Community… In the Image of God

Will you please join me this morning in reading this morning's liturgy? It's on the screens above.

So, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,

complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Have this mind among yourself, which is yours in Christ Jesus.

Though he was in the form of God, he did not count himself a thing to be grasped,

but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in likeness of men.

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.

So that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under earth,

and every tongue confess, Jesus Christ is Lord.

Glory of God the Father. Amen.

Amen.

Welcome to Watermark.

We're so glad to have you here with us this morning.

We're a big family here.

We're a very big family this morning.

So like families do when we get together, we turn around and we greet each other.

We say hello.

Try and find someone new and introduce yourself.

Morning.

The scripture reading today comes from Genesis chapters 1 to 3 and Paul's letter to the Philippines.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

Please follow along in your bulletins.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep.

And the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.

Then God said,

Let there be lights.

And there was light.

God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.

God called the light day.

And the darkness he called night.

And there was evening, and there was morning.

One day, then God said,

Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness.

And let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the cattle, and over all the earth,

and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

God created man in his own image.

In the image of God, he created man in his own image.

In the image of God, he created man in his own image.

Male and female, he created man in his own image.

God blessed them.

And God said to them,

Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it.

And rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

God saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good.

And there was evening, and there was morning.

The sixth day.

By the seventh day, God completed his work which he had done.

And he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.

Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.

Because in it, he rested from all his work which God had created and made.

The Lord God planted a garden towards the east in Eden, and there he placed the man whom he had formed.

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes,

and that the tree was desirable to make one wise,

she took from its fruit and ate, and she gave also to her husband with her.

And he ate.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened.

And they knew that they were naked.

And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Then the Lord God called to the man and said to him,

Where are you?

He said,

I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.

And he said,

Who told you that you were naked?

Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?

The man said,

The woman whom you gave to me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.

Then the Lord God said to the woman,

What is this you have done?

And the woman said,

The serpent deceived me, and I ate.

From Philippians 2,

Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ,

if there is any consolation of love,

if there is any fellowship of the Spirit,

if any affection and compassion,

make my joy complete by being of the same mind,

maintaining the same love,

united in Spirit,

and intent on one purpose.

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit,

but with humility of mind,

regard one another as more important than yourselves.

Do not merely look out for your own personal interests,

but also for the interests of others.

Have this attitude in yourselves,

which was also in Christ Jesus,

who, although he existed in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God as a thing to be grasped,

but emptied himself,

taking the form of a bondservant,

and being made in the likeness of men.

Being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,

even death on a cross.

For this reason also,

God highly exalted him,

and bestowed on him the name which is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus,

every knee will bow,

of those who are in heaven and on earth,

and under the earth,

and that every tongue will confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

And this is God's word.

How are you guys doing?

Wow, that's good.

First time people spoke out like that.

She didn't want me to say it again, right?

That's what it is.

Hey, so, welcome to Watermark Church.

This is your first time, or your second time.

I'm Tobin.

I'm one of the pastors here.

And last week we've been talking about,

we talked about an invitation to a party,

and the party was the kingdom of God.

The party was in the kingdom.

The party was heaven,

and we talked about the invitation to that party.

And I got a lot of feedback on that issue,

and people asked a lot of questions.

Some of them were asking for their relatives

and their family members,

and they said,

so what you said was that

we can't bring anything to the party.

We have to come,

but we can't come with anything in our hands.

I said, yes, that's not exactly what I said,

but that's what Christ says.

And they said, wow, that's really hard to hear

because we have so many family members

who turn down Christianity

because they can't offer anything to God.

I just kind of cried, right?

When you hear that, you're like, oh my gosh.

And I think that that is something we need to be sure of

and true of when we teach the gospel,

that we come with empty hands.

We come with nothing.

There's another scripture story.

It's almost exactly like when we talked before.

I almost shared it.

It was in Matthew.

And in this story, the same thing happens.

The invitations go out,

and the people deny it.

They say no at the second invite,

and so Christ sends out his workers,

us, his people,

to give the invitation to other people.

And we're told that when everybody gathers in

and the master comes in,

he sees someone in the party dressed not appropriately.

And I've always had a hard time with that passage.

It really kind of bugged me

because the master comes up and says,

well, how did you get in here

if you're not appropriately dressed?

And he goes, well, I just walked in.

And he said to his servants,

you have to get him out of there to make him leave.

