The Tensions of Following Jesus.

Nate Schlomann

[0:00] Last week, Steve kicked us off by talking about beginning with the end in mind. [0:03] And what he talked about was how everything starts and ends with God. [0:07] We came from God and we’re going back, as Steve said last week, which is so true. [0:12] And because of that, what we found is the answer to life’s questions will not be [0:17] found here on earth. [0:18] As Solomon says in Ecclesiastes, the answers to life’s questions are not

[0:23] found anywhere under the sun. [0:25] Instead, they’re found in Jesus, in Jesus alone. [0:27] And what Jesus has done in the once for all sacrifice that he made for us, that [0:32] is the only place that we’re going to find the answer to life’s questions and [0:37] the grace to live a life changing God honoring life. [0:42] It really was a great start to this series.

[0:43] And I really recommend if you weren’t here last week to go back and check that [0:47] out, we’re going to do this week as a way to move forward. [0:51] It’s kind of look at some tensions that following Jesus brings into our lives. [0:56] So if we’re starting off life, realizing that Jesus is the only place that we’re [1:02] going to find meaning that means we need to be followers of Jesus. [1:05] What does that mean?

[1:05] What does it mean to follow Jesus? [1:06] I was kind of wrestling with that question and I saw in the scriptures, a [1:10] lot of tensions that following Jesus brings into our lives. [1:13] And what I mean by that is there’s a lot of commands in scripture that seem to be [1:18] contradictory if we’re following Jesus. [1:20] And they’re really not.

[1:21] And I think if we dig into some of those and look at them, it’s going to help us [1:24] understand a little bit better and flesh out what it means to follow Jesus. [1:28] Now, obviously following Jesus, that’s a huge topic. [1:30] We can’t cover everything here in 40 minutes, but I think just looking at a [1:34] few of these tensions will really help us get a better understanding of what that [1:39] kind of life looks like.

[1:40] I think the best thing I can do is just dive right in and look at our first [1:43] example. [1:44] So join me in Philippians chapter four.

[1:49] We’re going to read a couple of passages here and then talk about the tension that [1:53] we find in them. [1:55] This is Paul writing. [1:57] [1:57] He says, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication [2:02] with Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God,

[2:06] which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ [2:10] Jesus. [2:11] So this is one of those great coffee cup verses, right? [2:14] I mean, amazing promise here. [2:15] We’ll have a piece that surpasses all understanding and rightfully so this is a [2:19] coffee cup verse because this is a great promise of Jesus.

[2:22] This is the ultimate piece that we could ever hope to find. [2:26] Let’s read on and see actually what Jesus himself says about that kind of [2:31] peace that he offers on Matthew chapter 11 verses 28 and 30. [2:35] And we’re going to be going through a lot of scriptures. [2:36] They’ll be on the screen, but from here on out will pretty much be in the [2:40] gospels.

[2:42] Jesus says, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. [2:47] Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and [2:52] you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. [2:57] So Jesus offers rest for our souls. [2:59] His burden is light. [3:00] He says he’s the peace that surpasses all understanding.

[3:04] These are some great promises. [3:05] These are some great truths that, that draw us to Jesus and we find comfort in [3:10] these things. [3:11] But the tension comes with some other statements that Jesus makes that don’t [3:16] really kind of seem to fit with this whole idea of rest and peace and [3:20] relaxation.

[3:22] Earlier in Matthew in chapter seven, verse 13, look what he says. [3:28] It says, enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is easy. [3:32] That leads to destruction. [3:33] And those who enter by it are many for the gate is narrow and the way is hard [3:37] that leads to life. [3:38] And those who find it are few.

[3:41] All right. [3:41] This isn’t sounding so restful anymore. [3:44] The way is hard. [3:45] That leads to life. [3:46] Look what Jesus says in Luke nine verses 61 and 62. [3:51] Yet another said, I will follow you Lord, but let me first say farewell to

[3:55] those at my home. [3:56] Jesus said to him, no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is [4:00] fit for the kingdom of God. [4:01] And then right there on the screen, John 15, 20, he says, remember the word that [4:05] I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. [4:07] If they persecuted me, they will persecute you.

