Okay, this morning I'm going to talk to you about the kingdom of God and all of life together.
Kingdom of God and all of life together.
This is the mission of our church.
The mission of our church is the kingdom of God and all of life together.
So for those newbies who are here, you're wondering what our church is about.
I came on the right Sunday.
This is what our church is about.
Take it or leave it.
Kingdom of God and all of life together.
And as I talk about this, the goal part of this is to make sure that we're all on the same page.
Because if we're not on the same page as a church, Mark 3.25 says,
If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.
We have to be on the same page.
We have to be in agreement.
We have to be in unity.
Philippians 1.27, it says,
So that's really what I'm talking about here.
Standing firm in one spirit, with one line, and then striving side by side.
Oftentimes it's easy, you know, to be a part of church.
It's just like, well, you've got the paid professionals.
You've got the leaders.
They're doing their thing.
Then we just kind of fall in line.
We're just attenders.
We're just observers.
We're spectators.
But those are the people who are really doing the ministry.
Those are the people who are really doing the stuff, so to speak.
We have no desire to do that.
We have no desire to be that in any way, shape, or form.
We desire to be participants and partners together.
And this visual of striving side by side for the faith of the gospel is what we desire to do.
Because that's what Christ desires for us to do.
Amos 3.3 in the New King James says,
Can two walk together unless they are agreed?
Okay?
Can two walk together unless they are agreed?
It's a rhetorical question.
They can't.
Right?
They have to be agreed in order to walk together.
We call the members of our church partners.
And if you look at the dictionary definition of partner, one of the definitions is one who shares.
Okay?
And so, as a church, we want to share in priorities.
We want to share in vision.
We want to share in responsibility.
Okay?
We want to share priorities, share vision, and share responsibility.
And that's, I think, the sweet spot of where God wants his church.
So, let's look at those three different things.
The first one.
Shared priorities.
Okay?
The kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God is the thing that brings us this shared priority.
Jesus taught that we should seek first the kingdom of God and that our hearts follow what we treasure.
Okay?
Matthew 6.33 says, seek first the kingdom of God.
It doesn't say, seek second.
Seek third.
It doesn't say, seek your convenience first.
Make sure that the kingdom is, you know, up there.
It's near the top of your priority list.
It says, seek first the kingdom of God.
And then it says, where your treasure is in Matthew 6.21, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Okay?
So, when we treasure and seek first the kingdom, our hearts end up in the same place when we share the same priorities.
Okay?
You can try to put your heart someplace where your priorities are not, and it'll never work.
Where your treasure is or where your priority is, where you, the things you value, the things you treasure, the things you prioritize, is where your heart goes.
One of the reasons we end up failing at things in life is because we are trying to put our energies into a place where our heart isn't.
Well, why?
Because we have a different priority than the thing that we're trying to do.
Where your treasure is or your priority is, your heart follows.
And when we are trying to be a church that doesn't prioritize the same things, that doesn't treasure the same things, and then be one heart, it's never going to happen.
You can't have a church that has, whose heart is together, if we don't have the same priority.
You follow me there?
Okay, so we have to share the same priority of the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God is what he says to seek first.
It's basically treasuring Christ and his rule.
What is the kingdom of God?
I like to define it as what God wants and the way he wants it.
We're on earth as it is in heaven, right?
But he asks us to pray.
What God wants, the way he wants it.
One author said it's God's rule over everything, everywhere, for all time and eternity.
Wilkins Simpson describes it as the realm of God's uncontested rule.
Okay?
That's what we're seeking.
We're seeking the rule of God.
We're seeking God to rule over everything, everywhere, for all time and eternity.
Not just a couple hours on a Sunday morning.
Not just a couple hours on a small group, house, church, missional community, on a Wednesday night or this night or the other.
We're looking for God to rule and reign over every aspect of our life, everywhere, for all time.
And it starts in our households, extends into our churches, and then it goes everywhere else.
We're not content with a little bit here and a little bit there.
We want Jesus to be seen for who he is and to be submitted to him in who he is, that he is the ruler.
He's not content with a part of us.
He doesn't just want a little bit of us.
And he's certainly not content for us to sprinkle a little Jesus into our life and call that Christianity.
He is the Lord and he is the King.
And for you to profess that he is your Savior and not believe that he is your King and Lord is actually hypocrisy.
Because the only way he has the authority to save you is if he's King and Lord.
So to profess saving faith without a faith that believes in his Lordship and his Kingdom rule is not a faith that can save you.
Okay?
He has to be God.
