I Am - The Door

well good morning did anybody gain five pounds this morning just walking through the forer to get here into church okay if you think you gained it by smelling it wait till afterwards and you get to enjoy our sweet Sunday um our goal is for you to gain 5 to 10 pounds before you leave here today so we're going to make sure that happens listen it has been a busy busy weekend here at South Sub Church friday night we had our recck room anybody get to attend our recck room this past Friday night was it not amazing wow we had in case you didn't make it there was over 350 people that attended to watch it there was over a hundred orchestra and band and and choir up here it was an amazing amazing night and I went home and I told Stuart this like recreum type of music is not exactly the type of music that I turn my dial on the radio and um try to listen to i don't think I've ever been more blessed and felt more worship than what we did Friday night just the creativity that God has given people absolutely so for Steuart and Kyle Beckham production everyone that participated thank you for leading our church in a time of worship so that was an amazing time Friday night now we have sweet Sunday today and there's six tops six stops you can make out there to get some candy and get your just good sugary fix it is not for kids only okay it is for all of us to have a great time there um but then here's the other thing good news too we get to come together in worship we get to have the word of God and so I am looking forward to as we continue our I am series today you know I was thinking back this past week of just different like family memories and if I have to go back in my mind back when my kids are like fourth and fifth grade there is a memory and it's one of those memories that actually it takes about 10 or 15 years away from it before you can actually think back and enjoy and laugh at it because at the moment it was just one of those things you're going if I could sell my kids on the black market today I would do it and here's what happened my kids were fourth and fifth grade and they were upstairs getting ready we had a a bathroom upstairs for the kids they had to share like two sinks and they had to be in the same bathroom so I'm getting the kids i'm downstairs getting things ready for their school and I hear this blood curdling scream from my daughter one of those blood curdling screams that you're thinking "Oh my gosh something's really wrong with her." And she comes running down and she's going and she's just yelling "Daddy Jordan hit me jordan hit me." Now my blood pressure shot straight up because we had one rule in our family and that is the kids could scream at each other they could yell at each other but they could never lay a hand and hit one another so I knew my son had just had had just committed the unpardonable sin he hit her so my blood pressure went up my safety protection mode went in to take care of my daughter right behind her was my son coming down as she's screaming "Daddy he hit me he hit me." And he goes "But dad dad." And I started to shut him up and he said "But she licked me." Now there's a moment had to pause there for a second okay like we had a rule against hitting but no rule against licking so as I sat him down I tried to referee the two kids together here's what I found out they were upstairs getting ready and I guess one crossed the imaginary line on the Jack and Jill sink and made the other one mad and so Alex knew in her anger she couldn't hit him she knew on the five love languages of that we have and touch is one of them like touch was like number 10 on my son's list especially from his sister and so he didn't have a shirt on as he's getting ready and she just licked over leaned over and just licked his shoulder okay now there was this moment as a parent what do I do he broke the rule but as I discovered the story behind the story it all made sense and so you know what I did as a wise parent i punished him a little bit but then after I punished him in private I high-fived him and said "Son I would have done the same thing as well." Okay but it took me knowing the story behind the story before I realized what was going on to understand the current situation now hopefully you've not had to referee referee your kids from licking one of the siblings like that but I'm sure all of us have have had to referee our kids but whether it's raising kids whether it is on the job whether it is just in any situation we've all found ourselves is you're angry and mad and you don't understand it you think you do but you don't until you hear the story behind the story and then when you hear that backstory it gives clarity to what's going on um if you've joined us today for the first time in a few weeks we did start this brand new series called the I am series and there are seven times in the New Testament the book of the Gospel of John that Jesus makes these statements I am and he fills in the blank with a different word and so we're been in this series and we're studying these different I am series the first week that we did it we saw he says I am the bread of life the next week he says I am the light of the world and today we're going to look at the third time the third declaration when Jesus says,"I am." And he fills in the blank but this particular I am moment in his life you have to understand the story behind the story to better understand why he said and what he said in this particular I am statement so if you have your Bibles it's going to be in your p your hand out there or we'll have it on the screen let's just read in the book of John chapter 10 and I'm going to