WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.199 Well, good afternoon to all of you. 00:00:09.019 --> 00:00:11.339 This is a great Sunday to be together. 00:00:12.040 --> 00:00:18.160 It's a day in the church calendar that Christians call Palm Sunday, and that's why we received 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:20.879 palm friends coming in and why the service is a little different. 00:00:21.400 --> 00:00:24.240 But this is the first Sunday in what we call Holy Week. 00:00:24.379 --> 00:00:26.620 It's the week that leads up to Easter. 00:00:26.620 --> 00:00:31.839 And Palm Sunday is the day that we remember and celebrate something called the triumphal 00:00:31.839 --> 00:00:32.219 entry. 00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:41.380 When Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on the back of a colt to a great procession, people 00:00:41.380 --> 00:00:46.240 lined the streets and threw their garments and branches of palm on the ground as he came. 00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:49.020 And this was really a kingly procession. 00:00:49.100 --> 00:00:55.219 And the reason it's significant is because Jesus is formally announcing his kingship, that 00:00:55.219 --> 00:01:00.719 he came not just to save the world, but as the rightful king over everything. 00:01:01.839 --> 00:01:07.200 And so in light of that truth, we've been reflecting actually for the last several weeks on how do 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:11.079 we respond to the fact that Jesus is king of everything? 00:01:11.319 --> 00:01:12.819 How do we then live? 00:01:12.859 --> 00:01:14.400 And what does that mean for our church? 00:01:14.780 --> 00:01:20.500 So we've been exploring what we feel we are called to be and to do here in the city these 00:01:20.500 --> 00:01:24.519 last few weeks, and we've been using this statement to summarize our calling as a church. 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:28.560 As a church, we seek the flourishing of Washington, D.C. 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:30.140 We believe that's why Jesus came. 00:01:30.620 --> 00:01:35.540 His ultimate vision is to see the world returned to a flourishing state. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:41.700 So we seek that in D.C. by building gospel-centered communities that practice three things, 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:46.000 generous hospitality, spiritual formation, and missionary faithfulness. 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:51.099 And last couple of weeks, we looked at those first two core values, and this week we come 00:01:51.099 --> 00:01:56.680 to our final value, a core value that we hope infuses everything we do as a community, 00:01:57.079 --> 00:01:59.019 and that is missionary faithfulness. 00:01:59.239 --> 00:02:02.099 So that's what we're going to be talking about for just a little while right now. 00:02:02.180 --> 00:02:06.980 But first, I just want to unpack the phrase missionary faithfulness, because I realize that that 00:02:06.980 --> 00:02:09.139 might not be immediately accessible. 00:02:09.740 --> 00:02:15.979 When we say the word missionary in our culture, many times we imagine missionaries as a 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:21.000 being a family that we bring up on stage, and we talk about how they're going to move 00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:25.960 to some distant part of the world and evangelize the people there. 00:02:26.060 --> 00:02:32.199 Or we think of the short-term summer missions trips that some people go on for a week or 00:02:32.199 --> 00:02:33.259 two here or there. 00:02:33.900 --> 00:02:37.639 And those are certainly things that fall within the category of missionary. 00:02:38.539 --> 00:02:42.280 But when we talk about missionary faithfulness, we're talking about something much bigger than 00:02:42.280 --> 00:02:42.500 that. 00:02:42.500 --> 00:02:50.879 See, a core belief in our community is that every single Christian is a full-time missionary. 00:02:52.199 --> 00:02:57.800 That by virtue of the fact that you are a Christian, you are a full-time missionary, for those of 00:02:57.800 --> 00:02:58.520 you who are Christians. 00:02:58.719 --> 00:03:01.719 And the reason is because God is a missionary God. 00:03:02.599 --> 00:03:06.159 And so to belong to and to follow a God like that makes you a missionary. 00:03:06.979 --> 00:03:11.319 And then when we talk about faithfulness, we mean simply the way we live out our faith. 00:03:11.319 --> 00:03:16.419 So missionary faithfulness means living out our faith on a day-to-day basis as though 00:03:16.419 --> 00:03:17.719 we were full-time missionaries. 00:03:18.379 --> 00:03:22.439 And so the passage that we're going to look at that tells us more about this comes from 00:03:22.439 --> 00:03:24.979 this wonderful place in 1 Peter 2. 00:03:25.459 --> 00:03:27.859 The passage that we read is verses 4 through 12. 00:03:28.280 --> 00:03:32.400 Just as a disclaimer, we're not going to be able to even touch all of the great things 00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:34.060 that are happening in this passage. 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:38.939 We're just going to lightly look at a few things and really focus on this theme of trying to understand 00:03:38.939 --> 00:03:40.800 what missionary faithfulness is. 00:03:41.479 --> 00:03:44.479 But one of the things that you're going to see that I've seen over this past couple of 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:50.000 weeks of studying this passage is that missionary faithfulness and the kind of faith in life 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:55.740 that we're called to really calls us to move against some of our cultural norms. 00:03:55.979 --> 00:03:59.800 And so we'll see what that means because we'll see that missionary faithfulness means having 00:03:59.800 --> 00:04:02.479 a faith that is marked by three distinguishing characteristics. 00:04:03.539 --> 00:04:05.479 First of all, it's a communal faith. 00:04:05.479 --> 00:04:08.379 Second of all, it's an integrated faith. 00:04:09.219 --> 00:04:11.139 And thirdly, it's a public faith. 00:04:11.239 --> 00:04:14.739 So it's communal, it's integrated, and it's public. 00:04:15.079 --> 00:04:16.319 So let's pray as we get started. 00:04:17.719 --> 00:04:22.539 Our Father, we do recognize that you are a missionary God, that you're the ultimate missionary. 