What up, Crossing Family? It is so good to be with you.
To those of you joining here at our physical locations or all
across this region, I want to welcome you.
To those of you part of our inside family, we're so
incredibly thankful for you. And to those of you who are
watching online, we are so incredibly thankful for you as
well. Some of you you might not
realize this, but our largest location doesn't have a
location. It's the people who watch
online, and this past week a lady by the name of Julie
reached out and sent our team an e-mail that reads.
A year and a half ago I got baptized and I'm presently sick
and I've decided to stop my chemo treatments and I have
moved into Hospice. I'm had to leave the crossing
and move up to Wisconsin so my daughter can take care of me.
I was listening to the sermon on abortion, and I've had two Will
I still be able to get into heaven?
And what will heaven be like? I'm at peace with my decision,
but I'm scared. And so we've been trying to
reach you, call you, e-mail you back.
I haven't got anything. So if you're Julie and you're
watching online in Minnesota, I want you to know this one.
You're forgiven with the moment you decide to have an intimate,
personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Your sins were covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, and when
you stand in front of God in the judgment, he will not see your
sin. He will see the blood of his
Son. Second thing, check your e-mail,
because I sent you a sermon on heaven and heaven is going to be
awesome. And for those of you who are
watching at all of our different locations, I want you to know
every single week there are people sitting next to you
walking by you, whether you're a staff member, a difference
maker, that there are people who are going through incredibly
hard, painful seasons and as a church we want to minister
really, really well in those moments.
Today we are at the conclusion of a five week sermon series
called Truth and Tension, Balancing Faith and Love on Hot
Topic issues. And let me begin by saying I've
been so I've been so incredibly proud of you for how you've
handled yourself with class and compassion.
During this series. I called this sermon series
Truth and Tension, because that's really what we're doing.
We're navigating the truth of how God's word says we're
supposed to live and how we're supposed to love people in their
particular situations. And some of you may not know my
story, but let me give you just a little bit of it.
I was 17. It was the Monday before the
election where our country was going to determine whether or
not George W Bush or the guy who invented the Internet became
president. And I am one of those guys that
if I get spun up about something, I'm kind of hard to
slow down. I bet you guys can figure that
one out. And I decided, you know what?
Maybe what I should do is I should spend my Monday evening
going around and removing Al Gore signs out of people's
yards. And then the next day the people
will walk out of their house and they'll go, someone cared enough
to take this Al Gore sign out of my yard, I'll vote for George
Bush. Yeah, it's a brilliant political
strategy. You guys like this guy's on to
something. And that's what I did.
The reason was because one candidate had a different view
on life in the womb than the other one.
And well, my my mom and dad had just recently had my youngest
sister Caitlin Grace and she was 14 weeks premature and they had
spent three months living basically in the University of
Iowa's ICU unit. While because this was the early
90s trying to make sure that my 14 week, you know, couple pound
sister made it. And they had just come back into
our house and to call it a house was generous and they had 1/4 of
$1,000,000 in medical bills that they were going to have to
navigate. And we were already poor, like
we were so poor we couldn't pay attention, right.
We were, just not for context. We lived in a veterinary clinic
and slept on the floor in sleeping bags.
I didn't have a bed that fit me until I got married and I didn't
have a bed until I was in 7th grade.
So we just slept on the floor and my parents just brought home
this cute gigantic medical bill and was in our home or our
floor, whatever we had. That's where we were.
And my dad's spiritual mentor called him and said there's a
young lady who is contemplating having an abortion, but if we
can find the child a great home, she won't.
And so my parents broke with a kid that had just come back from
ICU living in a three bedroom house or room next to on the vet
clinic and sleeping on the floor, said yes.
And I kind of like my brother and I was going, man, I'm kind
of glad that I know him and I'm kind of glad that he got to
live. And I would like other babies to
have a chance to live. And so I spent my Monday going
around picking up our gore signs out of people's yards.
