SPEAKER_00: You know, this uh this past week uh I had a chance to uh to go backpacking.
SPEAKER_00: Ivan, we're good.
SPEAKER_00: Ivan, we'll we'll forget it.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: So every every summer uh I'll take uh a group of men uh and and take them backpacking for five days into the woods uh for spiritual formation.
SPEAKER_00: Uh guys that might be a little more closely hooked to their phones, that might live in a very noiseful life.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and and I help them to get away, to live in uh a little more, a little closer to nature, spend five days away from the phone uh to do something that's not full of the comfort creatures that we have around us, but do something that's hard and challenging.
SPEAKER_00: Now I'd and and do it together.
SPEAKER_00: There's an important piece in that.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and uh so if you're if you're interested in going on one of these backpacking trips with me, it's not for the faint of hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Uh there's there's some and the story I'm gonna share will probably scare you away right now.
SPEAKER_00: No, I don't share it.
SPEAKER_03: Don't share it.
SPEAKER_00: But this was I'm gonna share it because it was a very real experience of how much we need one another.
SPEAKER_00: So our our backpacking trip was Monday through Friday on uh on Vermont, in Vermont.
SPEAKER_00: And uh part of the the first couple days we hiked this peak uh called Killington Peak.
SPEAKER_00: Uh a few weeks ago we had a church hiking trip to Mount Watchusett.
SPEAKER_00: Now imagine doing that about six times over the course of a day and a half, uh going up to the Mount Watch and just only just going up and keep going up.
SPEAKER_00: And then it's it's it's it's uh 4,246 feet tall.
SPEAKER_00: And uh the trailhead is in the valley at the parking lot.
SPEAKER_00: We took about uh uh maybe uh about seven hours to go up to a campsite on the shoulder, and then another five hours to get up to the peak.
SPEAKER_00: Uh so that's the first two days of the backpacking trip.
SPEAKER_00: It's doable, you just gotta take very small steps, put one foot in front of the other.
SPEAKER_00: But you gotta do it for a while.
SPEAKER_00: Now, about 30 to 40 minutes into the backpacking trip, one of the brothers had a medical episode.
SPEAKER_00: He uh started breathing really hard, he had to sit down.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we took his backpack off.
SPEAKER_00: He collapsed, he lost consciousness for a while.
SPEAKER_00: It was a it was scary stuff.
SPEAKER_00: Uh now he came to, you know, we put his feet up, we we we you know we took care of him.
SPEAKER_00: Uh he's he's gonna remain nameless.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but but we're we're in this trail.
SPEAKER_00: The part we were had had a lot more rocks than that than that one.
SPEAKER_00: About 40 minutes from the parking lot.
SPEAKER_00: Uh you know, we had an emergency beacon that you can push the SOS button on, and then search and rescuer come out and find you.
SPEAKER_00: You know, so we were prepared.
SPEAKER_00: I had a first aid kit.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, we had all the stuff.
SPEAKER_00: Uh the good thing is he came, you know, we we actually reached uh the the sister that dropped us off at the trailhead, said, Hey, we need you to come back.
SPEAKER_00: So she came back.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and we walked, we actually left all of our stuff at that point where where the incident happened, just took his backpack, and the two of us not carried him, but kind of supported him stumbling back down to the trailhead over the course of about 50 minutes.
SPEAKER_00: And we put him, put it, he was, he was, he's he was fairly okay at that moment.
SPEAKER_00: We put him in a car and she got him to the ER, and he was in the hospital for two days, uh, figuring out what what what he was actually.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and it was it was something, it was a cardiac event as they concluded.
SPEAKER_00: But I was thinking, as I was thinking about this, what to preach this Sunday, or not just what to preach, but as I was preparing to preach this Sunday, can you imagine if he was alone and it happened?
SPEAKER_00: That's scary stuff, right?
unknown: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: And if I was just the one person with him, I probably not have I probably would not have been able to walk him down.
SPEAKER_00: But because it was the four of us, we we were able to support, and and and even the sister coming with the car, we were able to get him within an hour and ten minutes into the hospital, into the emergency room.
SPEAKER_00: Uh now the doctor said that he was his his life was probably not in danger at any of this moment.
SPEAKER_00: So just uh and and and he was aware of some cardiological issues that that was monitored for a yearly visited the cardiologist, uh, that this might be related to, might not be related to.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and but that you know things like that happen.
SPEAKER_00: And that's when you need somebody else.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's when you need people to carry you.
