back to index2020-01-12 Church Activites Are Not About You
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I'm going to read for us Philippians chapter 2 verses 1 through 5. 00:00:11.760 |
Hopefully for those of you who have been here, Philippians is very near and dear to you now 00:00:21.680 |
God's word says, "Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation 00:00:27.440 |
of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make 00:00:33.000 |
my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, 00:00:40.580 |
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another 00:00:47.280 |
Do not merely look out for your own interests, but also for the interests of others. 00:00:52.920 |
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus." 00:01:03.200 |
God thank you that you have given Christ to be our example. 00:01:10.320 |
And God we're so grateful that Christ too is indeed man. 00:01:15.600 |
Who walked the walk, who understands our weaknesses, who is able to sympathize with where we are. 00:01:22.720 |
That we might look to him and be encouraged by the fact that he understands. 00:01:27.880 |
But also very stirred on and stirred up God by the fact that he was able to live that 00:01:36.480 |
So thank you God that as we hear today's sermon, we have his example and we have his work completed 00:01:47.160 |
And God for anyone who's not a believer in this room, that you would allow their eyes 00:01:51.840 |
A Jesus who has died for the sins of the world. 00:01:56.400 |
And God that you would cause living hope to come. 00:02:00.760 |
And Father that eyes that were once blind to see. 00:02:07.920 |
We're gonna be continuing in our covenant series. 00:02:12.720 |
It says, "I commit to attending BCC," that's Beroean Community Church, "functions and activities 00:02:17.480 |
to the best of my ability for the purpose of building up the body of Christ at Berean." 00:02:25.080 |
"I commit to attending BCC functions and activities to the best of my ability for the purpose 00:02:31.120 |
of building up the body of Christ at Berean." 00:02:35.440 |
And with these covenants, if you are new, if you haven't been here before, we have a 00:02:43.140 |
And all 10 of them, if you're a member, try to imagine the 10. 00:02:46.240 |
There's 10 of them and then you sign your name at the bottom if you wanna become a member 00:03:00.680 |
And the main point for today's sermon, I'll just give it right up front. 00:03:04.800 |
Church functions and activities are not about you. 00:03:10.600 |
They are about building up the body of Christ and edifying others. 00:03:14.920 |
Again, church functions and activities are not about you. 00:03:20.080 |
They are about building up the body of Christ and edifying others. 00:03:24.640 |
And today's sermon, we have to be a little wary. 00:03:27.880 |
I think there's a very easy kind of road we could go down where it seems like I'm legalistically 00:03:34.360 |
preaching at you to say like, "Hey, you have to come out to everything that this church 00:03:43.980 |
But today I invite you to come and just evaluate your heart and to say that we're not going 00:03:47.720 |
to be people who look and say, "Do I have to go to this? 00:03:52.400 |
These functions and activities that are provided here. 00:03:55.280 |
But to say perhaps coming from a different angle and maybe challenging you to ask different 00:04:04.360 |
So let's try to navigate these waters a little bit. 00:04:07.200 |
Now, I wrote out for you guys some fellowship and activities that we have here at our church. 00:04:17.160 |
In December, it felt like there were so many Christmas parties, right? 00:04:20.400 |
You had to buy like six gift exchange things. 00:04:23.840 |
Sports day, we had that recently or actually we called it picnic day. 00:04:30.760 |
There are different ones that kind of pop up. 00:04:38.560 |
The New Year's Eve service was especially encouraging to me personally. 00:04:42.400 |
We had that New Year's Eve service counting down together. 00:04:44.960 |
Always feels kind of cheesy, kind of awesome. 00:04:50.720 |
We have praise and prayers and things like that. 00:04:54.600 |
I think football season is kind of gearing up right now and I see a lot of people having 00:04:59.240 |
interesting lunches and dinners together and stuff like that. 00:05:01.720 |
So there's a lot of different functions, a lot of different activities. 00:05:05.720 |
I'd say specifically given by Berea and also some that are more just loose, that people 00:05:12.960 |
And these are the things that we're talking about. 00:05:15.000 |
Now for me, I want to just get out there and let you know that I'm an introvert. 00:05:26.680 |
So I had to learn the cues and all that kind of stuff. 00:05:30.680 |
And going down this list and even preparing the sermon, I had to do a lot of heart evaluation 00:05:37.520 |
So I hope you understand that rather than preaching at you today, there was a lot of 00:05:44.640 |
Even just getting to retreat, there's a college retreat coming up. 00:05:48.000 |
If you're an introvert, you know retreats are your worst nightmare. 00:05:51.840 |
You like the sessions and you like the times in small groups, but anything in between, 00:06:02.000 |
So there's all these things that about me, when I think of church activities and functions, 00:06:08.720 |
I kind of look at this and I say, I say I want to go to that. 00:06:12.920 |
I look at this and I say, "Ooh, that one is not something I would want to be at." 00:06:18.880 |
When I first came out to this church, Wednesday night Bible studies were the scariest thing 00:06:24.400 |
