The All Church Family Spiritual Scripture Decathlon Trivia Challenge Bowl!

Welcome to the All-Church Family, Spiritual Scripture Decathalon Trivia Challenge Bowl! Yeah… Here's the way it's going to work… I'm going to ask you a series of trivia questions. There will be multiple sections. Most of these answers are going to be fill in the blank. Some will have a few answers, some will have more. For each section, I'll tell you how many numbers to put on the side of the page and you put your answer next to the number.

Now - you do not have to put your name on this. I'm not gonna see it and grade it. You're not going to give it to your neighbor to grade, so don't worry about how many you get right or wrong. This is an exhibition, not a competition… please - no wagering. Occasionally I may give you hints or some commentary up here. We're going to reveal the answers and add up all of the points at the END of our little quiz show here. And you may be asking yourself, is there a prize? We will indeed talk about the prize at some point and time during our game. We'll be keeping track of the time remaining for each section and you'll see a clock ticking down behind me and I'll keep you verbally aware of how much time you have left just like the proctors in those college tests who used to make you a nervous wreck when you were writing in those little blue notebooks.

Are you ready? Most of you are in church a decent amount. Some of you grew up in church or Christian schools. Some of you spent a lot of time in Sunday School, Life Groups… maybe you've got your daily reading some daily devotions - let's see how much good they're doing. How much they've prepared you for the All-Church Family Spiritual Scripture Decathlon Trivia Challenge Bowl!

You ready? Here's section one. 12 answers. Starting easy.

Q: Name the 12 disciples.

Jesus picked 12 disciples, we would also call them apostles. They were in the inner circle. Those closest to Jesus. Those present at the Last Supper. Name all twelve.

Some of you are humming a little Sunday School song to yourself right now. "There were twelve disciples Jesus called to help him… (mumble mumble mumble mumble mumble mumble)

We're not counting for spelling.

Make sure you put their last names in there… some of you are laughing. Some of you are just gonna be writing things like Jones… Smith…of Galilee after their first names…

Alright - bonus question for this section -

Write #13 -

Q: Who was the 13th disciple? Who was the replacement disciple?

Name the replacement disciple. There was a reason for this. It wasn't like when Bewitched tried to pull a fast one with the replacement Darren. Name the 13th disciple. It was not Rufus. By the way.

Alright. Next question -

Q: How many books are in the Bible? Name as many as you can

A few of you might have a VBS Animaniacs style song to help you - some may be breaking these down into categories… Some of you may be making stuff up for some of Paul's letters… isn't there an Elopians? Maybe some of you are going deep into the lesser read books of the Old Testament - I'm pretty sure there's like 1 and 2 Philistines…

Alright - speaking of the Old Testament that brings us to our next question -

Q: What are the ten commandments?

You've seen the movie with the tablets, and Charlton Heston… fortunately you don't have to carve them out of stone, you simply have to write them down. Write as many as you remember. You don't get to make up your own… though I would be interested to see what made some of your top 10 lists…

Alright next question - moving to the New Testament for this one.

Jesus listed a bunch of people who are "blessed" in what we've come to call the Beatitudes. Name as many as you can.

Q: List the 8 groups mentioned in the Beatitudes and what they will receive

There are generally considered to be eight of them, though sometimes because of the structure of Matthew 5:10-12, some might say 9.

Jesus listed a bunch of people who are "blessed" in what we've come to call the Beatitudes. Name as many as you can.

Alright - next question. I would suggest just numbering this one as you go along. You're gonna need a couple pages for this one at least - there are 613 laws in Mosaic Law listed in the Torah. 248 affirmatives - "to dos" and 365 negatives "do nots." List as many as you can until the timer ticks down to zero.

Q: List as many of the 613 Mosaic Laws as you can.

Now - there's 613 of them, some of you are going to be busy. Others of you may throw your hands up pretty quickly - which is why if you're out of answers, you can feel free to watch these great moments in Bible history as portrayed by cute cats.

Kitty Moses

Kitty Jericho

Kitty Jonah

Kitty Noah

Kitty Samson and Delilah

Kitty Joseph

Kitty Cain and Abel

I'm gonna throw you an easy one to get you ready again. This is for you music lovers -

Q: Which Beatles song shares part of its title with a book of the Bible?

This is a softball. And

This question is also sponsored by Draft Kings with the special bonus of the day. Right now you can bet your donut from the coffee station outside - will the pastor's wife get this one right? The statisticians have put her at a -125 right now - get your pick in right now - and be sure to use code ADDICTION for a free bonus bet based on what time we'll get out of the service today.

Alright - only two questions left in the All-Church Family, Spiritual Scripture Decathlon Trivia Challenge Bowl!

In the Gospels - Jesus give His followers Fifty Things to do. Fifty commands or requests to follow. Last year during our Fifty Things series we covered thirty of them.

