A New Attitude Towards People by Francis Chan

we're continuing in our Syrah that we're calling transformed it's a series in Colossians over these these three weeks and the reason why we chose this word is the Bible says when we become believers a transformation a total change is supposed to take place in our lives the Bible calls that we become these new creations okay that the old us is gone and now we're a completely different person and hopefully you see that in yourself hopefully you can think back to yeah before I knew Jesus and now and go man there's just no comparison I hope you see that that you really are a new creation a completely different person that you're not just a little tweaked version of the old you but that you've truly been transformed in Romans chapter 12 verse 2 a verse that many of us are familiar with I'll put it on the screen though it says do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is is good pleasing and perfect well it says don't conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed and I was thinking about this this verse because I realize how many things I do every day that are because everyone else does it it's just the pattern of the world realizing there is a pattern that will just naturally fall into the world sets out a pattern for us and the Bible says don't just conform don't conform okay now you're a new person now we want you to be transformed by the renewing of your mind a different mindset I mean why do we dress the way we do this is why everyone dresses why do we drive when we drive why do we live well you know why do we talk the way we talk well listen to music we talk you know all of the different things that we do in a given day I started just going through my day and thinking what if I really prayed about whatever I really thought through in my mind God what is your perfect pleasing will how do you want me to live because he wants me to be different he wants me transformed for me to look different than the rest of the world and and and I used to uh I used to read like different passages and scriptures and go well you know we can't really do that because we're in America and it's you know 21st century think things are different now and our culture doesn't allow for some of these things and I I used to excuse a lot of things and I a as I've been studying a Colossians and thinking through their situation I realize you know the world and culture has always had a pattern it's always been different from God's pattern for example the people in colossi they had a ton of pressure from the Roman Empire you talk about an empire and a pattern that set out for you they lived in the Roman Empire and there was a way in which the Romans did things that everyone just followed through just like we live in America now and there's a lot of pressure to just conform with the way Americans do things in the same way they had a lot of religious practices and a lot of religious baggage but it's the same for us today we've got a bunch of baggage in this room from different traditions we grew up in even in the evangelical church things that we just assumed oh I'm supposed to do this supposed to do this supposed to do that and we don't stop and really think to ourselves okay is this really God's perfect pleasing will or am I just conforming to a pattern because it's easy to conform to a pattern isn't it this is the easiest thing to do and that's what a Todd was talking about last week is is there's these old ways that we used to live in and and some of you make a well you know that's why my dad lived too and that's the way my grandfather lived and so I'm kind of stuck in this sin it just seems like this generational thing that's been passed on you know how hard it is to break that yeah absolutely but that's what we're called to do is break these cycles to say no now I want to be transformed I don't want to conform to the way I grew up in church or the way that my parents always did these things or everything I want to truly be transformed in my thinking renewed and say God how you want me to live and in mentioning that you know Todd talked about getting rid and putting to death that old us and maybe that one precious sin that you you've held on to have you done something with that because you're transform you don't live that way anymore now most of that stuff you can go ahead and take that off the screen most of that stuff I've always seen like I know that I am supposed to live differently okay I know that omnes was just blend in with the rest of the world but something I'm seeing more of lately and in it and it really goes with the passage that I'm going to talk about today is that God in His purposes he doesn't just want me as an individual to live differently than all the other individuals in the world God has a plan where he wants us us as a group of people together collectively he wants us to live differently than the rest of the world there's a there's a difference here and it's this idea that that that Christianity is so much more than you individually having a right relationship with God as it's described in the Bible this is picture of we collectively are supposed to think differently and the way we interact with each other in this room as believers should be different than the rest of the world there's a pattern that God has set not just for us as individuals but us as a body and how we deal with one another and we can't neglect that for example in verse 11 of a 1st of Colossians 3 he says here there's no Greek or Jew circumcised or uncircumcised barbarian skivvy enslave or free but Christ is all and is in all Matt Todd talked about that last week about how in this room now things ought to be different is here maybe when you walk out these doors people will view you differently maybe your boss is in this room maybe one of your employees is in this room he says yeah but when you get in this room when you're together with the believers there's none of that there's no distinction okay what we we lose our identity we're all about Jesus now we're all just Christians chance a jest but we're all Christians and we take off that other identity goes here there's no Greek Jew doesn't matter of your slave-free that we're just Christ as everything to us Christ is all and in all you see out in the world I mean we're judged right were judged all the time and but in this room he says the way you guys interact with each other should be different in here it shouldn't matter how