00:04:23.339 --> 00:04:26.699 That all of this that we do here is a response to the fact that you have come, 00:04:26.819 --> 00:04:30.579 that you set your Son on the great mission to restore us in the world. 00:04:30.579 --> 00:04:35.139 So we pray that all that we do and all that we say and all that strikes our hearts would 00:04:35.139 --> 00:04:38.599 be a reflection and a response to that great truth, Lord. 00:04:38.879 --> 00:04:41.019 We pray this in your Son's holy name. 00:04:41.319 --> 00:04:41.519 Amen. 00:04:42.779 --> 00:04:48.639 So first of all, a missionary faithfulness means having a communal faith. 00:04:48.699 --> 00:04:50.240 Now why is that worth talking about? 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:56.240 Well, in our culture, I think you could make the argument that we perhaps live in the most 00:04:56.240 --> 00:05:01.720 individualistic culture ever to have existed in history. 00:05:02.220 --> 00:05:04.579 That we are highly individualistic. 00:05:05.420 --> 00:05:09.400 And because we live in a culture like that, it trickles into the way we think about faith. 00:05:09.519 --> 00:05:12.379 There's a high emphasis on one's personal faith. 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:17.480 There's a high emphasis on our personal experience of the divine. 00:05:17.480 --> 00:05:25.160 And that's all well and good, but the problem is when the Bible talks about belief and faith, 00:05:25.480 --> 00:05:32.240 the assumption is, in the Old and New Testament, the assumption is that the audience, believers, 00:05:32.540 --> 00:05:39.280 are part of a local community of flesh and blood fellow believers. 00:05:40.020 --> 00:05:45.360 And that that community is an interdependent community, like a human body has interdependent 00:05:45.360 --> 00:05:45.759 parts. 00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:53.319 And if you'll notice in 1 Peter 2, verse 5, here's the image that Peter uses. 00:05:54.519 --> 00:06:03.779 You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house or as a temple. 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:10.339 So he's saying you need to think of yourselves and recognize that when you come to faith in 00:06:10.339 --> 00:06:12.719 Jesus, Jesus is the cornerstone. 00:06:13.399 --> 00:06:17.419 And so obviously you become connected to the cornerstone, the main, the first stone that 00:06:17.419 --> 00:06:18.419 you lay of a building. 00:06:19.099 --> 00:06:24.099 But not only do you become connected to Jesus, but you automatically become connected to all 00:06:24.099 --> 00:06:26.719 of the other stones in the wall. 00:06:26.979 --> 00:06:31.479 You become joined with them into one thing, one entity. 00:06:31.480 --> 00:06:33.500 You are living stones. 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:38.560 And this metaphor is powerful because it tells us something very important about the nature 00:06:38.560 --> 00:06:39.180 of faith. 00:06:40.140 --> 00:06:43.060 Think about what stones in a stone wall do. 00:06:43.160 --> 00:06:45.080 Have you ever tried to build a stone wall? 00:06:46.200 --> 00:06:47.700 Some of you, I think, probably have. 00:06:47.699 --> 00:06:53.740 And you have to lay the stones carefully because the stones support each other, right? 00:06:53.839 --> 00:06:58.240 There are stones on the bottom and they support the stones that rest on top of them. 00:06:58.459 --> 00:07:01.939 And then the stones to either side support the stones in the middle. 00:07:02.039 --> 00:07:06.419 And then each stone in the middle actually supports stones that rest on them. 00:07:06.420 --> 00:07:12.020 And so all around the stone, it is either being supported or supporting other stones. 00:07:12.920 --> 00:07:18.740 And in the same way, this is saying you need Christians in your life to support you in your 00:07:18.740 --> 00:07:21.060 faith and in your life of following Jesus. 00:07:21.240 --> 00:07:24.080 You absolutely need other people. 00:07:25.100 --> 00:07:29.020 You need them immediately available and involved in your daily life. 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:30.480 And the reason is very practical. 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:41.720 It's because it is extremely hard to hold beliefs and to live those beliefs out when you're surrounded 00:07:41.720 --> 00:07:43.780 by people who don't share those beliefs. 00:07:44.400 --> 00:07:54.340 It is extremely difficult because every culture has ways of deciding and filtering between things 00:07:54.340 --> 00:07:59.020 that sound reasonable and things that sound crazy or outlandish. 00:07:59.019 --> 00:08:02.680 And these filters, you can think of them in different ways. 00:08:02.799 --> 00:08:07.299 The sociologist Peter Berger calls them plausibility structures, right? 00:08:07.339 --> 00:08:13.180 And your plausibility structure, that's the filter that when you hear truth claims, you either 00:08:13.180 --> 00:08:15.479 immediately say, yeah, that's probably true. 00:08:15.599 --> 00:08:17.279 Or you say, that sounds crazy. 00:08:17.359 --> 00:08:18.219 Who would believe that? 00:08:19.039 --> 00:08:22.379 The way you make that decision is based on your plausibility structure. 00:08:22.439 --> 00:08:25.839 And they change from culture to culture and they change over time. 00:08:26.779 --> 00:08:28.399 So the point is this. 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:33.919 Many of our beliefs and many of the assumptions we make about what sounds reasonable or credible, 00:08:34.620 --> 00:08:37.939 those are actually handed to us by culture. 00:08:39.299 --> 00:08:40.620 They're handed to us. 00:08:40.699 --> 00:08:43.000 They trickle into our subconsciousness. 00:08:43.879 --> 00:08:43.980 Right? 00:08:44.220 --> 00:08:48.439 The things about which we say, well, all reasonable people believe that. 00:08:48.819 --> 00:08:50.500 Everybody knows this. 00:08:51.399 --> 00:08:54.579 Or, you know, everyone thinks that's crazy. 00:08:54.720 --> 00:08:54.860 Right? 00:08:54.860 --> 00:08:58.039 Those assumptions that there isn't everyone out there. 00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:01.440 That all of those other people, this is what they think. 00:09:01.500 --> 00:09:02.879 That's our plausibility structure. 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:04.220 Right? 00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:08.779 And the thing is, is that you begin to realize as you reflect on it, a lot of our sense of 00:09:08.779 --> 00:09:13.639 the truthfulness of various things is not necessarily based on evidence. 00:09:13.639 --> 00:09:15.240 It's based on consensus. 