1 00:00:01,551 --> 00:00:04,554 Matthew 27:1–2 2 00:00:04,788 --> 00:00:09,325 When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people 3 00:00:09,359 --> 00:00:14,597 took counsel against Jesus to put him to death, and they bound him 4 00:00:14,597 --> 00:00:18,351 and led him away and delivered him over to pilot the governor. 5 00:00:18,718 --> 00:00:21,771 Matthew 27:11-26 6 00:00:21,838 --> 00:00:25,792 Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, 7 00:00:26,276 --> 00:00:28,428 are you the King of the Jews? 8 00:00:28,428 --> 00:00:31,431 Jesus said, you have said so, 9 00:00:31,614 --> 00:00:34,250 but when he was accused by the chief priests 10 00:00:34,250 --> 00:00:37,253 and elders, he gave no answer. 11 00:00:37,670 --> 00:00:40,023 Then Pilate said to him, 12 00:00:40,023 --> 00:00:43,343 do you not hear how many things they testify against you? 13 00:00:43,943 --> 00:00:47,580 But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge. 14 00:00:47,964 --> 00:00:50,967 So that the governor was greatly amazed. 15 00:00:51,568 --> 00:00:54,654 Now, at the feast the governor was accustomed 16 00:00:54,654 --> 00:00:58,408 to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. 17 00:00:58,825 --> 00:01:02,312 And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. 18 00:01:02,962 --> 00:01:05,965 So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, 19 00:01:06,232 --> 00:01:08,601 whom do you want me to release for you? 20 00:01:08,601 --> 00:01:11,838 Barabbas, or Jesus, who is called Christ? 21 00:01:12,722 --> 00:01:16,376 For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. 22 00:01:17,210 --> 00:01:20,213 Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, 23 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:24,617 his wife sent word to him, have nothing to do with that righteous man, 24 00:01:24,901 --> 00:01:27,887 for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream. 25 00:01:28,404 --> 00:01:31,858 Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd 26 00:01:31,858 --> 00:01:35,328 to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. 27 00:01:35,845 --> 00:01:37,881 The governor again said to them, 28 00:01:37,881 --> 00:01:40,884 which of the two do you want me to release for you? 29 00:01:40,967 --> 00:01:43,403 And they said, Barabbas. 30 00:01:43,403 --> 00:01:48,508 Pilate said to them, then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ? 31 00:01:49,225 --> 00:01:52,228 They all said, let him be crucified. 32 00:01:52,428 --> 00:01:55,832 And he said, why, what evil has he done? 33 00:01:56,432 --> 00:01:59,853 But they shouted all the more, let him be crucified! 34 00:02:00,837 --> 00:02:01,321 So when 35 00:02:01,321 --> 00:02:06,142 Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, 36 00:02:06,409 --> 00:02:09,412 he took water and washed his hands before the crowd. 37 00:02:09,712 --> 00:02:12,715 Saying, I am innocent of this man's blood. 38 00:02:12,949 --> 00:02:15,001 See to it yourselves. 39 00:02:15,001 --> 00:02:16,703 And all the people answered. 40 00:02:16,703 --> 00:02:19,706 His blood be on us and on our children. 41 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:23,726 Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged 42 00:02:23,726 --> 00:02:26,729 Jesus, delivered him to be crucified. 43 00:02:31,668 --> 00:02:31,818 Well, 44 00:02:31,818 --> 00:02:35,188 good morning and welcome to the weekend here at Christ Community Chapel. 45 00:02:35,221 --> 00:02:36,139 My name is Zach. 46 00:02:36,139 --> 00:02:37,640 I'm one of the pastors here, 47 00:02:37,640 --> 00:02:41,327 and I'm so glad that we get to be part of your weekend. 48 00:02:41,361 --> 00:02:44,447 Also, of course, special shout out to moms. 49 00:02:44,998 --> 00:02:46,015 Happy Mother's Day. 50 00:02:46,015 --> 00:02:46,799 We love you. 51 00:02:46,799 --> 00:02:49,469 We appreciate you. Come on. We clap it up for the moms. 52 00:02:53,189 --> 00:02:55,458 And if you're here, this morning 53 00:02:55,458 --> 00:02:58,795 because that's what mom said she wanted was for you to come to church, 54 00:02:59,512 --> 00:03:00,063 good job 55 00:03:00,063 --> 00:03:04,317 Mom, and good job you for coming and supporting her in that way. 56 00:03:04,851 --> 00:03:09,088 Hey, we are in week two of our May sermon series. 57 00:03:09,088 --> 00:03:11,691 A little, little bit of a nontraditional series. 58 00:03:11,691 --> 00:03:14,460 In this way, we're looking at a story 59 00:03:14,460 --> 00:03:17,964 Jesus told in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 13. 60 00:03:18,031 --> 00:03:20,149 It's called the parable of the soils. 61 00:03:20,149 --> 00:03:23,336 It's about a guy who goes out to scatter seed, and the seed 62 00:03:23,336 --> 00:03:26,339 lands on different kind of ground. 63 00:03:26,372 --> 00:03:28,107 It's really a metaphor. 64 00:03:28,107 --> 00:03:29,842 It's a it's a parable. 