The Mustard Seed - Ps Shane Willard | Bay City Church NZ

I would extend a very warm welcome to you tonight and thank you for coming out in this Friday evening and one especially welcome those who come from different churches welcome thank you for coming here tonight I know you're going to be blessed and how many people are here you this is your first time hearing pastor Shane just lift up your hand there's some humans it's fantastic you are going to absolutely love him Shane has been coming here for about a hundred years and comes here every year and he's just fantastic and it has and we do it we do love Shane he as part of our family and we our lives in our church has just been totally transformed by his ministry for me personally and I know many people here your your way of thinking your understanding about God your heart has been transformed and we're incredibly grateful to have you here again and so without further ado why don't we give a pass to Shane a great big warm welcome tonight all right yay come on very good you could be seated it's so good to be with you again here at Bay City and in Hastings and to all my friends from Bay City it's so good to see you again thank you being so hospitable and and I have been coming for many many years 14 to be exact so 100 so it's very very that's very good that means that means you guys you guys have always been nice to me and I've been nice to you and we have a good relationships very good and for those of you from those of you from other churches around I've heard that equip IRS's here yeah yeah love equip Iran so it's such a good time with you guys that shout and um and at the though at the Women's Conference I clip her and and I'm glad that you guys are here please make yourself at home these are great people here and um and we're all in one body now here's what I love about here's what I love about Friday night okay it's Friday night you're in church which means I'm feeling zero pressure to be an evangelist right right and that's really good because let me let you know something don't tell anybody this is our secret I'm not a good evangelist okay but I am a good teacher and so what I want to do is I want to focus that because if you're in church on a Friday night I want to give you something that I can't do on Sunday morning okay I want to give you something a bit more meaty I want to I want to challenge thought great teaching it's not meant to be agreed with nor disagreed with great teachings meant to make us wrestle and to make a shift and change and so so here's what's going to happen one of two things is going to happen I'll decide I'll decide Midway either either I'm going to teach till about 7:40 and then we'll take about a 15 minute break and then we'll come back and I'll teach - about 8:30 or if I'm feeling it I'll just go straight through and we'll end about 10 after 8:00 and then and and then you have from 10 8 10 to 8:30 - to look around and fellowship and that kind of thing we do have our we do have a resource table back there everything is available on four formats CDs DVDs USBs and direct downloads a hundred percent of everything we ever make from that table we give to the poor and the afflicted we have orphanages in China that look after children with mental disabilities - and in yang one in Changsha we also have a rescue I mean Cape Town that gets girls out of sex trafficking off drugs high school educated and job trained so we can break the cycle of poverty in the Cape Town flats and so yeah so it's really good now if you every single package now has its own individual USB inside it so no matter what you buy you get it in all the formats okay and you're just helping us do that since last time I was here I think we've put out three or four brand-new ones with two two or within the last month and they'll be obvious the other ones with a big stack on them so you can you could you can pick those up back there the only thing I would ask you to do is um is if you know you're gonna get something tonight if you if you would try to do so in the break that'll be that'll be good so that the volunteers aren't here exceptionally late like so let's let's treat them how we would want to be treated all right so I want to talk to you tonight about culture I want to talk to you tonight about what it means to be a leader in the body of Christ in our in our city and and I specifically because it's Friday night and you're in church I'm assuming I'm talking to fully devoted followers of Jesus right and so I want to talk to you about how to get the most out of Scripture how to how to approach with the Bible in a way that we can get the most out of it and specifically then when we communicate scripture so if you ever if you're a communicator of truth in any way from a stage you're going to find this very helpful and if you're a communicator of these truths over coffee like you're just a relational person who your conversations about God or the Bible almost a hundred percent exists around the kitchen table or around the living room in a circle you're also going to find this variable and it's going to help your personal walk as well so this tonight will have an individual application it will also have a systemic application and it will have a relational application so we're gonna cover what we're gonna have what we're gonna cover quite a bit and so and so what I'm finding is is I'm traveling the world not saying it's true everywhere but I'm saying it's true enough that it will be relevant what I'm finding is is that particularly parents with children under 30 so they're that they're that 20 to 30 year old range and they're starting to really ask questions what I'm finding is is that the parents are telling me that they find the Bible boring okay that they just find it boring and it's it's just inconsistent it's like oh do we really actually still believe that like is it really okay to do this like why would God have ever said that and so I want I want to deal with that I want to deal with that and what I want to do with it because I've given my life to communicating scripture in an interesting entertaining and meaningful ways alright and so and so I don't want to see that happen with our young people but it could be very frustrating and maybe you're in the same boat maybe you secretly you're like you read something and you're like man or are you you hear a sermon that's technically correct but you're just at the end of it so bored right and what are we doing this and how can we address this in a more compelling way so let's dig into this a little bit let's talk about the nature of truth for a second okay so let's talk about the know if you could bring that first slide up for me the nature of truth all right so truth exists in a Trinitarian structure now let me explain what I mean by that it's three legs all right and if you remove any of those three legs this is so important it's not less truthful it's just less meaningful okay for truth to have the most um and the most meaning we need to discipline ourselves when we approach the Bible individually or or relationally that we discipline ourselves to address and seek out all three legs okay so let me explain all three legs and I'm not gonna rush through it because there's no need to all right so the first leg is the literal or the objective the literal is something happened somebody wrote something down somebody told a story you're reading something that happened in the book of Nehemiah or in the book of Mark and something happened or you're reading one of Paul's letters and he feels the need to say something to this group of people that is the literal now this is very important sometimes the literal is fiction let me explain what I mean by that if I was to take you to Israel and we were to ask the history expert excuse me can you take me to the farm where the parable of the prodigal son actually happened right well the guy wouldn't even know what to say he would say what are you talking about that was a made-up story