WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.399 This is an unusual occasion. 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:05.040 I'm going to introduce Pastor Six. 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:07.759 You think, why would I do that? 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:11.439 Because Pastor Styx has been at this church for a long time. 00:00:11.759 --> 00:00:16.480 And he's going to preach a sermon this morning because I've got some special news to announce. 00:00:16.640 --> 00:00:23.519 The elders have approved Pastor Six planting a new church in the Washington area. 00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:26.399 Probably somewhere in the Falls Church area. 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:28.719 It's going to be a different kind of church. 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:31.600 And Chris will speak about that more. 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:38.799 But it's my pleasure to inform you that the elders have approved this church plant. 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:46.719 It'll be our privilege as the session of Alexandria Presbyterian Church to be the mother-sending church. 00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:51.039 And uh Chris, come and share God's word with us this morning. 00:00:51.840 --> 00:01:00.079 Hey, um yeah, we're going to be planting a new church called One Voice Fellowship. 00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:02.159 I'm going to be on staff all of this year. 00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:03.679 We're not leaving right away. 00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:06.640 It's leaving sometime early next year. 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:19.280 But throughout the year of 2020, going to be building up the core team and some of the small groups that are going to make One Voice Fellowship a little bit different of a church, as Tom alluded to. 00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:22.640 Our small groups are going to be organized by language. 00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:35.200 We're going to have small groups that meet to study the word and pray and fellowship in the heart language of the different groups that live, especially concentrated in this Falls Church area. 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:52.400 So we'll have small groups that speak Arabic and French and Spanish and Urdu and Uyghur and Farsi and Amharic so that people can grow deeper in their love and knowledge of Jesus in the language that they know best. 00:01:52.719 --> 00:01:57.200 But then on Sunday we will gather and worship with one voice. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:03.200 And I'll preach in English, but the sermon will be translated into those different languages. 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:08.080 And we'll mix in some lyrics in different languages as we did here today with Swahili. 00:02:09.919 --> 00:02:11.599 And so it's going to be hard. 00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:16.000 It's going to be hard in ways that I both can and cannot anticipate. 00:02:16.800 --> 00:02:31.039 But we believe it's God's heart to see all of his people united by Christ and to experience the joy and blessings of that unity, as we have experienced here at APC with the many nations that are here. 00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:39.680 And so today's sermon text are the three key verses for One Voice Fellowship from Romans 15. 00:02:40.319 --> 00:02:43.919 Just to set it up a little bit before we look at the text. 00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:50.400 This is a prayer that Paul inserts into his letter to the church in Rome. 00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:57.120 In Romans chapter 14, Paul has been writing about loving your brothers and sisters. 00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:00.319 Brothers and sisters who have differences than you. 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:03.199 Accommodating them. 00:03:03.919 --> 00:03:10.960 He urges them to refrain from drinking alcohol if that would be a stumbling block for your brother and sister. 00:03:11.199 --> 00:03:16.800 Or don't eat that food if that would be problematic for your brother or sister. 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:19.599 It's a other-centered kind of love. 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:26.639 And the easiest way to avoid such conflicts is just don't spend time with that guy. 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:30.639 If they don't eat the kind of food you do, then don't have them over for dinner. 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:31.759 Right? 00:03:33.439 --> 00:03:37.439 If he doesn't enjoy alcohol, then don't invite him to your Super Bowl party. 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:44.879 But the other-centered accommodating kind of love doesn't put your own preferences and priorities first. 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:53.680 With that attitude, Paul continues in Romans 15 to write at length about including the Gentiles in the church. 00:03:54.560 --> 00:03:58.800 Gentiles who have very different habits and practices and background. 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:05.919 But God's intent from the very beginning of creation was that there would be one global family of God. 