1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:05,800 Week 12 of our sermon series on on the Book of Titus. 2 00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:10,800 And this week we find ourselves at just doing one verse. 3 00:00:11,160 --> 00:00:14,160 And there's a really specific reason why we're just doing one 4 00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:17,280 verse this morning. It's because this verse, in my 5 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:21,400 opinion, deserves all of our attention and it we can't really 6 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:24,840 make sense of exactly what Paul is trying to say unless we try 7 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:28,880 to dig into the very bottom of a verse 3 together. 8 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:31,920 So this is also Part 2 of a sermon on how to engage the 9 00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:35,680 culture as Christians. So last week we looked at Titus 10 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:39,920 3 verses one through 2 and we concluded that the Christian 11 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:43,960 posture towards a hostile culture is gentleness. 12 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:46,880 So that was the conclusion that we, we drew last week when we 13 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:48,960 talked about how do Christians engage with culture? 14 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:50,920 What do we do when we experience pushback? 15 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:52,800 What do we do when we experience hostility? 16 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:54,840 What do we do when my neighbor says something mean to me? 17 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:57,760 What do I do if somebody puts up a yard sign that I, I don't 18 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:00,360 love? And the biblical answer for that 19 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:04,400 is we respond with gentleness. But it had me thinking, how much 20 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:08,600 hostility do Christians really experience today in, in, in the 21 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:10,720 here and now? And so I gave myself a little 22 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:13,240 homework assignment. This was just for me, I was 23 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:16,800 like, OK, what I'm going to do this next week is I'm going to 24 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:21,280 do a personal audit of cultural hostility. 25 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:24,760 So I was like for, for one week, every kind of little bit of 26 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:27,960 pushback and hostility that I experienced this week, I'm going 27 00:01:27,960 --> 00:01:31,960 to write it down. And so I did 7 days of that and 28 00:01:31,960 --> 00:01:35,800 there were five things that happened to me that were like, 29 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:38,360 OK, yeah, that's some hostility towards Christianity. 30 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:44,960 Here's #1 I listened to a song by a musician that I liked, and 31 00:01:44,960 --> 00:01:48,080 the song derided Christianity as foolishness. 32 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:51,120 I was like, ah, shoot, I like that artist. 33 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:58,000 Point #2 was a stranger on Instagram, commented on one one 34 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,920 video of me preaching, and he told me that I was a religiously 35 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:04,280 white supremacist because I was a Christian. 36 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:07,760 He told me that I was a grifter in the attention economy. 37 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:11,720 I was like, oh wow, coffee's on me if you're ever coming through 38 00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:14,720 to the moment. So I was #2 stranger #3 was a 39 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:17,520 fiction book I was reading, criticized Christianity as 40 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:21,680 oppressive through a character in the book who was a malicious 41 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:23,840 religious leader. It was still a pretty good book, 42 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:28,600 though #4 Is the Seattle Mariners lost now? 43 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:32,280 That doesn't that doesn't count as hostility towards culture. 44 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:36,800 It broke my heart, actually. I was this week my my daughter. 45 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:39,560 I didn't tell you this, Della, she wanted me to grab her snack. 46 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:42,520 So I was like, OK, who's the best, though? 47 00:02:43,640 --> 00:02:47,800 And Della goes, God, it's like, OK, that's pretty good. 48 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:52,280 And I was like, yeah, OK. But what I meant was who's the 49 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:56,080 best human? And she goes, well, Jesus became 50 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:01,040 human. So God, I was like, oh, gosh 51 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:04,360 Dang it, you're right again. And so I was like, OK, who's 52 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:08,400 who's, who is the the best human, who's not God? 53 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:10,200 And she said, Ken Griffey junior. 54 00:03:11,480 --> 00:03:13,080 I was like, close enough. We'll count that. 55 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:14,160 I was actually pretty proud of her. 56 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:18,400 But actually there was a street preacher outside of the Mariners 57 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:22,720 Arena this last week who was assaulted because it was 58 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:24,040 preaching. So maybe we'll talk that up as 59 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:28,520 #4 and #5 is that a loved one who was near to me? 60 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:32,120 Didn't say it to me, but she said something really mean about 61 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:35,680 Christians online. So that was my week and those 62 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:37,760 five points, I look at those five points and I think, you 63 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:40,960 know, not, not a lot of hostility. 64 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:47,480 It's not a lot. I didn't lose my job, right? 65 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:49,680 My wife didn't leave me because I was a Christian. 66 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:54,240 Nothing like that happened. I didn't take a pay cut because 67 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:58,040 of it. I wasn't arrested, but also it 68 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:02,440 wasn't nothing. And So what is the proper 69 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:05,680 response to those five things from a Christian worldview? 70 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:09,760 Which, what should I do in response to that pushback? 71 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:19,040 Well, the options are #1 I can go on a serious rage Bender and 72 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:22,280 type a bunch of angry sentences defending my view. 73 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:33,320 Or #2 well, is there another option? 74 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:41,120 If it's not retaliating with religious hostility, what is my 75 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:43,800 other option for responding to the hostility of culture? 76 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:46,520 Let's have the Word of God answer that for us. 77 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:48,840 If you're able, let's go ahead and stand up for the reading of 78 00:04:48,840 --> 00:04:54,880 God's Word. I preached on verses one through 79 00:04:54,880 --> 00:04:57,520 2 last week. So if you want the sermon on 80 00:04:57,520 --> 00:05:00,080 these first 2 verses, you're going to have to go back in and 81 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:02,040 watch that. I still want you to hear the 82 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:04,760 flow of God's Word because it works together here. 83 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:09,840 So Paul says in chapter 3, he says remind them that's you, 84 00:05:09,840 --> 00:05:13,000 that's the church. Remind them to be submissive to 85 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:16,400 rulers and authorities. And so these are the political 86 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:19,360 rulers and authority authorities who in that culture were not 87 00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:21,600 Christian. And they are creating the 88 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:25,440 political and also the popular culture on the island of Crete 89 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:27,640 that this is going to. That's why I say that this is 90 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:30,640 Paul's instructions for responding to a hostile culture. 91 00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:33,400 He says remind them to be submissive to rulers and 92 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:39,360 authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to 93 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:52,120 speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle and to 94 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:54,680 show perfect courtesy toward all people. 