WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:01.600 I'm excited to be back. 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:06.639 I was uh speaking in the church up in New Hampshire last weekend. 00:00:06.879 --> 00:00:17.679 Uh they uh they hired a new preacher earlier this summer and uh hit two days into moving to New Hampshire, he slipped in his driveway and broke his femur. 00:00:19.839 --> 00:00:27.039 So so Mike fixed my girlfriend called me and said, Hey Patty, would you would you be willing to come up here one of the Sundays? 00:00:27.199 --> 00:00:36.640 Because all of a sudden, this brother that was gonna preach throughout the whole summer as a as their new minister is out of commission for eight weeks, no weight on that foot. 00:00:36.880 --> 00:00:40.560 So yeah, I don't know how you how you do that at all. 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:44.079 But uh anyway, so I had a chance to go up there and speak. 00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:47.039 Uh he is he is recovering, he's doing well. 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:54.640 Uh their their hope is that uh not this Sunday, but next Sunday, he'll be able to speak from a wheelchair. 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:03.039 So, but anyway, so we're we're doing a series called Better Together all summer. 00:01:03.600 --> 00:01:06.000 That's been our focus as a church. 00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:09.200 Maybe you see some of these t-shirts that people are wearing. 00:01:09.359 --> 00:01:15.920 We had t-shirts made, we had fun events that small groups organized, we have more of those to come. 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:22.640 But we really wanted to focus on this idea that is from the Bible that we are actually better when we are together. 00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:26.799 So today's sermon is one body, many parts. 00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:42.879 And uh I'll explain that in a little bit, but I want to explain something really important that kind of got lost over the last 2,000 years, is that the church is people, not a building. 00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:49.120 It's not a time in your schedule when you show up and attend church. 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:54.879 Church is something we are, not something that we attend to. 00:01:55.439 --> 00:02:03.760 It is people, and when it comes to church, it is people coming together because they're better together. 00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:04.400 Bless you. 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:05.920 By the way. 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:11.120 But coming together has its challenges. 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:16.240 Uh it's it's not it's not automatic. 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:26.479 We're none of us are used to living in close relationships with other people outside of our physical family for the most part. 00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:32.000 Uh maybe you had a roommate in college, and uh and that was the level of closeness. 00:02:32.080 --> 00:02:38.560 But uh, and then we we have a romantic partner, and then we're developing closeness, and that's hard in itself. 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:41.599 If if if you you've experienced that. 00:02:41.919 --> 00:02:57.039 How about a larger group of people like us coming together and try to try to live out something that's a little more like family and a little less like just attending some meeting? 00:02:57.919 --> 00:02:58.400 Amen. 00:02:58.479 --> 00:03:04.000 I'm I'm actually gonna get going with this sermon, so we're gonna have time after the service. 00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:14.800 We we we have the building is open for the next 45 minutes or so, sometimes an hour, for people to just hang out and experience that closeness, that community. 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:16.479 We call it fellowship. 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:24.560 But the idea is we you you don't just listen to me, you get to listen to each other and talk to each other and and encourage each other. 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:28.319 So we're gonna read this longer part in 1 Corinthians. 00:03:28.400 --> 00:03:35.439 All of my scripture readings are from letters of Paul today, as he addresses Christians. 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:48.080 So if you're not a Christian, uh, you know, these letters are not addressed to you, but you I'm sure you'll learn something about what God designed is for humans that live in a community. 00:03:48.400 --> 00:03:52.639 Uh the one that we start with is in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:55.360 If you have a paper Bible, you can flip there. 00:03:55.520 --> 00:04:08.800 If you have a you know a nice little foam Bible, you can eat it, or you can just follow along the screen as I read this chap this part in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 12 through 27. 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:11.039 This is written to Christians. 00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:17.360 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts. 00:04:17.600 --> 00:04:23.759 And though all its parts are many, they form one body. 