Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 259 | Jase's Circumcision Question, It's Hard to Love Judgmental People, and an R-Rated Verse

Episode Date: April 14, 2021

Mia is headed back to school less than a month after major surgery. Phil, Jase, and Al love how unifying it was to hold the Masters in Georgia amid all the controversy and boycotts — even if Phil does find golf stressful and embarrassing. In another chapter of "Jase's Grocery Store Chronicles," someone grills Jase about how Jesus could be a plan. Jase has been in plenty of men's rooms, and there's something in the Bible he just can't figure out about circumcision. And the guys talk about why it's much harder to show grace to people who are legalistic, the R-rated verse you don't hear in many sermons, and how changed lives become evidence of God's grace. -- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? I watched the third round. I was traveling yesterday, so I didn't get to watch the final round, but I was checking it on my phone. Well, every year, I mean, I'll watch the Masters, which, by the way, you were right. You made a prediction that, or which you always have, is the fish doesn't bite before Easter. Yeah. Because I had been sneaking over to Willie's Pond.

Nothing. Nothing. That's right. Which also, by the way, we also predicted, per Granny and Paul, there would be a cold snap the week of Easter. There was. There was. I mean, it's always one. It's amazing.

So I go over there. I took my, because it's Masters week, so I had my, and I was going to go play golf for the first time in five months. And I didn't want to embarrass myself. I'm at that stage. I got invited, but I didn't go because I knew I was embarrassed my. Willie's got his own little course. So I'm like, I'll take a few golf balls in my wedge because last year I really struggled with chipping and pitching. But I have also my pole because the fish usually bite right at dart.

And so, you know, it's after Easter. So I was going to try a field theory. and I was by myself. Missy was in Austin and Mia's going back to school, which is awesome. And so as I'm... Yeah, less than a month. Less than a month. That's pretty amazing.

Back in school. Yeah. Just amazing. And so I start walking over, but I hear, I'm starting to hear chatter. I was like, oh, there's people here. There's other people who had the same idea. Well, I look up on the bridge, Willie's got a, he built a bridge on his, I wouldn't call it a pun.

Lake. It's a small lake. And there's a family. I mean, the dad, the mom, and at least five kids, there's poles in every direction. They're running up and down the bridge. Quit doing that. I told you to stop doing that. You know, it's, be quiet. So I thought, well, guess I'm just going to work on the old golf game, you know. So I go over to the green and I'm chipping around, but I'm watching them because they're fishing my hole. I mean, that's where I have a strategically placed brush top on that bridge. So I watched them an hour. It was about, it was getting dark, and they didn't catch a fish.

And so five, ten minutes for dark, they leave, and I thought, hmm, let me just, a guy, I got to know. So I waited until they got their vehicle, and as soon as they turned, I just took off running. I run over on a bridge, got my pole, went on a tree. I put that jig down. Of course, the last five trips, before Easter, no fish. And when I picked up, just, poop. And I was thinking, that must be a largemouth bass, because there's no way it's a croppy.

Set the hook, as big a croppy as you will ever see. I would say right under two pounds. And I thought, how did they not catch this fish? I got him off. I put it down. They got it. There's another one. They were so big because I'm up on a bridge.

I was having to swing them without breaking my line and just toss them over the bridge. I put the jig. Well, on the third one, I said, oh, Phil, it's after Easter. It's after Easter. I said, I think I need one more to be just, well, to be just, well, to be just, miserably full because they were huge. I caught the fourth one and I ran over there. I cleaned them. I did the mustard and flour, black pepper, mustard, roll them around flour, ate off eight fillets. But I ate them within 20 minutes after I called them. And I just laid on the couch, staring at the

ceiling saying I should have stopped at three. I should have stopped it. on Saturday or Sunday? This was a couple days after Easter. Okay. This is earlier. I mean, I'm not sure. During Easter.

What day it was. When I had out, I had out a hundred hook nets. And at times, I would have out trammell, you know, webbing that wire baskets, everything, and everything, every way known to man, they catch them.

But during Easter, no. They just didn't swim into the nets. So I decided after about a decade of that, I said, well, during the Easter week, you just not going to do very much. Just take a break. Take a break. You're not going to swim. They're not going to feed. They're not going to hold.

But I did think how embarrassing for when you see, you know, a lot of people, they'll see somebody fishing their hole, which this is Willie's hole. We're all just gathered around all this toys. And how embarrassing that this family, you know, I don't know, wrong lure. Because they were far enough away. I don't know what they were fishing with. There's no telling. But, you know, how embarrassing was that? And they never knew.

