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"On a Sabbath, while he was
going through the grainfields,

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"his disciples plucked
and ate some heads of grain,

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"rubbing them in their hands.

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"But some of the Pharisees said,

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"'Why are you doing what is not
lawful to do on the Sabbath?'

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"And Jesus answered them, 'Have
you not read what David did

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"'when he was hungry,
he and those who were with him:

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"'how he entered the house
of God and took and ate

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"'the bread of the Presence,

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"'which is not lawful for
any but the priests to eat,

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"'and also gave it
to those with him?'

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"And he said to them, 'The Son
of Man is lord of the Sabbath.'

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"On another Sabbath, he entered
the synagogue and was teaching,

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"and a man was there whose
right hand was withered.

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"And the scribes and the
Pharisees watched him,

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"to see whether he would
heal on the Sabbath,

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"so that they might find
a reason to accuse him.

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"But he knew their thoughts,
and he said to the man

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"with the withered hand,
'Come and stand here.'

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"And he rose and stood there.

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"And Jesus said to
them, 'I ask you,

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"'is it lawful on the Sabbath
to do good or to do harm,

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"'to save life
or to destroy it?'

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"And after looking around
at them all he said to him,

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"'Stretch out your hand.'

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"And he did so,
and his hand was restored.

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"But they were filled with fury
and discussed with one another

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what they might do to Jesus."

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[music]

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All righty, Mars Hill.

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We're in Luke 6:1-11.

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If you've got a Bible, feel
free to go there as we deal

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with Jesus the Sabbath Lord.

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Let me begin by saying that what
we're talking about today is

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very important for your life
individually, your family,

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if you have a family, married,
children, and the like,

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your community group, the campus
that you're involved in

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at Mars Hill Church,
the more than 300 churches

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in our Acts 29 Church
Planting Network,

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as well as those churches,
and networks, and ministries,

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that by God's grace,

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we're able to partner
with around the world.

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That you are to enjoy freedom,
and life, and transformation,

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and hope, and joy,
beginning in your life

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with Jesus flowing
out to your family,

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flowing out
to your community group,

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flowing out to your campus,
flowing out from our church,

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to serve and assist
other churches,

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and flowing out from our nation
to the nations of the earth.

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And I've been really
blessed traveling.

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My big travel season is over.

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Recently got back from Africa
but it is really amazing

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to see what God
is doing globally,

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raising up church planting
leaders, young pastors

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in and around urban centers
who are like-minded,

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and friends and partners, and
what could ruin all of this

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from your life, to your family,
to your community group,

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to your campus, to our network,
to our movement,

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is something called legalism.

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It's a pernicious, continual,
ever-present danger.

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And as we get into Luke 6 today,
the battlefield is the Sabbath,

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but the issue is legalism. So

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let me address both before
we jump into the story

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in Luke 6:1-11.

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Legalism is the enemy
of Jesus Christ.

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"Legalism is religion:"

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those words I will use
frequently, synonymously.

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James says that, "Pure religion
is to look after widows,

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orphans and those in need."

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What we're talking about is
like the band name Bad Religion.

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Bad religion is rule making.

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It is legalism.

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It is living by
the letter of the law,

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not the spirit of the law, and
it is living out of devotion

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to the law, not out of
love for God and people.

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And so legalism is where people
take the Scriptures

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and they add to it.

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Oftentimes saying, "Well,
God wrote a number of rules,

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"but those rules aren't clearly
sufficient, so we feel

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"permission to add
to God's rules

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to make other books
and lists."

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And this gets done by
denominations, traditions;

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this gets done by churches,
religious leaders,

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authors, and the like.

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And so all of a sudden, you've
got the Scriptures, plus you

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need to have this other book,
or this other list of rules.

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These are not books and lists of
rules that help illustrate

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and inform us of what
the Bible says, but add to it.

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This is a denial of something
called "sola scriptura,"

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where Scripture is our
highest authority.

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That slogan was used by the
Protestant Reformers to say that

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the Bible alone, Scripture
alone, is our highest authority.

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All other authorities like
other books, teachers,

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rules, and leaders are under,
not equal to, Scripture.

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Legalists tend to elevate
teachers and also other lists,

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and rules, and books
equal to Scripture.

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This is also legalism,
and religion is a denial

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of the something called
the sufficiency of Scripture,

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that we need more than
just the Bible.

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We need other teachers.

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We need other rules.

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We need other additions,
not to just explain what

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the Bible says,
which is a good thing,

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but add to it,
which is a bad thing.

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Proverbs 30:5-6 says it this way,
"Every word of God is flawless,"

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one translation will say.

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Another will say,
"Every word of God proves true."

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It goes on to then say, "Do
not add to his word or he will

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rebuke you and prove
you to be a liar."

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Every word of Scripture
is flawless, it's perfect.

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Scripture alone is
highest authority.

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It is sufficient.

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Do not add to it, or God
will rebuke you as a liar.

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And religious people
are dangerous,

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deadly, and damaging,
because they're bold,

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they are courageous, they're
arrogant, as we will see,

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and they push people to
obey them rather than God.

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And the result of religion
is that some people feel

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and present life with God as a
sort of paint-by-numbers kit.

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It's artless.
It's heartless.

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All you do is just get the
Bible and the other rule book,

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put them together,
and then paint by numbers.

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You guys ever
painted by numbers?

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The whole goal is that
everyone's painting would look

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exactly the same.

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And to do that, all you need to
do is obey all of the rules.

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All of the number two dots, you
paint those in with the green.

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The number threes
with the orange.

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The number four with the red.

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The number five with the yellow.

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Do not go outside of the lines,

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that would be a violation
of the rule.

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And your goal is to make your
picture look like everyone's

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picture, and some people really
prefer the paint-by-numbers

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relationship view with God; no
passion, no love, no prayer,

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no heart, no discernment, no
care, just paint by numbers.

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"Eat this, do this, pray this,
read this, do that, tithe this.

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"Good, my picture is perfect
even if my heart is passionless,

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"and my relationship
is null and void.

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I was obedient to the law."

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God wants more.

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God wants more than a
paint-by-numbers relationship

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with his people.

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He wants a living, active,
vibrant, conversant, prayerful,

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discernment, Spirit-filled,
Spirit-led, living, loving,

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life-giving
relationship with you.

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And religion and legalism,
which undergirds religion,

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is an enemy of that kind
of living, loving,

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life-giving relationship
with God.

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And as we get into it today, the
religious legalists show up to

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argue with Jesus Christ, and
the real issue is legalism,

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and the battlefield
is the Sabbath.

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And there will be other
battlefields throughout

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the course of this gospel,
but today it is the Sabbath,

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and Luke will give us
two occasions where

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Jesus has a conflict--

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And there is
such a thing as

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good, holy, sanctified
conflict--on the Sabbath

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with religious legalists.

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So let me tell you a little
bit about the Sabbath.

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The Sabbath was created by God.

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Genesis 1:2 says that,
"For 6 days God worked,

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and on the 7th day he rested."

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Exodus 20:8-11,
next book of the Bible.

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In the Ten Commandments, I think
it's the fourth commandment,

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God says, "I worked six days,
rested on the seventh.

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You work six days, take
the seventh day off."

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Let me say this--the Sabbath
is a gift to be enjoyed.

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It's a good thing,
and religious people take it

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and they make it
into a bad thing.

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Religious people could
take good things,

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make them into bad things by
putting so many extraneous rules

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around them that they're
not even fun anymore.

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This would be like
birthday cake rules.

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You don't need
birthday cake rules.

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Birthday cake is
fantastic all by itself.

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It doesn't need a list of rules.

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It just needs a fork, if that.

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That's all
a birthday cake needs.

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And the reason I think
of birthday cake,

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it's one of the happiest
things I could think of.

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You just give someone a cake,
they just figure out what to do

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with it, all right,
they don't need a list.

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If you want to ruin a birthday
cake, go to a kid and say,

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"Okay, we're gonna give
you a birthday cake,

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"not chocolate which is what you
wanted, but we're gonna give you

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"vanilla because
we're religious,

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"and we don't do chocolate
or sprinkles.

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"So eat your vanilla cake,
and eat it on Tuesday,

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"not Wednesday, not Monday.

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"Eat it between 2:17 and
2:19, not before or after.

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"Eat it with your left
hand, not your right hand.

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"Use a spoon and not a fork and
if you drop it on the floor,

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"there's no 10-second rule.

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"We're legalists, you cannot
pick it up and eat it.

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"We live by the
letter of the law.

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Enjoy your birthday cake."

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At that point, eating birthday
cake would sound like

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going to the dentist.

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It's something you have to do,
not something you get to do.

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It would have been awesome,
but they ruined it.

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That's what religious
people do to everything.

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And the Sabbath, they
did the exact same thing.

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God says something good,
"Hey, you know what?

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Take a day off."

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You'd think people would be
like, "That is a good idea."

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And then the religious people
come along and say,

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"Oh, we need to put together
a rule book for this."

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Really, a rule
book for a day off?

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We need a rule
book for a day off?

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"Yes, and then you need
to memorize the rules,

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"and you need to obey the rules
and we're gonna discipline you

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if you disobey the rules."

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And the whole point is it's
supposed to be a day off,

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and you've made this
into a lot of work.

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Now, I actually I
have a to-do list,

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a religious job
description for my day off.

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You've ruined everything.

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I was gonna nap, but now I gotta
figure out whether or not

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I'm obeying the nap rules
for the day off.

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So let me say this about the
Sabbath, it's a good thing,

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take a day off, rest, enjoy
your friends, community.

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God wants you to rest,
it's a real gift.

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It gives people a day off, it
gave the slaves a day off.

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It gave the poor a day off.

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It gave the land a day off.

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It gave the animals a day
off, but the religious people,

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they wanted to add to what
God said about the Sabbath,

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so they came up
with all kinds of rules.

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And the Sabbath used
to be on Saturday,

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and then Jesus rose
from death on Sunday.

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So the church started worshiping
on what Revelation calls,

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"the Lord's day," on Sunday.

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Constantine allegedly
gets converted,

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the Roman emperor, in the early
300s and so all of a sudden,

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he declares that Sunday's
the new Sabbath day.

238
00:11:34,083 --> 00:11:36,083
America's founded,
we can't decide.

239
00:11:36,083 --> 00:11:39,017
"Well, do we get
the Jewish Saturday Sabbath

240
00:11:39,017 --> 00:11:40,075
or the Christian
Sunday Sabbath?"

241
00:11:40,075 --> 00:11:43,012
Well, we're Americans,
so we took them both.

242
00:11:43,012 --> 00:11:45,025
We took a 2-day weekend.

243
00:11:45,025 --> 00:11:46,088
Some of you here are
like, "Oh, really?

244
00:11:46,088 --> 00:11:48,075
"Are there any other religions
that have any other days? Maybe

245
00:11:48,075 --> 00:11:50,033
we can petition
for those also."

246
00:11:50,033 --> 00:11:52,079
That's why
we got a 2-day weekend.

247
00:11:52,079 --> 00:11:54,038
And Paul says in
the New Testament,

248
00:11:54,038 --> 00:11:57,021
"Don't let people judge
what day," the principle is:

249
00:11:57,021 --> 00:12:00,012
Get a day off, rest from your
labors, enjoy God, your work,

250
00:12:00,012 --> 00:12:03,021
your friends, your family, your
neighbors, practice hospitality,

251
00:12:03,021 --> 00:12:06,000
enjoy community,
and take a nap,

252
00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:07,083
because the sovereign God of the
universe has still got it

253
00:12:07,083 --> 00:12:10,033
under control even if
you take a day off.

254
00:12:10,033 --> 00:12:13,004
It's a really good
principle, but again,

255
00:12:13,004 --> 00:12:14,083
the religious people made
a whole bunch of rules

256
00:12:14,083 --> 00:12:16,067
that God never put in the Bible.

257
00:12:16,067 --> 00:12:18,083
And I'll say this up front,
we love the Bible.

258
00:12:18,083 --> 00:12:20,062
We believe everything
the Bible says,

259
00:12:20,062 --> 00:12:23,062
and if you've come here with
an additional list of rules,

260
00:12:23,062 --> 00:12:25,000
feel free to put those away.

261
00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:27,067
We still have a lot of things
in here we're working on.

262
00:12:27,067 --> 00:12:29,042
We're not ready
for your list yet.

263
00:12:29,042 --> 00:12:31,046
Amen?

264
00:12:31,046 --> 00:12:34,033
Now, what you'll learn today
are a number of things

265
00:12:34,033 --> 00:12:36,008
about legalism.

266
00:12:36,008 --> 00:12:38,088
The first is this:
legalism makes you bold.

267
00:12:38,088 --> 00:12:42,067
We're gonna jump into this story
where Jesus has conflict with

268
00:12:42,067 --> 00:12:45,088
religious legalists on
and about the Sabbath.

269
00:12:45,088 --> 00:12:49,050
Luke 6:1-2, "On a Sabbath,"
so it was a Saturday,

270
00:12:49,050 --> 00:12:51,029
this was before Jesus rose
from death,

271
00:12:51,029 --> 00:12:55,033
and the Sabbath shifted
to Sunday.

272
00:12:55,033 --> 00:12:56,096
"While he was going
through the grainfields,

273
00:12:56,096 --> 00:12:59,025
"his disciples plucked and
ate some heads of grain,

274
00:12:59,025 --> 00:13:00,038
"rubbing them in their hands.

275
00:13:00,038 --> 00:13:03,000
"But some of the Pharisees said,
'Why are you doing what is not

276
00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:04,050
'lawful to do on the Sabbath?'"

277
00:13:04,050 --> 00:13:05,079
Okay, you're gonna meet
a few character here.

278
00:13:05,079 --> 00:13:07,075
First, you'll meet the Pharisees
and then later on

279
00:13:07,075 --> 00:13:10,017
in this chapter,
you'll meet the scribes.

280
00:13:10,017 --> 00:13:12,067
The scribes were the religious
leaders 40 or older,

281
00:13:12,067 --> 00:13:14,025
formerly theologically trained.

282
00:13:14,025 --> 00:13:18,092
I'll be 40 in the fall, so
let's say these are my peers.

283
00:13:18,092 --> 00:13:19,092
I hate to say that,

284
00:13:19,092 --> 00:13:23,012
but that's the religious
professional, the teacher.

285
00:13:23,012 --> 00:13:25,017
We'll call him the queen bee.

286
00:13:25,017 --> 00:13:27,046
And then there
were the Pharisees.

287
00:13:27,046 --> 00:13:29,062
These were their followers,
blue-collar folk,

288
00:13:29,062 --> 00:13:31,042
often not formerly educated.

