WEBVTT 00:00:00.700 --> 00:00:06.960 Today is the last day for our "Core series" and we've been going through a baseball diamond. 00:00:06.960 --> 00:00:09.210 By the way, if you are a Yankees fan, I'm sorry about yesterday. 00:00:09.820 --> 00:00:16.780 There's a baseball diamond and we've been using this as a way to shape an identity of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. 00:00:16.820 --> 00:00:23.540 What it is for our church family to really go after our win in Christ, why we even gather on Sundays, what that means for us. 00:00:23.900 --> 00:00:28.280 We've used those four topics around the basesball diamond to discuss those things. 00:00:28.400 --> 00:00:35.480 We've gone through the idea of what it means to worship the Lord and how in worshiping God, it leads us to diving deeper and growing deeper 00:00:35.500 --> 00:00:36.270 in Him, which is discipleship. 00:00:37.020 --> 00:00:39.320 Which inevitably will affect our relationships in this world. 00:00:39.900 --> 00:00:46.200 It starts with fellowship and as God's community and impacts a broader relational perspective in life. 00:00:46.760 --> 00:00:49.580 And then it really leads us to live life on mission. 00:00:50.180 --> 00:00:57.200 One of the things I pointed out about these topics as we've gone through them, is that they are not disconnected from one another, but rather 00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:00.200 interconnected to each other. 00:01:00.300 --> 00:01:02.950 And as we start the foundation, all of this is worship. 00:01:03.440 --> 00:01:08.580 As we engage God in worship, these things become a natural outflow in the way God directs our lives. 00:01:09.060 --> 00:01:11.260 Worship inevitably will lead to missions. 00:01:12.860 --> 00:01:15.650 As you love Jesus, you'll love the things that Jesus loves. 00:01:16.300 --> 00:01:19.400 And Jesus gave the two greatest commands: to love God and love others. 00:01:19.520 --> 00:01:21.780 And so as we love Jesus, we start to love the things that God loves. 00:01:21.780 --> 00:01:26.540 God gives us a passion for people and demonstrating our love for the Lord in this world around us. 00:01:26.620 --> 00:01:34.080 And it will impact our relationships and it will lead us to live life on a particular pursuit in our love for Jesus, which is what living on mission is 00:01:34.080 --> 00:01:34.640 all about. 00:01:35.080 --> 00:01:38.680 You realign your life in Christ and it transforms the perspective in which you live life. 00:01:38.940 --> 00:01:43.290 No longer about yourself, but in surrender to Christ for the reason which he created you. 00:01:44.620 --> 00:01:51.880 We said in the beginning, we are created as worshipful beings and what we acknowledged is that it is impossible not 00:01:51.880 --> 00:01:53.040 to worship something. 00:01:53.100 --> 00:01:54.420 Inevitably you will worship. 00:01:55.460 --> 00:02:02.730 But what God created you for in making it as a worshipful being is to centralize that worship in him because you're also created for relationship. 00:02:03.500 --> 00:02:09.370 When God created you, he formed you intimately for a relationship in Him that would last for eternity. 00:02:10.680 --> 00:02:17.380 And it's through that relationship that it begins to impact our lives, which is why Jesus said the greatest two commands are to love the Lord your God and to love others. 00:02:18.500 --> 00:02:25.520 In loving Jesus, I think 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:31.440 God grows our passion for people to carry that same love that Christ carries for others. 00:02:32.340 --> 00:02:35.680 And I think as we walk with Christ, sometimes the Lord shapes that passion in different ways. 00:02:36.480 --> 00:02:37.420 Maybe in different areas. 00:02:37.460 --> 00:02:39.600 Maybe it's in evangelism, discipleship. 00:02:39.600 --> 00:02:46.900 I think we should all do those things, but God shapes us in different ways, whether it's to a particular type of ministry or a particular type of cause 00:02:46.900 --> 00:02:48.800 or to a particular type of people. 00:02:49.060 --> 00:02:52.560 I think God shapes passion in us, for people because of him. 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:54.680 So it's to his glory, but it's for the benefit of others. 00:02:55.960 --> 00:02:58.340 And so inevitably worship leads us to mission. 00:02:59.200 --> 00:03:01.220 And in turn, mission leads us back to worship. 00:03:01.880 --> 00:03:07.300 As we live in pursuit of Christ in this world, others come to know him and in turn start to worship him. 00:03:07.320 --> 00:03:10.660 So worship leads to mission and mission leads to worship. 00:03:10.680 --> 00:03:15.860 And I should also say mission in itself, living your life in pursuit of Christ that impacts life around you. 00:03:15.940 --> 00:03:17.580 That in itself is an act of worship. 00:03:20.360 --> 00:03:27.380 Hudson Taylor, one of the great missionaries for China, as he walked with the Lord he said this, in talking about his 00:03:27.460 --> 00:03:28.210 work in China. 00:03:28.220 --> 00:03:31.680 He said, "If I had a thousand pounds, china's should have it. 00:03:32.440 --> 00:03:35.920 And if I had a thousand lives, China should have them. 00:03:36.600 --> 00:03:43.720 No, not China, but Christ." What Hudson Taylor is acknowledging that ultimately what he does and living his life 00:03:43.720 --> 00:03:45.520 on mission inevitably is to the glory of God. 00:03:45.580 --> 00:03:46.320 It's for Jesus. 00:03:46.700 --> 00:03:50.050 It's motivated behind Christ in this pursuit of Christ. 00:03:50.180 --> 00:03:51.330 But it's to the benefit of people. 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:53.780 And the way that God has shaped his passion was for China. 00:03:55.140 --> 00:04:02.660 One of the things in walking with Jesus in my own life that I desired from the Lord just to do in me as I pursued him, knowing that God was leading 00:04:02.660 --> 00:04:06.260 me and I was going to go into ministry, my prayer became exactly that quote of Hudson Taylor. 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:09.980 I read about him early on in my Christian faith and I said, God, that's what I want. 00:04:10.300 --> 00:04:16.399 I want a place like that where if I had a thousand lives, Lord, I would, I would give it all for the people to know you. 00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:24.560 Truth is wherever you live, that is your mission. 00:04:26.860 --> 00:04:34.640 So being a part of Utah and we're joining each other in that cause, God has you here for a reason, to 00:04:34.640 --> 00:04:36.460 know him and to make him known. 00:04:38.080 --> 00:04:43.300 Hudson Taylor as director of the China Inland Mission, which was the organization he led. 00:04:43.560 --> 00:04:46.060 He said he would often interview candidates for the mission field. 00:04:46.060 --> 00:04:50.460 And on one occasion he met with a group of applicants to determine their motivation for serving. 