Friends episode 3

a bunch of weirdos man if you're new with us we're a bunch of psychos like we're we love each other we have fun together that's what we love to do and it fits perfect with the sermon series i'm doing right now uh we're doing a series called friends um and it's that we are friends with god so how do we see that and uh and recognize that that we're friends with god and that helps us be better friends with other people so how do we be better friends with each other so they are connected just the same way that jesus said love god loved people that was his main commandment their their reciprocal when you love god you love people and if you're having a hard time loving people it is directly affected to your love of god and so we want to be better friends with god we want to be better friends with each other and today i entitled this message real friends give grace to grow they give grace to grow and so we're actually going to look at a special friendship kind of piggybacking off my lord of the rings example um one of the best-known theologians um in christianity is c.s lewis and c.s lewis and j.r tolkien met each other because they were professors at merton college so the guy who wrote lord of the rings and then one of the best theologians ever were together at the same college how would you love to be a student at that college when they first met they weren't friends they particularly weren't fond of each other c.s lewis in his journal actually wrote this smooth about j.r tolkien smooth pale fluent little chap there is no harm in him only needs a smack or so there you go that was found in c.s lewis's journal that's why i don't keep a journal because i never want someone to read it when i'm gone but then they found commonalities they became friends they both both loved poetry they both loved studying mythology they both didn't drive cars they didn't own vehicles on a more somber note both of them lost their parents to accidents and they both served in world war one in the trenches of world war one so they found this common bond they also loved pubs they found a commonality in beer they would meet up weekly at a place in england because they were at oxford at the time called the eagle and the child and here's a picture um of the eagle and the child and then here's the seat that they used to sit in together and talk by a fire he's got his picture up there now too i would love to be a fly on the wall for those conversations but they would come together and and share a pint and talk about mythology and all types of things they became very good friends tolkien wrote this he said the unpayable debt that i owe to him c.s lewis was not influence but sheer encouragement he was for long my only audience when they would write books they were the first to give them to each other and so when c.s lewis wrote the narnia series he would share it to tolkien tolkien would share the the lord of the rings series with them in that pub by a fire they would share this and talk again i would love to be a fly on the wall for these conversations they even included each other in some of their books if you've watched the second lord of the rings or read the second alert of the rings there's the ants they're the big trees and tree beard was actually c.s lewis because he had this deep booming voice c.s lewis did then c.s lewis wrote a book called the four loves you should read that book the four loves he breaks down the four different loves in the bible and there was a character named trawler in there and that was tolkien and so c.s lewis went on to write this about he didn't name him but this is what he said i have no duty to be anyone's friend and no man in the world has a duty to be mine no claims no shadow of necessity friendship is unnecessary like philosophy like art like the universe itself for god did not need to create it it has no survival value rather it is one of those things which give value to survival it gives value to our life the coolest part about this story to me is that j.r tolkien led c.s lewis to jesus cs lewis was an atheist he was an agnostic at least because after world war one he couldn't imagine a god who would allow such evil same questions we all have right and he told tolkien that he because he believed in mythology and every culture had mythology that jesus was just mythology the cool part about it was tolkien agreed with him and he basically said that our love of stories comes from god because god loves a good story and tolkien said this the story of christ is simply a true myth a myth working on on us in the same way as the others but with the tremendous difference that it really happened so he met him there they were good friends he met him like yes these stories we're reading are amazing awesome stories because our god has an amazing mind and so mythology actually does point this is why we did the itunes jesus series was to show you that god is even working through music secular music not just christian music christ is working through all things including mythology here's the sad thing about it years later there was division among them and they stopped being friends tolkien accused c.s lewis of stealing his ideas and what really happened was was c.s lewis kind of became a bigger name he was a better speaker he could draw a bigger crowd people wanted to hear him and his books became actually you know the lord of the rings series wasn't a very popular series when it first came out and then c.s lewis married a woman who was divorced and tolkien judged him for marrying a woman who was divorced and their friendship broke so how did it dissolve how can we learn from this once vibrant friendship it dissolved because of rivalry it dissolved because of judgment it dissolved because of ego and really they stopped giving each other room to grow as followers of christ so here's the thing friends real friends see that both of you are on a journey that both