WEBVTT 00:00:01.140 --> 00:00:07.120 Howdy. If you've ever tried to learn another 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:10.439 language, you discover pretty quickly that sometimes 00:00:10.439 --> 00:00:14.220 the smallest change can completely change what 00:00:14.220 --> 00:00:17.120 you've said. I'm still working on the Spanish. 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:19.440 Don't worry. Just give me time. I'll get there. 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:23.460 All right. But for a year, I was living in China 00:00:23.460 --> 00:00:27.250 and thought I would try to learn some basic Chinese. 00:00:28.429 --> 00:00:30.829 And there was a word that is a good example of 00:00:30.829 --> 00:00:34.009 this, because Chinese, it's a tonal language. 00:00:34.229 --> 00:00:38.729 The tone changes the meaning. So you could say 00:00:38.729 --> 00:00:43.210 ma, okay? You could say ma with a first tone 00:00:43.210 --> 00:00:46.390 and it means mother. Isn't that sweet? You could 00:00:46.390 --> 00:00:50.770 then say ma with a second tone and it means hemp. 00:00:51.450 --> 00:00:54.149 It's a little different. You could then say ma 00:00:54.149 --> 00:00:57.899 with a Third tone, and it means horse. Don't 00:00:57.899 --> 00:01:00.899 get the first and third confused. Terrible for 00:01:00.899 --> 00:01:03.439 Mother's Day card. And then the fourth tone, 00:01:03.899 --> 00:01:07.359 ma. That means you're scolding somebody. And 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:10.200 then there's even a fifth one, ma. It's actually 00:01:10.200 --> 00:01:12.140 really short, really quick, and you put it at 00:01:12.140 --> 00:01:15.420 the end of a sentence to turn it into a question. 00:01:16.340 --> 00:01:19.500 And all of these things, same basic sound, different 00:01:19.500 --> 00:01:23.159 tone, completely different meaning. There was 00:01:23.159 --> 00:01:26.180 even one, it was this phrase, Niagamala, and 00:01:26.180 --> 00:01:28.599 if you say it, it's meaning, what are you doing? 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:32.120 But if you say it louder, Niagamala, it means 00:01:32.120 --> 00:01:34.700 like, what the heck are you doing? And it completely 00:01:34.700 --> 00:01:38.680 changes the feeling of what you're saying. But 00:01:38.680 --> 00:01:40.640 you see, we do it in English all the time too. 00:01:40.859 --> 00:01:43.200 Depending on how you say something, it could 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:47.239 mean, I am genuinely excited for you. You could 00:01:47.239 --> 00:01:51.680 say, that's great. I'm genuinely excited for 00:01:51.680 --> 00:01:56.319 you. But then you could also say, that's great. 00:01:57.239 --> 00:02:01.019 Saying, I cannot believe you just did that. You 00:02:01.019 --> 00:02:03.900 could say, come here. Because you're thinking, 00:02:04.040 --> 00:02:06.420 hey, I want to give you a hug. But then you say 00:02:06.420 --> 00:02:08.340 it the wrong way, come here. We need to have 00:02:08.340 --> 00:02:11.759 a conversation now. Both could have come from 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:15.340 my parents. So sometimes you don't even need 00:02:15.340 --> 00:02:17.919 words. You just have an eyebrow that's raised 00:02:17.919 --> 00:02:21.900 or a pause at the wrong time, eye contact, a 00:02:21.900 --> 00:02:24.879 little too long or a little too short. And sometimes 00:02:24.879 --> 00:02:28.319 despite our best intentions, we communicate something 00:02:28.319 --> 00:02:32.500 we never intended. You were joking, but they 00:02:32.500 --> 00:02:35.020 thought you were insulting them. You were trying 00:02:35.020 --> 00:02:37.439 to encourage them, but instead it was rejection 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:41.009 and your face. You thought you were saying, I'm 00:02:41.009 --> 00:02:43.349 with you, and instead it said, you made a terrible 00:02:43.349 --> 00:02:48.150 choice. And believe me, been there. But you know, 00:02:48.229 --> 00:02:50.289 the point is that the words themselves, they 00:02:50.289 --> 00:02:53.090 don't always contain the whole conversation. 