Wednesday night Bible study, there would be almost like 200 people, like 150 to 200 people 00:06:29.880 |
And then that thought of, "Man, who do I talk to? 00:06:35.200 |
Am I supposed to feel like I need to belong somewhere?" 00:06:38.800 |
All these different conflicting things were there. 00:06:42.760 |
And so, I don't want you to get me wrong, I like interacting with people. 00:06:48.760 |
I actually like talking with you and things like that. 00:06:53.840 |
And yet, as we think about functions and activities, for every person sitting in this room, we 00:07:03.120 |
There are people who want to go out to anything and everything. 00:07:06.440 |
And there are people who it's difficult to come out to these things. 00:07:10.840 |
So today's sermon, please evaluate it to your own heart. 00:07:15.800 |
I want to ask you, don't be thinking about other people as much as possible as you're 00:07:20.520 |
going through today's sermon, and try to be evaluating and thinking about where you personally 00:07:29.120 |
"I commit to attending BCC functions and activities to the best of my ability for the purpose 00:07:34.120 |
of building up the body of Christ at Berean." 00:07:46.360 |
So again, for members at BCC, we ask you to commit to this. 00:07:50.320 |
You're signing your name to this, and that you're making it more than optional in your 00:08:01.260 |
You have signed it with your name, saying, "This is what I desire and commit to do." 00:08:16.200 |
But the idea is that we are truly committed to even taking these functions and activities 00:08:29.480 |
If you're the type of heart, I kind of have a heart like this. 00:08:31.760 |
When someone tells me what to do, I kind of want to buck the other way. 00:08:41.880 |
That doesn't sound like ... It takes a little bit of work to make that sound and feel biblical. 00:08:47.500 |
Come out to the functions and activities that this church provides. 00:08:56.360 |
You can say, "I'm coming out to weeknight, the home group," or, "I'm coming out to Sunday 00:09:09.640 |
Your heart might say, "Can I not pick and choose on these optional functions and activities?" 00:09:21.520 |
Of course you need to take stock of your life. 00:09:24.520 |
You need to wisely and discerningly be able to make these decisions, to see in your life 00:09:29.280 |
what you are capable of being a part of and not. 00:09:36.560 |
What we're asking is, "Where is your heart in the decision-making process? 00:09:41.120 |
What makes you say, 'I will go to this, I will not go to this?' 00:09:47.960 |
Where is the starting point of how your heart reflexes in these things?" 00:09:53.680 |
The idea here is, "To the best of my ability. 00:09:59.800 |
I'm going to be trying to go to these things to the best of my ability." 00:10:04.240 |
Now there's a difference between someone that really wants to make it but can't, and then 00:10:09.360 |
someone that will take any and every excuse before saying that they'll go. 00:10:17.500 |
For an example, a parent might ask their teenage child, so if you have a teenage child, you 00:10:26.040 |
When they go through puberty, and then they become kind of a different creature, and then 00:10:31.440 |
you start asking them, before it'd be like, "We're going here," and all the kids would 00:10:42.400 |
You're this parent of a teenager, and you're asking that question to them. 00:10:46.080 |
"Hey, come to your sibling's birthday dinner this Sunday." 00:10:52.360 |
And now here is where a lot of responses can come out. 00:10:56.380 |
And here is where you can start to really gauge the heart of this child you have, this 00:11:04.560 |
One is, he will really try his best, because that's what he says. 00:11:15.840 |
He's going to work hard to get his assignments done. 00:11:20.320 |
He's going to keep his schedule clear when his friends invite him to a movie. 00:11:25.320 |
His priority is going to be seen in his commitment to what he said, "I'll try my best." 00:11:34.560 |
We could think about it the epidemic of the age, which is this. 00:11:37.800 |
"I'll try my best" falls on a spectrum, on a category, a bunch of categories. 00:11:44.040 |
It actually means, "I'll try my best until something better and more worth my time comes 00:11:49.760 |
Now, this is very like that example of this teenager processing that. 00:11:56.880 |
"My parents just asked me to come to this sibling birthday dinner." 00:12:02.480 |
And they're like in a twilight zone for a little bit, right? 00:12:04.480 |
They're kind of in there trying to make their decision. 00:12:06.320 |
And there's a lot of desires happening, there's a lot of thoughts happening in that process. 00:12:15.040 |
Until something better and more worth my time comes along. 00:12:19.360 |
If it's a hangout with acquaintances that I don't necessarily like, I'm thrilled about 00:12:26.520 |
I will make the sacrifice to go and be at this dinner. 00:12:30.200 |
However, if it's with a group of friends that he really likes to be with, if that girl he 00:12:35.520 |
has a crush on happens to be there, if that thing that they're going to be doing just 00:12:39.840 |
sounds too exciting, then all of a sudden, sorry, I can't make it to the birthday dinner. 00:12:51.620 |
That gets relegated to, depends on what's in it for me. 00:12:56.500 |
What do I deem to be most in line with my desire? 00:13:04.120 |
I'll prioritize my family until something of a really greater priority comes along. 00:13:11.960 |
So the question isn't so much, not like, why should I go to this thing? 00:13:16.960 |
But the question we should be asking is, why would I not? 00:13:22.040 |
