Hey friend, welcome to another episode of the Sunday Sit down
and if you are watching, our seats have been reversed.
If you're listening, our seats have been reversed and.
It makes no difference. It makes no difference because
we sound the same. But this is a great, this is a
great opportunity that I have to sit down with Justin, who
preached this past Sunday on a long passage.
I gave him a long passage. I have.
Been doing to me. I know I've been, we've been
going so like close to verse by verse, like just 46 verses at a
time and now 24 verses on Communion Sunday, World
Communion Sunday, no less, and. I missed out on that, sorry.
No, I, yes, that's fine. I think I, I appreciate that.
What I, what I intend for our community is there will be years
where we talk about that kind of stuff and there will be years
where we don't, because what's most important is still our own
community. Like we've always been this way.
Like aren't we doing the like preaching politics?
And this is what's going on in the world.
And we're going to talk about this and we're going to preach
on that. Like we don't do that because.
We're going through. Like, you get it.
Yeah, exactly. For a long time.
You get enough of that in your life.
You're bombarded by stuff all the time.
And one of the rhythms that you talked about this week is this
rhythm of being gathered together, like sitting in God's
presence, wrestling out what it means to be known by Jesus and
to know Jesus and then to wrestle out our scent.
Ness. Yeah.
Back into the world. So.
So should preaching be completely disconnected from
what's going on in the world? No, Absolutely not.
No. But there are also seasons and
moments where, like, that's not what it's about.
It's about Jesus. We root ourselves in Scripture
and there's a little bit of like a respite and retreat.
And, you know, we need to sit in in with a community, the
presence of God, and then feel like we can go back into the
world. No, like that's like some of the
rhythm of what we do, which is just great because that informed
so much of the large arc of your sermon.
But 24 verses, loop 10, one to 24.
We're not going to read all of it.
No. If you wanna pause, maybe we'll
drop a link to Bible Gateway or the You Version app in the
description. You can go and read it yourself.
It's a great passage. Jesus sending out the disciples.
And initially didn't think that like I was like, this could be 3
sermons. But actually I think it was the
the right, the right call to make this one cohesive package.
It's, it's a particular, it's a particular thing that Jesus and
his disciples do. And then they unpack it and then
they move on. And next week is going to be,
you know, you'll be preaching from the, the Good Samaritan,
the story of the Good Samaritan. And, and so it's a very clear
delineation of like, hey, this was Jesus sending out the 72 and
then they talk about it. Yeah.
The thing that I that I actually was noticing as you were
preaching. So as you're preaching, and this
is like occupational hazard and a little bit again, of like
insider baseball. Yeah.
But like, as you're preaching, I'm all in.
I'm like, I've got like a full page of notes from your sermon
and to the right. Like that's on the left side of
my notebook. On the right side of my
notebook. I was just, like, firing out
thoughts. These whole lot of connections
to where we're headed this coming Sunday.
So you're ready to? Go yeah, we'll be happy to help
almost yeah. So it was like it's this that
dual, like you're always you're in and because of how you're
preaching and what you're really leaning into, I'm oh, that's the
tie in for next week. And here's how we go into the
Good Samaritan. All these things are happening.
It's actually I think so I noticed this as you're preaching
as I was reading. I think it might actually be
one. Still the same instance.
That he's expanding on what's happening here at the with his
dialogue with the disciples. I think so because it's it's
from the crowd that they're rises this expert in the law to
challenge Jesus who? And so it's like it's almost
like it's so it's happening very much at the same time in the way
Luke presents it. So anyway, but we're gonna save
that for next week. Yeah, where where we had thought
about starting today is 24 versus you're gonna leave a lot
on the cutting floor in order to preach that in less than 24
hours. So there's a lot going on in
this passage around connection to the Old Testament and the
imagery that Jesus is using in his language.
You know, before off camera we were taught you're like, I just
want some time to nerd out on some of these details.
I need it. I need it like there's so much.
And I was talking with someone after the service yesterday who
mentioned in this person is very knowledgeable on on like Old
Testament, like he, he's a he's a geography nerd when it comes
to biogeography. And she was talking about some
interesting facts about about the the places Jesus mentioned,
like Beth, Sada, Burnham, Korzen, like, and so I kind of
like fed him a little bit more. I was like, Hey, well let me
tell you these other like crazy facts that are happening that
didn't preach well but were like, we're going to
undergirding some of this. So let's let's fill in that for
people. And we would say this like, if
this is just so boring that you can't stand it, don't turn it
off. Skip ahead.
I can't give you the timestamp because we're recording this
right now. Probably like 4 or 5 minutes.
I'll try shorter, double that. Yeah, yeah.
We're going to, we're going to go into, I think, 4 really
practical questions after this. So the whole, the whole podcast
episode won't be this like deep dive into the background.
We're going to do a little bit of deep dive and we're going to
get into four really practical questions.
So you can skip ahead to those 4 practical questions.
If we think about it, we'll leave that in the show notes so
you can check it. Out or go on like 1.5 speed and
just be like, OK, maybe this is interesting, maybe it's not.
