Because of Jesus, Part 1.

Steve Gentry

[0:04] pray with me [0:06] father in this moment [0:08] we proclaim that you are God and we are so thankful for your goodness [0:13] Lord it’s because of your goodness that we know that we can trust you [0:18] we can trust that you have [0:21] for us in Jesus kept every promise that you’ve ever made

[0:27] Lord that we are who you say we are [0:29] and Lord your promises will be delivered upon always [0:35] Lord it’s in light of those promises this morning that we ask that you would [0:39] build our faith [0:40] or that you would help us to live in light [0:43] of those promises and have them shape the path that we walk on

[0:49] it’s in the name of Jesus I pray [0:52] Amen. Go ahead and have a seat welcome to Village Church [0:56] if this is your first time here my name is Steve one of the pastors here at [0:59] Village Church [0:59] and as always I’m thankful and grateful to see [1:03] each and every one of you. Today we’re gonna go

[1:07] into Philippians chapter 2 we’re gonna begin [1:10] it’s almost like beginning a new section of Philippians where he takes [1:14] everything from Philippians chapter 1 [1:16] and begins to unpack how that [1:19] affects the way that we live our lives and so in Philippians chapter 1 he [1:24] starts

[1:24] with his gratitude for the community that he has been able to build [1:29] with the church at Philippi and that community [1:33] was defined by the gospel of Jesus he described it as a gospel [1:38] partnership that everything that he had with them [1:42] was because of the gospel and so the big [1:45] thing that we take away from that is our relationships

[1:48] once we come to faith in Jesus Christ are to be lived [1:53] in light of what we believe about the gospel [1:56] so our relationships are no longer

[2:00] what they were about everything in our lives [2:04] inside of us is changed by the gospel because beyond that [2:08] it also goes out of our lives and into the lives [2:11] of others and he goes from talking about relationships [2:16] to talking about how the gospel changes how he [2:19] acts to life it doesn’t just help him get through hard times

[2:23] but instead the power of Jesus actually shapes the way he views them [2:28] and the purpose of everything that happens in his life [2:31] that everything is to get the gospel further [2:34] into more and more people’s lives [2:37] and then he finished chapter 1 talking about how we are to live [2:42] our lives worthy of what Jesus has called us to

[2:47] in Jesus that is a hard message [2:51] and that the Bible tells us that we don’t just receive [2:55] the gospel we don’t just come to faith in Jesus [2:59] and go about life as usual instead the gospel comes in and it says [3:05] live this out faith is followed by a changed life [3:10] James chapter 2 tells us that faith without works is dead

[3:14] and so faith when it is not followed by a changed life when it is not [3:19] followed by a attitude of living for the gospel it’s not real faith at all [3:25] it’s fake it’s phony it’s not going to do you any good [3:29] if it doesn’t change the way that you face your life [3:33] and so in Philippians 2 he begins by really telling us how we can have [3:41] what he experienced in partnership with the church at Philippi he wants to tell us how we

[3:47] can experience life in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ how we can actually have the type [3:54] of relationships that don’t just terminate on themselves that aren’t just building around an [3:59] affinity that we share with someone but aren’t built through the selfishness of how people make [4:05] us feel and how we make those people feel but instead are built through what Jesus has given [4:11] us and that’s extremely difficult it’s the most difficult thing that you will ever do is build [4:17] relationships for Jesus there’s really two reasons for that the first one is that people are sinful

[4:24] people are sinful and because people are sinful they can hurt us and they will [4:32] if you’ve never gone through life without hurt because of another person [4:37] well then you’ve never had a relationship with another person not really people are sinful and [4:43] because of that it causes some disruption it causes some hurt people will do hurtful things [4:50] to you and in light of that the second one is similar in that you are sinful and so you will [4:58] hurt people it’s going to happen and so the relationships that we have in our lives

[5:05] are the most difficult things in our lives but they are also the things that will grow your [5:11] faith more than anything else because discipleship by its very nature is relational you cannot [5:19] disciple yourself the notion that just me and Jesus that’s all I need is an unbiblical notion [5:26] it’s also stupid you in order to grow and following Jesus you need other people specifically [5:33] you need other Christians in your life but people are sinful and you are sinful and it is the most [5:41] difficult thing that you will ever do because of both of those reasons and the hard thing there

