The Greatest Hook

Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our Tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.

Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.

You've probably heard this before at the church that you have come from. But the church is not a building. It's not a place. It's a collection and a community of people. And today, we are the church as one particular local expression of the big c church that gets to meet outdoors in this amazing park in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

So if you're passing through and maybe Yellowstone is your next destination, or maybe you've been through Yellowstone, and this is the tail end of your trip and you from here are on your way back home, the prayer of our leadership team today is that this would be a particular highlight for you. Not because of the novelty of meeting outside or or getting to go to to church on a Sunday while you're on vacation, but that the Lord would would speak a specific word to your heart. Think about this. You've saved up that vacation time. You've had to fight with the schedule just to find the time to come up here or come through here.

As my buddy, Matt Summers, says, no good vacation goes unpunished. I know when you get back home, there's gonna be a ton of stuff to do. And your days here with family and friends as you pass through is very precious. Every hour that you spend away from home and you're on vacation with your family or friends is precious. And the fact that you spent minutes online last night to look at churches, where would I wanna worship this Sunday, where would I wanna spend some of my time on Sunday morning.

You found us and you came here. You thought that you were picking this service for maybe because it was outdoors or or or you really like the looks of the handsome pastor. Baby, it hurts me when you laugh like that. But really, God had this service and this day picked for you long before you ever even heard of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. And so, our prayer is that today, you would have a soft heart and be able to hear and receive all that God has for you.

Amen? Amen. Alright. If you have your bible with you this morning, would you turn to the book of Isaiah? The book of Isaiah.

Let's go to Isaiah chapter 22. And I'm gonna read I'm gonna read just a a few verses for you from Isaiah chapter 22, and then we're gonna unpack it and talk about it. And if you if you are a part of our tribe family regularly, you know that we are in a series of conversations called hanging your hat on God's Truth, and we're gonna continue that today. The normal format, even though the venue is a little bit different, our format is also at Tribe a little bit unique. I like to have more of a conversation than and a dialogue instead of just a monologue.

Now today, because there there are so many of you scattered hither and thither throughout the park, we might not be able to hear from each and every one of you, but normally, tribe meets in a bar. It's a bar, a park, whatever. Doesn't matter. It's a group of people. But normally, try to have a conversation.

Even with 70 to 80 people in the room, I love to hear from you. Today, it might be a little bit challenging because we're outdoors and we don't have a mic to be able to pass to you. But we've been in a series of conversations about hanging your hat on God's truth. And I wanna read a passage to you from the book of Isaiah chapter 22, and then we're gonna talk about it. So Isaiah chapter 22, and this is gonna be in verse 15.

Before I start reading, let me give you a little bit of background. Let me set you up for success for what is happening. So there's this guy, his name is Isaiah, he is a prophet, and he has a word from the Lord specifically for an individual. Now, this individual is on the king's executive leadership team. It's on his ministry cabinet.

Okay? And the position that this guy, his name is which I don't even know about that name to begin with. But this guy Shibna, he his job was to be the doorkeeper, the gatekeeper. So he literally had a key. He wore it around his neck, and he stood at the entrance into the throne room where the king conducted his business.

So imagine this. Even though you've never really been in a throne room, you can you can picture this with me. So the king goes into the throne room. He's got his big, tall, fancy chair there. He's surrounded by his other dignitaries, officials, palace guards.

And then while he sits on his throne, he's ready to do business. So he tells the gatekeeper, the the the person with the key, okay, let in the first customer, the first person to do business, so to speak. The gatekeeper would take his key, unlock the door to the throne room, open the door, the person waiting outside would come in, They would conduct their business. They would make their petition to the king or whatever it is that needed to happen. The king would make his decision.

That person would leave, and then the the gatekeeper would open the door again for the next person to come in, so forth and so on. But the key, this guy had the key to the door. You're all with me so far. Right? All right.

So imagine this guy at a social setting, at parties or at functions or around town. This guy literally controls who has access to the king. So imagine you're trying to get an audience with the king. You don't really run into the king in your normal everyday life because he's a king. Right?

And you're just you. But you might be able to get access to the the guy who holds the door and who has the key to the door. And so people who are trying to gain access to the king couldn't get access to the king, so they would try to get access to this guy. And if you could get access to this guy, hey, let me in. I just gotta tell the king one thing really quick.

It's really important. Just like like put me on the list so that I can talk to the king. Okay? You can picture how that might play out. Okay.

Alright. You're with me. You're with me. So this guy, Shebna, begins the the position that he holds that he was given. It begins to go to his head, and he thinks that he is more important than he really is.

