WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:03.680 We are in the middle of a series right now called Jesus Is. 00:00:04.480 --> 00:00:05.280 Jesus Is. 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:07.519 We've been going through the entire book of Matthew. 00:00:07.599 --> 00:00:09.119 We started this back in February. 00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:10.560 It's totally okay if you're new though. 00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:13.119 Everything sort of stands on its own each week. 00:00:13.279 --> 00:00:17.839 But we've been going through this book in the book of Matthew ever since February, and the goal has been really simple. 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:19.760 We want to learn as much as we can about Jesus. 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:21.440 We want to know him better. 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:26.239 God is not a subject to be studied, he is a person to be known. 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:36.240 But the more we study his word, the more we analyze and dig into what Jesus said and who he is, the more clearly we understand Jesus, the closer we become to God. 00:00:36.719 --> 00:00:44.880 And so we've just been going bit by bit through the book of Matthew, which, if you're not familiar, is one of the four main gospels that chronicles the life of Jesus, the teachings of Jesus. 00:00:45.039 --> 00:00:47.280 And we've broken it into a bunch of smaller series. 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:49.439 We've been following Jesus along everywhere he's gone. 00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:51.759 And right now we're right in the middle of the book of Matthew. 00:00:51.840 --> 00:00:53.359 We're in Matthew chapter 15. 00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:57.439 And this is two years into the three-year ministry of Jesus. 00:00:57.679 --> 00:01:03.439 It was three years from the time he got baptized and went public till when he was crucified and then resurrected. 00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:06.480 We're about two-thirds of the way through that journey. 00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:11.439 And in the middle of Matthew, we see a variety of stories that showcase some amazing things about Jesus. 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:14.480 We see his divine power on display. 00:01:14.879 --> 00:01:20.640 But in these stories, we also get to see the humanity of Jesus, the personality of Jesus really comes through. 00:01:20.799 --> 00:01:26.000 We get to see what Jesus cares about, what he values, and it helps us understand him as a person. 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:28.159 And he is a person to be known. 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:31.200 We can know Jesus because Jesus is alive. 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:36.239 And so as we've we've looked at these stories, we've reflected on different aspects of his personality. 00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:39.599 We started a few weeks ago and we said that Jesus is interruptible. 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:44.719 Even when he was doing something incredibly important, he was always available to people who were in need. 00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:47.519 And that reminds us that our God is interruptible. 00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:50.000 We can go to him with anything, anytime. 00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:53.599 Doesn't matter how small it is in our minds, he cares. 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:54.959 And we want to be like that. 00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:57.200 We want to be interruptible as well. 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:00.000 And then we looked at how Jesus is resourceful. 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:05.680 He encountered situations where everyone around him said, there is no solution, there is nothing we can do, let's just pack our bags and go home. 00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:06.959 And Jesus said, No, no, no. 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:07.519 What do we have? 00:02:07.599 --> 00:02:08.479 What do we have to work with? 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:09.759 Let's figure out what we can do. 00:02:09.919 --> 00:02:12.719 Jesus doesn't see problems, he sees possibilities. 00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:14.159 We want to be like that. 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:21.039 And by the way, that means that anytime we have a problem in our life, even if it's major and massive and we can't see a way forward, Jesus does. 00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:23.280 And we can take those things to him. 00:02:24.159 --> 00:02:26.719 Last week we looked at the fact that Jesus is surprising. 00:02:26.879 --> 00:02:30.400 Every time you think you've got him figured out, he does something that sort of breaks the mold. 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:33.360 And so we want to make sure that we we always stay open. 00:02:33.599 --> 00:02:42.000 Even if you've been following Jesus for decades, you never want to get to the point where you think you have him completely figured out because he's always doing something that catches you off guard. 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:50.800 Even his disciples who followed him day by day for three years, every single day, constantly, they were thrown off by the things that Jesus said and did. 00:02:50.879 --> 00:02:52.319 He caught them by surprise. 00:02:52.479 --> 00:02:55.599 And we should have a heart that says, Lord, surprise me. 00:02:55.840 --> 00:02:58.960 I'm open to whatever you have, even if it's not what I expect. 