Visionaries pt2

What if you could not hide who you really were?

When I think about this passage of the Gospels, all that comes to my mind is The Scarlet Letter and Hester Prynne wearing that A. She could not hide from who she really was and no one would ever let her forget it. And I think that idea colors a lot of how we have built churches in the US. No one celebrates the person who is in the middle of struggling to overcome sin unless they look like they are winning. We all just celebrate we are not like them so we feel less bad about the sins we can hide.

It’s maddening.

That’s why we value authenticity at West Metro. If there is any place you should be able to bring your struggle with sin, and find people rooting you on in the fight, it’s church. Freddie Gage the hoodlum preacher from the 60s and 70s included this excerpt from a poem in this book Pulpit in the Shadows “Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell/I want to build a rescue shop within a yard of hell.” Others have taken a similar sentiment and said the church was designed to be a hospital for sinners and not a country club for saints. Both are true and both embrace authenticity and we would all nod our heads at the sentiment, but real authenticity- especially what we are espousing in our vision statement is MESSY.

WE SEEK TO WALK IN AUTHENTICITY AS WE FOLLOW JESUS AND TO ENGAGE OUR NEIGHBORS THROUGH THAT LENS.

Look friends, that is an invitation just waiting for someone to say “Oh yeah, check me out!” Yet, that is in many ways what Jesus did with even His closest followers. Bring me your junk and watch what I can do!

There are two parts of authenticity and I want to hit them both this morning, so turn with me to Luke5.

Let’s start with the initial part of authenticity- real talk- Luke 5:27-32

Luke 5:27–32 ESV

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

First off, Jesus calls a regular, visible, unrepentant sinner to be His disciple!

Disciples of rabbis are supposed to be the best of the best. Not the dregs of society! And that is what Jesus called. Tax collectors were the WORST!!! (explain how tax collectors made money)

Levi, however, is ecstatic. So excited he invites all his fellow sinners to come and meet Jesus. I wish we were that excited about inviting people to meet Jesus.

Luke Comments

the subsequent banquet should be understood as one of the ways Levi was following Jesus.

Now look who is uncomfortable with this authenticity. The religious people. They put on a good face- and Jesus rightly calls them whitewashed tombs because they may look good on the outside but they are DEAD inside.

And Jesus points out something really important- v31-32. He came for people who knew they were sick (my COVID diagnosis- how the doc’s demeanor and practice changed when I was positive)

Luke Comments

The story may well have been remembered and preserved in the early church because of the criticism leveled against early Christians who were associating and ministering to the outcasts of society. In addition Luke’s designating the disciples as the object of this complaint may seek to demonstrate that the present church situation of his readers has parallels to what happened to the disciples. The reason for this Christian behavior arose from incidents such as this in Jesus’ life, not vice versa, i.e., the stories were not created by the early church to defend such behavior, but such behavior arose from Jesus’ behavior and teachings. True Christianity has always broken down economic, social, ethnic, and racial barriers; for where Christ is truly present, “people will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God”

When we talk about authenticity we have 2 points at WMCC-

be real about your imperfections- we don’t do masks or false piety or religious activity- we know we all have warts, flaws, and struggles

be honest about what you have- you have a sin problem- and yes it may be exacerbated by trauma, or sins of others, or upbringing, or a host of other things but we still have to own OUR part in continuing the pattern- we call sin what it is and we know the solution or we come here and are introduced to the solution

Luke The Lukan Message

In this passage Luke emphasized an aspect of the human response to the gospel which, while not unique to him, is clearly a strong Lukan emphasis. He did this by adding “to repentance” in 5:32, which is lacking in the parallel accounts. Jesus’ mission was to call sinners to repentance. The Great Commission is a call to preach in Jesus’ name “repentance and forgiveness of sins” to all the world (24:47). When asked what one must do to be saved, Peter would later respond, “Repent and be baptized” (cf. Acts 2:38, 40). At times the appropriate response is described as “believe” (cf. 16:31), but faith and repentance were for Luke essentially two sides of the same coin.

That brings us to the second part of the passage- (Luke 5:33-38)

We have to make a decision between outward piety and real repentance. Jesus isn’t calling us to religious activity for the benefit of others, and He is not calling us to slap a bandaid on our old lives. He is calling us to a full denial of self (fasting) and to replace the old life with a new life, that He wants to fill with His Spirit!

The Pharisees are all about the religious production- so much so that they can’t see what is in front of their faces. Jesus is there…when He is gone, His disciples and followers will fast, but He is among them. It is time to celebrate, but that doesn’t stand out.

And even when Jesus has ascended, we will not cease to be joyous and celebrate. Stoicism is not compatible with Christianity. We have every reason to celebrate. Jesus is alive and risen from the dead and He has set us free!

Luke Comments

Even though Jesus’ message is one of repentance (Luke 5:32), such repentance leads not to sorrow and mourning but rather to the joyous celebration of forgiveness and membership in the kingdom

We can often substitute religious activity for the real presence of Jesus (Derek Webb story about Rich Mullins and the kick drum)

“Derek’s song is titled “The Spirit vs. the Kick Drum,” and is apparently built around a great quote from Rich Mullins about worship. In an interview about the Caedmon’s Call record In the Company of Angels, Cliff Young relates this story: “Rich used to talk about how people would come up to him after concerts and say, ‘Wow! The Holy Spirit really moved at that certain point in the song,’” Young remembers. “And Rich would respond by saying, ‘No actually, that’s where the kick drum and the bass came in.’ It’s easy to mistake energy and emotion for worship.”

What we really need is not religious activity to put a band aid on our sin, or to rename our sin as something acceptable to God. Instead we need a new life. That’s what Jesus is inviting the Pharisees to in the discussion of wineskins.

Old wineskins- old ways of life, other religious practices, cultural mores- cannot contain the work of the Spirit. They will split. They are incompatible to contain all God wants to do as He grows us and changes us. We cannot simple slap a band aid on our old way of life and call it good.

Luke Comments

One cannot place the new wine of the gospel in the old wineskins of Pharisaic Judaism, for what will result is neither the gospel nor Judaism. Later history has shown that attempts to syncretize Christianity with another religious movement lead to an offspring inferior to both

Luke The Lukan Message

Those who falsely think they are healthy and righteous will reject Jesus’ message, but since his message openly challenges and refutes this false assumption of well-being, the gospel cannot be ignored. It will meet hostile resistance, as our account shows. C. S. Lewis once wrote: “Christianity tells people to repent and promises them forgiveness. It has nothing (as far as I know) to say to people who do not know they have done anything to repent of and who do not feel that they need any forgiveness.” Yet to those who see and acknowledge their own unrighteousness before God, the gospel offers forgiveness (5:20) and blessing (6:20).

God invites us into a new life! (Gospel presentation here)

What is keeping you from being authentic?

What are you hiding behind to conceal your struggles with sin?

Where are you trying to shove God into an old wineskin?