September 13, 2024 • 27 mins
Sometimes we look at the world around us and wonder how it can so easily stray from God. Perhaps you are even grumpy about this. Pastor Guy Roberts preaches on this very subject in his new sermon series beginning today.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
As we gather here in this place, we're going to
come and get insulated. We're gonna come and learn and grow.
We're gonna come and learn what it means to live
in that world. And I promise you that you are
going to be invited, because if you live differently, if
you follow the Lord, people will notice.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Good morning and welcome to peace to you from Peace
Lutheran Church in Arvada, Colorado. As Christians, it's easy to
get frustrated and even a little grumpy with the world
that we live in. It's hard to understand why so
many choose to move away from the Lord rather than
move towards him, and it's even harder to have compassion
(00:55):
on them. This week, Pastor Guy begins a series called
Discipleship is Life. He will lead us through a period
of reflection upon this time that we are living and
the opportunities that exist to share the good news of
Jesus Christ. Now here's Pastor guy sermon entitled Discipleship is Life.
(01:17):
Here's Pastor Guy.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Everyone's while you preach a sermon and it's one that sticks,
It's one that people bring up again. It usually has
to do with whatever story you told in the sermon.
I don't know I've shared this with many of you,
but we had an opportunity to go on vacation here
a year before this was ever a thing that I
was going to be here, and and uh we stayed
(01:41):
in Arvada in a little verbo, a little condo and uh,
and we got to enjoy and see and get super
lost on all the streets because they're weird. None of
the streets here go through have you ever noticed that?
It's And so for us, we just we got to
enjoy and soak it in the sunshine. And the reason
we're here, my son was at a swim camp at
the School of Mines and we had found this great
(02:04):
swim camp was very small, and we decided.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
We were going to do this.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
And there was this place in Golden How many you
guys have been to Golden anybody Cafe thirteen?
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Anyone ever been there? Just a beautiful little coffee shop.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
And the reason we found it is at the bottom
of the hill of the school. And so we'd go
there at about eleven o'clock and we'd get a croissant
and sip some coffee and wait for Zaane to come
down the hill.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
So we could go enjoy the rest of the day.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
And it was the last day of our vacation and
we're sitting in Golden, Colorado. Had no idea that we
would one day live here, but just sitting here soaking
it in.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
And if you've ever been to Golden it's just beautiful.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
The mountains are all around and things are great, and
we're sipping on coffee and I hear from behind me,
as Upper Midwest Lutheran pastor. My ears perk up because
I hear this, you can just take the Old Testament
and throw the whole thing away.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
And I was like, whoo.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Right behind us, four feet at the table behind us,
there was this group of friends and that the gal
that was talking at are really kind of really one
of those voices, you know that you could be like
one hundred feet away and hear it, And it was
four feet behind me. And so I'm trying to enjoy
my vacation. I'm trying to soak the last in. I
love being not a pastor for a minute, just sitting
(03:22):
there sipping my coffee, and this gal behind me is
going on and she goes on and on, and all
the rest of people at the table they join in
and I'm sharing probably something that was shocking to me
but maybe not to you. Maybe this is a common
experience for those of you that have lived here for
your whole life. But as an Upper Midwest pastor from
a small town, I got to say, people didn't say
(03:45):
that kind of stuff around me. They probably knew me,
and if they would have found out, they would have
felt super guilty right away.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
And so, but here we are.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
I'm just sitting there, and so I'm trying to ignore
it because I really don't want to be there.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
And she just keeps going.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
She talks about how Christians are so intolerant and close
minded and.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Mean and all of these things. And I'm like, I
am not.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Right and so and I'm just like, oh, this is
getting crazy, and she I want to I wrote it down.
I went back and listened to the servit because it
was fresher.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Then it says.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Then she said something like this, I don't know why
people need God to be fulfilled when there is enough
in life to be fulfilled.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
And I'm like, oh, right.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
And so we're driving back. It's a Saturday. We're driving
back to Minnesota. I have to preach on Sunday and
I'm writing my sermon and I'm thinking of this, and
I'm like, you know what, I know what's going to
happen if I go back and preach us to my
people and I lay this out for them. They're going
to get offended. They're going to hear this story and
they're going to be like, oh, like this people throwing
(04:54):
half the Bible out and be calling us intolerant and
all this stuff.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
And it worked beautifully.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
I preached this sermon and it worked beautifully because I
had a bigger point to make, and it's the point
of the gospel that day, which is not the gospel
reading for today, but it was from Matthew chapter nine.
And in Matthew chapter nine you have this story of Jesus,
who is who is talking about what it means, what
(05:21):
it means to How does he saying what it means
what he has come for? Are not the righteous but
the sinners, he says. And the scribes are calling him
out because he's having these these meals and he's sitting
around with those who are sinful and broken, and he's
just with them all the time, and he just he
(05:42):
kind of calls them out and says, listen that is
not why I've come, and I want.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
To read it to you, he says.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man
called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said,
follow me, and he rose and followed him. And Jesus
then reclined at table in the house Behold, and many
tech collectors and sinners had come, and they were sitting
with Jesus and the disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this,
they said to his disciples, why does your teacher eat
(06:10):
with tax collectors and sinners. But when he heard it,
he said, those who are well have no need of
a physician. But those who are sick, go and learn,
he says, to these religious leaders, go and learn what
this means. I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I came
to call the I came not to call the righteous,
(06:31):
but sinners. Now, I told that story to my congregation
because I knew they'd get all indignant, and I wanted
to make this simple point. Is that if Jesus came
to the cafe that day, whose table would he have
sat down at?
