Steve Gentry
[0:00] Good morning. This is your first time here. My name is Steve. I’m one of the pastors here. [0:06] Let’s worship the Lord through His word this morning. Open your Bibles if you have them [0:10] to John chapter 17. If you don’t, they will be up on the screen. And if you don’t have a Bible, [0:17] go to the Connect table after the service and we have Bibles there for you so that you can [0:24] have one to take with you. It’s our gift to you. And also, as Nate was saying a little bit earlier, [0:31] I want to invite you to take part in this Village Serve project through the backpacks.
[0:38] Nueva Esperanza is a church that we have been supporting for quite a while and the pastor of [0:43] it, Fernando, he’s doing a great work in the Chester area of our county reaching immigrants, [0:51] most of them actually from Mexico with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Most of the people [0:57] that are a part of his church are people that he has led to faith in Jesus and people that he is [1:03] discipling and leaders that he is raising up to reach the what is becoming a very large portion [1:09] of the city of Richmond and that is the Hispanic section of our county. And many of them live
[1:16] below the poverty line. And this is just a tangible way that you guys can take apart rather [1:23] than just realizing that part of the offering that we give goes to that church. This is a tangible [1:28] way for you to actually impact lives in that church. And he told us that no matter how many [1:36] backpacks we can collect, he can make sure that each and every one of them go to a family that [1:44] isn’t something where he’s just going to drop them off at the school. This is where his church [1:49] is going to personally impact lives by giving them these backpacks that are so desperately needed
[1:56] things that we possibly, I know I myself, I take things like this for granted. But this is not [2:00] something that these families will take for granted. And I was talking to Todd who heads up Village [2:05] Serve and if you were to get everything on that list, if you go to Walmart or Target, it’s [2:10] somewhere between $35, $45 to do that. And maybe that’s just one time that you don’t go to TGI [2:19] Fridays this week or something with your family. But even if it’s a bit of a sacrifice, I’m going [2:25] to ask you to do that because these are families that need to hear the gospel and many of them
[2:30] don’t speak English. Fernando the pastor, I can’t really communicate with him because he doesn’t [2:36] speak very good English. We have to talk to his wife most of the time. But a lot of these families [2:40] we can’t impact because we don’t speak the same language, but he can. He can and these are families [2:45] that need it. So as you’re leaving, just stop by the table. It’s clear you’re not going to miss it. [2:51] It’s got school supplies all over it and don’t take any of them by the way. I know some of you [2:55] kids may need some highlighters, but don’t take those. But just take one of the sheets from that
[3:00] table and help us out. Help Fernando out, help that church out, and more than that, help us to [3:06] show the community. Because we’re not talking about a community hours away. We’re talking about 15 [3:10] minutes down the road that these kids that can’t even afford to bring lunch to school, when we say [3:15] 60% of them on school lunches, that’s what we’re talking about. That these are families that are [3:20] a bit impoverished to the point where they can’t even bring their own lunch and we provide that [3:25] through our taxes. And this is a great way to show them that we love them, show them that we care
[3:31] and show them what the gospel is doing in our lives. So I just invite you to do that, to join [3:37] us in that venture. That past few weeks we’ve been talking about really what village serve springs [3:44] out of. And that is the community that God is forming through the gospel. And we’ve entitled [3:50] this series, which will end next week. Every once in a while, it doesn’t happen very often. [3:58] Every once in a while I get thirsty. And when I do, I try to do it with one hand, like a three-year-old. [4:05] And I spill water on my hands. But we’re going to end this series next week. But we’ve been
[4:10] talking about as small as the new big. And that’s this idea that this great and large work that God [4:17] is doing through the gospel, creating himself, for himself, a people that we see in Revelation [4:22] chapter 7, where there’s this vision that in the end there will be people from every tribe, [4:28] every tongue, every nation gathered around the throne of God. And when you think with those lenses [4:34] on, we’re talking millions and millions of people. But just like God does the work of redemption [4:42] through what seems as something very ugly, like the cross, he kind of turns everything on its head
