Sunday July 12th - House of the Barefoot

On Sunday July 12th, Pastor Tommy preached a message title, House of the Barefoot. 

Transcript

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Thank you for joining us for another life-giving message at Generations United Church.

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I have an unusual sermon for you this week because I'm an unusual human who reads the Bible in unusual ways. My Bible reads different. And I was in the Word one morning about five or six months ago, and I saw this phrase called the House of Barefoot. And I thought, that is maybe the coolest sermon title that I've ever heard in my life. So today's sermon is called The House of Barefoot. Not Bigfoot, Barefoot. In a world that prizes comfort, in a world that tries to purchase ease at any cost, we often miss the meaning found by shouldering the responsibilities that God gives us. How many would you agree with me that if you look around culture today, that there are a lot of people, both men and women, that are not shouldering the responsibilities that God has given them? And we have an up-and-coming generation that I think has a great big heart, that has a great big destiny and a great big passion. But we're trying to make it as easy as we can on that generation, right? But the thing that built this country was not ease. It was men and women who put their head down and their shoulder to the wheel and they did what was good and what was right and what God required of them. And what I want to say to us this morning, through this message, the house of barefoot, is that God gives meaning and purpose through responsibility. The responsibility that God has given you is the gateway to meaning and purpose in your life. Now put your hand on your heart and take a real deep breath and let it out. Dear Jesus, speak to my heart and change my life. In your precious name. Amen. Deuteronomy chapter 25, beginning in verse 5. Moses is giving the law to the people. He's rehashing it one more time before they go into the promised land. Before Moses dies, he wants to make sure they understand what God requires of them as a peculiar people, a people set apart, a people just like us, a people with a great big vision and destiny, a people that are on a journey. And he says to them, This is the type of people that you're going to be. And then he gets very specific with one of the most bizarre passages of scripture that I've ever read in my life. Listen to this. If brothers dwell together, literal actual brothers, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go into her and take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. And the first son, whom she shall succeed, whom she bears, shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. And if the man does not wish to take his brother's wife, then the brother's wife shall go to the gate to the elders and say, My husband's brother refuses to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel. He will not perform the duty of a husband's brother to me. Then the elders of the city shall call him and speak to him. And if he persists, saying, I do not wish to take her, then the brother's wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot, and spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother's house, and the name of his house shall be called in Israel the house of him who had his sandal pulled off, or as in other translations, his house shall be called in Israel the house of barefoot. Now, men, listen very carefully to what I'm about to say to you. Do not raise your hand. But how many of you, if your brother died, and this was the law of the land, would be terrified to take your sister-in-law as your wife. Do not raise your hand. Maintain eye contact. Thank you. I see you, sir. I see you. We're on the same page. I I love my sister-in-law. She's wonderful. The problem would not be her, it would be me. I would, God would not want to inflict me upon my wife as a saint. You would have to really imagine that. Imagine that being the law of the land. Now it's a legit law. Why is it a legit law? These are not caveman days, but they're kind of caveman days in some ways. They don't have social security, they don't, they don't have, they are the welfare system. So if a man dies and he doesn't have any sons, now what would the son provide for the mom? I mean, the son would provide some help around the house. Theoretically, allegedly, teenagers can be helpful around the house. They can. Yes. We can talk about this after, man. I'm trying to preach here. This is not a counseling session. Their laws were made to ensure that vulnerable widows were taken care of. That a woman without a son, if the husband died, would be able to perpetuate the family name. My dad looked at me and my brother, and he said, Guys, if you don't have children, it ends with you. I'm like, thanks, no pressure. I'll try and do a good job, Dad. The brother or the nearest male relative was called the kinsman redeemer. Maybe you've heard of that. His responsibility was to redeem what his relative had left behind by stepping in to care for the widow, preserve the family line, and provide a son through whom the brother's name and inheritance could continue. It's important to note this was not a romantic relationship, okay? This was not a romance thing. This was a justice security thing. In Ruth 4, some of your minds have already gone there if you know your scriptures. In Ruth IV, when a woman's husband died, the nearest relative had to step in, at least he was given the first opportunity to step in, and redeem the family's land to make sure the land wouldn't just be bought up by somebody else, and to assume responsibility for the widow. But in Ruth's story, that man chooses to not step up because doing so would have cost him his own inheritance. He's like, bro, my I can barely handle what I've got going on at home. I can barely handle one wife. How would you want me to handle two wives? I'm gonna add no commentary on that either. My wife actually told me, now we can strike this from the record, she