It's Tradition // Judah Smith

mark 7 verse 1 now when the Pharisees gathered around Jesus with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled that is unwashed verse 3 for the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly or in a traditional customary way holding the traditions of the elders and when they come from the marketplace and they do not eat unless they wash the Bible says and there are many other traditions that they observe such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches who washes dining couches I don't know okay and the Pharisees the scribes asked him Jesus why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders but eat with defiled hands Jesus responds to this as well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites as it is written these people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me in vain they do worship Me teaching as doctrines the commandments of men verse 8 you leave the commandment of God and hold the tradition of men and he said to them you have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your traditions for Moses said honor your father and your mother and whoever reviled father or mother must surely die but you say if a man tells his father or his mother whatever you would have gained from me is Corbin I give it to God then you no longer permit him do anything for his father and mother verse 13 thus making void the Word of God by your tradition that you have handed down and many such things let me read that again making void the Word of God by your tradition by your tradition I want to title this message today it's tradition it's tradition do you want to do this like we haven't done this in a long time turn to your neighbor and say it's tradition that's a good that's a good Christian segue it's tradition will you pray with me Jesus bless the moments that we share we believe you're big you're real you're amazing and you have a purpose for us all getting together today you want to speak to us and encourage us and challenge us and above all though we want to experience you in a real way we want to know you for real thank you for all the offseason moves the Seahawks are making give coach wisdom at the combines in the draft in Jesus name and everybody said and everybody said amen I do want to give a shout out to Michael Bennett long-time football player for the Seattle Seahawks he was traded today Michael B I love you thank you for all the amazing things you've added to our city and to our football team let's give it up for Michael Bennett it's real love that man we're gonna miss him anybody ever talk to you about the good old days never had a conversation and you know I hate to be cliche but was it your grandma your grandpa the good old days you know usually starts with a sentence something like well you know him in my day you know in my day right I mean come on we've all heard the cliche my dad you know convinced me that you know he walked to school in snow uphill both ways for of you know about this okay great but I mean I grew up my dad would tell me stories you know in in in my day right and this is that wasn't in my day and I remember thinking there's a young man you know I'll never be like that I'll never be like the good old days or in my day I want to be progressive I want to be innovative I want to stay young and a nimble why they say nimble flexible you know I want to be that kind of person but but this just happened it's a few days ago and we're at a meeting with Cramer Rasmussen Cramer and Kylie are they they work with our students and our young people in Seattle there are youth pastors they are incredible now what you may not know is Chelse and I got to be youth pastors for ten years in Seattle it was the time of our life it is so much fun working with young people love going to high schools love going to middle schools love going to universities I loved youth ministry I miss youth ministry adults are complicated okay so we're in a meeting with Kramer and Kramer was explaining what we do we're in Seattle they visit 14 high schools every week so 14 high schools that go on and we serve at these high schools which is Amit I'm listening to Cramer and I'm like wow this is incredible right Mike Kramer is in Kylee and the whole team there's such great youth pastors and he goes now what I do to connect with students and I kind of lean in because I know what he's gonna say he's gonna say you know we find a ball we find a hoop and I let him know and that's what I'm because I'm like that's what we did like Carl Lentz and I was a dear friend of mine from New York we were youth pastors at the same time we did the same exact thing you show up at a high school and everyone's like who are you and I'm like just give me a ball you bout to find out right and you start making kids feel small and then you devastate them on the basketball court and then you're like but Jesus still loves you and you can come hear me preach so that was my stick that's what I did all day every day okay and so I knew Kramer was about to say I get a ball and we hoop it up and he goes he goes what I do is that we bring pizza and we're telling these kids about Jesus he says but what I do my introduction is I dropped my phone on on the lunch table and I'm like what and he's like and then I showed my profiles of like bad and mobile and fortnight and I'm like wait what and he's like yeah and I show these kids how good I am on video games and I couldn't help it I was like are we talking about your thumbs bro we're talking about your thumbs right like I mean and I couldn't help but I did it first time ever I go well you know what Kramer in my day bro I literally said I said in my day bro we just I don't know man got a ball and hooked it up but he looked at me and I look back then Mike what have I done right now's like nah man video games are awesome so realistic it's so real life I I realized we're all prone to do it aren't we