Participants: Jeffery Rosario
Series Code: 13GYC
Program Code: 13GYC000005
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00:26 Lift up your heart in faith
00:32 For God is ever nigh you 00:38 Eager to bless his children 00:44 Mindful of every child 00:49 Lift up your heart in prayer 00:54 For God will ever heed you 01:00 Seek Him in every sorrow 01:06 Find Him in every need 01:11 Lift up your heart through tears of grief 01:17 He will give you peace 01:22 And heal you 01:28 Lift up your heart in praise of Him 01:35 who hath redeemed you 01:39 Praise His unfailing mercy 01:45 Praise His unchanging love 01:49 Lift up your heart, for by His might 01:56 He doth guard your path 02:00 And guide you 02:07 Lift up your heart unceasing 02:12 Praising the Savior's name 02:16 Lift up your heart for He hath ransomed you 02:22 Lift up your heart for He doth succor you 02:27 Lift up your heart for He doth offer you 02:33 A crown of everlasting life 02:50 A crown of everlasting life 03:15 Amen. Good evening. 03:16 Good evening. 03:19 Good evening GYC. 03:21 Good evening. 03:23 I have the privilege of attempting 03:27 to preach on this awesome theme before men and angels. 03:32 And I have to say that 03:34 thinking about this huge theme for this year's conference, 03:39 it's almost impossible to use language to capture the thing. 03:43 Amen. 03:44 Beside over that truth is even stranger than fiction. 03:49 The story, this idea 03:52 that you and I are living in this cosmic context is just-- 03:58 it's beyond my ability to explain. 04:03 As you know our passage is based on this phrase 04:08 from the Apostle Paul, the statement that Paul makes 04:11 as he is writing to the Church at Corinth 04:14 and what I want to do tonight, is I want to set a frame, 04:19 I want to set a context, the foundation 04:23 to talk about what does this mean. 04:25 What does this statement mean? 04:28 How does this statement have the potential 04:31 to totally give us a paradigm shift on how we view everything? 04:35 How we view ourselves and how we view God. 04:39 So I want to lay a foundation tonight 04:42 and then for the next two sermons 04:43 what we are going to do is we're going to-- 04:45 we're going to take the lens and we're going to zoom in 04:48 and I trust and I hope and hope you're praying for me 04:50 and I hope that God would give us a vision of His dream. 04:56 Just to capture a glimpse of His dream 05:00 and the implication for our generation 05:03 as young Adventist Christians 05:05 and the opportunity that we have. 05:08 That's my hope, that's my prayer 05:10 for a huge paradigm shift this weekend. 05:12 Can you say amen to that? Amen. 05:14 I am hoping for a huge paradigm shift this weekend 05:17 even as the one who's going to attempt 05:21 to put these things into words. 05:22 I'm going to kneel for prayer, 05:24 I invite you guys to just remain seated 05:25 and just bow your heads as we ask God 05:28 to make our time together, to make it productive, 05:32 challenging and inspiring. 05:34 Pray with me. 05:37 Father in Heaven, we thank you for the breath of life. 05:40 We thank you for the privilege of being alive today. 05:46 And tonight as we come together to open 05:50 the Holy Scriptures, to crack open your word, 05:52 my humble payer is that You would show up tonight. 05:58 And I pray that the same spirit that inspired these words 06:01 would be here to interpret the words 06:04 and to press them deep on our conscience. 06:10 That you would broaden our scope of the potential 06:13 that You see in us. 06:17 That You would give more clarity to how awesome You are. 06:22 But we pray for the spirit of God 06:23 to make all this possible tonight, 06:25 in Jesus name we thank you and we pray, amen. 06:31 Our theme as I mentioned and as you probably know 06:35 comes from this phrase, the statement 06:38 that Paul makes in the book 1st Corinthians. 06:41 I'm going to invite you to-- 06:43 to journey with me to 1st Corinthians, 06:45 Paul's first letter to the Church in Corinth 06:48 and there is a whole lot going on 06:50 in the book of 1st Corinthians. 06:52 In fact the church in Corinth is the messiest church 06:57 in the entire New Testament. 06:58 There is all kinds of craziness 07:01 happening in the Church of Corinth 07:03 and Paul is sort of just getting warmed up, 07:07 1st Corinthians Chapter 1, 2, 3. 07:08 He is setting the stage for these two huge letters 07:12 that he's going to write to this little church 07:14 and then when you get to Chapter 4:9, 07:16 this is where we get this crazy phrase from, 07:20 before men and angels. 07:21 And first Corinthians Chapter 4:9, 07:25 my Bible says this, "For I think that God has," 07:29 what's that next word? 07:31 Okay, "displayed us." 07:32 I want you to put that in your pocket 07:34 because that's my word, that's my word display. 07:37 Okay, I'm going to be dropping that word over and over again 07:40 through out the course of this weekend. 07:42 "God has displayed us the apostles 07:45 last as men condemned to death. 07:48 For we have been made" and there's our second word 07:52 "a spectacle". 07:55 We have been made a spectacle, 07:57 a spectacle to who? 07:59 Bible says before angels and to men. 08:04 There we go before men and angels. 08:07 This idea of God taking something 08:11 and putting it on display is deeply profound. 08:15 In Paul's theology, 08:18 the people of God are in exhibit. 08:21 A spectacle after all, it's something that you look at, 08:24 a spectacle is something people look at. 08:26 The purpose of a spectacle is for it to be seen, 08:30 for it to be watched, for it to be analyzed, right? 08:33 According to Paul, that's what we are, 08:35 he is speaking of the Church, okay? 08:40 The display is put before two totally different dimensions. 