WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:00.640 Well, good morning. 00:00:00.719 --> 00:00:07.759 Yeah, so we uh as a church body, we've experienced a good amount of grief, a good amount of loss in the last year. 00:00:07.919 --> 00:00:14.560 Some of you, it happened in your immediate family, and you have faced an enormous amount of loss and grief. 00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:21.519 And those around have been witnessing this and a part of it that also have had that a taste of that loss. 00:00:21.600 --> 00:00:31.199 And so that's why I asked Pastor Matt to do these two Sunday evenings, one on the emotional journey of grief, and the second one on our questions that come up when we face suffering. 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:38.320 And those evenings in June are for you if you're in a place where you would like to come into that and process a bit. 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:39.520 We'd love for you to do that. 00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:43.359 Uh, we have an explore redeemer chat right after service in the student chapel. 00:00:43.439 --> 00:00:49.039 So if you've been around a little bit and you just have a couple questions, it's like a five, seven-minute chat I do with you guys. 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:51.679 Meet in the student chapel, just hustle straight over there. 00:00:51.759 --> 00:00:53.359 You can leave your kids and kids' ministry. 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:59.840 Um, just chat with you and get to meet you real quick if you're new to the church, and so that's uh there for you right after service. 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:02.719 We are studying our way through the book of Acts. 00:01:02.799 --> 00:01:05.599 This morning we'll be in Acts 20, and that's where our reading was from. 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:10.959 Paul has spent three years, three years ministering to this church in Ephesus. 00:01:11.120 --> 00:01:21.920 And as he leaves, right before he leaves, he gathers together the leaders of this church and he gives them one last message, parting words, last message. 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:24.159 So it's his chance, right? 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:27.599 It's his chance to say what matters to him. 00:01:28.239 --> 00:01:30.319 His last reminders to this group of people. 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:36.959 So I'll reread parts of this passage and we'll make some sense of it, uh, getting some guiding principles and reminders from Paul. 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:39.040 So Acts 20, 18 through 21. 00:01:39.120 --> 00:02:05.920 And when they came to him, so the leaders come to him, and he said to them, You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews, how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:09.039 So a lot going on in these verses, we spend a lot of time in them. 00:02:09.199 --> 00:02:13.439 But we are gonna pull out three guiding reminders that Paul gives. 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:16.719 Reminder number one is this truth and love. 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:19.280 This is what we're seeing Paul do with these people. 00:02:19.439 --> 00:02:20.240 Truth and love. 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:25.280 Healthy relationships are characterized by truth and love. 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:30.960 Christy and I were friends before we dated, before we got married. 00:02:31.039 --> 00:02:34.000 So I was in the dreaded friend zone. 00:02:34.319 --> 00:02:38.800 I think my great one of my greatest accomplishments in life is actually just getting out of that friend zone. 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:41.599 I will always have that as a great achievement that I did. 00:02:41.759 --> 00:02:42.479 I got out, right? 00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:51.840 Because I'm 22 years old and I'm wondering, this girl that I've been friends with all the way through high school and through college, can't that's a lot of friend zone foundation, right? 00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:53.840 I mean, can I get out? 00:02:54.080 --> 00:02:55.759 Can I get out of the friend zone? 00:02:56.000 --> 00:03:02.479 And I'm wondering in that process, I'm wondering, like, what is true about this girl? 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:07.280 Not what do I think, not what do people say about her. 00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:08.560 That's all great. 00:03:08.800 --> 00:03:19.599 But if I'm interested, like if I'm really interested, if I'm interested, like long-term, and I was like long-term interest, I wanted out of the friend zone and I needed to know the truth of her. 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:23.039 The truth about her heart, the truth about her person. 00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:28.639 Now I could make up a fake Christie and project it onto Christie. 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:31.439 We're really good at doing that in dating, right? 00:03:31.599 --> 00:03:32.400 That's easy to do. 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:35.919 Then you get married, you know, no, yeah, go through some counseling. 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:41.360 So I could do that, and I could even believe that. 00:03:41.919 --> 00:03:42.560 I could. 00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:44.159 That would be an option for me. 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:50.879 Even if it wasn't true, I could believe that I have the freedom, you have the freedom to believe all sorts of things that are not true. 00:03:51.120 --> 00:03:53.199 You have that option in life. 