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:15.919 And so Romans 14 and 15 as a whole are talking about maintaining unity amidst diversity. 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:24.240 And that requires this accommodating, other-centered love that we only get from Christ Himself. 00:04:25.199 --> 00:04:31.199 And we need to get it from Him because, I mean, it's hard enough just to love our own family members often, isn't it? 00:04:31.519 --> 00:04:38.480 People who are so alike by us like us that we share blood and we share the same language and accent. 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:49.759 But to be united with people from very different backgrounds requires Christ's infusing empowerment. 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:57.360 And so Paul understands how hard this is going to be, and that's why he interrupts his letter to break into prayer. 00:04:57.680 --> 00:05:01.360 And he prays this prayer, Romans 15, 5 to 7. 00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:21.279 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:27.519 Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you to the glory of God. 00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:29.199 Let's pray. 00:05:29.759 --> 00:05:33.040 Father, we thank you for this vision. 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:36.240 It's not Paul's vision, it's not our vision today. 00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:58.399 It's your vision that people who are united in Christ, people who He has died to save and bring into one family of God, would experience the joy that comes when we can experience the Christian life through the lenses and eyes of different people. 00:05:58.560 --> 00:06:00.399 We have an expanded vision. 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:10.319 We get to hear our brothers and sisters sing in Swahili with joy as we will in heaven one day and we will understand each other in heaven. 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:20.639 What a glorious day that will be when we all bow together around the one central object of our worship, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. 00:06:20.879 --> 00:06:26.319 And so, Jesus, would you impart your word to our hearts for your glory now? 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:27.199 In Jesus' name. 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:28.079 Amen. 00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:34.240 So I'm going to unpack this text with three points, as you're used to at this church. 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:40.639 We each respond to the voice of our one shepherd, Jesus Christ. 00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:49.920 We rejoice with one voice as we worship our one object of our faith, and we reach out to our neighbors with the good news. 00:06:50.079 --> 00:06:53.279 So respond, rejoice, and reach. 00:06:54.639 --> 00:06:57.519 Point one, we respond to the voice of Christ. 00:06:57.759 --> 00:07:02.959 The starting point of any discussion about the church, about any church, is not with us. 00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:06.480 It's not about our preferences, it's not about what we want. 00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:08.079 It's about Jesus. 00:07:08.319 --> 00:07:10.160 The church is not something we make. 00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:13.360 We don't plant churches, we don't build churches. 00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:16.480 We are made into the church. 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:28.959 We are living stones that are redeemed and saved by Christ, and then he assembles us together into the church with himself as the cornerstone. 00:07:30.399 --> 00:07:36.319 And we become these living stones when we respond to the voice of our shepherd. 00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:49.199 In Mark 1, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God and saying with his voice, the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand. 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:52.079 Repent and believe in the gospel. 00:07:52.639 --> 00:07:56.319 And so Jesus proclaimed this good news, this invitation. 00:07:56.560 --> 00:08:02.160 He had come to earth to do two things: call people to repent and to believe. 00:08:02.319 --> 00:08:11.120 And these are the two hinges, the two halves of the hinge of the gospel, repentance and faith, repentance and believing. 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:14.560 We repent of our sin. 00:08:14.720 --> 00:08:18.560 We repent, we acknowledge the sinfulness of our sin. 00:08:19.439 --> 00:08:40.159 That we see, for the first time, when we're coming to faith, it's when we first really clicks in our hearts, and we say, like David said to Nathan, I am the man, I am the woman who has done this, and my sin has hurt others, but it has most of all grieved the heart of God and offended him. 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:43.600 And I humbly repent. 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:46.240 And that's one half of the hinge. 00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:56.960 And then faith, belief is the second half that we turn from our sin and we churn with faith, we turn in belief to Christ, the object of our salvation. 00:08:57.039 --> 00:09:00.879 And we say, Jesus, wash me of this sin that I've just acknowledged. 