Welcome To The River. City Church podcast and a
message by our lead. Pastor Jason Powers our prayer
is that this message would Inspire and encourage you, build
your faith. And point you to the
life-changing love of Jesus, may you enjoy the goodness of God as
you follow him today, Happy your Mama's Day to all of
you. Hey listen, this is an
opportunity really to talk about.
I love your mama's day because there was a long time in my life
where I was not I certainly would not have been in a church
on Mother's Day and so and I was kind of obnoxious about it, like
I've told you a little about this but here's the deal, I have
a mom who really loves Jesus and there was a time where she was
the only one in my house who really love Jesus.
And so one day we were she was at she went to this church, I
wasn't there and there was a missionary there and his name
was John Palmer. And it was funny.
He was this little African-American Swiss man who
He's a missionary to Jamaica, which is so this weird like kind
of deal, but he was like this big, what I ended up getting to
meet him later, and my mom went up and it was, it may have been
a Mother's Day, whatever, and she just broke down.
She's like, my kids aren't following Jesus.
My husband is not following Jesus.
Everybody, I knows running away from Jesus, right?
And he looked at her, he said, oh, this little joyful me.
Oh the prayers of a mother are intercontinental ballistic
missiles and it was like it planted in her brain and so
listen, here's the deal. If you're praying for your
child, please don't stop as a child who is in the Kingdom
because of a mother who didn't stop praying, please don't
please don't stop praying for your children because we need
that mothers, who who your mother's and waiting, please
don't stop praying for your children.
The Lord knows how to give good gifts.
I'd talked with a couple right after first servers that, waited
10 years for their child, and she was broken and Grieving and
whatever had given up, she was happy to show me her
eight-month-old, son, that the Lord had blessed with her.
And so I just say, look, the Lord is good and I make no
promises. I do not do that.
I am not the Lord that will shock some of you.
Right. I do not know what his good and
perfect will is but I know that his will is good and perfect.
And so I'm grateful that you shared Mother's Day with us.
And I'm glad that you're here. So let's pray.
Lord. Thank you for all your goodness
and Grace. and as we come today, we remember the journeys that
got us here. And we remember our unbelievable
need for grace and whether that Grace shows up as the prayers of
a mother, or a faithful friend, or a midnight encounter with you
or whatever it might be, you just thank you for all the grace
that you draw us with. and we ask today father that we would
receive that Grace be different because of it we give you
permission to enter and to change our hearts Love us.
Well, father, and help us to love each other and your name
and for your glory. Amen.
Because we believe that we have Grace, we have received his
goodness, our confession as his church is, we are badly broken.
Yes, you are Grace and peace to you.
I have to say that that confession just continues to
bear fruit in my life. I think you know sometimes the
danger would literally that's like our kind of like Protestant
attempt at liturgy. Right?
And the problem with liturgy sometimes can be that it just
gets wrote, right? Like it just becomes a thing.
You saying that you do and sometimes it's like that
sometimes you go right but there are other times during the week
or wherever it is where you just go.
Oh my goodness. I need that and badly broken.
Deeply love is one of those ideas for my life.
That just comes back to me different ways, right?
A different lens that different kind of prism show that than
otherwise the first time I encountered, the idea that I
remember, it kind of sticking out to me, was in a book by a
guy name is a Franciscan priest called Brendan Manning.
The guy was a hot mess. Like you read his biography and
it's a hot mess but because of his messiness Brennan, Manning
had a grasp of Grace that was compelling and he wrote a book
called the Ragamuffin gospel and he wrote and I wrote it down and
say this, right? Good news for bedraggled beat up
and for the bedraggled beat up and burnt out.
And when I encounter that book, I was that, and I needed that.
And what's interesting is, I stand here today and the
Temptation is to say, I needed that Reich and as if I'm not
bedraggled right, I just don't have as much hair as I used to.
So it's harder to spot. We don't like to be ragamuffins,
we like we're OK in this room generally nodding to the Idaho?
Yes, we're ragamuffins not in any specific sense.
Not because like there's anything in us and is actually
ragamuffin e. We like the idea of being
unwrapped them of a not bedraggled well-put-together
home that you know, hair combed for those who have it and iron,
you know, shirts pressed and all of those things.
But that would not have been the crowd gathered around Jesus, in
Matthew chapter 5. I've we saw a couple of weeks
ago, we started looking at this Sermon on the Mount and we see
Jesus is teaching about life and and the kingdom and what it
meant and we saw that it really was rooted in, Jesus is identity
and his history. He was directly descended.
And he made it went to Great Lengths to show that he was
descended from some pretty. What we would call Shady people
and Jesus like, oh no, she's not Che, that's Aunt, a marble which
is the best. We love her, right?