Q: Name as many of the Fifty Things Jesus asked us to do as you can

And finally - the last question - Jesus said that all of the laws and the prophets really could be boiled down to two commands - two things to do. Even if you couldn't remember all fifty, hopefully you remember these two because they are the essence of the Fifty.

Q: What are the two commands that all the laws and demands of the prophets hang on?

And ladies and gentlemen - that ends our All-Church Family, Spiritual Scripture Decathlon Trivia Challenge Bowl!

Are you ready to see how you did?

The first question was "Name the twelve disciples…"

Q: Name the 12 disciples.

There were twelve disciples, Jesus called to help Him -

• Simon (Peter)
• Andrew
• James (Son of Zebedee)
• John (His brother)
• Phillip
• Thomas
• Matthew
• James (the son of Alphaeus)
• Simon (the zealot)
• Thaddeus (Jude/Judas the son of James)
• Judas (Iscariot)
• Bartholomew (Nathanael)

Alright for each one you got right - give yourself zero points. That's right , zero points. So if you got all twelve - 12x zero is ZERO. And you may be saying to yourself, "Josh - what gives? I was racking my brain there. We were going deep into the memory banks - accessing files that are buried on that server. Isn't that worth something? Some of you might be thinking - "hold on - I learned all this in week after week of Sunday School or growing up in Christian or Catholic school - that's gotta count for something." Well - it's interesting. But ultimately - it's trivia. Now, I'm not saying that what these disciples did was trivial. Certainly not. I'm not saying that what we learn through the records of their interactions in the Gospels and the book of Acts and other New Testament books - that that is trivial or worthless. No - that's very important. But being able to name all of the disciples from rote memory - it may help you in a certain Jeopardy category, it may impress the people in your small group, it might help in a game of Trivial Pursuit - but you know what's so much more important than being able to name the disciples? Being a disciple yourself!

The disciples were important because they were DISCIPLES OF JESUS! They were followers of JESUS! You get points for BEING a disciple of Jesus. What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? Well - obviously in the case of the twelve it meant they had special responsibilities - but ultimately it meant following Jesus in every aspect of their lives. Jesus gave the command to His disciples - to the twelve and their group to

go, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.Matthew 28:19-20

We are meant to not just KNOW the disciples - we are meant to BE disciples. What do disciples do? They follow all the commands who gave us? That JESUS gave us. Right. And when we do that - we are honoring and living in the blessings of not just the Son but the Father and the Holy Spirit too. And we can know that they are all with us… even to the end of the age.

Now - how do you know if you're a disciple besides following Jesus' commands? Well - John 13:34-35 tells us that Jesus said

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.John 13:34-35

You check that out? The mark of true discipleship in Jesus is if you LOVE one another. Just as Jesus loved us? How did Jesus love us? Unconditionally. Putting others before Himself. So if you want the points for being a disciple - you need to do your best to love unconditionally. Cause let me tell you, if your love has conditions attached to it… you know, "I'll love you IF you're THIS type of person, not that type of person." I'll love you IF the voices in politics and media tell me to love you, but not if they don't. I'll love you IF I agree with you." Those are all conditions. Do not claim to be a disciple of Christ if you are loving CONDITIONALLY. You may be following SOMEBODY. You may be following a movement or a leader or an ideal - but you are NOT proving to anyone that you are a follower of Christ, a disciple of Christ unless you are loving UNCONDITIONALLY.

Yeah, see the cost of discipleship - according to what Jesus said in Luke 9:23 is self-denial.

Then he said to the crowd, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must GIVE UP YOUR OWN WAY, take up your cross daily, and follow me."Luke 9:23

You may have seen it as "deny yourself" and folks - that's just it. Your way is not Jesus' way. The ways of the world is not Jesus' ways. But I'll tell you, it's been a problem since the days the New Testament were being written and it is a problem today - so often the church - which is supposed to be the total body of believers in Christ - at least big sections of the church - they give up Jesus' way for their own way and they try to stamp Jesus' approval on it. They put his name on things He would never sign off on. And here it is - I"ll just give it to you straight - if your beliefs or your actions aren't something you could picture Jesus doing - then those aren't his ways, those are your ways or the ways of the world that you have MADE your ways and you need to give up your own way, live like Jesus and love people unconditionally if you want to truly be a disciple of Christ - a follower of Christ. Period. Exclamation point. And by the way - the organizations and movements you support - if they are not following Christ, you shouldn't be following them. And I don't care what they say - I don't care how many times they claim to be a Christian. Hitler claimed to be a Christian and used leverage against and within the churches in his rise to power. He said the things the Nazis were doing were God ordained and that God was on their side. As he killed six million of God's chosen people. Saying you're a disciple… wearing a cross, saying you follow Jesus - doesn't make you a disciple. Living like Jesus does. Jesus tells His disciples in John 13:15

I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.John 13:15

Stop selling out Jesus for political power. Stop tying Jesus' kingdom to the kingdoms of the world. And stop supporting people who use Jesus' name in vain - and that's not saying GD or JC, that's slapping Jesus' name on their own very non-Christ like agenda.

