Household of God Pt. 4 :: Unity before Diversity

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SPEAKER_00 0:01

Thanks for joining us today as you listen to a portion of the message recorded at Vine Life Church in Boulder, Colorado. If you'd like to connect with us further, you can visit us online at www.finelife.com.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

I love this time of year. Megan hates this time of year. I love this time of year. I like the fall. It gets a little cooler. The days are still hot. The mornings and the evenings are a little cooler. That's my jam. Alright? But then also, it's hard to explain, but there's something that happens in me. I don't know if this is the same for you. There's something that happens in me. I start to feel a spiritual churning in the fall season. September, October, November. This happens every year. This might not be the same for you, but there's something about the changing of seasons that's very evident. And there's almost this natural self-examination that starts to take place. Anyone else in the room? And uh there's something that happens where all of a sudden fervor, I start to I start to reconnect with desire and motivation and fervor, and just the these deep, hungering prayers from the Lord from from the deep inside from deep inside. And my sense is um across the body of Christ, it is a season for that. And just just tomorrow night, several thousand people are going to be gathered at Red Rocks for worship on the rocks. And and uh and please be in prayer. Our very own John Fitch and Piper Keppen and some others from Team Vine Life are uh are helping organize this, and they're you know they're spinning a lot of plates right now, and they're just like they're going for it. But let's surround them in prayer. Even if you're not going tomorrow night, pray, all right? There's spiritual realities. We we we are living um we're we are living a life that goes much further than just concerts and venues and bands. There's spiritual realities at play, and I do believe that when when the Church of Jesus Christ gathers, things shift in the spirit, okay? And uh and so please be praying for them. And um, but with that said, and and you know, this churning and this regional thing that's happening, one of the things that in in in a few weeks uh we really have a sense that the Lord wants to invite us as a community uh to hold up an emphasis of prayer for the remainder of the year, for for a good portion of the rest of the fall season, even coming into the Christmas season. That as the initial twelve disciples asked Jesus, they requested of him teach us how to pray. And it's coming from this desire that I would that we really feel that the Lord is is is pulling us into, that communion with God and with each other should be top priority. That this would be a place where seeking God would firmly be at the heart of who we are. That we are a people, both individually and corporately, where the language of prayer, the language of communion with God is the air that we breathe. And so that's something we're gonna try to, we're gonna be praying into more than even just a teaching series. We're gonna be we're we're we're gathering our teams to actually look at what this actually looks like to foster environments of prayer in homes, in in youth, in uh in uh our children, all across the board. So 7845 Lookout Road, Longmont, Colorado. Did you guys hear that? My watch just told me that I'm at 7845 Lookout Road in Longmont, Colorado. Glad I just showed up, people. I just showed up. Thank you, Lord. I could try I could I could try to over-spiritualize this moment, but I'm not going to. So, anyways, that's just uh some some things uh contextually for us um as we're uh sharing the season together. So you guys ready to dig in?

unknown 4:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

Um so we're uh open your Bibles, Ephesians chapter 4. And we're continuing in uh little series that we've been calling the household of God. In light of some of the comments I just shared, I do believe God is preparing a harvest. Does anybody believe that? God is preparing a harvest, sons and daughters coming home. God is calling prodigals back home. He's also calling those who were near to him back home. He's calling younger brothers and older brothers back home. And I do believe that in our world, in the condition that we find ourselves in, that we are we are ripe for an awakening and a renewal. And it's a it's a really strange thing because simultaneously there is a resistance to God, and there's there's the in culture, the cultural narrative, when you pay attention to the messaging we hear from culture, there is a lot of animosity and anger towards the idea of God. And yet, under underlying that, it's coupled with a deep hunger and thirst for God, which which tells us that we are ripe for a new picture of the glory of God to be made manifest on earth. And so I do believe that God is preparing us, he's preparing the earth. I know I'm not the first to say that. That's that's a lot of people are saying that and have been saying that for a long time. But I do really believe that in order to prepare for that, there is a retooling that has to happen in the church, that God still at the center of his plan for extending his glory, his manifest presence into all of the earth. Um, he wants his intention is for the church, the gathering of saints, those who have been called from near and far unto his name, that we would be retooled and re-equipped for knowing how to house and to care for and to steward sons and daughters as they come home. Do you guys believe that? That God wants to teach us a new way, or possibly even an old way, of what it means to be the church, so that if all of our prayers were answered today, that we would actually have the capacity to know how to participate with God and caring for the sons and daughters who are coming home. So that means, though, that I believe that part of what he's doing is both in this church, and this is a much broader conversation, is it is Jesus is wanting to reacquaint the church with what it means to be his house and what are his expectations of his household. What are his expectations of the type of culture and the type of environment that he expects within his house? And this is a very big deal. Um all throughout scripture, you know, the last several weeks and for a long time, we we use this language of family quite a bit. And it's not just because it's a good buzzword, it's because it's very clear in scripture that the context of family is the dominant metaphor that both Jesus and the writers of the New Testament use to describe this absurd collection of people, of strangers and aliens. That's what the scripture calls us. We're a collection of aliens that have been brought near. And been called a family, this Greek word adelphi, it's used hundreds of times. And it is the dominant picture of what it means to be the church. And so, again, the I have the sense, and and this is just me, this is uh again, when I talk to friends across the country, across the nation, there's a sense, even all around the world, that God is giving us new language and new picture of what his family looks like. So that's that's that's why we've been talking about the family of God, because it's not just about us, it's about us being prepared to participate in a global move of God.