And this is one of those things where like yeah, we don't want
this to be the focal point, right?
Like this is not the most important thing, but sometimes
it's helpful to remember what Luke is doing here and and what,
what Jesus in some of his language and actions is drawing
the people back to, right. In this case, it's Moses.
And and we've seen that a number of times with throughout Luke
already where where there are these callbacks and illusions
with an A back to the Old Testament to particularly Moses
and, you know, Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus coming down
the mountain. Like all these are like it's
it's very they're making it pretty clear Jesus is a new
Moses. Hmm.
And so the backdrop here, as some scholars were were sharing
in the commentaries, is that this passage seems to be
happening somewhere around what is called the the Feast of
Tabernacles or the Feast of Booths in I think in Hebrew.
It's a so-called I probably butchered that.
I'm so sorry to our Jewish friends.
I tried and Sukkot happens several days after Yom Kippur,
which was last week. My, my daughter was telling me
she was learning about that in school because they, they had
tend to learn about all the different festivals and their in
their, you know, in, in their school, which is, which is
pretty cool actually. So here's what's crazy.
So I'm preaching this passage that the backdrop of it is the
Feast of Tabernacles, which we'll get into that's starts
tonight in real time. So this is I'm, we're recording
this on October 6th, 2025, and the Feast of Tabernacles falls
on the evening of October 20 or October 6th, 2025 for the next
week. It's a it's a festival that
traditionally people would pilgrimage for, to, to
Jerusalem, to the temple. And this is an important holiday
that calls back to G to Moses and the Israelites in the
wilderness in God's provision of of manna and the quail and just
food, and eventually became more about just God's provision of
the harvest. Right.
And so all of a sudden, when Jesus says the harvest is
plentiful, hmm, they're thinking, Oh yeah, a feast of
tabernacles. That's, that's exactly, that's
exactly what's happening. I'm the harvest is plentiful,
but the workers are few. And so pray to the Lord of the
harvest, right. And so like, it brings so this
greater depth to what Jesus is saying when you know this.
And again, in the, in the way that I had kind of been
structuring my sermon, it just, it did not fit, but it was just,
it was underlying there. And I was like, I just got to
talk about it because it's just cool.
And then even later on in the passage, you know, when Jesus
talks about, you know, this little kind of obscure language
where he talks about Satan falling from heaven and, and
like a lightning, like a rod of lightning.
And then and then you know, that they will trample on on snakes
and scorpions. And I mentioned a little bit of
this in the sermon that the snake is definitely, I think an
allusion to Genesis chapter 3. But also Moses in talking to the
people were also, we're also commanding them that you will,
you know, you will be safe from harm from snakes and scorpions
and poisonous snakes and scorpions in particular in the
desert. And the final thing, and then
I'll then I'll be quiet for a second, is that Jesus is set,
like I said, sending out 70 or 72 depending on how you count,
which is the amount of elders that Moses commissioned.
It was particularly in the context of Moses realizing he
can't do it all. He all the kind of pastoral care
type stuff all over the decisions that need to be made.
He can't do it all. And, and so his father-in-law
came to him and was like, Moses, sort your stuff out here, dude,
Like you can't do it. And, and, and then, so then they
developed this system of, of elders that are responsible for
the groups in of Israelites, right?
Which then turns into eventually becomes sort of the Sanhedrin
so. I cannot picture how long those
meetings were. 72 elders, Little long meetings, that's all.
That's all you got to say. We have what, 5?
Yeah, shorter meetings. Sure.
Yeah. So I think the last thing too
that I see in it is Jesus sending out the disciples,
sending and sending out the 7072 with nothing as as again, just
saying, hey, you you've seen, you know, what God has done for
his people in the wilderness, how he provided.
So go with that same faith that he will continue to provide.
Yeah. And you know, he's like, so
don't take a coat, don't take any, don't take extra things,
don't take food. Like, just go and be where you
are and lean into those relationships and eat what's put
in front of you, which is its own, you know, interesting
statement. All of this with this backdrop
of one of the three feasts where, like, Jewish men were
commanded to go to Jerusalem and to go and make sacrifice at the
temple. And here's the same moment where
Jesus is saying no, go out, be sent out with nothing, Don't
take anything and eat what's in front of you and go with the
Kingdom. Like all of it.
I think all of it. What we've talked about so far
is all of this is Luke setting up this large narrative where
the reader ought to see Jesus as the new Moses and his Kingdom as
the new Israel. Like this is what this is what
Luke is doing. I think this is what Jesus is
doing. I think this is what God is
doing. But, you know, and obviously we
don't want to go too far down, like there's, you know, some
dangerous roads of supersessionism.
And like, yes. But really what Jesus is doing
is saying all of these longings, all of these pieces of identity,
all of these stories, all of this history has been leading us
and showing us and revealing to us God's heart for us, God's
heart for the world. And there's more yet to come.
And that God is doing a new thing here.
And, and when you look at, you know, again, context for the,
the Jewish people in Jesus's day, they are, you know, in this
land that they had been living in for centuries and now
occupied by, you know, multiple difference groups of like
political entities over the centuries.
