Grace & Peace: A Journey Through the Book of Colossians - Part 4: Relational Peace | Pastor Pablo Morales

Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is

an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,

with dozens of nationalities worshiping together.

We invite you to connect with us from wherever

you are through our website ecb .asia or our

mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed

by this week's sermon. Good morning. Would you

please join me? As we begin this time, Lord,

your word is just amazing because it, even though

it was written so long ago, it just talks to

things we face every day. And it is true that

as we come together, we are not wanting just

another sermon, but we want your truth. Truth

that sets free, that looks at the heart and helps

us see what is there. Would you bless us today

with that understanding? And yes, Lord, please

use me in your power and your grace. In Jesus'

name, amen. At the beginning of the month, we

started the series in the book of Colossians.

which is called Grace and Peace, A Journey Through

the Book of Colossians. And one of the things

that we've discovered is that God wants us to

experience these two things, His grace and His

peace. And when we really understand His grace,

what follows is peace. It's like the byproduct

of His grace. And until this point, everything

that we've studied has been focused on us being

the recipients of that grace. The Apostle Paul

says, do you believe in Jesus as your Savior?

Are you following Jesus? Great. The moment you

started believing in Jesus, he transferred you

from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of

light. Now you are completely reconciled. You

belong to him. You don't have to ever worry about

rejection, about not making it. God. Has now

adopted you into his family. And therefore don't

listen to the distortions of the world. That's

not who you are. Now you are a follower of Jesus.

Indwelled by his Holy Spirit. And because that

is who you are. Now you can walk in his grace

and his peace. That's kind of like a summary

of the previous three studies. But if you missed

any of these studies. Please go to the app. Go

to the website. Catch up with them. Because starting

today, there's a shift. The Apostle Paul will

start talking about how grace is not just something

that we receive, but we are meant to be channels

of that grace. And if we are channels of that

grace, peace follows. But if we choose to not

be channels of God's grace, peace will not follow.

And therefore, in the study that we're going

to have today, we're going to be talking about

relational peace. Because God wants you to experience

His grace and His peace now flowing through you

into your relationships. So I have to ask you,

are you experiencing relational peace? In your

marriage, with your in -laws, with your friends,

your co -workers? How is it going? No, I'm not

asking are they a pain. That's a different question.

Regardless of whether they are nice people or

not so nice people, relational peace is what

you are experiencing within that is coming out

of you into those relationships. And what we'll

discover in this study is that God wants you

to experience that peace in that relationship.

realm of relationships as well. So if you are

lacking peace in relationships, if there are

names that you prefer not to be mentioned because

immediately they stir something negative within

you, then this study is for you. As we enter

this space, one of the first things that we will

learn through all of it is that grace doesn't

stop with you, it flows through you. And that's

why Jesus, when he started teaching his followers,

he said, you are the light of the world. Not

just Jesus is the light of the world, but now

you are the light of the world. The grace that

I came to give you now is meant to be shared.

And that's why I want you to look at this picture.

This guy is holding a flashlight. And the function

of the flashlight is to be able to channel all

this energy that is found in the batteries and

now channel it out into this form of light that

comes out. And it's a very interesting thing.

I have some flashlights that we buy whenever

we go camping. And I brought one here for you.

So you get to see it. This is very convenient

because you put it on your head like this. You

know? You turn it on, and just wherever you move,

you can see. It's so clear. It's not a fashion

statement, of course. But, you know, the nice

thing is you press this little button. Well,

if you do it right, I had it backwards, upside

down there. You press this button, and it's like

the light should come on. It should. But when

it's not coming on, it's very frustrating. Because

it's like, I need the light. What's wrong with

this thing? And you open it and you realize,

you know, haven't used it in a while. And before

you know it, you open, you get the batteries

out. Corrosion. And because there's corrosions

in the battery, the power is not flowing, the

light is not happening. And what I discovered

is that I am like that flashlight. Jesus says,

Pablo, you are the light of the world now. Let

my power flow through you. Sure. But how many

times he wants to turn it on and it's not flowing.

And when I get the batteries out of my heart,

it's like, oh, no wonder. There are certain things

that have become corroded within me that are

keeping me from being a channel of God's grace.

