WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.900 Good morning, everybody. Happy Advent week two, and good to see you again. You know, we live in an interesting time in our country. 00:00:08.900 --> 00:00:17.120 ! When we look at the United States, the people who live here, there may never have been a time 00:00:17.120 --> 00:00:17.120 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:49.000 in all of history where there was as much diversity as we currently have in the United States. There may never have been a society anywhere in history as diverse as we are right now. 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:58.000 And if you live in the DMV area, we are particularly aware of that. When you look around the area, the kind of DC metro area, 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:12.000 there are people from over 170 different countries who live here. In some parts of the DMV area, there are schools where over 200 different languages are spoken. 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:20.000 This is one of the most diverse areas, not only in the United States, but actually in the world. So if you live in an area like this, 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:26.000 we are constantly confronted with and we are constantly wrestling with this question. 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:38.000 How can people from different cultures and ethnicities and social classes and religions and political persuasions live together in peace? 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:46.000 How do we do it? If you live in an area like this, you can't ignore that kind of question because every time you leave your house, 00:01:46.000 --> 00:02:04.000 you are confronted with situations that require you to think about it. And there are very few models in history for how to do this kind of thing well. And quite honestly, there are a lot of great examples of spectacular failures of diverse societies. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:14.000 The only other society in history that even comes close to where we are right now is the Roman Empire. And we saw how that turned out. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:33.000 But even as the Roman Empire began to crumble, what we see in history is that that is also the time when the world first caught a glimpse of the power of the gospel to bring all different kinds of people together into one place. 00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:47.000 Because as the empire crumbled, the early Christian church was emerging and beginning to blossom. And the question that we are going to ask this morning is how did they do it? 00:02:47.000 --> 00:03:07.000 How did the early Christian church become such a wildly diverse community when none of the other examples or societies around were able to hold together? How did the early Christian church do it? How did they live in peace across all of these different dividing lines? 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:25.000 And our New Testament reading from the New Testament is Romans chapter 15. And that really speaks to this question. This is the climax of Paul's letter to the Romans, where he is talking about God's vision of all different kinds of people living together as one family. 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:40.000 So we're going to see from this passage in Paul's writing, we're going to see first the impact of cultural difference, the problem with those differences, the solution to that problem, and then finally the power that makes it possible. 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:53.000 So let's pray and then we're going to open God's word together. Lord, we thank you for this morning and we pray your blessing on us as we open your word. We also pray your blessing on the slide projector and those who are endeavoring to fix it. 00:03:53.000 --> 00:04:07.000 We pray your blessing on this lectern may it not crumble as I preach. Lord, we pray your blessing in all regards, Lord. We know that your presence with us cannot be hindered. 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:17.000 And we know that despite whatever technical difficulties we may have, your ability to minister to your people and do your work through your word is unhindered. 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:29.000 And that's really why we're here, Lord. It is to encounter you. So may we encounter you through your written word. May we come face to face with the living word, Jesus Christ. It's in his name that we pray. Amen. 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:44.000 So, friends, first of all, the impact of cultural difference. What's going on in the church in Rome? There were many disagreements in the church in Rome over what we might consider to be secondary issues. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:53.000 These are not primary issues like did Jesus rise from the grave. These are not primary issues like the gospel. These are secondary issues. 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:59.000 All of these people that Paul's writing to, they're all believing Christians. They're all baptized gospel believing Christians. 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:08.000 They were disagreeing over how to live out their faith in certain ways. One of the debates that happened was over the issue of holy days. 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:15.000 Should we continue to observe the Sabbath? Should we continue to observe the various holy feast days in the Jewish tradition? 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:20.000 The issue that we're going to focus on, the primary issue that Paul focuses on is this question. 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:24.000 Is it okay for Christians to eat meat? 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:33.000 Now, it's not that they were vegetarians in the sense that we think of today that there were different reasons that we're going to get into why some Christians felt that they could not eat meat. 00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:52.000 Paul believed, as did Jesus, and Paul taught, as did Jesus, that because of the gospel and because of the freedom that comes with the grace of the gospel, that all food had been declared clean and that Christians should feel freedom to eat whatever they wanted. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:55.000 There was no food that was considered unclean for any reason. 00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:59.000 So that's what Paul taught in the spirit of Jesus. 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:04.000 However, there were some Christians who simply didn't feel right about it. 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:08.000 They felt guilty for eating meat. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:09.000 They believed the gospel. 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:12.000 They believed what Paul taught about the gospel. 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:13.000 They believed in Jesus. 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:18.000 They still couldn't get over the sense of guilt they felt eating the meat. 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:23.000 And Paul refers to a couple of groups of people in the opening of this passage, the strong and the weak. 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:30.000 He refers to the strong Christians because they were the ones who more fully applied the gospel to their lives. 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:32.000 And so they felt freedom to eat meat. 