WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:01.280 Good morning. 00:00:01.600 --> 00:00:05.839 Today's reading is from Ephesians chapter four, verses one to sixteen. 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:23.120 It says, I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:38.880 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. 00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:44.000 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. 00:00:44.159 --> 00:00:50.640 Therefore it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men. 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:57.600 In saying he ascended, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 00:00:57.920 --> 00:01:05.439 He who descended is the one also who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. 00:01:05.680 --> 00:01:34.159 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves, carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. 00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:53.200 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:54.480 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:54.560 --> 00:01:55.680 Please be seated. 00:01:56.159 --> 00:01:57.280 Thanks for joining us this morning. 00:01:57.359 --> 00:01:58.480 My name is James Rathman. 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:01.040 I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:05.120 We uh I have a couple of announcements before we get into our text for today. 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:10.479 Uh we're doing a book club on this book by Dane Ortland called Gentle and Lowly. 00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:12.800 We've met for the first time already, but it's not too late. 00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:17.919 If you want to join us for the second time that we meet, we're gonna be discussing the whole book, so come with the whole thing read. 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:26.719 And we'll be meeting on August uh 4th at 5:30, which is actually kind of close, which is crazy that August is close. 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:31.680 Um at uh so meeting at August 4th, actually we're gonna be meeting at 6 o'clock. 00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:32.719 Did it say 6 o'clock? 00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:33.280 Yes. 00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:35.039 At 6 o'clock here at the church. 00:02:35.120 --> 00:02:36.319 So join us for that. 00:02:36.560 --> 00:02:47.360 Uh also, if you'd like to become more connected at redemption, the main way that we do that and that we sort of initiate that connection is through membership. 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:52.560 So our church is structured uh really around church membership. 00:02:52.719 --> 00:02:58.080 It's something that we uh uh treat as central to participating in our church is membership. 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:00.479 So one of it it's so smoky. 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:01.599 Have you guys noticed that? 00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:04.960 So you're gonna hear a lot of sniffles today. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:16.479 Um so we are uh uh we we used to say like all the time, but then I stopped saying it, at Redemption Church Denver, we gather and we gather. 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:17.360 That's right. 00:03:17.520 --> 00:03:21.759 And we can actually still kind of say that with regards to the way that we gather still. 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:26.319 We gather large here on Sunday mornings, we gather small in elders' homes. 00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:30.960 Uh church members gather small in elders' homes once a month for a dinner. 00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:33.360 Uh we call those parishes. 00:03:33.680 --> 00:03:47.759 And uh each elder of our church is assigned to a parish, which is a group of members, so that members of our church are connected to church leadership, that as a church we get to know and grow in fellowship with one another. 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:50.479 And that's really what today's text is about. 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:53.199 It's about unity, unity of the church. 00:03:53.360 --> 00:03:55.599 How do we build that and foster it? 00:03:55.840 --> 00:03:58.800 So uh let's go ahead with that announcement. 00:03:58.879 --> 00:04:08.080 The way to uh begin to connect with church membership is just email info at redemptiondenver.com and we can kind of start helping you get connected. 00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:14.319 Uh there's a membership process, so it may not be like, hey, you just you know you just checked this box and you're a church member. 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:18.160 Um we're we're a bit more protective than that. 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:21.360 We're not super weird, but we're a bit more protective than that. 00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:28.879 And we uh oh yeah, so email us and we can get the ball rolling, basically. 00:04:28.959 --> 00:04:29.439 That's the point. 00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:30.399 Make sense? 00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:31.439 Great. 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:32.879 Let's pray. 