00:09:16.340 --> 00:09:18.519 Well, everybody thinks this, therefore it must be true. 00:09:18.659 --> 00:09:20.679 Everybody rejects this, therefore it must be false. 00:09:21.480 --> 00:09:22.899 It's consensus, not evidence. 00:09:23.699 --> 00:09:26.399 So one example of this is if you lived in the 1800s. 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:33.159 If you lived in the 1800s, everybody knew that the thing that made you sick, 00:09:33.159 --> 00:09:36.199 the cause of disease was bad air. 00:09:37.139 --> 00:09:38.219 Everybody knows that. 00:09:38.279 --> 00:09:39.039 It's bad air. 00:09:39.740 --> 00:09:41.000 Rotting organic matter. 00:09:41.100 --> 00:09:45.519 If it smells bad, everybody knows that makes you sick. 00:09:46.579 --> 00:09:46.759 Right? 00:09:47.179 --> 00:09:52.579 So then someone like Louis Pasteur comes along and begins to reject those plausibility structures 00:09:52.579 --> 00:09:56.980 and those norms and begins to look at the evidence and says, no, actually, I think that 00:09:56.980 --> 00:09:58.720 sickness is caused by germs. 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:04.960 And even though he had the evidence that he could point to to say, I think this is what's happening, 00:10:05.540 --> 00:10:08.580 people ridiculed him and they mocked him and they criticized him. 00:10:08.660 --> 00:10:08.860 Why? 00:10:09.100 --> 00:10:11.620 Because everybody knows it's bad air. 00:10:12.779 --> 00:10:16.840 Your idea of little creatures that come into your body and make you sick, that's insane. 00:10:16.980 --> 00:10:18.160 Nobody believes that. 00:10:18.300 --> 00:10:18.420 Right? 00:10:18.740 --> 00:10:19.620 Not evidence. 00:10:20.019 --> 00:10:20.500 Consensus. 00:10:22.279 --> 00:10:22.440 Right? 00:10:22.440 --> 00:10:28.320 And so the hard truth that we have to swallow is we love to think that we are so original. 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:32.320 I love to think that my thoughts are so authentically mine. 00:10:33.920 --> 00:10:37.340 But the truth is, we're all lemmings. 00:10:38.139 --> 00:10:39.519 We're lemmings. 00:10:39.899 --> 00:10:42.160 We're hardwired to follow the crowd. 00:10:42.440 --> 00:10:44.040 And it's incredibly hard. 00:10:44.220 --> 00:10:51.160 And it takes an enormous force of will to push against the consensus opinion. 00:10:52.259 --> 00:10:52.399 Right? 00:10:52.460 --> 00:10:53.800 I've even seen this. 00:10:53.860 --> 00:10:55.840 This may sound like a ridiculous example. 00:10:55.840 --> 00:10:58.060 But I've seen this trying to pick out a baby name. 00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:01.399 You know, we have a blessing. 00:11:01.639 --> 00:11:04.960 We have a daughter due in mid-August. 00:11:05.100 --> 00:11:09.139 And so one of the things that we need to do as parents is to try to figure out her name. 00:11:09.480 --> 00:11:12.080 And so we've been batting around different names. 00:11:12.259 --> 00:11:13.639 And it never fails. 00:11:14.500 --> 00:11:16.580 I told Laura, you know, I really like this name. 00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:18.379 I think this is a name that I would really consider. 00:11:18.379 --> 00:11:22.779 And she Googles it and says, yeah, that's like in the top five most popular names of 2017. 00:11:23.799 --> 00:11:24.759 I said, okay, well, okay. 00:11:24.840 --> 00:11:28.519 Well, if we want something a little more, you know, what about this one? 00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:30.100 Oh, that's in the top ten, you know. 00:11:30.379 --> 00:11:31.000 And I said, okay. 00:11:31.320 --> 00:11:32.059 Well, what about this one? 00:11:32.059 --> 00:11:32.740 I really like this one. 00:11:32.779 --> 00:11:35.980 That's actually the most popular name in 2017. 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:37.360 Now, how does that happen? 00:11:37.480 --> 00:11:43.779 It's not like I went to a seminar or got a brochure that said, here are the names for 2017 that you should be thinking about. 00:11:43.820 --> 00:11:44.899 Nobody told me this. 00:11:45.159 --> 00:11:46.620 It just sinks in. 00:11:47.419 --> 00:11:47.620 Right? 00:11:47.659 --> 00:11:48.659 How does that happen? 00:11:49.940 --> 00:11:50.800 I don't know. 00:11:51.240 --> 00:11:53.019 It's this weird kind of osmosis. 00:11:53.120 --> 00:11:54.759 But it sinks in. 00:11:55.300 --> 00:11:56.740 It's coming from somewhere. 00:11:57.740 --> 00:11:58.220 Right? 00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:06.740 And so if that kind of thing happens with baby names, then imagine what is seeping in when it comes to questions like, 00:12:07.360 --> 00:12:13.320 the nature of the divine, human identity, human purpose, right? 00:12:13.399 --> 00:12:17.340 The meaning of all of this, the nature of reality, right? 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:22.600 We are not the neutral, authentic thinkers we think we are. 00:12:22.600 --> 00:12:26.539 We are constantly being influenced by the consensus opinion. 00:12:26.860 --> 00:12:32.519 And the hard fact of our culture, and especially living in D.C., is that for those of us who are Christians, 00:12:32.519 --> 00:12:41.179 we live in a culture where the consensus opinion is that Christianity falls somewhere between irrelevant and insane. 00:12:42.079 --> 00:12:44.139 People who actually believe in it. 00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:47.960 And so to be a Christian here is to be like Louis Pasteur. 00:12:48.100 --> 00:12:53.079 We say, I know that most of the people I live and work around think that this is insane. 00:12:53.179 --> 00:12:57.419 But when I look at the evidence of the resurrection, I actually think that this happened. 00:12:57.419 --> 00:13:00.659 I actually think that Jesus did rise. 00:13:00.740 --> 00:13:06.299 And if he did rise from death, then that means that he is who he said he was. 00:13:06.399 --> 00:13:07.860 That he is from God. 00:13:07.939 --> 00:13:10.299 That he did come to atone for my sin. 00:13:10.319 --> 00:13:13.539 That he can reconcile me to the God who made me. 00:13:13.620 --> 00:13:18.579 That he actually offers me hope and the world hope that can't be found anywhere else. 00:13:18.599 --> 00:13:19.679 And all of that is true. 00:13:19.679 --> 00:13:28.779 But in order to believe it, I have to push against the prevailing plausibility structures every day of my life. 00:13:30.339 --> 00:13:31.679 So the point is this. 00:13:31.739 --> 00:13:34.939 The first point is, your faith cannot survive alone. 00:13:36.339 --> 00:13:37.919 It won't last. 00:13:39.199 --> 00:13:43.759 You'll become a marginal, nominal Christian. 