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:34.000 They didn't have any qualms about eating meat. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:39.000 He refers to another group called, which he calls weak, the weak Christians. 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:44.000 And he calls them weak because they're still struggling to apply the gospel to this area of their life. 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:45.000 They believe in the gospel. 00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:46.000 They've been saved. 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:51.000 But they just, when it comes to what they eat, they still feel some guilt and trepidation. 00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:55.000 So he calls them weak because they had not applied the gospel to that area of their life. 00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:58.000 Now, here's where it starts to get interesting. 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:05.000 In Rome, the weak Christians were mostly people who were culturally Jewish. 00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:15.000 These are people who had grown up under the Old Testament cleanliness laws, which were ultimately meant to teach people this lesson. 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:24.000 You cannot simply come into the presence of a holy God without being thoroughly and completely spiritually cleansed. 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:33.000 But now that Jesus has come, right, Paul taught, Jesus is the means through which we are made clean and we are welcomed into God's presence. 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:38.000 So the cleanliness laws are no longer relevant, right? 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:46.000 These culturally Jewish Christians in Rome, though, had grown up their whole lives avoiding certain kinds of food. 00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:54.000 And even though they had become Christians, they just, they didn't feel right about eating meat that had been prohibited their entire time growing up. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:56.000 It just didn't feel right. 00:07:56.000 --> 00:08:02.000 So in Rome, these were the culturally Jewish people were the Christians who avoided eating meat. 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:03.000 I said, this is where it gets interesting. 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:10.000 If we compare this to the church in Corinth, which we read about in 1 Corinthians 8, you see something very different. 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:12.000 It's not the Jews. 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:17.000 In Corinth, the weak Christians who didn't feel like they could eat meat were Greeks. 00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:20.000 Now you say, well, that doesn't make any sense. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:22.000 Well, it's for very different reasons. 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:26.000 These Greek converts had not grown up under the Old Testament prohibitions. 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:29.000 They maybe didn't even understand or know about the cleanliness laws at all. 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:30.000 They were irrelevant. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:32.000 So you're like, well, why did they avoid eating meat? 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:36.000 It's because they had grown up as a part of pagan cults. 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:44.000 And in these pagan cults, they would sacrifice animals as a part of their pagan rituals to these various gods and goddesses. 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:47.000 And then they would sell that meat in the marketplace. 00:08:47.000 --> 00:09:04.000 And so there was a real live question among these Greek converts like, if this meat was blessed in the name of a pagan deity, if this meat was sacrificed in the name of a pagan deity, if I eat it, now that I'm a Christian, am I betraying Jesus somehow? 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:09.000 Or am I eating something that still has a dark or evil spiritual power connected to it? 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:10.000 Right? 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:13.000 So it's a completely different reason why they wouldn't eat meat. 00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:14.000 Right? 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:17.000 So in one church, it's the Jews because of their cultural background. 00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:20.000 And in another place, they're doing the same thing. 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:25.000 But there are Greeks who are doing it because of their very different cultural background. 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:34.000 So the point that we're trying to make is this debate over eating meat is not purely a theological debate. 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:47.000 Behind the scenes, under the surface, there are major significant cultural differences that influence how people are approaching this question. 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:54.000 And what we see beginning to emerge here is this fact that there are always cultural differences in play. 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:56.000 They're always there under the surface. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:59.000 What do I mean by cultural differences? 00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:14.000 The family you grow up in and their values, your social class, your economic class, your race, your ethnicity, your level of education relative to the people around you. 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:20.000 Things like that all contribute to the culture that formed us. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:28.000 And different people have different formative influences, different cultural influences that shape who they are. 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:30.000 And they shape how we experience life. 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:33.000 And they shape how we interpret the world. 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:38.000 Now, there's been a very interesting case study about this in our church over the last year. 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:40.000 We've been discussing the issue of women's ordination. 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:47.000 And this is not, by the way, I'm not making a one-to-one parallel between ordination and eating meat. 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:53.000 And ordination is a far more important question and deals with the leadership of the church and the nature of the sacraments. 00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:55.000 So this is not a one-to-one parallel. 00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:57.000 But there are some similarities. 00:10:57.000 --> 00:11:01.000 Over the last few months, I've had a lot of conversations with people. 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:06.000 And in our church, there's a whole range of perspectives on this question. 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:26.000 But what I've noticed is before we even get to the biblical or theological aspects of that conversation, what I've noticed is how much, and I would include myself in this, how much cultural differences and people's cultural background influences the way we approach an issue like this. 