Father, we're going to look at a part of your word that most Christians don't read or think about.
And so we ask very much for your help, that the Holy Spirit would help us to understand
why such an odd passage of scripture is in the Bible, why you would put it there.
And Father, we ask that you would bring your word close to our heart.
Make us disciples of Jesus who are gripped by the gospel, learning to live for your glory.
And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. You know, friends, it's a very interesting time, obviously, unprecedented.
These are all like cliches.
You know, one of the things that it's really, it'd be really interesting as we get to talk about this,
maybe when the pandemic's all over.
But as many of you know, there's sort of like a, there was almost a pandemic of loneliness
in much of Canadian society, even before this pandemic has, at least the way it's being dealt with right now,
calling for social isolation.
And I, you know, I think about it a little bit for people who already struggle with loneliness and isolation,
people who already are struggling with broken relationships and maybe being estranged from their family
or having no family at all.
To add on top of all of that, this call for social isolation, it must be very hard for many people,
including many of you who are listening to this, just on top of the normal stress that comes from this.
And on top of that, you know, many of us in Canada struggle with trust.
You know, we've been hurt in relationships with our parents or with bosses or institutions that were supposed to help us
or that we believed in at one point in time and they've let us down.
And so here we have a situation where a pandemic comes into us as a culture,
into people like you and me who already maybe struggle with isolation,
already maybe struggle with loneliness, already maybe struggle with being alienated from others
and already struggle in some cases with trust, trust of other people, trust of institutions.
We're going to look at it really, as you might have heard in the prayer,
we're looking at a very odd biblical text today.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the Bible or maybe you're very young Christians
or maybe you're just curious about what Christians would say,
so you're listening in on this, sort of as almost like doing anthropological research
on some strange and exotic tribe.
This is a text that we're going to be looking at that Christians rarely read
and they rarely, you rarely have sermons on this.
The text we're looking at this week and the text we're looking at next week.
We're looking at it not because we are odd, although maybe many of us are,
but one of the things that we do at Church of the Messiah is we preach through books of the Bible.
The Bible, Judges, was written as a book and we study it as a book.
We begin at the beginning and go right through to the end.
And one of the good things about that is it forces us to look at things
that maybe we wouldn't otherwise look at and address topics
that maybe I wouldn't have the courage to address.
But that's why we're going to be looking at it.
So it's an odd story.
And one of the things which is especially odd about it is that...
Well, here, I'll back up a little bit.
The book of Judges, we're going to be looking at chapter 17 and 18.
And it takes place, it's written about this time period
after Moses has taken the people of Israel out of Egypt.
And because of their sin, they wander in the wilderness.
And now they've come to the edge of the promised land and Moses dies.
And Joshua is the one who gets them into the promised land.
And then Joshua dies.
And the book of Judges takes place...
It looks at what happens between the death of Joshua
and the Israelites entering the promised land.
And when you have...
Many of you would have heard of the first kings of Israel, Saul, but especially David.
And this time period, really, between the rise of Saul and then David,
the very first kings in Israel, and coming into the promised land,
that's what's being described here in the book of Judges.
And one of the problems about this text is that for Christians,
like there's nothing good that happens in this story.
Everything in this story is bad from a Christian point of view.
And to look at this text, there's an extra complication
because what the Bible is describing as bad
is what Canadians think of as good.
So that causes a problem as well for us.
And so I'm going to talk about all of those things,
see how we navigate.
But having said all of that,
remember I said I began by talking about relationships.
And once we sort of get through
why it is that Christians, the Bible describes these things as bad
that Canadian society describes as good,
it actually opens a door to talk about
the importance of personal relationships
and social isolation and trust.
And actually the story is a very, very profound
and wise insight into things like this.
So let's begin.
It's Judges chapter 17.
And we're not going to be able to read all of it.
Some of it, I'll just tell you the story.
Some of it we'll read,
but we'll begin at Judges chapter 17, verse 1.
There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim,
whose name was Micah.
And he said to his mother,
the 1100 pieces of silver that were taken from you,
about which you uttered a curse,
and also spoke it in my ears.