He has to be King.
He has to be Lord in order to have the authority to save you.
Otherwise, he's just a good guy with good intentions.
And that's not what he is.
He is the Lord.
And he is King.
And we cannot separate him into little separate pieces as if he can be dissected into different attributes that we can, like, I'll take that part of you, Jesus, but not so much that part of you.
When you believe he is who he is, you have to believe all of who he is.
And that's what the Kingdom of God is all about.
It's believing and submitting to the rule of God in everything.
Like I said, it starts in your household.
Are we seeking first the Kingdom of God in our own households?
Does Jesus rule over every aspect of our household?
To do that, we have to ask the question, what does God want in my household?
Not what do I want, not what is most convenient to me.
What does God want?
And it's easy to sanctify our own selfish desires and call that what God wants.
And sometimes we just don't even want to ask the question.
We don't want to ask the question sometimes what God wants.
We don't want to ask the question what he wants in our household.
What does God want in my marriage?
What does God want in my single life?
What does God want in my parenting?
What does God want for my kids' bedtime?
What if it's inconvenient for me?
What does God want for your kids' bedtime?
What does God want in my home?
What does God want me to spend my time on in my home?
What does God even want for the home that I live in?
I'm asking the Lord for all these things.
How we do life together.
How we relate as a family.
I want the kingdom of God to come into my household.
I want the kingdom of God to come in my church.
We're not giving God a section of our life a little bit here and there.
We're setting up.
We want to be the vessel that you created that the gates of hell shall not prevail against
to bring the kingdom of God on the earth.
There is no plan B.
People want to build movements?
You can build movements all you want, but there's only one movement that Jesus said that he's committed to.
He said, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
This is the only thing he said he would build.
Are you giving yourself to the thing that God said he would build?
Are we giving ourselves to the movement that God said he would be behind?
Otherwise, we have to sustain it ourselves.
The great thing about the church is we don't have to sustain it ourselves.
We can trust that the thing we are giving ourselves to and sacrificing for is the very thing that Christ is building.
We're seeking his kingdom.
In our household, in the church, and in the world around us, in our job, in our neighborhood.
Seeking to bring the kingdom of God by preaching the gospel to people.
Not just being comfortable with a few Christians.
Not just being comfortable with our friends and the group of people we want our kids to grow up with and to grow old with.
We're constantly getting out of our comfort zone looking for opportunities to seek and save those who are lost, just like Jesus.
And Jesus, he didn't even let himself get comfortable.
In fact, when everybody's starting to come to him and they're looking for healing and they're looking for all the things that Jesus had.
And the disciples are thinking, okay, here it is.
Finally get our ministry.
We finally get our name.
He's like, I'm going to the next town.
Whoa, hold on.
Jesus, we got a good thing going on here.
Where are you going?
Jesus is always pushing out of comfortability.
Always pushing further in and further out.
Saying, I have to preach the gospel.
And us saying that our mission is the kingdom of God means our mission is to preach the gospel.
And to preach the gospel will always be an affront to our pride and our comfort and our selfishness.
It will offend us.
It will jostle us.
It will shake us.
And if that's not happening, you've got to ask, am I really seeking first the kingdom?
If my pride is never offended.
If my world is never shaken.
If things that I've always held and thought that were good, if those things aren't allowed to be put before the furnace of who God is and his word.
Then I've got to ask, am I seeking first the kingdom?
Or am I seeking some superficial hallelujah Christianity?
You know?
But what Mike not called happy smiles and half sympathies.
Where we just kind of go through life experiencing some subpar existence of relationship.
Where I'm free to live my selfish, comfortable life.
Without saying, no Jesus.
I'm not content to do that.
I want your kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven.
Not just in my little world.
Not just in my little church, but all the world.
I want to see the kingdom go where we don't see it right now.
I want to see people one to Christ.
I want to get into uncomfortable relationships and situations where the gospel is not so that I can preach it.
And I'm willing to sacrifice to do that.
Are we willing?
What are we withholding?
Does Jesus have everything?
If we're talking about the kingdom, we're talking about Jesus having everything.
That means we can't hold anything back.
Are we fully bought in the priority of the kingdom of God?
Are we fully bought in?
It's easy to say, yeah, that's a good idea.
Yeah, I know what you're talking about.
I've been to church before.
But are you fully bought in that there is no greater priority than the kingdom of God?
That all other things are subservient to this thing.
To seek first the king's rule.
God's rule over everyone everywhere.
Prayer.
That that is the ultimate goal for which I exist.