00:04:51.480 --> 00:04:54.640 Why do you wish to go be a foreign missionary, he asked one. 00:04:55.660 --> 00:05:01.020 And they said, I want to go because Christ had commanded us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 00:05:02.300 --> 00:05:05.320 And the other said, I want to go because millions are perishing without Christ. 00:05:06.220 --> 00:05:07.740 Others gave different answers. 00:05:07.740 --> 00:05:14.840 And Hudson Taylor said this, "All of these motives, however good, will fail you in times of testing, trials 00:05:14.840 --> 00:05:15.470 and tribulations. 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:17.540 And possibly even death. 00:05:18.760 --> 00:05:26.220 There is but one motivation that will sustain you in trial, namely the love of Christ." 00:05:26.400 --> 00:05:33.120 And today in knowing that we're going to talk about mission, I want us to understand that these thoughts that we've shared together over the last four weeks, these are interconnected. 00:05:34.200 --> 00:05:39.960 And that living life on mission, just for the sole purpose of living on mission, divorces itself from the motivation behind it all. 00:05:40.660 --> 00:05:45.390 And Hudson Taylor drove that home in questioning these individuals that wanted to go into a foreign field. 00:05:45.480 --> 00:05:50.320 That the thing that constrains us, the thing that compels us in all of this, isn't mission in itself. 00:05:51.520 --> 00:05:55.580 But the inspiration behind it all, which is worship and relationship to God. 00:05:57.640 --> 00:06:04.680 In fact, probably one of the more famous books written over the last 20 years as it relates to mission was John Piper's book, "Let the 00:06:04.680 --> 00:06:06.300 Nations be Glad," and this is what he says. 00:06:07.080 --> 00:06:10.540 He said, "Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. 00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:12.100 Worship is. 00:06:13.540 --> 00:06:16.600 Missions exists because worship does not. 00:06:17.840 --> 00:06:18.760 Worship is ultimate. 00:06:19.740 --> 00:06:26.500 When this age is over and the countless millions of the redeem fall on their faces because of the throne of God, missions will be no more. 00:06:26.580 --> 00:06:33.680 It is a temporary necessity." And so what he's saying in this story I've mapped out for us that all 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:40.490 of these are interconnected, but the foundational thought behind all of these words that we've isolated and discuss together. 00:06:40.620 --> 00:06:44.300 The thing that compels them begins in worship. 00:06:46.220 --> 00:06:53.580 And so as we talk about this thought of missions this morning, it's to recognize that what compels us in this, it starts 00:06:53.580 --> 00:06:55.920 in your relationship to Christ. 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:02.130 And that's through that God calls us to pierce the darkness. 00:07:03.760 --> 00:07:06.900 The Gospel is, as Paul says in Romans 1, is dynamite. 00:07:09.500 --> 00:07:16.760 We've looked together at Matthew 16:18, in fact, where it says, Jesus will build his church and the gates of hell will 00:07:16.760 --> 00:07:18.400 not overpower it. 00:07:19.560 --> 00:07:20.980 Literally, you'll storm it down. 00:07:21.100 --> 00:07:22.820 You will pierce the darkness. 00:07:22.820 --> 00:07:26.940 You will overcome the gates that God has built his church to live in triumph. 00:07:28.080 --> 00:07:34.120 And so we've even painted the picture that God has created his kingdom, his authority for his purpose. 00:07:34.620 --> 00:07:36.920 Genesis 1, he speaks, it exists. 00:07:37.800 --> 00:07:41.380 And at the end of revelation, we see God restores all things in him. 00:07:41.400 --> 00:07:45.580 Revelation 2:1-5, there's no more pain, no more suffering. 00:07:45.940 --> 00:07:50.240 And here we are in this middle where sin is destroying. 00:07:51.540 --> 00:07:55.760 And God calls his people to pierce this darkness. 00:07:58.180 --> 00:08:05.250 So when I say mission, and I think in our church culture today, by and large, 00:08:06.120 --> 00:08:08.510 that idea of living on mission is somewhat romanticized. 00:08:09.200 --> 00:08:10.180 Now, I think it's a beautiful thing. 00:08:11.940 --> 00:08:17.440 At the same time when you use the word "mission" and understanding what God has called us too, it also involves sacrifice. 00:08:20.360 --> 00:08:21.160 Laying yourself down. 00:08:23.640 --> 00:08:29.570 I can only be compelled by a love for God that runs deeper then that would you give up. 00:08:31.440 --> 00:08:38.640 In fact, CT Stud was a missionary late 1800's in the early 1900's, he was a world renowned cricket 00:08:38.640 --> 00:08:39.140 player. 00:08:39.940 --> 00:08:45.580 In his mid twenties he gave up that arena of life and just became a missionary. 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:49.960 I'm thinking about what God has called his church to in this world. 00:08:49.960 --> 00:08:53.600 He says this, some ways to live within the sound of church or chapel bell. 00:08:54.740 --> 00:08:57.800 I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell. 00:08:58.780 --> 00:09:05.780 If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for 00:09:05.780 --> 00:09:06.430 him. 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:12.720 CT Stud understood what it meant to live on mission. 00:09:15.740 --> 00:09:23.140 You know, in order to live that out faithfully as Christians, one of the things I think becomes essential for our lives is to always remember 00:09:23.620 --> 00:09:24.270 why. 00:09:28.540 --> 00:09:29.060 Why would you sacrifice? 00:09:31.920 --> 00:09:33.030 Why would you lay yourself down? 00:09:35.400 --> 00:09:37.090 Why would you pursue such a cause? 00:09:39.300 --> 00:09:46.380 The reminder for the answer of why becomes the motivation for what you do. 00:09:48.160 --> 00:09:51.600 The thought of worship is the place where we connect our hearts to why. 00:09:53.160 --> 00:09:57.880 Who we are, What God has created me as, in Him. 00:09:59.080 --> 00:09:59.340 Why? 00:10:01.240 --> 00:10:06.580 Why becomes a central question to living out the life in which God has called us to. 00:10:06.620 --> 00:10:13.760 In fact, Paul battles with this very thought in 1 Corinthians 9:24, he says this, "Do you not 00:10:13.760 --> 00:10:19.100 know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize. 00:10:20.280 --> 00:10:22.000 Run in such a way that you may win. 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:26.440 Everyone who competes in the game exercises self control in all the things. 00:10:26.920 --> 00:10:30.060 They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 00:10:31.180 --> 00:10:33.720 Therefore, I run in such a way as not without aim. 00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:39.640 I boxed in such a way as not beating the air, but I my discipline, my body and make it my slave. 