Christ Leads, We Follow | Pastor Will Hawk | January 25th, 2026

What if your 9–5, your Sunday worship, and your hardest relationships were all reshaped by two truths: Jesus leads the church he bled for, and he reconciles all things through his cross? We open Colossians 1:18–20 and Philippians 2 to trace how Christ’s headship and humility give uncommon dignity to ordinary work and real hope to fractured places.

We start by dismantling the sacred–secular divide. Drawing from Tim Keller’s insight, we explore why no task is too small to hold the weight of glory when done as an image bearer. Jesus doesn’t lead from a distance; he is the firstborn from the dead, the one who holds all things together and was willing to be torn apart. That love lifts the gathered church beyond routine and calls us to prize the 90 minutes we share—singing one song, opening one Word—as something Christ deeply values.

Then we look at Jesus’ work ethic: service, emptying, humility. Philippians 2 invites us to “have this mind,” not as an unreachable ideal but as our new operating system. We live as stewards, not owners; servants, not sovereigns. Instead of clinging to a comfortable middle, we practice a life-giving rhythm—filled to capacity by Scripture and worship, then poured out in generosity, presence, and witness. Built on Christ, not charisma, a church can limp without collapsing because its center holds.

Finally, we press into reconciliation. Colossians claims that through the blood of the cross, Christ reunites what sin fractured in heaven and on earth. That promise disarms bitterness, loosens control, and makes forgiveness plausible. It also moves mission close to home: caring not only for the nations but for our neighbors, dwelling with people as Christ dwelt among us. When work feels small, when conflict lingers, when hope thins, we return to the cross—the only place where lasting peace is made.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Um please turn in your Bibles to Colossians chapter one. It's on nine eighty-three in your P Bibles if you want to use one of those guys. All right, Colossians chapter one, verse eighteen through twenty. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on heaven or in a heaven, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. This is the word of the Lord.

Framing Work And God’s “Job Description”

Announcing The Titus Women’s Study

Will Hawk 1:38

Amen. Good stuff. Thanks, Gina. All right, guys, Colossians 1. Gina just read it to you. We have been navigating this. We have also been looking at one question for the whole month. I'll show it to you. Oh, but that isn't it. I'll show it to you in just a bit. But I want to begin, I don't want you to answer this out loud because there are too many right answers. And I don't want uh you to feel like you got it wrong if I don't pick the one that you went with. But as we think about work, I want us to begin here. Two quick questions. And by the way, if you're like a Theo bro and you're reading a lot of dead people on Tuesdays and Thursdays, don't overthink the question. All right, just don't overthink it here. What would God's job description be before humans ever existed if you can't use the term creator? Okay. So if I take that one out of the vocabulary, what would be God's job description before humans ever existed and after the incarnation, after Christ came in the flesh, what would be Jesus' next job description? All right, go ahead and share it with somebody next to you if you want to. You don't have to if you're afraid. You may not get it exactly right. While you guys are doing that, uh, I wanted to give you a heads up. Ladies, y'all have a Bible study that starts tomorrow. I wanted to highlight it. I don't highlight it, I should have given y'all more time. Okay. All of my answers are one-word answers. And so probably should have told you that from the beginning. Uh, ladies, I don't usually highlight every single thing that kind of goes on at the church, but I wanted to highlight this one because Gwen Lewis is going to be leading it Mondays, 8 45 a.m. here at the church, one another room is where it's going to be. But the reason I wanted to highlight it is the ladies are going to be working through the book of Titus in a study that was written by Hunter Beeless, uh, who also has a podcast. I'm looking for my wife. KB, what's Hunter's podcast called?

unknown 3:35

Journey Women.

Jesus’ Roles: Head And Reconciler

Will Hawk 3:36

Journey Women, thank you. You're not my wife. Okay. I thought she was over there. Okay, good stuff. Um, Journey Women, but here's what's so cool. When Hunter Beelis, Journey Women Podcast, wrote this Bible study on Titus, long before that happened, she was in a small discipleship group that Gwen was leading. Gwen led her through the book of Titus. She wrote a study on it, dedicated it to Gwen in the opening pages. And now Gwen is teaching a Bible study that she wrote. And I just think that's wonderful. I can't get enough of that. I you can clap at that because I can tell some of you want to. That's awesome. So if you see Gwen, give her a big hug. All right. I told you you didn't have to answer out loud, but does anybody want to give me their answer for number one? Number two is easier. What would you go for, number one, if you couldn't go with creator? Okay, fine. We'll skip that one. What?

unknown 4:29

Sustainer.

