Learning To Live Together| Chad Lewis | Hebrews 10:19-25

Thank you for joining us for a sermon from Sojourn North.

Well, my name is Chad Lewis.

I'm a pastor here, and we're so glad that you're here.

And before we continue, if you're new here and you want to sit and talk about membership, I can meet with you anytime.

I can come to your house.

You can come up here.

I've got a it the red carpet we used to have in here, I have in my office.

So if you miss that, come on back.

That's right.

That's right.

I did have one youth tell me that the uh the red carpet was so much nicer than this.

And I was like, huh, interesting.

They they can have their opinion.

Okay, so when I was in middle school, I made a startling discovery.

So I was in seventh grade.

Teacher said, Okay, you got a quiz on capitals of states.

And so I just wrote down states on my paper and then tried to put capitals, but I had to try to remember the states first.

And he called me up after class because he graded at the end of class and he said, Chad, uh, did you not see that I had the states on the board?

And I went, no, I didn't.

I didn't realize I'd made it all the way to seventh grade.

I didn't have good eyesight.

I couldn't see the board.

I don't know what was going on.

Very complicated family stuff.

But if I do this right here, I assume all of y'all are mad at me because I can't see your face.

But I couldn't see.

It wasn't that and I remember playing baseball and basketball as a sixth grader.

Basketball wasn't so bad, but they put me on first base in baseball and um talk about training for reflexes because I couldn't see the ball till it got a few feet away, and I was just like, and I was scared playing baseball the rest of my high school career.

It was like, man, I just had this inbred fear.

Uh so I went to iDoctor, got my eyes checked, they got me contacts.

I remember, and this is no lie, seventh grade, so I'm 13 years old.

I walk outside, I look up at the trees, and I realized for the first time that they weren't just green blobs.

I could see distinctly every leaf on the trees, and I was like, this changes everything.

This changes everything.

When you can see more clearly, everything changes.

Last week we talked about seeing each other in a way that is gospel lensed.

Uh some people hear the word gospel and it can be a trigger for them because it I we always make the joke if you want to sell a book back in the 2000s, you just put gospel in front of the title and it would sell because it's like the gospel way to parenting sold the gospel cookbook.

I'm getting it.

Whatever you want to do.

But we talked about the lenses that God would have us see each other.

So I have a slide, it'll stay up for a few moments here.

This is our Creative for Community sermon, and I selected these colors for no reason, but now that I see it on the big screen, it's pretty interesting that I chose these colors.

But week one last week, how are we called to see each other?

And we are called to see each other through three lenses.

That we're broken, we're beloved, and we're burdened.

That if you look at somebody, and all you see is that, oh, they're just a hateful person.

Like, you have to expand your vision.

This doesn't excuse us like, oh, they're just hurting people, so I'll just let them do whatever they want.

It doesn't do that, but it takes into the complexity what a person's walking through because we still struggle with sin.

All of us do.

Everyone who walks on planet earth.

We're loved by God, and if you are a Christian, that you are chosen by God, that your ultimate identity is beloved.

And then finally, we're burdened.

We carry heavy weights with us and in us from our stories and our lives that others can't see.

And so when we look at each other, we need to have those lenses intact.

And this week, what we're talking about is because we can see each other more wholly and grow in that and we can see more clearly, we want to say, how are we called to live together?

And I have three movements we're gonna look from Hebrews 10 in just a moment, but we're gonna see, move, and remain.

And then next week, how are we called to make room for others, to expand, and we want to welcome, store, restore, and belong.

So we've started, and I'm gonna repeat last week's sermon points throughout this sermon because we want to build, and our desire is to grow as a community, to go more deeply together, and to do this with each other.

We're looking at the book of Hebrews today in this series, that's a topical series, and then after the series, we're gonna jump back through to just going passage by passage.

We're gonna go through Colossians.

So if you want to be pre-reading and pre-studying that, I'm excited about that journey as well.

