That They May All Be ____?

Message Transcription

Well, church, if you have your Bible with you, invite you to turn over to John 13. We'll be spending the bulk of our time there this morning. But on our way there, let me just remind us of what we're doing. We're in a two week series called In Not Love, as we're thinking about the upcoming midterm elections and some of the craziness that's going on in our country and our world. The tendency to want to put all of our hope on these election outcomes, that we are not those people that certainly we are a part of our country. We love our country. We're going to do our best to support and live into the kind of people that God wants us to be here in this country. I vote in every election. I would encourage you to do the same if you don't want to. You don't have to. But I encourage you to vote for the person that you think best represents the ideas and moving forward. The church. Let's not let's not miss the mark here. Let's not forget that our first citizenship is in heaven is to the kingdom of God. Right? And so we want to remind ourselves of that and encourage one another with these words, I think pulled here from Scripture that challenge us to remember the kind of people we are that God cares more about the kind of person we're becoming than anything we do.

It's not about what we accomplished. It's about who, who we are. And so church, let's take that seriously. Think together about that today. We began last week with this anchor verse and first Corinthians Chapter nine, where Paul's writing to the church and Corinth, challenging them to think about setting down these distinctions that have crept up in their community and said, he says, I've become all things to all people, a phrase that means a lot to us here at Broadway, that we're we're trying to navigate relationships with all kinds of different people who think and live and believe differently than us. All things to all people. So that by all means possible. We might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessing. Paul challenges the Church, that who we are becoming is on purpose. It's intentional that our great hope is in the Gospel and for the gospel sake, we live differently than the world around us. That, though we may disagree politically, we share the same heart, the kingdom heart that Jesus has modeled to us. See, when the church becomes so preoccupied with saving America or with with defending its rights or leverage, leveraging its faith to get some kind of political power, what we find is, is we lose our voice. We lose our opportunities. We're not in it to win it. As Andy Stanley says.

We're in it, not of it. You see, Jesus would tell his followers, What good is it to gain the whole world if it costs you your soul? He might say today, What good is it to win the presidency or to win back the House or the Senate if it costs us our soul? See, that's not the kind of people that we want to be. You know, one of the incredible things, things I love about our church is is how we disagree on so many different things. If so many different ideas and thoughts and people and backgrounds and experiences in our community. You see, the truth is, if you live in any kind of human community, there's going to be disagreement. If you've ever been in a meaningful relationship. Have you ever been married or had a best friend? If you've ever worked in an office with some other person, you know, in human community, disagreement is inevitable. But division is a choice. It's a decision. When we disagree, we can choose to stay together. Again, that's a lesson pulled right out of life, isn't it? If you've ever had a kid or a grandkid, if you've ever had a mom or a dad or a grandparent. Is he staying together? It isn't easy, but it's a choice. And what I've learned at ten years as your preacher here at Broadway is we have a lot of folks who think a lot of different things, that there's a lot of disagreement in terms of ideas about solving problems, even political problems.

And that's caused some tension over the years, hasn't it? But yet, in the midst of this tension, we've chosen to stay together, to live, to worship, to encourage, to challenge, to study, to pray together. Unfortunately, many in our nation and too often many in the church have chosen division. But the goal of church is not division. See the tension that is caused with disagreement actually creates an opportunity. An opportunity for us to learn. An opportunity for us to grow. To become something that we might not have been without, that you all know the same things. It's often in challenge that we're forced to grow. Andy Stanley writes in his book, not in It to win it, that it's the place where we learn the subtle art of saying, Oh. Oh, I didn't know that. I didn't understand that. In Austin. I know we've run it here in Lubbock. We did a course called the Alpha Course, and it's kind of Christianity 101. And it was an opportunity to invite those who didn't know much about Christianity at all, about Jesus to come and learn about him. And so we kind of talk through the basics of faith. And one of the things that they taught us in these groups is to have conversations to create open ended questions, to say them so that folks can just talk about different things.

