WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.379 We are on a mini series within our series on Romans 12, 00:00:04.379 --> 00:00:06.339 and that mini series is all about love. 00:00:06.339 --> 00:00:10.400 So we're looking at four weeks on the idea of love 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:12.919 in this section, verses nine to 21. 00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:17.400 And at the beginning of chapter 12, Paul said, 00:00:17.400 --> 00:00:19.140 the Christian life is all about living 00:00:19.140 --> 00:00:21.320 as a spiritual sacrifice to God. 00:00:21.320 --> 00:00:25.440 So he says that if you've experienced the mercy of God 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:30.440 through the gospel, then you turn around and you're changed. 00:00:30.440 --> 00:00:32.840 So you don't live as a spiritual sacrifice 00:00:32.840 --> 00:00:34.939 in order to get the mercy of God, 00:00:34.939 --> 00:00:36.480 but because you've gotten the mercy of God, 00:00:36.480 --> 00:00:39.120 you go forward and live as a spiritual sacrifice. 00:00:39.120 --> 00:00:42.760 And he says really the main way to do that is to love 00:00:42.760 --> 00:00:44.799 and to love in lots of different dimensions. 00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:46.159 And we've been looking at those every week. 00:00:46.159 --> 00:00:50.560 He says, give yourself away to human beings in love 00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:54.740 because God loved you in Jesus. 00:00:54.740 --> 00:00:59.380 And so Paul says this a bunch of times over his letters. 00:00:59.380 --> 00:01:03.040 This text looks a lot like the fruit of the spirit text, 00:01:03.040 --> 00:01:04.400 Galatians five, where he says, 00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:07.520 the fruit of the spirit is love. 00:01:07.520 --> 00:01:09.920 And everything else after that joy, peace, patience, 00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:14.240 kindness, goodness are all just aspects of how to love. 00:01:14.240 --> 00:01:16.780 Or first Corinthians 13, he says, 00:01:16.780 --> 00:01:19.260 love, love is the most important thing and love, 00:01:19.260 --> 00:01:20.099 what does love look like? 00:01:20.099 --> 00:01:22.099 He says, love is being patient. 00:01:22.099 --> 00:01:23.859 Love is being kind. 00:01:23.859 --> 00:01:26.280 Love is being humble, not boasting. 00:01:26.280 --> 00:01:28.359 And so he tells us in lots of different texts 00:01:28.359 --> 00:01:33.200 to cross his letters, the form, the shape that love takes. 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:36.519 And so in week one, we talked about the definition of love. 00:01:36.519 --> 00:01:38.319 We said, love is, what is love? 00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:43.319 Love is selfless giving for the good of another person 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:45.519 for God's sake. 00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:47.879 And then week two, we said, and God says, 00:01:47.879 --> 00:01:49.799 go out and love everybody like that, 00:01:49.799 --> 00:01:51.239 Christian and non-Christian. 00:01:51.239 --> 00:01:54.640 Love the city with that same agape type love, 00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:58.919 gift giving love, never demonizing anybody 00:01:58.919 --> 00:02:02.399 because Jesus Christ came and never demonized us. 00:02:02.399 --> 00:02:06.099 And this week we turn to the third dimension of love 00:02:06.099 --> 00:02:08.959 that he focuses on, which is love for the church, 00:02:08.959 --> 00:02:12.099 love between Christians, Christian to Christian, 00:02:12.099 --> 00:02:14.599 the type of love that that takes up. 00:02:14.599 --> 00:02:15.840 So we're gonna look at that this morning. 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:19.719 It's right there in verse 10, really particularly. 00:02:19.719 --> 00:02:24.259 So let's think together about the nature of love first 00:02:24.259 --> 00:02:28.120 and then just two ways to take on the nature of love 00:02:28.120 --> 00:02:29.800 as it regards loving Christians, 00:02:29.800 --> 00:02:32.159 loving people within the church family. 00:02:32.159 --> 00:02:34.879 So the nature of love within the church body 00:02:34.879 --> 00:02:36.520 and then two ways to do that. 00:02:36.520 --> 00:02:38.199 So very simple. 00:02:38.199 --> 00:02:41.599 First, the nature of love within the church family. 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:43.319 All right, verse 10. 00:02:43.319 --> 00:02:47.879 Verse 10 he says, love one another with brotherly affection. 00:02:47.879 --> 00:02:51.759 All right, there are two very important Greek words there 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:55.759 in that sentence, love one another with brotherly affection 00:02:55.759 --> 00:03:00.439 and almost that entire command is just two Greek words. 00:03:00.439 --> 00:03:03.519 And the first one is Philadelphia. 00:03:03.519 --> 00:03:06.000 Philadelphia, you know this one, Pennsylvania. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:08.740 That's where it comes from right here, verse 10. 00:03:08.740 --> 00:03:10.840 And it's the word that's being translated 00:03:10.840 --> 00:03:12.560 with brotherly affection. 00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:14.680 So it's actually the first word in the sentence, 00:03:14.680 --> 00:03:16.759 but it appears as the back half of the sentence 00:03:16.759 --> 00:03:17.879 with brotherly affection. 00:03:17.879 --> 00:03:19.159 That's Philadelphia. 00:03:19.159 --> 00:03:23.799 And then he says, with Philadelphia, have philostorge, 00:03:23.799 --> 00:03:25.479 which is a special word for love 00:03:25.479 --> 00:03:28.000 that also uses the word brother. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:30.899 So he says, you need Philadelphia and philostorge. 00:03:30.899 --> 00:03:32.679 So that's love one another, 00:03:32.679 --> 00:03:36.359 storge with Philadelphia, brotherly affection. 00:03:37.399 --> 00:03:40.120 Now, it's very important, these are very important 00:03:40.120 --> 00:03:41.719 because remember what we've been saying 00:03:41.719 --> 00:03:45.280 the last two weeks in verse nine, he said agape. 00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:47.560 That's the Greek word he uses, go in love 00:03:47.560 --> 00:03:50.319 with a gift giving love, the love of God 00:03:50.319 --> 00:03:53.920 to give gifts to people, selfless giving. 00:03:53.920 --> 00:03:56.000 And he's talking about everybody, 00:03:56.000 --> 00:03:57.860 giving yourself away to everybody. 00:03:57.860 --> 00:04:01.080 Then you come to verse 10 and he says, 00:04:01.080 --> 00:04:03.639 now love with a different type of love, 00:04:03.639 --> 00:04:08.159 storge or Philadelphia, brotherly and sisterly love, 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:10.000 affection, it's often translated 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:12.680 just by this little word affection. 00:04:12.680 --> 00:04:14.719 God gives agape to you, 00:04:14.719 --> 00:04:17.560 you give agape to others, gift giving love. 00:04:17.560 --> 00:04:21.639 God gives now storge to you, 00:04:21.639 --> 00:04:23.360 you give storge to others. 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:25.360 And what is that special type of love? 00:04:25.360 --> 00:04:30.360 It's when we say, God is my father and I'm his son. 00:04:30.399 --> 00:04:34.319 God is my father, I'm his daughter. 