We Love Each Other

Transcript

Good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. We're in our third week of our Home Sweet Home series, which is where we're just taking some time to ask, what is the church? Who is the church? And how is the church supposed to organize?

What is the church supposed to look like? How did the church become the church? Those kind of questions that I know have just been really weighing you down and burning on your mind. But really, it's massively important for us as a church and as the church to understand how we ought to be shaped, how we ought to organize, how we ought to think about ourselves. So what we've said so far is that the church became the church through Jesus, through his actions on our behalf, that it's not about what you do or who you are or how you act or your morals or following some rules or something.

It's about what Jesus has already accomplished through the cross. And then once he accomplished our salvation through the cross, through his death, his life, death, burial, resurrection, and our faith in him, then actually we begin to change. We begin to love Jesus. We begin to hate sin. We begin to love the Bible and love his church and love his mission. And so today we're going to spend a little more time looking practically at what it looks like for us to love each other, for us to love one another.

I thoroughly enjoy that show Shark Tank. It's a show with a bunch of sharks in a tank and they throw, it's actually these investors who are called the sharks in the show. People come in front of them and pitch ideas for businesses, pitch ideas for inventions, and then they decide whether or not they're going to invest. So they basically say, here's my idea, here's how much money I want. They negotiate, they haggle, and I just thoroughly enjoy it. My dad was an entrepreneur growing up and he invented different things periodically, mostly just stuff we use around the house.

And he started several different businesses and I got to work in some of his business. I have a business, I have a business degree. And so I just, the whole time I'm just soaking it up because it's negotiating and it's like, and it's also like these inventions and some of them are just terrible. I've got a few of those to share with you this morning. One guy brought on Throx, T-H-R-O-X, and that is socks sold in packs of three. Huh?

That was really it. He was like, what if when you bought socks, you got one extra one who wants to invest? Throw your money at me. Like that was his plan. And basically the point was, you're going to lose one anyway. Why not have an extra one already?

And so I don't think anybody invested in that. There was the hoodie pillow, which is a pillow with a hoodie on it for people who want to smother themselves and die in the middle of the night. Squeaky knees was an outfit for toddlers or little infants that basically put little squeaky toys on their knees so that when they crawled, they made squeaky noises constantly. I have a one-year-old and that's one thing I've thought on a regular basis is I wish he made more noise. If only he could be more aggressively in my face all the time. Like that's, that's what I want.

Pet paint, which is basically spray paint for your dog, which sounds great for other people's pets. My personal favorite, and I watched this one, I was going to take a second to explain is elephant chat. Elephant chat is a little wooden pedestal and a little clear like plexiglass box. And inside of it is a stuffed little, uh, elephant stuffed animal thing. And it is for, you have this sitting in your house all the time, the little elephant and the plexiglass thing. And then when you are mad at someone in your family, you're upset by something, you take the plexiglass off and now you got to deal with the elephant in the room.

This is the point of this so that you would come home from work and the elephant would be out of its cage and you'd be like, son of a God, like I hate that stupid elephant. I don't know. And then when you argue, uh, discuss, you are supposed to take the elephant and only the person holding the elephant can talk. And you pass the elephant back and forth. And this was the idea they pitched. And this only costs $60.

You could do this with a rock and a napkin. Like you could just put a rock on the table and when the napkin, like, but like, I don't know. That was the point. I don't think anybody invested in that either. Cause they were like, seriously. Um, but here's the thing on shark tank.

Periodically people come in and they have leveraged everything for their business. And a lot of them have actual good ideas that they have quit their jobs for. They've pulled money out of savings for. They've taken out loans for. They put blood, sweat, tears into, and they come in and they are sold. They are completely all in on their business.

And when they pitch it and whether or not they get a good response or a bad response, like you can tell they have poured themselves into this. And that regardless of whether or not the sharks invest or don't invest, they're going to continue to pour themselves out for this. And honestly, as we read in the pages of scripture, that is to be our attitude towards the church, towards Jesus, towards his people, towards his mission. We're to be like those in inventors that have poured themselves out. They've as it seems as if every hour they put into it, they love their business more. Every time they had to pull money out for it, every time they had to quit their job for it, they become more and more and more and more invested in what they're doing.

They're more all in to what they're doing. Like they've put everything in on this one idea, this one business. And the church is supposed to be that, that we as Christians, when we become Christians, are supposed to go all in, put everything we have into God's people and his mission. That's what we're designed to do. So the Bible uses the illustration of a family.

