1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,380 So when you hear the word mercy as we continue the sermon series, whose neighbor am I? 2 00:00:10,380 --> 00:00:12,580 First week we looked at who is my neighbor. 3 00:00:12,580 --> 00:00:17,900 Jesus then flips that question on itself and asks whose neighbor am I? 4 00:00:17,900 --> 00:00:22,300 Making more of not about me, but what am I putting out there as a neighbor? 5 00:00:22,300 --> 00:00:26,300 And we talked about neighbors and all of these things, but I want to start, when you hear 6 00:00:26,300 --> 00:00:31,100 the word mercy, what comes to mind? 7 00:00:31,100 --> 00:00:37,260 And I know a bunch of you are going to go to Uncle Jesse from Full House, have mercy. 8 00:00:37,260 --> 00:00:38,900 That's not where I'm going. 9 00:00:38,900 --> 00:00:42,480 I apologize for that, but that's not where I'm going. 10 00:00:42,480 --> 00:00:45,700 Mercy, what comes to mind? 11 00:00:45,700 --> 00:00:46,700 What? 12 00:00:46,700 --> 00:00:50,020 Kindness, absolutely. 13 00:00:50,020 --> 00:00:53,940 Arm wrestling. 14 00:00:53,940 --> 00:00:55,620 That's actually exactly where I was going to go, Teddy. 15 00:00:55,620 --> 00:00:59,700 So just wait, I'll have you say that one more time, but in a little bit. 16 00:00:59,700 --> 00:01:05,580 What other things come to mind when you think of mercy? 17 00:01:05,580 --> 00:01:09,580 Giving help, a hospital, yep, absolutely. 18 00:01:09,580 --> 00:01:10,580 Anything else? 19 00:01:10,580 --> 00:01:14,100 Forgiveness, up in the top. 20 00:01:14,100 --> 00:01:18,820 Not getting what you deserve. 21 00:01:18,820 --> 00:01:19,820 That's grace. 22 00:01:19,820 --> 00:01:21,320 It's grace and mercy, right? 23 00:01:21,320 --> 00:01:22,360 Those are good things. 24 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:23,660 His mercies are new every morning. 25 00:01:23,660 --> 00:01:25,660 His grace is there all the time, absolutely. 26 00:01:25,660 --> 00:01:26,660 Anything else? 27 00:01:26,660 --> 00:01:27,660 Yep. 28 00:01:27,660 --> 00:01:32,060 It can be hurtful. 29 00:01:32,060 --> 00:01:34,260 So okay, you and Teddy, you're right there, right? 30 00:01:34,260 --> 00:01:36,500 A lot of arm wrestling going on in the Maison House. 31 00:01:36,500 --> 00:01:37,500 I don't care. 32 00:01:37,500 --> 00:01:38,500 Others? 33 00:01:38,500 --> 00:01:39,500 Any? 34 00:01:39,500 --> 00:01:43,140 Yeah, in the back. 35 00:01:43,140 --> 00:01:45,820 We want it for ourselves, but not for others. 36 00:01:45,820 --> 00:01:48,680 So this super positive, way to go, guys. 37 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:50,780 You guys are really in healthy head spaces. 38 00:01:50,780 --> 00:01:52,320 I so appreciate this. 39 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:56,700 This sermon is going to clearly be for this side of the church. 40 00:01:56,700 --> 00:01:57,700 Because I'm there too. 41 00:01:57,700 --> 00:02:01,820 I was thinking about mercy this week, and I think about the game you play with your 42 00:02:01,820 --> 00:02:05,740 siblings where you're trying to hurt them, right? 43 00:02:05,740 --> 00:02:07,540 You remember, you know, Marshall, come over here. 44 00:02:07,540 --> 00:02:09,060 We're not going to actually do it. 45 00:02:09,060 --> 00:02:12,220 But you know, I mean, it's where you go like this and you have to try to make the... 46 00:02:12,220 --> 00:02:13,420 Oh, he wants to play. 47 00:02:13,420 --> 00:02:16,540 That was the wrong person to do it with. 48 00:02:16,540 --> 00:02:17,540 Okay. 49 00:02:17,540 --> 00:02:21,820 But Marshall would clearly win, and I would have to yell mercy or uncle, which that's 50 00:02:21,820 --> 00:02:23,620 always been a slam on uncles. 51 00:02:23,620 --> 00:02:25,340 No one ever yells like, aunt. 52 00:02:25,340 --> 00:02:26,820 No one does that. 53 00:02:26,820 --> 00:02:33,060 But mercy, when it comes to hurting other people, I'm going to make you tap out. 54 00:02:33,060 --> 00:02:37,420 I also think from baseball, because baseball is a big part of my life, kind of the mercy 55 00:02:37,420 --> 00:02:44,900 rule, where if you're up by 15 after five or whatever it is, then the game is over. 56 00:02:44,900 --> 00:02:50,140 We have so many different understandings of what mercy means, because in a culture, it 57 00:02:50,140 --> 00:02:56,500 can be the, I'm going to make you submit, and then you will receive mercy. 58 00:02:56,500 --> 00:02:57,780 That could be real... 59 00:02:57,780 --> 00:03:03,700 That could be tension filled, yet we also have the understanding of, I want it for myself, 60 00:03:03,700 --> 00:03:06,580 as Matt said, I want it for myself, but not for other people. 