unknown 8:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

So the last few weeks we've been digging into little snippets of Ephesians, and we're just only going to spend today and next week as well on that. But just to recap, over the last couple weeks, we we looked at Ephesians chapter 1, right towards the tail end of Ephesians chapter 1, we are introduced to the head of the family, the head of the church, who is Jesus Christ. And it's really the first paradigm we have to be settled in as it comes to knowing how to interact and how to be the family, that Jesus is the head, which means what? Which means that we are after his thoughts rather than simply our own opinions and preferences and podcasts. Amen? We are after being connected into the source and the head, which means each of us in an age where everybody has something to say, including all of us, we can take, we can, we can call a timeout and all the voices and say, Jesus, what do you have to say about my life? What do you have to say about this region? What do you have to say about my neighborhood? What do you have to say about my kids and about my marriage? Right? And so Jesus is the head. And then last week, we talked about this house that he's building and this whole idea at the end of Ephesians chapter 2, where it says that we are the dwelling place of God. In an age where temples were constructed by man, buildings built for God. Jesus, in this case, Paul, would remind us that we are now the dwelling place of God, right? Which means what? We are God's house, which means that the church is not something we build for God, the church is us being built by God. So the question, the driving question underneath that is are we allowing Jesus to build us up in love? He is building you. And yeah, we get to do things along the way. But he is building you up in love and using using you to build others up in love. We are the dwelling place of God, not a building, not a program, not a conference, not a red rocks. The people of God are the dwelling place of God. That is his intention. That we, his dwelling place would be among men for all of time. Thank you, Jesus. Come on, somebody get excited this morning. All right, I'll keep moving. So, what I love about the layout of the book of Ephesians is the first three chapters, Paul is laying a foundation of the gospel, of what it looks like to be settled into what God has done for us. And so he doesn't even say much to us in the first three chapters. He doesn't say much as in the way of instruction. So you won't hear him in the first three chapters talking about what you ought to do. He's just saying, this is what you ought to know has already happened. God has already been all the, he's already been at work way before you showed up. And this is how, these are all the spiritual blessings accomplished in Christ. This is what was made possible in Christ's body. He has reconciled those who are near and those who are far and put to death hostility in his body, broken down every dividing wall. He has become our peace, right? And then we, and because of that, we become the dwelling place for God. And he continues in chapter 3. He says, listen, this revelation was uniquely given to me as an apostle. This was a mystery that everybody was guessing for so long. This is a plan that was hidden for ages, but has now uniquely been made known. And so I am a steward of this mystery, and I'm all out full force, given my life. You know, I'll shipwreck, I'll be beaten, I'll be stoned because this message matters. And so he's he's he's he's establishing the fact that he has been given to this, and and then he finally prays a prayer at the end of chapter three, saying, for this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from which every family on earth is named. And he starts to pray for spiritual strength to comprehend, because this is going to be so dang difficult to even get. I'm gonna praise for spiritual strength that you would know what is the height and the breadth and the width and the depth of the love of Christ. And it was pointed out to me recently that even those using those words, that that sequence, height and breadth and depth and width, that the readers would know that he's talking about an ark. He's talking about a housing, uh, a dwelling place that he is building. And so that was his prayer, and that leaves us though, you know, we're excited about what God's doing. But then the next the next the next natural question we begin to ask is that's so awesome. What is my part in this? Right? What is my role? What is my part? How do I get to play? If God is building this, and what are we supposed to be doing? And I think this is a drive in each uh in every one of us because we actually want to be a part of what God is doing. How many want to be a part of what God is doing in his church on earth? It's a huge thing. This is a drive that he's given to each of us, right? And so that gets us excited as we get into Ephesians chapter 4. There's a couple things that we want to hit real quick. And this isn't gonna be a deep teaching on Ephesians chapter 4, but I do want to point out a dynamic that sometimes we get trapped in, okay? So it's Ephesians chapter 4. Many of you are familiar with this part. When you come into the middle of Ephesians chapter 4, we're gonna start in verse 7. It says, But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. And then we're gonna move on to verse 11. It says he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and the teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. This is good. I can feel the sizzle. This is this is amazing. Because not only is Christ building something, but he starts to invite us into it, right? This is a beautiful thing, right? That he has a measure of gifts that he starts to dispense within his body. Right? How many of you guys have ever taken an inventory, a five-fold? This is this is the passage that many of you know, it's called the fivefold ministry. How many of you have ever taken an inventory to identify your five-fold gift? Okay? Like, put your hands up, put your hands up in the air. It's okay. Alright. Quite a few of us. Now, that's what we do. When we come through passages like this, we're like, this would be a great inventory for people to take to find out what our unique thing is. And the blessing of uh uh of the promise of this passage is again, God is doing something, but there is going to be a unique expression. But here's the deal. When we start diving into passages like this, and we start opening up the conversation about our individual roles and individual gifts and calls, things can start to get really interesting in the way we start talking, okay? So let's look at this first, you know, this first idea, the the fivefold gifts. You want to put that on the screen, David? Apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher. Now, if you're steeped in church world, you probably have been a part of some of these conversations before. Like, hey, what's your thing? Are you more pastor of the world or are you more evangelistic? You're kind of a pastor-teacher mix, right? I'm definitely more apostolic than prophetic. Now, some of you haven't been a part of that conversation. Consider yourself blessed, all right? Um, but it's one of those things where out of a desire, again, it's out of a desire to know, God, is there a grace that you've given to me? And that we start to have these conversations about who am I? Oh, there's a there's a typo on evangelist. Who am I? But it doesn't stop there, okay, teacher, yes. But it doesn't stop there because we know this isn't the only passage in the Bible that talks about what's been given to us, right? Because we've got to talk about the fivefold, but we also gotta talk about 1 Corinthians 12, right? So we have a whole slew of gifts of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12, and we'll put some of those up here. So some of you have been given other gifts, right? So we have the graces of the fivefold, but then we have other gifts. We have words of wisdom and knowledge and faith and healing and miracles and prophecy and discernment of spirits and tongues and interpretation of tongues, right? And those are other things. And so some of you have taken that inventory before. It's a test. It's like a 101 when you first get to the church. It's like, here's a test. So figure out what your gifts are, right? But you know, fortunately, we have other language too, because that's not the only list given to us. These two aren't the only lists. We also have Romans chapter 12. I'm sorry, chapter 10, which some refer to as ministry gifts, and these are the ministry gifts here. So uh some of them are doubling up, but we have prophecy and serving and teaching and exhortation and giving and leadership and mercy, right? And so then we're left saying, okay, I gotta get my five-fold thing straightened out. Then I gotta start developing these gifts that God's given me, and I've got to start stewarding these things for the sake of the body. But it's that this isn't all-encompassing, right? This isn't everything about me. There's other things that are true of me as well. So that's why we started adding in a bunch of other inventories and personality things to fill out what was lacking in the gifts and the graces, right? And so, how many of you are familiar with the disc test? You guys remember that one? D-I-S-C, right? Are you dominant, or are you the life of the party, or are you just compliant, or are you the analytical one that's always thinking about everything? And so we try to find these little mixes of disks, and we gotta, and that's gonna come into play as I'm as I'm living out my pastor-teacher thing, right? And I'm discerning my spirits and interpreting tongues, but I'm gonna do it as an FC, right? And so there's this really weird blend, but disk wasn't enough for us because we needed Myers Briggs, too. That's the that's the one I stayed away from, all right? But I didn't do Myers-Briggs. How many of you guys done Myers-Briggs before? Okay, so it's a whole nother set of letters. For whatever that means for you, that was probably helpful for some reason. To describe this unique makeup, this thing of of uh you know how you operate in the world, how you think, what your motivations are. But as you guys know, there's a lifespan to all of these things. So Myers Briggs wasn't enough, and so we had we had we had to wait for the day when strengths finders would come, right? So strength finders came along, we took those in our workplaces, and oh man, I'm so glad strength finders came along because now I know I'm an I'm a I'm a I'm a maximizer and an advancer and an I ideator or whatever it's called. And so I have all these things that I can combine with this really unique composition that God has given me. Um but you know what, even even strengths. I found my strengths, but gosh, that didn't that didn't quite do it either. Because what we're really waiting for, the pinnacle of all personality