WEBVTT 00:00:00.340 --> 00:00:01.870 I'm going to invite you this morning to Romans. 00:00:02.060 --> 00:00:03.500 Chapter 15 is where we are together. 00:00:04.019 --> 00:00:10.100 Romans Chapter 15, as we continue in this section of Romans, where really 14 and 15. 00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:17.240 Half of 15 continue in a theme of thought, as Paul is dealing with interacting in the body of Christ 00:00:17.240 --> 00:00:24.880 as a united community, though we come with from different positions and places in life how to find unity in diversity as God's 00:00:24.880 --> 00:00:25.660 people. 00:00:25.880 --> 00:00:31.260 That's the beauty of really the second half of the Book of Romans or maybe the latter half of the Book of Romans. 00:00:31.560 --> 00:00:38.780 Remember, when we enter into this section of Scripture, we're not asking the question of who we are in identity because the first 11 chapters 00:00:38.780 --> 00:00:40.680 of Romans lays that out for us. 00:00:40.820 --> 00:00:42.980 We discover who God is and who we are. 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:50.520 In light of that, that's the first 11 chapters are all about orthodoxy, what we believe as Christians and based on our belief, 00:00:50.620 --> 00:00:57.720 then if what you truly believe will determine how you behave, if you want to know, if you look at your life, it indicates what 00:00:57.720 --> 00:00:59.560 your heart is truly set on, right? 00:00:59.560 --> 00:01:02.320 So you're believing leads to your behaving. 00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:06.120 And the first 11 chapters, he lays out that foundation of what we believe. 00:01:06.680 --> 00:01:13.680 But Chapter 12, then 16, he then shares with us how to live, how to behave in light of that what our lives 00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:18.120 should evidence in light of who Christ is and now your identity in him. 00:01:18.200 --> 00:01:25.320 So we're not we're not looking for our identity in these chapters, but rather the mission and vision of how we're to live 00:01:25.320 --> 00:01:28.240 because of what Christ has done for us. 00:01:28.360 --> 00:01:34.510 And so the first 11 chapters dealing with the orthodoxy, these last four chapters dealing with our orthopraxy. 00:01:34.800 --> 00:01:41.720 And so today we're going to talk about how we let the belief of Christ allow us to live in healthy community. 00:01:41.740 --> 00:01:42.900 And we talk about healthy community. 00:01:42.980 --> 00:01:49.980 We're not meaning perfect community because, well, people are messy and we all come with baggage and from different 00:01:49.980 --> 00:01:53.920 places in life and God is doing a work in us. 00:01:53.920 --> 00:02:01.020 And so we need some room to be able to grow and to experience that in each other as the goodness of who Christ is made 00:02:01.020 --> 00:02:02.300 known in our lives. 00:02:02.480 --> 00:02:07.840 But in terms of healthy community, we want to we want to experience it. 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:15.680 There's a part of us where we're relational creatures and we love to move in community and find our purpose 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:17.680 as we live that out in community. 00:02:17.740 --> 00:02:19.850 So we certainly want to experience it. 00:02:20.260 --> 00:02:22.780 And we don't just want to be takers, we also want to be contributors. 00:02:23.060 --> 00:02:27.680 So how do we how do we experience and contribute to healthy community? 00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:31.500 And this is what the Apostle Paul is reflecting on in these passages today. 00:02:32.120 --> 00:02:33.480 In point number one in your notes is this. 00:02:33.480 --> 00:02:34.380 I'll go ahead and give it to you. 00:02:34.380 --> 00:02:42.330 Is this serve others from your strength, Serve others from your strength? 00:02:42.460 --> 00:02:47.500 The mission of the church is not about accomplishing tasks, though. 00:02:47.560 --> 00:02:49.610 Tasks can be involved in what we do. 00:02:50.060 --> 00:02:52.610 But the point of the church is not to simply do things. 00:02:53.340 --> 00:02:56.910 God is more than capable of doing things even without us. 00:02:57.220 --> 00:02:57.220 But. 00:02:57.620 --> 00:02:57.680 But. 00:02:57.680 --> 00:02:57.840 But. 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:00.400 The point of the church is built in relationship. 00:03:00.940 --> 00:03:01.360 Really. 00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:04.540 Jesus told us the two greatest commands are to love God and love others. 00:03:04.600 --> 00:03:11.470 Those are relational commands that as we come to know the Lord and our relationship with him vertically, it impacts our relationships horizontally. 00:03:12.060 --> 00:03:16.080 And so what God calls us to, though you may do things in this world, God is about people. 00:03:16.440 --> 00:03:19.760 Ministry exists because of people. 00:03:19.880 --> 00:03:26.140 And so when we think in terms of what God desires for us to do, it relates to how we interact with one another. 00:03:26.220 --> 00:03:28.320 And relationships are never easy. 00:03:28.980 --> 00:03:30.250 They have challenges. 00:03:31.300 --> 00:03:35.830 And because we are people and we're not perfect, how do we navigate that? 00:03:36.060 --> 00:03:38.600 That's really how Paul is broaching the subject. 00:03:38.600 --> 00:03:41.530 And he has some particular challenges he's wrestling through. 00:03:41.760 --> 00:03:47.080 But he's telling us in this passage that the way that we start, he wants us to serve from our strength. 00:03:47.080 --> 00:03:54.180 And I know point number one, if you're at a place in life where you're feeling down, where you're feeling weak, starting and leading with that kind of a statement can 00:03:54.180 --> 00:03:55.580 feel a little bit overwhelming. 00:03:56.320 --> 00:03:59.270 And I just want you to know I'm about to make it more overwhelming. 00:03:59.920 --> 00:04:03.500 So we're going to look at this verse for a minute and this is a challenging verse. 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:04.820 Verse number one is a challenging verse. 00:04:05.960 --> 00:04:13.500 And you might, as you read it, just be thinking about, you know what, I'm going to find a different community that doesn't quite have the verses 00:04:13.500 --> 00:04:18.279 with this kind of punchiness to expressing how to how to experience healthy community. 