attractive you are there's no distinction there it shouldn't matter how rich you are how poor you are how intelligent you are how athletic you are how famous you are Christ is all and in all there's no Christian doctors in the room no Christian attorneys no Christian janitors just Christians you know is this idea of in this room we we live differently we don't lift certain people up and put other people down in here you believe in Jesus Christ you follow Jesus and there's a sense of equality of we're all brothers and sisters in Jesus you know as a dad I'm a father of four and I don't care if one kid is more gifted than another kid and in my home I love them equally yeah while it's true Rachel my oldest she is the most talented of the kids mercy is the most intelligent of the kids Ellie is the most entertaining of my children and Ezekiel is is the most male of my children and it doesn't matter right I mean if I'm to be a good father you know I just look at them man I just love you all equally and and if any of my kids starts to think that they're more important because of some talent or some intelligence or whatever else it may be that there's somehow more special than the rest of my kids I'll make sure that kid knows that she ain't that great right in the same way God says this is a this is a family in this room okay now suddenly we just have an awesome father that's all we need to know and we've been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ and so when we come together in this room these other distinctions aren't made it's different in here that's the way God wants us to live and hopefully when you walk in this room you really do look at other people in this room as brothers and sisters of yours this is family and there are no other distinctions and the verse I really love about this passage is a verse 12 Colossians 3:12 I'm just going to put this one on the screen therefore as God's chosen people holy and dearly loved clothe yourselves with compassion kindness humility gentleness and patience you guys I was I was reading this in my office studying this my office and when it got to therefore as God's chosen people holy and dearly loved I'm thinking through every word I'm thinking holy and dearly loved once I read that phrase I couldn't study anymore I said I put my Bible down and I just had to worship just to be described I mean does that still blow your mind that when God looks at you he thinks of you as holy and dearly loved those two descriptions just hit me and I just sat there dwelling on it I'm holy God looks at me and he says all that junk you did he doesn't he doesn't see all the junk I've done in my past he looks at me now as Holy I mean Colossians 2 explains that that all that junk of might has Jesus nailed to the cross Jesus paid for that we switched places so when he sees me all he sees is the holiness of Jesus Christ cos he or he took all that sin away from me so now God the Creator that Almighty being the all-powerful being he looks at me and he says all I see is holy perfect he looks at me his perfect sinless clean pure holy and then that phrase dearly loved think about that dearly loved by God it took me a long time to accept that it took me so long to really believe that that God wasn't still holding on to some things I've done in my past that God still not holding on to some of the thoughts that have gone through this head some of the actions that have that this body is performed he says you know what I don't look at that any more now I just look at you as a holy and all I dearly love you Francis as a father I just look at you I mean is God speaking he says to me you're holy and dearly loved and I just sat there nice like God what else matters you look at me as pure and you're crazy about me you dearly love me nothing else matters and and and so what we when we gather together that should be on the forefront of our minds what is this room made up of just a bunch of people that are holy in God's eyes and dearly loved by him and that's where we find our identity not like not in anything else like the world does in this room Christ is all Christ is all and in all because of what he did on the cross and we should all be in hell right now we should all be paying for the stuff we did but Jesus paid for it on that cross and now we're holy and we're dearly loved by God and that's what binds us together you see and he talks about us as God's chosen people people God chose us as a people a group and this is this is what I wouldn't talk this is what I'm talking about this is what I've messed up I've messed up and I confess this a couple years ago how I I get so individualistic because that's why America is you take care of yourself you take care of your own family provide for your own family your own self you don't need anyone else you make sure you've got everything taken care of and that's my mindset and I and I and I kind of prided myself on that even in my Christianity of the fact that you know what if if the goal of Christianity is to stay pure to avoid the major sins and keep a prayer time with God you know what I don't really need you and I would kind of pride myself on that I don't really need any of you guys I I can stay pure on my own okay I can avoid the major sins when I get alone with God see I don't need accountability accountability didn't really make sense to me it still doesn't honestly because accountability is assuming that you're not going to lie which is a silly assumption that you're not going to lie to people it's this whole idea of well yeah Francis might commit adultery but I know he would never lie about it think about that you know so I'm going to get together with a group and all uh you know it's this idea of wait wait a second I don't need that because my fear my fear is not people my fear is not aw man if I commit adultery he's going to ask me about it my fear is I'm going to stand before this God I'm not going to face him tomorrow morning I had to face him tonight I got to face him every time I pray it's this awesome holy being and that's really what keeps me pure it really does you don't keep me pure it's this fear of God that keeps me focused and as far as praying to him I mean I enjoy that I don't need someone to ask me if I'm praying I I just I love it I do it now if that's the goal if that's what the Bible says is the goal then I really don't need you and I've thought that way and I've taught that way in them and I've kind of taught you just have your