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Mine, He would have plopped right down next to me.
You know, the people at the table behind me talking
about how they could throw the Old Testament out and
they could, and then Christians are intolerant, and those sinners
behind me, yeah, for sure they were sinners. But he
probably would have plopped down with the grumpy, grouchy old
(07:12):
Lutheran pastor who just wanted one more day of vacation
and didn't want to get annoyed by all these people
behind him, these four sinners. He would have pulled a
chair up and said, hey, listen, let's talk sinner. And
it was it was startling to me because what happened
is when they left, I looked at my wife and
I'm like, can you believe that?
Speaker 3 (07:30):
And she said, beauty, she always does.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
This is just a beautiful, nice way of saying where
you're doing the same thing.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
And I was like, oh, touchet.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
And so you repent and you realize that it's just
it is true for us what we confess today, that
we are not any better than the people beyond these walls.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
We are different though because we have.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Jesus, we have been given that gift, and He does
make us differ, but not because we are worthy.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
We are still.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Sinful and broken, and we follow our own ways and
we should be able to relate truly to all the
things that we experience beyond these walls, but with compassion
and mercy grace. This is hard, though, because you know,
in fact, I taught a discipleship hour today and after
(08:23):
I said, if you have anything you want to share
but don't want to share in front of one hundred people,
come talk to me after and one of our high
schoolers came up, and she made a wonderful observation. She said,
she goes, I don't think I don't. I think that
what's going on is that the people around us they're afraid.
It's not so much that the world around us is gone,
but we've been put in a place now, And I
(08:45):
think she's right on. We've been put in a place
right now where we don't we haven't been given a choice.
We either have to go along with the world, or
at the very least, we're going to be made weird,
like that's just who we are. To stand out, we're
going to be noticed as different. The only way to
kind of relieve that pressure is to hide.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Or to go along.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
But if you stand true, if you stand up for
what we believe, if you do this you're going to
be at very least noticed and.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Thought of as a weirdo.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
When I was growing up, there as a little Jehovah
witness kid in my class in the second grade, You guys,
ever have that happen?
Speaker 3 (09:28):
He was weird. I'm sure he was a nice.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Kid, but like every time we celebrated Christmas, he had
to go off to a table by himself. And every
time that there was birthday parties, he didn't get a
birthday party or a cupcakes.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
He didn't get all these things.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
What he believed and when his parents were teaching made
him kind of stand out in a weird way. And
even though I'm sure he was a nice kid, we
as all the other kids around just just thought he
was weird. And then at dawned on me one day
just a few years ago, that that's what we're asking
of our children now. If they're going to remain faithful,
they're going to stand out.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
They're going to be different because they are.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
Now.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
If you're older, you've got your friends figured out, you've
kind of weeding them all out. If you're retired, especially,
you don't only have to see the people you want
to see. Have you ever noticed this before it sounds awesome.
I can't wait to be retired. But the youngest amongst
us every day, this is what they experience. They're out
there in the world, and so how do you do
(10:28):
this in the weeks and months to come. That's what
we're going to talk about, especially in the sermon series
Discipleship is Life. What does it mean to live your faith?
To have it with you wherever you go, as the
kids said today, and the children's lesson, to have it
with you wherever you go, that you are there with Jesus,
and that you're okay, that you will be noticed as different,
and then even more importantly, that you're ready to give
(10:49):
an answer when people ask, because they will ask. And
that's where our lesson for today comes in Acts chapter seventeen.
We're going to start in verse twenty two, but in
Acts chapter seventeen, so you'll catch up with me in
verse twenty four.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
But Paul is at the Europagus.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
He has been preaching the Word of God in Athens,
and it is a culture that I think is very
similar to the culture that we live in today, where
they're not opposed to spiritual things, and they're not opposed
to learning new things. But in the world, they just
want to hear it all, and they want to consider
it all, and they want to kind of take and
apply whatever it is that they want to apply. And
(11:28):
so Paul he's doing this and he's teaching on Jesus,
and the Athenians invite him to come to this place
of learning, like this kind of central square where people
share their new ideas. And he gets invited and it's
super cool, And I want you to listen then to
the presentation the sermon that he gives in the midst
of all of these philosophers and all of these wise
(11:49):
men who are actually open to learning and hearing and growing.
He says in verse twenty two. So Paul, standing in
the midst of the europagus, said, men of Athens, I
perceive that in every way you are very religious.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
For as I passed along.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
And observed the objects of your worship, I found also
an altar with this inscription.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
To the Unknown God. And so when he.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Walks into this place, he's noticing his surroundings where all
these people gather and learned are, and he sees this
this idolly says, there it is to the Unknown God.
