Between Two Worlds | Elijah Lamb

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:31

This week I was reflecting upon on Easter. Dude, how how awesome was Easter? This past Sunday was so amazing. Oh, it was so beautiful. Everything, the visuals, the message, it's like every moment of last Sunday was stupendous. I was just so joyful and glad to be a part of this family and this house. Like just such a privilege, such a blessing. I don't know if you feel the same way, but that's how I felt after last Sunday. And uh I was reflecting upon Easter, doing some like theological thinking. No, I was I was gonna have to preach the like follow-up message after Easter. And it's like that's a hard one, you know? It's like peak Sunday of the year. And then you gotta follow that up. It's like, ah, bummer, you know, there's no way to live up to that. Um I was thinking through and I was trying to answer the the question for myself, like, okay, so like what's like when we think about the resurrection, like what comes downstream from that? How do we respond to that? What what how does the gospel and the message of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus change reality and life as we know it right here and now? And and and that's one of the most like basic questions of theology. And it's something that every Christian, even if you don't, you know, articulate it in fancy theological terms, every single one of us will have to wrestle with. Like I've believed upon and entrusted my life to this message about Christ's death and resurrection, and I'm wrestling with what's that supposed to do to my life and to the world around me today. You know, each and every one of us, hopefully, we believe that Jesus Christ really has done away with the penalty of sin. He really has dealt with death in a final sense, and and he really has bound up the strong man and and defeated the devil. Like Jesus really did those things in dying and in rising again. But then we kind of look around and you're like, well, you know, I'm still like I'm still decaying in in a certain sense. Like my body is getting older, you know, I'm headed somewhere. You know, like that's and and and and none of us, there's not a single person in this room who's I mean, I I pray that maybe there's someone, but I'm probably my best guess is that none of us are strangers to suffering. Like we've all, like, we know that life can be really hard. And and and we've all witnessed, and this is the painful part, we've all participated in brokenness, even as believers. Like we've witnessed and we've we've taken part in brokenness and in dysfunction. I mean, you kind of like step back from that. You're like, man, sometimes the world doesn't feel all that fixed. Like it doesn't, it doesn't like it doesn't feel all that healed. Like sometimes I'm like, is this how it's supposed to be? And it kind of reminds me of something that the apostle Paul says in 2 Timothy, which is probably the last letter that he wrote in chapter 1, verse 10. He took, he's speaking about Jesus. He says that Christ abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. He's like, yeah. Heck yeah. I feel just killed death and brought immortality to light. Right. I love that. But like the it's it's it's heck yeah, it's awesome. But the ironic part is that Paul is writing this from a Roman prison, knowing that he was about to die. So this is like this is a theological note that Paul is writing to Timothy from his deathbed. These are his final words before he's he's about to be unjustly beheaded by the Roman state. Like, Paul, I don't death doesn't feel super abolished. You know what I mean? Like the context, you know, just this feels kind of like what do you mean by that? What are you trying to say? And so, and and and when we look at our experience, what we're experiencing when we put it next to, for example, like the prophets and the way that they describe the work of the Messiah, Jesus, and and how they said things would go down, sometimes it doesn't really seem to match. Like, let me show you what I mean. So in Isaiah chapter 61, for example, verses 1 to 2, Isaiah talks about how the Messiah is going to come and he's going to bring the year of the Lord's favor and also God's vengeance against evil. Well, you know, when Jesus died upon the cross, he did take evil upon himself in a in a profound way. But we know that there's still evil in the world. Maybe more than ever, sometimes it feels like it's like we are so aware of how evil our world is. So it's like, yeah, Jesus has done something about evil, but then evil is still around. And the way that Isaiah talks about the Messiah is that he would come, announce your Lord's favor, and then kill evil. But like, we've only got the first half of that so far. Right? In Zechariah chapter 9, Zachariah talks about the king who comes in riding humble on a donkey, and when he uh comes into the center of the city, he instantaneously brings world peace. We're like, I mean, we just did the Palm Sunday thing. Jesus comes riding on the donkey. I don't remember him bringing world peace at the end of that moment. You know, he brought up in his death and resurrection, he did bring about peace in a very, very important sense, but like not all the way. And so the way that Bible scholars explain this is by saying that the prophets have what we call a telescopic view of the future, where you can sort of imagine it like this. Imagine the view of a mountain range, like head on with the peaks, and so they're sort of like collapsed into one another. You can't tell how far apart the mountain