Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] But he is getting close, and so we're very thankful that he is doing better.
[00:00:08] So the most I have ever been uplifted and loved and the most I have ever been hurt have all come from the same groups.
[00:00:25] And I think that sort of how it's supposed to happen.
[00:00:30] Because whether it's family or a group of friends or whatever, to love is to make oneself vulnerable.
[00:00:42] Just you open yourself up to be hurt and you trust them not to do it.
[00:00:50] I was talking with a woman one time after a difficult divorce, one of hers, and I wasn't mine. I said that like it was mine.
[00:01:02] She had just gotten divorced and it was very tough.
[00:01:06] And she said, I don't know if I'll ever love again unless I'm 100% sure it won't end in pain.
[00:01:16] And I said, then you'll never love again.
[00:01:21] Because love is vulnerability.
[00:01:26] Love is opening oneself up to others.
[00:01:30] And so when you love someone well and they love you well, and it gets crossways, that's why. That's why we'll just say this out loud. Divorce is so hard because you spend a lot of time telling each other you your secrets.
[00:01:50] And while that bonded you for a while now they are just arrows in your quiver.
[00:02:00] And it is so dangerous and hurtful.
[00:02:03] So the people we love the most, the people we enjoy and love being with the most, can hurt us the most.
[00:02:15] And so this is the case with family, sometimes it's the case with marriage where the thing you invested in love the most is the one that turns around and pierces you the deepest.
[00:02:30] I think this is at the heart of the understandable distrust of what people call organized religion, don't you think?
[00:02:50] Because some of the best moments of your life in youth group and the moment you gave your life to Jesus and the church celebrated with you sometimes that, like when you got married and your church showed up, whenever you lost that loved one and your church showed up, there's those moments that impact you.
[00:03:14] And then the imperfection of that relationship will not can, but will eventually wound you.
[00:03:28] Because church isn't just a family. It's a family from all different backgrounds and different beliefs and different groups and just sort of trip over each other sometimes.
[00:03:42] I have spent my life devoted to organized religion in a way, and I get people's dissatisfaction with it.
[00:03:58] I've also at times thought it was quite funny.
[00:04:02] Like I was talking to someone and they were like, I think we're just going to start our own church. So tired of organized religion, start my own church. And we'll just meet in my house.
[00:04:12] I said, what time?
[00:04:16] There's got to be a little organization.
[00:04:21] But I get what they're saying.
[00:04:25] What they're saying is I am tired of people using the servant savior Jesus to amass and accumulate power for their own position.
[00:04:44] For people standing in the way of this Jesus who offers us salvation, freely invites us to the table openly standing in the way of that and saying, unless you believe like me, unless you look like me, unless you act like me, dress like me, you're not welcome here.
[00:05:05] It is antithetical to the message of Jesus. And I, I get it, but I guarantee you it's not just about the time it starts. But I guarantee you when you open up a church to the world and say we are accepting imperfect people.
[00:05:24] I'm tired of the church who expects everybody to be perfect. We are accepting imperfect people. Guess who's gonna show up?
[00:05:36] Imperfect people.
[00:05:41] And it won't always be the imperfect people that you want.
[00:05:47] We want to be a church that serves this group of people who are hurting.
[00:05:55] And it's going to be the other group of people.
[00:05:59] God's funny like that.
[00:06:02] God's always going to put you in front of the imperfect people that bother you a little bit.
[00:06:10] I felt that way.
[00:06:14] I'll just be honest with you.
[00:06:16] The sin that bothers me the most is racism, pure and simple. It irritates the fire out of me.
[00:06:26] It's always, white supremacists are always the people that like don't seem all that supreme, you know what I mean? It's just like I grew up in southwest Arkansas and it just always bothered me like the hillbillies who. I grew up in a town that was pretty split. It was half Hispanic and half hillbilly.
[00:06:52] And just the hillbillies is like, learn to speak good English.
[00:07:01] These people like speak two languages very well and like learn to speak. It just felt like such a dumb thing to say in my mind as a 14 year old kid. And it irritates me. It gets on my nerves. There are other sins that are sins and they don't irritate me, you know what I mean? Like they don't bother. Like that just makes me go, ah, I don't even want to be go away.
[00:07:31] But I start my own church and that's gonna be in the room.
[00:07:39] And it's the only, it seemed to me to be the only sin we just dismissed with raising.
[00:07:47] You couldn't say, well, Jimmy punches people a lot. That's how he was raised.