And so we have this, we have this Jesus walking or talking
about this King, And then he goes and he would touch people,
he would heal them. And he would say you used to be
excluded, you used to be broken. But now your whole you used to
be excluded and unclean but I have now Touch of, you're not
unclean. You are healed and so they're
like I need more this guy, right.
So they start following him and they start going in.
Jesus draws a crowd of these ragamuffins.
Jesus draws a crowd and listen when I say ragamuffin.
The Temptation is, we want to think they're ragamuffins like
us, right? Like, not really rag.
A muffiny right? But no, they were they've been
excluded. They were left out the entire
kind of system was built to keep them away so that the religion
so that God's presence and the temple would look nice and neat
and buttoned up and clean. Right?
But Jesus looks around and says man they're following us so I
guess I better tell them about the kingdom I best I guess I
better introduce them and so they all gather around him, all
these ragamuffins on this hill and they're sitting up there.
And Jesus starts talking about, hey, You poor in spirit and
they're looking around, they're like oh here it comes again.
He's about to yell at us or tell us what God's mad at us because
you poor in spirit, you're blessed and they're like wait
what? Hey, you who are grieving and
mourning right now listen in the Kingdom, there's blessing in
that because in the Kingdom you find comfort and so these
ragamuffins start going, oh my gosh.
Yes, I love that. Right.
And so he begins to articulate and for the rest of Matthew, 5,
6 and 7. It's all begins with and it's
rooted in this idea that there is a kingdom blessing.
That's not for who. We might think it is, it's an
upside-down topsy-turvy, kind of Kingdom, but it's significant
that the people gathered around Jesus on that day would have
been raggedy and he confronts us, as Jesus is teaching it.
Confronts us with this idea that God shows his grace to the world
through ragamuffins. That's it.
The reason that we know that there is such a A thing as Grace
in this world is because at some point in time there was a
ragamuffin who became the recipient of that Grace and so
they're all gathered around Jesus on that Hill.
I notice, right? Like you think about if you had
asked anybody kind of, at the time, tell me about Jerusalem,
they would have talked about the temple and its Splendor.
And they would have talked about really how herod's Temple the
temple. The second temple at the time,
really? Just paled in comparison with
Solomon's Temple, which went way back.
Jerusalem is the place where all of God's people come and they
are made, right? And so, it talk about sacrifice,
and the law, and the Pharisees, and Jesus, this raggedy crowd
around and grabbing their dirt in their hairs, all messy.
And they've been traveled and their Road weary on that.
And Jesus looks at him right there.
And he says, you ragamuffins, you're the salt of the earth.
And they would have been like, bro, nobody's ever said that to
me before nobody's ever talking to them.
Now, most of the sermons about salt of the earth have salt of
the earth, the light of where we're going to get down to
second with most of the sermons and messages and TJ.
I've heard that talk about salt. They want to focus a big deal
on, right? Like, like on.
Oh well, what a salt do salt is a preservative salt is online.
Jesus doesn't talk that much about that, right?
So you can preach about that if you want, but it's not really in
the text Jesus sense, because here's the deal, does anybody?
Eno, what salt does? Good.
Okay good. We're gonna there, right.
A good way to study. Like, if you want to get into
scripture and you want to study and really get to the heart of
it, a good thing to do is ask, like, what's the question
inherent? Like, what's the question in the
story that the author is reading or that the speakers from?
So, what is she said? She says you're the salty or now
notice the question, what's the question behind this?
But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made
salty again, it is no longer good for anything except to be
thrown out and trampled underfoot.
So everybody knows what saltiness is and Jesus says
you're the salt of the earth. But what's the quadrate says but
worry that don't that you don't become unsalted that you don't
lose your saltiness on the question should be.
You should be asking right now is it?
Well how does that happen? How can we lose our saltiness?
Well table salt, right. Sodium chloride, right?
That it's really stable, you just get it wet, you just get
salty, water, the water gets salty, right?
So how does salt loses its saltiness?
Well, they didn't have like salt mines where they would do Get
pure salt most in the first century.
They gathered their salt from thing called a salt marsh,
right? Kind of salty, kind of brackish
water and so they would get it. And the deal was the salt from
the salt, marsh would be more or less salty dependent on how many
other things were in the salt. We call those impurities.
So the determination of a of the saltiness of salts comes down to
impurities. Now if I stood in a church room,
hypothetically speaking, imagine that it was a In the morning, I
was standing on the stage talking to a congregation, and I
asked the crowd, what do impurity?
What does impurity mean for us? What would we say?
Well sin. We all know sin rights in is
that behavior. Since that thing writes in his
back talking, your parents, send his stealing sin is lying, sin
is doing all of those things, right?