00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:04.879 Today we're going to look at the very first and maybe the only in this series, Jesus is not. 00:03:05.520 --> 00:03:06.400 Jesus is not. 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:10.319 Because sometimes to understand who someone is, we have to understand who they are or not. 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:12.960 And I'll just go ahead and tell you what it is today, and then we'll dive in. 00:03:13.039 --> 00:03:16.879 It's that Jesus is not religious. 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:21.199 Now, depending on your background, you might hear this and be like, I agree. 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:22.800 Some of you might hear this and be like, what are we? 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:25.759 I think you'll see where I'm getting at really, really quickly. 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:28.000 We're going to let Jesus sort of explain this himself. 00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:30.240 So Matthew chapter 15. 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:37.280 Some of the Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:41.599 They asked him, Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? 00:03:41.759 --> 00:03:46.639 For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat. 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:52.159 Jesus replied, And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? 00:03:52.400 --> 00:03:59.520 For instance, God says, honor your father and mother, and anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death. 00:03:59.599 --> 00:04:04.400 But you say, and most of us are like, Whoo, I'm glad that's not a law now, that's a relief. 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:10.960 But you say it's all right for people to say to their parents, sorry, I can't help you, for I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you. 00:04:11.039 --> 00:04:13.520 In this way, you say they don't need to honor their parents. 00:04:13.599 --> 00:04:17.279 So you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition, you hypocrites. 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:23.279 Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 00:04:23.439 --> 00:04:29.199 Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God. 00:04:30.319 --> 00:04:33.600 And we can actually reference that specific quote in Isaiah. 00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:35.040 It's Isaiah 29, 13. 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:36.639 We'll look at a slightly different translation. 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:41.439 The Lord says, These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:46.000 Their worship of me is based on merely human rules, they have been taught. 00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:51.839 So when we say that Jesus is not religious, right off the bat, we want to establish what we mean by religion. 00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:55.279 We're not talking about deep reverence for God. 00:04:56.480 --> 00:04:59.360 We're not talking about worship of God. 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:04.000 We're not talking about having a passion for God's word, for his scripture. 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:08.079 We're not talking about devotion to God, humility before God. 00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:16.240 We're talking about religion in the sense that Jesus is speaking about here, when man-made ideas rise to the level of God. 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:24.399 And when people live just as devoted to the ideas and traditions of people as they are to God Himself. 00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:26.079 That happens all the time. 00:05:26.480 --> 00:05:27.439 It happens all the time. 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:30.079 When we first started as a church, we had a banner on the front of our building. 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:32.480 I don't know how many people are here from like 2005. 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:33.759 There weren't that many of us. 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:36.720 The building was big, the church was small in those days. 00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:42.720 But we had a banner on the front of our building, and it said, Jesus, not religion, and it made a bunch of people mad. 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:49.439 And the truth is, the more religious you tend to be, the easier it is for you to be offended. 00:05:49.519 --> 00:05:50.639 So that was to be expected. 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:55.040 And I wasn't in charge back then, so I'm not the one that put up the banner, but I was here to see some of the aftermath. 00:05:55.199 --> 00:05:56.319 It ruffled feathers. 00:05:56.399 --> 00:05:59.199 And Steve, if you guys knew Steve, who started our church, he kind of liked that. 00:05:59.279 --> 00:06:00.879 Steve's wired to ruffle feathers. 00:06:00.959 --> 00:06:05.199 He used to say, you know, if we're not offending super religious people, we're just not very much like Jesus. 00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:06.319 He would say things like that. 00:06:06.399 --> 00:06:08.319 And you're like, yeah, okay. 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:13.759 And so we put this banner up, and it the banner wasn't put up to make people mad. 00:06:13.839 --> 00:06:14.639 That wasn't the intention. 00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:22.319 It was just put up to say, hey, you may have grown up in this hyper-religious environment where everything was performance-based. 