As I read Chapter 5 in Crazy Love I was struck by two things:
1. Oh my God, this is painful. Soul-wrenching. Convicting to the max.
2. Conviction is a good thing.
And so I was thinking about conviction and santification and the verse in Psalms 66 that tells us "For we have been refined as silver is refined."
Silver is refined by melting it down, silver melts at nearly 1800 degrees f.
There is something wonderful and beautiful that God is bringing us to through this study, but the refining process is not a painless thing.
An old poem that came to mind while thinking through tonight.
Its old and not very good, please forgive me. I still like it though after all these years.
When The Hammer Hits The String
When the hammer hits the string
Before the melody beings to ring
Before there was a song to sing
What pain lies in the hammer blow?
And see the silver of the crown
How many times was it melted down
And now its brilliance shines all around
What pain lies in the forger's flame?
What pain lies in the hammer blow
When all has been turned white as snow?
And would the silver want to show
The dirt and dross above it's glow?
So what pain lies before the throne above
What pain remembered within His love
And all the tears that would remind us of
What pain lies in the hands of God...
All gone amidst the beauty
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
Introduction to Crazy Love
I have a few things to say before we dive into tonights video, and I'll try to keep it brief because I'm super excited about what Francis Chan has written here. I really love it.
I love the topic of Gods love. Whenever I need to speak or teach or preach or whatever and I have no idea what to talk about I'll always go back to this: God's love.
And its funny, because I'll never exhaust the subject. There will always be more to say and more to learn.
Its incredible. Like a child asking God how much He loves him and God opens His arms and tells the child "I love you this much." And as the child grows older and begins to realize just how big God is he begins to realize just how far those arms stretch, how much God loves us.
But? Wait? What? Excuse me, David. Crazy Love talks about us loving God. What does that have to do with Gods love?
I'll come back to that.
When I read this book last year it really redefined how I looked at loving God and what God desired out of our relationship. What I had once considered to be basic Christianity and extreme Christianity got tweaked. All of a sudden the bar was so much higher. It was an incredible thing, it was wonderful.
I really want to warn you about something you may deal with while reading this book: a small quiet voice in the back of your head.
Tell you "You don't love God like that, you've never loved God like that, I don't even think you'll ever be able to love God like that. Don't even bother. You're a failure, you don't deserve to call yourself a child of God if this is how you've treated your father in the past."
That. Is. A. Lie.
That is not conviction, that is condemnation and it comes from Satan, Satan wants to kill you, you should not listen to him.
So this leads us back to the question that really should be asked before we start reading a book.
Why do we love God?
1 John 4:19
and again in John 3:16-17
and the answer to this question "why do we love God?" really shows how vile of a lie it is that really is.
because God did not wait for us to love Him before He started to love us.
He did not wait for us to consider Him valuable before He considered us precious.
He did not wait for us to understand the cost of our redemption before He payed blood for us.
So yes, be convicted. Come out of this desiring to love God with everything within you but don't be condemned.
conviction calls you higher, desires your best, shows you were you can improve.
This is God. And God is love.
I love the topic of Gods love. Whenever I need to speak or teach or preach or whatever and I have no idea what to talk about I'll always go back to this: God's love.
And its funny, because I'll never exhaust the subject. There will always be more to say and more to learn.
Its incredible. Like a child asking God how much He loves him and God opens His arms and tells the child "I love you this much." And as the child grows older and begins to realize just how big God is he begins to realize just how far those arms stretch, how much God loves us.
But? Wait? What? Excuse me, David. Crazy Love talks about us loving God. What does that have to do with Gods love?
I'll come back to that.
When I read this book last year it really redefined how I looked at loving God and what God desired out of our relationship. What I had once considered to be basic Christianity and extreme Christianity got tweaked. All of a sudden the bar was so much higher. It was an incredible thing, it was wonderful.
I really want to warn you about something you may deal with while reading this book: a small quiet voice in the back of your head.
Tell you "You don't love God like that, you've never loved God like that, I don't even think you'll ever be able to love God like that. Don't even bother. You're a failure, you don't deserve to call yourself a child of God if this is how you've treated your father in the past."
That. Is. A. Lie.
That is not conviction, that is condemnation and it comes from Satan, Satan wants to kill you, you should not listen to him.
So this leads us back to the question that really should be asked before we start reading a book.
Why do we love God?
1 John 4:19
and again in John 3:16-17
and the answer to this question "why do we love God?" really shows how vile of a lie it is that really is.
because God did not wait for us to love Him before He started to love us.
He did not wait for us to consider Him valuable before He considered us precious.
He did not wait for us to understand the cost of our redemption before He payed blood for us.
So yes, be convicted. Come out of this desiring to love God with everything within you but don't be condemned.
conviction calls you higher, desires your best, shows you were you can improve.
This is God. And God is love.
Ebenezer: a symbol of God's provision
The old hymns are awesome. Some of them are really difficult to sing and seemed to be written before people started writing catchy tunes and are as slow as . Sure, some of them are as exciting to sing as watching paint dry but a lot of them are theology lessons set to music. Of course language has changed quite a in the last 250 years so sometimes I'm singing along and I come to a bit where I have no idea whatsoever what the
Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I'm come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.
This one line made no sense to me whatsoever. Here I raise mine ebenezer? What? What does that even mean?
Does anyone know?
Well, I took a look. Did a little study. I liked what I found so I thought I'd share it with you as well. The answer can be found in Joshua 4.
Allow me to set the scene. Joshua is leading the nation of Israel out of the wilderness and into the promise land. In the next few chapters we will see the destruction of the city of Jericho. Now Jericho was kind of like the doorkeeper guarding the entrance of the promise land, or maybe the first level boss, but before the Israelites could even consider attacking Jericho that had one significant obstacle to overcome: The river Jordan.
Now, do not mistake the Jordan river for the creek that runs behind the church. This was a fast moving, large body of water about 45 feet wide. It would have been difficult to cross at the best of times, and some scholars believed that this was hardly the best of times. Some think that it would have been the flood season when Israel arrived at Jordan's banks. So, getting 40,000 soldiers and their families over this river would have been an impossible task for Joshua.
An impossible task that probably would have been doubly so once you start considering the tactical situation.
1. With a river like the Jordan there would have been only a few good places to try crossing it.
2. All of those places would have been known.
3. So, drop a couple hundred archers on the far bank and you'll turn someones river crossing into a blood bath. You think the people of Jericho didn't know this?
Also, much like how the Eygptians worshiped the Nile river so the people of caanan would have considered the Jordan a symbol of Baal's protection.
So when God simply stops the river in its track and allows the people of Israel to cross on dry land this is a wake up call to the people of Caanan. They've got 40,000 soldiers dropped on their doorstep, their "god" has proved to be absolutely powerless to protect them.