I just did it and I pray the day will come for you where the good old days or in my day will come out of your mouth and you'll be like you have a cold chill down your spine like I have become my father I have become my grandfather why because it's in our makeup we are prone to the good old days we're prone to be too to lean towards the known to lean towards the explored to reach to lean towards our experiences I'll give you for instance it starts young we have a thirteen eleven and an eight year old right our three kids I and Elliot Grace I adore them they're the three most extraordinary human beings in the world and we have moved how many times do we move baby we've moved what four times five times six times three times we'll talk later okay I knew you'd laugh Jace thanks man it means the world I mean you're on TV so people move three times let's talk about this later I think it's four but we'll go with three because she's always right and every time we have moved and you will confirm this I'm sure of it I hope every time we have moved the kids have been excited about moving but every time without fail give it a week give it two weeks give it a few months and one of the three if not all three are gonna say I miss the old house and man if you are a dad who tries to provide for his children and they want to go back to the other house especially especially especially if it was a condo that was very contained and it was beautiful and it had a nice view and you wanted to stay there forever and ever and ever you didn't need to go to a house that out of yard but they of course begged you daddy please daddy daddy daddy please let us move to a house with a yard and within two months they all wanted to go back to the condo I said No and go play in that yard we need a dog no I have three children that's enough it is amazing though even at a young age we like the gnome we like you know the warmth of the memories and what's been and that's why we actually isn't it funny in our culture and in our time when you find someone who's forward-thinking they're like whoa you ever noticed that you're like wow this person is innovative and we like when they put these people on stages and let them do seminars because we're like listen to this guy man like he's really into the future we're all going there but we find the rare few who actually like embrace it and we're like whoa crazy man but but we all should probably but we're not are we we're all very much prone to I love I love conversations with people about anything we got to do a conversation we see about cars you know in self-driving cars and a friend of mine said I'm terrified that the car would just suddenly take me somewhere I mean if there's no driver the car will just take me somewhere and I'll be terrified and I was like but uber drivers can do that too Hey but it's haha it's I thought it was a good line - I appreciate you guys really laughing it's the future right we're all afraid of the unknown we're all afraid so we are prone to tradition we're Punk we're prone to custom now before we go any further as we talk about traditions I want to make it abundantly clear traditions are not inherently bad or wrong like money in Scripture much is talked about and taught about in Scripture about money and so is tradition money and tradition are not bad now if money becomes the point of your life it will do destructive work to your earthly experience if traditions become the point of your life they too can do destructive things to your earthly existence traditions have their place money has their place but it's not God's place God is first and foremost so nowhere in Scripture will you see the Bible say all traditions are bad now the Smith family of course doesn't say this we have our own traditions right and it's awesome when your kids get older and they like hold you to your traditions okay we might have been a little late on Valentine's this year I blame me cause I don't do anything for Valentine's Day usually but we were what two weeks late for Valentine's a week and a half I am just off on all of my numbers tonight a week and a half and and for every day in that week and a half those those our kids were like dad what are we doing Valentine's it's tradition it's tradition and Chelsea by the way he's so amazing she makes a German pancakes every single year gets a gift for every child they get candy they get a Valentine and anything else what's that oh that's that's I forgot the best part and we go around the room and tell each other why we love each other and it's yeah it's very I mean obviously for us we're great parents and I think that's I think that's the what hey man love you guys god bless you know I know I haven't done that joke in a while so I had to but these three kids the Smith kids are like that it's tradition it's tradition so traditions can be good but traditions can also be destructive now notice the Bible tells us how traditions are given it says in verse 7 that sometimes traditions are taught it goes on in verse 8 and says sometimes traditions are held and then verse 30 and then it goes on and says sometimes traditions are handed down different ways we sometimes you're taught the tradition you hold as you were you were you were taught hey this is who we are this is where we're from this is what we identify with and so you're taught other traditions you just it kind of kind of by osmosis by being around your family being around your friends and we all kind of pick it up together and go this is who we are this is what we do and then are handed down in different ways whether it's verbally or whether it's in gifts these traditions are handed out again not inherently bad on tell until your tradition and truth collide now that's going to happen we alluded to this a couple of times in our study of the book of James when you're a faith person and when you participate in community and you read this divine book and you have interaction with