WEBVTT 00:00:02.720 --> 00:00:06.559 Hello and thank you for joining us on the Sierra Bible Church Sermon of the Week. 00:00:06.799 --> 00:00:10.160 We hope you enjoy this message by Pastor Nate Levering. 00:00:11.599 --> 00:00:24.559 A week ago on Thursday afternoon, I was in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and with a team, and we entered what they call in Brazil uh a favela. 00:00:25.120 --> 00:00:31.120 And uh it's a place that starts as a slum and it kind of gets built up around that. 00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:35.119 Uh like something I'd never seen except for on TV. 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:40.960 And uh I just yeah, we hadn't felt anything like that either. 00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:48.560 Um and so we would spend time partnering with the ministry that we support as a part of Sear Bible Church. 00:00:48.719 --> 00:01:05.920 And so part of what they do is they work in these favelas, and as I've described these places and sort of the spiritual sense there, uh it was kind of an aggressive darkness, uh, unlike I think I felt before. 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:11.439 And we've served in the tenderloin and I did high school ministry for years, you know, we've been in some dark places. 00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:22.879 Um, but you know, that sense that maybe some of us had during that second song where where we consider our lives, we consider the stuff, we consider the story, we consider what's in front of us, who we are. 00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:30.319 And there's this sort of this place, right, at times where we say, I don't really know what to say or to sing. 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:35.120 But there seems to be a power in this name. 00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:40.159 There seems to be an anchor, a place we can be found in the name of Jesus. 00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:51.519 And we walk through this favellos, you know, you walk across this bridge, and it's clear that the sewer runs through the little river, and it's just dark in a thousand ways. 00:01:51.599 --> 00:02:11.360 Uh, and we made our way into this little church, and it was about 10 feet wide by about 30 feet, and we crammed in there on a Thursday afternoon, and you have not heard people sing and claim the power and the presence of Jesus like these Brazilians in the middle of that place. 00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:26.240 And to just feel like his presence is busting out that door and has a chance to, in ways we could only dream, make a difference in what felt like an aggressively evil, hopeless kind of place. 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:40.800 As we sang, uh, knowing there's nothing we could do to change this place, there was uh a girl in our group, one of the ones that we support as a part of Sierra Bible Church, her name's Bruna, and she came from that neighborhood. 00:02:41.039 --> 00:02:51.039 She was a kid that grew up in that darkness with more kind of uh lure to pursue a lifestyle of just their lifestyle in so many ways. 00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:55.120 We would call it evil, brokenness, um, satanic in many ways. 00:02:55.199 --> 00:02:59.680 Um, and she now is a leader in restoration ministries. 00:02:59.919 --> 00:03:06.960 She's leading us, she's loving kids in and amongst that place and to hear those people sing. 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:09.599 I wish I could bottle it up, right? 00:03:09.759 --> 00:03:18.080 And what's cool when you get to go, and I'll say this on behalf of a few of us that are here that form part of that group of 20, you do get to bottle it up. 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:22.240 I brought a bucket to church this morning. 00:03:22.479 --> 00:03:26.000 I noticed I was the only one bringing a bucket to church this morning. 00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:35.759 I heard a number of years ago a talk that said the reality is that all of us sort of carry this kind of spiritual bucket around. 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:37.919 It's kind of like our faith bucket. 00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:39.840 And he said something that caught my attention. 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:42.560 He said, Hey, here I want to tell you something about your faith bucket. 00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:44.000 It's holy. 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:57.280 And what he said is, I don't mean like it's sanctified, I don't mean that your bucket is special or set apart, I mean that it's got holes drilled in it and it leaks. 00:03:59.280 --> 00:04:00.639 And that's true, right? 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:01.520 In all of our lives. 00:04:01.599 --> 00:04:04.479 I mean, we have these seasons, right, where we see, oh, it just feels so full. 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:07.039 It's like God's grace is just dumping on us. 00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:11.199 We have these other seasons where we're like, hello, it's all leaked. 00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:28.319 And for me, uh, to be able to be in Brazil with friends and partners from our church, to partner with them down there just felt like an unbelievable blessing of God, just kind of filling up my faith bucket and just learning to see and worship and trust God in a thousand new ways. 00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:32.480 So, on behalf of me and our family, thank you for allowing us to be gone. 