WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:01.520 Good morning. 00:00:01.679 --> 00:00:03.120 My name is Chuck Rose. 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:07.759 Our scripture today is a selection of passages from the New Testament. 00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:11.199 Be at peace with each other. 00:00:11.759 --> 00:00:13.679 Wash one another's feet. 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:16.000 Love one another. 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:17.760 Love one another. 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:19.839 Love one another. 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:21.519 Love one another. 00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:23.359 Love one another. 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:26.399 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:29.519 Honor one another above yourselves. 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:32.719 Live in harmony with one another. 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:34.719 Love one another. 00:00:35.119 --> 00:00:38.079 Stop passing judgment on one another. 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:42.399 Accept one another then, just as Christ accepted you. 00:00:43.359 --> 00:00:45.280 Instruct one another. 00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:48.000 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:52.399 When you come together to eat, wait for each other. 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:56.000 Have equal concern for each other. 00:00:56.799 --> 00:00:59.280 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 00:00:59.840 --> 00:01:02.479 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:04.719 Serve one another in love. 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:10.400 If you keep on biting and devouring each other, you will be destroyed by each other. 00:01:11.120 --> 00:01:15.519 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:18.159 Carry each other's burdens. 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:21.840 Be patient, bearing with one another in love. 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:25.920 Be kind and compassionate to one another. 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:28.000 Forgiving each other. 00:01:28.480 --> 00:01:33.280 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual psalms. 00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:37.040 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:41.439 In humility, consider others better than yourselves. 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:43.920 Do not lie to one another. 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:46.079 Bear with each other. 00:01:46.879 --> 00:01:50.319 Forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:52.000 Teach one another. 00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:53.920 Admonish one another. 00:01:54.239 --> 00:01:57.599 Make your love increase and overflow for each other. 00:01:58.400 --> 00:01:59.840 Love each other. 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:02.000 Encourage each other. 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:04.079 Encourage each other. 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:06.079 Build each other up. 00:02:06.400 --> 00:02:08.400 Encourage one another daily. 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:11.919 Spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:13.599 Encourage one another. 00:02:13.840 --> 00:02:15.919 Do not slander one another. 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:18.400 Don't grumble against each other. 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:21.120 Confess your sins to each other. 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:23.199 Pray for each other. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:26.800 Love one another deeply from the heart. 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:30.159 Live in harmony with one another. 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:32.800 Love each other deeply. 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:38.000 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:43.599 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others. 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:47.199 Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:50.159 Greet one another with a kiss of love. 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:52.479 Love one another. 00:02:53.120 --> 00:02:54.240 Love one another. 00:02:54.800 --> 00:02:55.840 Love one another. 00:02:58.319 --> 00:02:59.439 Love one another. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:01.120 Love one another. 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:02.639 Love one another. 00:03:03.439 --> 00:03:05.280 This is the word of the Lord. 00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:10.080 Thank you, Chuck. 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:13.520 What do you think God wants us to emphasize? 00:03:17.039 --> 00:03:22.159 Generally, the things that God wants us to know, He just tells us. 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:33.759 And so we don't have to live in mystery about what God's will is, and His will is pretty expressly clear that we are to love one another. 