Inevitably in the training, they said you're going to come across some things that are really kind of silly, maybe even bordering on dumb that people will say. And so they taught us this little phrase said, whenever you encounter something like that, one of the things that you can say is, huh, I've never heard that before. Now, for those of us who are kind of in church circle getting that training, we understood what that meant. But it was a way of keeping the conversation going, right, Because we all have to learn at some point. We don't we aren't born perfect. We have to learn, we have to grow, we have to develop. We have to become. See, the places of disagreement are actually opportunities to learn to say, Oh. I didn't know that. I've never heard that before. It's an opportunity for us to learn to understand what other people are thinking. It's in this tension that we develop empathy, that we can adjust our attitude. You see, Believe it or not, Andy writes this I thought this was pretty good. He says, Believe it or not, political disagreement is usually fueled by divergent experiences, not low IQ. Now, I know some of us have a really hard time believing that, right? Because the reason he's a Democrat is the elevator doesn't quite go all the way to the top floor.

The reason that she's a Republican is the engine's running, but there's nobody behind the wheel. Now it turns out that's that's not true. So when we do that, we mischaracterize people or we assume that we size them up, we write them off, we stereotype them, and none of us like to be treated that way. Aha. You're a Republican. Yeah, I know you. Yeah, I understand that. Yeah, I'd say anything else. Oh, you're Democrat. Oh, okay, I'm there. I got you. See, that's not who we are. That's not how Jesus has ever treated us. Mature and curious people, Christians, Christ followers. They don't go there because Jesus never went there. Jesus didn't size you up and write you off, even though he could have. Every time you confess your sin. God loves you anyway. He calls us to do the same for others. That this should be simple in terms of understanding what it means to be a Christian. Jesus didn't suggest this. As you might think about loving each other, you might want to sprinkle that in every now and again. Jesus commands it. We have a mandate that prohibits us from going there, right? Jesus said, Love one another. John 1334 If you have that Bible that you can mark in, invite you to circle that, highlight it, start whatever you need to draw your attention to it. Even if you don't disagree with one another.

Jesus has called us to love one another. And the love of Jesus. It looks like something. It looks like grace, grace and compassion and patience and kindness and long suffering and perseverance. It looks like Jesus. So you don't have to agree with me to love me. Or to serve beside me. In fact, we can disagree politically and love unconditionally. I mean, that's a word that our our country needs to know and to see and to hear, doesn't it? Church That we can disagree politically, but we can love unconditionally. See, Jesus didn't leave this up to the realm of potential or possibility as his followers were required. He commands it of us to love one another, especially when we disagree. It goes back to his law. He says, a new commandment, I have given you love one another as I have loved you, so you must love one another. That God loves us even though we were and still are wrong about a lot of things. He loved you. He loved me when I was wrong about him. When you were wrong about him. He still loves you in spite of your misinformed and experienced based and evolving views. God still loves you. And he got expects us to do the same for one another. And not because it's a nice thing to do. But because our whole mission is based on it. Love one another as I have loved you.

So you must love one another. By this. Loving. Regardless, he says. By this, everyone will know that you are my people. That you are my disciples, that you are my followers. If you love one another, He doesn't say if you agree on every issue. If you vote in the same way. It says, In fact, the more we disagree, the more noteworthy our love becomes. See, one of the beautiful things about our our disagreements and our different ideas in our are different opinions in our community is that it gives us a chance to love more, more radically, more openly, more inclusive of people who are different than us. And Jesus says that's going to be a huge testimony to the world outside who cannot go there. Who can't see it. You see, the fact that we don't all agree politically is to our advantage. It's actually an advantage church. We have this unique opportunity that the more diverse we are, the harder it will be. For us to love one another, and thus the brighter the light will shine. Maybe you remember these words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Says if you love those who love you. What reward will you get? You don't have to be a follower of Jesus to make that move. That's that's kind of self-evident, isn't it? If you just love people who love you, if you just hang out with people who hang out with you, that's a no brainer.