So its here that we pick up the story.
Joshua 4:1-4
1 When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua,
2 “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe,
3 and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.”
4 So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe,
5 and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites,
6 to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’
7 tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”
Now, if anyone is thinking "so they made a pile of rocks, big deal, whose going to notice?" Remind yourself of this. Joshua sent a bunch of men, soldiers in fact, out into the river to get themselves a rock to honor God. Do you think they just wandered out and picked up any old rock or do you think they found themselves the biggest rock they could carry. It says that they carried these stones on their shoulders. You don't carry brick sized rocks on your shoulder. You don't even carry rocks the size of your head on your shoulder. You carry big rocks on your shoulder.
This was a pretty cool pile of rocks. This wasn't going to get accidently kicked over by some dude's passing donkey.
So....
Go, send a man from each tribe to get themselves a rock and make a tower so that, generations from now, your children and your children's children will ask you why that giant pile of rocks is there and you'll be able to tell them what I did for you. Tell them so what has happened today won't be forgotten.
Remember what I have done for you, and pass that on to your children. Remind yourself.
So that's an Ebenezer, a reminder of God's provision. Now, I've got a couple questions:
Can you think of any symbols like this in your daily life?
Anywhere else in the old testament? (just about everything)
At church? (crosses)
Did Jesus create? (communion)
Ones you're set up for yourself? (my sword)
Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I'm come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.
This one line made no sense to me whatsoever. Here I raise mine ebenezer? What? What does that even mean?
Does anyone know?
Well, I took a look. Did a little study. I liked what I found so I thought I'd share it with you as well. The answer can be found in Joshua 4.
Allow me to set the scene. Joshua is leading the nation of Israel out of the wilderness and into the promise land. In the next few chapters we will see the destruction of the city of Jericho. Now Jericho was kind of like the doorkeeper guarding the entrance of the promise land, or maybe the first level boss, but before the Israelites could even consider attacking Jericho that had one significant obstacle to overcome: The river Jordan.
Now, do not mistake the Jordan river for the creek that runs behind the church. This was a fast moving, large body of water about 45 feet wide. It would have been difficult to cross at the best of times, and some scholars believed that this was hardly the best of times. Some think that it would have been the flood season when Israel arrived at Jordan's banks. So, getting 40,000 soldiers and their families over this river would have been an impossible task for Joshua.
An impossible task that probably would have been doubly so once you start considering the tactical situation.
1. With a river like the Jordan there would have been only a few good places to try crossing it.
2. All of those places would have been known.
3. So, drop a couple hundred archers on the far bank and you'll turn someones river crossing into a blood bath. You think the people of Jericho didn't know this?
Also, much like how the Eygptians worshiped the Nile river so the people of caanan would have considered the Jordan a symbol of Baal's protection.
So when God simply stops the river in its track and allows the people of Israel to cross on dry land this is a wake up call to the people of Caanan. They've got 40,000 soldiers dropped on their doorstep, their "god" has proved to be absolutely powerless to protect them.
So its here that we pick up the story.
Joshua 4:1-4
1 When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua,
2 “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe,
3 and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.”
4 So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe,
5 and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites,
6 to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’
7 tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”
Now, if anyone is thinking "so they made a pile of rocks, big deal, whose going to notice?" Remind yourself of this. Joshua sent a bunch of men, soldiers in fact, out into the river to get themselves a rock to honor God. Do you think they just wandered out and picked up any old rock or do you think they found themselves the biggest rock they could carry. It says that they carried these stones on their shoulders. You don't carry brick sized rocks on your shoulder. You don't even carry rocks the size of your head on your shoulder. You carry big rocks on your shoulder.
This was a pretty cool pile of rocks. This wasn't going to get accidently kicked over by some dude's passing donkey.
So....
Go, send a man from each tribe to get themselves a rock and make a tower so that, generations from now, your children and your children's children will ask you why that giant pile of rocks is there and you'll be able to tell them what I did for you. Tell them so what has happened today won't be forgotten.
Remember what I have done for you, and pass that on to your children. Remind yourself.
So that's an Ebenezer, a reminder of God's provision. Now, I've got a couple questions:
Can you think of any symbols like this in your daily life?
Anywhere else in the old testament? (just about everything)
At church? (crosses)
Did Jesus create? (communion)
Ones you're set up for yourself? (my sword)
The Widows Mite, or Loves Might
Mark 12:41-44
41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts.
42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.
44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
Now several weeks ago at First Friday Pastor Zack at Calvary Chapel pointed out that Jesus is examining all these peoples gifts based not on what they had offered, but what they had left over afterwards.
Now a story from my own life. Several years ago, on my birthday, I recieved a small box from my sister Lily which contained in it a couple quarters, nickels and dimes totaling up to a dollar. Now, she was what, seven at the time. She didn't have a job, she didn't have an allowance. A gift from her was usually a picture or a poem or something she made, but this year she decided that for whatever reason that she would give me a dollar.
And I still have that box, with the money that she gave me all those years ago, and to this day I cannot think of that gift without tearing up. Not because of how big it was, but because it was, I suspect, everything she had. Every single cent she possessed in the world. And she gave it for no other reason that she loved me.
And it reminded me of this parable, because that's exactly what that widow was offering. Everything she had. Sure, it was pocket change but the number wasn't the important part, the important part was she gave everything she had.
And I promise you this isn't about money. Its never about money because money is only numbers. But I ask you how many other things in our lives do we hold back because we don't think we have enough to make a worthy offering.
I can't pray out loud, I don't know what to say.
I can't sing during worship, they have such a better voice, I don't know the song very well.
I can't help that person doing that thing, I'm not very strong.
I can't share in front of the group, I have stage fright.
And so often it seems that we hold off on trying something until we feel like we'll be able to do it well. Because hey, isn't it better to not do something than to do it wrong? Sure seems like it. But if that was true then we'd never do anything, and if that was the case I certainly wouldn't be trying to lead this youth group, because half the time I don't think I have any idea what I'm doing. And don't even get me started on leading worship. That's something I never thought I'd be able to do.
In Paul's first letter to his young protege Timothy he tells the youth man what has probably become the theme verse to half the youth groups in America:
1 Timothy 4:12
12 Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.
Don't be discouraged because of your inexperience, because of what you haven't done. Because God is not looking at what you give, but what you're holding back. And what you are supposed to do are not things that need two to three years experience.
Because you don't have to sing like Phil Wickham or David Crowder to worship and you don't need to speak in tongues to pray and you don't need a degree from bible college to preach and you certainly have to attend a seven week training course to love someone.
