it's all because of one reason. 00:09:44.480 --> 00:09:45.679 I don't trust God. 00:09:45.919 --> 00:09:48.000 I don't trust He's enough. 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:49.919 I don't. 00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:58.080 And I think so often, I think I need to add my production and my pretending or some sort of accumulation. 00:09:58.159 --> 00:10:00.720 This is what Solomon's talking about is these things in this book. 00:10:00.879 --> 00:10:02.159 I think I need to add those things. 00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:11.200 I need to get these things, I need to add them into my justification and my value and my righteousness and my joy to be something in this world. 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:16.639 And to all of that, that thinking and that pursuit just makes it all worse, doesn't it? 00:10:19.039 --> 00:10:21.679 Just think, just think you need another Cadillac, right? 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:22.639 Like that's a metaphor. 00:10:22.720 --> 00:10:25.919 I'm sorry if you drive a Cadillac, somebody here does, you feel so bad. 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:29.440 You just think you need something else, the next thing. 00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:44.559 See, listen, Solomon is saying, and my life confirms, I think your life confirms, that more production and accumulation by me does not bring me peace and redemption. 00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:52.000 Yet in my sin, I continue to run to it again and again to self-save. 00:10:52.799 --> 00:10:54.399 Like this is this is the thing. 00:10:54.559 --> 00:10:56.480 This is why I have to preach the gospel. 00:10:56.639 --> 00:11:06.000 You have to preach the gospel to yourself over and over and over again and live in a confession and a repentance and a receiving of God's grace over you. 00:11:06.080 --> 00:11:07.679 And this leads into point number two. 00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:14.000 What I think Solomon is is looking for, and I think what you're looking for, point number two, we're all looking to be loved. 00:11:14.960 --> 00:11:16.639 We're all looking to be loved. 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:30.320 I mean, if you think back through this book of Ecclesiastes and you just think through everything Solomon's gone through, he's like, I've done this and I've gone through this, and I tried to get a lot of money and I tried to have a lot of power, and I tried to have a lot of sex and I was doing all these things, and none of these things really added up. 00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:31.840 Right? 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:32.720 You remember the song? 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:33.600 You remember the song? 00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:36.159 I was looking for love in all the wrong places? 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:37.519 Urban cowboy. 00:11:37.679 --> 00:11:38.879 It's been a while. 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:43.600 It'd be a little cliche to quote it, but it's perfect, too perfect not to quote it, so I'm going to quote it. 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:52.799 I was looking for love in all the wrong places, looking for love in too many faces, searching their eyes, looking for traces of what I'm dreaming of, hoping to find a friend and lover. 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:57.120 I'll bless the day I discover another heart looking for love. 00:11:58.240 --> 00:11:58.639 Right? 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:01.600 This is our condition showing itself. 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:04.159 Just this drive in us for this. 00:12:05.200 --> 00:12:21.360 And due to your sin to run to all sorts of places to self-save rather than God, you have a never-ending need for never-ending love, for absolution and redemption. 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:26.720 A few weeks ago, Christy took me to see Seinfeld at the Fox. 00:12:27.360 --> 00:12:28.639 It was fantastic. 00:12:28.879 --> 00:12:30.399 He comes out, Jerry comes out. 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:31.919 I'm huge, huge, huge, huge, huge. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:33.600 I can't say I watch a Seinfeld every day. 00:12:33.679 --> 00:12:34.480 Let's just put it that way. 00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:37.919 Every day, at some point, I will watch a Seinfeld episode. 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:42.399 It is a part of my day, it is a part of my spiritual practice, it's a part of my life. 00:12:42.799 --> 00:12:44.000 Every day. 00:12:44.320 --> 00:12:46.960 A few weeks ago, Christy takes me to see Seinfeld at the Fox. 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:52.799 Jerry comes out, no notes, just standing there, a microphone. 00:12:53.039 --> 00:12:56.080 He kills it for over an hour. 00:12:56.480 --> 00:12:59.200 Just joke after joke after joke. 00:12:59.279 --> 00:13:02.320 You don't stop laughing, you're shaking in your seats. 00:13:02.480 --> 00:13:05.039 I mean, people are out loud, they're falling over. 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:06.639 Unbelievable. 00:13:06.799 --> 00:13:09.440 And you've you've probably seen the TV show. 00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:12.480 It is such cynicism, right? 00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:15.279 It's a cynical slant on reality. 00:13:15.519 --> 00:13:17.759 It's Solomon, right? 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:19.440 And they actually have a lot in common. 00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:22.000 They're incredibly wealthy and they're Jewish. 00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:24.559 I mean, these men have a lot in common. 00:13:25.919 --> 00:13:30.240 You know, it's ten minutes on like you got here, but you want to be somewhere else. 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:31.440 Ten minutes on that. 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:33.200 We're never happy where we're at. 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:36.879 Like you're here, sort of, you're thinking about lunch. 00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:41.840 You get to lunch, you're sort of thinking about, eh, don't know if I like being at this restaurant, thinking about being at home. 