16. An Open Minded Faith [Matthew] - Tim Mackie (The Bible Project)

good morning hi guys good good good to have you guys here welcome here visitor my name's Kim one of the pastor's here too and here here we go let's dive into these stories about Jesus they hold many things for us today as we go through the Gospel according to Matthew the first and one of the largest accounts of the life of Jesus that's in in the New Testament and today's a significant because we are at a turning point as we've been going through we started last fall and we're going to be going for a while but we're at a turning point because if you've noticed if you've been following with us for the last nine Sundays we have just been in stories about Jesus one week after another and there are stories they've actually if you've been paying attention they all have a similar pattern all of the stories in the last nine Sundays it's been of somebody coming to Jesus and they have some crisis they have something wrong either them or someone that they care about and they come to Jesus and then Jesus he either does or says something awesome and or usually both and then what happens is they walk away from that encounter just totally transformed there you go that's the basic plotline of almost every story that we've been doing in the last nine Sundays and Matthew is we're going to see he's intentionally collected these nine stories all here together in these chapters and we're coming to this conclusion of that body of stories and the next week we're going to be off into new territory a new kind of plot line begins in the Gospel according to Matthew and each of these Sundays each of these mostly these have been stories about people getting healed by Jesus physically although sometimes it's just some kind of spiritual transformation that they undergo and every every one of these has given us some new angle on who Jesus is some new facet of his personality or of his identity and we're kinda it's like a mosaic or think of like a stained-glass window every store is contributing a piece that gives a new color right a new cue of who Jesus is and makes up this robust portrait so these stories right here we have two more stories today and they're short aren't they right there story of two blind men getting healed by Jesus and then a story about this man who can't talk and he's oppressed by spiritual evil and then he's healed by Jesus and then we have all these responses and actually I think it's these responses there's two stories but there's three responses to Jesus did you see it as we read through the story there's three very different kinds of responses to Jesus and they all illuminate something about who Jesus is and that's what we're going to focus on today so who look at there's three responses there's the blind men there's the crowd did you notice the crowds response and then we have the response of the religious leaders the Pharisees three very different responses to Jesus and his words and his activity list I just wanted to take a brief minute to look at each of the three and then that'll open up a whole bunch of staff for us to track down and that'll be fun I think it'll be fun for me for sure and for that guy he's having fun okay all right now some of you will be doing that later this afternoon when it's 80 degrees really come here at 5:00 p.m. let's see how pleasant pleasant that is in the building okay sorry okay three responses why men's the crowds and the Pharisees first of all look at these look at these two blind men look at verse 27 what is what's their response to Jesus what do they call Jesus when they see Jesus when they see Jesus coming when they when they know that he's around and in their presence they start following him what do they what do they say to Jesus what's their response to him they call out they say have mercy and what do they call Jesus the Son of David so the response is to call out for help and then they call him by this title the son of David now have you heard that title before maybe you have you know just in general but you haven't heard it in the Gospel of Matthew this is the first time that any of the characters in any of the stories call Jesus by this name son of David what does that mean they're Jewish and they've grown up on the Jewish Scriptures and hearing them in synagogue and so they know all about the promise that God made to David and maybe some of you do too the promise in 2nd samuel chapter 7 and it's the promise that God made that from David's line would come a future king who would lead the people of Israel to justice and mercy and would set up God's kingdom over the nations of the world and bring peace and so and he's called the Messiah as the developing portrait of this figure goes on in the story of the Bible and so this is this is the promised messianic King that's what this title means the king who comes from the line of David to make everything right and so these blind men recognize Jesus as the Son of David they're the first people in the story to call Jesus by that title but it's not the first time that you've heard that title before put your son right here and just go back to the first sentence of the Gospel according to Matthew go back to page 1 of Matthew and look at the first words of the Gospel according to Matthew Matthew begins his account he says this is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the what a son of David just see the connection there so Matthew he's telling you right up Madri Matthew is not like reading a spy novel right he just gives you the punchline in the very first words of the book here's what this books about it's about a man named Jesus of Nazareth and here is Matthew's claim about him and then everything in the story that follow is going to substantiate that claim here's Matthew's claim he is Israel's Jesus Israel's Messiah