95 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:59,240 That was our sermon last week. The question is OK. 96 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:02,840 My posture shorts towards culture should be 1 of 97 00:06:02,840 --> 00:06:05,480 gentleness. How do I do that? 98 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:13,120 Where do I get that from verse 3-4? 99 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:24,520 Or because for we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, LED 100 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:33,080 astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing 101 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:43,800 our days and malice and envy, hated by others and hating one 102 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:46,480 another. That's past tense. 103 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:53,840 I hope it's past tense for you. But that's in the Word of God, 104 00:06:53,840 --> 00:06:58,360 the strategy for producing gentleness in your life. 105 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:01,280 Heavenly Father, I pray that you would. 106 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:05,400 Would you do that in US? Would you produce in USA? 107 00:07:05,400 --> 00:07:12,640 A a Christ like gentleness, not a gentleness that lacks courage. 108 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:17,040 Not a gentleness that lacks bravery, not a gentleness that's 109 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:22,240 accomplished by undermining the truth. 110 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:24,280 That's not gentleness. That's cowardice. 111 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:26,560 This. But nevertheless, would you 112 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:31,440 produce a real gentleness in us that people could look at and 113 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:35,080 say, you know, I responded aggressively and with hostility 114 00:07:35,080 --> 00:07:38,680 towards that person, and I just couldn't believe what she did in 115 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:41,000 response to that. I experienced gentleness. 116 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:44,320 What was that? Oh God, would you help us live 117 00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:47,000 that way? Only through the power of Jesus. 118 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:49,320 So it's in his precious name that all God's people prayed. 119 00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:59,300 Yeah, you can have a seat. Again, I'm not going to re 120 00:07:59,300 --> 00:08:02,460 preach verses one through 2, but Apollo is essentially saying be 121 00:08:02,460 --> 00:08:06,500 known for your gentleness. Maybe we could say it as don't 122 00:08:06,500 --> 00:08:09,940 retaliate, Don't be hyper reactive. 123 00:08:09,940 --> 00:08:12,700 Be known for your gentleness. That word gentleness, right 124 00:08:12,700 --> 00:08:15,820 there is a Greek word that's used a handful of times 125 00:08:16,260 --> 00:08:20,840 throughout the the the New Testament 11 translation of it 126 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:23,920 is meekness. That's a perfectly solid 127 00:08:24,120 --> 00:08:29,000 translation of it. It's also paired in first Peter 128 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:32,360 with a quiet spirit. First Peter compels us and tells 129 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:35,320 us that we should be gentle and have a quiet spirit. 130 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:38,280 That also gives you a picture for the type of tenderness that 131 00:08:38,280 --> 00:08:40,840 God is demanding when he uses the word gentleness. 132 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:44,920 Often times in the New Testament it's used with the antonym of 133 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:48,280 proud and haughty. So to have to have gentleness is 134 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:51,400 to be the opposite of having pride and and haughtiness. 135 00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:55,520 And so when you kind of tie that all together, the gentleness 136 00:08:55,720 --> 00:08:58,760 that Paul is coaching this church to have, that God's 137 00:08:58,760 --> 00:09:01,800 coaching us to have one is 1 that you would call a truthful 138 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:04,000 tenderness. Or maybe you want to flip that. 139 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:07,400 Maybe it's a tender truthfulness, right? 140 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:10,560 It's the opposite of pride. It's the opposite of haughty. 141 00:09:10,560 --> 00:09:14,400 It's non retaliatory. It would be compatible with when 142 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:17,640 Jesus says, hey, somebody hits you on the cheek, give them the 143 00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:19,480 other one. That's the type of gentleness 144 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:22,920 that God is commanding from us. How do we get that though? 145 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:24,920 And that's where we turn the corner in verse 3. 146 00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:28,360 It flows from be gentle to look at verse 3. 147 00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:34,000 In verse 3, Paul gives us a strategy that can actually 148 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:39,120 produce in us the gentleness that he's demanding from us. 149 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:44,920 He essentially says, be gentle because you were the same way. 150 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:50,920 He says. He describes the hostility of 151 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:57,440 the world, and he says, hey, before you knew Jesus, you're 152 00:09:57,440 --> 00:10:01,840 doing the same stuff. Or look at the actual language 153 00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:05,840 here in verse three. Look at it, for we ourselves 154 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:08,720 were once foolish. You didn't have the wisdom of 155 00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:13,640 God, disobedient, you didn't have the power to obey God. 156 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:17,400 Slaves to various passions and pleasures. 157 00:10:17,960 --> 00:10:21,920 You just followed your flesh in whichever way it desired. 158 00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:25,120 Passing our days and nalice and envy. 159 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:28,360 Hated by others and hating one another. 160 00:10:28,360 --> 00:10:31,920 Post essentially saying that before you knew Jesus you were 161 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:34,960 doing the same stuff. But I want you to make one 162 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:38,480 massive textual observation about verse three. 163 00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:40,840 If you have it in front of you, get your eyeballs on it. 164 00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:43,040 I want you to notice this. This is really important. 165 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:48,680 Paul actually did not in fact say, hey, you were doing the 166 00:10:48,680 --> 00:10:53,120 same stuff. It's close. 167 00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:58,160 That's not what he says. close. Put no cigar. 168 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:03,720 What you would expect Paul to say is you would expect Paul to 169 00:11:03,720 --> 00:11:08,600 say this. You know, we were once living in 170 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:11,280 a foolish way. That's not what he says. 171 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:16,000 Or we were once saying foolish stuff. 172 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:22,600 That's not what he says. Or we were once making foolish 173 00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:25,520 decisions. That's that's not what he says, 174 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:32,240 though, is it? Look at the verb in verse 3 for 175 00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:45,880 we ourselves were once foolish were that's the past tense verb 176 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:52,440 for to be. Why am I making such a deal out 177 00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:53,120 of this? Why am I? 178 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:56,720 Why am I zooming in right here? Because Paul actually doesn't 179 00:11:56,720 --> 00:11:59,200 say that we were doing the same stuff as them. 180 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:03,400 This is actually not operating on a behavioral level. 181 00:12:05,160 --> 00:12:10,960 Paul saying you were the same way or to use technical language 182 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:15,960 before you knew Jesus, you had the exact same nature. 183 00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:19,720 What I need you to see right here is that this is not just a 184 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:23,080 statement on behavior. This is a statement on human 185 00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:25,000 nature. Paul is saying before you knew 186 00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:27,040 Jesus, you had the exact same nature. 