In other words, he personally heard his mom utter a curse
on whoever stole her 1100 pieces of silver.
Behold, the silver is with me,
her son says.
I took it.
And his mother said,
blessed be my son by the Lord,
which is a very odd response.
So just sort of pause there
before we read the next little bit.
So if you're a bit unfamiliar with the Bible,
Jewish people, if you have Jewish friends,
they're not part of a tribe.
But originally, the Jewish people
all would have been able to say
which one of 12 tribes they were part of.
So Ephraim is one of those tribes.
So we're talking about a Jewish person here.
And what Micah does is he steals
1100 pieces of silver from his mom.
I don't know what that would be like in today's dollars.
That might be like stealing $20 million.
That's like a lot of money, $10 million.
It's a pile of money.
So Micah's rich.
His mom is rich.
He rips off his mom.
And I don't know what you think about curses.
And I'm not going to get into a little bit of a,
I'm not going to get into a discussion about curses.
But Micah believes in curses.
And what motivates him to give the money back
is that his mom has pronounced a curse
on whoever stole the money.
And Micah believes in curses.
He gets very, very worried.
And so this is what, how the story opens.
He says to his mom that he's, he's stolen the mom.
And that little bit about the Lord bless, et cetera, et cetera.
It's the mom revoking the curse and asking for a blessing
because it's her son.
And I guess she has the money back.
So what happens next?
Well, here's where things get interesting.
Verse three.
And he restored, that's Micah,
restored the 1100 pieces of silver to his mother.
And his mother said,
I dedicate the silver to the Lord from my hand for my son
to make a carved image and a metal image.
Now, therefore, I will restore it to you.
So when he restored the money to his mother,
his mother took 200 pieces of silver
and gave it to the silversmith
who made it into a carved image and a metal image.
And it was in the house of Micah.
And the man Micah had a shrine
and he made an ephod and household gods
and ordained one of his sons who became his priest.
Now we'll just sort of pause there.
So what's going on right here?
I'll be right up front about it.
So what he's actually,
what the mom has done is the mom has said,
I want you to make some gods, idols, gods.
In a sense, they wouldn't have thought of them as idols.
They would have thought of them as gods.
And we think of them as idols,
but they would have thought of them as gods.
And even though she says that she worships the Lord,
the God of Israel, the God of Christians as well,
the fact of the matter is,
is that she might worship some version of that God,
but she has gods of her own,
which she finds far more meaningful.
And these gods of her own
that she finds far more meaningful
because she's a very spiritual person.
She wants to have them represented
and present, so to speak, in her life
in such a way that she can give herself
and get meaning in these gods of her own choosing.
Like in a sense,
you could say it's a curated spirituality.
It's a bespoke spirituality.
So here we begin to see actually part of the problem.
If you think about it for a second,
and for some of you listening,
you can see a little bit of a problem here.
In Canada, there's sort of two groups.
In Canada, there's one group that sort of says,
in fact, likes having a type of bespoke spirituality,
a type of curated spirituality,
where you take bits and pieces of things
which are meaningful,
and maybe it's something from Miles Davis,
something from Hinduism,
something from Buddhism,
something from Judaism,
something from the Kabbalah,
and you curate it,
you put it together in such a way
that is very, very meaningful to you,
and you would say that you're a very spiritual person.
And in Canada, there's many, many people
who would understand themselves in this particular way.
And then, of course, in Canada,
there's a large number of people
who think that that's just bunk,
that it's just ridiculous,
that you shouldn't bother with such things.
And by and large, in Canada,
both groups more or less get along.
They just let each other live their own life.
And so here's part of the problem.
The part of the problem is
that if you read this whole story
from the biblical point of view,
what the mom and the son are doing is wrong.
It's not just sort of like the way
a secular, more atheistic person
who hears about your love of crystals
might sort of roll their eyes
or something like that.
But, you know, then you're going to live and let live.
You just do what you do,
and I'll do what I'll do,
and we'll get along fine.
The Bible actually views that as wrong,
that it's like a very serious type of mistake.
And so it's actually describing as wrong
what a large number of Canadians think is good.
