Speaker 1: 0:16

All right, you can have a seat.

Speaker 2: 0:20

Hi, my name is Abby Frank, I'm an eighth grader at Sassoon Valley and today I'm going to be reading Matthew 23, verses 23 through 24. Woe to you, teachers of the law and parishes, you hypocrites. You give a tenth of your spices mint, dill and cumin, but you have neglected the more important matter of the law justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former. You blind guides, you strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. This is the word of the Lord, thank you.

Speaker 1: 0:54

Thanks be to God. Thanks, abby, that was awesome. All right, my name is Lawrence. Thanks, abby, that was awesome. All right, my name is Lawrence. I'm one of the pastors here. Glad to be with you, especially if you're with us online. Thanks for being here. I want to invite you If you're taking a peek in the window, maybe for the first time we've got space for you in here You're welcome to join us.

Speaker 1: 1:09

We've been walking through meticulously, through the gospel. According to Gospel, according to Matthew, this was written by a disciple of Jesus about Jesus, his life, you know, a biography of really who God is in human form, what he cares about, what he's like, what he talks about, and we've been unpacking this verse by verse, and I talked about this last week. That chapter 23 is one that I prefer that we would skip. It is all Jesus one, so it's very difficult to just skip over that, because it's just the words from him. But man, he is doing some difficult teaching to us and to followers and disciples, and he's talking to these crowds, and so we've been going through that, so we find ourselves kind of right smack in the middle of that Before I get there, though, how are you?

Speaker 1: 1:57

I don't know if you guys did this. I don't really see this anymore, but any of you guys grow up in a space where, like the grocery store or like an ice cream shop or something that had like coloring contests. You ever did that. I remember growing up there would be coloring contests, like you know, for Thanksgiving time or Christmas or Easter, those types of things, and I was down at State my grandma's place and there was a Stater Brothers and they would do a coloring contest and so I took coloring really seriously because it was a contest and I'm competitive and you'd get your paper and then they'd put it around the store and then I won a couple coloring contests and this did really great things for me, but it did really awful things for me as well, and that is that I care about coloring and that you do it well because you should, and there's lines that help you guide stuff, and so I'm one of those people then that unfortunately, just say the thing you know a lot of you guys, you have kids and like they make you a coloring and you're like, oh wow, it's so good. It's not real good most of the time and you just won't say it and I have that problem.

Speaker 1: 2:56

I say it like when I get a picture like this from somebody and I'm like, come on, like it's, like you didn't even care, you didn't try, you started with the ears and the ears are fine, and then you just like, you're like I don't care anymore, right, and I'm like you're 17 years old, color in the lines Like when I got my kids, my daughter's, like what? Yes, yeah, it's serious. And what do we say? Then? You know, I say do better, you can do better. Have you ever said that to somebody? You can do better. Have you thought, has somebody ever said that to you? You can do better. And like you know it, you can call that. That's kind of what Jesus is doing to us right now. He's going come on, you can do better. Like you can do better. And then we're like whoa, and that's exactly what he's saying. I mean, he jumps right into this week. The scripture says whoa to you, like, come on, you can do better.

Speaker 1: 3:48

Teachers, scribes, law of the law. You hypocrites, like we've talked about this. This is a play actor, you're putting on a show. You hypocrites, you give a 10th of your spices, your mint, dill and cumin, like you're doing something that's good. But like, come on, you can do better.

Speaker 1: 4:07

And it gets into this next obnoxious section that's calling us out and kind of, for the rest of this, you know little bits of scripture we're going through today. I want you just to listen to these next three words. This is a critique and I just want to say don't get mad at me, I'm just telling you what Jesus says, like he's the one. Remember, this is Jesus's words, this is not Larry's words, and I'm just going to tell you what Jesus says and you're supposed to kind of be upset by it and that's okay. Literally, how I look at teaching on a weekly basis. This isn't just me going like, oh, I learned all the theological stuff and I'm unpacking, I'm giving that over to you now in education. No, no, no, this is one of those things. This is another one of these weeks where, for this week, I get to look at it and I get to be contemplative and let it expose things in me and then, like today, I get to do this. You guys want some of this too. This is what it's going to do to you and it's going to be real interesting what happens.

