WEBVTT 00:00:00.700 --> 00:00:10.040 Let's pray. Heavenly Father, you promise in the passage that we heard from the Old Testament to remove a heart of stone and give us a new heart. 00:00:11.080 --> 00:00:15.919 And so, Lord, we ask you and praise you, first of all, that you have done that for us in Christ. 00:00:16.600 --> 00:00:25.400 But, Lord, we ask you in an active sense to remove the stoniness of our hearts and help us to receive what you would have for us today 00:00:25.399 --> 00:00:31.779 through song, word, sacrament, through prayer. And, Lord, may we receive. 00:00:32.119 --> 00:00:37.579 May we just receive and be bathed in your love and receive the blessings that you intend for us. 00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:39.739 Through Jesus, we pray. Amen. 00:00:39.739 --> 00:00:44.299 Good morning and thanks for the introduction, Tommy. It is really wonderful to be here. 00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:49.460 This is my first time in your new digs, and I tell you what, I'm grateful. 00:00:49.460 --> 00:00:58.240 A lot of our churches meet in schools, and one of the things that's always a joy to me is to meet in a high school instead of an elementary school. 00:00:58.340 --> 00:01:00.560 And I think about that every time I go to the restroom. 00:01:01.100 --> 00:01:04.620 But anyway, you men know what I'm talking about. 00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:07.980 So anyway, it's really a blessing. Little blessings, right? 00:01:10.200 --> 00:01:12.879 But, boy, the light, the joy, it's great. 00:01:12.879 --> 00:01:21.719 I know you are struggling as a church to seek and find a permanent home and to minister and love and serve Christ 00:01:21.719 --> 00:01:29.120 in a place where you can be settled and to love and serve the people in and near the northeast quadrant of the district. 00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:31.659 And I am praying with you, and we're carrying that with you. 00:01:31.719 --> 00:01:36.399 That's something that we are really carrying as a diocese, a burden for you and for other churches, 00:01:36.399 --> 00:01:39.739 because we understand the challenges that that is. 00:01:40.599 --> 00:01:42.679 Tommy's already told you a little bit about what I do. 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:47.479 And one of the things that encompasses the center and heart of what I do is a parish visit. 00:01:48.039 --> 00:01:50.219 And I do two things that he already mentioned. 00:01:50.339 --> 00:01:52.920 Come alongside clergy and leaders and serve them. 00:01:53.039 --> 00:01:57.359 And I did that yesterday and met with the clergy of this church and the aspiring clergy, 00:01:57.799 --> 00:02:01.879 some aspiring clergy, and prepped for the ordination of Kevin tonight. 00:02:02.659 --> 00:02:05.340 You can do a two for today if you'd like to come back tonight. 00:02:07.459 --> 00:02:12.379 And then we come and worship with the congregation and preach and teach the Word of God. 00:02:12.379 --> 00:02:14.819 And that's what I'm here primarily to do this morning. 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:21.340 So if you have a Bible, you can keep it open to John 15 on your phone or wherever you want to do that with. 00:02:21.539 --> 00:02:26.699 We're going to range through lots of Scripture, but we'll come back time and again to John chapter 15. 00:02:26.699 --> 00:02:34.239 If you look at the Gospels as they are laid out, just physically laid out, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, 00:02:34.359 --> 00:02:41.619 the first command that Jesus gives in the Gospel of Matthew is to a group of fishermen on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. 00:02:42.339 --> 00:02:46.780 Now, he's announced the coming of the kingdom, but the first literal command that he gives, 00:02:46.780 --> 00:02:52.620 at least as it's recorded in the Scriptures for us in the Gospels in Matthew chapter 3, is what? 00:02:52.939 --> 00:02:55.360 Follow me and I will make you fishers of men, right? 00:02:55.719 --> 00:03:02.060 And you scroll forward from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and you get to the end of the book of John in chapter 21, 00:03:02.580 --> 00:03:07.800 and the very last command that Jesus gives in the Gospels is, follow me. 00:03:07.800 --> 00:03:11.780 And so I would call this basically the command of discipleship. 00:03:11.880 --> 00:03:19.380 Jesus came to win our salvation, but also to teach and train and transform a group of people to be his full followers. 00:03:19.719 --> 00:03:23.320 And he began to say, as he proclaimed to them, follow me. 00:03:23.400 --> 00:03:25.540 And at the end of it, he said, follow me. 00:03:25.920 --> 00:03:27.580 The command of discipleship. 00:03:27.920 --> 00:03:32.460 And so the question that I want to explore with you today is really a very simple and basic question. 