Beyond Sunday
Beyond Sunday is a podcast where we dive into what our Church is up to, what's happening in society, go deeper into topics from Sunday mornings, and hear leadership talks from Pastor Greg Griffith. This is a podcast of King of Kings Church in Omaha, NE. Learn more at kingofkings.org.
Beyond Sunday
Honor Code - Week 2
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Thanks for listening!
Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the King of Kings podcast, where we dive into our sermon series and see what we're taking beyond Sunday. My name is Dena Newsom and I am ecstatic to have some great guests today. Go ahead, introduce yourselves, guys.
Speaker 2:Hi, I'm Julie Easley. I'm the executive director here at King of Kings.
Speaker 3:And I'm Greg Griffith, the lead pastor, and excited to be back.
Speaker 1:I'm so happy to have you. So I don't know if you guys know this, but this week is Superman week international. Superman week. Yeah, I didn't even know that was a thing. No me either. So my question for you is if you had a superpower, what would it be and why? Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:Well, just dealing with all the construction around Omaha, it's flying. I just want to zoom over everything that is slowing me down. Yes, goodbye, leave the traffic behind.
Speaker 3:Yeah, mine would be teleportation, like I just think where I want to be and I'm there, like right now I would be on an Island in Jamaica and now I'd be on an.
Speaker 1:Island in Thailand Island hopping? Yeah, I would. I would love to be able to like move things with my mind that seems, you know. I don't have to get up and walk across the room, I can just that would come in handy when you want to reconfigure your furniture.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Well, if you have enough faith, you can. You're just not there yet, Dina.
Speaker 1:I'm working on it.
Speaker 3:I'm working on it.
Speaker 1:Someday I'll get there. I thought that would always be convenient when my kids were little if I could just mentally pick them up and take them away from whatever it was.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Instead of chasing them around. Yeah, love it. Well, we just had our second week of this Honor Code series, and so what really spoke to you guys? What are you taking beyond Sunday?
Speaker 2:I think, probably the overarching theme for me was that Jesus is always asking for the greater thing, which is our hearts. So you know, we could be fulfilling kind of the letter of the law. But if the spirit of the law and how we feel in our hearts isn't in accordance with, like, his will and his desire for us, we're not giving him the greatest gift. And so if we honor people just with our words but not really with our hearts, and if we're not surrendering our hearts entirely to God, jesus is asking for more. That's what he really wants.
Speaker 3:Yeah, for me, what came away is just a reminder of we have a call to honor those who are an authority over us, and for me, what I really thought about is you know, I think naturally we think about police, military, government officials, but there's so many others that have authority over us that we've actually even given the ability to have authority over us the bank that owns our home loan, the car dealership that owns our car loan, our boss. You know, when we give ourselves or we give authority away to a coworker or a friend, or when we join in a team collaborative effort, we give up my way and say it's got to be our way. And so just a reminder that we're called to submit to all authority, whether large or small, and that really does honor one another in our marriages, in our parenting, in our co-working and in everything that we do yeah, I really.
Speaker 1:Um, I thought a lot about um zach talking about being right in content but wrong in character in the way that we say things, and that one's really been stern and stern in my brain. Yeah, that's good.
Speaker 1:Social media is a prime example of that where people are taking a stand for what they think are right, but maybe going about it in the wrong way. But that's just really what I've been chewing on. So Pastor Zach Zender opened this week by doing a big coin toss. What's you guys' go-to heads or tails If somebody asks you to flip a coin? Do you have or do you just pick? Whatever you feel at the moment?
Speaker 3:I kind of vacillate back and forth. If it's like this coin has been tossed a few times, I try to be like, okay, they've done three heads and one tail, so um. But if it's the first time, I usually pick tails.
Speaker 2:I'm always heads, I'm always tails. Oh wow, I'm out.
Speaker 1:Oh wow, I'm out.
Speaker 3:It's a good combo.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, zach's, the definition of honor that he is working with through this message series is to pursue a good reputation and show proper respect to others, and one of the questions that he asks is how do you honor authority when it's different than you or possibly different than God's word? And Greg, you kind of talked about the different authority figures that we have in our life. What's your thoughts on that? How do we honor authority when it's different than maybe how we feel it should be?
Speaker 2:What I've been thinking about a lot is just when I'm talking about someone, would I say that right to their face? If they were standing in front of me, would I use this kind of tone of voice? What kind of language would I use? And so, trying to think about when I'm talking or referring to someone whether it be the president or someone that I'm much closer to would I be saying it in the exact same way if they were right next to me? Like I could have a disagreement with someone on something and still be honoring, and it's okay to not agree about everything, but how am I saying it and how am I thinking about that person?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think for me it comes down to quite a few things I really look in and think about like, how am I showing honor to even those that I don't agree with? I have a friend. She and I don't agree on some things and I believe she's biblically out of out of out of scripture Um, she doesn't. But one way I show honor is is when she's talking about it. Um, I, I'm very careful of how I measure my words.
Speaker 3:I don't need to try to win the fight, I don't even need a fight, and so so I think the honor that I try to give is it's not a salvation issue, so I don't even need a fight, and so I think the honor that I try to give is it's not a salvation issue, so I don't need to try to change her mind.