I had a driver. I mean, it was a system.
I would get out and I would walk down the block and I would pick
up all of the yard signs and he would go around the block and
then he'd come back. We'd pop the trunk and I'd put
all the yard signs in the back of the Taurus, hop in the back,
and we'd drive off to another part of town.
We did this for a couple hours. It was pretty good at it.
Then a guy started chasing me, okay.
So, you know, this was high school Clayton.
You can imagine how good he looked.
And I just, I ran away from him and hopped in my car, took off.
Next thing we know, this guy's following us, Hawking his horn,
shining his deer light off the side of his truck.
I'm like, what kind of redneck is this?
So we made a turn and kind of went through the 9th green of
the Country Club and lost him. Or so we fought.
Next thing we know we're surrounded by cop cars, guns
pulled, and they had to get out of the car and sit down.
And I got to sit in the mud puddle and they asked us what we
were doing. Turns out the guy who was
following us wasn't some country redneck, he was a police
officer. So there was that.
They asked us what we did and we told them they were a little
confused. I said pop the trunk and they
popped the trunk and the trunk of this Ford Taurus was
absolutely full of alcour yard signs.
Fun fact, every single one of those yard signs is more than a
misdemeanor. It's kind of a big deal.
And so I got arrested. And yeah, then my they call my
parents to have me come get me. And my parents were like old
school parents were like, you know, jail, teach you something.
You know, obviously we haven't been able to turn you around.
They will, you know, and but they said, no, you actually have
to pick him up. And that's right.
I became a political activist before I had ever even voted in
an election. And then I got called in to the
the guy who was in charge of dealing with my case and he
asked me why I did what I did. And I told him the story and he
said, well, actually I was supposed to be aborted too when
somebody adopted me. And so all the charges were
dropped. And so you can imagine me with
all of my right wing ideologies trying to figure out how to be a
Christian around people who had completely different viewpoints,
completely different stances, completely different
upbringings. I bet you can imagine some of
you are like, it's not so distant future that I could be
an awful lot to take in if I got ramped about an opinion or a
subject matter. And then how that could affect
somebody who maybe operates over here.
Some of you know my wife's story and you're going, how did you
guys get married? Well, it's because you have to
navigate truth and tension. And here's what I've noticed.
Maybe you've noticed this too. The closer you are to the sin
and the person, the more you bend on the truth and the
further you are from the sin and the person, the harder you hit
with the truth. Let me explain.
Your kid gets punched at school. How do you handle it?
Right. It's easy.
Turn to the Bible. It tells you exactly what you to
do. You call the school, call them a
bunch of idiots. You address the teacher and tell
her she needs to pay attention. And then you go and you beat
that kid's parents up right in front of the kid and you go.
I will bloody your dad every time.
We good. You learn.
Yep. And then you won't have that
problem again. It's fixed.
Solved, right? Because that kid is a bully and
needs to be addressed, and he obviously has bad parents,
right? You guys all know this, but what
happens when your kid punches somebody at school?
Well, you know, you find out what that kid did to deserve
getting punched. Am I right That no matter what
happens, the assumption is your kid did nothing wrong and their
kid is trash? How many of you guys are on the
same boat with me? Okay the rest of your liars?
I'm glad you're here, because we're a church for losers.
But isn't that what happens? That because we're so close to
our kid, we always interpret the situation as if our kid did what
was right and holy and admirable before the Lord?
But, like, you're like, hold on a second.
We know this kid, right? Like, we know that our kid beats
up his brother like there's probably a chance he did hit
somebody and he probably didn't deserve it.
And that's actually what's happening in our world is people
are seeing the exact same situation from 2 completely
different perspectives. That's the problem.
And so for the most part, we've reduced issues to talking
points. We've tried to scream louder and
louder and have assumed that other people see the situation
the same way we see it. But the other side of these
biblical issues are people who just don't see things the same
way. For instance, we see a baby and
they see a clump of cells. That's why they say my body, my
choice. If what you see in the womb is a
clump of cells and not a baby, it changes what you would be in
favor of and how you would behave.