said, she said, Honey, I don't want you to have an affair, but God forbid, she said, if that should ever happen, that woman has to come to our house and do all of the cooking and all of the cleaning and all of the shopping. She has to cut the grass, she has to do all of that. I'm like, baby, I'm never gonna have an affair. She's like, just so you know, she's getting all of the work if that ever happens. I'm like, honey, I'm scared to death of you. I would never do that to you. So in this story, in Ruth's story, the man doesn't step up. Now, Ruth 4, 7 to 8 says, Now, this was the custom in for their times, former times in Israel, concerning redeeming and exchanging. To confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other. And this was the manner of attesting in Israel. So when the Redeemer said to Boaz, Buy it for yourself, he drew off his sandal. So the kinsman redeemer surrendered his right by removing his sandal. The sandal is a symbol of taking responsibility or not. So now that you have this in mind, if the man was like, Ah, I'm gonna pass on roof, he had to take off his sandal. So the brother takes off his sandal, and it was like a handshake. Come here, let's let's shake hands right here. She's yours, bro. Now you gotta take the shoe. Okay. Don't put it on. Okay, you leave it right there. So with instant sight, let's re-watch this scene from our passage. A man's brother dies without a son to carry the family's name. The man refuses to perpetuate his brother's name through giving his sister a son, sister-in-law's son. The woman reports it to the elders. The leaders try to talk sense to the man, the man refuses, the woman takes the man's sandal from his foot, spits in his face, and then the man who refused to perpetuate his brother's name, his brother's legacy, his brother's house, shall have his house called the house of him who had his sandal pulled off, or the house of barefoot. Or put another way, here's the house of a man who would not walk in the responsibility that God gave him. Now you think about it in the ancient Near East. Can you imagine those deserts how hot they are? Can you imagine the jagged terrain that they have to walk sometimes? How many of you have ever had to go barefoot? I had to go barefoot on Memorial Day weekend. Remember, I showed you, I think it was on Father's Day, I showed you the uh foul-hooked jack that I caught. What I didn't tell you is whenever I caught that jack, I was wearing a pair of reef flip-flops. Somehow or another, I stepped back and stepped on the foot, the back part of my sandal, and then I kept going and I ripped my sandal. I was really ticked off about that because I like those pairs of sandals. What I was more ticked off about is that whenever I got the boat back to the launch, that I had to get out of the boat and get on the deck, and from the deck, I had to walk on the asphalt to get to my truck. And do you know how hot asphalt is in the Florida sun? What else ticked me off is everybody else is sitting in the boat with their sandals on. Every step this man took on his way home was uncomfortable, but it was also embarrassing. So this brother, he has his sandals taken off. So both his sandals are gone. Gosh, don't do not zoom in. Now, now this brother's walking around, and everywhere he goes, they're like, Where that brother's sandals at? And they're like, Oh, oh. His brother died, and he refused to take his brother's wife and to perpetuate the family. Every step he took was not only uncomfortable, it was a walk of shame. So that man had to walk all the way home, and then people are like, there goes barefoot. And he gets home, and everybody's like, Why you oh my god, honey, you didn't. You didn't step up? Why didn't you step up? He's like, if you met her, honey, why didn't you step up? Well, I didn't think I had what it took. Why didn't you step up? It's not my problem. The brother should have planned better. Why didn't you step up? Because now it's not just you that's known as Barefoot. We're now known as the house of Barefoot. The daughter goes to middle school the next day. She's like, Oh, there's a daughter of Barefoot right over there. Everywhere that family goes, house of barefoot. This is the house of the man who refused to step up and take responsibility. And we live in a culture full of barefooted men and women. Why didn't he step up? It's a question worth asking. Why would a man not take on his brother's wife? Well, let's be honest, some women are remarkably difficult. Or maybe he didn't have the money to take care of her, or maybe he just didn't feel up to the task. But I'll be honest with you, I've felt like barefoot at times in my life. I felt like the man who could barely keep his head above water. I'm like, how can I help anybody else? I'm just trying to keep all the fires put out in my own life. I felt like the man who says, that's not my problem. Look at them, they should have planned better. It's their fault. Why didn't he have life insurance? This obviously isn't just a man thing, it's a question for all of us. How often do we step out of the sandals of responsibility that God has called us to walk in? Sometimes it looks like avoiding the hard conversation that you know you have to have. Listen, I hate difficult conversations too. I hate looking that person in the eye and going, listen, bro, we've got to do some things differently here. Sometimes I don't step up into my role. I'll just let it keep going. Anybody ever just ignore things and you hope it's gonna go away? That tense conversation you know you've got to have with one of your children or your mother-in-law. Blink twice, again, men. The forgiveness that you know that you need to offer to someone, calling and saying I'm sorry. It looks different for all of us. Sometimes it looks like neglecting my marriage because work is easier and I'm better at that. Sometimes it looks like not leading my home spiritually because who wants to fight teenagers to do Bible study? Sometimes it's putting off repentance or refusing to forgive. Sometimes it's knowing you should serve, but waiting for