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:34.079 Uh, it was a brilliant time. 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:41.519 I want to show you a couple pictures uh of some of the ministry that happened down there uh as I described this other ministries. 00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:42.800 We go into the favels. 00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:45.920 This was our little team that just went black for some reason. 00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:47.680 Um, that's us. 00:04:47.839 --> 00:04:50.079 So you can flip through these quickly this morning. 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:55.360 You here's how you know if you're uh an American in Brazil or if you're a Brazilian in Brazil. 00:04:55.680 --> 00:05:01.279 We're all wearing the same, you know, yellow and blue and green, but ours is spelt differently. 00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:03.839 So Brazilians spell Brazil with an S. 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:06.560 The rest of us use a not S. 00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:09.439 Uh, here's some of our families just loving on kids. 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:25.439 Uh, every little Brazilian baby I saw for the first couple of days caused me to almost weep incessantly, which was a very odd thing, in part because in a few weeks I'm gonna have a half Brazilian grandson, God willing, in Austin. 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:28.240 And so I would see these little Brazilian kids, and I'm like, oh my goodness. 00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:29.920 And I would just kind of cry. 00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:34.879 This was that favela uh where we would do these uh kids' ministries. 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:39.839 One of the things we loved as a team partnering with this ministry, we would ask them, you know, what is it that you do? 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:46.319 Or they would say, Hey, when it all is said and done, when all the banners are put away and the music's gone and the balls are done bouncing. 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:50.560 What we do is we tell people about Jesus. 00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:51.759 That's the name. 00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:55.360 We invite people to repentance and faith in Jesus. 00:05:55.519 --> 00:05:59.360 We do a lot of great stuff, but that is the thing that will change our communities. 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:01.680 Just some fun pictures of us goofing off. 00:06:01.839 --> 00:06:05.680 This is the co-grandmother to our grandson. 00:06:05.759 --> 00:06:09.680 When I say co, I mean, you know, slightly under Kathy as the queen grandmother, of course. 00:06:09.839 --> 00:06:13.600 We need to make sure that's but she leads the ministry that we partner with down in Brazil. 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:15.680 They have about 15 or so full-time staff. 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:19.519 Anna, one of our students, she's actually with our high school students up at Hume. 00:06:19.759 --> 00:06:22.480 Just some of the stuff we got to do hanging out with these amazing kids. 00:06:22.639 --> 00:06:23.199 This is Ed. 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:24.800 He was here sitting here this morning. 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:28.480 Uh, one day we left him behind because he wasn't feeling good. 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:34.319 He came to and then got the hairnet on and dove into the kitchen, and they were like begging for him to stay. 00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:35.839 Anybody know what those things are? 00:06:36.399 --> 00:06:36.800 Right? 00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:38.399 They're like so famous in America. 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:39.680 That's a capybara. 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:42.879 You don't see as many as you would think, but you can find some. 00:06:42.959 --> 00:06:43.759 So we hunted them. 00:06:43.839 --> 00:06:45.199 The Brazilians thought we were nuts. 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:46.639 They're about like this big. 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:47.519 You've never seen one. 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:50.800 So it's like the size of a medium dog, but it looks like that. 00:06:50.959 --> 00:06:54.079 I'm not sure what that looks like to you, but that's a capybara. 00:06:54.240 --> 00:06:56.160 We had some fun goofing off as a team. 00:06:56.240 --> 00:06:58.879 So, again, thanks for allowing us to go. 00:06:58.959 --> 00:07:01.120 I would encourage any of you if you're interested. 00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:02.639 You got an amazing program. 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:06.560 If you're a young person, you're like, I got some time between semesters. 00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:13.519 I'm gonna go serve for four or six weeks, just dive into some ongoing ministry and some crazy places and see God work. 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:16.720 It's really was a special time for our team. 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:24.000 We find ourselves this summer doing uh about nine or ten or eleven or twelve weeks. 