WEBVTT 00:00:02.600 --> 00:00:06.019 Welcome to Season 3 of Love & Context. This season, 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:08.640 we're exploring the life of Jesus step -by -step 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:11.140 and uncovering what His story teaches us about 00:00:11.140 --> 00:00:13.919 loving God and others. Here on Love & Context, 00:00:13.960 --> 00:00:16.059 we're all about having real conversations about 00:00:16.059 --> 00:00:18.140 how to live out that love in practical, everyday 00:00:18.140 --> 00:00:20.199 ways, and understanding the Bible in its full 00:00:20.199 --> 00:00:22.839 context. We're so glad you're here. Let's dive 00:00:22.839 --> 00:00:28.579 into Season 3 of Love & Context. Welcome back 00:00:28.579 --> 00:00:32.240 to the Love in Context podcast. Where we podcast 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:35.240 on a podcast. Yeah. If you're listening today 00:00:35.240 --> 00:00:38.420 and you listened a week or so ago, you're probably 00:00:38.420 --> 00:00:39.979 noticing that our voices don't sound like... 00:00:44.369 --> 00:00:48.049 Yeah, we had audio issues, and I was like, oh, 00:00:48.070 --> 00:00:50.009 maybe Spencer and I can recapture the magic. 00:00:50.130 --> 00:00:52.289 We can't. No. We can't recapture the magic, and 00:00:52.289 --> 00:00:54.350 I wanted to make sure that that was a good dialogue 00:00:54.350 --> 00:00:56.030 that I wanted to make sure got on there. Yeah. 00:00:56.109 --> 00:00:58.909 So we're going to just pretend like it was great 00:00:58.909 --> 00:01:01.109 audio, and for those of you that listened, thank 00:01:01.109 --> 00:01:02.689 you. For those of you that didn't, this is what 00:01:02.689 --> 00:01:04.750 we talked about last week. And before you guys 00:01:04.750 --> 00:01:06.370 start typing comments, like, well, you should 00:01:06.370 --> 00:01:08.689 really do this with your audio, it's fine. Don't 00:01:08.689 --> 00:01:10.950 worry. Yeah. You'll get over it. Yeah. You'll 00:01:10.950 --> 00:01:13.629 be okay. Some of you know who this is, and some 00:01:13.629 --> 00:01:16.170 of you don't. Just Abilene Kyle Quinn. Yeah. 00:01:16.209 --> 00:01:17.569 Just letting you know. Just letting you know 00:01:17.569 --> 00:01:20.670 Abilene Kyle Quinn. 100%. So last couple of weeks, 00:01:20.769 --> 00:01:22.409 we're obviously in the Life of Jesus Season 3 00:01:22.409 --> 00:01:26.310 podcast. Podcast. Oh, yeah. P -p -p -podcast. 00:01:27.290 --> 00:01:28.569 I think I was supposed to do that at the beginning, 00:01:28.650 --> 00:01:31.189 but I won't. Last couple of weeks, just kind 00:01:31.189 --> 00:01:33.849 of catching up. Jesus has come into the temple. 00:01:33.989 --> 00:01:35.870 He's cleansed the temple. And then there's been 00:01:35.870 --> 00:01:38.129 this couple of parables that he's been telling. 00:01:38.189 --> 00:01:39.629 He's been asked a lot of questions from the religious 00:01:39.629 --> 00:01:42.569 leaders. So initially he comes in and he says, 00:01:42.629 --> 00:01:44.209 hey, this temple is actually supposed to be for 00:01:44.209 --> 00:01:47.030 everybody. It's supposed to be specifically for 00:01:47.030 --> 00:01:49.209 the court of the Gentiles. So everybody who is 00:01:49.209 --> 00:01:51.030 not part of the kingdom of Israel can come and 00:01:51.030 --> 00:01:53.290 hear about Yahweh. And you're making it a place 00:01:53.290 --> 00:01:54.650 where you're selling a bunch of stuff and trying 00:01:54.650 --> 00:01:56.599 to make a bunch of money. It's corrupted. Boo. 00:01:57.019 --> 00:02:00.400 Boo, right? And so then they come at him and 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:02.260 they start asking him questions. And so he starts 00:02:02.260 --> 00:02:03.640 telling him parables. He tells him the parable 00:02:03.640 --> 00:02:05.900 of the vineyard where there's this vineyard and 00:02:05.900 --> 00:02:07.700 God's the landowner and the servants are supposed 00:02:07.700 --> 00:02:10.439 to be taking care of it. So the servants are 00:02:10.439 --> 00:02:12.879 these prophets and eventually the son comes to 00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:14.620 these vineyard people and says, hey, you're supposed 00:02:14.620 --> 00:02:17.280 to give me what to do. And they kill everyone 00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:20.400 because that doesn't work out well. And then 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:22.599 he has this conversation in the temple. They 00:02:22.599 --> 00:02:24.340 said, well, are we supposed to give taxes to 00:02:24.340 --> 00:02:26.520 God or to Caesar? And he says, well, that depends. 00:02:26.740 --> 00:02:31.099 Whose picture is on the money? Whose image is 00:02:31.099 --> 00:02:33.740 on the coin? Let's pull out a coin we're not 00:02:33.740 --> 00:02:35.639 supposed to have. Yeah, let's pull out a coin 00:02:35.639 --> 00:02:37.979 we're not supposed to have. And ultimately, Jesus 00:02:37.979 --> 00:02:40.080 kind of gives them this point. It's like, give 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:42.199 to Caesar the coin, but don't you dare give Caesar 00:02:42.199 --> 00:02:45.740 what's God's, which is you. right? Your life, 00:02:45.740 --> 00:02:49.740 your devotion, your worship. And then the Sadducees, 00:02:49.759 --> 00:02:51.199 they have this ridiculous question about the 00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:53.479 resurrection. He answers them, puts them in their 00:02:53.479 --> 00:02:55.979 place. You don't know the scriptures or the power 00:02:55.979 --> 00:02:58.259 of God, one of my favorite quotes from Jesus. 00:02:59.319 --> 00:03:00.960 Then he has a conversation with another religious 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:03.120 leader about which is the greatest command, and 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:05.379 he answers a rabbinic debate that's going on 00:03:05.379 --> 00:03:06.719 at the time. He says, love God with all your 00:03:06.719 --> 00:03:07.860 heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love your neighbor 00:03:07.860 --> 00:03:09.819 as yourself. All law and prophets are going to 00:03:09.819 --> 00:03:11.860 hang on these two commands. Tell you what, guys, 00:03:11.960 --> 00:03:13.639 now that you don't have questions, I got questions 00:03:13.639 --> 00:03:17.259 for you. That's what I read in there, right? 00:03:17.770 --> 00:03:19.729 And he asked them about this question about who 00:03:19.729 --> 00:03:21.750 is the Messiah? And they say, well, you know, 00:03:21.830 --> 00:03:23.349 he's supposed to be the son of David. Okay, well, 00:03:23.430 --> 00:03:25.810 David calls him Lord, so how would a father call 00:03:25.810 --> 00:03:27.849 a son Lord unless he's something more than just 00:03:27.849 --> 00:03:30.710 a son of David, right? What if he's something 00:03:30.710 --> 00:03:33.110 more than what you're anticipating? What if the 00:03:33.110 --> 00:03:36.370 Messiah is so much more than you think? Which 00:03:36.370 --> 00:03:38.930 then brings him into this conversation. So he's 00:03:38.930 --> 00:03:40.370 been confronting the religious leadership. This 00:03:40.370 --> 00:03:42.370 is part three of Jesus confronting religious 00:03:42.370 --> 00:03:45.889 leadership. I will tell you the same thing that 00:03:45.889 --> 00:03:48.120 I told you the last couple of weeks. If you have 00:03:48.120 --> 00:03:50.039 grown up in church, he's probably talking to 00:03:50.039 --> 00:03:53.719 us. And it's better for us to hear that and fix 00:03:53.719 --> 00:03:56.240 our dumb stuff quickly than to assume that he's 00:03:56.240 --> 00:03:58.740 not talking to us, right? By the way, that's 00:03:58.740 --> 00:04:01.719 me. That's Spencer. We grew up in church. He's 00:04:01.719 --> 00:04:06.060 talking to us. So we pick up in chapter 23, and 00:04:06.060 --> 00:04:09.819 he's going to be talking about hypocrisy. So 00:04:09.819 --> 00:04:32.200 let's jump in here and read this text. Okay, 00:04:32.200 --> 00:04:35.759 so where are they? Still in the temple. Religious 00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:38.050 leaders are not... directly questioning him now, 00:04:38.129 --> 00:04:40.269 and Jesus starts to talk to the crowds and his 00:04:40.269 --> 00:04:42.990 disciples, but it's more than likely these guys 00:04:42.990 --> 00:04:46.810 are still within earshot, right? And the big 00:04:46.810 --> 00:04:51.829 idea is Jesus is then addressing the leadership, 00:04:51.930 --> 00:04:56.610 and he's not using a parable. He's directly telling 00:04:56.610 --> 00:05:00.250 them, hey, make sure to do what they tell you 00:05:00.250 --> 00:05:03.709 to do, but don't do what they do, because what 00:05:03.709 --> 00:05:05.750 they say and what they do are not the same thing. 00:05:06.879 --> 00:05:09.319 Boy, if that had to do with modern church. Well, 00:05:09.459 --> 00:05:11.819 yeah, and then to also have Jesus say, hey, what 00:05:11.819 --> 00:05:14.160 they're saying is more important than their actions. 00:05:14.339 --> 00:05:17.180 Correct. Right? Like, as a religious leader, 00:05:17.399 --> 00:05:20.459 like, if you are saying one thing, your actions 00:05:20.459 --> 00:05:23.259 better line up with that. Exactly. Right? But 00:05:23.259 --> 00:05:26.480 you, listener, they are saying the right thing. 