Nothing Left to Prove | Matt Shetler

Episode Summary  
In this message from Acts 15, Matt explores the difference between grace and the exhausting pressure to prove ourselves before God. Through the early church’s debate over law, belonging, and salvation, the sermon reminds us that Jesus has already done what we could never do—and that freedom changes how we see ourselves and others.

Key Takeaways  
- Salvation is received by grace through faith, not by keeping a religious scorecard. 
- Jesus removes the pressure to prove you belong to God because the verdict is already settled in him.  
- Legalism doesn’t just burden us—it can also make it harder for others to come to Jesus.  
- Real freedom is not doing whatever we want, but leaving behind what destroys us and walking into the life Jesus gives.  
- When we know we are accepted by God, we become freer to love others without comparison or judgment.

Key Moments  
- [02:44] Acts 15 frames the central question: what makes someone right with God?  
- [09:20] The conflict in Antioch begins as some insist Gentiles must follow Jewish law to be saved.  
- [22:59] Peter rejects placing a yoke on others that even God’s people could not bear.  
- [25:14] Jesus’ invitation in Matthew 11 contrasts burdensome religion with his easy yoke.  
- [29:29] The heart of the message: the verdict is already in—acceptance comes through Jesus.  

Scripture References  
- Acts 15  
- Acts 15:1-11  
- Acts 15:10-11  
- Acts 15:19-31  
- Ephesians 2:8-9  
- Matthew 23:4  
- Matthew 11:28-30  

Reflection Question  
What scorecard are you using to measure whether you’re okay with God, and how is Jesus inviting you to lay it down?

Connect With Us  
If this episode encouraged you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and pass it along to someone who needs the reminder that in Jesus, there is nothing left to prove.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 4:57

And you're new or visiting, my name is Noel. I'd love to meet you after service. Welcome to anyone joining us online. We're so glad to have you joining as well. We're going to begin this morning with worshiping God through music. If you're able, I'd invite you to stand. The words are going to be on the screens to each song. You can join along there. And as we begin our time together, just invite us to take a moment to settle and invite God's presence together. So, Lord, we thank you that you are already here among us, that you are the kind of God who does not stay far away, distant, removed, but you come close, you call us by name. I pray that you would gather us together, not just as individuals, but as a community today. That we would not just have our own experiences with you, um, although those are so valuable, God, but that we would also experience you together as a family. And just reminded this morning that we join in with people all over the world and in every continent, in thousands of languages and dialects, people who are free to worship you and people who have to do it in quiet and in secret to be safe. We join with a choir that is singing all over this nation and all over this world. And we thank you that we get to be part of that kind of family. So we welcome your presence. For those of us who feel distant from you today, would you come close to us especially? Amen. We're gonna sing a new to us song. I think a lot of you probably already know it. But I will need you, if you can, to clap your hands. Caitlin is gonna give us the beat and we will clap and then we will uh say this chant together. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord, which is from Scripture so you can feel good about saying it. It's uh it's good and it's true. And sometimes we have to tell ourselves to praise the Lord, to remind ourselves what's good and true. So we're gonna do that together and then we're gonna sing this off. All right, Caleb, take it away.

SPEAKER_03 7:23

That has breath, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, that everything, that's wrap, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, that everything, that's breath, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, everything, that's breath, praise the Lord, I'll praise you in the valley, praise you on the mountain, I'll praise you when I'm sure praise you when I'm doubting I'll praise you when I'm number I'll praise when surrounding Cause praise is the water My word is drowning As long as I'm breathing I've got a reason to pray the Lord of my soul is the Lord of my soul I'll praise when I feel it praise when I know I'll praise cause I know you're still in control Cause my praise is the weapon It's more than a sound My praise is the shop I praise you record out as I'm breathing I've got a reason to cry the Lord Open my soul is the Lord Open my soul I'm gonna be quiet when God is alive How could I keep with sight? Oh my soul after verse too I'll praise when I feel it praise when I know I'll praise cause I know still in control Cause my praise is the weapon It's more than a sound My praise is the shot that Prince Jericho now As long as I'm breathing we've got a reason to cry the Lord oh my soul is the Lord oh my soul I'm gonna be quiet as the light How could I keep inside the Lord oh my soul oh my soul praise gun to start Praise good to rain Praise good to rose and to feel the great Praise good faithful Praise good to truth Praise cause there's nobody greater than you I'll praise good to start praise good to rain Praise good to rose and to find the great I'll praise good faithful Praise good to truth Praise cause that's nobody's the Lord Oh my soul Praise the Lord Oh my soul I won't be quiet God is alive I'm gonna keep it inside the Lord Oh my soul oh my soul Let everything Let everything that has breath Praise the Lord Praise the Lord Let everything that has breath Praise Praise the Lord Crisis of Foundation Everything So I want to make some sense to a big old chase qui m'a fait strong on you make it true my house is built on you Christ is the foundation through college with everything around which we still got joy We've got this that makes no sense So we won't be gone by our track we've built a large on treat us down So I would eat all know you all So God we take a moment just to look at your faithfulness To be a remembering people To be daughters and sons who look back on this morning and yesterday and the week before and the year before and even the decade before And remember your faithfulness God The time is that you showed up exactly how we wanted you to in the ways that you surprised us your scripture tells us that faith is a gift to be asked for, so we ask this morning, God, make us faithful people.