Man, all these people buying me little candies and chocolates and creams to try to win my favor so that I can get an audience with the king. And he begins to think that he is in more of a position of influence than he is. Well, Isaiah, through the word of the Lord, is about to give him a big slice of humble pie. That's the background of what we're going to read. In verse 15, we pick up the story.

This is what the Lord this is what the Lord, the Lord of heaven's armies said to me. Confront Shebna, the palace administrator, and give him this message. Who do you think you are? And what are you doing here? Building a beautiful tomb for yourself, a monument high up on the rock.

For the Lord is about to hurl you away, mighty man. He is going to grab you and crumple you into a ball and toss you away into distant barren land. There, you will die, and your glorious chariots will be broken and useless. You are a disgrace to your master. Yes.

I will drive you from office, says the Lord, and I will pull you down from your high position. And then I will call my servant Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, to replace you. I will dress him in your royal robes, and I will give him your title and your authority. He will be a father to the people of Jerusalem and to Judah. I will give him the key to the house of David, the highest position in the royal court.

This is more than just prophetic or symbolic language. There's literally a key involved here. When he opens doors, no one will be able to close them. When he closes doors, no one will be able to open them. He will bring honor to his family name.

And this is what I want us to focus on. I will drive him firmly in place like a nail in the wall. They will give him great responsibility, and he will bring honor even to the lowest members of his family. We'll keep reading, but in we'll pause right there for just a moment. So here's the idea behind this passage.

God tells this guy, Shibna, you're out. And then I'm going to establish a new person in that position. And then, through the prophet Isaiah, God uses an analogy. He will be like a peg or a hook that I put on the wall. That peg or that hook will be able to bear a strong responsibility responsibility or weight.

And that's why I have this. This is what we've been using as our little prop to kind of get our minds right to to focus. Whether in your house, maybe you've got one across the wall or maybe you've got a a freestanding one, a coat rack or a hat rack, something familiar to every single one of us. And the analogy that we've been using is think of your the sum total of your beliefs about any one thing, like a hat. And then, that hat belongs, when it's not on your head, it belongs hung up somewhere.

And this hook would represent the complete and total reality, the sum of the reality about that particular belief. And we've used some really fun examples to try to drive this principle home. Like, for example, Sasquatch. Where do you hang your hat when it comes to Sasquatch? Mythical, I don't know.

My uncle saw him. Like, where what what's what's your sum total of beliefs about about Sasquatch? Where do you hang your hat when it comes to Sasquatch or Yeti or Bigfoot? Like, all the same guy, different names. Trinity, are you with me so far?

Alright. Now, I have a mic up here and I'm gonna invite you up to share your beliefs on Sasquatch. Just she's like, I'm not even getting up. Is Sasquatch singular? I don't know what the plural of Sasquatch is.

So you could Google that and find that out for man, you guys like I don't know. Maybe it's just a lot of new. Gretchen's with me. Lissa's with me. Susan's kinda with me.

Laugh louder, though. Yeah. Please, put the put everybody on your shoulders and carry them. There we it's working. See, there you go.

It's working. I got you. Then we talked about this idea of the principle of the biggest hook. And here's what tends to happen. We tend to hang our hat on whatever the biggest hook is.

Meaning, we tend to place our belief in whoever can provide the most compelling narrative. Whether it's your parents, science, social media, the news, your government, whatever. Whoever has the most compelling narrative, whether it's right or wrong, tends to get our belief, where we would hang our hat on that belief. Nod your head if this is making sense to you. Oh, okay.

Good. So so you are with me. The sum total of a person that makes up their personhood is is the combination of all of their beliefs. Some of their beliefs are well thought out and and well constructed and deeply considered and line up with reality. Other beliefs that we have, like, I don't know.

I've I've never really thought about that too much. And so if you were questioned about it or if you needed to make a decision about it or if you needed to consider it, Where do I land on that particular issue? I don't know. I don't have a very well thought out belief. I'll just tend to hang my hat with whoever presents the most compelling narrative.

Now, here's the real trick. The real trick, just like we read a moment ago about the new gatekeeper, Hilkiah, God says that I will drive him firmly into the wall, and I will place a lot of responsibility on him. Some of the beliefs that you hold, I love you enough to tell you this, Some of the beliefs that you hold, you're hanging on a really flimsy hook and cannot bear the weight. And it's just barely propped up there. Now, what happens if your if that hook falls and breaks?

