Shane Willard | The End Of Hostility | 14.04.2018

[Applause] thanks guys sit down so my goal this morning is to start a discussion not in one not close a conversation but open it great sermons are not meant to be agreed with or disagreed with so if your only thought at the end of each in any of these sessions is gee I agree with that you've missed the point and if your other thought would be I hated that I disagreed with it you also missed the point great sermons our teachings are not meant to be agreed with or disagreed with great sermons are meant to be discussed wrestled with if if you're not still thinking about this Tuesday with your friend at coffee it's I didn't do a very good job alright and so and so my goal is to cause questions not answer all of them and so this morning we want to spend some time talking about Jesus and the issue of Jesus is is when we run out of language and we start using the word Jesus to define Jesus that's frustrating we do this with a lot of things somebody challenged me the other day I used admittedly a throwaway line I said we should be living for the glory of God right which is of course something everybody would agree with you can't know we need more self glory right so but nobody would nobody would disagree with that but yet we lack language for it so a very good hearted person who loves me challenged me and said you said this what do you mean what does it mean to live for the glory of God and I was like well it means that as we're living we're giving God glory which essentially using the same sentence to define the sentence and he he said he said you're better than that you're better at Shane wheeler doesn't do that Shane wheeler doesn't use throwaway lines and and then not have language to define it come on man and and I took it as a challenge because he meant it that way any minute is a good-hearted challenge and so we're gonna talk about that in a second session today about what it means to live for the glory of God and put some language around that because here's the problem with Jesus is is when we we if Jesus becomes a throwaway language like somebody somebody says something and and it's like well well you need you just need to be in Christ and if so he says what's in Christ it means as we're living we're in Christ well what is that right so as and we wonder why that's not compelling and then we come up with more uncompelled ways to talk about Jesus like um Mark and I were talking yesterday about something we saw or heard or whatever it was and essentially the guy said that the guy was appalled that somebody said that God's not angry and he goes and then I'm pretty close to directly quoting this he said well if God's not angry why would anybody ever come to Jesus which events is a whole nother set of problems that does God need to be angry for us to is the is the only reason we come to Jesus is to escape a wrathful God and what kind of God do you want to hang out with for eternity do you really want to hang out with a guy who commands us to forgive people before the Sun Goes Down only to find out he can't forgive people without torturing his only Son you really want to do that does that really sound compelling do you really want to be having dinner with a guy who's torturing people within eyeshot but he promises he won't torture you he's just gonna continue to torture them even though he could turn it off anytime he wanted not compelling and so you go man and so the challenge then is is to come up with language that we can talk about the gospel because in case you have it figure this out if this is news to you I mean I really need you to catch up okay using Heaven and Hell as the primary motivators to present the gospel those days are over right you can't you can't it's nothing and the reason is is it's just not compelling and even if you believed it to be true if if somebody if somebody was preaching here and and presented the gospel in a way as simply a fire escape to keep from being tortured for 100 billion years or something they would never get asked back because it's just not compelling um if you if you want a great read on this in T write wrote a couple good books in T right wrote it just read anything in T right in a row but um in T right wrote a book called surprised by hope which was I think his best book and he recently as most recent book is called the day the revolution began where essentially he says that Christianity stuff the entire message of the cross up by making it about heaven and hell and then he goes into well if it's not about heaven and hell here is some language around what it actually is about and Wow actually I I'm not going to try to paraphrase NT right let me just quote him I mean I just I have it right here and this is a good this is here it is the four got this is a direct quote from inti right in the day the revolution began the four Gospels have very little to say about going to heaven when Jesus talks about the Kingdom of Heaven he doesn't mean a place called heaven that we go after life but rather the rule of heaven in other words God coming fully manifesting birth on this earth almost nobody in the Gospels warns people about going to hell after death and so and so here you have the best New Testament scholar in the whole world trying to put language around the gospel so somebody if somebody if a friend at work said why are you a Christian if your only answer is well I'm a Christian because I don't want to go to hell uncompelled uncompelled or what is it with church whoa I go to church cuz I want to be in Christ well okay what's it mean to be in Christ um it means that as I'm living um Christ is in me was that mean it means I'm in Christ well you just know you're talking in circles so so my goal is to put some language around that because this idea of Jesus dying and rising from the dead was so revolutionary in the first century that it took several books and books and books and books and books and books and books of really smart people trying to articulate my which around what does this actually mean it's a this should this should be obvious but it surprised everybody when Jesus died his followers thought he was gonna take over Rome because that's what messiahs do okay and said that surprised everybody what was more surprising was that he rose again that was really surprising and actually the the root word for resurrection in Hebrew and the root word for surprise is the same word right and and that that makes sense because if I die today and you came to my funeral on Tuesday and I showed up here next Sunday surprise sort of cuts it right so so so the idea is is this was this was a surprising revolutionary move so let's say this way every truth every truth has three prongs to it and if you remove one of those three prongs it becomes less it's not less truthful it's just less meaningful okay that the first prong is the objective or the literal okay so something happened a story was told a poem was written a song was penned something like that okay so something objective we might