They never knew. They laughed just that way. And they probably got home and their, you know, his buddy called him and said, what did you do? Wasn't biting? Yeah. Don't know. I mean, maybe they caught them all.

I mean, they caught all those fish out. I snuck in and just pop-pah-pah-pah-wop. Well, that's kind of like duck-hunting the dog by you over there. You'll have a sip there from 12 o'clock. get over about midday, you saw them going in there in the evening, and you sit there for three hours, do not see a duck. You say, it's a dead hole, gar hole. But in 15 minutes, you'll have a limit sometime.

They just appear. Yeah. Same principle. Well, then the next time I went over, because then I went and played golf. Did you embarrass yourself? Yes. Look, tea to green? I mean, it was like, I never left.

But the first time I had a chip shot, which is. is the thing I practiced. I just stuck the club in the ground. So, you know, it always becomes awkward when you're playing buddy see that because they're like, oh, boy. I mean, look, I swung and the ball did not move. Just the, the turf, it was kind of wet. The turf just kind of kicked up.

At that level of play, that's a, that's like. So look, you were not a master. So I get up there. I kind of chuckled to myself and thought, that was embarrassing. I'd do it again. So now it's becoming awkward because now I'm out of the hole. We're playing a game where it's kind of a whole ball. Do you have to hit the ball or you get another shot?

Well, the golf is tallied by the swings. So like I was laying to. You swing and miss. You're out. Well, I was chipping for a birdie. And now I'm chipping for par. ball has it moved. Now I'm chipping for bogey. So I

did this two more times and then just like did just didn't I mean now I'm blacking out because I cannot make this ball move and it's not a movie. So I just like stuck the club down and just swung without

thinking and look the ball hits twice goes in the hole and just pops out. And I said I fixed it you know until I had the next and I pretend. That pretty well continued the rest of the round. Yeah.

So I got some kind of pitching, chipping yips. So I'm like, darn the Masters. Because the Masters is what inspires me. Every year I say, I'm not playing golf anymore over stuff like this. And really the concept of it, because these guys, I could tell they felt awkward. And I was like, it's going to be okay. Yeah, that's right. Because this is right around Easter every year when I play because they get inspired.

boys and masters. But when you think of the contrast of what we're doing, we're trying to put a ball in the ground. Which I would just hear and you speak on that matter. And I would think, in my mind, I'm not going to turn to something that turns out to be that stressful. Yeah. I would say this is not a good way to enjoy. You said, let's go to the golf course. We're all going to be happy, high-fiving. This sounds like to me would be very stressful. It's embarrassing. It is.

It was. But I was going to say this. What helped me get over it is we just celebrated a person getting his body out of the ground. So the difference in context. So that's why I told my buddy is like, oh, I'll be fine. So because I, you know, but when I watched the master's, I mean, you had a Hadeki Matsiyama won it, which... Who is this?

He's the first Japanese person to ever win a major. Really? Yep. And so a lot of people are like, who is this guy? I never heard of him. Well, we've been watching them 10 years. And even the newscasters, they kept trying to create drama. And I'm, we've been on TV.

We know how they do. But they went with the one thing that was the right thing to go with because they're like, there's a whole nation behind him. And look, they kept cutting to the Japanese television. Somebody watching or something. No, no. I mean, like, the commentators in Japanese calling every shot. Plus you can make an argument.

This is proof, ladies and gentlemen, that God in heaven does not show favoritism. You know what I'm saying? Anywhere on the globe. But I felt for the guy, because that was right. I mean, he had the weight of a whole country. Yeah. And, you know, this guy can't even speak English. He has an interpreter, you know.

So he's just in his own world. He's a stranger. You see where I'm going with this. He might have been thinking, Ching, Yang, Ching, oh, that was a lot of Cheching. They said that victory probably, the estimation, made him a billion dollars.

With a B. Because Japanese do a lot of advertise. So did you see the, I saw last night on a sports center, because I missed it when he won, but they asked him afterwards. They said, are you the best Japanese golfer of all times? time. That was the question to him. So he answers in Japanese. I know. It's just too. So, but he answered

it beautifully. He said, well, I don't, I can't say that. That's for other people to decide. He said, but I am the first one to win a major. So if that's the bar, I just said it. Now, that was an answer. I thought that's an awesome answer. You know what I liked about this guy? He, you know, he, it was a little ragged in the last few holes. He bogied like two of the last three or four. And you're like, what happened? He He was nervous. Yeah. And it's the master. I mean, okay, but that's why you had a four or five shot lead.