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:43.519 The nap you're gonna take, you're taking the nap. 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:47.600 It's like we're here, but sort of want to be five minutes on vacation. 00:13:47.840 --> 00:13:50.879 Instead of fighting at home, you fight at a hotel, right? 00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:53.759 It's just a cynical slant on reality. 00:13:53.919 --> 00:13:56.320 It's raw reality in your face. 00:13:56.720 --> 00:13:58.960 And it's like Solomon in that way. 00:13:59.279 --> 00:14:00.399 Very, very similar. 00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:01.360 Here's the difference. 00:14:01.600 --> 00:14:02.240 Here's the difference. 00:14:02.480 --> 00:14:05.759 Seinfeld finishes his set, and we're all laughing. 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:16.799 I mean, we're laughing walking out of the theater, but we have no answers for any of this ordinary mess. 00:14:17.600 --> 00:14:23.200 Solomon finishes his set, and here's what he says: Ecclesiastes 12, 13, and 14. 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:25.759 The end of the matter. 00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:28.240 All has been heard. 00:14:29.759 --> 00:14:34.399 Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:41.120 For God will bring every deed into judgment with every secret thing, whether good or evil. 00:14:41.679 --> 00:14:46.639 So, point number three, fear God and obey him. 00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:56.639 I'll be honest with you, I'm reading this this week, and at first look, I'm going, this sounds as depressing as the days are evil. 00:14:56.720 --> 00:14:57.679 I'm just be honest. 00:14:57.840 --> 00:15:09.519 Like, okay, so the good option, the good option here, according to Solomon, is be afraid of God and obey him out of fear. 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:11.360 This is the conclusion. 00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:13.039 This is the good option. 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:15.840 And I'm going, I I don't know. 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:16.720 I'm not sure. 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:18.080 I'm not sure. 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:33.519 But see, this is the best language Solomon has at his point in time of history before Jesus, before the teachings of Jesus, before the death of Jesus, before the resurrection of Jesus, before the teachings of Paul, before the new covenant has come to fruition. 00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:48.639 This is the best language Solomon has at the time to say, come under God and live in the humility to receive from him, and out of that honor him with your life. 00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:56.799 So we could rephrase point number three instead of fear God and obey him, which a lot of us on this side of Jesus go, really? 00:15:57.519 --> 00:15:58.159 That's the point. 00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:10.080 No, on this side of the new covenant of Jesus, that point can be translated into enjoy the peace of not being your own God and Savior. 00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:12.320 Right? 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:14.480 That's the book in. 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:17.600 You don't have to be your own God. 00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:19.759 You can come under God. 00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:22.879 Solomon's language, Old Testament, fear God. 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:26.879 Our understanding of that in the new covenant, come under God. 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:32.320 That He is the sovereign ruler and grace over your life. 00:16:32.639 --> 00:16:37.120 You do not have to continue down the exhausting pursuit to be your own Savior. 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:39.120 You don't have to do your own saving. 00:16:39.279 --> 00:16:41.360 You don't have to do your own absolving. 00:16:41.519 --> 00:16:43.440 You don't have to do your own redeeming. 00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:43.919 Right? 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:48.080 And this is everything that Solomon was doing throughout this entire book. 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:56.080 And out of this great gift that he has given to you, walk in his ways. 00:16:56.480 --> 00:16:59.360 Out of gratitude, out of great security as his children. 00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:02.960 Not to prove something, not to earn something, not to pay something back. 00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:10.559 Tuesday night, I went with my family to the fifth grade talent show on the square. 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:14.480 There's some Marietta Mayberry going on, right? 00:17:14.640 --> 00:17:18.640 I mean, totally just classic small town. 00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:19.920 It was so good. 00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:24.319 Getting in that down on the square, we're in the theater, fifth grade talent show. 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:26.480 We're all live at our kids sitting there. 00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:31.279 My oldest is sitting with all her friends over at a separate row, because they're big kids now. 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:41.599 And we get there, and um it's 12 acts, and they're gonna have a PTA meeting, and then there's 12 acts, and then in between each act, there was uh some MCs. 00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:45.279 There's like there's three fifth graders that were MCing the talent show. 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:47.039 Anyone go to the fifth grade talent show? 00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:49.839 It's a hot ticket, hot ticket this week here. 00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:53.039 And so three MCs, there's two girls. 00:17:53.119 --> 00:17:54.559 I'm sorry, I don't remember their names. 00:17:54.640 --> 00:17:55.920 Sorry if you're related to them. 00:17:56.000 --> 00:17:59.599 Uh there was uh a boy, fifth grade boy, his name was Gus. 