individual relationship with God be accountable to him and that part is and I don't take anything back true but that's not the goal of Christianity the goal of Christianity goal of my life is to please God right and God says in order to please me you can't do that on your own because my goal is not to raise a bunch of individualistic children who can just live life by themselves my my goal God's desire is he wants a people the Bible uses the word family it's this idea of a body where you interact with each other where your interdependent on one another in the old it's always been this way in the Old Testament what did God want to do a nation he wanted he wanted Israel to be his light to the world right not Israelites kids I want a bunch of little individual lights out you guys know I want Israel as a nation to be a blessing to the other nations in the same way in the New Testament it's it's taught that he wants the church now are there ways in which we as individual want to be lights for the Lord absolutely but there's also a truth that there's this teaching that we collectively as a body the church the way we interact with one another there's a group of people as one body is supposed to be a light to the world just like Israel as a nation was supposed to interact and be different than the rest of the world like the rest of the nations and so God's call has always been there's a pattern for my people I want this group of people to live differently than the culture I want them to stand out on the way they interact with one another see the goal is is to please God and that's why in the next verse in verse 13 he says bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another forgive as the Lord forgave you and over all these virtues put on love which binds them all together in perfect unity seeing Colossians 3:13 that that phrase BAE with each other this is so important guys this is so huge in light of the world that we live in the understand what the word bear with means bear with one another bear with means to put up with he says I want you okay I don't care what people do in the world what I want you guys to do you as believers I want you to put up with each other bear with one another why because we still have sinful tendencies I'm going to get on your nerves you're gonna get on my nerves and he says would you put up with each other because that's why I'm calling you as a people group to live you as my children I want you to bear with one another and that's so different from the world because we live in a society where we ditch people right I mean what do you do when your friends what you have a friend that just bugs you so much you ditch them you got other friends to hang out with just ditch em that's that's what your Todd it's no different in the church what do you do when the church starts bugging you yeah find another one there's plenty of churches and see me just ditch it I mean some of you ditched your church to come here right yeah yeah you know you did you ditched your church to come here and one day you'll ditch you'll ditch us here you'll ditch me you'll find some younger pastor I see the way you look at other churches you've thought about it haven't you it's been in your mind they'll never love you like I do but it's this whole idea of man I'll just ditch I'll just go somewhere else man we ditch our friends we ditch our spouses that's what we're taught you know if it gets beyond that you know for better for worse but you know worse really in how much worse should there be a line where I can ditch kids want to ditch their families and they run away dad's mom's run away from the family they stitch it that's what we're time Kobe's going to ditch the Lakers we we just there's the that's that's what's out there though right I mean even the sports figures where no one sticks with a team it's just whoever is going to give me the the most money and then the church is no different it's just it's consumer-driven who's going to offer me more that's the church I'm going to go to and too many people bug me in one church I'll leave it and yet what does God say because man would you guys bear with each other say I want you to live differently than the rest of the world you guys don't just ditch each other you guys bear with each other we're going to have issues we're going to fight we're in getting each other's faces sometimes go just put up with it forgive in the same way that Christ forgave you forgive as Christ forgave you I mean how many times is God put up with you and now he says I want you to forgive as Christ forgave you in fact he says in a Matthew 6:15 if you do not forgive men their sins your father will not forgive your sins you guys man whatever grievances you have against one another would you put those aside I mean we're holy and we're dearly loved people we're a family that's been that we we've been forgiven for all the junk that we should be punished for that ought to bind us together that should cause us to be this group of people that just is clothed with compassion and kindness and patience and when people walk in this room is that what they see that we are clothed with how we bear with one another how we forgive whatever grievances you may have you see this bear with with each other forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another how many one another's are in the Bible oh man there's tons of them what does that tell you that means there's a sense in which we have to live with one another some examples I mean all over the Bible says love one another like a dozen John 13 Romans 12:10 be devoted to one another honor one another Romans 12:16 live in harmony with one another stop passing judgment on one another Romans 14 except one another Romans 15 instruct one another greet one another Romans 16 agree with one another 1st Corinthians 1:10 serve one another Galatians 5:13 be kind and compassionate to one another Ephesians 4:32 speak to one another Ephesians 5:19 submit to one another Ephesians 5:21 teach and admonish one another Colossians 3:16 encourage one another Hebrews 3:13 spur one another on to love and good deeds Hebrews 10:24 don't slander one another James 4:11 live in harmony with one another 1st Peter 3:18 offer hospitality to one another 1st Peter 4 9 and I've left out plenty is this whole idea of when God sees his family he wants to see the way that we interact with one another loving each other encouraging one another teaching one another and and and this is supposed