00:04:18.279 --> 00:04:25.360 But I want you to as we look at these verses for a minute, look at these words within this verse, we're going to back away from it and explain how to approach 00:04:25.360 --> 00:04:30.630 this from a from a healthy place where it's not reliant upon you. 00:04:31.080 --> 00:04:35.440 Serving from your strength makes it sound like it's dependent and reliant upon you. 00:04:35.640 --> 00:04:38.580 But that's really the paradox of what Christian strength is about. 00:04:38.620 --> 00:04:40.340 So let me read this verse and we'll dive into it. 00:04:40.580 --> 00:04:46.740 He says this in verse one We who are strong and if you're not feeling strong, you already feel a little bit distant to this, right? 00:04:46.740 --> 00:04:54.070 But we who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 00:04:54.880 --> 00:04:59.980 And you look at this, that first verse and talking about your strength and all of a sudden, I tell you this morning, if even if. 00:04:59.980 --> 00:05:00.360 You knew. 00:05:00.360 --> 00:05:02.810 The first thing I want you to know is you have an obligation. 00:05:03.280 --> 00:05:06.950 Like who wants to we're going to volunteer for serving today. 00:05:06.960 --> 00:05:13.470 I want everyone to sign up for a new position in serving where you can be involved or maybe you're not involved and you can find a brand new position. 00:05:13.620 --> 00:05:15.170 And I'm telling you, it is an obligation. 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:18.460 Like how can you sell that? 00:05:18.460 --> 00:05:18.780 Right? 00:05:18.880 --> 00:05:26.140 And then he talks about the idea of failing like we don't we don't want to belong to things that are failing, but we want to belong to things that have life and 00:05:26.140 --> 00:05:26.820 give life. 00:05:26.840 --> 00:05:29.830 But he's talking about failing here and not to please yourselves. 00:05:30.280 --> 00:05:32.960 Meaning it's not about you, but it's about being selfless. 00:05:33.820 --> 00:05:39.100 And so some people will read this verse, and if you're coming from a challenging place in life, you're like, Nah, that's not for me. 00:05:39.100 --> 00:05:40.200 Let's get to point number two. 00:05:40.660 --> 00:05:47.290 Or maybe you just want to run away altogether and other people might look at this and be like, okay, I've got some strength to give. 00:05:47.340 --> 00:05:54.460 And you read a verse like this and you think, Let me just put on my superhuman cape and just go out and prove to everyone how strong I am 00:05:54.460 --> 00:05:57.570 and impress them with my abilities based on my strength. 00:05:57.680 --> 00:06:00.100 Because that's what this verse is talking about, right? 00:06:00.100 --> 00:06:01.190 Serve for my strength. 00:06:01.660 --> 00:06:08.840 But the interesting thing about Christianity, when we talk in terms of strength, if you read this passage and think God is telling you to be strong in and of yourself 00:06:08.840 --> 00:06:14.700 and to demonstrate and prove your strength, then you're going to completely miss the Christian message. 00:06:15.460 --> 00:06:22.140 Because the strength of the life of the believer is not found within you, but beyond you outside of you. 00:06:23.400 --> 00:06:30.520 In fact, in Second Corinthians Chapter 12, in terms of strength, the Apostle Paul said it like this, teaching us how to discover our strength, he said. 00:06:30.660 --> 00:06:34.920 But he said to me, talking to the Lord, he's praying to the Lord in a and a challenge He's facing. 00:06:35.760 --> 00:06:42.160 He says, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:50.040 Therefore, Paul says, therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness so that the power of Christ may 00:06:50.040 --> 00:06:52.800 rest upon me for the sake of Christ. 00:06:52.880 --> 00:06:58.480 Then I am content with insults, with weaknesses, with hardships, persecutions and calamities. 00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:04.060 For when I am weak, then I am strong. 00:07:05.200 --> 00:07:12.340 And what the Apostle Paul is recognizing in this passage and I would say he's communicating in a similar vein in Romans chapter 12, 00:07:12.380 --> 00:07:19.120 is that the strength and the life of the believer is not found within the believer in himself. 00:07:19.280 --> 00:07:21.750 In fact, what he's arguing is it comes from our weakness. 00:07:22.340 --> 00:07:29.600 Biblical, biblical strength is found in confident identity and position in Jesus, not in your 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:32.580 performance, but in his strength. 00:07:32.600 --> 00:07:39.200 For us, it's not about impressing you with me, but it's about our lives being impressed with him. 00:07:39.880 --> 00:07:46.880 I don't come this morning out of the out of the strength of myself to demonstrate who I am, but rather out of the strength of Christ, 00:07:47.160 --> 00:07:49.700 to communicate the glory of who he is. 00:07:49.860 --> 00:07:53.240 Because I possess no spiritual power to transform your life. 00:07:54.300 --> 00:07:55.860 It's only Jesus that can do that. 00:07:55.920 --> 00:08:03.000 In fact, within the context of Romans 15, if you look at verse two, Paul is communicating with us where the 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:03.800 strength comes from. 00:08:03.880 --> 00:08:10.120 He says in verse two, Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up. 00:08:10.720 --> 00:08:17.010 If you remember, in the context of chapter 14 and 15, Paul here talking about looking to the need of your neighbor and building them up. 00:08:17.960 --> 00:08:25.260 Paul is talking about the wrestle within the culture of the community, recognizing in a Gentile and Jewish world, they're coming from two different places, 00:08:25.320 --> 00:08:30.220 having learned in a few different cultures now united in this one identity in Christ. 00:08:30.700 --> 00:08:34.520 But because of their cultures, they may come from this place of weakness. 00:08:34.600 --> 00:08:41.260 And he's particularly in this chapter referencing meat and drink offered to idols. 00:08:41.280 --> 00:08:42.480 Right. 00:08:42.640 --> 00:08:50.220 And what happens in the life of a of a believer is you may find yourself so confidently secure in your identity in Jesus that 00:08:50.220 --> 00:08:52.780 meat sacrifice to idols means nothing to you. 00:08:54.100 --> 00:08:58.650 Because you know who you are in Christ and you know what Christ has done for you. 00:08:59.260 --> 00:09:05.780 And no matter what the world says or does who you are in Jesus is where you find your strength. 00:09:06.180 --> 00:09:09.820 But then there are other people who have may have wrestled with these idols. 