08:45 The display is put before the angels 08:47 and it's also put before men. 08:49 Now this idea, we'll be exploring more of this 08:52 throughout the weekend but this idea, it's not-- 08:55 it's not unique to this particular book, 08:57 you find Paul using this type of language 09:00 in the different letters that he wrote. 09:02 You find this type of-- this type of idea 09:04 in the different epistles of Paul for example, 09:07 from 1st Corinthians if you hang a write 09:09 and go to Ephesians Chapter 3, turn with me quickly here 09:13 as we set some foundation. 09:15 In Ephesians Chapter 3, now Paul is writing 09:17 to an entirely different Christian community 09:20 and he uses the same concept in order to try 09:24 to bring into focus what these people should, 09:28 how these people should think about themselves 09:32 and how they should think about God, okay? 09:36 These are ingredients that Paul is throwing out there 09:39 in order to help bring-- to fine tune the way 09:44 the community thinks about itself 09:46 and the way it thinks about God. 09:48 In Ephesians Chapter 3, 09:49 we're there, can you say hallelujah? 09:50 Hallelujah. 09:52 Okay, the Bible says this. 09:55 Now I am jumping right in the middle of this, 09:57 this powerful, powerful argument that he is presenting. 10:00 But in verse 10 it says and the context is 10:03 what Jesus has been up to in this world 10:08 and Jesus being the fulfillment of the promises of God 10:12 to humanity, verse 10, 10:14 Ephesians Chapter 3, to the intent. 10:18 Another way to say that would be for the purpose of, okay? 10:24 That now the manifold wisdom of God 10:28 might be made known by the Church 10:32 to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, okay. 10:39 In that statement according to Paul, 10:43 the biggest concern that is weighing on God's heart 10:47 is to make his manifold wisdom understood, 10:52 to make it available, okay? 10:55 Now if you look at the text who is God 10:57 trying to make His wisdom available to? 11:00 The Bible tells us here that he is trying to make it 11:03 available to the principalities and powers 11:05 in heavenly places, okay? 11:08 And the agent-- the agent of that revelation 11:12 is not some big magic trick that Jesus came to do. 11:16 It's not some big aabra ka daabra 11:18 that Jesus does on this-- in this world. 11:23 The magic trick is basically the church. 11:30 Through the church, 11:32 God is putting something on display 11:36 that according to God when this thing gets on display 11:40 the entire universe will see something about God 11:45 that it would otherwise never be able to see. 11:50 Okay the manifold wisdom of God 11:54 made known to the principalities 11:55 and powers in the heavenly places 11:57 by the church, that's Ephesians 3:10. 11:59 Guys, if you're thinking, 12:00 if you got your thinking caps on, 12:02 that should blow your mind, that is crazy. 12:05 We were to digest those words, 12:08 it is amazing what the implications are. 12:11 Basically you and I, the church, 12:16 nobody is down here on this earth. 12:19 We have the potential to make something about God. 12:23 To make some detail about God, 12:25 some dimension about who God is and what God is like? 12:30 We have the potential of making 12:31 that mysterious dimension available, 12:35 making that known, giving access to that, 12:39 to that dimension of God that would 12:41 otherwise not be available to the whole universe. 12:44 So in essence this is why you read these weird verses 12:47 for example, 1st Peter 1:12 if you're taking notes. 12:49 It says that the angels of God are interested 12:53 and they're looking into the outplaying 12:57 of the plan of salvation of what Jesus accomplished 13:00 with humanity, with the human race, okay? 13:04 Peter tells us that the angels are so intensely interested 13:07 that they are just-- basically they got 13:09 their nose on the window and they're just like 13:10 watching what's happening down here. 13:13 This is why Jesus says things like in Luke 15, 13:16 I think it's verse 10 that whenever 13:18 something powerful takes place with a human being 13:21 on this planet, there is a party 13:24 among the angels in heaven, isn't that what it says? 13:27 In other words there is this picture 13:28 that heaven is very intimately, 13:32 what do I want to say involved with what's happening 13:35 on earth in the lives of apparently insignificant people. 13:39 It's powerful, it's amazing. 13:41 And I would want to go as far as to say 13:43 that human beings now are able to come 13:46 into a closeness with God 13:48 that even the angels themselves will never experience. 13:52 Think about that. 13:54 You looked-- you looked at yourself 13:55 in the mirror this morning, 13:56 you think about your life, who you are. 13:59 You think about what is worthy of example 14:01 in your life and what isn't. 14:03 You, simple "ou" apparently insignificant you, 14:08 the angels will learn something about God 14:11 through you that they would otherwise have no access to, 14:13 is that powerful or what? 14:16 That's the ultimate. 14:17 That's the ultimate-- that's the ultimate compliment, 14:21 so backing on to this big picture, 14:23 this is what Paul sets the stage as. 14:26 He want's the Christian community 14:28 to operate with his paradigm. 14:30 This is what's happening. 14:32 This little planet in the vastness 14:34 of God's endless universe, 14:36 this is a little speck in God's universe. 14:40 And it's this little planet, 14:41 this little corner of God's universe 14:43 that has rebelled against its own creator. 14:45 CS Lewis calls it enemy occupied territory, right? 14:48 Now think about this the one single-- 14:50 the one little speck in the universe 14:52 that has rebelled against God will eventually become 14:55 the headquarters for the kingdom of God. 14:57 Revelation tells us that the New Jerusalem 15:00 comes down and where does it-- where does it settle? 