Is to see his rule extended.
And actuated in the earth.
Am I fully bought into the priority of that?
Or is that too radical?
Is that too extreme?
Is that too much?
We must be fully bought in.
And why do we do that?
It's like, yeah.
Be bought in on something that costs me everything?
No thanks.
I like the everything I have.
Why would I want to give it up?
It would have to be for something really good.
Thankfully, the scriptures speak to that.
We buy in because we're bought.
1 Corinthians 6, 19 to 20 says,
You are not your own.
For you were bought with a price.
So glorify God with your body.
You're not your own.
So glorify God with your body.
You were bought with a price.
When we've been bought, then we buy in.
You buy in to the degree you know that you're bought.
And the implications of what that means.
Jesus describes this in Matthew 13, 44 through 46.
He says,
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field.
Which a man found and covered up.
Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
This is what the kingdom of heaven is like.
We're talking about the kingdom.
We're talking about you sacrificing the little you have for the everything he has.
It's a pretty good deal when it comes down to it.
It's an easy sell when you look at it.
When you look at what you have and you're not looking at who God is
and what our inheritance in him is,
if we forget that part, it looks like a raw deal.
It looks like I've got to hold on to things.
I can't give you everything because then I lose.
We don't understand that the beauty of this parable is in his joy, it says.
Let me ask you the question.
When I talk about the kingdom of God,
when I talk about sacrifice,
when I talk about giving and not withholding,
do you hear that with joy or do you hear that with burden?
Do you hear that and say,
Oh gosh, one of these guys again?
We're going to hear him just hammering on this
and hammering on what God wants.
Is it joy to you?
Is it joy to lose all?
Has it ever been joy to you?
Was it joy at one time and it's become drudgery at some point in time?
Is it joy to you now?
When you look at what you have to give up,
when you look at what you have to sell,
and you look at Jesus and what you receive,
eternal life with him,
is that joy to give everything you have for that?
Is it a joy to do that?
Unless your revelation of the treasure
exceeds your revelation of what you have,
you'll never give altogether.
Unless your revelation of the treasure
exceeds your revelation of what you have,
you'll never give what you have to get it.
This is why he says,
In his joy,
he sells all that he has.
Why?
Because all that he has is worth less than what he's buying.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant
in search of fine pearls.
One finding one pearl of great value
went and sold all that he had
and bought it.
Are you fully bought into the priority of the kingdom of God?
When you look at what you have,
does it pain you?
Or is it your joy?
Is it your joy to give up?
Is it your joy to sacrifice?
Knowing what your inheritance in the Lord is.
Knowing who Jesus is
and what you get in him.
Is it a joy?
If it's not,
we need to repent
and believe the good news.
The Bible says repent
for the kingdom of God is near.
If we're seeking first the kingdom,
we have to repent.
We have to repent.
We have to say,
I am going to change my mind.
I was going this way.
I'm going to go the opposite way.
I'm going to believe what you say
about the supremacy of Christ and his kingdom.
And I'm going to give all together.
I'm going to believe that.
I'm going to trust that.
I'm going to repent
for the kingdom of God is near.
I'm going to repent
from thinking that other things
are more important.
I'm going to repent
for thinking that these things
that I grit,
that I held on to
for identity and worth,
that those things
are account and loss
compared to the surpassing greatness
of knowing you.
I'm letting go of those things.
Secondly,
shared vision.
Okay?
Shared vision.
If we don't have shared priorities,
then we won't have our heart together.
If you have one priority
and I have another priority,
your heart goes that way,
my heart goes this way,
there's no unity.
Okay?
But if we have the same priorities
of the kingdom of God,
we say,
okay,
we have the same priorities
of the kingdom of God,
but we don't have a shared vision
of how those priorities flesh out,
then we're also not going to have unity.
Right?
It's easy to meet Christians
and say,
yes,
we are,
we're kingdom people.
We believe in the priority
of the kingdom of God.
But the vision
of how that gets fleshed out,
if that's not the same,
if we don't have a shared vision
of that,
then we'll have division,
division,
two visions.
Okay?
And a house divided,
like we read before,
can't stand.
We have to have the same vision
of how the kingdom of God
fleshes itself out.
And I want to present to you
that I believe that the way
the Bible teaches
that this vision of the kingdom
of God gets fleshed out
is in all of life.
In all of life.
If our vision,
we each have a vision
of all of life,
then there'll be unity.
If some of us say,
well,
it's part of my life,
and others say,
it's all of my life,
there will always be division.
Okay?