00:09:09.820 --> 00:09:11.840 They have sacrificed so much. 00:09:12.160 --> 00:09:18.790 And to look at anything given over to those idols, even if it's if it's meat from the marketplace to a false idol who doesn't even exist. 00:09:19.020 --> 00:09:23.600 They think about the pain of their past and to watch someone else continue to eat that meat, it devastates them. 00:09:24.860 --> 00:09:26.260 They're not secure yet in that. 00:09:27.380 --> 00:09:29.360 They're not strong in that position. 00:09:30.560 --> 00:09:37.700 And so the life of a believer who's found complete confidence and security in Christ, especially in that regard, can come alongside of 00:09:37.700 --> 00:09:39.660 a of another Christian. 00:09:39.920 --> 00:09:46.800 And recognizing their weakness, they refrain from the meat sacrifice from idols in their presence in order to build them up in Jesus. 00:09:47.460 --> 00:09:54.660 They don't make that issue a priority, but rather who they are in Christ, that they can be more secure in him and hopefully 00:09:54.660 --> 00:09:58.780 get to the place of confidence in who Jesus is in all regards of their life. 00:10:00.280 --> 00:10:07.380 And so the point of this passage is to suggest to us that the strength in the life of the believer is not about you putting on a cape and impressing people 00:10:07.380 --> 00:10:14.400 with who you are, but how your life has been radically transformed in your identity in Christ, not because of what 00:10:14.400 --> 00:10:17.300 you've done for him, but because of what he has done for you. 00:10:17.780 --> 00:10:24.840 And so when you speak in this world, it's not the representation of your life but the representation of Christ because 00:10:24.840 --> 00:10:25.980 of what he means for you. 00:10:28.260 --> 00:10:30.900 Serve others from your strength. 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:35.220 And then the Apostle Paul in verse three, he gives us the example of Christ. 00:10:35.240 --> 00:10:37.560 He says, For Christ did not please himself. 00:10:39.060 --> 00:10:44.780 But as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:53.000 He's quoting Psalm 69 and verse nine, in referencing to how Jesus bore our insults and hostility 00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:54.040 and shame. 00:10:54.040 --> 00:10:57.350 And yet he was incredibly strong. 00:10:58.280 --> 00:10:59.500 Incredibly strong, in fact. 00:10:59.580 --> 00:11:06.180 Tim Keller, in his book Walking with God Through Pain and Suffering on page 253, he says this Look at Jesus. 00:11:06.880 --> 00:11:08.900 He was perfect, right? 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:11.400 And yet he goes around crying all the time. 00:11:11.400 --> 00:11:13.020 He is always weeping. 00:11:13.020 --> 00:11:14.010 A man of sorrows. 00:11:14.060 --> 00:11:14.960 And do you know why? 00:11:16.160 --> 00:11:17.840 Says, because he is perfect. 00:11:18.760 --> 00:11:24.560 Because when you're not all absorbed in yourself, you can feel the sadness of the world. 00:11:25.900 --> 00:11:33.360 And what he's saying is Jesus, his sadness wasn't in himself, but rather or focused 00:11:33.360 --> 00:11:35.180 on how other people hurt him. 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:43.000 And Jesus was so confident and secure in his identity that regardless of what other people did, he could stay on mission because 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:47.680 he was confident in who he was and where he came from and where he was going. 00:11:47.760 --> 00:11:49.220 He knew what his life was about. 00:11:49.220 --> 00:11:51.400 And he never lost perspective of that. 00:11:51.400 --> 00:11:58.620 He wasn't looking for others to validate him, but rather he knew his validation in and of himself as he related to the father. 00:11:59.960 --> 00:12:04.260 And so because of that, then he wasn't constantly looking for people for affirmation. 00:12:04.680 --> 00:12:12.380 He wasn't serving and hopes that people would make him feel more appreciated in and of itself or in and of that action, his 00:12:12.380 --> 00:12:16.100 actions were an outflow of the identity that he already possessed. 00:12:17.460 --> 00:12:18.920 He wasn't inadequate. 00:12:18.920 --> 00:12:20.020 Rather, he was complete. 00:12:20.140 --> 00:12:22.460 As Tim Keller says, he was perfect. 00:12:22.860 --> 00:12:29.860 And because his life was fulfilled and satisfied within that, he was able then to minister to others, look 00:12:29.880 --> 00:12:37.020 beyond himself, to the to the needs in life around him, to the hearts of people in their brokenness and give of himself out of that 00:12:37.020 --> 00:12:38.020 outflow. 00:12:39.180 --> 00:12:40.660 Of what he possessed and his inner strength. 00:12:41.920 --> 00:12:43.920 Thanks to the position and identity that he had. 00:12:45.920 --> 00:12:52.520 In Jesus, even in Matthew 23 and verse 37, he says at the end of his life, Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. 00:12:53.280 --> 00:12:57.080 How I long to gather you as a mother hen gathers her chicks. 00:12:57.140 --> 00:13:04.140 And he and he wept over the city at the end of his life because his heart was about giving itself away from the strength that he 00:13:04.140 --> 00:13:04.820 possessed. 00:13:06.500 --> 00:13:08.440 Tim Keller remarking on that. 00:13:10.940 --> 00:13:14.720 People that aren't secure can't minister in a healthy way. 00:13:16.700 --> 00:13:22.700 They are constantly trying to find their worth and they're serving rather than in the one who has served them. 00:13:23.740 --> 00:13:26.040 They're seeking anything to fill them up. 00:13:27.520 --> 00:13:30.420 But you who are in Christ are secure. 00:13:32.920 --> 00:13:36.080 If your strength is in anything other than Christ. 00:13:37.660 --> 00:13:41.590 When you succeed, it will go to your head and puff you up in pride. 00:13:41.720 --> 00:13:45.660 And when you fail, it will go to your heart and crush you in despair. 00:13:47.480 --> 00:13:48.880 But the life of the believer. 00:13:49.700 --> 00:13:55.060 If your life is in him, regardless of life's ups and downs, that God can be glorified. 00:13:55.160 --> 00:13:57.620 Because in Jesus you are secure. 00:13:57.640 --> 00:14:04.860 Sometimes we spend so much time trying to be perfect and impress others, and we fail to embrace the perfection that we have 00:14:04.860 --> 00:14:05.900 in Christ. 00:14:07.780 --> 00:14:07.960 God. 00:14:08.200 --> 00:14:14.780 God does not call you to compete to impress others, but rather rest in Jesus and be impressed with him. 00:14:15.700 --> 00:14:20.000 And so the question for us really is how has God made you strong? 