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:44.560 Holy Father, we join with Paul in praying for unity of the church. 00:04:44.959 --> 00:04:52.160 Lord, we join with you in your high priestly prayer where you pray for the unity of the church. 00:04:52.480 --> 00:05:00.079 Lord, this is something that we bring before you, and it can feel foolish even to hope for a true unity. 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:03.279 Lord, it's not something that we see. 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:12.879 Uh, it's something that we can rarely point to in the history of the church, but Lord, we join in the hope that you will create this unity. 00:05:13.199 --> 00:05:22.959 Lord, we pray that we would see it at all levels, that we would see it both at our church level, the local body level, unity amongst each other. 00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:33.279 And Lord, we also pray that we would see it at the level of your church universally, Lord, at the denominational level, at all the ways that we divide amongst ourselves. 00:05:33.439 --> 00:05:35.439 Lord, we pray for unity. 00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:38.879 Lord, in your text today, show us how to pursue that. 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:40.639 We lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:41.519 Amen. 00:05:43.360 --> 00:05:56.560 Uh so we're at that point in one of Paul's letters where he makes the turn from discussing theology and laying a theological groundwork into discussing application. 00:05:56.720 --> 00:05:59.680 And this is the typical format of Paul's letters. 00:05:59.839 --> 00:06:08.480 He lays out the news in the first half of the letter, and then he'll make this turn and he'll say, Therefore, live like this. 00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:15.839 So the way that Christianity is structured is not live like this and then receive the news. 00:06:16.079 --> 00:06:17.360 It's the reverse of that. 00:06:17.519 --> 00:06:24.720 It's you receive the good news, and then in light of the good news, you are shown how to live. 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:29.680 So we live not as a way, uh it's the same shape that the gospel has. 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:46.240 We live not as a way to earn something before the Lord, but instead the Lord freely gives to us his righteousness, and then in receiving his righteousness and growing in our understanding of it, we are transformed into his image. 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:50.240 And so that we begin to live out of the doctrine. 00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:53.360 We live out of the knowledge that we've been shown in Christ. 00:06:53.519 --> 00:06:57.680 And Paul mirrors that principle in the very format of his letters. 00:06:57.920 --> 00:07:04.319 And so in Ephesians 1 through 3, we saw these glories that were promised throughout those first three chapters. 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:15.759 And then here in chapters four through six, we're going to see those one that wonderful news of our salvation in Christ applied under this question: how should we then live? 00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:17.519 How should we then live? 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:19.519 That's what we're looking at today. 00:07:20.079 --> 00:07:28.079 So we live particularly, it starts in the context of the church. 00:07:28.399 --> 00:07:36.319 And the central thing that Paul is advocating for and seeking to demonstrate here is a unity in the church. 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:48.160 That we are actually able to experience this unique type of unity that stands out against any other type of unity that we see in the world because it's centered on the knowledge of God. 00:07:48.560 --> 00:07:52.079 It's centered on Christ and what He has done for us. 00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:54.319 So we're going to see three things. 00:07:54.480 --> 00:08:01.839 We're going to see unity, and then we're going to see the giver of the gifts that support that unity, who is Christ. 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:06.720 And then we're going to see the diversity of gifts that support that unity. 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:16.079 So unity itself as a principle, and then the giver of the gifts that support the unity, and then the gifts themselves that support the unity. 00:08:16.319 --> 00:08:16.959 Ready? 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:20.480 Ephesians 4, 1 through 2. 00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:35.600 I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love. 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:41.200 So do you hear that turn that I was talking about right at the beginning of this scripture? 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:47.120 I therefore, look in light of all that I've just said, I remember my position. 00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:48.879 I'm a prisoner for the Lord. 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:55.039 I urge you to walk in a manner that is worthy of this calling. 00:08:55.519 --> 00:08:57.679 Paul is saying, look at all that I've shown you. 00:08:57.759 --> 00:09:07.360 I began this letter to you by saying that you have been given every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places by Christ. 