A Healthy Church

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.680 --> 00:00:05.839 Last week we finished second John and I'd like to turn to third John Now. 2 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:19.829 I'm going to be focusing on the first four versus this morning, but, 3 00:00:20.949 --> 00:00:25.219 as with second John, I'll go ahead and read the entire letter and 4 00:00:25.420 --> 00:00:30.859 I'd like to encourage you to make it your goal to become very familiar with 5 00:00:30.940 --> 00:00:37.369 the words here as we as I preached through this probably three or four sermons, 6 00:00:37.450 --> 00:00:41.409 something like that. Make it your goal that you know the men a 7 00:00:41.450 --> 00:00:45.649 month from now, that you know the words here a little better, perhaps 8 00:00:45.729 --> 00:00:51.000 memorized even in some ways. So let's attend to God's word now. Third 9 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:59.719 John The elder to the beloved Guius, whom I love in truth. Beloved, 10 00:00:59.799 --> 00:01:02.759 I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be 11 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:07.269 in good health, as it goes well with your soul, for I rejoiced 12 00:01:07.349 --> 00:01:11.510 greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are 13 00:01:11.629 --> 00:01:15.909 walking in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my 14 00:01:17.069 --> 00:01:22.099 children are walking in the truth. Beloved, it is a faithful thing you 15 00:01:22.219 --> 00:01:26.140 do and all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who 16 00:01:26.180 --> 00:01:30.260 testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them 17 00:01:30.299 --> 00:01:34.010 on their journey in a manner worthy of God, for they have gone out 18 00:01:34.370 --> 00:01:38.730 for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the gentiles. Therefore, 19 00:01:38.890 --> 00:01:42.409 we ought to support people like these that we may be fellow workers for the 20 00:01:42.489 --> 00:01:49.079 truth. I have written something to the church. I have written something to 21 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:53.280 the church, but Diotrephus, who likes to put himself first, does not 22 00:01:53.319 --> 00:01:57.480 acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he 23 00:01:57.599 --> 00:02:01.269 is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us, and not content with that, 24 00:02:01.430 --> 00:02:07.069 he refuses to welcome the brothers and also stops those who want and also stops 25 00:02:07.189 --> 00:02:10.789 those who want to and puts them out of the church. Loved, do 26 00:02:10.909 --> 00:02:15.099 not imitate evil, but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God, 27 00:02:15.780 --> 00:02:21.900 whoever does evil has not seen God. Demetrius has received a good testimony from 28 00:02:21.900 --> 00:02:25.659 everyone and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and you 29 00:02:25.780 --> 00:02:30.889 know that our testimony is true. I had much to write you. I 30 00:02:30.129 --> 00:02:34.210 had much to write you, but I would rather not write with pen and 31 00:02:34.289 --> 00:02:37.770 Eing. I hope to see you soon and we will talk face to face. 32 00:02:38.770 --> 00:02:42.050 Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends each 33 00:02:42.449 --> 00:02:53.240 by name. God bless his word to us. So here we have a 34 00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:59.310 letter from John. One of the reasons we believe it's from him is the 35 00:03:00.710 --> 00:03:02.750 many, even though it's a short letter, the many, many similarities that 36 00:03:02.789 --> 00:03:07.870 we have between this letter and the last letter, exact language, similar themes, 37 00:03:09.110 --> 00:03:15.219 and also the letter of First John and the book of John is well, 38 00:03:15.259 --> 00:03:20.219 he writes to the beloved guy us. We have a few mentions of 39 00:03:20.580 --> 00:03:23.379 a Guius, or maybe a couple guiases, and I didn't mean that as 40 00:03:23.379 --> 00:03:30.889 a joke. Sorry, a couple men with this name Guius in the New 41 00:03:30.969 --> 00:03:34.530 Testament. It's hard to tell exactly whether there are as one or more than 42 00:03:34.650 --> 00:03:38.729 one. I'm not a lot of details are given about this person, in 43 00:03:38.889 --> 00:03:43.919 particular their background, their history. But what we do have of this Guias 44 00:03:43.919 --> 00:03:52.280 is a assessment of him by the elder, by the Presbyter by the apostle, 45 00:03:52.680 --> 00:04:00.069 even John, and it's a very high assessment. Right. When I 46 00:04:00.270 --> 00:04:02.469 read about guy us here, I think I want to be like Guius. 47 00:04:03.469 --> 00:04:06.990 This is a good man. He Calls Him Beloved, I believe, four 48 00:04:08.069 --> 00:04:12.860 different times in this very short letter. He is a dear friend, he 49 00:04:13.060 --> 00:04:17.779 is affectionate toward this man and he says. Why? For one, it 50 00:04:18.019 --> 00:04:23.620 goes well with his soul. He's doing well. Um, it says in 51 00:04:23.740 --> 00:04:29.569 verse three that brothers had come and testified to your truth, or perhaps the 52 00:04:29.730 --> 00:04:33.329 truth of you or the truth about you, and that truth is that he 53 00:04:33.490 --> 00:04:38.329 is walking in the truth, and that makes John Really happy. Says, 54 00:04:38.329 --> 00:04:43.560 I have no greater joy than to hear my children are walking in the truth. 55 00:04:45.560 --> 00:04:47.879 So here you have this man who is walking in the truth. He's 56 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:53.230 walking, as we will consider in a moment, in the Lord and he 57 00:04:53.750 --> 00:04:58.069 is not walking in just and in an intellectual way, knowing a lot of 58 00:04:58.269 --> 00:05:02.350 doctrine, thinking a lot of good and important things, confessing good and important 59 00:05:02.389 --> 00:05:06.069 things, but he is also loving people. And, as we saw in 60 00:05:06.110 --> 00:05:10.980 the last letter and is will consider again in this letter, those two things, 61 00:05:11.180 --> 00:05:15.459 truth and love, they go together. They cannot be pulled apart, 62 00:05:15.779 --> 00:05:18.420 not in the one who truly abides in God. And so we see this 63 00:05:18.540 --> 00:05:25.370 with Guius. Beloved. It's a faithful thing you do in all your efforts 64 00:05:25.449 --> 00:05:30.930 for these brothers, strangers as they are. The situation seems to be that 65 00:05:30.050 --> 00:05:35.360 there are Christians coming into guiuses circle and they need help. They do not 66 00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:41.399 have a lot of means they are on a journey and he receives them and 67 00:05:41.519 --> 00:05:46.519 he sends them off in a manner worthy of God. The next time you 68 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:50.189 have people over to your home or the next time you you get the opportunity 69 00:05:50.230 --> 00:05:55.790 to go to someone else's home, think about receiving and being received in a 70 00:05:55.870 --> 00:06:01.629 manner worthy of God. An amazing statement. What does that look like? 71 00:06:02.629 --> 00:06:06.259 What does that look like in your home, in your actions and you are 72 00:06:06.339 --> 00:06:11.420 attitudes and the ways that you receive, in the ways that you welcome and 73 00:06:11.540 --> 00:06:17.300 all of those different things? What does it look like for you to receive 74 00:06:17.689 --> 00:06:21.769 people, even strangers, people you're not yet familiar with? You, people 75 00:06:21.810 --> 00:06:27.850 you don't yet know, newcomers in our church, in a manner worthy of 76 00:06:28.009 --> 00:06:35.120 God? Guius was doing very well and and John commends it for commends him 77 00:06:35.160 --> 00:06:38.639 for it, and then he says in Verse Eight, he lays down a 78 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:42.959 principle. We ought to support people like these. This is a good thing 79 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:47.709 you're doing these that we may be fellow workers for the