SPEAKER_00: Would you join me in prayer just once more as we go and pray to him in that powerful name?
SPEAKER_00: This is the one, the name that gives us access to the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Without him, we would not have.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we thank you so much for the grace that you have shown us in this life so many ways that we cannot possibly count, measure, quantify.
SPEAKER_00: The greatest, most memorable and life-changing of which is that we have been placed in Christ if we've accepted him, and he in us, and we in you.
SPEAKER_00: What a wonderful opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: What a wonderful name.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, Yahshua, Jehovah's Salvation, He is our Savior.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing can stand against Him.
SPEAKER_00: Father, as we prepare to open up your word, we ask that you would just enlighten our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Lord help me to stay focused in on what you would have to say to us.
SPEAKER_00: And mercifully, Father, speak today.
SPEAKER_00: We pray this in Jesus' name, and everyone says, You may be seated.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, Ephesians 4 is where we're going to be today.
SPEAKER_00: And in fact, we're going to be there for a couple of weeks, three or four.
SPEAKER_00: Kiddos, you are dismissed.
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
SPEAKER_00: Go have a great time.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians chapter 4 is where we're going to be for the next few weeks in this series.
SPEAKER_00: We're calling it axioms, and you'll find out why here in just a few minutes that that title was chosen.
SPEAKER_00: But the theme is essentially this.
SPEAKER_00: We all live life by principles that we hold to be true.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not even like you can identify those principles or I can name those things.
SPEAKER_00: Tim Keller refers to them as unthoughts, thoughts that we all believe, but at the same time, we can't really name them.
SPEAKER_00: They're just sort of like the, if you know anything about programming, they are the kernel, they are the core code of what makes us who we are.
SPEAKER_00: And we don't even have to question these beliefs.
SPEAKER_00: They just operate in our culture.
SPEAKER_00: Some of them will seem very familiar to you.
SPEAKER_00: Here's one.
SPEAKER_00: Follow your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Just follow your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Now we don't know what that means because it's your heart.
SPEAKER_00: And the truth is you don't know what that means either, because, well, the reality is your heart changes and how you feel about things change depending on, you know, subtle aspects of life like what you ate last night.
SPEAKER_00: But still, this is a key axiom, a key point, a key unthought of our age.
SPEAKER_00: Here's another one.
SPEAKER_00: Live your truth.
SPEAKER_00: Now you live your truth the way you want to live your truth.
SPEAKER_00: And that works out just fine until until your truth says that you believe that you have a right to my stuff.
SPEAKER_00: And then your truth is going to clash with my truth.
SPEAKER_00: And that's a problem because at that point I don't want you living your truth.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want you living your truth if it causes me not to be able to live my truth.
SPEAKER_00: And so in this world, that maxim doesn't work either.
SPEAKER_00: Um, here's a third one that should be very familiar to most of us.
SPEAKER_00: If it feels good, just do it.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I know you may think to yourself, although people don't actually believe that one, but no, they do.
SPEAKER_00: This is the ethic of the age.
SPEAKER_00: Yovel Noah Harari has said as much in his writings as well as in uh several recent interviews.
SPEAKER_00: And if you know anything about his influence in the world, specifically in the secular idea uh where uh moralism comes from, his book, Homo Deus, just spells it out.
SPEAKER_00: And it really is this idea at this point of information, what we know.
SPEAKER_00: And if it feels good, then go do it.
SPEAKER_00: Now, of course, how many of you know that that doesn't work well with cheesecake, right?
SPEAKER_00: You if it feels good, you maybe you shouldn't do another slice, right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if if it feels good, you should not do it because it may not feel good later.
SPEAKER_00: But these are key unthoughts of our age.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the fourth unthought.
SPEAKER_00: It is uh judge not.
SPEAKER_00: This is one of my favorites here because it is the Bible verse that like everyone knows.
SPEAKER_00: Are we skipping here?
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna work this thing out.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're just gonna do this here.
SPEAKER_00: All right, here we go.
