Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 You're listening to a live recording from Westside church in bend, Oregon. Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 1 00:00:06 So good to see you all. And the, those that are watching online as well. Good to have you joining us. We are finishing up a series that we, uh, launched a couple weeks ago, uh, called beauty will save the world. It's based on a book by Brian Zand of the same name and, um, pastor bow two weeks ago, launched us to talk about what it looks like. Why, what, what about God is beautiful and this idea that that God wants to like make himself known in a new and fresh way in our culture. Um, that of his beauty, uh, is really, uh, impacting. Cause I don't know, I don't know about you, but as I look around at the world, I, our world could use a little more beauty. Doesn't need any more crisis. It doesn't need more conflict. It doesn't need any more debate.
Speaker 1 00:00:48 It needs more beauty. And, uh, God has something to say to us about that today. And then pastor Ben last week spoke about the restoration of that beauty. And today I wanna look at it kind of cast a vision for what a church, a people, um, look like, um, when they are connected to the beauty of God. And, uh, and what a church, uh, corporately, what west side might look like and what you and personally in your own life, uh, would, might look like, uh, when we tap into this beauty that God has. And to do that, I wanna share a metaphor. It's a new metaphor. Um, it's an old metaphor it's been in the Bible, um, since it was written. Um, but it's a new metaphor in terms of the way that we think about, um, church and about ourselves. Um, I love metaphors a metaphor is, is wonderful way to kind of capture a picture of something, uh, vivid, uh, without using many words.
Speaker 1 00:01:40 Um, and it just, all, as soon as I say, you know, a picture like the church, here's a metaphor of the church, the bride of Christ. As soon as I say, bride, you have an image of something, um, or a city on a hill. You have a, an image of something when Jesus called himself, um, the light of the world, you immediately have an image that describes something of who God is and the church is. And so today I wanna look at a metaphor, um, that, um, Jesus used at the end of his teaching, uh, what was called the sermon on the Mount. And for years, we've used a metaphor that I think has, um, at least for now run its course us. And, um, personally I think we should, we should toss it for a while. Um, it's and it's the army of the Lord metaphor and it's a good metaphor, um, in terms of it describes that our battle is not against flesh and bud, but against principalities and powers.
Speaker 1 00:02:40 And that's true. And I still believe that's true that there is a cosmic war, so to speak going on around us. Um, and that our, the way that we do battle is on our knees before God in prayer. And I don't wanna lose any of that, but I also look at the world that we live in and the people that have tried church and found it wanting who have given up on God because of his people. And I begin to reimagine a metaphor that might actually connect with their current condition in a way that's way more compelling than an army. And this metaphor we find in Matthew chapter seven. So if you have a Bible, go ahead and turn there and, um, let me pray as you do that, Jesus, would you, um, illuminate your word to us today? Would you help us to see something that maybe we have forgotten or haven't seen in a while and help us to process it in by your spirit?
Speaker 1 00:03:43 Would you help us to see what, what you want us to see in this? Um, and to hear what you're wanting to say to us, um, and Lord, I pray that as, as much as possible, would you get, just get me out of the way and help your word to speak for itself, your spirit to speak for itself. We pray in Jesus name, amen, and summing up the sermon on the Mount, which by the way, the sermon on the Mount, if you wanna know who Jesus is and what he was about, all you have to read, I'm giving you permission to like read three chapters of the Bible, and that's all you need. Matthew five, six, and seven. It is the Jerry McGuire moment of Jesus. It is his ultimatum. It's his mandate. This is who he is all about, was the sermon on the mountain.
Speaker 1 00:04:27 Matter of fact, most scholars believe that Jesus taught this sermon, not just once where it's recorded here, but over and over and over, he kept coming. He kept coming back to these principles, these ideas, because this is who Jesus is, and this is what he wanted his community to be about. And as he, as, as this, as his teaching begins to close here, um, he uses three metaphors. Matter of fact, um, to kind of describe this people, this community that's formed out of the sermon on the Mount and it starts, um, and the three metaphors one is, um, two roads. One of the roads is wide and everybody's on that one, cuz it's easier to live, but it leads to destruction. There's another road that he describes as narrow. Um, and it's narrow. It's just simply because there's just not very many people that walk it <laugh> and that's why it's narrow.
Speaker 1 00:05:21 Right? And so, um, and so that one leads to life, but very few follow it. And then, and then he talks about two trees, uh, one bears fruit, um, that leads to life and one bears, um, no, no fruit and leads to death. And so he uses this, these metaphors and then this other metaphor that he finishes with is really interesting to me and verse 24 of chapter seven, Jesus, uh, said anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise. And so it's more than just listening. It's actually doing right. It's following him. If you were in our James series, you realize this very clearly. It's not just about knowing it's about doing and this person who follows the teaching of Christ is like a person who builds a house on solid rock though. The rain comes in Torrance and the flood waters rise and the winds beat against that house.