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:25.279 We'll see how it all goes. 00:07:25.519 --> 00:07:46.800 Uh, really using this acronym, SBC, which also, as many of us know, stands for Sierra Bible Church, as kind of a cute way to help stick what the Bible teaches us, and Jesus specifically teaches us, about what it looks like to live our lives as children of the King. 00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:55.199 Of not just having like the name of Jesus, but having the life of Jesus in us, that we'd be formed into his image. 00:07:55.360 --> 00:08:01.199 And so we're using this SBC as a way of kind of getting some language to stick around the idea of discipleship. 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:03.120 So the S, let's see how we do here. 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:04.000 Test time. 00:08:04.079 --> 00:08:07.199 I've been gone for a couple weeks, so but I know Nate talked about it last week. 00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:09.839 The S stands for steward. 00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:11.439 We're steward our life with purpose. 00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:16.480 That the reality is God's given us gifts, he's given us opportunities, he's given us life. 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:20.800 And so, how do we steward that in a way that makes a difference to those around us? 00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:25.759 The B, that's the section we're in right now, is to what? 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:26.480 Belong. 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:27.439 We are meant to belong. 00:08:27.519 --> 00:08:32.639 And you'll see Jesus' call to be in community, one who invites others into community. 00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:37.919 And then what we'll look at next week is on community or on mission with others. 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:41.840 And so we're just asking, what does it look like to be a child of God and to belong? 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:45.440 Like I have like a real family, right? 00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:50.000 I've got real how do how does all this blend and what does the Bible teach us about belonging? 00:08:50.080 --> 00:09:01.279 We'll do a little bit of that this morning, and then what we're gonna look at in uh the coming weeks is um is this idea of stewardship, which sorry, I got that backwards. 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:02.639 So S is steward. 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:04.960 We're doing that at the end just to make it work for the summer. 00:09:05.120 --> 00:09:12.320 B's belong, C is, I'm throwing this all in screwy, sorry, I apologize, kind of language, is cultivate. 00:09:12.399 --> 00:09:13.759 The word to cultivate our life with Christ. 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:16.480 And we started with that in June. 00:09:16.559 --> 00:09:21.360 And so we're talking about stewarding, belonging, and cultivating. 00:09:22.159 --> 00:09:37.519 One of the ways we've been talking about this is each of us has a kind of mission and a kind of calling, that we have been called to be disciples, to be formed into the image of Christ. 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:39.600 That's what he's doing in us. 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:44.399 We hope, when we avail ourselves, when we surrender, when we allow his will to be ours. 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:58.799 And with that, he invites us then into a purpose or a mission, and that is to say, how can I take what God's given me, imperfected as it is, and help others in that same journey? 00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:04.960 And so I'm a disciple that is meant to disciple others at all stages of our growth. 00:10:05.120 --> 00:10:08.559 And so as we look at those things, uh, we're talking, as we said, about belonging. 00:10:08.720 --> 00:10:13.200 Ralph said a couple of weeks ago, as he taught that we belong to God first. 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:14.720 In fact, that becomes the model. 00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:18.159 We'll look at that this this morning as to how we belong to each other. 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:22.320 But then, you know, Jesus always attaches this relationship with God with God. 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:24.559 If you were to ask Jesus, is it just about me and God? 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:26.159 He would say, absolutely not. 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:27.840 In so many ways. 00:10:27.919 --> 00:10:38.080 It's about you and God and this thing he calls the church, his family, his body, the temple he is building. 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:40.559 And so there's always this overlap. 00:10:40.799 --> 00:10:49.200 Last week, Nate said, taught brilliantly, I think, about this idea that stuff gets in between God's design for our belonging. 00:10:49.360 --> 00:10:54.960 Sometimes it's the elephant in the room, sometimes it's the, if you were here last week, bear in the room, right? 00:10:55.039 --> 00:11:11.600 In his son's room, as he taught, and just a great message about what does forgiveness look like and how do we reflect the forgiveness that God offers to us, to those around us, so that in ways that others can see, we learn to love each other and live in unity. 00:11:11.919 --> 00:11:13.759 Today, what I want to do is this. 00:11:15.039 --> 00:11:22.720 I'm gonna kind of just push out this model of relationships that the Bible invites us into. 00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:27.840 And it's it's a little bit of some stuff you would learn if you went through sort of marriage counseling around here. 00:11:27.919 --> 00:11:28.960 We talk about these things. 