SPEAKER_00: Trust me, it's there.
SPEAKER_00: Judge not.
SPEAKER_00: Don't judge me for the slide.
SPEAKER_00: Judge not.
SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, this is everyone's favorite verse, right?
SPEAKER_00: Everyone wants to believe that you should not be able to judge.
SPEAKER_00: The only thing that you are allowed to judge is people who judge.
SPEAKER_00: And for some reason, that's the exception to this rule.
SPEAKER_00: I guess the point I want to make here is that these axioms, these maxims don't work in this world because this world was not designed to work this way.
SPEAKER_00: And so, what I want to do is to show you some axioms, some maxims over the next four weeks or so that Paul gives us to consider in light of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Now, of course, we just celebrated the resurrection last week, and so I thought this was perfectly fitting.
SPEAKER_00: That having examined the crucifixion in great detail and having celebrated the resurrection and what it means as a capstone to the resurrection of Jesus, that we spend some time looking at the implications of that because the death of Jesus matters today.
SPEAKER_00: Let me let me do that again.
SPEAKER_00: The death of Jesus matters right now.
SPEAKER_00: Here's another one for you.
SPEAKER_00: The resurrection of Jesus matters right now, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it makes a difference for how we live our life.
SPEAKER_00: And that's really the whole point of Ephesians 4 and onward.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what's happening in the book here is that for the first three chapters, Paul has taught the Ephesian church, he's reminded them of what he preached to them while he was with them, that Jesus died for their sins, that they were dead, they were disobedient, they were completely uh uh destroyed by sin.
SPEAKER_00: And yet in that state, we have this but God moment where God shows his love towards us in that while we were sinners, Jesus died for us.
SPEAKER_00: And for this reason, it is through faith, by grace, that we have been saved, not of anything that we can do.
SPEAKER_00: It is a, it is his gift, it is his sacrifice to us, and the outgrowth of that is we are his workmanship.
SPEAKER_00: We become, we become the product of his hand, and anything good that we do is a result of the work that he has done inside of us.
SPEAKER_00: I don't do anything of any count without the working of Jesus in my life.
SPEAKER_00: And so after laying down that foundation, which is this very Pauline, this is what he did with his letters.
SPEAKER_00: He typically would start with Jesus, pretty good place to start, right?
SPEAKER_00: He would start with Jesus, and then out of that he would say, Because of Jesus, this is how you should live.
SPEAKER_00: So, like if you look at verse number four, you can see this real clearly in verse, I'm sorry, chapter four, verse one, Paul says, I therefore, that's what that therefore is there for.
SPEAKER_00: It's a hinge point saying, Hey, because of everything that Jesus has done for you, everything that you do after that should be different.
SPEAKER_00: But that's true, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: That that if the scripture is true, and the God who spoke everything into existence now lives within my heart, that power should change something of how I use my hands, my feet, my mouth, my mind.
SPEAKER_00: My skin should not be a barrier for the power of God.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus doesn't just live in me, he lives through me, or he doesn't live in me at all.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, Paul says things should change.
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul is going to say the maxims that we live by, the axioms that we live by, should be different.
SPEAKER_00: Now, before he does that, he makes a point to mention his context, where he's writing from.
SPEAKER_00: I, therefore, a prisoner of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Now, why would he mention this?
SPEAKER_00: Is he just trying to drop a moment of pity?
SPEAKER_00: This is something the Greeks would do in rhetoric.
SPEAKER_00: They would try to appeal to pity, saying, Oh, shouldn't you do what I want you to do because poor little woe is me?
SPEAKER_00: If you know anything about the apostle Paul, you know this is not his way.
SPEAKER_00: Paul was not a poor, pitiful uh woe is me kind of guy, like he stood on the promises of Jesus even when he was chained to the floor.
SPEAKER_00: He is acknowledging or outing or stating his state of life because he's about to ask the people to do something that's very difficult to do.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul is saying to them, I know this is hard.
