WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.640 So, if you would turn back with me, I'm going to be looking at both the passages that we 00:00:06.640 --> 00:00:15.160 read together from John 13 and also from 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. 00:00:15.160 --> 00:00:17.920 And I hope you'll see how they're linked together. 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:23.120 Because in many ways our theme, and I'll work my way into this, okay? 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:28.719 So you'll begin to find out what we're saying and why I'm saying it in the context of the 00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:35.039 series that we're doing which is called Rooted and Living in Christ. 00:00:35.039 --> 00:00:40.920 And there's been a card produced that gives some details of this whole philosophy of thinking, 00:00:40.920 --> 00:00:46.960 the idea behind it, Biblically, in terms of discipling and caring for one another. 00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:51.840 And of the four that are on the card today, we're looking at loving and protecting each 00:00:51.840 --> 00:00:54.719 other, okay? 00:00:54.719 --> 00:01:05.799 So being busy, social media and Netflix, among other things, make working at friendship harder 00:01:05.799 --> 00:01:10.239 and harder in the society in which we live. 00:01:10.239 --> 00:01:17.200 And these are very real challenges to us because they tend towards isolation. 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:23.960 They tend towards insularity rather than looking out. 00:01:23.959 --> 00:01:31.039 Being busy, social media, which I'm always harping on about, and Netflix, which I sometimes 00:01:31.039 --> 00:01:34.359 harping on about, are only one thing. 00:01:34.359 --> 00:01:41.919 There's something much worse than that for threatening, developing and deepening spiritual 00:01:41.919 --> 00:01:43.039 friendships. 00:01:43.039 --> 00:01:45.319 And that is bad theology. 00:01:45.319 --> 00:01:48.759 So worse than all these other things, point the finger at all these other things. 00:01:48.760 --> 00:01:54.040 Just think about and look at ourselves and look at our understanding of God and of our 00:01:54.040 --> 00:01:56.320 understanding of who He is. 00:01:56.320 --> 00:02:04.080 And recognize that bad theology is in our Christian lives much more likely to make us 00:02:04.080 --> 00:02:10.400 misunderstand the importance of growing and deepening spiritual relationships with one 00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:12.800 another. 00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:16.759 It's just about, we can say, it's just about me and God. 00:02:16.759 --> 00:02:18.360 It's just about me and God. 00:02:18.360 --> 00:02:19.840 My friendship with Him. 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:24.840 It's just about reading books and about knowing my Bible and coming to a deeper understanding 00:02:24.840 --> 00:02:26.280 of what's in the Bible. 00:02:26.280 --> 00:02:28.720 It's just about going to church. 00:02:28.720 --> 00:02:33.560 Now all of these things are good things, but they're kind of half truths. 00:02:33.560 --> 00:02:39.960 And sometimes the half truth is worse than the lie, isn't it? 00:02:39.960 --> 00:02:46.000 Because all of these things that I've mentioned in terms of our spiritual priorities, all 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:54.199 of these things you can do not just without friends, you can do them without Christ. 00:02:54.199 --> 00:02:59.479 You don't need Christ to be at the center of your heart and life in order to read and 00:02:59.479 --> 00:03:06.759 to know the Bible and to go to church and to think about Him. 00:03:06.759 --> 00:03:09.159 We don't need Jesus. 00:03:09.159 --> 00:03:17.560 And that is really what I want to focus on today is, again, this whole thing about being 00:03:17.560 --> 00:03:21.079 rooted, about remaining and about being part of Christ. 00:03:21.079 --> 00:03:26.519 See friendship, which we're going to be looking at really, which is just another word for 00:03:26.519 --> 00:03:28.800 discipling one another, God's way. 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:35.079 Friendship God's way isn't simply optional, or it's not simply life enhancing for us. 00:03:35.079 --> 00:03:36.919 It's life giving. 00:03:36.919 --> 00:03:44.359 It is related to our need for Jesus Christ in our lives, you know, which is not just 00:03:44.359 --> 00:03:46.879 the added extra for our lives. 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:49.639 It's what gives us life as believers. 00:03:49.639 --> 00:03:54.399 You know, if we don't have friendship vertically with the living God through Jesus Christ, 00:03:54.399 --> 00:04:02.039 which our sin keeps us from and only coming to know Christ as Savior enables us to have. 00:04:02.039 --> 00:04:08.359 If we don't have friendship vertically and if therefore we don't have spiritual friendships 00:04:08.359 --> 00:04:14.280 horizontally with one another, we can't claim to be disciples of Jesus. 00:04:14.280 --> 00:04:19.439 Well, everyone else we think we are, we can't claim to be disciples of Jesus. 