Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Almighty God, you welcome you. Hey, there. 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] All right, go ahead and find a comfortable seat. Hey, did you guys. Mike referenced it, but did you see what I saw this morning up here in the front?
[00:00:43] Some of you did. Some of you are shaking your head. Some of you are back there, so you might not be able to see, but.
[00:00:48] So here's what I saw.
[00:00:49] I like. And it was cool because it was. It was like a. It was like a progressive thing. It was like there was. There was the youth, and they were praising Jesus, and they were kind of in a beautiful way, like, expressing their praises to God with their voices, with their bodies, even in cool ways. And then you just literally saw down the line, younger, younger, younger, younger, younger, younger, younger, younger, younger. And they're all doing that. And I was, like, sitting here just like a lump in my throat going, oh, my goodness.
[00:01:23] Like, you just see this beautiful.
[00:01:26] This beautiful picture of how discipleship happens oftentimes.
[00:01:34] Yeah. You know, teaching is one thing.
[00:01:37] Being taught to praise is one thing, but it can also be something that's caught.
[00:01:42] And I just want to. I just say that really quickly because don't underestimate the ripple effects of just you following Jesus in your life.
[00:01:52] And whether it be those behind you in age and stage or those out in front of you in age and stage, it can affect you and it can have effect on other people. It's just. I'm just so in awe of what God's doing. It's pretty cool, man. It's pretty cool. All right, so for the sake of time, I'm gonna have you grab your Bible. We're gonna be in Matthew, chapter 17. I don't have a fancy intro for you. What I will do is I will bring you up to speed. We're continuing on in our series, the King and His Kingdom, where we're going through Matthew's gospel to learn as much as we can glean, as much as we can absorb, much as we can about what the king of the universe, Jesus, is like and what his kingdom is like, his rule. His reign, his way.
[00:02:35] And so we find ourselves this morning in Matthew 17, verses 24 to 27. This is kind of a.
[00:02:43] Kind of a fun passage. You'll see it in just a moment.
[00:02:47] But what I want to do is I want to pray. I want to ask God to teach us through his spirit this morning. And so I'm going to pray before I read, and I'm going to invite you to join me.
[00:02:58] Father, I thank you for this morning.
[00:03:05] I just. I just want to tell you, you're a good leader, God.
[00:03:10] You're a really good leader.
[00:03:14] And the ways that you desire to guide us and direct us sometimes don't.
[00:03:20] Sometimes don't make complete sense to us.
[00:03:24] But I just think about, like, I look back on my life and I go, you knew exactly what you were doing.
[00:03:31] You're so intentional.
[00:03:33] You're so faithful. You're so present.
[00:03:37] And so I pray, Holy Spirit, that you'd help us to see Jesus more clearly this morning.
[00:03:42] Help make us aware more of the ways that you're fathering us, God.
[00:03:46] And would you give us more faith to trust you and say yes?
[00:03:51] I want to stack up the yeses in my life. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. So lead on. We pray. And all God's people said Amen.
[00:04:00] Okay, so Matthew, chapter 17.
[00:04:05] Cool little story that we're gonna read this morning, starting in verse 24. If you have your Bible, great. If you don't, we'll have words up on the screen. I'm in the Christian Standard Bible Translation, so if your Bible's different, I'd recommend looking up at the screen. Cause if you're anything like me, I can just kind of get distracted by the difference in words. But let's check this out. Verse 24 is where we'll start.
[00:04:24] Says this. When they. The they there is Jesus and his disciples.
[00:04:28] When they came to Capernaum, that was Jesus home base. Right? Peter lived there. Jesus lived there. I've been there. It's a real place. It's really, really special.
[00:04:36] When they came to Capernaum, those who collected the temple tax, underline temple tax, approached Peter and said, doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?
[00:04:49] So pause for a second. So these people who collect the temple tax go to Peter and they're like, hey, does Jesus, you know, your rabbi, your teacher, does he pay the temple tax?
[00:04:58] Now, it's important for you to understand what this is really quickly before we move on the temple tax. I don't want you to get confused with Roman taxes.
[00:05:05] So you read Matthew, the author of this book, he was a tax collector on behalf of Rome. Right?
[00:05:13] That's separate. That's different taxes. This is a temple tax. Okay?
[00:05:18] What would happen is that every Jewish man over the age of 19, so 20 and up, they were required to pay this tax to the temple annually. Okay? Now, the value of that tax was the equivalent of two days wages.
[00:05:35] So whatever you do for a living, do the math. Whatever you'd get paid for two days of work, that's the tax that they'd come to collect from you. And the point of the tax was to cover the maintenance and the operating costs of the temple.
[00:05:51] Okay, we gotta know, we gotta need a refresher. What's the temple? The temple was God's dwelling place on the earth.
[00:05:58] The physical structure where God dwelt. His presence was there. And so people would come to meet with God, to engage with God. Right, Right. It's where the sacrifices for sin were made.
[00:06:11] Right? So I want you to understand that for people, this the temple, it's where people could be forgiven.
[00:06:17] It's where they could be cleansed of their sins. So temple's a big deal? Temple's a big deal. So this tax is collected. Right.
[00:06:24] Because it costs money to maintain and operate the temple where God is worshiped. All right, let's keep reading.
[00:06:33] So those who collected the temple tax, they approached Peter and said, doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?
[00:06:38] Verse 25. Yes. Peter said when he went into the house. So Peter goes into the house.
[00:06:46] Jesus spoke to him first.
[00:06:48] What do you think, Simon? Simon's another name. Peter's another name.
[00:06:52] For whom do earthly kings collect tariffs or taxes? From their sons or from strangers?
[00:07:00] From strangers, Peter said, then the sons are free. Jesus told him, but so we won't offend them, go to the sea, cast in a fish hook, and take the first fish that you catch.
[00:07:14] Get this. When you open its mouth, you'll find a coin, take it and give it to them. For me and for you. That's the end of our passage. That's wild to me.