61 00:03:06,580 --> 00:03:13,660 But you also look at mercy as positive things, grace, hope, helping out, compassion even, 62 00:03:13,660 --> 00:03:17,340 as we talked over the last couple of weeks. 63 00:03:17,340 --> 00:03:21,180 But what's interesting is mercy is talked about a lot in the Old Testament and in the 64 00:03:21,180 --> 00:03:25,220 New Testament, that mercy is a part of who God is. 65 00:03:25,220 --> 00:03:27,740 It's an attribute of Yahweh. 66 00:03:27,740 --> 00:03:30,940 It's an attribute of just who He is. 67 00:03:30,940 --> 00:03:32,980 You do not have mercy without God. 68 00:03:32,980 --> 00:03:34,980 You do not have God without mercy. 69 00:03:34,980 --> 00:03:41,440 In that sense, they are tied together, and we're going to start from really a kingdom 70 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:44,060 place in Isaiah 58. 71 00:03:44,060 --> 00:03:47,420 Again, I think we're going to do Isaiah in two or three years. 72 00:03:47,420 --> 00:03:52,780 It's hard to do all of Isaiah, but there's a lot of Messianic prophecy in Isaiah. 73 00:03:52,780 --> 00:03:53,900 This is one of them. 74 00:03:53,900 --> 00:04:00,540 This is prophesying about what the kingdom of God is and will be through the Messiah, 75 00:04:00,540 --> 00:04:03,820 which we know is Christ, Isaiah 58. 76 00:04:03,820 --> 00:04:09,340 Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did 77 00:04:09,340 --> 00:04:13,060 righteous and did not forsake the judgments of their God. 78 00:04:13,060 --> 00:04:18,180 They ask of me righteous judgments. 79 00:04:18,180 --> 00:04:21,380 They delight to draw near to God. 80 00:04:21,380 --> 00:04:24,700 Why have we fasted and you see it not? 81 00:04:24,700 --> 00:04:28,020 Why have we humbled ourselves and you take no knowledge of it? 82 00:04:28,020 --> 00:04:34,820 Behold, in the day of your fast, you seek your own pleasure and oppress all your workers. 83 00:04:34,820 --> 00:04:41,860 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with wicked fists. 84 00:04:41,860 --> 00:04:46,620 Nothing like yours this day will not make your voice be heard on high. 85 00:04:46,620 --> 00:04:51,420 Is such the fast that I choose a day for a person to humble themselves? 86 00:04:51,420 --> 00:04:56,900 Is it to bow down his head like a reed and spread sackcloth and ashes under him? 87 00:04:56,900 --> 00:05:02,180 Will you not call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? 88 00:05:02,180 --> 00:05:07,400 This is setting up why in the Old Testament people fasted. 89 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:09,860 People fasted for many different reasons. 90 00:05:09,860 --> 00:05:12,580 They mourned and they fasted. 91 00:05:12,580 --> 00:05:15,940 They were seeking and they fasted. 92 00:05:15,940 --> 00:05:16,940 You see it in Daniel. 93 00:05:16,940 --> 00:05:18,580 You'll see it in the Minor Prophets. 94 00:05:18,580 --> 00:05:20,140 You see it Isaiah himself. 95 00:05:20,140 --> 00:05:25,660 When they are on the run, when they are caught in kind of the places of temptation, when 96 00:05:25,660 --> 00:05:30,180 they're caught and the evil is chasing them, they're fasting. 97 00:05:30,180 --> 00:05:36,620 It is a principle I have understood here, but I've never fully understood here because 98 00:05:36,620 --> 00:05:42,020 I'm a big fan of food. 99 00:05:42,020 --> 00:05:46,780 If I fast, it's like I will fast through breakfast. 100 00:05:46,780 --> 00:05:47,780 That's it. 101 00:05:47,780 --> 00:05:52,180 God better show up by 11 because then I'm hangry and I need to eat. 102 00:05:52,180 --> 00:05:57,700 That is not at all what we're talking about because this fast that the people were doing 103 00:05:57,700 --> 00:06:02,420 were fasting and then pretty much wearing a billboard sign going, I am in a terrible 104 00:06:02,420 --> 00:06:04,220 mood because I have fasted. 105 00:06:04,220 --> 00:06:07,820 You don't want to come talk to me because I have fasted. 106 00:06:07,820 --> 00:06:10,880 Look at how high and mighty I am because I fasted. 107 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:15,380 This is liking it to someone, letting everybody know on their socials that they have fasted 108 00:06:15,380 --> 00:06:17,380 and they use it as a hashtag. 109 00:06:17,380 --> 00:06:21,300 Hashtag fasting, hashtag blessed, hashtag dumb. 110 00:06:21,300 --> 00:06:22,400 Let's not do that. 111 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:28,140 That's not at all the fast that the Lord requires of us. 112 00:06:28,140 --> 00:06:34,820 Fasting is a biblical, spiritual discipline and if you are someone that practices fasting, 113 00:06:34,820 --> 00:06:35,820 fantastic. 