187 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:30,200 So we should ask ourselves the question, what nature was that? 188 00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:32,280 And what the Bible argues and what Christians have 189 00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:35,160 historically argued historically, emphatically and 190 00:12:35,160 --> 00:12:38,640 biblically, is that the default operating system of human beings 191 00:12:38,640 --> 00:12:42,240 apart from the grace of God is a sinful nature. 192 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:45,800 They've always argued that human beings are born with a sinful 193 00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:47,360 nature. In other words, apart from the 194 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:50,600 saving grace of God, all human beings have the capacity to do 195 00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:53,880 is sin, sin, sin, sin, sin, sin, sin, sin, sin, sin. 196 00:12:53,880 --> 00:12:56,640 Now, of course, that doesn't mean that our non Christian 197 00:12:56,640 --> 00:12:58,160 friends can't make good decisions. 198 00:12:58,560 --> 00:13:01,320 John Calvin, a pretty solid theologian, he once famously 199 00:13:01,320 --> 00:13:04,360 noted that having a sinful nature doesn't mean that every 200 00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:08,200 decision we make apart from God is necessarily a bad decision, 201 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:12,000 or it doesn't mean that every motive that we have is a bad 202 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:15,440 motive. What it means is that even our 203 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:19,520 best decisions and even our best motives are still tainted by at 204 00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:24,160 least the presence of some sin. And so our non Christian friends 205 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:26,760 and our non Christian brothers and sisters, they can do good 206 00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:29,720 things in the world and they can make good choices in the world, 207 00:13:29,960 --> 00:13:31,160 right? There's more than a handful of 208 00:13:31,160 --> 00:13:35,400 examples in the Bible where non Christians live well or rule 209 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:37,160 well or make really good decisions. 210 00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:39,680 So you don't need to be a Christian to make a good choice. 211 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:46,080 But without the grace of God, even our good choices are still 212 00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:49,800 tainted by sin. This is why Christians cannot 213 00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:52,480 earn their salvation. This is why there are no good 214 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:55,960 works that could earn salvation. Because every good work you 215 00:13:55,960 --> 00:13:59,720 could do if you have a sinful nature is still tainted by sin 216 00:13:59,920 --> 00:14:02,040 and unacceptable before a holy God. 217 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:05,440 That's why the Bible says that apart from God, our good works 218 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:09,000 are filthy rags. The problem isn't just a a 219 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:11,920 problem of behavior. The problem is a a problem of 220 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:14,480 nature. Cornelius Vantel, also a solid 221 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:17,360 20th century Reformed theologian, he likened when he 222 00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:20,200 talked about the sinful nature of human beings, he likened it 223 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:23,320 to a glass of water. He said if you take this glass 224 00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:30,720 of water and you just do one drop of poison in it, is the 225 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:32,680 water as poisoned as it could be? 226 00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:35,920 No, you could put more poison in it. 227 00:14:36,360 --> 00:14:40,800 But is the whole thing poisoned? Yeah, it works itself throughout 228 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:44,120 the entire thing. That's precisely what we see 229 00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:47,480 with Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. When sin enters the world, a 230 00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:51,640 drop of poison enters the human condition, and the human 231 00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:56,200 condition becomes a default operating system of a sinful 232 00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:58,880 nature. There's poison everywhere in the 233 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:00,920 cup. You can see this argument in the 234 00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:03,040 text of the Bible. There's more than just these two 235 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:05,080 verses. I'll give you 2 really clear 236 00:15:05,080 --> 00:15:08,200 ones though. In Psalm 51 verse 5, David says, 237 00:15:08,200 --> 00:15:15,000 behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my 238 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:18,080 mother conceive me? What's David saying? 239 00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:21,280 He's saying from conception I had a sinful nature. 240 00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:24,200 And if that's not clear enough, look at Romans chapter 3 verse 241 00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:26,840 10. Romans chapter 3 verse 10 says 242 00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:30,840 there is no one righteous, not even one. 243 00:15:31,080 --> 00:15:35,480 There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks God. 244 00:15:35,720 --> 00:15:39,880 All have turned away. All have together become 245 00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:43,680 worthless. There is no one who does good, 246 00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:48,880 not even one. Pretty clear, pretty clear. 247 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:50,800 So I'm not going to bore you with the details about this. 248 00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:52,000 I'm not going to bore you to death here. 249 00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:54,720 But the view that human beings are born with an essentially 250 00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:58,520 good nature or a neutral nature is not taught in scripture. 251 00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:02,280 And it was officially condemned as a heresy in AD 14 at the 252 00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:04,480 Council of Carthage. If you just want to have like a 253 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:09,360 fun afternoon, go Google the Pelagian controversy, OK, You 254 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:11,720 can study more about it. It's super fascinating. 255 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:16,080 But it's condemned as a heresy that human beings were just born 256 00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:19,040 with an essentially good nature. But Are you ready for this? 257 00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:23,240 You guys with me? OK, you ready for this? 258 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:25,240 This is crazy. There's a Christian ministry 259 00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:27,200 called Ligonier, pretty solid stuff. 260 00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:29,760 And they do something every year called the state of theology 261 00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:33,720 where they do a massive survey among thousands of US Christians 262 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:36,920 just to have some fun and see what Christians actually believe 263 00:16:36,920 --> 00:16:40,640 in America and check this out. The results are jaw-dropping. 264 00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:45,040 They what they do is they they put a statement and they say, is 265 00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:49,760 that true or false? So here's here's statement #15 266 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:55,520 statement #15 is everyone is born innocent in the eyes of 267 00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:58,560 God. Do you know how many US 268 00:16:59,040 --> 00:17:08,800 Christians agree with that 64%? So that means that by the 269 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:15,359 historical standard of biblical orthodoxy, 64% of US Christians 270 00:17:15,599 --> 00:17:19,400 embrace what the historical church would call a heretical 271 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:25,079 view of human nature. Statement #12 Everyone sins a 272 00:17:25,079 --> 00:17:33,160 little, but people are good by nature. 53% of American 273 00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:38,480 Christians believe that 53%. That's This is why. 274 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:43,800 OK, take that statement. American Christians people are 275 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:47,680 good by nature. The Bible there is no one 276 00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:54,560 righteous, not even 1 US Christians people are pretty 277 00:17:54,560 --> 00:18:00,880 good the Bible at sinning. That's what they're good at. 278 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:05,600 And yet they're fearfully and wonderfully made and loved by 279 00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:09,880 God. But our nature is one that is a 280 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:13,040 default operating system of sin. So let's chat here. 281 00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:16,040 The we got, I want to say this. This is really important. 