Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
You're listening to the misfitpreachers, talian Chavigian, Jean
LaRue and Byron Yan fromProdigalPodcast.com we're plagiarizing
Jesus one podcast at a time.
Now here are the misfits.
Lie number two.
What was lie number two?
Lie number two.
(00:22):
Sorry.
Wow, your people picked upyour shaming.
We're doing good, guys.
Just go, keep going.
We're doing my number two.
Grace is not practical.
It's not practical.
John, if there's one, onething that I've heard more than anything,
(00:44):
it's probably this one that itjust doesn't seem to work.
You know, Steve Brown, whowill be here, said, if you want to
make people mad, preach thelaw, but if you want to make them
really mad, preach grace.
And the whole feeling is thatit just doesn't work.
You know, Tim Keller wasfamous for saying, if your fear is
that when you remove all fearthat people will do whatever they
(01:06):
want, then the only thingmaking people do anything is fear.
That's right.
It's exactly right.
And that's the fear is that ifI take the leash off, what's going
to happen?
But it's hard to make thatintellectual leap.
And so maybe an illustration Iwas mentioning to you earlier, this
would be like somebody saying,you know, coming into your office
and saying, pastor, I'm reallystruggling with road rage and speeding.
(01:30):
I mean, that's my struggle.
Right?
Raising hands.
Right.
Thank you.
Thank you from the crowd.
But it doesn't seem like justbelieve the gospel that grace somehow
fixes this.
It feels like what I need todo is put a post it note right next
to the speedometer that says,you know, the man of God walks in
the ways of God.
Maybe I get a governor on theengine of the car so I can't go over
(01:53):
75 or what, 70, whatever.
And then that's how I fix it.
Grace doesn't work for that.
And this is what I would sayto that.
I would say, well, why are you speeding?
Well, because I've got to getto work on time.
Why do you have to get work on time?
Well, if I don't get to workon time, I won't be able to keep
my job.
Well, what happens if you loseyour job?
Well, then I'll lose my moneyand I'll lose my lifestyle.
Well, what happens if you loseyour money in your lifestyle?
(02:14):
Well, the conversation I hadwith my wife's father before we got
married was that I promised totake care of her and provide all
those things.
And he said, you better notever fail in that promise, he said,
so if I do those things, thenthat's going to happen, he said.
And it sounded just like thevoice of my Father who said I couldn't
do anything right.
And I'd say, are you ready forJesus yet?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Are you.
Are you ready for a verdictthat has nothing to do with you speeding
(02:39):
or not speeding?
Because, see, the question allof us are asking is, will you love
me anyway?
Will you love me in spite of me?
And only grace answers that.
But we just.
We just don't know thequestion we're asking when we say,
can I do this?
Can I Don't do this?
Right.
It tortures.
(02:59):
What is it you said to me?
You quoted.
I'm going to try to quote youthe quote.
The answer is the gospel.
The real issue is whichquestion are we asking?
Fred Harrell, pastor out inSan Francisco, said to me one time
when I was very young andfresh out of seminary, he said, he
said, what you've got tounderstand about ministry is this.
The answer to everyone'squestion is the gospel.
(03:20):
Ministry is figuring out whatquestion they're asking.
Yeah, it's good.
Gold.
Gold.
And the.
Does grace work?
The one illustration I use allthe time is if I come home one day
and I've had a bad day, and mybad day has nothing to do with my
wife Stacy, but when I gethome, I take it out on her.
(03:42):
I'm being short and snippywith her, you know, just kind of
just being a jerk.
And if she walks up to me andputs her hands on.
On my face with a smile andsays, honey, clearly you've had a
hard day.
I just want you to know thatI'm glad you're home and I love you,
is that going to make me wantto continue being a jerk or is that
(04:06):
going to stop me dead in my tracks?
I mean, is it not the kindnessof the Lord that leads to repentance?
I just.
So when I hear that.
Did you just quote a Bible version?
I did.
I only know three, and that'sone of them.
But I mean, the, the.
The absurdity of the objectionthat grace doesn't work is, Is proven
(04:30):
when you start examining howyou yourself are reached.