And they were like, oh, they were trying to create some drama, just give me something, you know. So he wins. It doesn't matter. A year from now, nobody's going to say, oh, he bogeyed the last. This is accurate. He won the match. But look, so he wins it. He takes his hat off.

There was no fist pumping and going. It was just like, okay, I won this. which I found kind of refreshing and humbling. Of course, they're like, this guy lives in a small community in Japan, you know, has a wife and family and drives a minivan. I mean, that's what they said. I was like, I love it. You know, he's from, he's from the same town.

Remember that tsunami that hit a few years ago? And all that stuff was, he lives in that town. Yeah. So what I was going to say is so what the commentators and what they did, because, you know, they have the honorary starters, which it has been Jack Nicholas and Gary Player. Well, they added another one. It used to be Arnold, but he died, Arnold Palmer.

Yeah, and it's been different people through the years. What they did this year, which I thought was awesome, is the first African-American to ever play in the Masters, they, Lee Elder was his name. They had him, you know, being honorary started. He didn't hit a ball, but he just stood up. I thought that was good. And I looked at it from their perspective,

getting to where my golf game is compared to celebrating Jesus coming out of the ground. You know, they were trying to do their part to bring people together. And I think by starting that having Lee Elders, the honorary member, that was a great honorable thing to do. Then you had a guy from Japan win. So that turned into the theme. You know, we're uniting around the sport of golf. Golf is color line, that was the idea.

So immediately it made me think of 1st Peter 2, you know, here we are as God's holy nation, a chosen people, that our nation rallies around Jesus in a similar fashion. You know, because the excitement and the joy of the nation rooting for their guys, he's in America, and I thought, yeah, but what we're in and the equality that Jesus represent is,

is so much more of a bigger picture. Because look at the things you get. You know, forgiveness, a place of origin, you know, where we came from, what we're doing here, and how we're leaving. So I think if you keep that in mind, you know, that is the way, if you look at things through that Jesus...

Prism. Yeah, prism that it's motivating. Because you can take any positive thing and then look at it from a spiritual, perspective and it affects you. So let's take a break. What's interesting, Jay says the week started for the Masters with them having a press conference to defend it

because they had moved the All-Star game out of Georgia over the voting stuff. And there was a lot of pressure about trying to shut the Masters down, the golf tournament down, because it's in Georgia. So I thought it was interesting that the week started with them basically defending having this golf tournament in the state of Georgia. But the guy really did a beautiful job.

job of describing just what you just said. And it is ironic that everything that unfolded shows that, you know, you don't have to throw things out and boycott. I mean, instead, celebrate him. And it was a unifying. Yeah. Well, I had a weird, I don't know if it's an argument discussion

with somebody in a grocery store. But we were talking about they watched the podcast. And first, you know, a lot of people say that. It's usually a positive thing. But they were kind of like, you know, you talk about having equality. in Jesus, but y'all don't offer any solutions. And I kind of stopped and was like, we're offered solutions.

I said, Jesus is the solution. And their comment was, or a question, was interesting. Because to me, it sums up everything we believe in this chasm in between non-believers and I mean believers and unbelievers. They said, well, how is Jesus a plan? and I said, you're getting close. Because to me, they're thinking how, you know, you're not, you're not dealing with the issues. I mean, I'm reading between the lines.

What I felt like is they're saying, well, you're not giving a take on like the stuff that happened in Georgia. Well, I keep going to Jesus saying that is the umbrella. Are we against inequality? absolutely or looking at someone based on their color and saying oh you're not a human i mean we were talking about that for the podcast you start i mean to us we feel the same way about unborn babies we feel like they're saying they're not humans that's right and we're trying to represent them saying no these these are these are people this is their origin is god and so what i thought what made me think, because when I got home and studied what we're even doing, you think about

the theme of Acts, which Phil has brought it many times, they focused on the death barrel and resurrection of Jesus because the death of Jesus is where we get forgiveness in the resurrection. But also, it was all these cultures coming together. I mean, that's just the theme. I mean, the divisions back then was no different than it is now, and they were going around and all the problems they were having was because of these divisions. But I ran upon, which I know you are familiar with it,

but based on what we've been studying, and what I wish I would have said, you need to go read Romans 15 in my argument. You know, in Romans 15, and it's perfect for where we're at in Acts now, he starts off saying, we who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.