00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:21.360 That you have been personally called, brought out of death into life by what Christ has accomplished, that he has prepared good works in advance beforehand for you to walk in them. 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:27.840 You are presented this beautiful picture of what it means to be united with Christ. 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:30.960 And that is your call as a Christian. 00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:35.840 And Paul says, so in light of this, walk that way. 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:40.799 Walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called. 00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:45.039 An analogy that I thought of is the first kings of Israel. 00:09:45.200 --> 00:09:47.120 So who is the first king of Israel? 00:09:47.360 --> 00:09:48.720 Bible challenge. 00:09:49.440 --> 00:09:50.480 Saul, right. 00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:58.159 So Saul is anointed by Samuel, and he's anointed by Samuel kind of in secret. 00:09:58.399 --> 00:10:06.080 And then there's a coronation ceremony where, all right, we're gonna bring you before the nation and we're going to present you as king before everybody. 00:10:06.240 --> 00:10:11.840 But if you remember the story, do you remember where Saul was when he was supposed to be at his coronation ceremony? 00:10:12.159 --> 00:10:13.440 Yeah, he's hiding. 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:15.519 It says with the luggage. 00:10:16.720 --> 00:10:18.320 So, so so weird. 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:25.120 It's like you're supposed to be king, and then Samuel's like, hey, man, what are you it's like quick, somebody find Saul. 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:25.919 I can't find him anywhere. 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:30.799 And he's like, Oh yeah, I was just checking, you know, Samsonite, you know. 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:37.440 And uh so here's the point with Saul. 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:40.000 He has been called. 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:44.799 Samuel anointed him and said, You are king. 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:50.000 And then he doesn't live in accordance with that calling. 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:57.519 He's been given the identity by God, and then he doesn't live in accord with it. 00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:01.279 Now, what does that ultimately result in? 00:11:01.440 --> 00:11:20.000 Well, Paul plunges the kingdom into a civil war, and there's this disunity that just spreads throughout his whole reign as king, and it's marked by this insecurity, an unwillingness to walk into the calling to which he's been called. 00:11:20.159 --> 00:11:21.679 Then consider David. 00:11:22.080 --> 00:11:25.440 David is also anointed by Samuel. 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:29.440 And David is uh anointed by Samuel, by Samuel. 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:33.279 He's told, you're gonna be king, you know, just as like a boy. 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:36.080 And so he has this understanding of his life. 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:38.799 All right, I am king. 00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:40.879 What did I do to be made king? 00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:41.360 Nothing. 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:43.200 I just watched the sheep. 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:50.080 You know, there's he didn't, he can't point to anything in him that would make him king. 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:52.639 All he can point to is God said it. 00:11:53.120 --> 00:12:01.759 So I need to live in the in the way that reflects who the the one who made me, how I should act. 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:11.200 So David is immediately marked by persecution by Saul, and he's fleeing in the wilderness. 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:13.440 But how does David begin to act? 00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:25.039 All of a sudden, there's just people that just form around David, and he treats them as though he is their king, and he leads them and he calls them into right action. 00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:27.679 He supports the integrity of his people. 00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:39.840 And so even when David is not officially coronated publicly as king, he is living out of the identity that he's been given by God. 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:56.399 And what happens at the coronation ceremony for David, the civil war ends, the northern and southern kingdoms are united, and there is peace in the nation of Israel. 00:12:56.799 --> 00:13:13.600 And so he wasn't, David wasn't able to say, look, I'm gonna live out as king because when I showed up, I made peace, I united the kingdoms, I, you know, whatever else he would say, I third thing because that's good writing. 00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:23.759 And instead, all he could point to was, my identity's been given to me by God, and so I'm going to live out of that. 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:37.039 We hear identity in Christ all the time, and typically the way we use the phrase identity in Christ is as like a therapeutic jujitsu when we feel bad about ourselves, right? 