And it's actually not even an illustration. The Bible says we become a new family. Romans 8 says that Jesus is the firstborn among many brothers and that we're all adopted as sons. That basically when Jesus died for us and we placed faith in him, we're actually brought into the family. That we've given not only a new father, but brothers and sisters. And that we're to be absolutely devoted to and committed to the church.

So I'm going to pray and we're going to hop in and begin to look at somehow we see this in Galatians. And then we're going to, we're going to keep moving today and actually jump through a good bit of scripture. But I think it's going to be helpful as we get to see what the church is supposed to look like. So let's pray. God, we pray that as we study your words, you would begin to, to change us. God, that you would be at work in our hearts to make us into your people and to shape us more into the image of your son.

We love you and we praise you in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. So Galatians one, go to Galatians one. We'll be in, we're going to look at one through five. And here's basically what we're going to look at.

We're going to try to see how, if you don't have a Bible, there's some on the rows, it'll be on page 631. We're going to see how Paul understands his identity in light of being a part of God's new family, how he understands who he is and who he's talking to. And here's, here's one of the problems we run into when, when you read through and you hear that God's a new father and that we're a family now and that we're a true, real eternal family is that some of us have really busted up families. Some people hear that and they say, oh, it's beautiful because they can, they readily draw on good pictures of what a family is supposed to look like.

But others of us hear that and it's like, that sounds terrible. Like my, my father was terrible. I don't want to be told that God's a father. Does that mean he's distant? Does that mean he, he pieces out as soon as it gets difficult? Does that mean I never really get to know him?

Does that mean he's really harsh? Like, uh, when you say we're brothers and sisters, you're like, man, that's, that's terrible. But here's, here's the reason why it's so helpful. First of all, we get an actual good new eternal father and we get actual good eternal family. And part of the reason we've been so hurt by our families is that we knew what a father was actually supposed to look like. Even when we didn't have a good example of one, we knew deep down, this is what it should have been like.

That's why we say things like, oh, she's like a sister to me. Because we know that once it gets to a certain point, it's like, we're more than just friends. This is actually a family relationship. And even if we don't have good ones, we know they should have been good. We know what they should have been like. And the Bible says that actually Jesus redeems that for us, brings us into a new family.

And so we're just going to read as Paul writes in Galatians, this is the beginning of just one of his letters. And we're really just looking at how Paul understands his identity, who he is and who he's talking to through this lens. Paul, an apostle. Apostle means sent one. So basically chosen to be sent out like a delegate.

Paul, an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead. So he's saying, I'm an apostle. I'm sent out by Jesus and God the Father and all the brothers who are with me. So he's writing Paul, an apostle, and he tells how he became a possible apostle. And then he says, and all the brothers who are with me are writing this as well. And the word brothers there in the Greek means brothers and sisters.

It basically means siblings. So if some of you took Spanish, and I think French is the same way, they have like the masculine form of the word that includes both masculine and feminine. So we have brothers and then we have sisters and then we have brothers and sisters. A lot of other languages just would include brothers and that would include both. And so that's kind of like our word for siblings. So basically what he's saying is the family here, Paul and the family here are writing to you in Galatia, which was a different city where he wasn't.

And the brothers who are with me to the churches of Galatia. So his understanding was there's a city in Galatia and there are multiple churches there. They all belong to the same big church. They all belong to Jesus, but there's a local church that you would belong to these people. You would be devoted to these people. You'd be a part of this church.

And there's another church that belongs to you in that you're all Christians, but you don't specifically know all of those people aren't connected to all those people. They belong to each other in a distinct way. So that's what he's writing to multiple churches in this city. Grace to you and peace from God, our father. So he's writing saying, Hey, the family here is saying grace to you.

We're writing this letter to you and peace to you from God, our father. We all now have the same father, which means we're all siblings. We're all brothers and sisters. We're all family now. So he writes, Hey fam, peace to you from God, our father.

And the Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of God and father, to the will of our God and father, to whom be the glory forever. And amen. So that's how he starts his letter in chapter in verse three at verse 11. He's going to say, brothers, I want to remind you. And there's throughout all of Paul's letters. He's going to say, Hey, brothers, Hey, brothers and sisters.

Hey family. I want to remind you. I want to exhort you. I want to tell you this. I want to show you this, but he understands that his identity identity is marked by what Jesus has accomplished, made us into a family. And so throughout the new Testament, it's going to tell us over and over and over again, how we ought to relate to one another, what it looks like for us to be a part of this new family.