SPEAKER_00: Being in prison unfairly, unjustly, having your rights taken away must be of amongst the most infuriating experiences in human life.
SPEAKER_00: Most of us in here will never know that level of frustration.
SPEAKER_00: But you can imagine, if you try hard enough, what it must be like to be confined, to be restricted, to be punished for something you did not do, or worse, because you did something good.
SPEAKER_00: It's not fair.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's what you tell your kids, right?
SPEAKER_00: That's what you tell your grandkids.
SPEAKER_00: If you want fair, you've you're in the wrong reality.
SPEAKER_00: This is not where fair happens at.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul is pointing this out because he's about to urge them.
SPEAKER_00: Look back at verse one with me.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I urge you.
SPEAKER_00: It's the same word uh where we get our word called.
SPEAKER_00: Literally, the verse should read, I call you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.
SPEAKER_00: You think Paul's trying to make a point here?
SPEAKER_00: That you've been called to something.
SPEAKER_00: I'm calling you to live by your call.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is of course, is not the first time Paul has used the word call in Ephesians.
SPEAKER_00: He begins in Ephesians chapter 1, where he talks about the call of God, that you have been called to a new way of life, that you've been called, you've been chosen, you've been elected by the Father.
SPEAKER_00: And so, having nailed that down in the first three chapters, Paul says, because you have been called, because this life-changing experience has occurred, you should walk in accordance with the call that God has called on your life.
SPEAKER_00: Living with Jesus in your soul should change things.
SPEAKER_00: Now, of course, you're probably asking yourself, well, okay, Major, if that's true, then why does Paul need to urge us to do anything?
SPEAKER_00: If the call has that kind of force and that kind of shape on our life, then why is it that Paul, that any of us need to be urged or called to do anything?
SPEAKER_00: The truth is the answer to that is because we are disobedient, we are rebellious.
SPEAKER_00: And God in his providence, and this is a whole nother sermon, God in his providence allows us to experience the weight of sin and the consequences of sin as part of his perfect, beautiful plan and to let us walk slowly through the process of sanctification.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you recognize that that process of sanctification is much slower than you would like for it to be?
SPEAKER_00: I thought by 50 I'd have all this stuff figured out.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I would see people in their 60s and 70s, whenever I was in my 30s, and I'm like, they just got problems, man.
SPEAKER_00: They just, they just they just got issues they can't work out.
SPEAKER_00: But whenever I get to be their age, I'm just gonna be, I'm gonna have it all, I'm gonna have it all handled.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you, I don't?
SPEAKER_00: God has allowed me in his providence the slow process of sanctification so that along the way I never forget that every day, every day, every single day, I have to grope my way back to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Now, in response to this, Paul says, Try.
SPEAKER_00: Put forth the effort.
SPEAKER_00: This should be the priority of your life.
SPEAKER_00: I urge you to walk, not set.
SPEAKER_00: I urge you to walk, not run.
SPEAKER_00: I urge you to walk according to the calling to which you have been called.
SPEAKER_00: That is a high, high mark.
SPEAKER_00: And we're never going to get there, this side of life.
SPEAKER_00: Now, next, verse number two, Paul's going to drill down specifically what he's talking about.
SPEAKER_00: Because, like when I read verse one, I think to myself, what I expect to see is Paul say, to say something like, Walk worthy of the calling wherewith you, wherewith you you have been called.
SPEAKER_00: So therefore, go to church.
SPEAKER_00: It's good to go to church, but that's not where he goes to.
SPEAKER_00: Walk worthy of the calling with which you have been called.
SPEAKER_00: So therefore, read your Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's good, but that's not where Paul goes to.
SPEAKER_00: Pray, well, that's good, but that's not where Paul goes to.
SPEAKER_00: Uh serve, well, that's really, really good, especially if you want to serve in the nursery.
SPEAKER_00: That's really, really, really good.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not where Paul.
SPEAKER_00: That's next week's sermon, by the way, don't miss it.
