Monday 26th - Shane Willard

honored to have you with us and say thank you why don't we give him a great hand as he comes on up to share the word all right good evening everybody it's so good to be here with you it's been two years since i was able to be here and um and that's too long and so i'm glad to be back here with my connect family and with my good friends adrian and and of course the whole team um my philosophy of ministry um i never come in just to preach because it's time to come to preach because i actually have something to say and i try to build a relationship over time with folks and i'd like to say that um that that your senior level leaders here i met with them today um and when i left i did hand on heart did not realize till i got in the car that we had chatted about the nature of christ and compassion and truth and how to love our community and be be the body of christ to our world for four hours i i i didn't realize i got in the car that that's how long and it was engaging and i can't tell you i can count on one hand how many times i've sat with a group people for four hours and didn't get bored and that was one of them today and so you have a real privilege um this is a great place not a good place it's a great place it's an honor to speak uh to you tonight if you type like following actual bible romans chapter five let me get there in a second um afterwards i have a table set up out there um the reason is is because i make a lot of money on that table and the reason is for that is is that we live in a conviction that we're simply not simply called to go to heaven when we die we're called to bring heaven to every place we see hell here so 100 of what we make from that we give it away my biggest stressor in the coveted lockdowns was my commitment to our orphanages in china and our rescue home in cape town was made in january 2020 based on the ability to set a table up and then we couldn't do that but i'm grateful to report that because of the kindness of god and some other factors we did not miss one commitment to them and as of last week not one of our kids in hinyang or changsha got sick and they're only three hours from wuhan and so um it's a real blessing and so um that's what we use that for so um if you come up there the the listening stuff is on the left side of the table as you're looking at it anything on the left side table is listening in the car anything on the right side of the table is watching on television everything's in usbs or on bundles the only thing i would ask if you're going to get something please come do so in the first 15 minutes because i got to pack it up and take it where i'm speaking tomorrow okay um if you don't want anything god bless you i'll see you next time but if you know you're going to get something if you do that in the first 15 minutes there's all kind i only brought the stuff i've done brand new in the last two years so i've got a 10 part series on the nature of christ i've got my new one on mastering there are a living i did a 12-part series on the book of revelation because i was frankly too embarrassed about what i was seeing christians say about that book and so i said i'm gonna i'm gonna i'm gonna take this thing on we got a series on faith uh in the coveted lockdowns i was interviewed everywhere um by really smart people and we ended up with almost 12 hours of q a of me being interviewed by very smart people we put that in a series called conversations with shane so you could pick those things up out there and know you're making a difference to our missions in the world now on to tonight so i might have bit off more than i could chew tonight but here's what i think i can do i think if you'll give me your attention for 35 minutes or so that in 35 minutes you will walk out of here being able to explain the whole bible and where the cross fits into that narrative and you'll be able to do so using nine words what that means is i'm going to have to talk really fast which is unlike me so i want to talk to you about the cross of jesus because it's what unites us and i want to talk about the scriptures and any time i speak a copa couple things happen hope jesus gets bigger the cross works better the resurrection is central and scriptures get bigger not smaller that's that's my goal for tonight and so it's monday night you're in church i'm feeling no pressure to be an evangelist what i want to do is be a teacher and i want you walking out of here if you really pay attention i'm telling you i know it sounds like i'm exaggerating but you'll understand the whole bible the basic narrative of it and where the cross fits into it so let's start in romans chapter 5 verse 8. paul makes this revolutionary claim that is frankly unbelievable but god demonstrates his love for us in this while we were blank but god showed us that he loved us and that while we were still sinners christ died for us now what made that what makes that revolutionary is is that christianity was the first way of looking at god in the history of the world where a god acted first every other religion no matter what god you served you act first and then maybe that god might respond to you so you go to that god's temple at that god's moment at that god's time and do that god's ritual and if you do it right that god might act on your behalf but christianity flips the script it says actually the god revealed in christ consents in love to us first and then humbly waits for us to consent back that was a revolutionary thought some people called it good news and so to understand how revolutionary that is we've got to understand where that fits into history and why where people came from in that if you've ever read the old testament and thought