Shane Willard | The End of Hostility

[Music] [Applause] [Music] good evening everybody if you attack let's following an actual Bible Ephesians chapter 2 we'll get there in just a second it's so good to be back here with you if you were if you were not here this morning we do have our resource table set up out in the lobby area there's CDs DVDs USBs and direct downloads a hundred percent of what we make from that goes to help minister to the poor and the afflicted orphanages in China and look after my only handicapped kids rescue homes in Cape Town to get girls out of sex trafficking high school educated and job trained things like this now here's the thing right if you could do me a favor this church has a real chatting afterwards culture and I'm all for that okay but here's the thing I don't care about myself but I have a I have a team of volunteers that have spent all day down here just you know not charging anything just because they love us and they want to help and so and all three of them have a more than an hour drive so um if you know you're not gonna get anything god bless you I can't wait to see a Tuesday night okay but if you know before I leave tonight I'm going to grab something if you could do me a favor if you could buy first and chat second that would be awesome right and the reason is is because that enables them to have that hour and 10 minute or so drive back up to the north side of Brisbane without you without them being here unnecessarily long like that remember we don't want to be people who are simply right about the Bible we want to be people who fulfill Scripture and to fulfill scriptures to do unto others as you would have them do unto you alright so all I'm asking is to consider when this is over if you can make all your purchases in the first 10 minutes that'll be awesome that'll be awesome that way they can you know not be here you know super long it's not like they're on paid staff or something okay they're they they're giving their time to be here to help us out all right so I want to talk to you about the cross and resurrection this week and but not in the sense of the doctrine I don't think we need any more of that not not that doesn't have its place but for the people in this room I don't need to prove Jesus died and even if I did if I did if I did if I did a thing where I prove Jesus literally died on a cross and it would stand up in court well if we don't examine what does that mean for our lives then what what difference would that make a guy died right so we don't want to just do that we don't just believe in the resurrection although we do believe in the resurrection we do believe in the cross of Jesus Christ we don't want to just believe in those things we want to do something more profound than that we want the cross and resurrection to not just simply be something we believe in but rather something that happened that fundamentally shifts the way we see our entire world it changes how we interact with the world around is it changes how we treat our fellow man how we see them made in the image of God we want to to examine that and this is why this is this is why the people in the New Testament who wrote about the cross and what it meant for our world they struggled with language for it right they why because it's not something that has one meaning is something that defies meaning so so one place it's called the forgiveness of sins and another place that's called the cancellation of debt and we would say yes yeah amen in another place that's called the confrontation of oppression in another place that's called the the idea that God identifies with our suffering that he's not sitting high in mighty but he identifies and suffers with us and so what does that mean to identify with a God that suffers with humanity instead of one that separates itself from it in another place it's called that in another place that's called this and another place that's called that and we would say yes and amen to all of them right so but I want to spend the entire night 9 on 1 one that I'm not sure it gets enough play time it gets some play time but I'm not sure it gets enough and so I want to spend being tardy tonight on this one meaning of the Cross not the only meaning let me be clear it's not this or that it's this and that but in one 40-minute deal you got to pick one right if you got to do it justice you got to pick one and so I want to this is a guy named Paul and he's writing to a church at Ephesus about the implications of the cross and resurrection to how we interact in our world and what that means remember the first century Christians their primary concern was not going to heaven when they died that was not a primary question the question in the first century was how can we commit ourselves to such a life that brings heaven here how can we live in such a way that the world looks at us and says no we want in on that we want to I mean how did the church grow so rapidly in the first century when it was illegal and the penalty for practicing it was the death penalty yet it drew thousands and thousands something about the way these people were living was compelling it was it was unreal now here's here's Paul trying to explain to a group of people from Ephesus which would have been a Roman Greek area Turkey modern-day turkey City he's trying to explain what the cross means what does that even what does it mean for how we treat each other and watch what he says I find this said he bring the first light up I'm turning my thing on now for he himself is our peace who has made us both one and is broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility no this is talking about hostility between humans he says they broke down the divine walls by abolishing the law of Commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two so by making peace in other words in conflict there art there's a mature way to handle it and an immature way to handle it in mature way of handling conflict is to rush into it and escalate it but tor ways of handling conflict is okay we're in an obvious disagreement let's stop take a breath and work our way out away from the conflict until we find where we do agree in other words let's find common ground and then work forward from there and Paul is making an interesting observation he's saying because of the cross of Jesus Christ no matter what we disagree on if we work out far enough we should find our all of our hands around the foot of the same cross and if nothing else