00:02:53.930 --> 00:02:56.909 It's worth remembering this when we get to Matthew 00:02:56.909 --> 00:03:01.189 15. Because Matthew, he gives us the words that 00:03:01.189 --> 00:03:04.289 Jesus spoke to the Canaanite woman. But Matthew 00:03:04.289 --> 00:03:07.349 doesn't give us an audio recording, okay? This 00:03:07.349 --> 00:03:10.030 was like a few years before eight tracks. And 00:03:10.030 --> 00:03:13.310 we don't know exactly what Jesus' face had looked 00:03:13.310 --> 00:03:16.990 like. We don't know exactly how he said every 00:03:16.990 --> 00:03:19.849 word. We don't know if there was a pause, an 00:03:19.849 --> 00:03:22.289 inflection, a wink -wink and a nudge -nudge. 00:03:22.669 --> 00:03:24.969 Was there a rhetorical edge or some other element 00:03:24.969 --> 00:03:27.870 of communication that Matthew just didn't think 00:03:27.870 --> 00:03:32.009 to record? It doesn't mean that we can changed 00:03:32.009 --> 00:03:34.530 Jesus to saying whatever we want, but it means 00:03:34.530 --> 00:03:38.469 that we need to be careful about taking one difficult 00:03:38.469 --> 00:03:42.270 sentence and building an entire meaning all around 00:03:42.270 --> 00:03:45.509 it. We need to listen to the whole conversation. 00:03:46.110 --> 00:03:49.150 And Matthew tells us that a Canaanite woman comes 00:03:49.150 --> 00:03:52.870 to Jesus crying out, have mercy on me, oh Lord, 00:03:53.009 --> 00:03:56.289 son of David, my daughter is severely oppressed 00:03:56.289 --> 00:04:02.030 by a demon. She's not from Israel. She is a Canaanite. 00:04:02.469 --> 00:04:04.669 These were the people that they were supposed 00:04:04.669 --> 00:04:07.310 to kick out originally when they came to the 00:04:07.310 --> 00:04:10.650 promised land. She is an outsider in their eyes, 00:04:10.689 --> 00:04:14.990 and yet she knows exactly who Jesus is. She calls 00:04:14.990 --> 00:04:19.850 Him Lord. She calls Him Son of David. That means 00:04:19.850 --> 00:04:23.610 Messiah, by the way. She asks Him for mercy, 00:04:24.209 --> 00:04:26.810 and Jesus initially doesn't answer her. He just 00:04:26.810 --> 00:04:31.160 keeps going. The disciples, they're getting irritated. 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:35.300 Send her away for she is crying out after us. 00:04:35.500 --> 00:04:38.060 That one annoying person just wished that they 00:04:38.060 --> 00:04:42.759 would just quiet down. Jesus says, I was sent 00:04:42.759 --> 00:04:45.379 only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 00:04:46.040 --> 00:04:48.819 I don't know if that was his tone. I kind of 00:04:48.819 --> 00:04:52.079 wonder though. Because then she kneels before 00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:58.230 him. Lord, help me. Clearly. She still knows 00:04:58.230 --> 00:05:01.930 where his heart is. And then comes a sentence 00:05:01.930 --> 00:05:04.970 that can stop us cold. It is not right to take 00:05:04.970 --> 00:05:07.629 the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. 00:05:08.689 --> 00:05:11.050 Oof, don't say that one at a family reunion. 00:05:11.629 --> 00:05:14.449 If we read that sentence in isolation all by 00:05:14.449 --> 00:05:17.709 itself, no tone, no facial expression, no context, 00:05:18.209 --> 00:05:22.029 it sounds incredibly harsh. But listen to what 00:05:22.029 --> 00:05:25.839 happens next. She doesn't walk away. She doesn't 00:05:25.839 --> 00:05:28.560 say well fine if that's how you feel. I'll just 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:33.860 I'm done Did that go well? Thank you She answers 00:05:33.860 --> 00:05:38.339 yes Lord yet even the dogs Eat the crumbs that 00:05:38.339 --> 00:05:43.720 fall from their masters table. Oh a Detail worth 00:05:43.720 --> 00:05:47.240 noticing the word that Matthew records for dogs. 00:05:47.459 --> 00:05:50.980 It's a diminutive form. It's it's like a puppy 00:05:50.980 --> 00:05:55.439 dog. That's like a family pet, okay? But that 00:05:55.439 --> 00:05:57.720 doesn't necessarily mean that it's about using 00:05:57.720 --> 00:06:01.839 an affectionate pet name. We shouldn't make the 00:06:01.839 --> 00:06:05.459 passage out to be cute. But it does fit the picture 00:06:05.459 --> 00:06:09.120 of Jesus having children at the table, but others 00:06:09.120 --> 00:06:13.660 still receiving what falls from the table. But 00:06:13.660 --> 00:06:17.079 notice what the woman does. She doesn't reject 00:06:17.079 --> 00:06:21.980 Jesus' image. She doesn't assume all the worst. 