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:38.319 There's what Chuck just read was the 59 One-anothers of the New Testament. 00:03:38.479 --> 00:03:44.639 There's uh they're scattered throughout the entire New Testament from the Gospels to the epistles, they're all over. 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:49.919 All the apostles talk about this one-anothering aspect of Christian community. 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:52.800 And the last two weeks we've been focusing on this. 00:03:53.360 --> 00:04:06.560 Chad preached last week out of the book of Hebrews and talked about the importance of encouraging one another daily, the significance that we play in one another's life and encouraging our faith and strengthening our faith. 00:04:06.719 --> 00:04:19.920 And this this morning we're going to take some time together to look at the kind of totality of all of these one another's and what they have to say to us as a fellowship of believers here at Mission Hills Church. 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:29.279 The primary reason for this is because we want here at Mission Hills Church to encourage you to participate and to be a part of Christian community. 00:04:29.519 --> 00:04:37.120 It's an essential part of what it means to grow up and mature in your faith as a Christian is to participate in Christian community. 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:41.600 And I'll talk more about what that means over the rest of this message. 00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:47.759 But this morning, throughout all these one-another, there's three basic points I want to emphasize today for us all. 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:50.959 One, you belong to the church. 00:04:51.199 --> 00:04:54.800 So if you're gonna one another each other, you need to belong to the church. 00:04:54.959 --> 00:04:59.040 Two, one anothering requires that you get close enough to be hurt. 00:04:59.199 --> 00:05:01.120 That's my favorite point this morning. 00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:03.360 I bet you're all looking forward to that point. 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:06.560 You're like, oh yes, tell me how I'm gonna be hurt, Pastor Sam. 00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:16.560 You need to get close enough to be hurt, and third and finally, one anothering requires that you experience being one anothered first. 00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:17.279 Okay? 00:05:17.519 --> 00:05:20.160 So one anothering requires you belong to the church. 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:26.160 You need to get close enough to others to be hurt, and you need to experience being one anothered first. 00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:29.920 So let's look first at what it means to belong to the church. 00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:47.439 Well, there's as I said, there's 59 of these one another found throughout the New Testament, and all of them, every single one of them, is addressed and directed specifically to the church, to relationships within the church. 00:05:47.759 --> 00:05:54.879 The other being referenced here in one another is a brother or sister in Christ. 00:05:54.959 --> 00:06:16.240 So, in other words, what the one another are about is not necessarily our relationships primarily with our families or friends or outside community or co-workers or the world out there, but these one another are primarily about our relationships within the church, brother and sister relationships in Christ. 00:06:17.519 --> 00:06:30.800 In other words, this isn't kind of generalized relational wisdom, but concrete and specific about the people you are sitting next to right now. 00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:32.639 So look at each other. 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:43.759 This is about you, the people that you're looking at, the people around you, what Jesus is calling you to in relationship to all the people around you. 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:48.399 It's particularized to the church. 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:51.759 And notice also this is really important. 00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:54.879 These aren't suggestions. 00:06:56.160 --> 00:07:00.720 Like, hey, this would be like super cool if you did this to each other. 00:07:01.120 --> 00:07:01.439 Right? 00:07:01.600 --> 00:07:03.199 Oh, that's what what a great idea. 00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:06.079 Hey, this is just a little bit of advice or a little bit of counsel. 00:07:06.160 --> 00:07:14.000 No, that's not what these are, these are commands, they are requirements of relationships inside the church. 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:28.720 In other words, if you are serious about following Jesus, and it is my belief that to be a Christian means that I want to take following Jesus seriously. 00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:34.879 If you are serious about following Jesus, you cannot obey him. 00:07:35.439 --> 00:07:40.560 In other words, you can't follow him, you can't do what he says apart from the church. 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:46.959 You have to belong to the church and you have to belong to each other in relationships in the church. 00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:50.639 There's no way to do all 59 of these if you're not a part of the church. 