Shane Willard | Unity One Mind and Spirit

[Music] you all right so we've been working on this letter and just to just a quick review to remind us some of the context of this Paul is in prison under the ground in Rome awaiting execution the entire city sewage is flowing around him he is chained to a wall with a dog collar or to a Roman soldier they are not gonna feed him unless family and friends show up there was a group of people from Philippi out of all the churches Paul started at the time of writing the only church that responded to give him some food and a blanket and some comfort is this PT these people in Philippi they sent a man named to paradise who went at the at great risk to his own life because think about it if he's an enemy of the state and you've come all the way from Philip I to feed an enemy of the state that makes you potentially an enemy of the state and so he was living in a world where if you got caught being an enemy of the state particularly practicing Christianity Nero used you as a torch he would impale you with a stake into your rectum and cover you in pitch and set you on fire this was not if you've ever thought all this world's getting worse please read an ancient history book and ask yourself the same question it is not getting worse almost everything is getting better why because Jesus didn't come into the world to condemn it but to rescue it to save it and he's doing a really really really really good job is he done redeeming the world not even close is it better than it's ever been you had better believe it it is in a great place and so Paul goes through all of these things and and last night we talked about we talked about he told them they were in the same struggle and we talked about how Philip I was a Roman stronghold in honor a Roman city because that was the final battle between Augustus Caesar and Brutus is so Augustus rewarded the military that stayed faithful to him by giving them land grants in Philippi so Philip I was a city full of Roman sympathizers and he says hey stand together you have no reason to be afraid of your adversary if you can stand together now the word that we would use for that is unity unity and the problem with that word is it's not arguable like I would get seriously two or three separate emails a week saying shame the Church of Jesus Christ needs more unity right and who could argue with that like who would say oh no we need more division like no obviously obviously we need more unity but if but if I could make a point about that before I get into some specifics it's getting better it's getting better the church is less divided today than it's ever been in the history of the world I mean we don't think about things in a history point of view but I mean it wasn't that long ago that Sir Thomas Moore was burning people at the stake in the middle of London for owning their own copy of an English Bible without credentials his reasoning was is if the Bible fell into the hands of the uneducated and they started passing their opinion on it it would be dangerous now was he right about that yes if uneducated people say had access to something like say I don't know the internet and were able to I don't know pass confident opinions about things they have no flippin idea about that would be dangerous that he was right about that now his strategy to overcome that was to burn people at the stake who had a copy of the Bible massive overkill right massive overkill I think we could all agree with that it's in other words it's getting better and the thing is is that is that people who've stepped out to try to embrace more unity oftentimes get attacked what one of the one of the more moving things I've seen in the last few years was when Kenneth Copeland had the Pope addressed his conference and what you had was is you had a roomful of southern white Pentecostals who aren't exactly known for to be the most embracing people of people not like them giving a standing ovation to the Pope now now honestly 30 years ago could that have happened not really the Pope doesn't accept the invitation Kenneth Copa probably doesn't offer but because of the work of the Spirit of God Kenneth Copeland they'll all first the Pope to address the congregation the Pope accepts it and both accept each other I remember the post message he says I know we have differences but can we embrace each other in the areas that we can come together in and it was met with that is beautiful that is moving that is awesome but you know who got attacked for that not the Pope Kenneth Copeland poor can you the stuff that would have gotten written about him for simply reaching out to somebody a little bit different than him as if that's not a Jesus thing are you kidding me and so the problem with unity is everybody wants it but very few people want to pay the price that it takes to actually accomplish it and those who are willing to pay the price often get attacked by the very people who write me to say we need more unity and so it unity becomes a very frustrating thing because everybody wants it but not very many people want to pay the price to get it now part of the reason for that is not because people don't want it it's because we actually don't have good language around what it actually is and what it actually isn't because when I get these emails I'm thinking yeah I agree with you but the more I read your email the more I realized that what you think the church needs in terms of more unity is unattainable what you're calling unity can't be attained so I want to attempt to put some language around that because we've been talking about Paul's vision for a new humanity and part of his vision was unity and so let's see if I can put some language around this I'm hoping I can because I'm up here live in front of everybody and let's see if we can do this Philippians