00:04:34.319 --> 00:04:36.899 Jesus Christ is my brother. 00:04:36.899 --> 00:04:39.360 So he's saying, God not only gives you agape, 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:42.579 God gives you storge that both of these types of love 00:04:42.579 --> 00:04:45.599 come from God and he's saying now you, 00:04:45.599 --> 00:04:47.479 the first lesson, very simple, 00:04:47.479 --> 00:04:49.000 he's saying that if you've experienced 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:50.759 the power of the gospel in your life, 00:04:50.759 --> 00:04:54.839 you actually do have the possibility, the capability 00:04:54.839 --> 00:04:58.579 to go into the world and love the way that God loves 00:04:58.579 --> 00:05:00.599 in both these dimensions. 00:05:00.599 --> 00:05:03.219 That it is possible to be so changed by the gospel 00:05:03.219 --> 00:05:05.560 that you can go forward and truly love 00:05:05.560 --> 00:05:07.399 in a similar way that God loves. 00:05:07.399 --> 00:05:09.680 Both in agape, gift giving love, 00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:13.040 but also deep familial affection. 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:15.079 And here he's saying the second type, 00:05:15.079 --> 00:05:17.639 this affection is what you give to people 00:05:17.639 --> 00:05:20.079 within the church family, the church body. 00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:22.920 So he's talking about what goes on inside the church. 00:05:22.920 --> 00:05:26.759 And so storge is a word for the type of love experience 00:05:26.759 --> 00:05:29.920 between brothers and sisters, 00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:33.960 between dads and children, moms and children, 00:05:33.960 --> 00:05:36.720 and even between spouses. 00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:39.840 That it's a more fundamental love than eros, romantic love. 00:05:39.840 --> 00:05:43.000 Storgue is more fundamental in marriage 00:05:43.000 --> 00:05:45.280 than even romantic love. 00:05:45.280 --> 00:05:47.080 He's saying it's fundamental, but it's also, 00:05:47.080 --> 00:05:49.720 he's saying, for the life of the church, 00:05:49.720 --> 00:05:53.000 for us to give towards one another. 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:56.420 Now, that means that we're called to gift giving love 00:05:56.420 --> 00:06:00.000 and deep abiding family affection 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:01.960 within the body of Christ. 00:06:01.960 --> 00:06:03.700 What is that? 00:06:03.700 --> 00:06:05.240 Let's make it more concrete. 00:06:05.240 --> 00:06:07.079 We've been trying to make it more concrete 00:06:07.079 --> 00:06:08.500 every week a little bit. 00:06:08.500 --> 00:06:10.759 Let's go back again to C.S. Lewis. 00:06:10.759 --> 00:06:14.759 You say every single week C.S. Lewis on love, 00:06:14.759 --> 00:06:17.000 but he wrote a book about love called The Four Loves. 00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:18.680 And so you can't help but reference it 00:06:18.680 --> 00:06:20.240 because he helps so much. 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:22.960 And he talks about this very particular type of love, 00:06:22.960 --> 00:06:25.759 Storgue, affection as he translates it. 00:06:25.759 --> 00:06:27.439 And here's one way to understand it. 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:30.160 Most importantly, what is this brotherly love, 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:32.920 sisterly love, family affection? 00:06:32.920 --> 00:06:35.560 And he says above all, it's this, 00:06:35.560 --> 00:06:39.879 Storgue love is a love that never discriminates, 00:06:39.879 --> 00:06:41.640 never discriminates. 00:06:41.640 --> 00:06:44.080 Now, what does that mean? 00:06:44.080 --> 00:06:46.800 I used to do a lot of premarital counseling. 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:49.240 Back when I was pastoring in the States, 00:06:49.240 --> 00:06:52.319 I was doing 10, 15 weddings a year. 00:06:52.319 --> 00:06:54.580 And so that meant a lot of time 00:06:54.580 --> 00:06:56.720 in premarital counseling with people. 00:06:56.720 --> 00:06:59.120 Day one of premarital counseling. 00:06:59.120 --> 00:07:00.480 I don't know how other pastors do it, 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:02.360 but when I go on day one 00:07:02.360 --> 00:07:03.560 and I meet with a couple, 00:07:03.560 --> 00:07:05.759 one of the first things to break the ice 00:07:05.759 --> 00:07:07.080 is you say to them, 00:07:08.680 --> 00:07:11.520 why do you like your fiance? 00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:15.879 What is something you like about this person? 00:07:15.879 --> 00:07:18.560 What first attracted you to this person? 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:19.740 Why are you here? 00:07:19.740 --> 00:07:21.280 Why are we doing this? 00:07:21.280 --> 00:07:22.520 And people say things like, 00:07:23.879 --> 00:07:27.600 well, first, I loved her kindness. 00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:29.560 I saw how kind she was. 00:07:29.560 --> 00:07:31.960 I saw how kind he was, how gentle. 00:07:31.959 --> 00:07:35.319 I loved how quick he is to forgive, slow to anger. 00:07:35.319 --> 00:07:39.279 I love, I saw the person's beauty. 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:40.959 I was attracted to that person, 00:07:40.959 --> 00:07:43.319 physically, spiritually, emotionally, 00:07:43.319 --> 00:07:44.159 all these different things, 00:07:44.159 --> 00:07:45.000 all these different lists, 00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:47.439 all these different attributes. 00:07:47.439 --> 00:07:49.439 Sometimes in premarital counseling, 00:07:49.439 --> 00:07:50.719 you can be surprised how hard it is 00:07:50.719 --> 00:07:52.399 for people to answer that question. 00:07:52.399 --> 00:07:53.439 Maybe you wouldn't be surprised, 00:07:53.439 --> 00:07:56.359 but they say kindness, beauty, 00:07:56.359 --> 00:07:58.000 quick to forgive, all sorts of things, right? 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:00.359 Now, what kind of a love is that? 00:08:00.360 --> 00:08:02.000 Fundamentally, in the Greek word, 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:03.720 that's what we call eros. 00:08:03.720 --> 00:08:06.400 Eros is anytime you have a love for somebody 00:08:06.400 --> 00:08:08.560 based in your attraction to them, 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:11.160 based on their traits, romantically. 00:08:11.160 --> 00:08:14.759 You say, I got interested in them because of this, this, this, 00:08:14.759 --> 00:08:17.120 X, Y, Z, I like this about them. 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:19.600 It even happens in friendship. 00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:22.360 You may be drawn to be friends with somebody 00:08:22.360 --> 00:08:25.360 because you say, I really liked this about them. 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:27.600 They're great conversation partners. 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:30.120 That might be the trait that drew you in your life. 00:08:30.120 --> 00:08:32.240 That drew you in and began a friendship. 