Will Hawk 4:30

Sustainer, I heard another one.

unknown 4:31

Farmer.

Holding All Things Together And Bleeding

Will Hawk 4:32

Farmer. I like it. I like it. All right, number two, after the incarnation, what would have been Jesus' next job description? This one starts with a C. Carpenter. Okay, all right. So there's this great quote by Tim Keller. I'm trying to give you one Tim Keller quote a day while we work through Colossians because I want you to read this book. And I can't make you read it, but if I give you a quote every Sunday, you'll get about 8% of it by the time I get to the end. In Genesis, we see God as a gardener. That's what I was shooting for. Farmer, very, very close. And in the New Testament, we see him as a carpenter. Pause, slow down for this next sentence. No task is too small a vessel to hold the immense dignity of work given by God. What I want to convince you of is not only the grandeur of Christ, I want you to see it. I want you to ponder what Christ's job description was as we look at this passage in Colossians. But part of bringing Sean up here and talking about what you're going to be doing this time tomorrow is there is a sense in Christianity where the people up here are the varsity Christians, and that's garbage theology. The best theology when it comes to our work, our labor, which by the way existed in the garden before sin ever came. Work is not a consequence of sin. The thistles and the thorns of work are a consequence of sin. But you working was by God's design tucked into you a mago day. And what I want you to begin wrestling with is do you believe that? Do you believe that there is no task, no task that is too small of a vessel to hold the immense dignity that God places on work as a God who does work? That's what I want us to begin wrestling through. And when we jump into this passage, you will see a number of job descriptions. Go ahead. But just for a moment, do you see in this a couple of jobs that Jesus has in the New Testament? He's the head of the body, the church, the beginning, firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. In him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell through him to reconcile all things to himself, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. You can come up with more than two, but I will just give you a very quick two. Jesus' job description, this is not the entirety of it, but it is a portion of it, in Colossians 1, is to be the head of the church, the one who is in charge of this not only institution, but this global changing, nation-shifting reality of his body at work today. And secondly, to reconcile to himself everything. And it doesn't matter if it's in heaven, it doesn't matter if it's on earth, he reconciles everything to himself because he's before all things, holding them all together. And this is where we stopped last week. We stopped with Jesus holding all things together. So as we slide into verse 18, what I want you to realize is Jesus isn't just the one who holds everything together, he's the one who bled for it too. This isn't just sort of uh how many of you guys watched Homeboy climb up the building in Taiwan last night? Okay? Seriously, I was expecting more. All right? Uh get on Netflix, check it out. What's the guy's name? I always Yeah, but I can never say his last name. It's Alex. What?

unknown 8:21

Honell.

