WEBVTT 00:00:09.480 --> 00:00:14.320 Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:16.600 an international church in Bangkok, Thailand, 00:00:16.760 --> 00:00:19.820 with dozens of nationalities worshiping together. 00:00:20.140 --> 00:00:23.000 We invite you to connect with us from wherever 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:27.219 you are through our website, ecb .asia, or our 00:00:27.219 --> 00:00:31.059 mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed 00:00:31.059 --> 00:00:36.039 by this week's sermon. Be subject to one another 00:00:36.039 --> 00:00:39.979 out of reverence for Christ. Wives, be subject 00:00:39.979 --> 00:00:43.240 to your husbands as you are to the Lord. For 00:00:43.240 --> 00:00:45.439 the husband is the head of the wife, just as 00:00:45.439 --> 00:00:48.240 Christ is the head of the church, the body of 00:00:48.240 --> 00:00:51.840 which he is the Savior. Just as the church is 00:00:51.840 --> 00:00:55.000 subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, 00:00:55.060 --> 00:00:58.479 in everything, to their husbands. Husbands, love 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:01.780 your wives, just as Christ loved the church and 00:01:01.780 --> 00:01:04.640 gave himself up for her, in order to make her 00:01:04.640 --> 00:01:07.140 holy by cleansing her with the washing of water. 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:22.359 In the same way, husbands should love their wives 00:01:22.359 --> 00:01:25.219 as they do their own bodies. He who loves his 00:01:25.219 --> 00:01:28.120 wife loves himself, for no one ever hates his 00:01:28.120 --> 00:01:31.260 own body. But he nourishes and tenderly cares 00:01:31.260 --> 00:01:34.480 for it, just as Christ does for the Church, because 00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:37.560 we are members of his body. For this reason, 00:01:37.659 --> 00:01:40.120 a man will leave his father and mother and be 00:01:40.120 --> 00:01:42.620 joined to his wife, and the two will become one 00:01:42.620 --> 00:01:46.000 flesh. This is a great mystery, and I am applying 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:49.239 it to Christ and the Church. Each of you, however, 00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:52.280 should love his wife as himself, and a wife should 00:01:52.280 --> 00:01:55.920 respect her husband. Children, obey your parents 00:01:55.920 --> 00:01:58.939 in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father 00:01:58.939 --> 00:02:01.540 and mother. This is the first commandment with 00:02:01.540 --> 00:02:04.159 a promise, so that it may be well with you and 00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:06.950 that you may live long on the earth. And fathers, 00:02:07.170 --> 00:02:09.770 do not provoke your children to anger, but bring 00:02:09.770 --> 00:02:11.889 them up in the discipline and instruction of 00:02:11.889 --> 00:02:15.849 the Lord. Slaves, obey your earthly masters with 00:02:15.849 --> 00:02:18.810 fear and trembling and singleness of heart as 00:02:18.810 --> 00:02:21.629 you obey Christ, not only while being watched 00:02:21.629 --> 00:02:24.250 and in order to please them, but as slaves of 00:02:24.250 --> 00:02:26.750 Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. 00:02:27.330 --> 00:02:30.550 Render service with enthusiasm as to the Lord 00:02:30.550 --> 00:02:33.250 and not to men and women. knowing that whatever 00:02:33.250 --> 00:02:35.810 good we do, we will receive the same again from 00:02:35.810 --> 00:02:38.870 the Lord, whether we are slaves or free. And 00:02:38.870 --> 00:02:41.550 masters, do the same to them. Stop threatening 00:02:41.550 --> 00:02:43.710 them, for you know that both of you have the 00:02:43.710 --> 00:02:46.169 same master in heaven, and with him there is 00:02:46.169 --> 00:02:55.210 no partiality. You may be seated. Thank you, 00:02:55.210 --> 00:03:04.370 Maya, for reading. Wow. What a passage. A passage 00:03:04.370 --> 00:03:10.449 read to a context of 70 or so nationalities, 00:03:10.449 --> 00:03:13.030 different cultural realities that we come from. 00:03:14.710 --> 00:03:18.509 A passage that is read to many denominational 00:03:18.509 --> 00:03:20.689 backgrounds that have very different perspectives 00:03:20.689 --> 00:03:23.650 on roles of men and women and how that works 00:03:23.650 --> 00:03:29.240 itself out. But even deeper than that is I want 00:03:29.240 --> 00:03:31.840 to invite you at the very beginning to do this, 00:03:31.860 --> 00:03:35.520 to consider as you heard that passage being read 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:41.860 over you, what were you drawn to? What resonated 00:03:41.860 --> 00:03:48.039 in your own heart? You see, this is a joke, but 00:03:48.039 --> 00:03:50.180 I had my daughter read it right because the part 00:03:50.180 --> 00:03:53.620 that resonates with me is, obey your fathers. 00:03:58.030 --> 00:04:00.569 But then I also want you to seriously pay attention 00:04:00.569 --> 00:04:05.069 to what part of that passage did you resist? 00:04:06.590 --> 00:04:10.550 Did you feel, oh, I don't know if I like that 00:04:10.550 --> 00:04:15.770 part. And the invitation is then to think through 00:04:15.770 --> 00:04:18.850 what is it that is bringing us to that place 00:04:18.850 --> 00:04:21.509 of either resonating with parts of it or resisting 00:04:21.509 --> 00:04:25.310 parts of it. And in that posture, as we as a 00:04:25.310 --> 00:04:28.069 community, our people gather around Jesus, desiring 00:04:28.069 --> 00:04:30.689 with all of who we are to reflect him in life. 00:04:31.449 --> 00:04:34.629 I want to invite you even to posture your hands 00:04:34.629 --> 00:04:38.670 as I pray in this way to say, Lord, would you 00:04:38.670 --> 00:04:41.370 please speak through your word? Would you guide 00:04:41.370 --> 00:04:47.819 and move us? Would we, in one sense, pause? Certain 00:04:47.819 --> 00:04:51.100 things that keep us from really hearing, but 00:04:51.100 --> 00:04:54.060 also maybe not pause, but bring all of who we 00:04:54.060 --> 00:05:01.399 are to you. Let your word read us. And let Jesus, 00:05:01.420 --> 00:05:03.800 who is at the center of everything, come and 00:05:03.800 --> 00:05:07.600 transform us from the inside out in an upside 00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:12.939 down way. Where our relationships are increasingly 00:05:12.939 --> 00:05:16.620 in store to a place of dignity. Just like we... 00:05:17.240 --> 00:05:20.759 watched in the video. And so Lord, I ask that 00:05:20.759 --> 00:05:22.620 the words of my mouth, that the meditations of 00:05:22.620 --> 00:05:25.519 my heart would be pleasing