unites us it should be that that if we back it out far enough we should all find ourselves at the foot of the same cross and that if anything else should unite us and in the hostility watch what he says and might reconcile us both to God into one body through the cross thereby killing the hostility so for Paul one of the meanings of the cross and resurrection as a not just a doctrine but a doctrine that fundamentally changes the way we see our world was that people who identify with the Christ on the cross should never ever be in hostility with a fellow man why because it doesn't matter what we disagree on if we back out far enough our hands are all around the foot of the same cross and that should unite us and end hostility now this leads to a couple of observations about this right first this sounds vaguely familiar to one of Jesus's first lines in his first sermon I think it was this third line in first sermon third line in pretty important check this out red letters Jesus stuff blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God really see we sing songs like I'm no longer a slave to fear I am a child really are we jesus said peacemakers shall be called the sons of God if peacemaking is a criteria for being known as the Son of God would we make the cut let's at least stop and wrestle with that question if Jesus said peacemakers are the ones who are called the sons of God would Jesus call us a son of God or maybe more importantly would the world we're trying to win look at how we treat one another and go you know what right wrong and different I'm not sure but those are children of God right there those are children unless you're thinking hang on hang on hang on you just used one verse and you made it that way what if it was mistranslated hang on my wait wait hold on all right this is Matthew 5 verse 9 ok 34 verses later in the same sermon that's called two minutes later Jesus says the same thing just using different words watch what he says 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 that you may be sons of your father in heaven twice in the same sermon relatively close together Jesus ties whether we'll be seen as a child of God or not to our basic disposition in conflict now here's my question there's a lot of places we could take this and there's a lot of questions that should be coming up right now your head and I don't want to deal with any of them all right because it'll miss the point let's back off to the most elemental thing going on here can we all agree together that our basic disposition in conflict is incredibly important to being a Jesus kind of person that the basic disposition how we handle ourself when someone wrongs us how we handle ourselves when somebody disagrees with us that that is an incredibly important dimension for the world to see the love of Christ between us in our conflict not only in our agreements which leads me to this question how have we done with that on the internet between one another how have we done with that when somebody in the name of in the name of being biblically right violates a very basic jesus thing and then the world sees us airing our laundry in frame what is going on the world should look at how we treat one another and go you know what I don't even know who's right or wrong but I could tell you this I'd love to be treated like that if I were in their community I would love to be a part of something like that let me illustrate this with a story this story happened to me in 2013 I'll never forget it - the day I died it is seared into a deep deep place into my brain I cannot forget it because it moved me that much here's the basics of the story I got invited to study with a top history expert in Jerusalem if you've been around me long enough and you've ever heard me teach on Bethesda for instance that's where I learned that from that guy okay and so this guy teaches at the University in Jerusalem he is a tot he's booked out two and a half years in advance and he does academic only tours he doesn't do tourist tours he does academic tours and so I had done a conference with his son-in-law and his son-in-law gave him some of my teachings and he rang me and said listen I'd love for you to come preach at my synagogue here injury they go to a Messianic Jew boots right there in Jerusalem he said as a part of your compensation you I will take you around for four days and teach you history right and I'm like why don't we just skip the me preaching part and you just take me around and teach me history it's so this guy was amazing fort hours a day we walked around him teaching he's in his mid-60s he's forgotten more than I know right here's the thing within one hour of the first day he said something to me he taught me something that was so amazing I could not believe it I blew my mind now he speaks English but he's not an English speaker you understand that you understand the difference right and so let me show you what I did and let me be clear I was amazed okay my mind was blown right so here's what I did I went really really now I was expressing amazement he thought I wanted to argue right now now given his but can you see how he might have thought that right all right but I was like I was like really really he thought I wanted to fight let's be clear I didn't want to fight I was amazed right and would you agree with me that if it turned into a debate who's gonna win that debate he yes he's got more of East forgotten more than I'll ever know right honestly you don't debate Jewish history standing in Jerusalem with the Jewish history expert that unless you're just arrogant right so and so I wasn't but here's the thing here's the guy that had all the Arsenal to beat me let me show you his response I said really really he said Oh shame peace between us is the most important thing if one of us needs to be wrong please let it be me a very Africana thing to do you know well I was confused which made it worse because my response to that was what he said Oh shame peace between us it's the most important thing if one of us needs to be wrong would you please let it be me if the world sees us in conflict may Jesus be glorified more than I need to be right about anything would you let me be wrong for the sake of others seeing Christ in our conversation now listen right wrong or indifferent that's a child of God right there I think that's what Jesus was talking about other people will look at people who have an attitude like that no God I don't what son of God for sure