which means that he is the son of David who is promised by the prophets in the scriptures and so on now Matthew's made that claim and now you is the reader you have heard that claim about jesus's identity and it's interesting then the story it's not a spy novel where you're discovering things along with the characters it's like you're it's kind of like a one-way glass right that's what you are as you read the Gospel according to Matthew it's like you're in this observation room and you're watching all the stories take place and you're like oh these idiot you know like they don't get it you know clearly and then you but you're watching people in the story slowly come to recognize who Jesus is and these go back to chapter 9 men with me these who this is brilliant on Matthews part who are the first people to recognize the Messianic identity of Jesus who are they in the story who are the first people to see Jesus for who he really is do you get it that's brilliant that's brilliant isn't it who is it's the blind who see before they actually see it's the blind who see Jesus for who he really is before anybody else in the store it's blind people who see Jesus so I made a pun earlier that you all laughed at the basis they see Jesus coming but in a sense that's true that's Matthew's pull it and so what's going on here there's something going on inside of them that enables them have this insight we'll talk about that in a few minutes so that's the first response it's the blind who see Jesus for who he really is that's the first response look at the second response to people it's the crowd go down after jesus heals the man who can't talk and he's demon-possessed and so on and he heals that man and then look at look at verse 33 what's the response of the crowd how do they respond to Jesus Matthew say he says they're amazed and then their amazement is captured with their words they say nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel and they're they're not just talking about the mute man speaking or the blind man seeing although it is true there is not any story in the Old Testament someone whose eyes are non-functioning right they're born that way or whatever their eyes are broken and then they are transformed and able to do to see there are stories about people becoming blind all of a sudden and then skiing again but the idea of someone having broken eyes and then they're healed and transformed this is Jesus is this is the first time in Jewish history where something like this is happening so what's their response their response it's not they it's not that they see Jesus for who he really is but what do they recognize they recognize like there's no categories for Jesus never seen anything like this nothing like this has ever happened there's this openness to Jesus Jesus doesn't fit any categories that they have already Jesus is he is his own category and the things that Jesus is doing is just remaking everything they've ever thought they knew or whatever so you have the the blind who see then you have the crowds who Jesus is redefining everything they thought they knew and they have no categories for him and their minds are blown the second response and then immediately Matthew gives you the third response here the religious leaders you see the Pharisees and here's what they say they say it's by the Prince of demons that he drives out demons now that's an interesting response so they're clearly they're responding to the fact that Jesus just healed this man who was not able to talk and who was oppressed by demon spiritual evil so so real is to stop and just make sense of their response to Jesus they just they watch Jesus can they deny that Jesus just did this thing in front of their eyes can they deny that no I can't deny that is Jesus powerful yes right like that this is clearly powerful to do that for this man but but they immediately conclude that Jesus must be evil why do they conclude that because opposite in contrast to these blind men who see Jesus for who he really is and in contrast even to the crowd do they recognize they've never seen anything like this but they're open clearly they're stunned and they're allowing Jesus to remake their ideas about everything but these these Bible teachers that's what first Edith arms their Bibles local Bible teachers and they are coming from a place that they have already concluded who jesus' do you see that they recognize who Jesus really is wine the crowds are open to who Jesus is these guys have also concluded who Jesus is and it's not good and so they've already made up their mind about who the God of Israel is the Bible teachers right they they are leading the people of Israel in knowing and following the God of Israel and so they have see Jesus and this is not the first time that they've been in conflict or they're suspicious of Jesus we've seen that in these stories already and so they they know they believe they know the God of Israel already and that Jesus is not only not on the God of Israel side but now they're coming to conclude that he is against the God of Israel he's a false teacher he's leading the people astray and so on and so they have this mindset already they have already made up their minds about who Jesus is and who he's not and so they they observe the same exact event let's just think about this you have the same event happening in front of all these people and for some these events lead them to see who Jesus is Messiah - son of David for some these events are blowing their minds and challenging everything and those same exact events make this group of people even more closed-minded than they already were in the first place it's the same event but three very different responses here you have you could say this way you could say you have the open minds of the blind they're open to Jesus you have the blown mind stress of