why is that even in there sounds insane there's a reason that jesus is made more beautiful by understanding there was a day that they thought god was not that and that is what makes jesus entirely revolutionary and so i want to go back to the beginning and i want to explain i want to do use it in the most simple words i possibly can that if you want to ruin the bible all you got to do is read it statically like read it as a fixed thing the bible's not a static record of god the bible is a dynamic progressive moving revelation of god leading to the final revelation of god in the risen christ what you see in the bible is not what god is it is an accurate picture of what people thought god was at the time leading to the final revelation of god in the risen christ now it's very important to understand did god ever change no god never changed but what you see in the bible is this beautiful beautiful narrative of how people understood god better and better and better and better and better and better and better until finally god was revealed fully in the risen christ and there was this universal sort of sigh of relief oh my goodness if god is like jesus exactly like jesus god has always been like jesus if that's true then that is really good news right so to understand this let me use even more simple language when you look at the whole bible what you find is is that god was progressively getting closer and god was progressively getting nicer and that's a good combination because you don't want to get closer and meaner in other words the more they understood about god the closer he got and the more they understood about god the nicer he got let's be clear did god ever change no but what they knew about god shifted to closer and closer and closer and closer now after talking four hours today you're gonna have to help me preach tonight and i've been here enough to know that's okay with you so to understand this let's go back to abraham and let's handle the first statement as the bible progresses god was getting closer so let's go back to abraham in abraham's day where did god live like this is before temples or scriptures or anything like that if you wanted to know where did god live in ancient sumerian culture where abraham lived where did god live the answer was up in the sky right they believe god lived in the sky so for the rest of the sermon when i say in abraham's day you're going to say with a lot of gusto up okay so that we're going to make it real simple we're just going to do up and put our finger like that okay so we're gonna do like this let's practice that ready here we go in abraham's day god lived up all right now let's do that with twice as much gusto because i promise this is the only way we're gonna remember it at the end okay ready in abraham's day god lived up yeah that's even better let's do that at that same level of gusto to get our practice in and our timing together in abraham's day god lived oh yeah this could be fun yeah god lived up in the sky like we know from scripture abraham was a sun worshiper was he a bad guy no here's the logic if if you think god lives up in the sky somewhere and you walk out in the middle of the day and you look up in the sky what's obviously the most powerful thing in the sky the sun so in your ancient caveman logic if god lives up in the sky and the sun's the most powerful thing in the sky the sun must be that which rules the sky therefore the sun is the god right so we know abraham was a sun worshipper here's the problem with the sun being god what happens every day of the sun it goes away so the logic was the sun must be the god of the day and then the moon must be the god of the night and the logic was was that the sun was more powerful than the moon until by observation because you can look straight at the moon and they started writing things down about the moon and here's what they observed they observed that the moon goes through a very predictable 28-day cycle new moon then waxing then waning then full moon then new moon then waxing then waning then full moon then new moon then waxing 28 days it renews itself on a repetitive cycle which led them to this observation what else in the world operates on a 28-day cycle predictably yes half the room should know this women i can see where some guy in the back's like hey bill what the heck's he talking about man okay okay you ladies here's all right seventh grade science ready okay um you know that thing that happens once a month at least at least you hope it does right are you run by the chemist shop okay that all right that is operating on a 28-day cycle so here is the logic the moon operates on a 28-day cycle and women operate on a 28-day cycle the moon must be the god controlling fertility and the women's moods how powerful is this moon so if there's a full moon out you better get out of the cave but if the new moon comes it's going to be a good night tonight that is the idea so you have the sun during the day the moon during the night and the stars are obviously sub gods now if you're an ancient sumerian man and you need you're a farmer what do you desperately need to come out of the sky so that everybody lives rain and so the idea was is we must appease the gods of the sky so that they'll bring rain because the idea was if they're ticked off they'll withhold rain and we will die if they're happy they'll give rain and we will live if they're really ticked off they'll send a lot of rain that's a whole other story but so we want to know what must we do to please god we're going to get to that in a second for right now all i want you to know is that in abraham's day god lived oh let's try that again abraham's day god lived up 430 years later a guy named moses