00:06:22.560 --> 00:06:27.360 And everything was about this list of rules and whether or not you had followed them and how well you had followed them. 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:31.199 And you think that that's what makes you close to God, or that's what makes you far from God. 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:33.680 But Jesus came along and he kind of broke that. 00:06:34.319 --> 00:06:40.319 And some of the people that were the closest to Jesus were some of the people that would have been the furthest away from God according to the religion of the day. 00:06:40.399 --> 00:06:45.759 And many of those were the furthest from God, the furthest from Jesus, were the ones that would have been considered the most religious. 00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:47.040 They followed the rules the best. 00:06:47.199 --> 00:06:50.480 Jesus came along and he kind of changed the categories. 00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:54.480 And that banner was meant to let people know hey, this is about Jesus. 00:06:54.639 --> 00:06:57.040 This is not about a denomination. 00:06:57.360 --> 00:07:02.879 It's not about a religion, because Jesus at his core is not religious. 00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:07.279 No one fought harder against Jesus than the religious leaders of his day. 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:12.319 And Jesus, he reserved his most harsh criticisms for the religious leaders. 00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:19.839 So again, we're not talking about devotion to God, honoring God, humility before the Lord, deep desire to please the Lord, to do what he says. 00:07:20.079 --> 00:07:23.360 We're not talking about a love for God's word and scripture and being flippant with that. 00:07:23.439 --> 00:07:28.399 We're talking about when man-made ideas and rules start to be conflated with God Himself. 00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:30.319 And we can't see the forest for the trees. 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:42.879 Now it's funny, we had some things that we did back then to guard against religion, but one of the things I want us to know on the front end of this message is that it's super important for us to understand this because religion is sneaky. 00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:46.160 Jesus actually once described religion as yeast. 00:07:46.319 --> 00:07:49.439 It's like yeast and bread, and it'll spread, it'll go everywhere, you can't contain it. 00:07:49.519 --> 00:08:00.720 So we actually have to be really on guard against this kind of religion if we want to stay close to Jesus, if we want to keep moving closer to Jesus, because religion is all about distance and religion is sneaky. 00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:01.600 Let me give you an example. 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:04.560 We were hyper-committed to being non-religious as a church. 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:08.800 We're not going to be a church that's about this list of rules, and you got to do things this way or that way. 00:08:08.879 --> 00:08:13.279 We're going to be sort of more like Jesus, more relaxed and open to all kinds of people coming in. 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:14.959 And we have all types of people here. 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:21.120 And so one of the things that we did as a staff was we tried really hard not to speak in what we called Christianese. 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:24.560 We wanted to use normal language, normal words. 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:29.600 And to make it kind of fun, we actually had this stat, this like sculpture of a hand. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:30.959 Our church is called his hand. 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:33.679 Someone made a sculpture of a hand, they put it in the office, it was cool looking. 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:34.879 But the hand was like this. 00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:41.919 And we had this idea that if someone ever used a word that was like a Christianese word, you had to put a dollar in the hand. 00:08:42.159 --> 00:08:43.200 And at first it was funny. 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:44.559 It was like, yeah, okay, haha. 00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:49.759 So I remember one time I said, I think I said sanctuary, you know, and they were like, oh, that's a dollar. 00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:52.480 Because we don't call this the sanctuary, we call it the big room. 00:08:52.559 --> 00:08:54.559 And so I put a dollar in it, and it was fine. 00:08:54.639 --> 00:09:04.399 But then after a while, we started to realize, you know, in our desire to be non-religious, we have instituted a fine system for saying the wrong words. 00:09:04.960 --> 00:09:10.080 So we are we are we've now become religious about being non-religious. 00:09:10.320 --> 00:09:13.200 And honestly, we had this moment, like, what are we doing? 00:09:13.360 --> 00:09:22.000 And it snuck up on us, like legitimately, we were penalizing people for saying things the wrong way, and that sounds like religion. 00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:26.080 So even in our quest to be non-religious, we became religious about that. 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:27.679 We had to do away with all of that. 00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:29.919 Religion is sneaky. 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:36.799 We we have such a comfort with it, and I've seen it play out in so many ways. 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:38.399 I've been here for almost 20 years. 00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:45.440 I remember one time we had this painting of Jesus that we had on a wall in our coffee shop out there, and it was on the same spot for years. 