February 16, 2025, Message by P. Kevin Clancey
Transcribed by Beluga AI.
Okay, Romans 2:17. And I’m going to go all the way through Romans 3:8.
Now, if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law, and boast in God, and know his will, and approve the things that are superior, being instructed from the law, and if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, light for those in darkness, an instructor of the ignorant, a teacher of the immature, having the embodiment of knowledge and truth in the law, you then, who teach another, don’t you teach yourself?
You who preach you must not steal? Do you steal? You who say you must not commit adultery? Do you commit adultery? You who detest idols? Do you rob temples? You who boast in the law? Do you dishonor God by breaking the law?
For as it is written, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. And circumcision benefits you if you observe the law. But if you are a lawbreaker, your circumcision has become honorable. Uncircumcision.
Now, if an uncircumcised man keeps the law’s requirements, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? A man who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will judge you who are a lawbreaker, in spite of having the letter of the law and circumcision.
For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly. The true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh. On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly. And circumcision is of the heart by the Spirit, not the letter. That person’s praise is not from people, but from God.
17 Now if you call yourself a Jew, and rely on the law, and boast in God, 18 and know his will, and approve the things that are superior, being instructed from the law, 19 and if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light to those in darkness, 20 an instructor of the ignorant, a teacher of the immature, having the embodiment of knowledge and truth in the law— 21 you then, who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who preach, “You must not steal”—do you steal? 22 You who say, “You must not commit adultery”—do you commit adultery? You who detest idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24 For, as it is written: The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. 25 Circumcision benefits you if you observe the law, but if you are a lawbreaker, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26 So if an uncircumcised man keeps the law’s requirements, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? 27 A man who is physically uncircumcised, but who keeps the law, will judge you who are a lawbreaker in spite of having the letter of the law and circumcision. 28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh. 29 On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart—by the Spirit, not the letter. That person’s praise is not from people but from God. (Romans 2:17-29, CSB)
So what advantage does the Jew have, or what benefit of circumcision? Considerable in every way. First, we were entrusted with the very words of God. What then? If some were unfaithful, would their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? Absolutely not. Let God be true, even though everyone is a liar. As it is written that you may be justified in your words and triumph when you judge.
But if our unrighteousness highlights God’s righteousness, what are we to say? I’m using a human argument. Is God unrighteous to inflict wrath? Absolutely not. Otherwise, how will God judge the world?
But if by my lie, God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner? And why not say, as some people slanderously claim, we say, let us do evil so that good may come? Their condemnation is deserved.
1 So what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? 2 Considerable in every way. First, they were entrusted with the very words of God. 3 What then? If some were unfaithful, will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? 4 Absolutely not! Let God be true, even though everyone is a liar, as it is written: That you may be justified in your words and triumph when you judge. 5 But if our unrighteousness highlights God’s righteousness, what are we to say? I am using a human argument: Is God unrighteous to inflict wrath? 6 Absolutely not! Otherwise, how will God judge the world? 7 But if by my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner? 8 And why not say, just as some people slanderously claim we say, “Let us do what is evil so that good may come”? Their condemnation is deserved! (Romans 3:1-8, CSB)
And God, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock, our Strength, and our Redeemer.
14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. (Psalms 19:14, CSB)
This is one of those passages that is kind of a bear because there’s so much in here that doesn’t relate to us. But in the first century, this whole conversation that Paul’s having with himself as the Pharisee, as the righteous Jew, now a convert to Christ, who takes the gospel to Gentiles, and now he’s dealing with the Jewish objections to those things.
And one of the objections is, well, what are you saying, Paul? Isn’t there any advantage to being God’s covenant people? Isn’t there any advantage to being a Jew? And he says in this passage, and he’ll say in the rest of the Romans, yes and no, not the.
There is an advantage, but it’s not the one that you think it is. And basically, the Jews had these two monuments, these two huge monuments, these two things that said we are God’s people. The law, the covenant given to Moses. I would say these monuments are covenants.
