WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: Kingdom Culture - Righteousness Publishing Date: 2025-09-21T06:04:44-07:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/kingdom-culture-righteousness/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:17.400 We say a lot of stuff about kingdom culture, kingdom culture, but what does it really look 00:00:17.400 --> 00:00:24.720 like? What would it really practically feel like in real life, in everyday life? Hopefully 00:00:25.720 --> 00:00:31.120 we can examine that over the next few weeks. If someone asks us, or if we use the word kingdom 00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:37.620 culture, it's easy to spout words like that. They're very popular words right now. What 00:00:37.620 --> 00:00:43.520 does it really feel like? How would people know a culture is kingdom, and does the Bible 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:52.520 give us any idea of what it looks like? What does it look like in real life? What's really 00:00:52.520 --> 00:01:03.520 happening? When we talk about kingdom culture, we are talking about the future spilling into 00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:12.720 the present. As in something that was supposed to happen once this world is done and before 00:01:12.720 --> 00:01:18.720 the new heaven and the earth is created and Christ takes us into that place. We are talking 00:01:18.920 --> 00:01:25.320 about something that was supposed to happen in the future breaking into present day history 00:01:25.320 --> 00:01:32.320 2000 years ago. So it's the future spilling into the present. So what we are saying is 00:01:32.320 --> 00:01:39.320 it's like someone here having an iPhone 43. We are only on 17, but it just so happens 00:01:40.320 --> 00:01:47.320 that Dilna has the iPhone 43, which is like 26 years down the line he already has it. 00:01:48.320 --> 00:01:52.720 It broke into Dilna's house yesterday. He woke up in the morning and instead of looking 00:01:52.720 --> 00:01:57.720 at his Bible, he finds this amazing tiny little gadget that can do amazing things. It's from 00:01:57.720 --> 00:02:02.720 the future. That's what kingdom breaking in looks like. So when we talk about a kingdom 00:02:02.720 --> 00:02:07.320 culture, we're talking about something that's coming from the future into the present. 00:02:07.320 --> 00:02:11.420 Something that's coming from the future into the present day. A culture that belongs to 00:02:11.420 --> 00:02:16.720 the future that is here already because Jesus brought it in. That's one way of looking at 00:02:16.720 --> 00:02:23.720 it. So it's the future spilling into the present. It's heaven, the place that we will go to, 00:02:28.320 --> 00:02:34.620 breaking into the earth. These are different ways to look at it. Heaven breaking into the 00:02:34.620 --> 00:02:41.620 earth. And so again, it's the future into the... It's light entering darkness. Jesus 00:02:41.620 --> 00:02:48.620 used these lines in John chapter 1. It's perfect justice or as perfect as we can get it right 00:02:51.620 --> 00:02:58.620 now, entering into oppression. It's life entering into places of decay, death, and the future 00:03:05.080 --> 00:03:12.080 of life. It's liberty or freedom and entering into places of bondage. So this is... And it's 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:21.960 a quality of life. It's a quality of life drawn from the nature of God displayed now. 00:03:21.960 --> 00:03:28.960 It's all these things together, eh? Any questions on that? So when someone talks about kingdom 00:03:45.020 --> 00:03:49.900 culture, you're talking about something from the future breaking into the present. It's 00:03:49.900 --> 00:03:56.900 what should only be seen in heaven now happening on earth. It's places of darkness suddenly 00:03:57.220 --> 00:04:04.220 being split open, pierced open by light. It's justice as best as we can have it here on 00:04:05.640 --> 00:04:12.640 earth, breaking into oppression. It's life as in the life that belongs to only one who 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:19.680 is life, breaking into places of decay and death. Freedom where there's demonic bondage, 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:26.840 to disease, bondage of different sorts. And finally, the quality of life drawn from the 00:04:26.840 --> 00:04:32.780 nature of God displayed now in actual human beings. That's what kingdom culture is. You 00:04:32.780 --> 00:04:38.020 can't take one of these. You have to take it in its entirety. And so when we talk about 00:04:38.020 --> 00:04:44.460 kingdom culture, this is what we're talking about. And Jesus said that this kingdom has 00:04:44.460 --> 00:04:51.460 already come and so can you show what it looks like? And this is why because of these things 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:58.600 happening he then makes a statement, hey, make a U-turn. Or in other words, repent. 00:05:02.780 --> 00:05:09.180 Since all this is already happening, make a U-turn and throw yourself on Jesus. That's 00:05:09.180 --> 00:05:16.180 the message. Something from the future is here. It comes from God. It's already here. 00:05:21.900 --> 00:05:28.580 So since we are showing you that it's real, make a U-turn and throw yourself on Jesus. 00:05:28.580 --> 00:05:33.260 See that was where the rubber met the road. The guys would preach this but they would 00:05:33.260 --> 00:05:40.260 show this. Because they could show this, they could then tell people, make a U-turn. We're 00:05:41.020 --> 00:05:48.020 showing you. The widows from the Hellenistic side of the church were not getting food. 00:05:50.540 --> 00:05:56.380 So what happens? You appoint people so that food is distributed properly. Justice all 00:05:56.380 --> 00:06:01.820 along. Sick people getting healed. Dead people being raised. That was what gave them the 00:06:01.860 --> 00:06:07.300 courage then to say, make a U-turn, repent. For you can see that the future has entered 00:06:07.300 --> 00:06:11.940 the present and now that you see it, make a U-turn and throw yourself on Jesus just as 00:06:11.940 --> 00:06:17.620 we threw ourselves on Jesus. This is why it's so important that the sign on the back of 00:06:17.620 --> 00:06:23.680 your t-shirts becomes a sign that happens to people. Because that then gives us the 00:06:23.680 --> 00:06:29.480 ability to say what Jesus wants us to say. Which then also shows us a glimpse of something 00:06:29.480 --> 00:06:35.560 God wants to do. That listen I want to do this so that you can say this. I want to do 00:06:35.560 --> 00:06:42.560 this so that you can say this. So then press in. Don't give up on this. Oh how long should 00:06:45.280 --> 00:06:52.280 we wait? What if it's only 23 minutes away? Any questions? So when I went up to that guy 00:06:59.480 --> 00:07:05.480 in New York and spoke to him about his daughter, that's not normal. A stranger coming up to 00:07:05.480 --> 00:07:08.400 you and telling you about your daughter that is having a difficult time with you. How's 00:07:08.400 --> 00:07:13.280 that even normal? I didn't look at his palm or sprinkle tea leaves on his hand before 00:07:13.280 --> 00:07:19.160 I said that. The point being, something of the future is breaking into the present. The 00:07:19.160 --> 00:07:24.840 more we engage in it and the more it becomes common, the more we can say, alright now that 00:07:24.840 --> 00:07:31.840 you've seen it, make a U-turn and throw yourself on Jesus. Any questions? As I talk my heart 00:07:35.880 --> 00:07:42.880 leaps with hope that maybe it's only 23 minutes away or 24 hours and 23 minutes away. But 00:07:42.880 --> 00:07:49.880 it's still around the corner. What did I say last week? Cognitive buffering, that's what 00:07:49.880 --> 00:07:56.880 this is. I have to remember. Any questions? Words can set you free, eh? Cognitive buffering, 00:08:06.320 --> 00:08:13.320 it set me free. Okay, so once we begin to think like this, then what happens is even 00:08:13.320 --> 00:08:20.320 in our lives, a new Jesus-like Jacob emerges. A new Jesus-like Jacob emerges. Because now 00:08:27.760 --> 00:08:34.760 I have to give the world a taste of this culture. I have to give the world a taste of this culture. 00:08:44.320 --> 00:08:51.320 So a new Jesus-like Jacob has to emerge. And it's described very well, this new Jesus-like 00:08:56.040 --> 00:09:03.040 Jacob or new Jesus-like Sharon or new Jesus-like Dilna with an iPhone 43 has to emerge. And 00:09:05.360 --> 00:09:11.440 let's give a shout out to Chavai. I'm sure he watches this at some point. Hey Chavachava! 