Pastor Brian and Jacque Lother
Brian: Well, it's great to be back with you. Last week, we were out of town celebrating Jacque's—
Jacque: You can say it.
Brian: 70th birthday. We had a wonderful time with our family and I was so blessed by Pastor Robert's message. Thank you, Pastor Robert, a wonderful message on just finding our identity. Because people are really searching today for meaning in life. They are trying to figure out, why am I here? Who am I and why am I here? All those kinds of questions. Apart from Jesus, we will not understand why we're here and we won't really understand the purpose for why we were created by God. God made all of us with a specific intention in mind. We all have a wonderful purpose. The first intention of course, is simply to be in a relationship with him.
But then after that, there are other things that God has for us and not only in this life, but the next, and to know those things and to walk in those things gives one, just a great understanding of our purpose in life. And so thank you, Pastor Robert. You just kind of touch the surface on that. There is a lot of gold to mine in that shaft that you started last week. I would fully expect you to keep digging down and bring some more of that wealth backup to us. So thank you so much for that. Let's give him a hand for that. In fact, I didn't actually get a chance to listen to Pastor Robert's message until later in this week, and I had already really pretty much finished my sermon for it today by the time I listened to it. I really didn't realize how much my sermon today is kind of dovetailing into his sermon.
We live in a world where I would say most people are not content with the status of the world today. There are wars and hatred and injustice and unfairness and probably every single one of us has thought, to some degree or another, that they would like the world to change. They would like it to be a better place. I really entitled this message "To Change or not to Change". If you were Shakespeare, you would then say, that is the question. But when I reflect back on my years in the ministry, it seems to me that I've spent a really good portion of my time in the ministry, trying to correct misunderstandings and wrong concepts that people have had about God. I feel like I have spent a good chunk of our energies trying to explain to people why God is not how they think he is. And one of the driving forces behind that for me is this, that if our concept of God is wrong, then the more religious that we get, the more dangerous we are to ourselves and to other people.
Even if you don't become real religious, because some people have been turned off to God, not because God is a turnoff, but because their concept of God is a turnoff and then they just walked away and virtually had no real spirituality, no religious practice whatsoever in their lives. And that is a danger as well. There is an awful lot of things being said today regarding fundamentalism versus modernism and moderates. My intention today is not to really weigh in on that particular subject, but rather to simply say that the more a person commits to be a follower of Jesus, the more loving, the more forgiving, the more gracious that person should become. If we make a commitment to follow Jesus, we sang that just moments ago, I want to follow you. And that if he'd be lifted up that he would draw men unto himself and that we can show his love. We hear that a lot in church. Maybe we hear that a lot because maybe as a people, as a demographic group called the church, maybe we don't do that very well, but the more a person commits to be a follower of Jesus, it just makes sense to me that the more loving and more forgiving and more gracious that person should become. If they aren't becoming that, what has really happened is they've just become more religious in their lives. Quite frankly, I just go out on a limb and say, we don't need more religion in the world today, but we do need more people to be like Jesus.
There is a big difference, isn't there? We need a lot more people to become like Jesus. And the problem that I have with what I would call many Christian fundamentalists. I've identified with that group at times in my life as well, but the problem I have with many Christian fundamentalists is they are not fundamentalists enough when it comes to Jesus. They are just not fundamentalists enough when it comes to Jesus. They are very fundamentalists when it comes to being behind a cause. Some of the greatest fundamentalists in the world are Muslims. They put on vests with dynamite and blow themselves up to take out other infidels. I'd say that's very fundamentalist. That's very religious, but that is not the kind of fundamentalism that Jesus wants us to embrace in our lives.
Whenever a Christian Church has become intolerant or just plain uncharitable, I think it's not because of adherence to fundamentalism, but rather it's because they haven't had an adherence to the teachings of Jesus. The reality is this: it is because the teachings of Jesus have been largely ignored and replaced with the prevailing mantra of the day that we find ourselves oftentimes in, what I'd call, compromising places regarding the teachings of Jesus Christ. There are many people who have claimed, well, I'm just following the Bible. Yet according to Jesus, the biblical narrative points us to what, to Jesus, the Old Testament in the New Testament. The Old Testament is like a before and the New Testament is an after; kind of looking at a focal point from both perspectives.
