The Proof is in the Pudding

IntroductionLet’s begin this morning with an egg.What can you tell me about this egg by looking at its shell? You can tell me its size: medium. You can tell me its color: white. But there are all kinds of invisible things just beneath that shell that are super significant and really, really matter.For example, it could be a freshly laid egg, ready to eat.It could be a six month old rotten egg filled with salmonella.It could be hard boiled. You can’t tell.Now I’m going to claim that this is actually a fertilized egg. And because it is fertilized, this egg will grow into a chicken. What this egg will become is determined but not yet known.The present exterior gives you no clue about the inside. But the inside is what determines the future exterior. And there are lots of possibilities of what this future exterior could look like.Even though none of us can tell by looking at the shell, this egg will turn into one and only one of these very specific chickens. 100 times out of 100 this egg will turn into that exact same, very specific chicken. Why? Because the parents of that chicken gave that chicken a DNA sequence that positively, undoubtedly, inevitably, inescapably, assuredly results in one and only one variety. The second that egg is fertilized, its destiny is determined.What is the only thing required for that future destiny to be known? Time. Time simply reveals what is inside.Now all of you came in this morning with a shell. I look at all of you right now and you know what I see, I see a bunch of beautiful shells. I can tell your size and your color and that’s about it. Our eyes can’t penetrate the exterior to know what is going on inside. But there is something inside. And just like the chicken, that something will come out in time. Your external behavior is determined by what is inside.Now in today’s passage, Jesus is going to make a point about the spiritual DNA that exists inside our hearts. Jesus makes this point: not only is it true that physical traits are handed down from parents to children, it’s spiritually true as well. We have spiritual genetics at work in our hearts. By virtue of the fact that we are children of Adam, we have sin woven into that spiritual double helix. There are certain guaranteed behaviors that will surface. There are absolute outcomes.And Jesus has one point he wants to make in this passage: you need new DNA.You might think that what you need is new behavior (a little less jealousy, hatred and lust. A little more patience).You might think you need new circumstances. If I was just out of this stressful situation…You might think the problem is the person you are married to or the kids you’ve been given.Jesus says none of that will change anything. You’re doing exactly what you are programmed to do. What you really need is far more radical than that. What you really need is new DNA from a new father. You want to change? Well, you need to be BORN AGAIN.Jesus is actually going to explain how that spiritual transformation happens. Now let’s connect it to last week.ReviewLast week Jesus said that freedom is a result of abiding in Jesus. Why? Because when we abide, we know the truth. What truth? The truth that Jesus loves us and when we know the truth that Jesus loves us, THAT truth will set us free from slavery and bondage of performance based righteousness.What we discovered last week was that God wants for you to relate with him not as a slave to a master but as a son to a father. But the Jews he is talking to refuse to go there. They insist, “We already have a father.” We don’t need to follow you. We are followers of Abraham. Our spiritual father is Abraham.And so Jesus says, you want to talk spiritual genetics? Let’s do that. I don’t think your father is who you think he is. A person can’t be a descendant simply by claiming it. You have to have proof. There has to be a likeness. You have to possess the TRAITS. If you do not possess the traits of the person you claim is your father, then he is not your father.Now it’s pretty humorous on one level what is going on here. Jesus says, I know you are claiming to be spiritual descendants of Abraham. But claiming it does not make it the case. Let’s just settle this and run a spiritual DNA test. Let’s look for the spiritual traits. After all:The behaviors and values of the father must be passed on to the sons.The conduct, actions, and lifestyle of the father must be passed on to the sons.The things that the father loves and desires must be present in the son.So who is your father? Now biologically speaking, the options are in the billions, but spiritually speaking, there are only two options. You are part of one of two families. You either are the son of the devil or the son of God. So Jesus says, let’s compare the traits of God vs the traits of the devil.God is kind, the devil is cruel.God is full of love and the devil is full of hate.God is open-hearted, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness. The devil is closed-hearted, quick to anger and abounding in bitterness and retribution.Now let’s see here? Who do you resemble most? You want to kill me. You want to take a rock and crush in my head. Just sayin…Jesus says, I’m not buying it. There’s a bit of a smokin gun here. The evidence is pretty convincing. The proof is in the pudding. Which, by the way, I discovered this week where that phrase comes from. The phrase is very old. It actually started out, the proof is in the eating. Which makes a lot more sense. It means that you have to taste the food in order to know whether it is good or not.Centuries ago in England, pudding referred to something different than we understand it today. Pudding was a kind of sausage, filling the intestines of some animal