child of God for sure I said to him I said bro did you think I was arguing with you he said weren't you and I said okay first would you please forgive me for my tone of voice my tone of voice must have communicated something I wasn't trying to communicate would you forgive me for that I said that's first secondly you're the expert for four days let's just make a deal okay I'm not gonna disagree with you about Jewish history you're the expert okay I said I wasn't I wasn't arguing with you man I was amazed like I was trying I was like really like I was expressing amazement I was amazed man and he went were you amazed I said I was amazed and he went held his heart and he went oh good because I knew I was right about that but I was [Music] he said but seriously Shane I don't need to be right about anything more than I would like the world to see us in conversation and see Jesus glorified regardless of who's right that's peacemaking that's peacemaking which leads me to understand something if Paul called to cross the end of hostility and Jesus has called his followers to be empowered to be peacemakers then we have to understand two things one how does hostility work and secondly then how does peacemaking work now there's a great story in the Old Testament that's really really long so I'm not going to read but a few verses of it I'll just tell the story that illustrates how hostility works very very well we're all familiar with the story it's the story of a guy named Samson it's found in the book of Judges all right I'll tell the story I'll tell it well and then I'm going to show you three lines from that story that shows you the the fuel behind hostility okay so this is this is the basic Samson story there's a guy named Samson he's um for lack of a better word he's out of control he's rebellious he has no respect for his parents no respect for the rules he does impulsive disgusting things and he has a particular problem with women okay this is Samson Samson falls in love with a Philistine woman an absolute no-no he tells his parents I love a Philistine woman they say please don't love a Philistine woman she worships other gods he says I don't care what you think I'm gonna love who I love so he sneaks out of his parents house another night to visit his girlfriend and along the way evidently he runs into a lion now if you're sneaking out of your parents house to see your girlfriend one surefire way to get caught is to run into a lion evidently he was skilled enough and armed enough to kill a lion right goes onto his girlfriend's house comes back later on it doesn't tell you how long later on he's going back to the girlfriends house along the same route and the lion had started decomposing it had been there so long evidently there was a swarm of bees that made a nest inside the carcass of the lion and Samson does the most disgusting thing you could possibly imagine any human being doing he reaches into the dead carcass pulls out food and eats it this guy's a barbarian he's out of control he ends up at the Philistine family's house and this is the way it goes there's thirty Philistines in Wonju with all of his social intelligence he says hey there's 30 of you and one of me I know what I need to do I need to make a case the Jews are better than Palestinians right so he says hey here's what we're gonna do I bet the Jews are smarter than the Philistine all right so here's what I'm gonna do I'm gonna tell you a riddle and I bet all 30 of you with your combined brainpower cannot put all your brainpower together and guess the answer to this riddle and here's the thing if you guess although you thirty pieces of clothes if you fail to guess you owe me 30 pieces of clothes Deal or No Deal they say deal 30 of us together no way deal he says all right here we go out of the eater something to eat out of the strong something sweet a can't yes I bet you can't guess a pitcher kid of course they can't guess no one saw what he saw of it he just made it up over the top of his head so seven days go by and they can't guess so what do they do they go to his fiancee and they say hey you need to do whatever it is women do to get men to talk when they don't want to talk no details at it so she goes and does whatever it is women do to get men to talk and he says okay I'll tell you that you got to keep it between us she says of course you're my fiancee May night she goes it tells her family at the exact last minute these thirty Philistines guessed the answer to the riddle know if you're the type of person that needs a Bible verse for every single thing you're always looking for life verses or I need them first for that I need a verse that here's a good one for you right this is straight from the book of Judges and it says when they guess the answer to the riddle Samson said to them if you had not plowed with my heifer you would have never guessed the answer to that I love that I love that nothing like a good heifer plowing right nope if you're paying attention to the story Samson now owes them thirty pieces of clothes what does he do does he go to the store say you know what you got me get him thirty pieces of clothes and be done with it no he goes and kills thirty of their cousin's strips them naked comes back and says hey I owe you thirty pieces of clothes I just killed thirty of your family members and here's their clothes there you go this man is out of control he lost a bet and his reasonable response was to kill 30 people are you kidding me right now right listen if you lose a bet tonight and you go kill 30 people you're going to jail forever right today you go to jail forever back then they wrote a book about you the world's getting better anyway he kills 30 people and gives their clothes over they respond by giving his wife to another man and then offered her offered him the younger sister right you didn't want to be a woman back then all right the world is getting better now Samson then responds by taking foxes and burning all of their fields down a year's revenue gone right they then respond by burning that woman's entire family to death at the stake massive overreaction they then respond by sending a thousand people to kill him now that is massive overkill to kill it to send a thousand people to get one dude is overkill evidently he picks up the jawbone of a donkey and kills every single one of them they men respond by tricking him with the lust of another woman they go and arrest him they blind him tie him to a millstone and make him do the