That's easy. You don't need Jesus to do that. And too often that's kind of been the course we've taken. Getting along with people like you isn't amazing. It's expected, but loving and serving alongside people and worshipping with people who aren't like you, who don't share the same views, who sometimes disagree, disagree and have differing ideas about how to solve problems. That's amazing. See, the Apostle Paul challenged the church in the glacier area. He said, Carry each other's burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. And why does he say that? I think about to carry someone's burden means you have to move toward them. You have to enter into their experience. You have to listen and walk alongside them. And that's not easy. That's challenging. But in doing so, you get a better understanding of why things are going the way they're going and why they're standing where they're standing. More importantly, you tap into the way of Jesus, he says. In doing so, you fulfill the law of Christ. I mean, did he know that's what you're doing when you live that way? When you try to navigate really challenging relationships with people who believe different than you, but yet share the love of Christ, he says, You're fulfilling the law, you're creating you're embodying the kingdom of God in a way that the world outside doesn't see and understand.

And that's a testimony to see. It's possible. See when choose to carry someone's burden. What divides us diminishes and what unites us surfaces. We fear less. We understand more. Sometimes we even change. Maybe not our political view, maybe not our opinion on a particular issue. But but it changes the way that we interact with people. And it changes how we see. This. That was in the early church. That's how change began to echo through this little tiny community in the heart of the Middle East. Echo out into the world around. I mean, if you ever find yourself saying something like. I just. I just don't understand. I just can't see. Why would you say that? Why would you vote that? Why would you think? Well, I'm praying that that will be a little trigger for you not to get angry, but to think I don't understand something. Maybe this is a moment for me to pause and ask a question. Can you tell me more? Help me understand. I'm not following. May that be this trigger for us to live into this opportunity? They say, God, how might your love be present and made real in my life to help me understand where someone's coming from? I don't have to agree with them. But I've got a little work to do. You see if I can. If I can go. I just don't. Then I can build a little wall and I can begin to separate and say it's.

It's us and them. But as a follower of Jesus, there is no us and them. I mean, those who came before us had had that same mindset. If they had treated the people around them and their world and their culture in the same way. That division would have grown and the movement would have fallen apart. But if they could find common ground. In a culture, in a time, in a place that was so different. It's hard sometimes to even grasp how culturally different. When this message was first proclaimed. In that world, how easily it could have been for them to build a wall and separate one another. Groups of people whose social and economic and religious circles rarely overlapped. And yet because of the message of Jesus. This message of good news for everyone began to penetrate and open up doors where once they were closed. And you can imagine the countercultural nature of these words of Paul to the Jews and the Gentiles living in the Galatians churches. This passage has become a hinge passage for us at Broadway. We have invested so much in this being true, this reality. What Paul writes to this church, he says There is neither Jew nor Gentile. Now, we stopped right there. This issue was so controversial that within the first 20 years of the church, it threatened to tear the church apart.

In fact, in many ways, it it was grabbing a hold where they're going. They're not like us because this wasn't just well, they're different. They live in a different part of town. Right. To one group, those over there are immoral. How can we? What? Right. This issue of there's neither Jew nor Gentile was foundational to the creation of the church, and yet it threatened to pull it apart because it was so different. To say these two were were the the gap between them was wide. It's just the understatement of the year. It would require extraordinary patience, extraordinary compromise for these two groups to come together, to sit together in the same small house. You think it's hard in a big church that can hold 800 people? Imagine sitting in a living room. And yet somehow. By the grace of Christ. Paul said, The power of the gospel. It breaks down even the greatest distinctions between us. There's neither Jew nor Gentile. There's slave nor free. Now again, it's a different context in some ways of what our history is with this word, this idea of slavery. But but the tension is still there. In their day, there was a huge difference between owning and being owned. Between making your own decisions and having them made for you. Paul, are you saying God cares just as much for those who are in slavery as those who own slaves like their equal? Paul, are you trying to say there's no longer a distinction between these two groups? It seems so clear, Paul, that there was a group of people that were supposed to be in charge and a group of people that were supposed to just be following to be told what to do because they're idiots and they're morons and they can't help themselves.