So this idea of the mom with her different gods
and her bespoke spirituality,
her curated spirituality,
from the biblical point of view,
this is wrong.
Now, that's a bit of a problem,
and I'm going to address it in a moment,
but it gets even worse in the next bit,
because at least with this bit,
it might sound as if the Bible is taking the side
of those more secular friends of ours in Canada
who sort of will roll their eyes at this.
But in fact, the very next thing that the Bible says
shows that there's a problem
not just between the Bible and the Christian faith
and people who like their curated spirituality,
but also for the people who roll their eyes
and are secular,
because here's what the very next bit says.
And this is, by the way,
how you understand that the Bible is actually,
this whole story is describing
something that the Bible thinks is wrong.
In fact, in terms of the book of Judges,
what's happening right here is this.
The way the book of Judges is structured
is you have sort of two introductions.
It sort of gives you a 10,000 feet in the air,
biblical slash Christian understanding
of what you're about to read
in the rest of the book.
And then from chapter three on to last week,
we have the story of 12 different judges who,
judges is a good word,
but it really means a type of deliverer
that God raises up to deliver people
when they get into trouble.
And what we're gonna see in this story and next story
is it's as if we have two case studies
of what life was like in Israel
that they needed to be delivered from.
They needed to be saved from.
So here you can very well imagine
some of you who like bespoke,
curated spiritualities,
I've now been a bit offensive to you.
So I just ask that you grant me a little bit of mercy
as we just talk about this a little bit more
to at least try to maybe,
yeah, just give me a little bit of mercy,
a little bit of time.
But this next bit in terms of describing
what's wrong with what just happened
and wrong in general,
well, listen to it.
It's chapter 17, verse 6.
In those days, there was no king in Israel.
That's not a big deal for most of us.
Most Canadians aren't monarchists.
But here's the thing.
Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Now, here's another big problem.
You see, for Canadians,
that's a good thing.
Like whether you believe in a type of bespoke,
curated spirituality,
or whether you believe that you're going to follow
one of the more historic other faiths
of Buddhism or Hinduism or Islam,
or whether you think the whole thing is bunk,
for most Canadians,
other than probably those people who follow Islam,
for most Canadians,
this idea that everyone did what was right
in their own eyes,
that's actually like a good thing.
Whether you, you know,
are spiritual,
or whether you're just like Jack Daniels
in NFL football,
like,
doing right in your own eyes
is what makes Canada great.
And Canada,
the world needs more of Canada.
I mean,
that's one of the things
that they used to say on the buses
and other types of slogans.
And here,
the Bible is using it as a short form
to describe what's wrong.
Now,
I'm going to just highlight
what happens next.
What happens next
is just the mom
at the personal level
and the,
and Micah
at the personal level
just acting out
what it means
to have a bespoke,
curated spirituality.
And they,
they set up their shrine
and they set up their gods.
And then they,
after they,
they find that there's a better person
to sort of act
as their spiritual advisor,
their guru,
their priest.
And they hire him on
just as people hire on coaches
or hire on,
you know,
relationships with spirits,
get financial relationships
with spiritual masters.
And that's what happens
in the rest of the story.
And then what happens
in chapter 18
is that this whole thing
is described,
it sort of moves up a level
beyond the individual
to the corporate level.
And that's what happens
in chapter 18
in terms of
there's a whole tribe now,
which also wants to have
a type of bespoke spirituality,
a curated spirituality.
And at the same time,
they're trying to sort of
just make a way
for themselves,
make themselves prosperous,
all very,
very Canadian,
all sounds very,
very good.
And they're looking
for a land to settle in.
And the parts of the story
which aren't very good,
which we'll talk about
a little bit more
in a moment,
are as part of that,
they,
and this happens,
right,
they steal
the shrine
and the gods
of Micah
and they steal
the priest
and they bring him along
so that he can be
the priest
and these can be the gods
for an entire tribe.
And then there's some land
that they really like
and there's an area
that they really like
and they ask the advice
of their gods
through this curated priest,
the priest that they've chosen
for themselves,
their spiritual father,
their guru,
their spiritual master
and he gives them
an ambiguous answer
that basically says
they should go ahead
and do this
and they go ahead
and do it
and they steal the priests,
they steal the gods,
they steal the spirituality,
they make it their own,
it's all still bespoke,
isn't it?