to you. Oh Lord, because 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:28.379 you are our rock and our redeemer. And we pray 00:05:28.379 --> 00:05:33.560 this all in the name of Jesus. Amen. So as I 00:05:33.560 --> 00:05:35.420 said, we've been going through a series called 00:05:35.420 --> 00:05:37.699 Jesus in all of life, because this is a division 00:05:37.699 --> 00:05:41.360 that we have committed to here at ECB, Jesus 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:44.000 in all of life. And if you missed last week's 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:46.959 sermon about Jesus in the workplace, I encourage 00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:50.240 you to go on and listen to that. Pastor Andrew 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:52.480 from the Vine in Hong Kong came and he spoke 00:05:52.480 --> 00:05:55.319 to us and invited us to take seriously the words 00:05:55.319 --> 00:05:58.639 of Jesus about being the salt and light and how 00:05:58.639 --> 00:06:01.839 we bring that into the marketplace. Same with 00:06:01.839 --> 00:06:04.019 the school setting. We bring that into the place 00:06:04.019 --> 00:06:06.060 that we are spending all these hours in the day. 00:06:06.160 --> 00:06:08.660 Whether or not that is an institution or a company 00:06:08.660 --> 00:06:11.060 or organization that follows Jesus, we bring 00:06:11.060 --> 00:06:15.259 him with us into that space. Next week, We're 00:06:15.259 --> 00:06:19.079 going to do a teaching on Jesus in your finances, 00:06:19.100 --> 00:06:21.319 in your resources. What does stewardship over 00:06:21.319 --> 00:06:25.540 what God has given us look like? But today, we're 00:06:25.540 --> 00:06:29.120 looking at the heart of relational aspects. What 00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:31.660 does Jesus in all of life look like in our closest 00:06:31.660 --> 00:06:33.639 relationships? And I want to say something right 00:06:33.639 --> 00:06:37.240 from the very beginning. Yes, there's going to 00:06:37.240 --> 00:06:39.480 be a husband and a wife and a children dynamic 00:06:39.480 --> 00:06:43.389 to this. The family setting of husband, wife, 00:06:43.509 --> 00:06:47.110 and children is not some, like, ultimate goal 00:06:47.110 --> 00:06:49.750 of the life that we live, of the Christian life 00:06:49.750 --> 00:06:52.870 we live. It is a gift that God gives, and sometimes 00:06:52.870 --> 00:06:55.610 we participate in it, others don't. But if you 00:06:55.610 --> 00:06:57.550 happen to be young and you're not a parent, you're 00:06:57.550 --> 00:06:59.290 like, what does this message have to do with 00:06:59.290 --> 00:07:01.980 me? Or if you are single and either you're at 00:07:01.980 --> 00:07:04.240 a point of saying, okay, I'm going to let that 00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:05.980 be in the past and I'm going to continue forward. 00:07:06.019 --> 00:07:08.680 This message is for you. This is not just about 00:07:08.680 --> 00:07:11.259 husbands and wives and their relation with one 00:07:11.259 --> 00:07:13.180 another and how they are to connect with one 00:07:13.180 --> 00:07:15.079 another or how parents are supposed to treat 00:07:15.079 --> 00:07:18.740 their kids. Because what Jesus did is he did 00:07:18.740 --> 00:07:22.540 not come to say the church is like a family. 00:07:22.740 --> 00:07:26.620 He came to say the church is family. You and 00:07:26.620 --> 00:07:28.759 I are brothers and sisters in Christ, and so 00:07:28.759 --> 00:07:31.920 this is about relational health of how we engage 00:07:31.920 --> 00:07:37.079 with one another. Some years back, when I was 00:07:37.079 --> 00:07:39.319 living in Quito, Ecuador, with our family there, 00:07:39.420 --> 00:07:43.959 we were in a wonderful... small group, equivalent 00:07:43.959 --> 00:07:46.360 of what we call life groups here. Now that small 00:07:46.360 --> 00:07:48.740 group had people from all kinds of different 00:07:48.740 --> 00:07:51.040 backgrounds. So we had Haitians in that group, 00:07:51.100 --> 00:07:53.199 we had Filipinos in the group, we had Americans 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:55.540 in the group, we had an Indian in the group, 00:07:55.600 --> 00:07:58.980 we had Ecuadorians in the group, I say North 00:07:58.980 --> 00:08:01.540 Americans, and then we also had Iranians in the 00:08:01.540 --> 00:08:05.139 group. This is a beautiful expression of God's 00:08:05.139 --> 00:08:07.939 big family together. Now my friend Saeed from 00:08:07.939 --> 00:08:12.480 Iran, I learned so much from him, and I want 00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:15.360 to recount a story that he was telling us. So 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:18.339 we gathered around a table as a group, and we 00:08:18.339 --> 00:08:21.100 broke bread together. We fellowshiped in a way 00:08:21.100 --> 00:08:23.379 that reminded us that we are a family of God. 00:08:23.560 --> 00:08:26.459 And one day when we were preparing for this gathering 00:08:26.459 --> 00:08:31.220 together, Saeed said, you know what? In my country, 00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:35.139 in my culture, everyone knows their place at 00:08:35.139 --> 00:08:37.919 the table. Everyone knows their place at the 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:41.230 table. I said, well, what do you mean? He said, 00:08:41.250 --> 00:08:43.870 well, their place at the table is dependent on 00:08:43.870 --> 00:08:48.169 where the door is. Where the door is? What does 00:08:48.169 --> 00:08:50.029 the door have to do with where you sit at the 00:08:50.029 --> 00:08:51.850 table? And how does somebody know where they 00:08:51.850 --> 00:08:56.230 sit at the table? So my curiosity brings that 00:08:56.230 --> 00:08:58.990 question to him. And he says, well, you see, 00:08:59.029 --> 00:09:02.570 the door is the place where evil can enter. The 00:09:02.570 --> 00:09:04.909 place where another warring group might come 00:09:04.909 --> 00:09:07.470 in at any point, where thieves or robbers might 00:09:07.470 --> 00:09:10.149 break in. And so if the door is on this side 00:09:10.149 --> 00:09:12.970 and the table is set up this way, the place of 00:09:12.970 --> 00:09:16.950 honor is the furthest away from the door, right? 00:09:17.029 --> 00:09:20.169 So I would sit in the place of honor if I was 00:09:20.169 --> 00:09:23.870 the most important person in that room. Now think 00:09:23.870 --> 00:09:26.429 about this. What is that saying going down the 00:09:26.429 --> 00:09:30.090 line? I am the most significant asset to this 00:09:30.090 --> 00:09:34.460 group. The rest kind of systematically go down 00:09:34.460 --> 00:09:38.919 in liability to the door. Because whenever evil 00:09:38.919 --> 00:09:41.679 comes in through the door, you're keeping your 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:43.600 most important person at the end of the room. 00:09:45.700 --> 00:09:48.639 Now, on one sense, that seems kind of funny. 