[5:48] is is most of the time we turn that and we say our relationships are really hard because of other

[5:53] people what’s difficult is admitting relationships are hard because of you

[6:00] you don’t make them any easier you’re at least half of the problem

[6:08] and so the fact of the matter is is that God calls us into these amazing things called [6:13] relationships we often call it community around here therefore we must pursue it [6:21] you cannot follow Jesus without pursuing relationships with other people but it’s more [6:27] than just must because I think we look at most things as well I have to do this because Jesus [6:32] says I have to do it and so you try to muster up the strength to do it and you get burned out but [6:38] he didn’t just say we must do it God says we can do it because of what he’s done in Jesus

[6:47] he restores our capacity for community he restores the potential for us to have relationships [6:55] in the way that he designed them so yes you must enter into relationships to be and make [7:02] disciples but you can enter relationships to be and make disciples you have it in you because [7:12] of Jesus to actually live up to what God has called us to do and that’s where he begins in [7:20] chapter two now I want to be honest this is going to be a part one of a two-part mini series today [7:26] and so what we’re talking about this week and next week are going to be very similar all right

[7:31] going to jump off of one another today because verses one through five deal with us we’re going [7:37] to talk about the us factor next week we’re going to delve into Jesus because verses six through [7:44] eleven unpack how Jesus has actually secured this for us and in Philippians chapter two starting in [7:53] verse one here’s what the apostle writes he says so if there’s any encouragement in Christ [7:58] any comfort from love any participation in the spirit any affection and sympathy complete my joy [8:06] by being of the same mind having the same love being in full accord and of one mind do nothing

[8:13] from selfish ambition or conceit do you have any idea how difficult that is

[8:21] that’s a hard thing do nothing from selfish ambition he doesn’t just say don’t do most [8:29] things from selfish ambition he says do nothing from selfish ambition that’s difficult that’s [8:38] hard and he continues or conceit but in humility and say here’s the thing that Jesus will do to [8:47] you he won’t say avoid this and then he stops he says avoid this and replace it with that [8:55] that’s what’s so hard about the gospel he says don’t do anything from selfish ambition [9:00] but then he says instead do this count others more significant than yourself

[9:07] let each of you look not only to his own interest but also to the interests of others [9:12] have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus and so he gives us all of these [9:21] commands but he envelops them in this ability in this potential that God gives into our lives [9:28] he says you have this in Christ so live like this because it is yours in Christ so he declares the [9:36] gospel he gives you an imperative in light of the gospel and then he declares the gospel once [9:42] again he wants us to know that we can actually live this out that God has actually given this

[9:50] into our lives but when we read don’t do anything out of selfish ambition when we read count others [9:55] more significant than yourselves that is hard and I want to talk to two different groups of people [10:01] today I’m actually more concerned with the first group because I think that you think you’ve got [10:06] this figured out you are wired for relationship you wake up in the morning and you actually start [10:14] off by saying I can’t wait to be in a relationship with people today that’s odd but that’s you [10:22] all right I’m not in this camp by the way all right and so you’re just wired you feed off of

[10:29] people they make you feel great they make you feel wonderful you just want to bless everybody [10:34] you’ll be sitting alone at night and you’ll be thinking this would be so much better if [10:39] other people were here but quite often you’re not doing it because of Jesus [10:50] sometimes it’s because you’re codependent you’re needy nobody can please you [10:58] nobody can do enough for you and so if people don’t call you every day well why don’t they call me [11:03] don’t they believe in community right you ever struggle with that that’s because you’re needy

[11:09] by the way all right and I worry about this group of people is that you equate the fact that you [11:15] have a natural default for relationship with godliness but actually what you’re living out [11:22] is selfish ambition because your pursuit of community is all about you and so you have plenty [11:29] to repent of you need to repent of your codependency you need to repent of your neediness [11:35] you need to trust Jesus and build community about Jesus but then there’s the group that I’m in [11:41] I have literally never in my life been alone and thought to myself this would be so much

