[00:00:01] Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason, and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching from God's Word you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to Him. If you're ever in the Madison, Alabama area, we'd love for you to worship with us on Sundays at 8:30 or 10:30am if you have any other questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison Church, find
[email protected] Be sure to also check out our Bible study podcast, Madison Church of Christ Bible Studies. Thanks again for stopping by.
[00:00:38] I know all of you are probably familiar with this expression. You've heard it before.
[00:00:43] We use it kind of in the same way we use a chip of the old block. The idea here is that there's a truth, and that is that when apples fall from a tree, they land at the base of the tree. That's just a truth, okay, that we can explore. And what's happened over the years is we've turned that. That idea, that truth, and turn it into an expression that means something totally different. And what do I mean by that is it means we represent something that we belong to or that we are a picture of something that we belong to. I see about a million examples of this in our own audience. I mean, if I could just for just a second, if you don't mind me doing this, just for a moment. This morning we had Anne Marie and Michael Rainey in the auditorium, and they had their two kids. I mean, those two kids are the perfect expression of their parents, right? They're like mini mes. It's like apple tree. You see it, right? And there's other examples here in the audience. Let me look around for just a second. I mean, Brandon Preston and Gage Preston. Okay, that's another one.
[00:01:44] Now, most apples do fall from the tree. This one may be running away from me. I don't know if that's the case or not. But I guess what I'm saying is there's representations, and we can look and we can see from a physical perspective that there are people in our audience that represent or look a whole lot like the people that they came from, Right? It's that fruit of that plant that shows it's connected to it. It belongs to it. Right? And we see this all the time in different ways. But I want to challenge us this morning to think about things from a spiritual perspective. You know, if there is a plant and the fruit of that plant is supposed to belong to that plant. And. And if we ourselves are supposed to belong to Jesus Christ, then the question I would have for all of us is, where does the fruit fall? And from what tree does it come from? And I think it's important as we think about this, sometimes as we think about that expression fruit, you know, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. We think about that from the sense of not just looking like someone, but more embracing the characteristics and the quality of that person. So this can be good and bad, right? If you can think about maybe there's a generation or two of family that they are involved in crime and do a bunch of different things that are not so good, and maybe they skip a generation and then another one comes in and they commit crime too. And people would say, hey, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. Or maybe it's someone that you know of that does a lot of kindness, a lot of good things, and they have this pattern. And then you see their offspring, you see their children, their family, and they're doing some of those things, same things. And you can say to yourself, hey, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, but from a spiritual perspective.
[00:03:24] And I'm looking across this room, and I can say, there's tons of great Christians in this room. I look and I see people, and I can visualize and see images of some of you who have taken the time to pray with someone or that you've taken food to someone, that you've provided for them, that you've shown up and encouraged someone. I just had a conversation with Ms. Jewell Johnson this past week, and last week, some people came over and just came and sang with her. It was freezing cold outside. They came into the house and they sang, and she says, you have no idea what that did. For me, to see them, to see their faces, to feel their love and support, that's something that we can say within this group of people. I'm looking around at a ton of great Christians, and from what I see, my experience, experience with all of you, is you're bearing good fruit. Like I see it, I see that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. But no disrespect to any of you or myself, the reality is not so much what we think about each other within this room. We should love and support each other and be thankful to have each other.
[00:04:33] But the real question is more what do people outside of these walls think about who we are?
