Transcription

Connor:
You’re listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun and practical ways.

Chris:
Hey, Jeff, good morning.

Jeff:
It’s good. Very good morning. Or good afternoon. It is just good. Whatever it is, it’s good. It’s good. It is just good.

Chris:
Today’s a good day. Good. It’s gonna be a good day. Yeah. Yeah, that’s good. So, hey, today, Jeff, do you want to introduce this segment?

Jeff:
Well, this segment is incredibly important because it’s a new month. Yeah. And so we’re going to start it off trying to get on Chris’s good side. So the question this week is what made Chris happy this week? Oh, wow. Because all you do is whine about only ever giving.

Chris:
Whining grab me. Yeah. So we’re trying to get on your good side. OK, good.

Jeff:
Do you have a good side? That’s the first question. Oh, this is written from one of our, an anonymous listener. Let me.

Chris:
You don’t believe that?

Jeff:
That paints me in such a bad light. Well, so did somebody say that? The anonymous listener might be me. I was just checking to see.

Chris:
By the way, we’re poking fun of the fact that I always, every once in a while, I’ll say, Hey, why am I the guy? That’s right. Why am I the guy that always gets the question, what made Chris mad this week? That’s right.

Jeff:
But not this week. This is your lucky week. Don’t blow it. Let me say that. Don’t blow it. This better be a good, what made you happy this week. We’re going back next week to what made you mad.

Chris:
I know this is going to air in February. However, it is still January when we’re recording this. That’s correct. So in my time, the Detroit Lions just beat the Rams.

Jeff:
That’s right.

Chris:
Right? And so we are about to play the Buccaneers. So whether we beat them or not, it doesn’t really matter for my story. Okay.

Jeff:
Okay. Well, it matters now. What matters period. We are the listeners now, but I said, thrilled.

Chris:
I said, it doesn’t matter for my story. Okay. Okay. So here’s the story. The story is, here’s what made me happy is that, um, I was in the airport and unfortunately I was in the air when the Rams played the lions. Okay. So I was flying back from Florida. And so the captain would get on like every 10 minutes and say, the updated score is now 20 to 17.

Jeff:
Because you didn’t have a TV? Where were you in? We flew Spirit. Oh, I was going to say, my goodness, what kind of… Was it a wooden plane?

Chris:
Never again. Never again.

Jeff:
It was wooden tarps. Were you guys sitting like on benches?

Chris:
Were there chickens running up and down the aisle? I do not care the price difference. I will never fly Spirit again. Ever. It is from the pits of Hades. So no TV. No TV, no Wi-Fi, no comfortable seats.

Jeff:
We’re on the verge of this turning into what made Chris mad this week. Oh, that’s true. You better move away. That’s true. You better move away. Here’s what made me happy. Go to the light, Chris! Go to the light! You’re falling into the darkness. How easy is it? How easy is it to me?

Chris:
You’re right. You’re so right.

Jeff:
It turned into what made Chris… That made me so happy. No, go to the light, Chris. That’s what made you happy. That’s what made me happy right there. Thank you, Desiree. Oh my goodness.

Chris:
You’re so right. There you go. Okay. Here’s what made me happy. What made me happy is I was in this like little restaurant or whatever. There was a little TV and we were all standing around watching and people were actually strangers were talking to one another. And one of the things that I have been very It’s just so sad for me, is that strangers don’t talk to one another. For instance, I just told you earlier, I was in line at Kroger, and there were two or three people deep with buggies, and I looked over at the lady in front of me and I said, wow, looks like somebody’s having a big party. And she’s like, oh, yeah, my daughter’s coming into town. This is before Christmas. My daughter’s coming into town. Oh, that’s really good. Is that what you guys normally do? And we just started talking. And we talked all the way up into the fact, you know, up into the point where she checked out. And she walked away and she’s like, well, have a nice day. We never asked each other’s names. We just were talking as strangers. And I actually thought to myself, that doesn’t happen anymore. Right. Nobody talks to one another. You know, they just they just put their headphones in, they put their face down. And even if they don’t even have a phone, they still don’t talk to one another. Right. They’re not friendly. They’re not cordial. I told the story, you know, a couple of weeks ago about that Starbucks lady, you know, you’re slipping back into the complaints. Oh, okay.

