WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:06.160 I think every Sunday that we're together is like a big blessing and a joy, but some Sundays are just special, and this one feels special. 00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:08.160 It's been a good day so far. 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:11.679 We are in a series right now called Bumping into God. 00:00:11.839 --> 00:00:13.119 And it's a really simple idea. 00:00:13.279 --> 00:00:23.120 There's all these stories in the Bible, specifically stories in the life of Jesus, where someone woke up one day, thought they were going to have a normal day, they were going to do their normal thing, and they just so happened to bump into Jesus. 00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:28.399 They just so happened to bump into God, and everything changed for them. 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:31.440 And these stories, they tell us a lot about Jesus. 00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:33.600 They really help us see Jesus clearly. 00:00:33.679 --> 00:00:36.240 They help us see not just his power, but his personality. 00:00:36.320 --> 00:00:39.840 And it's very important for us to understand who Jesus is. 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:42.399 Not just what Jesus does, but who he is. 00:00:42.560 --> 00:00:49.119 Hebrews 1.3 says that the sun, talking about Jesus, radiates God's glory and expresses the very character of God. 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:52.479 In other words, Jesus gives us a clear picture of God. 00:00:53.119 --> 00:01:00.000 And so if we want to know what God is like, we want to know what God values, what God cares about, we look at Jesus. 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:04.480 And the clearer our understanding of Jesus, the clearer our understanding of God. 00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:06.879 So we want to see the personality of Jesus. 00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:07.760 We want to learn about him. 00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:08.560 We want to know him. 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:10.799 We want to know what he values, what he cares about. 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:14.000 And these stories reveal so much of that to us. 00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:20.879 We have this tendency as people to try to make other people into the people we would like them to be. 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:33.200 I've been married for 13 years, and when I think about some of the biggest fights that my wife and I have had, a lot of them really boil down to me trying to make her who I think she should be, or her trying to make me who she thinks I should be. 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:36.319 And often we have very different ideas of who the other person should be. 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:37.920 We value different things. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:43.599 And sometimes rather than taking the time to learn what that person values, we just try to put our own values onto them. 00:01:43.760 --> 00:01:47.439 I remember about a year in our marriage, we got in a big fight over a TV. 00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:50.000 Um, my TV, actually. 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:51.280 I'm just gonna say that. 00:01:51.519 --> 00:01:59.120 No, it was actually a big thing for us because we had just gotten a new apartment, and our first apartment was an apartment that cost$385 a month. 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:02.799 And it's not like we we had this apartment 50 years ago, okay? 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:11.039 It was 13 years ago, and 385 was a good deal, but I just want you to understand it wasn't like a nice apartment. 00:02:11.199 --> 00:02:15.039 It was an apartment that cost$385 for a reason. 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:26.000 And that's all we could afford, but then we we got a new apartment, and it was so exciting because this apartment had a fancy thing like called a bedroom, and our first apartment didn't have that, it was just an all-purpose room. 00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:29.360 And so, because it had a bedroom, it also had a living room. 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:37.039 And when we we had this apartment, we're like, hey, we can actually have a living room with furniture and a TV where we can sit and we can watch and talk. 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:38.719 And so I went and got a TV. 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:41.280 It was the first time I ever bought an HD TV. 00:02:41.439 --> 00:02:47.599 And HD TVs in 2006 were not quite as HD as they are now, but it was still HD, and I was really excited about that. 00:02:47.759 --> 00:02:57.919 And she went and she got some furniture, and we set up our living room, and I remember coming home one day, and I saw the way that Megan had arranged it, and I was like, oh, well, that's kind of interesting. 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:03.520 Because there was not one seat directly in front of the television. 00:03:04.960 --> 00:03:11.599 Which is a guy, and men, if you don't mind backing me up, that's ridiculous, right? 00:03:12.159 --> 00:03:14.960 Like, it was insanity. 00:03:15.039 --> 00:03:20.960 I'm sitting there going, like, hey, we just got this TV, which, you know, by the way, honey, is the reason for this room. 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:26.159 Because we can we can talk anywhere, like we can have a conversation anywhere. 