Sermon: Unity in the Church

Apologia Studios

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

Hey everybody, I'm Pastor Jeff Durbin with Apologia Church. I want to thank you all so much for watching the content right here on Apologia Studios channel

00:07

What you're about to watch is a sermon, a message from Apologia Church's worship service

00:12

And again, I want to thank you all so much for watching, for liking, for commenting, for sharing the sermon itself

00:18

We truly believe that it's important for the Christian Church to have an engagement in the public square with the

00:23

Word of God So we thank you so much for partnering with us to send this out across the world I just wanted to say something before you actually watch this and that is that I'm not your pastor

00:33

Though I'd love to be I am NOT your pastor, and it's very important as you're watching this

00:39

You know that it's God's design for individual Christians to be part of a local

00:45

Christian Church under the care of qualified faithful biblical elders And so as much as we love all of you watching these sermons

00:53

And we're thankful to God that God uses them to bless you to encourage you I do want to encourage you as a minister of the gospel to get plugged into a local body of believers

01:02

Particularly, I think important a reformed church would be would be best But we want to encourage you to get plugged into a solid biblical church

01:11

Where you can fellowship, where you can worship, where you can serve, where you can be connected That is vitally important and actually a biblical command

01:19

And so as much as again as we love for your participation, your partnership And we are so thankful to God that he's using these in your lives

01:27

We want to encourage you to get plugged into a local church You can though actually partner with Apologia Church as we proclaim the gospel

01:34

And provide a defense of the biblical gospel all around the world You can do that by going to ApologiaStudios .com

01:40

You can partner with us by becoming all access when you do you help to make all of this possible and You get all of our tv shows our after shows and Apologia Academy All of that and you're a part of all that God is doing with us

01:54

In the world to proclaim herald the gospel of the kingdom you can partner with us And I want to say one last word about that Do make sure that none of your giving and partnership towards Apologia Church interferes with your giving your worship your tithes your offerings to a

02:12

Local body of believers in your area. So thank you again so much for watching these and sharing them.

02:17

God bless you It is uh, obviously very good to see brother jeff, uh vertical um

02:25

I walked into the emergency room And he's sitting there on while he's laying there on the on the bed on the gurney they've got all sorts of Needles in him and stuff like that and i'm like You know

02:40

I didn't know you were so allergic to me Because you may not know but he had his first problem

02:49

The afternoon after I met with him and the elders about becoming a member of this church And then a few days after I become an elder here there he is again

02:58

So i'm really starting to get a little concerned personally. Um I think i'm sure they're going to be testing him for allergies and things like that and i'm not sure how you test for allergies about a person but um

03:08

I will offer myself to them if they want to check that type of thing out but it is uh, it is my privilege to fill in and I am aware of the fact that we have

03:20

Spent a good deal of time already this afternoon. And so if you're sitting there going

03:25

Oh, no, if he has a sermon as long as jeff's normal ones uh, we should have brought something along to sleep in but uh,

03:33

Uh, you don't have to worry about that. I I can see Uh the clock back there and I will be sensitive to that reality.

03:40

I also apologize uh, because initially on tuesday when this all went down I'm, like oh, you know,

03:49

I didn't get through everything on the lord's supper that I intended to so we'll just Go with it um

03:56

But then I said except there is a text. I wanted to look at let me let me think about it.

04:01

So um, we're actually going to be in romans chapter 15 primarily And we will pick up the next time

04:09

I have the opportunity of speaking and jeff You don't need to rush it wherever you are, please. Um, it's okay.

04:14

Um next time I have the opportunity of preaching, uh, we will continue with the lord's supper series, but I wanted to talk to Us and I realize we always have lots and lots of visitors and you are welcome.