Jeff:
What made me mad?

Chris:
So I was so happy.

Jeff:
So you tell a happy part of the story.

Chris:
I was so happy that we were talking to one another.

Jeff:
It makes you mad that people don’t talk to each other.

Chris:
Because, and again, we have the common denominator of the lion. So we’re in this restaurant and everybody’s talking, but it was, it was more than that. It was, it was once somebody broke the ice, right? And this person is talking to this person and all of a sudden somebody else chimes in and somebody else chimes in. And all of a sudden it’s just not like we’re just sitting there in our own little bubbles. It’s like we’re a community of people, strangers, just talking. I just, I just, it made me so happy. And even though that the lions were playing and I was very engrossed in that, I’m, I promise you, I was just as thrilled with the fact that I was talking with people that I was with almost anything else.

Jeff:
Okay. Okay. So you pack, you packed your, what made Chris mad this week into, I was really happy that I got to talk to strangers about the lions for a few minutes before I got on that.

Chris:
Yeah. Well, just terrible plane. It was so bad, Jeff. It was so bad. Everything about that was horrible.

Jeff:
Well, good, Chris. So, um, uh, talking to strangers is Chris’s happy place.

Chris:
Well, uh, I think that people should be kind to one another in public. People who don’t know each other should have common courtesy and be kind. And I’m telling you what, it doesn’t take a lot of effort, people. It doesn’t. My wife is so good at this. She is tremendous at this. In fact, she’s the best person at this that I know. She is so kind to people around. And every time that she gets a stranger to talk, like on the plane, on that terrible, terrible plane, she gets some guy to talk and the entire time. And then she’s like, well, good. She’s like, I’m just so glad that we ended up talking. And she just considers that a victory for humanity.

Jeff:
Well, okay.

Chris:
So there you go.

Jeff:
Remind me if I ever see the Tsar boss coming on the plane to pretend like I’m sleeping.

Chris:
There is that. There is like, stop bothering me. You know, I want to sleep.

Jeff:
If I’m standing in the grocery line and you just, some weird stranger come up and start talking to me, I’d be like, keeping my hand on my wallet and you know, yeah. Nah. Oh me.

Chris:
I’m skeptical.

Jeff:
You’re a good discerner of people. I know. And so if some weirdo like you came up, I would immediately put my hand in my wallet.

Chris:
You’re joking.

Jeff:
Yes. No, I’m joking. All right. Okay.

Chris:
John chapter 12.

Jeff:
37 through 50. It says, but despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in him. This is exactly what Isaiah the prophet had predicted. Lord, who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm? But the people couldn’t believe for as Isaiah also said, the Lord has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts so that their eyes cannot see and their hearts cannot understand and they cannot turn to me and have me heal them. Isaiah was referring to Jesus when he said this because he saw the future and spoke of the Messiah’s glory. Many people did believe in him, however, including some of the Jewish leaders, but they wouldn’t admit it for fear that the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue. For they loved human praise more than the praise of God. Jesus shouted to the crowds, if you trust me, you are trusting not only me, but also God who sent me. For when you see me, you are seeing the one who sent me. I have come as a light to shine in this dark world so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark. I will not judge those who hear me, but don’t obey me, for I have come to save the world and not to judge it. But all who reject me and my message will be judged on the day of judgment by the truth I have spoken. I don’t speak on my own authority. The father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it. And I know his commands lead to eternal life. So I say whatever the father tells me to say.” So, wow, that’s a lot.

Chris:
Yeah. Well, Jesus is doing miracles. He’s raised somebody from the dead. And the opening line of this particular scripture says, in spite of all the miracles or miraculous signs, Jesus had done most of the people. Right? Most of the people still do not believe in him. I mean, this is exactly the prophet Isaiah predicted. It reminds me of the people of the children of Israel in the desert. Right? I mean, this is this is You know, Jesus had, or Moses had just led them into the wilderness. And what did they say to him? You’ve led us in the wilderness to die. There’s no food. And he’s like, did you see the Nile turn into blood? Did you see the Red Sea part? I mean, come on. There was literally a hail that caught on fire.

