WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.080 We hope that you enjoy this teaching from Christ Church. 00:00:05.719 --> 00:00:11.580 This material is copyrighted and no unauthorized duplication, redistribution, or any other 00:00:11.580 --> 00:00:15.280 use of any part is permitted without prior consent from Christ Church. 00:00:15.280 --> 00:00:22.640 Please consider donating to this work in the San Francisco Bay Area online at ChristChurchEastBay.org. 00:00:25.339 --> 00:00:26.519 Good morning. 00:00:27.660 --> 00:00:29.760 My name is Joan Benton. 00:00:30.539 --> 00:00:39.060 I'm a member of the El Cerrito Kensington Community Group, Women Reading Women, and CC Kids. 00:00:39.399 --> 00:00:47.100 We are reading a Psalm of David, chapter 122, as printed in your liturgy. 00:00:49.539 --> 00:00:56.240 I rejoiced with those who said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord. 00:00:56.240 --> 00:01:01.219 Our feet are standing in your gates, Jerusalem. 00:01:02.359 --> 00:01:06.460 Jerusalem is built like a city that is closely compacted together. 00:01:06.459 --> 00:01:14.219 That is where the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, to praise the name of the Lord, according 00:01:14.219 --> 00:01:16.939 to the statue given to Israel. 00:01:16.939 --> 00:01:23.840 There stand the throne of the house of David. 00:01:25.340 --> 00:01:28.060 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. 00:01:28.060 --> 00:01:31.100 May those who love you be secure. 00:01:31.100 --> 00:01:35.740 May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels. 00:01:37.020 --> 00:01:43.600 For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, peace be within you. 00:01:44.020 --> 00:01:48.900 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your prosperity. 00:01:48.900 --> 00:01:54.240 The grass withers and the flowers fade. 00:01:54.859 --> 00:01:57.640 But the word of our God stands forever. 00:01:57.640 --> 00:02:02.819 Oh, good morning, Christ Church. 00:02:03.180 --> 00:02:05.200 My name is Andrew, one of the pastors here. 00:02:05.859 --> 00:02:09.800 And you may have seen me break the door over there just now. 00:02:09.900 --> 00:02:11.420 Sorry about that distraction. 00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:12.360 That was a beautiful moment. 00:02:12.439 --> 00:02:13.300 I totally ruined it. 00:02:13.860 --> 00:02:16.620 But we'll figure that out later. 00:02:19.620 --> 00:02:22.620 I'm a little distracted, so let's come before the Lord in prayer. 00:02:27.639 --> 00:02:34.259 Father, we're here not to hear from me, but to hear from you. 00:02:35.719 --> 00:02:37.059 To hear your voice clearly. 00:02:37.299 --> 00:02:40.439 To enjoy your presence in the word. 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:42.979 To enjoy your presence at this table. 00:02:44.759 --> 00:02:49.719 To enjoy your presence here in the corporate body of Christ. 00:02:51.399 --> 00:02:53.159 We ask that that would happen, Lord. 00:02:53.159 --> 00:03:02.120 Lord, we ask that you'd give us an appetite for the community that you have so desired to create here on earth. 00:03:02.759 --> 00:03:04.519 With people made in your image. 00:03:05.879 --> 00:03:08.280 And we thank you that you've accomplished that in Christ. 00:03:08.500 --> 00:03:10.620 And we ask that he'd be lifted up. 00:03:11.579 --> 00:03:13.240 And that we would behold him. 00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:18.079 And that we would embody the kind of community that he paid for. 00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:23.640 And that he's coming again to restore and redeem and rescue. 00:03:25.440 --> 00:03:28.740 So God, we just ask less of us, more of you. 00:03:30.180 --> 00:03:32.740 And we would desire to see Jesus. 00:03:34.380 --> 00:03:35.980 Make that happen, Holy Spirit. 00:03:36.360 --> 00:03:37.320 In the preaching of your word. 00:03:38.020 --> 00:03:38.280 Amen. 00:03:38.280 --> 00:03:48.360 Alright, so we are continuing our series through the Psalms in this topic that we're calling the Holy Habits of Grace. 00:03:48.500 --> 00:03:55.379 These practices prescribed by God to help us nurture a deepening relationship with him. 00:03:55.520 --> 00:04:01.099 These are spiritual disciplines that God's people have been practicing for thousands of years. 00:04:01.099 --> 00:04:04.739 In order to be formed and shaped to be more like our maker. 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:06.319 To be more like Jesus. 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:12.139 To help us become the best, most fulfilled, most fruitful versions of ourselves. 00:04:12.280 --> 00:04:14.280 That's why we're talking about the Holy Habits of Grace. 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:16.019 That's what we want for each of you. 00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:20.379 To be like a tree planted by streams of water that yield fruit in season. 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:23.079 And whatever you do prospers. 00:04:23.480 --> 00:04:23.659 Right? 00:04:24.600 --> 00:04:27.120 So today we are going to cover the next Holy Habit. 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:30.579 And this next Holy Habit is the Holy Habit of community. 00:04:31.340 --> 00:04:31.780 Community. 00:04:32.019 --> 00:04:35.220 This is an essential element of our mission. 00:04:35.379 --> 00:04:36.740 It's the kind of church that we want to be. 00:04:36.819 --> 00:04:37.939 Christ's church exists. 00:04:38.259 --> 00:04:38.399 What? 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:43.639 To lead people into a deeper relationship with Christ and his church through community. 00:04:44.439 --> 00:04:45.259 And for the city. 00:04:45.939 --> 00:04:48.579 That's essential to who we want to be here at Christ's church. 00:04:48.660 --> 00:04:52.519 We believe that a huge part of growing in a deepening relationship with Christ. 00:04:53.060 --> 00:04:55.819 Is being in community with his church. 00:04:55.819 --> 00:04:58.939 And that you can only do that if you're with us. 00:04:59.060 --> 00:05:03.079 That if you're communing with us at this table, in our fellowship. 00:05:03.480 --> 00:05:05.759 That's how we're going to be a blessing to the world. 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:07.819 That's how we're going to be a blessing to this city. 00:05:08.579 --> 00:05:14.759 And that's why the image I've tried to hold out for us throughout this series is not just a single tree planted by the stream of water. 00:05:15.339 --> 00:05:16.039 But what a garden. 00:05:16.579 --> 00:05:16.680 Right? 00:05:17.039 --> 00:05:20.459 A forest full of Psalm 1 kinds of trees. 00:05:20.519 --> 00:05:21.680 A community of trees. 00:05:21.800 --> 00:05:21.980 Right? 00:05:22.420 --> 00:05:25.240 Bearing fruit together for the good of the world. 