WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: That you are my disciples – Part 4 Publishing Date: 2023-12-10T05:00:44-08:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/that-you-are-my-disciples-part-4/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.000 This is all your fault. 00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:06.000 Brought a whole lot of stuff from India and everybody is eating it now. 00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:13.000 Okay, guys. 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:19.000 Hey guys, we are starting. 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:24.000 Guys, we are starting now. 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:26.000 Hey guys, we are starting. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:32.000 We are starting now. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:10.000 The fourth part of what we started quite a while ago, that you are my disciples. 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:12.000 This is the fourth and concluding part. 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:20.000 Because there are four places in the New Testament where Jesus talks about that if you are my disciples, this is what you need to do. 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:22.000 So we have done three and this is the fourth one. 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:26.000 So we go to John 13, John 13, 31 to 35. 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:28.000 John 13, 31 to 35. 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:33.000 John 13, 31 to 35. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:49.000 This is shortly after Judas leaves when they had sat together at supper. 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:57.000 John 13 starts with Jesus saying that he loved his disciples like crazy and he loved them to the end. 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:02.000 And then he begins to wash their feet and he says, do this just as I have done this for you. 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:04.000 Make sure that you serve people. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:06.000 Then he sits down and starts eating. 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:13.000 At one point John leans back on him and John asks him, who is it that is going to betray you? 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:16.000 The others are just talking amongst themselves. 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:24.000 But John being one who was really close to Jesus and perhaps a young kid, maybe 15 or 16, leans back on Jesus. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:29.000 And he asks Jesus one on one, who is it that is going to betray you? 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:37.000 And Jesus says, the one who dips, the one who will, I will give this piece of bread that I'm going to dip and give it to him. 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:38.000 He'll be the one who betrays him. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:39.000 Only John hears it. 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:41.000 The rest of them are still discussing stuff. 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:49.000 Because when you read the narrative, you see the disciples thinking that perhaps Judas was going because he needed money for the Passover feast and so on. 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:52.000 Only John hears that Judas is the one who's going to betray. 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:54.000 You can imagine what John is feeling. 00:02:54.000 --> 00:03:06.000 This is supposed to be a supper where Passover is being celebrated and Jesus has just told him that the man who I gave this piece of bread to is now going to betray me. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:09.000 And then Judas gets up and he walks out. 00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:13.000 And that's the background for the story. 00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:20.000 And then it goes on to say in John 13.30, as soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out and it was night. 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:28.000 Verse 31, when he was gone, Jesus said, now the son of man is glorified and God is glorified in him. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:34.000 If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the son in himself and will glorify him at once. 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:38.000 When you read it that way, it sounds so archaic that it's hard to understand. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:45.000 But whenever Jesus talks about his glorification before his death, always see it as an announcement of his departure. 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:55.000 Whenever Jesus talks about his glorification before he goes to the cross, he's always talking about his departure, that I will now be glorified. 00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:57.000 God is going to glorify me. 00:03:57.000 --> 00:03:58.000 What's he trying to say? 00:03:58.000 --> 00:03:59.000 That my time has come. 00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:00.000 I'm going to go to the cross. 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:02.000 So he's talking about his departure. 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:10.000 And then he goes on to say in verse 33, my little children, depending on the version, it says, my little children, I will be with you only a little longer. 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:11.000 You will look for me. 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:12.000 You will look for me. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:17.000 And just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now where I'm going, you cannot come. 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:20.000 Then he gives a new command, a new command I give you. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:23.000 Love one another as I have loved you. 00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:25.000 So you must love one another. 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:28.000 Then the statement that we want to deal with. 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:32.000 By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:40.000 So that's the fourth and the final statement that Jesus makes when it comes to the whole idea of being disciples. 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:47.000 So we see here that something decisive occurs at this meal with the disciples because even in the midst of betrayal. 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:50.000 And imagine this, a man has just betrayed him. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:52.000 He knows that the man has left. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:54.000 He knows that Satan entered him. 00:04:54.000 --> 00:05:04.000 He knows that he's now heading to set in motion a series of events that last about 15 hours and he will die on the cross. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:13.000 And yet in the midst of that, he has the ability as fully man to go back into telling his disciples how he requires them to be. 00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:18.000 One of the things that happens to us when we read the Gospels is we think Jesus is God. 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:20.000 Therefore, this is so easy. 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:24.000 You must understand that he's exactly like you in this situation. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:27.000 He's exactly like you in this situation. 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:30.000 The same fears and emotions can ravage him. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:32.000 The same confusion can ravage him. 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:34.000 The same, I don't want this, can ravage him. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:38.000 And it begins to come up at the garden of Gethsemane. 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:41.000 Not my will, but yours be done. 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:45.000 The difference between him and me is that it does not ravage him. 00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:48.000 He takes charge of it before it gets him. 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:51.000 What happens to us is it gets us. 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:53.000 And then we get dismantled. 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:59.000 Why? Because the purpose and the love for the Father is not present in my heart just like it was in Jesus' heart. 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:04.000 And then he makes a statement and he says to them, 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:06.000 listen, I'm giving you responsibility. 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:08.000 So what's he doing here? 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:16.000 He's giving his disciples a responsibility. 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:23.000 And this is like the last will and testament. 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:28.000 It's like when someone gathers together their friends and their children 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:31.000 just before they're dying and those words matter. 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:33.000 The words that they say then matter. 