The Moody Church Sunday Morning Podcast

Each of the four Gospel accounts in the New Testament – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – allocate approximately 1/3rd of their biographies to the final week of Jesus’ life. It’s as if everything shifts into slow motion, every definitive moment captured, each dialogue carefully conveyed, every detail meticulously preserved. Because this is the week that changed all of history! The gospel writers want us to see it, feel it, experience it, and attend to it. So, in this sermon we’re going to walk with Jesus through this final week that changed history. The author of this passage wants us to be struck by how it sets up and previews what is about to unfold in this final week of Jesus’ life. There are little hints of what is to come, thematic seeds planted here that will grow to fruition as the week develops, a revelation of who this Jesus truly is, and the storm he will face that is brewing on the horizon. In the Triumphal Entry, Jesus is revealed to be three things that foreshadow what is to come throughout the rest of Holy Week: Sovereign Lord: Jesus rides into Jerusalem as the Sovereign of Creation and the Lord of History. Jesus is going into Holy Week with His eyes wide open. As the divine Son of God, He has foresight, not only into the generalities of what will take place, but also the particulars as well: the details of where to find the colt, that he will be spit upon, and the exact timetable of his resurrection. He knows everything that awaits him: the suffering, the agony, the rejection, the humiliation, the shame, and the death. And yet He rides on, boldly, courageously, and resolutely.

Blessed King: Jesus rides into Jerusalem as the Anointed King and the Humble Messiah. Everything in this scene is dripping with Messianic Hope: the descent from the Mount of Olives associated with the King’s coming; the mighty works of God that had occurred in their midst, like healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, and raising the dead; and the waiving of Palm branches. These are all details associated with the return of the king and the coming of the kingdom.

Rejected Savior: Jesus rides into Jerusalem as the Rejected Savior and the Suffering Servant. As the multitudes worship Jesus as King and Messiah, some of the Pharisees take offense. And we see the seeds of the rejection that Jesus will face at the hands of the religious leaders in the week to come. It’s a foreshadowing of the King’s Cross. What began with joyous fanfare and praise and excitement on Sunday…will end in brutal rejection and betrayal and hostility on Friday. A donkey now bears him as king, but soon the king will bear a cross. He will be the Rejected Savior. Takeaways:Jesus chose this week for you.

Jesus is a king worth following

Is Jesus your King? Luke 19:28-40

No one wants to be on the wrong side of history.  As it was in the days of Jesus, so it is today. Our passage for this sermon takes place at a time when it seemed to some that the right side of history was about to be revealed. The people of Jesus’ day believed that Jesus was about to ride into Jerusalem on a white horse and overturn the existing ruling order; they didn’t understand Jesus and His mission. But then Jesus tells a parable about a king, his servants, and investments of minas with a message that surprised the audience: there is no such thing as safety and neutrality when it comes to the Kingdom of Heaven. Takeaways: The King is coming back, and so...Our greatest need is not fruitfulness, it is faithfulness.

Our greatest call is not awareness, it is readiness.

Our greatest problem is not sin, it is God. In the end, history will be divided into two sides. Which side will you be on? Luke 19:11–27

It is common to feel frustrated about prayer that doesn’t seem to work as we intended. We can feel like God isn’t answering in the way we want, or we don’t feel heard, so we just gave up. But what if you’re using prayer the wrong way? In this sermon we learn about how to pray God’s way, the way that it’s designed to work. We explore two ways of praying that never work, and one way that always will. Looking to Others: Prayer that uses God to look good will never work. We can do this by using prayer to gain status in the social order, to find our place in the world, or to look good in the eyes of others. Imagine how God feels by prayers like this. He doesn’t want to be used so that we can look good; He wants us to authentically desire His presence.

Looking to Ourselves: Prayer that uses God to get His stuff will never work. We can repetitiously plead with God hoping that He will give us what we want; we can use all the flattery and well-oiled phrases, but in the end we’re just bargaining to get our needs met. We’re trying to control our situation in the world through prayer, and our eyes are focused only on our needs, wants, goals, and priorities. These kinds of prayers treat God like a vending machine in the sky. In practice, we’re saying we don’t really want God, we just want His stuff. God doesn’t desire these kinds of prayers.