[00:07:25] Like, Jesus just like makes this really bold prediction. Did you catch it? And he's not like predicting, you know, who's gonna win the super bowl or who's gonna win the World Series or what. He's like getting really specific with these predictions. Okay, so here's what I wanna do. I wanna spend some time here. I wanna zoom in for a second in this passage. Cause it teaches us four things about Jesus that are really important. And then I wanna wrap up by zooming out and seeing what this passage can teach us about ourselves. Okay, so four things this passage teaches us about Jesus. The first thing. Look back at verse 25.
[00:08:00] When Peter went into the house, Jesus spoke to him. What?
[00:08:04] First, Peter has this. He has this moment with, you know, the tax, the people clicked in, the temple tax. Does your. Does your teacher. Does Jesus pay the temple tax? Yes, and he's on his way to go talk to Jesus about it. And Jesus brings it up before Peter says a word.
[00:08:24] If you're taking notes.
[00:08:25] The first thing I want you to see here about what this teaches us about Jesus is this. Jesus knows what's needed before he's asked.
[00:08:36] Jesus knows what's needed before he's asked.
[00:08:39] So Peter comes to Jesus, and Jesus spoke to him first. Not only that, in verse 27, we just read it. It says that he knew that the money needed for the tax had been swallowed by that specific fish.
[00:08:52] So he knows a lot of stuff. Okay, Jesus knows.
[00:08:59] You want to boil down that first point into two words? It's just this. Jesus, he knows.
[00:09:05] Like, he knows what this week's been like for you.
[00:09:10] He knows what's on your heart right now.
[00:09:15] He knows what's on your mind right now.
[00:09:20] He knows the things that cause you to worry.
[00:09:23] He knows the things that make you feel grateful.
[00:09:26] Like, he knows.
[00:09:29] It's been so encouraging for me to just hear story after story coming out of the prayer room of how people are experiencing God in ways specifically that reinforce this reality that, like, he knows.
[00:09:44] It was so cool to hear from Brittany last Sunday, Keaton this morning.
[00:09:48] And these moments where people like, even my own stuff, where these confirmation moments, guys, not only those two ladies, but I can't tell you how many times I've been in the prayer room, I've been silently praying about something, and somebody says they pray out loud. Like, the very thing that I was praying. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, God knows.
[00:10:09] He knows.
[00:10:10] And it's happening. It's being confirmed through other people that there's no way that they would know to pray. That for me, it's just so fun and cool.
[00:10:19] And it's cool because seeing it happen, you know, Brittany shared last week, her first time I was in the room, it was so cool to watch her have this encounter with Keaton's thing. I was in the room watching her feverishly write in her journal. I'm like, oh, God's doing something with Keaton. And then she opened her mouth and shared it, and it was this contagious thing. And people are going, oh, my gosh. God knows my heart because it just happened through what Keaton shared. And it's so cool, man. God's real.
[00:10:44] He's real, and he's with us, and he's doing stuff. I'm here to tell you, Jesus knows.
[00:10:50] He knows. He knows what you're facing. He knows what you're thinking. He knows what you're struggling with.
[00:10:58] He knows that some of you feel really lonely.
[00:11:03] He knows that some of you, you're developing habits and they're not the best for you.
[00:11:10] Like your screen time's going up.
[00:11:14] He knows that some of you are giving it all you got right now, and you're tired, but you want to be faithful to him. He sees your effort. He knows.
[00:11:29] He knows. Do you hear me now? I was thinking about that for my life this week. I'm like, that can be really comforting, and it can also be kind of terrifying, you know, because if you're anything like me, sometimes my motives are not exactly pure.
[00:11:47] I'm like, oh, God, Jesus knows.
[00:11:51] He knows.
[00:11:54] First thing, the second thing that this passage teaches us about Jesus is. Look at verse 27.
[00:12:02] Jesus, he's talking to Peter. He tells Peter, go to the sea, cast in a fish hook. Now, I'm pretty confident this is the only time, if I'm not mistaken, this is the only time in the New Testament where Jesus references fishing. And he's not talking about fishing with a net.
[00:12:18] He's talking literally.
[00:12:21] He goes, peter, go bait up your hook.
[00:12:24] Throw it into the sea. And then he says, what does he say? And take the first fish that you catch. When you open its mouth, you'll find a coin. I referenced it already. This is a wild prediction.
[00:12:38] I want you to picture this.
[00:12:41] Say, let's just play it out here. What's the closest body of water? Skinner, Elsinore, something like that. Whatever.
[00:12:50] Good call.
[00:12:52] Okay, let's see who's harvested. There's fish there.
[00:12:55] And Mike's a fisherman. I'm gonna use Mike.
[00:12:57] So imagine I'm up here, and I'm like, hey, Mike, bait your hook, go over to harvest, and the first fish that you catch is gonna have this coin inside of it.
[00:13:08] You'll open it up and you'll find it.
[00:13:11] That's a pretty specific, outrageous, even prediction.
[00:13:18] I was thinking about this this week, and I'm like, gosh, what are the odds of something like that actually happening? Like, odds, odds.
[00:13:27] Like the probability. Like, what are the actual mathematical chances of that happening?
[00:13:34] And so I did.
[00:13:36] What we probably should stop doing, is I asked the terminator.
[00:13:40] ChatGPT I asked the terminator. ChatGPT. Hey, what are the odds of this?
[00:13:48] Like, what are the mathematical chances of this happening?
[00:13:51] And this is what the Terminator said, quote.
[00:13:56] Even with assumptions, I think I gave you guys great. Even with assumptions that are friendly to chance, you're looking at hundreds of millions to tens of billions to one with more realistic coin in mouth rarity. Basically, if you factor in the coin in the mouth thing with more realistic coin in mouth rarity, it plummets to trillion to one or worse. In other words, the natural probability, not supernatural, but the natural probability is effectively zero, end quote.
[00:14:31] So the odds mathematically of predicting this and then it happening is effectively what?
[00:14:37] Zero, no chance, not going to happen. Yet Jesus very definitively makes the prediction, calls it.
[00:14:46] So the chances are zero. Yet Jesus has the authority, listen, to ensure that specific fish would take the bait that Peter offered it.
[00:14:59] My next point for you, the next thing that this passage teaches us about Jesus is this. Jesus has authority over all of creation.
