Famous Last Words - Week 5

INTRODUCTION

2.5 MINUTES

Have you ever gotten upset about something and said…

“It’s not fair!”

For example:

· Let’s say you’re the oldest kid in your family. And your parents are much more lenient and laid back with your younger siblings than they were when you at their age. You’re like, “Not cool, parents. And certainly not fair!”

· Let’s say you and your friend are both taking Algebra, but you have two different teachers. Your friend’s teacher thinks that 8 hours a day at school is enough work for any student, so she doesn’t assign homework. Your teacher, on the other hand, seems to think that home is for homework. Her weekly homework assignments have basically become your part-time job that you don’t get paid for. Throw that “no fair” flag in the air!

· You play basketball, but you’re not in the starting lineup. Every time you come off the bench, you feel like you take good shots, make good passes, play good defense, and don’t turn the ball over. But after five good minutes in the game, coach puts you back on the bench. You’re thinking, “How in the world is this fair? If I played bad, that’s one thing. But I’m playing pretty good when I get in, and this is how the coach rewards me?”

These examples could go on for days. But of course there’s no way for me to know how unfairness impacts you. So I want you to think about it for just a second:

What are some areas of your life that feel unfair right now?

I realize that it’s kind of a downer way to start things today. Sorry, I’m not trying to kill the mood! I’m just talking about something that we all feel sometimes.

We just want things to work out and be fair.

It reminds me of the movie the Lion King and how things turned south for Simba even though he did nothing wrong. In fact they are doing a live animation version of this and I love how the trailer starts. Let’s take a look.

Video: The Lion king Trailer

Now I won’t ruin the movie if you have not seen the original Lion King, and if you have not seen the original Lion King then what have you been doing, but I will tell you that I it bugs me how Simba is treated but things change and that’s when I finally calm down, because things were finally the way they were supposed to be.

TENSION

2 MINUTES + INTERACTIVE

As silly as my example is, isn’t that how we approach life sometimes?

· When you know someone who cheats on a test or project, makes an A, and doesn’t get caught, doesn’t that feel unfair? Especially if you studied like crazy and made a B? I mean, they should have gotten a zero, not an A!

· Or, maybe you have a friend who got busted by his or her parents for doing something rebellious. And their parents came down harsh with the punishment. But you know lots of people who’ve done the same thing and gotten away with it. Doesn’t that seem just plain wrong? If your friend gets punished, shouldn’t all those other people get punished, too?

I remember being in high school and knowing people who spent way more time being mean than they did being nice. They talked down to people, made fun of people, and treated people like they didn’t matter. And some of them drove the nicest, coolest vehicles of anyone in my school. On the other hand, some of the nicest people I knew drove clunkers (or, didn’t get a car at all). I remember thinking one day, “Why don’t the nice people get the nice cars and the mean people get the bad ones?” (It only seems fair, doesn’t it?)

Simply put, we like it when people get what they deserve,

and we don’t like it when they get what they don’t deserve.

And sometimes, we even attach this fairness idea to God.

The only problem is that if we want God to be fair with everyone, we may not like what fairness really looks like especially to us.

TRUTH

5.5 MINUTES

So far we’ve talked about some of the most famous things Jesus said during His time on Earth before He was crucified. But this week, we’re going to look at something He said after He came back to life (and before He went back to His Father in heaven). So this a post-Easter story.

As we’ve mentioned, Jesus had 12 main people who traveled with Him throughout His ministry. You may have heard them called disciples or apostles. Just know there are 12. Now, you would assume that anyone who hung out with Jesus 24/7 would be a model citizen, right? You would assume they would make great decisions and say all the right things.

Those are good assumptions. But they’re just not true.

Exhibit A? Peter. This was a guy who seemed to . . .

· Often speak without thinking.

· Make bad decisions without thinking.

· Jump into situations without thinking.

· Make bold statements without thinking.

One of those statements happened right before Jesus was arrested. Jesus bluntly told the disciples that once He was arrested, they would fear for their lives and abandon Him.

And then this happened:

Peter declared, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you.” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, Peter—this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.” “No!” Peter insisted. “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!” (Matthew 26:33-35a NLT).

This was possibly the boldest thing Peter ever said. He was essentially saying he would face torture and death with Jesus.

And then, just hours after Jesus’ arrest, Peter did exactly as Jesus said. He was questioned by a group of people about his association with Jesus. Peter claimed that he never even knew Jesus AT ALL! This was a huge betrayal by someone who had spent years of his life as one of Jesus’ closest friends.

Put yourself in Peter’s shoes for a second. Have you ever been caught betraying a friend or talking bad about them? Remember how awful that felt? I’m guessing that’s how Peter was feeling. He swore he’s have Jesus’ back and instead, he turned his back on his friend. Total. Fail.

So what would a “fair” response from Jesus look like? Anger? Judgment? Lightning bolt?

Let’s take a look at a moment that happened shortly after Jesus came back to life.

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter . . . (John 21:15a NIV).

So just to be clear, Jesus was eating with the disciples. And Peter was there. That, alone, is interesting. Because so often when we mess up, when we sin, when we “betray” Jesus in a way, we think He’s likely to react like we do when someone does something to us. When someone betrays me, the last thing I want to do is hang out with them. They don’t deserve it. But Jesus isn’t like me. He’s hanging out with everyone—including Peter. And then He turned His attention to Peter. If I had been Peter, I would have been like, “Oh no. Here we go! I already feel terrible and it’s about to get worse. He’s going to be so mad!”

