WEBVTT 00:00:04.639 --> 00:00:06.959 Welcome to the MetaCurch Podcast. 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:08.080 My name's Clayton. 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:10.160 I'm the pastor here at MetaCurch. 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:18.000 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. 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:20.559 I hope that you enjoy today's message. 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:26.000 Well, I want to welcome you into MetaCurch. 00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:27.679 If you are new with us, my name is Clayton. 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:29.760 I'm the lead pastor here at Meta. 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:39.359 We are in a season where we're going line by line through the gospel of Luke, learning the story of Jesus so we can know the real Jesus. 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:44.399 And in this first section of Luke, we have called it the chosen King. 00:00:44.640 --> 00:00:48.719 Week after week, we are seeing that Jesus came to reign. 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:58.960 He is reigning right now, and we, as followers of Jesus, keep our eyes on eternity when Jesus will return and establish his kingdom here on the earth. 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:08.879 Now, today we are covering just four short verses, but these are dense verses, and uh we're going to look at these three themes. 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:12.640 We're gonna take our time and pull these three themes out of this passage. 00:01:12.799 --> 00:01:19.040 Today we are looking at poverty, we're looking at law, and we're looking at adoption. 00:01:19.359 --> 00:01:21.359 Poverty, law, and adoption. 00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:27.760 I know many of you, you're becoming Bible scholars, you have got the gospel of Luke or some other Bible, you're taking notes, those are our three themes. 00:01:27.840 --> 00:01:33.519 We're gonna find them today, and we're gonna just keep going back through these verses over and over again. 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:43.439 And we're first going to try our best to look at these themes in their own context, and eventually we will see them come together. 00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:49.359 And in just four short verses, Luke has actually laid out the entire gospel for us. 00:01:49.599 --> 00:01:56.640 When we say gospel, it literally means the good news, the good news of what Jesus has on offer to you and to me. 00:01:56.719 --> 00:02:11.280 And I hope maybe for some of you for the first time, if you're uh here in person at one of our venues, if you're with us online, maybe for the first time you will get a clear view of the good news that is offered to you by Jesus, and you can make a decision about that today. 00:02:11.439 --> 00:02:13.759 So I want to walk through these three themes. 00:02:13.919 --> 00:02:16.319 First, I want to talk about poverty. 00:02:16.479 --> 00:02:27.039 Now, throughout this Chosen King series, I have said many, many times that Mary and Joseph were a young, impoverished Jewish couple. 00:02:27.199 --> 00:02:36.960 Now, there are some context clues that we can derive that from, like the fact that Joseph is a carpenter, which means that he didn't progress very far in school in the ancient world. 00:02:37.039 --> 00:02:38.159 He became an apprentice. 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:41.919 He lived in Nazareth, which is a town of like 500 people. 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:46.639 Even if you sell a dining room table to everyone in town, that's not gonna feed your family forever. 00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:48.319 He's just not in a big market. 00:02:48.639 --> 00:02:51.840 However, we actually don't have to use context clues. 00:02:52.000 --> 00:03:00.719 It's easy to miss, but Luke tells us in this passage that Mary and Joseph are very, very poor. 00:03:00.879 --> 00:03:06.000 And we miss it because uh most followers of Jesus aren't reading scripture at all. 00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:08.479 And if we do read it, we read it really, really quickly. 00:03:08.560 --> 00:03:11.360 And so we've handed out hundreds and hundreds of books of Luke. 00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:14.879 If you don't have one, you can get one at the Connect area at any of our venues. 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:20.400 Um, maybe you have uh a physical copy of a Bible, like a full Bible, Genesis to Revelation. 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:27.280 Most people have one of these at home, so you can go grab it, you know, and do one of those, you know, and get the dust off. 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:46.240 And uh for almost every Bible you will buy and put in your hands, or even if you download like the Bible app, which Life Church has produced for free for everyone, uh, there are there's the text, and then there's all these little letters or little numbers, and maybe you've wondered what those are. 00:03:46.479 --> 00:03:49.280 Well, uh, those are called cross-references. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:04:05.919 And so when you see those, typically somewhere either in the margin or at the bottom of the page, it will have that same letter and it will show you what it is referencing in scripture, so you can look at that and you can cross-reference. 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:08.879 You can reference across the scripture. 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:11.039 And here's what's true. 00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:20.879 When I'm preaching well, when I'm really doing a good job at my job, all I'm really doing is letting scripture speak. 