00:06:22.250 --> 00:06:25.569 even though it sounds pretty difficult. She finds 00:06:25.569 --> 00:06:29.089 hope inside of it. Yes, Lord, yet even the little 00:06:29.089 --> 00:06:34.110 dogs eat the crumbs. Not demanding the children's 00:06:34.110 --> 00:06:36.870 bread, trusting that there is enough mercy in 00:06:36.870 --> 00:06:40.230 the master for her, too. When was the last time 00:06:40.230 --> 00:06:42.930 we heard something difficult and assumed the 00:06:42.930 --> 00:06:47.129 best instead of the worst? Jesus responds, oh 00:06:47.129 --> 00:06:50.930 woman, great is your faith. The woman came asking 00:06:50.930 --> 00:06:53.949 for mercy, and she leaves having received mercy. 00:06:54.529 --> 00:06:56.610 Whatever precisely was happening in the tone 00:06:56.610 --> 00:06:59.569 and the rhetoric, we cannot understand verse 00:06:59.569 --> 00:07:04.810 26 if we don't also look at verse 28. The whole 00:07:04.810 --> 00:07:08.389 conversation matters. Matthew is showing us something 00:07:08.389 --> 00:07:11.750 bigger than some argument between Jesus and a 00:07:11.750 --> 00:07:15.769 desperate mother. He's showing us a gospel breaking 00:07:15.769 --> 00:07:18.660 through boundaries. And to understand what is 00:07:18.660 --> 00:07:21.939 happening, we do have to remember Isaiah, these 00:07:21.939 --> 00:07:25.079 I will bring to my holy mountain and make them 00:07:25.079 --> 00:07:28.240 joyful in my house of prayer. For my house shall 00:07:28.240 --> 00:07:31.360 be called the house of prayer for all peoples, 00:07:32.600 --> 00:07:37.079 all peoples. That's the astonishing thing. God 00:07:37.079 --> 00:07:42.259 chose Israel, but Israel was never chosen because 00:07:42.259 --> 00:07:44.959 Israel was somehow more worthy than somebody 00:07:44.959 --> 00:07:48.680 else. Israel was chosen to be the vessel through 00:07:48.680 --> 00:07:51.879 which God would reveal his salvation to the world. 00:07:51.959 --> 00:07:55.399 Did you catch that? It was meant for the world. 00:07:55.839 --> 00:07:59.000 Israel was the vessel, not the only recipient. 00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:02.379 God gave Israel the covenant, the promises, the 00:08:02.379 --> 00:08:06.220 law, the prophets, the scriptures. Through Israel 00:08:06.220 --> 00:08:09.860 would come the Messiah, thanks be to God. But 00:08:09.860 --> 00:08:12.949 there is a tremendous difference. Between being 00:08:12.949 --> 00:08:15.509 the vessel through which God brings salvation 00:08:15.509 --> 00:08:18.930 to the world versus being the people who somehow 00:08:18.930 --> 00:08:24.009 deserve it alone Israel was not chosen because 00:08:24.009 --> 00:08:26.990 God looked down and said oh these people they're 00:08:26.990 --> 00:08:29.870 better than everyone else so Clearly they get 00:08:29.870 --> 00:08:33.269 to be saved and everyone else is just out of 00:08:33.269 --> 00:08:39.110 luck God chose Israel Because God had a purpose 00:08:39.110 --> 00:08:43.940 for Israel The promise given to Abraham was always 00:08:43.940 --> 00:08:47.080 bigger than Abraham's family. Even Genesis 12, 00:08:47.179 --> 00:08:49.600 it says, in you all the families of the earth 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:52.559 shall be blessed. Israel was supposed to be a 00:08:52.559 --> 00:08:56.440 beacon for the world, not a barricade to the 00:08:56.440 --> 00:09:00.639 world. A sign pointing toward God, not a wall 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:05.340 keeping everyone else away. And that beacon ultimately 00:09:05.340 --> 00:09:10.419 had a name, Jesus. Israel was not the destination. 00:09:11.170 --> 00:09:14.129 Israel was the people through whom God would 00:09:14.129 --> 00:09:17.909 bring the Savior. The promises were pointing 00:09:17.909 --> 00:09:21.789 somewhere. The covenant, the sacrifices, the 00:09:21.789 --> 00:09:24.009 prophets were pointing somewhere. They were pointing 00:09:24.009 --> 00:09:28.529 to Christ who would come from Israel. And when 00:09:28.529 --> 00:09:30.549 the Canaanite woman comes to Jesus, she isn't 00:09:30.549 --> 00:09:33.929 finding a new way around God's promises to Israel. 