The Mirror (July 25th, 2021 Sermon)

so you know for the last hundred years this was never a debate before this but the last hundred years there's this huge debate um and it's almost like a a war between faith and science and i think it's it's a poor war to fight uh and really it was a reaction from the christian community because of evolution and all kinds of stuff but there's been like this war going on for a hundred years with science and um i my personal belief is that the more we know about science the more it proves god it just it proves that this couldn't have just randomly happened uh that there was some intelligent design behind this and it's interesting that um i science has done a lot of great things and and i totally believe in science and i think even just you know i if i have to have surgery i don't want to go back a hundred years where they hand me a stick and a bottle of whiskey i don't want that i want to be asleep i want to be gone i want to be out so there's been some great things with it as well but i always think about technology how as technology advances it's a wonderful thing for our life it really is i was reading this article where tesla can now while if you own a tesla you while you sleep tesla can check your car and see if something's wrong with it and if something's wrong with it they will order the parts for you while you sleep this i always wonder if you wake up and you see a five thousand dollar thing on your credit card though like how that's gonna go uh it's like honey i swear i didn't buy this elon made me do it you know but this technology is really cool i will give you a little heads up on the teslas though that i don't know if they're exactly made for montana i was talking to this dude in lincoln montana and he is a um a tow truck guy they take more teslas off rogers pass because it's 20 below zero up there and it sucks the batteries down so fair warning but technology's amazing but the problem is is is it's it allows us to take credit for it it allows us to take credit that we've invented this when really i don't think anything comes close to god's creation especially the human creation one strand of dna if you actually research this it's incredible what one strand of dna really is there are three billion characters in one cell and those characters so remember this word they mirror each other so it's one strand and then it mirrors another strand to make who you are and it does that 75 trillion times in one cell of the human body it's incredible the makeup of us and the creation in human dna and so that word mirror is really what i'm going to talk about today and i was thinking of my kids and my kids are getting older which is there's some good things to it and some bad things to it one of the bad things is soon they'll be out of the house and i'm not gonna have any sermon illustrations left uh but the one fun thing about being a dad is you get to start seeing yourself and your kids like you know that they're half of you and you start seeing little things in them like easton uh he does this little smirk like when he makes a joke even if it's not funny he's like i make that exact same smirk so of course then it makes me smile even no one else gets and i was like good one man that was a good one bro and i don't know if you've seen my son's calves but he got his calves from his daddy uh i am praying that he gets his hair from his mom for sure but even my daughter right my daughter and i have kind of the same humor and it's just a ton of fun to see yourself in your children and i say that because again i brought up that mere language that your whole body is a bunch of cells and dna mirroring each other to make you what you are and you've heard me say and it's a resounding theme in the bible that you are made in the image of god and i think so often in the church we've so focused on the fall we focused on the sin we focused on the shame the very first part of the scriptures was god screaming to us out of all this beautiful creation out of all the mountain ranges in montana out of all the birds out of all the animals whatever it is you are the only creation made in the image of god and that's important to understand in genesis 1 27 it says so god created the cosmos and all these animals and stuff and it said so god created man now that word man is actually humanity it doesn't just mean body parts in his own image in the image of god he created him male and female he created them so we're all made in this image of god and so there's no greater blessing or or thing to know in your life is that you are made in the likeness of the eternal resting father and after the creation story it says that god looked at mankind and he says it is good it is good that was the original declaration over man one author writes this he says man began in god you are the greatest idea that god has ever had think about that out of all the cosmos out of all the universe it says you are the greatest thought that ever crossed god's mind now obviously something went wrong something went wrong we fell there's there's the fall of humanity there's obvious that something is off but as i look at the creation story i'm convinced now and as i have kids now and i and i see them doing things sometimes that makes me want to hurt them but i know that they're made in my image and i did the same things i'm convinced that the creation story that the main reason that we're all screwed up is because really we forgot who we were that's what sin did it's lies in our head and in our soul we forgot who we are that's why in the creation story when adam and eve sinned it says they went and hid themselves so not only did they forget who they were they forget who god was and they made this whole view of god that he was going to come and and hurt them and so they wouldn't hit and the very important part in the genesis account is when god comes to the garden i believe it was jesus but when jesus comes to the garden he didn't say what