But when we look at the book of Hebrews, it's unknown authorship.

It's written in the mid to late 60s before the destruction of the temple in 70 AD.

So if you're thinking, even though it's unknown authorship, think about the same time period as Paul is getting close to his death to being executed, and St.

Peter's ministry is winding down too, as he's going to be martyred as well.

So there's a lot of persecution going on.

It's probable that Nero's already taken over and he's uh just killing Christians and doing a lot of persecution.

And the book of Hebrews is amazing, and it's it's written to Jewish Christians, and it goes back to the Old Testament over and over again.

And as we get to today's passage, we're just gonna focus in, we're gonna read it uh verses 19 through 25, but we're focusing in on verses 24 and 25 today.

But verses 24 and 25 is how we do relationships together, but it's all based on everything that came before it, chapters 1 through 10, because of what Jesus has done, because of the truth of his life, death, and resurrection, because of our redemption, because we are truly forgiven and free, because of that, let us do this.

So, with that in mind, if you wish you may stand for the reading of God's Word, we're gonna look at Hebrews chapter 10, verses 19 through 25.

Hebrews 10:19–25

The author says this, and this is our reality of who we are in Christ.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus, he has inaugurated for us a new and living way through the curtain, that is, through his flesh.

Since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with true heart and full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.

Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful.

And our focus for today.

And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other and all the more as you see the day approaching.

This is the word of the Lord.

You may be seated.

There's so much richness just in these few verses about what does it mean entering into the presence of God?

It goes back to the tabernacle with Moses and then eventually the temple being built, but going into the Holy of Holies, where the selected high priest would go once a year to make atonement, but they'd have to make atonement for their own sin first through blood, through sacrifice.

But because Jesus, and if you read the resurrection uh accounts, that the temple curtain is torn in two, and that access is free for us now.

So we come without a guilty conscience, even though you feel guilt, and I talk to people uh when I talk with them uh in my office pastorally besides, I say, what I've been taught is that there's an interesting correlation between false guilt and true guilt.

The correlation is this, they both feel the same.

You can live a life burdened by false guilt and think that it's it's legit.

And it's a long time to unwind that stuff.

So it's renewal of mind, counseling, all sorts of stuff, getting rooted in the word, you know, seeing what it's a lifelong journey.

But we're cleansed of a guilty conscience, our sins have been completely washed away.

We're free standing before God, in his presence, with no fear, even though we can have fear.

It's already not yet.

And as we look at today's passage, it starts with, let us consider one another.

In the New Testament, there are a hundred one-anothers, the Greek word that is used, and it's in 94 different verses.

And all of the one another's talk about us doing relationship together.

And um you're not supposed to just do a checklist.

I've I've actually listed out the one another passages before.

You can loosely put them in three categories.

Uh unity, I'm trying to remember what they are.

Unity, love, and humility.

Having unity in the body, love for one another, and humbly living life together.

And there's some other one another's in there as well.

But the purpose of them is to say, because of the reality of what Jesus has done, because we are brothers and sisters for all eternity, live this way with one another.

The New Testament never assumes that community will be healthy.

Why were the letters written anyway?

It's because the churches were so unhealthy.

I remember uh I'm all about studying languages, but I remember a professor one time saying, it's like, everyone needs to know Greek.

And then someone said, Well, the Corinthian church and Galatian churches knew Greek, and they still were struggled.

Everyone can know Greek, but the point is it's not knowing the original language, even though that is important, and I have studied it, and we have some scholars in our church.

Little sidebar, I didn't have a plan to talk about that, but it's the human heart.

The churches in the first century who messed up.

Why?

Because they had people in them.

The churches in the 21st century and all throughout the last 2,000 years.

So healthy community isn't assumed, it has to be practiced, it has to be lived into.

And it takes humble people to do that.

So let's look at our outline, and we're just going to look at phrases from verses 24 and 25.

But Hebrews 10, the first point is see one another.

So we talk about seeing, but this is more than seeing.