00:10:39.940 --> 00:10:47.020 So that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified." What Paul is inevitably saying here is that 00:10:47.020 --> 00:10:51.480 you know the Lord has called him to live this life in pursuit of him. 00:10:51.520 --> 00:10:57.200 And we will look at the Apostle Paul and say, no one has probably had a greater impact at all of Christian Christian history than the Apostle Paul has had. 00:10:58.360 --> 00:11:01.820 And he is acknowledging, in himself, there is still a war taking place, a warship war. 00:11:03.160 --> 00:11:08.120 In which his flesh can win the battle over the spirit that's been set free in Jesus. 00:11:09.720 --> 00:11:15.140 And so in that battle in his life, there is a need to continually to remind himself why. 00:11:16.220 --> 00:11:17.500 Why he does what he does. 00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:22.780 How he can easily get off kilter in what he's living his life in pursuit of. 00:11:22.800 --> 00:11:28.980 And so rather than do it aimlessly, he wants to live his life on purpose. 00:11:31.800 --> 00:11:38.740 So he structures his life in such a way to remind him of why he's living in pursuit of what he's doing. 00:11:41.200 --> 00:11:48.280 It says if the Apostle Paul found a place in his life that it was necessary to do, what do we do? 00:11:50.560 --> 00:11:57.140 I think in my own life, there is a place that I often go to just to clear my head, to put things into perspective. 00:11:57.140 --> 00:12:04.480 There's actually a couple places where I just think about what God has done in me and through me and how he is called 00:12:04.480 --> 00:12:06.780 me and I consider the value in which we live. 00:12:06.820 --> 00:12:12.680 And it just gives me clarity to continue to pursue the calling that God has on my life. 00:12:13.020 --> 00:12:17.800 And in looking at the way that Paul has pursued that same thing in his life. 00:12:19.180 --> 00:12:19.540 Why? 00:12:22.020 --> 00:12:29.060 One of the things I love to do is to get up on the top of the mountains in our area and just look over our valley. 00:12:31.460 --> 00:12:33.800 To reflect. 00:12:34.440 --> 00:12:41.540 When I became a Christian, reminding myself of exactly what it took for Jesus 00:12:41.540 --> 00:12:42.420 to love me. 00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:52.020 In perspective to other people may be, I would consider myself and depending on who it is, I don't know, maybe not compete with Mother Teresa in this, but just 00:12:52.020 --> 00:12:57.600 saying, "Yeah, I'm not that difficult to love, (just don't ask my wife), but I'm not that difficult to love. 00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:01.120 If everyone would be more like me then they would be easier to love too. 00:13:01.140 --> 00:13:02.240 So just be more like me. 00:13:02.360 --> 00:13:08.240 But it's when I align my life with exactly what it took Jesus, in order to love someone as difficult as I really am, if I'm being honest. 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:12.670 Christ gave his alive. 00:13:14.260 --> 00:13:16.060 That is not a cheap love extended. 00:13:19.400 --> 00:13:26.420 God loves people, created in his image, to know him and 00:13:26.460 --> 00:13:27.790 to enjoy him for all eternity. 00:13:29.700 --> 00:13:35.590 And in love for Jesus and seeing how he has loved me and lavished that love in the midst of my sin, in the midst of my brokenness. 00:13:35.980 --> 00:13:37.920 That he had no reason to pursue me. 00:13:37.920 --> 00:13:39.160 He still pursues me. 00:13:39.160 --> 00:13:42.880 It's that love and understanding that it compels me to love others that same way around me. 00:13:44.780 --> 00:13:48.380 Not because they're worthy of it, but because Jesus is. 00:13:50.740 --> 00:13:51.630 Why do I do what I do? 00:13:53.000 --> 00:13:53.860 Why do you do what you do? 00:13:56.140 --> 00:13:59.000 And we get on top of these mountains and looking at our valley? 00:13:59.040 --> 00:14:00.180 And it just helps them put things in perspective. 00:14:03.220 --> 00:14:09.060 And when it comes to knowing Christ, it is essential for the Christian life as it relates to worship. 00:14:10.400 --> 00:14:12.720 And in fact, let me just say this morning. 00:14:13.240 --> 00:14:14.000 I don't want any labels. 00:14:14.520 --> 00:14:18.640 No, religious identity, let's just say were just people this morning. 00:14:18.940 --> 00:14:22.680 No religious whatever background, just you, I'm just talking to you. 00:14:23.460 --> 00:14:25.790 And just think about the centrality of Jesus. 00:14:27.060 --> 00:14:32.960 When you consider the essential nature of knowing Christ and in comparison to scriptures, let me just read this verse. 00:14:34.410 --> 00:14:37.520 It says in Matthew 7:22, this is Jesus talking. 00:14:38.360 --> 00:14:39.210 He's talking about many. 00:14:39.780 --> 00:14:40.280 Many will say. 00:14:41.720 --> 00:14:48.740 Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons and in your 00:14:48.740 --> 00:14:50.060 name perform many miracles. 00:14:50.420 --> 00:14:56.080 And then Jesus says, I will declare to them, not not me, but Jesus will declare to them, I never knew you. 00:14:56.180 --> 00:14:58.420 Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. 00:15:00.560 --> 00:15:02.200 So Jesus is saying, many will say this. 00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:06.420 And Jesus is saying, depart from me, from you who practice lawlessness. 00:15:06.920 --> 00:15:14.020 So notice in Chapter 7:22, the type of person that's being described here from a cultural perspective, we would say this individual 00:15:14.020 --> 00:15:14.620 is good. 00:15:15.660 --> 00:15:16.080 He's good. 00:15:17.540 --> 00:15:22.360 When you get to Jesus' description of the very same individual that would be labeled as good, inverse 23. 00:15:22.360 --> 00:15:25.220 The way Jesus chooses to label him is a person of lawlessness. 00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:31.420 Now, when you look at the lifestyle that this individual lived, we wouldn't say this individual is one of rebellion. 00:15:32.260 --> 00:15:35.310 In fact, he's under the label of good as far as culture is concerned. 00:15:37.320 --> 00:15:37.940 Why is he lawless? 00:15:39.520 --> 00:15:43.500 Jesus tells us, I never knew you. 00:15:46.280 --> 00:15:50.420 Relationship, the reason for which we were created. 00:15:53.060 --> 00:15:59.100 That's why I say, when you consider this for just a moment, this passage of scripture, putting a label on yourself for just a moment. 00:16:00.900 --> 00:16:02.860 Some of us might wear the hat of Christian. 00:16:06.100 --> 00:16:10.060 But let me just say, without trying to be rude, but just being honest. 00:16:11.040 --> 00:16:11.400 Who cares? 00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:14.360 Lots of people wear that label. 00:16:16.260 --> 00:16:17.980 Lots of people claim to be Christian. 00:16:19.660 --> 00:16:22.240 Lots of people in fact have a belief in a Jesus. 