00:09:01.120 --> 00:09:04.399 Cleanse me of the shame that I found inside. 00:09:04.960 --> 00:09:06.720 And then transfer to me. 00:09:06.879 --> 00:09:17.759 Transfer the sin from me to yourself on the cross, and transfer to me your righteousness, your life, your perfect record, your eternal life. 00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:27.039 And so repent and believe are the two things that each person is called to do when we hear the voice of Jesus. 00:09:27.600 --> 00:09:34.960 He said in John 10, 27, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:41.279 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 00:09:42.720 --> 00:09:49.519 And so after we respond to the voice of our shepherd, he calls us into a flock. 00:09:49.840 --> 00:09:54.960 He calls us into a sheepfold with other sheep that he has called in. 00:09:55.519 --> 00:09:59.919 And that's when we start to discover some difficulty and conflict very often. 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:02.639 We start to butt heads with the other sheep. 00:10:02.879 --> 00:10:06.080 And that's what leads us to verse 5 of our text. 00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:09.440 Why we need this prayer that Paul prays. 00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:16.879 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:20.159 We need endurance encouragement. 00:10:20.399 --> 00:10:25.279 It's hard to live with other sinners like me. 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:30.080 It's hard to live with our coworkers, our friends. 00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:37.759 And even with people we really like, it can be hard, let alone our enemies. 00:10:38.080 --> 00:10:48.080 But Jesus is calling us to love even our enemies, to even love those who are different with racial, ethnic, economic, religious differences. 00:10:49.120 --> 00:10:54.559 And that's why Paul prays for God-sized grants of endurance and encouragement. 00:10:54.720 --> 00:10:56.799 I'm going to highlight some of the words in the text. 00:10:57.039 --> 00:10:59.120 Grant is a word I want to highlight. 00:10:59.600 --> 00:11:05.759 Our oldest, uh Lucy, is applying to colleges right now, and we're starting to get financial aid letters. 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:07.919 We just got the first one yesterday. 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:13.039 And they're offering a whole lot of money, but it still leaves a whole lot to be paid. 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:17.679 But when you're reading that financial aid letter, you know, there's loans in there. 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:18.720 That's okay. 00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:20.960 The grant is what you want. 00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:23.519 Because a grant is free money. 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:32.000 A grant is a transfer of resources from someone who has abundance to someone who has need. 00:11:32.879 --> 00:11:41.120 Paul is praying for a grant from God of endurance and encouragement because we need it. 00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:45.440 Our salvation is a free gift. 00:11:45.919 --> 00:12:02.240 God reconciles us vertically between himself, but then the horizontal reconciliation is what takes a lifetime to work out, and it depends on us getting this grant of endurance and encouragement. 00:12:03.600 --> 00:12:08.320 What kind of unity should we expect on this horizontal level? 00:12:08.559 --> 00:12:15.120 I would propose that it should be as radical as the reconciliation we experience on the vertical level. 00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:45.120 That if God who could, God who is holy and infinite and almighty, could reconcile those who are sinful and finite and weak, and he could reconcile us to himself and call us even his children, then how could we allow smaller differences like skin color or accent or education or language to divide us? 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:51.440 And yet they so easily divide us, which makes Jesus so sad. 00:12:52.320 --> 00:12:54.399 Because he prayed for our unity. 00:12:56.559 --> 00:12:59.440 But at the same time, we can make unity an idol. 00:12:59.679 --> 00:13:12.399 We can make the idea of diversity into a trendy idol that we do simply because it looks good on Facebook. 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:18.960 But Paul prays that this unity would be not done for its own sake. 00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:25.360 He prays in verse 5 that they would live in harmony with one another in accord with Christ Jesus. 00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:28.559 You see, we don't create unity. 00:13:29.200 --> 00:13:40.480 Jesus unites different people into his body and grants that unity to us, and then he just asks us to live out the unity that he has created. 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:44.879 We put it on display for the world to see. 00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:55.120 But because human beings are better at discord than accord, Paul prays for us, for endurance and encouragement. 00:13:55.679 --> 00:13:58.000 So let's move to verse 6 and point two. 00:13:59.279 --> 00:14:04.240 That we rejoice with one voice as we worship Jesus our Savior. 