WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.200 Well, howdy. So I spent the previous week in 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:07.919 Phoenix, Arizona, and I did not know there was 00:00:07.919 --> 00:00:10.539 a place that could actually make Houston feel 00:00:10.539 --> 00:00:14.339 cooler in July. That was ridiculous. I heard 00:00:14.339 --> 00:00:16.699 Dino used to live there. It's terrible. It's 00:00:16.699 --> 00:00:19.339 a dry heat. Yeah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, that 00:00:19.339 --> 00:00:22.739 doesn't help. Oh, my goodness. You're just running 00:00:22.739 --> 00:00:24.800 from one convention hall to the next. You're 00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:27.719 just, ugh. I wasn't just there for the sightseeing. 00:00:28.120 --> 00:00:32.799 There was a triennial LCMS convention every three 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:35.679 years or so. We'd get together and we'd try to 00:00:35.679 --> 00:00:38.000 make all these resolutions and decide what we 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:40.880 want to do for the next three years. It's the 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:42.759 things we want to do, but we also want to try 00:00:42.759 --> 00:00:46.299 to address the problems of the past, try to figure 00:00:46.299 --> 00:00:49.079 out how to move forward together in a more positive 00:00:49.079 --> 00:00:51.960 and productive way. When you get to a convention 00:00:51.960 --> 00:00:54.990 like that, You know from the very beginning that 00:00:54.990 --> 00:00:58.189 you're not going to agree with every single thing 00:00:58.189 --> 00:01:02.149 that comes up. And believe it or not, every pastor, 00:01:02.530 --> 00:01:06.670 not every single one of them agreed on everything. 00:01:06.890 --> 00:01:09.689 I know it's hard to believe. And even worse, 00:01:10.189 --> 00:01:13.549 they didn't all agree with me. I don't know what 00:01:13.549 --> 00:01:16.109 they were thinking. I was prepared to tell them 00:01:16.109 --> 00:01:20.230 the right answers. But you're not going to say 00:01:20.230 --> 00:01:22.650 that every single thing discussed or agreed on 00:01:22.650 --> 00:01:25.359 is going to go exactly as you hope it will. And 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:27.299 there were two times, especially, I remember 00:01:27.299 --> 00:01:30.299 I was going to go up and I was ready to say something 00:01:30.299 --> 00:01:34.340 really important and I didn't get the opportunity. 00:01:34.420 --> 00:01:38.019 One of them was frustrating because it was for 00:01:38.019 --> 00:01:40.340 an amendment that I had brought. And then it 00:01:40.340 --> 00:01:43.120 was like they went past, I had this two days, 00:01:43.159 --> 00:01:45.120 I prepared this speech on this amendment that 00:01:45.120 --> 00:01:47.599 I was going to give. And then the moderator is 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:49.480 like, oh no, he didn't really want to speak to 00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:51.719 it. I'm standing at the microphone. Let me talk, 00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:54.560 let me talk. And normally I'm pretty loud. Apparently 00:01:54.560 --> 00:01:58.180 I wasn't loud enough there. But that moment where 00:01:58.180 --> 00:02:01.939 you're prepared, you're ready, but you feel like 00:02:01.939 --> 00:02:03.719 you just didn't get to say what you needed to 00:02:03.719 --> 00:02:07.519 say. And sometimes you can go through all these 00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:11.340 discussions and the only real victory you feel 00:02:11.340 --> 00:02:14.259 like is to be able to say, I want my disagreement 00:02:14.259 --> 00:02:17.539 to be known. Because even when you don't get 00:02:17.539 --> 00:02:20.300 the decision you want, Sometimes it's important 00:02:20.300 --> 00:02:23.479 to make sure people know not everyone saw it 00:02:23.479 --> 00:02:27.819 the same way. Because people often need to know 00:02:27.819 --> 00:02:30.780 that we're still trying to find agreement. We're 00:02:30.780 --> 00:02:33.460 not always on the same page. But what's interesting 00:02:33.460 --> 00:02:36.900 is that people will often take disagreements 00:02:36.900 --> 00:02:41.379 and they assume it's the same as a conflict. 