And again, what Jesus was trying to share to the people

is that when we come to God's party,

when we come to heaven,

and I didn't know this until I started studying

that in Middle Eastern parties,

really big parties,

you would walk in and the guest,

the host, would give you clothes.

I mean, you would walk in

and you would shed your clothes

and the host would give you amazing clothes

of gold and linen and some of the best things.

And the thought behind the parable was

is that the only way you can get into heaven

is being dressed by God,

being dressed in his mercy,

in his grace, in the blood of Christ.

Sometimes, again, we forget that

because we want to wear our own clothes

and we want to dress ourselves.

You know, when he started to plant,

to pray about starting this church,

we prayed for a long time.

And we said that we wanted to start a community.

We wanted to start a family.

We wanted to start a church.

We didn't want to start a club.

Christina's dad came here in the early 60s

and they lived for 30 years here

and Christina was born here.

And one of the first things

that Don told me about Hong Kong

before I even came,

when we were thinking about coming,

is he says that Hong Kong

is a place you can get clubbed to death.

I had to think about that for a minute,

what that really meant.

But there's clubs everywhere, you know.

And we said, you know,

God isn't calling us to start a club.

He's calling us to start a church.

And a club and a church are very different, right?

So you go to a club

and people really don't even really know you.

I mean, you can step in and step out

and no one even knows who you are.

They're not going to ask you messy questions in the clubs.

You know, you're not going to be doing Pilates

and the guy's going to look over and say,

hey, dude, you're here like every night this week

for three hours doing exercise.

What's going on with your family?

You look at them like,

that's none of your business.

Who are you to ask about my family?

But in a church,

in a community, in a family,

we ask those type of questions.

We get messy sometimes.

Sometimes it's scary.

It's why people come in and they leave.

They come in and they leave.

They don't want to be known by anybody.

They want a club.

In a club, people don't notice you

unless your phone goes off

or you park in their parking space

or you don't pay your bill.

But we realized in a church,

God has called us to notice everyone.

The Greek word often used for church

in community is the word storge,

S-T-O-R-G-E, storge.

It's one of the four love languages.

And this language is very,

this word is very specific.

It talks about relationships

that are happened and developed over time.

It talks about people

who've been in the middle of battle

or they've gone through incredible events

like hospital visits

and kids and relationships being broken up

and all of these things.

And as people are on this journey together

and those relationships,

storge happens,

depth in love and caring happen.

And that's what God has called the church to be.

So my encouragement to you is

don't just come and go.

Because if you do,

we miss out

on everything you have to offer.

We, the church,

are less

because you don't serve.

We, the church,

are less

because you're not known.

We, the church,

are not what God meant for us to be

because you're not using your talents

and people don't know you

and that you're not in community.

And I know some of you are freaking out

when you hear this

and you're going,

wow, my community is my yacht club

or my community is my cricket team

or my community is my workplace

and I don't really need another community.

But that's not what Scripture talks about

when it says storge

in church.

But it talks about a community of depth

and understanding

and being known.

One of the greatest,

most famous studies done

on community

and relationships

was done by a Harvard social scientist.

It's called the Alameda County Study

and it took 7,000 people

over a nine-year period of time.

And after this study,

he found a couple things.

He found that people who are most isolated

are three times more likely to die

than people who are very connected relationally.

The study found that men tend to experience

greater health benefits

if they are around women,

but women have not,

had no need

or had to experience

no significant health benefits

being around men.

It's a fact.

It's scientific, right?

So this means, guys,

that while you need women

to teach you how to eat

and to comb your hair

and remember to zip your fly up

and all those things,

women have no need of men,

which I feel like we all knew that

a long time ago, right?

So I'm not teaching anything else

differently or anything like that.

They discovered that people

who had bad health habits,

that they were smokers,

they ate a lot of fast food,

they ate sugars,

they ate sodas,

they were obese

or almost obese,

they were out of shape.

People who had bad health habits

but strong relational connections

lived significantly longer

than people with great health habits

but who were isolated.

So in other words,

they found that it was better

to eat M&Ms and brownies

and drink massive amounts

of Diet Coke

and do it with good friends.

It was healthier

than you for to eat broccoli

and drink water alone.

Scientific fact.

Okay, so I just had to put that

in there for my wife.

It is a scientific fact

and we need to remember that.