work of a donkey he then responds by convincing them to tie him to the pillars that hold the whole building together and then he pulls the entire building down and everybody dies now if you're paying attention what started out as a joke no one understood escalated to everybody dying that's called escalation now if you're here and you're married you understand this here's how it works right have you ever got into an argument with your spouse that started about how to cut a tomato and then before you knew it you were insulting the other person's mother right it's like that's not how you cut a tomato that's how I cut a tomato that's not how my mom does it well I ain't your mama well I wish you sort of were why it's so fat maybe right it's called escalation escalation is the fuel behind hostility Paul says the Cross should in them it should be the end of it now there's a there is a line that fuels escalation okay let me let me show it to you it happens a lot in this story about pick three let me just show to you this is judges 15 I was so sure that you thoroughly hated her that I gave her to your friend isn't her younger sister more attractive you did not want to be a woman back then okay take her instead Samsa said to them this time here's the sentence this time I have a right to get even with the Philistines I will really harm them that's the sentence to feel like we have a right to do harm to somebody because of something they've done to us that is the fuel behind hostility I have a right is it ever okay to premeditatedly harm somebody no but sam says like no I have a right why do you have a right because of what they did this is the logic you see at four years old why are you choking your sister she touched my toy stop it now at four men at 35 people get killed okay watch it happens again and Samson said to them this time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines when I do that Samson's convinced himself that he bears no responsibility for the harm he might call somebody now that is how hostility works it doesn't in there watch this and the Philistine said who's done this and they said Sampson the son-in-law of the ten night because he took his wife and gave her his companion and the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire massive overreaction this is unbelief you ever thought man in the world crazy these days what know what bad right and Sampson said to them watch this if this is what you do I swear I'll be avenged on you and then after that I'll quit in other words once I get one up I'll stop but here's the problem if I don't stop til I'm one up and you don't stop till you're one up everybody dies and Paul says there's a better way to live that connecting to the Cross in other words for Paul it's not just simply about believing in the Cross that's a good starting point but it's what that means out here and to Paul people who truly connect to the cross of Jesus Christ are people who end hostility what does that mean because once again it's hard to use big words like that if you have no language right obviously no one would maybe we need more hostility no no what does it mean what does it mean to end hostility here's what it means it means the end of the thought that I ever have a right to harm somebody regardless of what they've done and here's why the gospel is this in a nutshell while we were hostile to God God made peace with us while we were acting with hostility God did not act with hostility back but rather made peace that was a revolutionary story in the first century because in the first century those gods if you acted hostile they destroyed you but this God evidently when you act hostile he acts with peace and Paul says if you connect with that then then it means you should you you should die to the idea that we ever have a right to harm somebody and if we all died to that idea then hostility would die because that's what you need for hostility you need escalation now if you're a learner like a line a linear learner let me help you right cuz that was narrative let's do this linearly this hostility works when you have an offense somebody does something they don't like the way you cut the tomato whatever the case may be right until you dehumanize the adversary this time I have a right because of something you did I have a right to do something worse then there's an unwillingness to take responsibility for our part at no point in the story this Sampson go you know what I probably should have respected my parents in the first place I was in the wrong place at the wrong time my bad my bad hey you know what when you plowed with my heifer honestly I should have just let it go I killed thirty of your family members probably too far my bad at no point at no point to the Philistines go probably shouldn't have burned people to death you know what we could have we could have let you know what we could have just not participated in your joke we couldn't nobody nobody in this story takes responsibility what you keep seeing this story is since you've acted like this I like like this since you've acted like this I like like this and what ends up happening in this story is everybody dies everybody dies and then there's escalation what starts as a joke no one understands escalates everybody dying and then you have holding the other person responsible for it since she affected like this no I like like this oh oh now now you've done it since you've done this now I'll show you and I'll do this this is the hostility cycle and then there's a failure to learn which leads repeating the pattern which leads you to a few observations about how peacemaking works let's let's think about that then for a second so the cross wasn't solely about forgiveness and freedom but also into hostility the cross was a physical manifestation of a new way to live the most loving person acts first in hostility and make peace we were acting hostile God did everything he could do to make peace with us without us doing anything to earn it anything to deserve it while we were actually hostile gods making peace and people who connect with that God should be the people making peace with with with their fellow man regardless of how hostile the other person is being let's say it let's say this way so peacemaking then is not passive it's charging in with a different way and changing lines now let me show you I'm gonna go back and show you this this is here's Matthew 5 verse 43 this is Jesus now 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 