Shane Willard | Love doesn't keep score | Sunday 7 June 2020

[Music] hello everybody it's such a privilege to come into your homes and be a part of your lives like today get to open the Bible and I take that very seriously I love to do it I hope we're inspired by it I hope as always Jesus gets bigger the cross works better the resurrection is central and scriptures get bigger not smaller I want to talk to you about love and the nature of God and what that means for our world today and how that could affect our life in the future because we all know that love at its best form is not a celebration of the perfect it's actually an embracing of the sublime it's an embracing of the imperfection it's it's actually fully knowing and yet fully accepting the person which which brings me to God I I think I can identify with all of us I think all of us are in the same boat that at some point in our life particularly our childhood that God was framed as some sort of Santa Claus hybrid and here's what I mean by that is that he was presented kind and generous and wanted to provide good things for us but he also kept score so the illustration goes something like this that listen there's a ledger and I remember I remember being told by this by I'm sure a good-hearted sunday-school teacher that there's a ledger and you can't see the ledger but on this side of that ledger of your life are the credits this side of the ledger of your life are the debits and God is keeping score and one day you'll stand before him and that credit side had better be bigger than that debit side or there is some serious serious consequences it's just like Santa Claus that way he's making a list he's checking it twice he's gonna find out who's naughty or nice it's that so there's this generous gift giver need meter God but he's also determining what he feels about you by your score and so the subtle and actually not so subtle pretty overt intimation is that God keep score and and you know what there's verses they could use for that I'm sure that that your grandparents and my grandparents used it to sort of try to control our behavior they say it sounds something like this hey remember even when mom's not around even when granny's not around God sees everything right it's like shoot yeah like God sees everything and I get it yes God does see everything and do we need to be aware of that yes is there anywhere we could go to hide from the presence of God no no and that should affect our behavior positively acts absolutely but but what almost gets no play time is the idea that God chooses in his love and in his consent to forget so is it true that God sees and knows everything yeah but when you only tell that side of the story without telling the side of story and remember that God forgets and his love and his in his consent it can mess us up like the I think was GK Beale said that we become like who we worship so here's the idea if we believe that God keeps score then we'll justify keeping score in our own lives which will sabotage our relationships it'll look like love in some weird perverse way but in actuality it's more control and scorekeeping let me let me read this from poll this is from first Corinthians 13 and remember our scriptures primary definition of what God is is God is love and so when Paul writes in first Corinthians 13 love is patient love is kind love is not proud love love love does not have Indy it's not jealous right but if we could actually replace the word love there with God is patient God is kind God is not puffed up because if God is love and love is those things then we can intimate just using the transitive property and so I want to read just one of those descriptions and I want to talk about the the implications of it is Paul in 1st Corinthians 13:5 love keeps no record of wrong that love keeps no record of wrongs let's just stop I'm doing this slow and want to let I wants to let that sink in if you have been tormented by the image of the ledger credits debits and you start out basically bad anyway if you if you've struggled with that image I'm hoping this message will do a little bit to set us free from that because what that image says is it focuses entirely on God knowing everything and it focuses almost none on God's choice in his love and in his consent to keep no record of wrong let's say it this way God doesn't keep score and the reason God doesn't keep score is because love doesn't keep score now certain things keep score and that's why score keeping has become a part of our life we're athletics mad right and in amen I love my sports but sports you got to keep score it's kind of a winner and a loser that the problem is is that if we believe God keeps score and then we then allow that to flow into our lives particularly our relationships it actually sabotages them because certain things keep score but it's not love and it's not God like fear fear o keep score like like if you're afraid of some certain outcome you might keep score or anxiety it keeps score for sure anger definitely keep score like if we if our default button is anger we're looking for some reason to to make sure that we were one upping folks we escalate the violence why because right now they're ahead of us and so you see that in Samson where he says I'm gonna do this and as long as you don't do anything to overtake that then I'll stop I'm gonna get even and then I'll stop I'm gonna get even that scorekeeping so any thought in our head that we should get even with someone who wronged us scorekeeping any thought in our head that we have to we have to get one up on someone so that they'll owe us that that's scorekeeping relationally anytime we do something not out of love but out of the idea that if I do this I should get points that I can cash in later scorekeeping unhappy people keep score see people truly loving people they don't do things for others in order to have points to cash in later they do things for others because they actually love them and want to see them happy like just some examples like if um if I needed a ride to the airport at 4:00 a.m. and you say sure it didn't then later you call me and instead of just saying I need a ride to the airport you say hey remember when I took you to the airport at 4:00 a.m. I'm gonna need you that's keeping score or maybe maybe this sort of sentence is ringing a bell like if you would pick up your clothes maybe I would pick up on the things you like right or if you just did this maybe I would do this these are this is scorekeeping language and it hurts relationships and ultimately if you trace it back it comes back to a belief that God keeps score and if we believe God keeps score then we'll naturally rationalize keeping score ourself like remember when you did that now I need you to do something for me are you owe me something so I want us to be inspired so I there's