Humility

Good afternoon, good evening. It's great to see you all, great to be back.

You may, most of you know that last week was my first Sunday back after being gone for four months.

I was away on a four-month sabbatical thanks to the incredible generosity of this church.

And two of those months we were more or less here.

The first month we were in and out of D.C.

We did a couple of little trips, spent some time in the woods in West Virginia.

And then on the back end we came back. Our kids started school.

We transitioned back to being here.

But the middle, those middle two months, we spent traveling abroad in Europe with our family.

And I can absolutely tell you as one who is from time to time maybe prone to a little hyperbole.

This is not hyperbole.

It was the absolute best experience of my life.

Hands down.

It was amazing.

We traveled.

We were based in the northeast of France thanks to the generosity of some people there.

We had a house.

We had a car.

And so we made no less than 12 road trips over the course of that two-month period.

So we saw much of France, the eastern side of France.

We saw a lot of northern Italy.

We went hiking and exploring in the Alps.

It was the trip of a lifetime.

And before we left, we told people we were doing this.

And they said, well, sabbaticals are supposed to be restful.

They're supposed to be relaxing.

And you're traveling in Europe with three young children.

That sounds really stressful and hard.

And they were exactly right.

It was incredibly stressful and incredibly hard, but so much fun.

So much fun.

We began to realize how stressful this trip was going to be, how challenging it would be on day one.

We left.

We packed up.

We did an overnight flight from D.C. to Munich.

The plan was to sleep overnight.

We'd be refreshed and ready to go the next day.

Didn't sleep at all.

Nobody got any sleep except for Emmeline, who had the best attitude of anyone on the trip, including me.

She's one.

And so we fly overnight.

We get into Munich.

We're exhausted.

All three kids are feeling sick.

We're groggy.

And so we're in the airport.

And we realize, as we're kind of managing our kids, that there's been a gate change.

And we realize that our plane is about to take off.

And our gate has literally moved to the other side of the airport.

And so we look at each other in a blind panic.

And we say, we've got to get there.

And so we all just grab bags.

And we're throwing bags into our kids' hands.

And we all just start running.

And Laura and Maddox and Emmeline in the stroller, they just take off like lightning.

And they're gone.

And I'm yelling after them, go, go, get there, get there.

And then I turn around to tell Riley to run.

And Riley, Riley has lost most of the color in his face.

And he's about a kind of a light greenish color at this point, kind of a pale green.

And he says, Dad, I feel really sick.

And I said, we've got to go, man.

Let's just go.

And so we start running, right?

And I'm running.

And Laura's gone, you know.

And I keep looking back at Riley.

And I'm like, come on, a little further.

And he's got his, like, backpack on and his little bear.

And he's like, but I feel really sick.

And I'm like, you've just got to go a little further.

And when we get to the plane, you can relax.

You'll feel better.

And I'm like, come on, man.

And we're running.

And then I turn back to see if he's with me.

And he just stops.

And he's holding his bear.

And he just looks at me.

And then he just heaves all over the ground.

I mean, and I'm talking Munich Airport.

Like, there's stores.

There's restaurants.

There's hundreds of travelers.

It's packed shoulder to shoulder.

And we're right in the middle.

Beautiful.

Not just clean tile floor, but, like, German clean tile floor.

Spotless, you know.

And he's just everywhere.

And so, and then we're both standing there frozen.

And I look at him and I say, do you feel better?

And he kind of says, yeah.

And then we both look around to see if anybody saw what just happened.

And then I look at Riley and I say, we got to get out of here.

And then we just take off running.

And he starts running with it.

He says, but we did a bad thing.

And I said, I know.

It's my fault.

I'll explain on the plane.

And we made it to the plane.

And I try to explain why that was kind of okay, but not really.

And, you know, the kind of funny thing is, before this, one of my highest resolutions and goals for the sabbatical is that it would be a time for me to really be an amazing dad.

I decided I'm going to be the dad I've always wanted to be.

I'm going to knock it out of the park.

I'm going to double down on being the dad that they need.

And, you know, day one, right?

Not my best moment.

Not going to make the highlight reel of parenting, right?