that is a fictional story to make a point yes but in this in this sense its literal its literal in the sense that Jesus told the story right and because Jesus told the story we should take that story very seriously now here's the problem with the literal nature of truth if you get stuck in only the literal you're automatically stuck in boringness even if you're right because here's the thing right if you only address the literal it's not less truthful it's not it's just less meaningful right let's let's let's let me pick a topic that all of that would unite us all the resurrection of the risen Christ right we affirm that Jesus rose from the dead right and what no matter what church you came from you would affirm that truth so we would all agree with that but what if somebody got so focused on the literal nature of resurrection that they wrote a hundred and fifty seven page thesis proving that Jesus literally rose from the dead and let say they did it really well and really completely and let's say they did it so well it would even be legally compelling let's say they do it outstanding and you would agree with him like if I said do you agree with this 157 page thesis your answer would be yes he's telling the truth but how many pages would you get through it before your board - maybe on a good day right why because if you're only addressing the literal without any exploration of the other - it's not less truthful it's just less meaningful we all know that the power of Resurrection is not in exploring the literalness of it if that's the case why not just worship Lazarus I mean he rose first right but there's no such thing as a lazar right right or a Lazzarini where do you guys go to church we are the church of the Lazarus he resurrected to know the the power of Resurrection is not in the fact that it literally happened although we embrace that it's in the infinite explorations of the meaning of it right you can't just get stuck on the literal and expect people not to be bored like so what okay somebody says I can prove that Genesis 1 is literally true from a microbiological cellular level okay right the question is is is what do we do with that I could prove there was actually a Noah's Ark and they found it somewhere all righty right the question is is what do we do with all of that the power of Resurrection is not in the literal nosov it although we embrace it it's in the infinite explorations of the meaning of it like death doesn't get the last word Jesus does like if you were wrong about death what else could you be wrong about like my goodness if not even death is a sure thing maybe we should open more conversations instead of closing them like new life can burst forth in the middle of this one like you never know what might introduce to your tomorrow that will change everything your tomorrow is not simply a repeat of your yesterday because resurrection power is at work in our world like we could get fresh start second chances do-overs clean slate sand and sand and fresh stories we could do that see now we're seeing now it's like oh oh well that's better why because if we only focus on the literal it's not less truthful it's just less meaningful and as someone who who wants to glean individually from God's Word and then hopefully you want to take what you glean and introduce that into your relationships and someone who's communicating it from a stage or over a cup of coffee if you only focus on the literal the people you're communicating it to are gonna find you boring even if you're telling the truth there's a far more compelling way to talk about this so the first is the literal that's the first element of truth the second one is the meaning or the symbolic right so what does this mean for our world like if someone said to me hey guess what I've proven that Genesis 1 is true at a microbiological cellular level literally I would go okay now what and if that person said you know what that means that means that there was a creative power before the foundation of the world that organized chaos into beautiful new life and what would happen if we reconnected people today with that same creative power that was at creation rose Jesus from the dead and we told them that they can connect to that same creative power and if it enters into their life of chaos beauty and order and new life and energy can come in and invade their world giving them a world of infinite possibilities what if that's the case I'd be like oh yes but I don't want to hear about those cellular stuff right although it's grounded in something like if someone said hey I can prove Noah's Ark was actually literal amen okay so what and they say you know what that means that means that we live in a world of open possibilities not closed ones and we can celebrate that God can do what he likes despite our lack of ability to understand it all and if we applied that our life our life would be infinitely more exciting well now I'm in write proving something literally is boring unless we explain and explore the meanings of that thing whether it's the cross or the resurrection or the Jonas story or the nehemiah story are paul's letters we don't want to just focus on believing the right things we want to focus on how that then affects our whole world let me let me explain because all the power of truth is in the meaning not in the literal Ness let me explain if we walked out here tonight and there was a sober person not a drunk person drunk person you understand but let's say there was a sober person in the parking lot using the toilet on a New Zealand flag so they had a New Zealand flag and they're going to the toilet on the New Zealand flag now for most of us that would be forget the fact they're using the toilet in public put that aside the fact that they're going to the toilet on the flag that would irritate most of us correct why it's just threatened cloth why would it bother you that someone went to the toilet on a piece of cloth with thread because that's all the flag is literally but you know and I know the power of the flag is not in the exploration of the literal but actually everything that flag stands for symbolically that's where the power is let me see if I ate it another way let me illustrate it with a baby okay yes let's say that there's a woman about to give birth and she goes to wherever you give birth in Napier Hastings and she's in the birthing room doing birthing things right I've never seen this obviously but it's fun yep and let's say let's say she goes to give birth and that baby here comes the baby here comes right and the doctors do whatever they do to the baby you know they check its vitals make sure there's nothing his mouth all the things the doctors do then they wrap the baby I've handed him out at some point then they take this brand new baby girl and they hand it to the father and the father is overwhelmed with emotion the father's just overcome holding his new baby girl and he's holding this baby girl and he's so moved he says oh wow this is the most beautiful girl in the whole wide world now what if someone was in the delivery room who's like say Sheldon Cooper right and Sheldon Cooper's like really you're not a lover of truth actually actually prove that literally because actually there's gonna be a lot of girls that are uglier than her and there's gonna be a lot of girls that are prettier than her if you were actually a truth teller you would have said oh this is the most average girl in the whole wide world right well if somebody did that you wouldn't even know what to say you'd be like I I'm not speaking literally this this baby has redefined beauty this baby this baby is not being judged against other people for their beauty this this person has redefined beauty so let's say that there's two women giving birth and because of overcrowding they end up in the same delivery room in the Napier hospital and they're both together doing whatever they do to give birth and then there it comes and at the exact same millisecond they hand