00:14:04.960 --> 00:14:12.720 He prays in verse 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:16.879 There are 7,000 languages spoken in the world today. 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:21.200 But 90% of the world speaks just 200 languages. 00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:30.879 So 200 languages dividing 90% of the world into these different groups that can't understand each other very well. 00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:44.559 In Fairfax County, just outside Alexandria City where we are, 50% of the elementary school students in Fairfax County don't speak English at home. 00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:55.279 But in Falls Church, specifically the Seven Corners area, which is the neighborhood we're hoping we can have Sunday worship for One Voice Fellowship. 00:14:55.440 --> 00:15:03.360 In the Seven Corners neighborhood, the percentage of students who don't speak English at home is 85%. 00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:14.879 And so the entire world is represented right here in Northern Virginia, in the DC metro area. 00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:26.159 We want the gospel to be available and the fellowship of the gospel to thrive among all these different groups. 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:37.279 In Acts 2, we read about people who spoke different languages from all over the world, gathering in Jerusalem for Pentecost, gathering together, and the Holy Spirit came down upon them. 00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:42.720 And when it did, they experienced the curse of Babel being reversed. 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:47.200 That suddenly these people of different languages could understand each other. 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:58.240 But not just so they could enjoy suddenly understanding each other, it was so they could understand Peter's sermon, so they could hear the gospel, so thousands could come to faith. 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:08.879 You see, reversing the curse was not intended to allow them to build impressive buildings or make business or government function more smoothly. 00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:22.399 The purpose of them understanding was to receive the gospel and to unite them with one voice that they could sing together in praise, despite their ethnic and linguistic differences. 00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:26.000 This was the beginning of the church. 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:32.799 The church began with that kind of diversity, but it's often lost it along the way. 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:37.360 Diversity is a popular buzzword to talk about. 00:16:37.519 --> 00:16:40.720 We talk about it in schools and workplace and in the church. 00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:48.960 In fact, most church plants, when I talk to other church planters, you won't find a vision statement of a current church plant that doesn't have multicultural in it. 00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:53.679 It's like almost required, if you're planting a church, to say you're going to be multicultural. 00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:57.759 But we don't do it because it's a new trendy idea. 00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:10.480 Just as the Reformation 500 years ago wasn't about new theological ideas, it was about recovering some of the doctrines and theologies that had been lost or obscured. 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:22.640 And so the congregation at Pentecost included these many languages because Jesus, in his final command to the apostles, was casting that vision. 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:34.960 He says in Matthew 28 to go and make disciples of all ethne, baptizing them in the name of the Father and Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. 00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:41.599 Ethne is that word that is translated nations in most of our English Bibles. 00:17:41.920 --> 00:17:49.359 Ethne means a body of persons united by kinship, culture, and common tradition. 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:59.599 And so when we read nations in our text, it's not a bad translation, but nations, in my mind, makes me think of political terms of different countries. 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:02.400 But Jesus wasn't saying go to different countries. 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:04.319 He was saying go to all people. 00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:08.880 No matter who they are or where they are. 00:18:09.599 --> 00:18:13.440 You don't have to go overseas to reach all ethne. 00:18:13.680 --> 00:18:15.440 Not if you live around here. 00:18:16.319 --> 00:18:25.680 And then Jesus told him to go do things that only the church does: make disciples, baptize, and disciple them in the Christian life. 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:36.240 And so the New Testament tells us how the apostles fulfilled Jesus' command by going around the Mediterranean, planting churches everywhere they went. 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:41.039 One of them was in Antioch, where believers were first called Christians. 