65 00:03:29,842 --> 00:03:32,845 It's a story about God and the ways in which 66 00:03:32,845 --> 00:03:36,900 we tend to respond to God and what we're looking at 67 00:03:37,166 --> 00:03:42,355 this this month is that Jesus says of the four ways that people tend to respond 68 00:03:42,355 --> 00:03:47,093 to God in three of them, we miss God, and we don't want to miss God. 69 00:03:47,126 --> 00:03:48,228 We don't want you to miss God. 70 00:03:48,228 --> 00:03:53,333 So we're looking at these soils to say, hey, what is it Jesus is telling us about? 71 00:03:53,333 --> 00:03:56,336 Why we tend to miss God, but when we look at it 72 00:03:56,336 --> 00:03:59,339 each week, we're not returning to the same story. 73 00:03:59,339 --> 00:04:02,191 We're using another story in one of the gospels to 74 00:04:02,191 --> 00:04:05,962 to illustrate the type of response Jesus is talking about. 75 00:04:05,962 --> 00:04:10,700 That's why this weekend we're in Matthew 27, not Matthew 13. 76 00:04:10,700 --> 00:04:15,538 So if you have a Bible you want to follow along, open it up to Matthew chapter 27. 77 00:04:15,588 --> 00:04:16,940 Of course, it'll be on the screen behind me 78 00:04:16,940 --> 00:04:18,841 if you want to follow along that way. 79 00:04:18,841 --> 00:04:21,110 Or if you'd like to hold a Bible in your hand, 80 00:04:21,110 --> 00:04:23,930 there's a Bible in the pew in the back of the pew in front of you, 81 00:04:23,930 --> 00:04:27,317 or over in East Hall and seeing what I use so I can tell you, 82 00:04:27,317 --> 00:04:31,921 today's reading is on page 792 and 793. 83 00:04:31,921 --> 00:04:33,656 But however you going to follow along, 84 00:04:33,656 --> 00:04:37,143 I have three points I want to use as an outline and they go like this. 85 00:04:37,143 --> 00:04:40,413 I want to show you that God is in the room. 86 00:04:41,147 --> 00:04:44,250 And then why we miss him, and what it would take to notice him. 87 00:04:44,250 --> 00:04:45,835 God is in the room. 88 00:04:45,835 --> 00:04:49,072 Why we miss him and what it would take to notice him. 89 00:04:49,122 --> 00:04:50,690 Well, let's start with the first one. 90 00:04:50,690 --> 00:04:52,742 God is in the room. 91 00:04:52,742 --> 00:04:56,579 I told you, this whole series is based on a metaphor. 92 00:04:56,963 --> 00:05:00,867 Jesus gives in Matthew 13 a story, a parable. 93 00:05:01,167 --> 00:05:05,088 Let me read you just a few verses of that, because I think that story is telling us 94 00:05:05,305 --> 00:05:09,559 something really important for how we we think about responding to God. 95 00:05:09,592 --> 00:05:10,576 Here's what Jesus says. 96 00:05:11,694 --> 00:05:12,745 That same day, 97 00:05:12,745 --> 00:05:15,832 Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea, 98 00:05:16,499 --> 00:05:20,603 and great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. 99 00:05:21,237 --> 00:05:24,774 And the whole crowd stood on the beach, and he told them many things 100 00:05:24,774 --> 00:05:28,261 in parables, saying, A sower went out to sow. 101 00:05:28,728 --> 00:05:31,381 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along 102 00:05:31,381 --> 00:05:34,767 the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 103 00:05:35,034 --> 00:05:41,124 In Jesus's metaphor, God is compared to a sower, a planter, 104 00:05:41,307 --> 00:05:44,510 someone who has a bag of seeds and goes around 105 00:05:44,510 --> 00:05:47,630 kind of indiscriminately throwing the seed. 106 00:05:47,847 --> 00:05:50,933 Understanding that it's going to land in different places, some of them 107 00:05:50,933 --> 00:05:53,936 conducive to plant life, some of them not. 108 00:05:53,986 --> 00:05:55,772 It's just interesting, though, that 109 00:05:55,772 --> 00:05:59,359 before we get to the way we respond or the type of soil 110 00:05:59,692 --> 00:06:03,429 that we are, it's important to notice the first thing Jesus is saying. 111 00:06:03,446 --> 00:06:07,817 Jesus says, God is like a sower who dips into the basket 112 00:06:07,817 --> 00:06:11,904 of seeds and indiscriminately throws seed around. 113 00:06:11,921 --> 00:06:14,540 Of course, the seed represents the truth about God. 114 00:06:14,540 --> 00:06:19,529 Jesus is saying that God is a communicative God. 115 00:06:20,329 --> 00:06:24,617 He's saying that God wants to share who he is, what he's up to eat. 116 00:06:24,650 --> 00:06:25,818 He could have said it like this. 117 00:06:25,818 --> 00:06:27,303 You could have said, 118 00:06:27,303 --> 00:06:31,591 the kingdom of heaven is like a guy who has a bag of precious seeds 119 00:06:31,758 --> 00:06:35,511 and waits to see who will find him to get one, 120 00:06:35,878 --> 00:06:39,749 or the kingdom of heaven is like a man who has a bag of precious seeds, 121 00:06:39,749 --> 00:06:42,752 and he looks around for who is worthy, who? 122 00:06:42,769 --> 00:06:45,805 Who deserves one, who will handle it well. 123 00:06:46,289 --> 00:06:50,543 All of those ideas would make sense to us, because they would cast a vision 124 00:06:50,543 --> 00:06:53,613 for a God who's interested in the best and the brightest, 125 00:06:53,930 --> 00:06:56,816 and that would resonate with us, because it probably if I was God, 126 00:06:56,816 --> 00:06:58,201 that's how I would think. 