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:34.480 And what's amazing about the word of God, and the more you study it, the more you understand this, and the more you understand it, the more you realize that even the word of God itself is in fact a miracle, is that scripture speaks to scripture. 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:38.000 Scripture interprets scripture. 00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:42.639 We don't have to rely on the intellect of man. 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:48.879 You don't have to rely on me to put together some kind of amazing presentation out of the text. 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:50.480 The text does it for us. 00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:54.160 We just have to seek to understand it and then apply it into our life. 00:04:54.319 --> 00:05:00.560 And so I want to show you, it's easy to miss, but this text actually speaks to the poverty of Mary and Joseph. 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:03.199 And so let's put our text back uh up for us. 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:10.319 It says, When the eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived. 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:16.959 And when the days of their purification, according to the law of Moses, were finished, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:24.319 Just as it's written in the law of the Lord, every firstborn male will be dedicated to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord. 00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:29.680 Here it is, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. 00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:35.360 Now, in my Bible that I'm looking at right now, there's a tiny letter J right after pigeons. 00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:51.439 And it is going to send us back into the book of Leviticus, which spells out the prescription and the law that Mary and Joseph lived under as Jewish people of what to do with your newborn baby. 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:55.439 And so let's go there in Leviticus chapter 12. 00:05:55.519 --> 00:06:02.959 Uh, what we learn is that after eight days, the parents would come to the temple to name and to dedicate their child. 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:06.319 Those are paternal rites, so that's what the dad would do. 00:06:06.480 --> 00:06:14.319 But before that would take place, the mother would have to make a sacrifice for purification and for forgiveness of sin. 00:06:14.639 --> 00:06:18.319 The mother had to do that so the father could dedicate a name. 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:22.240 Now, watch what happens in Leviticus 12 in verse 6. 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:23.920 Here's the prescription. 00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:40.560 When her days of purification are complete, whether for a son or a daughter, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting a year-old male lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtle dove for a sin offering. 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:42.000 That is the prescription. 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:45.279 You need to bring a lamb and a bird. 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:48.959 This is what's required under the tenets of the law. 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:52.560 However, in verse 8, here's what it says. 00:06:52.879 --> 00:07:19.439 But if the mother doesn't have sufficient means, in other words, if she does not have the money, if she does not have the capacity, the resource, in other words, if the mother is too impoverished for a sheep, then instead of a lamb and a bird, she can take two turtle doves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering, the other for the sin offering. 00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:24.560 And the priest will make atonement on her behalf, and she will be clean. 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:27.519 See, here's the prescription. 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:37.519 Every mother takes the newborn, gets one lamb and one bird, and that is expected, and almost everyone can handle that. 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:42.240 A lamb would cost you three or four denarii at the temple. 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:51.519 You could get it much cheaper in your hometown, but if you've traveled a long way, like Mary and Joseph, it's gonna be three or four denarii, and a denarii is one day's wage. 00:07:51.680 --> 00:07:59.199 So there are a lot of things in your life that you pay for consistently that cost you more than what you make in three days. 00:07:59.360 --> 00:08:03.360 If you have a family, your cell phone bill probably costs more than three days' wage. 00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:07.600 If you've got kids, you cannot go to H E B and not spend three days' wages. 00:08:07.759 --> 00:08:18.319 Like this is normal, but there are people who are so impoverished that instead they just bring two birds, and a bird is about one-sixteenth of that cost. 00:08:18.639 --> 00:08:22.319 Now, here's what's so interesting, and this still happens in the world today. 00:08:23.040 --> 00:08:27.759 The reason there is a verse eight is because of the grace of God. 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:39.519 It is evidence that God meets you where you are, and it's evidence that God meets you in the areas of your life where you are impoverished. 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:46.480 And that's really good news because by the world's standards, every single one of us are incredibly wealthy. 00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:54.960 You probably don't feel wealthy because you're not comparing yourself to reality, you're comparing yourself to your neighbor who drives a nicer car than you, or to your boss who makes double your income. 