peaks are, versus like from the side, and then you can see how far the mountains are. So he's like, the prophets have this view of these mountain peaks, these prophecies, and they look like they're just like one after the other after the other. What the the big story of scripture allows us to come along from the side and see the timeline, and it's like, oh, those are actually far apart, right? And so there is a whole, you know, mountain range, there's a whole valley in between Isaiah 61, one and two. You know, there's thousands of years between those two verses and and Zechariah 9, 9 and 10. There's that there's thousands of years between those two verses and those two fulfillments, those two prophecies. And so the way that we describe things describe things in theology is that some aspects of the kingdom are already here, and some are yet to come. Where you and I, we're we're living between the two mountains. We're in that awkward space between prophecy number one and prophecy number two. And what that means on like a big level is that we are in some way caught between the colliding of heaven and earth. Like that the smashing together of those two prophetic words. We're in the middle, as they're like the trash compactor in a new hope, drawing closer and closer together. And the theologians call this inaugurated eschatology. And that's like a big funny word. Basically, the point is that the end times started with Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, but that they're just not done yet. So, like the last days began with the coming of Christ, but they didn't finish. This is why Jesus can say things in the gospels, like in Luke 17, 21, when he says to the Pharisees, the kingdom of God is in your midst. Or in John 5, he says that whoever believes in him who sent me has eternal life. He's describing the kingdom of God and eternal life with God as like here and now, present realities that we're really experiencing and we really have, even though we know that in a in a really great sense, those are things that are yet to come for us. So they're they're now and they're also not yet. We we really, really are experiencing the kingdom of God. But one of our most basic confessions is that there must be more to come, which is like a bit of an awkward tension. Like, you know, we're like waiting for these two things to crash and and ultimately for Christ's work to really be done. And so when we when you look at prophecy and the and the story of scripture this way, it ultimately circles back to the question I started with, which is like, okay, then how is the resurrection supposed to change my life right now? Or maybe I should ask it like this if if we're caught between the colliding of two worlds and we're really citizens of the one that's coming, but we're living in this one now, what do we do? Like, what are we supposed to do in the meantime? How do we live out our citizenship to another world while still living in this one? And and this tension, this line of question that I'm describing is basically what the book of Ephesians is all about. This is the the the problem and the tension that Paul is seeking to solve as he writes the book of Ephesians. Uh, one commentator I read, he put it like this He says that Ephesians presents, this is kind of nerdy, so you're gonna have to stay with me, but he says Ephesians presents a comprehensive vision of the eschatological new humanity, the new creation community realized under the conditions of this present fallen age, and it is therefore a manifesto for a radically new society. So you've got this new creation community, new humanity in Christ who are living in old creation, who are living in the old world. And so that's like a bit funky because in Christ, like we're ready to live in the new creation, the new heavens, the new earth with Christ. Like we're being prepared, we're being baked for that, like we're good, we're ready to go. But that's not coming as quite as quickly as we would like to. So we're stuck in this middle part where right now we've got to live out what does it look like to be new heaven and new earth people? What does it look like to be a new creation kind of people who are living in old creation? You with me? That's a pretty fundamental question. That goes about it like how am I supposed to think? How am I supposed to behave? What's my attitude? What how am I supposed to feel? It's like, what am I supposed to be doing? What's what's the mission and how do we carry it out? Why does God have us in this awkward place? Imagine if salvation worked like you give your life to Christ and you get insta-rap-raptured. You know what I mean? Lots of people wouldn't want to become Christians because I feel like that's kind of spooky. It's like every time you're like, you come down to an altar call, you respond, you're in new heaven, new earth now. It's like, that would be sick. That's not the way that it works. So every Christian since forever has had to resolve the tension of, well, I thought when I prayed I'd get zapped up, but that's not really what's going down. I'm waiting for the coming of Jesus for him to come finish the job. So what am I supposed to do? Ephesians is our answer. Ephesians is all about the already not yet tension and how we're meant to live in light of that. So I think this is gonna be really helpful and encouraging for us. Okay, you ready? Let's get to Ephesians. So here's here's something like let me just show you the way that Ephesians sort of epitomizes what I'm describing. Paul begins, turn to Ephesians chapter 1, verses 20 to 22. You have your Bibles?