04:30

Thank you for being with us Uh, we appreciate you being here uh, but I wanted to specifically talk to Apologia Especially in light of the fact that we were just talking about the opposition uh that kawai is is presenting to us and the people there

04:51

And the opposition that we ourselves are facing a lot of you aren't aware of the fact that uh,

04:56

Even over the past couple of days there have been some fairly well -known people theologians in the reformed community

05:05

Accusing us of all sorts of things accusing us of teaching a doctrine called the federal vision

05:11

Which I I only mention as an illustration, but it does make me chuckle just a little bit

05:17

Given that I remember when that movement began. I was one of the first people to speak out against it

05:23

I've written a entire book on the doctrine of justification the largest book i've written Uh, which is in no way friendly toward but in fact very contrary toward federal visionism and yet that kind of stuff is out there and you would think that christians would always be people who would check their facts and And uh would would make sure that what's being said is accurate, but guess what?

05:47

Doesn't work that way and so we often have to deal with really unnecessary opposition when we're trying to we're trying to bring christians together to to to end abortion and to stand firmly for Vitally important things things that are absolutely central to the future of these little children that are running around Uh in our midst even even in this day

06:12

When we want to stand firm for the fact that god has made Male and female and when he did so he said it is good.

06:21

So to change that makes it bad We want to stand up for that we want to bring people together

06:26

We want to be able to explain that we want to be able to see people flourishing in this life and yet in the midst of that we get this kind of opposition for things that are just just seem so often so childish and so disruptive

06:43

But you know what? It's not the first time that we've experienced opposition from outside And in many ways that kind of opposition tends to drive us closer together with one another

06:54

It causes us to be focused upon what's important the real danger and anyone who has

07:00

Been in ministry for a lengthy period of time knows the real danger is from within Not so much from without.

07:07

Oh, yeah, there are forces from without that can Take away places for us to meet and and it would be a little tough right now to meeting in a park someplace at this time

07:18

In in arizona, but you know what? There are people all around the world meeting in parks

07:25

And guess what we'd survive some way or another It's internally

07:31

That the grave danger really exists There is nothing that I have ever seen

07:37

More destructive to the life of a minister of the gospel of jesus christ and to experience a church split

07:46

To experience that kind of tremendous trial and difficulty that comes from within the fellowship itself

07:54

And so I want to point our attention to two texts That I think well, there are many but I just in the time we have

08:03

I think will be extremely helpful for us and one i'm just going to cover very very briefly because you know it so well,

08:10

I just want to Point to a particular aspect of it, but it's in paul's epistle to philippians philippians chapter two, you know, it's so well

08:17

It's called the carmen christi. It is the the hymn to christ as to god

08:23

I would love to open up this text for you I think I probably have at some point over the years with you

08:29

But what I want you to notice is that tremendous text and all that it says about jesus

08:35

Is actually a sermon illustration It's a sermon illustration and if you read the first four verses that introduce us to The the song about jesus it's all about how the philippians

08:55

Need to look at others as more important than themselves In fact the key to properly interpreting

09:05

What's called the carmen christ to the hymn to christ as to god is to recognize that it is an illustration of humility

09:13

That jesus is our greatest example Of humility and what does that mean?

09:20

We have equal rights That's the big thing today.

09:25

Everyone's got equal rights, right? Well in the church we do not have a hierarchy in the sense of Better christians than other christians

09:35

We don't have a priesthood and all the gradations that rome has developed into that over the over the centuries and that kind of thing

09:43

Because the apostles never taught such a thing. They didn't envision such a thing when we come to the lord's table

09:49

Later on in just a matter of minutes from now There is not one line that gets one kind of food and the other line gets a better kind of food or something like that There is there is no people who get to go first and other people have to wait

10:03

No, there's one table One set of elements we come before christ as redeemed sinners.

10:11

There is only one righteousness That has been imputed to us

10:16

And so there is equality in our standing before god And so in light of that then what does it mean for us to act in humility of mind?