Because if we are willing just to let go and give it our all and trust God then He's going to make up the difference. He's going to make our worship beautiful, He's going to give us words to pray, He's going to show us things in His word that will blow our tiny little minds. He will love people through us.
So at this time, when we look forward with anticipation to a day we devote to remembering a time when God sent His son to earth to save us, and we celebrate that gift by exchanging gifts with those we love...
Remember this, that God gave everything He had to see us freed of the burdens and condemnation of sin that would have otherwise locked us into an endless cycle of laws and an endless search for unattainable perfection.
But He promised to make up the difference in our lives if we would just trust Him and throw ourselves into this whole Christian thing head first.
Remember that we should love Him enough to give our all, even when we think our all isn't even enough to be worth mentioning. And that He will make up the difference.
Let us pray.
41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts.
42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.
44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
Now several weeks ago at First Friday Pastor Zack at Calvary Chapel pointed out that Jesus is examining all these peoples gifts based not on what they had offered, but what they had left over afterwards.
Now a story from my own life. Several years ago, on my birthday, I recieved a small box from my sister Lily which contained in it a couple quarters, nickels and dimes totaling up to a dollar. Now, she was what, seven at the time. She didn't have a job, she didn't have an allowance. A gift from her was usually a picture or a poem or something she made, but this year she decided that for whatever reason that she would give me a dollar.
And I still have that box, with the money that she gave me all those years ago, and to this day I cannot think of that gift without tearing up. Not because of how big it was, but because it was, I suspect, everything she had. Every single cent she possessed in the world. And she gave it for no other reason that she loved me.
And it reminded me of this parable, because that's exactly what that widow was offering. Everything she had. Sure, it was pocket change but the number wasn't the important part, the important part was she gave everything she had.
And I promise you this isn't about money. Its never about money because money is only numbers. But I ask you how many other things in our lives do we hold back because we don't think we have enough to make a worthy offering.
I can't pray out loud, I don't know what to say.
I can't sing during worship, they have such a better voice, I don't know the song very well.
I can't help that person doing that thing, I'm not very strong.
I can't share in front of the group, I have stage fright.
And so often it seems that we hold off on trying something until we feel like we'll be able to do it well. Because hey, isn't it better to not do something than to do it wrong? Sure seems like it. But if that was true then we'd never do anything, and if that was the case I certainly wouldn't be trying to lead this youth group, because half the time I don't think I have any idea what I'm doing. And don't even get me started on leading worship. That's something I never thought I'd be able to do.
In Paul's first letter to his young protege Timothy he tells the youth man what has probably become the theme verse to half the youth groups in America:
1 Timothy 4:12
12 Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.
Don't be discouraged because of your inexperience, because of what you haven't done. Because God is not looking at what you give, but what you're holding back. And what you are supposed to do are not things that need two to three years experience.
Because you don't have to sing like Phil Wickham or David Crowder to worship and you don't need to speak in tongues to pray and you don't need a degree from bible college to preach and you certainly have to attend a seven week training course to love someone.
Because if we are willing just to let go and give it our all and trust God then He's going to make up the difference. He's going to make our worship beautiful, He's going to give us words to pray, He's going to show us things in His word that will blow our tiny little minds. He will love people through us.
So at this time, when we look forward with anticipation to a day we devote to remembering a time when God sent His son to earth to save us, and we celebrate that gift by exchanging gifts with those we love...
Remember this, that God gave everything He had to see us freed of the burdens and condemnation of sin that would have otherwise locked us into an endless cycle of laws and an endless search for unattainable perfection.
But He promised to make up the difference in our lives if we would just trust Him and throw ourselves into this whole Christian thing head first.
Remember that we should love Him enough to give our all, even when we think our all isn't even enough to be worth mentioning. And that He will make up the difference.
Let us pray.
Zechariah
I've now watched something like three different productions of the Nativey Story this year. My sisters school did a production from the viewpoint of the angels watching over the arrival of the Savior, a couple of other kids from that school that we know did a concert mixed with a living nativity, I watched the film The Nativity Story for the first time, and its a film thats been growing in the back of my head, I'm just loving it more and more with each passing day. But throughout all these productions I've found myself drawn more and more towards a small but important player, the priest Zechariah.
Luke 1:9-20
9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.
11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.
12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear.
13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.
14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth,
15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born.
16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.
17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous— to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
18 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
19 The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.
20 And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”
Boom, how awesome is that? An angel of the Lord shows up in the temple and tells him that he is going to have a son. And when Zachariah voices his doubts on whether or not this is actually going to happen. Gabriel is all like "Who do you think is talking to you? You're going to doubt me? I stand in the very presence of God and He, the creator of the universe, has chosen me to deliever to you this message. You don't believe it? Fine, but you are not going to spoil this wonderous thing with your doubts. You can keep them to yourself."
And shazam! Zachariah is struck speechless until that which God told him was going to happen actually does happen.
And I was sitting there, watching the rather wonderful production of the youth at Lighthouse Christian church, listening to David Crowder music and thinking about Zechariah and I realized that when you can't talk about something, or in fact can't talk about anything you spend an awful lot of time watching everyone around you and thinking.
And how much time do you think Zechariah spent thinking about what was going on around him? How much time to do you think he spent in those nine months of silence considering the implications of what he was seeing unfold before him?
Zechariah, for all his moments of foolish doubt, was not a stupid man. He was a priest, he was educated, he knew what he was watching unfold.
He knew the Messiah was coming.
So lets look at what is happening right in front of him. Look at what God is doing in the space of these few chapters.
God is doing some incredible things, God is showing up in ways that hadn't even been dreamed of in 400 years. There are no less than four angelic visitations. God creates life from nothing to create a child unburdened by the curse of sin, the first time since the creation of the universe.
There are choirs of angels, it says in Luke that there are multitudes of heavenly beings.
Now, lets take a step back for a moment and ponder this: what do you think of when you think multitude? Because I know when I watch Christmas plays it means like, 15 tinsel covered little children.
But for a real view of what it means for a multitude imagine Acquire the Fire, or Winter Jam, or a baseball game, maybe the super bowl. Now imagine every one of those people are angels, beings that the sight of just one of them caused people to fall on their faces in pure unadulterated fear and wonder if they were dead.
Now imagine a stadium full of that, except their scattered across the sky and they are singing. No, not just singing, they are worshiping God with every fiber of their being.
Its a thing of beauty, precisely crafted by the creator God to welcome His son to earth.
So know this, that God did not want the birth of His son to be forgotten or ignored. In fact He made it pretty much impossible to miss. The biggest and best birthday party EVER. It was epic, it was awesome, it was God welcoming His son to earth.