127 00:06:58,201 --> 00:07:00,770 But Jesus says, no, no, God isn't like that at all. 128 00:07:00,770 --> 00:07:05,508 Actually, God is like a sower who just throws seed around he. 129 00:07:05,541 --> 00:07:09,595 He's casting around the information about who he is 130 00:07:09,595 --> 00:07:13,833 to everyone, all the time, indiscriminately. 131 00:07:13,950 --> 00:07:19,172 God is a communicating God and more than that, the story of pilot, 132 00:07:19,188 --> 00:07:22,442 the story we're looking at this weekend shows us that 133 00:07:22,442 --> 00:07:26,129 not only is God a communicative God in like the macro sense, 134 00:07:26,462 --> 00:07:29,699 in the day to day sense, in the personal sense, 135 00:07:29,966 --> 00:07:34,320 he is in the room so important to him 136 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:39,242 that people know who he is, that he is engaging in human affairs. 137 00:07:39,242 --> 00:07:41,544 I don't know if you know the story of pilot. 138 00:07:41,544 --> 00:07:45,047 Pilot is the Roman official who will ultimately decide 139 00:07:45,331 --> 00:07:48,117 if Jesus lives or if he dies. 140 00:07:48,117 --> 00:07:51,120 Spoiler alert he decides he will die. 141 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:55,608 But what's interesting about this story is on the way to making 142 00:07:55,608 --> 00:08:00,746 that decision, Pilate is literally in the room with God. 143 00:08:01,464 --> 00:08:03,082 I mean literally the Son of God. 144 00:08:03,082 --> 00:08:04,917 God in the flesh is in the room with him. 145 00:08:04,917 --> 00:08:06,802 And here's what's even more interesting, 146 00:08:06,802 --> 00:08:10,106 especially when you consider the conclusion you know, we're headed towards. 147 00:08:10,473 --> 00:08:12,408 I think Pilate knows it. 148 00:08:12,408 --> 00:08:14,760 I think pilot knows he's in the room with God. 149 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:17,246 There are all these little indicators in the story. 150 00:08:17,246 --> 00:08:18,447 Let me just show you a few. 151 00:08:18,447 --> 00:08:21,417 The first. You can find it in verse 14. 152 00:08:21,417 --> 00:08:25,972 The Bible says that Pilate is amazed by Jesus. 153 00:08:26,222 --> 00:08:27,790 The don't blow by that. 154 00:08:27,790 --> 00:08:33,596 A pilot part of his job is interrogating criminals and passing sentence on them. 155 00:08:33,930 --> 00:08:35,781 He's done it hundreds of times. 156 00:08:35,781 --> 00:08:37,550 He's familiar with criminals. 157 00:08:37,550 --> 00:08:39,268 The best way I could put this would be 158 00:08:39,268 --> 00:08:42,722 if you've ever watched a police procedural on television. 159 00:08:42,922 --> 00:08:44,073 That's one of those shows where 160 00:08:44,073 --> 00:08:47,243 somehow they solve every crime in 45 minutes, right? 161 00:08:47,877 --> 00:08:51,047 Then when you watch one of those shows, they always take place in big cities. 162 00:08:51,047 --> 00:08:53,249 New York, Chicago, right, Boston. 163 00:08:53,249 --> 00:08:56,269 And every time when you realize about eight episodes in, 164 00:08:56,269 --> 00:08:58,888 even though these are big cities with big police forces, 165 00:08:58,888 --> 00:09:01,490 they're really just kind of one man operations. 166 00:09:01,490 --> 00:09:04,493 There's one key detective that solves somehow he's on call 167 00:09:04,560 --> 00:09:07,647 always when something happens and he solves the crimes. 168 00:09:07,763 --> 00:09:10,683 And one of the ways he solves the crimes 169 00:09:10,683 --> 00:09:14,420 is he can see through the criminals lives like everybody else believes him. 170 00:09:14,420 --> 00:09:17,373 And he just. He's heard it before. He gives him that squint. 171 00:09:17,373 --> 00:09:20,960 You know the screen I'm talking about, he pilot has that squint 172 00:09:21,961 --> 00:09:22,428 he did. 173 00:09:22,428 --> 00:09:24,780 Keep in mind, when Jesus dies on the cross, he dies 174 00:09:24,780 --> 00:09:27,800 next to two thieves that pilot also sentenced to death. 175 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:31,020 Pilate has seen criminals he knows criminals. 176 00:09:31,020 --> 00:09:34,023 He knows there's something special about Jesus. 177 00:09:34,557 --> 00:09:35,057 This is. 178 00:09:35,057 --> 00:09:38,961 This is just a conveyor belt of justice in the Roman Empire. 179 00:09:38,995 --> 00:09:40,313 Jesus. Jesus. 180 00:09:40,313 --> 00:09:41,480 The pilot stands up. 181 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:43,466 Pilot knows it in his gut. 182 00:09:43,466 --> 00:09:47,103 The second interesting thing is that Pilate also knows Jesus is innocent. 183 00:09:47,453 --> 00:09:48,354 He understands. 