tests, the very paramount one the personality profile to end all personality profiles. The sacred Enneagram. Some of you are like, what is going on right now? But you're laughing because you know what I'm talking about. So we got the Enneagram, and so I got these nine numbers, and I'm one of them, and it means something for me. So, so for me, I'm a I'm a nine, which is a peacemaker with a one wing, which is a reformer, but I'm married to a number eight, which is a challenger. So I'm a peacemaker married to a challenger. That's interesting. So that means like, so just so you know, that means like when we're healthy, it's like unstoppable. When we're not healthy, it's very stoppable, right? Fire and ice is what some someone called that combo. And some of you have that. Some of you have taken the Enneagram, it's a great, it's a great thing. I've actually learned a lot from the Enneagram, all right? But I'm trying to make, I've I gotta blend this in, this this whole wardrobe of new personal self-description. And I wish that was enough, though, right? Because you know, like me, that's not even enough. Because I have to combine with that the reality, I've I have certain education and training, right? Or you do too. You have certain degrees in different ways. And so we have to add to it our education and training and skill sets and all the things that you've picked up along the way. And not only that, life experience. So even outside of formal education, some of you have been through the school of hard knocks, right? Which has taught you a number of other things that have set you up for the trajectory that God's called you on. So you have life experience that has shaped who you are, but it keeps going from there because not only that, the one we haven't talked about, which is huge, is all of your prophetic words, right? Everything that God has spoken to you in very definitive ways, encounters with God over the years of God says this about you, and God says this about you, and this is where your destiny is, and really beautiful things that when the Holy Spirit speaks. These are beautiful, right? So, on top of prophetic words, though, we have our testimonies, right? And so now we we gotta start trying to fit in. These extra things because we're running out of space, but we have our testimonies which are not just life experience, it's a little different than just life experience. It's a little different than our prophetic words. Our testimonies are these unique stories of breakthrough where we've overcome and God has, through prayer or through, through his miraculous work in our life, has set us up and given us a testimony which we know is a gift or a deposit to not just for ourselves, but as we declare that testimony, it's actually a manifestation of his goodness that has the power to break the to break uh through the darkness, right? That's and that's awesome too. And you're missing birth order, right? Exactly. And the fact that some states are better than other states, and you know, birth places, and um and there's probably uh there's probably a lot of things that I'm missing. I'm missing the fact that on Facebook you you found out what type of cheese that you are if you were a type of cheese or what type of cat you would be. Right? Um and all these little quizzes and stuff, like like what character on Seinfeld are you? Okay, throw that on the list, right? And so when when you try to take all of this together, how many of you have ever felt a little overwhelmed trying to live out your your personal calling or destiny? Okay, and if you didn't before, you do right now. So oftentimes, in a zeal to know how we are designed, to identify the graces and gifts, to find our fit, our assignment, our season, our creative expression, which we believe. By the way, I say all these things tongue in cheek, I actually believe in every single one of these things. But in an effort to identify all of these things, we can exert a lot of energy. Not only can this feel consuming from time to time, but it also can cause a lot of anxiety even among believers. And I think this is even more of the case I've found among millennials. I could be wrong on this, but um millennials are generally pretty optimistic and hopeful and really believe. Millennials, we actually believe we're going to make a difference on the earth, which is an amazing, an amazing outlook on life. But the problem is, in my conversations with my peers or those younger than me, I found oftentimes there is a lot of anxiety when it comes to identifying your call. Especially if it doesn't feel like whatever circumstance you're currently in is your call. If it feels like you're out of place or in a liminal space or it's just unidentifiable, it's ambiguous, it can start to feel as if I'm missing something. I'm outside of something, I'm outside of God's plan. And actually, the pursuit of even the good things of God, funny enough, out of the right order, can actually start to increase anxiety, even within the church. Has anybody ever felt that? But that's if we're coming at it from a disordered perspective. If we take a moment and back up, we'll see that there's something even beyond identifying our graces, as important as these are, and as important as the fivefold is, before identifying those things, before getting to those things, we have to back up for a moment and identify something that the scripture says is even more important to the heart of God. Even more important than self-expression in the body of Christ.