[00:04:39] What kind of fruit are we bearing for them? What kind of example are we of Christ? And if someone were to say about us, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, would they mean that in some other way? Would they mean it from a spiritual perspective that that person belongs to Christ? And I can tell it. What we're going to explore this morning in this message is simply this. How will they know? How will people outside of this room, how will people that we bump into in our communities, in our neighborhoods, in our workplace, the people that we coach alongside at the ballpark, the people that we run into in different areas of the different interests that we follow, what do they think about us? If they were to say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, who would they be talking about? And I want to challenge all of us to think this morning in terms of spiritual things. And we may have questions. Well, what should we do? What could we do in order to make that kind of influence and that kind of power in our world? What is it that we could do? And how will they know? Well, the beautiful thing is Jesus answers this. We're gonna be in John chapter 13, chapter 15, and chapter 17 today. And if you have a red letter Bible, you're gonna see that most of those words are in red because it's words that Jesus shared with them to give a little bit of a. Oh, a little bit of a context to what's going on in John chapter 13. Jesus has just gathered the disciples to gather for. For Passover feast. And they're enjoying this dinner. And in the middle of dinner, as they're celebrating the Passover, Jesus stops, he pauses everything, takes off his outer garment, walks over, finds a towel, wraps it around his waist, gets a basin, fills it up with water, and starts washing the feet of all the disciples. And of course, this is kind of mind blowing to them. Here's the master serving them. They should be serving him. It's just a weird mix. And yet Jesus does this, and he says, I'm doing this because I want you to capture some things. One, that you need to be serving other people.
[00:06:32] That this is about you serving one another. The things that I'm showing you, that's something I want you to begin doing. Not necessarily just washing feet, but the idea of serving other people and demonstrating that kind of connection to me. So he tells them these things. And then not long after that, Judas goes off to betray Jesus. And so now he's just talking to the 11 of his disciples. And he says this, he says a new Commandment I give you, that you love one another. Well, that's a great commandment, right? And one that you would say, well, that doesn't seem like it's too new, but let's explore that for just a moment. What do we know? In Deuteronomy, we hear passages, I love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. And then later In Leviticus, chapter 19, we have this text that says, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Now we know that Jesus later said that on those two things hang all the law and the prophets, right? But it's this that we need to maybe wrap our minds around. Why is it that he would say, love your neighbor as yourself? Have you ever asked that question? Why would he say, love your neighbor as yourself? Well, why is that?
[00:07:32] It's because we love ourselves, right? I think if you're God and you're trying to teach these people and help them understand the connection they should have with him, it has to start with them understanding some things on a fundamental level. Remember, God was frightening to them. I mean, he was awe inspiring and, and perhaps that kept them from being able to express their full love in Him. And so he starts out with something that maybe they can identify and that's simply this. Love your neighbor as yourself. Well, you may say, well, I don't love myself too much. Want to bet? If I were to take a photo, if I were to start over here and I would scan the audience and I did one of those panoramic deals and just went all the way across. Everybody be still. Everybody be still. And I did all this and I got it up there, got up there, got the balcony and everything. We got this massive shot of everyone that's staring at me this morning. What if I were able to take that image and cast it up on the screen? Where are your eyes going? First, tell the truth.
[00:08:28] You're checking how you look, right? I mean, was that a smile or a smirk? I can't tell. Why am I looking behind me? All these, you would ask all these questions, why? Because your eye is drawn directly to yourself. I think God knew that, that our general interest is gonna be about ourselves. That's why when he talks about marriage in Ephesians, chapter five, and he talks about that husband, wife relationship, one of the things that he says is that the husband's gonna take care of himself. Like love your wife as you love your own body. No one doesn't take care of himself. Like everybody's gonna do that. It's our nature, folks, to think about us in the morning, to take care of ourselves, to get ourselves ready to manage who we are. That's our first priority, right? And there's some ownership there about us developing spiritually and all those kinds of things. But I think the point is made that we start with ourselves. So we're to love our neighbor as ourself? Well, that's a certain standard, right? But when he says there's a new commandment, we may need to take notice that there's something different about this one. What is it?
[00:09:31] His new commandment requires a greater standard of what that love looks like. And here's what it is. Just as I have loved you, you also love one another, okay? That steps the game up, does it not? I mean, as I have loved you, that's how you love each other, man. We have to ask ourselves, are we even capable of that?