00:09:34.490 --> 00:09:36.750 She's coming directly to the one toward whom 00:09:36.750 --> 00:09:41.580 those promises had always been pointing. Isaiah 00:09:41.580 --> 00:09:45.139 makes that clear. God's house would be a house 00:09:45.139 --> 00:09:48.620 of prayer for all peoples. The nations were always 00:09:48.620 --> 00:09:52.580 part of the story. And that's where, frankly, 00:09:53.820 --> 00:09:58.360 God's people can be confused. God gives us blessings 00:09:58.360 --> 00:10:01.919 that point people toward Him, and eventually 00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:05.399 we start treating those things as though they 00:10:05.399 --> 00:10:08.559 belong exclusively to us, to keep everyone else 00:10:08.559 --> 00:10:14.149 out. The covenant becomes like a security badge. 00:10:14.990 --> 00:10:18.710 The temple, like a personal possession. The law, 00:10:19.190 --> 00:10:22.549 a weapon against others. Traditions, a test of 00:10:22.549 --> 00:10:25.730 who belongs and who doesn't. The things that 00:10:25.730 --> 00:10:29.250 God has intended to proclaim, come and see who 00:10:29.250 --> 00:10:33.450 God is, instead, they might become, you aren't 00:10:33.450 --> 00:10:36.190 one of us. And frankly, Israel's not the only 00:10:36.190 --> 00:10:41.059 ones who did it. The church. can do exactly the 00:10:41.059 --> 00:10:44.279 same thing. There are times when someone says, 00:10:44.600 --> 00:10:47.440 I am growing in my Christian faith, and then 00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:49.559 they follow it with, I've been listening to more 00:10:49.559 --> 00:10:53.279 Christian music. As if somehow that is now the 00:10:53.279 --> 00:10:57.799 measure of their discipleship. Yes, we have Christian 00:10:57.799 --> 00:11:00.580 music, Christian books, Christian television, 00:11:01.419 --> 00:11:04.539 podcasts, schools, conferences, Bible studies, 00:11:05.220 --> 00:11:07.659 Christian buildings and programs, vocabulary 00:11:07.659 --> 00:11:11.389 and traditions. And all those things can be wonderful. 00:11:12.309 --> 00:11:14.230 They can be vessels through which the gospel 00:11:14.230 --> 00:11:18.309 is communicated. We should not despise them because 00:11:18.309 --> 00:11:21.509 they matter, they teach us, they form us, a language 00:11:21.509 --> 00:11:25.529 and a way of seeing God, but they are the means, 00:11:27.090 --> 00:11:31.009 not medals to be proud of. They are gifts through 00:11:31.009 --> 00:11:34.029 which grace is carried, not evidence that somehow 00:11:34.029 --> 00:11:39.759 we've become worthy of grace. We have to remember 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:42.919 that the vessel carrying the gospel is not the 00:11:42.919 --> 00:11:47.559 same thing as fruit produced by the gospel. A 00:11:47.559 --> 00:11:50.200 person can sing Christian music and be bitter 00:11:50.200 --> 00:11:53.399 in their hearts. A person can read Christian 00:11:53.399 --> 00:11:57.639 books and be arrogant of mind. A person can know 00:11:57.639 --> 00:12:02.220 the Bible and be cruel in their actions. A congregation 00:12:02.220 --> 00:12:05.679 can have beautiful worship, and some can still 00:12:05.679 --> 00:12:08.889 have prejudice in their hearts. A person can 00:12:08.889 --> 00:12:11.309 know exactly what the pastor is supposed to say 00:12:11.309 --> 00:12:14.250 about forgiveness, but still refuse to forgive 00:12:14.250 --> 00:12:17.129 the person three rows away. They looked at them 00:12:17.129 --> 00:12:20.370 funny. The question is not merely, do we have 00:12:20.370 --> 00:12:23.990 Christian things? The question is, what is Christ 00:12:23.990 --> 00:12:28.210 producing in us? Paul tells us what the fruit 00:12:28.210 --> 00:12:30.690 should look like. The fruit of the Spirit is 00:12:30.690 --> 00:12:34.029 love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, 00:12:34.710 --> 00:12:37.990 faithfulness, gentleness. Self -control, I know. 00:12:38.210 --> 00:12:39.870 You memorize them. There's nine of them. The 00:12:39.870 --> 00:12:41.870 first three have one syllable. The next three 00:12:41.870 --> 00:12:44.110 