WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.400 We were singing there about God's plans for us and that's been part of a series that we've 00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:12.080 been looking at over the last five weeks that it's coming to an end today. 00:00:12.080 --> 00:00:19.039 This is the last of a series, a short summer series based on praying and planning, planning 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:21.800 and prayer, plan and pray. 00:00:21.800 --> 00:00:26.679 And we've looked at various themes over this period. 00:00:26.679 --> 00:00:31.199 We've begun with an introduction which simply looked at the importance of committing everything 00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:36.240 we do to the Lord in prayer because as Christians we believe that, we believe that, and we'll 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:42.840 go on to look at this next week in the start of another series that, you know, he says, 00:00:42.840 --> 00:00:46.399 without me, he says you can't do anything. 00:00:46.399 --> 00:00:50.280 Without me you can't do anything and it's key to our understanding of what it means 00:00:50.280 --> 00:00:51.280 to be a Christian. 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:55.519 So it's about the importance of planning, all that we do in our lives, but also recognizing 00:00:55.520 --> 00:00:59.920 that we're committing our life and our thoughts and our plans to God. 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:01.000 So that was an introduction. 00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:06.280 Then we looked at how that outworks itself personally in your life, as you plan your 00:01:06.280 --> 00:01:07.879 life as you think forward. 00:01:07.879 --> 00:01:14.079 How does God involved in that even when things maybe don't go according to plan for us? 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:18.579 And also what that means for your life as individuals within the church. 00:01:18.579 --> 00:01:19.800 So we looked at that in one week. 00:01:19.799 --> 00:01:25.679 And then we looked at planning and prayer in connection with the city and what it means 00:01:25.679 --> 00:01:30.759 to be involved in the city and be in the city center and be a church here and the connections 00:01:30.759 --> 00:01:35.200 we have as individuals and as groups within the city and how we reach that city with the 00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:37.039 gospel that we love. 00:01:37.039 --> 00:01:40.200 And then the last two, last week and this week are slightly different. 00:01:40.200 --> 00:01:46.560 They're looking at issues that are huge issues for us as Christians and how we can bring 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:52.040 the gospel into these situations and how we can reach into people's lives with the gospel 00:01:52.040 --> 00:01:54.040 and how we can respond and react. 00:01:54.040 --> 00:01:55.280 They're kind of wisdom issues. 00:01:55.280 --> 00:02:02.879 How we live in the society, the world in which we live, how we can plan to pray and act into 00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:05.120 situations within our society that are difficult. 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:11.680 Last week we looked at abortion and the difficulty and the challenges and the need for prayer 00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:16.400 and grace as we considered that situation. 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:19.120 And today is the last one we're looking at. 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:23.080 The title is a community to be reached for Christ. 00:02:23.080 --> 00:02:32.759 And I'm wanting today to look at the LGBT community and individuals and look to reach 00:02:32.759 --> 00:02:42.159 out to individuals and to that community with the gospel and the wisdom we need and the 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:47.400 need for prayer into that situation. 00:02:47.400 --> 00:02:51.840 And the reason, I have a strong burden about that. 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:55.479 So I guess that's part of it. 00:02:55.479 --> 00:03:00.359 But I think it's also because it's part of a much wider issue for us in terms of the 00:03:00.359 --> 00:03:04.960 world in which we live in indeed as is abortion. 00:03:04.960 --> 00:03:10.719 Why particularly that community and those connected with it? 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:15.919 Well, I think partly because it's presented to us as a very distinct community within our 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:16.919 society. 00:03:16.919 --> 00:03:20.639 They have a very strong sense of identity and belonging. 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:26.840 And that identity and belonging is in their sexuality and in their chosen sexuality. 00:03:26.840 --> 00:03:32.960 And that is a really strong identity that they form. 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:39.919 And their great slogan is generally, love is love. 00:03:39.919 --> 00:03:44.439 And the reason I've got such a great burden about that is because I think they think that 00:03:44.439 --> 00:03:48.279 God hates gay people. 00:03:48.279 --> 00:03:52.839 And they think that Christians are bigoted homophobes. 00:03:52.839 --> 00:03:54.560 They're the enemy. 00:03:54.560 --> 00:03:57.919 I think that's what a lot of gay people think. 00:03:57.919 --> 00:04:04.359 And quite often that is expressed within the gay community. 00:04:04.360 --> 00:04:11.000 And so in some ways it's quite an impenetrable community for us, sometimes because of our 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:19.800 own homophobia, sometimes because of our own failure to reach out and our judgmental attitudes. 