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:30.719 But this is the room with the TV, and there's not one seat that's directly facing the television. 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:40.879 The the chairs were kind of over to the side, and the couch was angled so that if I wanted to sit down and watch a game, I would have to sit on the couch and like kind of tilt a little bit, and that's just not going to happen. 00:03:41.039 --> 00:03:43.680 Like, that's not the way it is, that's not the way it works. 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:49.360 And so I'm trying to tell her about how it should be, and she's trying to explain to me about like the flow of the room. 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:51.599 The flow of the room. 00:03:51.759 --> 00:04:02.960 I'm like, I don't care about flow, I care about myself and what I want. 00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:18.000 And we we actually got in a huge fight about a TV, and that's a humorous example, but there have been many other examples not humorous at all, where we're upset with one another, we're in a bad place, and it's because rather than caring about who the other person is, we're just trying to make them the person we'd like them to be. 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:20.480 And we do that with God sometimes. 00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:21.839 And we really do. 00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:33.120 It's interesting when when Moses gave the Ten Commandments to the people of Israel, you know, two of the first few commandments have to do with not worshiping false gods and then not making new false gods. 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:34.399 And that seems kind of odd to us. 00:04:34.480 --> 00:04:37.839 Like, I don't I don't think I've ever woken up one day and been like, you know what I'm gonna do today? 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:39.600 I'm gonna make my own God. 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:43.360 I'm gonna, I'm gonna craft my own my own God today. 00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:45.120 In those days it was a literal thing. 00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:49.040 You would build a statue and say, we worship this statue, but we still have that same tendency. 00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:55.839 Human nature has not changed, and it's very easy for us to take God and just sort of make him who we'd like him to be. 00:04:56.160 --> 00:05:01.759 To create our own version of Jesus, our own version of God, and say, I'm gonna worship this because this God gets me. 00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:05.519 This God just so happens to see things the way I see things. 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:08.240 And relationships don't work like that. 00:05:08.560 --> 00:05:12.079 You can't make other people who you'd like them to be. 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:14.959 We can't make God who we would prefer him to be. 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:19.759 And I'm just gonna be honest Jesus is not always who I would prefer him to be. 00:05:20.399 --> 00:05:22.639 But it's taken me a long time to learn this. 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:27.040 The Jesus I prefer is not the Jesus I need. 00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:30.000 I need the real Jesus. 00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:34.000 Not some counterfeit version of Jesus that I've invented. 00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:35.439 I need the real Jesus. 00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:40.480 I need to see him for who he actually is, and then I need to respond accordingly. 00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:42.800 I want the real Jesus. 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:49.519 And in these stories of Jesus bumping into people, we see the real Jesus, we see what he values, we see what he cares about. 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:58.160 And if we'll approach these stories with the right mindset, we'll have a clearer picture of who he is, which gives us a clearer picture of who we can be when we're with him. 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:01.439 And so let's just go ahead and jump into these stories. 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:09.199 Today we're gonna look at two stories that are very different in terms of the situations that the people are dealing with, but very similar in the way that Jesus handles them. 00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:14.000 And in these stories, we see two things that Jesus values and prioritizes greatly. 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:17.519 Two things that are almost always present in his conversations with people. 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:27.920 These are two things that we're meant to understand, that we're meant to live with, and when combined, these two things give us a wonder and an awe of our relationship with God. 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:38.800 If you have one without the other, you know, okay, but if you have both, you live with a wonder and an awe of the fact that God loves you. 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:41.920 The first story is in John chapter 4. 00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:44.560 It's a story often referred to as the story of the woman at the well. 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:49.120 We're not gonna read the whole story because it's kind of long, but we're gonna we're gonna focus on the parts relevant to our conversation. 