WEBVTT 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:07.440 Hello everyone. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:08.880 This is Pastor Benjamin. 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:12.000 You're listening to Sermon Audio from New City, Orlando. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:15.439 At New City, we long to see our Father answer the Lord's Prayer. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:20.079 For more resources, visit our website at Newcity Orlando.com. 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:24.480 Heavenly Father, we wish to see Jesus. 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:30.399 By your Spirit's power, give us eyes to see his glory through Christ. 00:00:30.399 --> 00:00:31.280 We pray. 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:32.240 Amen. 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:38.159 If you're able, please remain standing for today's scripture reading, which comes from John 1, 1 through 10. 00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:48.960 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life. 00:00:48.960 --> 00:00:52.159 The life was made manifest and we have seen it. 00:00:52.159 --> 00:01:00.479 And we testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was the Fat which was with the Father and was made manifest to us. 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:07.359 That which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us. 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:12.319 And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:16.159 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:24.799 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaimed to you that God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:31.439 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and we do not practice the truth. 00:01:31.439 --> 00:01:37.280 But if we walk in light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. 00:01:37.280 --> 00:01:41.680 And the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. 00:01:41.680 --> 00:01:46.719 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 00:01:46.719 --> 00:01:56.400 But if we for if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 00:01:56.400 --> 00:02:01.680 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:03.120 This is God's word. 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:05.359 Well, welcome. 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:06.560 My name is Benjamin. 00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:14.879 I'm a pastor here, and I have a public service announcement, which is that tomorrow, January 12th, is National Quitter's Day. 00:02:14.879 --> 00:02:20.800 So statistically, most people have quit their uh New Year's resolutions by tomorrow. 00:02:20.800 --> 00:02:22.000 Uh that's important. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:30.800 And interestingly, there's another stat that says that if you just simply tell your resolutions to somebody else, you're 65% more likely to keep them. 00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:42.080 And even more, if you schedule a follow-up meeting with the person you tell to follow up with you about your resolution, you're 95% more likely to keep your resolution. 00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:43.520 That's amazing to me. 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:50.080 And it's actually quite relevant because last week we talked about what it means to be called into community, communion, excuse me. 00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:54.159 Today we're going to talk about being formed in community. 00:02:54.159 --> 00:03:03.360 There's something about our willingness to share in life with other people that is profoundly formative for us. 00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:16.000 So we have a definition of a disciple here, which is that disciples of Jesus are united to Jesus in communion with God, community with one another, and co-mission for the world. 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:20.719 We are called into communion and we are formed in community. 00:03:20.719 --> 00:03:24.639 That's what we're going to talk about this morning, how we're formed in community. 00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:28.000 Now, we did, uh you've probably heard me say this before. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:31.840 Um, as churches, it can be hard to measure what matters. 00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:34.719 It can be hard to count what really counts. 00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:38.240 There's some things that are easy, like numbers of people in this room or budgets. 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:39.199 Those are easy to count. 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:40.800 That's why most people do that. 00:03:40.800 --> 00:03:47.280 But if your aim is actually transformation into the image of Jesus Christ, that's a little harder to measure. 00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:53.919 And so I've said before that there's really only three ways you can do that stats, stories, and self-report. 00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:58.879 And so we created an assessment, a self-report assessment called the Disciple Defined Check-in. 00:03:58.879 --> 00:04:10.879 And we've we've actually surveyed a handful of people in our congregation, and we found that actually New City is really remarkable at things like experiencing God's delight in them despite their behavior. 