[00:07:53] But for some reason, if you were Racist. It was just dismissed by going, well, it was kind of how they were raised. You just, you know, well, stop it.
[00:08:04] I'm just telling you, I'm baring my soul here. Please, in my vulnerability, don't pierce me. But, like, that's the one that bothered me.
[00:08:14] And I found in my life the call to minister to people who irritate me just a little.
[00:08:23] It's so ridiculous to think that supremacy comes from just sort of like, well, I was born a skin color that we've named white.
[00:08:34] Which, by the way, guys, I have an orange shirt that I wear sometimes. And when I wear it around the house, Rachel's like, Rachel double takes because she thinks I'm not wearing a shirt, which hurts my feelings because am I orange?
[00:08:49] So we like to base it on anything other than, like, how you treat people. It bothers me. And so I'm gonna start my own church. I'm gonna get rid of all these. I'm going, I don't want to be around these people. Well, then all of a sudden, I'm supreme and I'm. People are right.
[00:09:09] If you're raised by a racist, sometimes that's how you turn out. And you're going to have to work on that in Jesus name, just like everyone else is going to have to work on that in Jesus name. And Jesus can help those people, and Jesus can help these people. And then whenever I start excluding, I'm doing the thing that I'm mad at them for doing.
[00:09:34] And church is supposed to be this place that welcomes when I've got these lists of sins that really bother me and these lists of sins that I'm like, well, let's come on. Everyone's welcome at the table. And then like, Billy's like, man, have you seen, like, stop that now. I will slap someone's hand at the table.
[00:09:53] They don't need to talk like that.
[00:09:57] But church has often been gatekeepers for the table instead of invitations to the table.
[00:10:07] Well, they've got to get better before they show up to the table. They've got to get better before they follow Jesus.
[00:10:13] In southwest Arkansas, there's a lot of churches that will, like, before you. You can. You can become a member, but you've got to.
[00:10:22] You've got to answer a pretty big questionnaire.
[00:10:27] And these are Churches of Christ. Churches Christ. There's a Church of Christ in Nashville, Arkansas, where if you want to become a member, and especially if you want to become a. If you want to teach a class, you have to answer a pretty big questionnaire. The first one's are you a man? Yes. Okay. And then the rest is stuff like, do you believe this or that about the Bible? And one of the questions, although I have a friend of mine went to that church for a little bit. I'd say a friend of mine, we are very different. He was a rocket scientist, he worked for NASA.
[00:11:02] He was in his mid-70s. Whenever I was friends with him and he was very left brained, you know, and he would.
[00:11:13] He went to that church for a little bit and they sent him this questionnaire because he was gonna teach. Brilliant, brilliant mind.
[00:11:20] And they sent him this questionnaire and one of the questions was. And guys, you are not gonna believe me when I say this.
[00:11:27] One of the questions was, what's your opinion about mixed bathing?
[00:11:37] Now, if you don't know what that is, God bless your soul, you've lived a good life.
[00:11:43] Mixed bathing is what people call men, typically youth group kids swimming in the same swimming pool.
[00:11:55] Did you say no? Yeah. No. Solid no for Mandy. Yes, you can teach class now. Good job.
[00:12:04] Well, this guy's answer, he went. He went and talked. He wrote, he liked, he wrote out.
[00:12:11] That depends on the size of the tub.
[00:12:21] Said, sure. Like if it's just a bathtub in a house, I'd probably be against it, but if it's in the ocean, it seems pretty appropriate, don't you think?
[00:12:31] But they were gatekeeping this like, you've got to have the right opinions, you've got to have the right thoughts, the right understandings, you got to have the right practices or you don't get a certain.
[00:12:45] Let's make sure that the people in power are the people we want in power.
[00:12:49] Let's make sure that the people with influence are the people we want with influence.
[00:12:57] They're keeping people out.
[00:13:01] It is a problematic practice for the religious in the world. The Organized religion and this is the sermon series. I want you to know I love organized religion. But Jesus had some things to say and we're going to look at what he said.
[00:13:21] He looked at the Pharisees and he said, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you Hypocrites is a tough word to translate. It hasn't really. Well, it's not tough. We just say hypocrites.
[00:13:37] But as Jesus says hypocrite here a lot, we need to remember exactly what it is.
[00:13:44] This word hupokrates, it's pretty easy. We just moved it from Greek to English.
[00:13:53] It means predominantly an actor who wore a mask.
[00:14:00] So pretenders, you are wearing a mask. He's accusing them of wearing a mask.