start in verse one and here's what it says truly truly I say to you he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door if you're circling things on your handout you can circle the word door because that's where we're going to come back to he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way that man is a thief and a robber but he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep to him the gatekeeper opens the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and he leads them out when he has brought out all on his own he goes before them and the sheep follow him and they know his voice a stranger they will not follow but they will flee from him for they do not know the voice of the strangers and the figure of speech Jesus used was with or the figure of speech Jesus used with them but they did not understand what he was saying to them and then verse seven so Jesus again said to them "Truly truly I say to you I am the door of the sheep." And so all those that were listening and his main congregation or his main group that were listening were a bunch of Pharisees a bunch of religious leaders but I'm sure there's other people listening as well but as he shared this story shared this this way of teaching to people talking about the sheep and the sheep door and all that goes with it they understood exactly what he was talking about because they were familiar with the environment that he was setting up he they were familiar with the context of of of the sheep and the doors and the gates and all that go with it now you and I don't because we don't usually take care of sheep in our backyard so let me kind of give you a visual picture of what he was describing here he would have been describing this village and and in those days many times in a small village there everyone had different sheep three or four or five sheep usually not large herds in these small villages and so somebody from the family usually a younger family member would have been assigned to take care of these three or four or five sheep and they would take them out during the day but because they weren't out more in pastures with large herds these individual families whoever was taking care of the sheep would bring them back into the village but the sheep would need someplace to stay to be protected and to be safe overnight and so many times in these small villages there would be usually what we might refer to as a community sheep pin there would be a place that the community had built and each family each little shepherd from every family would bring their three or four or five sheep into that community pin and oftentimes they would hire somebody the town would pitch in together and they would hire somebody that would stay at the door or the gate of that sheep pin throughout the whole night now this sheep pin to make sure the sheep stayed safe usually was about six six and 1/2 ft tall many times they would take thorns and wrap them together and put them on the top ledge of this sheep pin on top of this wall that way nothing could get in to get them but the real protection was the door that was the way in and out and so as Jesus made this description set up this visual picture he says "I am the door." But let me tell you a little bit more because just like my own personal illustration about my family you have to know the story behind the story to even understand more what Jesus was trying to say and who he was trying to communicate when he said "I am the door." This is chapter 10 right here but if you go back and read chapter nine it's all part of the same conversation the same going ons that was taking place and so if you go back and read chapter nine here's what took place that Jesus was walking through a town one day and he saw a blind man and the Bible lets us know that this particular blind man that's talked about in John chapter nine was born blind from birth now that may not mean a lot to us but back in those days it meant a lot it meant he was an outcast it meant he was shunned by many many people and one of the reasons he was shunned is because it was thought during those days that if a person was born with some kind of disability such as being blind then his parents must have sinned in such a way that caused God to punish them by making their child be born with this whatever disability and so this man was born blind and so you can imagine his whole life he was shunned not just by the community he was actually shunned by the religious community because as he walked in they're going "Oh you're him you're the one whose parents must have did something wrong who sinned and that's why you're blind." And so there was just kind of a push back they'd experienced his whole entire life so in the book of John chapter nine Jesus walks and he sees the man one day now there's some real good rich details that go back this afternoon and read John chapter nine but basically here's what happened jesus walked up and up to him and said 'Would you like to be healed and he reached down and the Bible lets us know that Jesus healed the man a man that had spent his whole life blind had spent his whole life as an outcast not just in society but even in the religious circles a man that had spent his whole life just to get by he had to stand on the corner and beg for money because of his disability all of a sudden he was healed just like this and after his healing he went before the Pharisees the religious leaders and they looked at him and said "What happened to you?" He's going "There's this man named Jesus and he healed me." And at that point the religious leaders the Pharisees weren't too crazy about this man named Jesus so they