that you may be sons of your father who's in heaven now who is Jesus talking to there he's talking to his followers who lived as Galilean peasants under the boot of the Roman Empire's military occupation of Galilee right this is like if you're thinking yeah but he doesn't know that person I work with hang on he's talking to people who follow him who were under the boot of the Roman military occupied in Galilee who were doing crazy things to people now this is Matthew 5 verse 43 if you this is the end of a three-part thought that Jesus gives on how to make peace let me show you verse 39 check this out 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 released all kinds of questions like does that work what's he talking about and how seriously do we take this like as it's Sunday night you're in church I'm assuming you're all followers of Jesus here's the thing as followers of Jesus how seriously have we taken this challenge if someone slaps you on the right cheek turn the how good are we at turning the other cheek on Facebook Instagram blogs in person where I tell you where we're the best that turn-the-other-cheek is face to face because it takes a real brave person to confront someone face to face but but the cowards go to the computer screen and sit as a nameless faceless coward in front of a keyboard and eviscerate people so how well have we done with this do we read that nonsense do we give them more hits do we participate what's going on here is Jesus being serious would he actually expect this from us does it actually work no to answer this question we understand what he was talking about to understand turn the other cheek we got to understand the metaphor that's being used all right so let me show you this next slide all right sorry I'm sorry gotta right here so in in first century Roman Empire you have a nine layered class system I could tell you the names of every single one of them but for the sake of time and relevance tonight we'll call them one two three four five six seven eight nine okay now here's the thing Galilean peasants were class eight people Roman soldiers were class two people and then the Roman aristocracy was class one then you had all this stuff in between right so in the first century there was a difference between right handed slaps and left-handed slaps because of the social order so if I was a class two and you were a class two and we had a problem I would hit you with my right hand it was a social declaration we have a problem but we're equal right but if I was a class two and you were a class 8 I would never use my right hand to strike you because that's my clean hand and it would be making a public profession that we are socially equal no no I would hold you with my right and I would strike you with my left essentially it was a social statement to say I am so far above you you're not even worth my clean hand I'm gonna hit you with my poopoo hand here's the reason why the left hand was what they wiped their butt with it was literally I'm gonna hit you with the hand I wiped my butt with to make a social declaration that you are less than me it would be it would be the action equivalent of using like I'm using like a horrible racial slur to call someone less than you with some ridiculous racial slur it would be that but yet with actions right so this would have happened to Galilean peasants all the time Jesus says hey if someone slaps you on the which cheek right cheek think about that if I'm gonna slap you on your right cheek I have to use my left hand in other words Jesus is like if someone makes a social statement that you're less than them don't fight back just turn the other cheek in other words draw a non-violent boundary that says if we're gonna have this conversation you will address me as an equal you turn you only present the side of you that makes them address you as an equal and they will not do it this is genius advice from a first century rabbi to people who could have been killed for fighting back this is turn the other cheek this is drawn a line in the Senate says you will not address me as less than you man no way no way if we're gonna have this conversation we're gonna have this as equals turn the other cheek this is the very next verse watch this and if anyone would sue you and take your tunic let them have your cloak as well now to understand the first one we got to understand first century Roman class systems understand the second one we got to understand first century Deuteronomy law the law governing and Galilee let me explain all right in Deuteronomy if someone Sue's you and you can't pay you could give them your tunic as a promise so if I owed you money and I can't possibly pay that back I could go I owe him money I can't pay him back but here's what I can do I can give him my outer cloak it was a grace put into Deuteronomy that forbidded debtors now forbidded people the creditors from putting the debtors into prison right in other words you owe me but you can give them their outer coat as a pledge to say I do owe you I can't pay you but here's a promise that I will pay now these are Galilean peasants according to historical estimates they were living under 87% taxation 50% of their fish 30% of their grain 12.5% of their total take two Caesars the son of God just for the divine privilege having God ruled them you have the temple tax the Roman roads tax and the da genus that the tax collectors these people were losing their family land that had been in their family since the book of Joshua and the people that were profiteering on it were 3% of Jews called the Roman sympathizers and the Roman sympathizers were profiteering on the Roman occupation and then they were suing their Jewish brothers and sisters for the money they knew they couldn't pay knowing all they could do is take the shirt off their back they were literally taking the shirt off their brothers and sisters backs Jesus says if someone's willing to do that if someone's willing to take your outer cloak just give them your inner cloak to well hang on there's only two pieces of clothes Jesus is telling them to get naked why seeing Hebrew culture being nakeds not shameful but seeing nakedness is so the man being sued is placing his shame on the other while being peaceful because what kind of person would take both cloaks right in other words Jesus is saying the way to confront greed is not with confrontation the way to kind of confront greed is with uber generosity uber generosity confronts