[00:09:54] I mean, and here, I'll be honest with you here in John 13, Jesus hasn't yet gone to the cross. He hasn't yet, you know, been taken captive and arrested and beaten and gone through those trials and, you know, had the crown. He hasn't been spat upon just yet. He. All those things have. Are yet to come. He's in this moment where he's preparing them for what is coming. And he's saying, you're not going to be able to go where I'm going. And they're saying all these things, and he says to them, I need you to love in a different way. And that standard is greater than what you've had before. You should start with yourself and say, well, if I love myself, I should do this to my neighbor. No, this is higher as I have loved you. And certainly while they haven't seen him go to the cross yet, they have seen his compassion, his love, the way he dealt with people along the way, people who needed to be condemned. And yet Jesus showed mercy and kindness and love. People who were suffering for many, many years. And he would go and take that suffering away. There were times also, just as he showed his love for them, that he blessed them, he helped them, he provided for them. But there were also times where he had to get straight with them, right? And say, hey, I love you. Gotta share a few things with you. When you think about those guys asking, who's gonna get the right and the left hand of his throne? Jesus has to set them straight, Peter. We can't even get into all the times he had to correct Peter, right? Those things were expressions of love, too. But all of them came from a person that they knew beyond a shadow of doubt, loved him with everything he had.
[00:11:24] And so they had this example in front of them. So when he says, I don't need you to love your neighbor as yourself, I need you to love as I have loved you, that's a whole different ball game. So his standard was based on something much greater, his love for us.
[00:11:39] And catch this.
[00:11:41] How will people know that we're his disciples? Well, that's it, right? Loving each other the way Jesus loves us. By this will all men know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. That's a powerful thought, isn't it? And what does that look like? I mean, how do we even begin to comprehend that? I think, you know, we can look through scripture and there's several passages that help us understand, you know, as God is revealing to us what love is. The first one is it's sincere and it's without these boundaries that we put in there. It's outside of these restrictions. In other words, I don't love you because you agree with me, or that you'll do what I ask you to do, or we don't have any animosity toward each other. No, I love you, period.
[00:12:24] That's it.
[00:12:25] Jesus never stops loving us. In fact, I think this morning was already been mentioned that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Like he's not. He wasn't waiting for us to get right before he came to save us. He just came out of his love for us. So it's without conditions. Romans 12, 9 and following says something like this. Let love be genuine, abhor what is evil, hold fast to those things that are good. Then it goes on to talk about how we need to show brotherly affection toward one another and that we need to outdo one another in showing that kind of honor to each other. So this love that Jesus is talking about is different. It's a sincere non conditional. It's just not. There are no boundaries to that. Our love should be ongoing all the time. But it's also about putting others above ourselves. Remember the passage that says have this mindset in you, which was also in Christ Jesus right before that. It talks about not taking on and be conceited and trying to accomplish things for yourself, but to look out for the interest of others. That's love. It seeks someone else besides itself. It's also, though sometimes it's very difficult things and this next one is hard. And maybe we don't do it as well as we should do it because it's A very awkward thing, a very difficult thing. But restoring someone who's fallen away, that's love. You may not see it as that, but it is. And let me tell you, if we love each other as Christ loved us, if we are embodying that kind of love and appreciation for one another, then what happens is when I go to that person and I say, hey, brother, I love you. But there are some things that I'm seeing in your life that I'm just concerned about, and I want to make sure that things are right. And I'm not coming to you from a place of arrogance, that I've got it all together. I may need you tomorrow to do the same thing for me. But it's Galatians 6:1:2, and we use this verse to talk about bearing one another's burdens and fulfilling the law of Christ. And we have that as an image in our mind of sitting with someone, holding their hand, helping them through a difficult time. And certainly as Christians, that's part of that. Serving one another, loving each other, picking each other up, encouraging one another, for sure. But in this context, Galatians 6, it's about sin says, hey, if someone among you is overtaken in a trespass, those of you who are spiritual, restore that person gently considering yourself, lest you fall into the temptation and the snare of the devil, you catch it. There's an obligation on our part to seek out those people that are drifting off. Why? Because we love them? It's not because we need to tell people, hey, I set him straight and I pulled him back. No, it's that you understand, the love that we have for this person requires that I want to bring them back into what we have here. That's special. And folks, can I tell you, at Madison, it's special.