the writer of it and you have interaction with the one who made you designed you with your lips hips and fingertips and you relate to God here is what's going to happen this may not be the most pleasant news but it's going to happen it's gonna happen again and again and again and again you will be handed down customs and traditions not inherently wrong but there's gonna be days mama said there be days where that tradition collides with the teaching and lifestyle of Jesus and all the sudden you're going to be confronted with the reality that I cannot do both I cannot keep what has been passed down I cannot keep what has been taught and keep Jesus number one and keep following Jesus now if you're like me what I'm prone to do even reading this book is to read the passages I like thank you very much and avoid verses that make me feel uncomfortable or might contradict what I believe is true about life and culture based on my experiences for instance or based on what my grandpa told me a great baseball my dad told me and all of the sudden if you've been following Jesus for a little while now you've had these days you've had these moments sometimes they're in settings like this sometimes they're by yourself sometimes you just read you know the bursts of the day on the Bible app and all of a sudden you're like oh and then if you've been around church for a while or the Bible you're like well that's probably not what it really means though remember in James we were talking about you know with either the pure and undefiled religion is too at orphans and widows and I read one guy who kind of was making a joke he's like Christians are so so they were like I wonder what God meant when he said visit orphans and widows wonder what he was implying and the scholar went on to say to visit people that don't have families and to visit people who aren't loved that it just means to go see him like it though the bible does at times take interpretation Jesus oftentimes is very clear at how we're supposed to live but what happens when what Jesus says or what Jesus does is different than what dad said or my experience tells me what what what happens when your tradition is in jeopardy because of the way Jesus lives what will we do I tell you what I'm prone to do as I said a moment ago I'm prone to go all right our our Jesus I love you but what I'm gonna need to do is I'm gonna need to like keep this while also following you and so we we we we we we make excuses we make excuses I have made plenty of excuses in my journey with Jesus the reason I'll give you for instance the book of James remember the part chapter 5 we read last week let your yes be yes and your no be no I am so guilty of I promise on a Bible I swear right and I read that and I'm not saying those actual words are what's wrong but the heart behind the fact that I don't do what I say means I have to convince people that this time I actually will and I read that and I'm like whoa guilty as charged what I want to do is I want to take that verse and go man I am only one guy I can only do so much in every season of my life if God wants me to work at that he'll remind me again and I kind of make it optional I shall fit I go well you know and and then I I move on with one of my customs which is I tell people I'm gonna be there unless something better comes up and then I reschedule I know what do you think traditions you think like your cultural background but traditions can be all kinds of habits and customary activities and things we do Jesus is disruptive we got to remember that now Jesus is disruptive and he will disrupt your regularly scheduled program but here's the big idea it is so for the good like Jesus is not show up to disrupt things to make it worse that's what I love about Jesus Jesus not show up he's not sadistic he doesn't want to disrupt your life just to disrupt your life some things some people are just disruptive Jesus wants to stir stuff up to make your life even better for he came to give you life and life more abundantly so when the disruption comes and you since you're in one of those moments where we're truth and tradition are colliding lean into that moment and say okay god this is crazy this is crazy it's 2018 maybe I'm wrong whoa let that settle in a little bit I know that's insane to consider maybe my dad didn't have it all right maybe when my aunt pulled me aside and said now you better always remember this that maybe maybe she didn't totally totally quote scripture maybe that's not totally in the Bible maybe I gotta let some of that go one of my favorite things to ask our community and so I'm gonna ask it again when's the last time you changed your mind because it should be happening a lot if you follow in Jesus it should you should run into people all the time like hey man you were saying oh yeah I'm sorry I was saying that man I do not agree with that anymore really yeah yeah I'm an idiot I'm so sorry man I apologize oh okay we should be changing our mind that's part of what Jesus does he is renewing our mind transforming our mind why and the nitty-gritty is our mind has changed when tradition and truth collide and all the sudden were like whoa I'm gonna either like take Jesus on his word or I'm going to preserve now notice notice what it says in verse eight it says you leave the commandment of God and you hold on the tradition of men it's very interesting to me that when tradition becomes the point when tradition becomes most important you cannot at the same time worship tradition and walk with Jesus the two don't go together so there's going to be days where you gotta go I don't believe that anymore I don't make those jokes anymore I don't think like that anymore what happened um Jesus met me there and he changed my mind he changed my mind I'm truth is an interesting discussion because people like what is truth to do what what is truth and and I'm not here to insult anybody's intelligence and I'm a very basic