Unleashing Compassionate Conversations

Speaker 1 0:32

It's because God's so gracious to us that we get to unleash compassion in really fun , creative ways . I'm so thankful for that . One of the things that I'm really excited about we've been talking about for a couple of weeks is we are going to , just a few weeks , do this thing called explore God . We're doing this in the Bay Area . We're partnering with hundreds of churches . We've invited you to participate and actually host or facilitate a discussion group about these seven questions that we're going to be going through . These are questions that everybody really wants to talk about . You want to talk about it , but what this does is , in reality , it really opens up an opportunity , it cracks the window to have just a conversation about God and Jesus and who he is , or what meaning and destiny and purpose and life is all about . I'm telling you right now those who are around you , they want to have these conversations and all it takes is an invitation . I don't know if you know this . There's actually statistics out there that says 85% of people are just waiting for an invitation into this . 85% . That's crazy . Think about the people around . We have some next steps that you get to be a part of today . We have some action steps . I was celebrating 68 of you . So far , I've said yes to starting a group . If you want to do that , that's awesome . I want to celebrate you . I'm so excited about that . The life change is going to come from that . Today we have a different action step We'll give you at the end of the service .

Speaker 1 1:59

Another thing that we're doing is we've been asked by the Explore God community that we would host for Solano County a prayer and worship night . We're going to be doing that this week on Wednesday evening . I am believing in really big things . Our desire is to see hundreds of people here for worship night and bathing this thing in prayer . We have invited pastors and churches from Fairfield and Vallejo and Benesha . They're actually going to lead us in moments of prayer . We're going to then start and we'll talk about it the middle of this week . I'm going to ask you if you would join me weekly , one day a week , in a specific fast for this .

Speaker 1 2:43

I truly I cannot say this enough from the depths of who I am that his name , his renown is the desire of my souls and I truly believe that there is an opportunity and a hunger for a revival which is a quickening and awakening of God's people , to understand who they are and his nature and purpose . I think that we can see that . I want to invite you this week If you have space in your week , even if you show up late because you're coming from work or you've come for a minute , we're going to open the doors at like 6.30 . We'll do this thing until 8.30 and kind of see where God takes it and believe in really powerful things . Let's bathe that what God is stirring in for this harvest . Lastly , I'll just say this I love and dear friends with so many pastors here at the church and I think one of the most beautiful things is that we're going to have them here leading us as well and their people . That was Jesus' prayer for us was unity and to see the power . I mean guys for real , come in here . Let's see the power of what it looks like when other faith communities gather and come together for his name and the unifying spirit that comes out of that . Whoo , come on goosebumps , I'm in it , let's do this .

Speaker 1 3:59

So today , let's continue what we've been talking about . We have been walking through the gospel according to Matthew , who's a disciple of Jesus . He was a follower of Jesus . He chronicled Jesus' life in the way he lived , teaching us how to live , and then his death and , most importantly , his resurrection , which is why we're all here Today . We are finishing Matthew , chapter 17 . So congratulations . Next week we're on to a new chapter . We still got a long haul to go , but we get it done .

Speaker 1 4:26

Today's topic there's two stories we're going to be talking about is about death in taxes . Yep , I'm not kidding , that's really what we're talking about today . Some of you guys are like I don't need that . Yeah , I get it . So today we're going to be talking about these two stories . I'm packing that kind of see what it's telling us I think most of you know this that there is a difference between being a family member and then being an outsider , someone who's not a part of your family .

Speaker 1 4:50

In a lot of ways , we see that Jesus' teaching Jesus really cares about this , which is why he came , he lived , he died , and it's because God is not interested in humanity being outsiders . He wants humanity to be family members , and when you're a part of a family , things are different than just the way somebody who is on the outside is , and we see that in Matthew's gospel . We're going to see that Jesus is actually pushing towards this reality of what it means to be a part of God's family . So I'm going to invite you . If you brought your own Bible or if you have a smartphone or a tablet if you got anything I got internet you can type in Matthew 17 , 22 through 27, . That's where we're going to be at today . You'll get all the verses . We're going to throw it up here in a minute on the screen as well .

