Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is
an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,
with dozens of nationalities worshiping together.
We invite you to connect with us from wherever
you are through our website ecb .asia or our
mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed
by this week's sermon. Good morning. Would you
please join me? As we begin this time, Lord,
your word is just amazing because it, even though
it was written so long ago, it just talks to
things we face every day. And it is true that
as we come together, we are not wanting just
another sermon, but we want your truth. Truth
that sets free, that looks at the heart and helps
us see what is there. Would you bless us today
with that understanding? And yes, Lord, please
use me in your power and your grace. In Jesus'
name, amen. At the beginning of the month, we
started the series in the book of Colossians.
which is called Grace and Peace, A Journey Through
the Book of Colossians. And one of the things
that we've discovered is that God wants us to
experience these two things, His grace and His
peace. And when we really understand His grace,
what follows is peace. It's like the byproduct
of His grace. And until this point, everything
that we've studied has been focused on us being
the recipients of that grace. The Apostle Paul
says, do you believe in Jesus as your Savior?
Are you following Jesus? Great. The moment you
started believing in Jesus, he transferred you
from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of
light. Now you are completely reconciled. You
belong to him. You don't have to ever worry about
rejection, about not making it. God. Has now
adopted you into his family. And therefore don't
listen to the distortions of the world. That's
not who you are. Now you are a follower of Jesus.
Indwelled by his Holy Spirit. And because that
is who you are. Now you can walk in his grace
and his peace. That's kind of like a summary
of the previous three studies. But if you missed
any of these studies. Please go to the app. Go
to the website. Catch up with them. Because starting
today, there's a shift. The Apostle Paul will
start talking about how grace is not just something
that we receive, but we are meant to be channels
of that grace. And if we are channels of that
grace, peace follows. But if we choose to not
be channels of God's grace, peace will not follow.
And therefore, in the study that we're going
to have today, we're going to be talking about
relational peace. Because God wants you to experience
His grace and His peace now flowing through you
into your relationships. So I have to ask you,
are you experiencing relational peace? In your
marriage, with your in -laws, with your friends,
your co -workers? How is it going? No, I'm not
asking are they a pain. That's a different question.
Regardless of whether they are nice people or
not so nice people, relational peace is what
you are experiencing within that is coming out
of you into those relationships. And what we'll
discover in this study is that God wants you
to experience that peace in that relationship.
realm of relationships as well. So if you are
lacking peace in relationships, if there are
names that you prefer not to be mentioned because
immediately they stir something negative within
you, then this study is for you. As we enter
this space, one of the first things that we will
learn through all of it is that grace doesn't
stop with you, it flows through you. And that's
why Jesus, when he started teaching his followers,
he said, you are the light of the world. Not
just Jesus is the light of the world, but now
you are the light of the world. The grace that
I came to give you now is meant to be shared.
And that's why I want you to look at this picture.
This guy is holding a flashlight. And the function
of the flashlight is to be able to channel all
this energy that is found in the batteries and
now channel it out into this form of light that
comes out. And it's a very interesting thing.
I have some flashlights that we buy whenever
we go camping. And I brought one here for you.
So you get to see it. This is very convenient
because you put it on your head like this. You
know? You turn it on, and just wherever you move,
you can see. It's so clear. It's not a fashion
statement, of course. But, you know, the nice
thing is you press this little button. Well,
if you do it right, I had it backwards, upside
down there. You press this button, and it's like
the light should come on. It should. But when
it's not coming on, it's very frustrating. Because
it's like, I need the light. What's wrong with
this thing? And you open it and you realize,
you know, haven't used it in a while. And before
you know it, you open, you get the batteries
out. Corrosion. And because there's corrosions
in the battery, the power is not flowing, the
light is not happening. And what I discovered
is that I am like that flashlight. Jesus says,
Pablo, you are the light of the world now. Let
my power flow through you. Sure. But how many
times he wants to turn it on and it's not flowing.
And when I get the batteries out of my heart,
it's like, oh, no wonder. There are certain things
that have become corroded within me that are
keeping me from being a channel of God's grace.
And what the Apostle Paul does in this study
is that he is going to take us through three
areas in which we stop being a channel of God's
grace. Think of it like the three batteries of
your flashlight. And he's going to take each
one of them and he's going to say, how are you
doing with that battery? Is it working? If not,
replace it. One of those areas is the way I think
and I see people. The other one is the way I
think and I relate to their faults. And the other
one is the way I think and I relate to their
needs. Each one of these areas are areas in which
God means for you to be a channel of his grace.