a lot of biblical characters I could have picked but I I picked Joseph now the story of Joseph is found in the book of Genesis and it's so long that there's no way I'm gonna read it I'm just gonna summarize it if you want to go back and read it yourself please do it is an inspirational story but just as a talking point sort of summary of the story so that we can be inspired by him Joseph was a part of a dysfunctional family with 12 brothers and part of what made that dysfunctional family was the father preferred him more than the 11 brothers and so he gives him a coat that he gives no one else and he was one of the youngest so it was totally breaking protocol now Joseph doesn't help herself at all in the middle of this dysfunctional family he starts claiming to have dreams from God that you know coincidentally exalt him he says hey I've had a vision from God guys and in my vision I'm standing and you're bowing well this is not a way to win flynn's and influence people to claim that God prefers you over them that's not the way to win friends and influence people because no one likes a vision where you're standing and they're bowing so Joseph's brothers devised a plan to kill him but instead of killing him they sell him Joseph is in charge of Potiphar sell so he's been sold into slavery to a guy named Potiphar in Egypt he's a slave in that house he gets falsely accused of sexual assault and then gets put into prison four of my memories right I think it was like 14 years a long long time so if you're following along he's a part of a dysfunctional family his own brothers sell him into slavery he ends up in jail which would not it wouldn't be nice today definitely would have been worse back then for fourteen years he interprets the dreams of fellow prisoners resulting in one of them being reinstated to Pharaohs favor and he promised he promised I'll remember you went on there but then he doesn't so this story Scott is full of tragedy it's full of wrongs it's it's a guy that lacks a little bit of wisdom in terms of how he shares his visions from God but it's a byproduct of a dysfunctional family well he's preferred he ends up enslaved he gets falsely accused of sexual assault he ends up in prison for years he gets a guy helps get a guy out of prison who says I'll remember you and then he doesn't but there's all kinds of lessons in here about when you do something for somebody else and then they don't remember to return the favor there's a lot of scorekeeping going on here but if pharaoh has a dream that stresses him and the original prisoner then remembers so Joseph becomes the second most powerful person in all of Egypt 22 years after the whole process started at that point a famine hits Israel and the brothers who sold him need him that need his help so if you're following along dysfunctional family sell their brother into slavery he gets falsely accused of assault ends up in prayer in print in prison 22 years later he ends up in charge based on a series of incredible circumstances a famine hits Israel and it just so happens that Egypt has food in storehouses that they can sell so to save Israel's life the brothers go into Egypt needing food from Egypt only to find out that the brother they sold into slavery is in charge of who gets to buy and sell the food in Egypt this thing is turning around big-time with Joseph having the opportunity to get back at his brothers Joseph's father then dies which instigates fear in his brothers that Joseph would have no reason to be kind because what the father did who cares what he does to the brothers the whole thing culminates at a dinner table the entire story culminates at a dinner table with 11 brothers sitting around the table with the Egyptian army behind them waiting on a command from Joseph to kill them or to serve the food there's this all this intimation in this around the Hebrew idea of a table and a show Khan Ashok on as a table it also means reconciliation to invite someone to a meal meant whatever was between us is now behind us and Joseph is faced with this dilemma what do I do I have every opportunity to get back 22 years of my life was taken away because of these guys 22 years gone I can get them back right now or I can choose to do something more profound and not keep score and do something different this is Genesis chapter 50 verse 19 but Joseph said to them do not fear for I am 4mi in the place of God in other words if God wants to repay you for what you did that's that's God's business not mine as for you you meant evil against me but God meant it for good to bring about to bring about that many people should be kept alive as they are today so do not fear I will provide for you and your little ones thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them so a couple of thoughts of inspiration around Joseph's life that could help us in terms of understanding that love doesn't keep score one Joseph prioritizes love which allows his brothers to not be afraid Joseph was in a dilemma between two ethics and I think we all live in the dilemma between these two ethics the two ethics are freedom and love and neither are wrong actually both are needed and both are good to have liberty is a good thing and when liberties get taken from us it's a bad thing but the question isn't which one's right and which ones wrong the question is is which ones lighter and which ones heavier if we make Freedom the highest ethic then he could do whatever he wants to his brothers because they violated his Liberty but if we make love the highest ethic then we have to at times humble ourself in our Liberty in order to make someone else's life better it's exactly what you see it would correct with Christ on the cross a God who chooses to make his freedom secondary to his love and I think that's the challenge for all of us is instead of calling one right and one wrong one good one bad what if we see them both is good but we what we choose to allow our freedom to be secondary to our love note number two Joseph frames his place and God's he's like look I've got to keep what's in my paygrade what's in my paygrade is whether I give you food or not and if it's and if freedom is my highest ethic then it's totally my choice and probably not because you you don't deserve it but if love is my highest ethic then I have a certain responsibility to act in love and he frames his place his pay grade was this God's pay grade is who gets paid back and what kind of retribution there is that's his place in God's number three Joseph chooses a perspective of gratitude he steps back and goes you know what I'm gonna make love the highest moral ethic that's one and two I'm gonna look at the situation and be thankful for what God brought out of it I'm gonna rejoice in other words I'm gonna see what God has been up to amigas been up to and you God's been up doing them and the