00:08:55.039 --> 00:09:00.320 But all of us are wealthy by the standards of the world, but we also are impoverished in different areas of our life. 00:09:00.399 --> 00:09:01.759 And now I'll give you some examples. 00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:07.759 We just all have areas of deprivation, and so some people uh are feelers, and you feel everything. 00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:08.879 You're very intuitive. 00:09:09.039 --> 00:09:18.000 Typically, you're gonna have very high uh emotional intelligence, you're gonna have very high social intelligence, you know how to interact with people at the level of their emotion. 00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:23.039 But oftentimes, people who are very, very strong feelers, um, they're not very, very strong thinkers. 00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:28.080 It doesn't mean you don't have a high IQ, it means that you don't perceive the world in terms of facts and logic. 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:40.639 There are other people, uh myself included, who are thinkers and way over on the thinker side of the spectrum, which means if you come and tell me how you feel, I have 17 questions so I can understand how to think about it, you know? 00:09:40.799 --> 00:09:48.399 It's like I have uh poverty in feelings at times, and my wife has graciously helped me with that over the years so that I'm not a monster, you know? 00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:50.720 We all have these areas of lack. 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:55.759 And maybe right now you're in a season where you do feel financially financially impoverished. 00:09:55.919 --> 00:10:02.799 Maybe it's situational, maybe it's through your own poor decisions where you now have so much debt that your debt-to-income ratio is so upside down you feel impoverished. 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:11.679 Maybe you feel relationally impoverished, you just do not have a strong circle of friends, or maybe your marriage is fractured, or maybe your marriage has ended, or maybe you don't have a good relationship with your kids. 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:14.240 Maybe you feel emotionally impoverished right now. 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:18.320 You're just tanks are always on the empty, you are depressed and anxious. 00:10:18.639 --> 00:10:23.200 We all have these areas and these seasons of impoverishment, and how does God feel about that? 00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:28.480 Well, we know because every gift God gives his people is a good gift. 00:10:29.039 --> 00:10:40.399 And you need to understand the heart and the intention of verse eight, because verse six is the prescription a lamb and a bird, and most everyone should be able to do that. 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:43.759 It is only those who are extremely impoverished who cannot. 00:10:43.919 --> 00:10:48.000 But if they are extremely impoverished, God goes, Here's grace. 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:53.840 You can bring two birds, and I will accept it exactly the same. 00:10:54.639 --> 00:10:58.000 See, this is why we teach New Testament generosity. 00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:06.240 We don't teach the Old Testament tithe here at Metachurch, number one, because we just try to be honest to the text and the tithe isn't in the New Testament. 00:11:06.559 --> 00:11:10.799 But the other reason is because everyone can give a sacrifice. 00:11:11.200 --> 00:11:20.559 And your sacrifice, if it's truly a sacrifice, is accepted by the Lord, even if it is one one thousandth of someone else's sacrifice. 00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:23.919 Mary and Joseph came and they gave what they had. 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:40.720 Now, God gives his children good gifts, and then what we do in our humanity, in our flesh, in our sin, is the world takes good gifts and we twist it and distort it and pervert it. 00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:52.720 And so by the time of Jesus, what was supposed to be a good gift from God was seen as a source of shame for Mary and Joseph. 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:58.559 They had developed an idea that isn't in here, it's just in here. 00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:02.799 That if you are wealthy, it is because you are blessed by God. 00:12:03.679 --> 00:12:07.120 And so the wealthy were treated as VIPs in the temple. 00:12:07.279 --> 00:12:10.720 They were invited to all of the banquets, they were given the seats of honor. 00:12:10.960 --> 00:12:20.559 And the inverse was also true that if you were impoverished, it was believed culturally, not biblically, culturally, that you were cursed by God. 00:12:21.279 --> 00:12:27.360 If you were poor, it must be because of some sin in your life, or maybe even sin in the life of your family. 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:36.320 And I need you to understand this so you can see the great reversal that Jesus represents. 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:47.840 You see, by the time of Jesus, there was this term that had been coined in Hebrew, and the term meant a shame offering. 00:12:48.159 --> 00:12:54.879 Now, this could be used in the sense of you are ashamed of your sin and you go make atonement through sacrifice in the temple. 00:12:55.200 --> 00:13:05.039 But what it came to mean was embarrassment for those so impoverished, so cursed, as seen by the culture, that they had to bring the lesser. 00:13:05.759 --> 00:13:12.480 It was an embarrassment for a mother to show up with her newborn and not be able to bring the lamb. 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:19.600 That poor child having to grow up under a curse, that poor child having to grow up in poverty. 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:21.200 How embarrassing. 00:13:21.360 --> 00:13:24.159 You know, we would say in the South, bless her heart. 