began to push back not just at the one who healed the blind man they even pushed back at the blind man who was for his whole life could never see and now he can see and they begin just to become very agitated and really push back and reject if this blind man who was blind but now can see if he felt like his whole life he was the outcast the religious leaders those that you would think would welcome him and praise God for the miracle that took place they made him even more of an outcast at that moment than even before he regained his sight and no doubt Jesus is kind of watching this from the side because in John chapter nine the man comes back to Jesus and they have this conversation and the conversation took more took place more than just his visual sight it took place about his spiritual sight and it was in that conversation that the man stepped towards Jesus in spiritual faith and Jesus welcomed it in the ironic thing is here is Jesus welcoming this blind man in to the fold but the Pharisees and the religious leaders they had built up a wall to keep him out of the spiritual fold they had their own expectations they had their own agendas they had everything they wanted to take place and so as the man stepped in back into the spiritual community not just the blind man but a man who can see they built this wall and said "You're no longer here." In fact if you read John chapter nine it says "And they kicked him out of the synagogue." And when they kicked him out of the synagogue it was more than just saying "Hey could you please leave the door and go out in the parking lot?" When they kicked him out of the synagogue that meant you have no place within the spiritual community that we call home so they were building walls but Jesus as he healed him was creating doors and so in this moment when Jesus is is talking about this sheepfold what he's doing is he's actually setting up a conversation to and about the Pharisees about their actions about their response about their lack of welcoming someone who's broken into their fold and he's saying this is who they are in fact as you look that passage we read he said "There are those that are thieves that come to steal kill and destroy." He never said "And the Pharisees are those people." But he allowed the people that are listening to interpret who's who in this whole conversation but the culmination the climax of his conversation is when he stood before the Pharisees who are in their high judgmental attitude he stood before the blind man who was once blind that can now see and then anybody else that was listening and he made the declaration the third I am he says,"I am the door." A couple things taking place when he said that first of all unlike all the other declarations the I ams we've talked about and the ones we'll look at he is saying this one i am God i am God i am the son of God i am the way to God you're going to come through me to get to God and so he was placing himself in this place where they could see who he was you see up to this point in his ministry he's not walking out going "Everybody turn to me because I'm the son of God." He's in a way cloaking it behind what he's saying and what he's doing in his miracles and his teaching but he's coming to the point going "It's time for people to know i don't come to represent God i am God." And in that I am the door let's think about this together if you're taking notes you can fill in some of these blanks as he claimed himself to be the door there are some implications that we can understand about about Jesus when he said that and here's the first one the door provides safety when Jesus claimed himself to be the door he's going and I am safe imagine with me that you were looking for a new home and I was your realtor and you're going "I'm looking for my dream home i'm looking for my dream neighborhood this is where I'm going to spend the rest of my life." And so you come to me and went "Hey I'm a great realtor let me take you on a journey we will find you the perfect home." So we look at several homes and finally I understand what you're looking for i'm going I think I've got the perfect place for you the perfect home and I take you and as we drive down the street you get goosebumps because just as you look at the neighborhoods you look at the other homes you look at the people out in the neighborhoods you're going "This is the neighborhood I've always dreamed of." And as we get closer and closer you can see the for sale sign in the yard of the house that we're going to and as we get closer and you're seeing the outside of this house you're going "Oh my goodness if I could have gone to a real estate magazine and picked out the look of a house this is it." Like you're going "This is it this is it." You walk inside the house and everything about it the kitchen the way it's laid out the way the living living room is laid out the the way that the master bedroom's over here and everybody else is way over there like this is the perfect house and as you finish touring the house I sit down with you as the real estate agent going "What you think?" And you just went on and on and on about this house the perfect house the house you've been always dreaming of looking for but you said "But I have one question when we walked in there's no front door like it's not like the front door is open there's just no door and then I look at you going "Yeah this is a little bit different house." In fact you need to know this hoa doesn't allow front doors on houses so it's not like something you can buy and we can try to negotiate you just don't get a door you never can have a door in this house i guarantee if you went and sat