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:58.240 But me believing something doesn't make that something true. 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:01.360 Something is true, not because I deem to believe it. 00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:08.319 I can believe all sorts of lies, but it's not ultimately gonna lead to life and freedom. 00:04:08.560 --> 00:04:19.680 And my point here is this if you're planning to get to know somebody, if you're planning to get to know somebody, you have to know the truth about them, not just what you project onto them. 00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:23.120 And so we have to ask this question what's true about God? 00:04:23.439 --> 00:04:26.240 And in God's kindness, we can always look to Jesus. 00:04:26.319 --> 00:04:30.319 And in the scriptures, God gives us what's true about Him. 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:31.759 We get to discover this. 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:34.720 It's a revelation of God to us. 00:04:35.519 --> 00:04:38.160 And we study the word not to be loved by God. 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:43.439 We study the word to discover how God actually loves us and who He is. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:47.839 What's helpful, what's harmful, what's good, what's evil. 00:04:50.079 --> 00:04:51.920 Now back to verse 19. 00:04:52.399 --> 00:04:58.399 Serving the Lord with all humility, with humility and with tears and with trials. 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:01.360 That's what Paul was doing amongst these people. 00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:03.839 He's preaching truth, he's loving these people. 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:05.279 Truth and love. 00:05:05.680 --> 00:05:07.519 Last week I was in class in St. 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:08.160 Louis. 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:14.000 I'm earning my doctorate right now, so I was with 10 other pastors, and we're together for this week. 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:24.560 We spend all day together in class and we're discussing and talking, and the professors bring up issues and scenarios, and we're talking out, we're listening, we're doing presentations, we're sharing. 00:05:24.720 --> 00:05:27.680 And then every evening we had like a different group gathering. 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:28.879 We went to a Cardinals game. 00:05:28.959 --> 00:05:29.439 Here's a picture. 00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:31.120 This is the group of pastors I was with. 00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:32.480 There, I got the blue hat on. 00:05:32.639 --> 00:05:34.000 See me smiling there in my sunglasses. 00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:36.319 I'm at a baseball game, which, if you know me, that's a miracle. 00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:40.240 Then I'm at a baseball game because that's not my favorite place in the world. 00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:42.160 But we're having a great time together. 00:05:42.319 --> 00:05:43.600 It's just that it's slow. 00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:44.480 Can I say it? 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:46.000 Can I say that publicly to America? 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:46.720 I don't know if I can. 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:48.160 I probably shouldn't have said it. 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:52.160 And that game was slow, also, even with the, they're like, isn't the pitching clock great? 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:55.759 And I'm like, yeah, if we can get it down to about 10 seconds, let's get that thing going. 00:05:56.079 --> 00:05:58.319 So that's a group of pastors I'm with all week. 00:05:58.399 --> 00:06:00.399 So we're together all day. 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:01.920 I mean, it's a lot. 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:05.519 Like it's a lot, as an introvert, it's a lot of words. 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:08.560 I'm my word count's done at about 11:30 a.m. 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:13.360 And then I'm just trying to get through the rest of the day, curled up at night, trying to recover. 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:14.879 Surprised I can talk right now, actually. 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:20.959 No, I think about one afternoon, the professor takes us to Forest Parks, huge park in St. 00:06:21.040 --> 00:06:21.439 Louis. 00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:24.160 It's kind of like the central park of St. 00:06:24.319 --> 00:06:24.639 Louis. 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:26.240 Huge, beautiful, lots of land. 00:06:26.319 --> 00:06:31.920 And he just says, hey, take 45 minutes and just go wander around. 00:06:32.079 --> 00:06:33.759 Just go get lost a little bit. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:36.000 He said, just notice, notice things. 00:06:36.160 --> 00:06:39.040 Notice things that are beautiful, things that are peaceful to you. 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:40.240 Just 45 minutes. 00:06:40.399 --> 00:06:41.360 Just go and do that. 00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:47.360 And then after 45 minutes, take 15 minutes and journal and answer this question. 00:06:47.680 --> 00:06:51.120 As a leader, how do I want to be remembered? 