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:55.839 So it begins by saying this: verse one Jesus knew the Pharisees had heard that he was baptizing and making more disciples than John. 00:06:56.079 --> 00:06:58.959 Pharisees are the religious leaders of the day, they're jerks. 00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:02.560 Um says, so he left Judea and returned to Galilee. 00:07:02.879 --> 00:07:04.560 He had to go through Samaria on the way. 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:09.439 Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sikr, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:15.680 Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. 00:07:15.920 --> 00:07:20.000 Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, Please give me a drink. 00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:23.600 He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food. 00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:25.600 And so then they begin a conversation. 00:07:25.759 --> 00:07:27.839 And Jesus does something that he does very often. 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:31.439 He uses what's around him as a metaphor for who he is. 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:33.120 We see Jesus do this very often. 00:07:33.199 --> 00:07:40.800 In this situation, he he looks at this well and he says, Hey, I can offer you living water, and if you drink the water I offer, you'll never thirst again. 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:45.920 And he's not talking about actual, you know, water, physical water, he's talking about our spirits, our souls. 00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:49.519 And she's confused by this, as you would be, you know. 00:07:49.920 --> 00:07:52.319 And this conversation keeps going. 00:07:52.560 --> 00:07:57.360 And eventually Jesus says in verse 16, Hey, why don't you go get your husband? 00:07:57.600 --> 00:07:58.720 They've been talking for a long time. 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:01.759 He says, Hey, I'd like to continue this conversation, but let's not have it alone. 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:03.120 Go get your husband. 00:08:03.360 --> 00:08:05.600 And she responds by saying, I don't have a husband. 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:07.360 And Jesus says, You're right. 00:08:07.519 --> 00:08:12.399 You don't have a husband, for you've had five husbands and you're not married to the man you're living with now. 00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:14.319 You certainly spoke the truth. 00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:17.120 Sir, the woman replied, You must be a prophet. 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:18.800 There's only one way Jesus could know that. 00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:19.759 Well, really, two. 00:08:19.920 --> 00:08:21.360 A, he's a creepy stalker. 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:22.399 B, he's God. 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:24.720 And it turns out he's not the first one. 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:26.319 So she says, You must be a prophet. 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:27.360 Then they talk more. 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:29.680 She starts asking him questions about God. 00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:35.440 Eventually in verse 25, the woman says, I know the Messiah is coming, the one who is called Christ. 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:38.399 When he comes, he will explain everything to us. 00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:41.919 And then Jesus told her, I am the Messiah. 00:08:42.639 --> 00:08:46.000 By the way, this is the first person that Jesus ever said those words to. 00:08:46.159 --> 00:08:48.240 Up to this point, he's kind of hinted. 00:08:48.480 --> 00:09:01.360 There's a lot of big clues that maybe he is more than a man, but this is the first person that has the honor of hearing Jesus say to them, like looking directly at them and clearly stating, I am exactly who you've been waiting for. 00:09:02.320 --> 00:09:03.840 He says, I'm the Messiah. 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:05.440 And just then his disciples came back. 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:10.799 They were shocked to find him talking to a woman that was a big cultural no-no at the time, but none of them had the nerve to ask, What do you want with her? 00:09:10.879 --> 00:09:11.840 Why are you talking to her? 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:18.320 The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did. 00:09:18.559 --> 00:09:20.240 Could he possibly be the Messiah? 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:23.279 And so the people came streaming from the village to see him. 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:25.039 That's story number one. 00:09:25.360 --> 00:09:26.080 The woman at the well. 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:31.919 Story number two is a story in John chapter 8, story of a different woman in a different situation. 00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:34.639 We're going to read this one in its entirety because it's much shorter. 00:09:34.879 --> 00:09:39.759 Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, but early the next morning he was back again at the temple. 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:42.720 A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and he taught them. 00:09:42.960 --> 00:09:48.480 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. 00:09:48.639 --> 00:09:50.480 They put her in front of the crowd. 00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:53.600 Teacher, they said to Jesus, This woman was caught in the act of adultery. 