289
00:13:31,042 --> 00:13:33,088
We'll call them the swarm.

290
00:13:33,088 --> 00:13:35,083
And what they would do, they
would take the teaching of the

291
00:13:35,083 --> 00:13:38,083
queen bee, and then they would
swarm around other religious

292
00:13:38,083 --> 00:13:41,075
leaders, and traditions,
and classes, and meetings,

293
00:13:41,075 --> 00:13:44,000
and services, and groups.

294
00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:46,092
They'd swarm in, and
criticize, and sting, and kill.

295
00:13:46,092 --> 00:13:48,050
Okay, so you guys
can be the Pharisees.

296
00:13:48,050 --> 00:13:50,012
That's how this would work.

297
00:13:50,012 --> 00:13:52,054
And so they--here's
what's happening.

298
00:13:52,054 --> 00:13:54,046
Jesus on a Sabbath day,
it's a Saturday,

299
00:13:54,046 --> 00:13:55,092
he's walking through
a grain field.

300
00:13:55,092 --> 00:13:58,058
Deuteronomy, the
Old Testament law,

301
00:13:58,058 --> 00:14:00,083
made a provision that if you're
walking through someone's field,

302
00:14:00,083 --> 00:14:02,083
and you're hungry, as long
as you don't, you know,

303
00:14:02,083 --> 00:14:05,096
take out a winnowing fork,
as long as you don't pull out,

304
00:14:05,096 --> 00:14:10,000
you know, a harvester
and steal them blind,

305
00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:11,033
you could pick a little bit
of food and eat it

306
00:14:11,033 --> 00:14:12,058
to feed yourself.

307
00:14:12,058 --> 00:14:15,017
It was a generosity
provision for the hungry.

308
00:14:15,017 --> 00:14:16,083
So they're not
disobeying the law here.

309
00:14:16,083 --> 00:14:18,042
So they're walking through
and all of a sudden,

310
00:14:18,042 --> 00:14:19,075
they pluck a little
bit of grain.

311
00:14:19,075 --> 00:14:21,033
They rub it in their hands
'cause they're preparing a meal

312
00:14:21,033 --> 00:14:22,092
'cause they're hungry.

313
00:14:22,092 --> 00:14:24,033
And according to
the religious people,

314
00:14:24,033 --> 00:14:26,050
you're not supposed to
prepare a meal on the Sabbath,

315
00:14:26,050 --> 00:14:28,096
that's supposed to be
done the day before.

316
00:14:28,096 --> 00:14:31,079
And they had made--'cause all
the Bible said was,

317
00:14:31,079 --> 00:14:33,017
"Don't work on the Sabbath,"

318
00:14:33,017 --> 00:14:35,017
so the religious people
came along and put together

319
00:14:35,017 --> 00:14:36,071
an addendum
to the Bible,

320
00:14:36,071 --> 00:14:39,004
a 39-point checklist
for what constitutes

321
00:14:39,004 --> 00:14:41,033
the Hebrew word "work."

322
00:14:41,033 --> 00:14:43,088
I'm not making this up.

323
00:14:43,088 --> 00:14:45,071
And they look at Jesus
and they realize,

324
00:14:45,071 --> 00:14:48,025
he has now broken
four of their rules.

325
00:14:48,025 --> 00:14:50,062
Number one: he is reaping.

326
00:14:50,062 --> 00:14:51,083
Number two: he is threshing.

327
00:14:51,083 --> 00:14:53,025
Number three: he is winnowing.

328
00:14:53,025 --> 00:14:56,042
And number four:
he is preparing food.

329
00:14:56,042 --> 00:14:59,067
And so they come up to him,
and here's my question, where?

330
00:14:59,067 --> 00:15:01,033
In the grain field.

331
00:15:01,033 --> 00:15:05,062
They're following him around.

332
00:15:05,062 --> 00:15:07,033
That's what religious people do.

333
00:15:07,033 --> 00:15:10,092
It's okay on the
Sabbath to hassle God,

334
00:15:10,092 --> 00:15:13,038
but it's not okay
to make a sandwich.

335
00:15:13,038 --> 00:15:15,029
That's religious people.

336
00:15:15,029 --> 00:15:17,092
And today with Twitter,
Facebook, blogging,

337
00:15:17,092 --> 00:15:20,083
religious people--it's like
crack for religious people.

338
00:15:20,083 --> 00:15:24,079
They get to just RSS feed and
watch everybody and cyber stalk.

339
00:15:24,079 --> 00:15:26,008
That's what they do.

340
00:15:26,008 --> 00:15:31,050
So here, they're following Jesus
around in the grain field,

341
00:15:31,050 --> 00:15:35,050
and here's what they say, "Why
are you doing what is not lawful

342
00:15:35,050 --> 00:15:36,050
on the Sabbath?"

343
00:15:36,050 --> 00:15:37,054
This is very bold.

344
00:15:37,054 --> 00:15:41,012
You walk up to Jesus and you
assume if you disagree with him,

345
00:15:41,012 --> 00:15:42,067
he's wrong.

346
00:15:42,067 --> 00:15:45,017
That's a huge assumption.

347
00:15:45,017 --> 00:15:48,017
"Hello God,
why do you do this?

348
00:15:48,017 --> 00:15:50,012
You have broken our rules."

349
00:15:50,012 --> 00:15:52,075
Do you think Jesus
cares about the rules?

350
00:15:52,075 --> 00:15:56,083
You think Jesus is
like, "Ooh, so sorry.

351
00:15:56,083 --> 00:15:59,067
"I made the heavens and the
earth, and your scribe,

352
00:15:59,067 --> 00:16:02,038
"who I made, made a list.

353
00:16:02,038 --> 00:16:04,046
"Well, I'm not very interested
in the list that your scribe

354
00:16:04,046 --> 00:16:08,062
made 'cause I made your scribe."

355
00:16:08,062 --> 00:16:11,033
See this is what happens,
religious people are bold.

356
00:16:11,033 --> 00:16:12,075
They'll follow you around.

357
00:16:12,075 --> 00:16:16,025
They'll get right in your face,
and they'll assume if there's

358
00:16:16,025 --> 00:16:19,033
disagreement, they're
right, you're wrong.

359
00:16:19,033 --> 00:16:21,042
And for some of you, see, some
of you are gonna really struggle

360
00:16:21,042 --> 00:16:23,042
with religious people
'cause they're bold.

361
00:16:23,042 --> 00:16:24,088
You're more shy.

362
00:16:24,088 --> 00:16:27,033
They're more bold, so
they're gonna run you over.

363
00:16:27,033 --> 00:16:28,096
Some of you are young,
they're old.

364
00:16:28,096 --> 00:16:30,033
Some of you are new Christians,

365
00:16:30,033 --> 00:16:33,021
they say they've been Christians
for a while.

366
00:16:33,021 --> 00:16:35,062
All right, some of you, you
haven't read a lot,

367
00:16:35,062 --> 00:16:39,021
and you're pretty simple, and
they've got a lot of verses.

368
00:16:39,021 --> 00:16:41,050
Now, they don't use them
right, but they know them,

369
00:16:41,050 --> 00:16:44,012
and they put you
on the defensive,

370
00:16:44,012 --> 00:16:46,029
and they make you feel
like you're stupid,

371
00:16:46,029 --> 00:16:49,033
and you're not that holy, and
you're not that well read,

372
00:16:49,033 --> 00:16:51,083
and you should just shut up and
obey them because they know what

373
00:16:51,083 --> 00:16:53,071
they're talking about.

374
00:16:53,071 --> 00:16:57,000
Now if you do that, they'll
rob you of your joy.

375
00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,067
They'll rob you of
your freedom in Christ.

376
00:16:59,067 --> 00:17:00,083
They're very bold.

377
00:17:00,083 --> 00:17:04,000
You can be bold
and wrong.

378
00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:06,042
You can be bold and wrong.

379
00:17:06,042 --> 00:17:09,046
Just because they're bold
doesn't mean they're right.

380
00:17:09,046 --> 00:17:14,083
Some of you really need to push
back family, friends,

381
00:17:14,083 --> 00:17:17,096
coworkers, religious people.

382
00:17:17,096 --> 00:17:25,079
Very bold--so bold, they
confront Jesus to his face.

383
00:17:25,079 --> 00:17:28,042
That indicates there's something
seriously wrong with them.

384
00:17:28,042 --> 00:17:31,079
They're not accusing him
of disobeying the law.

385
00:17:31,079 --> 00:17:35,088
He's disobeying their laws.

386
00:17:35,088 --> 00:17:37,050
Just so you know,
Jesus couldn't make it

387
00:17:37,050 --> 00:17:40,054
in a lot of Christian
colleges or denominations,

388
00:17:40,054 --> 00:17:43,033
because he breaks
some of their rules.

389
00:17:43,033 --> 00:17:45,021
He doesn't break any
of the Bible's rules,

390
00:17:45,021 --> 00:17:48,079
but he breaks certain
religious rules.

391
00:17:48,079 --> 00:17:51,033
Number two: legalism
makes you unbiblical.

392
00:17:51,033 --> 00:17:53,067
"And Jesus answered them, 'Have
you not read what David did when

393
00:17:53,067 --> 00:17:56,058
"'he was hungry, he and those
who were with him: how he

394
00:17:56,058 --> 00:17:58,029
entered the house of God,'"
the tabernacle,

395
00:17:58,029 --> 00:18:00,012
"'Took and ate the
bread of the Presence,

396
00:18:00,012 --> 00:18:02,033
"'which is not lawful for
any but the priests to eat,

397
00:18:02,033 --> 00:18:05,008
and also gave it
to those with him?'"

398
00:18:05,008 --> 00:18:07,033
Here's what he says, "You
guys have a lot of rules,

399
00:18:07,033 --> 00:18:10,017
but your rules don't
agree with the Bible,"

400
00:18:10,017 --> 00:18:13,000
so you're on the horns
of a terrible dilemma.

401
00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:15,075
Do you keep your rules
and disobey the Bible,

402
00:18:15,075 --> 00:18:17,092
or do you keep the Bible
and repent of your rules?

403
00:18:17,092 --> 00:18:19,092
What are you gonna do?

404
00:18:19,092 --> 00:18:22,017
And he does something in
philosophy that's called a

405
00:18:22,017 --> 00:18:24,033
"reductio ad absurdum,"

406
00:18:24,033 --> 00:18:26,054
and this is
a philosophical treatment.

407
00:18:26,054 --> 00:18:29,000
It says, "Assume that the
position of your opponent is

408
00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:32,050
"right, and then walk it out to
its logical conclusion, showing

409
00:18:32,050 --> 00:18:36,079
it to be ridiculous because
religion is ridiculous."

410
00:18:36,079 --> 00:18:37,083
I'll give you an example.

411
00:18:37,083 --> 00:18:39,029
I was at a conference
not long ago.

412
00:18:39,029 --> 00:18:43,000
I had a Baptist pastor
come up and he--I mean,

413
00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:45,079
this guy was upset,
and he said,

414
00:18:45,079 --> 00:18:49,025
"All alcohol consumption
is a sin."

415
00:18:49,025 --> 00:18:50,058
That's what he told me.

416
00:18:50,058 --> 00:18:52,046
I told him, I said,
"Look, here's the deal.

417
00:18:52,046 --> 00:18:54,000
"I come from a long
line of alcoholics.

418
00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:55,079
"I know alcohol could
cause great damage.

419
00:18:55,079 --> 00:18:57,083
"I didn't even have a drink till
I was 30 'cause I was afraid

420
00:18:57,083 --> 00:18:59,012
"of being an alcoholic.

421
00:18:59,012 --> 00:19:00,083
"I don't think anybody should
be drinking under age,

422
00:19:00,083 --> 00:19:03,083
"disobeying the law, causing
anyone else to stumble.

423
00:19:03,083 --> 00:19:06,092
"If you're saying alcohol
can be dangerous, I agree.

424
00:19:06,092 --> 00:19:08,096
"But are you sure you
want to say it like that,

425
00:19:08,096 --> 00:19:11,025
all alcohol
consumption is a sin?"

426
00:19:11,025 --> 00:19:12,054
He said, "Yes."

427
00:19:12,054 --> 00:19:14,058
I said, "Okay, let me
assume that that's true.

428
00:19:14,058 --> 00:19:19,021
"You serve, I volley, my next
question is, what about Jesus?

429
00:19:19,021 --> 00:19:22,008
Jesus made and drank wine."

430
00:19:22,008 --> 00:19:25,054
Just leave a long,
awkward silence.

431
00:19:25,054 --> 00:19:30,021
He said, "He either drank grape
juice or he drank wine

432
00:19:30,021 --> 00:19:35,004
but if he did drink wine,
he shouldn't have."

433
00:19:35,004 --> 00:19:42,033
"Oh, so Jesus isn't
as holy as you?"

434
00:19:42,033 --> 00:19:44,083
That's a real problem.

435
00:19:44,083 --> 00:19:48,088
See, it's either change
the Bible or question

436
00:19:48,088 --> 00:19:55,029
Jesus' character, probably not
the best conclusion.

437
00:19:55,029 --> 00:19:58,050
The God you worship needs
to give an account to you,

438
00:19:58,050 --> 00:20:01,088
that seems like an inversion
of the relationship.

439
00:20:01,088 --> 00:20:05,079
Jesus never did sin,
but he did drink wine.

440
00:20:06,083 --> 00:20:10,038
Jesus does this same thing
here and he says, "Okay,

441
00:20:10,038 --> 00:20:12,058
"you've got a rule that you
could never make a meal and eat

442
00:20:12,058 --> 00:20:15,071
anything that's not
pre-prepared on the Sabbath."

443
00:20:15,071 --> 00:20:17,075
He says, "Well, let's
just--let's not argue

444
00:20:17,075 --> 00:20:19,058
"your goofy list.

445
00:20:19,058 --> 00:20:22,008
Let's go to the book
that God wrote."

446
00:20:22,008 --> 00:20:25,054
He says, "Do you remember
the story in 1 Samuel 21?"

447
00:20:25,054 --> 00:20:28,017
Saul was king, he
started off pretty good,

448
00:20:28,017 --> 00:20:30,075
he went totally thoroughly
coocoo for cocoa puffs,

449
00:20:30,075 --> 00:20:32,017
lost his mind.

450
00:20:32,017 --> 00:20:34,096
Starts chucking spears at David
who was to be a successor

451
00:20:34,096 --> 00:20:37,012
as the next king.

452
00:20:37,012 --> 00:20:40,096
David and his mighty men,
his soldier warrior comrades,

453
00:20:40,096 --> 00:20:44,033
they are literally
running for their life,

454
00:20:44,033 --> 00:20:46,029
and it's the Sabbath.