have you done because that's how we always view god and when you believe that then you go hide from god he never said that he never wagged his finger he never brought shame he never brought guilt he says where are you that's what he said to humanity you have forgotten who i am and you have forgotten who you are so just like little kids can mirror who you are we mirror who the father is and this mirror language is actually all over the bible so spoiler alert one of the main points of this message is jesus christ came to this planet to show you who you are he is the perfect human and when you follow him you don't become something else you become more human because in the beginning he says it is good and he came to redeem that viewpoint of ourselves and god but listen to how paul describes this in the new testament first second corinthians 3 he says but we all with unveiled faces looking as in a mirror because he believed that the scriptures say that you are one with god and god is one with you so when you look in the mirror you are actually seeing the image of god looking as in a mirror at the glory of the lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as from the lord the spirit and so again one of my goals today is to show you that the the birth of christ the cross and the resurrection was to show us who we actually were it was to show us that this is who you really are yes you do these things and these things are hurting you and that's called sin but that's not who you are designed to be so as i said last week this isn't a part of any sermon series or nothing like that these are just things i've been studying for a while and these are just random sermons so i just called it random because just this stuff that i've been praying what do i need to glean from this and what does the church need to hear so it's not a part of a series we're going to bounce around but one thing that i haven't done for the last few years is i haven't really gone on the old testament i love the old testament i love the old testament if you read it in the full context of what it was because there's this constant plan you see this long-suffering god who's bringing humanity to this certain point so i love the old testament because you just see that no matter what humans did the plan of god never changed it never changed but one of the problems that i do see with the old testament that i do see how it entered the church because it is no matter what we want to say and you've heard me say this before it's easy to judge the pharisees in the new testament we have pharisees in us we have religion in us and so the problem with how we view the old testament is we usually start at moses because moses gave us the rules and we just want to follow the rules so things go well for us the problem with that is is there was an original covenant before moses it was an original covenant that was given around 430 years before moses to a guy named abram his real name is abraham god gave him a name change but his first name was abram that is the first covenant that is really made with humanity now here's the interesting thing about abram abraham who's not better than anybody else he was a pagan who worshipped little g gods that's what i call them little g gods he wasn't more righteous than anyone he wasn't more moral than anyone he wasn't stronger than everybody he obeyed the lord that's all he did but he was a pagan most people think he was a moon worshiper but with paganism came on this view that came from the garden of good and evil the the tree of good and evil is what happened when we didn't believe god is now we thought there was this separation between us and god and so we needed to do these sacrifices we needed to follow the rules we needed to create religions in order for us to ascend to god that is a lie remember when it says in isaiah 9 6 you all get the christmas card for unto us the son is born to unto us a child is given and his name is emmanuel which means god with us not god with christians not god with those who've said the prayer not god with those who've been baptized not god with those who give their money not god but those who take communion god with everyone and so this covenant that he was making with abraham is incredibly important but these gods little g gods demanded sacrifices so these people you know in their primitive world view they're like okay i need some food there's a god who controls the rain so if i can give him some of this food maybe he'll give us more rain and that's what abraham thought that's what the jews thought that's what everyone thought and what i love about the long-suffering of god is god always enters mankind's religion to bring them out of it so he calls abram in the middle of some terrible things that were going on because these sacrifices eventually led to a really bad one child sacrifice because what's what's the what's more important to you that you could give to god so you are blessed and so all these nations were doing this and unfortunate unfortunately it's still a recent thing there are still tribes doing this i read this article about a site that they you know archaeological site that they dug up in peru and in peru they found 227 children who were sacrificed and this happened 500 years ago they write in this article the chimu people sacrifice both children and adults for different reasons but castillo said in this case he believes they were killed in hopes it would appease the gods and bring an end to el nino a cyclical climate pattern that can result in heavy rainfall and storms on the western coast of south america his theory is backed up by the fact that soil samples show that the children died during extremely wet season and that they were all facing the sea 500 years ago and it's still happening today in sections of africa this is why it's important to know that religion is a failure and that christ finished the job because if you don't believe you are connected with god if you don't think christ did it if you think you still need to do a bunch of things it can lead down some really awful paths this is why it's important to know you are made in the image of god but again god was faithful through all this and he always meets mankind where he's at and he tells the abraham he tells abraham you are going to be the father of many nations i'm going to start a whole new thing with you and out of you the world will be blessed so abraham though was still messed up he had doubts he was uh confused there's this crazy part where abram goes into another land and it says over and over his wife sarah was beautiful so god told him you just need to a baby but he goes into this other land and it says that the king saw sarah was beautiful and wanted him wanted her for his wife and so abraham picked up a sword and fought this king just kidding abraham lied he goes yeah that's my sister brave abraham yeah she's pretty good looking man she's my sister you can have her i'll talk to you later it's super weird but that's my point is abram was not better than us he was a human being he had doubts but god was faithful to the covenant so we pick up the story now in genesis 15 and it says he took him outside because god could just see that abraham just wasn't getting it and he says now look toward the heavens and count the stars if you are able to count them and he said to him so shall your descendants be how many stars are there how much sand is there then he believed the lord and he credited to him as righteousness he just believed him you're good and he said to him i am the lord who brought you out of ur of the chaldeans to give you this land to possess it but he said lord god how may i know that i will possess it one i'd be like you're talking to god but anyways so he said to him bring me a three-year-old heifer a three-year-old female goat and a three-year-old ram a turtle dove and a young pigeon then he brought all these to him and cut them in two and laid each half opposite to each other okay so they're mirroring each other one half the other half one half the other half one half they're looking at each other they're mirroring each other but he did not cut the birds and birds of prey came down upon the carcasses and adam drove them away funny little detail in the bible i have no clue what that means so you probably know better than me but here's the thing here's one of the issues with western christianity we we love our justice system laws are important rules are important it would be anarchy without it and we love justice and that's a that's a that's a godly quality to love justice but the problem is is we have taken our western world view into god that that's how he views justice meaning it's always a tipping of the scales god has to make everything right and he has to line up the things of justice and so what that does then is it makes everything about following the rules or not following the rules god is a god of covenants he's making covenants with people that's different than justice that's different than this let me give you one thing that this mentor of mine told me because i know this is super hard because we all want justice and i do not think god turns a blind eye to things but let me open your mind a little bit if someone breaks into my house and tries to rape my daughter i'm gonna shoot him that's justice but what if it was my son what if it was your son who was trying to hurt your daughter would you have a little different leniency for him my dear brothers and sisters that's how god views the entire world they are his children and we have to wrestle with that he has a totally different view of justice god's justice is not just to bring justice for the perpetrator for the victim but also to restore the perpetrator that's full restoration and so when we read this passage we we miss that this covenant is important in the old testament in those times a covenant was a binding agreement between two people and usually it was a binding agreement between two tribes this was a huge deal this was like a legal document back then i don't know if they like whoops i don't know if they spit in their hands and shook hands or whatever it is i don't know but a covenant was a big deal the thing that makes it so big is what you were saying is i cut this half up you cut that half up if you break this covenant the blood will be on your head so if you broke a covenant back in the day it cost you your life you were saying this is on me this covenant is on me to fulfill so again though in this passage what did it say before the covenant before the rules before moses it said abraham believed god and it was accredited him to righteousness he just believed god was good that is why faith is the most important thing in hebrews 11 6 it says and without this is the new testament and without faith it is impossible to please him some of y'all are running around thinking if you give more money or you do more things or you stop sinning or this or this or that then you'll please him it says you cannot please him without faith for the one who comes to god must believe that he exists and he proves to be one who rewards those who seek him it doesn't say he rewards those who sacrifice for him who give money who do this who's serving kids in the zoo who whatever it is it never says that it says he rewards those who seek him so let me put it this way faith is what pleases god because you're saying i believe you've finished the job and you're the one who does it i trust you that's what faith is but the sacrifices in the old testament were not meant to save them it was to prove they were saved god calls abraham out gives him a covenant he believed it moses and the jews are saved from egypt and then they're given the law and what we've done in american christianity is we have flipped that that if you follow the law or you follow these rules then it proves you're saved that is a shredding of the cross of jesus christ that is a shredding of the covenants that