Grading on the Curve

Questions

What do I want them to know?

-You don’t have a “good enough”, but Jesus fulfills what we can’t.

How will they know it?

-grading on a curve where only one passes, we only pass when we identify with the one who does.

Why will they care?

-

Announcements

Right Now Media

One the verses that was impressed upon me when I began to consider pastoral ministry by mentors was Ephesians 4.

Ephesians 4:11-13 “And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.”

It identifies that God calls some to lead the body of Christ, but it is very specific as to our task: To equip the saints for the work of ministry.

That is, that the church would be equipped to do the work of the church. It was never intended that churches hire men and women who do all the things so the church can be fed, but instead that the church as a whole being would care for one another and the world.

This is why our life groups exist, to be the primary place where we give and receive care and growth in meaningful relationships.

And though we have children’s and youth minsitry here, we also recognize and celebrate that the primary discipler for your children and family is YOU.

And the person most responsible for your relationship with Jesus is also you. I can preach, our leaders teach and encourage, but ultimately you have to choose to step into it.

So our task is to equip you for all of that, and we are always looking for opportunities to do that better.

As one step in equipping the body here at HCC, our elders have invested in a resource library that we are providing for you. This morning, you might have recieved an email from Right Now Media. That actually came from us, through them.

This equipping and discipleship library is a gift from us to you to give you access to the same kind of resources we use in preparing messages, planning group studies and more.

It operates like a Netflix for discipleship, with thousands of Bible and Topical studies built in and the framework for us to deliver our own custom content and coursework as well.

Take a look at this video that gives an overview

video

Over the next few weeks, we will be continuing to share more about this great resource.

If you didn’t get the email, it means your address may not be in our system. You can go to hockinson.org and click on About HCC then on “HCCs digital library” to sign up there.

There is fantastic content from vetted biblical teachers on every book of the bible, mental health, finances, evangelism, parenting, marriage, and so much more.

Our prayer is that this will be a resource that blesses your family as you grow and serve.

SHAPE Next Sunday: June 26th following service, sign up 12:30-3 in the sanctuary following the service. Lunch and if needed childcare provided.

Men we need June 28th: Order book, Dave ordered a couple extra books - so if you’re looking

Kids

Report cards vs Apprenticeship

Outline

Problem: No one likes being graded on a curve, God’s holiness is like that. Only a perfect score gets in.

Pray before starting

Happy Father’s Day! If you have been around HCC a few years, you may have noticed I don’t typically preach a “Mother’s Day” or “Father’s Day” message.

I’ve only have joked that the reason comes from my other church experiences when they did, because I saw the same pattern:

Mother’s Day is the day when we honor moms, tell them they are amazing and challenge dads to do better

Father’s Day is the day when we challenge dads to do better because their wives are amazing and deserve to be honored

I say that sorta kidding, but sorta not. I do think there is a core reason why this phenomenon takes place. Because it’s usually dad’s who are preaching the message.

And it is much more difficult to speak to self honor than to others honor. It would be like if I preached a sermon explaining why bald men were worthy of double honor. (see 2 kings 2…don’t mess with bald guys)

It’s easier to speak of the positive qualities in moms for us men…in part…because we are so much more intimately aquainted with our own issues.

Many of you are familiar with the old book, men are from mars, women are from venus. The author using these images of Greek gods to break down some of the differences between men and women for the purpose of relationship building.

I have always preferred a different analogy that is more relatable to me…because I like breakfast food, women are like pancakes and men are like waffles.

Pancakes you pour on toppings and they go everywhere, while waffles that syrup gets caught in every box and you have to be intentional in moving it. Otherwise it has to fill one box completely before moving to the next one.

As a huge generality, fully aware that these are not hard and fast lines, but experience bears this out by and large, women experience emotions as whole people, men tend to compartmentalize.

This trait in men is often handy. It allows us to narrow our focus in a crisis and gives us a particular perspective that when combined well with the more holistic perspective of women helps a family move forward well.

But like any trait, there’s a down side. Unless we are intentional, we tend to keep things compartmentalized. So instead of processing our failings and integrating that data into our lives, we keep it in a box. And that box is always there to remind us of our failings.