chapter 2 verse 1 yeah so if there's any encouragement in Christ any comfort from his love any participation in the spirit any affection of sympathy right now don't you can you feel the tone of the letter is this exasperation like like it almost feels like he's ending the letter right here like if we didn't have the whole letter if if we were in the audience and didn't have the whole letter and the letter was being read to us we would think okay here is the letter coming to a close if there's any of the if there's any encouragement of Christ any comfort is love any participation of spirit any affection of sympathy complete my joy by being of the same mind having the same love and being in full Accord and of one mind so he says the same thing three times same same love one Accord say mine one mine do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility count others more significant than yourself and we talked about that that we talked about that Sunday night we talked about how Paul saw his world as an interaction with a god that was a relationship not a single guy on a throne but rather a three-in-one imperfect symbiosis of stepping up stepping back on or submission when to give when to receive the ancient theologians called it the perichoresis the divine dance that when do we see that it's not so much will you be forgiven its will you dance and so he brings this up again by saying here's what dancing looks like is there any affection any sympathy any any comfort in Christ Jesus any of this are you gonna stand together in unity now here's just some some basic exegesis of this passage right so I want to go through the key words and see if it brings out some meaning there we go so the first word is perichoresis I'm sorry parrot parrot Cleese's perichoresis is the divine dance Pericles this is translated encouragement but the root word is one who comes alongside once we understand that whole divine dance analogy you see it all over the writing someone sometimes it's your place to step back so they can step forward sometimes it's in the dance for you to step alongside somebody para para Cleese's and then and then to say go to any comfort in his love the word is para methi on the word myth is just a story it's just a story it literally means to tell someone a comforting story in other words he's challenging them saying is is there any is there are you willing yes everybody wants unity but are you willing to come along someone who's hurting are you willing to sit down and tell them a comforting story and then he says any any union of the Spirit any common in spirit the word was Koinonia which is community which was unity despite diversity he's comparing them in their world to what God is God is three distinct things but yet acting as one it's not one in the sense of one thing it's unity amongst diversity the ancient Hebrew word for this would be a HOD HOD was unity in diversity it was it was the Springboks played together as 115 players playing as one and it may says any affection at all this is where it gets a little comical for us the word he used there was actually splack now which is bowel it's bowel in other words if in your gut you find care for the well-being of somebody else remember in the first century the center of your being was not your heart it was your bowel that the reason is is because babies come out of there and if babies come out of there that was the life source that was the center life source Paul uses this language all the time modern translators cannot translate it bowel the King James Version does on occasion but but moderate like in in in Philippians chapter one he says I have learned to love all of you from the heart of Christ the word is flattened again he says I've reached into the splack now I've reached it to the heart of Christ and fell in love for all of you well you can see why translator can't translate that bowel I've reached it to the bowel of Christ I felt love about it just makes it right no you can't like oh there it is oh I found oh yeah got it yeah there's someone right it's so a moderate translator can't translate it that way because it sounds it sounds like a medical procedure it's it's you know say they said okay I've reached it to the heart of Christ cuz that's how we would understand it but in the first century it was like if you were dating someone in the first century you would never say I love you with all my heart that would be weird that would be like oh you creep that the beating thing that's weird you would you would say you would look at the girl and you would say Oh sweetie I just want you to know I oh I just love you with all my Bell and now if you said that she would be like oh you moved my bells too right say it's this was the way this word was used this was the we would say heart life source energy they would say splack nah one word the splack nah if you go to your chiropractor and you look at that neat diagram of the nerves if you look at the very bottom of the spine it'll say the lower splack Nick nerve it's it's the part that controls it's the nerve that controls the bowel that was black know that the next word is turmoil which is which is translated sympathy if you have any sympathy and then he says Frenette a frenetic is where we get the word frenetic from one mind but this is where we get the word friend from it's not it's not one idea as much as it is together 'no stiffer insis that that that yeah but we could cheer for two separate teams but we are doing this together we we could be we could be here and there but we are in this thing together this was this was the word Frenette a four net a and then the last word there that he used this the key word is Simsek oi which if you take the eye off that it's sim psycho right which which is exactly my selves one psycho one soul one one way of thinking some psycho