god has made with humanity i forgot to share this video but i'll just tell you what it was down the street from our house there's this rope swing and uh easton loves going on it and he's getting crazier and crazier and crazier on it and i love it because that's my mirror image going to hurt himself for fun that's exactly what i was about and so he's getting higher and higher and i was thinking the other day watching this and now i'm doing slow-mo shots of him and he's like pointing back it's just a great time if my son hits his head in the water am i going to yell at him you need to believe the right things for me to come get you son do you believe in me perfectly do you have all the rules do you have all the regulations do you have the right religion have you done the right sacrifices no i'm jumping in and i'm getting him now when i pull him out of the water what if he just he just has faith he's like you saved me you're a good dad and then what if he goes to the store and buys me a new pair of jordans to thank me i'm gonna take him because that was him honoring me for helping him but it wasn't why i saved him i already saved him because i'm his father so faith reveals this gift that has been given to us we always think faith believing in jesus is a transaction the cross happened the resurrection happened faith is kicking in a reality that's already there it's already there christ has saved you he's defeated death in hades and when you have faith in that then you walk in reality i always say this with people who kind of try to make divisions on this does my son easton have to confess to me that i'm his dad and he's a clout that's my last name does he have to come to me and be like you're my father and i'm a clout no he is my son and he's a clown but he can grow up someday and be like you're not my dad and i'm not a clout and then i'm going to grab his little collar on his neck now and he can live his life thinking he's not my son and he's not a clown it doesn't matter the reality is he's my boy and he's a clout that's the difference with faith faith is believing in something that's already done and here's the cool thing that word in greek that word in greek means it's only used once in the bible right here so when it says that god rewards those who passionately seek him that word means a wage that is freely given when you believe the good news of god's love and you believe you're made in his image and you believe that jesus died on the cross you are just believing in a gift that was freely given and you know what god gives you himself he gives you himself jesus didn't say i give you life he says i am the life and when you believe the good news and you believe you're mirrored in his image you begin to know who you are because the father is speaking it to you instead of the world instead of the internet instead of politicians instead of whatever the father starts speaking that truth to you so this is a great scene right he's got it all lined up you got okay and abraham's like okay i'm to fill my side of the covenant because this is what we do in the world right you got your cut up heifer i got my cut up heifer well here's what it says now it came about when the sun had set that it was very dark and behold a smoking oven and a flaming torch appeared which passed between the pieces abraham was asleep guys while this whole religious transaction was going down abraham did nothing he woke up and cut this crust out of his eyes he's like what is happening right now there's like a flaming torch and something going on and it says on that day the lord made a covenant with abram saying to your descendants i have given this land from the river of egypt as far as the great river the river euphrates the land of the canaanite the canisters so you can't say him either whatever just cause i'm a pastor you can't say him you all know you've been reading it been like oh dear god all right so here's the point everybody who thinks that that you need to do something as a transaction for god to save you what did abraham do here nothing nothing he fell asleep he wakes up there's a flaming torch going through the middle of it i'm sure like us he's like hey what can i do nothing so let me put it this way we always think this is a transaction if that's true then you save yourself this is the first covenant ever made with humans and god said y'all are going to fail in this you will never be able to keep this covenant you'll never be able to do it i'm going to keep it for you and if i don't keep it the blood is on my head this is the first covenant with humanity so let me give you an example let's say you're trying to buy a house right now good luck in missoula montana by the way and you finally find one and you you show up because you got to sign all the papers if you've ever bought a house recently there's like 35 000 pages you have to sign and you show up and you're excited and when you flip it open you see that your dad has already signed the papers and so you flip to the next one and you sign next to it he's a co-signer but he's already signed it and you flip it 8 000 pages later the house is yours and you get to the bottom part and it says what you owe and it says zero balance so you go to your dad you're like dad that's amazing that's awesome but the house is in your name too so what do i have to do what do i have to do and he's like it's in both our names but the house is paid for it's already done you owe nothing but it's in both our names so okay so what do i do dad i mean what do i do there's got to be a catch here right there's got to be a catch and he's like here's what you do son you enjoy it you believe it's your house but you know what you could do you could invite other people over to enjoy this house you could invite other people over to to know how good your father is let me ask you what kind of freedom would you have if you actually believed that it was paid for and free and better yet how would you talk about your daddy