00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:53.120 I've never really thought about that. 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:56.879 I mean, I've thought a lot about our church, but I've never really thought about like that. 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:02.079 So I sit down, 45 minutes, I'm wandering around, getting lost. 00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:04.639 Sit down. 00:07:04.959 --> 00:07:07.519 I write five words out pretty quickly, too. 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:09.120 It's kind of a good little exercise. 00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:12.720 You could do this for like being a parent or a friend or whatever your job is. 00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:20.319 And I wrote out the five words that came to me pretty quickly was gracious, faithful, caring, healthy, contemplative. 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:22.879 Not that I am all those things, right? 00:07:22.959 --> 00:07:24.240 Like that's not what the question was. 00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:28.079 Like it's just that that's the journey that I want to be in. 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:32.879 Then we come back together as a group, sitting around these picnic tables, come back together as a group. 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:34.240 We share them. 00:07:34.399 --> 00:07:36.639 Somebody makes a joke and we laugh and we laugh. 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:40.160 Somebody got into a little predicament while they got lost, you know, they couldn't find their way back. 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:42.000 So we're laughing, we're making fun of that guy. 00:07:42.079 --> 00:07:43.360 Like we're laughing and everything. 00:07:43.519 --> 00:07:52.879 And then the professor says, like, hey, now let's talk about like how do you, how do you cause problems with what you want to be? 00:07:55.759 --> 00:08:00.399 Like, how do I limit how am I limiting the very thing that I'm trying to do? 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:05.439 And that's where we start talking and get some tears. 00:08:07.439 --> 00:08:07.759 Right? 00:08:07.839 --> 00:08:15.040 So like the same group of people, I mean, within within five to eight minutes, laughing to crying. 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:18.480 This is what healthy communities do. 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:24.079 We can share an immense joy together, and we also can process sadness. 00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:30.079 And maybe you have a friendship like this, because you can go to lunch and you're laughing, and then you're crying, and then you're laughing. 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:34.080 I officiated a wedding two weeks ago. 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:37.679 It was outside, beautiful wedding, it was a beautiful day, beautiful wedding. 00:08:37.840 --> 00:08:40.480 This quote was read, Tim Keller quote. 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:44.799 Love without truth is sentimentality. 00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:51.120 It supports and affirms us, but keeps us in denial about our flaws. 00:08:51.440 --> 00:08:53.840 Truth without love is harshness. 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:57.519 It gives us information, but in such a way that we cannot really hear it. 00:08:57.759 --> 00:09:06.080 God's saving love in Christ, however, is marked by both radical truthfulness about who we are and yet also radical unconditional commitment to us. 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:11.519 The merciful commitment strengthens us to see the truth about ourselves and repent. 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:17.200 The conviction and repentance moves us to cling to and rest in God's mercy and grace. 00:09:17.679 --> 00:09:20.080 It's not a fearful repentance. 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:22.799 The truth is not fearful in that way. 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:25.679 It's a calling into the belovedness that God has for us. 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:38.960 See, as we grow more alive to God's love for us, we're more secure in our belovedness, as we're more secure in our belovedness, we can actually experience in healthy relationships both joy and sadness. 00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:41.440 Verse 32. 00:09:41.840 --> 00:09:43.279 Acts 20, verse 32. 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:50.720 And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 00:09:52.879 --> 00:09:57.279 Just these few verses, I'm like, we could have just broken this down, one sermon per verse, per verse. 00:09:57.519 --> 00:10:02.639 33, I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:03.759 Wow. 00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:10.000 You yourselves know that these hands minister to my necessities to those who were with me. 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:15.120 In all things I've shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak. 00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:17.759 And remember the words of the Lord Jesus. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:21.840 How he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:26.000 So, reminder number two, remember, this is him right at the end with his leaders. 00:10:26.159 --> 00:10:28.320 I need to give you the best things, the best things. 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:29.039 Truth and love. 00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:31.279 Reminder number two, generosity. 