So it's the same thing where some of us had really messed up families, but we have an idea of what it's supposed to look like. Some of us have been a part of really messed up churches. And I'm about to say today, we're just going to look through and say, well, this is what it's supposed to look like. This is what by God's grace, it gets to look like through what Jesus has accomplished for us. And so here's what we're going to do in the new Testament. There are 59 verses that have the phrase one another, where it is specifically talking to the church.

This is how you relate to other people in the church. So Christians, this is how you treat other Christians. This is how you ought to relate to one another. So it'd be the same as if you said, okay, this is, this is what a family is like. And this is what a father is supposed to do. And this is what brothers and sisters are supposed to do.

The writers of the new Testament over and over again, it said, this is how you ought to relate to one another. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to walk through 59 one another's to see what it looks like for the church redeemed by Jesus to relate to one another's family. Y'all ready? 59. I'm going to just read them.

Don't try to get all these, like just, just kind of take it in. Sometimes when you're reading scripture, it's like a wine tasting. You take one verse, you swirl it around, you smell it. You're going to swish it around in your mouth and you're going to like, I don't know, I think you're supposed to spit it back out at that point. And then you drink it again. Like you're trying to get the, all of it out of that one little sip.

We're not doing that today. We're like pouring a bucket of water on our head just to kind of get the, Ooh, okay. I get the picture. Like that was aggressive. I see what we're doing here. So that's what we're doing today.

It's not a wine tasting. It is a ice bucket challenge. We're going to run through really quickly and just try to see what the Bible says, what the new Testament says about how we ought to relate to one another. And we can give you this list later if you're interested in it. Um, so 59, here we go. Be at peace with one another.

We will stop every once in a while and I'll give commentary kind of like I just did there. Uh, wash one another's feet. That's Jesus talking to the disciples after he washes their feet, love one another, love one another, love one another, love one another, love one another, be devoted to one another in brotherly love. And so basically as the church, we're to be committed to devoted to each other. We're to go all in for one another. We're to, we're to push all of our chips onto the table for the sake of one another, honor one another above yourselves, live in harmony with one another, love one another, stop passing judgment on one another.

Uh, that basically is stepping in and saying, uh, have a conversation. See, passing judgment is I see you doing something and I think, okay, well, if he's just going to be like that, then we're just not going to be friends anymore. Or you do something to me and I just say, okay, well, she's, she's just like that. I'm writing her off. And what he's saying is you've passed judgment. You've condemned somebody.

And what we're supposed to do is actually when something happens is go talk to him, assume the best, assume that they can change, assume that they didn't do it intentionally. So stop passing judgment on one another, accept one another. Then just as Christ accepted you, which means everybody's invited in. Jesus didn't raise the bar really high. He went and accomplished it for us and accepted everybody. So accept one another as Christ accepted you instruct one another, greet one another with a holy kiss.

When you come together to eat, wait for each other, have, that's a problem for some people who are conditioned, always late to their community group, but it says, wait for him, uh, have equal concern for each other. Greet one another with a holy kiss. Greet one another with a holy kiss. Be affectionate. I think is what that's getting after. Um, serve one another in love.

If you keep on biting and devouring each other, you will be destroyed by each other. So don't harm each other. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. Uh, this one is, uh, says carry each other's burdens. Sometimes the church carrying each other's burdens looks like our church coming together to help another church across the state, across the globe. Um, when, when there was the, the flood here, uh, I know a guy who I went to high school with, who's a pastor of a church in, in Augusta.

He called me and said, Hey, I know you're going to have to be doing some flood work, some flood repairs and stuff. Uh, our church just took up and I think it was, uh, it's around $2,000, a couple thousand dollars that they just said here, we're sending to y'all for whatever y'all need to use it for, for flood stuff. Sometimes that's what it looks like. Um, a lot of times though, it looks like real relationships with real people who have real burdens that you step in and help carry. So it's going to look like helping somebody move.

It's going to look like your group accommodating someone else in your community group and meeting at a different time. It's going to look like, um, washing each other's children, washing each other's clothes, letting people stay with you. If there's a need, it's going to look like getting together and saying, okay, you lost your job. Uh, we can do $25 a month until you're able to find a new job. And, and another couple saying, yeah, we're actually going to cancel our direct TV and we'll be able to do 75 a month. And we're going to start praying really hard that you get a job before football season.

That's our prayer. Like we're going to come together and help bear one another's burdens. Like we're going to, we're going to step in and say, I'm going to, I'm going to help here. I'm going to leverage my time, my energy for you. Um, carry each other's burdens, uh, be patient, bearing with one another in love, be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other. Those were all kind of right in the same area together.