the crowd and they're just like holy cow what is this and then you have the closed mind of the Bible teachers because they are they think they already know everything they need to know about the God of Israel and Jesus doesn't it into any of the boxes that they have and so they box him out it conclude that you must be evil do you see that here three very different responses and Matthew has chosen to close this account is we're going to see a whole collection of stories about Jesus power and healings and so on with the story of these three responses to Jesus and what sets them apart what sets the positive responses apart from the negative responses and go back and look at the story about the blind man what do after they call on Jesus as the Son of David Jesus proceeds to have a conversation with them we'll lecture Jesus is prone to this you know like these really intense moments and everything like whoa and then Jesus stops Mike have a little talk yes and they talked about it and what do they end up talking about hey hey so Jesus says do you believe that I am able to do this yeah yeah that's why we're here they replied and so he touched their eyes and says according to your fate say so right at the center of these three really different responses is this conversation and teaching of Jesus about faith so what what is it that makes people respond in these different ways or what separates these responses apart and it's it's faith and this is not the first time we've seen faith come up in these stories is it again if you've been following the last nine Sundays we there was the story about the Roman soldier his face there was a story about the lack of face of the disciples and by the storm and that whole thing there was the story of the face of the paralyzed man and his friends the face of the woman who had the the bleeding that was last Sunday right faith is a big theme in these stories and that there's so it's like you have the Jesus stained glass window and all these stories are giving us a new insight into Jesus and then you also from these stories have a faith stained-glass window and we've been getting this really robust definition of what faith in Jesus looks like and so here's another story that's going to help us see another angle on what it means to have say so before we say what faith is if we think we already know let's let's let the story define what face is not whatever faith is it marched these blind men and I think the crowds also in a certain way but it's clearly not what the Pharisees have going on so what is face not for sure it's not having a closed mind these the Pharisees have already made up their mind about who God is what the world is like and it doesn't Jesus doesn't fit so they placed Jesus in a box about a conclusion that they've already drawn because they already know who Jesus is what he's about he must be evil to see that it's a closed mind so whatever faith is in this story it's the opposite of thinking that you already know everything that you need to know which means that faith in a story it's really it's beautiful and it's not something we would normally think of as a part of space space it is about openness one aspect of faith is that it's a commitment to be open to Jesus which is open in general right like just open this to to new ideas to new ways of thinking about myself and thinking about who God is and about other people it's it's a commitment to open mindedness now I'm pretty sure that none of us saw that coming right in a way but really think about that to trust someone that's what faith is if you're trusting someone in any relationship you're opening yourself you're making yourself vulnerable to someone when you really trust in them and begin relying on them and Bank on them you're opening yourself and what you're doing is you're refusing to make a conclusion that you already know who this person is and what they're all about and you say well actually probably I don't know everything about this person and what they're all about and so I'm going to open myself I'm going to open like maybe this person has new things to add to my life and they have new things to say that I've never heard before that's faith right and that's what I think the crowds have going on and that's what these blind men have going on they hear about Jesus who knows what they heard they heard some reports should we believe them oh he's been healing other people maybe he could hear us no way is that possible not that's never happened in the history of Israel there's never been blind people healed in the history of this real but somehow they've got it in their minds that maybe maybe the world is the kind of place where this Jesus could heal and transform me that's a very hopeful open-minded view of the world and of God isn't it it's a view of the world that there's possibilities because of Jesus there's there's possibilities in the world that I haven't even imagined before let's face in these stories it's the opposite of closed mindedness it's open mindedness through Jesus whole new possibilities open up and it's a commitment to hold that trust in Jesus you guys with me here is beautiful it's beautiful and so let me just pause real quick here and this is this happened to me sometimes and I try to pay attention to it I'm not the most observant person in the world so I probably miss all kinds of cues but there over the last few months I've had almost the same exact conversation with about half a dozen different people here around the door of hope and when I see that I try and pay attention to it because I think there's something that Jesus wants me to see in that and so it's been a conversation with people around or hope who are newer Christians and they're new to following Jesus in the last year or two and so that's always very interesting to me and I'm stoked that there's so