Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Almighty God, you're welcome here. Hey, there.
[00:00:06] Speaker B: If you're new to Restored Church, we want to welcome you and thank you for tuning in. You're listening to a portion of our Sunday worship gathering. We believe the church is not an event, but a family you belong to, so we would love the opportunity to connect with you. If you want to learn more about our church or if we can help you in any way, please Visit our website, www.restoredtemecula.church and click on contact. With all that said, we, we hope you enjoy the message.
[00:00:34] Speaker C: Okay, so this morning is special. You guys know Vinny Leteri, not lethierry lateri okay.
He's been prepping this one for a bit.
Here's. Here's what you need to know. If you guys. If you don't know Vin.
Vin is a husband. He is a father. He's got two amazing kids. They're not really kids anymore.
Nyla was outside this morning, and she's standing back to. Back to, like, tall people. And Jenny's like, she's only 5 10.
There's no chance she's 5 10. She's at least 511 and 7/8, because that's how tall I am. And she's, like, right there.
And she's taller than me.
[00:01:16] Speaker A: She's probably 6ft.
[00:01:17] Speaker C: I think she is.
[00:01:18] Speaker A: But yeah.
[00:01:18] Speaker C: So husband, dad, leader in our community.
[00:01:22] Speaker A: Him and his wife Jenny, they help.
[00:01:23] Speaker C: Lead a gospel community together with Paul and Linds.
Listen, God, in his kindness, he gives gifts to people.
He gives gifts to people in order to kind of go public with his love. So if you've ever experienced God's blessing or maybe you've kind of experienced his love or his care, even sometimes his fatherly challenging through somebody else. That's God's spirit working through people. And one of the things that I love about Vinny is God's given this guy a gift. We were talking about this morning of, like, there's a really cool joy that's in Vinny that is there because he's experienced the love of Jesus. He's experienced the grace of Jesus. He's not just somebody who. He's not random. He's a leader in our church. He's a trusted voice in our church.
And this morning, he's prepared a message that I'm excited for you to hear because I think God wants to do something.
I think God wants to address some things in our lives and maybe even help us experience more of his lordship, of his leadership, of his grace, of his love, of his mercy, of His Forgiveness.
And I'm excited for you to hear what Vinny's prepared. And what I want to do is I want to invite him up. Before I do, I want you to give him some love audibly, as he comes up. So, Vinny, come on up, buddy.
[00:02:56] Speaker A: All right.
[00:02:56] Speaker C: I want to pray for our time. I want to pray for him. I'm sure he's going to want to pray in his message, too. So get ready to pray a lot. But either way, we can never pray enough. Let's pray together.
Father, I just want to honor you in this moment and say thank you for the gifts that you pour out on your people.
And I thank you that you are so generous to us in a culture that says that we're defined by our talent and our identity is derived from what we're good at or what we're able to do.
I love that you flip that on its head.
The truest thing about us is that we're beloved sons and daughters made clean by the blood of Jesus and empowered to move forward into the world to partner with you, to see your will be done on the earth.
And therefore, we're able to operate in our giftings in a different way.
I thank you that you've poured out gifts all over this room. I thank you've given Vinny gifts. And his gifts are for us.
They're not for him. They're for us. But he's a steward of those gifts. And I thank you for the ways that he is, the ways that he is stewarding that with which you've deposited into him and his desire to see other people experience more of your love, more of your power, more of who you are, Lord Jesus. And so I just pray blessing over him, blessing over us. I pray that your word would come alive to us this morning.
We desire you, Jesus. We're thankful for you, and we love you so much. Jesus, thank you for this man. Bless us all. We pray. And all God's people said amen. Love you, Vince.
[00:04:47] Speaker A: Test one. Oh, there we go.
All right. I'm going to get on the. The rug here and get myself all set up.
Good morning, everyone.
How are we feeling?
Feeling all right?
Yeah, fired up.
I like that.
I'm feeling excited. I'm feeling a few minutes ago, a little nervous. But there's a reality because we can relate to God as father, like we're all brothers and sisters. And so it actually takes some of my anxiety away, some of my nerves away, because I get to talk to my brothers and sisters this morning about the king of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And that's like really, really, really special because he's the greatest.
He's the absolute greatest.
We've been in a series for some time now, like a long time, called the King and His Kingdom.