They see it as part of their body.
That's why their mantra is my body, my choice.
To those putting forward an L GB agenda, they cry out love is
love and you and I both know. But that statement is absurd.
You would never go. It's a cheeseburger.
Oh, a cheeseburger is a cheeseburger.
Tells you nothing about a cheeseburger.
You can't define the thing by defining it by the thing that
defines it. You have to have other things
context that brings to bear. For instance, they are
expressing that they want to be loved because they're obviously
boundaries and appropriate expressions for love.
Love cannot just be love. Hitting's not love.
Lying's not love. Cheating's not love.
What boundaries actually are supposed to exist?
What they're probably crying out is not a definition of love, but
crying out Will somebody love me?
The issue for Christians hear me is not whether or not they
deserve love because they deserve to be loved.
Because they were created by God.
And for God, and God sent his Son to die on their behalf.
It's not a matter of whether or not they deserve love, but what
does that expression of love look like?
And when you try to figure out how you're going to express love
in these sticky situations, there's tension.
Now, you guys know this. As Christians, we believe that
God's way is the best way and has authority over our lives.
But that's not necessarily true for other people.
I mean, here's the standard for Christians.
Let me walk you through it. First Corinthians chapter 6.
Christians flee from sexual immorality.
Any sexual activity that happens outside of a husband and a wife
inside of a marriage, we're supposed to run from it.
All other sins a person commits are outside the body.
But whoever sends sexually since against their own body.
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit?
Who is in you, whom you've received from God?
He's talking to Christians that when you come into an intimate
personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you receive the gift of
the Holy Spirit and he takes up residence in you.
You don't belong to you. Pay attention what it says.
You are not your own. It's not your body.
You don't get to do whatever you want with your body.
It's not yours. You don't get to have sex with
whoever you want to have sex with.
It's not your body. You are not your own.
You were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your
bodies. Someone recently said, for those
of your church people, that if Jesus were here today, he would
not encounter a rich young ruler who was unwilling to give up his
wealth and follow Jesus. He would find nominal Christians
who are unwilling to give up their sexual appetites to follow
Jesus. That may be the area where
Christians shine the least is in the area of our sexuality.
And when it comes to you and I trying to navigate this truth
and tension, well, there's this. There's tension anytime you try
to love God and love people. Have you ever felt that, that
there's tension? We were going, well, I'm
supposed to love God and lift up his commands and do what he
says. But then there's these people I
got to care about. Your your kid decides to live in
or move in with his girlfriend. How do you love God and love
your kid? Your friend is cheating on their
spouse. How do you love God and love
your friend, Your brother or sister's running from God?
How do you love God and love your brother or sister?
Your daughter is pregnant in high school.
How do you love God and love his people?
And when it comes to navigating these sticky situations, I've
noticed something. Maybe you've noticed it too,
that sometimes Christians get it wrong.
How many of you ever seen a Christian get it wrong?
Yeah, you guys, those are. I brought the person who screws
up the most with me. I got to right some of you.
Some of you, maybe. You're not a Christian and
you're kind of You've been watching Christians for a while.
You're just here to, you know, write A blog.
You might be tempted to change it to this.
Most times Christians get it wrong, it might be right.
There's a story of a church not too far from here, but the
story's from a while back who decided not to throw a baby
shower for a girl in their youth group who got pregnant while she
was in high school. And I get it.
I mean, what gets celebrated gets repeated and you don't want
a bunch of other high school girls seeing like man, all of
the attention and all of the excitement around this girl
who's obviously operated outside of bounds and because they might
be tempted to follow in her footsteps and we got to uphold a
high biblical standard. I get it.
At the same time, the sin isn't that she's pregnant.
The sin is that she was having sex before she got married.
