The Way: RLC Values (3- We Make It Better)

Let's jump into Ephesians, chapter four, and this idea of what it means to be a follower of the way and what we've been doing to kind of get our heads around.

What this means is I've been talking to you for the past few weeks about how you can sometimes tell where somebody is from based on some of the things that they do.

Right.

And it's not intended to be negative, it's just intended to be more kind of fun, like I immediately know where you're from based on your accent, right.

Like if you've never heard of a G before, everything you know is just kind of slurred together.

You're from my neck of the woods, right?

And so we all have these different things and we just kind of like where we're from and so like.

Let me give you an example.

I can tell that if you're excited for the fall, you're probably a football fan.

There's one right there.

Did I hear a woo?

Like, is it a bad woo?

Basketball fans.

That's those people, right?

Yeah, you get your turn soon, right, but it might be pumpkin spice lattes.

You might be actually excited about school starting back, you know.

But here's the thing Most of the time people would say football, baby Football, right, you're excited, all right, how about this one?

Depending on whether Cupboard or cabinet means you might be from the north or the south, okay, and that's the thing.

I had someone come up to me after service and say I've never even heard of a cabinet.

What's that Exactly exactly?

But see, if you're from the south, it's the exact opposite.

Let me tell you a story.

One time I was at my family's house and my youngest daughter said hey, is that in the cupboard?

Can I tell you?

It went silent immediately, like everybody in the house was like something heavy has just come down upon us.

What have you done to your child?

What is a cupboard?

God save us from the cupboard.

It's cabinets.

Okay, that's how we say cabinets.

Okay, that's where, that's what they are, okay.

And then here's one more the way you interpret the phrase I don't care to something else.

Now I've noticed this Okay, like this is, this is like my thing.

I love studying people.

I've noticed that people from the East coast think of it one way, people from the West coast think of it another, and I see some of the confused and slightly concerned look on your face.

Let me give you an example.

Several years ago there were some friends of ours from California who were wanting to go out to eat and they said would you like to go to this restaurant?

And one of us my wife or I one said I don't care to go there.

Well, depending on where you're from, like, where I'm from, that means I'm fine with it, let us go into the house of the Lord, you know, whatever it was.

But other people they say I don't care to, that means don't you ever take me there, we're not gonna be friends anymore.

And so instantly they were like well, I didn't know, you felt so passionately about that restaurant, we'll go get Mexican, you know, or something like that.

I was like no, no, no, it's fine.

And so, like there's just certain things that sometimes you don't know until you've stepped in it, that you just kind of like just crossed a cultural line, right, and there's everywhere.

I got a few more for you Next time we do this.

You know about the wonderful thing called hockey.

You know, I've never even heard of that until I moved up here.

Almost right, it's just different.

But here's the question we've been talking through, and that is this what are some characteristics or values that make us recognizable as followers of the way, like if I can tell where you're from, most likely by whether or not you say cupboard or cabinet.

There's probably some things that some characteristics or values that when somebody sees that they go wait a minute, you must be a Christian, you must be a follower of the way.

Jesus called himself the way, the truth and the life, and in the book of Acts, long before we were called Christians, we were called followers of the way.

And so what does it look like to be a follower of the way?

Because that's what Jesus has called us to do.

He said go and make disciples.

Say make disciples.

That's what we're doing today.

We're making disciples of all nations.

We just did this, baptizing them in the name of the Father, son and Holy Spirit.

And then look at this teach these new disciples to obey all, say all, all the commands I have given you.

In other words, our job is to look more like Jesus and to teach other people to look more like Jesus.

And so that should look like something right.

There should be characteristics or values.

And then the great promise is I have no intention of you doing this by yourself, but I will be with you.

And so what does that look like?

Like if we were to put it into one sentence what are we aiming at?

If we're supposed to look like Jesus, then here's kind of the big idea of the series.

Is that a way, the way of a disciple is to be all of Christ in all of life, to have all of Christ in all of life.

What does it mean to be a disciple?

It means that in everything, in everything I do, my thought and my purpose is to have all of Christ in all of my life.

Here's the thing that sounds really good.

But what does that look like?

What are the principles, what are the values that that looks like.

And we believe this so much that we've even created some values as a church, and that's what we've been talking about is the RLC values.

Because my hope is, is that when we do these and in week one we talked about loving God and then last week we talked about seeing people is that when we do these things, somebody would say I can tell you must be from the kingdom of God.

I can tell by the way you love God.

I can tell by the way you see people.

And can I tell you, one of the greatest things that would ever happen to me as a pastor is.

If somebody said, I can tell you must be from real life church.

Why?

Because you've got all of Christ and all of life.

I can tell how you love God, I can tell how you see people.

And then we're gonna talk about the next one today.

The next one today.

And what I love about God's word is it's so practical, it speaks to self so directly.

And we've got a text today where God's word is telling this early church in the city of Ephesus what does it look like?

Now that you love God, now that you see people, what do you do next as a body of believers?