[4:49] to redeem his people. But so also in the way that he’s going to build this church [4:55] of millions of people to proclaim his greatness forever, he seems to often do it [5:02] in the smallest of ways that have really the greatest of impact. So when we talk about the [5:10] mission of Jesus quite often, this great, huge work that we’re trying to spend our lives pursuing, [5:17] often it looks very small and it drives us to actually go from this great vision to bringing [5:24] that great vision about by bringing things smaller and smaller and smaller. And somehow through that
[5:31] God maximizes the impact to reach the masses. And today what I want to take a look at [5:38] is the way in which Jesus did that and the way in which in the vision that Jesus has for our lives [5:45] in community with each other. Because if you were with us last week, we talked about really what I [5:50] called the fallacy of friendship. And that really is kind of our cultural understanding of what [5:56] friendship looks like, whether it be through pop culture or just what we experience in our daily [6:02] lives. But that what we do is, is we come together with people of like personalities, like hobbies,
[6:07] like interests, and we form these friendships. And then we just call that community. But really, [6:13] if people are different than us, if they don’t look the same, we really are a little bit hands [6:18] off. We put a few barriers up and it’s like, I don’t really have time for that. I would rather [6:21] spend time with people that are like me. And the fact that that is not the vision of the gospel, [6:26] that God gets glory by bringing the most unlikely of people together to form a community around the [6:36] gospel, for the gospel, through the gospel. And then he gets glory by the fact that two people
[6:41] really, it doesn’t make much sense why they’re showing each other such honor and such love [6:46] that they begin to do that. Because they don’t think so highly of themselves as we saw in [6:52] Romans chapter 12. To see that, all you have to do is come to one of our staff meetings [6:57] and see me sitting in a room with James and Nate, three people with really strange, completely [7:04] different personalities. And somehow we make it all work through a lot of anger and arguing. [7:10] We make it work through the gospel. Whereas, you know, some of us have a little more machismo
[7:16] than others. I’m not going to say who that is, but it works. And the reason for it is because [7:27] we’re working for something way bigger than ourselves. It’s about the gospel. It’s not about [7:35] us. But that begs a certain question. Is there anything that we should share in common? [7:44] Because quite frankly, we spent a lot of time last week fleshing out the fact that, you know, [7:48] and maybe you left and you’re like, well, I shouldn’t have anything in common with anyone. [7:51] So let me find a group of people that don’t even believe the same way I do. They don’t think the
[7:56] same way I do. And we’re going to be buddies. And maybe you kind of tried it this week and you had [8:02] some troubles because, I mean, if we were to take that to really as far possible as it can go, [8:07] well, then maybe we should just be a little bit pluralistic in Buddhists and Christians and [8:12] Muslims. Well, since we’re all really chasing the same God, it should be pluralistic. But [8:19] in the end, biblically, I think we realize it can’t work. There are things that God, [8:29] from before the foundations of the earth, has made true. And he himself embodies that we do
[8:37] need to share in common. There must be some common ground. But what is it? [8:44] Let’s go to John 17. And today, I think we’re going to spend some time really unpacking that. [8:51] Because if we spend our lives in community with other people, we’re going to find that while [8:57] we’re different, we share a lot in common. That some of us that are older in the faith [9:03] have been where those that are younger in the faith are. And while they don’t think they have [9:08] anything in common with us, quite frankly, it’s like your parents used to say, you haven’t been
[9:12] 35, but I’ve been 12. It’s almost that reality that takes place in the work of the gospel. [9:19] But here’s what Jesus has to say. And here’s how we’re going to unpack this. In verse 18 of John 17, [9:26] As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them, plural, into the world. And for their [9:36] sake I consecrate myself that they may also be sanctified in truth.