And so when it comes time to preach on moms, we can speak to nurturing and grace, love and affection, sacrifice and kindness.

But when we preach on dads, we have our box. The things the Bible speaks about men and dads

Leaders, protectors, caretakers, defenders, kind...

Our box reminds us of all the times we haven’t been. We don’t feel honest when we say dads you are amazing, you protect your homes, you provide your family safety and nourishment.

So father’s day sermons end up being harsh to dads instead of honoring.

Truth is, this isn’t just a dad issue. I know from many conversations with moms, that they would struggle if they were up here to preach mother’s day.

Some churches intentionally have women preach the mother’s day message so it’s equally challenging, or the fathers day message so it is equally honoring.

The problem lies in something that is an equal gendered trait. We spend our lives wrestling with the sense that we are not good enough. That we have blown it. That WE aren’t enough.

We cope in a few ways

We blame shift our issues to our parents, spouse, boss, whoever. I could have been a better man or woman if THEY...

We ignore it. We decide and rationalize that our behavior, no matter how selfish is completely positive and healthy.

We compare with others and find the ways we are at least better than THEM.

But in the end…we know, and we feel it. We are not as good as we should be. Not the dads, moms, and everything else as we should be.

And into that backdrop of despair, in our passage this morning we find Jesus offering this encouragement:

Matthew 5:20 “For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.”

Yikes. Thank you Jesus for affirming what I already knew.

Implications: You and I don’t have perfect scores...

It’s like a class graded on a curve. And there is a standard that was set by that one brilliant student that creates a gulf to a passing grade that is beyond our reach.

The Kingdom of Heaven…that place where humans and God dwell together. The way we were created to. Genesis 1 and 2 give us the picture of mankind dwelling in the presence of the Father in the garden.

All the Kingdom imagery in the rest of scripture is a call back to what WAS at the dawn of man.

What we ruined when we turned to ourselves as Lord instead of God.

in Romans Paul emphasizes the point Jesus makes in our text:

Romans 3:23 CSB “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;”

and Romans 6:23a CSB “For the wages of sin is death...”

Grading on a Curve

We Don’t Have a “Good Enough”

This is the story of humanity since the fall.

Even David, the King who was a man after God’s own heart, would fail the test of righteousness.

Moses, the friend of God would fail to enter the kingdom because of a faithless act in a moment of anger.

And I have my box…when I hear Jesus say that to enter the kingdom, we need a righteousness that exceeds the greatest biblical scholars and teachers of the age…And I look in my box and see it all...

I can see hate, impatience, fear, passivity, greed, weakness, every moment of failure I have preserved so carefully in this box so I can review it later...

I find myself like Paul in Romans 7.

Romans 7:18-24 CSB “For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one that does it, but it is the sin that lives in me. So I discover this law: When I want to do what is good, evil is present with me. For in my inner self I delight in God’s law, but I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”

Ever find yourself here? Holding to failures, either faking that you’re ok, denying the problem, or coping by comparison…or maybe you just feel the weight and all you can do is like Paul, cry out.

There is good news. The words of Jesus we just read was the end of the phrase we are examining today. Let’s go back to the start, Matthew 5:17 and 18.

AHA! Jesus didn’t come to eliminate the test, he came to complete it. Every bit still in place, just finished.

Matthew 5:17-18 ““Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass away from the law until all things are accomplished.”

Jesus Fulfills the Law

The law, God’s communication to us of the gap we created.

Hear clearly, what Jesus came to do didn’t remove the tiniest bit of it. Every bit of that word is still in effect.

But the law we were unable to fulfill, Jesus did.

And he did it on our behalf. We’ll keep going back to Romans:

Romans 8:1-4 CSB “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, in order that the law’s requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Fulfilled! And because of that fulfillment…no condemnation.

This is crucial! This goes right back again to the need, in order to live a blessed life to be poor in spirit.

Let’s look at our coping mechanisms again in dealing with our box

We blame shift - When we make our failures someone else’s issue, we can’t let Jesus take them…because they aren’t something we have taken responsibility for.

If Jesus is fulfilling our test requirements on this curve, we have to let him have access to our test paper.