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:14.960 New City actually has uh people answered this question positively. 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:23.199 They said, in the last week, I can can I can think of a time when I did something because Jesus told me to, or didn't because Jesus told me not to. 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:26.079 So we're quite obedient in certain ways, too. 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:34.399 One of the things we found, though, is that we have room to grow in our willingness and ability to confess our sins to one another. 00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:38.959 It's not something we're bad at, we're just not as as good as we could be at it. 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:43.120 Uh, and so this sermon really, in some ways, came from that data. 00:04:43.120 --> 00:04:51.519 I looked at the data, I thought, well, we're gonna talk about confession and how important it is, how formative it is in community with one another. 00:04:51.519 --> 00:04:56.720 And so, with that, if you have a Bible or a device, go ahead and get first John chapter one in front of you. 00:04:56.720 --> 00:04:58.480 You can look at the worship guide as well. 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:05.600 And I want to look at uh an important word here that shows up four times in our text, and that word is koinonia. 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:22.399 Now, I'm not one of those people that you know talks about how you think it means this, but the Greek says this because I'm a happy Protestant, and and I believe that the word of God belongs to the people of God, and that you don't need some priest or pastor to tell you what it really says because you're just a lay person. 00:05:22.399 --> 00:05:24.240 Uh-uh, not gonna happen. 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:30.480 The reason I'm willing to use the Greek word koinanea today is because I think the word community becomes white noise. 00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:34.480 We hear it so frequently, and it means everything and nothing. 00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:36.639 And so I want to use the word koinanea. 00:05:36.639 --> 00:05:38.480 It's the word that's used in our text. 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:49.759 Look with me at verse, it shows up four times, and and interestingly, what we call communion and community, the Greek text says has one word for, which is koinanea. 00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:53.360 So communion with God is koinanea with God. 00:05:53.360 --> 00:06:03.839 You see it in verse three, it says this uh so that you two may have fellowship with us, that's community, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 00:06:03.839 --> 00:06:04.639 That's communion. 00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:06.800 Same word, fellowship, koinanea. 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:10.399 Now it shows up again if you look with me at verses six and seven. 00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:17.439 It says in verse six, if we say we have fellowship with him, koinonia with God. 00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:23.439 Or look at verse seven, it says uh that we have fellowship, koinania with one another. 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:35.360 You see how in the imagination of the Bible, communion and community are inextricably linked, so much so that it's the same Greek word, koinonia, it just depends on who's it's with. 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:36.240 Is it with God? 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:37.439 That's called communion. 00:06:37.439 --> 00:06:40.000 If it's with one another, that's called community. 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:41.519 This is super important. 00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:46.800 It's super important because we live in a world that is starved for koinonia. 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:52.560 Now, some people have said 2025 is the year, was the year of AI. 00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:56.639 It's when it went from this kind of peripheral thing to you can't ignore it. 00:06:56.639 --> 00:07:01.519 Everybody has some sort of interaction with AI at some point in their life now. 00:07:01.519 --> 00:07:04.000 And in there's kind of two different stances. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:07.600 Some people believe AI is just Google 2.0. 00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:11.279 It's cool, it's helpful, it's really can do more than what Google could. 00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:16.800 Other people believe this is a disruptive force that's like 10x the industrial revolution. 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:19.040 That many of us might not have jobs in 10 years. 00:07:19.040 --> 00:07:22.800 Like it, I mean, that's the language people talk about with AI. 00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:33.759 But one of the things that's more relevant for us right here, right now, is that the number one use of AI right now is companionship. 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:36.079 Companionship. 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:39.199 Or I would use the word koinania. 00:07:39.199 --> 00:07:51.199 You see, 72% of teens use have an AI companion, and 31% say they prefer their AI companion to real human beings. 00:07:51.199 --> 00:07:54.319 Their friends, their parents, their family. 00:07:54.319 --> 00:07:59.439 You see, this is a huge societal crisis. 