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:48.139 But to truly live out your faith, you need other people. 00:13:48.279 --> 00:13:49.379 You're not meant to be the wall. 00:13:49.500 --> 00:13:50.860 You're a stone in the wall. 00:13:51.259 --> 00:13:56.480 And just like stones in a wall, sometimes you need people to stand on. 00:13:57.139 --> 00:13:58.039 What do I mean by that? 00:13:58.100 --> 00:13:59.720 Well, sometimes you struggle. 00:13:59.899 --> 00:14:02.539 We all struggle with aspects of our faith. 00:14:03.100 --> 00:14:05.580 And we look at this and we say, I don't know if I can believe that right now. 00:14:06.960 --> 00:14:08.360 We go through hard things. 00:14:09.019 --> 00:14:09.200 Right? 00:14:09.500 --> 00:14:12.299 Especially hard things like death and suffering. 00:14:13.100 --> 00:14:13.259 Right? 00:14:13.259 --> 00:14:19.720 Either you're facing the reality of death or you lose somebody that you love and you say, I don't know if I can believe in all of this right now. 00:14:20.899 --> 00:14:23.240 There are other people who can believe it for you. 00:14:24.480 --> 00:14:25.379 For a time. 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:26.960 Right? 00:14:27.100 --> 00:14:33.379 You can stand on the faith of others and say, well, that person believes it and that person believes it and that person believes it. 00:14:33.480 --> 00:14:34.319 And I trust them. 00:14:34.559 --> 00:14:37.439 And even though for right now I'm not, I can't get there. 00:14:37.860 --> 00:14:39.559 I'm going to rely on their faith. 00:14:40.279 --> 00:14:40.519 Right? 00:14:40.539 --> 00:14:41.620 You let them support you. 00:14:41.620 --> 00:14:43.700 You need people to either side of you. 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:45.799 To speak truth into your life. 00:14:45.879 --> 00:14:47.820 To remind you of what is real. 00:14:48.139 --> 00:14:51.940 And then eventually all Christians need to play the role of supporting the faith of others. 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:53.860 Holding others up. 00:14:54.460 --> 00:14:55.480 When they're struggling. 00:14:55.620 --> 00:14:56.320 When they're full of doubt. 00:14:56.419 --> 00:14:58.899 New Christians as they're getting their feet under them. 00:14:58.960 --> 00:14:59.080 Right? 00:14:59.259 --> 00:15:00.279 We're stones in a wall. 00:15:00.379 --> 00:15:01.779 We need each other. 00:15:01.779 --> 00:15:05.199 This is the first aspect of missionary faithfulness. 00:15:06.339 --> 00:15:08.720 It can't be an individualistic faith. 00:15:08.819 --> 00:15:09.899 It has to be communal. 00:15:11.639 --> 00:15:12.039 Right? 00:15:12.120 --> 00:15:15.419 God didn't entrust his entire mission to you as an individual. 00:15:15.699 --> 00:15:17.179 He entrusted it to the church. 00:15:17.339 --> 00:15:21.779 If we try to go it alone as lone wolf Christians, we'll be exhausted and depleted. 00:15:21.879 --> 00:15:22.860 We're called to do it together. 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:24.179 So that's the first point. 00:15:24.179 --> 00:15:33.620 The next aspect of missionary faithfulness beyond the communal nature of it is that it is an integrated faith. 00:15:33.819 --> 00:15:35.179 It's an integrated faith. 00:15:36.179 --> 00:15:39.319 And again, you'll see the pull against the cultural norm. 00:15:39.819 --> 00:15:46.099 By integrated, I mean that our faith must permeate every facet of our lives. 00:15:46.100 --> 00:15:51.259 And this, like the last point, this does not come naturally. 00:15:51.399 --> 00:15:57.340 Because I think most of us, including me, tend to want to compartmentalize our faith. 00:15:57.420 --> 00:15:59.960 And I think our culture encourages this. 00:16:00.519 --> 00:16:03.360 You know, we live in a culture that moves at a breakneck pace. 00:16:04.100 --> 00:16:08.139 And we have all of these different spheres of people that we have to relate to. 00:16:08.180 --> 00:16:13.080 And I think many of us get really good, myself included, at knowing what mode we need to be in. 00:16:13.080 --> 00:16:15.840 And so you shift into this mode, and this mode, and this mode, and this mode. 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:20.639 And whether it's work, or these friends, or those friends, or college friends, or church friends, or friends, neighbors, family. 00:16:21.040 --> 00:16:23.720 All of the different roles that we play, we have a mode to fit it. 00:16:24.600 --> 00:16:27.720 And I think that for many of us, if we're honest, we have a Christian mode. 00:16:29.200 --> 00:16:31.920 And we can flip the switch on, and we can flip it off. 00:16:32.060 --> 00:16:34.480 And we can flip the other switch on, and we can flip it off. 00:16:34.560 --> 00:16:39.320 And we get really good, actually so good, that we don't even notice that we're doing it. 00:16:39.320 --> 00:16:42.320 It just comes naturally to shift into Christian mode. 00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:48.740 And I think that this creates an enormous amount of contradiction and dissonance. 00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:53.400 And yet, for many of us, it's not even something that we experience on a conscious level. 00:16:54.640 --> 00:17:00.040 It's helpful to hear from people who have really experienced this in themselves and seen it. 00:17:00.520 --> 00:17:06.440 My wife is right now reading a book called Killers of the Dream by a woman named Lillian Smith. 00:17:06.440 --> 00:17:15.980 This is an extraordinarily self-aware woman who lived in the mid-20th century, growing up in the incredibly racist culture of the Deep South. 00:17:16.539 --> 00:17:25.580 And she writes a very honest, she started writing this in 1949, a very honest account of what it was like to grow up as a Christian with this kind of dissonance. 00:17:25.700 --> 00:17:28.240 So I just want to let you hear an excerpt from this. 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:35.859 I learned it is possible to be a Christian and a white Southerner simultaneously. 00:17:36.779 --> 00:17:41.779 To be a gentle woman and an arrogant, callous creature in the same moment. 00:17:42.539 --> 00:17:48.579 To pray at night and ride a Jim Crow car the next morning and to feel comfortable in doing both. 00:17:48.579 --> 00:17:58.099 I learned to believe in freedom, to glow when the word democracy was used, and to practice slavery from morning till night. 00:17:58.899 --> 00:18:12.259 I learned it the way all of my Southern people learn it, by closing door after door until one's mind and heart and conscience are blocked off from each other and from reality. 00:18:13.759 --> 00:18:15.059 Incredibly self-aware. 