And so he tells him that I saw this idol,
that you recognize that there's something beyond the things that
you know, and I want to tell you today, and
this I proclaim to you. And then that now we're
(12:34):
on verse twenty four. The God who made the world
and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth,
does not live in temples made by man, nor is
he served by human hands, as though he needed anything,
since He himself gives to all mankind life and breath
and everything. And he made one man, every nation of mankind,
(12:57):
to live on the face of the earth, having determined
allotted period and boundaries of their dwelling place, that they
should seek God and perhaps feel their way towards him
and find him. Yet He is actually not far from
each one of us, for in Him we live and
move and have our being, as even some of your
(13:18):
own poets have said, for we are indeed His offspring,
and being then God's offspring. We ought not to think
that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone,
that he's an idol and image formed by the art
and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked,
but now he commands all people everywhere to repent because
(13:38):
he has fixed a day on which he will judge
the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed.
And of this he has given assurance to all by
raising him from the dead. And then this was the
result sharing this in their midst. When some heard of
the resurrection, some mocked, but others said, we will hear
you again on this, And so Paul went out from
(13:59):
their midst and the result is some came to believe.
As we begin this time together, and especially in these
next five weeks together after today, we are going to
focus and just really talk.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
About what it's like out there.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
With these people, because these people beyond these walls are
not the enemy. The enemy is Satan, the one seeking
to drag everyone into hell.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
These are people who have been misled.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
And don't understand what it is like to live different
like we do in this place, in this place of
grace and mercy, and we're going to learn to have
compassion on them. I want to read this to you
because I wrote it all down as I reflected on it,
and I just I don't think I could remember it
enough to say exactly what I want to say. But
the average age of this congregation is forty nine look
(14:48):
around and go, oh, yeah, that's right. I'm forty six.
I'm almost right in the middle, which is kind of fun.
And if you're older than that, or if you're younger
than that, you know whatever. But forty nine. The average
age of our church body is fifty nine, So hey,
we're pretty young.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Look around. No, maybe you don't feel like it.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
That means at the very least half of us are
growing up in a different world than we grew up.
And people, the people of this society, they are not
seeking churches anymore, and they're not seeking God's will. His
law is being unwound in our society, and the result
is things are a mess. Fear has then become kind
(15:37):
of central to things, especially the fear of death. I'm
convinced that's why COVID happened the way it did, is
because so many people are terrified of death. And there
is no right or wrong, There is no objective truth,
there are no curbs anymore provided by the society around us,
and authority itself is distrusted in this world. And it's
(15:58):
hard even to talk about sin because in order to
talk about sin, there has to be a divine law
that we can even transgress. And that's not the world
that we live in anymore. What makes you different is
(16:22):
your son is his son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. As
we gather here in this place, we're going to come
and get insulated. We're going to come and learn and grow.
We're going to come and learn what it means to
live in that world. And I promise you that you
are going to be invited because if you live differently,
if you follow the Lord, people will notice. We just
(16:43):
don't live in a world where they don't notice anymore.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
And they're going to ask.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
They're going to ask why it is that you do
that with your family, They're going to ask why it
is you do that at your church. They're going to
ask why you do this or that? And you're going
to have opportunity. You're gonna be invited to speak. And
so what we need to do is get better at
learning on what to say, and not to say things
standing up here as if we're better, but to meet
people where they're at and where they live, to recognize
(17:09):
the things in their lives and be able to speak truth,
the truth of Christ into it. And that's the call
for us today. We live in an interesting time, an
interesting place where the church is being challenged in ways
we haven't been challenged for a long time. But the
opportunities exist, and I'm excited to see where he leads us.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
Amen, Good morning, pastor guy, Good morning Ken.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Thank you for that message. And you know, you opened
up kind of a little can of worms for me,
because there's so many things I want to ask you.
But when you talked about that girl that was talking,
you know, behind you in that restaurant and you're on vacation,
You're trying to take it easy, and here are the
things that she was saying about getting rid of the
Old Testament, and you know, and I do hear those
(18:03):
things a lot where people just have this kind of
a twisted idea of what Christianity and what belief is
all about. Yeah, and you handled that so well. But
how do you do that? I mean, how do you
just you know, kind of listening and go oh, okay,
I've got to say something.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
How do you?
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Well, I mean, in all honesty, I was just annoyed
that I was on vacation and here is this happening
behind me and I was in the place. Should I
say something? Shouldn't I and I was just wanted her
to go away. But in general that this happens often
in this story when I've told it has really related,
people really related with it. And so I'm assuming that
(18:43):
it's a common experience that everyone has, because usually a
story that relates so well is one that everyone can
imagine themselves in.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
So yeah, and once you said, you know, we were
different as believers, as Christians were different, and I've told
that a lot. I'm different. We talked a little bit
off air where I was just, you know, at a
place where we were watching the CU game and this
guy was using a lot of poor language, and you know,
I just ask him, because we had the grandkids and
(19:11):
everybody there, I said, can you just tone it down?
You know, we don't need that language, especially with the
little ones. And it was amazing. He was so gracious,
and I'm thinking to myself, is he a believer? Was
he just kind of going off the rails here talking
the way he was. But he was like, you know, yeah,
I'm sorry, You're right, yeah, And I you know, I'll
watch my language. I'm sorry about that.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
And I think like all people, whether they're believers or not,
they can kind of tell that it would be better
not to swear, and you use profanity in frind of children.
