What if you slowly become whatever you give your heart to? In week one of "You Become What You Love," Matt makes the surprising case that the weirdest book in the Bible — Leviticus, smoked-meat sacrifices and all — is really a manual for reprogramming a people to love their neighbor. Drawing on N.T. Wright, James K.A. Smith, Rob Bell, and a David Foster Wallace commencement speech, he argues there's no neutral setting: we're all worshiping something, and it's quietly shaping who we're becoming. It's funny, a little uncomfortable, and lands on a vision of church as an instrument to love the world rather than a monument to itself. New here or just passing through — come as you are and take a step closer to Jesus with us.
What if the most important thing about you isn't what you believe or even what you do — but what you love? In week two of You Become What You Love, Matt digs into the strangest book in the Bible, Leviticus, and finds a surprising blueprint for reordering a whole society around justice, equity, and love of neighbor. Along the way: Arthur Brooks on why we're wired to love things and use people (and how to flip it), Augustine overthinking his own heart in the fourth century, and the brave, uncomfortable prayer of Psalm 139 — "Search me, God, and know my heart." An honest, occasionally hilarious look at how our loves get out of order, and what it takes to set them right. Join us Sundays on the Peninsula.
What if the thing that shapes you most isn't what you believe, or even how you behave — but what you love? In week three of You Become What You Love, Matt moves from the strange, beautiful equity of Leviticus — Jubilee, welcoming the foreigner, everyone equally near to God — into his own complicated story: growing up in a church that wounded him, and still feeling called to build one anyway. It's a message about orthocardia (right love), the quiet idolatry of confusing our church with Jesus, and what it takes to build a church that's good all the way down — empathy, grace, people-first, truth, justice, service, and Christ-likeness. Honest, funny, and a little tender. Join us Sundays on the Peninsula.