Speaker 1 5:39

But in the second story then we're going to hear that Jesus has this amazing way of getting to the heart of things . When the things of life come at him , when there's questions or moments or scenarios or news , jesus doesn't necessarily answer or react wide away to exactly what is coming at him . He focuses and takes time to get at the heart of the matter . And this is what I love about Jesus he doesn't just get caught up with all the smoke screen , all of the peripheral things . He gets to the heart of the matter and this is a really important concept for us . Why ? Because so much of culture that we live in right now everything is about what's going on in the peripheral . We are so used to being on this boat , on a wave that's getting knocked over all of the place , and so we lose sight about the fact that we need to make sure that our interactions with people , that the way that we feel about things , the way that we then deal with things , that we learn about what's really going on at the root of the matter , because so much of the stuff that comes at us and we interact with is actually window dressing . So much of life is things that we think are going on rather than what's going on , and often we don't find ourselves asking questions to get to the heart of the matter , and Jesus is a master at this .

Speaker 1 7:10

So let's hop in this first story , matthew 17 , starting with verse 22 . When they came together in Galilee what they is , jesus and this core group of disciples Jesus said to them the Son of man is going to be delivered into the hands of men . They will kill him and on the third day he will be raised to life . And the disciples were filled with grief . Now , this teaches us something very , very important about what real freedom is all about . It's this death brings life , death brings life . So these verses teaches that death brings life . This is what you would call a passion prediction in Scripture . This is actually the second time that we've seen this Jesus . Earlier in Matthew's Gospel , in chapter 16 , verses 21 through 24 , he shares this for the first time to his group of disciples . And now he's sharing it again . And Jesus is telling his disciples something very , very important that , although death is coming , life comes out as the fruit of the death that he's going to die .

Speaker 1 8:20

We see this in nature all the time . Right , you have a seed and you plant it . The Bible talks about this as well . You place a seed in the ground and then a plant comes from it . It is blossomed out . What happens ? The seed has to die for the plants to come . Like , I get a seed right now and I'm going to plant this bulb and then I'm not going to mess with it , but in the springtime I'm not going to find the seed . What I'm going to find is a flower or this blossom .

Speaker 1 8:49

And Jesus is teaching us something really important here that the way to real life comes through death . Now , for Jesus , this is unique because he's literally going to die and then bring life , because Jesus died on the cross and then was resurrected what we see and he's going to be betrayed by the hands of men and they're going to kill him and then he's going to be raised up into a newness of life . But for you and I , life comes through death as well , in two ways . First , when you die to your own version of your life , you can be made alive to God's version . That's the idea of being born again . That's what Jesus said that you need to be born again . If Jesus is the perfect son of God , the smartest guy who ever lived , the one guy who had seen God , knows everything about God because he was God . When he says that you , this is what you need to do to have life , you can bank on that . He knows what he's talking about . And he said that you need to be born again .

Death's Importance, New Life's Significance

Speaker 1 9:51

And this isn't . You see this at a conversation earlier in the Gospel of Matthew that he had with a teacher . So this isn't an idea that you go back into your mother's womb and then you come out . The idea is that you die to your self-styled life , the life that you write because your cool friends want to encourage you , and that's the way that you should do life and that's who you should be , or society tells you that that's what you're supposed to be and conform to , and whatever all the reasons that you've decided to define your life as . And what he says is no , we're to say , lord , I'm gonna die to my version of life and Lord , I'm gonna be made alive to your version of my life . The reason that you , god , created me , and so for you and I , life , the abundant life , comes through death of the self-styled version of life that we have . An apostle later wrote .

Speaker 1 10:52

The apostle Paul later wrote to the Romans you see the letter in the New Testament to a group of followers of the way it says in Romans , chapter six , verse eight through 11, . He says now , if we died with Christ , we believe that we will also live with him , for we know that since Christ was raised from the dead , he cannot die again . Death no longer has mastery over him . The death that he died , he died to sin once and for all , but the life he lives , he lives to God . In the same way , count yourself stead to sin , but alive to God in Christ Jesus .

Speaker 1 11:33

This is biblical spirituality . This is what I've got Jesus's spirituality when we put our faith and trust in him and we died to our old life . We live outside our life that we put off to the side , away from Christ , and then believing in him that Jesus was resurrected . We are resurrected than two , into a newness of life , and many of you have actually experienced what it means to be dead in Christ and then to be made alive again . Many of you in here have , but here's the thing none of us have come before God on the basis of our own track record and where we've been and what we've done .