00:14:20.160 --> 00:14:21.200 Not not in yourself. 00:14:22.740 --> 00:14:23.400 But in him. 00:14:24.860 --> 00:14:30.950 And how has God gifted you to express that strength through Him? 00:14:32.200 --> 00:14:37.690 It's not about really who you are, but rather who you are in light of who Christ is. 00:14:38.120 --> 00:14:39.960 Serve others from your strength. 00:14:39.980 --> 00:14:41.180 And point number two is this. 00:14:41.180 --> 00:14:43.800 Then stand secure in the faith. 00:14:44.860 --> 00:14:45.920 Stand secure in the faith. 00:14:45.920 --> 00:14:53.020 And now he goes on in these verses and he starts to reflect in this past history of what you have as a believer in Jesus because 00:14:53.020 --> 00:14:54.480 of who God is. 00:14:54.540 --> 00:14:59.360 And he says this for whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction. 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:06.820 He's talking about the word of God, that this word of God was given for you, that through endurance and through the encouragement 00:15:06.820 --> 00:15:10.780 of the scriptures, we might have hope. 00:15:11.860 --> 00:15:14.060 So God's Word written for you. 00:15:14.120 --> 00:15:19.560 What you discover is this endurance and this encouragement that God over and over again He has been. 00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:20.590 He has been faithful. 00:15:21.320 --> 00:15:24.440 God endures in His Word and his promises are true. 00:15:24.580 --> 00:15:30.070 And that provides encouragement for your life that you can look back and see the consistency of a God who never fails. 00:15:31.880 --> 00:15:33.940 Who still walks with us today. 00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:42.840 And therefore what it produces within us as people is a hope, this earnest expectation that as God 00:15:42.840 --> 00:15:47.280 has been faithful through His word, he will continue to be faithful to his people. 00:15:48.140 --> 00:15:53.480 This idea of hope happens for us because as people, we discover that we win. 00:15:53.480 --> 00:16:00.300 There is victory that no matter how dark the day may be, that we know that there what is to come in Christ. 00:16:00.340 --> 00:16:02.860 And he's demonstrated it over and over. 00:16:02.860 --> 00:16:05.680 And so we stand secure in this faith. 00:16:05.860 --> 00:16:13.100 And the only way we recognize that we have this win that we have, this victory is 00:16:13.100 --> 00:16:20.420 by having one who is both sovereign and gracious towards us, one who is both just and loving. 00:16:21.020 --> 00:16:28.200 You need a God who satisfies in both of those areas and his in his sovereignty and his care towards 00:16:28.200 --> 00:16:29.150 you. 00:16:30.140 --> 00:16:35.220 Justice with no love gives you a power with no care for. 00:16:36.940 --> 00:16:40.980 And in love with no justice gives you care with no power. 00:16:42.680 --> 00:16:44.640 We need a sovereign God. 00:16:44.640 --> 00:16:51.880 And he's demonstrated his authority throughout Scripture over and over, which gives us that enduring hope and encouragement 00:16:51.880 --> 00:16:52.720 in Christ. 00:16:53.460 --> 00:16:54.340 He is not weak. 00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:55.310 He is not lacking. 00:16:55.520 --> 00:16:56.200 He is not dependent. 00:16:58.040 --> 00:17:05.079 If your God is inadequate in any way, the encouragement is to find another God that God is He is capable 00:17:05.079 --> 00:17:12.280 of creating and controlling and ruling and maintaining and fulfilling his purposes and 00:17:12.280 --> 00:17:13.440 his promises. 00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:15.480 His sovereign. 00:17:16.339 --> 00:17:21.020 He is just and he's not just sovereign and just. 00:17:21.380 --> 00:17:23.700 But we need a God who also cares. 00:17:23.980 --> 00:17:31.820 And in Scripture, we find one who is who is gracious and loving and compassionate and 00:17:31.820 --> 00:17:32.560 personal. 00:17:34.120 --> 00:17:41.240 So personal that in Christ we see the incarnation that leads to his death on our 00:17:41.240 --> 00:17:46.600 behalf and the resurrection and ultimately redemption of God's people. 00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:55.720 The life of Jesus is where the sovereignty of God and the grace of God is made known 00:17:55.720 --> 00:17:58.270 and culminates in a in a tangible way. 00:17:58.340 --> 00:18:05.700 In fact, at the end of Jesus's ministry on Earth, after his death and his resurrection, 00:18:05.700 --> 00:18:10.010 it tells us he's on the road with the strangers as a stranger, with the people from Emmaus. 00:18:10.900 --> 00:18:18.020 And it says in Luke 24, in verse 25, Jesus said to them, and they didn't they didn't know Jesus was walking with him in this 00:18:18.020 --> 00:18:18.520 moment. 00:18:19.020 --> 00:18:25.850 But Jesus said to them, o foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. 00:18:27.000 --> 00:18:32.580 Was it not necessary that Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory? 00:18:32.580 --> 00:18:40.060 And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He interpreted them in all the Scriptures, the things concerning himself. 00:18:42.500 --> 00:18:45.830 What Jesus is saying in this passage is the whole point of Scripture. 00:18:46.940 --> 00:18:53.980 The whole point of the Bible is to talk about how God fulfills His promises, and everything points to the redemption of 00:18:53.980 --> 00:19:01.100 his hand from the Book of Genesis, which starts with our relationship with God and how it's severed because of sin. 00:19:01.100 --> 00:19:08.380 And God gives us the promise in Genesis chapter three, that he will give his life and suffer a hill wound in order to do so, that we might be 00:19:08.380 --> 00:19:15.480 restored in that relationship with God all the way to the end of the Book of Revelation, where we're at the marriage supper of the lamb and we're once 00:19:15.480 --> 00:19:17.580 again united with Christ face to face. 00:19:17.780 --> 00:19:21.060 It is that story of redemption and the theme of that story. 00:19:22.660 --> 00:19:25.180 Is knowing Christ and enjoying relationship with him. 00:19:26.700 --> 00:19:32.060 And some people will look at the Bible as simply a self-help book. 00:19:33.700 --> 00:19:40.780 But for us, it's the painting of God's great story of reconciling us to 00:19:40.780 --> 00:19:46.720 him at the expense of himself, in his sovereignty and grace that we could be renewed in Christ. 00:19:49.180 --> 00:19:52.880 Tim Keller again in his book The Meaning of Marriage. 