WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.600 Let me start, let me set up the passage with a very overused line, so you've heard it before, 00:00:06.600 --> 00:00:08.980 but I want to give us a different way of thinking of this. 00:00:08.980 --> 00:00:16.039 This is from Lewis's Narnia series, a very famous line where Susan, it's the line in 00:00:16.039 --> 00:00:20.080 which the wardrobe, they're just getting to know this idea of Aslan. 00:00:20.080 --> 00:00:26.039 And if you'll remember, they hear that Aslan is a lion. 00:00:26.039 --> 00:00:31.039 And little Susan is nervous about meeting a lion. 00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:35.280 She says, I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion. 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:36.840 Is he safe? 00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:41.439 And of course, the famous line, safe, who said anything about safe? 00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:45.359 Of course he isn't safe, but he's good. 00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:47.320 Now we've heard that line before. 00:00:47.320 --> 00:00:53.600 We love that line if you're a follower of Jesus that resonates with you. 00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:56.480 That our Jesus, of course he isn't safe, but he's good. 00:00:56.480 --> 00:00:58.560 He's a lion. 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:05.480 But this is coming from someone who had never heard of Aslan, the Christ figure in Narnia, 00:01:05.480 --> 00:01:08.920 who had never heard of the lion, who had never met the lion. 00:01:08.920 --> 00:01:12.920 And so the thought of meeting a lion, of course, is terrifying. 00:01:12.920 --> 00:01:17.079 Of course she understands it's not safe to meet a lion. 00:01:17.079 --> 00:01:20.319 Well, what if you've met the lion? 00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:24.839 What if you have known the lion your whole life? 00:01:24.839 --> 00:01:32.199 What if you inhabit a culture that was literally created around this lion? 00:01:32.199 --> 00:01:38.079 What if you had architecture and buildings and museums and history everywhere you look 00:01:38.079 --> 00:01:41.079 that speaks of this lion? 00:01:41.079 --> 00:01:42.079 What happens? 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:44.599 You get pretty bored with the lion. 00:01:44.599 --> 00:01:47.079 You forget that he isn't safe. 00:01:47.079 --> 00:01:50.879 So to us who are so familiar, I say us, I mean that. 00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:52.879 Yes, you have much more tradition. 00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:59.679 And our church, you are our fathers and mothers in the faith, or even grandfathers and grandmothers 00:01:59.679 --> 00:02:00.679 in the faith. 00:02:00.679 --> 00:02:02.359 We see our tradition here. 00:02:02.359 --> 00:02:05.840 This is where our church began in some ways. 00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:11.759 But even in the States there is this danger of an over familiarity with Jesus. 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:15.079 And the way I tell our people is we confess that he's a lion. 00:02:15.080 --> 00:02:19.640 We believe that he's a lion, but he's that whole he isn't safe has been lost. 00:02:19.640 --> 00:02:20.640 You know what he's like? 00:02:20.640 --> 00:02:22.920 He's kind of like the zoo lion. 00:02:22.920 --> 00:02:25.360 He's the caged lion. 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:30.280 When I went to seminary in St. Louis, Covenant Seminary, St. Louis is a larger city in the 00:02:30.280 --> 00:02:31.280 United States. 00:02:31.280 --> 00:02:35.680 And one of the cool things about this city that makes it unique is that all of it has 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:38.640 so much entertainment and it's all free. 00:02:38.640 --> 00:02:44.720 So they had this spectacular zoo, but it's free to the public. 00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:50.439 And so when the zoo is free, it becomes a wonderful source of entertainment for broke 00:02:50.439 --> 00:02:53.000 seminary students like myself back in the day. 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:57.000 So if it was a nice day like it was yesterday here and we needed a break from studying, we'd 00:02:57.000 --> 00:02:59.439 go over to the zoo and walk around for a bit. 00:02:59.439 --> 00:03:02.439 But I noticed something interesting started happening. 00:03:02.439 --> 00:03:05.879 The zoo started to get a little boring. 00:03:05.879 --> 00:03:10.520 Usually the zoo is a pretty expensive alting like it is here in Edinburgh. 00:03:10.520 --> 00:03:12.719 So if you're going to go to the zoo, it's a special event. 00:03:12.719 --> 00:03:14.439 It costs you money and whatnot. 00:03:14.439 --> 00:03:18.000 It's a big deal to go to the zoo, but when it's free and you can just go whenever you 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:21.719 want, slip in, slip out, whatever, the novelty starts to wear off. 00:03:21.719 --> 00:03:26.919 And then once the holy experience is demystified, you really start noticing how sad the whole 00:03:26.919 --> 00:03:28.520 zoo thing really is. 00:03:28.520 --> 00:03:35.000 You have these majestic creatures just caged up, just sitting around doing nothing all 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:37.520 day so tourists can take selfies with them. 