The Wheat and Weeds Creation

well good morning thank you for joining us at Woodland Hills this morning we are here you're not and we missed that but we are so thankful for the opportunity to still gather together virtually and to worship together and know that Jesus binds us all together regardless of where we are so I invite you wherever you are in this vast world know that you are loved by Jesus your love by Woodland Hills we're so glad that you're here and we invite you now to worship the Lord with us come on [Music] [Music] our friend [Music] [Music] [Music] and on the cross [Music] we'll never be the same never be the same [Music] Oh we're forever change [Music] [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] glory to glory amen the last time that we this team was up here singing we had a real-life glory to glory moment now the way I explained it in my simple mind is that it's when we release our fears and our inhibitions and we allow God to just draw us closer and closer to him so if you need a recap of you if you weren't here or you didn't tune in the last time my fellow singing made Christine spoke about a song she was singing and how she just had just some reservations around it and the song spoke about embracing our past in the past for this country has been riddled with pain oppression and racism and so it was a struggle for her to actually sing that song but thank God that she did and I believe in that moment she got closer to God I know I did and I'm sure you all of you out there got closer to God as well you know when we get closer to God he reveals to us his true glory hey I don't know about you but for me that's enough that's exciting and so we're gonna sing continue in this worship and if you continue this worship I want you to just imagine yourself going from one glory to the next or getting from one spot in your relationship with Lord and getting closer and closer to God and realizing that he's enough we're gonna have Christmas take us through this next song [Music] to the high [Music] Trott [Music] my life through your promise [Music] I [Music] come raining me [Music] [Applause] [Music] always [Music] always [Music] [Music] [Music] I have everything but we found I have no if I I have everything but without you I have no [Music] without [Music] [Music] hi [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] mr. Silverman [Applause] [Music] Oh Oh [Music] [Music] [Music] Oh Oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] Oh Oh [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] I'm so so good you have to just come up and join oh thank you guys so much thank you so if you were here you would know that there's we don't have a ton of people here because we're following the rules but there are people in different pockets in the auditorium because they couldn't just sit still and they had to worship and praise and dance and just glorify the Lord so I hope wherever you are you did it too and I just want to say that during this time we do we miss our local community greatly but we are so thankful because we have met so many new friends so many new of people have come into the community via being able to zoom in as we are so thankful for that we appreciate you who we love you we believe in what God has for you and so thank you for joining us for this amazing worship for the word that's coming for how you've been with us all these weeks we just deeply appreciate it and now we want to continue with our worship by taking an offering thank you for your support thank you for your engagement your encouragement thank you for your giving it has all been greatly noticed it's greatly appreciated and we just gave God all the glory so you can give on the app you can give on the website and we're just gonna pray join me what you Jesus we thank you we thank you that we can feel your spirit moving we thank you that you are alive and well we thank you that you call us your own we thank you that you connect us and bind us all together in your spirit and we pray right now God that you would continue to move that you would continue to flow that you would continue to love as only you can love Oh God set us free break down walls break down barriers God as only you can we love you Jesus amen amen [Music] you're old enough my recognize that song won't you smile a while for me Sarah hi everybody good to have you joining us I'm Greg Boyd teaching pastor hit Woodland Hills Church and it's hot outside whoa I don't know we found a number of folks from Texas joining us any services and I just want to tell you four guys in Texas I have no idea how you survive I don't I go this morning and had to put on the water and change it once or twice and I come in and I've already just dress and sweat I'm a sweat hog so if you see me sweating up here it's because I'm a sweat hog but we here we call it the anointing so we'll just go with that hey I want to give a shout out thanks you thank you - Ephraim Smith did a great job last week I love that brother he's just he's just a gem before that we had over schita I did give an incredible message I just I'm so blessed to have the kind of teachers available to us that we have right here I will warn you for those of you who are new here's one of the kind of a staple of Woodland Hills a couple times a year I get geeked out I just kind of I'm a theologian it's and and and getting geeky is a hazard of the trade and and what I have a message that is just packed with a lot of stuff you gotta think about and and and this is if you haven't heard me to speak on this topic this is gonna be one of those message so I'm giving a forewarn and get ready to think especially towards the last half of this message I suspect we've been talking about reconciliation the last six weeks baby subordinate man time is kind of Stood Still but and we're gonna continue to talk on that topic we're in a Kairos moment here that I think is just so important to pay attention to the next couple of weeks we'll be addressing some of the questions that you guys have sent in and in fact we'll start that today we'll have a panel talking through some of that stuff today's gonna be a little bit different it's not going to be so explicitly on the topic of racial reconciliation what I'd like to do is zoom out and and it put it in the context of God's broader work of reconciliation and my goal here primarily is this that I want us to capture the there is a unique very challenging humble attitude that followers of Jesus are to assume as we go about God's reconciling work and and it's it's it's a it's an attitude that is challenging it goes against our fallen nature and it contrasts sharply with what we find in the surrounding culture to get at this I want to read a parable from the book of Matthew one of Jesus parables one of his stranger parables actually it's on the wheat and the weeds in a lot of translations as the wheat and the tares tares are just in other word for weeds and so I'll be talking about that though the wheat and the weeds here's the parable it starts with verse 24 Matthew 13 Jesus put before them this parable the kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone no no he's talking about the kingdom of heaven good general topic it can be compared to someone who sowed good seed in this field so there's a good farmer and he sells good seed but well everyone was asleep an enemy came and sowed seeds among the wheat and then he went away so when the plants came up and bore grain then the weeds appeared as well and the slaves of the hollow soldier came and said to him master do you not give me not so good seed in your field I just want to say a word about this translation here other words do loss and it can be translated slave or sometimes it's translated the servant just got to know that saying slave in that context doesn't have the same connotation as in the pre abolition South these were more like indentured servants they could work their way out of slavery to become citizens and so it wasn't quite the same thing it was a tough it was a tough position to be in but it wasn't anything like we had in the south so just kind of make that mental adjustment there and he answered they asked where do these weeds come from and Jesus and then the farmer says an enemy has done this the slave said to him then do you want us to go and gather them but he replied no for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat with them let them grow together until the harvest and at the harvest time I will tell the Reapers to collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned but gather the wheat into my barn all right so the wheat here the we here is the good seed that is sold by the good father the good farmer the good farmer always those good seat but in the field of this good for where you'd expect to have nothing but good seed nothing but wheat we find that there's other kind of plants things that are not in case it wasn't someone by the farmer it was sown by the enemy their weeds these worthless growing things that wrap around the stock of the harvest and they suck out the nutrients that's that the good crop needs but for whatever reasons and this parable is not given to us as a theodicy as an explanation for evil but for whatever reasons here the farmer has to let the to grow together and only at the end at the harvest time will they be separated this an enemy has done now before I get into the meat of this message here I there's two primary words I want to make about this this thing just avoid misunderstanding number one it's important to know that this parable is descriptive it's not prescriptive Jesus here is describing a state of affairs the good farmer sowing good seed but then there's other things in his field that are not from the farmer he's describing something he's not prescribing any like behavior towards us he's certainly not suggesting that because the farmer has to wait till the end at to separate the weeds from the wheat he's not suggesting that we are never supposed to address weeds weeds in our life or