The scriptures everywhere are about bringing people to Jesus. Paul said it this way that the law, which is what the Pharisees said, well, we have the law of Moses, and Paul said the law was given by God to be a teacher, school master is the king James word, but a teacher to bring us to Jesus. And so in our reading of the word of God, in all of our study of the word of God, if somehow it doesn't bring us to Jesus, we've missed the mark. We've missed the intention of what the Bible is all about. And the Bible is this narrative that points us towards Jesus and calls us to follow this good news message of Jesus. And Jesus claimed that we must use the Bible. He would call it the scriptures and we call it the Bible, basic instruction before leaving earth.
Jacque: B I B L E
Brian: B I B L E, basic instruction before leaving earth. But we must use the Bible in a way that points us to him and then follow his example. This is not a new problem, by the way; this is a problem that Jesus encountered. We see this in John chapter 5: 39 and 40, where Jesus is talking to the religious leaders, the Pharisees, Sadducees. They understood the scriptures better than anybody. They studied it from morning until night. That's all they did. They surrounded themselves with the scrolls and they studied day and night and they missed it. They missed it. Jesus, in talking to them, said this.
Jacque: You searched the scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the scriptures point to me yet, you refuse to come to me to receive this life.
Brian: So I’m going to say something that might cause you to tilt a little bit, but hear me out. Eternal life is not in the scriptures. Eternal life is in the person of Jesus. It's in the person of Jesus. When we become so in love with studying the Bible that we miss the person it's pointing to, we've missed the point of the scriptures. We just missed the point of the scriptures. John 5:39 says it: you search the scriptures because you think in that study, you are going to get eternal life. But Jesus said that's not the truth. The scriptures actually point to me and it's in me that has eternal life. The reason Jesus could say that is because he wasn't just another man. He was God made in the flesh. He was God incarnate. And he knew that only life can come from God, that only life could come from him. So if we don't use the Bible to lead us to Jesus, we're using it all wrong. We are using it just like any other academic book.
We have to understand that God is not a concept. God/Jesus is a person that we can encounter in a personal way. Obviously, it's different from the way we encounter each other. We see each other with our eyes. We hear each other with our ears. We touch each other with our hands. If you haven't had a bath, sometimes we can smell each other. We don't encounter God that same way. There are things that we can see in nature. That kind of points us to God, but we have to receive him by faith. It's where our hearts will say I believe in you. I want to know you.
I was thinking about how we were very blessed to be a part of the early Jesus movement back in the late sixties and early seventies. Some of you who came to know the Lord, I know Diane, you came to know the Lord at that time and others, Stan, Kathy, there were many people that just became alive in their hearts. But this is the interesting thing: Hundreds of thousands of people came to know Jesus during those years of late sixties and early seventies. None of it happened because they got a postcard in the mail, or they heard an advertisement or any promotion like that. It all happened because one person to another person said something like this, "I've just met God. I've just encountered Jesus. And why don't you come with me and you can encounter him too?" That's what happened in the Jesus movement. They understood that the Jesus that we talk about was a real person that wants to have a relationship with us, and that the experience in our hearts and our spirits, and even to some degree in our minds was real. It was so real that it could be argued against.
That's why I've often said a person with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument. There are all sorts of PhDs that can talk about how there is no God, but this little town boy from Northern Minnesota has met Jesus, and I know what he has done in my life. No intellectual argument against that will take away what I've experienced in my life. That's why my experience is not at the mercy of this person with an intellectual argument. Before this verse, Jesus said to the Pharisees, he also said this. We are going to read John 5:37-38 from the Message Bible,
Jacque: You mean 39 to 40?
Brian: No, that's the one we read before, but it's actually 37 to 38
Jacque: From the New Living?
Brian: No, from the Message.
Jacque: Oh, sorry.
Brian: Yeah. It's a typo is what I'm trying to say.
Jacque: I typed it.
Brian: I didn’t want to say that publicly. I'm looking and I'm not seeing that, but you exposed yourself.
Jacque: I am not perfect and I'm okay. All right. And the father who sent me has testified about me.
Brian: Nope. That's not the right one.
Jacque: Oh, right there.
Brian: Yes. Can you tell, we haven't rehearsed
Jacque: You have your heads in your Bibles. Is that the right one?
Brian: Yes, that one.
Jacque: You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you'll find eternal life there.
Brian: Wow. Listen to that. You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you will find eternal life there, but—
Jacque: You miss the forest for the trees. These scriptures are all about me.
Brian: The scriptures that all these people were studying and they were missing, it was about Jesus.
Jacque: And here I am standing right before you and you aren't willing to receive from me the life you say you want.