Another study by the JAMA,

the Journal of American Medicine

Medical Association,

they took 276 volunteers

and they infected them

with a virus that produces

the common cold.

In the study,

they found out that people

with strong emotional connections,

deeper emotional relationships,

did four times better

than fighting off the illness

than those who were isolated.

Those with better community

were less susceptible to colds.

They shed the cold virus quicker.

They produced less mucus

than relationally unconnected people.

I'm not making this up.

This is true.

In other words,

less connected people,

people not in community

with others

or more snottier

than people who have deep

emotional relationships

and they're in community.

And we can go on and on.

I found all these things

and I thought they were hilarious.

But what they're saying basically

is what we've said all along

that the Bible says

that you and I,

we were made for community.

We were made to know each other.

We were made to be known

for each other.

We were made to care

for each other.

We were made for community.

C.S. Lewis said that

Christians commonly say

that they want a relationship

with God,

that they want to get to know

Jesus better,

but often they say

they want to do it by themselves

because people in the church

really bother them.

But Lewis went on and he said,

but you will never be able

to do that by yourself.

To know Jesus better

and to grow in your faith,

you must be deeply involved

in the church,

the Christian community,

with strong relationships

of love and accountability.

Only if you are part

of that community

with believers

seeking to resemble,

serve,

and love Jesus

will you ever get

to know Jesus better

and grow into his likeness.

Everything says

that we were made

for community.

Let me give you

a little context here

in the scriptures.

The Bible

was written to a people

who were surrounded

by pagan nations.

The scriptures were written

to people who were surrounded

by nations

and religions

and almost all of them

were pluralistic.

Almost all of them

had many gods.

In fact,

the hierarchy

was always something

like this.

Gods,

king,

priest,

artist,

merchants,

slaves,

Aussies.

Always like that.

God,

I love you.

God,

priest,

kings,

priest,

merchants,

artists,

slaves.

And what you see

in these cultures

that only the king

was made

in the image of God.

Only the king

reflected God's glory.

Only the king mattered

in all of these cultures.

People,

if they wanted access

to God,

they had to go

through the king.

If you wanted to see

what God looked like,

you looked at the king

because how the king

looked like

describes how God

looks like.

But then we come

to this passage

in Genesis

and we're told

in the very first chapter,

in the very beginning

of time,

that God makes us

in his own image.

I mean,

the wording

is very,

very deliberate.

I mean,

he's talking

and he's told

that God

who existed

in community

from the beginning

of time,

from eternity past,

God in community,

Father,

Son,

and Holy Spirit.

He comes in

and he creates man,

male and female,

a plurality,

a community

with relationships.

And as he does that,

he says,

this is who I am.

This is what reflects

my personality.

This is how I am.

I mean,

you see it as God

in the scripture.

He says,

the God creates us

in his image.

In the Hebrew word

there is Salem.

It basically means

his image,

T-S-E-L-E-M.

And so God makes us

in his image

and for the first time

we look at everyone

around us

and we realize

it's not just

the king.

It's not just

the ruler

but God has given

dignity

to everyone.

That everyone

is made

in his image.

And when these words

are spoken

in scripture,

everything

changes.

Cultures change.

History changes.

As people are looked at,

changes.

All human relationships,

all interacting

with each other.

For the first time

we look at people

in the history

of mankind

and we see

male,

female,

white,

black,

slave,

free,

all of them

are equal.

I've been thinking

about this a lot.

And I've been wondering

what would it be like

if there was a church

or a community

who treated

everyone equally?

what would it be like

if there was a community

that when someone

walked in the door

the first thought

that they thought

on their head was

and their mind was

this person

is made

in God's image.

What would the atmosphere

be like

in that church?

What would people

think as they came

to visit that church?

What would the community

think when they

looked at that church

and they realized

that man,

everybody in that church

treats everybody

like they're the image

of a king.

In the olden days

and ancient days

the kings made

these big busts

and statues of them

and you see them

everywhere

and they placed

their image

everywhere.

Every part

of their kingdom

had their bust

or their image

of it.

And the purpose

was so that

when you came

in to the community

when you walked

across the boundaries

of the country

and you saw

the image

you knew right away

who was in control.

You knew right away

who the ruler was.

You knew right away

what the gods

would look like

because you could

look at the king.

But in Genesis

for the very first time

we're told

that God

makes us

and he places

his image

in us

you and I

and he places

us all around

his creation

so that whenever

anybody walks

into God's creation

they see us

and they see

what God looks like

how he acts

how he should act

what should he do.