The Bible says
to always give yourselves
fully to the work of the Lord.
And when we share a vision
for kingdom priorities
being fleshed out
in all of life,
rather than just parts of life,
it multiplies our opportunities
for ministry
by removing the limitations
of when and where
we can do the Lord's work.
It takes the pressure
off of meetings
being our main source
of life in church experience.
Okay?
And we love meetings.
We think Sunday mornings
are important.
We think other gatherings
are important.
But we should never be constrained
to meetings
for our life in God.
Our experience
of our life in God together
should be wherever
the people are.
Church is not just
a group of meetings.
Church is a group of people.
Okay?
And when those people
are together,
those people constitute
the church.
It begs the question,
what part of our life
is ours?
What part of our life
is off limits
to Jesus and the church?
You can have this,
you can have this,
but you can't have that.
You can have this part
of my life,
but man,
I'm not giving you that.
It's not,
it's that temptation
to say,
I don't want it to be
an all-life thing.
I'll give you this much,
I'll give you this
many nights a week,
Lord,
but these nights are mine.
I'll give you this much
of my money,
but this part of my money
is mine.
I'll give you this part,
much of my marriage,
but you know,
then this is my me time.
This is me,
this is me.
And we have this kind
of limits sometimes
that we can put.
I'll give you this much,
but not all.
And 1 Corinthians 15,
58 says,
always give yourselves
fully to the work
of the Lord,
knowing that your labor
in the Lord
is not vain.
How often?
Always.
Okay?
How much?
Fully.
Okay?
To what?
To the work of the Lord.
Always and fully
to the work of the Lord.
Always and fully.
Well,
what about this time?
Always.
What about this much?
Fully
to the work of the Lord.
This is the measure
which Paul put here
in 1 Corinthians 15,
58.
Are you always giving
yourselves fully
to the work of the Lord?
Knowing that your labor
in the Lord
is not in vain.
It's not in vain.
It will reap a harvest
if you don't give up.
Mark 8, 35 says,
whoever would save his life
will lose it.
Whatever loses his life
for my sake
and the Gospels
will save it.
Whoever loses his life
for my sake
and the Gospels
will save it.
We're looking for opportunities
to say,
God,
I want to lose my life
for your sake
and for the Gospels.
I love it.
In Mark there,
he says,
not just for your sake,
but also for the Gospels.
To be able to say,
I want to give my life
to Jesus.
Some people say,
I have,
it's all given to you,
Jesus.
When it comes to evangelism,
not so much.
Lord,
you can have everything
in my life,
but evangelizing
to strangers,
no thanks.
You can have all my life
but talking to my neighbors
about Jesus,
no thanks.
Whoever would save
his life will lose it,
but whoever loses
his life for my sake
and the Gospels
will save him.
We lost our life
for the Gospel.
I can't think of any way
that preaching the Gospel
doesn't cause us,
doesn't pull on us
to sacrifice.
It is much more convenient
not to preach the Gospel.
It is much more convenient
to avoid preaching the Gospel,
not talking to our neighbors,
not risking them hating us,
not risking them
not liking us.
It is much more convenient
not to talk to strangers
in grocery stores,
in coffee shops,
and in all other places.
It is much more convenient
not to go out of your way
to preach the Gospel
to someone,
to preach something
that could be offensive
to them.
It is much more convenient.
God causes us
to lose our life
not just for him
but for the Gospel.
And when there is a church
that says,
we want to do that
in all of life.
We want all of life,
not a part of our life.
It looks like
1 Thessalonians 2,
verse 8.
Paul said of the Thessalonians,
being affectionately
desirous of you,
we were ready to share
with you not only
the Gospel of God
but also our own selves
because you had become
very dear to us.
When was the last time
you described your church
and said,
these people,
I am affectionately
desirous of them.
They had become
very dear to me.
That's the only context
with which you not only
give, share the Gospel
but your very lives.
It's easy to just
share platitudes
or to share good things
or encouragements.
It's difficult
to share your whole life.
The only way you do that
is if you're affectionately
desirous.
It's when people
become very dear to you
and they become
very dear to you
when you realize
how dear they are to Christ.
They become very dear to you
when we have lost our life
for the sake of the Gospel
and realize,
when I think of
how Jesus Christ
welcomed me,
how much more
do I want to welcome others?
How much labor
will I put,
how much effort
will I put into
connecting with people
for them to understand
not just by word
but indeed
that they are
affectionately loved?
That I love them
to the point
of pushing through
their weirdness.