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:37.000 And so he gives them a responsibility in his absence. 00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:39.000 And what is the responsibility? 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:41.000 It's an everyday obligation. 00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:43.000 It's an everyday obligation. 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:47.000 It's an everyday obligation. 00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:49.000 And what is the obligation? 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:53.000 To love and to serve. 00:06:53.000 --> 00:06:57.000 The serve party is already talked about in John 13, 1-3 00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:01.000 where he says the whole idea of foot washing was the idea of service. 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:05.000 The whole idea of foot washing was the idea of service. 00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:13.000 And so here is the responsibility he commits to them shortly before he goes to the cross. 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:17.000 Listen, you have an obligation that, and it's an everyday obligation, 00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:22.000 and your everyday obligation is to love and to serve one another. 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:28.000 And then he says, I'm giving you a new commandment. 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:33.000 A new commandment. 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:36.000 It's not a suggestion. 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:40.000 It's not a good idea. 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:46.000 It's not an option. 00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:48.000 He very clearly says it's a commandment. 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:50.000 This is the king of the universe. 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:52.000 The creator of all things. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:54.000 Your creator. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:56.000 Today, your Lord and savior. 00:07:56.000 --> 00:07:58.000 And he's not giving you a suggestion. 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:00.000 He's not giving me an option. 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:02.000 He's not giving me an idea. 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:06.000 He's saying it's a new commandment. 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:12.000 And so John in particular focuses on this thing more than anybody else. 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:16.000 Paul talks about, Luke talks about the new covenant, 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:20.000 but John talks about this thing. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:22.000 First John, second John, third John. 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:24.000 The Gospel of John. 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:26.000 All focuses on this new commandment. 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:28.000 That's what just gets John. 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:32.000 And I've said this before, but John was probably a young kid when he joined Jesus, 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:40.000 which is why Jesus probably had an affinity for him and allowed him to be close to him, 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:42.000 took care of him, protected him, because all the others were older. 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:46.000 John was probably young, which is also seen in the fact that when things go wrong, 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:48.000 he calls his mother in to fight. 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:52.000 Only someone young would say, I'll bring my mother to the fight. 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:57.000 And then the mother comes and says, can John sit on the right side and the brother on the left side? 00:08:57.000 --> 00:09:00.000 And we also see that John lived the longest. 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:03.000 He was on the island of Patmos and he was about 90 or so. 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:08.000 All the other apostles that died, he was still alive. 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:16.000 So there are reasons why it is okay to suppose that John was someone who had an intimate relationship with Jesus, 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:21.000 partly because he was the youngest and Jesus was protective towards him. 00:09:27.000 --> 00:09:32.000 And so the new commandment is a new commandment. 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:35.000 It's not the great and the first. 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:38.000 It is not the great and the first. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:42.000 What's the great commandment and the first commandment and the second like it? 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:44.000 Matthew 22, 38. 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:46.000 Matthew 22, 38. 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:48.000 Matthew 22, 38. 00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:56.000 Verse 36. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:59.000 Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law? 00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:04.000 Jesus replied, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:05.000 with all your mind. 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:08.000 This is the first and the greatest commandment. 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:11.000 That's in Matthew 22, 36 to 88. 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:16.000 Matthew 22, 36 to 38. 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:19.000 And then Jesus goes on to say, and the second is like it, 00:10:19.000 --> 00:10:21.000 love your neighbor as yourself. 00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:24.000 All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:28.000 So there is the great and first commandment, which is love the Lord your God. 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:32.000 And then there is a second commandment, which is like the first, which is love your neighbor. 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:36.000 As yourself. 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:41.000 And now Jesus, just before he leaves the earth or goes to the cross, 00:10:41.000 --> 00:10:43.000 brings out a new commandment. 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:45.000 And the new commandment is, 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:53.000 go back to John 13, John 13, 35. 00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:56.000 John 13, 35. 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:58.000 And the new commandment is, 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:00.000 a new command I give you, 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:03.000 love one another 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:14.000 as I have loved you. 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:21.000 So love one another. 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:24.000 This is now a new commandment. 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:28.000 And just so you know guys, in John 13, 31, this is just on the side, 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:31.000 sorry, in John 13, 33, he says, 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:37.000 my children, that word, it comes, I mean, it doesn't matter what the Greek is, 00:11:37.000 --> 00:11:42.000 that word used there is a word that's only used once in the gospels 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:46.000 and then later on, once by John. 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:49.000 And the word is, my little darlings. 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:52.000 It would be, my little darlings, 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:56.000 it would be what Iris and Derek say to Brielle. 00:11:56.000 --> 00:12:01.000 It's the idea of calling a little infant, my little baby, 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:05.000 the stuff that parents do, it's that sense. 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:08.000 So it's not a term that's used generally. 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:11.000 It's my little baby, my little darlings. 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:13.000 That's the sense of the word. 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:17.000 And you need to understand that even though God loves the world, 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:21.000 he loves disciples like a dad loves his baby. 00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:25.000 We sometimes have this tendency because we want to be all-encompassing, 00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:27.000 all-inclusive. 00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:30.000 We say, oh, everybody is God's children. 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:34.000 On one hand, yes, he made them all, but we need to understand 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:37.000 that the way God loves the world is amazing. 