WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.580 Today's Old Testament lesson comes from the book of Isaiah, chapter 56, verses 3 through 8. 00:00:10.580 --> 00:00:14.339 Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, 00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:17.300 The Lord will surely separate me from his people. 00:00:18.019 --> 00:00:21.120 And let not the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. 00:00:21.980 --> 00:00:25.660 For thus says the Lord, to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbath, 00:00:26.400 --> 00:00:29.879 who choose the things that please me and hold fast to my covenant, 00:00:30.500 --> 00:00:36.520 I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters. 00:00:37.079 --> 00:00:40.460 I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. 00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:45.539 And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, 00:00:45.539 --> 00:00:48.359 to love the name of the Lord and to be his servants, 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:53.900 everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it and holds fast my covenant, 00:00:54.439 --> 00:00:59.140 these I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. 00:00:59.140 --> 00:01:03.420 Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar. 00:01:04.040 --> 00:01:07.840 For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. 00:01:08.500 --> 00:01:11.840 The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, 00:01:12.519 --> 00:01:16.540 I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered. 00:01:16.540 --> 00:01:19.020 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:20.840 Thanks be to God. 00:01:20.840 --> 00:01:26.740 Well, as I said at the beginning of the service, we're so glad that you are here, 00:01:27.320 --> 00:01:30.060 especially if this is your first Sunday with us. 00:01:30.800 --> 00:01:33.380 We want to do everything we can to make sure you feel welcome, 00:01:33.579 --> 00:01:36.359 and I trust that that has already happened to some extent. 00:01:36.800 --> 00:01:40.780 There will be an opportunity to hang around after the service if you'd like a chance to meet some people, 00:01:41.240 --> 00:01:46.420 to shake some hands, and to make some connections here before you head out. 00:01:46.420 --> 00:01:49.200 Certainly, if I've not met you, I'd love the chance to do so. 00:01:49.939 --> 00:01:56.980 We started a series last week called Church, God's Family in the World. 00:01:57.939 --> 00:02:05.480 And as the title would indicate, we are looking at these places in the Bible where we see very clearly 00:02:05.480 --> 00:02:12.259 that the church, God's people, is really meant to be thought of as a family. 00:02:12.259 --> 00:02:16.939 That of all the images that are used to describe God's people, 00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:21.099 the image of family is perhaps the most helpful, the most comprehensive. 00:02:21.299 --> 00:02:24.000 It runs from the beginning to the end of Scripture. 00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:26.179 And we're doing this for a lot of reasons. 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:33.180 I mean, I think, first off, the idea of family or the topic of family is immediately evocative to us all. 00:02:34.699 --> 00:02:40.039 A lot of you went and traveled to see your family over the holidays not too long ago. 00:02:40.039 --> 00:02:46.259 Maybe you were freshly reminded both of the joy and also the struggle of family. 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:51.000 Maybe some of you had no family to visit. 00:02:52.159 --> 00:02:57.719 And maybe every time the concept of family comes up, you feel the ache of that absence. 00:02:58.439 --> 00:03:02.120 But certainly family and the idea of family is evocative to us all. 00:03:02.319 --> 00:03:04.659 But there's a deeper reason that we're talking about this. 00:03:04.659 --> 00:03:10.319 And that is that I personally believe that the church, especially in the West, 00:03:10.520 --> 00:03:15.939 has largely lost sight of the fact that we're called to be a family. 00:03:17.719 --> 00:03:19.400 Because we don't operate that way. 00:03:20.859 --> 00:03:24.919 And what I hope that we will see over the course of these few weeks of looking at this 00:03:24.919 --> 00:03:29.939 is that we are called to be a family in the deepest sense of the word. 00:03:29.939 --> 00:03:35.919 And so last week we looked at this place where God promises a family. 00:03:36.039 --> 00:03:39.620 He comes to a man named Abram in Genesis 12 and he says, 00:03:40.439 --> 00:03:41.740 I see all the brokenness in the world. 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:42.819 I see all the tragedy. 00:03:42.939 --> 00:03:45.020 I see all the injustice, all the heartbreak. 00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:47.280 And here's what I'm going to do about it. 00:03:48.300 --> 00:03:51.159 You know, people say, well, what's God's response to the suffering in the world? 00:03:51.319 --> 00:03:52.560 God says, here's what I'm going to do. 00:03:53.419 --> 00:03:54.620 I'm going to build a family. 00:03:55.620 --> 00:03:57.599 It's going to be a new family, a new humanity. 00:03:58.460 --> 00:04:01.300 And through this family, all the families of the earth will be blessed. 00:04:02.700 --> 00:04:04.219 So that's what we saw last week. 00:04:04.280 --> 00:04:08.300 And then this week, we're going to learn a little bit more about what this family's like. 00:04:08.300 --> 00:04:11.640 We're looking at Isaiah chapter 56, verses 3 through 8. 00:04:12.200 --> 00:04:18.319 And at this point in Isaiah, Isaiah's just talked in chapters 52 and 53 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:21.000 about this servant who's going to come, the servant of the Lord. 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:25.500 And he's going to suffer on behalf of the world and God's people. 00:04:26.439 --> 00:04:30.800 And then in chapters 54 and 55, Isaiah says that because of his suffering, 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:33.319 God is going to pardon and forgive sin. 00:04:33.660 --> 00:04:37.220 And that this grace is going to be open to all who come. 00:04:37.500 --> 00:04:38.199 Chapter 55. 00:04:40.139 --> 00:04:42.079 And so it could end right there. 00:04:42.220 --> 00:04:44.040 You know, Isaiah, forgiveness for everybody. 00:04:44.259 --> 00:04:44.899 End of the book. 00:04:45.980 --> 00:04:47.139 But it goes on. 00:04:47.139 --> 00:04:51.019 And chapter 56 begins to show us the so what. 00:04:52.279 --> 00:04:57.759 So now that this servant, whom the early church immediately recognized as Jesus, 00:04:57.939 --> 00:05:00.759 now that the servant has done this, so what? 00:05:00.839 --> 00:05:01.539 What changes? 00:05:02.399 --> 00:05:04.639 And that's what chapter 56 is all about. 00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:07.819 As a result of the servant of the Lord coming and suffering, 00:05:09.139 --> 00:05:14.639 God's family in the world becomes unlike any other family. 00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:19.379 And so we're going to see a couple of things about this family. 00:05:19.500 --> 00:05:22.180 First, we're going to see why we need a new family. 00:05:23.560 --> 00:05:26.919 And then second, we're going to see what's so new about God's family. 00:05:27.399 --> 00:05:28.219 What makes it different? 00:05:28.699 --> 00:05:33.219 And then at the very end, there'll be a little word on how we join God's family. 00:05:33.899 --> 00:05:35.539 So why do we need a new family? 00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:37.279 What's so new about God's family? 00:05:37.419 --> 00:05:40.060 And then lastly, just a little bit on how we join God's family. 00:05:40.139 --> 00:05:40.579 Let's pray. 00:05:40.579 --> 00:05:47.659 Lord, we do recognize that this is a topic fraught with emotion, fraught with struggle. 00:05:47.859 --> 00:05:49.539 It evokes specific memories. 00:05:50.659 --> 00:05:58.039 Lord, as we think about potentially the fragmentation, the division, the brokenness that we experience in our own families here, 00:05:58.159 --> 00:06:04.199 those of us with families, and also those of us who struggle because we don't have family, we feel alone in the world. 00:06:04.199 --> 00:06:09.560 May this speak to all of us, Lord, and give us a kind of hope that can only be found in you. 00:06:10.099 --> 00:06:11.659 We pray this in your son's holy name. 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:12.099 Amen. 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:18.740 So the first question we want to ask is, why do we even need a new family? 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:22.899 Why would this be good, relevant news for any of us here? 00:06:23.800 --> 00:06:25.379 The fact of family is this. 00:06:25.480 --> 00:06:26.500 Family is necessary. 00:06:26.500 --> 00:06:29.860 To some extent, family is necessary. 00:06:29.980 --> 00:06:32.220 It was necessary to bring you into the world. 00:06:33.259 --> 00:06:38.120 And it's very important and very central to what it means to be human. 00:06:39.399 --> 00:06:42.660 But there's one Achilles heel in every family. 00:06:42.839 --> 00:06:45.779 One weakness inherent to all families. 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:50.720 And that is this, that families are by definition exclusive. 