of you need room to grow that both of you need grace and this takes humility for any friendship to last it takes humility because you have to see that you're growing they're growing and we are all should be growing to the same place jesus christ real friendships give room and grace to grow because you see that you have room to grow as well so the main verse what i've been talking about is when jesus sat his disciples down before he goes to the cross and he says to them he goes i've never called you slaves i call you friends that's incredibly important to get that our father our god doesn't want you to be his slave he wants you to be his friend and friendships take commonalities just like c.s lewis and tolkien didn't really care for each other until he's like you don't drive a car either you were in world war one friendship you hang out with people for the most part who share common interests the cool part about this then is if you look at the diverse group that jesus called they were very different people the zealot you don't hear much about him but he was an insurrectionist against rome he did some jail time and then he was sitting next to a rich tax collector and then he was sitting next to some fishermen and then he was sitting next to judas so how can jesus be all of our friends because he shares common interests with all of us it says in the scriptures that christ lives in us in him through him for him all things were made there is no life without christ living inside of us he lives in man the spirit of christ and so he has a common interest with all of us because we are him we share we all have differences in here but there are things that are of christ and we shine christ so he can literally be all of our friends in here because he he is with all of us and we represent him is god not an artist so even if you're not into art let's say you're not into art i personally can't tell good art from bad art i really can't but i respect the creativity because how do we not see a sunset and not say wow how do you not drive to glacier national park and be like whoa i've said it a million times i'll say it again every time i'm going over that cliff or that little edge to get into saint ignatius and that rock walls there every time it takes my breath away god is an artist is he not a musician told you my wife loves birds she's into birds we have a tree now and that you we've realized it's like the bird home and last night we sat on our porch and just listened to them talk it's music it's god's music is god not a contractor is god not a teacher and jesus said i am a great physician he is with all of us and all of us represent him so if you think your job doesn't matter i hear that a lot because in our society we just rank people by status we rate people by intelligence we rate people by money that's how we rank people and what it does is it makes people feel like their jobs don't matter i think what we learned last year was truck drivers matter we're all praising jeff bezos for amazon without the drivers amazon don't exist there's times when package after package comes and i wish it didn't exist you don't think your job matters my friend baxter krueger told me this story where he was telling people about this and this truck driver felt really just down on himself like i'm not doing anything for people or for god and he goes what do you do he goes i deliver flowers and he says are you kidding me you are delivering flowers and sunshine and beauty to people who are at funerals and weddings all of your jobs matter because all of us are made in the image of god you don't think those construction workers fixing i-90 so we can drive matter they matter that is not some low-level job i don't know how you do it wearing pants and holding a sign in 100 degree weather i don't know how the only question i do have if you are one of those people are they actually fixing the stretch from here to saint regis because it's the same thing every summer is there just cones there to distract us are they going to fix it that's my only caveat to that you know that jesus was an introvert at times it says he would often have to go away from the crowds and sit for hours all night we love extroverts some of you are like no i don't you're always talking you're so aggressive we praise extroverts you introverts are made in the image of god all our quirks all our skills our humor all comes from christ we all came from the same place and jesus says you are my friends and we should be friends with each other with all our differences here's an important verse jesus said in john 14 this was a game changer for me so when that day comes you will know that i am living in the father and that you are one with me for i will be living in you here's some deep theology what day was that the resurrection and when the holy spirit came and you know what the holy spirit's called a friend a comforter and the holy spirit lives in us and says believe the good news believe the good news believe the good news as a friend always a good friend points you to who you can become and the holy spirit speaks that friendship to us so here's the beauty of seeing this when you see christ lives in everyone you see christ live in you then you know that you're all on a journey towards christ and you can show grace to people who are on a different journey right now because you see christ in them ready for your mind to be blown jesus lived a sinless life he never sinned i don't care what that dude on cnn said he never sinned if he sinned we're in trouble but he also was fully human and we miss this sometimes that the incarnation the birth of christ was god saying i enter humanity fully he was the new adam roman says as an adam all men die as in christ all men live he flipped it he's the new adam and we are in him and we miss his humanity sometimes look at what happened in luke 3. he kind of disobeyed his parents a little bit he hung back in