[00:15:18] This place, this body is special. We're not perfect, but it's special. But we want all of our people back here, right? So it says in James, chapter five, it talks about bringing that person back, how we hide a multitude of sins. It's a beautiful thing to keep that person away from going down a path that's going to lead them to destruction. But then here's caring and praying for enemies in Matthew, chapter five. You know, this is part of maturing in Christ is it says, be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect. And it's not talking about perfection in the sense of sinlessness. It's in the sense of growing, maturing, developing. And it says to love and to care for one another, and especially those that you have something Against. It's so important that the Bible says in Matthew that if you have a problem with your brother and you come to worship and you're about to offer your worship to God, hey, if you have something against someone, stop. It's better for you to go out into the foyer and to deal with that and to make it right and then come back and offer your worship. Because there's such an important thing about us being together in love and togetherness. And you may say, well, that sounds like enemies outside of the body. Well, it could be. But it's also, sometimes you're going to have people in here that you're at odds with as well. And, you know, I'm just going to be honest with you. Some of you guys need a swirly. I mean, so that's what we really need is to grab some of you folks and put them in the toilet and just flush that thing over and over and over again, right? Some of us are cantankerous, but we love you.
[00:16:48] And sometimes we have to endure those things, right? We have to be patient with each other. And then the greatest display of this, in John 15, Jesus says, Greater love has no one than this than to lay down his life for his friends.
[00:17:05] How much do you love each other?
[00:17:07] I mean, the measure that Jesus shows us of his love is that you got to be willing to do that. You got to be willing to give yourself up for someone. And there's no better expression of this than in First John, chapter 3, verse 16 through 18. By this we know love. How is that? That he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, that closes his heart against him. How does God's love abide in him? Do you understand what he's saying? Like, open our eyes and see the people who are in need, that we need to sacrifice some time and some love to show them our support. He says, little children, let us not love in word or talk, but indeed and in truth. Do you catch it? It's not just lip service saying, I love you, brother. It's being there when you know your brother needs you. And I've had brothers do that for me in this room when they knew I just needed encouragement. It might be over a bunch of wings, but it's together loving each other the way we should. So that's the first thing is they'll know by our love for each other. Second thing is this. They'll know because we are connected to Jesus. There's this illustration here, another analogy. The vine and the branches. And Jesus says this. He says, I'm the true vine and the Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes that it will bear more fruit. Understand what God is saying or what the Bible is telling us here about God and his work in us. He's talking, calling himself the vine dresser. What does that mean? Well, it's someone who prunes and takes care of the grapevines in the vineyard. But there's three different things, and it's a very complicated thing. I could get into a lot of the details, but it's generically these three things cutting back the excess branches, which means if there are dead branches, you cut those off and throw them into a pile to be burned.
[00:19:01] It's also pruning, where you will go in and manage the grapevine a little bit. They have a very technical way about doing this. They determine how many buds need to go off of each of those vines. And so they prune the weaker ones so the ones that are there can grow and be really developed. And the grapes can be the flavor that they want and the size they want and those kinds of things. And so they cut some of those things, they trim it back a little bit. And then also they worry about things like pests and water and nourishment. Sometimes they'll go around. And if a grape cluster and that vine is pulled down by the weight and it's out in the shade instead of out in the sun, they'll find a way to pull that up and get it. The equal exposure to the sun and the nutrients that it needs, the fertilizer in the ground, the water deep, deep enough to where the roots can grow deep and be strong. All those things are taking place as they. As the vinedresser is doing, all of these small little things that help shape that into a fruit that will bear. Will bear the fruit that it needs to. So think about, on the spiritual side of this, how God is at work in all of us. He warns us about things. That's why we have passages like Galatians, chapter 5, where in verse 17 through 21 or so, where it talks about the works of the flesh. It's saying, hey, if you see these things, those are the kinds of things that people who are not attached to Jesus Christ will be doing. It's the, you know, the lasciviousness, it's the immorality. It's all of those things that are harmful for us and destroy us from within. And they're laid there as a temptation by the devil. And we have talked so much about this spiritual warfare that we're going through, and the Bible is telling us that these things, these works that we see that are of the flesh are taking us away from God. They're gonna make it so we don't inherit the kingdom. It's like if we keep doing those things, it's so harmful. God warns us about that through His Word, but then also he provides opportunities for us. There's so many things that are happening around us, and if we'll open up our eyes, we'll see opportunities that we can share with other people and bear good fruits in helping other people.