00:19:54.120 --> 00:19:58.300 Which I think is the greatest book in marriage that I have ever read. 00:19:58.320 --> 00:20:01.330 When I when I got married, I, I gave my wife a promise. 00:20:01.700 --> 00:20:08.840 I said to her, every year of our of our lives together, I'm going to read a book on marriage simply because I just want to be the best 00:20:08.840 --> 00:20:10.670 husband that I can be for you. 00:20:10.700 --> 00:20:18.020 And out of years of being married now and tell you the best book I've ever come across on marriage is Tim Keller's The Meaning of Marriage. 00:20:18.040 --> 00:20:21.820 And he says this within the book, The Gospel is this. 00:20:22.900 --> 00:20:27.320 We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe. 00:20:29.120 --> 00:20:35.480 Yet at the very same time, we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope. 00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:42.140 The first part of that sentence recognizes the justice of God. 00:20:43.660 --> 00:20:44.440 He is sovereign. 00:20:45.400 --> 00:20:47.140 He will bring all things into account. 00:20:48.300 --> 00:20:51.440 We need a just powerful God to execute that. 00:20:52.600 --> 00:20:57.560 But if we're honest in our sin, we stand in the path of the wrath of a just God. 00:20:59.460 --> 00:21:00.540 And yet at the same time. 00:21:02.540 --> 00:21:09.980 We see the grace of God who cares enough for us that he doesn't leave us there, but He passionately pursues 00:21:09.980 --> 00:21:15.700 us with the gift of his life to pay for the sins that we conducted. 00:21:16.580 --> 00:21:20.620 And he bears it on his own shoulders that we can find freedom in him. 00:21:21.760 --> 00:21:28.760 And marriage becomes that place of reflecting the place of realizing two imperfect people need need one 00:21:28.760 --> 00:21:35.440 another to fight for each other in our own brokenness, to help each other become what God has called us to be. 00:21:37.240 --> 00:21:41.770 And it doesn't just happen there, but it's expressed in a gospel community. 00:21:42.220 --> 00:21:48.520 And the way that we live that out is to understand the security that we have in the faith because of what Christ has done for us. 00:21:49.300 --> 00:21:56.540 To look at the picture of the consistency of a God who has shown up time and time again and has only been faithful in what he's declared to us, that we 00:21:56.540 --> 00:21:59.020 through that have hope in him. 00:21:59.060 --> 00:22:03.860 And out of that hope becomes the outflow of our strength in the way that we care for one another. 00:22:05.500 --> 00:22:06.630 And so he goes on in verse five. 00:22:06.920 --> 00:22:14.040 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that 00:22:14.040 --> 00:22:20.460 together you may with one voice, glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:22:21.920 --> 00:22:26.540 We find a united identity to care for one another and glorify God. 00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:29.620 It doesn't mean a uniformity. 00:22:31.020 --> 00:22:36.540 But what it does mean is that we must hold to the consistency of what our faith is about. 00:22:37.740 --> 00:22:43.780 You see, within this, the communication of really this chapter of Paul is emphasizing two things for us. 00:22:43.820 --> 00:22:45.830 One is truth and the other is relationship. 00:22:47.340 --> 00:22:52.920 And the importance of our relationships are only discovered in the foundation of our truth. 00:22:53.820 --> 00:23:01.160 So one of the precarious places that people of faith can get to is they can they can prioritize those things in reverse order that 00:23:01.160 --> 00:23:07.220 you would put relationship before truth itself and forsake what God says and make relationship the priority. 00:23:07.740 --> 00:23:10.840 But the thing that gives priority to the relationship is the truth of God. 00:23:10.840 --> 00:23:18.480 That's been proclaimed to us, that what I'm saying to us is as a church is that relationship is always important, but we will not forsake 00:23:18.480 --> 00:23:25.770 the truth that we stand on for the sake of relationship, because the truth that we stand on gives the priority to the relationship that we want to be about. 00:23:26.920 --> 00:23:33.980 It defines why we do what we do and to forsake the truth simply because we want to love is to let 00:23:33.980 --> 00:23:36.980 go the meaning for why God's people exist in this world. 00:23:37.900 --> 00:23:45.060 We do not want to apologize for the truth in which God declares, but rather more boldly share it with people that they can find their 00:23:45.060 --> 00:23:47.740 identity in what God has done for them. 00:23:49.560 --> 00:23:50.170 As a church. 00:23:50.540 --> 00:23:56.120 That means for us, we never let go of the foundation for which we rest on. 00:23:56.940 --> 00:24:02.880 That our faith remains secure in Jesus, knowing the world is not always going to agree with him. 00:24:03.280 --> 00:24:05.450 But we've got to remain consistent in that. 00:24:05.600 --> 00:24:12.620 And I think this is why Paul is saying to us to be encouraged in this, to take hope in this, because he knows the world will 00:24:12.620 --> 00:24:13.560 press at that. 00:24:14.500 --> 00:24:21.760 But if we know where it goes and how it ends for us, because the consistency of a God who is both sovereign and loving, we can remain true and 00:24:21.760 --> 00:24:22.460 stand upon it. 00:24:24.100 --> 00:24:24.760 Point number three, then. 00:24:27.060 --> 00:24:29.780 Get uncomfortable for others. 00:24:30.920 --> 00:24:33.210 That's not in the realm of our typical human nature. 00:24:33.320 --> 00:24:37.860 We are creatures that enjoy comfort, things that are unfamiliar we don't always jump into. 00:24:37.960 --> 00:24:39.520 But verse seven, he goes this way. 00:24:39.520 --> 00:24:45.380 He says, therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God. 00:24:47.000 --> 00:24:49.620 And Paul knows he's talking to a diverse group. 00:24:51.040 --> 00:24:55.620 That we in our creature comforts like to sort of get within our clubs and stay within that context. 00:24:55.920 --> 00:24:59.290 And in a Jew and Gentile community, it could divide right through the church. 00:25:00.740 --> 00:25:08.000 But what he's encouraging us is to consider something greater that God is doing among his people. 00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:15.160 And when you consider the context of verse seven, the calling of welcoming one another, this phrase that Paul gives right after welcoming 00:25:15.160 --> 00:25:22.160 one another is a very humbling call because he says, Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory 00:25:22.160 --> 00:25:22.820 of God. 00:25:22.900 --> 00:25:26.440 And if you pause for a moment and just reflect to the extent. 