And actually, as a church, we're really thankful that she decided
not to have an abortion and keep the all the sins secret, but she
decided to choose life. And now you have a family who's
been surprised by a pregnancy, trying to figure out how to
navigate the medical challenges, the the financial challenges.
And if there's ever going to be a place that's going to come
around a young couple like that, then help them get everything
they need in the room to properly take care of the child.
Don't you think it should be the church?
And if you're like me, you look at both of them and you go,
there's tension because I can see validity and both
approaches. And so if you're kind of going,
I've been seeing the tension everywhere, and I think
sometimes I've gotten it wrong. Hopefully at this point in the
sermon series, you're asking the same question that I'm asking,
which is this, How can I do it better?
How can we navigate the tension better?
Let me give you a couple tips. Tip #1 Sin is not the
centerpiece of their identity. Sin is not the centerpiece of
their identity. The centerpiece of their
identity is that they were made in the image of God, that he
made them on purpose for a purpose and sent his son on
purpose to die on the cross on their behalf to redeem their
sin. But their sin is not the
centerpiece of their identity. Some of you guys may have
noticed that I'm bigger than most people.
I I went to see a lady up in McComb and she said, boy, the
camera adds £50. I had no idea how many or £10.
I had no idea how many cameras they actually had on you.
OK, And and I I get that and I mean and she, she used to enjoy
coming to our church like I'm not the most in shape guy.
I mean I might have the most shapes of people at our church
but I'm not the most in shape guy.
I'm what I like to call Midwest skinny.
OK. If if I lived on the coast they
would be trying to sign me up for treatments.
They'd be like we got to get this guy you know help because
he's dying. But here in the Midwest, I'm.
I'm pretty good looking. I mean I'm looking around I'm
Midwest skinny like I'm you know I'm like an Illinois Brad Pitt.
OK, because and you know you're Midwest skinny.
If you just buy a bigger shirt and people come up to you and
go, boy you're looking great. Like you didn't have to do
anything. You just like this is what a 5X
looks like on me. OK.
I'm joking. This is a six.
And if all you ever did was come up and talk to me about, I can't
believe you went to McDonald's again, is that really where
you've been? Do you think that's going to
turn me into going, I'm going to eat more salads?
Like if all you ever do is talk to me about what I'm eating, I'm
going to be like, I don't think we're going to be friends at
all. Ever lose my number.
I'm changing my number, right. If you drop off a salad, I'm
just going to give it to the cow.
I keep okay because I'm going to eat him, all of him, right?
I just, you know, that's why you give cows range dressing because
boy, the flavor. Anyhow, that's my cow called
Hidden Valley. If you all you ever did was
focus on my weight, I wouldn't let you have any level of
authority in my life. And sometimes when it comes to
one person, sin. As Christians we can go, Oh my
goodness, there, it doesn't work.
The second thing I'll tell you sinlessness is not a
prerequisite for community. How many of you are friends with
a person who's a Sinner? Yeah.
How many of you are married to a Sinner?
All the wives raised their hand. The husbands just sat on them.
Like, I'm not it's, it's still the weekend.
But you know, I haven't ruled anything out.
But the wife's like, yeah, he's Oh my goodness.
Yeah, I was praying about it this morning.
Okay. So here's what I'm saying.
You have figured out how to navigate being in relationship
with people who are sinners, and Satan wants you to buy into the
script that when it comes to these issues, acceptance is
affirmation. And every single one of us have
become victims on this. Let me tell you what it looks
like from my perspective. When a guy who sleeps around at
a church and serves in a parking lot ministry when people see
him, I don't get emails going. Hey, are you guys okay with a
guy who sleeps around? I don't get any of those emails.
You don't send them. You're like, Oh yeah, obviously
the guy the church isn't a big fan of that.
When a guy comes to our church and doesn't pay child support, I
don't get emails going. Hey, are you guys okay with
deadbeat dads? I don't.