And are we sure about that? Like, we're sure like we know
it's in sin, is when I see that person doing that, That thing
and it's bad. I want to tell him because it's
bad, right? Well actually, biblically
speaking. That thing that we see that?
We look at that, we point on is actually a little further down
in the process. If you look at James chapter 1,
says this, right? Each person is tempted when they
are dragged Away by their own evil desire and enticed.
And then, After desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin
and sin when it is fully grown, gives way to death.
What if the church rightfully? So has had this big thing about
Sin and said look sin is bad and we know that it caused a wreck.
But what if the problem is we've been going at it the wrong way
the whole time what if were yelling at tomato plants
forbearing, NATO's, I want squash.
You got a plant squash to get squash.
You got to go back before the fruit.
You got to go to the idea. So what's an impurity?
What's impurity thought I knew? Just go well, maybe some kind of
like sexual behavior. Maybe that is is impurity and
you may be right, but here's the problem.
What if the problem before that? Ever bears fruit into that
behavior? What if the idea behind all of
these sins and all of these things that draw some way is a
kingdom idea that we say no to desire.
What if the problems in our life is that?
We desire things that don't lead to Kingdom blessing the word
beatitude just means blessing. See, I think the problem that
you can look at these go, there's center, right?
Like, I think it begin with the idea that we would rather be
famous than poor in spirit. And so when we have an
opportunity to be poor in spirit and to lean in at we just go,
no, thank you. Jesus said, you're blessed when
your mourn because you will be comforted and you said I would
rather have the blessing of not morning than of being comforted
and just goes. Yes, what happens.
Then is we begin to bottle up and hide away what it really
means to be human? One more and we want to be
happy. I want to feel good.
I want to have this. And so in those moments where I
do more than what do I do? Maybe I take a drink, maybe I
spend a dollar, maybe I work too much.
Maybe I go to that place where they tell me what my identity
is. Maybe I Linger on that online,
Facebook conversation with my high school girlfriend, who
loves to tell me how wonderful and smart and talented, and
handsome. I am to write.
And so we linger over these things over these ideas when
Jesus says, no, the real blessing.
Eternal, blessing, long line. Blessing is in.
Yes, you can be blessed even when you're poor in spirit
because you receive a kingdom, that's not just about this
place. In this moment, you can be
blessed when you mourn because when your mourn, someone will
come for you. If it's the king, there is Jesus
or it's a neighbor or it's a church, you can be comforted in
your morning and we miss that because what we desire doesn't
lead to the kingdom things that we want, they draw us away from
the kingdom and what happens is what Jesus things.
Like he says, you're the soul, The Earth, right?
But don't lose your saltiness. When we stop choosing the
kingdom of God. For the kingdom of Jason, we
begin to lose our saltiness and we begin to lose our impact and
what it looks like is what is unsalted.
I like if I have a roast beef, seasoned with salt and you take
take the salt out. What does it taste?
Like, just roast beef, kind of bland gross, roast beef.
What if the problem is that everybody who wants to taste,
Grace can? Not get any at the church.
Because we've lost right? And now here's the thing.
Like someone's are going. Yeah, I can tell them, Sinners
preacher. Whoo.
Get it right. He goes on with this other
metaphor. You and again, these are the
ragamuffins, man. These are the, these are the sat
upon spat upon ratted on the bedraggled.
This is all their shiny says, you are the light of the world.
A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.
Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.
Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to
everyone in the house in the same way.
He says, let your Your light shine before others.
So what is the light, right? So that they may see your what
good deeds and glorify your father in Heaven.
And so, we got this, what is it like, what are the good deeds,
right? Like when we think Jesus talking
in a religious context, Rings it so good.
DJ, yeah, we don't even drink or smoke or chew or hang out with
people that do and we vote the right way.
And we're doing all the right things and we're following the
rules and look how good we are. Let me just tell you the people
that were listening to Jesus. They understood that they knew
that kind of goodness, we call them Pharisees and what happened
was the Pharisees, the ones who were good, they kicked them out.
The people that Jesus was talking to on this mountain,
they didn't they weren't of the mind that, you know, the most
well-behaved people in culture, the most well-behaved people in
our society, they tend to be really nice and accepting of us.
To the ragamuffins they thought of the temple, right?
They thought of the sacrifices and they thought that they were
excluded because of the good ones because of the Pharisees
because of Good ones. So what kind of good deeds is he
talking about what I would suggest and say is the Good
Deeds, that Jesus is talking about our compassion?
Do you mean here's the deal. Get the gospel of Matthew and
whatever by Lydia's and go through the entire bat book,
read it slowly. See how many times the word
compassion shows up and who it is, aimed and directed towards,
you'll probably be shocked. I know I was, I know I am.
Here's what that means for me. Here's what it looks like.
You may or may not have heard there was a supreme court leak
this week. A very important duck.