But enough commentary. You don't get points for KNOWING the disciples. You get points for KNOWING Jesus. You don't get points for knowing the disciples. You get points for BEING a disciple.

Moving on to question 2 -

Q: Who was the 13th disciple? Who was the replacement disciple?

That would be Matthias. After Judas betrayed Jesus, the disciples came together to appoint another disciple to take Judas' place. And I don't really have a lot of commentary on this except to say - I think it's a good reminder to all of us that even if you find out that someone you thought was serving Jesus wound up actually working against him and betraying him and going into business for themselves - the work of Christ will continue when that person goes away. It will be another true follower of Christ who is blessed and who loves Christ who will carry on the true work of Christ. Jesus knows His true disciples and who's just giving lip service. I wish we were as good at recognizing the same.

So Matthias.

If you got the bonus question - here's how to calculate your points. Give yourself one point for each letter in the name Saint Matthias and then since he's the thirteenth disciple, subtract 13, one for each disciple, from the previous total to arrive at how many points you got for that question.

Alright. Let's keep grading our quizzes here. Er… trivial challenge, I mean… Question three was

Q: How many books are in the Bible? Name as many as you can

Probably a good number of you wrote 66. And maybe you're list looks like this - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts of the Apostles, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, Revelation

And 66 would be ONE of the answers for "How many books are in most Protestant Bibles at the present time." And the list might look like that. But if it was a Catholic Bible, it would be different. There would be more. If it was an Ethiopian Bible, it would be a different number still. If it were the Bibles of the early church - well, they didn't even HAVE the first collection of scriptures as we understand them to be - a 'collection' per se until 400 years after Jesus' death and resurrection. And in the early church, while there were letters circling around from Paul and the apostles and quite frankly, many other people as well, and multiple Gospel accounts, there wasn't generalized consensus until much later. And you may hear apologists with an agenda try to tell you that it was all very theological and scientific and based on consensus between the churches as to which works got added and which were thrown out - but the fact that we don't even have consensus today between denominations and a simple understanding of human nature should tell you that there was more to it than that. There was compromise. There was political pressure. There was leverage. There were ruling powers at these councils at the time were bringing things under a certain worldview to promote the rise of the empire - not just the rise of Christianity. It's true that some works were excluded because we could tell there were issues with authenticity of authorship, or date of authorship, or content that didn't line up historically or theologically - but you know what… we still have all of those today… in the 66 books of the modern Protestant Bible. No - in fact what was the biggest contributor to canon was tradition and political pressure. Now a big part of my job is studying scripture and analyzing and researching and presenting it to you. And I want to be the first to tell you that I love scripture. I do. When it's used correctly. There is value to nearly everything we read in scripture. If we handle it the right way. There is no need to throw out the baby with the bathwater. So how do we handle scripture the right way? Well, there's a famous piece of scripture from 2 Timothy 2:15 that's a good standard to apply to start with. It says -

Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.2 Timothy 2:15

Other translations have

accurately handles the word of truth(NASB)

or

rightly dividing the word of truth(NKJV)

The term here used 'to divide the word of truth' comes from the Greek meaning - "to cut straight." And that's what I aim to do when I'm up here and when I have discussions with you. To cut straight. To give it to you straight. And that means helping us understand the context, the culture, the author, the audience, the purpose of the book, what type of writing it is, and how it fits into the overall message of salvation in Christ. I said that a big part of my job is to study and analyze and research scripture and present it to you - but even more than that - my job is to tell you about Jesus. To get you not to just love scripture, but to love Jesus. To love His commands. To love HIs teachings. To love being in His presence. And so in order to accurately handle the word of truth, we need to read ALL scripture through the lens of Jesus' teachings to us. What does that mean? - Well it means when we go back in the Old Testament and we read barbaric accounts of iron age people believing in God ordained genocide, roughly 1200-1400 years before Jesus shows up, we understand that that doesn't match up with the nature of God the Father as described and revealed and as lived out by Jesus. Jesus said if you've seen Me, then you've seen the Father.