00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:18.440 Can we say it together on three? One, two, three. Chavachava! Okay. People who don't 00:09:18.760 --> 00:09:25.760 know Chavai may think we are chanting. A new Jesus-like Jacob must emerge. A new Jesus-like 00:09:26.120 --> 00:09:31.000 Sharon must emerge so that we can give the world a taste of this culture. And it's best 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:38.000 described in the Beatitudes. When you take Matthew 5 and 6, you will see what this new 00:09:41.440 --> 00:09:48.440 Jesus-like Jacob looks like in real time in lives. It will give you an idea. So let's 00:09:58.440 --> 00:10:05.440 read just Matthew 5, the first seven or eight verses. We'll just pick on one today. Matthew 00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:12.440 5, verse 1. Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His 00:10:20.840 --> 00:10:27.840 disciples came to him and he began to teach them, saying, blessed are the poor in spirit. 00:10:27.840 --> 00:10:34.840 Blessed are the meek and the poor in spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are 00:10:34.840 --> 00:10:41.840 the poor in spirit. Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:47.200 His disciples came to him and he began to teach them, saying, blessed are the poor in 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:54.200 spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall 00:10:54.680 --> 00:11:01.680 be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those 00:11:01.680 --> 00:11:08.560 who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, 00:11:08.560 --> 00:11:15.560 for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:21.880 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God. Blessed are those 00:11:21.920 --> 00:11:27.560 who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed 00:11:27.560 --> 00:11:32.720 are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil things against 00:11:32.720 --> 00:11:38.920 you, because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the 00:11:38.920 --> 00:11:43.160 same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. And so if you read those 00:11:43.160 --> 00:11:46.760 two chapters, you'll get an idea of what this culture looks like. But the strange thing 00:11:46.760 --> 00:11:52.960 is, I remember Daryl Johnson talking about this saying, that you can't suddenly decide 00:11:52.960 --> 00:11:58.160 to become poor in spirit. You can't suddenly get up one morning and say, I'm going to be 00:11:58.160 --> 00:12:05.160 meek today. You can't get up and say, you know, I'm hungry for righteousness, or that 00:12:07.160 --> 00:12:14.160 I'll be pure in heart today. It's not something you can draw from yourself. The only way 00:12:15.160 --> 00:12:22.160 this can happen is if the reign of Christ breaks into your life. The rule of Christ, 00:12:23.480 --> 00:12:30.480 this king, has to break into your life. Only that can make these changes happen. One can't 00:12:30.520 --> 00:12:36.240 make this happen automatically. But when the reign of Christ breaks into you, as in the 00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:41.160 rule of Christ, as in the life of Christ, breaks into your life, suddenly you become 00:12:41.160 --> 00:12:46.360 poor in spirit. You see that. And how he does it doesn't matter. You see that with 00:12:46.360 --> 00:12:51.040 Isaiah. Here is a man who is a famous prophet, and what does he say? Oh, I'm undone, for 00:12:51.040 --> 00:12:58.040 I have seen the glory of the king. He became bankrupt in spirit, poor in spirit. In his 00:12:58.040 --> 00:13:04.320 case, a glimpse of the glory of the king caused him to be poor in spirit. You see that in 00:13:04.320 --> 00:13:11.320 Isaiah 6. If you go to Jeremiah 8, 18, you'll see that Jeremiah begins to mourn. And the 00:13:12.200 --> 00:13:19.200 words are quite powerful. Jeremiah 8, verse 18. Oh, my comforter in sorrow, my heart has 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:26.620 faint within me. Listen to the cry of my people from a land far away. Is the Lord not in Zion? 00:13:26.620 --> 00:13:30.800 Is the king no longer there? Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with 00:13:30.800 --> 00:13:35.280 their worthless foreign idols? The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are 00:13:35.280 --> 00:13:41.040 not saved. Since my people are crushed, I am crushed. I mourn and horror grips me. Is 00:13:41.040 --> 00:13:45.840 there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the 00:13:45.840 --> 00:13:52.840 wound of my people? Here's a man beginning to lament. But these are mournings that happen 00:13:52.840 --> 00:13:58.160 because he sees the condition of his people. What I'm trying to say is God makes this happen. 00:13:58.160 --> 00:14:05.160 We should, on a daily basis, stand before God for his reign to mold the heart. Or you 00:14:05.340 --> 00:14:12.340 see it happening with Peter, John 6.68. Everybody's leaving Jesus because he's making statements 00:14:14.680 --> 00:14:19.680 like, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood. And then at one point Jesus, I don't 00:14:19.680 --> 00:14:26.080 know why he did this. I almost think it was this oddly divine and human moment in Jesus's 00:14:26.080 --> 00:14:33.080 life. He turns to his disciples and he says to them, are you going to leave me also? Must 00:14:33.480 --> 00:14:39.040 have been such a tender moment because everybody is just leaving in droves. Are you going to 00:14:39.040 --> 00:14:43.960 leave me also? And then I love what Peter says, which kind of shows you the hunger and 00:14:43.960 --> 00:14:49.600 thirst that that man had even though he messed up a few times. He says, Jesus, where can 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:54.560 we go? Because you have the words of eternal life. I mean, as you sit here, where will 00:14:54.560 --> 00:15:01.560 you go guys? Even if you felt that God let you down, that he didn't turn up to help, 00:15:01.560 --> 00:15:08.560 where will you go? I've tasted and seen the sweetest of loves, where my heart becomes 00:15:08.920 --> 00:15:15.920 free and my pain is undone. You see the same thing with Elisha. Elisha keeps telling him, 00:15:17.680 --> 00:15:22.320 go, go, go. Elisha says, as the Lord lives, I'm going to follow you. I'm going to follow 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:26.600 you. He was hungering and thirsting. He knows the light is going to go away, but he knows 00:15:26.600 --> 00:15:30.280 that he's also going to get something from God. There's a hunger and thirst. These are 00:15:30.280 --> 00:15:37.280 things that God produces. We can't do this. I remember two or three years ago, and this 00:15:37.520 --> 00:15:44.520 happened, I've already spoken to you about it. I felt a lot saying over the next few 00:15:44.880 --> 00:15:49.400 weeks, pause when you're doing stuff and hold your hands out like this and just receive 00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:56.160 me. You would find me sometimes walking in another city in the world and I'd stop by 00:15:56.160 --> 00:16:01.640 and I'd do this. I couldn't care what people thought and I'd do this. I'd just recognize 00:16:01.640 --> 00:16:08.640 and receive Christ. It's a receiving of which Christ? There isn't Christ whose majesty will 00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:15.720 humble you. There isn't Christ who still bears the marks of the nails in his hand whose majesty 00:16:16.680 --> 00:16:23.680 will humble you. That is when his reign enters and then he begins to do whatever he wants. 00:16:23.680 --> 00:16:28.280 That's how we get to this place where the culture of God is developed. At the end of 00:16:28.280 --> 00:16:32.600 the day, what are we talking about? We are saying that the nature of God, when it enters 00:16:32.600 --> 00:16:36.960 a person, causes a person to think a certain way and act a certain way and that becomes 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:42.640 culture. Hear me again. It's very simple actually. When the nature of God enters a 00:16:42.680 --> 00:16:48.160 group of people and they begin to think a certain way and act a certain way, that collective 00:16:48.160 --> 00:16:55.160 thinking and acting is called culture. So when we talk about kingdom culture, we're 00:16:56.560 --> 00:17:03.560 talking about the nature of the king robed in majesty with nail scars in his hand, being 00:17:04.520 --> 00:17:11.520 received by a people. And as we receive how he is, who he is, how he is, how he is, how 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:18.120 he is, it begins to affect the way we think and it begins to affect our actions. And 00:17:18.120 --> 00:17:25.120 the collective mindset and behavior of a people is what culture is. That's what culture is. 00:17:29.520 --> 00:17:35.960 Therefore churches have culture. And when culture is, I mean another word for culture 00:17:35.960 --> 00:17:40.520 is tradition. And some traditions are man-made, some traditions are God-made. Some traditions 00:17:40.520 --> 00:17:47.520 are God-made and