Each of us should please as not. neighbor for his good to build him up for even christ did not please himself but as it is written the insults of those who insults you have fallen on me for everything that was written in the past was written to teach us so that through endurance and encouragement of the scriptures we may have hope and then these next two verses is to deal with the i mean the next three verses dealing with this why is jesus the plan on bringing people together he said may the god who gives you endurance, and encouragement, give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And here's why that is the plan. Accept one another then, just as Christ accepted you in order to bring praise to God. I mean, I think it's a really spelled out in our culture with all the differences in people, even at a golf tournament, trying to do something about all this division. And the person who asked me, how is Jesus is a plan. I'm glad they asked me because when I read that, I thought, that's how it's a plan. Yep. Yeah. Well, I think part of the problem is, Joe, is people feel like the way we are now in a huge,

polarized society is you always have to pick a side and then you've always got to die on a hill and the mindset is we're just going to take a little step back and get a little bit above that the idea that you know in Christ there's something different I mean it's just a to me it's a much calmer more relaxed place to be than always in the throes of this back and forth you know you got to be left you got to be right well I feel sorry for the people who doesn't believe in Jesus, because they're trying to take each issue that comes up and trying to figure out where, how they feel about it. Right.

And I'm like, well, God gives you this moral compass and this foundation to base decisions on. And I can always go to the red letters and see how Jesus is and then accept people how he did. And if you do that, that will be universally accepted. Yeah. That's why Peter, and we've already covered this in Acts, but chapter 10, not in the middle of the book of Acts, Peter began to speak, I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism, but accepts men from every nation who fear him and who do what is right. And then he preaches the gospel to him. You see that over and over and over and over. Romans chapter 2, same thing.

You know, he said, just go around doing good and watch. He said the same thing. So Paul addresses the church at Rome. Here's the way it reads. God will give to each person according to what is done, according to whether he loves God or loves his neighbor. He said, these people were engaged in passing judgment. judgment on someone else.

And Apostle Paul is saying, whatever you pass judgment on someone else, you're judging yourself, you're condemning yourself, because you're guilty of the same thing. You can't cancel people out. Then he gets over here. The ones who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, he'll give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there'll be wrath and anger.

There'll be trouble and distress. for every human being who does evil, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. But peace for everyone who does good, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile, for God does not show favoritism. And he's made the escape easy. Just listen to the message about Jesus. Embrace it and love your God and love your neighbor. And everything will work out.

There's no favoritism. in any of that. There's no bigger, higher color, skin, financial, whether you get the money or not,

from all the way down to the poorest of the poor, the riches of the rich, from all nations, all colors, all creeds all come together. There's neither slave, nor free,

no male, no female, none of that. It's all, you're all one in Christ. It's a, it's a beautiful thing. It is.

More, to get people to, to be that way, who, pretty difficult. I made a point, a few podcasts ago that one of the life-changing moments I made is when I quit focusing on trying to accept Jesus and realize that he accepts me, which is where this verse

is where I get that, where it said, except one another then, just as Christ accepted you. Because what that does is you realize that that's based on grace. And one of the themes you know, Phil did share, you know, most of the times we get together, he has that urge to say, because the more you study, acts, all these stories, he's like, yeah, but the mission was the same. They kept sharing Jesus. Right. But I noticed that one of the themes was they kept bringing up grace.

I looked up just in reading where we are now, because it's really hard to go verse by verse, because it's these, it's just a narrative story of them traveling here. And I read somewhere that Paul basically in these journeys traveled 10,000 miles and planted 14 churches. And he wasn't like riding in a car or, I mean, donkeys. Walking, a lot of walking. Boat.

All the ships. So one of the themes that came up was Grace and I jotted these down. Hang on, Jess. Let's take a break. I mean, if you just look at how God's grace is this glue that brings us together. And Jesus on a cross, being the basis for how we operate, you know, except one another as Christ accepted you. I mean, you immediately go to the cross because we're all flawed. And he said, here, I'm going to do this for you.

you know, in 1123, just to get to where we are, because I think we're in, where we had around 16, chapter 16, in 1123 it said, when he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, which, you know, when you read around that, they had been sharing Jesus, and he arrived, and he saw the evidence of the grace of God. So I thought, what does that mean? It's a, that phrase got my intention.

because it's awesome to see the evidence of the grace of God, which I mean, what do y'all think he saw? It's what he saw. He saw God. You'd like to look. What's the hands? He said, now watch. Count the times.