Now there comes a time every year when I'm walking through the house, maybe to grab a snack or whatever. The lights are off, my families asleep but the Christmas lights on the tree have been left on and there it is: a glowing thing of beauty, with presents piled overflowing around the base of the tree and I just take a moment or three and sit there and stare at it. Sometimes I pray, sometimes I find a bible and read the story of Jesus's birth but most of the time I just sit and stare at this thing I'm constantly walking by and really barely noticing during the day.
And its great to take that time to really just think about the fact that its Christmas and everything that means to me.
It says in Luke 2 that after all the angels and the wise men and everything else that happened to mark the birth of the Savior that Mary did what?
Luke 2:19
19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
So, I just want to encourage you. Grab your bible, take some time between now and Christmas, get away from everybody, or maybe do it with your sister or your brother or your parents and read through this story and ponder it, and take some time to wonder what it means to you personally.
Luke 1:9-20
9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.
11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.
12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear.
13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.
14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth,
15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born.
16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.
17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous— to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
18 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
19 The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.
20 And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”
Boom, how awesome is that? An angel of the Lord shows up in the temple and tells him that he is going to have a son. And when Zachariah voices his doubts on whether or not this is actually going to happen. Gabriel is all like "Who do you think is talking to you? You're going to doubt me? I stand in the very presence of God and He, the creator of the universe, has chosen me to deliever to you this message. You don't believe it? Fine, but you are not going to spoil this wonderous thing with your doubts. You can keep them to yourself."
And shazam! Zachariah is struck speechless until that which God told him was going to happen actually does happen.
And I was sitting there, watching the rather wonderful production of the youth at Lighthouse Christian church, listening to David Crowder music and thinking about Zechariah and I realized that when you can't talk about something, or in fact can't talk about anything you spend an awful lot of time watching everyone around you and thinking.
And how much time do you think Zechariah spent thinking about what was going on around him? How much time to do you think he spent in those nine months of silence considering the implications of what he was seeing unfold before him?
Zechariah, for all his moments of foolish doubt, was not a stupid man. He was a priest, he was educated, he knew what he was watching unfold.
He knew the Messiah was coming.
So lets look at what is happening right in front of him. Look at what God is doing in the space of these few chapters.
God is doing some incredible things, God is showing up in ways that hadn't even been dreamed of in 400 years. There are no less than four angelic visitations. God creates life from nothing to create a child unburdened by the curse of sin, the first time since the creation of the universe.
There are choirs of angels, it says in Luke that there are multitudes of heavenly beings.
Now, lets take a step back for a moment and ponder this: what do you think of when you think multitude? Because I know when I watch Christmas plays it means like, 15 tinsel covered little children.
But for a real view of what it means for a multitude imagine Acquire the Fire, or Winter Jam, or a baseball game, maybe the super bowl. Now imagine every one of those people are angels, beings that the sight of just one of them caused people to fall on their faces in pure unadulterated fear and wonder if they were dead.
Now imagine a stadium full of that, except their scattered across the sky and they are singing. No, not just singing, they are worshiping God with every fiber of their being.
Its a thing of beauty, precisely crafted by the creator God to welcome His son to earth.
So know this, that God did not want the birth of His son to be forgotten or ignored. In fact He made it pretty much impossible to miss. The biggest and best birthday party EVER. It was epic, it was awesome, it was God welcoming His son to earth.
Now there comes a time every year when I'm walking through the house, maybe to grab a snack or whatever. The lights are off, my families asleep but the Christmas lights on the tree have been left on and there it is: a glowing thing of beauty, with presents piled overflowing around the base of the tree and I just take a moment or three and sit there and stare at it. Sometimes I pray, sometimes I find a bible and read the story of Jesus's birth but most of the time I just sit and stare at this thing I'm constantly walking by and really barely noticing during the day.
And its great to take that time to really just think about the fact that its Christmas and everything that means to me.
It says in Luke 2 that after all the angels and the wise men and everything else that happened to mark the birth of the Savior that Mary did what?
Luke 2:19
19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
So, I just want to encourage you. Grab your bible, take some time between now and Christmas, get away from everybody, or maybe do it with your sister or your brother or your parents and read through this story and ponder it, and take some time to wonder what it means to you personally.
11-22-11 Thankful People Give
Now, I was seriously considering, for irony's sake, talking tonight about fasting. But ultimately I decided that that was kind of a silly idea, considering that the point of Thanksgiving is, surprisingly enough, not the food or the football or the family, its the um, giving of thanks persay.
So lets get this show on the road and turn to Matthew 18, where we'll examine the parable of the servant with really bad spending habits.
Matt 18:23-35
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold[a] was brought to him.
25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’
27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.[b] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.
31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.
33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’
34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
On the surface this parable is about forgiveness, but I'd like to draw another image from it. That of giving.
Because when the servant is forgiven his debt there is an expectation there. That he will continue to do what has been done for him.
The king forgave the servant an unbelievably huge debt and he expects that servant to do the same to those that owe him a debt.
Because
Now, what does this parable have to do with thanksgiving?
Thankful people give.
Can you look at that servant and say: "Oh yeah, he was thankful for the gift he received." I mean, the King looked at the servants debt, a debt that I should note was for more money than you could probably ever spend, and said "You. Don't. Have. To. Pay. This. Back." and the servant just runs out and threatens to break his fellow servants legs if that other servant doesn't pay back the 20 bucks he owes him.
I mean, if you get given something and its awesome, its this amazing thing that you've always wanted and your sister or your brother or your parents get it for you, what is the first thing you do? You get on Facebook and you post a status update.
But no, seriously, if you are given something truly amazing then you want to share it with everyone around you.
Like I said, Thankful people give.
Paul is going to make this connection in 2 Corinthians.
Now lets look at 2 Corinthians as Paul talks to the people of Corinth about giving and the thankfulness it generates.
2 Corinthians 9:6-15
6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
9 As it is written:
“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;
their righteousness endures forever.”[a]
10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.
11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.
13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.
14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you.
15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
So this is Paul talking to the people of Corinth about giving, specifically to another church in a different city that was in the midst of a time of poverty and persecution.
And there is a promise in there that God will provide for those that give to those in need.
God promises such wonderful words as "increase" and "enlarge" and enriched to a point where you can be generous at any time or place.
And "Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves,"
"Because of your actions which proved what you always said about yourself"
people will praise god.
Because apparently this is a confession of the gospel
Giving is a confession, a declaration of the gospel.
If you're one of those people who have a really hard time telling people about God and His saving grace, then this is it, this is your "shortcut":
Giving is a confession of the gospel.
And I don't think its a coincidence that Paul draws the peoples of Corinth's attention back to what they themselves should be thankful for themselves here.
I mean, it seems random but as I look at that first parable.
Thankful people give.
He's not just encouraging the people of Corinth to give, he's holding them accountable.