The Father and I are one.John 10:30

Jesus said

The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does His work through me.John 14:10

It means when we see God making a bet with the devil in Job that seriously destroys Job's life and family, we understand that that portrayal is not a 100% accurate representation of God but that that story, that poem - from the wisdom and poetry section of the Old Testament, is in scripture to give us another way to reflect on challenging issues of faith and loyalty in the midst of disaster. When it comes to scripture - the most important job I have is pointing things back to Jesus - He is the WORD of truth. Logos. That through which all comes into existence John 1 -

In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through Him, and nothing was created except through Him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and His life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He came into the very world He created, but the world didn't recognize Him. He came to His own people, and even they rejected Him. But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn - not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. So the Word became human and made His home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen His glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son.John 1:1-14

See, you don't get points for knowing the books of the Bible. You don't even get points for knowing what the Bible says in any one particular place or verse. Because let's face it, verses get used out of context and weaponized for personal or political gain all the time. You get points for understanding the Bible through the lens of Jesus and letting Jesus inform how we interpret scripture instead of letting random scripture inform how we interpret Jesus. When we read scripture through the lens of the love of Christ, that's when all scripture will be "useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives." Even if the very book we read that quote from is ironically most likely an example of pseudepigrapha.

So in case you hadn't figured it out -give yourself zero points for whatever number you put down and give yourself zero points each for all the books you listed. You don't get points for knowing the books of the Bible - you get points for knowing what Jesus wants us to get OUT of those books of the Bible. You don't get points for knowing the words, you get points for knowing THE WORD. Word.

Alright next question -

You're starting to figure this out, I see. So no need to belabor the point. Next question was

Q: What are the ten commandments?

To which a learned response might be - which version? The version that appears in Exodus 20 or the version that appears in Exodus 34 cause they're different. They are not the same commandments. Are we talking the ritual decalogue or the ethical decalogue? Not only are they different commands, but there is yet a third version - a second crack at the ethical decalogue in Deuteronomy 5 - which is updated… which is odd considering the attributed source of the commands - but this is very much updated, more detailed - for a new generation right before they enter the promised land. There's some confusion as to which version constitutes the actual ten commandments. Here's the list of all three side by side.

RITUAL

• No other gods
• No cast idols
• Observe feast of unleavened bread
• Consecrate all firstborn livestock to God
• Redeem the firstborn of your sons
• Do not appear before God empty-handed
• Rest on the seventh day
• Observe the feast of the first fruits of the wheat harvest
• Observe the feast of ingathering
• All males must appear before God three times a year

• (additional ritual instructions within the context of this list:
• Do not sacrifice blood with leavened bread
• Do not let the Passover sacrifice remain until morning
• Bring the best of the first fruits to the temple
• Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk
• Do not intermarry or make pacts with local inhabitants)

ETHICAL

• No other gods
• No idols
• Do not misuse God's name
• Keep the Sabbath (in accord with the creation account)
• Honor parents
• Do not murder
• Do not commit adultery
• Do not steal
• Do not bear false witness
• Do not covet

REVISED

• No other gods
• No idols
• Do not take the Lord's name in vain
• Observe the Sabbath, Keep it holy (in remembrance of exodus from Egypt)
• Honor parents (blessing is added)
• Do not murder
• Do not commit adultery
• Do not steal
• Do not bear false witness
• Do not covet (separating neighbor's wife from his house/property in the list)

Heck, there's even differences between modern religious traditions as to how the commandments are listed - some are combined, some are separate - depends on if you're Catholic or Protestant or Jewish. In reality - the original phraseology was not even the Ten Commandments - it was The Ten sayings, or The ten matters… or even The ten words. The Geneva Bible translation I believe is the first whose naming convention was "The Ten Commandments. Well, there's so much confusion over what constitutes the actual ten commandments - that I can't give any points out for knowing the ten commandments. And the truth is - you don't get points for knowing the ten commandments - I'd be tempted to keep up the theme we've got going and say "you get points for keeping the ten commandments." But in this particular case - I think that's too simplistic to say.

In the Gospels, Jesus doesn't take the time to teach the Ten Commandments. Now He has stuff to say about most of them. He references what they are getting at. But when Jesus has everybody assembled - these great throngs on the mountains, on the plains, instead of reinforcing the ten commandments and making sure "Alright. You all get these down. You teach them to your kids. You put em on the walls of your Hebrew schools." Jesus didn't give a list of do nots. He gave a list of dos, a list of inner attributes. And a list of blessings to go with them. We know them now as the Beatitudes. And that was our next question

Q: List the 8 groups mentioned in the Beatitudes and what they will receive

This is what Jesus taught- this is what Jesus thought was worthy of sharing with the biggest audiences that He had -

• God blesses the poor in spirit, for their's is the kingdom of heaven

By the way - does anyone know what the poor in Spirit means? It's not those who are struggling necessarily, I think that's what a lot of us take it to mean. People who are downtrodden. No. I think the best translation I've heard of this passage comes from the Amplified Bible - "Blessed [spiritually prosperous, happy, to be admired] are the poor in spirit [those devoid of spiritual arrogance, those who regard themselves as insignificant], for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven [both now and forever]

See - the Gospels are full of Jesus' interactions with the spiritually arrogant. With those who think their stuff doesn't stink. With those who think they get a pass or are spiritually puffed up because they keep the commandments, they keep the law. And the first thing Jesus says is blessed are those who are DEVOID of spiritual arrogance. I'll tell you right now, the reason why a lot of people are missing out on the love of Christ TODAY is because they are met with the arrogance of spiritual certainty and pride and quite frankly ignorance masquerading as authority - political, religious, spiritual and otherwise.