00:09:48.740 --> 00:09:52.019 But if you think about the reality of that relational 00:09:52.019 --> 00:09:56.100 dynamic, where we begin to view one another as 00:09:56.100 --> 00:10:01.159 transactions, as liabilities or assets. This 00:10:01.159 --> 00:10:05.200 is the devil's work in us. And it will always 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:08.919 pull and rip and tear things apart in a destructive 00:10:08.919 --> 00:10:11.600 way. Nightlight in the video that we saw there 00:10:11.600 --> 00:10:14.259 is an example of this, where we begin to treat 00:10:14.259 --> 00:10:18.480 people as a means to our own enjoyment or fulfillment 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:22.220 as opposed to their God -given dignity. In the 00:10:22.220 --> 00:10:24.360 group setting, for those who are group culture 00:10:24.360 --> 00:10:28.779 oriented, we find our place within the group. 00:10:29.100 --> 00:10:32.120 based on loyalty to that group and the fulfillment 00:10:32.120 --> 00:10:35.419 of that group. So it doesn't matter if you come 00:10:35.419 --> 00:10:38.779 from more of a individual -oriented culture or 00:10:38.779 --> 00:10:41.919 a group -oriented culture. There's this commodification, 00:10:42.139 --> 00:10:43.899 the way that we treat one another where it says, 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:47.240 you know, you are simply a means to something 00:10:47.240 --> 00:10:51.139 bigger than the goodness of what could be in 00:10:51.139 --> 00:10:54.399 that relationship. You are a liability or you 00:10:54.399 --> 00:10:58.750 are an asset. So as you reflect on that, what's 00:10:58.750 --> 00:11:02.070 your place at the table? Think about your relational 00:11:02.070 --> 00:11:03.830 connections with people around you. What's your 00:11:03.830 --> 00:11:07.389 place at the table? But actually, a deeper question 00:11:07.389 --> 00:11:10.090 that I want to ask is, as you think about your 00:11:10.090 --> 00:11:13.730 connections, children with your parents, husbands 00:11:13.730 --> 00:11:16.789 and wives, deep soul companions that are connected 00:11:16.789 --> 00:11:21.190 with one another, your work situation, what's 00:11:21.190 --> 00:11:23.929 your place at the table? See, the table represents 00:11:23.929 --> 00:11:26.149 belonging. It means coming together and we all 00:11:26.149 --> 00:11:28.990 find a place around that table. And so the question 00:11:28.990 --> 00:11:32.350 is, do you long for something more than what 00:11:32.350 --> 00:11:34.490 you're experiencing? And this is what Paul is 00:11:34.490 --> 00:11:37.809 writing to. He is inviting us to experience the 00:11:37.809 --> 00:11:40.549 goodness of who Jesus is and what he comes to 00:11:40.549 --> 00:11:43.830 do. And I am confident that regardless of all 00:11:43.830 --> 00:11:46.169 the different backgrounds in here, putting him 00:11:46.169 --> 00:11:49.649 at the center does indeed change everything. 00:11:53.100 --> 00:11:55.600 So with that in mind, let's talk about relational 00:11:55.600 --> 00:11:57.639 wholeness. Let's go back to the beginning and 00:11:57.639 --> 00:11:59.559 let's frame our story that we're going to get 00:11:59.559 --> 00:12:01.820 to because this would have been in Paul's mind. 00:12:02.059 --> 00:12:04.879 He would have considered three different dimensions 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:07.500 of relationship that are all important in how 00:12:07.500 --> 00:12:10.240 people are created. So if you remember, Adam 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:13.720 and Eve are created. First, humanity is created 00:12:13.720 --> 00:12:17.539 and there's one Adam and God says it's not good 00:12:17.539 --> 00:12:20.000 for man to be alone. And so he creates what? 00:12:20.100 --> 00:12:24.350 A companion for Adam. The two become partners, 00:12:24.690 --> 00:12:28.090 soul -connected friends in that situation. And 00:12:28.090 --> 00:12:30.970 this is a companionship. This is about us needing 00:12:30.970 --> 00:12:33.250 this connection with other human beings at a 00:12:33.250 --> 00:12:36.970 deep relational level. But within the story of 00:12:36.970 --> 00:12:39.389 Genesis, we also have two other categories. One 00:12:39.389 --> 00:12:42.129 is a generational blessing, right? So God didn't 00:12:42.129 --> 00:12:44.190 create us to just take the goodness and hold 00:12:44.190 --> 00:12:46.889 it to ourselves. He created us to use that goodness 00:12:46.889 --> 00:12:49.769 to bless the next generation. And so there's 00:12:49.769 --> 00:12:52.230 this generational multiplication of the goodness 00:12:52.230 --> 00:12:55.730 of God that we bring into it as well. But God 00:12:55.730 --> 00:12:57.690 didn't just stop there. He also said you have 00:12:57.690 --> 00:13:00.289 dominion over the earth, stewardship. You are 00:13:00.289 --> 00:13:03.350 to care for the world around you and also bring 00:13:03.350 --> 00:13:07.850 it up into a point of flourishing. But you do 00:13:07.850 --> 00:13:10.789 that in partnership with one another. You don't 00:13:10.789 --> 00:13:13.450 do that in dominion over one another. You do 00:13:13.450 --> 00:13:16.590 that in partnership with one another. And these 00:13:16.590 --> 00:13:20.289 three aspects, if they are all together, we would 00:13:20.289 --> 00:13:22.809 consider it to be a wholeness of relationship. 