Speaker 1 12:13

There is only one way to come before God with any kind of confidence that he won't immediately reject us or condemn us . And the only way to come before the God of the universe with actual confidence is in the basis of the righteousness of Jesus that he has given to us by faith . And so in our sin it has separated us from God , yes , even our sin . We have chosen to throw away our privileges as a son or daughter , the privileges to actually have access to God , and we have thrown that all the way and we've settled for cheaper things in the world that offend the love and the goodness and the mercy of God , and it has disqualified us , and God literally has every reason and every right and every intention of holding us accountable and judging us for that sin against him . And then the gospel , which is the good news . By the way , the gospel literally means like the arrival of the good news of victory , like by feet getting there . That's where we first see this idea .

Speaker 1 13:15

So the gospel , the good news that shows up that there's victory , because he loves us so much he wants to enjoy intimacy with him , he wants to delight in enjoying intimacy with us , that he made a way through Jesus , who then came and lived this perfectly righteous life that we have not , and then died in our place on the cross . He took the punishment for our sin . He took the wrath of God on us , all of the shame associated with it , all of the alienation associated with it . He took that on the cross and then he paid for it , for us , our sin , and then he rose . It says then from the grave , he swung open then the door for us to come boldly before the throne of mercy and grace .

Speaker 1 14:01

And then the scriptures say that when he got up , that this veil was torn , that there was now no gap in space between our accessibility to God , and that way was made open for you , like somebody like you , yes you . Somebody like me , yes me to be able to come before God and humble and audacious courage before him , and that's the kind of relationship God wants with us . God wants that relationship and it begins , friends , with admitting and confessing . You don't deserve to get anything good from God until you trust what Jesus said , that he is the way , the only way , the truth and the life . In no one . There's no other way , no one comes to the Father except through him . Putting your trust in Jesus , and he made a way through his death .

Speaker 1 14:55

Friends , death leads to life for us , and I believe that there's actually some of you in here today that have never experienced that . I'm here today to tell you that you need to experience this . I'm here to tell you that you can experience this today , that you'll be able to say , even today , I'm going to reckon with my old life that is gone and I'm gonna be made alive in the spirit of God , so that I can live the life that it was created to live , because through death I get to live a new thing , a freedom , a transformation , a blossom of new life . So one of the way that we experience this life that comes from death is to die to our old life and be made alive to new life . Now , another way that death leads to life is this question that , ultimately , a lot of people have what happens when you die physically , if you have traded your life for this new life ?

Speaker 1 16:06

Well , the scriptures tell us that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord paradise . And so the reality is is that and I know this is hard , but if we live this life that we're living , we need to understand that it's just a temporary version of it . I can tell you that , somebody who suffered their own loss , I realize how tragic death is . I have come to understand a deeper understanding of how fragile life is . But the reality , friends , is we're sojourners here , we're pilgrims , we're vocationing through this life , and I'll tell you this that that is a very hard perspective to keep solid when , for you , this life is the only life . You know you will never have ultimate meaning and purpose and joy in your life if you just push God aside . So I understand this if you take purely like this secular world view , or you're an atheist or agnostic , or you lose , then this reason to be sacrificial and just think about it . If you have this naturalist view or if it's just evolutionary development is true for you .

Speaker 1 17:25

The question then becomes why would you love your enemy ? Or like , why would you be sacrificial at all ? Because if this is the only life that you were gonna get , if there's no heaven , if there's no afterlife , then it's just like store up all the money that you can Gather , everything , all the recess , for you don't love your neighbor , don't save your neighbor , who's like drowning in the lake , because that's just gonna create this competition for food and power . You have no moral reason than to do it . You have nothing to actually inform that , but for some reason , internally you feel like you should help that guy . You feel like you should love your neighbor . You feel like you should love your enemy .

