Sermons | Peter and Food

You can tell a lot about someone from what they eat. You may be able to see people's heritage in what they eat, or what type of lifestyle they are trying to lead if they are very strict on health diets.

Galatians was written to Christians who have already been baptized, but they had fallen off the path. Today at Large Group, Adam taught. Adam had a good example for this that made it easier to understand. When you are trying to cook and all you had was a history book, it wouldn't work because you are reading something of the wrong context and putting it to the wrong use. Along with this, in all it's about who you have dinner with that can show who you are. 

In Galatians 2:12, it shows how Peter, a Jew, ate food with the Gentiles, but when the other Jews came, Peter quickly separated himself because it was against the religious act of becoming a Jew. Jews divided everyone in two groups: those who are Jews and those who aren't Jews (aka Gentiles). Jews have strict food laws, so eating Gentile food was known to make Jews unclean. But by this time, Jesus, who was also a Jew, had already fulfilled the old laws and proclaimed that we should go out to the world and make disciples of all nations not just Jews (ie. Matthew 28:19, Mark 16:15). They are no longer the only chosen people, but Jesus made it so everyone who believes in him is part of the chosen family. 

Paul proclaims in Galatians that a man is made right with God by putting all his trust in Jesus, not by following strict Laws. In no way should anyone separate themselves with people they may feel is lesser because they may follow different laws. It is now based on believing in Jesus Christ. God wants all His people to be together. It takes the incredible diversity of the world to represent even the slightest of the diversity in the kingdom of God. 

Everything is now secondary to being part of the Jesus' family; the laws we follow, our denomination, our race, culture, language, sexuality. What comes first is putting all our trust in Jesus. There are no "but"s after, "You're a Christian". There is no you're a Christian but you don't follow these rules, You're a Christian but you're not circumcised, etc. No one is lesser than anyone, confessing Jesus trumps all. 

I'll leave this question here today: 

Is there someone or a group of people you've been avoiding that you need to sit down at a table and eat with? 

Sermons | Forgiveness with the unmerciful servant

At college, I've been going to this local church whenever I can. This semester I noticed how their attendance looked a lot less than it was before the summer. Today the pastor mentioned it, along with how strong repentance is and asking for forgiveness. I'm not sure what all happened at the church this year, but I believe God is really working with them still. The hard thing about forgiveness is when it becomes really personal. I really liked how the pastor noted that we have to remember that repentance doesn't have any "but"s. You cannot say "I'm sorry I did this, but..." - "I didn't know what you were going through", "you never told me", etc. You have to know where your faults were and really repent it all.

For forgiveness we looked at the parable of the unmerciful servant (Matthew 18:21 - 35).

First off, a parable is a simple fictional story with a meaningful moral or lesson behind it. Jesus taught a lot in parables for three reasons:

1.  To conceal - Jesus taught in parables to conceal his teaching from those outside of the kingdom of God who may have been hostile to him. 
2. To reveal - Sometimes He used parables to reveal to those on the outside. These were his simple stories that those from the outside could easily related to.
3. To confirm - Jesus also taught in parables to confirm how God wants us to live. In parable he can better clarify how God wants us to be and make it more understandable. 

In this parable, Jesus is answering Peter's question of how many times one should forgive someone who sins against them. Peter asks if seven times is enough because that was the number of completion in that culture. 

Verses 23 to 25 sets up the stage. We are introduced to the main characters: the king who wants to settle accounts with his servants, and the servant who owes 10,000 talents. Now 10,000 talents is worth A LOT. Just imagine, King Herod the Great had the annual salary of 900 talents; so in other words Jesus is say that it was impossible for the servant to pay back his debt. In Matthew 5:25, Jesus explains the culture of the courts in those days and how creditors can put those who owe them money in prison. 

It seems that Jesus adds a bit of humor in verse 26 when the servant says "I will pay you back everything" because it is a debt so large it would take over his lifetime to pay it off. But as we know, the King took pity on his servant and canceled the debt, letting him go. Then once the servant sees one of his fellow servants who owes him a much, much smaller amount, he demands his money back and has his servant thrown in prison. The king soon hears about this outraging story, and says, "I cancelled all your debt because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?"

Hearing this story today, I've never understood it better. God has forgiven our sins, so we should not hold anger against others and forgive them of everything they may do to us as well. John Piper puts it well, " In other words, God’s forgiveness is underneath ours, creates it, and supports it. So that if we don’t give it to others—if we go on in an unforgiving spirit—what we show is that God is not there in our lives – we are not trusting Him."

Unforgiveness reveals that we don't agree or understand Jesus or His teachings. Jesus came down to forgive all of ours sins. We are already forgiven 10,000 talents, therefore we should forgive everyone of even just 100 talents. This reminded me a lot of how much hate goes on with churches and things that go on in society, such as with LGBT groups. I believe that this verse is really telling us that no matter what pops up during our time here on earth, we have no control over it and we also have no right to judge and persecute anyone for this sins. I think there are many churches out there that need to repent. No one sin is greater than any other. I feel so much sadness for those who are persecuted so harshly for their sins by other sinners. Though I see in our times today, we are becoming more forgiving. Progress takes time, give it all up to God. 

"If we do not forgive others, we have not yet received or do not understand the very cost of God's forgiveness."