call that the literal okay but the second part Oh is is equally or maybe even more important and that is the meaning or the symbolic what what does this mean right and then the third part is event 'el so event o is a vente Lizz not is not just something that happened it's something that fundamentally transforms the way we see everything that happens after it okay so so let's talk about something really important to us resurrection right pretty important if we believe that Jesus literally rose from the dead how important is that it's pretty important but what if that's all what if it stops there if all we believe is literal resurrection or we spend our whole life trying to prove scientifically that Jesus actually rose that we've actually missed most of the point if all we're worried about is literal resurrection and let's be clear I believe in literal resurrection and so do you and so does Mark and so the and so does all of Orthodox Christianity but if it stops there if it's only literal resurrection why not just worship Lazarus Lazarus rose first right but there was no such thing there's no such thing as Lazzarini or lazar rights right but the reason the reason it the reason we don't worship Lazarus is we know that literal resurrection is not what makes somebody worship worthy that that's not the whole that's not the whole thing no matter of fact if it made the knew if somebody in Nigeria or something got rose from the dead today and it made the news here we wouldn't even find that we think well that's something what's weird we we probably wouldn't even we probably check the scores of the ball game first right it's not just literal resurrection it's the infinite meanings that that resurrection brought like new creation bursting forth in the middle of this one like surprise like tomorrow is not simply a repeat of yesterday like death doesn't get the last word Jesus does like all of those things that makes it compelling but then there's an event all nature to it in other words the resurrection isn't something that happened once it's something that should fundamentally change the way we see all other happenings after that right so if you if you knock off the either the symbolic or the event all nature of the objective truth we lose a lot of its meaning we lose a lot of its power we lose it's sort of like this let me illustrate this if a woman gives birth to a baby girl let's say it's your first child and the father standing there and and here comes the baby and they clean the baby up from all the goop and all that and they and they wrap the baby in blankets and stuff I mean I've never seen a birth I all I've ever seen is on TV and I got to tell you it does look a heck of a thing right so anyway and they hand this baby to the dead and the dad says oh she's the most beautiful girl in the whole world right and let's say somebody else is standing there and they go really prove that literally actually there's gonna be a lot of girls prettier than her and there's gonna be a lot of girls uglier than her she's somewhere in the middle you'd be more correct to say she's the most average girl in the whole world right well as the new father how do you answer that you just what you did there using language in a different way than you used it when somebody says she's the most beautiful girl in the whole world they're not talking about literal beauty because this baby now has redefined beauty it doesn't it's it's it's all that it's actually not the literal that makes that statement it's the symbolic in the meaning it's what that girl means to you that now makes her the most beautiful girl in the whole world because even if literally she's not the most beautiful girl in the whole world she has literally redefined what beauty is and so that's what that is but then there's an event all nature to birth and that event elaichi is now we're going to fundamentally shift how we see everything else afterwards it's sort of like this like if if your wife gives birth they hand you the girl right and you fundamentally acknowledge the literal existence of this new life right but that's that's the literal there's a breathing thing in my hands right and then the meaning would be she's the most beautiful girl in the whole world right but then there's an event Elaine let's say every night of your life you went out with your mates and you and you played darts and and drink beer nothing destructive just you know one or two beers throw in darts with your mates right till 2:00 a.m. right but then but then she has a baby and then the next night when you get home you go out you throw darts and you drink beer with your mates and then the next night you go and throw darts and drink beer with your mates and then the next night you guys throw darts and drink beer with your mates and so finally the wife says throw I says excuse me we have a baby now and you go oh absolutely I totally 100% believe in the literal objective baby and I'll go further she's the most beautiful woman in the whole world so what you can have the literal and you can even have your head around the meaning but unless we get our head around the event in other words that birth shouldn't just be something that happened it should be something that fundamentally changes the way we see everything after that this is what we do to the cross and the resurrection in the gospel is is there are people who pound their fists about the literal truth of it literal everything is good that ain't literal it ain't true which is baloney by the way right only white people think like that right like only white people think that you know the parable of the prodigal son has to have literally happen for it to be true it's just it's it's a parable all right so so but but there are people who pound their fists on the literalness of it but yet miss the meaning and the event all nature of it then there are people who embrace the literalness of it and the meaning but then when you look at their lives it fails to fundamentally shift everything they do after that and so if you if you try to have any ventolin something objectively true then that loses its power if you try to have meaning that's not rooted in objective truth that's sort of insane that's sort of like just willy-nilly just pull psychedelic stuff that's that's LSD stuff right I found meaning right but there's no objective truth right so but if you have objective truth and you haven't wrapped your head around the meaning of it nor has it fundamentally shifted the way we see everything else that happens after it then it's a problem so so so the problem with the way I see good-hearted people presenting the gospel is they tend to focus on one prong without all three and you can't remove one of those three prongs without fundamentally shifting the power from underneath an old that's my best attempt to put language around this so so I want to look at some event ol things I don't think I need to convince anybody that the gospel is rooted in objective truth it's Saturday you're in church this is not the forum