00:03:32.920 --> 00:03:36.439 And that is, what does it really mean to follow Jesus in a practical manner? 00:03:36.439 --> 00:03:40.120 And I want to give you three words to hang our conversation on. 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:44.520 Companionship, obedience, and imitation. 00:03:45.979 --> 00:03:51.859 So the first thing that we can talk about in terms of being a follower of Jesus is it simply means being with Jesus. 00:03:52.379 --> 00:03:54.180 Seeking to be close to him. 00:03:54.860 --> 00:03:55.300 Familiarity. 00:03:55.879 --> 00:03:56.340 Friendship. 00:03:56.419 --> 00:04:00.800 You noticed in the 15th chapter of John, multiple times he talked to them as friends. 00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:04.800 And he said, no longer do I call you servants, but I call you friends. 00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:04.960 Friends. 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:11.100 And so you might think in terms of intimate friendship or the term I use is companionship. 00:04:11.860 --> 00:04:16.720 In Mark chapter 3, we read a story early in Jesus' ministry. 00:04:16.879 --> 00:04:25.139 He's been going around in Galilee at this time, casting out demons, healing the sick, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, teaching. 00:04:25.620 --> 00:04:28.080 And a large crowd of people will begin to follow him. 00:04:28.120 --> 00:04:30.699 He was getting a lot of press and attention. 00:04:30.699 --> 00:04:35.959 And in verse 13 of Mark chapter 3, we read this. 00:04:36.620 --> 00:04:41.579 And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired. 00:04:42.680 --> 00:04:43.740 Interesting point. 00:04:44.539 --> 00:04:47.339 He had a very keen interest in these individuals. 00:04:47.959 --> 00:04:49.919 Very personal interest in these individuals. 00:04:49.920 --> 00:05:01.520 Full stop. 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:07.400 His first strategy is relationship. 00:05:08.560 --> 00:05:12.379 His first strategy is that they might be with him. 00:05:12.379 --> 00:05:22.779 And so the entire discipleship process is centered on and begins with and centered on this relationship, this time, this companionship together. 00:05:23.259 --> 00:05:31.600 Now, when I was a little bit younger than I am right now, maybe like 50 years ago, there was a singing group from Britain that was sweeping the world called what? 00:05:31.860 --> 00:05:32.740 The Beatles, right? 00:05:33.240 --> 00:05:35.680 They were older than I am by about 10 years. 00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:41.360 And I know this is really hard to imagine for me anyway, but one of them is still around performing, Paul McCartney. 00:05:41.900 --> 00:05:42.980 He's got to be bumping 80. 00:05:43.100 --> 00:05:49.480 And on May 27th, he's going to be performing at the largest arena in the Triangle in North Carolina, where I live in Raleigh. 00:05:50.660 --> 00:05:55.879 As teenagers have done forever, a bunch of people became passionate followers of the Beatles, right? 00:05:56.519 --> 00:05:57.579 And we call them groupies. 00:05:57.620 --> 00:05:59.460 And they had all the posters and all the albums. 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:00.800 And they listened to every recording. 00:06:00.939 --> 00:06:02.319 And they listened to them constantly. 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:04.240 And they memorized every word. 00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:11.560 And I have to confess to you that I've spent a lot of time with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and with Rubber Soul and things like that. 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:20.740 They studied and learned everything they could about the lives of these people, how they had grown up in working class families in Liverpool, this blue collar town. 00:06:20.980 --> 00:06:26.959 And, you know, the amazing concept that these were the people that had transformed the world of music. 00:06:26.959 --> 00:06:30.199 The groupies watched every live performance on TV. 00:06:30.379 --> 00:06:32.839 And you can, by the way, still see some of those on YouTube. 00:06:33.079 --> 00:06:35.839 They're these grainy, black and white Ed Sullivan things, you know. 00:06:36.159 --> 00:06:37.699 And it's kind of fun to watch those. 00:06:38.479 --> 00:06:46.979 And if they could have possibly done it, I'm sure that any of these groupies would have, if they managed to, get a ticket to a concert, right? 00:06:47.379 --> 00:06:49.279 Because they were passionate followers of Jesus. 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:52.759 And in my day, there were other groups that people followed. 