WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:05.120 So when I was in my first semester at the University of Georgia, I had this huge economics class. 00:00:05.360 --> 00:00:09.839 So it was on the north campus of Georgia, and when I mean huge, there's probably 300 people in there. 00:00:09.919 --> 00:00:26.399 There's one of those huge auditoriums, and you know, it was very steep, you know, the roads are very steep, and the professor was down at the bottom, and I sat over, I can clearly remember, I sat over the top right, and I looked over and at 300 people, I recognized this one girl on the other side. 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:30.160 I didn't know her, but I I re I I wanted to know her. 00:00:30.320 --> 00:00:35.359 And so I was sitting over there and I spotted her, and then uh class ended. 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:37.520 Um, and she was she was she was good looking. 00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:39.520 I just go ahead and just kind of let that be known. 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:40.719 She was good looking. 00:00:40.799 --> 00:00:48.320 Um and class ended, and I noticed we walked this same route down the hill, down to the Tate Center to the bus stop. 00:00:48.479 --> 00:00:51.600 We we got on the same bus to the South Campus. 00:00:51.759 --> 00:00:53.600 Not only that, we got off at the same stop. 00:00:53.759 --> 00:00:55.359 I'm kind of stalking at this point. 00:00:56.159 --> 00:00:59.039 We get off, we walk to the same building on South Campus. 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:01.280 This is a sign, right? 00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:08.879 I mean I'm a sophomore in college, and I am I am getting pumped up about what the scenario. 00:01:09.359 --> 00:01:17.680 And so I I go I go home to my roommates, and I thought, oh man, there's a girl in economics class, and oh, she's beautiful, and it's the same route. 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:18.400 Can you believe that? 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:29.280 Can you believe we're in the same class, same walking route, same bus stop, same bus, you know, same walks to the to the next building, and so okay, you know, and so we're getting all the roommates are gathering, you know, what's your plan, what's your game plan gonna be? 00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:42.079 And so for for just you know, maybe a week and a half, I'm I just I just kind of watch her from a distance, and um, and she's becoming sort of a goddess at this point, you know, like she's perfect to me. 00:01:42.319 --> 00:01:49.120 You know, the the longer the time goes by, the more perfect she's getting because she is so kind, she's smart. 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:52.719 I mean, she I mean she she just I just know it. 00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:59.680 I just know she's funny, but not too funny because I don't want too much competition, and she's gonna laugh at my jokes, and she's not self-absorbed. 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:02.799 Oh, she would be the perfect wife, and we have this house out in the country. 00:02:03.439 --> 00:02:05.120 You know, and just building this up. 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:13.599 And so finally my roommates and I, we gather, we figure my my we decided on the bus is the best place to kind of approach her and say, Are you in economics? 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:15.520 And that was gonna be the you know the line. 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:16.639 Like I didn't know that. 00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:22.000 And I'm pretty sure there's no way she'd noticed me out of everybody, just no possible way. 00:02:22.080 --> 00:02:31.599 But so so I we we start to sit together in economics, we start to walk together at the bus stop, ride the bus together, walk to the to the next building. 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:38.319 Um if she she just we didn't get along. 00:02:39.680 --> 00:02:42.560 She wasn't a goddess, she was actually kind of annoying. 00:02:42.800 --> 00:02:45.520 Uh I won't say her name. 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:52.319 Um maybe you've done this projected onto another person. 00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:54.879 Maybe you've done the reverse. 00:02:55.039 --> 00:03:00.240 Um, you see a beautiful girl, and you just know she's horrible. 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:01.360 She's horrible. 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:02.560 She's a brat. 00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:04.800 She's probably manipulative. 00:03:04.960 --> 00:03:06.800 She's probably from a rich family. 00:03:07.039 --> 00:03:10.400 She probably has eating disorder to be that skinny, right? 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:15.039 And like you project on her all this negative, right? 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:15.680 Right? 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:16.560 We do this all the time. 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:18.800 We project on people we don't know. 