Jeff:
Yeah, but Jesus raised Lazarus last week, right? That was so last week. That was so last week. Now, it did say that he healed deaf and blind people right in the temple yesterday. Right. Right. Right. So there’s that, but they still don’t believe.

Chris:
That I understand because you could fake that, right? I’ve been blind since birth. Yeah, sure you have. Right. Right.

Jeff:
So, you know, and so we’ve, we’ve all seen that. Or they just think it’s magic. Right. The people could have been believing in magic all the time.

Chris:
Just thought it was magic. Well, there definitely was, you know, sure. Powers that weren’t of God. Right. It was, it was all kinds of witchcraft and things like that going on.

Jeff:
But yeah, you’re right. That I didn’t even notice that when we were reading it, despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still don’t believe in it.

Chris:
I mean, that’s at least 51%, but I have to believe it’s probably a lot higher than that.

Jeff:
Probably.

Chris:
Right. And so, I mean, I don’t know why, but I just have this feeling if God says most, it’s probably a vast majority.

Jeff:
So there’s the difference between most there in verse 37 and over in verse 42, it says many people did believe in him, however.

Chris:
Oh yeah. Big difference. So there’s a most and a many.

Jeff:
Yeah. Yeah. So we’re not alone. The people who believe in Jesus, we’re not alone. Right. But the majority,

Chris:
The majority did not. Yeah, and so the Lord has blinded their eyes, he quotes in Isaiah, he’s hardened their hearts so that their eyes cannot see and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and have me heal them. I think that there are people who, I think I know people like this. Right? There are people who I know that are like this, and their hearts are hardened. And I think that it’s not something that comes from God. I think today there’s a lot of people who have hardened hearts because of a lot of different reasons, like circumstantial reasons. Right? You know, they’ve lost a loved one. They’re angry with God. You know, in fact, I just did a funeral of a person on Monday. So this would have been like five days ago. And when I asked about this person’s faith who passed away, a young person, by the way, a young person, the father responded. It was a father-in-law, a stepfather, I think. And he actually said, he was a stepfather, and he said, He was really angry at God because his real dad died when he was seven. And so he spent most of his life angry at God. And, and that’s, that’s what this reminds me of, you know, their hearts are hardened. You know, they’re, they’re, they’re going to, they’re going to, they’re going to fold their arms, their postures, like the posture that I have right now. Right. And, and, and I believe that a lot of people walk into church that way, and it doesn’t really matter how, you know, how miraculous God’s Word seems to be, they’ve already made up their mind when they walk in through the doors of a church, or listening to a podcast, or hearing the Word of God, or listening to a song, or even a testimony of a friend or a loved one, they’ve already made up their minds they’re not going to believe any of it. because they’re angry or something else has happened, right? And I believe that there are times where I’ve seen the walls come down too. Have you ever met a person where they were angry at God or they refused to believe in God for years, and then all of a sudden they just changed?

Jeff:
Yeah. So yeah, many times, a lot of times it winds up being either that they just begin to realize how unreasonable their anger is, that for yesterday, I was meeting with a family. I’m going to be doing a funeral right after this podcast today. And I was meeting with the family and it came up in the conversation, you know, that there is maybe some temptation to be mad. You know, why did this man die? But then, you know, she acknowledged everybody dies, right? And they’re Christians, so they grieve, but not as those who have no hope, as Paul says. And she said, you know, so then we began to talk about that. And I said, well, you know, life is 100% terminal. The question isn’t whether or not we’re gonna die. The question is whether we’re ready. Are we right with our God, right? And this is it. Have we gone to, do we continue to stay in the darkness and run from the light or do we go to Jesus who is the light, right? That’s what I was talking about. I’m not saying when you’re dying, go to the light. I’m saying in this situation here where he’s saying that he is the one that God sent and that he is the light for the whole world and people have to walk away from the darkness and towards him. and he’s the savior of the world. So either you run to him, the savior, or you run from him. So I’ve seen people who have, at first, been mad at God because somebody died or somebody was sick, and then later just realized, you know what, that’s the nature of humanity in general. All humans’ lives come to an end. And then it becomes an illogical thing, right? It’s an illogical fallacy that you begin to say, I have a right to be mad because a person died. Right. Right. We all die. Right. Or whatever. And so I’ve seen a lot of people make that shift once they begin to realize how illogical their anger is towards God. And then other times, I think sometimes that anger becomes a habit. And then suddenly they begin to realize this isn’t the best version of me. And then they begin to have the words of God penetrate their life. I’ve seen people make a big turn and change when they begin to spend time in God’s word and learning more and more and more God begins to change their mind. He renews their mind. and they go out of the darkness, just walking in the words of the world. And they begin to walk into the light in God’s words. And God begins to change how they think and as they, how they think, then they wind up coming to Christ. So I’ve seen it, but man, it’s hard. That’s a hard journey.