455
00:20:46,029 --> 00:20:47,042
And I know religious people
would be like,

456
00:20:47,042 --> 00:20:48,071
"You can't run on the Sabbath."

457
00:20:48,071 --> 00:20:52,046
Well, they're trying to kill
him, he needs to run, alright?

458
00:20:52,046 --> 00:20:56,050
So he's running for his
life, and he shows up at the

459
00:20:56,050 --> 00:21:00,058
tabernacle, and he goes up to
the priest, and he tells him,

460
00:21:00,058 --> 00:21:01,062
"Hey, look.

461
00:21:01,062 --> 00:21:02,067
"We're starving to death.

462
00:21:02,067 --> 00:21:03,071
"We're out of provisions.

463
00:21:03,071 --> 00:21:05,033
"We're running for our life.

464
00:21:05,033 --> 00:21:08,008
Do you have anything to eat?"

465
00:21:08,008 --> 00:21:10,071
And the priest says,
"You know, not really,

466
00:21:10,071 --> 00:21:12,096
all we have is the
bread of the Presence."

467
00:21:12,096 --> 00:21:15,058
Now, in the presence of
God there were 12 loaves.

468
00:21:15,058 --> 00:21:16,096
They would be placed
there on the Sabbath,

469
00:21:16,096 --> 00:21:18,088
and they would be
replaced every week.

470
00:21:18,088 --> 00:21:20,096
It was to show that
God is our provider,

471
00:21:20,096 --> 00:21:24,000
and we are dependent on him.

472
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:27,008
No one was allowed to eat that
bread except for when it was

473
00:21:27,008 --> 00:21:29,038
taken off the altar
after a week.

474
00:21:29,038 --> 00:21:32,038
The priests could eat it because
they were holy men of God,

475
00:21:32,038 --> 00:21:36,004
and they were
allowed to partake.

476
00:21:36,004 --> 00:21:39,000
And the priest says,
"All we have is that bread.

477
00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,096
That's the only bread we got."

478
00:21:41,096 --> 00:21:44,008
So then he asked
him a good question,

479
00:21:44,008 --> 00:21:45,071
"Are you holy men or not?

480
00:21:45,071 --> 00:21:47,046
"Are you those kind of soldiers
that are running around with

481
00:21:47,046 --> 00:21:50,092
women, or have you kept your
hands pure and to yourself?"

482
00:21:50,092 --> 00:21:53,008
David says, "Me and my
men, we love the Lord.

483
00:21:53,008 --> 00:21:55,004
"We've not been messing
around with women.

484
00:21:55,004 --> 00:21:58,025
"We're not, you know,
unclean, and sinful,

485
00:21:58,025 --> 00:22:00,058
"and godless, like
a lot of soldiers.

486
00:22:00,058 --> 00:22:02,062
"We're godly men,
we're serving the Lord.

487
00:22:02,062 --> 00:22:04,012
"Like the Blues Brothers,

488
00:22:04,012 --> 00:22:05,042
"we're on a mission from God.

489
00:22:05,042 --> 00:22:08,029
We're just hungry, that's all."

490
00:22:08,029 --> 00:22:10,000
So the priest takes
the bread of the Presence,

491
00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:12,033
he gives it to David and
his men, and they go off,

492
00:22:12,033 --> 00:22:15,050
and they have a nice feast.

493
00:22:15,050 --> 00:22:23,000
Now, the question is, did
they sin in eating the bread?

494
00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:26,067
Did the priest sin in
giving them the bread?

495
00:22:26,067 --> 00:22:30,004
The answer is no.

496
00:22:30,004 --> 00:22:32,054
No.

497
00:22:32,054 --> 00:22:35,062
And so legalism
makes you unbiblical.

498
00:22:35,062 --> 00:22:38,029
Jesus says, "You know,
I'm greater than David,

499
00:22:38,029 --> 00:22:40,062
"and my men are
greater than his men,

500
00:22:40,062 --> 00:22:45,000
"and the priest allowed them
to eat the holy bread on

501
00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:48,083
"the Sabbath, surely we can
pick a few heads of grain

502
00:22:48,083 --> 00:22:51,083
"and make a bite to eat
on the Sabbath.

503
00:22:51,083 --> 00:22:53,088
"We're not dishonoring my
Father.

504
00:22:53,088 --> 00:22:56,004
"We're not sinning against him.

505
00:22:56,004 --> 00:23:01,017
"We do abide by the Sabbath
laws, but our God loves mercy,

506
00:23:01,017 --> 00:23:03,067
"and he cares for people,
and we're hungry

507
00:23:03,067 --> 00:23:08,025
so it's okay to eat."

508
00:23:08,025 --> 00:23:11,062
And see what happens, religious
people become unbiblical.

509
00:23:11,062 --> 00:23:14,096
They make rules
outside of the Bible,

510
00:23:14,096 --> 00:23:17,017
then they enforce their rules
outside of the Bible, and then

511
00:23:17,017 --> 00:23:19,088
invariably it paints them in a
corner where they have to start

512
00:23:19,088 --> 00:23:23,021
disagreeing or rewriting
parts of the Bible.

513
00:23:23,021 --> 00:23:25,046
It's unbiblical.

514
00:23:25,046 --> 00:23:28,071
It's unbiblical.

515
00:23:28,071 --> 00:23:32,038
Number three: legalism
makes you arrogant.

516
00:23:32,038 --> 00:23:33,038
"And he said to them,

517
00:23:33,038 --> 00:23:35,096
'The Son of Man is lord
of the Sabbath.'"

518
00:23:35,096 --> 00:23:37,017
Here's how arrogant they are.

519
00:23:37,017 --> 00:23:39,071
They come to Jesus to argue,
not to listen.

520
00:23:39,071 --> 00:23:41,088
Jesus says, "First of
all, I'm the Son of Man."

521
00:23:41,088 --> 00:23:45,008
That's a messianic title
of divinity from Daniel 7.

522
00:23:45,008 --> 00:23:47,075
The Son of Man is the one who is
with God the Father in eternity

523
00:23:47,075 --> 00:23:51,096
past, comes into human history
as the God--man, ruler, king.

524
00:23:51,096 --> 00:23:56,012
And Jesus says, "That's
me, so don't argue with me,

525
00:23:56,012 --> 00:23:57,017
"listen to me.

526
00:23:57,017 --> 00:23:58,071
"Don't fight with me,
follow me.

527
00:23:58,071 --> 00:24:02,050
If we disagree,
assume you're wrong."

528
00:24:02,050 --> 00:24:04,050
See, some of you would come here
today and you would disagree

529
00:24:04,050 --> 00:24:08,004
with Jesus, you disagree
with parts of the Bible.

530
00:24:08,004 --> 00:24:09,075
Assume you're wrong.

531
00:24:09,075 --> 00:24:11,008
It's a very proud
thing to say,

532
00:24:11,008 --> 00:24:12,062
"Well, that's just
Jesus' opinion."

533
00:24:12,062 --> 00:24:17,058
Well, he's God so your opinion
probably doesn't count.

534
00:24:17,058 --> 00:24:20,075
And he says, "I'm Lord
of the Sabbath," saying,

535
00:24:20,075 --> 00:24:23,058
"I'm creator God,
the whole 'seven-day' thing,

536
00:24:23,058 --> 00:24:24,071
"that was my idea.

537
00:24:24,071 --> 00:24:28,021
"The 'take a day off,'
that was my idea.

538
00:24:28,021 --> 00:24:32,017
"The book it's written in,
yeah, that's my book.

539
00:24:32,017 --> 00:24:35,025
"And so I get to decide what's
acceptable and unacceptable

540
00:24:35,025 --> 00:24:36,067
on the Sabbath."

541
00:24:36,067 --> 00:24:38,071
But see, here's what religious
people do.

542
00:24:38,071 --> 00:24:39,071
They're so arrogant.

543
00:24:39,071 --> 00:24:42,067
They always place themselves
in the position of judge,

544
00:24:42,067 --> 00:24:46,067
and they're sitting in
judgment over Jesus.

545
00:24:46,067 --> 00:24:49,038
Religious people,
if you allow them,

546
00:24:49,038 --> 00:24:51,092
they will put you
on the defensive.

547
00:24:51,092 --> 00:24:53,021
They will judge you.

548
00:24:53,021 --> 00:24:57,033
They will make you give an
account to them, not to Jesus.

549
00:24:57,033 --> 00:25:00,050
All of a sudden, you're
trying to earn their favor.

550
00:25:00,050 --> 00:25:02,000
You're trying to
earn their approval.

551
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:04,038
You're trying to get
them to say, "Well done,

552
00:25:04,038 --> 00:25:06,012
good and faithful servant."

553
00:25:06,012 --> 00:25:07,071
Incredibly arrogant.

554
00:25:07,071 --> 00:25:10,050
They've assumed God's position,

555
00:25:10,050 --> 00:25:13,067
and Jesus will not tolerate
that.

556
00:25:13,067 --> 00:25:15,012
He doesn't appeal
to their authority.

557
00:25:15,012 --> 00:25:17,075
He doesn't accept their
theology.

558
00:25:17,075 --> 00:25:21,000
He instead invites them to
acknowledge him

559
00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:23,096
as God become a man,
and Lord of the Sabbath,

560
00:25:23,096 --> 00:25:27,050
as well as the other
6 days of the week.

561
00:25:27,050 --> 00:25:28,075
Arrogant.

562
00:25:28,075 --> 00:25:31,054
And see for some of you, this
is where it will become

563
00:25:31,054 --> 00:25:34,033
very difficult because
religious people are proud.

564
00:25:34,033 --> 00:25:36,021
They are self-confident.

565
00:25:36,021 --> 00:25:39,042
They are absolutely assured.

566
00:25:39,042 --> 00:25:41,042
And you may think, "I don't
know, maybe they're right."

567
00:25:41,042 --> 00:25:47,029
They seem so convinced that
they've become convincing.

568
00:25:48,067 --> 00:25:51,071
Additionally, what we see
is that legalism

569
00:25:51,071 --> 00:25:53,038
makes you unloving.

570
00:25:53,038 --> 00:25:56,054
It moves from the first
story to the second story.

571
00:25:56,054 --> 00:26:05,050
Luke 6:6-10, "On another
Sabbath, he," that's Jesus,

572
00:26:05,050 --> 00:26:07,054
"Entered the synagogue
and was teaching,

573
00:26:07,054 --> 00:26:09,088
"and a man was there whose
right hand was withered.

574
00:26:09,088 --> 00:26:13,021
And the scribes,"
there's the queen bee,

575
00:26:13,021 --> 00:26:15,017
"And the Pharisees,"
there's the swarm,

576
00:26:15,017 --> 00:26:17,071
"Watched him, to see whether he
would heal on the Sabbath,

577
00:26:17,071 --> 00:26:21,017
so that they might find
a reason to accuse him."

578
00:26:21,017 --> 00:26:22,046
That's telling.

579
00:26:22,046 --> 00:26:25,033
"But he knew their thoughts," I
think through the Holy Spirit,

580
00:26:25,033 --> 00:26:27,067
"And he said to the man
with the withered hand,

581
00:26:27,067 --> 00:26:28,075
"'Come and stand here.'

582
00:26:28,075 --> 00:26:30,000
"And he rose and stood there.

583
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:31,000
"And Jesus said to them,

584
00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:34,042
"'I ask you, is it lawful
on the Sabbath to do good

585
00:26:34,042 --> 00:26:38,050
"'or to do harm, to
save life or to destroy it?'

586
00:26:38,050 --> 00:26:41,092
"And after looking around
at them all he said to him,

587
00:26:41,092 --> 00:26:43,042
"'Stretch out your hand.'

588
00:26:43,042 --> 00:26:46,008
And he did so, and his
hand was restored."

589
00:26:46,008 --> 00:26:48,021
Now, here's what had happened.

590
00:26:48,021 --> 00:26:49,083
The Bible said, "No working on
the Sabbath,"

591
00:26:49,083 --> 00:26:52,038
so the religious people
came along and they made

592
00:26:52,038 --> 00:26:55,033
a number of rules, one of which
was you're only allowed to do

593
00:26:55,033 --> 00:26:57,058
emergency medical
care on the Sabbath,

594
00:26:57,058 --> 00:26:59,071
and they had a whole list of
rules for what defined emergency

595
00:26:59,071 --> 00:27:04,038
care--a baby being born
or a traumatic accident.

596
00:27:04,038 --> 00:27:06,042
Religious people worked
this way as well.

597
00:27:06,042 --> 00:27:08,050
They worked through something
called "the fear of man."

598
00:27:08,050 --> 00:27:12,029
Proverbs 29:25, "The fear of
man is a trap or a snare."

599
00:27:12,029 --> 00:27:15,004
They like to make
a scene in public,

600
00:27:15,004 --> 00:27:17,075
that's why they'll swarm to
a blog, swarm to a Facebook,

601
00:27:17,075 --> 00:27:20,017
swarm to a Twitter
account, swarm to a church,

602
00:27:20,017 --> 00:27:24,025
swarm to a church meeting, swarm
to a dinner at someone's home.

603
00:27:24,025 --> 00:27:29,058
Swarm you at work, swarm you as
family members at the holidays.

604
00:27:29,058 --> 00:27:31,083
They swarm, and they're always
looking for an audience

605
00:27:31,083 --> 00:27:35,054
to pressure you, back down,
compromise, be quiet.

606
00:27:35,054 --> 00:27:37,058
Do you want to get
stung some more?

607
00:27:37,058 --> 00:27:41,029
Then tap out,
give up, give in.

608
00:27:41,029 --> 00:27:43,046
So they're always picking a
fight with Jesus where there's

609
00:27:43,046 --> 00:27:47,062
a crowd, and here it's on
the Sabbath, a Saturday,

610
00:27:47,062 --> 00:27:51,067
in the synagogue in
front of an audience.

611
00:27:51,067 --> 00:27:54,021
And it says, "They come
not to listen to Jesus,

612
00:27:54,021 --> 00:27:56,042
but to find fault with him."

613
00:27:56,042 --> 00:28:01,017
Let me say this--you need
to examine your own heart.

614
00:28:01,017 --> 00:28:04,083
When you listen to me, another
preacher, teacher, radio,

615
00:28:04,083 --> 00:28:09,008
podcast, read a book,
are you listening,

616
00:28:09,008 --> 00:28:10,096
are you reading?

617
00:28:10,096 --> 00:28:13,029
First asking, "Okay God,
teach me.

618
00:28:13,029 --> 00:28:14,033
"I want to be humble.

619
00:28:14,033 --> 00:28:15,083
"I want to learn.