00:05:25.240 --> 00:05:26.620 And we cannot do this. 00:05:26.819 --> 00:05:28.120 And we cannot be this. 00:05:28.439 --> 00:05:31.319 Apart from the holy habit of community. 00:05:32.240 --> 00:05:37.280 Now I don't think I need to persuade most of us here about how important community is. 00:05:37.400 --> 00:05:39.699 Particularly in our present cultural moment. 00:05:39.780 --> 00:05:43.360 Many of you have probably read Vivek Murthy's publications. 00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:44.579 He's the U.S. Surgeon General. 00:05:44.860 --> 00:05:46.680 All about the loneliness epidemic. 00:05:46.860 --> 00:05:49.460 How it's threatening our public health. 00:05:49.459 --> 00:05:52.759 You've probably heard about how in Japan and in the U.K. 00:05:52.759 --> 00:05:57.560 They've hired ministers of loneliness to tackle the problem there in their countries. 00:05:57.839 --> 00:06:02.359 And Mother Teresa's even said that loneliness is the leprosy of the West. 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:04.979 You're also probably aware of all the literature. 00:06:05.519 --> 00:06:06.659 Blaming technology. 00:06:06.839 --> 00:06:07.019 Right? 00:06:07.019 --> 00:06:08.740 For all the loneliness that we feel. 00:06:08.819 --> 00:06:10.299 Making us more connected than ever. 00:06:10.459 --> 00:06:13.199 But also at the same time more lonely than ever. 00:06:14.079 --> 00:06:17.019 As the MIT sociologist Sherry Turkle likes to say. 00:06:17.099 --> 00:06:20.199 Technology has given us the illusion of companionship. 00:06:20.539 --> 00:06:22.939 But without the actual demands of friendship. 00:06:23.799 --> 00:06:24.959 She gives the example of texting. 00:06:25.099 --> 00:06:27.439 Texting offers just the right amount of access. 00:06:27.799 --> 00:06:29.079 Just the right amount of control. 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:31.219 Texting puts people not too close. 00:06:31.459 --> 00:06:32.240 Not too far. 00:06:32.439 --> 00:06:33.879 But at just the right distance. 00:06:33.879 --> 00:06:39.040 The world is now full of people who take comfort in being in touch with a lot of people. 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:41.719 Whom they also keep at bay. 00:06:43.100 --> 00:06:44.360 And yet on the other hand. 00:06:44.680 --> 00:06:48.480 We're also still looking at technology in many ways to save us in our loneliness. 00:06:48.719 --> 00:06:48.839 Right? 00:06:49.519 --> 00:06:51.579 There's a Chicago startup called Pi. 00:06:51.699 --> 00:06:56.439 They just raised 11.5 million dollars to fight social isolation. 00:06:56.439 --> 00:07:00.199 Through its app of curated events around the city of Chicago. 00:07:00.199 --> 00:07:02.839 Events like dudes getting pancakes. 00:07:02.839 --> 00:07:08.859 A more recent event they have coming up is spooky themed show and tell for grownups. 00:07:10.079 --> 00:07:12.399 And you have this other app called Time Left. 00:07:12.579 --> 00:07:19.939 It uses an algorithm to place you in a dinner reservation with a group of strangers who have similar feelings as you about political correctness. 00:07:20.079 --> 00:07:22.639 And politically correct jokes based on the algorithm. 00:07:22.639 --> 00:07:25.500 And you know we can make fun of all these apps. 00:07:25.879 --> 00:07:34.759 And we can criticize technology for the ways it creates like thin connections that never really give us the deep community that we crave and need. 00:07:34.839 --> 00:07:42.639 But what if the real problem isn't all these attempts to pursue connection and community and friendship through creativity and technology. 00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:48.719 What if the real problem is a deficient vision of community in the first place? 00:07:49.659 --> 00:07:56.099 What if what we needed wasn't some technological solution or even people trying harder to connect and relate. 00:07:56.100 --> 00:08:01.960 But what if we needed a holy vision of community as it was intended to be. 00:08:02.460 --> 00:08:07.400 A holy vision of community that could inspire a holy habit of community. 00:08:08.400 --> 00:08:12.500 That's what Psalm 122 gives us this morning. 00:08:12.580 --> 00:08:17.700 A holy vision of community that inspires a holy habit of community. 00:08:17.699 --> 00:08:22.879 You know you could say that the whole story of the Bible is the story of community. 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:24.379 It's the story of the triune God. 00:08:24.479 --> 00:08:31.939 Father, Son, and Spirit seeking to establish a community reflecting His triune image in all of His creation. 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:34.960 In the beginning what do you have? 00:08:35.220 --> 00:08:37.720 In Genesis the very first book of the Bible this God He creates. 00:08:38.039 --> 00:08:40.019 He creates and He says it's good, it's good, it's good. 00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:43.319 And then it is not good that man should be alone. 00:08:43.840 --> 00:08:45.139 Because God's after a community. 00:08:45.139 --> 00:08:50.699 And so He creates not one but two in His image, male and female. 00:08:51.059 --> 00:08:55.199 And they are blessed to fill the earth with the image of God. 00:08:55.519 --> 00:09:00.220 To spread the reflection of the triune God across every square inch of creation. 00:09:01.080 --> 00:09:04.740 And then what we find at the end of the story in the last book of the Bible in Revelation 00:09:04.740 --> 00:09:07.259 is that it ends with a perfect community. 00:09:07.699 --> 00:09:10.419 Where the dwelling place of God is with humanity. 00:09:10.879 --> 00:09:13.519 And all the nations are living in perfect harmony. 00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:16.340 God has always been after community. 00:09:16.519 --> 00:09:18.199 That's the whole story of the Bible. 00:09:18.299 --> 00:09:21.879 But of course we, just like the psalmist here in Psalm 122, 00:09:21.960 --> 00:09:25.159 we are living in between that beginning and that end, right? 00:09:25.879 --> 00:09:33.240 We live in an age of tribalism and polarization and hyper-individualism with far more chaos than peace. 00:09:33.899 --> 00:09:38.840 Sin has entered the world and it's disrupted every single human community we could imagine. 00:09:38.840 --> 00:09:40.480 It started with Adam and Eve. 00:09:40.800 --> 00:09:42.600 Then it went to Cain and Abel. 00:09:42.840 --> 00:09:46.639 Then it went to Cain's descendants and Seth's descendants and on and on and on. 00:09:46.759 --> 00:09:48.860 But God has not given up. 00:09:49.220 --> 00:09:53.580 He's not given up on His plan to establish a perfect community in the world. 