see the christian faith is always like yeah i mean yeah he paid for it but you need to do this this this and this or else dad's gonna burn you you know that sounds ridiculous now you know that instead it's paid for believe it's paid for and people can be like well i don't want to move in well you're lost man because it's paid for that's the first covenant with humanity what jesus what god was saying in this covenant you can never keep it in the first place remember when moses walks off the mountain he's got the ten commandments or we don't even know what they were the first ones it says god wrote him with his finger he's coming off the mountain like all right i can't wait to give people the rules because they're a bunch of weirdos and we got to keep them in check and they come down and they're having a big orgy and they're worshiping a golden calf moses is like smashes the tablets so what does god do he takes him back up on the mountain and it says this is interesting it says the first ones god wrote with his finger the second ones he handed moses the chisel that's important moses was never supposed to lose his temper and smash those those are written by the finger of god but you know what i think the real point of that whole story is he didn't even give him the rules yet and they still were screwing up they hadn't even he haven't even flipped them over in the big reveal party the law and religion and your works and your money and your sacrifice was never going to save you ever if anything if you don't believe god has fulfilled the covenant you're going to screw everything up and you're going to be living in a house paying rent that's already paid for that's why this covenant is so important you will fail and when you do god was saying but the blood's on my hands it's on my hands so this is where it gets good he didn't cut up the birds for some reason i looked into it no one has an answer for it but i do know this that his jesus's mother mary and joseph they were poor and they sacrificed eternal death so i think there's a connection there but i don't know why he didn't sacrifice it however back then these three animals were the highest form of sacrifice it represented sin guilt and fellowship but again what did abraham do nothing he was asleep that is so important because if we focus on the sacrifices and the law and these animals we're going to think that god demands all these things the first covenant god said i don't demand anything believe the good news abraham sacrifices law never saved them christ saves you jesus saves you so i think that number three is important okay i think the number i think i love numbers in the bible and stuff too like the sixth the day six is the day of man it's like the death day but then day seven is the resurrection those numbers are important this is super important i think this is just me that number three is important because it represents the trinity the father the son and the holy spirit you are the mirror image of god and you are made in his image you are his likeness and you are three things in one you are body mind and spirit i've used this example so many times but it works every time you ever watch a movie and you cry why it's not happening to those people every time man forrest gump when he sees his son i'm like he like me right you're like tom hanks didn't have a son like that okay that proves a soul you ever been thinking to yourself like in your mind and you're like you're having this full-out conversation with yourself and then you don't do what you thought you were gonna go do what is that you are body mind and spirit you are made in the image of the father son and holy spirit now god is three persons in one they're totally unified but totally distinct let me tell you how that works i don't know i have no idea that's the mystery that we follow it makes perfect sense but no sense at all and i'm okay with it but i think that number three is important because he's saying father son holy spirit he's bringing all of it together and he faces them face to face they're mirroring each other and then he walks through and i believe what god is saying in the first covenant is these two halves will become one with me they become one with me that's why roman says for from him and through him and to him all are all things to him be the glory forever colossians 1 17 this is one of my favorites he is before all things and in him all things hold together all things hold together so picture these things that are separate and god goes through the middle of him saying i hold this covenant together what i love about this story again is because abraham was nothing really special he just had faith and wherever you land whatever your doubts are whatever your concerns are whatever your sins are the point of the first covenant is it's already done god has taken care of it it's on god to save man so believe the good news maybe you're asleep wake up wake up you mirror god he's speaking to who you are you're believing lies about yourself and here's the thing that that i need to dive into real quick because in this passage we have made this passage just about the jews and we say that the jews are god's chosen people and i explained this last week yes but not because they were better than anybody or more righteous god needed one bloodline for the messiah to come out of but i have heard american evangelicals say see you mess with israel god messes with you because this passage is about israel this passage is about jesus christ so let me give you a wide lens here in galatians 3 paul the jew of jews says this now the promises were spoken to abraham and to his seed his seed we've read that passage as his seeds the jews his seed christ he does not say and two seeds as one would in referring to many but rather as in referring to one and to your seed that is christ the jews failed miserably on what their calling was to share the good news of god without the earth so christ fulfilled it for them every