00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:55.060 By definition, families are exclusive. 00:06:55.380 --> 00:07:03.880 What makes you family is that you share a unique family lineage, a unique bloodline, a unique DNA. 00:07:05.900 --> 00:07:10.320 And while in some ways you can marry into and be adopted and all of these things, 00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:21.079 there's still this sense that blood ties us together more closely than anything else in the world. 00:07:21.899 --> 00:07:26.459 And there's no way to get that DNA unless you're born in. 00:07:27.899 --> 00:07:34.500 There's no way to really, truly be family in the DNA sense of the word unless you're born into it. 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:39.000 And over the course of human history, what history has shown us, if anything, 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:44.459 is that we have inherited a tendency to prefer people who are like us, 00:07:45.079 --> 00:07:47.879 to prefer people who are family, 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:50.540 to prefer people who are similar, 00:07:50.699 --> 00:07:55.959 to prefer the closer kinship ties over people who are not. 00:07:56.480 --> 00:07:59.220 We give preference to our family over anybody else. 00:07:59.240 --> 00:08:01.560 And most people in the world would say, as it should be. 00:08:02.680 --> 00:08:06.300 But by definition, family is exclusive. 00:08:06.300 --> 00:08:11.439 And that way of thinking had become entrenched in Israel. 00:08:12.420 --> 00:08:16.220 They not only preferred personally Israelites to anyone else, 00:08:16.500 --> 00:08:20.060 but they had actually come to believe that God was the same way. 00:08:20.759 --> 00:08:23.460 That the family of Israel, the nation of Israel, 00:08:23.840 --> 00:08:26.160 occupied a special place in God's economy. 00:08:26.860 --> 00:08:29.580 That they were uniquely blessed because they were Israelites, 00:08:29.740 --> 00:08:30.600 descendants of Abram. 00:08:30.600 --> 00:08:36.980 And so we have this place in Isaiah 56, 00:08:37.480 --> 00:08:40.740 where God addresses this very thing. 00:08:40.899 --> 00:08:42.200 It says this in verse 3, 00:08:42.680 --> 00:08:45.820 Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, 00:08:46.340 --> 00:08:48.600 The Lord will surely separate me from his people. 00:08:48.800 --> 00:08:50.000 And let not the eunuch say, 00:08:50.100 --> 00:08:52.139 Behold, I am a dry tree. 00:08:52.139 --> 00:08:57.220 So here we have two groups of people, 00:08:57.899 --> 00:08:59.019 two categories, 00:08:59.559 --> 00:09:01.019 who under the old covenant, 00:09:01.980 --> 00:09:06.519 the old standard of relationship between God's people and God. 00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:09.740 According to the old covenant, 00:09:09.860 --> 00:09:12.259 these are people who were not allowed into the temple. 00:09:12.379 --> 00:09:14.600 They were not allowed into the presence of God. 00:09:14.799 --> 00:09:16.899 They were not allowed to have fellowship with God's people. 00:09:16.899 --> 00:09:21.120 They were excluded from the family of God. 00:09:21.220 --> 00:09:22.240 They were on the outside. 00:09:23.559 --> 00:09:27.039 And I want to look at each just in a little more detail to help you understand this. 00:09:28.039 --> 00:09:30.100 First of all, we have this category of foreigners. 00:09:31.439 --> 00:09:34.539 We need to understand that originally God, as we said a moment ago, 00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:36.019 God came to Abram and said, 00:09:36.340 --> 00:09:37.039 Here's my plan. 00:09:37.159 --> 00:09:41.019 I'm going to make out of you a family and a nation. 00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:44.059 And through your family, all the families of the earth are going to be blessed. 00:09:44.059 --> 00:09:50.459 So it was important for a while to make sure that Abraham's family remained distinct 00:09:50.459 --> 00:09:55.099 so that it would be clearly seen when God fulfilled his promise. 00:09:55.259 --> 00:09:58.279 If the family became diffuse and ceased to be a family, 00:09:58.919 --> 00:10:01.659 how could we ever see whether or not God fulfilled his promise? 00:10:02.979 --> 00:10:06.000 And yet, we see this progression. 00:10:06.179 --> 00:10:08.979 Abraham and Sarah miraculously get pregnant. 00:10:09.099 --> 00:10:11.799 They have kids, and they have kids, and they have kids, 00:10:11.799 --> 00:10:13.819 and eventually this becomes a huge family. 00:10:14.059 --> 00:10:15.619 Abraham, a small nation. 00:10:17.299 --> 00:10:19.459 And so naturally, by Isaiah's time, 00:10:19.559 --> 00:10:23.579 many Israelites had come to believe that they were somehow favored by God 00:10:23.579 --> 00:10:26.599 because they were related to Abraham, were sons of Abraham. 00:10:27.979 --> 00:10:30.539 So their racial identity had become an idol. 00:10:32.439 --> 00:10:32.879 Right? 00:10:33.239 --> 00:10:35.599 You ask a Jew in Isaiah's day, 00:10:35.859 --> 00:10:37.559 What is your hope of salvation? 00:10:37.719 --> 00:10:39.179 What's your hope of fellowship with God? 00:10:39.179 --> 00:10:40.799 Well, you have to be born an Israelite. 00:10:41.779 --> 00:10:43.519 You have to be of the right race. 00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:45.379 It's salvation through race. 00:10:46.360 --> 00:10:49.139 And if you're not, well, tough luck. 00:10:50.679 --> 00:10:53.679 And still today, this doesn't exist in the same form today, 00:10:53.740 --> 00:10:56.000 but still today, I would say that the church, God's people, 00:10:56.500 --> 00:10:59.679 our world, our society in general, is deeply divided by race. 00:11:00.340 --> 00:11:02.539 As we all know, I don't have to make that case for you. 00:11:02.600 --> 00:11:05.519 We're reminded of it again and again and again in the news. 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:08.500 We're reminded of it when we look around this room. 00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:12.439 Deeply divided by race. 00:11:14.259 --> 00:11:18.159 Here in D.C. there are white churches and African-American churches 00:11:18.159 --> 00:11:20.299 and Hispanic churches and Korean churches. 00:11:20.299 --> 00:11:27.279 Because of our tendency to want to be around people who look and act like we do. 00:11:28.839 --> 00:11:32.719 And there's been a tendency all through the history of the church 00:11:32.719 --> 00:11:36.599 to assume that God must be with you more. 00:11:37.539 --> 00:11:40.559 That God must prefer your kind of worship music more. 00:11:40.559 --> 00:11:46.879 That God must be more glorified by your culture of worship than anyone else. 00:11:46.959 --> 00:11:50.659 That God, the way you talk about God, that you must have it more right. 00:11:50.719 --> 00:11:54.000 Now, we don't say this, but many of us think it. 00:11:55.879 --> 00:11:57.099 On some deep level. 00:11:58.159 --> 00:11:59.039 So that's foreigners. 00:11:59.039 --> 00:12:04.079 But also, it goes on, and it doesn't just address people who are of other races. 00:12:04.219 --> 00:12:05.519 It addresses eunuchs. 00:12:07.219 --> 00:12:09.620 Let not the eunuchs say, behold, I am a dry tree. 00:12:09.719 --> 00:12:12.439 Now, eunuch in the Bible is a complicated category. 00:12:12.639 --> 00:12:13.899 It's a very broad category. 00:12:14.259 --> 00:12:16.339 It can refer to any number of situations. 00:12:17.419 --> 00:12:22.299 In the ancient Near East, you don't have a free market society. 00:12:23.459 --> 00:12:23.639 Right? 00:12:23.639 --> 00:12:30.399 You have the entire political and economic sphere was governed largely by kings and emperors. 00:12:31.519 --> 00:12:34.340 Who had, you know, it was monarchy. 00:12:35.199 --> 00:12:37.500 And many of these rulers had harems. 00:12:38.519 --> 00:12:42.899 And one of the ways that you could, if you were just an average guy, 00:12:43.620 --> 00:12:47.299 and you wanted to climb the ranks and have success in your career, 00:12:48.120 --> 00:12:50.480 one of the ways that you could really put yourself, you know, 00:12:50.480 --> 00:12:53.639 one of the things that would make your resume stand out from the pile, 00:12:54.159 --> 00:12:55.840 is if you were castrated. 00:12:56.980 --> 00:12:58.580 Because if you castrate yourself, 00:12:59.120 --> 00:13:00.759 that king who has that harem, 00:13:01.800 --> 00:13:04.039 knows, well, I can trust this guy, 00:13:04.379 --> 00:13:05.779 not to fool around in the harem. 00:13:07.019 --> 00:13:08.659 And so eunuchs would get promoted. 00:13:09.100 --> 00:13:12.000 They would be put in positions of great trust and great responsibility. 00:13:13.159 --> 00:13:16.720 They were given enormous amounts of power because these monarchs could trust them. 00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:19.279 And it was one of the only ways you could climb the ladder of success, 00:13:19.500 --> 00:13:21.100 was to castrate yourself. 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:27.240 But beyond that, there's also references, like Jesus says in Matthew 19, 00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:29.480 that there are other kinds of eunuchs. 00:13:29.580 --> 00:13:31.800 There are eunuchs who have been so from birth, he says. 00:13:31.920 --> 00:13:36.180 People who are either asexual, or they lack sexual attraction, 00:13:36.279 --> 00:13:40.279 or because of any number of sexual desires other than the opposite sex, 00:13:40.360 --> 00:13:41.940 they would never procreate. 