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:42.560 I always found the gorillas at the St. Louis Zoo in particular to have a particularly depressing 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:46.199 life because they had this thing called the Gorilla House. 00:03:46.199 --> 00:03:48.800 At least the lions and everybody else got to be outside the gorillas. 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:53.560 They lived in this like faux cave that they weren't tricking the gorillas at all. 00:03:53.560 --> 00:03:59.640 It was just this little room with kind of some faux rocks and a big glass window, no sunlight. 00:03:59.640 --> 00:04:03.759 They threw a few toys in there for the gorillas to play with and they just sat there. 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:08.640 These huge mighty gorillas just sat there all day while kids just bang on their glass. 00:04:08.640 --> 00:04:09.640 They just tolerated kids. 00:04:09.639 --> 00:04:13.399 It's a gorilla, it should be tearing that kid's limbs off and it's just sitting there 00:04:13.399 --> 00:04:17.599 letting a kid bang on his glass all day. 00:04:17.599 --> 00:04:23.919 It's a very sad thing to see something as mighty as a gorilla tamed. 00:04:23.919 --> 00:04:27.719 Our passage today likewise, it's a very sad passage. 00:04:27.719 --> 00:04:36.959 That picture of this majestic creature caged up in this house not able to do what a gorilla 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:38.279 is supposed to do. 00:04:38.279 --> 00:04:42.079 That's the picture of our passage this morning. 00:04:42.079 --> 00:04:46.319 Perhaps more than any other passage in the gospels, this is the saddest because what 00:04:46.319 --> 00:04:53.000 we see is a domesticated Jesus, a caged Jesus, a tamed Jesus. 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:56.839 Again in the context of Mark's gospel, this is very new and unexpected. 00:04:56.839 --> 00:04:58.519 Nobody sees this coming as you're reading Mark. 00:04:58.519 --> 00:05:03.399 In chapter five he's been majestic, he's calmed the storm, a legion of demons has begged him 00:05:03.399 --> 00:05:04.959 for mercy. 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:09.399 He raises the dead body of a little girl, the supremacy and the majesty of this man 00:05:09.399 --> 00:05:15.000 has been breathtaking, but here in chapter six the lion is caged. 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:21.319 What has been wild and terrifying and glorious in chapter six becomes boring and his power 00:05:21.319 --> 00:05:23.879 is restrained and contained. 00:05:23.879 --> 00:05:30.399 What could possibly tame King Jesus? 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:31.399 The answer is disturbing. 00:05:31.399 --> 00:05:35.719 I'm going to tell you that up front because it's something we in our context and again 00:05:35.719 --> 00:05:40.199 I say we, your context and my context in the southern states of America which we would 00:05:40.199 --> 00:05:41.519 call the Bible Belt. 00:05:41.519 --> 00:05:43.679 It's something we are very familiar with. 00:05:43.679 --> 00:05:47.239 This is a very serious passage, a dangerous passage I would even say. 00:05:47.239 --> 00:05:49.560 I think we'd be wise to give it our full attention. 00:05:49.560 --> 00:05:52.239 Here's how I'm going to come at it. 00:05:52.239 --> 00:05:55.799 First all I want to do with the passage is I want to identify the problem. 00:05:55.799 --> 00:05:58.839 Secondly I want to look at the consequences of the problem and then thirdly I want to 00:05:58.839 --> 00:06:00.359 look at the solution to the problem. 00:06:00.360 --> 00:06:04.720 So basically I'm going to ask what's the problem here, what are the consequences, what can 00:06:04.720 --> 00:06:05.720 we do about it? 00:06:05.720 --> 00:06:08.280 Let's start with identifying the problem. 00:06:08.280 --> 00:06:10.120 What's the problem of the passage? 00:06:10.120 --> 00:06:15.400 Says he went away, verse one, he went away from there and came to, and it's very important, 00:06:15.400 --> 00:06:18.319 his hometown and his disciples followed him. 00:06:18.319 --> 00:06:22.480 And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue and many who heard him were astonished 00:06:22.480 --> 00:06:26.319 saying where did this man get these things and what is this wisdom given to him, how 00:06:26.319 --> 00:06:28.360 are such mighty works done by his hand? 00:06:28.360 --> 00:06:34.360 So through two verses here in chapter six this all sounds very typical of Jesus. 00:06:34.360 --> 00:06:37.000 He is coming to town as he always does. 00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:41.360 He starts preaching at the synagogue as he does and very amazed, people are amazed by 00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:42.360 them. 00:06:42.360 --> 00:06:45.879 But then things get derailed in verse three. 00:06:45.879 --> 00:06:46.879 Notice that. 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:49.000 Wait a minute. 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:51.040 Is not this the carpenter? 00:06:51.040 --> 00:06:55.759 The son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon are not these sisters 00:06:55.759 --> 00:06:57.040 here with us? 00:06:57.040 --> 00:07:04.280 Jesus is about to win the town over and amaze them as he always does, a stumbling block 00:07:04.280 --> 00:07:05.280 arises. 