Like if I say, I see what you're saying there, it's it's saying, I understand.

So let's look at that.

So the first phrase when we talk about living life together, we have to slow down and truly see one another.

So the author says, Let us consider one another.

That word consider isn't just merely noticing and walking away.

It's a careful attention to say, let us consider.

And in order to consider another person, you have to slow down, to be present.

And we have such a frenetically paced society that we weren't created to have as much information in our brains as we have afforded to us in the world today.

So we have to intentionally shut things off and be with others to consider them, to consider their brokenness, their belovedness, their burdens.

So how do we do that?

Well, it takes time.

And so each of these points I want to look off also to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

But when we carefully give our attention to someone, it's it's the opposite of the autopilot in our lives.

We have to we have defaults where we just go, go, go, and it's like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

It's like, okay, I'm gonna intentionally say, I'm gonna consider this person.

And when we pray for someone, we slow down and we can we consider them and the burdens of their lives.

So how did Jesus consider and think about others?

Well, I'd like to refer to Matthew 9, and I'll read this.

This is Matthew 5 through 7's The Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount, and then he comes right off teaching that amazing sermon, and then he heals the leper, and then he's healing and going about.

But Matthew 9, 35 through 38 says this Jesus continued going around all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness.

But look at this, he says, uh Matthew writes this when he, Jesus, saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them because they were distressed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.

Now I want to slow down here because I want to just use our holy imagination that Jesus has his disciples and his other followers all around him.

There are these crowds coming out because they've heard the unbelievable press that Jesus is healing people, he's a friend of sinners, he's got this amazing message, he teaches with authority beyond any of the religious leaders.

It's just like, what's going on?

Who is this?

So I imagine when the disciples and other people see the crowds, what do they see?

These are some possibilities.

Possibly they saw inconvenience because they were like, I want to get close to Jesus, and all these people are going to keep me from getting close to Jesus.

We know from looking at the Gospels that sometimes when the people, when the disciples saw the crowds, they just saw interruptions.

It's like, leave Jesus alone.

And the people were like, Don't call out blind man, just chill out.

They possibly saw constant demand or endless need.

They possibly saw a way to promote themselves.

We sang that with Lead Us Back.

It's like they saw the crowds, they said, I'm a friend with Jesus.

So they see it, and it's like, how can I make much of myself?

There's so many possible reactions to seeing the crowd.

But how did Jesus see the crowd?

And I want to remind you again, it's my favorite thing to say, is when you see Jesus in his heart, it is the heart of God.

Why?

Because Jesus is God.

You see Jesus' heart, you see the heart of God.

What is the heart of our God?

When he saw the crowds, what did he see?

He saw sheep that were harassed and distressed.

He saw them as helpless.

He loved them.

And then what did Jesus feel?

He felt compassion.

That's the movement of our God.

He feels compassion.

First and foremost.

Is there judgment?

Absolutely.

Do we have representation of the Lord being angry when his people are being sinned against?

Yeah, yeah.

But the first movement of God is compassion.

When we see Jesus approach, we say it a lot, is that when he comes, he comes in mercy.

He comes with invitations.

But he does come with challenges as well.

So Jesus sees more clearly than we could.

Community begins long before we speak.

It begins with us noticing.

And I got to visit with Dawana this week, and she told me a saint, a quote from a saint, and I'll share it with you.

I'm going to read it twice because it's very powerful.

There are many things that can only be seen through eyes that have cried.

There are many things that can only be seen through eyes that have cried.

As we've mourned, as we've had heavy burdens, as we've looked through life and we've experienced suffering, we will have compassion by God's grace for others.

And we'll be able to see more clearly.

It's a powerful thing to be seen.

I remember 14 years ago after the tragic death death of my brother, I was sojourn was blowing and going.

I was on an executive team, things were just going nuts, but here I am just devastated because of this loss in my life.