Yeah, now under Roman rule. And, and so they are feeling the
pinch of this. And then Jesus is like, well,
God's, God's gonna do something really cool here, here and here
and here. Here is the, the enacting and
living out of this new thing that God is doing.
And so it it makes a lot of sense that Jesus would be
intentionally setting setting it up this way.
Yeah. And I think using language and
story that makes sense to the people in a way that I think
like I read and I go, you would hope that they see, you know,
Roman occupation and go, what is God gonna do?
Like we know this story. Yeah.
Like we've been, our people have been here before and God has
always done something like this. So I think I do.
I think Jesus is setting all of this up.
And I think Luke especially is setting it up so that we, we're
supposed to be asking that question, what is God doing?
Where is Jesus taking us? Where are we headed?
What is going to happen? Like we're supposed to be
anticipating all of these things as we read our way through Luke,
ultimately culminating with the cross and Jesus death or
resurrection, new life church. You know, Luke is already
setting up Acts where, you know, he he's gonna continue the story
through the early church. But like I, I think we're
supposed to be anticipating some move of God.
And that's something that like, I would love for our church for
listeners to hold on to and go, man, what a moment where like at
every moment where the people of Israel here with the disciples
still the people of Israel in Luke, like at every moment where
they could have gone like this is the end.
Like, this is it. This is like, how are we here
again? Like despair and doom and gloom
And, you know, the world is at war and it's chaotic and there's
no peace and, you know, I can't make my own decisions about
life. All of these things.
You just go, no, like God's gonna do something.
And like, you listen. Like I, I think a lot of people
wake up every morning and go, there's a lot of chaos and yeah,
it can lead to doom and despair. And I I just got what like what
is got remaining curious to what God might do.
I, I left after my, after I was, you know, done the bulk of my
sermon prep. I left this passage feeling an
immense hope, actually, you know, in, in a way that not, not
that I like, I don't usually walk away from sermon writing in
despair, sure, but I, I felt like, I felt a real like, sense
of hope of, of like God, God's doing stuff.
God is doing new things and, and, and, and just be praying
for us as a church that we remain open to that even you
know 2000 years later that we remain open to what God is
doing. Yeah.
So you just to jump off that you talked about the rhythm toward
the end of the sermon, the rhythm of our as the church sent
witness is how I would describe it.
This reality that for the church, we exist for Christians,
we exist inside of this rhythm of being gathered together and
being sent out and being gathered and being sent.
We've talked about this on Sunday mornings.
And you know, I think one of my one of my mentors says that our
gathering is 4 hour sending, that the reason we gather is to
then be sent out. I have another friend of mine,
long time passer says like the most important moment of the
Christian worship service is the benediction.
Yeah, because it's when you're sent back to where you get to
take the gospel to. So I want to talk a little bit
about that. So Jesus, Jesus is sending the
72. He sends them ahead of him to
every town and place that he intended to go, which is an
interesting line. Yeah, I didn't even get into
that. But like that was like, that is
such a fascinating approach, like that he's sending them
ahead and that they're gonna lay the groundwork and then he's
gonna go and. And yeah, yeah, it's.
Cool. And again, like this imagery of,
you know, messengers that we saw last week and that word being
the same as angels, you know, he's sending them on.
Again, this is this is Old Testament story imagery all
through throughout, but he sends these 72 on.
And so the really practical question is, I think, what do
you think it looks like for us to live as sent people into our
own backyards neighborhoods, because I think that's the myth
is that, you know, for so long in in the Christian Church in
the West, we talked about mission, the mission work Oregon
arm of the church as being like global overseas mission trip.
I'm using air quotes here style missions.
And again, like one of my early mentors said, like your, the,
the mission field is no longer overseas.
You no longer have to get on or about to go and be on mission
like your, your, your backyard. Like the Mission field is your
backyard. And especially when you
consider, I mean, here in our context in Canada start
increasingly an international place, right?
And and so the nations are not out there.
The nations are here, right? And so and so that's a very
different. And I mean, what's, what's
interesting, I mean, even for us as a church, we've had lots of
new friends coming from various parts of Africa and, and you
know, they are already long-term committed, you know, some of
them even Presbyterian, which is like been so much fun.
And so I mean, that just reminded me in and of itself,
like, hey, actually like the, the mission, mission work isn't
out there across an ocean. Sorry.
It is, But it, it isn't solely that, but that there is work
right here. And, and so I, I tend to think,
I mean, I think there's some, there are some professions that
are easier than others to sort of think through that lens.
I think about like someone like a teacher, you know, and
there's, I know some churches that have actually like
commissioned their teachers in, in the church and said like,
Hey, you guys are going out there and not just the ones who
are teaching at the Christian School.
But those were going into the public system, into the Catholic
board, whatever. And and so like they, you know,
they get commissioned because they're going on there shaping
these kids minds, right? They are, they have a very
obvious on ramp, right. But then you have like someone
who are like, you know, someone in middle management who is just
sort of like doing his daily grind.
Like what what about that person, right?