00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:51.600 It's impossible. 00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:55.279 And ultimately, then it's impossible to follow Jesus. 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:03.040 Um, I've heard this phrase uh quite a bit throughout my time as a pastor. 00:08:03.360 --> 00:08:08.319 I love Jesus, I just don't like the church. 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:15.279 I love Jesus, I just don't like the church. 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:18.879 Now, there's some understandability about that. 00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:20.319 I get that. 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:24.240 You know, Jesus is amazing and he is better than the church. 00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:26.480 No question about that. 00:08:27.360 --> 00:08:33.840 But to say, make this statement about the church is to miss something critically important. 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:38.559 The church is what Jesus loves. 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:46.720 And so to say, I like Jesus, but not his church, is to say, I like who he is, I just don't like what he likes. 00:08:47.840 --> 00:08:50.960 I love him, I just don't love what he loves. 00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:56.320 It's a strange statement. 00:08:56.480 --> 00:09:03.279 And I think as a Christian, you cannot with integrity say, I love Jesus, but not the church. 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:04.879 It's just not possible. 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:11.679 To be a follower of Jesus means you're called to belong to the church and to love one another. 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:15.600 This is critically important to the life of the church. 00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:20.000 You are called to one another and to love one another. 00:09:21.120 --> 00:09:32.399 Now, how many of you at some point in your life, and I want you to be honest, how many of you at some point in your life have found the church to be a difficult place to be and people in the church to be difficult? 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:34.320 Almost all of you. 00:09:34.480 --> 00:09:37.919 Everyone else is probably hasn't been here long enough or you're lying. 00:09:38.080 --> 00:10:09.840 So here's the thing though, if if you've come to the conclusion, if it's your belief and conviction that everyone in the church is just too difficult to be around, too difficult to be connected to, the most reasonable conclusion to draw from that, if this is your belief, if your belief is everyone in the church is just too difficult, too hard to be around, if that's your belief, the most reasonable conclusion that I have come to is that you are the difficult person. 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:12.399 You know what I mean? 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:20.000 If everybody in the world else in the world is crazy, but you're the same person, hmm. 00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:25.120 You might want to re-evaluate your construct here. 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:29.840 The call is to participate in the life of the church. 00:10:29.919 --> 00:10:34.240 You cannot one another unless you are a part of the life of the church. 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:41.200 Okay, so first, the requirement of one-anothering means that you are required to belong to the church. 00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:46.159 The second is that you need to get close enough to be hurt. 00:10:47.360 --> 00:10:49.279 You need to get close enough to be hurt. 00:10:49.440 --> 00:10:59.120 One of the most amazing things about the one another's here is they cannot be done, they cannot be practiced without proximity. 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:05.200 You cannot practice one anothering without close proximity to other people. 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:08.639 I mean, there's some that are just kind of obvious about this. 00:11:08.879 --> 00:11:12.960 So, John 13, 14, wash one another's feet. 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:18.480 I don't know how you do that without getting like uncomfortably close to people. 00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:25.120 How many of you are thinking right now, like the thing I wanted most when I came to church is to touch someone else's feet? 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:28.480 Probably none of you. 00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:30.639 Wash one another's feet. 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:31.519 Greet one another. 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:32.720 You hear that one several times? 00:11:32.879 --> 00:11:34.159 Greet one another with a what? 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:36.399 A holy kiss. 00:11:37.679 --> 00:11:40.240 Now, in our world, we have emojis. 00:11:40.639 --> 00:11:42.559 You guys know the kissing emoji? 00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:43.679 I'll tell you what. 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:47.600 When my wife sends that to me, it is not the same as a real kiss from her. 