[9:48] And that word truth can be really tricky. What we need to realize is that there are truths, [9:57] one, namely, that we must share in common to form a biblical community. Because God is calling us [10:06] outside of a reality, maybe by the making of our own hands, into a reality by the making of [10:12] his hands, where he is the definition and the authority over everything that’s true. [10:21] And he says, this is what it looks like. And he begins by saying, and he’s praying here in the [10:26] high priestly prayers, what John 17 is called. And it is the moment before Jesus goes to the cross
[10:32] and finishes the work of the gospel, where he gets to himself and he begins to pray. First, [10:39] he prays through the work that he is about to accomplish in the cross and through the [10:45] resurrection. And he prays through that. And he prays about the glory that is going to be in that. [10:50] And he says, God, I cannot wait until we come back together in the kingdom with ourselves, [10:57] where the glory that we have shared from eternity past is restored to us. Then he prays for the [11:04] disciples who will be the ones that begin the movement of the church. And he prays that God
[11:11] would sanctify them. But then what’s very interesting in the section that we’ve just [11:14] gotten ourselves into is that he prays past them. And it’s what’s interesting is looking at God, [11:21] because he sees all time. And Jesus begins to pray past to pray for the church that will be formed [11:29] that we’re a part of. And so in this section of scripture, Jesus, 2000 years ago, is praying [11:38] for you and I. And what he prays is very interesting because he begins to point out the very [11:46] smallness of the commonalities that we must share. And he is where it all begins. He says, Father,
[11:52] as you sent me, so I am sending them. So here’s what we have to start with our community. It has [12:01] to start with the mission of Jesus. Community is a movement to the glory of God. And that is a [12:11] commonality that for our community to truly bring glory to him. Well, quite frankly, we have to be [12:17] towards his glory together. There can be no other movement that defines us. It must begin [12:24] with that. And how do we know what that looks like? Well, Jesus gives us a great indicator here [12:28] that it must begin with him. And he says, Father, as you sent me, I’m sending them.
[12:39] So when we look at what should define the community that we’re building through and [12:44] through, we have to look at Jesus. That the Father sent him to accomplish a mission on our behalf. [12:55] And we see that on the cross. We see God becoming a man and really in John chapter one. And then we [13:01] see him in Luke 18, say he came to seek and to save that which was lost. And then in Matthew 28, [13:07] he looks at his people and he says, as I’ve accomplished the mission that God has sent me to do, [13:14] all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. And so I give that mission now to you to
[13:20] take to the ends of the earth. Not a mission to be physically completed because he did it, but a [13:25] message about its completion to be told to the entire world. And he says, that is what your life [13:32] should be made up as. But here in John 17, he makes it a little bigger for us, but shows us [13:39] how the great commission or that message of the gospel is going to become more impactful [13:44] when instead of thinking about me having to live a mission, he uses plurality and he says, I’m [13:50] sending them on a mission. See, the mission of Jesus cannot be lived by you on your own the way
[14:00] that God designed it to be lived as. The mission of Jesus is to be lived with and in community [14:10] with other believers. And that community then cannot be an end in and of itself. [14:18] Because here’s how often we get off track. It’s the way we have our core values, redemption, [14:23] mission, community, and culture. Oftentimes people say, shouldn’t community come before mission? [14:28] Community is really where you learn about the mission of Jesus. So before I’m going to concern [14:34] myself with the mission, I’m going to embed myself in community and I’m just going to grow deeper
[14:39] and deeper and deeper and deeper. And then basically you’ve tried to get so deep that you’re dead. [14:46] Because you spent all your time seeking community and seeking just deeper and deeper and deeper and [14:52] deeper and you never got anywhere. You never lived the mission. Because you thought mission was [14:57] something that you had to grow into. But here’s the thing that Jesus is saying. The community that [15:03] he is building is a community that is actually driven by mission. Mission trumps community. [15:12] Because it’s what community must define itself by. And if your community is thriving, if it is
[15:19] growing, it will be a community built in a dynamic movement. Where it’s not just an end that you [15:27] have a rotary club. It’s not where you just have all these committee meetings trying to pick out [15:31] colors of carpet or the types of chairs that you sit in. And then it’s like, well I’ve done my good [15:36] deed for the church. So let me just go about being myself now. But rather the way that Jesus [15:41] defines the community and the way that he defines it to be lived out through is this community that [15:46] comes together for the purpose of driving mission into one another’s lives and then driving one
[15:52] out into the culture to live the mission. The limits there are endless. To where Jesus puts [16:00] no cap on how far the mission goes. And instead in Matthew 28 he says to the ends of the earth. [16:08] And then in Acts 1 he says the same thing. To where the mission of Jesus is this thing that [16:15] it’s small. Where we come together and the way he’s defined it is that we seek this commonality [16:22] for his glory. The worship of Jesus. The proclamation of the gospel. And so we come together [16:27] with people of like faith, of like mission. And we say, well how can we do this to maximize the impact?
[16:36] And that’s where you really realize the genius of community. Because where before there was just one, [16:42] you. Now there’s a group. How much more impact can a group have than an individual? What’s endless?