But it was almost as though God was saying to me, if you're going to be the kind of dad I want you to be, the first thing that you need is a little humility.

And it was very humbling, right?

And the reason I tell you that story is because I think that God says something similar to his church, to us, in the beginning of Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

I think that God is saying there, particularly in verse 3, if you're going to be the kind of church that I want you to be in this world,

if you're going to be the kind of church that is willing and able to love and to serve and to give sacrificially and generously of your time and of your possessions,

if you're going to be the kind of church who's able to bring healing where it's most needed and go to the uttermost parts, right?

If you're going to be the kind of church that is able to hold aloft and glorify the name of Jesus Christ,

the first thing that you need is a little humility.

It's a little humility.

So we're going to look at Romans chapter 12, this great chapter.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

We're primarily going to focus on verse 3, and we're going to talk a little bit about humility in the church.

We're going to talk about the need for humility, why this matters.

We're going to talk about the source of humility, where it comes from.

And then finally, we'll talk about the fruit of humility in the lives of believers in the church.

What's the impact of this?

Why should we care?

So Romans chapter 12, verse 3.

Romans 12:3

Let's pray.

Our Father, we thank you for your word, and we thank you that although we most of the time forget,

most of the time don't believe this,

we actually need it more than we need food, water,

that the most important thing, the most important need is your word

because that is what enables us to be in fellowship with you,

to be able to hear your voice,

to have you speak,

and to bring the same voice that brought order out of chaos,

that brought life out of the grave.

We need that in our own hearts.

We pray that your Holy Spirit would make that possible.

In the name of your Son, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

So humility, the need for humility,

why is it so important?

Why talk about this tonight?

Paul, if you know anything about Romans,

spends 11 chapters laying out what I would consider to be

the most theologically profound explanation of the gospel ever written.

11 chapters.

And when he gets to chapter 12,

he shifts and he begins to talk about the so what.

If you believe the gospel,

if you begin to live out the truths of the gospel,

this is what's going to happen to you.

And in verses 1 and 2 of chapter 12,

he says essentially total complete transformation,

the entire renewal of your mind,

of your imagination,

everything is going to begin to shift.

Now where does all of that begin?

Well, that brings us to verse 3.

That total whole life transformation begins this way.

For by the grace given to me,

I say to everyone among you,

that means everybody in the church,

not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think,

but to think with sober judgment,

each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

In other words, all of this radical transformation,

and if you go down in the chapter,

all of the willingness to use our gifts to serve others,

all of the willingness even to love and to serve our enemies,

all of that begins with a shift in how we see ourselves.

Our self-perception has to change.

More specifically, the gospel has to knock us down a few pegs in our own estimation.

Now, I grew up in the 80s and 90s,

and the 80s were the kind of peak for something called the self-esteem movement.

They continued into the 90s, into the new century.

They, I think, continue in the online world today.

But the self-esteem movement was essentially this.

It was the idea that the best thing we can do for our kids

is to heap praise and affirmation on them.

We need to protect them from criticism.

We need to protect them and insulate them from adverse consequences.

And so, for instance, playing games with kids where there are winners and losers,

that was discouraged because some kids might have to deal with losing.

And so it was very much about building and affirming and encouraging.

If you've ever seen the Saturday Night Live skit with Stuart Smalley,

who does the daily affirmation,

what is it, I'm good enough, I'm smart enough,

and doggone it, people like me.

Right?

That's the self-esteem movement in a nutshell.

And so I grew up in the midst of this.

It continues online today.

People put a persona out into the public eye for everyone to see.

And the implicit expectation is that

everyone around you should heap affirmation on that self-expression.

And if there is any hint of pushback or critique,

it is seen as being among the greatest evils.

Right?

So this is the culture that I grew up in.

It's the culture that I think continues to permeate our public life in certain ways.

And it's interesting to think about that

because that is part of how people criticize Christianity.

People will point to verses like Romans 12.3,

don't think so highly of yourself.

And they'll say,

see, this is why I don't like Christianity.

It's not good for your self-esteem.

It actually gives you and encourages low self-esteem.

But what we need to see is that

underneath the sugar candy shell

of the self-esteem movement,

there is a rotten and, dare I say, wicked core.