00:09:53.720 --> 00:09:58.899 And His people, us, the church, those who followed Him by faith, 00:09:58.899 --> 00:10:05.919 we've been called to pursue and bear witness to this community even as we wait for it. 00:10:06.319 --> 00:10:10.079 And that's what King David is doing here in Psalm 122. 00:10:10.299 --> 00:10:19.259 He's singing of and he's longing for and he's imagining and he's committing himself to the community of God as God intends it. 00:10:20.019 --> 00:10:21.399 That's what Psalm 122 is about. 00:10:21.399 --> 00:10:26.179 Now maybe when you first heard this psalm read by Joan so wonderfully, 00:10:26.759 --> 00:10:29.959 what you heard was some ancient Hebrew song, right? 00:10:30.120 --> 00:10:35.399 This ancient song called A Song of Ascent that the ancient Israelites would sing 00:10:35.399 --> 00:10:41.639 as they made their three pilgrimages per year into the presence of the Lord at Jerusalem, again, once a year. 00:10:42.360 --> 00:10:46.240 And you read the song and you read about the tabernacle or the temple, this house of the Lord. 00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:50.560 You read about this old Jerusalem, the tribes of Israel going up, the thrones of David, 00:10:50.740 --> 00:10:53.960 and these prayers for peace inside this ancient city. 00:10:54.080 --> 00:10:56.379 And you're wondering, well, how does this apply to us? 00:10:56.919 --> 00:10:58.360 How does this apply to us today? 00:10:59.259 --> 00:11:02.220 Well, that's the question that we're going to be looking at today. 00:11:02.580 --> 00:11:03.940 It's a great question because it's true. 00:11:04.060 --> 00:11:09.360 While this psalm is God's inspired word, and while it has much to offer us, 00:11:09.460 --> 00:11:14.379 we who live on this side of Christ, of His life and His death and His resurrection, 00:11:14.379 --> 00:11:18.820 this side of the teachings of the apostles and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, 00:11:18.899 --> 00:11:22.700 we actually have a lot more light from Christ and from His Spirit, 00:11:22.820 --> 00:11:25.799 light that needs to be shed upon this psalm as we read it. 00:11:25.820 --> 00:11:30.860 We have far more light and insight from God about the deeper meaning of Psalm 122 00:11:30.860 --> 00:11:37.220 than even those who first penned and sang this psalm before the Messiah arrived, right? 00:11:38.139 --> 00:11:44.139 See, while the city of Jerusalem, the central place where the Ark of the Covenant and the throne of David rested, 00:11:44.139 --> 00:11:49.899 while to the ancient Israelites living under the old covenant of Abraham and Moses and David and the prophets, 00:11:50.019 --> 00:11:55.519 well, that was the place where the localized presence of God dwelt on earth, 00:11:55.960 --> 00:11:58.919 the central location of God's people as a community. 00:12:00.199 --> 00:12:07.120 God, in the new covenant, has brought that location to its transcendent fulfillment in the new covenant of Christ. 00:12:08.059 --> 00:12:10.480 See, when Jesus came, He announced that what? 00:12:10.659 --> 00:12:12.659 He was the true temple, right? 00:12:12.659 --> 00:12:15.360 Right. Tear this temple down. I'm going to raise it in three days. 00:12:15.600 --> 00:12:18.719 He was the place where God dwelt among us. 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:23.980 The apostle who writes in Hebrews chapter 12, he writes that if we are united with Christ, 00:12:24.279 --> 00:12:27.399 no matter our physical or geographical location, 00:12:28.360 --> 00:12:31.139 we have already come to the city of the living God, 00:12:31.679 --> 00:12:34.399 the heavenly Jerusalem, to God, the judge of all, 00:12:34.439 --> 00:12:37.120 and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant. 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:40.279 So you see, everything we read about in Psalm 122, 00:12:40.620 --> 00:12:44.980 this song that came upon the lips of ancient old covenant people of God, 00:12:45.620 --> 00:12:52.860 we are to read it as a type and shadow prefiguring Christ and all that Christ accomplished. 00:12:53.100 --> 00:12:56.940 So while the Ark of the Covenant, the tabernacle, the temple, the city of Jerusalem, 00:12:56.940 --> 00:13:03.180 the tribes of Jacob truly did enjoy the presence of God in the community of God. 00:13:03.680 --> 00:13:08.500 And while we need to take that seriously, we need to take the original historical context seriously, 00:13:08.760 --> 00:13:12.120 we also need to read this psalm as Christians, 00:13:12.880 --> 00:13:15.860 as followers of Christ in a Christ-centered way. 00:13:15.860 --> 00:13:20.700 We need to understand that all these things in this psalm also pointed beyond themselves 00:13:20.700 --> 00:13:25.419 to the presence of God in Christ and in His church. 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:31.060 So you might say that in Christ, the multinational, universal church 00:13:31.060 --> 00:13:34.800 is the fulfillment of Jerusalem and David's throne. 00:13:35.820 --> 00:13:38.919 All the tribes of God's people that are talked about here, 00:13:39.460 --> 00:13:43.680 they are fulfilled in the many tribes and tongues and nations of the church. 00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:48.539 And that's what Psalm 122 is supposed to mean to us living on this side of the cross. 00:13:49.219 --> 00:13:53.620 So while the ancient Hebrew singers might have envisioned the tabernacle or Solomon's temple 00:13:53.620 --> 00:13:57.259 and the 12 tribes of Jacob in the physical city of Jerusalem, 00:13:57.479 --> 00:14:04.339 we are to sing Psalm 122 as Christians with the eyes of our heart set upon the church. 00:14:04.759 --> 00:14:08.559 The church and all God's people throughout the world and throughout history. 00:14:09.719 --> 00:14:13.219 But the one thing that we do share in common, though, is that we sing like King David 00:14:13.220 --> 00:14:17.660 and we sing like all those people of old, we're to sing Psalm 122, 00:14:17.860 --> 00:14:23.960 yearning for, imagining, and committing ourselves to the community of God. 00:14:24.820 --> 00:14:28.840 And we can see this community more fully in the light of Christ. 00:14:29.320 --> 00:14:29.920 Does that make sense? 00:14:29.960 --> 00:14:31.800 How we read the psalm as new covenant believers. 00:14:31.899 --> 00:14:35.779 It's so important to get that to understand how we're going to apply this psalm. 00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:38.980 Okay, so now what I want to do is I want to show us how to do that. 00:14:38.980 --> 00:14:45.200 How do we sing this psalm with a vision for God's community as he always intended it to be? 00:14:45.860 --> 00:14:48.220 Now remember, this is a song of ascents. 00:14:48.500 --> 00:14:54.060 And while we new covenant Christians, we do not make three pilgrimages per year to Jerusalem. 