Speaker 1 00:06:12 It won't collapse because it is built on bedrock, but anyone who hears my teach teaching and doesn't obey, uh, it is foolish like a person who builds a house on sand. And when the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash. So he's describing people who follow his way as a house, built on a rock, solid rock and it doesn't sway and it's by everything that happens around them. And, and I, and he, and he kind of in doing this, he echoes a little bit of what Isaiah, the prophet said three different times in Isaiah's, um, book about God being a shelter from the storm, a shelter. And I want that metaphor to kind of percolate in your hearts today and all week, as you talk about it in, in community groups and, um, different relationships that you have, think about this idea of a, of a, of a shelter from the storm, a house built on a rock that is a shelter for you and for those in our world, um, how many of you have had to have shelter you've had to, like you had to find shelter because of some kind of a storm.
Speaker 1 00:07:31 One of the first time memories I have, is it Smith rock? Um, I grew up in Redmond and so we were at, we were out at Smith rock, a whole group of people from the church and a huge hailstorm came through like massive lightning as well, big old, big old hailstones. And I, and I remember losing my parents and I'm, I, I think I'm like six and I'm running with this group of other people from our church to find shelter. And one guy's got his hand, you know, his, I mean, I didn't trust this guy, but you know, lost my parents. So he was the first guy to grab me and I'm like, all right, whoever you are, I'll go, I guess I'll go with you, dad. You know? And so, and there's a group of people. We, we get under this shelter of a rock and, and we waited out the storm.
Speaker 1 00:08:10 Eventually I found my parents again or they found me he's probably the way more accurate. Um, and then the, another fast four years later, I, um, I had a tradition. Some of you they've been here for a while. You've heard me tell this story. I have a tradition of when my boys turned 12, I have four sons when they turned 12, I took them up the south system, um, at age 12, kind of a, a hike to manhood, I would call it. And, and, uh, you know, you have, I have eight hours with them where they're not doing anything. So they have to listen to what I say or at least pretend to. And, uh, but there's the, the last one, my fourth son, we decided we had to do this epic. If climbing the south sister isn't epic enough, we had to do something more.
Speaker 1 00:08:48 And so I came up with the brilliant idea that we should do it at midnight, um, under a full moon. And so we did. And so, so the five of us hike up the south sister on a full moon, but, uh, and, and somebody should have checked the weather report, um, because we started out, it was beautiful, but about halfway up the mountain, um, like on the mountain itself, a huge storm came through really bad. Um, and we, but we eventually made it to the top. We couldn't see anything, but we just trudged our way up there took way longer than we thought it was going to. And we get up there and, um, being the planner that I was, I had every emergency equipment known that I would need in such a situation. No, I did not. <laugh> I did think about buying, having an emergency blanket, but I don't know if it's, cuz I'm cheap or if it's what we had in the house, I'm pretty sure the one I had was from the dollar store and it was this flimsy little blanket.
Speaker 1 00:09:41 Um, it, it was like the astronauts. I even think it said on the package, like what NASA uses or something like that, it's nothing like what NASA uses. It was so thin. It was tearing and all of the anyway, me and my boys are huddled up on this mountain with this thing over us, with shelter. And I realize something that the blanket wasn't doing anything. And when I think about this, I think about all the man-made ways that we try to produce shelter for people in their hurt and their, and the, and the weariness that our world faces and how often it fails. But here we were huddled together and we were providing shelter for one another by being together close together. And I wanna describe, I want us to talk a little bit about this metaphor that Jesus really describes as a shelter from the storm, um, that we are enough with the teaching of Jesus.
Speaker 1 00:10:34 If we build our life on the teaching of Jesus, we can be a shelter for people who are weary. People who are hurting people who are confused, a ch the church. Can you imagine a church, a group of people being a shelter for this world's and, and all the hurt and sorrow and anxiety and everything that we're facing. This is why it matters that we build our lives upon the rock who is Jesus and his teaching. People who follow his teachings are shelters for others. Well, so what did he teach? Well, let's look at briefly at just a portion of the sermon on the Mount called the be attitudes it's in Matthew chapter five, verse three. And as I read this, just let the begin to ponder how you in your life. And this church can manifest this in other people's lives. Blessed Jesus said are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful for, they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure and heart for, they will see God blessed are the peacemakers for, they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This is Jesus' manifesto. This is what he's all about. This is who he's all about.