the baby to the mom and at the exact same millisecond they hand the baby to the father and at the exact same millisecond both fathers say oh well this is the most beautiful girl in the whole wide world are these two people in conflict no they're speaking at a meaning level which is why you're so bored when you hear atheist and Christians debating you're so bored well if you enjoy YouTube debates between atheists and Christians I think the fizzle the philosophical term for it is get a life okay because that is boring why because both of them are arguing at a literal only level they're arguing at only one level in both people that both are so boring that this is why I'll get to this in a second okay so so there's one thing to affirm the literal nature of new life it's a whole nother thing for it to mean more than anything in the whole world to you that is a whole different thing but then let's say you're going home from the delivery room and on your way home your neighbor eight doors down has balloons in the front yard with a poster welcome to the world Billy and there's blue balloons now you would make an assumption that the woman in that house has had a baby and his name is Billy and you would fully believe in affirm in the literal nature of that new life without it meaning anything to you but your baby you fully affirm the literal nature of that new life and it means everything to you all the power of pursuing truth is not improving the literalness of it although we affirm that the literalness grounds it in something but all the power is in the infinite explorations of the meaning and what we're going to do tomorrow to change our world based on being inspired by what these people's stories are and now we're starting to get to something because if you have one with the other if you have literal with no meaning you're boring if you have meaning that's not grounded in something objective you're getting flighty it's it's like whoa where did you come up with that well it just seemed good to me right but then the third level of truth is the event all nature of truth the event all nature of truth is a deeper level of truth it's this let's take the cross and resurrection for a second and this is why we this is we got to shift this that if the church if Christianity is all about a group of people who simply believe in the cross and resurrection you can't be surprised when people think that's boring right because it's Christianity actually about getting all the right thoughts in our head I hope not because that would be that would be boring right it's it's not about like I'll say it this way if you don't believe in the cross and resurrection I would urge you to believe that but on Friday night in church I'm assuming I'm talking to a room that's past that and we got to have an answer for what's past that because the cross and resurrection should not simply be something we believe in but it should be something that moves us to explore all the meanings of that to the point where it's Eve ental Aventa means eventual doesn't mean we believe something happened eventual means that we believe something happened and that happening has now fundamentally shifted the way we see our whole world right it's one thing to believe in the cross and resurrection it's a whole nother thing to see the whole world differently because of that event now when you explore scripture through all three now you have something compelling but if you remove any of those three it's not less truthful it's not it's just less meaningful and what we want is we want to get the most up out of how we communicate the bible scripture revelation how we communicate community how we do that in our world matters in the first century check this out you've imagined this in the first century it was illegal to be a Christian right if you got caught being a Christian you were executed and this is true the charge that they executed you for was atheism true first century Christians were called atheists here's why they did not practice Judaism so when Rome said if a Roman Authority said do you practice Judaism they would say no we think God is much bigger wider broader than that so you don't practice Judaism no do you affirm Roman gods no so you don't practice Judaism no and you dont affirm Roman gods no that makes you a theist and atheist are very dangerous to culture in a world where we profiteer greatly on people's spiritual guilt by getting them to pay for religious rituals to get their soul cleansed and if you remove that if you start preaching about a God that loves people just because outside of ritual that's gonna take a lot of money out of our pockets so we're gonna kill you for the charge of atheism right and here's the reason here's the reason that's so important right is because Christians in the first century stood on a platform that said if you think you've got your head around God you're wrong it is much bigger than that it is much bigger than the literal it's all found in in the meaning and the event of nature because here's the thing in the first century you couldn't tell people you were a Christian you couldn't here's how you had to tell they were Christian by how they lived could you imagine a world like that where people were forced to demonstrate the event all nature of their faith without being able to announce it and you had to tell who was a follower of Christ by how they treated one another how they cared for the poor how they actually lived could you imagine a world where we weren't allowed to announce what we believed before we demonstrated it could you imagine a place like that right so cuz here's the thing woman has a baby huh the most beautiful girl in the whole wide world on your way home neighbor seven doors down welcome to the world Billy right you get home and your social your social interaction of choice is dart throwing so the first night back you go to your dart club you throw darts you drink a pint right nothing harmful just throw darts one plate right next night throw darts one plate third night throw darts one pint fourth night throw darts one pint you come home and your wife says scuse me we have a baby now and you say I know I know and I fully believe in a firm and the literal nature of that baby and I affirm it means the whole world to me but until that new life has fundamentally shifted the way you see your whole world it's not less truthful it's just less meaningful Christianity could be much more compelling because here's my fear for a lot of Christianity Christianity is filled with people who believe in God we affirm Jesus in the cross and then there's even some people who affirm it and it means everything to them they got the fish on the car to cross around their neck I can't wait to go to heaven you know but but until that truth has fundamentally invaded how we see our whole world it's not less truthful it's not it's just less meaningful there's a better way to engage Scripture individually corporately and relationally let lets say it another way next slide so the nature of being scripture affirms oneness without an expectation on sameness there's a fundamental difference between oneness and sameness scripture affirms oneness and actually I think scripture affirms one that's better than we do I think scripture affirms one is so revolutionary that it still is confrontational to us today I'll give you a couple examples Paul was trying to describe a place where Christ isn't and he finally throws up his hands and he goes actually know all things were created by him and for him and in him all things hold together for the spirit of the risen Christ is filling everything in every way whoa that is radical in other words where is where in this world right now is Christ not so any talk about oh these people have Christ and these people don't what are you talking about they're not held together by God's name they're not in God's world God's breath isn't holding them together what do you talk about Paul insisted that Christ was all and his