So that peace follows and you can experience
peace in your relationships. But what we see
in the book of Colossians is these three areas.
were the areas that were being compromised. And
therefore, it's not that they didn't believe
in the grace of God now as recipients, but the
reason they were not experiencing the level of
peace that God wanted them to experience was
because they stopped applying that grace in these
three areas. So let's find out what that looks
like. Before we do so, we have to understand
a little bit of the background. And we covered
some of this in the first session. So if you
have not seen the first session, go back later
to watch the whole thing. But what matters in
this study is to remember that the Apostle Paul
was in Rome when he met this guy, Onesimus, who
was a slave that escaped from his master. And
then in prison, Rome shares the gospel with Onesimus.
Onesimus comes to know Christ. And now he's a
follower of Jesus. But it so happened that the
master that he escaped from was from this place
called Colossae. And he was a Christian. And
he happened to be a friend of the Apostle Paul.
Wow. Small world. That's why I say you better
behave because somebody knows somebody. Now Paul
starts hearing from the guy who planted the church
in Colossae that Philemon attends. So he's hearing
everything that is going on in that church. So
he says, okay, enough. Let me write a letter
to the Colossians. And let me write another letter
to Philemon, who attends that church too. And
I'm going to send these two letters with Tychicus.
So that's how we get them. And when he writes
to Philemon about Onesimus, he writes the whole
letter, but you get a feel for it by reading
some of these verses. Now, you say, Philemon
chapter 1, but in reality there's only one chapter.
So we just sometimes say, Philemon verse 15.
Which chapter? The only one. Okay, verse 15.
It seems, Philemon, That you lost Onesimus for
a little while so that you could have him back
forever. He is no longer like a slave to you.
He's more than a slave. He is a beloved brother
especially to me. Now he will mean much more
to you. Both as a man and as a brother in the
Lord. Because yeah, he came to know Christ just
like you did. So he's a follower of Jesus like
you are. So he's a brother to you. In the Lord.
You are both children of God. So you are brothers
now. So if you consider me your partner. Your
friend. Philemon I'm going to ask you. To welcome
Onesimus. As you would welcome me. And if he
has wronged you in any way. Which I know he has.
Well or if he owes you anything. Just charge
it to my account. And through this letter, he
is encouraging Onesimus and Philemon to start
experiencing following Jesus and his grace and
his peace by being a channel of God's grace to
each other. But through this letter, we get a
glimpse of some of the social context of the
Church of Colossus, some of the issues that we're
facing, and everything becomes much clearer.
So throughout the letter, what we realize is
that they were experiencing lots of relational
struggles. And that's why he's going to take
them through each one of these things. And this
is why he writes to them. So listen to this whole
section that we will study and dissect in a little
bit. Hey, Christians in Colossae, you Philemon
included there, put on your new nature. And be
renewed as you learn to know your creator and
become like him. This is Jesus that I mentioned
to you, who is God, your creator, your Lord,
your Savior. Yeah, that Jesus. As you get to
know him more and become more like him. This
is who you are now. And in this new life, it
doesn't matter if you're a Jew or a Gentile,
circumcised, uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized,
slave. free, you name it. Whatever labels you
have come up with in your culture, it doesn't
matter because Christ is all that matters and
he lives in all of us. You Philemon, you Onesimus.
So, since God chose you, To be the holy people
he loves, he transferred you from the kingdom
of darkness to the kingdom of light. You are
fully reconciled with him now because Jesus paid
for all of your sins. Because now you are the
people that he loves. You must clothe yourself
with tender heart and mercy, kindness, humility,
gentleness, and yes, patience. Make allowance
for each other's faults. Expect it. People will
hurt you. But then you have to forgive anyone
who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you.
And so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe
yourself with love, which binds all of us together
in perfect harmony. So let the peace that comes
from Christ, the one that follows grace, let
that peace. Now rule in your hearts for as members
of one body you are called to live in peace and
always be thankful. Let that peace rule in your
heart but peace follows grace. So be a channel
of God's grace first and then that peace will
rule your heart. And this is what he tells them
in this section. If you notice he's going to
take him through each one of these three areas
that are foundational to understand how how we
ensure we experience relational peace. And the
first one he addresses is how they think of people.
