Thanks be to God. Amen. You may be seated, everyone.
Hey, good morning. My name is Drew. It is so great to see you all here. Last week, we actually started this message series called Fulfilled, and it's really during the season of Advent. Advent, that word actually comes to us from this Latin word throughout church history for the Latin word Adventus, which basically means arrival or coming.
And it's with anticipation that here's the wonder of what Christmas is for us as Christians: we believe that God is with us, that God came in the flesh through the Son of God, which is Jesus, to be here with us. And now this extraordinary truth is something that we celebrate as Christians.
Now, the reason why we called this message series Fulfilled is because we're actually looking at various different prophecies that were given hundreds of years, even before Jesus comes on the scene, that Jesus actually fulfills. Now, I realize for those of you who are new to church, some of what's going to be shared today will probably feel so foreign and different than anything that you've heard before, and that's okay.
But what you'll see is the reason why we'll be going over the various different passages from hundreds of years, even before Jesus was born, is because we're going to arrive at a conclusion about what the Christian message fundamentally is about. So even if you're not a Christian here, I want to invite you to lean in and to hear kind of the story of what Christians believe about this so that you can judge that. No, I'm just kidding. Don't judge us.
So hopefully, you can learn more about what this Christian faith is. Now, here's the thing. Check out what scholars have said. A widely accepted list by conservative theologians cites about 300 different prophecies, some of which were given hundreds of years even before Jesus comes on the scene, and they were explicitly fulfilled by Jesus. These are considered direct predictions of the Messiah or reflections of messianic themes tied to Jesus' life and mission.
Now, what is this word Messiah? You see, if you look in the history of Israel, they were a people that were constantly subjugated, in captivity, in exile, enslaved. And these prophetic words were given about a Messiah, someone who would deliver them from their plight and from their subjugation.
So you could imagine, for Jesus to arrive during when the Messiah was born, he was given a message. The time that he arrived, Judea was under Roman occupation or Roman rule. And so as a result, when people were thinking about a Messiah, they were thinking of someone who's going to somehow bring them into political conquest and to free them from Rome.
Now, notice, all these prophecies are given. Here's what one scientist in his book, Science Speaks, Peter Stoner, a mathematician, focused on eight specific prophecies about this Messiah. And notice what he found, especially with birthplace, betrayal, manner of death. He calculated that the statistical probability of one person fulfilling all of these prophecies about the Messiah to be one times 10 to the 17th power. Now, that is stunning.
Now, some of you might be wondering, like, well, wait a minute. If that's the probability and Jesus fulfills all of these different prophecies, why don't more people follow Jesus? Well, last week we explained it's because of just how unlikely this story of this Messiah would be. You would think that the savior of the world is going to be born in Jerusalem or Rome, like a place of power and in a position of power.
But he's born as this migrant, where there's no room for him because their family is in poverty and scandal, and everyone else rejects them. They end up—the only place they can find to give birth is in an unsanitary manger. Now, just think about the trauma of giving birth. Any moms out there? The trauma of giving birth, even when you're in a nice, clean, sanitized hospital in the suburbs.
And can you imagine, though, giving birth in such a circumstance where you've been riding on a donkey and you have to find a place in a manger? Now, it's not only that; the story gets even crazier because Mary, who's shrouded in scandal, you're going to see in a moment, like, it is so unlikely that this family is the family by which the savior of the world will come.
If we can almost transport back in time, just how unlikely it is. Now, of course, in nativity scenes that you see on Fifth Avenue, we're like, man, so glorious. But I just want you to know, this was anything but glorious.
Now, look at the story. Look at how it unfolds, because look at what it says. It says, in the passage that was read, Herod called the Magi secretly. Now, the Magi were people from the east. Herod was a puppet governor of Judea who was only in power because Rome had put him in power. History tells us in extra-biblical sources that Herod was someone that was incredibly sensitive and insecure. In fact, he would often execute anyone who threatened his own power.
So that's why last week we talked about how Herod is so disturbed by this news that the king of the Jews is to be born in Bethlehem. Now, look at what happens. He called them and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for this child. And as soon as you find this child, the king of the Jews, report to me so that I too may go and worship him."
Now, of course, we know this is just a guise because it's already told us that Herod feels so disturbed that someone called the king of the Jews is to be born in Bethlehem. So he makes this up so that the Magi will tell him where this baby is. But notice what happens. After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star that they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.
