Unoffendable: Even when they want you to be
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How many of you like sports?
While I’m not a particular fan of Football, there’s no question that when two professional football teams hit the field, there’s about to be three hours of conflict
Nothing you can do can ever make those two teams get along because they’re headed in two different directions
One has a goal in this direction, the other has a goal in that direction
which means there’s going to be three hours of conflict that is nonnegotiable
That’s a good analogy of what our culture looks like today
Today we are living in a time of conflict, and the teams have decided this is nonnegotiable
the political teams, the democrats and republicans, have decided we can’t negotiate the well-being of the american citizens
the same type of nonnegotiable conflict seems to also exist betwen black and white, rich and poor, and there are people on both sides of the gender issue
But on the field of play in football, there is a third team at play: The Referees
These are seven officials that are on the field but not of the field
They’re in the middle of the conflict but they’re not part of the conflict because these seven officials belong to a different kingdom
They represent 345 Park Avenue in New York where the NFL offices are
The NFL offices have representatives on the field of play
Those officials are to represent the kingdom in New York in the chaos on the field of play
Similar to how we represent the Kingdom of God
And like referees, we are to conduct ourselves in a particular manor, and follow a book of regulations
so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,
In football, Officials might prefer a team, but it’s irrelevant because their decisions are made based on their book of governing guidelines
They are easily distinguishable in the game, because they wear black and white Jerseys that distinguish them from the competing teams on the field
the unfortunate thing in a football game is if the referees decide to join one of the teams:
Because the moment that they do that, they have lost their uniqueness, their distinctiveness
And what you find out is that the competing teams use them rather than follow their lead
As Followers of Christ we need to remember that we operate by a different authority, by a different rule book- The Kingdom of Heaven
We are supposed to represent that Kingdom, not mimic the kingdoms of the culture
Unoffendable. Week 4
-Hope Dealers and Grace artists: See the potential that God sees
-The freedom we give ourselves and other to be imperfect.
(Not offended by your issues if I’m aware of and humble about my own)
Today… The God who runs.
-The scandal of grace
There is a classic story told by a Christian writer and pastor (Tony Compolo):
He was speaking in HI and because of jet lag he was up and at a diner at 3am.
Some prostitutes came in.
He over heard them talking and one mentioned that tomorrow was her birthday.
She was ridiculed.
He had an idea and talked to the guy behind the counter… lets trow her a surprise party tomorrow.
Get the word out a bunch of prostitutes showed up.
they made a cake and Tony bought some decorations, they all sang happy birthday.
-she was shocked. Didn’t want to cut the cake because she’d never had one and just wanted to keep it for a bit.
-It got a bit awkward, so Tony volunteered to pray.
-as the party started and people The guy behind the counter leaned over and said
i didn’t know you were a preacher?
What church do you belong to?
-I belong to the church that throws parties for prostitutes at 3 in the morning.
-No you don’t. There aren’t any churches like that.
If there was a church like that I join it.
Are there many churches like that?
How do we embrace the sinner without getting dirty?
Think about it: repeat ?
-I hope that question made you cringe.
I think that how many Christian think, but there is an arrogance in it.
-I’m pure, they are dirty…
Thats not how Christ has called us to think.
Thats how the Pharisee’s, the religious elite in Jesus day, thats how they thought.
-Luke 18:9-14
And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt:
“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
“The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’
“But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’
“I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
I am good. They are bad.
But scripture is clear… you and I are not good.
We are broken, we are searching,
we are trying to prove our worth by our efforts,
trying to figure out who we are
and why we are here,
we are sinners and we fall short of the glory of God.
Pharisees don’t throw parties for prostitutes.
They drag them into the streets and demand that they be punished.
When my self-righteousness blinds me, your sin offends me.
People want us to be offended
PETA
Everybody seems to be offended even PETA.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals got into the act.
Several years ago, they came up with a plan to remove anti animal language from our conversations.
So they wanted to change these common phrases…offering new ones.
Are you ready for this?