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:26.800 Now you get where the title of the sermon comes from, right? 00:04:27.360 --> 00:04:39.519 So it is with Christ, for we are all baptized by one spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given the one spirit to drink. 00:04:39.759 --> 00:04:43.920 Now the body is not made up of one part, but of many. 00:04:44.240 --> 00:04:51.920 If the foot should say, because I'm not a hand, I don't belong to the body, it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 00:04:52.079 --> 00:05:00.399 And if the ear should say, Because I'm not an eye, I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:04.480 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? 00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:07.839 If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:15.439 But in fact, God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:18.240 If they're all one part, where would the body be? 00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:22.000 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 00:05:22.240 --> 00:05:25.839 The eye cannot say to the hand, I don't need you. 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:28.800 And the head cannot say to the feet, I don't need you. 00:05:28.959 --> 00:05:35.199 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable. 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:40.879 And the parts that we think are less honorable, we treat with special honor. 00:05:41.040 --> 00:05:50.000 And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. 00:05:50.319 --> 00:06:06.720 But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lagged it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 00:06:07.759 --> 00:06:12.720 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. 00:06:12.959 --> 00:06:18.959 And if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:26.879 Now, you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a part of it. 00:06:28.160 --> 00:06:31.360 What a powerful scripture. 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:34.639 What a challenging scripture. 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:37.439 So I got two points today. 00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:40.240 One, this idea of belonging. 00:06:40.560 --> 00:06:45.040 If you're part of the body, that means that you belong. 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:49.680 But belonging is a hard concept, and I'm going to talk about that. 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:54.720 And the second point is this idea is I need you, and you need me. 00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:00.879 This this mutual dependency, how God created us. 00:07:01.120 --> 00:07:03.040 We can't do this alone. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:11.040 So there's this part in this passage that always kind of caught my attention, and and I felt like, wow, how do we do this? 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:20.240 This this part uh in the belonging part, in verse 26 that we just read, it says, if one part suffers, every part suffers with it. 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:25.519 And if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 00:07:25.759 --> 00:07:37.680 You know, when you read that, you I I when I read that, I ask the question, how close do we need to be in order to be able to do this? 00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:39.040 Right? 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:44.240 How much do we need to be emotionally connected to each other? 00:07:44.959 --> 00:08:01.519 That uh, you know, you you something happens to you and you're suffering, and first of all, that I would know, and maybe as a minister I probably have more more connections and more, but that we would know. 00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:09.120 Now we have social media and information can be passed around easier today than back in those days. 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:12.639 But but just knowing doesn't mean that we suffer with. 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:16.399 Just knowing doesn't mean we rejoice with. 00:08:18.319 --> 00:08:21.600 I think this is an amazing challenge for all of us. 00:08:21.920 --> 00:08:26.240 To get closer, deeper in our relationships. 00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:30.480 So when when something happens, it touches our hearts. 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:44.240 When when when somebody gets hospitalized, when somebody loses a parent, it's it's it's like you know, we're experiencing this loss together, we're experiencing this challenge together. 00:08:45.279 --> 00:08:47.440 That's God is working through that. 00:08:48.159 --> 00:09:03.120 But the same thing happens if if if somebody if you get a promotion, if you know something amazing happens, you're you're you know, your your your son gets married, or some, you know, fun things happening. 00:09:03.279 --> 00:09:09.360 We we're we're we're like we're connected and we're like it's it's not just your joy, but it's our joy. 00:09:10.320 --> 00:09:11.840 Isn't this a high calling? 00:09:12.080 --> 00:09:12.240 Yeah. 00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:16.559 That's not just showing up on Sunday for an hour and a half. 00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:18.240 This is a lot more than that. 00:09:19.039 --> 00:09:24.240 The Bible teaches this in uh another another letter that Paul wrote to the Roman church. 