someone else. Sometimes it's scrolling on your phone when your kids are asking for your attention. I put that one in there for me. In what areas of my life do I walk barefoot? Because it's easier to numb out than to step up. What is the thing God is calling me to do? That I'm walking around it looking at it, going, God, I don't know if I want to do that. And it's not just old people. Like me. I just want to say to the young people in the room, back in the Old Testament, if you were a rebellious kid, they wouldn't have whooped your butt. They'd have killed you. And I'm not joking, you go read it. It was harsh, bro. You got a kid who's being a knothead and rebellious all the time and refusing everything, they wouldn't put up with that junk. They would bring you out and they would stone you. Now we ain't doing that. Because we're Christians and you will go to jail. But I'll tell you this you're not just a kid. You're not just a kid. You're a young person who has responsibility in your life. And the sooner that you make your parents' lives easier is the sooner that you will get more freedom in your life. What you think is, now listen to dear old Uncle Tommy. What you think is, I've got to fight harder for my freedoms. No, no, no, no, no, no. Jedi mind trick. Listen to this. If you will actually do the things they want you to do before they ask you to do it, you will find they will get off your back. So step up and lean in and stop thinking that playing video games is your full-time job. There is a world out here that waits for you. Now listen, I like watching my son play Minecraft as much as anybody else or whatever the other things are. But the invitation of your life as a young person is to come into the reality that is right here and to say, Mom and Dad, I'm here to help. What can I do to make your lives easier? It's to take out the trash before you're asked. It's to clean the room before you're asked. You're like, Pastor, why are you talking about this? You have responsibility, and it ought to not be a chore for your parents to get you to do your chores. They ought to be able to be like, you know what? I can't. Here, honey, here, go to the movies. Go, go to the movies. They don't want you up their rear end all the time. They want to be able to trust you in their absence, but you have to prove you're responsible in their presence. Now I love you teenagers. You're my favorite. Don't tell the old people. I watched my mom and my dad, whenever my grandfather died 20 plus years ago, I watched my mom and my dad step up. They sold their house. It was life was pretty good. They had both of their kids out of their house. It's like you raise kids, and the moment you get your kids raised, you have to raise your parents. And that's biblical. That you honor your mom and your dad. You take care of them. Now that looks different in different families. For some, you've planned, they've planned, and there's a facility or a place that can care for them better than you ever could. I'm not saying that you have to move them in with you. I'm not prescribing. I'm not speaking. I don't know your situation. But when my grandfather died, I watched my parents sell their house. And I watched them move onto the front of six acres and live in a double white out there. And every day they're out there checking on her. And every day they're taking her to the store whenever her eyesight failed and she couldn't drive anymore. And every day dad's going out there and doing honeydew lists, not just for my mom, but for my grandmama. God bless them. And my grandmother, God bless her, she was not an easy woman. She was strong and honory and would tell you exactly what she thought. Now she was always nice to me. I think I fooled her, but everybody else, they got it. She, Mama, I love you. She put my mom through the ringer, and I watched them honor that woman to the end of her life. And I stood over that woman's casket and I performed the service. And I looked at my mom and my dad. And I knew that they knew that they had done a good job. And what you want to be is the person at the end of the day. What you want to be is the person at the end of the day that can stand and preach your father's funeral and know that you were doing it right up until the end. You want to be the man that shoulders the responsibility. You want to be the woman that leans in instead of numbs out. Because it's very convenient in this culture to give other res give the responsibilities to somebody else. But the man and the woman that God honors is the one who's not walking around barefoot. It's the one who puts on the sandals of responsibility and knows it's hard and does the hard thing anyhow. The church built a seeker-sensitive movement that it is paying the tab for today, many churches across America. They made church so convenient, so easy. They made it a spectator sport, but that's not the body of Christ. That's not who we are. That's not one church with one vision to reach just one more. In this family, we all roll up our sleeves, we all do the dishes, we all take turns in nursery, in parking, we all are greeters, we're all on the prayer team, we're all saying, Pastor, how can I help? In the kingdom of God, there are no consumers, there are only contributors. Nobody gets to walk around with bare feet in the kingdom of God. Because when you set aside your responsibility, somebody else has to pick it up. So you may say, I don't know the Bible enough. Who cares? I don't know how to pray pretty prayers. Who cares? You have a gifting and a calling in the body of Christ. And this church is full of people who do hard things. I'm looking at you. I'm looking at you. I know your stories. And I honor you. And I want the new people that are coming in to join us to know we're a church that rolls up our sleeves and shoulders the responsibility that God gives us. We're not always gonna get it right. I want to say, in case you haven't noticed, I'm not always gonna get it right. I know. Shocking. I'm going to I'm gonna make some decisions that you're not gonna like. I know. I know. Imagine. Pastor Phil, are