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:35.560 Storgue is entirely different than that. 00:08:36.560 --> 00:08:40.720 Storgue is more like if you were to peel back 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:43.560 the layers of a teenager's heart 00:08:43.560 --> 00:08:48.360 in the hardest moments of the teenage life, 16, 17, 00:08:48.360 --> 00:08:52.159 when a teenage boy is very hard to break through emotionally 00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:54.799 and you were to say to that teenage boy, 00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:58.079 do you love your mom? 00:08:59.359 --> 00:09:03.599 And they would say, yeah, I love my mom. 00:09:03.599 --> 00:09:06.240 If you're gonna make me say it, I'll say it, I love my mom. 00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:08.759 And you say, well, why do you love your mom? 00:09:08.759 --> 00:09:11.799 I don't know, it's my mom. 00:09:11.799 --> 00:09:14.079 I just love my mom. 00:09:14.079 --> 00:09:15.839 What else could I do but love my mom? 00:09:15.839 --> 00:09:18.479 You see, that's Storgue. 00:09:18.479 --> 00:09:22.359 Storgue says, I don't know why I love you. 00:09:22.360 --> 00:09:26.519 I don't, I love you because I love you because I love you. 00:09:26.519 --> 00:09:29.840 In other words, Storgue is family affection 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:34.840 that is not based on traits or attributes or accomplishments. 00:09:35.240 --> 00:09:38.840 You don't say I was attracted because in Storgue, 00:09:38.840 --> 00:09:41.440 you say I love you because I love you because I love you. 00:09:41.440 --> 00:09:43.320 In other words, I love you simply 00:09:43.320 --> 00:09:45.720 because we're completely bound together. 00:09:46.560 --> 00:09:48.000 I don't have a choice. 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:51.120 I didn't choose what family to be born in, what mom to have. 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:54.519 And the same thing goes, he's saying in the church, 00:09:54.519 --> 00:09:57.360 when you become a Christian, you don't get to choose 00:09:57.360 --> 00:09:59.560 who you're bound to, you're just bound. 00:09:59.560 --> 00:10:01.600 You're just bound in family affection. 00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:03.960 And so Storgue fundamentally is affection 00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:07.480 that does not discriminate, it's the love of family. 00:10:07.480 --> 00:10:09.840 It's when the Christian says like the teenager, 00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:12.120 the Christian, you know, you say to the Christian, 00:10:12.120 --> 00:10:14.240 you say about somebody else in the room, 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:16.639 do you love that person? 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:19.440 And you say, yeah, why? 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:21.440 Are they good conversation partners? 00:10:21.440 --> 00:10:23.720 Yeah, not really. 00:10:23.720 --> 00:10:26.080 Are they incredibly intelligent? 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:27.400 Well, maybe not. 00:10:27.400 --> 00:10:29.160 Why do you love them? 00:10:29.160 --> 00:10:30.000 I don't know. 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:32.600 I'm bound to them. 00:10:32.600 --> 00:10:36.280 I am bound to them in Christ Jesus. 00:10:36.280 --> 00:10:37.240 And so I love them. 00:10:37.240 --> 00:10:41.320 I love them as my brother, as my sister, no matter what, 00:10:41.320 --> 00:10:44.120 not because of any traits, not because of any attributes. 00:10:45.920 --> 00:10:47.920 The application's simple. 00:10:47.919 --> 00:10:52.759 Do you have love, Storgue affection, 00:10:53.759 --> 00:10:57.679 for God's people, by nature of being bound to them 00:10:57.679 --> 00:10:59.199 in Christ Jesus? 00:10:59.199 --> 00:11:02.000 Do you have that kind of love for the people of the church? 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:04.479 If you're a Christian today, 00:11:04.479 --> 00:11:09.479 you are going to end up spending eternity 00:11:10.039 --> 00:11:11.919 with all of these people, so you better start 00:11:11.919 --> 00:11:12.839 liking them now. 00:11:14.559 --> 00:11:16.199 Whether you like it or not, you're bound to them, 00:11:16.200 --> 00:11:18.120 so you've got to start liking them. 00:11:18.120 --> 00:11:20.600 And liking them is actually built on the foundation 00:11:20.600 --> 00:11:23.000 of first saying, I love them, 00:11:23.000 --> 00:11:25.440 with Storgue-like affection, familial affection. 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:30.440 Now, when Paul writes this to the Romans in the first century, 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:34.920 the Jews had been expelled in the previous decade 00:11:34.920 --> 00:11:36.920 from the city of Rome. 00:11:36.920 --> 00:11:39.520 And the Jews had now been allowed back 00:11:39.520 --> 00:11:43.759 into the city of Rome after the emperor Claudius had died. 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:47.000 And Paul, if you read through Romans very carefully, 00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:48.960 one of the undercurrents you might notice 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:52.039 is that Paul is trying to continually deal with the problem 00:11:52.039 --> 00:11:53.840 that the Jews and the Gentiles, 00:11:53.840 --> 00:11:57.319 and the Gentiles were of all sorts of ethnicities 00:11:57.319 --> 00:12:00.759 and pagan backgrounds, none of them really liked each other, 00:12:01.639 --> 00:12:03.559 and they didn't love each other. 00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:05.799 And back in Romans chapter two, he's dealing with that. 00:12:05.799 --> 00:12:09.120 He's saying to a Jewish man who was struggling, 00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:10.759 perhaps, to worship alongside Gentiles, 00:12:10.759 --> 00:12:12.439 and then later to Gentiles, 00:12:12.440 --> 00:12:14.840 who were struggling to worship alongside Jews, 00:12:14.840 --> 00:12:18.800 he's saying, you are not understanding the nature 00:12:18.800 --> 00:12:21.960 of the family of God, and you are discriminating 00:12:21.960 --> 00:12:24.240 based on race. 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:26.400 And so one of the reasons the book of Romans was written 00:12:26.400 --> 00:12:30.280 is to say that no matter what social class race, 00:12:30.280 --> 00:12:35.280 socioeconomic background, nationality, preferences, 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:39.520 political persuasions, when a person becomes a Christian, 00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:43.639 they are deeply bound forever by Christ in union with Christ 00:12:43.639 --> 00:12:45.039 to the family of God alongside you. 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:50.039 That means that if you go to the deepest, darkest prison 00:12:51.439 --> 00:12:53.360 in all of the world, wherever that may be, 00:12:53.360 --> 00:12:56.360 and find the person that's got the most vile, 00:12:56.360 --> 00:12:58.799 difficult, hardened record, 00:12:58.799 --> 00:13:01.960 when that man or that woman becomes a Christian, 00:13:01.960 --> 00:13:04.559 if they do and when they do, you say, 00:13:04.559 --> 00:13:06.519 that's my brother, that's my sister. 