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:46.960 And then one day we moved it. 00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:52.799 We just reorganized some things and we changed where the paintings were, we moved it to a different part of the building, and man, I mean, I heard about that. 00:09:52.960 --> 00:09:55.039 Like people came up and were like, Are you ashamed of Jesus? 00:09:55.200 --> 00:09:56.080 Like, seriously. 00:09:56.240 --> 00:09:57.440 I was like, no, why? 00:09:57.600 --> 00:09:58.720 Well, you you move that painting. 00:09:58.799 --> 00:09:59.840 You don't want people seeing that painting. 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:01.679 Like, we just we just moved the painting. 00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:03.440 That isn't Jesus. 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:06.879 The statue out front isn't Jesus. 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:12.720 If you walked out today and it was in a different place, it would be fine. 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:14.080 It's where it is, though. 00:10:14.320 --> 00:10:15.679 I don't even know how we would take it out. 00:10:15.840 --> 00:10:21.679 Um, but I'm just saying religion is sneaky and we have to be on guard against it. 00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:25.679 So, in order to do that, what I want us to do is explore what religion really is. 00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:29.440 This kind of religion that Jesus gets so frustrated with. 00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:32.720 Because if we're gonna guard against it in our lives, we have to understand it. 00:10:32.879 --> 00:10:38.799 And if we can learn to guard against it, man, I'm telling you, it allows us to be closer to Jesus than we could we could be otherwise. 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:40.480 So let's explore some of this. 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:45.759 Uh, number one, religion makes what is periphery primary. 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:48.399 Religion takes the periphery stuff and it makes it primary. 00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:49.840 I'll give you an example from my life. 00:10:49.919 --> 00:10:54.000 Um, I have four kids and they love their grandparents. 00:10:54.159 --> 00:10:54.879 Like they love them. 00:10:54.960 --> 00:11:05.120 And kids are sort of wired to love their grandparents, and parents are sort of wired to love the grandparents, but also kind of be frustrated with the grandparents because the grandparents are constantly undermining what the parents are trying to do. 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:13.679 It's like as grandparents, you raise your children when you were their parents, and you had them follow a certain like strict code, and then all of a sudden you become grandparents, you throw all that out the window. 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:18.879 Your children trying to raise their kids the way that you raise them, but then you are undercutting them at every turn. 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:20.480 It's difficult, okay? 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:21.440 It's difficult. 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:27.440 Like one time we were at my my my in-law's house, and by the way, my mom did this kind of stuff too. 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:31.679 It's just all grandparents, and I walk out, and my oldest son was like three at the time. 00:11:31.840 --> 00:11:32.720 It was early morning. 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:48.000 We had spent the night there, a little vacation, and uh he was sitting in his underwear, playing a video game, and my my mother-in-law was cutting up waffles, and then he was just opening his mouth, and she was putting the waffle in his mouth. 00:11:48.159 --> 00:11:50.000 And I was like, What are you doing? 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:51.039 What are you doing? 00:11:51.200 --> 00:11:59.039 Like, and when it like so when it comes to grandparents, it's just sugar and candy, and sometimes I'm like, Are you their grandparent or their dealer? 00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:02.080 I don't know what this relationship is, you know. 00:12:03.840 --> 00:12:04.960 And so both. 00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:06.399 It's true, they're both. 00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:08.559 And so I actually have one of these with me. 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:14.240 Um, Megan's mom is notorious for having these little, little blue dove chocolates at her house. 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:22.639 There's this dish, and it's in their living room, and this dish, my my children's entire lives is just magically full of blue dove chocolates. 00:12:23.039 --> 00:12:29.360 Every time they go over there, they they literally walk through the door, hey, and they go right to the dish and they grab a few chocolates. 00:12:30.320 --> 00:12:34.480 A couple months back, they showed up and there were no chocolates for the first time in their lives. 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:37.919 And it was like they couldn't compute what was going on. 00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:44.559 And there was frustration, and and like one of my kids was pretty deeply frustrated, like, there's no chocolates, why are we here? 00:12:44.799 --> 00:12:46.480 You know, what's the point? 00:12:47.679 --> 00:12:54.799 And we had to let them know, hey guys, I'm sorry that there are no chocolates today, but just so you know, when we come to visit Papa and Layla, it's not for the chocolate. 00:12:55.120 --> 00:12:56.720 It's it's to be together as a family. 