And I remember sitting with these friends of mine who I'm co-leading with, and them just kind of wanting to get to the next thing.

But my friend Kevin Jameson, who's the lead pastor of East, one of my favorite people in the world.

I think he's one of the best preachers in America.

Right after me, you know what I'm saying?

Do you notice I blocked the mic when I said that?

You know what I said?

Totally just kidding.

I think he's a far better preacher than I am.

But he he saw me.

He pulled me to the side.

And simple words that he said, he said, Chad, I am so sorry your brother passed.

I am so sorry, buddy.

He didn't try to smooth it over, he didn't try to get me to get over it.

Like I will never get over that death.

It has repercussions for the rest of my life, right?

When my parents were passing, I thought, where's my older brother?

Well, he passed.

So is me and my sister, doing the best we could.

So there are implications, but he sat with me, he saw me in the power of being seen.

Helped me get through that season.

My admonition is slow down to see each other.

Application.

In your home.

Parents when you see your kids.

Kids when you see your parents.

Husbands when you see your wives, vice versa.

In your friendships.

Can we slow down?

Well, the the beauty of living together is we can seek to see each other, but then there's another movement.

And it's number two, it's to move toward one another.

Hebrews doesn't merely say, notice, that is the starting point, but then it says this.

It leads us to the next thing.

And this is a pretty interesting phrase that's used in the scripture.

It says, let us consider one another in order, so we're considering, in order to provoke, other translations to stir up love and good works.

You have to move towards someone, and you have to know something about them to even know how to spur them on to receive love and to give love.

It's a beautiful thing.

Love is active and love moves.

And Jesus gives us a picture of love in action in Luke 10.

He's getting questioned like he got questioned all the time and love the brilliance of Jesus.

When he gets questioned so many times, he doesn't answer the question, he lobs a question back.

But he's in this discussion and it gets down to this culmination of who is my neighbor?

Because in that day and age, the Jewish people they were a nationalistic society, they were tight.

Samaria was above them.

They didn't like the Samaritans at all.

It's not too harsh to say they hated the Samaritans.

They would walk so many miles just to not be with a Samaritan, because that was.

A mixed group.

It was like, that's not us.

So Jesus tells this story, and think about moving toward.

So this is from Luke chapter 10, verse 30 on.

Luke 10:30

Jesus took up the question, Who is my neighbor?

And said, He gave them this story.

A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers.

This is a very real situation that would happen in those days.

They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him for dead.

This is awful.

And then look at who Jesus says comes by, and he knows the people's hearts.

But he says, first, a priest happened to be going down that road.

When he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

And there's a lot of things we could talk about.

Maybe he was afraid of being ceremonial and clean, but he missed the mark, right?

And then a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, he passed on the other side.

Not moving toward, moving away.

But then Jesus makes the hero of the story the hated one.

But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, what did he have?

He had compassion.

He saw the man.

It stirred in him compassion.

He went over to him, bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine.

Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an end, took care of him.

The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, Take care of him.

Now listen to this.

When I come back, I'll reimburse you for whatever extra you spent.

He moved toward.

And Jesus is saying, Who is your neighbor?

Who did this right?

Well, the Samaritan, of course.

We're called to move toward.

All three saw, but only one moved toward.

And moving toward someone looks like many things.

It can just be a simple encouragement, it can be forgiveness, can be an invitation, a meal, a question, listening, bearing a burden.

It can be very simple things, and typically it is.

And I thought about this this week.

When I think about moving towards someone, what keeps me from moving towards people?

And a few weeks ago I told you, a few weeks ago, I told you about my daydream.

That's my fleshly daydream.

That's not my redeemed self, but it's to, I talked about it with the men last night at our gathering.

I wish I could just retreat and live in the woods.

I'd build myself a little shanty.

It'd be nicer than that because my family would be there.

So maybe the shanty would just be where I go and sit, but uh we'd have a nice house in the woods, but I could hide from everybody.

I just wouldn't have to be around people.