10:27

Toward one another within the fellowship of believers Well, he tells us

10:34

We are to consider others As more important than ourselves. We are to look to the things of others rather than just to our own things

10:45

So we have equal rights But we lay them aside

10:51

In the service of others that's humility and isn't that what jesus did? This is this is the key to the interpretation of verses five and following because If jesus was just michael the archangel or a great prophet or something along those lines

11:07

Then the whole thing wouldn't make any sense because if jesus was less than god

11:14

If he was a mere creature or even a highly exalted creature, but still a creature

11:19

Then it would not have been humility for him to not try to grasp at equality with god that Any creature that tries to grasp at equality with god is committing blasphemy

11:32

That's not humility So the only way to understand the song as an illustration that fits

11:40

Is to recognize that that equality he had with the father was something that he didn't hold on to at all costs but He humbled himself and laid that aside in service to us

11:57

He became obedient to the point of death even death on the cross Therefore god the father highly exalted him and gave him the name which is above every name

12:05

You know what the rest of the text says And so what we have

12:11

Is paul writing the philippians we get a little bit of a sense In some of the things he says,

12:16

I mean he doesn't have any major words of correction of the church of philippi I mean this church in comparison to corinth is doing really well

12:23

They really are there you don't have to name that. I mean It's sort of sad that some of the new testament epistles paul has to name by name

12:31

How would you like to be one of those folks that paul had to call out and say and by the way ladies? Uh, you all have been sort of going at each other and you need to love one another

12:41

And now it's in scripture for everyone to read forever. Isn't that wonderful? So you do have an advantage that you were not necessarily in the primitive church but philippians

12:53

There's really not any major correction, but there might be some somewhat of a underlying theme

12:59

That paul addresses here and saying look You want to know the best way to keep harmony in the fellowship of believers?

13:11

Don't worry about being seen Do not worry

13:16

About being called out from the pulpit for that wonderful job. You did last week

13:23

In humility serve Others when you have a fellowship filled with those kinds of saints

13:33

You're going to have one of the smoothest running fellowships ever and almost any time

13:38

That you start seeing problems it's because someone has come along and said i'm not getting my due recognition

13:48

Many years ago. I was a member of a very very large church We had 20 ,000

13:56

Members, don't worry. We can never find more than 7 ,000 of them at any one given sunday, but they were on the roll someplace

14:04

And that means there was a big music ministry huge music ministry 250 voice choir

14:11

Full orchestra. It was beautiful. I mean you they could belt it out. I mean

14:17

I remember they sang a version of he's alive and man. I just had goosebumps. It was awesome. It's wonderful But guess where the majority of problems in the church came from the music ministry

14:30

Now I ran sound god bless you guys up there It is the most thankless job on the planet

14:39

It really is If you do it perfectly, right? No one ever says a word to you

14:45

But if it all goes wrong, everybody turns around looks right up there Even if you didn't have anything to do with it

14:53

I could tell you many stories. Trust me But the thing about all the guys that ran sound was we knew the soloists really well

15:03

And we knew which ones were always going could I have more me in the fold backs, please? I want to hear more of me and we're up there going.

15:10

We don't want to hear more of you. No, i'm not showing up Okay, how's that? Okay, fine. We didn't touch anything, but it made it look like we did, you know

15:19

We almost wanted to have shirts made up that said more me we just sort of give them to certain people, you know, and Seriously the the the focus that some of these people had upon when they got to sing solos

15:31

Was a little scary And it created so much strife and so much division

15:42

Totally in contradiction to what you see in philippians chapter 2 and when you see a

15:48

One of the one of the things that uh that I really appreciated a number of years ago uh, obviously

15:58

I was at a different church a number of years ago and But I was an elder there and and one of the questions that we had as elders that I thought was a good thing to give consideration to Was we was asked the question do we see?

16:13

a growth in grace and maturity amongst our people Or do they pretty much are they pretty much where they were a year ago?

16:24

We can all ask ourselves that type of a question What about that?