thinking man and we're talking to some friends before the service but can I just say I'd like to go on record to say um we actually know there's truth and if everybody is true nobody is right like so like prove truth gravity ha it's just true it's like you know it's just true there is there is true that and there's been so much made of everybody and your truth and my truth everybody has individualized truth that by definition we've lost what makes truth truth a truth is transcendent and truth cannot be created truth can't be created truth has to be truth truth had to be here before we got here or we're more true than truth and then it's not truth right because we know we're finite and broken I know I think there are some things that you hold true but that's not truth does that make sense like and that's fine that you hold it to be true but truth has to stand by itself or it's not truth and Jesus said I am the way and the truth and the lives so Jesus said I'm standing here two legs two arms I'm walking talking living breathing truth all right so Jesus's is truth so so I will agree that tonight I'm working from the premise that there is a thing called truth and it can't be created by people that only been here for like twenty to thirty eight forty eight eighty two years truth has to be transcended and so we believe that I believe in a truth that is has never had a beginning and never has an end I believe in a truth who is the same yesterday today and forever I believe in the truth who put on skin and bone and became man and walked among us and never did one harmful thing one wrong thing one sinful thing and he came to heal and restore and forgive and love and care and at the end of his thirty three and a half years on this planet he opened his arms wide and he gave up his life for he who knew no sin became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God that is my truth and it's not just mine it's not true because I say it so it's true whether I didn't see it know it or claim it or not that's why it's true right so when truth not opinion collides with tradition sometimes it can be it can be challenging and that's what's happening in our community it's it's actually happening it's happening and it's happening a real in a real level the sin of racism is very interesting because it has so many horrific levels and dimensions and and and it's very easy for us to sometimes miss the simple teaching of Jesus for instance there's this real popular one called love your neighbor as yourself and one lawyer asked who is that and Jesus told a racially charged story to prove that your neighbor is not just people with the same skin color you have your neighbor is every single human being who's ever lived are we our neighbors to the world and we are neighbors and so so to love your neighbor you can't Harbor bitterness and the jealousy hate towards another people group you can't but you can't do that I know what your dad told you I know what your grandpa told you I know what your schoolteacher told you but I'm just gonna tell you there is the truth and if you'll know the truth the truth will make you free and it will let it'll cause you to have the ability to let go of those opinions that are not true their traditions right so that's happening to some of us and and and and and many people want to say this is this is this is political no no no racism what was long before there were institutions and countries and governments in inventing policy that this is this goes way be before politics and and politics can't change the heart of man only God can change the heart of man so the only real answer to racism and hate in the world is is God but we're going to be part of the solution because we're gonna be willing to say all right I got some traditions now you know that you got traditions when you won't admit you got traditions one of your traditions is not admitting you have traditions right so you actually have to say all right we're all in now everybody in this room everybody in every room and said we all have traditions so by the way that actually gives us some common ground which is which is great we all have traditions now let's for a second let's define what a what these traditions could be I'll define them in three ways for sake of time a tradition can be a mindset it can be a method and it can be a memory it can be more than this but I'd like to zero in on these three things it can be a mindset it can be a method and it can be a memory where we memorialize again none of the mindset is not wrong methods are not wrong and certainly your memories are not wrong but when your mindset and your methods and your memorializing experiences become the point of your life and Jesus has to step away and step back because you're you are so committed to your mind set suddenly there's a problem and and and you said you it's not that big of a problem it is and it's going to set for pain in your life I'm gonna say something about when when truth collides with tradition it makes you flexible and what it prepares you for is life what it prepares you for is life I was with a friend recently whose loved one is passing away and this individual said this to me it seems very clear that they're gonna lose a family member and this person said it's a new season we're gonna step in to the new season I said now that's a person of faith who has learned how to grow with the seasons of God and it's not stuck in tradition and stuck in the past which ultimately will only hurt you and your earthly experience because you will be the one anxious fearful and worried in your big house at the end of your days with no friends and no family because you were unwilling to change with the ever-changing seasons and ebbs and flows of life so whether whether you are fully convinced this is true or not I'm telling you it will improve your earthly experience if you will allow the truth of God's Word in the story of Jesus and the love of