SPEAKER_02 18:51

Full of faith, we ask for more of you, Jesus.

SPEAKER_03 19:23

How sweet sound that's say to Richmond grace, my feet my chief. Let's sing holy one more time. Are you Lord God? Worthy worthy holy are you Lord God? Worthy is the land. Worthy is the land.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

Please join me as we continue our worship and prepare for communion through the shared reading of Scripture. We'll be reading Ephesians 2, 1 through 10. Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil, the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who fuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature, by our very nature, we were subject to God's anger, just like everyone else. But God is so rich in mercy. He loved us so much. Even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when we raised Christ from the dead. It is only by God's grace that you have been saved. For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us as shown in all he has done for us, who are united with Christ Jesus. God saved you by his grace when you believed, and you can't take credit for this. It is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God's masterpiece. And we'd like to have it as the center of our worship. And communion is for anyone who says they are a follower of Jesus. You do not have to be a member here. And you can find the communion elements by the two tables when you entered into the sanctuary. And on the night he was betrayed, Jesus took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Let's eat the bread. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me. Let's drink the cup. And I invite you to pray with me. Heavenly Father, we praise you for the good works that you have done in us, only through your grace. Thank you that we get to gather here this morning and sing of your wonderful riches and mercy. I ask that you would meet us each personally today and this morning. As yeah, as the morning goes on, Lord. Thank you for loving us so deeply. And thank you that we get to have a relationship with you. Pray all this in your name. Amen. Amazing. Kids, feel free to head back to your classes. And if you want to take a seat, go ahead and grab a seat. If we have not met, my name is Lindsay, and I'm very glad you're here. I also apologize my hair by if my hair is a mess. I was getting ravaged by that fan. Um, so I have no idea how I look right now. Um but Lakewood Vineyard is a church community that exists to help people reimagine their faith. Whether this is your first time in a church or you're not sure what you believe, or maybe you've been following Jesus for a long time. We are so glad that you're here this morning. And if you're visiting today, welcome. Uh we are so glad that you came. You'll see a QR code on the seat around you in front of you. Um, or you'll see a connect card. Or are those connect? Oh no, there's no connect cards. Oh, they are. They're out. Thank you, Christy. Um, so feel free to either grab a connect card or scan the QR code. Um, and we would love to connect with you. There's also a small gift for you in the lobby at the guest table as well. Um and even if you have been here a while, the connect card is how you share a prayer request, sign up for baptism, explore serving, or take any next step that you are thinking about. And we also donate $10 to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank for every new Connect card. So you're already helping someone just by being here and visiting. So thank you. And we also like to say give us five. And what this means is that we think it takes about five months to know if a church is a a home for you. Um, and we would love to walk that journey with you. Amazing how people how many people have tried this and actually have found that it works. Here's our main announcement is that next Saturday, August 22nd, there is a Vineyard Kids end of summer cookout that's at the Cannels, which I'm trying to know where they are. I don't know if they're in the in this room right now, but they're great. And so summer is just about done. The backpacks are coming out, the kids are ready to go back to school. Um, and so next Saturday, the 22nd, the Cannel family is hosting a Vineyard Kids cookout at um their home in Strongsville. There'll be food, kids running around the backyard, and grownups actually getting to talk to each other. And so here's the thing about this is that it's built for bringing people. If you have a friend um or a neighbor uh or someone in your kids' class, please feel free to invite them. Um but if you do, please head to vineyard.news to RP so that way we know how much food there is, because we want there to be plenty of food for everyone to eat. And then also, um, thank you for all your help with supplies for our success. Today is the last day. And so if you have something today, please grab it um and put it in the box that's in the lobby. And so once again, thank you for the help because that is going right to the kids in our community. And then for everything else that's happening, please check out vineyard.news or scan the QR code in front of you, and you can sign up for our weekly email at the bottom. And as a part of our worship, we will now receive our offering. But before we give, I want you to know where some of this has already gone. About a year ago, we sent uh people out of this room to start a new church. Josh and Jen Allen, their kids, Sophie and Wyatt, um, Dana Barker, and a lot of a lot of you know them, and a few of you don't. Um in the vineyard we have the saying that we give away our best. And what that means is why would we give away something mediocre when we can give away our best? And so we didn't just send people, we also invested in them financially. You invested in them financially. And here's what happened Burning River is about to turn one year old. Families who showed up to try it out have decided to stay. New volunteers are stepping up and forgive me for loss of my voice. And they're getting ready to launch small groups. In the next few weeks, they're also baptizing people. And so that's what your giving does. It doesn't just impact Lakewood. Go Burning River. Matt, you share them that they got a round of applause. Thank you. Okay. Um, and so that's what your giving does. It doesn't just impact Lakewood, but it impacts the communities um that are miles away because they're in Cycle Falls, and that's at least 40 miles or something like that. And so when you give, we give. And as a response to God's generosity towards us, um, we are saying that God, my whole life is yours, including our finances. And so there are three ways to give. There is text to give, give online, and then mail and secret option number four in the back. There's a black box where you can feel free to drop in your offering there as well. Um, there is no expectation that you give, especially if this is your first time. But if you do call this your church home, we would invite you to think about it. And if you haven't already, consider setting up recurrent giving, as it's helpful for both parties. Um if you would like to pray with me uh for our offering, we will do that. Lord, thank you how you are the prime example of giving our whole lives away. Thank you that we get to partner in with you and your mission, and also partner with Linquid Vineyard in the mission. That we get to send people out um to proclaim your gospel and that more people have come to know you, and that eternity looks different uh because of the work that you've been doing through us. Thank you for um everyone's generosity. We just asked for more. We asked that you would bless the gifts this morning. Would you increase it tenfold in that um that only your glory and honor would be shown? Thank you for loving us. We left up the rest of our morning. In the name we pray. Amen. Amazing. Well, thank you guys. You know, I get to hear from our very old man.