00:12:56.799 --> 00:13:02.720 The chocolate's fun, it's great and all, but that is periphery, that is extra, it's not the most important thing. 00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:05.600 And they didn't really agree with that at first, but they came around to it. 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:06.000 Okay? 00:13:06.159 --> 00:13:08.399 And then she quickly rectified the chocolate situation. 00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:11.440 I think she sent Lewis to publics like immediately. 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:12.960 She's like, go get them chocolates. 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:15.519 But it's easy for us in life to be like that. 00:13:15.600 --> 00:13:19.360 It's very easy for us to take something that's that's nice but ancillary. 00:13:19.440 --> 00:13:28.240 It's something that's meant to be extra, but it's not primary, it's not the most important thing, and it's easy for us to elevate those things and get confused with how important they really are. 00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:30.000 You see that with the Pharisees here. 00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:31.360 Think about this. 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:33.519 The Pharisees have an audience with Jesus. 00:13:33.679 --> 00:13:37.039 Imagine being able to sit down at a table with Jesus and ask him a question. 00:13:37.360 --> 00:13:39.120 You get one question with Jesus. 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:46.960 I know this is actually what my wife is teaching our elementary school kids today, that's kind of the angle that they're taking, is you get one question with Jesus. 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:49.279 I've been thinking about that all day long. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:52.480 And they ask him about washing hands. 00:13:53.360 --> 00:13:54.720 Like, honestly. 00:13:55.039 --> 00:13:57.919 Now we we know that Jesus is the Son of God. 00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:04.720 We know what the Pharisees didn't quite know at this time that he's gonna die, he's gonna raise to life, he's gonna prove beyond the shadow of a doubt who he is. 00:14:04.879 --> 00:14:07.759 They don't know that yet, but they do know that Jesus performs miracles. 00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:10.720 Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a high-ranking Pharisee. 00:14:10.799 --> 00:14:15.440 He said in John chapter 3 to Jesus, We know you've come from God because we see what you're doing. 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:18.000 It would be impossible to do what you're doing if God weren't with you. 00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:23.600 They know he's a miracle worker, they know he's the most popular, uh, charismatic teacher in their history. 00:14:23.759 --> 00:14:26.559 People are coming by the thousands to hear him speak. 00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:28.320 And they have an audience with Jesus. 00:14:28.399 --> 00:14:33.279 They sit down with Jesus and they have a question and they ask him about washing hands. 00:14:34.559 --> 00:14:35.919 That's their question. 00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:48.320 Religion, when you're fixated on it, you can't see the forest for the trees, and what is periphery becomes primary. 00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:54.399 And it's one of the reasons that the Pharisees, by and large, missed out on Jesus. 00:14:54.559 --> 00:14:55.279 But there's more. 00:14:56.240 --> 00:14:59.600 Religion confuses convictions for commands. 00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:03.120 It confuses convictions for commands. 00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:09.519 We've got these four words that we kind of use to help us out in just discerning different issues in the world as a church. 00:15:09.600 --> 00:15:13.919 Like one of the issues we have as a church is we're a church in this modern culture, modern American culture. 00:15:14.080 --> 00:15:20.159 We read scriptures that were written to a Greek culture 2,000 years ago, and how do we make sense of the world that we're in? 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:21.279 How do we use our scriptures? 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:22.240 It's tough sometimes. 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:28.960 And so we have these four words, and it's absolutes, interpretations, convictions, and preferences. 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:31.120 There are things that God is clear about. 00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:34.960 He is absolute, there's no wiggle room, he makes it super clear in his word. 00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:39.840 It is both Old Testament, New Testament, every single time he talks about it, he's clear. 00:15:39.919 --> 00:15:56.159 And we do live in a time when there are a lot of people, a lot of nominally Christian people, and I'm not saying they don't have some level of faith, but there's a lot of effort to take things that God has said clearly, concisely, things that are absolute, and try to make them less absolute. 00:15:56.879 --> 00:16:04.320 Try to sort of do mental gymnastics and say, well, well, even though Scripture says this every single time we read it, it doesn't necessarily mean this and all that. 00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:09.200 And if you ever hear someone teaching on that, don't look, when God makes it clear, it's clear. 00:16:09.919 --> 00:16:16.639 Don't let anyone try to confuse you and tell you that something that is really simple is actually way more complicated. 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:19.679 So when it's an absolute, it's an absolute. 