2 Corinthians 9:1-5
1 There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the Lord’s people.
2 For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action.
3 But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready, as I said you would be.
4 For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we—not to say anything about you—would be ashamed of having been so confident.
5 So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.
Now I know, talking to a youth group, a small youth group in a small church, its difficult to talk about giving because everyone thinks that giving is all about money and I'll be completely honest. When I look around this room I don't see a whole lot of high rolling millionaires. But please don't simply wave away everything I've said because you think that the only thing you can give is money is just plain silly. Certainly it is important, and its certainly its the focus tonight but understand that money isn't the only thing you can give. If you can, great, that's awesome, but those of you who can't understand that some of the greatest things you can give is not money but time (honestly, there will always be more money, your time in finite), and encouragement and prayer.
Paul himself says in 2 Corinthians 8: 10-12 that the desire to give what one can is more important than any magical number.
10 And here is my judgment about what is best for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so.
11 Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means.
12 For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.
Now, there are a thousand different ways to give during the Christmas season.
Countless, to the point that I wish some of those ministries would celebrate Christmas in July.
I mean, I go to church and there's World Visions Christmas catalog, there's Operation: Christmas Child, there's our church's ministry to San Quinten, you throw a snowball and you hit someone asking you to give to their ministry and I'll be honest, its a bit overwhelming to get gifts for my own family, let alone someone I don't even know.
There is one though that I'd like to draw your attention to though:
Pretty much all of you were at Winter Jam last week, which means that pretty much all of you heard a them talk about the ministry of Holt International, who are a group of people who seek to get orphans in asia and africa adopted. So, I thought how wonderful it would be for the youth group to meet that need.
So meet Dilgeba. She's a child in Etheopia that needs someones help, and it might as well be us.
Now, I can't tell you how much more pure and undefiled religion you can get than sacrificing what you have to bless someone who not only desparately needs it but we most likely will never meet. Such things
And like it says in verse 6, God will provide for those who give.
For example: Winter Jam, God proved an opportunity to make back the money I spent before I even went to the event.
Now if you walk away from tonight thinking "Oh David wants our money." Then I'm sorry, I've completely failed tonight because I don't want you money.
Money is only valuable because of what you can do with it. After world war 2 geman money was worth so little that it would take a wheelbarrow full to buy a loaf of bread. Honestly, they would have been better off burning it to keep themselves warm than trying to spend it, it was worth so little. Pennies cost more to make than they are worth. I don't want your money, God doesn't want your money.
If it comes down to it I will support this little child myself because I know that God will provide for me just as he is providing for her through me.
But this is a wonderful opportunity. To know that you are causing people to give thanks to God.
What is it say in the Westminster catechism? The chief end, the main purpose of man is to too what? Bring glory to God (and enjoy him forever). .
And think about this thanksgiving not just what you are thankful for but how you can make someone else thankful for something.
Let us pray.
So lets get this show on the road and turn to Matthew 18, where we'll examine the parable of the servant with really bad spending habits.
Matt 18:23-35
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold[a] was brought to him.
25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’
27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.[b] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.
31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.
33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’
34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
On the surface this parable is about forgiveness, but I'd like to draw another image from it. That of giving.
Because when the servant is forgiven his debt there is an expectation there. That he will continue to do what has been done for him.
The king forgave the servant an unbelievably huge debt and he expects that servant to do the same to those that owe him a debt.
Because
Now, what does this parable have to do with thanksgiving?
Thankful people give.
Can you look at that servant and say: "Oh yeah, he was thankful for the gift he received." I mean, the King looked at the servants debt, a debt that I should note was for more money than you could probably ever spend, and said "You. Don't. Have. To. Pay. This. Back." and the servant just runs out and threatens to break his fellow servants legs if that other servant doesn't pay back the 20 bucks he owes him.
I mean, if you get given something and its awesome, its this amazing thing that you've always wanted and your sister or your brother or your parents get it for you, what is the first thing you do? You get on Facebook and you post a status update.
But no, seriously, if you are given something truly amazing then you want to share it with everyone around you.
Like I said, Thankful people give.
Paul is going to make this connection in 2 Corinthians.
Now lets look at 2 Corinthians as Paul talks to the people of Corinth about giving and the thankfulness it generates.
2 Corinthians 9:6-15
6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
9 As it is written:
“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;
their righteousness endures forever.”[a]
10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.
11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.
13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.
14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you.
15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
So this is Paul talking to the people of Corinth about giving, specifically to another church in a different city that was in the midst of a time of poverty and persecution.
And there is a promise in there that God will provide for those that give to those in need.
God promises such wonderful words as "increase" and "enlarge" and enriched to a point where you can be generous at any time or place.
And "Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves,"
"Because of your actions which proved what you always said about yourself"
people will praise god.
Because apparently this is a confession of the gospel
Giving is a confession, a declaration of the gospel.
If you're one of those people who have a really hard time telling people about God and His saving grace, then this is it, this is your "shortcut":
Giving is a confession of the gospel.
And I don't think its a coincidence that Paul draws the peoples of Corinth's attention back to what they themselves should be thankful for themselves here.
I mean, it seems random but as I look at that first parable.
Thankful people give.
He's not just encouraging the people of Corinth to give, he's holding them accountable.
2 Corinthians 9:1-5
1 There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the Lord’s people.
2 For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action.
3 But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready, as I said you would be.
4 For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we—not to say anything about you—would be ashamed of having been so confident.
5 So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.
Now I know, talking to a youth group, a small youth group in a small church, its difficult to talk about giving because everyone thinks that giving is all about money and I'll be completely honest. When I look around this room I don't see a whole lot of high rolling millionaires. But please don't simply wave away everything I've said because you think that the only thing you can give is money is just plain silly. Certainly it is important, and its certainly its the focus tonight but understand that money isn't the only thing you can give. If you can, great, that's awesome, but those of you who can't understand that some of the greatest things you can give is not money but time (honestly, there will always be more money, your time in finite), and encouragement and prayer.
Paul himself says in 2 Corinthians 8: 10-12 that the desire to give what one can is more important than any magical number.
10 And here is my judgment about what is best for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so.
11 Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means.
12 For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.
Now, there are a thousand different ways to give during the Christmas season.
Countless, to the point that I wish some of those ministries would celebrate Christmas in July.
I mean, I go to church and there's World Visions Christmas catalog, there's Operation: Christmas Child, there's our church's ministry to San Quinten, you throw a snowball and you hit someone asking you to give to their ministry and I'll be honest, its a bit overwhelming to get gifts for my own family, let alone someone I don't even know.
There is one though that I'd like to draw your attention to though:
Pretty much all of you were at Winter Jam last week, which means that pretty much all of you heard a them talk about the ministry of Holt International, who are a group of people who seek to get orphans in asia and africa adopted. So, I thought how wonderful it would be for the youth group to meet that need.