SPEAKER_06 37:56

Awesome. Cool. Well, I'm mad. We haven't had a chance to meet. There's random mail on that. All right. Must be church mail, I guess. Uh we'll put it there. It's awesome. Uh good to be together with you guys. We've been going through the series through the book of Acts uh this summer. And I'm invited Agnes so we can end up to read our scripture for this morning from Acts chapter 15.

SPEAKER_00 38:33

Good morning, everybody. Nice to see you. Especially um many new faces, so that's nice. So this morning I'll be reading from Acts chapter 15, verses 1 through 11, and verses 19 through 31. And I'm reading from the NIV version. Uh for those new to the Bible, Acts is towards the end of the Bible in the New Testament, and it's the fifth book. So Matthew, Mark, Luke, Luke, John, and then Acts. Alright, so Acts chapter 15, verses 1 through 11. Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers unless you are circumcised according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved. This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp disputes and debates with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenotia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them. Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses. The apostles and elders met to consider this question. After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them. God, who knows the hearts, show that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles as yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No, we believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved just as they are. And now verses 19 through 31. It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead, we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood. For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath. Then the apostles and elders with the whole church decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas called Basabas and Silius, men who were leaders among the believers. With them they sent the following letter the apostles and elders, your brothers, to the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilia. We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, we are sending Judas and Silius to confirm by word of mouth what we were writing. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirement. You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meats of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell. So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. The people read it and were glad, for it is encouraging for its encouraging message. This is the word of the Lord. Amen.