comes along and moses is like no no god doesn't live up that's ridiculous god lives in a tent in the middle of camp because that's less ridiculous and so moses puts god in a tent it's 45 foot long by 15 foot wide by 15 foot high and of course moses's advisers were like moses seriously you can't tell people god lives in there if they ever actually walk in there they're going to realize it's like just furniture right mostly no we'll tell them if they walk in there they'll actually die right that'll show them right but there's no record of that actually happening and the tent was mobile they had to tear it down and put it back up and tear it down and put it back up like how did that work like did you put a l did you put the tent stake in the last bit of the holy of holies and you got like a 60-second alarm get out of there i don't know right but here's the thing when you move god from up in the sky to a tent in the middle of camp that is infinitely closer and infinitely better is god done revealing where he is no is that a giant leap in the right direction you better believe it so for the rest of the sermon we're going to say in moses's day god lived in a tent and we're going to point down like that all right so let's practice ready in abraham's day god lived moses day he lived in a tent abraham's day god lived up moses day he lived in a tent then a guy named david comes along david's like no god doesn't live in a tent that's stupid and david was a king and here's what was happening to david as the head of state it'll stop okay great david said no god doesn't live in a tent that's ridiculous david was the head of state you see so david would go to other countries and the kings would go let me show you our god's temple it'll be these magnanimous things then they would come to david and they say where's your god's ten temple he lived in that tent over there it's covered in animal hair it's kind of rustic so david said we are not giving glory to our god properly when other pagan kings have temples that honor their god better so david started the process of building god a temple his son finished it but for our purposes tonight we'll say in david's day god lived in a temple all right and we're going to point up like that like so it goes up tent temple let's try that ready here we go in abraham's day god lived up moses day lived in a tent david's day he lived in a temple abraham's day god lived up moses day lived in a tent david day you live in a temple and jesus comes along and they started saying crazy things about jesus like this is what they said they said in the beginning was the word and where was with god in the word was god so the word was in this person and then they said and the word became flesh so in jesus day they believe that god lived in flesh now for the rest of the sermon when i say in jesus day god lived in flesh we're gonna say flesh we're gonna tap our hand all right that way we remind ourselves so let's practice that in jesus day god lived in flesh so let's review in abraham's day god lived up moses day lived in a tent david's day lived in a temple in jesus day god lives in flesh so from abraham to jesus you have this concept of god going from up to temp to temple to flesh god is getting infinitely closer all in the same bible as a dynamic progressive moving narrative showing that the final revelation of god revealed in the risen christ is better than you ever actually thought then it's not over paul peter james john they made radical statements like don't you know that the spirit lives in you don't you know that you are the temple of the living god so in paul's day where does god live us we're gonna do our hand like this us right let's practice in abraham's day god lived up moses day lived in a tent david's day lived in a temple in jesus day he lives in flesh and by paul's day he lives in us how did god ever change no so why is the bible saying all these different things it's because what we're reading in the bible is their experiences and how they understood god leading to the final revelation of god and the risen christ and then once people were affected by the risen christ the way they saw god was infinitely closer than anybody ever thought possible before that what you see when you read the bible is that god is getting closer from up to tent to temple to flesh to us brilliant the narrative of the scripture is brilliant no that's not that's only half the story what you see in the bible is god is getting closer but you also see god is getting nicer which is a good thing let's go back to abraham in abraham's day god lived up let's try that again everyone's day god lived up now what do we need to come out of the sky we need rain and what do we need to get rain we need to please the gods so what did you do to please god in abraham's day like if if there was if it wasn't raining how did you please the gods to get rain so if you ask someone in abraham's day what must you do to please god here was the answer and we're going to practice this it's sort of an easy one it's um it goes like this yeah i don't know all right so let's practice that we're going to shrug our shoulders and go i don't know all right ready what you have to do to please god yeah i don't know let's do that with a little more gusto ready go what'd you have to do to please god yeah i don't know i don't know so what do you do if you don't know you make it up and if you make it up with enough gusto it catches on so in ancient sumerian culture here's what they believed this remember this is before scripture this is before temples before any of that they believed in order to please the gods of the sky to bring rain you had to do two things one is self-mutilation so if you've offended