We're going to read this and we're going to see what God's word has to say to us today.

So God's word says therefore, I this is the apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Now, therefore, I, as a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.

Always be humble and gentle, be patient with each other, making allowances for each other others false, because of your love.

Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the spirit, binding yourselves together with peace, for there is one body and one spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.

However, he has given each one of us a spiritual gift through the generosity of Christ.

That is why the scriptures say when he ascended into the highest, he led a crowd of captives and he gave gifts to his people.

Notice that it says he ascended.

This clearly means that Christ also descended to our lowly world, and the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens so that he might fill the entire universe with himself.

Now, these are the gifts that Christ gave to the church, the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers.

It is their responsibility to equip God's people to do the work and build up the church, the body of Christ, and I love this.

He makes the whole body fit together perfectly, as each part does its own special work.

He helps the other parts, or it helps the other parts grow so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

That's a lot to read, that's a lot and that's amazing and that's wonderful, but there's so many practical things that the apostle Paul, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, is telling the early church to do that.

If we're not careful, we can get so far into the weeds that we miss the beautiful point.

And so if I were to put it in one statement, that is this that the third mark of a disciple is that we live to make it better.

We live to find, whatever environment we're in, and we say, because I love God and because I now see people, I'm gonna make it better in my life, which, by the way, I'm gonna go ahead and tell you.

My hope for you is that you will find the joy of making it better in your life.

And so, at some point in this service, when you're like man, that's me, I wanna make it better, I'm gonna, at some point in this service, when you're like man, that's me, I want to make it better.

I want to have a QR code at the bottom of my screen and most of these and it's in your message notes.

So if you want to know how, specifically, you can make it better in your life, both inside our church and in our community, I want you to scan that QR code and fill that out.

And we want to help you make it better, because that's what God's called all of us to do, and that's really who this message is for it's really for two main types of people.

Number one is you've never really thought about it like that, never really talked about stuff like this, and so, as you hear about the fact that God has actually empowered you to make a difference and make it better to the best of your ability, you're like man, yeah, I want to get on that team, I want to do that.

That's who this is for, but also it's for people who would say that, man, I'm doing my best to make it better, but we all get weary from time to time.

We get tired, the weight gets heavy, and what I want to do is encourage you about why it is that we make it better and why it is such a powerful.

Powerful thing because it takes the logical next step.

Remember the RLC.

Values, or the values of all of Christ and all of life, build on top of each other, and so the first one is everything we do comes out of our love for God.

All of ministry is out of the overflow of our love for God.

Say amen.

Then, once we love God, we look around and we see people, and we don't go into our world looking for someone to be my neighbor.

I go looking for a neighbor.

Well then, the next logical step is that then we have been empowered to make it better, to make what better?

Everything, everything for the glory of God.

And so here's the reason why this is so powerful.

I don't know if you ever heard this phrase, but this is why this one is so powerful, and that is this because everyone has a private battle that you know nothing about.

I see some of y'all rolling your eyes.

I'm going to say it one more time for the people in the back Everyone has a private battle you know nothing about.

Look at your neighbor and say he's still talking about you.

If you are uninitiated, then just glory in that, because that one's going to get stuck in your head after a while, because it's kind of something we say.

But here's the thing is that Jesus gives us the privilege of making it better.

Can I tell you that life moves through seasons and cycles all the time, and so, at any given time, there are people in our life that need someone to come, walk alongside and make it better, to be somebody's miracle.

Even in our world, right now, in RLC, there are so many different people who are going through so many different things.

There's people going through grief, going through transition, that there's things going on in the fall they got new jobs going on.

There's other things.

Even in my own family, like right now, we're going through a transition that we're actually sending.

Tomorrow, we are moving our oldest daughter off to college.

I don't know what you're talking about.

We've been trying to get rid of her for years.

Okay, no, I'm just playing.

I'm just playing, but it's a transition.

And right after our first service, somebody came up to me.

This gentleman came up to me and he said, brother, it's going to get better.

And I knew exactly what he was talking about.

All right, he was making it better, all right.

And here's the thing.

But we have an opportunity to make it better, and so let's define what it is and let's talk about it, because every single person in here has the capacity to be somebody else's miracle, and that's the wonderful thing about being in the family of God.

So let's talk about what it means.

To make it better means to live, to be a spiritual contributor, not consumer.

The ability, the opportunity to be a spiritual contributor, not consumer, it's one of those things.

One of these days I'm going to remember and bring a chair up here and I'm just going to put something on the screen and then just sit for a minute.

Let's just percolate, as we would say, just let it sizzle just a little bit.

What does it mean to be the difference between a spiritual contributor and consumer?

Here's the thing that this doesn't come pre-installed in any of us, especially and consumer.

Here's the thing that this doesn't come pre-installed in any of us, especially when we live in a culture that's all about the me first mentality.

How is this going to help me get to the next place?

What is this gonna look like for me?

And in many different environments, that's good.