00:13:41.940 --> 00:13:44.660 And what we need to see here is that in Isaiah, 00:13:45.300 --> 00:13:47.460 the focus is really on procreation. 00:13:48.800 --> 00:13:50.540 So when we hear the word eunuch, 00:13:50.640 --> 00:13:51.320 and we think about people, 00:13:51.520 --> 00:13:54.280 we think about any number of people who, for any number of reasons, 00:13:55.560 --> 00:13:57.240 will not go on to procreate. 00:13:58.220 --> 00:14:01.440 And the reason that that's the focus is because in the ancient Near Eastern culture, 00:14:01.500 --> 00:14:03.040 I know I'm giving you a lot of context here, 00:14:03.100 --> 00:14:04.500 but it's really important to understand this. 00:14:05.160 --> 00:14:08.180 In this culture, family was everything. 00:14:08.179 --> 00:14:12.859 Now we can't imagine that really in the same way because of the society we live in. 00:14:12.919 --> 00:14:14.500 We're much more individualistic. 00:14:15.179 --> 00:14:17.639 But in this society, if you had a family, 00:14:17.939 --> 00:14:20.359 if you had kids, if you had a lot of kids, 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:23.139 and you could pass on the family name and the family land, 00:14:23.399 --> 00:14:24.279 that was everything. 00:14:24.399 --> 00:14:25.459 That was all of your hope. 00:14:26.439 --> 00:14:29.019 To not have a family, to not have kids, 00:14:29.459 --> 00:14:32.399 to be barren, to be unmarried, 00:14:32.639 --> 00:14:33.339 to be a widow, 00:14:34.219 --> 00:14:35.539 was a death sentence. 00:14:35.539 --> 00:14:37.899 A death sentence. 00:14:39.719 --> 00:14:41.579 To not have a family was a death sentence. 00:14:41.719 --> 00:14:42.199 You were a nobody. 00:14:42.259 --> 00:14:43.319 You were worse than a nobody. 00:14:45.980 --> 00:14:48.259 So let's think about how this would apply today. 00:14:50.719 --> 00:14:52.039 I mean, luckily today, 00:14:53.279 --> 00:14:56.439 castration isn't as necessary 00:14:56.439 --> 00:14:59.939 for career success and ascension. 00:15:00.980 --> 00:15:04.319 Luckily, that's not really required for most jobs. 00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:05.780 But here in D.C., 00:15:05.780 --> 00:15:07.860 here in D.C., 00:15:07.860 --> 00:15:09.379 we still have plenty of people 00:15:09.379 --> 00:15:15.060 who have so prioritized career and success 00:15:15.060 --> 00:15:16.740 that they have forsaken family. 00:15:18.680 --> 00:15:19.940 They're not castrated, 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:21.540 but they're people who have basically said, 00:15:22.500 --> 00:15:25.240 I can either choose to invest in a family 00:15:25.240 --> 00:15:26.560 and finding somebody and getting married, 00:15:26.660 --> 00:15:27.820 or I can invest in my career, 00:15:27.920 --> 00:15:28.720 and I choose my career. 00:15:29.560 --> 00:15:31.200 And that's a very viable choice today. 00:15:31.680 --> 00:15:33.700 More and more and more people are making that choice. 00:15:34.400 --> 00:15:35.820 And they get older and older and older, 00:15:36.020 --> 00:15:37.420 and at some point, 00:15:37.480 --> 00:15:38.440 their ability to get married, 00:15:38.520 --> 00:15:40.400 their ability to have kids is gone, 00:15:40.500 --> 00:15:42.460 and they're married to their career. 00:15:43.580 --> 00:15:44.840 So this happens a lot. 00:15:46.920 --> 00:15:48.940 Also, some of us are here and we're single, 00:15:49.940 --> 00:15:51.340 and maybe we want to get married, 00:15:51.480 --> 00:15:52.580 but for whatever reason, 00:15:52.640 --> 00:15:53.340 it hasn't happened. 00:15:54.040 --> 00:15:55.440 You just haven't found the right person. 00:15:55.440 --> 00:15:58.080 It just hasn't worked out. 00:15:59.460 --> 00:16:01.040 And though many people who are single 00:16:01.040 --> 00:16:01.720 who want to get married 00:16:01.720 --> 00:16:03.660 will end up getting married probably one day, 00:16:04.680 --> 00:16:06.400 there will probably be some of us who don't. 00:16:07.640 --> 00:16:08.940 And we're looking at life 00:16:08.940 --> 00:16:11.860 as a single, unmarried person. 00:16:14.120 --> 00:16:16.520 So there's also some people who have been married, 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:18.520 but you got divorced. 00:16:18.519 --> 00:16:21.559 And so because you got divorced, 00:16:21.860 --> 00:16:23.919 that's the reality that you face, 00:16:23.939 --> 00:16:25.159 and you may not ever get remarried. 00:16:27.179 --> 00:16:28.439 Some of us are married. 00:16:28.440 --> 00:16:31.540 Some of us are married 00:16:31.540 --> 00:16:32.600 and we really want to have kids, 00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:34.280 but we struggle with infertility. 00:16:36.040 --> 00:16:37.040 And no matter what you do, 00:16:37.080 --> 00:16:38.040 no matter how hard you try, 00:16:38.120 --> 00:16:39.900 no matter what methodology you employ, 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:41.220 no matter how much you research it, 00:16:41.660 --> 00:16:42.540 for whatever reason, 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:45.220 doctors don't fully understand it. 00:16:45.240 --> 00:16:46.820 You just aren't able to get pregnant. 00:16:48.280 --> 00:16:49.440 Now I bring all these things up, 00:16:49.540 --> 00:16:51.560 and you do a list like this, 00:16:51.640 --> 00:16:53.580 and I want to recognize 00:16:53.580 --> 00:16:54.740 each one of these things 00:16:54.740 --> 00:16:56.480 is a source of great pain and great struggle. 00:16:58.440 --> 00:17:00.020 Great pain and great struggle in our church. 00:17:00.120 --> 00:17:01.160 These are very relevant issues 00:17:01.160 --> 00:17:02.200 in our community right now. 00:17:03.340 --> 00:17:06.960 So whether you've forsaken these things 00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:07.900 because of your career, 00:17:08.120 --> 00:17:09.380 or you haven't been able to get married 00:17:09.380 --> 00:17:10.019 and you want to, 00:17:10.080 --> 00:17:11.380 or you were married but divorced, 00:17:11.720 --> 00:17:13.820 or you're unable to have children, 00:17:13.900 --> 00:17:15.940 they're all categories of people 00:17:15.940 --> 00:17:17.779 who would in some way fit 00:17:17.779 --> 00:17:20.700 what Isaiah's talking about. 00:17:20.940 --> 00:17:21.900 Because here's the thing. 00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:26.539 Even though our culture is very individualistic, 00:17:26.539 --> 00:17:28.700 I'll make a contention here. 00:17:28.759 --> 00:17:30.019 You can feel free to disagree with me. 00:17:30.299 --> 00:17:31.139 This is an observation. 00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:34.599 Even though we're individualistic, 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:36.119 I think that paradoxically, 00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:38.139 we still have a high idolatry 00:17:38.139 --> 00:17:39.079 of the nuclear family. 00:17:40.079 --> 00:17:41.920 I think they both coexist in our culture, 00:17:42.019 --> 00:17:43.039 and it's a weird paradox. 00:17:44.879 --> 00:17:47.139 But we still have a kind of paradoxical 00:17:47.139 --> 00:17:49.539 idolatry 00:17:49.539 --> 00:17:50.099 idolatry 00:17:50.099 --> 00:17:52.319 of the ideal 00:17:52.319 --> 00:17:54.759 of getting married and having kids. 00:17:57.000 --> 00:17:57.899 It's as though 00:17:57.899 --> 00:18:01.779 the only valid way 00:18:01.779 --> 00:18:03.720 to grow up 00:18:03.720 --> 00:18:06.319 is to get married and have kids. 00:18:07.879 --> 00:18:09.960 I don't know if that resonates with you at all, 00:18:10.119 --> 00:18:10.720 but I know that 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:13.319 at least in the conservative church world, 00:18:14.220 --> 00:18:17.339 this is very much encouraged, 00:18:17.339 --> 00:18:18.259 this way of thinking. 00:18:18.399 --> 00:18:19.039 Not overtly, 00:18:19.939 --> 00:18:21.559 I think largely unintentionally. 00:18:22.099 --> 00:18:23.299 But in the conservative church, 00:18:23.399 --> 00:18:24.919 Christians have perpetuated this. 00:18:25.500 --> 00:18:26.599 They've put the vision 00:18:26.599 --> 00:18:27.939 of traditional family 00:18:27.939 --> 00:18:30.199 kind of up on this pedestal. 00:18:31.659 --> 00:18:32.319 And it said, 00:18:32.399 --> 00:18:33.039 here's this ideal, 00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:34.139 and they've defended it 00:18:34.139 --> 00:18:35.639 from onslaught, 00:18:35.679 --> 00:18:36.939 from all sides, right? 00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:39.059 And what this does unintentionally 00:18:39.059 --> 00:18:40.199 is it sends a message. 00:18:40.419 --> 00:18:40.679 It says, 00:18:40.779 --> 00:18:41.579 the only valid way 00:18:41.579 --> 00:18:42.419 to become a grown-up 00:18:42.419 --> 00:18:43.679 is to get married and have kids. 00:18:43.680 --> 00:18:44.160 But, 00:18:44.600 --> 00:18:46.160 unless you're marriageable 00:18:46.160 --> 00:18:48.700 and fertile, 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:51.400 this is not for you. 00:18:53.100 --> 00:18:54.240 And so then the question becomes, 00:18:54.460 --> 00:18:55.500 well, what is there for me? 00:18:57.460 --> 00:18:57.900 Silence. 00:18:59.720 --> 00:19:00.259 Well, 00:19:00.580 --> 00:19:02.000 I don't know. 00:19:03.019 --> 00:19:04.360 You can join our singles ministry. 