Speaker 1 18:11

Why do we believe that Naturalism doesn't answer , that Secularism doesn't answer the ultimate questions and worldviews ? In fact , it's really down to when everything's really good and it's going good in your life . Then it's good . But when it falls apart , you have to borrow from religion in order to sustain yourself . That's why every time there's some kind of mass shooting , huge devastation or destruction in your own personal life , or like in my life , my atheistic friends say thoughts and prayers , thoughts and prayers . I'm sending you thoughts and prayers right now and I'm like what does that mean ? What does that actually mean ? I'm thinking about you . Thank you for thinking about me , thank you for thinking about . Maybe your thoughts are powerful enough to make me feel better about my life . Thank you for thinking about me and your naturalistic , atheistic , agnostic structures of life . I really feel those thoughts . That's not a thing , I'm gonna tell you right now . It's not a thing . It's not a thing when it happens , when the bottom falls out , naturalism falls apart , then you need to borrow from spirituality to bring some sort of meaning to your life and if that's the case for you or your friends , your family , your sphere , you need to rethink your worldview Because it's clearly not answering the questions of morality or meaning , or where do I come from , or destiny .

Hope & Conflict's Importance in Life

Speaker 1 19:46

I've been to an atheist funeral and in that structure it's like what are we even there gathering for ? And I don't mean to be so crass , this is reality . It's like what are we ? It was so sad . There's like nothing to talk , there's like no hope , like there's nothing . And I remember a woman tried to tell me like well , at least he's not in pain anymore . And I'm like well , no , no , actually , now you have a view , you actually have a view of something , that there's something afterwards , because otherwise , like you have no idea , it's just done . Like he's , what if he's in a lot of pain now , even more pain , or no , it was so hopeless . It was so hopeless .

Speaker 1 20:28

But you know , if you're in Christ , friends , when you physically die , you will live forever more . There is hope . He will raise you from the dead , spiritually in the now and physically in the future . And I'm here to tell you that heaven , friends , is the ultimate destination . And I know that we're in a day and age where it's like , well , I don't want to like forfeit and I don't like doing my thing , I really don't want to focus on it Like YOLO , like let me just do . This is a lot . I'm telling you , jesus came and then he said I came so you might actually have life and you might have it more abundantly . He's not asking you to give up this life for this next life . He's like look , get up your self styled life now and I'm going to give you real life now and you get eternal life in the hereafter . So what is he offering , friends ? He is offering a life that has everything you could ever imagine the presence of the God of the universe , here , now and the hereafter . You get abundant life now and everlasting into the eternity .

Speaker 1 21:44

But you know what's interesting about this verse ? When I read this verse , I've been thinking about this all week . Do you notice what the disciples response to this is ? It's so fascinating . He says Jesus says they will kill him and on the third day he will be raised to life . And the disciples were filled with grief . You notice that the disciples didn't even actually hear anything Jesus said there . They just they like . They just heard You're going to be betrayed , you're going to be killed . And then they got hyper focused and they missed the very last phrase , which is he will be raised up to life . And here's the deal for you and I . We do this because this is what the Bible calls the fallenness of humanity .

Speaker 1 22:25

We all have this tendency to emphasize the negative , don't we ? I mean , think about it . It's amazing how this works Right . It's like everything could be great . I mean everything , not okay , 95% of everything could be great , but if one thing's bad , that 5% , the whole thing is bad . We do this . It's amazing .

Speaker 1 22:46

I mean , like , think about it . You have this delicious dish of pasta , it is so good . And you find one hair and then the whole thing is bad . Right , what ? Okay , that's actually the line . It is bad , all of it's bad . Then I'm just going to say that we'll just put that one out of the side and give you the whole example .

Speaker 1 23:02

But for reals , like , think about this . For reals , like , it's like you know , something good is going on , like you have good , and all of a sudden , the only thing that you can remember is the one thing that you didn't like about how it went . It was all good , 95% of it was so good . And then you're like but that thing , right , jesus says yeah , look , I'm going to be betrayed , yeah , I'm going to be killed . It's bad , but I'm going to be raised up to life again . And they were exceedingly sorrowful . They're not like whoa , whoa , whoa . What time is it ? What ? What time ? What did you just say ? You're going to conquer depth ? Oh man , after the things I have seen you do , anything is possible .

Speaker 1 23:52

Ask yourself , friends , how do you deal with these moments ? How are you ? Are you missing all the positives Because something's happening or something's around you that they don't like ? It's so easy to do . I mean , think about it .

Speaker 1 24:06

If you don't have enough time in a relationship , you find that all you can do over time is focus on the things that you don't like about the person . Right , you like so much about that person but suddenly you can't stand when they breathe and make that noise like they're getting air in their lungs . I didn't know it was that before , but I spent enough time and you're a loud breather and that's just bothering me . You were grateful for the job , you prayed for the job , then you got the job . Then sometime later you wish you didn't have the job and the other job was gonna be better .