Like, if you go to a hotel and everything is horrible, it's okay to say this doesn't fit me, but we have to be careful that we don't bring it into the church or bring it into the family of God.

So here's the difference.

And so, like these should stack up.

And so what a consumer says is first thing they see is they see people.

Man, it looks like these people love God.

Maybe they can help me.

Love God, maybe they can help me get better.

They're going to make me better.

Now that sounds okay, except for the fact that that's not God's ultimate plan for you.

God's ultimate plan for you is not to be a universal receiver but rather a contributor.

Looks and he says because I am so loved by God that I look up and I see people all around me and that God has given me the opportunity to make it better.

A consumer says it's an honor for you to serve me.

A contributor says it's an honor to be part of something bigger than me.

You notice the difference that if we bring a consumeristic mentality to church, if we're not careful, we come in and we think that everything in here is about us.

And I only say that to you because if you come in here thinking everything is about you, you're going to be constantly offended because it ain't.

It's actually for Jesus.

And so the thing is is that if you come in here and the thing is, we've seen people come through here and if I'm honest, I have a tendency to do this as well and so we come in and as long as the coffee is hot, as long as the band is good and if the pastor will ever stop telling cat jokes, you got me, but if any of that starts to change, I'm out.

That's a consumer.

But a contributor says hey, listen, I prefer the coffee hot, but that's fine, I prefer the band sings my song.

But I remember it's not about me, it's about Jesus, and let him tell us cat jokes.

He secretly probably loves cats anyway, I get you that's a lie, but you keep thinking that okay, because I'm a contributor, not consumer.

The reality is, the church is not a store or a club.

It's a spiritual community created by God to bring him glory in the world.

And the amazing thing is is we have an opportunity to be part of that, to make it better.

And so here's the question of the day, and that is is, according to the Bible, why do we need to be spiritual contributors?

Like, why is that important?

Like I've already loving God, I already see people, and if I'm gonna have all of Christ and all of life, why is that such a good thing?

Why do we love that?

Why should we like be passionate about that and be excited about that?

Well, I'm gonna give you three things from this text and there's so many things, we could go even deeper but three things to both encourage you but also to challenge you that God has a plan for your life, and the reality of it is is God didn't wire us that the plan that God had for us.

We were supposed to do alone.

We were supposed to do it in the context of community.

And if you want to know more about what that looks like in your world at any point, that looks like in your world at any point, scan this QR code and we would love to help you figure out what that next step looks like.

Let me give you three reasons why it is such an honor to make it better, and that is this.

Number one is that it is an act of worship.

We love God, see his people and it is an honor to make it better as an act of worship.

So I go around saying I'm going to be somebody's blessing today.

If you're from the South, if you're from the North, you say I shall be a blessing to my fellow brethren today.

Okay, yeah, I'm just over it, I'm over it, I'm over it, okay.

So, as a matter of fact, I want you to say it like a Southerner would say I'm going to be a blessing today.

Look at somebody and say it's fun to say okay.

And the second thing is it's because it's an act of worship.

It is an honor for me to not going around looking to see, but to see how I can be a blessing in somebody's life.

I'm gonna make it better.

I'm gonna make it better to the best of my ability.

Why?

Because it's not even about them as much as it's about Jesus.

It's about an act of worship.

Look at what he said.

He said, therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.

Now, the reason why I think this is funny is, first of all, anytime you see a, therefore, find out what it's, therefore, exactly yeah, and so that's an equal sign.

That's saying, because of all that came before it.

Here's the rest of it, and the first three chapters is all about the beauty of salvation.

He spends the whole time talking about what a great thing is that God called us out of darkness and into his wonderful life, wonderful life.

That's why, then, the second three is all about the practical living in the light as a body of believers, and so that's why the calling he's talking about is because you have been called out of darkness and into the light, out of a sense of honor and worship.

Live in the light, so as an act of worship.

Now I look around to make it better, and the reason why that's funny is he's saying oh, by the way, I am a prisoner for the things I'm telling you about, do it anyway.

He's like this is what put me in jail.

I'm excited to tell you about it.

Maybe you can come join me, but we'll all then be a community together, and that's what he's talking about.

Is this idea of when I understand the goodness of God, man, I can't wait to make it better and to serve others to the best of my ability out of a sense of worship for what God has done.

I think sometimes we struggle with being a consumer instead of a contributor because we've forgotten the simple joy that if you're in here and you're a Christ follower man, you're not going to hell anymore.

You're going to heaven.

And it's an amazing thing that this is such a powerful thing that God's word actually said that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

Somebody say all, look at your neighbor and say you, and look back at him and say you too, now, come on now.

Here's the thing that it doesn't matter where you find yourself on the scale of goodness, right Like you got Mother Teresa over here, and you've always got Hitler on the other side.

Okay, him and Judas.

It doesn't get any worse than those two jokers.

Okay, no matter where you find yourself on the goodness scale somewhere, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

Why does that matter?

Well, romans 6 says the cost of that sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.

