Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Hey, guys, this is Naim, and you've reached the Mosaic Church Podcast. So excited that you're part of our listening community and love for you to be even more connected. So check out our website. There's more content there and there's more opportunities for you. Get connected in our ministries and events as well. Also, love for you to share this content. If this is blessed to you. I know that God wants to use you to bless other people with it, so share this podcast you will. Lastly, would you consider supporting this ministry? This is made possible by other people's generosity, and I'd love for you to pay it forward.
[00:00:39] Join us to reclaim the message and the movement of Jesus together. So would you consider giving to this ministry? I know that God is able to do immeasurably more through us when we come together. Thank you so much. God bless you. Enjoy.
[00:00:56] All right.
[00:00:57] Hello. Hello. Thank you.
[00:01:00] You guys feeling good this morning?
[00:01:03] Not. Okay. Okay. You guys had a lot of coffee?
[00:01:07] That. Yeah. Okay. That's nice. That's nice. Hey, well, welcome. If you're a guest here this morning. If you're one of the OGs. Hey, we're so glad you're here. Wrapping up a series, because next week, like BJ was talking about, we've got celebration for 20 years, right? But here's the deal. Here's the deal. Especially for those of you who are OGs, for those of you who've walked with us for 20 years or maybe a decade or so, I got some really big news.
[00:01:32] Big, big news. Okay? Some big news, exciting news. And it's like something that we've been praying for for years and years and years and years. Years. It's gonna be big news. Is gonna change the world and the universe as we know it. No, not really. It's not that big.
[00:01:52] So don't miss it. Next week is gonna be. It's gonna be so much fun to reveal that to you guys. You know, we do, like, a volunteer huddle in the morning before we do services. And I told them about it, and I was like, hey, don't miss it. And they were, like, mad at me at the end of it. They're like, we serve. Why don't you tell us? And I was like, I love you guys, but not enough, apparently. But I just. I just.
[00:02:18] I need to hold the line here because next week, it's gonna be super, super exciting. Do not miss it. So let's talk about today. Today's message is not something you're gonna like. You're not gonna like it.
[00:02:32] I know, I know. You're not gonna like it. You're not gonna like it. Just turn to your neighbor. You're gonna say, I'm not gonna like it. I'm not gonna like it.
[00:02:38] I'm not gonna like it. You're not gonna like it. Here's why. Here's why. Cause this whole series is. The problem, is the whole series. The series is what we call what we believe, right? And what we've talked about in the last couple of weeks is basically this, is that there's churches and there are organizations and they talk about what we believe. And as followers of Jesus in this culture, you're like, you know what? I wanna know what you believe. Now you. If you've been. If you're checking us out, you've probably gone to our website or gone to something and you read up what we believe, statement of faith and things like that. And now here's the reality of it, you know? And I know there are people who say all kinds of things that they believe, but they don't really do it.
[00:03:16] You know what I'm saying? You believe you should eat healthy. How many of you do, right? You're like, it's February. We're still there. I'm holding it. I'll talk to you in April. Okay?
[00:03:27] Summer, it's all. It's all over, right? We know that. And so when it comes to the Scriptures, when it comes to the Bible, what we find is in Christianity, sometimes we live.
[00:03:37] We look around and we look at the culture of Christianity and we go, I'm not quite sure what they're believing, like, what they're reading, because sometimes you don't know. Like, they say they're a Christian, but their actions are just like, I don't think this is Jesus. Or they'll do something. They'll say something. They don't like this kind of person, and they justify it because they've got a Bible verse, they got something, and they will talk about the idea of like, hey, listen, listen, it's in the Bible. The problem there is this, okay? Because the Bible is a library. What is it say? It's a library of books. It literally means library, which means there's so many books. And so when people go, yeah, you have to believe the entire Bible, and that's when you believe in Jesus. I'm not quite sure if you can really do that, nor can you live your life connected to and in line with every book in the library.
[00:04:31] It's not possible. That's why when Jesus shows up, what he does is he looks at the Jewish people and he says, you have a library. Your library is Torah. And also some of the religious books. You've got some of the historical books. You've got stuff about Moses. You got stories about the prophets. Let me just tell you all your prophets, all your laws, all your stuff. Here's what I'm about to tell you. Those were good. But now I'm coming and I'm telling you how to live your life. I'm giving you a new command. I. I'm giving you a new way to live. I'm giving you all these things, new teachings, new that'll blow your mind. And because they did not appreciate that, because they challenged their status quo, they crucified him and killed him. Religious people killed Jesus.