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:03.439 Or maybe it's just revealing a crisis that's been there all along. 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:05.279 Now you could take this one of two ways. 00:08:05.279 --> 00:08:07.680 You can go, oh man, things are going from bad to worse. 00:08:07.680 --> 00:08:11.279 Or you could say, the church was made for this moment. 00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:12.959 The church was made for this moment. 00:08:12.959 --> 00:08:18.720 Carrie Newhoff says it like this as the world becomes more artificial, the church becomes more human. 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:26.399 But that means that we have to double down on what has been our value proposition for two millennia now, koinonia. 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:28.240 We need to double down on it. 00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:33.200 Like this actually has to be true and to characterize and describe who we are as a people. 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:38.320 One author put it like this this is a longer quote, but I think it's worth hearing. 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:42.159 Talking about how the early church changed the Roman Empire, he says this. 00:08:42.159 --> 00:08:53.360 The early church was able to defy the decadent values of Roman civilization precisely because it experienced the reality of Christian fellowship in a mighty way. 00:08:53.360 --> 00:08:58.879 The reason why the early church could defy Rome is because of its koinonia. 00:08:58.879 --> 00:09:00.799 He goes on and says this. 00:09:00.799 --> 00:09:10.399 Christian fellowship meant, I love these phrases, unconditional availability and unlimited liability for our brothers and sisters. 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:13.600 Emotionally, financially, and spiritually. 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:15.679 When one member suffered, they all suffered. 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:17.519 When one rejoiced, they all rejoiced. 00:09:17.519 --> 00:09:21.919 When a person or church experienced economic trouble, the other shared without reservation. 00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:27.279 And when a brother or sister fell into sin, the others gently restored the straying person. 00:09:27.279 --> 00:09:33.679 The brothers and sisters were available to each other, liable for each other, and accountable to one another. 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:35.440 That's Quinanea. 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:37.440 That's Quinanea. 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:46.320 Now, the author goes on and says, the network of tiny house churches that were scattered throughout the Roman Empire experienced, listen to this, their oneness in Christ. 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:56.320 Union with Christ, their oneness in Christ so vividly that they were able to defy and eventually conquer a powerful pagan civilization. 00:09:56.320 --> 00:10:05.679 The overwhelming majority of churches today, however, do not provide the context in which brothers and sisters can encourage, admonish, and disciple each other. 00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:12.159 We desperately need new settings and structures for watching over one another in love. 00:10:12.159 --> 00:10:14.960 Do you hear the call at the end there? 00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:18.960 For contexts and settings and structures. 00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:23.120 For us here, we call those congregations, communities, and circles. 00:10:23.120 --> 00:10:27.039 That's the context, the settings, the structures that we're we're trying to build here. 00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:34.639 But listen a house is to a home, what a small group is to koinania. 00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:36.879 Let me make that plain. 00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:41.440 Since today is about confession, let me just confess on behalf of all pastors everywhere. 00:10:41.440 --> 00:10:47.519 Small groups in many, maybe most churches, a lot of them are just not great, including New City. 00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:48.960 This could be real. 00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:50.639 Why? 00:10:50.639 --> 00:10:53.440 Or maybe a better question is well, then why do we still do them? 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:55.759 Because they can be great. 00:10:55.759 --> 00:10:59.039 Because they can be life-changing and transformative. 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:00.240 It's there, it's possible. 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:07.120 But listen, the thing that makes the difference is not the structure of the small group, but the people in the small group. 00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:12.320 Their willingness to show up in such a way where they know and love and are known and loved. 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:18.000 And you think if I'm I'm just kind of talking strategy here, it's it's actually in our text. 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:21.279 Community, koinonia is contingent. 00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:22.879 It's contingent upon something. 00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:23.840 Look at verse 3 here. 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:34.080 It says this that which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you, so that you too, this is important, may have fellowship. 