00:05:27.259 --> 00:05:30.259 What they're saying is not inaccurate. You should 00:05:30.259 --> 00:05:33.399 do what they say. Just don't watch them and then 00:05:33.399 --> 00:05:35.639 do what they do. Yeah. So there's this thing 00:05:35.639 --> 00:05:37.800 that talks about Moses' seat. For people that 00:05:37.800 --> 00:05:41.060 are unfamiliar, if you go back to our Torah series, 00:05:41.139 --> 00:05:43.360 we talk about this. There is the Bema seat, which 00:05:43.360 --> 00:05:44.879 is the center platform for where they teach. 00:05:44.980 --> 00:05:46.800 The Moses seat is where you sit from and you 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:49.680 read Torah. And it's a place of religious authority. 00:05:50.180 --> 00:05:54.199 And so basically when he says that they sit in 00:05:54.199 --> 00:05:55.939 Moses' seat, he's saying that they carry the 00:05:55.939 --> 00:05:57.779 teaching authority of the scriptures to the community. 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:00.699 Yeah. And that's appropriate. Jesus says they 00:06:00.699 --> 00:06:02.959 do have devotion to the text, and there is a 00:06:02.959 --> 00:06:09.439 basic sound as to what they're saying. But don't 00:06:09.439 --> 00:06:12.250 do what they do. Hear the text. But don't do 00:06:12.250 --> 00:06:13.949 what they do. Don't imitate their way of living 00:06:13.949 --> 00:06:15.990 it out. Because they do things like they load 00:06:15.990 --> 00:06:18.449 up people with guilt and expectations, right? 00:06:18.569 --> 00:06:20.610 And they won't lift a finger to help people. 00:06:20.910 --> 00:06:23.569 And they turn their obedience into a show, which 00:06:23.569 --> 00:06:24.850 is actually a word that's going to come across. 00:06:24.970 --> 00:06:26.170 And we've talked about this in the past, but 00:06:26.170 --> 00:06:30.310 it's hypocrisy, upokritas, right? It's play acting, 00:06:30.509 --> 00:06:36.569 right? It's much broader than just say one thing 00:06:36.569 --> 00:06:39.069 and do another. It's you're putting on a show. 00:06:39.410 --> 00:06:41.750 And he says they're not even going to lift a 00:06:41.750 --> 00:06:44.189 finger to help them. And continuing on in verse 00:06:44.189 --> 00:06:46.930 5, he says, everything they do is done for people 00:06:46.930 --> 00:06:50.610 to see. They're play acting, right? They make 00:06:50.610 --> 00:06:52.589 their phylacteries wide and their tassels on 00:06:52.589 --> 00:06:54.089 their garments long. Are you supposed to have 00:06:54.089 --> 00:06:55.649 phylacteries? Are you supposed to have tassels? 00:06:55.850 --> 00:06:59.189 Yes, of course. Are they supposed to be wide 00:06:59.189 --> 00:07:03.149 and long? No, that's for show. They love the 00:07:03.149 --> 00:07:05.389 place of honor at banquets and the most important 00:07:05.389 --> 00:07:08.089 seats in the synagogues. They love to be greeted 00:07:08.089 --> 00:07:10.149 with respect in the marketplace and to be called 00:07:10.149 --> 00:07:17.860 Rabbi by others. Okay. Look at me, look at me. 00:07:18.199 --> 00:07:19.959 Look at me, look at me. Okay, one more part here. 00:07:20.180 --> 00:07:22.899 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have 00:07:22.899 --> 00:07:25.319 one teacher, and you are all brothers. Do not 00:07:25.319 --> 00:07:27.139 call anyone on earth father, for you have one 00:07:27.139 --> 00:07:29.319 father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be 00:07:29.319 --> 00:07:31.000 called instructors, for you have one instructor, 00:07:31.139 --> 00:07:33.399 the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your 00:07:33.399 --> 00:07:36.060 servant, for those who exist themselves will 00:07:36.060 --> 00:07:38.060 be humbled. Sorry, those who exalt themselves. 00:07:38.220 --> 00:07:41.480 I can read. Exalt themselves will be humbled, 00:07:41.579 --> 00:07:43.660 and those who humble themselves will be exalted. 00:07:44.730 --> 00:07:47.790 look at me, look at me. Stop it. Stop looking 00:07:47.790 --> 00:07:50.589 at me. Don't look at me. That's probably not 00:07:50.589 --> 00:07:56.550 how this works, right? So what is he not doing 00:07:56.550 --> 00:07:59.189 here? So Jesus is not giving a rule about you 00:07:59.189 --> 00:08:01.509 can't call your dad father, right? That's not 00:08:01.509 --> 00:08:04.050 what he's talking about, right? He's not saying 00:08:04.050 --> 00:08:06.329 that you can't have a teacher or a pastor. What 00:08:06.329 --> 00:08:08.490 he's saying is you ultimately recognize that 00:08:08.490 --> 00:08:10.170 these are all delegated authorities that come 00:08:10.170 --> 00:08:12.930 from Messiah or God. Yeah. These are all deli, 00:08:12.930 --> 00:08:15.889 and they're all servants that are serving. I 00:08:15.889 --> 00:08:18.610 think about how Paul talks about it in Ephesians, 00:08:18.649 --> 00:08:23.269 where he says that they equip the body for service. 00:08:26.370 --> 00:08:31.689 Titles can be a problem with power and ego. They 00:08:31.689 --> 00:08:36.529 can take away from your role of service. And 00:08:36.529 --> 00:08:38.789 so if you're seeking a title because you want 00:08:38.789 --> 00:08:40.929 power, you want authority, you want people to 00:08:40.929 --> 00:08:45.789 go, hey, pastor, right? If that's the reason 00:08:45.789 --> 00:08:47.769 that you're in this job, man, that's a problem. 00:08:47.929 --> 00:08:52.830 Yeah. It's problematic. Yeah. We are all, when 00:08:52.830 --> 00:08:54.809 we follow Jesus, we're all on an equal playing 00:08:54.809 --> 00:08:57.470 field. Doesn't matter how long you follow Jesus 00:08:57.470 --> 00:08:59.789 or if you just started five minutes ago, right? 00:09:00.409 --> 00:09:04.429 We're all on an equal playing field. That basis 00:09:04.429 --> 00:09:06.730 is found throughout Scripture. Jesus talks about 00:09:06.730 --> 00:09:09.389 it here. Paul talks about it in Ephesians, Galatians, 00:09:09.389 --> 00:09:13.129 so on and so forth. All the way back to Genesis, 00:09:13.230 --> 00:09:18.090 where man and woman were created as equal helpers 00:09:18.090 --> 00:09:20.559 for each other. I like, there's a story you've 00:09:20.559 --> 00:09:22.360 told a bunch of times on here about the pastor 00:09:22.360 --> 00:09:24.419 when you were getting involved in ministry. It 00:09:24.419 --> 00:09:27.059 wasn't about what am I in charge of, but how 00:09:27.059 --> 00:09:30.419 do you serve? Right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you 00:09:30.419 --> 00:09:31.960 got lots of stories like that, but it's like, 00:09:31.960 --> 00:09:34.299 it's like, how do you, how do you serve? Right. 00:09:34.379 --> 00:09:36.700 Right. And really, if you're in a leadership 00:09:36.700 --> 00:09:39.279 role, really nothing should be beneath you. I 00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:41.360 was at a, at a conference and it's similar to 00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:42.860 your story about asking you to clean toilets. 00:09:42.899 --> 00:09:45.440 But I remember this guy, he was, he. God had 00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:47.620 given like a word over him. He was going to go 00:09:47.620 --> 00:09:49.480 and evangelize like internationally and stuff 00:09:49.480 --> 00:09:51.220 like that. And he's like, okay, great. So he 00:09:51.220 --> 00:09:52.759 goes and he's like, but you have to go and serve 00:09:52.759 --> 00:09:54.720 under this pastor for a while. So he goes to 00:09:54.720 --> 00:09:56.360 the pastor. He's like, yeah, God's given me this 00:09:56.360 --> 00:09:57.879 word of things I'm supposed to do. And he's like, 00:09:57.919 --> 00:10:01.279 cool. It's time for you to clean toilets. And 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:04.720 he's like, he's like, at first I was like, he's 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:06.779 like, but then I took the toilet and I was like, 00:10:06.840 --> 00:10:09.659 I was like, I love Jesus. I'm cleaning the toilets. 00:10:09.700 --> 00:10:11.580 You know, he's all going for it. And he's like, 00:10:11.639 --> 00:10:13.100 he's like, and you know what I found out is that 00:10:13.100 --> 00:10:16.340 I loved serving. I loved serving and God was 00:10:16.340 --> 00:10:17.980 preparing me to be the kind of person internationally 00:10:17.980 --> 00:10:20.580 that would be able to serve. Well, and the beautiful 00:10:20.580 --> 00:10:24.139 thing about serving is when you really step into 00:10:24.139 --> 00:10:25.500 this of like, okay, I'm going to be the least 00:10:25.500 --> 00:10:27.179 of these. I'm going to do it in a way where, 00:10:27.259 --> 00:10:29.600 you know, I'm not doing it for the attention, 00:10:29.779 --> 00:10:32.580 right? It allows you to actually just open your 00:10:32.580 --> 00:10:35.340 eyes and be like, okay, who needs help? Right? 