16:30

are we constantly having to Correct this and correct that and correct this and correct that or is there a desire on the part of everyone?

16:39

We want to walk as jesus would have us to walk We don't want to be distracting from what we as a people are doing

16:50

We want to be servants of christ wherever he places us

16:58

And that's a sign of maturity And that means there are sometimes

17:04

One of the elders is going to walk right by you after a service and not even see you

17:11

The mature person immediately goes Wow, I wonder if something's going on. I wonder if they're it looks like they've got something that they really are

17:20

Weighing heavy on them. Maybe they just got worried about something the immature person's like Well, did you see that?

17:27

I mean, I want to tell the pastor about that evangelistic thing. I did this week and i'm just I think i'm gonna start visiting other churches

17:38

You don't think that doesn't happen? Sadly, it does all the time Paul tells the church at philippi one of the greatest

17:50

Mechanisms god has given us is if we are seeking to live in humility of mind before him

17:58

We will serve others and as he tells the colossians It's christ that you serve.

18:04

Don't be a man pleaser. Don't worry about what people see you doing Because no matter what you're doing christ is always observing and if you're serving him, what more do you need?

18:17

What more is there? That is the most Important thing

18:22

And so keep that in mind as we turn back to the the passage that really caught my attention this week and that's in romans chapter 15 romans chapter 15

18:35

Beginning in verse 4 The apostle is wrapping up his

18:45

Really fully involved fully laid out gospel Which he sends the church at rome knowing that Rome is the center of the empire and that means if you have a sound church there

19:01

The gospel is going to go out into the entire Roman empire and that's exactly what took place

19:08

And so you've had the theology the deep theology and now you've beginning in in Chapter 12 you have the application just like you have in hebrews where there's that transitionary part part

19:19

And here in chapter 15 beginning verse 4 Well back up.

19:25

Uh, let's go ahead and begin at verse 1 now we who are strong Ought to bear the weaknesses of those who are weak or do not have strength

19:37

And not just please ourselves sound familiar We should not seeking be seeking simply to please ourselves

19:47

This is pretty much the same thing he was saying the philippians but here in another context We are to bear one another's burdens

19:56

If you have the physical strength the spiritual strength You ought to bear the weaknesses of those who do not have those types of blessings

20:06

Sometimes they're there just simply so that you can serve christ in that way And not just please ourselves because the tendency

20:14

Is to use god's gifts. He has given to us to please ourselves

20:21

That's the american way It is the american way it is not the christian way

20:31

And we must keep that in mind let each of us please

20:38

His neighbor for his good to his edification

20:45

Wow, we can spend a lot of time on how you can do that But the point is the mindset is external.

20:52

It's looking outward from ourselves To how we can serve those around us it's amazing when you want to be serving someone

21:04

How insensitive you are To any offense they might give you

21:10

You hear me if your heart is truly set upon serving others

21:17

You are not going to be that hyper sensitive person that's always looking for a reason to be offended

21:25

This again is where we we stand in absolute opposition to the mindset of our age

21:31

That tells you to be constantly looking out for number one and therefore to be offended at everything

21:41

When I look at how people communicate with one another in social media today

21:48

I am reminded and I remember this day And when you're my age and you remember this stuff this far back.

21:54

It's a good thing. It's it makes you very happy Really really does But I remember

22:01

I was out in the front yard 301 St. Mark's Road uh

22:07

Chiremonstown, Pennsylvania What was that? Someone from Chiremonstown here.

22:15

Oh, okay. All right. Well, whatever and I was five or six years old probably about six

22:24

And one of the friends I was playing with I don't remember what they did hit me with a stick called me a name

22:30

I don't know what it was but my natural instinct Was to run and tell my mommy because I had been offended

22:40

Because that's how little kids are And all of a sudden I remember

22:45

I remember which direction I was facing I remember what the trees looked like when all of a sudden it struck me

22:54

Yeah, but I'm having too much fun. Why do I need to care? It doesn't really matter.