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:28.639 This is one of my favorite chapters in the in the Bible, Romans 12. 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:31.440 It's very practical and incredibly challenging. 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:34.159 He's he's talking about the same concept. 00:09:34.480 --> 00:09:45.919 He says, just as, this is Romans 12, verse 4 and 5, just as each of us has one body with many members, these members do not all have the same function. 00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:55.440 So in Christ, we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 00:09:55.759 --> 00:10:10.639 I think we have probably a, if you're a Christian, you probably have a better understanding that I belong to God because He saved me, He brought me into His kingdom, in His family, but we have a harder time realizing that we belong together. 00:10:12.240 --> 00:10:18.960 Now, you know, you can't pick your physical family, it's not your choice. 00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:20.720 You're born into it. 00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:28.879 Whether you like it or not, whether whether they're they're supportive of you or not, uh, and everybody's got one beard uncle, right? 00:10:29.120 --> 00:10:31.279 Uh that's that's families. 00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:33.679 And you can't pick them. 00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:36.799 You know what's the same with the church? 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:44.080 Today in our society, it's very popular to go and and and shop around for a church and pick a church. 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:46.639 You know what? 00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:47.840 You can't. 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:54.159 If you're really experiencing biblical Christianity, when you get baptized, you belong to that community. 00:10:54.799 --> 00:11:03.600 Now, it's okay to move, you know, sometimes job and other decisions make us move around, and we need to find another faith community where we belong. 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:14.960 But you know, it's that's why some people watch the service online, and if you're sick or uh for some reason can't make it, we're happy. 00:11:15.039 --> 00:11:17.200 Uh I'm gonna wave you over the camera. 00:11:17.360 --> 00:11:18.559 I'm glad you're watching. 00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:25.120 But nothing replaces the belonging doesn't necessarily happen this through a screen. 00:11:25.759 --> 00:11:27.759 Screen doesn't feel belonging. 00:11:27.919 --> 00:11:29.679 Uh it's harder, at least. 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:36.799 Uh I know gamers build great communities even through screens, but you have to be a special person to be able to do that. 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:39.440 Most of us need to see each other face to face. 00:11:39.679 --> 00:11:47.600 Might need a hug, might need somebody to put their hand on your shoulder or hold your hand or just express ways of physical connecting. 00:11:49.679 --> 00:11:58.559 Belonging has been studied recently uh by a fairly famous uh sociologist and author called Brene Brown. 00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:01.519 Here's what she writes about belonging. 00:12:01.600 --> 00:12:07.120 Uh, and you can read, she wrote, she meant she deals with this topic in a couple of her books. 00:12:07.360 --> 00:12:10.559 She says, true belonging is not passive. 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:15.200 It's not the belonging that comes with just joining a group. 00:12:15.600 --> 00:12:20.879 It's not fitting in or pretending or selling out because it's safer. 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:36.159 It's a practice that requires us to be vulnerable, get uncomfortable, and learn how to be present with people without sacrificing who we are. 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:45.279 We want true belonging, but it takes tremendous courage to knowingly walk into hard moments. 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:48.879 Wow, what a powerful quote, right? 00:12:49.039 --> 00:13:05.200 Yeah, it so what do I get out of it if we really want to belong, not just to God, we although even in our relationship with God, we need to become vulnerable, we need to be uncomfortable, we need to be present, and it takes courage to have a relationship with God. 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:10.480 And if you want to see God, uh those qualities are non-negotiable. 00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:16.720 But in our relationships with one another, we need those exact same qualities. 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:18.720 We need to get vulnerable. 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:22.639 That means that I'm opening myself up to be hurt. 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:25.279 That's the word what the word means. 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:31.279 I'm letting you close enough that if you hurt me, it will hurt real bad. 00:13:31.679 --> 00:13:33.440 That's what that means. 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:36.639 And that is that takes courage. 00:13:37.679 --> 00:13:39.279 That takes courage. 