are old and some traditions are God-made and are new. Any questions on 00:17:51.800 --> 00:17:58.800 that? So I'd really recommend a reading of Matthew 5 and 6. So receive this grace of 00:17:58.800 --> 00:18:05.800 in-breaking, where if possible be silly and do this. Where you're doing work and suddenly 00:18:13.080 --> 00:18:18.200 you stop, a couple of dishes fall out of your hand, it just means less dishes to wash and 00:18:18.200 --> 00:18:25.200 you do this. Receive the reign of Christ into your life. And as you do, I'm telling you 00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:29.280 something, there's something about his majesty that will humble you. It's being humbled by 00:18:29.280 --> 00:18:34.440 the majesty of the enthroned king with nail marks in his hand. And when that happens, 00:18:34.440 --> 00:18:39.920 two things will happen guys. On one hand you'll become painfully aware of your shortfall and 00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:46.320 on the other hand it will birth a desire in you to become more aware of him. Both happen 00:18:46.320 --> 00:18:51.920 together. It's a strange thing about God. It doesn't happen with humans. When you look 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:56.920 at someone who's great and a human, you want to aspire and be like him. You'll do everything 00:18:56.920 --> 00:19:01.920 in your power to be like him. But when it comes to God, two things happen immediately 00:19:01.920 --> 00:19:05.920 together and you'll find scriptures giving evidence of this again and again and again. 00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:12.920 Woe I am undone, but my lips have been touched by a coal. Do not be afraid. Get up. Be strengthened. 00:19:14.440 --> 00:19:19.440 It's always that way. You'll become greatly aware of your shortcoming, because you'll 00:19:19.560 --> 00:19:25.720 become greatly aware of your shortcomings and immediately aware of a great desire for 00:19:25.720 --> 00:19:32.720 more of his presence. It's just so beautiful. Only God does that. Nobody else can do that. 00:19:33.240 --> 00:19:39.240 But what does it take for you and I? For a God who wants to make his culture known, who 00:19:39.240 --> 00:19:45.000 wants to tell people that hey, a future kingdom has arrived. Let these guys show you and then 00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:52.200 when they say make a U-turn and throw yourself for Jesus, you will. Trust that we are very 00:19:55.400 --> 00:19:59.680 close to it, guys. And whatever adjustments we want to make, we'll make, right? Because 00:19:59.680 --> 00:20:06.680 this is our desire. I can't see anyone else, anyone here having any other passion. I mean 00:20:06.760 --> 00:20:13.760 cognitive buffering or not, passion is there. 00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:22.000 So let's look at Matthew 5-6. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness. 00:20:45.520 --> 00:20:52.520 For they shall be satisfied. Jesus' words. Jesus' words. And so we basically want to 00:21:02.320 --> 00:21:09.320 look at this word. It's not principles and standards. It's not principles and standards. 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:23.000 It's not. It's not. It's not easy, what he's making, what he's saying. Only he can do it. 00:21:34.520 --> 00:21:41.520 It's about living. It's about living in faithfulness. It's about living in faithfulness. It's about 00:21:45.840 --> 00:21:52.840 to the terms, to the terms and claims of a relationship. Or in other words, righteousness 00:22:04.360 --> 00:22:11.360 or being righteous simply means right relationship. Or in other words, being righteous is not 00:22:15.800 --> 00:22:22.800 right relatedness. This is what it means. Let's just look at that before we go further. 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:27.280 So what Jesus is saying is blessed are those who hunger and thirst for right relationships. 00:22:27.280 --> 00:22:32.840 Crazy. It was so much easier if it was just righteousness and meet a few standards and 00:22:32.840 --> 00:22:39.840 principles. That would be so much easier. I can do that. All religions offer that. So 00:22:40.840 --> 00:22:47.840 when Jesus says righteousness, what he means is not that Jacob, here are some principles 00:22:48.080 --> 00:22:55.080 and here are some standards that you now have to live up to. No, he's saying, hey, I want 00:22:57.080 --> 00:23:04.080 you to be faithful to the terms and the claims of a relationship that I have with you. And 00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:10.440 I want you to be faithful to the terms and the claim of a relationship you have with 00:23:10.440 --> 00:23:16.860 others. And I want you to be faithful to the terms and the claim of the relationship you 00:23:16.860 --> 00:23:23.560 have with yourself. And I want you to be faithful to the terms and the claim of the relationship 00:23:23.560 --> 00:23:30.560 you have with creation. Complicated things now. Even the Old Testament, when you really 00:23:30.560 --> 00:23:35.520 Even the Old Testament, when you really look at it, we would think that the Old Covenant 00:23:35.520 --> 00:23:40.120 or the Old Testament, the Ten Commandments, we think the Ten Commandments was a code of 00:23:40.120 --> 00:23:43.520 ethics that God gave people to live a moral life. 00:23:43.520 --> 00:23:44.920 But what was the first thing he said? 00:23:44.920 --> 00:23:45.920 Exodus 20. 00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:49.000 What is the first thing he says? 00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:56.820 Yeah, so when we think of the Ten Commandments, we immediately think of these were the ten 00:23:56.820 --> 00:23:57.820 things he said. 00:23:57.820 --> 00:24:01.980 And here's how he starts the whole conversation. 00:24:01.980 --> 00:24:10.260 And then God said, I am the Lord your God who set you free from the bondage of Egypt, 00:24:10.260 --> 00:24:12.820 and I am your God. 00:24:12.820 --> 00:24:18.860 The first thing he does before he does anything else is tell you that he is in relationship 00:24:18.860 --> 00:24:22.500 with you. 00:24:22.500 --> 00:24:27.580 And now that he's saying, I am in relationship with you, I am your God and you're my people, 00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:35.140 here are the claims and here are the terms of this relationship. 00:24:35.140 --> 00:24:39.340 So if you're in relationship with me, can I change the way you live? 00:24:39.340 --> 00:24:43.960 Can I give you a new rhythm of work and rest? 00:24:43.960 --> 00:24:49.040 If you're in relationship with me, can I tell you how you should honor your parents? 00:24:49.040 --> 00:24:53.440 If you're in relationship with me, can we decide from now on that there'll be no other 00:24:54.280 --> 00:24:58.640 No gods, no other heroes that will interrupt your relationship and mine. 00:24:58.640 --> 00:25:00.080 This is what he's going for. 00:25:00.080 --> 00:25:05.740 And when you look at the rest of the Ten Commandments, you find that the first four or five are to 00:25:05.740 --> 00:25:10.360 do with your relationship with him and the next four or five are to do with your relationship 00:25:10.360 --> 00:25:14.560 with your neighbor. 00:25:14.560 --> 00:25:17.400 So Exodus 20 verse 2 says, I am your God. 00:25:17.400 --> 00:25:22.540 He starts off his relationship and that's why righteousness becomes very different for 00:25:22.580 --> 00:25:26.100 us as Christians. 00:25:26.100 --> 00:25:28.980 Any questions on that before we go on? 00:25:28.980 --> 00:25:35.740 Ask because can you imagine if we became people that blessed are those that hunger and thirst 00:25:35.740 --> 00:25:40.140 after right relationship? 00:25:40.140 --> 00:25:47.140 It doesn't mean that we'll now be singing Kumbaya with everybody, but it does mean that 00:25:48.060 --> 00:25:53.220 we'll try. 00:25:53.220 --> 00:25:59.260 The clauses and the footnotes we can't touch today because there's so many. 00:25:59.260 --> 00:26:04.780 But the point is this, blessed are those that Jacob, blessed are you if you hunger and thirst 00:26:04.780 --> 00:26:06.540 for right relationship. 00:26:06.540 --> 00:26:13.540 Gosh, that puts a whole different spin on this. 00:26:17.140 --> 00:26:24.140 So, scripture teaches us, the Bible teaches us, like I already said, there are four basic 00:26:27.620 --> 00:26:30.460 relationships that you see. 00:26:30.460 --> 00:26:37.460 Right off the bat in the first three or four chapters of Genesis you see, we were made 00:26:40.060 --> 00:26:45.380 from the earth. 00:26:45.460 --> 00:26:49.740 We became a living creature as he breathed into us, Genesis 2.7. 00:26:49.740 --> 00:26:55.060 And so, strangely enough, the Hebrew word for man or human is Adam and the Hebrew word 00:26:55.060 --> 00:26:59.580 for earth is Adama. 