00:04:19.800 --> 00:04:24.759 But I have a great concern that we reach that community with the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:04:24.759 --> 00:04:32.639 And I think we should have that concern for every person who doesn't know Jesus. 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:43.159 How do we reach out in love and in grace to these lovely people who work with us, who 00:04:43.159 --> 00:04:50.759 are part of a very distinct and different community, and who share with us all this 00:04:50.759 --> 00:04:56.800 spiritual brokenness as it reflects our own natural spiritual condition? 00:04:56.800 --> 00:05:03.920 How do we meet that community with God's grace and truth? 00:05:03.920 --> 00:05:07.439 Because I think that's a huge issue. 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:12.240 I think sexuality is a huge issue in the society in which we live. 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:18.639 The unraveling, and it is broader therefore than what is simply presented in the LGBT 00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:25.000 community, the unraveling of gender identity and the increasing divergence in society's 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:32.079 thinking and in the Christian ethic with its root in the character and grace of God, the 00:05:32.079 --> 00:05:33.600 living God. 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:37.439 There's an increased divergence, an increased separation. 00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:41.879 And I'm concerned about that, and I'm sure we all are concerned about that for a variety 00:05:41.879 --> 00:05:42.879 of reasons. 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:47.079 I'm concerned because I think sometimes as Christians we just stick our heads in the 00:05:47.079 --> 00:05:50.639 sand and we hide from the issue. 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:58.120 We're embarrassed by it and we're therefore maybe silent or afraid to say anything. 00:05:58.120 --> 00:06:05.240 Or we take the braced position, which is a defensive position, a separatist position. 00:06:05.240 --> 00:06:11.319 We want nothing to do with a community and a world that is different from us that we 00:06:11.319 --> 00:06:20.240 don't understand and that is, preaches a different message to the one we believe. 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:27.639 It may even include a hatred of any who think and act differently. 00:06:27.639 --> 00:06:35.879 Or we accept it because deep down we actually think God is pretty harsh. 00:06:35.879 --> 00:06:39.519 And well, love is love, isn't it? 00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:41.759 And so we just accept it. 00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:47.920 Or problematically also as Christians we maybe just... 00:06:47.920 --> 00:06:52.319 We've come to think that God is irrelevant to everyday issues. 00:06:52.319 --> 00:06:55.680 That He's a kind of esoteric reality. 00:06:55.680 --> 00:07:03.879 He just floats above real life and is just a theological concept and isn't really relevant 00:07:03.879 --> 00:07:04.879 to us. 00:07:04.879 --> 00:07:08.800 And that of course is therefore much broader than a sexual ethic. 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:13.800 But generally that we just don't think He's relevant to our lives and to our morality and 00:07:13.800 --> 00:07:14.800 our ethics. 00:07:14.800 --> 00:07:19.360 There's some kind of...maybe at best some kind of spiritual insurance policy for the 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:22.280 future. 00:07:22.280 --> 00:07:25.759 And I ask you into these last two things. 00:07:25.759 --> 00:07:30.439 Do you actually really know Jesus Christ and God at all if that's what you think? 00:07:30.439 --> 00:07:36.280 If you think God is harsh or if you think He's irrelevant, you need to look at your 00:07:36.280 --> 00:07:44.319 relationship or not your relationship with Him or the kind of relationship you have if 00:07:44.319 --> 00:07:47.199 that's what you think. 00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:50.800 So I think it was...and I'm giving you a very long...I'm giving you a very long introduction, 00:07:50.800 --> 00:07:51.800 okay? 00:07:51.800 --> 00:07:57.159 But I think it's important because we read the words of Jesus in the Sermon and the 00:07:57.159 --> 00:08:02.159 Mount, a hugely significant sermon, hugely significant things that Jesus is saying in 00:08:02.159 --> 00:08:03.659 this sermon. 00:08:03.659 --> 00:08:08.039 And when Jesus speaks, what we come to realise as Christians is when Jesus speaks, God is 00:08:08.039 --> 00:08:13.879 speaking and we have in Jesus Christ, God the Son. 00:08:13.879 --> 00:08:19.360 And that immediately sparks with us something...it focuses something very significant for us 00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:25.360 in our lives, is that whether it's with a sexual ethic or any other thinking in our 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:29.839 lives, there are two opposing worldviews that come together. 00:08:29.839 --> 00:08:31.879 And that's the reality, isn't it, for us? 00:08:31.879 --> 00:08:33.320 There's two opposing worldviews. 00:08:33.320 --> 00:08:40.759 And that's really important because we either think without God or we think with God. 00:08:40.759 --> 00:08:45.799 We think of a world that's created by God or a world that is not created by God, a world 00:08:45.799 --> 00:08:51.720 that has a spiritual genesis or a world that is purely materialistic. 00:08:51.720 --> 00:08:55.480 And these are two very important starting points for us. 00:08:55.480 --> 00:09:01.840 And we recognise that as Christians we have a worldview that begins with God at the centre, 00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:06.480 the revealed God who can only be known through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:10.720 So there is a God narrative to absolutely everything in our lives. 