00:06:52.879 --> 00:06:58.659 Dinah Ross and the Supremes, the Temptations, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Who, Who, yeah. 00:06:59.599 --> 00:07:03.839 The Rolling Stones, Four Seasons, you know, Beach Boys, you know, the whole bit. 00:07:04.739 --> 00:07:07.979 And it seems like people were obsessed with those people, right? 00:07:08.039 --> 00:07:09.079 You remember some of them. 00:07:09.119 --> 00:07:10.219 No, you don't even remember them. 00:07:10.539 --> 00:07:11.839 Your parents remember them. 00:07:11.959 --> 00:07:12.339 I know. 00:07:12.339 --> 00:07:16.079 You know, and followers are still around. 00:07:16.179 --> 00:07:17.079 Groupies are still around. 00:07:17.219 --> 00:07:24.799 At the risk of showing my age and my lack of connection with pop music, I thought, who do teenage people follow today? 00:07:24.919 --> 00:07:26.799 And so I'm very, very thankful for Google, right? 00:07:26.859 --> 00:07:27.979 Because I have no clue. 00:07:28.779 --> 00:07:33.199 Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, the Backstreet Boys, Justin Bieber, you know. 00:07:34.120 --> 00:07:35.559 Who are the young adults following? 00:07:35.719 --> 00:07:38.500 Like, you really impressive people out there. 00:07:38.819 --> 00:07:40.579 You need to school me later on, okay? 00:07:42.339 --> 00:07:49.319 But here's something to think about groupies or followers, regardless of what generation or singer celebrity they're talking about. 00:07:50.259 --> 00:07:54.479 These followers never actually knew any of the people that they're so passionate about. 00:07:55.719 --> 00:08:01.319 If by chance they met one, that meant that they ran into them on the street or at a concert and they grabbed their autograph. 00:08:02.419 --> 00:08:05.539 I ran into Muhammad Ali on the streets of New York. 00:08:05.639 --> 00:08:06.639 I met him. 00:08:07.079 --> 00:08:08.959 And I got him to sign his photograph. 00:08:08.959 --> 00:08:14.639 But these people never have had a conversation with the love of their life. 00:08:15.339 --> 00:08:22.579 They never sat around a fireplace or a campfire in the dark and shared about things as you kind of get late at night and start talking about what's really on your heart. 00:08:23.439 --> 00:08:24.599 They never shared a meal. 00:08:25.419 --> 00:08:27.000 They never went on a walk. 00:08:27.699 --> 00:08:29.120 They never took a trip together. 00:08:29.299 --> 00:08:30.679 They never knew them personally. 00:08:30.680 --> 00:08:35.700 They were followers, but they had never met the person that they were following. 00:08:36.680 --> 00:08:39.000 Well, Jesus would simply say, you haven't started. 00:08:39.899 --> 00:08:42.720 Because the first thing is to be with me. 00:08:43.399 --> 00:08:47.100 And that theme shows up again and again and again throughout the New Testament. 00:08:48.180 --> 00:08:53.580 In John chapter 15, this well-known passage is centered on the word abiding, a branch and vine. 00:08:53.580 --> 00:08:57.820 And if you believe in Jesus, you literally share a common life. 00:08:57.940 --> 00:09:06.440 You're joined at the hip or better, I would think it's like an umbilical cord level of relationship, which is an amazing thought for me. 00:09:07.740 --> 00:09:12.660 Later, the same disciple who wrote the Gospel of John wrote the epistle of 1 John. 00:09:12.659 --> 00:09:24.000 And he starts this way, that which was from the beginning, which we've heard, which we've seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life. 00:09:24.980 --> 00:09:27.439 And you think about the intimacy that's indicated in that. 00:09:28.559 --> 00:09:33.959 The book of Hebrews, which I love, has this repeated phrase, consider Jesus. 00:09:35.259 --> 00:09:36.199 Think about him. 00:09:36.439 --> 00:09:36.919 Reflect. 00:09:37.159 --> 00:09:37.600 Ponder. 00:09:38.039 --> 00:09:38.799 Take time. 00:09:39.459 --> 00:09:39.939 Gaze. 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:41.079 Look upon. 00:09:41.080 --> 00:09:43.320 And then it says, consider and come. 00:09:43.420 --> 00:09:45.960 And it keeps moving you from consider to coming. 00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:46.900 Consider to coming. 00:09:47.080 --> 00:09:54.920 So that it climaxes in Hebrews chapter 12 with, at the end of time, with our entire life as a Christian, is moving toward Jesus. 00:09:55.160 --> 00:10:04.800 You have not come to Mount Sinai, but you've come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the myriads of angels and to those who have been washed by the blood. 00:10:04.800 --> 00:10:09.460 And you have come, ultimately, it says climatically, to Jesus himself. 00:10:11.080 --> 00:10:17.540 The first thing about being a follower of Jesus is spending time with him, which, of course, requires time and intentionality. 00:10:19.000 --> 00:10:23.240 To use insider language in our movement, we can talk about the daily office. 00:10:23.420 --> 00:10:24.340 Have you ever heard that phrase? 