620
00:28:15,083 --> 00:28:18,021
"Secondly, show me my
sins, my faults, my flaws,

621
00:28:18,021 --> 00:28:20,046
"my failures so I can grow.

622
00:28:20,046 --> 00:28:23,025
"Thirdly, show me things I can
help other people with

623
00:28:23,025 --> 00:28:24,058
"as a good friend.

624
00:28:24,058 --> 00:28:27,050
"Fourthly, if there's anything
wrong or askew or really

625
00:28:27,050 --> 00:28:31,033
dangerous here, show me that
so I don't get led into error."

626
00:28:31,033 --> 00:28:33,096
But don't start with,
"If I disagree, they're wrong,

627
00:28:33,096 --> 00:28:39,050
I'm right and I'm
here as God to judge."

628
00:28:39,050 --> 00:28:42,033
When you come, are you coming
to listen or criticize?

629
00:28:42,033 --> 00:28:46,021
Are you coming to find what
is helpful or to pick at,

630
00:28:46,021 --> 00:28:49,054
critique that which you might
find fault with because you're

631
00:28:49,054 --> 00:28:52,025
inerrant like the Bible?

632
00:28:52,025 --> 00:28:54,038
Their heart is bad.

633
00:28:54,038 --> 00:28:56,088
I mean, you think about this,
they had an opportunity to

634
00:28:56,088 --> 00:29:01,050
listen to Jesus teach,
and they don't hear a word.

635
00:29:01,050 --> 00:29:02,092
All they're thinking is,

636
00:29:02,092 --> 00:29:04,067
"Oh, I can take that quote
out of context.

637
00:29:04,067 --> 00:29:06,083
"That might get him
in trouble.

638
00:29:06,083 --> 00:29:09,012
"Oh, I wouldn't have
said it that way,

639
00:29:09,012 --> 00:29:11,058
"so obviously he
didn't say it well.

640
00:29:11,058 --> 00:29:14,017
"Yeah, that's not
a great illustration,

641
00:29:14,017 --> 00:29:15,075
I would have done
it differently."

642
00:29:15,075 --> 00:29:20,012
They're criticizing, picking
apart the teaching of Jesus.

643
00:29:20,012 --> 00:29:21,083
They're trying to find fault.

644
00:29:21,083 --> 00:29:24,008
Let me say this--there's no
fault in Jesus' teaching,

645
00:29:24,008 --> 00:29:26,075
the rest of us, there's always
something to find fault in,

646
00:29:26,075 --> 00:29:28,017
especially me.

647
00:29:28,017 --> 00:29:29,025
You want to
find fault with me?

648
00:29:29,025 --> 00:29:32,008
If you can't find it, just
e-mail and I'll tell you

649
00:29:32,008 --> 00:29:35,012
what was wrong with this
sermon, all right?

650
00:29:35,012 --> 00:29:38,083
There's lots of things
wrong with this sermon.

651
00:29:38,083 --> 00:29:40,083
Teachers are not inerrant
like the Bible,

652
00:29:40,083 --> 00:29:45,017
and neither are the hearers.

653
00:29:45,017 --> 00:29:47,071
And this guy walks in
with a withered hand.

654
00:29:47,071 --> 00:29:50,004
This is a medical diagnosis
by Luke the physician.

655
00:29:50,004 --> 00:29:52,025
I don't know if he was born this
way, had a traumatic accident,

656
00:29:52,025 --> 00:29:53,062
we don't know what happened.

657
00:29:53,062 --> 00:29:55,067
Most people are right-handed
so odds are,

658
00:29:55,067 --> 00:29:58,017
this is the hand
he really, really needs.

659
00:29:58,017 --> 00:30:01,029
His right hand is
withered, he walks in.

660
00:30:01,029 --> 00:30:02,050
You know what this guy wants?

661
00:30:02,050 --> 00:30:05,071
He wants to be healed, and the
religious people decided this

662
00:30:05,071 --> 00:30:10,025
isn't urgent, come back another
day, which is very unloving

663
00:30:10,025 --> 00:30:13,096
because for this guy, it
probably seemed fairly urgent.

664
00:30:13,096 --> 00:30:16,017
Like, "My hand doesn't
work, if he could fix it,

665
00:30:16,017 --> 00:30:18,017
"today's good for me.

666
00:30:18,017 --> 00:30:21,033
It's far better than tomorrow."

667
00:30:21,033 --> 00:30:23,021
And so now Jesus has a decision.

668
00:30:23,021 --> 00:30:25,083
Will he heal this man publicly
in front of the scribes and

669
00:30:25,083 --> 00:30:30,008
Pharisees knowing that this
will be their opportunity?

670
00:30:30,008 --> 00:30:32,088
Or does he cave into fear of man
and say, "I'll do it tomorrow,

671
00:30:32,088 --> 00:30:38,000
and I'll do it privately, so
that I don't get criticized."

672
00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:39,083
And he steps forth boldly,
and it says that he

673
00:30:39,083 --> 00:30:42,008
looked everyone in the eye.

674
00:30:42,008 --> 00:30:44,025
What he's doing, he's saying,
"You, and you, and you,

675
00:30:44,025 --> 00:30:47,067
"and you, and you, and you,
and you, and you, and you

676
00:30:47,067 --> 00:30:50,008
"would all
need to make a decision.

677
00:30:50,008 --> 00:30:52,012
"Are you gonna live for
the approval of the scribes

678
00:30:52,012 --> 00:30:54,000
"and the Pharisees,
the religious legalists,

679
00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:57,083
or will you serve God alone?"

680
00:30:57,083 --> 00:31:00,042
And Jesus tells him,
"Stand up and come here

681
00:31:00,042 --> 00:31:03,000
and raise your hand."

682
00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:04,042
This is an act of faith.

683
00:31:04,042 --> 00:31:06,025
"If you think I can heal you,
raise your hand," so he does.

684
00:31:06,025 --> 00:31:09,096
That's an act of faith,
and he's healed.

685
00:31:09,096 --> 00:31:13,038
And the religious people are
unhappy 'cause Jesus didn't

686
00:31:13,038 --> 00:31:15,096
paint by their numbers.

687
00:31:15,096 --> 00:31:18,033
"Well, our numbers say
that you can only fill in

688
00:31:18,033 --> 00:31:21,017
"the green box
for healing on a day

689
00:31:21,017 --> 00:31:22,079
"other than the Sabbath,

690
00:31:22,079 --> 00:31:24,058
"and you painted the right color
in the right box,

691
00:31:24,058 --> 00:31:28,067
"but you painted it
on the wrong day.

692
00:31:28,067 --> 00:31:31,062
So we're not happy with you."

693
00:31:34,042 --> 00:31:35,075
It's amazing.

694
00:31:35,075 --> 00:31:36,075
It's tragic.

695
00:31:36,075 --> 00:31:37,075
It's horrible.

696
00:31:37,075 --> 00:31:42,083
It's religion, and the truth
is, was this a lot of work?

697
00:31:42,083 --> 00:31:45,033
The guy did this...

698
00:31:45,033 --> 00:31:48,000
Doesn't seem like a ton of work
and Jesus healed him.

699
00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:49,004
That's it.

700
00:31:49,004 --> 00:31:50,004
Wasn't a ton of work.

701
00:31:50,004 --> 00:31:52,038
It took more work to criticize
Jesus than it did

702
00:31:52,038 --> 00:31:54,008
to heal the man.

703
00:31:54,008 --> 00:31:57,033
Yet in their religious ideology,
criticizing Jesus doesn't count

704
00:31:57,033 --> 00:32:00,071
for work, but simply having
a guy raise his right hand,

705
00:32:00,071 --> 00:32:03,054
that was a real problem,

706
00:32:03,054 --> 00:32:08,050
because that's what
religious people are like.

707
00:32:08,050 --> 00:32:10,050
That's why Paul says
in the New Testament,

708
00:32:10,050 --> 00:32:12,000
"Take your Sabbath day,
you really need it.

709
00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:14,033
It is a gift from God, but
don't let anyone judge you."

710
00:32:14,033 --> 00:32:16,058
Do you know on Sunday,
Sunday's Christian Sabbath,

711
00:32:16,058 --> 00:32:18,067
you should take a day
off, practice hospitality,

712
00:32:18,067 --> 00:32:22,004
enjoy your friends,
get a day off.

713
00:32:22,004 --> 00:32:24,000
Some of us though,
we work on Sunday.

714
00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:26,021
I do, I don't know
if you noticed that.

715
00:32:26,021 --> 00:32:28,050
I work on Sunday, so Sunday's
not a Sabbath day for me,

716
00:32:28,050 --> 00:32:32,038
Saturday is.

717
00:32:32,038 --> 00:32:36,046
See, the point is that God wants
us to grow in rest, and love,

718
00:32:36,046 --> 00:32:39,017
and relationship with
him and his people.

719
00:32:39,017 --> 00:32:41,004
And religious
people come around,

720
00:32:41,004 --> 00:32:43,000
and they make
rules around gifts,

721
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:47,058
and they turn delights into
duties and drudgeries.

722
00:32:47,058 --> 00:32:50,025
If you want to raise somebody
who really hates God

723
00:32:50,025 --> 00:32:55,008
as a parent, be a legalist
religious person.

724
00:32:55,008 --> 00:32:58,083
Put so many rules around faith
and God that it's not even

725
00:32:58,083 --> 00:33:01,054
enjoyable or freeing.

726
00:33:01,054 --> 00:33:04,079
Some of you were
raised in those homes,

727
00:33:04,079 --> 00:33:06,075
and you don't even know there's
a difference between Jesus

728
00:33:06,075 --> 00:33:09,046
and religion, and I
apologize, there is.

729
00:33:09,046 --> 00:33:12,017
I want you to see here that the
religious people are the ones

730
00:33:12,017 --> 00:33:15,092
fighting with Jesus,
not working for him.

731
00:33:15,092 --> 00:33:19,025
These are the people who
ultimately kill Jesus.

732
00:33:19,025 --> 00:33:21,021
They're the real problem.

733
00:33:21,021 --> 00:33:23,025
I talked to a guy earlier today,
he comes up to me,

734
00:33:23,025 --> 00:33:24,083
tears in his eyes.

735
00:33:24,083 --> 00:33:26,092
I preached this sermon
a little earlier.

736
00:33:26,092 --> 00:33:29,017
He says, "Pastor Mark,
I'm not a Christian.

737
00:33:29,017 --> 00:33:31,021
"My whole family's
really religious.

738
00:33:31,021 --> 00:33:33,096
They love rules, and
rules about the rules."

739
00:33:33,096 --> 00:33:38,000
He said, "Are you sure there's
a difference between religion

740
00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:40,096
and all of its rules,
and Jesus?"

741
00:33:40,096 --> 00:33:42,067
I said, "Yeah."

742
00:33:42,067 --> 00:33:44,088
He said, "'Cause I know
I've got a lot of sin,

743
00:33:44,088 --> 00:33:48,071
"and I want a God who will
forgive me and help me,

744
00:33:48,071 --> 00:33:52,075
not just give more rules
to me that I can't do."

745
00:33:52,075 --> 00:33:54,050
I said, "Well,
that's not Jesus.

746
00:33:54,050 --> 00:33:56,033
"Jesus will show you your sin,

747
00:33:56,033 --> 00:33:58,021
"died for your sin
to forgive you,

748
00:33:58,021 --> 00:34:00,046
"and then gives you
a new life,

749
00:34:00,046 --> 00:34:01,083
"and the power
of the Holy Spirit,

750
00:34:01,083 --> 00:34:06,004
and the support of his
people to help you change."

751
00:34:06,004 --> 00:34:08,083
He said, "So God doesn't just
stand back and judge me

752
00:34:08,083 --> 00:34:10,046
and give more rules?"

753
00:34:10,046 --> 00:34:15,054
I said, "No, God comes near in
Jesus to help you to change."

754
00:34:15,054 --> 00:34:18,046
The guy said,
"I've always hated Jesus,

755
00:34:18,046 --> 00:34:20,088
but I think I just
hated religion."

756
00:34:20,088 --> 00:34:23,000
He said, "You know,
Jesus sounds helpful

757
00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:24,046
and I could use that help."

758
00:34:24,046 --> 00:34:26,092
Yeah, see some of
you religious people,

759
00:34:26,092 --> 00:34:29,062
you're really serious and you're
proud and you're devout

760
00:34:29,062 --> 00:34:32,054
and you're killing people.

761
00:34:32,054 --> 00:34:35,071
You're killing people.

762
00:34:35,071 --> 00:34:37,079
You're no help at all.

763
00:34:37,079 --> 00:34:41,050
In fact, Jesus says, "Your
converts are twice the son

764
00:34:41,050 --> 00:34:44,038
of hell that you are."

765
00:34:44,038 --> 00:34:46,062
Look at these people.

766
00:34:46,062 --> 00:34:47,096
And some of us would
read the story and say,

767
00:34:47,096 --> 00:34:49,096
"I can't believe they
did that to Jesus."

768
00:34:49,096 --> 00:34:53,058
If you're religious,
if you're legalistic,

769
00:34:53,058 --> 00:34:56,054
if you're moralistic,
if you're self-righteous,

770
00:34:56,054 --> 00:35:00,083
if you're hardhearted, if you
have rules that are outside of

771
00:35:00,083 --> 00:35:03,054
the Bible, that you hold
equal to the Bible,

772
00:35:03,054 --> 00:35:06,071
you're on your way
to being a Pharisee.

773
00:35:06,071 --> 00:35:09,042
You've taken the first step.

774
00:35:09,042 --> 00:35:13,071
Some of you are far down the
path, and it's very unloving.

775
00:35:13,071 --> 00:35:15,075
This was very unloving
to Jesus.

776
00:35:15,075 --> 00:35:17,062
They show up
to criticize him.

777
00:35:17,062 --> 00:35:19,029
This is very
unloving to the man.

778
00:35:19,029 --> 00:35:23,058
They're unhappy at
the way that he was healed.

779
00:35:23,058 --> 00:35:25,058
So here's what we'll
do at this point.

780
00:35:25,058 --> 00:35:30,079
We will take a few moments and
make fun of religious people,

781
00:35:30,079 --> 00:35:34,025
and we do this in love.

782
00:35:34,025 --> 00:35:39,017
No, we do, because we love to
make fun of religious people.

783
00:35:41,079 --> 00:35:45,008
Religious people take
themselves way too seriously,

784
00:35:45,008 --> 00:35:47,000
and they expect everyone
to take them very,

785
00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:50,092
very seriously and sometimes the
best thing we can do is laugh

786
00:35:50,092 --> 00:35:55,025
at them and invite them to
join us as a liberation.