114 00:06:35,820 --> 00:06:39,820 I love that not a lot of people know about it because that's how it's supposed to be 115 00:06:39,820 --> 00:06:40,820 done. 116 00:06:40,820 --> 00:06:45,740 Jesus says when he steps on this earth in human form, fully God, fully man, he talks 117 00:06:45,740 --> 00:06:50,820 about prayer and fasting that we don't do it high on a pedestal where everyone can see 118 00:06:50,820 --> 00:06:56,640 us, oh look at us, look at us, but you go into your closet and you do it. 119 00:06:56,640 --> 00:07:03,140 You go and you walk around not inside of people and that's when that happens, that relationship. 120 00:07:03,140 --> 00:07:05,740 I wonder why that is. 121 00:07:05,740 --> 00:07:11,060 Is it because one of the things that the Lord knows about us is we're going to make idols 122 00:07:11,060 --> 00:07:17,980 of ourselves and for a lot of us we make idols of our faith because we think our faith is 123 00:07:17,980 --> 00:07:20,560 better than other people's faith. 124 00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:24,580 Our bond with God is tighter than the person next to me. 125 00:07:24,580 --> 00:07:29,540 This is exactly what Isaiah's calling out. 126 00:07:29,540 --> 00:07:33,380 God's people do a good job of putting a show on for God. 127 00:07:33,380 --> 00:07:37,300 They fast specifically to get God's favor. 128 00:07:37,300 --> 00:07:41,680 This is like one of the kids just doing a chore out of the blue but making sure you 129 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:44,820 see them do it. 130 00:07:44,820 --> 00:07:54,540 Or the reminder from somebody, oh by the way I did all of this today just so you know. 131 00:07:54,540 --> 00:07:56,180 Maybe you do that with your spouse. 132 00:07:56,180 --> 00:07:57,700 Maybe you're trying to gain some points. 133 00:07:57,700 --> 00:08:00,260 Maybe you're trying to get out of being in trouble. 134 00:08:00,260 --> 00:08:01,260 Something. 135 00:08:01,260 --> 00:08:06,540 When we do things so people can take notice and then we get blessed by it, there's a 136 00:08:06,540 --> 00:08:07,780 tension there, right? 137 00:08:07,780 --> 00:08:13,060 And especially what the Israelites are trying to do to get God's attention. 138 00:08:13,060 --> 00:08:16,220 They were trying to fast to win points with God. 139 00:08:16,220 --> 00:08:20,100 They were trying to show mercy because they're like God's going to see us and we're going 140 00:08:20,100 --> 00:08:21,780 to be blessed by it. 141 00:08:21,780 --> 00:08:27,100 But that's not necessarily the fast that the Lord requires because one of the things that 142 00:08:27,100 --> 00:08:32,060 fasting is is the stopping of doing something. 143 00:08:32,060 --> 00:08:33,980 We fast, we think of the Daniel fast. 144 00:08:33,980 --> 00:08:36,140 We think about intermittent fasting. 145 00:08:36,140 --> 00:08:42,340 It's a big thing now in the health, kind of the health culture and all of those things. 146 00:08:42,340 --> 00:08:46,740 That when we fast from something, how many of you have ever fasted before? 147 00:08:46,740 --> 00:08:49,900 Just in one, okay how many of it didn't have to do with food? 148 00:08:49,900 --> 00:08:53,220 Okay, we got maybe one or two or three. 149 00:08:53,220 --> 00:08:56,460 I mean I see a lot, right? 150 00:08:56,460 --> 00:08:57,460 It's Miles, right? 151 00:08:57,460 --> 00:09:00,260 No, I'm sorry, what was your name again? 152 00:09:00,260 --> 00:09:02,060 Mel, Miles, Mel, I'm sorry. 153 00:09:02,060 --> 00:09:03,060 Mel, you rose your hand. 154 00:09:03,060 --> 00:09:06,060 What did you fast from in your life? 155 00:09:06,060 --> 00:09:07,660 Social media fast. 156 00:09:07,660 --> 00:09:08,660 Absolutely. 157 00:09:08,660 --> 00:09:10,540 Excellent one, right? 158 00:09:10,540 --> 00:09:12,700 For those that may need it, take notes. 159 00:09:12,700 --> 00:09:13,940 Just don't do it online. 160 00:09:13,940 --> 00:09:18,660 And so understand that when we fast, we're doing that for a reason. 161 00:09:18,660 --> 00:09:22,940 And it's not just so we can think about the next greatest post we're going to do and then 162 00:09:22,940 --> 00:09:30,420 we're going to put it on there, but it's fasting to grow closer to God. 163 00:09:30,420 --> 00:09:36,940 Carrie and I, we met in a youth group in Payless Heights, Illinois and we always did the, what 164 00:09:36,940 --> 00:09:37,940 was it called? 165 00:09:37,940 --> 00:09:40,420 The fast we did in October. 166 00:09:40,420 --> 00:09:43,540 I'm so glad it was memorable for you. 167 00:09:43,540 --> 00:09:45,180 It was a 30 hour fast. 168 00:09:45,180 --> 00:09:48,020 We did it for the Crop Walk or something. 