00:18:15.179 --> 00:18:16.000 What's she saying? 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:22.079 I learned from a very early age to compartmentalize. 00:18:22.440 --> 00:18:28.960 My Christian faith, I put it in this room and it's all nice and neat and tidy and this is the Christian room. 00:18:29.240 --> 00:18:31.140 And then I close the door and I lock it. 00:18:31.779 --> 00:18:41.420 And then I come over here and all of my assumptions about human beings and relationships and race and class, I put all of that in here and I close that door and I lock it. 00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:43.420 And that way they don't ever have to talk to each other. 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:45.039 Right? 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:54.000 And it made me wonder as I read this excerpt and I've thought about this in my own life, what are the other ways that I compartmentalize? 00:18:54.059 --> 00:18:57.480 What are the other doors that I close in my life? 00:18:58.960 --> 00:18:59.319 Right? 00:18:59.559 --> 00:19:04.619 You know, I don't know where you live, but most people I know have kind of a room of shame. 00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:07.399 You know, like most of your house looks good or most of your apartment. 00:19:07.400 --> 00:19:10.200 And then there's kind of one corner or one closet or one room. 00:19:10.460 --> 00:19:13.240 And that's just, you don't know what to, and you just keep the door locked. 00:19:14.120 --> 00:19:14.300 Right? 00:19:14.340 --> 00:19:15.820 So maybe you have that. 00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:16.140 Right? 00:19:16.820 --> 00:19:18.560 But there are other kinds of rooms. 00:19:18.740 --> 00:19:18.960 Right? 00:19:18.960 --> 00:19:25.299 So for some of us, you know, we have our faith here and we lock the door and this is our Sunday, Wednesday room. 00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:25.700 You know? 00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:29.440 And then over here we have, this is where our finances go. 00:19:29.720 --> 00:19:34.000 And over here, right, this is where our relationship with our family goes. 00:19:34.140 --> 00:19:38.900 And over here, this is where all of our thoughts about ourselves and our sexuality go. 00:19:38.900 --> 00:19:43.700 And right here, this is where my way of parenting and raising my kids goes. 00:19:43.860 --> 00:19:48.160 And we have all of these rooms and we keep all of the doors locked. 00:19:48.540 --> 00:19:51.180 And we just make sure that nobody interacts with anybody else. 00:19:51.620 --> 00:19:52.060 Right? 00:19:52.100 --> 00:19:54.680 That it's all kept nice and neat and separate. 00:19:54.740 --> 00:19:55.920 And that's compartmentalization. 00:19:56.880 --> 00:20:04.900 And I think as a result of living that way, what that means is that we never really develop a sense of identity. 00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:06.960 Right? 00:20:06.960 --> 00:20:09.819 We don't really have a sense of an integrated self. 00:20:09.960 --> 00:20:13.880 We just feel as though we are fragmented, partial selves. 00:20:15.019 --> 00:20:21.340 But I want you to notice that in 1 Peter 2, the focus is not on what we do as Christians. 00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:24.700 The clear focus in this passage is on who we are. 00:20:26.279 --> 00:20:27.360 It says in verse 9, 00:20:27.359 --> 00:20:45.719 The gospel is first and foremost a declaration. 00:20:47.359 --> 00:20:50.279 Not about what we need to do, but about who we are. 00:20:50.379 --> 00:20:51.959 The gospel says this is who you are. 00:20:51.960 --> 00:20:54.180 Why is Peter writing this? 00:20:54.240 --> 00:20:57.360 Because he knows that we forget again and again and again. 00:20:57.660 --> 00:21:05.160 And we need to be reminded, here is the story that gives your life meaning and orientation and purpose and direction. 00:21:05.299 --> 00:21:06.059 Here is your story. 00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:08.559 You were created to be queens and kings. 00:21:09.700 --> 00:21:09.940 Right? 00:21:10.059 --> 00:21:14.779 To cultivate and to create out of God's good and perfect world. 00:21:14.779 --> 00:21:16.779 You rebelled. 00:21:17.879 --> 00:21:20.119 You turned against that life. 00:21:20.680 --> 00:21:22.319 And you said you wanted to be your own God. 00:21:22.940 --> 00:21:29.279 But God loved you so much that he was willing to give up the things that were most precious to him. 00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:34.139 And chiefly his son to come and to rescue us. 00:21:34.599 --> 00:21:35.899 To give his life for us. 00:21:36.279 --> 00:21:39.480 And what that means is that we are restored back to that original role. 00:21:39.619 --> 00:21:42.519 And we become a part of what God is doing in this world. 00:21:42.639 --> 00:21:44.720 Bringing restoration and renewal. 00:21:45.079 --> 00:21:46.759 And he is saying that is who you are. 00:21:46.859 --> 00:21:53.059 And the way he talks about that is saying that we were brought from darkness into God's marvelous light. 00:21:53.519 --> 00:21:55.799 And when it talks about that it means all of us. 00:21:55.960 --> 00:21:56.019 Right? 00:21:56.160 --> 00:21:58.619 If the light comes in it has to come all the way in. 00:21:58.619 --> 00:22:01.799 He's saying no corner, no room can remain dark. 00:22:02.099 --> 00:22:05.619 The light is a floodlight, and it's meant to flood every room. 00:22:06.279 --> 00:22:07.599 Every door comes open. 00:22:07.799 --> 00:22:10.299 Everything gets exposed. 00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:14.479 So the gospel is all or none. 00:22:14.639 --> 00:22:19.159 It either is something that we reject, or it comes in and completely redefines us. 00:22:20.279 --> 00:22:21.799 But there's no in-between. 00:22:22.419 --> 00:22:25.159 An in-between is simply a functional rejection. 00:22:25.160 --> 00:22:29.120 To paraphrase Richard Foster, he says, 00:22:29.420 --> 00:22:32.400 superficiality is the curse of our age. 00:22:33.400 --> 00:22:35.560 People who just float along the surface. 00:22:36.940 --> 00:22:38.420 Dilettantes and dabblers. 00:22:40.180 --> 00:22:43.519 People who never really, and he says, here's what the world needs. 00:22:44.460 --> 00:22:47.220 The world does not need more intelligent people. 00:22:48.279 --> 00:22:50.380 The world does not need more successful people. 00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:52.420 The world does not need more wealthy people. 00:22:52.519 --> 00:22:54.500 The world does not need more influential people. 