[00:15:10] Jesus has authority over all of creation.
[00:15:15] He wasn't as much making a prediction as he was a decree, wasn't he?
[00:15:20] He has authority.
[00:15:22] That means Jesus reigns, guys.
[00:15:25] He reigns over all. He reigns over every fish.
[00:15:29] He reigns over every tree. He reigns over every leaf that falls from every tree. He reigns over every star in the sky, every planet, every in the galaxy. He reigns over everything.
[00:15:42] Like, I want you to think about the implications for that for just a second.
[00:15:47] Like, think about that.
[00:15:52] I saw a few years back, I saw an interview with Paul and Cartney. I think he's my favorite Beatle.
[00:16:00] Anybody in the room not know who the Beatles are? I'm not going to shame you. I just genuinely need to know.
[00:16:06] Even the youth. You guys all know the Beatles. Great. Good. Means your parents are doing a good job.
[00:16:11] So Beatles, say what you will.
[00:16:14] It's hard to argue that there's been a more impactful songwriting duo than Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Like the Beatles. Just like, even if you don't like their music, their music has inspired generations of people.
[00:16:27] Their music means a lot to people. They're fantastic songwriters, so whatever.
[00:16:31] But I remember watching this interview with Paul McCartney and the interviewer's asking him about his songwriting process. So when you guys are writing songs like, how does that work? And he tells this story, he references. Have you heard the song Yesterday?
[00:16:48] Yeah, yesterday.
[00:16:50] All my troubles seem so far away.
[00:16:53] Such a great, beautiful song. So he references Yesterday and he goes and he tells the story of how it came about.
[00:17:00] And he Goes, I had a dream.
[00:17:05] Like, the song came to him in a dream and he woke up and he effectively traced it.
[00:17:16] And he basically is describing how this incredible song like that has given people language for some of the things that they feel inside. And just. It's a beautiful song if you ever heard it. You can go listen to it today. But he described how this incredible song, it. Like it came from outside of him, and he effectively traced it.
[00:17:42] And it's funny because I've actually heard. I've heard many songwriters describe something similar like that some of you are very creative people. And, you know, there's these moments when you feel like you're almost. It sounds really weird, but it's true. You're almost being channeled where you're like, this is.
[00:17:59] Something is happening. And I'm able to kind of express this in a way, and it feels almost outside of myself. In Paul McCartney, not a Christian, but he's like, describing how this song came to him.
[00:18:13] Of course it did.
[00:18:16] Cause Jesus reigns over all, even songs.
[00:18:28] I think it's really important for us to remember the world that we live in is broken and fallen, guys.
[00:18:35] Like, when sin entered the earth, Adam and Eve. Since then, all of creation is poisoned with sin.
[00:18:44] And so the trajectory of something that is broken and fallen and poisoned, if you will, is. Is never up on the line graph.
[00:18:56] It's always destructing. It's always expiring, it's always disintegrating, it's always dividing.
[00:19:01] It's always moving in a negative direction. So hear me, that means that when anything good or anything beautiful happens, it's a result of a higher authority's intervention.
[00:19:16] Do you see that?
[00:19:18] Because Jesus reigns over all.
[00:19:22] Even in the midst of brokenness, even in the midst of bad things, awful things, darkness, death, he's still exercising his ultimate authority. And you know he is, because we're seeing good, beautiful things.
[00:19:36] You with me in this.
[00:19:37] He reigns over all.
[00:19:40] This week was a kind of a difficult week for. For my family, a painful week, especially for my folks. Love you.
[00:19:48] They lost their dog, Molly.
[00:19:51] And that might not sound like that big of a deal to some, but those of you who have ever, like, had a dog for more than, like, a few weeks, you know, like, your heart, like, you start to. You start to develop a loving relationship with this animal.
[00:20:05] Like, it's where it's like, man. Like, it can mean a lot. Many of you have lost pets that you've loved, and you felt that, like, that sting of. It's painful, it's hard.
[00:20:15] And so I was talking with my pop this week about it, and he was describing to me. He's like. He's like, listen, man. He's like, I love that dog. Like, I, like, experienced God through this dog.
[00:20:28] Like, the loyalty and the love and the affection and the. You know, like, where it's like. And not based on the performance of it. Like, it's like a. It's like an unconditional. You know what I mean? Like, I just love you, man. Like, that kind of dog love, you know?
[00:20:41] And he was describing that I felt God's love through this animal. And I was like. It hit me. I'm like, of course.
[00:20:50] Because Jesus reigns over all.
[00:20:53] Even dogs, guys.
[00:20:59] And it's funny. Maybe you're in the room, like people. Sometimes I'll talk like this, and people get kind of weirded out. Cause they're like, dude, you're being way overly spiritual here. Like, come on, you've heard me say this before. I'll say it again.
[00:21:10] Listen, I don't think we're spiritual enough.
[00:21:13] I really don't. And the reason I believe that is because Jesus reigns over all. Like, he's not absent. He's not passive. He's involved. He's active. Do you know where he is right now? We've talked about this.
[00:21:27] He's seated on his throne in heaven.
[00:21:32] That means he's administering his will on the earth. That is contrary oftentimes to the will of Satan, to the will of people.
[00:21:41] He is still kinging, if you can use that as a language, like a verb.
[00:21:46] And you know he is. Whenever you see something good and beautiful. You with me?
[00:21:56] I want to dare you this week to slow down enough to pay attention.
[00:22:02] Because his rule and his reign, his kingdom is all around us. It's all over the place.
[00:22:09] Whenever you see something good and beautiful in a broken and a fallen world, it's the fingerprints of your maker, still ruling and reigning, still intervening, still at work.
[00:22:24] Jesus reigns over all. That's the second thing, the third thing. I want you to look back, the third thing that this passage teaches us about Jesus. Look back at verse 25.
[00:22:34] So Jesus, he's speaking to Peter, and he asks him the question. He goes, from whom do earthly kings collect tariffs or taxes? From their sons or from strangers? And Peter responds, from strangers. And look what Jesus says. He says, then the sons are what?