787
00:35:55,025 --> 00:35:57,075
That's why the Old Testament
prophets and Jesus use prophetic

788
00:35:57,075 --> 00:36:00,017
irony and sarcasm.

789
00:36:00,017 --> 00:36:03,042
So, we will also make fun
of lots of religious people

790
00:36:03,042 --> 00:36:07,033
because we believe in diversity,
and so we believe in making fun

791
00:36:07,033 --> 00:36:12,029
of lots of people, that's our
diversity commitment.

792
00:36:12,029 --> 00:36:16,025
We will start with
the Jews.

793
00:36:16,025 --> 00:36:22,012
Now, in Judaism, it really is a
rule-based legalistic religion.

794
00:36:22,012 --> 00:36:24,062
Lots of rules,
and rules about the rules,

795
00:36:24,062 --> 00:36:27,025
and different teams and
tribes, and different rules.

796
00:36:27,025 --> 00:36:28,033
I'll give you
a few examples.

797
00:36:28,033 --> 00:36:31,067
There's a guy on staff who
has a friend who's Jewish,

798
00:36:31,067 --> 00:36:35,092
and his team of Judaism made a
rule that you cannot travel more

799
00:36:35,092 --> 00:36:39,008
than, let's say, I think it
was a mile on the Sabbath,

800
00:36:39,008 --> 00:36:42,050
with the only exception
being if it was over water,

801
00:36:42,050 --> 00:36:45,033
and that was to cover in
case you're on a boat.

802
00:36:45,033 --> 00:36:49,033
Hard to mark how long a mile
is, and sometimes a boat,

803
00:36:49,033 --> 00:36:52,046
because of the sea, just
gets moved more than a mile,

804
00:36:52,046 --> 00:36:54,017
and there's not a lot
you can do about it.

805
00:36:54,017 --> 00:36:57,000
So this guy, to be
committed to the law,

806
00:36:57,000 --> 00:36:59,004
he gets in his car
on the Sabbath,

807
00:36:59,004 --> 00:37:02,017
puts a bottle of water under
his seat and then drives,

808
00:37:02,017 --> 00:37:05,071
knowing that he's now met
the exception of being

809
00:37:05,071 --> 00:37:09,033
"over water."

810
00:37:10,083 --> 00:37:14,025
Can you imagine God in heaven
going, "Doh, that kid's smart.

811
00:37:14,025 --> 00:37:16,038
"I didn't see that coming.

812
00:37:16,038 --> 00:37:19,071
He got me with that."

813
00:37:19,071 --> 00:37:21,092
The thing too I don't
understand about religion--

814
00:37:21,092 --> 00:37:24,038
and religious people love rules,
and rules about the rules.

815
00:37:24,038 --> 00:37:25,083
I don't get the hats.

816
00:37:25,083 --> 00:37:27,004
I don't understand the hats.

817
00:37:27,004 --> 00:37:29,017
I don't know why if you
go to a Catholic place,

818
00:37:29,017 --> 00:37:30,029
you gotta take your hat off.

819
00:37:30,029 --> 00:37:32,017
You go to a Jewish place,
gotta put your hat on.

820
00:37:32,017 --> 00:37:36,017
Depending upon what team you're
on in Judaism or Catholicism or

821
00:37:36,017 --> 00:37:39,004
Orthodoxy, you get a big
hat, small hat, colored hat,

822
00:37:39,004 --> 00:37:40,088
round hat, all kinds of hats.

823
00:37:40,088 --> 00:37:42,033
I don't understand the hats.

824
00:37:42,033 --> 00:37:45,000
They are funny, so I thought
I would share a few with you.

825
00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:48,021
Here's one example
of a religious hat.

826
00:37:51,096 --> 00:37:56,038
What I like about that hat
is you can put a cake in it,

827
00:37:56,038 --> 00:38:01,008
and I like cake,
and so I like that.

828
00:38:01,008 --> 00:38:03,046
And it's funny, it's like
the religious people think,

829
00:38:03,046 --> 00:38:04,062
"Well, God's in heaven.

830
00:38:04,062 --> 00:38:05,062
"We're way down here.

831
00:38:05,062 --> 00:38:07,088
"How will he know who
his children are?

832
00:38:07,088 --> 00:38:11,046
Oh, we'll put the hats on,
and then he can't miss us."

833
00:38:11,046 --> 00:38:12,083
"My people are the
ones with hats."

834
00:38:12,083 --> 00:38:16,017
I also love it when we combine
a hat with a dress on a man.

835
00:38:16,017 --> 00:38:18,088
I always think that's
a nice combination.

836
00:38:18,088 --> 00:38:21,083
These are religious leaders.

837
00:38:21,083 --> 00:38:24,050
Can you tell which one
is in charge?

838
00:38:24,050 --> 00:38:26,000
The one with the hat.

839
00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:29,071
The hat always makes you closer
to God, and so you get the hat.

840
00:38:29,071 --> 00:38:34,008
I would not wear a hat,
maybe a cowboy hat.

841
00:38:34,008 --> 00:38:35,079
What I love too
is the dresses.

842
00:38:35,079 --> 00:38:37,025
I'm not sure where
the dresses kicked in.

843
00:38:37,025 --> 00:38:39,012
I always think it's interesting
when the religious leader

844
00:38:39,012 --> 00:38:40,067
has to wear a dress.

845
00:38:40,067 --> 00:38:42,033
Anytime a man has
to wear a dress,

846
00:38:42,033 --> 00:38:45,054
something theologically has
really gone sideways for me,

847
00:38:45,054 --> 00:38:47,042
unless it's a Jedi robe.

848
00:38:47,042 --> 00:38:51,004
I would totally
wear a Jedi robe.

849
00:38:52,088 --> 00:38:57,042
I'll tell you one guy-in-a-dress
story that is an actual fact.

850
00:38:57,042 --> 00:39:01,000
I visited a while
back a gay church.

851
00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:02,088
And I know that sounds weird.

852
00:39:02,088 --> 00:39:05,000
It's like I went to
this vegan steakhouse.

853
00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:16,004
But I--so I went to this
gay church and the guy,

854
00:39:16,004 --> 00:39:18,058
who's a greeter's
wearing like a skirt,

855
00:39:18,058 --> 00:39:22,067
and has like a fabulous handbag,
and I walked in

856
00:39:22,067 --> 00:39:24,025
wearing a baseball hat.

857
00:39:24,025 --> 00:39:26,033
And he stopped me
and he said,

858
00:39:26,033 --> 00:39:28,067
"Sir, you will need to
take that hat off.

859
00:39:28,067 --> 00:39:36,017
That is not acceptable,"
said the guy in the dress.

860
00:39:36,017 --> 00:39:39,050
And I thought, that is a very
curious place to draw the line.

861
00:39:39,050 --> 00:39:43,008
Like, I could wear
a dress, but not with a hat.

862
00:39:43,008 --> 00:39:45,083
So out of respect,
I took the hat off,

863
00:39:45,083 --> 00:39:47,075
and now I have a good joke.

864
00:39:47,075 --> 00:39:50,067
I will also tell you
some things I learned

865
00:39:50,067 --> 00:39:52,050
about the Jews in Israel.

866
00:39:52,050 --> 00:39:54,012
I went to Israel,
which was awesome,

867
00:39:54,012 --> 00:39:57,017
and I discovered something
called the Shabbat elevator.

868
00:39:57,017 --> 00:39:58,046
I will share it with you.

869
00:39:58,046 --> 00:40:02,050
This is official footage taken
on location in Israel

870
00:40:02,050 --> 00:40:05,012
of a Shabbat,
Sabbath elevator.

871
00:40:05,012 --> 00:40:07,054
And the rule here is if
you're Jewish on the Sabbath,

872
00:40:07,054 --> 00:40:11,042
you cannot cause electricity
to current

873
00:40:11,042 --> 00:40:13,008
so you can't push buttons.

874
00:40:13,008 --> 00:40:16,088
So the Shabbat elevator in
the hotel, I didn't know this,

875
00:40:16,088 --> 00:40:20,017
it stops on every floor so no
Orthodox Jew has to push

876
00:40:20,017 --> 00:40:23,079
the button, 'cause that would
be a sin to push the button.

877
00:40:23,079 --> 00:40:25,000
And so I didn't know this.

878
00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:28,038
So being a dumb Gentile, I got
on the Shabbat elevator

879
00:40:28,038 --> 00:40:30,067
with a lot of
the Jewish people.

880
00:40:30,067 --> 00:40:32,046
And it stopped on every
floor, it was really slow.

881
00:40:32,046 --> 00:40:34,075
So I asked one of the guys,
"What is up with this elevator?"

882
00:40:34,075 --> 00:40:37,017
He said, "Oh, this is
the Shabbat elevator."

883
00:40:37,017 --> 00:40:39,067
So I asked, "Is Shabbat
Hebrew for slow?"

884
00:40:39,067 --> 00:40:46,088
He said, "No, we cannot push the
button because that would be

885
00:40:46,088 --> 00:40:51,012
a sin, so it just stops on
every floor for the Sabbath."

886
00:40:51,012 --> 00:40:53,012
I said, "Is there
a Gentile elevator?"

887
00:40:53,012 --> 00:40:55,017
He said, "Oh yes, there are
Gentile elevators

888
00:40:55,017 --> 00:40:56,067
and you could push the button."

889
00:40:56,067 --> 00:40:58,067
I said, "Okay,"
thank you, Jesus.

890
00:40:58,067 --> 00:41:02,021
So I went over and I started
taking the Gentile elevator,

891
00:41:02,021 --> 00:41:04,008
henceforth called
"the Gentavator."

892
00:41:04,008 --> 00:41:07,012
And I jumped on the Gentavator,
and as soon as I got on

893
00:41:07,012 --> 00:41:09,067
the Gentavator, all of the Jews
jumped on the Gentavator

894
00:41:09,067 --> 00:41:13,054
and said, "Could you push
number seven please?"

895
00:41:13,054 --> 00:41:19,067
[congregation laughing]

896
00:41:19,067 --> 00:41:23,071
"It's a sin, could
you do it for me?"

897
00:41:23,071 --> 00:41:25,079
"Yes, I'm a new covenant
Christian,

898
00:41:25,079 --> 00:41:28,088
I will push it twice."

899
00:41:31,083 --> 00:41:33,088
Awesome, yes.

900
00:41:33,088 --> 00:41:36,067
The next morning after riding
the Gentavator and pushing the

901
00:41:36,067 --> 00:41:39,058
button for all the Jewish people
that I love with all my heart,

902
00:41:39,058 --> 00:41:44,012
I saw a man that I will now
refer to as Mr. Goldilocks

903
00:41:44,012 --> 00:41:48,012
because he had these sideburns
that were Goldilock-esque,

904
00:41:48,012 --> 00:41:51,000
and he was a big man,
maybe 400 pounds,

905
00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:52,058
couldn't get things
out of his pocket

906
00:41:52,058 --> 00:41:54,021
'cause they were too far away.

907
00:41:54,021 --> 00:41:59,000
And he was eating for breakfast,
a whole massive cheesecake and

908
00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:03,092
four huge glasses of chocolate
milk, while wearing a black hat,

909
00:42:03,092 --> 00:42:08,021
of course, a white shirt,
a little braided belt,

910
00:42:08,021 --> 00:42:10,000
black pants, black shoes

911
00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:15,062
with his Goldilock ringlet
sideburns.

912
00:42:15,062 --> 00:42:18,058
And so I asked one of the Jewish
guys who was with us, nice guy,

913
00:42:18,058 --> 00:42:22,050
I said, "What's up with all
the dairy for breakfast?

914
00:42:22,050 --> 00:42:25,067
That's a cheesecake
for breakfast?"

915
00:42:25,067 --> 00:42:29,079
He said, "Well, you know, the
dietary laws say that we cannot

916
00:42:29,079 --> 00:42:32,008
"eat dairy past
a certain time of day,

917
00:42:32,008 --> 00:42:35,004
"and we can't mix it with other
foods, so in an effort

918
00:42:35,004 --> 00:42:38,033
to please God, we eat all
our dairy at once."

919
00:42:38,033 --> 00:42:39,067
Really?

920
00:42:39,067 --> 00:42:42,046
So a whole cheesecake for
breakfast and four glasses of

921
00:42:42,046 --> 00:42:44,012
chocolate milk and God's
in heaven going,

922
00:42:44,012 --> 00:42:47,088
"That's what I was wanting to
have happen, all my kids

923
00:42:47,088 --> 00:42:53,050
to die of heart attacks and
lactose intolerance, fabulous."

924
00:42:53,050 --> 00:42:56,058
So those will be
the Jewish examples.

925
00:42:56,058 --> 00:42:59,017
We'll move on to Catholics.

926
00:42:59,017 --> 00:43:01,021
"Did he say that?"

927
00:43:01,021 --> 00:43:03,071
"Yes, he did, he did say that."

928
00:43:03,071 --> 00:43:04,088
I grew up Catholic.

929
00:43:04,088 --> 00:43:06,038
Very glad to have you.

930
00:43:06,038 --> 00:43:08,046
Welcome to Mars Hill,
enjoy our mass.

931
00:43:08,046 --> 00:43:10,075
And the way it worked in
Catholicism was there was

932
00:43:10,075 --> 00:43:12,000
lots of goofy rules.

933
00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:14,029
One of them was
no meat on Friday.

934
00:43:14,029 --> 00:43:16,000
I do not know why.

935
00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:17,088
I do not know why.

936
00:43:17,088 --> 00:43:21,062
And so what happened in Zurich
during the Reformation is that

937
00:43:21,062 --> 00:43:24,025
all of the Protestants would get
together on Friday night after

938
00:43:24,025 --> 00:43:27,050
they got off work for a
city-wide, open-air barbecue.

939
00:43:27,050 --> 00:43:29,017
I just think that's awesome.

940
00:43:29,017 --> 00:43:32,050
Also in Catholicism there are
weird rules like priests cannot

941
00:43:32,050 --> 00:43:35,079
get married, which has
not worked out so well.

942
00:43:35,079 --> 00:43:37,075
Sometimes you don't get the most
healthy guys to sign up for

943
00:43:37,075 --> 00:43:41,042
the job when you forbid
marriage and children.

944
00:43:41,042 --> 00:43:42,050
It's not worked out so well.

945
00:43:42,050 --> 00:43:46,017
Paul said that's among
the "doctrines of demons."

946
00:43:46,017 --> 00:43:47,088
And they will say--
and I love Catholics,

947
00:43:47,088 --> 00:43:50,000
I just don't agree with
a lot of their goofy rules.

948
00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:52,075
They will say, "Well, you
know, Peter's our Pope.

949
00:43:52,075 --> 00:43:54,008
He's our founder."