[4:12] All right. [4:12] So what’s going on here? [4:12] Jesus, I mean, do you offer rest and relaxation and peace or is following you [4:18] hard? [4:19] Am I guaranteed to be persecuted? [4:21] If I follow you is following, you’re going to be like putting my hand to a

[4:24] plow and not working back. [4:26] There’s a tension here. [4:27] There’s a tension between peace and persecution when you’re following Jesus. [4:31] And this is not a tension that we’re going to be able to resolve because both [4:35] things are true. [4:36] And that’s what I really want us to look at, at this tension, both peace and

[4:39] persecution are going to come into your life when you’re following Jesus. [4:42] And if we try to resolve that tension and not live in that tension, we’re not [4:47] going to be following him as he intends. [4:48] Here’s one thing that’s true. [4:51] Following Jesus is the ultimate peace you can ever experience. [4:54] It’s absolutely true.

[4:55] Just like we saw last week, everything starts and ends with God. [4:58] There’s no peace outside of Jesus. [5:00] The peace that comes when we realize that the creator of the universe loves us [5:04] has sent his son so that we can be with him is a piece that can’t be shaken. [5:09] So when Jesus says, you know, or when Paul writes that Jesus gives him the [5:12] peace that surpasses all understanding, when Jesus says his burden is light,

[5:17] he’s not pulling a bait and switch here. [5:20] He’s not saying come to me, my burden’s light. [5:22] And then, oh, by the way, you’re going to have to work really, really hard and [5:24] you’re going to be persecuted. [5:25] It’s not a bait and switch. [5:26] He offers the only true peace.

[5:29] He offers the only true rest because of that. [5:33] But another thing that’s also true is following Jesus is the hardest thing [5:37] that you will ever do. [5:38] I mean, we’re going to look in a little bit at the tension of mission and there [5:42] we’re going to see that Jesus calls us to give up everything we have to follow him. [5:45] When you follow Jesus, I mean, you’re going to be asked to, to put away

[5:50] everything and focus just on Jesus. [5:52] You’re going to need to make decisions that people around you won’t always [5:55] understand Jesus flat out says that was, we just saw that if we follow him, [5:59] we’re going to be persecuted. [6:02] So following Jesus is also the hardest thing we’ll ever do. [6:05] And it brings persecution.

[6:06] So how do we deal with this tension? [6:08] How do we kind of understand that both things are true? [6:12] Here’s why wrestling with this tension is so important. [6:16] If we don’t wrestle with this tension, what tends to happen in the church is we [6:21] tend to think that if life is going difficult or if we’re being persecuted or [6:25] if we’re facing hard things, that means somehow we’re not following Jesus.

[6:29] It’s not true. [6:31] Jesus says it’s going to be hard to follow him. [6:33] He says we’re going to be persecuted. [6:35] Instead, what we have to do is we have to realize that we have to find that rest [6:40] in Jesus, no matter what circumstance we’re in avoiding hard things is not [6:44] what brings us rest.

[6:46] Jesus is what brings us rest. [6:48] All right. [6:49] So we’ve got to find our rest in the truth of Jesus and the once for all price [6:54] that he paid on the cross and the way to God that he made by rising again. [6:58] That’s where we have to find our ultimate rest. [7:00] And if we don’t find it there, if we try to find our rest in having an easy life

[7:05] in things, just always working out, we’re eventually going to lose our faith [7:10] because it’s not real. [7:11] It’s not how it works. [7:12] Jesus has said, it doesn’t work that way. [7:15] We do, we have to learn to live in that tension. [7:18] Jesus has already done everything we need to be reconciled with God.

[7:22] And so when things do go bad, when things don’t go right, when things are hard, [7:26] when we are persecuted, as he said, we will be, we can continue to find [7:30] our rest and peace in him. [7:32] So that’s one small first tension I wanted to show you. [7:35] Um, I’m excited to show you this next one though. [7:37] There’s a huge tension in scripture revolving around mission.