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:38.879 As we come alive to God as our heart's treasure, we come alive to the joy of giving. 00:10:39.759 --> 00:10:41.919 Not obligation, the joy of giving. 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:44.159 That's what Paul says, more blessed to give than receive. 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:45.759 Like you discover that. 00:10:46.320 --> 00:10:48.159 This is the story of Luke 18. 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:52.639 A ruler comes to Jesus, asks, What must I do to inherit eternal life? 00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:54.240 What makes me right with God? 00:10:54.399 --> 00:10:56.799 Jesus replies, Why do you call me good? 00:10:56.960 --> 00:10:59.200 So Jesus starts this little philosophical conversation. 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:02.240 Jesus' way of saying, like, hey, do you understand I'm not just a teacher? 00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:03.600 Like, I'm more than that. 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:06.639 And then Jesus says, Well, you know all the commandments. 00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:10.799 And the guy says, Yeah, yeah, I've I've kept them. 00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:11.679 Okay. 00:11:12.559 --> 00:11:14.960 Then Jesus says this, Luke 18, verse 22. 00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:22.399 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, One thing you still lack, sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:23.519 Come follow me. 00:11:23.679 --> 00:11:29.840 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. 00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:38.399 Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. 00:11:38.559 --> 00:11:43.600 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:47.200 Those who heard it said, who can be saved? 00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:51.200 But he said, What is impossible with man is possible with God. 00:11:51.440 --> 00:11:53.600 So this phrase, we've heard it before, right? 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:55.440 Easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle. 00:11:55.759 --> 00:11:56.320 It's an idiom. 00:11:56.639 --> 00:12:03.679 It's the same thing as saying, like we would say today, when pigs fly, a rich person can enter the kingdom of God. 00:12:03.840 --> 00:12:05.360 That's how we would say it in our language. 00:12:05.519 --> 00:12:08.399 The point's this we need God's grace. 00:12:08.639 --> 00:12:14.720 Like our performance, our wealth, none of that, none of that is going to get a relationship with us, with God. 00:12:14.879 --> 00:12:18.159 We actually need God to come toward us, his grace toward us. 00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:20.320 So this man has it all together. 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:23.360 This guy, but he's still wondering, right? 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:25.360 I mean, he has, he's could he said he's he's rich. 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:26.559 This guy's all together. 00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:32.639 He's wealthy, he's doing pretty good with the commandments, and yet he's still wondering, what must I do? 00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:35.759 See, that's what a performance life will always leave you with. 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:38.960 You're still asking, what must I do? 00:12:40.240 --> 00:12:42.960 And for that, Jesus goes straight to his heart. 00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:48.399 He goes straight to the one thing that this guy actually relies upon for saving. 00:12:49.200 --> 00:12:51.679 And Jesus says, give, give it away. 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:53.679 That's what you need to give away. 00:12:53.919 --> 00:12:55.200 You need to let go of that. 00:12:55.360 --> 00:12:59.279 Now, this isn't a call for all of us to let go of everything we own. 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:01.360 This is not a universal call. 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:05.759 This is a call for our hearts to not be owned by anything. 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:07.519 That's what this is about. 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:18.799 To be so lavished by the treasures of grace for forgiveness of sin, your righteousness, the very core of your identity that nothing can own you. 00:13:19.039 --> 00:13:20.639 Can you imagine that kind of freedom? 00:13:20.799 --> 00:13:22.080 That kind of wealth of identity. 00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:23.360 Isn't that amazing? 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:28.960 It's interesting that this man actually gets sad because he couldn't let go. 00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:35.840 See, to let go of an idol can feel incredibly dislocating. 00:13:36.159 --> 00:13:40.320 It can feel impossible because we're relying upon it so much. 00:13:40.799 --> 00:13:44.399 It can feel like your very foundation is gone, but it's not true. 00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:47.039 You'll be okay. 00:13:48.159 --> 00:13:55.440 You'll actually discover a secure identity rather than one that keeps making you ask, what must I do? 00:13:57.360 --> 00:13:58.639 A few implications. 00:13:58.799 --> 00:14:01.039 We've discussed these before when it comes to stewardship. 00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:04.000 This is the same thing I tell myself over and over again. 