That I love them
to the point
of pushing through
the inconvenience
of a relationship
that feels like
it keeps hitting up
against the wall.
That I love them
to the point
that I will keep
pursuing them
and pursuing relationship
and connecting with them
for the long haul
even if it takes years.
because some relationships
do take years
to win trust.
Some relationships
do take years
to break through.
We want that kind
of church
that could literally
be in for the long haul
that says,
I'm willing to go years
to connect with you
because I see that
you are dear to me
and I want us
to be mutually,
affectionately desirous
of one another
so that we share
not just the Gospel
but our very lives.
We're not looking
to just share
the Gospel of another.
We're not just looking
to hear sermons together.
We're looking
to be a church
that's a church
in all of life
that shares lives
with one another.
The nitty gritty,
the hard things,
the difficult things,
the fun things,
all of those things.
This is what Paul said.
In Acts 20,
chapter 20,
verses 20 and 24,
Paul in verse 20
was teaching in public
and from house to house.
Okay?
He wasn't just teaching
in public,
he was going
from house to house.
Some people say
the house to house
is only valuable.
Some people say,
no, the public,
getting behind this thing
is what's important, right?
Well, what did Paul do?
He taught publicly
and he taught house to house.
We don't want to be
a church that just
teaches publicly
and is a Sunday morning ministry.
We don't want to be
a church that's
just house to house.
We want to be a church
that does public
and does house to house.
We want to be a church
that does all of life together,
just like Jesus did.
In fact,
if you look at the way
Jesus made disciples,
at the end of his life,
did he have 12 disciples
or did he have 144 disciples?
He had 144 disciples.
Well, we know
how he made the 12.
He made the 12
in the context
of really small groups, right?
12 people,
focused even on
three specifically,
right?
In that context
of discipleship,
that was more intense.
But it doesn't say
at the end of his life
that he had 12 disciples.
It said that he had
144 disciples.
How did he make
those other
132?
Did I get the math right?
How did he make
the other 132 disciples
that he wasn't doing
that smaller setting with?
He did it by preaching
in larger settings.
He did it by ministering
in larger settings.
And that same thing
was true in Paul's life.
He not only spoke publicly,
but he went house to house.
He didn't just share
the gospel with him,
but he shared his very life.
And we seek to do
the same thing
because that's what
the Bible teaches.
The Bible teaches
a life-on-life Christianity
that shares all of life.
I don't know how
you could read
the New Testament
and not see that.
1 Corinthians 9, 22,
Paul says,
I have become all things
to all people
that by all means
I might save some.
Well, that's pretty
all-encompassing, right?
How many things
should we become
to reach people?
All things.
How many kind of people
should we reach?
All people.
And what means
should we use?
All means.
All things to all people
that by all means.
This is what Paul did.
There wasn't any part
of his life
that was off-limits
where he's like,
I'm not willing to go there.
He was willing to go there.
He was willing to lose his life
for the sake of the gospel.
Colossians 3, verse 4 says,
Christ who is your life.
The greatest way
to make church weird
is to try to do church
with people
who don't believe
that Christ is their life.
You want to make church weird?
Try to do church
with people
who think that church
is a part of their life.
It's going to get weird
and divisive really quick.
You're not going to have
much in common
if Christ is your life
trying to relate to people
in the context of church
and mission
if other people
don't also believe
that Christ is their life.
Jesus doesn't want
to be treated
like an accessory
to your life
because Jesus
isn't an accessory.
He's Lord
or he's nothing.
He's King
or he's nothing.
You can't take
another version of Jesus.
The Bible calls that
another Jesus
and it doesn't speak
highly of it.
The Jesus of the Bible,
the Jesus who is God
is King and Lord.
He is our life.
And when we try
to do church
with people
where some people
believe is their life
and some people don't,
it gets weird
really fast.
It gets awkward
really fast.
It gets uncomfortable
really fast
because we're trying
to take two visions
and make them one
and it'll never work.
That's the vision.
It doesn't happen.
That's why we seek
to have an open
vulnerable heart,
an open hospitable home,
and an open
flexible schedule.
How can we have
life together
if those things
aren't open?
If I have an open
vulnerable heart,
I let people
into my heart.
If I have an open
hospitable home,
that is where
so much of life happens
around kitchen tables
and living room rugs,
right?
Like those are
where life happens.
Backyard barbecues.
That's where life happens.
If we don't have
an open flexible schedule,
you're not going
to make it
into someone's home
and you're certainly
not going to make
it into anybody's heart.
This is an
all of life thing.