00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:50.400 And I want to tell you about the diverse leadership in that church in Antioch, because the diverse leadership here at APC has been one of the really encouraging things. 00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:59.599 That we have deacons on our deacon board, three African immigrant brothers serving on our deacon board, and one from Central America. 00:18:59.920 --> 00:19:03.200 They serve our entire church as deacons. 00:19:03.680 --> 00:19:23.359 And that kind of leadership is a critical component for the vision of One Voice Fellowship, that we would not just reach all the variety of ethne, but the ethne would be represented in the leadership itself to enrich our wisdom and our vision. 00:19:23.920 --> 00:19:30.160 The church in Antioch, the leaders included Barnabas, who was from Cyprus, an island in the Mediterranean. 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:31.680 It included Simon Niger. 00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:35.279 Niger's a Latin name meaning black, he was from Africa. 00:19:35.599 --> 00:19:40.319 Lucius was from Cyrene in North Africa, where modern-day Libya is. 00:19:40.799 --> 00:19:45.920 Minaan was from a royal family in Edom, down south of the Dead Sea. 00:19:46.160 --> 00:19:52.319 And Paul was a Jew and a Roman citizen from Tarsus in modern-day Turkey. 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:56.319 And so you had this diverse leadership in Antioch. 00:19:57.119 --> 00:20:04.720 And I don't think it's insignificant that Paul and Barnabas did not launch their church planting mission. 00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:07.599 The missionary journeys they went on planting church. 00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:09.519 It wasn't launched out of Jerusalem. 00:20:09.680 --> 00:20:11.440 It was launched out of Antioch. 00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:15.839 It was launched by this diverse leadership team. 00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:23.359 I wish we could go back and worship with them in Antioch and see what that was like. 00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:29.519 But as Stuart read earlier in Revelation 7, we'll get to worship one day like that. 00:20:29.759 --> 00:20:44.799 What John saw, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, all tribes, peoples, languages, standing before the throne, before the Lamb, crying out with a loud voice, with one voice. 00:20:45.279 --> 00:20:50.319 Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. 00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:55.119 I'm excited to hear the harmonies that we're going to sing together one day. 00:20:55.279 --> 00:21:01.039 Paul uses the word harmony to describe this vision of these different people living together. 00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:07.039 And I've had to do some research on the word harmony because I have no musical talent whatsoever. 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:10.640 Can't sing at all, but I can recognize good from bad. 00:21:10.799 --> 00:21:20.640 I remember a conference once that Tom and I were at, and we were singing a praise song, and neither Tom nor I can sing very well, if you've ever stood near us in worship. 00:21:20.880 --> 00:21:29.519 But we were singing a praise song, and uh there was a woman singing in front of us, and she had a much worse singing voice. 00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:36.720 She was singing, she seemed to be oblivious to how awful she sounded. 00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:39.599 Wonderful, merciful Savior. 00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:44.799 And I could barely focus because it was so bad. 00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:52.880 And then I felt the weight of conviction from the Holy Spirit just way down on my shoulders. 00:21:53.599 --> 00:21:59.440 I realized that I was so focused on judging this woman for the way she was singing. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:01.839 That I wasn't worshiping. 00:22:02.559 --> 00:22:06.799 And I'm sure that God loved every bad note she sang. 00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:09.839 Because she sang with her whole heart. 00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:14.559 You see, she wasn't the one ruining the harmony there. 00:22:15.039 --> 00:22:16.000 I was. 00:22:17.119 --> 00:22:22.160 I was ruining the harmony of that song with my judgmental heart. 00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:25.839 My critical spirit. 00:22:26.640 --> 00:22:36.240 Musical harmony, as I've learned in my brief research, is when different notes come together to make something beautiful. 00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:43.359 When Serenity plays a chord on the piano, she's hitting three keys at the same time. 00:22:43.599 --> 00:22:50.960 And so when you sing in harmony, it's three people singing those three different notes. 00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:57.359 And they sound better together because of the differences in the notes. 00:22:58.319 --> 00:23:05.839 And so Paul prays that we would experience harmony, which means we don't all sing the same note. 00:23:06.160 --> 00:23:11.440 Doesn't mean we're all speaking with the same accent or we don't have the same gifts. 00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:16.000 But our differences make something more beautiful than if we were identical. 