Can you feel the tension in the room?
Suddenly? Did you feel it, right?
Here's why that's so tense because in this room, half of
the people think a great victory for righteousness was one.
Other people in this room. Think a great victory for
Darkness was one. And we're all here in the same
room and you know why we're all here in the same room this week
because we all believe that God is on our side.
And we all believe that God is doing the right for us and
finally some of us like finally Justice and someone's finally
Injustice and finally all that, and here's the deal, like look,
I got to say, I don't think I've ever been up like I'm a I'm a
pro I've guy, right? I believe it.
But here's the thing. Do you know what my right and
some of you in here, just like I don't go to church because I but
listen, you know what my overwhelming experience and my
kind of during this week was sadness.
Not because of the decision but because I know probably about
half of the people that I know and love deeply and dearly are
grieving this week and they think a great evil has been
done. Guess what?
I don't, I don't I don't think that.
But you know what? At the bottom of the line at the
bottom line of it all that is not about abortion that is about
compassion. Do I have the ability to see and
know and care about somebody? Believe something fundamentally
different than me if we don't have that ability or grow in
that ability to be compassionate to people that are even
fundamentally different from us. We really are no different than
any other cultural division among people Republicans.
Democrats Libertarians how you want to slice it up?
How do you want to divide it up? If we are, I am with and for my
camp, and God is with, and for my camp.
And We my camp, we are Pharisees.
See division is typical in the world.
There's nowhere in this world that you can go where you won't
find people dividing over really important things.
But what if the kingdom isn't about that?
And what if the thing that Jesus was talking about, wasn't just
being good, doesn't feel dangerous to talk about that in
a church. Doesn't feel dangerous, right?
So these ragamuffins are standing there and they've been
on the outside for a long time. And now, Jesus starts talking
about you, you're the one. Hey, you're the one that's
getting. Listen, the world's looking at
you guys, right? The kingdom is about, you guys
is gonna and they start thinking about and they And guess what
I'm going to do. As soon as I get on top boy, on
the Pharisees man. Ain't get nothing.
That's kind of the thing. I think that's maybe like, on
this side, right? There's this whole.
Yeah, well, it's our turn now is, I'm right?
Well, yeah, I guess what, everybody?
Yeah. Well now we're power and finally
rights are prevailed and we're gonna do the right things and
we're gonna stand and we're gonna hold, right?
And so everybody's like, woo! Yeah, cuz that's what happens
when we get on the up-and-up, right?
When the tables turn, and we're on the top again.
Now, we're going to fix everything in the best way to
fix everything is by making sure that they don't get back up on
top. Topless and I grew up in my
house, right? And my chore growing up was
vacuuming. Do you know how many times I
have vacuum since I've been a grown man in a homeowner zero.
Do you know why? Because by God, I vacuumed the
floor growing up. I will not write I have.
So this is kind of the mindset that with gum like I've
suffered. And now I'm on top and I am
winning and I am doing. Listen, the ragamuffins thought
when they thought about the temple, they thought of
exclusion, they thought of the law and the rules, which really
is whatever these issues, like what's the law.
Like, what's the rule, what do we have to?
They would at this, the Ragamuffin, say what it looked
at the law and said, know what the law does is it keeps us out?
Thanks, we don't have any any interest in the law.
We don't have. Any interest in what's going on
and we live in a similar tension.
If we're Christians, we want to honor God, we want to be a
blessing to God. We want to do it, right?
And so the question then becomes, which rules must
someone which rules must everyone, which rules must
anyone follow to get in? What are the rules that really
matter and what are the rules that really aren't?
Well, here's the The idea we've already said that God shows off
the ragamuffins, right. Well, here's the thing about
ragamuffins, ragamuffins glorify God, by living, let me write
that get this right, living by Grace, within the law.
That's really not what either side wants to hear ragamuffins
glorify God by living by Grace, within the law.
Let me make a case, okay? Look at the things that Jesus
said, because you've got a bias, the law is good and right.
And must be unflinchingly. Observed or the law is old, and
it is archaic. And it is, certainly significant
and important, but we can take it into account, we can reason
the right. Like book, we have this This
idea, right? Well let's look at the things
that Jesus said, did Jesus say should be terrible and to put a
bunch of scriptures up. John chapter 10, 10, we read
this right Tintin. The thief comes to steal and
kill and destroy. Jesus said I have come that you
may have life and have it to the full.
If you go back to some older translations, I have come that
you may have Abundant Life file that away.
Jesus is desire. His stated purpose in your life
is that you would have an Abundant Life, Matthew chapter
11, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy burden.
And I will give you rest. Jesus is, can give you an
abundant life and rest, right? John 3:16 God.
So loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever
believes in him, will not perish but have eternal life.