00:25:27.720 --> 00:25:33.060 That Christ was willing to go in order to welcome you into his kingdom. 00:25:34.440 --> 00:25:35.320 Into his family. 00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:39.040 That call is a supernatural call. 00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:43.720 To be able to love and welcome people in that way. 00:25:44.520 --> 00:25:48.440 You think of what it costs Christ to welcome us in. 00:25:48.600 --> 00:25:55.800 It says in the Gospels that in the last days of Jesus's life, he entered into Jerusalem boldly as 00:25:55.800 --> 00:26:00.740 his disciples followed from a safe distance because they knew what was awaiting Christ. 00:26:01.440 --> 00:26:03.340 Yet he walks boldly. 00:26:03.340 --> 00:26:04.320 I mean, what a leader. 00:26:04.320 --> 00:26:06.960 Jesus was not complaining, not sulking. 00:26:06.960 --> 00:26:09.420 If you knew what was awaiting you. 00:26:09.420 --> 00:26:16.080 And it was the it was the way that Christ faced the end of his life, I mean, how would you carry your demeanor and what would you talk about? 00:26:16.220 --> 00:26:21.320 You look at the end of Jesus's life and his life is still thinking outwardly towards other people. 00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:24.180 He's not sulking in despair. 00:26:24.180 --> 00:26:31.400 He does spend a night in prayer, but he's still washing the feet of his disciples and he's eating at the table with the very 00:26:31.400 --> 00:26:35.400 enemy that would betray him to the point when he's crucified. 00:26:35.860 --> 00:26:39.140 Jesus says, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. 00:26:40.160 --> 00:26:44.300 And Jesus to the end of his life constantly thinking of others. 00:26:44.340 --> 00:26:46.480 He's thinking of you and of me. 00:26:46.480 --> 00:26:50.580 And he willingly endures the nails of the cross. 00:26:53.400 --> 00:26:59.860 Jesus not only demonstrates this boldness, but he also teaches me to meet people where they are. 00:27:02.080 --> 00:27:04.160 And give them the opportunity to grow in him. 00:27:05.580 --> 00:27:12.610 I think as Jesus conducted his ministry, he just stepped into the brokenness, things that often might make others uncomfortable. 00:27:12.960 --> 00:27:19.410 Jesus bravely went into those moments because he knew who he was and he knew what he could do for others. 00:27:20.260 --> 00:27:21.400 And the same is true for us. 00:27:21.540 --> 00:27:25.060 We know what Christ has done for us and what Christ can do for others. 00:27:25.180 --> 00:27:32.300 And so the compelling call in this passage to get outside of yourself is to think that the mission that God has called you on is 00:27:32.300 --> 00:27:33.300 greater than you. 00:27:34.280 --> 00:27:35.240 It's greater than you. 00:27:35.280 --> 00:27:42.360 And when you consider the way that God has transformed your life and how God can transform the lives of others, it gives us the privilege of stepping outside of ourselves 00:27:42.360 --> 00:27:47.190 for the sake of others because of the power of Christ and what he can do in lives. 00:27:48.860 --> 00:27:56.080 And so in verse eight and nine, he goes on and he says, For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's 00:27:56.080 --> 00:27:59.980 truthfulness in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs. 00:28:01.060 --> 00:28:04.280 In order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. 00:28:05.460 --> 00:28:07.440 As it is written. 00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:10.960 Therefore, I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing to your name. 00:28:12.680 --> 00:28:15.520 And what he's saying in this verse, he's saying to the Jewish people, look, Jewish people. 00:28:17.600 --> 00:28:19.640 God was faithful to fulfill what he promised you. 00:28:21.380 --> 00:28:23.920 But the promise was always greater than you. 00:28:25.280 --> 00:28:27.980 Because God is not only capable of meeting what you need. 00:28:29.160 --> 00:28:32.150 But he's also more than capable of meeting the needs of others. 00:28:32.960 --> 00:28:40.120 And so while he fulfilled the promise to you, it wasn't an end in of itself, but it was intended to move through you into the 00:28:40.120 --> 00:28:41.060 rest of the world. 00:28:42.120 --> 00:28:43.720 And the same is true in your life. 00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:49.840 The gift of what Christ has done in your life is not intended to end in you. 00:28:50.900 --> 00:28:58.060 But rather becomes a gift that we have to contribute to the rest of the world and to see how God can move through our lives 00:28:58.060 --> 00:29:02.800 to share that in the hearts of other people To the point in verse 10 to 12. 00:29:03.020 --> 00:29:05.300 He then reiterates this over and over. 00:29:05.340 --> 00:29:11.360 He wants us to see that theme in Scripture that God has called His people together to live on mission for a purpose greater than themselves. 00:29:11.360 --> 00:29:17.970 And we say that as a church we don't exist for ourselves, but we exist to give ourselves away for the glory of God to the benefit of others. 00:29:18.300 --> 00:29:22.360 And in verse ten, he says, and again it said, Rejoice Oh, Gentiles with his people. 00:29:22.520 --> 00:29:28.900 He's quoting in Deuteronomy 32, verse 43, talking about how God has called his people beyond in the law. 00:29:29.040 --> 00:29:34.020 And again, praise the Lord all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him. 00:29:34.040 --> 00:29:41.440 He's quoting from the Psalms, then to talk again about bigger than the Gentile or excuse me, the Jewish community, but the Gentile world. 00:29:41.540 --> 00:29:48.660 And in verse 12, he quotes from the prophets and he says, And again Isaiah said, The root of Jesse will come, even he who 00:29:48.660 --> 00:29:53.760 arises to rule the Gentiles in him with the Gentiles hope. 00:29:56.740 --> 00:29:58.400 What God is recognizing. 00:29:59.580 --> 00:30:02.120 And this passage and throughout Scripture for us. 00:30:03.300 --> 00:30:06.580 People are sacred to the Lord. 00:30:08.960 --> 00:30:10.380 They're created in his image. 00:30:12.420 --> 00:30:14.860 And Jesus died for us. 00:30:17.320 --> 00:30:24.180 It's a gift for us to be able to have the opportunity to extend ourselves to communicate that. 00:30:25.400 --> 00:30:32.640 Because it declares to the Lord the confident faith that we have and not only what he's done in us, but also what 00:30:32.640 --> 00:30:34.460 he wants to do through us. 00:30:37.000 --> 00:30:42.840 Do you get uncomfortable for the Lord to the benefit of others? 