00:13:06.519 --> 00:13:09.960 And you look around the room and say, 00:13:09.960 --> 00:13:14.679 who is the most culturally other person from me 00:13:14.679 --> 00:13:16.759 in this room right now, the person that I'm probably 00:13:16.759 --> 00:13:20.519 least likely by nature of attributes to be friends with 00:13:20.519 --> 00:13:23.600 in normal circumstances, you look at that person 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:26.240 and you say, I love you, you're my brother 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:27.399 and you're my sister. 00:13:29.199 --> 00:13:32.199 Let me move on, but let me say this, why is that? 00:13:32.200 --> 00:13:37.200 How can this be, the first real step in moving 00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:40.040 towards love like this within the church 00:13:40.040 --> 00:13:43.800 is to actually just remember the theological fact 00:13:43.800 --> 00:13:44.759 of this love. 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:49.400 In John chapter 19 verses 26 and 27, 00:13:49.400 --> 00:13:54.240 Jesus Christ was dying, hanging on the cross actually 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:56.480 in the moment, about to be forsaken by the Lord, 00:13:56.480 --> 00:14:01.040 about to enter into hell itself for us. 00:14:01.039 --> 00:14:06.039 And he looks up and he looks at his mother, Mary, 00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:10.839 and he says, mother, woman, this man, John, 00:14:10.839 --> 00:14:14.199 my beloved disciple, is now your son. 00:14:14.199 --> 00:14:16.599 And then he looks at John and he says, John, 00:14:16.599 --> 00:14:21.599 this woman, my biological mother, Mary, is now your mother. 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:24.719 And you see, in that moment, Jesus Christ was saying, 00:14:24.719 --> 00:14:26.319 the moment that I go to the grave, 00:14:26.319 --> 00:14:30.519 the moment that I'm forsaken, the new eternal family 00:14:30.519 --> 00:14:34.879 will finally and forever emerge into world history. 00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:39.639 That now true family and forever family transcends biology 00:14:39.639 --> 00:14:42.279 in a way that never before has happened, 00:14:42.279 --> 00:14:44.759 that Mary and John, that is mother and son. 00:14:44.759 --> 00:14:46.799 And now because of Jesus Christ, 00:14:46.799 --> 00:14:49.079 because of Jesus Christ's cross, 00:14:49.079 --> 00:14:53.840 we have spiritual mothers here and spiritual sons. 00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:55.360 We have spiritual fathers here 00:14:55.360 --> 00:14:56.639 and spiritual daughters and sons. 00:14:56.639 --> 00:15:01.000 We have spiritual children coming into new faith, 00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:03.840 the spiritually mature, the moms and the dads. 00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:06.199 And we have everybody, no matter what that relationship 00:15:06.199 --> 00:15:08.399 looks like, brothers and sisters. 00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:09.799 And it's all because of the moment 00:15:09.799 --> 00:15:13.120 that Jesus Christ was forsaken at the cross. 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:16.840 The gospel creates new family. 00:15:16.840 --> 00:15:20.679 And it's precisely because the gospel is the proclamation 00:15:20.679 --> 00:15:25.679 that Christ Jesus died for you, not because of your traits, 00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:28.319 not because of your attributes, 00:15:28.319 --> 00:15:31.279 not because of eros or friendship even, 00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:33.159 not because he could look at you and say, 00:15:33.159 --> 00:15:37.159 wow, I was really attracted to you because of this or that. 00:15:37.159 --> 00:15:40.519 No, he came and died for us in the midst of our unloveliness. 00:15:40.519 --> 00:15:43.719 And so he founds a family that's built on love 00:15:43.719 --> 00:15:46.959 despite our unloveliness. 00:15:46.959 --> 00:15:49.159 That's how the gospel creates a new family. 00:15:49.159 --> 00:15:53.079 Enrollment 16, at the very end of this letter, 00:15:53.080 --> 00:15:55.840 he sends this letter with a group of people 00:15:55.840 --> 00:15:57.600 to deliver it to the people of Rome. 00:15:57.600 --> 00:16:00.600 And one of the people that he sends very clearly, 00:16:00.600 --> 00:16:04.200 we see in Romans 16, verse one, is a woman named Phoebe. 00:16:05.280 --> 00:16:10.040 And Phoebe must be carrying this letter to the Romans 00:16:10.040 --> 00:16:12.960 because Paul sends instructions to say, 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:15.639 when Phoebe gets there, this is what you say to her, 00:16:15.639 --> 00:16:16.560 this is how you greet her. 00:16:16.560 --> 00:16:20.240 And Phoebe is a name from the Greco-Roman world 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:21.840 of a pagan goddess. 00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:24.920 So this woman, whoever she was, she's from Kinkria. 00:16:24.920 --> 00:16:27.080 And she was named after a pagan goddess, 00:16:27.080 --> 00:16:29.639 meaning that very likely she was brought up and raised 00:16:29.639 --> 00:16:31.840 in a devout paganism of some sort. 00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:34.399 She's from Kinkria, she knows nobody in Rome. 00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:35.840 She has nothing to do with the Romans. 00:16:35.840 --> 00:16:36.960 And what does Paul say? 00:16:37.879 --> 00:16:39.920 When Phoebe shows up at your doorstep, 00:16:39.920 --> 00:16:43.920 you greet her as your sister. 00:16:43.920 --> 00:16:46.480 He says, this is your sister. 00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:49.920 And greet her in a way that is worthy of the saints. 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:52.559 What makes somebody worthy to be greeted 00:16:52.559 --> 00:16:55.719 as a sister or brother and as a saint? 00:16:55.719 --> 00:16:58.479 Nothing but the fact that Jesus died for them. 00:16:58.479 --> 00:17:01.240 Because Jesus died for Phoebe and the Romans, 00:17:01.240 --> 00:17:05.240 Paul says, when she gets there, you say, that's my sister. 00:17:05.240 --> 00:17:07.440 And you take her in and you love her in the same way 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:11.319 that you love the people in your own local church. 00:17:11.319 --> 00:17:16.319 When Christ looked up and said, Mary, that's your son, 00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:18.359 John, that's your mother, 00:17:18.359 --> 00:17:21.559 it means that Jesus Christ was going to hell on the cross 00:17:21.559 --> 00:17:24.039 so that you could have a forever family. 00:17:25.959 --> 00:17:27.119 Do you want that? 00:17:28.519 --> 00:17:30.039 Do you want a forever family? 00:17:31.159 --> 00:17:34.519 Do you want a true father? 00:17:34.519 --> 00:17:35.479 No matter what kind of father, 00:17:35.479 --> 00:17:36.839 even if you've had a great father, 00:17:36.839 --> 00:17:38.439 or a terrible father in this life, 00:17:38.439 --> 00:17:41.919 do you want a true eternal father, a forever family? 00:17:41.919 --> 00:17:43.799 Do you want the greatest brother 00:17:43.799 --> 00:17:45.679 that you could possibly imagine? 00:17:45.679 --> 00:17:47.439 An eternal brother. 00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:50.120 Jesus Christ, you don't have to leave Romans. 