Looking to Our Father: Prayer that pursues our Father with childlike trust, intimacy, and surrender will always be answered. Jesus says that prayer works when it is used as it was intended, to seek a trustful intimacy and surrender with God. Do you see how radically different this is from both religious and irreligious prayer? Instead of showing off to impress others and fit in, or trying to convince God to do what we want, gospel prayer is about trustful intimacy with God. Prayer never works when it’s about our agenda. Prayer is designed to draw us close to our Heavenly Father, in child-like trust and surrender. Takeaways: Three ideas to orient your heart to God in prayer.Pray when no one is looking.

Pray to “waste” time with God.

Pray as adopted heirs of our Father. Matthew 6:5-13 Watch Living the Message episode here: https://youtu.be/J2rix47MwRQ

There’s probably nothing sicker than religious hypocrisy--people who claim to be tight with God, but then turn out to be total fakes. We hear it all the time: “the church is full of hypocrites.” If religious hypocrisy makes you mad, you’re in good company, because Jesus couldn’t stand it either. In fact, a lot of people don’t realize that Jesus was very first person in recorded history to call out religious people as hypocrites.In the passage for this sermon, Jesus is going to show us three things about hypocrisy: The Profile of Hypocrisy: Hypocrisy is when goodness becomes virtue signaling. In this definition, hypocrites are not being good for God’s sake or even goodness’ sake, but they are being good for their own sake. For them, it’s about image and brand management, playing to the audience. This is the kind of righteousness that parades itself in order to be seen by others.

The Tyranny of Applause: Jesus says that those who live for the applause of others have received their reward. He’s saying that the human applause may make us feel like we’re gaining the whole world, but in reality we’re losing our souls. Because human applause is tyranny for three reasons: it’s inauthentic, it’s addicting, and it’s idolatrous. We can do all the right things for all the wrong reasons. When we live for the approval of others, we will die of rejection from God. Ultimately, we need more than a good image; we need a new heart.

The Freedom of Secrecy: Jesus isn’t giving us a new law, He’s offering us a new heart of undistracted, loving affection for God and God alone. This is the heart of a child delighting in the smile of our Heavenly Father. All the smiles of earth can never compare to the smile of Heaven. And if we have the smile of our Father, we can face the frowns of men. Takeaway: will you live for an audience of One? That’s what Jesus is saying: come to me… I will give you a heart that dares to live for an audience of One, with eyes only for your Father! See His smile… and it’ll be enough. So how do we live this out this week? Do something Jesus-like… and keep it quiet. Allow the quiet smile of Heaven to eclipse the thunderous applause of men, and trust that your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Matthew 5:48-6:18 Watch Living The Message episode about this sermon here: https://youtu.be/C46xbSSlLc0

In this sermon with guest speaker Dr. James Hamilton, we explore the connection between the Old Testament foundation for baptism in Exodus 15 and the New Testament foundation for Peter saying that the flood corresponds to baptism. The chiastic structure of the song in Exodus informs us about Moses' intent for the Israelites thousands of years ago and help us relate this passage to our faith today. 15:1–2 I will sing to Yahweh15:3–4 Yahweh Conqueror . . . Pharaoh . . . into the sea15:5–10 The Deep/Floods Covered Egypt15:11–12 Who Is Like You?15:13–17 New Exodus Conquest of a New Eden15:18–19 Yahweh King . . . Pharaoh . . . into the sea15:20–21 Sing to Yahweh Takeaway: worship looks back to look forward. Exodus 15:1-21