[00:14:08] Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. You actors who wear masks.
[00:14:13] For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven.
[00:14:20] For you do not go in yourselves. And when others are going in, you stop them.
[00:14:29] Locking people out of the kingdom of heaven has been a practice of the powerful religious for centuries.
[00:14:40] We're still pretty good at it.
[00:14:46] People ask me about my. About our church, what's it like there?
[00:14:52] And I invite them to church. I invite them to come worship with us. I think this is a great place to worship.
[00:14:58] And when I invite them to come worship with us, they always say, what should I wear?
[00:15:06] Doesn't that what's appropriate?
[00:15:13] What I say is, well, what do you wear?
[00:15:17] Wear that.
[00:15:25] How much of a mask should I put on on my way to worship?
[00:15:32] How should I act?
[00:15:35] What should I wear?
[00:15:38] What are the rules for hypocrisy?
[00:15:44] Are you going to let me in the door? If I.
[00:15:51] I have a lot of. In my other job, I have a lot of atheist friends, so I put feet in, like, what? When?
[00:16:03] We'll just say this. The comedian world is not full of religious people.
[00:16:09] And so when I'm at a comedy club or I'm their pastor, a lot of them, but they aren't for it. And I heard one guy the other day say it was last Friday, last Saturday.
[00:16:27] He said, oh, man, if I walked into church, I feel like I'd burst into flames. And if I didn't, they'd set me on fire.
[00:16:36] He learned that somewhere.
[00:16:42] Church of Christ. Y' all are the ones that believe you're the only ones going to heaven.
[00:16:46] Do you know why people think that?
[00:16:49] It's because for years we told them that.
[00:16:55] What a mistake, locking the doors to the kingdom of heaven until people get it right and then they can show up.
[00:17:08] How do we expect them to be anything like the kingdom of heaven without first sitting down at the table provided by the kingdom of heaven?
[00:17:18] How do we expect them to look anything like Jesus without first getting to participate in the community of Jesus?
[00:17:25] I would argue sometimes people won't even believe in God before they can belong to a community that's empowered by and motivated by God.
[00:17:40] They won't get there until they're here.
[00:17:44] They won't arrive until they've arrived.
[00:17:49] And Jesus is particularly upset with the religious leaders. Let's go back to that scripture in Matthew 23 if we can for you, lock people out of the kingdom of heaven, you're not even going in yourself. But when people show up, you Want to go. You don't want them going in.
[00:18:06] You're standing in the way.
[00:18:12] And I get it. Sometimes you're like, well, I don't know about them.
[00:18:18] I don't know if they.
[00:18:20] They're gonna. They're gonna be uncomfortable here. They're gonna be.
[00:18:24] Yeah, that's gonna happen. People are gonna be uncomfortable at church.
[00:18:28] But we shouldn't be the ones making them feel uncomfortable.
[00:18:34] They're gonna have. They should have to fight themselves away from the fact that we love them.
[00:18:40] All people. All people.
[00:18:43] Because there's not a soul on earth who can't be impacted by the kingdom of heaven. There's not a soul on earth that can't be empowered by the spirit of God, changed and shaped by King Jesus himself, loved and honored by the God who created the heavens and the earth. There's not a soul on earth that doesn't need that. And God help us when we stand in the way between them and God, because they're not quite ready to be one of us.
[00:19:17] The kingdom of God is open to all.
[00:19:23] There are people who are just hoping.
[00:19:29] They need hope.
[00:19:32] They don't know they have sins that need to be repented of and for sins that need to be forgiven. They just want hope.
[00:19:40] We have hope to offer.
[00:19:43] There's people who feel alone.
[00:19:47] They don't know that Jesus conquered death and Jesus conquered sin, but they see this community that's loving, and they might want to be a part of that.
[00:19:56] They feel alone.
[00:20:00] And we. We shouldn't lock up those doors, board up those entryways just so that we can lead people around to this other side to enter the. Enter the church and say, do you know you're a sinner? Right? You know you're a sinner. You know you're a sinner. All right, well, then, come on in. As long as you know you're a sinner, you can come on in and get salvation.
[00:20:21] Trying to convince the world that it's broken. It knows it's broken. It just can't always put names to it. Sometimes it just needs a community. Let's give it community.
[00:20:31] Sometimes they just need hope.
[00:20:34] Let's tell them about the hope we have in Jesus.
[00:20:38] But for some reason, the church seems to believe that its main role in the world is telling the world it's sinful and that it needs to be forgiven.