And I, and I think about what it, what it is to like be the
best middle manager you could possibly be and to, to do your,
your work with integrity, to be a, a source of, of positivity,
to be a source of joy in, in your workplace.
And I think obviously there are some practical things to do to
be more just vocal about. And I'm careful as I say that
because I was the moment, the moment I think about someone
being vocal about their faith, honestly, But my connotation is
automatically negative, right? Which is not a good thing.
That's the, that's not a good thing.
That's where my mind goes. But it does.
Because when, when someone says you got to be more vocal about
your faith, I think, oh, that person is going to be a jerk.
Yeah, yeah. Whereas I think that when, when
I think about that, I think about just like someone who is
able to freely really talk about, Hey, this, this part of
my life is important, you know, and, and, and that hopefully we,
we back it up by the way, we're living right?
That, that it's not like, hey, this part of my life is really
important, that I'm a follower of Jesus.
And then they end up being poor examples for Jesus in their
workplace or whatever. But also like in our in our
neighborhoods, I think about some friends who they they after
school, for instance. So a lot of a lot of parents
will gather after school. One of the things that I see
happening a lot of the times is the moms and dads just
connecting and just letting the kids play at the playgrounds and
letting them hang out and the parents get to have like some
adult time, like just get to chat and just be, you know, not
think about all that. And I'm like, what an
opportunity that is there just to, to be present to, to care
for one another. We've, we've had that.
There was an instance in my daughter's school, the tragic
situation that happened. And, and I would say it was some
of some of the Christians that I know in, in my daughter's school
who stepped up to, to be a light to, to be the one to sort of
like I'm gonna help start the meal train.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna do all the things like that is the way that
Christians can show up in a profound way.
Yeah, yeah. And so like a really practical
way, like we're going to, we're going to make sure that, you
know, this situation's got food for as long as they need.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely.
That's amazing. Yeah.
So, you know, I, I think one of the one of the questions that I
would love people to wrestle out, I need to wrestle out every
day. Though admittedly, I think our
occupation here makes it different.
Little bit the moment we're in the public and someone like,
what do you do? Wow, how do I answer?
Let me bore you in 30 seconds. No, I think the the one of the
questions that I would love people to wrestle out is how is
how is my how is my job? How is the job I do different
because I am a follower of Jesus?
Is it is the culture of my employer, employment company?
Like is is anything different because I am a Christian?
It should be. It should be, yeah.
And I think that's a that's a sobering question to ask because
I think sometimes we just check our, you know, not brains at the
door, but you just kind of go into this like autopilot and
you're like, I just gotta get this job, job done.
Yeah. And then I can go back to life.
And so I think that's that's a question that might help people
wrestle that out, right. How how is how is this place
different? Because I am here Because I
think here's the here's the second part of the question is
like what? What would change in your daily
posture toward others, toward your workplace, toward people,
if you expected Jesus to show up in your workplace or in your
neighborhood? Are you talking like show up
like Rapture? Through, not through you, yeah,
Yeah. Just just clarify.
No, no. So I like, I think, I think
sometimes we, I think sometimes we distance ourselves from like
the yeah, we love for God to show up and like.
In the church gathering. Well, or even, like in the
world. Yeah, in a way that I'm still,
like, distant from like, yeah, God, you do your thing.
Like, you show up, you speak to that person, you convict.
Like I'm going to pray for them. Great thing to do, pray for
people never gonna say that's a bad thing.
But I think sometimes we can, like we can distance ourselves
from the actual relationships by saying, oh, well, I pray for
them. Like I pray for my colleagues at
work and I pray that they change, you know, their hearts
and their minds about who Jesus is.
And, and and you know, when I land on the work floor, I just
do my job as though nothing changes.
But I'm praying for you. And you know, I think the
expectation is no. So Jesus, Jesus doesn't show up
himself to all these towns and places, but he sends 72 into
them. Hmm.
And so I think, you know, one of the things that we need to be
open to is the fact that the Jesus might be intending to show
up through you. It's like, Dang it, I, I thought
I was just a forklift driver, you know, like, yeah, sorry,
actually the, the responsibility is greater than that.
Yeah, I say that as I had a brief stint as a forklift driver
in my when I was 2019 or 20 and I was not a great Christian
witness and I probably had a bad attitude a lot of the time.
And, and I, I think back as just as I'm thinking about this, I'm
like, man, I, I could have been such a greater, um, a greater
witness in that, in that, in that season where I, but I
probably looked a little bit too much and acted a little bit too
much like everyone else there. I think I tried sometimes like
where, you know, like some of the, some of the attitude and
content that was coming out of these, that this group of these
group of guys there, like it was not always great.
And, and, and I, you know, I tried to very gently just say
like, Hey, I'm not into that guys, you know, but like that
even that can be that's not particularly helpful for like
letting them see Jesus in some profound way.
But I do think about like, you know, other work settings, that
one is challenging, but I think about like some work settings
people actually have done like like alpha courses in their in
their workplace. That's like a very specific
thing. Like that's like a very like,
hey, like I'm going to be intentionally evangelistic.
And here's the thing I'm going to do.
And sometimes it's worked amazingly.