And then circumcision, the covenant given to Abraham. One is a physical mark in the flesh that says you are God’s people. The other is an outward code of conduct that says, this is how you live in covenant relationship with God if you’re his covenant people.
And God has revealed himself in this. And so the Jews would hold up these two religious things and say, because of this, we. Because we have the law and because we are marked out as God’s people, we are better, we are higher than the gentiles, who would often be called dogs. The dogs.
Jesus says that, is it right to give the children’s food to the dogs? That was a common expression. Dogs were not revered in the ancient Mideast. A lot of places you go in the world, you know, in the Western world, you know, man’s best friend. You good boy. What good boy.
But, you know, a lot of the world, dogs are just considered scavenger and scum. And, you know, they’re just a dog. I don’t know if this is still true, but, you know, that was the worst thing you could say about a girl back in high school, she’s a dog, you know, and so it’s just. It’s a rotten thing to say. They’re dogs.
And why. We’ve got the law. We know God’s will. We teach the world. We’re a light on a hill. And we have circumcision. We are marked out as God’s special people.
And here’s what Paul has to say to that. He has to say, oh, you have the law, okay? And then kind of sarcastically says, you call yourself a Jew, okay? You rely on the law. You boast in God. You know his will.
17 Now if you call yourself a Jew, and rely on the law, and boast in God, 18 and know his will, and approve the things that are superior, being instructed from the law, (Romans 2:17-18, CSB)
You approve that which is superior, you’re instructed by the law. You’re a guide and a teacher to the Gentiles, and you have the embodiment of knowledge and truth. And then he says, the problem is you don’t do it.
I have, as a pastor, over the years, ran into people on a regular basis who talk a good game. My wife and I, when we first started the church, we actually became gun shy because time and time again, I’d take somebody out to lunch, and they’d come to the church, and I’d take them out to lunch, and I’d say, here’s the vision.
Here’s what we want to do. And they say, oh, we’re in, 100% in. And they’d be there the next Sunday and never see them again. So I guess 100% meant 100% this week, whatever.
And it didn’t happen once. I mean, whenever anybody said, we’re 100% in, we kind of, like, cringe, like. And they talked a good game. They talked a good game.
And Paul is saying, you people of God, you talk a good game. The problem is, right, we talk about. You don’t walk the talk. And because of that, God’s name is blasphemed.
One of my prayers in my life. And you see it happening all the time, and, you know, mega church pastors and stuff, and that’s a hard gig to have. But, you know, time and time again, they get caught in some scandal. It’s like. And it blasphemes the name of God, it scandalizes the name of God, and it’s like, you don’t do it.
People say, I don’t want to go to that church. They’re full of a bunch of hypocrites. There’s truth to that, right? They’re in the business world with some of these people, and they’re in the schools with some of these people. And they know these people.
It’s like, you know, they act all good and holy and proper. And, you know, that’s the caricature. And it is a caricature, and it is a stereotype of Christians that the devil definitely pounces on and uses. But the problem with every stereotype is you can always find somebody who fits it.
It’s always true with somebody, right? It’s always true with somebody. And, you know, just like the Jews, this is the bridge for us with this passage. We could say those things about us. We have the covenant. We call ourselves Christians.
The devil will use that one on you right when you sin. Oh, you call yourself a Christian? Anybody ever hear that in their spirit? But we call ourselves Christians. We say we have the Bible and the truth. We boast in our relationship with God. We say we know his will. We have prophetic. We receive prophecy. We hear the voice of God.
We approve of what is superior. your culture is evil, but we approve of what is superior. We’ve been instructed by the Bible. We’re a light to the world. We are the embodiment. We have the embodiment, the Spirit of God, of knowledge and truth.
The problem is, if we don’t live it relationally, then the very thing we intend to be, a light onto the world, becomes a darkness. The problem is, you got to walk the talk now. The difference between us and the Jews is the Jews were left to their own willpower to walk the talk.