Brian: You say you want life. I'm the one that brings life, but you don’t want to receive me. You know what? The whole world is full of people like that. They want something more real than what they have. Right, Tina? They want something more real than what they have, and yet we say it's in Jesus. Well, I don't want that. I don't want that. But that's the only place where life can come, from God. It's the only place. Without Jesus in the middle of it, it is possible to have all sorts of scriptures inside of us and still not really know the word of God. In the beginning, was the word. And the word was with God and the word is and was God, Jesus. First John 3:16-18 says it this way.
Jacque: We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. And if someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need, but shows no compassion, how can God's love be in that person? Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other. Let us show the truth by our actions.
Brian: This is a really powerful verse. We all know John three 16, but this is first John 3:16-18. The apostle, John, is now old. He's very progressed in years from when he walked to earth with Jesus. And yet he says, "We know what real love is." They had experienced it because they knew that Jesus gave up his life for them. And that's what real love is. So we also ought to give up our lives to each other. I heard a very, really interesting quote the other day. This person said: "You can pretend that you care." And sometimes I think, without being too critical here, but it feels like all of our politicians want to come across as though they care. You can pretend that you care, but you can't pretend to show up. Isn't that powerful? You can pretend you care, but you can't pretend that you show up. You either show up or you don't. You are either there, or you are not. You really either do love or you don't. And Jesus basically commanded us in John 15, 12 through 13. He said, this is my commandment to do what? It's at the bottom of the page there.
Jacque: This is my commandment. Love each other in the same way I have loved you.
Brian: Do you ever feel like you fall short of that?
Jacque: Oh yes. There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friend.
Brian: Jesus commanded all of us as his followers to imitate his example and without heaping all sorts of guilt and shame on all of us, myself included, but he didn't say, you know, guys, it'd be really nice if you did this. It would be nice if you loved others, as I loved you. He said, "A new commandment I'm giving you, to love in the same way that I've loved you."
Jacque: So what are some ways that we layer lives down for each other?
Brian: And here is a challenge for teaching this and for all of you who are hopefully receiving it. This is a real slippery slope because you can fall into legalism in a real quick hurry when we start talking about some of this stuff, because the fact of the matter is when the word of God was said, if you see a person in need or hungry, feed him, when that was written, the person's an average person's life never left a 15 mile radius, believe it or not. They were born. They were raised, they lived and they died roughly within a 15 mile radius when that scripture was written well. Today, we don't live in the same world. Do we? You get all sorts of things on your iPhones, advertisements, what have you. Feed the world. Feed the hungry, the poor here, the poor there. The fact of the matter is not one of us has enough money to feed all the poor that we actually know about. So everything we do in our walk with God has to still be based on following. So what is Jesus asking you to do? That's why we have to have this fellowship, this relationship with Christ, because otherwise you can become very legalistic and guilted into actual poverty in order to do the work of the Lord.
Jacque: So I'm listening to the Lord and somebody has a need, and there are times I have things I want to do for me. I really see that as Lord, what would you have me do?
Brian: Tell me what you want me to do.
Jacque: And as he speaks to me, then be willing to put my things aside, and care for what they want. I'm laying down my agenda at times.
Brian: Jesus did command his followers to imitate his example of self-sacrificing love as the way to bring about positive change. I think, as I said earlier as I began this message, that we would all agree that change is needed in our world. I think very few people would question that statement, but where opinions differ is, well, how do we bring about that change? I mean, that's why you have such a divide in our political arena today is because on both sides of the aisle, they both say, well, we want to bring positive change, but the difference is the disagreement is, well, how do we do that? That's where the disagreement is. There has been disagreement on so many different levels of what it means to even serve God. I want to give you an example of a very tragic situation that happened
The year was 1994 and there was a pastor. His name was Reverend Paul J. Hill. Reverend Hill shot and killed Dr. John Britton and his escort. Dr. Britton was actually an abortion provider. Reverend Hill shot this doctor. This pastor was motivated to kill because of how he interpreted the Bible. He interpreted the scriptures. His basis for doing what he did, he got from reading the Bible. Reverend Hill was a very dedicated, evangelical fundamentalist pastor. Someone who, probably, many of us would be able to identify with, or at least understand the Christianese language that he would use, et cetera, et cetera.
He advocated killing an abortionist in order to protect the unborn lives of babies. He did this in the name of Christian faith. To him, it made sense because the Bible commands God's people to rescue those who are innocent, who are being led to slaughter. The Bible is full of examples of, what we would call, God's people using deadly force to do God's well. Let me start by saying this. We should absolutely partner with God to bring about justice. We should partner with God to bring about compassion and especially for the weak and the helpless and the outcast of our culture. We absolutely need to partner with God in bringing fairness and justice and provision to a vision to that basic demographic.
