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As long as we stay focused on where we're going, as long as we have a vision of where we're going, we won't get stuck in the mud. We don't get stuck in the mud. And so I just wanted to repeat and remind us again where we're going, what we're going after. And it's three points. And the first one, what do we want to be about?

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Worship.

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Passionate worship, right? We want to be a people of passionate worship. And how do we become a people of passionate worship? We know God. We know God, right? Because as we know God, as we see God, as we behold the beauty of God, our heart naturally, universally responds in worship. So worship isn't cultivated just by the getting good music and all the vibes and the lights and all these things, they might help, but no, worship is cultivated in the revelation of God, the knowledge of God. And how do we know God? We seek God. So in becoming a people of passionate worship, we want to be be a people who seeks to know God. Because as we've been talking through this series, if Jesus is both the creator of all beauty and the embodiment of all beauty, he is worthy of all worship. So we just need to see his beauty and we will respond in worship. What's the second point pillar we're going after? Someone said it earlier. Huh? Sorry. Formation, right? We want to be formed into the like-mindedness of Jesus, formed into the like-mindedness of Jesus. Jesus isn't just the beauty that we behold. He isn't just our Lord and our leader, the King and Creator of the universe. He's also our example that we live by. And Paul, throughout the New Testament, is jumping up and down saying, be fully formed into the full measure of Jesus, which is perfection or maturity. So we want to be like Jesus in what is the standard of maturity that we're we've we talked about through Philippians? It is the humility of Christ, right? So the humility of Christ is what we're going after. Being fully formed into his example that he gave us. And what's the third thing we're going after? We're going to be sent, right? We want to be sent. So that as a church, as a community, just going to remind us continually. Why? So we can stay focused on where we're going. We want to be a people of passionate worship. And how do we become that? We're people who know God. We behold and know the beauty of God. And in response, we respond in worship. Secondly, we want to be formed into the like-mindedness of Jesus, his humility, his example, his lifestyle, his character, his gentleness, his kindness, his generosity. His life is our standard that we're being formed into. And thirdly, we want to be a people sent into the community. Just wanted to kind of remind us as we feel like we're running where we're going toward. And with that, I'll pray and then we'll get started. But Jesus, we just thank you for this morning. Lord, we thank you for just the vision you give. And Lord, that um you're present both to reveal, Jesus, that we can be a people of passionate worship. And Lord, just continue to stir that in our midst. That Lord, we would be a people who love you, worship you, just are amazed at the beauty of God. And Lord, that our hearts, our emotions, our songs and singing are responding and worship. And Lord, just that we would just continually be formed into your like-mindedness. Internally we are formed before we externally are transformed. So, Lord Jesus, just transform us internally into your character, into your thoughts, Lord, that we could think in the humility of Christ. And finally, that we would be just sent as a people into the community. Amen. Well, this week we're in John chapter 10. John chapter 10, if you want to turn your Bibles and we're looking again at who Jesus is. The title I changed a little bit of this sermon is just the secure refiner, the secure refiner. Um, just as a little bit of background for chapter 10, in chapter 9, his disciples were traveling with Jesus and they see a man who was blind from birth, blind from birth. And they and his own disciples said, Rabbi, well, who sinned here? Did this man who was who's clearly blind from birth sin or his parents? A or B, right? We got two options. Either he sinned or his parents sin, right? Because he was born blind. The context of the of the thought at that time was that that sin translated directly into people's lives. So if there were problems going on, if the tower fell on the people in another gospel and they and they died, right? It was clearly a result of their own sin. The problem with this individual was he was born that way. So they weren't sure if, well, did he sin in the womb to be born blind, or was it his parents or something else? Where did the sin come in the line that directly translated into the pain that he was experiencing? And we might look at that and be like, that's absurd. That's crazy that they would think that sin directly translated into this person's pain or life. But I think in times we can also fall victim similarly, in that we can either see prosperity as as a as a as a blessing of God, or we can see our own problems as there's some sort of sin or or issue that is causing it. And David reflects on that in Psalm 73. He was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pains until death, their bodies are fat and sleek. You'll find the same of why is he struggling through in his righteousness through pain and suffering, because there is kind of a general sentiment that that people's prosperity should be dependent on their righteousness or their their sin is it would reflect in in