Part 5: Represent! (The Alternative Community) // Ty Gibson

my first encounter with Church was weird and that's an understatement now it was weird for me he but maybe it would not have been weird for you I don't know your background I don't know your history but I I have a very ear religious background in history I was not raised in church there was no Bible in our home there was no religious text in our home not a single book nothing that would indicate the existence of God or any kind of spiritual inclination or impulse just nothing just a purely secular environment so so for me the first time I was invited to a church something something rose up inside of me there was just an immediate uncomfortable feeling do I want to go to church my immediate answer was no of course not why would I want to go to church Church that's such a weird concept to me now I knew a little bit about church I knew that that churches existed and they existed in the form of buildings on street corners but I have to be honest with you having never actually stepped foot into a church I was a little suspicious I was like I wonder what they do in there in those buildings called churches and I had observed people getting out of their cars occasionally and going into churches and they all looked kind of funky to me they were wearing suits and ties and had slick haircuts and I thought those aren't real people those are plastic people those are people who are pretending to be something they're not that was just my impression as a teenager and I had heard rumors about weird things regarding church I had heard and this is a fact you can google it if you don't believe me that there's a church that actually issues secret underwear to its members that they're not allowed to take off except a shower but when they're showering they must still be touching a part of the undergarment and that it needs to be immediately put back on and I suppose they would issue two or three pairs because after all you do want to have a nice aroma wherever you go don't you I had heard this as a teenager I thought that's weird really weird and then I had heard about the Jim Jones well yeah call it a cult but it was called a church in the news when I was growing up and the kool-aid incident where hundreds of people were murdered by a pastor well they called it a suicide but he was the one that orchestrated this mass murder mass suicide whatever you want to call it I thought so that's church and I said to myself I'll never go to church I actually feel really comfortable in this building because it's not a church this is where this is where they used to work on those big GM trucks and these beans had chains to pull the engines out of the trucks and somebody gutted it out and turned it into a church I guess and here we are this is a very comfortable environment for me well then the day came even though I was determined never to attend a church that my girlfriend said I want to invite you to church I said well no I'm not going to church she said well I'm gonna be confirmed well it was a Catholic Church and in the Catholic Church there's something called confirmation because babies are baptized infants are baptized shortly after birth and then they they grow up they become 10 11 12 13 and then the priest leads them through what's called the catechism which is a teaching a question-and-answer teaching process and once you move through the question-and-answer teaching process your baptism is confirmed and you choose a patron saint and she chose Joan of Arc and I still listening to all of this I'm gonna be confirmed you want to come to church I said no no that's that's really not me that's not for me I'm not gonna go to church I was I was really uncomfortable with the idea and then she said she said well the pre are going to have a keg party with all kinds of beer $2 admission right after the confirmation I said hmm but that didn't even persuade me and then she said ty' and I'll be wearing a dress and I want you to see it I've never seen her in a dress this was my girlfriend I ended up marrying the girl by the way and I've seen her in dresses many times thereafter but to that point my teenage girlfriend was bell-bottom Levi's and t-shirts and flip-flops I thought you in a dress I'll go to church for that so I went to church to see her in a dress and the weird part was that as she came out in a dress so did a man with a beard call it a robe if you want but to my teenage mind that was a man with a beard in a dress and I thought yeah I had a hunch that church is weird that's just what I thought as a kid that's what I thought about church now I'm gonna suggest to you this morning that the word church has been slaughtered in our vocabulary it's a really unfortunate translation of the word that shows up in the Greek text of Scripture the word church that we have in English actually comes from a German word I think we would pronounce it courage and courage is a word in the German language listen that refers to the physical building on the street corner it's a word that refers to the architecture to the bricks and mortar that's Church and so now it's very common for us to even this morning you probably said to somebody I'm going to go where to Church by which you meant you're going to go to the physical structure to the building you're going to show up at an address at a location it's an extremely unfortunate translation of the word now the word itself in the New Testament is ekklesia ecclesia from two greek words ech which just means out and Kaleo which means called so what do you think ecclesia means it means called out that's what it means but that immediately begs the question called out of what precisely in - what precisely and more specifically for our purposes this morning for what called out of what into what and specifically for what now we get a hint well it's more than a hint it's an