Why Christ Leads The Church He Loves

Philippians 2 And Jesus’ Work Ethic

Servants And Stewards, Not Owners

Humility And Emptying As A Rhythm

Built On Christ, Not On Charisma

Where Our Church Limps: Capacity And Neighbors

Dwelling Near And Reconciling All Things

Peace, Forgiveness, And Real Hope In The Cross

Response: Bow, Pray, Make It Right

Will Hawk 8:22

Honell. I think y'all can't say it either, so that's fine. Um but the guy who free soloed El Capitan was climbing up a skyscraper in Taiwan. Unbelievable. Uh my son had a couple of buddies over, and we started watching on minute eight, and we didn't leave the TV for an hour and a half. They started playing games on their phones, and I made fun of them. I'm like, this guy's going for something amazing, and you're playing Retro Bowl. And I just, anyway, whatever. That was my own old man angstiness. But I'm watching this guy and the way he climbs, it's like a chameleon. It's just slow, methodical, just unbelievable grip strength. When we think of Christ holding all things together, I want you to understand he is holding on to the brokenness of man and the holiness of God. He is holding on to the sinfulness that you have created yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and his own righteousness. But it isn't just a brute strength. It isn't just an impressive amount of will. Christ bleeds for this. He bled for this, he was willing to sacrifice for this. And because of that, he earns being the head of the body, the church. Why? Because he was the firstborn from the dead. He was willing to die for his church. Therefore, job number one, Christ leads the church. And I don't mean mid tree, I mean any church capital C that is about the exaltation of Christ. That is what he leads because he was willing to die for it. The firstborn from the dead. There are a lot of words in scripture for the church. It's called his body, it's called the temple. We are called the branches, he is called the vine. But probably the illustration that Jesus uses most for his body, the church, is what? Starts with a bee. It is his bride. Why? Because this isn't just a brute strength, him fighting against sin and brokenness. Jesus loves his, he loves you guys. In a special way when you gather like this, in a unique way, when you sort of say no to all of the other options and all of the other things, and you prioritize gathering together. There is something beautiful in the eyes of God when you sit amongst one another, when you sing the same song, coming from different weeks, when you circle around the same scripture, even though you have very different jobs and lives and relationships and calendars, when all these people come together and they say, Jesus, Jesus, He is number one. He's preeminent overall, there is something beautiful that begins to happen. He values this. And if you don't value what you lead, you're not gonna lead it very well. If you're not willing to die for the things that you value, the question is, how much do you actually value it? Jesus puts an incredible value on this. And I this is a great Sunday for me to say this because last week some of you guys were like playing in the snow, and I am, I'm good with that. But I will say, as not a church, but as a culture, do you highlight this 90 minutes in your week the way that Christ does? Do you see this is something to fight for and be diligent toward? And this is not some angry pastor who's upset with attendance. I'm not. I can see like nine spaces for us to invite people to. That's what I'm actually a little more heartbroken toward. We'll talk about that in just a minute. But do you fight for this the way Christ fights for this? If you don't value what you lead, you're not gonna lead it very well. If you don't value your business, you're not gonna lead it very well. If you don't value your team, doesn't matter if it's in the office, doesn't matter if it's in the store, doesn't matter if it's on the field, if you don't value your team, you're not gonna lead it very well. If you don't value your soldiers, you're not gonna lead them well. If you don't value your wife, you're not gonna lead her very well. If you don't value your children, you're not gonna lead them very well. But the one who leads this body so well is not this guy, or that guy, or that guy. The one who leads this body is one who is willing to break his, so that you would have a place to come and seek him out. He is the beginning, firstborn from the dead. Now, let me tell you what I want to do. Colossians gives us a job description. Philippians gives us a work ethic. So if you're holding a paper Bible, the these two books are side by side. Go ahead and go to Philippians chapter two, but keep a finger in Colossians because we're gonna bounce back and forth. I want to give you a job description, job number one, he is the head of the church because he's willing to die for it, but I want to show you what that looks like in the work ethic of Christ. Verse 6, Philippians chapter 2. Speaking of Jesus, though he was in the form of God, didn't count a quality with God, a thing to be grasped. He emptied himself. What did it look like when Jesus showed up on a Monday? What did it look like when he was walking through Jerusalem? What did it look like when he hung out with the Samaritan at the well? What did it look like when he went to the blind or the lame or a little boy who happened to pack a bigger lunch than everyone else? What did it look like? Well, it didn't look like him counting equality with God, a thing to be grasped. It