00:10:24.759 --> 00:10:25.660 The daily office. 00:10:25.659 --> 00:10:30.059 Kind of wondered, I was thinking about this when I was preparing this, what in the world is the office? 00:10:31.899 --> 00:10:33.860 Besides a show, right? 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:38.319 It's from the Latin, opus and facara. 00:10:40.100 --> 00:10:41.959 Opus work, facara, to do. 00:10:42.279 --> 00:10:44.059 It's the work we are meant to do every day. 00:10:44.379 --> 00:10:45.419 It's our daily work. 00:10:45.419 --> 00:10:55.659 The use of daily prayers to mark the times of the day and to express the traditions of our community is traditional in Judaism and Christianity from the beginning. 00:10:56.299 --> 00:11:00.659 And so Judaism set the establishment of morning, noon, evening, and nighttime. 00:11:01.299 --> 00:11:06.679 And the daily office in our tradition, if you really follow it strictly, is morning, noon, evening, and nighttime. 00:11:06.679 --> 00:11:15.120 We also talk about the rule of life, the rhythms that you follow in order to develop the habits of your heart. 00:11:16.959 --> 00:11:24.179 And the rule of life that we talk about is solitude and silence and listening and reading and praying and journaling and all of that. 00:11:24.319 --> 00:11:26.739 All of that is describing attentiveness. 00:11:28.199 --> 00:11:29.019 Giving your attention. 00:11:30.899 --> 00:11:33.079 To follow Jesus means friendship. 00:11:33.319 --> 00:11:34.579 And it's very, very personal. 00:11:34.580 --> 00:11:42.379 And it begins with his desire towards you to which you respond in order to be with him. 00:11:44.660 --> 00:11:47.180 Secondly, following Jesus means obeying him. 00:11:47.280 --> 00:11:51.460 Again, to John 15, verse 10. 00:11:52.320 --> 00:11:57.600 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love just as I've kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. 00:11:58.259 --> 00:12:01.980 And Jesus says the love relationship he had with the father meant that he obeyed the father. 00:12:01.980 --> 00:12:07.320 And he calls us to a love relationship with him that involves obedience. 00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:09.539 Verse 12, this is my commandment. 00:12:10.460 --> 00:12:13.659 Verse 14, you're my friends if you do what I command you. 00:12:14.980 --> 00:12:22.460 Jesus, frankly, is not very shy about calling his followers to obey him, to follow commandments. 00:12:22.460 --> 00:12:28.120 And if we are his followers, we will seek earnestly to obey him. 00:12:28.900 --> 00:12:30.700 And again, just thinking with me, why is that? 00:12:30.759 --> 00:12:35.280 It's because friendship with Jesus puts us face to face with the issue of obedience. 00:12:35.279 --> 00:12:40.939 Because Jesus is not like Ariana Grande or Paul McCartney. 00:12:42.339 --> 00:12:51.759 Or if we are an aficionado of some business expert like Peter and Patrick Lencioni or Gino Wickman. 00:12:51.759 --> 00:12:56.159 We might take their advice, but we don't obey their commands. 00:12:57.639 --> 00:13:00.960 He's not a political leader that we might follow. 00:13:02.059 --> 00:13:06.200 And I won't be stupid enough in today's climate to give an example of who that might be, right? 00:13:08.200 --> 00:13:10.620 Because Jesus is in a completely different category, right? 00:13:11.639 --> 00:13:15.419 You cannot come to Jesus without coming to the Lord of the universe. 00:13:15.419 --> 00:13:19.219 Jesus, the Lord of the universe, the creator, the redeemer, and the king. 00:13:19.659 --> 00:13:26.399 And he has an authority within himself and within his being that is self-evident to anyone truly opening to listen to him. 00:13:26.620 --> 00:13:27.939 And I mean that sincerely. 00:13:28.199 --> 00:13:34.639 If we are truly open to listening to him, the authority that he has within himself becomes self-evident to us. 00:13:34.959 --> 00:13:35.939 Let me give an example. 00:13:36.360 --> 00:13:39.740 At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, when he's teaching the people, 00:13:39.980 --> 00:13:43.659 he's saying, you've heard it said, blah, blah, blah, blah, but I say to you. 00:13:43.659 --> 00:13:51.860 And he's constantly driving concepts and truths and laws that the Jews had heard into a deeper category. 00:13:52.639 --> 00:14:00.299 And in fact, as we listen to this, our hearts, even if we're resistant to the implications for us personally, 00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:02.379 have to acknowledge that it's the truth. 00:14:04.179 --> 00:14:06.439 You've heard it said, do not commit adultery. 00:14:06.939 --> 00:14:08.339 That's a legal limit. 00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:12.939 But I'm saying to you, if you lust in your heart, you violated the relationship. 00:14:13.659 --> 00:14:17.939 And in fact, we know that if we give in to sexual lust, that we're violating relationships. 