The scripture

goes on

and it says

that we weren't

just created

by ourselves

but that we were

created in community.

In the passage

when we see

Salem

means something

very special.

Calvin talked

about it a lot

a lot of the reformers

talked about it

but what he talks

about is this

that you and I

are mirrors

and our purpose

in this world

is to glorify

the Lord

is the chief

and the man

and as we stand

there is a mirror

here is God

here is us

and here is creation

God shines

his goodness

his grace

his love

his caring

it hits us

as a mirror

and we live

that out

and people see

that on creation.

Are you following me?

And then when people

see

wow

that church

is amazing

or wow

that community

is incredible

or see how they

care about each other

see how they

love each other

see how they

do that

and they get

nothing in return

that praise

and that worship

comes up

and it hits me

as a mirror

and it reflects

back to God.

And so our

whole life

the reason you

and I

were made

the reason

that we were made

in the image

of God

is so that we

would reflect

his presence

not as a single

mirror

but that we'd

reflect his presence

within community

with each other

as we lived

our life

because the passage

says in Genesis

from the very

beginning of time

that God

lived in community

there was a

father

there was a

son

there was a

Holy Spirit

and I think

sometimes as

Christians

we forget that

especially as

American Christians

as Western

Christians

we think so

individually

we think about

ourself

we think it's

just about me

and we don't

realize that

when God

writes his

word

to his

people

he's talking

to us

in a

community

another way

to say this

is

unless you're

from the

south

you're reading

your Bible

wrong

that's just

a fact

because when

God wrote

in Hebrew

and in Greek

and in Aramaic

and used

the words

you

actually what

the word

meant was

y'all

I'm serious

but the

translators

they weren't

from the

south

so they

didn't

have

y'all

they just

put

you

and so

when we

read that

we say

okay

how are

you doing

how is

your

quiet

time

how are

you doing

sharing

with people

what's

going on

here

how are

things

happening

and we

miss

we miss

community

because when

God

created it

when he

penned the

words

he said

y'all

okay

repeat after

me

y'all

y'all

okay

so now

you know

it wasn't

just you

it was

y'all

and so

you see

you know

you see

in

and there's

we could go

for hours

on this

topic

in many

sermons

and we're

just kind of

skimming the

pop because

we're setting

up for the

next couple

sermons

but in

scripture

this is

deep

with theology

and so

when sin

comes in

and sin

comes into

the world

which we

read

it comes

in and it

changes

everything

it breaks

us

it breaks

our relationship

with God

it breaks

how we

see other

people

we no longer

see people

as made

in God's

image

we see

ourselves

as God

we look

at our

mirrors

and they're

broken

and we

say

you know

everybody's

giving me

these praise

and I

should be

saying

yeah God

God

God gave

me the

gifts

God gave

me the

talents

but you

know

in reality

God really

didn't do

that

because it

all came

to me

because I'm

I'm working

really hard

I've studied

incredibly hard

and yeah

yeah yeah

but it's

really me

and so

when that

sin comes

in and

breaks

our

mirror

we look

at our

mirror

and we

forget

why God

made us

and so

we start

thinking thoughts

like well

maybe I

should be

God

maybe I

know what's

better for me

than God

I mean you've

heard this in

counseling sessions

all the time

you say hey

you know you

shouldn't be

doing this

and scripture

says you

shouldn't be

doing these

things

and you go

yeah I

know that

but I

know what's

best for me

and I

think we

should do

this

the mirror's

broken

I mean we

deal with

these things

and we deal

with these

struggles

and we try

to be God

and the question

I want to ask

ourselves is

how are we

doing with

that

I mean how

how is your

world doing

with you as

God

I mean we

look around

and we see

wars and

we see

conflict and

we see

hatred and

we see

husbands

dominating

wives and

we see

wives dominating

children and

we see all

of these things

and that's

just in the

church

that's not

even among

the people

who don't

know God

we want to

rule on

our own

we want

to be

our own

God

and all

of our

philosophers

and people

who teach

us

affirm that

I love

philosophy

and as I

read it

and think

about it

you can see

it even

hundreds of

years later

played out

in our

lives

Rousseau

said this

and he was

around in the

French Revolution

he was one of

the thinkers

for the French

Revolution

these are his

words

you are an

individual

with a mind

you don't

really need

others

you don't

really need

God

you don't

need his

grace to

help you

you don't

need to

look outward

to God

you need

to look

inward