I don't get those emails. However, if a person in the same
sex relationship comes to our church, you know what e-mail I
get? So is your Church of farming.
What do you do? I guess this is probably as good
a time as any to address one of the most abused verses in
scripture when it comes to navigating this kind of tension.
Here's what it is Mark Chapter 2.
While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax
collectors and sinners were eating with him and his
disciples, for there were many who followed him.
When the teachers of law who were fair as he saw him eating
with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked us
disciples, why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?
Now don't raise your hand if you're a tax collector.
We're super glad you guys are here.
How many of you guys have heard people talk about Jesus eating
with sinners? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Hear me? You're exactly right.
Jesus intentionally spent time with people who are outside of
God's will. 100% accurate. So hear me clearly.
Where would you rather have a person who is in an L GB
lifestyle? Where would you rather have
deadbeat dads, promiscuous women, liars, cheaters, and
people who have had or are contemplating abortion?
You know where I'd like them to hang out the church?
If I could pick a place for them to be, I would pick here with us
and all our various locations. Sinlessness is not a
prerequisite for community. If you see somebody at our
church or a member on our staff hanging out with, eating with,
interacting with somebody that you don't like or you don't
agree with, ask yourself this question.
Who would you rather them hang out with?
Who would you rather them be talking to?
However, hear me clearly. Jesus hung out with them but did
not sin with them. He didn't help them sin.
He didn't condone their sin. He didn't enable their sin.
There are boundaries as Christians that we must adhere
to. Jesus ate with them, but he
didn't participate or approve of their sin.
Read the next verse mark chapter 2 for 17.
On hearing this, Jesus said to them it is not the healthy who
need a doctor but the sick. I have not come to call the
righteous, but sinners. He's saying, yeah, I'm eating
with sinners. They're sinners.
What? You're doing's wrong.
It needs to change. I'm here to bring about a
transformation in their life. I came here to minister to
sinners and bring about a righteous reign of God and
salvation in their lives here. What is what this would look
like for me? I cannot drive you to the strip
club, so don't call me right. I can't.
But I could drive you home. Like if you worked at a strip
club. I can't take you to work.
I could bring you home. I guess I probably should have
reworded that this illustration falls apart the next.
The next line is you can come to my house, you can eat my food,
you can go golfing with me. You know, Clayton and his group
of stripper golfers, we've just, God bless him, He eats with
sinners, doesn't he? You know.
All right, well, you get the idea.
I can drive you home from an abortion clinic.
I can't drive you 21. I can fight for homosexuals to
be able to visit their their partner in a hospital.
Because why does a marital status become a prerequisite for
whether or not you can see somebody you love in the
hospital? But I can never fight for your
right to adopt or for your right to get married if if my kids had
a live in significant other. I can't pay for your hotel room
on vacation. I can pay for your flights, and
I can pay for all of your food. If you're going to get married
and you're in an L GB lifestyle, I can't attend your wedding, but
I can definitely help you decorate your house.
I can help you fix your roof, and I can make sure that
Christmas is epic every single year.
There are certain things as a Christian I can do and I can't
do. I can love you and care for you,
but I cannot enable or participate in sin.
Hear me, Christians, you are bound by your relationship with
Jesus to both to show both love and compassion and give people
community and at the same time not participate or enable their
sin. You're allowed to have your
beliefs and your standards and your principles too, #3
sinlessness is not a prerequisite for kindness.
We can be strong, but we must be kind sometimes.
This is what I see happening in Christians and what I see
happening in me, that we decide that we'll be nice after they
repent. I just got to ask you, so is
that strategy working? I'll be nice to people once they
agree with me. Husbands.
Does that ever worked? No.
Couch is lumpy, isn't it? Right.
Look at what How Jesus interacts with us.
Romans chapter 2. Or do you show contempt for the
riches of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, not
realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to
repentance? Our kindness does not come after
their agreement after their life change, after their rejection of
simple behavior. It precedes it.