[11:48] better if another person was involved the opposite is true I’ll be alone and I’ll think I hope no one [11:56] ruins this I mean and my family will be in my house and I’ll be like oh please god keep them [12:03] upstairs I’m a terrible person and so for some of you you’re not wired that way what I mean by [12:13] your own wired it’s just not your natural disposition to feed off of relationships they exhaust you [12:22] all right you go and you’ll surround yourself with people and you will come home and you’ll be like [12:27] oh I am exhausted I just took everything out of me and so you will avoid relationships you will

[12:35] avoid community you will actually do things in order to prevent people from getting to know you [12:42] too much you will prevent people from being in relationship with you and you will actually then [12:48] just as the codependent person will use their natural tendency for selfish ambition to say [12:54] I’m doing this great you’ll actually do the same thing but you will say the fact that I don’t need [13:00] other people is because Jesus is enough for me I’m actually more godly because I hate everyone

[13:07] say no it doesn’t work out no something doesn’t add up in that equation [13:12] and so you need to repent of your isolation of your individualism of the fact that let’s just [13:20] be honest you don’t like anyone and I’m empathizing with you neither do I

[13:28] but Philippians 2 comes into both camps and calls us all to repentance and it says you are to build [13:38] relationships for one reason and it’s the same reason that you do everything else in your life [13:45] because of Jesus it must always at all times and in every circumstance be about Jesus Christ how [13:56] number one this morning your relationship with God must change your relationships with people [14:01] your relationship with God must change your relationships with people I mean note the way [14:07] Paul starts he says if there’s any encouragement in Christ any comfort from love any participation

[14:13] in the spirit any affection in somebody complete my joy by being of the same mind where does he [14:18] begin he begins by looking upward and he says this has to be about Christ this has to be from the [14:26] spirit this has to be centered upon the very thing that the gospel is all about and it is [14:33] about reconciling you in relationship with God and it is only then that the relationship with [14:40] other people have any hope of becoming what God has designed them to be it must be about God and [14:48] way you can read that wrong is you can say okay if any of this is true oh well so Paul is challenging

[14:56] the validity of their faith he’s not really doing that because chapter one showed us Paul isn’t [15:00] questioning the faith of the church at Philippi when he says if he’s building an if then statement [15:06] he’s building a statement to say assuming that all of your faith is true let’s take some inventory [15:12] to ensure that our faith is healthy he’s saying if you love God you will love other people pursue [15:21] that he’s telling them complete my joy by being filled with the love of God at all times because [15:32] some of us treat our pursuit of loving God and loving other people as a part-time vocation

[15:37] and when you get around to it when you get enough margin when I’m over this hurt [15:50] when the right type of person comes around

[15:55] Paul is saying throw all of that out the window if you love God you will be about building [16:03] relationships about God always

[16:10] and what I’ve made my life about in leading the church of Jesus Christ I can tell you one [16:17] commonality has always been around people are annoying I mean super annoying I mean I’m just [16:26] I’m I’m annoyed or I’m asleep or I’m hungry those are basically my three naturals all right

[16:33] and so what we will naturally do is we will get into the relationship zone and we will get annoyed [16:41] or something will bother us and it’s just like goodness it’s just I can’t believe that person [16:48] said this or I can’t believe that person has the audacity to have an opinion that’s not exactly [16:52] like my opinion or somebody will just let’s be frank just have one of those personalities [16:58] like the woodpecker you can’t find a shoot hey I’m not alone in this you’re not better than me

[17:09] and it’s just like that’s annoying and so we will excuse ourselves for this reason [17:14] we’ll excuse ourselves for that reason we will find all of the reasons as to why we are the [17:19] exception to the rule but here’s what you have to do if you believe Jesus you are not the exception [17:27] to any relational rule that God gives why because he says be of one mind he says if you are a [17:37] Christian then here is the pursuit no matter what your natural tendency is no matter what your [17:44] preference is no matter who you think you are in comparison to other people have the same mind