Speaker 1 00:12:14 Somebody said after the last service that this is that if you want to know who Jesus is and who Jesus is for, you read the be attitudes. You see just leap off the page. These are the people that find God. And what Jesus described is a shelter, um, is, is a shelter for those who are spiritually hungry, a shelter for those who suffer under the weight of grief, it's the, the kind of shelter Jesus describes as a shelter for those who desire and thirst for justice and mercy in our world today, for those who desire to see God, those, those who desperate, who are desperate, I wanna see God, those who are tired of war and division. Those who are persecuted, this is the, this is, this is the shelter it's built for those who desire. These things who struggle with these things who need these things. Jesus said, come to me all who are weary and heavy Laden, and I will give you rest. Is that how the people in our community see the church, come to me, come to us all who are weary and heavy Laden, and won't give you rest. I don't think it is. I don't think that's what people imagine. The church of Jesus Christ to be about.
Speaker 1 00:13:45 What I fear is that the church at large, isn't seen as a shelter for the weary and worn out, but maybe more as an army for the spiritual elite and those who want to fight on behalf of God. And we simply have an opportunity to be a counter narrative that provides hope to our world. Real hope like Lindsay was talking about where people come in to this shelter and get set free people who come into this shelter and get healed. People who come into this shelter and find hope that that's the people that we can be. And the first thing I think that Jesus wants to remind us is what Brian Z wrote in his book. Jesus meets us at our point of poverty, not our place of strength. Jesus meets us. He meets, um, you and me and those in our community. Not at places of strength, but at points of poverty, places of, of, of where we hunger, where we, where we are desperate, where we, we're not sure where else to turn Jesus is found in those places. See, Jesus was constantly calling out those who thought they had it all together who were quick to point out, uh, other people's sins. He was, he was quick to call those people out as blind guides.
Speaker 1 00:15:05 They truly don't see. They think they see, but they don't see, they might see other people's faults, but they don't actually see God's hand or his heart. There are some believers, some Christians, some Christ followers who are so quick to see the flaws in others, that this is all they see. They actually don't see God, cuz that's not how you see God, it's by welcoming those who mourn it's by welcoming those who are spiritually impoverished. It's by opening our arms. Why to say, come, you are welcome in my life, in this space, in this place. That's there that we see God it's through them. That we see God. I've also noticed that there's a tendency in the church to, um, kind of exempt ourselves from pain and suffering a little bit or to void it maybe a bit. Um, I planted a church, my wife and I planted a church in the nineties, a church and sisters.
Speaker 1 00:16:11 And um, and um, it was the nineties and there was this song that was so awesome, man. We played it almost every Sunday. You play something long enough. You kind of get like, okay, we need to put this on the shelf. But it, some of you might remember trading my sorrows, man. We sing it so often I can sing it to you right now. But I won't. But it's like here, I'll just let me just read it. I'm trading my sorrows. I'm trading my pain. I'm laying it down for the joy of the Lord as if you it's a trade off. Here's my pain. Oh, now I'm happy. What we find in the scriptures is that pain and joy, sorrow, suffering, and happiness actually coexist. There's not one for the other, but there's this idea in the church has kind of been around that, that, you know, it's almost like a, the church has created a culture of denial.
Speaker 1 00:17:00 It's a, you're not actually, I mean, Jesus is enough. You're okay. You'll be fine. <laugh> like, no, I'm not fine. Stop saying that. Stop saying, God is good all the time. And all the time, God is good. I'm sick of it. Right? And it's like, and, and I believe it's true. God is good all the time. But it's like, it's like, we minimize people's pain and Jesus didn't do that at all. So his people, what are, what are we doing? We misrepresenting him anytime we minimize someone else's mourning. But blessed are those who mourn Jesus says for, they will be comforted, who is comforting them? Well, God is through who his people, his church, who is supposed to be a shelter from the storm come all who mourn all who sorrow, all who grieve, all who are confused and come to this, come and be comforted.
Speaker 1 00:18:02 It's an invitation. Only those who give space for mourning sorrow and can actually see God show compassion to others. Only those can produce the shelter from the storm that Jesus is talking about. The second thing Jesus says, um, or one another thing Jesus says, I'm not gonna go through all eight <laugh>. We don't have that much time. Um, blessed are the meek for, they shall inherit the earth, that word inherit. I, I really like it. It's a relational word. It's what you, um, as a, a parent, want you wanna leave something, um, to your children. You want them to inherit something. When you, when you're gone, it's this, it's this relational word that's built around. This is I've, I've worked hard. And so I wanna leave you something. And, and, and what is, what does God want to leave his people?