in all things so if you see someone and can't see Christ it's you you need to change you're seeing right that in that sense the philosophical word for this is God is the ground of being the ground of being is that if it's alive God is holding it together that if somebody is breathing or if it's in creation and it's alive it's only Christ that's holding it together without Christ the whole thing dissolves very quickly right it's a very scriptural idea now here's why that's important because that's the literal somebody wrote that down right so let's practice the meaning of that is wait a minute if there's only one God God is holding it all together that means that I can't purposely harm you because if there's only one God and God is holding me together and God is holding you together if I purposely do harm to you how could I expect not to harm myself in the process because it's the same spirit of God that's holding us all together right and here's why that here's why that's important right they've actually proved this literally this is unbelievable they have instruments now that can observe sub atomic particles particles smaller than electrons protons and neutrons okay and here's what they've observed that the atmosphere we carry can fundamentally change the molecular structure of water they've observed this under microscopes in in a molecular thing right since we're made of sixty eight percent water my atmosphere that I carry into your presence affects how you feel because it's literally changing the the formation of the water in your body but this is why have you ever been around somebody and they just give you awful feeling right it's it's quite literally it's that that hears and no one can explain this it's just true and I find it unbelievable right I find it I find it awesome is what I mean that if I'm close enough to you right so if I get close enough to your proximity some of my particles jump into you did you feel that and some of your subatomic particles jump into me and here's the thing right if I'm purposely cruel to you and I harm you here's the problem when I leave my subatomic particles jump back into me wounded because I've hurt him we would call that sowing and reaping that what I do to others somehow comes back to me they've actually proven this scientifically now what does that mean it means that to really communicate truth in a compelling way we have to commit to being kind like Paul said it this way so what if you understand the mysteries of 17 heavens literal if you have not loved what is that in other words unless what you understand here has somehow journeyed to fundamentally seeing our world differently see the Bible affirms oneness but it never expects sameness you can't you can't be intellectually honest and say that James and Paul agreed with one another impossible nor should they have to Paul and Peter definitely didn't Paul's like I confronted him to his face you know there's something there are certain people Paul just said I couldn't journey with them but you can journey with them why because the kingdom of God being established requires a lot of oneness with no expectation of sameness part of the beauty of the salad is that we're all different but when everybody that's different um explores truth in the literal the meaning and the event or nature we do something with a high level of meaning so let's talk about let's talk about the event own nature for a second next slide so there's belief versus imagination right cuz here's the thing all of us have a set of beliefs we would call that doctrine but let me tell you why that's almost not that's that's really not important what's far more important than what you believe is how you believe what you believe right so what's far more important like if you believe that we should take care of the poor but you never actually take care of the poor that's a problem right so what's more important than what you believe like if you believe I should be kind to my parents but then when you look at your life you never call them you never check on them you never tell them you love them then there's a gap between the what and the how and the engine between the what and the how is the imagination what's far more important than what you believe is how you imagine what you believing working out that's far more important because your emotions will automatically attach to your imagination not what you believe right let me let me prove it let me explain what I mean right how many of you would believe with all your heart that you're forgiven by the finished work of the risen Christ yes I even got a burble yeah Amen now and you know what we would all affirm that but here's the thing it's possible to believe that you're forgiven but then in your imagination you see yourself guilty and if you if you believe you're forgiven but you see yourself guilty you will act guilty that's the way it works because your emotions will go around the imagination if you have a sixteen year old and she's supposed to be home at midnight and it's 1:30 and no one's answering their phone do your emotions tie to their what really is happening or to the worst-case scenario in your imagination right same it's possible to have an Orthodox doctrine but a pagan imagination right in other words you can you can believe correctly but the way you picture it can be way off right let me give you a great example Trinity right everyone in this room believes that God is not a singularity rather God is a divine relationship between three that are acting so symbiotically that they appear as one that in the second century they came up with a word for that they called it trinity the trinity right the earlier than the second century they called it something more beautiful than trinity they called it the Perry Currie --ss Perry carissa spur a metre circle Karissa's choreographed a circle dance they called it a divine dance and what they said is if you want to understand God God is a divine relationship between three that are so perfectly symbiotic that they when to step up when to step back when to on or when to submit when to take their turn when to give the other person their turn like somebody says to Jesus Jesus you're good and Jesus like no one's good except the father but the father exalts Jesus but Jesus points to the Holy Spirit but the Holy Spirit points back to them see it's a it's it's a it's a divine so so all of us would believe that God is not a singularity but God is a divine relationship between three here's the problem I've asked this question all over the world thousands of people because I just got curious about it I've asked this question all over the world when you pray what do you picture so when you pray to God what do you picture I heard somebody say Jesus right that's actually the number to answer number one answer is I picture a guy on a throne well a single white dude on a throne is Zeus Apollo Hermes right like it's it's Mithra like so so the people who say they picture a guy on a throne all of them would say they believe in the Trinity but then they picture a singularity second answer is I pictured Jesus then you press them on that a little bit you like which Jesus like Middle Eastern swarthy hippy Jesus you know or like sweet smelling of lavender and also blonde hair blue-eyed Jesus they're like I don't know like just Jesus yeah third answer is I picture a father you press that a little bit like oh great what kind of father well it's like a father you know huh so like an ambiguous father yes right because that'd be a great song wouldn't it you're an ambiguous father it's who you are right right right so now here's the problem with all three of those all three of those are singularities so we believe that God is a divine relationship between three but we picture one we picture a singularity and that's so we have an Orthodox doctrine but a pagan imagination and expect not to be jacked up with our view of God are you kidding like like here's the thing every noun every verb every