00:10:35.480 --> 00:10:37.860 Yeah. Right? Because when you're doing it for 00:10:37.860 --> 00:10:39.600 attention, you're like, who needs help and who 00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:42.299 can see me? right and when you take that who 00:10:42.299 --> 00:10:45.139 can see me push it aside you remove the distraction 00:10:45.139 --> 00:10:47.039 you're like okay that person's over there by 00:10:47.039 --> 00:10:49.879 themselves hungry broken hurting they need help 00:10:49.879 --> 00:10:54.779 let me go to them right and um and versus when 00:10:54.779 --> 00:10:57.299 you do it in front of a big public affair people 00:10:57.299 --> 00:10:59.399 will be like oh man that person can be so great 00:10:59.399 --> 00:11:04.500 and that uh that uh pride can sneak in so easily 00:11:04.500 --> 00:11:08.139 right and and so the beautiful thing is just 00:11:08.139 --> 00:11:10.279 being like hey you know what if i'm gonna Do 00:11:10.279 --> 00:11:14.480 it for, because I'm playing for God, right? I'm 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:18.679 not playing for man, as Paul says. Playing for 00:11:18.679 --> 00:11:20.139 God, I'm not playing for man. So I'm going to 00:11:20.139 --> 00:11:22.299 do it in a way to where it's not about other 00:11:22.299 --> 00:11:26.120 people's responses. It's about who God has put 00:11:26.120 --> 00:11:28.519 in my path and who I'm supposed to be humbly 00:11:28.519 --> 00:11:32.659 serving. We have an episode where we talked about 00:11:32.659 --> 00:11:35.580 hypocrites, and we talked about this, this upacritas, 00:11:35.580 --> 00:11:38.279 this theater word meaning play acting. And so 00:11:38.279 --> 00:11:40.679 in English, typically, so I recommend going to 00:11:40.679 --> 00:11:42.240 that episode if you want to deep dive into it. 00:11:42.440 --> 00:11:45.179 But we typically talk about it, one person who 00:11:45.179 --> 00:11:46.940 does one thing or says one thing and does the 00:11:46.940 --> 00:11:49.899 opposite. But Jesus is actually commenting that 00:11:49.899 --> 00:11:53.740 you can actually do what you say. and still be 00:11:53.740 --> 00:11:55.940 a hypocrite if you're performing for the applause 00:11:55.940 --> 00:11:59.059 of people, for status or for control. Everything 00:11:59.059 --> 00:12:02.740 they do is for people to see. Now, I've been 00:12:02.740 --> 00:12:05.299 in ministry a long time. You can't do everything 00:12:05.299 --> 00:12:06.960 out of the sight of people because it's just 00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:11.039 impossible. People are going to see you. If you 00:12:11.039 --> 00:12:13.379 fast and you teach people how to fast, you at 00:12:13.379 --> 00:12:16.399 least have to talk to your students. If you're 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:18.600 going to pray and teach people how to pray, you 00:12:18.600 --> 00:12:23.509 have to do it in front of them. everything they 00:12:23.509 --> 00:12:25.509 do is to be seen by other people, that's problematic. 00:12:26.529 --> 00:12:29.570 Even doing the right thing, you can still go 00:12:29.570 --> 00:12:32.210 about it for the wrong reasons. You're like, 00:12:32.330 --> 00:12:35.190 what was it, how you said? Look at me! Right? 00:12:37.289 --> 00:12:40.970 The Pharisees, that's from, the look at me is 00:12:40.970 --> 00:12:43.429 from something. I can't remember. Somebody figure 00:12:43.429 --> 00:12:45.190 it out what it is and email us because I forget. 00:12:47.159 --> 00:12:49.519 But the Pharisees likely saw themselves as completely 00:12:49.519 --> 00:12:50.980 consistent because they did what they taught. 00:12:51.100 --> 00:12:53.200 But they, at the same time, were missing the 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:54.799 heart of what the Scripture was trying to do 00:12:54.799 --> 00:12:56.779 because they had just had this conversation. 00:12:56.840 --> 00:12:58.779 It's about love God and love of your neighbor. 00:12:58.919 --> 00:13:00.840 And so everything that you're doing in pursuit 00:13:00.840 --> 00:13:03.120 of Torah should be about loving God and that 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:08.159 love then extending to your neighbor. And we 00:13:08.159 --> 00:13:11.399 know, I mean, chances are either you... or somebody 00:13:11.399 --> 00:13:13.820 you know is like this, right? This has been me 00:13:13.820 --> 00:13:16.879 at times, where I know my doctrine, I love Bible 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:18.799 studies, and I can keep all the rules, but it's 00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:20.899 about being smartest, and it's about being the 00:13:20.899 --> 00:13:23.080 holiest, or I'm better at this than somebody 00:13:23.080 --> 00:13:25.899 else. I can be in pursuit of the right thing 00:13:25.899 --> 00:13:29.460 the totally wrong way. I can say, man, my doctrinal 00:13:29.460 --> 00:13:33.940 ducks are in a row. This guy, though? Let me 00:13:33.940 --> 00:13:38.799 tell you, right? Or, I mean, coming from like 00:13:38.799 --> 00:13:40.639 a worship perspective, when you're worshiping 00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:42.580 God and you're having a really good time and 00:13:42.580 --> 00:13:46.500 you're like, man, I made this happen. You're 00:13:46.500 --> 00:13:51.039 like... And as you're saying that, God's standing 00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:52.759 behind you with a two by four about ready to 00:13:52.759 --> 00:13:54.899 hit you on the back of the head. Yeah, that plank 00:13:54.899 --> 00:13:57.059 that you have in your own eye, it may have gotten 00:13:57.059 --> 00:14:04.639 stuck there by God. Right? And this is why, I 00:14:04.639 --> 00:14:07.100 mean, I think this is the invitation why I think 00:14:07.100 --> 00:14:10.100 we need to recognize ourselves as the Pharisees, 00:14:10.100 --> 00:14:12.299 as the leadership, because this is where we grew 00:14:12.299 --> 00:14:14.179 up. A lot of us grew up in church, and sometimes 00:14:14.179 --> 00:14:16.039 people coming in from the outside, man, they're 00:14:16.039 --> 00:14:17.659 not going to have their doctrinal things in a 00:14:17.659 --> 00:14:19.059 row. They're just going to be pursuing Jesus 00:14:19.059 --> 00:14:21.519 and figuring it out as they go. Our job is to 00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:24.419 love them, yes, to help correct them, but in 00:14:24.419 --> 00:14:26.139 a way that's actually helpful and brings life, 00:14:26.200 --> 00:14:28.360 not to bring shame, not to tie up cumbersome 00:14:28.360 --> 00:14:29.960 burdens and put them on their shoulders. Yeah. 00:14:30.120 --> 00:14:35.399 Right? Like that's problematic. Jesus' critique 00:14:35.399 --> 00:14:38.200 isn't those bad people out there. It's religious 00:14:38.200 --> 00:14:40.600 leaders, check your heart. Check your heart. 00:14:40.779 --> 00:14:44.279 What's going on? And then he's going to go and 00:14:44.279 --> 00:14:46.360 he's going to give seven woes. But before we 00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:47.500 actually get into the woes, I'm going to kind 00:14:47.500 --> 00:14:49.000 of just give an overview of what the woes are. 00:14:49.940 --> 00:14:52.240 Remember that these woes and these critiques 00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:54.620 are coming after a long series of conversations. 00:14:56.190 --> 00:14:58.149 Jesus doesn't come in and just start declaring 00:14:58.149 --> 00:15:01.029 woe. He's already talked to the religious leaders 00:15:01.029 --> 00:15:02.769 and had this conversation. Now he's talking to 00:15:02.769 --> 00:15:04.669 his disciples and saying, this is why you need 00:15:04.669 --> 00:15:09.210 to watch out. And I stress that because I think 00:15:09.210 --> 00:15:11.570 that there is a tendency in Christendom when 00:15:11.570 --> 00:15:14.450 we think that we are the smartest, are the most 00:15:14.450 --> 00:15:17.129 holy. We're like, I'm going to bring the woes 00:15:17.129 --> 00:15:20.409 and people will repent in weeping and sackcloth, 00:15:20.450 --> 00:15:24.259 right? Will they? And they're animals too, just 00:15:24.259 --> 00:15:28.659 quote from Jonah, right? Lead with grace and 00:15:28.659 --> 00:15:31.799 truth. Lead with healing. Lead with love God, 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:34.740 love other people. And in the conversation, if 00:15:34.740 --> 00:15:36.580 there's a point where you need to bring correction, 00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:41.600 make sure there's connection. Right? Yeah. All 00:15:41.600 --> 00:15:44.340 right. So seven woes that are going on here. 00:15:44.440 --> 00:15:46.720 So I'm going to kind of give you just a high 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:48.779 level. In verse 13, he says that they're shutting 00:15:48.779 --> 00:15:51.789 the door of the kingdom. In verse 15, they're 00:15:51.789 --> 00:15:55.370 making converts into children of hell. That they 00:15:55.370 --> 00:15:58.730 are blind guides and they make vows about temple 00:15:58.730 --> 00:16:02.149 and gold, altering the gift. That they are tithing 00:16:02.149 --> 00:16:04.070 tiny spices, they're neglecting the weightier 00:16:04.070 --> 00:16:05.909 matters. That they're cleaning the outside of 00:16:05.909 --> 00:16:07.929 the cup, but the inside is full of greed. That 00:16:07.929 --> 00:16:10.210 they're whitewashed tombs, and they're building 00:16:10.210 --> 00:16:12.169 tombs for the prophets and continuing in their 00:16:12.169 --> 00:16:14.610 murder. So, you know, just chill stuff, right? 