Somebody say but God, I would be on my way to hell.

But God, and what God did is?

It says in Romans 5, 8,.

It says God showed his great love in that while we were still sinners, christ died for us.

That's what Jesus did.

He came on a rescue mission because we couldn't save ourself and he said I will go, I will take their place, I will take the cross that belonged to them.

And if they will receive that salvation, it actually says if you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

I looked that up in the Greek.

And you will be saved means you will be saved.

It means there's no like provisionary clause here.

Let me see how it goes.

It's like no, all sin washed away forever.

You're good.

That's powerful.

That means if you're in here and you know Jesus, you've washed, you've allowed him to wash away your sins, you've bent your knee to him, you've repented of your sins, turned to him.

That means the greatest miracle you could ever hope for you've already received, and you know.

What's amazing about that Is that means it is an honor to even be part of his church.

It's an honor to be part of his family.

It breaks my heart sometimes when we'll talk about serving one another and somebody will come up to me and they'll say what's in it for me.

I'll be like what are you talking about?

What's in it for you?

Let me tell you what you've already got out of this whole thing.

We wanna be part of a family and we serve one another because it is so powerful to realize what God has done for us.

And we don't just do it, we do it to the best of our ability because the King is worth, worthy of nothing less in the very best that I have because of what he has done in me.

It reminds me of one of my favorite stories that we don't talk about that much.

We call it David gives his all.

David's.

Just awesome anyway, right, but he had this, this life full of ups and downs, and what many people don't talk about is toward the end of his ministry, or his life.

Rather, he had this horrible situation where a plague had come on the nation of Israel and it was just decimating everything, and he realized what he needed to do, is he needed to get ahead of the plague and go and worship God and ask God if he would spare the people.

And so he figures out where the plague is.

You should read this.

It's in 2 Samuel 23 and 24.

He figures out where the plague is and he runs ahead and he finds out that where he needs to worship God is at a threshing floor from a guy named Arunah which, by the way, if you're expecting and you don't have a boy name, try Arunah, they're the only ones going to get called that in their kindergarten class.

Okay, Aruna.

And so he goes and he says Aruna, I wanna give God my very best worship, because I need him to do this over here and I know he can, and so I'm gonna worship him for it.

And Aruna says okay, well, here's a coupon.

You can just have my land, right, you just have it.

You just just whatever him to just kind of okay, fine, I'll take my free stuff.

But instead he says this the king said to Arunah no, I insist on buying it, for I will not present burnt offerings to the Lord, my God, that have cost me nothing.

So David paid him 50 pieces of silver for the threshing floor and the oxen, and David built an altar there to the Lord and sacrificed the burnt offerings and peace offerings, and the Lord answered his prayer for the land and the plague on Israel was stopped.

I love David's thought was as he says no, no, I'm not, I'm not doing this just for anybody, but I'm worshiping God with all that I have, and so I'm not going to give God something that costs me nothing.

I'm not going to phone it in yeah, I'm the King, I could just take it, but no, this matters to me.

So I'm not going to give God something that costs me nothing, but rather I'm going to give everything I have because he's worth it.

And can I tell you, one of the amazing things is is that we make it better by serving others as an act of worship, that we serve others as a way to say God, I'm so thankful to be part of your family, I'm not going to come in here and be a spiritual consumer.

I want to be a spiritual contributor.

I want to make it better with all that I have, because the King is worth it.

And when we start to do that, it's amazing the things that we get to see.

We get to see how our love for God causes us to see people.

When we see people now, we realize we're empowered to step into those environments and make it better in all those different areas.

And I'm telling you, when we start to do that, I feel like all the world looks at us and goes hey, listen, I don't know about everybody else, but you must be from the kingdom of God.

Why?

Because of the way you're acting, of the things that you're doing, of the way you live your life.

You look like you live all of Christ and all of life.

And you say, well, I'm from Real Life Church.

And then they'll be like, oh, you're from those folks We'll get on over there.

Then, right, because y'all crazy.

It's like, well, yes, but we love Jesus.

And then here's the thing is that my hope for you is that this week you'll go around and you'll say I'm going to be somebody's blessing today that because of what God has done for me.

I'm not going to.

I'm not looking for one, I'm looking to be one.

So I want you to look at your neighbor and say I'm going to be a blessing today.

I'm going to be somebody's blessing today.

You know why.

You know why I'm going to be somebody's blessing it's because God has been so good to me.

If you knew where I came from, if you knew all the things that I did, if you knew all that God had to forgive me of, you would know that just to be here, much less be on this stage, is my honor and privilege.

And so I give him everything I got, because he's worthy of nothing else, and it's an act of worship when I honor him.

The second thing is he tells us you wanna make it better.

Then you do it as an act of worship, but then you also make it better by fighting for unity.

By fighting for unity.

If you're taking old school analog notes, if you don't mind, I want you to take that word for and I want you to underline it and circle it until you like.

Just bleed through the page, okay, not fighting with unity or against it, but of course, for If you're taking digital notes, then all caps that baby.