And what the Apostle Paul does in this study

is that he is going to take us through three

areas in which we stop being a channel of God's

grace. Think of it like the three batteries of

your flashlight. And he's going to take each

one of them and he's going to say, how are you

doing with that battery? Is it working? If not,

replace it. One of those areas is the way I think

and I see people. The other one is the way I

think and I relate to their faults. And the other

one is the way I think and I relate to their

needs. Each one of these areas are areas in which

God means for you to be a channel of his grace.

So that peace follows and you can experience

peace in your relationships. But what we see

in the book of Colossians is these three areas.

were the areas that were being compromised. And

therefore, it's not that they didn't believe

in the grace of God now as recipients, but the

reason they were not experiencing the level of

peace that God wanted them to experience was

because they stopped applying that grace in these

three areas. So let's find out what that looks

like. Before we do so, we have to understand

a little bit of the background. And we covered

some of this in the first session. So if you

have not seen the first session, go back later

to watch the whole thing. But what matters in

this study is to remember that the Apostle Paul

was in Rome when he met this guy, Onesimus, who

was a slave that escaped from his master. And

then in prison, Rome shares the gospel with Onesimus.

Onesimus comes to know Christ. And now he's a

follower of Jesus. But it so happened that the

master that he escaped from was from this place

called Colossae. And he was a Christian. And

he happened to be a friend of the Apostle Paul.

Wow. Small world. That's why I say you better

behave because somebody knows somebody. Now Paul

starts hearing from the guy who planted the church

in Colossae that Philemon attends. So he's hearing

everything that is going on in that church. So

he says, okay, enough. Let me write a letter

to the Colossians. And let me write another letter

to Philemon, who attends that church too. And

I'm going to send these two letters with Tychicus.

So that's how we get them. And when he writes

to Philemon about Onesimus, he writes the whole

letter, but you get a feel for it by reading

some of these verses. Now, you say, Philemon

Philemon 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1, but in reality there's only one chapter.

So we just sometimes say, Philemon verse 15.

Which chapter? The only one. Okay, verse 15.

It seems, Philemon, That you lost Onesimus for

a little while so that you could have him back

forever. He is no longer like a slave to you.

He's more than a slave. He is a beloved brother

especially to me. Now he will mean much more

to you. Both as a man and as a brother in the

Lord. Because yeah, he came to know Christ just

like you did. So he's a follower of Jesus like

you are. So he's a brother to you. In the Lord.

You are both children of God. So you are brothers

now. So if you consider me your partner. Your

friend. Philemon I'm going to ask you. To welcome

Onesimus. As you would welcome me. And if he

has wronged you in any way. Which I know he has.

Well or if he owes you anything. Just charge

it to my account. And through this letter, he

is encouraging Onesimus and Philemon to start

experiencing following Jesus and his grace and

his peace by being a channel of God's grace to

each other. But through this letter, we get a

glimpse of some of the social context of the

Church of Colossus, some of the issues that we're

facing, and everything becomes much clearer.

So throughout the letter, what we realize is

that they were experiencing lots of relational

struggles. And that's why he's going to take

them through each one of these things. And this

is why he writes to them. So listen to this whole

section that we will study and dissect in a little

bit. Hey, Christians in Colossae, you Philemon

included there, put on your new nature. And be

renewed as you learn to know your creator and

become like him. This is Jesus that I mentioned

to you, who is God, your creator, your Lord,

your Savior. Yeah, that Jesus. As you get to

know him more and become more like him. This

is who you are now. And in this new life, it

doesn't matter if you're a Jew or a Gentile,

circumcised, uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized,

slave. free, you name it. Whatever labels you

have come up with in your culture, it doesn't

matter because Christ is all that matters and

he lives in all of us. You Philemon, you Onesimus.

So, since God chose you, To be the holy people

he loves, he transferred you from the kingdom

of darkness to the kingdom of light. You are

fully reconciled with him now because Jesus paid

for all of your sins. Because now you are the

people that he loves. You must clothe yourself

with tender heart and mercy, kindness, humility,

gentleness, and yes, patience. Make allowance

for each other's faults. Expect it. People will

hurt you. But then you have to forgive anyone

who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you.

And so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe

yourself with love, which binds all of us together

in perfect harmony. So let the peace that comes

from Christ, the one that follows grace, let

that peace. Now rule in your hearts for as members

of one body you are called to live in peace and

always be thankful. Let that peace rule in your

heart but peace follows grace. So be a channel

of God's grace first and then that peace will

rule your heart. And this is what he tells them

in this section. If you notice he's going to

take him through each one of these three areas

that are foundational to understand how how we

ensure we experience relational peace. And the

first one he addresses is how they think of people.