So I think that still exists. What doesn't exist is
any people saying, would you please not do that? We're
all kind of really afraid, And to be fair, maybe
(19:54):
maybe it's a fair fear, because it could have.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Gotten the other way.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
You could have got mad it just started swearing yeah, yeah,
more at you, or he could have made a scene,
and you know, and so that I think that keeps
us quiet.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
It does, yeah, you know, and I think that in
your sermon, you've talked about it, and you've talked about
it for as far as approaching people like that with
compassion and kindness, and you know, don't don't become confrontational,
but just approach him as Jesus would, you know, with
with compassion. He didn't understand, or he just didn't know
(20:27):
what he was doing, or he didn't realize what he
was doing, or maybe he didn't realize that there was
little ones around him, and maybe just didn't realize that.
But approaching him like that, now I was geared up
because I thought he was going to say, you know,
who are you to tell me how to talk? You know,
I was ready for that, but I just kind of
blew me away when he was just so open and
pleasant surprise, a very pleasant surprise.
Speaker 5 (20:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Yeah, But like you said, we look at things differently,
and as what you're talking about, as far as discipleship,
you know, and I talked to some of the kids
that I used to have in my Sunday school and
stuff like that about discipleship and becoming disciples of Jesus,
and you know, that's really what it's all about, and
that's really what He's asking us to do to be.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
And what I've always tried to get across is it's
not just who what we have been called to do
it and it's an identity.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
It's who we are.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
And that's what you want these kids, and you know,
all of our people to know, is you're different because
the Lord has made you different. He has called you
into the light and it's by no merit of your own,
and so you kind of lived this life as with
Him as your lord, and it, man, it's a it's
a different thing, and it's for sure difficult. I had
(21:40):
a teenager after our discipleship hour come up to me
and she just said the most insightful thing She put
it so succinctly, and I know she did it because
she's living it. And what she said was, I think
it's fear. Fear is what is what really young, especially
younger people are struggling with. And I thought she meant
like fear of death or fear of and what she
meant was, it's you either go along or you will
(22:03):
be you will be set apart, you will be singled out,
you will be ostracized. And this is she said, that's
a real pressure that kids face. Now there's no in between.
There's it used to be you and I could we
could kind of stan under the radar and stay quiet
and that was enough. But now a choice, they're they're
(22:25):
demanding a choice, and kids are afraid of what it
will mean if they stand upon the word of their
lord rather than what the world wants. And I thought
that was very transparent, and she she was sharing it
as her observations after our conversation in the class, and
I was like, that's it. I mean, we all experience that,
but for our youngest it's especially Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
And it's just been well for me, you know, I
it's been my life. That's how I was brought up.
You know, in Sundays that was church. It's just like
you know, brushing your teeth, you went to church. So
we did, and it got to the point to where
if I didn't, then I had this empty, horrible empty
feeling in my stomach. And even when we went on vacations,
(23:09):
we'd go to church wherever we were on Sunday mornings.
And that's what I mean, Mom and Dad's get ready
to get you CLD. So let's go, you know, we're
out of here. Yeah, but it is it is difficult sometimes,
especially because I had a lot of friends that were
unchurched or non believers or whatever, especially my years of
sports and things like that. And it wasn't until later
(23:29):
that we had we had our own group. You know,
well that's the Christian group over there, you know, but
we had our own group. But it's amazing how fast
that that group grew.
Speaker 5 (23:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
So the other question I had was just just briefly
what you talked about, Paul, noticing that that inscription on
the wall to the unknown God can just briefly.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Just he his his approach was different than most of
the Book of Acts where he started in the synagogues,
and that people knew of God, but here he wasn't
a pagan temple, you know, or a pagan place of learning,
the auropagus, and he that's where he chooses to start
with them. And I love it because it's I think,
(24:10):
a call for us to meet people where they're at
and to find where they're at. And to meet them
where they're at, you have to know where they're at,
which means he needed to listen to them and understand them.
And that was his end was listen. I know you're
very religious people, very spiritual. I can tell you have
all of these gods lining your hallways, but I'm going
to talk about this one that you know exists that
(24:31):
you've never put your mind around, and here he is.
And that was just excellent, you know, very very compassionate
and considerate and meeting people where they're at to share
the gospel.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
And that's what that's what it's all about.
Speaker 5 (24:44):
Yeating people like that.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Well, you know, I know there's a lot of folks
in our listening audience that don't have a church home
and church or you know, they're they're looking and we'd
sure love to have them here at Peace Lutheran Church
in Arvada fifty seventh in Field and you know we
have an eight o'clock service, we have a nine to
fifteen Bible study which is is just outstanding, and then
ten thirty late service and we'd love to have these folks,
love to see them here.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Yeah, it's a place where you belong.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Very good, exactly right. Well, thank you and have a
blessed week.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
Pastor guy you too, Thanks.
Speaker 6 (25:33):
Thank you for joining us the Peast to you from
Beeast Church in our Batta, Colorado. If you have no
church home, we would be delighted for you to join
us on any Sunday. Our addrints is five to six
seven five Field Street in our Battle, Colorado. Our services
are at eight and ten thirty am. Bible classes for
(25:54):
all ages are at nine to fifteen am. You can
easily access our sermons on line at www dot b
slucrit dot m, or at Pisarbata at YouTube dot com.
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(26:15):
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four five four. If you would like a copy of
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(26:39):
Now from the entire broadcasting at p Slupmchurch and Arbada,
I am living all of that and made the peace
of our Lord you with you today and always
As we gather here in this place, we're going to
come and get insulated. We're gonna come and learn and grow.
