The Gospel and Our Community

Today's scripture comes from the books of John and Galatians.

Please follow along in your bulletin.

Jesus said, I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in me through their message.

May they all be one as you, Father, are in me and I am in you.

May they also be one in us so the world may believe you sent me.

I have given them the glory you have given me.

May they be one as we are one.

I am in them and you are in me.

May they be made completely one so the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.

Father, I desire those you have given me to be with me where I am.

Then they will see my glory, which you have given me, because you loved me before the world's foundation.

Righteous Father, the world has not known you.

However, I have known you and these have known that you sent me.

I made your name known to them and will make it known.

So the love you have loved me with may be in them and I may be in them.

And in Galatians it says,

I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit.

And the Spirit desires what is against the flesh.

These are opposed to each other so that you don't do what you want.

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Now the works of the flesh are obvious.

Sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry.

Sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousy.

Outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissension, factions.

Envy, drunkenness, carousing and anything similar.

I tell you about these things in advance, as I told you before.

That those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love.

Joy.

Peace.

Patience.

Kindness.

Goodness.

Faith.

Gentleness.

Self-control.

Against such things there is no law.

Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Since we live by the Spirit, we must also follow the Spirit.

We must not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Brothers, if someone is caught in any wrongdoing,

you who are spiritual should restore such a person with a gentle spirit,

watching out for yourselves so you also won't be tempted.

Carry one another's burdens.

In this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ.

For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

But each person should examine his own work,

and then he will have a reason for boasting in himself alone,

and not in respect for someone else.

For each person will have to carry his own load.

The one who is taught the message must share all his good things with the teacher.

Don't be deceived.

God is not mocked.

For whatever a man sows, he will also reap.

Because the one who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh.

But the one who sows in the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.

So we must not get tired of doing good,

for we will reap at the proper time if we don't give up.

Therefore, as we have opportunity, we must work for the good of all.

Especially for those who belong to the household of faith.

This is the reading of God's Word.

God bless you.

And we've learned that you guys have a unique kind of sense of humor.

And a unique kind of taste in food and language and all these different things.

But speaking of food and language,

I'm going to tell you a joke about three different nationalities.

It goes like this.

There was an Englishman, an Irishman, and an Australian.

And they were working on a building.

And they used to sit up at the top of the building and eat their lunch every day.

And so they'd crack up, open their lunch.

And the Englishman opened his sandwich, his box.

And he had a ham sandwich.

He was like, oh, ham sandwiches again.

If I have another ham sandwich, I'm going to jump off this cliff.

I mean, this building that we're working on.

And then the Irishman, he kind of opened his lunchbox.

And he had tomato sandwiches.

And he said, oh, tomato sandwiches again?

If I have another tomato sandwich, I'm going to jump off this building tomorrow.

And then the Australian said, he opened his sandwich.

And it was like, oh, a Vegemite sandwich.

This is another Vegemite sandwich.

If I have another Vegemite sandwich tomorrow, I'm going to jump off this building.

And then they all go home and have a peaceful night, come back the next morning.

And there they are again, sitting on the scaffolding of the building.

And they open up their lunchboxes.

And what do they get?

Ham, tomato, and Vegemite.

And so the three, as they said, jumped off the building to their death.

And at their...

There's more.

There's more.

It's the end of the joke.

It's Australian humor.

No, no, there's more.

There's more.

At the funeral, the three wives of the three men who knew each other got together.

And they were kind of in tears.

They said they couldn't understand what happened.

And the English wife said, I don't understand.

He loved ham sandwiches.

And the wife of the Irish man said, yeah, I don't understand.

He loved tomato sandwiches.

And the wife of the Australian man said, I don't understand.

He made his own sandwiches.

He's...

So we don't need different Americans or nationalities making fun of Australians,

because we do a good enough job of that on our own.

And that story has nothing to do with the sermon,

except...

Except perhaps that these guys lived in community.

And in fact, they lived and died together.

I want to talk a little bit about different communities that the world has.