Now, in the church of Colossae, you have people
from different cultures, different backgrounds.
There were the Jews, there were the Greeks, there
were the Romans, all of them now following Jesus.
This was the first generation of Christians in
the first century. There were not plenty of churches
everywhere like ECB. These were the beginning
of the followers of Jesus coming together. And
they were struggling. Why? Well, because from
each one of their cultures, they had learned
in their upbringing before they came to know
Christ, they had been pre -programmed. By their
social context to think of themselves a certain
way. And to look at others a certain way. And
typically it was looking down on them. And that's
why he mentions all these categories. Like to
the Jews, he says, Jews, I know that we Jews
see people in two categories. Jews, Gentiles.
And sometimes we call them uncircumcised. Yeah.
Not to be nice. This is how we Jews. See people.
So the moment we see you, we think, circumcised
or uncircumcised? Jew or Gentile? And we want
to categorize you. And for you Greeks, I know
that you have learned to think that you are better
than everybody else. And you Greeks are, you
know, the most civilized. And you call the barbarians
those that cannot speak Greek, you know. Oh,
he's a barbarian. But I know that you learn to
look at those Scythians like the worst. I mean,
those are uncivilized. Those are more like animals
rather than people. And I know that that's how
you learn to think of them. And Romans, I know
you also have your categories. I know that you
learn to think of people that are slave or free.
So if you're free, you're here. If you're a slave,
uh -huh. But he says, you know what? Even though
this is how you were shaped before you came to
follow Jesus. Now that he has transferred you
from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of
light. Now that he has given you his spirit to
shape you in the image of your creator. Now you
will have to stop thinking the same way about
people. And you will have to learn the gospel
change the way you see yourself and you see people.
Because. This community that you have in Colossae
has to represent Christ well. That's what he
tells them. Will you read it out loud with me?
In this new life, it doesn't matter if you are
a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised,
barbaric, uncivilized, slave or free. Christ
is all that matters and he lives in all of us.
You will have to start seeing Christ in the other
person. You will have to start seeing and learning
to see the other person in you. Like the other
person may have a different accent, may come
from a different background, may have a different
social status than you, but that person is...
As much a sinner as you are. And in the same
need of Jesus as you have. And if that person
came to know Christ. Is endowed by the same Holy
Spirit that you have. So you are pretty much
the same. From God's perspective. And you will
have to learn Philemon. To see Onesim as your
slave. Yeah. You will have to start seeing them.
Not just as slaves. You will have to see him
as your brother in Christ. You can imagine how
revolutionizing that perspective was for them
because they were already shaped by all of these
things. And that was one of the sources of tension.
Now, I know that ECB is not in the first century.
We are so much more civilized than the Colossians.
With the era of globalization, we know so much
more about other cultures and countries. We struggle,
not at all, with anything that is prejudice,
negative attitudes. Or do we? Well, ECB, we calculate
about 70 different nations represented here.
So I thought, I wonder, do we have words and
language that we use about other people in some
of these different countries? And I collected
above. close to 15 countries, and I picked up
a couple of the words that the research brought
up, and I came up with a collage of words. Now,
to be honest, I have no idea if this is offensive
in your country or not, but these are the words
that all of these different countries, some of
which you come from, use to describe others that
we see as inferior, and we ourselves are superior.
And it's amazing how many of these terms are
used for people that are people who immigrated
into our country. But yeah, you know very well
what your culture is. Maybe you don't say circumcised
and uncircumcised, but you say other things.
And you learn to see people from other countries,
especially the neighboring countries, as not
so smart like we are. You know, and every country
has its own narratives that we create, but it
creates all of these relational tensions as a
result. Because you start thinking yourself inferior
or superior, and that is the problem. You are
unable then to be a channel of God's grace. And
all of the problems that that develops. Now,
in my country, the U .S., if I go to the doctor,
I may get a form that I need to fill out. And
within the form, there are questions they're
going to ask me. One of those questions, often,
is about race. And just to give you a little
context into my culture and my country. So the
form will look like something like this. Okay,
what's your race? Can you please mark all that
apply? Wait, all that apply? Okay. White, African
American, American Indian or Alaskan Native,
Asian. Hispanic or Latino, native Hawaiian or
other Pacific Islander. So that makes one, two,
three, four, five, six, seven, and more. Or decline
to answer. It's like when some people come to
our country, it's like, what should I mark? It's
like, I have no idea. I remember the Kenyan guy
that said, you know, I did not know I was black
until I came to your country. And all of this
narrative that we have, we just have, we don't
realize why. But I understood it because when
I was doing my doctoral studies, I had to research
this topic. And what I discovered is that in
the context of Western countries, if you come
from a Western country, as well as those that
were colonized by Western countries, if your
country happened to be one of those. Some of
these ideas about categorization of people came
from the 1700s. But people that were in different
science fields from some European countries.