So here's God's desire and plan. In wish for you, are you ready?
This is what God wants for you. Abundant Life, centered and
built on this deep satisfied. Rest that lasts.
It's forever. That's what he wants for you and
he says this, don't think I've come to abolish the law.
I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them in God's
eyes and in God's mind, the law doesn't do what I may think it
does. Jesus sees the law as giving us
life. This is part of John 10:10.
The good life that Jesus gives us.
It is John 10:10, right? He doesn't give us life without
the light and say Hey you won the really good things, the
really good things alive, then you just need to ignore all
rules and all limits. I feel like that at the buffet
sometime, right? Like if I'm going to be really
happy, I can't eat all of the food.
That never works. Does it?
And the same way. Guidelines.
Boundaries rules, they're good. So look at what Jesus then
against his right. So because now we're in, really
we're in trouble. You said I have not come to
abolish the law and some of us are in here going to write about
time. But listen, isn't there?
Something in us that once Jesus to not abolish the law because
we've been really, really, really working hard to just keep
all of it. Don't we want Jesus to just go?
Yeah Jason, you're doing it right.
Everybody else are not doing it. Like you, they're not they're
not doing it right. He says I didn't come to abolish
the law of come to fulfill it now.
Notice this no notice the language.
You're ready? Verse 18.
Jesus says, truly I tell you that until Heaven and Earth
disappear, not the smallest letter or the least stroke of a
pen will by any means disappear from the law.
But notice what he says. Anyone who sets aside, one of
the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly.
Now notice what does he does, he say about position and the
kingdom, anyone who sets aside and teaches others accordingly
will be called outside of the Kingdom will get excluded, from
the kingdom will be left out. No, it just says, they'll be
least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever practices and
teaches, these commands will be called great in the Kingdom of
Heaven. See the law isn't so much an
entrance. Exam, the idea of the law is not
to get people in or keep the people out.
The law isn't like some secret password, right?
The law is how we experience the joy of the kingdom.
And you think I've lost my mind? Here's what I'm telling you.
Do you know how to have a wonderful amazing marriage?
Put God first, don't cheat on him or her.
Don't slander their name and say, bad things about About them
to your friend. All of those are neatly tucked
within the law. Like let's take the Ten
Commandments, right? Are the Ten Commandments?
Some like overwhelming moral code?
Hey everybody. Since you're all going to be
living together now, can you not steal each other's stuff?
Right now, shalt not steal. Everybody's like well, thought
you were gone. I thought you were good now.
Yeah. Hey, since you're trying to have
a society and a culture Can you not like sleep with each other
spouse and seduce people all the time?
I thought we were free God. I thought this was about freed
from yeah, right. Listen, The Ten Commandments
law, it's hardly some overwhelming more.
Now, listen, somebody out there is like, you might be just going
like, yeah. Well, what about that mixed
Fabrics? Like I'm wearing mixed Fabrics,
like cotton and Denim and, you know, and all that.
So yeah, what up big? You can't have can't have
shellfish, okay? Real quick lesson, there's three
kind of areas within the law, right?
There's the ceremonial law, right?
Which was all about how you come to worship, right?
You gotta clean like this and you gotta wash your hands and
you gotta bring a Eyes on the center and do you know who that
was for? Was that for God?
No, that was for us. That was for you.
Do you know why? Because you could go off of the
sacrifices and you could know for sure that you stood, right
before God's, the reason for the ceremonial law was so that you
could have relationship with God.
That's the ceremonial law has been fulfilled by Jesus on the
cross. Then there's the judicial law,
right? That says, oh, you have to Stone
people. Oh, you're like, yeah, you have
to kill him. Well, the good news is we don't
live in first-century Syria and in Palestine, right?
So we don't have to do. You know why we don't have to
Stone adulterers anymore because Jesus Paid the price so that
they could be forgiven and start over.
So that, that doesn't have to be the last thing in their story.
See the ceremonial law, the judicial law, all of those
things, they were fulfilled by Jesus.
We can look at them and go and listen.
Here's the point side note, this isn't the sermon.
Do you know what all those things were for so that
everybody in the world would go. Those Israelites are weird, man.
Like they just stand out, you could almost say they're like a
city on a hill, right? Like everywhere they go, we
can't stop noticing what they're like and what they're about.
We have we're different, we're known by Jesus and his moral law
isn't to punish us. It's not to hinder us Is free.
I bought my wife a card for this morning.
Do you know why? Because it's Mother's Day.
She's not my mom, right? You know, I bought her a card
because man, I love her a lot and I want her to be happy.
Now, if I can let you in on a secret here, don't tell her,
right? Don't tell her that.
I said this, she's not in here atlases.
I really hate all those Hallmark holidays.
I think they're all dumb ass T of Father's Day for sure.