We have the Spirit of God, and that’s why I will always say the answer is always relational. This passage, Paul’s not going to get to it. In this passage, he hints at it with circumcision. He says it’s the inward circumcision and it’s the Spirit, not the letter.
But. But he’s setting up the gospel that he’s going to preach in Romans where he locks everybody up into sin. You can’t do that. You try to do this, but you end up being a hypocrite. You try to do this, but you don’t.
He says, why don’t you teach yourselves right? Physician, heal thyself. You who say, do not steal, you steal. I don’t know if you steal. I try very hard not to steal, but steal. Do you commit adultery?
I remember I was in a men’s group one time,and one of the things was, you know. Well, I said, in the group, you know, I don’t commit adultery. And one of the guys says, by Jesus’s definition. And I said, shut your mouth. Shut your mouth. All right.
Do you commit idolatry? The Jews were adamant against idolatry, but I guess there was a practice that they would steal idols from temples, from Roman temples and Greek temples.
Maybe because they wanted to push idolatry down, or maybe there was a secret kind of idolatrous thing going on among the Jews. I’m not sure what that reference that Paul said, but it was obviously something that was happening.
They were actually robbing idols from other temples. You say you don’t commit adultery, you boast in the law, and then dishonor God by breaking the law.
23 You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? (Romans 2:23, CSB)
I don’t put a Christian bumper sticker on my car or a Christian fish or anything. I like the fish. I like the ichthys. I like the fish with the Greek letters, which is kind of out of vogue.
But it was popular in the hippie days of the Jesus movement because we like to say ichthys. And it’s just Greek, Greek abbreviation for Jesus Christ, God, Son, Savior.
And I liked it, but I never put it in my car. Because if I put it in my car, then I have to drive like a Christian. The pressure of being a witness when I’m driving was too much to bear. I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want the pressure. All right.
And then the second thing he holds up is circumcision. He says, well, you hold up circumcision. And again he says, but if you break the law, it amounts to nothing. It is an outward sign. It only has value.
The circumstances says you belong to the people of God, but it only has value if you live as a covenant person of God. Otherwise it’s just surgery, unnecessary. If you break the law, it’s as if you’re uncircumcised. Paul says, if you don’t act like a part of the people of God, then you’re not part of them. It’s like you’re not part of the people of God.
And people who aren’t part of the people of God, who act according to the law, it’s as if they’ve been circumcised. And again, I think the application for us today is this. It’s like religion. I’ve been baptized. I go to communion. I went to confirmation. I go to church. And I grew up, man. I grew up.
My parents. My parents’ generation was living on the Spiritual bankroll of previous revivals. Some of you had Christian parents. My parents kind of became closer to God, but I pastored that generation in a mainline church.
And what I found is people with religious principles, you know, values, what we call values. Work hard, save your money, be good to your family. But when it came to a relationship with Jesus, they were ignorant. They had religion, but not relationship. And there were all sorts of cracks that would appear in that wall.
And I remember when I was a Methodist pastor. I remember my job. I actually had a class in seminary entitled this: Evangelizing Nominal Christians. How do you evangelize church people?
And it’s hard to do, right, because it’s kind of like a vaccine. They got enough of the real thing that they’ve built up their defenses against the real thing. Right? Isn’t that what a vaccine does? Supposed to do? Right? Gives you enough of the disease that all your antibodies get fired up.
And then when you get the real disease, the army’s there, it’s like, ah, you’re not going to attack this person. All right? They were vaccinated against the gospel. Why were they vaccinated against the gospel?
I’ve been baptized, I go to church. They would never say, I tithe. It was like, I give $25 a month, I pay your salary. Hardly. I did hear that come, I pay your salary. You should do what I want you to do.
All right, this won’t become too autobiographical and self-pitying, but they would. They served on every committee. But if you ask them to pray, oh no, that’s your job. They desperately wanted me to wear a robe and vestments. I said, why do you want me to wear a robe and vestments? Because it’s religious, it’s special.