00:09:53.679 --> 00:09:56.720 The law of Moses says to stone her, what do you say? 00:09:56.960 --> 00:10:02.480 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and he wrote in the dust with his finger. 00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:09.200 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and he said, All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone. 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:11.679 Then he stooped down again and he wrote in the dust. 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:13.200 We don't know what he wrote. 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:19.279 He could have been writing scripture, he may have been writing a list of things that these men struggled with themselves. 00:10:27.759 --> 00:10:31.759 Then Jesus stood up again and he said to the woman, Where are your accusers? 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:34.000 Didn't even one of them condemn you? 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:35.759 No, Lord, she said. 00:10:36.159 --> 00:10:37.759 And Jesus said, Neither do I. 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:39.679 Now go and sin no more. 00:10:40.879 --> 00:10:44.960 These are two really powerful stories, and we could literally spend months unpacking them. 00:10:45.600 --> 00:10:52.320 But there's two things that come to the forefront in both of these exchanges. 00:10:52.720 --> 00:10:57.200 Two things that Jesus seems to prioritize very, very much. 00:10:58.320 --> 00:11:00.720 And it's grace and truth. 00:11:01.679 --> 00:11:07.519 So I want to talk for a little bit about grace and truth and what happens when grace and truth go hand in hand. 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:09.919 Now let's just make sure we understand our terms. 00:11:10.799 --> 00:11:15.200 By grace, what I mean is undeserved favor, unearned love. 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:16.000 That's grace. 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:21.519 Mercy is not getting what you do deserve, grace is getting what you don't deserve. 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:25.039 And because of Jesus and his love for us and what he's done for us, we have grace. 00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:27.519 We have a relationship with God that we could never have earned. 00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:29.679 Romans chapter 5 puts it so beautifully. 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:34.480 God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 00:11:34.639 --> 00:11:40.000 And since we have been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God's condemnation. 00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:47.600 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his son. 00:11:48.240 --> 00:11:54.399 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. 00:11:54.799 --> 00:12:00.720 We are friends with God, not because of anything we've done or could do, but because of what Jesus did for us. 00:12:00.879 --> 00:12:02.159 That's grace. 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:05.679 And in both stories, we see Jesus show these women grace. 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:10.000 Number one, in the story of the woman at the well, just by talking to her, Jesus showed her grace. 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:14.799 Because Jesus gave her a dignity that no one else gave her. 00:12:14.879 --> 00:12:17.600 It's very telling to us that she went to the well at noon. 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:22.480 Because in that in that time, in that culture, you did not go to wells at noon to get water. 00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:28.240 This is the Middle East, and at noon it's the hottest it's going to be during the entire day, and that is a blistering heat. 00:12:28.399 --> 00:12:32.480 People would go to the well in the morning or in the evening when it was cool. 00:12:32.639 --> 00:12:37.679 And if you would have gone to the well in this village in the morning or evening, it would have been like a cultural hub. 00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:42.879 People are talking, people are bumping into each other, everyone's catching up, everyone's talking about everything that's going on. 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:52.559 The people who went at noon were the outcasts, the pariahs, the ones that everyone else ostracized, the ones that everyone else looked down on. 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:53.679 That's who this woman is. 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:57.039 She goes at noon because it's the only time she's welcome. 00:12:57.440 --> 00:13:01.120 She's a person that no one would be caught dead speaking to. 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:04.159 And Jesus speaks to her. 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:07.039 And he's not just some person. 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:08.559 She recognizes this. 00:13:08.960 --> 00:13:11.279 He's a man, and he's not just any man, he's a Jewish man. 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:17.120 And that culture at that time, that's a big deal because the Jewish people did not have a high opinion of Samaritans. 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:20.000 Jesus is always breaking down barriers. 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:21.840 We're the ones who put barriers up. 00:13:21.919 --> 00:13:23.039 Jesus breaks them down. 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:27.759 It's funny, Jesus tells a story, a parable, about a good Samaritan. 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:30.960 And he tells that parable to the Jewish people. 