If you were a 1st century Jew living in Capernaum, life under Roman military occupation was difficult. Talk of revolt and uprising were everywhere. Some had even claimed to be the chosen one to lead Israel to freedom from Roman rule, until they and their followers were crucified. Emotions were running high, like a tinder box waiting to ignite. Then rumors of a rabbi from Nazareth speaking with authority and healing the sick presented a counter-narrative to the sentiments among the people. His ideas were so counter-culture that everyone had to pause and take note. In this passage, we come to one of Jesus’ most radical teachings about loving our enemies. Two thousand years ago it would’ve sounded like heresy to a Jew. But Jesus wants to turn our world upside-down if we would let Him with open hands. The sermon outline explores three main ideas: The Power of Non-Retaliation: The Old Testament taught that if someone harms you, it is only fair and just that they suffer the same in turn. The objective was to avoid endless cycles of escalating violence and revenge; and for the most part it established the rule of law, a process for justice, and a punishment that fit the crime. The way of Jesus was much different, it was the way of non-retaliation when someone offended you. This nuanced teaching stopped the cycle of violence, reclaimed a person’s agency, honored the image of God in others, and opened a window of grace towards an offender. When non-retaliation opens of a window of grace for another person’s soul, they’re forced to do something about it. This way allows the offended to act redemptively towards an enemy. This is the kind of heart that Jesus wants to give us.

The Redemption of Enemy-Love: The Pharisees taught a pattern of reciprocal love—do unto others as they do to you. The problem is that you need a righteousness that exceed that standard. Jesus says that if you have an enemy, He can give you a heart to love them, a hear that prays for a persecutor for their good. The way of Jesus, the way of the Kingdom of Heaven, is a supernatural enemy-love. Jesus is saying that when we follow Him, and take our eyes off ourselves, our rights, and our wounds, and choose instead to do what is best for our enemy’s soul, this reveals a heart that is “at home” in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Beauty of a God-ward Heart: This heart that Jesus is describing is beautiful because it’s a heart just like God’s. God loves His enemies, and when you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, you’re imitating your Father in Heaven. The way of Jesus is overcoming evil with good. To do that, we need to drink deeply of the God’s love, and pour ourselves out in love for others, including our enemies. Takeaway: “Take up your cross and follow me.” -Jesus Matthew 5:38-48

It’s one thing to understand the symptoms; it’s another to get the diagnosis right. Effectiveness of the prescription depends on the accuracy of the diagnosis. So, when it comes to the brokenness of humanity, the symptoms are easily identified, but it’s the diagnosis that’s difficult. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day (Scribes and Pharisees) diagnosed our problem as largely behavioral (we all have bad, sinful habits). According to them, the key is to break those habits and learn to do good instead. So, the religious leaders prescribed long lists of do’s and don’ts, all in service of reforming behavior. What most religion teaches is to work hard at being good by keeping the rules. But Jesus has a different diagnosis: the problem isn’t just in our behavior, it’s in our hearts. And we can modify our behavior all we want, but unless our hearts are transformed on the inside, we’re never going to be truly right. Jesus’ prescription is for new heart: He says to “repent, follow me, I will give you a new heart and an abundant life in the Kingdom of Heaven” In this sermon, we approach the seemingly odd topic of swearing oaths. Here, Jesus said He can take your heart that swears oaths and give you a heart that simply says “yes” or “no”. It’s an odd topical shift in the Sermon on the Mount, so let’s look closely at what is going on: The Symptoms: The reason why we take vows or swear at all, is because we have a problem with utilizing untrustworthy manipulation and exploitation. Jesus says that all our vows and oaths are symptomatic of a far deeper problem.

The Diagnosis: We all have hearts diseased with a disintegrated and coercive self-interest. Put simply, the reason people swear oaths is because their hearts lack integrity. Little white lies, polite untruths, exaggeration, spin, and flattery are all evidence of the problem. Jesus is warning us that the words we use are telling because they reveal our hearts. When our hearts are full of integrity, our yesses mean yes, and our no’s mean no. But when integrity is lacking, five evils unfold: it destroys community, disintegrates identity, desecrates others, decimates credibility, and leads to delusions thinking.

The Prescription: It’s important to remember that Jesus isn’t laying down a new law, he’s illustrating a new heart that is available to us in the Kingdom of Heaven… the kind of heart he’s offering to us if we will come and follow Him. We need the integrity of a childlike heart. When you have a childlike heart, you can say: “In Jesus Christ, I am not an Orphan… I’m a Child of God. I’m not on my own. I don’t have to fend for myself. Because my Father is watching over me, I know at every moment of every day He is with me, He is for me, He is life to me. And I don’t need to manipulate and coerce others to get my needs met, I don’t need to use oaths to get my way, I can simply say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’” God is making His children into the kind of people who do not need oaths to be believed because we’re becoming people of integrity, like God himself. Takeaway: Jesus offers to make you whole.The first step to integrity is admitting we have none.