Do you have
a shared vision
of it being
all of life
and how are you
laboring towards
all of life?
Are you laboring
towards this?
Are you exerting
an effort towards
our experience
of church
being all of life?
And thirdly,
so if you've got
shared priorities,
seeking first
the kingdom,
you say yes,
I agree with the vision
of it being
in all of life.
The third thing is,
do we have
shared responsibility
in the togetherness
of how that happens?
The New Testament
is littered
with the language
of togetherness.
We take ownership
and responsibility
for the kingdom
priorities being
fleshed out
in all of life,
specifically in a way
that insists on
doing things together
rather than on our own.
It maximizes
our impact,
increases our joy,
and lightens
our load
because we're
carrying it together.
All this stuff,
when we say this stuff
and we're not
doing it together,
it falls short
of the New Testament
norm.
It falls short
of that which
you would sell
all in your joy
to get.
The togetherness
is key.
Just listen to,
read through
a handful of verses
here and just
listen to this
togetherness vision
of the scriptures.
Acts 2,
44,
and all who believed
were together
and had all things
in common.
1 Corinthians 1,
2,
called to be saints
together.
1 Corinthians 12,
26,
if one member
suffers,
all suffer together.
If one member
is honored,
all suffer together.
I mean,
all rejoice together.
Okay?
All suffer together,
all rejoice together.
2 Corinthians 7,
3,
Paul appealing
to some believers
says,
you are in our hearts
to die together
and to live together.
To die together
and to live together.
Ephesians 2,
22 says,
in him you also
are being built
together into a
dwelling place for God
by the Spirit.
The church should
always be being,
being,
being built
together.
Okay?
It's an active
work of God
that God is working
us to be built
together with people.
That takes,
that takes a high
level of intentionality.
Some people,
you know,
get down on a high
level of intentionality
and church.
Say,
that's too much.
Well,
how can we be built
together if we don't
have a high level
of intentionality?
That requires
coordination.
Have you ever built
a house?
Have you ever rehabbed
a portion of your house
and you have to build
all those things
together?
The wood,
the drywall,
the screws,
the mud,
the tape,
the plumbing,
the electrical,
all that stuff,
the flooring.
How do we do that?
How do we build
that together
without a high level
of intentionality?
There has to be.
Jesus is building
us together
and he asks
that we would be
co-laborers with him.
1 Corinthians,
or I'm sorry,
Hebrews 10.25
says,
not neglecting
to meet together.
1 Corinthians 12.21
says that,
I cannot say to the hand,
I have no need of you,
nor again the head
to the feet,
I have no need of you.
It's a togetherness
that says we need
each and every part.
I don't just need
the parts that I really enjoy
and are really similar
to my personality
and gifting.
I need the people
that I don't enjoy as much
and aren't similar to me
and don't have the same
giftings as me.
I need those
and I need to realize
that those parts
are indispensable.
Can't say I have no need of you.
Proverbs 18.1 says,
whoever isolates himself
seeks his own desire,
he breaks out
against all sound judgment.
When you look
at these scriptures
and you see the togetherness,
that if we're seeking
first his kingdom
and we have a vision
to do it all in life,
there has to be
a shared responsibility
or we get burned out.
We can't have a version
of church
where a couple
of paid professionals
do all the work.
That was never meant
to be that way.
In fact,
the Ephesians 4 gifts,
they don't say
that they're supposed
to do all the ministry,
that the verse
in Ephesians 4 and 11 and 12,
what does it say?
They're supposed
to equip the saints
for the work
of the ministry.
They're not supposed
to be the people
who do all the ministry.
They're supposed
to be equipping the saints
to do all the ministry,
which gives us
an understanding
that the ministry
of the church
should be done together,
which again,
that language
is littered
all throughout
the New Testament.
There has to be
a shared responsibility.
When there's
a shared responsibility
where it says,
when I walk into a room
and I see a brother
or a sister
and I know,
this person has
as much mind
as I do,
there's a deep sense
of connection there.
There's a deep sense
of affection there.
When I walk in,
you know this is
the truth of anything.
When you've had a job
or even in your own family,
when you know
that one other person
that is tasked
to do something with you
that they're not bought in
as much as you,
if you know that,
that they're not bought in
as much as you,
what does your heart
immediately do?
Texan knows that.
Man, I am not motivated
to do this with you.
To do something
with a person
who's bought in
less than me,
I know what's going
to end up happening.
I'm going to do
all the work.
Remember this
when you do science projects
together in school?
Right?