jerusalem during passover he was about 12 years old and they lost him can you imagine losing the son of god so they go back and they can't find him for three days finally they go back to the temple and he's like did you not know i'd be in my father's house and i'm like you little turd but after that it says he obeyed his parents now listen to this as jesus grew so did his wisdom and maturity the favor of men increased upon his life for he was greatly loved by god that means jesus grew he was on life's journey the same way you and i are he knows exactly what you and i are going through he's been tempted in every way we have and he had to learn some things now i think when he entered with the father it was all reunited there but do you ever think jesus stubbed his finger when he was pounding a nail i don't think he swore because the common swear word is jesus christ would he be talking about himself but he grew he grew in wisdom and stature and he was giving us this example you're going to grow give grace to each other you're all growing jesus brings together the world in the church and as i said it a few weeks ago the church is the place the place we live in a society now that thinks it's bringing unity it's only bringing more segregation that's all it's doing we are dividing dividing dividing dividing dividing so jesus creates the church his bride and says all you little weirdos with all your different personalities and all your different skills and all your differences come together and be friends jesus was the bravest man who ever lived ever he stood for what he believed at all costs and he ate with sinners even though he was being shamed he always went to the outside people to bring him in always he didn't care if he was kicked out of the synagogue he didn't care about any of that he stood for what he believed and he stood up for his friends his own family didn't believe in him at first and his own brothers and sisters the jews crucified him and i bring this up because i have looked everywhere in the gospels this last week and i was shocked to find not once did jesus break friendship with people not once because someone disagreed with him did he say we're not friends in fact he pursued them not once not once can i find that jesus said i will not come to your house and eat dinner with you even though he knew the pharisees were going to crucify him jesus never broke relationship with people we are told many of his disciples walked away from him many people the jews did not believe in him because they thought he was going to be a warrior god who was going to come with the sword and he was going to destroy the romans and so to their shock he's seen jesus be friends with the romans and because of that they walked away from jesus but here's the thing he never walked away from them because he was a true friend one of these men in particular was judas you don't hear many people named judas anymore do you for some reason we're told that judas was the worst of the worst and for three years he heard every sermon jesus preached he watched every miracle he broke bread with jesus and at the last supper it says in matthew 26 while they were eating jesus spoke up and said one of you is about to betray me and feeling deeply hurt by these words one after another asked him you don't mean me do you he answered it is the one who has shared meals with me as an intimate friend that says a lot about christ that says a lot about the friendship the deep friendship that jesus has with men what was our what would our reaction be i'm done you're a betrayer no more friendship we are done it's human nature you're wounded you're hurt we're done what was jesus's reaction judas goes and gets his 30 pieces of silver and he gets the roman cohort to come and arrest jesus and he gives them a sign and he says the one who my kiss is the one whom you should arrest and it says judas quickly stepped up to jesus and said shalom rabbi and kissed him on both cheeks my beloved friend jesus said is this why you've come another translation says you betray the son of man with a kiss you know what's crazy about the story of judas jesus put him in charge of the money bag you don't think jesus knew that he was stealing from the money bag you don't think jesus knew what was going on why would you do this he literally gave it to the guy who he knew he couldn't trust because he was his friend and he gave him three years to see it and acknowledge it this greed is going to kill you this greed is going to kill you this greed is going to kill me and he allowed him grace to grow what's jesus's response to loss of friends he's still their friend it always marvels me when some people put so many restrictions on who can't take communion we believe everyone's welcome to the table because judas took communion knowing knowing he was going to betray him he says this is my body this is my blood what's the line where someone can't take communion what's the line judas took communion jesus does not like division he hates it and it hurts jesus to see loss of friendships especially within the body of christ and it's almost prophetic in lord of the rings because at the end of lord of the rings in return of the king after three books of sam and frodo being best friends frodo decides to leave and it at the end it says this but said sam and tears started in his eyes i thought you were going to enjoy the shire too for years and years after all you have done and frodo replies so i thought too once but i have been too deeply hurt sam j.r tolkien and c.s lewis split their friendship and at the end you can hear tolkien's heart of hurt we're gonna go a little different direction here stick with me one of the saddest things i found about their friendship was what really put the nail in the coffin for them being friends was a disagreement over theology when c.s lewis came to christ he joined the anglican church and tolkien was a catholic and