[7:42] All right. [7:42] When I hear people say, uh, they’re a follower of Jesus. [7:46] One thing that I always think is, do you know where he’s going? [7:49] Uh, because we all say we’re following Jesus, but following implies [7:53] that we’re going somewhere. [7:55] And if we’re moving and going somewhere, it implies that we

[7:57] know where Jesus is headed. [8:00] The good news is we do because he tells us. [8:02] And if you’re have any experience at all in villages, it’s not going [8:05] to be anything new to you, but Jesus has revealed in his scriptures where he’s [8:09] going and where he’s going is an end where all people or people from all [8:14] nations are gathered around his throne, uh, worshiping him.

[8:17] That’s where he’s headed. [8:18] And we can even see him talk about it in Matthew 25. [8:23] Read this with me here. [8:25] When the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he [8:29] will sit on his glorious throne before him will be gathered all the nations. [8:32] And he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates

[8:36] the sheep from the goats. [8:37] And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. [8:41] Then the King will say to those on his right, come you who were blessed by my [8:45] father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. [8:49] So not only do we know where Jesus is headed, it’s a sure thing [8:53] that it’s going to happen.

[8:54] It’s prepared before the foundation of the world, that this is the end [8:58] that we’re looking forward to. [9:01] Uh, Matthew 24, 14 says, and this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed [9:06] throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations and the end, [9:10] the end will come. [9:12] So here’s what the tension of mission is.

[9:15] All right. [9:15] We have this great future to look forward to. [9:19] Jesus has promised us, uh, that in the end, we’re going to be [9:23] worshiping before his throne. [9:24] It’s a sure thing. [9:27] The problem is it’s a little counterintuitive.

[9:30] If we know something is sure, but then we need to work hard for it. [9:34] If you’re anything like me, and I think most of you probably are my first [9:38] inclination, if I hear that something is guaranteed to happen is not to say, great, [9:41] how can I get working on that? [9:43] My first inclination is to kick back and say, well, great. [9:46] It’s guaranteed to happen.

[9:47] Let’s wait for it to happen. [9:50] It’s actually a huge tension. [9:51] And I know every time we talk about the surety of the mission of Jesus, I [9:56] know that’s the thought that runs through some, some heads out there. [9:59] Cause I know it runs through mine sometimes. [10:01] Why should we be so urgent about Jesus’s mission?

[10:04] If it’s guaranteed to happen, Jesus doesn’t give us that option. [10:08] Let’s look at what he says about his mission. [10:10] He expects us to join him in working towards that end that we saw on Luke 10. [10:15] Two. [10:16] Um, he says, and he said to them, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers [10:20] are few, therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out

[10:24] laborers into his harvest. [10:25] And then in 11, 23, he says, whoever is not with me is against me. [10:29] And whoever does not gather with me. [10:32] Scatters. [10:33] There’s many other verses we could look at Jesus came to seek and to save the [10:37] loss and he says, we’re supposed to be about that same mission, but he doesn’t

[10:40] just even leave it as you need to be about the same thing I was about. [10:44] He makes it urgent. [10:45] Okay. [10:45] He doesn’t just leave as, as you’re going about your life. [10:49] You should also try to seek and save lost people. [10:51] No, he gives us over and again, examples where we need to pretty much give up

[10:56] everything in our life to be about this mission. [10:58] It’s the most urgent thing we could possibly be about. [11:03] Again, there’s many, many verses we could look at, but Matthew 13, 44 is one [11:08] says the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a [11:12] man found and covered up then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he [11:16] has and buys that field.

[11:17] So in this parable, joining Jesus in the mission of the kingdom is so urgent [11:21] that a man gets rid of everything else he has and with joy joins Jesus on [11:26] that mission to build that kingdom. [11:29] In Matthew 16 verses 24 through 26, this is how serious Jesus says his mission is. [11:35] Then Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself [11:41] and take up his cross and follow me for whoever would save his life will lose it.

[11:45] But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it for what will profit a man [11:50] if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul or what shall a man give in [11:54] return for his soul. [11:56] So following Jesus and living for the purpose of the gospel with every part of [12:01] our lives is so important that he says he needs to, we need to make our whole [12:04] lives about this one thing.