00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:38.399 And then we're gonna come back and look at Jesus' invitation and I would say command to being the kind of person that helps other people belong. 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:41.279 What does it look like from Jesus' perspective? 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:44.240 This outsiders becoming insiders. 00:11:44.399 --> 00:11:46.240 And so we'll wrestle through some of that together. 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:49.200 If you have your bulletin, you might want to take a couple of notes. 00:11:49.360 --> 00:11:51.679 This little picture is on there without the fill-ins. 00:11:51.919 --> 00:11:53.440 And I want to just say this simply. 00:11:53.519 --> 00:11:58.799 I'm gonna try and break down relationships into two broad categories, and then we'll we'll look at those some today. 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:00.799 And again, we'll dive into it a bit tomorrow. 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:05.440 One of the things you see when you look at relationships is in many ways there are these two broad categories. 00:12:05.519 --> 00:12:08.240 And we start at the top with some kind of initial commitment. 00:12:08.480 --> 00:12:12.240 Oftentimes, we are in some kind of a contractual relationship. 00:12:12.399 --> 00:12:19.200 And now we live it as a result of sort of this kind of consumer world or Western world that we live in. 00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:26.639 And so most of us think most of our relationships operate contractually without even thinking about it. 00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:29.519 We think organizations are here to serve us. 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:32.480 We think other people are here to serve us. 00:12:32.720 --> 00:12:38.559 Now that's true of everybody in every society, but it's the air we breathe and the water we drink. 00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:42.559 Let's start this way on the left side of these as we move ourselves around. 00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:51.840 If you start with a contractual relationship, basically you're starting with a relationship that says, hey, here, there's a sort of an agreed-upon way of doing this relationship. 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:54.480 A relationship like this might be Amazon. 00:12:54.639 --> 00:13:02.159 So if you order something from Amazon, right, you're in a contractual agreement because at the end of that little agreement, you're gonna do what? 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:04.159 Pay for it. 00:13:04.399 --> 00:13:08.720 So you've seen it, you read the reviews, eh, close enough, you purchased it. 00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:10.159 That was the agreement, right? 00:13:10.399 --> 00:13:18.799 And again, you then it comes in the mail one day, five days, 20 days later, and you look at what you got and you decide, did they meet my expectations? 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:28.000 Because I'm gonna hold them to a contract because I paid for this and I expect a certain kind of response to my um commitment. 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:30.480 So out of a contract, then I have a law, right? 00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:31.840 Like, did they do it or did they not? 00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:33.120 Did they fulfill it or did they not? 00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:35.600 Did they meet my expectations or did they not? 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:37.919 This is going to determine how I move forward. 00:13:38.080 --> 00:13:42.240 How many of you in the last week have returned something to Amazon just by show of hands? 00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:42.960 Week. 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:44.240 Some of you? 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:46.000 How many in the last month? 00:13:46.240 --> 00:13:48.080 How many ever have returned something? 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:48.480 Right? 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:52.480 This just defines the fact that we live and breathe in these contractual relationships. 00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:56.960 Because if they don't meet our response, our like expectations, what do we do? 00:13:57.200 --> 00:13:58.639 Go to Kohl's and drop it off. 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:02.720 Kathy dropped something off a few weeks ago, and it was this kind of clunky thing, but it was weird. 00:14:02.799 --> 00:14:04.480 It was like, that doesn't look anything like the picture. 00:14:04.559 --> 00:14:05.840 You should try and take that back. 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:09.679 And she'd been told by someone you don't have to repackage it, just take it to Kohl's. 00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:12.960 If you work at Kohl's, I apologize because this might start some. 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:14.240 And so she drops it off. 00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:15.200 She's all apologetic. 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:17.440 It's like not that big, you know, and she's carrying it in there. 00:14:17.600 --> 00:14:22.879 And Kathy's like, I'm sorry, you know, do you want me to take it home, take it apart, have my husband take it apart? 