Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton,
the official podcast of Cross Christian Fellowship,
Route 66, in the heart of Albuquerque, New Mexico,
where Burton is the lead pastor. We're glad you're
here. We're starting to wind down our misquoted
series. Basically, we're talking about things
that are commonly taken out of context or used
to you know, twisted and used towards other things
that they shouldn't be, you know, out in the
world and in other churches. So we're basically
setting the record straight there, which is good,
you know. And it's important to run through all
this and know it in its proper context. That
way when something comes up, we can know, hey,
that's not right. And we can adjust back, you
know what, let's talk about this because you're
not. putting this out there the way it needs
to be put. We've all heard the term, context
is king. I've been saying it for the last few
weeks. We need to be like the Bereans, studying
the word for ourselves so that we understand
it when things happen. Again, I encourage everybody,
when you leave here today, take notes or whatever
you need to do. When you go home, study everything
that we've been going over as well because I'm
human. I'm not impervious to making mistakes
as well. I've made my fair share. With that said,
we're going to open our Bibles to the book of
Luke. So Luke chapter 6, verses 20 through 26.
And this is really going to be the heart of the
message today. This is what I want everybody
to keep in the back of their mind as we go through
all this today. I'm sure many of you noticed
the last few weeks have been slightly different.
Version of preaching for me. That was intentional
to challenge myself as well. So I hope I haven't
been too all over the place. So again, it's Luke
chapter 6. Verses 20 through 26. All right. And
it says, then he lifted up his eyes towards his
disciples and said, blessed are you poor. For
yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you
who hunger now, for you shall be filled. Blessed
are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed
are you when men hate you and when they exclude
you and revile you and cast out your name as
evil. For the son of man's sake, rejoice in that
day and leap for joy. For indeed, your reward
is great in heaven. For in like manner their
fathers did to the prophets. But woe to you who
are rich, for you have received your consolation.
Woe to you who are full, for you shall hunger.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn
and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well
of you. For so did their fathers to false prophets.
So there's a narrative in the world today that
says social justice is a distraction from the
gospel. That it's something that the church shouldn't
be focused on. You know, some people even go
so far as to say, hey, we need to separate church
from state. You know, it's not uncommon. You
know, and this is... Social justice is one of
those things when they say separate it all and
they like to toss it into the hat, leave it to
the politicians. But as a country, based on Christian
ideals, this is very dangerous. It's very dangerous.
So we need to watch out for it. We need to remember
Jesus was constantly taking care of those who
were on the edge of society, those people who
had been cast out and were looked down upon as
being less than. He spoke up. He was a voice
for the voiceless. Sadly, the suggestion that
social justice isn't a gospel issue, it's made
by those who are afraid that it's going to get
in the way of teaching people about Jesus and
saving souls. That tells you something right
there. A lot of these people who are saying this
actually are some of the biggest voices that
scream to disclude social justice are coming
from within the church. We need to hamper that
and educate them. Like, no, you're wrong. We're
called to love our brothers, not ignore them.
You know, it's a far cry from what Jesus had
to say on the matter. You know, here in the U
.S. especially, we're... we're pretty comfortable.
We get real comfortable with certain things,
especially things like the Sermon on the Mount.
The Sermon on the Mount is real comfortable.
It's real easy to hear, right? In fact, we'll
just skip over to Matthew 5, verse 3 here real
quick. So in Matthew 5, verse 3, Jesus said,
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven. This is from that section.
The sermon that the church likes to refer to
as the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes are beautiful.
Each of them, they tell us how we can be blessed
by God. These verses are actually a part of our
code of ethics as Christians. A foundation of
what's right and how we should be acting and
how we should be treating each other. They contrast
the kingdom of God versus the world. They contrast
what Jesus commands versus what Satan and his
ministers command. They also demonstrate how
the Old Testament is to be fulfilled in the kingdom.
That's something a lot of us forget about. You
know, a lot of people that like to go out there
and say, yeah, we're living in New Testament
times. Everything from the Old Testament is gone.
It's not. It's really not. We still see things
from the Old Testament being fulfilled today.
And there's still things there that have yet
to be fulfilled that will be fulfilled. So it's
not a moot point. It's very important that we
understand that. So when we hear this accounting
from the Sermon on the Mount, it feels good,
doesn't it? It sounds good. Like, ooh, yes. This
is what I want my Bible to say. This is good
stuff. Yes. Speech it. Amen. Right? You'll get
people out there, especially in some of these
really big churches, and they'll go through a
verse like this and just a big round of applause.