00:13:24.320 --> 00:13:25.840 You know, we don't mean that. 00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:28.559 We mean you should be embarrassed of yourself. 00:13:31.360 --> 00:13:33.360 And I want you to see the picture. 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:41.120 Because Mary and Joseph walk in to the temple unable to purchase the land. 00:13:41.679 --> 00:13:47.600 A temple full of people who look, and the majority of those people go, man. 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:50.720 What an unfortunate situation. 00:13:51.360 --> 00:13:54.799 I wonder what happened in their life for God to curse them. 00:13:55.679 --> 00:13:59.360 Not knowing that Mary and Joseph had God in their hands. 00:14:02.559 --> 00:14:23.200 And it's just another reminder, you have to break free of the culture's prescriptions, the culture's metrics, the culture's influence on your life, because it is not framing your life, your relationship, or your success accurately. 00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:28.639 We have to begin to see things the way that God sees them. 00:14:29.039 --> 00:14:34.559 Mary and Joseph were poor, and yet they held in their arms everything they need. 00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:41.200 You might be impoverished in an area in your life, but if you have Jesus, you have everything you need. 00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:47.440 And one of the things that has really just spoken to me, it's it is like uh, I don't know how to describe it. 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:50.559 I'm gonna say what came to mind feels cheesy. 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:53.200 It's like it's been melting my heart. 00:14:53.440 --> 00:14:56.480 The relationship between Jesus and Mary and Joseph. 00:14:58.559 --> 00:15:04.159 There's this interesting moment, especially for those of us who only think of Jesus as like really like friendly and happy-go-lucky. 00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:13.840 Towards the end of his life, he walks into the temple and he braids a whip and he turns over all of the money changers' tables. 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:16.159 See, here's what would happen. 00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:25.279 Uh, people would set up shop in the outer court of the temple, and they would go get lambs at a very discounted price, or they'd even raise them themselves. 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:31.279 They would go get pigeons at a very discounted price, or they'd even raise them themselves, and they would bring them in. 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:51.039 And if you were from far away, you could have got a lamb, maybe for one day's wage, but at the temple, they are going to leverage this against the poor people who are under the gun because they must follow the law of the Lord, they must give their sacrifice, and so they are raising the prices 300, 400 percent. 00:15:51.200 --> 00:16:02.879 And Jesus comes in and he flips over their tables and he drives them out with a whip that's a threat of violence, and he is saying, You will not turn my father's house into a den of thieves. 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:09.759 And yes, he is mad at the macro level of what they are doing, but they also did that to his mom. 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:13.360 It's deeper. 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:22.639 In Jesus' most famous sermon, he would start it like this: Blessed are the poor, the kingdom of heaven is theirs. 00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:27.679 He might as well say, Blessed are my mom and dad. 00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:31.759 It's deeper than we think it is. 00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:36.080 And we just want to like come one hour a week and get under the word. 00:16:36.399 --> 00:16:37.679 It's deeper. 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:43.519 We have to submit ourselves under it and allow it to give us a new vision of the world. 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:48.639 Would you rather be poor, actually poor like Mary, and have the whole kingdom? 00:16:48.799 --> 00:16:52.799 Or would you rather go after the nonsense of the culture? 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:55.120 It's a real question. 00:16:57.039 --> 00:17:08.960 Now, God does not call everyone to a vow of poverty, but he expects us to see what he places in our hands first and foremost as fit to build the kingdom of God, not our own kingdom on the earth. 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:12.559 It's just deeper. 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:19.359 Mary, the mother of Jesus, can't afford the lamb. 00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:25.680 And is standing in the temple holding the lamb of God. 00:17:29.039 --> 00:17:32.960 I want to talk about poverty and I want to talk about the law. 00:17:33.839 --> 00:17:37.279 And this is such a critical conversation for us. 00:17:38.640 --> 00:17:59.039 Almost every bad interpretation of scripture in the modern day, almost every heresy, heretical viewpoint that goes against God, blasphemous viewpoint, almost every unnecessary controversy that has driven people out of their local church comes from not understanding this right here. 00:17:59.200 --> 00:18:04.720 And I'm gonna do a shameless plug because I want every single person at all of our venues to go through the academy. 00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:05.599 I want that for you. 00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:06.640 I desire that for you. 00:18:06.799 --> 00:18:18.240 The academy is a big commitment, but this is one of the things that we get clear on that I can't do in a 40-minute sermon, but we can do in the academy is we help build your confidence in handling the word of God for yourself. 