Speaker 1: 5:01

So he says woe to you, you hypocrites Like come on, you give a 10th of your spices mint, dill and cumin which was what was supposed to happen. So, right off the bat, they're following some of the law. Like they're tithing a 10th of everything, literally like cumin, these small seeds they'd, you know, have a thousand of them and they would count out a hundred. It was meticulous. Or you know, there's these stories like they'd tie the tenth of their shoelace. It was just, I'm going to make sure I follow the letter of the law.

Speaker 1: 5:25

And he says but you have neglected the more important matters of the law justice, mercy and faithfulness. Mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former. You blind guides, you strain out a gnat but you swallow a camel. This is where Jesus is like brilliant. He says this is what religious people, this is what we can miss. Like you're so focused in just being right, like what is the little thing I got to do? And all this meticulousness. You know you worship to, you listen to your worship radio, you got your Bible studies, you got your theology and everything is proper and in its right place, everything's done. But you have neglected he's saying, justice and mercy and faithfulness, that you've been focusing on being right and like what do I need to do these right things that are in order that you actually then end up not even helping anyone, that you don't love people? You strain out a gnat.

Speaker 1: 6:29

And so he gives this image. It's brilliant. It's this image of people who are so focused on the little things the minute that they major in the minors. Have you guys ever had like a bug in your drink, right? That's literally this image he's given and you'll just keep working at it. You keep like trying to lip it out, right, and you know, to the point where, finally, you're just like I'm not drinking it, right, but most of you you'll dig it out. And what he's saying is is like you know, you're so focused like this little thing, like you don't realize that the person next to you as you're digging this bug out of the drink is like choking on their food and they can't tell you. You're like, oh, I gotta get the bug right. That's what he's showing us that you're straining out a gnat and then you turn around and you swallow a camel. This is ridiculous and it's supposed to be this obnoxious demonstrative image that he's giving to relate to us how dumb this is. Let me dismiss it?

Speaker 1: 7:23

How could you be a group you know what I'm saying of people who love God that say you're sold out for God, but all you care about is just like you know, knowing about him, not actually knowing him? Because if you actually knew him, like knew him, you would do stuff for other people, you would love people, right. You wouldn't just be focused on like what's just enough, like where's the line, like did I meet the task? And religious leaders, the Pharisees in particular, they were so in love with the commands that they had sort of forgotten about the intent of the commander. You know tithing 10% of everything in love with the commands. And then Jesus says but you're doing that, that's good, that's fine, that's good, but you've neglected the more important matters of the law justice, mercy and faithfulness of the law justice, mercy and faithfulness. So today let's unpack these three words the more important matters of the law.

Speaker 1: 8:24

So this first word, this word justice, 200 times in the Old Testament, that's a lot. This is this word. It's mishpat, that's the Hebrew word for it. Mishpat, which means to giving people what they're due. 200 times talks about this word justice in the Old Testament. And this concept is then used throughout the Old Testament and then into the New Testament and it kind of hones it in really specifically for us, it's focusing on specifically fighting for widows, the orphans, immigrants and the poor.

Speaker 1: 8:58

This is what scholars call the quartet of the vulnerable. The quartet of the vulnerable and I regularly meet Christians or people who call themselves Christians, who actually miss this as one of the major themes of the Bible. That's found in Scripture and just straightforward. I just want to say, if you are not intensely concerned for the quartet of the vulnerable, it is a sign that your heart is actually not right with God, because this is what he cares about and he continues to talk about it and he's saying hello, you're missing this. You're missing the camel that's right in front of you and that is the job of somebody who knows and loves God that we fight for justice, the mishpat in the world. And Jesus talked actually more about the poor, which included the widow, the immigrant, the orphan. He talked more about that than he did.