282 00:18:17,120 --> 00:18:22,800 OK, you read verse 3. Paul says, hey, we ourselves, we 283 00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:27,560 were once foolish, disobedient, LED astray, slaves to various 284 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:30,520 passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, 285 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:32,680 hated by others and hating one another. 286 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:35,600 Paul's not saying that because he feels like being He doesn't. 287 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:37,520 He's not saying that because he feels like being mean. 288 00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:42,000 This is really important, OK, The Christian doctrine of the 289 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:43,720 sinful nature, It's like medicine. 290 00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:48,640 It tastes bitter, but it actually produces health in you. 291 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:52,880 It's actually really humanizing and produces humility and 292 00:18:52,880 --> 00:18:55,360 gentleness and you. It has a ton of explanatory 293 00:18:55,360 --> 00:18:58,480 power in answering the question, why the heck am I the way that I 294 00:18:58,480 --> 00:18:59,600 am? Like, have you ever asked that 295 00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:02,320 question? Have you ever just like, have 296 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:05,000 you ever just made a boneheaded decision and then looked at 297 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:07,640 yourself in the mirror and been like, why am I the way that I 298 00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:10,800 am? What is broken? 299 00:19:12,120 --> 00:19:15,360 Not unlike the tertiary part of who I am, But like at the very 300 00:19:15,360 --> 00:19:19,920 center of me, like even if you consider it through a dietary 301 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:23,400 lens, it's there. Like, why do I hunger for fast 302 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:25,080 food when I know it's bad for me? 303 00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:29,080 And why can I not train myself to hunger for kale? 304 00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:32,360 Because I know it's good for me. Why? 305 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:36,720 Why is my nature like this? There's something profoundly off 306 00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:38,480 in the very center of our nature. 307 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:42,600 We we long for things that will destroy us. 308 00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:46,440 And then we have to train our natures to enjoy the things that 309 00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:51,040 are beneficial for us. What is that like? 310 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:55,880 I have never heard anybody say like, you know, I just really 311 00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:59,800 had to discipline myself to eat that third bag of nerd clusters. 312 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:04,560 Speaking from experience, no, you don't have to discipline 313 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:06,160 yourself to do that. What do you have to do? 314 00:20:06,280 --> 00:20:09,600 Just follow your nature? Have you guys had nerve 315 00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:12,480 clusters? Dude, they're the best candy 316 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:13,880 ever. Ask. 317 00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:17,560 Ask your buddy who's who's experienced A substance 318 00:20:17,560 --> 00:20:21,240 addiction. Guarantee you your sister who's 319 00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:23,600 experienced an addiction to a substance. 320 00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:27,240 I guarantee you she won't say, you know, I just had to 321 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:30,320 discipline myself to go back and back to that substance. 322 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:35,400 No, all it required was a following, a going of the flow 323 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:38,600 along with the very grain of human nature. 324 00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:42,880 And this is not just true in from a dietary lens. 325 00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:46,920 This is true spiritually. Paul says be gentle, not angry. 326 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:51,960 OK. Why does anger feel so good that 327 00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:55,920 isn't there like a dark pleasure to it? 328 00:20:57,640 --> 00:20:59,880 You don't have to. You don't have to discipline 329 00:20:59,880 --> 00:21:04,520 your nature to be more angry. What do you have to discipline 330 00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:07,000 your nature to be? You have to discipline your 331 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:11,240 nature to be more gentle. Anger feels good in the moment. 332 00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:15,160 Our nature loves it, but it slowly erodes our character over 333 00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:17,600 time. And yes, there is such a thing 334 00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:21,160 as righteous anger, but it probably constitutes 1% of your 335 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:23,960 anger. Righteous anger. 336 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:26,200 There is such a thing as righteous anger, it's just a lot 337 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:29,120 of Christians use that to justify 99% of their anger, 338 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:32,520 whereas it probably only constitutes like 1% of their 339 00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:33,440 anger. So that's a thing. 340 00:21:34,120 --> 00:21:36,200 But for the most part, anger feels good in the moment, but it 341 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:38,080 slowly erodes our character over time. 342 00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:43,080 Gentleness feels like death in the moment, but it slowly builds 343 00:21:43,080 --> 00:21:49,400 up our character over time. Why, why, why are we this way? 344 00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:57,320 And at the bottom of these paradoxes, why don't this, not 345 00:21:57,320 --> 00:21:59,960 that? Why do I not do the things that 346 00:21:59,960 --> 00:22:03,520 I want to do and then I do the things I don't want to do? 347 00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:06,760 At the bottom of all these paradoxes is not a giant 348 00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:08,840 question mark. Who can know such things? 349 00:22:08,840 --> 00:22:12,560 No, no, no. At the bottom of these paradoxes 350 00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:17,400 is a biblical fact that we have a sinful nature. 351 00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:19,960 And this sinful nature, you could explain it in a lot of 352 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:22,720 ways, but it's constituted, it's composed of primarily two 353 00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:24,000 ingredients. Here's the first one. 354 00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:29,280 The first ingredient of a sinful nature is we overestimate how 355 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:33,720 much happiness or how much joy sin will bring, right? 356 00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:35,600 Eating a doughnut is not sinful. I love it. 357 00:22:36,120 --> 00:22:39,520 But just as an example, when we see a doughnut sitting there, 358 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:44,760 all we have the capacity to do is imagine how intensely good 359 00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:47,960 that flavor will be. What we don't have the capacity 360 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:50,960 to imagine is how the sugar crash is going to feel. 361 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:55,560 What we don't seem to have the capacity to do is recognize the 362 00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:58,960 fact that after we eat that all it's going to produce in US is a 363 00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:01,040 desire for another doughnut. And again, this is true 364 00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:03,720 spiritually. When it comes to anger, all we 365 00:23:03,720 --> 00:23:10,320 can think about is how good that angry e-mail will feel, right? 366 00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:14,920 All, all we have the capacity to imagine is, dude, it's going to 367 00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:20,320 feel so good to dish out this sick burn on Insta, right? 368 00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:27,160 But what you can't imagine is what you can't imagine is the 369 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:31,320 embarrassment of somebody from your church reading that comment 370 00:23:32,360 --> 00:23:35,760 and being like, oh, hey, cool. Not that that's happened. 371 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:38,960 I actually made it. I decided I'm not going to argue 372 00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:42,360 about spiritual stuff on social media. 373 00:23:42,360 --> 00:23:43,720 You do you do you whatever you want. 374 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:45,480 But I will argue about wrestling. 375 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:48,160 So that's where I get into trouble. 