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:31.000 It's just the way we even are able to engage the conversation. 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:34.000 In our denomination, it's a very broad denomination. 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:36.000 And so there are both views represented. 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:41.000 There are some people who do ordain women and some people who don't and everything in between. 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:48.000 And so if you come out of a tradition like that, it's sort of like you see it as an important issue, but it's a non-essential issue. 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:49.000 It's a secondary issue. 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:54.000 And so you're sort of used to people having both views and maybe agreeing to disagree. 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:57.000 Some people that I've talked to, though, didn't grow up in the church. 00:11:57.000 --> 00:12:00.000 And so they're kind of like, what's the issue? 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:02.000 I didn't know there was an issue, right? 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:10.000 Some people come from theologically conservative churches, theologically conservative churches, but they ordain women, right? 00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:17.000 So they come out of the Assemblies of God or the Vineyard Movement or EPC Church or something like that where they're theologically conservative, but they ordain women. 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:19.000 To them it's normal. 00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:29.000 Other people, and this is actually my background, other people come from a culture where the only churches that ordain women are the highly progressive liberal churches. 00:12:29.000 --> 00:12:41.000 Women's ordination is seen as a sign, as maybe the sign of capitulation to culture and progressive ideology and spiritual, theological and spiritual decline. 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:44.000 And so in those cultures, this is a first order issue. 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:45.000 It's a deal breaker issue. 00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:52.000 And what I've noticed, again, you know, it's important in a topic like this, here's what I'm not saying, here's what I'm saying, okay? 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:53.000 Here's what I'm not saying. 00:12:53.000 --> 00:12:59.000 What I'm not saying is that what you think about this issue is purely determined by cultural factors. 00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:00.000 I'm not saying. 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:07.000 This is a biblical and theological debate with very legitimate arguments on both sides in my opinion. 00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:21.000 But what I am saying is this, is before we even get to the biblical or theological piece of this conversation, there are powerful, inescapable cultural forces impacting how we approach it. 00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:27.000 To what extent do we see certain things as being more plausible or less plausible? 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:40.000 And it's essential, this first point I want to make, it's essential to recognize the impact of cultural differences on a community like ours, when you have people who think different things. 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:42.000 This is the first point. 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:45.000 This leads us to the second point. 00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:50.000 What is, what I'm referring to as the problem with cultural differences. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:52.000 The problem with cultural differences. 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:54.000 Let me be clear. 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:59.000 The existence of cultural differences is not the problem. 00:13:59.000 --> 00:14:02.000 In fact, I would say quite the opposite. 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:06.000 It's a feature, not a bug. 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:19.000 I remember many years ago, I was talking to a friend of mine, who's a black pastor, and we were talking about race and ethnicity and racial justice and reconciliation. 00:14:19.000 --> 00:14:23.000 And he made an offhand comment about the book of Acts. 00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:29.000 And he made this comment about how the book of Acts, just this core theme all throughout the book of Acts is racial reconciliation. 00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:36.000 And I'm embarrassed to say, I've read the book of Acts many, many, many times up to that point. 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:42.000 It had never occurred to me that racial reconciliation was a core theme in the book of Acts. 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:46.000 If you asked me back then, and let's just say this was a long time ago. 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:50.000 Like, like 30 years ago. 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:52.000 I was 10. 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:57.000 Way back in ancient history. 00:14:57.000 --> 00:15:02.000 I, I, I, you know, if you asked me what's the book of Acts about, I would say, oh, well, it's about the coming of the Holy Spirit. 00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:04.000 And it's about the giving of the spiritual gifts. 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:07.000 It's about the, the starting, the birth of the early church. 00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:12.000 It's about the, the great missionary, Paul's great missionary movements and church planting. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:13.000 That's what I would say it was about. 00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:15.000 It's about the gospel going out to the ends of the earth. 00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:17.000 All that is true. 00:15:17.000 --> 00:15:23.000 And I sit down with my friend and he just kind of walks me through chapter by chapter. 00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:27.000 And it was like I was reading it for the first time. 00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:29.000 Now, why did I have that experience? 00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:34.000 Because of my cultural background, I had a massive blind spot. 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:35.000 Right? 00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:38.000 Cause I mean, one of the things that white people are known for is we don't really think we have a culture. 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:39.000 Right? 00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:41.000 So we just, I didn't, wasn't even thinking. 00:15:41.000 --> 00:15:42.000 Right? 00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:44.000 I just, I didn't even realize I had a blind spot. 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:46.000 I, I was just not seeing something. 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:51.000 When my friend read the same text, it's on every page. 00:15:51.000 --> 00:15:52.000 He's seeing it everywhere. 