pronoun in all of Genesis 1 describing God is all plural let us plural make man in our image plural right even Genesis 1:1 in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and Hebrew it says in the beginning gods created the heavens in the earth it's in the beginning Elohim that's plural plural everything there is plural so let me ask you this how many of you believe that God is three acting as one all of us but what if I replace the pronouns around God with the plural what if I was what if we why I won't do this but what if we said what have we said on Sunday hey isn't it good isn't it good that the presence of God isn't it awesome that they are here well that would be like whoa right that would be confronting but let me ask you a question is it confronting your doctrine no its confronting your imagination of how that doctrine works out right so it's it's very easy to believe that Jesus called us to live a life to take care of the poor and the afflicted it's very easy to believe that but if our imagination never comes under the obedience of that it will never be an event 'el sort of thing what the world is looking for is not a group of people who have all the right thoughts in their head about God they're looking for a group of people who are so moved by the truth that they infinite explore the meanings and then it fundamentally shifts the way they see their whole world ideally if the people in Wellington decided to make it illegal for any Christian to say they're a Christian so from now on it is illegal for any Christian to say they're Christian you know how much the church would suffer should be none because the credibility of the church should never be on our announcement of doctrine but rather the life are bringing to our world right it's one thing to have the values it's a whole nother thing to have the behavior now let me apply this by looking at something Jesus said and if everybody's okay I'm just gonna continue on it is anybody bored okay good all right now next slide so the question is why am I here like different religions and cultures have answers to this different people and biases they all have different answers right now in the Jewish world if you ask a Jew in Jesus's day why am I here here was the Jewish answer God has given us land in order to bless others so God blessed us and we're supposed to bless others that was the Jewish answer for our purpose in life is we take the resources God blessed us with and we live a life to bless the whole world that was the idea there's a problem though the problem in Jesus's day was they didn't own their land so if you believe that your purpose is to use your land to bless others and you have no land that is a problem now Jesus starts addressing this with a phrase that was brand new in his day next slide this is Mark chapter 1 now after John was arrested Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God now if you weren't here last year you won't know this and even if you were I wouldn't expect you to remember it but the word gospel was a Roman term used to describe the good deeds of Caesar so for Mark to be using the word gospel of God and he's talking about somebody other than Caesar this is a politically subversive sort of this is claim hey the guy that's making all these claims about being God not God but this is like revolutionary stuff this is the word gospel was on placards all over the world proclaiming the good deeds of Caesar he said no no no this is the guy well Jesus proclaimed the gospel of God saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand repent that just means turn around change your thinking one of the things we need to do is to remove repentance as a shame-based thing repentance if repentance is solely a shame-based thing then if you've done nothing wrong then you don't need to change anything but actually the best life is found in making repentance a lifestyle choice of always being open to new ways of thinking and new things that God is doing in our next generation right or in our world right C says repent or change the way you're thinking and believe in this gospel we'll hang on what's the gospel the gospel is that the kingdom of God is at hand right so this is something else now a couple of observations the literal mark wrote this Jesus lived this that's the literal so let's explore some of the meanings of this right next light but he said to them this is in Luke chapter 4 but he said to them I must preach the good news once again that's the same word gospel and that's the word that they used for Caesar propaganda around the Imperial cult proving Caesars God so they're being very subversive here Jesus is like being subtly I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well now watch this line this is so confronting for I was sent for this purpose and he was preaching in the synagogue's of Judea for I was sent for this purpose now here's why that's confronting next slide so Jesus did not say his primary purpose was to forgive sins that's good in front team now did he forgive sins yes but did he say his primary purpose was to forgive sins no he said his primary purpose was to proclaim the establishment of the kingdom of God Jesus did not say his primary purpose was to show ethical living although did he do that yes he showed us a good way the best way to live in our world did he do that yes was that his primary purpose no its primary purpose was to proclaim the establishment of the kingdom of God Jesus did say his primary purpose was to proclaim the key no God so that people experience it here now today now let's let's explore this in the meaning and the event all nature of this and then explore what it means and what our role is as leaders relationally and systemically and I'm hoping this to be a real encouragement and sort of a challenge at neck next slide so Jesus talked about lots of things that people are already talking about like a roughly a third of Jesus's teachings were teachings from Hallel and Shammai but-but-but-but in other words people had heard it before people had heard takes on divorce and sacrifice and they'd heard takes on Sabbath or not Sabbath so some of what Jesus was saying was sort of commonplace and it was a it was a good rabbi teaching relevant thought but this was brand-new this is not true the phrase kingdom of God that phrase is never used in the Old Testament any rabbinic writing that is known or in the International period and the Lord's there is no known writing before Jesus where the phrase kingdom of God is used ever what that means is is Jesus is introducing a new fresh idea which would have led to infinite questions when somebody presents something that's never been heard before the question is what does this mean and how does this affect how we live our life night next slide so the word Kingdom in Greek is the same word for Empire so the Empire of God is coming now where did these people live under the horrendous oppressive regime of the Roman yes so the first surgery listeners would have heard a new rule is coming that is less oppressive and more abundant the problem with this in Jesus's day is this would have required an overthrow of government now here's the cool part is that for a guy claiming to be Messiah to say he's going to overthrow the government fit it fit the prophecies Isaiah 61 says and the government will be a yes so he's like oh this is fitting the bill but think about this if you're a first century person and someone says I've come for the purpose of establishing the Empire of God and in your world that means they're gonna have to overthrow the current government which is oppressing you her if eclis what would be your natural question when are you gonna do that hey can we mark our calendars because we want to see this this is gonna be awesome now let's keep exploring this a bit next slide so the phrase king that would say here's the but here's the problem there's two primary views if I ask someone today in a Western world when I say kingdom of God what do