Andrew Fountain - God's Joy over You
- Artist: Andrew Fountain
- Title: God's Joy over You
- Album: Newlife Church, Toronto
- Track: 16
- Genre: Parables
- Year: 2014-03-23
- Length: 29:40 minutes (11.89 MB)
- Format: MP3 Stereo 44kHz 56Kbps (VBR)
Link to Video:
God's Joy over You Full sermon notes - God’s Joy over You
- toll collectors were seen as collaborators with the Romans
- they were often corrupt and would take more than they should
- hated and resented
- Traitors to God’s name! (and they actually were)
- Sinners literally means those who are living outside of God’s covenant
- They have chosen to reject God’s laws and are spiritually “outlaws”
- No rights to God’s promises. Outside of his kingdom
- They would include prostitutes and those whose lifestyles ignored God’s law
- But the Pharisees would probably include a lot of others, like all those who worked with animals
- or worked on the Sabbath
- They have chosen to reject God’s laws and are spiritually “outlaws”
- What do you think of this reasoning:
- God is pure:
- A Godly person will therefore want to keep themselves pure and holy
- These people are disgusting and filthy (actually they were pretty bad)
- Someone who loves God will want to reflect his character and purity
- God is too pure to even go near those disgusting people,
- So we should not go near them, let alone eat with them
- is that correct??
- But Jesus came to reveal to us the character of God.
- He was being accused of behaving inappropriately
- If Jesus is supposed to be reflecting the character of God, how could he spend time with these people as if they had not done anything wrong?
- Even treat them as his friends
- So it is all about the character of God
- But it turns out there is more to God than that “He is pure”
- He loves mercy
- He loves to demonstrate his love and compassion
- This is a very important subject, because it reflects on how we view our relationship with God
- What does God think of you right now?
- I confess that I often feel:
- I don’t deserve your love God
- I fail you all the time!
- You must be very disappointed in me!
- We need to hear this message of Grace again and again
- We so easily feel he is disappointed in us?
- What does God think of you right now, this moment?
- So Jesus needs to teach us about the Father
- Issues:
- None of them would be a shepherd—they were disgusting thieves (they often were)
- Sometimes accused of steeling sheep or taking them onto other people’s land
- Not a direct equivalent today
- Maybe the guys who come and rummage through your recycling to find bottles they can return to the beer store
- borderline illegal, and certainly not a prestige job
- but let’s think of an entry-level job
- e.g. Say a McDonald’s server. Nothing wrong, but not what these religious leaders would ever do
- None of them would be a shepherd—they were disgusting thieves (they often were)
- Imagine saying to a proud religious person:
- Which one of you, if you were a server in McDonald’s,
and a homeless person left his wallet behind,wouldn’t spend hours trying to locate him to give it back?
- Probably not me!
- Which one of you, if you were a server in McDonald’s,
- Very confrontational to their view of God
- So imaging how offensive they would have found the parable if it were something like this:
- If God were a server at McDonald’s, and a homeless person left his wallet behind, would not God spend hours searching for him so he could return it?
- It would have sounded wrong and offensive in so many ways to their view of God.
- These people were worse than worthless!
- What’s more, there is a big party afterwards!
- (Big Mac combos for everyone!)
- So Jesus is not condoning them continuing their behaviour—the assumption is that they will come into relationship with him.
- What is the joy about?
- restoring the relationship!
- God loves to restore, and to mend what is broken.
- Some people have difficulty with the idea of God having emotions, but he is the Father of emotions!
- What do these teach us about God?
- He is a seeking God—he wants us very much
- We are of great value to him
- He celebrates us coming back to him
- What if I am not a Christian?
- Jesus is offering that you be that lost sheep!
- Just ask him!
- Is it hard for you to believe these three things?
- You need to receive this
John Newton
Let’s go back to the question of God’s purity
- How can a pure God be in a close relationship with us who keep failing?
- Jesus talked about forgiveness, but didn’t explain how it would happen until near his death
Luke 5
- Jesus answered them, “Those who are well don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do.
- I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
- Then just before he died:
Mat 26:28 for this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, that is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
- Now here is the main problem
- So you have a dirty, sinful tax-collector, and a pure spotless God
- All his sin is forgiven and washed away
- But he still does bad things—so how can he be close to a pure God?
- Some people teach “dirty dog with a clean covering...”
- So the only reason God can love us is because he’s not looking at us?
- No, actually the opposite is true
- this is the essential you, the core you
- old habits that die hard
Updated on 2014-03-24 by Andrew Fountain
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