00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:38.720 And it's crazy to them that a Samaritan becomes the hero of the story that Jesus is telling, because in their minds, good Samaritan, that doesn't work. 00:13:38.879 --> 00:13:40.559 That's an oxymoron. 00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:45.440 There's no such thing as a good Samaritan, but Jesus broke down that barrier. 00:13:45.840 --> 00:13:49.440 Just by speaking to this woman, he's giving her dignity, he is showing her grace. 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:52.480 The second woman, the grace that Jesus shows, is a little more obvious. 00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:53.840 He saves her life. 00:13:54.159 --> 00:13:54.799 Right? 00:13:55.200 --> 00:13:57.360 I mean, she is she's going to die. 00:13:57.759 --> 00:13:59.840 That was the law at that time. 00:14:01.039 --> 00:14:05.679 And Jesus stands up for her and he literally saves her life. 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:09.279 In both situations, we see grace. 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:12.159 Jesus always leads with grace. 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:13.360 Understand that. 00:14:14.559 --> 00:14:15.840 He leads with love. 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:19.679 But in both stories, we also see truth. 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:21.279 And what do I mean by truth? 00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:24.159 Well, truth, I'm talking about a reality check. 00:14:24.399 --> 00:14:26.320 I'm talking about conviction. 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:32.000 Jesus said in John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. 00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:33.679 No one comes to the Father. 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:35.840 No one can know the Father except through me. 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:37.600 Jesus refers to himself as the truth. 00:14:37.759 --> 00:14:42.399 Jesus was someone who led with love, he led with grace, but he did not hold back from speaking the truth. 00:14:42.639 --> 00:14:46.960 In the Bible, there's over 70 times where Jesus uses the phrase, I tell you the truth. 00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:52.559 Here's kind of a list of all the references to the times Jesus says, I tell you the truth. 00:14:53.440 --> 00:14:59.519 And sometimes the truth that Jesus shared was convicting, challenging. 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:03.600 That's part of the purpose of truth. 00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:05.360 That's part of the purpose of Scripture, by the way. 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:15.039 In 2 Timothy 3.16, we're told that all scripture is inspired by God and it's useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. 00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:17.679 It corrects us when we're wrong, it teaches us to do what is right. 00:15:17.840 --> 00:15:21.039 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. 00:15:21.200 --> 00:15:22.320 I love that word equip. 00:15:22.399 --> 00:15:24.240 We talked about that word a few weeks ago. 00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:26.879 Maybe you're here for the first time or you're relatively new. 00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:30.720 We're in a season as a church because we should always be stepping into new seasons. 00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:32.320 We should be growing like people grow. 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:34.399 We should be growing in maturity. 00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:40.960 And we're in a season as a church where we're saying, hey, it's time that we add some equipment to our excitement. 00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:44.399 It's not good enough for us just to be excited about God. 00:15:44.559 --> 00:15:47.279 We need to be equipped so that we can do something with that excitement. 00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:49.840 We need to grow up and mature so that we can be useful. 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:53.840 And the truth, it equips us. 00:15:56.000 --> 00:15:59.120 Jesus always led with love, but he always spoke the truth. 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:05.679 And when you have truth and grace existing together, it's powerful. 00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:06.960 It's powerful. 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:14.159 Truth and grace hand in hand are incredibly powerful forces, but when you separate them, they they lose their power. 00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:20.159 We don't often see truth and grace coexisting. 00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:27.919 Now we see a lot of truth without grace, and many of us may have grown up in church or had maybe experiences in church where we got a lot of truth but no grace. 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:35.360 There were people telling us all the things that we do wrong, without any love, without any willingness to help us. 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:38.000 And if that was your experience, I'm really sorry. 00:16:38.080 --> 00:16:39.360 I experienced that too. 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:41.360 That was not Jesus. 00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:46.799 That may have been people acting on behalf of Jesus, but they were not acting on behalf of the real Jesus. 00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:48.879 That was a Jesus that they made up. 00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:50.879 Because that's not how Jesus behaves. 