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:22.400 I saw I saw this at the my firm former place of employment. 00:03:22.479 --> 00:03:25.759 Uh, because there's a big church, a lot of people couldn't know the senior pastor. 00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:26.319 That happens. 00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:28.560 Everybody can't know him, you got 3,000 people. 00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:34.560 And so the people who didn't know him would project onto him what he was and was not. 00:03:34.879 --> 00:03:38.400 And you would hear stuff, you'd be like, well, I don't, no, I don't think so. 00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:39.360 I know I know him. 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:41.439 I don't think he's like that. 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:45.759 But this projection occurs anytime you can't know somebody. 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:54.479 We project, and so we we do this with beautiful girls, we do this with people we can't know, with bosses that are way above us. 00:03:55.199 --> 00:03:56.479 We do it with God. 00:03:57.680 --> 00:03:58.080 Right? 00:03:58.159 --> 00:04:10.800 So projection with God is the process of ascribing to God, so out of ourselves, we ascribe to God uh our own attitudes and our own feelings, and you know where they come from? 00:04:11.439 --> 00:04:17.360 They come from our own defenses, our own inadequacies, and a lot of times our own sense of guilt. 00:04:17.439 --> 00:04:22.000 I mean, I was reading about this week in this book called The Glimpse of Jesus by Brendan Manning, great book. 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:26.399 And he says a lot of times the distortion actually occurs as you're growing up. 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:33.040 So if you're in a family and um and parents decide, well, the way that we'll discipline is just like use God for everything. 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:36.720 We'll just, you know, God doesn't want you to do that, God wants you to do this. 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:38.800 But it's never about the heart. 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:46.720 God loves you, he's concerned for your heart, he's concerned for your wholeness, it's just all behavioral on how God wants you to behave this way and that way. 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:51.839 And so God becomes sort of like this heavenly cop, you know, waiting to catch you and get you. 00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:53.680 And that's sort of it. 00:04:56.800 --> 00:04:58.800 Or you show up to church. 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:25.600 Um, you had no idea God was so concerned with an attendance goal of 250 people, but apparently it was somewhere in the Bible, and you just didn't know it because God is getting played into it, and it is so heavily forced that you just you go, I I had no idea he was that concerned, or maybe fiscally, you had no idea that he was that concerned about this particular goal, right? 00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:44.160 And you and you leave, because there's been some projection and you leave some distortion about God and who he is and is not, and so there's some distortion, and so we as we grow up or we come out of certain experiences, we project, we project on God who he is, and and then that that reflects in how we live. 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:53.439 So Bernard Bush, he has a PhD in theology and psychology, pretty good degrees to go with, to have a few things to say. 00:05:53.600 --> 00:06:11.680 Uh he says this Fortunately, Christ has revealed the real God to us in unmistakably human form, exposed projection for the idolatry it is, and given us the way to freedom from it. 00:06:12.319 --> 00:06:15.199 So let me read the text, John 15. 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:16.639 Let me get into the text. 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:19.759 Let me read the text, and then we're gonna come back to this idea of projection. 00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:24.480 So we're still at the Last Supper, we've been there a while, we're gonna be there even further. 00:06:24.720 --> 00:06:29.279 Um giving me a hard time how we get into certain passages, we just stay there for a long time. 00:06:29.360 --> 00:06:32.959 Well, there's a lot going on at this supper, pretty big supper. 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:36.160 He's washed feet, he's dealt with Judas. 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:38.240 I think maybe we've had three sermons there. 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:40.000 There may be another three or four coming. 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:48.160 I'm not sure, but there's a lot going on, and so we're still at the table in the upper room in Jerusalem before the Passover feast. 00:06:49.519 --> 00:06:51.839 John 14, 1 through 7. 00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:54.240 Do not let your hearts be troubled. 00:06:54.480 --> 00:06:57.040 This is Jesus talking to his disciples. 