00:22:54.500 --> 00:22:56.559 The world does not need more gifted people. 00:22:56.839 --> 00:22:59.019 What the world needs is people with depth. 00:23:01.779 --> 00:23:05.640 People who are integrated deeply, fundamentally. 00:23:06.119 --> 00:23:07.440 The faith has come in. 00:23:07.779 --> 00:23:08.960 It's entered into every room. 00:23:09.059 --> 00:23:10.160 It's pulled everything out. 00:23:10.440 --> 00:23:15.599 It's restructured and renovated the self from the inside out. 00:23:15.599 --> 00:23:22.919 The world needs people who are deeply grounded in their identity in the gospel, right? 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:26.839 People who are permeated with faith all the way through. 00:23:27.939 --> 00:23:35.839 When you live in a compartmentalized world and you simply live life as a person with depth and holistic integrity, 00:23:35.839 --> 00:23:39.579 you will, by definition, be radically countercultural. 00:23:39.579 --> 00:23:40.579 Just in the way you live. 00:23:40.579 --> 00:23:42.240 Just in the way you live. 00:23:44.240 --> 00:23:44.500 Right? 00:23:44.559 --> 00:23:48.679 So it would be worth your time reflecting on your own heart, on your own doors. 00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:51.980 Which ones are open and which ones are closed and locked? 00:23:52.199 --> 00:23:54.359 Which ones did you lock and throw away the key? 00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:56.319 You know, I don't know what that is for you. 00:23:56.399 --> 00:23:58.480 It could be the way you think about your money. 00:23:58.579 --> 00:24:00.539 It could be the way you think about your job. 00:24:00.539 --> 00:24:04.599 It could be the way you think about marriage or singleness or dating. 00:24:04.759 --> 00:24:06.379 It could be any of those things. 00:24:06.559 --> 00:24:07.980 It could be bitterness. 00:24:08.539 --> 00:24:11.539 It could be a person or a situation where you say, 00:24:11.659 --> 00:24:14.279 I don't care what happens, I will never forgive that person. 00:24:16.339 --> 00:24:17.839 It could be any of those things. 00:24:17.940 --> 00:24:18.940 I don't know what it is for you. 00:24:18.980 --> 00:24:19.859 I know what it is for me. 00:24:21.559 --> 00:24:22.500 I'm not going to tell you. 00:24:24.339 --> 00:24:25.779 We'll have a beer sometime, I'll tell you. 00:24:26.619 --> 00:24:28.099 But we all have those rooms. 00:24:28.099 --> 00:24:34.039 And then imagine what it would be like to invite God into those places, 00:24:34.339 --> 00:24:35.599 in those spaces. 00:24:36.639 --> 00:24:37.079 Right? 00:24:37.119 --> 00:24:39.339 To allow God to shine that light. 00:24:39.759 --> 00:24:42.639 To call that part of you out. 00:24:43.939 --> 00:24:47.199 You know, there's an old word, an old phrase, quorum Deo. 00:24:48.659 --> 00:24:52.519 The idea is to live all of life before the face of God. 00:24:52.639 --> 00:24:53.319 Quorum Deo. 00:24:54.379 --> 00:24:55.879 And this is what integrity means. 00:24:55.959 --> 00:24:57.779 This is what an integrated faith looks like. 00:24:57.779 --> 00:25:00.299 Living all of your life before the face of God. 00:25:00.399 --> 00:25:02.259 Wherever you are, whoever you're with, whatever you're doing, 00:25:02.519 --> 00:25:04.019 you're living before the face of God. 00:25:04.339 --> 00:25:04.940 Quorum Deo. 00:25:05.539 --> 00:25:07.180 So this is missionary faithfulness. 00:25:07.240 --> 00:25:10.240 It means having a communal faith, doing it together, not alone. 00:25:10.879 --> 00:25:12.420 And it means having an integrated faith, 00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:15.740 deeply integrating faith into every aspect of our lives. 00:25:16.379 --> 00:25:19.559 And then the last thing it means is having a public faith. 00:25:20.139 --> 00:25:21.019 A public faith. 00:25:21.019 --> 00:25:24.859 Just as we live in a culture that encourages individualism, 00:25:25.500 --> 00:25:28.680 and just as we live in a culture that encourages compartmentalization, 00:25:29.079 --> 00:25:33.700 so I believe we also live in a culture that says faith is a private affair 00:25:33.700 --> 00:25:35.400 and that you should keep it to yourself. 00:25:36.180 --> 00:25:36.519 Right? 00:25:36.519 --> 00:25:42.180 The consensus is you can do what you want and believe what you want on your own time 00:25:42.180 --> 00:25:43.279 and in your own home, 00:25:43.619 --> 00:25:46.220 but when it comes to the public square, 00:25:46.359 --> 00:25:50.779 when it comes to our jobs or issues like economics or immigration or schooling 00:25:50.779 --> 00:25:52.139 or various social issues, 00:25:52.359 --> 00:25:54.180 you need to keep your faith to yourself. 00:25:54.559 --> 00:25:59.220 It has no business being brought into such conversations. 00:25:59.220 --> 00:26:05.579 The problem with that way of thinking is that it's impossible to do that. 00:26:06.480 --> 00:26:11.240 It's impossible to separate these issues from faith assumptions. 00:26:11.440 --> 00:26:14.680 Because what are we talking about when we're talking about faith? 00:26:14.860 --> 00:26:21.140 Well, we're talking about beliefs about the most fundamental questions of our lives. 00:26:22.420 --> 00:26:24.240 The nature of the divine. 00:26:24.640 --> 00:26:25.440 Human purpose. 00:26:25.900 --> 00:26:26.660 Human identity. 00:26:27.120 --> 00:26:27.240 Right? 00:26:27.519 --> 00:26:28.360 Human nature. 00:26:28.359 --> 00:26:28.399 Human nature. 00:26:29.059 --> 00:26:33.039 The nature of reality and our ability to perceive it. 00:26:33.159 --> 00:26:35.619 None of these things are things we can ultimately prove. 00:26:35.959 --> 00:26:37.079 They are faith assumptions. 00:26:38.039 --> 00:26:43.219 But how do you make decisions about something like education or immigration 00:26:43.219 --> 00:26:46.579 without drawing from those places? 00:26:46.979 --> 00:26:48.279 I don't know how you do it. 00:26:49.179 --> 00:26:50.439 So you cannot separate. 00:26:50.439 --> 00:26:52.839 We all have faith assumptions, 00:26:53.039 --> 00:26:57.799 and we must draw on those in these kinds of issues and conversations. 00:26:57.799 --> 00:27:00.519 So when we talk about having a public faith, 00:27:01.799 --> 00:27:05.500 we don't necessarily mean holding a street corner sign, 00:27:06.099 --> 00:27:09.440 you know, a sandwich board, handing out tracts, preaching on a... 00:27:09.440 --> 00:27:13.720 Now, I actually know a good friend of mine is a street corner preacher. 00:27:14.359 --> 00:27:19.000 And the reason he does it is because he came to faith listening to somebody else preach on a street corner. 