tolkien thought i brought you to the lord you need to be a catholic and they disagreed over theology they served the same jesus and they split over differences over theology why do i touch on politics every now and then in my sermons because it's killing us it's killing us it's killing the church it's dividing the church why do i touch on theology and say this is so important because it's killing us it's killing the church and i don't mean our church i mean the big sea church it's killing us what i'm about to say to you some might not matter to you but this is super important for the vision of our church and if you hang around church long enough you're going to see divisions in theology let's do better let's do better this has to do with our tribes you know when we're launching our tribes we're going to have deep discussions in our tribes this has to do with the things i'm going to discuss that has to do with the books that i said read these books check them out i'm not here to force you to believe anything because i'm here to show you christ and we're going to be unified on christ at zootown church but this is important and so let me say this the church has a huge problem it's a bunch of kids arguing who's right and let me ask you do you think jesus is impressed with the division in the church over these things the one who was friends with judas do you really think he's about there like yes i'm the god of the cosmos and these little ants have this all figured out do you think he's impressed with church doctrines my wife and i have watched for years after years christians break over theology slander each other gossip about each other try to destroy each other over theology christians who we thought were mature christians women in their 50s and 60s have just completely shut my wife out of their life over theology we have begged people to sit down and open the bible and they won't they won't our dear friends who we broke bread with they won't something's wrong something's off and then we'll hear through the grapevine we're just so concerned about zootown church and scott's preaching you should call me and talk to me something has happened in the american church let's do better let's do better at zootown church this is a movement right now friends jesus is done with this division this is a movement a part of the reformation you guys have heard me say it there's a reformation happening jesus is not impressed by the division in the church i've talked about francis chan a little bit i have here's a picture of francis chan so you can just see him i have many disagreements with francis chan but i love his heart and i love his passion francis chan was under john mcarthur some of you know who he is some of you don't staunch calvinist and then francis chan started seeing certain things and he started realizing just how divisive it was and so francis chan started hanging out with the charismatics and he witnessed healings and he was excommunicated from the church and then he wrote a book on hell and then after he wrote a book on hell now he's gone back and been like i've changed my opinion he has been excommunicated from the church certain sex of it because he started hanging out with other christians outside his denomination so he wrote a new book called unity in that book there's a transcript that says this while many believe doctrine is at the root of the problem francis argues that the real problem is the shallowness or non-existence of our love for each other rooted in a shallowness in our understanding of the gospel this is what desperately needs to change my dear brothers and sisters when you read the gospels did the disciples even kind of understand what jesus was talking about they didn't understand anything did he ever break friendship with him did he ever tell them to leave did he ever say okay you six devi over here you sex over here judas you're going to find out later he never did that because he saw grace to grow did he ever kick judas out no and let me tell you i think judas gets a bad rap i think he gets a bad rap because all the disciples left jesus and peter denied him three times while he warmed himself by a fire i think judas gets a bad rep where were they when jesus was being crucified they were hiding in a house of fear of the jews do you know right during communion it's in another gospel right after they give communion you know the disciples started arguing who was the greatest disciple among them and they're like who's gonna sit at your right hand jesus james and john had their mom do it their mom went to jesus can my boys sit next to you on the playground judas gets a bad rap these guys were all screwed up look at the progression of peter peter first one to announce jesus is lord the next chapter get behind me satan that's what jesus said to him years later he's like i will defend jesus and he has a sword he cuts off someone's ear did jesus say i'm done with you peter no he meets him he meets him he meets him he meets him he meets him for years peter was a racist he would not eat with the gentiles paul calls him out did jesus say well since you haven't arrived there you can't preach so what does god do he says okay time for a dream gives peter a dream it's a linen sheet on the four corners of the earth which means everybody which means the whole earth was covered by his grace and he says go and eat meaning stop being a racist go talk to the gentiles because i love everyone jesus is going to the cross and he prays for his disciples and he prays for you and me listen to what he says you know that jesus prayed for you he says this and i ask not only for these disciples but also for all those who will one day believe in me through their message i pray for them all to be joined together as one even as you and i are father are joined together as one i pray for them listen to this to become one with us so that the world will recognize you sent me okay let's