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:48.480 Right? 00:11:48.720 --> 00:11:50.960 Emojis will not suffice. 00:11:51.840 --> 00:11:55.519 You have to be close enough to greet one another with a holy kiss. 00:11:55.679 --> 00:12:02.799 Now, maybe in our culture that seems a little strange or whatever, at least a holy handshake or a holy hug or something like that. 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:06.960 You have to get close enough to touch another person's body. 00:12:07.279 --> 00:12:09.120 It requires proximity. 00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:16.559 Speaking the Psalms to one another, psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, you have to be close enough to speak to each other face to face. 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:21.440 You have to be close enough to offer hospitality to one another. 00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:28.639 And the best way to think about it is all of the one another's require some form of proximity. 00:12:29.440 --> 00:12:37.039 They leave no wiggle room for you to kind of have a distance relationship with the church. 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:41.200 Now, this is gonna kind of bump up against the grain of modern life. 00:12:41.440 --> 00:12:47.360 Modern life, one of the primary features of modern life is isolation. 00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:59.519 It's one of the prime researchers over and over and over and over and over and over are continuing to discover the critical impact that modern life has had on isolation. 00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:06.080 Most cultures throughout history have been deeply connected communities. 00:13:06.559 --> 00:13:10.080 Most people throughout history lived in agrarian societies. 00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:14.559 They were a part of some kind of a tribe or a village. 00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:23.039 And this, what this meant is that you lived and worked and played and worshipped with all of the same people. 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:29.360 In other words, when you went to church, you walked to church with your neighbors. 00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:37.200 And then you had dinner with your neighbors, and then you worked with your neighbors out in the field. 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:43.360 And this meant that relationships were tightly knit, highly connected relationships. 00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:48.000 Now, I'm not gonna put this forward to you as something that we should all go back to. 00:13:48.159 --> 00:13:49.919 It's not that this was without problems. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:54.799 It's not like somehow agrarian societies are sinless societies. 00:13:55.440 --> 00:14:02.639 All societies had their problems, tribes have their problems, villages have their problems, everywhere is infected by sin. 00:14:02.799 --> 00:14:07.919 But one of the features of these way of life was that people were highly connected to each other. 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:16.159 Then the Industrial Revolution came and the digital revolution after it, and things have changed dramatically. 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:24.799 This little infographic up here on the left, uh, in the year 1500, fewer than 1% of people lived in cities. 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:26.159 Fewer than 1%. 00:14:27.039 --> 00:14:33.120 In 2025, 58% of global population lived in cities. 00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:38.240 And this has radically changed human relationships. 00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:42.480 You used to live in a tribe or a village in which you knew everybody around you. 00:14:42.639 --> 00:14:46.000 Now you live in a society and you may not even know your next door neighbor. 00:14:47.679 --> 00:14:54.799 It's an ironic feature of cities is that everybody moves closer together and yet relationally they're further apart. 00:14:56.879 --> 00:15:11.440 That as we've moved more and more towards urban contexts, as the Industrial Revolution took place and jobs were less and less out in the fields and more and more in the cities, people moved to the cities, not just urban contexts, but suburban contexts like San Marcos. 00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:15.679 And it became harder and harder to stay connected. 00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:23.840 Not only this, but as the Industrial Revolution took place and technology developed, it changed the way that we relate to each other. 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:26.720 How many of you walked to church today? 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:28.639 One? 00:15:29.600 --> 00:15:30.240 Two? 00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:34.159 Okay, two of you walked to church because you live in the neighborhoods around here. 00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:36.799 How many of you drove to church today? 00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:40.240 How many of you carpooled with your neighbor? 00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:42.480 Right? 