Here's the rest of the Beatitudes -

2. Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

3. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. (Regardless of whatever conclusions Ian Malcolm and Ellie Sattler come to)

4. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

5. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy

6. Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.

7. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.

8. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

That's what Jesus was concerned about getting across. Give yourself one point for each of those beatitudes that you consistently embody. If you are devoid of spiritual arrogance. Hard, right… maybe 95% devoid of it? Give yourself one point if you mourn or if you are a comforter. If you are merciful, give yourself a point. If you are a peacemaker give yourself a point. And here is a salient point in this day and age - "peacemaker" does not mean someone who shuts their mouth to keep the peace or avoid political heat. A peacemaker is not someone who tries to "both-sides" things. The peace that Jesus repeatedly asks His disciples to establish is not some sort of spiritual tranquilizer. It involves bringing the Kingdom to Earth - through our actions, through our choices, with our voices, with our votes. This is not just a peace where we go "Well the world is going to hell, but I have inner peace." Nuh-uh. We are called to establish peace not only in our own hearts but in society itself. When Peter was preaching against what religious and political leaders were saying in Acts chapter 5 and instead proclaiming freedom in the name of Jesus, the council and the high priest confronted Peter said

"We must obey God rather than any human authority.Acts 5:28-29

And I guess that's where the rubber meets the road doesn't it? If we're seeing behavior, policies, actions, attitudes, laws, lawlessness, even cowardice that doesn't line up with what Jesus says and what Jesus would want for all of the people who He came to save… the whole world - then we need to obey God rather than any human authority and be peacemakers that work for peace and strive for peace and struggle for peace and show mercy. To bring the Kingdom of God HERE. And if we are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, well then - ours IS the Kingdom of Heaven as demonstrated by our own Savior, Jesus Christ.

So give yourself a point for each of the Beatitudes that you own a piece of and here's the good news - if you didn't get a point… if you missed out on some of these points - you can still get to go outside the walls of this church and earn them. Be blessed. And be a blessing.

And this brings us to our next question - lets see how we did with

Q: List as many of the 613 Mosaic Laws as you can.

How many of you took the easy route and at least transferred some of your ten commandments answers down to this one? Yeah - 613 Mosaic Laws for a total possible score of zero points in this section. 613 x zero is still zero. But why, Josh? Well, a couple of reasons… first - the law wasn't written for all people for all time. It was an expression of a covenant that ancient Israelites entered into in the iron age. Secondly, that covenant - is expired. Jesus established a new covenant with the entire world - as Jesus said during the last supper -

This is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and His people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many.Matthew 26:28

Knowing the Mosaic law is worth zero points in this exercise because you're not under it. We never were. And even those who were technically under it in ancient times moved from the law to a covenant of grace. An outpouring of grace and forgiveness from God Himself through the person of Jesus Christ, His Son. The law does not save. The law brings pain and sorrow. As the apostle Paul writes in Galatians 3

But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under His curse, for the Scriptures say, "Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey ALL the commands that are written in God's Book of the Law." So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, "It is through faith that a righteous person has life." This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, "It is through obeying the law that a person has life." But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law.Galatians 3:10-13

The law brings a curse. Jesus brings life. Grace brings life. Mercy brings life. Here's the other problem with the law - people misuse it all the time. They go back to the Old Testament Mosaic Law which DOES NOT APPLY to us - never did, but they want to make it apply to all people - so they take verses out of context - or they pick one part of the law to make their point about someone they don't like or a behavior they don't like or whatever is getting their goat at the moment. And they either lie or they're misinformed and they give this little song and dance about how the Mosaic Law was broken into three parts - ceremonial, civil and moral and that under the new covenant, ceremonial law, ritual law like the food laws and dietary restrictions and clothing restrictions well they went away, and civil law that was just meant for the Israelites - presumable if the Israelites had speed limits or tax laws - they wouldn't apply. But oh - the moral law still applies. And conveniently whatever they are against, the moral law prohibits and whatever they are for, the moral law allows. First of all - there's no such designation. Not anywhere in the Torah. Moral laws and ceremonial laws and civil laws, they all occupy the same sections. There's overlap. And what is obeying the Sabbath? Keeping it holy? Is that ceremonial? Is it civil? Because there's civil penalties for NOT observing the Sabbath. It's to honor God and technically it was part of the Ten Commandments that Moses said came from God, and technically disobeying God would be morally wrong… so which is it? That's not the only law you can do that with. And people who want us to somehow ascribe to moral law - Old Testament law - you're literally ignoring THE WHOLE LAW curse that Paul was talking about. You cannot have your cake and eat it too - but even if you could, I don't think you know all the laws that you're claiming are moral - laws against marrying gentiles, the unfair penalties against women for things like adultery that aren't visited on the men. Not to have intercourse during the menstrual period, not to make loans with interest or borrow on interest, that rapists need to marry their victim under the law… we could keep going.