00:07:05.280 --> 00:07:07.080 And did you catch what the stumbling block is? 00:07:07.080 --> 00:07:09.040 You know what the stumbling block is? 00:07:09.040 --> 00:07:10.040 Familiarity. 00:07:10.040 --> 00:07:13.040 You're saying wait a minute, that's the town carpenter. 00:07:13.040 --> 00:07:18.520 I can remember him playing in the streets. 00:07:18.520 --> 00:07:20.960 He built me my chair. 00:07:20.960 --> 00:07:22.960 That's just Jesus. 00:07:22.959 --> 00:07:27.719 He's not a big deal. 00:07:27.719 --> 00:07:29.599 Now this is a huge problem. 00:07:29.599 --> 00:07:31.319 One that Jesus laments in verse four. 00:07:31.319 --> 00:07:36.279 He says a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his relatives and 00:07:36.279 --> 00:07:37.519 in his own household. 00:07:37.519 --> 00:07:43.240 He's saying I've been revered everywhere except among those who know me best. 00:07:43.240 --> 00:07:45.639 They're used to Jesus. 00:07:45.639 --> 00:07:52.039 And it's this familiarity that stands in the way of seeing Jesus for who he truly is. 00:07:52.040 --> 00:07:57.480 Simply put, he's too normal to be glorious. 00:07:57.480 --> 00:08:00.120 Jesus has been domesticated. 00:08:00.120 --> 00:08:04.480 And that is a deadly, serious condition. 00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:05.480 Look at verse five. 00:08:05.480 --> 00:08:11.879 We're in those amazing verses in all of the gospels. 00:08:11.879 --> 00:08:19.320 And he could do no mighty works there except that he laid his hands on a few sick people 00:08:19.320 --> 00:08:20.320 and healed them. 00:08:20.319 --> 00:08:22.120 That is fascinating to me. 00:08:22.120 --> 00:08:26.159 The Greek is as strong as the translation conveys. 00:08:26.159 --> 00:08:32.000 Mighty Jesus could do no mighty works except a few token healings. 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:39.120 All of his healings in the gospels, everywhere and every place, his healings are death to 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:40.319 life, right? 00:08:40.319 --> 00:08:41.319 Amazing. 00:08:41.319 --> 00:08:44.360 There's no way this cannot be the Son of God. 00:08:44.360 --> 00:08:50.080 The blind see, the deaf hear, the lepros are clean, the lame walk, even the dead are raised 00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:51.520 from one extreme to another. 00:08:51.520 --> 00:08:53.160 Hear what he gets to do? 00:08:53.160 --> 00:08:56.879 He's healing a few people with the flu. 00:08:56.879 --> 00:08:59.240 Just token healings. 00:08:59.240 --> 00:09:09.000 Apparently, this domestication, this over familiarity is literally the greatest enemy to the power 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:11.840 and work of Jesus Christ. 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:18.360 Greater than storms, greater than a legion of demons, greater even than death in chapter 00:09:18.360 --> 00:09:19.800 5. 00:09:19.800 --> 00:09:26.440 And to be perfectly honest with you, what I just said should terrify all of us. 00:09:26.440 --> 00:09:30.279 Our context in particular needs this passage. 00:09:30.279 --> 00:09:31.480 Why? 00:09:31.480 --> 00:09:34.440 Because we're so familiar with Jesus. 00:09:34.440 --> 00:09:43.600 If Jesus had any home over the past, let's say century, would it not be Western Christianity, 00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:45.200 Western culture? 00:09:45.200 --> 00:09:50.840 And if Reformed Presbyterianism is the truest expression of Christianity, which we all know 00:09:50.840 --> 00:09:54.680 it is, just kidding. 00:09:54.680 --> 00:10:02.960 But if Reformed Presbyterianism is, in our estimation, the greatest expression of true 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:09.600 orthodoxy, then narrowing it down even further, you could even say it's not just the West 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:16.320 that has been the home of Jesus over the past century, it's Scotland, then narrowing it down 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:19.960 even further. 00:10:19.960 --> 00:10:25.080 Maybe if you don't think that, you need to know that we in American Reformed evangelicalism, 00:10:25.080 --> 00:10:26.080 we see that that way. 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:29.080 Y'all are our parents. 00:10:29.080 --> 00:10:36.040 We look at your culture, we look at your history, and we just, we appreciate all that you have 00:10:36.040 --> 00:10:38.399 done before us. 00:10:38.399 --> 00:10:47.039 But narrowing it down even further, I mean we're in Edinburgh, Knox is down the street, 00:10:47.039 --> 00:10:50.240 I was in his standing next to his pulpit yesterday. 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:54.600 Like, am I in Edinburgh or Nazareth? 00:10:54.600 --> 00:10:59.279 This is the seat, this is the home, viewing things through the lens of this passage, you 00:10:59.279 --> 00:11:04.439 know what that means? 00:11:04.440 --> 00:11:13.640 This means that you could actually be in grave danger, that this culture, this country, this 00:11:13.640 --> 00:11:19.840 society could be in grave danger, because ironically this passage is telling us that 00:11:19.840 --> 00:11:27.640 those most familiar with Jesus are often the most likely to reject Jesus. 00:11:27.640 --> 00:11:30.720 That's what we're seeing in the States. 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:36.800 Those who just grow up with this nominal over familiarity with Jesus are the most likely 00:11:36.800 --> 00:11:39.519 to reject Jesus. 