Speaker 1 00:18:55 The earth that I think it's literal. I think he wants to leave us the earth. This is, this is our inhabitation. This is our place that we live. This is the place that we work. This is the place that we breathe. And God is like, those who are meek will inherit the, or I'm gonna give it to you. You get it. And when we, and you get to be in charge <laugh> is that, is that scary? Right? Yeah. That's scary. Like, oh, right. But, but is he doesn't give it to the, to Christians here, I'm gonna let you inherit the earth. You get the PA you get to have the power or to the church here, here, you get to have the power. He gives it to the meek who should be the church who should be Christ followers, but are not always, he gives it to the meek. He's very clear about this. The meek will inherit the earth. <laugh> I mean, you're thinking, no, they don't being meek and gentle. It's another meekness is like humility, strength and humility, but it's centered around humility and gentleness and you're and you're, I mean, it's a sure way to lose the earth. <laugh> to get walked over, to let the other side win meekness isn't is a sure way to lose the earth. And that's the way the world thinks, and they're not wrong.
Speaker 1 00:20:25 It is a way to lose Caesar, um, conquered the known world through strength. Jesus wrote into Jerusalem on a donkey pilot, rode into Jerusalem on a war horse who won. Well, Jesus was the one on the cross. The instrument used by Rome to keep the peace. So from a worldly standpoint, you look at that narrative and you think, yep, the meek will not actually inherit the earth. And what happens sometimes as Christians, we forget that the way of Jesus is counterintuitive. It's the opposite, you know, Caesar, Augustus, um, he put himself on the Roman coin, um, with the designation prince of peace on it. And, um, and his piece that lasted really in Rome, hundreds of years, was brought about by violence and brutal treatment of dissent and, and, um, the use of the Roman cross. And I just find it fascinating. That is so fascinating that the actual prince of piece Jesus died on the very instrument used by the one who called himself the prince of peace. And by dying on that instrument brought actual peace. Not through warfare, not through violence, but through forgiveness <laugh> and some of you're going well, Steve, you're gonna be meek. If you're gonna lead with meekness, then you're gonna end up on a cross. Just like Jesus.
Speaker 1 00:22:29 Yeah, that's it. That's Christianity take up your cross. Jesus said, and follow me for, if you wanna save your life, you will lose it. But if you're willing to lay it down, you will find it. You see this, we gotta be careful that we, that we don't lose the actual person of Jesus in our attempt to have control and to have power and to get our way, Jesus is same. Blessed are the meek for, they will inherit the earth. And John chapter 14 says, Jesus, at peace, I leave with you. Peace. I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give it to you. He said, as the world gives peace, that comes not through violence, but through forgiveness. And here's the good news. Jesus is inherited the whole world. He's in charge. I believe that I believe that he is right now working against the, the evil of this day, this age, Satan, who Jesus called the, the, um, uh, the ruler of this world.
Speaker 1 00:23:39 Jesus is right now. I mean, he is working against all the he's already taken. He's already taken out of his hands and he's working through his church right now to recover what that enemy stole. But every time that we try to use the tools of the enemy and of this world to regain God's way through violence, through coercion, through manipulation, through rhetoric, we are playing into the enemy's hands. Jesus way is meekness, gentleness, humility laying our lives down. And yeah, it doesn't look on the outside like, oh, we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna lose the earth this way. Jesus say, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, you're gonna get it. You're gonna get it. You're gonna get it all. But only those who are meek. The last description of a shelter is blessed. Are those who ache for the world to be made, right?
Speaker 1 00:24:44 For them, the government of God is a dream come true. Brian Z wrote, I love this. Who, who have you ache for the world to be made? Right? You look at it and you go like, mm, I don't think it's right yet. And there's something in you that desires for justice and mercy for God to have his way, right? For us, those of us that ache, the government of God is a dream come true. This is like, this is what we've been waiting for. You know, I often I often said, um, and I regret saying it because I, it, it like, you know, I understood why I said it, but it's not quite right. That Jesus wasn't political. Jesus was very political, but he wasn't political in the world. Sense of being political. And why do I say that is because the way of Jesus has ex has huge political consequences.
Speaker 1 00:25:37 He challenged the politics of Roman imperialism and also the politics of Jewish nationalism. He, he challenged these ideologies this way, by the way that he lived, by the way that he taught by the things that he taught. And he would not allow either group to kinda run him or control him or use him see Jesus's government. I mean, okay, is Jesus, is, is Jesus a Democrat or Republican? Don't answer. Don't answer, sir. Oh, that would, that would really make me mad if that just happened. I'm so glad. And, and I mean, some of you had an answer and you were ready to say it. And I would, I would've been, I would've been a bit rude in my correction because he is not either. He is not either. There are traces of the way of Jesus in different ideologies and politics. You can find him in the, in different, in different things that people vote for.