Although they stole it
and they then go
and they attack a land
and they kill people
and they steal the land
and they make it their own
and that's what
chapter 17 and 18
is all about.
So how do we sort of
talk about it
and how do we
understand
what's just happened?
So just to put it
very bluntly
for those of you
who are listening in
and trying to think
how on earth is,
what is George
going to ever possibly say
about such an outrageous story
is the first problem
is this,
is many Canadians
would say
how dare God,
at least you George,
tell people
how to worship?
Like how dare you?
Like what gives you
the right
to say something
like that to people?
And then the second thing
which is even more important
because
you know
even the secular people
who roll their eyes
when somebody talks
about their crystals
or their tarot cards
or their yoga
and the secular person
rolls their eyes
but even they
probably would be
a bit bothered
that I'm actually
telling them
how to worship.
And then the second thing
is how dare
God,
the Bible,
tell us how to live?
Like how dare God
do that?
Here's what Christians
would say
what's going on
in the stories.
There used to be
somebody in my
immediate circle
of friends
family
who had a daughter
who had an imaginary
friend.
Very true.
I can't remember now
if it was a year or two
that lasted.
They were quite young
but they were quite
old enough to speak
and they were
a very,
very articulate child
and I'm not going to
tell what the imaginary
friend's name was
or anything like that
but this was somebody
very, very well known
to me and to our family
and they had an imaginary
friend which lasted
for several years.
This person would tell us
about the things they did
with their imaginary
friend and where the
imaginary friend lived
and where they went to
school and what they
studied together.
Now this would be
pretty sad.
It was sort of odd,
endearing and odd
and they were just young
and everybody who knew
and loved this young
child,
this child,
hoped that they would
grow out of it
and they did
and she's a spectacular
young woman today.
Just as sane
as any of you
or just as sane
as me
and she'd probably say
she's more sane
than me but that's
a whole other story
but she grew out of it
but it would have been
pretty sad
if it continued on.
Like if she continued
to talk and act
as if she had
an imaginary friend
and everybody wouldn't
think it was endearing.
They'd think there was
something seriously
wrong with this person
and it would endanger
this person
from having real
relationships
with real people.
So just to be
completely and utterly
clear,
at the very heart
of this text
and the very heart
of this Christian claim,
the very heart
of my belief
as a Christian,
as a follower
of Jesus,
is that there is
a God that does exist
who's real.
In fact,
he's in a sense
the most real thing
in existence
compared,
I only have,
I'm real,
you're real
but whatever reality
you have
and I have
only comes
because this,
in a sense,
more deeply real,
eternally real God
has created you and me
and sustains you and me.
Our reality,
in a sense,
comes from him,
is derived from him
but he has real reality.
This God has,
he's real
and so that's
what's behind this text
and so if you think
about it to,
in a sense,
if you understand that
then what you can understand
is to,
for those Canadians,
those of us
who understand
and value
a bespoke,
curated type
of spirituality,
well it would be
a little bit like this.
My wife is real,
she's not on camera,
some of you know my wife
but she's real
and you can't just say
anything you want
about my wife.
Like because she's real,
some things are true
about her
and some things are false.
Some things are,
you might think of them
as a compliment
but they're actually offensive.
Some of you
have heard the story,
if I ever write a book
on marriage,
it'll be,
it'll be something
to the effect,
the subtitle will be
all of the dumb wrong things
that I've ever said
that I want to share with you
so you don't say them
or something like that.
I remember once
I said to my wife
that she was aging beautifully.
I'm really dumb.
I actually meant it
as a compliment
and I was actually
taken aback
when she didn't,
she wasn't happy
with that particular compliment
but you get what
I'm talking about,
don't you?