00:27:19.000 --> 00:27:21.319 And so if that is your calling, then more power to you. 00:27:22.960 --> 00:27:25.019 But that's not necessarily what we mean. 00:27:25.759 --> 00:27:30.559 What we mean when we talk about having a public faith is what Peter's talking about here, 00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:34.960 that we're called to live lives that, as he says, proclaim God's excellence. 00:27:37.359 --> 00:27:38.599 Proclaim God's excellence. 00:27:38.599 --> 00:27:42.939 Now, if you're kind of a person that hears that and says, 00:27:43.139 --> 00:27:45.179 okay, that's another thing I have to do. 00:27:45.319 --> 00:27:47.679 I have to go out and start proclaiming God's excellence. 00:27:47.719 --> 00:27:48.939 And you sort of put that on your list. 00:27:49.019 --> 00:27:49.879 I just want to make clear, 00:27:50.139 --> 00:27:53.699 I actually don't think that this is something that we need to add to our to-do list. 00:27:53.759 --> 00:27:55.500 I think it's something that we do naturally. 00:27:55.959 --> 00:28:01.199 In other words, you are already proclaiming the excellence of whatever it is you love most. 00:28:01.200 --> 00:28:06.400 Whatever we love, we naturally proclaim the excellence of that thing. 00:28:06.600 --> 00:28:09.519 So we proclaim that which we love. 00:28:10.360 --> 00:28:16.059 So the question is, are we living lives that orient us toward God and toward love of God, 00:28:16.700 --> 00:28:19.400 such that we are then proclaiming his excellence? 00:28:21.299 --> 00:28:21.779 Right? 00:28:21.840 --> 00:28:25.140 And we hear the word proclaim as something that we declare. 00:28:25.279 --> 00:28:27.100 We think about that as being a verbal thing. 00:28:27.099 --> 00:28:33.019 But Peter actually means that more is something we display through the way we live our daily lives. 00:28:33.379 --> 00:28:37.519 And you know that because the rest of 1 Peter, I mean, just to summarize it, 00:28:37.839 --> 00:28:40.079 the rest of 1 Peter really applies this. 00:28:40.399 --> 00:28:44.559 Here's how to proclaim God's excellence in these various spheres of your life. 00:28:44.879 --> 00:28:50.199 So he says, here's how, or we need to proclaim God's excellence in the way we handle desire. 00:28:52.959 --> 00:28:56.759 Don't allow the good things that we enjoy to become ultimate things. 00:28:57.099 --> 00:28:57.779 Right? 00:28:57.879 --> 00:28:59.259 That proclaims God's excellence. 00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:03.980 He says, we proclaim God's excellence in the way we respond to people who slander us. 00:29:04.679 --> 00:29:10.039 We proclaim God's excellence in the way we interact with human governments and institutions. 00:29:10.879 --> 00:29:14.639 We proclaim his excellence through the way we approach our jobs, 00:29:14.839 --> 00:29:17.299 through the way we treat our spouses and children, 00:29:17.500 --> 00:29:20.299 the way we handle and respond to suffering. 00:29:20.459 --> 00:29:24.699 All of these things are ways, opportunities to proclaim God's excellence. 00:29:24.700 --> 00:29:29.799 Because the fact is, the Christian life, when it is publicly lived out, 00:29:30.360 --> 00:29:32.819 is inherently provocative. 00:29:33.039 --> 00:29:36.580 It inherently provokes questions only the gospel can answer. 00:29:36.819 --> 00:29:37.980 And that's what we're getting at. 00:29:39.559 --> 00:29:41.299 So let's just draw all this together. 00:29:41.799 --> 00:29:44.220 What does this mean for us in Advent? 00:29:44.220 --> 00:29:52.579 Well, we want to be a church that cultivates missionary faithfulness in all of our lives. 00:29:53.920 --> 00:29:58.039 And this means something very simple and maybe distinctive about our church. 00:29:58.819 --> 00:30:03.440 We believe that ministry programs are important, and sometimes they're very necessary. 00:30:04.279 --> 00:30:07.880 So there are certain issues that we really care about, like adoption and foster care, 00:30:08.100 --> 00:30:10.240 like refugee care, like homelessness. 00:30:10.240 --> 00:30:11.039 Right? 00:30:11.259 --> 00:30:13.759 These are issues where we recognize that we need programs. 00:30:16.420 --> 00:30:22.420 But our primary ministry, the primary ministry, is you. 00:30:23.920 --> 00:30:25.660 Is you simply living your life. 00:30:26.779 --> 00:30:26.900 Right? 00:30:26.960 --> 00:30:30.140 So when people ask me, well, what are the ministries that, you know, 00:30:30.160 --> 00:30:33.039 I've started coming to this church, and what are the ministries that you guys are involved in? 00:30:33.079 --> 00:30:35.259 I love to say, well, what are you doing? 00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:37.339 What are you up to right now? 00:30:37.339 --> 00:30:39.339 Tell me about your job. 00:30:40.240 --> 00:30:43.240 Help me understand what you do and where you work and what that's like. 00:30:44.339 --> 00:30:45.159 That's your ministry. 00:30:46.099 --> 00:30:46.899 Tell me about that. 00:30:47.919 --> 00:30:48.039 Right? 00:30:48.099 --> 00:30:50.559 So our primary ministry is our people. 00:30:50.879 --> 00:30:55.399 The only reason that we need priests, the only reason that we need priests, 00:30:56.039 --> 00:30:57.939 is because all of you are priests. 00:30:57.940 --> 00:31:08.779 And we need to set certain people aside simply for the task of supporting and enabling and equipping everybody else to be the priests that they're called to be. 00:31:08.980 --> 00:31:10.580 This is what Peter is saying. 00:31:10.680 --> 00:31:14.220 He says, you need to understand that you are a royal priesthood. 00:31:14.480 --> 00:31:15.880 You're a royal priesthood. 00:31:15.880 --> 00:31:21.740 So you may work in banking or finance or communications or PR. 00:31:22.020 --> 00:31:25.500 You may work at home and care for kids and raise kids. 00:31:25.680 --> 00:31:26.940 You may teach. 00:31:27.040 --> 00:31:28.460 You may work at a coffee shop. 00:31:28.500 --> 00:31:29.280 You may work in the arts. 00:31:29.640 --> 00:31:31.780 You do all kinds of things. 00:31:32.260 --> 00:31:35.920 But all of those vocations are inherently priestly vocations. 00:31:36.800 --> 00:31:37.760 You're all priests. 00:31:37.759 --> 00:31:42.279 What does a priest do? 00:31:43.819 --> 00:31:49.220 Well, a priest is someone in the Old Testament who stands at the intersection of the heavens and the earth. 00:31:50.200 --> 00:31:53.079 And they offer sacrifices of praise to God. 00:31:53.720 --> 00:31:55.099 That's what a priest is. 00:31:55.960 --> 00:31:59.640 And that's what it means to be a royal priesthood here and now. 00:32:00.079 --> 00:32:04.359 You may not have an altar like this, but you have a desk. 00:32:04.599 --> 00:32:06.140 You have a laptop. 