have two syllables. The last three have three 00:12:44.110 --> 00:12:46.730 syllables. The math teacher does that to remember 00:12:46.730 --> 00:12:51.610 them. I love it. But you know, the fruit, it's 00:12:51.610 --> 00:12:54.629 not what earns us God's love. It's what begins 00:12:54.629 --> 00:12:57.950 to grow because we've already received it. We 00:12:57.950 --> 00:13:00.629 don't become worthy vessels of grace by becoming 00:13:00.629 --> 00:13:03.169 good enough We become vessels of grace because 00:13:03.169 --> 00:13:07.450 Christ has already been gracious to us and the 00:13:07.450 --> 00:13:10.549 more deeply we understand that The more we begin 00:13:10.549 --> 00:13:15.370 to look like the one whose grace we carry Christian 00:13:15.370 --> 00:13:20.129 things are useful Christian practices matter 00:13:20.129 --> 00:13:24.710 Christian traditions can be beautiful But none 00:13:24.710 --> 00:13:26.490 of them are trophies proving that we've become 00:13:26.490 --> 00:13:30.679 holy We don't possess grace as if it were exclusively 00:13:30.679 --> 00:13:34.399 ours. We carry grace because it's intended for 00:13:34.399 --> 00:13:38.120 us and for all people. And that matters when 00:13:38.120 --> 00:13:39.980 somebody walks through the doors of the church 00:13:39.980 --> 00:13:43.440 carrying a difficult past. Oh, not any of you. 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:46.759 I'm sure you're all perfect. But you see, maybe 00:13:46.759 --> 00:13:49.539 they didn't grow up in church. Maybe they have, 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:52.139 maybe there were choices made that we wouldn't 00:13:52.139 --> 00:13:54.840 have made. Maybe they don't know the Bible the 00:13:54.840 --> 00:13:57.450 way that we do. Maybe they're still learning 00:13:57.450 --> 00:14:01.590 what it means to follow Christ, taking one step 00:14:01.590 --> 00:14:05.129 at a time. Maybe you were given an opportunity 00:14:05.129 --> 00:14:07.149 to learn some of these things when you were younger, 00:14:07.210 --> 00:14:10.750 and that is a gift. But don't turn the gift you 00:14:10.750 --> 00:14:13.509 received into a measuring stick for somebody 00:14:13.509 --> 00:14:17.330 who didn't receive it the same way. We have to 00:14:17.330 --> 00:14:20.850 allow people to grow. We have to allow people 00:14:20.850 --> 00:14:24.279 the chance to learn. We have to allow people 00:14:24.279 --> 00:14:28.379 the chance to stumble. Because the church is 00:14:28.379 --> 00:14:30.899 not a museum for displaying finished Christians. 00:14:31.799 --> 00:14:33.960 It's a community of people still being formed 00:14:33.960 --> 00:14:37.500 by Christ. And that means that there will be 00:14:37.500 --> 00:14:44.360 broken people here. Yes. There will be difficult 00:14:44.360 --> 00:14:49.899 people here. I know. Hard to believe. There will 00:14:49.899 --> 00:14:51.919 be people who say things they shouldn't say, 00:14:52.299 --> 00:14:54.240 people who have prejudices that they still need 00:14:54.240 --> 00:14:58.000 to confront, people who are angry, people judgmental, 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:01.600 people who are perpetually unhappy, that frown 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:04.620 somehow has been formed. There will be people 00:15:04.620 --> 00:15:08.320 who read words, not because they want to understand 00:15:08.320 --> 00:15:11.399 the meaning, but because they're ready to attack. 00:15:13.220 --> 00:15:16.919 We're working on them, but we're also working 00:15:16.919 --> 00:15:20.259 on ourselves too. Believe me, I've had the strange 00:15:20.259 --> 00:15:23.639 of experience of standing here, proclaiming something 00:15:23.639 --> 00:15:28.019 directly from Jesus, only discover that I too 00:15:28.019 --> 00:15:31.460 would sometimes rather defend what I've already 00:15:31.460 --> 00:15:36.159 decided than let Jesus change me. And I've certainly 00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:38.600 discovered there are others that do the same. 