We're gonna come and learn what it means to live
in that world. And I promise you that you are
going to be invited, because if you live differently, if
you follow the Lord, people will notice.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Good morning and welcome to peace to you from Peace
Lutheran Church in Arvada, Colorado. As Christians, it's easy to
get frustrated and even a little grumpy with the world
that we live in. It's hard to understand why so
many choose to move away from the Lord rather than
move towards him, and it's even harder to have compassion
(00:55):
on them. This week, Pastor Guy begins a series called
Discipleship is Life. He will lead us through a period
of reflection upon this time that we are living and
the opportunities that exist to share the good news of
Jesus Christ. Now here's Pastor guy sermon entitled Discipleship is Life.
(01:17):
Here's Pastor Guy.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Everyone's while you preach a sermon and it's one that sticks,
It's one that people bring up again. It usually has
to do with whatever story you told in the sermon.
I don't know I've shared this with many of you,
but we had an opportunity to go on vacation here
a year before this was ever a thing that I
was going to be here, and and uh we stayed
(01:41):
in Arvada in a little verbo, a little condo and uh,
and we got to enjoy and see and get super
lost on all the streets because they're weird. None of
the streets here go through have you ever noticed that?
It's And so for us, we just we got to
enjoy and soak it in the sunshine. And the reason
we're here, my son was at a swim camp at
the School of Mines and we had found this great
(02:04):
swim camp was very small, and we decided.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
We were going to do this.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
And there was this place in Golden How many you
guys have been to Golden anybody Cafe thirteen?
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Anyone ever been there? Just a beautiful little coffee shop.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
And the reason we found it is at the bottom
of the hill of the school. And so we'd go
there at about eleven o'clock and we'd get a croissant
and sip some coffee and wait for Zaane to come
down the hill.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
So we could go enjoy the rest of the day.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
And it was the last day of our vacation and
we're sitting in Golden, Colorado. Had no idea that we
would one day live here, but just sitting here soaking
it in.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
And if you've ever been to Golden it's just beautiful.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
The mountains are all around and things are great, and
we're sipping on coffee and I hear from behind me,
as Upper Midwest Lutheran pastor. My ears perk up because
I hear this, you can just take the Old Testament
and throw the whole thing away.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
And I was like, whoo.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Right behind us, four feet at the table behind us,
there was this group of friends and that the gal
that was talking at are really kind of really one
of those voices, you know that you could be like
one hundred feet away and hear it, And it was
four feet behind me. And so I'm trying to enjoy
my vacation. I'm trying to soak the last in. I
love being not a pastor for a minute, just sitting
(03:22):
there sipping my coffee, and this gal behind me is
going on and she goes on and on, and all
the rest of people at the table they join in
and I'm sharing probably something that was shocking to me
but maybe not to you. Maybe this is a common
experience for those of you that have lived here for
your whole life. But as an Upper Midwest pastor from
a small town, I got to say, people didn't say
(03:45):
that kind of stuff around me. They probably knew me,
and if they would have found out, they would have
felt super guilty right away.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
And so, but here we are.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
I'm just sitting there, and so I'm trying to ignore
it because I really don't want to be there.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
And she just keeps going.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
She talks about how Christians are so intolerant and close
minded and.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Mean and all of these things. And I'm like, I
am not.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Right and so and I'm just like, oh, this is
getting crazy, and she I want to I wrote it down.
I went back and listened to the servit because it
was fresher.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Then it says.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Then she said something like this, I don't know why
people need God to be fulfilled when there is enough
in life to be fulfilled.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
And I'm like, oh, right.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
And so we're driving back. It's a Saturday. We're driving
back to Minnesota. I have to preach on Sunday and
I'm writing my sermon and I'm thinking of this, and
I'm like, you know what, I know what's going to
happen if I go back and preach us to my
people and I lay this out for them. They're going
to get offended. They're going to hear this story and
they're going to be like, oh, like this people throwing
(04:54):
half the Bible out and be calling us intolerant and
all this stuff.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
And it worked beautifully.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
I preached this sermon and it worked beautifully because I
had a bigger point to make, and it's the point
of the gospel that day, which is not the gospel
reading for today, but it was from Matthew chapter nine.
And in Matthew chapter nine you have this story of Jesus,
who is who is talking about what it means, what
(05:21):
it means to How does he saying what it means
what he has come for? Are not the righteous but
the sinners, he says. And the scribes are calling him
out because he's having these these meals and he's sitting
around with those who are sinful and broken, and he's
just with them all the time, and he just he
(05:42):
kind of calls them out and says, listen that is
not why I've come, and I want.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
To read it to you, he says.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man
called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said,
follow me, and he rose and followed him. And Jesus
then reclined at table in the house Behold, and many
tech collectors and sinners had come, and they were sitting
with Jesus and the disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this,
they said to his disciples, why does your teacher eat
(06:10):
with tax collectors and sinners. But when he heard it,
he said, those who are well have no need of
a physician. But those who are sick, go and learn,
he says, to these religious leaders, go and learn what
this means. I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I came
to call the I came not to call the righteous,
(06:31):
but sinners. Now, I told that story to my congregation
because I knew they'd get all indignant, and I wanted
to make this simple point. Is that if Jesus came
to the cafe that day, whose table would he have
sat down at?