God loves you so much. He has he has given you and sees in you purpose and intrinsic value. He thinks that all of your beliefs are so valuable, and he doesn't want to see your beliefs be rested on a hook that cannot bear the weight. And so this is what we've been talking about with a number of issues. And today, without going too long or or or too deep, I just want to remind all of us of several really important hooks that each one of you would be wise to consider.

Do you hang your hat there? The first hook that we're gonna look at of just a few is that of the person of God. Now, lot of people, especially on a beautiful day like today, would say, oh, the God that I worship is essentially creation. And don't get me wrong. I mean, that's why those of us who live here, we we love the creation.

But if you have hung your hat that creation is your God, I'm sorry, but it's a weak and feeble hook. First of all, the world around you, the beauty of the mountains, the the majesty of the wildlife, the the rivers around here, first of all, they are impersonal. And all you need to do is be caught in one lightning storm up on the Grand Teton to realize that mountain don't give one rip about you. It will smoke you if you are stupid. You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes, I guess.

The world around you, the the beauty of creation does not have personhood. It can't have personality. You can't You can you can be in the environment and you can interact with the environment, but you can't interact with the personality of the mountains because the creation around us doesn't have personhood. It doesn't have the qualities of personhood. And so when you say you worship, when a person says that they worship the mountains, it's hanging.

It sounds great. Sounds great. Like, that's pretty cool because the mountains don't really demand anything of you. You can be as loyal to them as you want. Like, what did you worship before you moved here?

Now you live here and you're like, oh, I worship the mountains. What's gonna happen when you try to buy a home and it's just too expensive and then you gotta move? Like, whoops. Well, then what God are you gonna worship? Worshiping the mountains is a pretty weak deity.

Not only does it not have the personality and the characteristics of of personhood, but it can't fulfill the deep longings of the human heart. You have to keep climbing. You have to keep skiing. You have to keep fishing. You have to keep doing all these things in the mountains trying to fill and satisfy that relational need that all of us are built with.

But when you try to put mountains in that place, it just ain't gonna fit. Now, here's a hook that is reliable and trustworthy that you can hang your hat on when it comes to worshiping. And that is the God of the universe, the one who created these beautiful mountains. Falling in love with these mountains is like reading a really amazing book and then asking, where can I get a bottle of this ink? It's so good.

Why not be introduced to the creator of the mountains, the creator of the universe? He is an entity an entity. He is a being. He is transcendent, which means that he's separate, different, and outside of all of the physical and material universe because he created it, and he has a personal name. His name is Yahweh.

He is the author and creator of the physical universe. He made everything, including the laws that govern the universe that we've discovered and those that we're still scratching our head out. He exhibits personality traits that we can relate to and identify with. His predominant trait that we all like is love. The bible says that God is love.

And because love is one of his attributes, love doesn't really mean anything if you don't have object or a person or a people to give and receive love from. That's why he made us. If you have hung your hat on macroevolution, that we got to where we are from goo to the zoo to you, unfortunately, it's another we cook, but it's a very popular narrative. What schools, elementary, junior high, high school, to university levels, don't present a compelling narrative of evolution, but it is a hook that will fail you. Because if you are a product of time and chance, then there's no real purpose and meaning to your life.

You're random. Therefore, you're left up to your own devices to decide your own purpose and meaning. But a reliable hook to hang your hat on on that belief is that not only is there a transcendent God, that that God is a God of love, but that he created you. He made you. Curly hair, straight hair, handsome, goofy, weird as you are.

He made you just the way that you are, and he happens to like you perfectly. That is what produces meaning and purpose and value in the human soul. To know that you're not a product of random chance hurling through darkness of space that you live and you procreate and you pass on your genes and then that's it, and then you are worm food. What a what a hopeless worldview to hang your hat on. A more reliable hook to hang your belief of the the whole meaning of all of this is that God loves you and he created you, and he longs to have a deep, meaningful, connected relationship with you.

And he saw the look on your face after he said that. The look of, I don't quite get it. And he said, alright. Let me let me try one more time to explain to you and to demonstrate to you what I mean. And what was his next attempt?

Not the creation of the cosmos, not the old covenant. What he what is his ultimate expression of explaining his great love for us? What is it? Jesus. You won't be able to hear me, but I'll just project.

I'm done being behind this. So oh, I love this so much better. Oh, I get to be here with you. Can you hear me alright? Okay.

Alright. You can hear me okay? Woo hoo. So look, God sent his son, Jesus, fully God and fully man to this ball of dirt called earth to be a living example of who God is and how he rolls and his desire for how he wants to relate to us and how he would invite us to relate to him. The Bible says that in the beginning, the word was God, the word was with God.