You count the time, Jase, that came out of the book of Acts because the church is spreading quickly. so Paul addresses the church at Rome and so watch. Paul are serving to Christ Jesus. Add them up on how many times you see the word called. Called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God. The gospel he promised beforehand. Jesus is coming through the Old Testament through his prophets in the Holy Scripture.

Regarding his son who as to his human nature was a descendant of David and who through the spirit of holiness was declared of the power to be the son of God by his resurrection from the dead. He's still on the gospel. Jesus Christ, our Lord. Through him and for his namesake, we received grace and apostleship. You say, why? To call people from among all the Gentiles.

You're like, boy, watch. That's twice. To the obedience that comes from faith. And you also, you Romans, are among those who are called to belong. to Jesus Christ, that's three, to all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints, that's four. In other words, God was calling them through the work of the Apostle Paul and the ones that preached the gospel that were with them.

He was saying, come on, come on, the message itself. He was saying, come on, come on together, under one head, even Jesus. Come on, come on. Well, the kicker is, there's a few. according to Jesus, who called back. They called back. They said, they're like, well, I want that. I want it.

So some call back. Most of them say, I don't know what y'all up to. Talked about somebody came out of heaven and God becoming a human being. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. He died. And then three days later, resurrected and life and immortality is years. And they're like, you're talking to me? I'm like,

yeah, I think. These are all writings. I'm just reading you what it said. For me, I think the evidence of the grace of God, and we still see it today, for me personally, is change lives.

People that came in a certain way, and then what comes out is something totally different. I'm thinking of a young couple at our church. I remember when they first moved here, he's from Nebraska, brink a divorce, been married a while,

but just, you know, lifestyle was out of control. and finally they both surrendered. And that was 10 years ago. Now they're both leaders. He's one of the leaders in our church. That's what I see is the evidence of grace is when people go all in and change. And I think that's what Paul was seeing.

And I mean, and again, Jay, you made an interesting point earlier. You know, in this, they were pretty colorblind, the sense of there's a lot of people from Africa and all. It wasn't necessarily about race. It was more about whether you were a Jew or Gentile, you know, or I should say a Jew or a non-Jew was the idea. So when they're watching all these Gentiles come in, Paul's like, he never even thought that was possible. Yeah.

He wouldn't have gone near a Gentile. That's right. His whole life up to he was 30 years old. And now he's seeing all these people and falling in love with them. I mean, it really is pretty amazing. Yeah. So what I was going to share is, you know, in 1123, he talked about that grays, the evidence in 1343, he mentions again.

But in 143, which I'm just leading to where we're at now, it said Paul and Barnab spent considerable time there speaking boldly for the Lord who confirmed the message of his grace. They were promoting grace once again. In verse 26, it says they had committed to the grace of God for the work had now been completed. Then when you get to 15, you have the issue about circumcision comes up, which we talked about. And so then in verse 11, he said, we believe. It is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we're saved, just as they are.

He then says that in 40. But I read all that, just to share that that was a theme that brought them together, to get to chapter 20 and 24, because he just kind of summed everything up. And I love this statement. He says in chapter 20 and 24, however, I consider my life worth nothing to me. if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me, which is what Phil's point was about they were calling people. And then he says this, there's a dash and says,

the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. And then in verse 32, he says, now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace. which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who were sanctified, which I thought that was the practical thing for what it does. God's grace builds us up and it gives us a future and inheritance because it's just that good. Yeah, I agree. And it's kind of interesting because that kind of gets us up to where we are in Acts 16.

And we mentioned Timothy last time we were talking about circumcision. because, you know, it's obvious that Paul, and you read the book Galatians, know that you don't add anything to the gospel. And yet, you know, Timothy was kind of an interesting choice for a young protege because he was a hybrid. He had Jewish mother and grandmother, but he had a Greek father. And so he was uncircumcised. But Paul circumcised him, so he would have more bona fides with the, you know, as they went

forward with the Jewish community. So I thought that was interesting that he would pick this guy. But I think that shows you Paul's grow too. too because you remember what he said, I can't remember where the verses. He said, I became all things to all men to win some. Yeah.

That's in Corinthians. Yeah. The idea there is that his motive was the gospel getting out there. And so all the other stuff that become issues to so many people, Paul was like, there's no issue that's bigger than that. So he basically operated with whatever helps me reach the most people in the period the time I have, that's what I'm going to do.