So there's...

You know, the communities that you know as you're growing up,

in the playground, at school, in primary school, in high school,

and then in university.

And then there's communities of kind of fellowships,

of post-grads...

Oh, sorry.

Graduate fellowships and working fellowships and things like that.

And the world is organized into different communities.

And of course, on a much bigger scale,

there's the communities of your district, your neighborhood,

your nation, your city.

Those of you who remember...

Or maybe some of you haven't got there yet,

but those of you who remember university days,

you know that there's all these clubs and societies

which people sign up for.

And in my first year at university,

I signed up for like seven or eight clubs

from the debating society to the table tennis society

to all these different groups,

only to realize I didn't have enough time

to get involved in all of them.

But, you know, there's some interesting societies out there.

There's like the Homus Appreciation Society,

one in England,

and the Harry Potter Society.

They're springing up all over campuses.

And when my old church,

this guy, he loved Pokemon cards.

And he had a collection of the toys and all kinds of things.

So when he got to uni,

he started the Pokemon Society,

of which he is now the president.

And one of like four members.

And so maybe we shouldn't be surprised,

or we shouldn't be surprised,

if the atheists would get together

and form a society as well.

And so there's been,

in the news you might have read recently,

an atheist community church,

which started in the UK,

called the Sunday Assembly.

It's a London-based atheist church.

And it has,

since its January launch,

grown in capacity

to having two services

and, you know,

several hundred,

maybe four or five hundred people each.

And so they just announced

a new global missionary tour.

In October and November,

affiliated Sunday Assemblies

will open in 22 cities,

in England,

Ireland,

Scotland,

Canada,

the United States,

and Australia.

I think this is the moment,

the founder said,

when Sunday Assembly

goes from being an interesting phenomenon

to being a truly global movement.

The 3,000% growth rate

we have seen

might make this non-religious assembly

the fastest growing church

in the world.

And the journalist,

who's an atheist himself,

goes on to say that

he likes the idea

of a secular temple

where atheists can enjoy

the benefits

of an idealized traditional church,

a sense of community,

a thought-provoking sermon,

a scheduled period of respite,

easy access

to community service opportunities,

group singing,

an ethos of self-improvement,

free food,

without the singing imposition

of a God.

See, our world is striving

for community

in an alienated,

lonely,

and disconnected world.

Everybody's looking for it,

and everybody seeks it

in the common interest

of the people

that they find

and bind themselves together with.

And yet,

is this the community

that the Christian church

is supposed to be about?

One of the,

an American theologian

called Stanley Harvass

warns about this.

He says,

when people are very detached,

very devoid of purpose

and a coherent worldview,

Christians must be very suspicious

of talk about community.

In a world like ours,

people will be attracted

to communities

that promise them

an easy way out of loneliness,

togetherness based

on common tastes,

racial or ethnic traits,

or mutual self-interest.

There is then little check

on community

becoming as tyrannical

as the individual ego.

Community becomes totalitarian

when its only purpose

is to foster a sense

of belonging

in order to overcome

the fragility

of the lone individual.

What he's saying

is that people

can come together

and they can come to church,

to the Christian church,

to seek community,

but they're coming

simply to satisfy

their own desires,

their own longings,

and that can poison the church.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer,

who was a pastor,

principal of an underground seminary,

an agent of the German resistance,

and eventually killed,

executed by the Nazi regime

in 1945

at the end of World War II,

said this,

The Christian community

is not a spiritual sanatorium.

The person who comes

into a fellowship

because he is running away

from himself

is misusing it

for the sake of diversion,

no matter how spiritual

this diversion may appear.

He is really not seeking

community at all,

but the only distraction

which will allow him

to forget his loneliness

for a brief time,

the very alienation

that creates

the deadly isolation of man.

And in fact, he says,

Let him who cannot be alone

beware of community.

He will only do harm

to himself

and to the community.