Jesus to at times cause you to drop some traditions along the way and say I don't think that anymore I've changed my mind and that brings us to mark 7 notice what it says in verse 8 it says you you leave the commandment of God and hold on to your tradition verse 9 says you have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition and then jump down to verse 13 thus making void the Word of God by your tradition so we have we leave we reject and we make void now looked up these three words and essentially they mean this to leave means to ignore to reject means to disagree and to void means to replace and all of a sudden I realized we've got a pattern on our hands here's how you'll know if tradition remember this is about quality of life as well it's not just about following Jesus it's always about following Jesus but when you follow Jesus bonus PS you improve general quality of soul and life and things are not always going to be awesome and things are not always going to be easy but you're going to have a piece that as all understanding that will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus for me there's no other life apart from Jesus how do I know if I'm being robbed by traditions the first thing is you start ignoring Jesus what would you what do you mean by that Miss ain't like this if you're if you're following Jesus and of course today if you if you're not a follower of Jesus this is I suppose a great opportunity to kind of see what it would be like if you did but here's one of the things that happens when you follow Jesus when you worship Jesus you love Jesus you claim Jesus is God he he has a way of kind of like being real and and and and and then telling you you need to change stuff and he always falls it up with and I'm gonna help you but here's what happens I call it um I grew up in church so bear with me it's called knowing in your knower I'm telling you it's a thing you just know you know and all of a sudden you're like I used to do that I still like that I really want to do that why am I having second thoughts about doing that I've done this for 20 years and been thrilled I've never felt bad never had an issue what's wrong with me oh my gosh I'm going crazy this is weird and all of a sudden insert oh that's right did you decide to follow Jesus he is the way of caring about our daily routines and all I know it sounds silly but also he'll be like I don't what what is Lord I just want to go to this movie and it could be something so simple I know it sounds crazy and you're like Lorelei's want to go to movie and you're like why am i having second thoughts about a movie it's a stupid movie God what is going on right and you know in your nowhere like I'm not supposed to go to this movie ah this is weird over time and it's not just movies it can be other things that you'll just kind of know when you're knowing that God's big and God's real and he'll talk to you and sometimes it's just pizza sometimes it's lasagna you know sometimes you had the day before and you're like I feel bad and sometimes that's why we need community that's why we're in communis while we need each other to be like hey man are you okay yeah I just don't know if I should chew this bubble gum right now I feel like God's talking to me it's like okay all right I'm not gonna laugh you're you're the best um are you do you think God is speaking about high fructose corn syrup is that is that the issue you know like sometimes like dude chew the gum relax oh okay I needed that all right good that's why we're friends but for real there are days where it's like I'm I'm not supposed to go over to his house to her house I don't know what this is and you'll know when you start going now nah I don't care all right we'll be careful now maybe your schedule your routine what you want to do your traditions have become more important to you now remember the reason one of the main reasons I'm sharing this is because you want to go where God wants you to go cuz it's the best life it has its days but the big body of work is so much fun the whole thing is exhilarating but it gets down to it's those little moments man the only reason I know what I'm talking about is because I had ignored those moments and by the grace of God my life isn't a total train wreck God is gracious isn't he but here's the problem with ignoring that knowing that no one in your knower is it can lead to it is progressive you start to ignore sooner or later you you can be prone to disagree with Jesus if you ignore Jesus you you leave Jesus you ignore him now you can reject or disagree with Jesus now for some of you that's like oh that's crazy it's actually not that far off none of us are very far off from disagreeing with Jesus in fact when sometimes we do it indirectly we just disagree with Jesus like I don't know if that's actually true I know God has never had a start he'll never have an end and one years like a thousand days like a thousand years to him but I have been alive for 24 years and lived in a culture center most the time LA and I don't know if that's true anymore and all the sudden what started as just cool schedule routine tradish chintz thoughts things you know we all need kind of repetition it becomes more important to us more important to us more important to us then just listen to Jesus and what starts with I don't know if that's God's weird what am i doing all of a sudden like you know actually I've been exposed to a lot since I started going to church and I'm starting to question the eternal God and don't know when he says like follow me take up your cross daily that's metaphor for live your truth and all the sudden and and I've had long lengthy conversations with friends and I love I think our disagreement is what makes us better in this life so if you're hearing like whoa whoa won't you two watch it man I actually believe that that's awesome and thank you for being who you are and believing what you believe I validate