FOUNDRYcast

Jesus liked to tell stories. I imagine he did for the same reason other people like to tell stories. You see, words create worlds, and stories can create the worlds in which we can look at things differently…mainly ourselves. Jesus tells a story about a farmer scattering seeds. It goes like this:

"Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds. As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn't have deep roots, they died. Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants. Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted! Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand." Matthew 13:2-9

But everyone always had questions. Jesus liked to use a specific type of stories, called "parables" to draw people into looking at themselves and their worlds differently. At the end of this story, His disciples asked him for an explanation.

His disciples came and asked him, "Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?"

He replied, "You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. That is why I use these parables,

For they look, but they don't really see. They hear, but they don't really listen or understand. This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that says,

'When you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend. For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes— so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.' "But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but they didn't see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn't hear it. Matthew 13:10-17

The kicker to both of these stories is found in verses 9 and 17. It's about us having ears to hear things. It's a favorite way for Jesus to talk about the way we can tune ourselves to hearing and understanding what God is doing around us. This weekend, we are going to talk about this hearing (and seeing). What it takes to do this, how we might often not be able to do it well, and several other things.

When was the last time you got into a disagreement? Did it end well?

Do they ever actually end well?

We live in a world that seems to be filled with disagreements. And how do they typically end up?

What would it look like if the typical reaction to disagreements were better and stronger relationships? (yeah right)

"If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses. If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won't accept the church's decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.

"I tell you the truth, whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.

"I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them." Matthew 18:15-20

This passage is typically used to talk about disagreements and issues between two Christians. But that doesn't even take it far enough. Jesus used a pretty expected Jewish behavior to tell a story about the power and mission of the local church, and how awkward conversations might turn out to be the fuel that supplies the kingdom of God.

Earlier this year, Chad Brooks (our pastor), had a pretty serious medical scare. He took the time to talk about it on Sunday morning and also to share what Scripture revealed to his heart during the season of healing and reflection.

So what baggage do we carry around and what are we doing with it?

"I have made no trouble for Israel," Elijah replied. "You and your family are the troublemakers, for you have refused to obey the commands of the Lord and have worshiped the images of Baal instead. Now summon all Israel to join me at Mount Carmel, along with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who are supported by Jezebel."

So Ahab summoned all the people of Israel and the prophets to Mount Carmel.Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, "How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!" But the people were completely silent.

Then Elijah said to them, "I am the only prophet of the Lord who is left, but Baal has 450 prophets. Now bring two bulls. The prophets of Baal may choose whichever one they wish and cut it into pieces and lay it on the wood of their altar, but without setting fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood on the altar, but not set fire to it. Then call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by setting fire to the wood is the true God!" And all the people agreed.

Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "You go first, for there are many of you. Choose one of the bulls, and prepare it and call on the name of your god. But do not set fire to the wood."

So they prepared one of the bulls and placed it on the altar. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning until noontime, shouting, "O Baal, answer us!" But there was no reply of any kind. Then they danced, hobbling around the altar they had made.

About noontime Elijah began mocking them. "You'll have to shout louder," he scoffed, "for surely he is a god! Perhaps he is daydreaming, or is relieving himself.Or maybe he is away on a trip, or is asleep and needs to be wakened!"

So they shouted louder, and following their normal custom, they cut themselves with knives and swords until the blood gushed out. They raved all afternoon until the time of the evening sacrifice, but still there was no sound, no reply, no response.

Then Elijah called to the people, "Come over here!" They all crowded around him as he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been torn down.

Seriously?

Think about it. What normally happens before a tough conversation has to happen? One person does something that has sadly turned out to be a repeating problem. Another person has to step in and have one of those tough conversations. I can only imagine both the internal and external words that are part of this realization. Typically, someone has become exasperated enough to realize that a tough talk needs to occur.

Seriously?

No word better expresses the emotion of realizing this. And you know what? Even Jesus went through this. Read these words from the gospel of Matthew

At the foot of the mountain, a large crowd was waiting for them. A man came and knelt before Jesus and said, 15 "Lord, have mercy on my son. He has seizures and suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 So I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn't heal him."

17 Jesus said, "You faithless and corrupt people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me." 18 Then Jesus rebuked the demon in the boy, and it left him. From that moment the boy was well.

19 Afterward the disciples asked Jesus privately, "Why couldn't we cast out that demon?"

20 "You don't have enough faith," Jesus told them. "I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible." Matthew 17:14-20

This must have been big because this story shows up in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And all in the same sequence. Right after Jesus takes Peter, James, and John to the top of a mountain and a miraculous transfiguration occurs. Jesus (appears) to be talking with Moses and Elijah, both dead for centuries, and these three disciples witness it all. Upon coming down from the mountain our story infolds. We see Jesus get frustrated at the lack of ability the disciples previously had. He then explains to them that this is an issue of faith. Other gospels relate it even deeper to a lack of faith caused by a lack of prayer.

The disciples (and us) have a tendency to significantly underestimate the power of prayer in their life. Jesus describes this as them having a "poverty of faith", in essence, a lack of what is essential for the basic functioning of faith. He talks about this mustard seed several times in the gospel. It's quality, not quantity. So the humanity of Jesus shows up with His disciples. Let's talk about what we can learn from this.

The disciples were at the point where they should have known better. They should have known Jesus better. They should have known of the necessity of their faithfulness and prayerfulness better.