Then I would ask the young people who were coming to church and who knew Jesus, if I wore a robe, what would you think? They said, we think you’re putting on airs. Who do you think you are? You think you’re better than us?
Very different perspectives. But they wanted all the outer trappings of religion without the heart of it. And the Jews hold up circumcision. And they say, look at us. I mean, not literally, but you know, we’ve been circumcised. And Paul says, big deal if you don’t act like the people of God.
And then he hints at this. He says, what you need, and he makes big use of this word picture later, is you need a circumcision of the heart and you need an inward transformation of the Spirit, not by the letter, but by the Spirit.
9 You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. (Romans 8:9, CSB)
Jeremiah talks about that, right? He talks about there’s going to come a day when you’re going to get a New Covenant that the Mosaic covenant and the Abrahamic covenant were pointing to.
But no longer is there going to be an outward code that’s going to transfer that. You know, you’re going to have to try to transform your life by. And an outward sign that you’re going to have to transform your life by, but an inward reality.
Now, before you bash religion, let me tell you something. Ritual is good. Every week you give your heart to Jesus. We’re getting you wet, we’re going to baptize you. These things are good in the context of relationship.
I heard somebody say traditions are the living faith of dead saints. Traditionalism is the dead faith of living saints. When we do stuff just because that’s the way we’ve always danced, it’s empty. But in the context of relationship, there’s all sorts of things.
Listen, that’s why the Spiritual disciplines. What I mean by that is, you know, reading your Bible, saying your prayers, taking communion, going to church, serving the poor.
The things Christians do are the most life-giving things on the planet. And they’re the most deadly things on the planet. And it all depends on one little shift. Am I holding the hand of Jesus, and does this draw me closer to him and closer to his people?
Or am I doing these things hoping to earn favor with God or, even worse, look good among people? I love what Jesus says when he talks about that. He doesn’t say giving is bad, he doesn’t say praying is bad. He doesn’t say fasting is bad.
But he says if you give, pray, or fast so other people see you—not unto the Lord, not unto your Father in secret—if you do these things so that other people see you, this is what he says: you got your reward.
Yay. Kev’s religious. Listen, I want a bigger reward than that. I want a bigger reward than your approval that you think I’m a good guy. I really hope you do. But. But I ain’t living and dying on that. I want him and therefore outward religion.
And this is the point Paul is ultimately making. And he’s making it to the vaccinated, he’s making it to the Jews. The gentiles get this much easier. It’s very, very similar today, right?
I used to evangelize in prison. Not hard. you’re wearing an orange jumpsuit with a number on it. Hey, you need to repent of your ways and find a new way. You might have something there. Preacher. My choices have not worked out well for me.
But you know, you grew up in nice middle class, upper middle class America and you’re living on spiritual bankroll. Your grandma was a saint and prayed for you all the time, and you learned good morals, good values, and good ethics. And so you’re a decent business person, a nice person in the community.
Some preacher comes in on a revival and says you’re a sinner and you’re going to hell unless you repent. You go, well, no, that’s a bit of a stretch. That’s a bit of a stretch. I think God thinks I’m a pretty good fellow. Doesn’t the Bible say I’m fearfully and wonderfully made?
But secretly, you think I’m fearfully and wonderfully made more than those other people. And we’re vaccinated, and Paul’s trying to break through that with the Jews. your circumcision doesn’t count for what you think it counts for, and your law keeping doesn’t count for what you think it counts for.
And so the question is, well, what value is it? What value is God’s covenant? And here’s the value. And again, it goes across the board. The value is it’s not a security bank. It’s a responsibility. It’s a calling God wanted to make.
God made you a Jew to be a light to the Gentiles. It’s missionary. God made you a Christian. you’re saved to serve. you’re saved to serve.
I’m going to speak at Grace Covenant, and the name of my sermon is going to be, since you’re going to die, here’s how to live. All right? Because the theme of the conference is, Moses, give us a heart. Teach us to number our days, and give us a heart of wisdom. All right? So since you’re going to die, this is how you live. And this is my little trick.