And it's this idea of the kingdom of heaven sort of versus the kingdom of this world and sort of drawing the delineation between the two.
Where the kingdom of heaven is King Jesus rule his way, his reign, what he prioritizes, what he says is right, what he says is wrong, versus the kingdom of this world, which you and I are sort of immersed in culturally.
We have to obey the laws of the land. Like, there's this whole reality of this kingdom of this world. And Jesus is highlighting the kingdom of heaven and he does that like a ton in the Sermon on the Mount, which, which was some weeks ago. But we've been in this series for some time, and I want to sort of like, get us all on the same page, as it were.
Jesus is well into his. His ministry this morning. We're going to continue in Matthew. We're going to be at chapter 16, and we'll go there in just a tick. But he's, like, already walked on water.
Speaking of Jesus, he's already been baptized. He's already healed, like, tons of people. He's. He. He's healed the blind, the lame, he's cast out demons, sort of a big deal.
He's fed thousands with, like, very little, like a couple of loaves and a couple of fish. In fact, Herrick last week was teaching on the latter part of chapter 15, which is where Jesus fed, I believe, 4,000 men, which is probably more like 8 or 10 or 12,000 people in all because they didn't count the women and children back then.
He's already preached the most famous sermon ever to be preached.
And so we're going to jump in at Matthew 16, verse 1. We're going to go from 1 to 12, but I'm going to sort of like, break it up, if that's cool. We're going to go through a few verses, we're going to break it up, rap about it a little bit.
I sort of geek out on some stuff, so I don't know, you might think it's cool. You might be like, dude, what are you even talking about? Either way, I geek out on it. I hope that you'll think it's cool as well, because I don't know. This book that we call the Bible is.
It's a past, it's a history. Book. It's a present book. It's a prophetic book about the future. It's the most amazing book there is that we call the Word of God. It's his words.
66 books written by 40 different authors. Amazing.
Let's jump in.
Chapter 16, verse one.
The Pharisees and Sadducees approached. Sorry, hold on.
I've recently got readers.
This is a thing now. I can read fine without them, but I'm a little nervous to read without them now.
After 40 guys. It's just whatever.
Verse 1. The Pharisees and Sadducees approached and tested him, him being Jesus, asking him to show them a sign from heaven.
He replied, when evening comes, you say it will be good weather because the sky is red.
And in the morning today will be stormy because the sky is red and threatening. You know how to read the appearance of the sky, but you can't read the signs of the times.
An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. Then he left them and went away.
We're going to pause there for a second.
Here's sort of the geeking out stuff that I like. So I mentioned. Herrick talked about the latter part of chapter 15. Last week, Jesus and the disciples ended up getting in a boat and going to this region of. And I don't know how to say this, so bear with me.
Magadan or Magadan, I'm not quite sure. Another name for it would have been Magdala, where Mary of Magdala came from, which is like a northwestern part of the Sea of Galilee. Everyone's heard of the Sea of Galilee. If you've been in the church for any number of days or years or whatever, you've heard of the Sea of Galilee. Galilee, I said gallery. That's great. I got a picture of the Sea of Galilee. This is really cool. That's your cue, Sam.
Awesome. Okay, so check this out. This is really. This is super cool. I used to think the Sea of Galilee was this like, giant, giant sea. And it's big. Don't get me wrong, it's big. It's 64 square miles.
But if you've ever been to Lake Tahoe. Anybody been to Lake Tahoe? Beautiful. Yeah, it's wonderful. It's gorgeous. Great paddleboarding. LAKE Tahoe is 191 square miles. So the Sea of Galilee is actually quite smaller by comparison. And if you look, I've circled this area in red.
Another name for Magadan or Magdala would also be Migdol. It's this northwestern corner. And this is the area, this seaport village is the area where these Pharisees and Sadducees approached Jesus. And that's what we just read, right?
What I like about this, the geeking out part, besides the size of the sea, is Jesus is, like, using his geographic location to respond to them.
And so he, like, tells them, hey, you guys can read the signs of the sky, which is really an old sailor's saying that they still use today.
And it goes like this. It goes, red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning.
Really easy for sailors to look at the sky and say, hey, it's probably not a good day. Good day to set sail today.
Side note, I've always wanted to be, like, a captain for real. That's a real thing. I don't think I'm gonna be able to do it. But I've always, like, I see these things. I think that's maybe why I geek out a little bit more, because I've always wanted to be a sea captain. I don't know if anyone else shares that. Is that just a me thing my boy does? Come on. That's my kid. Thank you, Liam.