And then it says that the word became flesh, put an earth suit on. And in the message translation, it says he moved into the neighborhood. How can we ever have any type of meaningful connection or any type of understanding with God? Like, you can't send him an email. You can't add him as a friend on social media.

You can't go to his house. He has no profile picture that you can creep to decide whether or not you're gonna add him. There's he's so intangible and he's immaterial because he is an eternal spirit. But he's like, oh, I so desperately I so desperately want you to get it that I'm gonna become I'm gonna become a person. And I will pour my eternity.

Hi, girls. Into an earth suit. Just flesh and blood, 10 toes, ten fingers, maybe bad breath in the morning. I don't know. If you wanna know what God is like, all you need to do is learn about Jesus.

He is the perfect and beautiful example of who God is. Now here's what a lot of people have done. A lot of people have been like, okay, like I've heard of Jesus. Jesus, Gandhi, Bono, you know, hey, I'm with you. And they hang their hat on give me a fist.

They hang their hat on the hook of like, yeah, he was like a dude. Maybe okay. Give me a fist. Maybe they hang their hat on like, oh, he was a great, like, moral guy. Some people would go so far.

This is fun. Some people would go so far as to say, like, you know, he's like a like a, you know, maybe a religious teacher, a moral figure, something like that. Some people would go so far as to say, he was an actual historical person that lived and died. That is a very significant hook on which a person could hang their hat. But by hanging your hat on the idea and committing a belief to he was a historical person, that means a lot of things.

If he was real and his address was born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, did it spend a lot of time in Galilee, then then you must decide about this historical man Jesus, that he was all that he said, all that he did, that he was either a liar and he claimed to be the son of God, and he really wasn't. He was just a religious fanatic that happened to have a charismatic personality and get a big following. So maybe he was a liar. He could have been absolutely off his rocker in a total nut job. The things that he claimed, I mean, he lit he said this, unless you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, you've got no place.

You you can't hang out with me. We can't be friends. So either he was a liar, might have been a lunatic, or if you really consider, before you hang your hat there, if you really consider his claims, what he said about himself, what God said about him. This is my beloved son. Listen to him, the Bible says.

And kneel for dramatic effect. If you've met him, if you've actually met him, that he's come off of the pages from this book that happens to be alive. Not just from history, but alive today. Because he is of the same essence as his father, he's immortal. And if you've met him, you would not say that he was a liar or that he was a lunatic.

The only reasonable conclusion that you can come to is that he is Lord. He is Lord. Lord over all of creation, and then most importantly, Lord, the boss of my heart and my life. And for the person For the person that hangs their hat on that hook, that Jesus is more than just a historical figure or a nice idea. I have met with him.

He has healed me. He has forgiven me. He has saved me. When you hang your hat on that hook, it is the most sturdy hook that you will ever I mean, you can as we say in climbing, you can yard on that thing, and it's bomber. Remember I said we were gonna come back to that passage?

You can turn there if your finger's still in there. I'll I'll just tell you about it. But God says, one day, I'm going to remove that hook. And you're like, wait a minute. He went through such a big deal to to talk about that hook.

And he says, I'm gonna install Hilkiah. But he says, one day, I'm gonna tear down that hook. Well, great. You went through all this work to install Hilkiah. You're just gonna tear it down?

It's because the prophet Isaiah was looking forward to the man Jesus that we were just talking about. I don't know where you have hung the hat of your faith and your belief. Some of you I know. I could see it on your face and on your countenance. It's a hook that's never let you down because you've put your faith and trust in Jesus.

I would imagine that some of you are still trusting that hook of your self. It will fail you someday. I'll never forget when I first moved to Jackson. That's awesome. I'll never forget when I I first moved to Jackson.

I had to import my girlfriend, and, this was 1998. The first place I lived was right there. These are called the Clusters condominium units. My my unit was literally right there behind that drift boat that's on the trailer. Two bedroom condo with a detached garage for a whopping $750 a month.

Hell, the locals are like, so I was living there with my girlfriend, and I got tricked into going to church. And while I was at church, that the the preacher said some words. I don't even remember what his words were, but the conviction of the Holy Spirit was so strong in my heart and in my life. Was like, oh, I have been hanging my hat all different kinds of places. And the Lord was inviting me to hang my hat in in being sold out to him.

But I was, like, living and sleeping with my girlfriend, like, doing the Jackson thing that, like, everybody's doing in this town. And I said, Lord, fine. I'll take my hat from here. I'll hang my hat here on living my life your way. But my my girlfriend, like, didn't go to church.