[16:55] Because the group can continue to grow. And grow larger and larger and then smaller and smaller [17:02] because we’re relating with each other in our lives. But then larger and larger but then smaller. [17:09] And then before you know it, Revelation 7. Every tribe, every tongue, every nation. Because the [17:17] vision for the mission never grows smaller. It’s just the lives impacted are seen as you relate to [17:25] one another in the lives of discipleship. But the community must be defined by that movement because [17:33] our default mode is to turn what God has made to be limitless and put a limit on it
[17:39] that is very self-focused. Because eventually you’re going to come to a place where pride [17:45] and individualism will rear their ugly head and you’ll say, well what about me? What about me?
[17:54] And another perspective on this prayer in the gospel accounts. Jesus, [17:58] in almost having the same temptation, not doing the sin, He says, if there be any other way, [18:05] let this cup pass from me. That’s a moment where Jesus’ pain is really at the paramount because [18:09] He knows the sin He’s going to have to take on Himself. He who knew no sin takes it on. And He [18:14] says, not my will, but thine. You see the movement that takes place in community and in the gospel [18:23] is this humbling realization that life’s not about you. Life’s about the glory of God and
[18:30] the joy of others. And that God delivers that joy through the work of Jesus and the message [18:37] of His gospel. So when Jesus says, as you sent me, so I am sending them, He’s not making so [18:44] much a statement about you as He is about you in community with other believers for the sake of [18:50] His mission. So our community must be defined by His mission. But there always comes a struggle
[19:03] because faith, quite frankly, is not an easy thing to maintain throughout your life. But [19:09] that’s where community comes in play again. You see, community helps us to believe.
[19:19] Community is actually, and some of you are like, well, I’ve been in churches where it actually [19:23] made me not believe anymore. Well, maybe they didn’t have it all put together right, I guess. [19:29] But community is this force in our lives that while we’re living in that movement, see, [19:35] it all predicates on that movement to the glory of God through the mission of Jesus. It actually [19:41] is this force that helps us to believe. Because look back in verse 17 really quick, right before [19:47] verse 18, where He says clearly verse 17 is going to come before 18. I don’t know why I said that.
[19:51] Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. And then in verse 19, right after He says, [20:00] send them, and He says, and for their sake, I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified [20:06] in truth. So I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through [20:17] their word, that they may all be one just as you, Father, are in Me, and I in you, that they also [20:24] may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent Me. You see, that can get pretty [20:33] confusing, and we’ll unpack all the ones and the yous and mes there in a second. But here’s what I
[20:37] want to say about belief. In the Christian life, if you are on a journey of belief in the gospel, [20:46] there will come moments of doubt in your life. And those aren’t times, quite frankly, that you should [20:55] be ashamed of. Those are times when you’re in desperate need of what God has designed to take [21:03] place in community. But here’s what we do. We have different levels of believers inside of the church [21:10] at all times. We have people that have just begun to believe. They don’t really know much. They have [21:16] no background in church even oftentimes, and they’re just struggling to just believe in Jesus.
[21:25] Then we have those of us, and quite frankly, I’m more in this camp because I’ve been in church [21:32] for three decades now. It’s this camp where, man, there’s a lot of knowledge of Scripture. [21:41] I went to college. I went to seminary for it, and I spent eight years studying Scripture.
[21:49] And maybe you’ve been a believer for 10, 20, 30 years, and you took evangelism explosion, [21:56] you took Hell’s Best Kept Secret, you were in Awanas, you were in Royal Ambassadors, [22:01] or whatever weird names we tend to give things in church. I don’t get it. Every denomination [22:05] has these weird names for things, and we’ve just grown in our faith, and we trust, [22:11] and here’s what happens to you. Man, I’m pretty bored.
[22:18] Church seems to be tilted towards those that are starting.
[22:24] Well, I’ve been there. I’ve done that. What about me? Surely, let me get my shovel out. [22:33] I go deeper. That’s the answer. My books need to get bigger. [22:38] You know, my thoughts need to get greater, and I’ll just let them do over there, [22:42] and I’ll get alone in my ivory tower, in my studies, and I’ll just go deeper in my faith, [22:48] because that’s the answer. Now, don’t hear me say that you shouldn’t go deeper in your faith. You [22:53] absolutely should, but what I am saying is the way you’re trying to do it’s absolutely wrong.