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:42.120 Sometimes the messenger gets caught in the crossfire, 00:15:42.440 --> 00:15:46.539 but even then, we don't give up on people. Because 00:15:46.539 --> 00:15:48.399 the fact that someone is struggling does not 00:15:48.399 --> 00:15:51.679 mean that God has stopped working on them. We're 00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:55.120 all still making our way toward Christ because 00:15:55.120 --> 00:15:59.000 He already came to us to bring us His grace. 00:16:00.740 --> 00:16:04.419 This is where Romans 11 becomes very important. 00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:08.720 Everything Paul has said about Israel's unbelief, 00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:14.460 God's chosen people, Paul asks, has God rejected 00:16:14.720 --> 00:16:19.080 His people. And He emphatically says, by no means. 00:16:20.899 --> 00:16:23.679 God's mercy toward the Gentiles does not mean 00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:27.320 God has abandoned the Jewish community. He wants 00:16:27.320 --> 00:16:31.259 them to know Christ as well. Paul warns the Gentile 00:16:31.259 --> 00:16:33.960 Christians not to become arrogant about their 00:16:33.960 --> 00:16:37.399 place in God's family. Why? Because they didn't 00:16:37.399 --> 00:16:40.580 earn it either. They were brought in by grace 00:16:40.580 --> 00:16:43.610 the same. And the Gentiles being brought in does 00:16:43.610 --> 00:16:45.970 not mean that Israel was some failed experiment. 00:16:46.570 --> 00:16:50.350 How many from Israel did come to know and believe 00:16:50.350 --> 00:16:53.710 in Christ? And Israel's place in God's story 00:16:53.710 --> 00:16:57.149 does not mean the Gentiles have to somehow become 00:16:57.149 --> 00:17:01.909 Israel in order to receive God's mercy. God's 00:17:01.909 --> 00:17:06.390 one gracious person, God's one gracious purpose 00:17:06.390 --> 00:17:10.509 is already unfolding in Christ. And then Paul 00:17:10.509 --> 00:17:12.529 gives us one of the most remarkable statements 00:17:12.529 --> 00:17:16.490 in the passage where he says, for God has consigned 00:17:16.490 --> 00:17:20.569 all to disobedience that he may have mercy on 00:17:20.569 --> 00:17:28.049 all. All. Israel needs mercy. Gentiles need mercy. 00:17:29.009 --> 00:17:32.289 The church needs mercy. The world needs mercy. 00:17:33.130 --> 00:17:35.529 The person who has been sitting in the pews for 00:17:35.529 --> 00:17:39.400 60 years needs mercy still. The person who just 00:17:39.400 --> 00:17:42.880 walked in this morning needs mercy still. The 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:46.019 person who wandered away as well as the person 00:17:46.019 --> 00:17:50.740 who never wandered both still need mercy. Nobody 00:17:50.740 --> 00:17:53.740 gets to boast about deserving the table. We all 00:17:53.740 --> 00:17:57.240 need Jesus. And that's why even our testimonies 00:17:57.240 --> 00:18:00.299 of coming to faith, they have to be handled with 00:18:00.299 --> 00:18:04.839 humility too. How often we hear somebody with 00:18:04.839 --> 00:18:08.950 this proclaimed testimony and gets on a magazine 00:18:08.950 --> 00:18:12.569 or on a TV show. I walked away from God and enjoyed 00:18:12.569 --> 00:18:15.130 life for so many years, but I came back and now 00:18:15.130 --> 00:18:18.410 I understand grace so much better than all those 00:18:18.410 --> 00:18:21.509 other people. There may be something beautiful 00:18:21.509 --> 00:18:24.369 and true in a testimony, but it doesn't mean 00:18:24.369 --> 00:18:26.890 I was outside and now I'm better than the people 00:18:26.890 --> 00:18:31.809 who stayed. On the other hand, someone who grew 00:18:31.809 --> 00:18:35.029 up in the church cannot say, I have been faithful 00:18:35.029 --> 00:18:37.269 all these years, so clearly I'm better than the 00:18:37.269 --> 00:18:41.490 person who just wandered in. What about the person 00:18:41.490 --> 00:18:44.970 baptized as an adult? I remember the day. I remember 00:18:44.970 --> 00:18:50.089 my decision. I remember what I felt. But what 00:18:50.089 --> 00:18:53.210 about the person baptized as an infant? I don't 00:18:53.210 --> 00:18:56.430 remember that day, but I trust that God's grace 00:18:56.430 --> 00:19:00.609 is mine in Christ Jesus. Which baptism is better? 