00:14:19.000 --> 00:14:22.639 He says later on in chapter 7 of Matthew, in the Sermon on the Mount, 00:14:23.139 --> 00:14:28.000 whatever you want to do to others, do that unto them, for this is the law and the commandments. 00:14:28.740 --> 00:14:32.860 And I was literally thinking about this last night before I kind of thought it worked into my sermon. 00:14:33.179 --> 00:14:37.399 Because I was thinking about what somebody was thinking of me. 00:14:37.399 --> 00:14:41.179 You know, I was kind of going, you know, did I make a good impression? 00:14:41.319 --> 00:14:42.740 Did I communicate and all these kind of things? 00:14:42.980 --> 00:14:48.139 And then suddenly the Lord said, whatever you want them to do to you, do that to them. 00:14:48.220 --> 00:14:52.019 So then suddenly the whole conversation begins on, okay, how do I think of them? 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:54.139 And how do I regard them? 00:14:54.199 --> 00:14:55.439 And how do I respect them? 00:14:55.440 --> 00:15:00.600 And in fact, I realized when that sort of sucked into my soul, 00:15:01.040 --> 00:15:06.660 that Jesus had turned the entire thing around into truth, into reality that pushes deeper into my life. 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:10.180 So we listen to the Sermon on the Mount, we hear his teaching, 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:12.340 and there's something that just starts to sink into us. 00:15:12.640 --> 00:15:16.940 At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, the people said they were amazed at his teaching, 00:15:17.040 --> 00:15:19.480 because he was teaching them as one who had what? 00:15:19.480 --> 00:15:19.879 As one who had what? 00:15:19.879 --> 00:15:20.080 As one who had what? 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:22.220 Authority, and not as their scribes. 00:15:23.220 --> 00:15:28.200 Jesus has the authority to teach us and to command us and to tell us what to do. 00:15:29.220 --> 00:15:36.820 And this relationship with Jesus that we emphasized in the first part is all wrapped up with obedience. 00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:39.379 And in fact, it deepens through obedience. 00:15:40.120 --> 00:15:41.480 John chapter 14. 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:44.759 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, 00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:48.860 he it is who loves me, and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, 00:15:48.860 --> 00:15:51.340 and I will love him and manifest myself to him. 00:15:52.600 --> 00:15:55.259 Now, you may not like the rules of the game when he says that. 00:15:56.399 --> 00:15:59.320 But I guess, to be honest with you, he didn't ask our opinion. 00:16:00.019 --> 00:16:00.279 Right? 00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:04.539 He just simply says, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments, 00:16:04.659 --> 00:16:07.320 and if you keep my commandments, I will love you and come to you. 00:16:07.580 --> 00:16:12.139 And that's all wrapped up with the simple fact that he is God, and we're not. 00:16:13.279 --> 00:16:14.700 And we have to come to grips with that. 00:16:14.700 --> 00:16:23.360 George MacDonald is the famous Scottish author and preacher and theologian. 00:16:24.100 --> 00:16:27.280 And he has a quote that really ministered to me a few months ago. 00:16:28.120 --> 00:16:31.640 Do you worry about whether or not you know Jesus, that your faith is true? 00:16:32.280 --> 00:16:33.780 Stop worrying and fretting. 00:16:34.420 --> 00:16:36.900 Get up and obey whatever he is telling you to do. 00:16:36.899 --> 00:16:41.699 If there's nothing in your day which you do simply because he says to do it, 00:16:41.819 --> 00:16:45.419 or that you do not do simply because he forbids it, then you are not following him. 00:16:46.319 --> 00:16:49.459 If you ask, am I a follower of Jesus in truth? 00:16:49.559 --> 00:16:55.519 I reply, if you follow, then obey and you follow. 00:16:57.179 --> 00:16:58.379 And that really helped me. 00:16:59.100 --> 00:17:02.519 Because it just translates this whole conversation into something quite practical. 00:17:02.519 --> 00:17:09.859 Companionship, obedience, imitation. 00:17:10.039 --> 00:17:12.720 The third element of being a follower of Jesus is imitating him, 00:17:13.539 --> 00:17:17.980 which is doing what he says and looking at him carefully enough to see him and imitate him. 00:17:18.879 --> 00:17:22.639 Now, I want you to hang on with me here because what I'm saying here is, 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:25.799 I want to be very clear, it's a step beyond obedience. 