The Most Beautiful Kiss [Part 2]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. In order for there to be justice in the world, all need to be punished, and yet God loves. He loves. He says hesed, and yet He is righteousness. He is aesthetic, and He wants you to have shalom, which is favored well-being, and yet He wants there to be justice and fairness.

How could it be? That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series called Peacemakers, as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries. As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org, or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching.

Here is Alan Wright. Google maps and navigation systems were not welcome because they are far too restrictive. The height of rudeness to tell someone which direction they should go. They heard stories of people in Alathea land who had phones that would talk to them while they drove in their cars and say, turn right in 500 feet.

The sheer thought made the people in Karis land gasp in horror at such binding and restrictive and narrow-minded technology. If you stopped to ask for direction to Karis land, how to get to the candy store, they would tell you how wonderful the candy was and how beautiful you looked, but they wouldn't tell you how to get there because that would be rude. So instead they said things like drive towards the sun, roll with the wind, and nobody ever got anywhere. It was frustrating living in Karis land because sometimes people would say to each other, honey, what'd you do today?

And one would say, I drove in a circle around the roundabout the whole day, not knowing the real direction. Health was a problem in Karis land. You could imagine because children asked their parents, is ice cream just as good for you as green beans? And the parents not wanting to burden their children with heavy handed top down truths said, why my sweet child, that is a matter of personal preference. Do you want ice cream to be good for you?

Yes, then so it shall be. So ice cream was the main diet of the children. They had a big problem with the criminal justice system in Karis land. People liked living there because it was so accepting. And so they built big porches and put rocking chairs on their porches, but they couldn't keep their rocking chairs because people kept taking them. There was so much grace, but there had to be a huge rocking chair manufacturer built in order to replace all the stolen rocking chairs. They had a saying in Karis land, follow your feelings and follow your heart.

If anyone tells you what to do from them, you must part. So as you can see, Karis landers thought the way to have peace was to be all grace and no truth, but the truth be told, there was very little peace in Karis land. And there was a lot of chaos. On the other side of the chasm in Alathia land, things were just the opposite that they thought they'd make peace by sticking to the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, just the facts. In Alathia land, there was no room for such silly things as compassion and kindness and acceptance. There was only one question in Alathia land, is it right or is it wrong?

Is it true or is it false? So school children in Alathia land had exactly the opposite problem of those in Karis land. They were given the truth about math, for example, two plus two equals four, and the children would definitively hear it. But since there was no grace, if you missed a question, you were immediately expelled from school. If you missed a question, the Alathians wanted to keep their academics pure.

So you either got it right or wrong and everyone else was rejected. And so the schools were very small. In Alathia land, everyone knew the directions because they all had GPS systems operating, but they also wore watches that told them not just the next turn that they should take, but the truth be told there was a certain number of brush strokes of the toothbrush that was better than another. And the truth would be told them about exactly how many times they should brush each tooth. And if they did not floss, an alarm would go off because the truth is that it's better to floss. And when they would eat their food, if they were getting ready to eat something that was unhealthy, then there would be an alert that popped up on their phone, alert, alert, unhealthy item about to be ingested, saturated fat intake exceeding recommended levels. So no one ate ice cream.

What a sad world that is. The criminal justice system was unbending in Alathia land. They had truth sensors on all the highways.

And if your car exceeded the speed limit by one mile per hour, they took away your driver's license. Alathia land had truth, truth, truth. But if you were hurting, there was no one to help you. And if you messed up, no one to help pick you back up. Alathian said, truth is truth, right is right.

So take your feelings and throw them out of sight. As you can imagine, there was so little mercy in Alathia land that people lived in constant fear of failing. And where there's a lot of fear, there's very little peace. You see the point of the story where there's grace and no truth. There's no peace.

Where there's truth and no grace, there's no peace. The rest of the story, which I'll tell you in just a couple of sentence is that there was a young woman from Karys land named Mary, is that there was a young woman from Karys land named Mercy. And one day she was wandering by the chasm and saw a huge tree had fallen across the chasm. And she decided to start walking across to the other side. And as she did, there was a young man from Alathia land named Truman, Truman.

And he came across the giant tree also, and they met in the middle and they began doing this day after day talking. And Mercy was so enthralled by all the truths that Truman had to share. It was so empowering to think that there could be a right direction and that you could get somewhere without getting lost.

And that when you had a real problem, that there might be an answer that could help you. It fascinated her. And Truman was just fascinated by the fact that Mercy could mess up, fall down and get back up and laugh about things. And they fell in love. And one day they kissed.

Truman and Mercy sitting on a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. Anyway, I couldn't resist. I couldn't resist. And they had children of grace and truth. And that was the answer to living happily ever after.

So there you have it. It was cheesy. I admit.

It was cheesy. I admit. If you have only grace and no truth, the point of this being is that in God's heart, there really is no such thing because the greatest truth of God is he loves you. And there really is no such thing as loving someone without being truthful. If you had the truth about what was causing someone's disease and you didn't dare tell them because it seemed too narrow, that'd be the least loving thing imaginable, wouldn't it?