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:53.000 Right? 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:55.000 And turns out he was right. 00:15:55.000 --> 00:16:02.000 So this is a great example of how easy it is to have a major blind spot and to not even be aware of it. 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:08.000 And, and you know, I heard the late pastor, Tim Keller, one of my great heroes, make this point one time. 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:13.000 He says, you know, we're all standing in a culture. 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:20.000 And because of that, we are limited in our ability to see the full glory of the gospel. 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:22.000 That we're standing in a culture. 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:24.000 And because of that, we have a perspective. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:26.000 We have a lens in on the gospel. 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:30.000 But it also limits our ability to see the full glory of the gospel. 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:44.000 And he says, because of that, we need other Christians in our lives who have different perspectives, different cultural backgrounds to help us see things that we would otherwise not be able to see. 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:51.000 And together, we gain a much greater ability to see the full glory of the gospel. 00:16:51.000 --> 00:16:54.000 So, so another way of putting it is this. 00:16:54.000 --> 00:17:03.000 A culturally homogenous church is much, much, much more likely to have massive blind spots. 00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:06.000 Massive blind spots. 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:12.000 We will have a truncated, limited view of who Jesus is. 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:16.000 Because there are going to be things that we can't see, that we're going to be blind to. 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:18.000 And that's true of every church, of every culture. 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:20.000 So we need one another. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:25.000 So you say, okay, well then why aren't there more culturally diverse churches? 00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:28.000 That's a great question. 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:34.000 It's because these cultural differences often become dividing lines. 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:37.000 This is the problem with cultural difference. 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:41.000 Not that they exist, but that they often become sources of division. 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:50.000 So in the church in Rome, the Christians who abstained from meat were judging and condemning the Christians who ate meat. 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:55.000 Oh, you call yourself a Christian, but there you are eating that meat in clear violation of what you know God wants from you. 00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:57.000 You're not a real Christian. 00:17:57.000 --> 00:17:58.000 Right? 00:17:58.000 --> 00:17:59.000 You're, you're, you're apostate. 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:00.000 You're liberal. 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:01.000 Right? 00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:13.000 The Christians who were eating meat, who did so freely, who had no hang-ups about it, they would roll their eyes and look down on and, and, and treat with a condescension. 00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:17.000 The Christians, oh, you know, you're, are you that scrupulous about everything? 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:18.000 And why do you have to be so legalistic? 00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:19.000 And why, you know? 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:23.000 And they had this attitude of like, oh my, they, they couldn't even tolerate being around these people. 00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:27.000 Because they're so rigid and black and white and legalistic and judgmental. 00:18:27.000 --> 00:18:28.000 Right? 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:31.000 So you had this division that was happening. 00:18:31.000 --> 00:18:34.000 And the reason is not because this was a particularly toxic church. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:41.000 The reason is because human beings are hardwired to want to be around and feel most comfortable around people who are like us. 00:18:41.000 --> 00:18:52.000 You know that feeling when you're around somebody and you know where they stand theologically and you know where they stand politically and you know what they think and you just know that you agree with them kind of down the line. 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:55.000 And you just feel like you can let your hair down around that person. 00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:56.000 You feel that sense of ease. 00:18:56.000 --> 00:18:58.000 Like I don't have to guard what I say. 00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:00.000 I don't have to guard, you know, my behavior. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:06.000 I don't have to worry about, you know, I can just relax around this person because I know that we line up on all the issues. 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:07.000 Right? 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:09.000 That's the way human beings are hardwired to operate. 00:19:09.000 --> 00:19:15.000 And we, you know, Jonathan Haidt writes about this in his book The Righteous Mind if you've read it. 00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:28.000 We tend to not only prefer the company of people who are like us in all those ways, but we also tend to assume that the people who are like us are actually the good people. 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:30.000 Or the best people. 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:31.000 The righteous ones. 00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:32.000 Right? 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:39.000 And we tend to see people, research has shown, we tend to see people we disagree with ideologically, not only as being wrong, 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:44.000 or having a difference of opinion, but we tend to see them as being intellectually or even morally inferior. 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:45.000 Right? 00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:52.000 It's really easy to roll your eyes at a person as you see as being, that's, when you're rolling your eyes, you're saying, you're inferior to me. 00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:54.000 That's what, that's what contempt really is. 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:55.000 You know? 00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:56.000 I'm better than you. 00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:57.000 You're inferior to me. 00:19:57.000 --> 00:19:58.000 And we tend to do that. 00:19:58.000 --> 00:19:59.000 Right? 00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:01.000 So this is why I think it's so scary. 00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:07.000 It's so scary for us to openly discuss something like our political differences. 00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:11.000 We have a full range of political views in this church. 