169 00:09:48,020 --> 00:09:51,420 I don't remember what it was, but it was a 30 hour fast and we went and did a whole bunch 170 00:09:51,420 --> 00:09:55,100 of stuff and nobody, we drank water, right? 171 00:09:55,100 --> 00:10:01,260 They gave us stuff to do and then after that 30 hours, we had this like youth fundraiser 172 00:10:01,260 --> 00:10:10,780 where we just made a heaping amount of spaghetti and meatballs and we just chowed down on it. 173 00:10:10,780 --> 00:10:15,980 And we all threw up 30 minutes later because we just went from like fasting and making 174 00:10:15,980 --> 00:10:21,820 spirit, trying to make some kind of spiritual inroads when then all we're doing is eating. 175 00:10:21,820 --> 00:10:26,180 And it kind of, though we were raising money and we were doing good in for the organization, 176 00:10:26,180 --> 00:10:29,940 it didn't mean a whole lot because we're like, oh in 30 minutes we're going to, or in 30 177 00:10:29,940 --> 00:10:32,520 hours we're going to eat again and we'll be good. 178 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:37,620 No one ever told us to kind of slowly go through that and we just mug on spaghetti and we throw 179 00:10:37,620 --> 00:10:38,620 up. 180 00:10:38,620 --> 00:10:43,860 But understanding that when you fast, you're asking God to open your eyes, open your heart, 181 00:10:43,860 --> 00:10:47,540 open your mind to something that will draw you nearer to him. 182 00:10:47,540 --> 00:10:52,620 And the good thing is to fast from things that are taking the place of that relationship 183 00:10:52,620 --> 00:10:55,860 like social media. 184 00:10:55,860 --> 00:11:00,140 And that's where maybe the idea of food kind of gets thrown a little bit. 185 00:11:00,140 --> 00:11:03,820 I don't know too many people that put food in front of their relationship with God so 186 00:11:03,820 --> 00:11:07,420 then fasting, if that's what we're going to use kind of the equation, that doesn't make 187 00:11:07,420 --> 00:11:09,260 a whole lot of sense. 188 00:11:09,260 --> 00:11:17,500 But what we see, especially in the Scriptures, is a fast from food is a fast from sustenance, 189 00:11:17,500 --> 00:11:21,540 seeking God to be our sustenance. 190 00:11:21,540 --> 00:11:26,900 That I have fasted maybe a handful of times in my life outside of the crazy high school 191 00:11:26,900 --> 00:11:35,780 fast where all I'm thinking about is God get me through this next whatever without. 192 00:11:35,780 --> 00:11:39,040 And right there you're engaging him in relationship. 193 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:43,540 But the fast that we're going to talk about today, the mercy that is being discussed in 194 00:11:43,540 --> 00:11:48,580 Isaiah is a very different kind of fast. 195 00:11:48,580 --> 00:11:51,500 It's a fast more from actions. 196 00:11:51,500 --> 00:11:57,700 It's a fast from piety, living in a very pious way, living in a way that I can stand over 197 00:11:57,700 --> 00:12:00,380 somebody and be okay with it. 198 00:12:00,380 --> 00:12:05,020 It's fasting from the pharisaical understanding that my faith is better than you or because 199 00:12:05,020 --> 00:12:06,620 I have faith and you don't. 200 00:12:06,620 --> 00:12:09,220 I'm a better person. 201 00:12:09,220 --> 00:12:11,780 What Isaiah is calling out is what Jesus is going to call out. 202 00:12:11,780 --> 00:12:13,460 That's why it's messianic. 203 00:12:13,460 --> 00:12:20,020 And what the kingdom of God is based on, the kingdom of God is not based on we are better 204 00:12:20,020 --> 00:12:21,460 than everybody else. 205 00:12:21,460 --> 00:12:26,380 The kingdom of God is not based on we're on the kingdom of God, we're Christians, we are 206 00:12:26,380 --> 00:12:29,800 better than everybody. 207 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:32,480 Because really who wants to be a part of that? 208 00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:37,460 Who wants that when you're talking to people that might not have much in life? 209 00:12:37,460 --> 00:12:41,060 That's where the health wealth gospel gets kind of raised up high. 210 00:12:41,060 --> 00:12:43,780 Nothing in the scriptures ever promised that. 211 00:12:43,780 --> 00:12:48,080 But what we understand about mercy, what we understand about neighboring, what we understand 212 00:12:48,080 --> 00:12:58,700 in how this all ties together is the understanding of actions, of how I walk out love in my life. 213 00:12:58,700 --> 00:13:00,780 Because Jesus talks about it. 214 00:13:00,780 --> 00:13:05,500 He talks about it in Matthew 25 and he talks about it in a sense, for I was hungry and 215 00:13:05,500 --> 00:13:09,580 you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger, you did 216 00:13:09,580 --> 00:13:13,780 not welcome me, naked you did not clothe me, sick and in prison you did not visit me. 217 00:13:13,780 --> 00:13:19,340 We're keeping that in front of you because this is what it means to neighbor well. 218 00:13:19,340 --> 00:13:24,460 This is what it means to practically love people. 