[17:54] saying all of you come together with your different backgrounds with your different reasons [17:59] with your different vices with your different things and build the church why Jesus has God not [18:08] called you to himself and think about annoying people Jesus spent most of his life on this [18:14] physical earth annoyed with the disciples even more annoyed with the people that weren’t his [18:20] disciples I mean at one point he’s so bothered he weeps over the entire city of Jerusalem [18:27] but while we were yet sinners Christ died for us

[18:31] they say the gospel brings us an ethic that says if Jesus doesn’t discard us who are you to discard [18:39] us if you love God you will love his people your relationship with God must encourage you to [18:50] embrace the changes that Jesus brings through faith in building your relationship with Christ [18:57] we are to have a united pursuit of discipleship as a people in relationship

[19:06] see we go from individuals on different missions to what verse 2 calls in full accord with one [19:15] mind I’ve been married for a few years and let me tell you even with your spouse it is hard to [19:23] have one mind usually mine annoys her now she’s perfect but my brain just can’t get on the right [19:32] track sometimes you say here’s the audacious calling that God is putting into your life [19:38] he says you come together with the church and what is the church the church is those people who [19:45] believe the same thing about the gospel of Jesus Christ that you believe you come together with

[19:51] them and you unite with the same purpose with the same mission with the same mind set to bring God [20:00] glory together but that’s the opposite of what most of us do most of us come into relationship [20:07] with people in the church and we spend a lot of our time trying to get them on my page

[20:15] and that’s where we get frustrated see it’s not that you look at them and they’re not as good as [20:22] you it’s that you look at them and they’re not interested in the same thing that you are

[20:29] and God is calling you through the apostle Paul he’s saying when you come into the church [20:33] leave your thing behind you’re joining their thing if it’s not all about Jesus then it’s useless [20:42] and you are to join up with the church and have one mind with the church and then you’ll say but [20:50] what about my thing but what about your thing it can stay your thing if it’s okay sometimes it’s [20:59] not okay stay your thing stop allowing your selfishness to define your community have one [21:11] mind have one pursuit in full accord it’s Jesus or it’s nothing and the apostle says

[21:20] anything that would divide us must be sacrificed there is much that isn’t centered on Jesus that [21:28] will divide us and if you bring it in and you let that thing that you have that thing that you want [21:36] that thing that you are about that thing that has all of your affection and it’s not necessarily [21:44] about Jesus and you let it bring division into your community then you need to repent and you [21:53] need to sacrifice that thing so that you can be of a united mindset with the people of God

[22:03] because of what verse 3 says verse 3 says do nothing from selfish ambition [22:11] do nothing from selfish ambition nothing and that’s hard and then he uses a very key phrase [22:22] that we often get wrong and that key phrase is humility

[22:29] humility he calls us to be humble see Christian humility is different than what you might think [22:36] sometimes we just call humility you know taking the praise of others and like rejecting it or [22:41] something like oh no i’m not good it’s all about Jesus all right that can be an effect of humility [22:47] but that’s not the root of humility the root of humility is honestly assessing ourselves in light [22:53] God’s holiness and our sinfulness honestly assessing ourselves in light of God’s holiness [23:00] and our sinfulness without an honest awareness of both of those realities you will fail to either

[23:06] understand or practice humility you will miss out on experiencing the promise and pleasure that [23:13] humility offers because the opposite of humility is pride and John Stott once wrote that pride is [23:22] itself the essence of all sin with whatever it is that you struggle with you can at its root [23:31] find pride because when you sin you are legitimately saying that you have more wisdom than God has [23:38] and so you are falsely assessing his holiness and you are also falsely assessing your sinfulness [23:46] you are a terrible God and therefore you must repent and trust who is God Jesus

[23:55] in Proverbs chapter 8 verse 13 it says that God actually hates pride he hates arrogance he calls [24:04] them the way of evil because pride convinces you that you understand relationships and how they [24:11] should function more than God does and that is your struggle with others because you honestly [24:20] believe that you need to base community on something that is inside of you or you should [24:27] flee from relationships because of something that is inside of you see Paul is writing to us about [24:35] selfish ambition he’s writing to us about in another version it says rivalry and conceit