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:06.240 This is just kind of stewardship one, two, three. 00:14:06.399 --> 00:14:08.799 Same thing I tell my kids over and over again. 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:15.039 When it comes to stewardship, and this is much more elaborate online, you go to our stewardship article and you can read tons of Bible verses and all this. 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:21.600 But just real quick, number one, give joyfully in generosity, without greed, toward the church and the needy. 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:24.080 So we give, we save, and we spend. 00:14:24.159 --> 00:14:26.960 That's how you steward, that's how you steward the resources you have. 00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:29.519 You have a little bit or a little bit more or a lot. 00:14:29.759 --> 00:14:31.360 You give, you save, and you spend. 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:36.000 Number two, save responsibly without fear for future needs. 00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:39.840 So we're gonna save, but not with the fear, but we're gonna save for the future. 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:44.720 Number three, we're gonna spend appropriately without addiction for today. 00:14:44.879 --> 00:14:46.879 So spend for today, but without addiction. 00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:51.679 And Paul says, Paul says, there's a secret. 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:54.159 This is his reminder to them. 00:14:54.320 --> 00:14:55.440 There's a secret. 00:14:55.919 --> 00:14:57.679 I want you to know the secret. 00:14:58.159 --> 00:14:59.840 You're not gonna believe it at first. 00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:01.600 But Jesus said it. 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:03.679 It's more blessed to give than to receive. 00:15:04.720 --> 00:15:06.399 There's a freedom there for us. 00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:08.159 Verse 36. 00:15:08.799 --> 00:15:11.440 And when he had said these things, he knelt down. 00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:12.639 Right? 00:15:12.879 --> 00:15:13.759 I mean, get this. 00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:15.360 He's been with these people three years. 00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:18.639 These are his people three years. 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:21.600 He's about to leave them. 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:24.320 He knelt down, he prayed with them all. 00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:27.919 And there was much weeping on the part of all. 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:36.320 They embraced Paul and kissed him, being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken that they would not see his face again. 00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:39.120 And they accompanied him to the ship. 00:15:39.759 --> 00:15:45.679 Reminder number three is what Paul in this community is showing us in their example: vulnerability. 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:49.840 Devoted community is characterized by vulnerability. 00:15:50.720 --> 00:15:55.840 I mean, these people are weeping and kissing and embracing him, but they were gonna miss him. 00:15:57.120 --> 00:16:02.720 Being in a church means we meet together, we sing, we pray, we learn, we encourage each other. 00:16:03.039 --> 00:16:07.600 This is about knowing something about the core of somebody else and also letting yourself be known. 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:10.639 And that takes vulnerability. 00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:18.399 The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, he told a parable of porcupine's dilemma. 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:20.559 Here's the summary of it. 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:29.200 A number of porcupines huddled together for warmth on a cold day in winter, but as they began to prick one another with their quills, they were obliged to disperse. 00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:32.080 However, the cold drove them together again. 00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:34.159 And just the same thing happened. 00:16:34.240 --> 00:16:43.440 At last, after many turns of huddling and dispersing, they discovered that they would be best off by remaining at a little distance from one another. 00:16:43.759 --> 00:16:48.559 Now, here's a picture of Arthur, which I found fascinating because he kind of looked like a porcupine. 00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:49.039 Yeah? 00:16:49.279 --> 00:16:50.080 Saw that this morning. 00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:53.200 I was like, he just really embodied the parable. 00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:56.879 We know the dilemma. 00:16:58.000 --> 00:16:58.240 Right? 00:16:58.399 --> 00:17:00.159 We know the porcupine's dilemma. 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:01.919 We want friendships. 00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:04.240 We want great friendships. 00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:06.960 And then you were hurt. 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:10.079 Or you did, or you did the hurting. 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:15.839 And maybe you're here and like you're just friends with everyone. 00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:18.319 Like you can make you can make friends with a wall, right? 00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:20.240 Like, or maybe you're more introverted. 