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:42.320 Nothing is what I'm trying to say. 00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:52.420 Nothing is more dangerous to a culture and to a soul, to a society and to an individual. 00:11:52.420 --> 00:11:56.940 Nothing is more dangerous than nominal Christianity. 00:11:56.940 --> 00:12:04.680 Nothing is scarier than a condition, this lukewarm condition that is over familiar with Jesus 00:12:04.680 --> 00:12:08.520 and is bored with Jesus. 00:12:08.520 --> 00:12:10.480 And that's what we need to see from this text. 00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:13.880 We've seen the problem, let's look at the consequences of the problem, because they're 00:12:13.880 --> 00:12:14.880 big. 00:12:14.880 --> 00:12:15.880 What are the consequences? 00:12:15.880 --> 00:12:16.880 Look at verse 3. 00:12:16.880 --> 00:12:21.520 It's not this carpenter, this is the carpenter, the son of Mary, brother James, Joseph, Jude, 00:12:21.520 --> 00:12:26.640 Simon are not these sisters here with us, and then look at this, and they took offense 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:27.639 at him. 00:12:27.639 --> 00:12:30.279 Do you see what happened there? 00:12:30.279 --> 00:12:33.799 The over familiarity gives way to offense, all right? 00:12:33.799 --> 00:12:36.439 It's not hard to make that connection, how that works. 00:12:36.439 --> 00:12:42.039 Imagine yourself watching this young man grow up, him being your peer perhaps, your friend, 00:12:42.039 --> 00:12:47.919 the little neighborhood kid, and then him turning around one day and say, repent and 00:12:47.919 --> 00:12:51.200 bow down to me as your Lord and Savior. 00:12:51.200 --> 00:12:55.319 I think we could all understand why that would be so offensive. 00:12:55.320 --> 00:13:01.840 When you preach Jesus into a context that has never heard of him, well, radical allegiance 00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:04.440 only seems natural, right? 00:13:04.440 --> 00:13:06.800 I mean, this is what missionaries tell us. 00:13:06.800 --> 00:13:11.560 When they take Jesus into a culture and into a context where they've never heard the gospel, 00:13:11.560 --> 00:13:16.920 they hear it and it becomes this radical, I'll give my life away, allegiance. 00:13:16.920 --> 00:13:21.120 When they hear, oh, hold on, you mean God became man? 00:13:21.120 --> 00:13:26.480 And he died on a cross as my atoning sacrifice, and he's actually risen from the dead? 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:30.919 Yeah, I think that deserves my life and my allegiance. 00:13:30.919 --> 00:13:39.360 But when we live in a context where the incarnation, God becoming man, is played over the speakers 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:45.320 of our department stores during the busiest shopping times of the year, when his atoning 00:13:45.320 --> 00:13:52.000 cross is so common that it's become jewelry and tattoos, when his resurrection has morphed 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:59.800 into a day of pastels and chocolate bunnies, when that Jesus that a culture is so familiar 00:13:59.800 --> 00:14:03.800 with, when that Jesus says, repent and bow down, you know, it feels like it feels like 00:14:03.800 --> 00:14:07.440 your nursery rhyme's telling you to do so. 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:11.120 So they say, who do you think you are, Jesus? 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:16.200 An unimpressive, domesticated and boring Jesus has no right at all for to all of a 00:14:16.200 --> 00:14:20.039 sudden start making claims on our lives. 00:14:20.039 --> 00:14:26.519 So to those who are overly familiar with Jesus, his demands are not lovely, they're offensive. 00:14:26.519 --> 00:14:29.399 They're not powerful, they're silly. 00:14:29.399 --> 00:14:32.120 They are not life giving, they are inconvenient. 00:14:32.120 --> 00:14:37.560 And there you have the stumbling block of your culture. 00:14:37.559 --> 00:14:45.359 This is Western society at large, and I would say Scotland in particular. 00:14:45.359 --> 00:14:51.959 This Jesus that they have become so over familiar with is now offensive. 00:14:51.959 --> 00:14:58.199 The struggle of Christianity in a culture formed by Christianity is that Christianity 00:14:58.199 --> 00:15:00.919 has become merely a culture. 00:15:00.919 --> 00:15:02.439 I'll say it again. 00:15:02.440 --> 00:15:07.680 I know it would have gotten me in an amen in the States, but that's okay. 00:15:07.680 --> 00:15:14.240 The struggle, the struggle of Christianity in a culture formed by Christianity is that 00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:18.360 Christianity has become merely a culture. 00:15:18.360 --> 00:15:20.960 And I'm telling you, this is a big problem. 00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:23.400 Look at verse six. 00:15:23.400 --> 00:15:26.600 He marveled because of their unbelief. 00:15:26.600 --> 00:15:30.640 You know, elsewhere in the gospels, he's always marveling at their belief. 00:15:30.640 --> 00:15:32.400 He's marveling at their faith. 00:15:32.399 --> 00:15:36.279 Here's the one time where he marvels at their unbelief. 00:15:36.279 --> 00:15:41.759 Jesus is astounded by their rejection and unbelief. 00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:46.360 In other passages, he's always saying, whoa, look at your faith. 