00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:53.759 Truth without grace is religion, and we're not a religious church. 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:55.120 We don't believe in religion. 00:16:55.360 --> 00:16:58.799 Religion is rules, religion is the opposite of what Jesus came to establish. 00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:05.279 Jesus did not come to create a new religion, he came to abolish religion and replace it with relationship. 00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:07.359 We're the ones who make religions. 00:17:10.160 --> 00:17:15.759 When you have truth without grace, that's all you have is religion, and it's harsh and it's cold and it's unfeeling and it's unhelpful. 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:20.000 Jesus spoke the truth to a group of Pharisees in Matthew chapter 23. 00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:27.440 If you want to see a great example of Jesus' willingness to speak truth, even if it convicts, read Matthew 23, because he is going after the Pharisees. 00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:31.599 He calls them snakes, he calls them hypocrites, like it's pretty intense. 00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:39.440 In verse 23, he talks about them and he says, They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden. 00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:41.440 That is truth without grace. 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:43.440 And we could talk about that for a while. 00:17:43.599 --> 00:17:45.279 As a church, we've talked about that quite a bit. 00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:51.839 I'll say this: we always have to be careful about slipping into that sort of judgmental mindset. 00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:58.480 It's very easy for that to happen, but I think as a church, we're we're pretty good when it comes to being graceful. 00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:03.920 This is a church that has a reputation for being a very loving, very accepting place. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:05.119 And that's because of you guys. 00:18:05.200 --> 00:18:06.960 So I'm grateful for that. 00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:15.119 I don't want us to spend a lot of time talking about truth without grace because I don't think that's something that we really struggle with as a whole. 00:18:15.359 --> 00:18:18.799 But I do want us to talk about the concept of grace without truth. 00:18:19.839 --> 00:18:22.160 Because that is something that's really common. 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:23.839 Especially in churches like ours. 00:18:23.920 --> 00:18:27.119 Like we're we we would be considered a modern church, you know. 00:18:27.359 --> 00:18:29.119 I guess because we have chairs and not pews. 00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:31.039 I don't really know what classifies modern. 00:18:31.119 --> 00:18:40.319 Um, but we're a church that that tends to do a pretty good job reaching people who haven't grown up in church, or maybe you had a lot of the wrong kind of church and you walked away for a reason. 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:44.240 This is a church that's always been accepting and welcoming of that. 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:46.720 And there's a lot of churches like that. 00:18:46.960 --> 00:18:52.480 In fact, I think the church in America has come a long way in the last 20 years when it comes to grace, and I'm excited for that. 00:18:52.559 --> 00:18:53.680 I'm so grateful for that. 00:18:53.920 --> 00:19:04.400 But sometimes on the other side of that, and our tendency as people to sort of over-correct when we feel like we're off track, is you also see a lot of grace with no truth. 00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:17.680 And so there's a lot of inspiring messages about love, and they're really great, but we avoid any conversation or topic that might be controversial, that might step on people's toes, that might possibly convict. 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:22.799 And so teaching becomes this solemn course through the Bible, avoiding all the hard stuff. 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:28.799 And the reality is I would prefer grace without truth. 00:19:29.359 --> 00:19:32.880 Like I really would, just like my children would prefer dinner without vegetables. 00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:35.119 My children would love that, right? 00:19:35.680 --> 00:19:37.680 And every night they beg us for that. 00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:40.160 We have the same experience every night with our kids. 00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:44.079 We put a plate in front of our children and they ask us the same question every night. 00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:46.160 Does it like they're never gonna learn? 00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:51.359 Our eight-year-old asks us these questions, our four-year-old, our two-year-old, and the new one is going to learn from them. 00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:52.559 They say the same thing. 00:19:52.799 --> 00:19:54.319 Do we have to eat this? 00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:55.279 You know? 00:19:56.799 --> 00:19:58.640 And we have the same response. 00:19:58.960 --> 00:20:03.680 We we answer questions with questions in our home, which is very frustrating but effective. 00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:06.000 Is it on your plate? 00:20:06.559 --> 00:20:09.440 Like, because we put it there on purpose. 