sounds like the latest Quentin Tarantino release I understand that but it's it's it's more one desire it's once again despite the differences we ultimately are going the same place some of the most moving conversations you've ever had has not been with people that when you left everybody agreed a hundred percent on what was said that can actually get boring actually some of the best conversations you've ever had was when genuine authentic followers of Jesus got together around a coffee table and despite some minor disputable differences everybody lift peaceful and loving loving Jesus more loving the cross more loving the resurrection more loving the Bible more those kind of things are moving you'll find this in your reading habits if the last ten books you read are all written by people who absolutely agree with you I would find your reading horrendously boring but when you read something it actually makes you chew on something and even after chewing on it if you have to just sit it to the side and leave it there and you're better for having wrestled with it this fully devoted follower of Christ is saying something that you've never thought of before makes you chew see some people say obvious things but then some other people say obvious things that are only obvious after they say them and those are the people you got to sort of chew you got to go wait a minute I'm gonna have to think about that but I'm gonna assume that he's a good-hearted or she's a good-hearted person who's a fully devoted follower Jesus and even if I can't swallow everything they say I embrace them as a person I embrace them I embrace their effort I honor that which leads me to all kinds of questions about what that means to be the church let's let's say it let's say it this way does this mean that we all have to that we have to be something we're not like like this unity mean I have to agree with stuff or become something that I'm not or does unity mean how like like does unity mean I have to say yes the things that everything in me wants to say no to or how do we do this today I mean heck let's just be honest Christians would even argue about what the word one means it's a there's there's too much information now and there's too many uneducated people giving their opinion about that information on the internet it's almost like with the Twitter generation everybody's just rushing to get their their opinion out even if it's not well researched not well thought out and quite frankly to the world that makes us look like lunatics and it makes us look worse than lunatics boring like look I travel this where I will speak almost every day in the month of February if I was the sitter and just list out of us on a slide the questions I get asked that people I swear I'm thinking is anybody interested in this at all so I have a go-to line now I this is my go-to line and that go-to line is I find this boring I just find this so boring because if I say I think that's wrong that's an argument if I say I think that's right that's a discussion and what's right or what's wrong is up for discussion but what I find boring is not up for debate I mean I've had people at pastors meetings come up to me this is for real and say Shane can you help me something somebody in my church was saying we should change this version of the Bible we're using because this version was based on the Textus Receptus and this verse was based on this version is based on the minority texts what do you think about all that and I remember halfway through the question my eyes were glazing over and I'm going I just find this so boring and that's what I said to the man I said faster I'm so sorry I just find this horrendously boring and he said do you I said yes I'm so bored I can hardly cope and they don't people know what to say to that like if I say yeah that's right well that's a discussion like well what do we do with that now if I say no that's wrong well that's also discussion to me proving why that's wrong but if I just say I find this horrendously boring and anybody who would make an issue of that Christianity can have people who will be divisive over which version of the Bible to use and we're gonna somehow aspire to jump from well this version of this and this version is that to unity not doable Christians would argue about what the word unity means which misses the point of unity I've had people tell me these are real things I've had people tell me hey ask me some question about something and I say you know what I can give you a two-minute answer to that but if you really want a full answer that it's written in this book doubt it on a table by such as oh and they'll go you read books by such and so and I'm like well that book was pretty good yeah but he said this somewhere else and I'm like so so so you disagree with one thing the man says and then you throw everything else out are you 9 what is the matter with you so so we're not gonna listen to anything else somebody says once they say one thing we disagree with we're not gonna listen this is Christianity and this is what this is what's happening and this is what's so boring and I'm compelling and this is something Paul was addressing way back a long time ago going wait a minute wait a minute let's talk about unity because unity something everybody wants but not very many people are willing to pay the price for what it might mean so what is Paul getting at for prison there's something about being chained to a wall awaiting execution that makes you intolerant to petty arguments you know it's sort of like God you know is it's it's sort of like when when you watch somebody tell somebody else that they're straight like like this person is going through chemotherapy and then this other person is stressed because they got cut off at traffic and they're failing to see the irony of who they're