00:19:01.670 --> 00:19:04.930 Neither. Because baptism is not ultimately a 00:19:04.930 --> 00:19:07.529 story about what we do for God, as if we can 00:19:07.529 --> 00:19:10.170 do anything for Him. It's a story about what 00:19:10.170 --> 00:19:13.269 God did for us on the cross, in which we are 00:19:13.269 --> 00:19:18.130 buried and raised. One baptism, one Christ, one 00:19:18.130 --> 00:19:22.349 grace, one promise. The difference isn't in the 00:19:22.349 --> 00:19:24.710 worth of the person receiving it or how ready 00:19:24.710 --> 00:19:27.809 they feel they are. The difference is only in 00:19:27.809 --> 00:19:30.930 the story that God has written around the people. 00:19:31.550 --> 00:19:36.109 because one remembers the font, the other one 00:19:36.109 --> 00:19:39.029 does not. Well, they probably remember a little 00:19:39.029 --> 00:19:41.569 baptismal tub because if I tried to take an adult 00:19:41.569 --> 00:19:43.869 and try to baptize them in that little font over 00:19:43.869 --> 00:19:46.210 there, that'd be really difficult, a little too 00:19:46.210 --> 00:19:51.769 heavy for me, but we could try. You see, neither 00:19:51.769 --> 00:19:57.069 has more of Jesus. God says, you are mine. We 00:19:57.069 --> 00:20:01.470 don't possess the grace, we carry it. Because 00:20:01.470 --> 00:20:04.450 we finally see what is happening with this Canaanite 00:20:04.450 --> 00:20:07.490 woman. The disciples, well, they're the insiders, 00:20:07.549 --> 00:20:10.349 and clearly she must be the outsider, right? 00:20:11.430 --> 00:20:13.650 You're the people that we should have gotten 00:20:13.650 --> 00:20:15.789 rid of. We were supposed to kill y 'all off a 00:20:15.789 --> 00:20:18.690 long time ago. You don't belong here. You don't 00:20:18.690 --> 00:20:23.849 belong with us. Be quiet. You shouldn't be here. 00:20:25.130 --> 00:20:27.970 The disciples spent the time with Jesus. She 00:20:27.970 --> 00:20:30.559 hasn't. They understand the Scriptures. She's 00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:33.980 just a Canaanite. But in this moment, who demonstrates 00:20:33.980 --> 00:20:38.960 the faith? She does. Oh woman, great is your 00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:42.039 faith. The outsider becomes a witness to the 00:20:42.039 --> 00:20:45.460 insiders. That's a lesson that the church needs. 00:20:46.579 --> 00:20:48.839 Sometimes the person we think needs to be brought 00:20:48.839 --> 00:20:51.799 into the circle is the person God is using to 00:20:51.799 --> 00:20:54.940 remind those inside why the circle existed in 00:20:54.940 --> 00:20:58.240 the first place. Because we're meant to bring 00:20:58.240 --> 00:21:01.829 people in. Not to just decide who should stay 00:21:01.829 --> 00:21:05.869 out. That's why we don't get to say, oh, those 00:21:05.869 --> 00:21:10.309 people, they need God's grace. We need God's 00:21:10.309 --> 00:21:12.970 grace. When somebody comes into the church with 00:21:12.970 --> 00:21:15.809 a difficult background, we don't simply say, 00:21:15.930 --> 00:21:17.990 clean yourself up and then we'll let you belong. 00:21:19.390 --> 00:21:23.150 We walk with them. We teach them. We correct 00:21:23.150 --> 00:21:28.289 them. We forgive. We help them grow. We let them 00:21:28.289 --> 00:21:31.369 take the next step. Yes, there are times when 00:21:31.369 --> 00:21:33.849 you see us wondering, why do you let someone 00:21:33.849 --> 00:21:37.470 like that here in the church? Because Christ 00:21:37.470 --> 00:21:40.849 is working on them, even as he's working on us 00:21:40.849 --> 00:21:44.329 all. And when we encounter the angry person, 00:21:44.349 --> 00:21:47.509 the bitter person, the judgmental one, the prejudiced 00:21:47.509 --> 00:21:51.569 one, even if they happen to be members, we don't 00:21:51.569 --> 00:21:55.089 write them off either. We don't approve of the 00:21:55.089 --> 00:21:59.490 sin. Grace is not approval. Christ loves you 00:21:59.490 --> 00:22:02.589 too much to leave you there. And sometimes God 00:22:02.589 --> 00:22:05.430 uses another person to bring us back on track. 00:22:05.890 --> 00:22:07.670 And maybe that's what it means to be the church. 