So check this out.
So Jesus responds using his, like, geographic location right next to the sea in the Seaport village, He tells the Pharisees and Sadducees, he says, you evil and adulterous generation. No sign will be given except for the sign of Jonah. If that sounds familiar, that's because a few chapters before, In Matthew, chapter 12, starting in verse 38, listen to this. It's going to sound very familiar.
Then some scribes and Pharisees said to him, teacher, we want to see a sign from you.
And he answered them. An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
For as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. I bring that up so that we have an idea of what Jesus is actually talking about here when he says the sign of Jonah. Essentially, he's saying the time after he was crucified on the cross and before he was resurrected three days later. That's the sign he's referencing when he tells the scribes that the Pharisees and the Sadducees that no sign will be given except for this sign.
I don't know how much you guys know about the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
But it's really interesting that these two individuals approach him because they essentially have like different belief systems.
So again, I'm geeking out, but stay with me. Okay.
Pharisees, Pharisees were a, a, they were part, including the Sadducees. They were part of, of what was called the Sanhedrin, which was sort of like, think of like the Supreme Court, but it was like a Jewish high court. And there was 71 men that would comprise the Sanhedrin and Pharisees and Sadducees made up those 71 men.
But here's. It's very interesting. I think it's worth taking a moment to look at this.
Check this out. This is really cool.
Pharisee comes from the Hebrew word parashin, which means separatists.
They originated out of a political party called the Assidians, a word meaning pious in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. Antiochus Epiphanes, he was the king of Syria, like 170 ish plus or minus years before Jesus. Okay. And he. And Tiochus Epiphanes, he would like persecute the Jews real bad. So much so that the Jews came together and they did what's called the Maccabean Revolt.
We're not gonna go down that road this morning. But check this out. Pharisees believed in the oral law given to Moses at Sinai in Exodus, along with the written law, the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. They were very precise in the letter of the law.
Eventually the oral law that I just talked about, it was codified and it was arranged and that came together to be known as the Talmud, which is like 630ish laws that they would adhere to, positive laws and negative laws. Like laws like you should do this and law is like you shouldn't do that, if that makes sense.
So check this out, Pharisees. See if this is familiar to you. Pharisees believed in the supernatural.
Pharisees believed in an afterlife.
They also believed in a coming Messiah.
They were known for their pride and self righteousness. The Pharisees were the popular party in the time of Jesus. Paul himself identified, was identified as a Pharisee and he identified himself as a Pharisee.
Now put that on the table over here. Let's talk about Sadducees for a minute. And I'm not going to do the joke. That's why they're so sad. You see?
See, everybody knows the joke. That's why I'm not doing that one I had it, like, lined up. I'm like, ah, how do I work that? No, I'm not going to work that in.
Okay. Sadducees.
The Sadducees, they were an elite priestly class, the aristocrats, very liberal in their belief.
They rejected the idea of the oral law and insisted on the literal interpretation of the written law. They did not believe in an afterlife. Interesting, because it was not mentioned in the Torah. They focused on the rituals and traditions associated with the temple and the Torah. Only.
The Sadducees did not believe in a coming Messiah.
The Sadducees were not the popular party in the time of Jesus, but during the time of the early church, they were the popular party.
So the Pharisees, like, stopped being the popular party at the time of the early church, and the Sadducees sort of took over.
I'll tell you what I found really interesting when I was doing this and getting this sermon prepped.
The Pharisees believed in an afterlife.
I believe in an afterlife. If you're a disciple of Jesus and you follow him, you believe in an afterlife.
They believe in supernatural realities, which I also believe in supernatural realities that we live in a shadow of a much greater reality.
I'm not going to go down that road either because I get excited when I talk about that stuff.
They were waiting for a coming Messiah. This is where we differ. If you're a disciple of Jesus, then you believe Jesus was the Messiah. He was the Savior. He came, he died on a cross. Three days later, he was resurrected, and he sits at the right hand side of the Father.
Here's what struck me.
The Pharisees believed all those things that were very similar to what I believe.
Why didn't the religious leaders see that Jesus was the Messiah?
Like Jesus is literally right in front of them.
They have witnessed him do all sorts of things.
Many things. Many miracles, many signs, many wonders.