00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:20.000 Pretty much every time something major happens in the news, what we typically see is that people immediately group up with their tribe. 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:25.000 And so you have the more conservative people will talk about that issue with the other conservative people. 00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:28.000 The more progressive people will talk with the other progressive people about it. 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:32.000 But immediately there's this kind of tribal affinity groups form. 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:33.000 Right? 00:20:33.000 --> 00:20:37.000 But you don't see a lot of talk across those tribal dividing lines. 00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:41.000 And the reason, I don't think it's because people are afraid to disagree per se. 00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:46.000 I think the reason is actually that I don't want to feel like I'm going to be judged. 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:48.000 I don't want to feel like I'm going to be condemned. 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:51.000 I don't want to feel like I'm going to be treated with contempt. 00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:55.000 I don't want people rolling their eyes about me behind my back. 00:20:55.000 --> 00:21:05.000 When I say, you know, here's what I think about the Israel-Hamas situation, or here's what I think about immigration, or here's what I think about Trump, or here's what I think about this policy or that policy. 00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:07.000 What is that person going to think about? 00:21:07.000 --> 00:21:08.000 What are you going to say? 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:11.000 Are you going to continue to respect me if you know that's what I think? 00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:12.000 Right? 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:14.000 I think that's why we don't do it. 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:15.000 So that's the problem. 00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:22.000 These cultural differences could be such sources of strength, but they end up dividing us. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:24.000 That's the problem. 00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:27.000 What's the solution to the problem? 00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:29.000 Well, number one, a couple of things that don't work. 00:21:29.000 --> 00:21:31.000 They've been tried and found wanting. 00:21:31.000 --> 00:21:32.000 Don't waste your time. 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:36.000 Number one, we can't pretend these differences aren't there. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:39.000 We can't act like they don't matter, because they do. 00:21:39.000 --> 00:21:41.000 They matter a great deal. 00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:43.000 Have you ever seen the show? 00:21:43.000 --> 00:21:45.000 There's a new show out on Apple TV called Pluribus. 00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:47.000 Anybody seen Pluribus? 00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:50.000 I'd recommend it. 00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:51.000 Pluribus. 00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:52.000 Good show. 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:53.000 I'm not going to spoil it for you. 00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:55.000 You said don't close your ears. 00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:56.000 I'm just going to give you the premise. 00:21:56.000 --> 00:21:58.000 Here's the premise. 00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:07.000 Nearly every human being on the planet has been joined together into a kind of hive mind, a collective consciousness. 00:22:07.000 --> 00:22:15.000 What's great about that is that instantly there was total and complete world peace and unity. 00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:17.000 Everybody is together. 00:22:17.000 --> 00:22:18.000 There's no more crime. 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:20.000 There's no more war. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.000 The entire human race is now working together. 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:25.000 Right? 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:27.000 They're doing great things. 00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:29.000 The world is the best it's ever been. 00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:30.000 Right? 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:33.000 But that comes with the cost. 00:22:33.000 --> 00:22:35.000 And the cost is this. 00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:38.000 The complete loss of individual identity. 00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:40.000 No longer do you have any individuals. 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:41.000 Right? 00:22:41.000 --> 00:22:43.000 Everybody's part of the collective consciousness. 00:22:43.000 --> 00:22:45.000 So there is no longer any individual identity. 00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:51.000 And when we read the Bible it's very clear that is not God's vision for humanity. 00:22:51.000 --> 00:22:52.000 At all. 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:55.000 God creates us to be individuals. 00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:58.000 God relates to us as individuals. 00:22:58.000 --> 00:22:59.000 Right? 00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:02.000 He knits us together specifically and uniquely in the womb. 00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:05.000 And we come into the world as an individual bearer of his image. 00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:07.000 And that's how he relates to us. 00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:12.000 And when he comes to rescue us through the incarnation he comes as an individual. 00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:14.000 And he saves us each individually. 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:15.000 Right? 00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:18.000 So that's not a solution. 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:21.000 And as we said our differences are not bugs. 00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:22.000 They're features. 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:24.000 So we can't just pretend they're not there. 00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:25.000 Number two. 00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:28.000 We can't do what the post-modern world has done. 00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:31.000 And simply say well it's all relative. 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:32.000 You do you. 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:33.000 I'll do me. 00:23:33.000 --> 00:23:34.000 Nothing is really true. 00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:36.000 Whatever works for you works for you. 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:38.000 We can't do that. 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:43.000 Paul in this passage interestingly clearly believes there's a right answer. 00:23:43.000 --> 00:23:46.000 He doesn't say well you guys have a point and you guys have a point. 