So meet Dilgeba. She's a child in Etheopia that needs someones help, and it might as well be us.
Now, I can't tell you how much more pure and undefiled religion you can get than sacrificing what you have to bless someone who not only desparately needs it but we most likely will never meet. Such things
And like it says in verse 6, God will provide for those who give.
For example: Winter Jam, God proved an opportunity to make back the money I spent before I even went to the event.
Now if you walk away from tonight thinking "Oh David wants our money." Then I'm sorry, I've completely failed tonight because I don't want you money.
Money is only valuable because of what you can do with it. After world war 2 geman money was worth so little that it would take a wheelbarrow full to buy a loaf of bread. Honestly, they would have been better off burning it to keep themselves warm than trying to spend it, it was worth so little. Pennies cost more to make than they are worth. I don't want your money, God doesn't want your money.
If it comes down to it I will support this little child myself because I know that God will provide for me just as he is providing for her through me.
But this is a wonderful opportunity. To know that you are causing people to give thanks to God.
What is it say in the Westminster catechism? The chief end, the main purpose of man is to too what? Bring glory to God (and enjoy him forever). .
And think about this thanksgiving not just what you are thankful for but how you can make someone else thankful for something.
Let us pray.
Inertia
Luke 5:36-39
36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.
37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.
38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.
39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”
In some ways I believe this parable to be both prelude or prologue to all the answers that would come after this. Under that for the Jews God had promised them eternal life and freedom through the law and the old covenant, which Jesus had come both to renew and fulfill. Focus on those words for a moment: renew, fulfill.
As I said, when Jesus is approached with a question his response is "your assumption is wrong." In my mind this parable is in part a declaration that He is not here to patch up the holes in their theology. He is not there to answer questions. He is there to provide a whole new garment, a different way of looking at God. He saying that you can't take his teaching and patch up the holes in their theology because it will tear new holes, even larger holes, and burst the wine skins.
How annoyed must Jesus have been to come to earth to bring this new covenant, this personal relationship with God, and the pharisees are only asking him to clarify the old covenant. In my mind there is almost this sense of "Do you guys seriously still want to keep trying to live up to this standard?"
As we look over the entire bible we begin to see a relationship between God and Israel change, well not change as much as the focus widens.
In the Old testament God is seen as a king figure, their Lord of Heaven and Earth to whom they own their obedience, and we see that shift in the New Testament, the new covenant, into a glorious father whom we obey because we love Him.
And its amazing how we see that very shift reflected in the relationship between a child and their parent, or a student and their teacher.
When a child first enters school, what is he taught? Well, once he gets over those pesky things like reading and writing and which color is which (actually, even as he's taught these things) he is taught absolute truth.
Gravity: its that force that pulls down.
Electricity: is power.
Astronomy: planets in the solar system
and as they get older and begin to dive into these things in more depth:
Gravity: no one really understands why it works.
Electricity: no one really understands how it works.
Astronomy: it keeps growing.
But primarily as a student grows up he is able to stop asking how questions and start asking why.
In the same way, look at how a parent talks to their children:
At first: "Don't touch that, it's hot!"
As you get older what your parents tell you can't always be put into words that well, because they revolve around things that can't really be quantified very well. For example: yoga or Lily Doctor Who. But it is there will, and as you continue to get older you will reach a point where, believe it or not, where you don't have to listen to what your parents tell you.
Now at that point, what drives people to continue living by those standards?
And I believe that somewhere in that growing up, you are acting out of inertia, and there is a period that you could call "obedience for obedience's sake" where you know what you have been told and you don't really care about the why as much as you want to obey, and when you don't really understand why something is done (understanding the letter of the law vs. the spirit) the only standard you have is how close you can get to the exact wording of the rules.
And if you can do that then you are better than the person who can't.
And this period of inertia or obedience for the sake of obedience is where Jesus entered the stage, at the dividing point between king and father. Look here in Matthew 23, at the Pharisees, who excelled at nothing if not "obeying the letter of the law." and what Jesus had to say about them.
Matthew 23:16-24
16 “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’
17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?
18 You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’
19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
20 Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.
21 And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it.
22 And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.
23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
Jesus goes on to say other things that make the above words seem rather mild, feel free to look it up later.
So, it would be fair to say that Jesus has some fairly strong views on this idea? Yes, I think it would.
Do you guys have any idea how big a cummin seed is? Its about the same size a grain of rice.
And have you guys seen a mint bush before? A decent size bush has roughly one bajillion leaves on it.
So imagine taking a bag of rice and sorting out a tenth of it to set aside.
Now imagine everything else you most likely could have been doing instead of that.
So, why would the Pharisees and the people of Israel choose that over what Jesus was offering?
Because it is easier to do that then the alternative.
Because it is easier to sit on your couch sorting grains of rice while a movie plays in the background than it is to help your younger sibling with their homework, or clean the kitchen for your mom, or forgive your friend for something the said. Or whatever you think justice, mercy and faithfulness would mean in your own life.
Because we can always point to that and say "I tithe on everything I own." or "check out the tassels on my prayer shawl." or "I fast three times a week while covered in ashes." and the people around us will go "oooh and ahhh, isn't he a wonderful person." and sweep away everything we do when people can't see us, the stuff that goes on in our heads and our hearts and our souls.
Luke 10:25-26
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
And the crowds shuffled off thinking to themselves "What about going to church, what about praying, what about worship?"
To which I would ask, why do you do those things?
Let's skip back to my earlier question: Why do people continue to follow what their parents tell them after they have grown up?
For the most part, its either inertia (I have done this, therefore I will continue to do this) or love, the knowledge that this will make your parents proud of you. You know that this is valuable to them, therefore you make it valuable to yourself as well.
And its the same way with God. We either follow him out of blind inertia, judging ourselves by our abilities to best follow his command, or its love. And one of those paths will lead to a lot of counting and measuring and the other will lead to freedom because what we do, we do because we want to do it, not because someone told us we had too.
Luke 5:36-39
36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.
37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.
38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.
39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”
In some ways I believe this parable to be both prelude or prologue to all the answers that would come after this. Under that for the Jews God had promised them eternal life and freedom through the law and the old covenant, which Jesus had come both to renew and fulfill. Focus on those words for a moment: renew, fulfill.
As I said, when Jesus is approached with a question his response is "your assumption is wrong." In my mind this parable is in part a declaration that He is not here to patch up the holes in their theology. He is not there to answer questions. He is there to provide a whole new garment, a different way of looking at God. He saying that you can't take his teaching and patch up the holes in their theology because it will tear new holes, even larger holes, and burst the wine skins.