SPEAKER_00: That's not where Paul goes to.
SPEAKER_00: Paul first goes to a place where we would not expect him to go.
SPEAKER_00: At least I wouldn't.
SPEAKER_00: Because for me, I think about my religious experience with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And well, it's all about, it's all about me and him.
SPEAKER_00: It's all about me and my relationship with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's a very Western way of understanding faith, that our relationship is personal and that's the priority.
SPEAKER_00: And indeed, your relationship is personal.
SPEAKER_00: You have a personal invitation from the God of this universe to become a personal child of his, and you must personally respond to it.
SPEAKER_00: That is absolutely true.
SPEAKER_00: But every bit of that takes place in the providence of God within community.
SPEAKER_00: Look at what he does here.
SPEAKER_00: The very first thing he says is he has a little think, comma here, he's a little interjection.
SPEAKER_00: He says, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.
SPEAKER_00: Man, I wish he didn't make this the priority of this point of walking according to the calling with which you have been called.
SPEAKER_00: Because people are difficult.
SPEAKER_00: Christians are no different.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, can I can we just be honest and say sometimes we're worse?
SPEAKER_00: Kim and I had the opportunity this past week to go up to the Ark.
SPEAKER_00: My first time going up to the Ark, I I got tired of being asked, have you ever saw the Ark?
SPEAKER_00: And me like embarrassed, like I'm I'm I'm the one kid who hasn't, you know, I'm not, I don't wear the cool shoes and be saying, No, I've never been to the Ark.
SPEAKER_00: So we went to the Ark, great experience.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, like any good uh theme park type environment, when you whenever you get to the to the end, you you know where they drop you out at, right?
SPEAKER_00: The the gift shop.
SPEAKER_00: So we're in the gift shop walking around, and there's all kinds of things happening in there, and it's crowded, man.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they should have built two of these boats, I'm just telling you, just side by side, two of them.
SPEAKER_00: And we're down in the basement in the bottom of the, in the bow of the boat, I guess is what you would call it.
SPEAKER_00: And uh I guess I guess boats don't have basements, but in the bow of the boat, we're down here in this gift shop.
SPEAKER_00: And um, and and so we're there and people are walking by and and like it's real crowded.
SPEAKER_00: And we stopped trying to be considerate to let the people coming this way pass us so we can go behind them.
SPEAKER_00: And as we walk by, this bitter woman says, Well, I guess people are just okay standing in the middle of the floor like that.
SPEAKER_00: And I thought, yeah, and I'm like, I'm trying to be a nice guy.
SPEAKER_00: Anyways, people can be difficult.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and I and and here I am, I'm like reading this passage, and at this, like I what I want to do is like turn around and say something like, Well, you know, we're just trying to be nice, or you don't have to be rude or some kind of thing, but instead, like the Spirit's telling me, you remember that that hum that that's that Ephesians 4, 2 thing you're about to preach this Sunday?
SPEAKER_00: You might want to think about that before you respond to her.
SPEAKER_00: People can be difficult.
SPEAKER_00: And before we move any further, can we just all recognize that we are people?
SPEAKER_00: Like I I hear I can be difficult.
SPEAKER_00: I I I don't I can't really point to anything in particular at this moment, but I hear, I hear I can be difficult.
SPEAKER_00: And so people people are are difficult and they need this with all humility, gentleness, with patience.
SPEAKER_00: If we are going to walk according to the call with which God has called us, Paul says, this is ground zero.
SPEAKER_00: This is the epicenter, it's how you treat one another.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Jesus said the night of the crucifixion.
SPEAKER_00: He's he said, Hey, listen, after washing their feet because they were all too prideful and arrogant to perform the task of the servant, the master takes off his robe, puts on a cloth for cleaning feet, and goes around and and does the task of a servant, and then turns to them and says, Do you realize what has just happened here?
SPEAKER_00: I can imagine every one of them are red-faced and embarrassed by the situation, but Jesus said, This was necessary.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know why what has happened here?