Everyone loves the inside scoop. Sometimes it's because we are nosey. Other times it's because we want to make sure we have right information.

Inside scoops clarify. Especially when big things are at stake.

So how do you go about doing it? You typically get to the bottom of the source, make sure you have as much information as you can find, and then make a decision. Part of the story of Jesus is this story of someone trying to get to the bottom of all of these crazy stories about a prophet and teacher coming from the edges of Judea.

There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. 2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. "Rabbi," he said, "we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you."

3 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God."

4 "What do you mean?" exclaimed Nicodemus. "How can an old man go back into his mother's womb and be born again?"

5 Jesus replied, "I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don't be surprised when I say, 'You must be born again.' 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can't tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can't explain how people are born of the Spirit."

9 "How are these things possible?" Nicodemus asked.

10 Jesus replied, "You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don't understand these things? 11 I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won't believe our testimony. 12 But if you don't believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. John 3:1-13 NLT.

In all of the stories in this sermon series we are both seeing people and seeing ourselves challenged to "what could be." And this story is no different. But where Nicodemus comes to Jesus to try to get confirmation of who he (and others) are thinking and hoping who Jesus is, they aren't thinking big enough. What we find is that when we come to Jesus drawing lines of possibility He simply sees beginning points.

So let's come together to think about this passage, and see how Jesus moves us to a different starting point altogether.

We are starting a new series called "Good Talk Bro" and looking at three conversations Jesus had with individuals. In each of these he confronts an assumption they have and invites them into a new change life. If we think about the people we trust to have these sorts of conversations, they are typically people we know and trust well. And we see different dynamics at play in each one of these situations.

In our first encounter, we meet someone who doesn't know Jesus (but thinks they know it all anyway).

The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, "You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?"

10 Jesus replied, "If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water."

11 "But sir, you don't have a rope or a bucket," she said, "and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? 12 And besides, do you think you're greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?"

13 Jesus replied, "Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again.14 But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life."

15 "Please, sir," the woman said, "give me this water! Then I'll never be thirsty again, and I won't have to come here to get water."

16 "Go and get your husband," Jesus told her.

17 "I don't have a husband," the woman replied.

Jesus said, "You're right! You don't have a husband— 18 for you have had five husbands, and you aren't even married to the man you're living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!"

19 "Sir," the woman said, "you must be a prophet. 20 So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?"

21 Jesus replied, "Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem.22 You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. 23 But the time is coming—indeed it's here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. 24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth."

25 The woman said, "I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."

26 Then Jesus told her, "I am the Messiah!" John 4:9-26

We have a bunch of back and forth in this passage. Part of the back and forth is a gradual revealing (by Jesus) of a different design of life. Gone are the right and wrong arguments and truth enters in as the center of life. The two groups of people both claiming to have the right truth are both wrong, but are taking steps towards truth. And instead of always questioning truth, or being bound by truth that doesn't work out in your favor, true truth anchors and directs this new way of life.

Follow along on Sunday with the message notes on myfoundry.life

Parties are about change. Are you tracking with me? Think back to late adolescence and early adult-hood. To go to a party was to have the ability to change things. You could finally have a conversation with that special someone, social ladders would move up and down, new people could be met, issues decided…all of it. Parties are where things change.

And it's no different in scripture.

One of the, if not the, most well known parts of the gospels is the parable of the prodigal son. A son requests his father give him his inheritance early, he blows it, comes back home crawling, the Father totally brings him back in, and the older son is frustrated at the celebration given for the younger brother once he comes home.

Parties change things because parties are about new awareness. Think about it. Or even better…read the story.

To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: "A man had two sons.12 The younger son told his father, 'I want my share of your estate now before you die.' So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.

13 "A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. 14 About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. 15 He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. 16 The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.

17 "When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, 'At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will go home to my father and say, "Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you,19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant."'

20 "So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. 21 His son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.'

22 "But his father said to the servants, 'Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. 23 And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, 24 for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.' So the party began.

25 "Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, 26 and he asked one of the servants what was going on. 27 'Your brother is back,' he was told, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.'

28 "The older brother was angry and wouldn't go in. His father came out and begged him, 29 but he replied, 'All these years I've slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!'

31 "His father said to him, 'Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. 32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!'" Luke 15;11-32

This story on it's own asks us to think about ourselves, but when we read it in context with all of chapter 1, we find that it isn't just about personal awareness. It's about the awareness we have between us and who God is. And that awareness often tells us exactly who we believe God to be.

So let's get this party started. Lets look into the characters of the story and their awareness and ask ourselves honest questions about our awareness

We often think of Easter morning being this peaceful, calm situation. It has been imprinted on us that the angel was in all white, the women at the grave were squeaky clean and bathed, and even the Roman soldiers guarding the tomb were willing and excited participants of this whole event.

insert sound of record player suddenly stopping and the needle moving across the record.

I think all of the Sunday School cookies might have got to our brain. Let's look at the story Matthew tells us of that morning.

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you." 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.10 Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me." Matthew 28:1-10 ESV

If we were given this as an English assignment, we can make a great list of the emotions present. Fear, trembling, fainting, running, more fear, joy, and finally surprise. It reads like a modern, jump-cut scene from an action movie.

In these details a larger story emerges. Death has been conquered, and with that, a pathway that was once closed is now open. So we are going to see what story these details will lead us on. And it continues with this fast paced, action oriented new world.

In this special palm sunday message, Allan Martin shares about how Jesus showing up in Jerusalem was quite the big arrival.