that love you celebrate you but I wouldn't be Who I am unless I believe that Jesus is the way the truth and the life so I you gotta let me preach what I believe to be true and was true before I ever believed it that Jesus is God and to me it's just you miss out on a lot when you start disagreeing with God and then before you know it what starts out is ignoring and disagreeing it says it's void the word void means you scratch it out and you write over it and now we replace Jesus with something else and I looked at that and I thought whoa traditions in and of themselves are not wrong but when they grow and they elevate in our life and we put them as kind of the point it's the same destructive nature when money money can have great mission and make such a difference in the world but when money becomes the point of your existence here comes a lack of fulfillment a lack of purpose and you're obsessed with making money or obsessed with hold to what your dad taught you and what I think is true in my opinions and do you know what makes people really opinionated traditions traditions opinion when's the last time you heard someone say I love her she's so opinionated now you might be opinion too and be loved but it but the reason you're loved Mike the publicist might not be because you're opinionated it doesn't always make for the best friendship experience well I think well I think I know I know already I know I actually think well you know and they're wrong and he I don't think and she needn't and now we gotta own something church we're kind of known for a little bit of that in the world we're kind of known for being opinionated we're kind of known for being bossy pants and I wonder sometimes if it's tradition that makes us like that not necessarily truth because if Jesus is changing you all the time it is gonna be really hard to put on your bossy pants think about it think about the the last day you had where you were like oh my goodness I'm an idiot you know one of those idiot days were like I cannot believe I have thought that for so long right I told you about the day where I've discovered the gas tank arrow that finally like the gas oh it's right there on the dash oh well I work that was not the day I was walking around with my bossy pants on with my know-it-all cap on it was like yeah I had a weird thing today man God turns into a humble day because you're like yeah definitely learn something I should have already know how come we're not like that all the time is Jesus followers because I'm we supposed to be the wide-eyed wonder filled kids who are like wow I never knew God was like that wow I never experienced someone like this I never knew God thank you and so when people interact with us we're like hey it's so nice to meet you hey I just want you to know man God loves you cuz I know he does cuz he loves me and tell me your story wowt's emitted that's Wow why aren't we more of those kind of people I wonder sometimes it's because we're holding on to traditions and aren't letting God on a more regular basis go hey hey you'll have to let that one go oh it's my favorite political point please let me keep it nah and here's why oh yeah I'm really big oh yeah that's probably not the best phrase - yeah yeah okay yeah I I relinquish that I'm gonna let that go come on don't you want to run into old friends who go wow you've you've changed yeah yeah you're like the surprise you're amazing as if to say what was I previously last but not least like what's what's the antidote how's this gonna happen cuz if you're like me you get to the end of a message like this and I'm look I'm closing the journal it's done get to a message like this and you're like what's the what's the head of dope man how do I all right good good good got it got it got it got a Jew so yeah I'm definitely doing that I'm definitely not changing a lot I'm definitely holding I become opinionated I'm I'm a bit of a cliche III am that Christian who tells everyone what to do i dominate conversations I'm always I always know what's going on in the world and politics and issues and policies and things and I oh my gosh I don't want to be that person so what's the antidote and of course naturally we would all go well the antidote man is to just try a little bit harder to wake up in the morning get in a good headspace and just be better and be kind and just just I don't know like write down you all the traditions you keep and like burn them in a fire pit as a picture to God that you release it all things we did at summer camp right via friends have been in church were like dude water what was the summer camp he was talking about never mind here's the antidote look at the next passage it says that he called the people Jesus to him again and said hear me all of you and understand there is nothing outside a person that by going into him a person that by going into him can defile him in other words food doesn't defy it's not from without that defiles you but the things that come out of a person are what defile him in other words your heart and when he had entered the house the disciples sat down they said Jesus you got to explain this parable what does this mean and he goes you don't understand they said no we don't understand he says do you not see that whatever goes into a person from the outside it's not the problem since it enters into his heart and stomach and then when he goes the bathroom it goes out that's Jesus he declared all foods clean and he said what comes out of a person is what defiles him for from within out of the heart come evil thoughts sexual immorality theft murder adultery coveting witness deceit sensuality Envy slander pride like are you overwhelmed I am so Jesus are you trying to make us feel bad all these evil things come from where within and they defile a person and the scene ends like not my favorite Bible scene I mean listen to this evil thoughts sexual immorality theft murder adultery coveting wickedness