SPEAKER_00: If you're like I'm your master, and if I'm willing to serve in this way, then how much more should you be willing to serve in this way?
SPEAKER_00: And then he tells them to love one another.
SPEAKER_00: He says, A new command I give you, that you love one another.
SPEAKER_00: Which is a lot like the old command, that you love one another as you love yourself.
SPEAKER_00: That's the Levitical command.
SPEAKER_00: That's still a true command, that half the law depends on it.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus lays a heavier weight on this command.
SPEAKER_00: He says, A new command I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you.
SPEAKER_00: Boy, that's that's heavy.
SPEAKER_00: Man, I I I tell you, there are days where I gotta like I gotta pause and I gotta rewind and think, okay, how has Jesus loved me?
SPEAKER_00: How has he been patient with me?
SPEAKER_00: How has he been gracious to me?
SPEAKER_00: How has he been merciful with me before I take the step forward to respond to someone who has just said something just rude to me?
SPEAKER_00: Or I mean it's difficult.
SPEAKER_00: Here's Paul's remedy for that.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Paul says we should do be humble, be gentle, be patient.
SPEAKER_00: Now, these aren't three steps in a process, and they're not really three parts of uh three differing parts of one thing.
SPEAKER_00: You gotta have you gotta have one to have the other two.
SPEAKER_00: So let's take a look at these together.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says, be patient, or be humble, rather.
SPEAKER_00: Humility is, um, I think it's appropriately defined as our hot heart posture before God and towards others.
SPEAKER_00: Humility is our heart posture before God and towards others.
SPEAKER_00: It's how you think about yourself.
SPEAKER_00: What do you deserve?
SPEAKER_00: What is what is your right to have?
SPEAKER_00: What have you worked for to earn in your life?
SPEAKER_00: What title have you received and maybe been educated for, been trained for, got years behind you to earn.
SPEAKER_00: What what what right do you have?
SPEAKER_00: It's how we view ourselves before God.
SPEAKER_00: Who are we to him?
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know who we are to him.
SPEAKER_00: We are lowly and insignificant, and yet he is mindful of us, which means our worth and value doesn't come from who we are, but who has chosen us.
SPEAKER_00: Our value has come from the price that was paid for us in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That allows us to be confidently humble.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I was thinking of some biblical illustrations of what these three elements look like, and I could really do no better than David, King David.
SPEAKER_00: You remember King David whenever Samuel came and he anoints king and says, Okay, you're going to be the next king of Israel, and he he goes out and he does some valiant things, and King Saul decides he's going to sort of bless David.
SPEAKER_00: It was actually a back-handed attempt to get him killed, but I mean, nobody's perfect, right?
SPEAKER_00: So David, David is offered the king's daughter.
SPEAKER_00: And David's response is, Whoa, whoa, me?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm I'm nobody.
SPEAKER_00: And and and I'm supposed to have that kind of proximity to the throne.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be, I'm going to be the king's son-in-law.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't false humility.
SPEAKER_00: This is something that God placed in the heart of David and identified in the heart of David.
SPEAKER_00: This is why David was a man after God's own heart, because he had humility.
SPEAKER_00: He knew who he was before God and towards others.
SPEAKER_00: He knew he wasn't more significant, more important.
SPEAKER_00: He was just a he was just a dude.
SPEAKER_00: He was a he was a shepherd who, yeah, he had done some things recently, but he's he wasn't significant.
SPEAKER_00: He was humble.
SPEAKER_00: But humility has to go somewhere, right?
SPEAKER_00: So humility is what happens to us inside.
SPEAKER_00: Humility is is internal.
SPEAKER_00: When that humility works itself out, it works itself out.
SPEAKER_00: out in gentleness.
SPEAKER_00: Gentleness is how our how that heart posture causes us to act towards others.
SPEAKER_00: So humility is how we think about ourself before God and towards others in relationship to others.
SPEAKER_00: Gentleness is how that heart posture expresses itself.