Speaker 3:I can say, yeah, that's not where I'm at, and if you ask me, I'll tell you. But if you're not asking, I'm going to keep my mouth shut and I don't know that my silence is saying I agree, but it's saying I love you and we don't need to have a harsh feelings on one another. I also think it's important we just see around the world Like I'm. I'm so I grew up where like and I'm an apolitical person, that's just my style but if the president invited you to the White House, it didn't matter if you were a Republican, democrat, independent or Communist, you were going, the invitation and I kind of like I've been really thinking about this lately of like that invitation is one to honor you by saying you're invited to a place that not everyone gets to, and then you kind of dishonor.
Speaker 3:They're trying to honor you and and I'm like man, when did we get so so much that we? One thing I'll be sharing this weekend too is just honor is not about what you've done or your personage, it's about your position sometimes. And so, yeah, we just have to figure out a way to honor better and be able to share what we want without dishonoring everyone around us.
Speaker 2:And I'm thinking about, like, when you're talking about the conversation that you sometimes have with your friend right Another way to honor people is just to listen without thinking about how you're going to respond but, just simply listening to their whole story period Without like, oh now, what snappy comeback am I going to have to this? Just honoring people with good listening.
Speaker 1:That's what I thought of with this. Is there's a saying that I saw that's? Are you listening to understand or are you listening to defend?
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 1:I will admit, many times in my life I was listening to defend until I really started thinking about that. And how am I simply I don't. That doesn't mean I'm listening to agree that. And how am I simply I don't? That doesn't mean I'm listening to agree, but I am honoring that person by listening to their story or their side or their position or whatever it is, by just listening to understand them better, and that's going to help me honor them more in the long run as a friend, as a coworker, as a boss, as a neighbor, you know, because I'm going to know more about them. Yeah, instead of being so busy building my counter argument. That's good. So one of the things that Zach talked about is how you stand matters just as much as what you stand for. How did that strike you or what did that make you think of?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think it's an important piece here of like we.
Speaker 3:You know, if we're standing, and I kind of think about like our body language.
Speaker 3:If I'm standing and listening to someone and my arms are crossed, I'm already saying I don't, I don't agree, I'm not going to honor you, Right, when, if I'm standing with my arms down, and and even there's even a spot where, if you're standing and you open your palms out, it's kind of that I'm receiving where you're at.
Speaker 3:And and I think one of the things that I think about is it's really easy in our world and our culture to to unknowingly and unwillingly, but and culturally appropriately, um, to dishonor children. And by culturally appropriately I'm just meaning that we say well, you're a kid, what do you know? But, man, when you show a kid honor by listening to them, by getting on their level, by hearing what they say and um, by by helping them, I mean it just changes the relationship and changes where they're at. And so you know, if you have a position of defensiveness, of anger, of I'm always right, you're always wrong, of you know, I'm going to just tell you all the facts and flood you with facts and stats. Honestly, it doesn't matter what you stand for, because no one's going to want to hear what you have to say.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when I think about how I stand, I think about just my presence anywhere, so it could be in person or it could be online. Especially when I'm on social media, I'm really aware of the fact that for a number of my friends, I may be the only Christian that they actually know as a human being, and I feel that responsibility greatly. How am I coming across? Is it a spirit of love and kindness? Right, and there's grace and truth there?
Speaker 2:So I'm not changing my beliefs, but how am I talking about things that are important to me and what's that tone? I just want to be such a good caretaker of that trust that I feel like the Lord's given to me to be His representative out in the world. And then I do think that conversations, personal conversations, just go so much further than little blurbs on social media. So if you really do want to talk to someone about a serious issue where you have maybe some differences of opinion, I just think the way to mediate that is in person, where they can see you and hear your tone of voice and you're actually looking at them. Again, that person to person makes such a difference.
Speaker 3:I think one of the things we're seeing this play out right now.
Speaker 3:I think most people, regardless of your ideations, would say our immigration system is broken, not fatally, but there's some major flaws.
Speaker 3:It's super expensive to immigrate here, even if you're doing it legally.
Speaker 3:It takes a long time, anywhere from seven to ten years to become a citizen, and there's not an easy path forward, um, and and there's not an easy path forward, um, but what's happening in Los Angeles, with the rioting and the destruction of those in authority, the thefts of businesses that have tried to and hired and done that right, all the things that they're trying to say they stand for what they're doing, really says we're not, we're not going to listen to you, you're not, you're not helping the at all.
Speaker 3:There is a way in our country to protest in a way, illegally, that says, hey, this is an issue, but but really, if you're, if you're standing in a posture of violence, you're not really standing for for anything that will bring about great change and you're definitely not honoring you're not honoring those you're trying to help in some way and you're not honoring those who are standing alongside of you and you're not honoring the other side to hear and listen and say, okay, how do we do this? And so we're seeing some of this play out in our culture right here, right now.