Here's the problem with this entire way of thinking.

Living in this world as a human being is extraordinarily difficult.

It's extraordinarily difficult.

Because as much as we like to think,

especially among more privileged classes,

that life is about pursuing happiness and fulfillment,

the reality that most people, I think, across history would agree with

is that life, if anything, is suffering.

Life is extraordinarily hard.

And life forces you to face your inadequacies,

your failures,

your most embarrassing mistakes,

your most besetting sins.

You can't live long without having to come to terms

with those realities in your own life.

And the cruelty of the self-esteem movement

and that entire way of thinking

is that it tells you

your best way of dealing with those things

in your life is to ignore them.

And to minimize them

and to bury them

and wallpaper over them

with platitudes.

And this does enormous damage.

I think that what we've come to see

since the height of the 80s

is that this approach,

this shallow, feel-good sentimentality,

does not actually produce

healthy, integrated, mature people.

It produces brittle, delicate,

underdeveloped people.

It produces people who cannot handle criticism,

people who are threatened by the success of others,

people who have a very hard time admitting

that anything about themselves

is anything less than amazing.

So what Paul is saying is this.

He's saying that in order to live

and even to flourish

in a world like this

as human beings,

we don't need a high self-esteem.

We need an accurate self-assessment.

We need to be able to see

and embrace

and live into reality.

Even if it's painful.

We need a way to do that.

And so the real question

that this raises is this.

How is it possible

to fully face

and own

and accept

my worst failures,

my most besetting sins,

my most embarrassing moments

and mistakes?

How can I do that

and still live with myself

and even love myself?

How is that possible?

And that leads us

to the source

of Christian humility.

Paul is giving us

that answer

in this verse.

He says this.

Think about yourself

with sober judgment,

each according

to the measure

of faith

that God has assigned.

Now,

when he says

think of yourself

with sober judgment

according to the measure

of faith,

what's he talking about?

Well,

that measure of faith

is what he spent

11 chapters laying out.

That's the gospel.

That God has gifted

each of us

with a measure

of faith

in the gospel.

So he says

that needs to be

your yardstick.

Does anybody know

what a yardstick is?

Yeah.

It's a stick

that's a yard long

that you use

to measure things.

That's your plumb line.

Do you know

what a plumb line is?

Yeah.

It's a string

with a weight on it

that you use

to tell what's

actually up

and what's actually down.

It's very helpful

if you're cutting down

trees in the woods

to know which way

the tree is going to fall.

Right?

So he's saying

the gospel needs to be

your plumb line.

It needs to be

your yardstick.

In other words,

it needs to be

your objective unit

or standard of measurement

that will then give you

an accurate read

of yourself.

How does this work

in practice?

Well,

the first thing

I think we need to realize

is that we already

have standards

of measurement

that we use

to assess ourselves.

For most of us,

that's other people.

Right?

If I want to know

how I'm doing

in a particular area

of my life,

the quickest,

easiest way

to do that,

to evaluate myself,

is to look at other people.

And social media

enables this to happen

a million times

more than it used to.

But I can look

and whatever my value

is that I'm trying

to evaluate myself

based on,

you know,

am I good looking?

Am I successful?

Am I wealthy?

Is my,

where I am

in terms of my life stage,

is that where I should be

at this age?

You know,

am I educated enough?

Am I smart?

All of the things

that we might care about.

The quickest,

easiest way

to figure that out

is to look

at other people around you.

And a lot of us do that.

And what that results in

is if you're around

a lot of people

who are,

you perceive to be

in a worse place

than you,

you feel good about yourself.

If you're around

a lot of people

who are in,

as you perceive,

a better place,

you feel bad about yourself.

That's why

when people around you

succeed or have

big breaks in their jobs

or, you know,

get married

and start having kids

or have good things happen,

you're kind of happy for them

and you kind of hate their guts.

You know,

if you can be totally honest.

And it's hard

to really celebrate

those things.

Right?

This is human nature

to compare ourselves,

but it's profoundly unhelpful

because it's completely arbitrary.

It's completely arbitrary.

It's just based on

some random selection

of people

that just happen

to be around you

at the time.

Right?

It's completely arbitrary.