[00:05:12] Religious people, Jewish. His own kind took him out. Why? Because they were like, no, no, no, this is the Torah. This is the Torah. You are coming against it. And so what Jesus was saying is, hey, hold on, here's the deal. He, here's the deal. What God really wants you to know is you don't have to do all those things. What you need to do is you need to. You need to live out my words, my ways, and my values. That's pretty much it. So the series is really about how do we live our lives, how we actually not just believe in everything, how do we live our lives just centered around Jesus words, his ways and his values? And today we're gonna be talking about values. What does Jesus value?
[00:05:56] Now, what's interesting about values is values are hard to articulate, right? Because values are like, well, I value that. I value this, I value this, I value that. And it really comes down to what you find important. And sometimes we find certain things that are not really a big deal. Really, really important to us. Like, meaning. Like there's something important to you, but it's not important to other people, but it affects your life. For example. For example. So Ash and I, my wife and I, we've been married for 20.
[00:06:23] How many years? Let's see.
[00:06:26] Hey, calm down, okay? I know just the math.
[00:06:31] What year is this?
[00:06:33] 26 years.
[00:06:35] 27 maybe.
[00:06:37] Maybe. I don't know. I don't know if I'll make it to 27. Guys. I don't know. No, no. We've been married a long time.
[00:06:44] Okay, so here's. We went out to eat Valentine's. We did a lunch thing because we're smart and went to this restaurant. We've been there before. Great place. And so I had already booked a table. It Was a high top. So we walked in, the guy puts us in a. Not a high top, in a low top. And it puts us in a corner where I myself, I am sitting with my back to everybody else in the restaurant. Okay, here's the thing. I don't know if it's a Pakistani thing, okay? If you were wondering what I am, I'm Pakistani. I don't know if it's because I went through a war, because I did. But I don't like sitting in a public place with my back to everybody. What it is. Some of you guys shaking your head. Yeah, you know, you guys, like, I'm ex military. I know exactly what you mean.
[00:07:24] Some of you guys have been snipers. I don't know, okay? I don't wanna know your life. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if you wanna. I don't know if you're a hitman. What? No, no.
[00:07:32] Here's what I do know is I find it very uncomfortable. So we sat down and actually looks at me, and she goes, you wouldn't have moved, right?
[00:07:38] And I was like. I just. She was like, okay. So the guy comes over, he's already brought the stuff, the appetizers thing. And I said, hey, so we, you know, I didn't want to explain to him. I don't like my back being exposed or whatever. You know, that's weird. So I just said, hey, we want. We. I thought we got. Got a high top. And he was like, oh, we can move you. So she was like. He said, yeah, I. We could do that. So we moved to the high top. We got to the high top, and it's all good. I'm like, oh, this is great. This is great. High top stool. And Ashley sits down and she cannot touch.
[00:08:13] What do you call it? The stool thingy, right?
[00:08:19] Her legs are just flopping. And she was like. And she looks at me, she goes, this is not gonna work. And I'm like.
[00:08:26] She's like, I could squat on the stool.
[00:08:29] And I was like, this is not gonna be a good lunch. You know what I'm saying? So he comes over. He has just put all our stuff down. I look at him and go, hey, man.
[00:08:37] And I go, can we. Yeah, this is not gonna work. She can't.
[00:08:41] It's her fault.
[00:08:43] Like, I didn't say that. And he goes. And he looks like, have you ever been. Have you ever been a server? I've been a server before.
[00:08:51] You look at that table, and that look is.
[00:08:57] You're Gonna be those people.
[00:08:59] This is gonna be those people.
[00:09:01] And I was looking at him like, I'm not those people. I swear. We are not those people. And I looked at him, I was like, that table right there, can we just move it? I'll move all of it. You know, just turn around. I'll move everything. Like, just do it. And he was like, oh, we can do it, dude. We can do it. We moved. And this is, like, the first time it's ever happened. Moving tables. Now, here's the funny thing. Funny thing is, if you've ever been out with me, I'm particular about where I sit.