[22:58] It’s because God has called us to a life of discipleship. A life of discipleship is never [23:04] ever labeled by you by yourself doing anything. See, the problem isn’t that you’ve grown so far [23:12] that you’re past everyone else. The problem is that you’ve grown to be self-dependent, [23:20] self-reliant, and you’re actually struggling to believe that you need the gospel.
[23:27] And so, in a sense, you actually have something very much in common with those that are just [23:31] struggling to maintain belief. So, what’s the answer? I guess you just gotta stop reading. No, [23:38] keep reading. I have big books, too. Read them. Just don’t spend all your time reading them, [23:43] because you’ll go crazy. I’ve seen it happen, folks. Here’s the answer. Community. You say, [23:51] what do you mean? That belief in the gospel, that knowledge of the gospel, it doesn’t come [23:58] from you separating yourself, but here’s what happens. It comes from those of you, and Paul
[24:04] talks about this in Titus, who are older in the faith, coming alongside those that are younger [24:11] in the faith and forming relationships so that they can grow in the faith and so that you can [24:19] also grow in your faith. Because, you see, here’s the thing that happens to those of us that have [24:25] been, and I’m talking about myself here. I’m pointing the finger right at myself. Here’s what [24:27] happens to those of us that spend a lot of our lives in church. We become very forgetful [24:35] about the truth of the gospel in our lives and how dependent we are on the gospel
[24:39] and what Jesus calls childlike faith. And oftentimes, it’s through people that really [24:46] haven’t been believers very long that I’m reminded of the greatest truths that God has to offer in [24:54] life. And so when you’re side by side in the trenches of life with each other, let me tell you, [25:04] you don’t have time to get bored anymore because you’re living life on life with other people, [25:13] but then what happens is that authenticity comes out.
[25:20] The mask that you’ve been hiding the truth about you behind comes off. The barriers come down.
[25:28] The love of God comes out. And then that is seen by others and they come and they play. [25:37] And then more and more and more and more. And then pretty soon, 20 years have gone by and you [25:43] haven’t had a moment to be bored because the reason that you were bored is because quite frankly, [25:48] you by yourself aren’t that interesting. Neither am I because that’s not how God created us to live.
[25:57] And any time we try to disconnect ourselves from the way that God designed us to live, [26:03] here’s what happens. We become unsettled. We become dissatisfied. Life was not meant to be [26:10] directed towards you. It was meant to be lived in the reflection of God onto us and into the lives [26:17] of other people. And until you connect yourself with others, you can’t do that. And that’s where [26:23] really living in community with others helps you to believe because I know that in the moments of [26:27] my life when faith has been the hardest through illness, through tragedy, where faith is hard and
[26:34] I’m just struggling to believe, do you know what gets me through other than just prayer and [26:40] dependence on God through the gospel? It’s when I look into the life of someone else and I see a [26:45] vibrant, unwavering faith, I am able to feed off of their faith and into my life.
[26:55] And if you are struggling to find passion in the gospel, if you are struggling to believe, [27:01] the answer is not for you to get alone because alone all that you have is your struggling faith. [27:08] But in community, there are others that I can feed off of and then some others who I can identify [27:15] with because they’re struggling too and we can put our meager faith together and it can grow stronger.
[27:24] See, it’s in life’s struggles that our tendency towards sin is so seen because our answer is not [27:30] the answer that God desires for us to give. The answer is never you in isolation. [27:37] The answer is always you in community because God desires to speak into your life through community.
[27:46] He desires it. So did Jesus. And his hour of greatest need in the garden of Gethsemane
[27:57] where some of our greatest sin and apathy towards the gospel is also seen. [28:01] Jesus does not set out to be alone, does he?
[28:05] He asks the three disciples that have come closest to him, he says, pray with me. [28:12] See, but all we remember is that Jesus is alone.
[28:16] But we often forget that he asked them to come with him because of their sin and apathy they couldn’t.