00:18:18.319 --> 00:18:21.759 And one of the things we spend a lot of time on is getting this right. 00:18:22.559 --> 00:18:31.920 Here's what you need to know Jesus came in as a Jewish man and was held to the Jewish law from birth. 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:36.480 So let's put our text back up, and I just want to show you, it's all over this text. 00:18:36.640 --> 00:18:42.160 In Luke chapter 2, when the eight days were completed for his circumcision, that's something prescribed by the law. 00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:55.759 He was named Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived, and with the days of their purification, according to the law of Moses, finished, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written, in the law of the Lord. 00:18:55.920 --> 00:19:00.880 Every firstborn male will be dedicated to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice according to what is stated again. 00:19:01.039 --> 00:19:03.119 Luke is like killing us with this. 00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:04.240 In the law. 00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:05.599 It's four verses. 00:19:05.759 --> 00:19:12.400 He says the words in the law three times in four verses, and he talks about circumcision, which is prescribed in the law. 00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:15.839 He could not be more on the nose about this. 00:19:16.160 --> 00:19:21.119 Now, what he's referencing is the Old Testament law. 00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:26.559 This is called the Law of Moses, it's called the Jewish law, the Hebrew law, the law of the Lord, the Torah. 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:35.519 It is written and spelled out in the Old Testament book of Leviticus, and it is strict and it is stringent, and it is very narrow. 00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:43.519 613 rules, regulations, and commandments to govern and guide every single aspect of the Jewish people's lives. 00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:46.640 And so here is the controversy. 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:57.839 People now living in the church age, which we call the age of grace, do not know what to do with the law in the Old Testament of our Bibles. 00:19:58.079 --> 00:20:02.000 And so we are stuck between the law and grace. 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:09.920 Now, here's what is unbelievably frustrating to me. 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:14.400 It's not unclear in here. 00:20:17.119 --> 00:20:27.839 The church and tradition and religion has made this complicated when it's not actually complicated in here. 00:20:29.599 --> 00:20:42.799 And that is a big accusation, and it's heavy condemnation that the church itself has taken this idea of the law and grace, which is clear in the word and has distorted it for the people. 00:20:43.519 --> 00:20:52.559 Most of all, the Roman Catholic Church, who Jesus said law and grace were separating out, and it tried to marry it back together. 00:20:52.799 --> 00:20:55.440 Oh boy, pastors going after the Catholics again. 00:20:55.519 --> 00:20:56.880 Here, here we go. 00:20:57.119 --> 00:20:59.599 Get another phone call from my abuela after this one. 00:20:59.680 --> 00:21:00.799 Like, here we go. 00:21:01.359 --> 00:21:11.440 I love my Catholic brothers and sisters, but you've taken something that Jesus brought clarity to, and you have brought confusion to it, and it has hurt the church, and it has hurt countless people. 00:21:11.599 --> 00:21:17.599 And here's how it kind of looks we have these 613 laws, they were prescribed for a certain people at a certain time. 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:20.559 And then we have this new chapter in God's unfolding story. 00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:21.519 It's called the church. 00:21:21.599 --> 00:21:24.720 And it exists not under the law, but under grace through faith. 00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:38.240 And throughout time, church leaders who are drawn to control, like every human is drawn to control, have sought to leverage control by picking and choosing out of the law things to bring into the church. 00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:40.720 Now the text does not allow you to do that. 00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:43.359 The inspired word of God does not give you permission to do that. 00:21:43.519 --> 00:21:51.279 So they lean on tradition and they lean on authority outside of the word and they lean on religion and creeds and they try and pull. 00:21:51.359 --> 00:21:59.680 So I'll give you an example because a lot of you, you know, would be going to hell just like me, because they they don't like tattoos, so they pull tattoos out of one chapter and they try. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:02.079 To bring it over here into the church. 00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:10.319 And in that same chapter, they isolate that, they pull it out, they ignore every single other law in that same chapter. 00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:12.720 The text doesn't allow you to do that. 00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:20.160 And so we pick and choose, and people pick and choose different ones, the ones they're comfortable with. 00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:21.920 This is not confusing in the word. 00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:28.559 And so I want to start to bring some clarity, and then I want you to go to the academy so I can spend hours with you in the academy and help you get clear on this. 00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:30.000 But let me say this. 00:22:38.960 --> 00:22:41.200 That's largely how we think about it. 00:22:41.599 --> 00:22:45.599 It's not exactly accurate because the law comes in Leviticus. 00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:48.559 You have a generation of people who live in Genesis. 