Now, in the church of Colossae, you have people

from different cultures, different backgrounds.

There were the Jews, there were the Greeks, there

were the Romans, all of them now following Jesus.

This was the first generation of Christians in

the first century. There were not plenty of churches

everywhere like ECB. These were the beginning

of the followers of Jesus coming together. And

they were struggling. Why? Well, because from

each one of their cultures, they had learned

in their upbringing before they came to know

Christ, they had been pre -programmed. By their

social context to think of themselves a certain

way. And to look at others a certain way. And

typically it was looking down on them. And that's

why he mentions all these categories. Like to

the Jews, he says, Jews, I know that we Jews

see people in two categories. Jews, Gentiles.

And sometimes we call them uncircumcised. Yeah.

Not to be nice. This is how we Jews. See people.

So the moment we see you, we think, circumcised

or uncircumcised? Jew or Gentile? And we want

to categorize you. And for you Greeks, I know

that you have learned to think that you are better

than everybody else. And you Greeks are, you

know, the most civilized. And you call the barbarians

those that cannot speak Greek, you know. Oh,

he's a barbarian. But I know that you learn to

look at those Scythians like the worst. I mean,

those are uncivilized. Those are more like animals

rather than people. And I know that that's how

you learn to think of them. And Romans, I know

you also have your categories. I know that you

learn to think of people that are slave or free.

So if you're free, you're here. If you're a slave,

uh -huh. But he says, you know what? Even though

this is how you were shaped before you came to

follow Jesus. Now that he has transferred you

from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of

light. Now that he has given you his spirit to

shape you in the image of your creator. Now you

will have to stop thinking the same way about

people. And you will have to learn the gospel

change the way you see yourself and you see people.

Because. This community that you have in Colossae

has to represent Christ well. That's what he

tells them. Will you read it out loud with me?

In this new life, it doesn't matter if you are

a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised,

barbaric, uncivilized, slave or free. Christ

is all that matters and he lives in all of us.

You will have to start seeing Christ in the other

person. You will have to start seeing and learning

to see the other person in you. Like the other

person may have a different accent, may come

from a different background, may have a different

social status than you, but that person is...

As much a sinner as you are. And in the same

need of Jesus as you have. And if that person

came to know Christ. Is endowed by the same Holy

Spirit that you have. So you are pretty much

the same. From God's perspective. And you will

have to learn Philemon. To see Onesim as your

slave. Yeah. You will have to start seeing them.

Not just as slaves. You will have to see him

as your brother in Christ. You can imagine how

revolutionizing that perspective was for them

because they were already shaped by all of these

things. And that was one of the sources of tension.

Now, I know that ECB is not in the first century.

We are so much more civilized than the Colossians.

With the era of globalization, we know so much

more about other cultures and countries. We struggle,

not at all, with anything that is prejudice,

negative attitudes. Or do we? Well, ECB, we calculate

about 70 different nations represented here.

So I thought, I wonder, do we have words and

language that we use about other people in some

of these different countries? And I collected

above. close to 15 countries, and I picked up

a couple of the words that the research brought

up, and I came up with a collage of words. Now,

to be honest, I have no idea if this is offensive

in your country or not, but these are the words

that all of these different countries, some of

which you come from, use to describe others that

we see as inferior, and we ourselves are superior.

And it's amazing how many of these terms are

used for people that are people who immigrated

into our country. But yeah, you know very well

what your culture is. Maybe you don't say circumcised

and uncircumcised, but you say other things.

And you learn to see people from other countries,

especially the neighboring countries, as not

so smart like we are. You know, and every country

has its own narratives that we create, but it

creates all of these relational tensions as a

result. Because you start thinking yourself inferior

or superior, and that is the problem. You are

unable then to be a channel of God's grace. And

all of the problems that that develops. Now,

in my country, the U .S., if I go to the doctor,

I may get a form that I need to fill out. And

within the form, there are questions they're

going to ask me. One of those questions, often,

is about race. And just to give you a little

context into my culture and my country. So the

form will look like something like this. Okay,

what's your race? Can you please mark all that

apply? Wait, all that apply? Okay. White, African

American, American Indian or Alaskan Native,

Asian. Hispanic or Latino, native Hawaiian or

other Pacific Islander. So that makes one, two,

three, four, five, six, seven, and more. Or decline

to answer. It's like when some people come to

our country, it's like, what should I mark? It's

like, I have no idea. I remember the Kenyan guy

that said, you know, I did not know I was black

until I came to your country. And all of this

narrative that we have, we just have, we don't

realize why. But I understood it because when

I was doing my doctoral studies, I had to research

this topic. And what I discovered is that in

the context of Western countries, if you come

from a Western country, as well as those that

were colonized by Western countries, if your

country happened to be one of those. Some of

these ideas about categorization of people came

from the 1700s. But people that were in different

science fields from some European countries.