184 00:09:48,354 --> 00:09:50,539 I mean, in verses 18 and 19, you'll see this. 185 00:09:50,539 --> 00:09:55,344 He understands that it is envy, its social and political clout, 186 00:09:55,878 --> 00:09:58,614 political conspiracy that has led to the death 187 00:09:58,614 --> 00:10:02,101 or the the accusations of Jesus that will lead to his death. 188 00:10:02,101 --> 00:10:02,868 He knows that. 189 00:10:02,868 --> 00:10:05,972 He knows Jesus is something or someone special. 190 00:10:05,972 --> 00:10:08,424 He knows he's innocent. Here's the third thing. 191 00:10:08,424 --> 00:10:11,427 His wife starts having crazy dreams about him. 192 00:10:11,744 --> 00:10:14,013 In fact, you have to understand the impact of this 193 00:10:14,013 --> 00:10:16,983 because in the first century, women were not partners. 194 00:10:16,983 --> 00:10:19,819 They were not equals. They were they were property. 195 00:10:19,819 --> 00:10:23,339 And by the way, I don't think that was okay, especially on Mother's Day. 196 00:10:23,339 --> 00:10:23,606 Okay. 197 00:10:23,606 --> 00:10:26,192 Especially on Mother's Day. It's not okay. 198 00:10:26,192 --> 00:10:27,543 I'm just telling you that's how it was. 199 00:10:27,543 --> 00:10:32,782 And so a wife would never, ever interrupt her husband at work, ever. 200 00:10:32,965 --> 00:10:34,650 I don't care what he did for a living, 201 00:10:34,650 --> 00:10:39,238 let alone if he was the key Roman official of the time. 202 00:10:39,238 --> 00:10:44,043 And yet, while he's on the judgment seat doing his job, 203 00:10:44,093 --> 00:10:47,880 she sends a messenger to him saying, don't do it. 204 00:10:48,080 --> 00:10:51,017 This guy is innocent, I know it. 205 00:10:51,017 --> 00:10:54,053 I can't stop having these crazy dreams. 206 00:10:54,053 --> 00:10:58,758 So Pilate knows in his gut he knows reading the room and he knows 207 00:10:58,758 --> 00:11:02,578 that something is happening with his wife that's so out of the ordinary. 208 00:11:02,578 --> 00:11:05,297 Pilot is in the room with God, 209 00:11:06,499 --> 00:11:08,851 and I think he knows it. 210 00:11:08,851 --> 00:11:12,054 You know, it's interesting because one of the chief objections 211 00:11:12,054 --> 00:11:15,257 to Christianity is the idea of exclusivity. 212 00:11:15,257 --> 00:11:15,441 You know, 213 00:11:15,441 --> 00:11:18,594 Christianity teaches the Bible, teaches that there's only one way 214 00:11:18,594 --> 00:11:21,781 to have a relationship with God, and that way is through Jesus. 215 00:11:21,781 --> 00:11:26,068 Jesus himself taught this, by the way, in the Gospel of John, chapter 14, verse 216 00:11:26,068 --> 00:11:29,522 six, only one way to have a relationship with God, and it's through Jesus. 217 00:11:29,522 --> 00:11:31,640 And sometimes people will say, if that's true, 218 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:34,460 then what about the quote unquote man on an island, 219 00:11:34,460 --> 00:11:38,130 the man who is born and lives and dies and never hears about Jesus? 220 00:11:38,130 --> 00:11:39,532 What happens to him? 221 00:11:39,532 --> 00:11:41,000 How is that fair? 222 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:43,018 That's a great question, by the way. 223 00:11:43,018 --> 00:11:45,438 I don't have time to answer it now. 224 00:11:45,438 --> 00:11:47,123 At hour 730, Thursday night service. 225 00:11:47,123 --> 00:11:50,659 After that service, we do a Q&A, and I answered that question. 226 00:11:51,210 --> 00:11:52,561 You should have been there. I was great, 227 00:11:53,813 --> 00:11:54,897 but I can't do it now. 228 00:11:54,897 --> 00:11:56,665 But what? I'll just tell you, it's a great question. 229 00:11:56,665 --> 00:11:58,818 It's a fair question. There's a good answer to it. 230 00:11:58,818 --> 00:12:01,520 But what I want you to see is that question doesn't apply to Pilate, 231 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:04,523 does it? 232 00:12:04,523 --> 00:12:06,859 He's in the room with God. 233 00:12:06,859 --> 00:12:09,145 He knows it in his gut. 234 00:12:09,145 --> 00:12:11,664 But can I tell you something? 235 00:12:11,664 --> 00:12:14,667 That question doesn't apply to anybody in this room either, 236 00:12:15,651 --> 00:12:17,787 because here we are 237 00:12:17,787 --> 00:12:20,756 in the room with God seed being scattered. 238 00:12:20,756 --> 00:12:23,008 Because isn't it also true in the same way with Pilate? 239 00:12:23,008 --> 00:12:23,659 Is it not true? 240 00:12:23,659 --> 00:12:25,428 I don't care how you define yourself 241 00:12:25,428 --> 00:12:28,247 or how you think about yourself spiritually, religiously. 242 00:12:28,247 --> 00:12:31,250 Is it not true that you've had moments 243 00:12:31,700 --> 00:12:34,703 where you knew God was close? 244 00:12:36,021 --> 00:12:37,039 You could feel in your gut. 245 00:12:38,758 --> 00:12:40,443 You've had moments where you knew. 246 00:12:40,443 --> 00:12:44,246 You knew you were so close to an encounter with God. 247 00:12:44,246 --> 00:12:46,232 You knew he was present. 248 00:12:46,232 --> 00:12:48,317 You knew he was saying something. 