00:26:59.580 --> 00:27:00.960 It's not a coincidence. 00:27:00.960 --> 00:27:07.960 The intent being that I must have right relationship with creation. 00:27:15.380 --> 00:27:22.380 Which includes that animal. 00:27:25.660 --> 00:27:28.660 I'm working on it. 00:27:28.660 --> 00:27:32.620 So, this is the first thing. 00:27:32.620 --> 00:27:37.460 I must, happy to me? 00:27:37.460 --> 00:27:41.060 So I must have right relationship with creation. 00:27:41.060 --> 00:27:43.340 I must have right relationship with creation. 00:27:43.340 --> 00:27:47.780 This is not something that most Christians think of. 00:27:47.780 --> 00:27:51.740 Because we are waiting for the earth to be burnt up and us to be raptured and anyways 00:27:51.740 --> 00:27:53.100 it's going to be destroyed. 00:27:53.100 --> 00:27:56.100 So drill baby drill. 00:27:56.100 --> 00:27:59.620 Sorry. 00:27:59.620 --> 00:28:06.060 What I'm trying to say is that I'm not here to tell you what's right and what's wrong 00:28:06.060 --> 00:28:11.780 in terms of fossil fuels or other fuels. 00:28:11.780 --> 00:28:12.780 That's not the intent. 00:28:12.780 --> 00:28:14.420 I'm not going there. 00:28:14.420 --> 00:28:21.820 But the thing is, I find that I admire the beauty of creation but there is nothing in 00:28:21.820 --> 00:28:29.380 me that has done much to go beyond thinking in terms of what is it to even have a right 00:28:29.380 --> 00:28:33.060 relationship with creation. 00:28:33.060 --> 00:28:40.400 And you can't say because I recycle I'm in right relationship. 00:28:40.400 --> 00:28:45.160 Because when you go back home to Asia or India you're not recycling. 00:28:45.160 --> 00:28:46.240 So it's not that. 00:28:46.240 --> 00:28:47.320 The point is what is it? 00:28:47.320 --> 00:28:49.600 I don't even know so I can't even tell you. 00:28:49.600 --> 00:28:53.000 But what is it to be in right relationship with creation? 00:28:53.000 --> 00:28:57.800 We'll deal with that one later but I just want you to know that's there. 00:28:57.800 --> 00:29:02.080 The next one is we were created to be in right relationship with each other. 00:29:02.080 --> 00:29:10.360 God had always expected man to be not in isolation, not alienated, not withdrawn, not aloof, but 00:29:10.680 --> 00:29:14.240 someone who always operates in community. 00:29:14.240 --> 00:29:19.200 He knows what Adam is going to say when he says, and Adam found no one that was compatible 00:29:19.200 --> 00:29:23.340 to him and therefore he makes Eve. 00:29:23.340 --> 00:29:24.640 He knows what he's doing. 00:29:24.640 --> 00:29:29.400 He knows that when he created man, he created man with the idea of community. 00:29:29.400 --> 00:29:32.760 Am I in right relationship with people? 00:29:32.760 --> 00:29:35.000 Some of you are amazing at this. 00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:41.400 When your relationships break down, you go out of your way to try and fix it. 00:29:41.400 --> 00:29:42.920 And it's important. 00:29:42.920 --> 00:29:44.640 That's part of righteousness. 00:29:44.640 --> 00:29:45.840 Blessed are you. 00:29:45.840 --> 00:29:47.200 That's what the Bible says. 00:29:47.200 --> 00:29:52.000 Blessed are you if you hunger and thirst after right relationship. 00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:57.760 Some of you have been, there are people who have been sometimes offended by what I said. 00:29:57.760 --> 00:30:02.000 And instead of waiting for me to come to you, you came to me and I thank you for that. 00:30:02.000 --> 00:30:09.200 It was important for you to fix right relationship. 00:30:09.200 --> 00:30:17.600 The third one is we were created to be in right relationship with ourselves, free of 00:30:17.600 --> 00:30:21.600 shame, free of guilt, free of fear. 00:30:21.600 --> 00:30:24.520 And Jesus healed self-hatred. 00:30:24.520 --> 00:30:29.520 Jesus thinks it's highly important to heal self-hatred. 00:30:29.520 --> 00:30:34.640 There are plenty of people in this room right now that have been affected by self-hatred. 00:30:34.640 --> 00:30:35.920 You beat yourself up. 00:30:35.920 --> 00:30:39.200 You hate yourself for the things that have happened or the things that you've done. 00:30:39.200 --> 00:30:41.520 Jesus heals self-hatred. 00:30:41.520 --> 00:30:47.120 It's one of his favorite things to heal because it restores the image of God in man. 00:30:47.120 --> 00:30:52.320 If you hate yourself, know that on one hand, there are tons and tons of diseases that will 00:30:52.320 --> 00:30:55.040 come your way. 00:30:55.040 --> 00:31:00.360 On the other hand, self-hatred is one of Jesus' favorite things to heal because right off 00:31:00.360 --> 00:31:05.520 the bat in the first three chapters of Genesis, he makes it evident that listen, righteousness 00:31:05.520 --> 00:31:13.480 is right relationship with yourself, free of shame, free of guilt, free of fear. 00:31:13.480 --> 00:31:19.460 And so if you have self-hatred, if you don't like community, if you like isolating yourself, 00:31:19.460 --> 00:31:24.240 this is not true of the nature that Christ gave you and therefore Christ would be willing 00:31:24.240 --> 00:31:28.680 to heal me. 00:31:28.680 --> 00:31:32.680 Don't hold on to it. 00:31:32.680 --> 00:31:36.440 And finally, the fourth relationship is what he gave Adam straight off the bat. 00:31:36.440 --> 00:31:44.200 And remember, when it comes to self-hatred, the world is a crucible in which self-hatred 00:31:44.200 --> 00:31:50.360 just germinates like crazy because circumstances will shame you, will bring fear, will bring 00:31:51.360 --> 00:31:54.960 self-hatred. 00:31:54.960 --> 00:31:58.720 Sometimes the very ones who are supposed to lift us up are the very ones that tear us 00:31:58.720 --> 00:32:02.960 down and it colors your psyche. 00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:08.360 But there is someone greater than the one who did you harm and he has this amazing ability 00:32:08.360 --> 00:32:14.280 to wave his magic finger almost, if I could put it that way, and heal loathing. 00:32:14.280 --> 00:32:16.560 He can do it. 00:32:16.560 --> 00:32:20.320 You must trust that it happens in a second. 00:32:20.320 --> 00:32:24.160 And when it doesn't happen in a second, you must trust that it will happen in the next 00:32:24.160 --> 00:32:25.680 hour. 00:32:25.680 --> 00:32:30.080 It doesn't matter whether I was the one who caused the shame to myself or whether it was 00:32:30.080 --> 00:32:33.040 someone else who caused me that shame. 00:32:33.040 --> 00:32:36.320 But Jesus Christ heals self-hatred. 00:32:36.320 --> 00:32:41.040 It is super important to him because you, when he created you, you were a self-portrait 00:32:41.040 --> 00:32:44.040 of him. 00:32:44.040 --> 00:32:51.040 Where do you begin? 00:32:55.080 --> 00:32:59.440 You begin by defining the loathing. 00:32:59.440 --> 00:33:02.960 We don't even know it because we don't even define it. 00:33:02.960 --> 00:33:08.720 Put into words the loathing, the hatred. 00:33:08.720 --> 00:33:12.000 I hate this thing that happened. 00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:14.280 This always brings shame. 00:33:14.280 --> 00:33:15.280 Write it. 00:33:15.280 --> 00:33:16.280 You start there. 00:33:16.280 --> 00:33:17.280 And then watch. 00:33:17.280 --> 00:33:18.280 Then watch. 00:33:18.280 --> 00:33:19.280 It's like those kids play. 00:33:19.280 --> 00:33:22.360 You know, I was looking for it yesterday at Newark Airport. 00:33:22.360 --> 00:33:29.040 I wanted one of those things kids have where you write and you go and the whole thing erases. 00:33:29.040 --> 00:33:30.880 I couldn't find one. 00:33:30.880 --> 00:33:32.160 Maybe I was looking in the wrong shop. 00:33:32.160 --> 00:33:36.160 But I wanted one of those. 00:33:36.160 --> 00:33:42.080 If you find a really decent one that is big enough, my 70th birthday is coming up in 10 00:33:42.080 --> 00:33:43.080 years. 00:33:43.080 --> 00:33:44.080 Yeah? 00:33:44.080 --> 00:33:46.280 But I love that. 00:33:46.280 --> 00:33:48.960 You do this and the whole thing just disappears. 00:33:48.960 --> 00:33:51.840 That is how I personally see Jesus. 00:33:51.840 --> 00:33:57.120 And then he works on the issues so that the issues never rise up again. 00:33:57.120 --> 00:34:01.960 It's the roots that take long, but he plucks the fruit off immediately. 00:34:01.960 --> 00:34:04.520 Rotten fruit he takes care of immediately. 00:34:04.520 --> 00:34:11.960 And then he begins to work on the roots. 00:34:11.960 --> 00:34:21.800 So blessed are you, Dilna, if you hunger and thirst after right relationship and right 00:34:21.800 --> 00:34:25.480 relatedness. 00:34:25.480 --> 00:34:29.320 And the Bible is replete with God's own hunger and thirst. 00:34:29.320 --> 00:34:40.880 God is hungry and thirsty for right relationship. 00:34:40.880 --> 00:34:41.880 This is so beautiful. 