00:06:57.279 --> 00:06:59.920 You believe in God, believe also in me. 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:07.839 My father's house is many rooms, that if if there were not so, what I've told you, I'm going there to prepare a place for you. 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:13.439 And if I if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me? 00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:16.480 That you also may be where I am. 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:19.759 You know the way to the place where I'm going. 00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:22.079 So Jesus is saying this I won't always be here. 00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:23.519 There's more life to come. 00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:28.160 There's another place after you pass away, there's another place. 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:31.519 I'm creating that place for you, I'm creating the way for you. 00:07:31.839 --> 00:07:33.040 I'm the way to it. 00:07:33.199 --> 00:07:34.879 That's what Jesus is saying. 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:39.600 And Thomas says in verse 5, Lord, we don't know where you're going. 00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:41.680 So how can we know the way? 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:44.079 And Jesus answered, here's the way. 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:45.439 I'm the way. 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:47.920 And the truth. 00:07:48.720 --> 00:07:50.000 And the life. 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:54.800 No one comes to the Father except through me. 00:07:55.279 --> 00:07:59.279 Okay, so um hate to break your heart here. 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:01.120 You're you're not the way. 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:03.360 You're not. 00:08:05.199 --> 00:08:11.360 All your accumulation of good deeds, all your accumulation of Christian behavior, you're you're not the way. 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:13.600 You can't handle it. 00:08:14.079 --> 00:08:15.279 You can't get there. 00:08:15.920 --> 00:08:18.639 Jesus lived the life we did not live. 00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:20.240 Perfect and righteous. 00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:27.600 When he dies on the cross, he takes our sin upon himself, gives us his righteousness, so he is the way. 00:08:30.079 --> 00:08:34.159 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. 00:08:34.399 --> 00:08:36.559 From now on, you do know him. 00:08:36.960 --> 00:08:37.840 You've seen him. 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:44.960 So there's a lot of great kind of intellectual conversations that come out of 14.6 on the way, the truth, and the life. 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:45.679 Right? 00:08:45.759 --> 00:08:51.679 Because we can see Jesus claiming to be the way, so it means all these other religions and possible ways. 00:08:51.840 --> 00:08:56.639 It's sort of like ruling out pluralism and plurality for spirituality. 00:08:56.960 --> 00:08:58.480 So what about these other ways? 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:00.080 Here's the deal with these other ways. 00:09:00.240 --> 00:09:02.799 There are some great other ways to be moral. 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:07.919 There are some fantastic other ways to be a dedicated person. 00:09:09.919 --> 00:09:13.120 Actually, we could probably go find more moral people. 00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:18.879 I can guarantee you, we can go find more moral people and more dedicated people than you and than me. 00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:25.039 But Jesus is the way to the Father. 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:27.519 He's the only way. 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:29.120 He is the glimpse. 00:09:29.279 --> 00:09:33.120 And here's how he differs from every other way of spiritual life. 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:37.519 Here is how he differs because he doesn't just tell us to be righteous. 00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:38.080 He does. 00:09:38.159 --> 00:09:39.440 He does tell us to be righteous. 00:09:39.759 --> 00:09:45.200 So he is our example and our teacher in that way, but he's also our substitute. 00:09:45.360 --> 00:09:46.720 There's the difference. 00:09:48.559 --> 00:09:52.000 He came to die for us to do what we cannot do. 00:09:52.960 --> 00:09:57.679 So maybe you're here, and on some level you're going, Jesus is the way. 00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:00.000 I'm in for that. 00:10:00.799 --> 00:10:06.320 But you're going to wake up tomorrow and you're living out, I'm the way. 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:08.960 And you know how you know if you're doing this? 00:10:09.519 --> 00:10:15.360 You feel a sense of burden, of guilt, self-obsession. 00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:19.440 You got a record going, how you're doing, how you're not doing. 