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:16.879 The suffering, the good things, the happiness, the struggles, the identity crisis, the battles, 00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:23.639 everything that we have, we process through our knowledge of God through Jesus Christ 00:09:23.639 --> 00:09:25.279 that we've come to know and love. 00:09:25.279 --> 00:09:29.800 And we know the God narrative, don't we, so that we don't take a scissors to the Bible 00:09:29.800 --> 00:09:31.920 and cut it up and throw out bits. 00:09:31.920 --> 00:09:36.120 We recognise the God, the narrative of the Bible is from beginning to end. 00:09:36.120 --> 00:09:38.080 And it's a narrative that is very clear. 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:43.080 We did a series on it a couple of years ago when Corey was here, Creation, Fall, Redemption, 00:09:43.080 --> 00:09:44.080 Renewal. 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:47.560 That's the God narrative. 00:09:47.560 --> 00:09:55.040 That's the identity that we channel everything that happens to us around, that we are created 00:09:55.040 --> 00:10:01.160 by God, that as humanity we've rebelled and fallen from God, that redemption is only through 00:10:01.160 --> 00:10:05.160 Jesus Christ and that ultimately there will be a renewal in the new heavens and the new 00:10:05.159 --> 00:10:09.319 earth to which we are moving towards at the moment. 00:10:09.319 --> 00:10:14.120 And that for us is a better story. 00:10:14.120 --> 00:10:16.439 It's the better story of our lives. 00:10:16.439 --> 00:10:20.759 And the question I'm asking you and I asked myself is, do we believe it? 00:10:20.759 --> 00:10:23.279 Do we believe in the God narrative? 00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:24.279 God is the Creator. 00:10:24.279 --> 00:10:25.959 We are made in His image. 00:10:25.959 --> 00:10:32.879 Everything that happens to us, we recognise and see through that perspective. 00:10:32.879 --> 00:10:39.200 And we do so because it's a rational faith based on the evidence of creation, of the 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:45.879 Word of God, of the Christ of history, of our own reason, our own morality, our own intellect, 00:10:45.879 --> 00:10:49.559 our consciousness and all these things. 00:10:49.559 --> 00:10:53.200 You know, it's not a mindless faith to have the God dimension. 00:10:53.200 --> 00:11:00.519 It is based on, it's a reasonable faith that we believe in the God who as uncreated one 00:11:00.519 --> 00:11:06.240 is the source of all life, to whom we are accountable as image bearers. 00:11:06.240 --> 00:11:09.360 And all we have comes from Him. 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:15.919 And so because of that humanity is always looking for acceptance and approval and a 00:11:15.919 --> 00:11:20.039 verdict on our lives, vindication. 00:11:20.039 --> 00:11:25.120 And we believe that approval, that acceptance can only come from God. 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:27.079 It's not something we can work up ourselves. 00:11:27.080 --> 00:11:32.440 It comes because of what Jesus has done on our behalf who himself paid the price for 00:11:32.440 --> 00:11:36.400 us and we know about that reality. 00:11:36.400 --> 00:11:40.960 And in that God picture, there is heaven and there is hell and there is good and there 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:48.360 is evil, the shadows of which exist in this life which we all know and experience. 00:11:48.360 --> 00:11:57.040 And He's the answer to our who and our why and our what knows because that is the worldview 00:11:57.039 --> 00:11:58.039 we have. 00:11:58.039 --> 00:12:03.039 It is God is at the center of that worldview and we live, we are here today and we are 00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:09.759 breathing today because God is gifted as life and we don't fizzle into non-existence 00:12:09.759 --> 00:12:11.879 because God exists. 00:12:11.879 --> 00:12:12.879 That's the worldview. 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:18.399 Then there is the other worldview and ultimately there's only the two. 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:23.079 There are shades and I'll do just a couple of shades on this one. 00:12:23.080 --> 00:12:28.920 Now God is so it's a man-centered, human-centered rather than a God-centered worldview. 00:12:28.920 --> 00:12:32.960 That is what Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount doesn't come into it. 00:12:32.960 --> 00:12:34.879 It's a man-centered. 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:40.680 So there's no meaning in life out with the meaning that we can make ourselves. 00:12:40.680 --> 00:12:43.520 It's a materialistic worldview. 00:12:43.520 --> 00:12:47.360 A worldview without what we don't need God and we don't need His rules. 00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:52.200 We can find our own verdict, our approval, acceptance and our vindication somewhere 00:12:52.200 --> 00:12:53.200 else. 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:57.400 It's not in God or in some kind of deity. 00:12:57.400 --> 00:13:02.000 But we live for the moment and we find justification for living in the moment. 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:05.600 There's no exclusivity except that of our own feelings. 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:10.960 No beliefs, no rights, no compass, no absolutes beyond what we can build ourselves. 00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:19.840 No ultimate purpose beyond survival and no accountability out with our society's structures. 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:21.879 Death is the end of our existence. 00:13:21.879 --> 00:13:25.399 No judgment to face, no ultimate justice, no heaven, no hell. 00:13:25.399 --> 00:13:27.279 This is all it is. 00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:33.720 That's the materialistic worldview, a worldview without God if we follow it through. 