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:43.279 That takes going, getting closer to somebody. 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:58.240 I I know in a previous sermon I talked about physical space, what we're called, what we're what we're comfortable with, how far you need to stand, so so I'm comfortable with you, and and how during COVID it actually has grown about a foot farther. 00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:04.240 We're you know, we're like just don't don't come too close, stay far. 00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:05.840 We're good here. 00:14:06.639 --> 00:14:17.120 Coming closer emotionally, it's on you had to stab those, kind of enter into those boundaries and be invited into those spaces. 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:18.639 Right? 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:26.480 Being present takes intentionality, energy, and time. 00:14:27.360 --> 00:14:29.279 That's what it means, it takes. 00:14:29.759 --> 00:14:33.600 All of those requires us actually prioritizing. 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:37.120 This needs to be important to us for it to happen. 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:38.080 Amen? 00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:46.080 Here's uh here's here's the difference between fitting in and belonging, again from Bernie Brown. 00:14:46.159 --> 00:14:54.480 This is because fitting in means you you try not to ruffle feathers, you're trying to behave as the group kind of expects you to behave. 00:14:55.200 --> 00:15:06.159 And church, traditionally for the last couple thousand years, has been very much of a uh a space that enforced and pressured fitting in. 00:15:06.399 --> 00:15:08.720 All right, I probably don't need to say more about that. 00:15:09.440 --> 00:15:20.879 But fitting in is assessing situations and groups of people, then twisting yourself into a human pretzel in order to get them to let you hang out with them. 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:24.559 Belonging is something else entirely. 00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:30.320 It's showing up and letting yourself be seen and known as you really are. 00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:31.840 I love this. 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:33.279 I love this. 00:15:34.960 --> 00:15:37.679 So thank you for coming. 00:15:38.639 --> 00:15:40.159 Thank you for showing up. 00:15:40.720 --> 00:15:51.440 I encourage you that as we have conversations in the fellowship, as we meet outside of our church meetings, uh practice belonging. 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:53.440 Show up in yourself. 00:15:54.080 --> 00:15:55.600 Now, there's a danger. 00:15:55.679 --> 00:16:02.559 If you show up as you are, some of us might be a little self-righteous and judgmental, and you don't feel like you belong. 00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:04.720 That was a problem in the Bible. 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:09.600 But but again, we don't pick our families, we don't pick our spiritual families. 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:17.919 Going back to that scripture that we read at the beginning of the sermon, I'm gonna read the first part of it again in 1 Corinthians 12 and 13. 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:27.200 It says, the body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts, and though all its parts are many, they form one body, so it is with Christ. 00:16:27.440 --> 00:16:30.559 For we were all baptized by one spirit into one body. 00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:35.440 Whether Jews or Greeks, slave or fem, we were all given the one spirit to drink. 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:42.080 We don't belong to each other because we choose it and we like it, and oh, I like this church. 00:16:42.159 --> 00:16:43.600 Can you put me on my membership? 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:47.840 No, it is something deeper that connects us. 00:16:48.320 --> 00:16:52.639 It is that we when we get baptized, this is how somebody becomes a Christian. 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:58.799 That's the Bible's normative way of people coming in a covenant relationship with God. 00:16:59.120 --> 00:17:06.160 God gives those people his spirit, forgives their sins, and his spirit lives in them. 00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:11.279 Now, again, that that itself deserves like four or five sermons just to understand. 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:13.440 Whoa, what does that mean? 00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:15.039 How does that work? 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:22.960 But because it's the same spirit who lives in us, and we were be baptized into the same family, we belong. 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:24.480 Period. 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:30.799 You know, just because uh, you know, I I'm not sure if I like this guy, I'm not sure if I like that girl. 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:32.559 Doesn't matter. 00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:35.279 Come on, God, God don't care. 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:40.400 You guys say brothers and sisters, figure it out. 00:17:41.359 --> 00:17:43.920 Better better get on with it because you belong. 