[00:09:25] It's important to me. I don't know why. It's goofy. It's goofy, but it's important. Here's the deal. Values are like that. Values. Sometimes you don't really articulate. You live them out.
[00:09:36] And sometimes we do things. We make decisions concerning our marriage or concerning our career, concerning our kids, based on what we value. We've never told this to anybody, but we just kind of do it. We just think this is the right way to do it.
[00:09:50] This is the way to do it. And so what I wanna challenge you with is that as we look at the scriptures, you find Jesus living out certain things that are very important to him. And what he does is he says, if you're gonna follow me, you have to make these things important.
[00:10:05] So I'm gonna give you about four. All right, about four. The first one is this idea of people over people. Over what?
[00:10:12] Possessions?
[00:10:14] Jesus values people and relationships over. Over possessions.
[00:10:18] It's interesting because he finds that it's not. People are not an ends to.
[00:10:24] Not a means to an end.
[00:10:27] That's not the deal. It's not about results. It's about relationships, which is so counter to the world that we live in. You know what I'm saying? Like, I live in a world of results.
[00:10:40] How many else? Like, your bonus is connected to what, how nice you are? No, no, it's. You deliver.
[00:10:49] You deliver. And sometimes when we deal with just people in relationships, we want people to deliver. We want a transactional relationship. In marriage, we want a transactional relationship. We want possession. The possession might not be, like, stuff. It might be, like, the image I'm trying to keep or collect or whatever. It's. Anything you're trying to collect is your possession. It's your treasure. It's whatever it is you. You're like, I want people to look at me a certain way. I want people to admire me. I want people to think I'm this kind of person, based on who I'm with or who I'm not, based on what I drive, where I work, where I live, that's my possessions, and I don't care how I get there. And sometimes religious people will do this. Even pastors, they're like, I am faithful. I am faithful to the calling of God, but I'm not loyal to the people I serve.
[00:11:40] Because why we go, well, the calling is bigger. So what happens is your calling is supposed to be for people, but you're doing the opposite. You're doing the opposite. And I don't want to throw shade on pastors because I happen to be one, okay? And here's the deal.
[00:11:57] It's hard for me. It's hard for me. I realize this, I go into.
[00:12:04] So, for example, okay, so, man, it's just ridiculous. Ridiculous.
[00:12:11] We have this thing called the table. And the table is a once a month gathering where we talk about, discuss kind of all kinds of issues. People bring food, people sign up for it, all kinds of things. And we set up an environment for them and all that. So the other day, okay, last week we were setting up for this thing and you know, and I just was like, I was like, I need music. I don't know about you guys, but I like music everywhere, everywhere I go, okay?
[00:12:35] I like the vibe. Anybody else like the vibe? I judge things by the vibe. I don't know what it is, what it is, what it is. So I'm there and I realize there's no music. So there's a Bluetooth speaker thing. And I am trying to connect my phone to the Bluetooth speaker. How many of you have ever done that?
[00:12:57] And it doesn't work.
[00:12:59] It doesn't work. It says. And it finds all kinds of things. It'll find things in other countries, but it's not gonna find.
[00:13:06] It's not gonna find the thing that's right next to it.
[00:13:10] And so in the middle of that doing it, there are people walking in with food, with things. They're like, ah. And I'm like, they're like, hey, Naeem. I'm like, in the middle of it, I just felt God say, what are you doing? I'm like, you know what I'm doing?
[00:13:27] I'm trying to do this. And it would be faster if you helped. You know what I'm saying?
[00:13:33] He's like, what are you doing? What are you doing? I'm like, I'm doing this. Like, hey, this is about people.
[00:13:39] Like, but it's about music too. Like, I want music And I had to, like, force myself to go, hey, it's not about that. How many of you have ever hosted an event, your house, and you care more about the details than the actual people walking in the door?
[00:13:55] It's true, it's just us. But when you end up living life like that, what happens is you end up being working for people or leading people where you're just trying to get results out of them.
[00:14:07] And Jesus is like, hey, it's always about people. Here's what's interesting. This guy goes up to Jesus and he goes, hey, let me tell you, how do you inherit eternal life? Like, how can I live my best life in a sense? And he goes, well, you know, do all the commandments, do all the things. Do all the things. And he goes, I did them all. I did them all. He's a young guy, he's like, I did them all. He says, oh, okay, okay, okay. And Jesus is like, well, there's one thing that I need you to do. So he looks at the guy and he has a moment with him. In fact, let's read this. So he has a moment with him and he says this.