That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Prayer. As a Christian, you know it's important and you want to make it a priority. But if you're like most, your prayer life can slip so easily into routine, lacking fervor and passion. Maybe you're wondering, what is the key to praying with real power?

In Ephesians chapter six, the apostle Paul has a clear answer. Pray in the spirit. But what does it mean to pray in the spirit?

Some would say that Paul is referring only to the spiritual gift of a supernatural prayer language. But in Alan Wright's unique series, Praying with Power, pastor Alan reveals five different ways of praying in the spirit. Discover how praying God's word is praying in the spirit. Learn how to listen to the spirit as you pray. Come to see Jesus as your prayer partner.

It's practical, it's powerful. Get pastor Alan Wright's Praying with Power and discover the power of praying in the spirit. Change your prayer life and you'll change the world. When you make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries today, we'll send you pastor Alan's messages in an attractive CD album on a USB thumb drive or through digital download as our way of saying thanks for your partnership. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Today's teaching now continues.

Here once again is Alan Wright. Some years ago, I was taken by a movie called Shockalot. Maybe some of you have seen it. It was nominated for a number of awards and it was a very thought-provoking movie because it told the story of a very strict and repressed little village in France in 1959 that was ruled under the the iron fist of a mayor, the mayor who was so religiously legalistic and yet had no real life of Christ in him and just wanted to control the whole city and it is set at the beginning of Lent when everybody's supposed to give up things for Lent and certainly everybody in town was going to give up eating sweets during Lent. Well, right at the beginning of Lent in blows into town, Vianne, who is a chocolatier. She is opening a chocolate store and selling her shockalot and people would sneak in and get little morsels of chocolate during Lent and she seemed to have this mystical ability to figure out exactly what chocolate you need and people actually were being happy and she had a daughter named Enoch and so free-spirited Vianne, it becomes the enemy of the mayor who is so rigid and thus it becomes the story of him trying to shut it all down and keep the people in line and you can see the richness of the symbolism. And I remember watching it and thinking, well this is going to be one of those movies once again where the free-spirited and all that is the thing that's celebrated and everything about religion is bad but it gets more complicated than that which is why I like the movie because at the end, Vianne, in all of her free-spiritedness, we realize has no roots.

She never settles in one place. Her daughter Enoch has no roots and she meets up with a river rat played by Johnny Depp and one night in her free spirited and whimsical way, she's out sleeping on a raft with the river rat and not paying attention to attending to her daughter Enoch and there's a fire and her daughter almost dies in the fire and you realize that all this free-spiritedness, all this grace but no truth, all of this is counterbalance, is out of balance in her life and so that neither the mayor nor Vianne is right. And what happened was when Jesus came, he came as the man who is full of grace and full of truth. That's what John said in his prologue, John 1 14. The word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory. The glory of God is manifested in this way. Glory as a the only son from the father full of grace and truth. Some years ago I was, many years ago, I was sitting down with a friend at breakfast who had been to Rinaldo and he said, you know, I think Rinaldo Church is as much as any place a church of grace and truth and he doodled something on a napkin I've never forgotten and I like to show it whenever I can because I think it's something I want to be and it's something I want our church to be. You can think of it this way that Jesus came, he was full of grace and he was full of truth. So grace is the chorus of God and truth, the Greek word aletheia.

And he wasn't just part grace and part truth. Our problem is that, you know, I have days where it's like, man, I feel really gracious today. I don't remember like the kids were little and some days I'm just full of grace and they do something that doesn't bother you and you're not flustered by it. Everything's wonderful. You know, sometimes I'm just way on vacation. It's like anybody can have anything.

We're on vacation. And then the other days it's truth and it's just like, you know, all I'm going to care about today is just getting this thing corrected, getting you corrected, getting everything. You know, we're all sort of like that. And some people are like, well, I'm 30% grace and 70% truth. But Jesus wasn't 50% grace and 50% truth.

He was 100% grace and truth. And as my friend was doodling on the napkin, he said, and what would you say is the opposite of truth? And he drew a line down and I said, well, error or falsehood. And he said, okay, what's the opposite of grace? And I said, well, maybe I'd call it legalism or maybe you call it Phariseeism or dogmatism or something like that.

And what he said was, was I think so powerful. It said that, you know, what happens in our Christian lives and in our churches is when we tend to be one or the other and there becomes this divide between grace and truth, a chasm that emerges. And if you live a life and you have only grace, but no truth, then it'll take you to error. And if you have truth, but you don't have grace, then it'll lead you into legalism. And you know, I know churches and people and lives that are all grace and beautiful accepting, but, but just prone to get deceived and walk in error.

And I've known others that they may just adhere to the Bible and know the Bible and yet can just seem so unkind that nobody really wants to be around them. And here's the amazing thing about Jesus was everywhere Jesus went, people were thronging about him with the exception of the few that hated him. And they were mainly religious leaders or political leaders that felt threatened by him, but the quote sinners love being around him.