incredible description of the calling out of into and for a very specific purpose in Exodus 19 the children of Israel had just been delivered out of Egyptian bondage they didn't have a building they were a wandering ragtag band of ragamuffins in the desert they were people that were band together and moving in unison on a journey they were out and there was another sense in which without a building they were now in they had now engaged in a whole new way of being human they had known bondage and slavery suddenly they knew freedom and here's the key concept as soon as they came out of bondage into freedom that freedom needed to be channeled they needed marching orders they needed a job description I mean when you can do whatever you want what are you gonna do when you're free what are you gonna do with your freedom well God through Moses said now therefore if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant note the word covenant we're coming back to it then you shall be then you shall be keeping the Covenant makes you into the thing that you've been called out to be if you obey my voice and keep my covenant then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people now right there it sounds elitist it may even sound kind of ethnic preferable God likes these people but not the other you will be a special treasure to me above all people but then note the next line for all the earth is mine now this is hearkening back to something we refer to over and over again in storyline and that is the original call of Abraham out of Babylon out of a certain culture a certain way of thinking a certain way of living a certain way of processing reality God called Abram out of Babylon out of ur of the Chaldeans and he said Abraham I called you out not to keep you out but to send you in I've called you out in order to establish with you a different way of thinking and feeling and relating and living in processing reality and and once I've established in you that new way of being the whole point Abraham is that in you all the nations of the earth will be blessed so it was it was a missional project it was an evangelistic project it was a project of representation so here God is following up and he's saying yeah you will be my special treasure if you keep my covenant because the Covenant will make you into a certain kind of people and having become that certain kind of people you will be a treasure to me above all the other people not because you're intrinsically better than the other people not because I want you more than them not because I love you and I don't love them but because you will be practicing principles that will make you attractive to the other nations because in fact God says the whole earth is mine all the world the nations it all belongs to me and it needs to come back now look at verse six carefully and you shall be to me you're called out and you shall be to me if you keep the Covenant you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation the word holy it really has nothing to do with our current understanding of holy as something to do with morally superior it's not a moral statement it's a word that literally means to set aside - to set apart so you're gonna be holy to me you're gonna be set apart now you said something or someone apart not for boredom not for inactivity but for a purpose you will be a kingdom of priests to me not a kingdom as was prevalent in that world in the ancient world not a kingdom of dictators not a kingdom that is governed by coercion and force and a certain set of principles a portfolio of ideas a worldview God is launching with Israel a new worldview a new portfolio of meaning a job description an identity is being established here you're going to be a certain kind of Kingdom a kingdom composed of priests plural every single member of Israel was to occupy this priestly role these are the words which you shall speak God speaking to Moses Moses tell these words to the children of Israel they're all going to occupy this position now a kingdom of priests that's a very unique calling that's a very unique way of perceiving one's self I'm a priest what does that mean I'm a priest while the priests to be a priest it's a particular let's use the word vocation and for those who are part of God's kingdom it's a universal vocation so every member of the body of Christ is a priest all of Israel has this calling it's a vocation it's a job description to be a priest listen by definition the word itself to be a priest means to mediate now to mediate implies the existence of a minimum of two parties in order for there to be a mediator in between and what does it mean to mediate it means to be in the middle a mediator a priest is a go-between there are two parties and apparently there's some kind of misunderstanding there's some kind of gap in perception maybe there's hostility there's a broken relationship if you need a mediator between yourself and another person there's a problem that the two of you are not finding it within your power to solve so you need somebody in between to be a kind of bridge of understanding a bridge of understanding to represent God to people is what it means to be a priest so so you see that from the very beginning of Israel's calling God has never ever in the history of the world exercised what we would call favoritism he doesn't like anybody more than anybody else he doesn't love some and hate others God in fact is a God who is simply choosing a group of people to get a job done and what's the job to mediate the true knowledge of God to those who don't know him as he really is that's what it looks like to be a priest now the key concept in the passage you will be a kingdom of priests to me you remember if you keep the covenant now the implication in the grammar is that if you move the other direction if you don't keep the Covenant then you're going to fail