So what we need to see

is that the gospel offers

a far better way

of assessing ourselves

because it is a perfect

combination of two things.

It's a perfect combination

of truth

and love.

truth and love together.

On the one hand,

the gospel tells us

the truth about ourselves,

the hard,

unvarnished,

unpopular,

painful truth

about us

as human beings.

Right?

It tells us

that we are

completely

and utterly corrupt.

It tells us

that we are broken.

It tells us

that we are hopelessly lost.

Now,

that doesn't preach very well

and it's not

a very popular message.

And particularly,

honestly,

I think in the West,

in societies like ours,

that runs completely

against what most people

think of

when they think of

human nature.

The prevailing idea now

is that children

are born

pure,

unspoiled,

undefiled.

They are full of potential.

And when we say,

well,

where does corruption

come from?

I think the prevailing answer

is to point to institutions.

Well,

it's institutions

that are corrupt.

And they corrupt people.

And they have

a corrupting influence.

So if you have

corruption in people,

there's an institution

somewhere to blame.

Right?

What's interesting

about that way

of thinking is this.

If you look

throughout history,

I think you can make

a pretty strong case.

I don't think I have

to really convince you

that virtually

every human institution

ever created

has been corrupt

on some level.

Some a little bit,

some a lot.

Churches,

governments,

educational systems,

all of it,

has had some level

of corruption.

They're built up,

they do some stuff

in the world,

and then they fall apart.

That's virtually

every institution.

So the question

then becomes,

well,

why is every institution

created by human beings

corrupt?

Well,

I think the easiest

Occam's razor answer

to that is that

human beings are corrupt,

that we have some

fundamental corruption

in us.

You know,

this idea that human beings

are born

and that children

are pure

and unspoiled

and untainted

in every way

and that we just need

to kind of get out

of their way,

that was popularized

most widely

by Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Rousseau was a huge

proponent of this idea,

really took hold

of the imagination

in the West.

Interestingly enough,

if you know anything

about Rousseau,

in his own life,

the moment his children

were born,

he sent them

to an orphanage.

He never even met them.

I think if Rousseau

had actually been a parent,

he might have

drastically revised

his theories

of human nature

in children.

I think if anybody

questions whether or not

human beings

are inherently corrupt,

they need to have

a two-year-old.

Two-year-olds

can be vicious.

They're sweet,

but they're also violent

and they have really

no conscience

or sense of guilt.

And so they're

like sociopaths.

They're just not

strong enough

or capable enough.

They don't have

enough coordination

to do real damage.

Right?

But they would

if they could.

Right?

So what we need

to understand is

the Bible tells us

this very hard truth

about ourselves.

It tells us

this very painful reality.

It says,

this is the thing

that you need

to admit about yourself.

It's very difficult

to swallow.

And yet,

right along with that

is the love

of the gospel.

And the love

of the gospel

means that God

has gone to

unimaginable lengths

to give us

a new nature.

Right?

The gospel says

that even though

we are hopelessly lost,

God looks at us

and he loves us.

And he says,

I will do whatever

it takes

to gain that person back,

to bring them back

into my arms.

He sends

the thing that he loves

most,

the person he loves

most,

Jesus Christ,

to die

and to suffer,

to redeem

and then to reclaim

the people he loves.

and then he goes

to work

in those people.

Through his Holy Spirit

he begins

a massive

full-scale

renovation,

renovating their hearts.

Right?

So God looks

at each of us

and he says,

I want you

to belong to me.

Not just in some

general sense

but in a very specific

personal sense.

And then the Bible

promises that

as this work

goes on

in our hearts

and in our lives

that one day

we will have

new natures,

no longer corrupt,

no longer broken

but entirely new natures,

new hearts

and we'll be like Jesus

in that way.

Right?

So this is the source

of true humility,

the twin pillars

of God's truth,

the hard truth

but also God's

tremendous

all-encompassing love

and they come together

as grace.

When we talk about grace

it's the bringing together

of the truth

and the love

of God

on the cross.

that's what it is.

So Paul is saying

that needs to be

your gold standard

by which you

examine yourself,

by which you think

about yourself

with sober judgment.

So it works both ways,

right?