00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:16.160 You might think we just wanted to put it in the trash, but if we wanted to put it in the trash, we would have done that, then we wouldn't have to do the dishes. 00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:18.240 So, yes, we put it on your plate for a purpose. 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:28.480 Now we work hard to make sure that the food we create for you is as appetizing as possible, but just so you understand, not everything on the plate is there to satisfy your appetite. 00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:31.440 Some of it's actually there to help you grow and be healthy. 00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:33.839 So shut up and eat it, right? 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:36.319 That's the that's the conversation. 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:39.279 And they don't. 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:43.839 Then the negotiation begins, and it's just craziness every single night. 00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:49.759 But but my kids would prefer dinner without vegetables, and I'm just being honest, I would prefer grace without truth. 00:20:49.839 --> 00:20:55.839 I would prefer that God just tell me all the good things he sees and never talk to me about the issues. 00:20:55.920 --> 00:20:58.000 That he would never address those things. 00:20:58.720 --> 00:21:02.640 But like I said earlier, the Jesus that I might prefer is not the Jesus I need. 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:07.839 And in both of these stories, you you see Jesus share truth, like the woman at the well. 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:09.920 They're just having a conversation about God, about life. 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:11.759 And then he goes, Hey, why don't you go get your husband? 00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:12.960 And she says, I'm not married. 00:21:13.119 --> 00:21:14.240 He says, I know, right? 00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:16.240 But you've been married before. 00:21:16.559 --> 00:21:19.359 And I'm sure that's not something that's baggage for her. 00:21:19.519 --> 00:21:21.759 I'm sure that's a topic she loves to talk about. 00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:26.240 Because any of us who are in the room and we've been married and divorced, we love talking about our ex-spouses. 00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:28.240 It's the best, right? 00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:31.519 Let's talk about that for a while. 00:21:32.400 --> 00:21:39.039 Like that's like opening up a wound for this woman, and then Jesus says to her, Oh, yeah, by the way, the man you're living with, he's not your husband either. 00:21:39.119 --> 00:21:42.160 And that's like putting a knife in someone and then twisting. 00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:45.359 And wouldn't you prefer Jesus didn't bring that up? 00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:47.119 Like, no, seriously. 00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:59.680 Wouldn't you prefer that Jesus not go there and that he just has this amazing conversation with this woman who's an outcast and a social pariah, and he shows her love and he shows her grace, and he just tells her that she's worthy, and then he never even bothers to go there with the way. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.200 She's living her life. 00:22:01.359 --> 00:22:04.079 That would be a much more palatable Jesus. 00:22:04.720 --> 00:22:06.319 But he shares truth. 00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:10.480 The woman caught in adultery, that's a story that everyone loves to tell. 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:12.160 You will hear that story taught about often. 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:17.440 Even if you haven't grown up in church, you've probably heard the whole he who is without sin throw the first stone thing. 00:22:17.680 --> 00:22:18.880 It's popular. 00:22:19.119 --> 00:22:23.119 And everybody loves to tell that story, but everyone likes to leave off the last thing Jesus says. 00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:25.680 And that last statement, it changes the story a little bit. 00:22:25.839 --> 00:22:32.400 If Jesus had finished by saying, I don't condemn you either, and then that's it, you're like, Jesus, you're such a cool guy. 00:22:32.720 --> 00:22:37.759 Man, like, you just love people and you rescue people, and you're like, we're good. 00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:41.279 But then he has to go throw in that little go and sin no more. 00:22:41.680 --> 00:22:43.759 He has to end on a downer. 00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:46.400 Like, don't do that, Jesus. 00:22:46.960 --> 00:22:50.240 But seriously, he basically says, I don't condemn you. 00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:51.839 Stop it. 00:22:53.119 --> 00:22:55.440 And that changes the story a little bit. 00:22:56.400 --> 00:22:59.920 I might prefer that it's not in there, but it changes the story. 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:01.599 Because here's the reality. 00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:08.640 If you take the truth away, you diminish the power of grace. 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:19.119 If you take the truth away, if we deny the truth of our situation, we might think that that's just enhancing grace, that's just allowing grace to flow. 00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:28.079 But in reality, if you take truth away, you diminish the power of grace, and you do not experience the awe and the wonder of the fact that we have God's grace. 