One of the earliest was in 1735. And Karl, what

he discovered from his perspective was that there

are actually four races. Humans are categorized

in four races. Europeans. were whitish, Americans

were reddish, Asians were tawny, and Africans

were blackish. So that was his categorization,

the first attempt, and it was based on color.

For some reason, not hair color, not eye color,

but skin color. But only a few years later, from

1735 to 1775, another scientist, this time from

Germany, He says, no, no, no, no, no. There's

no four. There's five races. I have discovered

that the Caucasian race is white, the Mongolian

race is yellow, the Malayan race is brown, Ethiopian

race is black, and American race is red. So we

have five colors. And, you know, we wrote songs

for our children that said something like, red

and yellow, black and white, they are precious

in His eyes. Remember, that's where all of this

comes from. And then, when my country was founded,

we have an amazing Declaration of Independence

that says, all men are created equal. And we

love that. That's one of our values. But I discovered

in my research that the same person that wrote

the Declaration of Independence, one of our founding

fathers, Thomas Jefferson, he also wrote another

book about the state of Virginia. And in it,

he starts... sharing about some of the perspectives

that were common already during his time because

of all of these signs that have been developed.

And he says, I advance therefore as a suspicion

only that the blacks, whether originally a distant

race or made distinct by time and circumstances,

are inferior to the whites in the endowment both

of body and mind. Physically and mentally, the

people of that color, they are inferior to the

people of that color. That's just... Obvious.

And this mindset started permeating so many different

places. So you fast forward several years, a

few centuries, and I got to read the autobiography

of a lady called Debbie Irvin. And she says,

you know, I didn't understand all these narratives,

where they came from. So she wrote a book called

Waking Up White. And in it, she says, look, the

way I understood it, Race was for other people,

brown and black skin people. I thought white

was the raceless race, just plain, normal, the

one against which all others were measured. I

thought, David said, I was the standard. And

that's exactly what Paul is telling the Colossians.

You look at others based on who you are and you

think, I'm the standard. Those are barbarians,

but I'm Greek. And that attitude is at the core

of the problem of categorizing people from all

of these different cultural mindsets that have

developed. There was a lady in Brazil. She became

a photographer. But in her own country, they

have all these categorizations also for people.

Some superior, some inferior. She happened to

be in kind of like the inferior category. And

what Angelica does when she goes to Spain, she

studies photography, and because this part was

part of her own journey, she wanted to use her

art to kind of address the issue that was bothering

her so much. She's like, are we really these

categories? I don't think so. I don't think that

people can determine my level of smarts by my

skin color. And now, She started traveling through

different countries, taking pictures of anyone

that wanted to volunteer for the project. The

name of the project? Humanae. And what she did

is that she took pictures of all of these people,

like thousands of people in her project, more

than 20 countries, and then she will match the

color of their skin to the palette of the Pantone

scale, with the number and everything. And she

will display these things in different museums

throughout the world to make a statement. Her

statement was simply saying, look, we have to

rethink how we think of people. Because these

categorizations are making us look at some people

as superiors and others as inferior. And we are

pretty much the same. You want to compare your

tone to the tone of another person, you will

figure out maybe they are from a whole different

country. And as creative as this is, What Angelica

didn't understand is that the problem that the

Apostle Paul is addressing, this categorizing

of each other that makes us look as superior

or inferior and then plugs our ability to treat

people with God's grace, that that issue is not

cultural, it's not political, it's spiritual.

And all of us, because of our sinful nature,

have the tendency to embrace perspectives that

are distorted, starting to look at ourselves

and the way we look at others. And this became

so clear in a whole different case of a very

creative elementary school teacher. She was in

her small town at her school teaching, and all

of her kids were of the same, And she thought,

how can I teach my kids about this problem of

looking at people differently and treating them

unjustly with prejudice? And she came up with

an idea. And this idea and the whole experiment

was documented in this documentary called A Class

Divided. I encourage you to watch it. It's fascinating.