00:02:42.120 --> 00:02:44.080 Which, by the way, was the amendment that I wanted 00:02:44.080 --> 00:02:48.240 to make to the resolution. But you see, disagreements... 00:02:48.319 --> 00:02:51.419 are not necessarily a bad thing. Disagreements 00:02:51.419 --> 00:02:56.240 can actually draw us closer together. When we 00:02:56.240 --> 00:02:58.080 disagree, we have to consider things that go 00:02:58.080 --> 00:03:01.580 beyond what we were originally thinking. We have 00:03:01.580 --> 00:03:03.900 to think through our own ways of thought and 00:03:03.900 --> 00:03:06.080 consider that maybe there's another way of looking 00:03:06.080 --> 00:03:10.280 at it. We see that in Scripture. The writers 00:03:10.280 --> 00:03:12.699 that were in there, especially looking at so 00:03:12.699 --> 00:03:15.699 much what was in the gospels, is they did not 00:03:15.699 --> 00:03:18.900 hide the disagreements, the questions, the misunderstandings. 00:03:19.039 --> 00:03:21.879 They included them. People disagreed with each 00:03:21.879 --> 00:03:24.860 other. People disagreed with Jesus. People misunderstood 00:03:24.860 --> 00:03:28.800 Jesus. But in the midst of all those disagreements, 00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:33.620 Jesus was showing them what he wanted them to 00:03:33.620 --> 00:03:37.740 know. Even in the midst of our own church teachings. 00:03:38.060 --> 00:03:41.759 We have Lutheran confessions that recognize there 00:03:41.759 --> 00:03:45.800 are many areas where Christians are able to disagree 00:03:45.800 --> 00:03:49.280 one another and it is okay. There are many things 00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:53.240 that we're not saying are as important as the 00:03:53.240 --> 00:03:56.520 central part of the gospel of Christ. We don't 00:03:56.520 --> 00:03:58.900 have to agree on every single thing. Whether 00:03:58.900 --> 00:04:02.419 we use a divine traditional service one or a 00:04:02.419 --> 00:04:05.340 divine traditional service four or heaven forbid 00:04:05.340 --> 00:04:09.139 a contemporary worship. whether we put a red 00:04:09.139 --> 00:04:12.580 carpet in the sanctuary or put some wood floors, 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:16.139 whether or not we sing a certain song on a Sunday 00:04:16.139 --> 00:04:19.519 morning, or whether or not we feel that we didn't 00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:22.399 get our favorite song over the last three months. 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:26.439 These things do not determine whether we're united 00:04:26.439 --> 00:04:31.420 in Christ. And yet, it seems more and more Lutheran 00:04:31.420 --> 00:04:36.199 identity often tries to define itself. and make 00:04:36.199 --> 00:04:39.980 things more and more focused on one way of doing 00:04:39.980 --> 00:04:43.240 things. We've started trying to define what we 00:04:43.240 --> 00:04:46.360 think the Lutheran mission even is. And in some 00:04:46.360 --> 00:04:50.079 ways, that's especially strange to me. Because 00:04:50.079 --> 00:04:53.459 coming from a different church body into the 00:04:53.459 --> 00:04:57.339 Lutheran church, I have always seen and felt 00:04:57.339 --> 00:05:01.019 that our identity has always been the same. We're 00:05:01.019 --> 00:05:03.779 created by the Father. We're redeemed by the 00:05:03.779 --> 00:05:07.160 Son. We're sanctified by the Holy Spirit. We're 00:05:07.160 --> 00:05:09.040 saved by God's grace through faith in Christ 00:05:09.040 --> 00:05:13.139 Jesus. We're baptized members of God's body, 00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:16.319 living as sinners who receive God's forgiveness. 