249 00:12:48,317 --> 00:12:49,819 He he was wanting something. 250 00:12:49,819 --> 00:12:51,804 You know that feeling. 251 00:12:51,804 --> 00:12:52,621 And you know why? 252 00:12:52,621 --> 00:12:55,074 Jesus says, because that's who God is. 253 00:12:55,074 --> 00:12:58,010 He's a communicative, revealing God. 254 00:12:58,010 --> 00:12:59,328 He's in the room. 255 00:12:59,328 --> 00:13:00,930 He wants to be known. 256 00:13:00,930 --> 00:13:03,933 But of course, that begs the question 257 00:13:04,550 --> 00:13:07,553 if he's in the room, why does Pilate miss him? 258 00:13:08,537 --> 00:13:13,042 And maybe more relevant to us if he's in this room, why do we miss him? 259 00:13:13,042 --> 00:13:14,393 Well, that's my second point. 260 00:13:14,393 --> 00:13:18,564 Not just that God's in the room, but here's why we miss him. 261 00:13:19,248 --> 00:13:23,118 Know, Jesus tells us in the first type of soil, the first type of response. 262 00:13:23,118 --> 00:13:25,938 Let's know what he says in Matthew 13 verse 19. 263 00:13:25,938 --> 00:13:27,439 Here's what he says when his disciples say, 264 00:13:27,439 --> 00:13:29,992 what is that whole metaphor all about? 265 00:13:29,992 --> 00:13:33,028 He says this when anyone hears the word of the kingdom 266 00:13:33,379 --> 00:13:36,182 and does not understand it, the evil 267 00:13:36,182 --> 00:13:39,718 one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. 268 00:13:40,102 --> 00:13:42,354 This is what was sown along the path. 269 00:13:42,354 --> 00:13:43,372 Here's what Jesus is saying. 270 00:13:43,372 --> 00:13:46,976 He's saying that the first type of soil is not a garden. 271 00:13:46,976 --> 00:13:49,044 It's a path, meaning 272 00:13:49,044 --> 00:13:52,798 it's a piece of land that has been assigned a different purpose. 273 00:13:52,798 --> 00:13:54,617 You don't grow things on a path. 274 00:13:54,617 --> 00:13:56,902 You you build it so people will walk on it. 275 00:13:56,902 --> 00:13:59,905 It's the opposite of what you'd want in a garden. 276 00:13:59,989 --> 00:14:03,325 In other words, what Jesus is telling us is what we see in the story of pilot. 277 00:14:03,509 --> 00:14:06,529 Pilot is in the room with God, but he misses God. 278 00:14:06,529 --> 00:14:07,713 And here's why. 279 00:14:07,713 --> 00:14:10,950 Because God doesn't fit the path that he is on. 280 00:14:12,535 --> 00:14:15,538 Pilot is a career minded guy. 281 00:14:15,888 --> 00:14:18,390 He's got a management position with the Roman Empire. 282 00:14:18,390 --> 00:14:19,892 Maybe you've heard of it. 283 00:14:19,892 --> 00:14:21,377 Big deal. Right. 284 00:14:21,377 --> 00:14:25,080 And and because he's career minded, he sees everything, 285 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:28,801 including God being in the room through the lens of his career. 286 00:14:28,884 --> 00:14:32,521 There are all kinds of indications of this in the Gospels and the way they talk 287 00:14:32,688 --> 00:14:35,274 about pilot. Let me just show you two just for fun. 288 00:14:35,274 --> 00:14:38,027 The first one is in Luke 23, verse 12. 289 00:14:38,027 --> 00:14:39,862 Listen to what it says. 290 00:14:39,862 --> 00:14:40,713 And Herod. 291 00:14:40,713 --> 00:14:44,483 Herod was another political official who also interrogated Jesus. 292 00:14:44,783 --> 00:14:48,687 And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day. 293 00:14:49,555 --> 00:14:52,441 For before this they had been an enemy with each other. 294 00:14:52,441 --> 00:14:56,128 You see, Pilate is in the room with God, but he doesn't think of it that way. 295 00:14:56,211 --> 00:14:57,930 He sees it as an opportunity to network, 296 00:14:58,948 --> 00:15:00,199 to build up his political and 297 00:15:00,199 --> 00:15:03,202 social clout, to improve his LinkedIn page. 298 00:15:04,436 --> 00:15:05,237 Here's another example. 299 00:15:05,237 --> 00:15:08,057 In John chapter 19, the Jewish people can tell pilots 300 00:15:08,057 --> 00:15:10,225 not going to kill Jesus, and they're not okay with that. 301 00:15:10,225 --> 00:15:14,663 So in John 1912, this is what happens from then on, Pilate sought to release him, 302 00:15:14,663 --> 00:15:19,501 but the Jews cried out, if you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. 303 00:15:19,735 --> 00:15:23,305 Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar. 304 00:15:23,305 --> 00:15:24,123 You know what they're saying. 305 00:15:24,123 --> 00:15:27,109 If you don't do, this will get you fired. 306 00:15:27,393 --> 00:15:31,647 And that's the doomsday scenario for Pilate, because he is building a career. 307 00:15:31,647 --> 00:15:37,202 In other words, Pilate is on a path, and that path, wherever he envisions it. 308 00:15:37,202 --> 00:15:40,673 Taking him, taking him straight to Caesar, taking him 309 00:15:40,673 --> 00:15:44,343 to more money, more prestige, wherever it is taking him. 310 00:15:44,343 --> 00:15:48,297 That path does not involve an encounter with God. 311 00:15:48,297 --> 00:15:51,900 It does not involve interruption, disruption. 