00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:42.000 He sent his only begotten son, that none may perish, but all may be saved. 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:44.000 But he does not use terms like, 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:47.000 my little darlings, to the world, 00:12:47.000 --> 00:12:51.000 that he reserves for those that have become his. 00:12:51.000 --> 00:12:53.000 There is a difference. 00:12:53.000 --> 00:12:55.000 There is a distinction. 00:12:57.000 --> 00:12:59.000 Because nowadays there's a tendency to say, 00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:01.000 oh, all of us are children of God. 00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:03.000 Not true. 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:08.000 To them that receive him, he gave them the right to be children. 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:11.000 Very clear, John chapter 1. 00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:15.000 Just keep that in the back of your mind because the place you hold is special. 00:13:19.000 --> 00:13:23.000 This is when you say, oh, my little Priya, what happened? 00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:25.000 See, she calms down. 00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:27.000 See, you can go back and sit down. 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:30.000 You can go and sit down now. 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:33.000 Just go back and sit down. 00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:35.000 There you go. 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:38.000 You can go back and sit down now. 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:40.000 Just go back and sit down. 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:42.000 There you go. 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:44.000 Just talk like... 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:46.000 Sorry. 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:48.000 Yeah, die now. 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:50.000 Yeah, die now. 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:01.000 Remember when Jesus at one time says, 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:03.000 do not be afraid, little flock. 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:06.000 It is the pleasure of the Father to give you the kingdom. 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:08.000 The little flock. 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:10.000 That is the sense here. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:14.000 That my little children, the word actually is technion, which means infant. 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:16.000 My little babies, my little infants. 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:20.000 That's the sense of it. 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:26.000 Boy, when you get to heaven, Jesus will have... 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:32.000 John 13.33. 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:34.000 My darling... 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:39.000 My little darlings, I will be with you only a little longer. 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:43.000 I mean, I feel like I'm corrupting the word, but it's a sense. 00:14:43.000 --> 00:14:46.000 It's a sense that you need to carry. 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:48.000 It's like holding a child dear. 00:14:49.000 --> 00:14:51.000 Like you would do with Priya. 00:14:53.000 --> 00:14:58.000 So here's the things, then, that we need to know about this new commandment. 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:01.000 One, it focuses attention... 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:10.000 It focuses attention not on the neighbor, 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:17.000 not on the neighbor, but rather 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:24.000 on the fellow believer or disciple. 00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:31.000 That's huge, eh? 00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:33.000 Because usually when we read, we think, 00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:36.000 ah, this is just like the other commandments. Love the Lord your God, love your neighbor as yourself. 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:39.000 That is not what Jesus is saying here. 00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:43.000 Here he's saying, hey, I want you to love one another, as in, 00:15:43.000 --> 00:15:46.000 the focus of attention is not on the neighbor. 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:49.000 It is on a fellow believer. 00:15:49.000 --> 00:15:56.000 So these things that Jesus is saying is meant almost exclusively for the church. 00:15:57.000 --> 00:15:59.000 Love one another. 00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:05.000 He's saying to us, to you, to me, that you need to love each other. 00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:07.000 Then he goes on to explain how. 00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:11.000 He says, as I have loved you, you need to love each other. 00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:13.000 And he's talking exclusively to his people. 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:15.000 This is not the world. 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:19.000 So just to make sure about this, 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:23.000 so the one love who, like, you know, love God, 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:26.000 Yeah, yeah. 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:28.000 It's a new command. 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:30.000 That's why he almost says new command. 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:33.000 So he's not taking away from the first and the greatest, 00:16:33.000 --> 00:16:34.000 which is love the Lord your God, 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:37.000 or the second which is like it, which is love your neighbor. 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:39.000 But he says, now I give you a new command. 00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:43.000 And because he's going to leave the earth, 00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:45.000 and he's leaving the people behind, 00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:46.000 this is important. 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:48.000 We don't realize how important it is, 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:50.000 till you begin to look at it. 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:52.000 The second thing about this is, 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:57.000 he bases this command, he bases the command 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:05.000 explicitly on his love, 00:17:07.000 --> 00:17:12.000 on his love for his disciples. 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:17.000 And that is based on the father's love for him. 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:31.000 Rami, you want to try it? 00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:37.000 Okay, so the second one is, 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:41.000 he bases the command explicitly on his love for his disciples. 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:43.000 He says, listen, I want you to love each other, 00:17:43.000 --> 00:17:47.000 but it cannot be the kind of love you think you can love with. 00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:49.000 It has to be the same love with which I love you, 00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:54.000 that you must love someone else in this body right now. 00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:56.000 And that is based on how God loves him. 00:17:56.000 --> 00:17:59.000 How the father loves him is how he loves me. 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:01.000 And that is how I need to love you now. 00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:02.000 It is not a suggestion. 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:03.000 It is not a life option. 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:04.000 It is not an idea. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:05.000 It is a command. 00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:08.000 And it is a new command. 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:11.000 And it is a new command. 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:21.000 And then the bottom line to this whole thing is, 00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:24.000 by this, if you do this, if you love like this, 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:25.000 if you love each other like this, 00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:32.000 by this you will prove to be my disciples. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:37.000 By this you will prove to be my disciples. 00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:40.000 And everyone will know it. 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:45.000 And everyone will know it. 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:52.000 Then he puts an if, if you have love for each other. 00:18:57.000 --> 00:19:01.000 By this, so there have been three or four ways 00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:03.000 we can prove ourselves to be disciples. 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:05.000 Just three or four ways that he suggests. 