looked like a man who constantly emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him. I started in verse six because what most surprises me about this verse is what comes first, and I didn't want you to see it. Just put your eyes on the screen for a moment. I want you to pick one characteristic of Christ that you find most impressive. Is it the humility? Is it the emptying? Is it him taking the form of a servant? Let me give you five seconds. Just eyes on the screen, pick one characteristic of Christ that is superior to anything that you've been able to find in your own life. Obedience, even to the point of death. Well, let me show you to me what is the craziest part of this passage. It's what comes in front of it. Have this mind among yourselves, and it's yours in Christ Jesus. If you're sitting in this room and you're a Christian, you've repented of your sins, you've trusted in Christ, I just want you to see what verse 5 says because it is absolutely unbelievable. Not the job description, but the work ethic of Christ, the way that he cared, the way that he walked, the way that he spent his time, this time tomorrow, the Bible says it is yours, Christian. This mindset, this worldview, it is yours in Christ. Christ is the head of the church. And how does he lead his church? He does it through service and emptiness and humility. Now I'm going to give these to you in rocket style speed because I want to show you the second job description in just a moment. Christ-like leadership is a path of service, emptiness, and humility. Where do we see service? He didn't count a quality with God, a thing to be grasped. He took the form of a servant, which means he could have walked away. Why does Christ not walk away when we fail? See the garden? Why does he not just start over when we make a huge mistake? See the flood? Why does he keep going to the sheep that walk into the barbed wire, that walk over the fence, that start playing with the wolves? Why does he keep leaving the 99 to go after the one? Because he didn't just say, I am a king, I deserve to be the king, I'm gonna sit on the throne of the king and I'm just gonna watch it all play out. No, no, no, no, no. He didn't count a quality with God, a thing to be grasped. Instead, he took on the form of a servant. Christians are servants and stewards. And if you are a Christian, here's what you will not find: ownership. I sort of propped this up for us last week. Christians are servants and stewards. I want to show you one of my favorite verses in Luke chapter 17. And let me just tell you, there's a little bit of angst behind it because when I grew up in the church, I would get sort of frustrated at adults who thought they were better than teenagers and students simply because they were adults. And by the way, that angstiness hasn't gone anywhere. I'm just one of them. So now I just like hate myself sometimes. But this was one of my favorite verses when I was a teenager. Luke 17. Will any one of you who has a servant, all right, remember Christ's servant? Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, come at once and recline at table. Put yourself there. You've got a guy that you have hired to do a job. Let's just say you need to put a fence up in your backyard. And the guy shows up, shows up on time, starts working, and he finishes work, and he comes to you, and you're like, okay, the guy's coming to get paid. And here's what Jesus is saying. When he has come in from doing his work, would you say, Oh, my friend, please come sit at the table, come and eat some food, make yourself at home. Now you might be thinking, Oh, well, that's incredible charity. We should definitely do this. Watch what Christ says. Will he not rather say, prepare supper for me, dress properly, serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink? The thought here is this guy is a servant of the one who owns the property. Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? Is that leaning towards a yes or a no? Okay. All right. Does this not feel a little weird? Like, I should say thank you, right? I should be grateful. What's the point that Christ is trying to make? Verse 10. So you also, Christian, servant, when you have done not some of your duty, when you have nailed it, when you have had the best day as a Christian, you have done all that you were commanded. You woke up early, you listened to worship music, you found some time to pray, you got into the word, you used your work as a platform for the gospel. When you had your top tier, A, made 104 on the exam because you got the bonus question right. When you get to the end of that day and your head hits the pillow, what does your prayer life look like, servant to the Lord Most High? Does it look like, Jesus, can we agree I nailed it? Can we agree? Like this was the day. Can we not say I knocked it out of the park? Here is what the Bible says. When you have done everything that you were commanded, here's how you respond, Christian. We are unworthy servants. We have only done what was our duty. I loved this verse as a teenager. I absolutely adored it because at the end of the day, this removes pride from anyone, including the most impressive Christians or the people who portray an incredibly impressive life. But I'll tell you what I love for our purposes. You had to be paying close attention. What were the two jobs that this guy did? It's okay if you got to look back. They weren't very impressive. The dude plowed and kept sheep. Can we agree these are not impressive jobs? Incredibly unimpressive. This