And the point is that the law of Moses as recorded in the Old Testament obviously doesn't line up with the law of love that Jesus taught. We're not sure as to all of the origins of all 613 Mosaic laws… when they were added, who wrote them, why they were written… but we can look at them and as with much scripture from that time period we can say - this was the understanding of an ancient people and their understanding of what they thought mattered to God. This was based on their limited understanding of God at the time. But clearly by the time Jesus shows up on the scene, He changes a lot of that understanding. And the biggest argument thrown back at this statement is - "Well, Jesus didn't come to abolish the law, He came to fulfill it." That's Jesus' own words. Yes. They are. Matthew 5:17

I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.Matthew 5:17

But all you have to do is read the Gospels to see that Jesus does not always keep the Mosaic law. Nor do His disciples. And He takes the Pharisees to task for some of the laws that are written and how they are enforced. Make no mistake, Jesus was killed because He was not keeping the laws - He was a blasphemer in the eyes of the Pharisees who interpreted and enforced the laws. He was a threat to their power and authority. When Jesus came to fulfill the purpose of the law - He wasn't signing off wholesale on keeping certain laws and abolishing others. He wasn't signing off on all 613 as being representative of the nature of God. And He didn't keep all 613 to the letter nor did He encourage His disciples to either. When Jesus came to fulfill the PURPOSE of the law, He was taking what at the heart of all of these commands and laws and fulfilling them with His life and love and what He was teaching us to do.

And Jesus doesn't give us 613 commands. In fact, He doesn't really every give us a list so to speak. But we can make a list out of His teachings contained in the Gospels.

But more on that in a second -

This is when we got to halftime. You guys want points for doing the Macarena? I don't know if Im gonna give points for that, but I want to make a point. The Macarena by Los Del Rio. 1993. Song is 33 years old. It became a breakout beloved cultural phenomenon a couple of years later and spent 14 weeks at #1 on the Billboard charts. I was at Dodger Stadium the night they were trying to break the record for most people doing the Macarena at one time in one place. Elayne Boosler was there leading the dance. 50,000 plus Americans coming together and dancing to the Macarena. And people loved it. Ate it up. How many people can translate what it says? How many people here know all the words? But we all loved it. We did the dance. Stadium after stadium. Party after party. Everybody doing the Macarena. Sung in Spanish. And most of us don't know the words.

What happened… in the last thirty years, that we as a country had no problem singing this song en masse…our kids doing the dance - my kid knows the dance… she wasn't even alive back then. But there was this big huge controversy in certain circles - because the Super Bowl halftime show had a singer singing songs in Spanish.

And I see it - oh I see some of you leaning forward and I see some tension. He's not gonna do it. He's not gonna get political is he? No. I'm not here to get political. I'm here to say KEEP YOUR POLITICS OUT OF CHRISTIANITY. Politics and Christianity are not like Peanut Butter and Chocolate. They are not two great tastes that go great together. Please keep your partisan, human politics away from my Jesus.

And more than that - you should let your Christianity influence your politics and not the other way around. Here's why I get to say something about this. Because there are organizations that very much lean heavily in a certain direction politically but they attach Jesus' name to their movement. They have infiltrated churches and with propaganda have cleverly convinced you that their way is Jesus' way. And so imagine my confusion - when the Trinity Broadcasting Network - which buy the way, pretty much culturally irrelevant these days, but still - the Trinity Broadcast Network holds an alternative Super Bowl halftime show that is more in line with Family Values. And because it is hosted on the Trinity Broadcasting Network and many prominent Christian media sellouts to political movements say "This is good. This is Godly and Family oriented over here. Bad Bunny he's not." We've got a bunch of Christians thinking that somehow Jesus is signing off on Kid Rock. Kid Rock?!?!

You don't get it Josh - we don't understand a word he's saying. The Super Bowl should be in American. The Super Bowl is broadcast worldwide. It has a global audience. The NFL has been trying to expand into other countries and laying the groundwork for years. The NFL is a private organization, not an arm of the state or a religious institution. You can't understand what he's saying - this is the problem?