00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:44.799 Do you notice the difference that makes? 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:51.200 In a medieval context, you you just walk to the church down the street with your neighbors. 00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:54.240 You knew your neighbors, you went to church with your neighbors. 00:15:54.480 --> 00:15:58.480 Most of us here will never don the door of the church with our neighbors. 00:15:58.639 --> 00:16:03.279 We drive maybe five, maybe ten, fifteen, twenty minutes to a different church. 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:08.240 Cars radically altered our relationships to one another. 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:16.799 Not only that, but social media radically altered our relationships with one another. 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:24.720 Now you can connect to each other anytime you want, but those relationships are radically different over social media. 00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:29.519 Those relationships are much more highly curated relationships. 00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:33.440 How many of you have found it difficult to be in face-to-face conversations? 00:16:33.600 --> 00:16:37.600 How many of you, let me ask you this, how many of you have ever had an awkward conversation? 00:16:39.039 --> 00:16:41.759 How many of you think that's like a super fun thing? 00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:45.440 Some of you are like, yes, more awkwardness. 00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:51.360 But social media is designed to reduce friction in relationships, to make things easier. 00:16:51.519 --> 00:16:55.120 And it also means that you can curate your image much better online. 00:16:55.360 --> 00:17:01.919 This is a picture of, I know, some lady, and she has now used a face filter and lost 20 years. 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:05.359 It's a pretty dramatic difference. 00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:11.839 You can curate your image online in a way that you can't curate your image face to face. 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:13.680 You might look much better online. 00:17:13.839 --> 00:17:24.799 You might have a better avatar, expression of yourself online that others can connect to, but it may not necessarily be who you really are or anything having to do with who you really are. 00:17:27.119 --> 00:17:33.519 All of what this means when you curate your image much to a much higher degree is nobody really knows you. 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:41.920 They may know your online persona, but they don't actually know what you're like in face-to-face, real human relationships. 00:17:42.400 --> 00:17:47.839 And we're rapidly approaching a day and age when you can just dispense with human beings altogether. 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:52.720 You can have yourself your own AI bot who can be your best friend. 00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:55.359 And they will be so affirming of you. 00:17:55.599 --> 00:17:59.759 In fact, do you know that if you use AI, you can turn up the affirmation meter. 00:17:59.839 --> 00:18:02.000 So it's just nicer and nicer to you. 00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:03.200 That's great. 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:05.200 No friction in that relationship. 00:18:05.359 --> 00:18:08.240 When has AI ever talked back to you? 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:17.440 But the result of all of these things, the result of all of these things is isolation. 00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:25.279 Less and less, even though we have technologies of connection, we're less and less meaningfully connected to each other. 00:18:25.599 --> 00:18:30.160 We are more and more isolated in a modern world. 00:18:31.759 --> 00:18:45.200 Now, the the one another of Jesus and the New Testament, they aren't an affirmation of ancient traditional communities, nor are they supportive of modern isolation. 00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:51.839 They push against the grain, actually, of both ancient communities and modern communities. 00:18:53.279 --> 00:18:55.839 Jesus would say things like this, for example. 00:18:56.079 --> 00:19:01.039 He would say things to people who lived in an ancient agrarian society where everybody's connected. 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:07.119 If you don't hate your father and mother and follow me, you're not worthy to be my disciple. 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:11.200 You think that goes with the grain of an ancient traditional culture? 00:19:11.599 --> 00:19:15.839 You say things like that in an ancient traditional culture, and it's liable to get you killed. 00:19:16.880 --> 00:19:28.960 So Jesus pushed against the grain of some of these more embedded family connections, but he also pushes against the grain of our modern isolationist tendencies. 00:19:31.519 --> 00:19:37.359 If you read through these one another's, they're remarkable in what they call us to. 00:19:38.079 --> 00:19:47.839 Not frictionless relationships, not heavily curated relationships that are online, but real human presence. 00:19:48.880 --> 00:19:53.680 With all of its pitfalls and flaws and risks. 