Right, we're fighting for unity, of all the things that the Holy Spirit would inspire the apostle Paul to say to this early church, after he spends the first three chapters talking about the goodness of God, and now he's like this is how you live it out in community.

The first thing he says is man, you serve one another as an act of worship.

And then he says this is how you do it.

Stop fussing my folks.

He just gets down to it.

He says it like this.

He says always somebody say always, always, be humble and gentle.

Now be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love, love for who, love for God, love for one another.

He says make every effort to keep yourselves united in the spirit, binding yourselves together with peace, for there is one body and one spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.

And I just wanna tell you it makes me feel better.

It makes me feel better that in the early church, the first thing that Paul wanted to make sure they do is that they fight not to let the enemy destroy their unity.

That the first thing he says.

And here's the reason why and if you've ever been around anybody for any length of time, you've realized this and that is that unity is hard work.

Somebody say, amen, it's hard work.

It's even hard to stay unified with yourself.

You can change your mind all the time, right, it's so very difficult.

And here's the thing we don't drift toward unity, we drift toward isolation.

And it happens so sneaky that we don't mean to be, we're not bad, all this stuff is slowly.

We drift toward disunity because we drift toward isolation.

Let me give you an example.

This past summer, a couple months ago, I had a chance to take our family to the beach, and I don't know if you do this, but especially when my girls were younger, especially, I know they're not paying attention, and so I am going to try to pay attention to where we are.

So I will look at where our hotel is and I will kind of this is how maybe over the top I am.

I will kind of figure out where the hotel is and then I will make a straight line to where I want to be, like just making sure you know what I mean, and then I will walk straight to where I'm supposed to be and then, once I figure out where we are, we frolic and play yeah, we're good, like we're right here.

So we know when we look up there will be the hotel, you know and that's, and so we'll just play and not pay attention, we're good.

I see some of you already smiling because you know what happens Is it doesn't matter how much you frolic and play and all that is just fine.

But eventually you look up and somebody moved the hotel.

It is not in front of you, it's half a mile.

That way you can barely even see it over the horizon anymore.

And you wonder, did the Lord translate me something?

Because I was looking here and I went right here and I moved straight in a line and somebody moved it.

But how many of you know that once you start playing, there is this undertow and this current is happening and without ever even realizing it, this current is slowly, ever so slowly, moving you in a direction you didn't intend to go.

Can I tell you, in relationships it's the exact same thing.

In relationships it can be so very difficult, because unity drift is sneaky and slow.

That's why we have to fight against it every single day.

You know how it comes up in church is when people come up to their pastor and they say you know, I just don't feel connected here anymore.

I just don't feel that love that I used to feel.

And here's the thing I get it.

You probably haven't done anything wrong.

We probably haven't done anything wrong.

It's just the drift of isolation where we constantly have to fight to come back together in unity.

We have to fight for it over and over.

I'm going to tell you, if you ever look and see a place that looks unified, there are people behind the scenes working extremely hard to keep it that way, because we all have a tendency to drift toward isolation.

And what I love about this is that Jesus thought this was so important that, while he was on the earth, he even talked to us about this.

If you've been reading the Bible with us we've been reading through the book of Matthew, and so many of you have told me such great jokes like we're already almost through.

It Didn't take us five years like it did last time, right, and we're almost through the book of Matthew.

And if you'd like to read God's word with us, one chapter at a time, you can text RLCBIBLE to 94000 or scan that QR code and we read one chapter a day.

And what I love about this is even Jesus himself.

We're giving us rules for the road.

When we read about just this past week because unity is hard and that doesn't always mean it's because of something bad.

It's because of drift, of isolation and all those things we have to fight for it he said but what do you do when you notice that it's happened?

He says it like this.

He says if another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense.

In other words, you go to make it better.

If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back.

But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you, go back again so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses.

If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church.

Then, if he or she won't accept the church's decision, treat that person as a pagan or as a corrupt tax collector, for where two or three gather together.

As my followers, I am there among them.

I love that Jesus gives us marching orders for how we make it better when disunity is starting to happen and we're starting to drift toward our separate corners, and I love that so very much because this doesn't come pre-installed for many of us.

Most of us struggle to get this right Many times because it has to do with where we come from, our backgrounds, different things, and so Jesus just kind of cleans this slate and he says do this.

This is the first thing he said.

And he said first time when you have a problem with your brother or sister, go to them one-on-one.

And he says go to them on one-on-one.

When I count to three, I want everybody to say go One, two, three, yes, okay.

Here's the thing.

And the generation before mine.

You know what they would do.

Okay, I've got this on good authority by people who are older than me and there are still some people older than me it feels like that's going way quickly but older than me, what people would actually do is, if they had a problem with somebody, they would say these wonderful words let's take it outside.

And they would proceed to take it outside, okay, and they would come back in.

They would both be smiling, one of them would have one less tooth, but they're happy, and that's how they would handle things.

And then my generation came along.