When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. So this is sometime after Jesus had been born in a manger. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These foreigners actually give their treasures to this baby who's already living in an area in Bethlehem.
And again, Bethlehem's like this no-name town. But as we discovered last week, it was a prophetic word that was given through the prophet Micah. Now, look at what it says. And having been warned in a dream, the Magi somehow supernaturally get a dream: don't go back to Herod. Why? Because Herod is bad news. They returned to their country by another route. And we're going to talk about why Herod is such bad news next week.
Now, look what it says. When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. Now, again, Joseph, who at this point is still kind of wondering, am I going to stay with Mary or not? Because Mary has conceived through the Holy Spirit. What in the world is going on? But Joseph receives this dream: "Get up," he said. "Take the child and mother and escape to Egypt."
And look what it says. "Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." Now, just think about this. The trauma of giving birth in a manger, living in a place where you don't normally live to raise the baby in those initial days, and then being told you gotta hop onto a donkey again for another 80-mile, four to seven kind of day, but oftentimes more than that, journey on a donkey.
Like, could you imagine for Mary and Joseph what they're thinking? Go to Egypt. Go to another place. They're essentially refugees. So they end up going to Egypt. He got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet.
Here's another prophetic word. And here's the prophetic word that comes: "Out of Egypt, I called my son." Matthew, who's this gospel writer, is writing this account, and he hearkens back to this word: "Out of Egypt, I called my son."
Now, here's the thing. Matthew, he is constantly—he's this gospel writer that he's constantly hearkening back to the Old Testament prophecies that have come. Now, notice, where does this phrase, "Out of Egypt I called my son," where does it come from? It actually comes from the prophet Hosea, Hosea chapter 11.
Now, notice, here's what the prophet Hosea, which was written hundreds of years before Jesus comes on the scene. Hosea was a prophet who was married to a woman named Gomer. Now, Hosea, married to Gomer, Gomer was constantly unfaithful to Hosea. And the book of Hosea is basically how Hosea's marriage, God reveals to Hosea, that Hosea's marriage, the way that he faithfully continues to pursue his wife, Gomer, that the ways that Gomer continues to be unfaithful to him, it's the same way that God loves us, and yet we can be—and that people can be unfaithful to God.
So notice what it says in Hosea chapter 11. This is the passage that Matthew is quoting from. It says, "When Israel was a child, I loved him. And out of Egypt, I called my son." Now, what is this referring to? If you know anything about the people of Israel, the history of the people of Israel, remember they were freed from captivity from Egypt, and they went through the Red Sea and entered into the Promised Land, and they went through the wilderness first?
Now, basically, what Hosea is saying, God, because he loves his children, his children, the people of Israel, he calls them out of Egypt, frees them from captivity. Do you remember that story of being freed and going through the Red Sea and entering into the Promised Land? That's how much God loved his people.
But notice what Hosea says. "But the more they were called, the more they went away from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images. My people are determined to turn from me even though they call me God most high. I will by no means exalt them."
Now, what's happening here? Hosea is talking about, see, God's heart has always been for his people. But what does Israel do? Israel, even after they enter into the promised land, what do they do? They continue to say, "God, I don't want you. I would rather follow my career. I'd rather follow my 401k. I'd rather follow everything else, anything else but you."
In other words, the people of Israel, it's a story of how God continues to love us, but we continue to say no to God. We continue to reject God. Now, isn't that the story of all of us? I mean, the story of all of us is the ways that, honestly, whenever God comes and wants to meet me and wants to tell me to ease my anxieties, to trust him, what I'll say is like, "I don't trust you, God. I trust my bank account more. I'm not sure if I trust you so much. I trust this other person and what they're telling me about how to make it in New York."
I mean, isn't this the story of all of us? Now, here's the thing. Matthew is referring to the prophet Hosea, and he's saying, you see, just like Hosea, when Hosea says, "Out of Egypt I called my son," Matthew is saying, this is the story of Jesus.
Now, here's what's so fascinating about the gospel writer Matthew. You gotta understand, Matthew is writing this, and this is after like 400 years or so of silence. So from the last prophetic word that had been given, the people of Israel are still in captivity. Now they're subjugated by Rome. So you can imagine, like these people are like, "Oh, when's this Messiah gonna come? When's the Messiah?"