for that right IIIi think we could infinitely explore the meaning and I think we could infinitely explore the event whole nature of it how should this fundamentally shift so dif somebody said what why are you follower of Jesus you have something better than well I don't want to go to hell um so what does Jesus done to your life well he's keeping me out of hell well that's uncompelled that is so uncompelled and so I want to look I want to look at three areas and I want to once again just start the discussion this is Paul in Ephesians chapter 2 and he's trying to put language around the cross and the cross is one of those things where and the cross the gospel whatever you the resurrection whatever you want to call it whatever language you want to put around it it's one of those things that when when you get focused on one meaning and then you obscure all the other meanings would that aren't that one meaning we lose the cross does not have one meaning i I have by my count I have thirty two different messages on the cross and resurrection on that table I didn't repeat myself once and I'm not wrong about it right like like the cross and resurrection is not something that has one meaning it's actually the cross is that which defies meaning it actually prefer for a fully divine person to humble himself and let a local government crucify him for the sake of all mankind does not give meaning to anything it actually defies what meaning is it actually like God is not that which defines clearly all the meaning in our life actually God is that which enters into what we think meaning is and breaks it apart right and and then and there's sort of shatters the box and then helps us rebuild it bigger and bigger and bigger and better so here's here's one of Paul's meanings of the cross and resurrection this is efficience chapter two for he himself is our peace who has made us both one and is broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of Commandments expressed in its ordinances that he might create in himself one new man so Paul part of Paul's gospel is is that in Jesus Christ there's a shared humanity I was listening to Penn Jillette Penn Jillette was asked on big think why are you an atheist and they said what book did you read the Commission being a this cuz he grew up a Christian and Penn Jillette said the book I read to become an atheist was the Bible he said am i my youth pastor challenged us to read the Bible in a year and if we did this there was a prize or whatever and I took it serious he said I think I was the only one that did he said but he gave us this checklist this to read the Bible through in a year you got to read this much every day and and he said I took it serious and I read the Bible cover-to-cover and every week I brought questions to my youth pastor and and they eventually asked me to leave because I was asking too many questions about the Bible essentially they said you shouldn't question the Bible because it's God wrote it right and he said he said the so the way I became an atheist was I read the Bible because how could God write a book and be wrong about women slavery genocide what kind of God sends his own son on a suicide mission and then it doesn't work what kind of God creates the world and is so ticked off by Genesis 6 he wants to kill everybody like what kind of God does that and then what kind of God won't allow you to ask questions about it that that just sounds lunatic sort of stuff and he said the thing about it is is there's nothing and this is where I thought he said there's nothing in the whole thing about a shared humanity right and I'm like wait a minute hold on that one of Paul's meanings of the cross and resurrection is is that we it's the end of hostility a shared humanity so if someone was to say why are you follower of Jesus one of my answers would be well I'm a follower of Jesus because in jesus's way of living it's a shared humanity that we it is the end of hostility it's jesus's way of living was supposed to bring a peace a more peaceful world oh and by the way it's working really really really well if you look at the stats deaths by war from 1300 until now it's not even close if you look at the graph that death by war in 1300 does like this just steadily goes down down down down down down down down down 1941 there was a spike right and then it spikes back down and then by the time you look at 2014 compared to to 1300 it's not even on the thing the murder rate murder rate in Europe in 1400 was 113 murders per hundred thousand people today it's one okay so so the work of the risen Christ in this world is making the world better and better and better and better better more on that later but but Jesus's way of living was supposed to bring one he meant one new man so here's what he says one new man in place of the two so making peace that he might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross and thereby killing hostility so one of the ways Paul put language around the meaning of the gospel was the end of hostility this is not a new thought this is something Jesus brought up in the way he was teaching people to live remember NT writes quote when Jesus was teaching people to live he was not teaching him how to go to heaven when they died but rather how to how to manifest heaven on this earth here now today and this is in his first sermon ever like the third sentence watch what he says blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God blessed are the peacemakers so in other words to Jesus I'm not gonna try to unwrap all the theological implications of that one sentence but because I think it would go against what I'm trying to do today but but - but to just simply say - Jesus our basic disposition in conflict is really important Jesus ties your basic disposition and conflict to being called sons of God and so people say come on your children of the Living God really are you do we have a right to call ourselves that are we peacemakers what is our basic disposition in conflict and lest you think it was just a one-off thing 38 verses later or so 34 verses later in the same sermon he says the same thing just a different way watch what he says you have heard it said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy but I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your father who's in heaven once again basic disposition in conflict is really really really important to Jesus so one of the meanings of the cross so is the cross literal yes did Jesus literally die yes did he literally rise yes okay fine let's go to this what does that mean for our world and how does that fundamentally shift the way we see everything else to Jesus and to Paul the gospel of Jesus Christ was about the end of hostility it was about our basic disposition in conflict our basic disposition which leads us to a couple of questions one how it is hostility work and two how do we then move on from that which leads me to a story from the book of Judges it's quite a lone story so I'm not gonna read the whole story I'm just gonna