00:16:24.180 --> 00:16:25.560 But can I tell you, it doesn't make it Jesus. 00:16:28.460 --> 00:16:31.980 Jesus is saying to these individuals, I never knew you. 00:16:33.600 --> 00:16:35.780 So it's not the label that makes your identity. 00:16:37.940 --> 00:16:39.040 It's where you are in Christ. 00:16:40.620 --> 00:16:42.380 So the essential question becomes who is Jesus? 00:16:42.620 --> 00:16:43.710 Not whether or not you're a Christian. 00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:47.660 You can wear the Christian label all day long and still not pursue Jesus. 00:16:50.140 --> 00:16:52.560 And Jesus is saying that's lawlessness. 00:16:54.880 --> 00:16:57.400 Because Jesus came to give his life that we may know him. 00:16:59.380 --> 00:17:06.400 And so regardless of where you are in life, even if someone comes through our door on Sunday morning and says, I'm a Christian, that's not where the discussion 00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:06.720 ends. 00:17:09.300 --> 00:17:10.500 In fact, I wouldn't even begin it there. 00:17:12.660 --> 00:17:13.180 Who is Jesus? 00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:22.480 In 2 Corinthians 11 in fact, the Apostle Paul said it like this, "For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:29.720 different spirit with whom you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully." So he's saying to the church, you're standing up against 00:17:29.720 --> 00:17:33.680 this, because different people are coming in saying this is the Gospel and it's not the Gospel. 00:17:33.740 --> 00:17:35.500 Saying this is Jesus and it's not Jesus. 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:39.960 In fact, do you realize every major religion in the world has a teaching about Jesus? 00:17:42.600 --> 00:17:43.840 Islam teaches about Jesus. 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:44.500 They call him a prophet. 00:17:44.780 --> 00:17:45.620 They've got no problem with that. 00:17:47.700 --> 00:17:48.560 That doesn't make it Jesus. 00:17:50.300 --> 00:17:52.680 Somebody can tell you this morning, "Hey, do you know Nathaniel? 00:17:53.720 --> 00:17:58.690 He's the purple elephant that lives down the street." You can be like, "Well you may call that Nathaniel, but that's not Nathaniel. 00:17:58.880 --> 00:17:59.440 I've seen Nathaniel. 00:18:01.020 --> 00:18:08.300 He walks around limping today because his ankle hurts." But what I'm saying is just because you call it Jesus doesn't 00:18:08.300 --> 00:18:09.010 make it Jesus. 00:18:09.080 --> 00:18:11.520 In fact, Jesus identifies the central nature of that. 00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:18.840 And so when we call our ourselves into worship, Paul is calling us to align our lives with this thought and answering the question 00:18:18.840 --> 00:18:20.100 why you do what you do. 00:18:20.100 --> 00:18:20.860 And let me just put it into perspective. 00:18:24.680 --> 00:18:31.820 Who Jesus is central to the Christian faith, not the label of Christian, but your identity in Christ. 00:18:32.820 --> 00:18:37.140 And Paul's trying to get that across to the believers in these passages. 00:18:37.160 --> 00:18:39.240 And Jesus is trying to get that across in Matthew 7. 00:18:40.260 --> 00:18:47.280 Because when you think about our valley, one of the things that helps us put things into perspective is just how significant it 00:18:47.280 --> 00:18:49.770 is if you belong to Jesus, that you are here with us. 00:18:50.800 --> 00:18:53.470 And what God can do through your life in this place. 00:18:54.540 --> 00:19:01.900 One of the things I I love to do, I get up on the mountains and I just think statistically about what it means, that there is a light here to emanate 00:19:01.900 --> 00:19:03.480 as Christ works through us. 00:19:04.080 --> 00:19:10.080 I do stats on our valley all the time, but over 600,000 people in our county. 00:19:11.320 --> 00:19:16.480 One church that communicates what I think is the Biblical picture of Jesus found in scripture. 00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:19.100 One Church for every 22,000 people. 00:19:20.880 --> 00:19:26.510 There are still eight towns in this county that have never had that what I would say is a mainstream Christian church. 00:19:27.860 --> 00:19:33.220 Teaching what I would say Paul is arguing for in 2 Corinthians 11. 00:19:34.660 --> 00:19:37.300 54 people die in Utah every day. 00:19:39.900 --> 00:19:42.830 53 of them do not hold to Jesus in this way. 00:19:45.540 --> 00:19:52.660 In our county, 600,000 people and just over 3000 claimed to be a follower of this picture of Jesus, which is being painted. 00:19:52.980 --> 00:19:55.440 Meaning the true Biblical perspective of Christ. 00:19:58.620 --> 00:20:02.200 When you think about the significance of what Paul's saying here, why do you do what you do? 00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:03.780 Why? 00:20:07.180 --> 00:20:08.060 Because of Christ. 00:20:10.320 --> 00:20:16.140 Because God's got me in a place that the eternal difference that can be made. 00:20:16.500 --> 00:20:17.820 The way I can live as light. 00:20:18.640 --> 00:20:21.070 It's beautiful before the Lord. 00:20:23.620 --> 00:20:28.920 And so Paul's saying, 1 Corinthians 9, he's buffeting his body to this perspective. 00:20:28.920 --> 00:20:31.920 Because he can get derailed in his worship and his pursuits in life. 00:20:31.960 --> 00:20:34.180 But he wants to align it with what God has called him to. 00:20:34.200 --> 00:20:35.120 And then he answers the question how? 00:20:37.140 --> 00:20:37.620 How do you do that? 00:20:39.520 --> 00:20:42.780 In 1 Corinthians 9:19, just a few verses before, he explains how. 00:20:42.780 --> 00:20:47.450 He says this, "For though I am free from all men," Paul's not obligated to anybody. 00:20:48.880 --> 00:20:50.720 Jesus has set him free and he belongs to him. 00:20:50.780 --> 00:20:58.380 So he says, "For though I am free from all men, I have made myself," look at this heavy word, "I have made myself a slave to all so 00:20:58.380 --> 00:20:59.340 that I may win more. 00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:03.300 To the Jew, I became as a Jew, that I might win the Jew. 00:21:03.300 --> 00:21:10.320 To those who are without the law, as without the law, though not being without the law of God but under the Law of Christ so that I may win those who are without the law. 00:21:10.940 --> 00:21:13.140 To the weak, I became weak that I might win the weak. 00:21:13.780 --> 00:21:19.200 I have become all things to all men so that I may by all means save some. 00:21:19.220 --> 00:21:26.800 I do all things for the sake of the Gospel so that I may become a fellow partaker of it." How 00:21:26.800 --> 00:21:27.220 do you do a Paul? 00:21:29.860 --> 00:21:34.920 If you align your life in Christ and worship, wanting to make a difference in this world, how do you it? 00:21:37.400 --> 00:21:39.480 Paul says, whatever it takes short of sin to reach people. 