00:13:23.610 --> 00:13:27.169 Or as the Bible calls it, shalom. All things 00:13:27.169 --> 00:13:32.409 as they are meant to be. Okay, back to the video 00:13:32.409 --> 00:13:36.269 that we watched just a moment ago. We see nightlight 00:13:36.269 --> 00:13:38.629 working towards this wholeness of relationship 00:13:38.629 --> 00:13:43.190 within the context of what they do. But we know 00:13:43.190 --> 00:13:47.620 that our relationships, have challenges to them. 00:13:47.860 --> 00:13:50.659 We know that even when we're trying as hard as 00:13:50.659 --> 00:13:53.419 we can, we still engage in this way of considering 00:13:53.419 --> 00:13:57.240 one another as liabilities and assets. Whether 00:13:57.240 --> 00:13:59.299 you're in the school system or the work system 00:13:59.299 --> 00:14:02.440 or wherever it may be. And Paul does not write 00:14:02.440 --> 00:14:07.360 this letter to pre -Christians, although they 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:10.500 can learn from it. He writes it to the church, 00:14:10.700 --> 00:14:14.450 which what does that mean? All of us. have growth 00:14:14.450 --> 00:14:17.149 to do in our relationships. But here's the good 00:14:17.149 --> 00:14:20.429 news. Paul is going to speak right into the mess 00:14:20.429 --> 00:14:23.049 of the relationship. So we don't hide the reality 00:14:23.049 --> 00:14:26.129 that we haven't arrived yet. We bring that reality 00:14:26.129 --> 00:14:28.710 forward. And what Paul does is he references 00:14:28.710 --> 00:14:32.110 the Greco -Roman household. And I want to put 00:14:32.110 --> 00:14:34.250 a note in here to say that Pastor Pablo in the 00:14:34.250 --> 00:14:37.350 book of Colossians touched on this and he did 00:14:37.350 --> 00:14:40.909 an excellent job of explaining it. And so I highlight 00:14:40.909 --> 00:14:44.049 that to say that if you want to go more in depth 00:14:44.049 --> 00:14:46.470 than what we get this morning here, go back online 00:14:46.470 --> 00:14:49.250 to our series on Colossians and uncover that 00:14:49.250 --> 00:14:51.860 part. Because having this insight is important 00:14:51.860 --> 00:14:53.960 for us as we go forward in what we're looking 00:14:53.960 --> 00:14:56.700 at here. So what was the Greco -Roman household? 00:14:56.879 --> 00:14:59.059 How was it structured and set up? A pyramid is 00:14:59.059 --> 00:15:02.179 a good way to look at it. Top down, very dominated 00:15:02.179 --> 00:15:05.820 by the patron that is on the top of this whole 00:15:05.820 --> 00:15:08.740 system. Everything works together for the good 00:15:08.740 --> 00:15:12.440 of the group, but it is the one on top that dictates 00:15:12.440 --> 00:15:16.179 and has total authority for that system and structure. 00:15:18.190 --> 00:15:20.309 Now, how does this actually play itself out in 00:15:20.309 --> 00:15:22.990 those relational dynamics? Well, think about 00:15:22.990 --> 00:15:25.169 the companionship that is supposed to be there. 00:15:25.450 --> 00:15:28.830 The husband takes a wife more as a business contract, 00:15:29.029 --> 00:15:32.929 where you as a wife are here to support my ends 00:15:32.929 --> 00:15:36.370 of keeping this group in order. So your role 00:15:36.370 --> 00:15:39.669 in our relationship is not one of us partnering 00:15:39.669 --> 00:15:43.070 together as companions in life. It is you bringing 00:15:43.070 --> 00:15:46.570 about what I'm hoping to do in life. Do we do 00:15:46.570 --> 00:15:51.559 this with others? Yeah. So you have a distortion 00:15:51.559 --> 00:15:54.440 of that aspect within the Greco -Roman world. 00:15:54.740 --> 00:15:58.500 But then you also have the reality of parents 00:15:58.500 --> 00:16:02.919 and their kids. Now this one, I want you to think 00:16:02.919 --> 00:16:07.779 about it this way. If the group's survival is 00:16:07.779 --> 00:16:11.230 the ultimate goal, think back to the table. Right? 00:16:11.269 --> 00:16:13.590 We put the most important person furthest from 00:16:13.590 --> 00:16:15.409 the door because we're trying to make sure that 00:16:15.409 --> 00:16:18.309 the group survives. That it can go to the next 00:16:18.309 --> 00:16:22.730 generation. That's a huge weight to put on somebody. 00:16:23.629 --> 00:16:26.710 And as a parent in a household like one in Rome 00:16:26.710 --> 00:16:29.490 in a Greco -Roman thing, I would put that weight 00:16:29.490 --> 00:16:33.570 upon my children. Does this sound familiar in 00:16:33.570 --> 00:16:35.909 some ways? Where your kids end up being your 00:16:35.909 --> 00:16:39.230 hope for the future. That is a burden they are 00:16:39.230 --> 00:16:42.789 never supposed to hold. You are to steward them 00:16:42.789 --> 00:16:47.029 as God's children, holding up them before their 00:16:47.029 --> 00:16:49.789 maker and helping them to flourish in all of 00:16:49.789 --> 00:16:52.190 who God created them to be, not to serve the 00:16:52.190 --> 00:16:55.509 ends of the group going forward. So you see a 00:16:55.509 --> 00:16:57.470 distortion happening in the Roman household in 00:16:57.470 --> 00:17:00.389 this setting as well. And then there's the masters 00:17:00.389 --> 00:17:04.109 and the slaves, right? There are estimates that 00:17:04.109 --> 00:17:10.910 30 to 40 % of the Roman world were slaves, of 00:17:10.910 --> 00:17:14.950 the Roman population. People have described it 00:17:14.950 --> 00:17:18.309 as the electricity of Rome. Now think about us 00:17:18.309 --> 00:17:21.309 in a world that's highly digitized, and if you 00:17:21.309 --> 00:17:23.710 take all the lights out suddenly, everything 00:17:23.710 --> 00:17:26.990 screeches to a stop, and it is unable to continue 00:17:26.990 --> 00:17:31.569 forward. So this is a structure of society where 00:17:31.569 --> 00:17:35.269 slaves are not... A simple like, oh, this is 00:17:35.269 --> 00:17:37.470 nice. I get an extra meal that they're cooking 00:17:37.470 --> 00:17:39.970 for me. This is them being an integral part of 00:17:39.970 --> 00:17:43.869 actually making the Roman society work. But remember 00:17:43.869 --> 00:17:47.630 what the plan in Genesis was. This is about co 00:17:47.630 --> 00:17:50.829 -partnership of stewarding the world around us, 00:17:50.930 --> 00:17:55.130 not a domineering one of using other people in 00:17:55.130 --> 00:17:59.309 order to bring about my own good or needs. Do 00:17:59.309 --> 00:18:00.970 you see the distortion that Paul is speaking 00:18:00.970 --> 00:18:04.059 to? Now the reason it's important to hold this 00:18:04.059 --> 00:18:06.559 in context is because when Paul begins to address 00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:10.160 this, he addresses it from the inside out and 00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:14.079 in an upside down way. He doesn't dominate it 00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:16.380 by wiping the whole thing clean and starting 00:18:16.380 --> 00:18:19.799 over again. Why is that good news for you and 00:18:19.799 --> 00:18:26.440 I? Because if I listen to your story and if you 00:18:26.440 --> 00:18:30.539 listen to my story, We can add a lot to relate 00:18:30.539 --> 00:18:34.799 to with the Greco -Roman world. And I'm in desperate 00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:37.799 need of a God who steps into my life and begins 00:18:37.799 --> 00:18:40.680 to transform it from the inside out rather than 00:18:40.680 --> 00:18:43.859 saying, sorry, Phil, I can't have you part of 00:18:43.859 --> 00:18:46.579 what I'm doing. And again, this is back to the 00:18:46.579 --> 00:18:49.480 nightlight commitment, right? Coming in and visiting 00:18:49.480 --> 00:18:51.700 them where they are and beginning from the inside 00:18:51.700 --> 00:18:54.259 out to make things better again to flourish. 