00:34:41.880 --> 00:34:44.280 The very God who is saying this. 00:34:44.280 --> 00:34:49.840 When he talks about us being in right relationship with him, what he is saying is, hey, you were 00:34:49.840 --> 00:34:50.840 made. 00:34:50.840 --> 00:34:53.800 Sheldon, you were made for a relationship with the living. 00:34:53.800 --> 00:34:55.760 Let's take Sheldon as an example. 00:34:55.760 --> 00:35:01.880 So Sheldon, on one hand, you were made for a relationship with creation. 00:35:01.880 --> 00:35:06.120 Your welfare is tied up with the welfare of creation. 00:35:06.120 --> 00:35:12.120 Sheldon, you were made for a relationship with Jane. 00:35:12.120 --> 00:35:17.160 And then beyond Jane with Phoebe and with the rest of your family and the church. 00:35:17.160 --> 00:35:19.400 What I meant by family is the church. 00:35:19.400 --> 00:35:23.800 Third, Sheldon, you were made for a relationship with yourself. 00:35:23.800 --> 00:35:27.480 You're supposed to embrace yourself as someone who is beloved without any guilt, without 00:35:27.480 --> 00:35:28.480 any shame. 00:35:28.480 --> 00:35:32.640 And fourthly, Sheldon, you were made for a relationship with the living God. 00:35:32.640 --> 00:35:38.120 When you obey him, you enjoy him, you love him, you experience his delight in you. 00:35:38.120 --> 00:35:42.880 And once you get that one, all the other relationships begin to sort themselves out. 00:35:42.880 --> 00:35:44.760 This is how we were meant to be, each of us. 00:35:44.760 --> 00:35:50.720 And the crazy thing is, this God is hungry and thirsty for right relationship. 00:35:50.720 --> 00:35:53.600 That is nuts. 00:35:53.600 --> 00:36:00.480 So when you are out of sync with him, guess who's hungry and thirsty for right relationship? 00:36:00.480 --> 00:36:04.600 This is why you have the story of the prodigal. 00:36:04.600 --> 00:36:07.840 This is why it necessitated a sacrifice. 00:36:07.840 --> 00:36:18.800 A God who is not hungry and thirsty for right relationship will not sacrifice himself. 00:36:18.800 --> 00:36:22.200 When we say love, sometimes we don't understand. 00:36:22.200 --> 00:36:26.640 But when we talk about right relationship and you think of someone you dearly love and 00:36:26.640 --> 00:36:32.920 things have gone wrong and there's anger and there's hurt and you don't know how to work 00:36:32.920 --> 00:36:33.920 it out. 00:36:33.920 --> 00:36:37.320 You sometimes want to be the person who goes and sorts it out, but the other person isn't 00:36:37.320 --> 00:36:38.320 sorting it out. 00:36:38.320 --> 00:36:44.520 And you're stuck in this terrible place where the heart aches and longs for relationship 00:36:44.520 --> 00:36:48.880 and yet there's hurt and anger. 00:36:48.880 --> 00:36:51.720 And part of you is screaming, why aren't you fixing it? 00:36:51.720 --> 00:36:57.160 And then the other part is screaming, I am the one that was wronged. 00:36:57.160 --> 00:37:01.440 And in the middle of that, the same God who goes through all these emotions that I've 00:37:01.440 --> 00:37:05.440 mentioned is saying, I'll make the first move. 00:37:05.440 --> 00:37:07.600 I'll fix it. 00:37:07.600 --> 00:37:12.640 It is the hunger and the thirst of the living God that causes him to sacrifice himself because 00:37:12.640 --> 00:37:17.160 right relationship matters to him. 00:37:17.160 --> 00:37:18.720 It matters to him. 00:37:18.720 --> 00:37:20.460 It matters to him every day. 00:37:20.460 --> 00:37:26.360 It matters to him right now as you're listening to me. 00:37:26.360 --> 00:37:35.760 But the thing is once he begins to do that, there are claims and terms to this relationship. 00:37:35.760 --> 00:37:44.480 Any husband who is okay with his wife sleeping around does not love his wife. 00:37:44.520 --> 00:37:51.040 And so when he wants his relationship, he now begins to say, all right, but Ashish, 00:37:51.040 --> 00:37:56.240 here are the terms and the claims of this relationship that I want with you. 00:37:56.240 --> 00:38:02.160 And in his faithfulness to the terms and the claims, he is righteous or unrighteous. 00:38:02.160 --> 00:38:06.520 And if he is unrighteous, then God goes to work again because he hungers and thirsts 00:38:06.520 --> 00:38:12.720 for right relationship. 00:38:12.760 --> 00:38:17.760 And then he hungers and thirsts for us to have right relationship with each other. 00:38:23.200 --> 00:38:24.200 And so where do I begin? 00:38:24.200 --> 00:38:27.360 I have to begin with this family. 00:38:27.360 --> 00:38:30.600 Where are some situations where I'm not in right relationship? 00:38:30.600 --> 00:38:37.280 And it can't be done two minutes before communion. 00:38:37.280 --> 00:38:44.960 When Jesus says, let the sun not go down before you, solve your anger situations with people. 00:38:44.960 --> 00:38:46.760 What he meant was start before the sun goes down. 00:38:46.760 --> 00:38:51.600 He didn't say concluded before the sun goes down because some issues are so terrible that 00:38:51.600 --> 00:38:55.240 you'll need 48 suns to go down before it gets sorted out. 00:38:55.240 --> 00:38:57.600 And even then it may not. 00:38:57.600 --> 00:39:06.480 But you got to start now. 00:39:06.480 --> 00:39:07.480 And the Lord will help you. 00:39:07.480 --> 00:39:09.240 Remember, we said this at the beginning. 00:39:09.240 --> 00:39:11.160 We cannot do this on our own. 00:39:11.160 --> 00:39:19.160 I can't become meek right now. 00:39:19.160 --> 00:39:22.360 But I am meek. 00:39:22.360 --> 00:39:23.520 I can't become meek. 00:39:23.520 --> 00:39:26.040 I can't. 00:39:26.040 --> 00:39:29.800 Sometimes I'm grateful for cognitive buffering because I don't know whether you actually 00:39:29.800 --> 00:39:33.560 believe that or not. 00:39:33.560 --> 00:39:36.280 I can't do that on my own, but Jesus can do that. 00:39:36.280 --> 00:39:42.520 Remember this, eh? 00:39:42.520 --> 00:39:50.720 Let the majestic one humble you and move into your life with his amazing rule which brings 00:39:50.720 --> 00:39:52.800 change inside. 00:39:52.800 --> 00:40:03.960 So you know, now you can see why Paul keeps saying this in Ephesians, in Philippians, 00:40:03.960 --> 00:40:04.960 in Colossians. 00:40:05.640 --> 00:40:12.800 He's saying, hey, now that you have changed and you are together as one family, do not 00:40:12.800 --> 00:40:14.800 lie to each other. 00:40:14.800 --> 00:40:15.800 Why? 00:40:15.800 --> 00:40:19.760 Because it's critical to right relationship. 00:40:19.760 --> 00:40:24.440 Is it even possible for me and you to be in right relationship if I'm constantly lying 00:40:24.440 --> 00:40:26.800 to you? 00:40:26.800 --> 00:40:29.240 So these are not code of ethics. 00:40:29.240 --> 00:40:30.240 Christians should not lie. 00:40:30.240 --> 00:40:33.320 Liars, liars, pants on fire and you go to hell or something. 00:40:33.320 --> 00:40:34.320 I don't remember. 00:40:34.320 --> 00:40:37.480 Gisela used to say that to me every time I lied. 00:40:37.480 --> 00:40:39.240 Liar, liar, pant on fire. 00:40:39.240 --> 00:40:42.240 Make sure you don't go to hell. 00:40:42.240 --> 00:40:45.320 Heidi, you remember this? 00:40:45.320 --> 00:40:48.160 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:40:48.160 --> 00:40:51.800 Liar, liar, pant on fire, yes. 00:40:51.800 --> 00:40:55.720 And then she would wag her finger and say, liars go to hell. 00:40:55.720 --> 00:40:56.720 Yes. 00:40:56.720 --> 00:40:57.720 Yeah. 00:40:57.720 --> 00:41:00.880 But the point is, it's not a code of ethics. 00:41:00.880 --> 00:41:02.080 Diana, just take my word for it. 00:41:02.120 --> 00:41:05.120 I'm not lying right now. 00:41:05.120 --> 00:41:11.960 So the point is that it's not a code of ethics that was given to me that as a Christian you 00:41:11.960 --> 00:41:13.720 should not lie. 00:41:13.720 --> 00:41:19.120 It was given to me because if I have to have a right relationship with someone, I cannot 00:41:19.120 --> 00:41:24.320 lie because in that lying, the right relationship is broken. 00:41:24.320 --> 00:41:26.360 I'm not unrighteous because I lied. 00:41:26.440 --> 00:41:32.840 I'm unrighteous because I broke right relationship with you. 00:41:32.840 --> 00:41:35.080 This God thinks so different. 00:41:35.080 --> 00:41:42.600 That's why his followers have to show a culture that is so different. 00:41:42.600 --> 00:41:55.880 And what does it look like to be in right relationship with people, with someone who 00:41:55.880 --> 00:42:01.320 has a sexual preference that's not like you, someone who comes from an ethnicity that's 00:42:01.320 --> 00:42:07.840 not yours, someone who does things that are offensive? 00:42:07.840 --> 00:42:12.400 How is this right relationship to be worked out? 00:42:12.400 --> 00:42:14.720 This culture is very different guys. 00:42:14.720 --> 00:42:30.320 And it's a unique, distinct culture, not a mixture, culture. 00:42:30.320 --> 00:42:34.760 So the Bible is replete with God's own hunger and thirst for this right relationship and 00:42:34.760 --> 00:42:37.800 that's why he grieves. 