tell the story I'll tell it well and then I'll show you a couple snippets from it it's the story we're all familiar with we learned about it in Sunday school about a guy named Samson Samson was quite frankly a bit of a rebellious lunatic he had no regard for his parents authority he had no regard for the scriptural authority he had no regard for the law every everywhere he turned he was trying to push the boundaries in some shape former fashion and the way the story goes is he falls in love with a Philistine woman which was against the rules his parents implore him please please do not marry a Philistine woman she'll lead you to worship other gods he says I don't care what you want I know what I want and so he sneaks out of the house and he goes to visit her and evidently along the way to go visit her he runs into a lion which is quite a daunting thing and actually if you're sneaking out of the house in Illinois to go see your girlfriend running into a Lions a pretty good way to get caught right so and evidently he was well-trained enough and well-armed enough to kill the Lions he kills the lion goes on and sees his girlfriend and then and then comes back home later he's going back to see her and along the same path and the lion no one had cleaned it up the City Council hadn't done anything with it the the the lion Lions the world is getting better by the way the UH the Lions carcass is still there and evidently some bees had made a hive in the middle of this Lions carcass has started to make honey and he breaks every rule known to man first by touching a dead thing second by reaching into it third by pulling food out of the dead thing and eating it right and so and then he goes on to the Philistines and so he's hanging out with this Philistine family and he thinks I'm gonna prove I'm smarter than you so he tells them I bet you I can tell you a riddle that you don't know the ants - of course he can he's just gonna make it up off the top of his head there was no reference point to any of this right he's telling him something with meaning that was not based on anything objective they'd ever seen before so course so he says I tell you what if you can guess it I'll give you 30 pieces of clothes if you can't you owe me 30 pieces of clothes they say deal and he said you can all be in on it fine and he makes up a riddle here is the riddle out of the eater something to eat out of the strong something sweet right and of course they can't answer the riddle why because he just made it up there was no there was no objective thing that they had seen or experienced that could do this so out of the eater 17 so seven days they have to do this and so halfway through they start turning on his wife there's like you're our sister use whatever prowess you have to get him to tell you the answer we're gonna owe him thirty pieces of clothes so she does whatever she has to do to get him to tell right she starts pouting and manipulating and anyway so so she she does whatever she has to do to to get him to tell and and he tells her he says listen don't tell them but I'll tell you cuz you know anyway so so she she goes and tells them of course and on the last day they guessed the riddle and this is a direct quote from the Bible by the way Sampson says interesting if you hadn't plowed with my heifer you would have never guessed the riddle right so he calls his wife a calvess things escalating like you can't believe like if he if you hadn't played with my hair for you and against the riddle right and so and so he now owes them 30 pieces of clothes what was his reasonable response now reasonable would be okay you got me go to the t.j.maxx buy him thirty pieces of clothes bring him thirty pieces of clothes he doesn't do this his response was he goes and kills thirty of their cousins strips them naked and brings them the thirty pieces of clothes now this guy's Aluna this is out of control mate listen if somebody lost a bet today and know thirty pieces of clothes they went and killed thirty people they're going to jail for life back then there was no 9-1-1 or anything say he goes hey you're right I owe you 30 pieces of clothes here's the 30 clothes from your 30 cousins I just killed right well they they do not like this at all they respond by giving his wife to another man right so Samson shows up to pick up his wife and they're like oh we thought you hated her you called her heifer we gave her to somebody else do you want her younger sister right which was like how bad was the world back then right right so so they then Sampson then responds by putting 300 foxes together tying their tails together setting them on fire and they burn he burned the whole field of the Philistines down which fundamentally destroyed the nation's economy for an entire year the Philistines then respond by burning his wife's family to death right Samson din responds by picking up a jawbone of a donkey and killing a thousand of them then they respond another way and then he responds and then this whole thing ends up with him with his eyes put out running a great crusher and then the whole thing escalates into everybody's in a temple and he pulls the whole building down on top of them so what started out as a joke no one understood ends up with everybody dying that's called escalation it's called hostility now if you're married you understand this right no this this is how it works you married people have you ever gotten an argument with your spouse over how to cut a tomato right yeah see yeah oh yeah yeah we have yep yep you ever get that argue with you spouse about how to cut a tomato properly and that argument escalates into insults about the other person's mother right now sometimes their mother you insult their mother because they're insulted other times it's just simply an escalation from something else this is how the Samson story works the Samson story works with a joke that no one understood escalating into 30 murders which escalated into whole family being burned which escalated into a fit into a country's entire economy going away which escalated into another thousand people being killed which escalated into Samson being blinded in sin slave which escalated into people dying that is the that is the lot that is the the pattern of hostility that's meant to be broken let's let me show you a couple of these scriptures here this is from judges 15 I was so sure that you thoroughly hated her that I gave her to your friend is there a younger sister more attractive can you imagine living back then if you were a woman my goodness take her instead Samson said to them vit now this is the key line this time I have a right to get even with the Philistines I will really harm them I have a right to do this now watch what they say and Samson said to them this time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines when I do them harm according to the Australian Bureau of Criminal Statistics 91 percent of murders in Australia or morality based in other words it's very rare for somebody just walk in and kill somebody