And now what you're saying is these there's two groups. There's there's no longer. Paul, This catches on. This could be the end of this part of an economic system in the world, like it could undercut slavery everywhere. You know, it's amazing church. It did. It did. In fact, if you go around the world today to any country where the church is strong and the church is legal, you'll see slavery is illegal. Why? Because a group of people have said that's not the way of the kingdom and we're not going to live that way, even if the culture around us tells us, no, there's them and there's us in the church, we're not going to live that way. All are welcome. Everyone has a place at our table and we will stand against we will move against any power that tries to force otherwise. But we're going to do it in the way of Jesus and the way of love in the way of serving. We're going to live as a testimony to the world around us.

That they're going to see the way that we love each other. They're going to see the way that that we climb over these barriers and these walls that are put in between us, how we try to break them down in our community, everybody is equal. There's no Jews or Gentiles, there's no slave or free, in fact. Or is there male and female? Now, again, in that day, there was a very big distinction. There were rights and no rights. There was power and no power, Paul said. Not in the church. Not in front of the cross. We're all equal in the eyes of the Lord and church. We got to live that way. When I can perpetuate. These myths. In this sinful way of the world, he says. Because you are all one in Christ, Jesus, you're all one. There's no distinction in the kingdom of God. Everybody matters. Everyone has dignity. Everyone has worth and value. Again, this was so disruptive in the world of Paul. It went against everything. And too often CHURCH We find this the same in our world today. It catches on. And the fabric of the empire begins to unravel. And friends, it's still disruptive. It caught on not because a bunch of people believed something. That's what we think. It's because they believed it and they lived it out. They began walking into the middle of the messy middle and trying to navigate relationships and trying to find healing and reconciliation in places that were so easy to just divide and say, just just go find somewhere else than the church would say, No, no, no, no.

That's not how we're going to live here. We're all together. We are one in Christ. That's what unites us. See the culturally disruptive unity of the first century church. It shocked the world. But the early church refused to allow their built in differences to divide them. I see disagreement is inevitable, but division, that's a choice. And the other church said, No, we're not going to make that choice. See, there was a prayer Jesus offered in John 17. He's praying for you and for me, not just his own disciples in that day, but for those who would come. He says, My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message. That all of them may be one. Father, just as you are in me. And I am. And you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. That they would be one, and that in that unity would be a testimony to the world that Jesus really came, not just some figment of someone's imagination. But he came. See, we're at risk of being divided over a lot of different issues in our world today. You may never understand how another Christian could possibly be for what your against.

How can you be what? Or be against what you're for. What? It's doubtful you'll change your view or that they will change theirs. And that makes it messy and it makes it really hard. But that's also what makes it special. When we're willing to do what Jesus called us to do. To continue to pursue unity, to continue to love. And this extraordinary way. So church lets not distance ourselves from believers we disagree with. Jesus spoke about this very idea in the Sermon on the Mount. Just after he said, if you love. If you only love those who love you. What what difference is there between you and tax collectors? He says if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Don't even pagans do that. See, one of the great challenges of US church is if we miss this, we end up living our life the exact same way the pagans do. There's no distinction. And the world sees that. And they call us hypocrites, Right? And that makes us so mad because they do the same thing. And we go, Yeah, but you. The church here, Paul might say, Yeah, but we have Jesus. Like we're followers of Jesus. So we don't get to say, Yeah, but no. Now see in our community, we make space. Everyone is welcome here. Yeah, but.

Carl. They have no idea what they're talking about. I mean, that's an immoral position. I know. And God still loves them. And so do we. Yeah, but look, I mean. I don't understand how they could live that way. Okay. Jesus might say, Well, so the litmus test then is for your ability to understand something. That's the litmus test of your love, is if I can understand it, then I'll love it. Or is it as I have loved you so you love one another. Church and preach it to myself this morning. If you happen to catch a word, it's from the Holy Spirit. That's what everybody else does, right? They they divide and they push the extremes. Why? Because they know that's where the money is. Friends. You don't raise money by being in the middle and saying, No, no, no, no. We can all we can do this together. No, no, no, no, don't. We can work together. That's not where you raise money. It's the morons on the other end are going to steal your life away. So give me money so I can create that wall. That's. That's where you get money. Truth is. Jesus has invited us to do something extraordinary. Extraordinary. And so let's follow in the footsteps of generations of believers, and not just in the ancient world, friends, but right here in Lubbock, Texas, in 1896. There's a group of them just down the street.