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:26.639 Instead of a sense of gratitude and what Jesus did for you and relief. 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:33.919 And Jesus says, you don't have to be the way because I'm the way. 00:10:34.159 --> 00:10:35.840 The conversation continues, verse 8. 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:40.960 Philip says, Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us. 00:10:42.080 --> 00:10:43.120 Philip's not catching on. 00:10:43.279 --> 00:10:44.639 He's not catching on to this. 00:10:44.799 --> 00:10:47.600 And Jesus answered, Don't you know me, Philip? 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:50.320 Even after I have been among you such a long time. 00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:51.919 Jesus' like, Are you not catching on? 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:52.559 What's going on? 00:10:52.639 --> 00:10:53.360 How are you missing this? 00:10:53.679 --> 00:10:54.879 I've trying to be clear with you. 00:10:55.120 --> 00:10:58.159 Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. 00:10:58.320 --> 00:11:00.559 How can you say, show us the Father? 00:11:00.799 --> 00:11:04.799 Don't you believe that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me? 00:11:06.639 --> 00:11:09.600 The words I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority. 00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:14.080 Rather, it is the Father living in me who is doing his work. 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:22.480 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:25.039 So Philip's saying, Great, great, Jesus, great. 00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:27.200 Just show us, we show us the Father. 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:30.799 For Philip, we show us Yahweh. 00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:33.679 We show us this distant God. 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:37.279 And Jesus is going, right, yeah. 00:11:37.919 --> 00:11:39.519 That's what I've been doing. 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:43.440 Like I'm I'm I'm Him for you to see. 00:11:44.080 --> 00:11:45.840 The guessing is over. 00:11:46.159 --> 00:11:48.559 You don't have to continue to guess. 00:11:49.519 --> 00:11:51.840 You don't have to continue to project. 00:11:53.279 --> 00:11:54.480 We can receive. 00:11:55.919 --> 00:12:05.440 So last Sunday after church, we rush home and we eat lunch and we pack the car and you know we have three little kids, so we're packing the roof. 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:08.879 We're packing the hitchhall on the back. 00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:09.759 Right? 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:18.000 I mean, we are packed up and we go to the, we're headed to the beach, so we we drive down 75 to Macon and then we head out 16. 00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:20.799 Have you been out 16 from Macon to Savannah? 00:12:21.039 --> 00:12:22.320 We stopped at a gas station. 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:23.039 I'm not kidding you. 00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:26.879 Uh where the gas station, a four-wheeler pulled up and then a tractor. 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:28.480 Why where are we? 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:29.919 What is going on here? 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:31.039 They're just driving up. 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:34.240 I mean, all sorts of another gas station had a petting zoo. 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:36.879 I'm not, I mean, I-16 is like a different world. 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:39.360 And so, you know, and the time it's getting later. 00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:40.480 It's getting later in the day. 00:12:40.559 --> 00:12:48.879 We have little girls, and so, you know, you if if you had children that were younger, or you have children, you know you're the time you're doing timeline, like, you know, how late is it getting? 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:53.440 We've got dinner, and they're getting fussy, and we got we got bed, and and so we're we're doing timeline. 00:12:53.519 --> 00:13:02.639 We cut up 95, as we're going to Hilton had to cut up 95, we're going, we're gonna have to do, we're gonna have to do dinner before we get there, and and you're you're doing all the time, you're doing the timeline. 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:08.000 We've got to feed them so when we get there, they're not, you know, we're gonna have to feed them and do the bad thing at the same time. 00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:10.480 And and and here, here's the great relief in all of this. 00:13:10.559 --> 00:13:14.000 Here's the great relief in that we'd already been to this place before. 00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:16.960 We'd already been to this the condo that we were staying. 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:18.799 We went the year before. 