SPEAKER_07 44:12

Awesome. Thanks, Agnes. So that was a long passage with a lot of words that might be familiar, might not be familiar, words like circumcision, Gentile, Jew, Law of Moses. But really underneath all of it is this question that they're wrestling with. And it's not just a first century question. It's not just a question that was for the Middle East. It's a question that we wrestle with as well, too. And this question is this what do I have to do in order to be right with God? What do I have to do in order to be right with God? Right. And that people have different answers. For some of us, it's this cosmic scale, right? That I need to like outweigh the good, outweigh the bad with the good. And if I can outweigh it, then I'm good. For others, it's about sincerity, right? If I'm sincere, I'm sincere in my beliefs, I'm sincere in how I'm trying to live. If you're sincere enough, then you're okay. Or maybe it's heritage, right? You talk about my grandparents like really were religious and went to church, or my parents were too. And so somehow it just kind of gets passed down to me. Or maybe it's you do a lot of religious things, right? I do a lot of religious things. I go to church often. And so God must be good with me because I go to church a lot. I do a lot of religious things. Maybe I'm generous. Or maybe for us it's comparison, right? Uh or maybe for people who say this, like, well, I'm not as bad as that person, right? We go like, okay, I must be okay. God can't possibly like have anything wrong with me because at least I don't do fill-in-the-blank, whatever you think are the worst things, right? We have our own lists of stuff. And of course, a lot of folks, maybe you, maybe those of us in our communities in our neighborhoods, would say, there's no way to really know. There's no way to know exactly how you can actually be in relationship with God. But here's the thing: with all the different things that it's listed, all of them have some kind of scorecard. All of them have some kind of metric, some sort of way of evaluating whether or not we're right with God. And I'm thankful that the Bible has stories like the one we just read because it actually talks about it. It actually answers these questions of saying, how do we find peace with God? How do we have life with God? Do we just have to guess, do our best, be sincere, make sure we're related to the right people? Well, we're gonna wrestle with this and wrestle with these questions, uh, but let me pray for us first and then we'll dive in. Father, we are grateful that you've invited us this morning. That over and over again we hear this message that you've drawn near to us, that you've invited us, that you knock on the door of our heart. And God, I just believe that each one of us today has been invited by you, whether we believe that or not. God, I pray for those of us who struggle to believe that you might give us gifts of faith. For those of us who need wisdom, would you give us wisdom? You say we don't have because we don't ask. Father, I pray that for each of us who has needs this morning, we bring those to you. But we're also grateful, I'm grateful, God, that even for the things we don't know we need, you do, and you meet us. We welcome you, God, we welcome you, Holy Spirit. Have your way. Jesus, your name we pray. Amen. Amen. So when we look at verse 1 in Acts chapter 15, it says, certain people, that certain Jewish people came down from Judea, that's kind of the center of Judaism, where Jerusalem was, came down to Antioch and were teaching the believers. And they said this, unless you were circumcised according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved. Now, if you're with us the last few weeks or you're kind of a Bible person, in Antioch, what we find out, well, first, the first thing we need to know before we even get to the city of Antioch is that for the very first Christians, they were Jewish. They were Jewish. Jesus was Jewish, but it didn't take long for Gentiles. That's pretty, I think all of us, I don't know everyone's background, but if you're not Jewish, you're a Gentile. And it didn't take long for the message of Jesus, this powerful declaration of someone who died, rose again, and was offering relationship with God, life with God to come to Gentiles as well, too. And they began to hear this message, and they were kept responding and started responding rapidly. They were actually responding more quickly than the Jewish people were, and their lives were being changed. There was evidence of change happening, that people were experiencing this risen Jesus in powerful ways. And the church in Antioch, this is the city that said that the people came down from Judea and said, hey, you can't be saved unless you do these things. So they came down to the city of Antioch. And what we've been looking at in the city of Antioch is this is the place where the first time that people were called Christians. But not just that. The city of Antioch was the first place where there was a thriving church that had Jewish and Gentile believers together. People from very different backgrounds, people who hated each other historically, had come together in this church. And it wasn't just like it was okay, it was normal. Aaron, my wife, last week preached and talked about how the leadership in Antioch was diverse as well, too. There were leaders from all different backgrounds. It was incredible. This is a thriving, worshiping community from various backgrounds, a picture of unity and diversity, which we don't always see in our churches today. A picture of people that are different coming together, united by Jesus. And it said that everything was great. This church was thriving in Antioch until a certain group of people came down and said, if you want a relationship with God, if you want to be saved, it's great that you said, I trust in Jesus. It's great that you said, Hey, I want to be forgiven. That's awesome. That's not all you need to do. There's actually other things that you need to do. In order to be right with God, you need to become Jewish. And you need to do all the things that it meant to be Jewish. And so it lists circumcision. We're not going to dive into that deeply, but circumcision was a physical mark that showed the difference between Jewish people and Gentiles. And it wasn't just something they made up. This was something that God gave them, gave the Jewish people when he was saying, Hey, I want you to be different from all the people around you. Here's a physical sign, but it was a physical sign of saying you're not the same people as everyone else. I'm calling you into relationship with me. I'm calling you to leave worshiping other gods and just worship me. And along with that, he gave them laws and customs that would set them apart, that would create this division, not because uh we would find out, not because he wanted to be separated, but he said, We need you guys to have space so that you can learn what it looks like to follow me, so you can be a light to the world. And so when these Jewish believers are coming down from Jerusalem, they think it's great that you believe in Jesus, the Messiah, this promised king that the Jewish people had hoped for. It's great, but there's more. If you want to be in a relationship with God, you have to become like