But Jesus also shows the way for his followers to do that. And he also shows the way for his followers, how not to do it. And Jesus clearly teaches that his followers must be willing not to take lives, but to actually lay down their lives. There is a big difference not to take lives, but to lay down their lives. In the service of the poor, in the service of the oppressed, in the service of the afflicted, in the service of the weak, in the service of the needy and in the service of the innocent. First John 3:16 and 17 says this.
Jacque: We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need, but shows no compassion, how can God be in that person?
Brian: John is talking about Jesus here and his words and his teachings. The issue here with Reverend Hill is this: He com he committed a violent murder, not because he was following the teachings of Jesus. He committed a violent murder because he wasn't following the teachings of Jesus. Jacque and I were relatively new to the pro-life movement in 1994. God started to stir our hearts basically in 1991/1992, and we became a part of trying to bring life to the pre-born. But it didn't take very long for us to recognize that there was something askew with many of the people who were championing life because the rhetoric seemed to be something other than Jesus at times. I found myself through the years, beginning to distance myself from certain pro-life identifications, because they weren't really about Jesus. It was about a cause and it always has to be about Jesus. Reading the word of God has to be about, how can I see Jesus here today, more deeply? How can I meet you in a more intimate way, Jesus, when I read your word? Paul Hill was committed to what he did not because he was following the teachings of Jesus, but because he actually wasn't following the teachings of Jesus.
We have to understand at times that there is a clear way that we are to do the good news. There is a clear way we are to do the good news. There is a clear way to bring about meaningful change and that clear way is for you and I to lay down our lives, not to take the life of somebody else, to lay down our lives, not to hate, not to despise, not to judge, not to take another person's life.
Jacque and I have been recently trying to counsel and help a couple that have some marital issues. We heard that one of their friends said, if I could just get my hands on him, I'd beat him to a pulp. And you know what? That might be how we feel at times, because we can all get angry, can't we? But there is an interesting scripture that says be angry and sin not. Do you notice there is not a scripture that says be joyful and sin not. There is not a scripture that says be generous and sin not, or be merciful and sin not. There is only one scripture that says we can be a certain way, but not sin. It says be angry, but sin not. And you know why? Because it is so easy to cross the line into sin when you get angry. So when you get angry and we all will get angry, you are going to get angry about something this week. I promise you that.
Jacque: Sometimes it just, it's just an emotion that rises
Brian: It's just there. And I promise you, you'll become angry over something this week. When you do just remind yourself that there is a line that's not too far away, that you can cross into sin when you are angry. Do this as well. Try to be really super generous this week and you'll find that the sin line is a long ways away from that.
Jacque: And you'll be very joyful.
Brian: You'll be very joyful. I want to finish with one more scripture: Romans chapter 10:4.
Jacque: Christ is a culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
Brian: So this word, culmination, in the Greek, and Robert, you can do a deeper study on this, but the word culmination means the end goal. Christ is the end goal of the law. When God gave the lot of Moses, when he gave all of those rules and regulations, when he did all of that, it wasn't so that the nation of Israel would become more religious than any other nation. It was to bring them to Jesus. The problem at the time of Christ is he is standing right before them, and they couldn't see the forest for the trees. Sometimes I wonder if the same thing doesn't happen to us. We get into our routines. We get into our worship services. We get into all of the things that we do as the church and we forget that the real goal is to encounter Christ and to be like Jesus. The Bible points in every way, shape and form to Jesus.
I've been saying for a number of years now that Jesus is the lens that we need to put over all of the scriptures. We need to interpret everything in the Bible through the lens of Jesus, the person of Jesus, what he said, what he taught, how he was. And so I encourage you to read your Bibles. I encourage you to study. I encourage you to get together with other people and discuss what you've been reading in the Bible. I encourage you to meditate on the word of God. It's so wonderful just to take the word of God and meditate on it and then follow Jesus. Let it bring you to Jesus. Because if Jesus is not the end goal, if Jesus is not the culmination of everything we read, then all we're going to become is religious. We will become legalistic. We will be focused on the letter of the law. Paul says it best the letter kills. It kills everything that God wants to do, but the spirit will give us life. Jesus, the spirit will give us life. So let's just be hungry for Jesus. Let's not be afraid to talk about Jesus. There was a time in our lives where we didn't do that very much.