[00:22:49] Free? Underline that word, verse 27. But so we won't offend them. Underline that one, too.
[00:22:58] The sons are free, but so we won't offend them. Go to the sea, you know what's gonna happen? Cast in the fish hook. Take the first fish that you cast. When you open its mouth, you'll find a coin. Take it and give it to them for me and for you. Okay, allow me to summarize what just happens here or what has happened here. Jesus says, just as the children of an earthly king, get this. Are free from paying taxes to that king, he said, in the same way the children of God are freed from the obligation to pay tax for God's temple. Are you tracking with this?
[00:23:27] So he says that, right? He says, but he also does. He doesn't stop. And then he says, but so that we don't offend them, go pay the tax.
[00:23:38] It's like, wait, this is a bit confusing. Jesus, what's happening here Again, he basically says, because of your relationship to God, you. You're free from the obligation of paying the temple tax.
[00:23:50] But because you're free, go pay the tax.
[00:23:54] It's like, wait, what?
[00:23:56] Should we pay the tax? Or like, wait, are we what, free? What?
[00:24:01] And this reason is so we don't offend them. This is a moment that gets lost in translation. Okay, you guys know this New Testament written in Greek, translated into English? This is a moment where, if you read the original Greek stands out.
[00:24:16] If you read the English, you're like, I'm kind of confused about what's happening here. Let me break it down for just a second. I'm not a Greek scholar, but I know a little bit. I know enough to get into trouble.
[00:24:28] That word offend. In Greek, it's the word scandalezo.
[00:24:35] Scandalizo. Like scandal, scandalizo. It means to cause someone to stumble or fall.
[00:24:44] So in this passage, he's saying we don't want to offend them. What he's saying is we don't want to cause someone to stumble or fall.
[00:24:50] Okay, so it's not about hurting someone's feelings.
[00:24:56] Okay. It's about behaving in a way that trips other people up. You tracking with me? Not if you are. Great.
[00:25:06] It's about behaving in a way that trips other people up. Okay, so according to Jesus, Jesus is saying he's free from the obligation to pay the temple tax. But look at this. If he doesn't pay it, he knows it would trip people up.
[00:25:20] Remember the temple?
[00:25:22] The temple's a big deal. The temple is God's dwelling place at the time on the earth. God's dwelling place where people would meet with God, they would worship God there. It's where the sacrifices for sin were made right is where people could be forgiven and be cleansed of their sins.
[00:25:40] So Jesus knows. So if Jesus doesn't, even though he's free from the obligation to pay the temple tax, if he doesn't pay the temple tax, he must not care about sin, right?
[00:25:50] Sin must not be that big of a deal to Jesus.
[00:25:53] If he doesn't pay the temple tax, he must be like anti God.
[00:25:57] That's God's dwelling place. If he doesn't pay the temple tax, he must be like anti God's law.
[00:26:05] Now guys, we know that's not true, right? Jesus said he didn't come to abolish the law, but what to fulfill it? He's not anti law. He's not anti God. He's not even anti the temple.
[00:26:18] We'll talk a little bit more later in this series about how Jesus describes himself as the temple.
[00:26:24] But we know that it's not true.
[00:26:27] So what is Jesus doing here then as he does so often? Jesus is prioritizing love.
[00:26:38] He's prioritizing love. Jesus is free to not pay the temple tax, but what does he do with that freedom?
[00:26:47] He pays it anyway.
[00:26:52] In other words, he limits his own freedom for the sake of others.
[00:26:58] He models something here. He's modeling a self limiting love, a sacrificial love. The third thing, if you're taking notes that this passage teaches us about Jesus is this. Jesus limits personal freedom for the sake of others.
[00:27:19] This one's touchy.
[00:27:24] There's a lot of people that will tell you a lot of different things about what freedom is and what it isn't.
[00:27:30] I highly recommend we listen to Jesus.
[00:27:33] Jesus limits personal freedom for the sake of others. Listen, if you're a parent, you know exactly what Jesus is talking about here.
[00:27:41] Parents, every moment of your day, you're limiting your personal freedom for the sake of your children, right? If you're married, you know what Jesus is talking about.
[00:27:51] If you've had any long lasting friendships or relationships, you know what Jesus is talking about. Sometimes love limits personal freedom for the sake of others.
[00:28:02] Here's the idea. The idea is this. I could do that, but I won't. For your sake.
[00:28:09] I could do that, but I won't. For your sake.
[00:28:14] I could spend more money on myself.
[00:28:16] You could spend more money on yourself, but you won't. Why? For their sake.
[00:28:21] Parents, you could go out every night with your friends like you used to, but you won't and you don't.
[00:28:30] Why?
[00:28:31] For the benefit of your family. Right? For the sake of your family.
[00:28:38] Real talk. For just A second.
[00:28:41] I want to take a moment and I want to draw attention to appropriately and honor the church staff.
[00:28:55] Not a perfect team of people, but holy smokes, an amazing crew.
[00:29:02] Like an amazing crew.
[00:29:06] Listen, they could go get another job and make significantly more money, but they don't. Why?
[00:29:20] For the sake of others.
[00:29:26] Jesus is doing something really beautiful here that challenges all of us in one way or another. He is teaching and modeling that sometimes love limits personal freedom for them sake of others.
[00:29:41] I never cease to be amazed at Jesus, guys.
[00:29:45] Like, he's an incredible teacher.
[00:29:52] He's the greatest teacher of all time.
[00:29:55] Nobody even comes close.
[00:29:57] Jesus is teaching here about a truer freedom, friends, a greater freedom. And that is the freedom from the slavery to self.
[00:30:09] It's a freedom to be able to and to actually move in, to actually consider other people.
[00:30:21] Freedom from the slavery to self. This is one of the reasons why personally I hate social media so much.
[00:30:29] There are some benefits. I'm not going to completely demonize it, but this is one of the reasons. Because it perpetuates slavery to self.
[00:30:39] I know many of you, you don't necessarily have the option of opting out of that. So I'm not throwing shade at that.
[00:30:46] You have to leverage it. I understand that.