us. So, in other words, they said, Jesus plus, Jesus plus becoming Jewish, Jesus plus the law, Jesus plus all these other things. They looked in, they saw Antioch, this thriving church. It's diverse, and yet they're unified. And people who had who grew up to think they should hate each other are coming together and they're leading together, and their lives are being changed by this man named Jesus, who they believed had been resurrected from the dead. Wonderful things are happening. But they see it though, they don't see the beauty, they don't see the power, they don't see lives changed, they see what's missing, they see the ways that they don't think this church is measuring up. Now, before we make these men villains, and it's pretty easy to do, we have to remember again that God gave them these laws and customs. God gave these rules and things to follow. These men that are coming that came down from Judea, and then we read about our Pharisees, they're serious about following God. They want to do all the right things to make sure their relationship with God is okay, that it's healthy, that it's good, that that's people they're in relationship with God. But things are changing around them, and they're probably getting scared because what's happening is that more Gentiles, non-Jews, are coming to faith. And so what they're seeing that started out as a Jewish thing is becoming not just a Jewish thing. It's not just people that look like them. It's not just people who already kind of like their lives, look similar, they believe the same things, and they're probably feeling scared. And they want to make sure that every T is crossed, every I is dotted. And maybe that's you. Maybe you're like a security safety person. Like, okay, that's I like flexibility and all that. I gotta make sure I feel better when I got everything crossed off. I make sure I check off all the boxes, right? Because that way I can be sure. And that's who these folks are. They've been waiting for a Messiah to come, someone to rescue them. And they believed it was Jesus. And this changed a lot, but it didn't change everything for them. Because you see, Jewish folks, they had a way that someone could become part of the people of God. They had a process for that. And so when these Gentiles are stepping in, and they're not doing that process, and they believe growing up again that Gentiles were unclean, that just the who they were as people was unclean, what they ate, how they lived, who they associated with, how they fought, it was just at the very base wrong. So if someone didn't come along and teach them the right way, and these Jewish folks are coming and saying, I gotta teach you the right way. You need to get your life cleaned up, you need to look like us. What would happen? You would some of us can relate to that, right? We go, well, it's okay right now. Maybe if you've been in church for a long time, you go like it's okay for people to kind of come in messy, not all cleaned up, their eyes aren't all together. But we gotta like, I mean, someone needs to talk to them though. Someone needs to like let them know. And these Jewish people, well-meaning, are saying, how can we be God's family together if we're not all doing the same things? And we see the Paul and Barnabas had been reaching Gentiles, non-Jews, and saying, come to know Jesus, have life with God. There's freedom. And they were finding freedom from all these pagan gods and these other ways of worshiping that weren't giving life. But Paul and Barnabas are worried because people are coming to bring and saying, you can't be saved. You can't know God unless you do all these other things. And so they decide they're gonna go to Jerusalem and go, all right, this is where all the people in charge of the church, this is where they are. We're gonna go and just confirm, make sure we're all on the same page. So even Paul and Barnabas go and they get there. And I don't know about you, but maybe you go, man, why would these guys want more rules? Why would these Jewish folks want more rules? Like Paul and Barnabas are preaching. Hey, like, we don't need to follow all these old customs. Why would people hold on so tightly to them? Why would you say, I don't know about you, but rules can be comforting. Having an objective standard to meet can feel safe. If I have a list of knowing what I need to do, once I get the list checked off, I'm good. I don't have to worry about it. And when you think about relationship with God, it's like it can feel very subjective at times. It can feel that way. You're like, I don't know. Like, give me a list to follow. Give me the things I have to do to know, okay, I did check this off, check this off, check this off. God's good with me. I'm good. Which can be awesome when we're feeling like we're checking off the box as well, right? Like you're reading your Bible, you're like being really kind to your spouse, like you're coming to church, maybe you're giving some, maybe you're serving. Whatever your kind of scoreboard is, it can feel awesome to have a list because we feel confident and we feel good. What's the other side of that? Is that when you, man, I remember growing up, especially in youth group, uh, but even after that, you go and you get together, you're like, how's your week? That's like a that's like a Christian question sometimes. How's your week? And that doesn't just mean like uh what'd you do this week? It means like your life with God, man. Like, how's your week? Oh, it's rough. And oftentimes that meant like didn't read my Bible, didn't pray, skip small group. You know, it's like, how you know, that's how's your week? We kind of have this like scoreboard that we follow. Now everyone doesn't have the same scoreboard, right? Some of us grew up in church, some of us didn't. I grew up very much with a scoreboard. Uh I don't know, I'm not saying my church told me to do that, but it was very much a scoreboard. And it was kind of like, did I read my Bible this week? Check-ish sometimes, maybe not. Did I go to church? I always check that one off. I was like at church every time. Like I could probably count the number of times I've missed a Sunday going to church on my fingers and toes in my life, and I'm only 32. 45. 