One of the earliest was in 1735. And Karl, what
he discovered from his perspective was that there
are actually four races. Humans are categorized
in four races. Europeans. were whitish, Americans
were reddish, Asians were tawny, and Africans
were blackish. So that was his categorization,
the first attempt, and it was based on color.
For some reason, not hair color, not eye color,
but skin color. But only a few years later, from
1735 to 1775, another scientist, this time from
Germany, He says, no, no, no, no, no. There's
no four. There's five races. I have discovered
that the Caucasian race is white, the Mongolian
race is yellow, the Malayan race is brown, Ethiopian
race is black, and American race is red. So we
have five colors. And, you know, we wrote songs
for our children that said something like, red
and yellow, black and white, they are precious
in His eyes. Remember, that's where all of this
comes from. And then, when my country was founded,
we have an amazing Declaration of Independence
that says, all men are created equal. And we
love that. That's one of our values. But I discovered
in my research that the same person that wrote
the Declaration of Independence, one of our founding
fathers, Thomas Jefferson, he also wrote another
book about the state of Virginia. And in it,
he starts... sharing about some of the perspectives
that were common already during his time because
of all of these signs that have been developed.
And he says, I advance therefore as a suspicion
only that the blacks, whether originally a distant
race or made distinct by time and circumstances,
are inferior to the whites in the endowment both
of body and mind. Physically and mentally, the
people of that color, they are inferior to the
people of that color. That's just... Obvious.
And this mindset started permeating so many different
places. So you fast forward several years, a
few centuries, and I got to read the autobiography
of a lady called Debbie Irvin. And she says,
you know, I didn't understand all these narratives,
where they came from. So she wrote a book called
Waking Up White. And in it, she says, look, the
way I understood it, Race was for other people,
brown and black skin people. I thought white
was the raceless race, just plain, normal, the
one against which all others were measured. I
thought, David said, I was the standard. And
that's exactly what Paul is telling the Colossians.
You look at others based on who you are and you
think, I'm the standard. Those are barbarians,
but I'm Greek. And that attitude is at the core
of the problem of categorizing people from all
of these different cultural mindsets that have
developed. There was a lady in Brazil. She became
a photographer. But in her own country, they
have all these categorizations also for people.
Some superior, some inferior. She happened to
be in kind of like the inferior category. And
what Angelica does when she goes to Spain, she
studies photography, and because this part was
part of her own journey, she wanted to use her
art to kind of address the issue that was bothering
her so much. She's like, are we really these
categories? I don't think so. I don't think that
people can determine my level of smarts by my
skin color. And now, She started traveling through
different countries, taking pictures of anyone
that wanted to volunteer for the project. The
name of the project? Humanae. And what she did
is that she took pictures of all of these people,
like thousands of people in her project, more
than 20 countries, and then she will match the
color of their skin to the palette of the Pantone
scale, with the number and everything. And she
will display these things in different museums
throughout the world to make a statement. Her
statement was simply saying, look, we have to
rethink how we think of people. Because these
categorizations are making us look at some people
as superiors and others as inferior. And we are
pretty much the same. You want to compare your
tone to the tone of another person, you will
figure out maybe they are from a whole different
country. And as creative as this is, What Angelica
didn't understand is that the problem that the
Apostle Paul is addressing, this categorizing
of each other that makes us look as superior
or inferior and then plugs our ability to treat
people with God's grace, that that issue is not
cultural, it's not political, it's spiritual.
And all of us, because of our sinful nature,
have the tendency to embrace perspectives that
are distorted, starting to look at ourselves
and the way we look at others. And this became
so clear in a whole different case of a very
creative elementary school teacher. She was in
her small town at her school teaching, and all
of her kids were of the same, And she thought,
how can I teach my kids about this problem of
looking at people differently and treating them
unjustly with prejudice? And she came up with
an idea. And this idea and the whole experiment
was documented in this documentary called A Class
Divided. I encourage you to watch it. It's fascinating.