00:17:50.120 --> 00:17:53.600 Romans 8.29, Paul tells us, 00:17:53.600 --> 00:17:57.360 God predestined the church 00:17:57.360 --> 00:18:00.480 so that Jesus would be the firstborn 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:04.000 among many brothers and sisters. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:07.759 You see, God is so serious about the forever family 00:18:07.759 --> 00:18:10.279 that Jesus Christ founded that he says, 00:18:10.279 --> 00:18:12.640 I determined this family 00:18:12.640 --> 00:18:14.600 from before the foundation of the world. 00:18:14.599 --> 00:18:18.799 I predestined the family of God forever, 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:20.959 from forever ago into forever, 00:18:22.119 --> 00:18:25.519 so that you would be able forever to say, 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:29.240 I have a true eternal brother in Jesus Christ. 00:18:30.839 --> 00:18:32.919 Megan Hill says it like this, 00:18:32.919 --> 00:18:35.679 like the members of our biological family, 00:18:35.679 --> 00:18:38.359 we have not chosen them for ourselves, 00:18:38.359 --> 00:18:40.839 they've been chosen for us, 00:18:40.839 --> 00:18:44.439 and so we are inseparably bound to them 00:18:44.440 --> 00:18:46.440 whether we like it or not. 00:18:46.440 --> 00:18:49.519 Now, the question then, secondly and finally, 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:52.720 is do we act like it? 00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:56.039 We've seen the theological fact. 00:18:56.039 --> 00:18:58.840 The theological fact is we are by union with Christ 00:18:58.840 --> 00:19:00.880 a forever family, Christians, 00:19:00.880 --> 00:19:04.279 St. C's Christians, Edinburgh Christians, 00:19:04.279 --> 00:19:07.360 Scottish Christians, global Christians, 00:19:07.360 --> 00:19:09.240 a forever family. 00:19:09.240 --> 00:19:10.640 No matter what tradition we're a part of, 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:13.799 you believe the gospel, you're part of the family forever, 00:19:13.799 --> 00:19:15.919 but do we act like it? 00:19:15.919 --> 00:19:16.759 Do we live like it? 00:19:16.759 --> 00:19:20.359 Now, what Paul's really doing in Romans 12, 9 to 21, 00:19:20.359 --> 00:19:21.519 is dealing with that part. 00:19:21.519 --> 00:19:23.159 He's saying, do you really live like that? 00:19:23.159 --> 00:19:25.279 He's giving commands about love 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:28.279 and asking whether or not we're following 00:19:28.279 --> 00:19:31.919 after this reality that is the theological family. 00:19:31.919 --> 00:19:34.159 He's already told us, we don't. 00:19:35.079 --> 00:19:37.919 We know by nature that we do not love 00:19:37.919 --> 00:19:38.759 in the way we ought to. 00:19:38.759 --> 00:19:40.240 He's talked to us already in verse nine 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:41.720 about hypocritical love, 00:19:41.720 --> 00:19:44.000 that our love is fundamentally hypocritical, 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:45.839 prideful, competitive, 00:19:45.839 --> 00:19:48.880 that we're not living all the time as the forever family. 00:19:48.880 --> 00:19:50.120 And so he's saying, very simple. 00:19:50.120 --> 00:19:53.360 One, first thing, we just need to have 00:19:53.360 --> 00:19:56.600 a renewed theological grip on the fact 00:19:56.600 --> 00:19:59.319 that we are a family of God, 00:19:59.319 --> 00:20:00.920 even when we don't act like it, 00:20:00.920 --> 00:20:03.079 even when we don't care. 00:20:03.079 --> 00:20:04.799 First, he's just saying, you just are. 00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:06.000 You can't get out from under it. 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:07.480 You've got to wrestle with that fact. 00:20:07.480 --> 00:20:11.519 But then secondly, he gives us just two little commands 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:14.759 to say, here's a way you can grow into the brotherly love, 00:20:14.759 --> 00:20:18.000 the affection for each other. 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:20.079 Let me just highlight two, there are more than that, 00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:20.920 and we'll be finished. 00:20:20.920 --> 00:20:23.240 The first is, he says in verse 10, 00:20:23.240 --> 00:20:24.480 the very end of it, he says, 00:20:24.480 --> 00:20:27.519 out do one another in showing honor. 00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:32.079 Paul is playing with words here. 00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:36.359 He says in verse nine, go forth in love 00:20:36.359 --> 00:20:38.400 and never let your love be hypocritical. 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:40.599 What is hypocritical love from week one? 00:20:40.599 --> 00:20:43.480 It's competitive love, prideful love. 00:20:43.480 --> 00:20:44.559 It's not love at all. 00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:48.319 It's the type of action where you go to somebody, 00:20:48.319 --> 00:20:50.480 remember, and you praise them. 00:20:51.439 --> 00:20:54.079 But really, it's an order that you might receive praise 00:20:54.079 --> 00:20:55.719 from them in return. 00:20:55.719 --> 00:20:57.439 You go and do something outwardly loving, 00:20:57.439 --> 00:21:00.079 but internally, you really just want to be praised. 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:01.119 You want to be flattered. 00:21:01.119 --> 00:21:03.039 And so fundamentally, love like that, 00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:05.799 expressed love like that, is competition. 00:21:05.799 --> 00:21:08.559 It's actually an attempt to lift yourself up, 00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:10.240 not truly love somebody else. 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:12.120 Now, Paul comes in verse 10 and says, 00:21:12.120 --> 00:21:15.120 now out do one another in showing honor. 00:21:15.120 --> 00:21:18.480 And this verb out do is a competition verb. 00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:20.680 It's a verb that you would use in a race. 00:21:20.680 --> 00:21:22.400 So he's referring here to somebody 00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:24.519 that's about to run the 100 meter dash. 00:21:25.400 --> 00:21:28.559 And he's saying, you better be first off the block. 00:21:28.559 --> 00:21:30.759 You know, when the gun sounds, 00:21:30.759 --> 00:21:32.720 you better be racing as hard as you can, 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:34.279 as competitive as possible, 00:21:34.279 --> 00:21:36.359 to out do your neighbor in this church 00:21:36.359 --> 00:21:37.759 with showing honor to somebody else. 00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:40.039 So he says, never let your love be competitive 00:21:40.039 --> 00:21:42.440 and let your love be competitive. 00:21:42.440 --> 00:21:44.639 You see, never let your love be competitive 00:21:44.639 --> 00:21:46.720 in the sense that you're interested 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:49.000 in lifting yourself up above others, 00:21:49.000 --> 00:21:52.359 and then let your love be desperately competitive. 00:21:52.359 --> 00:21:53.559 Be first off the block, 00:21:53.559 --> 00:21:58.000 how in showing honor before anybody else, 00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:01.319 showing others honor before anybody else shows you honor. 