Like, okay,
I know who's going to be,
I got put with that guy?
Yeah, I know who's doing
all the work in this group.
Then when you get picked
with that person
who's passionate about it
like you are,
who has the same vision
as you do and says,
oh, we're going to do
this together,
your heart leaps.
You feel lighter.
You feel like,
I'm excited to do this.
That's the way church
is supposed to be.
We're supposed to look
across the room
as brothers and sisters,
see hard situations,
see the ravages of sin
and the destruction of sin,
and see how people's lives
have been destroyed,
and us being in the business,
so to speak,
of restoration.
And looking across the aisle
to our brother and sister
and saying,
that person's bought in
as much as I am.
That person has the same priorities.
That person has the same vision,
and they have a shared level
of responsibility.
I have every reason to believe
for the restoration
with which we see.
I have every bit of a reason
to believe that their gift
and my gift
and their gift
all together,
that God is going
to manifest His grace
in such a way
that He's going to see
this person restored.
He's going to see
this person delivered.
He's going to see
this person set free.
He's going to see
this person saved.
And I don't feel like
there's this huge burden
on me
because I'm carrying it
together with my brothers
and sisters.
And I don't say things like,
I don't want to be
a burden to you
because the Bible says
we're supposed to bear
one another's burdens.
Okay?
We should be able to say,
thank you for letting me
be a burden to you,
and I know darn well
you've been a burden to me,
so let's do it together.
That's what we are.
We are burdens
to one another.
We're burdens to people.
If you have the audacity
and the arrogance
to think that you've never
been a burden to people,
number one,
you've never done
real church before.
Number two,
you're very conceited
in how you view yourself.
You don't really realize
that to somebody,
somewhere,
you are a burden.
And you don't have
to apologize for that.
That's what the church does.
We carry one another's
burdens together.
We realize that
at any given point in time,
we could be a burden.
And that's what everyone
knows and understands
is what our job is to do,
is to carry one another's burdens.
And that we're to bear
with one another in love.
If I'm bearing with one another,
I'm going to carry that.
How are we working
or laboring towards together?
What are we doing together?
How are we working
to make say,
I don't want to get tempted
into my selfish,
individualistic life.
I want to make sure
I'm laboring towards
doing things together.
What if it takes longer?
I'm still laboring
towards doing things together.
Well, what if it's harder?
I'm still laboring
towards doing things together.
There's no such thing
as a version of church
that doesn't labor
towards doing things together.
That's not church
in the sense
that the Bible describes
if we're not actively
laboring towards
working together.
1 Corinthians 15,
10 says,
I worked harder
than any of them,
but it was not I
but the grace of God
that was within me.
Paul was saying,
I worked hard for this.
I was constantly working hard
and laboring
towards these things.
He said in Colossians 1,
28 to 29,
Him we proclaim,
warning everyone
and teaching everyone
with all wisdom
that we may present
everyone mature in Christ.
For this I toil,
struggling with all his energy
that he powerfully works
within me.
So he was toiling this,
struggling with all the energy
of Christ that worked in him.
To do what?
To warn everyone
and teach everyone
so that you could see
people mature in Christ.
That's our goal
is to see people
mature in Christ.
How do we get there?
Struggle,
toil,
in God's power,
with God's energy.
Do we realize that?
If this doesn't drive us
to the cross
and it doesn't drive us
to our need for Christ,
then again,
we're trying something
that's too easy
and that's not
what God has called us to.
God has never called us
to something we could do.
God has never called us
to something we could do
apart from Him.
God has never called us
to do something we could do
apart from His power.
If we're not attempting
to do something
that in the flesh
seems impossible
and grates against us,
we are not attempting
to do the right thing.
The thing we should be
attempting to do
and to accomplish in Christ
should be that
which only Christ can do.
by His power,
by His strength,
by His energy.
But it takes us
striving together.
Romans 15, 30 says,
I appeal to you,
brothers,
by our Lord Jesus Christ
and by the love of the Spirit
to strive together
with me in your prayers
to God on my behalf.
Are we striving together
in our prayers?
Even sometimes in prayers
when we get individualistic.
We can sit in prayer meeting
and we can only think about
what I want to pray.
We can think about
my burdens.
We can think about
the things that are bothering me.
We can think about
the things that I want
from the Lord.
We can ignore
what's going on in the room
and what other people
are praying.
We can ignore
other needs in the room.
We can ignore
what God is saying
and speaking.
You see, Paul here,
he said,
I want to be striving
together with you
in your prayers.
We want to strive together.