15:04 It doesn't settle on Mars or in Saturn, right? 15:07 It settles on this planet. 15:08 This planet becomes the headquarters 15:10 of God's kingdom. 15:12 Your backyard becomes the capital 15:16 of the kingdom of God. 15:17 This is the grand scope of what Paul is talking about. 15:21 And his burden is if the church 15:24 can even begin to grasp the significance of that. 15:32 What would happen? What would be the potential? 15:34 Okay, so let's get to work. 15:37 Paul wants you to know you're on display. 15:41 He wants you to know that the world is watching 15:45 and the question that begs is, what does the world see? 15:51 If the world is watching 15:53 and if we're supposed to be in tune 15:55 with the fact that we're on display 15:56 and the world is watching the question is, 15:58 what does the world see? 16:00 I'll be honest with you, this whole business 16:02 about angels watching us, I don't really have access 16:05 to that stuff, I can't really grapple with that, 16:07 that's a mystery to me. 16:09 But what we could prayer on is this whole concept of 16:11 "We are on display before men" because that we can-- 16:15 we can get farther with that. 16:17 What is it that Paul wants us to walk away with, 16:20 with this idea that we are on display before men. 16:23 He wants us to know that the world is watching. 16:28 Now I am going to argue tonight 16:29 that the entire scope of scripture 16:31 is this one single story of this significant idea. 16:35 Listen to what I am saying guys, 16:36 some of the stuff may be-- may sound a little weird, 16:39 but listen to what I am saying. 16:42 Some of us may be prone to feel, 16:45 to assume this attitude, I am going to be faithful to God 16:49 and I don't care what the world thinks of me. 16:54 Can somebody say you meant to that? 16:56 You probably won't 'cause you think it's a trap, right? 16:58 It is a trap, all right. 17:01 This idea I'm going to be faithful to God 17:04 and I don't care how the world perceives me. 17:10 I'm going to argue tonight that, that doesn't capture 17:15 God's greater vision. 17:17 That that is in fact an unbiblical way 17:19 to perceive yourself and to perceive how God perceives you. 17:23 Hey, the element of scripture that tells us 17:26 repeatedly over and over again in different threads 17:30 throughout the entire Bible is this simple truth. 17:35 God is concerned with how the world perceives us. 17:41 I got two amen on that. 17:43 God is concerned with how the world perceives us. 17:46 Why is God concerned with how other world perceives us? 17:49 Because how the world perceives us 17:51 will effect how the world perceives Him. 17:54 Amen. 17:55 Are you with me? Yes. 17:57 And how the world perceives God 17:59 determines how the world relates to God, yes or no? 18:04 And this whole business of relating to God 18:06 is what the whole show is about, right? 18:10 God wants us to operate with a high sense of awareness 18:17 that the world is watching. 18:21 And in fact, when you think of the foundation 18:25 of the Great Controversy theme, 18:28 after all this is what the whole weekend is about. 18:29 We're in this Great Controversy, 18:31 we use that language that just rolls off of the tongue, 18:34 it becomes cliché if we're not careful, yeah? 18:38 What's the whole Great Controversy thing about? 18:41 The age old question, why didn't God destroy the devil 18:45 before we got into this big mess? 18:49 I mean in public evangelism you get that question thrown on you 18:51 every single, every single opportunity, right? 18:55 Why didn't God just blow the devil away? 18:59 The simplest way to put it, 19:02 is because were God to do that 19:08 it would look bad. 19:13 Is that true, yes or no? Yes. 19:14 The reason God could not eliminate 19:18 this controversy at its inception 19:21 is because were God to step into that situation 19:24 and take care of business just like that, 19:27 immediately there would be false perceptions 19:30 of who God actually is. 19:32 And so the controversy continues, because guys, 19:35 at the end of the day listen to this. 19:37 The essence of the Great Controversy 19:39 is essentially centered on how God is perceived. 19:45 That's what the whole thing is about, 19:47 how God is perceived. 19:49 God knows that he is love. 19:52 God knows that the essence of his character is beauty 19:55 just his righteousness and love, He knows that. 19:58 The problem is does everybody else know that? 20:01 You with me? 20:03 The whole thing is about perception, 20:05 the whole thing is about what will God look like. 20:08 The whole thing is about, will God be understood to be 20:13 who He is and what He is like. 20:16 That's the story of the Bible, 20:17 that's the story of the controversy. 20:19 Tonight I want to say that this idea, 20:21 Paul didn't just pull this out of a hat one day. 20:23 He didn't just wake up one morning and say 20:25 "before men and angels" that's the catch you want, 20:27 that's the catch you want, after the mail to Corinth. 20:32 He didn't just pull that out of a hat. 20:33 When Paul-- when Paul breaks down this big picture, 20:36 this cosmic context, He is basically borrowing 20:40 from the entire Old Testament. 20:42 This ideology is Old Testament ideology. 20:45 It's what the whole thing is about. 20:48 Think about this. 20:50 When you read the Old Testament 20:51 you're basically encountering a people, okay? 20:56 You're encountering a people who are struggling 20:58 to figure out the significance of this 21:00 and you're encountering God 21:04 who realizes that the stakes are high 21:06 for these people to realize this. 21:08 Think about this, think about Israel, 21:09 I am speaking about Israel. 