GLS 2022 – Session 7: Andy Stanley

Introduction

• Leaders don’t leave. 
• The goal is to believe that you are married to the finest woman in the world.  I think we live in the greatest nation in the world. 

A Different Kind of King

• When I die, I will not go to Washington, DC.  When my kids got sick, I never called my congressional representative. Years ago, I swore allegiance to a King who came to establish an upside-down kingdom.
• A King who said that I did not come to be served, but to serve.
• A King who rejected the postures, slogans of the kingdoms of this world.
• One of the temptations of Jesus was the very thing that has become too tempting for people.  “All the kingdoms of this world…. All this I will give you….”  Jesus said, “No, I don’t want it.”
• It’s a different kind of kingdom, because I am a different kind of king.
• A king who came to lose on purpose, with a purpose and said to you and me, “Follow me.” 
• When he was arrested, all of Jesus’ followers unfollowed.
• On the other side of the resurrection, here is what Peter wrote. 1 Peter 2:21 – “Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.”
• He did not retaliate. He made no threats. Instead of fighting back, “He entrusted himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23).
• The disciples were arguing over who would be #2 and  #3.  Jesus is talking about losing the whole way to Jerusalem. 
• Jesus sends disciples to find housing. They come back and say there is none.  James & John (the John 3:16 John; John that wrote “God is love”) came up with an idea in response: “Do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” (Luke 9:54) Jesus says, “That’s so BC.”  Jesus rebuked them. 
• They didn’t get it because it is difficult to get.
• Our problem with the teachings of Jesus is that we don’t think they will work.
• It wasn’t until after the resurrection that the disciples understood that He was serious.
• This new kingdom would be fueled by a new covenant command. “Love one another the way that I have loved you.” It dictates your actions and your reactions. 
• “Have the same attitude as Christ Jesus.” – Paul
• The next day he put on a demonstration of love that took their breath away and took their sin away, took your sin away.
• Jesus came back later and recruited the Apostle Paul, Saul of Tarsus. This is something entirely new. 
• Will it work? It doesn’t matter. He is our King. 
• It wasn’t the teaching of Jesus. But after the resurrection, it’s like “Oh! Yes!” You hold life in your hands and you model what it means to trust life itself to the God who judges justly.
• How did they topple the Empire? By gathering on the first day of the week. By being kind to their neighbors. By being faithful in their marriages. They care for the orphans. The Old Testament didn’t require it. The New Testament didn’t require it. Love required it. 
• For some reason, we have forgotten it. 
• Too many Christians have lost their minds. We vacated the middle. We don’t ask questions. We just buy in.  Of all the people on the planet, we don’t have an excuse. We have a King. 
• The reactions revealed an ugly reality underneath our faith claims. We valued what every ideological group values: winning. And feared what every ideological group fears: losing. 
• The church always looks better when we are fighting for other people’s rights instead of our own. The moment we start fighting for our own rights, we have lost.  
• The best way to lose our religious freedom is to pick up the weapons of this world. We are going to lose, lose, lose because we have already lost, lost, lost. 
• Have we forgotten what it means to be Christian?
• “Before you demand Christianity be taught in schools, maybe you should demand it be taught in churches.” – Twitter
• Actions speak louder than words. Reactions speak louder than either. Our reactions when things don’t go our way say more about our confidence in God than anything else.
• We know how to act. Reactions speak louder than our words. When things don’t go our way.
• Don’t react like everyone else.  If you want to know what it looks like, follow me for three years, follow me to Jerusalem, follow me. 
• Too many Christians put their Christianity away.
• Tim Keller writes, “When the church as a whole is no longer seen as speaking to questions that transcend politics, and when it is no longer united by a common faith that transcends politics, then the world sees strong evidence that Nietzsche, Freud, and Marx were right, that religion is really just a cover for people wanting to get their way in the world.”
• You know what it sounds like to follow Jesus? It sounds like Jesus. LIKE JESUS
• We are not Republicans or Democrats; we are partisans of a King. 
• The first time that “Christians” was used was in Antioch. That term, “Christians”, was a political term, not a religious term. They had changed allegiance. They were following a different king.
• The gods could care less how you behaved and Rome could care less who you worshiped.  All of a sudden, there was one who came who changed kingdoms. They were partisans of a different king and they were known for their extraordinary behavior.
• We don’t forgive because the BIble says forgive. We forgive because we were forgiven. Love others the way that God through Christ has loved you.
• When someone considers you an enemy, we are not required to return the favor. In fact, we are required to not return the favor.
• We are called to something bigger and higher.
• “Do not grumble, argue, complain….” (Philippians 2)
• “Who being in the very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage” (Philippians 2:6)
• Do what’s just, not what’s justified.  Do what’s moral, not what’s modeled.
• Bart Ehrman – “Christianity not only took over an empire.  It was the most monumental cultural transformation our world has ever seen.”