unknown 9:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

Praise God. Here's what he says: he says that God exercised his power in Christ by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens, far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And he subjected everything under his feet, which is a quotation of the book of Psalms, and appointed him as head over everything for the church. And then he says in Ephesians 2, 6 to 7, he also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians is such a funny book. Paul is like so poetic and ethereal, it feels like somebody is writing you a letter from heaven, you know. It's like he's it's I just I don't know. Every time I read it, I'm like trying to follow these long run-on sentences. Like, what is this is weird? Who is this an alien? Who is this? And so that the description that we get in Ephesians is that Jesus has conquered everything and is seated ruling over everything, and and we're seated with him, which is awesome, but also really interesting because I see you here right now sitting down and what's going on, Paul? What's happening here? I see you on Ruby Street right now. You're not at the right hand of the like that's not what's so hold on, let's let's take a second here and figure this out. The point is that Paul's making is that these things are true in a sense, but there is a greater reality to come. So the writer of Hebrews he commentates on that exact same psalm. He talks about God subjecting subjecting everything under the feet of Jesus. And he says this in chapter 2, verse 8. He says, as it is, we do not yet see everything subjected to him. So everything has been subjected, subjected to Christ, but we don't see that yet. Right? And so here's the key reality that Paul is like implicitly communicating to us, since we are seated next to him. We may not see everything subjected to Jesus' feet. We may not see him uh seated and ruling over everything, but that's not the same as seeing nothing under his feet. Because we are, we're subjected to Christ. That's why we're seated with him and reigning with him, because we're surrendered to him, because we are the first fruits of Christ's work to subdue and reclaim his reign over the whole world by dethroning the enemy and making the whole world his, filling the earth with the knowledge of God's glory. So because we're surrendered under him and we're under his authority, we are now therefore reigning with him. And so what that means, and this is like the big message of Ephesians, we, you and I, the church, we have become the proof that God's kingdom really is eventually going to break all the way into our world. And as we are joined to Christ, as we're seated with him, we are the evidence and the proof of that. God's kingdom is breaking into our world through us in our midst, right here, as God draws us up and unifies us with him and seats us next to him next to him in his ruling and in his reigning. And so we're the first fruits of the promise that everything will eventually be subjected underneath the feet of Christ, which is a really good thing because he's a really great ruler and he really hates evil and injustice and brokenness, and God is going to heal the world. Like that's what we're looking forward to. When Christ comes with the sword coming out of his mouth, it's it's about judgment and but it's a division. So judging rightly between good and evil. So people think of like big bad scary Jesus on his big mean horse with his giant flaming sword. And it's like, honestly, that's super punk rock. I want to tattoo that. Like, right? That's awesome. But the point that revelation that John is making in revelation is that Jesus is coming with the sword to divide good from evil, light from darkness, you understand, like brokenness from wholeness. Jesus is dividing, destroying the bad half, and keeping the good part. That's the judgment of that's why we want that. We want everything subjected underneath him. We want our our king to come and reign and rule over everything. You with me? So let me so let me show you what I mean. So in Ephesians chapter 1, verses 9 to 10, Paul lays out like the big plan of God, the big story of the gospel, God's ultimate thing that he's building up to in his in the work that he did through Christ. Paul says that he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, that he purposed in Christ as a plan for the right time. And here's the key key part here to bring to everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth. So here's God's like big, overarching meta will. This is what we're awaiting the coming of Christ for. He is going to reunite heaven and earth. Everything that God has made is going to be brought back together. The division between those things, the sort of tear down the middle that came because of the fall, because of human rebellion, is going to be repaired and reversed. And God's creation is going to be brought back into harmony, or in the biblical Hebrew word is shalom, God's peace, God's order, will be uh reinstated in all that God has made. And most importantly, man and God will be, in an ultimate sense, reunited. Right? So God God's God's ideal, the ultimate vision he has for the gospel is to bring these two worlds together, which is like pew, bewheep. You know, it's like huge, right? Like it's that's that's super, super meta. That's why we call Jesus, like we all the time are talking about him being like the ruler of the cosmos, because there is a there is a cosmic level to the gospel story. Like Jesus is trying to redo creation and put everything back to the way it's supposed to be. It's like, yes, okay, but right now that's not really what we're