Definitely. Right.
Like I get that right. So but you know what?
Happens when I go to Natalie and I, you know, Mother's Day is
really just a dumb Hallmark holiday.
It's not really something. It doesn't go well for me and
also, it doesn't go well for her.
And I know Mother's Day is in on the Gregorian calendar but you
know what, I really love my wife and any opportunity that I can
give something to make my wife happy?
It's worth it. That's what the law says.
Hey, I know you are like a bunch of rabbits and you want to just
meet with everybody but can you just like keep it to one person?
Can you just like love? Like just just one person.
Hey, I know you are like, you know, the like the monkeys.
Are you gonna grab everything that you see in touch?
How about this? How about just keep it to your?
How about you don't take other people's stuff, right?
How about you don't gossip like bear, false.
Witness, how about you don't talk about other people to all
of that, right? And that's what, that's what
did. So now we're getting, like,
okay, we've got this, this idea, you will be called least in the
Kingdom, but we still haven't talked about getting in, right?
Like like how do we get in? What are the laws, the rules
that we have to keep to get into the kingdom?
That's what I want to know. What Jesus tells us.
In verse 20 says, I tell you that unless your righteousness
surpasses that of the Pharisees, or the teachers will, You won't
even enter the kingdom of heaven.
And some is right now are like, yeah, which are the rules that
surpass surpass. Are you ready?
Are you listening surpassing the righteousness of the Pharisees
does not mean quantity is not easy to surpass it in be better
at the laws and their you need a different kind of righteousness.
He's not talking about He's not talking about being like the
Pharisees talking about the degree of your loves, the law
allows us to live well with others to live well with God.
So when he says, unless your righteousness surpasses that of
the Pharisees, He says, you got to have a different way of
understanding. What goodness means?
You got to raise the bar. You got to stop just talking
about like like as if everybody's Behavior was the
thing because what we're always going to listen, when
righteousness is the measure of when behavior is the measure of
righteousness, we get into all kinds of screwy, kind of
situations, right? We'll fight, and we'll divide
over, which spiritual gifts are active, right?
All you can do that, or I will fight over there, and we won't
say anything about greed or gossip, right?
Will fight tooth and nail that we are known about our position
on gay marriage, and we are silent on divorce and
pornography, and what Jesus is saying is that's not the
picture. That's not the king.
Mm, that's not what always. He says, unless your
righteousness isn't just about checks on a ledger sheet, you
just can't go, you can't get in. Grace.
So now you're just like oh great Jason just through every
Universe was no I'm not a Universalist like what I'm
saying is Grace, right? We talk because that's what
we're talking about. Grace does not mean that
whatever you want is okay. Grace does not mean that
whatever I want is okay. Grace means you are not
different from me. Grace means you're gay and I'm
straight. And don't we all need Jesus?
Grace is you think women can teach in church?
And I don't and I do I think it's there in the Bible, we can
talk about it. Yeah, listen so like and so you
think that and I don't think that and say but at the end of
the day Jesus knows someday. We should talk to him.
Let's ask Him about that. But for right now everybody's
watching Everybody's watching and they're far less shocked by
this behavior, that behavior than the way that we let our
behaviors towards each other separate us and keep us from
each other. That's not a city on a hill,
that's like an alley fight. Let's stop fighting in the
alleys. Let's believe that we all need
Grace. So that when someone says hey I
think that things have sinned your one-man.
When somebody tells me I got some sin, you know, I can just
say like you don't know the half of it, you don't know the string
of thoughts that went through my head to get me to that point.
Would you believe that this behavior is actually the
sanitized version of the behavior that I was about to do,
right? Because boy, don't we need
Grace. Don't we need a place in the
world where blessing doesn't just come from my ability to do
it. All right?
All the time, and that's what Jesus does.
You know, why Jesus makes about Grace?
Because he loves you and I say, love, I get, I think I get this
minute said it. Make this point Kingdom
righteousness, is wrapped up in the law of love, and I've
agonized a lot about I get I've heard.
I've heard you know that guy talk about love a lot, I do and
so that can be like, you know, kind of squishy at the.
I try to figure out like, I don't think we know What
Biblical love looks like because it is easy to think that it's
squishy and that somehow if we just loved him, he just had it
love all the time that we're just gonna it, everybody's gonna
be able to do whatever they want.
I think that's a really bad idea of love, love is the cross.
Listen, there is nothing more costly in your life than love
because love demands everything of you for another person who
are may or may not even appreciate it.
See that's what Jesus did literally.
The Roman Empire was Killing Jesus and his response was
forgive them for, they don't know what to do, what they're
doing. You know, it's interesting about
the crucifixion of Jesus, literally like crucifixion was
like the crucifixion and road building.
Like that's what the Romans were awesome at.