21:11 Your Old Testament it basically made up of books 21:15 of the prophets, right? 21:16 The prophetic writings, think about this. 21:18 Every prophet that was sent, that is in the Old Testament 21:21 was sent not to the heathen world, 21:23 the prophets were sent to who everybody? 21:28 To who everybody? Israel. 21:29 To the people of God, right? 21:31 And the prophets were sent, sent to the people of God 21:34 with one overwhelming burden and here's the burden. 21:38 Ah, what are you doing? 21:45 The gentiles are watching. 21:49 What are they going to think about God? 21:54 Is that oversimplification 21:56 of the message of the Old Testament? 22:00 It just blows my mind, it's kind of like-- 22:02 now I drive a Ford Focus, you know 22:03 and now I see them everywhere. 22:06 But I didn't see them anywhere before I drove one, right? 22:08 It's once you see something, once you get in something 22:11 you see it everywhere. 22:12 I see this concept now all through scripture, 22:14 I can't even get my eyes out of this concept. 22:16 Everywhere I open up it's right there staring at me. 22:19 The whole message of the Old Testament was essentially that. 22:21 Think about the biblical narrative. 22:23 Think about all the mighty nations 22:25 and historical figures that poke their head up in scripture. 22:29 Think about the ancient kingdom of Babylon. 22:32 Think about Cyrus. 22:33 You know, all these names that come up. 22:35 Think about Nebuchadnezzar, think about Caesar in Rome. 22:39 Why are these nations and big figures 22:42 in history even in your Bible at all? 22:46 Why? 22:48 For one simple reason, because they just 22:50 so happened to rub shoulders and bump into who? 22:55 The Jews. 22:56 They bumped into Israel and therefore 22:58 they made the cut, right? 23:01 That's the only reason Caesar's in there, 23:02 that's the only reason Rome is in there. 23:04 Because Israel happens to be rubbing shoulders with Roman 23:07 therefore Caesar is worthy of mention 23:09 in the biblical narrative. 23:11 Do you understand what I am saying? 23:12 The implication here is, yes he is-- 23:15 Rome, the greatest empire of its time. 23:17 Yeah, that's important. Egypt, the pharaohs. 23:19 Yeah, that's important. Only because Israel is involved. 23:25 Isn't that a beautiful thing? 23:27 It shows that the whole-- the whole story of scripture 23:30 is just wrapped around God's deep impressing concern. 23:35 That he has these people on display 23:38 and that the gentiles are watching 23:40 and what they see will affect how they see that 23:42 and how they see that will affect 23:43 on how they relate to that 23:45 and that's what's breaking God's heart, 23:49 how they relate to Him. 23:52 So we have statements that tell us 23:54 that the journey of the children of Israel 23:57 throughout scripture is essentially parallel 24:04 to the journey of God's people in the end time. 24:06 We're familiar with this, the attitude of Israel 24:10 before the first coming of Jesus 24:14 gives us a glimpse of the attitude of God's people 24:16 before the second coming of Jesus. 24:18 The Jews going through-- the Israelites going through 24:20 the wilderness towards the Promised Land 24:22 is a lesson book for the people of God 24:24 going through the wilderness to heavenly king. 24:27 Amen, are you with me? Amen. 24:29 Familiar stuff, yea? 24:32 What was God's dream for Israel? 24:36 What was God's dream for Israel? 24:38 We know already that Israel being God's people 24:41 throughout the Old Testament that the essence 24:44 of their existence was to be put on display. 24:48 Let's go back, let's go way back. 24:51 Let's look at Genesis Chapter 12 24:55 and in a few strokes here we're going to basically 24:59 paint the picture 25:02 of this bumpy and messy journey of Israel. 25:09 And how by looking at Israel 25:11 we are basically staring in the mirror 25:14 and we're looking at the potential, 25:18 the potential of God's dreams be naturalized 25:24 in our very generation. 25:25 Are you in Genesis 12? Can you say, amen? 25:27 Amen. May I read? 25:29 Yes. 25:30 All right, here we go Genesis Chapter 12. 25:32 By the way what comes before Genesis Chapter 12? 25:35 Don't say Genesis Chapter 11, don't be a smarty pants. 25:39 Genesis Chapter 11, what's going on in Genesis Chapter 11? 25:43 In Genesis Chapter 11 you have the tower of -- 25:48 Amen. Am I right? 25:49 Did I get that right? 25:51 The Tower of Babel, and what's going on 25:52 in the Tower of Babel? 25:53 What's going on? 25:57 You have the world in a global state of darkness so to speak. 26:02 Genesis 11 in the picture that it shows, 26:03 it shows a unified rebellion against God. 26:08 A unified determination to move 26:12 through human civilization, to establish human civilization 26:16 without God in the picture, yeah? 26:19 The world is in unified darkness, 26:22 gross darkness covers the people, 26:25 there is a mess. 26:26 We have a problem, ladies and gentleman, yeah? 26:29 How is God going to solve this problem 26:32 as God is looking for His choices of solutions, 26:35 what is He going to pull out of his pocket? 26:37 What will He pull out of his pocket? 26:38 What is the thing? 26:40 What is the magic trick that God is going to use 26:44 to recover human civilization from the darkness 26:49 of the Tower of Babel? 26:50 What will God do? What's the magic trick? 26:53 Genesis Chapter 12 26:55 and what's in Genesis Chapter 12? 26:59 May be we should read it. 27:02 "And God said to a man, some man, some guy, all right? 27:08 Some guy will be part of God's magic trick 27:12 and God and the Lord God says to Abraham 27:16 "Get out of your country, from your family, 27:18 from your father's house to a land that I will show you" 27:21 verse 2, "I will make you a great nation, 27:24 I will bless you and make your name great and you-- 27:27 what does that say? You shall be a what? 27:30 You shall be a blessing, 27:33 I will bless those who bless you 27:36 and I will curse him who curses you 27:38 and in you, what does the text say? 27:40 All the families of the earth shall be blessed. 