Why?

Because I've been wounded before.

I am naturally an introvert.

Uh but do I need relationship?

Of course I do.

Would I die in that scenario internally?

Yeah.

But does it make sense that relational wounds would keep us from moving forward?

Yeah.

If you try and try again to move forward and people just don't understand you or they turn you away or they try to quick fix you like we talked about last week, what are you gonna do?

Well, sometimes you're just gonna give up.

It's like, it's too much, it's too hard.

But if you can find someone who sees you and they have compassion on you, and a message to you today, if you're here and you're hurting like crazy, it's okay to rest.

It's okay to rest.

Don't hear this point and be like, I gotta do more, I gotta do more.

Sometimes we just need to retreat and rest and let people serve us.

That was me 14 months ago.

And that season was over, it's over, and I'm moving forward again.

But look, see with compassion.

Moving toward doesn't have to be dramatic, it just takes initiative.

So we slow down to see.

Lord, give me compassion in my heart.

And from that compassion, we move, and then it gets to the third point.

We remain with one another.

We remain.

We're gonna stay.

Verse 25.

Not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing.

Don't neglect to gather.

The author doesn't merely say go to church.

I I we put a lot of effort and energy into these Sunday gatherings, and we want you to be here.

But this isn't it.

If this is your only time you feed on God's word during the week, you're gonna be pretty anemic and starving.

But gather together.

Don't disappear from each other's lives.

Communities built through occasional inspiration at times, where there's a light bulb that goes off, or there's something grand, but typically it's through the mundane aspects of every day.

And it starts, it does start with your personal relationship with Jesus.

Because if as you seek the Lord, as he stirs your heart, as you listen to him, he prompts your heart, it's like, oh, I need to reach out to this person.

Oh, I need to pray for this person.

Oh, and it changes the way we do life, but it starts with us.

And so reading, remain with one another, I couldn't help but to look to Jesus in John 15, and he's with his disciples.

He's about to march to the cross, and he's giving him these final words.

And one of the things he says in chapter 15, verse 4, he says, Remain in me, and I will remain in you.

For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.

Does Jesus ever leave us or forsake us?

No.

He's with us forever.

He remains.

Do we always experience it in feelings?

No.

But if you drift and just walk your own way, you're still safe and insane, but you're not going to experience Him.

You won't have things to give to others because you won't be able to give from your overflow.

He says, Yes, I am the vine, you are the branches.

Those who remain in me and I in them will produce much fruit.

For apart from me, you can do nothing.

From this stage, I've said that verse many times.

But this reality that apart from him, us doing our own thing, there's nothing of spiritual significance that will be done.

But with him, he's gonna bear much fruit.

And this is the movement of my life over the last years that I've changed by God's grace this view that I had of the Christian life as a manufacturing.

It's like I've got to do this, I've got to do this, I've got to produce this, I've got to produce this.

God slowed me down enough through my illness to teach me in a deep way something that I'd been teaching for a long time.

But life is a garden.

It is God who grows.

I can't grow anything.

I can have a trowel and I can have a watering can.

And what I seek to do each morning is I come before the Lord with my metaphorical trial and my watering can, and I seek to pay attention to what's alive and tend to it.

And then I seek to look at what's neglected and tend to that.

And then I say, Lord, whose garden would you like for me to help today?

And I'm not gonna garden for you.

Actually, I'm a terrible gardener, so don't practically ask me to come to your garden, or unless you want your stuff to die, and I can help you with that.

But in a spiritual sense, like, Lord, who do you have for me today?

And sometimes it's someone knocking on my door that I didn't have planned.

It's like, come in.

The Lord had you for me today.

Jesus is our pattern, He's our pardon, He is our power.

He showed us how to live.

We can't do it in our own strength.

He just said, apart from me, you can do nothing.

So He showed us, He did it all.

He's our pardon, He died for us.

So we are free.

That's what that we are washed free from sin.