00:17:26.740 --> 00:17:28.859 And in fact, it's the step where we need to go. 00:17:28.859 --> 00:17:35.319 Friendship faces us with the reality that we are friends with the Lord of the universe 00:17:35.319 --> 00:17:38.959 and therefore he has the right to give us the boundaries of our behavior. 00:17:39.559 --> 00:17:43.539 To set the directions of the ethics and morals that define our lives 00:17:43.539 --> 00:17:47.179 in a way that is appropriate to being friends with the Lord of the universe. 00:17:48.119 --> 00:17:50.419 But that's only the beginning. 00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:52.079 That's sort of the initial boundaries. 00:17:53.159 --> 00:17:55.259 Because it goes much, much further than that. 00:17:55.259 --> 00:17:58.539 The commands of God were never meant to cover every contingency in life. 00:17:59.719 --> 00:18:06.479 But obedience, the boundaries cannot possibly encompass everything we'll face. 00:18:07.240 --> 00:18:12.439 And even from the beginning of the introduction of the ethical and moral law 00:18:12.439 --> 00:18:15.019 and the religious law to the people of Israel, 00:18:15.859 --> 00:18:18.119 God says, but let me summarize it for you. 00:18:18.159 --> 00:18:19.279 And we've already said it today. 00:18:20.199 --> 00:18:21.939 Let me put it all together for you. 00:18:21.939 --> 00:18:22.759 You shall what? 00:18:22.759 --> 00:18:26.420 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 00:18:26.519 --> 00:18:28.240 And you shall love your neighbor as yourself. 00:18:28.640 --> 00:18:31.619 And my position to you today, my proposition to you today, 00:18:31.720 --> 00:18:36.480 is that imitation, the imitation of Christ, the imitation of Jesus, 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:41.019 is going beyond all legal limits of obedience into a life of true love 00:18:41.019 --> 00:18:42.579 because that is the life of Jesus. 00:18:43.940 --> 00:18:45.019 Let me give you an example. 00:18:45.640 --> 00:18:46.579 It really gets my attention. 00:18:46.579 --> 00:18:49.140 One of my favorite stories in the Gospels is in Mark chapter 2. 00:18:49.140 --> 00:18:55.680 Again, early in Jesus' ministry, a leper comes to him and falls on his knees and says, 00:18:55.960 --> 00:18:58.160 if you are willing, you can make me clean. 00:18:58.820 --> 00:19:01.560 And you're familiar with the condition of a leper, right? 00:19:02.020 --> 00:19:04.560 That when a person was diagnosed with leprosy, 00:19:04.640 --> 00:19:07.320 they were immediately cast out of their home and out of their community. 00:19:07.319 --> 00:19:11.899 So the moment you were diagnosed as a leper, 00:19:12.019 --> 00:19:15.980 that was the last time you ever held your wife in your arms 00:19:15.980 --> 00:19:18.500 or ever held your child in your lap. 00:19:19.319 --> 00:19:23.679 You were pushed into a place where the only other people around you were unclean. 00:19:23.859 --> 00:19:26.939 You walked through the streets, covering your head, yelling, 00:19:27.079 --> 00:19:28.480 unclean, unclean, unclean. 00:19:28.879 --> 00:19:32.619 People would throw rocks at you and tell you in because they wanted distance from you. 00:19:32.619 --> 00:19:41.419 And so this leper comes to Jesus and he falls on his knees and he says, 00:19:41.539 --> 00:19:42.859 if you're willing, you can make me clean. 00:19:43.779 --> 00:19:45.379 And the text reads this, 00:19:45.639 --> 00:19:47.959 and moved with compassion, love, 00:19:49.379 --> 00:19:54.500 Jesus reached out and touched him. 00:19:54.500 --> 00:20:02.619 How long had it been since anybody who was whole and clean and pure and right had touched him? 00:20:03.000 --> 00:20:04.579 Well, since the day he was diagnosed. 00:20:05.559 --> 00:20:06.859 And Jesus touched him. 00:20:08.140 --> 00:20:10.440 Now, what am I trying to give you in this story? 00:20:11.059 --> 00:20:12.460 Well, within our churches, 00:20:13.140 --> 00:20:17.380 issues of justice and mercy and compassion have a lot of currency, right? 00:20:18.180 --> 00:20:19.880 And that's good and that's true and right. 00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:22.099 And we think about what does it mean to be people of justice 00:20:22.099 --> 00:20:24.119 and people of compassion and people of mercy. 00:20:24.900 --> 00:20:28.019 And there are a lot of things that we can do that are right and good. 00:20:28.880 --> 00:20:31.200 But I think we need to ask ourselves a deeper question. 00:20:31.299 --> 00:20:35.519 And that is, what does Jesus do with the people that he is extending justice toward? 00:20:35.920 --> 00:20:40.640 And what does he do with the people that he is extending mercy and compassion toward? 00:20:41.400 --> 00:20:45.519 And I'm not criticizing anything I'm about to list for you because I do these things, 00:20:45.900 --> 00:20:48.160 you know, when I'm, I think, really tuned in. 00:20:49.059 --> 00:20:50.819 But it's more than sending money. 00:20:51.460 --> 00:20:53.039 You know, it's more than writing letters. 