00:05:17.399 --> 00:05:20.079 We receive God's grace through word and sacrament, 00:05:20.279 --> 00:05:24.040 the proclamation of the Word, the waters of baptism, 00:05:24.779 --> 00:05:27.060 the body and blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper. 00:05:28.459 --> 00:05:31.339 justified by Christ, gathered round His Word, 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:35.399 living by faith, and loving our neighbor. What's 00:05:35.399 --> 00:05:38.800 so complicated about that? The gospel has not 00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:42.860 changed. Jesus has not changed. God's grace has 00:05:42.860 --> 00:05:45.579 not changed. But it seems like more and more 00:05:45.579 --> 00:05:49.980 we find ourselves trying to define our identity 00:05:49.980 --> 00:05:54.939 more and more. Sometimes we think the culture 00:05:54.939 --> 00:05:58.870 in our churches is what's important. as if the 00:05:58.870 --> 00:06:02.370 ethos is all that matters. We try to define the 00:06:02.370 --> 00:06:05.769 way Lutherans talk, the way they think, the way 00:06:05.769 --> 00:06:10.610 they look, the way they worship. We keep defining 00:06:10.610 --> 00:06:13.430 until eventually it seems like the goal is simply 00:06:13.430 --> 00:06:18.350 for everyone to look exactly the same. And frankly, 00:06:18.550 --> 00:06:20.509 I don't think all of you want to look like me. 00:06:21.900 --> 00:06:24.879 And then we wonder why fewer and fewer of our 00:06:24.879 --> 00:06:27.680 young people feel comfortable putting on a suit 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:31.759 that is too tight to fit. Now I'm not saying 00:06:31.759 --> 00:06:35.839 that everything is equally valid in the world 00:06:35.839 --> 00:06:37.740 or that we just do whatever the culture wants 00:06:37.740 --> 00:06:40.040 us to do. That's not what I'm saying. But I do 00:06:40.040 --> 00:06:43.220 think we have to ask a question sometimes. What 00:06:43.220 --> 00:06:47.889 exactly are we fighting for? Because Jesus says 00:06:47.889 --> 00:06:50.269 that the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure 00:06:50.269 --> 00:06:53.170 hidden in a field. It is a pearl of great price. 00:06:54.149 --> 00:06:56.149 It is something of great value that everything 00:06:56.149 --> 00:07:00.629 else is secondary to. What exactly is the treasure? 00:07:01.410 --> 00:07:05.170 Is the treasure this institution? The ways that 00:07:05.170 --> 00:07:09.029 we do things that we prefer? Is it some cultural 00:07:09.029 --> 00:07:11.870 identity that we feel like we look and act similar? 00:07:12.589 --> 00:07:15.129 Is the treasure trying to make sure everyone 00:07:15.129 --> 00:07:19.949 sounds exactly the same? Or is the treasure a 00:07:19.949 --> 00:07:24.670 Jesus and his kingdom that goes much further 00:07:24.670 --> 00:07:28.470 than our own backyard? See, we often approach 00:07:28.470 --> 00:07:32.250 disagreement as though the question is, who is 00:07:32.250 --> 00:07:35.389 going to win? Let's be honest. When you've disagreed 00:07:35.389 --> 00:07:39.519 with somebody, don't you want to win? If my side 00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:42.959 loses, somehow good has lost, and evil has won, 00:07:43.300 --> 00:07:45.379 and cats and dogs are playing together, and we 00:07:45.379 --> 00:07:47.399 see the kind of behavior that comes from the 00:07:47.399 --> 00:07:51.779 rest of the world, and we start to act like them. 00:07:52.600 --> 00:07:56.459 Mockery, ridicule, dismissing others, assuming 00:07:56.459 --> 00:08:01.399 the worst. Brow -beating, dominating conversations, 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:05.079 treating every disagreement like a battle between 00:08:05.079 --> 00:08:08.259 good and evil. And we see it so much in our world 00:08:08.259 --> 00:08:11.720 today. Disagreeing means that now you have to 00:08:11.720 --> 00:08:16.000 vilify people. And the goal is not necessarily 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:19.759 to listen and to say, well, what is the good 00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:22.300 here that I could learn from others? What could 00:08:22.300 --> 00:08:25.600 we learn and what could we bring as the best 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:27.800 of all of our insights together? How often does 00:08:27.800 --> 00:08:31.519 that happen? Instead, the goal seems to be who 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:35.139 shouts the loudest, who exerts the most pressure. 