SPEAKER_00: It's the cause, humility causes us to act in a certain way towards other people.
SPEAKER_00: And the idea here is gentleness.
SPEAKER_00: It's the idea that the proverb has said that it's a soft word will turn away wrath.
SPEAKER_00: It is a spirit that has itself in control enough to not blow the horn whenever a horn is warranted.
SPEAKER_00: It is the spirit of of the keyboard setting before you whenever you know you want to top on your phone or on your computer a response that would be very fitting because you have truth on your side and you know you're right and yet you decide to say something more gentle than bluntly honest.
SPEAKER_00: What causes that?
SPEAKER_00: Humility.
SPEAKER_00: You're recognizing we recognize that okay we're just children of God.
SPEAKER_00: And she's a child of God and he's a child of God and we're all equal sinners and yeah I don't have their problem.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to do their thing.
SPEAKER_00: I would never act that way but I do act some kind of way sometime.
SPEAKER_00: And I need to be gentle as well because I want gentleness for me.
SPEAKER_00: We recognize who we are and that promotes out of our hearts this action of gentleness.
SPEAKER_00: So gentleness humility leads to gentleness humility is what we think of ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Gentleness is how we express that humility and then finally Paul mentions the word patience here.
SPEAKER_00: Patience is what happens when that heart posture is tested over time and circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: You know it's easy to be nice to a person once or twice.
SPEAKER_00: It's easy to be on my best behavior whenever I've just met you.
SPEAKER_00: It's easy for me to like look over some stuff the first couple of weeks that we know each other.
SPEAKER_00: But the longer I know you and the more comfortable I am with you the more the more impatient I can become this is familiarity really does in this way breed contempt, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Because it's easy to be patient it's easy to be gentle with someone at the beginning but people who need a lot of time people whose circumstances are complex people who maybe are used to doing things a different way require a lot of patience.
SPEAKER_00: Humility is the foundation of everything.
SPEAKER_00: It's the foundation of everything because it's the opposite of what happens in the garden.
SPEAKER_00: What happens in the garden is Eve says the serpent says you can be like God, you can do your own thing and Eve and Adam they believe it at the beginning and that's that's called pride pride that we can be like God.
SPEAKER_00: I can do my own thing.
SPEAKER_00: And so the remedy for that is humility.
SPEAKER_00: And so humility is like a the foundation of a house.
SPEAKER_00: Gentleness is what extends upward out of that house.
SPEAKER_00: You you can't build in a place where the foundation doesn't exist.
SPEAKER_00: You might be able to candilever something out just a little bit ask Lynn he'll tell you all about that.
SPEAKER_00: You might be able to candilever something out just a little bit it can't go very far.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be close to that foundation everything is built on the foundation that's gentleness and so the roof would be like the patience.
SPEAKER_00: It is what weathers the storms of life as it comes down it's what guards gentleness and humility the foundation humility the walls gentleness.
SPEAKER_00: Patience is that roof that protects everything from the storm.
SPEAKER_00: So let's read this verse one more time.
SPEAKER_00: Verse number two with all humility and gentleness that's where it starts at right extends outward with patience bearing with one another in love.
SPEAKER_00: See we want to start there.
SPEAKER_00: We want to say oh I'm a loving person and I'm just going to grit my teeth and love him even though he acts that way I'm just going to bite my tongue and love her even though she does that thing.
SPEAKER_00: That takes a lot of energy and sooner or later you run out of energy whenever it comes to loving people.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody here with me?
SPEAKER_00: You've gotten awful quiet here is it am I am I on some toes right now?
SPEAKER_00: Like people are hard to love.
SPEAKER_00: And so bearing one another in love isn't the starting point.
SPEAKER_00: The starting point is Ephesians 1 through 3.
SPEAKER_00: It's Jesus it's experiencing love.
SPEAKER_00: It's experiencing patience.
SPEAKER_00: And out of that recognizing that because of what Jesus did and the fact that I brought nothing of value to him that means I must be humble.