back down whoever you're buying the house with you're going "Should we buy this house?" What would the answer be absolutely no because you wouldn't feel safe like no matter what the neighborhood is we are built we are made we are inclined to say if there's not a door this place is not safe the door provides safety and here's what we need to understand the door provides safety for what's out there but it also provides safety for what's in there you see I have a front door you have a front door we even put a lock on our doors because we want to make sure nothing or no one who's not supposed to come into the house will ever get in the house that makes sense to all of us but have you also thought how important it is for those things inside the house not to get out some of you have pets why do you shut the door because you love that pet more than you love the people in the house and you got to make sure that pet stays safe if you have small kids or grandkids that visit you or great grandkids you want to make sure that nothing inside the house can get out because then it would no longer be safe and when Jesus says "I am the door." And he used the illustration that many times there'd be this hired hand and he was the door but there would be somebody a hired hand at the door to make sure that door only lets those that are supposed to get in in and those who are supposed to get out get out jesus says "I give you safety not just from what might come get you watch this church he goes "I am the door because I I provide you safety from yourself." Man I am glad that Jesus is a door of my life and keeps me safe for myself i guarantee with Jesus I'm a better husband with Jesus I'm a better father with Jesus I'm a better fill in the blank what it is because he puts himself in me and I understand what it means to look and be like Jesus and Jesus was making this this whole conversation to the Pharisees going "You don't provide safety for anybody like you rejected this man you put him outside the door he couldn't even get into the very God that you think you're supposed to represent because you provide no safety." And Jesus said "Contrasting to the religious people I provide safety." Look at else what it says the door if you're taking notes you can write this down the door guarantees life the door guarantees life and there's really you can look at life two different ways the first way you can look at the life is this the door guarantees eternal life the door guarantees eternal life and the second way that the door guarantees life is the door um allows the door guarantees abundant life not just eternal life but abundant life when Jesus was declaring I am God he was making a declarative declarative statement and he's going listen the way to God is through me you can't go around me you can't go under me you can't go find your other way it is through me i am the way to eternal life you don't have to earn it through me you just got to believe in me and that's eternal life but Jesus says "I have come to give you more than just etern eternal life." And he says there at the end of it John 10:10 "I've come to give you abundant life i've come to fill you i've come to give you i've come to bless you." And it doesn't mean Jesus is here for us so we can get all the biggest houses that we want the nicest cars that we want there is times that he will financially materialistically bless us but his blessings is way beyond things in this earth he gives us an unconditional love he gives us unconditional forgiveness he gives us unconditional acceptance here's the Pharisees they're going "You might have been blind but now you see but you're still not one of us we're still not ready to welcome you in." Jesus looks at the man and says "Even before you were able to see I came to you." See the Bible says go back and read John chapter nine the Bible doesn't say in and the man groped around in darkness in his blindness trying to find Jesus john chapter nine says this and Jesus came to him unconditional acceptance unconditional forgiveness unconditional put in the blank there that's what Jesus offers that's his abundant life to us he didn't come to save us and us just have to sit there like stick in the muds the rest of our lives i'm a firm believer that we ought to as followers of Jesus we ought to enjoy life more than anybody else somebody might ask on a church why would you do on a Sunday do something like sweet Sunday if we can't come to church and have fun then we probably ought probably ought to come to church now we come to worship right like sweet Sunday all the sugary good stuff is not the priority of what we do but because Jesus fills us shouldn't we be on a sugar high if you want to call it that for all of our lives like shouldn't we come and going if we can't come to church with those that we call our family and if we can't come and just have a good time what are you coming for but the good time is not because we got candy the good time is because we have Jesus he didn't say "I give you candy so you can have abundant life." He says "I come for you to have life and have it more abundantly." Look at the third thing here the third one says "The door allows freedom." The door allows freedom see we think a door keeps you locked in the only door that keeps you locked in is a cell jail door but all other doors are designed and meant for you to come in and go out in fact it says those in verses jesus said this "If anyone enters by me he will be saved." So you come into the door you will be saved eternal life and will go in and out and find pasture those sheep that are in that sheepfold in that within that village there they are safe at