Speaker 1 00:26:38 And, and in different policies, you can see the, the hand of God in there. But if you, you ever think that he is one or the other, you will miss half of who he is because he has shown he's shown himself in different ways and through different people. And his government is his government get on board with his government. I wish I wish he had a news channel. You know, it'd be so helpful. I'd watch that one all the time. Just what does Jesus think about immigration? What does Jesus think about poverty? What does Jesus think about sexuality? What does Jesus, I mean, come on, you know, and you're all going well, I don't know. That's why I watch those other ones. They're telling me and they're missing it. It's only found Jesus. It's his government. Jesus came to make things right, right. Between him and us and between us and us. He came to make things right? Relationally, not politically. He came to make things right. Relationally, the early church's expression of God's justice was that everyone had a place that the table, no one was left out. Those who had shared with those who did not have, he has shown you, oh, mortal, what is good? And what does the Lord require of you? But to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. So a beauty that saves the world, let me finish up. That looks like these eight things.
Speaker 1 00:28:29 They welcome the poor in spirit. They comfort those who mourn. They esteem the meek. They hunger for justice and extend mercy. They have a pure heart. They work for peace and they endure persecution. This is the way for us to be a shelter in the storm is to live like Christ and die like Christ who welcomed the spiritually bankrupt thief on the cross next to him. <laugh> he said, you are, you are welcome. He comforted his mother. And as she watched her son die on this cross, Jesus comforted her by asking his good friend, John, to make sure that she was taken care of who took on our punishment and extended mercy to all of us. If anything is in just, it was that act that Jesus took for himself injustice so that we could live in his justice while he was being crucified. He looks down at those who had just put him on the cross and said, father, forgive them. I don't know what they're doing. Who importantly did refuse to, you know, call down his angel army. You know, just refused to do that. Who endured the cross and bore our shame and who now sits at the right hand of God with all authority, power and invites his church to represent him on this earth.
Speaker 1 00:30:25 As a shelter,
Speaker 1 00:30:29 Imagine a church who like the me and my four boys up on that mountain, top. We were who we were together, sheltering one another from the storm. And I guarantee you, I guarantee you if some, a stranger had walked by in that moment had found themselves at that place. Um, lost cuz it's so dark unsure where to go. And we see them and they see us. We would be, we'd be like, oh, I hope they find some shelter. Poor, poor guy. No, we could be like, Hey, can we make, can we make our circle a little bit bigger guys? We, we, we have room, right? We've got space come. There's this phrase, um, that, um, I studied called Mitas and it's this it's the community that's formed out of tragedy in trial. Um, it's oftentimes it's the phrase. It's the word used to describe, um, people that go to war together and how they bond together in that place. And it's also just of this, of what me and my boys experience on the top of that mountain was a deeper community because we have suffered together communities and this idea that we would be that kind of community for our world in this moment. Would you close your eyes as we finish today? And I want to ask you,
Speaker 1 00:31:52 I want you to talk. I want to, I want you to talk this week with other people about how you can be a shelter and how your group can be a shelter and how your tribe can be a shelter. I want you to have those conversations, but I also felt impressed that the Lord wanted me to create. He wanted to create space. I just gotta get out of the way and let him do it for people who are worn out and weary today.
Speaker 1 00:32:20 People who are tired, confused, uncertain, maybe you've gotten a diagnosis. Maybe you're in financial trouble. Maybe you're, there's some relationship breakdown. Maybe there's just, you come in and you're just worn out from what this world has done to you. And you, you find yourself in this place and Jesus is here and he is a shelter from your storm where he can provide you hope and courage and encouragement through us as church. And so if you're in that place today, I wanna invite you to run to Jesus, the shelter from the storm in this safe space. Right now, this eyes are closed. If that's you, then you wanna run into this shelter of Jesus. Would you simply lift your hand up? Not to me, but to God and say, God, I'm running to you. I need you. I can't do this on my own. I need you. I need your people. I need your church to be who you've called them to be. I need help. I need hope I need, I need security. I need provision. I need healing. I need the touch of your holy spirit in my life. Would you do that right now? Jesus. By the power of your name, would you, would you show yourself to every single person, Jesus, especially those with their hand up Jesus, thank you for your presence, Lord. Thank you for your presence.