SPEAKER_00: I must be humble.
SPEAKER_00: And that humility unless I just want to look like a fool must lead to gentleness because it would be very weird for me to walk around as a pauper of righteousness acting as as though I'm like the Jeff Bezos of doing good deeds.
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm broken.
SPEAKER_00: I'm humble humbled by the gospel which leads me if I reflect on it appropriately to gentleness and to patience which that allows me to bear to carry the weight of people's complexities in life.
SPEAKER_00: Now look at verse number three so that's the objective this is what Paul is saying we should do walk worthy of the calling with which you have been called which means humility gentleness patience bearing with one another in love.
SPEAKER_00: The objective the goal the end result of all of that is this look at verse number three being eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bonds of peace the idea of eager there is to be zealous like you're on edge like you're always watching for the opportunity to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace this is not what we're eager to do is it people are trigger happy they are eager to tell you what they think they are eager to tell you how you are wrong and they are right.
SPEAKER_00: They are eager to blame you for what for your problem right the your place in the conflict right we're eager to do a lot of things this is not easy to do but this is the end objective the end objective of all of this is to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace this is our goal and there is nothing ladies and gentlemen there is nothing that is more valuable in eternity than this right here.
SPEAKER_00: My ego, my pride, my struggles, my losses the things that I've paid taxes on you know I'm saying idiot taxes that have paid none of that is worth more than this here because this is the gift from the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Look at what he says here we maintain the unity of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: The idea there is that unity is not something we create here at this church.
SPEAKER_00: By the way thank God for you I mean I'm just so very grateful for the spirit of unity that exists in this church.
SPEAKER_00: And I know sometimes we disagree about things and that's fine.
SPEAKER_00: We need that tension we need we'll talk more about that next week but we need that diversity and we don't always see eye to eye but thank God for the unity of the spirit it is a gift.
SPEAKER_00: And I know for a fact having lived in certain situations and having pastor friends all over the country I can tell you unity is not always guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00: But where it is where it exists it doesn't exist because we are such great people.
SPEAKER_00: It exists because the spirit has given it to us this is why Paul says to maintain the unity of the spirit he doesn't say to create the unity of the spirit he doesn't say to manufacture the unity of the spirit to build up to the unity of the spirit I'm so glad that I'm not responsible for that.
SPEAKER_00: I maintain we're just maintaining the gift that the spirit has given to us this is exactly what Jesus was getting to in John chapter 17 I think we'll read it here in just a couple of minutes when he's he's he's he's talking about the paraclete the spirit coming and as part of that prayer Jesus prays to the Father would you make them one even as we are one and that brings us to the axiom of the day this is the first truth the first what I hope will become for us an untruth just something that we know to be true and everything like we don't have to think about it.
SPEAKER_00: This is just the this is the kernel the core the programming that causes us to respond the way that we should respond in Christ here it is peace with God requires unity with others.
SPEAKER_00: Peace with God requires unity with others.
SPEAKER_00: I've said this to you before in a more direct way I think it's true you can never be closer to God than you are to others.
SPEAKER_00: Kind of bites when you say it that way has a little twinge to it but it's true.
SPEAKER_00: This is exactly what Jesus meant whenever he's in in the in the uh Sermon on the mount he's talking about hey if you if you're out and you're in a line getting ready to sacrifice your animal to and give it to the priest to make atonement for your sin to help with the relationship that you have between you and God but you remember that your brother has something against you, you just leave that stuff there.
SPEAKER_00: You just turn around to the line behind you and say hey hang out one second.
SPEAKER_00: I'll be right back and you go across the courtyard wherever your neighbor is who has something against you you find them even that like they may have been the one who was wrong doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_00: Your unity with them is so important Jesus says don't bring that sacrifice to the don't don't even try to mend your relationship with God if you're going to let your relationship with a neighbor or or or an enemy hang out there loose.
SPEAKER_00: Now that doesn't mean that you got to be buddy buddies and go to coffee and open yourself up to all kinds of you know nonsense or violence and humility doesn't mean doesn't mean passivism.