376 00:23:48,880 --> 00:23:51,640 But that's part of the component of a simple nature is that we 377 00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:55,200 vastly overestimate how much happiness sin will bring. 378 00:23:55,440 --> 00:23:58,640 And the other component, and this is really just a second way 379 00:23:58,640 --> 00:24:01,040 of saying the same thing, the second ingredient of a simple 380 00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:04,240 nature is we underestimate how much happiness. 381 00:24:04,360 --> 00:24:07,320 We underestimate how much joy God will bring. 382 00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:13,240 We underestimate how happy it will make us to obey God's word, 383 00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:17,200 even if it results in pain. And because we and because we 384 00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:21,000 don't have the ability to imagine how happy obedience will 385 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:24,480 make us, we end up building idols for ourselves and we seek 386 00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:28,280 our happiness and sin, or we even seek our happiness, our 387 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:31,600 ultimate happiness and things that are good but just don't 388 00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:34,800 have the capacity to bring about everlasting happiness that it 389 00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:36,640 promises. Like we have a tendency to say, 390 00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:39,440 well, I'll, I'll be happy whenever I'm done with this 391 00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:41,920 diet. You won't. 392 00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:45,560 I'll be happy whenever I get the promotion. 393 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:49,440 You won't. I'll be happy whenever I find 394 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:51,360 the next church that really understands me. 395 00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:54,720 You won't. I'll be happy whenever I get 396 00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:57,560 married, right? All of these, these things, some 397 00:24:57,560 --> 00:25:00,480 of these things are good, but they just do not deliver the 398 00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:04,320 everlasting happiness that they seem to promise. 399 00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:07,400 Why? Because we have a sinful nature 400 00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:10,880 that overestimates how much happiness the world will bring 401 00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:15,160 and underestimates how much happiness God will bring. 402 00:25:15,360 --> 00:25:16,840 We. This is the way. 403 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:24,160 We were right. We were foolish, disobedient 404 00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:33,000 slaves to our various passions. You know how people say stop and 405 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:36,960 smell the roses? I think that's good advice. 406 00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:39,960 I think it's good advice stop and smell the roses. 407 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:43,440 We also need the opposite statement once in a while too, 408 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:45,480 especially in our Western 21st culture. 409 00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:50,720 Like we need to start saying stop and smell the feces doesn't 410 00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:56,120 look good on a sweatshirt or a mug or a Pinterest post. 411 00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:04,640 But there are massive benefits from meditating on our crappy 412 00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:09,160 nature and recognizing that apart from the grace of God, we 413 00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:14,400 were that exact same way. It's one of the healthiest 414 00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:17,960 things we can do as Christians. That's why Paul is reminding 415 00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:20,920 them of this. It's where the gentleness comes 416 00:26:20,920 --> 00:26:22,240 from. A humility that recognize I'm 417 00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:24,920 the same way, right? Like, and you got to hear me on 418 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:27,200 this. Remembering our sinful nature or 419 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:30,760 contemplating our sinful nature. It's not about self loathing. 420 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:35,800 It's about self knowledge. There's a massive difference 421 00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:38,880 there. Self loathing says I'm 422 00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:41,760 worthless, I suck, nobody loves me. 423 00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:44,160 That's not where contemplation of the sinful nature leads you. 424 00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:47,280 It leads you to self-awareness of your nature. 425 00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:51,000 And it doesn't say I'm worthless and I saw it says, you know, I'm 426 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:57,080 limited, I'm conflicted, I'm sinful, I'm self-centered and so 427 00:26:57,080 --> 00:27:01,800 is everyone else. Doesn't that feel freeing? 428 00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:06,880 That's actually where the humility that produces 429 00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:09,560 gentleness comes from. This is what Paul's doing. 430 00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:12,240 Paul's saying. Paul's saying stop and smell the 431 00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:14,840 feces. You're not better than the 432 00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:19,760 hostile culture around you. You can't read this text and 433 00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:24,680 draw a different conclusion. Paul's like, hey, avoid 434 00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:28,640 quarreling, be gentle, show perfect courtesy towards all 435 00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:33,800 people because you were yourself once foolish, disobedient, LED 436 00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:36,120 astray, slave to various passions and pleasures. 437 00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:38,160 You were the same way. Paul's saying. 438 00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:43,600 They're not different than you. They're made of the same stuff. 439 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:50,280 They're made of the same clay. They're made of the same matter. 440 00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:54,840 They are acting like you acted before you knew Jesus. 441 00:27:55,760 --> 00:27:59,920 They were acting like every human being ever has acted who 442 00:27:59,920 --> 00:28:02,400 has not yet tasted the grace of God. 443 00:28:03,360 --> 00:28:06,960 They're sinning because they have sinful natures. 444 00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:09,840 Paul is saying, remember, you had this. 445 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:11,960 We were our we were the same way. 446 00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:15,120 We were once foolish. We were once disobedient. 447 00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:18,520 We once hated others and were hating one another. 448 00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:21,440 All of us were this way. We've we've all descended from 449 00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:24,080 the same Adam and Eve. If you think of yourself as like 450 00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:28,120 a glass of wine, we're all poured from the same picture as 451 00:28:28,120 --> 00:28:30,240 Adam and Eve. That's where our nature came 452 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:32,560 from, poured out of the same picture. 453 00:28:33,040 --> 00:28:35,440 We recognize that because some Christians just think that their 454 00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:38,440 crap don't stank, right? The moral superiority of some 455 00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:41,040 Christians in the way that they engage the unbelieving culture 456 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:44,120 suggests that they think that they fart butterflies you don't 457 00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:46,280 like. Sometimes you listen to 458 00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:49,680 Christians and you would think that honestly, you you would 459 00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:52,560 think that they thought that God made their unbelieving neighbors 460 00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:55,680 out of clay, but when God made them, he used 24 karat gold. 461 00:28:56,000 --> 00:28:58,480 Believer, bring back the phrase from the 90s. 462 00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:00,560 You're not all that in a bag of potato chips. 463 00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:04,120 Wasn't just true in the 90s, it's still true. 464 00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:12,800 You, you can't listen to me. You can't point at any of the 465 00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:18,400 billions of human lives that have ever existed on planet 466 00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:24,000 Earth and say thank God I'm not like that person. 