WEBVTT 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:07.200 Welcome to the MetaCurch Podcast. 00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:08.320 My name's Clayton. 00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:10.480 I'm the pastor here at MetaCurch. 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:18.160 And my hope is that today's podcast finds you at the perfect time in your life that God uses it to inspire and enlighten you. 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:20.800 I hope that you enjoy today's message. 00:00:23.920 --> 00:00:25.519 Happy Fourth of July weekend. 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:26.640 How's everybody doing? 00:00:27.199 --> 00:00:27.839 Yeah. 00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:29.679 Awesome. 00:00:29.839 --> 00:00:31.359 I'm so glad that you joined us. 00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:35.359 Uh, I have a short word for us, something I was really thinking a lot about. 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:38.320 Uh the 4th of July is an interesting holiday. 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:42.000 This is when we celebrate the founding of America. 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:46.960 And that moment started when we put out our declaration of independence. 00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:55.039 And when we say the declaration of independence, we think of like a document, but it was also literally a declaration of independence. 00:00:55.200 --> 00:01:02.320 I was just up in New York and I was looking at some of the graves from the Revolutionary War that were from 1774 and 1775. 00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:11.120 And what's so crazy is that these soldiers who were fighting for American independence were on our soil here, but they died as English citizens. 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:13.920 It wasn't until July 4th, 1776. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:18.799 And this is just kind of how my brain works, and so you can like maybe feel bad for me or recommend someone for me. 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:27.040 But I got so stuck on the fact that we belonged to another country, and then we just declared that we no longer were a part of them. 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:36.079 And it reminded me of a scene from one of my favorite TV shows, The Office, when Michael Scott gets himself into some financial trouble and decides that he needs to declare bankruptcy. 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:37.840 He takes it a little bit too literally. 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:39.280 I think we have the clip. 00:01:44.319 --> 00:01:48.480 I declare bankruptcy! 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:59.120 Hey, I just wanted you to know that you can't just say the word bankruptcy and expect anything to happen. 00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:01.840 I didn't say it, I declared it still. 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:30.240 I feel like England planted our colonies, and then they like showed up and we didn't want to be a part, and they were like, yo, you can't just say that you're not a part of England, and America was like, we didn't say it, we declared it, you know, like that American spirit starting starting really early, and you know, the founding fathers they were no longer content with this rule under a monarch and a lot of things that went with it, but it's very, it's very interesting because there were still seven years left in the Revolutionary War. 00:02:30.319 --> 00:02:40.719 In a real sense, we earned our independence in 1783, but we declared it on July 4th, 1776, and we celebrate the founding on that day of declaration. 00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:59.840 Now, this document is one of the founding documents of modern society, and if you read it really carefully, it really is a pretty peculiar document when you look at it in the scope of history, and there was this one fundamental principle that stood out above all others that was the reason that we had to try this American experiment. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:05.199 And, you know, people say America started as a Christian nation, and that's actually not accurate. 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:10.560 America started because they were under religious tyranny and wanted a place where all people could express their religion. 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:18.800 But it is absolutely true to say that America was founded by people who were guided by Christian principles. 00:03:18.960 --> 00:03:26.879 And that shows up the most by this idea at the core of America, that all men are created equal. 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:29.680 You guys maybe remember this from grade school. 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:31.919 This is how the Declaration of Independence starts. 00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:36.479 It says, we hold these truths to be self-evident. 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:46.879 Hold on to that thought, self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, and that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:50.400 Christian thought was all over this, endowed by their creator. 00:03:50.479 --> 00:03:56.159 That's a big thought because rights always came from the dictator or from the monarch or from the government. 00:03:56.319 --> 00:03:59.680 You got rights by use of power, and the founder said, no, no, no. 00:03:59.919 --> 00:04:03.680 There are rights that actually come from the creator God Himself. 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:08.159 And because of that, it is self-evident that all men are created equal. 