00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:24.120 You're playing with fire if you don't see the need for a vertical relationship with 00:04:24.120 --> 00:04:31.579 God through Christ and the corresponding relationships with one another as believers. 00:04:31.579 --> 00:04:35.839 We are in danger if we think that way, if we don't need these things. 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:42.839 On that last great day of Jesus saying, depart from me, I never knew you. 00:04:42.839 --> 00:04:44.360 I never knew you. 00:04:44.360 --> 00:04:47.120 I didn't know you. 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:48.839 There was no friendship there. 00:04:48.839 --> 00:04:51.159 There was no relationship. 00:04:51.159 --> 00:04:52.639 You knew about me. 00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:54.719 You went to church. 00:04:54.720 --> 00:05:01.600 You had no time for me in your heart and in your life. 00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:02.600 I never knew you. 00:05:02.600 --> 00:05:07.440 This series is all about bearing fruit together, being disciples together. 00:05:07.440 --> 00:05:13.320 And part of knowing Jesus is how we respond and relate to one another. 00:05:13.320 --> 00:05:18.840 And it's summed up in the commandment that we read in John chapter 50. 00:05:18.840 --> 00:05:19.840 Well it's actually John 13. 00:05:19.840 --> 00:05:22.640 It's also in John 15. 00:05:22.639 --> 00:05:25.919 I think, yeah, I'll not put it up just now, but it's about loving one another. 00:05:25.919 --> 00:05:27.319 I'll give you a new commandment. 00:05:27.319 --> 00:05:32.759 Love one another as I have loved you, so you love one another. 00:05:32.759 --> 00:05:38.439 And that whole section in John chapter 13, right through to John 17, if you have time 00:05:38.439 --> 00:05:42.599 at day to go home and read it, it's really significant and it's all linked to this whole 00:05:42.599 --> 00:05:50.639 series in many ways without us using that section of Scripture, but it's hugely significant. 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:57.079 And I want to talk about that, about loving one another as Christ's love does, and then 00:05:57.079 --> 00:06:00.879 I want to look at it practically from Thessalonians, okay? 00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:05.199 So the first thing is, love one another as I have loved you, and that is really speaking 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:06.199 again. 00:06:06.199 --> 00:06:08.599 It's about remaining in Christ. 00:06:08.599 --> 00:06:13.479 So the foundation of what we're saying is both coming to Jesus Christ, if you aren't 00:06:13.479 --> 00:06:19.039 a believer, you come by faith and trust in what Jesus Christ has done. 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:23.920 You come by faith and put your trust in Him, and then as Christians we're saved, but we're 00:06:23.920 --> 00:06:25.600 to remain in Him. 00:06:25.600 --> 00:06:26.800 That's really what we're saying. 00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:31.560 You know, if you don't have the root, you won't have the fruit, okay? 00:06:31.560 --> 00:06:34.320 Puthy, memorable, keep it. 00:06:34.320 --> 00:06:37.840 If you don't have the root, you won't bear the fruit. 00:06:37.840 --> 00:06:41.840 And that's really what we've been looking at in the whole series, isn't it? 00:06:41.840 --> 00:06:46.759 Rooted and sending the roots of your life out to Jesus Christ so that you will bear fruit 00:06:46.759 --> 00:06:53.959 and loving one another is central to that bearing fruit. 00:06:53.959 --> 00:06:57.719 So He's the source of our lives spiritually. 00:06:57.719 --> 00:07:03.680 How can we love one another, as we're told there, as Christ His love does, if we don't 00:07:03.680 --> 00:07:06.399 have Christ's love in our heart? 00:07:06.399 --> 00:07:07.959 We don't understand Christ's love. 00:07:07.959 --> 00:07:17.719 See, we can't love like Christ if we don't know Christ, and the core of Christ's love 00:07:17.719 --> 00:07:19.599 is what? 00:07:19.599 --> 00:07:23.240 It's self-denying love. 00:07:23.240 --> 00:07:26.799 Greater love as no man in this, He gives up His life for His friends. 00:07:26.799 --> 00:07:31.560 He gave up all His rights to die on the cross on our behalf. 00:07:31.560 --> 00:07:32.799 It's a self-denial. 00:07:32.799 --> 00:07:34.959 He gave Himself. 00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:42.319 And that's the hardest thing for us to understand, because we are selfish by nature. 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:44.879 We're self-centered by nature. 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:47.199 So His love changes everything. 00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:53.519 Luke 9 verse 24, sorry, I think that's the second one. 00:07:53.519 --> 00:07:58.439 Luke 9, 24, which says, catch us online. 00:07:58.439 --> 00:08:00.000 That's a different version. 