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:01.119 I don't know if y'all know Gus. 00:18:01.200 --> 00:18:02.400 He's a little guy. 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:05.920 He was a pretty adorable little guy, pretty funny. 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:15.519 And Christy leans over to me right at the beginning and she says, Hey, Gus's mom is right in front of you, is sitting in front of you. 00:18:15.759 --> 00:18:16.160 Right? 00:18:16.400 --> 00:18:18.559 You know what this means, right? 00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:24.160 This means I think you'll probably say something really inappropriate about Gus. 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:28.559 And you need to know that's his mom. 00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:31.759 Okay? 00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:33.759 And she's probably right. 00:18:33.920 --> 00:18:37.039 I will not say, but he was great. 00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:38.319 Like, and all the acts were great. 00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:43.519 I mean, that's what was so I mean, they're just like brave kids going for it on stage in front of people, just going for it. 00:18:43.680 --> 00:18:44.400 And he was great. 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:47.440 He was he was adorable, he was funny, he did a great job. 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:54.079 But I realized about five minutes into this thing, the greatest thing going on here was Gus's mom. 00:18:55.200 --> 00:18:59.119 She was so tuned in to her boy. 00:19:00.079 --> 00:19:02.240 Everything he said was funny. 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:11.200 I mean, she was la she was having the time of her life watching her boy. 00:19:11.599 --> 00:19:15.200 She would laugh when the rest of the people wouldn't laugh. 00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:17.440 It was incredible. 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:19.440 And so I'm just watching her. 00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:21.519 She is so tuned in. 00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:24.000 I quit watching Gus entirely. 00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:26.400 The great thing going on was her. 00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:29.920 This was so incredibly endearing. 00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:35.039 Like her being enamored with her son like this. 00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:38.079 And he did a great job. 00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:41.200 But he wasn't Seinfeld on stage, right? 00:19:41.279 --> 00:19:42.559 I mean, he was a fifth grader. 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:45.759 He did a really, really great job for a fifth grader. 00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:48.079 But it didn't even matter to her. 00:19:48.640 --> 00:19:49.759 She didn't care. 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:51.440 That's her boy. 00:19:51.759 --> 00:20:00.240 See, this is the picture of the gospel, this unconditionally loving parent just showering acceptance toward you. 00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:04.480 I think about that, and then I think about Solomon. 00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:08.960 I mean, I go, man, I he would have loved to have known that full story. 00:20:09.119 --> 00:20:11.519 He was looking forward to it. 00:20:11.920 --> 00:20:14.960 He knew there had to be an answer to all of this. 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:17.440 He was looking forward to a savior. 00:20:17.920 --> 00:20:22.000 But man, it would have been incredible for him to know this sort of love. 00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:24.640 Because Solomon only knew a God of justice and power. 00:20:24.880 --> 00:20:34.400 He didn't know that God loves so much to pursue us into suffering, into our anxiety and our hurt and our brokenness and our imperfection. 00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:39.039 Solomon knew of the God where you brought your sacrifice to him. 00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:46.319 But this was always to show us that one day we would need God Himself to be the sacrifice. 00:20:46.640 --> 00:20:53.839 For us to be secure, securely loved, fully redeemed, we would need God Himself to be the sacrifice. 00:20:54.000 --> 00:21:01.839 So God's not just the powerful God, but actually the powerless God that comes into our suffering. 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:23.519 And it's only this suffering God, Jesus, that can move us from a resignation of like just fear God and obey Him, fear God and obey Him, to move us from that into a gracious, secure redemption empowered by our position in Christ alone and by His Spirit in us to live in grateful and honorable living. 00:21:25.039 --> 00:21:28.000 Listen, we have incredible hope for today. 00:21:28.160 --> 00:21:30.240 So much more than what Solomon had. 00:21:31.359 --> 00:21:39.200 And it's not because we'll perfectly obey or love or refuse power and money and status and all those things. 00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:43.279 It's not because we're going to be perfect, it's because God Himself loves us. 00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:55.759 So, my brothers and sisters, may you find perfect saving in Christ's work for you because He has taken your sin upon the cross and given you his righteousness. 00:21:56.000 --> 00:22:03.279 And moms, may you live in the gracious peace of God, not because you're perfect, but because you are his daughter. 00:22:03.519 --> 00:22:04.720 Let's pray together. 00:22:08.559 --> 00:22:10.960 God, thank you for your goodness to us. 00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:15.519 And that while we are not perfect, you are perfect for us. 00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:24.559 Thank you that you call us to yourself into a full, secure, perfect redemption by your son's work for us. 00:22:25.759 --> 00:22:36.319 May that have power inside of us, and may your spirit, may your spirit do great work in us for our lives to honor you. 00:22:36.640 --> 00:22:38.240 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:22:38.480 --> 00:22:39.039 Amen.