truth. If these 80 00:06:47.750 --> 00:06:54.029 are as, I'm inclined to think, ministers who are traveling and preaching, 81 00:06:54.870 --> 00:06:59.750 people that are moving around spreading the Gospel, and Guius is supporting these he 82 00:06:59.949 --> 00:07:05.180 becomes a fellow worker. In for the truth, Guius may not be the 83 00:07:05.339 --> 00:07:10.620 one preaching the Gospel, but he is supporting the Gospel and in that he 84 00:07:10.740 --> 00:07:15.569 becomes a fellow worker, a coworker, one who's laboring alongside of them, 85 00:07:15.649 --> 00:07:20.449 and in this John commends him. He goes on, though, to give 86 00:07:20.490 --> 00:07:25.810 a warning. He gives this warning about dial trefus and says this is a 87 00:07:26.089 --> 00:07:30.800 bad man, do not receive him, do not welcome him, and you 88 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:35.639 may remember, this parallels things that we considered in Second Chon. John is 89 00:07:35.759 --> 00:07:41.040 strong about this. John Speaks in very strong ways. He says, if 90 00:07:41.120 --> 00:07:44.790 I come, we're going to have a talk. If I come, I 91 00:07:44.949 --> 00:07:49.149 am not going to be shy and I'm not going to hesitate about setting clear 92 00:07:49.310 --> 00:07:56.670 boundaries, about setting this person outside of those boundaries. And he gives reasons. 93 00:07:56.750 --> 00:08:01.100 He talked wicked nonsense against us and, not being content with that, 94 00:08:01.339 --> 00:08:05.379 he refuses to welcome the brothers, he stops those who want to and puts 95 00:08:05.459 --> 00:08:11.100 them out of the church. This man, dial Trefis, is setting up 96 00:08:11.180 --> 00:08:15.129 his own boundaries, his own way, his own truth, his own community, 97 00:08:15.490 --> 00:08:18.649 has nothing to do with the Gospel, has nothing to do with that 98 00:08:18.810 --> 00:08:24.050 which John has taught by the authority of the Lord and he is not to 99 00:08:24.089 --> 00:08:28.319 be received. He says to guys, you're a loving man, you're a 100 00:08:28.360 --> 00:08:35.200 hospitable man, you're a good man and you're doing well, and in that 101 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:41.669 spirit, do not receive dial trefus. Set a boundary, be firm, 102 00:08:43.710 --> 00:08:50.070 be strong. Well with that and we'll explore more of that and think through 103 00:08:50.110 --> 00:08:52.070 some of those details as we go on. Today. I want to think 104 00:08:52.149 --> 00:09:00.419 with you again about the unity between love and truth. Why again? You 105 00:09:00.539 --> 00:09:03.100 really want me to answer, don't you? Why? I get, of 106 00:09:03.220 --> 00:09:07.299 course again. First of all, John Brings it up again. Second when 107 00:09:07.340 --> 00:09:16.289 do we ever perfectly focus and perfectly unite these things so closely that we don't 108 00:09:16.370 --> 00:09:20.529 need to hear of the anymore? How many of you, since the last 109 00:09:20.529 --> 00:09:24.919 time I preach of this, have perfectly bound truth and lover love together and 110 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:28.960 every action in every way, with no need of reminder of these things? 111 00:09:28.039 --> 00:09:33.440 Of course none of us have. John Brings it up over and over again. 112 00:09:33.480 --> 00:09:37.120 Jesus brings it up over and over again. It's worth meditating on a 113 00:09:37.320 --> 00:09:46.230 lot. We see those truths here, the ways the truth and love go 114 00:09:46.509 --> 00:09:52.460 together in the Christian life. We love within the bounds of truth. We 115 00:09:52.620 --> 00:09:58.779 know within the bounds of love. When we love within the bounds of truth, 116 00:09:58.860 --> 00:10:07.289 we walk together towards a common goal. We walk with purpose, we 117 00:10:07.409 --> 00:10:13.610 know we were going. We understand the reality as it is. Imagine two 118 00:10:13.649 --> 00:10:20.690 people walking a together. Maybe one's tall and one's short, maybe one's gait 119 00:10:20.049 --> 00:10:24.879 is fast and one is slow. Right, they're different. There's going to 120 00:10:24.919 --> 00:10:31.679 be challenges of marching or walking closely together. Right, well, get to 121 00:10:31.879 --> 00:10:35.789 love in a moment, but what about truth? They're going to have no 122 00:10:35.190 --> 00:10:39.750 hope of walking together if they don't have an intended purpose of where they're going. 