SPEAKER_02 25:53

Okay?

SPEAKER_01 25:54

And so if you back up to Ephesians chapter 4, verse 1, just before we talk about fivefold, here's what it says. Paul writing, this is the first instruction he gives in the book of Ephesians. Besides the encouragement to remember in uh chapter 1, this is the first legitimate instruction he gives in the book of Ephesians. He says, I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. With all humility and gentleness, with patience bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as you are called, to the one hope that belongs to your call. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. Who is over all and through all and in all. So somebody tell me, there's a little header right before Ephesians chapter 4 starts in your Bible. What does it say? Unity, what was that? Unity in the body of Christ. Anything else? Walk in unity. So the first thing that he encourages us to do before we go to start identifying graces and gifts and other things, the first instruction in light of what God's done is not to go find what makes you different, but go find what makes you unified together and begin to protect those things. We spend a lot of time developing what makes us diverse and what makes us creatively different than everybody else, then reminding ourselves of what makes us one in Christ. And this is a really big deal. The first instruction here in all of Ephesians is not just to pursue your grace and gifting, but to be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. And yes, he does talk about a calling to walk. What does he say in the first part of the verse here? He says to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. A lot of times we read the word calling, and again, because we are born in the time and place that we have been, we think that immediately means my personal calling. That's not what he's talking about. He's talking about the calling that he establishes in the first three chapters of Ephesians, which is you are called from far places into a new place in Christ. You used to be strangers and aliens, and now you are one. You are members of the household of God. In 1 Peter 2 9, he says, You have been called to proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you what? Out of darkness into the kingdom of marvelous light. So there's more to your calling than just your individual destiny. Our primary calling in the Church of Jesus Christ is to be unbelievably aware of what God has made one and pulling together strangers and aliens from afar to make us into one. Are you guys tracking with me here? So if we're not careful though, we can spend more energy contending for our gifts and our callings and our preferences rather than contending for unity. Being released into your destiny is awesome. And I believe we want that for each other. Don't we? This is good. We want this for each other. But in the eyes of Jesus, it's nothing if it's not rooted in a deep love and unity with the rest of his body first. You guys with me? And this is this is a big one. This is a big one for me. This is something the Holy Spirit has had to expose against my will in my life that I didn't think was there. But that's what the Holy Spirit does. He shows you know the Holy Spirit knows you better than you know yourself. There's things I thought I had nailed in the life, in the spirit, and life in the kingdom. The Holy Spirit says, you're just learning, son. You're a toddler. So let's not fool ourselves. For me, uh the Holy Spirit has had to show me that over time, even aside from my intention, I've actually used the church as a place to use my gifts and grow into my destiny as a primary place, a practice zone for gifts and destiny, rather than my primary motivation to love and to build up. And then that's part of what happens on a stage, that's part of what happens in a body when you've been given a microphone and those types of things. Over time, you can actually start to use what you've been given to actually the motivation becomes to practice on people and become a become a place where where you exist to be a sounding board for me speaking, versus me coming here into a room and saying, my chief motivation and desire is to lay down my life for those that Christ has laid down his life for, and to serve and to love, and to get low. And again, and I say that to you, whether you felt that or not, it's something I have to confess because it's it's what the Lord is getting at, because it's becoming very clear to me that Jesus wants nothing of that in his church. And I'm sorry. But it's something that I believe Jesus is rearranging in me, and I'm wondering for some of us as well, if it might be the same for others. That God is very serious, he is very serious about the right ordering of things. See, it's possible to get your self-expression and lose the church and lose the love of the body of Christ in the process. Why? Because how many of you have ever been frustrated that nobody else thinks like you think? Has anybody ever been angry because you're sure, you're certain that you have the perfect outlook on a particular situation. You know exactly what needs to happen in your marriage or at work. And if the world would just be so much better if people would just listen to you. Right? Gosh, all of our pro if you just listen to me, all of our problems would just disappear, right? That's that's that's that's that's uh that's a thing, right? I think it's more than me. I think it's more than me, based on your chuckles. Um but what what I believe, the ordering here, I mean, self-expression, having our own thoughts, these are good things. Having outlooks, the fact that you think differently than I, that's actually