00:13:37.919 --> 00:13:43.600 And so it's like I'm feeling bad about myself, but I'm gonna stop feeling bad about myself because my identity is in Christ. 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:47.039 And that's the way that we use the phrase identity in Christ. 00:13:47.279 --> 00:13:59.039 Here, Paul is saying that your identity being in Christ, you know, you acting out the calling to which you've been called is a call to holiness. 00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:12.639 It is not a therapeutic jujits jujitsu, it is a statement which means true authenticity is to embody Christ's way of being. 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:15.360 You hear that as a Christian? 00:14:15.679 --> 00:14:22.000 True authenticity is to embody the way that Christ lived. 00:14:22.879 --> 00:14:31.519 So we think of true authenticity as to, you know, be be very proactive in laying bare how terrible we actually are. 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:37.919 And that can be useful because we need to honestly confess and honestly repent. 00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:47.679 But the truer authenticity is living in these qualities that are demonstrated by Christ. 00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:48.399 Why? 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:52.559 Because that is the heart of your identity. 00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:54.080 Do you see that? 00:14:54.320 --> 00:15:03.360 We we can think that like to pursue holiness is to start dancing on the line of hypocrisy because we know we're not holy, right? 00:15:03.919 --> 00:15:12.720 And so to pursue living in humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another is like dancing on the line of hypocrisy. 00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:15.759 But Paul is saying precisely the opposite. 00:15:17.120 --> 00:15:21.759 Walk according to the calling to which you've been called. 00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:23.519 Know it. 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:30.480 What could make something more true about you, that you've earned it or that God says it about you? 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:33.759 Look, it's the it's the last one. 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:35.759 It's that God says it about you. 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:38.799 That's what established the universe and its existence. 00:15:38.879 --> 00:15:42.399 You know, that's why there's heavens and the earth, that's why there's water separated from land. 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:49.120 And so the same one that says that gives you this calling in Christ and says, live like that, that's who you are. 00:15:49.279 --> 00:15:52.080 When you live like that, you're being an authentic person. 00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:54.399 And so, what are those qualities? 00:15:55.600 --> 00:16:05.519 With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love. 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:09.440 What does it mean to live like Christ? 00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:15.919 These values, especially humility, this this is like an extremely counter-cultural value when he's writing it. 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:18.639 We tend to think that humility is a good thing. 00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:20.320 Uh, it's kind of like hope. 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:22.240 We tend to think that hope is a good thing. 00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:32.080 But these were not valued until Christianity became the dominant, you know, background worldview for the for all of Western culture. 00:16:33.360 --> 00:16:39.120 Humility would not have been valued in Ephesian society. 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:41.759 What would have been valued was pride. 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:51.679 You know, humility is in the way, but this is what's what's being valued here is a posture of one who has just been humiliated. 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:56.639 You know, it is it is a lowly posture. 00:16:59.360 --> 00:17:02.480 So humility, gentleness. 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:04.799 What a strange value. 00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:10.000 What does it mean to live authentically that you're gentle? 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:12.640 I don't even really know what to do. 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:13.759 Like gentleness. 00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:17.519 We don't this is where is the value of gentleness? 00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:20.000 Anywhere, demonstrated. 00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:21.920 Like who's the like the Mr. 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:23.680 Rogers documentaries? 00:17:25.599 --> 00:17:26.720 Those were good. 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:33.440 Oh and yet what does it look like to live Christ-like? 00:17:33.519 --> 00:17:37.359 It's to be humble and gentle. 00:17:38.559 --> 00:17:48.000 And then to have patience, which means that we're living amongst people who will be typically frustrating to us. 00:17:49.440 --> 00:18:04.240 To be a part of a church is to be surrounded by people who you're what you're saying is to become a church member is to say, these are the people, these are the Christians in my life who will most particularly hurt me and let me down. 00:18:05.119 --> 00:18:12.559 It's like when you're getting married, you're saying, This is the person that I will fight with more than anyone else in the world. 