[00:14:42] It says here, looking at the man Jesus felt what genuine love for him.
[00:14:48] Basically, he stops and goes, wow, there's so much potential in you. There's so much. Man, you're a go getter.
[00:14:55] He says, but there's still one thing you haven't done.
[00:14:58] Go and sell all your possessions and give money to the poor and you will have what treasures in heaven. And then, then come what follows me.
[00:15:09] So he's basically said, hey, yeah, just give up all the stuff that you think is important and make it about serving people.
[00:15:17] See, that's very hard for us. It's extremely hard for us because we find ourselves in a place where we're like, I don't know if I can actually do this. And then when you connect this passage to another passage in the scriptures which Jesus is talking, when you connect it and find out what this whole treasure situation is, here we read in Matthew 6, it says, don't store up treasures here on earth where moths steal them and rust destroy them. But where thieves break in and do what?
[00:15:46] Steal. Store your treasures in what? In heaven. Where moths and rust cannot rust cannot destroy. And thieves do not break in or steal. And then he says, wherever your treasure is, there the desires of. Of what your heart will also be like. He's basically saying, hey, listen, I want you to know that you're gonna live your life and you're gonna have to Direct, you're gonna have to not follow your heart. You're gonna have to lead your heart and make people your treasures. Because if you don't, you're gonna make temporary things your treasures. And he's saying. He's talking about this idea of like, hey, you can store up wealth and you can store up successes and you can store up all these things in life, but you can't take anything with you. All those things are temporary. They are not eternal. And then he's saying, here's what is eternal, which you need to store up. Here's something that you can store up, and it'll last for eternity. Okay, what is it? What is it? What is it?
[00:16:48] What's eternal?
[00:16:50] People, we're gonna live forever.
[00:16:54] If you don't know much about Christianity, one of the biggest, big things is that we were made. We were not. This is our temporary home. That there is an afterlife, there is a resurrection, there's a new life. And so our relationships, we take with us, our character, we take with us. There's certain things that we get to and have time to develop because that's what we're going to take with us. We're not gonna be able to take all the other things that we think because those things, like Jesus says, those rot, those get stolen, those fade away. They are not eternal.
[00:17:26] People are. Relationships are. So even though you find yourself, ah, it's people. It's always been about people.
[00:17:36] Okay? Challenging, isn't it? Challenging? But you don't want to date or marry. You don't want to work for or work with someone who's not about people but all about possessions.
[00:17:47] You don't want that. All right, the second thing, I know it's challenging, right? All right, Second thing, this gets harder.
[00:17:53] Humility over holiness.
[00:17:56] Okay, okay, what? Some of you guys are like, I don't know about this. Naeem.
[00:18:02] No. Well, don't get it twisted. Okay, here's the thing. It's not saying, I don't believe that. Jesus is saying, like, hey, I don't need you to be holy or pure. He's saying, I don't need you to come across like you're perfect.
[00:18:15] See, people who have this religious pride, this idea of, like, I gotta come across a certain way, he says that doesn't really help anything. He says, what I value is not you being perfect and not missing the mark, not, like, getting everything right. What I value is humility. And the question is, are you approaching God? Are you approaching people with a sense of humility, or are you a person that just pretends to be someone you're truly not.
[00:18:46] And I get it. It's so hard because you are. Like, for myself, I'm in a situation where, you know, I get recognized and. And there's a certain thing that people expect of me. They. People expect of me to act a certain way. Okay, it's low. It's a low bar, but still. Okay, they expect certain things. And I get that. I get that. Right. I understand that. And then sometimes there's. It's hard because you're like. You just want to, like, you know, you always have to have a good day happening. Right? I'm out in public. Hey, Pastor Damon, are you okay? Because I show up and I'm not. I'm just like, myself. Like, I've literally been working out, and the person comes up to me and says, are you okay?
[00:19:25] I'm like, yeah, I don't want to work out today. Like, that's it. That's pretty much it. I'm not mad at the world. No, no, no. It's just. And it's so easy to like.