It was created in the late 1960s, I think like
97 or 8, around that time. And what Jane did
is that she thought, okay, this is what we're
going to do. So kids, science has revealed that
people with blue eyes are smarter and more capable
than people with dark eyes. So what we're going
to start doing from now on is that people with
blue eyes will have a longer break. And they
will have more time to answer this test and everything.
And they're going to have a better treatment
than those of you that have darker eyes. So they
started. First day. It's like, really? And the
kids with the blue eyes started becoming arrogant.
And they started looking down and laughing at
the others that were inferior. And she was surprised
to see. She just made up the category. Day one,
on that very day, people started reacting that
way. But what the kids did not know was the experiment
was going to take a switch. She came next time.
She said, oh, sorry, I made a mistake. Science
actually says that kids with dark eyes are smarter
than the kids with the blue eyes. So from now
on, we're going to give better treatment on the
whole thing. So those kids started having all
that nice experience. And the same thing happened.
They became more arrogant, looking down, laughing
at them. And at the end, she told them, look,
this is not true. It was an experiment. And then
they were able to reflect as a class about how
they felt. Even their performance in their test
decreased. The moment they believed, science
said they were inferior. Paul. wants us to experience
relational peace. And the very first thing he
addresses is how we are seeing the other. Are
we experiencing relationships from a perspective
where I see Christ in you? Where I see the spiritual
potential in you? Or I'm looking at you as a
category that I need to avoid? So pick up. That
battery. And a little bit of corrosion. I remember
the time this person said that we are all racist.
We don't know it until our kids start dating.
And that kind of corrosion begins without even
noticing it. How do you see people? First thing.
What's the second thing? The second thing is
how do you see their faults and how do you relate
to those faults? One of the things that was happening
is that these Christians were now hurting each
other, offending each other, and now they were
experiencing bitterness, resentfulness in their
relationships. So instead of now being a child
of God's grace, they were choosing to become
resentful and there were emotions. That they
were experiencing now that were not compatible
with the kingdom of light. And he mentions all
of those different emotions in the book of Colossians.
The kingdom of darkness. When you are not aligned
with God's grace and you do not have his peace,
this is what you have instead. Would you read
the section of the kingdom of darkness with me?
Anger, rage, malice, slander, cursing. If you
are experiencing some of these emotions or these
tendencies, are you a dominant one? That means
you do not have relational peace. You are not
a channel of God's grace and you have fallen
for the lie that you need to give people what
they deserve. In contrast, the kingdom of light
It's very different. As you follow Jesus and
you become a channel of God's grace, this is
the list. Read it with me. Compassion, kindness,
humility, gentleness, patience, forbearing, forgiveness,
love. That is what it looks like. So here, the
Apostle Paul is going to remind them and say,
look guys. You do not belong to the kingdom of
darkness anymore. You belong to the kingdom of
light. Put on this new nature you have. The Holy
Spirit is in you. He wants to produce this kind
of emotions and behaviors through you. That's
why he writes this. Since God chose you to be
the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourself
with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility,
gentleness, and faithfulness. And make allowance
for each other's faults and forgive one another,
anyone who offends you. And remember, remember,
the Lord forgave you. Didn't he? Didn't you receive
the full forgiveness of all your sins forever?
Isn't that God's grace given to you? Okay. So
the Lord forgave you and you now must forgive
others. Be that channel. And this section is
hard. Because most of us, when we are hurt by
people, the first thing that we want is not to
be a channel of God's grace. That's the last
thing we want. We want to just give them what
they deserve. They deserve it. Let them have
it. Jonathan thought that way because his father
was very abusive growing up. So abusive. But
Jonathan later came to know Christ. And now he
was following Jesus. And as he's following Jesus,
one of his friends tells him, Jonathan, you have
so much anger towards your father. Every time
we mention the name, you just become, you know,
I can see you need to forgive your father. Oh,
he shouldn't have said that. At that moment,
Jonathan says to him, do you know what it's like
to be picked up by your father and thrown against
the wall? Do you know what it's like to get a
glass bottle of beer broken on your back? Do
you know what it's like to carry scars because
your father physically wounded you? No, I don't.
Well, then don't tell me. How I should live my
life. And he got so angry and he started even
cursing. And he was a Christian following Jesus.