witnessing. That hasn't quite happened yet, but the work has started. God's reunification project has begun. The world is being healed back together, and that work has started in the church. So this is what Paul says at the end of Ephesians chapter 2. This is so sick. Okay, he says, so then you are no longer foreigners and strangers. I'm a coward. I'm a coward full of pride. I keep thinking that's just gonna go away, but it's not. Praise God. Okay. So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. This is so cool. Listen, this in him, the whole building being put together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him, you are also being built together for God's temple in the spirit, God's dwelling in the spirit. It's like, ah, so sick. How do we know when we read this? How do we know when we look at the church that heaven and earth are really coming back together? Because in Christ, this is what Paul's talking about in Ephesians 2 the Jew and Gentile who were once divided have now been made one. It's one new man. The point when Paul says you're no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens, the point is, hey, Gentiles, you used to be alienated, you used to not be invited into the life of God that God was taking, that God was doing in the life of the Jews, you used to not be a part of the ritual system that they carry out to have connection with Yahweh, but that's been done away with. And one new man has been made between the two of you. You've been invited to come and be a part of God's family, of God's house. The temple now is God's church, it's God constructing you two peoples together as one group. So, because in Christ, the Jew and Gentile were united to make one man, and now you and I, you and I are being built together to become a home for God. This is the first fruits of God's reunification project, that mankind, men and women are being brought together and unified in Christ to be the dwelling place of God. You with me? So sick. So when we look at the Old Testament, the tabernacle or the temple, they they were and they were an early indication that God was God that heaven was going to invade earth, that God wanted to be near to mankind and that he was gonna undo what the fall did. There's all kinds of hints through the Old Testament that that's what the temple stands for. It's God breaking back into the world, it's God invading earth with his glory and his presence. And we are the next step in that process. That's what the church is. This the church is what that was looking forward to. We now are the proof that heaven is invading earth and God's kingdom is breaking through. But it's and this is important, and this is going to be sort of the message of the whole sermon that I want you to grab onto. It's not just that we have God's presence. That's that's that's really, really fantastic. That's that's the part that makes woo, it's crazy, it's amazing. It's not just that God is present, it's that, and this is the message of Ephesians, that God is present through our unity as a people. God is present through our unity. So it so that that's what's at stake for the Ephesians. If the Jew and Gentile remain divided, they will not have God's presence. The proof of heaven and earth finally colliding is the church. Because in the church, the walls between men are shattered. And and we are built together into one body. And as you and I together are united to Christ, we become the doorway through which heaven is sneaking into earth, right? Like we've create our our unification is cracking open the door for God to come in. And it does that make sense. You like that analogy? Okay. In unity, we are, and I'm gonna say something, just follow me here. We are a microcosm of God's cosmic work. Okay, I'm sorry, I've been I've been nerding out on that language since uh Pastor Jake pointed it out to me. We have a podcast together called Arch called Archway Bible Podcast. It goes hard, it goes hard in the paint. Um, and we talk about this, so you know, you should go check out our Leviticus episodes because they're awesome. That's what I'm referencing. The point is the tabernacle was a what the tabernacle served to do, it had all these like cool like things on the fabric that were meant made to make the priests and the people think of like outer space, the heavens when they were up there. Because the point was when they were like cleaning up the temple, they were allowing God to come and be present there. The point was, hey, one day God is going to do a cleaning work that lets his whole presence into everything, into all of creation. And so that's what you and I are still looking forward to. We are the microcosm of God's cosmic plan to reunite heaven and earth. We are the the first fruits and the evidence that heaven and earth are coming back together because in him, people that should have nothing to do with each other are made brothers and sisters, are made family. It's like, what? This is sick. We are the beginnings of God's recreation project, and we're we're the down payment, the deposit that is the ultimate evidence that his full work is going to come to fruition. And so we're we're given a new existence in Christ. And as we observe that, what Paul wants the Ephesians to understand is that it comes with some serious responsibility. In Ephesians chapter 3, verse 8, Paul talks about the grace that was given to him to go and to preach to the Gentiles. And he says, This was this was my duty to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of Christ and to shed light for all about the administration of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things. So Paul's saying, This this gospel message that I