That's how God moved in your life.
So instead of this, instead of deciding, hey, I'm going to be
nice to him after they repent, here's how God worked in your
life. God was kind to you first, and
it led to your repentance. Those of you trying to navigate
truth and tension, we may have got these flipped.
Maybe we need to start focusing on being kind and allowing our
kindness to lead them to repentance the same way God's
kindness led to our repentance. Some of you during the sermon
series, you've been tempted to think, because you've said some
things around me and I've been paying attention, that your best
path forward is this. Well, I'm just not going to
bring that stuff up, you know? Whoo.
I'm so glad we did this series that made me realize that I'm
not having these conversations at all.
I just need you to hear me say this.
That's not loving and that's not compassionate.
That's not living intention. That's abanding it altogether.
I've been bringing this first up every time I talked first.
Peter, Chapter 3. But in your hearts, Revere
Christ as Lord. God's way is the best way.
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you
to give the reason for the hope that you have.
You're going to have to share the gospel.
How else are people going to be saved?
You're going to have to take a stand on truth.
But do this with gentleness and respect.
And Jesus is our model in this area.
Look what it says about Jesus in John chapter one, verse 14.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
That's Jesus. We have seen his glory, The
glory of the one and only Son who came from the Father, full
of grace and truth. He's both.
Being one or the other is not worthy of the cross.
It's not worthy of Jesus. Christians should be known for
their truth and be known for the grace and the ability to manage
both is a sign of spiritual maturity.
Look what it says in Ephesians chapter 4.
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth
by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching
and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their
deceitful scheming. If you want to know what verse
our chunk of verses describe, our present cultural reality,
it's this, people being blown around by evil schemes.
But there's a mature way through it.
Look what it says instead, speaking the truth in love, we
will grow to become the, in every respect, the mature body
of him who is the head that is Christ.
And right now you might be going, but Clayton, navigating
this tension is going to be hard work.
Yeah, being a Christian is so tough you can't do it by
yourself. That's why you need the presence
of the Holy Spirit in your life. What a sinful world needs right
now is a spirit filled, transformed life, city on a
hill, a lamp on a stand, curious of the gospel message.
You are not ashamed of its power or its truth.
It needs people full of the Holy Spirit.
Glacial chapter 5 verse 22 says, But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, patience or forbearance, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and selfcontrol.
And against such things there is no law.
A picture this with me. Imagine you are getting ready to
watch a football game and you went to your local Hy vee and
got it's a long game so you got like three dozen of their M&M
cookies, right. And you set those things down on
your night stand and but next to you know where you where you're
going to pray and you, you got a glass of milk and you filled it
up to the brim because you know that you're you got 36 cookies
to go through because you chose not to eat breakfast or lunch
that way you could have them and you fill it to the brim.
And then as you're walking by your kid bumps you and it starts
to spill, right? What gets all over your hands in
the carpet? Everybody say the answer on
3123, why? Why does milk get everywhere?
Why not? Why not syrup?
Why not pop? Because milk is what was in
there. You want to know why Jack Wagon
comes out of you when you get bumped in life.
It's because you're full of Jack Wagon.
You know why mean comes out of you when you get bumped?
Because you're mean. Here's what you can do when you
get bumped in life, what comes out of you is what's in you.
And so we need to be people who are constantly yielding the Holy
Spirit. So when you and I get bumped by
culture, when you and I get bumped by sinners, Lovejoy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and selfcontrol are what come out, let's keep going.
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with
its passions and desires. It's no longer I who live, but
he lives. Since we live by the Spirit, let
us keep in step with the Spirit and let us not become conceited,
provoking and envying each other.
And we can feel the tension here between grace and truth and
truth and love. You and I, we can experience
frustration and anxiety, trying to figure out how to love God
and love people. The Bible says that this is the
way we're supposed to treat people.