They started meeting in this little place called Singer Store, and they started loving and serving the community. And those folks changed the world, right? They stood in a long line of people who were living this way that changed, saying there's no longer Jews or Gentiles or slave or free or men or women. They're still changing the world. That there's no longer Democrat or Republican or Longhorn or Red Raider or dog people or normal people. So let's be Christian. Let's be followers of Jesus. First and foremost. Let's recommit to being a citizen of the Kingdom of God. Who established this upside down others first grace oriented kingdom that is still living today. It's still breaking through in every decision, in every conversation, in every corner of every school or workplace or neighborhood or family who's willing to say, we may disagree, but I'm not going to divide. I'm not going to force you away. I'm not going to have my litmus test for loving you, being your ability to figure it out or my ability to figure out. Instead, I'm going to love you the way that Jesus loved me when I got it so wrong. When I could not have been any further away than than who Jesus wanted me to be. Still loved me. To say those are the kind of people that we're going to be. Because you can love people who are hard to love because church you're hard to love.

I know some of you. I'm trying to love you right now. Right. You can love people who are hard to love, even preachers like me. Because church I'm hard to love because sometimes I say some really dumb things and sometimes I do some really dumb things and it makes it hard to love me. If you don't believe me, just ask. Well, don't ask her because she'll give you real world examples. But just trust me, it's hard, right? I'm hard to love. And yet Jesus still loves me. So church can we commit to to being in the world, but not of the world. Can we commit to say our litmus test for loving others is not going to be how do they vote? That the most important thing about them is not what political ideology they affirm or or stand against. But do they follow the way of Jesus? And if so, I'm going to use lots of grace. And I use those moments where I just can't understand and I don't know why to be an opportunity for. Oh, tell me more. Help me understand that. Right. Even knowing one day it may not change anything other than me. It may change how I listen and how I see. You see, Jesus prayed that we would all be one. Church may be true. May be so in our lives in the next couple of weeks, especially, may it echo out in the world that they may all be one.

Father, may those words be true of us? Not just today, not just a theoretical concept that lives in our mind, but maybe a reality that's continuing to break through in my heart and in the hearts of all those here at Broadway. The God you've given us minds and brains and hearts, and you've challenged us to engage them fully in our world. To not step out, but to step in. To not run away from hard problems. But. But to. To stand. To not shy away from speaking the truth. We got to. You've got to do it all in love. So. God, I pray that you would give us courage to be your people. Those who are defined by our love and our unity. Not by political affiliation. Again, my prayer is, as Jesus was, not that we're trying to call people out of being engaged in the political process that God you've given us, given us amazing minds and hearts who can solve amazing and challenging and overwhelming problems. So God help us to engage, to be a good citizen of this country, to participate as best we can, but God, that we do so in a spirit of love and unity, knowing that we're not going to divide just because we have different ideas about how to solve problems. Like we're not going to pigeonhole people.

Yeah. We're not going to build walls in between us. But we're going to be about to the kingdom reconciliation work. I don't know exactly what all that's going to look like for us. I only know for me. So what would you give me? The courage to take the next step that I need to take? Would you do the same for each one of us here today? And not only as individuals, but God as kingdom representatives of your church, as ambassadors of your kingdom. Or would you help us, the Broadway church, to keep living into that same reconciliation vision that you planted here 125 years ago? Yeah. Thank you. For the men and women who lived into this vision, who continue to have open arms and inviting hearts and spirits. God, would you help us to live that same way, Lord. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And now, Lord, May we love. The way that you love us. May that be our litmus test this week. So got in that moment that's going to come I know this week in the face of a challenge with a kid or a parent, a classmate at school, maybe a work person, maybe another church member. Gao, would you fill us with that love and just remind us we're in not of. In the world, not of the world. Now, would you help us to continue in that extraordinary love of Jesus? And it's in your name that we pray? Amen.