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:26.080 And and the lady looked at her and she's like, Hey, don't worry about it. 00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:34.399 She's like, Two weeks ago, someone dropped off a full-size trampoline, and we had to like figure out how to ship it back to whoever, you know. 00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:37.759 So it's like, return it all, just bring it back, and they'll take it. 00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:38.080 Why? 00:14:38.240 --> 00:14:40.080 Because it's a contractual relationship. 00:14:40.320 --> 00:14:42.080 You've made this agreement, and that's how that goes. 00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:45.039 So typically, what happens in a contractual relationship is there's a law. 00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:46.399 We've all agreed upon this. 00:14:46.559 --> 00:14:48.720 What happens then is some version of control. 00:14:49.039 --> 00:14:51.360 This is that cancer culture thing we've heard about, right? 00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:53.600 If a person doesn't meet our expectations, what do we do? 00:14:53.919 --> 00:14:56.159 Cha-ching, cancel, find someone else. 00:14:56.320 --> 00:14:57.120 We write a review. 00:14:57.279 --> 00:14:59.120 This is how our world works. 00:14:59.200 --> 00:15:00.399 It's the air we breathe. 00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:01.039 We control. 00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:06.879 Every one of those kinds of relationships will end up in some version of distance. 00:15:08.320 --> 00:15:12.399 It will, it will move you apart, which is not a bad thing necessarily. 00:15:12.639 --> 00:15:17.279 Because I don't want to be super like close with my Amazon account. 00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:20.720 If it doesn't work for me, I'm finding new one. 00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:26.159 If you decide to sell gas 20 cents more than the place next door, I'm going to the place next door. 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:29.279 I might think you're great, nothing personal. 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:31.519 I don't need to be intimate with you. 00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:33.200 I'm just buying gas. 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:44.399 What I mean by intimacy is clearly not simply physical intimacy, although this is very helpful when we think about marriage, but it's in that like relational spiritual intimacy. 00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:47.840 Intimacy is defined as knowing and being known. 00:15:47.919 --> 00:15:53.440 It's sort of that Genesis picture of being without all this stuff. 00:15:53.600 --> 00:15:55.360 The Bible describes it as naked. 00:15:55.440 --> 00:15:59.039 The word really is open and without shame. 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:01.120 And so that's sort of what intimacy looks like. 00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:06.320 And again, if we enter contractual relationships, which we do all the time, there will be some kind of law. 00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:12.639 Somebody's going to control how that relationships move forward, how that relationships move forward, and then there will be distance. 00:16:13.279 --> 00:16:21.360 This is not the relationship, if you're new here, that God desires to have with us. 00:16:21.519 --> 00:16:23.440 Sometimes we default that way. 00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:32.000 Some of you were raised in a church, some of you hear me say certain things and you go, because we just slip and slide down into this way of thinking. 00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:34.080 But they always move to distance. 00:16:34.240 --> 00:16:41.600 If you were raised in a church, they said, hey, your relationship with God is dependent on how good you are, how well you perform. 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:47.519 You probably got really good at looking good while your heart knew something else was true. 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:49.519 And that's so disconnecting. 00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:50.799 Again, distance. 00:16:51.200 --> 00:16:53.200 But God invites us to a covenant. 00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:55.759 This is sort of in some ways a biblical language, right? 00:16:55.840 --> 00:16:58.000 This is from the very beginning of the story to the very end. 00:16:58.080 --> 00:16:59.679 It's covenant, covenant, covenant, covenant. 00:16:59.759 --> 00:17:01.519 It's a God that chooses you. 00:17:01.759 --> 00:17:03.200 It's a God that knows your name. 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:07.759 It's a God that doesn't say, hey, when you clean it all up, then maybe you can come. 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:15.599 It's a God who tells a story, Luke chapter 15, of a son who went out and tried to just raise, you know what? 00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:19.440 Life fell apart, comes to his senses, turns back to his father. 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:22.640 Do you remember what prodigal son thought when he was in his mess? 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:28.640 Maybe if I go home, my father, he knows he can never be a son again because of the way he's lived. 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:33.440 But maybe, maybe I could be a servant in my father's household. 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:35.519 Jesus tells this story. 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:37.359 Dude makes it home. 00:17:37.680 --> 00:17:42.319 He's rehearsed his story of just confession and brokenness. 