Next is understanding that Jesus is the true integrity we lack.

Then the Spirit can lead us in the way of Jesus, into the integrity of a childlike heart. Matthew 5:33-37 Watch Living the Message episode: https://youtu.be/6Ej1HJQL02I

Throughout this series, we’ve been working our way through Jesus’ illustrations of what that kind of perfect righteousness flowing from the goodness of a heart like God’s looks like. The kind of heart only Jesus can give us. In this sermon, we come to the 3rd illustration of a heart made right in the Kingdom of Heaven, and again Jesus isn’t pulling any punches. The example of divorce demonstrates an underlying hardness of our hearts. In a world full of miserable marriages, brutal betrayals, devastating divorces, and alarming abandonments, Jesus has a better Way. And it all starts with a new heart. Three key points in our outline: The Details of the Divorces Debate: The Old Testament grounds for divorce were adultery (Deuteronomy 24) and abusive abandonment (Exodus 21). Both of these texts form the backdrop of the New Testament’s teaching about divorce. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus interacts exclusively with Deuteronomy 24, which offers only one ground for divorce based on sexual immorality/adultery.

The Hardness of Human Hearts: Jesus is saying that divorce runs contrary to God’s intentions. It is only because of Israel’s hard heartedness that God made allowance for divorce (not a commandment). God never intended it to be this way. Our hard hearts search for loopholes to find a way out. Something has gone terribly wrong when our hard hearts search for loopholes to find a way out of our marriages. This is symptomatic of our hearts curving inward in selfishness. Jesus is here to give us new hearts and a new way.

The Loyalty of Lasting Love: Marriage is designed for happiness and holiness. Too often we only focus on the happiness aspect of marriage. We forget that marriage is also a furnace designed to forge Christlikeness within you. Ultimately, Jesus offers us a heart of covenant faithfulness and love. Takeaway: Don’t journey alone. We need godly counsel to walk with us through these things and apply the Scriptures with the wisdom of God. Matthew 5:31-32

Our culture can’t make up its mind about sex. We either strip it down until it has no significance, or we load it up with the weight of the sky. It’s nothing or everything, the culture can’t decide. The problem is the following. The more we try to pretend sex is nothing, the more damaged we become; the more we try to make sex out to be everything, the more disillusioned we become. In our cultural moment, sex has become a runaway train of over-amped desires careening off the rails. This is the way of the Kingdom of the Earth. But what if there was a better way? What if our disordered hearts could be set right? What if sex could be beautiful again? What if hearts dominated by lust could become hearts dominated by love? In this sermon from Matthew 5:27-30, we’ll explore three points: The Monstrosity of Lust: The 7th commandment forbids adultery. But when Jesus references this commandment in the Sermon on the Mount, He pits himself not against the Old Testament law but against the Pharisees’ teaching about the law. The Pharisees preached a surface level righteousness, but Jesus spoke about a righteousness that goes deeper than that: if your heart is righteousness like God’s, you won’t even let lust gain traction in your heart. Jesus is talking about the predatory objectification and selfish engorgement of the “lustful look.” It’s not the first look that Jesus is concerned with, it’s the second look, the deliberate look. When we look with lustful intent, it’s just the opposite of how God designed our sexuality to work as an act of radical self-donation; the giving of oneself for the enjoyment of another in the security of conventional love. Sex is designed to forge covenant bonds of self-giving love for life. But in lust, we twist inward into something that’s all about us; this is our sexuality caving in upon us. Jesus says cultivated lust in our hearts is monstrous; to you, to them, and to everyone.

The Severity of the Situation: To reinforce the point, Jesus uses strong language (cut off your hand) to tell us that lust in our hearts is a matter of eternal life and death. His point is to shock us into realizing a profound point: the only way to truly overcome lust, to root out the spiritual rot, is to receive a new heart. How do we do that?