it's always why did you kill them well you should have seen what they did to me it's as juvenile as they started it I finished it right it's it's it's morality based this time I have a right to do them harm I they I will be innocent when I do them on watch watch this this is like a couple verses later then the Philistine said who has done this and they said Samson the son of the Tim Knight because he has taken his what we've taken his wife and and given her to his companion and the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire this is unbelievable story and Samson said to them if this is what you do watch this line I swear that I will be avenged on you and then after that I'll quit right right that's the lie of hostility just one more one-upsmanship ends at all now Jesus died to end hostility nothing screams the end of hostility than a guy forgiving people who put nails in his hands who beat him half to death who's spitting and mocking him scourging him nothing any message that says God is mad he's gonna get you is ignoring the entire central message of the cross if if Jesus was gonna get somebody he would have got them that is not the case that is just not the case here's how hostility works this is just the basic the basic way works one there's an offense so there's an offense somebody did something that doesn't like the way you cut the tomato whatever the case may be - is duty humanized the adversary this time I have a right to get even when Paul was discussing the meaning of the gospel he was like no no no no no in Jesus there's one new humanity I'll never have a right to get even with you because because of what Jesus stood for and the kind of life that Jesus called us to live three is unwillingness to take responsibility for our fault but at no point in the Samson story does Samson go you know what probably should have just bought you 30 pieces of clothes I killed 30 of your family members that was a bit of a lunatic move sorry but at no point was that the case unwilling to state responsibility for our part then for there's escalation so because neither part is willing to take responsibility for their side it just escalates one to the next to the next to the next to the next to the next to the next then and and then there's holding the other person responsible for the escalation so since you've acted like this now I'll act like this and I have a right to do it and then I'll quit but I'm not going to quit if you act again and so it's it's the it's the myth of redemptive violence is what one author called it it's the the idea that that okay here's one more bum and then it's gonna stop now no one more bomb least another bomb which leads to another bomb which leads to another bomb in a marriage sort of situation we'll talk about this tonight the great author on marriage Emerson egg race calls it the crazy cycle where you get on this marriages get on this crazy cycle of escalation until somebody acts first and ends it and becomes the peacemaker that's what the gospel is about the gospel is about being empowered to end hostility it's about it's about it's it's about you know what because of the gospel of Jesus Christ I am going to be empowered to be the peacemaker I'm going to be empowered to do that and then six there's a failure to learn which obviously - repeating the pattern over and over and over again so if somebody was to say why Jesus I would say that that one of the reasons I followed Jesus is because I believe he has the best way to live and in one of those one example of that is is that Jesus empowers his followers to be the end of hostility which leads me to another observation when Christians in online forums or live become the hostile party it actually is making the gospel less compelling in an attempt to make it more compelling we make it less compelling Jesus does not need us to defend him he doesn't when Christians go all you need to we need to be standing up for that what what Jesus needs our hope look quick history lesson on Jesus okay the Spirit of the risen Christ overcame the Egyptian Empire the Babylonian Empire the Assyrian Empire the Roman Empire the Dark Ages I think you'll be ok with Donald Trump right like he's not threatened by any of this it actually events his less face so let us put some language around this so the cross wasn't solely about forgiveness and freedom but also an end to hostility it's an end hostility is their site of the cross that's about forgiveness sure is it about freedom sure is it about the end of hostility yeah yeah let's say this way the gospel was a physical manifestation of a new way to live the most loving person acts first to end the hostility there's something soothing about someone who acts first in da stivity let me um let me illustrate so this was a very moving thing for me and and and hopefully it will be for you in my experience the people who know the Bible the best are the most humble about what they know anybody that's belligerent once you get past all that you realize they don't know much at all it's the ones who know the most I was I was invited years ago now to Israel to study for three days with a top history expert in Israel they invited me to Jerusalem they they asked me to speak at their nests anok synagogue and their Co boots and and I didn't know what I was gonna say he put me at total ease he said we love you we've been listening to you for a while we love you because you cause questions and that's what we like we like to discuss God we don't like to be told about it we like to you know to discuss it and anyway so he took me around now he spoke English well but English wasn't his first language and this is the top history expert in Jerusalem he's booked out for two and a half years in advance doing academic tours right and he was showing me something that I had never considered and he's and he's pointing it out he said hey this is this and look look look let me show you where that is and that and I was so amazed I was flabbergasted but here was my response I went really really right now I was amazed he took it as I disagree with you he took it as I wanted to argue right because he took it that way his response was this remember top history expert in Jerusalem fully devoted follower Jesus studies the Bible every day of his life from 4:30 to 7:00 in the morning he's forgotten more about the Bible than any of us know okay his response was this Oh shame peace between us is the most important thing if one of us needs to be wrong let it be me I was confused right which made it worse because my response to that was what right and he said Oh Shane if the world looks at our conversation let Jesus be glorified the world needs to see us at peace more than I need to be right if one of us needs to be wrong please let it be me and I said to him did you think I thought you were wrong and he said didn't you I said dude first I am so sorry that's first second can we just make a rule we're in Jerusalem and you're the top history expert in Jerusalem if I disagree with you it's me right so