Speaker 1:That's really good. Yeah, not honoring the other side, that's a yeah, through just your posture and, like you said, not honoring even the people you're trying to help, right? So part of the things that Zach read from the Bible was in Mark and it was about how leaders at that time kind of tried to trap Jesus. Talking about money, or talking about Caesar and stuff. What do those passages make you think of, or what does that stir up in you?
Speaker 2:Well, so this kind of goes back to my first point about, like Jesus, always being interested in the state of our heart. I thought about how many times have I played gotcha with someone in my conversations with them, or tried to kind of set them up so then I could put the screws to them later on in the conversation, or just delighting in someone that I don't agree with being owned by someone else Do you know what I'm saying? And that like speaks to a really unhealthy part of my heart that wants to win or to see somebody else be put down and my position be exalted. And so I just thought, you know I could be a Pharisee sometimes, just looking to entrap people or own them somehow.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't know that I could be a Pharisee, but I could be a Sadducee for sure. So, no, in all reality, as I thought about that too, I think we all try to trap Jesus all the time, and I think we don't recognize it necessarily, but I think anytime we say you know, I know God wouldn't like this, but he just has to understand We've trapped him right. What we've really said is God, I know I've heard you love me, and because you love me, even though your will says this, even though your word says this, you just got to know I can't do that right now. And so the trap is do you accept me or not? And it's doing the same thing. It's a trap.
Speaker 3:And so I found myself doing that right, like, you know, whether it was with my language, or whether it was with my finances, or whether it was with my decisions, or the things that I wanted to do or didn't want to do, or how I parent, right. It was like, yeah, you know, god's just got to understand this. This is me and I'm a work in progress. And at that point, when we put God in that position, we just come to him and just say okay, here's the trap Do you love me or do you not? And it's doing the same thing. And so I think we've all been there, we've all done that, and a reminder is that we have a God who says you know, confess that, receive forgiveness and repent from that. It doesn't mean it's easy, it doesn't mean it's going to be perfect, but it is the plan.
Speaker 1:That's really good. Yeah, all right, as we kind of wrap up on this, what are your takeaways from this message? What are you looking forward to in the next couple?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think for me, my takeaway was it's just a reminder that when I have a an issue with someone in authority, I have to and this is this is my prayer pattern I have to do two things. First, I have to talk to that person before I talk to others, and especially before I put stuff online or anything like that. I'm, I'm, I become really, really careful of what I put online. Um, because I, I one, I don't. I don't think anyone's ever been persuaded from the other side through a online post, and I know some might not like what I'm about to say. I think most of the time when we post something online, we want everyone to tell us how great we are and how right we are, and then, if someone disagrees, then it just becomes this mob and I don't see any value in that. So, have I talked to the person in the best way? And then, two, I think there's a yield spot on this of really understanding and saying this isn't my authority and that's okay, and it may not be the way I would have done it, it may not be how I would want to do it, but it's not my authority.
Speaker 3:Going back to what I said, we give authority to others. All the time we give authority to our mortgage company and at any time the mortgage company can say we're calling your loan, that's in the document, and even if you owe $200,000, they can say we need it now and you have to pay it. You can complain, you can cry, you can say it's not fair. You've actually given that authority away already and they're doing what they can do, and now most of the time they don't. But it's just that reminder for me of going. I have to let go of the things I don't have authority over, and that's yielding. So in my prayer life I use pray, praise, repent, ask, yield. Yielding is where I go. This isn't my will or my way, but that's okay. So those are my takeaways.
Speaker 2:That's really good, I think, just being reminded to pray for people that were having difficulty honoring and really putting in that work and that could be probably not just praying once. I find that I need to pray about things a lot more and asking God to really change my heart towards people that I don't feel a lot of honor for. So just making that a significant prayer point, like who's really hard for me to love, put them at the top of my prayer list and just say, god, can you do a work in my heart, in my heart, right that, change who I am inside. Because, like Zach said, god, like I, was minted with the image of God and I want to give that very thing back to Him as a way of saying I love you. And so doing that hard heart work I think goes a long way.
Speaker 1:Yeah. What really stood out to me was when Zach said Grace alone becomes compromise, truth alone becomes cruelty. Jesus stood on both yeah, and I was like oh that's a mic drop yeah. I just the parts in Mark and other stories where Jesus, you know, really kind of puts the screws to. You know, some of the leaders. I'm always like give me some popcorn.
Speaker 3:This is great you know I love this, leaders. I'm always like give me some popcorn. This is great.
Speaker 1:You know I love this, but he does it so simply and so plainly, and why can't I do that?
Speaker 3:You know so that's.
Speaker 1:that's my thing to work on, standing on both grace and truth, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's good.
Speaker 1:All right, well, thank you guys so much for being here today.
Speaker 2:We're looking forward to.
Speaker 1:Greg, you're preaching this weekend, yeah.
Speaker 3:I just would say dad's out there. I come this weekend, not for we're going to have a lot of fun stuff, but really it's going to be an honor, honoring message for for dads, especially that that are doing that, but but also all those in authority.
Speaker 1:So it'll be a great weekend to come as a dad, I authority, so it'll be a great weekend to come. As a dad, I'm excited. Until then, let's keep living our faith beyond Sunday.