Speaker 1 24:36

Right , I think it's part of , like our fallenness If we're not careful , we'll miss the beautiful things , the beautiful things that are all around us , because we're not willing to focus on the beautiful things , because in reality it almost feels unnatural to us . But in Philippians , this letter in the New Testament , in chapter four , it tells us that we should meditate on things that are lovely , on the things that are praise worthy . See , I know , you know , this is our entire news cycle . I mean everything on the internet , every newspaper . It's like the more gore and the more negativity , the more that it actually appeals to this . We've been trained this way because we have to see negative things , and then what we do is we miss out on the good things that God's wanting to do .

Speaker 1 25:35

It's so fascinating to me that the disciples were exceedingly sorrowful , full of grief and like you just want one of them to say are you kidding me ? You're coming back to life . What does that mean for us ? No , all they can hear is that he's going to die and they can't see that he's going to live forever . Death brings life . What needs to die in your life today to bring new life to you ? Can we instead have this posture of not looking at the loss but looking ahead at the reward for allowing it to die and be resurrected in your own life ? And furthermore , friends , there is nothing so dead in your life . There is no pit deep and dark enough that God cannot do a new thing and resurrect it to new life . That's what he does he makes dead things alive . Moving on Next story , so now it says in verse 24 , jesus' disciples arrived in Capernaum .

Speaker 1 26:59

This is like home base . This is like Peter's house . Mother in law lives there . It's a big house . I actually got to see it in person on our pilgrimage by the way , I'd love to take some of you guys . We're going pretty soon and it says that they arrived in Capernaum and the collectors of the two Dachma Temple tax came to Peter and asked does your teacher pay the temple tax ? Yes , he does , he replied . And then , when Peter came to the house , jesus was the first to speak . Some translations say that Jesus anticipated him . So just here , this is what just happened . They just heard that Jesus is going to conquer death and that death brings life . And then they get to their hometown and to Peter's house and they're confronted with people who receive the temple tax and they say to Peter does your teacher pay the temple tax ?

Speaker 1 27:51

Right now , this actually is a very large moment of tension . And Peter says yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , it does . We don't know really how to read the tone . You ever gotten text messages or emails ? The tone of that is this is one of those situations where it's like is Peter telling the truth or is this just like ? I'm trying to get inside ? I was trying to avoid you and now you're asking me this really intense question . It's going to create controversy . And you know , frankly , we know that Peter does know how to lie , he denies . They even knows Jesus later on . So it's like , yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , he does . He replied and we're going to see later on the story . Jesus actually brings this back into reality and up to the front .

Speaker 1 28:26

But what can we learn from this and it's conflict right now is that conflict brings clarity . Most of you know that . Most of you hate that we're bringing this up right now . It does . Conflict brings clarity . See the people who are collecting the temple tax . This is such a charge , it's even a politically charged moment right now . And this conflict over does Jesus pay the temple tax is going to actually lead to this teaching and some understanding . That only happens because of the

Finding Clarity and Freedom in Conflict

Speaker 1 28:56

conflict .

Speaker 1 28:57

I found that in the messiness of life is when , oftentimes , it brings us to clarity , that conflict that goes on . If you're willing , in the midst of conflict , friends , to let the Lord minister to , in the midst of that conflict , you will begin to see things that you would have never known . And that's because , like conflict , like jars and shakes up everything at a place , and so then suddenly you're getting to see what's on your heart , like , especially when you're in conflict , and then you say it out loud to someone else like , oh man , I'm in this conflict and you say that thing and they're like whoa , and you're like , well , yeah , that did come out of my mouth and it's like , well , at least I just I saw what was on my heart . I know it's really there . It just jarred some things oftentimes that when there's like these rubbing and friction points , those are the things that when you're willing to allow Jesus to do a work and a mix of your heart in those moments , the friction points now become something that all of the sudden you're going to get insight through it . So there was this conflict here . Remember , jesus said he was going to die of the hands of the leaders earlier . And man , these were the leaders of what ?

Speaker 1 30:06

The temple . The temple is like the epicenter where all this happened . This is where , like God lives , the temple is . I mean , the temple is all throughout the Bible . As you read about this , where is the temple ? It's in Jerusalem .