00:18:54.799 --> 00:18:56.779 I'm guessing you have some questions about the 00:18:56.779 --> 00:18:58.400 passage. We're going to get to those, so keep 00:18:58.400 --> 00:19:01.259 holding those. What we say, though, is that each 00:19:01.259 --> 00:19:04.519 person has a means that is far more valuable 00:19:04.519 --> 00:19:06.640 than what they give to the group or their own 00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:11.039 personal fulfillment. With the Greco -Roman world 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:13.740 family structure and what many of the ways we 00:19:13.740 --> 00:19:16.640 relate to one another does is captured in this 00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:21.420 quote here. No human relationship can bear the 00:19:21.420 --> 00:19:26.140 burden of godhood. No human relationship can 00:19:26.140 --> 00:19:29.359 bear the burden of Godhood. And the attempt is 00:19:29.359 --> 00:19:32.299 to take its toll in some way on both parties 00:19:32.299 --> 00:19:38.339 or on the group itself. So what this quote is 00:19:38.339 --> 00:19:41.339 looking at is to say, when you remove God out 00:19:41.339 --> 00:19:44.180 of the center of the relational framework and 00:19:44.180 --> 00:19:48.200 fabric, there becomes a burden placed on that 00:19:48.200 --> 00:19:51.940 fabric, on those relational dynamics, that will 00:19:51.940 --> 00:19:54.940 crush God. the relationships. It will actually 00:19:54.940 --> 00:19:58.079 begin to tear things apart. And that's what Paul 00:19:58.079 --> 00:20:02.519 is writing into as he writes this passage. So 00:20:02.519 --> 00:20:07.799 what's the answer? Ephesians 5 .21 says, be subject 00:20:07.799 --> 00:20:11.740 to one another out of reverence for Christ. Let's 00:20:11.740 --> 00:20:14.680 read that together. Be subject to one another 00:20:14.680 --> 00:20:19.240 out of reverence for Christ. This becomes the 00:20:19.240 --> 00:20:22.029 refrain. So think about a song. A song is going 00:20:22.029 --> 00:20:24.089 to tell a story often. It's going to give all 00:20:24.089 --> 00:20:28.329 kinds of details and things to communicate. But 00:20:28.329 --> 00:20:30.609 at the core of it is going to be a refrain or 00:20:30.609 --> 00:20:33.849 a repeating line. And that line is going to tell 00:20:33.849 --> 00:20:35.730 you, yes, there's this whole story being told. 00:20:35.809 --> 00:20:38.190 But if you take anything away from this song, 00:20:38.329 --> 00:20:41.809 this is what you should be taking away. And what 00:20:41.809 --> 00:20:45.049 Paul does in these short few verses, if you were 00:20:45.049 --> 00:20:48.250 listening well to them, is he brings in Christ 00:20:48.250 --> 00:20:53.140 14 times. again and again and again. And he says, 00:20:53.200 --> 00:20:56.099 you brothers and sisters, you children, you who 00:20:56.099 --> 00:20:58.140 are in the workplace as bond servants or whatever, 00:20:58.259 --> 00:21:02.119 you cannot ever look at one another without Christ 00:21:02.119 --> 00:21:05.160 being the center of that relationship, or else 00:21:05.160 --> 00:21:07.819 it will begin to fall apart and become a distorted 00:21:07.819 --> 00:21:10.400 way of engaging with one another. That's where 00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:12.319 Paul writes, and that's why he's going to call 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:14.160 us back again and again and again, be subject 00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:19.440 to one another in reverence for Christ. So the 00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:21.599 question we ask is, let's go back to that story 00:21:21.599 --> 00:21:23.799 about the table, right? Where was Jesus's place 00:21:23.799 --> 00:21:26.759 at the table? Where should he have been sitting? 00:21:28.480 --> 00:21:30.799 If he walked into that room, which he walks into 00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:34.920 our lives, the table furthest, the seat furthest 00:21:34.920 --> 00:21:38.400 from the door was his seat, right? And he could 00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:41.259 have kicked out whoever was there and taken a 00:21:41.259 --> 00:21:44.420 seat and basically said, I created all of you. 00:21:44.890 --> 00:21:48.390 You are here ultimately for my fulfillment, my 00:21:48.390 --> 00:21:54.470 purpose, and my means. What does Jesus do? Jesus 00:21:54.470 --> 00:21:59.490 steps into our reality. And he sits right in 00:21:59.490 --> 00:22:02.470 front of the door. And he doesn't only sit in 00:22:02.470 --> 00:22:04.930 front of the door. hoping something will happen. 00:22:05.089 --> 00:22:07.630 He sits in front of the door knowing that every 00:22:07.630 --> 00:22:10.670 way that we have not loved one another well, 00:22:10.769 --> 00:22:13.089 every way that others have not loved us well, 00:22:13.230 --> 00:22:15.369 all of the evil that has happened in the world 00:22:15.369 --> 00:22:18.009 was going to come rushing through that door and 00:22:18.009 --> 00:22:21.910 crush him. He sat there knowing that full well. 00:22:22.170 --> 00:22:24.910 And this is the one that we serve, that we look 00:22:24.910 --> 00:22:27.250 to. And this is why Paul says, be subject to 00:22:27.250 --> 00:22:31.099 one another. in reverence for Christ. This is 00:22:31.099 --> 00:22:33.180 what he came and did for us. And we begin to 00:22:33.180 --> 00:22:36.240 look at one another through this lens going forward. 00:22:37.880 --> 00:22:41.460 This is the Jesus way. It begins to shape us 00:22:41.460 --> 00:22:43.200 from the inside out in a completely different 00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:46.319 way of engaging with one another. So what does 00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:49.099 that actually look like within the Roman context, 00:22:49.180 --> 00:22:55.860 within Ephesus, where Paul is writing to? Well, 00:22:55.860 --> 00:22:58.640 Jesus came and he declared himself as not one 00:22:58.640 --> 00:23:01.380 that came to be served, but to serve others and 00:23:01.380 --> 00:23:04.619 to give up his life as a ransom for many. He 00:23:04.619 --> 00:23:07.319 said these words, letting you and I know that 00:23:07.319 --> 00:23:09.319 he didn't come to sit on that side of the table, 00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:10.940 but he came to sit on this side of the table. 