a really good thing. But hear me out here. All of this, and this according to this passage, all of this starts with me being more eager to maintain a bond of peace with my brothers and sisters than to be seen and have this creative self-expression that everybody applauds at the end of the day. That seems to matter more to the heart of Jesus than just us living our unique thing on earth. Not to say that's bad, but it's an ordering thing. Because I believe this, if we get the first part right, it gives way to the second part. If we can nail the love part, if we can be unmistakably a church known for the quality of love, which it seems like the scripture is very, very clear on that, you will, they will know you are disciples by what? By your love for one another. Not by the way that you're not by the preaching or the worship or the prophecy or any of the stuff. That stuff seems to be very secondary to the heart of God. Then it is that we are known for a potency of love and a substance of love that cannot be replicated outside of the house of God. It can't be replicated by good ideas on the earth. It's there's a there's an energy energized by the Spirit of God that calls us into such a love. Are you guys with me this morning? So it is true that you are one of a kind. You are one of a kind. Everybody say, I am one of a kind. Okay, that's beautiful. I am too, by the way. But I would opine that our God-given belovedness has the potential to be hijacked by the world's insatiable need for individualism and self-expression. So this is this is where discernment comes in, all right? This is where the church, you have to know the day that you're living in. This is unbelievable the day that we're living. And this is this is where we have to sift, we have to ask the Holy Spirit to sift in our hearts. Your belovedness has the potential to be hijacked by an insatiable need for individualism and self-expression within our culture. And the reason why this way of thinking, unity of the body of Christ, if that's the most important thing, maintaining unity of the body, uh, unity of the spirit and the bond of peace, the reason why that's so challenging for us oftentimes is because we've been told that individualism is the only path to true happiness or freedom. Okay? So a lot of the scripture that we read about here, and even when Jesus talks about family, um, it's rooted in a certain understanding that the the primary readers are in a in a in a culture that anthropologists would describe as a strong group society. So anthropologists, there's a there's a way of talking about societies, there's strong group societies and a weak group societies. Okay? Now the writers of scripture are primarily writing to strong group societies. Okay, so anthropologist Bruce Molina describes that, the difference between a strong group society and a weak group society. So in a strong group society, the person perceives himself to be a member of a group and is responsible to the group for his or her actions, destiny, career, development, and life in general. The person is embedded in the group and is free to do what he or she feels right and necessary only if it if it in accord with group norms, and only if the action is in the group's best interest. The group has priority of that individual member. So examples of that would be Korean culture, most of African culture, Arabic culture, first century Mediterranean culture, pretty much every culture in every other part of the world for the previous 2,000 years of human history, up until the modern, like late Western, modern European culture, which is us. Okay? Now I read you that definition of a strong group culture. Um and if you're like me, I think of that, and because I am so programmed into a culture that prioritizes the freedom of self-expression, I read that, and my first thought is that sounds a lot like a cult to me. That sounds very oppressive. That sounds very, and that's that and that ends up being the critique of some of those cultures. They are so about what's right for the group that some would consider that some of us in America who has foundations founded in independence and freedom and self-expression, actually look at those cultures and say, that sounds like total oppression. And so a weak group society, rather, prioritizes individual expression, preference, and autonomy over the needs of the group. Anything appears, anything that appears to limit our options or threatens our, threaten our personal plan or program for happiness is considered a threat. And this is the world that we're living in right now. This isn't just the church, this is like all of this is leaking, this is affecting everything right now. So I'm not just talking about the church, but like church attendance over the last 50 years has just right, but it's not just the church, any social group. The Elks Club, Country Club, they're all just doing this. Why? Because this need for autonomy, for self-expression, I'm going to keep my options open until the very last minute in case something better comes along. This is the world that we're living in, and it has severe, severe consequences. Because when we live our life driven by the myth that the greatest freedom comes from preserving self-expression, that actually leads to exhaustion and it leads to higher levels of anxiety. There's a lot that more that could be said about some of these things. Um, and I'm not an expert at any of these topics, but as we're learning to be disciples in the world that we're living in, we have to talk about these things. There is a war going on. There's a war going on in culture, there's a war going on in the spirit. And as the as God is retooling the church, part of that is a covenant