greed in the other person's heart let me let me give you a today example if you're at dinner with a friend and the waiter comes by and says how was everything fine are we all done yes what would be the next question how are we doing the check how are we doing the check-in if one person says split it up and the other person simultaneously says I'll take it what's going to happen the gin prosody of the generous man is going to expose the greed in the heart of the greedy man and what will eventually happen is both of them will start fighting over who's going to actually pay for the check even though the greedy man has already played his cards face-up right it's the uber generosity of the generous person that confronts the greed in the heart of the greedy man Jesus like if someone's willing to take the shirt off your back just give them everything and at some point in you getting naked their shame will catch up with them and they're not gonna take it from you that was that was pspace so how do you make peace you turn the other cheek you give your tunic and your cloak here's the next one what this is a three prong thing watch what he says and if anyone forces you to go one mile go with him two to go the extra mile it's a nod that word forced if someone forces you to go a mile like what was there was there personal trainers in the first century come on Willard one more mile push yourself yeah get with it twenty more right what's what's going on here what's going on here well to understand the first one we got understand Roman class systems to understand the second we got to understand Roman mill I'm sorry he Bruegel in the third when we got understand Roman military law see the Galilean region was under on the occupied the occupation of the Roman military right and the Roman military occupied under certain rules there were things they were allowed to do and there were things they weren't allowed to do and some of the things they were allowed to do was insane like if you were a female in McDole you were Roman property any Roman soldier could rape you with no judicial problem at all right it was a crazy time to be alive on believable if they found your 14 year old virgin girl and they just they just found her dissolver they could take her and make her marry them right this was crazy stuff but there were certain things they weren't allowed to do right and one of the things they were allowed to do is they would carry these 70 pound packs around so set 32 kilos so 32 kilo packs around and when they had to go on walks are they going to carry their own 32 kilo pack no they're surrounded by a bunch of low-lives you're gonna carry the pack and what Roman military law said was was that they were allowed to make a Class eight person carry their pack a mile they were allowed to force them so they were just coming to ready you you and you you were gonna go you're gonna care my packets think of it like a slave golf caddy like I'm gonna walk leisurely and you're gonna carry my bag that's what was going on but Roman military law said you could not make or force a person to carry your pack more than a mile here's the reason why they wanted those people to go back to work so they could pay more taxes it would have been counterproductive so if you ever forced someone to carry your pack more than a mile you would be court-martialed a day's pay Jesus says if someone forces you to go one month at the one-mile mark take off and go to and you'll have a Roman soldier chasing you down trying to get you to stop in other words get a little bit of a reputation for being a little bit crazy and they will leave you alone why because you confront greed and oppression with uber generosity and kindness Jesus says here's how here's how you make peace you turn the other cheek you go the extra mile and you give your tunic and your cloak there's some there's one more story from Jesus's life that that I find so strange and I find it worth examining tonight so the first one is to turn the other cheek second one's to go the extra mile third one is to give your tunic and cloak let me let me show you this one this is not because the the the flow of that sermon was turn the other cheek give your tunic and your cloak go the extra mile and remember don't just love your friends love your enemies pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your father in heaven it flows from our basic disposition in conflict which leads me to this question how are we doing with that it's not my job to tell you how you're doing it's my job to ask only you know is your basic disposition in conflict given to an environment that the world would look at it and see Christ centeredness in it are we even though there are times we are right are we willing to let someone else take the higher ground so that the world could see Christ in our conversation it's that there's one other one I want to show you this not connected to the sermon but is so it's so good it's to heal the ear there's a there's an interesting story in Jesus's life it's so weird here's the basics of it you it's past this is what that means you had you had people walking from everywhere to eat the biggest meal of the year that that meal was four hours long and included four glasses of wine it lasted from six sundown to roughly ten so roughly six to ten so they've walked from low a long way away they've eaten a four-hour meal and people are having a hard time staying awake at this point as you can understand that Jesus instead of going to bed goes to a garden to pray Peter James and John go with them they're having struggles staying awake and Jesus is calling him out on he's like can you not stay awake for an hour I'm sweating blood here like there's all kinds of stuff going on there's a high priests servant that in other words the the intern the guy next in line to be the high priest and he is sent by Caiaphas the high priest to lead the Roman soldiers to arrest Jesus there's all this interesting stuff going on Judas kisses Jesus there's the whole thing right but here's the thing in that process there's a guy that reaches up and cuts Malka says ear off his head remember the story now if I was to ask you which one of Jesus disciple cut Jesus cut mal kisses ear off what would we instantly all of us what do we say Yeah right right how do we know like is it is it just because Peter was a bit rash and had a reputation because see Matthew says it was one of Jesus's companions mark says is one of Jesus's friends Luke says is one of