their outcomes of the of the pain in their life, but that's not really the life that we are living in. Um there's a man by the name of Nick Vuychik, I can't remember exactly how you pronounce it, but the when I first started at Merrill, Merrill Lynch, he was just beginning kind of this the doing kind of motivational speaking. Somehow our director found found this guy online, had him come in, and he was just sharing his story. He was born without arms and legs, grew up in a Christian family, and for much of his life, through through like his his teens, he struggled with why didn't this happen? Why am I here? What is what is the point of my life? He was in great depression, he felt like completely pointless. He was like such a burden on his family, he was a burden on his friends, and he couldn't really function himself on his own. And he lived in this. Where was the problem? Why am I experiencing a life without arms and legs? Whereas other people don't, you know, other people don't. So there must have been some sort of issue along the way, whether with my parents, my grandparents, or even just me, he even asked his mom in the story that he was giving of like, why didn't you like abort me along the line along the way? You know, this is a painful experience for all of us through the through that journey of his life, eventually in his own faith of within Jesus, reflecting the gospels of Jesus and just the pain of life. He had a massive shift. And he he has this quote that's pretty famous for you if you can't get a miracle, then become one. If you can't get a miracle, he's praying for a miracle, new arms and legs. He's like, then become one. And then he started doing motivational speaking, and now he's become this kind of global phenomenon. Um, companies around the world hire him, he's been on all the TV shows. Um, and basically his point is that life can still be good, and there is purpose in his life, and but he he went through the similar struggles of in his early teens of what where was the sin that caused this to happen to me? Why am I experiencing this when others don't? Jesus answered, No, it was not that this man sinned or his parents. Your A and B both are wrong. It was not his sin or his parents' sin, but it was that the works of God might be displayed in him, the works of God might be displayed in him. If you remember the rest of the story, Jesus spits in the dirt, anoints his eyes, he tells him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. And from there, they send him. And once he could see, he was obviously very excited. He had never seen anything in his life. Apparently, there are several of the other blind healings they could see earlier. But this one, he never saw anything. And for the first time in his life, he's seeing, so obviously he's very um animated and excited. So they send him to the Pharisees. And he, throughout the rest of chapter nine, he has this conversation with the Pharisees of this man, Jesus has healed me. And they're they're struggling, saying, No, we follow Moses, you're following this man, Jesus. You can see in the painting, the Pharisees are on one side kind of criticizing or condemning of what is happening. And at the end of that argument, the Pharisees reply to him, they answer, they're frustrated with him. You were born in utter sin, and you would teach us, you're the you're the one born in sin. Clearly, you're born by, and you would teach us. So they cast him out. And from that context is where we start in John chapter 10, where Jesus responds, Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by this door is the shepherd of the sheep. Clearly, at the beginning, he is referencing the Pharisees, who they did not enter the sheepfold by the door, but they were thieves and robbers. He's saying only those who enter through the door of Jesus is or is the shepherd of the sheep. And I think it's it's helpful. Sometimes we can kind of reflect on the Pharisees, and it's like, okay, they were corrupt in all their views, and they were they were blind guides and they were thieves and robbers, and they were stuck in this place that sin directly translated in people's lives. So this man was born in utter evil, you know, these these Pharisees were thinking, because he was born blind. Jesus is saying, no, be that they are thieves and robbers. But the reality is that we we're we're we're told throughout the New Testament that false shepherds or blind guides can confuse us continually, even in the church. In 2 Timothy, uh Paul writes, the time will come, it's probably today, if it hasn't come before us, when people will not put up with sound doctrine. The time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. And so often we blame the shepherds, that it they are the ones that are the problem, the false shepherds, the thieves, and the liars. Paul is saying, well, actually, it's the people finding the shepherds to itch the ears. They're they're finding the one, they're they're refusing the sound doctrine or the truth of gospel, and they're finding the people that speak the things that they want. So we're just we we could kind of blame it on the Pharisees of like, well, they might be the bad shepherds, but also all we could have the potential to look for the bad teachers just to find itching ears. Jesus continues in verse nine, but he says, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. This abundantly, and the Greek is extraordinary or bounding, or it's an excess in overflowing, this abundant life that Jesus promises. Oftentimes I've heard this preached and I've heard this in conversation, Bible study. Generally, we think of this abundant life, at least I do, right? Of just