to occupy the vocational role of priests right you will not be able to execute your mission effectively if you don't keep the covenant but if you keep the covenant then the text says then by virtue of the covenant you will be a mediatorial channel a conduit through which the other peoples of the world the other nations will say ah we see what God is like because the Covenant is on display well we've talked about this over and over again I'll never stop talking about it I hope you'll never stop talking about it what is the covenant the Covenant according to Isaiah 55 verse 3 is articulated very clearly we don't need to guess and it's not a complicated complicated concept God says give ear and come to me there's that coming out idea you're a part of the prevailing culture the prevailing world come on out come to me and hear me listen to me that your soul may live the idea here is flourishing God is simply saying if you if you will give your full undivided attention to me if you'll come to me if you'll listen if you'll give ear if you'll listen to me then you'll live on the soul level you you will flourish the very quality of your existence will be elevated if you come into contact with me if you listen to me now this is amazing I will make an everlasting here's the word were interested in at this moment of our time together I will make an everlasting covenant with you , and now the grammar is creating an equivalent the Covenant is equivalent to my faithful love promised to David promised to Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Rebecca and Jacob and Esau and Rachel and Leah and the entirety of the biblical story line the entire unfolding narrative is God making a promise of faithful love I've said this many times I'll say it again the whole Bible can be summarized like this the Old Testament is a promise made the New Testament is a promise kept the Old Testament is God saying through all the prophets I love you and I'll never stop and the New Testament is God saying now I'm here in person in Christ to prove and to demonstrate my love to you to the point of death the whole Bible is simply an explanation of what God's love looks like in action so the Covenant is God's love now check this out this is amazing so the Covenant in a word is love in two words its faithful love it's relational integrity but now watch this God calls Israel out back in Exodus chapter 19 he says now I've called you out to make you a kingdom of priests and you need to keep my covenant in order to fulfill that role my covenant is essentially my love and now watch this the covenant is now described it's articulated in an expanded light Deuteronomy chapter 4 see I have taught you decrees and laws this is Moses talking to Israel i Moses have taught you decrees and laws note the language carefully as the Lord my God commanded me so that you may follow them these laws in the land in the land you are entering to take possession of it so you've come out of Egyptian bondage you're going into Canaan you're going to be surrounded by other people groups other tribes and you're going to listen you're going to take my laws - that big new world that you're going out into you're gonna be surrounded with other peoples with other ethical orientations with other perceptions of what it means to be human they're doing life a certain way over there in Canaan and I'm taking you out of bondage into freedom and I'm giving you my covenant and my covenant is going to go with you in to Canaan among the other nations now watch this observe them that's my laws carefully for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations again I want you to notice something here God is interested in everybody he's not pulled Israel out to keep them out he's pulled them out to send them in because he loves the whole wide world so he says observe them carefully for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nation's why so so you can be proud and arrogant and say look at us we're great now stay away from us who will hear about all these decrees and here's what the people will say the people will say surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people what other nation is so great as they have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to them that's that's amazing the other nations will say these people have some kind of direct interpersonal intimate relationship with their God and what other nation here's what the nations will say about Israel what other nation is so great as they have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws note the language body of laws as I'm setting before you today so the Covenant is love and the Covenant is composed of a body of laws you shall therefore keep God's statutes and its commandments which I command you today watch this that it may go well with you there's the flourishing again God's laws are not arbitrary laws he didn't say I'm God I'm more powerful than you are I have authority over you so I'm just gonna tell you to do things willy nilly in order to demonstrate my power my authority over you move that pile of rocks over there and when you get done moving back no God's laws aren't arbitrary they're intrinsic to well-being they're intrinsic to the right operation of life so when you begin to live this way he's saying to Israel the other nations will be blown away by your flourishing it will go well with you and with your children after you and that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time so the Covenant this morning for our purposes within this context the Covenant is a collection of laws by which the implications of love are worked out in every aspect of life just let that register god is good he gives laws that are good in the obedience of which we flourish and become a light on a hill to which other people are attracted not because we're great but because he is because his