00:13:19.039 --> 00:13:28.879 So Christy and I are talking, we're going, okay, so um, all right, so I'm gonna move that the top bunk, I'm gonna move that mattress to the floor on that far side of the room, and then Josie can sleep on the bottom bunk over there, and then we'll put some pillows down. 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:37.519 She's gonna fall out of that bed, so we'll put some pillows down there, and then Greta May, we're gonna open the pack and play and put it in the master bath, and then we'll figure out where we're gonna sleep after all this is done. 00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:40.799 So we're we but we've we've been there before. 00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:43.120 So it wasn't a guessing game. 00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:52.879 I mean, this brought so much sort of relief as that timeline toward bedtime and breaking down was coming and coming and coming. 00:13:53.840 --> 00:13:56.879 Just the fact that we've been there, we've seen it. 00:13:58.639 --> 00:14:00.000 We've seen it. 00:14:00.720 --> 00:14:01.919 That's what Jesus is saying. 00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:03.519 You've seen the Father. 00:14:03.679 --> 00:14:06.080 Don't have to project, no guessing game left. 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:07.120 You want to see the Father? 00:14:07.279 --> 00:14:08.240 Look at me. 00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:09.360 You want to know God? 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:11.519 Read the New Testament, read all about Jesus. 00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:12.639 You're gonna know God. 00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:14.320 That's what Jesus is saying. 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:16.799 So, what do we see when we see Jesus? 00:14:16.879 --> 00:14:20.240 So, John 14, he's at the table last few weeks. 00:14:20.320 --> 00:14:20.879 We've talked about it. 00:14:21.039 --> 00:14:26.240 He washed feet, dealt with Judas graciously, the guy who's gonna betray him. 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:28.480 Starts to teach his disciples. 00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:34.639 What we see, we see so much of Jesus' interaction with people at tables, at meals. 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:40.559 So for the Jewish people, the table was all about your commitment to the Torah. 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:45.039 This is where you lived out your commitment, your dedication. 00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:46.639 You showed it. 00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:50.240 What you ate, what you didn't eat, who you ate with. 00:14:51.679 --> 00:14:53.679 This is why the Jewish people get so upset. 00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:58.879 They get so upset at Jesus when he goes and eats with sinners and prostitutes and drunkards and tax collectors. 00:14:59.120 --> 00:15:02.879 We go, tax collectors, you know, we don't like the IRS, but we don't feel too bad about the IRS. 00:15:02.960 --> 00:15:09.279 Now, this is like somebody who betrayed you and is sending your money to an enemy. 00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:16.480 You know, so all these people that are sort of segmented off and hated, Jesus is eating with them, he's going to their tables. 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:22.559 And so the table for Jewish people, this is all about you were saying, I want to know you. 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:25.360 I want to be associated with you. 00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:33.279 And so Jesus comes along and he's eaten with all sorts of people, and he's saying over and over again, I want to know you, I want to be associated with you. 00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:37.279 So see in Luke 5, he eats with a tax collector. 00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:39.120 Everybody gets fuming mad. 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:42.799 Verse 30, why do you eat with tax collectors and sinners? 00:15:42.960 --> 00:15:43.200 Right? 00:15:43.360 --> 00:15:45.440 I mean, he's dining with these people. 00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:53.360 He's breaking all this, the rules of how you live out your spirituality. 00:15:54.879 --> 00:15:57.200 Luke 7, I love this. 00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:01.200 He doesn't just eat with the lowly, he goes and he eats with the Pharisees. 00:16:02.080 --> 00:16:09.519 So it's not just that he's just eating with these lowly people in society, he eats with people higher up in society because they're people. 00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:11.279 To Jesus, they're people. 00:16:12.639 --> 00:16:15.600 Luke 19 might be one of the most well-known meals. 00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:19.039 This is when Zacchaeus, who's a tax collector, a short little guy. 00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:21.120 So he was hated. 00:16:22.480 --> 00:16:28.000 And then the Bible goes out of his way to say short, so we've got to think he's pretty short compared to everybody else. 00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:32.559 And so he comes into a crowd, and Jesus is coming in, and everybody wants to see Jesus. 