complaining about their life to this this is this is Paul here Paul's like I'm chained to a wall bro they're beating me three times a week for fun they're gonna kill me by putting me on a stick and you want me to solve arguments about which days are holy or not look around take the temperature of the room bro right this is Paul from prison so I want us to try to once again I'm not saying anything that's not obvious I'm saying anything that we I'm saying some things that are obvious but we lack language for so let me give an attempt to put some language about around this let's say this a couple of different ways how does our culture worship at the altar of the individual instead of the whole is there any way our culture worships at the altar of the individual that think about it is sports sometimes we think of sport says who's the best player sometimes we think about who's the player on a certain team that makes everybody else better and something inside of us honors the one making everybody else better versus necessarily the best player on the team or maybe we could say it this way here's a couple of abuses of unity we elevate the one at the expense of the whole so do we elevate the one at the expense of everybody else or are we humble for the common good to go back to sports well if a professional sporting athlete was too willing was willing to take a pay cut so that everybody else on the team could be paid more that would be newsworthy why because it's honorable it's something is to do we elevate the one at the expense of the whole or the other way we could think about it is this do we elevate the whole at the expense of the one you see this as some really rigid religious communities where where an individual is not allowed to question the corporate stance even if a good discussion around that corporate stance should be questioned because of conscience so so we we either elevate the one at the expense of the or we can elevate the whole at the expense of the one and all miss the point of unity so let me see if I could walk through some things that Paul had in his mind as a first century rabbi and we're in luck with this because he wrote about this other places which gives us insight into what he was talking about one of the key passages where he writes about this is in Romans chapter 14 and I don't want to read the whole passage because it's bad preaching I want to snip it out and ask us where we are with this here's Romans 14 verse 1 as for the one who is weak in faith welcomed him but not to quarrel over disputable matters in other words if some was not where you are don't welcome him simply to sit him down and tell him why he's wrong just simply welcome them welcome as to what his weak in faith welcome him but not to quarrel over disputable matters which leads to what obvious question what's a disputable matter the answer is most things most things I've I've had somebody I've had on occasion I people who want to argue with me very not not not common rarely but every now and then they do and and and I've just taken this as sort of my life verse a couple verses in here now and and when they come at me I'll say I'm bored right so if they come at me too hard I'll say I'm just so sorry I'm just so bored normally that cuts it off but I have said I'm so sorry I'm just so tired and so bored I cannot cope and someone goes I get that but just please answer this question it's like total insensitivity now now if they do that I'll quote Romans 14 to them and I'll go listen we're not to quarrel over disputable matters and then inevitably they'll say this isn't disputable to which I will say you're literally disputing it with me which is literally the definition of disputable we are engaging in something that we are commanded clearly in scripture not to engage in and again I'm bored no normally that ends it normally right there that ends it now he keeps going watch what he was calling disputable in the first century for a rabbit this was unbelievable watch what he says one person esteems one day is better than another well in other esteems all days alike each one should be fully convinced in his own mind what's he referencing their Sabbath or possibly the holy feast days are they to a first century rabbi Jewish person is that a big deal or not a big deal it's a pretty big deal is it clearly written in Scripture that you should honor Sabbath yep is it clearly written in Scripture that you should honor the feast days yep is it clearly written in Scripture that one who doesn't should be stoned yep Paul is so moved by the resurrection of Jesus he's like you know what I know it says that circumcision should be eternal but I'm gonna give it an expiration date I know it says that days are holy in these days but let's call all days holy because resurrection changes everything he as a first century Jewish rabbi is calling things like holy days disputable unheard of watch what he says each one should be fully convinced his own mind the one who observes the day observes it none or the Lord and the one who eats eats and honor the Lord since he gives thanks to God I mean once again for a first century rabbi to say if you pray over it it's holy and like like dot for the first time ever someone with authority is saying it's the heart of the eater not the content of the food that determines the sanctification of the meal in the first century that's called heresy you couldn't cope with that 300 years later they said let's put that in the Bible that'll be awesome right Paul is so far ahead of his time he is so in tune with this dance with where the Spirit of the resurrected Christ was going he's going do you really think it's the content of the meal that determines the cleanliness of it maybe it's the heart of the eater not the Conda the meal that determines the sanctification of the entire thing