[00:30:51] I just want to caution us to be careful because it consistently perpetuates slavery to self. Whether it's something that you post or whether it's something that that algorithm is feeding you, man, all of it. It trains us to focus on me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me.
[00:31:13] It trains us to focus on the self. Now hear me, I don't want to be anti self. You're called to love your neighbor as yourself. You're supposed to love yourself.
[00:31:21] So please don't misunderstand. Care for yourself, love yourself, steward your body.
[00:31:28] Like that's important. That's actually an act of trust and faith in God. It's an act of worship when you do that. But hear me, there's a difference between loving yourself and being a slave to self.
[00:31:38] There's a difference there.
[00:31:41] You won't consider others if you are a slave to self.
[00:31:46] Instead, you'll be consumed with you, with your wants, with your desires, with your frustrations, right? Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me. And we're not designed to live that way because we're made in God's image.
[00:31:59] God is three persons, right?
[00:32:01] Father, Son, spirit, each one of them eternally existing to glorify the other two.
[00:32:09] So God the Son is constantly going, God the Father, God the Father, God the Spirit, God, the spirit, and all the other three persons are doing to the other two. It's this beau. It's love. That's why God says he is love.
[00:32:20] It's the opposite of slavery to self.
[00:32:30] You won't consider others if you're a slave to self. And here's the thing, even when you think about others, it will ultimately be about how it affects you. Am I the only person that experiences that?
[00:32:41] I think I'm the only one.
[00:32:45] Friends, hear me. Most of the sin in the world is the result of people being a slave to self.
[00:32:51] I know that's a hot take. I believe it.
[00:32:55] We tend to demonize people when they make poor choices, when their sin is on display.
[00:33:01] Instead of having the compassion to go, oh, they're just in a space where they're a slave to self.
[00:33:06] They can't take their eyes off of themselves.
[00:33:09] They're violating their humanity in that. When you and I sin, we're violating our humanity in that.
[00:33:14] And so I have to ask you in love, the question that I've been asking myself all are you a slave to self?
[00:33:26] Here's how you know.
[00:33:28] Here's how you know. If you're living as a slave to self, you're not willing to limit your personal freedoms for the sake of others.
[00:33:38] Jesus, he teaches and models this. He limits his personal freedom for the sake of others. Okay, the final thing, the fourth thing that this passage teaches us about Jesus is found in verse 27.
[00:33:52] He's talking to Peter about the fish, and he says, when you open that fish's mouth, you'll find a what?
[00:33:58] A coin.
[00:33:59] Take it and give it to them. For who? For me and for you. Now, this is another moment tragically that gets lost in translation.
[00:34:06] We read coin. The Greek doesn't say just coin, okay?
[00:34:12] What the Greek says is, it says stater.
[00:34:16] Stater. Now, what a stater was, it was a Greek coin that was the equivalent of four days wages. So do the math. Right. How much money was needed for the temple tax for each adult Jewish male?
[00:34:29] Two days.
[00:34:31] And Jesus goes, you're gonna find this specific coin that is the equivalent of four days wages. The perfect amount. Exactly what was needed to pay for Peter and for Jesus. My fourth thing for you, the fourth thing that this passage teaches about Jesus is Jesus provides what is needed.
[00:34:48] Jesus provides what is needed.
[00:34:51] It wasn't like, hey, Peter, you're gonna find this coin. It's gonna be enough to pay the temple tax and to get you, like, a new carriage with maybe a lift kit and some you Know some bigger rims.
[00:35:04] And I'm not anti. Nice car. Okay, if you have a nice car. Praise God.
[00:35:09] No, no, no. What Jesus is doing here. God provides what is needed for God's purposes to be accomplished.
[00:35:19] I've told this story before, but I want to tell it again because maybe. Probably some of you haven't heard it. No doubt. But also because it was a pivotal moment in my life where I feel like God taught me this.
[00:35:34] In 2012, my eldest, Amelia, was born.
[00:35:39] And I mean, like, weeks, a month or so after she was born.
[00:35:45] I'll spare the details, but we had. Me and Ebony had a pretty significant encounter with God where he was very clearly directing us, fathering us, guiding us, and giving us a specific assignment. We thought we were moving to LA for a ministry role.
[00:36:01] And God was like, no, I want you to go to San Diego with no job. I want you to go to San Diego to help plant what would become the first restored church.
[00:36:11] And it was a wild season. It was. I look back on it now, and if someone came to me and explained to me what our experience was, I'd be like, slow down, man. Pray, like. Because it was pretty radical, honestly.
[00:36:24] But we were like, it was clear. God spoke. We couldn't shake it. There was confirmation. It was wild.
[00:36:30] And the tricky part was that we had just inherited. Not inherited. We had just accumulated some pretty significant debt for us at the time, my health insurance was pretty bad.
[00:36:46] Or actually, Ebony's health insurance wasn't great. And so the deductible was ten grand. And that's essentially her bill. The bill for Millie's birth was like twenty something thousand dollars. Our deductible. What we needed to pay was $10,000. Youth, what you need to know. We owed people 10. We owed health care workers $10,000. We did not have that $10,000. And now we're moving to San Diego with no job and a new baby because God told us to do something. We're convinced he told us to do it. We can't shake it. It would be, like, disobedient if we didn't do it. Not like, this is convenient. More like, are you sure we shouldn't take the fancy job up north? Like God was doing something.
[00:37:26] And so we have this bill, and we're in the process of trying to find a place to live in San Diego. So we're in transition.
[00:37:36] We lived up here, and a guy hits me up and goes, hey, can you go golfing next week?
[00:37:46] And I was like, bro, I'm like, I'm Practically unemployed now.
[00:37:53] And I'm trying to figure out this move and all these things. And he's like, hey, I'll cover your golf. Come golfing. And I was like, yep, let's go.
[00:38:00] And so we're golfing, and we're in the car, and we're about halfway through the round, and he looks over at me, and I can tell he's nervous.
[00:38:11] And he's not the kind of guy that would be nervous with me at all.
[00:38:14] Like, he's a dude.
[00:38:16] Like, he is.
[00:38:20] And he goes, hey, man. He goes.