00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:34.000 And they're crowded in. 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:41.519 And we don't know, maybe, you know, I mean, the Bible, when he talks about it, it says probably because of his height, he couldn't see over the crowd, but you've got to think this crowd also doesn't like him. 00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:44.399 So he's kind of getting rejected and pushed out. 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:52.799 I mean, you've got to wonder what's going on inside of Zacchaeus to be rejected over and over and over and over again by a crowd of people. 00:16:54.879 --> 00:17:00.080 And so there's a certain hunger in him, a neediness, and so he climbs a tree. 00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:07.920 And verse 5, you know, Jesus sees Zacchaeus and he says, you know, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today. 00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:16.799 And then verse 7, because the people can't believe this, he has gone, Jesus has gone to be the guest of a man who's a sinner. 00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:21.359 He's gonna go sh eat at a table with them. 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:24.880 He's saying to that guy, I want to know you. 00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:27.599 I want to be associated with you. 00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:30.480 Like that's what God's like? 00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:34.400 People just can't believe it. 00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:36.799 And this is the glimpse. 00:17:38.559 --> 00:17:40.319 This is the glimpse of the Father. 00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:52.799 A willingness to come into our lives when they're a mess, when they're put together, when they're somewhere between. 00:17:55.519 --> 00:17:57.759 Jesus is saying, You've seen you've seen God. 00:17:58.160 --> 00:17:59.440 Because you've seen me. 00:17:59.599 --> 00:18:02.880 You've been, you've been to that condo before. 00:18:04.799 --> 00:18:06.880 So you don't have to project onto me. 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:15.599 And you just gotta wonder what's going on in Philip in that John 14, where he Philip says, Show us the Father, and that will be enough for us. 00:18:15.759 --> 00:18:19.359 And you wonder what's the weight behind Philip's question? 00:18:19.839 --> 00:18:22.319 Like what's his idea of the Father? 00:18:23.119 --> 00:18:23.519 Right? 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:28.079 Like and what kind of distortion and projections going on inside of Philip. 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:29.519 Don't you wish he just knew all this? 00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:32.880 I would love it just, you know, if you got all this information. 00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:34.720 But you just wonder about it. 00:18:34.960 --> 00:18:37.359 It's just like we come in with projection and distortion. 00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:48.640 Philip's coming into this question with projection and distortion, and who knows how he grew up and what his dad was like or was not like, and how strong-handed his dad was, or how gentle his father was or wasn't, or horrible. 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:50.160 We don't know. 00:18:54.400 --> 00:19:03.519 But what Philip's been seeing is that this is Jesus, he's the Messiah, and he's dining with people that we're not supposed to dine with. 00:19:05.759 --> 00:19:07.759 And he's trying to reconcile this. 00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:17.839 Maybe you hear and you feel like God's that heavenly cop waiting to get you, catch you. 00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:24.079 He's out there counting all your screw-ups, keeping a list. 00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:26.079 Do you understand that the list was put on Jesus? 00:19:27.200 --> 00:19:28.240 And they're leaving. 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:30.720 You go, I don't say that too much. 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:32.079 We can go do whatever they want to do. 00:19:32.319 --> 00:19:33.920 No, actually, that's not what happens. 00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:35.599 Your heart's relieved. 00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:38.000 You want to live out of gratitude for him. 00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:46.079 Maybe you're here and you just go, man, I just feel like he's disappointed with me. 00:19:46.640 --> 00:19:49.039 Like if I if I really got honest. 00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:59.119 A lot of times I just covered up with television busyness, but if I really got honest, I just sort of feel like just disappointed. 00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:07.920 Do you understand that disappointment from any lacking that you are to put on Jesus? 