That is probably not going to work in a lot of contexts.
Hmm. You never know.
Yeah, like a mentor of mine tells the story of two
neighbors, right? And two families fairly similar
to empty nesters married couple and so, you know, kids are gone
off to university work, etc, whatever.
Like, you know, maybe they're mids kind of mid 60s at this
point. And I don't know if this is
made-up story. I think it is.
But anyways, he so he tells the story of to two different roads
that you can take as a as a Christian.
And the one is that I'm going to, I'm going to wait until
something happens in your life. And in that moment, I'm going to
be there. I'm going to support you and I'm
going to say, hey, you know, I'm going to invite you to church.
Can I pray for you? Like, you know, what can I do?
And and and they go, OK, that's, that's not a bad option, right?
But the other option or the other route is so here are these
two neighbors and and he actually fleshes out this story.
So here are these two neighbors and one of the spouses, one of
the wives dies. You know, she's going through
cancer dies. And in that moment, buddy show
his next door neighbor shows up like they've waved at each
other, had kind of the neighborly talks whatever come
across troubling snow. And so he shows up and he's
like, hey, do you want to come to church with me?
Like you want to talk to a pastor?
Like you wanna do this? Cool, great.
Maybe that goes somewhere, right?
Here's the other option. Neighbor moves in early on,
figures out that this next door neighbor loves cars.
Part of a car club. But he's like, hey, you know, I
want to get to know my neighbor. Neighbors, not a Christian.
I think you should know Jesus. I'm gonna join that.
I'm gonna join that car group. Not not as like a project to
work on like as like a, you know, a kind of last minute like
switch like well, tricked you, but like I'm gonna genuinely
invest in this guy Like he he he enjoys this thing.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna join the thing and I'm gonna go to the
like, I'm gonna build a relationship with him.
Yeah. And, you know, they do that.
They become great friends. He's open about his faith.
He you know one neighbor knows that the other is a Christian.
Other neighbor died, his wife dies.
And in that moment you have all of those years of cultivating
meaningful, genuine friendship relationship around these
things. So, you know, my my one is one
of my professors at seminary. And like he uses that story to
just talk about our the opportunity that we have as
Christians to be intentional about building relationship and
earning the right to be heard. And, you know, the one moment
waits until something horrible has happened.
And then you're like, hey, you know, can I talk to you about
Jesus? Like, dude, like, what are you
doing? Like, yeah, this isn't like,
this isn't great. Like this is not great.
Like you, you know, I don't know you.
You don't know me well, like Shot, like don't talk to me
about this stuff. Like I'm, I'm grieving.
But if the trust has been built, yeah, and and they're as like
you have, you have the the genuine relationship.
And you've shared your faith like it's you can't, it can't be
the bait and switch. It can't be like, oh, you
thought I was like you tricked. You can't let me tell you why I
was really here. Like it has to be a genuine part
of the relationship all like the whole way through.
But those are two very different outcomes to the same event in
somebody's life. Yeah, right.
So I think that's the piece, Like, every single day you have
the opportunity to earn the right to be heard and to develop
meaningful relationships with people around you who are
wrestling life out. Yeah.
And, and who will go through very difficult seasons and who
we believe need to know Jesus. I can stand at the corner of my
street and wave a, you know, sign at them every morning, or I
can actually invest in. Be in their life.
And yeah, because 11 is is about trust and genuine friendship and
and and and mutuality. The other can border on
predatory. Like I'm going to wait until
you're at your most vulnerable. That's like, that's icky.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
So like, listen, like if I'm going to choose one for like the
culture of our church, our way of being, it's gonna be that
like, hey, get into your communities, invest in people,
build real, authentic, meaningful relationships, share
your faith. Don't hide who that part of you
is. Be an integrated person.
Like, you know, use that language.
Don't become somebody else to earn their friendship and then
flip on the Christian ease. Like just be yourself and and
then I think be surprised by how God's gonna use you in those
relationships. Yeah, in ways that you never
would have imagined. So like that for like for the
culture of our church that that's.
It and it's slow and inefficient.
Yeah. But it but it does it, it, it
it's going to produce a better result, Yeah.
So, yeah, sent to people. OK, so that's one question.
Here's another question. So Jesus says when you enter a
house, first say peace to that house.
And I started thinking about John 14 and here's this prayer.
I'm going to flip over to it and read it.
So this is in the context of like John's got this kind of
long drawn out series of teachings and and then prayers.
What do they call that again? Preparation.
The the so that's the farewell discourse, right?
Yeah, is is part of it. So, but in in John 14, we get
this great line. And so I think so I wrote it
down so I wouldn't forget. It's verse 27.
So, so he's, he's in this, this is the start of it.
He says these things. I've spoken to you while I'm
still with you, but the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring
to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
So this is like we said so. So Jesus is starting to get his
disciples ready for the day where he will not be with them.
And then he says, peace. I leave with you my peace.
I give to you not as the world gives do I give to you.
Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
And then he says, you've heard me say to you, I am going away.