123 00:10:39.870 --> 00:10:45.710 Right, even if they were able to match up perfectly step for step, 124 00:10:45.990 --> 00:10:50.940 but then head in different directions, it's not walking together. That's the 125 00:10:50.059 --> 00:10:56.100 truth part. To Walk Together, to live together, to belong in a 126 00:10:56.220 --> 00:11:01.100 healthy way in the body of Christ, it requires the truth, knowing who 127 00:11:01.139 --> 00:11:03.929 we are, knowing what Christ has done for us, knowing where we're going. 128 00:11:05.409 --> 00:11:13.090 Without those boundaries, whatever loving actions we might take toward one another are 129 00:11:13.570 --> 00:11:18.679 meaningless and often fruitless. Again, imagine that pair of a tall person in 130 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:24.159 a short person walking together, matching up their steps, but then heading different 131 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:28.879 directions. It's not together even though they may have sinked up their walk. 132 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:35.070 And so it's important to know the things that John has testified to, the 133 00:11:35.190 --> 00:11:39.669 things that John Brings to us by the spirit of God and from Jesus, 134 00:11:41.350 --> 00:11:46.899 our Savior, things like John Fourteen six, where Jesus says I am the 135 00:11:48.059 --> 00:11:52.580 way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the father 136 00:11:52.940 --> 00:11:58.899 except through me. This is the gate, this is the path, this 137 00:11:58.100 --> 00:12:03.409 is the way. You may walk really well, but if you don't walk 138 00:12:03.450 --> 00:12:07.929 on that path, you aren't walking early well. It may have an outward 139 00:12:07.049 --> 00:12:11.929 form of godliness, but not the power of it. It may look like 140 00:12:13.250 --> 00:12:22.080 spirituality, but it isn't actually spirituality, it's not of the spirit. To 141 00:12:22.320 --> 00:12:28.080 know, to live together in the body of Christ requires this walking in the 142 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:31.990 truth. And that's exactly what guy is is doing. That's why John Says 143 00:12:31.029 --> 00:12:35.789 I have no greater joy than to hear my children are walking in the truth. 144 00:12:39.070 --> 00:12:41.190 And of course, the opposite, or rather the flip side of this 145 00:12:41.389 --> 00:12:48.899 coin, the parallel is also true. We know things if we, let 146 00:12:48.940 --> 00:12:52.299 me say it this way, if we, if we love within the bounds 147 00:12:52.340 --> 00:12:56.700 of truth, we also know the truth, learn, understand, grow within 148 00:12:56.779 --> 00:13:07.330 the bounds of love. Often times we find ourselves knowing things because of relationships. 149 00:13:09.649 --> 00:13:16.200 In fact, I would say that we know everything and anything that we 150 00:13:16.360 --> 00:13:22.840 know we know because of a relationship. Which one of us has accessed God's 151 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:28.549 knowledge or his created world apart from him? Which one of us was born, 152 00:13:28.750 --> 00:13:33.669 apart from a relationship with God, into this world, distinct and separate 153 00:13:33.870 --> 00:13:39.710 from creation, like a all knowing God, unto ourselves? Of course, 154 00:13:39.750 --> 00:13:43.259 none of us. We are all creatures embedded in this system that God has 155 00:13:43.340 --> 00:13:48.940 made. We only know him because he has made himself known to us, 156 00:13:50.019 --> 00:13:56.730 because he created us. So from the starting point of any kind of knowledge 157 00:13:56.769 --> 00:14:03.009 that you might imagine, we only know God because of how he has revealed 158 00:14:03.049 --> 