Speaker 1: 9:53

Prayer and being saved combined, you hear that Jesus talked more about this. This is like a reality check. Maybe we've been majoring in some minors where we can often gather together, and is our main focus about justice and mercy and faithfulness, or do we find ourselves in gatherings talking more about prayer and what we need to be praying for and asking God for, and seeking him this and being saved, and what does Jesus talk about? So there's justice, justice. This is interesting. We are in the midst you guys know this right now culturally of this very interesting time, because everyone's talking about justice, which I'm thankful for, I'm really thankful for and there's all kinds of different justice things, and there's things that the church should be involved in, you know, like fighting poverty. We should be using our lives, our time, our talents to fight poverty and hitting equality issues and hitting racism, and focus locally and globally on justice. And this is what Jesus is talking about.

Speaker 1: 10:57

The gospel in all, when you look at it, it's not about holding on to your own life. It's about giving it away for the sake of the Imadrede, those image bearers, those made in the image of Christ. And justice is this word that's used twice as many times as love or heaven in the Bible and seven as many times as hell. And I'll tell you like if I stopped preaching and pushing us on towards love or heaven and hell, you'd probably fire me because you're like that's your job. This is what you're supposed to point towards, and we will never stop being a church that pushes us towards those things.

Speaker 1: 11:38

But we must keep in mind that Jesus says that there's actually weightier matters that are going on, that he's challenging us, saying like you can do better, you know better, you can get your theology right, but if you're not actually working for justice, you've missed it. You've strained out a gnat and swallowed a camel. You've completely missed it because you've been so focused on being right all the time. Just what do I need to get done that? Here's the scary problem that you can be right and still not be doing the right things. They were doing some right stuff, but he's saying you're missing it. You can totally miss what Jesus is actually calling you to do to be right the whole time. And then what he says is this that your problem and this can become a huge issue. As an example, we raise money, for instance, and we'll send it off to justice or someone else, but here's what Jesus actually is inviting us into further is that he wants us to be involved with justice, with all three of the T's. You know the big T's, you know. You know this is the classic T's Time talent treasure. You've heard this before Time, talent treasure.

Speaker 1: 12:55

Sometimes the easiest thing to do for a group of people like us is just to give our treasure. You know which is great, it's to write a check, it's to give money away. But Jesus says, oh, okay, okay, hold on time out. We could do that with our treasure. But let's talk about something else, which is actually more difficult.

Speaker 1: 13:09

What about your time, or your talent? You know all the things that we're given. You know our time is very valuable to us. That is a resource that we choose. Where we give it to you, our talent, these are the gifts that you've been given and the knowledge you have and what you're then using that for outside of, just for yourself, but for the sake of someone else. And then your treasure that's. You know your funds, the money that you've been stewarded, entrusted to steward.

Speaker 1: 13:37

So what about your time? That's a huge challenge, because then we would ask is your time being given to mishpat justice at all in your life? If you were to evaluate that, are you giving your time to the poor, the widows, the immigrants, the orphans, and how much of your time and I'm not just talking about money and, by the way, we've actually done a workaround with that, with money and our time, because we're like well about money. And, by the way, we've actually done a workaround with that, with money and our time, because we're like, well, I don't really want to give away my money, so I'm just going to donate some of my time so I can keep my money, so we can do this flip-flop thing, but how much of your time is given to this stuff? I don't know how many of you have had kids in sports.

Speaker 1: 14:15

This was like a new thing to me that I discovered now that I've had kids going, you know, through athletics for quite some time is that up front in the season, you actually pay extra money that like forces you to give your time, your volunteering, so like it's a hundred bucks I don't know if you guys know what that is like an extra hundred dollars and then if you do 10 hours of volunteering throughout the season, at the end of the season you get a hundred dollars back. Right Now it's fascinating to me how many people say I'll just give you the 100 bucks right, because you're like I don't want to work in a concessions, I don't want to do all the things right, because your time has inherent value and for some of us, when you start giving your time to something, it's much harder, isn't it? Because, like, we love our time and what we get to do with it. But here's the call on your life and my life is not just to give our treasure, but our time and our talent. You know, if you know how to raise money and you're good at that, you could help widows and the poor and the immigrant and the orphans with your money-raising ability. Are you using some of your time to do those types of things? You know about technology? Use it for those types of things.