[12:06] Uh, like we saw last week, nothing else under the sun matters. [12:10] Okay. [12:10] We came from God, we’re going to him. [12:12] Only his mission ultimately is going to end up mattering. [12:15] And yet the tense, the tension is why should there be such urgency [12:19] about something that’s sure?

[12:20] Jesus says the church will surely prevail.

[12:25] All nations are going to end up worshiping, worshiping him around his throne. [12:29] Uh, so when we’re talking about the mission of Jesus, what we have to wonder [12:32] is how do we deal with this tension of urgency versus assurance? [12:37] It’s two things don’t seem to be compatible.

[12:40] And the answer to this one is not finding a place in that tension. [12:44] The answer is obeying Jesus. [12:47] Sometimes tensions just don’t make sense because of our sinfulness and our pride [12:52] and our, um, honestly laziness. [12:56] A lot of the time, Jesus is clear that we need to obey him in making his urgent, [13:01] his mission urgent.

[13:02] Um, it’s really interesting. [13:04] God, God has the graciousness to let us know how everything is going to end. [13:08] I mean, we should have figured that out anyway. [13:09] He’s God, we know he’s going to win in the end, but he’s so gracious. [13:13] He tells us exactly what it’s going to look like, how it’s going to go [13:16] down, how we’re going to be able to participate in that.

[13:20] He has that grace to share that with us when he didn’t even have to. [13:23] And our reaction is to say, great, I guess I’ll sit this one out then [13:26] if it’s surely to happen. [13:28] That’s a ridiculous idea. [13:30] I mean, we’re, we’re like the kid, uh, on the sports team that only [13:33] wants to play half the game.

[13:34] Cause he knows he’s going to get pizza no matter what at the end. [13:37] I mean, it’s absurd. [13:38] And no one likes that kid because everyone knows you’re supposed to [13:41] want to be in the game the whole time. [13:44] We’ve got to have the same attitude towards Jesus’s mission. [13:47] We want to be in the game the whole time.

[13:49] It should encourage us to know that in the end, Jesus’s mission is [13:54] surely going to come to pass. [13:57] The other thing about the urgency of mission that in our sinfulness, we [14:01] don’t really pick up on, but in Jesus’s great love, he knows is that mission is [14:07] actually where we’re going to find the most joy in our life. [14:09] And Jesus knows that he knows how much joy is to be found following him and

[14:14] serving him. [14:15] So when he commands us to be urgent about something that he also says is [14:19] surely going to happen, it’s for our own good, not his. [14:22] It’s because he knows we’re going to find joy in following him on mission [14:26] and serving him on mission, a greater joy than we could ever find anywhere else. [14:31] Being on mission with Jesus is energizing work, working to see the

[14:36] loss, come to know him and experience all the amazing treasures that we have in [14:40] him. [14:40] There’s nothing more fulfilling in this life. [14:42] Absolutely nothing. [14:45] And Jesus knows that and he wants the best for us. [14:47] So that’s why he makes that such an urgent thing.

[14:51] It’s the fact that Jesus’s victory in the end is assured discourages you from [14:56] doing anything about that. [14:59] You got to check your own heart and see where is your attitude also towards work. [15:03] Sometimes we have this idea. [15:04] We saw earlier that following Jesus is going to involve hard work. [15:08] We have the idea that works evil and that’s a ridiculous notion.

[15:11] Actually, work was present in the garden before sin ever came into the picture. [15:16] Work is what was something that God has given us to give us purpose and meaning [15:21] in our lives. [15:22] And the only reason that it feels evil is when we work for the wrong things. [15:26] So Jesus has, you know, the amazing graciousness to give us right work, good [15:30] work, work for his kingdom.

[15:32] And a lot of our problems with boredom are because we’re not working for the [15:36] right things at all. [15:37] I also hear from a lot of people, you know, they’re just overloaded and busy [15:41] and, and burnt out. [15:43] Same issue, different thing though. [15:45] That’s when we’re working for the wrong thing.

[15:47] That happens when we’re not finding fulfillment in what we’re working towards. [15:51] If we find our fulfillment and working towards Jesus’s kingdom and obey his [15:54] commandments to, in a sense, give up everything else in our life for the [15:58] importance of working towards his kingdom. [16:01] We won’t have that tension anymore.