Speaker 1 30:19

Here's actually a picture of the temple on the on the left there you see that red kind of spot . This is where , like the teachers of the law , the people who took care of the temple , they did a lot of their work in trading things , and then you see the far right there's , you can see , first of all , how gigantic this is . I mean , this doesn't even put in the scale . You can see little homes far away , but on the far right there's like this castle structure right there . That's actually the Romans built that because they weren't going to be in the temple but they needed to , like , control the chaos that would go on . So there's actually archers that stayed up in those temples all the time to kind of like have some sort of control into that space . And then , right in the middle , you can see this is where , like , everything happened . This is like the epicenter of this thing .

Speaker 1 30:59

And so there was a temple tax , and the temple tax was two days wages for every labor , and it was something that was instituted back in the book of Exodus and the Old Testament , and this was in order to build the tabernacle and then , further later on , in the book of Nehemiah , in order to rebuild the temple that had been broken down . If you go and kind of dig into some of that yourself side note you're going to see in this moment that something old had to die for something new to come to life there as well . So it had become this custom that every year every able-bodied male over 20 would give two days wages for the upkeep of the temple . Like that's you know , kind of like what we do here . Like you know , you got to keep the walls up and the electricity on and you know air conditioning so you're not hot . This guy comes to Peter and the leaders have been attempting to like prove Jesus's disloyalty I mean , as we've seen this overarching story to the temple or in violation of the law . And what we see here is that Jesus affirmed that excuse me , peter from that Jesus pays the temple tax . But then there's this little moment of conflict that ends bringing a tremendous amount of clarity . And look what Jesus says . He's great . He always answers like a parable . Suddenly he's like we're going to get into a parable .

Speaker 1 32:18

When Peter came into the house , jesus was the first to speak . He didn't give him an opportunity to say what just had happened . What do you think ? Simon ? This is Peter's Hebrew name . He asked here's his parable here .

Speaker 1 32:30

From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes ? From their own children or from others ? From others ? Peter answered Then the children are exempt or free . And Jesus said to him that's what Jesus said to him Now this , right here . This is a powerful , because what we learn from this , as he's using this small parable , is that family brings freedom .

Speaker 1 33:01

This was a different kind of culture , not something that we're used to , but there was kings , and in this environment where there was kings , they were sovereign over a land and the princes and the princesses didn't have to pay these taxes . It was everyone else who did the strangers or the other people , because they weren't a part of the family , or the ones who funded the kingdom and the kingdom and their lifestyle and the things that they did . And so Jesus is using this custom where he says Peter , what do you think ? Who do the kings of the earth pay their taxes to ? From their sons and daughters ? The people who they're close to are the strangers , and he was like , of course , the strangers . We all know that . So he said to them the sons are free , the children are free , and Jesus's point was that , since the temple was his father's house , he was exempt , as well as all of his other family members .

Speaker 1 33:52

Why should the son of God pay his tax to his own father ? The family is free and this is so important because as part of the family and he's saying this invitation that we all get to be a part of this family , that you're free and now you're able and given permission to function however you want . You're now no longer under the obligation that a stranger would be . Another way to put it is my kids in my house . They get to roam freely Like I ain't worried about it , right ? But not a stranger . Stranger shows up . You don't get the same kind of permission . You don't have freedom just to move about and do whatever you want . We got issues and the deal is is that true freedom for you ? And I comes from being a part of a family that is now exempt from being at a distance because we now are in a close relationship and everything changes .

Speaker 1 34:48

Family brings freedom and God is inviting every single human being to be a part of that family . And it's unlike any family that we're born into physically . We don't get a choice of family . A lot of you guys know I did not get a choice into what family I was born into , but you do get to choose who . You were adopted into your family and , in the same way , god is desiring to adopt each one of us into his family . Friends , you have an invitation by the Almighty God that says I want you to be a part of my family , and a way into my family comes with putting your trust in Jesus . And in the same way , just like if you were adopted into another family , they would fill out some paperwork and then you would choose to show up in that family . So part of this freedom is the freedom to actually respond to this invitation .

Speaker 1 35:48

Now I think if you're here today and you're a follower of Jesus , you need to realize that you have freedom because you're a part of that family . Now that doesn't mean you shouldn't pay your taxes . You realize that , right ? You can't take this story and be like well , you know , like I'm in the family If you're already part of the family . I also want to remind you it doesn't mean that you have a free past to act a fool .