a girl and all the flowers, you know, and she's in a field that's so free, and everything is blissful and safe. Or I often think of abundant life as this beautiful house in Crestbuch, right? I know what the abundant life is, and we don't necessarily always say this, but I've been in enough Bible studies where it's implied, where the abundant life looks something like that. You know, Jesus promised, I promise you the abundant life. I promise you the uh life in excess, right? It's it's in abundance. My good friend uh not even that long ago called called me and we were talking through this, and he was like, I'm just seeking that was his quote quote, I'm seeking the abundant life. I'm like, well, what do you uh mean by that? Because that can mean several different things. Is it the house in crest to or is it what Jesus is implying? Because I think the the struggle we sometimes find when we begin to follow Jesus with this promise of abundant life is that our Christian life looks more like this, right? We got we got our armor on, we feel like this is dirty, we have their swords out. It doesn't look as much like you know, this crested beautiful life necessarily. It feels sometimes more like this. So, what is Jesus getting at? That if if this life were we're putting on this armor that's heavy and weighty and carrying this sword, how is that the abundant life? And I think the part of the the answer is that Jesus is secure, not safe. He is secure, not safe. And by that I mean that if if I'm defining safe as avoiding all pain or hardship or any difficulties, right? That's how I think of safety. There is no pain, there is pure comfort, there is no hardship, there is no difficulties. And Jesus is saying, Come into my pasture, come into my pasture. And a lot of people, when we're thinking we're coming into Jesus' pasture, we're like, Great, it's gonna be safe. There's no more pain, there's no more challenge, there's no more difficulty. I'm gonna be in the safety, like the girl playing in the flowers of Jesus. But that's not, I think, what Jesus is saying when there is abundant life, he is secure, there is security in his pasture, there is security in his guidance, in his shepherding, but not necessarily safety. One way potentially look at it is it's like a roller coaster. We're secure, fastened in, right? We're we might not fly out, but but it feels a little bit challenging or difficult, or we're you know, our stomachs are going out all out of control. And and I think part of it is misdefining what life is. What is life? What is abundant life? What did we talk about a couple weeks ago? We mentioned a couple of times of what is eternal life. Jesus talks about it in John. What is eternal life? That we would know him, know the Father, and know Jesus, who the Father sent. So Jesus is secure, not safe, giving us abundant life and the knowledge of him. And just kind of in reflecting on what that means, why is it that Jesus is is secure, but not necessarily safe? I think one reason is we see in scripture that Jesus is refining us. Jesus is refining us. We read Amalachi, but who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he will appear? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, he will purify the Levites, which we know through through the New Testament. We are priests now, so he's purifying us, refining us like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men and women who will bring offerings in righteousness. So how does Jesus refine us by training us? In Hebrews, it says, My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, the discipline of the Lord, new, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastises every son whom he receives. Discipline here is th is in the Greek is more of a matter of training. It's the same word in Timothy that it's saying, Be trained in righteousness. The word of God trains us in righteousness. So it's more a matter of training. And how does he train us? He has two words here. One, we're reproved and we're chastised. We're reproved and we're chastised. Neither words are really the ones that we use very frequently, but reproving is just bringing to light the truth. So he's bringing to light the truth. Tim Keller wrote a great book on the meaning of marriage. He talks about marriage, the value of marriage is bringing to light the truth of ourselves. That as single people, sometimes we don't see. You know, we don't see, we don't understand. I can live in my own bubble, in my own world. When you're that well known in marriage, he's it's a reproving, bringing to light ourselves so that we can be further sanctified. So his whole point and meaning of marriage is to be sanctified, and the spouse helps bring to light who we are. There's reproving it, but but here clearly it's not required to be married and being reproved because the Lord can bring to light who we are, bring or expose the truth of ourselves. And secondly, he chastises, he chastises, which is a challenging kind of verse in a lot of ways, because the chastise, it's the same word that we that when Paul or when Pilate flogged Jesus, he chastised them. It's it's it's a beating, it's a flogging, it's a punishment. It's it is Pilate flogging Jesus, and it's saying the Lord disciplines, He trains, He trains in righteousness those of us who He loves. How? By chastising every son whom he receives. There is some element, it is somewhat confusing, but it continues: it is for discipline or training in righteousness that we endure this reproving and chastising. God is treating you as sons. For the moment, all training seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. It is for discipline, oh yeah, trained by