[28:28] And our need, community, is most vibrantly needed. [28:35] See, in community we must have unity because you see Jesus calls for oneness. This unity, [28:42] we need theological unity. See, because when we talk about the commonalities we don’t need in the [28:47] gospel, there’s this tendency to say, okay, well, it’s a free for all and everybody just comes [28:50] together with their different beliefs no matter how unbiblical and crazy they are. You know, [28:55] everybody just comes together and we don’t need to think the same way about it. Well, the problem is
[28:58] is that God has identified himself. So to come together and pretend that he hasn’t, well, that [29:08] isn’t very loving at all. That isn’t unity at all. See, when you’re not uniting around truth,
[29:19] you’re not truly united because eventually that’ll fall apart. So community cannot be [29:26] emerge out of pluralism. It just can’t. Just like if you’re a medical doctor [29:33] and you know the truth about the way the human body works and the way to cure certain diseases, [29:39] and another person comes in and just is a witch doctor and he says, well, I’ll pull that sick [29:45] organ out with my bare hands. You don’t need any medicine. Well, clearly no unity is going to happen [29:52] in that room. The medical doctor is going to have to at some point say, this is insanity.
[30:00] You’re not healing anyone because why? It’s quite frankly, the medical doctor, he realizes [30:06] and he says, well, I promised to do no harm in the Hippocratic oath. And he says, [30:11] they wouldn’t be very loving of me to let this insanity go on. Just like when untruth enters [30:18] into community, quite frankly, it’s the job of the elders to say, we’re not letting untruth in here [30:25] because that wouldn’t be love into the community. Because God has revealed himself and it’s our job [30:32] to live in that truth. So we must have theological unity. We must have missional community.
[30:39] See, because some of us, we fear that movement that Jesus starts here with. We fear that. [30:45] We say, well, don’t move too fast in the mission. Don’t go too forward. Let’s hold it back. Well, [30:51] when we do that, there will be splits everywhere. So we must have missional unity, but that’s where [31:01] we must help one another believe the true gospel of Jesus for the movement of his people to his [31:08] glory. And that’s where those with the stronger faith who want to live the mission. Well, sometimes [31:14] we just reach behind us and say, come on, but never do. Never does the gospel say, well, just
[31:19] stop for 10 years and explain to them all of the ins and outs of why they need to move. [31:26] Then form a committee to decide whether or not movement will help the organization the [31:33] best way possible. Then bring it before the people and then maybe spend six months with [31:40] an exploratory committee, just looking around the community saying, is it okay to actually go out [31:45] there and get jobs? Eventually everybody’s retired and they’re playing golf in Boca Raton, Florida [31:54] or something at that point. See, the gospel says, no, no, no, no, no, you live the mission. That’s
[32:00] why I love church planning. There’s not much red tape and you can just live the mission. [32:07] We must have missional unity and only when we have theological unity and missional unity can [32:12] we ever hope for relational unity. That’s where God’s taking us. What’s defining those relationships? [32:20] That’s what we talked about last week, the gospel, the glory of God.
[32:27] Unfortunately, what’s really hard in this system of forming belief that God has called us to [32:35] is something that’s very hard for all of us. Community takes time.
[32:41] It does. We are an impatient people. We want things to happen right now. [32:48] You got saved yesterday. Have you read the whole Bible yet?
[32:53] Can you tell me the 10 branches of theology? What does it say in Greek? Really? You know Greek,
[33:00] right? Well, you’re in a community group right now, right? What are you waiting for?
[33:08] You’re not in the band? Well, learn an instrument today.
[33:13] It sounds silly, doesn’t it? When you say it in those minutes, I don’t read the Bible in a day.
[33:21] Many of you have never been through it once and it’s going to take time. [33:25] Some of you, because this is the way our culture is different than previous cultures, [33:28] we watch TV a lot and so we didn’t really read much. It’s going to take, it’s going to be [33:41] a lot of work. Relationships, even not for the gospel, are brand new to you.
[33:49] Maybe you, I don’t want to get in the room with people telling me their problems. [33:53] I got my own. See, there’s this tendency inside of a lot of us
[34:02] to really be impatient.
[34:06] Really? You’re being patient. I mean, Jesus spent three years, [34:12] maybe a little bit longer than that, eating, sleeping, drinking, walking, touring with Peter, [34:19] and then at the end of three years, here’s Peter’s graduation. I don’t even know the guy.
[34:26] That’s three years. [34:28] Jesus, here’s a key. It’s got to start somewhere though.