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:22.079 Like my wife has different gifts than I do and different strengths and weaknesses. 00:23:22.240 --> 00:23:31.200 But those different weaknesses and strengths match up in this beautiful, God-ordained way that make us stronger together. 00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:43.599 And the church should be like that: a body that isn't all hands or ears or mouths, that lives together, enriched by our differences. 00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:55.119 Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12 that each of us is different, yet God arranged the parts in the body, every one of them as he chose. 00:23:56.640 --> 00:24:00.160 So your brother or sister's differences are by his design. 00:24:02.799 --> 00:24:06.720 He creates diversity in his universal body. 00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:11.519 But whether or not we get to experience the blessing of that is up to us. 00:24:13.359 --> 00:24:20.160 And do we see the differences in our brothers or sisters as an opportunity to learn and grow? 00:24:21.279 --> 00:24:31.519 Didier and Sifa are leading us with the praise team today, and I asked him if I could share this story when Didier and Sifa moved into their home a few years ago. 00:24:31.759 --> 00:24:39.599 DDA called me and asked if I could come and pray a blessing over the house before they slept there. 00:24:39.839 --> 00:24:42.559 And I said, I couldn't do it that day. 00:24:43.200 --> 00:24:50.000 I told him, and he said, well, that he told me that they wouldn't sleep there until someone came and prayed over the house. 00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:54.079 And I remember thinking, well, that's kind of superstitious. 00:24:54.559 --> 00:24:58.559 I'll have to talk with DDA about that one day, about his superstitions. 00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:04.799 But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I had something to learn from DDA. 00:25:05.200 --> 00:25:11.200 And from my Pakistani brother who recently asked me to pray over his car that he just got. 00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:18.240 You know, you see, I don't let my children start eating dinner until we pray over the food. 00:25:19.359 --> 00:25:31.200 But I've learned from my brothers from Congo and Pakistan that it is wise and good to recognize that we have a need for God's blessing and protection in every area of life. 00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:34.240 Think of all that happens in your home. 00:25:34.559 --> 00:25:49.279 Why would you not ask before you live there for God to pray, for God to provide his blessing and protection over everything that will happen in that home and over your car before you get on the beltway for God's sake? 00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:53.039 Shouldn't we pray for safety and protection? 00:25:53.920 --> 00:26:12.400 And so perhaps we all have something to learn from our brothers and sisters, from those who've experienced often persecution and danger, and maybe understand a little bit more about how necessary God's protection and blessing is every day. 00:26:13.680 --> 00:26:18.240 So, point three, we reach out to our neighbors with the good news. 00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:28.400 When Paul writes in verse 7, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, Paul's asking us to consider how Christ has welcomed us. 00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:31.599 Did he welcome you on the basis of your holiness? 00:26:33.359 --> 00:26:43.039 Did he welcome you because you have achieved a certain level of moral standard? 00:26:43.279 --> 00:26:43.599 No. 00:26:43.839 --> 00:26:47.519 We've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. 00:26:47.759 --> 00:26:50.720 While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 00:26:50.799 --> 00:26:54.720 And so will we withhold a welcome from fellow sinners? 00:26:54.960 --> 00:27:02.079 Those that he is washed and redeemed, even if maybe their sins are a little more visible than ours or different than ours? 00:27:02.319 --> 00:27:09.440 We can't hold a higher standard than Christ Himself, for who belongs in his family. 00:27:09.920 --> 00:27:11.519 What about income or education? 00:27:11.680 --> 00:27:14.400 Did Christ welcome you because you were a good investment? 00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:19.200 Because he knew that you would contribute so much to the kingdom? 00:27:19.759 --> 00:27:23.440 Does Jesus only pick the best players for his kickball team? 00:27:23.759 --> 00:27:24.079 No. 00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:32.960 In fact, if you have gifts that he uses for the kingdom, where did the gifts come from? 00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:35.119 They came from him anyway. 00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:44.319 So we can't use our gifts as a reason to think that we are somehow entitled to belong in this family. 00:27:44.720 --> 00:27:51.119 Each of our gift packages, each of our spiritual gift inventories are different by his design. 00:27:51.440 --> 00:27:57.039 And none of us reflect the image of God completely on our own. 00:27:57.440 --> 00:28:05.839 The image of God is made more complete and clear when we see it expressed in others. 00:28:06.960 --> 00:28:12.640 Our churches are handicapped, literally, when we don't have the fullness of the body. 00:28:13.359 --> 00:28:20.400 And so Jesus doesn't show preference for people of one language or skin color or part of the world. 