many people like that around - our hope and so I always want to hear people's stories and how did that happen and what's it been like and a focus point in many conversations have been about what this person's friends or family think about their decisions to follow Jesus and they're all negative like really negative and sometimes it's funny like the crazy thing that people family members think that they're signing up for an especially door vote because we're not a part of a big denomination or something like that the the I may not they're like what is this door of hope you know it was this church July they think we drink magic kool-aid there's something together you know and we're all going to move the Eastern Oregon there's nothing by property together like that people's perception that's a perception of these friends and family members that I was talking to you like why why would you join something like that why would you follow something like Jesus and what it brought up for me a memory really that I had forgotten but a significant one for me when I was 20 and I was I decided to follow Jesus and it was all new and fresh to me and the Bible was all new and and I remember I was just reconnecting with a family friend it was a neighbor that had lived on our street over on 22nd Hawthorne and when I was growing up and really cool lady and we would watch her daughter and so on and we became friends growing up and so I was reconnecting with her and I remember telling her about this whole new thing going on in my life and Jesus and following Jesus and anything it was and I I i remember she she started crying we're having dinner right with some friends and she started crying and she was sad and she I mean she was like I'm happy for you but I'm I mean I'm grieved that you would choose to adopt such a closed-minded view of the world see what I mean we're clearly got a history of being honest with each other so but I remember she told me that like why would you choose to adopt such a narrow closed view of the world and I actually don't remember how that conversation ended but but that moment stuff as well ago but that moment stuck for me and especially because I mean I'm not sure what to say except this my experience of following Jesus has been exactly the opposite exactly the opposite it's been through following Jesus that my mind has Oh and really quite literally try it was a horrible student as I swear Jesus turned my brain on right but I became the Christian actually well I started reading books something I really had never done before and quite literally my mind opened but really like what if you really are looking at who Jesus is and you're listening to his teachings your mind can't remain closed you can't be a quote by this person and follow Jesus I'm convinced of it because you'll miss everything what he's trying to say and do to you right and it's actually through following Jesus that my mind has opened to other people to relationship into history and the nature it's actually through Jesus that my eyes have opened to the world my experience has been like the blind man and so it's both it requires an open mind to follow Jesus because you just have to open yourself to him in the first place and that this world is the kind of place where a dead executed man can conquer death and rise from the dead like that's a whopper right so you have to write you have to deal with that one like whoa I didn't know the world was like that and now I have to make room for that in my view of the world and then the implications of that that he's still alive and that his presence is real and the community and that the Scriptures bear witness to him and I thought you guys with me here like it requires an open mind to hear some new ideas and some new things and then to actually follow Jesus and his teachings and his vision of what it means to be a human being and happier life restored by him like that also requires a very open mind because it means you can't assume that you already know what it means to be a human being what does it even mean to be a normal human being you have to allow Jesus to redefine that which requires an open mind because we have all these habits and patterns of how we live and we think that's normal and Jesus comes along as like no that's really actually screwed up and destructive here's a new way to go at that you have lift me here space requires an open mind and it's precisely when we assume that we already know how the world works and who God is and what he black and Sun that's that's exactly when we become like these religious leaders we close our minds to Jesus and that's faith and so it just raises the question here this is a brilliant story these two stories right here these three responses of Jesus the blind you see have open minds the crowd whose minds are blown but they're open to Jesus and then you have these clothes minded Pharisees and so the question is how do we how do you know which response you are first of all as if we can even be that self-aware most of us aren't a lot of the time but if we could come to know like what response we are how do you keep yourself in a place of trust and open-mindedness to Jesus how do we get ourselves there I'm going to put that question on pause come back to the story I want to point out some things they're really awesome and they'll lead us on a trail back to this question guys with me okay look down look down with me so we have these two stories this is really cool we have these two stories the two blind men are healed conversation about faith then you have the man who's can't talk demon-possessed he's healed and you have the response of the crowds and the Pharisees look at the next sentence right right after it verse 35 Jesus went through all of the towns and villages teaching in their synagogues proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness you saw the crowd he had compassion on them they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd then he said to the disciple that's next week we'll talk about it what sorry George okay so look at verse 35 verse 35 you go through the town teaching proclaiming the good news healing now you may not know it you may not remember it but you've read that exact sentence before if you've been following through Matthew you're reading through it you've read that exact sentence before but not right remember keep your thumb here keep it keep a finger here go back a few pages to the very end of chapter 4 chapter 4 and chapter 4 was where Jesus was introduced onto the public scene right after he's baptized through the wilderness and then he comes out in public announcing the kingdom of God look at chapter 4 verse 23 Jesus went all throughout Galilee doing what teaching in their synagogues proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness among the people you presidents it's like verbatim it's the same exact wording except one little word here it says he's Gallo's up in Galilee in the north and chapter 9 it says you just went throughout their villages and so on do you see that here now this is awesome this is really cool so we have we just read this and going to geek out for few minutes here but you know I like to do this so here's chapter 9 no no no excuse me chapter 9 verse 35 and then all the way back here we had chapter 4 verse 23 these two there they're exactly the same Jesus went traveling around teaching and proclaiming what gospel the good news about the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness and so here it's interesting it's um happening very often you have like a little summary statement of who Jesus was was and what he was all about right here and right here and what's in between this so first of all let's just make sense we got Jesus let's make no mistake that's we he's what's he doing look look at these two again what's he doing Jesus cruisin around what's he doing teaching and what else proclaiming looks teaching just look at teaching and well he's not just teaching what else is he doing with his word he's proclaiming or you could we could say preaching he's teaching and preaching and they're different this is kind of me this is kind of just white right so Jesus has it all in one person the door hope it takes two people to do Christmas right so I do this and kind of do this Josh does this and you can any you know kind of does this and so what this is about explaining explaining and exploring and putting pieces together trying to make connections and see the big picture and help understand the coherence of whatever and preaching is about calling and summoning and challenging and so on so G and Jesus is teaching and preaching about what so gospel or good news the gospel of what about what about the kingdom right Kingdom and then after teaching and preaching the good news announcement of good news of the kingdom what else what else is this a healing here okay now this is outstanding look at um what follows chapter four testifies hf5 what fall is that seven what is Matthew chapter five six and seven we call it the Sermon on the Mount it's the first and largest block of teaching so far in the Gospel of Matthew and what is the Sermon on the Mount it's like the most condensed concise collection of Jesus's teachings about the good news of the kingdom anywhere in the Gospels the material that Matthew is pulled together here is actually if you read mark and Luke you'll find the same teachings but kind of scattered into different pieces all over the Gospels Matthew's collected all right here if you want to know what Jesus had to say on an average day as he went around teaching here we go this reads Matthew chapters five six and seven you'll get the idea it's Jesus teaching explaining and then calling people to follow him and to come under God's reign in God's kingdom Matthew chapter five six and seven and then what comes after Chapter seven huh and nine now what is what have we been doing since we came out of the Sermon on the Mount about ten weeks ago we've taken there's there's ten stories right here in Matthew chapter eight and nine ten stories and all of these stories have that plot line that I explained earlier someone in a crisis they come to Jesus he says or does something awesome they walk away transformed people's minds are blown right there you go there's ten stories at matthew has collected right here and then at the end of the stories he tells you about these one two three responses to Jesus and there you go now it's even more cool are you still a chapter for it okay so Jesus went teaching preaching healing chapter 4 verse 24 after after the little summary news about him spread all over Syria people brought to him all those who were ill with diseases suffering pain demon-possessed seizures paralyzed He healed them large crowds the crowds from Galilee to capitalist Jerusalem are all coming in the following him so we also we have the crowd right the crowd go to the last sentences of chapter 7 go to the very end of chapter 7 so because of the crowds teaching and preaching it gives you a whole big block of Jesus teaching on the kingdom go to the end of chapter 7 and lo and behold who should appear right there at the end chapter 7 verse 28 when Jesus finished saying all this who's there the crowds the crowds and what's their response I think it's the same their minds are blown oh my gosh their minds they were amazed at his teaching here about his words we've never heard anyone teach like this before when the rabbi's teach they always teach well here's what I learned from my teacher this is what rabbi so-and-so said rabbi so and so and so but Jesus just speaks he's not just his own rabbi like he speaks with the authority of God in