When you screw up and you feelguilty and you feel ashamed and the
person that you hurt issomeone that you love and that person
forgives you and doesn't holdyour sin against you, that softens
you.
I mean, it draws you in.
(04:50):
Yes.
So I'm thinking, ok, why inthe world if it, if that's the way
it works horizontally and weknow that's the way it works horizontally,
why do we think that itdoesn't work this way vertically?
Like what makes us think thatevery day I walk in from having a
bad day and I'm taking it outon God in one way, shape or form.
(05:14):
Maybe not directly, but I'mjust being an ass to everybody around
me in a sense that's taking itout on God and every.
The gospel is God putting hishands on my face and saying, I'm
sorry you've had a bad day,I'm glad you're home, I love you
no matter what.
And that's the kind of thingthat changes.
All of us could give testimonyto the fact that when we have been
(05:37):
loved at our worst, those havebeen some life defining moments.
Life defining moments, heartchanging moments in our lives.
So again, I think theobjection that it doesn't work, it's
not practical, is absurd.
Well think, I mean back to thespeeding illustration, right?
Just take the, take thescenario one step further and imagine
(05:57):
the father in law or thefather putting his hands on his face
and saying, listen, you'vebeen slaving away for 20 years, you
need to know this.
What time you get here,doesn't matter, we love you.
You're in.
Yeah.
Now does that fix him or agovernor on the engine?
Right?
Because as, as you said to meearlier, Byron said you put a governor
on my car.
What did you say you do?
I can't repeat it.
(06:19):
He's like all it makes thelaw, it makes you want to go fast.
Yeah.
Just how do I get past this?
It does, it exposes I found the.
Governor, my dad put on my carand therefore I lost my car.
Thinking of I'm going to gothe opposite direction and say the
most quote, unquote practical,transformative thing that you can
(06:41):
do in the lives of peopleyou're ministering to is offer an
unconditional message of grace.
It's it that is a false dilemma.
Okay.
And there's no need to reallyeven address it.
And here's an analogy of why Ithink it's the most transformative
(07:01):
while not being the goal.
We need to be clear, right?
Let's say that you're in theocean here and you get pulled under
by a riptide and you try ashard as you possibly can to get out
and you've lost all strengthand eventually you just surrender,
right?
You go under and as you'regoing under, succumbing to this reality,
(07:21):
a hand reaches in and savesyou and drags you to shore.
When you get to shore, you'renot going to congratulate yourself
for almost drowning and being rescued.
Your ego is going to have diedSomewhere between the water, the
shoreline, and in that momentwhere you have been rescued unconditionally,
(07:45):
there is going to be thiseuphoric gratitude, thanksgiving,
joy, love, and above all, humility.
And as far as I can assessfrom the Bible, if sanctification
means anything, it's thatstuff, it's humility.
(08:10):
Grace is an ego crushingreality because it does not allow
you to claim anything in you,outside of you, that you do to gain
the love of God.
Grace is also, when you hearit constantly, a constant near death
experience that creates in yougratitude, thankfulness, joy, love
(08:42):
and humility.
Yeah.
The message of grace on repeatis, I would argue, the most transformative
thing that we can offer toourselves and other people.
No question.
Because, and here's why Iwould say it, if somebody says, all
right, you can only preach onething for the rest of your life,
you can choose one message.
(09:06):
Clearly you've already donethis, thank God, Wanting to build
hope, faith, trust, joy,victory over the sin that crush all
of those things.
It would be this message.
That's why I say it's a falsedilemma in the world of logic, because
it's the exact opposite.
(09:26):
It's the exact opposite.
And I can quote the Bible.
You're not quoting it, you'rereading it.
Byron.
Those are two very different things.
If you love the Lord, youwould not have to open.
I quoted it.
You're reading it.
Shame.
(09:47):
Shut up.
So the apostle Paul,Galatians, 3, Philippians, Corinthians,
all these churches he's had toface and iron out, all these wrinkles
of all these broken people,all this mess in the cafeteria.