I don't think so… because on the Family Values halftime show Kid Rock sand "Bad Wit Da Ba Di Bang Di Bang Diggy Diggy Diggy Set the Boogie Set Up Drop The Boogie." That's not even a real language and Id bet dollars to donuts - no one can tell me what that means. Its not about language. It's not about understanding what people are saying. You can't tell me that if the ghost of Richie Valens came out and sang La Bamba at next year's halftime show you would have any problem with it except that political mouthpieces with an agenda told you to.

Oh Josh - you don't get it. It's about content. Bad Bunny's content. Whoa. His songs contain references to sex! Okay. Which were edited out of the Super Bowl broadcast because it's for a wider family audience. And certainly Baw Wit Da Bad was also shortened on the Family Values Halftime Special - but can I give you some lyrics from Ba Wit Da Ba?

Quote: "This is for the questions that don't have any answers, the midnight glancers and the topless dancers… The G's with the 40's and the chicks with beepers (and if I have to explain that to you, you probably haven't watched enough episodes of cops) the Northern Lights and the Southern Comfort and it don't even matter if their veins are punctured - all the crackheads, the critics, the cynics and all my heroes in the Methadone clinics. All you bastards at the IRS for the crooked cops and the cluttered desks For the shots of Jack and the caps of Meth, For the hookers all tricking' out in Hollywood…. All the gangs gettin' money in the heads they bang-bang, wild mustangs, the porno flicks all my homies in the county in cell block 6.

Okay - that's Baw Wit Da Ba… opening song of the Family Values halftime show. Now. I bring this to your attention to go - "whoa. Something ain't right here." Now I'm not trying to make you feel guilty for listening to Kid Rock. Okay - I did back in the day - granted, I was in my early 20's and hopped up on Mountain Dew Code Red and way too much testosterone. Okay - but this is not to make you feel guilty for listening to Kid Rock or Bad Bunny. You can listen to Kid Rock and the sleazy, criminal underbelly and poor life choices he talks about just like you can watch Goodfellas about violent crime syndicates - guilt free. I'm not gonna tell you what to listen to or not listen to, or watch and not watch, I'm gonna leave that between you and the Holy Spirit. I'll tell you something that I heard at a Youth Pastor's conference in my first year on the job - "All music is Christian music. Every song is about how close the singer or the character the singer is portraying it's about how close they are to Jesus or how far away from Jesus they are. And it's telling that experience and that story." It's our job as Christians to take art and redeem it and use it to bring people to Jesus. So no guilt. But speaking of youth pastoring my first year - if I had played that song for our youth group kids - the head pastor at the time would've fired me. And yet - this song is on the Family Values ALTERNATIVE halftime show… on the Christian Trinity Broadcasting Network… the same network who warned me about the imaginary hidden backwards messages on my record albums. The same ones who had guys on their network scaring us about rock recording artists saying "they sold their soul for rock n roll." This same network- Look, I disagree with a lot of that nonsense, but let's face facts… "who sold their souls?" Who sold out?

It's about the dancing… whoa that provocative dancing… first of all - I'm begging you, go watch some Kid Rock videos. Tell me how the women are dancing on those videos. Secondly, it was pretty much no different than what the cheerleaders for 32 NFL teams do at every other NFL game for 18 weeks straight. So don't… that's not the issue.

It's not about content. And it's not about role models. Because why in God's name would the Family Values show on Trinity Broadcasting Network have as their main draw a guy who sang these lines in one of his songs? - "young, ladies, young ladies, I like 'em underage, see. Some say that's statutory, but I say it's mandatory." Particularly salient considering the 3 million docs that have been recently released. And if you're complaining about singers at halftime shows being vulgar or not representing family values - I'm begging you, I'm begging you to go read the lyrics to Kid Rock's Cowboy.

Why am I doing this… because the hypocrisy is just "mwah" chef's kiss hypocrisy. And I'm not saying that there weren't positives on the Family Values Alternative Halftime Show, but there were definitely positives during the Super Bowl Halftime Show too. It was a message of unity. The only English words spoken were "God Bless America." And the big screen in the stadium displayed the message "The only thing stronger than hate is love."

You gotta ask yourself… are these really the issues? These are the talking points that these political pundits are using to get you mad and ramped up and riled up about an Un-American halftime show… is it really about all of those things… or is it because a group of people have decided that this artist represents "the other" and is not worthy of recognition or love or respect? Or is it because this particular artist criticized the political regime that props up these fake-Christian movements going back to when hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico? Things that make you go hmmmm.

Listen - hey, my kingdom is not of this world. Neither is Jesus' - I'm not really concerned about an American halftime show, But I'm concerned about uniting the kingdom. And I'm concerned about unity. Some of you who are particularly concerned about the End Times and Revelation - focusing on the destruction and the mark of the beast and four horseman of the apocalypse - are you also familiar with Revelation 5:9 that mentions that says that Jesus blood

your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God.Revelation 5:9

Do you remember Revelation 7:9 where it says

I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a great roar, "Salvation comes from our God who sits on the the throne and from the Lamb!Revelation 7:9

That is multi-cultural, multi-lingual praise.You think the Americans in the crowd turned to those speaking other languages and said "we're gonna have our own celebration over here because we don't understand you?"