It was created in the late 1960s, I think like

97 or 8, around that time. And what Jane did

is that she thought, okay, this is what we're

going to do. So kids, science has revealed that

people with blue eyes are smarter and more capable

than people with dark eyes. So what we're going

to start doing from now on is that people with

blue eyes will have a longer break. And they

will have more time to answer this test and everything.

And they're going to have a better treatment

than those of you that have darker eyes. So they

started. First day. It's like, really? And the

kids with the blue eyes started becoming arrogant.

And they started looking down and laughing at

the others that were inferior. And she was surprised

to see. She just made up the category. Day one,

on that very day, people started reacting that

way. But what the kids did not know was the experiment

was going to take a switch. She came next time.

She said, oh, sorry, I made a mistake. Science

actually says that kids with dark eyes are smarter

than the kids with the blue eyes. So from now

on, we're going to give better treatment on the

whole thing. So those kids started having all

that nice experience. And the same thing happened.

They became more arrogant, looking down, laughing

at them. And at the end, she told them, look,

this is not true. It was an experiment. And then

they were able to reflect as a class about how

they felt. Even their performance in their test

decreased. The moment they believed, science

said they were inferior. Paul. wants us to experience

relational peace. And the very first thing he

addresses is how we are seeing the other. Are

we experiencing relationships from a perspective

where I see Christ in you? Where I see the spiritual

potential in you? Or I'm looking at you as a

category that I need to avoid? So pick up. That

battery. And a little bit of corrosion. I remember

the time this person said that we are all racist.

We don't know it until our kids start dating.

And that kind of corrosion begins without even

noticing it. How do you see people? First thing.

What's the second thing? The second thing is

how do you see their faults and how do you relate

to those faults? One of the things that was happening

is that these Christians were now hurting each

other, offending each other, and now they were

experiencing bitterness, resentfulness in their

relationships. So instead of now being a child

of God's grace, they were choosing to become

resentful and there were emotions. That they

were experiencing now that were not compatible

with the kingdom of light. And he mentions all

of those different emotions in the book of Colossians.

The kingdom of darkness. When you are not aligned

with God's grace and you do not have his peace,

this is what you have instead. Would you read

the section of the kingdom of darkness with me?

Anger, rage, malice, slander, cursing. If you

are experiencing some of these emotions or these

tendencies, are you a dominant one? That means

you do not have relational peace. You are not

a channel of God's grace and you have fallen

for the lie that you need to give people what

they deserve. In contrast, the kingdom of light

It's very different. As you follow Jesus and

you become a channel of God's grace, this is

the list. Read it with me. Compassion, kindness,

humility, gentleness, patience, forbearing, forgiveness,

love. That is what it looks like. So here, the

Apostle Paul is going to remind them and say,

look guys. You do not belong to the kingdom of

darkness anymore. You belong to the kingdom of

light. Put on this new nature you have. The Holy

Spirit is in you. He wants to produce this kind

of emotions and behaviors through you. That's

why he writes this. Since God chose you to be

the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourself

with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility,

gentleness, and faithfulness. And make allowance

for each other's faults and forgive one another,

anyone who offends you. And remember, remember,

the Lord forgave you. Didn't he? Didn't you receive

the full forgiveness of all your sins forever?

Isn't that God's grace given to you? Okay. So

the Lord forgave you and you now must forgive

others. Be that channel. And this section is

hard. Because most of us, when we are hurt by

people, the first thing that we want is not to

be a channel of God's grace. That's the last

thing we want. We want to just give them what

they deserve. They deserve it. Let them have

it. Jonathan thought that way because his father

was very abusive growing up. So abusive. But

Jonathan later came to know Christ. And now he

was following Jesus. And as he's following Jesus,

one of his friends tells him, Jonathan, you have

so much anger towards your father. Every time

we mention the name, you just become, you know,

I can see you need to forgive your father. Oh,

he shouldn't have said that. At that moment,

Jonathan says to him, do you know what it's like

to be picked up by your father and thrown against

the wall? Do you know what it's like to get a

glass bottle of beer broken on your back? Do

you know what it's like to carry scars because

your father physically wounded you? No, I don't.

Well, then don't tell me. How I should live my

life. And he got so angry and he started even

cursing. And he was a Christian following Jesus.