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:16.399 Now, what I learned that's very interesting is that this line actually had even more significant religious overtones when it was first written. 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:27.759 When Thomas Jefferson first drafted the Declaration of Independence, he actually said, We hold these truths not to be self-evident, but to be sacred and undeniable. 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:30.560 Sacred truths, not self-evident truths. 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:39.439 Now, Thomas Jefferson was a younger guy, and Benjamin Franklin was the elder statesman of the Founding Fathers, and so he said, Ben, would you have a look at this and give me any edits? 00:04:39.519 --> 00:04:55.600 And we actually have an image from that draft, and you can see that Benjamin Franklin, who was not a theist, he didn't believe in an actual God, he scratched out sacred and deniable and instead said, We hold these truths to be self-evident. 00:04:56.480 --> 00:05:07.759 As we approach Independence Day tomorrow, the day that we celebrate that a country started because of a belief that all men are created equal, you need to understand Benjamin Franklin was not correct. 00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:14.800 In the scope of history, it is not self-evident that all men are created equal. 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:34.160 When you actually look at human history prior to the founding and the massive impact that the Declaration and these ideas had worldwide, what you see is that everywhere you went, people were divided along race, class, and gender in all places, forever in human history. 00:05:34.319 --> 00:05:41.680 What was actually self-evident to like all the humans that lived before the modern world is that people are not created equal. 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:48.480 You see this even in England, where we were departing from, there was a class system and there was no upward mobility. 00:05:48.639 --> 00:05:52.480 In the eastern countries, there were caste systems, it was the same thing. 00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:54.560 Slavery and indentured servitude. 00:05:54.720 --> 00:05:56.879 That was just the status quo of the day. 00:05:56.959 --> 00:05:58.879 That's how life worked and operated. 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:08.319 Your tribe was superior to their tribe, your ethnicity was superior to their ethnicity, your gender was superior to the other gender. 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:12.319 That's how life worked literally forever. 00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:14.079 And then this new idea was born. 00:06:14.319 --> 00:06:28.319 And people flocked to a place where they could be seen as equal, not because of the money they had, not because of the gender they were born, not because of their place of nationality, not because of the wealth or the power or status of their family lineage. 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:34.720 They flocked to a place where they could be seen as equal because they are equal in the eyes of God. 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:39.360 When we were in New York a couple of weeks ago, we went out to Ellis Island. 00:06:39.600 --> 00:06:42.480 And on Ellis Island, there is this massive room. 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:47.360 Millions and millions of immigrants came through there with a dream to come to America. 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:59.279 And there's this one spot in the big room where you can actually look through the windows and see through the windows the Statue of Liberty, welcoming all who might come, all people on equal footing. 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:01.519 It doesn't mean that it's fair. 00:07:01.759 --> 00:07:02.879 You guys know this. 00:07:04.079 --> 00:07:06.399 We're not gonna pretend like we don't have a history. 00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:13.839 It took way, way too long to cash that check and actually apply it even in our own country. 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:18.079 But that idea was at the core, and it was new. 00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:21.439 And this brand new idea came from Jesus. 00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:28.639 And the whole scope of human history, where everyone is divided by race and class and gender, Jesus comes and he gives his life. 00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:31.519 Look at what his apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5. 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:38.480 He says, For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion, that one died for all. 00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:40.959 You know how religions worked? 00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:48.079 You had your religion, you had your religion, you had your religion, you had some kind of messiah figure in your religion, and guess who he sacrificed for? 00:07:48.240 --> 00:07:50.000 Guess who your God looked after? 00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:54.560 Just you, your tribe, your nation, your people. 00:07:55.120 --> 00:07:56.000 Jesus came. 00:07:56.160 --> 00:08:09.680 This is the bedrock of the principle of the equality of man is that Jesus, God, lived a perfect life in human form and hung on a cross equally for all people in all places. 00:08:10.079 --> 00:08:13.759 The creator, God, created us with equality. 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:16.319 Jesus proved that on the cross. 