SPEAKER_00: And and as he shared, he shared, he was very grateful.
SPEAKER_00: He actually uh stayed in the hospital, then after he got out of the hospital, get a get a get a hotel room for a couple nights, and and so stayed up there in Vermont with us for the five days, except for he didn't hike.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but he he joined us for our celebratory lunch and drove up, drove back down with us, and and he shared a couple things.
SPEAKER_00: One, he was he was incredibly grateful for all of us, especially for our sister who didn't just drop him off at DR.
SPEAKER_00: She stayed with him until 9 p.m.
SPEAKER_00: until finally they got him in a room and settled up, and one of the nurses said, Hey, you can go now, I've got him.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's to me that's like that's like an amazing type of support.
SPEAKER_00: But he also shared that uh that it it was a very humbling experience when you can't even walk on your own and you're in the middle of the woods.
SPEAKER_00: And uh and and he was not completely it himself.
SPEAKER_00: He kept saying, I've got this, you guys go on.
SPEAKER_00: I walk back down, and I'm like, no, you don't.
SPEAKER_00: And and that's that's rule number one in hiking, you do not leave anybody behind.
SPEAKER_00: So that was out of the question, and uh, and so this this, you know, we were all all eating lunch and happy and and rejoicing at the end of the thing, but he said that uh he really appreciated because looking back, he really didn't got this.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we fool ourselves into thinking that we got this until we are in a situation that comes us face to face with our limitations.
SPEAKER_00: New Englanders are tough people.
SPEAKER_00: I know.
SPEAKER_00: We still not need other people, right?
SPEAKER_00: And we especially need God.
SPEAKER_00: So I share that story, not to scare you for coming for our backpacking trip with me.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody else had a wonderful time uh and uh an a an amazing backpacking trip with uh lots of great lessons learned.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and yeah, so I'm doing one next year again.
SPEAKER_00: So here's what we're talking about today.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna talk about the church the one another church.
SPEAKER_00: That's the title of my sermon, and I've got two two relatively short points and an activity that I need you guys to participate in at the end.
SPEAKER_00: Are you guys ready?
unknown: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, if not, just get yourself there.
unknown: All right.
SPEAKER_00: Alright?
SPEAKER_00: It's it's not gonna be complicated.
SPEAKER_00: Uh you don't have to do any you know heavy lifting.
SPEAKER_00: It's just uh a little bit of uh work on your on and sharing.
SPEAKER_00: So, two points Jesus' vision for his followers, and number two, practicing the one or other commandments or commands of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: You know, Jesus had a vision for what his followers would look like.
SPEAKER_00: You believe that?
SPEAKER_00: He didn't just come and taught the people that were there at the moment, he had the idea of what will happen after he is gone.
SPEAKER_00: If you actually read uh the there's five chapters in the Gospel of John that actually spend time with Jesus talking to his disciples, showing at chapter 12, about what will happen after his departure.
SPEAKER_00: This mostly happened during the Last Supper.
SPEAKER_00: Uh that is our, you know, that is when he started and established our Lord's Supper, uh, when we remember Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Part of that, I'm gonna actually read uh a good chunk of that because it helps us to understand what Jesus' vision was for the followers that he's leaving behind for a time when he's not with them in person physically, he's gonna send the Holy Spirit, but he's establishing a way for them to be together.
SPEAKER_00: And that's important and powerful.
SPEAKER_00: Let's open our Bibles to John chapter 13, and we're gonna read verse 34 and 35.
SPEAKER_00: John 13, verse 34 and 35.
SPEAKER_00: And you're probably very familiar with this passage, because how powerful it is.
SPEAKER_00: A new command I give you.
SPEAKER_00: Love one another.
SPEAKER_00: As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
SPEAKER_00: By this, all men all men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: This is Jesus teaching them a new commandment.
SPEAKER_00: Now, love was expected of anybody that would devote their life to God.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible talks about love all the time, being selfless, putting others in front of you, love your neighbor as yourself.
SPEAKER_00: You're familiar with that, right?
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus is actually creating a different community, a community that has a different standard of love.
SPEAKER_00: They have the love that Jesus had for his followers.
SPEAKER_00: What was that love?
SPEAKER_00: He gave his life for them.
SPEAKER_00: You know, when you think about that, oftentimes our idea of Christianity falls so short.
SPEAKER_00: Because we think Christianity can't be just a gathering on a Sunday or some nice people, a handshake with the pastor, a cross on the wall, or you know, or compass or something, you know, but that's not Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: Christianity is being in a group of devoted followers of Jesus that genuinely love one another to that degree.