00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.000 One of them is, by this you will prove to be my disciples. 00:19:09.000 --> 00:19:11.000 And why prove it? 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:15.000 Not because he needs proof, but he says everyone will know it. 00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:17.000 And we'll talk about that some more. 00:19:17.000 --> 00:19:20.000 If you have love for each other. 00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:29.000 Isn't this one of our, isn't this in the eyes of the world 00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:32.000 sometimes one of the most difficult problems? 00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.000 Forget the world, forget the church judging the world. 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:42.000 The church unable to love like Christ loves. 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:46.000 But this is his command. 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:49.000 Go to John 17, Jesus' prayer. 00:19:49.000 --> 00:19:52.000 John 17. 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:56.000 Get thee behind me. 00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:03.000 John 17. 00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:07.000 Verse 21. 00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:13.000 Starting at verse 20. 00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:15.000 My prayer is not for them all. 00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:18.000 My prayer is not for them alone. 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:22.000 I pray for those who will believe in me through their message. 00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:27.000 That all of them may be one Father, just as you are in me, and I am in you. 00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:32.000 May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:36.000 I have given them the glory that you gave me that they may be one as we are one. 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:41.000 I in them, you in me, so that they may be brought to complete unity. 00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:46.000 Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them, even as you have loved me. 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:50.000 Again, some of these sentences are so complicated. 00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:53.000 But here's what Jesus is trying to say. 00:20:54.000 --> 00:21:16.000 The love of God is only realized fully on earth in our love for one another. 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:18.000 This is heaven's only framework, guys. 00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:22.000 This is heaven's only framework. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:43.000 This is heaven's only framework for making visible his love for us, through us. 00:21:43.000 --> 00:21:53.000 Through us, so that the world might see, so that the world might see, 00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:06.000 might long for this relationship. 00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:08.000 Which relationship? 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:18.000 The one that is vertical with God, vertical with God, horizontal with each other. 00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:31.000 We don't believe this, so I hope we slowly get to believe this. 00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:36.000 The love of God is realized, the love of God is only realized fully on earth, 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:44.000 if, this is according to Jesus, if our love for one another, in our love for one another. 00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:50.000 This is heaven's only framework for making visible his love to the world. 00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:52.000 It's the only framework he uses. 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:53.000 So what's an example? 00:22:53.000 --> 00:23:02.000 Let's assume I come from a home where my dad was abusive. 00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:07.000 Let's assume I come from a marriage which was abusive. 00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:14.000 And now I neither trust anyone who is parental, 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:21.000 nor do I trust any person who shows even the slightest interest in getting married 00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:24.000 because of the abuse that I have suffered. 00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:26.000 But then you invite me into your home. 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:32.000 You invite me into your home and you seem to live your lives openly. 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:37.000 I get to see what a marriage is like that is not abusive. 00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:44.000 I get to see a marriage that is kind, that honors, that respects, that lifts up. 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:48.000 I get to see how you treat your son or your daughter. 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:53.000 Initially, I suspected, I think to myself, nah, this is not, this is too good to be true. 00:23:53.000 --> 00:23:55.000 Time goes by. 00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:57.000 I continue seeing this. 00:23:57.000 --> 00:23:59.000 I continue seeing how you love your children. 00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:01.000 I continue to see how you love your wife. 00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:05.000 As I see your marriage and your parenting, something in me begins to change. 00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:11.000 I begin to literally lose those images of how my dad used to beat me up 00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:17.000 or how if you were a woman, a man abused you in the marriage. 00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:18.000 How you cannot trust. 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:20.000 All of it begins to go. 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:29.000 And once again, over a period of time, your belief in both marriage and in parenting starts getting restored. 00:24:29.000 --> 00:24:32.000 Otherwise, you don't believe in either of those institutions. 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:36.000 You don't believe in marriage because you know how disastrous it is. 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:41.000 And you don't believe in this idea of parenting because it is your dad or your mom 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:44.000 or someone in your life that abused you. 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:46.000 And slowly it's being restored. 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:54.000 You go from being a pauper to a prince in the very area that you are completely poverty stricken. 00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:57.000 And that is what Jesus is saying. 00:24:57.000 --> 00:25:06.000 Listen, my love can only fully be realized on earth in your love for one another. 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:08.000 We don't believe this. 00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:12.000 We think, surely God can teach people without us. 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:17.000 But he has decided, just like he has decided that clouds will give rain and not leaves. 00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:20.000 Leaves don't sprinkle water. Clouds sprinkle water. 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:23.000 He's decided that there's nothing you can do about it. 00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:28.000 In the same way, this is heaven's only framework of making visible his love. 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:36.000 He's decided that the only way the world is going to know both his love for you and his love through you 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:41.000 is only through one system and that system is when you love one another. 00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:43.000 He's decided that. 00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:50.000 It doesn't mean that there are no other ways, but this is his primary way. 00:25:57.000 --> 00:26:02.000 And as people begin to see it, they begin to want the vertical relationship you have with him 00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:06.000 and they want to belong to the horizontal relationship you have with each other. 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:18.000 I don't know how many of us here are orphans, but every now and then, 00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:24.000 after orphans go through a few foster homes, they come to a family that is loving 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:33.000 and it whips them around into, not into a vortex that goes downward, but a spiral that goes upward. 00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:38.000 What happens? They begin to experience something they've never experienced. 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:43.000 In the Psalms, it says, God finds the solitary and gives them a home. 00:26:43.000 --> 00:26:48.000 But what kind of a home? A home where this is evident so that people can long for it. 00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:51.000 We don't believe this. 00:26:51.000 --> 00:26:57.000 We believe this, but we don't believe it's one of God's main ways and everything else is secondary. 