00:19:04.359 --> 00:19:11.799 So if you're single or divorced, 00:19:12.199 --> 00:19:13.799 or you're married but you're infertile, 00:19:14.679 --> 00:19:16.859 or you're a gay or lesbian person 00:19:16.859 --> 00:19:17.819 or transgender person 00:19:17.819 --> 00:19:19.359 who's chosen to remain unmarried, 00:19:19.479 --> 00:19:20.419 or you're an orphan, 00:19:21.059 --> 00:19:21.819 you're a widow, 00:19:22.299 --> 00:19:23.899 if you diverge in any way 00:19:23.899 --> 00:19:24.759 from the ideal, 00:19:24.899 --> 00:19:25.819 then you're made to feel 00:19:25.819 --> 00:19:26.359 somehow incomplete, 00:19:27.500 --> 00:19:29.339 like a second-class citizen, 00:19:29.919 --> 00:19:31.379 like there's really not a place 00:19:31.379 --> 00:19:31.959 for you here, 00:19:31.960 --> 00:19:34.900 like you're somehow less than. 00:19:37.259 --> 00:19:38.579 So this is why God, 00:19:38.720 --> 00:19:39.380 from the beginning, 00:19:39.579 --> 00:19:40.880 promised to establish 00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:43.220 an entirely new kind of family. 00:19:43.940 --> 00:19:44.840 This is why 00:19:44.840 --> 00:19:47.039 the concept of nuclear family, 00:19:47.160 --> 00:19:47.920 as good as it is, 00:19:47.960 --> 00:19:48.980 is not good enough. 00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:50.240 Because there are 00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:51.860 way too many people in the world 00:19:51.860 --> 00:19:53.600 for whom that's not going 00:19:53.600 --> 00:19:54.340 to be a reality. 00:19:55.039 --> 00:19:56.420 That's a huge need 00:19:56.420 --> 00:19:57.700 right here in this city, 00:19:58.019 --> 00:19:59.220 right here in our congregation. 00:19:59.220 --> 00:20:01.600 So that leads us 00:20:01.600 --> 00:20:02.480 to the second question, 00:20:02.600 --> 00:20:03.500 what's so new 00:20:03.500 --> 00:20:04.680 about God's family? 00:20:05.019 --> 00:20:05.680 And I just want 00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:06.380 to read you this. 00:20:06.700 --> 00:20:06.980 Remember, 00:20:07.220 --> 00:20:08.120 in light of the fact 00:20:08.120 --> 00:20:09.100 that the servant 00:20:09.100 --> 00:20:10.180 of the Lord has come, 00:20:11.019 --> 00:20:11.880 in light of the fact 00:20:11.880 --> 00:20:13.039 that Jesus has come, 00:20:13.319 --> 00:20:14.360 here's what God says. 00:20:15.360 --> 00:20:16.259 To the eunuchs 00:20:16.259 --> 00:20:17.220 who keep my Sabbath, 00:20:17.779 --> 00:20:18.720 who choose the things 00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:19.420 that please me 00:20:19.420 --> 00:20:20.579 and hold fast my covenant. 00:20:20.640 --> 00:20:21.100 In other words, 00:20:21.160 --> 00:20:22.799 to those who bind themselves 00:20:22.799 --> 00:20:23.279 to the Lord 00:20:23.279 --> 00:20:23.640 and say, 00:20:23.740 --> 00:20:24.640 your way is my way, 00:20:24.720 --> 00:20:25.500 I trust you, 00:20:25.799 --> 00:20:27.160 I want to belong to you. 00:20:27.160 --> 00:20:29.180 To those people, 00:20:29.380 --> 00:20:30.600 I will give in my house 00:20:30.600 --> 00:20:31.560 and within my walls 00:20:31.560 --> 00:20:33.180 a monument and a name 00:20:33.180 --> 00:20:34.940 better than sons and daughters. 00:20:35.560 --> 00:20:36.380 I will give them 00:20:36.380 --> 00:20:37.620 an everlasting name 00:20:37.620 --> 00:20:38.820 that shall not be cut off. 00:20:38.900 --> 00:20:39.460 So in other words, 00:20:39.980 --> 00:20:41.279 you're worried about 00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:42.460 not having kids? 00:20:43.500 --> 00:20:44.420 In my house, 00:20:44.480 --> 00:20:45.140 in my family, 00:20:45.259 --> 00:20:46.160 in the family of God, 00:20:46.220 --> 00:20:46.640 you're going to have 00:20:46.640 --> 00:20:47.320 so many kids, 00:20:47.360 --> 00:20:47.860 you're not going to know 00:20:47.860 --> 00:20:48.360 what to do with them. 00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:49.560 You're worried about your name 00:20:49.560 --> 00:20:51.019 not being passed 00:20:51.019 --> 00:20:51.820 to the next generation? 00:20:51.980 --> 00:20:52.840 I will give you a name 00:20:52.840 --> 00:20:53.300 and a monument 00:20:53.300 --> 00:20:54.660 greater than sons and daughters. 00:20:54.660 --> 00:20:57.300 Whatever blessing you think 00:20:57.300 --> 00:20:58.080 that you might have 00:20:58.080 --> 00:20:58.980 through a nuclear family, 00:20:59.080 --> 00:20:59.620 you're going to find 00:20:59.620 --> 00:21:00.660 so much more 00:21:00.660 --> 00:21:01.980 in the family of God. 00:21:02.019 --> 00:21:02.640 And then he goes on 00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:03.060 and says, 00:21:03.460 --> 00:21:04.120 and the foreigners 00:21:04.120 --> 00:21:05.120 who join themselves 00:21:05.120 --> 00:21:05.700 to the Lord 00:21:05.700 --> 00:21:06.720 to minister to him, 00:21:06.900 --> 00:21:08.060 to love the name of the Lord 00:21:08.060 --> 00:21:08.920 and be his servants, 00:21:09.400 --> 00:21:10.700 everyone who keeps the Sabbath 00:21:10.700 --> 00:21:11.720 and does not profane it 00:21:11.720 --> 00:21:13.140 and holds fast my covenant, 00:21:13.540 --> 00:21:14.440 these I will bring 00:21:14.440 --> 00:21:15.380 to my holy mountain 00:21:15.380 --> 00:21:16.740 and make them joyful 00:21:16.740 --> 00:21:17.779 in my house of prayer. 00:21:20.340 --> 00:21:21.560 So what's he saying here? 00:21:21.559 --> 00:21:23.879 Jesus came to establish 00:21:23.879 --> 00:21:24.819 a new family. 00:21:25.819 --> 00:21:26.779 And it's a family 00:21:26.779 --> 00:21:28.500 that unlike nuclear families 00:21:28.500 --> 00:21:30.619 is radically inclusive 00:21:30.619 --> 00:21:33.299 in a way that no other family 00:21:33.299 --> 00:21:34.319 on earth could be. 00:21:35.779 --> 00:21:36.639 And you see this 00:21:36.639 --> 00:21:37.599 regarding foreigners, 00:21:37.740 --> 00:21:38.899 regarding racial division. 00:21:40.039 --> 00:21:41.099 Regarding racial division, 00:21:41.220 --> 00:21:42.559 this is why when Jesus came, 00:21:42.819 --> 00:21:44.019 one of the first things he did, 00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:45.480 and he did this multiple times, 00:21:45.559 --> 00:21:46.259 in John's gospel, 00:21:46.339 --> 00:21:46.980 he does it early, 00:21:47.419 --> 00:21:48.240 in the other gospels, 00:21:48.279 --> 00:21:49.379 he does it later in his ministry, 00:21:49.539 --> 00:21:50.440 and what that means is 00:21:50.440 --> 00:21:51.900 he probably did it multiple times. 00:21:52.539 --> 00:21:53.539 He goes straight 00:21:53.539 --> 00:21:54.580 to the temple in Jerusalem, 00:21:55.279 --> 00:21:56.340 and he goes into the area 00:21:56.340 --> 00:21:57.799 called the Court of the Gentiles, 00:21:58.059 --> 00:21:59.200 where foreigners 00:21:59.200 --> 00:22:00.100 were allowed to come. 00:22:00.180 --> 00:22:01.220 You couldn't come in the temple, 00:22:01.279 --> 00:22:01.759 but you could come 00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:02.740 to the Court of the Gentiles. 00:22:03.160 --> 00:22:04.120 It had been filled 00:22:04.120 --> 00:22:05.059 with money lenders 00:22:05.059 --> 00:22:06.180 and vendors 00:22:06.180 --> 00:22:07.580 and animal sellers, 00:22:08.279 --> 00:22:09.220 and so the Gentiles 00:22:09.220 --> 00:22:10.240 couldn't get in to pray. 00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:11.779 And so Jesus comes 00:22:11.779 --> 00:22:13.080 and he kicks all those people out, 00:22:13.100 --> 00:22:13.759 and what does he do? 00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:15.580 He quotes this passage. 00:22:17.019 --> 00:22:17.840 For it is written, 00:22:17.960 --> 00:22:19.100 my house shall be a prayer, 00:22:19.099 --> 00:22:20.179 a house of prayer 00:22:20.179 --> 00:22:21.259 for all people. 00:22:23.079 --> 00:22:23.939 In other words, 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:25.119 he's blatantly accusing them 00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:25.659 of racism. 00:22:26.339 --> 00:22:26.699 He's saying, 00:22:26.779 --> 00:22:27.279 you're racist. 00:22:28.379 --> 00:22:29.219 You've forgotten 00:22:29.219 --> 00:22:29.939 what you're about. 00:22:30.039 --> 00:22:30.500 You've forgotten 00:22:30.500 --> 00:22:31.159 that this is meant 00:22:31.159 --> 00:22:32.519 to be for everybody, 00:22:32.740 --> 00:22:33.519 not just you, 00:22:33.579 --> 00:22:34.579 but a global family. 00:22:36.679 --> 00:22:37.959 Let not the foreigners say, 00:22:38.159 --> 00:22:39.919 I am a second-class citizen 00:22:39.919 --> 00:22:41.319 in God's family. 00:22:41.480 --> 00:22:42.539 And the early Christians 00:22:42.539 --> 00:22:43.179 got this, 00:22:43.319 --> 00:22:44.779 and it's so beautiful 00:22:44.779 --> 00:22:45.859 when you see 00:22:45.859 --> 00:22:46.819 how the early church 00:22:46.819 --> 00:22:48.000 lived this out. 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:49.099 I've said this before, 00:22:49.180 --> 00:22:50.339 but one of my favorite 00:22:50.339 --> 00:22:51.599 illustrations of this 00:22:51.599 --> 00:22:53.900 is the story of Antioch, 00:22:54.420 --> 00:22:55.579 which is the place 00:22:55.579 --> 00:22:56.099 where Christians 00:22:56.099 --> 00:22:57.359 were first called Christians, 00:22:57.960 --> 00:22:59.319 and it was a derogatory term. 00:23:00.660 --> 00:23:02.079 But in the city of Antioch, 00:23:02.119 --> 00:23:03.200 when they built Antioch, 00:23:03.240 --> 00:23:04.380 they didn't just build walls 00:23:04.380 --> 00:23:05.140 around the city, 00:23:05.220 --> 00:23:06.500 but they built large walls 00:23:06.500 --> 00:23:08.779 to separate all of the ethnic groups 00:23:08.779 --> 00:23:10.019 from one another. 