00:21:41.320 --> 00:21:45.040 I'm willing to become all things to all people for the sake of the Gospel. 00:21:46.680 --> 00:21:50.670 I don't walk into the church of God's people and tell them what they need to do to serve me better. 00:21:52.140 --> 00:21:55.130 I myself call myself a slave for the sake of the Gospel. 00:21:55.280 --> 00:21:59.220 It's about me laying myself down as Christ has laid himself down for me. 00:22:01.700 --> 00:22:08.800 I do this by understanding the people groups around me and the needs of those groups, whether it's Jew or weak or strong or rich or poor 00:22:08.800 --> 00:22:09.780 or Gentile. 00:22:10.420 --> 00:22:16.400 I become all things to all men for the sake of the Gospel. 00:22:17.760 --> 00:22:27.580 In Christianity as individuals, we tend to fall under 00:22:27.580 --> 00:22:30.300 two categories as we try to live out this faith that are unhealthy. 00:22:32.600 --> 00:22:39.610 At some point we might gather the perspective of the outside world as bad, church is fortress, hunker down and hide. 00:22:39.800 --> 00:22:43.980 And we just ignore the fact that God says his church will prevail over the gates of hell. 00:22:44.140 --> 00:22:45.080 That you'll pierce the darkness. 00:22:45.160 --> 00:22:46.020 That the Gospel has power. 00:22:48.460 --> 00:22:51.380 And so we create programs for ourselves to serve ourselves. 00:22:51.380 --> 00:22:54.540 We have no relation to the outside world because it's bad. 00:22:55.500 --> 00:22:56.610 We don't want to get that on us. 00:22:58.920 --> 00:23:06.270 And then you got on the other side of the legalistics perspective, you have this liberal perspective and they're more interested in and in the love. 00:23:06.300 --> 00:23:08.570 Let's just love part than they are the truth part. 00:23:08.760 --> 00:23:11.110 And so in that and that love part, which is important. 00:23:11.560 --> 00:23:14.640 People and love and relationship are important. 00:23:14.920 --> 00:23:17.390 But it becomes the primary motivation to their lives. 00:23:17.720 --> 00:23:22.060 Where they're more interested in what people think about them than what people think about Jesus. 00:23:23.320 --> 00:23:26.520 Now, I'm not saying go around and offend people. 00:23:28.080 --> 00:23:33.960 I think what's important for the church is to understand that the only offense that people should discover within the community of Christ is the Gospel. 00:23:35.380 --> 00:23:36.180 That's what Paul's saying here. 00:23:38.780 --> 00:23:40.610 I want to make it hard for people to hate me. 00:23:41.860 --> 00:23:48.860 I want to love them so deeply with such compassion that the only thing that they find in conflict with us is 00:23:48.860 --> 00:23:49.280 the Gospel. 00:23:50.160 --> 00:23:57.160 The Bible tells us it's a stumbling point, but when you think about liberal Christianity, more interested in what people think about them then what 00:23:57.160 --> 00:23:58.070 they think about Jesus. 00:23:58.660 --> 00:24:01.080 And they, in a sense, lost the power of the Gospel. 00:24:01.160 --> 00:24:01.920 Both groups. 00:24:02.040 --> 00:24:09.400 Legalists, afraid of the power of the Gospel, which compares the darkness, Liberals, afraid of the power of the Gospel and more interest in what people think about them. 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:13.160 Then there's the disciple. 00:24:15.700 --> 00:24:17.660 The disciple understands exactly what Paul's saying here. 00:24:20.100 --> 00:24:27.520 God has called you on mission to pierce the darkness, spurred from worship and relationship to him that compels you in relationship 00:24:27.520 --> 00:24:28.500 to others. 00:24:28.740 --> 00:24:32.850 To live your life for a new pursuit, not for yourself and your glory, but for God's. 00:24:34.980 --> 00:24:36.300 That's a disciple. 00:24:38.420 --> 00:24:45.840 And walking that path, knowing these two pitfalls in liberalism and legalism, these pits 00:24:45.840 --> 00:24:48.120 cause us to live in this tension in our lives. 00:24:49.520 --> 00:24:56.580 And that tension I think was lived beautifully in the example of Christ and that is this: to earnestly contend for the faith to stand for something. 00:24:57.740 --> 00:24:59.680 As Paul says here, become all things to all people. 00:25:02.040 --> 00:25:02.740 Jesus did that masterfully. 00:25:04.580 --> 00:25:11.620 You watch in Christ's life as Christ interacts with people, it tells us that he was the friend of drunkards and sinners and tax collectors. 00:25:13.000 --> 00:25:15.120 What the rest of the society would say, "No, thank you. 00:25:15.920 --> 00:25:20.040 I'm gonna invite my good friends to the party." Jesus is friends with them. 00:25:20.180 --> 00:25:23.080 And Jesus loves them and they know Jesus cares for them deeply. 00:25:23.780 --> 00:25:25.800 And you know what Jesus never did in loving them? 00:25:26.080 --> 00:25:27.580 He never compromise the truth. 00:25:27.860 --> 00:25:31.170 And in this tension in his life, he managed to bridge those worlds together beautifully. 00:25:32.200 --> 00:25:34.460 You think of the woman at the well in John 4. 00:25:35.260 --> 00:25:37.200 A woman the rest of the society pushed away. 00:25:38.440 --> 00:25:42.600 And Jesus shows up next to the well and he loves her. 00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:47.450 And he loves her enough to share the truth with her. 00:25:50.040 --> 00:25:57.200 When we consider this as a church, this gives us a wonderful place to do this is what Paul's saying here in 1 Corinthians 9:19, becoming all 00:25:57.200 --> 00:25:58.080 things to all people. 00:25:58.080 --> 00:25:59.280 Because this is what it says for the church. 00:25:59.380 --> 00:26:02.340 I've made this argument for us as we looked at Acts 2. 00:26:03.120 --> 00:26:08.880 I said, when you look in the New Testament, there is no outline for exactly how a church service or church gathering is supposed to go. 00:26:09.620 --> 00:26:13.500 It tells us about particular things they involved in a gathering, but nothing specific. 00:26:13.560 --> 00:26:16.880 Because God gives the church flexibility to be relevant to its culture. 00:26:18.940 --> 00:26:23.440 Which is why if you worship here at ABC, it might look different than the way we worship in Africa or Asia. 00:26:25.400 --> 00:26:27.600 There's different ways God speaks into his culture. 00:26:29.140 --> 00:26:34.800 And what I mean for you is God gives you the freedom to figure out how to leverage the culture, to speak in the lives of others. 00:26:34.800 --> 00:26:36.300 That everything God created is amoral. 00:26:38.500 --> 00:26:41.300 It's what you do with it that determines whether or not it's used for God's glory. 