SPEAKER_00: Now, do we live up to that every day?
SPEAKER_00: Probably not.
SPEAKER_00: Are there moments when we live up to that?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: And you know how that feels?
SPEAKER_00: Something some it something resonates in us when we get to live that way.
SPEAKER_00: When somebody loves us in in such a selfless way, like this sister that stays with this brother in the hospital the whole day, canceling all her appointments just to be there for him, I'm like, good grief.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's and advocating for it, that's not easy.
SPEAKER_00: That's sacrificial love.
SPEAKER_00: And and there's there's there's, you know, we hear stories.
SPEAKER_00: And that's one of these things inspiring about being a part of a church.
SPEAKER_00: We hear stories that when people do things like that, when they they take care of somebody, you know, it's it's amazing.
SPEAKER_00: But that was Jesus' vision was that even if we fall short, but we're part of a community that is committed to this type of love for one another.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he was hoping for.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he wanted to establish.
SPEAKER_00: Not a religion, not a set of beliefs necessarily, or not a set of practices only, but a community of love.
SPEAKER_00: That's what was Jesus' vision.
SPEAKER_00: He says, when we do this, by this, this world will know that we are his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: You know, how do they see Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: How do they know, recognize that we're not just another religion?
SPEAKER_00: It's our level of one for one love for one another.
SPEAKER_00: And this is challenging.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, listen, I read this and I'm like, God, help me out here.
SPEAKER_00: I want to, I need to grow in my love.
SPEAKER_00: I need to uh be more like Jesus in this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not there.
SPEAKER_00: But I am committed because I love Jesus and He's the Lord of my life, I'm committed to get there because this was His vision.
SPEAKER_00: And yes, we still need to love our neighbors as ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we still need to do good to people uh outside of our church community, but his main emphasis, the new command that he gave, is that we start right here.
SPEAKER_00: We create a kind of community that has this level of love that cannot be expected of people that don't follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we fall into that problem that we expect this society to be like this.
SPEAKER_00: It's not.
SPEAKER_00: This is not necessarily a loving society, but even people that are not following Jesus, they can do loving things at times.
SPEAKER_00: The difference is we are committed to making this happen in our community, and when people see this, as Carmen shared, I saw that life and I said, I need this.
SPEAKER_00: I want this.
SPEAKER_00: Because this, they see, this is a different life.
SPEAKER_00: This is a life of love.
SPEAKER_00: You know, during that that whole time that Jesus spends time with his disciples, the Bible actually records the longest prayer that Jesus prayed in John chapter 17.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, I'm actually gonna read the entire prayer.
SPEAKER_00: So I want you to either follow in your Bible or just sit back, maybe you can close your eyes and just listen to you know, listen to my voice.
SPEAKER_00: I know I'm not Jesus, but listen to the voice of Jesus praying these words in John chapter 17.
SPEAKER_00: Father, the time has come.
SPEAKER_00: Glorify your son, that your son may glorify you.
SPEAKER_00: For you granted him authority over all people, that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent.
SPEAKER_00: I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.
SPEAKER_00: And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
SPEAKER_00: I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world.
SPEAKER_00: They were yours.
SPEAKER_00: You gave them to me, and they have obeyed your word.
SPEAKER_00: Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.
SPEAKER_00: For I gave them the words you gave me, and they accepted them.
SPEAKER_00: They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.
SPEAKER_00: I pray for them.
SPEAKER_00: I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, and for they are yours.
SPEAKER_00: All I have is yours, and all you have is mine.
SPEAKER_00: And glory has come to me through them.
SPEAKER_00: I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you.
SPEAKER_00: Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.
SPEAKER_00: While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by the name you gave me.
SPEAKER_00: None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction, so that scriptures would be fulfilled.
SPEAKER_00: I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.
SPEAKER_00: I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.
SPEAKER_00: My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one.
SPEAKER_00: They are not of the world, even as I'm not of not of it.
SPEAKER_00: Sanctify them by the truth, your word is truth.
SPEAKER_00: As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.
SPEAKER_00: For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
SPEAKER_00: My prayer is not for them alone.
SPEAKER_00: I pray also for those who will believe me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.
SPEAKER_00: May they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
SPEAKER_00: I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one.
SPEAKER_00: I in them and you in me.
SPEAKER_00: May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
SPEAKER_00: Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory.