Is that,
in a sense,
if there really is
a real God,
then if you have
a bespoke spirituality
or a curated spirituality
and you say things
about this God,
they're either just
wildly wrong
or just wildly wrong
in a way
which is offensive
to some person
who's real,
you'll see that
there's going to be,
then this text
can be talking about
how these different ways,
because what goes on
in the rest of the story
is you can't just set up
anybody that you want
to be your priest
because God
has determined a way,
has revealed a way
to have priests
and you can't just say
whatever you want to do
is how you worship him
because God
has revealed who he is
and what his character
and nature is like
and how that fits
with our character
and our nature
and in a sense
then how we can
worship him
in a way which fits
at a very deep level
with who an individual
was made to be,
is made to be
and what God is like
and so you just can't
on one hand
be spiritual
and just say
whatever you want
if there actually
is a real God.
And to our secular friends,
it's this,
if one of the things
which,
and she's completely right,
if sometime,
if I'm at a church thing
with a lot of church things
or people that I know
or, you know,
another congregation
or something
and Louise is with me
and people say hi to me
and talk to me
and ignore her,
well,
that bothers her
and when I tell you that,
every single one of you
would agree
that it's right
for her to be bothered
because she's right there
and she's being ignored
and so in a sense
to our secular Canadian friends
we say there really is a God
who really does exist
and to act as if
he doesn't exist
is to ignore him
and is to in fact
have a type of very,
very fatal type of mistake.
But,
and that's sort of then how
we'd say
that this text
for Christians
is a warning
about how
you just can't sort of
take bits and pieces
of the Bible
because the Bible
is the way
Christians believe
that God has revealed
truth about what it means
to be human
and truth about himself.
You can't just pick and choose
or go in other directions
because of the reality of God
and our need to learn from him
how he is.
And it's the same then
with the morality.
I talked about this more
a couple of weeks ago.
I just want to give you
a different type of analogy.
One of the problems
with the right and wrong
is this,
that
in the story
what happens
with the
self-made gods,
the curated spirituality,
is
because
we've chosen
this type of spirituality,
they've chosen
this spirituality
for themselves,
it ends up,
well,
it ends up just sort of
never checking
the selfishness
of people
and it never
pushes back
it doesn't,
it ends up just in the story.
If you go back
and you read chapter 18,
it just,
in a sense,
the spirituality
ends up enabling evil.
And I'm not saying
that every Canadian
who has a bespoke spirituality
enables evil,
but we can all sort of
understand a little bit
that if you choose
a type of spiritual path
yourself,
the great danger
could be
that it
feeds into
selfishness
and self-centeredness
and won't act
as a check
on some of the things
that any individual
will do
that's wrong.
And I'll give you
a bit of an illustration
once again
thinking about my wife.
If you knew my wife,
you'd know that
there's many things
about her
that are good
and beautiful.
And that means
that if you want
to get into
a relationship
with my wife
as a friend,
there's certain types
of things
that fit,
that work,
that fit
with knowing
the parts of her
that are good
and beautiful.
They just fit.
There's ways of talking,
there's ways of behaving
that fit.
And this is then
just amplified,
you see,
because from the Christian
point of view,
not only is there
a real God
that really exists,
but this real God
that really exists
is also the one
who's created all things.
It's not that he's
self-centered or peevish.
A couple of years ago,
I was in a coffee shop
and there was a chapters
connected to the coffee shop
or an indigo books,
whatever it is
that they called it back then.
I can't remember.
It wasn't that long ago.
And there was a very hairy,
distracted mom,
obviously just hoping
that if she gave her kid
a cookie and a juice box
and she could have a coffee
and you could just see
when she sat down
and you'd go,
she's just really looking forward
to having this coffee.
And she was really hoping
that she,
with the juice box
or the hot chocolate
and the coffee,
that her child
would be quiet
for a couple of minutes
just so she could
sort of, you know,
focus and have
some adult time.
Many of us
who've had kids,
we all know
what that's like.
But the kid
very quickly
got restless
and the mom
happened to be sitting
right very close
to where the books
and the cards were
and the kid kept getting up
and grabbing a card
and grabbing this
and grabbing that
and the mom,
mom would get upset with her
and this is what the mom
every time said to her.
She didn't say,
don't touch that,
it's not yours,
don't touch that,
it's wrong.
She said,
don't do that,
you're making me unhappy.
Now that's a terrible
moral lesson.