How did they miss that?
Actually, I was like a little nervous about that. I got a little scared. Like, if I was in their position and I'm trying to follow the law and I believe in all these things that I currently believe in, would I have missed Jesus too? Like, standing right in front of me?
I would argue that one of the reasons, and not the sole reason, but I would place it in a high percentage of why this took place, was because of expectation.
So the Pharisees, they believed in a coming Messiah, right? They believed that the Messiah was gonna ride in on a white horse and free them from Roman occupation. He was gonna be a king.
It was Gonna be like this glorious moment where he comes in and he's brave, and there's, like, throngs of people behind him. And it's this moment, and then he's gonna come and he's gonna, like, tell Rome to get the heck out of Dodge. And going to be this big old moment.
They expected something different than what was right in front of their face.
Expectations arise from a combination. Listen to this. This is important. A combination of internal and external sources, including past experience, social influence, personal desires, and the information we consume, our upbringing, the social norms, personal values, they all play a role in shaping what we anticipate and expect from ourselves and from others.
That's a lot. That's a big couple of sentences there.
Your.
Your cultural immersion and your story has a big part to play with your expectations.
It's really important to sort of start thinking about this idea, because these things, these expectations, they significantly influence how individuals perceive and interpret signs, often leading to confirmation bias where people see what they expect to see.
Why is this important? If you don't see what you expect to see, then you're not seeing it.
What is really there?
That's a little terrifying.
As I was continuing to think about this, I did a deep dive into expectations. And there's like multiple different forms of expectations. And you can do that on your own time if you're excited to.
Like, I geek out on stuff.
But one of the things you guys was like, expectations, it can be.
It can be 100%, is. It can be a very subtle form of attempted control.
We don't normally think about that.
At least I don't. Maybe you do.
What do I mean?
When you know what to expect?
There's a comfort that's associated to that.
Like, oh, I know what to do. When I go to the grocery store. I know that there's going to be xyz, but if you've never been to that grocery store and you have no idea, like, oh, what do I expect? What do I do here?
So my family and I recently went to Japan last October.
Really cool.
Has anyone been to Japan in the room.
Hey. Yes, that's true. Okay, I know you guys went to Japan.
Amazing culture, amazing people. It's an honor culture.
Food was awesome. The streets were clean. It was the trip of a lifetime. We had so much fun.
It's my favorite trip. We've been on quite a few trips. This was by far my favorite trip.
We landed in Tokyo. Okay, so we checked out. Tokyo. Super cool. The city, all the lights, all the things you see on the pictures and on the Googler, right? Really cool.
Then we're like, hey, we want to spend some time in Kyoto. Kyoto's five or six hours away from Tokyo, give or take.
So in order to get from Tokyo to Kyoto, you can either take a bus, you can take a train.
Japan's unique because they have a bullet train.
Super rad. We didn't do that. You can take a bullet train. You can take an airplane. Right. You can fly over there, or you can drive.
Driving was the most cost effective by far, and so we decided to drive from Tokyo to Kyoto. Has anyone ever driven on the wrong side of the road?
Yeah, Yeah. A few of you. Okay.
Let me tell you guys. Yeah, yeah, that's right.
I feel pretty dogmatic that that's the wrong side of the road.
It is.
You have to be really focused. Okay.
And from Tokyo to Kyoto, it's not like 30 minutes, man. It's like six hours of, like, white knuckling, like, okay, am I doing this right? Are we on the right side? How's this work? Let me show you a freeway sign from Japan. Let me just give you an idea.
Yeah, you laugh. What do you do with that?
What do you do with that, man?
Serious, you guys. So we drive down to Kyoto. Great time in Kyoto. If you are planning a trip to Japan, spend a lot of time in Kyoto, because I think it's better than Tokyo.
So we do our thing. It's time for us to leave.
Well, we drove down to Kyoto, and we're leaving out of Tokyo, so I got to drive right back up to Tokyo again. So we had parked the car for the duration of our stay in Kyoto and walked everywhere else, basically. Anyway, so we get in the car, we're driving home, and we're having. You know, it's beautiful. We're on an adventure. It's the family, all the feels, man. You're feeling really good. Okay.
And we decided to take an exit, essentially going to a small town called Fuji, which is sort of like, I believe it's the gateway to Mount Fuji. But Mount Fuji is still really far away when you're in this sea town of Fuji.