00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:17.820 Not a whole lot going on there. But he's going 00:16:17.820 --> 00:16:22.820 to lead off each of these with a woe. It says, 00:16:22.919 --> 00:16:25.919 Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisee, 00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:28.639 you hypocrites. Now, it doesn't say that for 00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:31.700 everyone, but a lot of them it does. The big 00:16:31.700 --> 00:16:35.179 picture of these woes is it's not primarily about 00:16:35.179 --> 00:16:39.179 obvious sin. It's about self -righteousness, 00:16:39.179 --> 00:16:42.039 image -obsessed, power -protecting religious 00:16:42.039 --> 00:16:46.629 people. Right. It's about when you place religion 00:16:46.629 --> 00:16:51.009 over faith. Yeah. Right. People are so sure that 00:16:51.009 --> 00:16:53.049 they are for God that they actually fight against 00:16:53.049 --> 00:16:56.429 what God is doing. So let's take the first one 00:16:56.429 --> 00:17:01.539 here. Can you read verse 13? Yeah, I can. What 00:17:01.539 --> 00:17:04.579 sorrow awaits you teachers of the religious law 00:17:04.579 --> 00:17:07.900 and you Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut the 00:17:07.900 --> 00:17:10.000 door to the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. 00:17:10.200 --> 00:17:13.799 You won't go in yourself and you don't let others 00:17:13.799 --> 00:17:21.259 in either. That's a rough one, right? Yep. So 00:17:21.259 --> 00:17:22.880 Jesus is talking about leadership that makes 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:24.700 it harder for people who are sincerely seeking 00:17:24.700 --> 00:17:27.940 God. They guard access to God like a bouncer, 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:34.960 not a priest, right? A modern example might be 00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:39.019 churches that gatekeep culture, that gatekeep 00:17:39.019 --> 00:17:43.480 politics, dress code, background. Even theology. 00:17:43.940 --> 00:17:46.880 Even theology, right? That you can't be here 00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:50.059 unless. Yeah. One of the things we talked about 00:17:50.059 --> 00:17:52.099 in our church, we have a person who comes to 00:17:52.099 --> 00:17:54.500 our church who I love, awesome person. We disagree 00:17:54.500 --> 00:17:57.019 on a theological item. Totally fine. We were 00:17:57.019 --> 00:17:58.420 having this conversation because of Assembly 00:17:58.420 --> 00:17:59.960 of God, and I said, well, this is where AG stands, 00:18:00.299 --> 00:18:03.099 and this is what I think. And I was like, also, 00:18:03.240 --> 00:18:05.019 you don't have to agree with us, and you can 00:18:05.019 --> 00:18:07.599 be here. I was like, you just need to know that 00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:09.140 we're not changing who we are, but you're more 00:18:09.140 --> 00:18:11.039 than welcome to be here and just disagree with 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:15.319 us. And they stopped, and they're like, oh, well, 00:18:15.339 --> 00:18:18.730 that's cool. Well, we'll also do things where 00:18:18.730 --> 00:18:21.349 we will add extra layers to stuff. Oh, yeah. 00:18:21.490 --> 00:18:23.930 Right? There will be simple theological principles. 00:18:24.910 --> 00:18:27.109 We're going to get an email on this one. There 00:18:27.109 --> 00:18:29.549 will be simple theological principles like baptism. 00:18:29.690 --> 00:18:33.269 Yeah. Right? You believe in Jesus, go get baptized, 00:18:33.529 --> 00:18:36.369 public declaration. And you will have churches 00:18:36.369 --> 00:18:38.670 be like, we know you need to take a six -week 00:18:38.670 --> 00:18:41.769 class on what baptism is. Yeah. It's like, dude, 00:18:41.809 --> 00:18:43.769 I can explain that to you in 30 seconds. Also, 00:18:43.910 --> 00:18:45.990 it's a seven -week class, not a six -week class. 00:18:48.450 --> 00:18:52.190 No, no, I hear you. And a six -week class on 00:18:52.190 --> 00:18:54.869 baptism is not a bad thing. No. Right? It's not. 00:18:54.990 --> 00:18:57.269 Is there a problem with having a six -week class 00:18:57.269 --> 00:18:59.470 on baptism and all the different prophetic symbols 00:18:59.470 --> 00:19:01.950 and what's actually going on in the waters? No, 00:19:01.970 --> 00:19:04.829 that's fun. That's good. Well, some people think 00:19:04.829 --> 00:19:06.130 that's fun. Some people are like, I don't know 00:19:06.130 --> 00:19:09.119 if I want to talk about water that much. But 00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:11.559 there's also so many instances in Scripture. 00:19:11.839 --> 00:19:14.200 Yeah. I'm just thinking of what the Ethiopian 00:19:14.200 --> 00:19:16.980 eunuch, right? Philip tells him about Jesus, 00:19:17.019 --> 00:19:18.960 he believes, and then Philip's like, where's 00:19:18.960 --> 00:19:22.779 the nearest puddle? Yeah. Right? Yep. Like, it 00:19:22.779 --> 00:19:27.740 is a public decoration. Decoration. It's a public 00:19:27.740 --> 00:19:31.730 decoration. It's you declaring publicly that 00:19:31.730 --> 00:19:34.529 you are following Jesus. Right. Right. That's 00:19:34.529 --> 00:19:37.369 what it is. Yeah. And because it's modeled after 00:19:37.369 --> 00:19:39.490 mikvah for Jewish people is that it was like 00:19:39.490 --> 00:19:42.269 a repentance. Like I was one way and now I'm 00:19:42.269 --> 00:19:46.509 going another way. Yeah. Right. And like when 00:19:46.509 --> 00:19:48.289 we make it a, well, no, you have to understand 00:19:48.289 --> 00:19:50.569 all the intricacies of it. Dude, if we had to 00:19:50.569 --> 00:19:52.690 understand all the intricacies to follow Jesus, 00:19:52.849 --> 00:19:54.910 none of us would be following Jesus. Exactly. 00:19:55.349 --> 00:20:00.269 And so. I'm using this as an example. I don't 00:20:00.269 --> 00:20:02.289 say that if you're a church that's listening 00:20:02.289 --> 00:20:04.829 and you offer a baptism class, great. I don't 00:20:04.829 --> 00:20:06.309 have anything against that. We don't actually 00:20:06.309 --> 00:20:09.569 have a problem with that. What I am saying is 00:20:09.569 --> 00:20:13.349 that sometimes we will gatekeep theology to the 00:20:13.349 --> 00:20:15.789 point where we're like, okay, we want to over 00:20:15.789 --> 00:20:19.170 -explain this to a point where it's like, okay, 00:20:19.210 --> 00:20:21.069 you actually just missed the heart of what it's 00:20:21.069 --> 00:20:23.569 about. Do we actually make it harder for people 00:20:23.569 --> 00:20:27.039 to follow Jesus than he does? yeah the answer 00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:29.559 is yes we absolutely do and we're getting better 00:20:29.559 --> 00:20:33.480 at it yes right um but like this this is the 00:20:33.480 --> 00:20:35.940 woe is that you're you're gatekeeping you're 00:20:35.940 --> 00:20:38.160 trying to make approach to the kingdom of god 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:40.380 harder than it should be you're not even going 00:20:40.380 --> 00:20:42.140 in yourself and you're keeping other people from 00:20:42.140 --> 00:20:47.480 going stop it stop it yeah you know and um uh, 00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:49.680 let's see here. The second one is one of, uh, 00:20:49.799 --> 00:20:52.039 this is this, by the way, it was one of my favorites 00:20:52.039 --> 00:20:55.279 only because like, it's hit me so hard in my 00:20:55.279 --> 00:20:58.420 youth. Right. Woe to you, teachers and law and 00:20:58.420 --> 00:21:01.039 Pharisees, you hypocrites, you travel over land 00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:04.140 and sea to win a single convert. And when you 00:21:04.140 --> 00:21:06.960 have succeeded, you make them twice as much a 00:21:06.960 --> 00:21:11.720 child of hell as you are. These are the religious 00:21:11.720 --> 00:21:13.640 people, by the way. These are the people entrusted 00:21:13.640 --> 00:21:15.160 with the words of God. These are the people that 00:21:15.160 --> 00:21:17.559 are called to be conduits in the kingdom of priests 00:21:17.559 --> 00:21:20.400 of the community, right? They're zealous for 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:22.740 the mission, but what they're reproducing is 00:21:22.740 --> 00:21:27.559 themselves, not God. They're like, I'm going 00:21:27.559 --> 00:21:30.099 to reproduce myself, but myself isn't actually 00:21:30.099 --> 00:21:35.900 in line with who God is. And also note that religious 00:21:35.900 --> 00:21:38.039 leaders, where they were at, they were supposed 00:21:38.039 --> 00:21:40.220 to be ministering to the community they were 00:21:40.220 --> 00:21:45.400 in. Right. Um, and so Jesus is like, you who's 00:21:45.400 --> 00:21:48.859 supposed to be here are traveling way far over 00:21:48.859 --> 00:21:51.299 there to do what you're supposed to be doing 00:21:51.299 --> 00:21:52.980 here. Yeah. And then, oh, by the way, you're 00:21:52.980 --> 00:21:55.200 still not doing a good job of it. Right. Right. 