00:26:42.860 --> 00:26:44.120 The Internet is not evil. 00:26:45.460 --> 00:26:47.820 It's what you do with it that determines if it's evil or not. 00:26:48.860 --> 00:26:49.420 Money's not evil. 00:26:51.080 --> 00:26:53.210 It's what you do with it that terms if it's evil or not. 00:26:53.980 --> 00:26:55.280 Sex and sexuality is not evil. 00:26:56.820 --> 00:26:58.020 It's what you do with it. 00:27:00.080 --> 00:27:07.880 God gives you a place in culture to leverage the culture, to the benefit of people, but for the glory of God. 00:27:08.100 --> 00:27:15.300 And what he's saying in this passage is that when he understands the perspective of the Gospel, he's doing everything short of sin in order to reach that heart 00:27:15.300 --> 00:27:16.590 for Christ. 00:27:19.480 --> 00:27:24.220 Some people I've heard argue, "What's the purpose in the gathering of the church then? 00:27:25.200 --> 00:27:26.900 If the church is about reaching the world. 00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:33.960 The church is really the only organization or group of people that exist for something beyond itself, because if all Jesus was interested in was just 00:27:33.960 --> 00:27:36.280 saving you, he would have taken you out of this world the moment you came to know him. 00:27:36.600 --> 00:27:38.700 But the church is called on mission to reach this world. 00:27:39.300 --> 00:27:41.140 But what's the gathering of the church for? 00:27:41.160 --> 00:27:44.220 Do we gather together for the believer or the unbeliever? 00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:46.380 There's a actually a debate in Christianity over that. 00:27:47.680 --> 00:27:51.040 Do we gather on Sunday in order to disciple the believer, or do we gather on Sunday in order to reach the lost? 00:27:52.600 --> 00:27:56.200 I think in asking that question, we're positioning two things against each other, of which we shouldn't. 00:27:57.480 --> 00:27:58.380 Because this is what I think. 00:27:58.460 --> 00:28:05.460 Ultimately, I think when the church gathers, the purpose behind our gathering is to encourage and disciple the believer, 00:28:05.640 --> 00:28:10.180 to launch them into the world, to impact the lives of people around. 00:28:10.620 --> 00:28:17.660 But one of the best places to teach the church how to make an impact in the lives of people around you is by living here as we gather together 00:28:17.660 --> 00:28:19.240 to make an impact in the lives of people around us. 00:28:20.740 --> 00:28:23.660 Which means anyone that comes through our door, we are going to love them deeply. 00:28:24.540 --> 00:28:25.260 We care for them. 00:28:25.540 --> 00:28:27.620 Hey, if you're here for the first time on Sunday, we love you. 00:28:28.380 --> 00:28:32.540 And if you're here for the like the thousandth time on Sunday, I don't know if we've had that many Sundays, but we love you. 00:28:34.900 --> 00:28:36.900 We learn as God's family how to treat people. 00:28:36.900 --> 00:28:43.920 And so like it or not, on Sunday, yes, we gather for the believers to equip the believers, but a part of equipping the believers as to how we treat 00:28:43.920 --> 00:28:44.270 anybody. 00:28:46.620 --> 00:28:47.380 So it's both and. 00:28:49.780 --> 00:28:56.780 But when we talk about this gathering of the church, God gives us the flexibility to articulate and live out 00:28:56.780 --> 00:29:03.400 things in order to speak into our current culture and leverage the culture to best communicate to it. 00:29:03.420 --> 00:29:05.690 I mean that's why we have TV screens. 00:29:05.720 --> 00:29:06.360 You guys are addicted. 00:29:08.070 --> 00:29:08.910 It's a part of our culture. 00:29:09.840 --> 00:29:11.500 200 years ago they'd be blown away by this. 00:29:12.080 --> 00:29:13.290 But now it's like natural to us. 00:29:14.140 --> 00:29:15.890 Get a nice little bulletin with some pretty little banners. 00:29:17.480 --> 00:29:18.100 It all speak to our culture. 00:29:20.440 --> 00:29:21.220 It's about being relevant. 00:29:22.700 --> 00:29:23.640 I don't think we have to be trendy. 00:29:24.460 --> 00:29:24.800 Trendy is exhausting. 00:29:26.680 --> 00:29:27.960 Trendy goes out of style too quick. 00:29:29.340 --> 00:29:30.530 But relevance is important. 00:29:31.680 --> 00:29:34.540 And when you understand the audience of what you're speaking to, like Paul with the Jews. 00:29:36.200 --> 00:29:38.300 And use that as an opportunity to better speak into their hearts. 00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:47.120 One of the things that blew me away, I was reading this week this book called, "From Pews the Podcasts," and they were talking about the development of the church in history. 00:29:47.540 --> 00:29:54.920 I didn't even think about this until I read it, but apparently chairs and pews didn't exist in the church until the 1400's. 00:29:56.080 --> 00:30:00.340 So really the first two thirds of Christian history, there was nowhere to sit when you gathered. 00:30:01.640 --> 00:30:04.040 I'm all in favor of keeping the new tradition up. 00:30:04.380 --> 00:30:05.900 It's worked for the last 700 years. 00:30:06.520 --> 00:30:10.370 I tried to think, what would that be like if we didn't have chairs anymore? 00:30:10.760 --> 00:30:13.120 I feel like we're best serving people by chairs this morning, by the way. 00:30:13.260 --> 00:30:15.900 Just so you know, I'm not making any motion to get rid of chairs. 00:30:16.420 --> 00:30:19.350 But whoever thought that up 1400 years ago, they were brilliant. 00:30:19.960 --> 00:30:22.020 Thank you, whoever it was that invented that. 00:30:22.460 --> 00:30:25.080 We're Americans and we like our comfort. 00:30:25.220 --> 00:30:29.280 I feel like we are kindred spirits of whoever that was 1400 years ago, they came up with that. 00:30:29.400 --> 00:30:33.600 But that's the church developing ways in order to better speak into it's culture. 00:30:33.680 --> 00:30:36.130 Now I'll tell you, some of the things that we do aren't always wise. 00:30:36.820 --> 00:30:40.900 Because one of the things they lost when they put chairs in the church in the 1400's was their connectedness. 00:30:42.360 --> 00:30:49.160 What I mean is I'll tell you as a church, when we sit here on Sunday and you're sitting in your rows, it's difficult for us to use our gifts to interact with one another. 00:30:49.540 --> 00:30:51.200 It's when we get in circles that we're able to do that. 00:30:52.440 --> 00:30:56.550 When the early church met for the first 1400 years, what they would do when they walk in the room is they would get together in clusters. 00:30:57.040 --> 00:30:58.040 They would encourage each other. 00:30:58.040 --> 00:30:59.300 They find out what's going on in each other's lives. 00:30:59.400 --> 00:31:00.340 They would pray for one another. 00:31:00.960 --> 00:31:05.720 I mean today it's like I come in, I get my seat, and then the first one out the door is the first one out of a parking lot and it's less busy. 00:31:05.720 --> 00:31:06.680 I can get to a place I want eat first. 00:31:07.400 --> 00:31:10.020 So it's like wham, bam, thank you, I'm out of here, whatever. 00:31:10.020 --> 00:31:13.280 But chairs change some of that. 00:31:14.180 --> 00:31:16.240 And so it's not all healthy. 