commitment to live out our covenant with God among his people. That if his desire is for my love, my my my the love between God and myself to be expressed primarily and through my love with people, then I have to coven it in my heart to actually be a member of the household of God in an intentional way. Are you guys with me on that? This is part of maintaining the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. It's a covenant in our heart to be one with each other. Are you guys are you guys are you guys with me? Okay. I'm almost done, okay? In fact, Mark, you can come up. I'm gonna just walk through just a few things and then we'll be done. So, what what is contending for a maintain a unity of the spirit and a bond of peace look like? I'll just walk through a few things. The Holy Spirit will show you other things, right? As he always does. So, one way that we can do that as we look at our call to be part of the body of Christ, contributing to the household to God, is serving. Even when we are not called. You see, that's part of the thing, is in the Church of Jesus Christ, what happens is when an opportunity comes up, oftentimes a lot of us are equipped with this handy little phrase, well, that's not my calling or gifting. Which might be true, all right? And I'm not saying that every opportunity is right for you, but how many of you guys know that being a part of a family requires you to do things that you don't want to do or you don't feel gifted to do? Like at Thanksgiving. Like try that out at Thanksgiving. Right? Your mother-in-law, hey, can you take out the trash? You know, that's really just not my that's not the sweet spot. You see, I'm this apostle prophet type, and my gifts are really over here. I'm really more about this part. You're gonna get a smack in the face, right? Your mother-in-law is not gonna take that from you. Because there's certain things part of the family, like, hey, that looks like it, that looks to be a need right now. I'm gonna feel that even though I didn't receive some divine revelation that that's what I'm supposed to do. I've never met a single person who felt called to take out the trash in the church. I've never met a single person. Now, to be fair, there's also things I've been banned from in the house. For instance, my wife has banned me from doing laundry. Okay, she's like, you're that's not your obviously not your call or grace or gifting. Stop doing laundry, you're ruining our clothes, right? And so there's things, yeah, we get kicked out of if it's not our calling or gifting, but our orientation is always a servants. So when the family describes a need, instead of immediately flipping to that's not me, maintaining the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace in our covenant to be a part of the household, the members of the household of God, our orientation first should be, I am here at your disposal, God, to serve your family. And it may or may not be the right fit, and that can be discerned. But is your first inclination to come as a servant? Amen? You guys hearing me? Another way we we maintain unity in the body of Christ is we have to get a lot better at conflict. Like we, you guys, I think we need a lot more conflict in this place. And what I mean by that is avoidance of personal hurt or misunderstandings in the body of Christ is killing us. If you have an issue, if somebody has transgressed you, you owe it to Jesus to go talk to them so that unity has the potential to manifest in our presence. I'm telling you, the whole idea of being a nice, good Christian and I'm just going to for I'm gonna forgive something and slough it off in the name of forgiveness, that stuff doesn't work. No, no, I'm not saying forgiveness doesn't work. I'm saying forgiveness absolutely works. I'm saying that some of my best conversations over the last few months have been the conversations where I've had to express things that have the potential to be misunderstood, or I have to express something that something has happened, either I've done something to another person or I feel that they've done something to me, and we have to talk about it, and we end with a sense that God is among us. And I'm telling you guys, in the body of Christ, if you want to get better at maintaining the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace, if There is anything in your heart that you have against a brother, Jesus will not, or sister, brother and sister, Jesus will not allow you to grow and to be to grow in your gifts and your self-expression and your graces unless you are mature enough to know how to express what it is that is in your heart and what is going on beneath the surface of your life. This is how we mature from toddlers into adolescents into teenagers into adults in the body of Christ. You guys with me? Healthy conflict. More of it, please. A third thing is this generosity. And generosity looks a lot of different ways. I'm not just talking about tithes and offerings. That's part of it. But generosity is when we are going through something together, we can offer each other more than prayers and wishes. Prayers and blessings. Thoughts and wishes and blessings. How about 20 bucks too? You know? How about a ride? How about how about visiting them in the hospital? How about actually doing something as well? That's part of the generous life that we give is that we don't have to be disincarnate and only give each other these ambiguous thoughts and blessings. We actually get to be something for each other, incarnated, like Jesus was for us. The last thing is this. We get to prioritize shared environments. It's really hard to be in unity with somebody that you don't spend time with. So prioritizing shared