00:32:06.140 --> 00:32:07.780 You have a tablet. 00:32:07.920 --> 00:32:09.400 You have a phone, work phone, right? 00:32:09.780 --> 00:32:11.520 You have the tools of your trade. 00:32:12.040 --> 00:32:16.780 And I would just humbly suggest, it may sound ridiculous to you, but those are your altars. 00:32:17.460 --> 00:32:22.080 Those are the places, in other words, where you offer sacrifices of praise. 00:32:22.500 --> 00:32:29.020 By virtue of the fact that you know the Lord Jesus Christ and that because of that, God is present in you, 00:32:29.500 --> 00:32:33.900 every moment of your life is lived at the intersection of the heavens and the earth. 00:32:33.900 --> 00:32:36.440 You occupy that middle space. 00:32:36.560 --> 00:32:38.320 You are the joining of both. 00:32:38.420 --> 00:32:41.200 They have come together in you and in your life. 00:32:41.680 --> 00:32:43.060 You're a royal priest. 00:32:43.059 --> 00:32:51.179 Abraham Kuyper says, 00:32:51.180 --> 00:32:59.140 Wherever man may stand, whatever he may do, to whatever he may apply his hand in agriculture, in commerce, in an industry, 00:32:59.660 --> 00:33:08.000 or his mind in the world of art and science, he is, in whatsoever it may be, constantly standing before the face of his God. 00:33:08.140 --> 00:33:10.960 He is employed in the service of his God. 00:33:11.340 --> 00:33:14.180 He has strictly to obey his God. 00:33:14.180 --> 00:33:18.460 And above all, he has to aim at the glory of his God. 00:33:19.140 --> 00:33:25.680 And listen, we glorify God simply by doing the things that he has for us to do and doing them well. 00:33:25.799 --> 00:33:28.380 That's what Dorothy Sayers says. 00:33:28.460 --> 00:33:28.820 She says, 00:33:29.100 --> 00:33:32.019 The only Christian job is a job well done. 00:33:34.019 --> 00:33:34.500 Right? 00:33:34.600 --> 00:33:37.000 So this is our third and final value. 00:33:37.299 --> 00:33:38.640 Missionary faithfulness. 00:33:38.640 --> 00:33:45.920 Living lives that are communal and having a faith that is communal instead of individualistic. 00:33:46.580 --> 00:33:50.360 A faith that is deeply integrated rather than compartmentalized. 00:33:50.780 --> 00:33:52.460 And finally, a faith that is public. 00:33:53.740 --> 00:33:59.140 Where we see our jobs and our vocations as God's way of using us in his mission. 00:33:59.620 --> 00:34:06.960 Where we are public and open about our faith simply in the way we live our daily lives. 00:34:08.639 --> 00:34:17.859 And there's a great story that comes from, Tim Keller tells this story about a woman who talked to him about how she came to faith. 00:34:18.079 --> 00:34:21.940 And she says, you know, I made a huge mistake in my job. 00:34:22.339 --> 00:34:24.159 And I thought I was going to get fired. 00:34:24.359 --> 00:34:26.599 And then my boss took the hit for me. 00:34:27.960 --> 00:34:30.000 And it bothered me. 00:34:31.039 --> 00:34:32.679 And so I went to my boss and I said, 00:34:32.759 --> 00:34:33.859 Why did you take the fall? 00:34:33.920 --> 00:34:35.239 That was clearly my mistake. 00:34:35.319 --> 00:34:36.019 Why did you do that? 00:34:36.019 --> 00:34:36.759 And he wouldn't answer. 00:34:36.760 --> 00:34:39.280 And it continued to nag at her. 00:34:39.360 --> 00:34:42.300 So she comes back and asks him again and again and again. 00:34:42.380 --> 00:34:43.900 And finally he says, okay, you want to know? 00:34:43.960 --> 00:34:44.520 And she says, yeah. 00:34:44.880 --> 00:34:46.720 And he says, well, I'm a Christian. 00:34:47.860 --> 00:34:52.080 And I believe that God has taken the fall for me. 00:34:52.079 --> 00:35:00.679 And so I believe that because of that, because of the fact that God has taken the fall for much worse things that I've done against him. 00:35:01.179 --> 00:35:05.900 That this is the way I'm supposed to be in my life with people like you. 00:35:06.299 --> 00:35:08.639 That I'm called to be this way. 00:35:08.799 --> 00:35:09.639 To love this way. 00:35:09.880 --> 00:35:13.099 And she said that event began to open her heart. 00:35:13.119 --> 00:35:15.980 And that was the catalyst that led to her coming to faith. 00:35:15.980 --> 00:35:18.380 Now that man did not have an evangelistic strategy. 00:35:19.219 --> 00:35:22.159 He was simply having a public faith. 00:35:22.260 --> 00:35:25.960 He was integrating and openly practicing his faith. 00:35:26.059 --> 00:35:27.699 Not in a hit you over the head kind of way. 00:35:28.139 --> 00:35:30.099 But in a deeply resonant way. 00:35:30.199 --> 00:35:33.599 It was a reflection of who he was and the story that had come to define him. 00:35:34.840 --> 00:35:37.780 And of course we can do this with confidence. 00:35:38.300 --> 00:35:40.340 We can commit ourselves to missionary faithfulness. 00:35:40.460 --> 00:35:42.920 Not because of our inherent faithfulness. 00:35:42.920 --> 00:35:45.139 It's not because we're any more faithful than anyone else. 00:35:46.139 --> 00:35:49.220 But because of the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. 00:35:49.840 --> 00:35:52.340 Who has not sent us out on mission alone. 00:35:52.440 --> 00:35:56.019 But rather promises that through the Holy Spirit. 00:35:56.740 --> 00:35:58.920 Whom we heard about in John chapter 16. 00:35:59.400 --> 00:36:00.519 That he will be with us. 00:36:00.720 --> 00:36:04.260 Until he comes once again to make all things new. 00:36:05.460 --> 00:36:06.079 Let's pray. 00:36:07.619 --> 00:36:09.460 Heavenly Father in light of that promise. 00:36:09.579 --> 00:36:10.420 In light of that hope. 00:36:10.420 --> 00:36:14.320 We pray that you would kindle in us and inspire us. 00:36:15.500 --> 00:36:17.440 With this calling that we have. 00:36:17.539 --> 00:36:19.159 To be a royal priesthood. 00:36:20.039 --> 00:36:21.840 And in all of the various places. 00:36:22.059 --> 00:36:22.980 And spheres. 00:36:23.320 --> 00:36:24.240 And industries. 00:36:24.599 --> 00:36:26.260 And vocations that you've placed us. 00:36:26.659 --> 00:36:28.700 We pray that you would enable us to be faithful. 00:36:29.519 --> 00:36:31.480 That we would faithfully practice. 00:36:32.880 --> 00:36:34.320 Being present to you. 00:36:35.599 --> 00:36:37.260 Living before your face. 00:36:37.760 --> 00:36:39.200 In all that we do Lord. 00:36:39.199 --> 00:36:41.099 For your glory. 00:36:41.099 --> 00:36:43.199 That we may proclaim the excellence. 00:36:43.839 --> 00:36:45.799 Of the one who has called us out of darkness. 00:36:45.919 --> 00:36:47.000 Into his marvelous light. 00:36:47.679 --> 00:36:48.799 In your son's name we pray. 00:36:48.980 --> 00:36:49.219 Amen.