Israel he walks he talks like he owns the play Hut and that there you go you have the crowds again here and then Matthew tells you these 10 stories of people getting healed and then here we are go to the end of chapter go about all the way back to where we were again and who should appear at the end here also the crowds and what's their response not to Jesus's words this time but to all of Jesus's actions what's their response right there their minds are blown do you see this here crowd oh look at this list you guys do that that's the thing of beauty right there that that this is called literary art really this or I call this the theological architecture of Matthew chapters 4 through 9 that's my geeky term for it but you realize like Matthew he's not you're not just watching through a video camera these events take place Matthew is trying to tell you something he ends specifically he's trying to mean this is a tell them what you're going to tell him tell us then tell him what you told him oh Jesus that's what Maggie is doing here who if you want to know who is Jesus like what did Jesus do on an average day what did he talk about what kinds of things would be doing in Matthew he just puts it all together here's what Jesus did you went about teaching and preaching about the good news of the kingdom and he went and when people encountered him they walk away transformed and healed and so here you go teaching preaching here you go the stories of these transformation and healing everybody's mind is blown except for the closed-minded people who do not have trust or faith what you going to do about it there you go here's Jesus that's what Matthew thing if you want to actually know who Jesus was and what he said and what here's Jesus Matthews chapters 5 through 9 here's Jesus and when people see and hear the real Jesus nobody remains neutral you cannot be neutral in your response to this Jesus it provokes something it's either going to be an open mind a blown mind or a closed mind which one are you that's what Matthews doing here is brilliant and so let's come back to our question here if we have the open mind the blown mind and the closed mind with the Pharisees the question I'm asking is how do we get ourselves into this category and specifically how do we get ourselves into this category because this is my drawing gets messy now this is what faith is it's about this this open-mindedness it's this refusal to think I already know how the world works and I'm not opened hearing anything new or entertaining anything new instead you have this view of trust which is this commitment that when I see the real Jesus am I open to seeing that there the world is different than the way I thought it was and what it means for me to live as a human that's totally different than what I thought it was and am I open to hearing the explanation of the kingdom but also the challenge and the summons to follow Jesus and to actually do it because to fall to to here Jesus explained the kingdom that requires an open mind but then to actually respond to his summons and his call right and and come under his his healing loving Authority and let him remake me and how I live as a human being like that journey also requested a very open mind because you can't assume that you are ever right about anything at all and that you always are open to hear new new things from Jesus so how do we how do we get ourselves into this into this category let's look at this conversation then I think we have a fuller view now let's go back into this Congress that Jesus has with the blinded Menace back to chapter 9 look at this story of the blind man here so as Jesus he went on the two blind men they see Jesus before they see have mercy on a son of David so then Jesus went in a house were told he went indoors and these guys follow him and then Jesus asked them this question this is the only time the Jesus and these stories right here ask someone a question before he responds to them fascinating he says do you guys trust me do you trust me that I'm actually able to do this and they quickly respond like yeah that's why we're here so again man remember faith in these stories is not just about your words or a mental activity faith is what you do you know what you believe by how you live the choices that you make and so they're like yeah we're here we trust you we're open to you and then look at what Jesus says he says is that he touched their eyes and he said according to your face according to your trust let it be done to you and their sight was restored so it is pause and this reflect reflect on that why did Jesus have this little conversation and why did he have it beforehand and what if do you trust me yes we trust you then according to the degree of trust that you have let it be done and then their eyes their eyes are opened what's that about now some some of us you maybe are familiar with this line because it's connected to a couple other lines of Jesus about faith particularly with prayer right if you have faith or trust and believe anything you ask for will be granted by my father something like that and so I these are these are sayings of Jesus I didn't you're easy for us to misunderstand or at least taken it I think in the direction that he did not mean for us I think it's for some of us we walk away from this and we go okay all right the burdens on me ein Jesus has spiritual power and to access it I need to muster up enough faith that like I get to the level that Jesus is like okay now we can play together okay and then it's like and then then Jesus is power becomes available to me and and so for some people that's how they frame it or think about it and and so you know you're Christian or you're praying about something there's something happening in your life and you like Jesus help me or help this person into something and nothing