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:38.320 who can defeat the other side even if you just 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:42.259 outlast them. And it reflects so much of what 00:08:42.259 --> 00:08:45.019 the church often becomes as a community, too. 00:08:45.820 --> 00:08:48.440 See, we've begun to believe that if we do not 00:08:48.440 --> 00:08:51.620 get our way, then somehow something terrible 00:08:51.620 --> 00:08:55.440 has happened. But perhaps the good of the past 00:08:55.440 --> 00:08:59.159 is not always the same as the good intended for 00:08:59.159 --> 00:09:02.500 the future. Maybe, as Scripture says, we bring 00:09:02.500 --> 00:09:07.909 out both what is old and what is new, because 00:09:07.909 --> 00:09:11.389 the treasure can be both. The past is meant to 00:09:11.389 --> 00:09:15.590 give us wisdom, foundations, tools, but it is 00:09:15.590 --> 00:09:19.490 not a substitute for discernment, for listening 00:09:19.490 --> 00:09:22.529 to what faithfulness may require now for maybe 00:09:22.529 --> 00:09:27.149 thinking for ourselves. Sometimes the problem 00:09:27.149 --> 00:09:29.090 is not that the things we've been preserving 00:09:29.090 --> 00:09:32.649 are bad. The problem is that we may become so 00:09:32.649 --> 00:09:36.990 obsessed with preserving our preferences and 00:09:36.990 --> 00:09:39.389 our personal victories that we no longer see 00:09:39.389 --> 00:09:44.730 anything beyond them. Could you imagine if Michelangelo, 00:09:45.169 --> 00:09:48.549 after painting the Sistine Chapel, never painted 00:09:48.549 --> 00:09:51.370 again? That's the best. That's it. Nothing more. 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:55.279 Or if he refused to paint anything but cathedrals 00:09:55.279 --> 00:09:58.200 because, well, this is amazing and nothing else 00:09:58.200 --> 00:10:02.960 should ever compare. Could you imagine? I once 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:05.600 heard a story about an artist who became so obsessed 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:08.799 with one of his paintings, he believed it to 00:10:08.799 --> 00:10:12.299 be perfect. He could not move past it. He would 00:10:12.299 --> 00:10:15.240 stare at it day after day. He would not paint 00:10:15.240 --> 00:10:18.360 anymore until one day he walked in and discovered 00:10:18.360 --> 00:10:21.460 that his master had slashed the painting to pieces. 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:24.919 The problem was that the artist had become so 00:10:24.919 --> 00:10:28.559 consumed by his own work that he could no longer 00:10:28.559 --> 00:10:31.960 create. His masterpiece had become his prison. 00:10:32.360 --> 00:10:35.980 And I wonder if we sometimes do that in the church. 00:10:36.980 --> 00:10:40.320 We become so focused on a particular way, a particular 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:42.860 worship, a particular way of speech, a particular 00:10:42.860 --> 00:10:46.600 organization, a particular way of looking at 00:10:46.600 --> 00:10:51.090 our heritage. What it means to be Lutheran. let 00:10:51.090 --> 00:10:54.889 alone what it means to be Christian at all. And 00:10:54.889 --> 00:10:57.970 we may become unable to see anything beyond our 00:10:57.970 --> 00:11:01.769 own religious thoughts. We may begin with something 00:11:01.769 --> 00:11:04.190 good and it may faithfully point us to Christ, 00:11:04.529 --> 00:11:08.169 but eventually we become so focused that we