SPEAKER_00: The glory you've given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me, I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known, in order that the love you have for me may be in them, and that I myself may be in them.
SPEAKER_00: How did that feel?
SPEAKER_00: How did you feel hearing the words of Jesus praying for you?
SPEAKER_00: Intense?
SPEAKER_00: Any other thoughts?
SPEAKER_00: Peaceful, reassuring, right?
SPEAKER_02: He had compassion for us.
SPEAKER_00: He had compassion.
SPEAKER_00: He understood what we were facing?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah?
unknown: Guilt.
SPEAKER_00: You felt guilt?
SPEAKER_03: I don't reach out, not even close to that.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm not I'm not living out what he's praying for you.
SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00: Confident?
SPEAKER_00: Comforted.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, comforted.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00: Just comforted.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, wow, if Jesus prays for me, maybe I can do this.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_02: Truth.
SPEAKER_00: Truth.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's a lot of truth.
SPEAKER_00: He mentions the truth all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03: Justified in our faith.
SPEAKER_00: Justified in our faith, uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Very cool.
SPEAKER_00: Christine?
SPEAKER_00: Hopeful.
SPEAKER_00: You know, he's talking about this idea of and praying for this idea that we will be in him and he in us, and and we will be all together in this.
SPEAKER_00: He finishes the prayer by saying that the love that God has for Jesus would be in us.
SPEAKER_00: And then through that, he himself would be in us.
SPEAKER_00: So when we love like Jesus, even if it just happens for a short time, on our best day, you know, in some situations, he is in us.
SPEAKER_00: He's praying that we would be one.
SPEAKER_00: Now, that's challenging.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I have a I have an amazing wife and a couple of great kids.
SPEAKER_00: My daughter's here with us today, along with my son in law.
SPEAKER_00: They came out to celebrate Father's Day with me this weekend.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, growing up we had a family of, we were a family of four.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you.
SPEAKER_00: We also was a family we also are a family with very strong opinions.
SPEAKER_00: I think that comes from probably more my side than uh well it comes from both of us and and it just multiplies in our kids.
SPEAKER_00: They have they have opinions.
SPEAKER_00: So becoming one, even just the four of us, over the course of these years have been a great challenge and sometimes continues to be a challenge, although we we've had a very peaceful weekend.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sharing something that's happening.
SPEAKER_00: But uh but it's it's hard to, you know, because we're different, we rub each other the wrong way, we step on each other's toes, uh, we we're sinful, we sin against each other, and we sin against the people that are closest to us the most.
SPEAKER_00: And sin hurts.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus calls us to forgive, to better when, and we're gonna talk about the but Jesus calls us to practice our following of him in this community, first and foremost.
SPEAKER_00: And and to fulfill his prayer that to for us to be one, that means we're connected.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing is separating us from each other.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but we're but there's love flowing freely, not not just as spokes in a wheel, but as a network of love.
SPEAKER_00: So people come in and and they see you know genuine love, care, connection.
SPEAKER_00: There's a quote by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Your life as a Christian should make non-believers question their disbelief in God.
SPEAKER_00: You know, and and that's probably even more true when we think about our community as believers, should do that even more than just my personal life.
SPEAKER_00: Because in my personal life, I do good and then I do bad.
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm I'm striving to do good and be a righteous person, honoring God with my life, but it doesn't always make me know get there.
SPEAKER_00: I don't always get there.
SPEAKER_00: So, but that but we you know we're called to be this way.
SPEAKER_00: Uh let's turn to 1 John chapter 4, because when we do this, some amazing thing happens that John actually writes about here as well.
SPEAKER_00: John is called the Apostle of Love, even though he had a different nickname when he started following Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He was called the Son of Thunder.
SPEAKER_00: Because uh he was very impatient with this group of people that did not want to believe in Jesus, and he and his brother James said, Hey Jesus, can't we just call down thunder on this village and destroy them?
SPEAKER_00: Or fire, you know?
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus goes, Are you out of my your mind?
SPEAKER_00: I'm paraphrasing Jesus, but you get the point.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was like, No, that's not why we came.
SPEAKER_00: We're not here to judge the people and destroy them.
SPEAKER_00: We're here to give him an example of a different way of life.
SPEAKER_00: They need to see God, and here's how they see God.
SPEAKER_00: And John, by the end of his life, was convinced that this is the best way for people to actually meet God.
SPEAKER_00: In 1 John chapter 4, verse 11 and 12 says, Dear friends, since God so loved us, now let me stop there for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: If you do not experience the love of God, it is really hard to love other people.