[00:21:10] Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10 says that those works are out there. They're laid out there in advance for us to pursue.
[00:21:18] And so we have to understand that God is putting those things out there. And there may be times where we are trying to do some things, and we just don't seem to be quite making it where we need to get. And yet we keep trying the same things over and over. And it's just disappointing after disappointing after. Could it be that God is pruning that out of your life and saying, hey, that's not a direction that's gonna help you flourish and bear the fruit that I want you to bear? Have you ever stopped to just let God have control and to know that some of the things that we're battling against are just his way of saying, hey, that's not gonna refine you the way you need to be. But then he nourishes us and he sets us up for success. Think about this.
[00:21:56] God sent Jesus down to die for our sins. That's the rescue of all rescues.
[00:22:02] But not only that, but Jesus came and lived among us, showed us an example, and then taught us all the things that we need to live by. Every one of those things are important. And so not only did Jesus come, He gave us his word, but then also as he left, he left us the comforter, the Holy Spirit, to guide us and to teach us and to remind us of the things that we have learned and to bring us into a better relationship with God and to find that comfort and that peace of mind that says, God is helping me along the way. Think about all the different ways that he nourishes. That's God as the vine dresser. And so he says, abide in me, and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. This word pops up over and over. In fact, it's 10 times in these first 10 verses, the number of times that the word abide. And the idea, the concept behind it is that it's not just about staying, it's about like enduring. It's a steadfastness. It means no matter what is going on around me, no matter what pressures are out there, I'm staying with what I know is the right thing. And that's kind of the idea here, is that we stay with the Lord. We are connected to Jesus, we belong to him, and we want to be the ones who abide in him and bear those fruits. But we cannot independent from Jesus, but we can independent on Him. Isn't that kind of a great way to think about it? Independent of him, we're nothing. Everything that we do might be because of our own self praise or our own glory, or maybe our own accomplishment or those kinds of things. But when we're looking to give him the glory, and that's really what Matthew chapter five is telling us, right? To give him the glory for the things that are done, that all those things happen because he's living inside of us. And our objective in all this life is to point ourselves back to God and say, he's the one who makes all this happen in My life.
[00:24:03] So we can't independent of him, but we certainly can when we have a dependence on Him.
[00:24:11] So he says, anyone who does not abide in me, he's thrown away like a branch that withers and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. He says, if you abide in Me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it'll be done for you. This text is pretty powerful because it's got a couple different things in it. First of all, I wanted to say there's some promises here.
[00:24:30] When we fall in love with God and we abide in Jesus, and I mean we stay, we stay through all the difficulties of life. And we find ourselves seeking after his will and his will only. And we're just centered, our hearts are centered on that thing and he is with us. Then what happens is whatever we ask, we have this blessing of knowing that he's gonna provide those things because it comes from a place that says, I want his will to be done. It's a submission to him, actually. And that's a powerful thing. But we cannot look past the upper part of this text, which is a warning. Look at this, verse 2 and verse 6. Every branch that does not bear fruit is taken away.
[00:25:09] Anyone that does not abide in Jesus is thrown away as a branch that withers and is burned.