to yourself

you're not

really a

sinner

you are

basically a

good person

what you

need to do

is not

seek God's

love

but you

need to

love yourself

you need to

not seek

God's

acceptance

through

Jesus

but you

need to

learn how

to accept

yourself

you ever

heard anybody

say that

I hear those

thoughts

echo through

my mind

as I walk

through my

day

William James

a well-known

psychologist

said it this

way

not only are

you a pretty

good person

not only are

all the answers

that you need

not only are

the answers

in you

instead of

God

you don't

really need

God or

others

at all

what you

need is a

highly trained

specialized

psychiatrist

you need a

therapist

you need a

psychologist

you don't

need God

but you

need me

how's that

I read that

over and over

like what

the heck

and then

finally a

guy you

probably never

heard of

before but

you hear his

words echoed

in your

bank

in your

law firm

in your

university

in your

home

at the

club

Abraham

Maslow

he's an

American

psychologist

he wrote

this

Maslow

hierarchies

needs

and he

said this

you do

not need

people or

God

the greatest

need is to

glorify

yourself

self

actualization

achieve your

potential

make all the

money you

can be as

healthy as you

can be as

successful as

you can be as

powerful as you

can be as

influential as

you can be as

affluent as

possible people

will slow you

down

use them

only if

necessary

and you ask

the question

is it any

wonder

why our

world is

the way it

is

you ask the

question is

any wonder as

those thoughts

go through me

that my

relationships are

so broken

and so

tainted

and not

doing good

I remember

as a young

Christian I

went to

church

and I was

going to take

some friends

who just

came to

Christ

and as we

walked into

this church

in the deep

south we

were in the

back and the

elders and

deacons stopped

me and they

said you can

go in here

but your

black friends

can't

we don't

like them

the mirror

breaks

20 years

later I'm

in Austin

Texas

and God

seen this

amazing

amazing

ministry

of people

coming to

Christ

as mainland

Chinese

so I

thought hey

I'm going

to take

them to a

Chinese

church

and so I

take them

to a

Chinese

church

and at

the end

of the

service

the deacons

come up

to me

again

and they

look at

me and

say you

know you're

welcome to

come

but you

can't bring

them back

anymore

I'm like

but they're

Chinese

this is a

Chinese church

you should

be all

welcome

he goes

yeah but

they're FOB

I'm like

what

they're fresh

off the

boat

bring them

back after

they're educated

bring them

back after

they know

how to

speak

English

properly

and our

mirror

breaks

and we

try to

reflect

God's

goodness

and his

glory

but sin

has come

in and

sin

has shattered

everything in

our life

and in our

community

and we

don't understand

what it means

to reflect

God's image

we don't

understand

what it

looks like

to be

like God

we don't

understand

what it

looks like

to take

his worship

and his

grace

and give

it out

to people

and we

don't

understand

what it

means like

to reflect

his praise

and worship

back

because we

have a

broken

mirror

and the

amazing thing

to me about

this story

is it doesn't

just end

because God

continues to

pursue us

he continues

to pursue

you and me

he sends

his son

to earth

his son

comes in

and think

about this

for the

first time

ever

God breaks

up his

community

because from

eternity past

the father

son and

holy spirit

were together

and all of a

sudden the

son leaves

that trinity

so he leaves

not the

trinity

but he leaves

the proximity

of them

he leaves

his home

and he

comes to

earth

and he

walks around

us as men

and he

shows us

what it

means to

reflect

God's

image

he walks

around us

and he

lives

like one

of us

and his

whole purpose

is to

point us

to God

to point us

back to the

father

and to die

on the

cross

so that you

and I

might come

back to him

and as he

does this

the Bible

says that our

relationships

are healed

that as our

relationship

with God

is healed

our

relationships

with all

the other

people

around us

begin to

be healed

and so

Christ comes

into our

lives

and he

takes this

broken mirror

and he

starts to

heal it

and the

scripture says

it's never

going to be

totally healed

until we

get to

heaven

but the

focus on

this and

what he

says to

us is that

he wants

us to

do it

within

community

that's why

he left

the church

here

the book

of Acts

is all

about the

church

going out

about people

being restored

about healing

happening

about relationships

being renewed

about communities

being made

the book of Acts

tells all of the

story about how

Christ came

and he

jump-started

this community

so that we

could understand

why we're

here

and what our

purpose is

I got to be

honest with you

sometimes I just

like living in the