with minced meat and other things - something you probably want to try out carefully since that kind of food could be rather treacherous.So to put Jesus’ words in terms of that phrase, you claim to be this delicious sausage. On the outside you look great. But the proof is in the pudding. What’s inside that sausage? Inside you are dead men’s bones. You are filled with giardia and salmonella. Your very nature kills, your very constitution kills people. Your problem is your essence.Jesus is making the very strong point that there are only two possible families. Your actions come from your insides and your insides come from the devil.Race and CultureNow, I want to interrupt this sermon for a very special mid-message application. This is a very, very significant point in our cultural moment as a nation.Our country is horribly confused and divided over racial issues right now. There is all sorts of hatred, shame, guilt, embarrassment and misunderstanding. Who is your father? What genes did you inherit? What race are you? Currently there is tremendous debate and discussion right now over how racism is experienced.Now there are two basic ways in which racial differences have expressed themselves in societies. One is through dominance. My race is better than your race. So because we are superior, there will be one of three outcomes:The dominant race will either oppress the less dominant races (slavery)The dominant race will marginalize the less dominant (class structure)The dominant race will destroy the less dominant (genocide)So racial differences are worked out through brute strength. So the solution in this model is dominance.The second way it’s worked out in societies is through multiculturalism. Multiculturalism says all cultures are equally valid and therefore no one culture has the right to extend dominance over any other culture. Now the most recent expression of this is critical race theory which suggests that the most important thing about a person is their race. And at the heart of all power struggles in the world, if you boil it down to it’s fundamental elements, you will find that race is really what it’s all about. So in this model, the solution is to destroy the power structures of whatever race is currently dominant.What Jesus is doing here is completely different. It’s actually quite radical because it ignores both of these approaches. Jesus isn’t going to approve CRT and say that all cultures are equally valid nor does he say some cultures are superior. Instead he says there is a fundamental standard deeper than all cultures, a supreme standard that actually judges all cultures.Why is this so helpful and significant? Because what it does is it puts race in its proper place. Yes, it’s real. Yes it matters. But what matters infinitely more is your spiritual race. Your relationship to Jesus Christ.It makes what seems supremely important, superficial by comparison. Do people make judgments about one another based on the shell? Yes, of course they do.But these differences on the outside make almost no difference when compared to the difference on the inside. All other differences are superficial by comparison - you could almost say insignificant by comparison. The ultimate difference between people, the greatest difference, the difference that truly divides is a theological one.How we relate to God is so significant, so fundamental to who we are as a human race, that the stuff on the inside will eventually grow and become too large for that shell and it will crack that shell and the shell will fall away and all that will remain is the life that was growing beneath.This is why I can go across the world and have deep, deep fellowship with my brothers and sisters in India or Mexico and even though we have totally different cultures, even though we look completely different, we have a connection that binds us together like family. The gospel makes the shell fall away.It’s also why I can find someone who looks like me, has grown up in the same town, has all the same hobbies, likes the same music but he’s not a follower of Jesus Christ; I feel like I’m connecting with a stranger. The shell is not what I’m ultimately interested in.It’s why Christians are allowed to marry interracially but not allowed to marry unbelievers. It’s not about the shell.Because this is the ultimate dividing line, the only dividing line that truly matters. Who is your father?Listen to this quote from A.W. Tozer,Our mental conception of God has more impact on the way we live, the way we relate to one another, the way we treat one another than any other thing about us. It is the great unifier and the great divider of all people. Who is Jesus Christ?If you believe Jesus is God, the 2nd person of the trinity, and you follow him as Lord, you abide in his love, you receive his forgiveness, then you are given new DNA and you become an heir of the kingdom of heaven and exhibit the traits of a child of God.If you don’t believe Jesus is God, and you deny that he is Lord, then you are left with your current DNA which means you’re a member of the kingdom of darkness and you will exhibit the traits of darkness.Again, according to the Bible, there are only two options. This is why Jesus’ message is so devise, so upsetting. You are either a follower of a real person named Jesus Christ or a follower of a real person named the devil. You are either a child of God or a child of the devil. Educated people just want to gag over this. Why are these the only two options? Child of the devil? Come on.Listen, if Jesus was a real person then so is Satan because Jesus speaks of Satan as a real person with a personality and an agenda. He refers to him as the god of this world. The devil is said to have followers.So