Is the community

of the church,

of Christ,

of God here,

simply a place

where people can come

and kind of fill

that gap of loneliness

in their hearts?

Simply a place

where people can come

and connect

and be together

and spend some time

with each other

before going

their separate ways.

Because that seems

to be what community

is all about

in this world.

A place where people

can come,

have shared interests,

spend some time together

laughing and

enjoying each other's company

and then

splitting off again

to do their own thing,

to be their own people.

Is that the kind of community,

community,

a Christian community

should look like?

St. Halva states

that the community life

is not so much

about togetherness

as about the way

of Jesus Christ

with those whom

he calls to himself.

And so we read today

from John chapter 17.

John 17 · chapter mention

And I don't know

if you have ever

prayed to God

out of the longing

of your heart

and asked him

for things

for yourself

or for your friends

or for those

who you know,

your loved ones.

If you have,

I wonder

if you've ever,

you've ever wondered

what Jesus

would have prayed

for you.

What would be

on his heart

as he thinks

of you,

as he thought

of you?

And what would

he have prayed

for you?

What would he have

prayed to God

on behalf of you?

I think John 17

is a very precious

passage

because there

it tells us

what Jesus

prayed

for us.

See,

in the first part

of the passage

he prays

for himself

and God's glory

to be known,

to be revealed

as he goes

to the place

where God's glory

is going to be revealed

which is the cross.

And then after that

he prays for the disciples,

the believers

that have been given

to him.

And then after that

we come to this passage

where Jesus prays,

he says,

not only for these

disciples

that you've given me

but also for

those who will

believe in me

through their message.

That's us

if we believe in Christ

through their message.

And so

when Jesus prays

for us,

what does he pray for?

What is on his heart?

What does he long

for us to be?

He longs for us

to be united.

You can see that

four times

Jesus repeats that

in his prayer.

He says,

may they all be one.

May they also

be one in us.

May they be one

as we are one.

And may they be made

completely one.

Jesus prays

that we would be

united as one

in Christ,

in him,

together.

And it's not just

a united,

like the United Nations

where people kind of

come together

but it's being united

in someone else.

It's being united

in Christ.

As Jesus says,

you, Father,

are in me

and I am in you.

May they also

be in us.

Think for a second

just what that means.

Jesus is saying

that

we should be

united,

that the church

should be united

as the Father

and the Son

are united,

as Jesus is united

to God.

So if you think about it,

how are the Father

and the Son

united?

Well,

we know that

they were one

in purpose,

in their love

for one another,

in their communion

together,

and,

of course,

in the mission

which Jesus had come

to fulfill,

the mission of Christ.

So then,

let me ask,

what kind of unity

should we have?

We should be one

in purpose,

in love

for one another,

in our communion

together,

and in

the mission

of Christ.

Let me ask you this,

what,

or how close

was Jesus to God?

He says,

you,

the Father,

are in me

and I am in you.

Jesus

and the Father

lived,

you know,

in a mutual

kind of indwelling

with each other.

And Jesus is saying

that that's,

that's what he's

giving to us

as well.

Verse 23,

he says,

I am in them

and you

are in me.

It's a direct

contrast.

In the same way

that God

is in Jesus,

so Jesus

is in us.

And even though

he doesn't mention it here,

we know from

a few chapters before

that Jesus

has promised the Spirit

to come

to his disciples.

and it is through

the Spirit

sent by Jesus

that Jesus

comes to dwell

within us

because the Spirit

takes everything

that belongs

to Jesus

and makes it

known to us.

So,

what that means

is that we

actually share

in the,

in some way

in the common

life of

the Trinity.

what is the purpose

for this

incredible unity,

this

communion

that we share

together?

Well,

the purpose of it,

as Jesus says,

is so that the world

might believe

that you sent me,

that the Father

sent the Son.

He repeats that

three times.

may there be

one in us,

verse 21,

so the world

may believe

you sent me.

And in verse 23,

may they be made

completely one,

so the world

may know

that you have

sent me.