Uh, Paul wrote those and he's basically assuming that if you're in real relationships with real people, you're going to need some patience. You're going to need some compassion and you're going to need to be willing to forgive actual real things, big, uh, sins that were committed against you. You're going to be able to step in and forgive as Jesus forgave you that we're going to be in real relationships so that there's real offense. Now we say this a good bit, but it's like there's couples that are like, Oh, we never fight. It's like, Oh, y'all don't hang out with each other very much. Like y'all just, one of you secretly mad.

Like what? Yeah. You know, cause like if you hang out with a person, John, people are the worst. Like if you hang out with people, they're going to sin, they're going to cause problems. Like there's going to be some conflict. And so Paul saying, yeah, be around each other enough so that there's actually room for now you need to forgive.

Now you need to have compassion. Now you need to work it out. Speak to one another with Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Y'all know that when we sing, we're not just singing to God or for our own benefit. We're actually singing for the benefit of everybody around us. Like we're speaking to one another.

We're rehearsing truth to one another. So sometime when you're singing on a Sunday, just turn and make eye contact with someone. Just be like, and then just start singing. Like, don't do that. But, but you know, that's part of the reason we're singing is to, is to encourage one another is to, to point one another back to truth, to hear all of these voices of all these people who know and believe the same stuff. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ in humility, consider others better than yourself.

And we also read earlier, honor one another above yourselves, that we as Christians are just supposed to assume that others are more important. We're supposed to go out of our way to, to look out for the interests of others, not our own, that we're to believe as Christians that I'm the least important person in the room. Just as Jesus honored us when we didn't deserve honor, just as Jesus humbled himself when he deserved to be glorified. We as Christians are supposed to follow after him, humbling ourselves and honoring others and looking out for their needs, not ours. Do not lie to each other, bear with each other, forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another, teach one another, admonish one another.

Those are in the same verse. So basically we need to coach each other up, teach. We need to say, Hey, you're not looking at that correctly. You need to see this, or I just don't feel like you understand this. And we need to admonish one another, which means rebuke, step in and say, Hey, you're wrong here. We need to care enough about each other to actually step in and say, Hey, you're wrong.

Like you're not treating her properly. You're not acting correctly here. You need to change. You need to grow, make your love increase and overflow for each other, love each other, encourage each other, encourage each other, build each other up, encourage one another daily, spur one another on toward love and good deeds, encourage one another that we as Christians should be going out of our way to say, encouraging things to each other should be looking for ways to step in and say, Hey, I just want to point out where I see Jesus at work in you. You're hanging out with our group. It's the first time you've actually confessed sin.

Do you know how huge that is that you were honest with us tonight? Do you know how big that is? That means Jesus is at work in you that you actually believe the gospel going up to someone and saying, Hey, I just want to tell you how much I appreciate you're always bringing food. When we come hang out with our group, like, like every week I eat your Doritos and I just want to say, thank you like for doing that. Some people, you need to say to them, Hey, every time you hang out with our group and you say, Hey, I just want to share something I've been reading in scripture and you share something like it.

I learn Like every single time you've said, Hey, I want to share something. I've been Jesus has been teaching me. I learned stuff. You probably should do that more often, but going out of our way to find ways to encourage one another. Do not slander one another. Don't grumble against each other.

Confess your sins to each other So that we would as Christians when we sin we'd own up to it When others sin we would talk to them not about them We would just go to the person instead of slandering them. We would just go confront them We would just go talk to them. We would just go work it out with them Pray for each other love one another deeply from the heart live in harmony with one another love each other deeply Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling open your homes open your refrigerator open your Wallet have some people around your table do that on a regular basis Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others You should just understand that when God blesses you it's for the benefit of your church family Clothe yourselves with humility towards one another greet one another with a kiss of love Love one another love one another love one another love one another love one another love one another all that was John and he said that a lot He really was trying to drive that home That the church is to love one another In John in his gospel. He he says that Jesus tells him this before he before he's gonna go to the cross He says a new commandment I give to you.

This is John 13 34 and 35. We're gonna have it on the screen A new commandment I give to you that you love one another Just as I have loved you You also are to love one another That Jesus says the way I loved you the way I served you the way I humbled myself for you the way I went out of my way for you That's how we ought to love each other and then he says this by this All people will know that you are my disciples If you have love for one another That that's to be the defining Mark Of the church that's what christians are supposed to look like so just imagine for a second those 59 things We just went through just imagine a group of people that actually Did all that Actually when they sinned just owned up to it didn't try to hide it When others sinned they didn't talk about them. They just went and talked to them They just went and said hey, I just want I need to talk to you about this because this offended me or this hurt me or I was confused by this or I need to clarify with you or Just loved one another just assumed when they entered the room. They were the least important person there So let's just let's say for a minute.