And then what my generation would do is we just wouldn't talk about it.

No, I'm fine, I'm fine, you're fine, we're all fine.

No, we're not.

Because what would happen is is both of us being fine, all of a sudden, a gulf would start and it would just get wider and wider, and wider and wider until we're both fine.

But we're both fine from across the room and we don't even know how to start the conversation anymore, because there is a grand canyon full of unsaid things, and you know what we would do.

Well, if they got a problem, they should come see me.

Well, I have a problem too, right, but we were just and here's the next generation are a bunch of mobsters.

You're dead to me.

That's what they do.

That's what ghosting is.

You are dead to me.

All right, you don't.

You don't do that anymore.

Okay, well, I don't even know your name anymore.

So, the worst none of us get this right.

That's why Jesus knows us and he says here's the thing, because you love me and because you see people.

The way to fight for unity is if you notice there's an issue, you go to that person.

Don't wait for them, we go, and then this is what happens If you go to them and you can't resolve the conflict, then you take a friend with you.

Now, you don't take a friend so that they can hold them down while you hit them.

Okay, no, that's not what this is.

What you do is you go to that person and say, hey, listen, I feel like there's still something between us.

I don't think we've resolved this, but I want to resolve this.

I'm not interested in winning a fight, I want to resolve the conflict.

Do you mind if we bring in number three as an impartial person, because I want to get this right?

That's so hard to do, but there's life there, there's joy there.

And then we go to them.

And then, if that doesn't work, then you go to the church leaders and I will tell you all y'all wrong.

No, I won't do that.

Okay, maybe, who knows, we'll see.

But what we do is we go to our church leaders and we say, hey, listen, we've been.

We step one, we step two, I don't know.

Let's talk about step three.

And then, after step three, here's the beautiful thing is, step four is, if they still want to accept the church's decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.

Now, if you look at that not through the eyes of Jesus, that's a bad thing Jesus ate with tax collectors all the time.

He wasn't throwing them out.

He just starts over with the gospel, because at that point one of us have missed the gospel.

And so he says then you start over and you talk about the love of Jesus and let's talk about what salvation is.

We don't give up on people.

We change the way we approach them.

And the promises is that if you will have enough courage to step into this the promises were two or three gathered together as my followers, I'm going to be there If you'll have the courage to step in and you fight for unity, then God will be there too, making a way where there is no way, and he will actually add to all that you're doing.

That is not easy, that is difficult, but that's what it is.

We get to make it better.

Some of the best way we can make it better is by stepping into uncomfortable spots, not to tell everybody how they're wrong, but to say I want to find healing and I want you to find healing and I'll go first.

Here's the amazing thing is that we make it better by fighting for unity together.

And I want to give you an uncomfortable question Is there someone you need to talk to?

Is there somebody that you've left on?

Read that it's time to go first.

I know I hear the quiet because the Holy Spirit probably just brought somebody to your mind.

I know I hear the quiet because the Holy Spirit probably just brought somebody to your mind, I know.

But that means you're one step away from a miracle.

What if you went first?

Because you know what we do if we're not careful, we get hurt, and when we get hurt, we build walls around ourself and we isolate ourself and before you know it, we unintentionally are like a princess in a tower waiting on a prince to come save us.

Well, the good news is the prince has already come and his name is Jesus and he's already set you free.

You're not a victim anymore.

You can go now.

Set somebody else free.

You got the keys.

Go, be somebody's miracle this week.

Who do you need to start a conversation with that you can say we're gonna walk in freedom this week and I'm going to go first.

That's what it looks like to make it better.

All of Christ and all of life means that from my relationship with God, my love relationship with God, I know that I'm loved, seen and known in his presence.

So, therefore, I look up to see people all around me.

And when I see people all around me now, it is my honor to make it better.

And in the house of God, I'm not going to be a spiritual consumer.

I'm not going to be a spiritual consumer.

I'm going to be a contributor.

I'm going to go make a difference by making it better, giving him the best that I have, because he's worthy of nothing less.

I'm going to do it as an act of worship.

I'm going to do it as a way to fight for unity.

And then the third thing that the text tells us that is so powerful is that when we do this, it's because we can make a difference together, that we can look and say I'm gonna be somebody's blessing.

And you know what's amazing is, while you're saying I'm gonna be somebody's blessing, there's somebody else that's saying the same thing, and so what starts to happen is you start to be their miracle, they start to be your miracle.

And that's what it looks like when the kingdom of God is working the way it's supposed to be, Is that, as I am meeting your need, you're meeting my need and we all fit together.

This is how God's word says it.

It says he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ.

Now, these are the gifts.

These are not all of them, but the church.

Christ gave the church, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, and it is their responsibility to equip God's people to do his work.

Ministry, which builds up the church, the body of Christ, and he makes the whole body fit together perfectly, as each part does its own special work and it helps the other parts grow so that the whole body is healthy and growing.