And in verse 25,

these have known

that you sent me.

The purpose

for this unity

that Jesus

prays for

is so that the world

will come to know

and believe

that God

sent Jesus

and that he loves us

as he loved him.

It's also so that

we will see

God's glory

in Jesus

and not just see it,

but reflect it

out.

That we would

be

kind of a light

shining out,

filled with God's glory

to those around us.

It's like

the moon

and we just had

Mid-Owner Festival

and you can see

how large

and magnificent

the moon was.

But of course,

it's not its own light

that it's shining with.

It's shining with

the light of the sun,

reflecting the sun's glory.

The church is like

the moon,

reflecting the glory

of the sun,

the light

that comes from God.

And we reflect it

out into the community.

So Jesus came

in order to bring

into being

a new community,

the community

of the church.

And it's a community

not based on race

or national identity,

but on the shared life

of Jesus himself.

our community life

is brought

into the very

fellowship

of the Trinity.

And

that's the case

so that we would see

God's glory

and bring that glory

to shine

in the world around us.

This is the vision,

the desire,

and the prayer

of Jesus

that Jesus has for us

as the church.

And so when we think

about unity

as a church,

we often look around

out in the world

and think,

oh well,

the church isn't

really unified.

It's,

you know,

fractured,

there's denominations,

there's different

people that don't

get along,

so we need

to work harder

at bringing unity,

some sort of council

to bring people together.

that's how we will

achieve unity.

But Bonhoeffer writes

that

Christian community

is not so much

an ideal to recognize

as a reality,

a reality created

by God in Christ

in which we may

participate.

The ground

and the strength

and the promise

of all our fellowship

is in Jesus Christ

alone.

It's a reality

created by God

in which we can

participate.

what he's saying

is that the unity

of the church

is not dependent

upon an organizational

or a structural unity,

a visible,

a visible,

unified structure

like a Christian

United Nations.

And nor will it

come about

by man-made efforts

through dialogue

and diplomacy

and trying to work

it out like that.

Rather,

it's a unity

that is in each

of us

as Christ dwells

within us

based on the knowledge

that Christ is with us

in the same way

that God the Father

was with Christ.

It's a unity

that we already have

that we can choose

to participate in

and we will

if we want to honor

and bring glory

to the name of Christ.

it is the unity

we possess already.

You see,

look around you

and realize

that Christ

is in

the Christian person

sitting around you

to your left

or to your right

in this room

all around you.

Through the Spirit

we have

the indwelling

of Jesus

within us.

what are some

implications of that?

Well,

if you think of each other

as people

filled with Christ

in us,

what difference

would that make

if you saw yourself

and those around you

this way?

If you think about

all the groups

of people

that we have here

at the church

from you guys

the Nepalese

family

with us

to different types

of students

high school

and university

to grads

and workers

families

all the way

from,

you know,

babies

to people

as young

as Tobin.

See,

all of us

no matter

kind of

what our

stage of life

we have Christ

within us

and if we really

believed,

right,

if you really

understood

and believed

that the Spirit

in you

is the same

as the Spirit

in each one

of us,

would you be able

to dismiss

a fellow Christian

so easily?

If they were

broken,

would you cast

them aside?

If they were

sinful,

would you judge

them unworthy?

If they had

sinned against you

or hurt you

in some way,

would you hold

a grudge

and be unable

to forgive them?

to live

well-ordered

lives

in God's

universe

is to live

in the light

of this

reality,

in accordance

with reality,

to live

truthfully.

That is the

truth

that Jesus

has come

into this

world

in order

to create

for himself

a new

community

of people

centered

around him.

And if

you're not

yet part

of this

community,

then you

should know

that Jesus

wants to

invite you

in.

And one

of the

reasons why

this

community

exists

is so

that people

who are not

part of it

can come

and see

it and

look at it

and see

the glory

of God

revealed

within it.

What would

a church

that truly

lived by

Jesus'

prayer in

John 17

look like?