[16:06] All right. [16:06] Next tension I want to talk about, we’re going to spend a little bit more time [16:09] here. [16:10] Um, it’s actually the tension of love. [16:13] And I think this one is a little more nuanced. [16:16] So we’re going to spend a little more time on it, but I found this very

[16:19] interesting as I was studying. [16:22] Uh, Jesus talks a lot in his commandments about where we’re going to, where we [16:27] should follow him, follow him on mission. [16:28] We just talked about some of it. [16:29] We read some of those verses, but he also talks a lot about how to be on mission. [16:33] And a lot of the way he describes that, um, he phrases in terms of loving other

[16:38] people and it’s kind of things we’re familiar with with Jesus. [16:42] He told us to love people. [16:44] Uh, but I think there’s actually a very interesting tension involved in some of [16:48] those passages where Jesus tells us to love others. [16:51] So I want to look at some of those right now.

[16:54] And Matthew chapter 22 verses 36 and 40. [16:58]

[17:01] Just as this teacher, uh, what is the great commandment in the law? [17:04] And he said to them, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and [17:09] with all your soul and with all your mind. [17:11] This is the great and first commandment. [17:13] And a second is like it. [17:15] You shall love your neighbor as yourself on these two commandments depend

[17:18] all the law on the prophets. [17:21] So it doesn’t get any more important than this in terms of the value [17:24] Jesus puts on love. [17:25] Other words in the scripture, Jesus says, if you want to follow him, you [17:28] have to keep his commandments. [17:30] And right here, Jesus has said, how do you keep all my commandments by

[17:34] loving God and loving others? [17:36] So this is very important to him. [17:37] Look at what else he says about love. [17:39] Now in Luke six verses 27 and 28, but I say to you who hear love your enemies, [17:47] do good to those who hate you. [17:49] Bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

[17:53] So probably right now you’re still wondering where’s the tension here, [17:57] right? [17:57] I mean, we’re supposed to love God. [17:59] We’re supposed to love others. [18:00] Seems like very practical things. [18:02] I’m not seeing a lot of tension.

[18:04] The tension here comes because of our society’s view of love. [18:08] And I think if we dig down a little bit here, we’re going to see that our [18:11] culture’s view of love is very different from Jesus’s view of love. [18:15] Look at that verse we just read. [18:18] This is love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. [18:21] Bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

[18:25] Remember earlier, Jesus said, if we follow him, we’ll surely be persecuted. [18:28] There’s many other verses like these that talk about this, how we’re [18:32] supposed to love those who hate us, love our enemies. [18:35] Jesus talks about that so much. [18:37] Interesting thing that it kind of presupposes is that we’re going to have [18:41] enemies and we’re going to have people that hate us and we’re going to have

[18:43] people that curse us. [18:44] And we’ve already seen where he says we’ll surely be persecuted. [18:48] That very notion conflicts directly with our culture’s idea of love. [18:53] Cause in our culture, if you’re a loving, kind person, we’re talking about [18:56] non-romantic loving person here, you’re not going to have a lot of enemies, right? [19:02] People aren’t really going to hate you because you’re so loving.

[19:06] People aren’t going to be cursing you because you’re so loving. [19:08] And this is obviously not the idea of love that Jesus has in mind. [19:13] So we’ve got to ask ourselves, uh, what are we getting wrong about love? [19:17] That Jesus could say we’re supposed to love in all these situations where [19:22] with our kind of current ideas of love, these things wouldn’t even come up. [19:25] We wouldn’t have enemies.

[19:26] People wouldn’t curse us. [19:27] People wouldn’t hate us. [19:29] I think we’ve really got to get to the bottom of this because [19:31] Jesus talks so much about love. [19:33] We’ve got to understand what he’s talking about when he tells us to love. [19:37] Our culture has this idea that love is just generally being a

[19:41] nice, friendly, pleasant person. [19:44] What does Jesus say? [19:45] I think it’s interesting if you study the gospels, uh, because if you look [19:49] at Jesus’s interactions with people and how he talks to them and how he [19:53] responds to them, I don’t think many people in our culture would call [19:57] Jesus a very loving person.