And Matthew, he begins to write this story of who Jesus is. Could you imagine? Like, they're finally getting another revelation from God. After years, generations of silence. 400 years is longer than the length of the constitutional United States has been in existence. So could you imagine? People are waiting for the Messiah. And Matthew starts to write.
Now, notice, Matthew's writing this historical account of Jesus, but he's tying it together to the Old Testament. Now, he does it from the very start. Check this out. So Matthew chapter one, verse one. Could you imagine? They've been waiting in silence. They're like, "When is God gonna deliver us?" And now, all of a sudden, Matthew writes down these words. He writes, "Biblos." Can I hear you say biblos? That's right, "geneseos." Can I hear you say geneseos? Or geneseos, right?
Biblos, geneseos, and then Iesu Christi, which is Jesus Christ. Oh my goodness. Now, here's the thing. What word does that word biblos look like or sound like? Bible. Bible, yeah, or it could mean book or account. So there's the book, and then geneseos or geneseos. What word does that sound like? Genesis. Genesis, the book of Genesis?
Now, this is how Matthew begins this history of Jesus. And guess what? The listeners who've been longing, "When is God gonna move? When is he gonna deliver us?" All of a sudden, Matthew writes these words: "Biblos, geneseos, the book of Genesis." Could you imagine? The listeners are basically like, "Oh man, it's about to go down. Something incredible is about to happen. It's the book of Genesis, a book of new beginnings. But this new beginning has to do with Jesus Christ."
Now, in the book of Matthew chapter one, you look at the genealogy of Jesus, the book of the genesis of Jesus Christ. But notice this story that happens. Then there's the birth of Jesus in Matthew chapter one, verse 25. And then there's this word after Jesus is born where he has to go to Egypt. Why? Because he's on the run. He's a refugee.
So what happens? Matthew chapter two, verse 13, there's an escape to Egypt. Okay, let me just set the scene for you. So there's a Genesis. Then there's like this exodus to Egypt. Now notice, Matthew chapter three, what happens if you flip over in the scriptures a few passages later? After the escape to Egypt, Jesus actually goes into the waters of baptism.
And then he comes out of baptism. Now what happens after Jesus is baptized? Well, if you flip over in the scriptures, when Matthew begins to write, guess what happens? After baptism, Jesus actually goes into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights. Now, isn't this interesting? Wait, wait, wait, what's going on here?
So there's Genesis. Then there's exodus. Then there's this going into the water. Then there's this coming out of the water. And then there's this foray into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights. Does this story remind you of anyone? Anyone? Does this seem familiar?
Now, you don't even have to be a Christian here because let me start this again. There's Genesis. Then there's exodus. Then there's going into the water and then coming out of the water. Then there's into the wilderness. Then there's into the wilderness for 40 years. Whose story is that? Oh, that's the story of Israel. That's the story. What in the world?
Now, do you see what Matthew is doing? Matthew is highlighting these different moments in the story of Jesus in his own life. He's hearkening back and he's giving you all these little breadcrumbs, this prophecy. Micah about Bethlehem, this prophecy from Hosea about Israel, and about "Out of Egypt I called my son."
And what is Jesus doing here? Why is he framing the story in such a manner? See, he's framing the story in such a manner because it mimics the story of Israel. Now, what's different, though, about Jesus? What's different than Jesus rather than the story of Israel?
You know what's interesting is that in Matthew chapter 3 at Jesus' baptism, it says Jesus did this to fulfill all righteousness. Now, what does that mean to fulfill all righteousness? Isn't Jesus already righteous? Yes, he is righteous. But why does he have to do this to fulfill all righteousness?
See, he has to do it. He lives out the story of Israel. Because you remember the story of Hosea? Hosea is outlining how Israel, whenever they try to follow God, God would be faithful, but they would not be faithful. Israel would fail time and time again. They would succumb to their shame, to their addictive behavior. They would make decisions that weren't in line with God. Israel would do this time and time again.
The same with us. We make these same mistakes, don't we? Time and time again. We want to follow our own careers, our own relationships, our own patterns of the things that we value in the world. But you know what's so interesting? Jesus is living out this same life, but instead of failing the way Israel did, Jesus does not fail. In fact, Jesus lives a righteous life.