Well,

that's what

the rest

of the New

Testament,

especially the

epistles,

work through

and spell

out for us.

And so that's

why we read

through that

passage in

Galatians 5

and 6,

which gives

us a kind

of a

road map,

Paul's

road map

to community

life.

And one

of the

things that

Paul continually

says,

not just here

in Galatians,

but in many

of his

letters,

is live

your lives

in accordance

to the

reality that

you already

are.

Be what

you are.

And so

he talks

about walking

by the

Spirit in

Galatians

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5,

being led

by the

Spirit,

and exhibiting

the fruit

of the

Spirit.

And all

these are

ways of

talking about

living that

life,

which comes

about from

having Christ

dwelling within

us,

kind of

willing out

from us,

and the

results of

that.

And he

says,

I say,

walk by

the

Spirit,

you will

not

carry out

the

desires

of the

flesh.

But if

you are

led by

the

Spirit,

you are

not

under

the

law.

But the

fruit of

the

Spirit is

love,

joy,

peace,

patience,

kindness,

goodness,

faith,

gentleness,

and self-control.

When I've

looked at

this passage

before,

one of the

questions that

I ask

is,

am I

growing in

these areas

as a

Christian?

We often

like to

maybe try

and set

it up as

a benchmark

that we

have to

achieve,

but I

think a

better

question is

to ask,

are we

growing in

love?

Are we

growing in

joy and

peace,

in patience

towards one

another,

in faith,

in gentleness,

in self-control,

all these

different aspects?

How am I

doing compared

to how I

was last

year or

two years

ago or

five years

ago?

Because what

Jesus wants

from us is

he wants us

to continue

to grow

in our

Christ-likeness

and that's

what God

is doing

in our

lives.

So are

we a

part of

what God

is doing

in the

church,

in the

world,

or are

we walking

our own

path?

Are we

failing to

walk by

the Spirit

and just

walking by

our own

steps?

see in

verse 25

we read

these words,

since we

live by

the Spirit

we must

also follow

the Spirit.

Since we

already have

the Spirit

within us,

since we

are alive,

made alive

by the

Spirit of

Jesus,

so we

also must

follow in

the Spirit's

footsteps.

it's

sadly

possible to

grieve the

Spirit and

to have

such sin in

our hearts

and refusal

to listen to

God that

we end up

walking away

or walking

a different

path to

the Spirit.

But verse 25

says,

since we live

by the Spirit,

we must

follow the

Spirit,

we must

also follow

the Spirit.

We must

live in

accordance with

the reality

that God

has given

to us.

And that

means realizing

that we're

not in

competition

with one

another,

for a start.

That's what

he says here.

We mustn't

become conceited,

provoking one

another,

envying one

another.

Since

coming to

Hong Kong,

I've realized

that it's

really easy

to get

caught up

in this

game of

comparing

yourself with

everybody else.

Everybody's

comparing because

everyone's got a

different job

with different

salaries and

benefits and

housing and

all this

different stuff.

And in

some ways,

this seems

unavoidable

because

everybody

and their

circumstances

differ.

But Paul

says,

don't become

conceited.

And I looked

up conceited,

and it means

excessively proud

of oneself

or vain.

See,

the one who

is vain must

continually push

himself up

by dragging

down those

around them

that they can

drag down,

and those

that are too

high,

well,

they envy

them and

wish they were

in their

position or

wish they

could pull

them down.

But the

Christian

community

should not

be in

competition

with one

another.

Instead,

we are in

communion with

one another.

This person

whom you are

looking down

upon or

envying is

God's child

and has the

spirit of

Christ dwelling

in them.

And so let

the spirit that

is in you

see the spirit

that is in

them,

and then

treat them

as you

would

Christ,

for he

is the

one who

is in

them.

Another way

in which

the community

of believers

kind of

plays out

is in

restoration.

Verse 6

of chapter

6.