is a guy whose job was to dig a hole in the ground, Monday to Friday, 40 hours a week. Except back then, they didn't have those kind of restrictions. So the dude was probably going and making furrows in the dirt 60 hours a week, 70 hours a week. And he does it perfectly. They are straight and beautiful to the right depth for the seed that's gonna come in. And he goes to the landowner and he says, I nailed it. And Jesus says, Guys, at the end of your very best day, you have only done your duty. This is what it means to be Christ like. And it doesn't matter what our job is. In Genesis, we see God as a gardener in the car uh in the New Testament. We see him as a carpenter because no task is too small of a vessel to hold the immense dignity of work given by God. If I were to put it differently, here's what I would say. Nope. Yep. What you do doesn't make you important. The politician is not more impressive than the plowman. But working as an image bearer, waking up in the morning and saying, I am created by God for God, for whatever it is that is in front of me makes whatever you do important. And if you walk into this room and you hate your job, if you walk into this room and you do not like your life, Monday to Friday, you feel like the things you do are beneath you, you feel like you are better than them. Some of you may do incredibly important things and you are absolutely bored to death and at the end of yourself with them. Might I give you a healthy theology humbly? If you will do it as an image bearer of Christ, whatever you do becomes important. It doesn't matter what it is, which is why we printed this on our memory bands for this book of the Bible. Whatever you do, whatever you do, whether you're selling cars or leading soldiers or teaching schools, whether you're working in a company where you just sit in front of a computer all day or raising children, whatever it is, whatever you do, work heartily. Not for the boss, for the Lord. And not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. Monday through Friday, you are serving the Lord Christ. That is the concept. That is how Christ leads his church. Service, emptiness, humility. Do you want to see emptiness? He empties himself. And because he empties himself, therefore God highly exalts him. Let me just show you this. This, by the way, is not just the beginning of the life of Christ and his ascension into heaven. What this is saying when it says he emptied himself, it's not just saying he came in the form of man, lived this really good life, died on the cross, rose again, and was ascended into heaven. Verse 7, verse 9. What it's saying is every day of the life of Christ, he emptied himself and God would exalt him. He would empty himself in prayer. He would empty himself of the poor. He would empty himself in his work and God would exalt his preaching, exalt his word, exalt his power. There was this rhythm of a mountain to valley to mountain to valley of emptying in Christ, being filled, being emptied, being filled. And this is what I would challenge you with the most if you want to live as a Christian in this culture. Most of us want to find the homogenous little happy place in the middle of our lives. Not too much, not too much, and live somewhere in the middle. You were not designed for that. In fact, just do this now. Don't make it weird and don't be loud about it. I want you to breathe, but I don't want you to breathe by fully filling or fully emptying your lungs for the next 20 seconds. Just live in the middle. All right, you can hear me. Y'all do it without. Just do it for 20 seconds. I double dog dare you to do this for 20 seconds. Go for it. And while you do, I'm gonna point this out. Christ-like leadership is a path of service, emptiness, and humility. The Christian life does not pursue contentment in the middle, but faithfulness in the moment. Now I don't know what percentage of you guys actually are doing this right now, but I want you to stop it. I want you to get one really good deep breath. Just a and then I want you to let it out. Do you feel the difference in breathing that way? Do you feel your heart rate drop? Do you feel the peace and the relaxation that comes in? If you want to try to live your life in this happy little middle where there's not too much and there's not too little, you are gonna miss out on the rhythm by the way you are created for. And I'll prove it to you. You sleep, and then you wake, and you've been doing it your whole life because it's how God built you. Try to do one without the other, I'll be doing your funeral in a very short period of time. You eat food and enjoy it, and then you stop eating food, at least for a period of time, and then you eat food again, and then you stop eating food again. Do one without the other, I'll be doing your funeral in about five or six days. You work and then you rest and then you work and then you rest. Except for some of you need to be taught this because you work and then you work and then you work. Or you rest and you rest and you rest. And either of those will cost you everything. The Christian life doesn't pursue this contentment in the middle. You are not designed for it. Christians are gonna find greater peace in a rhythm of being filled to capacity. By the way, when I say this, I mean spiritually, okay? If you want to find the greatest sense of peace you can find in life, you need to figure out how to be filled to capacity and then emptied out completely. You wake up in the morning, God, I need you. There is no way I make it to 12 o'clock