So when Jesus says, they don't know what they're doing, I look
at him go. It sure, seems like they know
what they're doing. Jesus didn't just see some
outward expression. Jesus saw the people that he
created the love that he placed in the way that he loves them
and righteous and you think well you got to make the case look.
Okay, I'm just going to read up here.
Okay, Deuteronomy 6 4, & 5 Deuteronomy.
This is them on the Israelites, on the edge of the promised
land. They're about to go in.
Moses is telling them what's really important.
What does he say? Do we get that up on
Deuteronomy? 6, 4 & 5.
Here we go. Hear o Israel.
The Lord Our God. The Lord is one.
Love. The Lord.
Your God with all your heart. With all your soul.
Soul and with all your strength, he didn't say be good.
He said, love God, that's first, love God, that's it.
That's what you got to do. What's the next one?
We go to a little bit Leviticus 19.
Now, this is really the book of the law, right?
Verse 1. When you reap the Harvest of
your land, don't read to the very edges of your field or
gather the gleanings of your Harvest.
Is there another one? Don't go over your Vineyard a
second. Timer pick up the grapes that
have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the
Foreigner and you just go but they're my grapes.
And you know what? God says, no, they're not.
They're in my land, the land of milk and honey, their my grades
and I don't want you to eat them all Fatiha.
Sorry? Right.
So God goes right out and he says, listen, I want you to
build into your kingdom. Love for people who don't have
enough and then it goes down to verse 18, and what does he say?
Don't seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone.
But love your neighbor as yourself.
And what did Jesus say in Matthew?
Chapter 23, verse 37 of 40. Someone asked him, what's the
most important law? And it says, love God.
He said those two verses. Love God and love your neighbor.
That's the Law of the Kingdom says the law whole law and
Prophets is some in this. And the idea is you can't be
right with God if you're wrong with your neighbor.
And Jesus even clarifies that because, you know, I live in a
pretty good neighborhood where it's a pretty, you know, we all
kind of look the same talk. The same thing.
The same was I he says, Jesus goes further and says we're
going to talk about. He says your neighbor is your
enemy. We cannot be right with God, if
we are wrong with our enemies. Now, listen how they respond to
us, is up to them. But how we respond to them, is
up to us. So what do we do?
How do we tackle this, right? Because we're talking about the
kingdom and this long, the rule the kingdom will.
In Matthew chapter 4, verse 17. Jesus said repent because the
kingdom of God is here. So as we Orient Our Lives to
this Kingdom law of love, the way that we do it the way that
it happens, the way that it comes is through, repentance
repentance is not a once and for all who I repented I became a
Christian or upended. Repentance is a moment-by-moment
s by And sometimes Pizzazz posture before God.
So what do we need to? Repent of first thing?
We need to repent of his self-righteousness.
Self-righteousness says, I am good, therefore, everything that
I do is, okay. The message for the
self-righteous is your badly broken.
You are you're badly broken, you heard people, you wound people,
you do the right like sure. You like that was the Pharisees
right self-righteousness. Here's the thing that I want to
tell you, here's the thing that you've got to know.
It's like Your Purity. The reason Jesus wants you to be
pure is not so that he'll love you more.
You cannot make. Jesus love you more and you
cannot make Jesus, love you less.
Do you know what Jesus wants you to be pure?
Because he cares about your spouse?
Single people even your future one.
He really cares about that Purity matters.
Ask any marriage that has been ruined or destroyed by
infidelity or pornography or whatever.
It matters it makes difference self-righteousness.
Says I am the definition of, right?
So if you are different from me, you are wrong and we can all
find, right? Like it's like, we're talking
early, we can all find ways to point in here.
It's like, yeah, they defended slavery in the 19th century with
the Bible, there's all kinds of things, right?
So we just don't know, I'm right, because I'm right.
That self-righteous when we have to repent of that.
And the way we repent of that is daily.
I am badly broken and desperately in need of Grace.
Now, that's a very dangerous. Dangerous place to get apart
from the love of God. So we also need to repent of
legalism. We need to repent of
self-righteousness that says, I'm a lawn to myself, and we
need to repent of legalism, which says, that God loves me
because I am good enough that I am acceptable because of the
law. And not only am I acceptable it
because I'm acceptable because of the law.
If you are different from me, in any way, you are not acceptable.
And the idea that you might be acceptable to God and also me be
acceptable to God when we are so different.
That's Much to take that is too much to handle.
So, what we do is we say no, legalism says, I'm right, and
you're wrong. But listen to what I'm going to
quote out of the English Standard Version, right?
Romans 10:4 says, this for Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness. He doesn't say Christ, is the
end of the law and he doesn't say Christ is the end of
righteousness. He said, Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness. Folks, you cannot behave your
way into God's good. Grace's, you cannot make Jesus
happy with you by being really good and by being really mad at
people who are really wrong For Those.