This is how we're supposed to interact with them, and then
we're also going, But I'm also told them I'm supposed to love
people, and I'm supposed to love people, and they're in this
sticky, sinful situation. And there is this constant,
awkward tension. I'm going to have Zach and Rick
come up here real quick. Okay, Give Zach and Rhett a
huge. Come over here, Zach.
All right. Thank you, Okay.
Now, here's the tough part. This is Rhett.
Some people confuse us, so I'm the one in the middle.
Like, people think we're twins. We both.
He works out for both of us, Okay.
So there's this awkward tension. Some of you right now, you're
sitting at our church and you're going, all right, here's what
I'm going to do. I'm just going to be the truth,
Christian, and I'm just not going to be the Grace guy.
But I just want you to know if you do that you're not
representing Christ well and you're weak and you're immature
and some of you are going to be on.
All right, fine. I'm going to be the Grace guy.
Just be fully Grace. Super graceful.
Just call me Grace. And I want you to know, and
you're going, I don't want to be the truth person.
I want you to know that that is immature and it's weak and
you're not representing Christ. Well, let me show you what
happens when a church decides to be one of these.
So, Zach, I'm going to have you hold the rubber band right here.
Yeah. Perfect.
Rhet, I'm going to have you hold that rubber band right there.
OK. Stand right here.
OK, So you might be going, you know what I.
What I'm going to do. This is going to be great.
I am just going to be all about the grace.
And I'm just going to that's what I'm going to.
That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to be all about the
grace. And you're like, man, I'm going
to keep. I'm going to be super full of
grace. And every time.
I'm just going to love people where they're at all the time.
And I'm never going to stand for truth.
And then you just like, I'm just going to let go of the truth.
So let go. Oh, and you know what?
That does. Yeah.
That's real, isn't it? That's real.
That hurts. That hurts.
OK, keep. Hold on.
Now you know what happens when you decide to let go.
What decides what happens when you decide to let go of the
truth? You get hurt and you hurt all
the people around you. Now let's just say for giggles,
yeah, illustration purposes, that you decided you were going
to be just all about the truth. Like God's word is God's word.
And if he said it once, he does that's all he needs to say it.
And you're. And then you're decide.
Hold on a second. I want you to the anchor hopes.
OK And you might be gone. You know what I don't care about
your feelings. These are Bible facts.
I mean we are going to take a hard stance and you're like I'm
just going to let go of the grace.
Let go. OK.
You guys can have a seat. It'll heal.
OK. God bless you.
Some of you are going, man. I'm just.
I'm just not going to be a person who is gracious.
I'm just going to be full of truth.
This is what is the that's what you are.
You're weak and useless. And some of you are going, man,
I'm just going to be full of grace and I'm just not really.
It's not my place. I'm not going to talk to people
about truth. It's weak and useless.
And when you try to stand on one for a long time and then you let
go of 1 or the other, you hurt yourself and you hurt others.
Do you know where the power lies?
The power lies and the tension. And guess what?
You're already doing this. Let me prove it to you.
How many of you raise your hands if you believe that Jesus was
fully God, How many of you believe that Jesus was fully
human? Yeah, that's called a Christian
belief. You know what?
There's tension in that one. How many of you believe the
Bible was written by God and he used humans to do it?
How many of you think God's sovereign, He's in control?
Super powerful. How many of you think we're
still held accountable for our decisions and we have human
responsibility? We already live in the tension
as Christians. It's baked into our belief
system, and that's because there's power there.
How many of you at all of our different locations, you are a
big fan of the cross? Like, Oh yeah, we should
actually have some crosses around here, right?
Come here. Pay attention.
What does the cross scream? It screams that you're a Sinner,
but there's a savior. What is the cross scream?
All the cross screams that you're ruined, but there's a
Redeemer. The cross screams you're a
murderer, but he's a Messiah. The cross screams that there's
this tension, that you've messed it up, but he makes all things
new, that you deserve death, but he offers eternal life.