00:17:42.400 --> 00:17:46.400 And I know that I can no longer could you can I be a servant in your household? 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:47.680 And what does Jesus say? 00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:51.440 Is the most bold and beautiful picture of the father's response? 00:17:51.759 --> 00:17:53.119 What's a covenant look like? 00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:58.319 It's a father that runs out, right, and meets him, throws his arm around him and says, What? 00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:00.640 Okay, maybe you can serve. 00:18:01.279 --> 00:18:01.599 No. 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:07.759 He puts a ring back on his finger, tells everyone, my son is home. 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:09.680 This is what covenant looks like. 00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:11.599 It's a God that chooses us. 00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:23.680 When we are chosen in covenant, we don't end up sort of under the pressure of Allah, trying to make ourselves look good, trying to be acceptable, trying to shave off the parts that aren't quite fixed up yet. 00:18:23.839 --> 00:18:27.680 We own those because we're invited into a relationship of grace. 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:30.799 Grace is a gift of relationship that comes to us. 00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:33.920 Grace is God saying, come as you are. 00:18:34.079 --> 00:18:37.759 I mean, God's not happy with the mess that you are anymore than you are. 00:18:38.079 --> 00:18:42.640 But He doesn't want to keep He doesn't want that mess to keep you from coming. 00:18:43.200 --> 00:18:44.319 He invites us in. 00:18:44.400 --> 00:18:45.519 This is what grace looks like. 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:48.960 And it comes by way of the covenant that God has for us. 00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:56.640 And then in that atmosphere of grace, the freedom of being able to let down, the freedom of being able to say, actually, this is how I am. 00:18:56.880 --> 00:18:58.240 This is what I'm struggling with. 00:18:58.400 --> 00:19:06.559 I mean, imagine if Kathy and I lived in a contract where I had to act a certain way and I couldn't go to her and say, Man, I'm really struggling with you. 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:07.359 Right? 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:08.960 I mean, it happens. 00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:11.279 I'm married, it's been 30 years. 00:19:11.599 --> 00:19:13.039 It could be tough. 00:19:13.359 --> 00:19:20.960 But if it's not safe for me to be just who I am, I will not choose to be who I am. 00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:22.319 I will bury that. 00:19:22.400 --> 00:19:24.160 And then eventually it will come out. 00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:25.039 Distance. 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:31.680 So God invites us into covenant grace, ultimately to become people who take what we have to make others better. 00:19:31.759 --> 00:19:32.960 That's the piece of empowerment. 00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:36.480 Rather than thinking that there's only so much power, I got to fight for mine. 00:19:36.720 --> 00:19:39.519 She gets Thursdays, I get Fridays, we get Saturdays. 00:19:39.599 --> 00:19:41.119 No, I say I get every night. 00:19:41.279 --> 00:19:44.960 How do I use the nights I have to make my wife's life better? 00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:47.440 This is what it looks like in marriage. 00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:49.839 Ultimately, this leads towards intimacy. 00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:52.559 All of us know it when we think about it for a minute. 00:19:52.799 --> 00:19:57.920 That it's only a relationship of grace that will move towards intimacy. 00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:01.279 If not, we're not safe enough to be who we are. 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:04.480 This is the relationship that God desires to have with us. 00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:06.079 Okay, snapshot. 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:11.519 We'll come back to that, if not today, a bit next week as well. 00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:26.319 So here's what I want to do: uh, I want to take us through uh sort of this the and ground us in what Jesus uh wants us to see and learn with regards to this idea of belonging, specifically strangers. 00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:37.680 This is the language Jesus will use, and what it looks like to be a stranger or to be an owner that invites strangers in. 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:39.680 How is it that I could help? 00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:43.759 How is it that God's invited me to be a part of what he desires to do? 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:45.680 Strangers to owners. 00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:46.559 That's where we're going. 00:20:46.640 --> 00:20:53.200 I think that one shocking thing uh is found in in a number of shocking things, but one shocking thing is found in Matthew chapter 25. 00:20:53.359 --> 00:20:58.000 Some some of you, I just mentioned that, and you're like, oh, yeah, that's kind of a weird, it's the end of Jesus' life. 00:20:58.079 --> 00:21:00.319 He says some really hard things. 00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:05.680 You know, these are like narrow road kinds of things, as we've been talking about this summer on the way to discipleship. 