00:22:48.880 --> 00:22:53.440 Adam's not under the law, Noah's not under the law, Abraham's not under the law. 00:22:53.599 --> 00:22:57.680 But largely you can think like this: Old Testament law, New Testament grace. 00:22:57.839 --> 00:23:00.880 I want to give you a caveat that really matters. 00:23:01.039 --> 00:23:02.400 I need you to get this. 00:23:03.359 --> 00:23:13.200 The narratives of Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, those are transitional between law and grace. 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:25.200 What that means is Jesus is born under the law, Jesus lives under the law, and Jesus obeyed the law. 00:23:25.920 --> 00:23:30.799 Jesus spoke with so much authority, and he was in many ways a controversial figure. 00:23:30.960 --> 00:23:35.680 And so he was even asked, Jesus, did you come to get rid of the law? 00:23:36.079 --> 00:23:38.559 And Jesus said, we don't have to guess. 00:23:38.960 --> 00:23:44.000 Jesus said, I have not come, I have not come to abolish the law. 00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:47.359 I have come to fulfill it. 00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:59.920 And when Jesus fulfills the law, which happens through his death and resurrection, we are moved into, we are transitioned into a new chapter of grace, but it happens through his life. 00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:03.680 And that matters because we're spending years studying the book of Luke. 00:24:03.759 --> 00:24:07.839 We're in chapter two, and I'm I'm this series has been like 65 weeks long already, right? 00:24:07.920 --> 00:24:08.880 We're in chapter two. 00:24:09.279 --> 00:24:21.680 We're gonna be here for a minute, and you need to know as we're reading and understand Jesus that he was born under the law, he lived under the law, he died under the law, and he perfectly obeyed that law. 00:24:21.920 --> 00:24:24.160 That is how he fulfilled it. 00:24:25.599 --> 00:24:36.000 So, like I said, this is not confusing, and part of the reason it's not confusing is because in the earliest church they were having this controversy. 00:24:37.039 --> 00:24:51.680 And so the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter and the Apostle James and the Apostle John, they wrote letters to these churches clarifying that we are now under grace and the law has been fulfilled. 00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:59.759 Which means you don't live held to the standards and structures of the Old Testament law, you now are under the law of grace. 00:25:00.559 --> 00:25:12.559 And yes, it is true, there are many things in the Old Testament law that Jesus and his apostles also teach in the New Testament, and we are held to those things. 00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:17.920 We are expected to bend our knee and submit our lives to King Jesus. 00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:20.720 But we must, must be clear. 00:25:20.880 --> 00:25:23.039 So I want to show you one of these letters. 00:25:23.279 --> 00:25:26.640 Paul was writing to a town called Galatia. 00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:31.359 This was a church that was mixed, it had Jewish and non-Jewish believers. 00:25:31.519 --> 00:25:36.480 And the Jewish believers were going, like, we've been following these 613 laws our whole life. 00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:38.160 These fools don't have to do that? 00:25:38.319 --> 00:25:39.279 We don't have to do that. 00:25:39.359 --> 00:25:40.880 Like, how is this working? 00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:42.559 And so Paul addresses it. 00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:47.200 In Galatians chapter 3, he says, Before this, faith came. 00:25:47.599 --> 00:25:50.240 We were confined under the law. 00:25:50.480 --> 00:25:52.880 We were imprisoned under the law. 00:25:53.039 --> 00:25:59.440 Elsewhere, Paul says we were slaves to the law until the coming faith was revealed. 00:25:59.680 --> 00:26:05.359 The law then was our guardian until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith. 00:26:05.599 --> 00:26:14.640 But since that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for through faith you are all sons of God in Christ Jesus. 00:26:14.880 --> 00:26:15.920 What does Paul say? 00:26:16.160 --> 00:26:41.119 He says that the law was a guardian, the law was a tutor, that the law made us aware of our sin and our need for God, that the law was a prison, that the law was our master, but someone came, Jesus, fulfilled that law, and we are no longer under it, we now are under Christ through faith in him and the grace that he gives to us. 00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:43.279 And how does it end? 00:26:43.680 --> 00:26:49.039 For through faith, you are all sons of God. 00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:51.440 We've talked about poverty, we've talked about law. 00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:53.920 I want to talk about adoption. 00:26:56.000 --> 00:27:01.759 If you were here in this series, early on, we learned something that was really shocking. 00:27:02.720 --> 00:27:12.000 We know that there is a prophetic tradition in the Old Testament that the chosen king would come through the direct line of King David. 00:27:12.960 --> 00:27:23.839 We also learned that Mary, the mother of Jesus, there is no evidence, no evidence that she is from the line of David. 00:27:24.799 --> 00:27:34.960 And because of how meticulous Luke is in his telling of this story, you would assume if she were, he would have said. 00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:46.319 However, Luke does make abundantly clear that Joseph is in fact from the tribe of Judah and a direct descendant of David. 00:27:47.039 --> 00:27:48.240 Here's the problem. 00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:57.920 Mary conceives Jesus through miraculous means, which means that Jesus is born sharing 0% of Joseph's DNA. 00:28:00.720 --> 00:28:04.720 And yet, there is no word that comes from the mouth of God that will fall in vain. 00:28:04.880 --> 00:28:06.160 This prophecy has gone forth. 