She wasn't saved. And and I wasn't going to marry her. So I was like, lord, I need a I need a sign of some kind. Really young in my faith. Like, give me a sign because I can't marry her if she doesn't love you, Jesus.

And that means we're gonna break up someday. And if we're gonna break up someday, might as well, like, break up, like, tomorrow. So I trick her into going to church. She leaves church that Sunday and was like, that was horrible. I hated that.

Because it's like getting a deep tissue massage. Right? You know, like the holy spirit was just working out all those kinks and things. Next Saturday evening comes around. She's like, okay.

You wanna go back to that church again? And I was like, yeah. Come on. So you go back to that church. Pastor does a blistering altar call to salvation, and she stands up to invite Jesus into her heart, and she's thinking, oh my gosh, I'm getting saved.

And I put my head down and thought, oh my gosh, I'm getting married. For twenty five years, baby. For twenty five years. Of doing this. Of doing this.

And it all started in sin in that little condo over there. There's hope for you today. There's hope for you today. I'm done with this for just a little bit more. So I'll stand right here.

I'm not gonna move around, so I'm not gonna, like, sneak around on you. But close your eyes, and let's invite the creator of the universe. The one who set the cosmos in motion and according to the bible calls all of the stars by name. Let's make some room for him to speak to our hearts in this moment. Speak to us.

From the cheap seats in the back to the front row, speak to us. Not in the the privacy of our bedroom or in a really religious setting like a building with stained glass windows. But right here in this park, Speak to us. Challenge us on where we would hang the hat of our eternal destiny. And with your eyes closed, I'm not gonna make a big deal out of this at all, But there is an invitation today.

When it comes to your eternal destiny, if you have not hung your hat on the hook of salvation through Jesus, today you can do that. Or maybe you did that when you were a little kid. And since then, you've picked up your hat and been like, I think I wanna be the boss of my own life again. Today, you can rehang your hat or for the very first time, hang your hat of your eternal soul on the hook of salvation in Jesus and Jesus alone. I'm not gonna lead you in a prayer.

You just let it tumble out of your heart in the most you way possible because you happen to be the best you that there ever was. And you just tell him, Jesus, I don't even know what all I'm doing. But when it comes to my eternal salvation, I want to respond to your invitation and hang the hook, hang the hat of my heart on the hook of you, Jesus. You hung on the cross to pay for my sin. And now I want to hang the hat of my soul on you.

You just resay those words in your own way in the stillness of your own heart. I'll give you a moment. Okay. You can look at me. We're on a downhill slide finishing up the service.

Maybe today you rehung that hat of your belief on Jesus. Maybe for the first time today. That will be super cool. Here you were thinking you were going on vacation and then you just get saved. May the whole vacation worth it.

I was checking to see if I had any more words. I don't. Let me pray, and then I'm gonna invite Amanda up to come share, some announcements with us in one more way that we're gonna worship the Lord. So let me pray for you. Lord Jesus, I pray for anyone here in this sanctuary today that either for the very first time invited Jesus into their heart in their own unique outdoor service park like way or anybody that has reinvited Jesus into their heart?

Would you do something amazing before the day is out, Lord? Would you reveal yourself to everybody here in a unique and special and wonderful way that would answer that that really deep burning question that's on their heart. Reveal yourself to them in that wonderful way. Thank you, Jesus, for revealing yourself to me when I was living in that condo just like a stone's throw away. Thank you for saving me from believing in the mountains as my savior.

Thank you for healing my broken heart. Thank you for filling me with purpose. And thank you, Jesus, that you will return again someday according to your words, riding on the clouds where you will set wrong things right, and we get to participate with you in renewing the whole earth until the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of your glory. And the bible says, just like the seas cover the earth. Thank you, Jesus.

And I'll pray for you. Don't take that shirt off until after the parade on the fourth. Would you would you hold your hands like this to receive? Lord, we receive the blessing of incredible weather today. Lord Jesus, we receive all that you have for us.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. God, I pray for each and every person of our tribe fam here today. I command a blessing over their lives and a joy filled, memorable rest of their family vacation.

And for those of us that have to live here year round, I command a blessing over them. Give us a great week. We love you, Jesus, so very much. We pray these things in Jesus' name, the strong son of God. And everybody said, Amen.

Amen. I love you guys so very much. I'm looking forward to saying hello, meeting you in person. Enjoy some pizza that'll be out here in just a moment. Have a great week.

And remember, you got this.