[19:59] Uh, check out some things here with me. [20:02] Uh, Jesus really offended some people in the way that he talked to them. [20:05] If I could get that list on the screen there. [20:08] Um, he told his disciples repeatedly that they had little faith. [20:12] I mean, repeatedly, almost berating them. [20:15] Try to do that in your community group over and over again.

[20:18] It’s not going to go well at all. [20:21] Um, he called people he disagreed with of the devil pretty frequently. [20:26] He called people broods of vipers and hypocrites. [20:30] And these are just a couple of examples. [20:31] There are many, many more, but scripture says, uh, in Matthew 15, 12, [20:35] just flat out that the people were offended by Jesus.

[20:38] People were offended by the things that he were saying. [20:41] And we know that Jesus is not unloving, of course. [20:45] So what’s the answer here? [20:46] Is it just, well, God can get away with this and he’s still loving because he’s [20:49] got, that’s, that’s not good enough at all. [20:52] Oh, we’ve got to understand, uh, what Jesus idea of love, um, and how it

[20:58] differed from ideas that we may have. [21:00] If we’re going to really know what following him is like, we’ve got to [21:02] resolve that tension because there is a tension here between Jesus being loving [21:06] and some of the ways he talked to people and some of the, uh, the ways he was very [21:12] open about having enemies and having people that hated him. [21:16] So we’ve got a few thoughts here.

[21:17] Uh, here’s one first. [21:19] Do you realize one of the ways God describes love is to simply say that he is love. [21:24] Uh, look with me in first John four verse eight. [21:29] It says anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love. [21:34] And this is a verse that we go to all the time to try to understand more [21:37] about who God is and rightfully so God is love.

[21:41] But I understand from this verse just as much about what love is. [21:46] Hey, God is love. [21:46] I would understand that God being loving, but that’s not what it says. [21:49] It says that God is love. [21:53] And really, if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. [21:55] Remember last week, what we talked about, everything comes from God

[21:59] and everything goes to God. [22:01] All right. [22:01] In the end, it’s just all about God. [22:04] And if that’s the truth and it is, there’s nothing more loving than God himself. [22:10] There’s nothing more loving for God to do than give himself to us. [22:15] God is the ultimate expression of love in that sense.

[22:18] And in fact, that’s what he says. [22:19] God describes love as him giving himself to us. [22:23] Keep reading that same passage in verse nine. [22:27] In this, the love of God was made manifest among us that God sent his only son into [22:31] the world so that we might live through him. [22:34] And this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son

[22:38] to be the propitiation for our sins. [22:41] So God’s love is seen in him making a way for us to be with him. [22:45] God giving himself to us is the ultimate expression of love.

[22:50] I look at John 13 verses 34 and 35.

[22:56] It says a new commandment I give to you that you love one another. [22:59] Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. [23:02] By this, all people will know that you are my disciples. [23:05] If you have love for one another. [23:07] Now, how did God love us? [23:09] He ultimately love us by giving us himself, by making a way for us to be reconciled to

[23:15] him. And so he says we’re supposed to love others in that same way. [23:20] That very literally means the ultimate way we can love others is by bringing them to [23:25] Jesus, by giving them God. [23:27] That is the ultimate form of love. [23:29] Nothing is more loving than reconciling people to God. [23:33] This is how God shows his love to us and it’s how we’re supposed to love others.

[23:37] So there’s no greater gift than God himself. [23:39] Nothing would bring us more joy. [23:40] And if love is valuing and wanting the best and most for another person, nothing’s more [23:47] loving than giving people God and leading them to Jesus. [23:52] And so I think we can see that to God’s love is a much bigger deal than just being nice [23:58] and just being friendly.

[24:00] It’s a way bigger deal than that. [24:02] Another thing I want us to see is that because God is love, love and truth are inseparable.

[24:11] God is completely true. [24:13] [24:14] Truth. [24:15] Everything about him is true. [24:16] And this, I think this idea of love and truth being inseparable is really where our [24:23] culture kind of butts up against God’s idea of love and goes against it.