weeds in society in fact Jesus ministry is all about him confronting weeds in people's life and uprooting those things so that's not the point of it the parable is really not about us at all it's about the farmer and about this field and the point of it is that the good farmer shows only good seed but there's other things going on than just the farmer there are things in the field of the farmer that he did not plant that are harmful and threatening to the good harvest that he has so that's that's the first thing that's any saying it's gonna stay that way more or less until the Lord returns until this harvest time the second thing I want to say is that it has to do with the word enemy an enemy has done this and this is primarily for people who are relatively new to Woodland Hills Church folks here have been here awhile or more familiar with this the enemy there refers to the one that the New Testament calls Satan or the devil the destroyer the accuser and it would include also the things the New Testament read about principalities and powers and dominions and authorities and rule and they refer to different levels of angelic beings and in the apocalyptic context in which the New Testament is written we know a lot about these categories of rulers and authorities and principalities and powers because that's talked about in the other literature and in general their view was that that just as God entrusted us with some responsibility for the earth in the animal kingdom and we're supposed to reflect God's character and loving for them so also God entrusted these high-ranking principalities and powers with authority over fundamental aspects of creation and society over structural access of creation and over sucess aesthetic aspects of society and it's not that that these powers in this apocalyptic world view it's not that they they control people but they influence people people are still morally responsible and making their choices God does of course them in the devil can't coerce them but there's influence here there's a pluton influence that they have in the world according to this the New Testament is apocalyptic world view now I know that it's not fashionable to believe in these things today or at least not among academics most people throughout history up until very recently and still for much of the world they just knew that there was something sinister going on out of the world they all believed in spiritual powers whatever but in the modern West and academic circles it's not fashionable it's what CS Lewis referred to as the you know the the fad of the current times they change all the time it's not that there's any evidence against it's just that it's not fashionable to believe that now I believe that these principalities and powers and Satan are real until logically real and I think I've got good reasons for that I explained that a couple weeks ago I don't want to get into that but I just want to encourage you if you're agnostic about this or you just think it's impossible try to keep an open mind and I want to encourage you to not associate when I say devil or Satan or press flesh and powers try not to get a picture in your mind and what that looks like because what will come up is some kind of medieval cartoon of Satan with the you know red skin and spiked tail and pitchfork and all that kind of stuff the thing is this all depictions of the principalities and powers are mythological they all are because they're trying to say here's what Satan and the principalities and powers look like but the truth is that the Satan that Satan and the principalities and powers don't look like anything there invisible and so any conception of them is going to be mythic and I think a lot of people they throw out this idea of Satan and the principalities and powers because they're largely thinking of those mythological depictions of them those mythological depictions I believe point to a reality and the reality they point to is like you could call it transcendent evil transcendent evil so in hell if it helps you when I'm talking about Satan and the principalities and powers just think transcendent evil there's a force that is corrupting the world as we know it today transcendent evil so we live in this wheat and weed creation in the file in the creator's good in the creator's good field there are things that are not and that are not of the Creator by the way I'm getting this weed and wheats universe or wheat and wheat cosmos concept from this book by person in Creegan CRE e GN and the book is called animal suffering and the problem of evil by octave put all by oxford press it was really a good book to read if you like that kind of thing if you're into philosophy and theology and whatever it's it's a good book so he refers to the wheat and tares world I'll refer to the wheat and weeds world the wheat is all the stuff that ultimately originates from God others participate in in bringing it about but it originates from God the weeds being things that are contrary to God's purpose and you can tell the difference because the heart the wheat always reflects the good character of the farmer and the weeds don't the weeds are always destructive they're always sucking life out of things they're always destroying things but in our present world it's not always easy to clearly distinguish between the two because they are all wrapped up together everything's kind of a mixed bag of wheat and weeds so that that's the preliminary word now I take it to the meat of my message I want to start by wishing you a happy fourth of July weekend I hope you all are enjoying these wonderful season we're in now here's the thing some of you were you surprised to hear this but I've been accused of being a fourth of July killjoy I've been accused of being unpatriotic I've been accused of not loving my country and and I thought I'd this is a good occasion July 4th 2020 this wonderful year that we have having where everyone is really happier than usual I thought it's time to come straight set the record straight so here's the record straight it's all true I'm a communist what can I say I'm sorry I know here think it's true that I shouldn't say that it's true why shouldn't I so here's the thing um the the I was gonna say it's true that I don't pledge allegiance to the flag that's true and because I don't think that we should be pledging our leaves us to anyone other than Jesus Christ in his kingdom it's true that I don't think the 4th of July should be a holiday night we celebrating church fine and the broader culture wonderful but it's a war for crying out loud it's a war where Christians were fighting Christians and and whatever the outcome however benefits us however much we might like that or not like it how can we celebrate that in the church I don't think you should be a Christian holiday and I'll tell you honestly since I'm trying to be honest here right now I'm not particularly happy with my country and right now I'm not particularly proud of my country but I will tell you I'm always grateful for it III I appreciate that the ideals of our of America I think are brilliant liberty and justice for all it's brilliant I think our Constitution is brilliant I think the separation of church and state is brilliant I know we've never come close to living up to those ideals but the fact that we have those ideals and we're inching towards them is a positive thing many countries aren't never in that position we're inching forward we don't walk in a straight line we walk more like a drunk coming out of the bar at 3:00 a.m. you know we stagger you know there's the country staggers we strip over ourselves we stumble backwards sometimes quite a ways but we get up and we keep an eye on inching towards it I appreciate that it took a long time coming but I appreciated the fact that I live in a country where everyone has at least in principle a say a vote in what goes down and I know there are still forces that are trying to restrict that there's that drunk again trying to make his way forward but but we're heading in the right direction I appreciate that I think that you know there's a lot historians would argue that because of these ideals America has been the single greatest force in raising the bar on human dignity and human freedom throughout the globe and that's a wonderful thing we've even got a so it's argued some would argue it's not true today as it has been the past but America has usually been very generous when it comes to global causes and in the plight of other countries so there's a lot there that I would call a wheat a lot of good stuff but see it's a mixed bag I think it's a mixed bag because there's also a lot of weeds and we've been talking about the weeds a lot lately and that's why we felt we kind of need to balance this out a little bit but there are a lot of weeds we've just got to admit that the weeds of I mean the country was founded on a premise of white superiority that's indisputable it was obvious they didn't conceal that they were outlawed about it they called it manifest destiny it's obvious it's manifest that whites are supposed to rule because they're superior and and this is what Paul would call a principality in power if possible we established a principality and power or invited in a principality and power in the founding of this country and it's done nothing but grow weeds ever since the principality of power of white supremacy it's created an enormous amount of weeds that were still coming against to this very day so America is a mixed bag and I would say the same thing about all countries and that's not to say that all countries are exactly the same that they have the same mixture of good and evil I think some countries are certainly better than others when it comes to human rights and dignity and things like that but all of them are to some degree a mixed bag and it means that you're never gonna find a country or a nation that's unambiguously good or unambiguously evil though some have tried very hard to get to that latter thing it's a mixed bag it's a