[00:38:25] And I'll just say this.
[00:38:28] Not a wealthy man.
[00:38:30] Like, not a wealthy man.
[00:38:33] Godly man. Not a wealthy man.
[00:38:36] Financially speaking.
[00:38:38] He.
[00:38:39] I can tell he's nervous.
[00:38:42] And he goes.
[00:38:44] He's like, me and my wife, we're praying and we can't shake. Like, God keeps impressing on us that we're supposed to give this to you.
[00:38:55] And he hands me a check for $6,000.
[00:39:02] And I'm like, bro.
[00:39:04] And I can tell he's still nervous, and I'm like, what's going on?
[00:39:07] And he goes. And so I wrote the checkout because I thought he basically described, like, when he wrote it out, God was like, that's not enough.
[00:39:17] And so he hands me another check.
[00:39:19] Guess how much it was for?
[00:39:22] Yeah.
[00:39:24] And he was like, you're supposed to have this. Like, it's not mine, it's yours.
[00:39:30] Exactly what we needed.
[00:39:36] I'm here to tell you, my life is living proof, guys.
[00:39:40] Jesus provides what is needed to accomplish God's purposes on the earth.
[00:39:50] In my case, it was to fulfill the assignment he was calling us to. And I know many of you have stories like that. You've experienced God's provision. You know exactly, exactly what I'm talking about.
[00:40:02] You see, I think that this is where things can kind of get messy, though.
[00:40:07] Things can kind of get messy because I believe that sometimes our view of what is needed isn't entirely accurate.
[00:40:15] Okay? And I'll speak from my own heart in this as well. I think that we think we need things we actually don't.
[00:40:24] Like, need. You know what I mean? I remember when I was in college, I was in college, and this video game came out when I was in college called Call of Duty.
[00:40:36] Why are you guys laughing?
[00:40:39] Some of you men already know where I'm going with this. Because you've been sucked in. In a season of your life, too, where you can't. You can't say no to playing Call of Duty. I was the late teenager, and I got sucked into Call Call of Duty, right? And I remember there was one specific night I got the game and me and my friends, man, like at the time, just totally caught up in Call of Duty.
[00:41:01] And wow, I just thought about how long ago that was and I feel super old.
[00:41:08] So I remember one specific night and I remember just feeling this. I've been playing this game for a little while with my friends and I'm like, tonight's the night.
[00:41:17] I'm going to beat this thing tonight. I need to beat this game tonight.
[00:41:22] The problem with that was I had class early the next morning.
[00:41:26] So either I overestimated my ability to beat the game or I was just so blinded by, like, driven, like, I need to beat this game.
[00:41:38] And as you can imagine, I stayed up all night long playing that game and then went to class the next day, totally just exhausted. And it was a waste. It was not good.
[00:41:48] I tell you that because we think we need things in a moment that we actually don't. I need to beat Call of Duty. And on the flip side, what we do in those moments is we neglect things that we actually do need. In my case, sleep.
[00:42:02] Okay, here's where I'm going with this.
[00:42:08] I don't care what the advertisers tell you.
[00:42:13] You don't need a new iPhone every year.
[00:42:17] You don't like, need a brand new car or a bigger house or designer clothes or if you're anything like me, new snow skis.
[00:42:26] Like you don't need. Are they bad? No.
[00:42:31] But our hearts are fickle, guys.
[00:42:35] Our hearts are drawn to beautiful things, good things even. But when those good things become chief, dare I say master, we're in trouble.
[00:42:50] So often our attention is drawn to things we don't need. And in the process, we don't realize just how needy we are in the. Hear me? In the areas that matter most.
[00:43:04] Show of hands, how many of you have ever had a credit card in your life? Raise your hands.
[00:43:08] Okay. Most of the room.
[00:43:10] Those of you who know me, you know that I'm all about the credit card game. Not in the sense of like accumulating debt, but in leveraging those banks and the points they give us so I can do things with those points. Most of my travel is all done in points.
[00:43:24] And so I'm not anti credit card. I am. Although I will say this. If you have a hard time, like emptying your, like making sure the balance is zero every week, stay away. But either way, if you've ever had a credit card, you get something in the mail or in the email Once a month. What is it?
[00:43:40] Statement.
[00:43:41] You get that credit card statement, right? And what that credit card statement does is it gives you a list, baby. All of the things that you've used that credit card for. It gives you a list. It tells you how much debt.
[00:43:53] Cause that's what a credit card is. It's loaning you, right? It tells you how much debt you've accumulated.
[00:44:00] Now, ironically, oftentimes we tend to use credit cards to buy things we think we need that we actually don't. But either way, that credit card statement, it tells us how much debt we've accumulated.
[00:44:13] Think of that as a picture for just a second.
[00:44:19] Listen. Multiple times in the Scriptures, Jesus relates sin to debt.
[00:44:28] Remember the Lord's Prayer, right? Matthew, chapter 6, verse 12. I think I have that for you. What does he say? He goes, forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors. He's not talking about banking. He's talking about sin.
[00:44:44] And then you look over at Luke's account of the Lord's Prayer in Luke, chapter 11, verse 4, and look what he says. He goes, forgive us our sins. Sins for we ourselves also forgive everyone in debt to us. So I want you to see it super clearly here. Jesus, he relates sin to debt.
[00:45:05] It's like a spiritual credit card statement. There's a list. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
[00:45:15] Here's where I'm going with this.
[00:45:17] So often our attention is drawn to things we don't need. And in the process, we don't realize just how needy we really are in the areas that matter most in the pursuit of things we think we need. We rack up spiritual debt.
[00:45:43] In other words, God, let my will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Actually, not as it is in heaven, but on the earth.
[00:45:51] You with me in this?
[00:46:00] I actually believe this.
[00:46:02] I don't believe that we have any idea how truly spiritually needy we are.
[00:46:10] I think we kind of get. I think in our best moments, we kind of get it like, holy smokes, man.
[00:46:17] The ways that I have resisted God, the ways that I have rejected him in his ways, the ways that I have been. My life has been oriented around me. The ways that I've been a slave to self, the ways that I have opted out of the kingdom of God and God's rule and reign and weigh on my life.