00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:12.759 And then he followed through with what he said. 00:23:14.079 --> 00:23:16.599 So I want us to consider the Jesus way. And here's 00:23:16.599 --> 00:23:18.680 what I invite you to do. With your hands, go 00:23:18.680 --> 00:23:22.339 ahead and make a U shape, okay? Now, when Jesus 00:23:22.339 --> 00:23:26.430 comes, He comes down in a way that reflects this 00:23:26.430 --> 00:23:29.309 U -shape. A psychologist and spiritual formation 00:23:29.309 --> 00:23:31.609 author by the name of Daniel Allender gives this 00:23:31.609 --> 00:23:34.509 perspective in the reality of who Christ has 00:23:34.509 --> 00:23:36.670 come. So keep holding that up there. What Jesus 00:23:36.670 --> 00:23:41.990 does is he descends down into our reality. He 00:23:41.990 --> 00:23:45.329 does not wait for us to come to him. He actually 00:23:45.329 --> 00:23:49.390 in movement comes to us and descends down into 00:23:49.390 --> 00:23:53.930 our reality. And so that is a integral aspect 00:23:53.930 --> 00:23:55.430 of it. You can put your hands down. A lot of 00:23:55.430 --> 00:23:57.150 you are like, how long do I hold this up there? 00:23:57.710 --> 00:23:59.950 What I want you to do is keep that in mind, though, 00:23:59.970 --> 00:24:02.190 as you look forward. And you can even look through 00:24:02.190 --> 00:24:04.789 your relationships in that aspect going forward. 00:24:05.849 --> 00:24:08.630 So he descends down into our existence. He takes 00:24:08.630 --> 00:24:11.049 on the form of humanity, one that he created, 00:24:11.289 --> 00:24:13.829 even taking on the form of a slave and being 00:24:13.829 --> 00:24:17.750 one for us. But he doesn't just stop there. He 00:24:17.750 --> 00:24:21.869 comes to serve, not to be served. And so this 00:24:21.869 --> 00:24:23.950 is the bottom part of the you where he has come 00:24:23.950 --> 00:24:27.170 down and you think about him washing his disciples' 00:24:27.390 --> 00:24:29.710 feet. Rather than sitting in the place of honor 00:24:29.710 --> 00:24:32.210 and staying there and requiring everyone else 00:24:32.210 --> 00:24:35.069 to be the ones who served him, he went and served 00:24:35.069 --> 00:24:39.410 them. He humbled himself in that situation. So 00:24:39.410 --> 00:24:42.230 again, he's down in the bottom of the you. Then 00:24:42.230 --> 00:24:45.849 he sacrificed. He willingly gave up his very 00:24:45.849 --> 00:24:51.230 life for you and for me. But then he rose again, 00:24:51.349 --> 00:24:54.069 right? And so that's where it comes back up on 00:24:54.069 --> 00:24:57.029 the other side of the you. So you go down in 00:24:57.029 --> 00:24:59.130 this journey and you come back up and this kind 00:24:59.130 --> 00:25:02.329 of marks and you remember the frame or the shape 00:25:02.329 --> 00:25:05.349 of how Jesus has journeyed in on life. Why is 00:25:05.349 --> 00:25:08.170 it important for us to keep that in mind? Well, 00:25:08.269 --> 00:25:11.049 as Dallas Willard says, Christ was not crucified 00:25:11.049 --> 00:25:15.009 so that you and I wouldn't have to be. He was 00:25:15.009 --> 00:25:17.849 crucified so we could be crucified with him. 00:25:18.210 --> 00:25:20.990 Now, don't worry. I'm not proposing that you 00:25:20.990 --> 00:25:23.650 have to go and work out your salvation and you 00:25:23.650 --> 00:25:25.930 are trying to make sure that you are paying off 00:25:25.930 --> 00:25:29.210 your debt. This is a reality of our loyalty to 00:25:29.210 --> 00:25:32.470 ourselves needs to die. Our loyalty to a different 00:25:32.470 --> 00:25:35.569 group needs to be surrendered. The way that we 00:25:35.569 --> 00:25:38.589 move ourselves in life needs to go to the cross 00:25:38.589 --> 00:25:41.569 just as Christ went to the cross. And it happens 00:25:41.569 --> 00:25:45.410 to follow the U shape. We all want to just jump 00:25:45.410 --> 00:25:47.890 over from one end to the other. We do not want 00:25:47.890 --> 00:25:50.299 to go down. We don't want to serve one another. 00:25:50.400 --> 00:25:52.900 We want whole relationships without actually 00:25:52.900 --> 00:25:55.079 the serving and sacrificing that happens there. 00:25:55.220 --> 00:25:59.259 Can I get an amen? But that's not the way of 00:25:59.259 --> 00:26:01.920 Jesus, right? Jesus comes and he says, join me, 00:26:01.960 --> 00:26:05.119 but join me not in your own power, but through 00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:07.079 the power of the Holy Spirit, who you will see 00:26:07.079 --> 00:26:09.700 in just a moment here. So what does it look like 00:26:09.700 --> 00:26:13.829 in Ephesus? What Jesus, what Paul is doing is 00:26:13.829 --> 00:26:16.470 he's bringing Jesus into a specific cultural 00:26:16.470 --> 00:26:19.109 context. And he brings Jesus into this context, 00:26:19.190 --> 00:26:21.750 as I said, from the inside out in an upside down 00:26:21.750 --> 00:26:24.109 way. How does that actually play itself out? 00:26:24.390 --> 00:26:27.210 Well, husbands and wives, what is the husband 00:26:27.210 --> 00:26:30.869 called to do? To give up his very life for his 00:26:30.869 --> 00:26:34.869 wife, just like Jesus did for him. Headship? 00:26:34.950 --> 00:26:38.769 Yes, absolutely. But what does that headship 00:26:38.769 --> 00:26:41.799 entail? I get to call all the shots? I get to 00:26:41.799 --> 00:26:43.980 make all the decisions. There's not a lot of 00:26:43.980 --> 00:26:46.160 that in the Bible about, okay, husbands, you 00:26:46.160 --> 00:26:47.960 get to control all of these different things. 00:26:48.460 --> 00:26:51.339 But instead, what it says is if you are a position 00:26:51.339 --> 00:26:54.680 as a man or in a position that find yourself 00:26:54.680 --> 00:26:57.140 to be in more strength or whatever it may be, 00:26:57.220 --> 00:27:01.539 your call is to give up your life for your wife. 00:27:03.779 --> 00:27:05.940 Positionally, wherever we are in relationship 00:27:05.940 --> 00:27:08.640 with one another, the way of Jesus is one where 00:27:08.640 --> 00:27:11.339 the one... on the top actually serves the one 00:27:11.339 --> 00:27:13.880 on the bottom. And that's what we see within 00:27:13.880 --> 00:27:16.779 the Jesus way. What about wives? Wives are to 00:27:16.779 --> 00:27:18.980 respect their husbands. They are to encourage 00:27:18.980 --> 00:27:21.559 them in that way of Jesus as they are modeling 00:27:21.559 --> 00:27:25.099 this. Similarly, through the way that Jesus brings 00:27:25.099 --> 00:27:28.920 restoration with companionship. What about children? 