00:14:54.840 --> 00:15:02.480 And while the Holy Spirit's presence actually indwells within every single person who's united with Christ in God's community, 00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:09.279 God's people still do have a rhythm of heading to the house of the Lord on a regular basis. 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:14.659 Every Sabbath day, every Lord's day, every resurrection Sunday, we go to the house of the Lord. 00:15:14.740 --> 00:15:15.420 We go to church. 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:19.240 We go to the corporate dwelling place of God. 00:15:19.340 --> 00:15:21.100 God is here where his people are. 00:15:21.740 --> 00:15:24.480 And my hope is that we come with anticipation. 00:15:24.480 --> 00:15:30.460 Verse 1, I rejoiced with those who said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord. 00:15:30.519 --> 00:15:36.519 And my question for us is, do you eagerly look forward to coming to be with the family of God? 00:15:37.420 --> 00:15:40.940 When you think about the church, when you think about the community of Christ, 00:15:41.060 --> 00:15:46.320 do you anticipate an encounter with the Lord and with the Lord's holy people? 00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:53.220 Or do you just anticipate five songs, maybe some pastries, some religious rituals, right? 00:15:53.320 --> 00:15:55.040 And some awkward socializing time. 00:15:57.020 --> 00:16:01.320 Do we look forward, are our hearts already filled with song, 00:16:02.020 --> 00:16:07.820 at the prospect of going into the presence of God with our church family, with our church community, 00:16:07.960 --> 00:16:11.100 where God inhabits the praises of his people? 00:16:12.180 --> 00:16:14.160 Do you sense that in our worship? 00:16:14.159 --> 00:16:16.600 That God is here? 00:16:17.939 --> 00:16:20.100 Do your kids look forward to coming to church? 00:16:20.579 --> 00:16:25.779 Do they even know to expect an encounter with God in this place? 00:16:26.959 --> 00:16:28.819 Might they say, like it says in verse 2, 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:32.639 our feet are standing in your gates, we made it. 00:16:32.959 --> 00:16:35.139 Like they've arrived at Disneyland, right? 00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:43.639 Is the church, is it one of your family's favorite, most nostalgic places to be? 00:16:43.639 --> 00:16:46.659 A destination that your calendar is even built around? 00:16:47.559 --> 00:16:50.319 Is your calendar built around the rhythms of the church? 00:16:50.799 --> 00:16:54.699 Or do we only make it to church when it fits our previously determined schedule? 00:16:55.860 --> 00:16:57.080 Think about that for a second. 00:16:57.199 --> 00:17:01.519 How many Lord's days a year do you devote to worshiping him with his people? 00:17:02.439 --> 00:17:03.299 It is his day. 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:05.200 It's the Lord's day. 00:17:05.779 --> 00:17:08.940 Even if you're on vacation, there are churches to worship in. 00:17:08.940 --> 00:17:10.259 And it is his day. 00:17:10.900 --> 00:17:14.460 To be with the people of God ought to be a priority for the people of God. 00:17:15.460 --> 00:17:17.440 To be the community that God wants us to be, 00:17:17.539 --> 00:17:20.799 we need to dedicate gathering together on our calendars. 00:17:20.820 --> 00:17:21.960 And we need to prioritize it. 00:17:22.019 --> 00:17:24.820 You know, my family, we're part of the Alameda community group. 00:17:25.779 --> 00:17:27.920 We did that awesome yogurt bar last week. 00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:30.620 We meet twice a month. 00:17:31.060 --> 00:17:33.340 And we meet at Andy and Jane's house in Alameda. 00:17:33.620 --> 00:17:37.740 And one thing I love to hear every Sunday, because my girls can't keep track, 00:17:37.840 --> 00:17:40.480 is, do we get to go to Uncle Andy's house today? 00:17:41.620 --> 00:17:43.180 Do we get to go to Uncle Andy's house? 00:17:43.259 --> 00:17:44.080 And I love that. 00:17:44.460 --> 00:17:47.140 I love that they look forward to being with the people of God. 00:17:47.720 --> 00:17:50.920 Eating food, doing life, just being in community, 00:17:51.360 --> 00:17:53.420 seeing their church uncles and aunties. 00:17:53.420 --> 00:17:59.019 Because that's the one way, that's one of many ways that we experience the very presence of God 00:17:59.019 --> 00:18:00.860 in our laughter together. 00:18:01.900 --> 00:18:04.620 Oversharing the food on the table, right? 00:18:04.740 --> 00:18:06.340 In the prayers that we pray for one another. 00:18:06.980 --> 00:18:08.900 In making fun of each other, right? 00:18:09.160 --> 00:18:11.259 In me playing video games with the middle schoolers. 00:18:11.600 --> 00:18:13.519 It's my favorite part about being in the presence of God. 00:18:16.420 --> 00:18:22.000 I also want to highlight, you know, the embodied physicality of community here in verse 2. 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:24.759 It says, my feet are standing in your gates. 00:18:25.500 --> 00:18:29.819 Not my eyes are watching from like 20 miles away, on a screen, through the internet. 00:18:30.779 --> 00:18:35.200 And this is not to say, this is not to guilt trip you if, you know, you're in crazy sin, 00:18:35.279 --> 00:18:37.180 if you tune in and you don't make it to church. 00:18:37.339 --> 00:18:42.339 But it is to say that God's intention for the people of God is to be together in person. 00:18:43.380 --> 00:18:44.140 In the flesh. 00:18:44.799 --> 00:18:48.079 Shoulder to shoulder to hear each other's voices lifted up to the heavens. 00:18:48.200 --> 00:18:49.799 To see hands raised. 00:18:49.799 --> 00:18:54.899 To shake that hand and pass the peace of Christ to one another. 00:18:55.859 --> 00:19:00.319 To hear a hundred other people in this room asking the Lord for the forgiveness of their sins. 00:19:00.399 --> 00:19:04.399 To hear a hundred other people in this room confessing that they believe in one God, 00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:07.139 the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:09.700 and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. 00:19:10.399 --> 00:19:12.240 To feel the waters of baptism. 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:16.500 To taste the body and blood of Christ upon our lips. 00:19:16.579 --> 00:19:17.579 To be anointed with oil. 00:19:17.980 --> 00:19:19.900 To receive the laying on of hands. 00:19:20.059 --> 00:19:24.660 The community of God is meant to be an embodied analog community. 00:19:24.819 --> 00:19:27.240 And not just some spiritual digital community. 00:19:27.920 --> 00:19:30.700 Being the community of God in the flesh. 00:19:30.700 --> 00:19:37.740 Having our calendars revolve around worshiping community is a way that we are a countercultural witness. 00:19:38.200 --> 00:19:40.600 That resists the unholy habits, right? 