environments. I think what that's going to mean for us as a church as we're moving into the fall. I really do believe that part of what God is going to be inviting us deeper into is sharing meals, actually meeting in homes to pray, to be with each other in transformative ways. Prioritizing shared environments. It's hard to pop in on a Sunday and pop out and then have a unity of the Spirit and a bond of peace. It's a myth, it's an illusion. That's not how this actually works. It's not how we gain ground in the spirit. It's about learning ways to be near to each other. You can't be near to everybody, and God has to highlight who you know who are the people of peace in your life that God is calling you to surround your dinner table. But I'm telling you, you know, again, with our culture, and you know, especially for for those of us who are only able to attend a Sunday morning once in a while, it's going to be really hard to have a sense of tight knit hearts knit together, knowing each other in deep ways. And I'm not saying maybe you've tried that and you've had some failed attempts at that, so there's no condemnation there. But I do believe God wants to release creativity for us and then know how to be among each other, in close proximity with each other, around the table, in fellowship with each other, and in fellowship with the Father and the Son and the Spirit together. I believe, I believe, I believe this is the path forward for us. Amen. So we have to actually believe that, and it actually matters when you're together in person. It actually matters, it has an effect, it has an effect. You have an effect on me. It means to be your face and your facial expressions and feeling your spirit. This has an effect on me. Coming to be a part of a gathering like this is not just about how did I like the teaching or was the worship good enough to then I get the tickles on the back of my neck? That is not the main point of a gathering. The main point of the gathering is sons and daughters of God filled with the spirit of God and somehow within each other, and acknowledging together around the Lord's table together that we are equally in need of the mercy and the grace of God, that something supernatural takes place in this kind of environment as the church gathers together. Amen? I could keep going, but I'm gonna probably lose all of you. So hey, that was nice. That's perfectly timed keyboard. So to end, to just a recap real very very very quickly. Um God does give the graces for the building up of the body, that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning or craftiness or deceitful schemes. So he does give us graces. But then also, rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, who is Christ, from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped. When each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. And I just want to remind us that God wants to strengthen us. He wants us to see us as his temple, that he's building up in love, so the substance of love can permeate us and our fellowship, that we might become a house of God even for the nations, as God is drawing sons and daughters in, that there would be a substance here that is so deep and permeating that it actually has the potential to grow, to grow up the world into a knowledge of God that the world has never seen. And so this morning as we end, it's only fitting that we gather around the table. We're all different, but we gather around the same table. It's a table where we announce our need before God. We announce our shortcomings, we announce coming that God, there's sin in my life that I need you to address. There's fears in my life that I need you to address. There's things in my life that I need your mercy for. And then us doing that together, there's something supernatural about this environment where we can share this meal together. So let's do this. Let's take one minute and just become aware of your need. Confess your need before Jesus this morning. Take the elements back to your seat and we'll pray together as we end our time. So Jesus, together as your body around your table with you. This morning, God, we announce our need of you. That we depend on you, Jesus. We need your power in our lives, we need your Holy Spirit to shape us and to guide us and to lead us. But today, Lord God, we thank you that among your body, God, that you are building us up in love and that you are shaping us into the kind of community that can embody the substance of your love, your covenantal love inside of us, Lord God, that it becomes real and potent, Lord, that the living hope that we're singing about just spills out of our words and our actions and our beliefs and our thoughts, that this is what we have been made for. And so today, God, as we receive the cup and the bread, as we share this meal together, we thank you, God, to nourish us with your strength and with your power. We thank you that for what you've accomplished for us and that resurrection life is now ours in the name of Jesus. And it's in Jesus' name we pray.

unknown 54:52

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 55:16

So let's stand together. As we always say, we we don't want you to rush out if you have need for healing in your bodies. Uh if you have any other needs that you want to bring before somebody in prayer, we're gonna have our ministry team up front, both sides of the stage. We'd love to get a chance to pray with you. But listen, as we go, we're going. We're going in the grace of God. We're going as members of the household of God. No need to rush out. Feel free to stick around. Extend love and peace to those around you. And uh, guys, we love you. May the grace of God go with you. Amen.