00:21:05.839 --> 00:21:09.200 And uh, so here's what Jesus says He says this to a bunch of people. 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:11.519 He said, Hey, you guys have done it. 00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:14.319 You met my kind of low bar. 00:21:14.880 --> 00:21:17.839 The sort of like this was just the basics of being one of my children. 00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:19.200 You guys have those in your family? 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:19.920 Yeah, you do. 00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:21.039 Jesus does too. 00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:22.640 This for him was the low bar. 00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:24.559 He's like, Come on, you got to at least do this. 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:26.319 Jesus is talking about sheep and goats. 00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:29.359 He's separating people and he's saying, Here's the sheep. 00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:31.039 They met it, they did the low bar. 00:21:31.119 --> 00:21:33.119 What was the low bar for Jesus? 00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:36.160 He says this, for I was hungry, you gave me something to eat. 00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:39.200 That doesn't take a lot. 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:40.720 What else? 00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:42.880 I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. 00:21:43.039 --> 00:21:44.720 I was a stranger, you invited me in. 00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:46.240 I needed clothes and you clothed me. 00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:47.920 I was sick and you looked after me. 00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:50.160 I was in prison and you came to visit me. 00:21:50.319 --> 00:21:59.839 Jesus invites us to consider, I think, in this list, that there are physical needs of those around us that He's inviting us to meet. 00:22:00.799 --> 00:22:10.319 But what's fascinating to me in this list is this little line right here where Jesus is, you know, he's talking about drink and thirst and clothing and covering, sickness, prison. 00:22:10.880 --> 00:22:13.759 But then he says this, and this just seems out of place to me. 00:22:15.359 --> 00:22:19.519 I was a stranger and you invited me in. 00:22:20.720 --> 00:22:27.759 What Jesus is saying is it's not just we're not just these people with physical needs, we are these people with relational needs. 00:22:28.559 --> 00:22:53.599 And my church was designed in such a way that strangers would be intentionally, by way of covenant and grace, invited in, that they would feel like owners, they would feel like they belong, they're part of the we rather than just sort of some someone that sort of kind of sits on the outside. 00:22:54.160 --> 00:22:57.680 Now, Jesus also flips this script in Matthew 25 to the goats. 00:22:57.759 --> 00:23:00.960 And he said, Hey, you guys didn't do this, and so you're going out. 00:23:01.119 --> 00:23:03.039 Like these are the people that met the low bar. 00:23:03.119 --> 00:23:07.039 And they kind of go, Jesus, when did we see you without clothes on? 00:23:07.119 --> 00:23:09.680 And when did we, you know, see you a stranger? 00:23:09.759 --> 00:23:10.720 And when did we see you? 00:23:10.799 --> 00:23:20.240 And Jesus' response is this truly I tell you, whatever you did, I mean, that gives permission to all of us. 00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:24.160 Friends, some of us are good at helping other people belong. 00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:26.079 Some of us aren't that good. 00:23:27.839 --> 00:23:31.200 What Jesus says is there's a whatever you did. 00:23:31.920 --> 00:23:47.279 That he put the low bar low for some of us to say, just consider a step, consider that you've been given some kind of whatever to do for someone that's a stranger that might change everything for them. 00:23:47.440 --> 00:23:51.920 After first service, I met a gal out here, and you guys know her name is Nancy. 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:52.799 She's bawling. 00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:55.200 I'm like, her life's falling, what's going on? 00:23:55.359 --> 00:24:08.720 And she said, Nate, she said, I just gotta tell you, when I was a stranger, she said, I came about a couple years ago, and people within this church just began to love me. 00:24:08.880 --> 00:24:11.920 They didn't know how messed up I was, and they didn't seem to care. 00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:13.680 They just started loving me. 00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:16.000 There was a whole bunch of these whatever you did. 00:24:16.319 --> 00:24:19.599 You invited me here, you invited me here, you welcomed me, people talked to me. 00:24:19.680 --> 00:24:24.960 They didn't let me just want they, and she's crying and just going, You can't. 00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:30.720 I mean, now I know not only does this church care, but my God cares. 00:24:30.799 --> 00:24:33.759 And she's just like, it's changed everything about her. 00:24:34.079 --> 00:24:36.720 How some of us got it right. 00:24:37.119 --> 00:24:44.400 Jesus says, Whatever you do for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me. 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:47.279 Jesus makes this incredibly personal. 