these are that what my point is is not to be specific about this my point is is to go what Paul is calling disputable is only disputable to us today because Paul called it disputable then when he called this disputable it would have been argued about watch now watch what he says watch what he says since he gives thanks to God well the one who have stains of stains and honor the Lord and gives thanks to God in other words he's saying if you eat your heart sanctifies the food if you abstain it's the condition of your heart that Saint defies your apps the nation you you abstaining doesn't make you clean in and of itself you your heart in abstaining doing it in honor of the Lord is what makes it clean this is unthinkably revolutionary for none of us lives to himself and none of us dies to himself for if we live we live to the Lord and if we die we die to the Lord so then whether we live or die we are the Lord's in other words don't make an issue about all that don't make an issue about any of this only God knows the heart of a person the only God can call something clean or unclean leave it be he keeps going this is a few verses later therefore let us not pass judgment on anyone any longer maybe we should stop and think about that for a second let us not pass judgment on one another any longer but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another brother how good is that in other words it is not your place to judge someone's heart it is your place to decide to not make someone else stumble that puts the onus right back on you it's not your place to judge their heart let me say it in today's language it is not our place to judge their heart it is our place to judge our own heart and the judgment of our heart should be am i humble enough to not use my Liberty to make them fall am I am I humble enough to consider them better I know and I am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in and of itself this is the first century rabbi a guy from Israel saying nothing is unclean in and of itself but for anyone who thinks it's unclean it is unclean well in other words he is elevating the human can't he is here's what he's doing he is trusting the Spirit of God - so infiltrate the human conscious that he's saying you don't only trust God with your heart you have to trust God with their heart and their and we gotta and on the other side of that as leaders we got to be careful infiltrating the consciousness of people with things like I'll give you example this is a exaggerated example but it's a good example my grandmother never cut her hair in her entire life why because her pastor told her it was a sin to cut your hair my grandmother could only read at a third grade level when her pastor said you could go to hell for cutting your hair she believed him and she died in her 90s and on her deathbed she asked my mother please Phyllis don't let them if they have to rush me into surgery make sure they don't cut my hair I don't want to face Jesus with cut hair now is it a sin to get a haircut nope look around now to my grandmother to my grandmother's congregation if you cut your hair you'd go to hell if you colored your hair so it's sort of like hell hell oh my lord hell my god hell now is it a sin to cut your hair no but - my grandmother was a descender cut her hair yes because if you believe it's unclean and then you do it it's rebellion we got to be very careful to only bind what Jesus bound and only loosed what Jesus loosed Jesus loosed us to love each other he loosed us to any bound us from hatred he bound her from holding grudges he bound us from unforgiveness Paul is is digging it something deep here what this probably requires even a whole another sermon I love this is just a few verses later watch what he says the faith that you have keep it between yourself and God you know there's undisputable matters remember the context is defeat all matters like holy days and what to eat things like this on disputable matters whatever conclusion you've come between you and God keep it there the actual Greek there shut up blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves so let's look at this let's put some language around this right so T'Pol unity was not agreement unity allowed for diversity actually how boring as a salad with only one thing in it a salad with only one flavor in it is a bowl of tomatoes right nobody wants to eat an entire bowl of tomatoes what makes a salad great is the different flavors and I'm giving kudos to this before and I'm gonna give kudos to this again one of the most beautiful things about your pastors here is in 15 years do we every night I've stayed at their house we've stayed up talking about what Scripture about history about Jesus about things of God in 15 years do you not think there's been one time where we were like no I'm not really where you are and you're not really where I am but but that never mattered because their flavor flavored my life and my flavor flavored their life the question is it so much are you right or wrong the question is what's your flavor what are you bringing is your heart right what are you bringing to the table unity demands humility to let someone else be you while we shut up it's one of them that was what that's why the whole thing with the Pope and Kenneth Copeland moved me was the humility of Kenneth Copeland to let someone not like him be and the humility of the Pope to let someone not like him be what they're meant to be to the body of Christ that is unity unity stands amidst diversity watch what Paul says in Ephesians this is a whole nother letter to a whole nother group of people remember they didn't that the church at Philippi didn't know the church at Ephesus they they couldn't have it was far apart they they didn't know they would have never met the people in Corinth right so watch what he says in