wheat and terror thing it's all a part of the father's field and yet there are things in this field and therefore things in America that do not reflect the father's great wonderful character but see here's the thing the reason why you can't find countries that are unambiguously good is because you can't find people that are unambiguous ly good and people are what constitute countries people are a mixed bag human beings are a mixed bag we are our wheats and we have weeds here's the way the Bible talks about it on the one hand we are we we are made in the image of God and that's the title of incredible dignity if you understand it in the ancient Anderson context that's a title of royalty yeah but the author Genesis want to say that human beings are made to be kings and queens on this planet we're God's viceroys we're given responsibility for the Ruffini animal kingdom and so this is wonderful I mean the Bible talks about us in terms that are more exalted than we would normally think it's surprising how we're be just a little bit lower than the Angels it's incredible the dignity that the Bible describes to human beings but at the same time because of the fall the Bible describes us in terms that are worse than we would expect I mean apart from Christ the Bible tells us that we are there's none that are righteous we wrought we all fall short of the glory of God we are blind in our sin we're slaves in our sin and there's none that does righteousness Paul says in and in Romans two we cannot save ourselves we're out all we would not even have that impulse to try to seek out God Paul says there's none that our own seeks out after God and so so we have we have a wheat essence but we got a lot of weeds going on a lot of things about us are not are not ideal and I think we all know that just by a little introspection and we ask yourself I however you estimate yourself however you evaluate yourself however good you think you are do you always try your hardest to do the best always have you 24/7 just but committed yourself to loving the Lord your God with all your heart all your mind all your body all your strength and loving your neighbor as yourself 24/7 you know all of us know we're not as good as we could be we all know that we're broken we all know that we fall short and Alexander Solzhenitsyn said this he said that the line between good and evil where's their quote here the line separating good and evil passes not through States nor between classes nor between political parties but right through every human heart and though all you might and through all human hearts and even within hearts overwhelmed by evil one small bridgehead of good is retained it runs through every human heart we have a tremendous need for good in we have a tremendous capacity for evil and it that's not to say that everybody it looks like written nations it's not to say that everybody that so aren't more morally evolved than others it's not to say that we can't distinguish people who are you know aligned with good causes and people who are aligned with bad causes but it is to say that we are all a mixed bag there's a world of difference between Martin Luther King and an adolf hitler obviously right and we can tell the difference between those two at least I hope you can but Martin Luther King would admit that he's a sinner in need of salvation in need of Jesus Christ and and in that sense in terms of being estranged from God he's on the same plane as Hitler the line runs through everybody so we're all a mixed bag we're all a mixed bag you see that when you look at our founding fathers there's a lot of good that is there a lot of good that is there but there's also a lot of junk that is there two of the for folks that are enshrined and Mount Rushmore owned slaves so it's a mixed bag but seeing our polarized society people are getting siloed into their own little echo chambers there they're getting the reality of their choice and so the brains get hardened their categories get hardened and and and people get polarized and in this kind of context there's always a pool towards extremes and so you have some folks who when they talk about America you know they see the weeds and and and the way they talk you think that there's no wheat there at all evils simply the Americans simply the evil empire then you listen to other folks and and this is kind of more where our textbooks tend to be and they kind of just say yeah there's been a few weeds with just little tiny things you get the impression that America is almost 100% wheat with a few little weeds here the truth is it's a mixed bag it's a mixed bag and and that's what Jesus parable should set us up to expect everything is a mixed bag so nations are a mixed bag because people are a mixed bag and people are a mixed bag because and this is where I'm gonna rattle a few cages maybe or this may be a new thought just keep an open mind but we're a mixed bag because creation is a mixed bag we live in a wheat and weed creation says this in classrooms one that God was in Christ all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things whether on earth or in hell by making peace through the blood of the cross this passage has been burning in me lately I just can't been seared into my consciousness see the passage is telling us that God is at work and thro all the creation in the physical realm and in the spiritual realm to reconcile all things to himself and to reconcile everything to one another to bring peace to bring Shalom wholeness harmony to the whole of creation which that's the stream that's what God's doing in the world today is always at every moment pushing in that direction to bring harmony wholeness so the whole creation would reflect his peace and his harmony and his beauty but that means that at the present time the creation doesn't have this Shalom of God it's not harmonious it's full of conflict it's full of things that were planted not by God but by an enemy that's why Paul says in Romans 8 that the whole creation has been subjected the whole creation that subjected to futility and to decay and it's groaning like a woman in labor waiting for the or the redemption of the children of God because the redemption of human beings and of the creation go hand in hand so that there's something off with creation it's in pain it's has suffering at a fundamental structural level Paul says that the whole creation was subject to decay well that's called the second law of thermodynamics it's one of the most foundational laws of physics that there are it describes our present world and yet here Paul says that's the result of this bondage that the creation is under it wasn't supposed to be that way this way throughout the Bible you find death is seen as an enemy an alien intruder it wasn't supposed to be this way it's spoken of know it given the laws of physics giving the second law of thermodynamics death is the most natural thing in the world but the Bible tells us that that's not natural which tells us that the second law of thermodynamics isn't there is it identical with the original laws that God put in place for this creation it's why Jesus his whole ministry would spend confronting people with infirmities and and deformities and blindness and all sorts of things like that these are all things that were products of the laws of physics as we now find them and yet never once does Jesus never once did he say well this is just the natural order of things when he confronts a person who's deformed or has something not working never once does he say well this is the world of my father hi this is wheat you may not look like week but it's actually wheat this is a good thing that you're blind or deform for what have you he never does that what he does he says this an enemy has done this an enemy has done and he roots it out he uses the authority of God to write that thing out of the person's life this an enemy has done the Gospels always decide and it's not that there's a demon behind every headache or a reflection or or whatever but what it's saying is that if it was not for the fact that this creation is in bondage to something alien to God against God if it wasn't for that we wouldn't have these kind of deformities and infirmities and diseases and all the rest of things it raises the question well how did creation get so screwed up how does an all good all-powerful God have a creation where you got covert 19 in it for crying out loud well Jesus parable gives us the answer to that this an enemy has done an enemy has done this now in traditional theology at least since the fifth century on Adam and Eve took the fall for this they blamed the fall of Adam and Eve on the corruption of nature that's been the standard explanation at least one fourth fifth century on and you can roughly find that in the biblical text but see if you accept science and I do that explanation is no longer possible what we know is that there's been animal suffering there's been predation animals feeding on animals or organisms on organisms for at least 500 million years soon after the pre Cambrian explosion no I can't get into right now Hall you might fit Adam and Eve into the story I don't have time for that but what's interesting to me is that the early church the early church fathers didn't tend to go didn't tend to blame it on Adam and Eve the earliest fathers saw the human fall more as a microcosm of a bigger fall a cosmic fall a cosmic rebellion because the New Testament talks about that and and and so they put the blame on the principalities and powers corrupting nature as we find it a good representative is a theologian named Nathan aghoris early second century theologian and here's what he says he's explaining to non-christians why the world so screwed up and he says Satan you're first the Satan is the spirit who was entrusted with the control of matter and the forms of matter so this is a agent that got entrusted with the fundamental structure of physical things straightness in the second century unfortunately he says this prince of matter now exercises