00:16:19.919 --> 00:16:23.679 When God says it, we've got to follow that, even if it's not convenient. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:25.759 And we've seen a lot of that in the last few years. 00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:35.840 We've had conversations here at His Hands about issues like sexuality in our world today and how the world defines sexuality, how scripture defines healthy sexuality, and what happens when there's a collision between those two. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:38.080 When God is clear, we have to go with God. 00:16:38.799 --> 00:16:43.440 And that's not easy, it's not simple, and we have to do it lovingly. 00:16:44.240 --> 00:16:47.679 But when God makes something absolute, we have to take that seriously. 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:50.159 So when it comes to the absolutes, we we go with those. 00:16:50.399 --> 00:16:51.759 Then you have interpretations. 00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:54.960 These are things that scripture is a little bit less clear on. 00:16:55.200 --> 00:17:00.720 You can find certain verses that might give you one idea, but then you can find other verses that might give you a slightly different idea. 00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:04.799 One that's come up here at his hands over the years has been the role that women have in the church. 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:06.160 And can a woman teach? 00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:11.359 So my wife has taught on this stage, as well as a few other women who have taught on this stage on a Sunday morning. 00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:13.039 In some church cultures, that is absolutely wrong. 00:17:13.200 --> 00:17:13.759 You can't do that. 00:17:13.839 --> 00:17:15.119 And they get that from scripture. 00:17:15.200 --> 00:17:21.200 There's places in the New Testament where Paul wrote that the way he does things, he said, I don't allow a woman to teach men. 00:17:21.440 --> 00:17:29.200 And so you can look at that one scripture and you'd be like, well, clearly, ladies, keep it quiet and just be here, all right, and keep your husbands in line. 00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:30.160 Like that's your role, okay? 00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:31.200 That's one way to look at it. 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:34.240 And you do, we do need you to do that to a certain degree, like keep your husbands in line. 00:17:34.319 --> 00:17:35.279 All that is true. 00:17:35.440 --> 00:17:38.240 Um I mean, I need that. 00:17:38.559 --> 00:17:39.680 But then there's other scriptures. 00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:43.920 You have in the Old Testament, Deborah was the leader of the entire nation of Israel. 00:17:44.319 --> 00:17:48.079 Of the entire nation, she was the leader, and that, and God was with her. 00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:51.920 That wasn't a it wasn't like she was an evil leader or anything like that at all. 00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:54.720 In fact, God used her in a really powerful way to win this major battle. 00:17:54.799 --> 00:17:56.559 So Deborah led the nation of Israel. 00:17:56.720 --> 00:18:08.160 You have women in the New Testament, even that worked with Paul, Phoebe, and Priscilla, who have prominent roles in the church and had leadership in the church, but by what we can gather, you even have, this is one of my favorites, Jesus. 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:13.039 The very first person he ever entrusted the message of him being risen to was a woman. 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:17.200 The first person to ever walk into a room and say, Jesus is risen was a woman. 00:18:17.359 --> 00:18:18.559 That's a pretty important message. 00:18:18.720 --> 00:18:21.279 The first time that was ever declared, he entrusted that to a woman. 00:18:21.359 --> 00:18:25.440 So point is it's a little bit more complicated, and now it becomes an interpretation. 00:18:25.680 --> 00:18:28.559 It's not quite an absolute, it's an interpretation. 00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:31.279 Now we have to do our best to interpret it the right way. 00:18:31.599 --> 00:18:37.680 And so we we do our best to be wise, we take it serious, we have interpretations. 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:45.279 And when we have a strong interpretation, we should go with that, but we should also allow room for other people to have different interpretations if it's something like that. 00:18:45.599 --> 00:18:46.960 But then we get to convictions. 00:18:47.119 --> 00:18:56.880 Convictions are these like deeply held personal beliefs that come from, very often they come from what we think are the absolutes and the interpretations, but it's it's a personal, strong belief. 00:18:57.039 --> 00:19:00.960 For example, in my life, none of my children have phones. 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:02.400 They don't have phones. 00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:06.559 Uh my oldest is 14, he does have an Apple Watch, so he can't call us. 00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:13.599 Uh, and and there's some basic things they can do, but he doesn't have social media, doesn't have, he doesn't have access to all the things that a full smartphone will give. 00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:16.160 Now, that's a conviction that we have. 00:19:16.319 --> 00:19:17.359 And my kids hate it. 00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:18.720 They hate it so much. 00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:21.200 Uh they don't they don't go, wow dad, that's really wise. 00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:28.960 We see the downsides of having cell phones, and even though all of our friends do, we're just glad that you want us to stand out amongst the crowd. 