The teenager that goes in these two opposite directions, the one that the priorities aren't 00:13:26.760 |
right, they're going to be like, why should I go? 00:13:30.000 |
The one who is really, who loves their family, who wants to be there is going to ask, oh, 00:13:39.280 |
The questions that come up about how you answer that question, about how you answer the question 00:13:45.760 |
if someone says, hey, are you going to be here? 00:13:50.920 |
It's going to evaluate your core heart intentions. 00:13:54.720 |
It's going to shed light on your heart desires. 00:14:15.160 |
Don't use others to build up your securities and your desires. 00:14:24.240 |
These functions and activities are not about you. 00:14:28.560 |
Now, of course, we have to take a side and say, of course it's about you. 00:14:35.080 |
Those things are supposed to be beneficial for each and every one of us. 00:14:39.120 |
The idea here is that that function and that activity is not for you as an individual so 00:14:44.000 |
much as it is for the edification of the body and of the church. 00:14:54.200 |
We are concerned about the building up of the church, not individual self-interests. 00:15:02.840 |
You are not to be simply consumed about your spiritual growth. 00:15:08.040 |
The way we are now is we are concerned about the church's spiritual growth. 00:15:14.480 |
So the passage in Philippians chapter two, verses one through five, I'm going to read 00:15:18.200 |
"Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of 00:15:21.080 |
love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy 00:15:25.640 |
complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on 00:15:32.240 |
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, regard one another 00:15:39.920 |
Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 00:15:44.180 |
Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus." 00:15:48.520 |
And of course from there it goes into verses six through 11, that amazing passage about 00:15:55.760 |
But if you look here, he starts off this passage by saying, "If, if, if, if," four times. 00:16:02.400 |
He says, "If there is encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship 00:16:06.600 |
of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion." 00:16:13.840 |
There are different ways you could take the word "if," "if" statements. 00:16:16.600 |
There are actually four general conditional statements, but we'll just look at two. 00:16:21.960 |
The second conditional, the condition two is, if it becomes, next slide here, there 00:16:29.080 |
is doubt as to whether these things exist or not. 00:16:33.160 |
This passage isn't doubting the existence of these four things. 00:16:37.120 |
This is actually a conditional one statement, which is going to be, can you guys put that 00:16:47.320 |
There is no doubt that these things do exist. 00:16:50.320 |
So it is, there is no doubt that the things that are being talked about in the list of 00:16:57.240 |
So another way you can replace "if" with is, "therefore," or you could replace it with, 00:17:04.240 |
It becomes very causal in effect, condition one. 00:17:09.800 |
So looking at this text again, "Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ," 00:17:14.720 |
can be read, "Therefore, since there is encouragement in Christ, because there is consolation of 00:17:19.720 |
love, because you have these things," in verse two, "make my joy complete by being in the 00:17:28.400 |
same mind, being unified in thought, being unified in heart, coming together as one." 00:17:35.080 |
And from there, it goes into the exhortations of verses three and four. 00:17:44.840 |
Do you not have the fellowship given from the Lord? 00:17:47.800 |
That if you do, then this is how you ought to look." 00:17:55.560 |
So in verse three, he says that we are to do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty 00:18:10.080 |
That word ought to highlight and jump out at us. 00:18:14.480 |
Because this is the type of command where you can't wiggle out of it. 00:18:24.960 |
When God commands us to do something, we use loopholes. 00:18:28.120 |
The weakness of the flesh, the fact that I forgot, there's lots of different loopholes 00:18:34.320 |
But when he says, "Do nothing out of selfishness," think about the gravity and weight of that 00:18:45.440 |
Another way to look at that is, don't even do one thing out of selfishness. 00:18:52.040 |
The things you say, the things you do, the decisions you make, none of it, zero. 00:19:03.680 |
The decisions you make cannot come out of selfishness. 00:19:17.400 |
Will you not see what's to come right after this passage of how Christ set an example 00:19:26.080 |
He did not think of you just a little bit higher or more. 00:19:34.000 |
And this passage, do nothing out of selfishness. 00:19:40.160 |
Another way to say empty conceit is vain glory. 00:19:41.920 |
I really like that one because it kind of sheds light on it, right? 00:19:53.960 |
But in humility, consider others' interests more important than your own. 00:20:01.200 |
This passage speaks loads into covenant number six and why it matters. 00:20:06.320 |
I commit to attending BCC functions and activities to the best of my ability for the purpose 00:20:15.280 |
We're not here just to like do Bible study together, hear sermons together, and go our 00:20:20.360 |
A church is just this part of our lives where we come and it's there. 00:20:27.960 |
And we have to kind of categorize everything in our lives and put up boundaries and say, 00:20:34.280 |
"Well, I know I'm called to be a good Christian." 00:20:36.320 |
See, we're not called to be here and just be polite Christians and nice Christians. 00:20:45.800 |