[00:25:17] Listen, people will say, well, when it says burn there, is it talking about the fires of hell, perhaps?
[00:25:25] All I can tell you is that we can't look past this warning that God expects His people to bear fruit. He expects us to represent him in this world. And so we need to ask ourselves the question, am I one of those branches that's not bearing fruit? That's not putting myself out there to be a blessing to other people? Am I not being a person who's willing to teach someone? Am I not being a person that's willing to share with someone or to be there for someone, or to encourage someone? Am I using what I have for his glory? This warning is there to remind us that we need to be actively engaged in bearing fruits for him, because this is it.
[00:26:05] In this, the Father is glorified that we bear much fruit. So think about fruit for a second. What is it?
[00:26:13] Well, it's what comes from that plant that is used to be a blessing for other people. It's nourishment, it's energy, it's refreshing. It's all of those things, right?
[00:26:24] And so the question that maybe all of us need to ask is, I have this faith, and that faith is producing something. So the question for all of us to ask is, who am I feeding?
[00:26:36] It's a very personal thing. And each one of us have to answer that question honestly. Who am I pouring into?
[00:26:44] Who have I targeted as a person that I want to be a blessing to, that I want to share with them what Jesus has done for me in my life, that I want them to know that I'm connected to that vine and I'm only the fruit, the fruit of the goodness that he's given me. But I have given this fruit to be a blessing to someone else. Who are you feeding?
[00:27:06] Check this out.
[00:27:08] He says, this is how you prove to be my disciples if you bear much fruit.
[00:27:17] That's awesome, isn't it? So two ways. If we love each other the way Jesus loved us, and then if we bear fruit together.
[00:27:26] So what are those fruits? Galatians 5, 22. You know, these. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self control.
[00:27:35] We know that These are things that come as a result of God living inside of us. That the Spirit of God just develops these things in us that we plug into Him. We let His Word fill our hearts. It drives our decisions and our mind. It makes us remember the things that he said. And in doing so, what happens as a result of this is we find ourselves with love and joy and all these great things. And the Bible says, against those things there is no law. There is no law against those kinds of things. It's good for us to produce these fruits. But catch this last part and don't miss it. It says, for those who belong to Christ, have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
[00:28:15] So are we his?
[00:28:18] Because if we are his, do we have an obligation to put to death those other things that were mentioned earlier in Galatians that we talked about and to embrace these fruits and let them come out of us as we are plugged into this power? So abiding in Jesus is not about being a consumer, but rather being consumed with abiding in Jesus.
[00:28:43] That's something for all of us to be challenged by and to be encouraged in that regard. And he says, how do you do that? You keep my commandments. I'm so thankful for the grace and mercy of God. All of us are the recipients and the beneficiaries of Jesus, his love for us, his mercy on the cross. None of us deserve it. That's why Ephesians 2 says, it's not of ourselves, it's the gift of God. It's not of works. Lest any of us should boast. We don't need to think too highly of ourselves in the middle of all this. But I do want you to understand that because we've been given that grace out of gratitude, we need to be people who are bearing fruits and representing Him. And he says, you do this not just so my joy will be full in you, but that you will receive the fullness of that joy in your life as well. These are powerful challenges. But I gotta ask a question. If I think about the two things that tell us that we prove ourselves to be children of God, one is, I love the way Jesus loved. And the second thing is that I bear fruit for him. Those are ways that I prove that I belong to Jesus Christ.