night but if they spent the rest of their lives in that sheep pin they would go crazy like as I drive through Denver and I see these great dog parks we have they're awesome but you give a dog a choice to go in or be able to go in and out they get it all right they like to go out because they get to go home and get all the little tasty morsels that we feed them from the table they like to go for walks in neighborhood and experience everything else like dogs like the dog pin but they want to be able to go in and out to really enjoy it to the fullest and what Jesus is saying to us when you come to me it's not so I can put you in those little box and go and this is the way you have to live in this little box in fact he says "Come into me so I can keep you safe but go out so you can enjoy what I've made in the world." I remember growing up my older brother is four years older than me and I was I was in late middle school or early middle school and my brother was in high school so and he was feeling called to the ministry my whole family went to church and he was feeling called to the ministry now understand we may be two brothers in the same family but we're as opposite as they come and my brother had a personality at least from the perception of a middle school kid that thinks he knows everything he had this mentality I felt like and I watched his life because if he's following Jesus and going into ministry and I looked and he was a fuddy dud do you know what the definition of fddy dud is my brother back when he was in high school that's the definition of what he does like he looked like he was just living this legalistic in the box and I'm thinking if that's what it means to follow Jesus and go into ministry because at that time God was stirring in my heart about maybe going into ministry but I watched I'm going if that's what a pastor has to be I don't want to be one like I don't want to be out there not living for God but I want to live for God in the joy of God i hope my brother's not watching this today because they would just be in so much trouble when I get home for describing him as a fddy dud but time went on and I began to just be in just Jesus who are you what does it mean to go in and go out what is the freedom that we have in Christ following Jesus is not defined by all the things I don't do following Jesus is really defined by all the things that I do do you see we're really quick as followers of Jesus going "Oh don't do this don't do this don't do this don't do this." Before Jesus died he said "I got one more thing you need to do in fact I'm so important i'm going make it a commandment go and love all people." If we are loving all people and the things that we do there is great freedom in that you know one of the greatest compliments I receive when somebody says this to me sometimes I forget you're a pastor now that's not because I'm out there like living crazy right but I think sometimes for me personally people have a box that a pastor is supposed to fit in they want to keep the pastor in the sheep pin but Jesus said "I'm the door you get to go in and you get to go out." There is freedom and joy and live your life in such a way that you get to experience all that God has given you on both sides of the fence but just keep going in and out who through who jesus himself and so Jesus stood there that day and he's declared "I'm the door the door that provides safety the door that guarantees life the door that allows freedom." And I'm sure everybody's listening you got the Pharisees over here you got the the blind man here you got the other people listening and they're all just like "Okay what do we do now?" Right you ever been in that moment where somebody says something and they're like "Okay so what's the next step does someone need to say something what do we do now?" And I remember when I was in seminary they would teach us preaching classes they would always say this that when you preach you need to say give them a know what but then you better give them a now what don't just know this information but now what are you going to do with this information and so here's Jesus with these groups of people and he gave them the know what I'm the door now we got to say what's the now what so let me leave us as we close with some now whats and here's how I want to do this today i think there's probably two groups of people in here there are those in this room that I would say and I want to be careful and not make this more harsh than I the words I'm finding but those that are not following Jesus fully with their lives you're more what I often refer refer to as the the tire kickers like you come to church and you're interested in Jesus and you're listening to stories but you're not at a point in your life you're going Jesus here is my life so doesn't mean you're a bad person you're just not saying he's the Lord of my life yet i'm interested in Jesus but I'm just not following him completely and so if that's you today and you hear the story that Jesus is the door so the question is now what and here's what I was saying you can write this if you're filling in the blanks accept and believe that Jesus is the door we've already kind of agreed the doors are good doors provide safety doors give us eternal life doors doors give us what we need so at some point if you're a nonfollower of Jesus you haven't committed your life and said "Here's my life Jesus." At some point you're now what is accept and believe Jesus is the door

