What does Tribe teach about childish behavior?
Drawn from the message where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At Tribe, the teaching on childish behavior starts with a scene most people would not expect: Jesus reaching for a playground taunt to address the most religiously educated people in the room. Brian walked the congregation through Luke 7:24-35, where Jesus compares the Pharisees and teachers of religious law to children who will not play along no matter what song their friends sing. The point is not that the messenger was wrong or the method was flawed. The point is that no adjustment to approach was ever going to move them, because the real issue was settled resistance to the truth. As Brian put it, "It's not the tune you reject. It's the truth that you resist."
Brian pressed into the Greek behind the word 'rejected,' noting that it also carries a quieter meaning: treating something as casual, setting it aside, not taking it seriously. Childish behavior, in this teaching, does not always look like a loud dramatic objection. It can look like simply not taking the truth seriously, standing at the edge of what God is doing and cataloguing grievances rather than looking at the whole record. John came with fasting and strictness and was accused of having a demon. Jesus came eating and drinking and was called a glutton and a friend of sinners. No change of style was ever going to satisfy a person whose real resistance was to the truth itself.
The closing verse of the passage brought the room back to a sober warning Brian drew out: there is a judgment far worse than God saying no. Brian says, "A judgment far worse than God saying no is for God to say, okay, man. Okay. Go ahead." The antidote, in this teaching, is not cleverness but posture, coming to God without preconceived notions, in genuine awe and reverence, willing to receive whatever wisdom he gives rather than deciding in advance what the answer should be.
Taught from Luke 7:24-35 · James (chapter not specified)
“It's not the tune you reject. It's the truth that you resist.”
From Childish Games
The passage taught · Luke 7:24-35
24 When John’s messengers had departed, he began to tell the multitudes about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?
25 But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are gorgeously dressed, and live delicately, are in kings’ courts.
26 But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet.
27 This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- September 29, 2025 Childish Games Jesus calls out religious leaders for moving the goalposts on God's messengers. A Jackson Hole congregation works through Luke 7 together, asking what childishness really costs.