Come and kind of Sunday to Sunday basis look at each other and say, "Hey, how are you doing?" 00:20:51.320 |
And talk a little bit about what's been happening in the week and maybe bring up something that 00:21:01.540 |
When we're called to be believers, when we are called into God's kingdom and we are transformed 00:21:07.280 |
from who we used to be to who we are now as believers, church becomes a place when you 00:21:12.680 |
gather these types of people together that it looks dramatically different. 00:21:17.560 |
See, Covenant 6 is a tangible way to live Philippians 2, verses 3 and 4 out. 00:21:24.680 |
It gives you space and opportunity to live in obedience to God, in caring for one another, 00:21:34.080 |
We don't have various functions and activities here at Berean because we like functions and 00:21:39.280 |
Personally, for me, I just like talking to people and then I don't know how to small 00:21:48.960 |
I like getting to the deeper things and all that kind of stuff. 00:21:54.840 |
But these functions and activities, when we kind of take stock of them, we can't say, 00:22:03.280 |
"Well, in them of themselves, of course, programs aren't what runs the church. 00:22:11.680 |
And yet, these things are both very helpful and secondly, it's going to kind of help you 00:22:20.640 |
to evaluate actually where you do stand personally. 00:22:25.160 |
Whether you desire to go or not, we'll be able to help you ask yourself, "Why? 00:22:42.700 |
We aren't saying, obviously, that you need to be at every single thing the church provides. 00:22:47.240 |
I know many of us are incredibly busy and honestly, sometimes it does feel like... 00:22:53.520 |
Church does feel like, "Man, you're running to one thing to another thing." 00:22:57.680 |
You're going to a meeting and then you're going to some kind of outing and then you're 00:23:04.280 |
But we do need to evaluate our hearts and how we decide and why we decide to go to all 00:23:11.100 |
These are opportunities to build each other up and edify one another. 00:23:14.840 |
That list I had written up there before, these are great spaces. 00:23:21.860 |
If there is anyone in this room that has ever sat down and said, "Man, I don't feel like 00:23:38.960 |
And how you make your decisions will show you where your heart is. 00:23:44.120 |
There's something heavy and weighty that describes the believer that has been saved by God. 00:23:48.440 |
Because when you're thinking of like, "Why would I go to this or not?" 00:23:51.280 |
And you're thinking about Philippians chapter two, verse three or four, that I would consider 00:23:58.400 |
This is not a nice thought of, "I need to think of others a little bit more." 00:24:02.360 |
This is saying that you need to think of others greater than yourself. 00:24:08.240 |
That what I deem in my defense and my survival instincts and my desire for self-satisfaction, 00:24:15.520 |
all these things, it's not like thinking of other people just a little bit more. 00:24:21.240 |
This is like a complete change, a drastic difference in the believer. 00:24:27.800 |
Look what it says in John 13, 35, "By this, all people will know that you are my disciples, 00:24:35.440 |
If you have love for one another, they will know that you are my disciples. 00:24:43.860 |
When something comes up on an announcement, Pastor Mark usually gives announcements and 00:24:47.040 |
he puts it out there saying, "This thing is coming up." 00:24:53.920 |
Is it quickly like, "Oh, not going to that, not going to that one. 00:25:00.120 |
And again, it's not about the function all the time. 00:25:09.800 |
And why are you saying you're going to this one? 00:25:16.440 |
Is your decision-making solely, even in functions and activities, about you? 00:25:21.200 |
This brings us to our second point, believers must not be self-centered. 00:25:29.480 |
Now, if you're self-centered, you're going to say, "All right, what do I have to do?" 00:25:39.440 |
Kind of like the teenager to the parent, right? 00:25:47.920 |
It should come more from a heart of, "I desire." 00:25:55.200 |
Here's some common questions that will tend to reveal your heart's desires. 00:26:01.840 |
And we're talking specifically about functions and activities here, but you can talk about 00:26:17.920 |
You know, "We don't want that kind of heart here." 00:26:23.920 |
Not out of curiosity, but when this question is asked to gauge whether or not you want 00:26:45.520 |
And it's actually quite ugly if you really sit back and think about it. 00:26:50.400 |
The attitude that is set against, I would say, is an anti-Christ mindset, the selfishness. 00:26:58.960 |
The attitude that doesn't fall in line with, "Look to others' interests above my own, but 00:27:10.960 |
The question is, "What are we going to do exactly? 00:27:15.620 |
Can you please write down the itinerary and tell me exactly what we're going to do? 00:27:19.640 |
And then I'll consider whether or not I'll be there or not." 00:27:25.880 |
I know there are just curious people, the type of personalities that just wants to know 00:27:32.160 |
But because you want to gauge whether I'll go or not. 00:27:37.960 |
Here's some common objections as to why not to go. 00:27:51.520 |
And many times, it's extremely valid, that feeling. 00:27:56.460 |
But in your decision-making process, are you self-interested or are you others' interested? 00:28:03.520 |
Are you self-centered or in humility, do you consider others' interests greater than your 00:28:17.640 |
That we are supremely as believers now, others-oriented. 00:28:22.980 |