Ephesians chapter 2 he says for he himself is our peace who has made us both one and is broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law Commandments expressed in its ordinances he sought about Jews and Gentiles don't know don't need to be at odds with each other anymore that he might create in himself one new man one new humanity in place of the two in other words instead of there being two let's make a new humanity where we break down the dividing wall so by making peace and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross thereby killing hostility no let me let me explain what I mean by this or what what I think he meant one of the messages of the Cross is the forgiveness of sins you don't owe God anymore and we say yes and we embrace that one of the messages is God has set us free from our slave drivers and we say yes and we embrace that but one message of the cross that I don't think gets talked about enough is the cross according to Scripture was supposed to be the end of hostility what does that mean that means if I'm having a conversation with you whether we agree or disagree is irrelevant because if we back down long enough we're gonna find common ground and that common ground is my hands are wrapped around the foot of the cross as my only hope I need the Grace and peace of Jesus Christ and your common ground is you're both your hands around the foot of the cross because you need the Grace and peace of Jesus Christ so whether we could come together or not come together on whatever idea we're talking about the truth is is if we back down far enough both of our hands are wrapped around the cross of Jesus Christ and that should be enough to end hostility disgust yes hostile no the cross was supposed to be you you realize when two Christians argue about a disputable matter it throws itself in the face of one of the things the cross was all about it throws itself just it essentially says I don't believe the cross was sufficient for even this I just don't think it was sufficient for even this let's put some more language around this right so Jesus is calling us to a new humanity black white whether you're black whether you're white at the end of the day you back it off far enough and both hands or around the foot of the cross slave or free back it off far enough both hands around the foot of the cross male or female back it off far enough both hands around the foot of the cross this viewpoint and that the cross was to end hostility Republicans Democrats the cross was to end hostility Bernie Sanders and the Tea Party the cross was to end hostility it was to end hostility college liberals versus Donald Trump the cross was to end hostility morones versus blues the cross was to end hostility Springboks versus all blacks the cross was to end hostility so let's ask a few questions as always I want to close sermons out with questions because sermons are meant to be discussed not agreed with right and if there was ever sermon that where this was true about it be this right so let's ask a few questions and be willing to wrestle with this maybe tonight and maybe over the course of the next few weeks when we're with our friends let's be honest enough to ask if you're not brave enough to ask the question honestly what disputable matters do we need to just let go is there anything is there anything that we hold too tightly to that actually the world needs to see us at peace more than it needs one of us to be right let me illustrate this with a story that is very moving to me it was anyway I was very moved by this so I was invited to go to Israel years ago and I had four intensive days 14 hours a day with the top history expert in Jerusalem he doesn't do vacation tours he does the academic tours and he had a free week and he invited me to come with this intensive group and we we 14 hours a day of academic historical training in Jerusalem and it was just he and I at one point and he told me something about someplace and how it tied to the Bible and here was my response really Wow like really no English was not his first language he thought I was having a go at him but your English speakers this was my response really Wow really am I having a go at him or am i amazed I'm amazed I was amazed I was absolutely flabbergasted by I had never connected those dots he thought I was having a go when he thought I was having a go here's what he did he went Oh Shane my brother peace between us is the most important thing if one of us has to be wrong let it be me the world needs to see us at peace more than I need to be right please forgive me I said what are you talking about man he said did you have a problem I said no I was amazed like wow like I was amazed and he went were you amazed I said I was amazed man he said oh good that feels so much better he said cuz I knew I was right he said but the world needs to see us at peace I'm like bro you're the top history expert in Jerusalem I'm not gonna argue with you about Jewish history bro you live here how arrogant would I be to tell you you're wrong about Jewish history he goes I know but I just didn't understand but but that imagery still in my mind Oh peace between us is the most important thing peace between us how redeemed is that guy's ego I was so the Lord used that man that day in that action to convict my life about how I should respond when people come against me to what is our common ground like at the end of the day no matter who we're disagreeing with can we back off to say hey we both need the Grace and peace of Jesus and that's where we start that's where we start this is a very important question here that I can't work out in one night but I think is worth discussing how can we respond differently when we sense the conversation turning hostile in what can we respond a little different like think about it for a second