Yeah, like we're all on an expedition in africa We're going to uncharted areas. We're walking through the woods hacking stuff down We finally come to this little like crevice and a rock and we we all decide this seems like a good idea So we just like go into this weird cave and then it opens up to this area where there's like waterfalls and butterflies and like Pixie dust like it's just like this place shouldn't even exist. It's beautiful and we we meet a group of people That actually does all of these It may take a little while for us to see it if we realize this is what's happening They're not perfect, but when they mess up they just own it. They go talk to each other They bear one another's burdens as if someone gets sick, they all just rally around them I think we'd be there for just a little while and I'd start being like We're gonna mess this up Like I suddenly feel a little bit Uncomfortable like I'm gonna like this is this is gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna teach y'all how to do bad things Like because I'd go over to someone and be like could you believe what that guy just did and that would be the weirdest thing because they wouldn't do that He'd be like, I don't know.

Did you talk to him? I'm like, no I'm talking to you That guy's the idiot I'm trying to make myself look better but point it out. What is your problem? By God's grace, this is actually what the church gets to look like Because Jesus has already equipped us with everything we need to actually do this He's loved us more than we could ever Ever love him in return and so we get to just out of that love love each other He's humbled himself. He's served us. He's forgiven us and so with all that we're equipped to actually do this and without the cross We can't Without the cross you can't confess sin you need to be looking pretty good You need to make people think more highly of you than you really are.

You can't tell them you're depressed You can't tell them you're hurting. You can't tell them you're weak. You can't tell them you keep messing up Not without the cross But without the cross what we're saying is that all of us are broken all of us are busted All of us are bankrupt and that Jesus paid for it so that when I come tell my group Hey, I just want to tell y'all I'm kind of secretly a jerk I want to tell y'all how I've been treating y'all poorly I want to tell y'all what I've been up to I want to tell you what happened in my past They're not they're not surprised We all became christians by being sinners in the first place in need of grace The the gospel actually equips us for all this That's why we say we're a gospel-centered community on mission because we have a gospel-centered part. Well, this this all breaks down It all falls apart so That's what the church is supposed to be A group of people that treat one another like that because they've been so overwhelmed By how they were treated like that through Jesus on the cross And that's why some of us are so frustrated around the church Because we're approaching it incorrectly Like I know a really good way to be frustrated at my house Is to when I get home from work bust through the door and basically have this attitude I'm here Focus on me now I have entered The king has arrived Silence the child.

Where's my food? Like if I approach my house that way and sometimes my heart is there Just being real with y'all sometimes I rock up to the house and that's kind of where my heart is That's kind of where my attitude is Let me tell you something those nights are miserable Because that's not how my house works Like I'm I'm only setting myself up to be absolutely miserable And it's going to be the same with my son as he grows up if he thinks our house is going to revolve around him surprise It's not It's the same with my wife if she thinks that everything is going to like it just it breaks down when all of us just assume I'm the most important Some of us walk into a church that's supposed to be a group of people absolutely Humbled and shattered by the cross and overwhelmed by grace and love and forgiveness and we do the exact same thing Jesus says that that he came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many and that If you want to be great in the church, you'll be a servant and you'll be a slave Just for a second if you if you're Think about our local southern church culture And if you're not familiar with american southern church culture Bless your heart And welcome glad you're here um perk up learn something um Think about our local church culture and here's basically What if what if everybody went from? Our current attitude to just believing I'm here to serve If you walk into a room and your attitude is I'm a servant I'm the least important person here How much joy is now open up to you? If I come home and I know I'm gonna walk through the door and immediately what I get to do is help my wife out by Pulling the son off of her who probably has a stick for some reason and I don't know how he got it and like just Trying to help take care of him so that she can rest a little bit and I'm gonna help with with food or I'm gonna help Watch him so that she like whatever like if I come in and I just know I'm gonna roll around on the ground and wrestle with my son And I'm gonna try to have a conversation with my wife and everything I have all my energy whatever is devoted to them like There's so much joy open to me now Because that actually gets to happen That actually is an opportunity for me Here's the problem with us as americans We're australians Westerners Here's the problem with us.