Let's take it a little further in the script,
though. Let's change it up a little bit. Let's
go over to Luke chapter 4. So Luke chapter 4,
verse 18 specifically. So Luke chapter 4, verse
18, Jesus says, Who are oppressed. That's not
so comfortable, is it? That's work. Some of us
like to say work is a four -letter word, don't
we? And sometimes it can be. What's that? Yes.
Yes, this last week, absolutely. But when we
hear things like this, it brings to light, oh,
hey, we need to be taking a look at this. We
need to be. looking at our brothers and sisters
who are impacted like this, and it takes us out
of our feel -good zone, right? All of a sudden,
it's really real. It's this very serious thing.
The humor is gone. In fact, when we look throughout
the Old Testament, there's a repeated promise
that the anointed one would also preach to the
poor. So here's the kicker. When Jesus said this,
Jesus was actually quoting Isaiah 61, verses
1 and 2. That was his reference point for this.
Prophecy fulfilled. And throughout his ministry,
he had a heart for the poor, for refugees, for
orphans, for widows, for those with... Various
calamities, right? The blind. And come on, we
even see a group of people going lower a friend
through the ceiling of a house so he could be
healed. The guy wasn't just sick. He was bedridden
in almost the worst possible way. Worst possible
way most people could imagine, of course, would
be to be dead. He wasn't quite there yet, but
he was well on his way. He was healed. You know,
casting out demons. So, you know, it's important
because when Jesus did this and when he said
this, he was proclaiming himself as the anointed
one who was being spoke of. And the Jews and
the Pharisees, they all understood this. When
they heard this, that's part of why they gasped
like, ooh, blasphemy, right? Like, who's this
guy? And you think about it today. Somebody goes
like, oh, I'm Jesus. Some of us are going to
kind of snicker. And the rest of us are probably
going to be like, this guy needs to be in mental
health getting help. Right? Very few people are
actually going to stop to do the biblical thing,
though, and pray over them. Pray for their healing.
Pray that if there's a demon in them, that's...
affecting them mentally that that demon be cast
out. What most of the time we do is, okay, yeah,
sure, pal. Versus, how can I help this guy? How
can I help my brother? And all of us are guilty
of that at some point, are we not? And I have
to be the first to admit, sometimes you get...
You know, we get some of these people, they do
their circuits. And for the most part, they're
good people. They come in. They're cool. Some
of them, they get a little rowdy sometimes. And
every once in a while, I'll see one of these
people that I recognize. And unfortunately, I'm
not always in the mindset that I should be. And
sometimes I'm thinking, oh, boy, here comes this
guy again. I wonder what the story is this time.
It's not right, though. It's not the way I should
think about it. It's not the way any of us should
think about it. But it happens. We're all guilty.
So that's something that we all need to pray
on and work on ourselves, right? Something we
should all go to the Lord with. Now, as a church,
as Christians, we need to have a firm ham, hand,
yeah, ham, blah, blah, blah, blah. Not ham, hand.
This guy right here with five fingers. We need
to have a firm hand. on social justice and the
social justice system. And I'm going to give
you a good reason. As I alluded to earlier, we're
called to love others just as we would love ourselves,
right? But to say that, it's not enough. It's
just not. Why else should we be concerned with
social justice? Let's go over to 2 Corinthians
5, verse 20. So 2 Corinthians 5, verse 20. Apologize
if I'm going a little fast there. I know that's
something I have to work on. So 2 Corinthians
5, verse 20, Paul writes, Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ. As though God were pleading through
us, we implore you on Christ's behalf to be reconciled
to God. Ooh. What's an ambassador? What's an
ambassador? That's a great question, right? I'm
glad you asked. They're a person who is or acts
as a representative or a promoter of a particular
body or activity. So an ambassador is also defined
as an accredited diplomat sent by a country as
its official representative in foreign lands.
That's really more applicable to us as Christians.
Because as Christians, yeah, sure, we might live
in the U .S. Somebody listening out there or
following us online might live in Canada or Uganda
or France or any of these other places. But as
Christians. While we might live someplace earthly,
we're all ambassadors for Christ. Because we
don't belong here. We don't belong to this country.
We do not belong to this earth. We belong to
the kingdom of God. Plain and simple. And we
are here as his ambassadors to proclaim the gospel
of Jesus Christ for all to hear. Whether we like
it or not. That's part of being a Christian.
If you've accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior,
guess what? You're an ambassador. You've been
tasked with this. This is part of fulfilling
the great commission. Plain and simple. So let
me ask it to you this way. Are you a Christian?