00:13:33.720 --> 00:13:40.759 And I guess as part of that we can have a worldview with a God of sorts, kind of a God. 00:13:40.759 --> 00:13:43.759 So you know, not everyone will say they're atheistic or even agnostic. 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:47.440 Some people say, yeah, I believe in God, just don't believe in the God you believe in. 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:48.440 Okay? 00:13:48.440 --> 00:13:52.320 So we live in a world with a God of sorts, but it's a blind faith. 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:58.640 It's not faith based on a revelation of God and based on the character and person of Jesus 00:13:58.640 --> 00:14:01.160 and his claims. 00:14:01.160 --> 00:14:08.560 God is a jolly benign, jolly green, and maybe he's not green, maybe he is. 00:14:08.560 --> 00:14:13.480 Jolly green giant, a big sort of jolly giant who doesn't get involved in the dirt of this 00:14:13.480 --> 00:14:20.159 world, whose belly wags in jolly mirth in the face of injustice and suffering, who ignores 00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:26.960 our guilt and our questions and our longings and can't be bothered making himself known. 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:31.639 He's content with just a wish fulfillment of whatever kind of God we want him to be, 00:14:31.639 --> 00:14:33.320 a God of our own imagination. 00:14:33.320 --> 00:14:37.840 He really has nothing to say because we've made him up. 00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:40.000 He's an idol, he just fits in. 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:44.000 You know, we will hear sometimes, I don't believe in that kind of God, I don't believe 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:45.679 in your kind of God. 00:14:45.679 --> 00:14:48.679 My kind of God and so on. 00:14:48.679 --> 00:14:57.159 No demands made by the sovereign and completely subservient to our wishes who just shrugs 00:14:57.159 --> 00:14:58.679 at love is love. 00:14:58.679 --> 00:15:02.759 Yeah, love is love. 00:15:02.759 --> 00:15:06.360 And so all of us need to come to that point as believers, if we are Christians here today, 00:15:06.360 --> 00:15:10.560 if you're not a Christian, I hope you'll be challenged by at least some of that thinking, 00:15:10.560 --> 00:15:14.279 we recognize that our worldviews clash. 00:15:14.279 --> 00:15:15.279 They have to clash. 00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:21.519 You know, if God, if he's real at all, if our God is a real God, then our worldviews 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:23.200 are going to clash. 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:30.240 And we can't simply skip around the meadows all of our lives because the worldviews clash. 00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:32.480 They're absolutely different. 00:15:32.480 --> 00:15:36.440 If it matters at all, then our worldviews are going to clash. 00:15:36.440 --> 00:15:41.480 If God has communicated through His Word and through the person of Christ, then it matters. 00:15:41.480 --> 00:15:47.840 And with regard to sexuality, if we focus into that one area, it matters because our 00:15:47.840 --> 00:15:54.240 worldviews clash because the Bible says, and this is a very, very simplistic and quick 00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:57.600 summary, that sex is His gift. 00:15:57.600 --> 00:15:59.639 He created it. 00:15:59.639 --> 00:16:05.319 He knows all about it and is to be enjoyed within His framework of marriage between a 00:16:05.319 --> 00:16:12.199 man and a woman, oneness with the security, identity, love and respect of that. 00:16:12.199 --> 00:16:17.600 Outside of that, it ceases to reflect God's purpose. 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:20.639 It's crazy. 00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:23.199 That's mental, you say. 00:16:23.199 --> 00:16:27.799 That's for 200 years ago, at least, if not a thousand. 00:16:27.799 --> 00:16:29.679 You can't possibly believe that today. 00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:32.399 Are you unrealistic and naive? 00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:35.799 Yes, of course we are. 00:16:35.799 --> 00:16:38.559 No. 00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:41.479 It's a clashing of two worldviews. 00:16:41.479 --> 00:16:46.879 It's a clashing of two understandings of who we are, physically, spiritually, emotionally, 00:16:46.879 --> 00:16:48.759 mentally, all that we are. 00:16:48.759 --> 00:16:56.079 Of course, it's way out of line with today's thinking, absolutely, entirely and completely. 00:16:56.080 --> 00:17:01.360 And until we come to terms with Jesus and the reality of who God is, then we will never 00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:05.360 wrestle with these issues and we will simply make up our own minds. 00:17:05.360 --> 00:17:09.039 So the big problem is not sexuality. 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:11.920 It's the problem of our worldview. 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:14.519 It's the problem of who is Lord of our lives. 00:17:14.519 --> 00:17:16.640 Is it ourselves? 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:17.640 Do we choose what? 00:17:17.640 --> 00:17:23.079 Do we just listen to what is the majority of opinion of society or do we follow the living 00:17:23.079 --> 00:17:28.960 God who in grace and in goodness and in love is a redeemer? 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:36.279 And in coming to terms with that, we can only do so by coming to terms with Jesus. 00:17:36.279 --> 00:17:39.720 And that's what I really want to stress this morning. 