27:44 The magic trick that God comes up with, 27:46 to solve the Genesis 11 problem. 27:49 To solve the darkness on earth problem. 27:51 To solve the problem that the concept, 27:54 the character of God. 27:55 The perception of who God is and what is he like 27:58 is in total darkness. 27:59 And the way that God is going to figure out 28:02 how to solve that problem is by calling Abraham 28:06 and electing Abraham to be the representative 28:10 of a new culture that God will introduce on planet earth. 28:15 So that through this new culture, 28:18 the world would be exposed to who God is 28:24 and what He is actually like? 28:27 The call of Abraham is God's epic intervention, 28:32 epic cultural intervention. 28:35 This is the beginning here of what will be traced 28:38 from Genesis Chapter 12 all the way through 28:40 to the end of your Old Testament and folks look at the Bible, 28:43 look at your Bible. 28:44 That's a whole lot of ground, right? 28:47 That's a lot of ground to cover from Genesis 28:49 to all the way through to the end of Malachi. 28:51 The story is very, very linear. 28:56 And the story is essentially the history of the bumpy, 29:01 messy journey of this Church that would come out of Abraham, 29:05 to figure out the significance that they are on display, 29:10 they are in exhibit, they are a spectacle 29:12 and that the world is watching and that-- 29:15 listen carefully to what I'm saying, 29:16 listen carefully and put this in your pocket. 29:18 That God's reputation is in their hands. 29:23 God's reputation is in their hands 29:27 and that means that the stakes are really, really high. 29:33 What the Jews bring to the table 29:35 is that the Jews bring the greatest gifts 29:37 this world has ever seen. 29:39 The Jews bring it to the table, 29:43 the Jews bring the two gifts, right? 29:45 The written word, right? 29:48 And the living word 29:49 and the person of the Messiah will come. 29:52 Those are the two greatest gifts 29:53 humanity has ever received, yes or no? 29:56 The Jews are the ones that are designated to bring this thing 29:59 to the table but here are the beginning stages of it. 30:02 The Jews are basically the ones that introduced 30:05 the idea of monotheism, that there is only one God 30:08 and I know we can appreciate that 30:09 'cause we're in Orlando, Florida. 30:11 That seems a bit obvious to some of you 30:13 as you look around you. 30:15 But the Jews bring this innovation to human experience 30:18 and they change the game. 30:21 They bring meaning 30:22 and significance back into humanity. 30:24 That the way we view ourselves is that history is linear, 30:28 it's not cyclical, it's not just some vicious cycle. 30:36 The future is real and the past is real 30:39 and individual decisions actually mean something. 30:42 So in Genesis Chapter 12 you have the beginning here 30:44 of this culture being formulated. 30:46 Now what is a-- what is a culture? 30:49 I mean sociology tells us that culture is basically 30:52 the ideals, the norms, 30:56 the customs and traditions of a group of people, right? 31:00 That's a culture. 31:01 And that finds expression through their literature, 31:04 through their music, through their food. 31:08 A culture is the ways of a people, their ideals, 31:10 their customs, their traditions. 31:11 Something would happen through these people 31:13 that when the world is exposed to it 31:16 they will think that God is awesome 31:18 and that God is beautiful and that whole encounter 31:21 has everything to do with solving the problem 31:24 of the Great Controversy between good and evil, 31:27 an unlikely solution. 31:29 So Genesis Chapter 12 we go, the Jews come on the scene 31:32 and the story unfolds and Moses comes into the picture. 31:35 Now we're in the Deuteronomy. 31:37 Now we're in Deuteronomy where they're being reminded. 31:41 If you can follow me here quickly 31:42 through this very short history of the Jews. 31:44 Now they are in Deuteronomy and the people 31:47 have been journeying, the people have been delivered 31:49 from bondage and now they are trying to recalibrate themselves 31:53 and figure out who they are, what their purpose is 31:56 and what will their contribution be to society, right? 31:59 So in Deuteronomy if you will, Deuteronomy Chapter 4, 32:04 listen to what happens here in Deuteronomy Chapter 4 32:06 where the people are now reminded to get in tune 32:10 with what God's original purpose was. 32:13 If you are in Deuteronomy 4, say amen. 32:14 Amen. Are you sleepy, yet? 32:16 No. Jetlag? 32:19 No, you are with me? Yes. 32:20 Okay, we're in Deuteronomy, what Chapter? 32:23 Four. That's the big test, isn't it? 32:26 Four, Deuteronomy Chapter 4 and I'm reading from verse 6. 32:28 Follow with me here. 32:31 It says this, "Therefore be careful to observe them." 32:35 To observe them, he is talking about 32:37 the whole cultural paradigm of who they are as a people, 32:42 including every aspect of their sociological existence, okay. 32:46 "So be careful to observe them for this is your wisdom 32:50 and your understanding in the side of the peoples 32:55 who will hear all these statues and say, surely." 32:58 What are they saying? 32:59 "This nation is a wise and understanding people." 33:03 And then he cuts back to, to addressing them. 33:06 "For what great nation is there that has God so near to it. 33:10 As the Lord our God is near to us. 33:14 For what ever reason we may call up on Him," 33:16 verse 8, "And what great nation is there that has such statues 33:19 and righteous judgments as our in all this law 33:22 which I set before you this day. 33:24 Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, 33:28 lest you forget." 