How annoyed must Jesus have been to come to earth to bring this new covenant, this personal relationship with God, and the pharisees are only asking him to clarify the old covenant. In my mind there is almost this sense of "Do you guys seriously still want to keep trying to live up to this standard?"
As we look over the entire bible we begin to see a relationship between God and Israel change, well not change as much as the focus widens.
In the Old testament God is seen as a king figure, their Lord of Heaven and Earth to whom they own their obedience, and we see that shift in the New Testament, the new covenant, into a glorious father whom we obey because we love Him.
And its amazing how we see that very shift reflected in the relationship between a child and their parent, or a student and their teacher.
When a child first enters school, what is he taught? Well, once he gets over those pesky things like reading and writing and which color is which (actually, even as he's taught these things) he is taught absolute truth.
Gravity: its that force that pulls down.
Electricity: is power.
Astronomy: planets in the solar system
and as they get older and begin to dive into these things in more depth:
Gravity: no one really understands why it works.
Electricity: no one really understands how it works.
Astronomy: it keeps growing.
But primarily as a student grows up he is able to stop asking how questions and start asking why.
In the same way, look at how a parent talks to their children:
At first: "Don't touch that, it's hot!"
As you get older what your parents tell you can't always be put into words that well, because they revolve around things that can't really be quantified very well. For example: yoga or Lily Doctor Who. But it is there will, and as you continue to get older you will reach a point where, believe it or not, where you don't have to listen to what your parents tell you.
Now at that point, what drives people to continue living by those standards?
And I believe that somewhere in that growing up, you are acting out of inertia, and there is a period that you could call "obedience for obedience's sake" where you know what you have been told and you don't really care about the why as much as you want to obey, and when you don't really understand why something is done (understanding the letter of the law vs. the spirit) the only standard you have is how close you can get to the exact wording of the rules.
And if you can do that then you are better than the person who can't.
And this period of inertia or obedience for the sake of obedience is where Jesus entered the stage, at the dividing point between king and father. Look here in Matthew 23, at the Pharisees, who excelled at nothing if not "obeying the letter of the law." and what Jesus had to say about them.
Matthew 23:16-24
16 “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’
17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?
18 You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’
19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
20 Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.
21 And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it.
22 And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.
23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
Jesus goes on to say other things that make the above words seem rather mild, feel free to look it up later.
So, it would be fair to say that Jesus has some fairly strong views on this idea? Yes, I think it would.
Do you guys have any idea how big a cummin seed is? Its about the same size a grain of rice.
And have you guys seen a mint bush before? A decent size bush has roughly one bajillion leaves on it.
So imagine taking a bag of rice and sorting out a tenth of it to set aside.
Now imagine everything else you most likely could have been doing instead of that.
So, why would the Pharisees and the people of Israel choose that over what Jesus was offering?
Because it is easier to do that then the alternative.
Because it is easier to sit on your couch sorting grains of rice while a movie plays in the background than it is to help your younger sibling with their homework, or clean the kitchen for your mom, or forgive your friend for something the said. Or whatever you think justice, mercy and faithfulness would mean in your own life.
Because we can always point to that and say "I tithe on everything I own." or "check out the tassels on my prayer shawl." or "I fast three times a week while covered in ashes." and the people around us will go "oooh and ahhh, isn't he a wonderful person." and sweep away everything we do when people can't see us, the stuff that goes on in our heads and our hearts and our souls.
Luke 10:25-26
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
And the crowds shuffled off thinking to themselves "What about going to church, what about praying, what about worship?"
To which I would ask, why do you do those things?
Let's skip back to my earlier question: Why do people continue to follow what their parents tell them after they have grown up?
For the most part, its either inertia (I have done this, therefore I will continue to do this) or love, the knowledge that this will make your parents proud of you. You know that this is valuable to them, therefore you make it valuable to yourself as well.
And its the same way with God. We either follow him out of blind inertia, judging ourselves by our abilities to best follow his command, or its love. And one of those paths will lead to a lot of counting and measuring and the other will lead to freedom because what we do, we do because we want to do it, not because someone told us we had too.
36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.
37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.
38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.
39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”
In some ways I believe this parable to be both prelude or prologue to all the answers that would come after this. Under that for the Jews God had promised them eternal life and freedom through the law and the old covenant, which Jesus had come both to renew and fulfill. Focus on those words for a moment: renew, fulfill.
As I said, when Jesus is approached with a question his response is "your assumption is wrong." In my mind this parable is in part a declaration that He is not here to patch up the holes in their theology. He is not there to answer questions. He is there to provide a whole new garment, a different way of looking at God. He saying that you can't take his teaching and patch up the holes in their theology because it will tear new holes, even larger holes, and burst the wine skins.
How annoyed must Jesus have been to come to earth to bring this new covenant, this personal relationship with God, and the pharisees are only asking him to clarify the old covenant. In my mind there is almost this sense of "Do you guys seriously still want to keep trying to live up to this standard?"
As we look over the entire bible we begin to see a relationship between God and Israel change, well not change as much as the focus widens.
In the Old testament God is seen as a king figure, their Lord of Heaven and Earth to whom they own their obedience, and we see that shift in the New Testament, the new covenant, into a glorious father whom we obey because we love Him.
And its amazing how we see that very shift reflected in the relationship between a child and their parent, or a student and their teacher.
When a child first enters school, what is he taught? Well, once he gets over those pesky things like reading and writing and which color is which (actually, even as he's taught these things) he is taught absolute truth.
Gravity: its that force that pulls down.
Electricity: is power.
Astronomy: planets in the solar system
and as they get older and begin to dive into these things in more depth:
Gravity: no one really understands why it works.
Electricity: no one really understands how it works.
Astronomy: it keeps growing.
But primarily as a student grows up he is able to stop asking how questions and start asking why.
In the same way, look at how a parent talks to their children:
At first: "Don't touch that, it's hot!"
As you get older what your parents tell you can't always be put into words that well, because they revolve around things that can't really be quantified very well. For example: yoga or Lily Doctor Who. But it is there will, and as you continue to get older you will reach a point where, believe it or not, where you don't have to listen to what your parents tell you.
Now at that point, what drives people to continue living by those standards?
And I believe that somewhere in that growing up, you are acting out of inertia, and there is a period that you could call "obedience for obedience's sake" where you know what you have been told and you don't really care about the why as much as you want to obey, and when you don't really understand why something is done (understanding the letter of the law vs. the spirit) the only standard you have is how close you can get to the exact wording of the rules.
And if you can do that then you are better than the person who can't.
And this period of inertia or obedience for the sake of obedience is where Jesus entered the stage, at the dividing point between king and father. Look here in Matthew 23, at the Pharisees, who excelled at nothing if not "obeying the letter of the law." and what Jesus had to say about them.