00:42:37.800 --> 00:42:41.240 We cannot read the Bible story without encountering grief. 00:42:41.240 --> 00:42:46.480 God's grief at unrighteousness, God's grief at alienation, God's grief at manipulation, 00:42:46.480 --> 00:42:52.960 God's grief at broken down relationships, God's grief at fear, God's grief at hatred, 00:42:52.960 --> 00:42:59.640 God's grief at violence, it bothers him. 00:42:59.640 --> 00:43:02.960 And it is this that led to the sacrifice of the son. 00:43:02.960 --> 00:43:08.200 And this is why in 2 Corinthians 5, 14 it says, hey guys, you know what ministry you 00:43:08.200 --> 00:43:09.200 have? 00:43:09.200 --> 00:43:11.080 You don't have to figure out your destiny or anything. 00:43:11.080 --> 00:43:15.080 Your ministry is simply the ministry of repair and reconciliation. 00:43:15.080 --> 00:43:20.320 Second Corinthians 5, 14 to 21, I'm sending you out as ministers of reconciliation. 00:43:20.320 --> 00:43:25.080 I have reconciled all creation and all human beings to myself through the shedding of my 00:43:25.080 --> 00:43:26.080 blood. 00:43:26.080 --> 00:43:32.120 Will you go tell them? 00:43:32.120 --> 00:43:33.560 What's he looking for? 00:43:33.560 --> 00:43:39.840 Hey, can I bring you into a place of right relationship with me, with yourself, with 00:43:39.840 --> 00:43:43.040 others and with creation? 00:43:43.040 --> 00:43:50.360 And sometimes the people who grieve because of things being broken are people that God 00:43:50.360 --> 00:43:51.840 uses powerfully. 00:43:51.840 --> 00:43:57.860 It says a lot that he grieved at the sin of Sodom. 00:43:57.860 --> 00:44:03.220 It says of Paul that he said, I would rather go to hell than have my brothers lost. 00:44:03.220 --> 00:44:06.840 It says of Moses that he said, take my life before you take the lives of others. 00:44:06.840 --> 00:44:12.400 It said of Jesus, they do not know what they're doing. 00:44:12.400 --> 00:44:13.400 So there's grief. 00:44:13.400 --> 00:44:17.880 It said of Paul again in Athens that he was grieved at what he saw. 00:44:17.880 --> 00:44:18.960 Why? 00:44:18.960 --> 00:44:23.040 Because suddenly, I am your God, you are my people went out of the window because there 00:44:23.040 --> 00:44:26.760 was so many idols all around. 00:44:26.760 --> 00:44:33.680 And so occasionally asked this question, do you grieve? 00:44:33.720 --> 00:44:37.160 I love that song that Remy sings. 00:44:37.160 --> 00:44:39.400 Do you think the world is broken? 00:44:39.400 --> 00:44:40.840 It is. 00:44:40.840 --> 00:44:42.400 Is anyone worthy? 00:44:42.400 --> 00:44:45.600 When you listen to the first two verses of that song, you realize that the song is full 00:44:45.600 --> 00:44:47.560 of grief. 00:44:47.560 --> 00:44:50.080 But in the middle of grief, there's hope. 00:44:50.080 --> 00:44:51.240 But the question is, do you grieve? 00:44:51.240 --> 00:44:53.280 Do I grieve? 00:44:53.280 --> 00:44:58.280 Not often. 00:44:58.280 --> 00:45:04.000 We grieve at the sin out there. 00:45:04.000 --> 00:45:05.000 That's not what you're talking about. 00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:10.080 We're talking about grieve at the relationship broken with him, relationship broken with 00:45:10.080 --> 00:45:14.840 each other, relationship broken of people with themselves. 00:45:14.840 --> 00:45:19.840 Like I said, I do not fully understand the creation, but I'll work on it. 00:45:28.280 --> 00:45:41.080 So here's the statement again. 00:45:41.080 --> 00:45:58.680 Who crave after relational wholeness. 00:45:58.680 --> 00:46:01.280 Who crave, who crave. 00:46:01.280 --> 00:46:06.080 And that's important, because Jesus is not blessing those who are mildly dissatisfied 00:46:06.080 --> 00:46:07.080 with themselves. 00:46:07.800 --> 00:46:12.760 He's blessing those who cannot live unless they find right relatedness. 00:46:12.760 --> 00:46:18.080 This is important, guys, because it's a question that we have to ask ourselves. 00:46:18.080 --> 00:46:22.640 He's not blessed at those who crave after relational wholeness on four different levels. 00:46:22.640 --> 00:46:23.640 Right? 00:46:23.640 --> 00:46:24.840 What are the four levels? 00:46:24.840 --> 00:46:29.960 Do you crave after relational wholeness with him? 00:46:29.960 --> 00:46:35.480 Whenever things are even slightly out of sync with each other, like when two who love each 00:46:35.560 --> 00:46:38.320 other, they can't bear it. 00:46:38.320 --> 00:46:47.320 They want to fix it with oneself, where you have those moments where there are conflicts, 00:46:47.320 --> 00:46:53.320 strife, machinations, war in your head and your heart. 00:46:53.320 --> 00:46:56.280 And often because we don't have time, we let it be. 00:46:56.280 --> 00:47:03.640 Or we pay 200 bucks to Jane to sort it out. 00:47:04.600 --> 00:47:11.400 What if there's a way to deal with it before God? 00:47:11.400 --> 00:47:13.640 Because it's important and he heals. 00:47:13.640 --> 00:47:19.080 And then with creation, begin with just an appreciation of what he's made. 00:47:19.080 --> 00:47:23.960 Begin there. 00:47:23.960 --> 00:47:28.000 Do you crave after relational wholeness? 00:47:28.000 --> 00:47:32.120 Because he's saying blessed are they who crave after relational wholeness, for they 00:47:32.120 --> 00:47:33.400 shall be satisfied. 00:47:33.400 --> 00:47:38.040 Not who are slightly dissatisfied with relational wholeness. 00:47:38.040 --> 00:47:41.160 Those guys are not going to be satisfied. 00:47:41.160 --> 00:47:44.480 It's a craving. 00:47:44.480 --> 00:47:48.280 Sometimes you wonder why God doesn't do certain things amongst a certain people, because there 00:47:48.280 --> 00:47:52.540 are gaping holes in our lives sometimes. 00:47:52.540 --> 00:47:59.800 Now you can see Psalm 133 differently. 00:47:59.800 --> 00:48:05.080 How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity. 00:48:05.080 --> 00:48:06.640 What are we talking about? 00:48:06.640 --> 00:48:07.640 Relational wholeness. 00:48:07.640 --> 00:48:16.680 And when that happens, the oil of God begins to flow through and upon those people like 00:48:16.680 --> 00:48:27.840 the oil that flowed down from Aaron's head to his beard to his clothes. 00:48:27.880 --> 00:48:33.040 I am trusting that the Spirit of God will convict me and convict you. 00:48:33.040 --> 00:48:36.560 Not to start writing letters to people that are upset with us. 00:48:36.560 --> 00:48:42.520 Please understand, those are the miniscule but important things we engage in to absolve 00:48:42.520 --> 00:48:43.520 ourselves of guilt. 00:48:43.520 --> 00:48:44.520 I'm not talking about that. 00:48:44.520 --> 00:48:49.440 I'm talking about a change in culture. 00:48:49.440 --> 00:48:54.120 So as I'm saying this, don't think of that one person you need to write a letter to. 00:48:54.120 --> 00:48:56.360 Do that at some point. 00:48:56.360 --> 00:48:58.240 But that's not the thing. 00:48:58.240 --> 00:49:02.200 This is not a thing on before we have communion, make sure you forgive me. 00:49:02.200 --> 00:49:08.640 That's not what we're aiming at. 00:49:08.640 --> 00:49:18.960 It's a way of thinking. 00:49:18.960 --> 00:49:24.600 Blessed are those who crave after relational wholeness. 00:49:24.600 --> 00:49:27.720 Those are the ones he'll bless because you cannot live without it. 00:49:27.720 --> 00:49:29.840 You cannot live without it. 00:49:29.840 --> 00:49:33.080 It's his intense passion. 00:49:33.080 --> 00:49:38.040 It's his intense passion and that's how the kingdom, that's one of the ways the kingdom 00:49:38.040 --> 00:49:48.480 breaks into the world because this is not normal for people. 00:49:49.000 --> 00:49:59.720 You see, the opposite of relational wholeness, the opposite of relational wholeness, strangely, 00:49:59.720 --> 00:50:04.080 is religion. 00:50:04.080 --> 00:50:11.200 The opposite of relational wholeness is religious wholeness. 00:50:11.200 --> 00:50:14.360 Where we do a few things, I'm talking about believers, I'm not talking about some other 00:50:14.360 --> 00:50:24.200 religion where we do a few things that makes us feel like I've done what the Lord requires. 00:50:24.200 --> 00:50:36.280 And if I continue down this road, I can easily slip into dullness to God where some legal 00:50:36.280 --> 00:50:40.360 requirements are met. 00:50:40.360 --> 00:50:51.760 Like be kind, give tithes, love your neighbor. 00:50:51.760 --> 00:50:53.920 But I do. 00:50:53.920 --> 00:51:00.360 I held a lift for him even though I knew he was quite far away. 00:51:00.360 --> 00:51:01.560 This is not what we're talking about. 00:51:01.560 --> 00:51:06.840 We're talking about a change in the collective way I think and behave. 00:51:06.840 --> 00:51:11.160 Out of that, holding the lift becomes the least we end up doing. 00:51:11.160 --> 00:51:17.800 So if I'm not careful, my religious, if I don't go down this route, I will go down this 00:51:17.800 --> 00:51:21.480 route and that usually leads to a dullness with God. 00:51:21.480 --> 00:51:24.720 And I'm saying this to us in this church. 