00:27:29.519 --> 00:27:31.920 Well, children are to honor their parents, to 00:27:31.920 --> 00:27:35.799 obey them. And this isn't just because we're 00:27:35.799 --> 00:27:37.779 trying to carry on the family name to something 00:27:37.779 --> 00:27:40.680 else. This is because God has invited flourishing 00:27:40.680 --> 00:27:43.240 within the family dynamic, a resurrection of 00:27:43.240 --> 00:27:46.259 those relationships. And what about the slave 00:27:46.259 --> 00:27:48.640 and the master? Well, they are to begin treating 00:27:48.640 --> 00:27:52.359 each other the way that Christ has treated me 00:27:52.359 --> 00:27:56.059 and treated you. And in treating us that way, 00:27:56.079 --> 00:27:59.079 it completely takes away the whole hierarchy 00:27:59.079 --> 00:28:03.019 of a slave and a master. Now, you may be asking, 00:28:03.180 --> 00:28:06.380 but Pastor Phil, why didn't Paul just say slavery 00:28:06.380 --> 00:28:09.869 is outlawed? This should not be the case. Why 00:28:09.869 --> 00:28:13.309 is he speaking to such an evil institution and 00:28:13.309 --> 00:28:17.609 saying, slaves, you need to respect your masters? 00:28:20.210 --> 00:28:22.930 I believe probably the reason for that is within 00:28:22.930 --> 00:28:26.970 the Roman Empire, there was no chance of you. 00:28:27.630 --> 00:28:30.410 setting a protest to change things around. There 00:28:30.410 --> 00:28:33.690 was no opportunity for you to move into the government 00:28:33.690 --> 00:28:36.430 sphere and try to change it in that way. And 00:28:36.430 --> 00:28:38.930 what Paul knows is a secret that Jesus came to 00:28:38.930 --> 00:28:41.470 say, which is the way of Christ starts small 00:28:41.470 --> 00:28:44.930 and it grows from the inside out. Is God about 00:28:44.930 --> 00:28:48.789 slavery? No, absolutely not. Fundamentally, he 00:28:48.789 --> 00:28:51.849 is working to undo that whole system. But in 00:28:51.849 --> 00:28:53.769 this context, what he has done is he said, from 00:28:53.769 --> 00:28:56.150 the inside out, it will change. And guess what? 00:28:56.589 --> 00:28:59.589 It changed. Laws did change. Now, we still have 00:28:59.589 --> 00:29:01.950 huge problems with slavery today, and that's 00:29:01.950 --> 00:29:04.150 why people who are followers of Jesus are called 00:29:04.150 --> 00:29:06.990 to step into that place and to treat one another 00:29:06.990 --> 00:29:10.109 as Christ has. And this is also not to say that 00:29:10.109 --> 00:29:12.089 when you have an opportunity in a government, 00:29:12.289 --> 00:29:14.829 whether it be with an NGO or something of that 00:29:14.829 --> 00:29:17.569 nature, to resist and push against slavery, do 00:29:17.569 --> 00:29:20.869 so. But if you find yourself in a spot where 00:29:20.869 --> 00:29:23.730 you are bound by the nation and the culture and 00:29:23.730 --> 00:29:26.250 the system where you cannot do anything, you 00:29:26.250 --> 00:29:28.849 begin from the inside out. And that's the beauty 00:29:28.849 --> 00:29:33.390 of what Paul has brought in this passage to those 00:29:33.390 --> 00:29:36.849 in Ephesus. So what does it look like? Husband 00:29:36.849 --> 00:29:38.910 and wives really become brothers and sisters. 00:29:39.150 --> 00:29:41.890 You and I become one large family where we treat 00:29:41.890 --> 00:29:45.450 one another as brothers and sisters. The other 00:29:45.450 --> 00:29:47.849 thing is that children become gifts from God. 00:29:48.279 --> 00:29:50.819 Gifts that we are pouring into for the next generation. 00:29:51.799 --> 00:29:54.680 And this means that we have expanded from husband 00:29:54.680 --> 00:29:57.900 and wife and two kids, kind of a western view 00:29:57.900 --> 00:30:01.299 of looking at it, to this. A new community of 00:30:01.299 --> 00:30:04.519 people who are restoring relationship and passing 00:30:04.519 --> 00:30:08.359 this on to the next generation. And it also takes 00:30:08.359 --> 00:30:12.160 the whole dynamic of dominion and stewardship 00:30:12.160 --> 00:30:14.599 over the world and it says, you know what? You 00:30:14.599 --> 00:30:17.150 and I are brothers and sisters in that. It is 00:30:17.150 --> 00:30:20.190 not me lording over you. The only ones that we 00:30:20.190 --> 00:30:24.690 ultimately report to is God. And that's our hierarchical 00:30:24.690 --> 00:30:27.589 structure. So treat those who are, if you find 00:30:27.589 --> 00:30:29.809 yourself in a company, treat those who are underneath 00:30:29.809 --> 00:30:32.930 you in the way that Christ treats you. That's 00:30:32.930 --> 00:30:36.390 a powerful ethic from the inside out. So the 00:30:36.390 --> 00:30:40.309 question then is, are you reflecting Jesus in 00:30:40.309 --> 00:30:43.190 your closest relationships? Think through your 00:30:43.190 --> 00:30:45.589 family dynamic. Think through, if you are married, 00:30:45.609 --> 00:30:47.569 your husband -wife relationship. Think through 00:30:47.569 --> 00:30:50.130 how you are interacting with your parents. Are 00:30:50.130 --> 00:30:53.130 you reflecting Jesus in your closest relationships? 00:30:56.069 --> 00:30:59.569 Thanks to actually Pastor Pablo's sermon on Colossians, 00:30:59.589 --> 00:31:03.509 I set this chair up in our house, and it's kind 00:31:03.509 --> 00:31:05.450 of in an awkward space in the middle of the home. 00:31:06.650 --> 00:31:10.130 And we call this the Jesus chair. It's at the 00:31:10.130 --> 00:31:12.859 center of the home. And it's to remind us that 00:31:12.859 --> 00:31:15.619 when we walk into that space, he's there and 00:31:15.619 --> 00:31:17.799 he is to be the one who's at the center of all 00:31:17.799 --> 00:31:21.980 we do. This is a way of framing ourselves and 00:31:21.980 --> 00:31:25.059 beginning to learn again what it is to be fully 00:31:25.059 --> 00:31:28.160 who God created us to be. And what I want to 00:31:28.160 --> 00:31:30.079 do, as I sometimes do, is I have a book that 00:31:30.079 --> 00:31:31.619 I want to talk about and then I'm going to offer 00:31:31.619 --> 00:31:34.019 it to one of you. It's called Habits of the Household. 00:31:34.660 --> 00:31:37.789 And yes, it is written towards... the family 00:31:37.789 --> 00:31:40.289 of husband, wife, and children, but it can apply 00:31:40.289 --> 00:31:42.789 to those who are involved in all kinds of ways 00:31:42.789 --> 00:31:45.630 of blessing the next generation, of being in 00:31:45.630 --> 00:31:48.150 companion partnership with one another, of those 00:31:48.150 --> 00:31:50.410 in the workplace. And so what this book does 00:31:50.410 --> 00:31:53.390 is it just offers a way to begin to shape yourself 00:31:53.390 --> 00:31:55.589 in the way of Jesus in all of your relational. 