00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:15.599 So, what does it require? 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:16.799 Patience. 00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:23.200 Patience and a bearing with one another. 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:28.319 Which means that there is an expectation that we will let each other down. 00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:34.160 These are insane countercultural values. 00:18:34.559 --> 00:18:42.880 This is when call when Paul is calling us towards unity, they are grounded in this way of being. 00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:46.319 What does it mean to live out the calling to which you've been called? 00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:47.599 It's humility. 00:18:48.480 --> 00:18:55.599 You could say, how could it be possible that it's humble to say that like I have the very righteousness of Christ? 00:18:55.839 --> 00:19:00.319 Well, it's humble to say because by faith Christ gives it to you. 00:19:00.640 --> 00:19:07.359 What's prideful to say is like I'm, you know, I'm self-created. 00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:12.960 And so what I say about myself is more important than what God says about me. 00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:14.799 That's pride. 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:16.480 All right. 00:19:16.720 --> 00:19:31.279 Now these values flow into and support this main pursuit of Paul's description today, which is verse three, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:35.519 What maintains unity amongst a people? 00:19:35.759 --> 00:19:45.519 You see, these values perfectly support that because what creates division, it humility doesn't create division, pride creates division. 00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:50.720 Gentleness doesn't create division, harshness creates division. 00:19:50.960 --> 00:19:53.599 Patience doesn't create division. 00:19:53.839 --> 00:19:56.720 You know, it's the opposite of pa impatience. 00:19:56.880 --> 00:19:58.640 We have a word, barely. 00:20:00.160 --> 00:20:02.319 Bearing with one another. 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:06.480 Bearing with one another doesn't create division. 00:20:06.559 --> 00:20:09.599 You see, this is what it takes to maintain unity. 00:20:09.839 --> 00:20:13.759 Unity in a people is an endurance sport. 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:26.079 Eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:35.440 How glorious it would be to see a church that embodies this. 00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:44.480 Humility, an expectation that we'll hurt each other and we'll just kind of come back. 00:20:45.279 --> 00:20:46.960 We'll bear with one another. 00:20:47.440 --> 00:20:50.799 People that just keep not getting it. 00:20:51.200 --> 00:20:52.400 We stick around. 00:20:54.319 --> 00:20:59.759 That is living out the calling to which you've been called. 00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:11.759 Now, Paul grounds this hope of unity in the very doctrines of our faith, and perhaps the highest and most central doctrine of our faith, which is the Trinity. 00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:17.519 In Ephesians 4, verses 4 to 6, he's just driving home this unity idea. 00:21:17.599 --> 00:21:19.359 Listen to how many times he says one. 00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:36.400 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. 00:21:53.119 --> 00:21:54.880 That we are a body. 00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:59.359 And just as your body has one spirit. 00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:06.400 So too does the church body have one spirit. 00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:19.359 And this one spirit is called to one hope, which means that as a people, we have one spirit given to us by God. 00:22:19.839 --> 00:22:27.680 And as this body, this spirit is called towards a hope which is in Christ, the highest of all possible hopes. 00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:38.799 So we're we're a unit, we're a we're one body with one spirit that is united in our aim, which is towards the hope that we've been given in Christ. 00:22:39.359 --> 00:22:49.039 And so the way that the Bible talks about purity and impurity is purity means a unity of focus. 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:51.119 You're undivided. 00:22:51.920 --> 00:22:55.680 You know, you're not going a little bit after this and a little bit after that. 00:22:56.559 --> 00:22:58.160 You're focused on one thing. 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:01.440 And so this is the shape of the church. 00:23:01.680 --> 00:23:09.440 That we are one body because we have one spirit that discerns us and equips us and moves through us. 00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:14.880 And that spirit has one aim, which is our hope in Christ. 00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:17.920 So, do you see the shape of this unity? 00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:27.279 And look at how Paul establishes this unity in Trinitarian language. 