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Mine, He would have plopped right down next to me.
You know, the people at the table behind me talking
about how they could throw the Old Testament out and
they could, and then Christians are intolerant, and those sinners
behind me, yeah, for sure they were sinners. But he
probably would have plopped down with the grumpy, grouchy old
(07:12):
Lutheran pastor who just wanted one more day of vacation
and didn't want to get annoyed by all these people
behind him, these four sinners. He would have pulled a
chair up and said, hey, listen, let's talk sinner. And
it was it was startling to me because what happened
is when they left, I looked at my wife and
I'm like, can you believe that?
Speaker 3 (07:30):
And she said, beauty, she always does.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
This is just a beautiful, nice way of saying where
you're doing the same thing.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
And I was like, oh, touchet.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
And so you repent and you realize that it's just
it is true for us what we confess today, that
we are not any better than the people beyond these walls.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
We are different though because we have.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Jesus, we have been given that gift, and He does
make us differ, but not because we are worthy.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
We are still.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Sinful and broken, and we follow our own ways and
we should be able to relate truly to all the
things that we experience beyond these walls, but with compassion
and mercy grace. This is hard, though, because you know,
in fact, I taught a discipleship hour today and after
(08:23):
I said, if you have anything you want to share
but don't want to share in front of one hundred people,
come talk to me after and one of our high
schoolers came up, and she made a wonderful observation. She said,
she goes, I don't think I don't. I think that
what's going on is that the people around us they're afraid.
It's not so much that the world around us is gone,
but we've been put in a place now, And I
(08:45):
think she's right on. We've been put in a place
right now where we don't we haven't been given a choice.
We either have to go along with the world, or
at the very least, we're going to be made weird,
like that's just who we are. To stand out, we're
going to be noticed as different. The only way to
kind of relieve that pressure is to hide.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Or to go along.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
But if you stand true, if you stand up for
what we believe, if you do this you're going to
be at very least noticed and.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Thought of as a weirdo.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
When I was growing up, there as a little Jehovah
witness kid in my class in the second grade, You guys,
ever have that happen?
Speaker 3 (09:28):
He was weird. I'm sure he was a nice.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Kid, but like every time we celebrated Christmas, he had
to go off to a table by himself. And every
time that there was birthday parties, he didn't get a
birthday party or a cupcakes.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
He didn't get all these things.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
What he believed and when his parents were teaching made
him kind of stand out in a weird way. And
even though I'm sure he was a nice kid, we
as all the other kids around just just thought he
was weird. And then at dawned on me one day
just a few years ago, that that's what we're asking
of our children now. If they're going to remain faithful,
they're going to stand out.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
They're going to be different because they are.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
Now.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
If you're older, you've got your friends figured out, you've
kind of weeding them all out. If you're retired, especially,
you don't only have to see the people you want
to see. Have you ever noticed this before it sounds awesome.
I can't wait to be retired. But the youngest amongst
us every day, this is what they experience. They're out
there in the world, and so how do you do
(10:28):
this in the weeks and months to come. That's what
we're going to talk about, especially in the sermon series
Discipleship is Life. What does it mean to live your faith?
To have it with you wherever you go, as the
kids said today, and the children's lesson, to have it
with you wherever you go, that you are there with Jesus,
and that you're okay, that you will be noticed as different,
and then even more importantly, that you're ready to give
(10:49):
an answer when people ask, because they will ask. And
that's where our lesson for today comes in Acts chapter seventeen.
We're going to start in verse twenty two, but in
Acts chapter seventeen, so you'll catch up with me in
verse twenty four.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
But Paul is at the Europagus.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
He has been preaching the Word of God in Athens,
and it is a culture that I think is very
similar to the culture that we live in today, where
they're not opposed to spiritual things, and they're not opposed
to learning new things. But in the world, they just
want to hear it all, and they want to consider
it all, and they want to kind of take and
apply whatever it is that they want to apply. And
(11:28):
so Paul he's doing this and he's teaching on Jesus,
and the Athenians invite him to come to this place
of learning, like this kind of central square where people
share their new ideas. And he gets invited and it's
super cool, And I want you to listen then to
the presentation the sermon that he gives in the midst
of all of these philosophers and all of these wise
(11:49):
men who are actually open to learning and hearing and growing.
He says in verse twenty two. So Paul, standing in
the midst of the europagus, said, men of Athens, I
perceive that in every way you are very religious.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
For as I passed along.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
And observed the objects of your worship, I found also
an altar with this inscription.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
To the Unknown God. And so when he.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Walks into this place, he's noticing his surroundings where all
these people gather and learned are, and he sees this
this idolly says, there it is to the Unknown God.
And so he tells him that I saw this idol,
that you recognize that there's something beyond the things that
you know, and I want to tell you today, and
this I proclaim to you. And then that now we're
(12:34):
on verse twenty four. The God who made the world
and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth,
does not live in temples made by man, nor is
he served by human hands, as though he needed anything,
since He himself gives to all mankind life and breath
and everything. And he made one man, every nation of mankind,
(12:57):
to live on the face of the earth, having determined
allotted period and boundaries of their dwelling place, that they
should seek God and perhaps feel their way towards him
and find him. Yet He is actually not far from
each one of us, for in Him we live and
move and have our being, as even some of your
(13:18):
own poets have said, for we are indeed His offspring,
and being then God's offspring. We ought not to think
that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone,
that he's an idol and image formed by the art
and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked,
but now he commands all people everywhere to repent because
(13:38):
he has fixed a day on which he will judge
the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed.