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:47.000 And you're both kind. 00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:50.000 You know he says no the ones who are eating meat are correct. 00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:53.000 The ones who aren't eating meat are incorrect. 00:23:53.000 --> 00:23:54.000 Right? 00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:56.000 There is a clear right and wrong. 00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:58.000 The strong Christians are correct. 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:02.000 And so we can't simply say well you know there is no truth and you believe what you want. 00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:04.000 That's relativism and it doesn't work. 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:07.000 So what is the solution? 00:24:07.000 --> 00:24:09.000 What should we be doing? 00:24:09.000 --> 00:24:13.000 And here's where verse 7 is I think the climax of the whole deal. 00:24:13.000 --> 00:24:17.000 He says accept one another. 00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:20.000 Accept one another. 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:25.000 He's not just saying we should refrain from judging or condemning people who are different. 00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:31.000 The word accept in the Greek goes much much much further than just I'll tolerate you. 00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:34.000 He's not just saying I'll put up with you. 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:40.000 The Greek word for accept means it means to draw someone in. 00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:47.000 It means open your heart to that person. 00:24:47.000 --> 00:24:53.000 What he's saying is open your heart to one another. 00:24:53.000 --> 00:24:56.000 Draw one another in. 00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:57.000 Right? 00:24:57.000 --> 00:24:58.000 What does that mean? 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:00.000 Adjust your life. 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:03.000 Set aside your personal preferences. 00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:07.000 Lay down whatever you need to feel comfortable. 00:25:07.000 --> 00:25:10.000 And enter into the awkwardness. 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.000 And enter into the tension. 00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:23.000 Required to open yourself up and welcome people who are culturally or theologically different than you into your life. 00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:24.000 That's what he's saying. 00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:27.000 That's the kind of posture you need to have. 00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:30.000 Grant them access to your heart. 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:35.000 Develop genuine friendships with them. 00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:37.000 Right? 00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:39.000 The implications of this. 00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:42.000 We shouldn't just pretend these differences aren't there. 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:46.000 Continue to hold your views. 00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:50.000 Continue to believe what you believe. 00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:55.000 Continue to respectfully disagree with people who believe differently. 00:25:55.000 --> 00:26:07.000 But be willing to adjust your life to develop genuine friendships with those people. 00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:09.000 So you're not just disagreeing. 00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:11.000 And to grant them access to your heart. 00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:12.000 Right? 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:14.000 What does that mean? 00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:17.000 Work hard to understand their perspective. 00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:22.000 Take the risk of sharing what you think. 00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:28.000 Ask them to help you understand why they think what they think. 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:34.000 And engage your higher cognitive processes in trying to find opportunities for connection. 00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:35.000 Right? 00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:37.000 That's what he's saying. 00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:51.000 Imagine, just for a second, how different your friend group would be if this was your posture toward people who were markedly different than you. 00:26:51.000 --> 00:26:59.000 Imagine how different your or our church would be if this was our posture. 00:26:59.000 --> 00:27:03.000 Imagine how different, this isn't just limited to the church. 00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:11.000 Imagine how different your neighborhood would be if people did this and it was a norm. 00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:18.000 The reason it's maybe kind of hard or maybe kind of wonderful to imagine that is because this is not normal. 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:28.000 This kind of posture of granting access to your heart and your life to people who are very, very different from you is not normal. 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:29.000 It is not natural. 00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:35.000 What is natural is to spend all of our time with people who are pretty much exactly like we are. 00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.000 Culturally, theologically, politically, pretty much the same. 00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:53.000 So even in the same church, as I said a little while ago, even in the same church, people tend to identify very quickly who are the other people in this church who are culturally, politically, theologically similar to me. 00:27:53.000 --> 00:27:55.000 And then those people group up. 00:27:55.000 --> 00:28:04.000 So we all worship together on Sunday, but then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, who you're spending time with and talking to and really being vulnerable with are the people who are like us. 00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:06.000 So think about your own life. 00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:10.000 The question is not who do you hang out with on occasion. 00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:12.000 That's not what Paul's saying. 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:13.000 Here's the question. 00:28:13.000 --> 00:28:16.000 Who do you open your heart to? 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:20.000 Who do you let your hair down with? 00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:27.000 How often do you open your heart to people who are culturally, racially, politically, or theologically different? 00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:31.000 I'm not trying to make anybody feel guilty. 00:28:31.000 --> 00:28:33.000 This is hard. 00:28:33.000 --> 00:28:35.000 It's incredibly uncomfortable. 00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:38.000 Throw a couple of kids and a couple of full-time jobs in the mix. 00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:39.000 We don't have time. 00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:40.000 We don't have energy. 