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:02.839 For whoever would save His life, will lose it. 00:08:02.839 --> 00:08:05.560 But whoever loses His life for my sake, will save it. 00:08:05.560 --> 00:08:13.159 That's the gospel message, is that to know and to love Christ is to know that we lose 00:08:13.159 --> 00:08:19.039 our own autonomy, sinful autonomy, and self-reliance. 00:08:19.039 --> 00:08:20.239 Always looking out for number one. 00:08:20.239 --> 00:08:26.479 We lose that when we come to Jesus Christ, because that reflects what He has done. 00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:33.200 We recognize that there's this great self-denial in the love that we show to others. 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:39.200 So we remain in Jesus Christ, and as we do so, it helps us to understand ourselves, because 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:43.360 we are so complex. 00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:47.960 And when we know ourselves better, we recognize that we absolutely need Jesus Christ in our 00:08:47.960 --> 00:08:54.600 hearts to rescue us, to forgive us, and to change us, because selfishness is so overwhelmingly 00:08:54.600 --> 00:08:55.600 powerful. 00:08:55.600 --> 00:09:02.040 Our self-centeredness and our desire to rule our own lives without God in Christ is so 00:09:02.040 --> 00:09:07.879 great, it needed God to come and break its deathly power by going to the cross in order 00:09:07.879 --> 00:09:10.200 to set us free. 00:09:10.200 --> 00:09:16.480 So if I think, or if you think, for one moment that you can live for Jesus Christ as a Christian, 00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:21.440 without relying on Christ and His power and His strength and His transforming grace in 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:30.600 our hearts, we are kidding ourselves, because selfishness is so great and so deep. 00:09:30.600 --> 00:09:34.160 If we think we can live without remaining in Christ, we have no concept of what He's 00:09:34.160 --> 00:09:44.880 asking us to do, or the unattainable beauty of living by grace. 00:09:44.880 --> 00:09:51.240 If we think we can make discipleship a self-service possibility, I can be a Christian, I can be 00:09:51.240 --> 00:09:57.240 a disciple without relying daily and being rooted in Jesus Christ. 00:09:57.240 --> 00:09:59.919 That cannot be. 00:09:59.919 --> 00:10:05.960 Whatever it is we think we are, we are not being Christians, because Christians mean 00:10:05.960 --> 00:10:10.360 that we recognize that we need to love God and love others in the same way that Jesus 00:10:10.360 --> 00:10:14.480 loved us and we cannot do that in our own strength. 00:10:14.480 --> 00:10:17.320 It's a paradox. 00:10:17.320 --> 00:10:23.879 As a Christian, we know we're already living in Christ, we know that, but it means realizing 00:10:23.879 --> 00:10:30.680 daily that you're called to remain in Him, daily, hourly, consciously, His voice, His 00:10:30.680 --> 00:10:37.280 words, His prayer, dependent on Him, so that we can live our lives His way. 00:10:37.280 --> 00:10:39.120 So that foundation has been there all along. 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:42.240 You know, if we don't have the roots, we'll not bear the fruit. 00:10:42.240 --> 00:10:48.799 So as Christians, we're looking for that relationship, the underground bits of our 00:10:48.799 --> 00:10:53.440 lives, the bits that nobody sees, our soul and our very being that were rooted in Christ, 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:58.000 that were sending our roots out towards the water, that great picture from the card, you 00:10:58.000 --> 00:10:59.000 know, that we've got. 00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:00.000 It's a great picture. 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:03.480 Keep it in your mind. 00:11:03.480 --> 00:11:07.840 And when we're rooted in Christ and remaining in Christ, then we're called to love others 00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:08.960 as He has loved us. 00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:13.759 You've seen that in John 13, and I think it comes up on the screen here as well. 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:16.840 John 13, 34, no, it doesn't come up on the screen there. 00:11:16.840 --> 00:11:20.000 Okay, but you know it because we've read it. 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:26.400 And John, Jesus in that passage reads, it says it twice, if you remain, a new commandment 00:11:26.400 --> 00:11:33.160 I give to you, if you love me, you will love one another as I have loved you. 00:11:33.160 --> 00:11:35.400 And then he goes on to say greater love as no man in this. 00:11:35.400 --> 00:11:37.720 And he calls it, that's the 11th commandment. 00:11:37.720 --> 00:11:41.080 It's a new commandment. 00:11:41.080 --> 00:11:44.440 And it's because it's a summary of the other 10. 00:11:44.440 --> 00:11:48.040 It's a summary of what it means to be renewed in Christ, image bearers. 00:11:48.040 --> 00:11:50.360 It was lost in the fall. 00:11:50.360 --> 00:11:52.759 That sin has broken it from us. 00:11:52.759 --> 00:11:59.800 And He's come to recreate it as we trust in Him, that we can love Him because He first 00:11:59.800 --> 00:12:03.200 loved us and we can love one another. 