Jacque: Well, I remember, Brian, he is a brilliant theologian, and he loves to study deep, deep, deep, deep. When we were really young, you were such a student and you found some other people that were just like that. It was all about the head. It was all about debate and trying to get your point across and trying to argue your point and prove this and prove that. We went to a school and then you directed a school and it was so much study. I'm telling you, it was really difficult for me, because it was so religious. We could do nothing. Is it okay if I go here? We could do nothing, but pray, read our Bibles
Brian: And witness.
Jacque: Witness, go to classes and talk about God. I love all that, but—
Brian: But we really didn't talk about Jesus.
Jacque: No. And I remember saying to Brian after about a year, why don't we talk about Jesus anymore?
Brian: Because we had become too religious.
Jacque: And there was not the spirit of love coming from that place. There was not a spirit of love.
Brian: The Lord, in his mercy, brought me to a place of complete brokenness so that I could meet Jesus. I left all that behind and it was many, many years ago. I'm thankful that, I think, my worst failures were really early in our lives.
Jacque: We learned so much.
Brian: So that I could use those failures to hopefully help other people. But sometimes it is heartbreaking to see people go down the same path that I was on 45 years ago. I plead with them. I talked with them. I explained to them how and where they're headed and nothing changes. I know that God loves them as much as he loved me and that there will be a crucible fire for them to go through and Jesus will be there for them. But I look back and one of my greatest regrets are how I wounded so many people during that season of my life. I pray that God has had a way and found a way to break through their woundedness that I caused. Sometimes we become very dangerous when we become so religious. But when we will focus on Jesus, because even Bill Mar likes Jesus. Bill Mar likes Jesus. He doesn't like very many Christians.
Jacque: That was a quote that we heard him say.
Brian: But if we will read and study and meditate and discuss, and then at the end of it all say, how do I find more of Jesus in here? We will become a greater follower of our Lord. Pastor Jeff.
Jacque: We will be his glory on the earth like Pastor Robert talked about.
Jeff: That was good. Thank you, guys. The reason that this message is so important is because it's Jesus who can change our lives. He is the only one. A lot of self-help programs out there, a lot of therapy, a lot of exercise opportunities, a lot of diet opportunities, lots of things that most of us engage in, in some way, shape or form to improve our lives, but the biggest change that we need will never come from any of those. They are helpful, and some of us have seen some really positive changes because we've entered into some new disciplines using some of these things that are new in the last decade or so, but the only person that can actually redeem your life, pull you out of the shame and the regret and the hurt that has built up for years is Jesus. It's not religion. It's not self-help. It's not politics. It's not the right candidate. It's Jesus. If we can represent Jesus the way he wants us to then lots of people around us can experience life change the same way we did.
Maybe you are here today and maybe you are watching by livestream, and you need a life change, then we are going to stop right now. Just take a minute. We are going to go to Jesus because he can change your life. He can turn what's upside down, right side up. He can go inside and he can wash you clean and he can give you a second chance. So just close your eyes and please pray this with me.
Jesus Christ, I need you. Please come to me now as I am coming to you. Please change my life as you would like to, as you would please. I give it all to you. I give it all to you and I ask you to begin to change me. Teach me how to be like you. Amen. That's one small step we make to the savior of ours that really is the beginning of a lifelong season of change transformation. If you pray that prayer, let us know because we want to join you on that journey. It's a good one. A lot of people here who are on that journey, it's good to be on that journey, isn't it? It's good to be on it together.
Before we go, we just want to remind you, people will be available to pray for you this morning. We don't want anybody to leave if you've got something that's really weighing on you. Come and get prayer; come and have somebody else stand in faith with you. We are all people of faith, but sometimes we need some other faith along with ours. So come and get prayer. The Lord bless you this week. Have a great week. Pastor Brian.
Brian: I'm so grateful you are here today. We love all of you. We love all of you who are watching by livestream. So grateful for how you stay connected to us. You are a great encouragement to us as well. My greatest encouragement is in the person of Jesus. He's the one that we can come to at any moment of any day in the darkest of nights and he is there to hold our hand and to give us strength. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. There is no one that's ever cared for you like Jesus. I would say to you who are watching my life dream, the same thing. There is nobody that has ever cared for you like Jesus. So today is a great day to just open your heart to him and say, I want to follow you. Let's raise our hands together. Let me bless you.
Now may the Lord bless you, and may the Lord keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine up on you and be gracious to you and may the Lord turn his face towards you and give you his peace. And may you have such great joy in knowing Jesus. This, we pray, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. God bless you. Thank you for being here today. Hope you have a wonderful week. Please reach out to us if you need to.
Transcript taken from the Sunday morning service 5-22-22. If you would like to watch the full service, click the link below.