But that's not
what God is like.
It's not as if God,
the God,
the real God
who really does exist,
if there really is a God
that really does exist
that's at all
described by the Bible,
it's not as if he just
has this peevishness
that you're doing things
that make me unhappy.
It's in fact that
the God who does exist,
and by the way,
the God who does exist
is good
and he's made things
out of his goodness
and out of his love
and there's in a sense
a type of a fittedness
to many things,
not for everything,
but for some very important
and significant things.
And so it is
that if to know
somebody like Louise,
the good and beautiful parts
and the wise parts
of Louise,
if there's certain ways
of talking,
behaving,
and being
that just fit
with that,
to know her
in a good way,
to have her know you
in a good way
as friend
or as child
or as son-in-law
or daughter-in-law
or grandchild
or whatever,
or in my case
as husband,
then how much more
it is with God,
you see,
that there's a fittedness
to things,
a rightness
to things
that's not connected
to God being peevish
or just saying,
you're making me unhappy.
And so that's why
it is that
in this particular text,
these two things
that the Bible says
that people have
to be saved from
all foundationally
go around this idea
that there really
is a God
who does exist,
who's real.
And that if,
if somebody like me
is real
or my wife is real
and there's things
you could say about me
that would be just untrue
and that would be unkind
and would be,
I would be right
to be mad
if anybody's heard
you say certain things
about me,
they'd all say,
no, George is right
to be mad.
Then if God has that
even greater reality
and an even greater,
in a sense,
is-ness,
identity,
edges,
then,
well then this,
this biblical text
actually starts to make
an awful lot of sense.
Now,
here's the thing
about the God
that's described
in the Bible
and this is,
by the way,
once again,
getting back
to the personal relationships
which we're going
to end up with
because I'm starting
to move towards
wrapping this all up.
But what Christians believe
and we only believe this
because God has told us
and he has told us this
not because we have
some private knowledge
but because God has
made it known publicly
through his word
and I'm going to get to
in a moment
why we would believe
anything at all
in his word
but the God
who's revealed
that actually exists
is God in Trinity.
It's the Father
from all eternity.
Before there was
anything created
that there was
the Father
and the Son
and the Holy Spirit,
three persons,
one God
and from all eternity
the Father loved the Son.
From all eternity
the Father revealed himself
to the Son
and from all eternity
the Son loved the Father
and revealed himself
and the Father
was in a sense
good towards the Son
and the Son
was good towards the Father
and the Holy Spirit
is both in a sense
that movement
between the Father
and the Son
and is himself a person
that is himself revealing
and is good
and is loving
and so that God
didn't need to create
because he was lonely.
God didn't have to
sort of create
so when he actually
created something
he could be good.
God isn't self-centered.
God in his very nature
the triune God
is a fullness of love
a fullness of goodness
and is a person
and reveals himself
and so he made human beings
to communicate
to be together.
He made us social.
He made us to know others
and to be known by others
just as he created us
to know God
and to be known by God.
And so some of you might say
well George okay
like how do you know that?
Well here's the thing.
Christianity I think
is unique amongst all
the bespoke spiritualities
of the world
and amongst all the religions
and spiritualities
of the world.
Only the Christian faith
lays down the gauntlet
and it's put in a very succinct way
in 1 Corinthians chapter 15
verses 19 and 20.
The whole chapter
of 1 Corinthians 15
would be very good to read
and here's what Paul says
and Paul is writing
Paul is a convert
to the Christian faith.
He's seen the risen Jesus.
He's writing to a group
of people about 17 years
18 years after
the death and resurrection
of Jesus
or 20 years after
the death and resurrection
of Jesus
and they've become Christians
and he says this
in verse 19 and 20.
If in Christ
we have hope
in this life only
we of all people
are most to be pitied.
Earlier he says
in verse 17
if Christ has not been raised
your faith is futile
and you are still
in your sins.
And in verse 20
but in fact Christ
has been raised
from the dead
the first fruits
of those
who have fallen asleep.
And then it goes on
and talks about
the great benefits
we have
from knowing
who Jesus is.