00:51:24.720 --> 00:51:30.860 If the purifying fire that we talked about, that Joy talked about, that he sang about, 00:51:30.860 --> 00:51:38.820 if the purifying fire is here and it is here to destroy religious and historical junk, 00:51:38.820 --> 00:51:52.260 then know this, the religious wholeness is not something to be aspired for. 00:51:52.260 --> 00:51:57.620 This then becomes a measure or the standard we use to see what is kingdom and what is 00:51:57.620 --> 00:51:59.020 not kingdom. 00:51:59.900 --> 00:52:03.540 It becomes a plumb line. 00:52:03.540 --> 00:52:05.700 That's the crazy thing about cultures. 00:52:05.700 --> 00:52:08.780 You can go from here to Saudi Arabia and you'll see a shift in cultures. 00:52:08.780 --> 00:52:09.780 Why? 00:52:09.780 --> 00:52:13.500 Because there's a plumb line that Saudi uses as what's kosher there and there's a plumb 00:52:13.500 --> 00:52:19.580 line that we use that's kosher here. 00:52:19.580 --> 00:52:23.140 But Israel was supposed to be distinct when they traveled through Exodus and we are supposed 00:52:23.140 --> 00:52:28.740 to be distinct because of a certain way we think and act. 00:52:28.740 --> 00:52:37.080 This wholeness will make us dull and in this church it will prevent you from participating 00:52:37.080 --> 00:52:43.140 in the purifying fire that was sent to burn up religious and historical junk. 00:52:43.140 --> 00:52:44.140 Selah. 00:52:44.140 --> 00:53:02.820 Guys, so how do we get to this place where we really crave? 00:53:02.820 --> 00:53:29.380 You can only crave if you allow yourself to be grabbed by or held by Christ every day 00:53:29.380 --> 00:53:33.460 before all else. 00:53:33.460 --> 00:53:37.900 This is the idea of the thing I was saying before Jesus, here I am, before I start my 00:53:37.900 --> 00:53:45.100 day, before everything else, before all my appetites, desires and interests kick in. 00:53:45.100 --> 00:53:50.100 Oh God, can your reign kick in? 00:53:50.100 --> 00:53:53.300 Because it's not like he's the one who didn't give us appetites. 00:53:53.300 --> 00:53:58.540 He's the one who gave us emotional appetites, sexual appetites, appetites for intimacy, 00:53:58.700 --> 00:54:01.460 he's the one who gave it. 00:54:01.460 --> 00:54:06.460 But they need to be reformed and the one way you reform them and have them happen in order 00:54:06.460 --> 00:54:11.160 is by standing before Christ and saying even before this day begins, even before the emotional 00:54:11.160 --> 00:54:20.340 storm hits me, can your reign enter my life? 00:54:20.340 --> 00:54:24.520 Just try that because he is faithful, eh? 00:54:24.520 --> 00:54:26.960 He is faithful. 00:54:26.960 --> 00:54:28.300 That's one way to deal with craving. 00:54:29.060 --> 00:54:41.540 The second way you get to a place of craving is by, craving is triggered by dissatisfaction. 00:54:41.540 --> 00:54:45.140 Craving is triggered by dissatisfaction. 00:54:45.140 --> 00:54:52.140 But to be dissatisfied, don't snack on stuff. 00:54:52.140 --> 00:54:56.520 What do I mean by that? 00:54:56.740 --> 00:55:07.040 Don't snack on other ways of getting your emotional fill, your physical fullness, your 00:55:07.040 --> 00:55:19.040 sexual fill, your political fill, your intellectual fill, your material fill or even your spiritual 00:55:19.040 --> 00:55:25.240 fill through worship or some spiritual discipline. 00:55:25.240 --> 00:55:27.400 Do not snack on stuff like this. 00:55:27.400 --> 00:55:39.320 First go to him who satisfies and once you do that, he orders all these because he's 00:55:39.320 --> 00:55:44.560 the one who gave them. 00:55:44.560 --> 00:55:50.040 When he is first, he reforms my distorted appetites, my responses, satisfies me, feeds 00:55:50.040 --> 00:55:52.960 my appetite. 00:55:52.960 --> 00:55:54.960 Any questions on that? 00:55:54.960 --> 00:56:06.960 When we are not in right relationship with God, with each other, with ourselves and with 00:56:06.960 --> 00:56:14.840 creation, that is when we fill our lives with things that can satisfy. 00:56:14.840 --> 00:56:19.120 Sometimes it's food, sometimes it's sex, sometimes it's being highly emotional, sometimes it's 00:56:19.120 --> 00:56:23.720 being highly political, sometimes it's being intellectual, sometimes it's being materialistic. 00:56:23.720 --> 00:56:33.120 What are different ways to fill it? 00:56:33.120 --> 00:56:38.680 Any questions? 00:56:38.680 --> 00:56:43.680 Which one are you looking at, Karen? 00:56:43.680 --> 00:56:45.920 Material, yeah. 00:56:45.920 --> 00:56:47.880 That's an easy one. 00:56:47.880 --> 00:57:04.720 It could be maternal too, but it is material. 00:57:04.720 --> 00:57:08.440 You know one of the things Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, just think of this, it 00:57:08.440 --> 00:57:10.080 makes it so simple suddenly. 00:57:10.080 --> 00:57:14.880 He says, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees, you will not enter 00:57:14.880 --> 00:57:17.000 the kingdom of heaven. 00:57:17.120 --> 00:57:19.000 The Pharisees are super righteous, man. 00:57:19.000 --> 00:57:20.880 They kept all the requirements. 00:57:20.880 --> 00:57:22.760 They would measure things. 00:57:22.760 --> 00:57:28.640 They added 630 laws to the Ten Commandments so that they observed things correctly. 00:57:28.640 --> 00:57:35.560 So how can he say, unless you exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom 00:57:35.560 --> 00:57:36.560 of God? 00:57:36.560 --> 00:57:37.560 Very simple. 00:57:37.560 --> 00:57:41.520 He took it out of the legal framework and he made a relationship. 00:57:41.520 --> 00:57:44.640 Now he says, you have heard it said, do not murder. 00:57:44.640 --> 00:57:49.720 But I say to you, that if you are not in right relationship with someone and you call them 00:57:49.720 --> 00:57:55.600 fool or raka or you begin to think angrily about them, you have already committed murder. 00:57:55.600 --> 00:58:01.000 No other religion on earth has the guts to go internal. 00:58:01.000 --> 00:58:05.000 Everything and every religion in the world is external observance. 00:58:05.000 --> 00:58:09.160 Because the internal won't change unless Christ comes and lives in you. 00:58:09.160 --> 00:58:10.760 That's when change happens. 00:58:10.760 --> 00:58:14.400 And then he goes on to say, hey, you have heard it said, do not commit adultery. 00:58:14.440 --> 00:58:19.400 But I say to you, if you look at a woman with lust, then you have already committed adultery. 00:58:19.400 --> 00:58:20.400 What's he doing? 00:58:20.400 --> 00:58:24.920 He's bringing into a relational level, removing it from the legal place. 00:58:24.920 --> 00:58:30.640 If you look at someone and you call him a fool, then you need to know that you should 00:58:30.640 --> 00:58:33.360 be afraid of burning in fires of hell. 00:58:33.360 --> 00:58:34.360 What's he doing? 00:58:34.360 --> 00:58:41.360 You cannot say things to people, just nilly-nilly and call them names. 00:58:41.360 --> 00:58:44.800 Our words matter. 00:58:44.800 --> 00:58:47.000 This is kingdom culture. 00:58:47.000 --> 00:58:49.200 This is the plumb line we use. 00:58:49.200 --> 00:58:59.760 This is what you should measure me by and I should measure you by. 00:58:59.760 --> 00:59:02.140 This is different guys. 00:59:02.140 --> 00:59:11.140 This is Christlikeness. 00:59:11.140 --> 00:59:13.980 So he ups the ante. 00:59:13.980 --> 00:59:16.980 And then he goes on. 00:59:16.980 --> 00:59:21.020 Romans 13, 8-10. 00:59:21.020 --> 00:59:22.500 Can someone read it loudly? 00:59:22.500 --> 00:59:26.500 Romans 13, 8-10. 00:59:26.500 --> 00:59:27.980 It basically says what I just said. 00:59:27.980 --> 00:59:30.980 Romans 13, 8-10. 00:59:30.980 --> 00:59:36.740 Hey, Brielle, where are you going? 00:59:36.740 --> 00:59:38.780 Where are you going? 00:59:38.780 --> 00:59:40.860 Oh, you want to throw it. 00:59:40.860 --> 00:59:44.980 Yeah, your dad can't handle that one. 00:59:44.980 --> 00:59:45.980 Romans 13, 8-10. 00:59:45.980 --> 00:59:54.980 Oh, no one any say except the loving gentle, the one who loves another is the one who knows 00:59:54.980 --> 00:59:55.980 the law. 00:59:55.980 --> 00:59:56.980 For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall 00:59:56.980 --> 00:59:57.980 not steal, you shall not covet, and any other commandments are sung thus in this world. 00:59:57.980 --> 00:59:58.980 You shall love your neighbor as yourself, others not wrong to their neighbor, therefore 00:59:58.980 --> 00:59:59.980 love him who knows the law. 00:59:59.980 --> 01:00:00.980 Yeah. 01:00:00.980 --> 01:00:11.980 He takes the two great commandments. 01:00:11.980 --> 01:00:13.700 What are the two great commandments? 01:00:13.700 --> 01:00:15.840 Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor. 01:00:15.840 --> 01:00:17.580 What are we talking about again? 