00:19:40.660 --> 00:19:49.660 The unholy liturgies of the secular world that deform us into consumeristic, hyper-individualistic, selfish people. 00:19:49.660 --> 00:19:56.340 Even people who aren't Christians, you know, they're starting to realize this about Christianity, about organized religion. 00:19:56.980 --> 00:19:58.220 There's this writer for The Atlantic. 00:19:58.420 --> 00:19:59.680 His name is Derek Thompson. 00:19:59.840 --> 00:20:01.519 He wrote this earlier this year. 00:20:02.519 --> 00:20:08.800 As an agnostic, I've spent most of my life thinking about the decline of faith in America in mostly positive terms. 00:20:09.460 --> 00:20:13.860 Organized religion seemed to me beset by scandal and entangled and noxious politics. 00:20:14.200 --> 00:20:16.820 So I thought, what is there really to mourn? 00:20:16.819 --> 00:20:21.839 Only in the past few years have I come around to a different view. 00:20:22.799 --> 00:20:31.059 Maybe religion works a bit like a retaining wall to hold back the destabilizing pressure of American hyper-individualism. 00:20:32.200 --> 00:20:40.980 See, Derek Thompson and many others who don't even know Christ are beginning to notice how organized religion provides not only a connection to the divine, 00:20:41.099 --> 00:20:43.359 but it provides, what, historical narrative of identity? 00:20:43.359 --> 00:20:48.539 A set of rituals to organize our time and our weeks and our years around? 00:20:48.619 --> 00:20:56.039 A community of families to support one another and to raise their children together in a village of shared values? 00:20:56.919 --> 00:21:02.240 And he notes that, and he notes how, you know, the ones who are fleeing religion the fastest in our society 00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:07.219 are also the ones who are seeing the largest and fastest decline in socialization. 00:21:07.220 --> 00:21:09.600 It's not just about socializing. 00:21:09.740 --> 00:21:14.880 He says, according to the Pew Research Center, religiously unaffiliated Americans are less likely to volunteer, 00:21:15.940 --> 00:21:19.160 less likely to feel satisfied with their community and social life, 00:21:19.579 --> 00:21:22.220 and more likely to say they feel lonely. 00:21:23.480 --> 00:21:26.100 He cites another agnostic writer, Jonathan Haidt. 00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:28.360 Many of you have read The Coddling of the American Mind. 00:21:28.359 --> 00:21:33.279 The Anxious Generation is his most recent one, and there in The Anxious Generation, 00:21:34.279 --> 00:21:39.459 Haidt talks about the smartphone as this diabolical opposite to religious ritual, right? 00:21:39.519 --> 00:21:46.000 He writes, whereas digital life on the internet is disembodied, asynchronous, shallow, and solitary, 00:21:46.939 --> 00:21:51.659 religious rituals are embodied, synchronous, deep, and collective. 00:21:52.539 --> 00:21:57.339 Religious rituals put us in our body requiring some kind of devotional movement and activity. 00:21:57.339 --> 00:21:59.199 We kneel to pray, right? 00:21:59.480 --> 00:22:01.299 We lift up our hands to worship. 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:08.000 These rituals fix us in time, forcing us to set aside an hour, maybe even set aside a whole day, 00:22:08.419 --> 00:22:12.319 and they make us make contact with the sacred in the presence of other people, 00:22:12.459 --> 00:22:16.419 whether in the pew or around a shared prayer at the dinner table. 00:22:17.539 --> 00:22:23.079 See, this is God's real life, flesh and blood vision for the church as community. 00:22:23.079 --> 00:22:28.000 And if you have eyes to see the community of the church as God sees it, 00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:32.519 according to God's vision of community, it's a wonderful sight to behold. 00:22:33.480 --> 00:22:38.699 In verse 3, the singer pays special attention to how perfectly Jerusalem is built and put together, 00:22:38.779 --> 00:22:43.500 and he notices the wonderful unity and diversity of the tribes going up to the Lord. 00:22:43.599 --> 00:22:45.939 All the different, they're all different, right? 00:22:45.980 --> 00:22:46.919 In their own ways. 00:22:46.920 --> 00:22:51.640 They all have their strengths, they all have their limitations, and yet they are united in one thing, 00:22:51.720 --> 00:22:53.960 in praising the name of the Lord together, 00:22:54.560 --> 00:22:59.420 and in obedience to the rhythmic commands and statutes that God has given them to observe. 00:23:00.440 --> 00:23:05.100 Now, we know in the light of Christ, though, that the diversity spans far beyond Jacob's 12 tribes, right? 00:23:05.160 --> 00:23:08.800 This is a community from every tribe and tongue and nation. 00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:13.519 There is no faith, there is no institution in the world, in history, 00:23:13.639 --> 00:23:19.619 that can express the wonderful unity and diversity of humanity better than the church of Jesus Christ. 00:23:20.419 --> 00:23:25.240 This place where poor and rich, red and yellow, black and white, able and disabled, 00:23:25.940 --> 00:23:29.519 male and female, slave and free, are all one and equal, 00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:33.859 yet still fully their own unique selves in Christ and in his church community, 00:23:33.859 --> 00:23:42.259 included simply by humble repentance and bold faith in the same crucified, risen, and returning Savior. 00:23:42.359 --> 00:23:45.159 There is nothing like the church in the world. 00:23:46.179 --> 00:23:50.599 There is nothing like the institution of the church founded upon the rock who is Christ. 00:23:51.759 --> 00:23:54.299 But my question is, is that what we see when we come here? 00:23:55.099 --> 00:23:59.699 Is that what we see and celebrate when we come to church, the unity and diversity of the body? 00:23:59.699 --> 00:24:03.719 People singing and confessing the same words, taking the same bread and wine, 00:24:03.859 --> 00:24:05.679 upon our lips as us. 00:24:06.099 --> 00:24:09.919 People who we'd never come into contact with outside of the walls of this church, 00:24:09.979 --> 00:24:11.679 apart from our union with Christ. 00:24:11.779 --> 00:24:13.240 People who were raised differently than us. 00:24:13.639 --> 00:24:15.119 People who live differently than us. 00:24:15.500 --> 00:24:16.959 People who vote differently than us. 00:24:17.299 --> 00:24:20.919 People who spend and vacation differently than us. 00:24:21.959 --> 00:24:26.459 And I want to encourage you today to take a moment as we come to this table, right? 00:24:27.159 --> 00:24:28.259 To just look up. 00:24:29.259 --> 00:24:30.979 Don't just focus on yourself in this moment. 00:24:31.079 --> 00:24:32.719 Yes, it is a moment between you and Christ, 00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:35.319 but it's a moment between you and Christ and the body of Christ. 