We've been taught We've been taught to be shoppers To be capitalists Consumers If I go to a restaurant And you ask me how was it? Oh, I can tell you everything I wasn't doing it actively, but I can tell you how comfortable it was how loud it was How much I enjoyed the ambiance the feel how the the waiter or waitress was how long we had to wait how much it cost How much I thought cost to food ratio was was it a lot of food but low quality? I'm, okay with that. Was it a high quality food, but about this big not coming back like you know I can tell you I can tell you all of that I can tell you oh that place is great because you don't have to tip like they just hand you your food You go sit down you bust your own table or I can say you got a factor in tip there Like you're gonna know that's gonna cost you three extra bucks.

So it's a trick. What's written on the thing like I can tell you And I didn't sit while I was eating and think about all of that. I've just been taught to be a shopper If I come hang out with a church and you ask me how was it I like this I didn't like this I didn't this this this this this because we've been taught to be shoppers And all I can tell you is how much better would every local church in our city be if all of us went from shoppers to servants If everybody actually just started looking like this My uncle was um He's a nigerian. He um I was from obomashaw. He's of the yoruba people group He's been in my family as long as my mom has he was adopted and when he came to the u.s.

Uh He you know grew up most of his life in nigeria has family there But he came to the u.s. To go to school and when he came to the u.s. And he went to college he walked out of his dorm He walked to the end of the end of the road and I guess he just decided to go one way or the other Decided to go right so he went right and then he Walked and saw a baptist church and that was where he had become a christian through baptist going to nigeria And he said okay, and he made note of when they met on sunday And he showed up on sunday and that was his church for the four years. He was in school Because it was the closest baptist church to his house He was just looking for a group of people that belonged to Jesus and that was his people And part of me thinks that's kind of crazy What if that church was terrible?

For real though And I think what my uncle would have said was then how much more would they have needed me? What if they what if they were really messed up Those people belong to Jesus and Jesus sent me here and put me right next to him How much more so would they need me? If we're really family And they're hurting How much more do they need me right now? I think that would have been his response And the the little american shopper inside of me dies a little bit Now I'm not saying it's wrong to have some preferences. I I don't know I'm I'm very americans I got to think through this a little bit But I can tell you what I am saying is how much better and how much more biblical Would all of our churches look if we suddenly went from shoppers to servants If you quit approaching it as what am I getting out of it?

And what am I putting into it? Who have I served recently? What do I have that I can use for the benefit of our church family? What do I have that I can use for the benefit of my group? What have I been gifted in what has God blessed me with what do I own? What is he do I have a good job do I make a lot of money do I can I cut grass like what can I do To serve our church family And just assumed you were a servant how much more beautiful would this be We'd actually get to begin to look like Jesus's people on earth and then that's where he says if you love one another like this People will know that people would come in and we'd be the weirdest group of people they ever hung out with Because we were just straight up about honest about our junk and then when someone else sinned against us We just went and talked to them You can't do that.

Can you? Y'all are all mad at each other. So you got in a room and hashed it out No, sweep it under the rug or just avoid each other, right? Like stop being friends like there's so many things it's like but we would actually get to just Commit up front we begin to look like the church. We say things in church culture like this What's going on with that church? Ah, it just wasn't for me Right That is correct We hear that and think oh, okay, you looking for another one?

No the church wasn't for you It's the church is for Jesus And you exist for the church like you exist for the rest of the people around there Or we say things like I just have to do what's best for me I I have had people say that to me and my response has been yeah That does not come from here Jesus did not do what was best for him And he has a group of people who follow after him doing what's best for others So here's here's how this is supposed to work in the church Um in poker you have chips You bet chips if you win the hand you have the higher hand you win all the chips on the table And there's a thing on poker called going all in And that's where you put all your chips on the table And let me tell you you've never played poker. I'm going to teach you something after you've gone all in You don't fold Because all your chips are on the table You see all the cards Now you may pray And try to do like statistical math as it gets closer to the end and you're like, okay I gotta have these two cards to win and then the next card comes you're like Okay, now I just need this card to win and like eventually maybe but you don't fold Nobody puts all their chips in pre-flop get and then folds before they see the next like they don't you You you stay in and that's the that's how we ought to be as the church Which is when you became a christian you pushed all your chips on the table Which means that we don't fold Someone in your community group can say hey, why won't you leave me alone? Why won't you just let me run away? Why won't you just let me alone so I can sin?