SPEAKER_00: That's where it all starts.
SPEAKER_00: It's not like you need to muster this love inside of yourself and just be so loving like Jesus was.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was loving because his love came from God.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, he said that even in his prayer.
SPEAKER_00: See, your friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
SPEAKER_00: No one has ever seen God.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that true?
SPEAKER_00: That is true.
SPEAKER_00: God is he doesn't show up in a visible form among us.
SPEAKER_00: Uh people say, Well, who is this God you're talking about?
SPEAKER_00: You can't see it, you can touch it, he probably doesn't exist.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the promise of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: But if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is made complete in us.
SPEAKER_00: You know how do people will see God?
SPEAKER_00: How will people see God?
SPEAKER_00: If we love one another, they get to see God, they don't get to see just us, humans.
SPEAKER_00: They don't get to see Daniel or Antie or Yulia, they don't get to see Linda or Ben.
SPEAKER_00: They get to say, come in and they they don't make they might even know your names or know you, and they might see you, but they will see beyond this, and they will see God.
SPEAKER_00: They will experience God if his love is made complete in us.
SPEAKER_00: That was unique about Christians.
SPEAKER_00: Now, over the last 2,000 years, Christianity has become fairly uh cultural, socially uh kind of diluted, parts of it accepted and maybe even expected.
SPEAKER_00: Other parts are really gone by the wayside, especially this idea of being part of this devoted, loving community.
SPEAKER_00: Uh in the book of Acts, we we see this first community that Jesus started in Acts chapter 2, and we actually see this idea.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is not there anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has gone up to heaven, he poured out the Holy Spirit, and this first group of people, followers, continued to meet in Jerusalem, uh, a few thousand of them.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes they meet altogether in the temple courts, sometimes meeting they meet in houses.
SPEAKER_00: But here's how people, here's what happens.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 2, verse 46 and 47.
SPEAKER_00: Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.
SPEAKER_00: They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people, and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
SPEAKER_00: You know, these Christians, they weren't called Christians at this point, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: They were just followers of Jesus, disciples of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: They were together, spending time together, loving one another, praising God, uh, listening to the teachings of the apostles, praying, sharing their food.
SPEAKER_00: They were living in such a way that when the people that weren't part of the community saw this, they were like, I like this.
SPEAKER_00: I want this.
SPEAKER_00: And and and they they joined this community, and the Lord added to more and more people that were saved.
SPEAKER_00: You know, that's Jesus' vision.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus' vision that we don't just politely show up on a Sunday morning, shake each other's hands, or maybe culture more accepted, give hugs, but but we actually get to know each other, get to be in each other's lives, we get to share life together.
SPEAKER_00: And that takes so much more than just your Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_00: How do we do this?
SPEAKER_00: We need to practice the teachings of Jesus, or one of the things that we could say the one another commands.
SPEAKER_00: Uh well, let me start with this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give you guys a handout.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give you a handout to take home.
SPEAKER_00: Uh not not yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Oscar.
SPEAKER_00: On half of this.
SPEAKER_00: Ivan, can you say the other?
SPEAKER_00: Let me just grab one.
SPEAKER_00: Just give it one to everybody while I'm uh I'm talking.
SPEAKER_00: So this is uh you don't have to read this right now.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna we're gonna come to the activity and then I'll want you to kind of use the paper.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but it is all the scriptures in the New Testament that includes the word each other or one another.
SPEAKER_00: They're all commands of how how we need to practice this.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing new about this, but you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I read them this morning in preparation for this service.
SPEAKER_00: And boy, was it stirring.
SPEAKER_00: I read some I I'm I'm getting ahead of myself that I'm gonna share some of the activity from just me reading through this, because I found some that I that I've I've been good at.
SPEAKER_00: I found some some that I'm like, I forgot that this is in here.
SPEAKER_00: So it was it was a it was a great experience.
SPEAKER_00: Uh does anybody need still need one?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, passing around.
SPEAKER_00: Just hold on.
SPEAKER_00: Oh.
SPEAKER_00: So let me get give you guys a quote uh why this is important, why practicing, practicing these things matter.
SPEAKER_00: This is a quote by David Platt, a Baptist preacher.
SPEAKER_00: He said, in essence, we redefined Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: We've given in to the dangerous temptation to take the Jesus of the Bible and twist him into a version of Jesus we're more comfortable with.