00:31:16.740 --> 00:31:21.820 But the point is people are approaching their culture to discover how they could best speak in the lives of others. 00:31:22.760 --> 00:31:24.980 And the church has the freedom to do that. 00:31:26.340 --> 00:31:28.440 And Paul is encouraging us in this. 00:31:28.460 --> 00:31:35.620 That when your heart's sold out to God, that you lay your life down, you begin to ask the question just as Christ pursued you, how can you leverage what God has 00:31:35.620 --> 00:31:37.580 given you to speak into the lives of others? 00:31:40.300 --> 00:31:42.840 The reality is, if not you then who? 00:31:45.680 --> 00:31:47.560 Paul said this in Romans 10. 00:31:50.700 --> 00:31:53.200 Paul was a Jew talking about the Jews. 00:31:53.200 --> 00:31:57.900 He said, brother my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is for their salvation. 00:31:59.240 --> 00:32:00.840 And I love the way he describes them here in verse two. 00:32:00.880 --> 00:32:07.920 "For I testify about them, that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge." And they talk about God, but it's 00:32:07.940 --> 00:32:09.920 not the God as we saw in Matthew 7. 00:32:10.020 --> 00:32:15.600 "So for not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. 00:32:15.920 --> 00:32:23.080 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." So Paul's saying, the reason I'm engaged this way is because this is where my heart 00:32:23.080 --> 00:32:23.220 is. 00:32:23.280 --> 00:32:26.780 I care about them because Jesus has shaped my heart in this way to care about others. 00:32:27.080 --> 00:32:28.640 And so this has become my prayer. 00:32:29.020 --> 00:32:30.740 It's such a central part of me. 00:32:30.740 --> 00:32:32.200 If not you then who? 00:32:32.540 --> 00:32:36.900 If you're a Christian belonging in Utah, and I'm telling you like 600,000 people in this county. 00:32:37.220 --> 00:32:42.140 And there's just over 3,000 who claim to follow this, Jesus, if not you, then who? 00:32:44.960 --> 00:32:50.160 Do you realize in our area of the world, there are less Christians in our area of the world than the entire Western Hemisphere. 00:32:51.080 --> 00:32:53.780 Of all other places in the Western Hemisphere, lowest percentage here. 00:32:57.100 --> 00:33:03.020 Countries in Islamic ran states, some of them have higher percentages of Christians. 00:33:05.400 --> 00:33:06.960 That makes you matter. 00:33:09.040 --> 00:33:09.760 If not you then who? 00:33:11.700 --> 00:33:15.620 In fact, Paul took this thought a little bit further and he said this. 00:33:15.660 --> 00:33:17.920 Some say, this is just specifically talking about the Jews. 00:33:17.940 --> 00:33:25.020 I don't necessarily agree with that because in verse 13 he's talking about Jew and Gentile, but he says this, Romans 10:14, "How then 00:33:25.020 --> 00:33:27.200 will they call on him in whom they have not believed? 00:33:27.280 --> 00:33:28.940 How will they believe in him and who they have not heard? 00:33:29.340 --> 00:33:30.920 How will they hear without a preacher? 00:33:31.500 --> 00:33:33.500 How will they preach unless they are sent? 00:33:33.880 --> 00:33:40.920 Just as it's written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things." Now Paul's quoting from 00:33:40.920 --> 00:33:43.720 Isaiah, that last verse, but he describes it as beautiful. 00:33:45.540 --> 00:33:49.620 You know all of the things in the world that we might call beautiful as people, have you ever considered what God might call beautiful? 00:33:52.500 --> 00:33:59.340 It says in this verse, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news, good things. 00:33:59.520 --> 00:34:01.930 This word for beautiful is actually the word for blossom. 00:34:04.740 --> 00:34:08.420 Some of you have probably started raking in your leaves. 00:34:08.760 --> 00:34:10.780 I look at it, and maybe next week. 00:34:10.780 --> 00:34:12.719 But the leaves are falling. 00:34:13.060 --> 00:34:13.670 Things are getting ugly. 00:34:14.780 --> 00:34:19.320 And you're going to go through this period of time where you hunker down in your house and you beg for Vitamin D again. 00:34:19.540 --> 00:34:21.010 And just to feel warmth on your face. 00:34:21.340 --> 00:34:25.870 And then all of a sudden one day you'll walk outside and the green leaves, will be back and you'll see your flowers. 00:34:25.960 --> 00:34:29.280 And you'll be like, "It's so good! 00:34:29.460 --> 00:34:32.540 It's beautiful." And that's what Paul is describing the life of the believer here. 00:34:32.580 --> 00:34:38.380 That seasonal life where things start the bod and then vegetations on the ground to this agricultural society. 00:34:38.600 --> 00:34:40.120 How beautiful that is to you. 00:34:41.860 --> 00:34:42.860 That's what God's saying. 00:34:44.139 --> 00:34:47.500 How beautiful it becomes to go full circle with this. 00:34:47.560 --> 00:34:53.920 To worship and into discipling, growing in the relationship that impacts the world is so beautiful. 00:34:57.320 --> 00:34:59.980 Let me end with these section of verses. 00:35:01.580 --> 00:35:02.680 2 Timothy 2. 00:35:05.420 --> 00:35:09.100 Paul writes this last letter before he gives his life as a martyr. 00:35:10.700 --> 00:35:14.500 And Paul knows his life's coming to an end and he wants to write one last letter to the next generation. 00:35:14.640 --> 00:35:15.380 He writes to Timothy. 00:35:17.380 --> 00:35:23.620 And his pursuit, his desire is just to see that next generation live out their faith in Christ. 00:35:25.140 --> 00:35:32.110 And in chapter two verse 22 he starts to share with Timothy how to do this in a way that's successful, that makes an impact. 00:35:32.120 --> 00:35:34.960 And he says to Timothy this, he says, "Flee from youthful lusts. 00:35:35.340 --> 00:35:39.600 Pursue righteousness, faith and peace with those who call on the Lord from pure heart. 00:35:40.340 --> 00:35:47.720 But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels." So he's saying to them, listen Timothy, don't underestimate 00:35:47.780 --> 00:35:52.420 the power of God's people living in community together, encouraging one another. 00:35:52.440 --> 00:35:52.840 Please do that. 00:35:55.800 --> 00:35:59.240 Don't get sidetracked, he says in verse 23 but focus on this. 00:36:00.200 --> 00:36:01.860 Don't isolate yourself as a believer. 00:36:01.880 --> 00:36:06.210 Use the body because that's how God works powerfully is you use your giftedness for one another. 00:36:06.540 --> 00:36:10.460 And then he goes a little further as he talks about their pursuit in interaction with the world. 00:36:10.460 --> 00:36:15.380 And he says this, "The Lord's bondservants must not be quarrelsome. 00:36:16.920 --> 00:36:17.910 But be kind to all. 00:36:19.000 --> 00:36:19.600 Able to teach. 00:36:21.060 --> 00:36:21.800 Patient when wronged. 00:36:23.040 --> 00:36:24.740 With gentleness, correcting those who are in opposition. 00:36:26.420 --> 00:36:29.680 If perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to their knowledge of the truth. 