I might have been wrong when I was standing there with him, but when he brought it up to me on what he's fixing to do to Timothy or have it done, I would have said, I think I would think about that before I did that. You might question that. You might cause more trouble and it's worth right there. It may have. It's really interesting that that's exactly. I might have been wrong by advising him, but I'd believe I'd stay off of that.

I think what I got him through was he was humble. That's why I just read. He considered himself. Nothing. You know, I sent two texts to somewhat famous people. And we were talking about the masters. You know, I met Bubba Watson. I don't know if you saw that,

but during, I think the final day, which was the last day of the tournament, they did an interview with him. Because I'm like, what's this going to be about? And he basically kind of shared his heart and told his story about struggling where he lost a bunch of weight. You remember it was a couple years ago.

So the interviewer just said, what was the problem? And he's like, fame. And I thought, it was just shocking. He's like, you know, I got to listening to what I got to listen into people saying. How great I am. Well, or saying you're no good. Right, yeah.

And he's like, I was basing my decisions on that. And instead of, you know, something more. solid and I thought man but he's like you know I got good people around me I got my perspectives right now and so I sent him a text is what I was oh yeah what I was getting at and of course the other person of course I sent him the basically the same text but the other person was a guy I mentioned a few podcasts ago ago was Alex Lane who played for LSU baseball, he got called up to the majors. And I was like, first I was going to say, congratulations, you know.

But I was like, well, dang, he should already been there. And he's just getting started. So that's basically what I put. But I sent him basically the same text because I heard a really good sermon yesterday, which was, what was the name of that? Hang on, just let's take a break, why you think of that? That's interesting because, you know we know bubba and of course he's won two masters yeah he's won two masters right

some people here's the name of the sermon some people can't get past their past that was the title of it and it was it went over the concept of everything we do to motivate ourselves you know in relationships or business or in their case golf and baseball we come up with these slogans Like, you know, we got to overcome adversity. We got to get back up, you know, when we get knocked down, or we got to get it more right than we get it wrong. I mean, all these famous cliches that we use. But when you step back and think about it,

we have to do those things because we all make mistakes. We all have flaws. There's going to be times where you just, so if you're basing your worth on your performance, you're going to be in for a lot of frustration. So then I went to Galatians 220. God's grace makes everything different. And I quoted this in an easy-to-read translation.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And later on it says, I do not underestimate the grace of God, for if getting it right could be accomplished through me, Christ died for nothing. which is through the law, you know, if it could, if I could get it right through my performance or keeping the law or how good I was, number one, that's going to be frustration.

Number two, you're never going to be able to pull it all. And so, you know, I think in both those cases, one, it's going good, you know, with my buddy playing baseball, but he just got called up. But I was foreseeing that, look, this is going to be a tough road. it's an imperfect game it's hard to stay long because it's really based around trying to get it more right than wrong it's just a if you're basing it on your performance you know it goes back to the same illustration where we where we started if you're getting real shook up because you're chili dipping and embarrassing yourself i mean if that's all i had well of course i'd be i would be i would be

beside myself. But when you start looking at the greater picture, which is God's grace, God callness, the resurrection, these things have to be put into perspective. Plus the Apostle Paul, you've got to remember so that no one would mistake what he had done to Timothy, had Timothy circumcised to do a little bit better with the Jews where we might win some. You were running a good race. He's talking to people now in Galatia. They're saying, it's the gospel of Jesus. It's the gospel of Jesus plus circumcised. Who cut in on you kept you from obeying the truth?

That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough. Y'all need to get off of this circumcision thing. I'm confident in the Lord and you'll take no other view. The one that you'll take no other view, the one who is throwing you into confusion

will pay the penalty, whoever he may be, whoever's saying you have to be circumcised. Brothers, if I'm still preaching circumcision, isn't if you all think I'm far of what happened to Timothy, why am I still being persecuted? In that case, the offense of the cross has been abolished. As for those agitators, the one that say you had to be circumcised, check us out. I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves, just cut the whole thing off.

You know, you can't make this stuff up. You read it. He said, let me do it. I mean, you think I'm for that. I wish they'd just go ahead and cut it all along and get it over with. That's pretty blunt to say you don't have to be circumcised plus the gospel of Jesus. I just thought I'd throw that in because I thought it thought it kind of funny. I think that's the reason the Bible's rated are in some places.