forget 00:11:08.169 --> 00:11:12.250 what it was made for. That's where we need to 00:11:12.250 --> 00:11:14.769 start asking the question, what exactly are we 00:11:14.769 --> 00:11:19.019 as Christians trying to preserve? Because if 00:11:19.019 --> 00:11:21.220 the treasure is Jesus Christ and His Kingdom, 00:11:21.500 --> 00:11:24.899 then everything else has to be evaluated by whether 00:11:24.899 --> 00:11:30.399 it helps us receive Christ, confess Christ, live 00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:35.100 in Christ, and bring others to Christ. Jesus 00:11:35.100 --> 00:11:37.559 says that the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure 00:11:37.559 --> 00:11:40.700 hidden in a field, a merchant in search of fine 00:11:40.700 --> 00:11:43.899 pearls. The treasure is not simply the way we've 00:11:43.899 --> 00:11:47.240 always done things. But the treasure is the Kingdom 00:11:47.240 --> 00:11:51.059 of Heaven, What does that mean? Yes, it means 00:11:51.059 --> 00:11:53.919 Christ. It means the grace of God given to sinners. 00:11:54.159 --> 00:11:57.399 It means the people Christ has rescued and redeemed. 00:11:57.600 --> 00:12:01.500 It means righteousness, justice, mercy, compassion, 00:12:01.879 --> 00:12:05.620 forgiveness, hope, peace that flow from the reign 00:12:05.620 --> 00:12:08.960 of God. The kingdom is not simply I get to arrange 00:12:08.960 --> 00:12:11.299 everything according to the way I think it should 00:12:11.299 --> 00:12:15.620 be. The kingdom is God's work of making all things 00:12:15.620 --> 00:12:20.500 right in Christ. Not in us and the treasure is 00:12:20.500 --> 00:12:24.259 not simply knowing the right words about things 00:12:24.259 --> 00:12:28.100 because we can talk about grace But what happens 00:12:28.100 --> 00:12:31.580 when somebody has actually hurt us? We can talk 00:12:31.580 --> 00:12:34.799 about forgiveness But what happens when someone 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:38.500 has actually offended us deeply? We can talk 00:12:38.500 --> 00:12:41.000 about mercy, but what happens when someone in 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:44.179 our eyes doesn't deserve it We can talk about 00:12:44.179 --> 00:12:48.029 justice But what happens when it requires us 00:12:48.029 --> 00:12:52.049 to look honestly at ourselves? We can talk about 00:12:52.049 --> 00:12:54.490 the people Christ has redeemed, but what happens 00:12:54.490 --> 00:12:58.370 when those people don't look or think or act 00:12:58.370 --> 00:13:02.269 the way we expect? Because the treasure is not 00:13:02.269 --> 00:13:05.649 something merely that we say. The treasure is 00:13:05.649 --> 00:13:10.450 Christ, and He changes the way we live. We receive 00:13:10.450 --> 00:13:14.190 grace. And therefore, we become people who give 00:13:14.190 --> 00:13:18.350 grace. We receive forgiveness, so we become people 00:13:18.350 --> 00:13:22.169 who forgive. We receive mercy, so we become people 00:13:22.169 --> 00:13:27.289 who show mercy. We are reconciled to God, so 00:13:27.289 --> 00:13:31.429 we go become reconciled with our neighbor. Or 00:13:31.429 --> 00:13:36.350 do we? We come to the Lord's Supper to receive 00:13:36.350 --> 00:13:38.799 the Body and Blood of Christ. as we are forgiven 00:13:38.799 --> 00:13:41.379 by God, that is not something to ignore. But 00:13:41.379 --> 00:13:44.539 if we receive communion on a Sunday morning and 00:13:44.539 --> 00:13:48.019 then spend the rest of the week refusing to share 00:13:48.019 --> 00:13:50.320 our lives with the people Christ has put around 00:13:50.320 --> 00:13:53.919 us, then perhaps we need to ask if we really 00:13:53.919 --> 00:13:58.059 understood what communion was at all. What did 00:13:58.059 --> 00:14:02.320 we really receive if we have communion with Christ 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:05.379 and we forget to seek communion with our neighbor? 