He's appealing
that people strive together
with Him in prayers.
Do we have a togetherness
in prayer?
Do we have a labor
side by side
like Philippians 4, 3 says?
I ask you also,
true companion,
help these women
who have labored
side by side
with me in the gospel
together
with Clement
and the rest
of my fellow workers.
Okay?
Who have labored
side by side
with me in the gospel
together.
That's the kind of labor
that we're looking for.
In closing,
I'm asking that we consider
exerting maximum effort
to seek first
the kingdom of God
and all life together.
maximum effort exerted
to seek first
the kingdom of God
and all together.
And if we ever think,
oh, we're asking too much,
we just have to think,
am I forgetting the gospel?
Am I forgetting the gospel?
What does it mean
to be in Christ?
Where did He take me from?
Was my sin bad enough
that the only legitimate,
fair, and just punishment
for my sin
was hell?
Or is that too extreme?
Do I sometimes wonder,
is hell too extreme
a punishment for sin?
Is that a little over the top?
Or do I believe
that my sin is so wicked,
so bad,
that the only just
and right punishment
would be a place
where the fire
never goes out
eternally?
Is that the only
just punishment
for my sin?
Until I believe
that that is the only
just punishment
for my sin,
I might feel a little bit
like God's asking too much.
I might feel a little bit
like I'm getting ripped off.
I might feel a little bit
like church is too much
for me.
But when I believe
that my sin,
that I was justly
and rightly
under the wrath of God,
that my sin,
even my sins
of self-righteousness,
not just unrighteousness,
but my thinking
that I'm not as bad
as other people
and maybe I'm good enough
to earn heaven,
that those sins
of self-righteousness
and unrighteousness
justly put me
under the wrath of God.
And my only hope
for salvation
was to believe in
and trust on
a righteousness
that was not mine,
a work that I didn't accomplish,
would be given to me
and credit to me
in Christ
because He lived,
He died,
He was buried,
and He rose again
so that the life
He lived
and the righteousness
He earned
could be credited
to my account
so that my sins
could be washed clean
and that I could be
declared righteous.
And when the enemy
accuses me,
the one who stands
day and night
before me,
making intercession
for us would say,
not guilty.
When the Father
looks on us,
He sees the spotless Lamb
and He declares us
to be righteous.
And He declares us
to be in Him,
cleansed and free
from the dominion of sin
with the promise
of eternal life
to come.
When we know that,
we believe that.
We don't look
at the commands of God.
We don't look
at the requirements of God
and say,
too much, God,
too much.
We look at it
and say,
God, where do I start?
We look at it
and we say,
in my joy, God,
how soon can I,
how quickly can I,
how extravagantly can I
sell everything I have
to get the prize,
to get the treasure?
What you've given me
is infinitely greater
than everything
I could give to you
and it is my joy,
it is my pleasure,
it is my privilege
to give all,
every day,
here on for the end
of the earth
and to do it together
with my brothers
and sisters.
I don't want to just
seek you as an accessory
to my life,
you alone are king
and I will seek you first.
I will do it
in all of my life
and I want to do it
together with the saints.
As hard as it is,
as much perseverance
as it takes,
as much work
as it takes,
I want to do that
and I want to be
a group of people
who is like
a well-oiled army
and platoon
that goes out
and seeks to save,
seek and save
those who are lost,
that they might hear
the same gospel
that I heard,
that they might hear
the same good news
that I heard.
So I'm not living
for my own life
and the next trinket
and the next show
that I'm going to watch.
I'm living to see
people in darkness
go to the light.
I'm living to see
people who are
on their way to hell
be saved
and snatched
from the flames,
even hating the clothing
corrupted by simple desires,
as it says in Jude.
That's the kind of church
I want to be a part of.
That's the kind of church
we want to be.
That's the kind of thing
that Jesus describes
in the scriptures,
the kind of church
that he's building
that the gates of hell
shall not prevail against.
It's those who are
seeking first the kingdom
and all of life together.
That's not even
a Christ church thing.
That's just a Bible thing.
It's just a Bible thing.
My question to us
this morning is,
are we exerting
in joy,
a maximum effort
towards that?
And if we're not,
there's only one response.
Joyful repentance.
Thank God for his grace.
I repent.
I turn from these areas
where I'm holding back,
where I'm not believing
you're the priority,
where I'm trying to keep my life,
where I'm not doing it
together with the saints.
I repent from those things.
I turn.
I trust you.
And I move into obedience.
Amen?
Amen.
Let's stand.
Amen.