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:08.680 That's what it means to be a follower of Jesus, and he says in that passage, by this all people 00:12:08.680 --> 00:12:10.759 will know that you're my disciples. 00:12:10.759 --> 00:12:15.160 It's big stuff if you love one another. 00:12:15.160 --> 00:12:21.040 In other words, he's equating discipleship, the core of being a disciple of Jesus with 00:12:21.040 --> 00:12:24.480 loving fellow disciples, loving one another. 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:33.279 It's the primary, missional, evangelistic core of the New Testament church. 00:12:33.279 --> 00:12:34.680 It's not interesting. 00:12:34.680 --> 00:12:36.759 It's not going out in the streets. 00:12:36.759 --> 00:12:39.279 It's not taking tracks anywhere. 00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:44.920 It's not even telling someone about Jesus that you've never met before, important and 00:12:44.920 --> 00:12:47.320 significant, all these things are. 00:12:47.320 --> 00:12:53.000 It's as we love one another in community, the way Christ has loved us, then that is how 00:12:53.000 --> 00:12:55.679 people will know that we are followers of Jesus. 00:12:55.679 --> 00:12:59.679 That's the primary focus of being a follower of Jesus so that other people who don't know 00:12:59.679 --> 00:13:05.440 Jesus will be challenged by that and will be moved by that. 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:10.000 Gospel growth and evangelism through the local church, through how we... 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:14.919 It's the outward face of the local churches, how we react to one another because it shows 00:13:14.919 --> 00:13:20.679 the difference Jesus is making in our lives, rather than Jesus just being a ritual or some 00:13:20.679 --> 00:13:23.239 distant figure that's not really significant or important. 00:13:23.239 --> 00:13:27.159 Because if he's a distant figure that's not really significant or important, then no one's 00:13:27.159 --> 00:13:33.679 really going to be interested or persuaded or changed by looking into who he is because 00:13:33.679 --> 00:13:35.639 he doesn't matter that much. 00:13:35.639 --> 00:13:41.000 Now, the discipleship team who are looking at discipleship have chosen the Thessalonians 00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:47.399 passage for this particular sermon. 00:13:47.399 --> 00:13:51.759 And that's great, I love when other people choose the passage for me, makes life much 00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:55.199 easier. 00:13:55.199 --> 00:13:58.919 And it's a great passage, the Thessalonians one, about loving and protecting each other. 00:13:58.919 --> 00:13:59.919 It's just... 00:13:59.919 --> 00:14:01.079 It's such a huge area. 00:14:01.079 --> 00:14:02.360 You know, where do you start? 00:14:02.360 --> 00:14:03.360 Where do you finish? 00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:10.720 Well, all I want to do this morning in the time that's left of me is to provoke you towards 00:14:10.720 --> 00:14:20.519 Jesus Christ in a new way and challenge your concept of what spiritual friendship means. 00:14:20.519 --> 00:14:24.960 Because discipling one another is all about just genuine spiritual friendship. 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:27.920 So one Thessalonians fact, and I'm only going to take one verse, okay? 00:14:27.920 --> 00:14:29.920 One verse. 00:14:29.920 --> 00:14:30.920 One verse. 00:14:30.920 --> 00:14:36.279 And we urge you, brothers, brothers and sisters of the church, admonish the idol, encourage 00:14:36.279 --> 00:14:41.519 the faint hearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. 00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:44.600 So you could read the whole letter, there's lots more in it than just that one verse. 00:14:44.600 --> 00:14:46.439 There's just so much. 00:14:46.439 --> 00:14:48.399 But that one verse will help. 00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:55.759 This is what Christ in His living Word says, this is one way of expressing how much you 00:14:55.759 --> 00:15:02.439 love one another and your dependence on Jesus Christ to do that. 00:15:02.439 --> 00:15:06.000 This is what it looks like to bear fruit. 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:09.759 If your roots are in the right place, you'll bear fruit in this way towards one another. 00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:14.000 And so I guess one of the questions this morning is always, what kind of fruit am I bearing 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:16.240 in my life, my Christian life? 00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:17.240 What fruit am I bearing? 00:15:17.240 --> 00:15:21.559 And maybe not even, if you're not a Christian, how is my life bearing fruit? 00:15:21.559 --> 00:15:27.919 It's maybe a harder concept to put in place if you don't have that illustration with Jesus. 00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:31.799 So there's four things here, very briefly. 