happens what do you do with that and according to this frame of mind it would be well you didn't have enough space so you need to muster up some more and yeah okay I'll keep trying how do you know when you've reached enough you know like what you have know what I'm talking about here that's very and I actually think that's a misunderstanding of this story because it treats Jesus as just passive he's like this Pat like vending machine cries this dispenser of spiritual Tabler and really it's all about you and your effort and your ability to pull yourself up and just have enough face and put enough face coin in the vending machine and then Jesus will dispense his power with some bells and whistles ding ding you know echo of it so and I just think that's any time we take a story about Jesus and we make it mostly about ourselves and our efforts it's not this anymore it's not this these are stories that are meant to tell us something about Jesus first and form them our response is very important but it's not the key to everything Jesus is the focus and the key to everything this story it's my conviction that this story is trying to tell us something about Jesus and how he works with people and if we see it in this moment but we've seen it actually through all of these stories right when Jesus Jesus lots of very different kinds of people come before Jesus and they have all kinds of different stories and backgrounds and different degrees of trust different degrees of openness to Jesus right you have the Roman soldier remember he came and Jesus look like holy cow I've never met anybody who trusts me this much not even is realized right and then you have stories about the disciples who spend the most time with Jesus and they have the least amount of trust remember does it scene on the boat whatever he calls them you who have little faith little faith people it's what he calls them if you have people with all these different levels of faith and Jesus works with all of them but he works with people with precisely were there at he doesn't approach people with formulas he approaches people and where it meets them at exactly that level of trust that they had and he meets them there and he works with him in that space doesn't just wait for everybody to like pull them up by their bootstraps and like then they can come to him he goes to people but and he encounters people and he works with some where they're at and so it seems to me what would Jesus would Jesus say here is like I'm here teaching preaching and announcing the good news of the kingdom and it's provoking all of these different responses and the degree to which the presence of the kingdom in the presence of Jesus the degree to which it will transform people is precisely connected to the degree that they trust him if people come to Jesus with a deep surrender and trust and openness like I'd I don't know everything I actually don't really have much of a clue about what's going on inside my own heart of mind much less the world Jesus I need you to read define reality for me and Who I am just a deep trust and surrender that experience becomes very transformative but others like the disciples who approach Jesus with a shallow level of trust it's not that like they don't get to be with Jesus or the baby Jesus and smile on them some things like that it's that is that Jesus can only do so much for people who don't trust him very much and then you have people like the Pharisees who don't they're not open to Jesus at all and so they Jesus does nothing for them it's not that Jesus doesn't like them it's that the Jesus apparently seems to me Jesus honors where people are at and he honors their choices and so if people don't want to trust Jesus seed apparently is not going to force the issue but when people come to him with a deep sense of surrender they find themselves totally overall so I it's kind of like this this is where my mind went as I was as I was pondering this so it's playing wakes Legos Legos was one of my much when wet so I was playing Legos with my three-year-old almost four-year-old son the other day and he asked me to build a barn dad I want to build a barn with a door for my cows to come in and out there's a little Lego cows I'm like sweet that's a good at the afternoon well spent right there so let's build a barn and so building the walls and he likes to build the walls and so on and so then we get to the barn door and he's like yeah you know build a barn with a barn door so I'm like okay here's what you do you build the walls in a little bit but then you stop everything you build the wall up and then you close the door at the top and we have these hinges and so on right here and so and so he's like yeah I build the barn with the barn door dad yeah okay here we go so here's how you do it so I I start building the wall and then I stop and start building up here and she was so clear it looks like he's like no dad muffle my quick do you mean he starts filling in filling in the gap right here he was like you got to keep building it I was like what but buddy you you told me you wanted me to build a barn with a barn door he's like yes well yeah exactly so we got to take these guys out no dad oh you can't that's not how you do it my club buddy you remembering who said you wanted me to build a barn with a barn door yes cows won't my cows are go in and up I'm like yeah but he needs it you can't build in the door like you have to leave that space open you can't put any blocks there I'm going to take these blocks out no dad what are you doing like a question you know and really this really happens yes and she was like I'm building a Lego barn with a crazy person what's happening to me right now and and I'm not just begging on my own okay I can't tell these stories for too many years longer you guys know that they're going to dry out because he's