You know every preacher, this is my hook, all right? I’m gonna get before him, I must say. And there’ll be a lot of missionaries there because it’s Grace Covenant Conference. So all our, a lot of our missionaries from around the world will be at the conference.
Okay, everybody here who’s a missionary, stand up. And I’m hoping they’ll flunk the test. If they pass the test, I lose my point. I hope they flunk the test. I hope only the missionaries stand up, right?
And then my sermon is going to be, since you’re going to die, from 2 Corinthians 5. you’re an ambassador to Christ. you’ve been given a ministry of reconciliation.
At the end of the sermon, you know, all who are missionaries, stand up. You know, a missionary to St. Joe, Kansas City, you’re a missionary to Poulsbo, Washington. you’re a missionary to wherever your workplace is, wherever your network is.
Anyway, it is a responsibility and a privilege, not a security blanket. And God, God’s, you know, the Jews say, well, you know, God’s going to judge us.
Now he says, well, God is faithful. He gave you a covenant, you signed on, and you didn’t follow it. Okay, well, well, but. But isn’t. But then you say that when God’s light shines in His faithfulness because of our unfaithfulness, he’s even more glorified.
In other words, the light is more brilliant because of the darkness. And Paul deals with this argument a couple of times. And you know, people ask, is God glorified in his judgments? And he is, because judgments are true and they bring justice.
Now, I would say God is more glorified in his mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. But for those who won’t receive mercy, God is glorified in all of it. It will be a mighty victory for us.
When we see the ant, the beast, the false prophet, and Satan himself thrown into the lake of fire, we won’t be going, oh, that’s so sad. What a bummer. We’ll be rejoicing at the justice and the destruction of evil.
So God is glorified in his judgment. And then the argument would come. And this is where Paul really gets upset. Well, then, if God’s glorified by our unfaithfulness, let’s be unfaithful, so God will be even more glorified. And if he’s glorified by our unfaithfulness, why would he judge us? After all, we’re just helping him win the game.
And people, later people would argue, since grace abounds when sin abounds, right, let’s sin all the more. And he uses the phrase here earlier in the passage. It’s a Greek phrase. It’s meganoito. And he uses it in Romans 6. He uses it a little bit up, higher up here he uses the phrase meganoito.
And it usually is translated in your Bible. Of course not. Or may it never be. But it’s more emphatic than that. It’s just hard to find an emphatic enough way to translate it in English.
You know, it’s like, how dare you say such a thing? Or excuse me for saying this in church, but I had a Greek professor who said it. And since my seminary professor said it, I can say it. He said that the closest English equivalent would be hello, no.
And so he’s going to get to this. But what is the answer? What is the answer? And again, for us, circumcision represents all those religious practices we do. I’ve been baptized, I go to church, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. What value does it have then in the context of a relationship with Jesus?
This is the healthiest meal you’re ever going to eat. Apart from a relationship with Jesus, it’s bread and juice. That kind of keeps me from being a Catholic. I don’t think it works. Apart from our participation in it, it’s not magic.
What about baptism? I’ve been baptized. And if you believed your sins were washed away, the Holy Spirit refreshed and filled you. You died with Christ and rose to new life in him. If you didn’t believe, you got wet, you got wet.
What about going to church? If you worship God with the saints and you worship God by submitting to his word, and you prayed for one another and loved one another, and Jesus was among you and the Holy Spirit was there, it’s like Thanksgiving dinner every week. It’s a feast and a festival with the people you love.
I look forward to being here on Sunday nights. And there’s two reasons, him and you. That’s it. I mean, I love when the Millers come in. I was disappointed that we locked them out last week. I was glad that the door was open today.
Somebody came in before them and closed that back door. None of us looked. We were all getting texts. Hey, guys. Guys. Hey. Hey. They finally made it in. Yeah, the church of the open door. Just a little bit. But if you go to church, my dad.