Chris:
Yeah. Well, I just referenced a minute ago that the funeral I did on Monday was a young guy. He was 26 years old and he got hit head on by a 17 year old drunk driver. And so the kid who was 17, who was drunk, survived. The kid who was not drinking was actually celebrating his own birthday. It was on his birthday. He was coming home from playing cards, like a card game with his family and gets hit. And so our local listeners may have even heard this story because that’s pretty tragic, right? So the anger of this family Sure. It was through the roof. Yeah. Right.

Jeff:
Because it was senseless. It was the result of bad choice.

Chris:
And somebody’s at fault. And it was so sudden. And somebody’s at fault. And it was before their time, right? I mean, 26. So I have kids. I have three kids. They’re all around that age. I can’t even imagine someone’s life being cut short. Right. So sometimes our anger is unreasonable and sometimes it’s reasonable. Right.

Jeff:
And it can be reasonable, but misplaced.

Chris:
Yeah. Misplaced. Yeah. Right. So either way, though, I just think that, you know, we could harden our hearts and we could, you know, posture ourselves to close ourselves off. But I really hope and pray that we would just be unwilling to unfold our arms and just listen to what God has to say because God loves us in spite of all of our anger. He’s not afraid of our anger either. Right. He’s not afraid of it. I mean, there are people who, you know, King David would go to God in anger. God wasn’t afraid of it. He welcomes it. Another part that stands out to me.

Jeff:
That’s where I was going.

Chris:
Same thing. It says many people did believe in him, however, including some of the Jewish leaders, but they wouldn’t admit it. They feared the Pharisees would expel him from the synagogue, for they loved human praise more than the praise of God. Right. right? So when you care more about the opinions of man than God, uh, you know, uh, what is another scripture that I’m thinking of says, uh, in Acts, we’d rather obey God. Yeah. Yeah. There’s that one, but there’s also one by Paul in Corinthians, I think that says for my, to a big, Oh, maybe this is it. It’s the same one. For I to obey God rather than man, for if I were to obey man, then I should not be a servant of Christ. Right. That’s the same one. Is that the same one?

Jeff:
Maybe. I don’t think so. I think those are two different ones.

Chris:
Okay. Yeah. So, uh, but, uh, but yeah, the, whatever the reference is, I just remember even reading that in the New Testament and thinking, uh, I think this was in response to being accused. Maybe this was Peter in front of, um, uh, you know, the Pharisees or whatever, but he says, Hey, What should I do? Do I have any choice? Do I obey man or do I obey Christ? Because if I’m to obey man, I should not be a servant of Christ. And it’s such a great phrase. And it’s just, that’s on the positive side. This is on the negative side. Opportunities missed.