00:23:10.720 --> 00:23:11.720 And so there were at least 00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:13.880 18 distinct 00:23:13.880 --> 00:23:15.160 walled-off sectors 00:23:15.160 --> 00:23:15.920 of the city. 00:23:15.920 --> 00:23:19.740 So life was completely divided 00:23:19.740 --> 00:23:21.920 along racial and ethnic lines. 00:23:22.160 --> 00:23:23.920 Now, if you looked at a map of D.C., 00:23:24.480 --> 00:23:27.220 now we don't have physical walls, 00:23:28.100 --> 00:23:29.000 but you could probably draw 00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:30.580 some pretty strong lines, 00:23:30.980 --> 00:23:33.300 and you'd see the same thing. 00:23:33.380 --> 00:23:33.960 And guess what? 00:23:35.560 --> 00:23:37.220 Until the Christian gospel came, 00:23:37.660 --> 00:23:38.759 that was the way it was. 00:23:38.820 --> 00:23:39.860 But when the Christian gospel 00:23:39.860 --> 00:23:40.640 hit Antioch, 00:23:40.680 --> 00:23:41.860 what the Christians began to do, 00:23:41.859 --> 00:23:43.379 because they recognized 00:23:43.379 --> 00:23:44.859 that the purpose 00:23:44.859 --> 00:23:46.199 of the family of God 00:23:46.199 --> 00:23:47.299 was to be a family 00:23:47.299 --> 00:23:48.979 inclusive of all people, 00:23:49.699 --> 00:23:50.659 they began to climb 00:23:50.659 --> 00:23:51.259 over the walls. 00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:53.399 And they began to share 00:23:53.399 --> 00:23:54.299 the good news of Jesus 00:23:54.299 --> 00:23:55.859 with everybody. 00:23:57.359 --> 00:23:58.159 And so that's why 00:23:58.159 --> 00:23:59.439 in that great place in Acts, 00:23:59.479 --> 00:24:00.559 when we see the leaders, 00:24:01.039 --> 00:24:02.399 the leaders who represent 00:24:02.399 --> 00:24:03.339 the church in Antioch, 00:24:03.419 --> 00:24:04.000 it's leaders from 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:04.899 all different races, 00:24:05.219 --> 00:24:06.199 all different backgrounds, 00:24:06.639 --> 00:24:08.939 who represented the leadership 00:24:08.939 --> 00:24:10.000 of the church in Antioch. 00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:10.819 And you know, 00:24:10.839 --> 00:24:11.940 this is especially important 00:24:11.940 --> 00:24:13.720 to remember on this weekend, 00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:15.019 Martin Luther King weekend 00:24:15.019 --> 00:24:16.359 of all weekends, 00:24:17.099 --> 00:24:17.819 and to recognize 00:24:17.819 --> 00:24:18.579 how much work 00:24:18.579 --> 00:24:19.779 there is still to do. 00:24:22.980 --> 00:24:24.299 So there was an overcoming 00:24:24.299 --> 00:24:25.279 of racial division 00:24:25.279 --> 00:24:26.240 because God's family 00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:27.220 was never meant to be limited 00:24:27.220 --> 00:24:27.920 to one race, 00:24:28.059 --> 00:24:28.519 one ethnicity, 00:24:28.660 --> 00:24:29.140 one culture, 00:24:29.420 --> 00:24:30.079 one country. 00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:31.619 All of the rhetoric 00:24:31.619 --> 00:24:33.339 about America being 00:24:33.339 --> 00:24:34.519 God's kind of chosen 00:24:34.519 --> 00:24:35.500 Christian nation, 00:24:36.160 --> 00:24:37.440 it completely 00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:38.880 loses sight of this. 00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:41.819 But then he goes on 00:24:41.819 --> 00:24:42.700 and it talks about 00:24:42.700 --> 00:24:43.880 all the people 00:24:43.880 --> 00:24:44.779 who for various reasons 00:24:44.779 --> 00:24:45.980 don't have a nuclear family 00:24:45.980 --> 00:24:46.799 or a spouse 00:24:46.799 --> 00:24:48.000 or they're not going to have 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:48.799 kids of their own. 00:24:49.259 --> 00:24:49.619 It says, 00:24:49.779 --> 00:24:50.359 let not the eunuch 00:24:50.359 --> 00:24:51.420 say I'm a dry tree. 00:24:52.440 --> 00:24:53.240 So it's saying this, 00:24:53.279 --> 00:24:54.200 to all of us 00:24:54.200 --> 00:24:55.279 who are single 00:24:55.279 --> 00:24:56.799 or who are infertile 00:24:56.799 --> 00:24:58.099 or who are divorced 00:24:58.099 --> 00:24:59.099 or who have lost 00:24:59.099 --> 00:24:59.740 our parents, 00:25:00.099 --> 00:25:01.480 for whatever reason 00:25:01.480 --> 00:25:02.019 we don't have 00:25:02.019 --> 00:25:02.819 a nuclear family, 00:25:02.920 --> 00:25:03.859 God is saying this, 00:25:03.859 --> 00:25:07.079 that even the best family 00:25:07.079 --> 00:25:07.740 in the world 00:25:07.740 --> 00:25:09.000 is only a shadow 00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:11.179 of what the family 00:25:11.179 --> 00:25:12.059 of God is 00:25:12.059 --> 00:25:13.139 and is becoming 00:25:13.139 --> 00:25:14.500 and will be. 00:25:14.579 --> 00:25:15.619 Even the best family 00:25:15.619 --> 00:25:16.179 in the world 00:25:16.179 --> 00:25:17.439 is only a shadow, 00:25:17.579 --> 00:25:18.099 a preview 00:25:18.099 --> 00:25:19.679 of what God's family 00:25:19.679 --> 00:25:20.419 is going to be 00:25:20.419 --> 00:25:20.939 in the world. 00:25:23.159 --> 00:25:24.099 The family, 00:25:24.339 --> 00:25:25.039 the church, 00:25:26.039 --> 00:25:27.479 is our family. 00:25:27.480 --> 00:25:30.660 The reality 00:25:30.660 --> 00:25:31.160 of the church 00:25:31.160 --> 00:25:31.720 is this, 00:25:32.140 --> 00:25:33.339 everybody around you 00:25:33.339 --> 00:25:34.160 who's a part of the church, 00:25:34.539 --> 00:25:35.779 this is your family. 00:25:36.599 --> 00:25:37.559 So all of the people 00:25:37.559 --> 00:25:38.680 who are older than you, 00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:40.880 those are your mothers 00:25:40.880 --> 00:25:41.599 and your fathers. 00:25:42.740 --> 00:25:43.740 They took this literally. 00:25:44.920 --> 00:25:45.860 All of the people 00:25:45.860 --> 00:25:46.920 who are younger than you, 00:25:47.720 --> 00:25:48.680 those are your children. 00:25:49.519 --> 00:25:50.079 You didn't know 00:25:50.079 --> 00:25:51.059 you had so many children. 00:25:52.160 --> 00:25:52.819 Why do you think 00:25:52.819 --> 00:25:53.759 every week we pray 00:25:53.759 --> 00:25:55.079 for our children together? 00:25:55.200 --> 00:25:55.799 Have you ever thought 00:25:55.799 --> 00:25:56.740 about what we pray? 00:25:57.960 --> 00:25:58.940 We pray together 00:25:58.940 --> 00:25:59.720 for our children 00:25:59.720 --> 00:26:00.259 and then we pray 00:26:00.259 --> 00:26:00.759 for ourselves 00:26:00.759 --> 00:26:01.380 that we would be able 00:26:01.380 --> 00:26:02.440 to raise them 00:26:02.440 --> 00:26:03.599 knowing the Lord 00:26:03.599 --> 00:26:04.500 and loving the Lord 00:26:04.500 --> 00:26:06.360 because we recognize 00:26:06.360 --> 00:26:07.240 that we share 00:26:07.240 --> 00:26:08.220 in the responsibility 00:26:08.220 --> 00:26:10.360 for raising our kids. 00:26:11.360 --> 00:26:12.599 So when my five-year-old 00:26:12.599 --> 00:26:13.599 is dancing up here, 00:26:13.819 --> 00:26:14.519 for those of you 00:26:14.519 --> 00:26:15.160 who can see him, 00:26:15.539 --> 00:26:15.759 you know, 00:26:16.220 --> 00:26:17.420 everybody should be thinking, 00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:18.200 I wonder if he should 00:26:18.200 --> 00:26:19.440 be doing that, right? 00:26:20.740 --> 00:26:21.740 Not just me. 00:26:22.920 --> 00:26:24.019 But I think it's great. 00:26:24.180 --> 00:26:25.759 I love to see him dance. 00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:27.079 But we should all 00:26:27.079 --> 00:26:29.220 have a sense of responsibility 00:26:29.220 --> 00:26:31.179 over one another's kids. 00:26:31.319 --> 00:26:32.019 The people who are 00:26:32.019 --> 00:26:32.799 your same age, 00:26:33.679 --> 00:26:34.579 those are your brothers 00:26:34.579 --> 00:26:35.139 and sisters. 00:26:36.119 --> 00:26:37.279 You have many, many, 00:26:37.339 --> 00:26:38.279 many brothers and sisters. 00:26:40.099 --> 00:26:41.259 Everybody in here, 00:26:42.679 --> 00:26:44.019 if you keep the Sabbath, 00:26:44.099 --> 00:26:44.480 in other words, 00:26:44.539 --> 00:26:45.839 if you have put your life 00:26:45.839 --> 00:26:46.879 in God's hands 00:26:46.879 --> 00:26:47.720 in Jesus Christ, 00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:48.759 we are family. 00:26:50.139 --> 00:26:50.759 And again, 00:26:50.859 --> 00:26:52.059 the early church got this 00:26:52.059 --> 00:26:53.319 and it radically changed 00:26:53.319 --> 00:26:54.500 their lives. 00:26:54.500 --> 00:26:54.720 You know, 00:26:54.779 --> 00:26:55.460 Rodney Stark, 00:26:55.599 --> 00:26:56.500 the sociologist, 00:26:56.680 --> 00:26:57.240 historian, 00:26:57.700 --> 00:26:58.720 researched the early church 00:26:58.720 --> 00:26:59.140 and he says, 00:26:59.220 --> 00:27:00.299 this is one of the main reasons 00:27:00.299 --> 00:27:01.480 the church grew so quickly 00:27:01.480 --> 00:27:01.960 in Rome. 00:27:02.559 --> 00:27:03.700 It's because they took in 00:27:03.700 --> 00:27:04.660 and cared for widows 00:27:04.660 --> 00:27:05.200 and orphans 00:27:05.200 --> 00:27:05.740 and eunuchs 00:27:05.740 --> 00:27:06.420 and slaves, 00:27:06.700 --> 00:27:07.279 people who didn't have 00:27:07.279 --> 00:27:07.700 a family. 