the gods and it's drought you can appease god by cutting yourself now what's the problem with that well the problem of that is i say if i say you can please god by cutting what's your question well what must i cut and two how much of what must i cut and the answer was everybody together i don't know so here's the problem what if you did 10 cuts but the magic number was 11. in one sect of ancient sumerian culture they told them just cut till it rained that's how you know they lived in iraq yeah their hands would have been falling off right right so one was self-mutilation two was sacrifice now thought once again if i was to say you can get right with god and get it to reign by sacrifice what's your question what must i sacrifice and two how much of what must i sacrifice and the answer was everybody together no i don't know so here's what they did they started offering more and more and more and more and more and then somebody came with this idea here's the thing what if we give our most prized thing our most valuable thing the gods of the sky can't possibly deny that here's what they did in ancient sumerian culture they made it a rule that everyone had to sacrifice their firstborn child to the gods of the sky to ensure rain for the whole community crazy crazy sort of stuff now this is the historical context by which god shows up to abraham so god shows up to abraham and says hi abraham my name is el shaddai i love the grace of god with abraham el-shaddai just means god almighty in other words you got a lot of gods you got to be wondering who's in charge that's me abraham's response was basically well at least you're speaking hello right he says what do you expect from me el shaddai now remember in abraham's world what did god expect mutilation and sacrifice so el shaddai meets abraham right where abraham thought god was he engages the story where abraham is and he moves it to a better narrative and he says abraham i want you to circumcise yourself with a rock which can we be honest is an odd command to a 90 year old man seriously god's first command to a 90 year old guy is pick up a rock swing hard don't miss that is weird right listen have you ever seen a 90 year old man his hand shakes his eyesight's not real good you imagine that hey betty say a prayer for me sweetheart it's gonna be interesting i hope i get this with one go like this is unbelievable right but abraham's more than willing to do this which leads to this question why see for us see for us circumcision is barbaric the law right why is circumcision in abraham's day grace it's nice it's love it's compassionate why well if you live in a world where you have to cut infinitely you never know how many cuts to do and god says if you think you need to cut i'll have you cut but we're going to circumcise now why is that gracious well how many times can you ever possibly circumcise yourself once okay like people are going i don't know like what like listen if you could circumcise yourself twice you demand i don't know so so the world goes from infinite cuts to one off boy god's getting nicer he says okay second thing i want you to do it's a confusing passage second thing i want you to do is i want you to kill your kid i want you to take isaac up and i want you to kill your kid you know why that's weird it's weird because if you read the passage from our perspective abraham doesn't resist it he doesn't ask why he doesn't ask how he knows how why because that's what they all did and it says so abraham took isaac to a high place why would you go to a high place because where does god live up so abroad takes isaac to a high place and for the first time in the history of any civilization anywhere in the world where they have written down scriptures any of that a god stops a sacrifice and provides another one and here's god's idea to abraham instead of killing children let's kill animals instead now when you're the first person to get a revelation let's kill animals instead of children is that a good move or a bad move that's a really good flipping move is that the word of god you better believe that's the word of god is that the final word of god no the final word of god's the risen christ but that's a giant leap in the right direction so abraham comes down the mountain with his son still alive what do the neighbors think abraham you've got to get back up there listen i know it's not nice and i know you waited 90 years to have a kid but seriously seriously you got to get back up there and kill your kid and we know that's horrible but we had to do it our grandpappies had to do it our great-grandparents listen seriously you're going to bring a drought on the whole land and abraham's like no i got a new revelation of god and god is nicer than you think we could kill animals instead of children it was amazing the talmud tells the rest of the story the talmud says that abraham was so moved by the compassion of el shaddai that at his house there was a room full of gods and he went into his room full of gods with an axe and he destroyed every god in his room full of gods with that ax except one and he left the one standing and he put the axe in his hand so the next day when abraham's father went into the room to worship and all the gods were destroyed his father said abraham what happened in here and abraham said i don't know there must have been a fight amongst the gods and that one must have won because it's the kindness of god that leads us to change how we think see abraham lived in a world where god lived up and you don't know how much to sacrifice and you don't know how much to mutilate and he moved it nicer let's review and abraham's day god lived up how much you have to sacrifice i don't know how much you