without you filling me up, not the way you have called me to work. So, whatever it is you do, you fill yourself up with worship, you fill yourself up with the word, and then you empty yourself. You don't just try to hold on to it. You don't try to make it through the day without hitting empty. You as a Christian try to hit empty. I want to share the gospel with as many people I can. I want to serve until it hurts. I want to give in a way that is generous. My time, my energy, my money, my resource, my everything. It is Christ. I want to be emptied completely so that I can be filled completely. And in that great rhythm, you will find more peace than if you just try to live in the middle. Service, emptiness, humility. Humility is not about doing more for God, but receiving what only God could have done for you. He humbled himself. Here we stop following and we just look and worship. Jesus humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Guys, if you will empty yourself out completely only to be filled up abundantly, you won't just find peace. You'll live a life worth following. Discipleship will all of a sudden begin to make sense because you will be someone worth following. You will have stories to tell, you will have examples to give because you have been exhausting and filling. That is the life of the Christian, and we do it in an obedient way. Now none of us can do what we're looking at on the screen. None of us could be obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Not this cross, not with the weight that came with it, but Christ did. Why? Let me show you. If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, keep that word in mind for a minute. He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. So then, brothers, this is speaking to Christians, we are debtors. You owe something. But watch what happens next. We are debtors, but immediately Paul writes, but we're not debtors to the flesh. In other words, you don't owe Jesus. So you're like, all right, because of what he did for me, I'm gonna share my faith tomorrow. I've got to. I've just never done it and I need to. Because of what he's done for me, I'm finally gonna like be nice to this person at work. Because of what he's done for me, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna. That is not what Christ is putting on display for us. Brothers, we are debtors, but not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. In fact, if you try to do that, to live according to the flesh, strong words here, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Now listen, this is Paul being impressive and poetic and reflective. Let me just give you sort of the blue-collar version of this. As you are trying to serve the Lord Christ, as you are trying to be who he calls you to be, as you are trying to serve and be empty and be humble. Humility is not about you doing more for God. I feel like I need to say that 30 times. You're at church, you showed up, you made it. Humility is not about you doing more for God. That is not where it begins. It's about receiving what only God could do for you. That's humility. It's not proving, it's receiving. This is how Christ led his church. It's how all of us should lead our lives, especially if you're called to lead the church in any capacity. I I I've told you this. Some of you are missionaries and you just don't know it yet. Some of you are ministers and you just don't know it yet. Some of you are small group leaders, you just don't know it yet. Some of you are co-leaders who are going to open your home, you just don't know it yet. Some of you are kids' church leaders and you don't know it yet. But it'd be great if you did soon. All right? There are things God has for you you don't even know yet, but it's coming. A way for you to serve Him, a way for you to be empty, a way for you to be humble, but it's not about doing more. And if you are called to lead in some capacity, even the church, it is important that you know this. If a church endeavors to make Christ the head of their church, job description number one, which he does through service, emptiness, and humility, the church will not fall apart, even if a man does. It can't. Because I'm not leading this thing. A lot of you, multiple today, have come up to me and have said, I want you to know I'm praying for you. I know why you're praying for me. You're praying for me because of the news of our planting church and what happened with the lead pastor there. Can I just give you the greatest comfort I have in the world? If Will falls, there's no reason for Midtree to. There's no reason for Cross Point to, there's no reason for Clowers to. If your church is built on a man, you have a massive problem. But if your church is built on Christ, that man, those men, every leader can fall. And the church might limp for a while, but it will not crumble. But you build it on charisma, you build it on personality, you build it on anything other than Christ, and even the most solid theology will not rescue you. It can't. It won't. Conversely, when Christ is the head, a church can limp along, but it won't collapse even when its leaders fall. Because the headship of Christ secures the body beyond human faithfulness. I I know that when I tell you guys to think about your Monday to Friday, it's probably a little bit different than mine, but this reality is the greatest comfort to me. I have had this week, I can't even begin to express to you how big my meetings have been in the past five days for the future of the church on a national