you here, sir? Pastor Phil, can I just use a question from everybody? We didn't talk about this before. But Pastor Phil, did you ever make an unpopular decision? What I heard him say was never in my entire 40 years of ministry. But I read his lips and it said on a regular basis. You know, there are gonna be times, and one of the things I've always loved about Pastor Phil is he's the brother's honest. Sometimes I'm like, Pastor Phil, you didn't have to confess that to everybody. Like, Jesus would have been fine. Pastor Phil's like, nope, here's what happened. God almighty. Pastor Phil's like, see these bare feet right here? But you know what that does? That lets his team come around him and go, bro, I got you. I got you. You're not walking barefooted. I got you. Let me lay some up for you, Pastor. I got you, Pastor. You see, I've had a lot of seasons in my life where I had to walk barefooted. And I found out who my friends were when I was walking around barefooted. Because some people love to point out there goes barefoot. But other people are like, hey, bro, I got you. Hang on for just a second. Let me cover that. Let's get you cleaned up and healed up. In fact, you know what happened in the Garden of Eden whenever Adam and Eve sinned? Bro, they weren't just barefooted. They were bare butt naked. And they were hiding from their father. And the father says, Hey, where y'all at? I mean, he knew where they were, but he wanted them to know where they were. And he finds them, and they're they're just naked and ashamed. And you know what the father does? He sows figs leave for fig leaves for them. He starts covering them up because he doesn't want them to walk around barefooted. At the Last Supper, Jesus says, You want to know what a real leader's like? He takes off his outer garment. He pours some water. He says, Let me see your feet. He takes those dusty Middle Eastern feet that have been walking around in deserts. I mean, you imagine the pedicure these brothers needed. He just takes their feet. Then he takes a towel and he just washes them. He's like, Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is the way it is in the kingdom of God. We don't let anybody walk around with dirty feet. We're gonna wash away the stains. Put your sandals back on now. Anyone who says that they're not walking around barefooted at some places in their life is lying. Because the Bible says, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So we can be the type of church that when somebody is walking around barefooted, we're like, there goes barefoot, that's the house of barefoot. You know what she did, you know what he did, you know how they did that, their kid did this. What type of a dad can he possibly be if the kid did that? Yada, yada, yada, yada. And we can spit in their face like the woman was spitting that man's face. Or we can say, hey man, I've been barefooted too. Let me help you. I want to invite Nathan and Brittany to come up here for a few minutes this morning. And I want to say to you, friends, we're all barefooted in some ways. We all have missed the mark. If you're a teenager in this room, you may not have lived long enough to miss a lot of marks, but you have and you will. And you may feel like, God, I have blown it so bad. I have not stepped up when I should have stepped up. And there are some things I can't go back and undo. God, I wasn't the dad I should have been. God, I wasn't the mom I should have been. God, I didn't lead my family spiritually, and now they're grown up. God, I should, I know I should have done this, I should have done that. And you at some point in time have got to let the shoulda, woulda, coulda away. And do what Ephesians says. Listen to this. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. You followed the course of the world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that's now in the work in the sons of disobedience. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead to rights, made us alive with Christ. By grace you've been saved. And this isn't something you've done on your own. It's the gift of God, not the result of your work. So nobody better be boasting. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. If you hold your eyes just right, the good works that God has prepared for you, the responsibilities that God has given you, the responsibilities God has given you in this church, in your home, in your work, as a parent, as a student, in the classroom, the good works that God has prepared in advance for you to walk in, those are the sandals He wants to put on your feet. He wants you well sandal, stepping up, not stepping out. He wants you to lean in, not numb out. So I want to ask this morning. I want to ask who in the room? Who in the room have some sandals that are lying by the roadside? Where did you leave your sandals? There's some in the room that you left the sandals of responsibility in your marriage. Some in the room left the sandals of responsibility of being a spiritual leader in your home. Some left the sandals of responsibility of serving in your church. Some left the sandals of responsibility of holiness in your mind, and you know that you're doing things that are unsandling your feet. I know I've done things that have unsandled my feet. Patterns and behaviors, but what I want to say to you this morning is no person has to walk out of here barefoot. So as you bow your head and close your eyes, the question is simple. Where did you leave your sandals? What area of your life are you asking God to be like, God, could you help me with that? Is it your marriage? Is it as a parent? Is it in your work? Is it in your pursuit of Him? Are you neglecting being in prayer? Neglecting reading scripture, neglecting leading your family spiritually? Maybe today your sandal, putting it back on, could look like joining a small group or serving in ministry or inviting your neighbor or paying greater attention to your wife or husband or honoring your parents or showing up. You don't have to walk out of fear barefoot.

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