00:28:20.720 --> 00:28:27.519 Christianity began in the context of Judaism, but the book of Acts show how quickly it moved outside. 00:28:28.319 --> 00:28:31.599 The apostles took seriously what Jesus said in Acts 1.8. 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:40.400 You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and to the ends of the earth. 00:28:40.720 --> 00:28:46.400 And Paul was particularly gifted for this mission in a way that Peter wasn't. 00:28:46.559 --> 00:28:49.440 Peter's not the one who goes and plants churches all around. 00:28:49.759 --> 00:28:52.000 Peter had grown up in Israel. 00:28:52.160 --> 00:28:57.519 Peter and James were leaders of the church there in Jerusalem, and they were Jerusalem Jews. 00:28:57.599 --> 00:28:59.279 They were from that area. 00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:06.799 When Peter was told by the Holy Spirit to go talk to a Roman centurion, Peter said no. 00:29:07.279 --> 00:29:08.640 Three times to God. 00:29:08.799 --> 00:29:11.119 I'm not going to that Gentile's house. 00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:15.519 Contrast that with Philip, who was a Greek-speaking Jew. 00:29:16.160 --> 00:29:22.559 And when the Holy Spirit said to Philip, go talk to that Ethiopian court official, Philip says, sure. 00:29:23.359 --> 00:29:26.079 Goes and shares the gospel with him and baptizes him. 00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:35.440 You see, because of Paul and Philip's background, they were drawn to these different cities and people groups. 00:29:35.519 --> 00:29:50.960 That's why Paul writes in Romans 15, 20, I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, but as it is written, that those who have never been told of him will see, that those who have never heard will understand. 00:29:51.759 --> 00:30:01.680 And so Paul writes to the church in Rome in this letter that he's coming to see them, but after he's there for a bit, he's headed to Spain, and that's where he's planning to go. 00:30:01.920 --> 00:30:08.960 Preach the gospel, to take the gospel to as many people on earth as long as he had breath. 00:30:10.079 --> 00:30:14.240 That each new group would enrich the body of Christ. 00:30:14.559 --> 00:30:26.319 Andrew Walls, a professor who studies missions, writes: the metaphors of the temple and the body show each culture as necessary to the body, but incomplete in itself. 00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:30.720 Only in Christ does completion and fullness dwell. 00:30:30.960 --> 00:30:34.160 And Christ's completion comes from all humanity. 00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:37.519 None of us can reach Christ's completeness on our own. 00:30:37.759 --> 00:30:44.559 We need each other's vision to correct and enlarge and focus our own. 00:30:44.880 --> 00:30:48.799 Only together are we complete in Christ. 00:30:50.160 --> 00:30:59.839 And so today's passage ends with the sole reason to do all of this work for the glory of God. 00:31:00.240 --> 00:31:06.480 If it isn't done for his glory, if it's not his vision, it's doomed to fail. 00:31:07.279 --> 00:31:20.640 If we pursue harmony, if we pursue unity in our church because it makes life easier, or because it feels good, or any other earthly reason, then it's not going to last long. 00:31:20.960 --> 00:31:22.640 It's not really going to be good. 00:31:23.359 --> 00:31:29.519 But we live this way and we welcome one another to live this way for the glory of God. 00:31:31.119 --> 00:31:44.160 And so, in closing, let me say that when we live this way in the church, in our home groups, in our communities, we bring glory to God, and we are also the answer to Jesus' prayer. 00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:47.279 We get to be the answer to Jesus' prayer. 00:31:47.599 --> 00:31:50.079 He prayed in John 17, 22. 00:31:50.960 --> 00:31:57.920 The glory that you have given me, Father, I have given to them, that they may be one, even as we are one. 00:31:58.400 --> 00:32:10.480 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 00:32:11.359 --> 00:32:35.759 Jesus has given us union with himself and with God the Father, and He's united us with brothers and sisters, and we bring Him great glory when we celebrate that unity and put it on display for the world because there's no other earthly explanation but the gospel for how such different people could live together in harmony and love. 00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:36.960 Let's pray. 00:32:37.279 --> 00:32:51.440 Jesus, Jesus, we don't take lightly the fact that we can pray to the Father in your name, and that no matter what language we speak, no matter where we're from, we all have access. 00:32:51.920 --> 00:33:02.400 We have access not because of who we are, but because whose we are, because who we have been made into when we respond to the voice of our shepherd. 00:33:02.720 --> 00:33:08.640 As we sing now and as we worship together, we rejoice as your body. 00:33:08.799 --> 00:33:17.200 Would you grow us in love for you and one another, and then would you use us to reach our neighbors, to welcome them into this fellowship? 00:33:17.839 --> 00:33:30.799 We don't do these things because they're fashionable or because they have any human goal in mind, but because it is your heart and you are glorified as we worship together. 00:33:31.039 --> 00:33:34.400 Would we do this for our good and your glory in Jesus' name? 00:33:34.640 --> 00:33:35.119 Amen.