level, right? Like in securing the future of our church, when we think about the days ahead, when we think about the faces and the people that God would bring in, which by the way, we don't really even have room for them to come in right now. When we think about what it is that God wants Mid-Tree to be, I can't even begin to tell you the number of meetings I've had just in the past five days. And this concept that Christ served, emptied, and was humble is the greatest freedom to me, and I offer it to you for your Monday as well. If you will be this service-oriented, empty-seeking, humble person, you will find that nothing is able to throw you. Because when you walk into the meeting, when you deal with that difficult person, when you struggle through that difficult situation, you can simply say, I don't lead this thing. Christ does. Christ leads my life. Christ is the one who gets to decide. All I need to do is be faithful. So when I see this difficult thing coming, I just lean back and say, just wait and watch what Jesus does. He loves this place. He loves you. And I promise you, he doesn't love what you are doing Monday to Friday any less. I sit in uh with about a half a dozen of you guys a couple of weeks ago, and we were working through this passage in Philippians, and I asked the group, I said, Do you think Midtree is a healthy church? I was really curious what kind of answers we were gonna get. Most of the time, people don't want to be controversial. They like they don't want to say, uh, Will, it's falling apart and it's on fire, and we're very glad that you have asked. Now, usually people don't want to like give criticism, even if you're like asking for it. And I said, Midtree church, do you think it's healthy? And generally they said, Yeah, yeah, we think it's I was the only one who was like, it's really not, right? They they were like, Yeah, it's healthy. And I said, Well, what makes it healthy? And they listed a lot of these things. It's not a one-man show, it's uh it is about the word of God from front to back. We want to serve it. Like, they go through all these things. And I said, Can I just tell you that I do think our church is limping in a couple of areas? Not limping to the point of fall, not limping to the point of collapse. Um, and I think I can prove it to you real quick. I believe that if somebody shows up to Mid-Tree on a Sunday and they make it through the whole 90 minutes, that I and Greg and Scott and Trent and Stokes and Lair, all of the elders could stand before God as the men who shepherd this thing, and I could say, I feel like we have been faithful to your word. I think we have been uh honorable in pointing out sin. We have showed people the remedy of sin and we have called them to it. We've given them an opportunity to find a community that they can be a part of, solid theology and warm community. It's a place where they can pitch in. We're never gonna stop stretching them. I feel like I can stand before God. We don't have everything right. We make mistakes. You guys aren't wearing name tags. You're supposed to be wearing it. Like there are always these little things. We send people overseas, we support people overseas. Ministry is happening in Africa, in the Middle East. Ministry is happening in Asia, the underground church, and you are a part of it. But can I tell you where I think we limp? Somewhere in between the nations and this place, I think we limp about 400 yards from that stop sign. That's where I think we limp. And I'll tell you two reasons why. Reason number one is if I asked you guys to invite a friend, you'd be like, uh, Will, where are you gonna put them? It's it's a fair thing to say. Like, as you guys come in, we're excited, and Bennett's up here, and he's like, call to order, he's doing his thing. But there are like four people sweating in the back. They're like, Do we bring in the chairs? Do we not bring in the chairs? It's so cold outside. I know that we put heaters out there. How close are people gonna sit? Like, if they sit too close, are they actually gonna talk to the person next to them, or is it just gonna be weird for 90 minutes and then they never talk to each other again because they should have said hey and they didn't say hey? Like all of this stuff starts running through the mind of people. I think we limp in that. Our social media team doesn't invite people to church right now because they're like, uh, how is that going to work? I get phone calls when things go poorly in other churches, and I it's like, hey, do you think folks are gonna show we don't want to be a church that can't invite people in? I think we're limping there. The other place that we limp is at that stop sign when we take a left or a right. I can tell you what's going on in Kenya, I can tell you what's going on in Asia, I can tell you what's going on in North Africa, I can tell you what's going on in the Middle East. We have boots on the ground, money being sent in an incredible way. I can't tell you anything about it, the majority of the people in the neighborhood. And what I want you to see as we go to this sort of last job description of Christ in this passage is that the God who leads us does not lead us from a distance. Our God not only went to the nations, but he came really close to his neighbors as well. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. I told you to hold on to that. And through him to reconcile to himself all things. And it doesn't matter if it's on earth or if it's in heaven, he's gonna make peace by the blood of his cross. This dwelling we see Christ do. The word became flesh and he dwelt among us. God's word came in the form of a man in Christ. And it he walked with us. He saw us on our Tuesdays and on our Thursdays. He saw us tired and empty, and he remained close. This is not just going to the nations. This is not just how do we have an effective 90-minute service? This is I care about the people I dwell with. I care about the neighbor whose name I do not know. And maybe you're not gonna walk up and hey, my pastor told me that I need to meet you today, so I'm just doing it. Hey, awkward. Do you like cookies? This is my best shot. That, like, maybe if the Holy Spirit tells you to do it, run after it. That's fine. But what does it look like for you to be like this? And as Christ dwelt with us, dwell around those. So finally, I give you this. The second job description that we see from Christ is he reconciles all things. And when it says he reconciles all things, we look at this in a couple of different ways. We think about reconciling an account, you owe money on a house or something, and when you pay it off, it's all reconciled. But this isn't talking about finances, this is talking about relationship. And we should have seen it coming because we talk about it every Christmas. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. The government shall be upon his shoulder. He's going to lead this thing called the church. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. He is gonna reconcile all things in heaven and on earth through him to reconcile to himself all things. All things. And this word reconcile, if you study it, I'm not gonna zoom in, but what it's referring to is to reunite. This is what the cross is about. And we always think about the cross reuniting us with God. I'm sinful, I'm broken, I'm dirty, I need forgiveness, and Christ offers it right now. As you sit in your pew, you can pray, God, would you forgive me of my sin? I want to repent of my sin and believe in the good news of Christ, believe in the gospel. This is reuniting God and man, but it doesn't just stop there. Notice what it said? He reconciles all things in heaven and on earth. Countries may end and kingdoms may totter, but the church isn't going anywhere. How do you have peace across an entire kingdom? We can't pull it off in a nation, we can't pull it off in a neighborhood, and most of us can't pull off peace inside our own front door. How do you pull off peace in an entire kingdom? It hasn't worked since the angels and the people. So option one is you just get rid of them. God was at great peace, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in eternity prior to creation. So you can either get rid of everyone or you can do something that changes everyone. Now, reconciliation doesn't mean that everyone Everything becomes easy. It doesn't mean that every marriage is going to be restored or disease healed. But what it does mean is no injustice is going to go unpaid. No wound is going to be left unanswered. Grace and justice both become a double-edged sword as Christ reconciles, reunites, makes all things right. And if you do not believe that passage, job description number two of Christ. If you don't believe that Christ is going to reconcile all things, your bitterness is going to become reasonable. Because it isn't going anywhere in your mind. You're going to feel like you have to control things. Your forgiveness is going to become optional because you're not convinced that it's going to be made right. Anxiety starts feeling responsible. And to hope in things becomes naive. But if you do believe this, if you believe God's word here that He will reconcile all things, you can endure unresolved grief. Because one day God is going to make it right. You can forgive people even if they aren't doing it right to receive your forgiveness. You can hope when there is no evidence. You can rest and not consider yourself lazy because God is the one doing the work. And when you work, you don't have to panic. You see, this is reconciliation. If you're not getting along with your wife, that's where you go. If you're not getting along with your kids, you don't pick up a book, that is where you go. If you don't get along with your dad, if you hate your job, if you don't like yourself, here is where you go. To be reconciled by God. If you're filled with anxiety, that's where you go. You can't find hope in anything, that is where you go. Because the cross is the only place where peace is made lasting. Because the one who holds everything together is willing to be torn apart. And the one who's willing to be torn apart for what he loves, that is who God exalts. Therefore, God has exalted Christ and bestowed on him the name above every name. So that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow. This is a proper posture for us today. To bow before him in heaven, on earth, under the earth, everywhere, at church, away from church, on Tuesday, on Thursday, on Sunday, that we would bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. This is what Christ has done. He runs this thing and he reconciles this thing. And it's what he's been doing from day one. So I give you these questions to ponder and think about as the band comes up and as we get ready to worship. We were we respond to God's word the same way just about every week. Stand and sing with all of your heart, spirit, and emotion. Maybe you need to bow for a moment. Come out back and receive prayer. Make something right with people next to you. But let's respond to God's word today.