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:31.119 That is not the way the conversation goes. 00:19:31.519 --> 00:19:36.079 No, in fact, anytime my kids come and go, we're the only ones, I'm like, that's awesome. 00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:39.039 I hope that you're the only ones that do lots of things in life. 00:19:39.119 --> 00:19:40.480 So it just doesn't work on me. 00:19:40.559 --> 00:19:41.839 It's a conviction. 00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:59.039 But if I were to take that personal conviction and elevate it to a level beyond what it is, and try to make everyone else do that, and convince you that if you don't do it this way, you are not honoring God, that would be wrong. 00:19:59.599 --> 00:20:00.880 Convictions have their place. 00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:02.960 You're supposed to live by your convictions. 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:05.599 And religion is really good at conviction. 00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:07.119 Like it's super good at it. 00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:09.440 But it often elevates convictions to a level that they're not. 00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:10.880 Preferences, by the way, that doesn't matter. 00:20:10.960 --> 00:20:12.720 That's like the get over it, deal with it. 00:20:14.319 --> 00:20:21.119 But in religion, this sort of religion that Jesus is addressing here, convictions rise to the level of absolutes. 00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:27.039 So, for example, the issue they have with Jesus in this in this specific story is hand washing rituals. 00:20:27.200 --> 00:20:46.960 There are some scriptures in the Old Testament that talked about washing hands, specifically when you would deal with dead bodies and dead animals, or when you were about to go into the temple as a priest, you had sort of a ceremonial thing, but there was a 400-year gap from the last prophet of the Old Testament to Jesus, where God was not speaking through prophets. 00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:49.519 There was no new information. 00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:55.599 And so, what filled in that time were these traditions that became more and more popular. 00:20:55.759 --> 00:21:02.160 The scribes and the Pharisees were sort of adding to what Scripture said with all kinds of extra stuff. 00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:07.200 And the idea was if we do all this extra stuff, we'll never even get close to breaking the laws that we have in Scripture. 00:21:07.359 --> 00:21:12.559 So let me read for you a description of what it was like to wash your hands in the culture that Jesus was part of. 00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:13.440 This is what they're talking about. 00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:21.920 When they would walk into a home, when you were about to eat a meal, it says the water was first poured on both hands, held with the fingers pointed upward, and must run up the arm as far as the wrist. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:26.960 It must drop off from the wrist, for the water was now itself unclean, having touched the unclean hands. 00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:30.160 And if it ran down the fingers again, it would again render them unclean. 00:21:30.319 --> 00:21:38.000 The process was repeated, with the hands held in the opposite direction, with the fingers pointed down, and then finally each hand was cleansed by being rubbed with the fist of the other. 00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:43.119 A very strict Jew would do all of this, not only before a meal, but also between each of the courses. 00:21:43.279 --> 00:21:45.279 This is what it was like to eat dinner with the Pharisees. 00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:46.880 A lot of hand washing. 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:52.480 And these traditions were traditions that had arisen over the course of centuries. 00:21:52.799 --> 00:21:59.200 They were designed to make sure that people couldn't even get close to breaking the laws that God had in the Old Testament. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:02.079 And Jesus just didn't have a lot of value for it. 00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:04.799 So he walks in and he doesn't do that. 00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:11.119 It's not the first time that Jesus has done something like this where he's broken a tradition that they have. 00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:15.359 Because Jesus understood the difference between a command of God and a conviction. 00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:19.279 And he didn't feel the need to live by everyone else's convictions. 00:22:20.240 --> 00:22:24.160 And he was okay with freedom, which religion doesn't pretend to like. 00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:31.839 Religion confuses convictions for commands, and when you elevate something like that, it gets messy really fast. 00:22:33.920 --> 00:22:37.599 On that note, religion turns blessings into burdens. 00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:40.400 God is a lot of fun. 00:22:40.880 --> 00:22:42.319 God is amazing. 00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:44.319 He's incredible. 00:22:45.039 --> 00:22:47.519 And he blesses people left and right. 00:22:47.680 --> 00:22:50.799 You look at something like the Sabbath, God invented weekends. 00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:52.880 I think it's just important to recognize that. 00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:59.039 The first moment in history where someone said, hey, take a day off, rest, relax, that was God. 00:22:59.680 --> 00:23:01.359 That is not our nature. 