45. Still, I still think it's true, though, even on vacation. Um, but I have a metric. I have a scoreboard. And at my worst, that's why where I'm evaluating. You know, I mean, as a pastor, scoreboard's looking good today. Chairs are full. Chairs aren't as full. If you're a pastor and ministry leader, you're like, ah, well, that's the one's not checked off this week. But what kind of scoreboard? It's not just me, but I think all of us, we have these scoreboards. And it's not just in life, but in relationship with God. We have a scoreboard that we're saying, what is it? And these people from Jerusalem are coming saying, I'll tell you the scoreboard. The scoreboard's doing these laws and doing these rules, and and it felt safe and it felt good for them. And it can feel good because we can feel confident. But again, here's the thing that's we have to be really honest. And these men who were standing up, and I'm sure it was women as well, too, just talked about the men. This is one of the times where it just mentions the men and it's good. Like the women, you know, the women had it together. The men were the hands when they had the issues. But we can have these lists. The problem is we have to kind of turn a blind eye to the things that we're not checking off. Do you ever do that in comparison to others? It's like, I'm doing great. I mean, I wasn't the kindest to my wife, and I kind of yelled at my kids, and I did say some things in the car while I was driving. That person pulled me up, you know, like cut in front of me. But like, I mean, the other things I'm doing great. And we oftentimes kind of level up the things that we're doing well and diminish the things that we're struggling. And these believers in here, too, that were saying, you need to follow these laws. I am confident they did not follow all the laws perfectly. How do I know that? Because Peter says it. Peter says in verse, uh, in verse 6, he says, in uh, where's it at? Get down here. And che in che verse, there we go. In verse 10. He says, now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? Peter's getting honest. He's like, guys, why are you putting something on them that you haven't been able to do? You haven't been able to follow all the laws. You haven't done all of it perfectly. Now I bet the things that they were thinking of when they were talking to these Gentile believers, I bet they did all those things, though. Right? Like the list that they were saying, make sure you follow, I bet they did that. But I wonder, how did they do in those areas of loving your neighbor as yourself? They probably had some excuses why they didn't do it. And we find those things sometimes too. Man, do you hear Peter? Because Peter, if you remember a couple chapters earlier, if you're new to the Bible, there's a story where Peter he's told to go to this person, Gentile's house named Cornelius. And he's like, I would not even go into his house. But God says, Hey, don't call someone clean, unclean, who I say is clean. And so Peter goes into this house, he starts preaching to this, all these Gentiles, who he's probably at some point going, like, I don't even know am I supposed to be in here, but God told me to be. And as he's preaching about Jesus, they these Gentiles don't raise a hand, they don't pray a special prayer. They just believe in their heart, in the Holy Spirit, that's God's Spirit comes and fills them, and their lives are transformed. Peter, who had no paradigm for people who weren't Jewish to have a relationship with God, is suddenly changed in the way he thinks about it. And invites people in who are on the outside who are outcasts. So here Peter is being confronted by the same thing, and he's like, guys, we have to be honest. We can't keep this standard either. In this language that Peter uses, he says, Don't put this yoke on that we haven't been able to carry. That's actually like a really precise language that Peter is using. Because when a Gentile, a non-Jew would want to come into relationship with God, they would have to become circumcised, they'd have to follow the law of Moses. And do you know what that was called? It was called taking on the law, the yoke of the kingdom of heaven. For someone to become Jewish, they would say taking on the yoke of the kingdom of heaven. So when Peter says, don't put on this yoke, it wasn't just some like metaphor. He was saying, you haven't been able to keep the things that you require everyone else to follow. I want to speak to those of us who have been around church for a long time, or long enough. Do you ever find yourself judging others for things that you struggle with? Or giving yourself a pass on some things, but judging others on other things that you're doing well. Man, I can. Putting things' weights on people that you struggle to hold up yourself. But this language of yoke, some of you might make this connection, but Jesus. Jesus, when he stepped in and started walking and traveling and teaching, this is what God is like. This is what it's like to be in relationship with God. He talks about yokes and weights. One point in Matthew 23, he looks at this Jewish religious leaders, and he says, About these Jewish religious leaders, they crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden. This is what Peter's talking about. We can give these yokes, these weights to people. And they don't help them. Like, here you need to do this, best of luck, and then quick to point out failure, but slow to ever help carry. But Jesus says something else about yokes. He says to everyone worn out under a weight, including the Pharisees, by the way. Jesus says this to everybody, including those who would say, You can't be saved unless you do this. Jesus says this in Matthew 11 from the message paraphrase. Are you tired? Are you worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me, and you'll recover your life. Often do we think about following Jesus as a way of recovering our life? I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me. Watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly. Notice what Jesus doesn't say. He doesn't say no yoke at all. He doesn't say there's no weight at all. He says my yoke. See, the problem was never that if you want to follow Jesus that there's something to carry. The problem was who made the yoke that you're carrying? And is there anyone who's saying they want to help you carry it who made it? The Pharisees were making some of that yoke and not helping at all, but Jesus is saying, I have a yoke that I'm asking you to carry. I've made it, and I've also offered to carry it with you. Jesus says that he hands a yoke to you, and a yoke, by the way, I'm using this word yoke, and maybe you don't, a yoke is like this wooden beam that would often put over livestock that helped them pull wagons or other uh farm equipment. So it would help them pull things, so like set on their shoulders. And Jesus says, I've made one for you, and it fits. And I'm actually going to be on the other side of this yoke helping you. See, Jesus doesn't just watch us struggle, but he says, I want to be there to help you pull it. Jesus actually says, I'm yoked to you. How often during our week, when we're struggling, when we're struggling to believe, or struggling to love, or struggling to forgive, or struggling to overcome an addiction or a pattern, when we feel like we're all alone, do we remember that Jesus says, I'm yoked? To you. I want to help you pull this. But here's the thing. And this is what makes it all possible. It's not about us carrying the yoke that makes us right with God. Because that's only something that Jesus could do. Jesus carries that yoke on his own. And that's the gospel because he already carried it for us. There is a bar, there is a standard that we're called to live in Jesus. Jesus lived the life that we couldn't live. He loved the way that we couldn't live. He served the way that we couldn't live. He put others first the way that we struggled to. And then he took what we had earned: separation from God, death. He died in our place. But then he walked out of the grave. He didn't stay dead, showing that he defeated sin. He defeated death. He defeated the evil one. So when God sees us, when he looks at us, he sees that all of our sin has been washed away. It's all been taken away. He doesn't look for a list to see if we've crossed them off. Because he's crossed everything off