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:43.000 When I'm hanging out with my friends, I just want to get replenished. 00:28:43.000 --> 00:28:47.000 I don't want to have to be like, well, help me understand your views on immigration. 00:28:47.000 --> 00:28:48.000 I don't want to go there. 00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:59.000 I just want to go to bed. 00:28:59.000 --> 00:29:00.000 So where do we get the power to do this? 00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.000 What makes it possible? 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:06.000 Read the rest of the verse in verse 7. 00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:08.000 Accept one another. 00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:09.000 Open your heart. 00:29:09.000 --> 00:29:10.000 Open your life. 00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:11.000 Draw them in. 00:29:11.000 --> 00:29:16.000 Accept one another just as Christ accepted you. 00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:23.000 Just as Christ accepted you. 00:29:23.000 --> 00:29:30.000 As Christ accepted you. 00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:33.000 What has the power to open a heart? 00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:41.000 What has the power to compel me to overcome my fatigue and my desire for comfort and convenience 00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:45.000 and to actually engage with somebody who's different? 00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:46.000 Only the gospel. 00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:48.000 Only Christ. 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:56.000 Because when Jesus looks at human beings like us, he sees people who have rejected him. 00:29:56.000 --> 00:29:58.000 He sees people who have condemned him. 00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:00.000 He sees people who have judged him. 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:10.000 He sees people who have rolled their eyes at him and written him off and who have decided in their hearts the world would be a better place if this person were dead. 00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:11.000 That's who he sees. 00:30:11.000 --> 00:30:12.000 That's who he sees. 00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:15.000 And he doesn't overlook our sin. 00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:17.000 And he doesn't pretend it doesn't matter. 00:30:17.000 --> 00:30:20.000 He doesn't say it's all relative and you do you and I'll do me. 00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:25.000 He says, I've come to call sinners to repentance. 00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:26.000 Right? 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:29.000 In other words, everything about your life needs to change. 00:30:29.000 --> 00:30:30.000 Right? 00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:38.000 You need to be entirely reoriented toward God because God has created you to love and to serve him alone. 00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:40.000 And if you're not doing that, you're wrong. 00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:41.000 Right? 00:30:41.000 --> 00:30:43.000 And you're going to perish. 00:30:43.000 --> 00:30:44.000 Right? 00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:46.000 So he's very clear on that. 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:55.000 And yet, Jesus is the one who moves toward us before we move toward him. 00:30:55.000 --> 00:31:00.000 Jesus is the one who pursues us before we choose to pursue him. 00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.000 If you follow Jesus, it is because Jesus pursued you first. 00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:08.000 Jesus is the one who opens his heart. 00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:11.000 Jesus is the one who draws us to himself. 00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:23.000 Jesus is the one who cries out to those in the light of our Gospel reading, to all the Pharisees and Sadducees and scribes and teachers of the law who were overburdening their people, who were crushing them under guilt and shame. 00:31:23.000 --> 00:31:33.000 Jesus is the one who opens up and cries out to the world, come all who are weary or heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:34.000 Right? 00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:48.000 And Jesus is the one who humbled himself, and as we say in our daily prayer, stretched out his arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of his saving embrace. 00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:55.000 That's the cost of opening your heart and your life to the world. 00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:58.000 Is you're going to do it on a cross. 00:31:58.000 --> 00:32:00.000 You're going to suffer. 00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:16.000 And so when we think about the reality of the Gospel, when I know in my heart Jesus Christ had every right to reject me, but instead he humbled himself and he gave his life so that he could open his heart to me and welcome me into his saving embrace. 00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:31.000 I cannot help but set aside my petty preferences and my petty desire for comfort and to open my life up to somebody who's different than me. 00:32:31.000 --> 00:32:38.000 If Jesus was willing to do that for me, how can I not also do the same to this brother or sister sitting across the table from me? 00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:50.000 And when Paul says, friends, in verse 1, those who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak. 00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:53.000 So he's kind of putting a bullseye on the strong. 00:32:53.000 --> 00:32:55.000 Who are the strong? 00:32:55.000 --> 00:33:00.000 They're the ones who had more fully applied the Gospel to every area of their life. 00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:03.000 It doesn't have to do with me. 00:33:03.000 --> 00:33:09.000 These are the people who are supposedly the ones who have more thoroughly applied the Gospel to every area of life. 00:33:09.000 --> 00:33:12.000 So what's Paul saying? 00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:26.000 If you have applied the Gospel to every area of your life, you ought to be the first to be willing to bear with and put up with the discomfort and the tension and the awkwardness of engaging somebody who disagrees with you. 00:33:26.000 --> 00:33:30.000 If you believe the Gospel, the more you believe it, the more you've applied it. 00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:40.000 In other words, one of the clearest signs that you've applied the Gospel to every area of your life is that you have a continual ongoing willingness to accept those who are different from you. 00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:45.000 And to actively engage them and to be the first in. 00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:51.000 And when we do this, he says in verse 7, it brings praise and glory to God. 00:33:51.000 --> 00:33:58.000 Every time you open your heart and your life and you say, tell me more because I want to understand. 00:33:58.000 --> 00:34:00.000 How can we be friends? 00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:03.000 The angels in heaven rejoice. 00:34:03.000 --> 00:34:06.000 And God is praised. 00:34:06.000 --> 00:34:07.000 Why? 00:34:07.000 --> 00:34:13.000 God is glorified when we open our lives to people who are different from us, because that's exactly what he's done for us. 00:34:13.000 --> 00:34:22.000 And, if you read on in the chapter, because his entire plan for the world is to create one great family from all the peoples of the earth. 