00:24:35.420 --> 00:24:35.960 Take a look up. 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:40.600 Look over your shoulder right now and marvel at the kinds of people who are sitting around you. 00:24:42.860 --> 00:24:46.579 They're bound to you if they are in Christ in a covenantal relationship. 00:24:47.480 --> 00:24:49.140 They're covenanted to you. 00:24:49.779 --> 00:24:52.600 Your Lord and Savior has purchased them with His blood, 00:24:52.759 --> 00:24:54.680 and He loves them like He loves you. 00:24:55.360 --> 00:24:58.539 And He wants that for them from your heart as well. 00:24:58.539 --> 00:25:03.299 People who hear the same words, right, coming around this table, 00:25:03.420 --> 00:25:05.279 Christ's body given to you. 00:25:05.619 --> 00:25:06.659 Those aren't just words for you. 00:25:06.720 --> 00:25:09.359 You're supposed to hear that when your neighbor's receiving those elements. 00:25:10.099 --> 00:25:12.480 Christ's blood shed for your sins. 00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:15.259 I can't wait to see my daughters take that, 00:25:15.360 --> 00:25:19.019 because I'm going to know every single sin that they're talking about, right? 00:25:19.860 --> 00:25:22.900 When they hear that Christ's blood shed for your sins, 00:25:23.440 --> 00:25:24.819 take that with your spouses. 00:25:26.059 --> 00:25:27.559 Know that your sins are forgiven. 00:25:27.660 --> 00:25:29.720 Know that your spouse's sins are forgiven. 00:25:30.759 --> 00:25:34.640 Enter into that reconciliation together with this family of faith. 00:25:34.640 --> 00:25:36.980 These are words for everyone. 00:25:38.300 --> 00:25:42.640 See, the church is a place where God issues His righteous verdicts over us, 00:25:43.220 --> 00:25:45.560 justified by faith in Christ. 00:25:46.100 --> 00:25:48.180 That's what this image about the throne is about. 00:25:48.340 --> 00:25:50.840 See, the church is also the place where we confess and stand secure 00:25:50.840 --> 00:25:53.220 in the righteous judgments and verdicts of God. 00:25:53.580 --> 00:25:57.759 In a world where all kinds of injustice seem to prevail and go uncheck, 00:25:57.880 --> 00:26:00.500 the church in and amongst the people of God 00:26:00.500 --> 00:26:04.140 is where we go to be reminded of who sits on David's throne. 00:26:05.360 --> 00:26:05.780 Verse 5, 00:26:05.880 --> 00:26:09.100 There stand the thrones for judgment, the thrones of the house of David. 00:26:09.200 --> 00:26:13.700 This is the only institution in the world that proclaims that Jesus is king. 00:26:14.420 --> 00:26:18.600 And that trust in a final judgment that will right all wrongs 00:26:18.600 --> 00:26:21.520 and bring all injustice to account. 00:26:21.520 --> 00:26:23.600 This is God's vision of the church. 00:26:24.200 --> 00:26:27.580 And this is what the psalm sings about and celebrates. 00:26:29.040 --> 00:26:30.920 Now, perhaps you're thinking to yourself, though, 00:26:30.980 --> 00:26:33.000 well, this is not the church that I'm familiar with. 00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:35.160 This sounds quite ideal. 00:26:35.380 --> 00:26:36.440 This is not the church I know. 00:26:36.559 --> 00:26:39.039 You've witnessed plenty of injustice in the church, 00:26:39.420 --> 00:26:43.440 plenty of untrustworthy, judgmental pronouncements by the church. 00:26:43.579 --> 00:26:46.019 You may see more chaos and division in the church, 00:26:46.140 --> 00:26:50.299 more oppressive uniformity than harmonious unity and diversity. 00:26:50.299 --> 00:26:53.419 And when you look at the lives of many church members, 00:26:53.419 --> 00:26:54.980 you see plenty of hypocrisy, 00:26:55.440 --> 00:27:00.200 plenty of church members entrenched in the deformative, unholy habits and liturgies 00:27:00.200 --> 00:27:03.839 that just make them more enslaved to their consumeristic tendencies, 00:27:04.099 --> 00:27:07.139 their individualism, their selfishness, and their superficiality. 00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:09.919 And honestly, what can I say? 00:27:10.019 --> 00:27:10.680 You're not wrong. 00:27:11.500 --> 00:27:12.299 You're not wrong. 00:27:12.299 --> 00:27:16.879 Just like the Jerusalem that the psalmist sang of in Psalm 122 00:27:16.879 --> 00:27:21.720 wasn't ever truly as perfect and ideal as they sang about, 00:27:22.680 --> 00:27:23.659 neither is the church. 00:27:24.539 --> 00:27:26.700 Neither is the bride of Christ, 00:27:26.819 --> 00:27:28.240 and certainly not Christ's church. 00:27:29.480 --> 00:27:33.180 So how could they sing this song in ancient days of Israel? 00:27:33.559 --> 00:27:36.299 And how can we sing this song as the church 00:27:36.299 --> 00:27:39.799 with any kind of genuineness and authenticity? 00:27:41.240 --> 00:27:43.159 Well, the answer is that we sing by faith. 00:27:44.139 --> 00:27:44.960 We sing by faith. 00:27:45.019 --> 00:27:47.180 See, in one sense, David wasn't singing of what he saw, 00:27:47.240 --> 00:27:48.180 like, right in front of him. 00:27:48.779 --> 00:27:51.159 He was singing of the ideal Jerusalem, 00:27:51.299 --> 00:27:54.139 the ideal community of God to come, 00:27:54.919 --> 00:27:56.319 that he believed would come. 00:27:56.399 --> 00:27:57.099 He had a vision. 00:27:57.200 --> 00:27:58.759 This is a prophetic song, 00:27:59.200 --> 00:28:01.899 and so we must sing by faith prophetically as well. 00:28:01.940 --> 00:28:04.720 We don't sing the song because the church is all perfect and amazing. 00:28:04.720 --> 00:28:07.519 No, we sing of what the church could be and what it will be 00:28:07.519 --> 00:28:11.079 because we know how the story ends in Jesus Christ. 00:28:12.039 --> 00:28:13.279 The bridegroom, right, 00:28:13.860 --> 00:28:17.740 who will present his bride spotless on the final day. 00:28:18.079 --> 00:28:20.600 The bridegroom who will not give up on his bride. 00:28:21.400 --> 00:28:22.720 That's how we sing this song. 00:28:23.420 --> 00:28:26.579 We sing because we believe everything that God desires for his church, 00:28:26.740 --> 00:28:31.579 and we believe that Christ is able to present us perfect before the throne. 00:28:31.579 --> 00:28:35.579 We sing because we believe the good news that now, 00:28:35.819 --> 00:28:39.639 in Christ, we can be both sinners and saints at the same time. 00:28:39.759 --> 00:28:43.059 So no sin will ever surprise us in the church. 00:28:43.699 --> 00:28:47.819 But we also know that no sin in the church is too big for Christ to take care of, 00:28:48.019 --> 00:28:49.679 to cleanse, and to wipe away. 00:28:50.659 --> 00:28:54.859 And this is what inspires us to pursue Christian community, 00:28:54.980 --> 00:28:56.179 the holy habit of community. 00:28:56.180 --> 00:29:00.320 Not the perfection of Christ's community, but the perfection of Christ. 