[00:46:35] That statement, that credit card statement of that debt statement.
[00:46:45] Do you have. Like, this is a genuine question, and it's not meant to be harsh.
[00:46:53] I think it's really appropriate. Okay, guys, do you have Any idea how much spiritual debt you've accumulated?
[00:47:06] And here's the thing about debt.
[00:47:10] Debt requires what?
[00:47:13] Payment.
[00:47:17] Payment.
[00:47:24] There's a.
[00:47:31] There's a strategy that people will use.
[00:47:34] Actually, there's not a strategy. There's several strategies that people will use to pay off their spiritual debt.
[00:47:41] It's called religion.
[00:47:43] It's called religion. That's what religion is. Religion is the attempt to pay off the spiritual debt of your sin. How? Through your performance. Balance.
[00:47:56] Christianity is completely different.
[00:47:58] Christianity is the opposite of that. Christianity says that on the cross.
[00:48:03] Actually, it says this.
[00:48:05] The figure's so big, the balance is so big, it's impossible. You could never pay it off. Christianity says that at the cross, Jesus paid it all.
[00:48:17] Every single line item on the statement.
[00:48:21] All of the value, if you will. Like he paid it all.
[00:48:25] Your whole balance, your whole debt, paid for with what?
[00:48:30] I need you to say it. His blood, dude. The most precious and priceless thing in all of existence. He paid it all for you with his blood. It's incredible.
[00:48:42] So here's what I want you to see. I want you to see that this kind of fun, kind of silly, kind of wild, you know, story in the scriptures. A short little passage where Jesus makes this wild prediction. The whole thing is a picture of the gospel.
[00:48:57] Do you see it?
[00:49:00] I gave you four things, right?
[00:49:04] Okay, I'll close with a review. Ben, will you come up? This whole passage, it's a picture of the gospel, the four things the passage teaches us about God. The. Let's go through them one more time.
[00:49:15] Jesus knows, hear me? He knows what you need even before you asked for it.
[00:49:25] He knows just how needy you really are spiritually.
[00:49:31] Sometimes you get that credit card statement in the mail and you're like, nah, I'm not even gonna look at it. I know I need to pay it, but whatever.
[00:49:37] Some of you are laughing cause you do the same thing.
[00:49:40] Jesus knows exactly what the number is.
[00:49:44] He knows exactly what you need even before you asked for it.
[00:49:51] You may not know just how much spiritual debt you've accumulated, but he does. Jesus knows.
[00:49:57] The second thing, what was it?
[00:49:59] Jesus reigns.
[00:50:03] He reigns over it all.
[00:50:05] That means he has ultimate authority, friends. And he uses that authority to intervene in specific ways.
[00:50:13] All of them gracious, all of them filled with mercy. All of them exercising tremendous power and tremendous love and tremendous goodness.
[00:50:23] The problem is there's so many other loud things happening all around you and I that sometimes we miss out on it.
[00:50:31] But it doesn't change the fact that he reigns over all ultimate authority to intervene to provide grace and beauty to a broken and fallen world. And to broken and fallen people, like me and like you.
[00:50:47] And the third thing, Jesus limits his personal freedom.
[00:50:53] Why? For the sake of others.
[00:50:57] Do you see it, man? It's so cool. It's so beautiful. Like He's. There's nobody like Jesus.
[00:51:04] The scriptures are so pregnant with glory and beauty. It's like if we just look at him for a little bit longer, we'll see it, you know?
[00:51:11] He limits his personal freedom for the sake of others.
[00:51:14] Guys, he was free to stay in heaven, wasn't he?
[00:51:21] Totally free to stay in heaven. Angels worshiping him 24 7, in perfect and unbroken fellowship with the Trinity, completely satisfied.
[00:51:35] Actually not true. I take that back.
[00:51:41] Because there's a reason he left.
[00:51:48] He could have stayed in heaven, but he didn't. He didn't.
[00:51:51] Why? For my sake, for me and for you.
[00:51:57] He considered you.
[00:52:01] Think about that.
[00:52:03] He considered you right where you are, where you've been, where you will be. He considered you. He sees it all. He knows it all. He considered you. He put on flesh and he came. He limited his personal freedom for your sake.
[00:52:21] And then that last one.
[00:52:24] Glory, friggin glory, man.
[00:52:28] Jesus provides exactly what is needed, every drop, his perfect blood on the cross to pay for the entirety of your spiritual debt. Hear me? To handle your whole balance forever.
[00:52:52] All of it, dude. The worst stuff, the ugliest stuff, the dirtiest stuff, the stuff that you feel the most shame about.
[00:53:01] Even that there's nobody like Jesus.
[00:53:09] This whole passage is a picture of the gospel.
[00:53:19] So maybe you're here and you don't feel seen by God right now. You feel that you don't feel seen by Him.
[00:53:28] Like you don't believe Jesus knows that. Or if he does know, he doesn't care.
[00:53:38] I just want to say, like, this passage is an assault on that lie, that lie. It doesn't agree with the gospel.
[00:53:50] And so this morning, like, even right now, in this moment, I just pray freedom over you.
[00:53:57] Jesus knows that's the truth.
[00:54:03] He sees you. He knows you. He knows it all.
[00:54:06] He's not absent. He's not passive.
[00:54:14] Maybe you're here and you are in a space where, if you're honest, you're failing to see the reality that Jesus reigns.
[00:54:22] He reigns over everything.
[00:54:25] Maybe you're here and you really are. You're missing out on all the ways, the beautiful ways that God's intervening all around you all the time.
[00:54:33] The goodness and the beauty, despite the brokenness.
[00:54:37] None of it's deserved, man, but yet He Consistently intervenes with goodness and beauty, mercy, love.
[00:54:48] I find it ironic that in our worldview, we live in a broken, fallen world.
[00:54:55] Sin is wreaking havoc. Things aren't the way they're supposed to be. God's going to return things to the way it's supposed to be through Jesus and His sacrifice and his second Coming. Yes, but for people with our worldview, we get shocked when bad things happen.