00:20:53.160 --> 00:20:53.960 It's more than a vote. 00:20:53.960 --> 00:20:57.319 It's more than giving out water bottles and snacks to the people on the street. 00:20:58.200 --> 00:20:59.259 All of that's good. 00:21:00.019 --> 00:21:04.019 But eventually we have to think about what Jesus did, which he did not command us to do. 00:21:05.420 --> 00:21:10.180 In other words, he did not ever say to us, reach out and touch a leper. 00:21:10.180 --> 00:21:12.420 And yet that's what he did. 00:21:12.420 --> 00:21:12.440 And yet that's what he did. 00:21:12.440 --> 00:21:19.440 And so it forces me to go, what do I need to do to go deeper than the legal requirement? 00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:37.160 What does it mean to do to go further than that so that they may be released from the prison of rejection or the prison of their horror, whatever it may be? 00:21:37.160 --> 00:21:40.920 What does it mean to pray into their life for healing on a deeper level? 00:21:40.920 --> 00:21:44.039 Because that's the life of love, right? 00:21:44.759 --> 00:21:45.820 That's the love of Jesus. 00:21:45.819 --> 00:21:49.919 We read a portion of Ephesians 4 today. 00:21:50.019 --> 00:21:56.099 And if you go back and look at that, starting in verse 17 of chapter 4, there's this radical community of love that's being described. 00:21:56.439 --> 00:21:59.379 And it literally is command after command after command after command. 00:22:00.339 --> 00:22:01.240 And they're good commands. 00:22:01.379 --> 00:22:02.099 They're things that ought to be. 00:22:02.159 --> 00:22:03.579 They're very practical kinds of things. 00:22:03.579 --> 00:22:05.519 But at the end of it, it sums it up. 00:22:05.579 --> 00:22:09.699 And it simply says, and at the end of all things, walk in love as Jesus has loved you. 00:22:11.639 --> 00:22:14.599 In the message, Eugene Peterson says it this way. 00:22:15.359 --> 00:22:16.899 And I like this. 00:22:17.460 --> 00:22:19.799 Watch what God does and then do it. 00:22:20.460 --> 00:22:26.819 Like children who learn proper behavior from their parents, mostly what God does is love you. 00:22:28.039 --> 00:22:31.179 Keep company with him and learn a life of love. 00:22:31.519 --> 00:22:33.399 Observe how Christ loved us. 00:22:33.899 --> 00:22:36.819 His love was not cautious but extravagant. 00:22:37.439 --> 00:22:41.539 He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. 00:22:41.740 --> 00:22:43.319 Love like that. 00:22:44.619 --> 00:22:49.619 And so my proposition to you in terms of following Christ, and I think this is an accurate understanding of following, 00:22:49.899 --> 00:22:51.759 is it's being with him and it's obeying him. 00:22:51.899 --> 00:22:53.919 But it is in also learning to imitate him. 00:22:53.919 --> 00:22:57.259 The disciples saw him pray morning after morning after morning. 00:22:57.579 --> 00:22:59.319 So watching him pray, they said what? 00:22:59.500 --> 00:23:00.419 Teach us to pray. 00:23:00.839 --> 00:23:02.019 We want to imitate you. 00:23:02.019 --> 00:23:05.460 They saw him reach out and touch people with compassion. 00:23:05.460 --> 00:23:12.519 And after Pentecost, you see the disciples reaching out and touching people in compassion. 00:23:12.519 --> 00:23:16.339 And so there was a physicality to his love. 00:23:18.299 --> 00:23:18.859 Imitation. 00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:20.920 Intimacy. 00:23:22.579 --> 00:23:23.019 Companionship. 00:23:24.119 --> 00:23:24.559 Obedience. 00:23:24.559 --> 00:23:26.339 And imitation. 00:23:26.339 --> 00:23:30.139 The first command and the last command of discipleship. 00:23:30.140 --> 00:23:36.920 And then to round it out, there's one more piece of good news for the day. 00:23:37.860 --> 00:23:41.980 And that is that he has not left us on our own to do that. 00:23:43.420 --> 00:23:44.980 Let me illustrate. 00:23:44.980 --> 00:23:52.660 The disciples that he gathered to himself in Mark chapter 3, those 12 people plus a lot of others, heard everything that I said to you today. 00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:54.640 They heard him say these things directly. 00:23:54.980 --> 00:23:55.779 They saw these things. 00:23:55.860 --> 00:23:56.700 They heard the commands. 00:23:57.120 --> 00:24:01.480 They were pointing, you know, all the things that I'm pointing out to you, they were, it was firsthand real to them. 00:24:01.480 --> 00:24:06.940 How did they do with following him on earth? 00:24:08.940 --> 00:24:11.440 Well, basically terribly. 00:24:12.220 --> 00:24:13.420 You know, terribly. 00:24:14.099 --> 00:24:15.339 They didn't understand. 00:24:15.720 --> 00:24:16.960 They kept stumbling their toes. 00:24:17.099 --> 00:24:20.220 They had opportunities to minister, to do good works, and they backfired. 