Are you about pursuing a relationship or just about practicing religiosity?

Matt Heard:
Are you about pursuing a relationship or just about practicing religiosity? Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
This is Key Life. We’re here to let you know that because of what Jesus has done, God will never be angry at you again. Steve invited our friend Matt Heard to do the teaching this week. Matt is a speaker, teacher, writer, pastor, coach, and the founder of a ministry called Thrive.

Matt Heard:
Thank you Matthew. And greetings everyone. Happy Monday to you. I am looking forward to this week together, but I want to begin by saying, A, I hope you had a great week-end and also, as Steve often says, some wonderful time at worship and hoping that your pastor gave as good of a sermon as his did. And I wish the same to you. But as we start, let’s go ahead and acknowledge who the real teacher is here at Key Life. I mean, there’s Steve and a number of us voices, but bottom line, we all acknowledge that our ultimate teacher is Jesus. So, let’s talk to him for a moment. Father, thank you. Thank you for the gift of the breath that we just took and for this week that lies ahead, whatever situations or circumstances that we’re in. And we want to acknowledge that you’re writing the story of our lives. And you’ve got something that you want to unfold in our journey this week about the way that you are reclaiming and restoring basically a dead planet. And incredibly we’re front and center in that. You’re about not making irreligious people religious, but about making us dead people alive. And so, I ask that you would enable me to listen to you along with my friends and we thank you for speaking into our darkness, speaking into our deadness, speaking into our lostness. And speaking life. And so, I thank you in the name of the one who is way in truth, but also life. So, let’s start by looking at a very obscure verse in the Bible. I know you’ve probably never heard of John 3:16. So, I thought I would bring it to your attention a little bit. Actually, it is a profound verse for way more than just its popularity, even though it is popular. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to London and seen Cleopatra’s needle. It’s one of two obelisks brought out of Egypt long ago. And it was installed in London in 1878. And when they moved it from Egypt and planted it there in London, they put a time capsule and concealed it in the front part of the pedestal. And that time capsule contains a number of things that people have talked about. You have 12 photographs of the best looking English women of the day, a box of hairpins, a box of cigars, several tobacco pipes, which Steve would appreciate, a set of Imperial weights, a baby’s bottle, some children’s toys. I mean, the list goes on and on, but the reason I’m bringing it up to you is there’s copies of the Bible in several languages, but then there’s a copy of John 3:16 in 215 languages. Now, why is that verse so popular? The reason we’re talking about it is not because it’s popular. It’s popular because of what’s embedded in that, and it’s the gospel. I mean, Billy Graham used to do his sound checks when he would do interviews. The Larry Ross firm handled a lot of his communications publicity for years. And Larry came from a corporate background. And he was intrigued by the sound checks that Billy would do. He said most executives and celebrities, when they’re doing a sound check, they’ll count to 10 or do the ABCs. But he said every time that Billy would do a sound check, when it was just him and the cameraman, a couple of the techs, he would recite John 3:16. And he asked him why? And Billy said, you know, if I mess up the interview, at least the cameraman would have will have heard the gospel. And so, to Billy and millions of others, this verse, John 3:16.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

That’s the gospel. And a lot of people say it’s the greatest verse in Scripture. I read one time where you, somebody broke it down.

For God

that’s the greatest good

so loved

it’s the greatest action.

the world

it’s the greatest need

that he gave

it’s the greatest example

his one and only Son

the greatest sacrifice

that whoever

the greatest invitation

believes in Him

the greatest response

shall not perish

the greatest horror

but have eternal life.

It’s the greatest gift. It’s a phenomenal verse. We see it on athletes cheeks and wristbands. We see it on posters. But let’s spend some time unpacking it in the context of where we see it in Scripture in John chapter 3. Now, I asked a minute ago about whether you’re about practicing religiosity or pursuing a relationship? And those are really two big, but very, very distinct characteristics that will describe many of us in our view of God. For some of us, on one side, it’s about practicing religiosity. For others of us, when we finally begin to get the gospel, it’s about pursuing a relationship. So, picture in your mind a vending machine and a table. And I’m going to let you kind of settle in with that in your mind, you’ve got a vending machine that you put coins into and you get something out of it, or you get some food out of it. Or there’s a table with the food set before you and someone else across there. Now, I’m going to let that ricochet around in your mind for a minute, and let’s go to John chapter three: verse one. As you well know, people will tell, will say, I’ve had many seminary professors over the years, look at a Bible, look at a Bible verse in context. When you don’t just look at that verse, you look at what is the overall environment that that truth appears. And John three: verse one introduces this guy named Nicodemus as a Pharisee, he was a member of the Jewish ruling council. And which was another term for the Sanhedrin as a 70 member council. But bottom line, what you want to grasp from that is Nicodemus was an incredibly religious man and he was held in high esteem, but we’re also told that he came to Jesus at night. And so, there’s something going on about this religious guy. He sensed there was something different about Jesus. And so, he comes to him and he says.