So we sort of get off, and we're not on the freeway anymore with the crazy signs. We're on a highway, and my brother's with us. He went on this adventure with the family. And so we're all in this very small Toyota half van, half cross. Not really sure what it is. We don't have them here. Nyla was in the back, like a pretzel. Poor Girl, really, it was tough, but she did great. So we're. We're driving and my brother's putting on Santana. You guys know Santana.
Okay, I'm not here to throw shade at Santana. I don't. I don't dislike Santana. But if I'm going on to my.
I almost said MP3 player.
If I go on my itunes, iPhone, I'm probably not putting on Santana first.
Everyone knows Santana. It's like ripping on those solos. It's a specific tone, right? You know when you hear a Santana song. And so we're driving, we're Santana ing, and we're doing our thing, man. And I hear Santana hit a bad note.
I'm like, I don't ever remember. Maybe my hearing's going off because they wouldn't have recorded a bad note. And then I hear another one.
And then I look up in my review mirror and I see flashing lights.
And then I see a lady, she cop on a motorcycle. She gives me one of these. Check this out. She goes like this.
Oh, you guys.
How many have got a ticket in California?
Just about everybody. Okay.
After the first one, you know what to expect, right?
Your heart sort of jumps into your belly and you're like, ah, this is such an inconvenience. But I was speeding or I was touching my phone or whatever it is. I'm gonna have to pay the ticket. I'm gonna have to go to traffic school. My insurance is gonna go. All the things go through the mind, right? Everyone's experienced that.
I don't know what they do to people in Japan.
So Jenny's right behind me in the seat. Cause remember, I'm on the right hand side, right? The steering wheel's over here and the passengers here, right? So Jenny, immediately I hear her, she starts praying. She's praying, lord Jesus, please be like, be with us, please. Like, we don't know what to do.
So, like, do I pull over? Do like, is she going to arrest me? Is she going to, like, do I have to go, like, to the police, like, courthouse or something right now and, like, pay a fine? I actually don't even know why she pulled me over. Was it because Santana was too loud? Like, what's happening here?
I was nervous, guys. I was nervous. I didn't know what to expect.
See, if I was fully immersed in the Japanese culture, if I grew up there, I would have known what to expect.
There's a certain comfort knowing what to expect. And when you don't know what to expect, it's uncomfortable to end the story.
She didn't give us a ticket.
Through her broken English, which I'm on a phone, and she's desperately trying as hard as she can, and we're trying to communicate. She basically lets us go. And I was speeding. It was the problem.
The highway speed limit is different from the freeway speed limit, and I didn't know that.
So she says something. It was actually very sweet. It was a very good experience overall.
She goes, I'm gonna try to have a nice day today, and you should, too. And I was like, oh, okay, great. Thank you.
And then she, like. She, like, stopped traffic and helped us back the car up and get back on. It was a very nice experience.
It was.
So. I don't know. Anyway, I'll know what to expect next time, hopefully, if it's the same.
But the whole point is, like, when you know what to expect, there's a certain comfort because there's attempted control in that. Right. Feels familiar.
Do you have expectations that cause you to miss Jesus?
Do you have a set expectation where you're missing him because you want it to be something else, or you're hoping it's going to be something else, or you're desiring that it's going to be something else?
Bless you.
I really want to encourage you, brothers and sisters, sit with that this week.
Very hard to identify expectations that you have.
It's very hard.
I would really encourage you to sit with the Holy Spirit, ask him to highlight spirit. Is there areas of my life where I'm missing Jesus because of my expectations?
My gospel community group that I'm a part of knows we talked about expectations for a little bit because God's been massaging this into my heart for some time.
And the word that I thought that was just for me, I actually think is for us.
I believe that Jesus wants to explode our expectations.
Originally, I thought that meant surpass.
I meant that, like, hey, I want a $50 gift card for my birthday, and someone gave me a $200 gift card for my birthday. You really, like, you surpassed my expectations. That's amazing. That's not what I'm talking about.
I think he wants to eliminate.
He wants to explode our expectations because we're fully immersed in this culture of the world, we know what to expect. He wants to explode our expectations as he beckons us into the kingdom of heaven, which is uncomfortable because we don't know it.
We don't understand it.
We don't know how to compare it to something.
So we're a little nervous about it. This is hard.
I'd encourage you sit with that this week.