have was a mystery that God kept secret. And now, through our proclamation as the church, the whole world gets to find out about this super secret message that God was holding on to so that he could reveal and glorify himself and bring all men into his kingdom. So this is so that God's multifaceted wisdom may now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavens. This is according to his eternal purpose accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. So check this out. Like God has this big plan that neither men nor angels can anticipate or predict, that God is really going to reverse the fall in an ultimate sense and bring these two worlds back together. And the and that is coming through his church, and not just like our existence, but the way that we live, the way of life that we embody. Our existence testifies to a cosmic message that God is putting everything right. And so here's like the way that I would go to describe it. Here's the situation. The church is like an outpost of God's kingdom in this world. We are like an embassy for another nation, right? So you can think of like when you go to another country, you lose your passport. What am I gonna do? You AI that thing, and it tells you, oh, here's the closest embassy. You pop on over, they give you a temporary, you know, you got your little, your little, I don't know how else to describe an embassy. You got the you know, your government, but in another country, you know, you're hanging out. You know what I'm talking about? We've all even known what an embassy is, right? We took civics in seventh grade. Come on. We represent, we are that embassy representing the nation from which we're from, in the nation that God has put us in. We represent the city of our true citizenship, the kingdom of heaven, on earth. And so when we act as a church, we are acting on heaven's behalf as representatives of God. So think of it like this: the earth and everything in it belongs to God. And in the in the story of the fall, the message is that mankind through sin tried to drive God out. And through his church, he's breaking back in. Like he is coming back into our world through specifically the efforts of those on earth who are loyal to him. So this is I'm this is the most the part of the message I'm the most excited to tell you about. You can think of the church, I'm just very proud of this. You can think of the church, you can think of the church as Dumbledore's army. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, it looks like in our world the Death Eaters have taken over, but there are some people here who are still loyal to the one who's really in charge. Come on, that's awesome. That's really good. I was sitting there and I was like, man, what would be a good explanation? I thought of the room of requirement or whatever it's called. So good. Anyway. Dumbledore's army. Welcome. Uh we are the you know, you're the little 14 year olds who are still loyal to Dumbledore. And so, you know, we're gonna drive the death eaters out. That's kind of the point. The point is that you guys didn't like that as much as that is. Okay. Heaven is God, you know, heaven is raising a rebellion behind enemy lines. Yeah. Let's go. That just makes me feel awesome, you know. You feel cooler now? Yes. God is raising up an uprising. There's an uprising happening behind enemy lines, and we are preparing the way for our king to come back in, invade, and take back his territory. Yes. And specifically, thank you, Dylan. It's through our lifestyle and our message that we're revealing the truth and we're preparing the way for the king to come. And so then comes the really critical question is like, what do we do to accomplish this? Because I've got all kinds of ideas. You know, do we take up arms? Like, what what what we what are we supposed to do? How are we meant to live eschatological lives? And Paul has a lot to say about this in chapters four to six. You should just go read them in this light because it really changes the way that they're read. He's a lot, but I think his intro will make a good summary for us. Ephesians chapter 4, verses 1 to 6. He says, Therefore, I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, the calling to reveal God's wisdom the wisdom of God's mysterious plan. That's your calling, walk worthy of it with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, which is the funniest phrase ever. Put up with each other in love. No, I don't think that's really what it is, but it's something like that. Making every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. Now he's gonna go off here. He says there's one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope at your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. So the the the critical, like this is the hinge upon which Ephesians turns. Here's our job make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace, the bond of peace, because there is only one body, and there's only one spirit, and there's one hope, and there's one Lord, and there's one faith, and there's one baptism, and there's one God. We testify to God's future by embodying it in our relationships with one another, by being one. That's how we do it. That's how you live an eschatological life. You you live in loving unity with your brothers and sisters in Christ in the context of the church. And like maybe when we step back and think about how, you know, I'm talking about how cosmic and beep beep beep beep this message is, and like maybe that description, like that climactic point, that's the calling, feels kind of meh, you know, it feels kind of underwhelming. It feels like, is that really? You really think that's how this is gonna