00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:35.119 We need the truth to remind us just how powerful and amazing God's grace is. 00:23:35.200 --> 00:23:36.400 Let me kind of explain it this way. 00:23:36.559 --> 00:23:47.119 Let's say you're walking down a street, it's a busy street, you're in like an urban environment, you're walking down the street, you're looking at your phone, so you're not paying much attention to what's around you, and someone out of nowhere just comes and shoves you to the side. 00:23:47.279 --> 00:23:50.640 And as people, as Americans, we have something called a personal bubble. 00:23:50.720 --> 00:23:52.640 And we don't like it when people break the bubble. 00:23:52.799 --> 00:23:55.599 We learn at a very young age, don't push people. 00:23:55.759 --> 00:23:57.359 It's basic human behavior. 00:23:57.599 --> 00:23:59.599 And so you might get upset. 00:23:59.759 --> 00:24:01.680 This person's just shoved you, they've just pushed you. 00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:02.640 What are they thinking? 00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:03.279 What are they doing? 00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:05.359 But let's say that you get some truth. 00:24:06.160 --> 00:24:10.160 You realize that there was a situation, and this person did what they did for a reason. 00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:12.720 Maybe the truth is that there was a big puddle in your way. 00:24:12.960 --> 00:24:21.440 And you were walking, and there's the puddle, and you would have stepped in the puddle because you didn't see it, and it's a deep puddle, and so you would have had one of the worst things in the world, which is squishy socks. 00:24:21.599 --> 00:24:24.319 There's very few things worse than squishy socks, right? 00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:39.039 And this amazing person rescued you from the agony of squishy socks, and you're like, you know, I don't think you needed to shove me, maybe, maybe just to, hey, stop, watch out, that may have sufficed, but I'm glad I don't have squishy socks. 00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:43.759 So the truth of your situation changes the way you perceive what was done to you. 00:24:44.160 --> 00:24:48.720 Now let's say instead of it being a puddle, it's a manhole and it's open, and you're gonna walk in an open manhole. 00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:50.559 That's something that happens a lot in cartoons. 00:24:50.720 --> 00:24:52.799 Don't really see it happen in the real world, but I'm sure it has. 00:24:53.039 --> 00:24:54.960 And you're walking, and there's the manhole. 00:24:55.039 --> 00:24:59.440 The person shoves you out of the way, and if not for that person, you would have fallen in the manhole, you would have broken your leg. 00:24:59.759 --> 00:25:02.799 Now you're gonna see their action as even more graceful, right? 00:25:03.279 --> 00:25:06.480 Wow, you just kept me from experiencing something really horrific. 00:25:06.559 --> 00:25:09.519 Like I could have fallen, I could have broken my leg, I would have needed surgery. 00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:10.240 Thank you. 00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:12.400 I'm really okay that you shoved me. 00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:17.920 The truth of your situation changes the way that you perceive what's been done to you. 00:25:18.799 --> 00:25:28.880 Let's say it's not a manhole, let's say it's a semi coming at you, and the person who shoves you out of the way rescues you, but sacrifices their life in the process. 00:25:30.480 --> 00:25:32.000 Very much like Jesus did. 00:25:33.039 --> 00:25:40.799 Well, now you would see that shove, you would see that push as the most generous, kind, and loving act ever done to you. 00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:46.480 You would see it as so filled with grace that it would probably change the way you saw the rest of your life. 00:25:46.799 --> 00:25:50.079 It would probably change the way you lived your life. 00:25:51.119 --> 00:25:53.839 But it's because you saw the truth of your situation. 00:25:56.000 --> 00:25:58.960 The Bible speaks to us about a concept called sin. 00:25:59.200 --> 00:26:02.559 And sin as a word just means missing the mark, it just means falling short. 00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:03.839 And we all do. 00:26:05.440 --> 00:26:09.519 But the Bible speaks about sin as something very severe. 00:26:11.039 --> 00:26:18.720 We kind of have to ask ourselves when it comes to sin in our sin, do we see our sin as a puddle in front of us or a semi coming at us? 00:26:20.240 --> 00:26:21.920 How do we actually view sin? 00:26:22.079 --> 00:26:23.519 Maybe more importantly, how does God view it? 00:26:23.680 --> 00:26:25.279 The Bible's pretty clear about it. 00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:29.519 Romans 6 23, the wages of sin is death. 00:26:30.640 --> 00:26:31.279 Death. 00:26:31.839 --> 00:26:34.799 But the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:26:34.960 --> 00:26:38.480 I mean, honestly, death is pretty severe. 00:26:39.119 --> 00:26:40.640 I think about my sin. 00:26:40.880 --> 00:26:42.400 And there's a lot of it. 00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:45.200 It's amazing how often I'm reminded of it. 00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:47.119 Even at church. 00:26:47.519 --> 00:26:48.400 Like all the time. 00:26:48.559 --> 00:26:51.359 This morning, talking to the scouts before we get started. 00:26:51.519 --> 00:26:53.359 There's a gentleman who's one of the scout leaders. 00:26:53.440 --> 00:26:55.279 He used to work at the sprint store across the street. 00:26:55.440 --> 00:26:59.440