Why won't you just and stop and you look at him and say because I'm not folding All my chips are on the table. I can't quit We belong to each other Paul says it's like members of the same body that like we're body parts together You know when you stub your toe or you get a paper cut or like you hit your hand with a hammer you think up Too bad hand No This is your hand If it's your friend's hand you think too bad for your hand, but if it's your hand That's the way the church relates to one another when somebody's hurting when somebody's in pain when somebody celebrates like we're all tied together We're all all in together That's the way family works That's why the bible says we've been made into a new family We ought to treat each other that way when my younger brother was born He was born with two parents and two brothers and he had no say in the matter He had the last name he had he had the genetic makeup that he had he's gonna have a block head and be kind of short That's what happened. Sorry He had two brothers that tormented him One of his favorite stories is when I went to him and said hey, you want to play uh, like cops and robbers? And he was like, yeah, so I handcuffed him to a pole and then punched him a bunch Logan and I were older we my dad said he came home one time in the middle of the summer Comes into the house.

We're pouring in sweat and drinking like kool-aid and stuff and he's like where's vince? And we're like, oh because we were playing cowboys and indians and we had tied him to a tree And went in to get something to drink He was still tied to the tree when I said he went out there He's sweat pouring off his little face couldn't tell which was tears and which was sweat like but he couldn't sorry That's who you got Some people were born with really sweet nice sisters that cared for him. You didn't get that He's in He's committed It's the same thing with with uh, this past year when my wife and I she had a we had a son and we're at the hospital people told me When you mean the first time you hold your son It's gonna change you It's gonna be this moment and I guess I was too like geared up for it, but they handed him to me and I was like Yeah, I don't got I got nothing He's screaming he's covered in goo. It's like all right What do I do with this thing like what are you gonna?

I mean I don't emotion my way through the world. I just I was like, all right, let's do this You know, it's just ready to go, but I didn't have this like I don't know what I was expecting but like Time to slow down and speed up my heart to beat little tears come out like it just didn't happen Uh, and so like we're in the hospital and is in in the hospital bed and stuff She'd had a c-section so she couldn't really move around I'm holding him doing stuff and she goes Don't you just love him so much? And I was like He's all right She said she looked at me and said I'm serious and I went like anna we're guys we just met give me give me a minute You know, like I gotta get to know him And she She was in her little hospital bed tubes and stuff. She's like I'm going to punch you Uh But the truth was yeah Yeah, I did love him and it didn't have anything to do with what he'd accomplished or whatever like when when anna and I got married I pushed all my chips on the table I went all in And that was if she could have kids if she couldn't have kids if we ended up adopting if she ends up In it being sick if we have to go like I was all in and as soon as she said she was pregnant I was all in with archer.

I was all in with our son like that was it I don't know how he's gonna turn out He might grow up and be the most fun person I've ever met. He might be hilarious. He might be great. I don't know Maybe he'll be really serious and super smart. Maybe he'll work his whole life just to barely pass high school Maybe he won't work hard at all. Maybe he'll be a complete jerk.

Maybe he'll be rebellious his entire life Maybe he'll run away and I can't get to him. I don't know where he is half the time, but I'll tell you one thing I'm in I'm in for whatever all my chips are on the table. I'm not folding So whatever it takes whatever that means however that plays out over the course of his life. I'm in What the bible says is that when Jesus saved us And made us his and bought us through his blood we pushed all our chips on the table And that we were given brothers and sisters and we're all in We don't quit Jesus loves us bought us made us his we are an eternal family that one day when Jesus calls us home We'll gather around his table as his children forever And there won't be any more sin and there won't be any more pain and we'll have a glorious eternal family And then we get to start doing that right now That that's who the church is That if you're a christian you are committed to and devoted to Jesus Through his local church and that means you're all in with a group of real people Real sinners saved by Jesus in a real life in a real place and you're in Good bad.

Maybe he'll be really serious and super smart. Maybe he'll work his whole life just to barely pass high school Maybe he won't work hard at all. Maybe he'll be a complete jerk. Maybe he'll be rebellious his entire life Maybe he'll run away and I can't get to him. I don't know where he is half the time, but I'll tell you one thing I'm in I'm in for whatever all my chips are on the table. I'm not folding So whatever it takes whatever that means however that plays out over the course of his life. I'm in What the bible says is that when Jesus saved us And made us his and bought us through his blood we pushed all our chips on the table And that we were given brothers and sisters and we're all in We don't quit Jesus loves us bought us made us his we are an eternal family that one day when Jesus calls us home We'll gather around his table as his children forever And there won't be any more sin and there won't be any more pain and we'll have a glorious eternal family And then we get to start doing that right now That that's who the church is That if you're a christian you are committed to and devoted to Jesus Through his local church and that means you're all in with a group of real people Real sinners saved by Jesus in a real life in a real place and you're in Good bad. Otherwise you're in that's the church