00:26:57.000 --> 00:27:01.000 Everything else he does because this is perhaps not the only way. 00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:06.000 This is why in Acts chapter 4 you read, and the people came and they began sharing their goods together. 00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:10.000 They sold things. And it says there were two reactions to that. 00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:15.000 People were either in awe of it and kept a healthy distance because they were afraid 00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:20.000 or they completely gave themselves to it. It's one or the other. 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:26.000 And the second thing is that God is not afraid of people who are not in love with God. 00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:31.000 They completely gave themselves to it. It's one or the other. 00:27:31.000 --> 00:27:38.000 Because this is irresistible, partly because the love that begins to come out is not love that you simulate. 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:45.000 It is love that now is grafted into you. It's not a simulation. It's not an imitation. 00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:50.000 But we'll get there a little later. 00:27:51.000 --> 00:27:55.000 See, the world cannot see the spiritual indwelling of the Father and Son in you. 00:27:55.000 --> 00:28:00.000 The world cannot see the spiritual brotherhood that you share with the rest of the body. 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:06.000 The world cannot see that. But the one thing the world can't see is believers having love for each other. 00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:11.000 They recognize it. This is what happened with Ruth, Naomi and Boaz. 00:28:11.000 --> 00:28:18.000 Israel saw that this woman, Ruth, who is a Moabitess, has a certain love for Naomi 00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:23.000 that far exceeds what Israelite daughter-in-law's had for their mother-in-law's. 00:28:23.000 --> 00:28:31.000 They saw it. They saw Boaz's love, that he was willing to lay down his inheritance for a woman 00:28:31.000 --> 00:28:38.000 outside of the Israelite Commonwealth so that she could now have what he had. 00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:43.000 It was evident. They saw it. 00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:57.000 Sometimes when I teach, I think to myself, why does it take you 30 years to get to a truth? 00:28:57.000 --> 00:29:23.000 This goes on to say that when the world recognizes how you love one another, 00:29:23.000 --> 00:29:32.000 they will, they might or they will believe. 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:37.000 He actually thinks so. 00:29:37.000 --> 00:29:41.000 How does this work? What's the mechanics? 00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:48.000 He's saying that, listen, if you love each other, if you love each other, 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:55.000 and we'll talk about what kind of love this is shortly, if you love each other this way, 00:29:55.000 --> 00:30:08.000 and we'll talk about this way, then one, they'll know you belong to me. 00:30:09.000 --> 00:30:23.000 Two, they'll know you love like I love you. 00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:42.000 Three, that Jesus loves as the Father loves him. 00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:59.000 Four, that Jesus came from the Father and we come from Jesus. 00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:25.000 Five, that they will turn to this Jesus like you did. 00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:28.000 This is what Jesus says. 00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:33.000 Hey, if you love each other the way I've taught you to, then here's what's going to happen. 00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:39.000 People will recognize that, gosh, these guys actually belong to Jesus because nobody else can love this way. 00:31:39.000 --> 00:31:46.000 Two, they'll know that you love like I love. 00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:53.000 Three, they'll know that my Father loves me, Jesus. 00:31:53.000 --> 00:31:58.000 They'll know that Jesus loves the Father, Jesus loves as the Father loves him. 00:31:58.000 --> 00:32:03.000 Four, that Jesus came from the Father and now we come from Jesus. 00:32:03.000 --> 00:32:09.000 Five, then they will turn to Jesus just like we did. 00:32:09.000 --> 00:32:14.000 Jesus is saying this, and it all goes back to one simple thing. 00:32:14.000 --> 00:32:41.000 Hey, do you love Jagan? Do you love Renny? Do you love George as Jesus loves you? 00:32:41.000 --> 00:32:46.000 This is the heart and the soul of the disciples' mission. 00:32:46.000 --> 00:32:52.000 Obey my commands and you will remain in my love. Love each other like I have loved you. 00:32:52.000 --> 00:33:02.000 Two simple things, guys. The heart of the mission, the heart of the mission is 00:33:02.000 --> 00:33:15.000 Love each other like I have loved you. 00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:30.000 Obey my commands and remain in my love. 00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:36.000 John 15, 10. 00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:39.000 This is the world's only hope. 00:33:39.000 --> 00:33:43.000 Again, these are such categorical statements Jesus is making. 00:33:43.000 --> 00:33:46.000 This is the only way the world will know. That's what he's saying. 00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:49.000 This is the world's only hope. This is the only way the world will know. 00:33:49.000 --> 00:33:53.000 But these are categorical statements that we don't think are commands we think, 00:33:53.000 --> 00:33:59.000 at least I think, they are really good suggestions that one must aspire towards. 00:33:59.000 --> 00:34:17.000 I do not love you the way Jesus loves me. 00:34:17.000 --> 00:34:23.000 It's the only hope, Jesus says, the world has when the people that I have put together 00:34:23.000 --> 00:34:27.000 begin to love each other this way. 00:34:27.000 --> 00:34:34.000 Any questions before we go on? 00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:45.000 Brandon, where are you? Okay, I'll need those slides up shortly. 00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:51.000 I mean, going through this message makes me realize how short I am. 00:34:51.000 --> 00:34:54.000 I would suggest we are in this department. 00:34:54.000 --> 00:34:57.000 It's not that it's not important. It's not that we don't know this, 00:34:57.000 --> 00:35:05.000 but it's not on our top list of priorities. 00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:10.000 So what does this love look like? What does Jesus' love look like? 00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.000 So the first question we need to ask is, what does Jesus' love for you look like? 00:35:14.000 --> 00:35:26.000 What does Jesus' love for you look like? 00:35:26.000 --> 00:35:41.000 I mean, if you go to Ephesians 3.18 in the message, Ephesians 3.18 in the message, 00:35:41.000 --> 00:35:46.000 it says there, that may you be able to take in with all Christians 00:35:46.000 --> 00:35:50.000 the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. 00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.000 Reach out and experience the breadth, test its length, 00:35:54.000 --> 00:35:59.000 plumb the depths, rise to its heights. 00:35:59.000 --> 00:36:04.000 So, Brandon, can you put up the first one? 00:36:04.000 --> 00:36:07.000 No, the other one. 00:36:07.000 --> 00:36:10.000 This was something I read and I took it down. 00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.000 It talks about God's love. It's talking about the breadth, the height, the dimensions. 00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:18.000 It says, His love, and I love the way it's worded, 00:36:18.000 --> 00:36:20.000 it covers you in the dark seasons. 00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:22.000 Some of you are going through it right now. 00:36:22.000 --> 00:36:25.000 It protects you through the night. 00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.000 Regardless of the kind of day or night you've had, knowingly or unknowingly, 00:36:29.000 --> 00:36:35.000 it greets you in the morning and smiles on you through the day. 00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:40.000 It is captured at dusk and expressed at dawn. 00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.000 It is hope to the discouraged and peace to the lost. 00:36:44.000 --> 00:36:49.000 The love of Jesus has length. It goes the distance. 00:36:49.000 --> 00:36:53.000 I can't fall so far that it won't catch me. 00:36:53.000 --> 00:36:58.000 I can't run so fast that it can't get me. 00:36:58.000 --> 00:37:02.000 I can't hide so well that it can't find me. 00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:06.000 His love is better than my worst day. 00:37:06.000 --> 00:37:10.000 It is stronger than my most defiant will. 00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:15.000 And it is more forgiving than my cruelest sin. 00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.000 When I give up, His love goes the distance. 00:37:19.000 --> 00:37:22.000 When I give up, His love goes the distance. 00:37:22.000 --> 00:37:30.000 The intent is, can you plumb the depths and the length and the breadth and the height of His love? 00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.000 Sometimes the only way we can do it is by meditating on His love. 00:37:34.000 --> 00:37:40.000 Sometimes the experience of love is the result of meditating on His love. 00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:42.000 We want the experience without the meditation. 