00:17:39.720 --> 00:17:45.559 I am not interested in a moralistic diatribe, let me tell you. 00:17:45.559 --> 00:17:50.439 But what I want to focus on is coming to terms with Jesus as the key. 00:17:50.440 --> 00:17:56.840 In this passage, Jesus is speaking to religious leaders and others who have taken God's word 00:17:56.840 --> 00:18:00.200 and who have twisted it, the Old Testament they took. 00:18:00.200 --> 00:18:07.799 And they twisted it because it suited them and it made them think in a way that is a 00:18:07.799 --> 00:18:10.200 natural way to think. 00:18:10.200 --> 00:18:14.960 He was correcting their religious misinterpretation of God's word. 00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:19.120 God's word, you have heard it said, Jesus said, you shall love your neighbor and you 00:18:19.119 --> 00:18:22.399 will hate your enemy, but I say to you, love your enemies, pray for those who persecute 00:18:22.399 --> 00:18:23.399 you. 00:18:23.399 --> 00:18:28.799 That, the Old Testament did say love your neighbors, but it didn't say hate your enemies. 00:18:28.799 --> 00:18:34.000 They made that wrong interpretation of God's word. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:40.119 And so Jesus is correcting them and reminding them that the way of grace is very different 00:18:40.119 --> 00:18:44.799 from what they think. 00:18:44.799 --> 00:18:47.839 And that's significant. 00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:54.039 And throughout the New Testament, Jesus explains the law of God, the Ten Commandments, in relational 00:18:54.039 --> 00:19:00.359 terms, in loving God and loving your neighbor. 00:19:00.359 --> 00:19:08.039 And the two worldviews clash because the world says, see verse 46, for if you love those 00:19:08.039 --> 00:19:13.199 who love you, reward you have, do not even the tax collectors do the same. 00:19:13.199 --> 00:19:16.359 So the world says you just love the people that are like you. 00:19:16.359 --> 00:19:19.919 You just love the people that you're friendly with, the people that think the same way as 00:19:19.919 --> 00:19:20.919 you. 00:19:20.919 --> 00:19:23.279 Well, that's just what, that's how everyone acts, isn't it? 00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:26.639 He says, no, the way of the gospel is different. 00:19:26.639 --> 00:19:32.679 And it says that the two worldviews clash when it comes to love as well. 00:19:32.679 --> 00:19:37.599 And he spoke all the time of those who were right with God and those who were wrong with 00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:38.599 God. 00:19:38.599 --> 00:19:43.439 And he always made clear that it was not based on their own inherent goodness or the way 00:19:43.440 --> 00:19:47.440 they loved, but rather their relationship to Him. 00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:50.840 He challenged those, all of those, you look through the gospels. 00:19:50.840 --> 00:19:55.880 He challenged those who trusted in themselves for their hope, who made themselves their 00:19:55.880 --> 00:20:00.759 own saviors, either through their morality, their wealth, their sexual relationships, 00:20:00.759 --> 00:20:02.880 their political aspirations. 00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:09.240 Whatever they looked to for approval or for acceptance or for a verdict, they were their 00:20:09.240 --> 00:20:10.400 own saviors. 00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:13.440 And he was saying, no, that's not how it is. 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:15.360 We can't live like that. 00:20:15.360 --> 00:20:22.920 We can't live in our own wisdom because we all fall short of the glory of God. 00:20:22.920 --> 00:20:29.560 And so beyond the sermon here and into the whole New Testament, his life as God in the 00:20:29.560 --> 00:20:32.160 flesh is shocking for us. 00:20:32.160 --> 00:20:34.720 And I hope you're shocked this morning. 00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:37.120 And I hope that I'm shocked this morning. 00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:44.879 I've been a Christian for 45 years, and I'm warning the Word of God to shock me this morning, 00:20:44.879 --> 00:20:50.759 because he spoke of exclusivity throughout the New Testament, that he is a part of a 00:20:50.759 --> 00:20:53.399 trinitarian God with trinitarian love. 00:20:53.399 --> 00:20:56.559 He is pre-existent before Abraham was born. 00:20:56.559 --> 00:20:58.000 I am. 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:02.879 He performed miracles and signs to seal the message that he brought. 00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:08.440 He could see into people's minds and hearts, and he always said that every human being 00:21:08.440 --> 00:21:12.760 was a rebel and a sinner under God's just wrath. 00:21:12.760 --> 00:21:19.200 And we twist God's commands of love and rebel against His authority and are tormented by 00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:25.240 the resulting chaos of chasing shadows in life under the lustful gaze of death. 00:21:25.240 --> 00:21:28.320 And it's tough to take. 00:21:28.320 --> 00:21:32.400 Jesus is no powder puff leader. 00:21:32.400 --> 00:21:37.240 It's tough to take what he says. 00:21:37.240 --> 00:21:42.200 But he spoke honestly, and he spoke as God about exclusivity. 00:21:42.200 --> 00:21:43.880 He spoke about generous grace. 00:21:43.880 --> 00:21:48.080 What's the greatest parable in the New Testament? 00:21:48.080 --> 00:21:51.080 It's got to be the prodigal Son. 00:21:51.080 --> 00:21:59.960 Luke 15, the three lost items, and it finishes with the lost Son, the prodigality of God's 00:21:59.960 --> 00:22:06.400 grace that Jesus revealed in the Father with his arms open wide, reaching out to the lost 00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:10.480 broken Son. 00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:14.200 And we see that in his priorities as he lives his life. 00:22:14.200 --> 00:22:16.720 What was Jesus' priorities? 00:22:16.720 --> 00:22:21.360 It was correcting the religious elites in their self-righteousness and their reliance 00:22:21.360 --> 00:22:24.200 on morality. 