[00:19:35] To get tempted, to be, like, pretend the whole idea. Like, you know, fake it till you. What?
[00:19:41] Naked? Well, the problem is.
[00:19:44] But God, if you fake it, you'll never make it.
[00:19:47] You'll never make it if you fake it. And so here the scriptures are saying, hey, don't pretend to be someone you're not. Jesus tells a story, and it's really, really interesting. It's in Luke 18, right? He says this. He says he tells a story to someone who had great confidence in their own righteousness and, you know, looked down on everybody else. So he says two men. Two men went.
[00:20:11] Went to the temple to pray. One was a. What?
[00:20:15] One was a Pharisee. Okay? He was a Pharisee, stood by himself and prayed this prayer. This is amazing. Okay? Jesus is making up this prayer, okay? And he says this is the prayer he prayed. He says, I thank God.
[00:20:27] God, that I'm not like, what?
[00:20:30] Other people.
[00:20:32] Those other Christians.
[00:20:34] Not like them. No, no, no.
[00:20:37] Cheaters, sinners, adulterers.
[00:20:41] I'm certainly not like the tax collector.
[00:20:44] No, no, no, no, no. Like that tax collector. And then he says, I fast. What?
[00:20:50] I mean, it's for diet purposes, but I still fast twice a week, and I give a tenth of my income, which means tithe. He's like, I do all these things. I. I do all these things, and I'm grateful for that. It's like this. Have you ever been in a conversation where someone's talking about themselves Giving themselves a compliment.
[00:21:15] You have people in your family that do that, right? Yeah, you do. You're like, you just gave yourself a compliment. Because here's the problem. When you give yourself, if you live your life giving yourself a compliment, no one else compliments you because they're just looking at you going, what are you. What are you doing? So he goes, I'm not like that guy. And then Jesus says. And then there was this tax collector, right? He says, but the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he did what?
[00:21:47] Be just jest in sorrow, saying, oh, oh, oh, God, be. Be. Be merciful to me.
[00:21:55] Like, I just know I'm not.
[00:21:58] I'm a sinner.
[00:21:59] I'm a sinner. Like, he just. He just knew that he's missed it in life. He just knew that he just couldn't come across, like, all holy. He's like, God, you know me. You know me. And tax collectors, you know, it was complicated because they were. The tax collectors were Jewish people who were taxing their own people and getting wealthy off of their own people's misery.
[00:22:24] So it was tough.
[00:22:26] And then Jesus says, I tell you this quote, unquote, this sinner, not the what, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God.
[00:22:39] For those who exalt themselves will be what will be humbled. Whoever, guys, friends, I don't know in what arena you think of.
[00:22:48] Anyone who exalts themselves will be humbled slash humiliated. But those who humble themselves will be exalted because that's how the kingdom works. See, pride, religious pride, can blind us to the point where we're like. Well, because the reason is pride tempts us to be like, hey, you gotta be strong enough. You gotta be attractive. You gotta be all this. You gotta come across a certain way. You gotta come that. You're good. You're all good. You're all good. And that is so much pressure. And that, man, it just.
[00:23:24] It's exhausting to keep up. Also, if you work with someone who is super prideful and cocky and super just into themselves, guess what? They are not. They are not a team. What player. They're not. You have to work around them, and it's exhausting to be around them. So Jesus says, hey, just make this a value and don't exhaust people around you.
[00:23:48] Just do that. As followers of Jesus, we have to be those people. Okay, third one. I know.
[00:23:54] Maybe that one just hit home for you. Or maybe this one will. Kingdom over. What?
[00:24:00] Comfort. Kingdom over.
[00:24:03] Comfort how many of you like to be comfortable? Anybody likes to be comfortable? How many of you like to be uncomfortable?
[00:24:12] No, no, we don't like it. We don't like it. No one says, I choose uncomfortable. I choose, you know, when I travel, I like to sit all the way in the back in the corner with two people slanting like I want to be in that spot right there.
[00:24:27] Guess what? Your boy's been there and had another pastor just laugh at me while I'm in that spot.
[00:24:34] It's. No one wants that. No one. We don't. We move away from uncomfortable.
[00:24:39] We do. Do you know that there are things about people that I find uncomfortable? Do you know that there are things about, you know, people? And you live in a world where you find other people, some people uncomfortable. Anybody know anybody? You find some. Ah, like for example, I find. I find some. Some people's sin a little uncomfortable.