Jeff:
So they loved human praise. Every once in a while, I’ll have somebody tell me that they’re an undercover Christian. I’ll hear people say, you know, my faith is very private. And, you know, if it’s a friend of mine or somebody that, you know, would recognize me as their pastor, I’ll always say, so that statement is not a biblical statement at all. There’s no such thing as an undercover Christian. There’s no such thing as a private faith. Your faith is very personal. It’s very personal. It’s your faith, and it’s between you and God. But there’s no such thing in the Bible as private faith. It’s always in the context of the rest of the believers, and it’s public. Jesus literally says, let your light so shine before men that they can see your good deeds and glorify my Father in heaven. It’s a faith-based good works that we do so people can see. Not for heaven, but we do it in order to let the light shine so that Jesus, so… For the furthering of God’s kingdom and his agenda. That’s correct. Paul says, you know, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ because it’s the power of God unto salvation for all who believe, right? Right. So in this, then these people, man, they’re very intrigued by Jesus, but they’re terrified of the consequences. And so that’s why literally yesterday, Jesus says in the podcast, all who love their life in this world will lose it. Right? So if you’re going to follow me, you have to be willing to, those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity. Jesus is already saying, that’s going to be the temptation. If you’re going to be my follower, you’re going to be tempted to protect yourself. Don’t let anybody know. So what you want is fire insurance. Jesus, keep me out of hell. You just don’t want to have any of the other consequences of the fact that, you know, there are people in the world that are going to hate me for it. Um, I knew some people that were being persecuted in Africa. There was a lot of fighting and killing, and they were killing people just because they were Christians. And I heard a pastor say, hey, we’re praying that God will free you and protect you from all of this persecution. And the bishop of this community spoke up and said, you know, we’re not going to ask you to pray that the persecution stops. We’re going to pray that God gives us the grace to go through the persecution and still show love to our persecutors. And the person, the pastor who mentioned that he was praying that the persecution would stop said, why would you say that? And he said, because how else will our persecutors ever realize that there’s a difference between us and them? Right? How will they ever know that God’s grace really is real? In their hatred, we can respond in love. It’s the only way. And I remember thinking, wow, that’s a person who’s not afraid of the gospel. Right? And I want to be like that. So I don’t want to be these people who love human praise. You know, I’m afraid of losing my job. Because that’s literally the issue. The issue was they were afraid they’d lose their job in the synagogues. They’d get expelled from the synagogues. It was their livelihood at stake and they were afraid to get in trouble. So they wouldn’t stand up at work.

Chris:
uh, you know, to piggyback on that comment about, you know, people saying, oh, I have a private faith, which by the way is a lot of people. Oh, sure. A lot of people, and they might not even say it, but if they are forced eventually to talk about it, that’s what they would say. Right. Right. That’s how they live their lives for sure. Um, but think about it. Almost every single, uh, thing that God wants us to do in obedience to him requires public requires public announcement of faith, right? Proclamation of faith. To go against, you know, a workplace or stand for morality or in conversation with a friend, right? An invitation to do something that’s morally compromising, right?

Jeff:
Just to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, right? All those things require that you’re in relationship. Yeah, self-control.

Chris:
Yeah, it’s, it’s, and so God’s, God never intends us to, to have a private faith because everything that we do in our lives is supposed to be encompassed by our faith. So it’s like everything about every category of your life, it’s faith is supposed to be part of every single part of it.

Jeff:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Faith is not a part of your life. Your life should be a life of faith. Right. Right. Yeah.

Chris:
So I mentioned before that sometimes, you know, I mentioned Bill Hybels this week said a message that I’ll never forget. One time when I was in, lived in Atlanta for 10 years and I took a bunch of kids up to Louie Giglio is a, is a, is a, friend and was a part of a, and still is a part of a really big movement, but at this time it was college students. And he gave a message one time that stuck with me, and it was called, A Life That Leads to Why. And what he basically said is… I’ve heard him preach that message. Yeah, what he basically says is, you live your life so publicly that even when you’re not giving the gospel directly, even when you’re not saying, hey, let me tell you about Jesus and his love, he says, you live your life so publicly that people will notice a difference in you and say, I have a question. Why is it that you’re so happy? Why is it that you, you know, are able to be so strong with your morals and are you so good? And why are you so joyful? And all these different things. And they eventually come to you and they ask you why. So it’s not, it’s not an excuse to not preach the gospel or give the gospel or tell people about Jesus. But it is, it is in addition to that, Right. We live our life so publicly, right? Yeah. Which is really cool.

Jeff:
Peter said, be ready with an answer for the hope that you have. That’s right. Well, an answer means somebody’s asking a question.

Chris:
That’s right. 1 Peter 3.15. Well, hey, that is our time and it’s a good place to end. And so hopefully we will see you on Monday on The Bible Guys.