312 00:15:51,984 --> 00:15:53,068 He's on a path. 313 00:15:53,068 --> 00:15:57,690 God doesn't fit the path, so he misses God even in an intimate exchange. 314 00:15:57,690 --> 00:16:01,493 In the Gospel of John chapter 18, when Jesus is getting through the pilot 315 00:16:01,493 --> 00:16:04,830 and Pilate doesn't like it, and Jesus says something about truth, here's 316 00:16:04,830 --> 00:16:10,219 what Pilate says in John 1838, Pilate said to him, what is truth? 317 00:16:10,803 --> 00:16:11,687 You know what he's saying? 318 00:16:11,687 --> 00:16:14,423 I don't have the luxury of truth. I'm trying to get ahead. 319 00:16:15,808 --> 00:16:17,343 Here's what this story is teaching us. 320 00:16:17,343 --> 00:16:19,945 Here's what Jesus is talking about, about our response to God. 321 00:16:19,945 --> 00:16:21,296 Here's what he's saying. 322 00:16:21,296 --> 00:16:24,299 When we don't hear the voice of God, 323 00:16:25,217 --> 00:16:28,220 it is not because God isn't speaking. 324 00:16:29,521 --> 00:16:32,508 It's because we turn down the volume 325 00:16:32,641 --> 00:16:34,710 so that the path we're on 326 00:16:34,710 --> 00:16:37,379 doesn't get disrupted. 327 00:16:37,379 --> 00:16:40,532 That's why in those moments when you can feel God, when you know 328 00:16:40,532 --> 00:16:43,852 he's present in your gut, when you can see it in the room, 329 00:16:43,852 --> 00:16:46,855 you can see it in the lives of the people around you. 330 00:16:47,072 --> 00:16:49,825 When other people are telling you the stories of what God has done 331 00:16:49,825 --> 00:16:52,878 and you know he's close, and then the moment evaporates, here's 332 00:16:52,878 --> 00:16:53,629 what Jesus is saying. 333 00:16:53,629 --> 00:16:58,317 It evaporates because you start to realize, if I take this seriously, 334 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:02,071 if I turn up the volume of God, if I listen to what he has to say, 335 00:17:02,121 --> 00:17:06,141 if I go his direction, who knows what will happen to my path? 336 00:17:06,291 --> 00:17:09,528 Pilate is in the room with God, but he misses them 337 00:17:10,562 --> 00:17:11,246 because it's 338 00:17:11,246 --> 00:17:14,333 his career that matters most to him. 339 00:17:14,867 --> 00:17:17,703 You see, what this story is telling us is what if the distance between 340 00:17:17,703 --> 00:17:20,689 you and God is not because of God? 341 00:17:20,689 --> 00:17:22,141 It's not because God isn't in the room. 342 00:17:22,141 --> 00:17:23,542 It's not because God isn't speaking. 343 00:17:23,542 --> 00:17:26,178 It's not because God doesn't love you. 344 00:17:26,178 --> 00:17:27,479 It's because of you. 345 00:17:27,479 --> 00:17:30,482 And I don't want to hear it, 346 00:17:30,933 --> 00:17:33,986 because it might just disrupt the path 347 00:17:34,253 --> 00:17:37,256 we have for ourselves. 348 00:17:39,208 --> 00:17:42,327 Now, if that's true, then of course, maybe we don't want that. 349 00:17:42,327 --> 00:17:44,063 Maybe we're uncomfortable with that. 350 00:17:44,063 --> 00:17:47,066 So that brings me to my third point, which is to say, 351 00:17:47,833 --> 00:17:49,885 well, how do I what has to happen? 352 00:17:49,885 --> 00:17:52,888 What has to change in order for me to see God? 353 00:17:53,038 --> 00:17:55,591 But you know the answer to that, don't you? 354 00:17:55,591 --> 00:17:57,259 What would have to change for pilot? 355 00:17:58,310 --> 00:17:59,545 He pretty easy. 356 00:17:59,545 --> 00:18:04,049 He would have to decide that an encounter with God 357 00:18:04,249 --> 00:18:07,820 is superior to the career path he is on. 358 00:18:07,970 --> 00:18:12,107 He doesn't know for sure that taking Jesus seriously will cost him his career. 359 00:18:12,107 --> 00:18:14,877 He doesn't know it'll cost him a promotion, but it might. 360 00:18:14,877 --> 00:18:18,197 He has to begin to believe that an encounter with God 361 00:18:18,413 --> 00:18:21,750 is more important, is more beneficial, is more. 362 00:18:22,084 --> 00:18:22,951 Let me put it this way. 363 00:18:22,951 --> 00:18:25,938 Do you remember grade school math when they taught you greater than in less? 364 00:18:25,938 --> 00:18:27,473 Then do you remember this? 365 00:18:27,473 --> 00:18:29,458 So I don't know if your teacher was as cool as mine, 366 00:18:29,458 --> 00:18:32,127 but the way my teacher taught it is use the alligator. 367 00:18:32,127 --> 00:18:33,328 Right? The symbol. 368 00:18:33,328 --> 00:18:35,964 And she said the alligator eats the bigger thing, right? 369 00:18:35,964 --> 00:18:37,099 So alligators are hungry. 