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:20.800 If you think about it in that context, listen to the words that Paul wrote to the Galatians. 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:21.839 Y'all have heard this a lot. 00:08:21.920 --> 00:08:23.519 It's it's one of my favorite verses lately. 00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:33.360 There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female, for you are all one, you are all equal in Christ Jesus. 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:35.600 I think the declaration is a great document. 00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:38.480 It's it's confounding how well it was put together. 00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:41.440 And yet they got something wrong. 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:46.960 The equality of man is sacred, it's not self-evident. 00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:58.159 And the further a culture moves away from Jesus, the more you will see a culture begin to break down again along the lines of race and class and gender. 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:02.399 It is Jesus as the foundation that brings true equality. 00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:06.559 It's sacred because our sacred God gave it to us. 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:08.879 Jesus leveled the playing field. 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:11.919 You need to know MetaCurch is a place for all people. 00:09:12.159 --> 00:09:14.559 We know you've got a history, I've got one too. 00:09:14.720 --> 00:09:17.600 We know you have skeletons in the closet, we do too. 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:19.360 You mess up, we do too. 00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:22.159 You're stuck in patterns, we get stuck too. 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:25.679 But God is an equal opportunity God. 00:09:25.919 --> 00:09:28.080 He meets you exactly where you are. 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:31.600 He does not wait for you to clean up to come to him. 00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:33.840 He came down for you. 00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:46.240 He proved that he sees you as equal, that you have worth and dignity and value in the eyes of God because Jesus died for each and every one of us just the same. 00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:50.320 If you go to the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:56.399 on the Northeast Portico, it says this God who gave us life gave us liberty. 00:09:56.799 --> 00:10:03.679 Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? 00:10:03.840 --> 00:10:09.200 Our country is post-Christian, it's post-Jesus, it's post-theism, it's post-God. 00:10:09.519 --> 00:10:16.960 It's going beyond it, thinking that they will progress to greater than God, and in fact, they are removing the foundation that we need. 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:28.720 We can't solve that whole problem, but we can decide to be a people who sees God as the cornerstone of our life and who chooses to live like Jesus and see all other people. 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:34.080 Yes, Jesus said, even your enemies, as equal in their worth, and their dignity and their value. 00:10:34.159 --> 00:10:46.879 And MetaCurch, if we can hold on to that truth, then that truth can change our lives, it can change our families, it can change our city, and we can play our part in helping to change the world. 00:10:47.120 --> 00:10:48.480 Would you pray with me? 00:10:48.799 --> 00:10:50.000 Father, we love you. 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:50.799 We thank you. 00:10:50.960 --> 00:11:00.960 We thank you that you sent your son Jesus, that you are not a distant God who throws out big promises and stays at a distance, arm's length away. 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:04.080 You're a God who is imminent, who came right down to us. 00:11:04.399 --> 00:11:10.879 You're a God who sees all as equal, and I pray that as children of God, we would do the same. 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:22.879 We thank you that you have made the world new, you've made society new, you have renewed our understanding of humanity to the point where we do think it is a self-evident truth that all are equal. 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:24.080 That's you. 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:34.879 You give us hope, you take our fears, you make our lives new, our anxiousness new, our families new, our habits new. 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:40.639 You set us free, you reframe our world, and we're here to thank you. 00:11:40.879 --> 00:11:43.200 We're here to worship you for making all things new. 00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:44.799 We pray it in Jesus' name. 00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:45.600 Amen. 00:11:49.039 --> 00:11:51.759 Thanks so much for listening to the message today. 00:11:51.919 --> 00:12:00.320 If this was helpful to you and you want to help us get the word out, you can subscribe to this podcast, you can rate and review or share it with your friends. 00:12:00.480 --> 00:12:07.200 If you want to get connected further with what MetaCurch is doing, you can go online to metachurch.tv. 00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:09.679 There you can learn how to take next steps. 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:17.600 You can learn where our different venues are at if you ever wanted to visit, and you can also give financially to help push this movement forward. 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:21.039 And I love you guys, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.