have to mutilate i don't know and god's name to abraham was el shaddai everybody together el shaddai so abram has a son named isaac who's his god el shaddai isaac has a son named jacob who's his god el shaddai jacob has 12 children who's their god el shaddai those 12 children have 12 children who's their god el shaddai 144 kids have 12 kids who's their god el shaddai the math is getting too hard next generation who's their god el shaddai 20 generations later who is their god el shaddai there is no god but el shaddai no other name other than el shaddai it's in our verses it's in our pamphlets it's in our websites it's in our fundamental truths there is no god but el shaddai then moses comes along and moses is a premeditated murdering fugitive i killed the man hid him in the sand problem was the next day the sand shifted you got this leg sticking up out of the sand moses ends up in the wilderness as a fugitive and god shows up to moses not surprisingly exactly how he did to abraham right where moses thought he was and he doesn't tell moses kill your kid they'd quit doing that but moses thought god was a fire why because he was raised in pharaoh's house and in pharaoh's house who was god the sun and the sun's made of a consuming fire so if you think i'm a fire i'm each as a fire but i'm a different kind of fire i'm a fire that if you're paying attention isn't even harming the most the most fragile thing in the wilderness as the great t.s eliot wrote it we only sustain only cespire consumed by either fire or fire you will live your whole life terrified of the consuming fire of the sun god ra or by faith you'll embrace the refining fire of a loving yahweh who although he will perfect you he'll never harm you for the bush was not consumed that is articulate and moses has this moment with the burning bush and he says remember what the burning bush says hello moses i am the god of abraham isaac and jacob who's the god of abraham isaac and jacob well correct which is what moses says moses says hello else should i let me take off my shoes the bush says no my name i am the god of abraham isaac and jacob remember moses argues with the talking bush and says this is how indoctrinated some people can be no the god of abraham isaac and jacob is el shaddai everybody knows that it's in our verses it's in our pamphlets it's in our websites it's in our fundamental truths there is no god but el shaddai the burning bush says i introduced myself to abraham as as el shaddai but by my name you would have hey they didn't know me remember what moses says if you don't if you don't anything by hebrew you can understand you'd have hey you can't say it the the letters don't go together it'd be like me saying my name is loving faith come again they've been flipping what you devolve what you de vave it's not even a word i know i know my name's jude hey vavhe what's that even mean it means i am what i am okay that clears it up so moses goes back to the israelites now think about this 20 generations there is no god but moses says i've got a new revelation of god and his name isn't just el shaddai it's also you and hey vavhay how well do you think that went you imagine that what you would hey bob hey moses so you're telling me that god told you his name was also you de vave yep say it again you'd have hey moses that's not even a word i know i know his name is jude vave all right moses how'd he tell you where were you i was out in the wilderness was anybody else there to witness this no howdy tell you talking bush which leads to this observation right don't act like you to believed it and actually in jewish history it tells us they didn't buy it until he brought water out of the rock in the wilderness and then people started going maybe he's onto something right why because when sometimes it takes a bit to shift somebody off what they've been taught their whole life and that's okay too right so moses gets inspired by you would have hey to write a book called leviticus again to us the most barbaric ridiculous thing ever but in that day according to the god historian karen armstrong the nicest book about god ever written in the history of the world up to that time why because no other scripture from any other civilization anywhere in the world put a limit on sacrifice see in abraham's day how much you have to sacrifice oh how much have to mutilate i don't know moses says no in leviticus one sacrifice per family per year and you can know you're okay with god and in terms of mutilation we're gonna circumcise on the eighth day that way no one remembers it and then remember what leviticus says i forbid anyone from that day forward to ever put a marking on their body i promise you when he wrote that he never thought we'd argue about whether it's a sin to have a tattoo in 2021. he's talking to a group of people who are wondering i wonder if god wants us to mutilate let's review ready in abraham's day god lived up a little bit more gusto and way more together ready and abraham's day god lived up how much you have to sacrifice oh how much have you mutilate i don't know moses day god lives in a tent how much you have to sacrifice what how much you have to mutilate once god's getting nicer the closer he got the nicer they realized he was in david's day god lived in a temple let's try that again and david's day god lived in a good try that was really into it too that was the most absolutely confident answer tent right let's review it all together for her benefit ready here we go in abraham's day god lived up how much you have to sacrifice well how much you have to mutilate i don't know moses day he lived in a tent how about your sacrifice what have you have to mutilate once in david's day god lived in a