it. Um, so Jesus refines us by training us. And how does he train us? Partially, at least, through hardships. Paul writes in Romans, we glory in our sufferings. The word here is a matter of being a hardship or distress. It's being really the word is being internally squeezed or crushed. It's the same word that in the in the in the when in Revelation is talking about the great tribulation. The great tribulation, he's saying we glory in our being squeezed. Why? Because we know that suffering produces perseverance and perseverance, character and character hope. So Jesus refines us by training us, often through hardships, and we read in Peter, and all kinds of trials. And all this you greatly rejoice. Though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief and all kinds of trials. It's such an interesting phrase. All kinds of trials, all kinds of temptations, all kinds of struggles, because he doesn't define what those are, what those trials are. The suffering grief is being internally distressed, emotionally sad, sorrowful, overwhelmed. We are suffering in all kinds of ways. And these trials are generally personalized. What devastates one person may leave another untouched, and what God and God customizes or can customize trials. Um and what do these look like? Maybe it's just everyday pressures, um, including loneliness or financial loss, or maybe even difficult moral choices, or maybe it's a life plan that is crushed, or enduring teenagers that. Challenging or facing workplace friction or loss of a friendship? These have come, he continues, so that the proven genuineness of your faith, of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire, may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. So why is the is the abundant life of crest a beautiful house, which is fine for those who have it? But that is our if that is our ideal vision of the abundant life, why does that sometimes not meet the meet the reality of our life with God? It's because I think we're missing what God is calling in us into of the abundant life of knowing Him. And He refines us by training us through hardships and all kinds of trials. But I don't think that He necessarily causes the hardships or trials typically, but he uses hardships and trials to train us in righteousness. I mean it just in reflecting on why is that? You know, kind of what is the what why would that be the case? That he's using hardships and trials to train us in righteousness or refine us in this life, I think at least partially Paul gives us kind of a window into it of the why we are refined, that more may know the salvation in Christ, that more may know the salvation in Christ. Corinthians Paul writes, For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, the sufferings of Christ. This is the same distressed or the being internally squeezed or crushed that we saw in Romans. We share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ. So also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed or internally crushed, it is for your comfort and salvation. So we are refined that more may know the salvation of Christ. What did that look like in Paul's life? He tells us later in Corinthians, in great endurance and troubles, hardships and distresses, and beatings, imprisonments, and riots, and hard work, sleepless nights and hunger, and purity understanding, patience and kindness, in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love, in truthful speech and in the power of God, with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and the left, through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report, genuine, yet I'm regarded as an imposter, known yet regarded as unknown, dying, yet we live beaten and yet not killed, sorrowful yet always rejoicing, poor yet making many rich, having nothing and yet possessing everything. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one, three times I was beaten, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and day in the open sea. I have been constantly the move. I have been in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from fellow Jews, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the country, danger at sea, danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep. I've known hunger and thirst and have gone without food. I have been cold and naked. Beside everything else, I face the daily pressure of concern for all of the churches. Clearly, when Paul is calling us into the abundant life, it's hard in the vision that we imagine of the abundant life, the American drink. It's hard to imagine Paul is living that. That is the most difficult, challenging, painful life. And he's saying he's bearing in his own flesh the sufferings of Christ. Why? He gives two sides. One, there is a refining through through suffering and pain, but also in that refining, God uses it to reach more people. And he's saying he rejoices still. I was reading his biography last night, or last week, of just kind of reflecting on this sermon. David Brainerd was a man who lived at the time of Jonathan Edwards, and he became a missionary to the Native Americans. He was kind of very bold at the time. He was going to go out and boldness, a missionary to the Native Americans. There was a there was still hostility. It was a very bold move. And he he wrote journals. He was not effective at all in all of his missionary travels and journals, journeys. But he wrote journals. The end of his life at 29 years old, he lived with Jonathan Edwards. Jonathan Edwards published all his journals, and that later became super influential in William Carey's life and several others. But why, and he kind of became the heart of