a control and management of the cosmos that's contrary to the good that isn't God there was a rebellion and now this this prince Satan uses his authority at cross-purposes with God there's a transcendent evil that is interfering with the good field of the farmer and so they're all suffering and violence in creation according to that aghoris is a result of these the corrupting influence of this ruling prince and the demons his followers that's how the early church understood all that stuff it's nasty in nature and they're aware of that how could all good all-powerful God create like a nature where you've got mosquitos in it for crying out all those blood sucking varmints but you got parasites that curling the little kids eyes and eat it from the inside out you've got you've got all sorts of organisms out there that can eat skin or that of me but that gets in your ear and then eats your people's brains and all sorts of sinister nasty stuff that doesn't look like wheat that doesn't reflect the character of the all-loving all good God is revealed in Jesus Christ no this an enemy has done the early church saw that CS Lewis I think captured it just perfectly the the whole kind of thinking of the New Testament when he said this and every moment in this creation in its cosmos every square inch is claimed by Satan and counterclaim by God every square but he's getting at is that the wheat and tares polarity it's in the very fabric of things now see that with the way the West has tended to interpret the Bible it's very human centered very anthropocentric and so we've tended to see the whole thing about salvation in the fall and the problem of sin and all that it's simply a human god thing as though the creation was just fine as it is but in the Bible and in the early church they understood that the fall is a cosmic thing it's a whole creation thing so Redemption is a cosmic thing it's a whole creation thing and God's interesting interested in salvaging the whole thing Paul says that God is at work by means of the blood of the Cross to reconcile everything in the physical realm and everything in a spiritual realm to God because all of it is contaminated with this transcendent evil that's polluting it and in the end all that is inconsistent with the creation comes from sources other than God this transcendent evil so the creation is a mixed bag it's a mixed bag in every aspect of the creation is a mixed bag a wheat and tares thing so for here's one a little example illustration my wife we had a dog named max died three years ago and my wife loved that dog he just loved max in fact I I'd say I've never witnessed a dog human connection like I had between those two it was a little weird I mean max would sit and stare at her with adoration for hours just like worshipped her and yeah it's just so my wife really loves and why not cuz we have an adorable dog do we have a picture my dog he's darling so cute who could not love this dog what a creation of God so good but my wife also loved this little this nest of little birds said was we had in our tree in our backyard I started with a nest of a couple eggs and she found she would go here well selfie stick and take pictures of it every day and report on the progress that she was so excited about it I started to bond with these little little things and then they hatch and they're so cute and she's always up there messing with them and she was like with a selfie and they're like well one day I hear max barking loudly all back and I go what's up what's up and I get run back there and I get back there just in time to see my cute adorable wonderful little dog chomp on the head of that little a little bird had fallen all the nests and falling on the ground helpless vulnerable and max bites into it and kills it and Shelley was boy max was in the doghouse after that I just saw that just now my way was so mad at max like I see him talk to max for two days and that's a lot cuz he was always talking to max I mean that was his there she was always talking to me but Dada she was mad at Max the poor max he's just doing what he was bred to do I mean humans bred these dogs to go after small rodents and so Max was just operating out of his instinct so that's natural for him but see I don't think I don't think I reflects the wheat of the grid farmer I don't the God who is antithetical to violence is gonna just say yeah I think I create a little dog that's so cute in East little birds I think my dog and this is gonna hit some people weird but I think my dog needs Redemption now I love my dog works at all you know that's what it is in a fall word to love people is to love them with their weeds and to love dogs is a love dogs with their weeds but but see in the end and the Lions gonna lay down with the lamb someday that violence streak throughout nature was gonna be eradicated in the harvest the weeds are going to be separated from the wheat and and I don't I I think I'll see max again and I don't think he's gonna be chewing on little birds I think it's me a different max now he asked me a question like well what's that gonna look like what would a lion look like if it was a carnivorous lion laying down with the lamb and cobra praying or playing with her the boy hi how is that gonna what does that look like and my answer is I don't have a clue I don't have a clue but I don't have a clue what Jesus resurrected body looked like either I mean he could eat fish and then pass through walls ten minutes later you think he'd at least leave the fish behind on the wall splat OH but half-digested fish so who can figure that stuff out all's I know is that the creation is a mixed bag and it goes in the very fabric of things and I won't be able stay that way until the end so having said that laying the groundwork here I mean it's we're all broken nations are broken because people are broken and people are broken because the creation is broken and God is now at work to stream that God's in is he's aiming towards reconciliation harmony wholeness and all things by means of the blood of Christ so let me wrap this up with three quick little summary points what the first is that what Colossians 1 and many other passages tell us is that that the gospel is reconciliation it's all about reconciliation the good news is that hey everything's broken now but it will get fixed the gods bringing the wholeness and harmony into all creation it involves the whole creation but the gospel is reconciliation this is what God does it sums up the whole thing that God's God's into these days and racial reconciliation is simply a subset of the broader reconciliation that God's doing at a cosmic level I point that out to say this to be the people of God to be the follower of Jesus Christ is to be a reconciler therefore we're invited to participate with God and what God's doing in this universe and what he's doing is Colossians 1 19 and 20 bringing reconciliation to all things that's our true north that's our compass that that's the direction everything is having an hour job as the church is to participate with God in doing that so here's the thing there's a lot of white churches I know right now who are wondering should we be involved in reconciliation stuff you know it's kind of controversial you might have some people I'll tell you this that US sees white superiority assert itself go to a white church where they have never talked about racial issues because there's a long tradition of the white shirts ignoring these kind of things and-and-and-and go to one of the churches and start trying to do that boom I know three people right now three pastors who are out of work because they weighed in on this and their boards did not like it and that other boards would say we're not there's nothing racist about us but it was completely you're ruffling feathers you're causing problems you're bla bla bla bla well here's they're considering it as an option as though should we or shouldn't we and I'm here to say it ain't an option this is an optional this isn't a superfluous thing Jesus died for this as I pointed out a couple weeks ago Ephesians 2 he died to create one new humanity and turn on all the walls that divide us that's why he died that's part of what we were there for what we're supposed to be doing and to not preach racial reconciliation though Jesus died for this is on the same level as not preaching the forgiveness of sins because Jesus died for that - it's a heretic coulis could be and what makes this even more important is that as I pointed out a couple weeks ago it was the failure of the church to preach the atonement that the other side of the atonement this helmet that brings about this one new humanity and tears down the walls the failure of the church to preach that the white shirts to preach that into practice that ultimately that is why we have all the weeds we have our own race in this country if a fraction of Christians were actually preaching this and believing this and walking in this slavery never could have got off the ground no if you're in the business of reconciliation you don't slay people and then when they finally get set free you don't start working ingenious ways of taking back everything they just got because of the civil war and emancipation of proclamation the gospel is reconciliation ants now Oh Sybil number two we've got to get come clean with the fact that we are all broken we're all broken this is what the Bible means when talks about us being in Adam and Adam we are broken we're all broken in different ways we come into this world broken some are broken physically things that are supposed to work don't work some are broken cognitively some all of us are broken spiritually in part because we we inherit a whole lot of stuff from our whole biological past the warfare lately leading up to where we're at I were born with stuff that is not naturally consistent with the will of God godliness does not come natural for very many of us there's things you got to curve back on that where we're born spiritually broken and see it's important for