22:59

I'm just keep playing Wow, there's a big step toward maturity And I don't know about you

23:06

But it seems that that level of maturity that I achieved at age six is now illegal on university campuses in America It is

23:19

I decided I didn't need a safe space. It was more fun to play What has happened?

23:28

It's astonishing and that should That level of maturity should be really basic within the church don't please yourself

23:43

Please the neighbor For his good for his edification build him up Sometimes that's costly to you

23:55

But build up your neighbor that's the command of christ For even christ did not please himself here it is again

24:04

Here it is. Again. This is this is really the the same section from philippians 2 transferred over in other words to uh

24:14

Romans 15 for even christ not pleased himself, but as it is written The reproaches of those who reproached you fell upon me he took

24:25

The reproaches that were ours and they fell upon him Many times my muslim friends when we have debates

24:37

Will attack the biblical presentation of the crucifixion

24:44

And they will do so by saying Why was jesus so afraid? Why was he sweating drops of blood?

24:50

Why was he praying that god would take this away? Obviously, he didn't want to die. He was afraid of death

24:55

This couldn't be a true prophet of god and they go on and on and on and on And that's when you get the wonderful opportunity being able to explain to them

25:02

The reason that jesus said let this cup pass from me, but not my will but yours be done

25:08

The reason he sweats as it were drops of blood is not because of his death It is because the fact that he was made to be sin in our place

25:19

The holy sinless son of god The weight of the sin of all of god's people of all generations

25:30

Laid upon him. He made him who knew no sin To be sin in our behalf that we might be made the righteousness of god in him the great exchange

25:41

That is what it was all about. That's what he's saying here The reproaches of those who reproached you fell upon me

25:47

He took what we deserved and there again is the illustration

25:52

He didn't have to do that, but he did That's humility That's serving others

26:01

For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction that through perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures

26:10

We might have hope so Here in the context of saying isn't it great

26:18

That these words were written for us so long ago so that we might have this constant encouragement

26:24

Every generation of believers will have this constant encouragement To recognize what christ did in our behalf and therefore to have an idea of how we should serve one another the scriptures provide to us

26:39

Those examples and there are many examples that you could point to at that particular point in time

26:47

And then paul does something this is really where I wanted to get to is verses five through seven because Paul does this in a number of different places

26:58

A number of different places in the middle of normally a a very practical exhortation to the people of god

27:08

Paul will break out into a prayer into a doxology into a recognition of the grandeur of god

27:19

But here it's a prayer like you have in colossians where he prays

27:24

For the christians at colossi and there's a there's a great book that arthur w pink wrote many years ago

27:29

Specifically studying the prayers of paul and it is deep It's really good stuff if you are looking for something to read and there certainly isn't much to be watching on television anymore

27:39

So I would highly recommend it to you Here you have one of the prayers of the apostle and he says may the god who

27:56

Now it literally says the god of perseverance and encouragement

28:03

And technically you could understand that as Either describing god or something that god is the source of but it's pretty obvious That what he's saying is the god who is the source of encouragement the god who is the source of perseverance and patience and steadfastness

28:25

We're not to look to anyone else as the source Of our perseverance our holding on We pray to that god

28:41

And he says may the god who grants who gives perseverance and encouragement

28:49

Give to you something and this is my prayer for us Because it's in the plural give to you plural the congregation

29:01

The church there at rome And here's literally what it says

29:07

To think the same thing to be of the same mind In fact, it's interesting

29:13

It's the very same term that he uses over philippians 2 and he says have the same mind among yourselves, which is in christ jesus same term here

29:23

To amongst yourselves think in the same way

29:29

According to christ jesus Now what does that mean

29:36

We're all different god created us in different ways and in different fashions

29:42

He's given us different gifts different interests And so how are we supposed to think the same thing we can't think same thoughts

29:53

You've got a different job than i've got and you've got different kids and different experiences How can we think the same thing?