00:14:06.500 --> 00:14:11.000 We receive mercy. And the same is true of Scripture 00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:14.539 and what we study. Because we need to be asking 00:14:14.539 --> 00:14:16.899 what the inspired writers were saying. We need 00:14:16.899 --> 00:14:19.399 to find out who were they saying it to? What 00:14:19.399 --> 00:14:24.879 was the context? But we do need to ask, why did 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:30.120 God want me to read this today? Because if we 00:14:30.120 --> 00:14:32.500 study the Bible and we learn all the context 00:14:32.500 --> 00:14:35.000 and we understand all the Greek and the Hebrew 00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:38.399 and the literary structure and then close the 00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:41.159 book without asking how God is speaking to our 00:14:41.159 --> 00:14:43.860 lives Then we've learned a great deal about that 00:14:43.860 --> 00:14:46.879 mirror But we don't know anything about our own 00:14:46.879 --> 00:14:53.179 face the word is Not just becoming better at 00:14:53.179 --> 00:14:57.860 knowing the words the treasure is for us to know 00:14:57.860 --> 00:15:01.120 Christ Himself. And that's why we need to be 00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:03.700 careful not to confuse the treasure with the 00:15:03.700 --> 00:15:06.620 tools that help us find it, because the Lutheran 00:15:06.620 --> 00:15:10.679 church is a wonderful shovel. And I don't just 00:15:10.679 --> 00:15:12.860 mean for the whole that I oftentimes dig for 00:15:12.860 --> 00:15:16.059 myself in everyday conversation. You see, the 00:15:16.059 --> 00:15:19.019 Lutheran church is a wonderful shovel to dig 00:15:19.019 --> 00:15:22.710 for the treasure of the Kingdom of God. Our theology 00:15:22.710 --> 00:15:26.029 has given generations of Christians a way of 00:15:26.029 --> 00:15:29.730 speaking about justification and faith and grace 00:15:29.730 --> 00:15:34.429 and forgiveness. This is not a small thing. But 00:15:34.429 --> 00:15:37.450 the shovel for helping you to get to the treasure 00:15:37.450 --> 00:15:42.309 is not the treasure. If somebody else is trying 00:15:42.309 --> 00:15:44.590 to dig for the kingdom of heaven with a hammer, 00:15:45.490 --> 00:15:49.509 sure, that's going to take them longer. It doesn't 00:15:49.509 --> 00:15:52.720 make quite as much sense. If somebody is trying 00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:54.820 to dig with a screwdriver, yeah, it's not nearly 00:15:54.820 --> 00:15:58.019 as efficient. But the point is not to stand there 00:15:58.019 --> 00:16:01.639 admiring the shovel that you forget to dig with 00:16:01.639 --> 00:16:05.500 it. We may believe that other churches are using 00:16:05.500 --> 00:16:08.379 the wrong tools, but if they're digging for the 00:16:08.379 --> 00:16:10.580 Kingdom of Heaven while all we do is stand around 00:16:10.580 --> 00:16:14.059 and stare at our shovel, then who's really pursuing 00:16:14.059 --> 00:16:18.240 Christ Jesus after all? And even if we have a 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:21.519 shovel, Not every shovel has to be the same. 00:16:22.299 --> 00:16:24.480 They could have different handles, different 00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:28.580 grips, different gloves. The question is not, 00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:30.580 does this look like the shovel that I've always 00:16:30.580 --> 00:16:34.019 used? The question is, does it help us dig for 00:16:34.019 --> 00:16:36.940 the kingdom of heaven? Because even if every 00:16:36.940 --> 00:16:39.700 method is not equally good, a tool is judged 00:16:39.700 --> 00:16:44.059 by the purpose for which it exists. All the things 00:16:44.059 --> 00:16:48.120 we do, our traditions, our patterns, our structures, 00:16:48.539 --> 00:16:51.740 our ways of organizing, they still come down 00:16:51.740 --> 00:16:55.220 to one question. Is what we do helping us to 00:16:55.220 --> 00:16:59.840 receive Christ and bring Him to others? Does 