00:21:55.859 --> 00:21:59.500 And that's just something to know. Um, a lot, 00:21:59.519 --> 00:22:01.400 a lot of places where I see this in, in like, 00:22:01.420 --> 00:22:05.220 uh, especially like, um, where a facet of this 00:22:05.220 --> 00:22:07.160 we can deal with in our church or our culture 00:22:07.160 --> 00:22:11.240 today. Stop arguing with the person on Facebook 00:22:11.240 --> 00:22:15.460 that lives in the UK when you're not talking 00:22:15.460 --> 00:22:20.779 to the neighbor who lives next to you. I'm going 00:22:20.779 --> 00:22:23.900 to leave it there. Yeah. Right. Like stop arguing 00:22:23.900 --> 00:22:25.799 with the person that you have no connection to 00:22:25.799 --> 00:22:27.559 when you're not talking to the people right next 00:22:27.559 --> 00:22:33.210 to you. Right. Anytime that it becomes about 00:22:33.210 --> 00:22:36.009 you being right or it becomes us versus them, 00:22:36.130 --> 00:22:39.250 you've lost the kingdom of God. Because the only 00:22:39.250 --> 00:22:41.109 thing that's us versus them is we want them to 00:22:41.109 --> 00:22:44.470 be with us. We want them to be redeemed. We want 00:22:44.470 --> 00:22:46.130 them in the family. We want them in the household. 00:22:46.769 --> 00:22:50.970 All of the thems. All of the thems. Every last 00:22:50.970 --> 00:22:52.930 one of them. Especially the ones we don't like. 00:22:55.809 --> 00:22:58.450 Discipleship that teaches people to defend positions 00:22:58.450 --> 00:23:01.259 but not to love neighbors and enemies. Yeah. 00:23:02.059 --> 00:23:06.559 It's problematic. And it creates the very thing 00:23:06.559 --> 00:23:10.000 that you're trying to fight against. Yeah. It's 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:13.519 problematic. All right. Woe three. Verse 16. 00:23:13.720 --> 00:23:16.799 I think it's through. Yeah, I got it. It was 00:23:16.799 --> 00:23:18.619 a long one. I think it's through 22. Yeah, I 00:23:18.619 --> 00:23:23.650 got it. Blind guides, what sorrow awaits you. 00:23:23.710 --> 00:23:27.789 I love that. I love that. For you say that it 00:23:27.789 --> 00:23:32.049 means nothing to swear by God's temple, but it 00:23:32.049 --> 00:23:35.589 is binding to swear by the gold in the temple. 00:23:36.210 --> 00:23:39.529 Blind fools, which is more important, the gold 00:23:39.529 --> 00:23:43.589 in the temple, the gold or the temple that makes 00:23:43.589 --> 00:23:51.750 the gold sacred? And you say that to swear by 00:23:51.750 --> 00:23:54.710 the altar, it is not binding. But to swear by 00:23:54.710 --> 00:23:57.410 the gifts of the altar is binding. How blind! 00:23:57.910 --> 00:24:00.410 For which is more important, the gifts of the 00:24:00.410 --> 00:24:02.650 altar or the altar that makes the gifts sacred? 00:24:02.769 --> 00:24:05.890 For you swear by the altar, you are swearing 00:24:05.890 --> 00:24:10.089 by it and everything on it. And when you swear 00:24:10.089 --> 00:24:12.549 by the temple, you are swearing by it and by 00:24:12.549 --> 00:24:15.109 God who lives in it. And when you swear by heaven, 00:24:15.309 --> 00:24:18.109 you are swearing by the throne of God and by 00:24:18.109 --> 00:24:23.529 God who sits on the throne. So holy system of 00:24:23.529 --> 00:24:27.230 loopholes, Batman. Uh -huh. Right? Yeah. It's 00:24:27.230 --> 00:24:30.049 like they're building this system of loopholes 00:24:30.049 --> 00:24:33.490 where they're like, well, we swore by the gold, 00:24:33.549 --> 00:24:35.890 but we didn't swear by the temple. So technically, 00:24:36.349 --> 00:24:40.730 I don't have to keep my word. Right? Technically, 00:24:40.809 --> 00:24:43.589 I'm not bound. By the way, this is very reminiscent 00:24:43.589 --> 00:24:45.509 of Jesus saying, let your yes be yes and your 00:24:45.509 --> 00:24:47.089 no be no. Anything else comes from the devil? 00:24:47.369 --> 00:24:51.609 Yep. Right? It's ways to sound more pious than 00:24:51.609 --> 00:24:55.210 you actually are. And Jesus addresses them. He's 00:24:55.210 --> 00:24:57.029 like, hey, which of these is greater? In other 00:24:57.029 --> 00:24:59.640 words, guys, you lost the plot. You lost what's 00:24:59.640 --> 00:25:02.579 going on here. The sacredness is actually about 00:25:02.579 --> 00:25:06.519 God's presence, not about the objects or these 00:25:06.519 --> 00:25:11.500 games that you're playing. And if you've been 00:25:11.500 --> 00:25:15.619 around people any period of time, then you've 00:25:15.619 --> 00:25:17.319 probably seen them do this, this Christian version 00:25:17.319 --> 00:25:19.519 of loopholes. We do this in church, right? If 00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:23.039 we only get this program, if we only have this 00:25:23.039 --> 00:25:26.400 curriculum. Yeah. If we only have the next greatest 00:25:26.400 --> 00:25:29.920 soundboard, if we have perfect lights and perfect 00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:32.000 sound, people will show up and they will get 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:36.019 to know Jesus. Yeah. Maybe. Maybe. Right? But 00:25:36.019 --> 00:25:40.200 in scriptures, now I'm not going to go the route 00:25:40.200 --> 00:25:42.059 of like, where does it tell you you need to have 00:25:42.059 --> 00:25:43.759 a soundboard in scripture? They weren't invented 00:25:43.759 --> 00:25:46.420 yet. That's just a really bad argument. Right. 00:25:46.440 --> 00:25:50.160 Okay? Leave it at that. But in scripture, what 00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:52.119 is it about? Is it about programs or is it about 00:25:52.119 --> 00:25:54.720 relationships? It's about relationships. Right? 00:25:54.900 --> 00:25:57.200 So it's like when we were talking like, oh, we 00:25:57.200 --> 00:25:58.740 need this program. We need this program. We need 00:25:58.740 --> 00:26:00.339 this. We need this. If we have all these things, 00:26:00.400 --> 00:26:02.339 it'll make us look like we have it put together 00:26:02.339 --> 00:26:05.519 and church will be church again. It's like actually 00:26:05.519 --> 00:26:07.619 church is going to be church no matter what your 00:26:07.619 --> 00:26:10.980 building looks like if you are doing two things, 00:26:11.079 --> 00:26:13.640 loving God with everything you have and loving 00:26:13.640 --> 00:26:15.240 everybody who comes through those doors with 00:26:15.240 --> 00:26:18.369 everything you have. One of the places where 00:26:18.369 --> 00:26:20.089 this will show up frequently, and hopefully this 00:26:20.089 --> 00:26:21.910 doesn't hit somebody too hard, just understand 00:26:21.910 --> 00:26:23.990 it's meant in the best way possible. But when 00:26:23.990 --> 00:26:28.710 you're like, we love our community. And then 00:26:28.710 --> 00:26:30.289 you ask, so what do you do in your community? 00:26:30.390 --> 00:26:31.890 You're like, oh, well, you know, we have service. 00:26:35.049 --> 00:26:38.509 Okay, what else? Like, are you feeding the hungry? 00:26:39.099 --> 00:26:41.359 Do you visit the sick? Do you have a jail ministry? 00:26:42.180 --> 00:26:44.140 Do you have small groups where people can come 00:26:44.140 --> 00:26:48.740 and connect in homes? Do you clothe the naked? 00:26:48.940 --> 00:26:51.619 Do you take care of widows and orphans? Yeah. 00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:55.420 Do you support whatever it is? Do you get outside 00:26:55.420 --> 00:26:57.339 your church walls? Do you get outside your church 00:26:57.339 --> 00:26:59.339 walls? And by the way, that might not just be 00:26:59.339 --> 00:27:00.900 your church. That might be the members of your 00:27:00.900 --> 00:27:02.339 church are actively involved in those things. 00:27:02.380 --> 00:27:04.819 That's great, right? If you're a people, you 00:27:04.819 --> 00:27:06.519 don't have to organize as a church because the 00:27:06.519 --> 00:27:08.019 church is already involved in the community. 00:27:08.750 --> 00:27:11.349 That's a good problem. Well, like where we're 00:27:11.349 --> 00:27:14.529 at, there was a pretty big natural disaster that 00:27:14.529 --> 00:27:17.289 caused destruction of those homes, loss of one 00:27:17.289 --> 00:27:21.539 life, stuff like that. And we had people asking 00:27:21.539 --> 00:27:23.319 our church, like, well, like, how are you helping 00:27:23.319 --> 00:27:26.359 with this? The reality is, is we had people on 00:27:26.359 --> 00:27:29.640 the response team who were doing that. We had 00:27:29.640 --> 00:27:31.319 people who were part of like fire department, 00:27:31.519 --> 00:27:33.759 EMS. We had people who opened up their homes 00:27:33.759 --> 00:27:35.460 and house people. Yep. We had people who opened 00:27:35.460 --> 00:27:37.700 up their homes and house people. We had people 00:27:37.700 --> 00:27:40.220 who went and bought extra food and gave it to 00:27:40.220 --> 00:27:42.940 those who need it from that disaster. Right. 00:27:43.380 --> 00:27:46.750 And here's the thing. they didn't wait for the 00:27:46.750 --> 00:27:48.990 church to be like, okay, here's all the stuff 00:27:48.990 --> 00:27:52.089 we need to do. Right. They just went and were 00:27:52.089 --> 00:27:55.789 the church. I was, I was so like, uh, I was so 00:27:55.789 --> 00:27:58.369 impressed. And so like, man, I love my people. 00:27:58.450 --> 00:28:00.910 Yeah. Like I love God's people. Like, cause, 00:28:00.990 --> 00:28:02.569 and it wasn't just our church, by the way, there 00:28:02.569 --> 00:28:04.509 were other churches who did like incredible stuff. 