SPEAKER_00: It's a Jesus who's okay with our materialism, fine with nominal devotion that doesn't require any sacrifice, and pleased with a brand of faith that requires attendance on Sunday, maybe, but near no real commitment in the day-to-day life.
SPEAKER_00: David Platt.
SPEAKER_00: You know, when you put in the word church in your uh Google search engine, and maybe your search engine has different results than mine.
SPEAKER_00: It's now all personalized, and you know, the algorithm is catering to you and all that.
SPEAKER_00: But when I put this word into my Google search engine to church and ran a search of images, this is what came up.
SPEAKER_00: What do you notice?
SPEAKER_00: All of them are just buildings.
SPEAKER_00: Not a single human being on those pictures.
SPEAKER_00: Is there a couple?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, one of them.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I just didn't notice them, sorry.
SPEAKER_00: The trip advisor one has okay.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, there's a couple people in sitting in that church as well.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that uh I see, I see.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: See?
SPEAKER_00: They disappeared.
SPEAKER_00: When I looked at it, I'm like, where are the people?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So that isn't Jesus' vision.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus' vision was that we love one another as a community of followers of him.
SPEAKER_00: That's his vision.
SPEAKER_00: And and if we want to be real followers of Jesus, that's what we need to live up to.
SPEAKER_00: There's another quote by uh Eugene Peterson who uh gave us the message translation of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Wisdom is not primarily about knowing the truth, although it certainly includes that it is skill in living.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure you've read most of these scriptures at one point and another, maybe multiple times.
SPEAKER_00: That's that's knowing the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Wisdom comes when we start practicing this and living it out.
SPEAKER_00: There's another quote by uh another uh theologian named Scott Hubbard.
SPEAKER_00: He says, referring to these scriptures, the one another's.
SPEAKER_00: He says, the one another's do not exhaust our obligation to other Christians.
SPEAKER_00: Many communal imperatives do not include the phrase one another.
SPEAKER_00: There's a bunch of ways the Bible describes how we need to relate, even if they don't use these words.
SPEAKER_00: But together they offer a brilliant picture of life together under the Lordship of Christ, and not only under the lordship of Christ, but also in the pattern of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And I love that.
SPEAKER_00: You know, the way we follow Jesus is not just what we do on our own.
SPEAKER_00: The way we follow Jesus is how we relate to the community of believers.
SPEAKER_00: In the book of Colossians, we're gonna look at a part of a passage that actually has three of these one another commandments.
SPEAKER_00: Uh so I can explain what this theologian means by it's not just you're not just obeying Christ when you do these commandments, you're actually following the pattern that Christ established by doing this thing.
SPEAKER_00: Colossians chapter 3, verse 12 to 17.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Therefore, as God chosen people holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
SPEAKER_00: Bear with each other, there's their one another command, and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.
SPEAKER_00: There's number two, forgive as the Lord forgave you.
SPEAKER_00: And over all these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
SPEAKER_00: Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you are called to peace.
SPEAKER_00: Then be thankful.
SPEAKER_00: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another.
SPEAKER_00: There's your number three command.
SPEAKER_00: With all wisdom and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with gratitude in your hearts to God, and whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father through Him.
SPEAKER_00: You know, this passage has a few of these one another commands.
SPEAKER_00: We need to bear with one another.
SPEAKER_00: That means that the God acknowledges that there are some things that are not easy to bear with in our community.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for bearing with me.
SPEAKER_00: I've got my things.
SPEAKER_00: You've got yours.
SPEAKER_00: We're all accorded to bear with each other.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Forgive each other.
SPEAKER_00: That means that we are going to sin against one another.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, in the church?
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: Where else?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: If we're in the church, we're going to sin in the church.
SPEAKER_00: You know, so I appreciate you being in your best behavior this Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_00: But if you're going to be the church and living life together that the disciples did, being that close to each other, you can't always be on your best behavior.
SPEAKER_00: And you're going to sin against each other.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to sin against you, and you're going to sin against me, and we need to forgive one another.
SPEAKER_00: And there's place for teaching and admonishing one another as well, as this passage teaches.
SPEAKER_00: But it's at the center of it, in this passage teaching us how to live in the church, it mentions Jesus three, four times actually.
SPEAKER_00: It says, how do we, you know, when he talks about forgiveness, it doesn't say, well, just forgive.
SPEAKER_00: You know how to do that.
SPEAKER_00: No, no.
SPEAKER_00: Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
SPEAKER_00: Pattern yourself after Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Do it the way he did it.