Now, why is Matthew framing the story this way? Matthew's framing the story this way because he's trying to say, see, this is what the Christian message is all about, where Israel failed, where you and I, we constantly make mistakes and we fail. We succumb to our sins, our selfish proclivities, our lusts, our pride. There's someone who has come in your place, and he has not failed, and his name is Jesus.
Now, this is how the earliest Christians understood this is the unique message of the Christian faith. See, Paul writes to the church in Corinth. Look at what he writes. He writes, "God made him, Jesus, who knew no sin." In other words, Jesus lived the perfect life. Isn't this interesting? Jesus knew no sin. One of the most interesting things about the story of Jesus is how even his brothers ended up saying that he knew no sin, that he was sinless. Could you imagine ever saying that about your siblings? Neither could I.
And yet, there's something—Jesus who knew no sin, and it says he became sin for us. What does that mean, he became sin for us? See, one of the iconic images of the Christian faith is Jesus dying on the cross. Jesus dies on the cross for us. Now, what do we believe about that? Why does he die on the cross?
He dies on the cross because he takes on our sin. He takes on the punishment for our sin. And so, when Jesus is dying on the cross, we receive his mercy. We should be the ones who get that punishment, but Jesus dies in our stead.
See, but that's only half of the good news. You see, because there's this other half of the good news. The other half of the good news is, "God made him who knew no sin, who knew no sin, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him."
The righteousness of—what does that mean? What it means is this: God takes us, he takes our record, and he puts it on Jesus. And so now, Jesus, he dies on the cross for our record, all of our blemishes, our sin, our shame, the ways that we fall short, Jesus dies for that.
But that's only half of the story because it says that God takes him that we might become the righteousness of God in him. In other words, God takes us then and God takes Jesus's righteousness and puts it on us. And so now when God sees our record, he doesn't see our blemishes. He doesn't see the ways that we've made mistakes. Instead, he sees his perfect record.
And he says, "This is my beloved son. This is my beloved daughter. With you, I am well pleased." Now, here's what's amazing. Now, that's called grace. In other words, the good news of Jesus and the distinct news of the Christian faith is that most religions will basically say that the way that you make yourself well with the gods is if you perform better, you do better deeds, you're better than those other people who live in other cities.
But see, the good news of the Christian faith is like, no, no, no. It's not about how you perform. It's about what God has done, what Jesus has done. Now, theologians call this phrase double imputation. Can I hear you say double imputation?
Now, here's what double imputation is. Jesus died the death you should die. But Jesus also lives the life you should live. See, there's two parts of the good news. One part is mercy. Another part is grace. We receive his mercy. He doesn't punish us as we deserve.
But we receive instead his grace so that now when he sees us, he sees us and says, "You are my beloved son. You are my beloved daughter." Now, this is good news. Now, why is that good news? Why? Because here's what it means. It means this: you are fully loved and fully accepted.
High five your neighbor and say, "You are fully loved, fully accepted." Now, some of you are like, "I get it. I hear that all the time." But listen, you don't know where I was last night. You don't know where I grew up. You don't know about some of the evil, perverse things that lie within my heart.
I mean, isn't it so? You don't know, Drew. You don't know. Like, I'm not even a Christian. I don't even consider myself a Christian. How can you say I'm fully loved, fully accepted? Why? See, because what it means to be a Christian is it doesn't mean that you are better than other people, that you are holier than other people. It simply means that you say, "I am not holier than other people. In fact, I need God. And if I need God, I don't trust myself. I trust in the one who died for me."
And if you can trust in the one who died for you, do you see, if you find your identity, your lovability, not in how you perform, what school you went to or anything, but instead you find it in the one who says you are fully loved, fully accepted.
See, the good news of the gospel of Jesus is that in Jesus, we are fully loved, fully accepted. Here's what this means. We are inferior to no one, and you are superior to no one. In fact, high five your neighbor and say, "You are neither inferior, nor superior."
A little tough to say that. Say it 10 times really fast. No, I'm just kidding. But isn't it because why? I'm fully loved, fully accepted.
Now, here's the thing. You know, in a city like ours, I mean, we so easily and quickly, we demarcate people based on certain kind of measurements, where they went to school, how they look, how they appear, right? So immediately we meet someone, we're like, "Oh, that person seems cool. I'm just going to look up that person on LinkedIn."