00:28:04.670 --> 00:28:07.250 Yeah. Um, in the community. I just, I, when I 00:28:07.250 --> 00:28:08.990 was looking, I was like, I was like, that person 00:28:08.990 --> 00:28:10.509 loves Jesus. That person loves Jesus. Like they're 00:28:10.509 --> 00:28:12.569 just, you just see them. They're out there. Right. 00:28:13.289 --> 00:28:17.049 Um, Like that's when you say you love people, 00:28:17.190 --> 00:28:19.529 when you love your community and you're like, 00:28:19.549 --> 00:28:24.349 well, we do, but we don't have money to do this. 00:28:24.390 --> 00:28:27.910 We don't have time to do this. Love finds time. 00:28:28.410 --> 00:28:31.549 Love finds money. Yeah. Right. If you want to 00:28:31.549 --> 00:28:33.269 know what you love, take a look at your checkbook. 00:28:34.690 --> 00:28:37.670 They might say rent. Maybe you don't love rent. 00:28:40.269 --> 00:28:46.809 Take a look at your elective spending. Religion 00:28:46.809 --> 00:28:50.130 that is used to manage appearances and obligations 00:28:50.130 --> 00:28:52.130 instead of actually simply telling the truth 00:28:52.130 --> 00:28:55.930 and loving people is problematic. It is a portion 00:28:55.930 --> 00:28:59.730 of woe. Woe to you, because when you do things 00:28:59.730 --> 00:29:01.549 like this, you're part of a kingdom, and it's 00:29:01.549 --> 00:29:04.920 not the kingdom of God. All right, jumping in 00:29:04.920 --> 00:29:07.400 here. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, 00:29:07.400 --> 00:29:09.599 you hypocrites. You give a tenth of your spices, 00:29:09.880 --> 00:29:12.460 mint, dill, and cumin, but you have neglected 00:29:12.460 --> 00:29:14.859 the more important matters of the law, justice, 00:29:15.039 --> 00:29:18.099 mercy, faithfulness. I got a little bit of Micah 00:29:18.099 --> 00:29:20.640 kicking in there. You should have practiced the 00:29:20.640 --> 00:29:22.900 latter without neglecting the former. You blind 00:29:22.900 --> 00:29:25.980 guides, you strain out a gnat, but swallow a 00:29:25.980 --> 00:29:31.480 camel. So this is talking about... emphasizing 00:29:31.480 --> 00:29:34.819 really tiny details, right? Where you're like, 00:29:34.940 --> 00:29:40.180 if you do this, then this. But then there's completely 00:29:40.180 --> 00:29:42.440 other things that they just completely ignore, 00:29:42.619 --> 00:29:45.779 like loving people or justice or anything that 00:29:45.779 --> 00:29:47.799 goes on. There's like this little nitty gritty 00:29:47.799 --> 00:29:50.910 rule. There was a guy I was watching a reel and 00:29:50.910 --> 00:29:53.089 he said, you know, most evangelicals, we agree 00:29:53.089 --> 00:29:55.890 about like 99 .5 % of things and we disagree 00:29:55.890 --> 00:29:59.430 about 0 .5 of things. And even those are not 00:29:59.430 --> 00:30:02.750 really that big of a deal. And yet we have all 00:30:02.750 --> 00:30:05.490 these different denominations. Well, if you look 00:30:05.490 --> 00:30:09.029 cross -denominationally, I think it's like there's 00:30:09.029 --> 00:30:12.690 agreement on it's like 94, 95%. Yeah, it's really 00:30:12.690 --> 00:30:16.430 high. It's really high. And then it's usually... 00:30:16.859 --> 00:30:20.740 And don't get me wrong, there are some denominations 00:30:20.740 --> 00:30:23.079 that I think have made some deal -breaker theological 00:30:23.079 --> 00:30:27.500 stances. Yep. But for the most part, it's like 00:30:27.500 --> 00:30:33.089 they love Jesus. They love their community. And 00:30:33.089 --> 00:30:35.309 we should probably pause at this moment in the 00:30:35.309 --> 00:30:37.789 episode and say, we are making generalizations. 00:30:37.950 --> 00:30:40.549 Very generalizations. And that might not be your 00:30:40.549 --> 00:30:43.710 church. Correct. Your church might be knocking 00:30:43.710 --> 00:30:46.109 it out of the park. For example, I went to a 00:30:46.109 --> 00:30:48.190 Southern Baptist church in Georgia, and they 00:30:48.190 --> 00:30:50.250 were dancing in the aisles during worship. So 00:30:50.250 --> 00:30:51.950 clearly they don't have a problem with dancing. 00:30:52.170 --> 00:30:56.450 Uh -huh. Uh -huh. I think it just depends on, 00:30:56.490 --> 00:31:02.730 like, there's such a wide range of how churches 00:31:02.730 --> 00:31:06.210 respond. And oftentimes we come in and make generalizations 00:31:06.210 --> 00:31:08.529 of being like, this denomination believes this 00:31:08.529 --> 00:31:11.609 and 100 % acts like this. Okay, I'm going to 00:31:11.609 --> 00:31:14.109 tell you right now, a Southern Baptist church 00:31:14.109 --> 00:31:17.769 in Georgia. acts very differently than a Southern 00:31:17.769 --> 00:31:19.910 Baptist church in the Pacific Northwest. Yes, 00:31:19.910 --> 00:31:25.549 it does. Yes, it does. And so these generalizations, 00:31:25.609 --> 00:31:29.470 they're just kind of broad, sweeping. So take 00:31:29.470 --> 00:31:32.069 it as a high -level conversation, not as a specific 00:31:32.069 --> 00:31:34.049 critique. And if you're like, okay, I hear what 00:31:34.049 --> 00:31:36.930 you're saying, but our church is better than 00:31:36.930 --> 00:31:39.329 that. We're like, yes, deal. Great. We love it. 00:31:39.349 --> 00:31:42.170 Great. Okay. I thought we should throw that in 00:31:42.170 --> 00:31:44.029 there. It did sound like we were bashing the 00:31:44.029 --> 00:31:45.289 church too much. I agree. I agree. We actually 00:31:45.289 --> 00:31:50.509 love the church, period. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But 00:31:50.509 --> 00:31:52.289 it's also like our brothers and sisters, and 00:31:52.289 --> 00:31:54.609 sometimes we have a tendency to talk very plainly 00:31:54.609 --> 00:31:56.769 about our brothers and sisters because we love 00:31:56.769 --> 00:31:59.470 them. Yeah. But I want to specify, we really 00:31:59.470 --> 00:32:04.410 like these people, period. Yeah. Well, and let's 00:32:04.410 --> 00:32:07.460 just put... the little cultural piece of Alaska, 00:32:07.700 --> 00:32:09.759 which is very much of like, say what you need 00:32:09.759 --> 00:32:12.980 to say and then get out of my way. Um, that like 00:32:12.980 --> 00:32:15.099 culturally there's that element here where it's 00:32:15.099 --> 00:32:18.220 like, Hey, like where you're like, Oh, how's 00:32:18.220 --> 00:32:20.059 the weather? Like, what do you want? Yeah. Like 00:32:20.059 --> 00:32:21.339 don't, don't be your other, but just tell me 00:32:21.339 --> 00:32:25.019 what you want. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, what, 00:32:25.140 --> 00:32:26.839 when Jesus is talking about here, he's like, 00:32:26.920 --> 00:32:30.019 Hey, the point is not to stop tithing. The point 00:32:30.019 --> 00:32:32.279 is to not make tithing the thing and neglect 00:32:32.279 --> 00:32:36.779 mercy. The point is not to make ritual sacrifice 00:32:36.779 --> 00:32:40.579 the thing and neglect loving your neighbor. These 00:32:40.579 --> 00:32:43.920 are problematic things. And so when you become 00:32:43.920 --> 00:32:46.640 obsessed with precise theology on secondary issues, 00:32:46.819 --> 00:32:51.819 tertiary issues, with worship style, with dress 00:32:51.819 --> 00:32:54.859 codes, with the way that your liturgy is set 00:32:54.859 --> 00:32:58.589 up. But at the same time, you're having these 00:32:58.589 --> 00:33:01.490 conversations, and at the same time, you're not 00:33:01.490 --> 00:33:03.630 doing anything about injustice in your community. 00:33:03.789 --> 00:33:05.930 You're not doing anything about poverty in your 00:33:05.930 --> 00:33:08.210 community. You're not doing anything about loving 00:33:08.210 --> 00:33:14.390 people in your community. Like, whoa. Yeah. Don't 00:33:14.390 --> 00:33:17.650 stop doing the former. But, dude, you're missing 00:33:17.650 --> 00:33:19.250 some massive things. You're sitting here talking 00:33:19.250 --> 00:33:23.809 about 10 % on cumin, and you're letting your 00:33:23.809 --> 00:33:27.829 buddy down the street die. What is that money 00:33:27.829 --> 00:33:32.569 being used for? I'm a firm believer when you 00:33:32.569 --> 00:33:34.869 give money to an organization, that's their money 00:33:34.869 --> 00:33:36.990 now. You don't have it anymore. It's not yours. 00:33:37.509 --> 00:33:40.789 If you don't like what that organization is doing, 00:33:40.950 --> 00:33:46.930 don't give your money to them. If you're at a 00:33:46.930 --> 00:33:48.490 church and you're like, man, I really don't like 00:33:48.490 --> 00:33:50.190 what this church is doing, you don't have to 00:33:50.190 --> 00:33:52.250 give them your money. But if you decide to give 00:33:52.250 --> 00:33:54.789 them your money, then... You really have no, 00:33:54.789 --> 00:33:57.009 yeah. You have no say. Right. At that point, 00:33:57.049 --> 00:33:59.390 right? That's at least my stance on it. Right. 