Because you are, right? So guess what? You're
an ambassador. As followers of Christ, we're
all ambassadors. We all represent Christ. We
all represent the kingdom. I've said it several
times. For many people, you are all they are
ever going to see or read of the Bible. So make
sure you represent it well. A lot of us, unfortunately,
are ineffective as ambassadors. And it's because
of our own bias. Our own prejudice gets in the
way. Like I said, every once in a while, I'll
see somebody coming, and I'm like, oh, boy, it's
this guy again. But first, to admit, my little
brother calls. It doesn't happen often. But his
name comes up on the caller ID, and the first
thing I'm thinking is, man, how much has he had
to drink this time? It's not a good way of thinking.
But when something happens often enough, unfortunately,
we get skewed. It's something I have to work
on. I've done better, but it still happens. Matter
of fact, we were just commenting on that last
night, weren't we? Or this morning, I believe
I heard a comment about it. That's right, guilty.
It's a prayer. None of us is perfect. These are
the things that we take before the throne and
we leave at the feet and let the Holy Spirit.
Work on that conviction that's in us to continue
to improve us and mold us into the people we
should be. See, what happens is, like I said,
all these biases, these prejudices get in the
way. We have to learn to get rid of them. Easier
said than done sometimes, especially when you've
been raised a certain way. Right? Parents have
a big impact on their kids. Grandparents have
a big impact on their kids. Especially today,
the things on media that we allow our families
to watch and listen to and interact with all
have a profound impact on the way people see
each other. Just look at the way people dress
and the comments people make on that. I'm the
first to say, I'm not a fan of the big nails
that some of these ladies go out and get. To
me, they look tacky. But you know what? If they
like it and it helps them to feel good, you know,
it's something that they appreciate, okay, good
on them. But then you get other people who make
some not so healthy comments about it. Like,
gee, I wonder how they take care of themselves
when they go to the restroom. Right? Not appropriate.
Unfortunately, people put that stuff out there,
and you hear it a lot. You know who else hears
it a lot? Our kids. And they learn. Jokes that
really probably aren't the most appropriate for
adults, but as adults, we say them anyway, right?
And then who happens to be in the next room,
or maybe even in the same room? And they're hearing
it. So they're growing up thinking, hey, this
is okay. Things like domestic violence are so
regular in so many houses that we have children
growing up thinking, hey, it's perfectly acceptable
for me to do the same. My daddy does it to my
mom. My daddy does it to my auntie. Why can't
I do it to the girls at school? It also happens
the other way around. There's a lot of women
that flip that script and do the same thing as
well in other ways, right? Our hate takes control,
and we have to learn to get rid of it. Summed
up short, it's because we dehumanize other people.
We have to learn to humanize them again. We have
to see people as people. We have to see people
as we see ourselves. Because it doesn't matter
what walk of life they're in. there's always
something that we can connect with. And that
connection is all that you need, that one little
thing, to start seeing them as a human again.
Because it's the first building block. As followers
of Christ, we have to lead the charge, and we
have to demonstrate this to the rest of the world.
And I know I'm kind of hammering on this, and
it's because it's important. Well, why is it
important? Well, let's just go back a couple
more chapters in 2 Corinthians. So 2 Corinthians
8, verse 9. So 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9. So 2
Corinthians 8, verse 9. That through his poverty,
he might become rich. In order to fully see people
as people, we have to rehumanize them. We need
to be able to identify with them. We need to
be able to relate to them. There's a reason why
certain people only open up to certain people.
Veterans open up to veterans. Teachers open up
to teachers. nurses to nurses, doctors to doctors,
police to police, construction workers to construction
workers, so on and so forth. Why? Because common
ground. It could be a total stranger, but hey,
now I've met this person, I know their name,
I know what field that they work in, they're
now a brother or sister, or simply put, they're
a fellow warrior with skin in the game. Now I
can talk to them. We need to do that for everyone
we run into, especially when it's hard. And let's
face it, we meet some people, it's real hard
to connect with. You don't have to like them,
you have to love them. That's the command. You
can't love them if you don't see them as a human
being. It's impossible. You just can't do it.
So to do this, we have to emulate Jesus. We have
to emulate Jesus who defied the status quo, who
went out and identified with those who were deemed
as less than human. And we have to do this to
demonstrate the morals that we value so highly.
To say that morality Because this is an issue
of morality. So to say morality is not an issue
of the gospel is just wrong and is a lie. To
say social justice is not a gospel issue is wrong.
It's a lie. Because without the gospel, morality
boils down to nothing more than legalism. Nothing
more than legalism. What did Jesus call out the
Pharisees and the Sadducees for? Legalism, right?