what will it be? You see the very fact that offense is the reaction is evidence of it’s truthfulness. The very fact that people so violently, instinctively oppose it, is evidence that there is something that they insist must not be true.Many of us have the same reaction the Jews have. That’s my reaction. What do you mean I am a child of the devil. That’s absurd. I’m a good person. That’s absurd. How can you say that? The reaction is always the same. It’s hate.So we are going to see 3 traits of hate.When we don’t like someone, when we take offense at something said against us, without a moment’s thought, we attack the character. We launch a smear campaign. And the idea is that if we can attack the credibility of the person, then their words will lose power. The more respected a person is, the more serious it is when they point out flaws and folly in us. But if they are disrespected then their words have little impact.And this is exactly what happens. When Jesus suggests that they are children of the devil, they begin a smear campaign.Almost certainly this is a reference to the rather strange circumstances surrounding Jesus’ birth. In other words, the Jews say to Jesus, Oh, you want to talk about pedigree. You want to talk about genealogies and lineage.You’ve got some considerable nerve to talk about paternity: at least we are not born of fornication (wink, wink). At least we aren’t born of sexual immorality. Jesus, who are you to talk? You are an illegitimate child. There’s a word for that.You’ve got some considerable cheek to bring this up, my friend. I believe we’ve got the high ground here.Jesus isn’t phased by their attack. He redirects the conversation. He says, no, I’m not talking about a physical father. I’m talking about spiritual.You are slaves of sin. And because you are slaves of sin, that is evidence that your father is the devil.That was not how they viewed themselves. That was not their conception of reality.He says, the reason you must deny my words, is because my words are too painful for you. The truth is too difficult for you to swallow. You have too much pride. Your entire identity is built upon what I am challenging. And so you can’t let this be true. You must deny it.You cannot bear to hear my word. The implications are too severe.Remember last week we talked about the difference between the slave and the son. What happens when a slave drops the vase? Be sure your sin will find you out. He must hide, he must deny, he must shift the blame. Why? Because his status in the house is conditional upon performance.The Jews Jesus is addressing are slaves to their performance. They cannot handle the accusation that they are sinners. Everything they’ve built their lives upon tells them they are not sinners. They believe their righteousness, their acceptance in the house was a function of their performance. And so their only option is denial. They ‘cannot bear to hear Jesus’ word.’Contrast that with the security of being loved as a son. You drop the vase. But because you are a son it allows you to confess, to hear the truth without being threatened by it or destroyed by it. It provides the space and security to ACTUALLY listen, to ACTUALLY appreciate the feedback, to ACTUALLY grow and change because you are able to hear it.Think of the people in your life you respect. They have this trait.They have nothing to proveThey ask for nothing in returnThey never need to force their opinions on you.But most of all they are honest with their failures. When their mistakes are pointed out they both laugh at it but deeply receive it. They are genuinely thankful when their failures are revealed because it creates opportunity for growth.Contrast that with people who, when failure is revealed they feel the need to attack.What you’ll find is someone with lots of insecuritySomeone who is carrying a lot of anger or jealousyYou’ll find someone who feels the need to force their opinions on others for approval or validation.Jesus says, you are attacking me because you are angry, jealous and insecure. You can’t bear to hear my words. I want to help you and I am able to help you but you have to be born again. You need new DNA. You need a new father.The truth by itself is powerful. And so if you don’t like, it has to be covered up in some way. Attacking character is one way. Denying it is another. Here’s a third way.When we speak lies, we present information as if it were truth. And the reason we lie is to change people’s evaluation of us. The truth as presented makes us look really bad. The lie counters the judgment of the truth. If what we presented was true, then the attacker’s judgments would be incorrect and we’d be exonerated. But of course the huge problem is, it’s not true. It’s a lie.And Jesus points this out.Jesus says, the very nature of God is truth and the very nature of the devil is lies. God speaks truth because it comes out of the very character of who he is. The devil speaks lies because he is speaking out of his very character.Jesus is trying to get them to self evaluate. The person who lies convinces himself that what he is saying is true. He has to sell it to himself first so that he can be convincing when he sells it to others. If he doesn’t believe it, it will be obvious.And after selling it to yourself long enough this transformation happens.At first you,re confronted by your conscience that it’s a lie,You know it’s a lie. You seer that conscience for a while, you can get periods of rest from that thought.Then you remember it’s a lie,Then you have to force yourself to recall that it’s a lie andYou forget that it’s a lie,Then you believe that it’s the truth.You know the biggest lie that we tell ourselves. I’m a pretty good person. That’s the biggest lie we tell