do a 2021 version so that the world will see it on your bumper so that the world will see it on a facebook post why is this important because the world is watching why would you go out there and see so much division and then come into a church and see division i'd be like i got that out there the world is watching and people need grace to grow you know one of my favorite things is when people come to zootown they're like i haven't been to church in 33 years or i've never been to church i love it you know why because they don't bring all the baggage in they don't bring it in we are here to show the love of christ people do not see christ they see us the early church did not have a bible for 450 years and most of them were illiterate do you know that most people have been illiterate on the planet until about 150 years ago they had certain they had one gospel or they had this they talked about the oracles of moses they talked in the book of jude he quotes the book of enoch they had this tapestry but they were totally focused on christ did the early church fathers debate theology absolutely did they divide no so what'd they do they got together the nicene council and they created a creed called the nicene creed and it was to unite the body of christ on all these issues and that creed is actually pretty vague because they wanted not to get into the mud too much now in 2021 every church has their own creed go to any church's website and they always say these are our distinctives from other churches that means you're trying to divide from other churches thanks early church fathers we'll take it from here we don't need more creeds we don't need more stuff on our website we don't need a mission statement because all it really is is christians saying we're right come to our side let me be blunt you're like you haven't been my bad here is the lie the church has given into that facts save you because we have an obsession with certainty in america so we don't want faith we don't want mystery we don't want growth we want certainty so we create these creeds and the problem i have with that is a shredding of the cross of jesus christ because your theology does not save you jesus saves you it's a shredding of the cross why did he even die why didn't he come and say believe these 10 things oh wait he did in the old testament and it didn't work we are addicted to facts and it's dividing us look in matthew 28 it says the 11 disciples went to galilee to the mountain where jesus has told them to go when they saw him they worshipped him but some doubted i highlighted that they saw the cross they saw the resurrection the dude literally walked through a door and showed them his hands and feet and some still doubted what was his response you idiots you don't get this i'm out he just moves on then jesus came to them and said all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit and teaching them to obey everything i have commanded you and surely i am with you always to the very end of the age in that word he's talking about the jewish age when the destruction of jerusalem my wife has this dear client who is just seeking she loves jesus she loves jesus and she was just seeking and she had a mentor who is a godly lovely woman but she started asking some questions and like two days later she gets this like packet where this woman had written out all the theology she needs to believe to be a christian what has happened to us listen to what paul said in first corinthians i think he was having the same issue he says but knowledge puffs up while love builds up those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know but whoever loves truly knows knowledge facts i read theology for fun i read the bible two to three hours every day i love it but something's wrong so let me ask you something about theology if you're a parent in here do your children have to know everything about you perfectly to be your kids do your children have to know everything about you for you to save them from harm they're gonna die if that's the case now your children can harm themselves but what are you gonna do stand back well it's your fault i have done that a couple times i'm sorry think about this but yet the father in heaven's like oh man if you would just get this here's a follow-up would you divide your family over a belief okay you go in that room you go in that room you don't come out until you believe like them worse yet would you kick them out of your family for a belief you get where i'm going here so i've sat on this for a little bit and uh i'm not saying this so you feel bad for me i'm really not i'm this is this is uh just something for you but the main point is let's do better let's do better okay let's be better let's be the change in the church that needs to happen there's a pastor in town who during my hell series preached a sermon calling me the antichrist uh me and paul young the author of the shack uh i'm not gonna name his name because we're not gonna do a church war we're not gonna do that as my friend always says don't return the favor he called me the worst kind of heretic and he told his church who has former zootown members there now to go to zootown and get people out of zootown because i'm a heretic the worst kind of heretic he is now bringing a speaker in in july to prove i'm a heretic and to prove that paul young's a heretic and he ordered a bunch of books to give to people at zootown church to get him out of here someone from zoomtown asked him have you ever called scott and he says yes we've tried many times and he's never called us back that is a lie that is a lie and i take this very seriously because christians do weird things when they're about heresy and stuff this is an attack on my family my wife and my children but i'm not going to return the favor what i'm going to say is let's do better in first john he says this who is the real liar but the one who denies that jesus