467 00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:29,240 You can't do that because you are. 468 00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:35,880 You had the same nature. You can't even point at Adolf 469 00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:38,080 Hitler and say, oh, thank God, I'm not like that. 470 00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:42,240 You are. Hitler wasn't made of different 471 00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:45,880 stuff. He was made of the same stuff as 472 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:47,680 you. The difference between you and 473 00:29:47,680 --> 00:29:50,440 Hitler is circumstances and the grace of God. 474 00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:53,000 That's it. If you could see the world, if 475 00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:56,600 you could see reality clearly, the difference between you and 476 00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:59,400 Hitler is nothing compared to the difference between you and 477 00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:03,360 God. You're much more like him than 478 00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:06,240 you are like God, made of the same stuff, right? 479 00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:08,800 On the bright side, that's like, here's a here's a great way of 480 00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:10,640 phrasing it. On the bright side, we're all 481 00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:13,760 poured out of the same picture of human nature as Mother Teresa 482 00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:19,600 and Gandhi and King David. But on the dark side, we're all 483 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:23,480 poured out of the same picture as Stall and Hitler and King 484 00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:29,920 David. You are you. 485 00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:37,440 You are like every other human being who has ever existed on 486 00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:44,600 planet Earth. That's what you're like when you 487 00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:48,640 remember this. It produces in you a humility 488 00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:54,000 that recognize. But by the grace of God, that's 489 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:59,120 exactly what I'd be doing. And the recognition of this 490 00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:04,600 helps you engage with culture, with gentleness when they act in 491 00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:09,040 Pagan ways, when the culture bumps your cup and you 492 00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:10,600 recognize, hey man, I got the same. 493 00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:12,560 I would have done that if not by the grace of God. 494 00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:16,120 You spill wine, not water. You spill gentleness and not 495 00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:20,440 hostility when people post things or say mean things to you 496 00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:24,920 or put up yard signs you don't like or put up billboards that 497 00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:28,160 you don't like. When you recognize that you're 498 00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:31,520 made of the same stuff, you won't respond with hyper 499 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:35,240 reactivity. You'll respond with gentleness, 500 00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:44,200 but it's like, OK, cool, got it. That's in the text. 501 00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:48,120 Avoid quarreling. Be gentle. 502 00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:53,800 We were exactly that same way. The big unanswered question that 503 00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:56,800 I'm not bringing clarity to right now, I know what it is. 504 00:31:56,800 --> 00:32:00,640 The big unanswered question is what exact form should the 505 00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:02,880 gentleness take in response to the culture? 506 00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:07,920 I got the gentle posture down, but what should I do when crap 507 00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:10,960 actually hits the fan? When the rubber actually meets 508 00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:14,440 the road? And the answer to that is, it 509 00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:18,840 depends, right? So maybe, maybe if you've 510 00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:21,280 experienced hostility from the culture in the last month, just 511 00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:25,520 bring that to mind for a second. Again, something means somebody 512 00:32:25,520 --> 00:32:27,480 said, maybe just something you disagreed with. 513 00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:30,280 Whatever it was, the culture bumped you and you're like, I 514 00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:34,720 don't like that. What's what's the what form 515 00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:38,880 should the gentleness take? It might be a gentle answer. 516 00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:42,920 This is Proverbs 15 verse one quote. 517 00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:48,280 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up 518 00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:52,160 anger. So it might be gently responding 519 00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:54,320 with the correct answer. There's biblical precedent for 520 00:32:54,320 --> 00:32:59,440 that, but it might also be simply absorbing the hostility 521 00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:01,520 of the culture without retaliating. 522 00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:04,960 We see that demonstrated in Jesus before Pilate. 523 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:09,440 Pilate before crucifying Jesus is mocking him and saying what 524 00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:13,040 is truth? And Jesus just looks at him and 525 00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:16,880 absorbs it. So there's biblical merit to 526 00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:20,200 just absorbing the hostility and not retaliating also. 527 00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:27,680 So it might be that might be, it might be absorbing the hostility 528 00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:31,280 of a friend or family member while choosing to hold on to the 529 00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:34,200 relationship knowing that the future will afford you an 530 00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:36,800 opportunity to speak the truth. I don't know, let's say, OK, 531 00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:38,880 well, what's the Bible say? Here's what it says. 532 00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:40,840 Proverbs 26, verses four and five. 533 00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:46,240 Are you ready for this? Proverbs 26 verse 4 answer not a 534 00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:50,120 fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. 535 00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:54,960 OK, so don't respond to foolishness with an answer, 536 00:33:55,080 --> 00:33:56,840 because then I'll just look foolish, right? 537 00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:03,960 Maybe Proverbs 26 verse 5 answer a fool according to his folly, 538 00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:10,320 less TP wise in his own eyes. They're purposefully 539 00:34:10,320 --> 00:34:11,880 back-to-back right there. What is it? 540 00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:14,400 Do I not answer them or do I answer them? 541 00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:18,880 And the question or the answer to that is maybe have fun with 542 00:34:18,880 --> 00:34:22,719 that. But here, here's the point 543 00:34:22,719 --> 00:34:24,960 underneath that. The point underneath that is 544 00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:27,600 that there's not A1 size fits all response to a hostile 545 00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:29,840 culture. You are actually going to have 546 00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:33,560 to wrestle with God, and He wants it that way. 547 00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:36,960 You are actually going to have to wrestle with God to know what 548 00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:40,800 the exact right response is. It's just the way it is. 549 00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:49,760 It's a relationship with God. But this sermon does come with a 550 00:34:50,600 --> 00:34:53,239 massive surgeon general's warning. 551 00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:58,560 OK, this does not invalidate everything I just said, but it 552 00:34:58,560 --> 00:34:59,800 comes with a surgeon general's warning. 553 00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:02,800 And here's the surgeon general's warning. 554 00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:11,320 You need to know that building a life around avoiding cultural 555 00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:19,360 pushback is a waste of time. Notice this Paul is not giving 556 00:35:19,360 --> 00:35:23,400 instructions on how to avoid the hostility of the world. 557 00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:25,840 He's assuming you're experiencing it. 558 00:35:28,240 --> 00:35:31,160 So somebody might misinterpret my sermon or last week's sermon 559 00:35:31,160 --> 00:35:35,120 by saying it sounds Cole like, like the point is to just not be 560 00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:37,760 offensive. No, no, you are offensive by 561 00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:40,240 merit of what you believe and what you are. 562 00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:44,280 You're a piece of new creation working yourself through the old 563 00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:46,640 creation. By the very of nature of what 564 00:35:46,640 --> 00:35:50,840 you are, you will be offensive. It assumes hostility. 