He finally gets to the book ofEphesians and there's really no more
(10:07):
battles to fight.
And he's writing to a regionand Paul relaxes for a minute and
he writes about what he'sthinking about all the time.
You know where it starts inEphesians, chapter one.
And then he gets to a prayerin Ephesians, chapter three.
And he's praying for people.
(10:30):
And he could have prayed fortry harder, do more, perform.
But this is his prayer that heoffers them.
For this reason I bow my kneesbefore the Father from whom every
family in heaven on earth isnamed, that according to the riches
of his glory, he may grant youto be strengthened with power through
his Spirit in your inner beingso that Christ may dwell in your
(10:51):
hearts through faith and thatyou, being rooted and grounded in
love, may have strength tocomprehend with all the saints what
is the breadth and length andheight and depth.
And to know the love of Christthat surpasses knowledge that you
may be filled with all thefullness of God.
(11:14):
Mike.
Is very practical.
Extremely.
Love it.
The one last thing I'll say is this.
There was a guy that spent alot of time with me when I was in
the cage phase.
And I hate.
I mean, I graduated.
I was top Pharisee in my class.
I grew up Roman Catholic.
It was just like, this is acomfortable sweater.
Like, oh, we have to do things.
Oh, I'm in.
Like, give me the list.
(11:35):
I'll do them.
And I was meeting with thisguy, his name is Jeff Salison.
And.
And I was fighting.
I mean, just pulling at thebit every second I could do it.
And.
And because he was.
He wouldn't keep the Sabbath.
And I was telling him that hewas breaking the Sabbath and all
the ways that he was breakingit and not keeping it holy.
And, I mean, I was wearing him out.
And then he's like, well, did you.
Did you go to the grocery store?
(11:56):
I was like, works of necessityand mercy.
I mean, I could quickly.
I mean, I could bark backreally, really quickly.
And then he said this to me.
He said, why don't you stopscrewing around with the Sabbath
and do something God actuallywants you to do?
And I said, okay, I'll bite.
He said, love the Lord yourGod with all your heart, your soul,
(12:16):
and your strength.
Love your neighbor as yourself24 hours a day, seven days a week,
and do that for your enemiesas well.
And I said, jeff, I can't do that.
And he said, are you ready forJesus yet?
Yeah.
And I had to despair of me toget to grace.
Yeah.
(12:36):
Yeah.
And that's.
That's the.
That is the role of the law.
The role of the law is toexpose our dire need for grace.
So when Jesus tells the richyoung ruler who thinks he's kept
the law his entire life, Jesuswalks him through the commandments.
It's interesting.
(12:58):
He begins.
The rich young ruler beginswith a question.
Good teacher, what must I doto inherit eternal life?
And Jesus gives him, sort ofdoes, a little summary of the ten
commandments.
And the rich young ruler islike, that's child's play.
I've been doing that my whole life.
Give me something else.
Is that it?
And Jesus then says, go selleverything you have and give it to
(13:21):
the poor.
And it says he walked away sad.
And what's interesting aboutthat is there's nothing in the Ten
Commandments that says, gosell everything you have and give
it to the poor.
Nothing.
So what was Jesus actuallygetting at?
And his whole point was toshow this rich young ruler that not
God, but his riches and thecomforts that came with his riches
(13:45):
were his God.
So this guy thinks he's doingall the Ten Commandments and Jesus
is saying, you haven't evengotten out of Commandment 1, buddy.
Commandment 1.
And in that passage, which isso rich, it's just such a good reminder
of the role of the law, whichis to expose us.
(14:06):
The law exposes us, the Gospelexonerates us.
That's the split.
And so, you know, the wholeidea that we can do enough, be enough,
accomplish enough to impressGod enough so that God will like
us more than he currently doesis an affront to the Gospel.
(14:27):
Amen.
And a pride swallowing.
Yeah, ego.
Well said.
Well said.
Excellent.
You've been listening to themisfit preachers.
Like subscribe and share moregrace centered resources@prodigalpodcasts.com
that's Prodigal P R O D I G AL podcasts with an s dot com.