That our existence is to love God and to love others and to not love ourselves. 00:28:32.160 |
We might say something like, "It doesn't seem worth it." 00:28:34.120 |
You might say, "I don't have any friends there." 00:28:41.480 |
Again many of these can be valid in certain senses. 00:28:47.760 |
But how we go about it and the pattern as to why we make these decisions are going to 00:28:58.200 |
I'm not trying to guilt you into going to activities and say, "You're not a good person 00:29:06.520 |
I'm humbly trying to say, "Just look at your heart and how are you making decisions?" 00:29:13.840 |
When you ask yourself whether or not the way you make practical decisions in life, you're 00:29:22.640 |
The way I even think about things, am I taking it into consideration? 00:29:32.000 |
Just the whole outlook of my life, what is it oriented around? 00:29:39.160 |
And for many of us, I want to say all of us, there is that me-centered aspect. 00:29:45.960 |
Even how we serve in church, even what we decide to do, it's very self-centered. 00:29:54.800 |
Do nothing out of selfishness or empty conceit. 00:30:04.320 |
We are bent on loving others in radical ways. 00:30:12.000 |
How can we actively do that unless we put ourselves in position to do that? 00:30:17.080 |
A church our size, I think it's very, very easy for us to just come and attend and go. 00:30:24.720 |
And then even if you're a little bit more church, you're like, "I have to do something 00:30:29.280 |
in the week too, so I'll go to the home group. 00:30:35.960 |
But you could do that with extreme self-interest there. 00:30:44.760 |
We're called to look very different than that. 00:30:47.480 |
The Christian comes and says, "Wherever they go, I will place others' interests above my 00:30:53.440 |
If you don't believe me, if you just think I'm taking one passage, if you just go through 00:30:57.960 |
text, if you go through just the New Testament, you are going to be riddled with command after 00:31:07.240 |
So we have to be very different in the way we react and we think, and we have to renew 00:31:15.680 |
If you look at Ephesians chapter four, verse 20 through 24, it says, "But you did not learn 00:31:20.920 |
Indeed, you have heard him and have been taught in him, just as truth is in Jesus, that in 00:31:24.720 |
reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self." 00:31:29.920 |
That former manner of life, we'll put in there selfishness. 00:31:34.560 |
And he's saying, "In reference to your former manner of life," that's how you used to be 00:31:39.920 |
before Christ, before the Holy Spirit came into you, before you were changed and renewed 00:31:47.320 |
He says, "You lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the 00:31:52.240 |
lust of the seed, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the 00:31:57.520 |
new self, which is in the likeness of," not just a betterment of personality or people 00:32:02.440 |
or just thinking more of others, but to the likeness of God has been created in righteousness 00:32:11.520 |
The standard we're called to is Christlikeness, that we are to look to others and be Christlike 00:32:18.760 |
in our thoughts, that we are to look at these decisions we can make in our lives, even to 00:32:28.800 |
Then in Philippians, after our passage, he goes to the sheer extent of what Christ did 00:32:36.760 |
He went to the cross, and that is the way we think now. 00:32:44.480 |
That is the way we make our decisions now, that we have been crucified to ourselves and 00:32:50.640 |
to our own desires, that we live singularly for one purpose now. 00:32:57.760 |
Our heart, our hope, our joy is all put together fully in God and his purposes now. 00:33:09.120 |
The old has gone, the new has come, and we are actively renewing in this. 00:33:16.720 |
Hopefully the put on the new self takes off the burden, because when you look, you say 00:33:20.440 |
like, "Oh man, I'm a Christian, and I don't quite look like this," and it scares you, 00:33:25.780 |
but this is a reminder that Paul is talking to Christians, and he's giving this command 00:33:40.000 |
We repent of that, but my question is, do you truly repent of that? 00:33:46.040 |
Have you been turning your eyes away from living for yourself, and have you been even 00:33:51.000 |
within the church, not just between you and God, saying, "I want to live for your kingdom, 00:33:57.100 |
Not just that, but even in the way we look at each other, everything has been sanctified 00:34:04.720 |
That brings us to our third point, believers must build one another up. 00:34:11.560 |
We have to learn this intentional and purposeful type of interaction that comes as a result 00:34:18.480 |
These interactions that we have, it could be all over the spectrum again. 00:34:22.360 |
I'll throw out random examples, but you have to make this your own. 00:34:26.040 |
You can have the interactions where you just have a close group of friends here at church, 00:34:29.080 |
and you guys just go and hang out all the time because it's very comfortable, and there's 00:34:32.360 |
good conversations that happen, and maybe even some spurring on that happens in those 00:34:36.480 |
things, and that's good, but only to a certain degree because that could be quickly taken 00:34:49.760 |
But the people who are like, "There are no intentional conversations going on. 00:34:58.320 |
I have no choice but to feel like I've got to run to my car and leave." 00:35:04.860 |
For you too, we look at this and we see that this is not the way we are called as Christians 00:35:12.880 |
When we're saved, we're saved into a group, a group of people. 00:35:20.320 |