00:34:22.000 --> 00:34:24.000 And so when we do this, it's like a little preview. 00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:25.000 And God is like, yeah, they're getting it. 00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:26.000 They're starting to live this way. 00:34:26.000 --> 00:34:29.000 Because one day this is going to be true for everybody. 00:34:29.000 --> 00:34:36.000 And he's like, when you do that at that table over that drink, talking about that issue, that's just a little foretaste of new creation in heaven. 00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:39.000 He's like, they're figuring it out. 00:34:39.000 --> 00:34:40.000 He's glorified by them. 00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:53.000 So if we take the gospel seriously in our church and in our lives, and if we're committed to living this out in the church, what does it mean? 00:34:53.000 --> 00:34:57.000 I'll give you a few of my thoughts before we close. 00:34:57.000 --> 00:35:10.000 If we take this seriously and we're committed to living it out, number one, it means that we should be committed to becoming more diverse in terms of age, class, race, life stage, political lives, 00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:11.000 leanings. 00:35:11.000 --> 00:35:15.000 Not to be diverse for its own sake. 00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:23.000 Not because diversity and inclusion happen to be trending for this period of time or not trending for this period of time. 00:35:23.000 --> 00:35:24.000 Not because it's a quality for our quality. 00:35:24.000 --> 00:35:32.079 it glorifies God, because God, the heavens rejoice, and because we need people who are 00:35:32.079 --> 00:35:37.039 different than us in our lives to help us see Jesus more fully and completely. 00:35:38.820 --> 00:35:44.619 We need it. We don't want to operate with massive blind spots that hinder our faith. 00:35:46.119 --> 00:35:52.900 Number two, if we take this seriously, we should be a politically purple church where people 00:35:52.900 --> 00:35:58.900 openly discuss our differences of opinion with one another. The next presidential election, 00:35:59.260 --> 00:36:06.660 you have your bumper sticker prominently displayed. You're wearing your t-shirt for who you're 00:36:06.660 --> 00:36:16.340 pulling for, right? It means we should be able to have a culture of civil discourse and respectful 00:36:16.340 --> 00:36:22.200 debate. It means people don't just spend time with their own tribe. It means people should be eagerly 00:36:22.199 --> 00:36:27.119 pursuing one another. It means it should be normal for people to say, can I buy you a drink? I want 00:36:27.119 --> 00:36:32.619 to hear more about why you think that. And it means there should be absolutely no fear of eye-rolling 00:36:32.619 --> 00:36:40.899 or judgmentalism anywhere. It means people say, man, Thanksgiving was really hard, and man, my family, 00:36:41.059 --> 00:36:45.279 but coming back to church and feeling like I'm in a space where I can just let my hair down 00:36:45.280 --> 00:36:54.940 work with everybody in the room, that means the gospel is true. And number three, finally, as a church, 00:36:55.000 --> 00:37:03.360 I think it means that we should be known for our absurdly over-the-top hospitality. Absurdly over-the-top 00:37:03.360 --> 00:37:09.460 hospitality. You know, last night, there was this Chevrolet progressive dinner. 00:37:09.460 --> 00:37:17.300 Over 100 people from the neighborhood invited to do this progressive dinner, ultimately culminating 00:37:17.300 --> 00:37:26.420 in, you know, with Tim and Lisa Schultz and Tim sharing this sort of short gospel presentation 00:37:26.420 --> 00:37:32.340 to a room where half the people there are not Christians, right? And then the whole culture of 00:37:32.340 --> 00:37:37.460 that is just welcoming people in. And the reason they have so many people come to the event itself 00:37:37.460 --> 00:37:44.559 is because this isn't just a one-off. They're doing this open, accepting, embracing, drawing in, 00:37:44.920 --> 00:37:49.480 living out of the gospel all year long. And so when they invite people to something like this, 00:37:49.659 --> 00:37:53.780 they come because they're like, these people, even though we completely disagree about fundamental 00:37:53.780 --> 00:37:58.380 things, they have consistently opened their hearts and their lives to us. We've been drawn in. 00:37:58.599 --> 00:38:01.699 And when they want us to come to a party where we know we're going to hear the gospel presented, 00:38:02.019 --> 00:38:06.039 in an amazingly effective way, by the way, when we know that's going to happen and we know we don't 00:38:06.039 --> 00:38:10.380 believe it, we're going to go anyway. Because guess what? These are people we can let our hair down 00:38:10.380 --> 00:38:16.960 with. It's okay to disagree. It's okay to ask questions or push back because they've opened 00:38:16.960 --> 00:38:24.079 their heart and their life to me. We should be known for our absurdly over-the-top hospitality. 00:38:24.440 --> 00:38:30.920 We should not need a welcome team in our church, friends. Why? Because every single member and regular 00:38:30.920 --> 00:38:35.279 attender should assume I'm on the welcome team, right? So when somebody comes in the door, 00:38:35.280 --> 00:38:40.060 there should be a race to be the first to say, welcome. I'm so glad you're here. 00:38:40.740 --> 00:38:45.560 Now that might freak some people out. But it'll do far more good than bad. It'll do far more good 00:38:45.560 --> 00:38:49.260 than the opposite where somebody comes in and they're like, man, I was there for two hours and 00:38:49.260 --> 00:38:55.960 nobody said a single word to me. Nobody invited me over. Nobody invited me out to dinner. I really 00:38:55.960 --> 00:38:59.080 wanted to go to lunch and get to know people, but everybody seemed to group up and kind of do their 00:38:59.079 --> 00:39:04.980 own thing and everybody seemed to have their friends and nobody talked to me. Every single 00:39:04.980 --> 00:39:08.900 person who comes through the door of our church should be welcomed and embraced and treated like 00:39:08.900 --> 00:39:16.900 family because we should all be compelled by the gospel to welcome others as Christ has welcomed us. 00:39:16.900 --> 00:39:29.240 Let's pray. Our Lord and Heavenly Father, thank you for being a God of hospitality. Thank you for being a 00:39:29.240 --> 00:39:37.599 God of invitation. Thank you for being a God who, when there was no way for us to be in fellowship with 00:39:37.599 --> 00:39:42.720 you, when it was impossible, when all of the best efforts of the greatest people in the world failed 00:39:42.719 --> 00:39:47.059 to bridge that gap. Thank you for being the one to lay down your life to make it possible. 00:39:47.799 --> 00:39:52.919 Thank you for paying the unthinkable cost required to invite us into your heart. 00:39:54.199 --> 00:39:59.899 And Lord, may we in some small way reflect that same generosity of spirit 00:39:59.899 --> 00:40:09.139 and that same willingness to put aside our own comfort to welcome others in. May this be a place 00:40:09.139 --> 00:40:14.480 in the power of your Holy Spirit where every single person who comes is welcomed like family. 00:40:15.259 --> 00:40:20.279 Because we know that as we welcome them, we welcome them in your name. And as we love them, 00:40:20.420 --> 00:40:26.559 so they will come to expect your love and experience your love. And Lord, we pray this ultimately as the 00:40:26.559 --> 00:40:31.839 Apostle Paul says himself, that you would be glorified. In Jesus' name. Amen.