00:30:44.460 --> 00:30:48.310 If you're new this morning, we want you to get uncomfortable. 00:30:49.060 --> 00:30:49.900 Welcome. 00:30:49.960 --> 00:30:57.280 We don't we want to If you call ABC your home and think about how God can use you to know 00:30:57.280 --> 00:31:01.740 people, I think one of the most beautiful things that you can do is to learn someone's name. 00:31:04.320 --> 00:31:07.850 Identifying them not just as Hey you, but who they really are. 00:31:08.240 --> 00:31:08.600 Right. 00:31:09.100 --> 00:31:10.340 To take the time to get to know that. 00:31:10.340 --> 00:31:17.520 And I will tell you as a as a as a pastor, can I tell you the one thing I hear people say almost consistently on a daily basis, I'm 00:31:17.520 --> 00:31:18.820 just not good at remembering names. 00:31:20.040 --> 00:31:22.280 Can I tell you, no one is right. 00:31:23.020 --> 00:31:23.540 No one is. 00:31:24.380 --> 00:31:28.240 But taking the time to learn and to grow in that way. 00:31:28.300 --> 00:31:35.300 I mean, we are a community that on a Sunday morning now, we have over 300 people in attendance and many 00:31:35.300 --> 00:31:36.760 visitors on a Sunday morning. 00:31:36.760 --> 00:31:41.320 And it's hard enough for me to keep all that straight, right? 00:31:41.340 --> 00:31:43.360 And sometimes I even call people by different names. 00:31:43.360 --> 00:31:44.940 I had to apologize this week for doing that. 00:31:45.620 --> 00:31:52.680 But to learn one another's name is a community to grow together and enjoy what God is doing in our lives and be 00:31:52.680 --> 00:31:55.940 willing to be uncomfortable because of what Christ has done for us. 00:31:56.000 --> 00:32:03.100 If Jesus was willing to make himself uncomfortable for us, I mean, how much more should we be willing to do that and to honor him and point number 00:32:03.100 --> 00:32:09.400 four then abound in overflowing hope abound in overflowing hope. 00:32:11.320 --> 00:32:12.800 He says in verse 13. 00:32:15.700 --> 00:32:16.900 Now May the God of hope. 00:32:17.820 --> 00:32:24.860 Fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in him so that you may overflow with hope by 00:32:24.860 --> 00:32:27.800 the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:32:30.460 --> 00:32:34.730 One of the ways that you can see a mark of a mature Christian. 00:32:36.500 --> 00:32:40.680 Is through the life of someone who finds hope and rejoicing. 00:32:42.140 --> 00:32:46.400 Hope and rejoicing because it's indicating where your true treasure lies. 00:32:46.400 --> 00:32:47.880 And when we talk in terms of hope. 00:32:48.480 --> 00:32:56.000 Hope is not this superficial happiness, Hope, hope doesn't mean you go around all the time with hope and joy and declare 00:32:56.000 --> 00:33:00.620 to people how wonderful things are and how happy you are all the time. 00:33:01.130 --> 00:33:05.030 That's a it's good to be happy if you can just be happy. 00:33:05.380 --> 00:33:06.680 I would be happy that you're happy. 00:33:06.760 --> 00:33:07.300 Right. 00:33:07.300 --> 00:33:10.630 But in Christianity, we want more than just happiness. 00:33:11.860 --> 00:33:14.840 We want a deep joy in our lives. 00:33:14.840 --> 00:33:18.820 And we discover that joy through an ultimate hope that we have in Christ. 00:33:18.880 --> 00:33:26.180 It's another paradox within the Christian faith that we can have both both brokenness and joy at the same time. 00:33:26.960 --> 00:33:30.980 I think Jesus demonstrated that he walked in the brokenness of this world. 00:33:30.980 --> 00:33:32.380 He wept in the brokenness of the world. 00:33:32.400 --> 00:33:36.900 His best friend, Lazarus, when he died, he wept at the at the death of Lazarus, right. 00:33:36.900 --> 00:33:39.520 At the same time when Jesus is about to resurrect him from the grave. 00:33:40.540 --> 00:33:43.180 And so Jesus, in the brokenness of the world, He wept for that. 00:33:44.100 --> 00:33:45.860 But also Jesus had joy. 00:33:45.900 --> 00:33:47.480 And we'll look at that in just a moment. 00:33:48.020 --> 00:33:55.460 But Jesus had incredible joy because he knew he had something that endured beyond the circumstances of this world. 00:33:56.020 --> 00:34:03.380 And so hope doesn't mean superficial happiness and hope and joy are not based on our circumstance, but on 00:34:03.380 --> 00:34:05.960 our confidence in the promises of God. 00:34:07.240 --> 00:34:08.860 True hope and joy. 00:34:10.340 --> 00:34:14.900 Is demonstrated in perseverance. 00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:22.040 And it proves that despite challenging times, you have something that endures all things. 00:34:23.580 --> 00:34:27.280 The problem is that if my hope is in anything but Christ. 00:34:28.880 --> 00:34:33.960 It's a fleeting facade that will disappoint me at some point. 00:34:34.860 --> 00:34:40.560 And the greater my hope rests in whatever that thing is, the greater the disappointment I will discover. 00:34:42.520 --> 00:34:43.110 But to be honest. 00:34:45.080 --> 00:34:47.500 Losing hope is a scary thing. 00:34:49.100 --> 00:34:51.870 It brings us as people to a place of despair. 00:34:52.920 --> 00:34:55.090 And we feel we feel powerless. 00:34:56.900 --> 00:34:58.820 And we can't see a future. 00:35:00.720 --> 00:35:03.860 But the truth is in Christ. 00:35:05.080 --> 00:35:06.090 You're never alone. 00:35:07.800 --> 00:35:10.520 And it is impossible to lose. 00:35:12.340 --> 00:35:13.580 Jesus is with you. 00:35:14.660 --> 00:35:19.320 And the promise in Scripture is that he will one day right every wrong. 00:35:21.440 --> 00:35:22.740 Just a couple of days ago. 00:35:22.780 --> 00:35:26.080 And I'm sure you caught on this by now, or at least caught this by now. 00:35:26.200 --> 00:35:29.690 But a couple of days ago, one of my heroes died. 00:35:30.760 --> 00:35:32.150 I don't have very many living heroes. 00:35:32.580 --> 00:35:34.740 I like the dead ones because once once they're. 00:35:34.840 --> 00:35:37.170 Once they're gone, they can't do anything stupid. 00:35:39.240 --> 00:35:44.060 I feel like there's so many people in public that just do stupid things that eventually you just got to get distant from them. 00:35:44.160 --> 00:35:44.640 But. 00:35:45.260 --> 00:35:48.880 But one of my living heroes was Tim Keller. 00:35:50.220 --> 00:35:57.420 I hate doing yard work, but I got to tell you, one of my greatest joys in doing yard work is that I listen to Tim Keller sermons when 00:35:57.420 --> 00:35:59.010 I when I do yard work. 00:35:59.760 --> 00:36:03.040 And Tim Keller, two days ago, he passed away. 00:36:04.120 --> 00:36:09.590 He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2020 and he passed away Friday. 