[34:39] You know what Jesus has to say here? Look at verse 22. No, back to verse 21. [34:48] That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, [34:55] so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me, [35:00] I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them and you in me, [35:07] that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them, [35:16] even as you loved me. There’s this interesting dynamic in these verses with the word be and the
[35:24] become. They’re a little different. One is this static reality and identity that we stand in [35:32] in Jesus, where we know that we’re united with him in the resurrection like him, and we have life, [35:38] but then later he uses this word become. This is Greek word ame, which can be used a lot of [35:46] different ways, and it’s this idea that while you’re being, you’re also becoming. It’s kind of like [35:53] 2 Corinthians 3 a couple of weeks ago when we talked about this idea of being transformed, [35:58] where you are transformed at the moment of redemption, where you’re born again and your
[36:03] life has changed completely, but then there’s this idea that day by day you are becoming more like [36:11] Jesus. Well, it’s the same thing in the community that God is forming. See, there’s this reality [36:16] that you know you need to be in community, but a lot of you don’t know where to start, [36:21] and there’s a lot of baggage in community, a lot of distrust, a lot of shame maybe, a lot of pride [36:27] maybe that you have to get through and you have to get over, and understand that realizing your [36:32] place in community, even if you aren’t 100% sure you should be there, it’s okay. It’s okay.
[36:41] Trust me, when you go to community group, and I hope not, nobody’s going to be like, [36:48] can you quote from your Romans 8? Right now? Come on, you can’t? Who? Man, I don’t know where [36:55] to start with you. Or, hey, can you just tell me your life story right now? Can you do that [37:02] right now? No, quite frankly, maybe eventually, I might get a little pushy, I’m not going to lie. [37:10] I’m going to challenge you at some point, and so will the community group leaders. [37:13] Here’s the key, we realize that everyone is somewhere else in their journey of discipleship,
[37:19] but the key is being on that journey, and you need to be on that journey with people that are more [37:26] mature in the faith, with people that are more immature in the faith, because we’re all one [37:30] community with the same destination, it’s that movement towards the glory of God, and it’s going [37:36] to take time. Just like forming right belief and understanding the truth of God’s word takes time, [37:46] so does kind of getting your feet wet in community and feeling like you really belong in community. [37:52] It takes a little time. Give it that time, and quite frankly, give others the time to do it,
[38:02] because we’re all one. You see, and what Jesus is doing is this idea of seeing others as being the [38:09] same as we are, because the ideal is not you, the ideal is Jesus, and so when we use him as our [38:17] measuring board, quite frankly, none of us add up. None of us reach that, but he says be on the [38:25] journey towards that. That’s why he says become perfectly one, because it’s our ideal, and God is [38:32] taking us there, but we have to take others with us. Give it time. Quite frankly, more than give it [38:39] time, realize that it’s going to consume your time. So we all have things that are standing in the way
[38:47] of us being in community and being in relationships with other believers, getting into the environments [38:52] where community takes place, but whatever, and we’ve said this before, but whatever it is that [38:58] standing in the way of you being in community with other believers is the thing that’s more [39:02] important to you than the mission of Jesus, and we have to have faith that the time is worth it, [39:13] and we have to realize that we have a divine responsibility to the community that God is [39:22] forming through the gospel, and eventually it becomes this strange ideal, and I think this is
[39:33] where we get confused in our idea of how much time it should take, what should I believe, and here’s [39:39] why it’s worth the time, okay, because I’ve heard it said, and there’s one aspect where this is a [39:44] good analogy and one aspect where it just falls apart completely. There’s this analogy, well, what [39:49] would you believe if God were to put you alone on a desert island, and it’s just you and a Bible, [39:55] and you don’t know anything, and you have to form all of your beliefs from the Bible, [39:59] and nothing else, what would you believe? I think in one sense of pointing out the authority of
[40:05] scripture, that’s a good analogy, it’s fair, but here’s where it falls apart completely, [40:10] God didn’t do that, did he? He didn’t, so clearly that wasn’t his idea for how it should happen, [40:18] what did God do? Over centuries,
[40:25] men and women wrote the scriptures, and it was given, and it was learned in community with other [40:32] believers. See, so I think some of you, maybe you’re struggling with shame that you don’t [40:38] understand the Bible, don’t be ashamed of that, be ashamed of that, but don’t be so prideful [40:47] that you’re unwilling to learn, because you see, God didn’t make it so that you would have to [40:52] learn on your own, he put you in a community so that you could learn it with other believers, [40:55] that’s what discipleship is, life on life in a movement to the glory of God, because community