[00:25:03] Certain sins, I'm a little too uncomfortable with some people's. Let's see, I don't know, even theology, I find myself like, super uncomfortable with.
[00:25:15] I find sometimes people's politics.
[00:25:20] I'm like, it makes me super uncomfortable. Have you ever been in a presence of someone, you're like, I'm itchy, but not really, but I am.
[00:25:31] You make me a ya.
[00:25:33] You know, you're like, okay, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. But still, it's like there are people that. Yeah, I find some people's fashion choices uncomfortable. I'm joking.
[00:25:47] We do. We do. So why is this such an important thing? The important thing is that I don't know about you, but when Jesus left, right, and came down and was born here, that was a super downgrade, you know what I'm saying? He didn't. He went from first class to back of the back of the.
[00:26:11] He was like God with all the things he could do to. Now I'm gonna confine myself to a body that needs to eat, that needs to sleep. That stinks.
[00:26:27] I gotta put deodorant on. I gotta brush my teeth. I gotta. Some of you guys, like, do you have to. Yeah, you do. Okay, okay. All those things, Jesus confined himself, made himself super uncomfortable. I just want you to know that we don't think about it. We're like, oh, Jesus. No. Jesus knew what, what. He left and comes back and lives in this earthly body and he challenges us to go, hey, there are things in your life that are uncomfortable.
[00:27:00] But are you gonna be one of those people that are going to forfeit the kingdom? And the kingdom means this, what God wants. Are you gonna. Forfeit that? The big picture. Are you gonna forfeit that? There are some people in your life that BAAL have bailed on you because they find themselves, this season of your life, uncomfortable.
[00:27:20] People have left relationships. They've left churches, they've left jobs, because right now it feels uncomfortable. People have left the US because right now it seems uncomfortable.
[00:27:31] And so Jesus says, I value. I value the kingdom I value. You have to value the bigger picture before you bail on people and relationships and the kingdom you gotta be. And so when God asks you to do something, I know it's uncomfortable, but you got to do it. See, what I've realized is that when it comes to, like, relationships, there's about. In anybody, there's 30% of a person I'm not gonna like, okay? If you get to know me, I guarantee you 30% of me you're not gonna like.
[00:28:03] Maybe 40, okay?
[00:28:05] Maybe.
[00:28:07] But you're gonna like the 70. You're gonna like the 70. The question is, are you gonna leave the relationship? Because you got 30. Just the big 30.
[00:28:17] People leave churches like that. See, there are things about Mosaic. I love Mosaic. Do. I love everything about mosaic.
[00:28:25] I love 70% of everything about Mosaic.
[00:28:28] I like 70% of all the things we do, the 30%. I don't like it.
[00:28:33] I don't like it. You guys, I love all of you maybe 70% more than the others.
[00:28:46] Let me ask. Let me say, if you come and hang out with mosaic, 30% of us of what we do, you're not gonna like.
[00:28:55] It's gonna make you uncomfortable. The question is, are you gonna bail because of that?
[00:28:59] And do you bail on everything because of that?
[00:29:03] Because you've been told you just gotta have 100%. It's always 100%. And it's not.
[00:29:09] It's not. Ask anybody who's been in deep relationships. So what Jesus is saying here is this. He says, you gotta understand that the kingdom, what God wants, is more important.
[00:29:20] Check this out. Luke 9. He says this. He says, if any of you.
[00:29:25] If any of you wants to be my follower, okay? If you want to be a follower, not just a believer, you want to be a follower, here's what you got to do. You ready for this? You got ready for this. You got to know the entire Bible. No, no. Here's the deal.
[00:29:37] You have to give up your what?
[00:29:40] Your what?
[00:29:42] Say it one more time.
[00:29:44] Yeah, who wants to do that?
[00:29:46] Give up my own way already. You're asking too much.
[00:29:51] Then take up your cross daily. And what? Follow me? He says, if you try to hang on to your life, which is your way. You'll what, lose it?
[00:30:02] You'll lose it. You'll lose everything that's important to you if you try to hold on. Have you ever lost the relationship but you won the battle, like, won the argument?
[00:30:11] You're like, that's my life.
[00:30:13] Yeah, you just want to hold on to your, yourself.