the list that needed to be fulfilled. Jesus did. In our place. That means the verdict is already in. The scorecard is already in. The metric that you're trying to say, am I okay with God? Do I have peace with God? That scorecard is already in. The verdict's already in. I've been accepted. You've been accepted. Part of God's family. Jesus did it if you trust in Jesus and let him be yours and you're his. That's grace. Grace means that we can stop performing to get that verdict that we so badly want to hear. Because it's already been given to us. That decision, that goal that we want to reach, it's already been given. Most of the scripture that I've memorized in my life was from being a kid, from being in kids' class. But there's one passage, one verse, there's other ones, but verses that I memorized as an adult that I just that I needed. I didn't learn as a kid. And one of them that I desperately needed. Growing up in my teenage years, in my 20s and 30s, and still to this day. It's in Ephesians 2. It's part of what Linz or Lindsay read. But I learned it in the NIV. Maybe some of you have memorized parts of the Bible or verses, and you're like, I know some of you guys who are older, you're like memorized in uh the King James Version or like new NIV or whatever it is. I learned this in an early NIV translation, but it's this verses of scripture that, because for me, I'm a metrics guy. I love metrics. I love to know where I stand. That's my natural bent. And so with God, it's the same way. Well, I needed to hear this verse in Ephesians 2, uh, verse 8 and 9, and I memorized this one. For it's by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourself. This is a gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. For it is by grace you have been saved. Grace, that means something you can't earn through faith, through trust. And it's not from yourself. That means there's nothing that I could do to work it up, to check off the boxes. No matter how many times I read the Bible that week or prayed or was kind or this is the gift of God. Gifts have to be received, but it's a gift. It's from a generous God who says, I want to give this to you. It's not by work so that no one can boast this was a verse that I needed and still do. That grace has saved me. It's not from me. And when I began to re like memorize this and take it in, feeling this weight come off me, even now, it feels like I carry the weight of somehow trying to be okay with God or know that I'm doing the right thing or that God loves me to come back to this. This is a gift from Him, that I'm loved by Him. And here's the thing that when we come to a place where we know we're accepted, then we can stop needing everyone else to prove that they belong when we know we belong. If you know you're accepted, you don't need everyone else to prove they belong. Because you can rest, you can breathe. You can say, I'm loved. I belong. Like God's my father. When I rest in that and I don't feel like I have to earn it or a white knuckle to hold on, then I don't feel challenged when Dave isn't doing the things that I think I need to do. Or when Jason isn't, or when Jason's doing more than me. Maybe he's like, man, he's serving, he's loving, he's like a way better husband than me. And I have to go like, ah, I feel challenged, insecure. I can go, and I'm accepted and loved by you, God, and and so is Jason. How free would that make us to love other people? How free would that make us if we knew that we were accepted and that we belong because of Jesus? It would set us free to love other people well. So in verse 11, Peter says, No, we believe it's through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we're saved. Just as they are. He's saying, No, guys. You're Jewish, amazing. You're Gentile, awesome. We are right with God because of the very same things. And he would say to the to the Jewish brothers and sisters, we would know this from history, is that if you want to keep doing the law of Moses, great, awesome. You want to keep doing it? Game on. It just doesn't make you any closer to God. It just doesn't make you any closer to Him. He's already loved you and rescued you. And so, James, who's a leader of the church, then, Jesus' brother, he says, It's my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. In other words, stop demanding all this extra stuff that God doesn't require. That means for other people, and that means for you. Stop demanding of yourself things that God hasn't asked of you. Sometimes we make it difficult for other people to come to Jesus. Sometimes we make it difficult for ourselves to come to Jesus. You ever felt like that? You've had like you really feel like I just, man, I really need God's help. But I look at my week this week or my life, and I go, I can't go and pray now. I can't go to him now. Like I gotta get some stuff together, and then I can go to him. James would say, Stop making it so hard for you to come to God. Jesus made the path clear. But here's the thing that we also do if you consider yourself a follower of Jesus, we make it more difficult for people to come to God, but even before we talk to them about God. And that's not maybe the way that you think. I do this. Maybe I'm talking to a breast at a coffee shop or a neighbor friend or a parent of a kid who goes to my kid's school. And I would think, man, you know what, they'd never be interested in Jesus. Because I know they believe this and they do this, and their life looks like this, and there's just no way they'd be interested in Jesus. So I've created hurdles for them for me to even share with them before they even get a chance to respond. I make it more difficult for them to know Jesus, because I've created these boundaries that somehow I say, I can't share Jesus with them because I know they're already going to say no. I don't even let Jesus have an opportunity to meet them. I don't even let them have an opportunity to hear about the gospel, to hear about what God has done in my life. For most of us, we probably don't have those external hurdles where we go, they can't know Jesus because I see what their life looks like. We go, they wouldn't want to know Jesus because I see what their life is like. And we create these obstacles to them. We've already run them through our scorecard and said they're not gonna want to, they're not gonna want to meet these things. They're not gonna want to do these things. But that's not our call. That's not our invitation. Our invitation is to say, here is a God who has changed my life. I just want to tell you about him. Jesus this morning wants to invite us to put on the yoke that he has given us. And it's not a yoke to prove yourself to God, it's not a yoke to get God to like you or to love you or to forgive you. He wants to put a yoke on you that fits and that leads to life, one that he wants to carry with you. And so, James, the apostle, he says this. He gives four requirements to the Gentiles. Now, these aren't four requirements in order to be saved. So, what does he say? He says, abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood. And these four aren't a random list. You might go, I mean, I think at least three of them I probably have never done. And the other one, I mean, I'm pretty good with that. Uh, you know, he's not giving a list of uh this is how