In 1 Peter 2, we heard a few weeks back about we're all living stones, that we're part of 00:35:27.800 |
Later on in that passage, he talks about us as a nation. 00:35:39.440 |
Most of the yous that you find in the New Testament, when it says you, they're mostly 00:35:44.640 |
If you're not sure if it's singular or plural, it's probably plural. 00:35:48.920 |
God doesn't so much address the individual as he addresses a people. 00:35:56.280 |
The way we think now, even when we read scripture then, it's not like me, it's more us. 00:36:08.520 |
Our new lives are found in loving God and others, not self. 00:36:11.920 |
If we're to think of body parts again, I know Pastor Mark talked about it a little bit, 00:36:27.520 |
If someone was to come at me and then they put up their dukes and then they wind up and 00:36:32.560 |
then they're about to punch me, there is no hand that says, "Ooh, let the face get hit. 00:36:44.040 |
The hand goes and says, "I will take the impact. 00:36:53.880 |
That idea of us being a part of the body, I try and I put myself up to that standard 00:37:01.240 |
and I put our church up to that standard and I wonder, what is our reaction? 00:37:15.160 |
That church has become a nice place and so it just feels very polite. 00:37:22.520 |
I'm trying to grapple with this feeling in me, but church feels very polite sometimes. 00:37:28.040 |
Very organized and there's compartments that says, "Well, come and go." 00:37:37.760 |
And then, there's this part of me where I see the spirit at work and I get so encouraged 00:37:44.720 |
People who are just diving into each other's lives, who are weeping with each other, rejoicing 00:37:49.040 |
with each other, going above and beyond, who are sharpening each other. 00:37:55.560 |
I see people on their own volition going through different books and memorizing different passages 00:38:15.120 |
If we see even one iota of that, we gotta be like, "No, get that out of our church." 00:38:24.960 |
If you look at verse 3, "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, 00:38:31.600 |
regard one another as more important than yourself. 00:38:33.560 |
Do not merely look out for your own personal interest, but also for the interests of others. 00:38:39.920 |
And the New Testament, if you go to the next slide here. 00:38:48.880 |
But these are what you call the one and others and you look at every single one of these 00:38:58.280 |
Be devoted, honor, live in harmony with one another. 00:39:04.920 |
You could go through the next two slides and you'll see it here and here. 00:39:15.320 |
All of these are commands that tell you to obey. 00:39:19.200 |
Again, putting ourselves up to not the standard of just like trying to be a good Christian, 00:39:26.120 |
When we come across it, you cannot read scripture without realizing like the otherness that 00:39:36.840 |
If we constantly feel like we've just been treating church as like come and go and not 00:39:42.760 |
really a big part of our lives, then we have to ask, "Have I been living in disobedience?" 00:39:48.080 |
Because as long as I'm reading scripture, like these things are popping up in every 00:39:55.800 |
You know, like have I really been outdoing a brother and showing honor? 00:40:00.960 |
Like, just glanced over it, like just means I got to love brothers. 00:40:06.200 |
But have I actively been applying these things? 00:40:11.480 |
Verse four, it says, "For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not 00:40:16.400 |
So we though many are one body in Christ and individually members one of another. 00:40:20.480 |
Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. 00:40:23.960 |
If prophecy and proportion to our faith, if service and our serving, the one who teaches 00:40:27.520 |
in his teaching, the one who exhorts in his exhortation, the one who contributes in generosity, 00:40:31.200 |
the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness, let love 00:40:36.160 |
Even just that command, man, let love be genuine. 00:40:39.400 |
Abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good. 00:40:48.120 |
Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 00:40:52.280 |
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer, contribute to the needs 00:40:58.320 |
If we have gotten really good when we think about functions and activities and the way 00:41:01.600 |
we decide whether to go to things or not, again, it's not about those things. 00:41:11.140 |
Have you been really seeking to make other interests better than your own, or have you 00:41:17.160 |
been compartmentalizing, creating boundaries, and making all these things to fit church 00:41:22.280 |
into the agenda of your life rather than seeing the body and its needs, rather than seeing 00:41:35.280 |
These commands command us because it says that that is who we are now. 00:41:47.980 |
If our entire mindset has been devoid of pursuing deep and real relationships and thinking of 00:42:01.900 |
I believe this applies to every single person. 00:42:07.340 |
When it comes to church, what is your mindset? 00:42:11.740 |
When opportunities are provided to you, what is your mentality? 00:42:19.380 |
How do you approach the decisions, whether you can make it or not? 00:42:34.100 |
Again, I'm trying my best here not to come off like, I hope I'm not coming off arrogant 00:42:41.020 |
or like some weird kind of authoritative type of thing. 00:42:46.900 |
I'm not saying you got to come out to everything. 00:43:02.540 |
Is it okay for me to miss this one or things like that? 00:43:06.140 |
But the question is always God-centered, right? 00:43:14.260 |