Brothers,

if

chapter 6

verse 1,

Brothers,

if someone

is caught

in any

wrongdoing,

you who

are spiritual

should restore

such a

person with

a gentle

spirit,

washing out

for yourselves

so that you

won't also be

tempted.

Carry one

another's

burdens.

In this way

you will

fulfill the

law of

Christ.

Don't look

down,

Paul is

saying,

on those

who are

weak or

downtrodden

or sinful.

Those who

are sinned

should be

restored gently

and the

attitude of

the restorer

is one of

humble fear

because they

know that

they too

could easily

be dragged

down the

same path.

We do

this,

if we do

this,

then we

carry one

another's

burdens

and we

live in

accordance

to Christ's

prayer and

desire for

the church.

So we

see that

in the

community

of God,

the

relationships

within the

church are

intertwined

and we

are committed

towards one

another for

our good.

There is a

solidarity within

the church.

If one

hurts,

then all

hurt.

If one

falls,

then all

are affected.

want to

be.

How about

this?

He says,

modern people

usually seek

individuality

through the

severance of

restraints and

commitments.

I've got to

be me.

I must be

true to

myself.

The more

we can be

free of

parents,

children,

spouses,

duties,

the more

free we

will be

to be

ourselves,

to lay

hold of

new and

exciting

possibilities.

Yet,

what if

our true

selves are

made from

the materials

of our

communal

life?

Where is

there some

self that

has not

been

communally

created?

By

cutting back

our

attachments

and

commitments,

the self

shrinks

rather than

grows.

So an

important gift

the church

gives us

is a far

richer range

of options,

commitments,

duties,

and troubles

than we

would have

if left

to our

own

devices.

What he's

saying is

that so

often we

seek to

be the

masters of

our own

destiny,

of our

own soul.

And when

other people

get in the

way of

that,

then the

tendency is

to withdraw

and to

be by

ourselves.

It's one

of the

reasons why

it seems

easier for

people to

communicate on

social networking

through the

internet and

media and

so on than

in real

life.

Because in

social networking

you can

control to

a large

extent the

personality or

the persona

that you

appear to

be in

front of

everybody

else.

And as

you do

that you

are interacting

with other

people who

are also

presenting that

personality which

they themselves

have carefully

cultivated.

And so your

carefully cultivated

personality is

interacting with

their carefully

cultivated

personality.

And then once

that interaction

is finished you

can go back to

cultivating your

personality.

personality.

It's a kind

of a fake

version of

you interacting

with fake

versions of

everybody else

that's out

there.

But then when

you meet

people in

real life,

when you

can't kind

of press

backspace and

erase and

rewrite that

sentence that

you just,

you can't do

that when

you're talking

with people.

You actually

have to think

about what you

say.

Think about the

other person.

You might have

to apologize for

things that you

say.

it's a grating

and a rubbing

against each

other that

people are

fleeing from

into the

world of

social networking.

And if the

relationships that

we're in

seem to cause

conflict,

well maybe God

is using these

relationships in

order to show

up our

inadequacy,

our sinfulness,

where we are

still lacking.

And without

these interactions

we would never

grow and

change.

The tendency

is for each

one of us to

disconnect and

withdraw when

relationships get

tough.

But I think

it's God's way

to get us to

see our own

sinful tendencies

when we are

placed next to

somebody else who

shines a light

onto our

sinfulness.

Paul Tripp

has a book

called

Relationships,

A Mess

Worth Making.

And he talks

about messy

relationships and

the way that

humans want to

retreat from

it.

But the

Word of God

keeps encouraging

us to deal

in the muck and

the mess of

human relationships.

One of the

things he says

is the fatal

flaw of human

wisdom is that

you can change

your relationships

without needing

to change

yourself.

And he says

that these

relationships remind

us that relational

pain has divine

purpose.

God wants to

bring us to

the end of

ourselves so

that we would

see our need

for a relationship

with him as

well as with

others.

Even painful

things we

experience in

relationships are

meant to remind

us of our need

for him.

And he gives

us an example

of that as

well.