Let me just say, you know, just to find out more about them. Then you notice, "Oh my goodness, they work at a very reputable firm. Oh, but they went to this university. I don't know, I don't know, like what this person is really like." And then you're like, "Oh, and then they told me they live in Queens."
I mean, isn't this what happens? We demarcate people, we start to size each other up. I mean, this city is notorious for this. But don't you see like the good news of Jesus in the ways that the world demarcates and starts to identify you on who is worthy, who is not, who is lovable, who is not?
I mean, see, the freedom of the good news of Jesus is that because our identity is not based on what you've done, it's based on what Jesus has done. It changes everything.
I mean, isn't this true? Like, for instance, if I were to, like, let's just say we invited Pastor Walt to come up here. Pastor Walt came up here. And let's just say Eliana, our worship director, also, we invited them both to come up here.
And then maybe you're someone who, maybe you're a college student here. Maybe this is like, I don't know, your third week coming to church, but you decided, "Yeah, I really want to believe in Jesus." And you're like, "In Jesus." And then you're just kind of like, "Oh, yeah, but I don't know. I'm so new to this faith thing. And I still make mistakes all the time. I don't know that much about the Bible."
And I were to invite you to come on up here as well. You know, you came up here and we had our staff team up here, you know. And then I were to basically say, ask this question, "Who does God love the most?" Some of you are like, "Walt. Eliana."
And, you know, as a college student, you're just like, "Yeah, of course, not me, for sure not me." But do you see how, like, no. Who does God love the most? See, God loves each of us with a fullness of love, fully loved, fully accepted.
But it's not based on what you and I have done. It's not. It's based on what Jesus has done. Well, what if Martin Luther King Jr. was up here on the stage and Mother Teresa, and we were to line them up, and I asked this question again, "Who does God love the most?"
Some of you are still like, "Pastor, well, no." And as a college student, you're just like, "Ah, no, God doesn't love me as much." No. Do you see the good news of the Gospels? You're not inferior nor superior to anyone because the love of God is not based on your performance or your background or your shame or what you've struggled with. It's based on what Jesus has done.
And that, my friend, is good news. That's why it was called good news. That's why it's called the Gospel, which literally means good news because our identity, our sense of self, our sense of power, our sense of security comes not from ourselves and our performance, but comes from God.
Now, here's what this means. Fully loved, fully accepted, and I have nothing to hide. High five your neighbor and say, "You have nothing to hide." You have nothing to hide. Here's what this means.
I mean, it's so easy, right? Like, the pressure that I must feel as a pastor somehow to tell people, like, "Oh man, like, I'm not perfect." I shared this story last week of this argument that I got into with my wife, Tina, and it was around families and holidays. And it was an awful fight that Tina and I got into.
And someone asked me, like, "Wow, you share so openly." And I'm like, "Yeah, it's actually worse at home." People might have critiques for me and be like, "Drew, oh my goodness, like, these are the ways that you're not measuring up as a pastor, all the ways that you're failing."
And you know what I often say is I'm like, "You wouldn't believe it, I'm actually worse than that." Well, now, why? Why can I be someone who has nothing to hide? Why? Because if my identity is not rooted in my performance or my title or how holy I am, you wouldn't believe it anyway.
But nonetheless, if my sense of security is found in God and Jesus and what Jesus has done, I have nothing to hide. In fact, I can be open about my failures. Isn't it interesting that Paul says that my greatest—in my weakness, that's when Christ is made perfect and God's strength is made perfect.
Now, isn't that stunning? The good news is that we can actually be open about our failures and mistakes. We don't have to live with this pretense like I've got it all together. Now, does this mean that I confess all of my deepest, darkest sins to everyone? No, I do that with appropriate others for healing and community.
But I don't have to carry myself like I've got it all together. Instead, I can just be someone who has nothing to hide. Secondly, nothing to prove. High five your neighbor and say, "Nothing to prove."
I mean, isn't it true? Like so many of us, especially, like I said, in this town, we need to walk into certain environments and act like we've got to prove ourselves by where we went to school, how much money we make. You know, this happens to me as a pastor all the time. When I'm around other pastors, I start feeling insecure if like, "Oh my goodness. The church they lead is a way cooler church or they've got more resources," whatever else.