You need to bring in your discerning mind to really think through it. 00:43:17.900 |
And maybe there's something she can't come out to. 00:43:20.620 |
If you were able to do that to the glory of God, that's good. 00:43:25.660 |
But this isn't a sermon that's meant to say like now we have a reason to all judge each 00:43:29.620 |
other and point at each other and say, "Oh, you didn't come out to this thing. 00:43:39.940 |
When the parent asked this child to come to his brother's birthday dinner, the parent 00:43:45.260 |
doesn't want a bunch of questions that come from a self-centered worldview. 00:43:58.940 |
The parent asks, "Aren't you a part of this family? 00:44:15.380 |
To put it into the lingo of Philippians chapter two, the conditional statements, right? 00:44:20.420 |
If you're a part of this family, if you received the love and care and concern and affection 00:44:25.580 |
of Christ as well as all of us, if we have experienced life together, if we do truly 00:44:31.100 |
care for each other and you say that we love one another as Christ loved us, if, then think 00:44:39.660 |
It almost contradicts each other in like that first part would show that the second part, 00:44:45.620 |
But because of our fallen flesh that we continue to reside in, we need to hear this. 00:44:51.860 |
See, in this scenario, even if this teenager sacrifices and comes to this dinner, who sees 00:44:58.740 |
it as a duty and says like, "Just tell me what I need to do and I'll do it." 00:45:03.900 |
That teenager, again, if you're a parent of one of those teenagers, what do you see that 00:45:13.620 |
As soon as the time is done, "Oh, dessert's done. 00:45:23.220 |
See, that individual can say, "See, I was there. 00:45:32.580 |
And just by his tone of voice, you're like, "You fool. 00:45:40.740 |
And it shows everything about the heart sometimes. 00:45:44.060 |
And so it is with Berean functions and activities, we desire for you to live out covenant number 00:45:48.420 |
I commit to attending BCC functions and activities to the best of my ability for the purpose 00:45:59.780 |
We really want to grow together in community and fellowship and accountability together. 00:46:14.140 |
You know, I know you don't need to like volleyball. 00:46:20.360 |
You can look at your flimsy arms and say, "I have no power in me. 00:46:28.000 |
You can even be allergic to grass and still come to All Church Picnic. 00:46:56.220 |
I get very encouraged when people play volleyball and they suck. 00:47:04.580 |
Because they're like, their heads are all hanging down and then there's always that 00:47:07.780 |
one person who's a little bit too ambitious and too competitive. 00:47:10.820 |
And they're like, "Get this girl off of here!" 00:47:14.500 |
But this person that's not good at volleyball, I love it. 00:47:27.820 |
And on the sidelines, I see them talking to people. 00:47:34.180 |
I would love to see people allergic to grass who just, top to bottom, you just put clothes 00:47:54.780 |
Because you want to know how people are doing. 00:48:00.940 |
You can't expect to grow relationships by checking boxes. 00:48:05.460 |
It's not any one activity or function or Bible study or Sunday worship that will grow a relationship. 00:48:11.820 |
It's mutual desire to love, care for, and grow in another, sharpen each other. 00:48:18.860 |
These functions and activities are simply creating opportunities and space. 00:48:30.920 |
And in that, maybe you can start to see that glimpse of, "I consider other interests more 00:48:36.900 |
The goal is for us to participate in each other's lives. 00:48:48.220 |
To take down the high boundaries that we've set in our lives. 00:48:52.900 |
This is very, very, very difficult in our day and age. 00:49:04.740 |
So again, the answer, again, needs to be, is what I do out of a love for God and therefore 00:49:18.480 |
The image of, get Dean and June in your head, you know? 00:49:28.300 |
It's not about self-preservation, self-defense, self-satisfaction, self-infatuation, whatever. 00:49:38.940 |
When we are self-loving, we can look and wonder why no one is welcoming me. 00:49:41.980 |
Or we can look and judge others and say, "They're not being as welcoming as I am." 00:49:48.740 |
It's loophole after loophole after loophole to be self-centered, to be self-interested. 00:49:54.600 |
All the good things that we think we're doing can very quickly become perverse if we don't 00:49:59.080 |
come out of these things as believers who have been transformed and changed by the love 00:50:13.120 |
Let's try not to just come to church and do our due diligence and hop in our cars and 00:50:17.660 |
get out as fast as possible so I can take my Sunday afternoon nap. 00:50:21.200 |
Oh, Sunday afternoon naps are glorious, right? 00:50:24.760 |
But man, that time can be spent in other things too. 00:50:35.320 |
We can be people who constantly hear about what others are doing but don't want to share 00:50:41.640 |
about ourselves when we're actually going through a difficulty. 00:50:45.560 |
We can hide behind our spouses because they have a more out-there personality. 00:50:52.480 |
We can hide behind our children because people seem to like to talk about them. 00:51:01.160 |
We can give the timed excuse of the fact that we need to go and study for a test or the 00:51:06.200 |
fact that tomorrow's gonna be a rough at work. 00:51:10.240 |
And again, all of these things are not wrong. 00:51:15.320 |
I'm like a broken recording right now, I think. 00:51:17.760 |
But we have to survey our hearts and wonder, "Do I love others? 00:51:25.160 |
Answer that question as you're talking with people. 00:51:27.640 |