00:37:42.000 --> 00:37:48.000 And that is basically our culture, instant gratification. 00:37:48.000 --> 00:37:53.000 You want to know the love of God, you'll have to dwell on the love of God. 00:37:53.000 --> 00:37:55.000 It's the same in a relationship. 00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:57.000 You want your spouse's love. 00:37:57.000 --> 00:37:59.000 You have to dwell with her. 00:38:04.000 --> 00:38:09.000 And so if you want to experience the length, the breadth, the height and the depth of His love, 00:38:09.000 --> 00:38:16.000 it will mean that I meditate or meditate is just God-directed self-talk. 00:38:18.000 --> 00:38:21.000 God-directed self-talk is what meditation is. 00:38:21.000 --> 00:38:24.000 Why are you beginning to relish? 00:38:28.000 --> 00:38:34.000 I just found out this thing called some yogurt, some thick Greek yogurt, what's it called? 00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:36.000 Oikosno. 00:38:37.000 --> 00:38:42.000 Man, that yogurt, I didn't know yogurt could be so desert-ish. 00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:47.000 And I'm relishing it, I'm reading the contents. 00:38:47.000 --> 00:38:50.000 Even someone sent me these tiny little liqueur chocolates, 00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:53.000 so I opened it and put it on the yogurt to see how it tastes better. 00:38:53.000 --> 00:38:55.000 I'm experimenting with it. 00:38:55.000 --> 00:39:03.000 The fact is, the intent is you've got to meditate on the yogurt before you begin to think, 00:39:03.000 --> 00:39:08.000 oh shucks, this thing that most people eat because they want to be healthy is actually a good dessert. 00:39:13.000 --> 00:39:14.000 I mean, think of this. 00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:15.000 I was going over this. 00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:21.000 You can't fall so far that it can't catch you, run so fast it can't get you, hide so well that I can't find you. 00:39:21.000 --> 00:39:26.000 His love is better than my worst day, stronger than the most defined will I have. 00:39:26.000 --> 00:39:28.000 Reminds me of Betty's song. 00:39:28.000 --> 00:39:32.000 I know Betty didn't write it, but I call it Betty's song, Reckless Love. 00:39:34.000 --> 00:39:36.000 Yeah, she's so tired of singing it. 00:39:37.000 --> 00:39:41.000 Every time I ask her to, her face looks really sour. 00:39:41.000 --> 00:39:43.000 So this is Efficient 318. 00:39:43.000 --> 00:39:47.000 So one of the ways we know Christ's love before we can give it out is to actually experience it, 00:39:47.000 --> 00:39:51.000 but you cannot experience it without meditating on it. 00:39:51.000 --> 00:39:56.000 The next question is, what does it look like to love you like he loves me? 00:39:56.000 --> 00:40:04.000 What does it look like to love you? 00:40:04.000 --> 00:40:12.000 To love you as he loves me. 00:40:12.000 --> 00:40:18.000 This is something I wrote ages ago and might apply. 00:40:18.000 --> 00:40:20.000 Brandon? 00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:28.000 A letter to my daughter can be a letter to my son. 00:40:28.000 --> 00:40:32.000 I just thought every letter is addressed to the son, so why not say daughter for a change? 00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:36.000 Here's what it looks like to love you like he loves me. 00:40:36.000 --> 00:40:39.000 I will not give up on you as a person, 00:40:39.000 --> 00:40:44.000 and it does not matter that you are walking close or far from me. 00:40:44.000 --> 00:40:47.000 Each one has a scriptural notation. 00:40:47.000 --> 00:40:52.000 Regardless of how you respond, I will confer worth on you, 00:40:52.000 --> 00:40:55.000 not just with my words, but with my actions. 00:40:55.000 --> 00:41:01.000 My love for you is willing and voluntary, not critical, 00:41:01.000 --> 00:41:06.000 suspicious, or over-sensitive. 00:41:06.000 --> 00:41:12.000 I won't force my love or force you to do anything because of my love, 00:41:12.000 --> 00:41:17.000 but I expect my love to overwhelm you. 00:41:17.000 --> 00:41:24.000 I will not cause you to live in fear of my anger or the withdrawal of love. 00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:27.000 Never be afraid of that. It won't happen. 00:41:27.000 --> 00:41:31.000 As you were reading through this, now change it for a second and think of, 00:41:31.000 --> 00:41:33.000 isn't this how God treats you? 00:41:33.000 --> 00:41:36.000 Now think of it as God reading it out to you. 00:41:36.000 --> 00:41:39.000 Stop thinking of it as you loving somebody. 00:41:39.000 --> 00:41:41.000 Think of it as God reading it out to you. 00:41:41.000 --> 00:41:43.000 I will not give up on you as a person, 00:41:43.000 --> 00:41:46.000 and it does not matter that you are walking close or far from me. 00:41:46.000 --> 00:41:50.000 Regardless of how you respond, I will confer worth on you, 00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:53.000 not just with my words, but with my actions. 00:41:53.000 --> 00:41:55.000 My love for you is willing and voluntary. 00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.000 It's not critical. It's not suspicious. It's not over-sensitive. 00:41:59.000 --> 00:42:02.000 I won't force my love or force you to do anything because of my love, 00:42:02.000 --> 00:42:05.000 but I expect my love to overwhelm you. 00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.000 I will not cause you to live in fear of my love, 00:42:09.000 --> 00:42:12.000 in fear of my anger or withdrawal of love. 00:42:12.000 --> 00:42:14.000 Never be afraid of that. It won't happen. 00:42:14.000 --> 00:42:17.000 I will not bring up and rehash things that we have settled, 00:42:17.000 --> 00:42:21.000 and I will not remember things that we have dealt with. 00:42:21.000 --> 00:42:24.000 I will bring up in honesty things that need to be spoken and dealt with, 00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:27.000 so that our leather sheet of love may be reconciled. 00:42:27.000 --> 00:42:32.000 My love will be full of truth, because if my love lacks truth, it is not love. 00:42:32.000 --> 00:42:35.000 By the same token, the truth I say to you will be full of love, 00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.000 because truth that does not have love is not truth. 00:42:39.000 --> 00:42:44.000 When things go wrong, when there are hurts, misunderstandings, breakdowns, 00:42:44.000 --> 00:42:48.000 times of silence and separation, I will wait for things to change, 00:42:48.000 --> 00:42:52.000 and will always leave the door open, expecting you to return. 00:42:54.000 --> 00:42:58.000 I'm not easily put off, and I deliberately look for the best in you, 00:42:58.000 --> 00:43:01.000 always through the lens of truth. 00:43:01.000 --> 00:43:08.000 My love for you is intentional, it's unconditional, it's not looking for return. 00:43:08.000 --> 00:43:13.000 My love for you has the same quality of the love I have for my son. 00:43:13.000 --> 00:43:17.000 This is the love I extend to you today. 00:43:17.000 --> 00:43:22.000 That is how you must expect me to love you, 00:43:22.000 --> 00:43:26.000 and that is why I am saying to you that I'm falling short. 00:43:26.000 --> 00:43:30.000 And that if I fall short and you fall short, 00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:35.000 then the framework that God has provided for the world to see and long 00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:41.000 for a community that loves God and loves each other is dismantled. 00:43:41.000 --> 00:43:45.000 Any questions? 00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:51.000 I will bring up honestly the things that need to be spoken and dealt with 00:43:51.000 --> 00:43:54.000 so that our legislative love may be reconciled. 00:43:54.000 --> 00:43:58.000 It won't be glossing over things that are wrong. 00:43:58.000 --> 00:44:03.000 And my love will be full of truth, because if my love is wrong, 00:44:03.000 --> 00:44:06.000 then I will be full of truth. 00:44:06.000 --> 00:44:09.000 And then the other one was, I am not easily put off. 00:44:09.000 --> 00:44:12.000 I will look for the best in you, but through the lens of truth. 00:44:12.000 --> 00:44:16.000 So the glossing over suddenly ends. 00:44:23.000 --> 00:44:28.000 And so today, I would like to share with you a few things 00:44:28.000 --> 00:44:31.000 that I have been trying to do in my life. 00:44:31.000 --> 00:44:34.000 And so to love like this, I can't do it. 00:44:34.000 --> 00:44:36.000 I can't love you this way. 00:44:36.000 --> 00:44:40.000 Because if I do, then it's not an, it's just an imitation. 00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:42.000 It's not a manifestation of his love. 00:44:42.000 --> 00:44:44.000 So the only way I can love you like this, 00:44:44.000 --> 00:44:49.000 if I understand that we love as he loved, because we love with his love. 00:44:49.000 --> 00:44:56.000 We love as he loves, 00:44:56.000 --> 00:45:06.000 as he loves, because we love with his love. 00:45:13.000 --> 00:45:16.000 That's the only thing that will make what is unlovable in my eyes 00:45:16.000 --> 00:45:22.000 or unseemly in my eyes or offensive or obnoxious in you and you in me. 00:45:22.000 --> 00:45:25.000 And you in me is the only way I can step into that. 00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:32.000 Because there will be times when you seem unseemly, obnoxious, offensive, unlovable. 00:45:32.000 --> 00:45:35.000 And there are times when I will be that way in your eyes. 00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:40.000 But this is where I cannot love with my love because I am not able to do it. 00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:43.000 That's just an imitation. I don't have what it takes. 