00:36:10.460 --> 00:36:13.200 And they released a little bit of the of him passing away. 00:36:13.200 --> 00:36:18.420 They said that he waited until he was alone in the room with his wife. 00:36:19.920 --> 00:36:21.050 And she kissed his forehead. 00:36:22.220 --> 00:36:24.440 And he breathed his last breath and he was gone. 00:36:26.300 --> 00:36:28.240 But you know what's interesting about Tim Keller? 00:36:30.400 --> 00:36:32.260 That this wasn't his first bout with cancer. 00:36:33.740 --> 00:36:38.280 In 2003 and 2004, he had lymphatic cancer. 00:36:39.660 --> 00:36:46.980 And after he overcame that cancer, he reflected on those moments where he was concerned for his life. 00:36:48.300 --> 00:36:51.760 And where he met the Lord in that struggle. 00:36:52.740 --> 00:36:59.780 And he went on to preach a sermon about it and he titled the sermon Death Can Only Make Me 00:36:59.780 --> 00:37:03.720 Better, which is a bit of a morbid statement. 00:37:05.180 --> 00:37:12.300 Unless you're a person that has incredible hope in what you possess in Christ and desiring God 00:37:12.300 --> 00:37:12.950 ministries. 00:37:13.580 --> 00:37:18.560 John Piper's ministry, they played a they played a portion of this sermon yesterday. 00:37:19.780 --> 00:37:20.830 I think I posted it yesterday. 00:37:21.720 --> 00:37:24.120 And in the context of that sermon, Tim Keller says this. 00:37:24.160 --> 00:37:31.360 He says, all death can now do to Christians is to make their lives infinitely better. 00:37:32.720 --> 00:37:41.300 It just screams of a person who has a hope, who has looked through the history of a God and found encouragement and 00:37:41.300 --> 00:37:44.500 a in a sovereign and gracious God who cares for him. 00:37:45.160 --> 00:37:49.340 All death can now do to Christians is to make their lives infinitely better. 00:37:49.700 --> 00:37:50.160 And then he goes on. 00:37:50.360 --> 00:37:52.480 He makes this mark a little bit mark a little bit later. 00:37:52.500 --> 00:37:57.280 But he's talking in this moment, this next statement about Jesus facing the cross. 00:37:58.500 --> 00:37:59.950 And he says this about Christ. 00:38:00.020 --> 00:38:02.760 He says, Christ, he verbally said this. 00:38:02.760 --> 00:38:06.780 He said, Christ wasn't looking at the cross and saying, come on, bring it. 00:38:07.740 --> 00:38:14.820 And Christ wasn't just bragging about taking this on and in his own strength, but rather his life was 00:38:14.820 --> 00:38:15.780 about honoring the father. 00:38:16.000 --> 00:38:19.060 And Tim Keller made this remark about Jesus looking at the cross. 00:38:19.060 --> 00:38:21.960 He said, real courage is not the absence of fear. 00:38:23.080 --> 00:38:24.480 But the presence of joy. 00:38:26.220 --> 00:38:26.660 And what are you saying? 00:38:27.100 --> 00:38:29.800 Is Jesus in his final hours? 00:38:29.800 --> 00:38:32.180 I mean, he prayed, Father, let this cup pass. 00:38:33.280 --> 00:38:34.800 But nevertheless not my will. 00:38:34.800 --> 00:38:35.980 But your will be done. 00:38:36.800 --> 00:38:43.960 And Jesus in the flesh was facing a very difficult moment, the most difficult moment in all of history, and a very real way that we have the opportunity 00:38:43.960 --> 00:38:44.770 to see him. 00:38:44.980 --> 00:38:49.860 But what drove Jesus through that difficult moment was something greater. 00:38:51.020 --> 00:38:58.320 In fact, in Hebrews chapter 12, it said this way it says, Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, 00:38:58.500 --> 00:39:05.560 who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne 00:39:05.660 --> 00:39:07.220 of God. 00:39:07.420 --> 00:39:10.920 And what He's saying is this It's not to ignore our pain. 00:39:11.520 --> 00:39:17.000 Hope is not about ignoring our pain Christianity, it recognizing the adversity that we face. 00:39:17.000 --> 00:39:18.360 That's the whole reason Jesus came. 00:39:19.280 --> 00:39:26.500 But what drove Jesus beyond the struggle of the moment, beyond the cross itself that he was willing to endure was the greater hope 00:39:26.500 --> 00:39:27.400 that was to come. 00:39:27.880 --> 00:39:29.460 And what was Jesus's hope? 00:39:29.460 --> 00:39:32.270 What was the joy that drove beyond the pain? 00:39:32.700 --> 00:39:39.940 It was to recognize that one, he was honoring the father and two, he was reconciling his friends into relationship with God again, 00:39:41.180 --> 00:39:47.370 that Jesus was willing to set forward the struggle of what was because of the greater hope that was to come. 00:39:48.240 --> 00:39:52.540 And that's the encouragement for us today that we go through adversity. 00:39:52.640 --> 00:39:54.660 God sees us in the struggle that we face. 00:39:54.660 --> 00:39:56.620 That's the entire reason he came. 00:39:57.600 --> 00:40:02.980 He came because of the destruction of the sin and the way that it weighs on our soul and separates us from relationship in God. 00:40:04.640 --> 00:40:07.520 In order that you would find ultimate hope in him. 00:40:09.640 --> 00:40:10.640 Yes, life has struggles. 00:40:12.240 --> 00:40:13.420 If you're struggling this morning. 00:40:14.660 --> 00:40:16.380 Remember, God uses despair. 00:40:17.420 --> 00:40:20.080 As a catalyst for finding new hope in him. 00:40:21.700 --> 00:40:27.900 When despair knocks at your door, it's an invitation to dive deeper into the richness of Christ. 00:40:27.900 --> 00:40:32.680 Because in the darkness of despair, the light of Christ is what brings hope. 00:40:32.840 --> 00:40:39.940 Even the smallest glimmer of hope will endure in Jesus, because despair is always but a passing storm compared 00:40:40.240 --> 00:40:43.410 to the promises of Christ that will last forever. 00:40:43.960 --> 00:40:51.620 Such hope enables us to persevere in challenging times and be a source of encouragement to those around 00:40:51.620 --> 00:40:52.970 us. 00:40:54.640 --> 00:40:55.620 How do you live in a healthy community? 00:40:57.180 --> 00:40:58.660 It's not perfect community. 00:41:01.880 --> 00:41:06.120 But it's to serve others from strength, from your strength. 00:41:07.020 --> 00:41:08.940 But it's not the strength that you find in you. 00:41:08.960 --> 00:41:16.500 It's the strength that you discover in him as you stand secure in the faith and through that become uncomfortable 00:41:16.500 --> 00:41:23.700 for the sake of others because of the overflowing hope and joy that you have in Jesus that 00:41:23.700 --> 00:41:25.240 transcends it all.