going to use clueless right now about the world the one day he'll be aware so and I'm not just begging on him we have lots of friends who also have three and four year olds they're all crazy they're all like that they're all irrational but just like that moment was so poignant for me because I was just stuck I was like god you want me to help you build a board I'm building you a barn door but you don't want me to build the barn door actually what do i do I just so I just was like what hey look at these trucks yeah what the trucks then me I whatever I just moved on and he would moved on in about ten seconds then it was all over but it was it was just like this moment where like I can't I can't work with you okay what can I do with that he says he wants to do this but when it actually comes to what it takes to do it it's clear that he has a different vision altogether he wasn't open to me know you know in that moment you didn't trust whatever you didn't trust me you guys see where I'm going here and if I'm just gonna bulldoze him I'm just gonna be like no listen to me take those out and we'll build the barn door but like that's a jerk making fun so I just choose to honor his choice all right buddy let's we'll just go do something else I that's what I think is happening right there according to your face let it be done to you Jesus honors where people are at he honors the degree of trust or lack of trust that they come to him with he's not going to pull a jerk smooth he's not going to coerce the issues he's just going to keep teaching he's going to keep summoning you to follow him and it's this partnership right where he takes the initiative by his sheer grace to just keep inviting you keep inviting you but he will let us sit in our half-baked trust if that's what we choose and sit in the consequences of that and so here's here's jiva here yes he's here doing out the good news of the kingdom he didn't wait for us he just came and and did for us what we can't do for ourselves he lived for us he died for us he was raised for us and his presence is available to us in the person of his spirit and he didn't sit around waiting for us to get her act together he just did that for us but he calls us to respond and so here here's Jesus right we've been sitting in this for months now of what's she gonna do about it which which response were you open mind just simply a blown mind but you're not ready to do anything about it or a closed mind how do you know which one you are we'll just you don't think of the paralyzed man and his friends how do you know what Trust was we'll look at what they do they are desperate to get in front of Jesus and they do what do whatever it takes so how do i how do I know if I have an open mind to Jesus well am I actually following him let's start there like you then I just believe in him do I follow him what does that mean well here you go let's go read it right and let's really go let this sink in because here's apparently what it means to come under Jesus and to let let him live and die and be raised for me and to experience his life's transforming power and so if I'm committed to having an open minded response that means look at think of the list the Jesus worked through and is teaching when it comes to money do I assume I already know everything I need to know about what I do with money or do I let Jesus redefine what I do with that which as a disciple of Jesus means giving a lot of it away actually as much as I can handle am I willing to hear Jesus talk about sex which is very different than how our culture processes it a high degree of sexual purity and integrity if I say I'm going to follow Jesus and as I'm not going to follow Jesus why not I apparently must think I have a better vision of what I ought to do with my body then Jesus does okay well let's let's talk about that like do you really know why do you think that and if you do think that maybe you're actually not willing to follow Jesus maybe you're actually in this category that you don't know it what do you do with conflict in relationships and issues of forgiveness and bitterness what do I do you guys with me here you actually know how much you trust Jesus but it looks steady your life and study your decision-making habits and you'll know if you truly believe that Jesus is who he says he is and that you're going to follow him now is there margin for error oh my goodness lot that's why this is that's why this is not about us in our effort it's about Jesus and his announcement of good news are you with me so which response to you the same exact church community will be full of people who are having their lives totally overhauled by Jesus they're having their minds stimulated but they're not yet following and experiencing the reality and also a church community can be full of people whose minds are close to Jesus and they don't even know it because they'd rather say they believe but there's there's no sense of Jesus's vitality of presence or power and no evidence of life transformation taking place and all of these people are constantly around Jesus as he goes around so which one are you and I cannot answer that for you but let's this matters so let's we have time to just process this and I just encourage you in this time of worship and a prayer to just be honest with yourself and be honest with the real Jesus about where you are at and where you are following him where you're not and if not why not and where do you fit here and I just trust that Jesus's presence and spirit will do what he needs to do in this time because he's gracious and he's kind and he works with us he works with us by His grace amen we close in a word of Prayer you

Channel: Tim Mackie Archives

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Length: 53min 0sec (3180 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 19 2017