00:45:43.000 --> 00:45:48.000 But because I'm a branch grafted to the vine, it is possible for me 00:45:48.000 --> 00:45:54.000 to draw from the same that he does. 00:45:54.000 --> 00:46:07.000 This is an extreme call that he's making, which is why we don't usually go for it. 00:46:07.000 --> 00:46:20.000 But he says that this is the way to prove you're my disciples. 00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:38.000 1 John 3, 1 John 3, from the message, 1 John 3, 11 to 22, from the message, 1 John 3, 11 to 22. 00:46:38.000 --> 00:46:42.000 For this is the original message we heard. We should love each other. 00:46:42.000 --> 00:46:47.000 We must not be like Cain, who joined the evil one and then killed his brother. 00:46:47.000 --> 00:46:53.000 Why did he kill him? Because he was deep in the practice of evil while the acts of his brother were righteous. 00:46:53.000 --> 00:46:58.000 So don't be surprised, friends, when the world hates you. This has been going on for a long time. 00:46:58.000 --> 00:47:04.000 The way we know we've been transferred from death to life is that we love our brothers and sisters. 00:47:04.000 --> 00:47:07.000 Anyone who doesn't love is as good as dead. 00:47:07.000 --> 00:47:11.000 Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer. 00:47:11.000 --> 00:47:15.000 And you know very well that eternal life and murder don't go together. 00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.000 This is how we've come to understand and experience love. 00:47:19.000 --> 00:47:26.000 Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, 00:47:26.000 --> 00:47:30.000 meaning me for you and you for me, not just be out for ourselves. 00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:35.000 If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it, 00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.000 but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God's love? 00:47:39.000 --> 00:47:42.000 It disappears and you made it disappear. 00:47:42.000 --> 00:47:47.000 My dear children, let's not just talk about love. Let's practice real love. 00:47:47.000 --> 00:47:52.000 This is the only way we know we are living truly, living in God's reality. 00:47:52.000 --> 00:47:58.000 It is also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. 00:47:58.000 --> 00:48:03.000 For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves. 00:48:03.000 --> 00:48:08.000 And friends, once that's taken care of, we are no longer accusing or condemning ourselves. 00:48:08.000 --> 00:48:13.000 We are bold and free before God. We are able to stretch our hands out and receive what we ask for 00:48:13.000 --> 00:48:18.000 because we are doing what he said, doing what pleases him. 00:48:18.000 --> 00:48:24.000 Sometimes when it is difficult to love, look for grace. 00:48:24.000 --> 00:48:35.000 When it is difficult to love, look for grace. 00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:42.000 As you know, God, give me the ability, give me something from you that will help me. 00:48:42.000 --> 00:48:45.000 Look for grace to love. 00:48:45.000 --> 00:49:05.000 Often though, you have to step in by faith to receive grace. 00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:32.000 When you choose to love, you receive grace to love what may seem unlovable. 00:49:32.000 --> 00:49:36.000 Sometimes guys, when you are finding it very difficult to love someone, 00:49:36.000 --> 00:49:40.000 I'm not even talking about the outside world, I'm talking about in the church. 00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:45.000 When it is very difficult to love someone, ask God for grace. I'm not able to. 00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:49.000 So many things have happened, I'm not able to. Ask him for grace. 00:49:49.000 --> 00:49:54.000 But sometimes the way to receive that grace is to take a step of faith. 00:49:54.000 --> 00:49:58.000 As in deliberately say, I do not have what it takes, but I'm going to go up to Sheldon 00:49:58.000 --> 00:50:03.000 and some action, something I'm going to do that despite me not feeling it, 00:50:03.000 --> 00:50:08.000 despite it feeling like sawdust, I will take an act, a step. 00:50:08.000 --> 00:50:12.000 And the moment you take a step of faith, grace is released. 00:50:12.000 --> 00:50:19.000 Sometimes, we don't realize that sometimes in asking for grace, we do not take steps of faith. 00:50:19.000 --> 00:50:23.000 Often grace kicks in when a simple step of faith is taken. 00:50:34.000 --> 00:50:39.000 Yep, start with one. Start with whoever is in front of you and then let it grow. 00:50:39.000 --> 00:50:43.000 How do you do this with more than one person? 00:50:43.000 --> 00:50:48.000 So you start with the one in front of you, or start with the one you have to deal with, 00:50:48.000 --> 00:50:50.000 and then take it from there. 00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:58.000 Either start with the one in front of you, or start with the one that things need to be worked out with. 00:50:58.000 --> 00:51:06.000 And it'll take time. Love is a relationship. Relationships take time. 00:51:06.000 --> 00:51:09.000 Sorry Joan, do you need a... 00:51:09.000 --> 00:51:15.000 The last line, grace to love what may seem unlovable. 00:51:15.000 --> 00:51:16.000 Yep. 00:51:22.000 --> 00:51:26.000 Some of the best places this love is practiced is in the context of a family, 00:51:26.000 --> 00:51:31.000 because you have to take risks. It's in families that you take the risk of hurt, 00:51:31.000 --> 00:51:40.000 the risk of it turning messy, the risk of serving, the risk of joy, the risk of laying your life down. 00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:47.000 And that's why God would deliberately call what he was creating a family. 00:51:47.000 --> 00:51:49.000 There's a reason he would call it that. 00:51:49.000 --> 00:51:55.000 He is saying that if you don't do this, if you don't love the way I have just told you to love, 00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:57.000 the world will not see. 00:51:57.000 --> 00:52:03.000 You'll have to explain to them, Christ dwells in me, I dwell in Christ, we are brothers, we are sisters, 00:52:03.000 --> 00:52:08.000 all that stuff that, I mean, you find it hard to understand Jesus. 00:52:08.000 --> 00:52:13.000 How hard is it going to be for people to understand you? It's going to be really difficult. 00:52:19.000 --> 00:52:21.000 Paul is even worse. 00:52:29.000 --> 00:52:31.000 Any questions? 00:52:31.000 --> 00:52:46.000 Because we call the church a family of families, and because the church in a sense is supposed to be a primary family, 00:52:46.000 --> 00:52:50.000 as you take care of your primary family, your families get taken care of. 00:52:50.000 --> 00:52:58.000 And by the same token, when you don't neglect your personal families, you will not neglect. 00:52:58.000 --> 00:53:00.000 It's both ways. 00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:05.000 One is supposed to take care of one's own family, one who doesn't is an infidel in Jesus' words. 00:53:05.000 --> 00:53:12.000 So you are supposed to take care of your family, but not at the expense of the family of God, 00:53:12.000 --> 00:53:15.000 which is now your primary family. 00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:22.000 And by the same token, when you take care of your primary family, your family is taken care of. 00:53:22.000 --> 00:53:24.000 It's not one or the other. 00:53:24.000 --> 00:53:26.000 It just fits into each other. 00:53:26.000 --> 00:53:31.000 And that's another very hard concept for most Christians, because we live, 00:53:31.000 --> 00:53:37.000 I mean, this is going back years ago, where we think God, family, church, 00:53:37.000 --> 00:53:41.000 which is an absurd division and is unbiblical. 00:53:41.000 --> 00:53:49.000 The question Diana asked was, long ago, and I don't remember, what was it? 00:53:49.000 --> 00:53:51.000 What was it? 00:53:53.000 --> 00:53:57.000 Yeah, does this apply to my physical family or does it apply to the church family? 00:53:57.000 --> 00:53:59.000 I'm saying to both. 00:54:01.000 --> 00:54:03.000 One affects the other. 00:54:03.000 --> 00:54:13.000 If Derek doesn't take care of Brielle and Iris, please don't think that he will be able to take care of you. 00:54:13.000 --> 00:54:18.000 If I don't take care of my mom, then please don't think I'll be able to take care of you. 00:54:21.000 --> 00:54:30.000 If I don't give to my mom, if Derek doesn't give to his wife and child, then trust me, he won't give to you either. 00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:31.000 Cool. 00:54:31.000 --> 00:54:35.000 It's odd, eh, this topic really sobers you up instead of making you very loving. 00:54:35.000 --> 00:54:36.000 That's good. 00:54:40.000 --> 00:54:41.000 Any questions? 00:54:41.000 --> 00:54:44.000 Anything you want to ask before we end? 00:54:46.000 --> 00:54:47.000 Go ahead, Tommy. 00:54:47.000 --> 00:54:48.000 Okay, so say that again? 00:54:48.000 --> 00:54:49.000 Sometimes? 00:54:50.000 --> 00:54:57.000 You say that sometimes we need to ask any questions. 00:54:57.000 --> 00:55:08.000 And you say that sometimes we need to talk. 00:55:08.000 --> 00:55:11.000 Okay, so say that again, sometimes? 00:55:11.000 --> 00:55:18.000 You say that sometimes we need to step in by faith. 00:55:18.000 --> 00:55:21.000 What would be the other time? 00:55:21.000 --> 00:55:28.000 Okay, so Jeremy's question is, it says here that you have to step in by faith. 00:55:28.000 --> 00:55:30.000 Sometimes you have to step in by faith. 00:55:30.000 --> 00:55:34.000 What about other times? What are the other methods at other times? 