[00:29:48] But then how do we do this? How do we pull it together? What is the thing that draws this into such strength that it's just overwhelming? And it's this Jesus. Later In John chapter 17, he's talking to God in prayer, and he's lifting up not just the disciples, but those of us who would be coming as a result of their teaching. People that they taught and people that they taught down through the ages. And so he says this. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who. Who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. Again, not so much important about what we think about each other here. It is important that we treat each other the right way. But what I'm talking about is what are the markers that the rest of the world will see to know that we're his? And I think it's a unity, right? It's oneness. It's the idea that we have a togetherness, that we are working in tandem. This past week, Nick and I were at home flipping through some channels and came across a show that I had watched years ago called American Restoration. And it's this guy named Rick. I don't know what his last name is, but he takes like old antiques machines from different eras. People will buy those and bring them to him and pay wahoo to make sure that it's restored completely. And so it looks brand new by the time he's finished. He does amazing work, and it's fascinating to watch the process that he goes through. Sandblasting and re chroming and reupholstering and all these kinds of things. And someone brought a tandem bike to him and sold it to him very cheaply and said, look, I'll sell it to you for this cheap price if when you get it fully restored, you'll bring it to me and you'll let us see it. It was a couple. So he was like, okay, great. So they get it all finished up and it's beautiful. I mean, it is unbelievable if you know what a tandem bike is. It's a two seater, right? It's like one in the front, one in the back, someone's steering, the other two are both pedaling, you know, that kind of thing. And so it takes a little coordination. And so they got it ready, got it fixed up, and before they sold it, they took it over to that couple's house and said, hey, the bike is done. We just wanted you to see it. And you know what? We wanted you to have the special honor of riding on that tandem bike together. They were like, awesome. Oh, it's beautiful. And so they jumped on that tandem bike and immediately rode and crashed it right into the ground.
[00:32:08] How awesome was that? Well, thanks for the restoration. You know, so what's the point I'm trying to make here is a tandem bike requires coordination from two people, right? A first person and this back person. And they have to lean the same way, they have to ride the same way, they have to pedal at the same pace. They have to work in coordination with one another. And those two people couldn't pull it together. They fell over. Now, imagine from a spiritual perspective what it's like to have an audience like this and to have us all moving in the same direction. I cannot express to you what a blessing it is here at Madison. I cannot tell you what it's like to have a unity among us, and yet I want you to know it's something that we have to fight for. Jesus said this about this unity. He says, the glory that you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you and me, that they may become perfectly one so that the world catch this may know that you sent me. How important is that unity? It's so important that the whole world will see that joy that we have in being together, that love that we have, the bearing fruits together, but all of it working together in tandem. Think about how powerful a testimony that is to our community and to our world when we are together. That's why Ephesians, chapter four says these words.
[00:33:31] I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. With all humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another. Catch this. Eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace.
[00:33:47] I think what Paul is telling the Ephesians, and he may be telling us today, is we have to fight for this.
[00:33:54] We have to make this a priority, that we are working in tandem with one another, that we're not questioning everything that takes place, that we're not in the back corner somewhere talking about our disapproval about certain things, that we trust the collective wisdom of our shepherds as they lead us and push us forward. You know, sometimes it's not gonna always be the way you want it to be. And yet we trust them to lead us and to push us forward together. And it's our responsibility to work hard to maintain that unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. How do we do this? What does it look like? Well, walking worthy of the calling. That just means that I'm going to live in a way that aligns with my identity as a Child of God. And I'm going to do it with all of these people together. Look around.
[00:34:40] See the beautiful people in this room who are right here fighting alongside you to do this together. What a blessing it is to have the people in this room. What does it look like? Well, there are some things that are probably hard for us to swallow sometimes, but this is a short list of things that needs to happen. And this is all pulled from Ephesians, chapter four, that passage we just read. And then Also Colossians chapter one, verses 10 through 12. And it's this. We have to first walk with humility. That just means that I acknowledge that what I think I know may not be the right thing.
[00:35:16] That's hard for us sometimes. Like, we come to convictions, we come to conclusions in our life and we say, hey, that's it, that's the truth. Right? But in reality, you may not know everything that's going on and you may know what all is happening. But it's important for us to recognize that we are one, but we are many. And there needs to be this unity also responding in gentleness when you don't. When you have a problem with something that's going on, I would encourage you to respond with gentleness. That's what the Bible says. And the idea is that I don't go up to someone ready to swing a big stick and to push my disapproval about something or pitch a big fit or cause a ruckus and a stir. No, no, no, no, no.