us to accept that to embrace that because we can't step into the stream of what God's doing in this creation unless we're willing to that's we're going to embrace that brokenness what it means is that the church's mission is not to be the unambiguously redeemed people who are now green administer to the unambiguously unredeemed people it's not like that doesn't divide that way the church's mission is to be a people who are broken and in the process of being healed who are going to be ministering to other folks who are broken and hopefully in the process of being healed or we want to help them be in the process of being healed and the only difference between us is that we know where true north is if we know what God is up to in this world we know what is up to in my life and I know what is up to in your life and so we want to participate in that but we don't enter this as we don't step into the stream of what God's doing as the righteous people versus the unrighteous people we step in as the broken people who are going to minister to other broken people and we just have to know where true north is this is so so important I think because in the world the way you usually go about aligning sides is is it's not and it's not predicated on brokenness it's predicated on who's more righteous who's more righteous who's smarter who's got the better ideas who's you know it's all predicated on that and that's why there's all this incredible conflict if we start with our brokenness see we have all this in common one of the best ways to get people to lay down their defenses is to share brokenness because they can resonate with that and there's immediately a bridge and empathy that is their bottom line folks that means that in the kingdom and this is our unique attitude is already next ants we have to have there is a humility that should characterize all that we do a humility we know that we are broken and we can't stand in judgment of others we can still just turn right from wrong we can still just assert good causes from bad causes if our hearts in the right place but we have to confess that when we enter this thing we are sinners in fact Jesus says and Paul says that we should consider ourselves the worst of sinners not that we're objectively the most evil people on the planet but it's an attitude of humility that were were encouraged to to assume so it means that when well as Pat we want to be passionately for justice but we always have to do that knowing that we're not superior to the ones that were that are on the side of injustice oh we want to stand up against racism but without hating the racist we have to realize that we all stand by God's grace it's a different kind of a stance it creates a kind of a dance it's challenging but it's important the third final thing is this redemption is by the blood of the Cross God is working to bring so long do everything by means of the blood of the Cross it means that the primary way that we step into this stream is is by imitating the blood the cross that that's just a first-century way of saying self sacrificial love the blood of the Cross is that other oriented humble self sacrificial love willingness to serve we man we participate in the stream of God by ourselves doing that I've always said that the kingdom begins in your life with your first drop of blood and-and-and-and so it's when it cost us something personally so what it means is that the primary way that we are reconciler x' is not first and foremost by what we say we believe or what we scream we believe or by the sign that we carry that says what we believe or by how we vote every two to four years showing what we believe as important as all that is but the primary way that were to participate is by our own willingness to sacrifice for the sake of others and and and so it's about relationship building it's about Minh the kingdom operates through relationships we'll hear more about that next week among other things that means this and here I want to speak to our my white brothers and sisters if you're really really serious about being involved in this work of reconciliation then it's great that you're willing to say what you believe on things and to show it with a sign if that's appropriate into a little rest that's fine how you vote but but it means you're gonna have to if you're living in a homogenous white bubble you're gonna have to get out more because you can't you can't build relationships with people are different from you if you're quarantined with the people who that are exactly like you you need to diversify so of folks oh and one final thing what finally and now I promised my last thing because I'm running over one advantage of being in the season that we're not quite as the Anil as we used to be a lot of time so that's a plus but I don't want to take advantage of that so so knowing that that it's by means of the blood of the cross that the world will be reconciled it changes our endgame in the world the most they can do is have laws that curb behavior and and and so when it comes like the George Floyd murder the end game is to see justice done by having the prisoner by having police officers pay whatever price Society says they should pay for this crime and that's the end dereck chauvinism prison end of story that's a victory and that is a victory and I think that that honors George Floyd's life but from a kingdom perspective that's at the that's at the final and the final end God's aiming at reconciling all things and Derek Shelvin is part of the all things and while there's a lot of wheats and wheat in this young man there's a kernel a lot of weeds in that that young man and his thinking and whatever there's a there's a essence of wheat there he's a child of God in the image of God and in the end the end game for us involves loving our enemies forgiving our enemies doing good to our enemies praying for our enemies and hoping that they come into the stream and get freed from their own oppression Martin Luther King saw this so well that to stand for reconciliation and freedom is yudice and not just for your own reconciliation freedom but you want to see your oppressor freed as well that's the kingdom now there's a long history a sad history of Christian pastors especially telling black folks and brown folks hey you need you did forgive and forget and move on and that was nothing but a subterfuge for saying we don't want to deal with your problems a long history of that and that fed the principalities in power it's transcendent evil and I need to be aware of that history as I weigh in on this because if it means that it's the first thing I were to say after the George Floyd murder the first thing I as a white person we're to say buzz hey black folks I know you took a hit on this one but you know if you're Christian you got to forgive and you know just can't move on and love him if that's the first one of my mouth I placed into this whole pattern of sweeping everything under the rug you see that's why history knowing history is so important on this it's easy for me to say I love the racist because I've never once in my life and hurt by a racist never once but if you've had four centuries of this forgiving and loving your enemy it's really really costly and and and when you're coming out a place the woundedness that that can take time and you got to work through some anger and there's a process there the process isn't necessarily pretty but we've got to make space for that process and allow that process to unfold on and so on but still having said that the endgame is always the endgame the true north is our true north and that is the cross and that means that our heart we want to move in the direction of having a heart where we genuinely hope to see Derrick Shelvin freed from his bondage and brought into the kingdom of light and and and it displaying the radiance of a child of God I hope to see that someday and I pray for that I encourage all of us to it's a completely different endgame two completely different strategy completely different attitude that we're to bring to these issues than what we find typical in this world wheat and tares world reading tears nation wheat and wheat and weeds people wheaton leads creation but God's redeeming the whole thing and at this point I like to call it my I have esteemed panel that we're gonna talk about some things and so I'll turn it over to the lovely hey I was really cool how are you jumped up she thought song was over or it was ending so she gets up there realized oh they got another you know five minutes to play so she just joins dance in the background just flows with it anyway hey Shana thank you Greg pointing that out for those who maybe missed it that's great we have what Greg said been talking in this series about these issues for several weeks and as is always the case you guys who are watching and tuning in and engaging in the sermons in a variety of ways have been sending in questions and and there have been many that have been sent in repeatedly and so we're gonna take today and the next few couple of weeks to to dive into some of those questions so thank you for your engagement thank you for tuning in thank you for putting yourself out there about asking these questions and we've got Kevin here with us today and we're excited about that and we have Cedric back with us again today very excited and then the sweaty Roy the sweaty Gregory Boyd thank you guys for being here we really do appreciate it there have been a lot of conversations happening which are good and people have had many questions and and people are getting poked in certain ways people are fine they're feeling like they can breathe because this is being talked about and so it's been a mixed bag of responses just as Greg was preaching and one of the things that we keep hearing back is the fact that as all of the protests are happening and people are speaking out there's been a lot of challenges to change certain laws the question is and I'm gonna address this to you Kevin the question is is why are we focusing on