00:22:24.200 --> 00:22:29.559 But he spent a time with outcasts, with enemies of the state, with those who were rejected 00:22:29.559 --> 00:22:35.559 by the religious, the immoral, those who lived in the shadow lands, the lepers, the prostitutes, 00:22:35.559 --> 00:22:44.119 and all who broke God's love, love, and searched for what only God can offer. 00:22:44.119 --> 00:22:48.519 And in his message, we see the same. 00:22:48.519 --> 00:22:51.079 He didn't hold political rallies. 00:22:51.079 --> 00:22:56.379 He didn't advocate changes to Roman social structures through the courts. 00:22:56.380 --> 00:23:03.600 He didn't rail against slavery or social injustice, not because he didn't care, not because these 00:23:03.600 --> 00:23:09.960 things shouldn't be changed, not because he had nothing to say, but because he could see 00:23:09.960 --> 00:23:15.680 the deepest injustice and the most significant revolution that was needed, and it was needed 00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:17.680 in the heart of every individual. 00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:22.200 What does he say in John 3, verse 16? 00:23:22.200 --> 00:23:26.680 I don't think I put this up, but you know that, don't you? 00:23:26.680 --> 00:23:28.240 For God so loved the world. 00:23:28.240 --> 00:23:29.240 He said this, Jesus. 00:23:29.240 --> 00:23:33.240 He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have 00:23:33.240 --> 00:23:34.240 everlasting life. 00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:37.120 That was the core of his message. 00:23:37.120 --> 00:23:38.559 That was what he focused on. 00:23:38.559 --> 00:23:43.920 That was what drove his ministry and drove, because he could see into every heart. 00:23:43.920 --> 00:23:51.799 And he knew that a political change or a moral change or an outward change doesn't, it doesn't 00:23:51.799 --> 00:23:54.039 meet the need, ultimately. 00:23:54.039 --> 00:23:55.480 It's not the answer. 00:23:55.480 --> 00:23:59.079 It's not outside in, it's inside out. 00:23:59.079 --> 00:24:01.279 And he saw and knew that. 00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:07.720 So we recognize and see that Jesus came, and beyond his life, beyond his sermon, his life 00:24:07.720 --> 00:24:08.720 was shocking. 00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:11.839 I'm going to say something equally radical here. 00:24:11.839 --> 00:24:14.599 His death was beautiful. 00:24:14.599 --> 00:24:16.079 His death was beautiful. 00:24:16.079 --> 00:24:19.159 Okay, Romans 5, 6 to 11. 00:24:19.160 --> 00:24:23.160 For while we were still weak at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly, for one 00:24:23.160 --> 00:24:27.120 will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare to 00:24:27.120 --> 00:24:31.080 die, but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for 00:24:31.080 --> 00:24:33.080 us. 00:24:33.080 --> 00:24:36.400 Since therefore we have been justified by His blood, much more will be saved from the 00:24:36.400 --> 00:24:37.400 wrath of God. 00:24:37.400 --> 00:24:43.279 For if we were enemies, for if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the 00:24:43.279 --> 00:24:49.120 death of His Son, much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. 00:24:49.119 --> 00:24:55.959 More than that, we also rejoice because it's beautiful in God through our Lord Jesus Christ 00:24:55.959 --> 00:24:59.159 whom we've now received reconciliation. 00:24:59.159 --> 00:25:02.199 So it's a strange thing to say, isn't it? 00:25:02.199 --> 00:25:03.359 And I've mentioned it before here. 00:25:03.359 --> 00:25:06.599 It's a strange thing we sing about someone's dying on a cross. 00:25:06.599 --> 00:25:12.519 It's a strange thing to think about and do and believe in, but it's both the darkest moment 00:25:12.519 --> 00:25:16.599 in the history of humanity and also the brightest moment in the history of the world, where 00:25:16.599 --> 00:25:22.799 He subsumes all the suffering and sin and guilt and death, faces the power of the darkness 00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:33.799 in the devil and the just wrath of God against us on Himself, willingly, personally as God 00:25:33.799 --> 00:25:34.799 the Son. 00:25:34.799 --> 00:25:43.439 It's the most inexplicable, mysterious, outrageous, simple, glorious reality that has ever happened 00:25:43.439 --> 00:25:46.199 in this world, the cross of Jesus Christ. 00:25:46.200 --> 00:25:51.880 And if the cross for you is just symbolic, or if it's just something you hang around 00:25:51.880 --> 00:25:58.880 your neck as a symbol, then there's something utterly radical and revolutionary about what 00:25:58.880 --> 00:26:03.880 Jesus did in God in coming to answer our need. 00:26:03.880 --> 00:26:07.000 That's why it's beautiful, because in Him we find a better story. 00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:08.680 It's a better story. 00:26:08.680 --> 00:26:16.320 It's an answer that is inexplicably complete and good, and that we cannot come to the Father, 00:26:16.320 --> 00:26:19.759 our Creator God, unless we come through Jesus Christ. 00:26:19.759 --> 00:26:23.320 That's why the ethic matters. 00:26:23.320 --> 00:26:29.440 That's why the morality matters, because we love God and He has made us and molded us 00:26:29.440 --> 00:26:31.440 for Himself. 00:26:31.440 --> 00:26:37.799 So it's a better story, and Jesus, that better story is focused here, love your enemies. 00:26:37.799 --> 00:26:41.919 It's the better story, because that's what God did for us. 00:26:41.919 --> 00:26:45.680 He loved us while we were there, while we were still enemies. 00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:48.279 It's a better story. 00:26:48.279 --> 00:26:52.680 It's a better story of healing, and all that that involves in life. 00:26:52.680 --> 00:26:57.200 You know the world we live in, it's full of rage and anger and suspicion and blame and 00:26:57.200 --> 00:27:00.440 abuse and hurt and lust and emptiness. 