Why? Because they knew that they were not going to be put to shame despite their sin and that he had truth that would transform their lives. So Jesus was the perfect grace and truth man. And he came to deliver us and only grace and truth could deliver us because here's what God did. God did the unimaginable in sending Christ to us, but as he did sending Christ to the cross, God was proving to us that he is chesed and emeth, tzedek and shalom. In other words, God loves you infinitely.

You just can't even wrap your mind around this. He loves you the way a the way a parent loves a child, but in eternal measure. He loves you so much that the thought of you living separate from him for eternity, the thought of punishing your sin seems just unbearable to his heart of love. And yet God is emeth. He is truth, firmness.

He is chesedek. He's righteousness and justice. There is no version of justice.

I don't care what anybody says. There's no version of justice that doesn't include reward for good and punishment for wickedness. What version of justice is there that doesn't include those things?

Of course, that's what it is. And God is just. And he insists on righteousness. He insists on justice.

He cares infinitely about justice. It's his world and he built it this way. And so justice means good rewarded and wickedness is punished. But the predicament for humanity is that ever since Adam and Eve were told by God, if you eat of the tree in the middle of the garden, you shall surely die. There was a spiritual death that came to humanity and every single person been born has been born in sin. Oh, I know some people, they look like they live really good lives and some people look like they're really bad lives, but there's a condition of sin. And there's a brokenness. There's a gulf between humanity and God and rebellion and selfishness lived in the heart of humanity.

And so it was that people, in order for there to be justice in the world, all need to be punished. And yet God loves. He loves, he's hessid and yet he is righteousness, he's aesthetic. And he wants you to have shalom, which is favored wellbeing. And yet he wants there to be justice and fairness.

How could it be that these seemingly opposite things could come together? He sent a God man, Jesus, who was perfect grace and perfect truth, who went to a cross and there, in one man, God became just and justifier. The love of God for you and for me on display in the cross of Jesus Christ and the justice, the truth of God. When Jesus took upon himself, all of your sin when Jesus took upon himself, all of your sin and mine, justice was doled out. At the cross, righteousness and peace kissed and glory came upon the land.

It is so prophetic, this Psalm, because literally the Psalmist says at verse nine, his salvation is near to those who fear him. And the word for salvation is Yeshua. And Jesus' name is taken from this, Yeshua. He is Yeshua, Yeshua.

And Yeshua, when it comes over into the Greek is spelled out as we transliterate it, Iesous, Iesous, which way we say it in English is Jesus. In other words, when Yesha is near, righteousness and peace kiss. The word became flesh and dwelt among us and we've seen his glory. Glory is of the only son from the father full of grace and truth. And when you accept what he's done for you, you are filled with his spirit, the very spirit of Jesus, and given the privilege of ever increasingly growing in grace and truth. Being a people of grace and truth in this troubled world, that's how we're going to be peacemakers. And that's the gospel.

Allen Wright, our good news message, the most beautiful kiss, the conclusion to this teaching in our series Peacemakers, but we've got more coming. In fact, Pastor Alan is joining me in the studio here in just a few moments, sharing a part in good news thought for all of us today. Prayer. As a Christian, you know, it's important and you want to make it a priority. But if you're like most, your prayer life can slip so easily into routine, lacking fervor and passion. Maybe you're wondering what is the key to praying with real power.

In Ephesians chapter six, the apostle Paul has a clear answer. Pray in the spirit. But what does it mean to pray in the spirit?

Some would say that Paul is referring only to the spiritual gift of a supernatural prayer language. But in Allen Wright's unique series, Praying with Power, Pastor Alan reveals five different ways of praying in the spirit. Discover how praying God's word is praying in the spirit. Learn how to listen to the spirit as you pray. Come to see Jesus as your prayer partner. It's practical.

It's powerful. Get Pastor Alan Wright's Praying with Power and discover the power of praying in the spirit. Change your prayer life and you'll change the world. When you make your gift to Allen Wright Ministries today, we'll send you Pastor Alan's messages in an attractive CD album, on a USB thumb drive, or through digital download as our way of saying thanks for your partnership. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Allen Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, pastorallen.org. Back here with Pastor Alan, our parting good news thought for the day, and even in those final moments of the teaching, grace and truth being a key takeaway. So, it seems like they're opposite. Steadfast love and faithfulness.

They seem to be opposite. Righteousness, the insistence on doing what's right, and peace. And yet, prophetically, the psalmist says they kiss. Steadfast love and faithfulness meet. Righteousness and peace kiss each other. The joining together of the righteousness of God and the peace, the shalom, the very mercies and love of God is only possible through Jesus Christ.

Otherwise, these just remain in tension. How can something be committed to being right and just, and at the same time be committed to be merciful, loving, and peaceful? God, in Jesus Christ, on the cross, let righteousness and peace kiss.

He's utterly for you. It means God has put all of the wrath and punishment upon Christ, and that what we, in Christ, receive is His peace. Jesus became our peace that way, and is absolutely beautiful. And it's absolutely beautiful.

It is the most beautiful kiss in the world. Right to your email inbox free. Find out more about these and other resources at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.