950
00:43:54,008 --> 00:43:56,033
Okay, then let's do
"reductio ad absurdum."

951
00:43:56,033 --> 00:43:57,038
He was married.

952
00:43:57,038 --> 00:43:58,079
He was.

953
00:43:58,079 --> 00:44:01,012
We already saw it
in Luke's Gospel.

954
00:44:01,012 --> 00:44:07,017
Jesus came and healed
his mother-in-law.

955
00:44:07,017 --> 00:44:09,000
They are a package
deal with a wife,

956
00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:10,071
I don't know if you knew that.

957
00:44:10,071 --> 00:44:12,042
All right, there's no guy
out there right now going,

958
00:44:12,042 --> 00:44:14,067
"I could give or take
the wife, mother-in-law,

959
00:44:14,067 --> 00:44:16,042
that's what I'm looking for."

960
00:44:16,042 --> 00:44:18,021
It's a package deal.

961
00:44:18,021 --> 00:44:20,092
Peter had a mother-in-law,
that means he had a wife.

962
00:44:20,092 --> 00:44:23,021
He was married, so the whole
thing is built on

963
00:44:23,021 --> 00:44:25,050
a faulty, flawed system.

964
00:44:25,050 --> 00:44:27,083
The other thing in Catholicism
that I think is really, really,

965
00:44:27,083 --> 00:44:30,079
really interesting is
when we went to Israel,

966
00:44:30,079 --> 00:44:33,004
certain sites are run by
the Catholic Church,

967
00:44:33,004 --> 00:44:35,038
the holy sites, and when
you get to the holy sites,

968
00:44:35,038 --> 00:44:38,029
you always see this sign...

969
00:44:41,083 --> 00:44:43,050
You'll notice there are
no verses on the sign

970
00:44:43,050 --> 00:44:45,075
'cause it's not in God's book.

971
00:44:45,075 --> 00:44:47,012
"No shorts."

972
00:44:47,012 --> 00:44:49,058
I asked repeatedly, "Why?"

973
00:44:49,058 --> 00:44:51,033
"Your knees will show."

974
00:44:51,033 --> 00:44:55,004
God sees them either way.

975
00:44:55,004 --> 00:44:56,079
It's not like God's like,
"Oh, those are pants.

976
00:44:56,079 --> 00:45:00,083
I cannot see the knees."

977
00:45:00,083 --> 00:45:02,054
I just, I don't understand.

978
00:45:02,054 --> 00:45:06,050
Now I have saved, arguably the
best for last on Catholicism,

979
00:45:06,050 --> 00:45:08,079
and this is a big issue for
some of you former Catholics,

980
00:45:08,079 --> 00:45:11,017
and especially at our
Albuquerque campus where

981
00:45:11,017 --> 00:45:13,046
Catholicism is
just in the water,

982
00:45:13,046 --> 00:45:15,075
it just is something
you've got to deal with.

983
00:45:15,075 --> 00:45:17,017
Take a deep breath.

984
00:45:17,017 --> 00:45:19,054
I'm gonna reload because
this one is so awesome,

985
00:45:19,054 --> 00:45:22,067
we have to nail it.

986
00:45:22,067 --> 00:45:24,029
This is my twenty-third
sermon in Luke,

987
00:45:24,029 --> 00:45:29,050
and I have been waiting to
share this for a long time.

988
00:45:29,050 --> 00:45:34,033
This one is fantastic.

989
00:45:34,033 --> 00:45:38,050
In the Bible, Jesus taught
and 5,000 men came out,

990
00:45:38,050 --> 00:45:39,050
plus the women
and the children,

991
00:45:39,050 --> 00:45:43,000
that's maybe, 20,000,
25,000 people.

992
00:45:43,000 --> 00:45:46,046
And so Jesus had this little
boy come to him and hand him

993
00:45:46,046 --> 00:45:48,050
a Lunchable, right?

994
00:45:48,050 --> 00:45:50,054
Couple fishes and
loaves, Hebrew Lunchable,

995
00:45:50,054 --> 00:45:53,067
and Jesus multiplied it and
fed 20,000, 25,000 people.

996
00:45:53,067 --> 00:45:57,083
So they all sat on the grass
and had an enormous picnic.

997
00:45:57,083 --> 00:46:01,038
And I thought, I can't wait
to go to that place and just

998
00:46:01,038 --> 00:46:06,025
envision in my mind 20,000
people having a picnic on a hill

999
00:46:06,025 --> 00:46:09,075
and I got there, it was
a Catholic holy site.

1000
00:46:09,075 --> 00:46:14,038
I am not kidding you,
this is the sign...

1001
00:46:23,017 --> 00:46:26,008
That is awesome.

1002
00:46:26,008 --> 00:46:29,050
[laughing]

1003
00:46:29,050 --> 00:46:32,050
"You know what this place needs,
it needs a sign that says,

1004
00:46:32,050 --> 00:46:36,046
'No picnics.'"

1005
00:46:36,046 --> 00:46:40,000
That's awesome.

1006
00:46:40,000 --> 00:46:43,033
The Muslims.

1007
00:46:43,033 --> 00:46:44,050
It got so quiet.

1008
00:46:44,050 --> 00:46:47,042
Everybody's like, "Oh, man.

1009
00:46:47,042 --> 00:46:49,000
"Can't we do the Mormons
and the under britches,

1010
00:46:49,000 --> 00:46:51,067
can't we do anything else?"

1011
00:46:51,067 --> 00:46:55,038
No, that's too easy.

1012
00:46:55,038 --> 00:46:56,071
We won't talk about
the burkas.

1013
00:46:56,071 --> 00:46:58,042
I'll just give you one
thing on the Muslims.

1014
00:46:58,042 --> 00:46:59,071
It's amazing, you see
everybody's like,

1015
00:46:59,071 --> 00:47:06,029
"Oh man, move fast,
say it quick."

1016
00:47:06,029 --> 00:47:10,058
We were in Turkey, right now--we
were in Turkey, which is

1017
00:47:10,058 --> 00:47:12,042
a predominantly
Muslim--everybody's Muslim

1018
00:47:12,042 --> 00:47:14,004
or everybody claims
to be Muslim there.

1019
00:47:14,004 --> 00:47:16,075
And everywhere we went for a
bite to eat, they kept asking,

1020
00:47:16,075 --> 00:47:17,096
"Do you want some raki?"

1021
00:47:17,096 --> 00:47:18,096
I think that's how you say it.

1022
00:47:18,096 --> 00:47:20,029
"You want raki, you want raki,
you want raki?"

1023
00:47:20,029 --> 00:47:22,004
I was like, "I'd love to
meet him, is he here?"

1024
00:47:22,004 --> 00:47:23,033
They're like,
"No, it's a drink."

1025
00:47:23,033 --> 00:47:24,075
"Oh, okay, what is it?"

1026
00:47:24,075 --> 00:47:27,000
"Well, it's an alcohol,
really hard beverage.

1027
00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:28,033
"It tastes like, what is it?

1028
00:47:28,033 --> 00:47:29,067
Sambuca."

1029
00:47:29,067 --> 00:47:30,083
I was like, "Really?

1030
00:47:30,083 --> 00:47:31,075
"Oh, okay.

1031
00:47:31,075 --> 00:47:32,083
Well, you guys are
Muslim countries."

1032
00:47:32,083 --> 00:47:33,083
So finally I asked
our tour guide,

1033
00:47:33,083 --> 00:47:35,000
I was like, "You guys
are a Muslim country.

1034
00:47:35,000 --> 00:47:36,017
"You're not supposed
to drink alcohol.

1035
00:47:36,017 --> 00:47:38,033
You guys keep offering
me raki, why?"

1036
00:47:38,033 --> 00:47:40,025
He said, "It's
our national drink."

1037
00:47:40,025 --> 00:47:41,083
Really?

1038
00:47:41,083 --> 00:47:43,067
National drink is hard alcohol?

1039
00:47:43,067 --> 00:47:46,038
You know, bottled water would
have been a better choice just

1040
00:47:46,038 --> 00:47:48,062
for health purposes,
but I'm not a hater.

1041
00:47:48,062 --> 00:47:49,071
Okay, fine.

1042
00:47:49,071 --> 00:47:52,025
"Explain this to me, how come
Muslims aren't allowed to drink

1043
00:47:52,025 --> 00:47:55,058
and your national
drink is a hard alcohol?"

1044
00:47:55,058 --> 00:47:59,029
What he said was, "You
know, the Muslim scholars

1045
00:47:59,029 --> 00:48:01,054
"say we're not allowed
to drink fermented drink,

1046
00:48:01,054 --> 00:48:05,046
and this is alcohol
that's distilled."

1047
00:48:05,046 --> 00:48:06,083
I said, "So do you
ever get drunk?"

1048
00:48:06,083 --> 00:48:07,062
"Yeah."

1049
00:48:07,062 --> 00:48:08,067
"Does your dad ever get drunk?"

1050
00:48:08,067 --> 00:48:09,071
"Yeah, he's an alcoholic."

1051
00:48:09,071 --> 00:48:10,071
"Is that a problem?"

1052
00:48:10,071 --> 00:48:12,067
"No, it's not fermented."

1053
00:48:12,067 --> 00:48:15,079
So you can be a distilled
alcoholic, no problem.

1054
00:48:15,079 --> 00:48:18,025
You just can't be a
fermented alcoholic.

1055
00:48:18,025 --> 00:48:19,054
"We gotta draw the line
somewhere

1056
00:48:19,054 --> 00:48:21,050
and that's where we're gonna
draw it."

1057
00:48:21,050 --> 00:48:24,021
I thought that was awesome.

1058
00:48:24,021 --> 00:48:25,062
How about this one?
Oh, you know what?

1059
00:48:25,062 --> 00:48:26,079
It's not just
religious people.

1060
00:48:26,079 --> 00:48:28,017
There's secular
religious people too.

1061
00:48:28,017 --> 00:48:31,012
I double-dog-dare ya in Seattle,
even with an atheist to do this.

1062
00:48:31,012 --> 00:48:36,033
Get a huge SUV, drive it
up to a yoga center, okay,

1063
00:48:36,033 --> 00:48:41,021
and just leave it running,
don't turn it off.

1064
00:48:41,021 --> 00:48:44,046
Just roll the windows down,
just start eating a lot of meat,

1065
00:48:44,046 --> 00:48:51,004
okay, while smoking a
cigarette and littering.

1066
00:48:51,004 --> 00:48:56,008
Just see if the lotus position
Pharisees don't come out,

1067
00:48:56,008 --> 00:48:57,025
"What are you doing?"

1068
00:48:57,025 --> 00:49:01,017
"Well, I'm smoking less than
20 feet from a building,

1069
00:49:01,017 --> 00:49:03,075
"and I am littering, and
I am killing animals,

1070
00:49:03,075 --> 00:49:05,042
"and eating them.

1071
00:49:05,042 --> 00:49:08,000
"And I leave my vehicle running
'cause I read about

1072
00:49:08,000 --> 00:49:12,083
"global warming
and it's too cold.

1073
00:49:15,083 --> 00:49:19,033
"So I just run my SUV every day
for a couple hours,

1074
00:49:19,033 --> 00:49:26,017
"and occasionally I just get
aerosol cans, and I just unload.

1075
00:49:26,017 --> 00:49:29,083
"If you would like, you can
come in with me, eat some meat.

1076
00:49:29,083 --> 00:49:32,038
"I'll give you a cigarette, we
can drive down to the river,

1077
00:49:32,038 --> 00:49:42,096
and we could just put our ashes
on the salmon, smoked salmon."

1078
00:49:46,029 --> 00:49:50,058
And see if you don't have
a full-on Pharisee, right?

1079
00:49:50,058 --> 00:49:52,088
Atheistic Pharisees show up.

1080
00:49:52,088 --> 00:49:55,012
We'll deal with
Christians as well, alright?

1081
00:49:55,012 --> 00:49:56,017
Okay, so we're Reformed.

1082
00:49:56,017 --> 00:49:57,058
We'll pick on Calvinists.

1083
00:49:57,058 --> 00:50:00,004
The Westminster Confession
of Faith, which is pretty good,

1084
00:50:00,004 --> 00:50:03,000
in chapter 21, point
number, I think it's 8,

1085
00:50:03,000 --> 00:50:05,012
says that on the Sabbath
you're not allowed to do

1086
00:50:05,012 --> 00:50:08,079
anything that's,
"recreation," recreation.

1087
00:50:08,079 --> 00:50:10,046
So no sport, no fun.

1088
00:50:10,046 --> 00:50:14,029
So if you're Presbyterian, this
is it, which means yesterday

1089
00:50:14,029 --> 00:50:17,017
when I took my sons to T-ball
and baseball and threw the ball

1090
00:50:17,017 --> 00:50:19,071
around with them, if I was in
a Presbyterian church

1091
00:50:19,071 --> 00:50:20,075
that strictly adhered to

1092
00:50:20,075 --> 00:50:22,017
the Westminster
Confession of Faith,

1093
00:50:22,017 --> 00:50:25,038
I'm in sin 'cause
I played catch.

1094
00:50:25,038 --> 00:50:27,067
I don't think that's
what Jesus meant.

1095
00:50:27,067 --> 00:50:30,000
I don't think that's
what the Bible meant.

1096
00:50:30,000 --> 00:50:32,079
How about other
Christian legalisms?

1097
00:50:32,079 --> 00:50:34,029
Do you know at Mars Hill Church,

1098
00:50:34,029 --> 00:50:35,092
we can have our own legalisms
as well?

1099
00:50:35,092 --> 00:50:38,012
I'll give you two that a lot of
ladies here are prone toward,

1100
00:50:38,012 --> 00:50:41,046
natural childbirth
and home schooling.

1101
00:50:41,046 --> 00:50:42,083
They go together like two
barrels on a gun

1102
00:50:42,083 --> 00:50:45,075
to shoot the other women.

1103
00:50:45,075 --> 00:50:49,017
Natural childbirth is where
you don't use drugs, right?

1104
00:50:49,017 --> 00:50:51,033
You're like, "I understand
the crucifixion

1105
00:50:51,033 --> 00:50:52,088
"'cause I felt the pain.

1106
00:50:52,088 --> 00:50:55,088
I committed myself to
natural childbirth."

1107
00:50:55,088 --> 00:50:59,021
Right, and natural childbirth
is fine, it's great.

1108
00:50:59,021 --> 00:51:01,000
You can do it, praise
God, you got options,

1109
00:51:01,000 --> 00:51:03,046
but it doesn't
work for everybody.

1110
00:51:03,046 --> 00:51:05,075
Some ladies need to go to
the hospital, and I saw it,

1111
00:51:05,075 --> 00:51:08,067
I've been there for five
births, each of my kids.