But the scene unfolds in a very different way.

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17 NIV).

On the surface, this is a weird conversation. Was Jesus asking Peter to take care of His pet sheep while He went on vacation?

Not quite. You see, throughout His ministry, Jesus often referred to Himself as the Good Shepherd. And if He was the shepherd, then His followers were the sheep. And so what Jesus was saying is this: “We’re good. And not only are we good, I even want you to go out and represent Me to the world.”

Instead of being angry about Peter’s betrayal, Jesus responded with love. Instead of kicking him out of the disciple squad or demoting him to “World’s Worst Disciple,” Jesus promoted Peter to be an ambassador for Christ.

I bet Peter felt the need to somehow pay Jesus back for his betrayal. “Jesus, can I go pick up trash on the beach or wash everyone’s feet to make things right?” Surely there needed to be some sort of punishment for what Peter did.

But Jesus was unfair to Peter in the best way possible. He forgave him. No strings attached. He gave Peter exactly what Peter didn’t deserve. That’s what we call grace-getting what you don’t deserve. Jesus basically communicated to Peter…

“I know what you did.

I know you denied me.

But I love you anyway.

Now go love other people.”

It wasn’t what Peter deserved. It wasn’t “fair.” It was better than that. In the same way, God’s reaction to us when we mess up isn’t what we deserve. In other words…

God’s grace is unfairly good.

Does that mean that sin doesn’t matter? That somehow Jesus didn’t care what Peter did or what we do? Of course not. Sin has consequences. In fact, over and over Scripture reminds us that sin separates and sin kills. It’s dangerous; it has long-term effects! But the consequences aren’t God’s way of getting back at you. God has gone to extraordinary lengths to make right the relationship between you and Him. Now, I’m not sure of everything that meant for Peter, of the consequences from his mistakes he lived with, but I’m guessing he spent the rest of his life with the memory and the reputation of being the guy who denied Jesus. That isn’t easy, and I’m sure it’s something he regretted. But the consequences didn’t change how Jesus saw Peter or how they interacted. And that was unfair in the best way possible.

Even if he deserved it, Jesus never kicked out Peter and He never left out Peter. Because of the unfair grace of God, Jesus made sure Peter was IN and he knew it.

APPLICATION

2.5 MINUTES

Here’s the truth: When we follow Jesus, we’re going to mess up. And when we do, you and I have a tendency to assume that we’ll get what’s fair, what we deserve: kicked out. Or at least we assume we’ll have to take a time-out from our faith. Maybe for you that’s why you …

· Stop coming to church.

· Stop speaking up in small group.

· Stop singing or participating in worship time.

· Stop showing up to volunteer or serve.

Stop posting Christian stuff on your Instagram or SnapChat.

I’m not saying you decide to quit your faith when you mess up. I’m just saying you and I are tempted to shrink back, step away or take time off. We’re tempted to think we no longer qualify for being called a Christian or a church person or a God person.

And that would be true… if the circumstances were fair. But they’re not. God is better than that. God has more in mind for you and for me than what we deserve. Sin has consequences, but God is never keeping you at a distance relationally because of something you’ve done. So you don’t have distance yourself either. Because God’s grace is unfairly good.

So what does that mean for you? Well, like Peter, when you and I mess up we need to . . .

Accept that His grace is unfair. It won’t feel right. You’ll feel like you have to perform well, memorize some Bible verses or be “good” for a while to earn your way back into His good graces but that isn’t true. We come to Him, just as Peter did, up close and personal even when it feels like we can’t. We pray, just like we always have. We show up, maybe even more than normal. We lean in instead of stepping out because we CAN, because His unfairly good grace reminds us that we’re still okay. Does that mean there will be no consequences? Of course not. Sin always has consequences. And, God loves you too much to let you hurt yourself with sin over and over. He will lead you toward change. But what He’ll never do is lead you out the door.

Extend unfairly good grace to others. Just like Peter, you and I will meet all kinds of people, and when they mess up, you’ll probably know about it. When that happens you and I can be living demonstrations of God’s unfairly good grace...

· Instead of talking about them, we can talk TO them.

· Instead of leaving them out, we can invite them in.

· Instead of reminding them of how they messed up, we can remind them that we have all fallen short of God’s standard but He is gracious and invites us in.

LANDING

1 MINUTE

As you head out today, I want you to think about how you normally imagine Jesus responds when you mess up. Is it anger? Disappointment? Abandonment?

Now imagine this: Instead of all that, He invites you to breakfast. He doesn’t give you the silent treatment. Instead, He talks to you and invites you to be a part of His story in someone else’s life.

That’s what unfair grace looks like. And that’s the kind of relationship your Heavenly Father wants with you. One of grace and purpose.

If God can use a flawed individual like Peter, you have no idea what He can do in your life. Never believe that God can’t use you. His grace is bigger than fairness! Don’t try to figure out who deserves it and who doesn’t. Just accept it, and show it to others. Be the kind of person who demonstrates how God’s grace is unfairly good.