00:17:44.880 --> 00:17:49.920 And that's and that's our challenge, and that's that's the encouragement. 00:17:50.640 --> 00:18:24.880 In the first century, the biggest challenge of people actually figuring out this out and belonging together was that some of the members of the churches were Jewish, and some of the members for nations that the Jews called Gentiles, which meant non-Jewish, and and that was a very distinct division that God actually set up and enforced throughout the Old Testament, but God, even throughout the Old Testament, prophesied again and again about you know, this isn't just for the Jews, it will come to all nations. 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:43.680 But if you're Jewish and you feel like you're in this privileged position of being God's chosen people, and all of a sudden these other guys that used to be the enemy, used to be these not God's people, people show up in church, you can imagine that causes some challenges, right? 00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:59.200 And and so one of the things that the Bible, the New Testament letters especially address, is this idea of this Jewish-gentile division that that people, it's easy to form a clique. 00:18:59.359 --> 00:19:02.720 Can you imagine if if you know all of you guys were Jewish? 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:06.559 I'm sure you would be sitting together and not with the rest of the Gentiles. 00:19:06.799 --> 00:19:09.279 But Paul says that that that's not working. 00:19:09.440 --> 00:19:14.079 We're we're not two churches, we're we're one, and you guys gotta mingle. 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:18.960 Are there any illustrations today that are like that, right? 00:19:19.759 --> 00:19:30.960 But but Paul addresses this controversy, uh, this this select this separation of Jewish and Gentiles in his letter to the Ephesians in chapter 2. 00:19:31.599 --> 00:19:33.519 Ephesians chapter 2. 00:19:44.000 --> 00:20:08.720 He says, Therefore remember that formerly, you who are Gentiles by birth and called uncircumcised by those who call themselves the circumcision, that done in the body by the hands of man, remember that at a time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:11.519 This is formerly, this is what it used to be. 00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:30.880 And then he goes, but now in Christ, as Jews come came into Christ through baptism and repentance, as Gentiles came into Christ, says, now in Christ, you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. 00:20:31.119 --> 00:20:48.400 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing it in his abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. 00:20:48.960 --> 00:20:54.000 So Paul is saying that whatever separated Jews and Gentiles, Jesus abolished. 00:20:54.799 --> 00:20:57.680 That separation is not there in Christ. 00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:16.720 Thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross by which he put death to their put to death their hostility. 00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:27.119 He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near, for through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:39.680 You know, Paul had to teach Christians, followers of Jesus, that you guys you guys can't say over there, and they over there, that doesn't work. 00:21:40.079 --> 00:21:42.799 You guys, there's no nothing divides you. 00:21:43.039 --> 00:21:46.480 You guys need to need to realize that that you're one. 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:48.400 Uh you're you're brought near. 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:51.920 You're actually God wants you to be near each other. 00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:55.440 Now, I have a question for us today. 00:21:55.680 --> 00:21:59.200 What divisions do we have in today's society? 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:04.400 Maybe they're not like the Jewish Gentile divisions, but I'm sure we have some. 00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:05.359 Any thoughts? 00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:05.920 Jen? 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:08.480 Political divisions. 00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:09.680 Political divisions. 00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:09.839 Oh. 00:22:10.240 --> 00:22:10.480 Yep. 00:22:10.880 --> 00:22:11.279 Same. 00:22:11.519 --> 00:22:15.039 That's probably one of the things that we feel the most because of the news cycle, right? 00:22:15.680 --> 00:22:16.160 Yes, I think. 00:22:16.720 --> 00:22:17.200 Cultures. 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:19.039 Cultural divisions, yes. 00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:20.319 Oscar and then Angel? 00:22:20.640 --> 00:22:20.880 Racial. 00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:22.319 Racial divisions. 00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:23.440 Yeah, socioeconomic. 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:25.200 Social economic, yes, Lord. 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:26.720 Religions. 00:22:26.880 --> 00:22:29.039 Religious divisions, yeah. 00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:30.000 Language. 00:22:30.640 --> 00:22:32.000 Language divisions. 00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:34.240 Yeah, absolutely. 