30:01

Same Well, I think it's laid out for you right there According to christ.

30:07

Jesus. He is the standard He is the one who is to give form to the unity of thought that is to exist amongst us

30:20

We need to be on the same page That's a nice Niv ish translation

30:30

Okay We need to be on the same page When you have a fellowship where everyone is focused upon what they can get out

30:40

Of being there at church And everyone's going different directions. That is the recipe for disaster

30:50

Disaster But when you have a fellowship and folks this can only happen

30:58

This can only happen by the gifting of the spirit of god When you have a fellowship

31:06

Where everyone is pulling the same rope Going the same direction

31:17

Serving edifying Lifting up others rather than just themselves

31:25

When there is a unity of belief and faith When there is a agreement as to what is key and central in the christian faith

31:38

There you have a fellowship that is not only blessed of god, but a fellowship that god can use to accomplish great things when we think

31:51

Of what we believe when we think Of the message of the triune god

31:57

Who jesus christ is god in human flesh? We are looking for the appearing of our great god and savior.

32:05

Jesus christ. Titus 2 13 Our god and savior jesus christ 2 peter 1 1

32:12

Thomas answered and said to him my lord and my god when we have that common

32:22

Confession Can you imagine a church if you didn't have that common confession? Can you imagine how any group of people could have unity and harmony in pulling the same direction?

32:34

When the people over on this side you guys get to be the orthodox today the people on this side believe

32:40

That jesus christ was truly the incarnate one and then sorry guys the people over here

32:46

Are going well, no, you know, that's a little extreme. Don't you think I mean?

32:52

Maybe an exalted angel or just a great moral teacher. How could how could you ever?

32:58

Bring those people together to accomplish anything Maybe impossible

33:05

Common faith one gospel when jeff was talking about Justification and righteousness and the gospel a few moments ago

33:19

I leaned over to zach and said doesn't sound very federal visionist to me And he said that's because it's not

33:25

Because we don't believe in that because we understand what the gospel is we understand

33:31

What faith is we understand election and predestination and we understand justification imputed righteousness of christ.

33:37

We've been teaching that all along But can you imagine if we had differences?

33:45

And you had the orthodox people over here i'm going to try to be fair here You have the orthodox people over here who are trusting solely in the imputed righteousness of jesus christ

33:55

And you got these people over here and you sort of look like you might be this way But you got these people over here that are just really trying and striving to do certain things to be pleasing to god

34:05

And and hoping that at the end you'll have done enough. You're not going to have unity You're not going to be going the same direction

34:14

But to have the same mind also means that we have to recognize What the key and central defining important things in this life really are to have that same mindset

34:31

That's the indication of a unified people That's one of the reasons

34:39

We love to sing We love to see the baptisms. We love to do the lord's supper

34:46

This church has got a lot of things going on all the time But what is the central core?

34:55

What is absolutely central? What we're doing right now the ministry

35:04

Of the word of god and that's what brings us all together The rest of the week the world's trying to get us going this direction and get us going that direction

35:14

But when we open the word of god when we allow the word of god to speak

35:21

We're brought back together again, it's like the the sheep the shepherd

35:27

By his word brings us together Gives us direction once again And focuses upon the real issues the important things

35:40

That We have been called to proclaim the lordship of christ in all aspects of life

35:49

That's our calling So we need to have that same mindset

35:57

Be of the same mind with one another according to christ jesus

36:02

He has to be the standard of all things And that's why he has to be god in flesh

36:09

He has to be the one in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge if he's anything less He could not function in the way.

36:16

The new testament describes him as functioning And so this is paul's prayer because he knows that when you have a church focused in this way

36:28

God can use that people In order that so when that happens

36:37

With With one accord with one goal with you're going one direction

36:46

With that unity that results you may with one voice

36:52

Glorify the god and father of our lord jesus christ.