SPEAKER_00: Learn from him how to forgive.
SPEAKER_00: You know how to have the peace of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: How did Jesus had peace?
SPEAKER_00: Well, he didn't live in a very peaceful environment.
SPEAKER_00: People wanted to stone him all the time and didn't like what he had to say.
SPEAKER_00: And he was in the world and the world didn't like him.
SPEAKER_00: But he still had peace.
SPEAKER_00: That's how he should be having peace.
SPEAKER_00: You know, his word and and everything, he says, we need to be representing Jesus in doing these things.
SPEAKER_00: When I care for you, when I love you, when I serve you, when I when I when I call you and say, hey, or text you, say, how are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: I'm representing Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I'm doing this in the name of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: That's how that's we're patterning ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: What would Jesus do in this situation?
SPEAKER_00: Would he just live his life, you know, get get get to a better standard of living, you know, go after the material things?
SPEAKER_00: No, he would actually do this.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we need Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We're not gonna love each other really well if we are not following Jesus, if we're not motivated by Jesus, and if his presence is not in the midst of our church.
SPEAKER_00: There's another quote by um by a uh an author named James McDonald who wrote this book called Vertical Church.
SPEAKER_00: He says, apart from the revealed presence of God in the midst of the church, we are just the rotary club without music or the boy scouts without fire.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: We're not just an organization.
SPEAKER_00: We're not just a community of people.
SPEAKER_00: We got Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But we need to get with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We need to follow Jesus and obey these one another commandments.
SPEAKER_00: Now, take your piece of paper out.
SPEAKER_00: You've got it?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we're gonna do an activity that I want you to be kind of communicating.
SPEAKER_00: I've got some questions.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna start with the easy one and get to the harder ones, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And and you get to share a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: You probably you're not probably not gonna be able to read them all, but you can you can just kind of scan them a little bit, you know, flip them over, uh familiarize yourself with a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a quiz, you're not being tested, it's not an exam.
SPEAKER_00: We're just kind of having an activity of trying to figure out how to apply these things, okay?
SPEAKER_00: So here's the questions.
SPEAKER_00: Question number one.
SPEAKER_00: As you look at this, what is the dominating command?
SPEAKER_00: Love.
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: Love.
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, even the passage we read in Colossians, it says, above all these, put on love, as that that kind of binds everything and covers everything.
SPEAKER_00: And if if we can if we're not doing anything else that's on this list, but start with this love idea, not just having the warmen fuzzies, but actually considering somebody more important than myself, putting myself in a position where I'm gonna give to this people at person actively, that's love.
SPEAKER_00: That's a good place to start.
SPEAKER_00: Alright?
SPEAKER_00: What is one, as you read through this, what is one that you find very challenging on this list?
SPEAKER_00: Anything.
SPEAKER_00: This is forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, so and said, you know, for what is it?
unknown: Forgiveness isn't in here.
SPEAKER_00: It's in there.
SPEAKER_00: It is in there.
SPEAKER_00: We just read it in Colossians, but there's a couple other places that it mentions forgive one another.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Colossians 3.13.
SPEAKER_00: If one has a complaint against one another, forgive each other, yes?
unknown: Not passing judgments.
SPEAKER_00: Not passing judgments.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, is that is it you, Sharon too?
SPEAKER_00: Oh boy, Randy.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, same.
SPEAKER_00: Vito, okay.
SPEAKER_00: Oscar?
SPEAKER_00: Being humble with each other, yeah, lowering ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Alicia.
SPEAKER_02: Not grumbling against each other.
SPEAKER_00: Not grumbling against each other.
SPEAKER_00: Good one.
SPEAKER_00: Ben.
unknown: Encouraging one another.
SPEAKER_00: Encouraging one another.
SPEAKER_02: Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
unknown: 28.
unknown: Submitting to one another.
SPEAKER_00: Submitting in one another's reverence of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Uh that's that takes a lot of trust in God.
SPEAKER_00: God knows what He's doing.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Bear one another's burdens.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: Help, you know, carry something that the other person cannot carry themselves.
SPEAKER_00: Very, very good.
SPEAKER_03: Greet one another with a holy kiss.
SPEAKER_00: Greet one another with a holy kiss.
SPEAKER_00: I get that, Ivan.
SPEAKER_00: That's that's that's probably not the there are cultures in our world today that that is still practiced.
SPEAKER_00: If you go to France or Hungary, uh that's how people greet each other.