[00:20:50] But that's not what we're called to do.
[00:20:54] It's actually not even something the spirit empowers us to do in the last little bit. When Jesus, sitting down with his disciples at the end of John, he tells them about the spirit that's going to show up. And he tells them that the spirit is going to do a lot of things, that the spirit is going to be present with them. The spirit is going to teach them, the Spirit is going to remind them. Like the spirit does a lot of things for us.
[00:21:22] And we often know, we often know that the God, that judgment is not our job, but it's God's job, right? We, we. We say that. Not my job. I'm not going to judge others. I don't want to judge others. I'm not be. I'm not. I don't want to be put in that position.
[00:21:38] God, God is a righteous judge. I am not.
[00:21:43] But at the end of John, Jesus says that the Spirit of God will convict the world.
[00:21:53] Sometimes it feels like we think our job is to make the world feel convicted of its own sin. That also isn't our job.
[00:22:02] The Spirit can handle that just fine.
[00:22:06] Doesn't it feel good to be free of telling people they're sinners?
[00:22:11] You don't have to do that anymore.
[00:22:14] We can just tell them they're welcome.
[00:22:17] There's hope, there's salvation.
[00:22:21] We can just let them know.
[00:22:24] We can unlock the doors, take them off their hinges and throw them out.
[00:22:31] Pull the nails out of the boards and let the entrances to the kingdom of heaven call out to those who need them.
[00:22:43] Jesus problem with the very first woe he gives is one about locking the doors and keeping people out.
[00:22:53] This is contrasted to the teaching he gave in Matthew 7 that Stephanie read for us earlier when he says, ask and it will be given to you. Knock, Search and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened for you.
[00:23:10] That's the way of Jesus.
[00:23:14] People who are seeking should find.
[00:23:17] People who knock should be answered.
[00:23:22] Their wanting should be given. Like this is.
[00:23:25] This is the way of Jesus.
[00:23:29] But the way of religion sometimes can kind of lock those doors that make us uncomfortable.
[00:23:37] I say we open them up. Let the grace of God do what the grace of God can do. Let the Spirit of God do what the Spirit of God can do and love them and welcome them. Because, my goodness, that's what the kingdom of God was called to do.
[00:23:55] We can do that.
[00:23:57] God can convict, Spirit can convict, God can judge, God can save.
[00:24:03] But I'm not panicked about getting them where they need to be because God can do that.
[00:24:13] When we are called as the people of God to participate in the kingdom of God, we are are followers of the King who says, ask and it will Be given, Seek and it'll. You'll find, Knock and the door will be opened.
[00:24:31] For everyone who asks, receives, for everyone who searches, finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. That's the way it is in the kingdom of God.
[00:24:49] And I also know that I'm not in the kingdom of God. My role is not just someone who manages the door.
[00:25:00] I'm an asker, I'm a seeker.
[00:25:05] We are knockers.
[00:25:07] We knock on the door constantly. We ask God constantly the grace we've offered.
[00:25:17] With grace we are offered by God as he willingly opens, as he willingly welcomes us, we then too should offer to others.
[00:25:29] I don't know who's to blame really, for what percentage, because humans are broken. I don't know what percentage of blame goes to whom. About. About when the world looks at religion and says. Looks at the church even and says, I don't trust it. I don't know who's to blame for that. I'm not going to parse that out. But I know what part I play and I'm the church.
[00:25:55] And my job is not to correct the world.
[00:25:59] My job is to deal with me. You know, we tell our kids all the time, who can you control?
[00:26:05] Is it your friend or is it you?
[00:26:09] Is it your sibling?
[00:26:11] Who can you control?
[00:26:12] You can't control them.
[00:26:14] I cannot control the way the world perceives the church, but I can open every door I've got and as a fool, welcome every fool that wanders in.
[00:26:34] Welcome every lonely traveler who's seeking a friend, who's looking for hope, who's wanting salvation. They are all welcome at the table of God because we have a God who shows grace and the Spirit, who empowers and convicts.
[00:26:50] And I just get to sit with them and love them like God has called me to.
[00:27:00] I understand that we may be perceived incorrectly at times. The church, not my problem.
[00:27:09] Only thing we are called to is to be as much like Jesus to this world as possible.
[00:27:20] I think we can do it.
[00:27:23] We've got to fling open some doors, let some people in, help them feel welcomed, help them feel loved.
[00:27:37] They'll find Jesus as long as we act like Jesus when they find us.