If you're tempted

to think too highly

of yourself,

if you're tempted

to sort of

overestimate

your worth and value

relative to people

around you,

if you're the kind

of boss

that only hires people

who are worse than you

so you can feel

better about yourself,

if you tend

to shy away

from criticism

because you have

to feel excellent,

right?

If you're that kind

of person,

then the truth

of the gospel

helps bring that

into perspective.

It says,

whatever your credentials,

whatever your resume

may look like,

whatever level

of education

you achieved,

however much

your job pays you,

you were so lost

and so depraved

that it took

nothing less

than the death

of the Son of God

to save you.

So bring it down

a few notches,

right?

But then on the other hand,

if you're the kind

of person,

I think like a lot

of us are,

who is prone

to self-criticism,

one of the things

that I do

that I hate

is that I will wake

up at 3 o'clock

in the morning

and I won't be able

to go back to sleep

and it is as though

my mind says,

oh good,

you're awake.

I've prepared

10 short films

about the worst things

you've ever done

and I'm just going

to hit play

and I'd love

for you to watch this.

And I'm laying there

thinking that I've

been betrayed

by my own mind,

by my own imagination.

I'm like,

all I want to do

is go to sleep

and this part

of my mind

is like,

yeah,

but there's this film series

and I really want you

to binge watch it

right now.

You're going to binge watch

all the worst things

you've ever done

and I just lay there

thinking about it

and hating myself,

right?

I don't know

if anybody else

does this.

Maybe it's my own

little weird thing

but you know,

the only thing

that I can do

to shake that off

is to begin

to look to the love,

the love of God

and I begin

to counteract

those images

by praying,

by sometimes

in my half awake state

just crying out to God,

I know you love me.

Help me know you love me.

I know you love me.

Help me know you love me.

Help me feel your love.

Tell me a different story

about myself

because I can't handle

this story.

I can't handle

these short films.

These are horror films,

you know.

And that's how

I talk myself

out of those places,

right?

I go back

to the love of God.

I consider myself

with sober judgment

and the love of God

says this,

that you're worth

everything to God.

There's no price

that is too high,

right?

There's no links

that are too far

that no matter

what it costs

and it costs everything,

God paid it with joy

because he wanted you.

That's what

the love of God says,

right?

And so in this way

we're called

to consider ourselves

with sober judgment

and measure ourselves

against these twin pillars

to achieve

an accurate assessment

of who we are

in the kingdom of God.

You know,

it's been said

that humility

is not thinking

less of yourself,

it's thinking

of yourself less.

And I hope you see

that that's really

the point here.

That the movement

that Paul is trying

to catalyze

in our hearts

through the Spirit

is a movement

away from thinking

about ourselves

much at all.

The more we consider

ourselves

with sober judgment

by the standard

of the measure

of faith

that we've been given

in the gospel,

the more we actually

end up thinking

about the gospel.

In other words,

the more I stop

looking at myself

and I start looking

at the cross.

And that's where

humility really begins

to take hold

and begins to actually

permeate

our way of being.

And the more

that happens,

it actually begins

to produce fruit

in our lives.

So the third point

is simply,

what is some of the fruit

that comes out

of this kind of humility?

Well, first it begins

in us.

I'll just tell you

what I've noticed

in people in whom

I see this thing happening.

I see that people

become more open

to admitting

their faults

and mistakes.

I see them

becoming less defensive.

I see people

over the course

of my ministry

who over the years

I just noticed

they become more

receptive to criticism.

The walls

don't immediately

come up.

They're able to pick

those little nuggets

of truth

out of their critiques.

Even if their critiques

come from a bad,

poorly motivated place,

they're able to see truth.

There's a pause

before they fire back

that begins to happen

in people.

I see people

becoming more patient

because they know

that they require patience.

I know that people

have to be tremendously

patient with me.

So I'm a little more patient.

You see people

becoming more compassionate

toward themselves.

Self-compassion.

That's not just sentimentality.

That's not just platitudes.

That comes out of a genuine place

of seeing yourself

through God's eyes.

Bernard of Clairvaux

has that wonderful illustration

of what it is

to grow in the love of God.

And he says,

first out,

we start loving ourselves

for our own sake.