00:33:59.509 --> 00:34:01.730 And somebody may disagree with us and you are 00:34:01.730 --> 00:34:05.130 welcome to your own opinion. Yep. Yeah. But, 00:34:05.289 --> 00:34:10.869 sorry, that was a rabbit hole, but it also is 00:34:10.869 --> 00:34:13.989 something for us as church leaders, how are we 00:34:13.989 --> 00:34:16.449 using that money? That was my rabbit. I know. 00:34:16.590 --> 00:34:19.230 I was just going to move past it, but you're 00:34:19.230 --> 00:34:21.670 like, I have to bring it up. But it's like, as 00:34:21.670 --> 00:34:25.170 church leaders, what are we prioritizing for, 00:34:25.289 --> 00:34:28.230 that money for? Are we saying, hey, we want that 00:34:28.230 --> 00:34:31.510 money to make the building look good and new 00:34:31.510 --> 00:34:33.190 sound system, new lights, new stuff like that? 00:34:33.869 --> 00:34:36.369 I'm really hoping Pastor Dick is listening to 00:34:36.369 --> 00:34:37.989 this because we got a new sound system not too 00:34:37.989 --> 00:34:41.809 long ago. And sometimes those things are needed, 00:34:41.949 --> 00:34:45.369 right? Right. But also, like, is that money being 00:34:45.369 --> 00:34:48.190 allocated towards missions, towards supporting 00:34:48.190 --> 00:34:51.369 local missionaries, to reaching the lost, to 00:34:51.369 --> 00:34:53.750 feeding the hungry, taking care of the poor, 00:34:53.869 --> 00:34:57.670 et cetera, right? And you can tell a lot about 00:34:57.670 --> 00:35:01.110 a church if a church is willing to say, you know 00:35:01.110 --> 00:35:05.769 what, this new thing would be nice, but we don't 00:35:05.769 --> 00:35:07.969 need that. Let's save up for it, and we still 00:35:07.969 --> 00:35:10.670 want to keep our money going towards people. 00:35:11.190 --> 00:35:13.210 One of the biggest things about your faith is 00:35:13.210 --> 00:35:17.050 if your faith, if your faith as it grows helps 00:35:17.050 --> 00:35:18.889 you walk a straight and narrow path, that's not 00:35:18.889 --> 00:35:22.909 a bad problem. But if your faith doesn't also 00:35:22.909 --> 00:35:25.030 make you more loving, something's off. Yeah. 00:35:25.369 --> 00:35:28.789 Right? Yeah. Like straight and narrow, great. 00:35:29.050 --> 00:35:30.730 But if at the same time you're not growing in 00:35:30.730 --> 00:35:33.610 love, something's off. Yeah. Right? And like 00:35:33.610 --> 00:35:35.809 Jesus is saying is like, if you're only focused 00:35:35.809 --> 00:35:38.090 on this piece and it's never growing this piece, 00:35:38.289 --> 00:35:41.550 what's going on? Don't stop doing the other thing. 00:35:42.190 --> 00:35:44.969 There's everything good about that. Yeah. But 00:35:44.969 --> 00:35:49.170 worship service on Sunday morning is great. Yeah. 00:35:49.630 --> 00:35:51.710 But if you're not loving people in the community, 00:35:51.989 --> 00:35:54.590 what's your Sunday morning for? Yeah. Right? 00:35:57.530 --> 00:35:59.690 Yeah, man. I got to keep going. We'll be in these 00:35:59.690 --> 00:36:03.130 forever. Woe five. What sorrow awaits you teachers 00:36:03.130 --> 00:36:05.730 of the religious law and you Pharisees? Hypocrites. 00:36:06.480 --> 00:36:09.639 For you are so careful to clean the outside of 00:36:09.639 --> 00:36:12.179 the cup and the dish, but the inside is filthy, 00:36:12.280 --> 00:36:15.420 full of greed and self -indulgence. You blind 00:36:15.420 --> 00:36:19.139 Pharisees, first wash the inside of the cup or 00:36:19.139 --> 00:36:22.000 the dish, then the outside will become clean 00:36:22.000 --> 00:36:26.059 too. Now, total modern application is super easy 00:36:26.059 --> 00:36:27.519 to do, but really quick, I just want to mention, 00:36:27.639 --> 00:36:29.780 there is actually Jewish teaching on cleaning 00:36:29.780 --> 00:36:32.730 the inside of your cup first. Right. And it's 00:36:32.730 --> 00:36:34.690 about like renewing of the heart. And Jesus says 00:36:34.690 --> 00:36:35.989 you need to focus on eternal transformation, 00:36:36.269 --> 00:36:38.530 outward holiness without inner change is fake. 00:36:38.889 --> 00:36:40.969 Well, also when you clean, just take a dish, 00:36:41.010 --> 00:36:43.090 for example, when you clean the inside of a cup, 00:36:43.150 --> 00:36:46.269 that water overflows and already starts to permeate 00:36:46.269 --> 00:36:50.230 the crap on the outside. Right. And there might 00:36:50.230 --> 00:36:53.429 be some application for real life in that. Well, 00:36:53.449 --> 00:36:57.730 and to what we just were talking about, if your 00:36:57.730 --> 00:37:00.489 worship service is great and your pastor dress 00:37:00.489 --> 00:37:02.789 is really snappy and he's got a three -point 00:37:02.789 --> 00:37:06.710 sermon and the altar call is 5 .4 minutes long 00:37:06.710 --> 00:37:08.530 with this song with four verses that's really 00:37:08.530 --> 00:37:11.710 good, and yet everybody in there is not actually 00:37:11.710 --> 00:37:14.449 being inspired to love God more, love people 00:37:14.449 --> 00:37:17.019 more. They're not actually being equipped for 00:37:17.019 --> 00:37:19.800 service for the community. There's a problem. 00:37:19.960 --> 00:37:21.760 You're cleaning the outside of your cup, and 00:37:21.760 --> 00:37:24.519 it looks really nice, but inwardly, it's got 00:37:24.519 --> 00:37:28.980 that grime. It's got that grime. Where am I spending 00:37:28.980 --> 00:37:31.940 my energy? Am I managing my image, or am I actually 00:37:31.940 --> 00:37:36.280 tending my heart? We are sometimes so concerned 00:37:36.280 --> 00:37:37.800 with what people think about us that we're never 00:37:37.800 --> 00:37:43.099 actually where we're supposed to be. This next 00:37:43.099 --> 00:37:48.639 one is a very similar one here. 27. Woe to you, 00:37:48.699 --> 00:37:50.679 teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. 00:37:50.760 --> 00:37:53.380 You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful 00:37:53.380 --> 00:37:55.300 on the outside, but on the inside are full of 00:37:55.300 --> 00:37:57.719 bones of the dead and everything unclean. In 00:37:57.719 --> 00:38:00.059 the same way, on the outside you appear people 00:38:00.059 --> 00:38:01.940 of righteousness, but on the inside you are full 00:38:01.940 --> 00:38:06.039 of hypocrisy and wickedness. Hey, you look really 00:38:06.039 --> 00:38:08.000 good, but when somebody gets close to you, man, 00:38:08.079 --> 00:38:12.639 you reek of death. You reek of death. Right? 00:38:12.860 --> 00:38:19.260 Yeah. I don't want to get into this because I 00:38:19.260 --> 00:38:21.360 think that too many of us would be too fast to 00:38:21.360 --> 00:38:23.320 jump on our churches about this. Yeah. There's 00:38:23.320 --> 00:38:25.179 probably more life there than you think. And 00:38:25.179 --> 00:38:27.300 one of the things I want to say here is if your 00:38:27.300 --> 00:38:29.659 church is a church that is dead inside, you say, 00:38:29.739 --> 00:38:31.500 you're like, man, we are a whitewashed tomb with 00:38:31.500 --> 00:38:34.380 bones inside. Jesus also breathed on bones and 00:38:34.380 --> 00:38:38.119 brought them back to life. That's your prayer. 00:38:38.300 --> 00:38:40.739 Yeah. Jesus, breathe on our church and bring 00:38:40.739 --> 00:38:44.400 us back to life. Yeah. Right? Last one here, 00:38:44.500 --> 00:38:47.519 verse 29. What sorrow awaits you teachers of 00:38:47.519 --> 00:38:50.440 religious law in you Pharisees? Hypocrites, for 00:38:50.440 --> 00:38:57.320 you blind tombs you build. Wow. Blind tombs. 00:38:57.360 --> 00:38:59.280 Walk out. Watch out. You don't want to blind 00:38:59.280 --> 00:39:02.260 those tombs. I'm reading that wrong. Hypocrites. 00:39:03.159 --> 00:39:06.559 For you build tombs for the prophets and your 00:39:06.559 --> 00:39:09.679 ancestors killed, and you decorate monuments 00:39:09.679 --> 00:39:12.360 of the godly people your ancestors destroyed. 00:39:12.860 --> 00:39:16.659 Then you say, if we had lived in the days of 00:39:16.659 --> 00:39:20.320 our ancestors, we would have never joined them 00:39:20.320 --> 00:39:25.039 in killing the prophets. So this, remember, go 00:39:25.039 --> 00:39:29.219 back on this tale about the vineyard, right? 00:39:29.679 --> 00:39:35.639 Yep. like you honor the dead prophets while the 00:39:35.639 --> 00:39:38.059 living word of God is standing in front of you. 00:39:38.159 --> 00:39:39.900 Jesus, the torment flesh is standing in front 00:39:39.900 --> 00:39:42.739 of you. And you're like, we would never do that. 00:39:42.820 --> 00:39:44.900 By the way, we're totally plotting your death. 00:39:45.420 --> 00:39:48.820 Right. And Jesus was like, guess what? You're 00:39:48.820 --> 00:39:50.900 actually literally about to do that. I'm right 00:39:50.900 --> 00:39:53.639 here. I just told you a parable about it. You 00:39:53.639 --> 00:39:57.599 know, you're going to complete with your ancestors 00:39:57.599 --> 00:39:59.460 started. You were actually perfecting a sin. 00:39:59.869 --> 00:40:04.829 of your ancestors. And think about this, because 00:40:04.829 --> 00:40:07.670 how often are people quoting Jesus, and they're 00:40:07.670 --> 00:40:09.349 quoting Paul, they quote Peter, they quote James, 00:40:09.489 --> 00:40:10.809 they quote people from church history, Martin 00:40:10.809 --> 00:40:15.469 Luther and Diedrich Bonhoeffer, and just different 00:40:15.469 --> 00:40:18.570 people from church history that have had to step 00:40:18.570 --> 00:40:21.750 into really gnarly situations and have put the 00:40:21.750 --> 00:40:23.469 gospel on their back and they quote from them, 00:40:23.590 --> 00:40:25.590 but they're not also the same kind of people 00:40:25.590 --> 00:40:28.190 who are willing to go and have that costly obedience. 00:40:30.219 --> 00:40:33.639 Right. You have to be willing to step in there 00:40:33.639 --> 00:40:36.179 to be different, to break the chain, to step 00:40:36.179 --> 00:40:38.619 into what God has called you to do. Yep. Right. 