Kill two birds with one stone
feed two birds with one scone
Beat a dead horse
to waste time and energy on a hopeless task, an already settled argument, or a subject that has already been fully resolved
feed of Fed horse
Take the bull by the horns
to face a difficult, dangerous, or unpleasant situation in a direct, confident, and brave way instead of avoiding it
take the flowers by the thorns
Bring home the bacon
bring home the bagels.
What? Bagels are good sometimes, but we all know that life is better with bacon.
Can I get an amen?
Jesus and Zacchaeus. (Luke 19)
-Jesus see’s the small tax collector up in the tree.
-Why reference his height?
Maybe thats how people saw him.
Less than, looked down on, mousey and selfish
(selfishness always makes us smaller)
-Jesus calls out to him and the crowed probably gets excited
…. Finally this guy is going to get what he deserves.
-But instead of calling out all his flaws and sins,
Jesus says I want to hang out with you.
Let's have lunch.
(It was an honor to host a great teacher,
so while in our world inviting yourself over is rude,
that was an amazing act of kindness)
Luke likes to point out all the ways that Jesus consistently reached out to those on the fringe.
The lepers, the poor, the dishonest rich, the sinners.
Jesus wasn’t offended by Zacchaeus, and that offended the crowd.
Grace is amazing, but it’s also a bit scandalous.
Grace means we don’t get what we deserve.
(neither do others)
. Ephesians 2:4-5
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
New Christians will sometimes ask about why Jesus sacrificing Himself was such a big deal.
They’ll say: “If I saw someone in need I’d do the same, I think a lot of people would.”
-But Jesus didn’t sacrifice himself for the friends and the good,
But for us while we were enemies.
If someone was trying to kill you would you give us your Childs life to save theirs?
Grace means we got love when we deserved punishment.
Grace means we can/must love others even when they don’t measure up to our expectations and standards.
It wasn’t the law that made Zach want to change…
it was the love of Jesus who saw his evil clearly
and choose to sit with him and call out the best in Him anyway.
Love is crazy like that.
When we love, we overlook all kinds of things.
We cover a multitude of sins the Bible says.
-Babies are pretty worthless. ; )If you think about it
they are so needy.
But, we love them.
We treasure them.
And so we overlook the inconvenience
and and we put aside the frustration
and we never ask them
“What have you done to deserve my love?”
No we gladly lay down our lives to love them.
-That's what love does. It lays down its life to ensure the other is cared for.
And in so doing it transforms both the lover and the loved.
I want to read one of the greatest stories ever told.
We could do an entire series on the complexities and truths in this story.
Entire books have been written
The Parable of the Lost Son (s)
And He said, “A man had two sons.
“The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’ So he divided his wealth between them.
“And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living.
“Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished.
“So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
“And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him.
“But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger!
‘I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight;
I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.” ’
“So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
“And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
“But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet;
and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate;
for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.
“Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing.
“And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be.
“And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.’
“But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him.
“But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends;
but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’
“And he said to him, ‘Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours.
‘But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’ ”
-Give me my share: I’m going to act as though you are dead to me.
Give me your stuff, but not the relationship.
The expectation was that the father would be offended.
-But he sold his land.
He sacrificed himself to give to the younger son.
-Then it gets worse. The son doesn’t even use that money to build his own life,
but he wastes it in the worst most scandalous ways
-He finds himself lost.
Getting what he deserves.
-I’ll go home…. I’m not worthy to be a son, hire me?
The father see’s the son coming.
-How should he respond?
Anger, betrayal, bitterness…
-But he had compassion and he ran.
“So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
-Men didn’t run. It was beneath them and it was undignified.
The one who should have been offended…. Ran
Ran toward his son and embraced him.
Threw him a party,
covered his shame,
invited him back into the family.
No matter who you are,
no matter how bad you’ve been,
when you come home…
Your heavenly father is going to run to you.
You can’t work for it
… it’s a gift.
Its grace.
Great and shocking ending to the story
… but not quite…
this is a parable about two brothers.
There was an elder brother there too.
He sees the party and wondered what was going on?
This son had done it all right.
He had stayed,
he had worked,
he had done all the right things.
-He was in the fathers house,
but he didn’t have the fathers heart.
-I’ve been the good one.
And you want me to celebrate him?
No. I deserve the honor because I’m good!
He deserves the shame because he’s bad!