00:15:31.799 --> 00:15:39.240 War on the Idol says, in terms of spiritual friendship, this is what He's asking us to 00:15:39.240 --> 00:15:42.159 admonish or warn the idol. 00:15:42.159 --> 00:15:50.199 And that is similar to a verse in Proverbs, chapter 27, which says, faithful are the wounds 00:15:50.199 --> 00:15:55.000 of a friend, profuse are the kisses of an enemy. 00:15:55.000 --> 00:16:04.360 So we recognize as believers that Christ has done all of these things in our lives. 00:16:04.360 --> 00:16:09.600 He's done all of these things as we look at our own lives in verse 14. 00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:11.799 He's warned us when we're idol. 00:16:11.799 --> 00:16:12.799 He's encouraged us. 00:16:12.799 --> 00:16:16.279 He's helped us and He's patient with us. 00:16:16.279 --> 00:16:23.039 And this, warn the idol, what a great challenge to our self-centeredness. 00:16:23.039 --> 00:16:27.639 I look at this and I see so much impossibility. 00:16:27.639 --> 00:16:32.919 How could I possibly do, how can I do this to a friend, to warn them about them being 00:16:32.919 --> 00:16:37.000 spiritually idol, indolent, lazy in their lives? 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:41.399 How can I be discerning about that and not just judgmental? 00:16:41.399 --> 00:16:45.199 Will it not just be because I'm annoyed with them or what exactly does it mean? 00:16:45.199 --> 00:16:50.000 Is it just because I'm OCD and they're not, just so I feel better about myself when I 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:55.440 correct other people, it's a really difficult question. 00:16:55.440 --> 00:17:01.279 So I'm asking the question this morning of you in St. Columbus, and if you're a visitor 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:05.839 today and there's quite a lot of people that are visiting today, do you have a spiritual 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:16.599 friendship that is deep and honest and committed and loving enough that you'd be able to take 00:17:16.599 --> 00:17:21.919 a warning from them about being idol? 00:17:21.919 --> 00:17:27.599 If you were being lazy in your spiritual life and someone spoke to you, I don't mean someone, 00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:30.240 just don't mean someone, I mean someone who's close enough to you. 00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:33.359 Do you have anyone who's close enough to you that you would respect? 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:40.559 You'd be wounded, faithful or the wounds of a friend, but would you be able to take that 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:49.279 warning, that admonition, because your friendship with them was so secure and so deep and so 00:17:49.279 --> 00:17:51.359 meaningful and so humbly focused? 00:17:51.359 --> 00:17:56.879 And because you knew that lovingly they found it really difficult to say it, but said it 00:17:56.879 --> 00:17:58.000 nonetheless. 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:04.000 How many people do you have in your life that you'd be confident of having that done to 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:05.000 you from? 00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:09.440 Without you taking the huff, who just, well, there's a person all about me, how dare they 00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:10.759 say that about idol? 00:18:10.759 --> 00:18:13.240 Ridiculous, I was up at seven o'clock. 00:18:13.240 --> 00:18:16.519 You know, that we would immediately be defensive. 00:18:16.519 --> 00:18:21.120 Immediately we would look to defend ourselves rather than having a friendship that was so 00:18:21.120 --> 00:18:24.640 real that we could take admonition from it. 00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:28.880 But can I ask another question? 00:18:28.880 --> 00:18:34.200 How many friends do you have that you would dare to say that to, knowing that they would 00:18:34.200 --> 00:18:37.360 take it well? 00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:44.119 Not only who would you receive it from, but who do you have a deep and meaningful spiritual 00:18:44.119 --> 00:18:51.919 friendship that is real and strong enough to be able to warn one another? 00:18:51.919 --> 00:19:00.240 Well, that's a really, that's a searching question this morning about your and my understanding 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:07.720 of what it means to be a Christian and what it means to love with the love of Jesus Christ, 00:19:07.720 --> 00:19:10.640 because that's what He's done for us. 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:17.359 If you think you can have that kind of friendship in St. Columba's or with your Christian friends, 00:19:17.359 --> 00:19:22.359 that you can do that kind of warning with in the right spirit, in the right way, with 00:19:22.359 --> 00:19:30.200 the right motives, without Christ's help, you're having a laugh. 00:19:30.200 --> 00:19:36.319 There is absolutely no way that we can do that without being rooted and dependent on 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:39.880 Christ Jesus, because it's not natural for us. 00:19:39.880 --> 00:19:44.360 And our motives are so mixed and it needs to be done so humbly in our hearts. 