Jesus's disciples how do we know speak like Matthew said oh I want a Jesus companions marks is one of Jesus's friends come up and cut his ear off Luke says one of Jesus's disciples cut his ear off yet we all immediately poor Peter right immediately all of us Peter right how do we know that Matthew says one of Jesus companions mark says one of these friends Luke says one of Jesus disciples John says Peter did it that's how you know right right Matthew Mark and Luke are like let's keep this on the down low shall we John's like nope throw him under the bus Peter did it right it's such a weird story Peter chops the man's ear off and here's what I find I am led with so many questions with them like what made him think that was okay secondly he doesn't do it in private he does it in front of the police right thirdly the police do nothing the Roman soldiers are like these crazy Jews what's going on here like what do you do with them right it's said there's all this weird stuff going on now to understand this let me see if I explained this in 60 seconds or less okay in the first century there was a tension between priests and Pharisees and rabbis here's why in order to be a priest here's what you had to do ready nothing you had to be born if your dad was a priest your priest to be a Pharisee or a rabbi you had to go through 30 years of school so there was a tension between people who had to earn their way and people who were born with a silver spoon in their mouth because that's not relevant at all today right the problem was is how do you well what do you do with an evil priest so I mean can you follow me since the priest just had to be born was it possible that a righteous priest would ever have given birth to a wicked man and his sons wicked and doesn't anything to do with it but he's a priest nonetheless right and you don't want a wicked man representing you to God and doing all the things the priests do but yet it was impossible to disqualify the priests it was based on birth right so what did you do here's what they did they used an obscure passage from Leviticus 21 that allowed them to disqualify priests based on blemishes now let me let me show you this is this is word-for-word from the NIV I copied and pasted it I did not change one word for no-one who has a blemish shall draw near a man born blind or lame or one who has a mutilated face like how'd you even live back then I'm sorry sir you are next in line to be the priest but your face is a bit mutilated for our liking like what do you even do right the world's better by the way or a limb too long or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand or a hunchback or a dwarf or man with a defect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs it's in the Bible your word of faith is in the Bible I think as soon as Moses wrote that God started a like a betting pool in heaven to see if I could read over that not say something I can't here's the thing right was that really a problem I mean honestly you imagine that bill what's the matter you look a little down today no I am what happened are these four guys I got ticked off they held me down and took two bricks and crushed my testicles you know what the worst part is I can't be a priest anymore right okay would you agree with me if four guys held you down a crush two testicles your last concern is whether you could be a priest your whole thing would be where do I go to die right my other observation that this would be would there be a worst job in the history of the world than the priestly inspector that's in that face not mutilated yak hunchback nope not a dwarf no limbs about the right length check no sir there's just this one more inspection we're gonna have to do it's gonna be a little awkward for you and really awkward for me we're gonna do it [Music] honestly I have a good friend of mine that's in his final year of his ph.d program to become a Catholic priest and this year he had to go do his medical exam it's true true they still check because of this true true that didn't ya know man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to offer the Lord's food offerings since he has a blemish no one can draw near so here's what happened right if they deemed you unfit for priestly service they would give you a blemish and by the first century what they would do is they would mangle your ear you more often what it would be was is they would hold you down they would pierce your ear and pull and that would hurt and you'd get over it but it would leave you with a public blemish a forked earlobe that everyone can see nope can't be a priest yeah nope can't be a priest can't be free here's what's going on the story Peter is like wait a minute you're fixing to kill the real temple then you have no right serving in the temple made with the hands of men oh and make sure you never do and he chops his ear off now my Sunday school teacher taught me that he was trying to kill him and missed nicely with respect that makes no sense think about it like if you're trying to cut someone's head off right and you hit them in the ear hole their heads only that's a direct hit I mean they're gonna die what more than likely happened is Peter came up behind him and just like yeah like now what's more important than all of that is Jesus's response here's a man that is acting as hostile to Jesus as anyone has ever acted would you agree no one in our world has ever been more hostile to Jesus than the guy leading the charge to killing and Jesus's response to the guy being that hostile was to heal him restore him and put his ear back on his head so that he could still serve in the temple that's the heart of Jesus so any message of Jesus that goes boy you better do something or Jesus is going to destroy you that is not the message of Jesus I don't care if there's a 25-foot cross over the top of the building Jesus is forgiving people putting nails in his hands leading the charge to kill him he's still finding ways to heal them forgive them door then move and the question is that whether we believe that the question is is are we so connected to that that when someone deserves hostility from us that we can back off and give peace to them to end the hostility so the world may see what sons of God looked like and here's why that's important next Sunday there'll be 10 people 20 30 maybe I don't know who come to this church and their ear is in their hand somebody somewhere has told them you're disqualified you don't believe the right things