00:40:41.000 --> 00:40:44.380 So true. So then Jesus, I'm going to end here 00:40:44.380 --> 00:40:47.099 with this because it's his lament. And I, I just, 00:40:47.199 --> 00:40:49.679 uh, I'm going to read this and then we'll make 00:40:49.679 --> 00:40:54.949 one comment on it. Um, just one. By the way, 00:40:54.949 --> 00:40:57.730 he quotes from John earlier. He says, you snakes, 00:40:57.969 --> 00:41:01.300 you brood of vipers, how will you escape? being 00:41:01.300 --> 00:41:03.199 condemned to hell. Therefore, I'm sending you 00:41:03.199 --> 00:41:05.260 prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them 00:41:05.260 --> 00:41:08.119 you will kill and crucify. Others you will flog 00:41:08.119 --> 00:41:10.099 in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 00:41:10.159 --> 00:41:11.800 And so upon you will all the righteous blood 00:41:11.800 --> 00:41:13.659 that has been shed on earth and the blood of 00:41:13.659 --> 00:41:15.780 the righteous able to the blood of Zechariah, 00:41:15.820 --> 00:41:18.539 son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the 00:41:18.539 --> 00:41:20.239 temple and the altar. By the way, that's a great 00:41:20.239 --> 00:41:22.280 story. I'm not going to get into it. Truly, I 00:41:22.280 --> 00:41:24.400 tell you, all this will be coming to this generation. 00:41:25.400 --> 00:41:28.809 He's like, guys, it's coming home to roost. And 00:41:28.809 --> 00:41:30.389 then he looks at them. He looks at the leaders 00:41:30.389 --> 00:41:32.849 and just understand that Jerusalem is a place 00:41:32.849 --> 00:41:34.469 of leadership. So he's talking to leaders here. 00:41:35.550 --> 00:41:39.309 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets 00:41:39.309 --> 00:41:43.750 and stone those who sent to you. How often I 00:41:43.750 --> 00:41:45.829 have longed to gather your children together 00:41:45.829 --> 00:41:47.969 as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. 00:41:48.329 --> 00:41:50.989 You were not willing. Look, your house is left 00:41:50.989 --> 00:41:53.250 to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not 00:41:53.250 --> 00:41:55.210 see me again until you say, blessed is he who 00:41:55.210 --> 00:41:57.500 comes in the name of the Lord. Which is ironic 00:41:57.500 --> 00:41:59.519 because that's what they said when he came into 00:41:59.519 --> 00:42:05.500 town. Right? This is not a gleeful condemnation. 00:42:05.500 --> 00:42:09.780 This is a heartbreaking longing. I wanted to 00:42:09.780 --> 00:42:12.559 gather you like chicks under my wings. Yeah. 00:42:13.539 --> 00:42:16.519 You were not willing. And I couldn't force you. 00:42:16.940 --> 00:42:21.059 Yeah. Remember the vineyard story? God sends 00:42:21.059 --> 00:42:23.300 servants again and again. Then he sends his son. 00:42:23.440 --> 00:42:27.800 And he shows staggering patience and mercy. Right? 00:42:28.760 --> 00:42:32.920 Yeah. The human response is reject, kill, push 00:42:32.920 --> 00:42:35.039 away those who confront our norms, our views, 00:42:35.219 --> 00:42:41.659 our desires. Right? Yeah. It's problematic. So 00:42:41.659 --> 00:42:44.900 I have a couple questions here. So if you grew 00:42:44.900 --> 00:42:48.320 up in the church, I want you guys to write to 00:42:48.320 --> 00:42:51.099 us. Where are you closest to the Pharisees in 00:42:51.099 --> 00:42:56.260 this chapter? Where do you see yourself? Ask 00:42:56.260 --> 00:42:58.239 yourself, do I load people up with expectations 00:42:58.239 --> 00:43:01.840 but not walk with them? Do I love titles, influence, 00:43:02.059 --> 00:43:08.099 or the feeling of being right? Do I use religious 00:43:08.099 --> 00:43:10.139 language to protect my lifestyle or politics? 00:43:11.659 --> 00:43:14.239 Do I strain out gnats and swallow camels? Now, 00:43:14.260 --> 00:43:16.800 that's obviously not literally. First of all, 00:43:16.800 --> 00:43:18.760 if anybody does swallow camels literally, please 00:43:18.760 --> 00:43:20.179 tell me because I want to know. That's crazy. 00:43:20.739 --> 00:43:24.019 But obviously, we're talking about to you. focus 00:43:24.019 --> 00:43:25.739 on the small things and then just swallow big 00:43:25.739 --> 00:43:29.800 things wrong. Yeah. I want to give you guys a 00:43:29.800 --> 00:43:32.559 quote from a couple episodes ago. It was either 00:43:32.559 --> 00:43:34.099 Spencer and I. We said, when you realize you're 00:43:34.099 --> 00:43:36.119 doing a dumb thing, the best thing you can do 00:43:36.119 --> 00:43:37.980 is stop doing the dumb thing and course correct. 00:43:38.780 --> 00:43:41.639 Right? Yep. Let Jesus clean the inside of your 00:43:41.639 --> 00:43:43.739 cup. Ask the Holy Spirit, show me where I'm acting. 00:43:44.119 --> 00:43:46.840 Show me where I'm putting on a show. Grow me 00:43:46.840 --> 00:43:48.780 in justice, peace, and faithfulness. Return me 00:43:48.780 --> 00:43:50.340 to the core of love God and love other people. 00:43:50.659 --> 00:43:54.019 Because Jesus is like, I want to take you, you, 00:43:54.139 --> 00:43:56.420 the people that are broken, the people who are 00:43:56.420 --> 00:43:58.340 awful, the people who are literally murdering 00:43:58.340 --> 00:44:01.420 people generation to generation. I still want 00:44:01.420 --> 00:44:06.719 you. Yeah. But you got to come. Yeah. I'm not 00:44:06.719 --> 00:44:12.820 going to force you. Yep. Think of it like. If 00:44:12.820 --> 00:44:14.719 you're a parent, you could probably relate to 00:44:14.719 --> 00:44:18.260 this. There are times where I have to tell my 00:44:18.260 --> 00:44:21.480 kid, you're doing this right now, right? Ben's 00:44:21.480 --> 00:44:23.099 laughing because he knows my kid. I've been there. 00:44:25.019 --> 00:44:29.280 And there are also times where I really want 00:44:29.280 --> 00:44:33.119 my kid to like the things I like, but I can't 00:44:33.119 --> 00:44:36.340 force that, right? Where I can keep inviting 00:44:36.340 --> 00:44:39.699 them to come alongside and be like, come experience 00:44:39.699 --> 00:44:43.940 this with me. but I can't force them to like 00:44:43.940 --> 00:44:48.119 it. And on a personal level, like I'm having 00:44:48.119 --> 00:44:50.059 that struggle around a few things with my child 00:44:50.059 --> 00:44:53.300 right now, but I can't force her to like those 00:44:53.300 --> 00:44:56.860 things. And so that's what God's doing with us. 00:44:56.940 --> 00:45:00.460 He's like, I really, really want you to join 00:45:00.460 --> 00:45:03.179 me on this journey. Yeah. There's a way life 00:45:03.179 --> 00:45:05.219 is supposed to work and I want you to engage 00:45:05.219 --> 00:45:07.440 with it, but I'm not going to force you because 00:45:07.440 --> 00:45:11.969 you've got to want it. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Jesus 00:45:11.969 --> 00:45:14.030 confronts leadership. That's the first three 00:45:14.030 --> 00:45:18.090 parts. Next week. I forgot what next week is. 00:45:18.090 --> 00:45:19.969 Just reiterating, he does confront leadership. 00:45:20.130 --> 00:45:23.250 He also starts with grace in inviting them in. 00:45:23.690 --> 00:45:25.949 before going to confrontation. So next week, 00:45:25.989 --> 00:45:28.190 we're actually going to be getting into a little 00:45:28.190 --> 00:45:29.949 bit different, because rather than confronting 00:45:29.949 --> 00:45:32.349 leadership and inviting them, he's actually going 00:45:32.349 --> 00:45:34.230 to be having an intimate dinner with his disciples. 00:45:34.590 --> 00:45:36.929 And we're going to just talk about everything 00:45:36.929 --> 00:45:39.630 that's going on in this Seder, this reenacting 00:45:39.630 --> 00:45:42.429 of the Exodus, right? And how Jesus is really 00:45:42.429 --> 00:45:45.349 bringing about another Exodus. And probably one 00:45:45.349 --> 00:45:48.179 of my favorite pictures, when he... Watches at 00:45:48.179 --> 00:45:51.000 his disciples feet because they are like, so 00:45:51.000 --> 00:45:54.639 like, what are you doing? Yeah. Amen. Yeah. Until 00:45:54.639 --> 00:45:58.750 next week. And that's a wrap for today's episode 00:45:58.750 --> 00:46:01.230 of Love and Context. We hope this conversation 00:46:01.230 --> 00:46:03.710 encouraged you and gave you fresh insights into 00:46:03.710 --> 00:46:05.989 how we can better love God and others through 00:46:05.989 --> 00:46:08.570 the powerful truths of the Bible. We'd love to 00:46:08.570 --> 00:46:10.369 hear from you. Send your questions, thoughts, 00:46:10.550 --> 00:46:13.750 or suggestions to loveandcontext at gmail .com. 00:46:13.909 --> 00:46:16.110 Your feedback means the world to us and helps 00:46:16.110 --> 00:46:18.769 shape future episodes. Stay connected with us 00:46:18.769 --> 00:46:20.809 on social media for updates, behind -the -scenes 00:46:20.809 --> 00:46:23.210 content, and additional resources. You can find 00:46:23.210 --> 00:46:25.769 us on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook 00:46:25.769 --> 00:46:28.550 at LoveandContext. Be sure to hit that follow 00:46:28.550 --> 00:46:30.750 button and join our growing community. Thanks 00:46:30.750 --> 00:46:32.309 for being part of the Love and Context family. 00:46:32.590 --> 00:46:35.050 Remember, love is at the heart of it all. Until 00:46:35.050 --> 00:46:37.309 next time, keep seeking wisdom, embracing love, 00:46:37.429 --> 00:46:39.150 and living out your faith in today's world.