And now all these things are coming out of his

mouth. Why? He did not want to forgive his father.

He didn't deserve to be forgiven. And he would

think, you know, I have the right to be angry.

Because what he did against me, it was beyond

bad. But what he didn't realize was that that

way of thinking and that way of treating was

corrosion. That was keeping him from being a

channel of God's grace towards his father. And

therefore there was no peace. And instead of

peace, there was anger. Until his father came

to know Christ. And now Philemon and Onesimus

all over again. Now it's like, well, my father

is a Christian now, so what should I do? So he

would not forgive his father for years until

God started working in his life. And one day,

he was able to forgive his father from the heart.

And what Jonathan understood was that forgiveness

was not so much about whether the person deserved

to be forgiven or not, or whether what the person

did was terrible or not so terrible. It had nothing

to do with that. It had everything to do with

the calling that God had given us to be a channel

of God's grace. The question is not, do they

deserve to be forgiven or should you be angry

with them? The question is, are you going to

be a channel of God's grace or not? And the answer

is, if you are a recipient of God's grace, God

wants you to be also a channel of God's grace.

That's the way God works. So until he forgave

his father, understanding what forgiveness was,

the releasing of all the anger that he had against

his father, he started healing. And the worst

thing, he would say, is like, from all my siblings,

I was the one that looked more like my father.

And all of our friends would say, oh, you look

just like your father. And he hated that. Familiar?

One of the cases that has been the most extreme

where I've seen the person becoming a channel

of God's grace was the founder of that ministry,

Voice of the Martyrs. He was a pastor in Romania

who was imprisoned by the communists for 14 years.

Three of those years he was in complete isolation,

tortured day after day after day after day. What

would you like to do with those people after

you get out of prison? What if you had the chance

to find the grave of the person that ordered

the people to imprison you and torture you? What

would you like to do on that grave? Would you

like to spit on it? Of course. Such evil. But

you know what Richard did? He says, my last deed

before leaving Romania, because he was eventually

moved to the U .S. He was delivered from prison.

My last deed before leaving was to go to the

grave of the colonel who had given me the order

for my arrest. And who had ordered my years of

torture. And I placed a flower on his grave.

He needed to do that. physically he needed to

do something to show that he was forgiving this

guy because he could not live with any resentfulness

in his life. By doing this, I dedicated myself

to bringing the joys of Christ that I have to

the communists who are so empty spiritually.

You see, communists can kill Christians. But

they cannot kill their love toward even those

who kill them. Because where does that love come

from? I'm a channel. And that is why he learned

in his own journey of following Jesus that even

his torturers he could forgive. And that showing

of love was not because they were lovable. It

was because God loved them. So I have to ask

you to look at the second battery and take a

look at it. Is it corroded? Is your flashlight

not working? Because you are refusing to give

the grace that you have received? Then you will

have to change that battery. But there was a

third battery that he talked about. And that

was the way we see their... And the reason for

this is because people are driven by self -ambition.

The first century or the 21st century, same thing.

If you look at this picture, this is a person

holding all these different contacts in his hands.

There's a famous saying, you know, it doesn't

matter how much you know. What really matters

is what? Who you know. Why? Well, because who

you know will benefit you. So we learn to seek

relationships for the benefit that I will get

out of it. So if there's no benefit for me, I

won't engage with that. Why? It's a waste of

time. But this person, oh, with this person I'll

be friends. This person, I'll pay for their lunch.

I want them to think nicely of me. Because there's

something in it for me. And Paul says, uh -uh.

You will have to learn. If you want to be a channel

of God's grace and experience relational peace

that follows, you will have to learn to see people's

needs differently. And that's why he writes this

section here. Above all, clothe yourself with

what? With love. which binds us all together

in perfect harmony. One of the amazing things

about Greek, in contrast to English as a language,

is that in English we only have one word for

love. I can tell my wife, I love you. And I can

also turn to my coffee and say, I love coffee.

Just one word, but I don't mean my wife, I love

you like I love coffee. Hopefully not, right?