you've done something whatever the case we and here's what they're asking they don't know how to ask it but here's what they're asking they're coming in here going will you let me belong despite my failures will you let me do that would you wait would you put my ear back on my head or am I gonna have to keep it my hand for the rest of my life and here's the thing right Christianity should be the one group of people committed to putting ears back on heads instead of cutting off heads we should never be the people never never never be the people googling people to try to come up with why we should disqualify them why we should disqualify them Christianity should be the place of any place where you get fresh start second chances clean slates and Mulligan's that if you need a place to get your ear put back on your head this is your place right so good teaching is not meant to be agreed with or disagreed with good teachings meant to be wrestled with so let's wrestle a bit have we received the cross that forgives us while rejecting the cross that ends hostility like is there any place that we've whatever words you want to put on it you've received the cross you got saved you connected to Christ whatever word you were put on it is there any place that we've received the cross that Jesus bore for us but we've rejected the cross that demands we treat people who deserve hostility with peace have we embraced one cross but rejected the other and wonder why they don't understand what we're talking about you receive that you receive that much grace and you can't give a little bit of grace to somebody else I mean a major theme in Jesus's life was when when a king forgives you more debt than you could pay then at least could do is go and forgive debt from people who owe you smaller amounts than that that's a main sort of thing so my question is not to tell you you've reject no no no my questions just ask have you received this cross which I think we all have and then the question is then have we picked up this one or have we rejected it have we rejected or accepted the cross that demands that we live in peace in conflict our basic disposition company let's say this way is there any place that we're escalating violence right now is your marriage getting more and more and more hostile is there argument right now that you could think of it started over how to cut a tomato and now you're not speaking and hang on hang on where do we need to act first and be a peacemaker maybe it's with the neighbor the co-worker the wife the husband that the person who cuts us off at traffic the waitress that takes a little bit to go and get her drink like you you do realize you're at a store where people are preparing food for us and we can still get mad at a waitress whose take are you kidding and then get in a car with a fish on it right like come on like come on where do we need that first to be a peacemaker and maybe we get to say this way whose ear do we need to repair is there anyone we need to make a phone call or send a text to now let me be clear about this sometimes you'll do all you could do to put people's ear back on and then go have it and that's on them but our heart should be our heart is to always ears on heads never off heads ears on head right Jesus has given his life for us what's our all friend gonna be back to him maybe if I could summarize this whole teaching in one question to be this what if the cross was God saying how far do I have to go for you all to get along what if it wasn't just about forgiveness what if it was also the end of hostility what if Paul was on to something what what if part of the cross was empowering people connected to it to treat their fellow man better the end of hostility so bless you my brothers and sisters do not just be on your way to heaven I bless you my brothers and sisters to be so connected to the cross and resurrection that it changes the way you treat people in the world let's stop and be reflective for a second and just ask be willing to ask the question inside Holy Spirit what is my basic disposition in conflict if the world looks at how we treat each other would we be called children's of God why don't you just pray this printin eat here breath Lord if the world saw how I treat others may I be known as a child of God a peacemaker amen hey wait thanks so much don't be so calm for being so kind to me tonight and let me be a part of your world even a little jet-lagged I had some fun tonight okay so you you guys hope you guys enjoyed that I'm on your way out please remember to go by the table if you want something do so in the first 10 minutes just for the sake of the volunteers okay I'm looking at the clock I went five minutes over time none of you looked bored you looked really engaged it was really really fun but if the five minutes overtime bothered you peace between us is the most important thing grace apiece everybody god bless what a wonderful service we've just had we've experienced the presence of God and I know his presence and I know him personally and I want to ask if you've been watching this do you know Jesus personally want to avoid you to become a part of the family of God I'll have to ask you to pray live if you've watched love service and you say but you know what I don't know Jesus but I would love to know him this prayer is for you salvation is now don't put it off don't leave it come along with me and pray this with me and say Lord Jesus come into my life take care of me Lord wash me clean of my sin bring me into your family Lord make me the head and not the time take me from darkness into light from sickness into health thank you Jesus you've paid the price that I may have eternal life with you and the father and the Holy Spirit but more on that I can live a successful life here on earth thank you Father in Jesus name if you prayed that and and you'd like to we'd love to be able to actually send you some resources if you would like that please contact us via the phone or email we'll have to get some things into your hand and if you're in the local area we'd love for you to join us for our next Sunday service we're open all are welcome god bless every breakdown welcome to the family [Music]

Channel: Heritage of Faith Church Gold Coast

Views: 892

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Heritage of Faith, Gold Coast, We are Heritage, Shane Willard, Hostility

Id: JorRvBBZmRc

Length: 55min 49sec (3349 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 03 2019