00:19:54.240 --> 00:20:10.960 In fact, now getting to the point of that hurt part, you are to come so close in relationship with others, so close that you have to practice forgiveness. 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:17.119 How else are you going to practice forgiveness if you're not being hurt? 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:19.519 You know what I mean? 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:23.119 I've never forgiven somebody who hasn't hurt me. 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:28.480 In other words, what Jesus calls us to in relationships in the church, he assumes. 00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:36.160 There's a number of statements throughout the one another, a number of times we're repeated that we are called to forgive one another. 00:20:36.400 --> 00:20:39.599 Forgiving one another presumes what's happening to you. 00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:41.920 You're getting hurt. 00:20:44.799 --> 00:20:49.039 You have to come close enough to people that you get hurt. 00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:50.160 And you know what? 00:20:50.319 --> 00:20:58.400 One of the best ways to practice what Jesus says is when you're hurt to do what? 00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:01.839 To do what? 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:03.519 To forgive. 00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:05.920 It's great practice. 00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:12.480 If you want to get good at forgiving each other, get really close to other people in the church. 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:23.599 Because they're gonna bother you, they're gonna annoy you, they're gonna be difficult for you, they're gonna say things that you don't like, they're gonna say things that hurt, and guess what? 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:28.160 You have the amazing privilege of doing forgiving them. 00:21:28.960 --> 00:21:32.559 Over and over and over again. 00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:45.119 No, I want you to note as you read through all those 59 one-anothers, how many of them assume that relationships in the church will be hard? 00:21:45.359 --> 00:21:48.000 How many of them assume that they will be hard? 00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:54.000 So, for example, we're told be at peace with one another. 00:21:54.160 --> 00:21:55.440 What does that assume? 00:21:56.160 --> 00:21:59.200 If you have to be told to be at peace with each other, what does that assume? 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.480 That you have conflict with each other. 00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:05.599 Live in harmony with each other. 00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:06.960 What does that assume? 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:10.079 That you're not in harmony. 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:13.440 Stop judging one another. 00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:15.279 What does that assume? 00:22:15.599 --> 00:22:18.640 Well, that we're judging each other. 00:22:20.640 --> 00:22:21.839 Accept one another. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:23.279 What does that assume? 00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:26.079 Some people are hard to accept. 00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:30.480 Treat one another with equal concern. 00:22:31.279 --> 00:22:32.720 What does that assume? 00:22:32.960 --> 00:22:38.240 Well, it assumes that you are gonna want to favor some people over others. 00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:41.680 That there's gonna be some people in the church that you like more than other people. 00:22:42.079 --> 00:22:47.279 And what we're called to is to treat each other with equal concern. 00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:51.920 Don't bite and devour one another. 00:22:54.319 --> 00:22:57.119 We're not cannibals, that's not what's going on here. 00:22:57.920 --> 00:23:06.160 What Paul is talking about when he says don't bite and devour one another is a unique and very common experience of human beings that we use each other. 00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:09.759 How many of you have ever felt used by somebody else in your life? 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:13.519 How many of you thought that was a very encouraging experience? 00:23:14.880 --> 00:23:17.599 We have a temptation to use each other. 00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:20.799 And Paul says, don't do that. 00:23:22.720 --> 00:23:25.119 Bearing with one another. 00:23:25.599 --> 00:23:31.920 How many of you have found it difficult to be patient with people in the church? 00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:34.640 Yeah, you're gonna have to bear with people. 00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:35.920 It's gonna be hard. 00:23:36.079 --> 00:23:37.599 Some people are difficult. 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:39.680 You might be difficult. 00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:44.880 Don't lie to one another. 00:23:47.599 --> 00:23:56.079 It assumes that there's relationships in the church where you might not want them to really know the truth about you. 00:23:57.440 --> 00:23:59.680 Or the truth about what's going on. 00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:04.400 Speak the truth in love to one another. 