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:35.440 Any any anything else? 00:22:35.519 --> 00:22:35.599 Yeah. 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:36.319 Class. 00:22:36.640 --> 00:22:38.079 Class divisions. 00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:39.039 Absolutely. 00:22:39.839 --> 00:22:40.480 Education. 00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:41.440 Education. 00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:42.240 Yeah. 00:22:42.640 --> 00:22:44.799 Here's some of the ones that I came up with. 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:47.119 Race is a big one, right? 00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:48.079 In uh in America. 00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:59.599 Actually, I'm reading, I'm uh listening to an audiobook uh by Isabel Wilkerson on the title is Cast, amazing book to understand how the race relations developed in the United States. 00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:05.039 Uh since now I'm living here, I want to understand and have a have a better better grasp of what that is. 00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:06.559 Gender. 00:23:08.160 --> 00:23:11.200 You know, that's a big one, right? 00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:16.400 Uh uh class, there's upper class, middle class, lower class. 00:23:16.640 --> 00:23:17.920 Uh in the US. 00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:19.519 Immigration status. 00:23:19.680 --> 00:23:22.720 That's become, especially recently, a big one. 00:23:22.880 --> 00:23:28.480 Uh financial standing, age can be a separation. 00:23:29.119 --> 00:23:37.200 Uh we're, you know, the oldest and the youngest in our church have over 70 years between them, or 60 years at least. 00:23:37.920 --> 00:23:41.599 That's that's uh at least a couple generations apart. 00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:43.920 Can we have a relationship? 00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:46.480 Even though we're a different age, right? 00:23:47.279 --> 00:23:50.160 Uh education, uh, another big one. 00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:55.680 Uh uh language, uh, you know, not uh well sorry, appearance, right? 00:23:56.079 --> 00:23:59.359 Uh I actually put a couple of language and culture. 00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:02.400 I put in later in the slide, and I don't think it's it made it up there. 00:24:02.640 --> 00:24:07.839 Uh you know, how we look, we can easily judge each other by our looks or what we wear. 00:24:08.079 --> 00:24:18.319 Uh, you know, maybe maybe our weight, uh, that's right, health can be become a uh a division. 00:24:18.559 --> 00:24:23.279 You know, it's hard, uncomfortable to be around people that are sick. 00:24:23.839 --> 00:24:28.079 Uh people that that maybe struggle with with uh with cancer, for example. 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:29.599 You know, that's uncomfortable. 00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:32.960 It's easier to be separate in some of these situations. 00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:36.559 Mental health, another big one, right? 00:24:36.960 --> 00:24:43.039 Uh it's it affects, especially anxiety and depression, affects more and more people in our society today. 00:24:43.200 --> 00:24:47.200 And then you know, probably not as big as interest in hobby. 00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:50.559 You know, you don't like football, football season is starting. 00:24:50.720 --> 00:24:52.160 Uh off you go. 00:24:53.440 --> 00:24:55.680 Are you not cheering for the Patriots? 00:24:56.640 --> 00:24:57.599 Okay, amen. 00:24:57.839 --> 00:25:00.160 You get you guys get you guys get what I'm talking about, right? 00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:10.000 But our the society we live in is incredibly divided. 00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:11.279 Yes, that's true. 00:25:11.599 --> 00:25:18.079 And we bring those divisions into the church, and it does it doesn't just automatically disappear. 00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:30.079 Even the if the spiritual reality is that those divisions don't matter in Christ, we still bring those ways of thinking, those ways of relating to one another into the church. 00:25:30.799 --> 00:25:35.119 And it's a lot of work to do differently. 00:25:35.920 --> 00:25:41.839 It's a lot of work to be different, but but that's who God wants us to be. 00:25:42.559 --> 00:25:44.000 He wants us to be different. 00:25:44.720 --> 00:25:48.079 He doesn't want any of these things to separate us. 00:25:49.039 --> 00:25:59.440 And he concludes this part uh uh in Ephesians chapter 2 that he's talking about the Jews and the Gentiles with a conclusion in verse 19 to 22. 00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:01.359 How do I know it's a conclusion? 00:26:01.440 --> 00:26:08.400 It starts with consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens. 00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:08.960 Amen. 00:26:09.839 --> 00:26:31.039 You know, I that my prayer and desire is that every member of our congregation feels that they're not foreigners, they're not aliens, they're not on the fringe, they're they're not weak, they're not outside, they're they're inside, completely holy and belonging here. 00:26:31.920 --> 00:26:44.640 But fellow you're not no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone. 00:26:44.880 --> 00:26:55.759 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord, and in him you two are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his spirit. 