00:24:47.839 --> 00:24:55.279 So for Jesus, the minimal standard is that strangers or outsiders are invited in. 00:24:55.920 --> 00:25:02.720 That those who are connected move to those that aren't and do whatever they can. 00:25:02.880 --> 00:25:08.640 I want to give us this morning kind of Jesus' vision throughout the New Testament of what the what the church is, if you will. 00:25:08.720 --> 00:25:12.720 And because he uses these metaphors, I think are so helpful for kind of putting our hands around this. 00:25:12.799 --> 00:25:13.440 What does it look like? 00:25:13.519 --> 00:25:15.440 How do we take steps in this direction? 00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:19.599 And I think each of these is helpful kind of in its own right. 00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:28.640 One of the things we have to remind ourselves is not true, is that when Jesus talks about the church, he's talking about a structure or a building. 00:25:28.960 --> 00:25:32.079 You remember when Jesus launches his vision of the church? 00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:33.920 It's in Matthew chapter 16. 00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:38.079 He's got his disciples there, and he says, Hey, I'm gonna build my church. 00:25:38.240 --> 00:25:39.759 We've talked about this a lot. 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.880 One of the things that was good to be reminded of is when he says church, he doesn't mean like a building. 00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:46.960 He doesn't even really mean an organization. 00:25:47.119 --> 00:25:49.200 He means a gathering of people. 00:25:49.680 --> 00:26:12.079 And so when we talk about inviting others in, it isn't like you're necessarily, I mean, part of it can be inviting to church, part of it can be being inviting here, but it's really in every space where we live our lives, where we operate, we are open and invitational to say, are there steps that I could take to help strangers become owners? 00:26:12.240 --> 00:26:14.480 What would that look like and how does that move? 00:26:14.559 --> 00:26:16.160 And what does it mean for me? 00:26:16.319 --> 00:26:19.200 So Jesus uses the word ecclesia, which actually means gathering. 00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:21.200 It's Jesus saying, I'm gonna build my gathering. 00:26:21.279 --> 00:26:22.160 It's gonna be global. 00:26:22.319 --> 00:26:25.599 You'll get to be a part of it in a thousand different life-changing kinds of ways. 00:26:25.759 --> 00:26:29.599 Here's some of the formal kind of metaphor language that Jesus uses. 00:26:29.759 --> 00:26:34.960 John 10, we remember that Jesus says, Hey, I'm the good shepherd of my sheep. 00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:37.680 Not one sheep, many sheep. 00:26:37.759 --> 00:26:41.839 He goes so far as to say, when one of my sheep wanders away, I'm committed to what? 00:26:42.240 --> 00:26:45.359 Going and getting that sheep, because it wasn't meant to be out there on its own. 00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:50.000 It was meant to be together with other happy sheep like you all and me all. 00:26:50.079 --> 00:26:52.079 And that's part of God's picture there. 00:26:52.240 --> 00:26:55.599 Paul, he would spend, we've looked at this together, the body of Christ, right? 00:26:55.680 --> 00:27:13.759 And one of the fascinating things is as Paul teases out this idea that we are together as his gathering, the body of Christ, isn't simply that every single one of you has value, that eyes and brains and feet and mouths all have sort of this value given to them because of the purpose that God has given them. 00:27:13.920 --> 00:27:22.480 But what implication Paul draws out is that our value isn't simply to God, our values to each other. 00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:29.839 And in essence, he says, imagine if the eyes can see and the brain can think, but the feet can't move, or they're just MIA. 00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:32.720 He says, and it doesn't work. 00:27:32.960 --> 00:27:36.400 He says, the body of Christ is this is how connected you're supposed to be. 00:27:36.559 --> 00:27:39.440 We we don't want the feet in this corner, the brains in this corner. 00:27:39.839 --> 00:27:44.319 He said, No, you're supposed to belong in a way that you're connected. 00:27:44.400 --> 00:27:50.559 You can respond to what God is saying and seeing and moving in the body. 00:27:50.720 --> 00:27:54.079 If you don't believe me, walk out and just stomp on your toe. 00:27:54.720 --> 00:28:01.759 We're meant to be interconnected, it's meant to matter how our feet are working to our ears. 00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:06.640 Another picture that we see within the scriptures is this idea of family. 00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:07.359 Family. 00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:09.039 And so we hear this all over, right? 00:28:09.119 --> 00:28:13.680 As children of God, uh, this verse gives us a little bit of structure around that. 00:28:13.839 --> 00:28:15.359 Hebrews chapter 13. 00:28:15.680 --> 00:28:20.319 Keep on, keep on, the author of Hebrews says, loving one another as brothers or sisters. 00:28:20.400 --> 00:28:22.799 You know how to do this in your uh in your family. 00:28:22.880 --> 00:28:24.559 So again, you're in the family of God. 00:28:24.720 --> 00:28:27.519 Love each other with that kind of love, that kind of commitment. 00:28:27.680 --> 00:28:30.400 You didn't choose your brothers and sisters, most of you. 00:28:31.119 --> 00:28:33.119 Although some of you wish you could. 00:28:34.319 --> 00:28:37.119 You didn't choose them, they're your brothers and sisters. 00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:42.400 And in some ways, God's saying, think about this with regards to the picture, the image of the church. 00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:44.079