See Jesus promoted unity. Harmony. Equality. Salvation and cooperation between all nations and tribes. Acceptance. Not segregation. Not separation. One Kingdom of God. And if we don't promote that Kingdom here with our actions, with understanding, with unity, with an attempt to harmonize our diversity in the name of the love of Jesus - putting others before ourselves, not thinking we're important Or the be all end all… then why would we think we have a place in that Kingdom to come?

I say all this once again to reiterate - that there are several groups of political invaders into Christianity - from all sides. Who will twist the words of Jesus, who will co-opt the name of Jesus and use it in vain to get you to feel and do things that Jesus would never want you to feel or do - to exclude or hate people that Jesus would never want you to hate or exclude, to sign off on and approve of behaviors and actions that Jesus would never approve of and they will get in the church and derail it from something Jesus would recognize and if they can't do that, they will get in your head and lead you away and astray from the teachings and love of Jesus simply because a group of people have their own agenda and want power and money and they'll use you to get it and sell out the church and the neighbors we're supposed to love without a second thought. And if I'm being honest, political propaganda has some of you by the chonies. And it's time to stop listening to these voices that divide, and listen to Jesus instead.

Halftime over -

Let's move the chain.

Remember the first question after halftime? It was an easy one. Palate cleanser -

Q: Which Beatles song shares part of its title with a book of the Bible?

And the answer is? Hey JUDE. Yes. No points for Jude. But anybody know what the book of Jude is about? It's a letter written by the brother of Jesus to urge Christians to "contend for the faith" against false teachers who had infiltrated the church and were causing divisions amongst it. Just sayin'. 4D chess…

Alright - the next question was

Q: Name as many of the Fifty Things Jesus asked us to do as you can

Here's the list as it stands so far…in the Gospels Jesus gives fifty commands or requests to His followers. Fifty things that we should do as His followers. Instead of worrying about all this trivial stuff and distractions and political intrusions - these are the things we need to concentrate on - from the mouth of Jesus Himself.

Here's the thirty that we've covered so far last year… and if you want the next twenty - well, you could read the Gospels and complete the list on your own. I highly encourage you to read the Gospels of Jesus. Or you could also come on Sunday mornings starting next week as we cover the last twenty on the list. Or you could do both. But the last question that was part of the quiz - well, it's kind of a spoiler. Even if we can't remember all fifty things by rote memory, and I hope that we do. I hope we live them out that they all just become second nature. If we can't list them out, at least we LIVE them out.

Q: What are the two commands that all the laws and demands of the prophets hang on?

In Matthew 22 a religious leader asks Jesus

Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?" Jesus replied, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.Matthew 22:36-40

It all boils down to Love God and Love People. That's our motto here at SeaCoast Church. Everything that God wants from you. Everything that Jesus asks from you - if you are loving God and loving people - not being a hypocrite, not just saying you love people or God but truly living in a way that demonstrates that - loving as you would like to be loved, treating others as you would like to be treated - then you are a disciple, a Christ follower, you are blessed and you are forwarding the Kingdom here on earth.

By now I'm sure you've come to the conclusion that this was indeed a message not-so-cleverly disguised as a Game Night. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you were challenged by it. I hope it made you think. I hope it makes you talk to Jesus about a lot of things in your prayers. Examine your actions. Examine some of the influencers in our lives and how much influence they have. But I don't want to play games here. I mean, game nights are great - but now you see why they don't invite me to play Pictionary… but I don't want political games and divisive games and games of power and influence in SeaCoast Church. I don't want us to be political. I want us to be unified in the name of Jesus. Leave the politics and the spiritual arrogance behind and let's just be a church that Loves God and Loves People - not just when we're together - but when we're apart in our daily lives too.

I'll wrap up by asking you one more question. And it's the most important question. Not trivial at all.

Q: Do you call Jesus Lord?

Do you know Jesus as your personal Savior? Jesus came to bring us eternal life when we leave this world and give us abundant life while we're here. You're not gonna find those things on cable news channels, in angry emails, in divisive forums. You're not gonna find the fulfillment of Christ from money or power or status. You're gonna experience abundant life when you experience the love of Christ and you turn that love out to Love God and Love People.

Fifty Things returns next week. I hope you'll be here. I hope you'll bring a friend. Until next time, Go now in the way of Jesus - unmoved by the noise that manipulates, unshaken by the voices that divide. May you recognize the Shepherd's voice above the shouting crowds - choosing truth over outrage and love over fear. God bless you! Have a great week!