And so so it's that one line like peace I leave with you, my
peace I give to you. And I started thinking through
this idea of so polarized anxious cultural moment.
We have talked for a long time about being in that, like in the
age of anxiety. So, you know, I don't think
people need too much explanation to understand how anxious our
culture has been and is and how pervasive that is just
generalized and acute, both of these things.
So here's the question. I think we talk about peace as
something that we want to consume.
Like we pray that I would experience peace or that you
would experience peace, that it's something we receive and it
is like peace is a gift from God.
Absolutely. The benediction go in peace.
Yes, and that's like that is a blessing that we're going to
speak over you. It's not a we hope you
experience peace. No, go knowing the peace of God
like go knowing the love of God's grace, the Lord Jesus
Christ friends with this piece of those like those are things
that we say go with. We're speaking them over you as
a blessing, yes. OK, so to kind of riff off that,
how do you think we can shift from being people who just want
to experience peace ourselves to be people who speak that piece
over others? So Jesus speaks it over his
disciples, just actually prays for it for all, all, all people
speaks it over you, speaks it over you, listener.
And yes, it's for you. But also, we know Jesus says
blessed are the peacemakers. So yeah, how do we shift from
just wanting to experience peace ourselves to not only being ones
who pray for peace, but who actually speak it into and over
people's lives? I wonder if like, so there's a
part of me thinking myself, OK, but like, if I am going to be so
the person who is, is able to extend peace, not just be a
consumer of peace, but to be a, a person of peace, a peacemaker,
someone who is going and, and being a in the, in the embodied
piece of Jesus wherever I go, you know, like in this passage
in, in Lieutenant. So he says, Jesus says when you
enter a house for say peace to this house, if someone who
promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them.
If not, it will return to you. And, and I think about the piece
that I want to offer others. First off, I have to have it
right. I have to, I have to be be a
recipient of that piece. So, and I maybe like countering
your question a little bit of like actually we do need to
consume it first, like we we need to.
Maybe receiving is a is a better word though.
To receive the peace of Christ, to know that it is present, to
be able to be still and know that he's God, to be able to.
And, and I'm, and I'm noticing even as I'm talking about this,
I'm like, I'm, I'm kind of settling into my seat a bit more
because I'm like reminding myself of these truths.
And all of a sudden it's like I'm breathing a little deeper
because I'm like, OK, let me settle into the piece of Christ,
right? That he offers And and it, and
it is, it is something that can, I would say, reduce or even
eliminate my anxiety. And I don't necessarily mean
that I want to be careful in like that.
There, there is, there's clinical anxiety that sometimes
we need medication for. And this is our weekly pitch for
therapy and things like that. Yeah, exactly.
But but as someone who's done all that, as someone who's done
all the things, like I know all the tools, I know all the
techniques I've done. I've done all the things that
my, that my therapist and psychologist told me to do, but
also something amazing happens when I sit quietly and I calm my
mind before God. Hmm.
And I bring my stuff before God and I breathe.
You know, I love the idea of like breathing in the presence
of God, like they're this rhythm of that.
All of a sudden I am these recipients of God's peace.
I am no longer operating out of this, this cluttered, anxious
mind. And then and then I can be that
person to the I think it's like this contagiousness, right?
Like that. If you, if you walk into a room,
I mean, you've seen it with people, right, Where someone is
a highly anxious personality type, get them in a certain
scenario and and the anxiety spreads like you can feel.
I, I remember, I remember there was a particularly challenging
previous church challenging Christmas Eve service that we
were planning and there was someone who was helping run, run
it. I can't remember who it was, but
they were very anxious personality and it just made
everything anxious. Yeah.
And what a difference when someone can come in and just be
like, hey, everything's alright. Like, hey, we're like, we're,
you know, we're gonna, we're gonna make it through this.
Everyone just take a second and, and just like centre yourself
before God, you know, like there's, there's something the
difference in the room when when that person A versus person B
comes in and, and if they're helping lead and shape the tone
of that room. And I think about that, yeah.
Peace. I leave you and I And then so
like you can, you can be that person for your workplace, for
your home, for yourself. Like it's amazing.
Yeah. Yeah, I so I read a book that
I'll recommend. It's called so it's by Mark
Sayers and he writes a book called Non Anxious Presence.
And so it's, it really is like learning to be non anxious
presence in and in an anxious world.
And so, I mean, there's lots of, there's lots of great, great
quotes from it. But he talks about one of the
things he talks about is that as like as a system is flooded with
anxiety, one of the central markers of that system becomes
reactivity. Yeah.
So you're just constantly reacting to things.
Boy, that sounds familiar to our general state of being.
Right. 2025. Right.
Yeah. So that's one of the reasons why
I like how how Jesus, both, both both of these lines.
So my piece, I give to you like peace, I give to you, my peace,
I leave with you. I do not give as the world
gives. So therefore don't be afraid.
And what does that mean? So it's, it's not reactive, it's
not conditional, It's not, you know, if you feel it, it's not
when you feel it, it's this is a gift from God.