00:26:56.559 --> 00:27:01.039 You know, there's a lot of together, joined together, build together. 00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:09.440 It's that that joining together and building together, God does it, but not if we're not cooperating. 00:27:09.680 --> 00:27:13.920 We're not gonna be joined with one another if if if we're not choosing this. 00:27:14.160 --> 00:27:20.079 So let me give you guys a practical challenge for this next week or our next couple weeks. 00:27:20.240 --> 00:27:23.759 Uh maybe that will give you a little more space and time to do it. 00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:38.640 Have somebody in your home or or meet some, you know, have somebody have have some kind of a hospital hospitality event with somebody that before you become Christian, you would have been divided from. 00:27:43.599 --> 00:27:58.640 Maybe somebody who's a different race than you are, maybe somebody whose culture is completely different, or their language, or whatever would it would, you know, before becoming Christian would have felt like, oh, they're they're they're they're other than spend some time with them. 00:27:58.799 --> 00:28:02.720 And one of the best ways to do hospitality is so powerful. 00:28:02.960 --> 00:28:10.240 Having them in our home, making food for them, uh, or you know, you can go out for some coffee. 00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:20.640 That it doesn't have to be an expensive thing, it doesn't have to be a three-course meal, but spending the time and and being curious and wanting, expressing the desire. 00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:29.279 I want to connect, I want to get to know you, I care, I wanna I wanna join and be built into this relationship with you. 00:28:29.519 --> 00:28:31.119 That's what it's all about. 00:28:31.599 --> 00:28:34.400 That's how belonging happens. 00:28:34.799 --> 00:28:43.920 If we all work on this, our church will be a place where people belong and they feel that they belong, and that's to God's glory. 00:28:44.480 --> 00:28:46.640 My second point, it's a little shorter. 00:28:46.880 --> 00:28:48.960 I need you, you need me. 00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:57.119 Well, first of all, I have to uh, you know, I've I've only moved to Massachusetts uh three years ago. 00:28:57.279 --> 00:29:06.319 I did live here for two years earlier, but there are things about Massachusetts that are really an antithesis of what what's on there. 00:29:07.680 --> 00:29:13.279 Here's here's here I I wish somebody sent me this before moving here. 00:29:13.599 --> 00:29:20.960 So I would translate when when he when when uh you know when they say they say wicked, it means uh you're really good, right? 00:29:21.599 --> 00:29:24.799 Or uh you know uh you betcha. 00:29:25.119 --> 00:29:28.480 You know, I'm I'm like what what are you talking about? 00:29:28.720 --> 00:29:34.000 You know, and and there's there's a bunch of things on this, but here's here's one of the big ones. 00:29:34.319 --> 00:29:36.319 I'm all set. 00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:43.680 You know, I hear this in Massachusetts at least once every week. 00:29:44.400 --> 00:29:51.200 Somebody, I I've actually gotten in this, in the in the in the habit of saying, finding myself saying it. 00:29:51.359 --> 00:29:52.240 Hey, you need this? 00:29:52.400 --> 00:29:53.200 No, I'm all set. 00:29:53.440 --> 00:29:56.880 I'm like, oh, I become a Massachusetts person. 00:29:57.279 --> 00:30:01.680 Um whatever those those people are called, Massachusetts, or I don't know. 00:30:01.839 --> 00:30:02.960 It's not that bad. 00:30:03.119 --> 00:30:04.640 That's another Massachusetts thing. 00:30:04.720 --> 00:30:06.160 Then I would need something else. 00:30:06.480 --> 00:30:07.039 Yeah. 00:30:07.279 --> 00:30:13.359 So, but that's the that's the mind that that's it, that isn't just the language. 00:30:13.759 --> 00:30:15.839 Language shows mindset. 00:30:16.799 --> 00:30:20.079 I know you guys are being entertained by all those funny things, right? 00:30:20.559 --> 00:30:22.559 I've got I better better move on. 00:30:23.519 --> 00:30:47.359 So as we go back to this chapter in in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, I'm gonna read the middle part of this, I want you to to count how many times does Paul mention either this phrase, I don't belong, which means you don't need me, because I don't belong, or I don't need you. 00:30:47.599 --> 00:30:47.920 Okay? 00:30:48.480 --> 00:30:51.200 So I'm gonna read this middle part of this. 00:30:52.319 --> 00:30:56.319 Okay, and so just count with me. 00:30:56.559 --> 00:31:00.000 Now the body is not made up of one part, but of many. 00:31:00.240 --> 00:31:07.039 If the foot should say, because I'm not a hand, I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 00:31:07.200 --> 00:31:12.960 And if the ear should say, because I'm not an eye, I don't belong to the body, it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 00:31:13.200 --> 00:31:16.640 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? 