John 15, 13, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." 00:51:35.920 |
So if you're a Christian that says, "Yes, I will die for my friend." 00:51:39.840 |
And yet only Monday, Wednesday, and Friday's at 2 p.m. 00:51:52.560 |
So fourth and final point, practical application. 00:51:56.360 |
A, whatever the church offers, maximize the opportunities provided. 00:52:02.140 |
There are plenty of things that are happening. 00:52:03.560 |
If you don't know where to start, just go to something. 00:52:12.000 |
It's very easy to go to these things and just talk and want to check out the whole time. 00:52:28.120 |
You can't have a deep, intimate relationship with every single person. 00:52:33.800 |
But the idea is, when you go to these functions, just with who got placed there. 00:52:40.800 |
In this smaller setting, someone that's sitting next to you, someone you're eating with, someone 00:52:54.040 |
Go there and not say, "Oh, my purpose is to win with this team," or, "My purpose is to 00:53:04.040 |
But it's, "I'm going to maximize this little opportunity that's been given to me, and I'm 00:53:12.880 |
Make the use of these opportunities to deepen friendships, to get to know new people. 00:53:19.640 |
Please don't have the goal of, "I want to be best friends with everyone." 00:53:27.760 |
Have a desire to interact with, to fellowship with, and to love others in the way the Bible 00:53:33.920 |
This church fellowship is so important, and we should be prioritizing Christian relationship. 00:53:39.880 |
Walking in the faith of brothers and sisters around us. 00:53:42.720 |
B, from the activities and functions, launch into continual relationship. 00:53:47.720 |
So once you get the surface level, like, "I got to meet people," try to launch deeper 00:53:54.360 |
into that with continual relationship with them. 00:53:58.560 |
So if you played a game with someone, or you were asked, there are different things where 00:54:02.520 |
we say, "Hey, everybody break up into groups of four, pray for these things." 00:54:06.260 |
Don't just be like, "Amen," and then it's like, "So cool." 00:54:13.040 |
But try to see, "Oh, how could we launch into continual relationship here?" 00:54:18.400 |
Use that time to ask more questions, to talk more, to say, "I have a free lunch this Thursday." 00:54:24.160 |
You should do these types of things, and get closer to each other in those manners. 00:54:29.320 |
C, don't hide behind your personality or life stage. 00:54:36.280 |
I think Enneagrams, everyone's into it, I kind of get annoyed by Enneagrams. 00:54:40.320 |
But these things, like, whatever the case, I know, we're all different, I understand. 00:54:48.480 |
So there's that, and then it's like, don't hide behind it, though. 00:54:56.360 |
As an introvert, we can normalize selfishness, and comfort, and unloving attitudes. 00:55:05.120 |
Because I'm an introvert, I need to go recharge my battery, I'll be right back. 00:55:11.440 |
In the name of introversion, we can sin against God. 00:55:14.800 |
Extroverts, don't assume that your social ways is actually an expression of Christian 00:55:25.000 |
You might just be really friendly and actually very selfish. 00:55:27.960 |
You know, just sucking out all the life of every introvert around you. 00:55:38.800 |
That is what you call leaking, I'm sorry about that one. 00:55:42.840 |
Married couples, don't hide behind your spouses, parents behind your children. 00:55:46.760 |
College students, don't hide behind, "I'm a college student. 00:55:56.240 |
For those in the business of jobs, don't make it a regular thing to hide behind the need 00:56:07.600 |
Sometimes I listen to your schedules, I'm like, "Man, I know it's hard, but don't hide 00:56:15.920 |
Letter D, be supportive, not critical of the function and activity. 00:56:19.840 |
Whatever is there, just again, it's kind of like the be all there. 00:56:23.160 |
Don't be like, asking all the questions like, "Oh, this could have been done better. 00:56:37.680 |
Don't be the person that's like, "Oh, I don't do that." 00:56:45.080 |
Be vulnerable, even if you don't feel comfortable. 00:56:49.160 |
Again, June and Dean, they put themselves out there last week, but they encouraged us, 00:56:56.440 |
Letter E, try to have one more extensive conversation at every function you're at. 00:57:01.680 |
So if you really still don't know what to do, this is just last word of advice. 00:57:05.840 |
Everything that you're at, try to have one good, solid conversation. 00:57:09.840 |
Try to get to know someone a little bit better, pray for them, and different things like that. 00:57:16.760 |
It could be someone that you have a very superficial, very friendly relationship with that you know 00:57:21.840 |
It could be any and everything that I just talked about. 00:57:25.160 |
So obviously, with all that said, again, you need to evaluate your own heart. 00:57:29.840 |
This doesn't mean you have to go out to every function and activity, and we can't be kind 00:57:33.240 |
of pointing at each other and saying, "This is our standard to judge one another now." 00:57:36.880 |
But we do have to look at our own hearts and say, "Man, do I love others? 00:57:49.660 |
But while we can't hope to get to know everybody, and that's okay. 00:57:55.960 |
But hopefully that you are not looking to say, "How do I fit in?" so much as, "How can 00:58:01.480 |
I love others, and how can I edify this church, that person, this body, this group, or wherever 00:58:09.160 |
We have been people who are changed by the gospel, by a God who laid down his own life 00:58:13.560 |
for us, and so that's just the way we tick now.