promise to the jews has already been fulfilled in christ in christ so what i am saying is this the law which came 430 years later does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by god so as to nullify the promise for if the inheritance is based on law it is no longer based on a promise but god has granted it to abraham by means of promise what he's saying is following the rules was never going to fix this following the rules was never going to save you long before moses long before the law he made a promise with abraham and that promise was to the entire world the entire world was the promise through christ good behavior good religion whatever it is never please god seeing that christ has accomplished this and seeing that you are one with christ is what pleases god and i can tell you the more you follow christ the more exciting it becomes i know less now than i ever did but i know him and i was talking to ben stewart yesterday on the phone he's the guy from uncharted the missionary group that we support and i said it's really weird as you get older following jesus because i feel like i'm always chasing after him and i know i already have him it's like this constant chasing but the more you see christ the more you follow christ the more you submit to christ the more you start seeing who you truly are and this is why believing that god finishes the job it's his covenant it's his promise it's a reality believe the good news there's nothing you're going to do absolutely nothing you can do to contribute to this because he said through the seed the stars of heaven the sands of the seashore will be brought in to this covenant and promise so here's the deal here's the beauty of following jesus and seeing your maid in his image jesus was the perfect human we screwed up we have live in a fallen identity jesus came to show us who we actually are and i've told you this before that's why some of you are wrestling with sins and you're struggling with things that's not who you are that's something you do who you are is christ emmanuel god with us all of us you mirror the image of christ and all your little quirks and all the little personality traits you have jesus has those too and if we could all just see that it would bring this beautiful tapestry of the glory of god in the personality of god jesus is the perfect human he came to show us what humanity really looks like because in the garden god says it is good and then we screwed up and jesus said it's still good jesus made a covenant with humanity he walked through these two sides and what he was saying is i fulfill this covenant the blood's on me and thousands of years later jesus dies on a cross and proves that the covenant was on him so let me end it with this ban come on up i love what one man writes he says the distance caused by adam's fall compared to the distance between heaven and earth is canceled in the incarnation when jesus christ took on humanity all of humanity that distance was canceled it's over it's finished so picture this scene what i believe was going on here because jesus said abraham looked forward to my day you got these two sides and they're facing each other and the light of the lord goes through and i think it's a picture of the cross that i am bridging the gap between you and the father and everything that my father is you are and everything you are my father is you image god and it's a restoring of bringing those two things together john 14 20 this is such a huge verse for me he says on that day you will know that i am in my father and you are in me and i in you one of the great early church fathers said the cosmos is an appearance of god do i believe scientists when they look at all that stuff they see god i bet they do creation screams the glory of god it screams it the cosmos is an appearance of god humanity is the image of god jesus christ is the incarnation of god so what they would do when the law of moses was introduced is they would take these sacrifices and they would give it to the priest to eat so i'll be taking an offering at the door today when you guys go out just playing in the new testament peter said you're all priests you're all kings and priests because of the death of jesus christ in the reuniting of us with with god so today when you grab communion when you walked in you are not celebrating the moses covenant alone you are celebrating the abraham covenant where god says you're never going to keep it the blood's on me i'll keep it for you and that is why romans says there's no height nor death nor anything in this cosmos that can separate you from the love of god and so today when you take that communion and you swallow that you are acknowledging you are professing that you are one with christ and you are acknowledging that you are made in the image of god and this will change everything because when we can see we mirror him you know that john 1 says the father and the son stand face to face with each other that means they see the whole universe through the lens of each other's eyes and they see you as made in the image of god and so you take this bread and you take this wine and you say you ingest it and say i am one with the father i am united with jesus and i mirror his image and that is where real change comes when you can see that's not me that's something i'm doing but what i really am is christ that's when real change comes so let me be just super blunt here there is no transaction with god god fulfilled the first covenant and it pointed to jesus christ where jesus christ said he defeated death in hades and all you need to do is believe the good news and it says it is accredited to you as righteousness so my dear friends you mirror the image of god believe this good news in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit amen

Channel: Zootown Church

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Id: 0M4gOfyYZj4

Length: 42min 7sec (2527 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 26 2021