Speaker 1 36:13

Paul the apostle he got us , he was in Jesus . He was trying to tease this whole thing out and he was helping us understand . He's like I get you , I get you . You got real life problems . I get this how we act . So he wrote this letter to the Galatians Check this out .

Speaker 1 36:26

He says in Galatians 5 , 1, . He's talking to us . This is the new followers of the way . It says it is for freedom that Christ has said it's free . Remember that whole freedom thing , like we're free now . It says stand firm , then , and do not let yourselves be entangled again by the yoke of bondage .

Speaker 1 36:44

This is a powerful verse . It says don't allow yourself to get caught up in something that brings you into bondage . This is encouragement to us that we get to stand in freedom , but it's also a challenge to us Because it's saying if you're a follower of Jesus , you're here today , you realize you need to work at standing fast so you don't get caught up in the yoke of bondage today . And the reality is , every day , all day , we all have decisions to make . We have all sorts of decisions , and those decisions that we make about anything and everything have consequences for good and for bad . And so if we're not careful , what can happen is we can love Jesus and get ourselves all bound up again . And unfortunately there is many of us who are going through that right now , where it's like you're not standing in the liberty and the freedom Christ has made you free in and you're allowing yourself to get entangled again . When you think about that word entangled . It's like the imagery of a net . We have to make sure that the decisions that we make don't cause us to get suffocated once again by the things that hold us back .

Speaker 1 37:56

What needs to die in your life to bring life back Now ? If you're here today and you've never put your faith and trust in Jesus here's the thing why would you not wanna be a family member of the true living God that created you , sustains you and everything Like ? When the invitation is there , why would you remain a stranger ? I can't fathom why you wouldn't wanna be a part of the family of God . Now , some of you are like whoa , you just lost me there . You are so out of touch . Are you kidding me ? Because I can fathom why I don't wanna be a part of that dysfunctional , nasty family , because I see hypocrites , abuse , pedophiles , espionage , anger politics , social justice like sex scandals the list goes on .

Speaker 1 38:59

Pick your documentary . Some of you struggle because you think , if I'm part of that family , am I gonna become one of those people ? Or , even worse , now I'm associated with this group of people . I wanna say this , friends as clearly as possible People who are actually this is so important actually walking with Jesus , like not just wearing a Jesus name tag , but like actually following and desiring and walking with him . They are the least judgemental , abusive , gossip , self-serving , angry , abusive , violent , scandalous , hate-filled , image-protective people I've met , not perfect , but then often the most generous , selfless , caring , slow to anger , free , shameless , loving , good , grace-filled , laid-back , redemptive , patient , joy-filled , giving , trusting , prayerful , peaceful , wise , calm , faithful , kind and gentle people I have ever met . The list could go on . They are sinners saved by grace and we are looking I mean look at here , like why we this is the characteristic we get to embody our values here . They're on that wall for a reason . A grace-filled community . Are you kidding me ? Who does that ? That's what we wanna embody Like . That's what that looks like .

Speaker 1 40:23

People in process , redemptive relationships . Are you kidding me ? What needs to die friends to bring about new life ? Where , all of a sudden , you're like I'm not gonna pay evil for evil , I'm gonna repay good for evil . I'm not gonna repay cursing for cursing , I'm gonna repay blessing for cursing . And you know what I'm gonna do I'm gonna forgive . You know why ? Because it's the F word of the church and it runs exactly outside of the system that says you fight and you get what you want , and it completely undercuts the way the world works . Verse 27, .

Speaker 1 41:03

Then this is Jesus' response in this . I love this . He says but so that we may not cause offense , like he actually cares , go to the lake and , throughout your line , take the first fish you catch , open its mouth and you , there will find four Drachma coin . Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours . I mean , we're not gonna get it all . It's a lot of . This is crazy . You're like wait , what , what , what , what , what ? Yeah , fish eat shiny things . We know this . Who knows ? You know how this stuff happens ? We don't get to see it play out . Another thing that right now he's saying do you know , I don't wanna take offense , like we're not gonna cause any offense . I mean , another way to put it is like we're not gonna die on this hill . We're not gonna like draw this on anything . I have another hill to die on . So let's go ahead and solve this right now .