SPEAKER_00: It just simply means in our heart we have to be reconciled to them to a place where where the hatred is something that is crushed by the love of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And that's a process at times right that is tough tough to do.
SPEAKER_00: That's why forgiveness is not a switch you flip and then walk away it's a constant piece of the process but it's important this this makes sense logically too doesn't it think about it this way let's say let's say you got a job maybe if you even if you're retired just hang with me for a second you remember back when you had a job let's say you went into your job and and every single Monday morning you showed up and did exactly what you were supposed to do when you were supposed to do it like you were obedient to the to the master to the boss you were the best worker he had and yet every single Monday morning whenever you came in you would turn to the the boss and you would ask him how his wife was doing or how his kids were doing but you didn't use their names you referred to them in the most derogatory the most dark the most wretched way possible you fill in the blank.
SPEAKER_00: But you walked in every morning and you referred to his wife in some horrific term or to her uh to his children in some terrible term how long do you think you would have that job when referring to his kids or his wife in that manner not long would you like what what if the kid came down and you know it's here's the boss and he's watching you and the kid comes in the store and you walk over to the kid and he comes walking by you stick your foot out and you trip him and he falls on the floor and you just laugh at him.
SPEAKER_00: Like you see what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00: Like that's not going to work for the boss.
SPEAKER_00: No matter how good of a job you had been doing your relationship with his children, your relationship with his bride is going to significantly impact your relationship with him and your employment there.
SPEAKER_00: It's the same way we can be as obedient as we want to be we can be the best employees that God has.
SPEAKER_00: But if we're always walking around talking talking trash about his children or his bride the church can I just tell you like that is not something God is going to wink at and say well you know what he does a good job for me.
SPEAKER_00: You know what she's actually doing a good job for me.
SPEAKER_00: He's not okay with us treating his children in a way that is violent.
SPEAKER_00: Now again I thank God that we are in an environment here where like that's not what happens but as your pastor as your friend like a man I want to protect what God has given us because we right if we here's the axiom again peace with God requires unity with others.
SPEAKER_00: This is exactly what Jesus said this is now John 17 John 1720 he says I do not ask that these be uh that these only sorry he says I don't ask for these only this big prayer that he's been asking but also for those who will believe in me through their words.
SPEAKER_00: Who's he talking about yeah raise your hand say me that's me I'm in I'm in John 1721 right there.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the one he like he if God is sovereign and omniscient he knew Major Dalton in this verse.
SPEAKER_00: And he's saying hey I want them to believe in the same way and I want them also to experience this and then look what he says here that they may be what's the next word that's what Jesus wants he wants us to be united.
SPEAKER_00: He wants us to be one and and and watch what he does next here because he has a particular way of saying this that helps us to know that the unity that we pursue is a lifelong commitment that they may be one just as you Father are one are in me and I in you that they also may be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me I could preach a whole nother sermon on the back half of that verse.
SPEAKER_00: I mean how powerful that is we are in him and he's in us how can we be anything other than one see the closer we get to the Father the closer we draw into him the closer we draw into one another.
SPEAKER_00: This is why whenever I do marriage counseling and I'm going to tell you like I don't know that I'm any good at it but whenever I do like my objective is to get people closer to Jesus because I'm just oblivious enough about this whole thing to believe if they get closer to Jesus if they draw in proximity closer to him they must by necessity draw closer to one another.
SPEAKER_00: That's true for us as well the closer we get to one another the closer we get to Jesus is the closer that we get to one another.
SPEAKER_00: This is exactly what Paul is nailing down here in Ephesians chapter 4 verses 4 through 6.
SPEAKER_00: Look what he says here he says there is one body and one spirit just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call one Lord one faith one baptism one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all see unity is an essential part of the Christian life it is the response the reasonable response of the calling of God on our life because of what Jesus has done for us you and I are called to be gracious and merciful to those who may not reciprocate at times.