to be a light to the world in fact when Jesus prayed for the church this this is this is always fascinated me in John 17 23 Jesus is telling his disciples that he's leaving and then he prays this prayer for his disciples and for the Church he says father I in them and you and me may they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them as you have loved me okay I want to point something out here I mean look at that think about this God says okay I want to be in them okay Christ in us and God you were in me may they may they the church be brought to complete unity why why did he want the church to be brought to complete unity he says to let the world know that you have sent me and have loved them wait so somehow Jesus I mean this prayer in a lot of our minds really doesn't make sense if we're to be honest with ourselves because we go okay God why would the church being United prove that Jesus really was the son of God and sent by God the Father how does our being United prove to anyone that Jesus is the Son of God and that God loves them so somehow if we live together in unity then the world is going to start believing that God loves them look logically doesn't only make sense in my head because logically in my mind I think well if someone if I'm trying to prove to someone that Jesus the Son of God I'll go to the Old Testament he'll throw out a bunch of prophecies and say well look at this you know here's something written you know 500 years before the time of Christ and look how it happened to the date and everything else I'll start throwing out some different apologetic facts that I've learned over the years about archaeology and history and and just throw all that will prove to them that Jesus really is the son of God but Jesus says no no that's not how you do it it's when you guys are united people are going to start believing in me and that's what he prays to the Father father may they live in complete unity to let the world know that you've sent me and have loved them that somehow the way we interact you see when we think about evangelism we think about us as individuals talking to other individuals in the world and Jesus when he thought about evangelism he says it has more to do than just that it's about you somehow living in unity and that's what's going to push someone over the edge that's what's going to get them to believe that I really am the son of God is is when you interact to with each other see it's the way the church collectively is a light and that's why the Bible says you've got to do this thing together you're going to work together on this and that's what I got to put aside even for me this individualistic attitude of I don't need anyone and realize no to accomplish the mission of God I need you we need to work together on this and do the one anothers and live in community with one another that's a way we're going to impact the world we need to live in unity with Christians all around the world and that's the way we're going to impact the world see verse 15 just just makes it even stronger he says let the Peace of Christ rule in your hearts since as members of one body you were called to peace and be thankful see in this room is not a bunch of tension and a bunch of fights and little petty arguments in this room it were the peace the peace of Christ should rule in our hearts and he said since was members of one body to really see yourself as as a member of one body use that now uses plenty of analogies to show that we're we're a bunch of stones making one temple or a bunch of parts of a body making one body that somehow collectively we form something you see it's like a it's like this thing because you're looking and what is that it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense when you know I'm just twirling around this little pink thing but then when I get this is mrs. Potato Head because my girls are not allowed to played with male parts this this is uh this is mrs. Potato Head and suddenly you go okay now it looks cool it's this idea of the Bible says this is a picture of the church I mean not this but you know I mean this a body a complete body and here's what a lot of us do we just go you know what I'm totally fine by myself I'm totally fine out there look I don't really need the body I'm okay over here I don't need Church to have a relationship with God I've heard that some you guys are watching on television and you're watching on television because you don't need Church to have a relationship with God and I'm telling you you're so wrong this is this has never been the way that God intended his body to live he says this will make no sense to the world this is not a picture to the world you're not accomplishing my purposes you're not bringing glory to me because this is never what I asked for I asked for you collectively collectively together as a body now suddenly I can walk around and be a light to the world and and so often we try to do this thing by ourselves and we just get so focused on our gift and and what we can do and yet you guys this the gifts it says that that they are all given for the common good that we're not supposed to just exercise it by ourselves that somehow we're supposed to work together collectively as a body and so that's why we bear with one another and that's why I says you know what the hand can't say to the foot I don't need you you you can't do that you're a part of a body now that I can't say you know what I don't need you that I can do this on my own and I'll be honest there have been times when I thought of out that just as you've thought about ditching this mine I've thought about ditching the body I mean I don't need you guys I don't need the problems you guys bring into my life I don't as like man I can do this without you I'll just go do something else and it's those thoughts have gone through my head they've gone through yours it's human nature yet the Bible says you can't do that bear with one another put up with each other forgive whatever grievances you have with one another man let that let the Peace of Christ rule in your hearts because you are just members of one body and be thankful you see I man I understand some of you okay let's let's just be honest here some of you come in this room and you just want some spiritual nourishment for yourself right you want your own relation

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Length: 31min 22sec (1882 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 27 2012