you think I'm not talking about the doctrine I'm talk about the imagination of how we picture it the primary answer amongst Western people is is that is that the phrase is about living in such a way here that guarantees us entrance to somewhere else so so Western people in general interpret or they imagine the kingdom of God to be heaven when we die right the other answer would be the phrase kingdom of God is about existing social structures on the earth and repairing it so so if I ask some people what does it mean for the kingdom of God to come some would say the kingdom of God is being established in our city when injustice is confronted with justice and we confront oppression and we change social structures that are marginalizing a group of people unfairly and we bring justice and compassion and fair chances for every single person you'd say men when that happens the kingdom of God has been established and so in another group would say actually the kingdom of God has nothing to do with that the kingdom of God has to do with people believing certain things so they can go to heaven when they die right now wherever you are on that spectrum I don't care because Jesus says both are actually wrong both are missing something now watch what Jesus says about this next line this is Matthew 13 all these things jesus said to the crowds and parables indeed he said nothing without a parable that's confronting as well this was to fulfill what was spoken by the Prophet I will open my mouth in parables and here's where I'm going with this I will utter what has been hidden since before the foundation of the world so when Jesus is talking about the kingdom of parables it sounds new to them but it's not new it's something that had always been true let's say it this way next slide so when Jesus was describing the kingdom in parables he wasn't describing a new thing but an ancient hidden thing in other words Jesus did not come to inaugurate a new reality he came to show you what God was always like right like like like what Jesus did was not the inauguration of newness even though it was new to them it was the physical manifestation of the most ancient truth that was true before the foundation of the world like Jesus didn't die to fix a problem Jesus died to obliterate the idea there ever was a problem like God loved you before the foundation of the world your salvation was given to you before the foundation of the world his sacrificial work was completed before the foundation of the world but you're just now believing it because you had to see it to believe it so he showed you this is like a beautiful compelling story and the same is true with the kingdom of God he's like this sounds new to you but actually it was true before the foundation the world I'm just now I've come for the purpose of making it come to light watch what he says next time this is Luke 17 and being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come exactly what we would do hey you're gonna take over Rome mm-hmm can we mark our calendars for that because we'd love that we'd actually love that and we'd love to see it now watch what Jesus says this is where it gets very confronting to me and he answered them saying the kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed in other words if you can see it it's not the kingdom of God yeah hey did you did you see it then that's not they came out here's why it's so important because we all have our favorite manifestation in the kingdom of God and as soon as we say that's the kingdom then we make an idol out of that manifestation and anything that's not that is not Kingdom and we become a knight we become an IDOT in that sense when we start saying the word God we're just speaking of ourselves with a giant megaphone like we like that said God what that's the kingdom of God Jesus ed no no now if you can observe it not the kingdom not the kingdom the kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed nor will they say look there it is oh here no there that's not the kingdom for behold the kingdom of God is in you huh so what does that mean let's explore the meaning of that next light so the Pharisees wanted to know the date of his overthrow of Rome so he could observe it Jesus says this will not be observed in the outer world for the kingdom of God is within you let's keep exploring that next site so it can't be observed with concrete experiences or statistics if you can see it not Kingdom if you can hear it not Kingdom if you can observe it not Kingdom it's not simply a new reordering of social structure although that might be a result of the kingdom it's sort of like this if I take a rock and throw as hard as I can into a lake and it goes and I called the ripples the rock no the ripples are the result of the rock but the rock is the rock so if if a group of people tackle injustice and bring justice is that the kingdom of God no but as the result of the kingdom of God residing in people and they're saying yes to that when people have an authentic magnanimous experience in worship and you go that's the kingdom of God no it's not but that's the result of the kingdom of God where people are saying yes inside it's that it's it's that if you can see it it's not the kingdom but it might be the result of the kingdom it might be the result of this inside it's not something that primarily resides in the future or something that primary resides on the outside the kingdom of God that Jesus talked about is primarily an internal thing so what does that mean that next slide this is very difficult to accept because we need to measure improve things what Jesus is saying is is that we have to engage the kingdom with the correct faculty that if you want to know what Kingdom is you can't look at it with the wrong faculty and expect to be right about it like it can't be observed with intellect although in elects good I'm all for that it can't be observed with reason although reasons gonna offer that it can't be observed with measuring or observation but actually the heart so evidently the kingdom Jesus talked about was the kingdom was an inward reality with an outward result but the kingdom was inside now watch what he says about this because they they asked him to explain himself as she would next time this is Matthew 13 so he put another parable before them because they're asking and they're like we don't understand what you're on about can you tell us another way here's what he says the kingdom of heaven that it's interchangeable Kingdom having he know God saying the kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field now in parabolic literature a man's field is his heart they think about the parable the sower the ground is the state of the heart so here's what he says he says the kingdom of God is like when you take a small seed and you plant it in your heart that's the kingdom of God it's a small seed in your heart it is the smallest of all seeds but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants this is where it gets odd especially because we're here in a bit of a farming region it becomes all the garden print plants and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and make nest in its branches in other words is where Jesus says here's the kingdom the kingdom is planting a seed in your heart and you don't even know it's there until it's over growing your whole field and birds aren't actually taking nest in your field now if you're a farmer is that a good thing or bad thing that's actually it's anointing let's say this was Jesus getting at here he's talking to farmers about the kingdom of God being the part of their life that annoys them that's weird the chickens not next line so the parable is about the nature of the kingdom in us it can be annoying why because the nature of growth and change and repentance is uncomfortability in other words Jesus is like if it's making you comfortable it's not the kingdom mm-hmm No hey if you're comfortable with it not Kingdom know if you can observe it not