00:24:04.720 --> 00:24:12.960 Assumes that maybe some of you are people pleasers and you don't really want to say anything that will upset anybody. 00:24:13.200 --> 00:24:19.119 Now I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand, but how many of you internally are raising your hand like I'm a people pleaser? 00:24:20.960 --> 00:24:24.400 Paul assumes it's gonna be hard to do this. 00:24:25.200 --> 00:24:28.799 You're gonna have to say hard things to people and say them in love. 00:24:29.839 --> 00:24:31.680 Don't slander each other. 00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:33.519 Don't grumble. 00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:35.440 Ooh, I love that one. 00:24:39.119 --> 00:24:42.880 How many of you have ever grumbled about somebody else? 00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:45.680 I did it this morning. 00:24:56.880 --> 00:24:58.400 Don't grumble. 00:24:58.960 --> 00:25:02.640 It assumes that there's gonna be people who are gonna make you want to grumble. 00:25:07.039 --> 00:25:14.880 The one-anothers of the New Testament call us into relationships that are going to be difficult. 00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:23.359 Jesus has called you to a church, and guess what? 00:25:23.519 --> 00:25:28.000 He called you to a church, and he called you, and he called the person next to you that's difficult for you. 00:25:28.799 --> 00:25:30.960 And he sat you down next to each other. 00:25:31.039 --> 00:25:34.160 And then he said, I want you to learn to love one another. 00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:47.440 You are called, the Christian community is a community in which you're called to a people with all of their strangeness and idiosyncrasies and challenges. 00:25:47.839 --> 00:25:50.960 The one another's assume this is not gonna be easy. 00:25:52.400 --> 00:25:56.880 And perhaps most important of all is that you are not going to be easy. 00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:03.680 There's gonna be times when you're difficult and challenging, and people are gonna have to forgive you. 00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:15.279 You have to, the call of the one another's is to draw close enough that the risk of being hurt is real. 00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:16.960 It is real. 00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:21.839 So the one another's call us to belong to the church. 00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:33.839 They call us to draw close enough to be hurt, and third and finally, the one another's require that we experience being one anothered first. 00:26:36.240 --> 00:26:38.240 It's a basic truth of the Christian life. 00:26:38.799 --> 00:26:40.799 It's a basic truth of life in general. 00:26:41.039 --> 00:26:46.079 You cannot offer to someone else what you do not have yourself. 00:26:47.119 --> 00:26:52.000 You cannot offer to someone else what you do not have yourself. 00:26:53.119 --> 00:27:00.559 You cannot love one another unless you have been loved by another. 00:27:02.799 --> 00:27:12.480 As I've thought about this final point, there's two particular one another that always stand out to me, perhaps above all of the others. 00:27:12.720 --> 00:27:18.400 And it's the ones that Peter talks about in 1 Peter 3 and in 1 Peter 4. 00:27:18.799 --> 00:27:25.359 Peter says this that you are to love one another deeply from the heart. 00:27:28.960 --> 00:27:32.160 These are kind of uh piercing one another's. 00:27:32.480 --> 00:27:40.640 Because they don't just get at our intention, our will, our commitment, as importantly as those are. 00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:49.279 They don't just get at our action and our behavior, but they get at the deep motivations of the heart. 00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:55.759 In other words, what Peter is saying is you have to love from a motivation of love. 00:27:55.839 --> 00:28:01.839 You have to want to love, desire to love each other from the depths of who you are. 00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:08.960 It can't be artificial, it can't be superficial, it can't be fake, it has to come from the deep places inside of you. 00:28:09.920 --> 00:28:21.839 How am I going to love another deeply and from the heart if I haven't been loved in the deep places of my heart? 00:28:24.720 --> 00:28:34.240 And this is where there's specific one another in the New Testament that show us the way. 00:28:34.480 --> 00:28:47.359 That if I'm going to belong to the church and if I'm going to get close enough to people that I might get hurt and require me to forgive, it's going to mean that I'm going to need to have that experience myself. 00:28:49.759 --> 00:28:53.680 And these specific one another's, they show us the way. 00:28:53.759 --> 00:28:57.920 They open up that as a possibility, as a real possibility. 00:28:59.359 --> 00:29:01.519 And they're right there on the screen. 