And of this he has given assurance to all by
raising him from the dead. And then this was the
result sharing this in their midst. When some heard of
the resurrection, some mocked, but others said, we will hear
you again on this, And so Paul went out from
(13:59):
their midst and the result is some came to believe.
As we begin this time together, and especially in these
next five weeks together after today, we are going to
focus and just really talk.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
About what it's like out there.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
With these people, because these people beyond these walls are
not the enemy. The enemy is Satan, the one seeking
to drag everyone into hell.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
These are people who have been misled.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
And don't understand what it is like to live different
like we do in this place, in this place of
grace and mercy, and we're going to learn to have
compassion on them. I want to read this to you
because I wrote it all down as I reflected on it,
and I just I don't think I could remember it
enough to say exactly what I want to say. But
the average age of this congregation is forty nine look
(14:48):
around and go, oh, yeah, that's right. I'm forty six.
I'm almost right in the middle, which is kind of fun.
And if you're older than that, or if you're younger
than that, you know whatever. But forty nine. The average
age of our church body is fifty nine, So hey,
we're pretty young.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Look around. No, maybe you don't feel like it.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
That means at the very least half of us are
growing up in a different world than we grew up.
And people, the people of this society, they are not
seeking churches anymore, and they're not seeking God's will. His
law is being unwound in our society, and the result
is things are a mess. Fear has then become kind
(15:37):
of central to things, especially the fear of death. I'm
convinced that's why COVID happened the way it did, is
because so many people are terrified of death. And there
is no right or wrong, There is no objective truth,
there are no curbs anymore provided by the society around us,
and authority itself is distrusted in this world. And it's
(15:58):
hard even to talk about sin because in order to
talk about sin, there has to be a divine law
that we can even transgress. And that's not the world
that we live in anymore. What makes you different is
(16:22):
your son is his son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. As
we gather here in this place, we're going to come
and get insulated. We're going to come and learn and grow.
We're going to come and learn what it means to
live in that world. And I promise you that you
are going to be invited because if you live differently,
if you follow the Lord, people will notice. We just
(16:43):
don't live in a world where they don't notice anymore.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
And they're going to ask.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
They're going to ask why it is that you do
that with your family, They're going to ask why it
is you do that at your church. They're going to
ask why you do this or that? And you're going
to have opportunity. You're gonna be invited to speak. And
so what we need to do is get better at
learning on what to say, and not to say things
standing up here as if we're better, but to meet
people where they're at and where they live, to recognize
(17:09):
the things in their lives and be able to speak truth,
the truth of Christ into it. And that's the call
for us today. We live in an interesting time, an
interesting place where the church is being challenged in ways
we haven't been challenged for a long time. But the
opportunities exist, and I'm excited to see where he leads us.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
Amen, Good morning, pastor guy, Good morning Ken.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Thank you for that message. And you know, you opened
up kind of a little can of worms for me,
because there's so many things I want to ask you.
But when you talked about that girl that was talking,
you know, behind you in that restaurant and you're on vacation,
You're trying to take it easy, and here are the
things that she was saying about getting rid of the
Old Testament, and you know, and I do hear those
(18:03):
things a lot where people just have this kind of
a twisted idea of what Christianity and what belief is
all about. Yeah, and you handled that so well. But
how do you do that? I mean, how do you
just you know, kind of listening and go oh, okay,
I've got to say something.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
How do you?
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Well, I mean, in all honesty, I was just annoyed
that I was on vacation and here is this happening
behind me and I was in the place. Should I
say something? Shouldn't I and I was just wanted her
to go away. But in general that this happens often
in this story when I've told it has really related,
people really related with it. And so I'm assuming that
(18:43):
it's a common experience that everyone has, because usually a
story that relates so well is one that everyone can
imagine themselves in.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
So yeah, and once you said, you know, we were
different as believers, as Christians were different, and I've told
that a lot. I'm different. We talked a little bit
off air where I was just, you know, at a
place where we were watching the CU game and this
guy was using a lot of poor language, and you know,
I just ask him, because we had the grandkids and
(19:11):
everybody there, I said, can you just tone it down?
You know, we don't need that language, especially with the
little ones. And it was amazing. He was so gracious,
and I'm thinking to myself, is he a believer? Was
he just kind of going off the rails here talking
the way he was. But he was like, you know, yeah,
I'm sorry, You're right, yeah, And I you know, I'll
watch my language. I'm sorry about that.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
And I think like all people, whether they're believers or not,
they can kind of tell that it would be better
not to swear, and you use profanity in frind of children.
So I think that still exists. What doesn't exist is
any people saying, would you please not do that? We're
all kind of really afraid, And to be fair, maybe
(19:54):
maybe it's a fair fear, because it could have.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Gotten the other way.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
You could have got mad it just started swearing yeah, yeah,
more at you, or he could have made a scene,
and you know, and so that I think that keeps
us quiet.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
It does, yeah, you know, and I think that in
your sermon, you've talked about it, and you've talked about
it for as far as approaching people like that with
compassion and kindness, and you know, don't don't become confrontational,
but just approach him as Jesus would, you know, with
with compassion. He didn't understand, or he just didn't know
(20:27):
what he was doing, or he didn't realize what he
was doing, or maybe he didn't realize that there was
little ones around him, and maybe just didn't realize that.