33:30 Lest you forget, so listen to what I'm saying here. 33:32 In Deuteronomy Moses now has assembled the people, 33:37 okay, this is a new generation now. 33:39 This is a new generation and the new generation 33:42 needs to be reminded of what the whole thing was about. 33:46 And as they receive the reminder 33:48 it sounds a little bit like this. 33:49 Everything you have received, all of your statues, 33:53 all of your decrees, your whole cultural blueprint, 33:57 everything you have received is for the simple purpose. 34:01 So that the nations around you may look at you and say... 34:07 wow. 34:10 We've never seen a nation on this planet like this 34:14 whose God is so close to them. 34:16 In other words, that's what the gentiles 34:18 are supposed to be reacting like. 34:21 Amen. Amen. 34:23 That is the intended reaction, 34:26 that is the intended result of Israelite culture. 34:31 When people get exposed to it, it will blow their minds. 34:37 They will see something so beautiful, so sublime, 34:40 so awesome that the logical question is, 34:45 who in the world are these people 34:47 and who is their God that is so amazing? 34:50 Amen. That was the intended result. 34:52 That's what solved, 34:54 that is part of God's magic trick 34:56 to wrap this thing up, we call The Great Controversy, 35:00 this chaos, this hell that you and I live in 35:04 on this planet, this great battle 35:06 between the forces of good and the forces of evil. 35:09 The way that that thing get solved is by 35:11 putting on display something beautiful, 35:15 something compelling, something incredibly relevant 35:18 that meets the direct needs of the nations around them 35:23 and all they have to do is bump into these people 35:29 and the people will marvel. 35:30 So essentially they were supposed to demonstrate 35:32 that the ways of the God of Israel 35:33 was the most beautiful and fulfilling way to think, 35:37 to feel and to experience reality. 35:40 So now we get to things like Prophets and Kings 35:43 and these beautiful statements you read 35:46 from the pen of Ellen White. 35:47 These beautiful statements that summarized God's dream 35:50 and she says things like, "It was in order 35:53 that the Israelites might be a blessing to the nations 35:56 that God's name may be made known throughout all the earth 36:00 that they would deliver from Egyptian bondage. 36:03 They were to be placed far in advance of other peoples 36:10 in wisdom and understanding so that their supremacy 36:15 was to be reached and maintained 36:16 only in order that through them the purpose of God 36:20 for all nations of the earth might be fulfilled." 36:24 She continues, "that they were to be made 36:27 marvels of prosperity." 36:29 What do you think of that language? 36:31 The church was intended to be a marvel of prosperity. 36:36 Why? 36:38 So we can walk around padding ourselves in the back. 36:42 Marvels of prosperity-- 36:45 so that attention would be drawn 36:49 to the beautiful character of Jehovah. 36:51 Amen. 36:52 And here's the last one line I'll give you there. 36:54 Even the heathen would recognize 36:56 the superiority of those who served in worship, the holy God. 37:01 It was never about them. Yes. 37:04 Never. 37:05 And every time you see the prophets go in there 37:07 and smack them up a little bit is because they lost focus. 37:11 They began to think it was all about them 37:13 because they had the truth 37:14 and because they had the message 37:15 because they had proper conceptions. 37:17 And I'll get to that in a second, 37:19 it was never about them, 37:20 it was always about mirroring something awesome. 37:25 It was always about living with a high sense of awareness 37:28 of what are the gentiles thinking 37:32 because that's what the controversies about 37:34 how God is perceived? 37:36 So check this out. 37:37 As you continue through, you get to the Major Prophets, 37:40 into the Minor Prophets and you just run 37:42 into little glimpses of God's dream. 37:45 God is just dreaming. 37:46 When these prophets were done, 37:47 they were writing down God's dreams for Israel. 37:51 God was dreaming on paper, for example. 37:54 What do you make of Zechariah, 37:55 can you follow me there? 37:57 Zechariah, probably thinking where in the world is that? 38:03 You can find Malachi right at the end of the Old Testament. 38:06 You find Malachi at the end of the Old Testament 38:08 hang a left and you run into Zechariah. 38:13 Remember Zechariah Chapter 8, 38:15 I'm gonna read this because the clock is ticking. 38:17 Zechariah Chapter 8, listen to this 38:20 and tell me how awesome this is. 38:23 Zechariah 8:21, again this is God just dreaming. 38:27 He's just dreaming on paper. 38:29 Verse 21, Zechariah Chapter 8, 38:32 "The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, 38:36 'Let us continue to go and pray before the Lord 38:39 and seek the Lord of host, I myself will go also.'" 38:43 Verse 22, "Yes, many people and strong nations 38:47 will come to seek the Lord of host in," where? 38:50 "In Jerusalem." 38:52 That's like Loma Linda, right? 38:54 At the headquarters they are gonna be flocking 38:58 to come to the headquarters. 39:00 Why are they coming to Jerusalem, folks? 39:03 They heard some rumors. 39:05 They heard rumors that God is there 39:07 and the beauty of God can be encountered there. 39:10 Can you say amen to that? Amen. 39:12 Verse 23, skipping down, verse 23, 39:15 "Thus says the Lord of host, 'In those days ten men 39:18 from every language of the nation shall,'" 39:19 I love this, 39:21 "They shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man. 39:25 And they'll say, let us go if you for we have heard 39:27 that God is with you." 39:30 How awesome is that? Amen. 39:33 That's what the whole point, that was the whole point 39:35 of the whole thing. 