whole world's going somewhere good that because of what you meant for evil it's a lot of people whose lives are gonna be saved because of that action and he chose a perspective of gratitude number four Joseph honors a position of grace he steps back he serves the food he says let's put this all behind us he ends up giving him a piece of land they end up becoming a huge family there and then the story goes on into the book of Exodus so a couple of observations about this Joseph saw the potential for grace in the situation he found himself in so stuff and let's meditate on that for a second regardless of the conflict can we see the the perspective or the potential for grace in it where can we initiate the mercy as Christ followers we are meant to be initiators of mercy acting in love and what does that mean love keeps no record of wrongs on us - stop right there unless wrestle with that for a second where have we violated love by keeping score where have we lost the perspective of grace because the scoreboard says they owe us number to score keeping stops when we see the purpose to save rescue restore and reconcile like what what Trump's scorekeeping is seeing the bigger picture you meant this for evil that means you owe me or I could see the bigger picture and it took 22 years to me to see this but look what God was up to in our world and I couldn't see it the whole time but now I see it scorekeeping gets trumped when our awareness is around the saving the rescuing the restoration in the reconciliation number three he says serve the food when we keep score we take a potential unity and turn them into the other we scapegoat the enemy as the entire problem instead of seeing the perspective to serve the food in the scripture there's a psalm that says he prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies in in Hebrew culture that doesn't mean God was feeding you and not them it meant God was always making a way to reconcile even when they don't deserve it a couple of thoughts on this in terms of relationships one scorekeeping cheapens the relationship into a competition when we violate love by keeping score when we violate love by keeping a record of wrongs or rights and and honestly when we're keeping records of wrong and rights we normally don't really score our wrongs correctly we we tend to exaggerate our rights and we tend to diminish our wrongs but when it comes to somebody else we tend to exaggerate their wrongs and diminish their rights and so when we do that it opens the possibility and the potential for a loving relationship down to a competition when we keep score we start to believe that God keeps score and actually when we keep score it shows us that we always believed God kept score and I want to be fair this is my story and I'm assuming as most of yours is that we were taught when we were kids that God kept score there's a ledger you better have more credits than debits and they used the scripture God knows everything and is that true yes it is but we also need to be aware that God and his love and in his consent allows his freedom to keep score to be secondary to his chute to his choice to love and love keeps no record of wrongs see if God keeps score then the whole beautiful holy divine life inside of us simply gets dumbed down to a score some people are ahead some people are behind some people are in some people are out and if we ever framed God that way to our world it would be tragic see the real danger in scorekeeping is that it violates the love of God is represented on a cross what's the answer to God score card the cross if you want to know what if you want to have God's like check Jesus on the cross a God who validates his deity by choosing not to be God and suffer with others so you know what the score is now level the score is there is no love keeps no record of wrongs and if we can pound that into us and I realize it's going to take more than one 20 minute sermon to get that through to undo years in our childhood of being told God keeps score God knows everything and yes God does know everything but you know what's beautiful is when we remember that in his love he consents to forget that love keeps no record of wrongs but sin is thrown as far as the East is from the West can't get further than that that it's out the sea of forgetfulness was another metaphor that in his love he consents to not keep score so a couple of thoughts about this I want us to wrestle with for application Jesus didn't die simply to fix a problem but to destroy an entire framework of living by scorekeeping see the system Jesus came up in was nothing but score keeping oh you did this and there was clear score if you do this and it was unintentional you owe a bird if if it was this and it was intentional you owe a goat if it was and there was all of this well-thought-out scorekeeping because early on they believed in a score keeping God Jesus came to reveal in first in first John 4:8 it says that that Christ was sent to reveal the love of God to the world so what if Jesus primary purpose for coming was to show the world what God's love is actually like and one of the things he actually did was he destroyed the entire system of scorekeeping let's say this way are we violating love in our marriages are we violating the nature love and actually losing a profound opportunity to experience a loving relationship because we're keeping score are we violating in our relationships and our friendships do we keep scores do we exaggerate our rights and diminish our wrongs while exaggerating their wrongs and diminishing their rights and then somehow keeping score and who's got points and who can cash in a favor somewhere where are we violating it when there's a more beautiful way to live to just ask seek and knock and and loving people respond let's say this way are we feeling hopelessly behind the score if you grew up with the idea that God keeps score there's a credit and there's a debit maybe maybe you're struggling right now going you know what I don't think I can catch up on that score the beautiful part of the gospel is that God doesn't keep score let's say this way where do we need to remember that God keeps no record of wrongs so I come to you today with a message of hope that God and His love consents to forgive and forget that love keeps no record of wrongs so God doesn't you're never hopelessly behind the scoreboard so may we profoundly - that in a way that we free others from us keeping score on them and maybe we can experience what a profound loving relationship might look like I hope Jesus got bigger for you today grace and peace everybody [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Gateway Church Tasmania

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Id: Ma9koAtJ-7E

Length: 34min 22sec (2062 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 06 2020