[24:40] he’s writing to us about considering others more significant than ourselves because he’s saying [24:45] whatever it would be that would pull you away from practical community I’m not talking about [24:50] the idea that you have of community I’m not talking about the notion that you have of community [24:56] I’m talking about real relationships that change your life [25:00] he says hurt should not pull you away from that

[25:14] because hurt goes to the cross pain goes to the cross it must be about your relationship with God [25:24] changing your relationships with others and when you do that you have somewhere to take your hurt [25:32] you have somewhere to take your pain you have somewhere to take annoyance [25:39] you have somewhere to take disagreements over secondary issues [25:45] it’s the cross of Jesus Christ and so when you flee community when you do not sacrifice to build [25:53] relationships you are saying the cross is not enough

[26:01] Jesus’s vision of community is in first Peter where he says we are a chosen race we are a royal [26:07] priesthood we are a holy nation we are a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the [26:13] excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous life once you were not a people [26:18] but now you are God’s people once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy [26:25] do you note what he is saying he’s saying that the gospel of Jesus builds a people for Jesus [26:35] and so when we build it for any other reason or when we avoid it for any other reason we are

[26:42] saying to God I have a better definition than you have as to what your people should look like

[26:52] so why [26:55] number two this morning people matter more that’s why and why do they matter more [27:02] because Jesus that’s why

[27:07] you probably have lots of different types of relationships in your life [27:11] for many many different reasons and the key that the apostle Paul is talking about here is he’s [27:18] saying that you need to sanctify all of those relationships and begin to look at them through [27:24] a new agenda and that agenda is the gospel of Jesus Christ but here’s what you need to see [27:30] practically Paul is saying that other people matter more than you do Paul is saying other people [27:37] are more important than you are because that’s the mindset that Jesus would have us to have

[27:43] you see and that turns on its head what you spend most of your time trying to do [27:49] you spend a lot of your time trying to convince people how important you are how smart you are [27:58] how whatever this that or the other thing you are and so most of our pursuits of relationships are [28:03] about our ego are about the way we want people to view us are about the way we want people to [28:09] treat us are about the way that we want people to act towards us are the way that we want people [28:14] to praise us are about the way that we want people to treat us

[28:22] and if you spend your life doing that you will never have what God wants you to have [28:29] you will be disappointed

[28:32] because no one thinks you are as important as you do I got news for you no one’s impressed [28:41] when I was younger you know I I always started working at a church at a very young age you know [28:47] it was a pretty decent sized church and I was getting an education and I got one degree then [28:51] I got another degree and I was like man I am impressive everybody should want to know me [29:00] and what I soon found out is that no one cared no one cared and it’s hard to recover from that [29:06] sometimes isn’t it that’s difficult when you think that you are hot stuff and you find out

[29:12] that no one else thinks that it’s embarrassing and it should be because that’s pride and you [29:19] need to turn from that pride now I don’t know who said this I’ve heard it plagiarized many times [29:25] I can’t give credit to anybody for this specific quote but I have heard it said oftentimes that [29:31] there is a key difference between looking for a friend and being a friend that people that go out [29:37] looking for friends will often be disappointed because they will return and they say I can’t [29:43] find anyone and what you mean by that is I can’t find anybody that measures up I can’t find anybody

[29:50] that’s impressed with me I can’t find anybody that thinks I’m as good as I think I am I can’t [29:56] find anybody that wants to be my friend but if you seek to become and be a friend you’ll be amazed [30:08] at how many people you’ll find why because you are counting others as more significant than yourself [30:17] because you are considering the interests of others along with your own you see the apostle [30:24] paul gives us this ethic that really comes from what jesus calls the great commandment [30:31] and that is very simple in matthew it says that you are to love the lord your god with all of

[30:37] your heart with all of your soul and with all of your mind and the second is like it you will love [30:41] your neighbor as yourself and then he makes this audacious claim he says in that is summed up [30:48] all of the law and the prophets and here the apostle paul is jumping off of that when he says [30:54] don’t do anything out of selfish ambition because when you do things out of selfish ambition you are [31:00] making yourself god