[24:28] Because our culture doesn’t value truth like that. [24:31] They really don’t. [24:32] Our culture values comfort and feeling good about yourself and not getting into too much [24:38] conflict. [24:39] And truth sometimes is in conflict with those things. [24:43] But God’s always true.

[24:45] And the problem with truth is it doesn’t always feel nice because we’re sinners. [24:49] So when we’re confronted with the truth in the light of our own sin, that doesn’t always [24:53] feel good. [24:54] That’s uncomfortable. [24:55] We don’t like it. [24:57] But God’s always true.

[24:58] And so his love is going to make us at times uncomfortable. [25:02] It’s not always going to be experienced in a pleasant way, but it’s true love. [25:06] It’s bringing us to him. [25:08] So Jesus offended people with the truth. [25:10] That’s ultimately the end of those things that we looked at where he called people [25:15] bruised of vipers and devils.

[25:17] He was speaking the truth. [25:19] Now, if you look at those passages, he was doing it in love. [25:21] His mindset was he was doing whatever he could to bring those people to himself, to [25:28] help people understand that they needed a savior. [25:31] She’s the ultimate love and the ultimate good that he can do. [25:34] So he was speaking truth into their lives and it wasn’t received well.

[25:38] Is that unloving of Jesus? [25:40] Absolutely not. [25:40] But that’s where our culture definitely would find some tension with him.

[25:47] Love has got to desire the very best for others. [25:49] And that always finds its meaning in knowing God and receiving the grace of Jesus. [25:55] I think many of us are not experiencing real love because we’re avoiding the real [25:59] truth. [25:59] In fact, I think we’re all guilty of this in some areas. [26:03] But if you consider what following Jesus is mean, what following Jesus means, you’re

[26:07] going to have to wrestle with what true love really means. [26:11] Jesus talks way too much about love. [26:13] So if we’re going to be followers of Jesus, we’re going to have to think about what is [26:16] really loving and how does the truth really interact with love. [26:20] We’re going to have to be committed to loving in truth, even when it’s not comfortable. [26:25] Real love is going to create conflict sometimes.

[26:28] When we’re together, following after Jesus, seeking his truth, seeking to know him more. [26:34] It’s going to create conflict. [26:36] And what I’m talking about is a life of discipleship. [26:39] All right. [26:39] If you enter into a life of discipleship with others to follow Jesus, there will be [26:43] conflict because we’re all sinners and we’re all seeking after the truth.

[26:46] And when truth is shown in on our sin, we’re going to have reactions to that. [26:52] People around us are going to have reactions to that and it’s going to create conflict. [26:56] But that is necessary conflict and a necessary tension in following Jesus. [27:00] We’ve got to not shy away from loving in that area of truth where we’re willing to [27:07] see ourselves for who we really are. [27:09] It’s only then that we can really experience the love of Jesus.

[27:14] It’s a strange thing, but when you’re in community with people and you have [27:17] disagreements over the very point of life, there’s conflict. [27:21] It’s crazy how that works, but that’s okay. [27:23] We’ve got to live in tension and still seek to love in truth. [27:27] I think some of the most unloving things I’ve ever seen have been when people that [27:33] I know knew better have allowed people they supposedly loved to stop following

[27:39] Jesus and to walk away from Jesus and not say a thing and not do a thing about it. [27:43] There’s nothing less loving than that. [27:46] We’ve got to be committed to a love that is willing to do whatever it [27:50] takes to follow after Jesus. [27:53] Now, when we commit to loving in that way, do we need to have wisdom and [27:57] discernment?

[27:58] Absolutely. [27:58] I’m not in any way suggesting that we need to start going around offending [28:01] everyone and being rude and unkind. [28:04] That’s not what we’re saying at all. [28:05] That’s why this is a tension. [28:07] Some people don’t deal with that tension so well.

[28:10] This is how we end up with people down on sidewalks with bull horns, [28:13] yelling that everyone’s going to hell. [28:16] Is that true? [28:18] Eh, sort of. [28:20] It might be technically accurate in some cases because if they do not have Jesus, [28:24] that is where they are going.