let's let's just do that that's this two three I'm gonna be with you for three days can we just make an assumption that any any exclamation I make is out of amazement just from here on out right any exclamation of language I'm amazed okay I said because I was I was amazed and he went were you amazed and I said I was amazed bro and he went oh good he said cuz I knew I was right about that but but honestly if one of us needs to be wrong let it be me he said the world needs to see us at peace more than I need to be right now that's a guy that is living the event own nature of the gospel a guy that knew he was right and didn't mind being the peacemaker but let's stay this way peacemaking is not passive it's charging in with a different way in changing lives like peace make he's not a passive thing peacemaking is it takes a lot of what would you call it gumption to go Oh Shane peace between us that man is redeemed that is a redeemed person now sometimes sometimes you can teach peacemaking with bullet points other times images are the best so and a few images from Jesus's life because if if being the Christian are being in Christ is simply choosing to submit yourself to the rule and reign of Jesus in order to live like him right this isn't about going to heaven when we die this is about living like him a couple of images from Jesus's life that help us wrap our head around this this isn't the same sermon by the way from blessed are the peacemakers they'll be called the sons of God so if I could remind you I like this I like this clicker because I can just do this right right like you've heard it said that you should love your neighbor and hate your enemy but I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so you may be sons of your father in heaven right okay that is the concluding sentence of a three-point sermon let me show you the three verses before that this is three verses before that but I say to you do not resist the one who is evil but if anyone slaps you on the right cheek turn the other cheek which leads to all kinds of questions like how are we doing with that like as much bible-thumping as I hear shame the Bible's clear yeah it is how you doing turning the other cheek how are we doing with that how are we doing with with that command that way of living does that actually work what is Jesus talking about here now to understand this we have to understand first century military law and first century Roman caste systems okay if you want a great book on this Richard Rohr wrote a book called the Sermon on the Mount and in the Sermon on the Mount it which is a book about the Sermon on the Mount he does a brilliant a brilliant what would you call it understanding of how first century Roman class systems works in the first century Roman Empire there was nine class systems Galilee and peasants were class eight by the way and so there was class one two three four five six seven eight and here was here's how it worked right because certain people were above other other people if there was a chance if we were social equals I would slap you with my right hand it was my equal hand I would slap you if we were both class 4 I would slap you with my right hand if we were both class 2 I slap you morena but if I was class - and you were class 8 I would never slap you with my right hand I would slap you with my left it was my dirty hand it's the hand I would used to wipe my bottom it was it was essentially you're not worth my good hand I'll hit you with my poopoo hand okay now now think about think about Jesus's language here if someone slaps you on the cheek no if someone slaps you on the right cheek well hang on a second for me to slap you on your right cheek would mean I would need to use my left hand Jesus says if someone slaps you on your right cheek if someone is demeaning you if someone is is is determining that you're less than them turn the other cheek in other words don't fight back don't escalate the situation only present the side of you that makes them strike you as an equal and if you present the side of you that makes them strike you as an equal they will never do it because it would force them to admit you are my equal if someone slaps you on your right cheek present the side of them that says I am your equal thank in other words peacemaking is not passive it's not just taking what anybody dishes out but it's not escalating the thing either it's same sermon very next sentence right member this is a three-point sermon that ends up in so that you may be children of God right no sorry I should have you know there was set your boundary in a peaceful way right so the tunic in the cloak this is the very next line and if anyone would sue you and take your tunic let him have your cloak as well now to understand this we have to understand Levitical and Deuteronomy law now in the first century galilaeans were under an 87% tax system 50% of their fish 30% of their grain 12.5% of all things to caesar because he was the son of God there was the Roman Road tax plus there was the temple tax and there was the tax collectors da genus okay some historians estimated that they were under 87% taxation which meant people were losing land that had been in their land for generations right and there was roughly 3% of people living in Jerusalem that were taking advantage of this whole thing because they were the Romans sympathizers that were teaming up with Rome to make sure Rome stayed in control of Israel it was an unbelievable horrendous oppressive situation now what would happen is is according to Deuteronomy and Leviticus if you owed me money and you couldn't pay I could take your tunic as a pledge so if you if you if you owe me money and I say listen it's time for you to pay up you can legally say I cannot pay you today please don't throw me in jail I'll give you my tunic as a pledge I'll give you my outer coat as a pledge that I will pay and so what was happening in first century Galilee who's what Jesus is talking this to you had the 3% rich elite that were taken advantage of these poor peasants who were under the oppressive regime of the Roman Empire and they were coming in and when they couldn't pay they were taking their land and then when they couldn't pay they were taking they were suing them for their outer coat because that was their by law Jesus says if someone's gonna ask you for your outer coat give them your inner coat as well well there's only two pieces of clothes essentially Jesus is saying if they're gonna see you for your outer coat get naked right why would you do that and Deuteronomy someone Sue's you and you can't pay you could give them your tunic as a promise Jesus says if you can't pay give them your cloak as well in Hebrew culture being naked is not shameful seeing nakedness is in other words the man being soon is placing all the shame back on the other while being peaceful because what kind of person would take both cloaks the principle is this generosity exposes greed right you'll see this all done like if you go to a restaurant right and there's