Can I tell you this is something that we have to make sure that we get right, because if you grew up in some of the cultures I grew up in, we had this idea that ministry only happens on this stage and that ministry only happens by people like me.

Can I tell you that's not the truth at all, that actually, when I do ministry, I don't do it as a pastor, I do it as a part of the body of Christ, like you, because my job as a pastor is not even really to do ministry.

My ministry is to equip all of you to do the work of ministry that you have been given the ability to make a difference in your world.

And so if I've ever not told you that God made you with a purpose and with a calling, and it is to know God and to make him known in all of your world, I repent of it right now that this is the most.

Ministry happens Monday through Saturday, and that we have the opportunity to make a difference together.

So my job is to tell you and create systems for us to learn how to be equipped and then to go into all of our world and make a difference.

And so if you've never heard this, here it is.

You have everything you need to do, everything God has called you to do.

God's not waiting to use you one day.

He has given you the ability to make a difference today with what he's already given you, and we have the honor of being somebody else's miracle.

We have the honor that God has equipped all of us to make a difference, and the beautiful thing is is that you have been empowered to serve others.

Look at your neighbor and say he's talking about you, that when you receive salvation and the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of you, one of the things that he gives you is the ability to make a difference.

That's what the spiritual gifts are.

I'm so excited that this coming Saturday I get to teach the session on the Holy Spirit, because I can't wait to tell you that the Holy Spirit has gifted all of us to make a difference and to serve one another.

He says it like this he says there are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same spirit that is the source of them all.

There are different kinds of service, but we all serve the same Lord.

God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.

The spiritual gift is given for each of us so we can help each other.

So what he's saying is is that the Holy Spirit is the gift and he empowers us to serve others, that God has given you the ability to make a difference in the lives of others, and so that's what spiritual gifts are.

They're not even for you, they're to be used through you, into the lives of others.

That's why, if you ever hear someone tell them that, they tell you that they have a spiritual gift and that is their.

Whatever they've missed the point.

The Holy Spirit is the gift and he uses those gifts for us to serve others.

That's why God would never use you in a spiritual gift, unless you're attached to a local church, because the goal is to edify one another.

But, man, when you do, when you stop becoming a consumer and you start becoming a contributor and you start saying put me in, coach, where do you need me?

I want to make a difference in somebody's life, I want to serve somebody, then you start to find man.

I'm able to make a difference.

I didn't even know I knew how to do that.

I didn't even know that I was able to make a difference in that way.

That's God using you to make a difference in the lives of others.

And the amazing thing is is that we will never be as good separately as we will be when we serve God together.

It's almost like you ever put a puzzle together and there was one piece shy.

Over this past summer my wife and I put together a puzzle and it was supposed to be I think it was a 500-piece puzzle.

It wasn't, it was a 499-piece puzzle and it was amazing how it looked.

Mostly good, it was kind of nice, but there was one piece that made it where it didn't quite fit together.

And here's the thing All of us, it's not the full puzzle, we're a piece of the puzzle that God never intended for us to fulfill.

All that he called us to do in isolation.

And the amazing thing is is that I'm a piece, you're a piece, you're a piece, you're a piece.

And if half of us come together then we'll be able to make a difference.

But we'll never be able to make the same difference that if we all come together and put in our piece, that it starts to make sense.

And when we start to do that, we realize that from the love of God and because I see people, then we go in and we make it a difference together.

That's when this scripture makes sense, when he says for we are God's masterpiece, that he created us anew in Christ Jesus so that we could do the good things he planned for us long ago, that we become a masterpiece.

The most direct word for that in the Greek translation is tapestry.

A tapestry is a collection of smaller images and pictures that when you put them all together it makes one big picture.

So God knew exactly what he was doing when he inspired the Holy Spirit, inspired Paul through the Holy Spirit to write that down.

He's saying that when we all come together and say I'm going to make it better the way I can, you make it better the way you can, and I'm going to do it the very best of my ability, because the king deserves nothing less.

Then it becomes a masterpiece that all of heaven's angels and all of hell's demons look on in awe and say look at the church, that's what the kingdom of God looks like.

It's not in big moments, but it's in the beauty of everyday faithfulness, of saying I want to make a difference.

And the amazing thing is is we'll never do as much separately as we can do together.

And it's not about the big moments, it's about the small moments of faithfulness where you say you know what?

I can't do everything, but I can do this.

It reminds me of a story of a guy.

I heard him tell it years ago, and he was a young man at the time and he said that he lived in isolation a lot in his life.

He worked third shift and every morning at the end of his shift he would drive by this church and he just he did it for two or three years just drove by this church over and over again, and the more time went on, the more isolated he felt, the more he felt like he wasn't loved until he finally started to say you know, the best way I can help other people is if I weren't here anymore and if that started rolling around in his head until finally he said that is the best way I can help.

And so he went and actually bought the resources that he needs so he could end his life, had it in his glove compartment and he finally decided that tonight when I get off work, I'm going to go make the world a better place by removing myself from it.

And it happened to be on a Saturday night leading into a Sunday.