[31:05] love god your ambition is jesus and then he says count others more significant than yourself while [31:13] you’re considering their interests he’s saying love people [31:19] you see from the key as to what we’re talking about today it is about having a gospel driven [31:26] humility that looks at your life through the lens of what god says is true about him and what god [31:33] says is true about you and then you have to ask yourself what is my attitude towards these things

[31:40] the pastor by the name of tim keller wrote a book it was titled the freedom of self-forgetfulness [31:47] and he writes that in in the past centuries ago people would define ultimate sin as selfish [31:55] ambition they would call it pride or hubris it was thanking too highly of yourself in our culture [32:03] we’ve actually turned that around and we have said the greatest problem that we have is low [32:09] self-esteem is that we don’t think enough about ourselves so we spend all of our time pursuing [32:16] feeling good about who we are but keller notes he says when you look at it at what it really is

[32:24] it is no different whether you think that it is too much self selfish esteem or whether it is too [32:31] low of a self-esteem your reaction is the same you are focusing on you it is selfishness it is [32:39] narcissism it is look at me it says repent of your pride

[32:49] the only way to build the life that god has for you is to love others more [32:58] your selfish ambition will hurt you your selfish ambition will not build what god has for you the [33:05] answer is not thinking highly of yourself the answer is to find what you were meant to live for [33:14] and live for that so when your focus is on god you are free to empty yourself [33:21] and consider the needs of others but you have to get the attention off of yourself [33:29] your struggle to love and serve others in unity is rooted in sin you need to tell yourself the

[33:44] we have had people go from village and some of them have had some amazing reasons i mean god has [33:49] called some people to go elsewhere god has called some people to go to different cities but when [33:55] a lot of times when people leave i don’t say the majority of the time when people leave or when [34:00] people break off of one community even within the church to get another community i have never heard [34:05] anybody say i need something to change because i just love other people so much

[34:12] typically here’s what i met with my needs aren’t being met you aren’t focusing on me enough [34:21] i want something else you know the three most unhappy people i have ever met are me myself and i [34:30] it’s interesting that whenever you start with that you’re always unhappy [34:36] but i never hear anybody say oh you know what will build me i’ve just got to love other people [34:44] more you know it’s missing in my life [34:49] is being more concerned with other people i’ve got to get that

[34:56] it’s not until you make the jump and man this is something you’ve always got to take inventory on [35:01] because sin is so sneaky the way it creeps in but until you are more concerned with the needs of [35:09] others than you are with yourself and your needs you will never be happy [35:14] you will because you will never find what god has for you so long as you are the center of your [35:22] world you will never find the relationships that jesus wants you to have the relationships that [35:30] jesus wants you to have are always going to be rooted in community obedience to god is always

[35:37] about putting someone else before you and when you think about just the specific commands that [35:44] god calls us to live by the thou shouts and thou shouts nots what is he really saying he’s saying [35:50] obey me before you obey yourself put god in front of you

[35:58] and then he calls us to love others and what is he really doing he’s saying legitimately consider [36:03] the needs of others when he’s saying putting others before yourself he’s saying obedience looks [36:07] like you putting someone else in front of yourself someone else’s needs in front of your own needs [36:13] that would revolutionize your life imagine a legion of husbands putting the needs of their wife [36:18] before their own needs a legion of parents putting the needs of their children before their own needs [36:26] instead of this crap where you say my happiness is the most important thing get over it

[36:33] get happy in what god has called you to do or stop calling yourself a follower of jesus because you [36:41] are a fraud and i especially mean that to the parents how dare you call yourself a follower [36:51] of jesus and not care about your children more than you care about yourself

[36:56] i am sick of watching fathers be so selfish as to waste time with hobbies refuse to get in [37:07] community groups because they’re too busy with fantasy sports are too busy with golf they’re [37:12] too busy staring at their own navel while it’s got cheetos in it

[37:21] so [37:21] meanwhile teaching their children by their very practice this is what following jesus looks like

[37:30] coward stop calling yourself a christian because you’re not

[37:35] that wasn’t in the notes

[37:39] you sometimes [37:40] [37:40] verse five is really where the apostle paul begins to shape where we’re going to go next week [37:50] he says in verse five he says have this mind and what he means in the original language he says [37:57] you need to put your mind here and what i take that to mean is is that it doesn’t naturally [38:04] go here your default is not to be here so it’s going to take something that everyone hates