00:24:20.299 --> 00:24:21.599 Why can't we throw this demon out? 00:24:21.680 --> 00:24:22.220 You know what I mean? 00:24:22.960 --> 00:24:27.380 They called down fire on the enemies to destroy everybody else besides themselves. 00:24:27.599 --> 00:24:30.240 They were extremely radical in their understanding. 00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:31.759 They misunderstood the heart of Jesus. 00:24:31.980 --> 00:24:34.339 They tried to stop him from doing what he came to do. 00:24:34.400 --> 00:24:35.460 No, Lord, you can't do that. 00:24:35.500 --> 00:24:36.140 You can't do that. 00:24:36.180 --> 00:24:36.480 I'm sorry. 00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:37.200 You can't do that. 00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:43.039 He asked them directly in the Garden of Gethsemane, just come, guys, hang out with me. 00:24:43.400 --> 00:24:44.700 Would you just pray with me? 00:24:44.880 --> 00:24:45.880 And they fell asleep. 00:24:47.880 --> 00:24:50.519 At his arrest, Peter, his closest friend, betrayed him. 00:24:50.579 --> 00:24:53.460 At his crucifixion, everybody deserted him except the youngest. 00:24:54.420 --> 00:24:57.799 In other words, they could not manage to be his followers. 00:24:57.799 --> 00:25:04.879 But you know where I'm headed with this because something happened 50 days after the resurrection, right? 00:25:06.419 --> 00:25:06.740 Pentecost. 00:25:06.859 --> 00:25:08.759 And he poured out his spirit and that changed everything. 00:25:08.759 --> 00:25:24.200 So once we get on the other side of Pentecost, there is a transformation into a new life and a new intimacy and a new experience of the presence and the love of God and a new power and a new confidence and a new effectiveness. 00:25:24.200 --> 00:25:29.180 And he says that all along, by the way, in John 14, 15, and 16. 00:25:29.319 --> 00:25:33.460 I'm going to send the Holy Spirit to you so that you'll remember what I say. 00:25:33.819 --> 00:25:47.680 But that scrolls forward to me in my mind to one of the most incredible chapters in all the Word of God, which is Romans chapter 8, where it says that the secret of living this life is the presence and the power and the companionship of the Holy Spirit. 00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:54.799 And the constant walking in the Spirit and walking with the Spirit and the reliance on the Spirit. 00:25:55.279 --> 00:25:57.420 And I don't think that's a very sophisticated thing. 00:25:57.480 --> 00:25:58.580 There's no magic to that. 00:25:58.640 --> 00:26:01.580 That just simply means help me every moment I can think about it. 00:26:02.440 --> 00:26:09.259 Turn every stress point of my obedience or my intimacy or my friendship or my imitation into a point of prayer. 00:26:09.259 --> 00:26:12.480 Let me say that again. 00:26:12.940 --> 00:26:20.759 Every point of stress where your inner brow furrows at the face and the thought of your Christian life, turn that into prayer. 00:26:21.660 --> 00:26:26.640 And ask the Spirit of God to do for you what you cannot do in your own strength. 00:26:27.359 --> 00:26:28.879 And then continue to walk. 00:26:29.579 --> 00:26:30.359 Continue to walk. 00:26:31.119 --> 00:26:38.559 And in Romans chapter 8, I think very climactically, it says that ultimately that what we have received is the spirit of adoption. 00:26:39.259 --> 00:26:47.339 The spirit that guarantees that God looks at us and says, you are my beloved daughter with whom I'm well pleased. 00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:50.460 Or you are my beloved son with whom I'm well pleased. 00:26:52.000 --> 00:26:59.339 And so where it all begins, by the way, is he called to them those whom he desired. 00:27:00.599 --> 00:27:02.319 It begins with his love. 00:27:03.099 --> 00:27:07.200 It begins with his love that begins toward us. 00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:18.360 He calls us to himself and ends with our imitation of Christ, which is a life of love that goes beyond obedience, includes it, but certainly goes beyond it, 00:27:18.720 --> 00:27:21.039 in our friendship and our following of him. 00:27:23.680 --> 00:27:24.660 Please pray with me. 00:27:24.660 --> 00:27:25.400 Don't be afraid. 00:27:25.400 --> 00:27:25.700 God bless you. 00:27:25.700 --> 00:27:26.080 Good to be Marie första também. 00:27:26.080 --> 00:27:26.200 Okay? 00:27:26.200 --> 00:27:26.460 Thank you. 00:27:28.740 --> 00:27:29.820 Thank you. 00:27:29.820 --> 00:27:30.460 Thank you. 00:27:34.460 --> 00:27:34.519 Fatherども? 00:27:34.779 --> 00:27:34.860 Thank you. 00:27:37.680 --> 00:27:37.800 Thank you. 00:27:37.800 --> 00:27:39.540 Oh my name is W Sta. 00:27:39.540 --> 00:27:41.060 So my name is W undo. 00:27:41.140 --> 00:27:50.519 Let me tell you how my husband, God he of our intuition and with the needs of us is 00:27:50.519 --> 00:27:50.880 yes. 00:27:50.880 --> 00:27:51.180 Thank you. 00:27:51.180 --> 00:27:51.740 Did you know you got here?