But then the reality is this abiding life that daily, moment by moment, we come to Him.

He empowers us to live what He calls us to do.

Community isn't built through grand gestures, it's small things mostly overnoticed, mostly overlooked over a long period of time.

Building community is small things that most people overlook over a long period of time.

Are we willing to do that?

Many of you have.

Not here, but in the old sojourn, you know.

In seriousness.

But why have I remained?

Because I do have a vision and I do have a longing.

I really would, if y'all will have me.

I would like to be here for the rest of my days.

Um I had a vision to know and to be known.

I had a vision to see people's lives and the trajectory of their lives through the valleys and through everything else.

And I've got to see a lot in 20 years as a pastor.

And I want to keep doing that.

But it takes remaining.

Last night we had an amazing time.

Not everyone was able to make it to the men's hangout, but we had 36 people here.

It was awesome.

We're gonna do one a month.

I don't know if we'll do the extravaganza food we did last night.

It was so much food.

Uh too much dessert.

Um, but man, it was amen.

It was good.

It was really good.

But we we had just fellowship, hung out, and then I had a focused time where I just asked three questions.

But one of the questions I had that we shared about is like, what do men long for?

What are they hungering for?

And this is universal for humanity, but the things that we came up with, a few that stuck out to me, we long for connection.

We long for support.

We long for someone to come alongside us and say, well done, you're doing a good job.

How often do we get that?

Not often enough.

One thing that really stood out to me is someone said, we long for depth.

Actually, two people said it independently at the same time, even though one of them, I don't know if they really said it.

He took credit for it, but it's like when someone says an answer and then they say it, someone else says it, and they like, yeah, that would you you cheated.

So depth of relationship.

To go deeper.

Is it all right to have small talk?

Of course.

Is it okay to do fantasy football?

Laugh?

I hope so.

I don't like fantasy football because I get too into it, so I don't do it.

But it's okay to do those things, but don't we long for depth?

I think the best friendships I have in the world are the ones where I can't where I don't see someone for a while, and then we immediately go to that deep level.

That's a gift.

It's pretty rare.

But can we be that for each other?

This is your sentence to carry for today.

Healthy community grows, and when we talk about health, to be healthy, you continually attend to it.

You don't just stumble into health, but healthy community grows as we learn to see each other.

Slow down to see.

As we move toward one another, and as we remain with one another.

One more time.

Healthy community grows as we learn to see, move toward, and remain with one another.

And I'd encourage you this week take your bulletin, look at some of those questions, see if one of those questions provokes something in your heart, and sit with it.

The beauty of all of this is that this just shows us what Jesus has done for us.

And we partake in the sacred symbol each week of communion because we remember Jesus saw us with compassion.

He saw that we were broken and sinful, part of the domain of darkness, and he moved toward us.

He came and like we looked in Philippians 2, poured himself out to become a servant, even a servant unto death.

And he remains with us.

He sent the Holy Spirit.

We're in Christ and Christ is in us.

And this is what we hold fast to.

And so if you're a Christian here today, after I pray, whether you're visiting or you're you're a member, you're welcome to take communion with us.

But come in a spirit of reflection.

Come and you can grab some juice and some bread and just hold it at your seat, and I'll come back up and we'll all partake together in a few moments.

But reflect.

What is God speaking to your heart here today?

And maybe once again, for some of you, it's just you are beloved.

You're beloved.

Let's pray together.

Lord, we thank you for this beautiful passage that gives us insight into our ultimate reality, that we come boldly before you, that our sins are washed away.

And Lord, I pray as the author of Hebrews bids us that we would not drift, and when we do, that we would come back, that we would hold fast, hold fast and stay steady, clinging to this truth with one another, so that we might experience you together and experience a deeper community together.

And Lord, have your way, and may we, by your grace, humbly come to take communion today.

And Lord, I pray that you would speak to hearts, and that as our hearts are spoken to, that we would step in obedience.

And we ask this in Christ's name.

Amen.