00:11:34.080 --> 00:11:36.320 May have koinonia. 00:11:36.320 --> 00:11:38.320 You underline that word, may. 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:40.720 That's a contingent word. 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:47.200 It's not a promise, it's not an indicative, it's not you will, it's you may, it's possible. 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:50.399 So, what is it contingent upon? 00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:54.240 Two things knowing and loving. 00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:56.480 Knowing and loving. 00:11:56.480 --> 00:12:04.399 And so I want to look at verses five through ten to talk about what it means to know one another and to be known in community. 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:09.440 And the reason why this is so important is because many of you are familiar, I'm sure, with the Pareto principle. 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:13.759 Just simply says that 80% of the results come from about 20% of the work. 00:12:13.759 --> 00:12:16.159 And this is kind of true across the board. 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:19.919 Like 20% of your clothes you wear 80% of the time. 00:12:19.919 --> 00:12:40.720 The Pareto principle of the Christian life of spiritual transformation is community where you are known and where you know others, with an openness that's unhindered, with a transparent trust, with a vulnerability, with a willingness to disclose things to others that they could hurt you with. 00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:42.480 That's what vulnerability really is. 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:44.559 Vulneraire means wound. 00:12:44.559 --> 00:12:49.919 Can you do you tell people things in community such that if they wanted to, they could wound you with them? 00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:55.039 That's the Pareto principle of transformation into Christ-likeness. 00:12:55.039 --> 00:12:58.240 It's the 20% that does 80% of the results. 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:01.919 So if you have it, you will be transformed into Christ-likeness. 00:13:01.919 --> 00:13:03.600 If you lack it, you won't. 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:05.840 You won't have it. 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:09.360 So what gets in the way? 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:17.200 What gets in the way of us being transparent in trust in our communities, being known in community? 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:25.440 Well, the Bible here, 1 John chapter 1, has a simple phrase which is walking in the darkness. 00:13:25.440 --> 00:13:26.879 Walking in the darkness. 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:28.000 That's what gets in the way. 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:30.399 Now, let me be clear on the front end. 00:13:30.399 --> 00:13:35.759 Walking in darkness is not about sinning less. 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:38.559 It's about hiding more. 00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:44.240 When you are walking in darkness, it's not a it's not because you're sinning, it's because you're hiding. 00:13:44.240 --> 00:13:49.360 That's a huge difference and very important to just address at the outset. 00:13:49.360 --> 00:14:07.360 Yesterday, my little boy went, uh, he was playing flashlight tag in the dark with a bunch of his friends, and and I was driving him home afterwards, and he said, Daddy, we were playing flashlight tag, and it was really cool because when people were trying to find me, I would just turn my flashlight off, and they couldn't. 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:10.159 It's like, yeah, dude. 00:14:10.159 --> 00:14:12.960 That's called walking in darkness. 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:16.159 That's hiding. 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:22.080 And he does it in a game with other children, and we do it in this game of life with one another. 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:26.960 We turn the light out so we can hide, so we can't be seen. 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:28.159 Now look at this. 00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:31.440 If you look closely at the text here, it's it's actually pretty brilliant. 00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:42.000 Verses six, eight, and ten, those even verses, all begin with this phrase: if we say, if we say, if we say. 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:44.000 This is key. 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:45.360 Look with me at verse six. 00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:53.679 If we say we have fellowship with him, that is God, while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:59.759 If we say one thing, but we do another, this is darkness. 00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:01.840 This is hiding. 00:15:01.840 --> 00:15:04.639 This is image management. 00:15:04.639 --> 00:15:06.320 This is pretending. 00:15:06.320 --> 00:15:10.320 This is holding secrets, but putting on a mask. 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:13.519 That's what's talked about here in verse six. 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:20.159 You see, and and the reason why this is so important is because this verse one, verse six, really, I think is about our relating to one another. 