1112
00:51:08,067 --> 00:51:11,096
The first one, Grace is in
labor for like 20 hours,

1113
00:51:11,096 --> 00:51:13,058
my Shrek-size head, her body.

1114
00:51:13,058 --> 00:51:15,012
The doctor finally
comes to me and says,

1115
00:51:15,012 --> 00:51:17,004
"We cannot make
this geometry work."

1116
00:51:17,004 --> 00:51:19,000
I understand.

1117
00:51:19,000 --> 00:51:22,058
I can't even find
a hat that fits.

1118
00:51:22,058 --> 00:51:24,096
"We're gonna need to do
an emergency c-section,"

1119
00:51:24,096 --> 00:51:26,071
which kind of freaked me out.

1120
00:51:26,071 --> 00:51:27,096
So they rush her in.

1121
00:51:27,096 --> 00:51:30,000
They say, "We're gonna
need to do an epidural."

1122
00:51:30,000 --> 00:51:31,017
"What is that?"

1123
00:51:31,017 --> 00:51:32,050
"Well, that's where
we tap her spine,

1124
00:51:32,050 --> 00:51:35,017
"and we put drugs in there to
numb the pain so she

1125
00:51:35,017 --> 00:51:37,017
can endure the C-section."

1126
00:51:37,017 --> 00:51:39,021
And then they cut her open,
they take her organs out.

1127
00:51:39,021 --> 00:51:43,000
I'm there watching the whole
thing, and at one point

1128
00:51:43,000 --> 00:51:45,067
the nurse looks at me and says,
"Do you need anything?"

1129
00:51:45,067 --> 00:51:54,071
"Yes, I need an epidural,
'cause I'm freaking out, man.

1130
00:51:54,071 --> 00:51:57,062
Hook me up to
whatever she's got."

1131
00:51:57,062 --> 00:52:00,046
But the natural childbirth
crowd, it's like,

1132
00:52:00,046 --> 00:52:02,088
"Oh, that is not
very Christ-like.

1133
00:52:02,088 --> 00:52:04,079
I suffered for my baby."

1134
00:52:04,079 --> 00:52:08,075
And then it turns into home
schooling becomes legalistic,

1135
00:52:08,075 --> 00:52:11,025
it becomes the only way do it.

1136
00:52:11,025 --> 00:52:13,029
Not against home schooling,
it's totally fine,

1137
00:52:13,029 --> 00:52:16,033
but some of you ladies, it's
like, "I do natural childbirth,

1138
00:52:16,033 --> 00:52:20,067
and I do home schooling, and
I didn't do drugs for either."

1139
00:52:20,067 --> 00:52:30,042
Well, that's cool, but don't
get so religious about it.

1140
00:52:31,092 --> 00:52:34,083
Oh, that was fun.

1141
00:52:34,083 --> 00:52:39,058
We will now read from the Bob
Jones University handbook,

1142
00:52:39,058 --> 00:52:42,038
because we can.

1143
00:52:42,038 --> 00:52:45,062
It's not in my Bible, so don't
get confused if you're new.

1144
00:52:45,062 --> 00:52:48,017
I just taped it in here.

1145
00:52:48,017 --> 00:52:51,075
Bob Jones is like Mecca for
Christian fundamentalist

1146
00:52:51,075 --> 00:52:55,071
religious types, and it may be a
little bit of a stretch to call

1147
00:52:55,071 --> 00:52:59,050
them Pharisees but, you know,
there are Christian people

1148
00:52:59,050 --> 00:53:02,033
who really are legalistic,
and they love their rules,

1149
00:53:02,033 --> 00:53:06,067
and certain places
tend to encourage that.

1150
00:53:06,067 --> 00:53:10,050
The Bob Jones University
handbook, years 1994, 1995,

1151
00:53:10,050 --> 00:53:12,058
not that far ago.

1152
00:53:12,058 --> 00:53:15,050
"All women students, ninth grade
and above are to wear hose

1153
00:53:15,050 --> 00:53:17,067
at all time."

1154
00:53:17,067 --> 00:53:19,021
I wonder if that
includes sleeping.

1155
00:53:19,021 --> 00:53:21,046
I just thought of that.

1156
00:53:21,046 --> 00:53:25,038
"Jean skirts and jumpers are
permitted after 7:00 p.m.

1157
00:53:25,038 --> 00:53:28,033
"on weekdays,

1158
00:53:28,033 --> 00:53:32,096
"on Saturdays, and on outings,
Jean jackets are permitted

1159
00:53:32,096 --> 00:53:34,050
"on outings only.

1160
00:53:34,050 --> 00:53:38,025
Split skirts, not culottes,"
that's what it says,

1161
00:53:38,025 --> 00:53:41,083
"May be worn to
weekend ball games."

1162
00:53:41,083 --> 00:53:42,083
Oh, that's good.

1163
00:53:42,083 --> 00:53:44,050
For you men, "Coats and ties
should be worn to

1164
00:53:44,050 --> 00:53:47,054
evening assemblies."

1165
00:53:47,054 --> 00:53:49,067
Imagine if our evening service,
all the guys are walking in

1166
00:53:49,067 --> 00:53:52,025
in suits and ties.

1167
00:53:52,025 --> 00:53:53,050
"Man, are the Mormons
taking us over?

1168
00:53:53,050 --> 00:53:56,038
What happened at Mars Hill?"

1169
00:53:56,038 --> 00:53:58,012
"When on front campus
on Sundays,

1170
00:53:58,012 --> 00:54:00,062
except for Sunday breakfast when
only a tie is required."

1171
00:54:00,062 --> 00:54:02,042
"Haircuts," you knew
this was coming.

1172
00:54:02,042 --> 00:54:04,062
"Men are to have their hair cut
so the back is tapered

1173
00:54:04,062 --> 00:54:06,079
"and does not come over
the collar or ears.

1174
00:54:06,079 --> 00:54:08,033
"Sideburns are to be no longer

1175
00:54:08,033 --> 00:54:09,058
"than the lower opening
of the ear.

1176
00:54:09,058 --> 00:54:12,062
Mustaches and beards
are not permitted."

1177
00:54:12,062 --> 00:54:14,017
That would be hard for me
'cause I grow a beard in

1178
00:54:14,017 --> 00:54:17,017
like 17 minutes.

1179
00:54:17,017 --> 00:54:20,054
My dad Chewbacca.

1180
00:54:20,054 --> 00:54:23,033
"In front the hair must not fall
lower than two finger-widths

1181
00:54:23,033 --> 00:54:24,038
above the eyebrows."

1182
00:54:24,038 --> 00:54:25,088
And you know there was some
little Nazi

1183
00:54:25,088 --> 00:54:27,017
walking around checking.

1184
00:54:27,017 --> 00:54:30,033
That kid, like, "Oh,
I'm gonna be a deacon,

1185
00:54:30,033 --> 00:54:33,021
that's what I'm gonna be."

1186
00:54:35,079 --> 00:54:37,096
They would have to kick
Samson out of school.

1187
00:54:37,096 --> 00:54:40,029
"Oh, long hair, there you go."

1188
00:54:40,029 --> 00:54:43,092
"Dormitory students may watch
only G-rated home videos

1189
00:54:43,092 --> 00:54:44,096
"while visiting in town.

1190
00:54:44,096 --> 00:54:47,088
VCRs are not permitted
in the dormitories."

1191
00:54:47,088 --> 00:54:49,021
You'll love this, Mars Hill.

1192
00:54:49,021 --> 00:54:52,025
"Students may listen to
only three types of music.

1193
00:54:52,025 --> 00:54:54,008
"Number one: classical.

1194
00:54:54,008 --> 00:54:56,029
Number two: semi-classical."

1195
00:54:56,029 --> 00:54:58,038
[laughing]

1196
00:54:58,038 --> 00:55:01,012
That is awesome.

1197
00:55:01,012 --> 00:55:03,079
"Three: serious
religious music."

1198
00:55:03,079 --> 00:55:05,038
Like Muslim chants?

1199
00:55:05,038 --> 00:55:07,008
They don't even qualify that.

1200
00:55:07,008 --> 00:55:09,017
And it goes on to say you can't
listen to folk music or rock

1201
00:55:09,017 --> 00:55:13,046
music or serious religious music
or classic music done in a folk

1202
00:55:13,046 --> 00:55:17,042
or rock style, and you cannot
listen to new age music,

1203
00:55:17,042 --> 00:55:20,021
and there's a whole paper in the
dean's office that explains what

1204
00:55:20,021 --> 00:55:23,079
new age music is,
and its dangers.

1205
00:55:23,079 --> 00:55:27,062
And this is interesting, this
next policy was in place till

1206
00:55:27,062 --> 00:55:30,008
the year 2000, you ready?

1207
00:55:30,008 --> 00:55:32,042
Interracial dating.

1208
00:55:32,042 --> 00:55:35,071
"There is to be no
interracial dating.

1209
00:55:35,071 --> 00:55:38,067
"Students who become partners in
an interracial marriage

1210
00:55:38,067 --> 00:55:41,088
"will be expelled.

1211
00:55:41,088 --> 00:55:45,025
"Students who are members of, or
affiliated with, any group or

1212
00:55:45,025 --> 00:55:48,054
"organization which holds
interracial marriage as one

1213
00:55:48,054 --> 00:55:51,058
"of its goals or advocates
interracial marriage

1214
00:55:51,058 --> 00:55:53,025
will be expelled."

1215
00:55:53,025 --> 00:55:54,083
That's the Christian
fundamentalist doctrine

1216
00:55:54,083 --> 00:55:56,079
of degrees of separation.

1217
00:55:56,079 --> 00:55:58,067
You can't marry someone
of another race,

1218
00:55:58,067 --> 00:56:00,079
and you can't be in an
organization that will marry

1219
00:56:00,079 --> 00:56:03,062
someone of another race
otherwise you're guilty

1220
00:56:03,062 --> 00:56:05,038
by association.

1221
00:56:05,038 --> 00:56:07,038
"Students who date outside
of their own race

1222
00:56:07,038 --> 00:56:13,062
will be expelled,"
until the year 2000.

1223
00:56:13,062 --> 00:56:19,021
They would have to kick Moses
out because he married a woman

1224
00:56:19,021 --> 00:56:23,017
who was, the Scripture
tells us, black.

1225
00:56:23,017 --> 00:56:27,071
So Moses, who wrote the first
five books of the Old Testament,

1226
00:56:27,071 --> 00:56:30,058
would have to get
kicked out of school.

1227
00:56:30,058 --> 00:56:35,042
My point is, back to my preface,
legalism makes you bold,

1228
00:56:35,042 --> 00:56:40,017
unbiblical, arrogant,
and unloving.

1229
00:56:40,017 --> 00:56:42,071
And lastly, here's
the big problem,

1230
00:56:42,071 --> 00:56:46,050
legalism makes you dangerous,
makes you dangerous.

1231
00:56:46,050 --> 00:56:50,033
Luke 6:11, "But they were filled
with fury and discussed with

1232
00:56:50,033 --> 00:56:52,083
one another what they
might do to Jesus."

1233
00:56:52,083 --> 00:56:55,033
See, Jesus breaks their
rules, not the Bible rules.

1234
00:56:55,033 --> 00:56:56,096
He does so publicly.

1235
00:56:56,096 --> 00:56:58,083
He takes them on.

1236
00:56:58,083 --> 00:57:01,088
They pick the fight, but
he's not gonna lose it.

1237
00:57:01,088 --> 00:57:06,021
And what they decide
is, "We are furious."

1238
00:57:06,021 --> 00:57:09,021
And religious people
attack, and they get angry,

1239
00:57:09,021 --> 00:57:10,025
and they defend their idols.

1240
00:57:10,025 --> 00:57:11,067
Anytime you attack
someone's idol,

1241
00:57:11,067 --> 00:57:14,058
people tend to get very
violent to defend their idol.

1242
00:57:14,058 --> 00:57:17,046
When your idol is religion, you
tend to get violent defending

1243
00:57:17,046 --> 00:57:21,050
your religion,
which is your idol.

1244
00:57:21,050 --> 00:57:24,042
And apparently for them, it's
a sin for Jesus to heal on the

1245
00:57:24,042 --> 00:57:28,033
Sabbath, but it's not a sin for
them to plot his murder on

1246
00:57:28,033 --> 00:57:32,033
the Sabbath, which is
curious indeed.

1247
00:57:32,033 --> 00:57:35,000
Religion makes you
very dangerous,

1248
00:57:35,000 --> 00:57:39,008
legalism makes you
very dangerous.

1249
00:57:39,008 --> 00:57:44,050
It could kill everything
that we enjoy of God's grace.

1250
00:57:46,000 --> 00:57:49,038
There are, I think, seven
steps to becoming a legalist.

1251
00:57:49,038 --> 00:57:54,004
I'll share them with you, so you
cannot do them by God's grace,

1252
00:57:54,004 --> 00:57:58,096
and not parent your children
to become little legalists.

1253
00:57:58,096 --> 00:58:00,067
Here's how you become
a legalist.

1254
00:58:00,067 --> 00:58:03,042
Number one: make rules outside
of the Bible.

1255
00:58:03,042 --> 00:58:08,017
Make rules outside the Bible
that are equal to the Bible.

1256
00:58:08,017 --> 00:58:11,054
Number two: push yourself
to try and keep your rules.

1257
00:58:11,054 --> 00:58:13,021
"I'm gonna get up at this time,
I'm gonna read this many verses.

1258
00:58:13,021 --> 00:58:16,004
I'm gonna give this--"
You make a punch list,

1259
00:58:16,004 --> 00:58:17,067
and you work really
hard, really devout,

1260
00:58:17,067 --> 00:58:23,050
really serious to really be
a Varsity-committed believer.

1261
00:58:23,050 --> 00:58:26,042
And it's not bad to be zealous,
provided you're zealous for

1262
00:58:26,042 --> 00:58:30,083
the right things, like love,
and grace, and mercy.

1263
00:58:30,083 --> 00:58:34,008
Number three: castigate yourself
when you don't keep your rules.

1264
00:58:34,008 --> 00:58:35,083
Beat yourself up,
punish yourself,

1265
00:58:35,083 --> 00:58:37,058
put yourself in the
position of God.

1266
00:58:37,058 --> 00:58:39,083
Make your own rules,
be your own judge,

1267
00:58:39,083 --> 00:58:43,021
and then atone
for your own sin.

1268
00:58:43,021 --> 00:58:45,000
Number four: become proud
when you do keep the rules.

1269
00:58:45,000 --> 00:58:46,004
"I did it.

1270
00:58:46,004 --> 00:58:47,038
"I got up early,
I served hard.