00:27:00.440 --> 00:27:05.200 And grace is the beginning of healing. 00:27:05.200 --> 00:27:09.120 It's the wholeness, and it may take a lifetime even though we're justified and made right 00:27:09.120 --> 00:27:11.960 before God, but it's in the context. 00:27:11.960 --> 00:27:17.960 It's always that the healing is in the context of being accepted and forgiven and knowing 00:27:17.960 --> 00:27:20.960 He loves us and can't show. 00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:28.559 We might die for a good man, but He says while we were still enemies, God the Son provided 00:27:28.559 --> 00:27:29.559 our salvation. 00:27:29.559 --> 00:27:35.480 So His healing, it's a better story of justice. 00:27:35.480 --> 00:27:42.879 He's taken on and He's defeated evil and sin, and that will one day be destroyed. 00:27:42.879 --> 00:27:47.319 And yet He speaks very bluntly about our accountability to Him, and that we are guilty 00:27:47.319 --> 00:27:52.440 and will be separated from Him unless we come to God the Father through Jesus Christ, who 00:27:52.440 --> 00:27:54.240 is made righteous. 00:27:54.240 --> 00:27:59.119 We are made righteous because of His substitution and sacrifice. 00:27:59.119 --> 00:28:00.759 That's where we find approval. 00:28:00.759 --> 00:28:02.679 That's where we find our verdict. 00:28:02.679 --> 00:28:07.519 That's where we find our acceptance through Jesus Christ. 00:28:07.519 --> 00:28:13.159 He's provided a way back with the open arms of love and says, I am with you. 00:28:13.159 --> 00:28:15.799 I will never forsake you. 00:28:15.799 --> 00:28:17.959 That's the place of justice. 00:28:17.959 --> 00:28:21.679 You know, we don't shy away from justice. 00:28:21.679 --> 00:28:24.679 We don't shy away from the difficult issues because there are many, and I know there's 00:28:24.679 --> 00:28:26.319 many difficult issues. 00:28:26.319 --> 00:28:33.000 And I'm not being simplistic, but it's a better story of healing and of justice, and 00:28:33.000 --> 00:28:36.319 it's a better story of sexuality. 00:28:36.319 --> 00:28:43.519 It's a better story into our heterosexual and homosexual brokenness, marital infidelity 00:28:43.519 --> 00:28:51.279 and the insecurity of looking for ultimate identity and purpose in fluid gender conceptions 00:28:51.279 --> 00:28:55.960 and our sexual attractions. 00:28:55.960 --> 00:29:02.480 That's where we find faithfulness and God-imaging and purpose in both our singleness and our 00:29:02.480 --> 00:29:05.880 celibacy in our community and in marriage. 00:29:05.880 --> 00:29:14.799 That is a radical and rebellious construct in the world in which we live. 00:29:14.799 --> 00:29:24.680 And it's a better story of promise, of fulfillment, of purpose, of meaning, of significance, of 00:29:24.680 --> 00:29:34.160 worth, and of a future where Jesus says, no more tears, evil destroyed, death defeated, 00:29:34.160 --> 00:29:43.400 and the unimaginably good and glorious good life of having come out of the shadows which 00:29:43.400 --> 00:29:50.680 hold every longing and in Christ finding these longings fulfilled in the new creation of 00:29:50.680 --> 00:29:51.680 the new earth. 00:29:51.680 --> 00:29:58.360 Can I close by just taking us back to the issue that I begun the whole series with, 00:29:58.360 --> 00:29:59.680 which is about planning and praying. 00:29:59.680 --> 00:30:04.640 I think we need to plan and pray into this situation in our lives, in the relationships 00:30:04.640 --> 00:30:12.680 you have at work, university, neighborhood, whatever it might be, and in society as a 00:30:12.680 --> 00:30:13.680 whole. 00:30:13.680 --> 00:30:20.440 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 9 to 12 says, I think for me very significant things, Paul 00:30:20.440 --> 00:30:23.600 speaking to the church in Corinth, I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with 00:30:23.600 --> 00:30:28.519 sexually immoral people, not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world or the 00:30:28.519 --> 00:30:34.400 greedy and swindlers or idolaters since then you would need to go out of the world. 00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:38.880 But now I'm writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of a brother, 00:30:38.880 --> 00:30:39.880 a Christian. 00:30:39.880 --> 00:30:45.039 If he's guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, a vile or drunkard or swindler, 00:30:45.039 --> 00:30:51.039 not even to eat with such a one, for what have I to do with judging outsiders? 00:30:51.039 --> 00:30:53.480 Is it not those inside the church here to judge? 00:30:53.480 --> 00:30:55.000 What's he saying there? 00:30:55.000 --> 00:31:00.079 He's saying we need to be looking into our hearts, not judging the world outside. 00:31:00.079 --> 00:31:05.639 Why should we be surprised if someone's worldview that doesn't have God acts in a way that we 00:31:05.639 --> 00:31:09.559 find morally questionable? 00:31:09.559 --> 00:31:11.720 Why should that be the case? 00:31:11.720 --> 00:31:12.720 Of course that's the case. 00:31:12.720 --> 00:31:15.360 It makes sense, doesn't it? 00:31:15.360 --> 00:31:22.279 And it is empty moralism to stand in judgment or expect change in any individual without 00:31:22.279 --> 00:31:30.559 them coming to know their need and the grace of God and the hope of salvation. 00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:39.600 The question is, do we, who in here will cast a first stone with regard to sexual purity? 00:31:39.599 --> 00:31:43.959 Who of us will? 00:31:43.959 --> 00:31:48.439 Ephesians 2 verses 8 and 9 is for by grace that you've been saved through faith. 00:31:48.439 --> 00:31:50.719 This is not of your own doing. 00:31:50.719 --> 00:31:54.599 It's the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one can boast. 00:31:54.599 --> 00:31:56.919 Can we boast? 00:31:56.919 --> 00:31:58.839 Of course we can't. 00:31:58.839 --> 00:32:02.199 What story do we have to tell? 00:32:02.199 --> 00:32:05.599 Where is our identity? 