219 00:13:24,460 --> 00:13:28,100 Because there are hungry people in the world, there are thirsty people in the world, there 220 00:13:28,100 --> 00:13:32,940 are strangers in the world, there are quote unquote naked people in the world that need 221 00:13:32,940 --> 00:13:36,820 to be clothed by Christ. 222 00:13:36,820 --> 00:13:42,700 And Jesus gives this in Matthew 25 as kind of the second commission. 223 00:13:42,700 --> 00:13:49,540 Matthew 25, Matthew 28, Matthew 25 is very, very, very, very practical. 224 00:13:49,540 --> 00:13:53,220 Take what you've learned from me and go do it. 225 00:13:53,220 --> 00:13:58,180 When you've done to the least of these, you have done unto me. 226 00:13:58,180 --> 00:14:04,300 Jesus is putting himself in a lowly position and I think we need to kind of clock that 227 00:14:04,300 --> 00:14:07,540 and go wait a minute, why? 228 00:14:07,540 --> 00:14:11,660 Why would Jesus put himself in the lowly position there? 229 00:14:11,660 --> 00:14:17,620 Because I think what he's doing, he's drawing his followers to a practical way of love, 230 00:14:17,620 --> 00:14:23,340 a practical way of showing not only God's love and Christ's love, but showing the love 231 00:14:23,340 --> 00:14:29,720 of the church to a world that needs it. 232 00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:31,460 But Isaiah goes deeper than that. 233 00:14:31,460 --> 00:14:40,140 Isaiah goes to a place where he talks about mercy and justice. 234 00:14:40,140 --> 00:14:44,820 And I guess the question I have for all of us, myself included, is are there people in 235 00:14:44,820 --> 00:14:48,300 your life that you need to show mercy to? 236 00:14:48,300 --> 00:14:53,540 Are there people in your life that you are harboring angst or negativity or whatever 237 00:14:53,540 --> 00:14:56,700 against them that they need to be released from? 238 00:14:56,700 --> 00:15:05,800 Is there unresolved conflict in your life that neighboring well is resolving that conflict? 239 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:09,780 That doesn't mean you forget, and we're going to get that in a little bit at the end, but 240 00:15:09,780 --> 00:15:15,060 what does it mean to show mercy and forgiveness to people that have wronged you? 241 00:15:15,060 --> 00:15:17,220 That's the way of Jesus. 242 00:15:17,220 --> 00:15:23,100 That Jesus says when you have been wronged, you need to go and show the people their faults. 243 00:15:23,100 --> 00:15:27,340 You need to walk with them in accountability in community. 244 00:15:27,340 --> 00:15:31,660 If that doesn't happen, this is Matthew 18, then you bring people not as a gang to beat 245 00:15:31,660 --> 00:15:37,980 them up, but you bring people to give witness to the fact that there is an ask for forgiveness, 246 00:15:37,980 --> 00:15:43,940 there's an offering of forgiveness and mercy, and there's the start of resolution and restoration. 247 00:15:43,940 --> 00:15:46,700 That's the conflict model in Matthew. 248 00:15:46,700 --> 00:15:51,980 That should be the conflict model in the world, but we don't do that very well. 249 00:15:51,980 --> 00:15:57,700 That if I'm going to love well, I'm going to show mercy well. 250 00:15:57,700 --> 00:16:02,740 I mean, pastor, I can give all the food in the world. 251 00:16:02,740 --> 00:16:04,700 I can throw some water at people. 252 00:16:04,700 --> 00:16:06,340 I can give to a clothing drive. 253 00:16:06,340 --> 00:16:10,580 I can even go meet with people that are strangers and need to be welcomed. 254 00:16:10,580 --> 00:16:15,860 I can go do all that, but forgive people that have wronged me? 255 00:16:15,860 --> 00:16:18,620 That's going to take a minute. 256 00:16:18,620 --> 00:16:20,220 Why? 257 00:16:20,220 --> 00:16:22,160 Why is that going to take a minute? 258 00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:26,020 Why do we struggle with giving forgiveness? 259 00:16:26,020 --> 00:16:27,020 Because we're scared? 260 00:16:27,020 --> 00:16:30,820 Absolutely, that's one of the reasons. 261 00:16:30,820 --> 00:16:32,780 We're scared they're going to do it again. 262 00:16:32,780 --> 00:16:39,220 Well, if I forgive them and then they just go and do it again, what does that even mean? 263 00:16:39,220 --> 00:16:40,620 How does that work? 264 00:16:40,620 --> 00:16:47,780 Well, the nice thing is someone said that to Jesus and asked, how often should I forgive? 