Speaker 1: 15:26

The mishpat, the justice, and so Jesus's whole point here is actually we have to use our lives to do this, and that there's some really important things that we value is really important and we've become too focused on it, and they're good things. Like his example, there's more important things than just having a good marriage, building a nice life, raising good kids, having a nice family, and I know that we focus on those kinds of things and it's not bad. It's not bad at all. We personally, my wife and I, are just our whole family. We're in this season where we have like no summers left guaranteed together as a family. My oldest is getting ready to graduate, going off to college, and then it's like, who knows, she's going to be doing her whole thing. So as far as our like six-pack unit, you know, we've kind of lost opportunity.

Speaker 1: 16:10

So we've been focused on building memories and experiences for the last couple summers. Some of you guys right now are sitting in this moment where you're going oh my gosh, it's happening to me too. Yeah, I'm with you, we'll cry later. So we've been focused on, you know, experiences individually, with kids, and then just us as a family unit and it's, you know, so much fun and it's so nice to like go away for two weeks or a couple weeks by the ocean or in the woods, being chased by bears. Memories, like building memories and experiences that's for another day. I'll tell some of you who don't know why people are laughing, but it's amazing things that happen as a family. I love that, but here's the reality. I want my kids and my family to be more about justice and understand what that is, not just go to the waves and build memories and have all this fun, but like let's go somewhere and serve someone, or help the widow, or food and clothes for the poor, and let's try to build a memory around mishpat.

Speaker 1: 17:11

And here's the thing. This is what Jesus says. He says you should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former. You blind guides, you strain out a gnat but you swallow a camel. Essentially, he's saying this so do both. Like you got to do both. Like build a great family this is great. Build a great family and a great house and go on vacations and create great memories, but don't do that to the exclusion of justice. Like celebrate your family and celebrate the work that you're doing in regard to justice, because that's how you're gonna show the world. You know, when they look at you they're gonna say, man, these people must really love Jesus more than they love their money, more than they love comfort. They love people more than they love square footage. And so here's the tension in life.

Speaker 1: 18:00

Like all the time this last Wednesday and this is in the middle of the week as I'm like contemplating and letting this thing talk to me and meet me where I'm at and exposing some stuff. It's like 8.30 at night. I'm driving my youngest he's a fourth grader home from basketball practice in the evening and we're cruising along and then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he just says, hey, dad. I'm like, yeah, bud. And he's like, when are we going to go on a plane again? I'm like I have no idea when we're going to go on a plane again. And then he just goes can we go to Hawaii? And I'm like, oh, I don't know when that's ever going to happen again.

Speaker 1: 18:36

And it's because we went a couple years ago as a big family experience trip. We had never been before. It was a blast, you know, we spent like a week there. Unfortunately we were fortunately, and unfortunately we were there like two weeks before the big fires. So we got to make experience. They got to see things that a lot of people won't be able to see, even ever again. And so all of a sudden, unsolicited, he just starts rattling off memories Like, oh yeah, remember that. He just starts rattling off memories Like, oh yeah, remember, remember how it was so windy that one day I just remember like I had to turn around and the sand was hitting my back. It felt like knives in my back, but then the water was really warm and it was so cool. And then I remember the turtle and all these experiences.

Speaker 1: 19:12

And then what do we do when we're making these moments and experiences. We take pictures, right. So here's a picture Me and Demetrius we're out there snorkeling like we're making it happen in the water, having a good time, just trying to keep our heads above water. And then, you know, this is just a funny one. I was also trying to take a picture and some knuckleheads like, hey, what are you guys doing? You can see that in there and the face by Demetrius is pretty epic. I mean, that was a memory and we also get to have'm thinking as I let this, like Jesus push in and this message on me first going oh, wow, man, that was so much fun. Oh, look at the things we're talking about on the memories and recalling it all, and I love that. But I want my kid to love justice stuff too. What stories do we have, what photos do I have, where we're doing justice together, where we get to recall memories and moments of mishpat that we experienced together?