39:37 Think about that guys, think about that God is dreaming. 39:41 There's supposed to be people pulling on your clothes 39:43 on your way to Sabbath? 39:46 You shouldn't be able to get from your door to your car 39:48 without people grabbing your clothes, right? 39:52 They shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man and say, 39:54 take us with you. 39:55 This is the type of impact that God intended 39:58 the church to have. 40:00 What about the Queen of Sheba? 40:02 What about the Queen of Sheba? 40:04 She comes, she travels why is she traveling to see-- 40:07 to see the great Solomon, 40:08 the great Jewish king, the great-- 40:10 Why? 40:11 Because she's heard rumors, rumors have traveled 40:14 all the way to her empire that there is a people 40:17 called the Israelites and they have access 40:20 to some amazing things, 40:22 she comes, she sits at Solomon's feet. 40:24 When you read 1st Kings Chapter 10, 40:26 it will blow your mind. 40:29 She opens her heart and shares all the dilemmas 40:31 and the perplexes, every question she had 40:33 and Solomon was able to answer 40:35 every single one of her questions 40:37 as she says the rumors I heard 40:38 they are not even half. 40:42 They are not even half of what I've experienced here, 40:44 she goes back to her-- to her country 40:46 and she takes back some a piece of Jewish culture. 40:51 Can you say amen to that? Amen. 40:58 All through scripture, guys, you see it over and over again 41:02 for the sake of God's name, 41:03 for the sake of God's name, 41:05 for the sake of God's name so that the gentiles, 41:11 so that the gentiles won't get it wrong, 41:13 that's what the thing is about, that's what the thing is about. 41:18 You get that over and over again, Ezekiel 36:21, 41:21 we're told that God has a concern 41:23 for what the gentiles think, it's right there. 41:27 In Ezekiel Chapter 20 there is a-- 41:29 there is a historical sweep giving of the history of Israel. 41:33 Their entrance into bondage in Egypt, 41:34 their deliverance from Egypt, their time in the wilderness, 41:37 they enters into the Promised Land 41:38 and you know what the summary there is? 41:40 Four different times, Ezekiel says, 41:42 "God did this, 41:47 so that His name would be glorified among the gentiles." 41:51 Over and over again you get the same picture, guys. 41:56 You trace that other way too and you boom, 41:57 you run into the dead-end at the end of Malachi. 41:59 And you turn the page and now you're back 42:01 in the New Testament and now we are back at the feet of Paul. 42:07 The same Paul that painted this crazy picture 42:09 that the church is on displayed that the church is respected 42:12 whether the church is an exhibit 42:13 where the world is supposed to encounter 42:16 some rich culture that shows God to be awesome 42:19 and beautiful and amazing. 42:21 Now you are back to Paul himself 42:23 and I'm wrapping this thing up. 42:24 You're in Romans Chapter 2. 42:27 Turn quickly with, to Romans Chapter 2, please. 42:31 Romans Chapter 2, listen to this, 42:33 this is amazing, okay? 42:35 This is amazing. 42:36 Now we are in New Testament times. 42:40 All this historical heritage is behind us now, 42:43 now we are into days of Paul, 42:45 and now we get a picture of why Paul paints this-- 42:49 this grandiose picture so that the church can figure out, 42:52 oh, that's what it's about, that's what it's about. 42:56 Romans 2:24, we get this devastating indictment 43:01 from the pen of Paul. 43:04 Romans 2:24, what does it say? 43:06 It says, he's quoting by the way, 43:09 it says this, "For the name of God is," what does it say? 43:14 "Blaspheme among the gentiles because of you." 43:20 As it is written he's building this huge case 43:24 and why the Jews failed? 43:26 Why did the plan go off the rails? 43:29 Why is it that by the time we get to the times 43:31 when Jesus is supposed to make a safe landing 43:35 into this world? 43:36 Why is that when-- 43:37 when the runway was supposed to be smooth out, 43:41 that the hills where supposed to be lowered and flattened 43:44 and the ditches were supposed to be raised. 43:46 So that when Jesus comes and he lands on the shore, 43:48 it's a smooth landing and the world is ready for Him. 43:50 What you have in scriptures is the exact opposite. 43:53 When Jesus shows up to this world 43:54 it's a crash landing, isn't it? 43:58 It's mayday, mayday, emergency, 44:00 the world's not ready to receive Him, right? 44:03 And Paul says, 44:07 "The name of God is blasphemed among the gentiles." 44:10 And for you, guys, we just went from-- 44:12 from the beginning all the way through 44:14 back to Paul and it's the same old story, 44:16 this is what the thing is about. 44:18 Actually I read this in a modern translation, 44:21 though I'm not a huge fan, 44:23 I read this in the modern translation 44:25 and it's pretty compelling. 44:27 I want you to listen to this, 44:29 this is from the message translation and this is-- 44:33 this is the big chunk of Romans Chapter 2. 44:35 And this is what it essentially says. 44:36 It may even come up on your screen. 44:38 In Romans Chapter 2, this is what it says 44:40 from verses 17 onward, it says, 44:43 "If you're bought up Jewish, don't assume 44:46 that you can lean back in the arms of your religion 44:48 and take it easy, feeling smug because you're an insider 44:53 to God's revelation, a connoisseur 44:55 of the best things of God, 44:57 informed on the latest doctrines! 