265 00:16:47,780 --> 00:16:48,780 Seven times? 266 00:16:48,780 --> 00:16:51,020 No, 70 times seven. 267 00:16:51,020 --> 00:16:52,320 I'm not a math guy. 268 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:56,420 What is that number? 269 00:16:56,420 --> 00:16:58,060 I'm getting five different answers. 270 00:16:58,060 --> 00:17:01,780 I'm not the only one bad at math. 271 00:17:01,780 --> 00:17:03,940 The annex says 490. 272 00:17:03,940 --> 00:17:06,860 Does the rest of the body feel that that's a good number? 273 00:17:06,860 --> 00:17:09,980 Mike, I'm not going to look to you for math answers. 274 00:17:09,980 --> 00:17:11,940 Okay, then we're good. 275 00:17:11,940 --> 00:17:12,940 490. 276 00:17:12,940 --> 00:17:19,140 That 490, 70 times seven, seven being a number of completion. 277 00:17:19,140 --> 00:17:24,520 There might be some people that go, okay, I'm going to put down 490 boxes to check, 278 00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:33,260 but once that person hits, Daniel offends me or hurts me, that 491, watch out. 279 00:17:33,260 --> 00:17:34,900 No. 280 00:17:34,900 --> 00:17:36,260 But some of us think that way. 281 00:17:36,260 --> 00:17:39,620 I'll give 400, that's daily, by the way. 282 00:17:39,620 --> 00:17:44,020 That's not yearly or quarterly or whatever your analytics say, that this is what I need 283 00:17:44,020 --> 00:17:45,020 to do. 284 00:17:45,020 --> 00:17:48,540 I need to be a forgiving person. 285 00:17:48,540 --> 00:17:52,540 Does Jesus know there are people in the church at Munster Church today that go, but if they 286 00:17:52,540 --> 00:17:56,900 hit 491, watch out. 287 00:17:56,900 --> 00:17:59,060 Yes, he knows that. 288 00:17:59,060 --> 00:18:05,660 But what he's saying is, I am giving you this as a number of completion that to follow me, 289 00:18:05,660 --> 00:18:11,460 you must be someone who forgives. 290 00:18:11,460 --> 00:18:17,580 You must be someone who shows mercy and forgiveness. 291 00:18:17,580 --> 00:18:21,100 But pastor, what if they just keep wronging me? 292 00:18:21,100 --> 00:18:23,020 Keep forgiving them. 293 00:18:23,020 --> 00:18:28,100 Now, there's also something you could say is not setting yourself up to be hurt again. 294 00:18:28,100 --> 00:18:30,700 There is something about that, we'll get to that in a second. 295 00:18:30,700 --> 00:18:36,180 But what we have to understand is that the kingdom of God is based on mercy. 296 00:18:36,180 --> 00:18:39,300 The kingdom of God is based on grace. 297 00:18:39,300 --> 00:18:44,740 These are attributes of the kingdom of God because they're attributes of Jesus. 298 00:18:44,740 --> 00:18:52,320 So if we are Christ's followers, then we are called to forgive those who wrong us. 299 00:18:52,320 --> 00:19:00,220 We are called to go and seek forgiveness to the people we have wronged. 300 00:19:00,220 --> 00:19:02,740 Both can be very difficult, I get it. 301 00:19:02,740 --> 00:19:05,900 Both can be hard because of what that means for us. 302 00:19:05,900 --> 00:19:08,220 That means we have to be vulnerable. 303 00:19:08,220 --> 00:19:12,440 That means we have to be open with the fact that we're hurt. 304 00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:17,460 And there are some of us here in the sanctuary today that will never say that. 305 00:19:17,460 --> 00:19:19,100 No one's ever going to get the best of me. 306 00:19:19,100 --> 00:19:21,660 No, I'm just going to put a face on. 307 00:19:21,660 --> 00:19:23,240 They're never going to hurt me. 308 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:27,720 All the while you're building a resentment against them, a hatred if you will, and you've 309 00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:29,820 lost it. 310 00:19:29,820 --> 00:19:36,020 But the understanding of forgiveness is so powerful, is so understanding in the kingdom 311 00:19:36,020 --> 00:19:41,920 that God wants us to do it so bad that he talks about the fact that when we forgive, 312 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:48,300 when we are people of mercy and people of justice, we actually take off the yoke of 313 00:19:48,300 --> 00:19:49,300 oppression. 314 00:19:49,300 --> 00:19:53,780 Now, the yoke gets used a lot. 315 00:19:53,780 --> 00:19:56,340 Now I'm going to go to my resident farmers. 316 00:19:56,340 --> 00:20:00,100 I don't think you guys do yokes too much at Tulip Tree, maybe on the kids. 317 00:20:00,100 --> 00:20:01,580 We don't have to talk about it. 318 00:20:01,580 --> 00:20:03,700 But a yoke is what, Jesse? 319 00:20:03,700 --> 00:20:07,580 A yoke for like a horse or a cow or... 320 00:20:07,580 --> 00:20:09,060 It binds a tool to the animal. 