SPEAKER_00: Uh in the US culture or North American culture, that will be a little little weird, uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_00: Uh hug is probably a a more but there's nothing wrong against the holy kiss.
SPEAKER_00: It's in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Question number three.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, but what was I uh Yeah, number three.
SPEAKER_00: Um what is one that you can forget easily?
SPEAKER_00: I was gonna say all of them.
SPEAKER_00: All of them.
SPEAKER_00: Confess your sins to one another.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's it's easy to skim over that because it's uncomfortable to talk about my sins.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: Not to complain about each other.
SPEAKER_00: Not to complain about each other, yes.
SPEAKER_00: Anything else?
SPEAKER_00: In humility, consider others more significant or con others more significant.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, wow.
SPEAKER_00: Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, how do you do that, right?
SPEAKER_00: How do you do that?
SPEAKER_00: How do you how do you you know how do you sing a a nice psalm to our brother or sister, yeah, right?
SPEAKER_00: Challenging.
SPEAKER_00: I I thought stir one stir up one another to love and good works.
SPEAKER_00: Kind of like give a little push.
SPEAKER_00: That kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_00: 21.
SPEAKER_03: But if you bite and devour one another, watch out for you that you are not consumed by one another.
SPEAKER_00: It's easy to backstab.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's easy to forget forget that one.
SPEAKER_00: That that if we if we're going to at each other with the way the world is doing things, we're gonna it's we're gonna reap the same fruit.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so here's question number four.
SPEAKER_00: What is one you have seen practiced this week?
SPEAKER_00: Whether uh practiced in you know, somebody have done this to you, or if you were able to practice it either way.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Christine.
SPEAKER_00: Show hospitality.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, that was done for us.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, somebody had you had you somebody practiced hospitality and and you were loved through that.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_03: Considering my two small children, with patience bearing with one another in mind.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, uh a family always gives you a lot of great opportunities to practice a lot of these things, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was gonna say number 13.
SPEAKER_01: Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you.
SPEAKER_01: And I feel like um I feel very welcomed here.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of folks came over and asked us how we were doing, and I felt very welcome.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
SPEAKER_00: That's encouraging.
SPEAKER_00: That's yeah, beat.
SPEAKER_03: Encourage one another, and then this week I get some text messages, which was very encouraging for me.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, somebody texted you and that was encouraging.
SPEAKER_00: Several text messages, nice, nice.
SPEAKER_00: Uh one of yes, right.
SPEAKER_00: Encourage one another.
SPEAKER_00: Encourage one another, you've seen that happen.
SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
SPEAKER_00: Uh you know, I've had the I've had that the experience I shared, I went backpacking.
SPEAKER_00: And live in harmony with one another when you're backpacking and it's uncomfortable and there are mosquitoes around.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, but I've no, I've we had we had not had one argument in five ways with the brothers.
SPEAKER_00: It was it was amazing.
SPEAKER_00: So that was that the harmony I'm like, and and that was, you know, there were other campers around at some places, so that wasn't always the case for everybody backpacking.
SPEAKER_00: So when we read this, we go, all right, Jesus is calling us to a certain way of living, a certain way of practicing community that's way beyond just Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_00: So the challenge today for all of us is to love God and that show that love by loving one another.
SPEAKER_00: And yes, we are better together, but we if we want to fulfill Jesus' vision, we can't just be a religious entity with religious practices.
SPEAKER_00: We've got to be a community that loves one another.
SPEAKER_00: People will see God when we do this, brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: And and we need to take them seriously, these commandments.
SPEAKER_00: Let's take them seriously.
SPEAKER_00: So take this paper home.
SPEAKER_00: Here's your homework.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe read not you could read all of them every day.
SPEAKER_00: Just take the paper out, try and paper out every day this week.
SPEAKER_00: Look at the front, look at the back.
SPEAKER_00: Take something and try to practice it every day this week.
SPEAKER_00: Here's some questions for thought uh or discussion.
SPEAKER_00: Have I embraced Jesus' vision for a loving, united, and close community of followers, or have I settled for a religious view of church?
SPEAKER_00: Do I consciously practice, in other words, obey the one and our commands of the New Testament?
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, uh to be honest, I can easily forget some of these, and it's good to kind of go back through them and remind myself.
SPEAKER_00: What would my week look like if I reviewed them and intentionally practiced some of them every day this week?
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine?
SPEAKER_00: Well, let's try to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to me.
SPEAKER_00: Appreciate you guys.
SPEAKER_00: Let's love one another and let's stand up and sing one more song.