ourselves. All of us do this comparison game, “We look around and we say, at least I’m not like that. At least I’m not Hitler or Pol Pot.” People who falsely believe that the criteria for entrance into heaven is goodness, 99 times out of a hundred say to themselves, Phew, well I guess that means I’m in. I’m a pretty good person.Jesus says to the Jews and he says to all of us, “No you are not. You are a slave to sin. You are a child of the devil.”That truth is too terrible for many of us. We can’t handle the truth.ConclusionYou want to know what the Bible calls the sum total of these traits of hate: spiritual blindness. Someone who is a slave of sin, who recoils at the suggestion that there are problems within that need addressing, someone who denies the truth, who is willing to speak lies, a person in this state is unable to see reality. They are truly blind.This last week, I had an interaction with one of my sons (I’ve got four of them so his name will be mysteriously anonymous). There was a certain way that he was putting dishes into the sink that both Lisa and I had repeatedly asked him not to do. And he did it again and it kind of triggered me. So I sat down next to him on the step and started confronting him on it. And he claimed that he never remembered us telling him to do that. And so of course we go back and forth a few times. Yes, I did. No, you didn’t. Yes I did. No, you didn’t. Super productive conversation.And then he said, “Dad, I remember everything you tell me.” And then I said, “Of course it feels like you remember everything we tell you. But isn’t that the very nature of the problem? You won’t be aware of the things you’ve forgotten.” And we both kind of smiled at each other.It’s kind of a silly discussion to say, “Can’t you remember this thing you have completely forgotten?”That’s the type of problem Jesus is addressing. Can’t you see this thing your eyes won’t let you see?Jesus says, “you are under the power of sin. You are being controlled by sin. You are a slave of sin.” You’re so deeply in it’s clutches you can’t see it. But you aren’t aware of it. Spiritual blindness won’t let you see that.You are enslaved because you can’t confess. There’s been a lot of study on the psychology of enslavement in the last 20 years. People can be enslaved to all sorts of things. We can be enslaved to social media, to pornography, to alcohol, to another person’s opinion us, to our jobs.How is that thing enslaving? Where does its power come from? A massive part of that power over a person is their denial that they’re under it. A big part of being out of control is denying you’re out of control. So the first step to being back in control is to admit you’re not under control.In spiritual terms, the admission, the confession is I am not righteous. I am out of control in my sin.We feel in control when we believe that our performance is the reason we have value.We feel in control when we believe that the things we are doing contribute to our righteousness. That keeps us enslaved to sin.It’s hard for most of us to admit that everything we’ve built our life upon is filthy rags.If we cannot admit; we cannot see. So what’s the solution? We need spiritual sight. Spiritual sight = admission. When a person can’t admit, all they are left with is character assassination, denial and lies. When a person can admit, they confess. But how do we get it?I’m partially color blind but that’s all I’ve ever known. I don’t feel like I’m missing out at all. My world rocks. My wife tells me otherwise.In my case, my colorblindness is a genetic problem. To fix the problem, I’d need to be born again with new genetics.And that’s exactly Jesus’ point here. Your inability to hear truth is because your soul isn’t tuned to the proper spectrum. There’s a wavelength of the heart that is inaccessible.The problem is so radical, so pervasive, so fundamental, so intrinsic to the essence of who we are that we actually need to be born again. We need a new nature. And how do we get that?Do you remember back with Nicodemus? Do you remember the egg?Nicodemus asked Jesus, “How can I be born again? How do I get new DNA so I can be born of God?” The answer is belief. BELIEF IS WHAT GIVES YOU NEW DNA. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.The only way you can actually admit you are a sinner is to realize that all your sin has already been paid for and that you are loved. That’s the gospel. That’s what God is asking you to believe.Let me quote Tozer again.If you believe that God is a slavemaster who will accept you only if you perform, you will never be able to admit that you’re a sinner. Do you see how this mental conception of who God is can set the whole entire course of your life? Is God a slavemaster?No. God wants to relate to you as a father does to a son. Do you believe that Jesus loves you? Do you believe that he knows all your sin? Do you believe that he sent his son to die for that sin?If you believe that truth IT SETS YOU FREE. Free to what? Free to admit failure. Free to admit weakness.If this is your mental conception of God, then it sets the whole entire course of your life in a different direction.Because you are a son, you can admit it. You won’t be cast away. Yes, my condition is very bad. Yes, I was a child of the devil and a slave of sin.But can you believe that in that ugly condition, Jesus did not cast me away?What is the TRUTH? The truth is that Jesus loved me and died in my place. Do you see the gospel?When you believe, that is when the new DNA is given.The new DNA is given when you receive a righteousness that is not your own. When that righteousness is IMPLANTED in your heart.That’s when spiritual sight is given.That implanted RIGHTEOUSNESS will change everything about you.