00:17:21.039 --> 00:17:27.680 Maybe you're more introverted and it's just like casual with many, but you're gonna have a really, really small handful that you can really be open with. 00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:29.440 That's fine. 00:17:29.599 --> 00:17:31.680 Like we have different personalities, that's fine. 00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:36.960 The point is vulnerability with God and with others. 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:41.759 That's how we see how deeply we are loved by God. 00:17:41.920 --> 00:17:44.559 That's how we experience it in the body. 00:17:46.559 --> 00:17:47.599 Just think about Paul here. 00:17:47.759 --> 00:17:55.359 Think about how he would have felt after three years with these people, and these people weep over him and hug him and embrace him. 00:17:55.599 --> 00:17:59.279 He would have felt unimaginably loved. 00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:05.200 But it didn't come without some intentionality, some vulnerability, and some risk. 00:18:05.440 --> 00:18:07.680 So, how do we become people like that? 00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:08.720 C.S. 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:11.680 Lewis writes, to love at all is to be vulnerable. 00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:15.680 Love anything, and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. 00:18:15.839 --> 00:18:20.880 If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give it to no one, not even an animal. 00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:29.359 Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries, avoid all entanglements, lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. 00:18:29.519 --> 00:18:35.440 But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. 00:18:36.160 --> 00:18:42.640 It will not be broken, it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. 00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:45.680 To love is to be vulnerable. 00:18:46.880 --> 00:19:00.319 Acts 20 teaches us in repentance that giving up into God's grace, we find a lavish forgiveness, full righteousness, justification for who we are with him. 00:19:01.599 --> 00:19:13.680 That lavish approval and acceptance, the wealth of that identity, that equips us, the Holy Spirit uses that, equips us into these reminders that Paul is talking about. 00:19:15.200 --> 00:19:19.039 Truth, tears, humility, generosity, vulnerability. 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:27.359 In other words, we could say it this way when you're too needy, you can't risk. 00:19:28.079 --> 00:19:29.440 And so you're limited. 00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:45.039 But if you know you're broken more than you originally thought, but more loved by God and Jesus you ever dared to dream, and that is so lavish as to the core of who you are, you have a security, you have a foundation. 00:19:45.599 --> 00:19:46.880 So you can risk. 00:19:47.039 --> 00:19:50.319 You will get hurt, but you can risk. 00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:52.000 You can be vulnerable. 00:19:54.480 --> 00:19:58.000 Somewhere about five years after Acts 20. 00:19:58.160 --> 00:20:00.079 It's about five years after this moment. 00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:02.960 Paul writes back to the Ephesians church. 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:05.279 That's that letter we get in the book of Ephesians. 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:11.359 So as we close, I want to read over you how he first addresses them. 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:14.880 But I want to do this as we pray. 00:20:14.960 --> 00:20:16.319 So let's bow our heads. 00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:31.039 And perhaps you're here and just as a posture of humility and a posture of receiving, you just open your hands there in the open their hands right in front of you if you're comfortable with it. 00:20:31.119 --> 00:20:31.519 You don't have to. 00:20:31.599 --> 00:20:32.559 That could be weird to you. 00:20:32.640 --> 00:20:33.359 That's fine. 00:20:35.039 --> 00:20:40.400 Heavenly Father, would you quiet our busy hearts with your love? 00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:54.880 Would you root us in into how lavish and secure the forgiveness and righteousness of Christ for us is that we are justified by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone. 00:20:56.960 --> 00:20:59.279 May we hear the words of Paul in Ephesians 1. 00:20:59.519 --> 00:21:06.000 Long, long ago, God decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. 00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:08.319 What pleasure he took in planning this. 00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:22.880 He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift giving by the hand of his beloved son, because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the cross, were a free people. 00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:40.640 Free of penalties and punishments, chalked up by all of our misdeeds, and not just barely free either, abundantly free, he thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. 00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:54.160 He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet Earth. 00:21:54.400 --> 00:21:58.799 Heavenly Father, we thank you for this lavish gift, the sufficiency of Christ for us. 00:21:58.960 --> 00:22:18.319 May it change us, heal us, transform us, into being the kinds of people that can live for you in humility, joy, tears, generosity, love, and vulnerability. 00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:20.559 I pray this in Christ's name. 00:22:20.799 --> 00:22:21.279 Amen.