00:27:08.480 --> 00:27:09.420 The Christians said, 00:27:09.519 --> 00:27:10.539 we will be your family. 00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:12.319 Right? 00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:13.440 So they would say to widows, 00:27:13.559 --> 00:27:14.700 you don't have to remarry 00:27:14.700 --> 00:27:15.880 unless you want to 00:27:15.880 --> 00:27:16.759 because we will 00:27:16.759 --> 00:27:18.279 be family for you. 00:27:19.279 --> 00:27:20.380 They said to the orphans, 00:27:20.500 --> 00:27:21.579 we will be your mothers 00:27:21.579 --> 00:27:22.379 and your fathers. 00:27:23.159 --> 00:27:23.379 You know, 00:27:23.419 --> 00:27:24.299 they said to the eunuchs, 00:27:24.539 --> 00:27:25.279 here you're going to have 00:27:25.279 --> 00:27:25.879 more children 00:27:25.879 --> 00:27:26.339 than you know 00:27:26.339 --> 00:27:26.960 what to do with. 00:27:28.659 --> 00:27:29.799 And they believed it 00:27:29.799 --> 00:27:30.659 and they lived it out. 00:27:31.279 --> 00:27:32.019 Christian households 00:27:32.019 --> 00:27:34.000 were full of people 00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:35.000 who were not just 00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:36.079 biological family, 00:27:36.519 --> 00:27:37.519 but people who had been 00:27:37.519 --> 00:27:38.740 taken in and adopted 00:27:38.740 --> 00:27:39.599 and become a part 00:27:39.599 --> 00:27:40.279 of their household. 00:27:42.319 --> 00:27:43.419 This is a vision 00:27:43.419 --> 00:27:44.339 for what the church 00:27:44.339 --> 00:27:45.359 needs to be today. 00:27:46.919 --> 00:27:47.740 It's a commitment 00:27:47.740 --> 00:27:48.779 to rethinking 00:27:48.779 --> 00:27:49.939 what it means 00:27:49.939 --> 00:27:50.500 to be family. 00:27:50.599 --> 00:27:50.699 See, 00:27:50.700 --> 00:27:51.519 most of us think, 00:27:52.220 --> 00:27:53.340 I have a family 00:27:53.340 --> 00:27:54.620 and I go to church. 00:27:55.559 --> 00:27:56.259 This is saying, 00:27:56.319 --> 00:27:56.819 no, no, no, no, no. 00:27:56.960 --> 00:27:58.420 The church is your family. 00:27:59.799 --> 00:28:00.779 That is the source, 00:28:00.900 --> 00:28:01.680 that is the locus 00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:02.980 of your primary loyalty 00:28:02.980 --> 00:28:03.720 if you're a Christian, 00:28:04.200 --> 00:28:05.440 is to the Christian community. 00:28:06.380 --> 00:28:06.600 Now, 00:28:06.640 --> 00:28:07.480 if you have a family, 00:28:07.559 --> 00:28:08.080 that's great, 00:28:08.500 --> 00:28:09.360 but that's a part 00:28:09.360 --> 00:28:11.019 of a larger thing. 00:28:11.080 --> 00:28:11.640 And that's why 00:28:11.640 --> 00:28:12.980 it's so amazing 00:28:12.980 --> 00:28:13.700 when you see guys 00:28:13.700 --> 00:28:14.900 like Stanley Hauerwas 00:28:14.900 --> 00:28:16.240 talking about 00:28:16.240 --> 00:28:16.880 how radically 00:28:16.880 --> 00:28:17.600 this redefined 00:28:17.600 --> 00:28:18.460 the concept of family. 00:28:18.680 --> 00:28:18.960 He says, 00:28:19.120 --> 00:28:19.840 the thing that made 00:28:19.839 --> 00:28:20.839 Christianity unique 00:28:20.839 --> 00:28:21.599 among all the 00:28:21.599 --> 00:28:22.379 traditional religions 00:28:22.379 --> 00:28:23.259 is that this is 00:28:23.259 --> 00:28:23.919 the only place 00:28:23.919 --> 00:28:24.579 where you see 00:28:24.579 --> 00:28:25.500 singleness 00:28:25.500 --> 00:28:26.539 and marriage 00:28:26.539 --> 00:28:27.579 as two equally 00:28:27.579 --> 00:28:28.659 viable vocations. 00:28:29.659 --> 00:28:30.359 No longer 00:28:30.359 --> 00:28:31.480 is marriage necessary. 00:28:32.079 --> 00:28:32.500 No longer 00:28:32.500 --> 00:28:33.699 is it the only vision 00:28:33.699 --> 00:28:34.559 for a way 00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:35.419 to be an adult 00:28:35.419 --> 00:28:36.000 in the world. 00:28:36.279 --> 00:28:36.899 Then all of a sudden 00:28:36.899 --> 00:28:37.579 you have singleness 00:28:37.579 --> 00:28:38.279 and marriage 00:28:38.279 --> 00:28:39.019 and they both 00:28:39.019 --> 00:28:40.259 represent something 00:28:40.259 --> 00:28:40.980 about God 00:28:40.980 --> 00:28:41.459 and they both 00:28:41.459 --> 00:28:42.619 represent something 00:28:42.619 --> 00:28:44.059 about the Christian community 00:28:44.059 --> 00:28:44.699 and they're both 00:28:44.699 --> 00:28:45.459 necessary. 00:28:45.720 --> 00:28:46.240 And in fact, 00:28:46.459 --> 00:28:47.459 a lot of the early writers, 00:28:47.460 --> 00:28:48.240 the church fathers 00:28:48.240 --> 00:28:49.340 would say that 00:28:49.340 --> 00:28:50.420 singleness was preferable 00:28:50.420 --> 00:28:50.980 to marriage 00:28:50.980 --> 00:28:53.579 for all of these reasons 00:28:53.579 --> 00:28:56.620 because they recognized 00:28:56.620 --> 00:28:57.539 that in the church 00:28:57.539 --> 00:28:58.400 they had gained 00:28:58.400 --> 00:28:58.880 a family 00:28:58.880 --> 00:29:00.299 that is unimaginably 00:29:00.299 --> 00:29:00.779 large 00:29:00.779 --> 00:29:01.680 and inclusive 00:29:01.680 --> 00:29:03.059 more than you could 00:29:03.059 --> 00:29:03.720 ever dream of. 00:29:03.840 --> 00:29:04.779 There's a great example 00:29:04.779 --> 00:29:05.860 of this in C.S. Lewis' 00:29:06.039 --> 00:29:06.940 The Great Divorce. 00:29:08.120 --> 00:29:08.920 If you haven't read 00:29:08.920 --> 00:29:09.660 The Great Divorce, 00:29:09.819 --> 00:29:11.600 it's a shorter book. 00:29:11.740 --> 00:29:12.480 It's essentially 00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:14.039 about a field trip 00:29:14.039 --> 00:29:15.759 that some people 00:29:15.759 --> 00:29:16.559 take from hell 00:29:16.559 --> 00:29:17.059 to heaven 00:29:17.059 --> 00:29:18.700 and it essentially 00:29:18.700 --> 00:29:19.480 becomes a kind 00:29:19.480 --> 00:29:20.460 of character study 00:29:20.460 --> 00:29:22.420 and you see 00:29:22.420 --> 00:29:23.420 a series of characters 00:29:23.420 --> 00:29:25.899 excuse me 00:29:25.899 --> 00:29:26.779 you see a set 00:29:26.779 --> 00:29:27.319 of characters 00:29:27.319 --> 00:29:29.619 who are all 00:29:29.619 --> 00:29:30.799 kind of on the edge 00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:31.440 of a choice 00:29:31.440 --> 00:29:32.920 between the self-absorption 00:29:32.920 --> 00:29:33.440 of hell 00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:34.920 and the joyful loss 00:29:34.920 --> 00:29:35.740 of self found 00:29:35.740 --> 00:29:36.180 in heaven. 00:29:36.819 --> 00:29:37.559 And so the narrator 00:29:37.559 --> 00:29:38.159 is witnessing 00:29:38.159 --> 00:29:39.220 all of these people 00:29:39.220 --> 00:29:40.119 and also seeing 00:29:40.119 --> 00:29:41.059 these heavenly beings. 00:29:41.659 --> 00:29:42.200 And at one point 00:29:42.200 --> 00:29:43.099 the narrator turns 00:29:43.099 --> 00:29:43.799 and sees this 00:29:43.799 --> 00:29:45.279 beautiful procession. 00:29:46.959 --> 00:29:47.139 You know, 00:29:47.179 --> 00:29:48.139 think of the greatest 00:29:48.139 --> 00:29:49.119 bridal possession 00:29:49.119 --> 00:29:49.959 you've ever seen. 00:29:50.359 --> 00:29:51.539 It's this glorious 00:29:51.539 --> 00:29:52.659 procession with singing 00:29:52.659 --> 00:29:53.359 and dancing 00:29:53.359 --> 00:29:54.099 and all of this 00:29:54.099 --> 00:29:55.839 and down either side 00:29:55.839 --> 00:29:56.480 of the street 00:29:56.480 --> 00:29:58.299 streams of children. 00:29:59.500 --> 00:30:00.259 Boys on one side, 00:30:00.339 --> 00:30:00.959 girls on the other, 00:30:01.019 --> 00:30:02.159 these children dancing. 00:30:02.799 --> 00:30:03.579 And at the very center 00:30:03.579 --> 00:30:04.000 of it all 00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:05.519 is this beautiful woman 00:30:05.519 --> 00:30:07.219 who's surrounded 00:30:07.219 --> 00:30:08.099 by attendants. 00:30:09.139 --> 00:30:09.899 And so he says, 00:30:10.179 --> 00:30:11.740 he asks who she is 00:30:11.740 --> 00:30:13.200 and his guide 00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:13.700 says this, 00:30:13.759 --> 00:30:14.579 his guide says, 00:30:15.680 --> 00:30:16.420 it's someone 00:30:16.420 --> 00:30:17.059 you'll never have 00:30:17.059 --> 00:30:17.480 heard of. 00:30:19.660 --> 00:30:20.779 Her name on earth 00:30:20.779 --> 00:30:21.700 was Sarah Smith 00:30:21.700 --> 00:30:23.319 and she lived 00:30:23.319 --> 00:30:24.039 at Golders Green. 00:30:25.380 --> 00:30:26.339 And the narrator 00:30:26.339 --> 00:30:26.620 says, 00:30:26.700 --> 00:30:27.220 well she seems 00:30:27.220 --> 00:30:28.779 to be a person 00:30:28.779 --> 00:30:29.920 of particular importance. 00:30:30.660 --> 00:30:31.440 And the narrator 00:30:31.440 --> 00:30:31.759 says, 00:30:31.859 --> 00:30:32.140 aye, 00:30:32.579 --> 00:30:33.140 she is one 00:30:33.140 --> 00:30:33.880 of the great ones. 00:30:34.620 --> 00:30:35.039 You've heard 00:30:35.039 --> 00:30:35.480 that fame 00:30:35.480 --> 00:30:36.140 in this country 00:30:36.140 --> 00:30:36.880 and fame on earth 00:30:36.880 --> 00:30:37.519 are two quite 00:30:37.519 --> 00:30:38.279 different things. 