Ask the Spirit if he's even highlighting something now, man. Write it down.
Because Jesus wants to explode those expectations.
Let's continue in our passage, guys.
Matthew 16, we're picking up here.
Let's pick it up in verse four, because I don't know where we left off.
An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. Then he left them and went away. The message version of that last bit of that verse says, he turned on his heel and walked away. I love that he was like, later, like, he just. I think that's so cool.
Okay, verse. Verse five. Check this out. This is wild.
The disciples reached the other shore, and then they. And they had forgotten to take bread.
Then Jesus told them, watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
They were discussing among themselves, we didn't bring any bread. Aware of this.
Jesus said, you of little faith.
Why are you discussing among yourselves that you do not have bread?
Don't you understand yet? Don't you remember the five loaves for the 5,000 and how many baskets you collected? Or the seven loaves for the 4,000 that we, like, just happened like, 10 verses ago in the latter part of chapter 15, you guys, that's not in the Bible. I added that extra part. Or the seven loaves for the 4,000 and how many large baskets you collected? Why is it you don't understand that when I told you, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, it wasn't about bread?
Then they understood that he had not told them to beware of the leaven in bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
There's a certain comfort when I read things like this, where I'm like, okay, there are lots of times where it's right in front of my face and I'm missing it. And Jesus has grace for the disciples here when they were missing it. So I feel like I'm in good company when those kinds of things take place.
Jesus tells his disciples to beware.
He says, watch out, you guys. Beware if you are a disciple of Jesus. This morning, he is telling you, this morning, watch out, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
The reason we broke down this idea of, like, the Pharisees and Sadducees is I want you guys to start to get an idea of what he is talking about. When he says, beware, watch out. He's warning them.
If.
If it was easy to see, Jesus probably wouldn't have worn them.
But it's very hard to see. It's very subtle.
Side note, pause.
Is it extra warm in here?
Right?
Man, I'm like, hey, I know that I'm up here and I'm nervous and stuff, but, whoo, skin. Yeah, yeah, it's real pits. Pit stains are happening. Do I got them already, too? Oh, man, you never know when you're. If you have pit stains. That's the thing.
So Jesus is warning the disciples, you guys watch out for this.
So what were the teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees?
The Pharisees and Sadducees taught a very strict adherence to and obedience to the law.
The Pharisees were often more times more about the spirit of the law, and the Sadducees were more about the letter of the law.
So, like, what's the issue here, guys? What's the problem? Because didn't God give the law to Israel?
And these guys are teaching what God gave them, right? Like what? I don't understand Jesus. Like, what are you trying to say here?
I mean, following the law is. Is good.
But if you notice, throughout the Gospels, every time Jesus talks to the religious leaders, he's very sharp with them. He's very sharp.
He. He doesn't hold back.
We're going to see that a little bit later too. In Matthew 23, he, like, tears them apart. It's wild.
But why, I mean, why. Why is he so sharp with them? It's their job to keep what God had given Israel.
That's the whole thing. And they spent eight hours a day, or ten hours a day, seven days a week doing. Well, not seven days, six days a week. Because they honored the Sabbath. They did this all the time.
They knew the Bible inside and out. They knew the Torah inside and out. They understood the 630 plus or minus laws from the Talmud. These guys were devoted.
They were in it to win it, guys in it to win it.
See, this is.
[00:36:21] Speaker C: This is.
[00:36:22] Speaker A: This is where it can get really scary.
If this morning you are a follower of Christ, if you're a disciple of Jesus, then you are called to follow his law, the Ten Commandments. You're called to pray. You're called to give yourself to studying the Bible. You're called to give to the poor.
You're called to, like, offer praise and adoration and worship to the King.
But guess what? The religious leaders in that day were doing those Things too.
You see the kingdom of heaven, we talked about it in the very beginning. It's upside down to the kingdom of this world.
But guess what?
The kingdom of heaven is also inside out.
The kingdom of heaven is also inside out. Tim Keller, very short quote from him. Christianity is utterly different from religion.
Utterly different from religion.
We talked about this idea of, like Jesus being so sharp because the religious leaders were so worried about the outside.
And Jesus says, the kingdom of heaven is inside out.
You guys have heard about the Ten Commandments, right? Everyone's heard about the Ten Commandments, I'm sure in Exodus, Exodus 20 it lists the Ten Commandments. One of them is do not murder.