Whom you might say, if you've ever found yourself saying,
well, how can a person who believes this be a Christian
because salvation is not about where you stand on this.
Can gay people, go to heaven? Listen, going to heaven isn't
about who you have sex with going to heaven, is about what
you do with Jesus. Where does he come in your life?
Do you listen to him? Do you follow him, do you love
him? Do you need him?
Do you listen to him? See salvation is about a
relationship with Jesus. And it's about bringing all of
our Brokenness are bad Brokenness, into the love of God
and letting him deal with it, and letting him love us and
letting him deal with things and guess what?
He made a deal with I sarcasm and I want to deal with your
sarcasm at all. He may want to deal with my
greed and not even talk to you about greed, right?
Because he knows you got an identity thing that you need to
learn that you need to deal with that.
You need. You just need to know that
you're loved and once you deal with that, then he'll start
doing it. But here's the thing, you do not
work for me. I am not your master Jesus is,
and Jesus has decided that the law of the kingdom is going to
be loved. It's going to be Grace, right?
The last thing we do is we walk in Grace, Romans 3:23, all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
You need to be very intentional and deliberate as a spiritual
discipline about making sure that you insert your name there.
I Jason Christopher Powers fall short of the glory of God.
Not just previously. But today all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God Romans 5:8.
God demonstrates his own love for us in this while we were
still sinners Christ died for us and then Jesus said, follow me.
If we have a problem with Sinners, the way that we deal
with them, is the way that Jesus dealt with them, he died for
them. And we're to give our lives to
those who are far away from Jesus, not to fix them up so
that they're okay to him, but by bringing them 10 so that they
can feel and experience his love.
And the crazy thing is Romans, 8:1 says that there is now
therefore no condemnation in Christ Jesus.
We were guilty but now we're not.
And so Jesus isn't condemning people than shouldn't his church
also not condemn people and in Matthew chapter 10, Jesus has
his 12, the 12, disciples, and he said him.
And he said, I want you to go to all the places and I want you
to, but don't go to the Samaritans yet.
Don't go to the, don't go to the Gentiles yet.
But this last thing he says freely you have received freely.
Give you've received a kingdom for free and what he's saying is
Peter? Do you think you earned this?
Peter that day when you were standing on the boat, do you
think it was your behavior, your legal righteousness?
That made me come find you on the boat?
Or do you think Peter that I saw something in you that went
beyond all of that other stuff? What if we start seeing that in
people? What if we start seeing that in
each other? See, Jesus didn't say that.
You could be Salt and Light. He didn't say, hey, if you try
really hard he said, hey if you vote the right way, hey, if you
get over that addiction, hey, if you do that, he didn't say, if
you do all of that, then you could be sold online.
Said, you are salt and light. And so the question is, what do
people taste on you? Is it salt the points people to
Jesus? Or is it bitter angry?
Is it wounded and hurtful and unrepentant?
People said Jesus said, you're a city on a hill, people will see
your good deeds. So what are your good deeds?
What does that look like? Do they see you giving grace to
the bedraggled to the beat up to the burnout?
See what Jesus didn't do, is stand on a Mountaintop and lower
the bar, Jesus stood on the Mountaintop and he raised the
bar. So, high that there's only one
person in all of history who could reach it and it was him.
And the reason he did that, It's so that we could never say that
that's the main thing so that we could all say we're here by
Grace because we serve a God who loves us more than our capacity
to hold it or fathom it. That's the kingdom.
That's the system that is the world into which we have been
invited. So Jesus, I pray that you would
give us To walk well, in this world to live well, with you and
with others. And Jesus, I have to confess.
I struggle with both license and legalism.
I both give to people too much credit and not enough credit.
I give myself both too much credit and not enough credit
because Jesus I am badly broken. And by faith, I believe, I am
deeply loved. And so I prayed Jesus, that I
would not walk out into this world.
Forcing an issue or an agenda. That is not yours.
May your kingdom come into my life and into this church and
into your church as it is in heaven, Jesus, we ask in your
name and for Butte for your beautiful Sovereign righteous
Glory. We ask amen.
Thank you for joining us today. River City Church is all about
experiencing and expressing God's love in our lives and
community. And we hope that you've been
able to experience that today. As grateful as I am.
That you've spent this time listening in this morning, this
podcast is no substitute for full participation in a local
church. I love it when River City people
listen to other pastors, but it is those who show up week after
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that make all of this possible. If we can help you get connected
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May the Lord bless, and keep you in all Grace and peace.
Site in the description. Don't forget to subscribe and
don't forget to share this with your friends.
Thanks so much for listening. May the Lord bless, and keep you
in all Grace and peace.