00:22:01.319 --> 00:22:04.399 Now, another way one of the commentators puts it, 00:22:04.399 --> 00:22:09.000 is it means something like race to find the good 00:22:09.000 --> 00:22:12.079 in the people around you in the local church. 00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:14.960 Be the first, be the most competitive 00:22:14.960 --> 00:22:17.880 at looking for good in people around you. 00:22:19.640 --> 00:22:21.640 Here's one way to think about that. 00:22:21.640 --> 00:22:23.400 I heard this week from, 00:22:23.400 --> 00:22:25.279 I was listening to Tim Keller right after 00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:28.240 his memorial service, his memorial service 00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:30.279 for the passing of Tim Keller, the New York pastor, 00:22:30.279 --> 00:22:32.000 was this past Tuesday. 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:34.319 And I was listening to a sermon of his that day, 00:22:34.319 --> 00:22:36.319 and he highlighted one of the ways 00:22:36.319 --> 00:22:37.160 we could think about this. 00:22:37.160 --> 00:22:39.720 He said, one of the ways that you love the people 00:22:39.720 --> 00:22:41.360 in the church, you love people in general, 00:22:41.360 --> 00:22:43.759 but you honor people is by always looking 00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:45.800 for the good in them first, 00:22:45.800 --> 00:22:48.920 and then never treating them flatly. 00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:52.240 How do you treat somebody flatly? 00:22:52.240 --> 00:22:53.519 How do you fail to treat somebody 00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:56.120 in less than three dimensions? 00:22:56.120 --> 00:22:57.560 And he said something like this, 00:22:57.560 --> 00:23:00.200 you know, you're in the church family, 00:23:00.200 --> 00:23:04.800 and you know that somebody has lied about you. 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:08.000 You know that somebody has maybe gossiped about you. 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:11.240 You know that somebody is not telling you the whole story. 00:23:11.240 --> 00:23:13.279 You know that somebody did this or that, 00:23:13.279 --> 00:23:17.119 or you know somebody's past. 00:23:17.119 --> 00:23:18.680 You know something they've struggled with. 00:23:18.680 --> 00:23:20.079 You know something they're addicted to. 00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:22.839 You know the shame that's in their lives. 00:23:22.839 --> 00:23:23.680 And he says, you know, 00:23:23.680 --> 00:23:26.119 treating them flatly would be like this. 00:23:26.119 --> 00:23:30.119 You say, I know that this person has lied to me 00:23:30.119 --> 00:23:31.599 on several occasions, 00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:35.079 and that means that they're a liar. 00:23:35.079 --> 00:23:36.119 They're a liar. 00:23:37.879 --> 00:23:40.480 And then you think and you say, you know what? 00:23:40.480 --> 00:23:44.759 I also know that I lied to other people 00:23:44.759 --> 00:23:45.879 on several occasions, 00:23:45.879 --> 00:23:49.799 but when I did it, it was really complicated. 00:23:49.799 --> 00:23:52.159 You know, it's not so easy to parse. 00:23:52.159 --> 00:23:53.279 It was a mistake. 00:23:53.279 --> 00:23:57.559 You know, I'm not a liar, though I have lied many times. 00:23:57.559 --> 00:23:59.879 You see the difference three dimensions in one dimension. 00:23:59.879 --> 00:24:01.480 We treat people in one dimension when we say, 00:24:01.480 --> 00:24:03.480 that person lied to me, they're a liar. 00:24:03.480 --> 00:24:06.680 But when I lie, it was just a mistake. 00:24:06.680 --> 00:24:09.519 And he says, we can never treat each other flatly, 00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:10.880 always multi-dimensional, 00:24:10.880 --> 00:24:12.920 always knowing the complexities, 00:24:12.920 --> 00:24:16.240 the backstories, the pains, the struggles, 00:24:17.279 --> 00:24:21.640 the addictions, the sins that we continue to run back to. 00:24:21.640 --> 00:24:23.960 He says, you are gonna get sinned against 00:24:23.960 --> 00:24:26.160 and you're gonna sin against others in the church. 00:24:26.160 --> 00:24:30.240 Always look for the good, race, be the fastest person 00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:32.680 to try to find the good in the person around you, 00:24:32.680 --> 00:24:35.160 even when it might be difficult. 00:24:35.160 --> 00:24:37.279 He says, race, be competitive in doing that, 00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:38.920 compete to look for the good. 00:24:38.920 --> 00:24:41.000 He's saying, in other words, he's saying, 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:44.599 everybody around you, the forever family, 00:24:44.599 --> 00:24:47.880 is definitively not a finished product. 00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:51.440 They are being sanctified, they are growing, 00:24:51.440 --> 00:24:52.960 you are growing. 00:24:52.960 --> 00:24:55.920 And so your sins, they will be many 00:24:55.920 --> 00:24:57.880 in the life of the local body, 00:24:57.880 --> 00:25:00.039 but God's mercy is more. 00:25:00.039 --> 00:25:01.839 And so your mercy has to be more. 00:25:01.839 --> 00:25:03.639 You have to outdo one another in showing good. 00:25:03.639 --> 00:25:08.639 Now, secondly and lastly, verse 16 builds on top of that. 00:25:08.720 --> 00:25:12.639 He says to the church, okay, outdo one another 00:25:12.639 --> 00:25:15.319 in trying to show good, look for good in other people. 00:25:15.319 --> 00:25:18.960 Secondly, verse 16, live in harmony with one another. 00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:23.480 The word harmony is not exactly there. 00:25:23.480 --> 00:25:27.119 That's actually an interpretation of several words 00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:28.039 that are given. 00:25:28.039 --> 00:25:30.599 It reads something more like, 00:25:30.599 --> 00:25:33.720 live in such a way that you have understanding 00:25:33.720 --> 00:25:35.519 with other people. 00:25:35.519 --> 00:25:37.759 The verb is to have understanding. 00:25:37.759 --> 00:25:39.879 And the commentators think that it probably means 00:25:39.879 --> 00:25:42.839 something like always trying to give 00:25:42.839 --> 00:25:44.879 the benefit of the doubt. 00:25:44.879 --> 00:25:46.559 So he says it's something like, 00:25:46.559 --> 00:25:49.920 if you're racing to look for the good in other people, 00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:53.039 then verse 16, that means live in a way 00:25:53.039 --> 00:25:55.319 that you have a lot of understanding, 00:25:55.319 --> 00:26:00.319 a lot of time, a lot of compassion, even for wrongdoing. 00:26:00.919 --> 00:26:02.960 And so you put those commands together 00:26:02.960 --> 00:26:04.879 and you get this picture. 00:26:04.879 --> 00:26:08.960 Verse nine, he says, put away your hypocritical love 00:26:08.960 --> 00:26:11.439 because you are a hypocritical lover. 00:26:11.439 --> 00:26:14.720 Verse 10, he says, try to race to see the good 00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:18.159 in other people because that's not always going to be easy. 00:26:18.159 --> 00:26:20.759 Verse 16, he says, you've got to give people 00:26:20.759 --> 00:26:22.000 the benefit of the doubt. 