[41:04] is a foretaste of the kingdom of God. See, those of you that are stronger in the faith, [41:12] struggling to wait for those that are weaker in the faith, stop waiting, go get them,
[41:18] help them, because what happens in that relationship is the beauty of what the kingdom of God is going [41:27] to look like. See, Romans chapter 8 says is that we as believers will experience and actually be [41:32] the first fruits of the kingdom of God. We won’t realize it completely in this life, [41:37] we’ll realize it upon the return of Jesus when he takes us into his kingdom, and we’ll see the [41:42] kingdom. But what he says is, right now in this world, the church is a picture and a taste of the [41:49] kingdom of God. And that is what he is talking about when he talks about being one with them
[41:56] and with each other as the Trinity is one. And here’s what he says at the end of this, he says, [42:02] verse 24, Father, I desire that they also whom you have forgiven, excuse me, whom you have given me [42:08] may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the [42:13] foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, [42:20] and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it [42:25] known that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them. You see, God wants
[42:31] us to experience in this world a taste of what we will experience for all of eternity. [42:38] And that’s this relationship with him and with each other where we reflect the vision of God and [42:46] the reflection of the image of God to the rest of the world. And the only way we can do that is [42:52] together. That’s why in this text, there was such an emphasis that the he says, I don’t only pray [43:00] for these, but I also pray for those who don’t know me. But here’s how he lays out how those who [43:08] don’t believe will know. They will see a taste of the kingdom of God taking place in the community
[43:16] that we are proactively and intentionally forming with one another for the movement towards the [43:24] God in the mission of Jesus. Here’s what I mean by that. When we come together, we’re more like [43:33] God than we are when we’re separate. Because God is seen through relationships, because the Trinity [43:40] is a relationship. But when those of us that are stronger in the faith are helping those of us that [43:49] the survivor survivor survivor survivor survivor survivor survivor survivor survivor [44:03]
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[44:17] [44:17] [44:18] and on and on, the world will see a taste of the kingdom of God and they will want that.
[44:31] See most of our problem in the churches when we believe the gospel what we do is [44:35] we spend all of our time trying to convince the world that it is true rather than showing them [44:42] that it is true because we’re so stuck on ourselves we’re so satisfied with staring in a mirror
[44:53] rather than relating to one another.
[44:58] You see in the gospel we have this great restoration that God’s going to do to the [45:04] entire world where he’s going to bring it back to the way he designed it to be and then set his [45:09] kingdom in motion for eternity through the work of Jesus and we have that and God has given us the [45:18] ability to show the world a taste of that. You see we’ll never convince them that it’s true.
[45:29] The key is living life in such a way to where they see it and they want it to be true. [45:38] Because we exemplify forgiveness when we’re sinned against. We exemplify care for those that need it. [45:50] We exemplify love for those that we know and are known by. We exemplify reconciliation with those [46:01] who need it because the gospel reconciles us to God. [46:06] And when that takes place in the community of the local church that small part of the kingdom of God [46:16] you see very big things outside of the community of the church begin to happen.
[46:25] Because see I don’t have to convince any of you to go out into the culture. You’re already there.
[46:33] The question is always what are we taking with us as we go?
[46:42] Are we taking a reflection of the kingdom of God in community with other believers?
[46:48] Are we taking with us a reflection of ourselves and all the reasons why community is unrealistic?
[46:59] See because I desire to be a part of community mostly quite frankly. Here’s why. [47:07] It’s not because it’s natural to me. It’s very unnatural to me if you know me. [47:12] Quite frankly because that’s what Jesus has called me towards.
[47:17] And when I’m overcome with the truth of what Jesus has done for me I can’t help but say [47:26] yes Lord I trust that that’s the best life that you have for me even when it’s hard to believe.
[47:38] And I’ve found out in the past few years it’s only been a few years since I’ve been [47:42] intentionally striving for community. He’s right
[47:53] and I’m the one that was wrong.
[48:01] Father can you help us today
[48:06] to maybe just catch a small glimpse of the community that you’re calling us towards?
[48:13] May we begin to experience it on some level.
[48:19] May we be the church rather than going to church.
[48:25] May we sacrifice the lie that we’re living for and begin to live for the truth [48:31] that you’ve shown us in your son. May we reflect your kingdom to the world around us.