00:29:01.839 --> 00:29:07.200 Jesus speaking to his disciples on the night he was betrayed said, love one another what? 00:29:08.640 --> 00:29:10.960 Just as I have loved you. 00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:15.279 Paul writing to the Roman church, accept one another, what? 00:29:16.559 --> 00:29:18.640 As Christ accepted you. 00:29:20.160 --> 00:29:23.920 Paul writing to the church in Ephesus, forgive one another as what? 00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:27.759 God in Christ forgave you. 00:29:33.119 --> 00:29:48.480 One of the practices I would commend to you all today is to go through the one another's and to meditate on this: that Jesus has done all of those for you. 00:29:51.200 --> 00:29:56.559 Jesus has loved you deeply and from the heart. 00:29:57.680 --> 00:29:59.759 Jesus has served you. 00:30:00.720 --> 00:30:03.680 Jesus has born with you. 00:30:04.319 --> 00:30:08.079 Jesus has established peace with you. 00:30:09.359 --> 00:30:14.720 Jesus has cleansed you and washed you in baptism. 00:30:16.880 --> 00:30:23.359 Jesus has loved you, loved you, loved you, loved you, loved you, loved you. 00:30:25.759 --> 00:30:29.039 Jesus has done all of these for you. 00:30:29.200 --> 00:30:32.480 He has kept the one another's for you. 00:30:38.480 --> 00:30:51.039 The way that we as Christians have confidence and we know that Jesus has one-anothered us is expressed most fully and completely in the cross. 00:30:51.680 --> 00:30:56.160 There on the cross, Jesus forgave us all of our sins. 00:30:56.559 --> 00:30:59.279 There on the cross, Jesus served us. 00:31:00.240 --> 00:31:04.880 There on the cross, Jesus bore the weight of all of our sins. 00:31:05.039 --> 00:31:06.400 He bore with us. 00:31:08.079 --> 00:31:12.960 There on the cross, Jesus was patient with us. 00:31:15.440 --> 00:31:23.440 The cross is the great act of one anothering in which Jesus has loved you that way. 00:31:26.319 --> 00:31:34.559 Now, I think for some of us, this can stay as a kind of idea. 00:31:34.960 --> 00:31:42.720 The cross can be a kind of theological idea or a biblical idea or a statement or a phrase. 00:31:42.880 --> 00:31:48.400 Like, oh, that thing that I could get right or wrong on a Scantron test. 00:31:48.559 --> 00:31:50.079 Did Jesus die for my sins? 00:31:50.240 --> 00:31:51.599 True or false? 00:31:52.079 --> 00:31:54.079 It can remain an idea. 00:31:55.440 --> 00:32:03.039 But if Peter's words are to come to fulfillment, it can't remain as an idea. 00:32:03.680 --> 00:32:06.559 It has to be an experience. 00:32:07.759 --> 00:32:09.839 That's why the heart is so critical. 00:32:10.079 --> 00:32:13.279 Love one another deeply from the heart. 00:32:13.759 --> 00:32:20.880 It means you have to personally experience the Lord Jesus Christ loving you this way. 00:32:22.880 --> 00:32:25.359 It has to be a conviction of your heart. 00:32:25.519 --> 00:32:29.279 Your heart has to be pierced with the love of God. 00:32:31.519 --> 00:32:37.279 Now you might ask, some of you, how many of you have ever like noticed the gap between your head and your heart? 00:32:37.519 --> 00:32:37.839 Right? 00:32:38.079 --> 00:32:42.079 I know something needs to be true, but I don't really experience it inside my heart. 00:32:42.400 --> 00:32:52.079 Well, the question I want to pose as we draw to a close today is how does that gap get closed? 00:32:52.880 --> 00:33:02.079 Between knowing that Jesus has loved me as an idea or a concept and experiencing it as the deep conviction of my heart. 00:33:05.359 --> 00:33:22.000 The good news for all of us, whether we've experienced it at one point and that experience has worn off or we've never experienced it before, the good news is that that gap is closed by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. 00:33:22.319 --> 00:33:35.039 That the Holy Spirit's function is to take these truths, these deep realities of Christ's love for you and drive them deep into your heart. 00:33:36.240 --> 00:33:43.759 And so this morning, if you're here and you're like, I do, Pastor Sam, I want to be a part of the life of the church. 00:33:43.839 --> 00:33:48.079 I want to be willing to get close enough even to be hurt, but I don't know how to do that. 00:33:48.160 --> 00:33:49.200 I don't know how to get there. 00:33:49.599 --> 00:33:54.319 I do want to trust that Jesus has loved me deeply and from the heart. 00:33:54.559 --> 00:33:59.039 I do want to experience that love, but I don't know how to do that. 00:34:01.200 --> 00:34:05.359 The one thing I would offer you today is a simple prayer. 00:34:07.119 --> 00:34:10.719 And it would go something like this: Holy Spirit, come. 00:34:12.639 --> 00:34:14.000 Holy Spirit, come. 00:34:14.480 --> 00:34:20.400 Come and take these truths and drive them into my heart. 00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:22.400 Make them real to me. 00:34:24.239 --> 00:34:30.480 I want to love one another deeply, but I know I can't do that until I experience your love deep within me. 00:34:31.519 --> 00:34:33.039 Holy Spirit, come. 00:34:33.360 --> 00:34:37.840 Come move it from concept to reality. 00:34:38.880 --> 00:34:42.239 Move it from idea to experience. 00:34:43.280 --> 00:35:02.079 And when that happens, and as you experience for yourself the love of God in Christ, as it pierces into the deep places of your heart, what begins to happen is that capacity to love others deeply from the heart flows out. 00:35:03.119 --> 00:35:16.079 You begin to be able to love others well, to bear with others, to forgive others to the degree that you know you've been forgiven and born with and loved with an everlasting love. 00:35:16.639 --> 00:35:19.440 So that's the prayer I would urge you to pray today. 00:35:19.679 --> 00:35:26.320 Now, let me just draw to a close here with a few comments about what that looks like here at Mission Hills Church. 00:35:26.480 --> 00:35:28.960