[28:26] They’re going to hell. [28:27] But truth also desires the best for a person. [28:30] Truth is always loving in that way. [28:33] Truth always wants to lead people to God. [28:35] And so we have to be very smart about how we share truth. [28:39] It’s got to have a desire of wanting to lead people to God.

[28:42] In our culture, bullhorns on the sidewalk probably aren’t the best way to do that. [28:47] So we’ve got to figure out how to share right things truthfully, [28:52] truthfully in a way that’s going to lead people to Jesus, [28:54] because that is the ultimate truth. [28:57] So why does all this matter? [28:58] You know, why spend all this time talking about love and truth?

[29:02] Here’s the reason. [29:02] As we’re following Jesus on his mission and he talks so much about love, [29:08] we have to understand what he means because otherwise it’s very easy in the [29:12] church to get the idea that following Jesus is just about being a nice person. [29:17] It’s just about being pleasant, about getting along with everyone. [29:20] And she just said, love everyone.

[29:21] That’s what we’re doing. [29:23] And again, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be nice. [29:26] And we shouldn’t be pleasant. [29:27] What I’m saying is following Jesus is so much more than that. [29:32] Following Jesus is so much bigger than that. [29:34] We’re not called to get along with everyone.

[29:36] We’re called to love. [29:37] We’re not called to be nice. [29:38] We’re called to love. [29:40] And those things sometimes are in conflict.

[29:44] Love is our greatest calling. [29:46] What I’m saying is our call to love is a call to introduce people to God. [29:49] And that’s the only real love that there is.

[29:53] Many of you are not loving with enough truth and not being loved with enough [29:58] truth to have any conflict in your life. [30:01] Jesus said, as we saw some of some of his words that we will have people that hate [30:06] us, we will have people that abuse us. [30:08] We will be persecuted.

[30:11] If none of that’s in your life, you’ve got to step back and see, am I pursuing [30:15] discipleship? [30:17] Am I pursuing truth to a point that some of the conflicts that Jesus said will [30:21] come into my life are there? [30:24] Check your own heart on that. [30:26] Uh, because we’ve got to follow hard after that.

[30:29] Uh, you’re never going to find what you’re looking for outside of the ultimate [30:33] truth of God and who he is and pursuing God about everything else. [30:37] And I’m, I’m still young, but I’ve seen so many people walk away from the only [30:43] real love that there is because they didn’t want to deal with truth. [30:47] I’ve seen it happen so many times. [30:50] I don’t want that for you.

[30:51] Uh, pursue truth and pursue love.

[30:56] God is love and God is truth. [30:58] And we’ve got to have the courage to live in the tension of love and the seek the [31:03] truth of God above everything else. [31:05] So that’s what I wanted to share with you this morning. [31:08] Um, that tension, uh, of love, I think it’s so important to where we’re going [31:13] to start in following God.

[31:14] We’ve got to find a starting place where we accept Jesus’s grace, like Steve [31:19] talked about last week, but then we’re willing to live in some of these tensions [31:23] to follow Jesus faithfully. [31:26] And now, uh, at this time in the service, the band is going to come up and we’re [31:29] going to take communion together on the beautiful thing about this communion [31:34] table and about taking communion every week, uh, as we have the chance to

[31:39] experience that amazing love of Jesus. [31:42] I mean, that love that God would give himself to us is represented in communion. [31:48] How that Jesus would come, that he would die, that he would rise again to save us [31:52] is represented. [31:53] We have a chance to reflect on that and think on that. [31:56] So as you take communion this morning and there’s tables here in the front and

[31:59] tables in the back, I just encourage you to reflect on that love that Jesus had [32:04] for you reflect on that ultimate love that you’ve already been given. [32:09] These tables are open to anyone who’s a follower of Jesus. [32:13] If you’re just visiting with us, we welcome you to participate in communion [32:17] with us. [32:17] If you’d rather not, if you just want to observe, that’s fine too.

[32:20] This is not a place where you’re going to be judged, but the great thing about [32:24] communion is if you’re not a follower of Jesus, this table doesn’t mean anything [32:29] to you right now, but it could, you can follow him today. [32:34] You can know that real love today in an instant. [32:39] If you’d like to talk about that, I’ll be right up front.