If we keep putting someone else’s test in front of him, blocking ours, he can’t do the work in us to get us right.

We rationalize - If we refuse to let him deal with our box because we have decided our box of hurt is actually a box of cotton candy, same deal

We compare - If we do this, we in essence tell Jesus to go deal with the real problems because we are ok.

This was likely the biggest issue with the pharisees, they saw themselves as “At least better than that guy”

And Jesus said the kingdom of heaven requires better.

It requires us to let Jesus process our box, let Jesus take our test. Let Jesus be the “good enough” we could never be.

So what do we do with this? Let’s finish this passage.

Implications: We are called to do and teach because it’s still right. But we must identify with the “completor” because if we insist on completing it ourselves, we can only fail.

Matthew 5:19-20 “Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.”

Keep Following

Ever cheat on a test?

In early elementary my dad was helping me to prepare for a spelling test, he would quiz me, and then I would go back to my room to study, then back again. and I kept missing one or two. And I was tired. So I wrote out the answers on a second piece of paper, so when we were done this time, I could give my dad the one that was all correct.

Of course that was the time he read the words in a different order. When I argued, he asked to see my papers…Yeah…that went well for me.

The problem with cheating, is that you don’t learn, because are letting someone else to the work.

We might say this is what Jesus did…He took the test, so we don’t have to. I will not be graded on my final day by my own work, but on his fulfillment of the law.

This is where the test analogy breaks down.

Jesus does so much more.

What did we just read? The one who doesn’t do or teach is least IN the Kingdom…the one who does is great IN the Kingdom…notice…both are IN.

Greater than the pharisees to get IN, the doing or not doing isn’t about IN or OUT anymore.

CAN WE APPRECIATE FOR A MOMENT WHAT GOOD NEWS THAT IS?!

Our entrance into the kingdom, our ability to be with God is not contingent on any “doing”…if Jesus is the fulfiller, it’s now relational.

IF we desire a right relationship with God…we’ve met the requirements for entry…but...

What does that mean? To go back to our test analogy, it is like someone took the test for us so we could graduate, on the condition that we would now walk forward together and they would keep teaching.

Algebra didn’t go away because the test was fulfilled, now we walk forward and learn how to apply quadratic equations in life.

Terrible analogy.

But does that make sense?

This is so key as we transition into the next phase of the sermon on the mount. Jesus is about to get intensely practical. Painfully practical.

It will push into our box of failure, reveal our test scores, and it would be very easy to slip into one of our strategies to avoid dealing with it…unless we fix our hearts firmly on this knowledge: Jesus came to fulfil the law.

Response is obedience from a grateful heart. The next several weeks, Jesus will show us what “heart level obedience” looks like. Not checking boxes, but loving God and people in line with God’s heart.

Jesus met the criteria for us to enter the kingdom, THAT IS DONE.

His death and resurrection completed all that is needed to have a right relationship with God. And Jesus did that for you.

All it takes to be a Christian, a Jesus-Follower, a Disciple who is restored to this right relationship is to surrender to him. To trust that he has fulfilled the requirements and that he’s now inviting you into a different kind of learning. Not based on grades for performance, but on relationally walking it through day by day.

Today, if you’ve never made that decision to surrender to Jesus…come forward and talk to one of our prayer team, or come to the back and talk to me.

Maybe you have, but you realize that you have been avoiding the relationship and trying to earn or rationalize or deny again…let us pray with you.

This is the good news that we have to share.

This is why we can walk in love with people who have no love for God, who make different choices, have different convictions, and even might be opposed to everything you believe in.

Because you weren’t saved by a love that waited for you to pass a test. You were loved first. And now as you are walking with Jesus in obedience, he is leading you to do the same.

Who will you walk with? Who will you share hope with? Who will you pray for and with?

In August at our church picnic, we will have another baptism service. The question I am asking myself and our leaders, and I’ll ask you, “who are you bringing?” Who are you walking with now the way Jesus walks with you?

They will never be “good enough”, neither will you. But praise God for Jesus who has fulfilled the law and leads us into the very heart of the Father who loves us and calls us.

Pray

root beer