321 00:20:09,060 --> 00:20:10,060 They're super lightweight. 322 00:20:10,060 --> 00:20:12,100 You just kind of do one of these, right? 323 00:20:12,100 --> 00:20:13,700 No, they're super heavy, right? 324 00:20:13,700 --> 00:20:16,820 Because they have to be because these animals are huge. 325 00:20:16,820 --> 00:20:18,340 And it binds it together. 326 00:20:18,340 --> 00:20:19,340 There's a yoke. 327 00:20:19,340 --> 00:20:23,700 It's a weight on them because, and you tell me if I'm wrong, it's pretty much letting 328 00:20:23,700 --> 00:20:26,900 the animal know what its job is and what my job or your... 329 00:20:26,900 --> 00:20:27,900 It's not going to be me. 330 00:20:27,900 --> 00:20:30,300 Your job is as the farmer. 331 00:20:30,300 --> 00:20:37,980 Jesus uses that so specifically because if something is yoked around your neck, you're 332 00:20:37,980 --> 00:20:43,340 going to do whatever the yoke desires of you to do. 333 00:20:43,340 --> 00:20:50,380 Yet there are some of us this morning that willingly put yokes on ourselves. 334 00:20:50,380 --> 00:20:57,260 The yoke of hatred, the yoke of hypocrisy, the yoke of insert whatever here, and we don't 335 00:20:57,260 --> 00:21:00,900 even realize the weight of that yoke. 336 00:21:00,900 --> 00:21:07,180 We don't even realize that this understanding of the yokes we put on ourselves can immediately 337 00:21:07,180 --> 00:21:10,060 be taken off if we take on Christ's yoke. 338 00:21:10,060 --> 00:21:16,740 Jesus says, take my yoke upon you for my burden is easy and light. 339 00:21:16,740 --> 00:21:19,460 Time out. 340 00:21:19,460 --> 00:21:21,940 His burden is easy and light. 341 00:21:21,940 --> 00:21:24,940 His burden, his love for us went to the cross. 342 00:21:24,940 --> 00:21:29,340 Remember, so you and I don't have to. 343 00:21:29,340 --> 00:21:34,740 But what he is saying is release all of those yokes, all of the burden of all of those other 344 00:21:34,740 --> 00:21:43,940 things that if you remove a yoke off your life, you put on the yoke of Christ, Christ 345 00:21:43,940 --> 00:21:46,540 is now the one guiding you. 346 00:21:46,540 --> 00:21:50,180 And there are some of you that can't stand that. 347 00:21:50,180 --> 00:21:55,520 Friend, all I can say is remember who you belong to. 348 00:21:55,520 --> 00:21:57,160 You don't belong to yourself. 349 00:21:57,160 --> 00:21:58,460 You don't belong to your spouse. 350 00:21:58,460 --> 00:22:00,940 You belong to Christ. 351 00:22:00,940 --> 00:22:06,460 That Christ is offering you his yoke, his burden, right, which he is taking care of 352 00:22:06,460 --> 00:22:11,340 on the cross, rose from the dead so we may have new life in Christ so then the yoke of 353 00:22:11,340 --> 00:22:16,900 oppression, the yoke of bias, of racism, of all of these things that we keep people at 354 00:22:16,900 --> 00:22:20,480 bay with, we don't have to be yoked with it. 355 00:22:20,480 --> 00:22:25,060 We can be people that see other people the way Jesus does. 356 00:22:25,060 --> 00:22:32,540 We can become a people that live in the freedom to love others even those we disagree with. 357 00:22:32,540 --> 00:22:35,620 And I understand we are going to get there next week. 358 00:22:35,620 --> 00:22:37,140 That's a bind for some of you. 359 00:22:37,140 --> 00:22:38,140 How do I know? 360 00:22:38,140 --> 00:22:39,140 You told me. 361 00:22:39,140 --> 00:22:40,140 You wrote it to me. 362 00:22:40,140 --> 00:22:44,000 You don't like this sermon series because of it. 363 00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:50,220 That what Jesus is saying is monster church, take those yokes off, put my yoke on because 364 00:22:50,220 --> 00:22:57,100 my yoke is love and peace and patience, but I'm not a patient person. 365 00:22:57,100 --> 00:22:59,660 In Christ you can learn that. 366 00:22:59,660 --> 00:23:03,900 He can teach you to be patient. 367 00:23:03,900 --> 00:23:04,900 What about the fasting? 368 00:23:04,900 --> 00:23:05,900 What about the mercy? 369 00:23:05,900 --> 00:23:06,900 Okay, we've gotten to the yokes. 370 00:23:06,900 --> 00:23:12,280 We're going to put Jesus' yoke on, but understand what that means. 371 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:17,420 The yoke means Jesus is the one steering your life. 372 00:23:17,420 --> 00:23:19,060 I then shall live. 373 00:23:19,060 --> 00:23:20,900 He just saying it. 374 00:23:20,900 --> 00:23:26,300 All of those things in there is a life lived with the yoke of Christ. 375 00:23:26,300 --> 00:23:30,660 I will feed the world through me or you're part of the world. 376 00:23:30,660 --> 00:23:33,260 I will befriend the stranger. 