00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:22.879 We're saying one thing, we're doing something else. 00:15:22.879 --> 00:15:28.320 And and that gap there creates, it has a byproduct, and that byproduct is loneliness. 00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:35.039 The Swiss psychiatrist Paul Turnier says it like this: nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets. 00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:38.799 Nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets. 00:15:38.799 --> 00:15:45.360 Now, to be honest, loneliness is something that I have grappled with for as long as I can remember. 00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:54.559 And I had a pivotal moment, a turning point when I had brothers around me that knew me well enough to love me enough to speak to something. 00:15:54.559 --> 00:16:00.399 And what they spoke to was, hey, Ben, it's really hard to know you because you're impressive. 00:16:00.399 --> 00:16:11.200 Now you might think that that's like, oh, I have to, you know, that's it was it was wounding, but the kind of wounding that is the wounds of a friend are better than the kisses of an enemy. 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:13.600 I felt wounded by that comment. 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:18.720 And I believe the Holy Spirit led me to ask and answer this question on a daily basis. 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:23.360 Today, will I be impressive or will I be known? 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:35.759 And just the habit, the practice of intentionally voting for the kind to become the kind of person that discloses the secrets of my heart in relationship, even if it means I'm no longer that impressive. 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:49.360 But because I long to be known, I don't want to be lonely anymore, that simple vote in that direction makes it to where loneliness, it's still a canary in the coal mine for me, but it's not a dominant experience of my everyday life. 00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:55.279 You say, if we say one thing and we do another, one of the primary results of that is loneliness. 00:16:55.279 --> 00:16:56.559 But look at verse 8. 00:16:56.559 --> 00:17:04.319 Verse 8 says this if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:05.519 This is important. 00:17:05.519 --> 00:17:09.359 So the first one we're deceiving others, saying one thing doing another. 00:17:09.359 --> 00:17:11.200 Now we're deceiving ourselves. 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:16.960 But look at the words that says, if we say we have no sin, present tense, right here, right now. 00:17:16.960 --> 00:17:23.200 This is why what I'm saying is walking in the darkness is not about sinning, it's about hiding. 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:25.200 All of us sin. 00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:31.359 Jesus assumes that since he taught us to pray every day, forgive us our debts. 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:35.359 It's assumed that you will sin on the daily if you're walking with Jesus. 00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:36.880 I'm telling you that right now. 00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:42.079 But what is deadly is saying, I have no sin in my life. 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:46.319 In fact, it's it's it's the key of self-deception. 00:17:46.319 --> 00:17:49.920 You begin to believe your own your own press. 00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:54.480 Psychotherapists say that lying is the foundation of psychopathology. 00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:58.799 It's lying, it's a it's a deception at the core of your being. 00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:03.440 That's what John the Apostle is speaking to here. 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:04.480 What does this mean? 00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:09.119 It means you live around with just this sense of like, I'm good, I'm alright. 00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:13.359 I don't really need much, I don't really need people, I don't really need anything from anyone else. 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:15.680 And you begin to believe your own press. 00:18:15.680 --> 00:18:22.640 I was walking with one of our elders last year, and uh many of you have taken strength finders before, I'm sure. 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:27.680 And and in my top five is woo, which is to win, it's winning others over, all right? 00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:30.799 And I'm walking with one of our elders, and he said, You know what, Ben? 00:18:30.799 --> 00:18:34.480 Um I think you are best at winning yourself over. 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:38.079 And what was he saying? 00:18:38.079 --> 00:18:47.039 He was loving me in that moment, and he was telling me, hey, you're really good at coming up with an idea and then convincing of yourself, convincing yourself that it's true. 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:52.480 Oof, if that's true, and it is, man, do I need to be careful. 00:18:52.480 --> 00:19:02.160 Because it's so subtle, so easy to deceive ourselves, to just in the in the subtlest way lie to ourselves. 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:04.480 Who lies to you more than you? 00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:06.400 I mean, seriously. 00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:08.880 Some of you are like, the devil, the father of lies. 