565 00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:55,000 So the instructions aren't, hey, here's how you don't ever 566 00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:56,920 provoke any hostility from the culture. 567 00:35:57,320 --> 00:36:00,760 The instructions are make sure that when the hostility comes, 568 00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:03,760 you're gentle in response. Does that make sense? 569 00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:09,840 This is this is super, super important because you will be 570 00:36:09,840 --> 00:36:14,080 tempted to organize and curate your life around what makes the 571 00:36:14,080 --> 00:36:16,200 world least likely to lash out at you. 572 00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:21,560 Can I just say that's a bad idea? 573 00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:31,040 It's it's a bad idea to organize and curate your life around. 574 00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:34,320 What can I say and do that's going to make the culture not 575 00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:36,440 get mad at me? It's a bad idea. 576 00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:42,240 Like I would even say it this way over the last year or two I 577 00:36:42,240 --> 00:36:44,640 have actually, this is super interesting. 578 00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:49,960 I have learned almost the exact dynamics of the hardwood floor 579 00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:53,680 that's on our upstairs level in our 100 year old house. 580 00:36:55,320 --> 00:36:59,400 I I know almost exactly which boards creak and which ones 581 00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:00,240 don't. Do you know why? 582 00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:05,440 Because every morning when Chloe and I wake up, if we want to go 583 00:37:05,440 --> 00:37:11,240 downstairs, we have to walk by one of our children's rooms. 584 00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:16,640 And it's the room of a child who we don't want to wake up before 585 00:37:16,640 --> 00:37:21,720 he needs to wake up. I can let you draw your own 586 00:37:21,720 --> 00:37:24,000 conclusions on which of our three children that is. 587 00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:27,080 I'll give you a hint. He's the only Diking kid to get 588 00:37:27,280 --> 00:37:32,600 kicked out of Frontier Roots and the the gym childcare in the 589 00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:41,960 same week, and deservedly so. Now I'm messing, but in response 590 00:37:41,960 --> 00:37:44,880 to that, I've learned, OK, if I, if I step there, that one's 591 00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:46,440 going to creak. And if I step there, it's not 592 00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:48,720 going to creak. And so like when I walk past his 593 00:37:48,720 --> 00:37:51,520 room, I'm like, it's almost like I'm like, I can see it like it's 594 00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:53,520 a football play on the hardwood floor. 595 00:37:53,520 --> 00:37:55,360 I'm like, you know, I take a couple steps here, a couple 596 00:37:55,360 --> 00:37:58,600 steps there. If I make it past his room and I 597 00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:02,480 and I get to the stairs, then I start to gently tip toe right 598 00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:05,240 down into the basement, right. And the reason why I'm bringing 599 00:38:05,240 --> 00:38:08,080 this up is because you should not live your life that way. 600 00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:12,200 You will be tempted to live that way. 601 00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:17,600 If I step right there, the culture is going to squeak. 602 00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:22,920 If I step on that thing that the culture is going to creak. 603 00:38:24,480 --> 00:38:28,880 So I better avoid that. And I'm going to run over here 604 00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:30,760 and then I'm going to tiptoe throughout life. 605 00:38:30,760 --> 00:38:37,640 Just don't, don't be mean to me. Do you know what that is? 606 00:38:39,200 --> 00:38:45,040 That is slavery. You're organizing your life not 607 00:38:45,040 --> 00:38:49,600 around the lordship of Jesus, but around whatever I can do to 608 00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:56,120 not poke the sleeping bear. Those 10 seconds of me walking 609 00:38:56,120 --> 00:39:02,480 by Jack's room, they're, they are 10 anxious seconds. 610 00:39:03,120 --> 00:39:08,280 If you live your life that way, your life will be dominated by 611 00:39:08,280 --> 00:39:10,720 the anxiety of what's the world going to say? 612 00:39:12,120 --> 00:39:15,480 What's the world going to do? If you build your life around 613 00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:21,240 not offending the world, then who is really the functional 614 00:39:21,240 --> 00:39:25,560 Lord of your life? The world. 615 00:39:28,520 --> 00:39:36,320 Now be gentle, be gentle, but the world's going to bark at you 616 00:39:36,320 --> 00:39:40,360 no matter what. Just reckon with that. 617 00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:46,920 It's OK. Once you get that, you can just 618 00:39:46,920 --> 00:39:51,040 read your Bible, believe your Bible and pattern your life 619 00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:54,840 around Jesus and say the hell with what comes. 620 00:39:55,920 --> 00:39:58,080 Whatever the consequences are, I'm going to take them because 621 00:39:58,080 --> 00:40:01,400 I'm like Jesus. And that is a life of freedom. 622 00:40:02,640 --> 00:40:03,760 It is. It's a life of freedom. 623 00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:07,160 Ask your your Christian friends around you about a time that 624 00:40:07,160 --> 00:40:10,960 they endured persecution. You would be amazed at the 625 00:40:10,960 --> 00:40:13,680 stories of some people in this room, the things that they have 626 00:40:13,680 --> 00:40:15,400 endured and held onto their faith with. 627 00:40:15,600 --> 00:40:18,800 They will make you think. There's no amount of persecution 628 00:40:18,800 --> 00:40:23,200 I can experience that's going to peel my grip off of Jesus. 629 00:40:23,840 --> 00:40:27,840 And that will embolden you and it will embolden you to not 630 00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:31,840 retaliate when the world is mean to you because gentleness, it is 631 00:40:31,840 --> 00:40:36,520 how you win the world. I've never seen a person one to 632 00:40:36,640 --> 00:40:40,280 Jesus because you were the loudest, more religious arguer. 633 00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:46,960 Is that how Jesus won you? No, Jesus won you with his 634 00:40:46,960 --> 00:40:50,160 gentleness. Does Jesus have a sword? 635 00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:55,400 Yes, he does. Is that how he convinced you? 636 00:40:56,440 --> 00:41:04,840 No, He won you with His cross. He won you by being gentle and 637 00:41:04,840 --> 00:41:12,440 lowly, by being crucified publicly for you, by willingly 638 00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:17,280 being betrayed for you, by enduring slaps to the face for 639 00:41:17,280 --> 00:41:24,440 you, by paying the penalty for your sin, by forgiving you, by 640 00:41:24,440 --> 00:41:28,520 covering you in His very own righteousness, by faith and 641 00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:31,200 grace alone. That's how Jesus won you. 642 00:41:31,200 --> 00:41:37,720 And if you don't know Jesus, I don't want you to see the tip of 643 00:41:37,720 --> 00:41:40,640 that sword. Repent and turn to Jesus this 644 00:41:40,640 --> 00:41:42,440 morning. Don't wait. 645 00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:46,400 Do it right now. But for those who know Jesus, 646 00:41:46,400 --> 00:41:48,720 for those of you who have embraced the gospel, 1 647 00:41:48,720 --> 00:41:51,600 theologian said it this way. I love this one theologian said. 648 00:41:54,760 --> 00:41:58,280 Jesus's gentleness towards you isn't just one of many things he 649 00:41:58,280 --> 00:42:00,120 does towards you, it's who he is. 650 00:42:00,920 --> 00:42:05,080 He cannot UN gentle himself towards you any more than you 651 00:42:05,080 --> 00:42:09,120 can change your eye color. It's the very nature of Jesus 652 00:42:09,120 --> 00:42:13,520 towards you, and it should be the nature of our posture 653 00:42:13,520 --> 00:42:19,000 towards the world. I was hanging out with my little 654 00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:21,960 nephew a little over a year ago. He's my little homie. 655 00:42:21,960 --> 00:42:24,280 I love this dude. We hang out in the same room. 656 00:42:24,280 --> 00:42:25,920 I can't remember. We were playing dodgeball or 657 00:42:26,160 --> 00:42:28,000 basketball or whatever, and then I got a text message. 658 00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:29,920 So I had to walk across the room. 659 00:42:30,080 --> 00:42:32,560 And that's important to the way that you understand the story. 