00:30:38.279 --> 00:30:40.059 So the narrator 00:30:40.059 --> 00:30:40.379 says, 00:30:40.559 --> 00:30:40.980 and who are 00:30:40.980 --> 00:30:41.920 all these young men 00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:42.359 and women 00:30:42.359 --> 00:30:43.160 on either side? 00:30:43.220 --> 00:30:43.539 Who are all 00:30:43.539 --> 00:30:44.039 these children? 00:30:45.599 --> 00:30:46.259 And the guide 00:30:46.259 --> 00:30:46.660 responds, 00:30:46.759 --> 00:30:47.559 they're her sons 00:30:47.559 --> 00:30:48.119 and daughters. 00:30:49.660 --> 00:30:50.200 And he says, 00:30:50.259 --> 00:30:50.879 well she must have 00:30:50.879 --> 00:30:51.660 had a very large 00:30:51.660 --> 00:30:52.339 family, sir. 00:30:53.660 --> 00:30:54.299 And listen to 00:30:54.299 --> 00:30:54.700 what the guide 00:30:54.700 --> 00:30:55.059 says, 00:30:55.899 --> 00:30:57.279 every young man 00:30:57.279 --> 00:30:57.700 or boy 00:30:57.700 --> 00:30:58.299 that met her 00:30:58.299 --> 00:30:59.259 became her son. 00:31:00.819 --> 00:31:01.579 Even if it was 00:31:01.579 --> 00:31:02.139 only the boy 00:31:02.139 --> 00:31:02.819 that brought the meat 00:31:02.819 --> 00:31:03.539 to her back door, 00:31:04.460 --> 00:31:05.440 every girl 00:31:05.440 --> 00:31:06.019 that met her 00:31:06.019 --> 00:31:06.980 was like her daughter. 00:31:06.980 --> 00:31:09.440 And the narrator 00:31:09.440 --> 00:31:10.120 still not fully 00:31:10.120 --> 00:31:10.720 getting it says, 00:31:10.799 --> 00:31:11.339 isn't that a bit 00:31:11.339 --> 00:31:11.900 hard on their 00:31:11.900 --> 00:31:12.460 own parents? 00:31:14.220 --> 00:31:14.579 No, 00:31:14.700 --> 00:31:15.319 says the guide. 00:31:16.160 --> 00:31:16.759 There are those 00:31:16.759 --> 00:31:17.299 that steal 00:31:17.299 --> 00:31:17.940 other people's 00:31:17.940 --> 00:31:18.220 children. 00:31:19.380 --> 00:31:20.339 But her motherhood 00:31:20.339 --> 00:31:21.059 was of a different 00:31:21.059 --> 00:31:21.599 kind. 00:31:23.000 --> 00:31:23.759 Those on whom 00:31:23.759 --> 00:31:24.319 it fell 00:31:24.319 --> 00:31:24.960 went back 00:31:24.960 --> 00:31:25.640 to their natural 00:31:25.640 --> 00:31:26.420 parents loving 00:31:26.420 --> 00:31:27.039 them more. 00:31:28.720 --> 00:31:29.839 And here at the 00:31:29.839 --> 00:31:30.140 end, 00:31:30.220 --> 00:31:30.700 here is the 00:31:30.700 --> 00:31:31.160 summation, 00:31:31.360 --> 00:31:31.880 the explanation 00:31:31.880 --> 00:31:32.579 of how this 00:31:32.579 --> 00:31:33.160 is possible. 00:31:34.019 --> 00:31:34.620 The abundance 00:31:34.620 --> 00:31:35.640 of life she 00:31:35.640 --> 00:31:36.900 has in Christ 00:31:36.900 --> 00:31:37.480 from the 00:31:37.480 --> 00:31:37.840 father 00:31:37.840 --> 00:31:39.400 flows over 00:31:39.400 --> 00:31:40.080 into them. 00:31:41.620 --> 00:31:42.480 So what is he 00:31:42.480 --> 00:31:43.040 saying here? 00:31:43.120 --> 00:31:43.680 That there's this 00:31:43.680 --> 00:31:44.600 woman who nobody 00:31:44.600 --> 00:31:45.200 had heard of, 00:31:45.280 --> 00:31:45.820 who likely 00:31:45.820 --> 00:31:46.220 didn't even 00:31:46.220 --> 00:31:46.900 have kids. 00:31:47.440 --> 00:31:48.360 We meet her 00:31:48.360 --> 00:31:48.720 husband, 00:31:48.860 --> 00:31:49.220 but we hear 00:31:49.220 --> 00:31:49.700 no mention 00:31:49.700 --> 00:31:49.980 of them 00:31:49.980 --> 00:31:50.600 having children. 00:31:51.740 --> 00:31:52.300 Her husband 00:31:52.300 --> 00:31:52.780 is a little 00:31:52.780 --> 00:31:53.560 wispy ghost 00:31:53.560 --> 00:31:54.320 who ends up 00:31:54.320 --> 00:31:54.960 choosing hell 00:31:54.960 --> 00:31:56.019 rather than 00:31:56.019 --> 00:31:56.680 choosing to 00:31:56.680 --> 00:31:57.240 remain with her 00:31:57.240 --> 00:31:57.640 in heaven. 00:31:58.580 --> 00:31:58.759 And, 00:31:58.820 --> 00:32:00.140 but we never 00:32:00.140 --> 00:32:00.540 hear of any 00:32:00.540 --> 00:32:01.180 earthly kids, 00:32:01.600 --> 00:32:02.120 and yet in 00:32:02.120 --> 00:32:02.580 the heavenly 00:32:02.580 --> 00:32:03.140 reality, 00:32:03.259 --> 00:32:03.640 which is 00:32:03.640 --> 00:32:05.340 more real 00:32:05.339 --> 00:32:06.159 than the 00:32:06.159 --> 00:32:06.799 earthly reality. 00:32:06.879 --> 00:32:07.220 That's one of 00:32:07.220 --> 00:32:07.480 the things 00:32:07.480 --> 00:32:07.899 about this 00:32:07.899 --> 00:32:08.119 book, 00:32:08.159 --> 00:32:08.359 that the 00:32:08.359 --> 00:32:09.000 heavenly reality 00:32:09.000 --> 00:32:09.559 is more 00:32:09.559 --> 00:32:09.859 real. 00:32:10.839 --> 00:32:11.500 She has 00:32:11.500 --> 00:32:13.019 countless 00:32:13.019 --> 00:32:14.019 sons and 00:32:14.019 --> 00:32:14.259 daughters. 00:32:14.399 --> 00:32:14.559 Why? 00:32:14.659 --> 00:32:14.980 Because of the 00:32:14.980 --> 00:32:15.559 way she loved 00:32:15.559 --> 00:32:15.759 them. 00:32:16.559 --> 00:32:16.959 They weren't 00:32:16.959 --> 00:32:17.819 biologically her 00:32:17.819 --> 00:32:18.359 own children, 00:32:18.879 --> 00:32:20.019 but the love of 00:32:20.019 --> 00:32:20.980 Christ flowed 00:32:20.980 --> 00:32:21.579 through her 00:32:21.579 --> 00:32:22.240 into them 00:32:22.240 --> 00:32:22.839 and joined 00:32:22.839 --> 00:32:23.639 them to her 00:32:23.639 --> 00:32:24.740 as a family, 00:32:24.799 --> 00:32:25.419 a family that 00:32:25.419 --> 00:32:26.279 is more real 00:32:26.279 --> 00:32:27.000 than her 00:32:27.000 --> 00:32:27.679 nuclear family. 00:32:27.759 --> 00:32:28.139 We see her 00:32:28.139 --> 00:32:28.539 husband 00:32:28.539 --> 00:32:30.659 disappearing, 00:32:30.919 --> 00:32:31.339 withering, 00:32:31.559 --> 00:32:32.119 into this 00:32:32.119 --> 00:32:33.000 hellish existence. 00:32:33.000 --> 00:32:34.579 But we see 00:32:34.579 --> 00:32:35.359 her as this 00:32:35.359 --> 00:32:35.859 beautiful, 00:32:36.039 --> 00:32:36.940 radiant queen 00:32:36.940 --> 00:32:38.339 attended by 00:32:38.339 --> 00:32:39.019 children for 00:32:39.019 --> 00:32:39.539 miles and 00:32:39.539 --> 00:32:39.980 miles and 00:32:39.980 --> 00:32:40.319 miles. 00:32:41.619 --> 00:32:42.259 Let not the 00:32:42.259 --> 00:32:43.059 eunuch say I'm 00:32:43.059 --> 00:32:43.759 a dry tree. 00:32:45.200 --> 00:32:45.380 See, 00:32:45.480 --> 00:32:45.880 though Jesus 00:32:45.880 --> 00:32:46.460 Christ has 00:32:46.460 --> 00:32:46.880 established, 00:32:46.940 --> 00:32:47.579 or through 00:32:47.579 --> 00:32:48.279 Jesus Christ, 00:32:48.380 --> 00:32:48.720 God has 00:32:48.720 --> 00:32:49.440 established an 00:32:49.440 --> 00:32:50.099 entirely new 00:32:50.099 --> 00:32:50.539 kind of 00:32:50.539 --> 00:32:50.920 family. 00:32:52.819 --> 00:32:53.400 So the 00:32:53.400 --> 00:32:54.039 question becomes, 00:32:54.140 --> 00:32:54.460 how do we 00:32:54.460 --> 00:32:55.319 become a part 00:32:55.319 --> 00:32:55.680 of this 00:32:55.680 --> 00:32:56.019 family? 00:32:56.079 --> 00:32:56.440 And I said 00:32:56.440 --> 00:32:56.759 this would be 00:32:56.759 --> 00:32:57.319 very quick 00:32:57.319 --> 00:32:57.700 because we're 00:32:57.700 --> 00:32:58.279 out of time. 00:32:58.680 --> 00:32:59.400 I knew we 00:32:59.400 --> 00:32:59.799 would be out 00:32:59.799 --> 00:33:00.160 of time. 00:33:00.599 --> 00:33:01.319 So how do we 00:33:01.319 --> 00:33:01.819 join God's 00:33:01.819 --> 00:33:02.099 family? 00:33:02.099 --> 00:33:02.779 I'm not 00:33:02.779 --> 00:33:03.119 going to get 00:33:03.119 --> 00:33:03.480 into all 00:33:03.480 --> 00:33:03.799 kinds of 00:33:03.799 --> 00:33:04.259 bullet points. 00:33:04.339 --> 00:33:04.679 I just want 00:33:04.679 --> 00:33:05.000 to tell you 00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:05.480 a story. 00:33:05.579 --> 00:33:05.980 I want to 00:33:05.980 --> 00:33:06.659 remind us 00:33:06.659 --> 00:33:07.179 as we close 00:33:07.179 --> 00:33:08.019 here of the 00:33:08.019 --> 00:33:08.539 story that we 00:33:08.539 --> 00:33:09.079 see in Acts 00:33:09.079 --> 00:33:09.679 chapter 8. 00:33:11.099 --> 00:33:11.759 You heard it 00:33:11.759 --> 00:33:12.119 read a little 00:33:12.119 --> 00:33:12.599 while ago. 00:33:12.639 --> 00:33:12.939 I just want 00:33:12.939 --> 00:33:13.379 to remind you 00:33:13.379 --> 00:33:13.879 of the story. 00:33:14.119 --> 00:33:14.659 Here's how you 00:33:14.659 --> 00:33:15.219 become a part 00:33:15.219 --> 00:33:15.459 of this 00:33:15.459 --> 00:33:15.799 family. 00:33:17.199 --> 00:33:17.619 You read 00:33:17.619 --> 00:33:18.519 Acts chapter 8 00:33:18.519 --> 00:33:18.879 and you see 00:33:18.879 --> 00:33:19.480 the story of 00:33:19.480 --> 00:33:20.359 this Ethiopian 00:33:20.359 --> 00:33:20.799 eunuch. 00:33:21.439 --> 00:33:22.299 Double whammy, 00:33:22.459 --> 00:33:23.099 he's a foreigner 00:33:23.099 --> 00:33:24.059 and he's a 00:33:24.059 --> 00:33:24.319 eunuch. 00:33:25.699 --> 00:33:26.740 And we see 00:33:26.740 --> 00:33:27.339 that he's this 00:33:27.339 --> 00:33:27.980 great high 00:33:27.980 --> 00:33:28.679 official in the 00:33:28.679 --> 00:33:29.519 Ethiopian court. 00:33:30.480 --> 00:33:31.439 He's over all 00:33:31.439 --> 00:33:31.839 the money. 00:33:32.099 --> 00:33:32.539 Israel. 00:33:33.279 --> 00:33:33.819 And he's 00:33:33.819 --> 00:33:34.279 obviously been 00:33:34.279 --> 00:33:34.719 reading and 00:33:34.719 --> 00:33:35.199 hearing about 00:33:35.199 --> 00:33:36.419 this God of 00:33:36.419 --> 00:33:36.759 Israel. 