Probably a good idea not to murder.
Jesus says, you've heard it said, do not murder. But I tell you, if you have anger towards your brother in your heart, inside, guys, it's not about the physical act of killing, even though don't go and murder someone. I'm not saying that. I'm saying what happens on the inside is what Jesus focuses on.
The very next verse, he says, you've heard it said, do not commit adultery. But if you have lust in your heart, if you carry lust in your heart, then you've committed adultery.
Fascinating, guys, fascinating.
I told you. Matthew 23, Jesus tears into the to the Pharisees and Sadducees. He basically lists out like these Pharisaical tendencies. But let me read just this bit to you because it's really important to see that when Jesus is talking about these things, he focuses and tells them about, hey, you guys are focused on the outside. I'm talking about the inside. Check this out.
Matthew 23, Matthew 23:25. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self indulgence. Blind Pharisee.
First clean the inside of the cup so that the outside of it may also become clean.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are flat, full of the bones of the dead and every kind of impurity. In the same way, on the outside you seem righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Jesus is talking about the inside, guys. Religion is man's attempt to reach into heaven. God, look at me. I'm doing enough, aren't I? Come on, please have mercy on me.
And Jesus says, man, it's the inside, you guys. Christianity is Relational, not religion, which is man's attempt. That's why it's utterly different.
One focuses on the outside, one focuses on the inside. One's about essentially the cultural immersion of being the kingdom of this world. And one is beckoning you to the kingdom of heaven, which is totally different.
Not what you would expect.
A little scary, if I'm honest.
A little terrifying if I'm honest.
I get nervous from time to time on those. What do I expect on this? God? I don't know.
How many of you have gone on the Googler and on Google.
Sorry, how many of you got on the Google or Google and you have put in a prompt that started with how to.
Like, Everybody.
Everybody has put, typically, how to make gravy, how to bake a potato.
How do I make it so my wife's not angry at me right now?
I've never done that one. That's a joke. That was a bad joke. Didn't land great. Okay.
How to is very. It's. It's. I tried asking chat GTP how many how to YouTube videos there were.
It could not answer.
I'm dead serious.
It said, there's no way to know. There's like 510 billion. Sometimes the numbers are wrong videos. And they're like, well, if we take 1% of that. And I was like, whoa, chatgpt, you don't even know. There are so many, many how to videos. We do the how to all the time. I do, at least.
I love it. It's really good. It's like I feel empowered. I feel like, hey, I can find out how to do this or do that or do the other. And when I'm done, it's like a dopamine release. It's like, I did it, I finished, I fixed it, whatever it is.
Sometimes we get so focused on the how to that we forget about the who.
Like, sometimes we get so focused on the how that we forget about the who.
The who is Jesus.
When you.
When you find yourself asking yourself, how do I do this, Jesus?
How do I love this person?
How do I forgive this person?
How can I let this go?
I would encourage you to change it from how to and put who instead.
Like, Jesus, I need you to help me to forgive this person. Jesus, I need you to help me to let this go. Because to the degree that you can see the king and his kingdom, you can see King Jesus is to the degree that you'll like, actually stop asking the how to questions. They won't matter as much.
It's fascinating. It really Is I would encourage you to mess with that a little bit to the degree that you can see King Jesus is. To the degree that you'll stop asking the how to questions.
Yeah, guys, sometimes we focus too much on the how and we forget about the who.
It's already 11:30.
That went really fast.
I'm going to call the band up already.
I want to. It's really important that we have time to, like, honor him and give him praise.
Two big takeaways this morning, guys, is, do you have expectations that are causing you to miss Jesus?
Expectations on, like, hey, this is how I expect a Sunday morning to go.
Expectations on like, hey, this is how I feel about this or that or the other. But Jesus is right in front of you saying, actually, let's look at this.
Do you have expectations that are causing you to miss Jesus?
And remember Jesus warning his disciples. And if you're a disciple of Jesus this morning, he's warning you. It's not about how, it's about who. And the who is Jesus.
Yeah, it's very subtle, you guys. It's very subtle. These things, they take a lot of, like, time and effort to think about them, to sit and to meditate. And in our culture full of phones and of distraction, oftentimes we don't take that time.
And I would encourage you in as much as you can, take the time. These are things that have, like, eternal value in them.