But approaching him like that, now I was geared up
because I thought he was going to say, you know,
who are you to tell me how to talk? You know,
I was ready for that, but I just kind of
blew me away when he was just so open and
pleasant surprise, a very pleasant surprise.
Speaker 5 (20:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Yeah, But like you said, we look at things differently,
and as what you're talking about, as far as discipleship,
you know, and I talked to some of the kids
that I used to have in my Sunday school and
stuff like that about discipleship and becoming disciples of Jesus,
and you know, that's really what it's all about, and
that's really what He's asking us to do to be.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
And what I've always tried to get across is it's
not just who what we have been called to do
it and it's an identity.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
It's who we are.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
And that's what you want these kids, and you know,
all of our people to know, is you're different because
the Lord has made you different. He has called you
into the light and it's by no merit of your own,
and so you kind of lived this life as with
Him as your lord, and it, man, it's a it's
a different thing, and it's for sure difficult. I had
(21:40):
a teenager after our discipleship hour come up to me
and she just said the most insightful thing She put
it so succinctly, and I know she did it because
she's living it. And what she said was, I think
it's fear. Fear is what is what really young, especially
younger people are struggling with. And I thought she meant
like fear of death or fear of and what she
meant was, it's you either go along or you will
(22:03):
be you will be set apart, you will be singled out,
you will be ostracized. And this is she said, that's
a real pressure that kids face. Now there's no in between.
There's it used to be you and I could we
could kind of stan under the radar and stay quiet
and that was enough. But now a choice, they're they're
(22:25):
demanding a choice, and kids are afraid of what it
will mean if they stand upon the word of their
lord rather than what the world wants. And I thought
that was very transparent, and she she was sharing it
as her observations after our conversation in the class, and
I was like, that's it. I mean, we all experience that,
but for our youngest it's especially Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
And it's just been well for me, you know, I
it's been my life. That's how I was brought up.
You know, in Sundays that was church. It's just like
you know, brushing your teeth, you went to church. So
we did, and it got to the point to where
if I didn't, then I had this empty, horrible empty
feeling in my stomach. And even when we went on vacations,
(23:09):
we'd go to church wherever we were on Sunday mornings.
And that's what I mean, Mom and Dad's get ready
to get you CLD. So let's go, you know, we're
out of here. Yeah, but it is it is difficult sometimes,
especially because I had a lot of friends that were
unchurched or non believers or whatever, especially my years of
sports and things like that. And it wasn't until later
(23:29):
that we had we had our own group. You know,
well that's the Christian group over there, you know, but
we had our own group. But it's amazing how fast
that that group grew.
Speaker 5 (23:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
So the other question I had was just just briefly
what you talked about, Paul, noticing that that inscription on
the wall to the unknown God can just briefly.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Just he his his approach was different than most of
the Book of Acts where he started in the synagogues,
and that people knew of God, but here he wasn't
a pagan temple, you know, or a pagan place of learning,
the auropagus, and he that's where he chooses to start
with them. And I love it because it's I think,
(24:10):
a call for us to meet people where they're at
and to find where they're at. And to meet them
where they're at, you have to know where they're at,
which means he needed to listen to them and understand them.
And that was his end was listen. I know you're
very religious people, very spiritual. I can tell you have
all of these gods lining your hallways, but I'm going
to talk about this one that you know exists that
(24:31):
you've never put your mind around, and here he is.
And that was just excellent, you know, very very compassionate
and considerate and meeting people where they're at to share
the gospel.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
And that's what that's what it's all about.
Speaker 5 (24:44):
Yeating people like that.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Well, you know, I know there's a lot of folks
in our listening audience that don't have a church home
and church or you know, they're they're looking and we'd
sure love to have them here at Peace Lutheran Church
in Arvada fifty seventh in Field and you know we
have an eight o'clock service, we have a nine to
fifteen Bible study which is is just outstanding, and then
ten thirty late service and we'd love to have these folks,
love to see them here.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Yeah, it's a place where you belong.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Very good, exactly right. Well, thank you and have a
blessed week.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
Pastor guy you too, Thanks.
Speaker 6 (25:33):
Thank you for joining us the Peast to you from
Beeast Church in our Batta, Colorado. If you have no
church home, we would be delighted for you to join
us on any Sunday. Our addrints is five to six
seven five Field Street in our Battle, Colorado. Our services
are at eight and ten thirty am. Bible classes for
(25:54):
all ages are at nine to fifteen am. You can
easily access our sermons on line at www dot b
slucrit dot m, or at Pisarbata at YouTube dot com.
Peace to You in Part is a listener supported broadcast.
If you would like to sponsor a broadcast in the future,
(26:15):
call us at three O three four two four four
four five four. If you would like a copy of
today's broadcast and no charge to you, contact us at
the same number three oh three four two four four
four five four. You can access our sermons at any
time by going to our YouTube channel pisarbatatube dot com.
(26:39):
Now from the entire broadcasting at p Slupmchurch and Arbada,
I am living all of that and made the peace
of our Lord you with you today and always
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