00:32:05.599 --> 00:32:10.519 The message of grace, the message of the Word is not that God hates gay people and loves 00:32:10.519 --> 00:32:12.480 straight people. 00:32:12.480 --> 00:32:18.240 Please, get over it. 00:32:18.240 --> 00:32:21.240 But that's what many times they hear. 00:32:21.240 --> 00:32:23.719 And maybe that's what you think. 00:32:23.719 --> 00:32:26.480 And if you think like that, then you need to repent. 00:32:26.480 --> 00:32:30.799 You need to fall on your knees and ask God to forgive you because it's by grace that 00:32:30.799 --> 00:32:32.159 we've been saved through faith. 00:32:32.160 --> 00:32:36.600 And that not of yourself, we have no place for boasting. 00:32:36.600 --> 00:32:38.560 What is the condition of our heart? 00:32:38.560 --> 00:32:44.080 The grace, the gaze of judgment needs to change, doesn't it? 00:32:44.080 --> 00:32:49.120 So we find it so easy to judge, even within the church, to judge everyone else, except 00:32:49.120 --> 00:32:50.120 us. 00:32:50.120 --> 00:32:54.360 The gaze of judgment changes when grace has touched our hearts because what did the prodigal 00:32:54.360 --> 00:32:56.080 son come to realize? 00:32:56.080 --> 00:32:58.600 It wasn't everyone else, the father and the brother and everyone. 00:32:58.600 --> 00:32:59.600 It was himself. 00:32:59.600 --> 00:33:02.120 What have I been doing? 00:33:02.119 --> 00:33:03.119 He came to recognize. 00:33:03.119 --> 00:33:06.079 The gaze of judgment needs to change. 00:33:06.079 --> 00:33:09.319 And I think in prayerfulness, that's a prayerful reality. 00:33:09.319 --> 00:33:15.759 I think prayerfully also we need to consider the experiences, the experiences of that community 00:33:15.759 --> 00:33:22.519 and of these different individuals that we may come to know and love. 00:33:22.519 --> 00:33:31.919 The rejection, the abuse, the hatred, the homophobia, the despair, their perceived understanding 00:33:31.920 --> 00:33:37.600 of a gospel that hates them as individuals. 00:33:37.600 --> 00:33:41.240 And the hypocrisy that sometimes they see in the church, the sexual abuse that comes 00:33:41.240 --> 00:33:45.360 before the courts and all that goes with that. 00:33:45.360 --> 00:33:52.240 I think it's a survey that says that the gay community find the evangelical church the 00:33:52.240 --> 00:33:56.320 most judgmental and hateful group of people that they know. 00:33:56.320 --> 00:34:00.360 I think that's a challenge. 00:34:00.359 --> 00:34:06.919 We need to try and understand and pray into it and love. 00:34:06.919 --> 00:34:14.679 And I'm going to say this carefully that we love our enemies. 00:34:14.679 --> 00:34:21.880 You may perceive them as your enemy or they may perceive us as the enemy. 00:34:21.880 --> 00:34:27.880 But Christ commands you today to love your enemies because they are broken like we all 00:34:27.880 --> 00:34:32.760 were as Christians and still are but healed. 00:34:32.760 --> 00:34:39.079 And we love them because they, God loves us. 00:34:39.079 --> 00:34:47.320 See meaningful shadows in their quest for identity, belonging, community, love, individuality 00:34:47.320 --> 00:34:50.079 and respect. 00:34:50.079 --> 00:34:56.680 But appreciate and debate with them a better story and be honest with them about their 00:34:56.679 --> 00:35:04.319 need along with ours of accountability to the living God. 00:35:04.319 --> 00:35:08.319 It does matter how we live and what we think of Jesus. 00:35:08.319 --> 00:35:12.839 And death isn't just the end because we go to meet with the living God. 00:35:12.839 --> 00:35:17.639 That's what the cross is all about. 00:35:17.639 --> 00:35:21.279 And live out that better story. 00:35:21.279 --> 00:35:22.279 God must be real. 00:35:22.280 --> 00:35:28.360 So if all we do is verse 46, we love those who love you. 00:35:28.360 --> 00:35:33.800 If the church is just a social club, just our mates getting together, then it's just 00:35:33.800 --> 00:35:34.800 a social club. 00:35:34.800 --> 00:35:36.080 That's all it is. 00:35:36.080 --> 00:35:43.200 But He commands us to live holy, sacrificial loving life and seek opportunities to know 00:35:43.200 --> 00:35:50.120 and to love all who we come into contact with, breaking the mold of easy believers and pride 00:35:50.119 --> 00:35:52.279 and judgment. 00:35:52.279 --> 00:35:58.559 And even if they reject us and reject the message of the gospel, we keep loving them 00:35:58.559 --> 00:35:59.559 in the way that Jesus did. 00:35:59.559 --> 00:36:04.359 There's a powerful verse in John 6, 6, I want to finish with this. 00:36:04.359 --> 00:36:08.400 After this, many of its disciples turned back and no longer walked with them. 00:36:08.400 --> 00:36:12.639 So Jesus said to the self, do you want to go away as well? 00:36:12.639 --> 00:36:16.119 Simon Peter answered, Lord, to whom shall we go, you, of the words of eternal life? 00:36:16.119 --> 00:36:21.079 But it's the fact that many people, I think I missed a verse before that which says after 00:36:21.079 --> 00:36:24.799 these hard sayings, many people walked away. 00:36:24.799 --> 00:36:31.119 And yet Jesus still prayed with tears for these people. 00:36:31.119 --> 00:36:37.679 And we, even though we may be rejected and our worldview that we have come to know through 00:36:37.679 --> 00:36:42.599 Jesus Christ may be rejected, we still love, we keep loving. 00:36:42.599 --> 00:36:48.159 So I'm asking you to pray specifically for that community and for those who belong to 00:36:48.159 --> 00:36:53.559 it and the individuals that you may meet who have a different understanding of sexuality 00:36:53.559 --> 00:36:57.639 that is completely, maybe out of line with the Christian ethic and what we believe to 00:36:57.639 --> 00:37:02.559 be good and right and wholesome and pure. 00:37:02.559 --> 00:37:08.559 And love them and pray for opportunities that Christ and the good news of the gospel of 00:37:08.559 --> 00:37:14.719 redemption, break in and transform them as we believe it needs and has done with us.