00:22:08.230 --> 00:22:10.089 Not a collection of people who have it figured 00:22:10.089 --> 00:22:12.890 out, not a community that eliminated all the 00:22:12.890 --> 00:22:15.589 difficult people, not a place where everyone 00:22:15.589 --> 00:22:18.029 has the same history or everyone arrived at the 00:22:18.029 --> 00:22:21.690 same level of maturity, but a people who have 00:22:21.690 --> 00:22:25.140 received grace and are now vessels of it. Because 00:22:25.140 --> 00:22:30.619 if we keep walking away, every time we discover 00:22:30.619 --> 00:22:34.180 someone in our community who has failed, we're 00:22:34.180 --> 00:22:38.160 never gonna stop running. Start another church, 00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:40.299 find another group, change the worship style, 00:22:40.519 --> 00:22:43.779 find different people, start over. Eventually 00:22:43.779 --> 00:22:46.900 we discover something. The new people have problems 00:22:46.900 --> 00:22:52.509 too. Sorry for all the visitors here. Because 00:22:52.509 --> 00:22:55.450 the problem was never simply the old people, 00:22:55.670 --> 00:22:58.690 nor was it the new people. The problem is we're 00:22:58.690 --> 00:23:01.569 all human. And the Christian response isn't, 00:23:01.730 --> 00:23:03.809 how do we find better people? The Christian response 00:23:03.809 --> 00:23:06.849 is, how do we become better together at bringing 00:23:06.849 --> 00:23:10.410 people we already have back to Christ? And that's 00:23:10.410 --> 00:23:14.130 what grace does. Here's the beautiful part. The 00:23:14.130 --> 00:23:16.990 person who comes back to Christ may have something 00:23:16.990 --> 00:23:20.160 to teach the person who never left. But also 00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:22.259 the person who's been in church for 60 years 00:23:22.259 --> 00:23:24.839 may have something to teach the person who arrived 00:23:24.839 --> 00:23:27.819 yesterday. The person who feels like an outsider, 00:23:28.039 --> 00:23:30.039 they may be blessed by one of those so -called 00:23:30.039 --> 00:23:33.000 insiders, but the person who thinks they have 00:23:33.000 --> 00:23:36.119 everything figured out may discover the outsider 00:23:36.119 --> 00:23:40.380 has something that they had forgotten. Because 00:23:40.380 --> 00:23:43.940 we don't possess grace just for ourselves. Grace 00:23:43.940 --> 00:23:46.000 is something that we carry for the world as well. 00:23:46.920 --> 00:23:49.400 Sometimes God carries that grace to us through 00:23:49.400 --> 00:23:54.640 the people who expose our own immaturity. The 00:23:54.640 --> 00:23:56.880 Canaanite woman came to Jesus for mercy and in 00:23:56.880 --> 00:24:01.319 the process, Jesus used her to teach his own 00:24:01.319 --> 00:24:04.980 disciples. The outsider was the vessel of grace 00:24:04.980 --> 00:24:07.700 to the inside and perhaps that's what the church 00:24:07.700 --> 00:24:10.460 is supposed to be. Not a place to prove we're 00:24:10.460 --> 00:24:14.680 better, not a place where we see anything. except 00:24:14.680 --> 00:24:20.000 God's mercy still moving. Christ to us, us to 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:23.720 one another, to our neighbors. But sometimes, 00:24:24.799 --> 00:24:26.640 through the very people we thought needed us 00:24:26.640 --> 00:24:34.819 most, back to us. We carry that grace. And God 00:24:34.819 --> 00:24:37.500 keeps putting broken people in our lives because 00:24:37.500 --> 00:24:40.859 He hasn't forgotten how broken they are. And 00:24:40.859 --> 00:24:43.890 He knows exactly the grace they need. And he 00:24:43.890 --> 00:24:46.009 has decided to carry some of that grace through 00:24:46.009 --> 00:24:51.670 you. Congratulations, you're a vessel. And that 00:24:51.670 --> 00:24:54.769 doesn't mean we're the source. We're not the 00:24:54.769 --> 00:24:57.750 answer to somebody's brokenness, but we are simply 00:24:57.750 --> 00:25:00.650 people who receive the mercy of Christ and have 00:25:00.650 --> 00:25:02.750 been given the privilege to carry that mercy 00:25:02.750 --> 00:25:06.849 to someone else. For God has consigned all to 00:25:06.849 --> 00:25:16.720 disobedience that he may have mercy. And that 00:25:16.720 --> 00:25:19.960 mercy is yours right now, because Christ died 00:25:19.960 --> 00:25:23.500 and rose for you. Thanks be to God.