370 00:18:37,099 --> 00:18:40,552 If they if the alligator eats seven turns its back to four. 371 00:18:40,652 --> 00:18:43,822 What pilot is saying to Jesus, look, you might be God. 372 00:18:43,822 --> 00:18:45,707 I can feel it. My God, I can see it in my eyes. 373 00:18:45,707 --> 00:18:49,761 My wife's having dreams, but my career is greater than you. 374 00:18:49,761 --> 00:18:52,464 So I'm going to eat that and turn my back to you. 375 00:18:52,464 --> 00:18:56,819 What would have to happen for a pilot to actually have an encounter with God is 376 00:18:56,819 --> 00:19:00,689 he would have to begin to believe that knowing God, meeting God 377 00:19:00,722 --> 00:19:03,692 is greater than his career. 378 00:19:03,692 --> 00:19:04,560 But is it not 379 00:19:05,878 --> 00:19:08,030 me? Pilot is a middle manager in the Roman Empire. 380 00:19:08,030 --> 00:19:09,748 Pretty impressive job, right? 381 00:19:09,748 --> 00:19:12,417 Except not so much anymore, right? 382 00:19:12,417 --> 00:19:15,420 Middle manager in a dying empire 383 00:19:15,621 --> 00:19:18,774 and an empire that that that now is mostly irrelevant. 384 00:19:18,774 --> 00:19:19,374 I mean, consider 385 00:19:19,374 --> 00:19:23,996 this pilot is really only known for one thing in his entire career. 386 00:19:24,029 --> 00:19:25,380 You know what? That one thing is? 387 00:19:25,380 --> 00:19:29,034 Being in the room with God and missing him. 388 00:19:31,203 --> 00:19:33,622 Is see, pilots story is a warning. 389 00:19:33,622 --> 00:19:37,709 You and I are so bent on being middle managers of the dying empires 390 00:19:37,709 --> 00:19:41,313 we build for ourselves that we will turn our back on God. 391 00:19:43,081 --> 00:19:44,600 You know, it's interesting Jesus dies. 392 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:45,267 I said this already. 393 00:19:45,267 --> 00:19:46,952 Jesus dies next to two thieves. 394 00:19:46,952 --> 00:19:50,939 These thieves, they're at the lowest moment of their their entire lives. 395 00:19:50,939 --> 00:19:53,275 They've been called a thief, convicted of being a thief, 396 00:19:53,275 --> 00:19:56,128 stripped naked and are being murdered or killed in public. 397 00:19:56,128 --> 00:19:58,497 Right. So. So that's the lowest moment, by the way. 398 00:19:58,497 --> 00:20:00,566 You know what each of those thieves represents? 399 00:20:00,566 --> 00:20:02,668 Pilots doomsday scenario. 400 00:20:02,668 --> 00:20:05,754 If I if I take Jesus seriously, it cost me my career. 401 00:20:05,871 --> 00:20:07,339 That could be called a traitor. 402 00:20:07,339 --> 00:20:08,957 I could die next to him. 403 00:20:08,957 --> 00:20:10,826 And that is in no way 404 00:20:10,826 --> 00:20:14,479 better than the career path that I have for myself, except for this. 405 00:20:14,763 --> 00:20:18,717 One of the thieves says to Jesus, hey, look, I know you don't deserve 406 00:20:18,867 --> 00:20:20,986 what is happening to you, but I do. 407 00:20:20,986 --> 00:20:22,971 Do you think there's any way you could show me mercy? 408 00:20:22,971 --> 00:20:24,356 Any way you could forgive me? 409 00:20:24,356 --> 00:20:27,109 Any way I could be included in you? Paradise? 410 00:20:27,109 --> 00:20:30,846 Jesus says to him, today you will be with me in Paradise. 411 00:20:31,163 --> 00:20:35,000 Jesus saying, it is better to be a naked, condemned 412 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:39,688 thief dying next to Jesus than the Middle manager of a dying empire. 413 00:20:43,792 --> 00:20:45,594 Are you willing 414 00:20:45,594 --> 00:20:48,563 to admit which is what is a pretty hard thing? 415 00:20:48,563 --> 00:20:51,984 Which is that your problem and mine is not that God is distant 416 00:20:53,568 --> 00:20:56,571 or we wouldn't have felt him. 417 00:20:56,972 --> 00:21:00,409 Our problem is it like Pilate, we're holding on 418 00:21:00,409 --> 00:21:02,577 to the dying empires of our lives. 419 00:21:02,577 --> 00:21:05,547 We don't want interruption. We don't want disruption. 420 00:21:05,547 --> 00:21:09,084 But what pilot is teaching us is what we're afraid of 421 00:21:09,418 --> 00:21:12,421 is actually better than what we're holding on to. 422 00:21:13,438 --> 00:21:15,207 Listen to what Jesus says in Mark chapter eight. 423 00:21:15,207 --> 00:21:17,392 He puts it this way, 424 00:21:17,392 --> 00:21:19,911 and calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, 425 00:21:19,911 --> 00:21:22,464 if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself 426 00:21:22,464 --> 00:21:24,483 and take up his cross and follow me. 427 00:21:24,483 --> 00:21:26,818 For whoever would save his life will lose it. 428 00:21:26,818 --> 00:21:30,505 But whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it. 429 00:21:30,656 --> 00:21:34,593 Listen, for what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, 430 00:21:34,593 --> 00:21:35,610 and to forfeit his soul? 431 00:21:35,610 --> 00:21:38,697 For what can a man give in return for his soul? 432 00:21:38,730 --> 00:21:39,982 Here's what Jesus is saying. 433 00:21:39,982 --> 00:21:44,069 The only way to turn a path into a garden is violence. 434 00:21:46,171 --> 00:21:47,756 Rain. 435 00:21:47,756 --> 00:21:49,191 Tools. 436 00:21:49,191 --> 00:21:52,077 Disruption. Interruption. 