Speaker 1 41:48

So what does this teach us ? Jesus teaches us that compassion brings creative provision . He could have dug his heels in and been like we're not paying the temple tax , but he said nevertheless , look , we don't wanna offend anyone . So , jesus , he actually has compassion on the religious system that he came to fulfill that . The people , the managers of this that are actually later going to kill him , and he still doesn't wanna offend them . And Jesus' compassion now leads to this amazing creative provision , and Jesus is going to provide for their temple tax in the most wild way .

Speaker 1 42:26

Now , this is super important here . Why ? Because although you and I are free in Christ , when we are free , we also have the freedom to be different than we might ultimately be . And Jesus is concerned for the people who are gonna be offended . Isn't that crazy ? The word offended literally means scandalized . He's like I don't wanna scandalize the temple tax collectors . We're gonna go out of our way to bless them . I don't want to scandalize the temple tax collectors . I don't want to scandalize the collectors . So we're gonna go out of our way to bless them . We're gonna go out of our way to bless them . And I'm gonna show you how we can .

The Power of Compassion and Faith

Speaker 1 43:29

And God can do anything . And I think it's powerful because you and I and for me , we have all of the reasons you can think of not to be a generous person . I know we have all of it , and not just financially . You can make a case not to be a generous person . I'm just talking about the things that we can do with love , with joy , with smiles , with hugs . You know there's enough water under all of the bridges to be able to say I can make a case why I don't wanna do any of those things . But then when you start to have compassion on other people God given compassion now you find ways within the works of God to see amazing things happen . And God can do anything . God can do anything and he will supply for all of your needs . And guess what , when you choose to be a part of God's family , he teaches you this way of compassion where it's not just about us , where it's about God and it's about other people .

Speaker 1 44:31

And then oftentimes we were saying , like how do I even help ? Like what does that look like ? These problems that we have are too big , they're too huge . I mean , like , who am I ? Friends , I'm gonna tell you I've experienced this , so many of you experienced this . Compassion leads to creative provision in ways you don't imagine what I've learned that when you take steps of faith and the reason it's called faith is because provision isn't there yet but when you take the step of faith and then God in His exceeding abundance begins to provide provision for the step of faith that we took . Here's the thing we have to take the step of faith or else we'll never see God's provision .

Speaker 1 45:18

And in reality , we live in a day and an age where nobody wants to take a step of faith anymore because we're just so busy doing stuff or we're full of fear and rather than hearing the almighty God say I could do exceedingly abundantly . Above all , what you think or ask , and really I wanna encourage us as a Northgate family , as this faith community , would you join me in and dream big , god-sized dreams about fixing the broken world and start to say Lord , this ill in our society . It breaks my heart because it breaks your heart , friends . What breaks your heart ? God , will you allow me to take a step of faith to see your provision move into an area that'll actually fix something ? And I believe that , within the body of Christ , not all of us are called to do everything , but each of us , friends , are called to do something that God has created you to do .

Speaker 1 46:28

And I know that some of you are saying I don't have time , I don't have energy , I don't have the brain power , I don't have the strength to have the reason . I don't have the brain power , I don't have this . But listen , listen . Just take a little step of faith and see what God does in you and through you , the God of exceedingly abundance , to provide in the most creative ways . And you know , what's awesome about that Is it's not a blind step of faith . It's a step of faith that you take because you're part of a family To be able to do practical things that I can help , like fill the food pantry . Like when I go shopping and I'm getting some food for me , I can go . Oh , you know what , well , I'm here , I can get food for me and I can get a little bit of food for somebody else . Like every time I go . You just get to take a little step of faith , like I can do okay , you've provided for me , I'm just provide a little bit for some of us . You know how to do this . You can listen to him . He'll encourage you , he'll support you , he'll convict you , he'll resource you .

Finding Life Through Conflict and Compassion

Speaker 1 47:30

So , friends , what needs to die to bring about life ? Conflict brings clarity , family brings freedom and compassion brings creative provision . Would you pray with me ? Almighty God , you are good . We come to you humbly today as we repent and confess of the things that are alive in us , that don't bring life to us . Father , would your Holy Spirit move in this place and bring that to the top ? Thank you for your grace and your mercy to allow us to release that , and may we stand fast in your freedom , even in this moment , as we commune with you and loose the bondage . Father , I thank you that your son's death brings life , and Jesus' name amen .