Social justice without the gospel perverts it
and turns it into an unbiblical religion. Boy,
we see a lot of those out there today, don't
we? Last I checked, the Bible warns us not to
add or remove anything from the Bible. But if
we take the gospel out of social justice, what
are we doing? We're creating a whole new system
not founded on biblical values. And those biblical
values are what drive our society and tell us
what's right and what's wrong. So we'll go down
a little bit simple. In the military, this is
what we like to say. Right here is what I'm going
to break it down Barney style for you. Right?
We're going to simplify it. Who knows the golden
rule? Ha -ha. Here's my Sunday school student
right here. What's the golden rule, Brian? That's
right. Do unto others as you'd have them do unto
you. And I'm going to tell you exactly where
you can find it. Matthew 7, verse 12. Depending
on the translation, you might get exactly the
way Brian just said it. Go to the New King James
Version, you're going to see it like this. Matthew
7, verse 12. Jesus said... Therefore, whatever
you want men to do to you, do also to them, for
this is the law and the prophets. Just a few
chapters later, we see Jesus refer to it another
way. So we'll just flip back to Matthew 25, verse
40. So turning to Matthew 25, verse 40. Jesus
says, Bottom line, you need to treat people lovingly.
In order to treat people lovingly, you have to
see them as human. We need to stop marginalizing
people. We need to stop casting them to the side,
treating them like dirt, right? Using them as
stepping stones to get where we want to be in
life. Because then we're doing things in our
own will instead of in God's. The world loves
to create a system where it's us versus them.
The world loves to use this to divide us. It's
a smokescreen. That's the reason why the enemy
likes to do this. It creates a smoke screen.
When that divide is there, guess what? Where
are our eyes? Not on Jesus. We're focused on
the perceived problem. So when we look at the
news or we listen to it, what do we hear all
the time? All the ugly stuff. Very, very rarely
anymore do you get that feel -good story, right?
And when you do, it's usually a feel -good story
of the week. Not the day, the week. As if nothing
else good happens throughout. Anyone else's day
that's worthy of being reported on. I beg to
differ. There's a lot of wonderful things out
there happening. But you know what? It doesn't
divide people and it doesn't make money. So they
don't like it. About the only time you're going
to hear a feel -good story of the day is when
you turn on one of the Christian radio stations.
K -Love is really good about that. I will give
them credit. That's one thing they are really
good about. Here's your feel -good story of the
day. You can hear it every morning and throughout
the day. That's one of those times when I say
that they're very true to their slogan of being
positive and encouraging. And as Christians,
we should all be the same, positive and encouraging.
There's enough negative, horrible stuff. going
on in this world. Guess what? We're called to
be ambassadors. We should be projecting the light
of Christ. Like, you know what? Yes, you're in
a dark place. This is horrible. But you know
what? Let's focus on something beautiful. Because
you take a seed, you plant it. Where does it
start? Underground, in the darkness. But then
with some love and some care that recognize,
hey, here's a seed. It needs love to grow. It
needs to be nurtured. It starts to grow. It starts
pushing up through that soil. Things start to
become a little easier for it, right? And then
what happens? Eventually, it breaks through to
the other side, and there's the light. And then
it really flourishes. That's how we... should
be helping other people to grow. Recognizing,
hey, they're down in that dark place. They need
to be loved. They need to be nurtured so that
they can come to the light. We're that catalyst
that brings them to the light. The light, of
course, being Jesus. And once they come to the
light, guess what? Boom, just like the rest of
us. They have that chance to grow in the spirit.
That's what our mission is. You know, like I
said, the enemy, it likes to use that smoke screen
to divide us to say, hey, you're less than. You're
unlovable. You're undesirable. And unfortunately,
people listen to this and they hear it enough
times that they fall victim to what we call illusory
truth effect. Right? I've told you about this
before. Illusory truth effect is that phenomenon
where you hear something over and over and over
enough times that even though it's a lie, the
fact that you hear it so much, you start to believe
it. You start to understand it as being truth,
even though it's not. And you get snared up by
that trap. And unfortunately, when somebody hears
that they're unlovable, that they're undesirable,
that they're worthless, over and over and over
again, eventually, they start to believe it.
It's not the way it should be. It's not the Christian
way. When we see that person who's marginalized,
we should be going over, giving them a hand and
be like, hey, I see you. I hear you. You matter.
And more importantly, Jesus sees you. Jesus hears
you. And you matter to him. So much so that he
went to the cross, died for you, rose again,
and is coming back for you. That's what we should
be doing as ambassadors. Lifting each other up.