[00:30:17] He said, but if you, if you, if you give up your life for my sake, you will do what, you'll save it.
[00:30:25] He says, and, and what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but you're, you've lost yourself, right? Or destroyed. If, I mean, what, what, what, what good, what good is it? So what does taking up the cross mean? Taking up the cross means is when God tells you to do something, when you know this is more important on the long run, you have to do the hard things. You have to be uncomfortable and allow yourself. So you have to walk towards relationships and people that make you uncomfortable.
[00:30:58] And that's. For some of you, it's maybe people from a different race. For some of you, it's maybe different people from different religious background. For me, I grew up Muslim and so when I came to faith in Jesus, like, it really created something with the Muslim community because they think of me as a threat. And for, I mean, decades it was so hard for me to actually engage with Muslims because all of a sudden they just, they are very uncomfortable with me and I became very uncomfortable with them. But recently we're doing, I'm doing some things with some other organizations and we're actually hosting an event here in the fall with rabbis, imams, which are Muslim pastors and pastors. So we're getting the big three religious leaders together actually at Mosaic in a room going, let's get, let all of us get uncomfortable. We're gonna do this because we have to move towards that. Because it's about the kingdom, it's about something bigger than ourselves. The question is, are you going to be that person? Are you going to do that? Are you going to do that? Alright, let me give you the last thing. The last one is this one. It's a big one too.
[00:32:10] It's love over what?
[00:32:12] Law. It's love over law. Jesus valued love over law. Being loving versus being judging.
[00:32:22] He loved mercy more than judgment. He just loved. He just believed that love would change people's hearts and minds. If he just loved his disciples harder and was deeply committed to them, it would transform them. He believed this crazy notion that you could transform people's lives by loving Them fully by giving them all the grace in the world, giving them time to grow. He just believed that so much. That's why he picked the disciples. Not the brightest bunch of people.
[00:33:01] And he said, I'm gonna show you what it means to love.
[00:33:05] Because some people are so easy to love, aren't they? Let me tell you. Are pets easy to love?
[00:33:11] Yeah, they are. People. Not so much.
[00:33:15] Not so much. Cause some people are easy to love. And if you have kids, some of your kids are so easy to love. And then you have other kids, and those kids, yeah, you love them, but they teach you how to love.
[00:33:30] They're not easy.
[00:33:32] No, no, no, no, no. People said have kids. They were. Yeah, whatever.
[00:33:37] So Peter, the guy who was changed by God's love, says this above all.
[00:33:44] He says, hey, can I just tell you, above all, love each other. What?
[00:33:50] Deeply, deeply, deeply. I mean, committed. You're gonna stay in it deeply, deeply. Because that kind of love, it covers what?
[00:34:04] Multitude of sins, man. It just changes the game.
[00:34:08] It just changes the game. And people who are. Here's the problem with the idea of sin. See, sin, the Greek word literally means to.
[00:34:21] To miss.
[00:34:22] To miss the mark. To miss did not get it right.
[00:34:26] And he basically says. He says, if you allow yourself to be led by love, you're not gonna count when people missed the mark.
[00:34:37] See, you've been in relationships before where someone's keeping score, like, you didn't even know this, but couple of years later, they're like. And let me just tell you.
[00:34:48] And you're like, oh, gosh, you wrote that down.
[00:34:51] Yeah, you did. You did.
[00:34:53] Because love covers it. It just scratches it off. It scratches it off.
[00:35:00] It's just.
[00:35:04] Here's when Jesus was asked, like, what's the. What's the. Okay, what's all the commands? Like, why isn't the law important? He says, yeah, the law is important. But I'll give you the greatest stuff here. You wanna know if you wanna. You all about the law and judgment and doing life and doing it right and doing all you like. The laws. Let me just tell you here. He says.
[00:35:25] He says, here's the greatest commandment. He says, you must. You must. What's that word? You must what?
[00:35:30] Love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind.
[00:35:36] This is the first. And the. What?
[00:35:38] The greatest commandment. He says, the second.
[00:35:41] The second is equally important.
[00:35:44] Don't lie.
[00:35:46] No, it's not a. Don't, don't. Don't do this, don't do that, don't make this Choice.
[00:35:58] No, he says, what? What's equally important?