00:31:16.799 --> 00:31:19.599 If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 00:31:19.759 --> 00:31:26.000 But in fact, God has arranged the parts of the bot in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 00:31:26.240 --> 00:31:29.039 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 00:31:29.200 --> 00:31:32.160 As it is, they are many parts, but one body. 00:31:32.319 --> 00:31:34.559 The eye cannot say to the hand, I don't need you. 00:31:34.640 --> 00:31:38.079 And the hat cannot say to the feet, I don't need you. 00:31:38.559 --> 00:31:39.119 Alright. 00:31:39.279 --> 00:31:40.960 How many did you guys find? 00:31:41.359 --> 00:31:42.000 Three and two. 00:31:42.160 --> 00:31:42.400 Four? 00:31:42.640 --> 00:31:43.519 Three and two? 00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:45.440 Four total, actually. 00:31:45.599 --> 00:31:45.920 Yeah. 00:31:46.240 --> 00:31:47.519 I think that's that's what I found. 00:31:47.599 --> 00:31:49.839 So there's two I don't belongs, right? 00:31:51.119 --> 00:31:52.400 Maybe I missed something. 00:31:52.720 --> 00:31:53.920 And the two I don't need you. 00:31:54.400 --> 00:31:54.640 Right? 00:31:57.279 --> 00:32:01.759 And guess why Paul is referring these to these things? 00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:05.920 Because people were saying this or thinking this. 00:32:06.880 --> 00:32:13.359 And and we we're probably a very polite society, so we might not go to go up to somebody, I don't need you. 00:32:13.519 --> 00:32:14.160 You know. 00:32:15.440 --> 00:32:24.799 But when when when we're in need, do we actually vulnerably and humbly ask? 00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:26.319 Bring that need. 00:32:26.480 --> 00:32:28.160 Where do we bring our needs to? 00:32:28.960 --> 00:32:37.200 Many of us are trained in our New England mindset that I've got to figure out this myself and I gotta fix this myself. 00:32:37.759 --> 00:32:52.559 And if that doesn't happen, I've got to try a few more times and then maybe then say, hey, could you uh very uncomfortably uh gonna borrow your snowblower, you know, or something like that. 00:32:53.839 --> 00:33:00.319 You know, can you imagine what it would create do for a community if we share our needs more freely? 00:33:02.079 --> 00:33:06.720 And on the other hand, you know, being willing to meet those needs. 00:33:06.960 --> 00:33:12.240 That means that we need to be available, present, and responsible. 00:33:12.400 --> 00:33:13.119 I'm here. 00:33:13.599 --> 00:33:14.799 You can count on me. 00:33:15.039 --> 00:33:27.119 Now we all have limitations, you know, that you can't just drop everything and and and meet needs most of the time, but if there's enough of us, there's always somebody that can help meet some needs. 00:33:27.440 --> 00:33:30.160 God arranges those parts in the body. 00:33:30.640 --> 00:33:38.720 So one of the things we need to do is to realize that, you know, this pastor talks about I need you and you need me. 00:33:39.119 --> 00:33:47.039 But one of the other things that he talks about in the middle part is this idea that we're different and that's a good thing. 00:33:47.920 --> 00:33:51.200 So the eye can say to the ear, I don't, you're not one of us, right? 00:33:51.440 --> 00:34:02.720 Uh uh Mahatma Gandhi said, our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization. 00:34:03.119 --> 00:34:07.599 Now, when you think about that statement, how did our civilization fare? 00:34:08.719 --> 00:34:10.239 Not very beautifully. 00:34:10.639 --> 00:34:12.000 Not very beautifully. 00:34:12.320 --> 00:34:14.880 How about our church? 00:34:15.119 --> 00:34:23.840 Can we be this beautiful community of very different people actually getting along, coming together? 00:34:24.400 --> 00:34:35.199 You know, another quote that I have is our our diversity of race, culture, and gender is to be celebrated as a picture of God Himself. 00:34:37.119 --> 00:34:37.760 Yeah. 00:34:39.840 --> 00:34:44.159 So what that means, I'm glad you're not like me. 00:34:44.639 --> 00:34:46.400 I'm glad you're different. 00:34:46.800 --> 00:34:52.880 I'm I'm I'm I'm glad my wife is a woman and and she's not like me. 00:34:52.960 --> 00:34:53.840 I'm married to her. 00:34:54.000 --> 00:34:55.440 It completes us. 00:34:56.079 --> 00:35:01.360 The same way in the church, the different the different people that God brought into his church. 00:35:01.599 --> 00:35:05.440 What a beautiful tapestry that God has woven together. 00:35:06.800 --> 00:35:09.039 Let's celebrate that, brothers and sisters. 00:35:09.840 --> 00:35:16.239 Let's and and you know, I'm I'm really proud of our movement of churches because we've been striving for this. 00:35:17.039 --> 00:35:25.280 One of the brothers shares, I don't know where he got these statistics, that he said that the ICOC is the most diverse church in the United States today. 00:35:26.320 --> 00:35:30.400 Which I I wanna I want I want to celebrate, I want to keep that up. 00:35:31.119 --> 00:35:34.559 And and obviously there's every local congregation. 00:35:34.639 --> 00:35:40.159 We have work to do and we have ways to go, but I'm so glad we're here and so glad we're doing it together. 00:35:41.599 --> 00:35:46.000 And I got another quote, I don't know where this comes from, but I love this. 00:35:46.079 --> 00:35:51.039 It says, I if I tell you I need you, do not take it lightly. 00:35:51.360 --> 00:35:56.320 I do everything I can to never have to depend on anyone, to never show weakness. 00:35:56.480 --> 00:36:02.400 And if I say that I need you, it means and I'm trusting you to catch me when I fall. 00:36:03.119 --> 00:36:08.079 Can we be that person for each other in our community? 00:36:08.400 --> 00:36:10.559 So today we talked about belonging. 00:36:10.880 --> 00:36:19.599