It's a different meaning. Well, in Greek, it's

great because they have a specific Greek word

for the different meanings. You know how many

words? Four. If I love my child as a parent because

he's my family, that's one word. If I love a

friend because, you know, he's a nice person,

they're nice to me, I'm nice to them, it's kind

of mutual, that's another word. Hey, if I'm sexually

attracted to this person and I kind of love this

person because there is this sexual thing going

on, that's another word. But there's a fourth

word, which is right here on this verse, and

it's agape. For God so agape the world that he

gave his one and only son. God has poured his

agape in our hearts. Now make sure that this

agape is what is binding you all together. What

agape is different from the others is that it

is a call to serve the needs of the other, not

because there's something in it for me. There's

nothing in it for me. I'm just loving you because

God loves you. That's it. And God is going to

call you as you follow him to engage in needs

and address and invest sacrificially in things.

Because his love is driving you. And at that

moment, you will be wrestling because the way

you see the need will determine whether you become

a channel of God's grace or not. Many years ago,

I was talking to a friend who had been, she and

her family had been called by God slowly to engage

more and more with the need of the orphan. And

they started opening their home to host and have

some of the kids live with them. We were in a

foster care system. They will have them for some

weeks or months, and then they will go. And then

a new group will come. And through that, They

started feeling this desire to adopt. And there

was this particular child that was a preteen

that was open for adoption. Her case was open

for adoption. And when the person leading the

case of this preteen met with the mom, said,

you know, we did all this psychological analysis,

all these different things, and my recommendation

to you is do not adopt. Because this is going

to be hard. So we are talking, we are meeting

and discussing, what should we do? Until this

time, we had been compelled and sure that God

wanted us to adopt this child. But now this expert

is telling me, don't go that way because it will

be too hard. What should we do? You see those

moments. We learn that the love that God is calling

us to channel, we don't love because it's easy.

And if God is calling you to engage with a need

that is hard, then you are doing it because you

are a channel of His grace. That's it. There's

no more to it. Only God knows what He will do

in the life of that child, even if it's hard

for 30 years. And actually, it was challenging,

and it has been hard. But this is what Paul says.

You will have to stop thinking of the needs of

others from you as the center. In the need of

the orphan, one of the things that we learn is

that we do not adopt children because we need

children. We adopt children because they need

families. It's a complete rethinking of the need.

So I have to ask you, how are you engaging with

the needs of the other? Who are you loving today

that is not something in it for you? Or you only

engage with the needs that then have something

for you in return? Until we choose to be challenged

of God's grace, we will not experience relational

peace. Because remember, grace doesn't stop with

you. It's meant to flow through you. So I want

you to take your flashlight, press the button,

see if it's working or not. And if it's not working,

take a look at these batteries. Are they corroded?

Because if they are, today is the time to turn

to God and say, God, I've been so selfish with

your grace. I'm happy to receive it, but I have

refused to give it. No wonder I have lack of

peace. I'm here to tell you, Lord, make me a

channel. Let it be Christ through me. That's

what I want. If that is what you want, I would

like to conclude this study with these three

main implications. The first one is that you

need to welcome the outsider. Stop treating people

as a category that is inferior. Stop thinking

of yourself as superior and start looking into

their lives as we are the same sinners in need

of Jesus. And you will see the peace that comes

from that switch. Secondly, if you have chosen

not to forgive because you believe that that

person doesn't deserve it, then remember what

grace is. It's an undeserved gift. Don't wait

for the person to deserve it. Otherwise, it's

no longer grace. If God is moving in you to forgive,

then... Deal with the Lord with that and let

the grace and the peace of God flow through you.

And finally, if God is calling you to engage

in addressing a need that will require sacrifice,

stop thinking about, is it going to be hard?

Should I do it? Should I deny what I really want?

Those are the wrong questions. Go to your knees

and say, Lord, what do you want me to do? Because

if you are calling to be a channel of your grace

for this need, I'm willing. That is what it means

to start giving grace and being a channel of

it. So, is God's grace flowing through you? Lord,

it's great to be a recipient of your grace, your

love, your embrace, your forgiveness. But really,

you also want us to love and care and embrace

and forgive. That takes following you to a whole

new level, doesn't it? But we want to follow

you. And we want to experience your grace and

your peace. So as we stand in your presence,

we want to tell you, Lord, We're willing, but

it will have to be Christ through us. There's

no other way. Because I'm selfish, I'm resentful.

I want to feel superior. But you call me to be

the opposite. Not to be more like me, but to

be more like you. And that is a calling worth

pursuing. Encounter us in this space, Lord. In

Jesus' name. If God is calling you to support

our ministries you will find giving options on

our website. And remember to join us next week.

God bless you.