The Heart of New Affections: The righteousness we need is a goodness of heart like God Himself, full of loving self-giving and covenant faithfulness. But our hearts are not like that naturally; Jesus is our only hope. He is the only one who can establish the New Covenant of the Spirit. Jesus teaches us to live, not as an Orphan who has to fend for themselves to make sure their spiritual needs are met, but as a Child of God with a Father who knows how to provide for our deep spiritual needs. Our hearts show us what’s real. The Orphan Heart goes into the world empty, starving for its deep spiritual needs to be met. Lust is one of the ways we try to quench that deep spiritual thirst. Lust shows us our Orphan Heart. It shows us that we’re looking to human beings to meet the deep soul needs that only God can satisfy. In the same way, love shows us our heart as a Child of God. It shows us that we are looking to Him to meet our deep soul needs. We are not on our own, and we don’t need to fend for ourselves. We can drink deeply of the spiritual resources the love of God provides. Only then do we find spiritual security, significance, and satisfaction our hearts long for. Takeaway: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” -Psalm 51:10

The world is full of anger. Sometimes our anger gets big and explosive, and everyone pays when it detonates. Other times our anger gets small, simmering and smoldering. Low-grade anger carried around in our bodies spills out like acid on those around us. And it’s so easy to be angry these days with pandemic restrictions, political hot-button issues, geopolitical tensions, and tragic injustice. No wonder so many people are so very angry over so many issues so much of the time. But what if there was another way? What if the anger that dominates us could be arrested? What if anger could be diffused in our hearts before it ever gathers strength? What if Jesus can set us free from the bondage of a heart enslaved by anger? What if in the Kingdom of Heaven our angry hearts could truly become hearts of peace? In this sermon, we look at three themes about anger from Matthew 5:20-26: The Heart of Righteousness: Jesus teaches that righteousness is about more than just what we do on the outside, it’s about who we are on the inside. To help us understand what this inner heart righteousness really looks like, Jesus gives us a series of illustrations in Matthew 5, the first of which is about anger. His intent is to teach us the difference between behavior modification and heart transformation. The Old Testament commandment was “don’t murder.” But Jesus says simply following that commandment misses the point; if your heart is righteous like God’s, you won’t even let anger take root. Murder is the symptom; anger is the disease that the righteousness of God wants to heal.

The Deadliness of Anger: If you look carefully at the passage, there’s a 3-fold death spiral: anger, contempt, and vilification. Cultivated anger, the type that is sustained and fed, is different from healthy anger. When healthy anger is nursed and fed, it turns into contempt and ultimately vilification of its source. Unchecked anger is dehumanizing and desecrating of another. Murder desecrates the image of God in another person; but unchecked anger can do the same thing without committing murder. Jesus is saying that a heart that cultivates anger has no place in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Mending of the Kingdom: In contrast to the death-spiral of anger, there’s a healing-spiral: compassion, reconciliation, and peace. Jesus illustrates this in two ways, first with our “brothers” and then with our “enemies.” First, He says that in the Kingdom of Heaven harmonious relationships take priority over worship; we should stop everything and take initiative to mend a broken relationship with another believer, even if we are not the one with anger in our heart. The heart alive in the Kingdom of Heaven is so burdened with compassion by the death-spiral of anger ravaging another brother’s heart, that it is willing to do whatever it takes to set them free. Second, Jesus says the righteous heart of the Kingdom seizes the opportunity to keep anger from spiraling out of control in a situation. This kind of heart sees the image of God in both their brothers and in enemies. You see, Jesus is offering us a new kind of heart. It’s the difference between the heart of an orphan and the heart of a child.  The Heart of an Orphan is prone to fearful anger and prideful unforgiveness, but the Heart of a Child rests secure in the Father’s love and forgiveness and gladly extends that love and forgiveness to others. Takeaway: How’s your heart?Who needs your forgiveness?

Who needs your apology?

Who needs your peace? Matthew 5:20-26 Living The Message episode available here: https://youtu.be/vwQadVcNB6g