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:04.880 this look like what I did before? No. But is 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:08.720 that really what matters? See, Paul was confronting 00:17:08.720 --> 00:17:10.920 people who were used to feeling like they had 00:17:10.920 --> 00:17:14.619 a privileged place in history. They were saying, 00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:17.259 we're the people of God because we descended 00:17:17.259 --> 00:17:23.200 from Israel. And Paul says, no. God's grace cannot 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:28.000 be reduced to your heritage. Being the first 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:30.480 does not give you a monopoly on having God's 00:17:30.480 --> 00:17:34.880 favor. Isaac the second born had God's favor, 00:17:35.099 --> 00:17:38.559 not Ishmael the first. Jacob the second born 00:17:38.559 --> 00:17:42.079 had God's favor, not Esau the first. The younger, 00:17:42.460 --> 00:17:47.190 not the older. Don't tell my sister. The point 00:17:47.190 --> 00:17:50.109 was not that God was creating some caste system. 00:17:50.329 --> 00:17:52.289 These are the ones I want. These are the ones 00:17:52.289 --> 00:17:56.009 I have no time for. That was not the point. The 00:17:56.009 --> 00:17:58.089 point is that nobody gets to come before God 00:17:58.089 --> 00:18:00.369 and say, I have a better claim than everyone 00:18:00.369 --> 00:18:04.769 else. Sometimes Lutherans fall into that trap. 00:18:05.990 --> 00:18:08.230 The Gospel says you're not saved because you 00:18:08.230 --> 00:18:10.970 inherited the right shovel. You're saved by the 00:18:10.970 --> 00:18:14.190 grace of Christ through faith. It's not about 00:18:14.190 --> 00:18:15.869 whether we've been part of the right group. It's 00:18:15.869 --> 00:18:21.609 about receiving the gift. And that means that 00:18:21.609 --> 00:18:23.710 the Lutheran does not look at the rest of the 00:18:23.710 --> 00:18:26.430 world and say, I'm better than you because I'm 00:18:26.430 --> 00:18:30.089 Lutheran. The Lutheran looks and says, just like 00:18:30.089 --> 00:18:34.829 you, I am a sinner saved by grace. And the only 00:18:34.829 --> 00:18:37.509 reaction, the only reason I have the treasure 00:18:37.509 --> 00:18:41.029 is because Christ has given it to me by the cross. 00:18:42.349 --> 00:18:44.910 It's not how do we preserve everything exactly 00:18:44.910 --> 00:18:47.869 how it is. It's how do we receive Christ, live 00:18:47.869 --> 00:18:52.809 in Him, and bring Him to others. The man in the 00:18:52.809 --> 00:18:55.890 field sold everything. The merchant sold everything. 00:18:56.150 --> 00:18:58.269 The point is not merely that the Kingdom of Heaven 00:18:58.269 --> 00:19:02.109 is valuable. It's that everything else is negotiable 00:19:02.109 --> 00:19:06.069 in comparison to it. If Christ is the treasure, 00:19:06.849 --> 00:19:09.289 we are free to let go of our need to win the 00:19:09.289 --> 00:19:12.920 argument. our fear of change, our insistence 00:19:12.920 --> 00:19:15.680 that everything be done the way it was before. 00:19:16.019 --> 00:19:19.240 How do I prove that my way is better? No, no, 00:19:19.240 --> 00:19:24.619 no. What is good here? What is this trying to 00:19:24.619 --> 00:19:28.940 accomplish? What could I learn? Not because of 00:19:28.940 --> 00:19:32.000 compromising or abandoning our values, but because 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:34.380 we do not have to turn every difference into 00:19:34.380 --> 00:19:39.299 a conflict. I can disagree with you. without 00:19:39.299 --> 00:19:43.099 needing to destroy you. I know, hard to believe. 00:19:44.220 --> 00:19:47.680 That's something that I had to also realize back 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:51.660 at the convention. I went to Phoenix with a lot 00:19:51.660 --> 00:19:55.980 of concerns, things I definitely disagreed with, 00:19:56.480 --> 00:19:58.200 wording that I thought could have been better. 