laws instead of focusing on people's hearts and then if we're truly focusing on people's hearts instead of laws then why aren't we taking this opportunity to get more people quote unquote saved that their hearts turn towards salvation great question yeah well first thing I want to say about that is that the concept of salvation in Scripture is we've shrunk it down to being an inner sort of personal spiritual or soul matter and that's definitely part of what salvation music script but the concept of being saved or salvation in the Bible is much bigger it's holistic it involves that inner personal soul heart dimension but also the external behaviors and social structures as well the paradigmatic story of salvation in the Bible we need to remember this is the exodus from Egypt where God delivers his people from slavery underneath an oppressive Empire and so that's a paradigmatic paradigm story of being saved and and certainly then they're freed so that then they can learn the Torah and live out new ways from the heart from the inside out but they also need to be delivered physically from this bondage so salvation is is inner and outer Jesus when he preached his kingdom he definitely addressed both as a both/and issue it's frustrating sometimes when I see this battle where the inner dimension and the kingdom is being pitted against the external dimension the social gospel against the gospel of renewal and and such but Jesus addresses both levels so on the one hand we see in Matthew 15 where Jesus is talking about looking inside our hearts any and and and from the heart come all these evil dimensions all these evil acts etc he then uses the metaphor of a cup we need to clean the inside of the cup in order for good things to flow from that but then in Matthew 21 Jesus also enters the temple and he cleanses the temple so he talked about cleaning the inside of a cup our hearts then he walks into the temple and he does this temple cleansing act and the temple wasn't just a religious structure in there the Jewish system of Jesus time the temple was the combination of their political the religious and economic system all rolled into one it was their banking system their it they created laws there for guiding people's behavior and it was the place of worship well Jesus goes into this social structure and does this cleansing and so what we see Jesus doing is addressing both the heart as well as the system's and that's what the kingdom is about and I feel like we need to hold those two things together I love Gregg how you really emphasize both of those things in your message today the need for us to look at both levels it's not an either/or thing salvation isn't an either/or yeah so and so do you guys think we need to solely for saying no but then where does trying to influence change and the laws come into play with with this whole let's call this a pandemic that we're facing right now with racial tension systemic racism and all of that do we just focus on the hearts or is there a place to try to have an influence in the way things are run on a on a larger scale you know III think it look at Paul in acts 16 where he was thrown in prison unjustly and he called on the magistrate and said hey this is wrong and he thank you me the magistrate come he wouldn't leave the prison until the magistrate escorted him out I think to put on display to hold the magistrate to account of their own laws and maybe out other motives as well and so you have precedent for it in Scripture and the thing is this like if you know I could get a political but if you're if your mother is suffering under an unjust log gonna be unjustly deported or whatever yeah I I'm be interesting changing the hearts of the people who made the lawmakers but right now I want to I want her to be able to stay with her kids her five kids and I wanna and when you love somebody I mean it's just natural to say what can I do to rectify the situation and if there's an unjust law that's abusing this person and you've got a voice well like Paul how can you not use it so I see it as both and yeah the other thing is that laws what it can't change hearts they can't sometimes they'll even aggravate hearts more but over time they set a new norm and that's what happened with the civil rights you set a new norm and it's so the kids don't grow up seeing segregation they grow up now it's gone because was outlawed and so that raises the bar on its own so yeah and socially that's all you have to work with his laws so I I think it's a both/and the key here I think is to go full circle with the humility thing is we in doing that in instinct I think this is the unjust law and I want to help this person by rectifying it I have to do that with humility knowing that I and I'm just as prone as anybody else to get sucked into the polarities and the politics and the culture and as a whole history of Christians thinking that we're superior and we can figure out how to run countries and although stuffins been disastrous but I'm not trying to claim I know anything about how to run a country I don't what immigration laws I don't know I'm not gonna try to run the world but I know this person is hurting and that laws when hurting them and I have a voice that I can use and so let's use it all the while staying humble yeah like just add one more thing Martin Luther King said just kind of to jump off where you said Greg that laws can't change hearts but laws can restrain the hard-hearted and I feel like that's an important thing that is to intervene in a way that reduces harm to people we can use our voice in our vote for that yeah well circling back to that humility piece again I really appreciate Greg a couple of things that you've done throughout this series I love that you didn't start right out from the gate like you said today with okay it's time to forgive because honestly that would be really hard not that that's not what's needed but that would just be a hard thing to hear in that in that fresh raw moment and would probably be wounding precisely because it plays into the pattern that's been going on for centuries and thereby feeds the principality and powers and that's where that historical awareness is so important absolutely absolutely and I and I really was struck by I think it was in that very first week with passion and and with just this raw emotion you talked about roaring on behalf of people of color and the black community and black and brown people and systemic racism and white privilege and all of that you talked about roaring and so but we're also supposed to be humble in that and so I have a few thoughts because that's I've had to process what that would look like as a person of color but also as a woman I mean if if you out there or any kind of marginalized group that has ever been marginalized you know what it's like to have to wrestle with how do I react humbly how do I hate what is happening and have righteous anger about that but not hate the person that's been such a process and I think where I am and I'm still process because ask me on any given day and I could be not as close as I need to be but I think where I am is knowing again Who I am in Christ that he didn't make a mistake when he created me or any of us and recognizing who you are in Christ and you and recognizing that we are all image bearers in Christ and not being afraid to take my seat at the table because at the banquet table there is room for all and we have a place there and if someone is telling you nope you don't have a place it is it is not the humble thing or even the loving thing to do to shrink back and say oh you're right oh you're right continue to dominate no it is our place to say no we do have a place at the table that's not always easy because sometimes people's power and influence is greater but we have to see ourselves as having that rightful place as being image bearers and having a say-so and and standing up for ourselves and you can do that in humility it means that I recognize that we are on the same footing like we are looking eye to eye right I'm not looking up to you and you're not looking down to me and nor am I looking down to others right we are seeking to encourage and empower one another and liberate one another right do you guys have any other helpful thoughts about that because like I said it's not always easy to get to that place but it's what's helped me some throughout this process I would agree I think that it has been very interesting during this time to hear other people of color talk about this and navigate what happened with murder of George Florida and a lot of other things since then that has happened I think one of the hardest things you kind of hit on in China is to know that at this time as a Kingdom bearer a person of God a child of God that I need to do a Greg said which is to forgive and in doing that emotionally to be honest with myself to say I'm not there yet yep and based on the history that I need to get there but based on what has happened I'm not there yet and I am working to get that was hard for me in the very very beginning I think if I would have heard that I I don't know if I would have been able to do it at that time I think that through time that I have been able to kind of walk through navigate and I think that people of color specifically black people need to hear that because it is hard to have the pressure at times to say that knowing that the Word of God says that we need to forgive our enemies but also like everything else it's a process and within that process we need to make sure that if you don't go through the process you end up getting to the other side and really not dealing with what needs to be dealt with so I would say to my fellow black and brown people that um you don't necessarily need to be there as of yet I do think that you need to get there but I am saying that go through the process there is a process and God in his loving wisdom and just care allows us to go through a process right when he is even wooing us back to himself through salvation it is a process