437 00:21:52,077 --> 00:21:55,080 But Jesus says in the end, 438 00:21:56,098 --> 00:21:58,767 it's better than the path 439 00:21:58,767 --> 00:22:03,138 we are on. Friends, if this is true, what this means 440 00:22:03,138 --> 00:22:06,208 is that you don't have to go another minute 441 00:22:07,893 --> 00:22:10,879 disconnected from God. 442 00:22:11,179 --> 00:22:14,599 All you have to do is see that in Jesus. 443 00:22:15,317 --> 00:22:18,320 The alligator has found something better 444 00:22:19,254 --> 00:22:23,308 than whatever you're worried about God disrupting or interrupting. 445 00:22:23,308 --> 00:22:24,292 In fact, let's do this. 446 00:22:24,292 --> 00:22:26,912 Let's do something a little different this weekend. 447 00:22:26,912 --> 00:22:29,131 Normally at this point, I would pray we'd go to communion. 448 00:22:29,131 --> 00:22:31,366 We're going to do that in a minute. 449 00:22:31,366 --> 00:22:34,136 But before that, 450 00:22:34,136 --> 00:22:36,571 I think we don't do this very often. 451 00:22:36,571 --> 00:22:41,243 But every now and then it is it is right to give you an opportunity 452 00:22:41,243 --> 00:22:45,330 to respond to the invitation of God through Jesus. 453 00:22:45,747 --> 00:22:46,982 If you're here and you're going, man, 454 00:22:48,350 --> 00:22:51,203 it has never been my problem that I thought God wasn't in the room. 455 00:22:51,203 --> 00:22:54,122 I know every time I come here, I know he's in the room. 456 00:22:54,122 --> 00:22:57,325 My problem is, I'm just not sure I want him to be. 457 00:22:58,293 --> 00:23:02,848 I'm just not sure I'm ready for him to take me wherever he was going to take me. 458 00:23:02,848 --> 00:23:07,018 Listen, friend, the invitation is not for you to be fully ready for that yet. 459 00:23:07,135 --> 00:23:11,757 The invitation is for you to say, In Jesus, I have found a God 460 00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:16,111 who loves me, who will forgive me, a God who's lived for me and died for me. 461 00:23:16,111 --> 00:23:19,798 And risen from the dead, and said to me, if you give me control, 462 00:23:19,798 --> 00:23:22,467 I will take you somewhere better than you will ever go. 463 00:23:22,467 --> 00:23:24,653 And I have no idea what that means. 464 00:23:24,653 --> 00:23:25,787 And I'm scared to death. 465 00:23:26,755 --> 00:23:26,988 But for 466 00:23:26,988 --> 00:23:29,991 the first time I realize I need Jesus. 467 00:23:30,058 --> 00:23:31,293 And I'm going to pray you. 468 00:23:31,293 --> 00:23:32,627 I'm going to invite you to pray with me. 469 00:23:32,627 --> 00:23:34,262 Just a second, 470 00:23:34,262 --> 00:23:36,231 and then we'll talk about what comes next. 471 00:23:36,231 --> 00:23:37,999 Would you pray with me, 472 00:23:37,999 --> 00:23:39,084 Father God? 473 00:23:39,084 --> 00:23:42,087 Join me if you will. 474 00:23:42,120 --> 00:23:44,940 I recognize that the distance between you and me. 475 00:23:44,940 --> 00:23:46,892 God, is not because of you. 476 00:23:46,892 --> 00:23:49,878 The truth is, I've known that it's because of me. 477 00:23:50,162 --> 00:23:53,098 I have turned down the volume of your voice 478 00:23:53,098 --> 00:23:54,266 because I don't want to hear it. 479 00:23:54,266 --> 00:23:57,119 I don't want to hear what you have to say. I don't want to be interrupted. 480 00:23:57,119 --> 00:23:58,203 I don't want to be disrupted. 481 00:23:58,203 --> 00:24:01,473 But now I realize that means I'm at odds with you. 482 00:24:01,473 --> 00:24:05,994 That means I am, at best, the middle manager of a dying empire 483 00:24:06,962 --> 00:24:09,948 called my life. 484 00:24:10,832 --> 00:24:11,450 I believe 485 00:24:11,450 --> 00:24:14,453 that the alligator is eating the wrong thing. 486 00:24:14,636 --> 00:24:18,473 And so now, in Jesus, God, I see that you have shown me your love, 487 00:24:18,473 --> 00:24:20,959 and that he's lived for me and died for me. 488 00:24:20,959 --> 00:24:24,663 Coming up under the weight of your anger and your judgment, 489 00:24:24,980 --> 00:24:28,500 in order that he might die, in order that I might be forgiven, 490 00:24:28,583 --> 00:24:31,853 that his resurrection has proven that that that you're showing me 491 00:24:31,853 --> 00:24:34,973 that whatever you have planned for me is better 492 00:24:35,790 --> 00:24:38,777 than what I have been so afraid to let go of. 493 00:24:38,844 --> 00:24:41,847 So, God, now, for the first time, 494 00:24:42,230 --> 00:24:45,233 I want to turn up the volume of your voice. 495 00:24:45,617 --> 00:24:48,620 And I want to let go of the path I've been holding on to. 496 00:24:49,821 --> 00:24:51,273 God, I don't want the seed 497 00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:55,577 to be taken before it gets into my heart. 498 00:24:56,878 --> 00:24:58,947 Would you forgive me? 499 00:24:58,947 --> 00:25:01,550 Would you include me? 500 00:25:01,550 --> 00:25:05,153 Would you show me the plan you have for my life? 501 00:25:06,238 --> 00:25:08,740 In Jesus name we pray. Amen.