Speaker 1: 20:18

I remember some of my fondest memories growing up, where I literally got to be exposed to Jesus and what he was about was doing justice with my grams. It was things that didn't happen in church, where she made me go to church and I was not a church kid, I wasn't interested in it, it's just what we did, but it was on the Saturdays. We would show up and we would literally unload a semi-truck and fill boxes for the food bank. It was showing up in these homes where there was these widows, and she would be gathering a piece of clothing that reminded them of their loved one and then she would take it home and sew it into a bear of memory of that person that could have it. Like all these beautiful justice moments that I got to experience, and I asked myself the question do my kids have the same type of experiences? Am I continuing to have the same types of experiences? And, like I said, I got no problem with you going to Hawaii or vacation or spending your money on excursions and experiences. Here's what I do have a problem with, and I think that Jesus is exposing this very clearly If you spend 10, 15, 20-year grant going on a Hawaii or wherever, whatever the thing is, and you don't give any money to the local church and justice, to missionaries adopting kids, you're a joke.

Speaker 1: 21:30

You're a joke. You don't understand. You haven't let the words of Jesus sink into your life yet and he's talking to you and he's talking to me. He's saying you strain out a gnat. And he's talking to you and he's talking to me. He's saying you strain out a gnat, yet you swallow a camel. You build a comfortable life and yet you won't sacrifice. You're a play actor, and that's what he's saying. You're hypocrites. That's what he's saying to you and to me. And this is a hard thing, right? This is like hard truth up in our face.

Speaker 1: 22:00

He's saying if you don't give your money, any money, to the local church, you're not adopting kids, you're not supporting missionaries, you're not supporting the widow or the poor and you're not doing anything in regard to like kingdom advancement with your money, but you're able to and willing to go to Hawaii for a couple weeks or your vacation or whatever that thing is, which is all great. You do this and not that I'm telling you, friends, your priorities are out of whack and that's what he's telling us. If you just attend Northgate and this is your home church but you don't give anything, you don't like partner with the collective justice that needs to take place and mercy and faithfulness. What scares me about this and I don't care what you give this isn't even like a money conversation. Please hear this I don't care what you give. That's between you and God. God's going to provide for us either way.

Speaker 1: 22:46

So what I'm talking about is your life. What I'm talking about is your own spiritual condition. What I'm talking about is if you don't think that you're behind what this place does, that a lot of you are a part of right now, but if you don't think you're behind it in what we do in regards to kids, youth ministry, children's ministry, recovery, leadership, development, food pantry, those in jail, foster children, memorial services, sex trafficking, clean water, school and education for orphans, education for the poor, providing a space for the unhoused, translating the gospel into the language that others can read, support for the grieving and the broken, mental health care and the local mission stuff and the global mission stuff we do. If you don't believe it which is all the things that we do collectively as far as justice goes, and there's many more but if you don't believe it, then go to another church that you believe in, their mission and what they're a part of and give to that. That's the issue.

Speaker 1: 23:50

That's what he's saying hey, you don't sacrifice with your treasure, you're missing this, and God will look at you. And he looks at me and says hey, where your treasure is, your heart is also. That's what Jesus says. He'll say hey, I want to follow your pocket. I want to follow the money and the money that stays in your pocket. Is it just about you and your family? Have you let the words of Jesus sink into your life? If you haven't, I'm terrified for you.

Speaker 1: 24:22

That's why I'm saying whoa, you can do better, you're better, and this is why Jesus shakes us up. He says whoa to you. I'm preaching to myself. Right now, too, friends, where I have to look in the mirror and go like, how do I level this out? And go like how do I level this out? Build memories, celebrate, celebrate it, but are there things where there's justice at stake? Then you do that too. You do both. That's what Jesus is saying. Do both. They're both good, and I wish you wouldn't do one without the other. I wish you wouldn't have just built the perfect house and had no money left for ministry. Do both, he's saying figure out how to do this. This is what I'm calling you to do, and I'll tell you.

Speaker 1: 25:10

The church has some issues, too, where it has to do both as well. The big C, collective church. Right now, I think in this last century maybe even less has bought into some ideas and missed it. See, like liberal churches, you know, think we're the only ones who do social justice, but that's all we do. We really just focus on social justice. And you have conservative churches, just like we do the gospel.

Speaker 1: 25:34

We do the gospel really well, that's what we do. We do the gospel and it's false. That's not how it should work. Let me tell you this really clearly, just for those of you guys who don't understand. You can't listen. Yes, we are supposed to preach the gospel. You know. Gospel, gospel, gospel. We're supposed to do this.