377 00:23:33,260 --> 00:23:37,740 I will sit down and invest in people different than me. 378 00:23:37,740 --> 00:23:41,460 For some of us that means they're not white. 379 00:23:41,460 --> 00:23:44,460 For some of us that means they're not Dutch. 380 00:23:44,460 --> 00:23:48,220 For some of us that means they're not CRC. 381 00:23:48,220 --> 00:23:50,880 For some of us that means they live in Illinois. 382 00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:58,340 For some of us that means whatever it is here, that if you want to learn to grow in this, 383 00:23:58,340 --> 00:24:01,340 then you need to do it. 384 00:24:01,340 --> 00:24:06,980 It's nothing we learn via osmosis. 385 00:24:06,980 --> 00:24:12,060 So maybe some of you are thinking to somebody right now and maybe that barrier has been 386 00:24:12,060 --> 00:24:14,800 hurt and pain. 387 00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:19,020 Maybe that person has hurt you and you've just put on guard and you just want nothing 388 00:24:19,020 --> 00:24:21,840 to do with them. 389 00:24:21,840 --> 00:24:25,780 Tell me, is that the yoke of Christ? 390 00:24:25,780 --> 00:24:35,100 Is the yoke of Christ okay with you going, no, I pretty much hate them? 391 00:24:35,100 --> 00:24:37,540 And here's the rub. 392 00:24:37,540 --> 00:24:40,900 I think some of us are actually okay with that hatred. 393 00:24:40,900 --> 00:24:43,140 And you can't be. 394 00:24:43,140 --> 00:24:46,660 Friend, I'm sorry, but you can't. 395 00:24:46,660 --> 00:24:51,860 You can't say that I'm yoked with Christ, but I hate this person. 396 00:24:51,860 --> 00:24:58,180 You can't say that I'm yoked with Christ, but I wish this person wasn't around. 397 00:24:58,180 --> 00:25:00,740 Now this goes way deeper than man, they're just annoying. 398 00:25:00,740 --> 00:25:03,540 It goes way deeper than that. 399 00:25:03,540 --> 00:25:08,940 That this yoke of oppression and justice that not only Isaiah brings up, but Jesus then 400 00:25:08,940 --> 00:25:14,840 kind of multiplies when he's on earth is this needs to be a yoke of action. 401 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:20,340 This needs to be a yoke of restoration that Munster Church can be yoked in Christ in a 402 00:25:20,340 --> 00:25:25,740 way where anybody, anybody has a seat. 403 00:25:25,740 --> 00:25:32,540 And right there I know I'm going to get emails. 404 00:25:32,540 --> 00:25:36,940 The Reverend Brzeine knew it in the 60s, in the 70s, in the 80s. 405 00:25:36,940 --> 00:25:40,860 I hope we all know it now in 2024. 406 00:25:40,860 --> 00:25:42,420 We have empty seats. 407 00:25:42,420 --> 00:25:44,260 They can be filled. 408 00:25:44,260 --> 00:25:46,860 Do we get to direct who fills them? 409 00:25:46,860 --> 00:25:49,140 No, we don't want that. 410 00:25:49,140 --> 00:25:50,260 Your elders don't want that. 411 00:25:50,260 --> 00:25:52,100 Your deacons don't want that. 412 00:25:52,100 --> 00:25:53,540 Come what may. 413 00:25:53,540 --> 00:26:02,500 That we need to be that yoke of Christ, the light of mercy and justice and forgiveness. 414 00:26:02,500 --> 00:26:03,980 Are we going to do it all correctly? 415 00:26:03,980 --> 00:26:05,920 No, because we're sinners. 416 00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:10,100 We will make a mess of it, but if we make a mess of it, we need to own it. 417 00:26:10,100 --> 00:26:15,900 When we own it, we need to seek forgiveness because even in that there can be restoration. 418 00:26:15,900 --> 00:26:18,460 That's the path of restoration. 419 00:26:18,460 --> 00:26:24,700 Understanding that this yoke that is on us, if it be Christ, then we are compelled by 420 00:26:24,700 --> 00:26:31,480 love to intervene when we witness injustice, when we witness oppression, when we witness 421 00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:38,100 suffering, just as God demonstrated ultimate mercy through the incarnation and sacrifice 422 00:26:38,100 --> 00:26:48,980 of Christ, we too must embody that same spirit of compassion. 423 00:26:48,980 --> 00:26:53,620 So my challenge is I close because we're going to start this back up next week. 424 00:26:53,620 --> 00:26:58,540 For two more weeks we got this. 425 00:26:58,540 --> 00:27:03,300 What in your life is keeping you from showing compassion? 426 00:27:03,300 --> 00:27:04,300 Name it. 427 00:27:04,300 --> 00:27:05,300 Write it down. 428 00:27:05,300 --> 00:27:07,300 Give it to somebody else. 429 00:27:07,300 --> 00:27:14,660 And maybe, just maybe this week, let's fast from that thing and ask the God of compassion 430 00:27:14,660 --> 00:27:20,700 to reveal himself to us that we can show more compassion to a world that desperately needs 431 00:27:20,700 --> 00:27:21,700 it. 432 00:27:21,700 --> 00:27:40,580 behavior.