00:33:37.619 --> 00:33:38.039 And he's been 00:33:38.039 --> 00:33:38.639 studying and so 00:33:38.639 --> 00:33:39.139 he wants to 00:33:39.139 --> 00:33:39.639 come and see 00:33:39.639 --> 00:33:40.279 is there anything 00:33:40.279 --> 00:33:41.159 that this God 00:33:41.159 --> 00:33:41.899 has to offer me? 00:33:41.959 --> 00:33:42.399 Is there anything 00:33:42.399 --> 00:33:43.059 that this God 00:33:43.059 --> 00:33:44.279 has that's 00:33:44.279 --> 00:33:44.919 relevant to me? 00:33:44.920 --> 00:33:46.600 And if you know 00:33:46.600 --> 00:33:47.160 anything about that 00:33:47.160 --> 00:33:47.720 journey, it was 00:33:47.720 --> 00:33:48.460 incredibly long, 00:33:48.580 --> 00:33:49.259 incredibly perilous, 00:33:49.360 --> 00:33:50.060 incredibly dangerous, 00:33:50.240 --> 00:33:51.100 incredibly expensive. 00:33:51.960 --> 00:33:52.900 Travels all the way 00:33:52.900 --> 00:33:53.380 to Jerusalem. 00:33:53.519 --> 00:33:53.900 What would have 00:33:53.900 --> 00:33:54.380 happened when he 00:33:54.380 --> 00:33:54.960 got to the temple? 00:33:57.539 --> 00:33:58.259 Can't come in. 00:33:59.360 --> 00:33:59.759 Sorry. 00:34:01.220 --> 00:34:03.100 So Acts 8 tells 00:34:03.100 --> 00:34:03.620 us that he's 00:34:03.620 --> 00:34:04.460 returning from this 00:34:04.460 --> 00:34:05.720 trip and he's 00:34:05.720 --> 00:34:07.500 reading in Isaiah. 00:34:08.139 --> 00:34:09.000 He's reading in the 00:34:09.000 --> 00:34:09.720 chapter in around 00:34:09.720 --> 00:34:10.360 the 50s. 00:34:10.360 --> 00:34:11.019 No chapter 00:34:11.019 --> 00:34:11.500 numbers back 00:34:11.500 --> 00:34:11.860 then, but he's 00:34:11.860 --> 00:34:12.500 reading around the 00:34:12.500 --> 00:34:13.680 50s where we are 00:34:13.680 --> 00:34:14.240 in Isaiah. 00:34:15.360 --> 00:34:16.140 Why is he reading 00:34:16.140 --> 00:34:16.539 Isaiah? 00:34:17.120 --> 00:34:17.780 Because he's trying 00:34:17.780 --> 00:34:18.420 to figure out why 00:34:18.420 --> 00:34:18.820 they wouldn't let 00:34:18.820 --> 00:34:19.180 him in. 00:34:20.740 --> 00:34:21.500 And he's reading 00:34:21.500 --> 00:34:21.860 it and he's 00:34:21.860 --> 00:34:22.460 reading about this 00:34:22.460 --> 00:34:23.380 suffering servant in 00:34:23.380 --> 00:34:24.200 chapters 52 and 00:34:24.200 --> 00:34:24.640 53. 00:34:25.920 --> 00:34:26.620 And it says he's 00:34:26.620 --> 00:34:27.180 reading about this 00:34:27.180 --> 00:34:28.180 person and surely 00:34:28.180 --> 00:34:29.120 he's read a little 00:34:29.120 --> 00:34:29.800 bit later when it 00:34:29.800 --> 00:34:30.420 says, because of 00:34:30.420 --> 00:34:31.500 this servant, because 00:34:31.500 --> 00:34:32.200 of what the servant 00:34:32.200 --> 00:34:33.940 has done, let not 00:34:33.940 --> 00:34:34.840 the eunuch say, I'm a 00:34:34.840 --> 00:34:35.320 dry tree. 00:34:35.400 --> 00:34:36.019 I will give the 00:34:36.019 --> 00:34:36.840 eunuch a name and 00:34:36.840 --> 00:34:37.280 a monument. 00:34:37.980 --> 00:34:38.460 And so you can 00:34:38.460 --> 00:34:39.240 imagine him reading 00:34:39.240 --> 00:34:39.960 that, going back to 00:34:39.960 --> 00:34:40.640 the servant, reading 00:34:40.640 --> 00:34:41.280 that, going back to 00:34:41.280 --> 00:34:41.900 the servant, and 00:34:41.900 --> 00:34:42.680 wondering who in the 00:34:42.680 --> 00:34:43.460 world is this servant? 00:34:44.539 --> 00:34:45.539 And so Philip shows 00:34:45.539 --> 00:34:46.559 up and he says, do you 00:34:46.559 --> 00:34:47.180 understand what you're 00:34:47.180 --> 00:34:47.440 reading? 00:34:48.160 --> 00:34:48.880 And he says, no I 00:34:48.880 --> 00:34:49.559 don't because I need 00:34:49.559 --> 00:34:50.519 somebody to explain it 00:34:50.519 --> 00:34:50.780 to me. 00:34:50.920 --> 00:34:51.580 And I almost think 00:34:51.580 --> 00:34:52.100 that's a veiled 00:34:52.100 --> 00:34:52.760 reference to the 00:34:52.760 --> 00:34:53.519 people in Jerusalem. 00:34:54.120 --> 00:34:55.000 I want to understand 00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:55.340 this. 00:34:55.360 --> 00:34:56.039 And they slam the 00:34:56.039 --> 00:34:56.860 door in my face. 00:34:58.140 --> 00:34:59.100 Who is this servant? 00:34:59.160 --> 00:35:00.400 And he says, is it the 00:35:00.400 --> 00:35:01.100 prophet or is he 00:35:01.100 --> 00:35:01.840 talking about somebody 00:35:01.840 --> 00:35:02.220 else? 00:35:02.559 --> 00:35:03.080 And what does 00:35:03.080 --> 00:35:03.519 Philip do? 00:35:05.320 --> 00:35:06.900 And Philip began 00:35:06.900 --> 00:35:07.660 to share with him 00:35:07.660 --> 00:35:08.460 the good news of 00:35:08.460 --> 00:35:09.080 Jesus Christ. 00:35:10.580 --> 00:35:11.460 And what does the 00:35:11.460 --> 00:35:12.140 eunuch do at the 00:35:12.140 --> 00:35:13.440 end when he hears 00:35:13.440 --> 00:35:14.140 about Jesus? 00:35:16.500 --> 00:35:18.820 He sees water, maybe 00:35:18.820 --> 00:35:19.539 nothing more than a 00:35:19.539 --> 00:35:20.280 little puddle on the 00:35:20.280 --> 00:35:20.880 side of the road. 00:35:21.340 --> 00:35:22.100 And he says, well 00:35:22.100 --> 00:35:22.720 there's water. 00:35:24.039 --> 00:35:24.760 Baptize me right 00:35:24.760 --> 00:35:25.059 now. 00:35:26.080 --> 00:35:26.900 Now why does he say 00:35:26.900 --> 00:35:27.200 that? 00:35:27.340 --> 00:35:28.039 Because of what it 00:35:28.039 --> 00:35:29.180 says in Isaiah 56. 00:35:29.760 --> 00:35:30.400 Let the eunuch who 00:35:30.400 --> 00:35:32.340 binds himself to me, who 00:35:32.340 --> 00:35:33.519 throws his lot in with 00:35:33.519 --> 00:35:34.800 me, who says I want 00:35:34.800 --> 00:35:35.539 your way to be my 00:35:35.539 --> 00:35:36.100 way, I want your 00:35:36.100 --> 00:35:36.660 people to be my 00:35:36.660 --> 00:35:37.400 people, I want your 00:35:37.400 --> 00:35:38.920 name to be my name, to 00:35:38.920 --> 00:35:39.780 replace my name. 00:35:40.980 --> 00:35:42.019 Let not that person 00:35:42.019 --> 00:35:42.980 say, behold I'm a dry 00:35:42.980 --> 00:35:44.039 tree, I will give you 00:35:44.039 --> 00:35:45.080 a monument better than 00:35:45.080 --> 00:35:46.260 sons and daughters, an 00:35:46.260 --> 00:35:47.180 everlasting name. 00:35:47.280 --> 00:35:48.000 And he says, I want 00:35:48.000 --> 00:35:49.200 that, I need that, and 00:35:49.200 --> 00:35:50.019 Jesus can give that to 00:35:50.019 --> 00:35:51.000 me, and what does it 00:35:51.000 --> 00:35:51.560 require of me? 00:35:51.600 --> 00:35:52.260 It requires that I 00:35:52.260 --> 00:35:54.560 repent, that I accept 00:35:54.560 --> 00:35:55.300 his forgiveness, and 00:35:55.300 --> 00:35:56.000 that I'm baptized. 00:35:56.280 --> 00:35:56.560 Why? 00:35:57.480 --> 00:35:59.019 Because baptism is what 00:35:59.019 --> 00:36:01.220 marks our entry into the 00:36:01.220 --> 00:36:01.900 family of God. 00:36:02.000 --> 00:36:02.700 It's baptism. 00:36:02.699 --> 00:36:02.819 baptism. 00:36:03.659 --> 00:36:05.000 That's the distinguishing 00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:06.159 family characteristic. 00:36:07.539 --> 00:36:08.599 And so he says, I want 00:36:08.599 --> 00:36:09.419 that right now. 00:36:10.279 --> 00:36:11.119 So what we see here is 00:36:11.119 --> 00:36:12.079 this, the new family of 00:36:12.079 --> 00:36:13.399 God is not a family of 00:36:13.399 --> 00:36:15.259 blood, it's a family of 00:36:15.259 --> 00:36:15.799 faith. 00:36:16.859 --> 00:36:18.199 And what this story shows 00:36:18.199 --> 00:36:20.039 us here is this profound 00:36:20.039 --> 00:36:20.819 truth that we're going to 00:36:20.819 --> 00:36:21.960 continue to unpack over the 00:36:21.960 --> 00:36:23.480 next several weeks, that in 00:36:23.480 --> 00:36:25.699 God's family, water is 00:36:25.699 --> 00:36:26.679 thicker than blood. 00:36:27.899 --> 00:36:29.179 Water is thicker than 00:36:29.179 --> 00:36:29.439 blood. 00:36:29.440 --> 00:36:31.260 God, let's pray. 00:36:36.059 --> 00:36:37.500 Our Father, we're talking 00:36:37.500 --> 00:36:39.500 about things that are big 00:36:39.500 --> 00:36:40.740 and maybe even seemingly 00:36:40.740 --> 00:36:41.500 abstract. 00:36:42.260 --> 00:36:44.519 May we not hear this and 00:36:44.519 --> 00:36:46.059 simply think it's something 00:36:46.059 --> 00:36:47.400 curious to ponder, but 00:36:47.400 --> 00:36:49.480 rather, Lord, I pray that 00:36:49.480 --> 00:36:51.039 whatever of this is from 00:36:51.039 --> 00:36:52.240 you, that it would strike 00:36:52.240 --> 00:36:53.440 us, that it would strike 00:36:53.440 --> 00:36:56.159 our hearts, that we would 00:36:56.159 --> 00:36:59.059 look at our own houses, our 00:36:59.059 --> 00:37:00.179 own families, our own 00:37:00.179 --> 00:37:02.279 friendships, that we would 00:37:02.279 --> 00:37:03.199 look, those of us who are 00:37:03.199 --> 00:37:04.119 a part of this church, that 00:37:04.119 --> 00:37:05.079 we would look at the way we 00:37:05.079 --> 00:37:06.119 think about this community 00:37:06.119 --> 00:37:07.980 and that this would kindle 00:37:07.980 --> 00:37:09.539 and inspire our imaginations 00:37:09.539 --> 00:37:10.799 to wonder what would it look 00:37:10.799 --> 00:37:13.339 like if we lived this out? 00:37:13.420 --> 00:37:14.759 What might our church, what 00:37:14.759 --> 00:37:16.099 might our community, our 00:37:16.099 --> 00:37:17.699 friendships, how might our 00:37:17.699 --> 00:37:21.139 houses look different if this 00:37:21.139 --> 00:37:22.500 became more real to us? 00:37:23.480 --> 00:37:24.619 We pray this in your son's 00:37:24.619 --> 00:37:25.079 holy name. 00:37:25.199 --> 00:37:25.399 Amen. 00:37:26.159 --> 00:37:27.159 Amen.