00:19:58.660 --> 00:20:01.579 And there were times I said, there's gonna be 00:20:01.579 --> 00:20:03.700 an issue that comes up in the future because 00:20:03.700 --> 00:20:09.230 of this. But I also had to realize, These are 00:20:09.230 --> 00:20:12.829 not terrible people doing terrible things. They 00:20:12.829 --> 00:20:15.670 are people serving Christ, addressing problems, 00:20:15.829 --> 00:20:18.829 protecting the church, and pursuing the Kingdom 00:20:18.829 --> 00:20:22.609 of God. Perhaps some of the things they proposed 00:20:22.609 --> 00:20:24.829 might not have been the best way to accomplish 00:20:24.829 --> 00:20:27.569 the goals, but guess what? The same was probably 00:20:27.569 --> 00:20:31.250 true for me. And that is very different from 00:20:31.250 --> 00:20:33.609 saying everyone who disagrees with me is my enemy. 00:20:34.319 --> 00:20:36.779 Because if we realize that all of us are meant 00:20:36.779 --> 00:20:39.319 to be a part of the kingdom of God in Christ 00:20:39.319 --> 00:20:42.660 Then we realize that the one who sacrificed himself 00:20:42.660 --> 00:20:49.000 Is saying that you and everyone else is valuable 00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:53.359 even with our mistakes even with our failures 00:20:53.359 --> 00:20:56.720 and Even with the consequences of our own decisions 00:20:56.720 --> 00:20:58.940 because God is still Lord of all and he will 00:20:58.940 --> 00:21:02.440 still work through all things and that's the 00:21:02.440 --> 00:21:06.460 comfort Because it says, those whom God foreknew 00:21:06.460 --> 00:21:09.480 He also predestined to be conformed to the image 00:21:09.480 --> 00:21:12.220 of His Son, and those whom He predestined He 00:21:12.220 --> 00:21:15.059 also called, and those whom He called He also 00:21:15.059 --> 00:21:18.460 justified, and those whom He justified He also 00:21:18.460 --> 00:21:23.000 glorified. Notice who it is that does it all. 00:21:23.539 --> 00:21:28.099 God. The astonishing thing is that the one who 00:21:28.099 --> 00:21:33.640 is the treasure has now made us His own treasure. 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:38.500 Nothing in all creation can separate us. Because 00:21:38.500 --> 00:21:41.799 God's gracious purpose for me is stronger than 00:21:41.799 --> 00:21:45.420 my ability to get everything right. It's not 00:21:45.420 --> 00:21:47.940 a question of who disagrees with us or votes 00:21:47.940 --> 00:21:51.700 against us or frustrates our plans. If God is 00:21:51.700 --> 00:21:54.839 for us, then who can truly do anything against 00:21:54.839 --> 00:21:59.420 us that will stand? No one. No tribulation or 00:21:59.420 --> 00:22:02.519 distress. No persecution or famine. No danger 00:22:02.519 --> 00:22:07.019 or sword. Not death or life. Not things present 00:22:07.019 --> 00:22:09.799 or things to come. All the powers in all creation. 00:22:10.839 --> 00:22:13.559 Not even a church body's triennial convention. 00:22:14.920 --> 00:22:17.559 Nothing can separate us from the love of God 00:22:17.559 --> 00:22:21.259 in Christ Jesus our Lord. Because the treasure 00:22:21.259 --> 00:22:26.940 is Christ. His grace. His redemption. His forgiveness. 00:22:27.240 --> 00:22:30.359 And nothing in all creation can separate us from 00:22:30.359 --> 00:22:37.000 that love, not even ourselves. Because we really 00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:43.279 do try. So let us not be so concerned with defending 00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:47.460 what we think is right, and forget that we are 00:22:47.460 --> 00:22:52.019 people saved by grace. And that even when we 00:22:52.019 --> 00:22:55.809 disagree, Let us remember that the person standing 00:22:55.809 --> 00:22:59.650 across from us is not merely an opponent but 00:22:59.650 --> 00:23:03.549 someone for whom Christ died. Are we still focused 00:23:03.549 --> 00:23:08.130 on Christ? Let nothing take the true treasure 00:23:08.130 --> 00:23:13.069 away from us, even ourselves. Thanks be to God.