Yeah. You don't hear that in a sermon very often. No, you don't hear that one. In modern times. But you think about if he made that a point, he said, I'm not for this action of having to be circumcised. I want to make that clear. and that's making it pretty clear. Yeah, and yet he navigated, like I said, the situation

because that was the fault line in the early church. I mean, I've read all the verses and put them together about that, but I just thought I wouldn't have circumcised Timothy, but who am I to say to an apostle? You can't do that. But he did make it clear later on in his writing. Which is my point is about that is that's why context is important, because certain situations may call for something different.

You know, circumcences in the way, you're trying to get people to turn to Jesus. He said, well, maybe we circumcised Timothy, maybe that. Well, here's what we look for, that. We look for the blanket. You're trying to win them. We look for the blanket rule. See, it would have been easier for us to, you know what? Nobody should ever get circumcised again.

Then we'll never have to worry about that. That's what I never figure out, though, about this. I mean, you brought this up, Phil. I'm like, why are they putting such a big emphasis on something that nobody's going to know about? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you're not. Who are the checkers in this world?

I mean, I don't know. I don't know how the Middle Eastern work, but, you know, when I go into a urinal, I'm not looking to the right or the left. I'm not. Any time. I don't. Eyes forward and no conversation. Whoa, no circumstances. The only, I had one instance.

in my life. I was actually at the Superdome watching the Saints play where I walked into a bathroom and there was a guy urinating in the sink. But I thought, in defense of this guy who was probably drunk, the sink looks a lot like a urinal. Yeah, I think he thought it was a urinal. And I thought, oh, this is, they need a wall. So my point is about Timothy and this issue is, like, I mean, I guess they would, they would know or they, they would be asked and you wouldn't lie.

Well, here's the thing. Here's the deal. Let's take our last break. I think what happened is Paul wanted to be able, when he, Timothy's in speaking to, in the synagogue, it would be known that he had a Greek father. I mean, his heritage would matter. They knew about mom and grandma. So Paul wanted. And the ones over there and the circumcides would be saying, exactly.

Has he been circumcised? But it was more about his pedigree than anything if he was going to be his proteus. How would they know? That makes sense. Well, because they would know he had a Greek dad so he wasn't serving up. See, to me, this is the problem with human beings. This kind of thinking? I mean.

But, Jace, it's all over the earth right now. It's nothing has changed. I mean, these rules and this will make you a holy. And if you do this and you mistreat your body and you scratch, you're scratching your body with sharp. and you're bleeding for you out under a tree and all you do every day is it's mutilate your flesh because it's evil and I have these evil. Which happens, yeah, to people. But, you know, here's the thing.

Paul had the same frustration of those days because remember a few chapters back, he's trying to speak. He goes to the synagogue first. He starts there and then he works his way out. But he was like, he got so sick of these stuff from the Jewish mindset that he was like, that's it. I'm done. I'm not sharing anymore with the Jews. I'm Gentiles.

He said that early. Well, then you get to 16 and 17. He shows up at Philippi. Where does he go? First place he goes to the synagogue. So he had a grace for him because I think it's because he was that guy for so long. And so he kept thinking, I can break through something. And a few of them did believe.

Remember there was a synagogue earlier that believed. Well, it may be about what you said before. I mean, they were coming all things to all men. But human beings, Jay. He was trying to work in his culture, and it was a tough culture. because of not only this issue, but a lot of other things. Rules and regulations. But they were focused on God's grace.

And I just proved that. I mean, over and over and over, they were trying to at least have the attention of both sides or all the divisions of the human beings. Here's what I said about Paul. The beautiful thing about him, and you learn this from Acts 15, is he showed as much grace for the legalist

as he did for the people that were eating the, sexual immorality, eating the food, sacrifice to idol. I mean, the Gentiles have their issues too. But grace goes both ways. It's just what happens is, Jason, to me, it's much harder to show grace to a legalist because they're so self-righteous. Whereas the other guy's like, you know, I'm a screw up. It's easier to show him grace.

It's Luke 15. Yeah. You had two people. Everybody thinks it's the prodigal son. Wrong. The whole story's written for the older, bro. Well, it's more about the father. Yeah.

But both sons were had took God's grace for granted. That's right. One left it and the other thought by his own performance that he was deserving of the gifts. Well, both missed the grace of God. Right. I mean, if I had to pick one, I would rather be the guy in the pig pen. And those are the people. At least he came to a sense of.

study with because well you're like well you know this right this is not going to work but it's so difficult when you're talking to somebody who thinks they have everything on straight and they usually are mean and judgmental just like the older brother right those are just difficult conversation so i mean i do commend paul for for having that sympathy and and compassion for them because we you and i have been in more discussions with people or i'm it is very hard to love these people who are just so judgmental and mean and have missed God's grace.