00:15:46.360 --> 00:15:51.079 But in our passage, he says, whoa, look at your lack of faith. 00:15:51.079 --> 00:15:57.519 He is astounded that those who could know him so well still do not believe. 00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:01.679 They of all people, his home, his friends, his very family, those most familiar with 00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:03.799 him are the very ones refusing to him. 00:16:03.799 --> 00:16:08.319 And then it gets really sad that last phrase is so scary. 00:16:08.319 --> 00:16:10.759 And he went about among the villages teaching. 00:16:10.759 --> 00:16:13.519 Why do you think Mark put that there? 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:17.799 And he went about among the villages teaching. 00:16:17.799 --> 00:16:19.959 You know what that's saying? 00:16:19.959 --> 00:16:23.199 Jesus moved on. 00:16:23.199 --> 00:16:25.079 Jesus moved on. 00:16:25.079 --> 00:16:27.000 He got tired of it. 00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:28.639 He said, okay, fine, I'm out. 00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:30.359 I'm done. 00:16:30.359 --> 00:16:31.359 Think about that. 00:16:31.360 --> 00:16:32.360 Think about that. 00:16:32.360 --> 00:16:34.840 In chapter five, he looked at a raging storm. 00:16:34.840 --> 00:16:36.840 He did not back down. 00:16:36.840 --> 00:16:42.680 In chapter five, he looked at the demonic powers of hell and did not back down. 00:16:42.680 --> 00:16:47.800 He stood over the corpse of a dead little girl and he did not back down. 00:16:47.800 --> 00:16:53.600 But in the face of domestication and belittling familiarity, he leaves town and hands them 00:16:53.600 --> 00:16:56.200 over to their unbelief. 00:16:56.200 --> 00:17:01.320 And this condition is so offensive to him, so ugly and insulting that he just leaves. 00:17:01.320 --> 00:17:06.080 Do you know how scary that is? 00:17:06.080 --> 00:17:10.920 He will not be belittled and he will not be patronized forever. 00:17:10.920 --> 00:17:15.080 The ultimate consequence of this condition is that the time will come when Jesus will 00:17:15.080 --> 00:17:17.400 leave us alone. 00:17:17.400 --> 00:17:19.400 Is that the West? 00:17:19.400 --> 00:17:20.400 Is that Scotland? 00:17:20.400 --> 00:17:24.720 Has Jesus moved on from our culture's patronizing familiarity, perhaps? 00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:26.000 I wouldn't blame him if he did. 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:28.480 I certainly wouldn't blame him if he did that to the states. 00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:37.360 But all we can do as those followers of Jesus who inhabit this culture is to cry aloud with 00:17:37.360 --> 00:17:43.480 our lives, with our voices, with every breath within us. 00:17:43.480 --> 00:17:47.440 Remember your first love. 00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:50.279 Remember your lion. 00:17:50.279 --> 00:17:52.240 That's the only hope. 00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:58.519 You remind those most familiar with Jesus of the true glory of Jesus. 00:17:58.519 --> 00:18:00.599 And that's how I want to end. 00:18:00.599 --> 00:18:07.319 Doing that to you, to your souls, and then hopefully that overflowing from your lives. 00:18:07.319 --> 00:18:08.519 We've seen the problem. 00:18:08.519 --> 00:18:10.839 We've seen the consequences of the problem. 00:18:10.839 --> 00:18:14.000 Let's close by asking, what can we do about this? 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:18.240 Is there a solution to over familiarity domestication of Jesus? 00:18:18.240 --> 00:18:20.759 I mean, what are we supposed to do, right? 00:18:20.759 --> 00:18:23.559 Get less familiar with Jesus? 00:18:23.559 --> 00:18:24.559 Is that the answer? 00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:27.680 Is going to church a bad thing? 00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:30.480 Is cataclyzing our children a bad thing? 00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:32.079 Don't we want a Christian environment? 00:18:32.079 --> 00:18:34.799 And I would say, of course, of course. 00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:41.480 I would actually say the way to avoid what happens in our text is more Jesus, not less 00:18:41.480 --> 00:18:43.799 Jesus, more familiarity. 00:18:43.799 --> 00:18:45.400 But here's the point. 00:18:45.400 --> 00:18:50.539 We just need to make sure that the Jesus we are getting familiar with is the true Jesus. 00:18:50.539 --> 00:18:55.440 Their problem was not that they were too familiar with Jesus. 00:18:55.440 --> 00:19:00.079 Their problem is they were too familiar with the wrong view of Jesus. 00:19:00.079 --> 00:19:05.720 They needed to unlearn what they had always thought of Jesus and get to know the true 00:19:05.720 --> 00:19:06.720 Jesus. 00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:10.480 Again, look at verse three one more time. 00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:14.440 Is not this the carpenter? 00:19:14.440 --> 00:19:18.000 The answer is no. 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:19.200 That's not who Jesus is. 00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:21.440 I mean, he is that. 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:25.200 But he also happens to be the son of God incarnate, right? 