And now all these things are coming out of his
mouth. Why? He did not want to forgive his father.
He didn't deserve to be forgiven. And he would
think, you know, I have the right to be angry.
Because what he did against me, it was beyond
bad. But what he didn't realize was that that
way of thinking and that way of treating was
corrosion. That was keeping him from being a
channel of God's grace towards his father. And
therefore there was no peace. And instead of
peace, there was anger. Until his father came
to know Christ. And now Philemon and Onesimus
all over again. Now it's like, well, my father
is a Christian now, so what should I do? So he
would not forgive his father for years until
God started working in his life. And one day,
he was able to forgive his father from the heart.
And what Jonathan understood was that forgiveness
was not so much about whether the person deserved
to be forgiven or not, or whether what the person
did was terrible or not so terrible. It had nothing
to do with that. It had everything to do with
the calling that God had given us to be a channel
of God's grace. The question is not, do they
deserve to be forgiven or should you be angry
with them? The question is, are you going to
be a channel of God's grace or not? And the answer
is, if you are a recipient of God's grace, God
wants you to be also a channel of God's grace.
That's the way God works. So until he forgave
his father, understanding what forgiveness was,
the releasing of all the anger that he had against
his father, he started healing. And the worst
thing, he would say, is like, from all my siblings,
I was the one that looked more like my father.
And all of our friends would say, oh, you look
just like your father. And he hated that. Familiar?
One of the cases that has been the most extreme
where I've seen the person becoming a channel
of God's grace was the founder of that ministry,
Voice of the Martyrs. He was a pastor in Romania
who was imprisoned by the communists for 14 years.
Three of those years he was in complete isolation,
tortured day after day after day after day. What
would you like to do with those people after
you get out of prison? What if you had the chance
to find the grave of the person that ordered
the people to imprison you and torture you? What
would you like to do on that grave? Would you
like to spit on it? Of course. Such evil. But
you know what Richard did? He says, my last deed
before leaving Romania, because he was eventually
moved to the U .S. He was delivered from prison.
My last deed before leaving was to go to the
grave of the colonel who had given me the order
for my arrest. And who had ordered my years of
torture. And I placed a flower on his grave.
He needed to do that. physically he needed to
do something to show that he was forgiving this
guy because he could not live with any resentfulness
in his life. By doing this, I dedicated myself
to bringing the joys of Christ that I have to
the communists who are so empty spiritually.
You see, communists can kill Christians. But
they cannot kill their love toward even those
who kill them. Because where does that love come
from? I'm a channel. And that is why he learned
in his own journey of following Jesus that even
his torturers he could forgive. And that showing
of love was not because they were lovable. It
was because God loved them. So I have to ask
you to look at the second battery and take a
look at it. Is it corroded? Is your flashlight
not working? Because you are refusing to give
the grace that you have received? Then you will
have to change that battery. But there was a
third battery that he talked about. And that
was the way we see their... And the reason for
this is because people are driven by self -ambition.
The first century or the 21st century, same thing.
If you look at this picture, this is a person
holding all these different contacts in his hands.
There's a famous saying, you know, it doesn't
matter how much you know. What really matters
is what? Who you know. Why? Well, because who
you know will benefit you. So we learn to seek
relationships for the benefit that I will get
out of it. So if there's no benefit for me, I
won't engage with that. Why? It's a waste of
time. But this person, oh, with this person I'll
be friends. This person, I'll pay for their lunch.
I want them to think nicely of me. Because there's
something in it for me. And Paul says, uh -uh.
You will have to learn. If you want to be a channel
of God's grace and experience relational peace
that follows, you will have to learn to see people's
needs differently. And that's why he writes this
section here. Above all, clothe yourself with
what? With love. which binds us all together
in perfect harmony. One of the amazing things
about Greek, in contrast to English as a language,
is that in English we only have one word for
love. I can tell my wife, I love you. And I can
also turn to my coffee and say, I love coffee.
Just one word, but I don't mean my wife, I love
you like I love coffee. Hopefully not, right?