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:09.759 Okay, fine. 00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:15.359 I will concede, I will concede the devil lies to you more than anybody else. 00:19:15.359 --> 00:19:17.759 Silver medal is still not great. 00:19:17.759 --> 00:19:30.000 Like you deceive yourself so frequently, you lie to you so often, and and and you think that this isn't that big of a deal. 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:31.680 It's not that big of a deal. 00:19:31.680 --> 00:19:33.440 Nobody's hurt by it. 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:38.240 I'm just covering up something that's like really just it's only me for me to know. 00:19:38.240 --> 00:19:43.200 And there's these warning signs that you're ignoring in your life. 00:19:43.200 --> 00:19:56.319 We're coming up on the 40th anniversary of the space shuttle challenger exploding 73 seconds after takeoff over Cape Canaveral, about 50 miles east of here. 00:19:56.319 --> 00:20:00.640 On January 28th, 1986, uh, it was a Tragedy. 00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:01.759 It was a tragedy. 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:05.920 And immediately afterwards, there was an investigation to find out what went wrong. 00:20:05.920 --> 00:20:12.559 And they found out what went wrong was there's these things called O-rings that are meant to seal the boosters properly. 00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:18.640 But they, because of the cold temperature in Central Florida, they didn't seal properly. 00:20:18.640 --> 00:20:23.440 Now listen, an O-ring is 7.1 millimeters thick. 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:24.960 That's pretty thin. 00:20:24.960 --> 00:20:32.640 And it was enough to destroy, to explode this entire rocket and take seven astronauts' lives with it. 00:20:32.640 --> 00:20:44.480 And they found out that there was actually discussion and debate among the engineers because they knew when temperatures got to a certain coldness, the O-rings failed. 00:20:44.480 --> 00:20:45.680 They knew it. 00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:50.400 But they discussed and debated whether or not it would be enough to compromise the mission. 00:20:50.400 --> 00:20:59.200 Listen, some of you have subtle signs right now in your life that are gonna destroy you if you don't do something about it. 00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:03.119 Your spouse is talking to you about it, your friends have mentioned it. 00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:05.680 It's like, hey, are you are you okay? 00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:07.279 Are you sure? 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:10.400 Your conscience is talking to you about it. 00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:22.160 That little voice, the Holy Spirit, even now has brought to mind things that you probably should confess to God and to other people, and you're coming up with excuses why it doesn't really matter. 00:21:22.160 --> 00:21:27.440 Listen, it will destroy you in a moment. 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:37.200 Small things, subtle things you don't think are that big of a deal, will ruin your life if you don't come into the light with them. 00:21:37.200 --> 00:21:40.079 Do not deceive yourself. 00:21:40.079 --> 00:21:44.720 We don't just deceive ourselves, but we lie about God. 00:21:44.720 --> 00:21:45.839 Look at verse 10. 00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:47.839 Verse 10 says it like this. 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:53.680 If we say we have not sinned, remember it said, have no sin, that's present tense. 00:21:53.680 --> 00:21:56.160 Have not sinned, that's past tense. 00:21:56.160 --> 00:22:02.160 If we say we have never sinned, we make God a liar and his word is not in us. 00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:03.759 What's going on here? 00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:08.160 Why is it why is it that we accuse God of lying if we say we've never sinned before? 00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:10.319 Because God calls you a sinner. 00:22:10.319 --> 00:22:11.680 That's why. 00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:27.359 He's already evaluated your life, he's already come back with his appraisal, and his appraisal on your life is sinner in thought, in word, in deed, in things that you have done and things that you have left undone. 00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:28.720 You are a sinner. 00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:32.559 And we look at God and we say, Nobody's perfect. 00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:35.519 I'm only human. 00:22:35.519 --> 00:22:42.559 I mean, I'm not as good as some people, but I'm not as bad as others. 00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:46.319 And God says, You're trying to make me a liar right now. 00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:55.519 You stand condemned under my law, worthy of condemnation because of your life, by nature and by choice. 00:22:55.519 --> 00:22:59.119 And to deny that is to call God a liar. 00:22:59.119 --> 00:23:06.640 You see, the gospel comes with a scalpel's cut before a healing balm. 00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:09.920 It confronts us before it comforts us. 00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:18.079 Our condemnation is the black velvet upon which the brilliant brightness of the diamond of the gospel can shine. 