He talks about

this time,

he talks about

like this,

he says,

conflict broke

out between me

and my wife

the other day

in our kitchen.

I was putting

dishes in the

dishwasher and she

was cooking

dinner.

We both got

in each other's

way and then

got sarcastic

with each other.

I said,

I would hate to

get in your

way while I

load the

dishwasher.

She replied,

I would hate

to get in your

way while I

cook dinner.

What was

going on?

Each had a

desire,

well I had a

desire to

accomplish a

task and was

feeling rather

self-righteous

about what a

sacrificial husband

I was.

My wife also

had a desire to

accomplish a

task and was

feeling self-righteous

about what a

sacrificial wife

and mother she

was.

Both of our

desires on the

surface were good

desires.

I wanted to

help in the

kitchen and she

wanted to help

serve the family

by cooking

dinner.

But these

desires quickly

turned from good

to selfish.

I wanted to

serve but it

had to be on

my own terms

and on my

time schedule.

My wife wanted

to serve but she

wanted to do it

without any

distractions.

The selfishness

showed itself in

our self-righteous

comments.

We both wanted to

be recognized for

our service and

when that did not

happen we had

conflict.

We divorced our

service from God's

glory and the

other's good and

turned it into

self-service.

I'll serve when

I want to and

I want to be

appreciated when

I do.

What tends to

produce conflict

in your life?

What do you

think God

typically uses to

regain our

affections?

He says

ironically he

uses other

people.

That is one of

the blessings

of conflict.

He uses the

difficult seasons

in our

relationship to

allow us to

see what we

typically live

for besides

him.

That was the

reason for the

spat between my

wife and I in

the kitchen.

The only way I

could see that

sometimes I serve

others out of

self-glory and

self-love was to

put my wife next

to me in the

kitchen.

This is true of

all our

relationships.

God uses other

people to

mysteriously and

counterintuitively

rescue us from

self-glory and

self-love.

Why does he do

that?

Because he loves

us more than we

love ourselves.

I don't know

for you if that

resonated or if

you've ever kind of

found yourself in a

situation where

you're serving and

you're kind of

annoyed because you

haven't received the

recognition that you

think you deserve

for it.

That's when service

turns into self-service.

When sacrifice

turns into

self-glorifying

look at me

kind of

ism.

Look what I've

done.

The real

motivation for

what we do

comes from

as I said

knowing that

Christ is

within us

within each

of us

and also

from

thinking about

what is coming

in the future.

The last two

verses we read

out in the

Galatians passage

verses 9 and

10

talk about this.

It says,

we must not

get tired of

doing good

for we will

reap

and we will

reap eternal

life as we

said in the

previous verse

at the proper

time if we

don't give up.

Therefore,

as we have

opportunity,

we must work

for the good

of all,

especially for

those who

belong to the

household of

faith.

See,

a Christian

community is a

forward-looking

community.

It is a

community of hope

because of what

God is building

in this world,

because of what

God is doing

in the church.

far from being

a distraction

to working

in this life,

the hope of

the resurrection

is a real

hope,

a motivation

and a driving

force for

working for

good in this

life.

Without the

resurrection

that teaches

us that God's

future is coming,

that God's life

is coming into

this world and

is already in

store for us,

already prepared,

we would easily

fall into

idolatry

because of our

workings,

because of

what we want

to build and

what we want

to see and

what we want

to achieve in

our lives and

in the community

around us.

Or, if we

find that the

community doesn't

bend our will,

then we'll be in

despair and we'll

be like, oh,

this is no use.

We would never be

able to achieve the

things that we

want to achieve.

But the reason

why we work for

the good of all

and we don't give

up is because of

this hope that we

have, that God

will remember,

what we do,

that we will

reap eternal

life at the

proper time if

we don't give

up.

That's why I

love Edmund's

story.

He talks about

working with the

kids and being

involved and I've

had the chance to

see the opportunity

to be involved

with that and to

see that.

And I love the

fact that here at

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