principles are amazing Israel was called out of the world to represent the principles of God's kingdom in contrast to the principles of the prevailing world systems this was this was an experiment in contrast if you live like this that is in harmony with the principles of covenant to love you'll flourish and it was to be an attraction but what about this out verses in concept they were called out into something else and others are invited in I'd like to suggest you that out and in is the most persistent illusion that forces itself upon human consciousness I want to introduce you to this guy this is an iconic face in an iconic photo of John Stuart Bell John Surratt Bell from Northern Ireland he's deceased now an incredible mathematician and physicist he you may have heard he is the person who founded a theory that now bears his name Bell's Theorem is essentially this now track with me this is going to be a little bit challenging but the payoff is worth it two or more particles he's talking about physical particles two or more particles in a quantum state that is in an organized state apparently separate from other quantum states two or more particles in a quantum state though check this out separated by large physical distance continue to be mutually dependent in other words there is no aspect of reality that operates in isolation that would be my short way of defining it so John Stuart Bell says it this way no theory of reality compatible with quantum theory can require spatially separate events to be independent there's literally nothing that ever happens in this world in isolation you and I are always in the process of exerting impact all of us are a conduit a medium a priest conveying something to the world around us Henry Pierce a staff from Ohio State University incredible mathematical mind he says that Bell's Theorem is the most profound discovery of science I mean and this is post Einstein's relativity and he's saying listen this is the most amazing thing and step he defines Bell's Theorem like this an elementary particle is not in independently existing unanalyzed entity that's a little difficult but watch this it is in essence a set of relationships watch this that reaches outward to other things science is essentially discovering over and over again that we live in a universe that is interconnected and to use the the 500 year earlier perception of none other than Leonardo da Vinci the Vinci said we need to learn how to see what do you mean learn how to see he went on said this realize that everything is connected to everything else not until you realize that your life is exerting impact on the lives around you are you really seen reality as it is you can't exist without interdependent relationships and even on a subconscious level most of the impact that we're exerting is an impact that we are often unaware of the greatest illusion of the human mind is that I'm here and you're over there the fact is I'm here and my influences right over there with you and you're over there but you've impacted me there is no sharp distinction the us-versus-them mentality is a patently false construct of reality and this is what Dostoevsky meant and I shared this with you last time we were together when he said everyone is really responsible to all men and for all men and for everything we are ultimately individuals of immense responsibility because we are representatives always representing always representing either positively or negatively there's not a waking moment of my life that I am NOT exerting representative influenced and to represent simply means to re present to convey an understanding of something that already is so I'll say it like this we represent God's kingdom not with distinctive colors or clothing not a jersey not a pair of sneakers not in the sense that we have sponsors that pay a bottom line so that we can speak of or mention their products in passing we represent God's kingdom with a set of distinctive principles and God's distinctive principles all every single one of them are traceable to a single principle and that single principle is God's other censored self giving love we're called out of the world storyline you me every one of us we're called out of the world in order to invite the whole world in to a whole new world that's what it means to be a follower of Jesus that's what it means to be a part of the alternative community that is the church the church isn't a building on a street corner where two or three are gathered together in his name he's there and that's the church you'll be taking the church with you as a family unit as you exit the building today you'll be taking the church with you today as you exit the building with your friends in your laughter and your joy and your capacity for empathy and your ability to see really see other people and meet their needs in your integrity and business dealings in the way you communicate in the heat of the moment when you're under pressure God's love on board and represent the kingdom of God for all the beauty that it really is that's what it means to be a part of the alternative community that is the church hey thanks so much for watching we hope that message was a blessing to you God's Word is powerful it penetrates into our minds into our hearts brings about transformation in every aspect of our lives listen we don't want you to miss any content so again we want to encourage you to click on subscribe and track with the content that's going to be coming out week after week and if you'd like to partner with us in this global Ministry of taking the gospel of Christ to the whole world we want to invite you to become a partner in this ministry click give and join with us you

Channel: Storyline Church

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Id: PjvPUwo_5Ps

Length: 31min 44sec (1904 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 23 2019