deceit sensuality mu slander pride foolishness yeah and you're like okay it all comes from within you man so fix it and this is the classic Christian moment we're like dude traditions are becoming too big of a deal we're not following Jesus we're ignoring him right right we're disagreeing with him we're replacing him come on Church everybody grab the head of the person next to you like don't do that right now but it's like in the story and we're all like squeeze the hand next to you if you struggle with this like if you don't squeeze a hand that's a bigger problem right like no work so we're all squeezing hands buckling down all right what's that list again all right I'll read it again Church memorize it sexual and rally evil thoughts that murder adultery company witnesses see since while the NB Slater pride foolishness who does that relate to all of our hands go up well let's get better and strive harder you get out there and you remember God is watching let's pray and you like you're walking out you like to your new friend like now he's usually like not that intense like it's usually better than that I I don't know man like probably had a Red Bull you know because that's kind of what happens in church isn't it I mean that's what we do but that's Jesus is doing something he does a lot in his teaching he's doing something does a lot of his teaching he's bringing us to the end of ourselves he's doing it again he's doing it again he's saying well you you know you you know why the religion you know why they you know why they hold up the tradition more than me and truth do you know why because their hearts stink Oh in fact here's 22 things that comes out of their heart and we're supposed to get to the end and go well I'm exhausted I'm overwhelmed and I got no hope and Jesus steps in and he goes true unless you knew a guy like a Savior because maybe then he could change your heart and all of a sudden the camera that's been panned out on this ridiculous list of horrific things that come out of our bleak broken hearts the camera starts to zum-zum zum-zum and there's Jesus and we're like also we're supposed to yeah if you'll focus on me if you'll be with me if you'll sing about me and talk about me and talk to me and I feel focus your life on me not your improvement plan not your behavior modification not not not even your traditions and get all caught up like okay which traditions and also we do like this study on our own traditions and we're really getting into it now which one and we kind of meet with really smart people and I think there's a couple of no no that there's none of that's not sustainable that's not you're doomed we're all doomed to live this way and not age well at all I might add we're all doomed the AIDS gang it's smaller and more scared and more fearful of the unknown in the future oh my gosh I just want to hunker down and get my down blanket and hold on we're all prone to that unless Jesus can change us on the inside he can change our heart so the most powerful thing you can do if any of this sermon has applied to you is to focus on Jesus we're supposed to get to the end of this passage and go I need Jesus and boy will he come running and can I say something even the context of this second passage is in a home I can see it and you got 12 guys sitting around 13 counting Jesus I did the math and they're all sitting around and what are they doing being a community and they all go hey Jesus that was a great big sermon in front of a lot of people now we're like back at our home where we hang out where we're friends and we actually do life together can we talk about what you said it was kind of confusing and that's supposed to tell us the one of the ways you focus on Jesus one of the greatest ways that God set in is community because I'm gonna need a day or two where you are gonna help me focus on Jesus and we're gonna need each other to go hey bro you kind of got stuck what do you mean dude leave me alone no you're you're you're really fighting for this opinion and maybe we could be wrong now we could be right but we got also throw out there we could be wrong and we got to kind of like let that be now bro I'm not wrong I think she's stupid I think hey let's let's let's think about Jesus and I don't mean to insult your intelligence today Church but there's there's few things more powerful in this life than being with someone who wants to follow Jesus and sitting around and saying let's see should we pray should we talk about him should we sing a song should we share our story in our journey and what Jesus did in our lives I'm telling you what that can do to change your heart when we focus on Jesus that's why what we're about to do is so significant the band's gonna join me and we're gonna sing songs that we believe tell the truth about who our God is and when you do that these songs are not put together so that you're impressed with the musical arrangement that's not the goal at all the goals that we use these songs to focus on Jesus and then what happens our heart changes and I can explain your heart starts melting you're like ah I don't need that tradition I'm being silly here God you can have it believe that's about to happen I really do Hey we hope you loved it we hope you had a good time there's more for you if you want to subscribe grace what do they do and if you want to see more videos click right over here perfect you love you good bye

Channel: Churchome

Views: 12,553

Rating: 4.9307361 out of 5

Keywords: Churchome, Judah, Judah smith, church, message, anxiety, depression, how to, elevation, Steven, Hillsong, oceans, sermon, the city church, church home, Chelsea smith, bobby Houston, td jakes, pastor, pastor preaching, carl lentz, Jesus, conference, guest speaker, sermon jam, worship, Justin Bieber, la Hillsong, Selena, preaching, Judah message, performance

Id: MXHfM7XDSiM

Length: 47min 35sec (2855 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 10 2018