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:29.279 He also is the radiance of God's glory, the exact representation of God's nature. 00:19:29.279 --> 00:19:32.519 He also is the spotless righteousness of God in body. 00:19:32.519 --> 00:19:34.200 He also is the crucified savior. 00:19:34.200 --> 00:19:35.960 He also is the resurrected Lord. 00:19:35.960 --> 00:19:38.960 He also is the soon to return judge. 00:19:38.960 --> 00:19:42.519 He isn't a carpenter. 00:19:42.519 --> 00:19:44.640 He is Lord. 00:19:44.640 --> 00:19:47.080 And they needed to unlearn. 00:19:47.079 --> 00:19:52.559 All this over familiarity caricature of their Jesus and learn the true Jesus. 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:54.759 And so do we. 00:19:54.759 --> 00:19:58.839 One day my friend and I were taking a break from studying and decided to head over to 00:19:58.839 --> 00:20:01.279 the zoo again. 00:20:01.279 --> 00:20:05.000 And like I said before, this point the whole thing had become pretty boring. 00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:08.319 But we decided to do something different this day that we had never done. 00:20:08.319 --> 00:20:09.319 Went to the gorilla house. 00:20:09.319 --> 00:20:11.839 And you know what we did? 00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:15.599 We tried to pick a fight with the gorillas. 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:18.279 We knew banging on the glass wouldn't do it because everyone did that. 00:20:18.279 --> 00:20:22.279 So we were determined to get them to actually act like a gorilla. 00:20:22.279 --> 00:20:23.279 So this is what we did. 00:20:23.279 --> 00:20:24.279 True story. 00:20:24.279 --> 00:20:26.439 We got right up near the glass. 00:20:26.439 --> 00:20:29.679 We figured out who the alpha male was, the gorillas. 00:20:29.679 --> 00:20:32.199 And we kind of hunkered down and looked mean. 00:20:32.199 --> 00:20:36.159 And we just stared down the alpha male. 00:20:36.159 --> 00:20:39.839 And we weren't going to break eye contact or move until he did something. 00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:44.399 Especially since there was glass between us. 00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:46.960 And so we stood there staring at him. 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:52.320 And we could tell that he was getting a little perturbed at this. 00:20:52.320 --> 00:20:56.600 And it turned out, turned into this power standoff. 00:20:56.600 --> 00:20:58.080 And we weren't backing down. 00:20:58.080 --> 00:20:59.960 And he was starting to realize. 00:20:59.960 --> 00:21:04.240 And he was pacing and he was kind of looking out the corner. 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:14.160 Well all of a sudden this docile domesticated caged up gorilla finally did the gorilla thing. 00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:19.720 He charged at us, lowered his shoulder into the glass trying to break through. 00:21:19.720 --> 00:21:23.320 When that didn't work he started pounding on the glass trying to get to us. 00:21:23.320 --> 00:21:24.320 Roaring. 00:21:24.320 --> 00:21:25.320 I didn't know gorillas roar. 00:21:25.320 --> 00:21:26.320 Gorillas roar. 00:21:26.320 --> 00:21:27.440 I said, what's teeth? 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:28.440 It was terrifying. 00:21:28.440 --> 00:21:29.440 You ever seen gorilla teeth? 00:21:29.440 --> 00:21:31.480 It's terrifying. 00:21:31.480 --> 00:21:35.320 So this gorilla is literally trying to break through the glass and tear us apart. 00:21:35.320 --> 00:21:36.600 I kid you not. 00:21:36.600 --> 00:21:38.200 True story. 00:21:38.200 --> 00:21:43.240 Families and children were screaming and sprinting for the echoes. 00:21:43.240 --> 00:21:46.720 And my friend and I turned to each other and at the exact same time had the exact same 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:47.920 reaction. 00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:53.319 That was amazing. 00:21:53.319 --> 00:21:58.599 You can't get bored with a gorilla when a gorilla is doing the gorilla thing. 00:21:58.599 --> 00:22:06.039 The cure to over familiarity with the domesticated biculture Jesus is to stare him down until 00:22:06.039 --> 00:22:09.759 the true Jesus roars. 00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:14.799 You need to see him roar in all of his glory. 00:22:14.799 --> 00:22:21.559 An unconstrained, uninhibited, wild, untamed savior is what we in the nominal West are 00:22:21.559 --> 00:22:22.879 desperate to know. 00:22:22.879 --> 00:22:24.599 And when I say no, I mean no. 00:22:24.599 --> 00:22:28.400 Not mere conceptualization, not the catechism answers. 00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:33.240 I mean the things that we confess piercing us to the core. 00:22:33.240 --> 00:22:34.480 So let me tell you about my Jesus. 00:22:34.480 --> 00:22:37.279 Let him roar and we'll be done. 00:22:37.279 --> 00:22:44.160 You need to know the Jesus who literally said a word and the galaxies spring into existence 00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:50.720 and who still in this very moment upholds and sustains all of existence by the word 00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:52.839 of his power. 00:22:52.839 --> 00:22:59.399 If Jesus were to slip up for a second, it's not just that everything would go into chaos. 00:22:59.399 --> 00:23:01.480 Everything would literally cease to exist. 