Speaker 1: 25:53

But let me be so clear it is hard to hear the gospel over the grumbling of an empty stomach. You can't hear it. It is hard to hear the gospel over the grumbling of an empty stomach you can't hear it. It is hard to hear the gospel when you're in sex trafficking positions by the time you've become seven years old. It's hard to hear the gospel when you don't have clean water to drink. It is hard to hear the gospel when you don't know what you're going to feed your kids today or this week. It's hard to hear the gospel when you don't know what you're going to feed your kids today or this week. It's hard to hear the gospel when you don't know where you're going to sleep tonight. It's hard to hear the gospel when you're feeling overwhelmed with whatever that thing is. It's hard to hear the gospel when you're in the throes of dealing with an addiction and then breaking yourself from that. It's hard to hear the gospel when you're a refugee and you can't understand the language people are speaking and the church won't even talk to you because they're afraid of you. It's hard to hear the gospel through that.

Speaker 1: 26:56

So, yes, we are gospel, we will continue to be gospel. These aren't two different things justice and gospel. Jesus was all about kingdom and some, you know, you realize like, yeah, well, that's what church is. You know the church is about, you know, bringing people here and they're gonna say a prayer so that they can go to heaven when they die. You know, I see people who think that all the time they're like yeah, this is why we come, so we can make sure we do our prayer. Then we're going to heaven when we die, it's awesome. And then we get to sing. We're like, woohoo, heaven's in the future, let's go right and we'll bring friends and be like, yeah, we just need to get them to where they say the prayer so we know where they're going when they die. They're going to go to heaven. Show me to me.

Speaker 1: 27:30

You know what he actually says, and he says it really clearly in the Lord's prayer. What is he saying? He's saying your kingdom come, your will be done when On earth as in heaven. He doesn't say that the gospel is about going to heaven. He's saying your life is about, and is supposed to be about bringing little pieces of heaven now here into the earth, in the present, into the world, and to let them feel it. And I think that we've bought into the lie at times where it's evangelism, social justice, these things are not at war with each other. It's false. Jesus does not give us the dichotomy at all.

Speaker 1: 28:24

Secondly, this word, just to keep moving on, mercy. So he talks about justice, talks about mercy. Let me help you define something really quickly. I know even this week I asked a lot of people like, hey, what's the difference between justice or, excuse me, mercy and grace? We can get into that kind of world a lot of times and a lot of people are like man, I don't know. They're kind of. You know the same, they're not. Let me help you out. So here's how you can know the difference.

Speaker 1: 28:51

Quick definition for you to remember Grace is receiving something you don't deserve, so you're receiving Mercy is not receiving. Got it? Not receiving something you deserve? Gave an example the other week about a police officer that pulls you over. You're speeding, you're breaking the law, the police officer pulls you over and you've been going over the speed limits. And what do we all want to get away with? A warning, right? We're praying to God. Please let it be a warning today. Give me that's mercy, right? A warning is mercy. You're not receiving something you deserve. So now what do you deserve? The ticket. You broke the law. You deserve this ticket, and grace is getting the ticket, like you deserve it. And then what happens is the police officer goes now I'm going to pay the fine for your ticket. Not only am I going to pay the fine for this ticket, I'm actually going to dish out some money for the future tickets, because you you know you're a sinner, you don't hit the perfection Like. You're going to continue to do this, not as an excuse, but as a gift, receiving something you don't deserve.

Speaker 1: 29:49

And what's difficult is the church is known for what it's against Not often man, just not enough. It's not enough known about justice, it's known for what we're against, like. The church is known for what it doesn't do, right, like. If you talk to your friends, they could probably write off more about what they think the church doesn't do. You know, it doesn't get drunk, it doesn't look at porn, it doesn't go to parties, it doesn't watch radar movies or that one Netflix show, it doesn't this and some of you of dozens and don'ts. How amazing would it be, friends, if the church started being known for what it does. Like golly, that place. You go up there on that hill with that crooked cross on the thing they're doing.