Like, do you realize like sometimes we do this to ourselves where I start getting into environments and I feel like I need to prove myself. I remember when I was a young pastor and I was getting ready to preach to a group of college students and they were all from Alabama.
And I remember just thinking, "Oh man." I was so nervous like getting ready to preach to this group from Alabama. And immediately like what was coming to me and the reason why I was so anxious was I'm like, "Oh, I better show these white people how I'm really good at English."
You know, so I was thinking about like all these big words I can use because now some of you are like, "What, really, that goes through your mind?" I'm telling you, this is how insecure I am. Like, I'll need to prove myself. These white people who think I'm a foreigner or whatever, you know, and like I need to show them that I have command on my grammar and English.
And like, I mean, it was so fascinating how like either this insecurity would kind of like get lodged in my heart. But this happens all the time. I get into environments where I'm around people and I just feel like I need to prove myself.
And I realize when I get anxious about being in front of people or I get anxious because I think somehow that I'm inferior to other people. Like, but do you realize like if my sense of worth is not in how well I performed, how great I preached, how big of an organization or a church was that I was part of, but if my deepest security was not found in any of that, but found solely in the love of God who loved me and died for me.
Do you see how I would live as if I had nothing to prove? Instead, I can—in fact, I could celebrate other people. I could glory in their successes. I can be a person who's just so secure in myself. Not only would I have nothing to prove, but I'd have nothing to lose.
High five your neighbor and say, "You have nothing to lose." I mean, here's the reality. Some of us are, we're so saddled with fear. Fear about money, fear about the unknown, fear about our futures. And we become so lost in all sorts of anxieties around our fears.
But do you see, if you lived with a security that wasn't found in the stuff you had, and the career trajectory you were on, or on your performance, do you see how if you rested yourself in the love of God, a God who would die for you, and a God who would live for you, do you see, like, if I put my security there, I have nothing to lose.
I have nothing to fear. I can live. I can live with a generosity of spirit. I can live with a lightness. Why? Because, see, so much of the world around us tells us, you know what? Find your sense of security from yourself. Self-actualize your own sense of security.
And when you can start to believe in yourself, which, yes, we do believe in ourselves. But see, the Christian foundation is, no, no, no, don't put yourself at the center of the throne and of the universe. Why? Because even when I try to self-actualize myself, I realize that my mood and my belief about myself, it goes up and down, oftentimes based on what's happening to me, based on what other people think of me.
And here's the reality. I realize that I can put all my faith in myself. But honestly, when the Jets are doing poorly, which happens often, I can feel like I'm in the basement. But do you see, like, the Christian story is like, no, no, don't. You don't have to find your greatest sense of security in yourself.
Or maybe it's putting your greatest sense of security in a small group of people who always have your back. The family who, no matter what you go through, they'll always have your back. Well, I mean, here's the thing. You and I know that the people around us can also be incredibly fickle based on how we perform, based on what we do, if we don't do things that they believe in or that they love.
And so as a result, here's the thing. Most people say, find your identity in yourself, or find your identity in yourself, in these other people, but the reality is it fluctuates. It's so capricious in life. See, but the Christian story is this: don't find your security, your comfort, your power, your approval in all of these other places.
Find it in the one who did what you could not do, who died for you, who loves you, and who lives for you. And when you do that, you can live as someone fully loved, fully accepted, nothing to hide. In fact, you can confess your mistakes with appropriate others. Nothing to prove. You don't have to have a chip on your shoulder and show up in spaces with an insecurity and also with nothing to lose.
You don't have to live in fear over the unknown. Instead, you can live with a lightness and a generosity of spirit. Isn't that what all of us long for? Now, the Christian message has fundamentally always been about how Jesus has done what we could not do, and because he has done what we could not do, I'm fully loved, fully accepted, nothing to hide, nothing to prove, nothing to lose.
Now, here's the thing. Jesus' invitation, it wasn't, "Hey, come follow this religion and this institution. Come, follow this church or this pastor or this teacher of the law." Jesus' invitation was, "Come, follow me. Follow me. The one who would die the death for you and on your behalf, and the one who lives the life for you on your behalf."
See, this is the good news of Jesus. Will you put your trust in him? Will you follow Jesus, the one who has lived for you and the one who has died for you? Thank you.
on Jan 10, 2025