00:23:28.079 --> 00:23:40.559 Because there's one body and one spirit, and there's one Lord that's Christ, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all. 00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:12.799 It's not a totalizing one. 00:24:13.759 --> 00:24:23.599 Even in the highest expression of our unity, which is that God is one, there is a multiplicity and a diversity. 00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:29.920 There is not just one in God, but there is three in God. 00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:36.640 Now we're at a high mystery right now, but this is incredibly important to see. 00:24:36.799 --> 00:24:42.480 We'll start out very abstract, which feels concrete to me, and then we'll go to very concrete, which feels abstract to me. 00:24:44.160 --> 00:24:48.319 So before Socrates, philosophers were called the pre-Socratics. 00:24:48.480 --> 00:24:50.079 They, of course, didn't call themselves that. 00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:51.759 They didn't know who was coming. 00:24:53.839 --> 00:25:00.000 And two of them articulated this dichotomy separately. 00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:04.880 One of them is named Parmenides, and the other is Heraclitus. 00:25:05.039 --> 00:25:07.200 Heraclitus is actually from Ephesus. 00:25:07.440 --> 00:25:08.400 Interesting. 00:25:10.559 --> 00:25:20.400 So Parmenides said that all of existence should be described as one static being. 00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:24.880 His tagline would just be being is. 00:25:25.839 --> 00:25:29.519 So ultimately things are reducible to oneness. 00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:32.960 And there is no real change. 00:25:33.119 --> 00:25:34.640 That's just an illusion. 00:25:34.880 --> 00:25:38.880 Because everything is ultimately static and fixed. 00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:43.200 So history is fixed and the future is fixed. 00:25:43.920 --> 00:25:46.160 Being simply is. 00:25:46.960 --> 00:25:49.759 Heraclitus is the opposite of that. 00:25:50.079 --> 00:25:52.000 He is the guy that talks about the river. 00:25:52.079 --> 00:25:58.079 You never stop, you never step into the same river twice because it's never the same river and it's. 00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:02.640 Well, it's never the same you, isn't it? 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:05.519 Yeah, cool, huh? 00:26:06.480 --> 00:26:07.039 Whoa. 00:26:10.400 --> 00:26:14.960 So he says that there is no real oneness. 00:26:15.200 --> 00:26:16.960 There is no unity. 00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:20.880 Everything is flux, everything is change. 00:26:21.200 --> 00:26:28.799 And the only ways that we discern unity in the world, that's those are just accidents of our perception. 00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:33.599 Really, everything is flux and everything is change. 00:26:34.799 --> 00:26:41.519 Now, the way that this is shown in and so we we've got these we've got these two polar opposites. 00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:48.400 One is a total oneness, which which reduces everything to being totally fixed and totally static. 00:26:48.640 --> 00:26:57.839 The other is a total flux, which means that it uh that there is no real identity that can be given to anyone. 00:26:58.160 --> 00:27:02.799 You are just who you are right now in this instant, and then you're someone else later. 00:27:03.519 --> 00:27:06.720 So there has to be a solution to this problem. 00:27:07.440 --> 00:27:15.119 Is it that things are totally static and that they're one, or is it that things are totally in flux and that they're a multitude? 00:27:15.279 --> 00:27:17.839 Well, what is the solution to this? 00:27:17.920 --> 00:27:26.480 And this is going to sound so strange, but it's it it the solution to this problem is love. 00:27:28.720 --> 00:27:40.640 This grand metaphysical problem, the problem of unity and diversity, which has coursed its way through Western thought since before Socrates, is the solution is love. 00:27:42.880 --> 00:27:44.640 Now, how can that be? 00:27:45.039 --> 00:27:52.799 Love is the thing that is able to hold unity without destroying the multiplicity. 00:27:54.079 --> 00:28:01.680 And love is the thing that's able to hold the multiplicity without eliminating true identity. 00:28:03.200 --> 00:28:05.839 I told you we'd start abstract. 00:28:08.720 --> 00:28:14.720 Consider the example of this, like the key example of this biblically is the Tower of Babel. 00:28:15.839 --> 00:28:25.839 And depending on which side of the story you're on, you are dealing with a unity or a multiplicity, both in absolutes. 00:28:26.640 --> 00:28:38.000 When people have all one language and all one goal, and are completely united to the point that there is no diversity amongst them whatsoever. 00:28:38.480 --> 00:28:42.720 It is a it's a totalitarian existence. 00:28:43.759 --> 00:28:46.160 And in the Tower of Babel, they have one goal. 00:28:46.319 --> 00:28:54.559 We're gonna build this tower, and it's gonna go up towards the point, we're gonna be the apex of the of the whole world, and we're gonna be united in this aim. 00:28:55.279 --> 00:28:57.119 That is the static. 00:28:57.920 --> 00:29:00.480 We're going to be totalitarian. 00:29:00.640 --> 00:29:06.240 There's going to be absolute oneness, no diversity of expression whatsoever. 00:29:06.400 --> 00:29:08.480 But what does that result in? 00:29:09.680 --> 00:29:23.359 That oneness results in a collapse into absolute multiplicity, where we're not even able to communicate with one another at the most basic levels. 