That you're a failure, but God's not finished.
You're done in, but God's not done.
It is this very tension that makes Christians so powerful to
a watching world. Don't run from it, Embrace it.
Because there's power in the cross and there's power in the
tension. We're moving to a time of
decision. I've said this at the very
beginning of this series, I tipped my hand about how we were
going to close it. We are trying to make this
church where you're at right now a place that gives people time.
Let me not believe what we believe or behave the way we
want them to behave. But here at the Crossing, we
believe that there has to be a place that gives people time,
that there has to be a place that gives people a place to
take their biggest step of faith.
And for some of you, their biggest step of faith is going
to be completely different than yours, but just as big.
And we're going to be a church that's rooting for them every
single time someone chooses to trust God in any area of their
life, including their sexuality, We're going to be a church that
tells people that their failure is not final.
And when God is in the picture, it's not over.
Which means that on a regular basis, we are going to proclaim
the truth that we failed and fallen short.
But we're also going to proclaim that there is grace in the cross
of Jesus Christ. We're going to be a church that
is a place for lost causes, for people that others have shunned
and shamed and given up on that There has to be a place that
still believes that Jesus changes people.
Not me, not Jerry, not you, but God.
Working through us brings about real life transformation, but
there has to be a place that's willing to serve those in need,
give people community that there has to be a place that will
sacrifice on their behalf and is willing to dig today so other
people can drink tomorrow. We're trying to make this place
that place, and it's going to take every single one of us to
do it. I'm asking you to be confusing
because that's what the cross is.
The cross is confusing. It says you're jacked up, but I
love you anyway. But it's Christians.
As we leave and go out into our families, we confuse them.
Boy, they take such an incredibly hard stand on truth
and they don't compromise. But boy, nobody loves the way
those Christians love. We need to confuse people by how
we choose intentionally to live and the tension.
And if you're here today and you want to be a part of that
movement, that mission, and you've never started an intimate
personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the life that I'm
calling you to cannot be lived without the presence of the Holy
Spirit. And you don't receive the Holy
Spirit until you've been obedient in the area of baptism
and when you are being baptized. What you're saying is I want to
make Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior of my life.
Not just that He rescues me for my eternal destiny and my sin
and creates a place for me in heaven, but I'm making him the
Lord where I place Him and His Word in authority over my life.
I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
And if you're here today and you're ready to make that
decision, let me tell you it is never too early to make the
decision to follow Jesus. And in just a few moments, while
the people around you stand and sing and maybe some of them come
up to the steps and pray, I'm going to encourage you to either
take the person who brought you or you can walk by yourself
right over by the baptistry. And somebody on our team would
love a chance to talk with you about what God's doing in you.
To the rest of you, to those of you who call yourselves
Christians, it's going to take every single one of us to make
that place real, and you are going to need the Holy Spirit's
help to live in the tension. You're going to be tempted to go
one way or the other, but with the Holy Spirit's help, we can
stand right where the tension is the greatest and make the
biggest impact. I'm going to ask you, if your
heart breaks to be that kind of church, to be that kind of Jesus
follower. Would you spend some time on
any, whether it's up here or in your over where your seat is,
praying that God would use you, that his spirit would fill you
up, and that you would listen to the Spirit and do what he calls
you to do? Would you stand with me,
Heavenly Father? I'm asking you to do something
special in this church, God, that we would become confusing
to a watching world, that we wouldn't run to one side or the
other, but we would embrace the tension.
God, that we would lead and love and serve people that we don't
agree with, people that we don't understand with the hope that
they'd find what we found in you.
Yeah, That you give us the courage and the strength to
articulate your life, giving gospel message, your truth, yo.
We want you to be proud when you look down and see this place, by
how we pursue you and trust you and worship you.
So God, give us the strength to do that.
Well, in your name I pray. Amen.