All the stuff that we work so hard for, guys, and when I say all, let me just talk about me. The stuff that I can tend to focus on and work so hard for because I want to accomplish a goal or because I want X amount of dollars in the bank account.
None of that is going to matter if I put all my focus on those things. I'm missing out on some very big realities that Jesus is beckoning me to in his kingdom, his rule, his way, his reign.
Let me read Matthew 5 for you. We've talked about the law a lot this morning. I want. I want to read to you what Jesus says about the law.
Don't think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets.
I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.
For truly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass away from the law until all things are accomplished.
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.
But whoever does and teaches these commands will be called great in the Kingdom of heaven.
Listen to this. For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven. Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven. How can our righteousness surpass the scribes and the Pharisees? They knew the law better than I think anyone in this room. I would argue that's an assumption on my part.
They practiced it daily, you guys, they were on it. They were in it to win it. I told you that.
How is it possible that our righteousness can surpass them? Remember, it's. It's not about how.
It's about who he King Jesus. His righteousness.
That's what surpasses it all.
What is the evidence that this is true?
Like, what can we point to that shows that his righteousness surpasses it all?
His righteousness was nailed to a cross 2000 years ago outside the city, next to a garbage heap, a pile of trash.
The King of the universe nailed to a cross. His righteousness nailed the nails, like splitting his flesh and his tendons.
What kept him on the cross?
Was it like, hey, how do I get another breath?
How do I endure the pain and lift myself up just so I can get one more breath?
I'm completely exposed and naked. How do I ever, like, how can I survive this? How do I like, how is this gonna work?
How am I gonna deal with the Father in heaven, essentially turning his back, forsaking Jesus?
How am I going to do this? Jesus never asked how because for him, it was also about who.
It wasn't about how for Jesus, it was about who.
And the who is you. That's what kept him there. His love for you to the degree that you can understand. His love and his kindness and his grace and his mercy.
And the reality that his righteousness was nailed to a cross so that you could be set free and join him in the kingdom of heaven is to the reality that you start to live real life. Man joy enters. Because guess what? You can no longer lose. You can't lose.
Your circumstances may completely change. It may become really uncomfortable for you. You may not have enough money. You may not have a way, whatever you name it, whatever it is that makes you really uncomfortable.
But if he is the center, if he is your king, you can't lose.
Remember the disciples in the boat with Jesus. He's sleeping in the boat and the waves are crashing up against the boat. Circumstances are pretty Bad. You guys, it's not looking good here.
It's not looking good. They start to freak out. Jesus, we're gonna sink.
Guys, he's in the boat with you.
You're not going to sink. It's just going to get uncomfortable.
And when he says you have little faith, it's because you're not trusting that he's in the boat with you.
Ah, you guys, whatever you think of the person of Jesus, whatever you think he is, he's so much more.
However kind you think he is, he's so much kinder.
However much love you think it would take to do the things that he did, it's more.
However much grace you think he has for you, it's more.
It's so much more.
There are things that cannot be properly communicated.
That's one of them.
The love he has for you is so immense that there's not words that, that can be attached to describe it. It's so much. And he beckons you and says, look, I know it's going to be uncomfortable. I know it's going to be different, but I have grace for that. I'm with you in the boat. Come to the kingdom of heaven. Start living inside out. The things that I value, the things that I prioritize, the things that I, that I say are important. Like focus on those things. Don't focus on the outside in.
Don't try to do something good for me.
Know me. And the byproduct of that is gonna be beautiful things. It's the fruit.
He loves you dearly, you guys. He loves you dearly.
I wanna encourage us this morning. Tom's gonna come up in a minute.
It's 11:38. Tom's gonna come up in just a second and he's gonna invite the prayer team up. When he does, I just want to encourage you.
Listen to the spirit and to the best of your ability, be obedient.
Listen to the spirit and be obedient.
Can I pray for us real quick?
Pray with me, guys.
Jesus, you are. You're the greatest. You're the greatest.
Really grateful.
Love you dearly, God, but I, I believe. Will you help my unbelief?
Will you. Will you help highlight spirit? The areas, even like, like specifically in my life, God, where like my expectations are causing me to miss you right in front of my face.
God, we want to honor you. Would you be glorified this morning? Would you help these things to, like, would you help them to sort of stew and just marinate for a bit?
Would you help us to start prioritizing the things that you prioritize. God, we love you.
We love you dearly. Your name, we pray. Amen.