00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:25.599 But if you deny the fact that you are a sinner standing in just condemnation under the wrath of God, if you deny that you make God to be a liar. 00:23:25.599 --> 00:23:42.640 Christians have been praying this for a thousand years now. 00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:51.119 This is what it says Almighty God, to you all hearts are opened, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid. 00:23:51.119 --> 00:24:00.880 Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name through Christ our Lord. 00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:01.519 Amen. 00:24:01.519 --> 00:24:03.920 This is a collect for purity. 00:24:03.920 --> 00:24:04.640 Why? 00:24:04.640 --> 00:24:09.920 Because it acknowledges off the bat God is the one from whom no secrets are hid. 00:24:09.920 --> 00:24:12.480 Why make them out to be a liar? 00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:18.960 There's something about secrets, which is that secrets are always on their way to going public. 00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:23.839 Secrets are always in the process of coming to light. 00:24:23.839 --> 00:24:38.160 A couple years ago, uh there was a large church that was imploding because the founder was caught in some significant sexual sin that he had hid for decades and gotten away with it. 00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:49.519 And the number, the list of people who knew this church, were trusted by it, was psychologically informed, uh loves the church pastorally, that list was really short, and I was on it. 00:24:49.519 --> 00:24:59.039 And so I got flown out there to be a consultant and a teacher, and I spent hours and hours and hours and hours and hours with some of the people closest to this man. 00:24:59.039 --> 00:25:01.519 They were all baffled. 00:25:01.519 --> 00:25:06.319 Except for one person, his sister. 00:25:06.319 --> 00:25:11.119 And she looked at me and she said something that in the moment gave me chills. 00:25:11.119 --> 00:25:14.640 And when I think about it now, it is disruptive to me emotionally. 00:25:14.640 --> 00:25:19.039 She said to me, Ben, God will not be mocked. 00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:22.559 She said, I've seen this happen before. 00:25:22.559 --> 00:25:29.279 Men, women who hide things for decades, it usually comes out in their 60s or 70s. 00:25:29.279 --> 00:25:37.440 Of course, she was quoting Galatians chapter 6, which said which says, Do not be deceived. 00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:39.279 God will not be mocked. 00:25:39.279 --> 00:25:42.640 That which you sow, you will also reap. 00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:46.319 If you sow in darkness, you will reap destruction. 00:25:46.319 --> 00:25:48.480 It will come out. 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:51.920 All secrets are in the process of becoming disclosed. 00:25:51.920 --> 00:25:54.400 Why don't you beat them to the punch? 00:25:54.400 --> 00:25:56.000 Why don't you get there first? 00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:03.039 Why don't you be the one that goes on record against you before what you sow, you eventually reap. 00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:07.759 And so with that, let's turn to something a little bit more happy. 00:26:07.759 --> 00:26:15.920 What the Apostle Paul, what the Apostle John calls walking in the light, or verse six calls practicing the truth. 00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:21.440 If walking in darkness is living the lie, then walking in the light is practicing the truth. 00:26:21.440 --> 00:26:24.799 Look with me at verses seven, five, seven, and nine. 00:26:24.799 --> 00:26:33.039 It says this this is the message we have heard from him and proclaimed to you that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:33.759 Verse 7. 00:26:33.759 --> 00:26:38.640 But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship, koinania with one another. 00:26:38.640 --> 00:26:42.000 And the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. 00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:43.279 Verse 9. 00:26:43.279 --> 00:26:51.680 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 00:26:51.680 --> 00:26:59.519 One of the things that happens when I prep for sermons is I meditate on this text and I pray through it and I ask the Lord to speak to me through it first. 00:26:59.519 --> 00:27:11.839 And one of the phrases that I lingered over that I believe the Holy Spirit was just illuminating to me was this phrase, as He is in the light in verse seven. 00:27:11.839 --> 00:27:13.759 As He is in the light. 00:27:13.759 --> 00:27:17.599 You see, this is the primary motivation to come out of darkness. 00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:19.599 I want to be where He is. 00:27:19.599 --> 00:27:22.720 I want to be with Him. 00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:31.839 One of the evidences that you belong to Jesus, that you've been made alive to His beauty and goodness, is that you don't want to stray too far from Him. 00:27:31.839 --> 00:27:39.279 You know that sin unconfessed is a hindrance to your communion with Him. 00:27:39.279 --> 00:27:45.359 And you don't want that because you love, enjoy, delight in your nearness to Him. 00:27:45.359 --> 00:27:47.680 This is the heart cry of a Christian. 00:27:47.680 --> 00:27:51.440 I want to be where He is as He is in the light. 00:27:51.440 --> 00:27:54.160 I want to come out of darkness. 00:27:54.160 --> 00:27:56.240 I want to be where He is. 00:27:56.240 --> 00:27:58.880 It's the joy of your life. 00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:04.319 And when you're there, you look around and you notice everybody else that's walking in the light. 00:28:04.319 --> 00:28:05.599 Oh, there's other people here. 00:28:05.599 --> 00:28:06.799 It's a party. 