Speaker 1: 30:32

Some things Like there's justice that's taking place, there's mercy, and they walk away from the comfort of life to journey with people to see if they'll get to know God in the end Because of their justice. They do both. How amazing would that be? What would that really look like if we had pictures of both and celebrating both? You know, doing that in this journey of justice and mercy and faithfulness with another human is really what Jesus is inviting us into. It's these three T's time, talent, treasure.

Speaker 1: 31:08

There's this beautiful story. It's in this book called Love Does. It's written by an author named Bob Golf. Great book, love Does. He also wrote a book called Everybody Always, and he gives his own personal testimony in the beginning of Love Does and he talks about this guy named Randy and Bob's in high school and he's just not good at school, he's not liking school, he's just trying to figure himself out in life. And Randy's this young life worker which is a great organization, by the way and Randy's just spending time with kids and he's spending time specifically with Bob and he's just with him, he's just hanging out. He's just hanging out, he's not chastising himself, he's just trying to help him figure out life. And he kept asking like hey, what do you want to do? How can I support you? We're going to go.

Speaker 1: 31:46

So Bob one day decides like I'm just done with school, I don't like it, I'm going to go do my own thing, I'm going to go climb rocks and do this like wilderness thing and, just you know, enjoy on. So on a Sunday morning he shows up at Randy's house and says hey, man, I just want to thank you for investing into me. I'm bailing, I'm going to go drive up to Montana and I'm going to climb rocks and find a job and just kind of live my own life. I don't want to do. And Randy's like when. He's like right now, like right now my car's already running, I'm taking off. And so Randy said 10 minutes later comes back and he's got a backpack.

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He's like let's go. He's like what? He's like let's go, I'm with you, we're going to do this together. Whatever Throws him in the car. They drive up and they hit Montana and they start climbing rocks and they're having a blast and they're talking, they're spending time with each other. Well, now they're living and tries another job, can't get it.

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So finally, after a week and a half comes to a place where he's like I think I want to go home. This isn't working right. So Randy's like okay, let's go. So he takes, they drive back and he takes Randy down the street. He sees that Randy's girlfriend's car is in the driveway and he's like oh, I didn't know your girlfriend was coming over and this is before you know cell phones and all that jazz. And so he gets there and Bob feels like he knows him pretty well and he walks in the house and he sees his girlfriend come over and give him a kiss and say hey, and then he's like, oh, I didn't know that, she knew we were going to be home. And he looks over and he sees like a brand new mixer and like him. And he finds out because he asked him that the Saturday night before that Sunday morning when he showed up, randy just got married to his girlfriend and Bob showed up on Sunday morning and said I'm out of here and Randy said I'm with you, I'm about justice and mercy and faithfulness.

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Now that's a really extreme example, but that's real life. That's a real life experience of what it looked like in Bob's life and that actually was how he was introduced to who Jesus really was like hands and feet, stuff, like that stuff. Where I was talking about it wasn't necessarily in the church, it was what then the church was doing and acting out. And this is why Jesus is so jacked up about it. This last word, faithfulness that he talks about, it's really just the whole practice what you preach. Just practice what you preach. Just don't talk about it. Be about it like all the way. Don't just believe it with your words, but prove it and tease it out with your actions. Be faithful to it. You know, if you're going to say love I love people then let your life reflect and represent that.

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I have learned that faith isn't about knowing all of the right stuff or obeying a list of rules. It's something more. It's actually something much more costly, because it involves being present and then making sacrifice on the behalf of another, and that's perhaps why Jesus is sometimes called Emmanuel, god with us. His sacrifice I think it's what God had in mind for Jesus to be present with us, and he also has that in mind for us when it comes to other people. Him as an example. To sacrifice on the behalf of another is made in his image.

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I need to wrap this up. I hope that you've heard me say really clearly and paint this picture. I hope that you've heard me say really clearly and paint this picture of what this place, this faith community, this room, this group of people that you're sitting in here right now with, is about and represents. I know earlier I said, if you're not about the mission of this place, then leave and go find a church that you're about their mission and lean in. I mean that. Be a part, friends, please. This is for you. Be a part of something that you're for and that you can get behind and not just gather to say you're a part of some club. Yeah, I go to the one with the sideways cross, it's cool. I go in and I sit down. I stand up, sit down, stand up, I get some coffee. I know some people. We are a church. This is who we are, just so you know.