temple how much you have to sacrifice once how much to mutilate once then a guy named jesus comes along and jesus was foretold by prophets there was a whole group of people called the prophets that started realizing early on i think god's nicer than we think like there's this guy named micah who basically says what kind of god is grumpy and then gets less grumpy because you killed a bird that's stupid just do justly love mercy walk humbly with god he'll be okay of course he was so far ahead of his time they killed him it happened and jesus comes along jesus started making god nicer than anyone ever thought possible because in jesus day god lived in flesh let's try that together in jesus day god lived in flesh so from abraham to jesus you go from up to 10 to temple too god's actually got skin on telling us how to live and see the world this is revolutionary stuff then the question is what is god actually like is it i don't know is it once is it once and then jesus started to say revolutionary he started calling people forgiven without a sacrifice unbelievable like there's this one time there's this guy named zacchaeus and he's up a tree and jesus says all these thousands of people following me i'd rather eat with you and it says zacchaeus was so moved by jesus's compassion that he said hey i'll give half of what i have to the poor and jesus said what salvation has come to your house is jesus allowed to do that okay if i ask you if jesus is allowed to do something the answer is a resounding yes let's practice that so jesus declares a guy saved without a sacrifice a temple visit an altar call a sinner's prayer or romans 10 9-10 even being written yet is jesus allowed to do that really that's still revolutionary now isn't it jesus calling a guy forgiven without a sacrifice what was the only way to be forgiven and saved in the first century temple ritual who's not allowed in the temple tax collectors so if your job forbidded you from engaging in the only way that ritual brought salvation what do you do jesus circumvents the entire system of oppressive power and he sees this man's heart change and he says i'll count that god might be nicer than we thought there's this one time jesus having a pretty bad day and he ends up on a cross and even in great stress like crucifixion what's he doing he's still thinking about other people he's healing the guy's ear that led the charge to arrest him on his way to be tortured himself there's this guy who's having an equally bad day next to jesus and he can't breathe and what does he say to jesus please remember me that's all he has the breath to do and what does jesus say well bo you better hurry up and say the sinner's prayer then i think you're saved in 2021 you imagine if jesus was some semi-ghettoized evangelical like please remember me but you better hurry up and say the sinner's prayer they're going to think you're saved what's the sinner's prayer it's a prayer they make up in 1830 to help people connect with me and i dig it what's the sinner's prayer it's a prayer based on romans 10 9 and 10. what's romans it's a book that hasn't been written yet but you better hurry up no what was the only way to be saved in the first century temple ritual sacrifice who's not allowed in the temple criminals on crosses the only way for that man to be saved in the first century would be get off the cross run to the temple find a priest offer sacrifice for free get back up and die jesus is like ah that's too hard and he circumvented the entire system of oppressive power he saw that man's heart change and he says that's enough for me maybe god's nicer than we thought the god revealed in christ was like it's better than moses you kidding like there's this one time jesus goes by a prostitute's house which leads to this question is jesus allowed to go to a prostitutes house is jesus allowed what was going on at a prostitute's house in the first century business jesus is between customers which leads to this question would there be a worse place to ever run into jesus you imagine that imagine jesus in like the the foyer and the guy comes out of the back room right and he's like oh jesus hey man and it says that the prostitute was so moved by jesus compassion that she knelt down and washed his feet with her hair and what does jesus say that's it all your sins are now forgiven is jesus allowed to do that can you get saved by washing his feet with your hair see we tend to go jesus is the only way and okay but jesus is the only way is far different than my way to jesus is the only way to jesus what you find in the in the god revealed in christ as a god maybe willing to meet people exactly where they are and aren't you glad that's not the rule aren't you glad i did what if i said you got to wash your feet with your hair to be safe because that lady did like i mean with all respect to all my ball brothers in the room and me like with with respect for you to wash his feet with your hair bro would be like a three-man job you'd be turned upside down to use like a buffer think about it what was the only way to be saved in the first century temple sacrifice who's not allowed the temple prostitutes what does jesus do circumvents the entire system of oppressive power and reveals god to be nice that anybody thought he saw her heart change and he says that's enough for me jesus is like you know what you've heard it said one sacrifice per family for a year how about this let's just do one sacrifice for the whole world for all time god's getting nicer and the god revealed in christ is nicer than anyone ever thought and i would say we're still grappling with whether we believe he's that nice today let's review in abraham's day god lived up you were really ready