00:14:07.690 himself to us. And that's true not only of any knowledge in this world, 159 00:14:09.250 --> 00:14:13.399 but also of Gospel Knowledge, the knowledge of the truth that Jesus Christ 160 00:14:13.480 --> 00:14:16.600 has come into the world to save sinners. How would the shepherds in the 161 00:14:16.679 --> 00:14:22.240 field had known about Jesus and less God had revealed it to him? How 162 00:14:22.279 --> 00:14:26.029 would Mary have known the Truth About Jesus and less God had revealed it to 163 00:14:26.110 --> 00:14:35.750 her, or Joseph or many others? We know these things. We know 164 00:14:37.190 --> 00:14:43.220 God because he has revealed himself to us, and that has happened in a 165 00:14:43.299 --> 00:14:48.500 loving relationship even before time, the scriptures say, in love. God chose 166 00:14:48.539 --> 00:14:58.889 us. In love. God knew us, for new US, before we 167 00:14:58.970 --> 00:15:03.730 were even made. God had known us in Love, God himself acting in 168 00:15:05.529 --> 00:15:13.759 this way. We are called to love within the bounds of truth and to 169 00:15:13.879 --> 00:15:18.600 know within the bounds of love, because that's what God does, that's who 170 00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:24.029 God is. Within God, we don't have truth and love as these two 171 00:15:24.070 --> 00:15:31.549 distinct parts that are that are kind of balanced carefully within his being. He 172 00:15:31.789 --> 00:15:37.980 is all truth and all of simultaneously and acts perfectly in every moment in both 173 00:15:37.019 --> 00:15:43.500 of those ways. That's how we know him. That's how we came to 174 00:15:45.100 --> 00:15:52.250 abide in him. Consider some other verses. Listen. I'd like to read 175 00:15:52.289 --> 00:15:58.370 a passage from first John to impress these things by the word on your hearts. 176 00:16:00.769 --> 00:16:04.519 First John, Chapter Four, or verse seven through Verse Twenty One. 177 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:11.440 As we read, consider these things, listen for these things truth, love, 178 00:16:15.039 --> 00:16:18.320 truth and love, both from God to us and us to God, 179 00:16:18.629 --> 00:16:22.509 and also toward one another. Beloved, let us love one another, for 180 00:16:22.710 --> 00:16:27.830 love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows 181 00:16:27.990 --> 00:16:33.179 God. Anyone who does not love, does not know God, because God 182 00:16:33.580 --> 00:16:37.899 is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, 183 00:16:38.059 --> 00:16:42.179 that God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through 184 00:16:42.179 --> 00:16:47.529 him. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but 185 00:16:47.649 --> 00:16:51.809 that he loved US and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. 186 00:16:52.049 --> 00:16:56.289 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one 187 00:16:56.330 --> 00:17:00.529 another. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, 188 00:17:00.690 --> 00:17:06.559 God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we 189 00:17:06.680 --> 00:17:08.680 know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given 190 00:17:08.759 --> 00:17:14.400 us his spirit, and we have seen and testify that the father has sent 191 00:17:14.519 --> 00:17:18.869 his son to be the savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is 192 00:17:18.990 --> 00:17:22.789 the son of God, God abides in him, and he and God. 193 00:17:22.670 --> 00:17:27.269 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for 194 00:17:27.309 --> 00:17:32.259 us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, 195 00:17:32.380 --> 00:17:37.220 and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us so that 196 00:17:37.339 --> 00:17:41.140 we may have confidence for the Day of judgment, because as he is, 197 00:17:41.380 --> 00:17:45.250 so also we are. We in this world. There's no fear in love, 198 00:17:45.369 --> 00:17:49.569 but perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment, 199 00:17:49.650 --> 00:17:55.170 