1271
00:58:47,038 --> 00:58:48,038
"I gave a lot.

1272
00:58:48,038 --> 00:58:49,038
"I was committed.

1273
00:58:49,038 --> 00:58:50,038
"I was devoted.

1274
00:58:50,038 --> 00:58:51,038
"I did it!

1275
00:58:51,038 --> 00:58:54,029
I'm a good person,
better than others."

1276
00:58:54,029 --> 00:58:57,021
Number five: appoint yourself
as judge over people.

1277
00:58:57,021 --> 00:58:59,033
"Oh, you didn't do
the thing that I do,

1278
00:58:59,033 --> 00:59:01,033
"you don't do it
as well as I do.

1279
00:59:01,033 --> 00:59:03,021
"You should do it like I do.

1280
00:59:03,021 --> 00:59:05,025
"I judge you,
I follow you around.

1281
00:59:05,025 --> 00:59:06,050
"I criticize you.

1282
00:59:06,050 --> 00:59:12,008
I do to you what the
Pharisees did to Jesus."

1283
00:59:12,008 --> 00:59:13,058
Get angry with people
who break your rules

1284
00:59:13,058 --> 00:59:14,062
or have different rules.

1285
00:59:14,062 --> 00:59:16,071
"How dare you break my rules?"

1286
00:59:16,071 --> 00:59:18,050
If you're a parent
that parents like this,

1287
00:59:18,050 --> 00:59:20,029
you'll destroy a child.

1288
00:59:20,029 --> 00:59:21,083
If you're a boss
who leads like this,

1289
00:59:21,083 --> 00:59:24,067
you'll destroy an employee.

1290
00:59:24,067 --> 00:59:26,000
If you're a community
group leader,

1291
00:59:26,000 --> 00:59:29,000
a deacon or a pastor or a
spiritual leader who leads like

1292
00:59:29,000 --> 00:59:34,004
this, you will destroy people by
either them becoming devastated,

1293
00:59:34,004 --> 00:59:37,008
broken religious people or
proud self-righteous

1294
00:59:37,008 --> 00:59:39,083
violent Pharisees.

1295
00:59:39,083 --> 00:59:43,025
And then number seven:
you just beat the losers.

1296
00:59:43,025 --> 00:59:44,075
"You didn't obey my rules.

1297
00:59:44,075 --> 00:59:45,083
"You didn't listen to me.

1298
00:59:45,083 --> 00:59:46,083
"You do it the way I do it.

1299
00:59:46,083 --> 00:59:50,000
You don't do it as
well as I do it.

1300
00:59:50,000 --> 00:59:53,000
"Yeah, I know it's not in the
Bible but through intimidation,

1301
00:59:53,000 --> 00:59:56,000
"coercion, force, threatening,
me and my friends,

1302
00:59:56,000 --> 00:59:57,008
"we're gonna swarm on you.

1303
00:59:57,008 --> 00:59:58,038
"We're gonna criticize you.

1304
00:59:58,038 --> 00:59:59,079
"We're gonna say
things about you.

1305
00:59:59,079 --> 01:00:02,008
"We're gonna pressure you,
verbally, emotionally,

1306
01:00:02,008 --> 01:00:04,033
spiritually, sometimes
even physically,"

1307
01:00:04,033 --> 01:00:06,012
as they did with
the murder of Jesus.

1308
01:00:06,012 --> 01:00:09,062
"We're going to beat you,
we're going to punish you.

1309
01:00:09,062 --> 01:00:11,062
"We're not gonna draw
you in with love.

1310
01:00:11,062 --> 01:00:13,025
"We're gonna coerce
you through fear,

1311
01:00:13,025 --> 01:00:18,012
"intimidation, and force 'cause
we don't care about the heart.

1312
01:00:18,012 --> 01:00:19,096
"We just want you to
paint by numbers.

1313
01:00:19,096 --> 01:00:23,021
"We want to decide
the numbers,

1314
01:00:23,021 --> 01:00:28,004
and we just want you
to shut up and paint."

1315
01:00:28,004 --> 01:00:29,046
That's religion.

1316
01:00:29,046 --> 01:00:31,000
That's legalism.

1317
01:00:31,000 --> 01:00:32,067
And you know what?

1318
01:00:32,067 --> 01:00:34,021
At Mars Hill,
I wrote this down,

1319
01:00:34,021 --> 01:00:37,029
I think the campuses that are
most susceptible to religion

1320
01:00:37,029 --> 01:00:41,046
and to legalism are the Federal
Way Campus, the Olympia Campus,

1321
01:00:41,046 --> 01:00:43,092
the West Seattle Campus,
the Bellevue Campus,

1322
01:00:43,092 --> 01:00:46,017
the Lake City Campus,
the Shoreline Campus,

1323
01:00:46,017 --> 01:00:49,004
and the Albuquerque
Campus 'cause it's steeped,

1324
01:00:49,004 --> 01:00:50,071
that whole city
is, in Catholicism.

1325
01:00:50,071 --> 01:00:53,079
I'll go on record
and say it.

1326
01:00:53,079 --> 01:00:57,012
Legalism and religion are
real threats to the health

1327
01:00:57,012 --> 01:00:59,067
and well-being
of those campuses.

1328
01:00:59,067 --> 01:01:03,008
Now for Ballard, Downtown,
and the UW Campuses,

1329
01:01:03,008 --> 01:01:08,067
the real threat and risk
is reverse legalism.

1330
01:01:08,067 --> 01:01:10,062
"Oh, they don't drink?

1331
01:01:10,062 --> 01:01:12,046
"We're gonna drink.

1332
01:01:12,046 --> 01:01:14,054
"Oh, they don't smoke?

1333
01:01:14,054 --> 01:01:18,083
We'll smoke a pack a day to
show our freedom in Christ."

1334
01:01:18,083 --> 01:01:20,067
Right?

1335
01:01:20,067 --> 01:01:23,021
"Oh, they tithe,
we're not gonna tithe.

1336
01:01:23,021 --> 01:01:26,050
"That's how free
in Christ we are.

1337
01:01:26,050 --> 01:01:28,054
"Oh, they serve, well, we're
not any of that kind of

1338
01:01:28,054 --> 01:01:32,017
"works theology, we have
a nap theology.

1339
01:01:32,017 --> 01:01:33,088
"We sleep like Calvinists.

1340
01:01:33,088 --> 01:01:39,062
"We don't do anything,
Jesus said, 'It's finished.'

1341
01:01:39,062 --> 01:01:42,092
"So we're done.

1342
01:01:42,092 --> 01:01:46,083
"Oh, they read their Bible
every day, oh, that's a lot.

1343
01:01:46,083 --> 01:01:51,075
"Yeah, we don't have a list like
that, yeah, we're not legalists.

1344
01:01:51,075 --> 01:01:54,050
"We don't read
the Bible at all.

1345
01:01:54,050 --> 01:01:56,029
"Don't want to
get all religious,

1346
01:01:56,029 --> 01:02:00,046
"read a book or pray or
serve or care or give.

1347
01:02:00,046 --> 01:02:01,054
"We're free in Christ.

1348
01:02:01,054 --> 01:02:02,071
"Anybody see my pants?

1349
01:02:02,071 --> 01:02:06,017
I go to the Ballard campus,"
right?

1350
01:02:06,017 --> 01:02:08,067
We can be total
reverse legalists.

1351
01:02:08,067 --> 01:02:11,012
"Oh, that church doesn't use
instruments, we got a punk band,

1352
01:02:11,012 --> 01:02:14,062
yee-haw, thank you, Jesus,"
right?

1353
01:02:14,062 --> 01:02:16,033
And we can just be
reverse legalists,

1354
01:02:16,033 --> 01:02:19,058
and we could appoint
ourselves as judges.

1355
01:02:19,058 --> 01:02:21,050
We could judge all the
religious people,

1356
01:02:21,050 --> 01:02:27,038
and we could condemn them, and
we could feel holier than they

1357
01:02:27,038 --> 01:02:32,050
are because they're trying so
hard, and we don't do anything.

1358
01:02:32,050 --> 01:02:34,021
And so for seven
of our campuses,

1359
01:02:34,021 --> 01:02:36,000
I think religion
is a real threat.

1360
01:02:36,000 --> 01:02:38,050
For three of our campuses,
I think reverse religion,

1361
01:02:38,050 --> 01:02:41,062
reverse legalism
is a real threat.

1362
01:02:41,062 --> 01:02:46,008
And the answer is not to be a
legalist and not to be someone

1363
01:02:46,008 --> 01:02:49,088
who is a libertine, not to
be someone who is religious,

1364
01:02:49,088 --> 01:02:52,025
and not to be someone
who is irreligious,

1365
01:02:52,025 --> 01:02:57,029
but the whole point is really
what the Pharisees

1366
01:02:57,029 --> 01:02:59,096
and the scribes were missing
on the Sabbath,

1367
01:02:59,096 --> 01:03:03,029
and that is that the Sabbath
is a day to stop working,

1368
01:03:03,029 --> 01:03:06,054
and just rest in the
finished work of Jesus,

1369
01:03:06,054 --> 01:03:10,042
to stop impressing God,
and start enjoying him.

1370
01:03:10,042 --> 01:03:13,046
To stop
doing things for him,

1371
01:03:13,046 --> 01:03:17,038
and acknowledge what
he's done for you.

1372
01:03:17,038 --> 01:03:20,092
See, religion and
irreligion, legalism,

1373
01:03:20,092 --> 01:03:25,075
and what I'll call
licentiousness or lawlessness,

1374
01:03:25,075 --> 01:03:29,054
all it is is just trying to find
a way to be righteous

1375
01:03:29,054 --> 01:03:33,025
in the sight of God by what
you do or do not do.

1376
01:03:33,025 --> 01:03:35,092
And the truth is Jesus
lived the perfect life.

1377
01:03:35,092 --> 01:03:37,054
He died
a substitutionary death,

1378
01:03:37,054 --> 01:03:42,004
and he rises to give the gift
of righteousness.

1379
01:03:42,004 --> 01:03:46,092
So on the Sabbath day, we stop
trying to be more righteous,

1380
01:03:46,092 --> 01:03:50,029
and we receive the
righteousness of Jesus.

1381
01:03:50,029 --> 01:03:52,071
That's what they missed.

1382
01:03:52,071 --> 01:03:55,000
So now that I've
got you all, right,

1383
01:03:55,000 --> 01:03:56,079
we made a lot of the fun
of the religious people,

1384
01:03:56,079 --> 01:03:57,083
and you know what?

1385
01:03:57,083 --> 01:04:01,000
The irreligious people are
just another form of religion.

1386
01:04:01,000 --> 01:04:03,088
We've made fun of the legalists,
but those who are lawless

1387
01:04:03,088 --> 01:04:06,054
and don't obey even
the rules in the Bible,

1388
01:04:06,054 --> 01:04:10,025
they've got a reverse
legalism going on.

1389
01:04:10,025 --> 01:04:11,067
Those of you who are legalists,

1390
01:04:11,067 --> 01:04:13,079
repent of your legalism
in religion.

1391
01:04:13,079 --> 01:04:15,083
Those of you who are
lawless and irreligious,

1392
01:04:15,083 --> 01:04:18,058
repent of your lawlessness
and irreligion.

1393
01:04:18,058 --> 01:04:23,054
Come to Jesus, all of us,
receiving his death for our sin,

1394
01:04:23,054 --> 01:04:25,096
his righteousness for
our unrighteousness,

1395
01:04:25,096 --> 01:04:29,088
let him do a work for us, let
him do a work in us, so that by

1396
01:04:29,088 --> 01:04:34,012
grace he might do a work through
us, that wouldn't contribute to

1397
01:04:34,012 --> 01:04:36,071
our righteousness, but would
be an outflowing of his

1398
01:04:36,071 --> 01:04:40,042
gifted to us, Amen?

1399
01:04:40,042 --> 01:04:43,062
So I hope I've got you all.

1400
01:04:43,062 --> 01:04:45,054
We had a few laughs at
the religious people,

1401
01:04:45,054 --> 01:04:47,062
but the truth is there's a
little bit of religion

1402
01:04:47,062 --> 01:04:48,083
in all of us.

1403
01:04:48,083 --> 01:04:51,083
Martin Luther rightly said,
"Religion is the default mode of

1404
01:04:51,083 --> 01:04:53,092
the human heart."

1405
01:04:53,092 --> 01:04:57,033
So let us not just start by
criticizing the Pharisees,

1406
01:04:57,033 --> 01:04:59,088
because if we do so
too wholeheartedly,

1407
01:04:59,088 --> 01:05:04,083
we're becoming one, by
appointing ourselves in

1408
01:05:04,083 --> 01:05:08,042
the position of righteous,
religious judge.

1409
01:05:08,042 --> 01:05:10,012
That's Jesus' job.

1410
01:05:10,012 --> 01:05:12,046
I'll pray.

1411
01:05:12,046 --> 01:05:16,021
Father God, I pray for those
who would hear this and really

1412
01:05:16,021 --> 01:05:18,058
struggle with religion.

1413
01:05:18,058 --> 01:05:21,042
I pray for those who would
struggle with irreligion.

1414
01:05:21,042 --> 01:05:23,042
I pray for those who would
struggle with legalism.

1415
01:05:23,042 --> 01:05:26,050
I pray for those who would
struggle with lawlessness

1416
01:05:26,050 --> 01:05:29,012
or licentiousness.

1417
01:05:29,012 --> 01:05:32,004
I pray for those, Lord God, who
would have a proclivity to add

1418
01:05:32,004 --> 01:05:33,079
to the Scriptures.

1419
01:05:33,079 --> 01:05:36,025
I pray for those who would have
a proclivity to ignore whole

1420
01:05:36,025 --> 01:05:39,000
portions of the Scriptures.

1421
01:05:39,000 --> 01:05:41,058
Father God, by the grace
of the Holy Spirit,

1422
01:05:41,058 --> 01:05:44,000
we repent of our
religion, our irreligion,

1423
01:05:44,000 --> 01:05:46,083
our legalism,
and our lawlessness

1424
01:05:46,083 --> 01:05:52,038
of adding to, and subtracting
from, the perfection of

1425
01:05:52,038 --> 01:05:54,021
Scripture in the finished work
of Jesus.

1426
01:05:54,021 --> 01:05:57,050
Please give us the grace to
not just laugh at others,

1427
01:05:57,050 --> 01:06:01,050
but also laugh at ourselves,
so that we might take you

1428
01:06:01,050 --> 01:06:03,083
seriously, but not ourselves.

1429
01:06:03,083 --> 01:06:06,075
In Jesus' name, Amen.

1430
01:06:07,025 --> 00:00:00,000