for that that's good and abram's day god lived up how much you have to sacrifice oh how much have to mutilate oh moses day he lives in a tent how much you have to sacrifice once and i should mutilate once david's day god lives in a temple how much you have to sacrifice once how much should have to mutilate once in jesus day god lives in flesh how much you have to sacrifice none how much you have to mutilate none wow and people called that good news but then it gets better in paul's day god lives in us in paul's day god lives in us and then six different places by four different authors they get it and they're like hang on jesus did not inaugurate a new reality about god jesus showed us what god was like all along that god was like jesus exactly like jesus god had always been like jesus we did not know that but now we do that god was not grumpy and then hurt somebody and then got happy that would be weird that jesus was not saving us from an angry god god was in christ reconciling the whole thing to himself and the cross was a physical manifestation of what god was always like if you need the scriptures here you go ready ephesians 1 4 he was crucified before the foundation of the world first peter 1 20. he was crucified before the foundation of the world but in these last days was made manifest so you could see it secret timothy 1 9 our salvation was given to us before the foundation of the world in jesus christ revelation 13 8 the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world hebrews 4 3 his sacrificial work was completed before the foundation of the world and my personal favorite hebrews chapter 9. didn't you know all along it was impossible for the blood of animals to ever forgive your sins but god simply gave you that to do it's because your conscience needed it and you needed to be appeased for don't you know that jesus died before the foundation of the world at the culmination of the ages come on does that sound like a jewish theological principle no it sounds like a rock festival where'd you go last weekend i went to the culmination of the ages it was awesome first john chapter 1 for don't you know that all these things have been true since before the foundation of the world but now we have seen that truth with our own two eyes that jesus did not inaugurate a new reality about god jesus just showed us what god was always like because god was like jesus exactly like jesus god had always been like jesus we did not know that but now we do and you know what frankly that's the only thing that makes christianity make any sense if that's not true then this is the gospel ready tell me the gospel in a paragraph okay um okay so god created the world and even though he was god he lacked the foresight to foresee human rebellion and so when humans rebelled it sort of surprised him and so he wracked his god brain as what to do and even though he's god his best idea was to torture and kill his only son by sending him to earth on a suicide mission and even though the son obeyed the suicide mission it was horribly unsuccessful because billions of people are still going to die and be tortured in hell forever with no hope of ever getting out and god never gets what he wants anyway join us that makes so much sense come on what if it's better than that what if it's this that god created the world because he was god he was able to force a human rebellion instead of destroying the whole thing he fixed the whole thing before it ever started but humans wouldn't believe it without seeing it so despite all of his efforts to show them without seeing it he showed them in his son by showing us how much he loved us in the cross but that cross was not the inauguration of a new reality it was a physical manifestation of what god was always like from before the foundation of the world and now our call is to consent back and participate in that truth that's been true since before the foundation of the world that would be good news so 38 minutes i told you let's review and see if you can explain the whole bible in nine words ready in abraham's day god lived up how much time to sacrifice oh how much i have to mutilate i don't know most day he lives in a tent how much you have to sacrifice once how much to mutilate once david's day god lives in a temple how much you have to sacrifice once how much you have to mutilate once in jesus day god lives in flesh how much you have to sacrifice none how much should mutilate none in paul's day god lives in us and when did it all happen before the foundation of the world so my brothers and sisters of connect church may you embrace the god revealed in the risen christ as the full and final way to see god may we understand that god was like jesus exactly like jesus god had always been like jesus and now we know it may we reach out and embrace what has been true about us since before the foundation of the world for jesus did not come to fix your badness he come to invite you back to embrace the original goodness god made you to be and may we live a life that shows the world what it's like to be profoundly connected to that truth that happened before the foundation of the world at the culmination of the ages and may we embrace that with all of our might that god is love exactly like jesus had always been like jesus and now we fully embrace it i hope jesus got bigger the cross worked better the resurrection is central and scriptures got bigger not smaller tonight thanks for letting me be here grace and peace everybody thank you shane very good

Channel: Connect Christian Church

Views: 193

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: 9FfjNLcabL0

Length: 46min 7sec (2767 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 26 2021