so for us to now all of a sudden say that there doesn't need to be a process in this because I'm hurt I don't think that that's necessarily fair or helpful to a person that needs to go through that process to get to the end of true actual forgiveness where I could say hey Derrick Chauvin whoever I forgive you I dislike and don't appreciate what you did and I actually think that you need to serve the maximum amount of time in jail that does not change absolutely my love and forgiveness right nor does it make it okay right it's because we are wanting to be set free from those bondages that other people maybe have tried to place upon us it doesn't mean that by going through that process of forgiveness we're saying you know what no biggie it's good no racism is a sin with being unreconciled with one another is a sin like lording over others is that's not okay we're not saying that it is by going through that forgiveness process that's so important I think especially in our polarized time where people are being pulled to the extremes and getting siloed in there and where everything's got to be all or nothing so even say you know that we need to love Derek Shelvin yeah some people hear that oh so you're saying especially in light of the history oh I see so it's not where you're supposed to kiss and make up you're not supposed to address any of this stuff and yeah it's not saying to affirm that there's any wheat in in there shavon is not to deny the weeds right and to assert the weeds is not to deny that there's wheat and that's the mixed bag thing we need to stay humble I think we're going through that process yeah yeah it's really difficult okay and so throughout this series throughout this process that we've been in as a church discussing this we have been saying very out loud that that cédric your life matters my life matters that people of color brown and black people their lives matter and so that's become a very polarized statement even saying black lives matter and so we have had folks who have written in asking why are we focusing on that why are we focusing on race because isn't that further adding to the polarization and if we're going to do that why don't we also say all lives matter why don't we also say blue lives matter because when we're focusing on the race piece there are some who feel that like I said we're adding to the polarization and then we're even maybe putting the police force and ain't like causing people to have bad attitudes towards the police as a yeah when there's just a few bad apples and not the whole system that is yeah that's a really good question of course our lives matter of course every life has unsurpassable Worth that's the given but it's precisely because we believe all lives matter that we insist that black lives matter because it's the black lives and black and brown lives that I've been called into question yeah I saw this video maybe some of you've seen it this guy who was who's he's crying cause his uncle got murdered viciously murdered he's got a friend next to him in the friend says he said start school about my uncle was murdered he's mourning this and and and the guy goes well I've got an uncle too and he's important yeah but my was murdered yeah but what you think my uncles it's important to your uncle yeah but this is the one that's in trouble okay so this is the one that's in trouble and that's why the asserting this the thing is is a here's why it's the history piece is so important to talk about you know blue lives matter of course first of all no one's blue but the blue uniforms matter but you need to understand that that zoom out and and the understand that there's been a this whole history of going back to the Reconstruction period of police using their authority to keep blacks in plate place and in using black folks and it hasn't been just in fact prior to the end of the Reconstruction period I've heard this that that talented sheriffs and deputies three or four but the idea of a police force was created to keep black rebellion down so they that's its origin you want to read an interesting history made up on the Texas Rangers it was started as a branch of the KKK and it was just no I'm not saying they are today but but Texas Rangers about that their name is gonna be coming down to some point but so there's been a systemic racism there and and that's what's being addressed now and it needs to be addressed now yeah it causes upheaval it does but it's all it's always been causing upheaval so we're not creating the problem which is acknowledging it and that was it time to address it but here again it's always important to realize that we live in a mix of wheat and weed universe and and that's just you know paint all officers as evil or speed all is good no they're all a mixture and some people act out in in in in wrong ways but see calling it a few bad apples doesn't get at the system it if this is started last week I'd say oh we got a couple you know bad apples but what is it about the system that keeps on having bad apples yeah why can't you wheat out of folks like Derek Shelvin who had 18 previous you know complaints two of them convictions and it was obviously you know in bondage to a racist mindset how did he how did he get by keep on getting promoted it's like something's off and that's why people are I know he makes a lot of people afraid but they're saying we got to relook at the way we do policing you know do we need to have police and recall and some are saying we need to diversify like Camden Inn in New Jersey they did they we had the worst crime rate going in in the 70s and 80s but then they revamped the police force by putting in some health professionals and things like that so when you get a call for a person who's acting crazy send somebody who's good at dealing with crazy people rather than a criminal anyways that's how I have the long view to understand what's going on yeah Kevin do you have any thoughts about bad apples versus the system yeah I was just thinking about what you said Greg so systems in general can be oppressive and harmful for any person or any group of people but certain systems can be more harmful and more oppressive to certain groups yeah and so that's why this whole black lives matter thing is because that's what's happening in our particular system so there are all of us maybe have different ways where we are suffering under the system but none of us as white people are suffering in the unique way that black and brown people are suffering in this particular system and so that's why we need to say that black lives don't matter and in terms of bad apples of course yeah there's you know my brother-in-law is a st. Paul policeman and so he's a good guy if you knew him you'd really like him awesome guy and so there are good policemen for sure there's good politicians there's but the issue is that the system and even the sort of corporate mind the the sort of one mindedness that kind of comes out in systems where people will do things as part of a group that they would never do as individually there's a lot of sociological research that has shown that there's this momentum as a group that would never happen as an individual yeah and so we see that even with the Derek Shelvin thing where we see he looked like he was very intentionally you know I'm harming trying to harm George Floyd the others were sort of swept along with him and they probably wouldn't have done they would have done more to stop it or wouldn't have done as much to go along with it as individuals in any other sure but as policemen as part of a team as part of a group as part of a system you're swept along and so there are bad apples there are good people there are bad cops there are good cops but systems tend to create this collective mentality and sweet people and their momentum and that's a reality we need to factor in as well those are some really good points as we have been discussing this we've encouraged people to do your research like start learning about this stuff if you don't know and and what happens when you go out there just blindly trying to find some stuff you can get some competing statistics and so we have had people reach out to us and say okay I hear what you're saying but there are people and they are people of color and they have a voice and they are saying some things very differently people like Ben Carson shall be States Shelby Steele and Candace Owens and they're contradicting the things that we have been saying here and and the things the questions that we are answering they have a different perspective and so what do we do with that cédric I'm gonna let you tackle this one what do we do with that with these contradicting statistics and these contradicting points of view and voices yeah I think the first thing is to just acknowledge that as black people people cover but specifically black people that were not a monolithic block of people that all think that's number one and what you just said to some of the voices and there are others show show that that they have a different perspective on the conversation that we're having right now I also think too that this isn't new if you go back in history all the way from reconstruction going back to slavery there are books that talk about it but I'm thinking right now about the racial uplift ideology of really being able to say that as a black person that I need to do my best and those that are around me to be able to act a certain way more so a lot of people put it as acting white or acting as a white person to be able to be accepted and that acceptance of being able to then have them remove their kind of racial racist kind of mindset about me and people that look like me and that ideology personally I believe doesn't work I think that it goes a lot deeper it deals with a lot of the things that we're talking about here and I also want to be able to say this to all of those that I've come up against our listening to some of those voices that you brought up just as I am navigating this world as a black man and I'm having