And then we start loving God

for our own sake.

In other words,

we love God

for what he can do for us.

And he says,

but as we grow,

some people come to a place

where they actually begin

to love God

simply for God's sake.

Then he says,

even beyond that

is when you begin

to look back at yourself

and you actually begin

to love yourself

for God's sake.

You begin to see yourself

through his eyes.

Self-compassion.

You see that growing

in people

who are contemplating

themselves

in light of the cross.

And then what happens

is this begins

to radiate out

this kind of grace-centered

humility begins

to produce fruit

in our relationships

with other people.

Right?

We become less preoccupied

with ourselves

and so we begin

to notice

there are actually

other real human beings

around us

and they have needs.

And we begin

to have these moments

where we think,

I think that need

might be more important

than my need.

And we begin

to have these little moments

of genuine selfless concern.

That's why this chapter

goes on to describe

people using the gifts

that God has given them

to serve

and to love

the people around them.

That's the fruit

of this kind

of attitude shift.

Right?

We become less judgmental.

We start to become

willing to forgive things

we never thought

we would forgive

because we know

we need forgiveness.

You know,

there may have been

a time back in your life

when you said,

I can never forgive that.

That was too bad.

It was too far.

It was too much.

And then you begin

to realize

how much you need forgiveness.

You begin to reconsider.

Maybe I can forgive

that person.

Right?

We become more open

to other points of view.

Can you imagine that

in this culture?

Being more open

to other points of view

because you're not as afraid

to admit when you're wrong.

And you realize,

you know,

I don't always get it right.

And that's okay.

I'm a human being.

You become less threatened

by the success of others.

That's a big one.

I had breakfast

earlier this week

with a bunch of pastors

I get together with regularly

and there's one guy

who convenes it

and he's an older,

retired pastor

and he said something

that I love.

He said,

for a long time

in my ministry,

whenever I would meet

another pastor,

I would immediately

look for something

that I didn't like

about that person.

Now,

why would he do that?

Well,

if the person was successful,

he wanted a quick

and easy reason

to discredit

and write that guy off.

So he would say,

well,

you know,

they preach this theology,

it's not a good theology

or they do church this way,

you know,

they do liturgy

or they don't do liturgy

or they're contemporary

or they're too traditional

or they're too focused

on emotions

or they're too intellectual

or they're not diverse enough

or they worship

the idol of diversity

or,

you know,

you could just go on

and on and on

and on and on.

Every reason in the book

to write these people off

so he could feel better

about himself.

And he was alone.

He didn't have any fellowship.

He was alone.

And he says then

later in his ministry

he made a shift

and then when he started

meeting other pastors

who might be potential friends,

even if it was a pastor

of a completely different church,

even if it was a pastor

that made him feel threatened,

he said,

the first thing I would start doing

is I would start looking

for something to like

in that person

to get excited about,

to champion.

And you know what this guy does now

in his retirement?

He is literally building bridges

among all different kinds of pastors

all throughout the city.

He's bringing these people together

in fellowship with one another.

He's doing things that,

you know,

ten years ago

we didn't think was possible

because of that little shift,

because of the humility

that is growing in his heart

because of the cross of Christ.

Right?

And lastly,

humility means that we become

less concerned

with the approval of others

because our confidence comes

from the love

and the approval of God.

And this is an important point

simply because of this.

Some people may hear me say

the church needs to become

more humble

and you say,

well,

I actually think the church

needs to become more bold.

Well,

here's the amazing

almost paradoxical reality

of true humility.

The more humble you become,

the more concerned you are

with this

and the less concerned

you are with this

or with whether or not

other people approve

or disapprove

or like or dislike

who you are

because you know

you have the opinion

of the only one who matters.

And so guess what happens?

You actually become more bold.

You become more courageous.

You become more willing

to say the hard thing,

to hold the line.

Even if it costs you

social capital

because you don't care as much

because you know

it doesn't matter.

Right?

So in this way,

humility actually produces

tremendously courageous

and bold

proclaimers of truth.

And the reason

all this matters

is just to bring this together.