and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he 200 00:17:55.289 --> 00:17:59.359 first loved us. If anyone says I love God and hates his brother, 201 00:17:59.400 --> 00:18:02.839 he's a liar, for he does not have look, for he does not 202 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:07.480 love his brother, whom he cannot for he who does not love his brother, 203 00:18:07.640 --> 00:18:14.670 whom he cannot see, cannot love God. I'm so sorry, verse 204 00:18:14.789 --> 00:18:19.470 twenty. If anyone loves God, if anyone says I love God and hates 205 00:18:19.549 --> 00:18:23.390 his brother, he is a liar, for he who does not love his 206 00:18:23.630 --> 00:18:29.539 brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not 207 00:18:29.619 --> 00:18:36.259 seen. In this commandment we have from him, whoever loves God must also 208 00:18:36.339 --> 00:18:41.490 love his brother. Well, just bite my mixing up the words there at 209 00:18:41.529 --> 00:18:49.609 the end. Did you hear the word? It's very clear right. There 210 00:18:49.730 --> 00:18:56.160 is no abiding in God if we do not love one another. There is 211 00:18:56.240 --> 00:19:02.519 no abide in God unless he first loves us. There's no knowing God unless 212 00:19:02.599 --> 00:19:04.880 we love. There is no love in God unless we know and confess. 213 00:19:06.440 --> 00:19:14.349 These things are intertwined. These things are all interrelated. So one of the 214 00:19:14.430 --> 00:19:15.549 reasons, one of the IRT let me say it this way. One of 215 00:19:15.589 --> 00:19:22.630 the things that Jesus wants you to know today is that he is pleased when 216 00:19:22.710 --> 00:19:26.660 we walk in truth and love. He's pleased with us, he's happy. 217 00:19:27.779 --> 00:19:33.539 It brings him Joy, it brings his apostle joy, who speaks with authority 218 00:19:33.619 --> 00:19:41.769 here and conviction. He confirms and encourages this brother in the faith, and 219 00:19:41.930 --> 00:19:45.890 he does so by the spirit and in the name of Jesus. Jesus is 220 00:19:47.130 --> 00:19:52.569 pleased with guy us for walking in the in truth and in love, and 221 00:19:52.650 --> 00:19:56.319 he's pleased with us and as well, and that's because he wants to be 222 00:19:56.559 --> 00:20:00.200 with us. To Walk in truth and love is to be in God, 223 00:20:00.759 --> 00:20:03.799 to abide in God, to know God, and that's what God wants. 224 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:08.390 Remember what I read from Ezekieli or earlier. I will be your God, 225 00:20:08.829 --> 00:20:12.390 you will be my people. I will make your heart so that you will 226 00:20:12.430 --> 00:20:18.029 not defile yourselves. We will come together, we will have communion in truth 227 00:20:18.069 --> 00:20:22.180 and in love. That's what God wants for his people. It's also the 228 00:20:22.259 --> 00:20:27.700 work that Jesus that out to accomplish. These aren't just moral theories out there 229 00:20:27.940 --> 00:20:33.579 that are good to follow because they're they're a little bit good, or they 230 00:20:33.619 --> 00:20:37.289 bring about good fruit, although that's true. Another way to look at them, 231 00:20:37.650 --> 00:20:41.690 perhaps a deeper way to look at them, is this is the work 232 00:20:41.849 --> 00:20:48.769 that God has set out to accomplish in us. He wants US both to 233 00:20:48.329 --> 00:20:52.440 it. He wants these two people, these imaginary people that I mentioned, 234 00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:56.359 to get earlier, to to walk in the same goal and tords the same 235 00:20:56.400 --> 00:21:00.480 purpose, but to do that in relationship with him ultimately, and with each 236 00:21:00.519 --> 00:21:04.789 other. That's why the one slows down and the other speeds up and they 237 00:21:04.910 --> 00:21:08.390 listen to one another and they pay attention to one another and they get a 238 00:21:08.509 --> 00:21:12.789 sense for what the other is doing and if one is staying straight in the 239 00:21:12.869 --> 00:21:18.269 other's curving, they notice that and they correct and if the