01:00:17.580 --> 01:00:18.580 Righteousness. 01:00:18.580 --> 01:00:19.580 Why? 01:00:19.580 --> 01:00:22.980 Because righteousness is basically defined as right relationship. 01:00:22.980 --> 01:00:24.720 Comes back to the same thing again. 01:00:24.720 --> 01:00:29.340 Right relationship with God, right relationship with your neighbor. 01:00:29.340 --> 01:00:33.220 And if you are in right relationship with God and right relationship with your neighbor, 01:00:33.220 --> 01:00:35.420 Jacob, you will not covet. 01:00:35.420 --> 01:00:38.180 You will not get angry and lose your temper. 01:00:38.180 --> 01:00:41.740 You will not call people names. 01:00:41.740 --> 01:00:44.140 You will not. 01:00:44.140 --> 01:00:48.860 Again it comes back to relationship. 01:00:48.860 --> 01:00:56.080 I should read you this and we'll end with this. 01:00:56.080 --> 01:00:59.220 So you see right relatedness in two great commandments. 01:00:59.220 --> 01:01:01.140 Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor. 01:01:01.140 --> 01:01:28.740 And so the intent is can the measure of your self-seeking become the measure 01:01:29.740 --> 01:01:35.020 of your self-giving. 01:01:35.020 --> 01:01:41.260 That's the idea of love your neighbor. 01:01:41.260 --> 01:01:46.360 So I won't write this down, but I'll just read it. 01:01:46.360 --> 01:01:53.140 So just as I long for food when I'm hungry, can I long to feed my neighbor when he is 01:01:53.140 --> 01:01:55.900 hungry? 01:01:56.540 --> 01:01:58.140 Just as I seek to be sick. 01:01:58.140 --> 01:02:04.660 You know another word for kingdom culture which perhaps I'll bring up next week is a 01:02:04.660 --> 01:02:06.980 word called good news culture. 01:02:06.980 --> 01:02:09.220 What does good news sound like? 01:02:09.220 --> 01:02:10.220 What does good news sound like? 01:02:10.220 --> 01:02:13.620 And there are so many things that Jesus puts down. 01:02:13.620 --> 01:02:18.580 It's so vast that just reading it you want to close this stuff and not read it. 01:02:18.580 --> 01:02:21.500 Because you realize how short you're falling and it's impossible to meet it. 01:02:21.500 --> 01:02:23.860 But here are some. 01:02:23.860 --> 01:02:28.580 And this is how if you're a believer and I'm a believer we should live. 01:02:28.580 --> 01:02:29.660 Here goes. 01:02:29.660 --> 01:02:34.620 So just as I long for food when I'm hungry, can I long to feed my neighbor when he is 01:02:34.620 --> 01:02:36.900 hungry? 01:02:36.900 --> 01:02:44.700 As I seek to be secure from disaster and violence, can I seek security from disaster and violence 01:02:44.700 --> 01:02:47.020 for my neighbor? 01:02:47.020 --> 01:02:53.300 As I seek friends for myself, can I be a friend to my neighbor? 01:02:53.460 --> 01:02:57.500 And when I use the word seeking, seeking must translate into action. 01:02:57.500 --> 01:03:02.740 As you want your life to be significant, can you desire that same significance for your 01:03:02.740 --> 01:03:04.700 neighbor? 01:03:04.700 --> 01:03:10.740 As you work to do better in life, so can you work to help your neighbor do better in life? 01:03:10.740 --> 01:03:15.500 As you like being welcomed into strange company, so are you willing to welcome your neighbor 01:03:15.500 --> 01:03:18.500 among strangers? 01:03:18.500 --> 01:03:22.420 This is what kingdom culture looks like. 01:03:23.940 --> 01:03:28.100 And you can't ask a question now, so who's my neighbor? 01:03:28.100 --> 01:03:34.140 Is he the one with an H1B, a green card, a PR, a visa or a citizenship passport? 01:03:34.140 --> 01:03:35.140 That's not the question. 01:03:35.140 --> 01:03:39.700 Because that was the same question that was asked of Jesus, who's my neighbor in the Samaritan 01:03:39.700 --> 01:03:40.700 story? 01:03:40.700 --> 01:03:43.140 That's not the way this goes. 01:03:43.140 --> 01:03:45.740 Does that mean there are no nuances to the neighbor? 01:03:45.740 --> 01:03:46.740 There are. 01:03:46.740 --> 01:03:48.260 But that's not what we're looking at right now. 01:03:48.300 --> 01:03:53.780 Are we looking at what good news culture or kingdom culture looks like? 01:03:53.780 --> 01:03:59.140 But there is this fear that if I devoted myself to pursuing the happiness of others, then 01:03:59.140 --> 01:04:03.020 my own desire for happiness will be threatened. 01:04:03.020 --> 01:04:08.540 There is this fear that if I start looking out for the happiness of others, then my own 01:04:08.540 --> 01:04:11.780 desire for happiness will be threatened. 01:04:11.780 --> 01:04:15.300 And therein lies the root of all sin. 01:04:16.300 --> 01:04:19.860 Let me read that again. 01:04:19.860 --> 01:04:23.660 There is this fear in our hearts that if we devote ourselves to pursuing the happiness 01:04:23.660 --> 01:04:28.100 of others, then my own desire for happiness may be threatened. 01:04:28.100 --> 01:04:31.980 And therein lies the root of all sin. 01:04:31.980 --> 01:04:35.060 The root of all sin is these two things. 01:04:35.060 --> 01:04:41.980 My happiness apart from God and my happiness apart from the happiness of others in God. 01:04:41.980 --> 01:04:43.860 Just hear me guys. 01:04:43.860 --> 01:04:46.100 One zone out. 01:04:46.100 --> 01:04:48.620 The root of all sin is based in these two things. 01:04:48.620 --> 01:04:50.340 And that's what the Ten Commandments is about. 01:04:50.340 --> 01:04:54.420 The first six about God, the next four about neighbors. 01:04:54.420 --> 01:04:56.380 The root of sin lies in these two things. 01:04:56.380 --> 01:04:59.580 Me seeking my happiness outside of God. 01:04:59.580 --> 01:05:03.980 And me seeking my happiness outside of the happiness of others in God. 01:05:03.980 --> 01:05:10.780 It's the root of all sin. 01:05:10.780 --> 01:05:13.700 All sin boils down to that. 01:05:13.700 --> 01:05:18.060 The Ten Commandments cover exactly that. 01:05:18.060 --> 01:05:19.940 Do not seek your happiness outside of me. 01:05:19.940 --> 01:05:24.940 And do not seek your own happiness at the expense of your neighbor or outside of the 01:05:24.940 --> 01:05:27.460 happiness of your neighbor in God. 01:05:27.460 --> 01:05:30.460 This is what kingdom culture looks like. 01:05:30.460 --> 01:05:31.780 It is difficult. 01:05:31.780 --> 01:05:38.020 It's one of the most unique, most distinct and demanding cultures in the world. 01:05:38.020 --> 01:05:43.140 But when we begin to practice this, then we can say to others, hey, make a U-turn, throw 01:05:43.580 --> 01:05:46.140 yourself on Jesus. 01:05:46.140 --> 01:05:50.620 Because what is the point, Church, if we have signs, miracles and wonders, but do not have 01:05:50.620 --> 01:05:57.660 this? 01:05:57.660 --> 01:06:03.020 For then he shall say, I did not even know you. 01:06:03.020 --> 01:06:08.780 And as our relationship with God increases, the neighbor part becomes very easy. 01:06:08.780 --> 01:06:13.420 As our relationship with God increases, the neighbor part becomes easy. 01:06:13.420 --> 01:06:14.620 I wrote this down long ago. 01:06:14.620 --> 01:06:16.780 This is from a message ages ago. 01:06:16.780 --> 01:06:19.540 Now look at the equation. 01:06:19.540 --> 01:06:26.580 When our relationship with God grows, as my desire to be loved and cared finds its fulfillment 01:06:26.580 --> 01:06:31.260 in a recklessly loving God, it overflows to my neighbor. 01:06:31.260 --> 01:06:36.180 As I begin to see God's abundance in the supply of food, rent and clothing, I long to show 01:06:36.820 --> 01:06:39.460 the greatness of his abundance. 01:06:39.460 --> 01:06:43.620 As I begin to enjoy more of God's compassion through the comfort he gives me, I long to 01:06:43.620 --> 01:06:47.840 show others God's compassion through the comfort I give them. 01:06:47.840 --> 01:06:52.340 As I begin to savor more of God's wisdom through the counsel he gives me, I long to extend 01:06:52.340 --> 01:06:55.240 to others God's wisdom in their situations. 01:06:55.240 --> 01:07:01.060 As I delight in seeing God's goodness, even when I exploit him, even when I'm ungrateful, 01:07:01.060 --> 01:07:05.260 even when I have no need, I long to extend the goodness to others, even when they are 01:07:05.260 --> 01:07:09.940 ungrateful, even when they are undeserving, even when they don't have a need. 01:07:09.940 --> 01:07:13.620 Gosh man, imagine what we are being invited into. 01:07:13.620 --> 01:07:15.740 This is what born again means. 01:07:15.740 --> 01:07:22.600 To be born again is to be invited by Jesus to enter a kingdom and therefore have a way 01:07:22.600 --> 01:07:27.560 of thinking and a way of behaving. 01:07:27.560 --> 01:07:31.180 Not born again, oh I got saved on this particular day. 01:07:31.180 --> 01:07:32.180 Nothing wrong with that. 01:07:32.180 --> 01:07:36.220 I'm doing that thing. 01:07:36.220 --> 01:07:39.100 That's not kingdom culture either. 01:07:39.100 --> 01:07:46.420 But unless you be born again you cannot enter the kingdom.