[00:36:02] Love your neighbor as yourself.
[00:36:06] What?
[00:36:07] Like, I mean, I know it seems childish.
[00:36:13] It seems. Because, like. No, no, no, no.
[00:36:16] We have to hold people accountable. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we do.
[00:36:19] Yeah, we do.
[00:36:21] But he's saying spiritual maturity is when your love is so much greater that it covers people's sin, the consequences of sin. Because sometimes sin is messy and it affects other people.
[00:36:37] And that's gonna happen.
[00:36:38] It'll affect other people. But the way you treat the sinner is very different.
[00:36:44] And he says, I want you to love them. And then he says this. He says, the entire what law and the demands of the prophets are based on what these two things. So it's like this. It's like, this is one other translation, says, all the laws hinges on this.
[00:37:08] This is it.
[00:37:10] So the love the Lord your God and love your neighbor. This love is the hinge that in fact can open and close doors in relationship and in the world. It can lead to reconciliation and transformation. It does this, but you can have all the laws and no hinge. It's not opening anything.
[00:37:33] It's not doing anything.
[00:37:34] You're right. You are so right. But you have no love.
[00:37:39] It doesn't matter.
[00:37:43] God's like, Jesus is like, you can judge me, but I'll tell you what I value.
[00:37:48] I value love.
[00:37:52] All your laws, all the religious things you make up, all the things that people should do and act like, and this lifestyle and that thing. And you should stop doing that and stop doing this and do all. All of those laws. That's wonderful, great. But if you don't have love, you have nothing.
[00:38:08] Nothing.
[00:38:10] See, some of us, we are okay with laws because laws allow us to keep people in check.
[00:38:19] And don't we all want a relationship that the other person is just trying to keep us in check?
[00:38:26] No, we don't.
[00:38:28] We run away from that because we were not wired up to function with laws.
[00:38:35] We were wired up to function on love because we were made not by law, we were made by love.
[00:38:45] And God's calling us to be loving and to choose that. So the question is, what are we going to do? Maybe this is a big one for you, Maybe the other three are the big ones for you. But what are the values that you and I are maybe living out subconsciously?
[00:39:03] And what is maybe one of these, just one of these that you need to live out? Now you're like, I get it. I'm gonna live out one thing maybe you don't have. We can't do all of them. But one, one value that says, I used to feel this. I'm not. Because now I'm a follower of Jesus. And because I am, I have to live out his words. I gotta live out his ways and I gotta live out his values.
[00:39:29] Because if you don't do that, then the world is as lost as it is right now. And in fact, Christianity will be lost because people have no idea who Christians really are.
[00:39:44] But if we can change, we. But we have, we can change the game.
[00:39:49] We go, hey, we don't know everything, but here's what we're gonna commit to do. We are gonna commit our whole lives to live out Jesus words, His ways and his values. And that should keep you busy for a lifetime.
[00:40:05] So let's pray together. Can we do that?
[00:40:07] Lord, God, thank you so much. God, thank you for these amazing people who want to know you deeply, deeply. God, also, thank you so much for coming and showing us that, yes, there's so many things that we have to do, but when it comes down to it, the things that are more most important to us is the ones that will shape our souls and our hearts. So, God, I pray that your values shape us.
[00:40:36] Your value of love over law, your value of the kingdom over comfort. Your way versus our way.
[00:40:50] God.
[00:40:52] Your value of people, God, People over possessions. God, maybe that's the one. God, maybe for some of us, it's the value of being humble and just being willing to ask for help that you find that important. So today, God, there are people here.
[00:41:22] Truth is, we just need your help.
[00:41:25] We need your help, God, we can't do this on our own.
[00:41:30] The stuff that we're going through, we just can't. Trying to figure it out, but we can't do it on our own.
[00:41:36] God, thank youk that yout don't want us to come across like we have it together. You just want to come. You just want us to be honest, so we come asking youg for help.
[00:41:47] So, God, I pray that as we respond in this song, during this time, as people go and receive communion, or they go light a candle and pray for someone, or they go to the cross, God, would you just do a work? Would you speak to us as we respond?
[00:42:02] Just thank you for that, God.
[00:42:04] Thanks for listening to this message from Mosaic Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
[00:42:10] For more audio and video content, visit us at MosaicChurch TV.