two of you there's two of you the restaurant and the waiter comes by at the end and says how are we doing the bill and you say I'll take the bill and he says split it up and let's let's say you simultaneously say that I'll take it split it up well you've just exposed yourself as being generous he's exposed himself of being stingy but when that happens the generosity the one who said take the bill calls as an argument now the guy who just said split it up is gone oh no I'll take it I'll take it I'll take it why because generosity exposes greed if somebody's being stingy don't escalate the problem just be hyper generous back and it exposes the issue Jesus is teaching people how to be peacemakers without losing their lives you properly peacefully set boundaries you expose greed with generosity here's the third one he says go the extra mile and if anyone forces that it's a key word there if anyone forces you to go one mile go with him two which leads all kinds of questions like in the first century what kind of people would be forced to walk a mile how did that work what was going on to understand this we have to understand first century Roman military law the Romans are occupied had an occupying force in in Israel and they carried these seventy pound packs well if they had to if they had a four mile journey or a five mile journey or a ten mile journey whatever they weren't gonna carry their own packs not when they were surrounded by class eight slaves they weren't gonna do that so what they would do is they would force you to carry their pack but Roman military law said you could force anybody of a lower-class to carry your pack one mile but you could not force them to go more than a mile or you would be court-martialed a day's wage right so so they so what would happen is if they had a four mile walk they would come in and go one two three four and they would split them all they would they would split up because they wanted these people to be able to go back to work to pay taxes right so they would split up the walk one person would carry one then two then three then four Jesus says the next time a Roman soldier comes in and forces you to go one mile at the one-mile mark take off take off running and that Roman soldier will chase you down he does not want to get docked at age a day's wage and if you get it if you get a reputation amongst the Roman soldiers for being the person that's going to go two miles instead of one they'll quit asking you to do it right this is genius stuff this is Jesus being a genius so he says turn the other cheek go the extra mile give your tunic and your cloak and then the next sentence is what love your enemies pray for those who despitefully use you so that you may be known as children of God how does the sermon start at the beginning blessed are the peacemakers for they will be known as the children of God one other image from Jesus's life that I find incredibly compelling is the healing of the ear the healing of the ear if the cross and the resurrection and the gospel is the end of hostility I don't think anything illustrates this as well as the story when Jesus is in the garden and they're coming to arrest him and the mob is being led by the servant of the high priest a guy named Malka and and if he's the servant of the high priest what does that tell you he's next in line to be the high priest he is learning all the rituals and what to say and when to say it and what not to do and how to do this and he's leading this charge to arrest Jesus and and it says that his ear gets chopped off his head by one of Jesus's disciples right now which one was it Peter now how do we know that right Matthew says a certain companion of Jesus doesn't name him mark a certain companion Jesus Luke says one of Jesus's disciples John says Peter Matthew Mark and Luke will protect him John's like Peter it was Peter throw him right out of the bus anyway so Peter chops off this dudes ear now my Sunday school teacher told me that that he was trying to cut his head off and he missed well that makes no sense because think about it if if you're trying to cut someone's head off and you hit them in the ear hole that's called a direct hit right so he obviously was coming this way and or more likely behind him and just flicked it off like that and that's an amazing thing what's more amazing is is have you ever read that story and went why was Peter not arrested like the Roman soldiers are standing there was it legal to chop a man's ear off in the first century like the the like the the Roman soldiers just stand there and their basic response is is these crazy juice chopping people's ears off right nobody arrest Peter as a matter of fact they let Peter tag along to the trial so you could deny Jesus right I mean this is just an odd story why was it legal to chop the man's ear off right and why is it Peter arrested and what's he doing and what's going on so to understand turn the other cheek you got to understand the Roman class system to understand the tunic in a cloak you got understand Leviticus and Deuteronomy to understand go the extra mile you can understand first century Roman military law to understand this you got to understand Leviticus the servant of the high priest was next in line to be the high priest and there were certain rules around being the high priest and those rules are written in Leviticus 21 let me show it to you this is just direct copy and paste out of the NIV for no one who has a blemish shall draw near a man blind or lame or one who has a mutilated face it's unbelievable it sir you a mutilated face I'm so sorry you're out or a limb too long or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand or a hunchback or dwarf or a man with a defect in his sight or itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles well honestly honestly because honestly if someone held you down and crushed your testicles isn't your last concern on earth well man I can't be a high priest anymore God some like crushed my testicles can't work in the temple now no if someone held you down and crushed your testicles just want your life to be over you know and and wouldn't it be the worst job on earth to be the examiner you know sir you pass all the tests we just got one more little thing we gotta check you know right yeah they don't look crushed to me I know man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to offer the Lord's offerings since he has a blemish he cannot draw near to offer the bread of his God so here's what happened right is to be a rabbi in the first century you had to earn it to be a priest you had to be born priests were determined by lineage rabbis were determined by credibility by academics by skill by credentials priest you just had to be born which led to the possibility of a good priest giving birth to an evil person and so what did they do when somebody had the right to be the high priest but they were an evil person what they would do you could read about this in Josephus his work is they would purposely give them a blemish