00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:05.200 It was not us that were like, you know, we we could really use some time off. 00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:07.759 We need to recover, we need to recoup. 00:23:07.839 --> 00:23:09.440 We work ourselves to death. 00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:12.559 We often don't know how to stop, but God said, rest. 00:23:13.839 --> 00:23:22.000 In fact, in in Jewish culture, really interestingly, the day begins with not the sun coming up, but the sun setting in the culture of Jesus. 00:23:22.079 --> 00:23:24.880 So the day began with rest, not with work. 00:23:25.599 --> 00:23:27.279 We work, then we rest. 00:23:27.680 --> 00:23:32.799 The way that God had ordered things in their culture was first you rest, then you work. 00:23:33.519 --> 00:23:34.480 God values rest. 00:23:34.559 --> 00:23:35.359 He invented weekends. 00:23:35.440 --> 00:23:37.440 So they had this day, and it was a day off. 00:23:38.319 --> 00:23:44.880 And it was meant to be enjoyed, to honor God, to worship God, but to be enjoyed, and God told them, don't work on this day. 00:23:44.960 --> 00:23:49.920 But the Pharisees, and we talked about this a few weeks ago, they spent a lot of time trying to figure out, well, what does work mean? 00:23:50.079 --> 00:23:54.640 Like we don't want to accidentally work and then make God mad at us and all this kind of stuff. 00:23:54.720 --> 00:24:00.400 So they created all of these laws around what constituted work, and it was ridiculous, silly stuff. 00:24:00.720 --> 00:24:04.160 To the point where it's an example that I've used many times, but it just tracks. 00:24:04.319 --> 00:24:13.599 If you had an apple tree in your backyard and it was the Sabbath, and you were like, man, I'm in the mood for an apple, if you were to go out into your backyard and pick it off a tree and eat it, you broke the Sabbath. 00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:15.440 You worked, you harvested. 00:24:15.519 --> 00:24:18.240 And I'm not being silly, like that was one of their laws. 00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:19.920 You couldn't do something like that. 00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:24.480 And it took this day that was meant to be a blessing, and it made it a burden. 00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:27.279 It made it something that was heavy. 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:33.039 And instead of being excited that it was the Sabbath, you're like walking on eggshells, like, I hope I don't mess up. 00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:34.640 I hope I don't do that. 00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:37.359 Jesus chastised the Pharisees for this. 00:24:37.599 --> 00:24:44.720 Matthew chapter 23, he says, they crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden. 00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:47.519 You compare that to what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 11. 00:24:47.599 --> 00:24:54.079 He says, Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 00:24:55.440 --> 00:24:58.960 Religion turns blessings into burdens. 00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:01.599 Everything's it's heavy. 00:25:02.079 --> 00:25:06.880 And, you know, every once in a while, guys, we might be here on a Sunday and maybe we've got to talk about something heavy and hard. 00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:11.359 But nine times out of ten, we should leave here lighter than when we walked in. 00:25:11.680 --> 00:25:15.279 We should leave here, and it should be like spending time with the Lord has lifted a burden. 00:25:15.440 --> 00:25:18.480 We have more hope and more joy than we had when we came. 00:25:18.799 --> 00:25:20.319 But religion will never give you that. 00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:22.640 Jesus does, but not religion. 00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:25.519 Religion tries to control God. 00:25:25.680 --> 00:25:27.440 That's our next observation. 00:25:27.680 --> 00:25:30.400 Religion tries really hard to control God. 00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:33.359 Control and fear are always closely related. 00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:36.000 If someone is controlling, they're afraid. 00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:39.359 We try to control what we're most afraid of very often. 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:47.839 And religion makes you very afraid of God because God is always like looking for you to mess up and make a mistake, and you step out of line and boom, right? 00:25:47.920 --> 00:25:48.960 You're gonna get smited. 00:25:49.039 --> 00:25:51.039 A lot of smiting happening in religion. 00:25:51.200 --> 00:25:57.440 And so, because of that fear, you try really hard to mitigate that, and it ends up being this controlling mess. 00:25:57.599 --> 00:26:00.400 And it can make us really silly and really superstitious. 00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:03.440 So I'll give you an example. 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:08.079 Um, a few years ago, I was I was talking on stage, and this is gonna shock you. 00:26:08.160 --> 00:26:09.119 I was talking about basketball. 00:26:09.200 --> 00:26:10.240 I know, it's weird. 00:26:10.319 --> 00:26:11.759 Um I know, it's crazy. 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:18.400 And so I just was making this joke that I should probably start playing golf at my age, because basketball is not nice to you in your 40s. 00:26:18.480 --> 00:26:23.039 Um, but the joke I made was, you know, one day my knee will give out and then I'll take up golf. 00:26:23.200 --> 00:26:24.319 I said that, just joking. 00:26:24.400 --> 00:26:26.880 You know, I'm gonna my knee will give out and then I'll play golf. 00:26:27.119 --> 00:26:35.920