00:23:01.480 --> 00:23:08.319 That's how frail and contingent the universe is to this man's voice. 00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:18.720 You need to know the Jesus who is so madly in love with you, so smitten with his people 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:25.240 that he would forsake the riches and glories of heaven and tear through the bounds of space 00:23:25.240 --> 00:23:27.720 and time to come after you. 00:23:27.720 --> 00:23:34.160 Everything will stop this Jesus, nothing, whatever it takes to have you as his own, even the 00:23:34.160 --> 00:23:38.640 unthinkable, he'll become flesh. 00:23:38.640 --> 00:23:44.960 You need to know the Jesus who routinely performed acts of miraculous powers. 00:23:44.960 --> 00:23:51.839 Those stories that you read in the gospels, they aren't fairy tales. 00:23:51.839 --> 00:23:55.519 We're not talking Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, street performers out here. 00:23:55.519 --> 00:23:56.519 He did these things. 00:23:56.519 --> 00:24:00.559 And a man walked on water. 00:24:00.559 --> 00:24:04.680 He raised the dead from the grave. 00:24:04.680 --> 00:24:06.519 These things actually happened. 00:24:06.519 --> 00:24:13.559 You need to know the Jesus who became your son. 00:24:13.559 --> 00:24:17.839 I know you've got filth, wretchedness and shame. 00:24:17.839 --> 00:24:20.200 It's okay, you can quit pretending. 00:24:20.200 --> 00:24:21.319 We're all together in this. 00:24:21.319 --> 00:24:25.480 It's there, admit it, and it's ugly. 00:24:25.480 --> 00:24:30.480 Those things that you're able to hide, you are not able to hide from Jesus. 00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:33.240 He sees it, he knows it. 00:24:33.240 --> 00:24:37.920 By the way, nothing domesticates Jesus more than hiding your sin. 00:24:37.920 --> 00:24:40.920 Small spin, small savior. 00:24:40.920 --> 00:24:42.880 Big sin. 00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:45.720 True humility, shame, confession. 00:24:45.720 --> 00:24:49.519 Whoa, what a glorious savior that could handle that. 00:24:49.519 --> 00:24:54.120 It's my story, and Jesus took it. 00:24:54.119 --> 00:24:58.519 The righteous for the unrighteous, the clean for the unclean, the pure for the impure. 00:24:58.519 --> 00:25:01.399 He took it, not in some ethereal way. 00:25:01.399 --> 00:25:02.399 Jesus died for my sins. 00:25:02.399 --> 00:25:03.399 No, no, no. 00:25:03.399 --> 00:25:09.279 He intimately knew the foul rottenness of my sins, and with broad shoulders, he carried 00:25:09.279 --> 00:25:15.679 it up the lonely hill of Galgotha to stand before divine justice and say, I would rather 00:25:15.679 --> 00:25:19.679 this happen to me than to them. 00:25:19.679 --> 00:25:21.719 Take it on me. 00:25:21.720 --> 00:25:25.600 Holy wrath, holy judgment, I'll take it. 00:25:25.600 --> 00:25:29.319 I would rather happen to me than you. 00:25:29.319 --> 00:25:34.160 You know the Jesus who broke through the bounds of death and made a mockery of the grave, 00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:37.960 and in so doing forever vindicated his name. 00:25:37.960 --> 00:25:44.519 Because he has risen from the dead, all that he said was true and all that he did was true. 00:25:44.519 --> 00:25:48.880 On Easter morning, he displayed once and for all that he is the one true God and that all 00:25:48.880 --> 00:25:53.480 other gods are merely sad, pitiful inventions of man. 00:25:53.480 --> 00:25:55.440 The resurrected Jesus is God. 00:25:55.440 --> 00:25:57.080 There is no other. 00:25:57.080 --> 00:25:59.520 He has risen from the dead. 00:25:59.520 --> 00:26:05.360 You need to know the Jesus who is soon to return and the fullness of majesty and not 00:26:05.360 --> 00:26:09.760 a creature on earth will be left standing. 00:26:09.760 --> 00:26:15.760 His glory will bring us all to our knees, either in glad adoration to receive salvation 00:26:15.759 --> 00:26:21.799 or in fearful trembling to receive damnation, but either way, every knee is going to bow 00:26:21.799 --> 00:26:25.599 to this lion. 00:26:25.599 --> 00:26:32.000 You need to know the Jesus who will make all things new and all sadness come untrue. 00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:40.960 Who will be with you forever, who will himself wipe every tear from every eye and will heal 00:26:40.960 --> 00:26:45.240 every single wound. 00:26:45.240 --> 00:26:50.759 We talk often about Jesus' power over the ways we sin as we should. 00:26:50.759 --> 00:26:57.160 We talk far too little about Jesus' power over the ways we have been sinned against. 00:26:57.160 --> 00:27:04.039 He will forgive you for your sins and he will heal you for the injustice and ways you have 00:27:04.039 --> 00:27:05.960 been sinned against. 00:27:05.960 --> 00:27:10.880 Every pain untrue, every sadness untrue. 00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:18.760 You need to know the Jesus who is so glorious and satisfying that you will be with him forever 00:27:18.760 --> 00:27:27.080 as a never-ending, never-exhausting fountain of love and satisfaction and joy. 00:27:27.080 --> 00:27:33.880 Everything that you long for finds its proper end in this one person. 00:27:33.880 --> 00:27:38.840 That is the Jesus we need to be familiar with, not some cultural caricature of Jesus, the 00:27:38.839 --> 00:27:41.639 true Jesus we must know. 00:27:41.639 --> 00:27:45.480 That is the Jesus the next generation must know. 00:27:45.480 --> 00:27:50.439 One direct application that I know is on many hearts here is our children. 