Not just the people we sit in pews with, but
everybody that we come in contact with. Every
single person we come in contact with is an opportunity
to share the light and the love of Christ. Jesus
came so that we would know better. Jesus came
to teach us so that we can do better, so that
we can live better, so we can project things
better and point the way to him, so that we can
be reunited with the Father, so that we wouldn't
be turned away for eternity to the place of gnashing
teeth, right, and pain, to be separated from
God. He paved the way so we could be reunited.
So the gospel itself has a huge implication in
how we should be treating others. And it has
huge implications for matters such as morality
and social injustice. Justice in all of its forms
is a gospel issue. Not just social injustice.
There's a lot of things that go on. A lot of
things that the government and the world tries
to take over. Say, just bring it here. We'll
deal with it for you. Right? Different countries
and different places have different ways of doing
it. But at the heart of the matter, we as Christians
should be involved. We as Christians have a voice
and we should be using it. To make sure that
the right thing is being done, or at least to
the best ability that we can here on this earth.
Plain and simple. It's not just a form of, or
I should say, as being Christians, we're not
called to just sit and read a Bible and be preached
at. We're called to take it out. Jesus didn't
say, come and sit on your butt. He said, go.
He gave us a mission. And to anyone who says
otherwise, obviously they haven't gone through
and they haven't read this Bible. Or they have
and they've chosen to ignore the word. We can't
ignore it. We're not allowed to. We don't get
to pick and choose. It's an all or nothing thing.
Like I was talking about last week, we don't
get to recreate Jesus in the image that fits
us and fits our narrative. That's what... That's
what Satan's tried to do. He likes to take it
and twist it and pull it. Our work here is to
carry the word out to the world, to tell people
about Jesus, plain and simple. Brings us back
to the heart of our message today. Luke 6, verses
20 through 23. Then he lifted up his eyes toward
his disciples and said, Blessed are you, poor.
For yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are
you who hunger now, for you shall be filled.
Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
Blessed are you when men hate you and when they
exclude you and revile you and cast out your
name as evil for the son of man's sake. Rejoice
in that day. And leap for joy, for indeed your
reward is great in heaven. For in like manner
their fathers did to their prophets. I just want
to point out here, your reward in heaven. Not
here. Prosperity preachers like to omit that.
Say be good to people and you'll be rewarded
here and now. No. The word specifically says,
your reward is great in heaven. And really, that's
where we should be looking forward to seeing
it. We're all going to face hardships in life.
We're all going to face triumphs. We're all going
to get knocked down. We're going to have to get
back up. We're all going to have to face those
things that knock us down so hard that we get
up and we have to dust ourselves off. But yet
in each and every single one of these things,
we have to remember we are blessed. We are so
blessed. And we're blessed because in our sin,
in our inequity, God still saw value in us. So
much so that he sent his son for each and every
one of us. You know, like I just said a little
bit ago, he came, he lived a sinless life. He
lived that perfect example for each of us. And
then he paid the price that none of us could
pay. And he went to that cross and he died for
every single one of us. For our sins, for our
misdeeds, for the things that we do wrong. And
then he rose from the dead. He ascended to heaven
with the promise of coming again for his bride,
for the church. And he did this because he loves
you and sees value in you more than anything
else. The Father loves you and sees value in
you more than anything else. Who can love you
greater than the Creator? Nobody. Absolutely
nobody. So when the world knocks you down, get
back up and remember, hey, I've got a great Father
who loves me and cares about me, and I value
His opinion more than anyone else's. Plain and
simple. And that will bring you joy. Once you
eternalize it and you believe it, it will bring
you joy. And that's that unexplainable joy that
doesn't come from anywhere else. You just have
to open your heart and let Jesus in. He's sitting
there knocking, but you have to invite him in.
You have to invite him into your life. You have
to open up your heart to him. You have to repent
of your sin. and accept him and proclaim him
as your Lord and Savior. And on that note, let
us pray. Father, we thank you for bringing us
all together here today. We thank you for this
reminder of studying your word, but more importantly,
we thank you for all that you've done for us
and all that you're going to do for us, all that
you've promised us. We know that we face a lot
of hardship in this life. We ask that you lift
us up and you remind us of exactly what's important.
We ask that you use us as your tools, as your
ambassadors to carry your light and your word
out into this dark world so others can come to
know you and find a seat at the table as well.
We thank you. We love you in Jesus' name. Amen
and amen. Thank you for joining us at Healing
Scars with Pastor Burton. Until next time, take
care and God bless.