And so I think there is something to be said about whole
like holding on to that. So this is what you're like
receiving this gift. Then I start thinking about, OK,
I don't need to be the one running around anxiously trying
to find peace, right? It is like anybody who's
experienced any level of anxiety knows that the number one thing
you can't do when you're anxious is go.
I can't be anxious. I need to stop being anxious,
right? Like it's, it's kind of like
you, you gotta, you gotta let it ride a little bit like it.
It is something that you have to move through.
Like the more you fight anxiety, the more anxious you become.
And you know, I think the more you fight for peace, the more
you try to find it, the more you try to be the one who like who
gets it, the obviously the less peaceful your life is going to
be, the more reactive it's going to be.
Really. Practically like, So this was
you and I did this in, in real time where back in the winter we
had a big snowstorm that, you know, dumped like 3 feet of
snow. And so we went ahead knowing it
was coming and did a pre record. And it, we, we, I think we were
all having some like pandemic flashbacks.
Yes, I was definitely. And I feel, I remember, is it OK
if I say you, you were, you were feeling.
It I was. Absolutely.
And and and I was feeling OK. I was like and not, I'm not
saying that I like pat myself on the back, but I was, I was
feeling OK and I, but I, I saw, I saw and that's not normally
you. That's not normally you, right?
And I, but I saw it and I was like, OK, everyone, let's just,
we're gonna gather around and we're going to pray and we're
just gonna like take a moment to be still.
Yep. Because like and, and like that,
that I think changed the dynamic because I think that there was a
little bit of like anxiety and stress just present in the room.
And it's like, we, we got it. We that that's not going to the
result is not going to be what we want if that's the way we're
approaching this. Yeah, that was a great moment.
That was absolutely a great moment just to name this and go,
hey, we're going to pray. I'm trying to throw you under
the bus, Grant. We're feeling, No, I mean,
listen, I'm happy to talk about it.
Like absolutely was like I and I don't know where I was.
I think I was surprised by it. Yeah.
Yeah, I was like, man, like, what are we doing?
I think what it was was like, I really didn't wanna cancel the
service. I'm like, we can't do it.
The last time we cancelled it, we didn't come back for two
years. And that's what I was feeling
was like the weight of this, like if we do this, what's gonna
happen next, right? Which is how that like, it's how
that anxiety grows and, and it's like it, it how it is how it
starts to shape the decisions you make.
And you made a great, you made a great leadership move and just
spiritual move to name it, right, which is so important and
say, hey, I think we're like you said, hey, I think we're all
feeling this. Yeah.
And so let's pray about it. Let's just pray.
Let's settle down and then go. And you can feel in that moment,
you could feel the temperature of the room shift.
And then we recorded everything and had a great time doing it.
And we went on our way. And that was.
It and Lindsey and my daughter and I built an awesome snow Fort
in in our driveway or in our in our front lawn the next day
after the church service and it was awesome.
And then next Sunday, we were. Back.
Yeah, that's great. But I like that.
So that is a just to say a couple like so a name, you named
it, which is so important. And then you pray into it, which
is so important. I think you did those things so,
so well in that moment. So it's.
Yeah. I think even to even to just
simply take that as like the practical, OK, So what it you
might not feel peaceful in the way that you assume you need to
in order to be one who makes peace, because it's not about
giving your peace. It's about bringing Jesus peace.
Yeah. And so you can name that while
not fully experiencing it yourself all the time.
And one other, one other thought is kind of correlating this to
back to Genesis 12, the call of Abraham, where, where you know,
they're, they're this people of this family is called to be a
blessing to the nations. And the language I often use is
that they were not called to be hoarders of, of blessing.
And in a similar way, we are not called to be hoarders of peace
that we don't peace is not the end.
It is, it is not, it is not the end result just to have peace
for me, right. The idea is that peace is is
shared and spread to those around us as we experience it.
So it's it's similar track. Yeah.
And dropping stuff, I think in in the same way that we would
articulate salvation. The end of salvation isn't your
own sadness. Yeah, right.
And we see this. This is what we see in you tease
this out in the at the beginning of the sermon where Jesus is
called at the beginning of Luke hmm's and then he calls his
disciples and then those 12 are sent out and then more gather.
Now he's sending out 72. We're already like this thing is
ramping up. Yeah, beyond, you know what we
initially picture when we're like, OK, Jesus 12 disciples, 13
of them walking around. No, like there's hundreds at
this point of people who are just crowds constantly.
So no, so good. OK, last question and I had to
go to my real time written in a book sermon notes as I was
listening writing these down. OK.
So to flip off that probably related to being peacemakers,
you talked about having single minded urgency.
Yeah. And so here is the I don't
believe paradox, but I think where we could fall into maybe
like a false dichotomy is like, what does it look like for us
today to have urgency for the Kingdom of God going out while
also still being non anxious peacemakers?
They feel like they're at odds. They do feel like they're at
odds. And and you see, I think it was,
was it was it last week or the week before the Rapture was
apparently supposed to happen? Yeah.
And then, and then apparently there was a miscalculation.