00:28:06.240 --> 00:28:09.039 Now, Joseph is in a very, very difficult position. 00:28:09.519 --> 00:28:18.559 There's really few things as important to men in the ancient world as having their own biological children, especially sons, to push forward their lineage. 00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:29.839 Not only that, but to the society at large, it looks like either they have been unfaithful to God by becoming intimate before marriage, or that Mary has been unfaithful to him. 00:28:30.079 --> 00:28:32.160 Either way, you cut it, it's a tough spot. 00:28:32.240 --> 00:28:36.240 And yet he chooses Mary and he chooses Jesus. 00:28:37.119 --> 00:28:44.799 And the reason that the prophecy is fulfilled is not through his birth, it's through his adoption. 00:28:46.160 --> 00:28:50.640 And we actually see that moment in our passage in Luke. 00:28:50.880 --> 00:29:02.960 In Luke 2, the first verse we looked at, when the eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name, given by the angel before he was conceived. 00:29:04.160 --> 00:29:07.440 You see, the naming and the dedication are paternal rights. 00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:09.759 This is what the father does. 00:29:10.640 --> 00:29:13.599 Which means Joseph actually has a decision to make. 00:29:14.960 --> 00:29:18.079 Am I going to be the father? 00:29:19.680 --> 00:29:40.559 When Joseph walks in the temple with Mary and Jesus, when he stands and dedicates him and prays over him, and crucially, when he points at his son and names him, he legally adopts him and legally makes Jesus an heir of King David, fulfilling the prophecy. 00:29:41.039 --> 00:29:45.279 Centuries and centuries and centuries in the making. 00:29:45.759 --> 00:29:49.359 Now, we're talking about the law and we're talking about adoption. 00:29:49.440 --> 00:29:52.799 And I want you to see Paul pull these ideas together. 00:29:52.960 --> 00:29:58.640 In the next chapter, Galatians 4, he writes this when the time came to completion. 00:29:58.799 --> 00:30:01.279 Now that's a pretty difficult Greek phrase. 00:30:01.519 --> 00:30:08.480 What it really means is something in English like, at the exact right specific time. 00:30:09.440 --> 00:30:24.799 At the exact right specific time, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons. 00:30:28.400 --> 00:30:32.880 Scripture says that we are children of wrath. 00:30:34.240 --> 00:30:35.599 It's kind of harsh. 00:30:36.880 --> 00:30:49.519 But the truth is that we were created by God for a relationship with God, and in our rebellion, in our sin, we choose to break that relationship. 00:30:50.079 --> 00:30:53.519 And we know this, we feel it implicitly. 00:30:54.640 --> 00:31:06.000 That longing for something more, and you try to fill it with all the things of the world, and you only get emptier and emptier, because what you're actually longing for is the security and significance that only can be found in your heavenly father. 00:31:06.319 --> 00:31:18.880 And he loves you so deeply and so drastically that he actually bridged the gap between heaven and earth to come and make a way for you to be in relationship with himself. 00:31:20.559 --> 00:31:22.000 We were under the law. 00:31:22.160 --> 00:31:24.000 The expectation is perfection. 00:31:24.160 --> 00:31:31.200 God, in his very nature, is perfect and cannot dwell eternally in the presence of sin, which means he cannot dwell in the presence of sinners. 00:31:31.279 --> 00:31:35.119 And that's a real problem because all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. 00:31:35.279 --> 00:31:40.799 All of us have gone astray every day from God's desires and design for our life. 00:31:40.880 --> 00:31:44.000 And so we are stranded out of relationship with God. 00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:45.519 And something must be done. 00:31:45.680 --> 00:31:51.119 And we cannot work our way to God, and we cannot be good enough, and we cannot be perfect enough. 00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:56.880 See, Jesus was born under the law to fulfill that law for us. 00:31:57.200 --> 00:31:59.279 Jesus goes, Look, I know you can't do it. 00:31:59.440 --> 00:32:02.640 I know you can't live a perfect life, so I lived it for you. 00:32:02.880 --> 00:32:06.319 I know you can't pay the price of your own sin, so I paid it for you. 00:32:06.559 --> 00:32:10.400 I know you can't walk out of your own grave, so I walked out of it for you. 00:32:10.720 --> 00:32:17.599 And the offer, the good news on offer to you today is you can't do it, so just put your faith in the one who can. 00:32:17.839 --> 00:32:20.720 And when you put your faith in him, you are covered by him. 00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:25.680 His grace consumes and subsumes you. 00:32:25.839 --> 00:32:28.160 Paul says, I no longer live. 00:32:28.480 --> 00:32:30.400 Christ lives in me. 00:32:33.440 --> 00:32:35.519 I want to take you back to the temple. 00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:43.359 A moment of shame and embarrassment for Mary. 00:32:47.359 --> 00:32:51.519 You see, it matters that we follow Jesus with rigor. 00:32:52.720 --> 00:33:06.480 It matters that we wake up every day trying to die to our flesh, trying to die to our sins, allowing the Spirit of God to continue auditing the darkest parts of our heart. 00:33:07.680 --> 00:33:25.039 I'm telling you, I have been following Jesus for a minute, and still, still, God is digging things up in my life, rooting things out of my heart, bringing conviction to my life, still. 00:33:25.680 --> 00:33:26.799 And that matters. 00:33:26.960 --> 00:33:28.880 And you have to be clear on this. 00:33:29.759 --> 00:33:40.640 We do not follow Jesus, we do not do good works, we do not die to sin in order to get in relationship with our Heavenly Father. 00:33:40.960 --> 00:33:44.799 That comes through faith by grace, period. 00:33:45.119 --> 00:33:50.720 We're not working for a relationship, we are living in freedom from our relationship. 