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Again, we are a church for unchurched, de-churched and anti-church people. This isn't just a Christian club. This isn't just a bunch of church people staring at each other being like how can we be more faithful to one another, how can we give more justice to each other and how can we be more merciful to one another? No, we are a church. That's like an outpost. We are a shelter. We are looking out, we are gathering and being resourced and encouraged and go out and live like that again.

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For unchurched people who don't know church stuff, for the de-churched people who have been a part of a faith community and they didn't experience justice and mercy and faithfulness and so what they do, it places a bunch of hypocrites. That is not for me. And the anti-church. Why are they anti-church? Because they experienced it through their de-churched friend. They experienced what the church is about that. It's about them, not about anybody else, and so they're not a part of it. And so for us to function, this faith community, to continue to push forward justice and mercy and faithfulness, we need your teas, we need your treasure, your time and your talent, collectively, together.

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Think of it this way we don't expect those being sex trafficked to rally their own to solve it right. No one expects that. You don't expect those who have no water and a resource for water to rally together and be like let's solve the water issue, let's raise the funds for the water issue. If they could, they would have. We don't expect the hungry to fix the hunger issue, just the ones who bother the homeless, the unhoused, to just fix the unhoused issue.

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It takes people who care and are leaned in and how have been given the resources to not just do the minimum but to lean in and to be about justice and say I see injustice, I'm going to lean into it. I see a place where there needs to be mercy and I'm going to lean into it. I'm going to be faithful to that. Frankly, friends, this is who Northgate is. This is who we are.

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We are a bunch of homeless people trying to save homeless people and that is very difficult to do with those three Ts, because people who are just now coming off the streets and when I talk about homeless here I'm talking about like you were outside the gates of the kingdom and many of you have said yes to Jesus, which is reorienting your life, there's a new Lord of your life, and when you now discover that and are part of that, you get to look and start saving the other people who are homeless and being like there is a gate and you are more than welcome to walk in here and experience the richness of soul and self and justice and mercy. But it takes a group of people who believe in it and want to solve it and pay and pave the way through the three Ts. And that's really hard to do because many people in year one of them have started coming here and you know it's great and you're participating. But it hasn't quite been that point because it takes a minute to build up discipleship and to understand where he's saying hey, you need to do both. You need to do both, not just a have to, but not to miss the latter.

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More important get to and then remember that we all get to collectively do this together. When it all goes in this pot, it's amazing when you give your treasure and your time and your talent. When it gets in this pot, not only do we get to participate but we just get to watch it happen Like, wow, look at what's happening in front of me, look at the transformation, look at the life change, look at the justice. Look at the transformation. Look at the life change, look at the justice, look at the mercy, look at the faithfulness, the impact, this massive scope that many of you already participate in by doing those things on a regular basis, that we get to push out justice, mercy and faithfulness. When you give your time and your talent, it's incredible that we get to say we're a part of it. I'm not trying to be harsh today, friends. It's just Jesus saying you can do better, you can do better and frankly saying, do better.

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So I think, three important questions for maybe us collectively, as a faith community, to ponder as we leave today as a church are we moving?

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Are we moving towards that?

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Are we just simply meeting?

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We're just sitting here, meeting together or are we moving towards justice, mercy, faithfulness?

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Are we making a measurable difference in our local and even global communities, or are we just conducting service? Are we just having a service for ourselves, and are we organized around a mission and a vision that brings us all together, or are we organized around an antiquated ministry model that was inherited from a previous generation? It's just what we do we come, we sit in rows, we feel a little bit better about ourselves and we move on. As you contemplate this stuff today and this week, as you contemplate this stuff today and this week, may we continue to labor in love for one another and continue to one another another with justice, with mercy, with faithfulness, and may we then experience the wows of Jesus at work rather than the woes. So what do we do now? I think the best thing to do to continue to get our hearts right is to respond in worship to a good God who loves us, as well as justice and mercy and faithfulness. Will you stand to your feet as we do that together?