660 00:42:32,560 --> 00:42:34,880 I walked across the room. I was on the other side of the 661 00:42:34,880 --> 00:42:38,280 room and I sat down and I got my phone out and I was responding 662 00:42:38,280 --> 00:42:40,920 to the text message. So, so my little nephew, he's on 663 00:42:40,920 --> 00:42:43,520 the other side of the room. I'm on the exact opposite side 664 00:42:43,520 --> 00:42:44,880 of the room. Just respond to some text 665 00:42:44,880 --> 00:42:47,960 messages between you and me. Maybe I fell into a little doom 666 00:42:47,960 --> 00:42:50,280 scrolling too, right? I'm doing a little scrolling on 667 00:42:50,280 --> 00:42:53,960 the other side of the room, and while I'm scrolling on my phone, 668 00:42:54,960 --> 00:42:59,600 all of a sudden I hear there's a little pop. 669 00:43:00,600 --> 00:43:06,640 I look up and my nephew is crying and rubbing his head 670 00:43:07,040 --> 00:43:10,480 because you know what he did? He ran into a shelf, his head on 671 00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:11,760 a shelf. I don't even know how the kid 672 00:43:11,760 --> 00:43:12,880 did it. I wasn't. 673 00:43:12,920 --> 00:43:14,680 I wasn't playing with him. I was scrolling on the phone. 674 00:43:14,680 --> 00:43:17,040 I shouldn't have been, but I was going on my phone, kid. 675 00:43:17,680 --> 00:43:19,200 Kid popped his head right into the shelf. 676 00:43:19,200 --> 00:43:23,040 Maybe he ran into it, maybe he he tripped after it. 677 00:43:23,120 --> 00:43:25,320 I know the kid. So maybe he just head butted it. 678 00:43:25,320 --> 00:43:26,960 I don't know. All those are valid options. 679 00:43:28,320 --> 00:43:30,320 No blood, no bruise, no nothing like that. 680 00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:33,760 But nevertheless he's crying and it's enough that I look at him 681 00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:37,800 and I say, hey big dog, how you doing? 682 00:43:39,360 --> 00:43:41,440 He looks at me with fire in his eyes. 683 00:43:42,040 --> 00:43:45,040 Me, I didn't do anything. Looks at me with fire in his 684 00:43:45,040 --> 00:43:53,320 eyes and he points a finger at me and he says you he screams at 685 00:43:53,320 --> 00:43:57,960 me and I'm like, so I didn't do anything. 686 00:43:58,760 --> 00:44:00,600 I didn't even I wasn't even playing with you, man. 687 00:44:00,600 --> 00:44:02,280 Like, wow, what are you mad at me for? 688 00:44:02,600 --> 00:44:04,680 And it got so bad that my sister came down in the basement. 689 00:44:04,680 --> 00:44:07,840 She's like, what's going on? I'm like Brooke sister, I swear 690 00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:09,960 I didn't do anything. I didn't hit your I didn't hit 691 00:44:09,960 --> 00:44:11,040 your son. I didn't push him. 692 00:44:11,040 --> 00:44:12,640 I didn't trip him or anything like that. 693 00:44:12,800 --> 00:44:15,840 He just hit his head over there on on that shelf or whatever. 694 00:44:15,840 --> 00:44:18,320 And now he's mad at me. I swear I didn't do anything. 695 00:44:18,800 --> 00:44:21,720 And my sister goes and no, no, bro, it's, it's OK, dude. 696 00:44:21,720 --> 00:44:23,920 It's OK. He's he does this thing. 697 00:44:24,560 --> 00:44:29,120 He does this thing where whenever he hurts himself, he 698 00:44:29,120 --> 00:44:32,720 just gets mad at the person who's closest to him in the 699 00:44:32,720 --> 00:44:41,960 room. Whenever he hurts himself, he 700 00:44:41,960 --> 00:44:48,560 just gets mad and lashes out at the person who's closest to him 701 00:44:48,560 --> 00:44:53,280 in the room. I just need you to know that's 702 00:44:53,280 --> 00:44:56,120 why you're experiencing hostility from culture as a 703 00:44:56,120 --> 00:45:01,480 Christian. That's what's at the root of it. 704 00:45:01,960 --> 00:45:06,000 This will, this will change you. If you reckon with human nature, 705 00:45:06,400 --> 00:45:08,600 biblical human nature, it will change you. 706 00:45:08,720 --> 00:45:11,720 All the anger in the world, all the noise in the world, all the 707 00:45:11,720 --> 00:45:15,520 vitriol, all the destructive hot takes, all the relentless finger 708 00:45:15,520 --> 00:45:19,280 pointing, that thing that your siblings said that had claws in 709 00:45:19,280 --> 00:45:22,280 it that you can't get out of your mind, that bad take that 710 00:45:22,280 --> 00:45:25,280 got that reporter fired. All of the passive 711 00:45:25,280 --> 00:45:28,640 aggressiveness on social media that just makes you scratch your 712 00:45:28,640 --> 00:45:30,480 head. It's all coming from the same 713 00:45:30,520 --> 00:45:37,040 source. Nobody has ever woken up one 714 00:45:37,040 --> 00:45:40,520 morning with a pretty good human nature, looked at themselves in 715 00:45:40,520 --> 00:45:43,880 the mirror and said, today I'm going to start being mean. 716 00:45:45,240 --> 00:45:47,160 It's not a consciousness I used to justify. 717 00:45:47,160 --> 00:45:53,320 I went through a season where I I was, I was just in a cage 718 00:45:53,320 --> 00:45:56,520 stage season for a couple of years where I was mad at 719 00:45:56,520 --> 00:45:58,880 everybody if they didn't agree with exactly what I believe. 720 00:45:59,160 --> 00:46:01,440 And a lot of times what I would do is I would justify it with 721 00:46:01,440 --> 00:46:04,360 personality types. I'd be like, well, you know, at 722 00:46:04,360 --> 00:46:06,720 the end of the day, I'm just an ENTJ. 723 00:46:07,600 --> 00:46:12,600 It's like, no, dude, you are a PRICK and you need to REPENT. 724 00:46:12,600 --> 00:46:16,280 It's not because you're an ENTJ, right? 725 00:46:16,280 --> 00:46:18,520 Nobody has ever looked at the toes in the mirror and said, 726 00:46:18,520 --> 00:46:22,320 today, I'm going to start acting like an angry, hostile person. 727 00:46:22,320 --> 00:46:26,560 No, all of the anger, it all comes from the same source. 728 00:46:26,920 --> 00:46:30,560 Wounds. People are hurt and they're 729 00:46:30,560 --> 00:46:33,600 hurting. They have a sinful human nature 730 00:46:33,600 --> 00:46:36,280 and they've been sinned against and they're sinning and they 731 00:46:36,280 --> 00:46:38,520 need to take responsibility for their own nature. 732 00:46:38,680 --> 00:46:40,920 But because they're separated from God, they feel 733 00:46:40,920 --> 00:46:43,280 insignificant. They feel insecure. 734 00:46:43,840 --> 00:46:47,560 And so the next time culture lashes out at you, like whatever 735 00:46:47,560 --> 00:46:50,920 it might be, maybe it's just a mean text from a friend, or 736 00:46:51,280 --> 00:46:54,640 maybe it's a song that mocks Christianity on the radio. 737 00:46:54,640 --> 00:47:00,240 Whatever the most natural thing to do, what your flesh will want 738 00:47:00,240 --> 00:47:04,480 to do, is respond with equal opposing hostility. 739 00:47:07,680 --> 00:47:11,880 You were the same way, though. I'll just respond with more 740 00:47:11,880 --> 00:47:15,280 anger, more vitriol. I'll fight fire with fire. 741 00:47:15,280 --> 00:47:18,800 No, no, no. What I'm suggesting the next 742 00:47:18,800 --> 00:47:22,240 time it happens, and this is what Titus chapter 3 is 743 00:47:22,240 --> 00:47:29,600 suggesting, is the next time culture lashes out at you, you 744 00:47:29,600 --> 00:47:35,280 should see past the hostility. Or maybe the better way to 745 00:47:35,280 --> 00:47:41,200 phrase it is through or underneath the hostility. 746 00:47:43,800 --> 00:47:48,720 As Christians, we must see through the avatars that people 747 00:47:48,720 --> 00:47:54,200 create for themselves. People are not who they present 748 00:47:54,200 --> 00:47:57,840 themselves as to you, the angry comment. 749 00:47:59,320 --> 00:48:02,920 They're just projecting, and it's not what people are. 750 00:48:03,280 --> 00:48:06,040 People are not what they project themselves to be. 751 00:48:07,600 --> 00:48:11,400 What you see is a mask. What you see is a wound that's 752 00:48:11,400 --> 00:48:15,720 bleeding onto you. People are constantly performing 753 00:48:15,720 --> 00:48:18,440 their method, acting. There's an image they're 754 00:48:18,440 --> 00:48:20,360 crafting. There's a brand that they're 755 00:48:20,360 --> 00:48:24,160 crafting, and our job, when that comes our way, when we're on the 756 00:48:24,160 --> 00:48:26,680 receiving end of that, our job as Christians engaging with the 757 00:48:26,680 --> 00:48:32,160 culture is to see the human being underneath the charade. 758 00:48:34,440 --> 00:48:39,160 It's just a charade out there. And what we must do as 759 00:48:39,160 --> 00:48:43,560 Christians is see the human being underneath the charade. 760 00:48:43,880 --> 00:48:48,920 And that means that underneath the hostility, and you see in 761 00:48:48,920 --> 00:48:54,440 them, you see in the person just a child who bumped their head 762 00:48:54,440 --> 00:48:59,360 and is just lashing out at the person closest to them. 763 00:48:59,360 --> 00:49:02,720 And that just happens to be you at the moment. 764 00:49:04,640 --> 00:49:07,680 And when you recognize that that's just what people do when 765 00:49:07,680 --> 00:49:10,440 they're operating out of woundedness, that's what people 766 00:49:10,440 --> 00:49:12,760 do when they have a sinful nature as they sin. 767 00:49:13,680 --> 00:49:15,960 And you were the same way and I was the same way. 768 00:49:16,480 --> 00:49:20,400 And when you recognize that, then you can effectively be the 769 00:49:20,400 --> 00:49:24,040 gentleness that ends the cycle of hostility. 770 00:49:25,280 --> 00:49:28,960 When you recognize that you can be the one who stands in the gap 771 00:49:28,960 --> 00:49:32,920 and say, this ends right here. I'm going to absorb it and walk 772 00:49:32,920 --> 00:49:34,600 away. Or maybe I'm going to absorb it 773 00:49:34,600 --> 00:49:37,280 and give a gentle response or whatever it looks like. 774 00:49:37,280 --> 00:49:41,240 But you can be the person who absorbs that hostility rather 775 00:49:41,240 --> 00:49:43,800 than passes it on. You can do that. 776 00:49:43,800 --> 00:49:47,040 You can have that humility. You can do that because you know 777 00:49:47,040 --> 00:49:49,040 what? Because you know what? 778 00:49:49,040 --> 00:49:53,080 You were without Jesus. And you can do that because you 779 00:49:53,080 --> 00:50:00,320 have the Holy Spirit, right? You have the Spirit of the 780 00:50:00,320 --> 00:50:07,040 living God in you. You're a new creation, you 781 00:50:08,280 --> 00:50:12,920 working your way through the old creation and remembering that. 782 00:50:13,240 --> 00:50:14,840 Remembering that you were the same way. 783 00:50:14,840 --> 00:50:17,640 But the grace of God has made you what you are today. 784 00:50:19,200 --> 00:50:22,840 That is the secret sauce to gentleness in the face of a 785 00:50:22,840 --> 00:50:23,920 hostile culture.