the most common thing was they would mangle their ear essentially what they would do is they would pierce their ear and pull right-side hold him down pierce the ear and pull it would hurt you would get over it but it would leave you with this um like a forked earlobe and and that was enough and it was a physical blemish everybody could see and that would disqualify you from the priesthood here's what's going on here the guy that's next in line to be the high priest gets his ear chopped off by Peter what's Peter saying hey you're fixed you are fixing to kill the real temple which means you have no right to serve in the temple made with the hands of men and I'm gonna make sure you kill him I'm gonna make sure you never serve again chops his ear off okay think about Jesus's response to this this this is why it wasn't illegal the only reason it wasn't illegal is he was the servant of High Priest Jesus's response was what picks up his ear and puts his ear back on his head now what did that do well one it healed his ear right but bigger than that Jesus restores him back to the ministry in the office of the temple so Jesus's basic disposition in conflict even conflict that was meant to end his life was to heal the man's ear and restore him to ministry that is moving which leads me to this question are we ear cutters are ear repairers the gospel is a story of a group of people who commit their lives to being ear repairers and never ear cutters that's what it's about and here's why that's really important tomorrow there will likely be 30 40 50 people some of them coming into this place for the very first time and metaphorically speaking their ear is in their hand somebody told them they've messed up too bad somebody's told them God's mad somebody's told them the only reason to come to Jesus is to avoid God's wrath which leads to a whole nother set of problems but the problem is is they're coming in and their ears in there and somebody's told them you're disqualified somebody's told them somebody's told them something and the Church of Jesus Christ is not a place where we're living to go to heaven one day the Church of Jesus Christ is a place where we're living the gospel a zani venting something that fundamentally changes the way we see all other events after that and part of that story is a commitment to put people's ears back on their heads the message of this place should be very clear this is the place that if your ear is in your hand we're gonna walk you through whatever process there is necessary to make sure your ear gets reattached we do not cut people's ears off here we put people's ears back on there's a reason when you google some pastors name and you see a group of people trying to tear their ear off their head there's a reason that turns your stomach even if they're technically right about what they're saying the tone the values the this everything about it is disgusting because our Savior did not even take the ear off the guy trying to kill him our Savior put his ear back on his head without him repenting without him saying sorry it was the kindness of Jesus if Malka SREP nted you don't know but if Malka SREP nted it was because Jesus was kind not because Jesus looked and said that's what you get for leading the charge to kill me that's the character of our Lord that's the character that's what we talk about the gospel that's what we're talking about so someone was to ask if someone's asking devonport why Jesus Oh well Jesus empowers us to in to live a life that ends hostility and his peacemaking really never I thought Jesus was the guy that tortures people who don't accept him oh no no no actually his disciples asked him to do that once they said this town won't accept you should we call down fire from heaven and destroy them and he's like no we don't do that we don't do that he didn't do it then he's not doing it now Jesus is actually ear repairer he's actually the guy giving people second chances fresh starts new creation bursting forth in the middle of this one well why do I believe in resurrection it's not just cuz it literally happened it's because a world view of resurrection is simply the most life-giving compelling inspiring world view there possibly is that tomorrow is not of simply a repeat of yesterday tomorrow you can be surprised by the infinite possibilities God has for you and even if your ear is laying on the ground our God puts ears back on that's compelling that's the gospel so let's ask a few questions if we receive the cross that forgives us while rejecting the cross that ends hostility where if we wanted mercy for ourselves but justice for everybody else is there any place that we rascal aiding violence like in a room this size it is statistically improbable that there's not at least one marriage that's on some sort of crazy escalating volatile cycle stop somebody's got to act first who's it gonna be the one that's most mature whichever one of you the most mature you'll like first step it's got to be someplace at work or it's just hey listen look if we just let it go a hundred percent of the time we would only regret it 3% of the time like our default button should be you just let it go very few times will you regret not saying something very few where do we need to act first to be the peacemaker let's say this way who's here do we need to repair who's here do we need to repair is there anyone that we've participated in there cutting Jesus has given his life for us what's our offering back to him how will the gospel be not just an event but an event that changes the way we see all other events after that so sorry that went 9 minutes over time I hope it didn't feel long I III got a little carried away with the whole literal meaning eventing and I didn't time that properly apologize peace between us it's the most important thing if if one of us needs to be wrong that it let it be me so so we're gonna take a break now our table is set up back there the the couple things about that if you know before Sunday you know this week and I'm gonna get something if you could do me a favor if you're not going anything don't worry about it but if you if you know you're gonna get something before the weekends out if you could do it today the reason is is that there are people coming tomorrow that aren't here today and it helps traffic control CDs DVDs USBs direct downloads we've got four new ones since the last time I was here and so I'm always putting out new stuff and the only issue we're having is my F pus machine cannot see the self signal in Tasmania so so I'm gonna have to run it I'm gonna have to run it by hand with my POS all right which is going to take an extra listen it's gonna take an extra 15 seconds all right say everybody to relax all right and because remember we end hostility right yeah so um so if you guys if you we're gonna see me just am I supposed to

Channel: Gateway Church Tasmania

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Length: 62min 12sec (3732 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 17 2018