kingdom of Tobin

and sometimes I

like being God

and I like

dealing with those

things and there's

times I like the

praise I don't want

to reflect it back

to God

sometimes as I

look and I

walk and you

are like this

too because

scripture says

that all of us

were like this

before we came

to know him

and many of us

are like this

after we come

to know him

but we walk

around God's

creation and the

one thought in

our mind is how

do we put our

image on

everything how do

we make our

workplace look

like Tobin

how do we make

our community

look like

Ian

how do we make

our family

look like

Kip

and we struggle

with that and

Christ continually

comes into our

life and he

continually woos us

and shows us who

the father is

and why we're

here and how we

can be made whole

and new again

and what the

purpose of our

community is like

how we doing

does this make

sense

so you were

made in God's

image

Imago Dei

you were made

so that when

creation sees

God they see

you they see

an image of

grace and

mercy

sin comes in

it breaks all

those things

and now we

cannot act the

way that we

should do

okay I'm going

to fly through

this because we

got five minutes

the scripture

that you read

in Philippians

tells the story

of a church

the church was

doing very well

when Paul came

to the church

he couldn't find

any Christian

men there

he went to the

river and he

found some women

working there

and through these

women he started

a community

a church in

Philippi

Philippi was

this amazing

city it was a

military city

but it was very

popular to the

Romans

there was a

huge battle

that was fought

right outside of

that and ever

since then the

Romans treated

everybody in

Philippi just

like a Roman

citizen

and so Philippi

was on this

trade route

much like

Hong Kong

all the trade

going to

Rome had to

go through

Philippi

and everybody

in Philippi

became prosperous

and prideful

and wealthy

and they came

to a point

even within

the church

that they

forgot what

it meant

to be the

family of God

and walk

in God's

image

when you read

that passage

you see three

things

you see what

does it look

like to be

in God's

image

you see why

did the image

break and what

happened in

that church

and you see how

do we come

back to it

the what is

very easy

the what is

unity and

community

verses one

and two

the Bible

says that God

is always about

this

bringing people

together

one of the

names of

Satan is

Diablo

Diablo means

in Latin

to rip apart

that's why

in the garden

the first thing

that Satan

attacked was

community

the man

and the wife

but God

says in this

passage

that what a

healthy church

looks like

what a healthy

community looks

like is this

together

now in verses

three and four

we see that

there were some

people in this

church

they started

arguing with

each other

they started

asking the

question well

whose church

is this really

and whose image

should be stamped

on it

and this argument

spread to two

different groups

of people

and they

started

fighting each

other

can you

imagine that

people in

God's

church

dividing

the church

over whose

image should

be stamped

on this

church

and in

verses three

and four

he basically

says why

they did it

and he says

they did it

because they

were selfish

they were just

thinking of

themselves

and he uses

a very interesting

word here

he says

empty conceit

in Greek

it means

kino

doksi

doksi

means praise

kino means

empty

he says

they were

doing it

because they

were empty

and they

wanted praise

they wanted

worship

they wanted

everybody to

look at them

they wanted

people to

see them

they didn't

want to

reflect it

back to

God

they wanted

them

them

them

them

and Paul

says

because you're

focused on

yourself

because you

want the

praise

because you

want the

glory

because you

forgotten

why God

made you

and you're

not reflecting

it back

to God

everything's

out of

control

community

is destroyed

how

how do

we bring

it back

verses 5

through 8

have this

attitude in

yourself

which is

also in

Christ

Jesus

who although

he existed

in the

form of

God

did not

regard

equality

with God

a thing

to be

grasped

but he

emptied

himself

taking

the form

of a

bond

servant

and he

made

in the

likeness

a man

being

found

in the

appearance

of a

man

he

humbled

himself

by becoming

obedient

even to

the point

of the

cross

the people

were asking

Paul how

do we

get back

to normal

how do we

regain our

image how do we

understand our

function how do we

get back to this

and Paul said

just a very

simple answer

look at

Christ

look at

Christ

you've

become so

prideful in

your work you

become so

prideful in

your home you

become so

prideful in

the church

you've lost

the purpose

of why

you're here

and you're

trying to

put your

image on

everything

and Paul

says the

only way that

you can fix

yourself is