36:58

Oh we talk about glory to god It's almost a thing in our society, you know, the the preacher is on tv glory to god

37:10

How do you actually bring glory to god? We as a people can bring glory to god when with one voice in one accord we his people

37:24

Point to the true god and what he has done in the gospel When the church speaks with many voices and focuses upon many different things

37:37

The world does not hear what it's supposed to hear But when god blesses his people with that unity that is to be theirs

37:47

With one voice we glorify the god and father of our lord. Jesus christ.

37:53

Now, let me just very quickly sometimes We're all involved in apologetics around here

38:00

And sometimes you hear that phraseology and it it trips people up. Why would paul say?

38:07

Anything other than just simply the father of our lord jesus christ Remember, there's a this is a parallel passage to philippians chapter 2.

38:17

How did philippians 2 end? Every knee is going to bow Every tongue is going to confess what?

38:26

That jesus christ is kurios lord what's next to the glory of god the father

38:36

There is a perfectly balanced trinitarian recognition That the father sends the son there is a distinct there's a distinction between them

38:48

And yet even confessing jesus as lord drawing from the prophet isaiah identifying him as yahweh

38:57

Jesus does not desire glorification Apart from the father as some separate deity.

39:04

This is all what john 5 was all about instead When you glorify jesus as lord

39:14

You're glorifying god the father and yes as the incarnate man

39:21

Where'd my thing here go? What's uh? What's that say there again down there?

39:27

Where'd it go? Oh great i'm missing one page of it lovely Oh, here it is

39:33

He says he drops it on the floor and it flies all the way down there. All right. There you go What are the what are the words some of you have already memorized

39:41

I was looking out there became man

39:46

And so was and continues to be god and man in two natures and one person forever

39:56

Did you know that the catechism question would be relevant to our exegesis this morning? How is it relevant real simple?

40:05

How could jesus be god and have a god? You'll be asked that question you'll be asked that question

40:12

And If i'm preaching up here and jeff durbin's preaching up here our people are going to know how to answer that question

40:21

That's what I loved about The I will always know it as the beard video Did you all see it on facebook when the jehovah's witnesses came to zach's house a couple months ago?

40:32

And we've got this this awesome Like it was planned video Of zach in in relief shadow relief on the wall.

40:41

Is this like it's like this beard is just Eating this jehovah's witness. It was just really It was awesome.

40:47

I love that. It was so great And what did you hear zach explaining how jesus christ is the god man?

40:56

jesus If he if if if the second person of trinity entered into human flesh ask yourself a simple question

41:04

Would he have been an atheist? Think about how silly that is If he was truly man, then what is any true man going to do?

41:14

He's going to worship god That could be an atheist well, how can that be because the son is someone other than the father

41:23

And if he becomes flesh doesn't cease to be god, but he's been in communion with his father for all of eternity

41:31

He's going to continue that communion and as a man that communion is going to be Worship so in john chapter 20 in the same text where it says

41:45

My lord and my god of jesus only a few verses earlier in that jesus talked about ascending to my god and to your god

41:53

It better say that Or we have contradiction in the bible People only focus upon the one they don't want to see both together

42:01

And yes, I know it can be frustrating when you're talking to somebody out on the street They don't want to have a balanced understanding of scripture.

42:09

They don't want to allow all the scripture to speak I get that But you have to model it for them first And then trust that god in his time will bring them along.