And you see
what the Bible says
what
not the Bible says
what
the great proof
of the Christian faith
is that Jesus
really lived
that's
nobody
doubts that nowadays
no serious scholar
doubts that Jesus lived
and that Jesus really died
that he died
by crucifixion.
Even the most skeptical scholars
accept that Jesus died
by crucifixion.
And even the most skeptical scholars
acknowledge
that they've never found the body
and that the grave was empty
and even the most skeptical scholars
will acknowledge
that many many people will die
because of ideological reasons
that many many people will die
because they believe in Marxism
and they'll give their life
for Marxism
or for some other type
of secular philosophy
or ideology
but the thing which is so amazing
about the Christian faith
is that people
died
because they made
the claim
that something was true
that it happened
that Jesus
had risen
from the dead.
That's why the grave
was empty
and that's why
the Christian faith
exploded
in Jerusalem
because he prophesied
that he would die
he said that his death
and resurrection
would vindicate who he is
and what his message is
and it is because of Jesus
Jesus believed the Bible
so I believe the Bible
Jesus revealed what God is like
and that's why I believe it
but it so fits
and it's so true
I challenge you
if you want to know more about it
you can look up
Mike Lacona
and Gary Habermas
and their case
for the resurrection
there's many books
that outline why it is
that it's very likely true
that God
that Jesus
is God
the Son of God
that he rose from the dead
and it's really
really spectacular
here's the wonderful
good news
is that God
the same thing
that God does
to authenticate
that he's real
the same evidence
that he provides
to indicate
that he is real
and he wants to know you
and be known by you
is the same thing
that God does
to deliver us
and to make us right
with him
the same
it's not as if
you have to go to one thing
to sort of understand
why God exists
and another thing
to understand
how it is
that he wants to have
a relationship with you
and will make you right
with him
the same thing
that will make you right
with God
because I can't make myself
right with God
by myself
I'm alienated from God
as are you
I need a savior
just as you do
and the same thing
that saves us
is the same thing
that reveals
the reality
of the true
and living God
and so it is
that we get out of
that what we can get
out of this
is that God
isn't just sort of
an absent God
who's all love
and doesn't care
about the mess
that you're in
doesn't care
about the sense
of shame
or the sense
of lostness
or alienation
that you might have
he's come to save you
because he desires
to be known
by ordinary people
like you and me
and the God
who is the source
of love
the source of goodness
the source of relationship
the source of beauty
the source of goodness
the source of mercy
is the same God
that's created you
and wants to know you
and has redeemed you
and he held nothing back
in redeeming you
in the death
the life and death
and resurrection
of his son
and so he calls you
into relationship
with himself
and he is completely
and utterly trustworthy
and as he moves
more deeply
into your life
as the gospel
grips you
you can start
to learn
to trust him more
and here's the other
wonderful thing
just as I wrap
the sermon up
is he doesn't call you
just to walk
by yourself
but he calls you
to walk with him
with others
that he calls us
to be together
as his people
in a sense
not only does he
restore us
to relationship
with himself
he begins to restore us
with me
to a proper relationship
with myself
he begins to restore me
to a proper relationship
with each other
as he calls us
to know Jesus
to follow Jesus
and we never walk
with Jesus alone
we walk with Jesus
in the company
of other people
hopefully a good
local church
and so I just want
to encourage you
to consider Jesus
and I want to encourage you
if you're a Christian
and you're not connected
to a good local church
to pray and ask the Lord
to direct you
to a good local church
where the Bible
is preached
and the gospel
is proclaimed
where you will know
that Jesus loves you
that everything
that needed to be done
to make you right
with him
was dealt with
by him
and all you need to do
is receive it
by faith
and as the gospel
grips you
it will grip you
to a new relationship
with God
a new relationship
with yourself
and a new relationship
with others
and a new relationship
with society
and culture
to seek to not only
share Jesus
but to act in such a way
that the city is blessed
let's bow our heads
in prayer
Father we ask
that you draw us
to Jesus
to help us
to be gripped
by the gospel
and if there are any here
who have not yet known
Jesus as Savior and Lord
that they will come
to a saving faith
in Jesus
in Jesus name
Amen