is the christ he is the real antichrist the one who denies the father and the son have i ever denied the father and the son and that jesus has risen from the dead and what they miss is when jesus was warning he was warning of heretics who were bringing religion into the gospel he was warning of the pharisees he was warning of the gnostics the new testament when they talk about false prophets it was the gnostics who thought your knowledge saved you that you had a knowledge inside of you and you had to grow in knowledge to be saved forgive me but that sounds a lot like the church today they weren't warning people who had different ideas or got down with different stuff they weren't doing that so here's the problem christians are suckers for these fear passages in the bible and here's the funny thing when you read these passages notice how you're always on the right side you're never the wolf here's what jesus said constantly be on your guard against phony prophets they come disguised as lambs appearing to be genuine but on the inside they are like wild ravenous wolves what a wolves do they scare the sheep they scatter the sheep and mostly wolves get in there and they divide the flock so let me be clear let me be blunt one more these pastors and these christians who are dividing the body of christ they are the wolves and they think they're honoring jesus richard baxter wrote a great book on this and he says this satan will pretend to any sort of strictness by which he can mortify love if you can devise any such strictness of opinions or exactness in church orders or strictness in worship all these things that have divided the church as will but help to kill men's love and set the churches in division satan will be your helper and will be the strictest and exactest of you all people who are dividing people who are the heretic hunters they are the wolves look what jesus goes on to say right after the warning of the wolves you can spot them by their theology you can spot them by their actions for the fruits of their character will be obvious you won't find sweet grapes hanging on a thorn bush and you'll never pick good fruit from a tumbleweed so if the tree is good it will produce good fruit but if the tree is bad it will bear only rotten fruit and deserves to be cut down and burned you'll know them by the obvious fruit of their lives and ministries he's serious here he's saying you can have all the answers or think that you do and still be wrong jesus is our model he is our model did he ever break friendship or was he a long-suffering friend as his disciples grew is he a long-suffering friend as we grow should we be long-suffering friends when it comes to theology if your theology is causing you to break friendship you all need a new theology it's that simple i love what brian zahn says he says we will make we will all make errors in our theology you and me both so my recommendation is to err on the side of love why because god is not doctrine god is not denomination god is not war god is not law god is not hate god is not hell god is love imagine the brilliance that was lost when jr tolkien and c.s lewis split up imagine the brilliance that the world missed out on because of this division c.s lewis died on the same day jfk was assassinated the exact same day so no one really knew about it and after tolkien died after c.s lewis died he wrote his daughter a letter and he says lewis's death has been an axe to my roots he lived in regret for abandoning his friend let's do better let's do better band you can come on up here's why this is important this type of bully pulpit in bully theology it's over people are leaving the church in mass droves because they're tired of it they're tired of this division and we are going to lose an entire generation of people because the internet ain't going anywhere the doors have been open you can research anything you want and as a church if we can't graciously lovingly grow together they're going to go somewhere else we will lose an entire generation of young people who are listening to podcasts and all types of stuff when really they're looking for love and friendship let's do better right before coven i got a card in the mail to zootown church and it was from a new pastor in town um at the camera what's called the congregational church uc congregational church and she's a woman and she's a lesbian and she sent out cards to everyone all the pastors to just meet them so i did i went and had a lovely breakfast with her we have many disagreements with each other i thoroughly enjoyed her company and i asked her i said how many have taken you up on this offer she even on the card it said i will pay for your breakfast and she said you're the only one that might have changed my job is to be friends with her and i thoroughly enjoyed her and she's on a journey too [Music] you have not arrived i have not arrived none of us have arrived paul the apostle paul said i have not arrived so let's be friends let's be better friends [Music] let's not divide over things that christ prayed to unify us so i end with this quote by henry nouwen when we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us we often find that is those who instead of giving advice solutions or cures have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with the warm and tender hand the friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion who can stay with us in the hour of grief and bereavement who can tolerate not knowing not curing not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness that is a friend who cares that's who jesus is to us let's be that to each other let's change the direction of where church has gone in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit amen

Channel: Zootown Church

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Id: GsoVNGroSJs

Length: 46min 57sec (2817 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 28 2021