accept and believe some people still get caught up on when Jesus says "I am the door." We live in such a pluralistic society that people want Jesus to say "I am a door." I am one of many doors not I am the door and people often will claim that's why they don't take a step towards Jesus because he is exclusive not inclusive in other words he is saying "I am the door." So if you don't believe in me as the door then you can't get to God and they claim he's exclusive here's what I would say jesus's claim to say "I am the door," is as inclusive as a statement that anybody can ever make because he didn't say "I am the door and I'll pick and find and you and you and you can come in." He was talking to the whole crowd he was talking to the religious leaders if one of those religious leaders that had rejected and built the wall and kept the blind man out if they would have stepped forward and going "No Jesus we messed up we totally messed this one up we need to include him and we need to include you." Guess who could have came in the door the religious leader if one of the onlookers the people just kind of on the outskirts listening to going "Jesus I finally get it you are the door i want to come in through you and to you." Guess what he would have said his arms would have opened up and said "Come on then." If one of the people he described in the story the thieves who come to steal kill and destroy if that thief would have came and said "I was once a thief but I no longer want to be a thief i turned my waist." Guess who Jesus would invited into the door the thief jesus said "I come for the broken and the hurting and those that need help." And so if you're here today and you've never said "I trust and I believe." There is no magic formula there is no special prayer it's simply say "Jesus I believe that you're the door and I place my trust my thinking and my belief in you." And the Bible says like that the door becomes your entry to God so if you're a tire kicker someone who doesn't fully believe in Jesus that is your now what but what if you're here today and you're a follower of Jesus okay you you you've given your life to Jesus it might have been last year 10 years ago might have been 40 years ago what is your now what and here's what I would say you need to invite and welcome people to the door you need to invite and welcome people to the door sometimes I need some deep theology so I turn to the best place I know where to find that Facebook okay this past week I was reading Facebook and I ran across a story let me just read this story to you it's talking about the church there is the couple who is pregnant and not married in the church they walk in shame as she is having morning sickness with her boyfriend who is not wanting to marry her no one really knows what to say to this couple and then there's the man who sneaks in the back door fresh off the street after the service starts he leaves before the altar call and the people sitting close complain about how bad he smells of beer and smoke and sweat but the pastor mentions he doesn't know what to say to him and then there are the two who sit front and center these boys should be playing football but instead they hold hands and some have said the church should address the issue but the people say they just don't know what to say to them there's also the young mom who wears dirty clothes and lets her four children come in and eat all the donuts and drink all the water down juice and some church staff say they eat like little pigs and they haven't even probably eaten in weeks while the mom just stands there and lets them but the elders unsure what to say and there's the lady sitting among the faithful and everybody knows her she sits with her painted up face her cheap perfume a broken heart and those who sit close well they all treat her for what they think she really is and at the last staff meeting her name came up someone needs to say something but no one knows what to say the church is a good church Bible- based Bible preaching lots of people well known in the community the church wants to do the right and loving thing they want to look like Jesus and so someone asked me if I have any thoughts on what should be said and the person responds "Oh yes I do start with this and say it louder than any other words welcome to the church this is a place of love and hope and safety and forgiveness there will be spiritual food for the hungry living water for the thirsty we are so glad you're here and you are invited you are loved and the door is always open come on in we're waiting for you so as followers of Jesus the reason Jesus said this story he's going Pharisees you are not welcoming people in the door you are building the wall instead of creating the door and Jesus showed up and said "I am the door." And as followers of Jesus the best thing that we can do is love people accept people embrace people and all of their brokenness and all of their dirtiness and everything they are because you know why that's exactly how Jesus accepts us even our best is filthy rags the Old Testament says but Jesus stands at the door and says "Come on in." Will you pray with me

father we come before you now and we declare it not because you need us to say it for it to be true but we declare it for our own lips to say and to remind ourselves Jesus you are the door and I pray now for anyone in this room that just has not fully walked in has not walked in accepting and believing that you're the door that today they would believe And for the rest of us Lord Jesus would you make us the biggest best welcoming group you could ever employ and ask to be at the door may we love like you love may we embrace like you embrace may we be a people and a church not building up walls but standing at the door of you and welcoming and we pray this in your name Jesus amen