Kingdom in other words in other words actually if the kingdom of God doesn't make you uncomfortable it's idolatry because you already believe that you have arrived that the kingdom of God is the nature of growth that makes us uncomfortable it's the I'll say it I'll say it very practically if the last 10 books she read if you just closed them and went amen what are you doing like if you can't read things that stretch you and move you and grow and make you a bit uncomfortable and Russell not Kingdom in other words in other words we'll never really arrive at it but the kingdom of God is that thing that makes us a bit uncomfortable so we can grow it's it's that it answers the question why well if you ever asked this question why if it's already in there do I not see it yet have you ever thought man it clearly says I have the victory why don't I have victory it clearly says I have I'm freedom from oppression but why don't I have that it's the mustard seed answers the question why because some things you don't even know we're in there until they manifest themselves but let's say this way the mustard seed is that small part of you that has always said yes to God whether you can name it or not and it's growing it's growing it's that small part of you that you don't understand it's in there it's moving you slowly but surely let's say this way Jesus is saying in time and given the right heart condition the kingdom the kingdom in us grows but it's in there all along so when we see the results of it we tend to call the results the kingdom but the kingdom is actually the seed the kingdom's actually that small part of it that small yes not the big yes that's the kingdom which leads me to this as leaders in the Church of Jesus Christ in this community what's your role like when you when you examine Scripture and take it seriously and literal and then you explore the meanings of it and then you explore the event all nature of it like how but but then you then you want to communicate that and in my case I communicate it here in your case you might communicate it from stages but you also might communicate it more often over coffee over a meal and what's your role in communicating the truth of God's Word to somebody whether it be relationally or corporately what's our role and I would say that our role is not to get the result we're looking for our role is to cultivate the ground that is conducive to cooperate with the seed right that's our role because if our role is to get the result we will manipulate people to get the result we think we want but if our role is simply to cultivate an environment conducive to where people keep saying small yeses then that sets us free from manipulating them and it sets them free to journey in their own pace right and it's still establishing the kingdom maybe let's say it this way next like here's what's frustrating Jesus doesn't say how that's the big like come on man if that's your purpose is to establish the kingdom where's the seven steps on hell no no he doesn't say how because I don't think you can establish the kingdom with seven steps because the kingdom is global and there's too many differences too many it's actually actually a say this way Jesus gives us an image with the hope of invoking thirst and longing so we never quit cultivating it that's the issue your role as a leader is to make Jesus so compelling with no manipulation no judgment no shame so that in the ground of their heart at their pace they can keep saying small yeses to God because no yes is too small see here's the problem with idolatry seing results if we say you haven't got to the kingdom till I see this then in their small yes we might go that's not there yet that's not there yet but actually the kingdom is being established every time someone says a small yes whether you can see the results or not and that comes with cultivating ground not focusing on harvest so what if we focused our leadership on cultivating environment atmosphere and ground instead of always looking for results maybe we'd say it this way it's up to the soil to participate with the work of the garden it's up to the soil to participate with the work of the gardener maybe our job is soil cultivators not harvesters maybe what we're called to be in establishing the kingdom is recalled to be a people who make the environment atmosphere the spirit of Jesus so compelling that in people's hearts they can keep saying small yeses because once we in what's once we infect the how this thing just gets so compelling like we don't ever want to be people focused entirely on the literal why we let's think about this way right let's say a humanist is debating a Christian on YouTube and if you're the type of person that gives these people clicks stop right you could see the YouTube thing Christian destroys atheist in a debate and then you click on it and that's not what happened right what happened was twenty minutes of boredom and a wasted life right and here's why that's so boring here's why let's say a humanist is debating a Christian and the humanist is like no Christianity is based on fairy tales and myths humanism 'he's the way to go for these seven reasons right and the christians like no humanism is crap Christianity is the only true way for these seven reasons now let's say that both of them were so compelling that they simultaneously converted the other like the Christians so compelling that the human the humanist is like I'm a Christian now but at the exact same millisecond the humanist is so compelling that the Christian converts to humanism so the Christian is now a humanist and the humanist is now a Christian so on the stage they switch places what's changed absolutely nothing on the level of what something's changed but on the level of hell nothing because if the humanist is the same kind of Christian that he was a humanist he'll end up on stages arguing boring stuff and if the Christian is the same kind of humanist that he was a Christian he's a end up on a stage arguing boring stuff and any debate that if both converted the other nothing changes is the definition of useless right like and let's be honest right let's just be honest somewhere walking the earth tonight I don't know where they are but somewhere walking the earth tonight is the rightest person about God someone is I'm talking about the person that God looks down from heaven and goes I'm almost impressed mm-hmm oh yeah that's what I'm talking about oh yeah oh yeah you've almost got it yeah that guy that guy or girl we're super inclusive and our hyperbolic jokes now the person walking the earth who's the rightest about God what percentage of God do they understand I don't know maybe 1/100 of 1% and the rest of us are behind that do you see the futility of Christians on the internet bickering about the one one thousandth of 1% that they might understand instead of getting about being awesome in our world and creating ground conducive for people to just keep saying small yeses his god journeys them as he's journeyed us right let's take this wait next slide so what do we do with this what's the ventolin Eicher of this well I think we have to understand the difference between object desire and object cause like desire is two parts and if you remove either part you have meaninglessness object desire is that isn't is what you want so to be very elemental when you're three you want to eat all the chocolate that's your object desire your mother is the object cause your mother saying you can't eat all the chocolate right so so your object desire is that what you want your object cause is that which stands in the way of what you want now if you remove either part you have a meaningless existence like if you just get everything you want all the time just like that your life is boring that would be horrendous that would be hell that's by the way how we stuffed heaven up we told the world hey one day you'll get to die and you'll go to a place where you get everything you want all the time with no process