other starts curving 240 00:21:18.269 --> 00:21:22.460 and the other stay straight, they notice and they correct because they love each 241 00:21:22.460 --> 00:21:26.099 other. And then that they come to a closer walk in the in God, 242 00:21:26.619 --> 00:21:32.420 a closer walk in the truth. Love, in a funny way, 243 00:21:32.619 --> 00:21:37.210 is a very practical way of working out the truth. It's easy to confess 244 00:21:37.369 --> 00:21:42.529 things in a way, sort of up here, and then not actually apply 245 00:21:42.769 --> 00:21:45.890 them in any way. What we find when we apply them is they become 246 00:21:47.049 --> 00:21:52.400 very practical, they become very relational. Some times it takes our life away 247 00:21:52.440 --> 00:21:56.359 from us. If we confess that Jesus is the son of God who came 248 00:21:56.400 --> 00:22:00.519 in the flesh to save sins, we may have to die for that. 249 00:22:00.599 --> 00:22:04.910 That's very relational thing. When somebody says I hate you so much that I'm 250 00:22:04.910 --> 00:22:10.190 willing to kill you for saying this thing, and we say I love you 251 00:22:10.390 --> 00:22:14.269 so much that I'm willing to die for saying this thing, it's a relational 252 00:22:14.430 --> 00:22:22.579 thing, it's a connected thing that's grounded in the truth. This is life, 253 00:22:22.660 --> 00:22:27.539 these truths, if we really believe them, they work themselves out in 254 00:22:27.740 --> 00:22:34.849 practice. So I want to read one more passage of scripture from Philippians too, 255 00:22:37.170 --> 00:22:41.329 that expresses some of these things and sets before us the work of Christ 256 00:22:41.529 --> 00:22:56.079 so clearly. Philippians to one through eleven, and as I read this, 257 00:22:56.160 --> 00:23:00.509 keep in mind not only the themes that we've considered so far, but this 258 00:23:00.670 --> 00:23:06.230 point that I just made, that it's Jesus's desire for us to walk in 259 00:23:06.309 --> 00:23:10.190 truth and love. This is why he died, this is why he came, 260 00:23:11.829 --> 00:23:18.099 and so he's pleased when he sees his work come to fruition. Philippians, 261 00:23:18.259 --> 00:23:22.660 to Paul writes to the church. So if there is any encouragement in 262 00:23:22.819 --> 00:23:29.890 Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit, any affection 263 00:23:30.170 --> 00:23:34.450 and sympathy. Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the 264 00:23:34.609 --> 00:23:40.250 same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from 265 00:23:40.289 --> 00:23:45.920 selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. 266 00:23:48.039 --> 00:23:52.440 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also 267 00:23:52.599 --> 00:23:56.630 to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours, 268 00:23:57.430 --> 00:24:03.390 in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, 269 00:24:03.670 --> 00:24:07.509 did not account equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied 270 00:24:07.549 --> 00:24:11.819 himself, taking the form of a servant. Being born in the likeness of 271 00:24:11.900 --> 00:24:18.220 men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to 272 00:24:18.299 --> 00:24:22.660 the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has 273 00:24:22.740 --> 00:24:27.569 highly Exalted Him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 274 00:24:29.210 --> 00:24:33.410 so that at the name of Jesus, every Nie should bow in heaven and 275 00:24:33.569 --> 00:24:37.329 on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is 276 00:24:37.490 --> 00:24:48.119 Lord to the glory of God, the Father. So Paul calls us. 277 00:24:49.880 --> 00:24:56.190 He calls us to have the same mind among yourselves. That's verse five, 278 00:24:56.309 --> 00:25:00.549 and also earlier in verse two. Have the same mind among yourselves, which 279 00:25:00.589 --> 00:25:04.950 is yours right. It's something you already have, and have it more, 280 00:25:06.349 --> 00:25:10.779 you might put it that way, something you already have in Christ, Jesus 281 00:25:10.819 --> 