00:19:44.360 --> 00:19:51.160 So warn the idol, encourage the timid, the faint hearted, or the timid as it says there 00:19:51.160 --> 00:19:55.360 as well, or faint hearted as it says, timid in the NIV. 00:19:55.360 --> 00:19:56.360 Encourage the timid. 00:19:56.360 --> 00:19:58.880 That's another mark of friendship, isn't it? 00:19:58.880 --> 00:20:03.200 The timid is small, souled, those who lack courage. 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:08.640 That we come alongside them with comforting words and we help them by being sensitive 00:20:08.640 --> 00:20:10.200 and being supportive to them. 00:20:10.200 --> 00:20:18.320 Not criticizing them, not finding fault with them, but wisely with discernment and with 00:20:18.320 --> 00:20:23.880 time recognizing the difference between those who need warned and those who need encouraged 00:20:23.880 --> 00:20:25.600 in their lives. 00:20:25.599 --> 00:20:29.599 So often, isn't it we say the wrong things to people who need encouraged? 00:20:29.599 --> 00:20:33.879 They don't need to be beaten down, because they're timid, they're struggling in their 00:20:33.879 --> 00:20:39.359 faith, they're struggling to understand, and it's not one size fits all in the Christian 00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:40.359 life. 00:20:40.359 --> 00:20:42.719 Oh, just give them, bang, here. 00:20:42.719 --> 00:20:44.759 We deal with them differently. 00:20:44.759 --> 00:20:45.759 Encourage the timid. 00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:50.240 Help the weak is the third thing that we're encouraged to do here. 00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:54.359 Encourage the faint hearted at help the weak. 00:20:54.359 --> 00:20:58.559 If the former maybe is about how we speak to one another, maybe helping the weak is 00:20:58.559 --> 00:21:02.039 more about practical support and help. 00:21:02.039 --> 00:21:11.000 With your time, with yourself, coming alongside them, those who are doubting or ill or have 00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:17.519 gone through sadness and difficulty and feel their faith is weak, we walk alongside them. 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:22.759 We are strong for people who are weak. 00:21:22.759 --> 00:21:26.920 We're courageous for those who are timid. 00:21:26.920 --> 00:21:31.559 Other people are courageous for us when we are timid and are strong for us when we are 00:21:31.559 --> 00:21:32.559 weak. 00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:34.879 It's not one way, it works both ways. 00:21:34.879 --> 00:21:41.200 And then it finishes by saying, be patient with everyone. 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:45.359 Love one another as Christ's love does, be patient with everyone. 00:21:45.359 --> 00:21:51.759 That means, the word in the original is great there for patience, because it just means 00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:55.799 the opposite of being short tempered. 00:21:55.799 --> 00:21:57.559 Means long tempered. 00:21:57.559 --> 00:22:01.119 Just be long tempered with one another. 00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:03.480 It's so easy, isn't it? 00:22:03.480 --> 00:22:09.000 With our fellow Christians to be short tempered, lashing out and frustrated. 00:22:09.000 --> 00:22:17.680 So different to the way Christ treats us in His long temperedness and in His patience. 00:22:17.680 --> 00:22:19.759 How patient is Jesus with us? 00:22:19.759 --> 00:22:22.680 Isn't that great? 00:22:22.680 --> 00:22:25.480 How strong is He when we are weak? 00:22:25.480 --> 00:22:30.000 How courageous is He for us when we are timid? 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:36.119 And how honest was He when we are lazy and careless? 00:22:36.119 --> 00:22:42.000 And that is a picture, that's just one verse, one picture of what it means to love one another 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:46.879 as Christ's love does in our church here in St. Columbus. 00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:58.040 I'm just going to finish here with four quick assumptions that are implicit in this verse. 00:22:58.040 --> 00:22:59.440 Divine assumptions, okay? 00:22:59.440 --> 00:23:05.720 The first is that the church, the Christians, the body of Christ, the community of believers 00:23:05.720 --> 00:23:07.360 is a hospital for sinners. 00:23:07.360 --> 00:23:11.640 It's not a museum for saints, okay? 00:23:11.640 --> 00:23:15.120 And that's the divine assumption here. 00:23:15.119 --> 00:23:18.479 We come at church because it's a place of healing. 00:23:18.479 --> 00:23:25.199 The apostle assumes, God assumes that we will be lazy and weak and timid and in need of 00:23:25.199 --> 00:23:27.239 patience. 00:23:27.239 --> 00:23:33.679 And the church should be a place like that where people, all of us in our weakness and 00:23:33.679 --> 00:23:39.199 our fragility and our struggles can feel safe and secure. 