My dad, he had some of this in him, some of this religious duty in him. And we were Catholic and they had holy days of obligation, right? So you had to go on Sunday, but then you’d have to go sometimes on a Monday or Wednesday or Saturday or some holy day of obligation.
And when we do that, he’d be coming home. He goes, well, I put one in the bank, you know, like, I suffered, but I went to church. That’s how we grew up. We grew up thinking, oh, yeah, church is something you have to do and you have to suffer through because God approves of it.
And somehow you’ll gain more God points if you put up with that boring hour that avails you nothing. That’s death. Not only is it death spiritually, but it reflects a profound stupidity on your part.
Why? Time is a precious commodity in life. Why waste it doing that? You know, I see people out walking and jogging on Sunday morning, and I get this little condemnation that rises.
A little Pharisee rises up. You should be going to church. You should be going to church. But they shouldn’t. Unless they’re hungry for what church offers. But as a duty, go jog. Go jog.
And so the point Paul is making here is everything God has done and how you respond, it has a purpose. But for the first century Jew that he’s talking with, and for many 20th century Churchianity, what he’s talking about is it’s not the purpose you think. It’s not. you’re earning brownie points with God by, you know, doing these things.
And that’s the better of the two options. Again, the worst. And this is the worst sin, and it happens in churches and it was happening in synagogues, and that is the sin of spiritual pride.
Right. You know, I’m a good Christian. I would never, you know, the caricature I always think of because I’m old Dana Carvey as the church lady on old Saturday Night Live, you know, just that whole picture.
And we know that that’s a caricature, but haven’t we all run into people who, you know, oh, just holier than thou. And it’s like, just be a person in love with Jesus. And so we have an inside track that 1st century Jews didn’t have until Paul kind of starts revealing it to them.
And our inside track is, oh, yeah, oh, yeah. Religion isn’t the prize. The rituals we practice, the habits we practice. You may have a habit. Getting up in the morning, having your quiet time. That’s a good habit. Reading your Bible, saying your prayers. You may have a habit of regular Sunday attendance at a house of worship. That’s a good habit.
You may have a habit of giving regularly. That’s a good habit. You may have a habit of receiving the sacrament. That’s a good habit. Tending to the Word of God, serving other people, praying and, you know, praying for your neighbors. Those are all. Those are all.
Ritual is important in life. Habits are important in life. Habits, intentionality. There is. There’s no progress in life without intentionality. And so discipline, spiritual disciplines have immense value inside of the relationship. Inside of the relationship.
Jill and I just spent, just had our 48th. Not our 48th anniversary, but our 48th Valentine celebration together. I gave her her engagement ring on Valentine’s Day in 1980. So we had our 48th.
And we’re, you know, we’re out at dinner, and I started counting up the years. Hey, this is 48. I was surprised it touched her because, you know, she’s been working at 911 so long, I don’t know if anything touches her anymore.
It’s like, yeah, what about it? We need tougher penalties on lawbreakers. That’s what I say. Like Sandra Bullock and Miss Congeniality, you know, it’s like tougher penalties on parole violators. But she goes, oh, kind of tears me up. And I thought, oh, that’s sweet.
And so I told these guys earlier, I said, and you know, I just looked into her eyes and I said, you know, if I had to do this all over again, I’d probably still marry you. Because I’m romantic. I’m the romantic one, you know, it’s like I’d probably still do it.
But all the things, listen, the things, the disciplines that we practice in marriage, the kindnesses we show to one another, the forgivenesses we extend to one another, the empathy and trying to understand the other person’s point of view, that’s love.
That’s love. It’s because the relationship is so valuable, you know, I want to guard it, I want to protect it. And so outward religion cannot save. But it’s just, it’s ironic that the very same things, the very same practices that outward religion has, we do from the inside.
But everything’s different. Everything’s different. I may, if I have a boss, you know, I’ll do what my boss says, right? Because I want to get paid, I don’t want to get fired. But in a marriage, I’ll please my wife because I earnestly desire her happiness, because I love her.