[38:10] especially me, effort. You have to take the effort to put your mind here where Paul is [38:18] calling you to be in humility. But why and how? What’s my hope? Which is yours in Christ [38:25] Jesus. He’s saying this is the gift that Jesus wants to give to us, but we must receive [38:33] it. We must take it. We must hold it. It must be ours, and we must live in radical [38:41] humility. And so what are some practical ways that you can do that? [38:47] Three, this morning, you need to commit to other people. You need to commit to other

[38:52] people desperately. If there’s one thing that I could say to the church of Jesus Christ [38:58] and specifically to Village Church, is that your discipleship is being choked out by your [39:06] lack of availability. You could grow as a disciple of Jesus Christ if you would just [39:13] be available. We’ve got a saying in our staff, and it always makes me laugh. I’ve got to [39:22] quote Nate Schloman here. At least he showed up. Nate is famous in our staff for coining [39:28] that phrase. But that’s such a vital way to understand discipleship, is that most

[39:34] of it is just showing up. I mean, you don’t have to be flashy. You don’t have to be impressive. [39:40] You don’t have to have any ability whatsoever. But if you show up to things, you will grow. [39:45] It’s that simple. And the reason that most of you have not seen any market growth in [39:51] the last year of your life is because you’re not available to show up. Just show up. Serve [39:59] the church. Of course he goes there. Of course I go there. Serve the church. And I want [40:05] to talk about two ways to serve the church, because I don’t want to stay up here in mystical

[40:09] land where you’re just nodding in agreement, but you have no plan to walk away with. I [40:14] want to give you something that you need to do. Number one, if you are not in a community [40:18] group, join a community group. Join a community group and you will grow. If for nothing else, [40:26] then you are putting the needs of others before yourself. I have led community groups [40:31] for years. I’ve hosted community groups for years. And here’s the biggest thing that really [40:36] encourages people who host and lead, is when people come. When people don’t come, it’s

[40:46] devastating. And so if you want to put somebody else’s needs in front of your own this week, [40:51] go to a community group, especially if you’re already in one. Now some of y’all are in one [40:56] once a month. Cut that out. Show up. You say, well, I’m busy with work. Every week for that [41:03] one hour and a half, you can’t, not for an hour and a half, show up to a community group. [41:11] Join a serve team. I mean, it’s literally got serve in its title. We made it that simple. [41:17] Because it teaches you, it’s not always just about what you are doing in that moment.

[41:23] Many times it is, but it is about the atmosphere that it builds in your life. There is something [41:28] about going and saying, I’m on a serve team this morning. In that environment, you are [41:34] saying, everyone that I interact with in this moment, I’m putting their needs in front of [41:40] my own. I got up 20 minutes earlier so that I could welcome people, so that I could park [41:45] people, so I could show people where to sit, so that I could change a dirty diaper, so [41:49] I could sing, so I could teach, so I could do something. I’m putting someone else’s needs

[41:55] in front of my own. And when you take that one step, you’d be shocked at how quickly [42:01] the second, third, fourth, fifth steps come. And here’s the commitment that I’m going [42:07] to call you to this morning, and then we’ll be done. For the next year, 365 days, I’m [42:20] going to call you to once a week, enter every environment that Village Church offers for [42:26] your discipleship. You say, a year? Yeah, a year. You say, man, the community group [42:36] is boring. Yeah, most of the time. I’m not going to lie. Sometimes I sit there and I’m

[42:44] like, what time is it? All right, 15 minutes, we’re good. I can make it. It’s profoundly [42:54] boring most of the time. You say, oh my goodness, but then I will have to hear other people’s [43:01] problems. Yeah, sometimes. Yeah. And you’ll sit there and you’ll think, how in the world [43:11] is that a problem? And sometimes people will come in and they will be there for the sole [43:19] reason of showing you how much smarter they are than you are. And here’s the key. They [43:32] will annoy you. People will annoy you. Somebody’s going to hurt your feelings. You’re going