00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:23.439 Live in harmony with one another. 00:26:23.439 --> 00:26:24.439 You see what he's saying? 00:26:24.440 --> 00:26:26.440 He's saying, we're not doing great at this. 00:26:26.440 --> 00:26:27.440 That's what he's saying. 00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:30.200 Every single verse he has to give a negative saying, 00:26:30.200 --> 00:26:32.960 you're gonna have to really fight to be in harmony. 00:26:32.960 --> 00:26:35.400 You're gonna have to really fight to look for good 00:26:35.400 --> 00:26:38.039 because it's going to be difficult to see. 00:26:38.039 --> 00:26:41.400 So he's acknowledging first, he's saying, 00:26:41.400 --> 00:26:44.680 you are part of the forever family, theological fact, 00:26:44.680 --> 00:26:47.480 and right now that is not a perfect family. 00:26:48.360 --> 00:26:51.759 And you have to be very upfront about expecting that. 00:26:51.759 --> 00:26:53.799 That this is not a perfect family. 00:26:53.799 --> 00:26:55.399 It's not always going to be great. 00:26:55.399 --> 00:26:57.720 There are things to complain about. 00:26:57.720 --> 00:27:00.279 The minister's the first thing and there's many more. 00:27:00.279 --> 00:27:01.639 There's lots to complain about. 00:27:01.639 --> 00:27:04.559 It's not hard to find, Paul's acknowledging that 00:27:04.559 --> 00:27:06.960 because he's saying, yes, there's sin. 00:27:07.919 --> 00:27:11.079 And so we ought to expect that we could easily 00:27:11.079 --> 00:27:13.079 and will hurt one another. 00:27:13.079 --> 00:27:14.839 We'll fail one another. 00:27:14.839 --> 00:27:16.519 We'll not be what we're meant to be 00:27:16.519 --> 00:27:17.759 towards and for one another. 00:27:17.759 --> 00:27:20.519 We will be lonely when we're not supposed 00:27:20.519 --> 00:27:22.399 to be lonely in the church. 00:27:22.400 --> 00:27:24.080 We will lack friendship in the church. 00:27:24.080 --> 00:27:25.759 When we know what body should lack friendship. 00:27:25.759 --> 00:27:29.400 We will struggle in the church when we shouldn't have to. 00:27:29.400 --> 00:27:31.120 And he's saying, but that's because 00:27:31.120 --> 00:27:32.600 you're not a finished product. 00:27:32.600 --> 00:27:35.840 You have not yet become what you shall be 00:27:35.840 --> 00:27:36.880 in the forever family. 00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:38.920 And he's saying, first you've got to expect that 00:27:38.920 --> 00:27:40.120 and then you've got to go forward. 00:27:40.120 --> 00:27:41.200 And this is the close. 00:27:42.360 --> 00:27:45.320 He's saying, you've got to go forward and understand 00:27:45.320 --> 00:27:48.519 that within the body of faith and the relationships, 00:27:48.519 --> 00:27:52.040 the hardest spiritual battles you may fight 00:27:52.039 --> 00:27:56.759 in all of life will probably be contained amongst those. 00:27:57.680 --> 00:27:59.920 The most difficult spiritual battles, 00:27:59.920 --> 00:28:03.759 the most difficult of processing relationship 00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:05.839 might very well be in your life 00:28:05.839 --> 00:28:08.960 through the relationships you have within the local body. 00:28:08.960 --> 00:28:11.440 The local body has the ability to lift you up 00:28:11.440 --> 00:28:13.200 and give you such joy like no other community, 00:28:13.200 --> 00:28:17.039 but it also has the ability to give you a lot of pain too. 00:28:17.039 --> 00:28:18.359 And he's saying, so you've got to know 00:28:18.359 --> 00:28:20.519 that the spiritual battles you're really 00:28:20.519 --> 00:28:22.480 got to be engaged in and awake to 00:28:22.480 --> 00:28:25.420 are those relationally within the church. 00:28:26.480 --> 00:28:29.680 We think about the hardest spiritual battles in our lives 00:28:29.680 --> 00:28:32.519 as those big sins that we struggle with. 00:28:32.519 --> 00:28:35.400 You know, you might say, I've been struggling 00:28:35.400 --> 00:28:38.359 with this addiction for 30 years. 00:28:38.359 --> 00:28:40.039 It's the biggest spiritual battle of my life. 00:28:40.039 --> 00:28:41.200 And there's truth there. 00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:44.879 I've been struggling with this for 30, 40, 50 years, 00:28:44.879 --> 00:28:46.799 20 years, 10 years, whatever it may be. 00:28:47.879 --> 00:28:49.639 But if you only think like that, 00:28:49.640 --> 00:28:53.520 you might miss that actually the greatest sanctifying work 00:28:53.520 --> 00:28:55.240 that God may do in your life 00:28:55.240 --> 00:28:57.180 is when you are completely awake 00:28:57.180 --> 00:28:59.860 to the smallest spiritual battles, 00:29:00.840 --> 00:29:05.600 like the tiny little moments of having to be patient 00:29:05.600 --> 00:29:06.840 with somebody in this room, 00:29:07.840 --> 00:29:10.200 the tiniest little moments of having decided 00:29:10.200 --> 00:29:14.900 between grumbling about somebody else around here or not. 00:29:14.900 --> 00:29:16.600 See, these are the little spiritual battles 00:29:16.600 --> 00:29:18.000 that really count. 00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:22.799 Thousands and thousands and thousands of interactions 00:29:22.799 --> 00:29:25.440 where you have to decide patience over impatience, 00:29:26.559 --> 00:29:28.759 forbearance over grumbling, 00:29:28.759 --> 00:29:33.680 where you have to decide forgiveness over revenge. 00:29:33.680 --> 00:29:35.640 And Paul is saying, you've got to, 00:29:35.640 --> 00:29:38.160 he's saying step one, expect that. 00:29:38.160 --> 00:29:40.880 Expect that that's gonna happen a thousand times 00:29:40.880 --> 00:29:43.680 in the local church and choose the way of Christ. 00:29:43.680 --> 00:29:45.160 And the way of Christ is this, 00:29:45.160 --> 00:29:50.160 I will swallow the pain of the offense. 00:29:50.279 --> 00:29:53.160 Jesus Christ, sin always costs. 00:29:53.160 --> 00:29:54.640 And when Jesus Christ went to the cross, 00:29:54.640 --> 00:29:58.440 he swallowed the pain of every offense in the world. 00:29:58.440 --> 00:30:00.840 And Paul's saying the way of Christ, the way of love, 00:30:00.840 --> 00:30:03.279 store gay affection begins, 00:30:03.279 --> 00:30:04.840 like your biological family saying, 00:30:04.840 --> 00:30:07.840 oh boy, I've had to swallow a lot of offenses 00:30:07.840 --> 00:30:09.160 that have been a card against me. 00:30:09.160 --> 00:30:12.040 And I know that my brothers and my sisters, 00:30:12.040 --> 00:30:14.960 my mom, my dad, my aunts, my uncles, 00:30:14.960 --> 00:30:17.240 they have had to swallow a lot of offenses 00:30:17.240 --> 00:30:18.440 that I've given to them. 00:30:19.440 --> 00:30:22.200 And he's saying the fundamental thing is to expect that 00:30:22.200 --> 00:30:25.480 and to be quick to forgive. 00:30:25.480 --> 00:30:28.480 The fundamental posture, humility, again, 00:30:28.480 --> 00:30:30.880 in the midst of the church. 00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:34.440 Last word, there are two kinds of people here today. 00:30:34.440 --> 00:30:36.640 Maybe you're here today and you're not a Christian. 00:30:37.640 --> 00:30:41.920 You maybe have been listening and you wonder, 00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:46.360 you wonder, is the church, the Christian church, 00:30:46.360 --> 00:30:47.920 really a family? 00:30:49.759 --> 00:30:52.120 Is there really any meaning in all of this? 00:30:52.120 --> 00:30:55.680 Because you say, I've read the headlines. 