00:29:01.560 --> 00:29:06.539 This is how we can pray and hope for and demand the peace of Christ to one another. 00:29:07.259 --> 00:29:11.519 Because the punishment that brought us peace was upon him. 00:29:12.580 --> 00:29:15.380 And by his wounds, we are healed. 00:29:16.860 --> 00:29:19.240 This is why the song continues in verse 6. 00:29:19.360 --> 00:29:20.500 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. 00:29:21.279 --> 00:29:21.840 Pray for it. 00:29:21.839 --> 00:29:23.519 May those who love you be secure. 00:29:23.819 --> 00:29:25.240 May there be peace within your walls, 00:29:25.359 --> 00:29:27.019 and security within your citadels. 00:29:27.099 --> 00:29:28.759 For the sake of my family and friends, 00:29:28.959 --> 00:29:31.039 I will say, peace be within you. 00:29:31.099 --> 00:29:33.119 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, 00:29:33.240 --> 00:29:34.959 I will seek your prosperity. 00:29:35.079 --> 00:29:37.359 This song ends in a prayer for peace. 00:29:37.480 --> 00:29:39.459 Or if you looked in the Hebrew for shalom. 00:29:40.259 --> 00:29:43.759 For all the fullness of God's blessings upon the community of God. 00:29:43.819 --> 00:29:46.500 Because the singers know that we haven't arrived yet. 00:29:46.500 --> 00:29:50.519 But the thing is, here they are setting their hearts upon this shalom, 00:29:50.859 --> 00:29:51.960 trusting God for it. 00:29:52.420 --> 00:29:54.460 And not merely for their own sakes, 00:29:54.539 --> 00:29:56.660 but for their love, out of their love for the community. 00:29:57.160 --> 00:30:00.400 Desiring security and shalom and goodness and prosperity 00:30:00.400 --> 00:30:01.720 for their family and friends, 00:30:01.779 --> 00:30:02.819 and for the glory of the Lord, 00:30:02.880 --> 00:30:04.339 for the house of the Lord. 00:30:05.119 --> 00:30:07.519 See, to sing a Psalm 122 isn't to be fake, 00:30:07.920 --> 00:30:10.599 or to sing a song about something that doesn't exist. 00:30:11.299 --> 00:30:14.160 To sing Psalm 122 is to express our commitment 00:30:14.160 --> 00:30:16.220 to the community of God. 00:30:16.680 --> 00:30:18.660 To see all that it could be, 00:30:18.740 --> 00:30:21.019 and to devote ourselves to that end. 00:30:21.440 --> 00:30:25.300 This is what it means to be a healthy and vibrant member of the church. 00:30:25.460 --> 00:30:26.500 It's not to ask, 00:30:26.840 --> 00:30:28.480 what will I get out of the church community? 00:30:28.920 --> 00:30:31.180 But it's to live to contribute to that community 00:30:31.180 --> 00:30:33.519 that God is creating. 00:30:34.720 --> 00:30:36.380 Writing during World War II, 00:30:36.500 --> 00:30:38.360 the German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, right? 00:30:38.360 --> 00:30:40.080 Who opposed and resisted Hitler. 00:30:40.759 --> 00:30:41.800 He writes, he wrote, 00:30:41.799 --> 00:30:44.440 the person who loves their dream of community 00:30:44.440 --> 00:30:46.220 will destroy community. 00:30:47.159 --> 00:30:49.039 But the person who loves those around them 00:30:49.039 --> 00:30:50.759 will create community. 00:30:51.740 --> 00:30:52.740 That's our call. 00:30:53.500 --> 00:30:54.940 We've just gotten it so backwards 00:30:54.940 --> 00:30:57.819 in our cultural climate of consumerism. 00:30:58.399 --> 00:31:00.359 You know, local South Bay pastor, Jay Kim, 00:31:00.419 --> 00:31:01.819 he wrote this book, Analog Church, 00:31:01.960 --> 00:31:02.799 and he writes, 00:31:02.879 --> 00:31:02.960 you know, 00:31:03.019 --> 00:31:05.159 many people want their local church to be customized 00:31:05.159 --> 00:31:07.779 and crafted to fit their specific needs, 00:31:08.139 --> 00:31:09.240 desires, and preferences. 00:31:09.240 --> 00:31:11.579 The concept of church shopping, 00:31:11.940 --> 00:31:15.859 it really could only exist in a culture like ours, right? 00:31:16.819 --> 00:31:18.660 It's crazy what kind of culture we're living in. 00:31:19.259 --> 00:31:20.519 I just realized, you know, 00:31:20.559 --> 00:31:22.579 all the shows I used to watch together as a family, 00:31:22.660 --> 00:31:23.700 these family sitcoms, 00:31:23.900 --> 00:31:25.160 those things don't exist anymore. 00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:28.160 There's a show for each one of my girls, 00:31:28.240 --> 00:31:29.059 not even both of them together, 00:31:29.160 --> 00:31:30.220 each one of my girls. 00:31:30.620 --> 00:31:31.519 There's a show for my wife, 00:31:31.720 --> 00:31:32.940 there's a show for me, you know? 00:31:33.359 --> 00:31:34.140 Whatever happened to watching 00:31:34.140 --> 00:31:36.099 The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air together, right? 00:31:36.940 --> 00:31:39.120 Family Matters, the best, right? 00:31:39.240 --> 00:31:41.680 That's the culture we live in. 00:31:42.099 --> 00:31:45.120 It's always tailored so individually to us. 00:31:45.940 --> 00:31:48.579 But the church of Christ is a counter-community. 00:31:49.599 --> 00:31:51.980 We come here even if it doesn't fill us in the same way 00:31:51.980 --> 00:31:53.259 as it might fill the person next to us, 00:31:53.299 --> 00:31:55.539 but we come because we love Christ, 00:31:55.839 --> 00:31:57.740 and we love the body of Christ. 00:31:58.380 --> 00:31:59.120 So my question is, 00:31:59.200 --> 00:32:01.960 what if we desired a church after God's heart instead, 00:32:02.720 --> 00:32:05.220 of a church that's tailored after our own preferences? 00:32:06.220 --> 00:32:07.779 What if we saw this place as a place 00:32:07.779 --> 00:32:09.519 where our kids learn to be bored once in a while? 00:32:10.519 --> 00:32:11.200 That's okay. 00:32:13.559 --> 00:32:17.880 What if we prayed for this kind of church community, right? 00:32:18.759 --> 00:32:22.420 Psalm 122 gives us the words to pray. 00:32:23.420 --> 00:32:25.259 It's the cry of shalom. 00:32:25.500 --> 00:32:27.980 And I love the progression here from verse 6 to verse 9. 00:32:28.039 --> 00:32:29.980 At first, it's just a prayer of peace, right? 00:32:30.019 --> 00:32:31.940 May security and peace be within your walls. 00:32:31.940 --> 00:32:33.880 It's just an ask. 00:32:33.940 --> 00:32:34.500 It's just a plea. 00:32:34.580 --> 00:32:35.180 It's just a hope. 00:32:35.880 --> 00:32:37.600 But then in verse 8, it becomes more forceful, 00:32:37.660 --> 00:32:38.420 even like a demand. 00:32:38.539 --> 00:32:39.320 It's no longer an ask, 00:32:39.380 --> 00:32:41.200 but the singer is now contending, 00:32:42.019 --> 00:32:43.539 speaking with the authority of God, 00:32:43.680 --> 00:32:45.000 channeling the very heart of God 00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:46.299 for the community of God. 00:32:46.940 --> 00:32:48.460 Then in verse 9, the prayer takes action. 