work? But I like let's just like stop for a second. If you just look around and it doesn't take much effort, it's not hard to look at how hopelessly divided the world that you and I are planted in is. It's not a difficult conclusion to come to. It's pretty, you know, like that's kind of the story of our species. And so suddenly you realize when you read the scripture, you realize the significance of something like the church, a group of unlikely people who are somehow being made one by the power of God's Spirit. There's like not another explanation you could give for why this particular group of people wants to be family with each other. Like that's that's kind of interesting to me. You can't find that anywhere else on planet Earth. You can't you can't find a bond of peace that transcends every earthly unity. You you cannot. You can't find that. And and sort of one of the practical facts about this is that unity is difficult. And pursuing it can be costly because we're all gonna offend each other and step on each other's toes and drive each other crazy. That's what I mean. You've had siblings before. I'm a middle child. This is my this is my job. This is what this is my telos before God. This is what I was made for. I'm here to bother you. Middle children always have like a guilt complex. If I hurt your feelings, I'm gonna feel really bad about it. I'm gonna compliment you for like six straight weeks, and the jokes are gonna come back. I'm a dysfunctional human being. That's I'm a middle child, man. Come on. So, like you've been, you know, it can be hard. But this is this is who we are. This is what the church is for. This is what the church is for. If we're not being unified, then we're not being the church. We can't serve our purpose, we can't, we can't be where we're supposed to be. So we do whatever it takes to stay unified, to stay one in Christ. And so I think as a helpful side note here, some of us come from really complicated relational backgrounds. I'll be the first to say, yeah, I come from something kind of messed up. I come from unhealthy places and learned a lot of really dysfunctional, unhealthy ways to connect with other people. And so here's the beauty, man. The church becomes the new family of God. It is the new learning place where we relearn how to do relationships. This is God, God in this family is rehabilitating us and binding up our wounds and teaching us what it means to be healthy, holy, happy people. God has planted us in this family so that we can be healed and so that we can relearn what family even is. And so I can't, when I look at my life, I cannot possibly, I couldn't even try to over-emphasize how powerfully God has done that through his church in my life. Coming from so much brokenness in my family, it's so much I had to relearn. Where now, like, I have like I can be a healthy guy. This is awesome. Like, I have a healthy marriage, and we're gonna be parents in three months. Let's go. By the way, if you wanted to know, my daughter's gonna be just insane. 18 hours a day, she's just doing backflips, my wife's womb. It's awesome. I'm like, that is my kid in there. That's so great. She's gonna terrorize this place. Like, seriously, I feel bad for all of you. When we do that baby dedication, like, don't be too fast to lay hands on my daughter. Just kidding. Too far, too far, too far, too far. Please lay hands on my daughter, please. But like when I when I look at my story, like I came into the church with just so much crap. So much crap that made me like, man, I I wish you could have met me four years ago when I first came through the doors of church. I was the I was the worst. I was the guy who was like the moment served I don't want to talk to anybody, I was gone because I I just I just it just freaked me out. Like I'm I could just couldn't do it. I couldn't bear, I was afraid of everyone all the time. And all my relationships were deeply dysfunctional. My whole like life story was characterized by just a big overarching narrative of rejection. I just like I couldn't, I I was such a terrible person to have as a friend because I was just I was walking around wounded and just vomiting my crap all over people all the time, too insecure. Like I just, I just was a mess. And you know how I got healed through the consistent faithfulness of God's church to model to me what it looks like to be a man and what it looks like to be in friendship and in relationship and to love and to be healthy and and just being loved and being cared for and being wanted and being like it was like, oh man, I this is just like something I didn't seek out. It was subtle, it was quiet, it just happened. That's what God has made the church to be. Like we're binding each other's wounds, we're showing each other. So anyway, as we pursue unity, this is what happens. And this this is the really I think this part's really exciting. Ephesians 4, 15 to 16, Paul says, speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ. This is cool. I hadn't noticed this until I was reading this passage uh more closely than I usually do. From him, the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part. So Paul gives us the imperative and then he tells us the strategy. You need to grow in every way into him, into Christ. Like you need to become like Christ and you need to be united to Christ and you need to walk closely with Jesus. That's the point. How do you grow up into Christ? Well, every supporting ligament, like we've it's we're no, we're building one structure together, right? We're like a big cheerleader pyramid. That's what we're we're that's what we're doing. And and and if we will not stack, you know, if we will not build together using