well what is your initial response when you feel like somebody's coming after you it's and can we submit even that part of us to the Spirit of the risen Christ the wait a minute how can I respond differently how can I respond differently for what if what if we only focused on the places we are in one mind what if what have we just refused to enter into dispute what if we took Romans 14 serious do not quarrel over disputable matters and then Paul started listening a whole bunch of things that were written in the Bible do not quarrel over disputable matters I think maybe another question is have we deemed something important that's not that important have we did something indisputable that's actually got a few view points to it do not quarrel over disputable matters let's say it this way can we back off and can we agree that all all need the grace and peace of Jesus that is Jesus for the whole world let's say this way is Jesus for the whole world including them but if we present the gospel as yet even me can it be yea even them we can't want mercy for ourselves and injustice for everybody else we can't expect God to be merciful to us when we get it wrong and then want God to be harsh on people who get it wrong everybody gets it wrong no nobody is in the exact same place as they were ten years ago with God you you learned you grew you move that that's part of life it's awesome otherwise it'd be boring let's say this way what would happen if our splack now wrapped around a shared humanity instead of straight individualism how would we do with that my goal tonight was to put language around unity and the truth is everybody wants it but very few people are willing to not quarrel over disputable matters very few people are willing to embrace people not like then how how many people are actually will to back off all the way to come and ground which is we both have our hands wrapped around the cross of Jesus Christ I can't agree with even half of what you say but that doesn't matter because both of us have our hands around the cross of Jesus everybody wants unity but how many people are actually willing to go that far if you fell asleep in the middle of all this my attempt tonight was to put language around unity and if you missed it I'm gonna try to do it in one sentence let's say it this way what if the cross what if the cross was God saying how far do I have to go for you all to get along what if one of the messages of the cross is how far do I have to go for you all to put the disputable things aside and get along maybe the next time everything Innes wants to argue about a disputable matter to prove a right what if we stopped and said you know what the cross was God saying this is how far I'm willing to go for you all to get along and I'm gonna embrace that part of the cross and not just the part of the cross that saves me how horrible would it be to embrace the side of the cross that saves you without embracing the side of the cross that gives you a handful of splinters sometime this says wait a minute no no no I'm not just gonna embrace the side of the cross that gives me mercy I'm gonna also embrace the side of the cross that I'm called to bear I'm called to humble myself I'm called God Wayman God went this far so we could all get along and I'm spitting in the face of what he did when I argue about disputable matters we all want unity but I charge you my brothers and sisters of this church of the people and livestreaming and of every person that'll ever watch this because we film this here I charge you to be people who don't just want unity heck everybody wants unity who wants more division but to be people who are willing to pay the price to get it not to quarrel over disputable matters to the faith that you've come to between you and God on those matters keep it to you and God because the cross is God saying how far do I have to go for you all to get along may we embrace not only the cross that forgives us but the cross that says we are common ground we all need the Grace and peace of Jesus so as our brother Paul would say to the churches Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior not Nero Jesus Christ may we kick the Nero's out of our lives kick that tendency to be right may we have the heart of the expert who said the world needs to see us at peace more than I need to be right how moving is that may we be willing not to just want unity but to pay the price to have what it is and embrace the new humanity let's pray together hi everybody it's been a great service why do you thank you for joining us like to take this time to say thanks once again maybe you'd want to become a part of that family of the Lord Jesus Christ our family what about joining a church is about joining of your family that goes beyond all sorts of boundaries and barriers you need to be able to say that simple prayer with us if you'd like to follow me you say Jesus come into my life take hold of me leave me guide me father thank you for sending Jesus to take my place on the cross and in hell and so that I may live a life that is pleasing unto you thank you Father for sending Jesus Holy Spirit come in and empower me to live a life that we pleasing to God what a thank you for saying that prayer and joining our family we'd love to be in contact with you if you would respond to the details on the website via email or phone we'd love to be able to send some resources to you god bless and have a wonderful day

Channel: Heritage of Faith Church Gold Coast

Views: 2,285

Rating: 4.8518519 out of 5

Keywords: Heritage of Faith, Gold Coast, Shane Willard, Unity, One Mind and Spirit, Jerry Savelle, Ian Slack, Gold Coast Churches, Jerry Savelle Church, Faithful Shall Flourish, Make it Beautiful

Id: 5ARt5Ht4U80

Length: 44min 27sec (2667 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 07 2018