the mission of the movement much later. But this just kind of was a quote that kind of reflected who he was. But he had a most fervent wrestle with the Lord tonight for my enemies. I mean, I hardly ever want so long to live for God. At that time, he was considering the enemies, right? These Native Americans, there's hostility, whatnot, and to be altogether devoted to him. I wanted to wear out my life and his service and for his glory. William Claire Carey later read his journals and essentially based his life, David Brainerd's vision and his calling and his journals of giving everything for the gospel, no matter how painful, how challenging, how difficult, how much it costs, he's giving everything he is for the gospel, right? William Carey is known as the father of modern missions because he he came to the conclusion, but not exclusively, but in a time with several of the guys, that the Great Commission is actually a command to us, which was kind of novel at the time. William Carey and these others say, no, actually, this is a command of Jesus given to us. And he found David Brainerd's journals and he said, you know what? I'm not going to chase what England would call the abundant life. I want to chase the abundance of life in knowing God and giving my life through pain, hardship, toil, um, that David Brainerd demonstrated in going to the nations. And he he became, again, this father of the modern mission movement and stirred kind of this movement of people going around the world. So combining all these, Jesus refines us by training us in righteousness, often through hardships and all kinds of trials. And we are refined that more may know the salvation in Christ. Another David Brainerd Coil. I had no notion of joy from this world. I cared not where or how I lived or what hardships I went through, so that I could but gain souls to Christ. C.T. Studd was later a shortly after William Carey. He was a man known in a group known as the Cambridge September. And they are very influential guys, differently connected at Cambridge, in England, all came from status. C.T. Studd was like the supposedly the best cricket player in the world. But his family came from wealth. And at that time, these seven guys got together, started listening again to the David Brainers and the William Carey's. And the seven of them committed, we're going to take the gospel and go to China with Hudson Taylor. We're going to go and meet Hudson Taylor. And it was wildly impactful in England. Why? Because these were the people living the abundant life. They were living in riches and wealth and power and status. And at England, it was very strisfied at that time. They were very educated, they were very smart, they're the top of their class. These seven guys said, you know what? We're giving it all up so we can go to China. Because we believe in a different vision of this abundant life that it is actually in knowing God. The CT stud had this quote: some wish to live within the sound of church or chapel bell. I want to live, run a rescue shop within the yard of hell. A year after those seven guys went out to join China Inland Mission in this country. There's something called a student-led mission movement. Whereas again, it was college students, which at that time, these were the best and the brightest in the country, well trained, that they collectively, like hundreds of them, committed their lives to take the gospel to the nations, committed their life to taste the gospel to the nations. And again, it was a cultural shift of like, what is this abundant life that we are seeking? Jesus is the secure refiner, the secure refiner. And I think there can be this kind of confusion of what he is inviting us into when we are choosing to follow Jesus. Yes, there is security, but it's not necessarily safety. And he refines us often through challenges or hardships. And what is that refining for or unto? It's that more people could know him. And with that, that is the question I will leave us with. Are we seeking to live a safe life? Or are we secure in trusting in our commitment to Jesus, not avoiding pain or hardship, but trusting that he is the good refiner to train us in righteousness through whatever hardship may come, that he is the one that we know we are secure in and with, and that through his refining, um, he can use us, filling up in our own flesh, as Paul says, what is lacking in the death of Christ, which is another what is another kind of long theological text, but filling up in our tech in our flesh the the pains of Christ so that more may be reached. So that's my hope for us, I guess, as a community, that we don't just seek to live safe lives, but we live secure lives in Jesus, trusting that he's refining us through yeah, through his means of training and discipline. Um with that I will pray. Lord Jesus, we do just thank you, God, that Lord, there is safety, that you are the good shepherd. And Lord, there, Lord, we are eternally secure and you're good, and we can trust you, Lord, and that um your refining is always good. And Lord, that we would welcome it. And as throughout several letters, Lord, we're told to rejoice in it, Lord, because it's producing perseverance that produces character. And Lord, just that you would give us, grant us that perseverance and just that hope in the character, that hope does not disappoint. And Jesus, that um Lord, we would be a people willing to move beyond what is just safe or what is told to us as the abundant life. But Lord, we would know on the true vision of what is what is the eternal life of abundance. And Lord, we would just yeah, find comfort and joy and rejoicing in that, Lord. We thank you, God. Amen.