[00:35:56] Find someone and have a conversation.
[00:35:59] The best things we can do are talk to each other and work through things together. The next part of this is maturing and patience. Sometimes things don't move as quickly as you want to. Oh, man, I have been there a million times. I mean, in church work, this is a big body. I used to hear, er, Brandon say, this is a big boat. And it's really hard to move a big boat. Think about the Titanic. I mean, he would just say that to us. It's like, it's hard to move this big boat in any direction. It's a small rudder, but it's a big group of people. How do we move in a way that helps us? We're all impatient. We all have to work on those things, but we just have to rest and know that our shepherds are guiding us and leading us and they are calling on the wisdom of God all the time to do the right thing and to push us forward. And then sometimes we gotta bear with each other. That means you gotta put up with some stuff sometimes. And I would encourage all of us to learn this special gift of absorbing.
[00:36:56] It just means, hey, I can take your hostility, I can take your conversation. Hey, bring it with some gentleness if you can. If not, I'll absorb. I understand you're upset, and you need to get some things off your chest. Learn that skill and the ability to not react and go to blows and to fight over those kinds of things. Learn to absorb. All of us need to do that. But then this last part is the most important part. Eager to maintain unity.
[00:37:23] That means we gotta want this so bad. And as Madison is pushing forward. Okay, our shepherds are gonna get up. On January 12th, we're gonna have one service, which will be awesome. All of us in the room together.
[00:37:35] And that day, they're gonna cast a vision in front of us. They're gonna share with us a challenge of what's next, moving forward. And I can't wait to hear, because I don't know exactly what they're gonna say. I'll just tell you that. But I know this. Every year they get up, they put before us another challenge that's greater than the year before.
[00:37:52] Why is that? Because they are pushing us to do more, to be more, to engage more, to enlist our hearts fully in the mission of this church, in this community and throughout the world. And I can't wait to hear what all they put in front of us. And it's a challenge for all of us to find a way to back it up and to fight for that unity as we do so.
[00:38:17] These are the words of Psalm 133, verse 1. How good and how pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. Amen to that. That's a beautiful thing. You know, the flip side of that is, in Proverbs, chapter six, there's a passage that talks about the seven things that God hates. It's a lying tongue, a proud look, those kinds of things. But one of the things that it says at the very end is this one that sows discord among brethren, the idea that someone may not like something that's happening. And so what they do is they get in a pocket somewhere and they build up their support for what they're outraged about.
[00:38:54] And they stir it up. They start pulling people in and say, hey, don't you also feel about this way, about this? Listen, I want you to understand, it'd be awful if I didn't warn us against that.
[00:39:07] We have to be unified.
[00:39:09] We have to be moving together. We have to support the people that we love and trust. Who are leading us.
[00:39:15] And this all thing, this loving each other, bearing fruits and unity is so important because it makes us a powerful resource, a powerful influence in this world and we can do this together.
[00:39:30] Let's wrap up with this passage here in Romans 15, 5, 6. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another in accordance with Christ, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Man, we gotta have unity. Because unity is the thing that binds that bearing of the fruits and the loving each other that makes it so very powerful for our world to see.
[00:40:00] So the question is, how will they know?
[00:40:03] Well, they will when we put those things into practice. We love each other like we should. We are all bearing fruits and we're doing it together. Man, this morning I hope that there's someone out there that just needs encouragement and that they're willing to come forward or go back to the back doors and find a shepherd to talk to that will pray with you. But don't stay in discouragement. Don't stay in frustration. Don't stay in your own disappointment or in your own guilt. Make things right so you can be brought into a closer relationship with God.
[00:40:38] And let's do this together. We have so much in front of us and until the Lord returns, we have days after day after day where we can give our fullness to him and the whole world will take notice. That's what God says in his Word. So let's do this together. If there's anyone who has a need this morning, please come. While together we stand and sing.