00:29:24.319 --> 00:29:27.519 Do you see, do you see that connection? 00:29:31.039 --> 00:29:44.880 So, how is it that we create a unity which doesn't force the individual to dissolve themselves into it? 00:29:47.279 --> 00:29:55.920 And how is it that we create a multiplicity that allows us to still be considered one? 00:29:57.680 --> 00:30:03.839 Our culture is wrestling so deeply with this question. 00:30:04.480 --> 00:30:19.759 I uh was in Boulder the other a couple weeks ago, and I uh was outside of a church and outside of a church, and they had a um a big like billboard thing, big sign out front of the church. 00:30:19.920 --> 00:30:25.359 Um, and it said uh acceptance, no exceptions. 00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:30.480 Acceptance, no exceptions. 00:30:31.039 --> 00:30:36.000 Okay, so I know what it takes to get a sign made in a church. 00:30:36.160 --> 00:30:38.960 It's like a thousand people have to weigh in on it. 00:30:39.920 --> 00:30:45.039 Which means that like everyone at that church weighed in and they said, acceptance, no exceptions. 00:30:45.200 --> 00:30:46.319 We can rally around that. 00:30:46.400 --> 00:30:49.279 That's what we want our that's what we want the vision of our church to be. 00:30:49.440 --> 00:30:53.599 But do you hear that that's impossible? 00:30:55.440 --> 00:31:26.720 That the experience of acceptance, no exceptions, means that the type of that we've talked about this before, but it's worth saying again, the type of acceptance that they're talking about is either meaningless, which just dissolves into a multiplicity, or it's tyrannical, which means you're going to have to be forced into this oneness mold in order to participate in it. 00:31:26.960 --> 00:31:46.559 And our culture is bouncing back and forth between either a complete division, a dissolving where we have no identity that holds any unity whatsoever, or in kind of at the same time, a tyranny which says you must fit this mold. 00:31:46.960 --> 00:31:49.680 I'll put it in a simple example just from my own life. 00:31:49.920 --> 00:31:57.839 When my wife and I were dating, we were dating in college at CU Boulder, but we were both a part of a campus ministry. 00:31:58.559 --> 00:32:17.279 And the campus ministry that we were a part of really rewarded the things that I like, which is like extroversion and public speaking, and Bible study and like reading dead theologians. 00:32:17.359 --> 00:32:22.559 Like that was the this was like you were rewarded for those things. 00:32:22.799 --> 00:32:29.680 And so I thought, you know, the best type of Christian is me. 00:32:34.160 --> 00:32:37.519 This is the best way to be a Christian. 00:32:37.599 --> 00:32:38.880 It's it's me. 00:32:40.160 --> 00:33:03.680 And so to create unity around those types of values, and we we do this in every every organization does this, we all do this, but to create unity around those particular values meant that in order for my wife to be united with me, she would have to fit her cram herself into this tyrannical mold that just was me. 00:33:04.400 --> 00:33:07.680 It was Christianity in my image. 00:33:08.880 --> 00:33:10.480 Does that make sense? 00:33:11.200 --> 00:33:23.759 But the Christianity that we see here, the unity that is demonstrated here, is a unity that's based not in tyranny or not in dissolving. 00:33:23.920 --> 00:33:24.880 Because what's the opposite? 00:33:25.039 --> 00:33:29.200 What's there's another typical response to having that experience. 00:33:29.440 --> 00:33:36.559 Just like I felt that my faith just crammed me into this mold, and that mold wasn't really me. 00:33:36.799 --> 00:33:39.839 And so now mountains are my church. 00:33:40.160 --> 00:33:42.240 We say like silly things like that. 00:33:43.039 --> 00:33:45.039 Isn't that what church means? 00:33:46.960 --> 00:33:49.759 There's but it's a it's a, you know what? 00:33:49.839 --> 00:34:03.039 I'm just going to dissolve into the multitude because any attempt to have a real formal unity of the body with people whose names I know and actually experience just feels tyrannical. 00:34:03.759 --> 00:34:05.839 See, we did a pretty good job there. 00:34:05.920 --> 00:34:13.199 We moved from really way up here, it doesn't mean anything, Parmenides and Heraclitus, down to like, oh yeah, church is hard. 00:34:15.199 --> 00:34:27.039 Now the solution to this, the solution to this must be love. 00:34:29.440 --> 00:34:52.239 Now, love is the solution to this problem because when you love someone, like your your son or daughter, or like your spouse or close friend, you love them, which means you don't want to make them look just like you. 00:34:53.440 --> 00:34:56.559 Because if you did that, you would lose them. 00:34:58.159 --> 00:35:11.599 So love creates a bond between two people, which intrinsic to the nature of the bond, wants to uphold the good differences. 00:35:12.800 --> 00:35:13.920 Do you see that? 00:35:14.960 --> 00:35:27.679 Now, the opposite of that is just codependency, just becoming enmeshed in people where you willingly will dissolve yourself into an organization just for some shred of identity. 00:35:29.119 --> 00:35:29.440 Okay. 00:35:30.880 --> 00:35:39.840 Now this love is best and ultimately demonstrated to us in Christ. 00:35:42.320 --> 00:35:43.840 And how does he show it? 00:35:44.559 --> 00:35:47.440 Humility comes down from heaven. 00:35:48.239 --> 00:35:48.719 Patience. 00:35:48.880 --> 00:35:51.679 Look at how patient he is with us. 00:35:52.400 --> 00:35:54.480 Look at how he bears with us. 00:35:54.639 --> 00:35:58.880 He does more than bear with us, he bore our very sins. 00:36:01.280 --> 00:36:08.159 That's why we have to see that our unity is unique in its trinitarian formulation. 