at all how bad can you make heaven sound that would be horrendous just getting everything you want all the time with no process that's horrible if you have object desire without object calls you have a meaningless existence that's what Solomon said I got everything I wanted all the time and found my life meaningless but if you have object calls without something you're shooting for you have pointless suffering right here here's the book of Ecclesiastes in one nutshell successful people successfully navigate the tension between depression and melancholy depression is wanting something you don't have melancholy is getting what you thought you wanted only to realize that didn't do it either okay so here's the truth the quality of everyone's life is found in the fullness of which we embrace the object cause the process like what's more fun buying a house or shopping for one and dreaming about the possibilities yeah shopping way more like what's what's what's more fun actually buying a car or test driving all of them yes what's what's more fun getting to know your spouse are getting to the end of knowing them right right right like like the like the best marriages are not the ones are like we've been together 25 years we understand everything about each other there's nothing left to explore no no the best marriages are the ones that like I've been with her 38 years I still have a flippin clue what makes her tick and I love it right right we know we know that this is true in every area of life is to embrace is to embrace the object cause right we know that that's what's true but when it comes to the kingdom we act like we can't enjoy it until we see the results actually what if we could enjoy the process by which we create a fertile ground and enjoy the process of people saying the small yeses along the way and relieve ourselves from the pressure let God get all the results we do the planting in the watering but God gets the fruit that's how Paul framed the whole thing right um have we lost hope because we can't observe it have we started convincing ourself maybe God's not real because it's not looking like what I thought right or let's say this way have we developed a lifestyle of repentance or do we primarily see repentance as a shame-based activity like what if we created a lifestyle of changing the way we think constantly growing with small yeses small yeses small yeses I think tomorrow might talk to you about the nature of the word yes would have some fun with that next light in his kingdom his cross his resurrection is it a doctrinal or is it a fundamental way of seeing our world like do we just believe in the cross and resurrection do we proclaim and announce our doctrine but what about could you imagine a world what if we made a 60-day commitment to not tell people what we believe until they saw it and asked us wouldn't that be better like what a world that would be could you imagine that that we didn't announce before we demonstrated like like Mara what Paul said he said when I came to Cornell I did not come with wisdom or with preaching or even the testimony of God well how do you start a church without wisdom preaching or the word of or the scriptures he says but my but my preaching and my speaking was with a demonstration of the Spirit of God and power right it was he demonstrated before he announced that maybe maybe say this way do we actually believe nothing is wasted like Paul said this because of resurrection if you did it for God you can't waste your life I love that first Corinthians 15:58 if you did it for God you can't waste your life because the resurrection in other words when Paul looked at the literal resurrection that one of the meanings he came to was if you're doing it for God nothing's wasted you can't waste it can't waste it you can't waste it if you're given it a go for God and here's what's so moving Paul wrote that having never known if what he did worked right like Paul died before the Gospels were written before Christianity took oh Paul died horrendously under Nero before he knew if it worked and he was still able to write hey if it works it works if it didn't add it and I did it for God it can't be wasted can't can't can't be wasted are we tempted to walk away from the field just minutes before the mustard seed manifests what if our role as leaders so let's talk about this eventually from an individual perspective is your ground fertile are you or are you saying small yeses still or have you shut down the conversation from a corporate level as leaders let's say you're the worship people your job is not to usher in the presence of God it's not presence of God has been here since before the foundation of the world like like you know imagine it come on let's let's bring the presence of God the poor worship leader like where did it go what if what if what if the worship leaders job is not just the presence of God but to get people to cancel the white noise of their wait long enough to be conscious of what's always there right better what if our preaching is not to tell people what to believe but to create an environment for fertile hearts that keep saying small yeses along the way what if our conversations across tables what if we could feel like we won just because we had the conversation instead of having to see that what if what if we were just compelling each other to keep our heart fertile that let the ground participate with the gardener because the mustard seed is at work that mustard seed is the small part of us that is begging to say yes to God that's what's going on and it's in us it's not something that you can see or hear something that's residing in you so my brothers and sisters may you be people who find all the joy in the world in embracing the cause enjoy the result but embrace the cause enjoy the results but always embrace the cause as leaders in this great church great city equip all over this all over this nation Bay City is a great Church in this community whatever Church you came from may we be people who focus on the quality and the fertility of the ground allow people to say small yeses and still embrace it because the object cause is what we're all about all right so tomorrow night I can't wait to share a couple things with you we're gonna take a whole different issue I got a lot of arrows in my quiver we're gonna share a lot come on back tomorrow night as always I'll honor your time we'll be done 8:15 or so and and then you'll be on your way out at 8:30 I can't wait to journey along this weekend with you grace and peace everybody god bless come on let's put it together for Shane outstanding that was just brilliant when I when I first picked up the church that will first picked up Bay City I felt the Lord give me three three just three keys to it to build the church one was it's about people it's not about you and it's about environment so always work to create an environment and then growth will be an effect of the environment so it's always been about creating an environment for people we have to create an environment for God and that was just outstanding Shane so the next tomorrow night we're starting at 6:00 p.m. which is different from tonight tonight started at 7:00 so tomorrow night what's going to be here at 6:00 p.m. and there is a kid's movie on for primary age school kids is it correct it'd just be in there financial donation 100 bucks each this whatever you can afford it's no problem also Shane's got some material back there I really encourage you to go back and have a look and invest in what is produced there is gonna be absolutely fantastic and I look forward to seeing it tomorrow night god bless you you

Channel: Ascend Global Church

Views: 7,743

Rating: 4.7647057 out of 5

Keywords: Ps Shane Willard, Shane Willard, Shane Willard Ministries, Bay City Church NZ, The Mustard Seed, The Kingdom of God, Evangelisim, Jesus, Holy Spirit, God, Freedom, Sharing your Faith

Id: Ib4CKV0Xdr4

Length: 71min 22sec (4282 seconds)

Published: Sat May 11 2019