It's a different meaning. Well, in Greek, it's
great because they have a specific Greek word
for the different meanings. You know how many
words? Four. If I love my child as a parent because
he's my family, that's one word. If I love a
friend because, you know, he's a nice person,
they're nice to me, I'm nice to them, it's kind
of mutual, that's another word. Hey, if I'm sexually
attracted to this person and I kind of love this
person because there is this sexual thing going
on, that's another word. But there's a fourth
word, which is right here on this verse, and
it's agape. For God so agape the world that he
gave his one and only son. God has poured his
agape in our hearts. Now make sure that this
agape is what is binding you all together. What
agape is different from the others is that it
is a call to serve the needs of the other, not
because there's something in it for me. There's
nothing in it for me. I'm just loving you because
God loves you. That's it. And God is going to
call you as you follow him to engage in needs
and address and invest sacrificially in things.
Because his love is driving you. And at that
moment, you will be wrestling because the way
you see the need will determine whether you become
a channel of God's grace or not. Many years ago,
I was talking to a friend who had been, she and
her family had been called by God slowly to engage
more and more with the need of the orphan. And
they started opening their home to host and have
some of the kids live with them. We were in a
foster care system. They will have them for some
weeks or months, and then they will go. And then
a new group will come. And through that, They
started feeling this desire to adopt. And there
was this particular child that was a preteen
that was open for adoption. Her case was open
for adoption. And when the person leading the
case of this preteen met with the mom, said,
you know, we did all this psychological analysis,
all these different things, and my recommendation
to you is do not adopt. Because this is going
to be hard. So we are talking, we are meeting
and discussing, what should we do? Until this
time, we had been compelled and sure that God
wanted us to adopt this child. But now this expert
is telling me, don't go that way because it will
be too hard. What should we do? You see those
moments. We learn that the love that God is calling
us to channel, we don't love because it's easy.
And if God is calling you to engage with a need
that is hard, then you are doing it because you
are a channel of His grace. That's it. There's
no more to it. Only God knows what He will do
in the life of that child, even if it's hard
for 30 years. And actually, it was challenging,
and it has been hard. But this is what Paul says.
You will have to stop thinking of the needs of
others from you as the center. In the need of
the orphan, one of the things that we learn is
that we do not adopt children because we need
children. We adopt children because they need
families. It's a complete rethinking of the need.
So I have to ask you, how are you engaging with
the needs of the other? Who are you loving today
that is not something in it for you? Or you only
engage with the needs that then have something
for you in return? Until we choose to be challenged
of God's grace, we will not experience relational
peace. Because remember, grace doesn't stop with
you. It's meant to flow through you. So I want
you to take your flashlight, press the button,
see if it's working or not. And if it's not working,
take a look at these batteries. Are they corroded?
Because if they are, today is the time to turn
to God and say, God, I've been so selfish with
your grace. I'm happy to receive it, but I have
refused to give it. No wonder I have lack of
peace. I'm here to tell you, Lord, make me a
channel. Let it be Christ through me. That's
what I want. If that is what you want, I would
like to conclude this study with these three
main implications. The first one is that you
need to welcome the outsider. Stop treating people
as a category that is inferior. Stop thinking
of yourself as superior and start looking into
their lives as we are the same sinners in need
of Jesus. And you will see the peace that comes
from that switch. Secondly, if you have chosen
not to forgive because you believe that that
person doesn't deserve it, then remember what
grace is. It's an undeserved gift. Don't wait
for the person to deserve it. Otherwise, it's
no longer grace. If God is moving in you to forgive,
then... Deal with the Lord with that and let
the grace and the peace of God flow through you.
And finally, if God is calling you to engage
in addressing a need that will require sacrifice,
stop thinking about, is it going to be hard?
Should I do it? Should I deny what I really want?
Those are the wrong questions. Go to your knees
and say, Lord, what do you want me to do? Because
if you are calling to be a channel of your grace
for this need, I'm willing. That is what it means
to start giving grace and being a channel of
it. So, is God's grace flowing through you? Lord,
it's great to be a recipient of your grace, your
love, your embrace, your forgiveness. But really,
you also want us to love and care and embrace
and forgive. That takes following you to a whole
new level, doesn't it? But we want to follow
you. And we want to experience your grace and
your peace. So as we stand in your presence,
we want to tell you, Lord, We're willing, but
it will have to be Christ through us. There's
no other way. Because I'm selfish, I'm resentful.
I want to feel superior. But you call me to be
the opposite. Not to be more like me, but to
be more like you. And that is a calling worth
pursuing. Encounter us in this space, Lord. In
Jesus' name. If God is calling you to support
our ministries you will find giving options on
our website. And remember to join us next week.
God bless you.