our gifts and our if we won't do that, we won't be grow up into Him. You won't become more like Christ. You and you won't experience the the unity with Jesus that God wants you to have. If we're unified, then we'll grow and we'll grow somewhere, we'll grow up into Christ. This isn't this is really important. This is what Paul is saying in Ephesians 4, and he's reminding us of the stakes here. Apart from a life in the body, we cannot experience the unity and relationship with Christ that we were made for. Because you cannot grow up into the head by yourself. You can't. You're down at the bottom, he's up there, you're down at feet level. You know, trying. You've been it's like honey, I shrank the kids. Like you're down there, you're this big. I love movies where the main character gets shrunk real small. You guys remember uh Aunt Bully? That movie goes hard. Somebody's out there, it's one of those weird, like knockoff animated movies. It was like a red box movie for me as a kid. Rent that one over and over and over and over. You guys are with me, you know what I'm talking about. You cannot grow up into him by yourself. When we read the Old Testament, like God is not scared of this. He's not. He's not scared of he does relationship with peoples, with community. That's the way that the Bible works. This is this shouldn't come as a surprise to us. For Israel, the upkeep of the tabernacle in the temple, they required everyone's participation. Not only on like a practical note, I mean there was there were people who were assigned with duties to tear down and there was a teardown team. You know, they they were doing mobile church for a long time in the Old Testament. Praise God for teardown teams. A teardown and a rebuild team, which had to have been monotonous, especially when it's like God's glory moves for like six hours. You're like move a little further, God, please. There's so many animal skins, please. You know, somebody, when the sacrifices are done, somebody's gotta take the the animal waste that they didn't use in the sacrifice and go take it outside the camp, and then they gotta go take a special bath so that they can get clean. Like somebody's gotta do that. Like you Israel just can't do its ceremonial system by which they maintain the presence of God if everybody's not involved. And that's on like a practical note, on like a big level, everyone had to work together to keep clean. And if all of Israel was not clean, then God's presence would leave. So if Israel wants to maintain the presence of God in the camp, they all have to be walking with God. They all have to be holy, they all have to be clean, they all have to be building and working together, or it doesn't work. And that is what Paul is communicating to us about the church in the book of Ephesians. If we will not support one another and grow up together, we won't we won't grow into Him. You won't become like Jesus, you won't experience the presence of God. To an extent, because of God's mercy, but not the way that God really intends for us to. And so the big story of scripture communicates something simple to us. A presence-filled life must necessarily be a life planted in God's church. So here's the overall point that I that I want you to get. Christ administrates his love through his body. So God wants to give his love to his people, he wants to pour his love out on us. And the way that the way that he does that is through his people. As we love one another, it is as though we are loving Christ directly. So when I look at you, I mean, this is the language that Jesus uses all throughout the gospels. If I love one of you, it is as though I am offering love to Christ. It's like I want to become a person who loves God more because that's the main commandment according to Jesus. Do you know how to do that by loving you? And Jesus says in his eyes, as I love them, he receives that as love for himself. That's awesome. And as we live in the body, we will experience the gift of his love through others. Like we'll be on the other side of that situation. You know, it's like, oh God, do you love me? Yeah, look around, bro. I just dropped you in a family of vehicles of my love who exist so that you all can have an awareness of my love for you as a people. As we and then it gets outward, it gets out of the walls of the church. As we move unified, the world will hear of and experience the very love of Christ through us. God is trying to give his love to a broken world. How? Through a unified people whose whole thing is loving each other. So we gotta love one another. I mean, it's like simple. I mean, I did all that work to just tell you love one another. That's that Jesus says in John 15, I give you a new calling. Love one another. This is my new command, love one another. That's Jesus' apologetic. The world will know. The world will want to be a part of what you're doing if you love one another. And so Paul works out in Ephesians, he gives a billion examples of what that means. The way that it works out in our speech, in our work, in specific relationships like marriage and parenting, it's it's very practical. I really you really should give Ephesians a read this week. And you know, as I think through it, like it will mean being a loving people, it will mean being forgiving people, being beef squashing people, bold, intentional, generous people. It will mean being assumed the best of others all the time type people. It means being trusting and understanding, patient and celebratory. It means hanging out and just caring about each other's stuff like a lot. You know, showing up for stuff that you really don't care about that much. You know? I'm talking, we're going to children's