00:36:08.880 --> 00:36:20.639 And is shown because our unity is grounded not in an identity that we give to ourselves, but in an identity which is given to us by Christ. 00:36:22.559 --> 00:36:26.079 So let's look at Christ, the giver. 00:36:27.280 --> 00:36:32.480 Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. 00:36:32.639 --> 00:36:39.119 Therefore it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men. 00:36:40.480 --> 00:36:48.000 Okay, so this grace that we're given is given, he's not talking about the body anymore. 00:36:48.079 --> 00:36:51.199 He's he says is given to each one of us. 00:36:51.440 --> 00:36:55.199 And it's given in this distinct and unique measure. 00:36:55.760 --> 00:37:03.679 So that the body is not a uh being called up into uh an absolute oneness where we all look the same. 00:37:03.920 --> 00:37:09.519 Like if you have you ever watched a cult documentary, it's why they all have to dress the same. 00:37:09.840 --> 00:37:13.440 It's because it's an absolute tyrannical oneness. 00:37:14.239 --> 00:37:18.320 But this is from one source who is Christ. 00:37:18.639 --> 00:37:35.280 Notice it is the measure of Christ's gift, not gifts, but somehow this mysterious gift of Christ demonstrates itself to each one of us in a distinct measure. 00:37:36.400 --> 00:37:44.239 He goes on and says, Therefore it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men. 00:37:45.039 --> 00:37:57.280 So Paul is describing how exactly it is that Christ gives this diversity of gifts, which maintains a unity of focus and spirit for the church. 00:37:57.679 --> 00:38:00.639 And he quotes from Psalm 68. 00:38:01.039 --> 00:38:08.880 Now, if you go and read Psalm 68, it will say when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and he received gifts. 00:38:09.199 --> 00:38:14.320 Doesn't say he gives gifts, it says that he received gifts. 00:38:14.639 --> 00:38:17.920 So the image is of a conquering king. 00:38:18.239 --> 00:38:27.280 And when a king conquers a people, then he has a host of captives that he parades through the city and is like, check it out. 00:38:27.760 --> 00:38:29.039 Host of captives. 00:38:29.280 --> 00:38:31.360 People went crazy for that stuff back then. 00:38:31.679 --> 00:38:38.800 And he would also have all of the spoils that he received from that city. 00:38:39.119 --> 00:38:42.960 But here's what that meant if you were in his kingdom. 00:38:43.199 --> 00:38:46.800 It meant that those spoils now belong to you. 00:38:47.599 --> 00:38:50.800 This becomes the wealth of the nation that you are a part of. 00:38:50.880 --> 00:38:52.480 And so it's distributed. 00:38:52.639 --> 00:38:56.800 A good king distributes these winnings to his people. 00:38:56.960 --> 00:39:04.800 And so the wealth of his nation is multiplied by the wealth that he brings in and then distributes to his kingdom. 00:39:05.039 --> 00:39:12.960 And so we see that Paul is able to play with this language because he's making this precisely the same point. 00:39:13.360 --> 00:39:25.679 The king that receives the gift, when you aren't the king, but you're just a part of his kingdom, when you see your king receive all those gifts and is parading through that city, what's in the back of your mind is this is mine. 00:39:26.639 --> 00:39:28.880 This act this belongs to me. 00:39:29.280 --> 00:39:31.440 These gifts are coming my way. 00:39:31.760 --> 00:39:33.679 This is good news for me. 00:39:33.920 --> 00:39:40.800 And so Christ, our King, raises, in He's he's seated at the right hand of God. 00:39:40.960 --> 00:39:52.400 All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him, which means that his the distribution of his gifts is just unthinkably great. 00:39:54.159 --> 00:40:02.159 Paul goes on, says, in saying he ascended, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 00:40:02.400 --> 00:40:09.360 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. 00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:19.519 This is, in these couple of verses, Paul's parentheses in this book are just absurd, because he tells the story of the whole universe in these parentheses. 00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.880 But what he's pointing out is he's saying this verse in Psalm 68, it's about Christ. 00:40:25.679 --> 00:40:35.280 Because if he ascended, that must mean that God, who this is referring to, descended to earth before he ascended. 00:40:35.440 --> 00:40:37.760 And that's precisely what Christ did. 00:40:38.159 --> 00:40:45.920 He came down to earth, to the lower regions, to us, this multiplicity. 00:40:46.719 --> 00:40:57.039 And out of this multiplicity at the bottom, you know, picture the food pyramid, Jesus' dessert, and we're wheat and grains. 00:40:57.199 --> 00:40:59.760 I know I have trouble getting in my grains. 00:41:01.519 --> 00:41:04.239 Really trying to up my corn lately. 00:41:07.360 --> 00:41:33.920 And Jesus descends into this multitude, this massless, identity-less multitude takes on this sinful state that he discovers down here and then ascends to the top to distribute the goodness that he purchased for his people, who he has made into one body. 00:41:34.880 --> 00:41:37.280 This is the shape of the whole universe. 00:41:37.360 --> 00:41:47.280 It's the shape of the gospel in this, and it's manifested in the particular gifts that we have in our church. 00:41:47.840 --> 00:41:49.760 So, what are these gifts? 00:41:50.079 --> 00:42:00.960 He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. 00:42:01.199 --> 00:42:04.400 What are the gifts that Christ gives? 00:42:04.719 --> 00:42:07.119