If we're going to be

the kind of community

that God has called us

to be in this city,

if Church of the Advent

is going to be

the kind of community

that is willing to serve,

willing to meet people

in their most hopeless places of need,

if we're going to be

the kind of community

that is able to

and willing to

joyfully and generously give

sacrificially

of our time

and our money

and the things

that God has given us

to help those who need it,

if we're going to be

the kind of church

that is able to proclaim

the full reality

of the gospel,

to hold aloft

and to glorify

the name of Jesus Christ

even when it costs us,

if we're going to be

that kind of community,

it begins with

our own hearts

and our willingness

to allow the gospel

to humble us.

To humble us.

Because frankly,

the social fabric

of our society

is being torn apart.

It's being torn apart.

And you know this.

I don't have to convince you

of this.

I mean,

tribalism,

closed-mindedness,

partisanship,

people are subdividing themselves

into smaller and smaller

and smaller units.

There's very little

common ground anymore.

People are increasingly

balkanized,

atomized.

The thing that we need

to realize

as we look at this,

it's easy to look at it now

and to say,

the world's falling apart,

it's never been this bad.

But the thing that we have

to realize

if you look at history

is that tribalism,

hating and wanting to kill

and destroy people

who aren't of your tribe,

of your group,

right,

wanting to destroy

the others in the world,

the strong trampling

and oppressing the weak,

if you look at history,

those are normative.

Those are normative.

That's the norm in history.

Right?

There was a time

when every society on earth

took for granted

those realities.

Right?

If you're somebody

who owns slaves,

if you're strong

and wealthy and powerful

and you're able to trample

everybody around you,

people assumed

that meant

you have divine blessing.

The gods must like you.

They're giving you

these things.

The real miracle

in history

is that things

ever changed.

Is that there was

ever a society

that said,

we should consider

this crazy idea

called universal human rights.

We should consider

this crazy idea

that everybody,

even slaves,

every single person

is a person.

You know?

We should consider

this crazy idea

called justice.

We should consider

this crazy idea

called lifting up

and freeing the oppressed.

You know,

we should build

our society

around this idea

of inclusion

of lots of different

kinds of people.

Right?

The miracle is

that that ever happened.

That ever took hold

in the imagination.

And the reason?

It's directly a result

of the impact

of the gospel

on the hearts

and minds

of people.

And it's a direct result

of the impact

that that gospel had

on the way

we see ourselves

and the way

we see other people.

A radical transformation

that changed society.

And what that means

is that the church

is,

as the keeper

and proclaimer

of the gospel,

we are uniquely positioned

to bring healing

to the social fabric

of our society.

But what that requires

is that that begins

with us.

It begins with our ability

and willingness

to become humble

and thus emboldened

by the truth

and the love

of the gospel.

All of this

is one of the main reasons

we're excited

to be back.

It is.

It's a good time

to be a Christian.

And it's a great time

to be in this community.

This is a tremendously

loving community.

It's a community

that cares about

the truth of the gospel,

cares about the love

of the gospel.

Community that again

and again and again

over the last 10 years

I have seen

rally around need,

rally around people,

do what needs to be done.

Not perfectly.

Sometimes balls are dropped.

Sometimes things

get overlooked.

But I've seen people

again and again

and again striving

and diving

into the messiness

of living our faith out

in this world.

And that's the kind

of community

I want to be a part of.

You know,

we did some amazing things.

We traveled,

we saw beautiful places.

You know,

we ate bread

and wine

and cheese

and you know,

it's no cliche

that they're amazing.

I have thoughts

about cheese

now that nobody

should have

about cheese

and I feel

that I need

to confess them

to somebody.

I'm like,

this isn't healthy

to think this much

about cheese.

And yet,

in all of that,

the reason that

we're able to come back

and be so revitalized

and so energized,

it's not because

we were able to travel Europe

as memorable

and amazing as that was.

It is literally

because of the love

of this community.

It's because we knew

that every day

we were there,

we were there

with the enthusiastic

love and support

of you all.

And we felt that

so much

that it revitalized us.

It enlivened us.

Never experienced

anything like it.

The outpouring of love

and encouragement

that we got.

So I'm able to come back

and stand up here

and say I'm truly,

genuinely excited

to be back.

And it's going to be

an amazing year together.

Let's pray.