You know, at our church, I never forget a few years ago I had one of those moments like that, Jay's, because at our church, you know, people have always felt pretty open to come forward and share what's going on in their lives. And we've, you know, prayed with and heard a lot of tough stuff that people have done.

But I never forget one day, one Sunday, a guy came forward and he was a legalist. He was from a little, church nearby, but somebody had an association with us. I mean, just one of them hard heads, you know, everybody's wrong for everything. And he came forward one Sunday morning. I'll never forget this. And he asked forgiveness for the sin of legalism. He said, I've been a legalist my whole life. He said, I look at the war. You know, I've just, I've straight. And you know, it really moved me because I had never heard anybody repent of legalism before. And it made me think, you know,

you know what, I got to show this guy as much grace as I do, the guy that came forward last week that's got to, you know, has been, you know, sleeping around or on drugs, because it's just sin. I mean, you know, and so I think Paul, to his credit, had that view. But I think him being a reform legalist was part of the reason why. Yeah. Yep. It's a good part. But a lot of people, you have to get something, you have to get a narrative in your mind that works

to justify your lifestyle. Yeah, that's right. Which I think a lot of that, what we call legalism, is set up that way. I mean, the older brother in Luke 15, he was comfortable with his decisions in his life, just like the rich young ruler. He's like, you know, keep the commandments. Yeah, I kept them. I'm good.

And so Jesus knows the heart. He's like, well, go sell everything you have. And then all of a sudden. He went away sad. Went away sad. Because he was a man of great well, yeah. And he was probably a liar. Yeah, I bet you kept him off.

But he was probably a really good person. Well, it prompted the disciples to look at the situation and say, if he can't do it, well, what about the rest of it? I mean, we can't compare to that guy, but they missed it too, you know, because that's the line where Jesus says with man, this is impossible with God, all things are possible. Loving God and loving your neighbor, God's trying to make it as simple as he could. Just keep it simple.

Love me for what I've done for you. Love your neighbor. Don't judge him or condemn him. The ones are, yeah, yeah, yeah, bad, man. They pray for them to keep moving. Don't hold against them. Don't get angry with the human race because it's easy to get angry with them. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, I've told you all. I'm putting spray paint on building F you and everybody else, and they're like, whoa. I really, so great. I like this show that Missy put me on, you know, the chosen. Are you in the second season now? No, I'm like... The second season's out now. Yeah, I'm four or five episodes in.

But what I was going to say is they do a good job at the characters and making it more real than I think even when you read it. Because you realize these are, you know, there's human beings. And one of the... I think it was episode three, maybe two or three. When Mary, they took that verse at the end of one of the gospels that says she had had the demons or whatever before. So they kind of went back.

Did her back story. Yeah. Yeah. And what I really liked, the whole episode was about the awkwardness of being redeemed. Because she didn't know all the customs. And well,

Jesus showed up. And she's like, well, will you do it? I mean, they were doing the, I can't even remember what the word is called, but where they had the meal. And when she was having all the games, yes there, but she had, she'd been demon, she had demons and she's been in bars and that's

kind of where she came from. And now Jesus had touched her, redeemed her. And everything she was doing felt awkward. And they really captured that awesomely. Because when you apply it to just a normal conversion, it is awkward to live a Christian life. I remember Phil saying one time the hardest thing it was for him to do, post Jesus. Yeah, was seeing. Something so simple. I couldn't even sing from a songbook. It's so awkward, and I think that's what holds people back from, you know, humbling themselves and coming to Jesus is because they're like,

I just don't think I can do it. But you've got to embrace that awkwardness. It's what Carolla told you on his podcast over the day, he said, I want what you have, but I don't think I'm cut out for it. He said, I don't think it's in me. It's in me, right. And that's just what we're talking about. You've got to be willing.

God's great. allows you to it's okay to be embarrassed it's okay that's okay that's why a lot of people who saw that interview about bubba i'm sure it made them really uncomfortable yeah but i know where that was coming from yeah i'm like we're open and honest because we know we're forgiven we're we're going to be right we have to move on and if you want to learn from my you know weaknesses have at it that's good all right we're out of time we got a roll thanks for listening to the unashamed podcast help us out by rating us on iTunes. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube and be sure to click that little bell to get notified about new episodes. And for even more content that you won't

get anywhere else, subscribe to blazed TV at blazedtv.com slash unashamed.