00:55:34.000 --> 00:55:41.000 Sometimes, God just gives you oodles of grace even though you're not even asking for it. 00:55:41.000 --> 00:55:46.000 I remember this person I really disliked, like disliked with such intensity. 00:55:46.000 --> 00:55:55.000 And they didn't do me any harm. They were just highly annoying. 00:55:55.000 --> 00:55:59.000 That was very annoying. 00:55:59.000 --> 00:56:05.000 Highly annoying. And so every time I'd see them, I'd feel irate. 00:56:05.000 --> 00:56:08.000 And I'd see them often, so it was not a good thing. 00:56:08.000 --> 00:56:17.000 And so I remember sitting at the Dykes in Richmond near Steveston and pleading with God saying, 00:56:17.000 --> 00:56:20.000 Father, help me every time I see this person. 00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:24.000 They haven't done me any harm, but their ways are so annoying that it just wrecks me inside. 00:56:24.000 --> 00:56:27.000 I just get so agitated. Please help me. 00:56:27.000 --> 00:56:34.000 And someone, all this person came and said to me when I mentioned this to them is that, 00:56:34.000 --> 00:56:38.000 Jacob, can you trust the work of the Spirit to do something inside you? 00:56:38.000 --> 00:56:44.000 And I thought that was really sad advice, trust the work of the Spirit. 00:56:44.000 --> 00:56:49.000 So I went sat and pleaded with the Lord and all I can hear God saying is, 00:56:49.000 --> 00:56:51.000 trust the work of the Spirit, trust the work of the Spirit. 00:56:51.000 --> 00:56:54.000 I thought, God, you're also giving sad advice. 00:56:54.000 --> 00:57:01.000 And so I go home and then I go to visit this person. 00:57:01.000 --> 00:57:06.000 And when I go to visit this person, I'm waiting for that annoyance and irritation to kick in 00:57:06.000 --> 00:57:08.000 because it's been happening for years. 00:57:08.000 --> 00:57:11.000 And I'm waiting for it to kick in and nothing is happening. 00:57:11.000 --> 00:57:15.000 And I'm saying to myself, don't worry, it'll happen in two or three minutes. 00:57:15.000 --> 00:57:18.000 Like that's the kind of faith I have. I don't have faith for good things. 00:57:18.000 --> 00:57:22.000 I am saying to myself, don't worry, it is going to happen in two or three minutes. 00:57:22.000 --> 00:57:25.000 Three or four minutes go by and I'm saying to myself, 00:57:25.000 --> 00:57:27.000 this is one of those days when it takes longer. 00:57:27.000 --> 00:57:29.000 You just wait, in five minutes it will kick in. 00:57:29.000 --> 00:57:32.000 I wait there for five minutes, nothing is happening. 00:57:32.000 --> 00:57:36.000 I wait for ten minutes and I'm being super nice to this person. 00:57:36.000 --> 00:57:41.000 I wait for fifteen minutes and the person and I are having a decent conversation. 00:57:41.000 --> 00:57:44.000 And I suddenly realized that I did not have faith. 00:57:44.000 --> 00:57:48.000 I did not trust what the Holy Spirit said when he said trust the work of the Holy Spirit. 00:57:48.000 --> 00:57:50.000 I wasn't expecting it. 00:57:50.000 --> 00:57:55.000 I had negative faith and yet God did a miracle in my heart. 00:57:55.000 --> 00:58:01.000 It was a miracle. You think when you see miracles of feet and hands and all, yes, it's amazing. 00:58:01.000 --> 00:58:10.000 But I know the condition of my heart and I know how in seconds my heart turned from bitter annoyance to absolute love. 00:58:10.000 --> 00:58:14.000 And that was about six years ago and it has stayed that way. 00:58:14.000 --> 00:58:19.000 I couldn't believe the grace I received for something inside me to change 00:58:19.000 --> 00:58:23.000 when I did not want to change, when I did not have the faith to change. 00:58:23.000 --> 00:58:27.000 So sometimes when it's not faith, it's just oodles of grace. 00:58:27.000 --> 00:58:33.000 Grace as in God saying, hey listen, I will touch your heart with my hand and you will not know what has happened. 00:58:33.000 --> 00:58:35.000 And it changes you. 00:58:35.000 --> 00:58:40.000 Other times he says, hey, I'm willing to give you what you need, but show me that you really want it. 00:58:40.000 --> 00:58:42.000 Take a step. 00:58:42.000 --> 00:58:44.000 And that's when you sometimes take a step. 00:58:44.000 --> 00:58:51.000 Other times you don't do anything, but the person that you're dealing with receives tremendous grace 00:58:51.000 --> 00:58:56.000 and they come to you and they are so changed that you don't know what to do, but to respond. 00:58:56.000 --> 00:59:01.000 That's when you respond to the grace in somebody else. 00:59:01.000 --> 00:59:06.000 These are some of the methods that are used besides faith. 00:59:06.000 --> 00:59:08.000 But this thing that I experienced, I treasure. 00:59:09.000 --> 00:59:16.000 That was the first time I realized in actual experiential sense, God can change hearts in an instant. 00:59:16.000 --> 00:59:20.000 In an instant. 00:59:20.000 --> 00:59:22.000 And it was a sheer work of God. 00:59:22.000 --> 00:59:24.000 It had nothing to do with me. 00:59:30.000 --> 00:59:35.000 So this is the standard of love that we are being asked to now not aspire to, 00:59:35.000 --> 00:59:40.000 but to walk, run, stand in. 00:59:40.000 --> 00:59:44.000 And so when I deal with you, I'll have to remember this. 00:59:44.000 --> 00:59:50.000 When I deal with you on your best day or your worst day, I'll have to remember this. 00:59:50.000 --> 00:59:59.000 Because this is the only framework that Jesus Christ has for his love to be fully visible here on earth. 01:00:00.000 --> 01:00:09.000 If you love the way I have loved you, if you love Joe, Joshua, Nick, 01:00:09.000 --> 01:00:18.000 then it will become evident to the world that I am in you, you love like me, 01:00:18.000 --> 01:00:23.000 and they will begin to desire this. They'll desire the vertical relationship, they'll desire the horizontal relationship. 01:00:23.000 --> 01:00:27.000 You don't have to figure out how this will work. You just have to obey. 01:00:27.000 --> 01:00:30.000 Just have to obey. Let's break bread. 01:00:37.000 --> 01:00:42.000 I mean, to answer Emily's question, how do you love more than one person like this, 01:00:42.000 --> 01:00:46.000 can you try it with one or two or three persons throughout the year? 01:00:46.000 --> 01:00:49.000 Next year, start with one, then go to two, then go to three. 01:00:49.000 --> 01:00:52.000 In this church, in this church, start here. 01:00:52.000 --> 01:00:58.000 And let it not be the one you are presently married to or that is your best friend. 01:00:58.000 --> 01:01:02.000 Let it be someone who is not your best friend. 01:01:22.000 --> 01:01:34.000 Guys, we are a community created by shed blood. 01:01:34.000 --> 01:01:41.000 We are a community that was created by shed blood. 01:01:41.000 --> 01:01:50.000 Not by affinity, not by ethnicity, not by a common belief, not by some great mystery that we found. 01:01:50.000 --> 01:01:57.000 We are a community created by shed blood. That's how this community has been created. 01:01:57.000 --> 01:02:09.000 And so, this loaf of bread is supposed to represent our many fragmented lives put together. 01:02:09.000 --> 01:02:11.000 That's what the loaf of bread is supposed to represent. 01:02:11.000 --> 01:02:15.000 The Bible says that in 1 Corinthians 11, that in this loaf of bread, 01:02:15.000 --> 01:02:20.000 you understand how your fragmented lives have been put together. 01:02:20.000 --> 01:02:28.000 And so, today when we have communion, come and tear from this one loaf. 01:02:28.000 --> 01:02:36.000 And as you tear from this one loaf, remember that his body was torn so that we may be one loaf. 01:02:36.000 --> 01:02:41.000 So we deliberately come and tear from this loaf. 01:02:42.000 --> 01:02:49.000 And as we tear from this loaf, know that his body was torn so that we from different backgrounds, 01:02:49.000 --> 01:02:58.000 different tribes have been put together, put together to love one another just as he has loved me. 01:02:58.000 --> 01:03:06.000 Second, as you tear, also know that it is one thing we will not do to the body. 01:03:06.000 --> 01:03:09.000 Tear it apart. It's both. 01:03:09.000 --> 01:03:15.000 So feel free to come up and tear from this loaf that we are. 01:03:15.000 --> 01:03:22.000 And as you tear it, know that Jesus was torn so that our fragmented, torn lives may be put back together. 01:03:22.000 --> 01:03:26.000 And that we are a community created by shed blood. 01:03:26.000 --> 01:03:33.000 And he was torn so that we could be put together and to love one another as he has loved us. 01:03:33.000 --> 01:03:39.000 And then after that, go form groups of eight, pray into what we have said, 01:03:39.000 --> 01:03:45.000 and then intentionally bless someone, recognize them and bless them. 01:03:45.000 --> 01:03:48.000 Think and bless them. And then we'll go. 01:03:48.000 --> 01:03:53.000 So what are the steps? We come and tear out of the one loaf. 01:03:53.000 --> 01:03:57.000 And as we do, we realize that this is one loaf that's been put together by Christ. 01:03:57.000 --> 01:04:03.000 But as we tear, we also remember that he was torn so that we may be put together. 01:04:03.000 --> 01:04:12.000 Two, we break up into groups of eight and sit together and just pray into what we've heard, any of these things. 01:04:12.000 --> 01:04:18.000 Three, before we leave in those groups of eight, think of how you can bless somebody, 01:04:18.000 --> 01:04:23.000 but let it be intentional blessing as in thoughtful blessing. 01:04:23.000 --> 01:04:26.000 That's what people who like each other do. 01:04:26.000 --> 01:04:28.000 Yeah? Okay. Feel free to come up. 01:04:28.000 --> 01:04:31.000 And then while you're sitting in the groups of eight, we'll come and give you the cup, 01:04:31.000 --> 01:04:34.000 and you can eat and drink together at your own leisure. 01:04:34.000 --> 01:04:39.000 Yeah? But we have to be out of here by, I mean, we have to end by 6.10 01:04:39.000 --> 01:04:44.000 so that the crew can take 20 minutes to dismantle. So let's go.