42:21

That's the best you can do. You can't force somebody You have to be the one who has it straight in your mind so that you can communicate it to them we want with one voice

42:38

To glorify The god and father of our lord jesus christ and that means

42:48

When you sign up for the meal train and we've got more like a meal uh regular long

42:58

Big diesel train of stuff going on all the time When you sign up for the meal train

43:06

When you do what seems like the smallest little things You are part

43:14

You are part of causing that one accord that one voice whereby we may glorify

43:23

The god and father of our lord. Jesus christ. You do not have to be standing up here You do not have to be on apology or radio

43:32

Or the dividing line, whichever doesn't matter You are a part of it if you have been by the sovereign action of the spirit of god

43:48

Made a member in this place when god calls you to serve There is always a way to serve and you do not ever have to be unhappy With the place that god calls you to serve

44:03

When you show christ's love to one another You are helping us with one voice and one accord to glorify the god and father of our lord jesus christ and to proclaim

44:15

His lordship all across this world so folks

44:23

We have been given We have been given so much wisdom in the pages of scripture itself to know

44:32

How we can avoid the most damaging thing And that is internal division internal strife

44:45

Don't focus upon your own things look to the things of others Know always that christ is watching you and anything you do for him

44:58

Will not go unnoticed You don't need to have it proclaimed from up here

45:07

You don't need to have pictures of it posted On the internet, in fact, it'd probably be better if they weren't

45:18

If we will in humility of mind with one Way of thinking

45:26

Remember what's important when you recognize that the world needs to hear the message that jesus christ rose from the dead

45:33

That the only way of peace with him Is by repentance and faith toward him when that's the most important thing all this other stuff is not going to derail us

45:45

It's just not that important Let it go That sound like something from frozen.

45:53

Sorry to those of you who are still Trying to recover from whenever that started, uh, because you've got a bunch of little girls that can't stop watching it

46:02

Let it go is a good that was about the only biblical thing there But i'm serious

46:12

It is an act of worship of god if you are slighted by someone else in the fellowship

46:19

To let it go is an act of worship to god Don't let it fester.

46:25

Don't collect it And start adding stuff up and put it in your little book. That's how a root of bitterness grows up You cannot control someone else

46:37

But you can before god do what is right and you might say but How is that relevant to something we're doing all across the world?

46:50

Can you imagine? the rejoicing of our enemies

46:55

When division and strife takes place amongst us they rejoice

47:04

So we as god's people in this place must recognize That every day we have a battle

47:13

The world tells us focus on you Focus on your desires your wants self -fulfillment

47:23

And the christian says self -fulfillment Empty me fill me with jesus

47:31

It's the exact opposite And when he tells us exactly how we are to do that We need to obey

47:41

We need to obey So let's pray for one another

47:46

When we come together Let part of our prayer be lord May I truly rejoice in the fellowship of the saints today, but lord also

47:57

Make me to be a person who will be an instrument of peace An instrument of peace

48:04

And the way i'm going to do that is I am not going to take offense at anything

48:11

I'm going to be one of those people that will absorb it for the sake of christ and for the advancement of the kingdom

48:16

If we are all doing that my goodness The result would be tremendous

48:23

May that be our desire may we beg of god by his spirit

48:29

Make us to be a people That love one another and serve one another so that with one voice

48:39

We may proclaim The name of jesus christ to the glory of god the father

48:46

That must be our prayer Let's pray together. My gracious heavenly father.

48:58

We live in a fallen world. You have called us to Experience your sanctification your work within us in this fallen world and lord as a result there are times when we

49:14

We are careless with our words we offend one another But lord, we would ask that you would make us to be a mature

49:25

People in your sight that you would give us that focus upon Your kingdom and your message and what you are doing so that we would not be so focused upon ourselves and Offenses that we might experience

49:42

Lord help us to see That we need your spirit to be constantly reminding us

49:50

Of what's truly important give us that one mind here in apologia church.

49:56

May we be focused? Upon the advancement of your kingdom the proclamation of that gospel that subdues not only individuals but nations under the lordship of christ

50:10

May we see the place we have in the midst of that and how important it is May we gain great joy from the fact that you have called us

50:20

To serve you in this way Even now lord as we partake of the supper

50:27

We pray That you would lift up our hearts and minds remind us of the great cost

50:35

By which we have been redeemed And the unity that is ours as we come to one table

50:42

To celebrate one savior One redemption We thank you for it and we pray in christ's name.