you're right with God. Reading this week, there's different thoughts on this, but I think what's most compelling to me is that all these can be attached to pagan worship, temple worship, what their lives look like when they worshiped other gods. These are things that they would do worshiping other gods at temples. These are things that would happen there as they're worship to other gods. It's what James is saying, he's saying that was your old life. That's the things you used to do when you worshiped other gods, other things. You can't go back to the old life. You have to go to this new life that you've been invited into. You can't keep your foot in the old and one foot in the new. You have to completely cut off that part and live this new place and live out this new life with me. Not to earn something, but to have fullness of life that God has invited you into. And this cost them everything. This would have cost them relationships, this would have cost them family, it'll cost them socioeconomic connections that were made in the temple back in their day. But here's the thing I love is that when they get this letter and it says that, what does it say? It says, the people read it and were glad for its encouraging message. What does that tell me? It tells me that the people that were reading it, they had left their life before. And if they hadn't fully, they said, Yeah, that, yes, that resonates. That's what I've been hearing. Is is to follow Jesus, is to leave an old way of life and to go a new direction. They were encouraged by it because they had found that to trust Jesus, to follow him, to have their foot fully in the life of Jesus is actually where real life is found. They found that to be the case. So they were encouraged. You see, there's not, there's no, and it's not that there's no invitation by Jesus to to leave an old way of life and just live new. And as long as I trust Jesus, like He's gonna forgive me, and that's great, so I can just do whatever I want with my life. He's saying, No. You are accepted and welcomed in because of what Christ has done for you. And the fullness of life I'm inviting you into says, leave the old way and go a new direction. Give your heart fully to me. Friends, that's freedom. So often we think freedom is the ability to just do whatever. We want whatever we think sounds good in the moment, right? But this is freedom that's being laid out is the freedom to say no to what kills and yes fully to what gives life. Fully step into the life that Jesus has welcomed us into. But most of us we don't live there. We don't live in this place of knowing that we've been accepted and welcomed and adopted and loved, and out of that place we want to obey. We live out of trying to prove ourselves. We have our scorecard and our metrics that we're grading ourselves on and we're grading others on. And this morning, the question I want us to sit in and just win some silence is this. What are you grading yourself on? What are you grading yourself on? What is it? Who is it that makes you feel like I'm okay with God? Maybe better yet, God's okay with me. What is it? I just want us to sit with that for a minute in silence, just quiet, and the band will come up and lead us in some worship and wow, prayer ministry, but I want us to start with just asking that question. You can leave that up. What are you grading yourself on? Maybe another question is what are you grading others on? How are you evaluating others? See which one kind of like hooks into your heart and sit with that question, or it's gonna take a minute of silence. If that was you, you felt like God's stirring, you're just like, man, I I want to let go of this scorecard that I have. Maybe for someone else, for yourself. You would, if you feel comfortable, you can just um hold your hands out just as a way. I'd just like to pray just blessing over you if you feel comfortable saying, Yes, I want that. Father, I just pray over each woman, man, teenager in this room holding their hands out. God, I pray the blessing of your yoke on their shoulders. It isn't ill-fitting, but that's for them. And I pray, God, a scorecard that they're keeping, it would be wiped clean. It would be wiped clean. All those fill-in, all those bubbles to check off, those boxes, that they would just be wiped clean. That Father, you would set hearts free today to know that they are loved, that they are loved and delighted in by you. Freedom for their hearts, God. Freedom from my heart, God. Thank you, Lord. We could all stand. I'm gonna invite our prayer team up as well, too. If you've been trained to pray, I'd love to have you up here to pray for some folks. And um, here in the vineyard, we believe that that God still speaks today through scripture, but also through um just impressions and words uh as well, too. And a friend of mine shared that he just felt like um there was a mom here today, or maybe multiple moms, um, that they just feel like they're constantly failing. Like you're doing mom stuff, you're like caring for kids, you're like loving your husband well, and yet you just feel like you're failing. You just feel like you're constantly like just falling behind. If that's you, I just want to encourage you. I feel like the Lord just wants to highlight that for you is that God's just saying you're not failing, you're his, you're loved by him. You're doing the stuff of what it means to be a parent. That's you, we'd love to pray for you. We'd love to pray for you. If we can pray for you about anything else if you need healing or just something today that really stirred your heart, we'd love to pray for you this morning as the team leads us in worship.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:40

Where can I go from your purse? Where can I go from spear? Even with a two, you don't have to. Even then shines from the morning. You make me hit spiritually hid. You go before me. Your love surrounds me. Changing me a mistake. You make me hid Spirit, you meet me here. Always embracing, never rejecting. Your kindness draws me. You mean me here Spirit, you mean me here always embracing, never rejecting your kindness draws me.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:14

As we close our time together, to invite you to open your hands to receive blessings of the Lord. So, Lord, we welcome your presence and I ask in this moment that you would speak your blessing over your people. So I bless you as daughters and sons. That when your innermost thoughts are quiet, that what you would hear is the love and acceptance of God your Father. And an invitation to become more like him. I bless you to have clarity and wisdom about the things that God is calling you to let go of and the things that he's asking you to take on. I bless you to have wisdom to see the good gifts of God and to have the courage to say yes. To see the path ahead of you lit by the light of Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit. I bless you in the name of our perfect Father, our perfect Son, and the present and powerful Holy Spirit who guides each one of us. Amen and amen. Go in peace, go on grace. Grace for yourself, grace for others. Amen. If you're continuing to pray, please take your time. There's no worry. And if you are still wanting prayer, it's not too late. You can come up and receive prayer as well.