00:23:39.200 --> 00:23:45.319 We're not going to come at church on a Sunday and be surrounded by giants, by spiritual goliaths 00:23:45.319 --> 00:23:50.160 that we cower before and we think, I can't come to this place because I'm struggling. 00:23:50.160 --> 00:23:53.160 Everyone seems so assured in their faith. 00:23:53.160 --> 00:23:57.720 And when I speak to anyone, they just tell me, buckle up or just, you know, chin up, 00:23:57.720 --> 00:24:00.360 keep it going. 00:24:00.360 --> 00:24:03.640 Nobody puts an arm around me, nobody speaks. 00:24:03.640 --> 00:24:11.920 The week, the timid, the faint hearted, the patience, the honesty, the openness, the divine 00:24:11.920 --> 00:24:19.120 assumption is that the church is for sinners saved by grace, not a museum for saints. 00:24:19.120 --> 00:24:22.960 And the great thing is that when we see Christ, we see victory and we see change and we see 00:24:22.960 --> 00:24:25.640 progress in Him. 00:24:25.640 --> 00:24:33.759 The second assumption is we are called to know others and to be known. 00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:37.920 And the Christian church, it's a commitment. 00:24:37.920 --> 00:24:44.480 It's not just a place we dip in and out of and we have no real connection with. 00:24:44.480 --> 00:24:47.040 It's not just an event that we go to. 00:24:47.040 --> 00:24:52.000 The community of believers, the local church is a place we're called to know others and 00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:53.000 to be known. 00:24:53.000 --> 00:24:54.000 That's sacrificial. 00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:56.559 It's costly. 00:24:56.559 --> 00:24:58.599 It takes time. 00:24:58.599 --> 00:25:04.000 It means dying to self, which we read earlier on. 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:10.279 And it takes a huge amount of effort, but it's effort that when we're rooted in Christ 00:25:10.279 --> 00:25:14.000 spiritually, we are able to do. 00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:15.000 And it's tough. 00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:16.000 Why? 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:17.000 Because we're selfish. 00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:19.119 That's our core and our root position. 00:25:19.119 --> 00:25:22.599 We're selfish. 00:25:22.599 --> 00:25:24.519 And we find that difficult. 00:25:24.519 --> 00:25:30.519 But it's this need to know and to be known in the church. 00:25:30.519 --> 00:25:33.319 And it's difficult on a Sunday morning, I know. 00:25:33.319 --> 00:25:41.000 But in our city groups, in our pastoral areas that we seek to know and be known, to know 00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:44.759 others, to take the time to be discerning enough to know the difference between the 00:25:44.759 --> 00:25:50.199 idol, the weak, the timid and those who need to be shown patience. 00:25:50.199 --> 00:25:52.240 That takes time and energy and effort. 00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:58.200 But we can't know people quickly and in an uncommitted way. 00:25:58.200 --> 00:26:02.000 Not only know people, but maybe this is harder. 00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:06.120 And this is harder in our cultural context to be known. 00:26:06.120 --> 00:26:09.120 Oh, we are you. 00:26:09.120 --> 00:26:10.120 Christ knows me. 00:26:10.120 --> 00:26:12.200 Christ knows me better than I know myself. 00:26:12.200 --> 00:26:13.200 He knows my heart. 00:26:13.200 --> 00:26:15.799 Of course He does. 00:26:15.799 --> 00:26:18.440 But that's an excuse. 00:26:18.440 --> 00:26:22.640 Because He says not only are we to be known by Him, but we are to known by one another. 00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:23.640 That's much more challenging. 00:26:23.640 --> 00:26:27.360 It's easy to say we're known by Christ because Christ does know everything about better than 00:26:27.360 --> 00:26:28.360 we know ourselves. 00:26:28.360 --> 00:26:31.240 But by others, oh no, that's not for me. 00:26:31.240 --> 00:26:36.920 And sometimes fear and vulnerability, or because we've been let down, because it hasn't been 00:26:36.920 --> 00:26:40.320 a place of safety, or because we're proud. 00:26:40.320 --> 00:26:46.880 And the challenge is that we are willing to be made known, to be known by others. 00:26:46.880 --> 00:26:48.680 We're willing to be vulnerable. 00:26:48.680 --> 00:26:54.160 We are willing to be strengthened by others, and to be encouraged by others, and to be 00:26:54.160 --> 00:26:59.120 shown patience by others, and to be forgiven by others. 00:26:59.120 --> 00:27:07.000 And for us, that is impossibly beyond our comfort zone, and our cultural expectations, 00:27:07.000 --> 00:27:08.840 and our natural inclinations. 00:27:08.840 --> 00:27:11.640 But we are new creations. 00:27:11.640 --> 00:27:16.280 We need to be both receivers and givers. 00:27:16.279 --> 00:27:22.119 We see therefore the third assumption that His Word is our authority. 00:27:22.119 --> 00:27:25.200 This is one way as we show bearing fruit. 00:27:25.200 --> 00:27:30.399 It's not just an optional extra that we're throwing out for you to think about today. 