So as long as we continue to approach the church on an incorrect basis We'll never get out of it what what it was supposed to be As long as you approach your family like they're optional you'll never have a family The way it's supposed to be and as long as we continue to approach the church Like it's a store like we're consumers The church makes a terrible shop It makes a great family Because that's what it was designed to be I got five quick ways specific ways that we get to begin to be all in I'm just trying to help us have some tangible steps First one is this join a church Commit to a local group of Jesus's people Quit shopping Some of you maybe you're actually uh, usually a part of another church and you're hanging out with us today Ah Go back to your other church and start serving Start assuming that you're a part of that church start assuming that your goal your role there is to serve I It doesn't have to be this church, but if you're a christian, it's a church that you are committed to That you're there and if they start getting off if they start not teaching the truth you're talking to them You're fighting for it If they start changing things wrongly, you're you're humbly submitting, but you're going and you're talking to them

So you're willing to submit to one another you're honoring them, but you're going to come you're going to talk to them You're going to confront them. You're going to work it out Join a church if you're a part of our church been hanging out for a while. Uh step two just join a group One of the ways that we commit to Jesus's people is with real people real faces real problems real Good qualities and bad qualities an actual group of people and the way that we do that here is by being in a group That you commit to a group Uh Some of you the way you're going to get to start going all in is by giving and serving You're going to begin to assume that whatever you've been blessed with whatever energy talents Finances whatever belongs to Jesus and his people that it's for their good And so you're going to begin to start giving and serving Begin to start putting some some of your own energy some of your own way And I don't know what that looks like It's going to be different per person for what they're given what they've been blessed with what their talents are what their skill set Some of you the way you actually begin to go all in is you need to quit hiding You've been holding on to some chips You've you've been not trusting Jesus's people to act like Jesus which is to To be able to be known in front of them and still be left

So you're holding on to some things that happened in your past you're holding on to some things that you've done You're holding on you you hadn't gone all in yet And you're designed to be able to say Jesus saved me from this He cleansed me from this and I'm all in with this group of people Some of you need to be reconciled Which just means that you've allowed some frustrations Some grievances To grow up between you and another christian You hadn't loved them enough to tell them or you know, you've been actively sinning against them and your attitude towards them or something You did to them and you've been hiding And in a minute when we stand up to sing you're going to need to go talk to them if they're in this room And if they're not in this room God in his grace has blessed you With a little machine in your pocket That can dial phone Numbers You're gonna need to call them Depending on how big it is you might can work it out over the phone if not you're gonna need to set up a time to get with them

But you're holding out And you're not treating them like family They need to work it out And for our church as a whole one of the ways that we're going to continue to move forward in this and being committed to one another is we're going to have some more formal Forms of membership through our community groups Where we're actually as a group and as a church looking and saying we all believe these things We're all going for this together and in our groups are going to begin to say this is what it looks like for us In lexington for us in red bank for us in downtown to actually be a gospel center community on mission committed to one another And this is how we're going to do that So what this is going to look like it's our groups are actually going to get together and start writing out some Here's what we're going for here's how this is going to look and we're going to commit to one another a little more formally Some of you need to become christians

Jesus has already accomplished everything if you be a part of his family You can repent of your sin and be made new be welcomed in And join an eternal family of a bunch of messed up people saved by Jesus bought by his blood and made blood together brothers and sisters for eternity Miriam and matt are going to come back up here and sing and here's what we're going to do We're going to take communion Which is us as christians Celebrating that Jesus has died for us has paid for our sin That when he died on the cross his body was broken for us his blood was shed for us and that we are saved by His sacrifice made into his people by what he accomplished for us If you need to be reconciled with somebody if you need to repent of some sin you need to go ahead and do that before you take communion Before you go celebrate that his blood has covered you that you've been saved through Jesus And then I want to us today as we take communion. I want us to celebrate That through Jesus's blood shed on our behalf We've been blood bought and made into a family That when you placed your faith in Jesus you were given not only a new father not only a new name not only a Salvation and hope and justification, but you were actually given a new family And I want us as a church to be devoted to one another in love to commit to each other and to go all in Matt and miss miriam are going to sing while we take communion and then we'll all sing together The words will be on the screen as they sing feel free to sing with them

But we will be taking communion as soon as as soon as we're done praying God we thank you for your grace God we thank you for each other That we have people that we get to be around in normal everyday life that are our family That we get to serve That we get to rally around when they're down and they get to do the same for us They get to admonish us teach us defend us God I pray that you would help every person in this room to be a part of your church To be a christian And to be committed to your people And God we we await the day When you take us home To live with you forever As your sons and daughters Purchased through your grace and through your cross We praise you in Jesus name Amen

Apr 17