I’m offended by this!
He didn’t really care about the father,
but he was still working for the fathers things.
They both had run from the heart of the father.
We can’t live with the heart of the Father,
and still live offended at our brothers and sisters who are living in the world.
We can separate ourselves from the heart of God by leaving and abusing God’s love.
But we can also separate ourselves from God by trying to prove our goodness by our morality.
repeat
Jesus had a very different way of interacting with people. Tim Keller puts it well:
-Jesus is continually saying to the respectable and upright,
"The tax collectors and the prostitutes enter the kingdom before you" (Matt. 21:31
...Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you.
Thus, the puzzled and angry reaction of the moral and religious people is not surprising.
They are saying, "Why, these kinds of people never come to our services!
They despise our meetings and organizations.
They are completely turned off to religion.
Therefore, there is something wrong with this.
He must just be telling them what they want to hear!"
The point?
When the message of the gospel is clear, moral people tend to dislike it,
while irreligious people are intrigued and attracted.
The way to know that you are communicating and living the same gospel message as Jesus
is that "younger brothers" are more attracted to you than elder brothers.
This is a very searching test, because almost always, our churches are not like that.
The kinds of people that were attracted to Jesus are not attracted to us.
We only attract conservative, buttoned down, moral people.
The licentious, the "liberated," the broken,
the people out of the mainstream very much despise us.
That can only mean one thing.
We may think we understand the gospel of Jesus, but we don't.
If we don't see the same effect Jesus saw, then we lack the same message Jesus had.
If our churches aren't filled with younger brothers,
then we must be more like the elder brother than we'd like to think.
When we live offended,
and when we refuse to love those who don’t measure up to our morality,
then we become the elder brother.
-I want your grace, but I don’t want to give it.
-I want you forgiveness, but I don’t want to forgive.
-I want your mercy, but I don’t want to be merciful.
The stunning thing about this story…
. The younger brother ends the story in the house, at a party, welcomed back into the family.
-But the good one, the one who did all the right things…
the elder brother is still out in the field.
He wanted the rewards of the father, but refused to have the heart of the father.
Are we chasing the rewards of relationship with Christ
or are we chasing after the heart if Christ himself?
Are we the kinds of Christians that have the heart of Christ,
that throw parties for prostitutes so they feel loved,
who reach out to the con-men and love the immoral?
Are we standing in the field shaking our head at the brokenness of the “sinners”
or are we running to embrace them and welcome them home.
We serve a God who never runs from us in our shame, but rather runs toward us.
-Are you an elder brother?
-Are you a prodigal son?
-Do you desire more of the heart of the father…
the heart that runs toward those most in need, even if it cost you.
Older brother uses absolutes
Absolutes are rarely true, and is usually a sign that you are lying. Most of the time to yourself.
All bondage starts with a lie
Adam and eve
The younger son wasn’t the only one in bondage
The older son was in bondage to bitterness, hate, unforgiveness, jealousy, envy.
He said that he had NEVER been given a young goat, which is already a lie.
Look back at verse 12, He divided his wealth between THEM
Being the older brother, according to jewish law, he got twice as much, he got ⅔ of everything the father owned
Some of you might not relate to the younger son,
the prodigal, but you might relate more to the older,
living in envy for others.
God you did this for them but not me.
You are a child of God
I want to remind you that you have been adopted into a new family
You are born again by the word of God, kept by the power of God
Sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise until the day of redemption
You are a child of the one Who is seated in heaven
All things are under His feet
He’s given you authority over all the power of the enemy to tread on serpents and scorpions
Nothing shall by any means harm you
You are more than a conqueror through Christ
Who loved you and gave himself for you
And he always causes you to triumph in his name
Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world
That’s who you are
There’s a lesson to be learned about being unoffendable from each character in the story
The Father didn’t let the harm and insults stop him from loving his son
he didn’t let offense cause his family to be broken
The older brother did let offense stop him
The younger son didn’t let the offense of his crimes to cripple him in shame
we can paralyze ourselves into inaction by being offended by ourself
it can stunt our growth as we don’t live a life forgiven
rather than finding compassion for those going through similar circumstance
we find disgust, because it reminds us of our own problems