[43:38] to share a prayer request that you care deeply about and no one’s going to act like they [43:44] care about that specific prayer request as much as you do. Somebody’s going to say something [43:49] and you’re going to disagree so vehemently that you never want to sit in the same room [43:55] with that person again. And here’s what I’m going to call you to. You go back every single [44:04] week for a year. No matter what happens, no matter how hard it is, no matter how bored [44:12] you get, no matter how bored people look when you open your mouth, in a year from now,

[44:21] let’s talk about where you actually grew as a follower of Jesus because you will grow. [44:29] If for no other reason that you cared more about other people than you cared about any [44:34] of the stupid reasons that you’ve been avoiding other people. Because if nothing else you [44:39] will have relationships that are based on the gospel. Friends, God has called us to [44:49] be and build a community that is about faith in Jesus Christ. I’m not going to tell you [44:57] there aren’t reasons to check out. I’m not going to tell you there aren’t reasons to

[45:00] avoid it. I’m not going to tell you that you’re not busy. But the moment that you admit that [45:06] you are too busy to do the radical minimum standard that God lays out for us in Scripture,

[45:13] or you can’t obey God because you’re too uncomfortable with obeying that one command,

[45:20] that’s a moment where the Holy Spirit is telling you to turn from your sin and trust Jesus [45:23] because you ain’t trusting Jesus. Friends, building relationships for discipleship is [45:30] an investment worth making for one simple reason for me. Because I want to obey Jesus. [45:39] That’s it. That’s my cause. That’s what I’m in it for because most of the time I can’t [45:46] think of a better one, nor can I think of another one frankly. Jesus has called us [45:53] to do this and we must do it as his people. Friends, I believe Jesus is telling the truth

[46:01] when he says it’s worth it. And people are more important than whatever selfish, self-centered [46:09] reason I have for not doing it. It’s that simple. As the band comes up, as I said at [46:18] the beginning, I believe that this is probably the hardest thing that God calls us to in [46:26] our lives because we are so selfish. But some of you are in here and you might be [46:32] thinking I don’t think I have the faith to love other people like that. There’s too [46:39] much hurt, there’s too much pain, there’s just too much lack of desire. And for you,

[46:46] I want to ask you a very simple question. Is Jesus enough? Or do you quite frankly [46:55] need to come to faith in Jesus Christ? I’m not telling you to trust people. I won’t [47:02] do that because people aren’t always trustworthy. I’m telling you, you need to trust Jesus [47:11] because no matter what pain you will endure in relationships, no matter what baggage you’ve [47:16] got with you, no matter what road you have been on or what road you are afraid you will [47:21] end up going down. I’m telling you one key fact. Jesus will never leave you. Jesus will

[47:28] never forsake you. He is the friend that sticks closer than a brother. And when things [47:32] get difficult, you can know one thing that is never changing. Jesus will be right there [47:40] in the thick of it with you. He will take your pain. He will take your hurt. And he [47:46] will put it on the cross and kill it. Trust Jesus Christ and follow him. Some of you, [47:57] you do trust Jesus but you’re struggling and I understand that. Keep struggling. Keep [48:03] fighting because the thing that deceives us often times is that we can fight for a season

[48:08] and then coast. When it comes to relationships, it’s a lifelong fight. It’s a lifelong faith. [48:16] It’s a lifelong repentance of forming relationships for the wrong reasons and then avoiding relationships [48:22] for the wrong reasons. As a follower of Jesus, keep trusting and keep following and do not [48:29] be tempted to go down a path that he is not himself going down. You follow Christ. And [48:35] if you’re in here and you are a believer, we look at Jesus’ love for us through the [48:41] broken body of Christ which is the bread and the shed blood of Christ which is the

[48:46] cup. That is what they represent. And as Christians, when we come and we eat and when we drink, [48:53] we proclaim, I trust Jesus. I believe that he is who he says he is and he has given me [49:01] forgiveness of my sin through his sacrifice. And then when you eat and drink, you walk [49:07] away from that table and here’s the key. You take that attitude of sacrifice into your [49:16] relationship with others. When you’re ready, come.