00:36:31.240 --> 00:36:41.900 And they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil having been held captive by him to do his will." Paul 00:36:41.900 --> 00:36:43.680 shares an approach to Timothy in this world. 00:36:45.920 --> 00:36:50.580 Not here to beat people up, but rather to meet them where they are. 00:36:52.560 --> 00:36:53.800 To love them as Christ loves them. 00:36:55.580 --> 00:36:56.830 Because that's the way Christ loves you. 00:36:58.900 --> 00:37:04.970 To not make being a Christian the offense, but knowing that the Gospel is are already offensive enough. 00:37:06.660 --> 00:37:08.440 But to care enough about the heart to pursue it. 00:37:10.360 --> 00:37:12.640 To lay your life down as a bondservant of Christ. 00:37:13.820 --> 00:37:14.060 Why? 00:37:15.820 --> 00:37:17.180 Because that's what he's done for you. 00:37:19.380 --> 00:37:22.780 And as you worship him, he grows your passion for people. 00:37:24.640 --> 00:37:27.260 You recognized the place in which God has called you to live. 00:37:27.260 --> 00:37:28.780 If not you, then who? 00:37:31.020 --> 00:37:32.600 So the Bible kind of writes this. 00:37:32.600 --> 00:37:35.100 Let me give these last few verses and we'll tie it all together. 00:37:35.100 --> 00:37:38.560 He says this, "You were once alienated from God," in Colossians 1. 00:37:40.400 --> 00:37:43.440 This idea of alienation literally means broken from fellowship. 00:37:44.320 --> 00:37:46.640 You have no connection to God. 00:37:47.000 --> 00:37:54.180 But in Romans 8, he says this, "For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as 00:37:54.180 --> 00:37:58.680 sons, by which we cry Abba, father." And so he's saying to a believer, now put their faith in Christ. 00:37:59.080 --> 00:38:02.360 God, no longer are you separated from that intimacy, but you've actually been adopted. 00:38:03.720 --> 00:38:04.260 You belong. 00:38:05.200 --> 00:38:12.240 And in that intimacy you can say these words, "Abba, daddy, father." And so then he goes on in 2 Corinthians 5 and he encourages 00:38:12.240 --> 00:38:13.040 believers. 00:38:13.100 --> 00:38:14.840 He says this all, these are Paul's writings. 00:38:15.180 --> 00:38:22.220 By the way, in verse 18 he says, "Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us 00:38:22.220 --> 00:38:29.300 the ministry of reconciliation." And so what he's literally saying is, just as God has adopted you, 00:38:29.320 --> 00:38:31.490 God wants you to join in the battle of the adoption process. 00:38:33.500 --> 00:38:35.900 To look at this valley and take ownership of it. 00:38:36.500 --> 00:38:39.440 To think about your neighborhood, your streets, the people around you. 00:38:40.140 --> 00:38:42.600 To adopt it because God has adopted you. 00:38:43.260 --> 00:38:45.360 And then you've been given that ministry of reconciliation. 00:38:45.600 --> 00:38:52.890 So in verse 20, "As though God were making an appeal through us, we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." So he's saying, being sent in this world, 00:38:53.120 --> 00:38:56.100 begging people, literally come beside God. 00:38:58.520 --> 00:39:00.950 Or be reconciled to him. 00:39:02.780 --> 00:39:06.080 To be a part of this healing in Christ. 00:39:08.960 --> 00:39:10.240 So this is how I think it works as believers. 00:39:12.280 --> 00:39:14.910 We look at this perspective of this baseball diamond. 00:39:14.940 --> 00:39:18.670 We've seen worship and discipleship and relationship, and now mission. 00:39:18.880 --> 00:39:24.630 One of the things I don't want to walk away with is saying, okay, as we talked about mission and now you feel all guilty about mission. 00:39:24.800 --> 00:39:27.670 And you're going to go out and you're just going to spew a bunch of things about Jesus to people. 00:39:27.840 --> 00:39:30.760 Because you feel like you're obligated and you just have to do that because you were told to do that. 00:39:31.100 --> 00:39:31.960 That is not what I want. 00:39:33.100 --> 00:39:33.640 I don't think that's healthy. 00:39:34.040 --> 00:39:34.800 I don't think that will endure. 00:39:35.360 --> 00:39:38.000 I don't think it's very loving to your relationship with Christ. 00:39:38.000 --> 00:39:45.040 Now, I think Jesus certainly wants you to share your relationship to him, but I don't think it's in that way where it's just artificially feeling like 00:39:45.040 --> 00:39:46.000 you've been bossed around. 00:39:46.060 --> 00:39:49.700 That's just guilt heavy, guilt ridden, not healthy for anybody. 00:39:51.020 --> 00:39:51.780 Now this is what I think. 00:39:53.380 --> 00:39:57.100 When you come to know Jesus, you start to learn about the faith. 00:39:59.560 --> 00:40:06.240 And as you walk with Jesus, the faith starts to become your faith. 00:40:08.060 --> 00:40:15.240 To where it's no longer talked about the faith, but now the faith in my faith have intertwined And as Jesus 00:40:15.240 --> 00:40:22.000 continues to grow me in my relationship with him, it becomes a natural outflow of my life in sharing it with others. 00:40:22.080 --> 00:40:22.950 It's not something I have to fabricate. 00:40:25.180 --> 00:40:26.040 It's who I am. 00:40:28.140 --> 00:40:34.060 And so you think about mission, all of it is spurred out of worship. 00:40:35.580 --> 00:40:42.820 And so when we worship, God takes the faith and aligns it with our faith and we outflow from that a relationship with Jesus 00:40:42.820 --> 00:40:46.060 that transforms relationships around me in Christ. 00:40:46.740 --> 00:40:47.160 Why? 00:40:48.400 --> 00:40:48.990 Because it matters. 00:40:51.500 --> 00:40:52.920 God's got you in a place for reason. 00:40:55.320 --> 00:41:02.940 One of the things I love about the faith becoming my faith, is 00:41:02.940 --> 00:41:09.650 living in Utah, everyday I wake up, my relationship with Jesus matters. 00:41:11.340 --> 00:41:18.340 And when I connect to Christ in that relationship and I opened his word, and when I'm praying I'm interacting in such a way that the impact 00:41:18.340 --> 00:41:24.860 that God places on me can far transcend what happens in my life and can make an eternal difference in the life of others. 00:41:25.980 --> 00:41:30.340 When I wake up everyday in Christ, it matters and it matters beyond me. 00:41:30.360 --> 00:41:33.240 And my opportunity to meet with Jesus in worship matters. 00:41:33.380 --> 00:41:35.020 And it matters beyond me. 00:41:35.040 --> 00:41:42.040 And the opportunity I get in that, reminding myself why, and meeting with Christ everyday gives me a platform and a place to share 00:41:42.040 --> 00:41:43.740 with others the beauty of Christ. 00:41:43.760 --> 00:41:49.690 Not because it's this obligation of guilt, but it becomes a natural outflow to my relationship with Jesus. 00:41:50.920 --> 00:41:52.690 So my encouragement to you this morning as a church. 00:41:53.960 --> 00:41:56.140 To run those bases, to live in victory. 00:41:57.580 --> 00:42:03.280 To worship and laying your life down for all that Christ is.