00:33:51.039 --> 00:33:55.200 God has given us what we need to pursue the life we were created to live. 00:33:56.160 --> 00:33:58.400 But it matters that we count the cost. 00:33:59.039 --> 00:34:02.480 And it matters that we allow the Holy Spirit to do that work inside of us. 00:34:04.240 --> 00:34:06.079 Mary showed up to the temple. 00:34:10.719 --> 00:34:17.679 And Jesus needed to be adopted, it had to happen to fulfill the scriptures. 00:34:18.960 --> 00:34:20.000 Please don't miss this. 00:34:20.079 --> 00:34:22.079 The whole gospel is in four verses. 00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:30.880 Before Joseph could adopt him, Mary had to give a sacrifice for sins. 00:34:32.159 --> 00:34:40.159 And she was holding the Lamb of God who would make it so we would never have to offer another animal sacrifice. 00:34:40.320 --> 00:34:45.280 She was holding the Lamb of God, but she could not afford the Lamb. 00:34:46.559 --> 00:34:52.880 And Jesus, who she was holding, grew up, fulfilled the law, and then went to the cross. 00:34:53.039 --> 00:35:09.119 And when you allow God to expose your sin and your constant daily need for Him, what you begin to realize is that Jesus is the Lamb. 00:35:11.760 --> 00:35:22.239 I can't afford it. 00:35:24.480 --> 00:35:27.119 I have such a tremendous sin. 00:35:28.079 --> 00:35:29.760 I can't afford the lamb. 00:35:39.199 --> 00:35:44.159 Mary couldn't afford the lamb, but God provided what she needed. 00:35:44.639 --> 00:35:46.960 And she made a sacrifice for sin. 00:35:47.440 --> 00:35:53.360 And once she made a sacrifice for sin, Joseph stood and said, That's my son. 00:35:55.280 --> 00:35:57.119 This is the cross. 00:35:57.440 --> 00:36:00.639 Jesus is the lamb you can't afford. 00:36:01.840 --> 00:36:03.679 It's why, it's grace. 00:36:03.920 --> 00:36:07.280 It's a gift we cannot earn and we do not deserve. 00:36:07.360 --> 00:36:19.519 And when Jesus raised his arms and hung his head and breathed his last, he made the sacrifice for your sin so your father could adopt you. 00:36:22.079 --> 00:36:26.880 We are Mary, unable to pay to cover our sins. 00:36:26.960 --> 00:36:29.119 And Jesus came and he paid it for us. 00:36:29.280 --> 00:36:31.199 And your heavenly father who loves you. 00:36:31.360 --> 00:36:35.920 Joseph could have run, but he chose Mary and He chose Jesus. 00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:49.039 And your heavenly Father has chosen you, and he's waiting for you to humble yourself and drop to your knees and give up the fight and stop trying to earn it and put your faith in Jesus so he can cover your sin and bring you into his family. 00:36:55.360 --> 00:37:00.079 As we close across our venues, um, let's go into a time of prayer and reflection. 00:37:00.320 --> 00:37:04.880 Just want you right where you're at, to bow your head and close your eyes. 00:37:06.079 --> 00:37:08.320 I want to ask a few questions. 00:37:08.719 --> 00:37:18.960 For those who are already believers in Jesus, where are you still trying to earn what has already been given to you by grace? 00:37:21.280 --> 00:37:24.880 What makes it hard for you to believe it's actually free? 00:37:26.320 --> 00:37:30.320 For all of us, where are you impoverished right now? 00:37:31.199 --> 00:37:36.800 Mentally, emotionally, impoverished in your career pursuits, your relationships. 00:37:52.639 --> 00:38:04.960 Finally, for those who are here across our venues or online with us who have never put their faith in Jesus, what is holding you back from receiving your adoption? 00:38:05.440 --> 00:38:08.800 The bad news is your sin separates you from your heavenly father. 00:38:08.960 --> 00:38:15.039 The good news is your heavenly father loved you so much, he bridged the gap between heaven and earth, came, lived a perfect life. 00:38:15.280 --> 00:38:21.440 As the only innocent human who's ever walked the earth, gave up that life to pay the price of your sins. 00:38:22.159 --> 00:38:39.920 And if you put your faith in Jesus, come to a moment where you're convinced and convicted that Jesus actually is who he says he is, you will be adopted into the family of God, all of your sins forgiven, and you will be guaranteed eternal life with God. 00:38:40.880 --> 00:38:52.239 If you're at one of our venues and that's you, you've never made that decision, with everyone's eyes closed, if you're ready to do that today, I want to ask you, right where you're sitting, to just right now raise your hand. 00:38:52.480 --> 00:38:54.559 This is a symbolic gesture. 00:38:54.800 --> 00:39:00.000 Raising your hand just says, Today I choose to put my faith in Jesus. 00:39:00.239 --> 00:39:00.880 Amen. 00:39:01.599 --> 00:39:07.360 For those who raise a hand, we want you to know that God sees and accepts your faith. 00:39:07.519 --> 00:39:14.880 Your sins are forgiven, and we can say with confidence out of his word that you have been brought into an eternal relationship with God. 00:39:15.039 --> 00:39:18.639 And what I want to do is very simply help you acknowledge this moment through a prayer. 00:39:18.800 --> 00:39:21.599 So if you raised a hand, I want you to pray this with me. 00:39:21.760 --> 00:39:26.079 I'm gonna ask all the believers across our venues to pray this out loud as well. 00:39:26.239 --> 00:39:27.119 Let's pray like this. 00:39:27.360 --> 00:39:32.400 Jesus, today I choose to put my faith in you. 00:39:33.199 --> 00:39:40.880 I believe you are God that you died for my sins and rose from the grave. 00:39:41.599 --> 00:39:46.480 I thank you for loving me and forgiving my sins. 00:39:50.239 --> 00:39:52.960 Thanks so much for listening to the message today. 00:39:53.119 --> 00:40:01.519 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. 00:40:01.679 --> 00:40:08.239 If you want to get connected further with what MetaCurch is doing, you can go online to metachurch.tv. 00:40:08.639 --> 00:40:10.880 There you can learn how to take next steps. 00:40:11.039 --> 00:40:18.800 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. 00:40:19.039 --> 00:40:22.480 And I love you guys, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.