00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:10.799 Being in the light is so much better than being in the darkness. 00:28:10.799 --> 00:28:19.680 And so this motivation, this light living lifestyle enables us to have koinonia with God and koinanea with one another. 00:28:19.680 --> 00:28:28.559 One of the reasons you don't feel loved, one of the reasons it's hard for you to feel loved by God and by other people is that it's impossible to love a mask. 00:28:28.559 --> 00:28:31.200 It's impossible to love a mask. 00:28:31.200 --> 00:28:32.480 You put on a persona. 00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:33.839 People love the persona. 00:28:33.839 --> 00:28:35.279 You even bring that persona to God. 00:28:35.279 --> 00:28:39.119 God, He won't love the persona because He'll only love the real you. 00:28:39.119 --> 00:28:43.119 And so He'll do things in your life to try to get you to take the mask off. 00:28:43.119 --> 00:28:45.200 Remember our call to worship, Psalm 32? 00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:48.799 David says, When I kept silent, my bones wasted away. 00:28:48.799 --> 00:28:51.839 My strength was dried up like the heat of summer. 00:28:51.839 --> 00:28:56.240 For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. 00:28:56.240 --> 00:29:01.599 I pray that God's hand is heavy upon you if you're living in the darkness. 00:29:01.599 --> 00:29:05.119 It's the severe mercy of God to you. 00:29:05.119 --> 00:29:12.720 He's willing to sap your strength so much that you go, it is unbearable to live in the darkness anymore. 00:29:12.720 --> 00:29:14.319 I have to come out. 00:29:14.319 --> 00:29:19.359 God is so humble, he takes any motivation for you to return to him. 00:29:19.359 --> 00:29:20.720 Well, just think about it. 00:29:20.720 --> 00:29:27.680 I said a moment ago, the highest motivation is I want to be with you, God, but fleeing hell is a legitimate motivation that God receives you from. 00:29:27.680 --> 00:29:30.880 What a humble God He is. 00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:41.759 And so listen, you who are in the darkness with a mask on, maybe the fact that you don't feel loved or known or cared about, maybe that's a motivation enough to take the mask off. 00:29:41.759 --> 00:29:53.119 Verse 7 and verse 9 teach us that the gospel alone can create the kind of safety we need in order to walk in the light. 00:29:53.119 --> 00:29:59.440 It's only if we have great confidence that the blood of Jesus, his son, will cleanse us from all sin. 00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:07.200 Or verse 9, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:09.680 This alone creates the safety that we need. 00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:18.400 The word confess, if you if you look at it, it's it's the words homo and legato, which just means to say the same thing about you that God already says about you. 00:30:18.400 --> 00:30:20.559 That's all a confession is. 00:30:20.559 --> 00:30:23.039 Confession is not saying I'm sorry. 00:30:23.039 --> 00:30:25.119 You've watched enough detective shows. 00:30:25.119 --> 00:30:26.720 You know that they're asking for a confession. 00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:30.880 They want you to tell the truth about what you did or didn't do. 00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:33.279 They don't want you to say I'm sorry. 00:30:33.279 --> 00:30:36.880 That's all confession is, just telling the truth to God and to one another. 00:30:36.880 --> 00:30:38.160 This is the state of my soul. 00:30:38.160 --> 00:30:40.960 This is what's really going on, this is what's actually happening. 00:30:40.960 --> 00:30:42.319 This is confession. 00:30:42.319 --> 00:30:50.559 This is why Dallas Willard said any successful plan for spiritual formation will be significantly similar to the 12-step program. 00:30:50.559 --> 00:30:52.480 This is step four. 00:30:52.480 --> 00:30:58.079 If you're not familiar with the 12 steps, saved countless lives and led many people out of addiction. 00:30:58.079 --> 00:31:03.200 Step four says this: we made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. 00:31:03.200 --> 00:31:10.319 Step five, we admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. 00:31:10.319 --> 00:31:14.640 The devil is in the details, but the spirit is in the specifics. 00:31:14.640 --> 00:31:30.400 What stops you from taking a searching and fearless moral inventory is that you don't believe that if you do it and if you confess it, that he will cleanse you from, the word is all of our sins, all of our unrighteousness. 00:31:30.400 --> 00:31:31.279 Cleanse. 00:31:31.279 --> 00:31:33.359 It's the word catharsis. 00:31:33.359 --> 00:31:44.240 Oh, to be free from the burden of guilt and the shroud of shame through the glorious experience of confession and cleansing from all unrighteousness. 00:31:44.240 --> 00:31:53.039 The great reformer Martin Luther, I believe, had diagnosable obsessive-compulsive disorder, subtype religious scrupulosity. 00:31:53.039 --> 00:31:53.920 That's what I believe. 00:31:53.920 --> 00:31:56.960 I'm a diagnostician, so I know these things, okay? 00:31:56.960 --> 00:31:58.960 That's what I would diagnose him as. 00:31:58.960 --> 00:32:09.200 And in his religious scrupulosity, before he became a Protestant, he would confess his sins all the time to his confessor, a priest. 00:32:09.200 --> 00:32:13.039 He'd confess things like breaking wind while taking the mass and things like that. 00:32:13.039 --> 00:32:14.960 It was like, it was too much. 00:32:14.960 --> 00:32:16.400 It was too much. 00:32:16.400 --> 00:32:19.599 And his priest kind of got fed up with it after a little while. 00:32:19.599 --> 00:32:25.440