Rabbi, we know that your teachings come from God. For no one could perform the signs that you’re doing if God were not with him.

And Jesus replied, and immediately Jesus turns things on its ear. Nicodemus is thinking that he and Jesus is going to have the theological discussion. Jesus is going to just reveal some knowledge. And yet Jesus goes a lot deeper than that. He says.

Very truly, I tell you

and when you see very truly, it’s an expression. Amen. Amen. He says.

Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.

Nicodemus is thinking, that’s not what I was expecting him to say. And he’s, of course, you know, if you’ve been walking with Jesus for a while, you know this passage. And he says, how can someone be born when they’re old? And so, they began to talk through that. And that whole interchange where Jesus says.

Some are born of water, but you’ve got to be born of the Spirit. You’ve got to be born again.

So, there’s this implication that we are dead. And we see that in the number of places in Scripture, in Ezekiel.

The prophecy about the dead bones and the Messiah coming and bringing these bones back to life.

And you see Jesus talking about it a lot. You see that Paul in Ephesians says.

We’re dead in our trespasses and sins.

So, we’re dead and we need to come alive. It’s not that we need to become religious, we need life. And that’s what this verse is unpacking for us in the midst of our lives. It’s not addressing our religious resume, it’s addressing our dead humanity. When I say dead, yes, our hearts are beating and our lungs are breathing. But we are lacking something and we’re lacking what Jesus refers to as the zoe. It’s a Greek word, the zoe life of God. We have bios, biological life. We have psuche, a consciousness of life. We’re existing, but we’re not living. And Jesus is telling Nicodemus, if you want to know what the bedrock is of your encounter with God, it’s not doing a transactional vending machine approach. Where you’re simply doing the right things and coming up with the right rules and then hoping that, okay, God will smile and say, all right, that’s good and be impressed with us. No, we come with nothing. So, instead of a vending machine, have in your mind a table. You’re not getting your food from just doing the right, jumping through the right religious hoops and saying, all right, God do this for me. But it’s sitting at a table in the context of relationship. And that relationship is with the King of the universe. And it’s not confined to a religious service. It’s when I’m going to work, when I’m at a funeral, when I’m watching a movie, when I’m interacting with my family, every nook and cranny of my life is companioned by this relationship, a relationship that God initiates in his love, through his Son, calls me to believe, and then gives me life. And so, as I start unpacking and understanding and engaging with him, I move from just jumping through religious hoops to experiencing relationship that is truly at its core fundamentally life giving. So, those four table legs, the love of God, the Son of God, belief in God, and the life of God. Let’s talk about them this week. And in the meantime, I hope you thrive today.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Matt Heard. Man, always great when Matt joins us and we are blessed to have him with us all this week, teaching us in a series called Coming Alive. Hope you’ll join us again tomorrow and, like I said, throughout the week. Hidden agendas, we all have them. The hard truth is we don’t have our act together and the pressure to act like we do is, frankly, overwhelming. That’s the bad news. The good news is God invites us to drop our masks and discover how His love and grace propel us into the real relationships we thought we’d never have. Steve talks about this in a special booklet called Hidden Agendas. Get your free copy of that booklet right now by calling us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that booklet. Or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses for the U.S. and Canada. Just ask for the booklet called Hidden Agendas. And finally, if you’re blessed by the work of Key Life, would you help share that blessing with others through your financial support? Giving is easy. You just charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or you can now give safely and securely through text. Just pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950, then follow the instructions. And of course, if you can’t give right now, or maybe you’re not called to do that, all good. But if you think about it, pray for us, would you? Appreciate it. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.