recitals. Those things are a drag. But when you love people, it's like, this is awesome. I'm so glad this is my life. I've done that. It's it's honestly it's sick, it's a very joyful experience. It means a lot of things, but I think uh I want to end where where Paul does. He's got a lot to say after this, but this is just like so hype. Ephesians 5, 15 to 21. He tells the Ephesians, pay careful attention then to how you walk. Not as unwise people, but as wise. So you gotta be wise, you gotta be careful how you live because God is trying to reveal his wisdom through you, making the most of the time because the days are evil. How does God's wisdom break through us? Well, here's what we do. Don't be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. And don't get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit. And how do you get filled by the Spirit? Paul, how how can I live a life where I'm over and over again filled by the Spirit? Here's what you do: you speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of Christ. We pursue this unity that Paul set up as the ideal so that we can grow up into Christ by doing spirit stuff together. We come and we approach the Lord together. That's what we do on Sundays. We show up and we approach the throne of God as a unit. Hey guys, we're picking up our tent, we're moving, we're going to the presence of God. We're going to meet with Jesus. And we're not we're not coming there as a bunch of isolated islands, we're going together. I'm bringing you with me. We're going to God as a unit. And there are there are a million ways to pursue this kind of unity and this love for one another, and we need all of them, but I just love where Paul takes it here. Because I don't know if you like worshiping together is so special. As someone who like lived in the mindset for a long time, that the best thing that God had to give me was like hidden away in a closet somewhere as I like hid in the dark and then that's awesome. Like praying by myself is like it's amazing. Let's go, that's incredible. But then you worship together and you're like situated in a complex web of people that you really love and people who you really care about, and you know what they're bringing into the room, and you know what who's heavy and who's light, and you know who's joyful and who's broken, you know who needs what, and you're there and you get to watch people. Like, I can't tell you when I know someone is like going through it, and I look over to my left or to my right, and I see them elated in the presence of God, what that does to me and what that tells me about the ministry of the Spirit and the love of Jesus Christ and the and the power of God. I can't like it's like, man, when we come to God together, this is such a privilege. The deeper my love for the church goes, the richer my sense of his presence. The deeper my love for the church goes, the richer my sense of God's presence. It's genuinely difficult for me to like put into words what I'm trying to describe, but I'm sure that many of you know what I mean. We are one big temple made by people who love each other. We're a bunch of stones, and you know what the force drawing us together? It's the Spirit pulling love out of us, magnetically building us together as one house for God to dwell in. And so I'd love if we could just stand up. I want to respond this morning by singing to the Lord again together. And and remembering, like, this is what we're doing. It's not you and Jesus and the person next to you is them and Jesus. We're coming to Jesus as a unit. We're coming as a family of God, as people who are maintaining the spirit, the bond of peace as we approach the Lord to sing together. And I would just ask, before we sing, um, I'm gonna ask if you're one of those people when I was speaking about you know, sort of like coming from a background of relational dysfunction, if you, when you think of the church, everything in you is like like I and and you and you know the Lord has something for you in relational connection, in depth of community that you've been resistant to and you don't want to be. It's like not malicious, it's not like ah, the church is it's like man, I'm I'm afraid or I've been hurt or whatever. I think the Lord wants to help us carry out the first steps in binding those wounds. And so you know what you do? You you let somebody pray for you. You let somebody in who's gonna, you know what they're gonna do? Hey, we're going to God together. I hear you, that stinks. We're gonna pray through this. Um me and you, we're going to the throne right now, and we're gonna talk to God about this, and we're gonna let the spirit move in your heart. That practical step, the boldness to come down and receive from another person instead of trying to privately handle this, you're all you're already free, man. Like you're already walking in freedom before anybody even lays hands on you. So, yeah, praise God. So we're gonna sing. There's gonna be people down here at the front. Our prayer team will be down here to pray for you. If that's you, please come down and like let the Lord begin something in your heart, but for the rest of us, let's go nuts and sing to the Lord together. Amen. I mean, let me pray for us. Father, we love you. We love you, we exalt you, and we're so thankful. Would you begin to lift your hands, lift your voices, pray with me? We love you, Jesus. We're so joyful to be your people, to be your priesthood approaching you together. So, Holy Spirit, come. See our unity and fall upon it and drive us to love one another more deeply as we look to the cross and understand what you're like. We love you, Jesus. We exalt your name and we bless you. Amen.