And maybe it's supposed to be like this week or the next week
or whatever. I can't remember, but that ain't
it. So that that all that does is,
is and I don't, I don't really use TikTok, but like all I heard
from from my friends was like everyone on TikTok is going
insane about like and like genuinely like they're genuinely
like the time is now. People like this is urgent.
We need to like and, and I'm like, OK, OK, OK, back up, back
up. Like one day we should like talk
about the rapture and, and what Jesus actually said.
But I'll leave that for today. I'll set that aside and just say
that is not the sort of single minded urgency that I would be
after, nor do I think it is what Jesus is after.
Because in this case they had the the you know, the urgency
was there because the time, you know, the time was short,
practically speaking, for before Jesus was to go to Jerusalem,
right. So there is, there is a very
specific need for urgency. Yeah.
That doesn't, that doesn't mean we're not urgent.
That doesn't mean that that, that that doesn't mean there
isn't an urgency today, because life is short and finite.
And we do we do want to see the Kingdom of God made manifest on
earth in the same way we do want to see hope.
Hope brought to people and life brought to people and peace
brought to people and and I think here's how I here's how I
would think about this. We talked, you talked about a
moment ago about the how acutely and generally anxious we are as
a generation and as a people. The urgency, I think for me is
actually like our world so desperately needs to know the
peace of Christ. Our world so desperately needs
to know the message of and hope of the good news of the Kingdom
of God and to be anxious in our to be anxious and, and sort of
like careless in the way that we go about sending that message,
extending that message, verbalizing that message.
You're going to have the opposite effect you want.
And so, so I, I think about like just not not wasting
opportunities when they present themselves like, because maybe
there won't be another opportunity, you know, and I and
I, you know, I don't mean that in a way of like, like dramatic,
you know, maybe they're going to die tomorrow, but but maybe, but
maybe. And so if we take the
opportunities, if we seize the opportunities that are before
us, that sometimes the Holy Spirit brings, prompts us to you
and brings us to like, don't miss out on those.
Don't. And sometimes they're really
simple, just like, Hey, I, Justin, I want you to give a, a
note of encouragements to that cashier who looks like they're
having a really junkie day, you know, and, and I, and I've done
that before. And then there are times where I
think I've ignored God's push and called to say or do
something right. And but I just think seizing
every opportunity, they're not at odds, you're right.
But they could so easily be. Hmm.
Yeah, I think it's why so at the risk of going too far down that
rapture rabbit hole, like it it, it is why I think our theology
informs and changes how we live every day.
Because what I would articulate, I believe about about heaven and
eternity is that yes, there is, There is eternity with Jesus.
And what I think the Bible articulates is with Jesus's
life, that Kingdom of God that will be and come in its fullness
as a future oriented thing, is also in process of coming into
being with Jesus now and is still.
It's this weird place of it. It's here and now and it is not
here fully. Um, and what I actually believe,
you know. So like, do do do people die
every day without knowing Jesus? Yes, but people also live every
day without knowing Jesus. And, and I genuinely believe
that life is better for knowing Jesus now.
And all of the things that we know into eternity begin now.
Yeah. And and so it's, it's, it is,
you're right. Like it is people's experience
of peace in its fullest sense, like fullness of life,
wholeness, health, peace with God's, peace with others,
rightness of relationship and life, all of it.
Not as like a believe now and you'll eventually get there,
yeah, but as a start to experience them now, start to
like your life can actually begin to change now because of
it. And so in that there's urgency.
I'm not urgent. Like I'm not.
I don't think there's urgency because I want to get people to
heaven when they die. I think there's urgency because
I want people to experience heaven today.
Well, and that's that idea of, you know, I mean, in the Lord's
Prayer, like your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it
is in heaven. And, and the, the inference
there is that we want to see more of heaven on earth, right?
And, and I mean, we can go down the weeds of like the
eschatological implications or whatever, Like, you know, it's
complicated, it's complicated. But the reality is when I think
about the things that our world so desperately needs, it is man
I I look at the the devastation of of conflicts and violence
and, and if, if these places knew and truly lived out and
understood the Kingdom, how different that would.
Be. Yeah.
And, and it would, it would change the landscape of our
world quite literally. And, and, and so I that's, yeah,
that's where it feels more urgent because there, there is
so many terrible things happening, both like events,
world events, and then just like ways of being for people, for
our our kids generation, that man without Jesus.
I I truly think that there is without Jesus.
There is something so deeply missing.
So we want people to experience, receive the gift of peace, Hmm.
So that they can turn around and be non anxious peacemakers who
still have urgency. Yeah.
Because the Kingdom matters and life inside the Kingdom happens
today. Yeah.
And I think that's a great place to end.
Love it. Awesome.
So 24 versus in under 30 minutes?
I don't know how I did it. Yeah, this podcast is not under.
30 Definitely, definitely not, no.
But hopefully this was helpful for you.
And as just as we unpack some of the nerdy stuff, but also some
of the practical stuff as well. If you have questions, you can
send them to questions at courtrightchurch.org and we'd be
happy to incorporate those into our weekly discussions over
these sermons. And I want to bless you into
your week and maybe even leave you with go in peace similar to
the the benediction. So go in peace.
God bless.