Matthew 23:16-24
16 “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’
17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?
18 You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’
19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
20 Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.
21 And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it.
22 And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.
23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
Jesus goes on to say other things that make the above words seem rather mild, feel free to look it up later.
So, it would be fair to say that Jesus has some fairly strong views on this idea? Yes, I think it would.
Do you guys have any idea how big a cummin seed is? Its about the same size a grain of rice.
And have you guys seen a mint bush before? A decent size bush has roughly one bajillion leaves on it.
So imagine taking a bag of rice and sorting out a tenth of it to set aside.
Now imagine everything else you most likely could have been doing instead of that.
So, why would the Pharisees and the people of Israel choose that over what Jesus was offering?
Because it is easier to do that then the alternative.
Because it is easier to sit on your couch sorting grains of rice while a movie plays in the background than it is to help your younger sibling with their homework, or clean the kitchen for your mom, or forgive your friend for something the said. Or whatever you think justice, mercy and faithfulness would mean in your own life.
Because we can always point to that and say "I tithe on everything I own." or "check out the tassels on my prayer shawl." or "I fast three times a week while covered in ashes." and the people around us will go "oooh and ahhh, isn't he a wonderful person." and sweep away everything we do when people can't see us, the stuff that goes on in our heads and our hearts and our souls.
Luke 10:25-26
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
And the crowds shuffled off thinking to themselves "What about going to church, what about praying, what about worship?"
To which I would ask, why do you do those things?
Let's skip back to my earlier question: Why do people continue to follow what their parents tell them after they have grown up?
For the most part, its either inertia (I have done this, therefore I will continue to do this) or love, the knowledge that this will make your parents proud of you. You know that this is valuable to them, therefore you make it valuable to yourself as well.
And its the same way with God. We either follow him out of blind inertia, judging ourselves by our abilities to best follow his command, or its love. And one of those paths will lead to a lot of counting and measuring and the other will lead to freedom because what we do, we do because we want to do it, not because someone told us we had too.
Luke 5:36-39
36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.
37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.
38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.
39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”
In some ways I believe this parable to be both prelude or prologue to all the answers that would come after this. Under that for the Jews God had promised them eternal life and freedom through the law and the old covenant, which Jesus had come both to renew and fulfill. Focus on those words for a moment: renew, fulfill.
As I said, when Jesus is approached with a question his response is "your assumption is wrong." In my mind this parable is in part a declaration that He is not here to patch up the holes in their theology. He is not there to answer questions. He is there to provide a whole new garment, a different way of looking at God. He saying that you can't take his teaching and patch up the holes in their theology because it will tear new holes, even larger holes, and burst the wine skins.
How annoyed must Jesus have been to come to earth to bring this new covenant, this personal relationship with God, and the pharisees are only asking him to clarify the old covenant. In my mind there is almost this sense of "Do you guys seriously still want to keep trying to live up to this standard?"
As we look over the entire bible we begin to see a relationship between God and Israel change, well not change as much as the focus widens.
In the Old testament God is seen as a king figure, their Lord of Heaven and Earth to whom they own their obedience, and we see that shift in the New Testament, the new covenant, into a glorious father whom we obey because we love Him.
And its amazing how we see that very shift reflected in the relationship between a child and their parent, or a student and their teacher.
When a child first enters school, what is he taught? Well, once he gets over those pesky things like reading and writing and which color is which (actually, even as he's taught these things) he is taught absolute truth.
Gravity: its that force that pulls down.
Electricity: is power.
Astronomy: planets in the solar system
and as they get older and begin to dive into these things in more depth:
Gravity: no one really understands why it works.
Electricity: no one really understands how it works.
Astronomy: it keeps growing.
But primarily as a student grows up he is able to stop asking how questions and start asking why.
In the same way, look at how a parent talks to their children:
At first: "Don't touch that, it's hot!"
As you get older what your parents tell you can't always be put into words that well, because they revolve around things that can't really be quantified very well. For example: yoga or Lily Doctor Who. But it is there will, and as you continue to get older you will reach a point where, believe it or not, where you don't have to listen to what your parents tell you.
Now at that point, what drives people to continue living by those standards?
And I believe that somewhere in that growing up, you are acting out of inertia, and there is a period that you could call "obedience for obedience's sake" where you know what you have been told and you don't really care about the why as much as you want to obey, and when you don't really understand why something is done (understanding the letter of the law vs. the spirit) the only standard you have is how close you can get to the exact wording of the rules.
And if you can do that then you are better than the person who can't.
And this period of inertia or obedience for the sake of obedience is where Jesus entered the stage, at the dividing point between king and father. Look here in Matthew 23, at the Pharisees, who excelled at nothing if not "obeying the letter of the law." and what Jesus had to say about them.
Matthew 23:16-24
16 “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’
17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?
18 You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’
19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
20 Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.
21 And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it.
22 And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.
23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
Jesus goes on to say other things that make the above words seem rather mild, feel free to look it up later.
So, it would be fair to say that Jesus has some fairly strong views on this idea? Yes, I think it would.
Do you guys have any idea how big a cummin seed is? Its about the same size a grain of rice.
And have you guys seen a mint bush before? A decent size bush has roughly one bajillion leaves on it.
So imagine taking a bag of rice and sorting out a tenth of it to set aside.
Now imagine everything else you most likely could have been doing instead of that.
So, why would the Pharisees and the people of Israel choose that over what Jesus was offering?
Because it is easier to do that then the alternative.
Because it is easier to sit on your couch sorting grains of rice while a movie plays in the background than it is to help your younger sibling with their homework, or clean the kitchen for your mom, or forgive your friend for something the said. Or whatever you think justice, mercy and faithfulness would mean in your own life.
Because we can always point to that and say "I tithe on everything I own." or "check out the tassels on my prayer shawl." or "I fast three times a week while covered in ashes." and the people around us will go "oooh and ahhh, isn't he a wonderful person." and sweep away everything we do when people can't see us, the stuff that goes on in our heads and our hearts and our souls.
Luke 10:25-26
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
And the crowds shuffled off thinking to themselves "What about going to church, what about praying, what about worship?"
To which I would ask, why do you do those things?
Let's skip back to my earlier question: Why do people continue to follow what their parents tell them after they have grown up?
For the most part, its either inertia (I have done this, therefore I will continue to do this) or love, the knowledge that this will make your parents proud of you. You know that this is valuable to them, therefore you make it valuable to yourself as well.
And its the same way with God. We either follow him out of blind inertia, judging ourselves by our abilities to best follow his command, or its love. And one of those paths will lead to a lot of counting and measuring and the other will lead to freedom because what we do, we do because we want to do it, not because someone told us we had too.
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