to cope with different things the voices that you just brought up and those that have competing interest in what our conversation is here today are navigating as well and we need to also keep that in mind that it is hard for people of color in different ways and that people of color choose to cope in different ways and how they navigate systems some don't navigate the same way that I do but it's still navigation it's still coping and so I think sometimes when we have competing demands or thoughts which some of the voices that you brought up I vehemently disagree with the main reason being that some of those voices don't believe in structure or systemic racism they kind of lend themselves more to thinking more about the choice instead of taking into account history perspective background on what has got us here and so I under I don't necessarily agree with that but I do understand the role of trying to navigate and find acceptance in a system and so for those that are doing your research I am NOT saying don't listen to those types of voices what I am saying is please understand that we all as black people are navigating this system and we're navigating it differently and I want you to take that into consideration as you listen to some of these voices yeah I really appreciate you saying that Cedric it's very helpful I think about we each have had to navigate learn how to survive and how to even thrive a little as we can in this world and just because like you said we're not a monolith right so just because I am biracial and ooh I have a white husband doesn't mean that I have never experienced what it's like to be judged because of my race or look down upon or rejected just because there's a little bit of success or thriving or surviving or any it doesn't mean that it's not that's that systems have not been put in place to keep black and brown people down right like you can't just take a little example here and there and say see none of none of that other stuff that that stuff isn't really real because look at these people it's just it's not reality I completely agree and I just wanted to follow up on that a lot of people automatically think of like you just said Oprah Winfrey yeah and all of that we're out of this and there's no more there no more issues or couldn't you just be like them and again this gets back to that racial uplift ideology it is not having someone act a certain way to be accepted it is you accepting them and being able to uproot some of these things that we've talked about here today I wonder if part of it is we all this is a part of our mixed bag we all tend to project our own stuff onto others and this is part of the whole white legacy is we normalize the white perspective and for these folks and people have sent me a lot of these writings and videos and all sorts of stuff thank you very much you can stop knowing I'll never catch up till this so but but you know a lot of us came out of really tough circumstances and either through exceptional talent and hard work and all the rest they succeeded and it's easy for any of us to say well if I could do it so could you and and then that then they turn around and say well this whole thing of systemic stuff obviously isn't true so they buy into the a more individualistic more typically white narrative and and normalize their own experience yeah and as we've said over and again our liberation is tight to one another and so we need we need to recognize that to be able to move forward amen we have gotten many questions and like I said we're going to going to continue to address them thank you guys for being here with us today to talk about this part of the the puzzle we will continue on we want to transition now into talking about something that's happening here locally is a part of our church we have a school called soma and it's a discipleship school and they are beginning to take applications for the Fall and we just so happened to have Kevin here who oversees soma and so thank you Kevin for transitioning with me into talking about soma what would you like to let us know tell us a little bit about soma yeah so soma is our school of missional apprenticeship that's what the acronym stands for and it's a nine month intensive discipleship program that's done in community and when we talk about discipleship we're not just talking about sort of head knowledge we look at discipleship as a holistic spiritual formation so soma focus is on mind formation in the form of like deep theological and Biblical Studies worldview transformation etc we also look at heart formation and in the sense of we take students through a process of inner healing as well as becoming more secure in Christ and developing and cultivating more of an intimacy with Christ as well as then focusing also on shifting values towards kingdom values and character formation Kingdom values and character and we also focus on what we're calling habit formation which is sort of a kingdom lifestyle of sacrifice and simplicity as well as spiritual disciplines and practices and active missional participation and ministry in the church and then finally we focus on relational formation and largely what that's about is peacemaking or reconciliation Greg's message talked a lot today about reconciliation is the gospel and yet we how do we cash that out and so in sum when we talk about reconciled relationships or peacemaking in our friendships and our family relationships with each other but also cross every possible line in our society and so we're trying to focus on racial reconciliation as well soma is actually located in the North Minneapolis neighborhood the Jordan mini AB Jordan neighborhood of Minneapolis we're hosted by pastor Troy Walter and marquita Walter and the Jordan neighborhood is very diverse social economically as well as culturally but it's also a very poor with a lot of crime and so folks in Soma are immersed into that setting as well to kind of just be able to learn understand some of the dynamics in our society today as well as be a bridge for that it just sounds like an amazing Kingdom opportunity and I'm wondering if there are folks out there who hear you and think hmmm I wonder if I would be a good candidate for that who should be praying about considering Selma and what kind of applicants are you looking for is there like a magic thing that you're like oh yes no magic yeah we we nicknamed this school seminary for everybody and the seminary part is that Latin seminary comes from a Latin word seed or seed bed when it's about growing little seedlings so then you can transplant them out in the world for fruitfulness so it's about becoming fruitful for the kingdom but the seminary for everybody part is it really is for everybody weave in we're entering our third year our first two years of Soma we had students from 18 up to 66 years old roughly half under 30 half over 30 roughly half male half female so really it is a seminary or a seedbed for kingdom growth for anybody and from anywhere right where we've literally had students from all over the country coast-to-coast and as well as Canada so anybody could married couple single as well so if you might rule it out because it's a nine month intensive school you'd have to come here to Minnesota but we've actually had all of our students have rearranged their life for that nine-month period and to make it happen so be praying about that well and we also are living in this kind of unpredictable time in life we don't really know what the fall is going to look like I know I have kids in school and we don't know if they're gonna be able to go back to school so what is the plan for soma is it happening regardless or waiting to hear great question we did decide to move ahead with soma regardless of co-head we're just gonna keep it a small size so that soma can be its own social bubble so we're looking at having six to eight students at the maximum this year and then with our staff and teachers and faculty we would be a social bubble unto ourselves the students will live in community and then they'll be in class every day but it will be a limited social bubble so we're doing it in spite of Colvin I love that's great so if someone is interested what should they do they can look on the website I think there's going to be information on the website there's a video we have and a link on our website and also my email address would be on there we'd love to hear from any of you out there who are interested I'll be happy to answer any questions so look on our website for more info that's great thank you Kevin you bet thank you thank you all for joining us today and we want to remind you that if you are interested in continuing this conversation and engaging a little bit more we have a couple of ways that you can do that number one we have the muse cast on Tuesday afternoons where we discuss the sermon and we dive a little deeper and address a few a few questions and some practical applications of what we're hearing and learning we also have gathering groups that are literally like a worldwide Kingdom community and those meet on Tuesday evenings and Wednesday mornings and we discussed the previous weekend sermon and again dive in a little deeper if you have any prayer needs at all we invite you to join us in prayer we have zoom room set up so that you can get prayer from our prayer partners please just don't carry whatever burden you have alone let someone agree with you and we have people that are ready to pray for you in our zimmerms thank you so much for joining us we appreciate you and we know that in this mixed bag world we are called to go in the direction of Jesus our true north and so we encourage you to continue to do that trust in him allow him to move in your life work in your life and redeem all that you have to offer to him thanks guys we love you so much

Channel: Woodland Hills

Views: 3,367

Rating: 4.8048782 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: BuMUkHMOTWU

Length: 97min 43sec (5863 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 05 2020