00:32:48.559 --> 00:32:49.860 I'm not just asking for it. 00:32:49.880 --> 00:32:51.360 I'm not just contending for it, 00:32:51.360 --> 00:32:53.360 but I am actively seeking it. 00:32:53.600 --> 00:32:54.940 I will seek your prosperity. 00:32:55.360 --> 00:32:56.120 I'm pursuing it. 00:32:56.160 --> 00:32:57.200 I'm expecting to find it. 00:32:57.200 --> 00:32:59.440 This is when we step into our prayers 00:32:59.440 --> 00:33:01.559 for the peace of the community of God. 00:33:01.559 --> 00:33:03.000 We incarnate our prayers 00:33:03.000 --> 00:33:05.200 and lend our legs to the prayers of our lips. 00:33:05.279 --> 00:33:07.879 This is what the holy habit of community looks like. 00:33:07.960 --> 00:33:11.399 It's actively pursuing the shalom of the church. 00:33:12.519 --> 00:33:14.919 We yearn to experience God's presence among His people. 00:33:15.480 --> 00:33:16.679 We look forward to it all week. 00:33:16.720 --> 00:33:17.899 I was glad when they said to me, 00:33:17.980 --> 00:33:19.019 let's go to the house of the Lord. 00:33:19.039 --> 00:33:20.419 I was glad when they said to me, 00:33:20.480 --> 00:33:22.399 let us go to Uncle Andy's house, right? 00:33:23.339 --> 00:33:24.500 To be with God's people. 00:33:25.460 --> 00:33:27.399 And upon arrival, we behold and envision 00:33:27.399 --> 00:33:29.960 and imagine the church for all it could be, 00:33:30.019 --> 00:33:30.740 all it will be. 00:33:30.740 --> 00:33:32.420 And we see it with God's eyes, 00:33:32.539 --> 00:33:33.539 in the light of Christ, 00:33:33.599 --> 00:33:34.400 in all its splendor, 00:33:34.460 --> 00:33:35.920 in all its unity and diversity, 00:33:36.019 --> 00:33:36.859 not hating on it, 00:33:36.900 --> 00:33:38.759 but pursuing its full potential. 00:33:39.299 --> 00:33:41.259 And we commit ourselves to praying for it 00:33:41.259 --> 00:33:43.039 and living for its shalom, 00:33:43.180 --> 00:33:44.220 as the writer of Hebrews says, 00:33:44.400 --> 00:33:46.759 and let us consider how to stir up one another 00:33:46.759 --> 00:33:48.019 to love and good works, 00:33:48.240 --> 00:33:49.599 not neglecting to meet together, 00:33:49.680 --> 00:33:50.660 as is the habit of some, 00:33:51.099 --> 00:33:53.359 but encouraging one another all the more. 00:33:54.079 --> 00:33:56.039 Is that what we consider as we come to church? 00:33:56.039 --> 00:33:59.359 How to stir up others to love and to good works. 00:33:59.359 --> 00:34:03.500 It has to start with not giving up on gathering together. 00:34:04.659 --> 00:34:06.500 It starts with a simple ministry of presence, 00:34:06.799 --> 00:34:07.559 just showing up, 00:34:07.919 --> 00:34:10.759 building your calendars around the rhythms of the church, 00:34:10.880 --> 00:34:11.799 considering church membership, 00:34:12.480 --> 00:34:13.559 committing to a community group 00:34:13.559 --> 00:34:15.739 and not flaking on them with a little text saying, 00:34:15.819 --> 00:34:17.440 oh, I just don't want to come tonight. 00:34:18.299 --> 00:34:20.460 It's being creative and pursuing hospitality. 00:34:20.659 --> 00:34:22.679 It's getting to know people who you don't know here. 00:34:22.779 --> 00:34:24.500 It's connecting with others. 00:34:24.500 --> 00:34:25.920 It's coming to the prayer meetings. 00:34:26.780 --> 00:34:27.679 It's worship plus two. 00:34:27.780 --> 00:34:29.460 That's how we like to talk about it here at Christ Church. 00:34:29.920 --> 00:34:31.500 Committing to worship with God's people, 00:34:32.059 --> 00:34:32.519 plus two, 00:34:32.659 --> 00:34:34.840 plus coming and joining us in the midweek 00:34:34.840 --> 00:34:35.860 for a community group 00:34:35.860 --> 00:34:37.360 or having some kind of check-in 00:34:37.360 --> 00:34:38.719 with someone in the church 00:34:38.719 --> 00:34:40.239 and also serving. 00:34:40.719 --> 00:34:41.539 Worship plus two. 00:34:41.980 --> 00:34:42.980 And these are just the basics. 00:34:43.480 --> 00:34:45.539 The basics of seeking the shalom of the church 00:34:45.539 --> 00:34:46.760 through the simple ministry 00:34:46.760 --> 00:34:48.780 of presence and participation. 00:34:49.059 --> 00:34:50.280 And listen, this is not just for ourselves. 00:34:50.400 --> 00:34:51.139 It's for the world. 00:34:51.820 --> 00:34:53.440 My professor, Carl Truman, he writes this. 00:34:53.440 --> 00:34:55.420 The church actually has a tremendous opportunity. 00:34:56.260 --> 00:34:57.659 The West is currently engaged 00:34:57.659 --> 00:34:59.220 in an experiment doomed to fail. 00:34:59.880 --> 00:35:01.860 Human beings crave real relationships. 00:35:02.460 --> 00:35:03.500 And there will come a backlash 00:35:03.500 --> 00:35:05.900 to the isolated wasteland of modern life 00:35:05.900 --> 00:35:07.740 marked by the frictionless friendships 00:35:07.740 --> 00:35:09.039 of the online community. 00:35:09.639 --> 00:35:11.139 After all, nobody on his deathbed 00:35:11.139 --> 00:35:13.500 wants his loved ones appearing before him by Zoom. 00:35:14.559 --> 00:35:15.700 He wants them in the room, 00:35:15.920 --> 00:35:17.659 holding his hand, 00:35:18.480 --> 00:35:19.300 speaking to him, 00:35:19.880 --> 00:35:20.720 interacting with him 00:35:20.720 --> 00:35:22.740 in real embodied space and time. 00:35:22.739 --> 00:35:23.919 And when the backlash comes, 00:35:23.919 --> 00:35:25.759 the real communities that exist 00:35:25.759 --> 00:35:27.899 will appear vital and attractive. 00:35:28.639 --> 00:35:30.719 This is what it's like to be a tree. 00:35:31.279 --> 00:35:32.179 And not just a tree, 00:35:32.719 --> 00:35:34.019 but a forest of trees. 00:35:34.919 --> 00:35:36.639 A forest of trees bearing witness 00:35:36.639 --> 00:35:37.699 to the tree of life 00:35:37.699 --> 00:35:39.359 for the healing of the nations. 00:35:40.319 --> 00:35:42.419 This is what our Father made us for. 00:35:42.519 --> 00:35:43.699 It's what the Spirit is working 00:35:43.699 --> 00:35:45.500 to accomplish in and through us. 00:35:45.539 --> 00:35:47.419 And it's what Jesus died for. 00:35:47.420 --> 00:35:51.079 Jesus died for the shalom and peace 00:35:51.079 --> 00:35:53.320 and prosperity of his holy community, 00:35:53.720 --> 00:35:54.200 the church. 00:35:54.519 --> 00:35:57.460 So will we live for what Christ died for? 00:35:58.320 --> 00:35:59.019 Let's pray. 00:35:59.019 --> 00:36:05.039 Lord, make it so. 00:36:06.300 --> 00:36:08.460 Give us your eyes to see the church 00:36:08.460 --> 00:36:11.440 and its glory in Christ. 00:36:12.380 --> 00:36:13.599 And would we commit ourselves 00:36:13.599 --> 00:36:15.500 to this holy habit of community 00:36:15.500 --> 00:36:17.400 for the glory of your name, 00:36:17.759 --> 00:36:18.699 for the good of our neighbors, 00:36:19.699 --> 00:36:20.759 and for our own joy, 00:36:21.280 --> 00:36:22.559 for the joy of this place, 00:36:23.300 --> 00:36:24.239 Christ Church East Bay. 00:36:24.840 --> 00:36:27.079 We ask this in Jesus' name. 00:36:27.079 --> 00:36:27.880 Amen. 00:36:29.019 --> 00:36:30.019 Amen.