[00:55:09] We should be shocked when good things happen.
[00:55:15] If that's you this morning, I believe God wants to remind you that he reigns over all.
[00:55:20] He's not done.
[00:55:22] He's actively working and he's exercising his authority by intervening with grace and goodness all over the place.
[00:55:33] Or maybe you're here and if you're honest, you're living as a slave to self.
[00:55:39] Maybe life's going by so fast.
[00:55:42] Your speed, your calendar. I'm. I'm more guilty than anybody in the room with this one, to be honest with you.
[00:55:49] This last couple few weeks, I've been sinfully busy.
[00:55:53] All good stuff, nothing weird, nothing sketchy, nothing bad. All good stuff. And God's going slow down.
[00:56:01] I can feel it in my soul.
[00:56:03] So I say this as someone who is a fellow, a struggler.
[00:56:07] But maybe you're here and you're living as a slave to self and it's keeping you from considering other people, especially the people that you love the most. They're the first ones that go, aren't they?
[00:56:18] It's. Pardon my language. It sucks. I hate it.
[00:56:24] And here's the thing. Trying harder, it ain't gonna work.
[00:56:28] It won't save you from that kind of bondage. But I'm here to tell you the Gospel says Jesus can set you free like he can set you free today from the slavery to self.
[00:56:38] He has the power, the authority, the goodness, the grace, the mercy to totally change that about you, to set you free.
[00:56:46] How?
[00:56:47] By looking at how he limited his freedom for your sake.
[00:56:51] How he did it for you, by looking at how he considered you. That can empower you then to consider other people.
[00:56:58] And finally, maybe you're here in anybody here who's still carrying that balance on your statement, your spiritual statement.
[00:57:11] If you're here, you're still carrying a balance on that spiritual credit card statement. You're still trying to pay the debt of sin yourself. You're still trying to clean yourself up, present yourself as righteous, as worthy, as good, and all these things. If you're still working overtime, you're exhausted, man. You can't do it for that long. You're not Perfect. Just like I'm not perfect. If you're here and you look at your life and you're like, I'm still carrying this balance and. And it's exhausting me.
[00:57:34] I can't get rid of it.
[00:57:36] I'm not good enough, and I know it. But I'm trying to present myself as good enough. I'm trying to hide the shame that's in my heart. If that's you, can I just preach the gospel to you? Can I just remind you of the good news? That the blood of Jesus can take away all of your shame?
[00:57:51] That your performance does not dictate your value.
[00:57:56] Your following does not dictate your value.
[00:58:00] Your reputation even doesn't dictate your value.
[00:58:04] Jesus was willing to lay down his life for you.
[00:58:07] He was willing to open his veins, his body, his blood, his perfect life in your place, his substitutionary death in your place.
[00:58:16] It can free you, man.
[00:58:19] That balance sheet, instead of being like, I don't even want to look, you can go, totally forgiven, bro. Debt forgiveness is off the hook. This is amazing.
[00:58:29] Is that free or not? That's freedom, dude. There's a greater freedom for us, friends.
[00:58:35] And Jesus went to great lengths to secure that freedom for you. Don't you want it?
[00:58:41] Like, don't you want to live that way?
[00:58:43] Don't you want to leave shackles behind?
[00:58:47] I do. And I believe God wants that for our church, and I believe God wants that for you. This morning, I'm here to tell you, if you don't hear anything I say this morning, hear this. There's a greater freedom available to you in Jesus, and it's yours if you want it.
[00:59:02] Stand with me if you're able. I want to pray for us.
[00:59:24] Father, I confess right now for my brothers and my sisters that what's true is that you know.
[00:59:33] You know what we need even before we ask.
[00:59:36] What's true, Jesus, is that you reign over all.
[00:59:40] You have ultimate authority. And you're exercising that authority in ways that intervene with good goodness and beauty and grace and love.
[00:59:49] And we praise you for that.
[00:59:51] What's true, Jesus, is that you modeled for us and taught for us a deeper love, a truer love, a love that limits personal freedom for the sake of others.
[01:00:02] And, Jesus, what's true is that you provided exactly what was needed for the small things. And the biggest thing, us being reconciled to you through your sacrifice on the cross.
[01:00:19] And so, Father, I pray for every heart in the room that is experiencing some form of slavery to self, some form of bondage, some lack of true freedom.
[01:00:37] There's a lot of talk about, you know, Americans like the freedom that we have. I thank you for that, Lord. I actually really thank you for that.
[01:00:47] The more I travel, the more grateful I am for the freedoms that we have in this country.
[01:00:51] But, Jesus, I thank you that there is a greater freedom for us.
[01:00:56] Your kingdom is the best kingdom.
[01:00:59] Your kingdom is the truest kingdom. Your kingdom is the greatest kingdom. So would you help all of us in this room by the power of your spirit to yield more and more to your lordship and experience the greatest freedom. Freedom possible?
[01:01:12] We love you, Jesus. There's nobody like you.
[01:01:15] We pray these things in your name. Amen.
[01:01:19] If you're on the prayer team this morning, would you make your way to the front? Make yourself available?
[01:01:24] What we're going to do for the next 10 minutes is we're going to respond. I want to give you an opportunity and a chance to respond to God's love this morning.
[01:01:33] You can respond one of two ways. Fill this room with praise to him and come receive prayer. There's trusted and trained men and women who would love to pray for you, if any. If God's, like, touching your heart in some way this morning, if he's highlighting something with you, if he's bringing something to the forefront of your mind, if there's something that came to your mind, hear me, stay with me. If something came to your mind this morning, it came to your mind and was like, I don't even want to go there.
[01:01:57] That thing, whatever that thing was, come receive prayer for it, because God wants to set you free.
[01:02:04] That moment it came to you, and you're like, I don't want to even go there. That's chains. That's the spirit of God going, you're bound. I want to set you free. Come receive prayer. It's personal for everybody. It's going to be different for everybody. Okay, Fill the room with praise. Come forward for prayer, and then we'll close with a benediction and a blessing here in about 10 minutes. Okay? Love you. Enjoy him.