00:27:30.399 --> 00:27:32.319 It's the challenge for us. 00:27:32.319 --> 00:27:36.480 He wants the level of our friendships to be different from just the kind of friendships 00:27:36.480 --> 00:27:40.879 that we're used to having in the world. 00:27:40.879 --> 00:27:42.359 It's deeper than that. 00:27:42.359 --> 00:27:49.159 It's rooted in Jesus Christ, and it's recognizing the seeding need to shake our self-centeredness 00:27:49.159 --> 00:27:52.359 and our selfishness within it. 00:27:52.359 --> 00:27:57.240 It's that determination not just to have mates, to have pals. 00:27:57.240 --> 00:28:00.519 Because you know, that's a perfectly natural and good thing to do. 00:28:00.519 --> 00:28:05.159 It's great to have pals and mates, and that's an important part of life, absolutely. 00:28:05.159 --> 00:28:07.559 But this is different, isn't it? 00:28:07.559 --> 00:28:12.240 This is sacrificially committing to God's people who you probably wouldn't naturally 00:28:12.240 --> 00:28:18.919 be among, and loving and caring, and being with the weak and the vulnerable. 00:28:18.919 --> 00:28:22.319 And those are not like you, not like me. 00:28:22.319 --> 00:28:26.079 But when we do so, it will change our world. 00:28:26.079 --> 00:28:30.799 I think it will change our world personally, and I think it will change this church. 00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:35.839 The more that we see this, I think more people will be willing to come in and be part of 00:28:35.839 --> 00:28:41.439 this church because they will see, and they will know it's a safe place for the questioning, 00:28:41.439 --> 00:28:44.720 the doubting, the vulnerable, the weak, the struggling. 00:28:44.720 --> 00:28:49.879 And there will be an honesty in it which will give the parameters that people need in their 00:28:49.879 --> 00:28:51.119 lives. 00:28:51.119 --> 00:28:59.199 And no one has ever loved me enough to tell me where I'm going wrong. 00:28:59.199 --> 00:29:04.159 And that is a great thing in a world which has no guidance in these areas. 00:29:04.160 --> 00:29:09.920 And that will be powerful as a means of sharing Jesus Christ. 00:29:09.920 --> 00:29:15.519 I do believe that that's a powerful mission, a missional reality for us. 00:29:15.519 --> 00:29:21.400 So you love one another, the Eleventh Commandment, as I have loved you, by this all men will 00:29:21.400 --> 00:29:25.000 know that you're my disciples. 00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:32.200 Because God will be happy to change the hearts of people who don't know Him. 00:29:32.200 --> 00:29:37.880 He'll be happy to bring them to this place because it will be a place where they'll not 00:29:37.880 --> 00:29:41.960 be broken and where they'll not be damaged or abused. 00:29:41.960 --> 00:29:49.759 But they will be loved imperfectly but graciously and will be accepted. 00:29:49.759 --> 00:29:52.720 And that is a huge thing in the world in which we live. 00:29:52.720 --> 00:30:02.799 And that reflects what Jesus has done in our lives, unworthy, disinterested, sinful, 00:30:02.799 --> 00:30:04.799 hell-deserving. 00:30:04.799 --> 00:30:11.200 Yet He was gone all the way to the cross in order to buy us back and to give us hope 00:30:11.200 --> 00:30:12.200 and life. 00:30:12.200 --> 00:30:17.600 That is the gospel message that this nation and this city and our colleagues and our family 00:30:17.599 --> 00:30:24.879 members and our friends utterly and desperately need because there is no other salvation and 00:30:24.879 --> 00:30:28.359 there's no other rescue and there's no other hope. 00:30:28.359 --> 00:30:34.519 And as we live out and understand our own hearts and the beauty of Jesus Christ, it 00:30:34.519 --> 00:30:40.439 will change the way we look at ourselves, our friends in the church, or the church which 00:30:40.439 --> 00:30:44.079 we're apart, and the world in which we live. 00:30:44.079 --> 00:30:45.079 Amen. 00:30:45.079 --> 00:30:46.079 Let's pray. 00:30:46.079 --> 00:30:52.199 Father God, help us to see and know You better and understand You more clearly. 00:30:52.199 --> 00:30:58.960 A verse like the verse we've read, Lord, just makes us cry, impossible. 00:30:58.960 --> 00:31:01.480 I can't live like that. 00:31:01.480 --> 00:31:03.079 I can't love like that. 00:31:03.079 --> 00:31:09.399 I don't even want to love like that. 00:31:09.400 --> 00:31:18.160 And yet Lord, that's great because it drives us to You because it should be impossible. 00:31:18.160 --> 00:31:24.680 And it is impossible without Christ's grace and Christ's transforming power in our hearts. 00:31:24.680 --> 00:31:25.800 It's not something we can work up. 00:31:25.800 --> 00:31:28.240 It's not something we can tick boxes about. 00:31:28.240 --> 00:31:30.480 It's not something we can do grudgingly. 00:31:30.480 --> 00:31:37.880 It only comes when we are rooted in You and understand bit by bit more each day what it 00:31:37.880 --> 00:31:45.560 means to be united to You and how deep and great and sacrificial and loving and committed 00:31:45.560 --> 00:31:49.080 and impossible is Your love for us. 00:31:49.080 --> 00:31:53.800 Maybe we'll be able to dwell a little bit about that as we celebrate the Lord's Supper 00:31:53.800 --> 00:31:54.800 together. 00:31:54.799 --> 00:32:10.799 Amen.