45:00 I have a special word of caution for you 45:05 who are sure that you have it all together yourselves 45:08 and because you know God's revealed Word inside 45:12 and out, and feel qualified to guide others 45:14 through their blind alleys and dark nights 45:16 and confused emotions to God. 45:19 While you are guiding others, 45:21 who is going to guide you? 45:25 I'm quite serious. While preaching 'Don't steal!' 45:28 Are you going to rob people blind? 45:30 Who would suspect you? 45:31 The same with adultery. The same with idolatry. 45:34 You can get by with almost anything 45:35 if you front it with eloquent talk about God and His law. 45:39 The line from scripture, 'It's because of you Jews 45:42 that the outsiders are down on God,' 45:44 shows that it's an old problem." 45:49 The whole thing that Paul is drawing here guys 45:51 is he is trying to draw attention back 45:54 to where the thing is supposed to be. 45:57 Devastating failure, first century Christianity, 46:00 the days of Jesus, Jesus now, 46:03 Jesus now enters into the story, 46:05 Jesus now enters into the frame 46:08 and the purpose for Jesus now as He enters 46:11 into this crazy complex world 46:14 where most people have a word concept of who God is, 46:18 Jesus purpose is now to correct the picture, 46:22 to paint a better picture, to carry--to carry a portrait 46:27 and to tell people no, no, no, no 46:28 this is what God is like. 46:32 Jesus is constantly going head to head 46:35 with a religious establishment of his day. 46:37 Jesus' great burden is to paint the right picture 46:40 every point that, that the Jews fail, 46:42 that Israel failed, Jesus comes into the picture 46:48 to pick up where Israel fell. 46:50 You see this all through His life, 46:52 you see through the story of Jesus 46:53 so, you see this in subtle ways, 46:55 you see this in explicit ways. 46:58 The Jews, the Israelites pass through the Red Sea 47:00 in their 40 years in the wilderness, 47:02 Jesus gets baptized in the Jordan 47:04 and he spends how many days? 47:07 40 days in the wilderness. 47:09 As the Israelites 47:10 were journeying through the wilderness 47:12 they receive the Book of Deuteronomy. 47:16 That refocuses the whole point of why they exist, 47:20 Jesus is in the wilderness and He quotes scripture 47:24 to defend himself against temptation 47:25 and what book does He quote from? 47:28 He quotes from the Book of Deuteronomy. 47:29 Jesus is trying to say in very clear tone, 47:32 very loudly that He is the true Israel 47:35 because Jesus, young people, 47:38 Jesus succeeded where the church failed. 47:41 Amen. 47:43 Jesus came to this world to pick up the mess, 47:47 to pick up the misconceptions, 47:50 to pick up the word perception of who God is 47:53 and what He is like, Jesus came and he pick that thing up 47:55 and He put it on His shoulders and the brokenness 47:58 of Israelite culture, every thing. 48:01 Jesus took all of that to the cross 48:04 and He flipped the page to begin a new page, a new story. 48:08 Amen. Amen. 48:10 Enter Adventism, enter the here and the now. 48:16 Brothers and sisters, I'm hugely burdened. 48:21 It seems to me that we are sitting 48:25 on an amazing responsibility and opportunity 48:28 to paint a beautiful picture of what, 48:31 of who God is and of what God is like. 48:34 Enter Adventist culture, enter our ideals, 48:40 our philosophy of life, 48:44 our perspective on every aspect of living, 48:49 think about our customs, our traditions, 48:51 the whole point of all of that 48:54 instead of when people get exposure to it, 48:57 they're supposed to walk away thinking, wow. 49:01 God is awesome and God is beautiful. 49:04 Amen. 49:05 Amen. Amen. 49:07 Tonight I'm gonna be a party pooper. 49:11 Well this is, I feel a huge burden. 49:15 And I want to raise a question here 49:16 I'm not coming to the table to provide a list of answers, 49:19 I'm coming here to raise a question? 49:22 Are we doing that? 49:24 When the world looks at us what does the world think? 49:29 Is it possible that we have deceived ourselves 49:32 into thinking we're just gonna be faithful to God, 49:35 we're gonna be loyal to God and we don't care 49:37 what the world thinks about and all along we didn't realize 49:40 that faithfulness to God includes 49:44 in awareness and a concern for how the world perceives us. 49:48 Amen. 49:49 They're not two separate things as part of the package. 49:52 Amen. 49:54 Because to love God supremely. 49:57 To love Him dearly is to care about how He is perceived. 50:02 Can you say, amen to that? 50:03 Amen. Okay. 50:04 To care of how He is perceived 50:08 is to care how you are perceived? 50:14 Not so anxious to give it amen to that one. 50:16 To care how He is perceived is to care how you are perceived. 50:19 Why is that the case? Because how you are perceived. 50:24 And somebody finish it for me. 50:26 How you are perceived will determine how He is perceived. 50:30 Are you with me? Amen. 50:32 True faithfulness to God to be sold out 50:37 is to live with the higher sense of awareness 50:38 that you that is not just about you. 50:41 Yes. 50:42 It's not about you that the gentiles are watching 50:46 and we need to wake up every morning 50:48 with the deep sense of burden in our hearts, 50:50 with this pressing question, what do they see? 50:54 Does God look awesome to the world 50:56 because of Adventist culture? 51:01 Does God look attractive? 51:02 Is God beautiful because of us? 51:09 Or are we perceived as weird 51:11 just for the sake of being weird? 51:15 Are you with me? 51:16 When will the day come where our public evangelism 51:19 will not necessitate thousands of handbills 51:22 and flyers but when we see in Zechariah Chapter 8, 51:25 where people will be coming to us? 51:27 Yes. Amen. 51:29 I almost wonder if the great commission to go, go, go, go, go 51:32 I wonder if that's-- if that's more of a plan B. 51:37 Are you with me? 51:38 I wonder if plan A 51:39 is to show that God is beautiful. |
Revised 2014-12-17