00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:12.319 That when he sees you, he takes great pleasure in you. 00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:16.160 Yesterday our five-year-old had her first ballet recital. 00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:22.880 She gets all fancied up and it's tutu and pink with white polka dots. 00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:30.240 She comes out of her bedroom, and Christy had been back there getting her all fixed up, and she comes out of her bedroom and she looks so pretty. 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:34.480 Oh, you look so beautiful. 00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:37.920 And I took such great pleasure in her. 00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:39.440 You know what? 00:20:40.799 --> 00:20:46.720 Take just as much pleasure in her when she's all messy in the backyard. 00:20:47.359 --> 00:20:47.759 Right? 00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:48.480 Why? 00:20:49.440 --> 00:20:50.960 Because she's my child. 00:20:55.519 --> 00:20:58.000 So it's easy to project on God. 00:20:58.319 --> 00:21:01.359 Oh, he must be a disappointed father. 00:21:02.079 --> 00:21:04.559 But Jesus says, look at me. 00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:06.319 If you want the father, look at me. 00:21:06.480 --> 00:21:08.559 When we look at Jesus, we don't see that. 00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:11.440 We don't see a disappointed father. 00:21:11.599 --> 00:21:13.039 We don't see a heavenly cop. 00:21:13.680 --> 00:21:18.640 We see a God who says, even though you won't come to me, I will come toward you. 00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:21.680 I will pursue you. 00:21:28.880 --> 00:21:41.839 You can't use your feelings of guilt or fear or restlessness as a gauge of who God is or how he feels about you unless you love yourselves without reservation. 00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:48.000 Here's what Jesus is saying. 00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:51.599 If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. 00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:54.079 I am grace and truth. 00:21:54.160 --> 00:21:56.319 I'm your righteousness when you're not righteous. 00:21:56.480 --> 00:21:58.480 I am rest for your souls. 00:21:58.559 --> 00:21:59.119 Come to me. 00:21:59.200 --> 00:22:00.799 All you are weary and burdened. 00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:02.319 I will give you rest. 00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:06.640 I I I'm willing to take a towel and wrap it around my waist and fill the basin. 00:22:06.960 --> 00:22:08.240 I'm willing to come wash your feet. 00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:11.279 I'm willing to come into your into your mess. 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:21.119 I want to come to your home and dine with you. 00:22:24.079 --> 00:22:25.759 I want to know you. 00:22:27.519 --> 00:22:29.519 I want to be associated with you. 00:22:31.599 --> 00:22:33.440 I want to serve you and I want to love you. 00:22:34.880 --> 00:22:39.119 This is the glimpse we get of God through Jesus. 00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:41.119 We don't have to project anymore. 00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:42.480 We don't have to guess. 00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:44.319 If you start projecting, start guessing. 00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:46.079 Just read read the scriptures. 00:22:46.400 --> 00:22:47.599 What was Jesus like? 00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:48.559 Okay. 00:22:50.079 --> 00:22:50.799 God loves me. 00:22:51.039 --> 00:22:52.400 Let's pray together. 00:22:54.400 --> 00:22:57.759 God, thank you that you didn't leave it up to a guessing game. 00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:03.599 Our inadequacy builds and creates horrible, horrible God. 00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:08.400 One that can be a dictator. 00:23:09.279 --> 00:23:11.279 One that can be disappointed. 00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:17.599 One that can care more about behaviors in our hearts. 00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:21.359 One that can license sin, even. 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:27.039 But we can look to Jesus and how he lived. 00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:37.359 The things he taught of how we should live, and at the same time, him continuing to say, I am what you are not. 00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:45.759 And that you came to serve and to die and to relieve us. 00:23:47.920 --> 00:23:49.839 And that you we don't have to project anymore. 00:23:50.799 --> 00:23:53.279 Help to free us from this. 00:23:53.759 --> 00:23:57.359 And help us to rest in the glimpse you gave us. 00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:00.880 That you you love us. 00:24:02.079 --> 00:24:06.000 And that out of that you're gonna bear much fruit in our lives. 00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:07.680 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:24:08.319 --> 00:24:08.960 Amen.