And as he was driving home, he saw a crowd at that church and he said well, you know, I mean, this is my last day, it's not gonna hurt anything, I'm gonna go on in church.

And he hadn't been in church in years.

And he said that.

He said when he got there, he walked in.

And he said when he walked in, he was startled because immediately there was this young man about his age said hey, what's going on?

He said he ran up to him and gave him this massive hug.

He was like, ah, creeper alert.

You know, he's like who hugs a stranger.

That's what he did, though.

He said he gave him a big old hug and he said it was like it was so big that it almost took my breath away.

He's like ugh, that cow.

You couldn't even get the words out.

And he was like hi, my name is so-and-so, what's your name?

And then, before he had a chance to say anything, he's like come over here, we got some coffee.

And he comes over and he gives us some coffee and he's kind of I'm going to show you around.

He starts showing them around everywhere and he says look, here's a seat just for you.

You want me to sit by you?

He said it'd been years since anybody had shook his hand, hugged him, said anything nice to him.

He said it had been so long he forgot what it felt like.

But he said well, I might as well be here and I don't want to see that guy again.

So he said right here.

And he said he sat through the worship, he sat through the message.

He heard that Jesus loved him and that Jesus could change his life, and he said well, jesus, I don't have a life anyway, so if you want it, it's yours.

And he gave his life to Christ that day and he had to deal with that guy on the way out right.

And he said the rest of the story.

He said he came the next week and that guy was hey, what's going on?

It's good to see you again.

Gave him a big old hug.

And he said three, four times goes by same guy.

Hey, what's going on?

Big hug, he said.

Now I find myself, I'm hugging him back again.

I'm looking forward to my hug every week.

And one day I realized, you know, I could give somebody a hug too.

That's what I can do.

And so he joined the team giving people a hug.

Fast forward, about five years later when I got to hear his story, he was leading the greeting team and his story was a hug can save somebody's life.

Because, he said, that day, that young man saved my life.

He was somebody's miracle because he was connected to more than himself.

He was connected to the body of Christ.

And when you're connected to the body of Christ, there's power there.

It wasn't just a hug, it was a lifeline.

So don't ever tell me you can't make a difference.

If you can look someone in the eyes and you can hug them, you can save somebody's life.

You can get everything you need.

Do everything God has called you to do.

And every time that young man gives people a hug, he says maybe this is the day, maybe that's gonna save somebody's life.

And here's the thing.

That's what God has given us the opportunity to do Is that he has given us the ability that, because we love him, he teaches us how to see people.

And because we see people, he says look, the harvest is ripe.

Go into the harvest fields and make a difference.

And, yes, it would be great if all of us could stop Thanos from snapping his fingers and blinking away half the universe.

But can and make a difference.

And, yes, it would be great if all of us could stop Thanos from snapping his fingers and blinking away half the universe.

But can I tell you I don't really have much time for heroes like that.

I'm excited about the everyday people who say what God has given me, I give back to him.

Those are the people that I think, when we get to heaven, will be celebrated, are the ones who faithfully and quietly made it better, and because of them we're all here.

The lady who led me to Jesus you'll never know her name, but I do.

And Jesus does.

What, if that's what God wants to do in your life Is to be somebody else's miracle.

That's the honor that we have, and we do it as an act of worship.

We do it because we fight for unity and we do it to make a difference.

In just a moment, the band's gonna lead us in a song of worship, but I don't know what.

God is maybe speaking to you in this, maybe you're in here and maybe you serve the Lord, but you're just weary, just weary, and you need to be reminded why we do what we do.

And so maybe in just a moment, your prayer just needs to be God, I just want to rest in your presence and just remember that I'm part of something bigger than myself and just allow the love of God to just wash over you for a minute.

Maybe you're in here and this message has nothing to do with about making it better, and has everything to do with that tension I felt when I talked about it's time to go to somebody and start the process of reconciliation.

Maybe that was you.

Maybe, as soon as I said that, someone came to your mind, I talked to someone after our first service and they said I've already sent the text message.

Pastor, why don't you be somebody's miracle and start the conversation, and maybe your prayer needs to be for courage, because that's hard to do.

Maybe you're in here and today's the day of salvation for you.

You heard me say that all of sin and come short of the glory of God, and the wages of that sin is death.

But don't miss the next part of the verse.

But the gift of God is eternal life.

You've never been more loved than you are right now.

Jesus went all the way to the cross and stayed there because of you, and he would do it again all over if it meant that you would choose him.

And so in just a moment, as we have our time of worship, we're going to stand and we're going to begin to worship in just a moment.

Your next best act of worship is when we all stand to worship.

I want you to take that connect card, because on the back of it it has the plan of salvation, and I want you to step out of your seat and walk back to your right.

That's where our prayer table is, and we would love to be there with you and watch you as you come into the kingdom of God.

Jesus himself said the only way I can describe it to you is like being born again.

It's time to come home and watch what God can do.

Let's pray together right now.