00:25:15.339 why? Because he's the head where the body we are, as he says 282 00:25:15.420 --> 00:25:25.609 in Ephesians, being built up in love into that head. And WHAT IS 283 00:25:25.769 --> 00:25:30.450 THE MIND OF CHRIST? What is it that we have in him as the 284 00:25:30.650 --> 00:25:40.960 members of his body? We have him and his work, his loving work 285 00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:47.640 in which he humbled himself, obedient to the father, obedient to the law 286 00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:52.509 of God, the law of Love, even to the point of death, 287 00:25:52.630 --> 00:25:56.029 death on a cross. And because of that obedience, because of that love, 288 00:25:56.910 --> 00:26:03.619 we have been loved so that we would proclaim, with others, together 289 00:26:03.980 --> 00:26:10.220 in a community of love and truth, based in these truths about Jesus Christ, 290 00:26:11.619 --> 00:26:18.259 to proclaim his name, confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory 291 00:26:18.890 --> 00:26:23.690 of God, the Father. Isn't it interesting how those core doctrinal truths about 292 00:26:23.690 --> 00:26:30.809 the Gospel are the foundation for why Paul says, let let your interests go 293 00:26:36.559 --> 00:26:40.759 to look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of 294 00:26:40.839 --> 00:26:47.710 others. Don't be selfish and conceded, but have humility like Christ, for 295 00:26:48.069 --> 00:26:52.990 you have Christ and he has done this work in you. So it's because 296 00:26:52.069 --> 00:26:56.470 of these things that I say Jesus is pleased with guy us, and he's 297 00:26:56.509 --> 00:27:00.579 pleased with us when we have his mind, when we know the truth, 298 00:27:00.660 --> 00:27:06.140 when we confess the truth, and when that flows out in love and when 299 00:27:06.180 --> 00:27:11.700 that love comes out in truth. This is the way we are called to 300 00:27:11.900 --> 00:27:17.170 walk and this is the work that Christ does in us. So, in 301 00:27:17.289 --> 00:27:21.329 conclusion, what do we do when we fail? What do we do when 302 00:27:21.369 --> 00:27:26.410 we feel pressure in our hearts that we've not been loving or that we've not 303 00:27:26.490 --> 00:27:32.359 been willing to say the hard things, that we've fudged on the truth in 304 00:27:32.480 --> 00:27:37.039 order to have a kind of pseudo love, a pseudo, false communion with 305 00:27:37.119 --> 00:27:41.319 each other? What do we do when we realize that we haven't held up 306 00:27:41.359 --> 00:27:47.589 these things, which are already ours in Christ, we seek the one from 307 00:27:47.589 --> 00:27:51.509 whom we first received them. We seek them in his love and in His 308 00:27:51.670 --> 00:27:55.950 grace and his truth. What is the truth, beloved? The truth is 309 00:27:56.069 --> 00:28:00.380 that no one comes to the father except through Christ. The truth is that 310 00:28:00.500 --> 00:28:04.380 he's the way, the truth and the life. So if you find death 311 00:28:04.619 --> 00:28:08.420 in yourself, if you find sin in yourself, if you find things that 312 00:28:08.500 --> 00:28:15.130 are not of God in yourself, as we all do because of the remaining 313 00:28:15.250 --> 00:28:21.490 corruption of the flesh, we ought to go to Christ, who calls US 314 00:28:21.809 --> 00:28:29.039 and welcomes us over and over and again, continually and continually, and one 315 00:28:29.079 --> 00:28:34.480 day we can have hope that this war between the flesh and the spirit, 316 00:28:34.640 --> 00:28:41.000 this war within even communions of love, communions of the truth like ours, 317 00:28:41.230 --> 00:28:45.750 one day be over. There won't be any more pressure, any more trials, 318 00:28:45.789 --> 00:28:51.150 anymore struggles, but the Lord will keep his promises because he's pleased to 319 00:28:51.190 --> 00:28:56.859 do so, because he's loving, because he's true. So set your sights 320 00:28:57.180 --> 00:29:02.259 on him. He's the author and perfector of your faith, of my faith, 321 00:29:02.660 --> 00:29:06.180 of our faith. Let's pray