00:30:55.680 --> 00:30:58.279 I've read about what the church has done. 00:30:58.279 --> 00:31:00.360 I've read about what this pastor did, 00:31:00.360 --> 00:31:03.160 that pastor, what this person, what this leader. 00:31:03.160 --> 00:31:04.320 You've read the headlines and you say, 00:31:04.320 --> 00:31:06.960 could it really be true that the church 00:31:06.960 --> 00:31:09.720 really is a family of love? 00:31:09.720 --> 00:31:12.240 Or you're a Christian today and you say, 00:31:12.240 --> 00:31:16.360 I believe theologically that the church is a family 00:31:16.360 --> 00:31:17.960 by way of union with Christ, 00:31:17.960 --> 00:31:21.559 but I don't know that I feel that all the time. 00:31:21.559 --> 00:31:25.279 I feel distant, I feel lonely, I feel separated 00:31:25.279 --> 00:31:27.759 from Christians all around me. 00:31:27.759 --> 00:31:29.640 I feel the same way my colleagues feel, 00:31:29.640 --> 00:31:32.160 that they lack friendship, perhaps. 00:31:32.160 --> 00:31:36.480 And I just want to close with one verse, Romans 1620. 00:31:36.480 --> 00:31:40.039 Romans 1620, Paul closes this letter out 00:31:41.240 --> 00:31:43.960 and he gives this long list of names. 00:31:43.960 --> 00:31:46.720 He says, greet this person, greet that person. 00:31:46.720 --> 00:31:49.039 Welcome Phoebe, your sister. 00:31:49.039 --> 00:31:50.920 Then he turns from the greetings 00:31:50.920 --> 00:31:53.079 to the brothers and sisters and he says, 00:31:53.079 --> 00:31:55.120 and watch out for this person 00:31:55.120 --> 00:31:57.079 because they're really divisive. 00:31:58.079 --> 00:31:59.880 He says, within the family of God, 00:31:59.880 --> 00:32:01.400 you need to watch out because this person 00:32:01.400 --> 00:32:03.039 has been really divisive. 00:32:03.039 --> 00:32:04.120 And then at the very end of that, 00:32:04.119 --> 00:32:06.679 after saying brother, sister, brother, sister, 00:32:06.679 --> 00:32:08.199 watch out for division, 00:32:08.199 --> 00:32:11.000 in Romans 1620, he says this, 00:32:12.319 --> 00:32:17.319 the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. 00:32:21.359 --> 00:32:22.479 Now why does he say that? 00:32:24.119 --> 00:32:26.119 He says, greet all these people 00:32:26.119 --> 00:32:27.279 that you've never met before 00:32:27.279 --> 00:32:29.479 as brothers and sisters, part of the family 00:32:29.479 --> 00:32:32.319 and know that some of them will actually do 00:32:32.319 --> 00:32:35.919 such significant sin that they might split the church in half. 00:32:36.919 --> 00:32:38.759 And then he says, but know this, 00:32:38.759 --> 00:32:42.919 very soon God will crush Satan under your feet. 00:32:42.919 --> 00:32:47.039 Now he's referencing Genesis chapter three, 00:32:47.039 --> 00:32:51.359 315, where there was a prophecy about a son, 00:32:51.359 --> 00:32:53.559 a son of Eve that would one day come 00:32:53.559 --> 00:32:57.559 and crush the serpent under his feet. 00:32:57.559 --> 00:32:59.279 And Jesus Christ came into the world 00:32:59.279 --> 00:33:01.720 and he crushed the serpent under his feet. 00:33:01.720 --> 00:33:05.920 He crushed the head of sin and death and destruction 00:33:05.920 --> 00:33:09.240 and grumbling and impatient and schismatic behavior 00:33:09.240 --> 00:33:11.440 within the church and every type of offense 00:33:11.440 --> 00:33:13.120 that can happen, he crushed it. 00:33:14.079 --> 00:33:16.759 And you see what Paul's doing, he's saying, 00:33:16.759 --> 00:33:19.600 if you believe on the gospel, 00:33:20.519 --> 00:33:25.519 one day you too will actually crush 00:33:26.559 --> 00:33:29.400 the serpent's head under your feet. 00:33:29.400 --> 00:33:32.320 Meaning that if you're united to Jesus one day, 00:33:32.320 --> 00:33:36.840 very literally, you will kill sin and death 00:33:36.840 --> 00:33:40.280 and impatience and grumbling and offense and schism 00:33:40.280 --> 00:33:42.360 and every sin that's been committed against you 00:33:42.360 --> 00:33:44.040 and you commit towards others, 00:33:44.040 --> 00:33:46.759 you too will find a place eventually 00:33:46.759 --> 00:33:51.080 where you will be as victorious as Jesus was, 00:33:51.960 --> 00:33:52.960 but not yet. 00:33:54.600 --> 00:33:56.240 And that means that if you're not a Christian today, 00:33:56.240 --> 00:33:59.799 you know this, the church really is a forever family, 00:34:00.960 --> 00:34:02.799 but it's not yet what it will be. 00:34:04.279 --> 00:34:06.920 And so you can expect the things you've seen, 00:34:06.920 --> 00:34:09.440 that's exactly the message we preach. 00:34:09.440 --> 00:34:11.920 We are not what we're supposed to be, 00:34:12.800 --> 00:34:14.880 but Jesus has crushed the serpent for us 00:34:14.880 --> 00:34:17.039 and one day we will too. 00:34:18.199 --> 00:34:20.519 And if you're a Christian today, you can say, 00:34:20.519 --> 00:34:24.079 I know that we are not yet what we should be as a family, 00:34:24.079 --> 00:34:26.319 but one day we will be and for now, 00:34:26.319 --> 00:34:28.279 I'll give Megan Hill the last word 00:34:28.279 --> 00:34:29.719 and her great reflections on this. 00:34:29.719 --> 00:34:32.599 She says, what would it look like for the church 00:34:32.599 --> 00:34:37.360 to lean in to the idea that we can act in such a way now 00:34:37.360 --> 00:34:39.960 that we can crush these things? 00:34:39.960 --> 00:34:41.119 And truly love one another. 00:34:41.119 --> 00:34:42.599 This is what it looks like, she says, 00:34:42.599 --> 00:34:45.039 because God's people are our family, 00:34:45.960 --> 00:34:50.960 we now can hold our preferences and our priorities loosely. 00:34:50.960 --> 00:34:54.119 We will open our hearts and we'll open our doors. 00:34:54.960 --> 00:34:57.440 We will pull up a chair to the dinner table 00:34:57.440 --> 00:35:00.400 and add another name to our prayer list. 00:35:00.400 --> 00:35:02.559 We will give them our groceries, 00:35:02.559 --> 00:35:04.079 we will give them our furniture, 00:35:04.079 --> 00:35:07.000 we will give the people and God's family our smiles, 00:35:07.000 --> 00:35:10.480 we will share their grief, their trials, their disappointments. 00:35:10.480 --> 00:35:14.920 We will look for ways to show love and as a result, 00:35:14.920 --> 00:35:17.960 we will have less money than we would have had. 00:35:17.960 --> 00:35:21.519 We will have less free time than we would have had. 00:35:21.519 --> 00:35:24.720 We will expect to have a lot more sorrow 00:35:24.720 --> 00:35:26.079 than we would have had, 00:35:26.079 --> 00:35:28.720 but we will also expect to have a lot more joy. 00:35:29.960 --> 00:35:31.519 Let's pray together. 00:35:31.519 --> 00:35:35.599 Lord, we know Jesus that you say in Hebrews two 00:35:35.599 --> 00:35:38.980 that you are not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters. 00:35:40.159 --> 00:35:42.360 And so help us today to look around and say, 00:35:42.360 --> 00:35:48.920 I am not ashamed to call that person brother and sister. We give thanks, 00:35:48.920 --> 00:35:53.120 Lord, that you were not ashamed to be our sibling, our forever sibling. 00:35:53.120 --> 00:35:56.160 So teach us, Lord, what it means to love in a way 00:35:56.160 --> 00:36:00.880 that mirrors the foreverness of the family of God even today 00:36:00.880 --> 00:36:03.880 so that the world might see a unique type of love. 00:36:03.880 --> 00:36:13.880 And we pray this now in Christ's name. Amen.