00:27:50.439 --> 00:27:56.039 When we talk about being overly familiar with Jesus and getting bored with Jesus and Jesus 00:27:56.039 --> 00:28:00.439 leaving behind lukewarm nominalism, I think our thoughts immediately go to our children. 00:28:00.439 --> 00:28:05.559 Maybe some of you who are older here this morning think about your children who have 00:28:05.559 --> 00:28:10.279 maybe gotten bored with Jesus and left, maybe some of you who are younger here are worried, 00:28:10.279 --> 00:28:16.240 am I just raising my children in this boring Jesus Christian environment? 00:28:16.240 --> 00:28:20.960 Wayward children, fearful that they'll be wayward someday. 00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:27.559 The only thing I can say to you is this, show them the Jesus who is the true Jesus in his 00:28:27.559 --> 00:28:28.679 rawest form. 00:28:28.679 --> 00:28:31.559 Let him roar within your family. 00:28:31.559 --> 00:28:33.879 Not a domesticated caricature of Jesus but the true Jesus. 00:28:33.880 --> 00:28:35.960 Do you know what that means? 00:28:35.960 --> 00:28:37.280 It means things like this. 00:28:37.280 --> 00:28:38.640 You can't hide your sins from them. 00:28:38.640 --> 00:28:41.680 You have to confess your sins and then you have to tell them about Jesus who is strong 00:28:41.680 --> 00:28:44.880 enough to save a sinner like you. 00:28:44.880 --> 00:28:48.640 You got to be honest with them. 00:28:48.640 --> 00:28:53.480 They need to see him as the Savior who is actually changing your life, who is not just a Sunday 00:28:53.480 --> 00:28:59.720 morning routine but who actually day by day, weekend, week out is changing your life. 00:28:59.720 --> 00:29:02.000 They will be impressed by that Jesus. 00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:08.920 They will be impressed by a Jesus that transforms their angry dad into a man of tenderness. 00:29:08.920 --> 00:29:14.680 They will be impressed by a Jesus that transforms their anxious mom into a mom of peace. 00:29:14.680 --> 00:29:18.319 They will be impressed by a Jesus that is so precious to their parents that their parents 00:29:18.319 --> 00:29:23.119 are free to admit their failures openly before their children. 00:29:23.119 --> 00:29:27.319 Let them see him as the Jesus that you struggle with in prayer and rise early in the morning 00:29:27.319 --> 00:29:29.400 to meet him in his word. 00:29:29.400 --> 00:29:33.600 Let them see him as the Jesus whom you are willing to sacrifice and costly ways for. 00:29:33.600 --> 00:29:36.600 The Jesus who owns your finances and owns your time. 00:29:36.600 --> 00:29:44.320 Let there be no doubt in their little minds that Jesus is the lion of your home. 00:29:44.320 --> 00:29:47.160 They may not be excited about a Sunday school Jesus. 00:29:47.160 --> 00:29:53.280 They will be excited by a lion who is alive and active and transformative in their parents' 00:29:53.280 --> 00:29:54.280 lives. 00:29:54.280 --> 00:29:58.240 And if that has not been the case, if I say that and you say, man, I wish I could go back 00:29:58.240 --> 00:29:59.680 and do it that way. 00:29:59.680 --> 00:30:01.839 It's not too late. 00:30:01.839 --> 00:30:06.839 Repent to them and invite them to join you in the journey to discover Jesus and his glory 00:30:06.839 --> 00:30:07.839 and majesty. 00:30:07.839 --> 00:30:10.400 Say to them, I feel like I gave you a boring Jesus. 00:30:10.400 --> 00:30:12.839 This is the Jesus who can handle a wretch like me. 00:30:12.839 --> 00:30:18.000 Join me and let's discover him this way. 00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:19.880 You need to know the true Jesus. 00:30:19.880 --> 00:30:22.440 The next generation needs to know the true Jesus. 00:30:22.440 --> 00:30:25.240 Scotland needs to know the true Jesus. 00:30:25.240 --> 00:30:28.079 What does nominal lukewarm Christianity need? 00:30:28.079 --> 00:30:30.880 Our domesticated Jesus needs to be uncaged. 00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:36.759 Let the lion out and see what happens to a community and that starts with you. 00:30:36.759 --> 00:30:37.920 Isn't this just the carpenter? 00:30:37.920 --> 00:30:40.720 No, this is not the carpenter. 00:30:40.720 --> 00:30:42.519 This is your Lord. 00:30:42.519 --> 00:30:44.359 This is your Savior. 00:30:44.359 --> 00:30:46.359 He isn't safe, but He is good. 00:30:46.359 --> 00:30:48.880 Let me pray. 00:30:48.880 --> 00:30:56.240 You overwhelm us with both your glory and your grace. 00:30:56.240 --> 00:30:59.200 Let us taste and see your goodness. 00:30:59.200 --> 00:31:05.520 Let us leave here enamored by who you are, Jesus. 00:31:05.520 --> 00:31:10.520 Jesus, we collectively say to you right now that we are sorry for the way that we have 00:31:10.519 --> 00:31:21.519 patronizingly put you on a shelf, domesticated you, ignored you, and Lord, we all together 00:31:21.519 --> 00:31:28.960 repent and we say, come out of your cage and wreak havoc on our lives, on this church, 00:31:28.960 --> 00:31:31.720 on this community, whatever that means, whatever it takes. 00:31:31.720 --> 00:31:33.559 Jesus, you are Lord. 00:31:33.559 --> 00:31:35.519 There is no other. 00:31:35.519 --> 00:31:38.079 May we see you as such. 00:31:38.079 --> 00:31:41.639 As we sing to you now, all glory be to Christ. 00:31:41.639 --> 00:31:46.159 May it not just be from our lips, but from our hearts, through Christ we pray. 00:31:46.160 --> 00:32:08.320 Amen.