You know, I do all sorts of things I don’t get paid for, right? She does all sorts of things she doesn’t get paid for. She probably does more things. I’ll take the probably out of that. And so, dear ones, don’t do it. Don’t do it. And listen, we don’t. We know.
I know this crowd. I know who you are. There’s no pharisaical religious hypocrite here. There’s no self-righteous church lady here. But I will just say from my experience, that Pharisee is always knocking at the door, right?
You know, one place it really does is in my politics, right? I really like to villainize the other side and hold up my look how much better. Look how much smarter, look how much more righteous. And I just, it’s just good to be. I make it a habit on social media. I just, I don’t pick those fights.
There might be some time the Lord called me to go there, but I just don’t go there. Now, if you want me to argue with Josh about predestination, what that means, it’s on. But we’re friends, we can do it.
So dear ones, just keep that Pharisee at bay. Keep him at bay. Recognize when he pops up. Recognize when the little church lady is in your soul and just say, nope, nope, nope. It’s all about Jesus. I don’t care what anybody else thinks. I don’t care what anybody else. I don’t care what anybody else.
This one, old Methodist. This is a good. I told you bad stories about the old method. This is a good story about an old Methodist. This whole Methodist. He had been school principal, Scotty, as a principal, you know, so he was of the sect of the wise, you know, and he was this good.
He was this good. He was retired school principal. He had this deep voice, real tall guy. And after he said this, I thought, oh, my gosh, people must be. I didn’t know that people were talking bad about me, but I think that’s why he said it. And just the gossip hadn’t gotten to me yet.
But he walks by me on Sunday morning, he shakes my hand, he says, pastor, never forget this. What other people think and say about you is none of your business. And he walked along. I thought, that’s great. That’s a great singer. And then I thought, what are other people thinking and saying about me? Is there a fire that’s going on that I need to put out?
You know, for about five seconds? It made my day. And the rest of the week, it just kind of ruined it. It’s like, made me paranoid. But I’ve lived by that man. What other people say, none of my business. None of my business.
You got to please one person. You got to please one person if you’re married, maybe two if you’re my youth pastor. My youth pastor, he used to come to me and he was always concerned. Well, the parents this and the parents that. And his name was Steve Newbomb. I called him Newbie.
I said, newbie, what am I going to say? He says, kevin, you’re going to say, I just got to please God. And who else? you. I go, that’s it. And I’m happy. Check with God. He says, what about my wife? I said, that’s between you and her.
But as far as I’m concerned, just got to please God and me, Newbie, I’m happy. And even that, you know, was facetious. Jamie, who cares what those other moms say? In classical conversations, I’ve heard stuff, but who cares? None of your business. None of your business.
I imagine they say, wow, I’m glad she’s doing that, not me. That’s probably what they say. Yeah. All right, dear ones, let’s. I just invite you. Earlier, we just said, Jesus, come into the room, and he was already here. But just make us aware.
And my son-in-law had a vision in Bremerton one time. And you know, there are three stations at that church. There are three things up front. There’s Otz’s position up front where they run the computer and run the slides and the musicians and all that.
And then there’s the pulpit where they preach. And then there’s the communion table.And so there’s the worship, the word, and the sacrament. And it was interesting.
He said, you know, as I was in church, I saw, as we were singing and worshiping, I saw this lion just kind of walking behind the worship leaders and kind of circling them.
And then as you preached, the lion came, and he was circling you, and he was circling the pulpit. And then he said he went over to the communion table. And I’ll never forget what he said.
And he laid down. Isn’t that what communion is? Jesus saying, come eat with me. Come eat with me. So I think the lion of Judah is here tonight, and he’s resting, and he wants you to rest in him. So dear ones, come and take this meal. Be refreshed, be restored, be rejuvenated by him, because he’s the prize.
And apart from him, religion is not only worthless, it’s evil. But with him, everything we do is pregnant with meaning and relationship and purpose. Follow, come and eat.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