00:31:56.359 --> 00:31:59.140 dynamics. Now, as I often say, if you read, if 00:31:59.140 --> 00:32:01.599 you take this book, if I give it to you, I want 00:32:01.599 --> 00:32:04.299 you to commit to reading it and then passing 00:32:04.299 --> 00:32:06.279 it on to somebody else. And then it goes that 00:32:06.279 --> 00:32:08.680 way. Okay. So normally I give you the disclaimer 00:32:08.680 --> 00:32:10.619 at the end, but would anybody like this book? 00:32:10.980 --> 00:32:16.319 All right, there you go. Okay. Now you guys keep, 00:32:16.359 --> 00:32:19.779 keep track of him. Make sure that he reads it. 00:32:19.839 --> 00:32:21.579 Cause I think the last few times this hasn't 00:32:21.579 --> 00:32:29.049 necessarily gone through. What comes before this 00:32:29.049 --> 00:32:32.369 passage? What Jesus doesn't do is just give us 00:32:32.369 --> 00:32:34.970 a model and then say, all right, now go and do 00:32:34.970 --> 00:32:39.230 it. Go and be crucified in that you shape. He 00:32:39.230 --> 00:32:42.309 gifts us with the power of transformation that 00:32:42.309 --> 00:32:44.369 moves us from the inside out and that allows 00:32:44.369 --> 00:32:48.210 us to do what God has asked us to do. So key 00:32:48.210 --> 00:32:50.369 to all of this is the Holy Spirit. And so we'll 00:32:50.369 --> 00:32:54.009 put together the Jesus way. what Jesus has modeled 00:32:54.009 --> 00:32:56.470 and called us to, as well as the power of the 00:32:56.470 --> 00:32:58.730 Holy Spirit that moves us in that dynamic. And 00:32:58.730 --> 00:33:01.150 again, this book with all of the different framework 00:33:01.150 --> 00:33:04.190 of what it looks like to form habits that look 00:33:04.190 --> 00:33:06.690 like Jesus infuses the Holy Spirit in and through 00:33:06.690 --> 00:33:10.950 all of what we do. I want to end with a story 00:33:10.950 --> 00:33:13.390 though, a story of a young lady who moved from 00:33:13.390 --> 00:33:16.069 Bangkok before she was a Christian to Saudi Arabia 00:33:16.069 --> 00:33:22.400 in 2014. And this young lady moved there. hoping 00:33:22.400 --> 00:33:25.680 and believing that she was going to end up getting 00:33:25.680 --> 00:33:28.059 married. So she had a boyfriend and she believed 00:33:28.059 --> 00:33:30.240 that that was going to be a fulfillment of what 00:33:30.240 --> 00:33:33.359 she experienced when she got there. She also 00:33:33.359 --> 00:33:35.839 was moving there for work and she believed that 00:33:35.839 --> 00:33:38.200 this would be a situation where she could progress 00:33:38.200 --> 00:33:40.519 in her work situation and it was going to be 00:33:40.519 --> 00:33:44.880 really good. So this lady moved to Saudi Arabia. 00:33:45.519 --> 00:33:50.799 And she began her life there, and she reflects 00:33:50.799 --> 00:33:53.599 that her and her boyfriend were fighting, I think 00:33:53.599 --> 00:33:55.980 in this context, it was like cats and dogs is 00:33:55.980 --> 00:33:58.700 how she said it. So they're seeing one another 00:33:58.700 --> 00:34:01.960 as assets or liabilities in different transactional 00:34:01.960 --> 00:34:05.460 relationship with one another. So much so, there's 00:34:05.460 --> 00:34:07.599 so much tension because Jesus was not at the 00:34:07.599 --> 00:34:09.579 center of that relationship that it ended up 00:34:09.579 --> 00:34:13.719 breaking apart. So she has this grief of losing 00:34:13.719 --> 00:34:18.949 that. At least work is still there, right? Well, 00:34:18.969 --> 00:34:21.389 unfortunately, in that business setting, the 00:34:21.389 --> 00:34:24.409 company made some shifts and began to downsize. 00:34:24.909 --> 00:34:28.150 And they were laying off people. And again, layoff 00:34:28.150 --> 00:34:29.949 after layoff, she's like, oh, it's not me, it's 00:34:29.949 --> 00:34:32.949 not me. And eventually it became her. See, what 00:34:32.949 --> 00:34:34.869 the company cared about more than anything else 00:34:34.869 --> 00:34:37.329 was the bottom line. And if she stood in the 00:34:37.329 --> 00:34:40.570 way of that bottom line, she was out. So now 00:34:40.570 --> 00:34:44.019 she's experiencing... A lack of companionship, 00:34:44.019 --> 00:34:46.300 which also could have been the next generational 00:34:46.300 --> 00:34:49.380 blessing piece and the work dynamic. And those 00:34:49.380 --> 00:34:52.280 have come together and just fallen apart in front 00:34:52.280 --> 00:34:56.119 of her. She's like, I was so lonely in that situation. 00:34:56.920 --> 00:34:59.760 Well, into that stepped a family and a family 00:34:59.760 --> 00:35:02.519 that actually came around her. And they were 00:35:02.519 --> 00:35:05.260 formed and shaped through the power of the Holy 00:35:05.260 --> 00:35:07.980 Spirit in what we have just talked about. And 00:35:07.980 --> 00:35:10.940 they were curious about this lady. And so they 00:35:10.940 --> 00:35:13.280 got to know her. They began to make connections 00:35:13.280 --> 00:35:16.440 with her and they were the ones that took that 00:35:16.440 --> 00:35:19.840 step towards this person. But not only that, 00:35:19.920 --> 00:35:22.760 they were humble and they listened well. See, 00:35:22.820 --> 00:35:24.440 they weren't coming in and saying, hey, we want 00:35:24.440 --> 00:35:27.880 to just bring all of who we are to you. That 00:35:27.880 --> 00:35:30.159 ended up happening in a healthy relationship 00:35:30.159 --> 00:35:32.840 later on. But they listened and they asked questions 00:35:32.840 --> 00:35:36.400 and they began to connect that way. And then 00:35:36.400 --> 00:35:39.500 they were sacrificial. They had a two -bedroom 00:35:39.500 --> 00:35:42.320 apartment. And they had a young daughter who 00:35:42.320 --> 00:35:44.619 they moved out of this apartment, not out of 00:35:44.619 --> 00:35:51.659 the apartment, into their room with them to make 00:35:51.659 --> 00:35:54.579 space for this lady in their daughter's room. 00:35:55.599 --> 00:35:59.659 It's a sacrifice. It cost them because, and here's 00:35:59.659 --> 00:36:01.340 the thing to remember, there was nothing in this 00:36:01.340 --> 00:36:03.880 whole relational connection where this family 00:36:03.880 --> 00:36:07.239 was receiving anything from this lady. But they 00:36:07.239 --> 00:36:09.280 were generously giving out of an overflow of 00:36:09.280 --> 00:36:12.079 what Christ had done for them. And you know what 00:36:12.079 --> 00:36:15.559 happened? This lady ended up coming to saving 00:36:15.559 --> 00:36:19.260 faith in Christ through that experience. She 00:36:19.260 --> 00:36:21.239 came to saving faith in Christ through that experience, 00:36:21.400 --> 00:36:24.079 which then created a committed family with them. 00:36:24.500 --> 00:36:27.159 One where they are forever brothers and sisters 00:36:27.159 --> 00:36:30.280 in Christ, where it changed everything from then 00:36:30.280 --> 00:36:33.860 forward. And who is this lady? Emily Kim, who 00:36:33.860 --> 00:36:36.849 works with Community Life. And now she is giving 00:36:36.849 --> 00:36:40.230 of herself to help shape and form community here 00:36:40.230 --> 00:36:43.429 because her life was so transformed from Jesus 00:36:43.429 --> 00:36:46.070 in our closest relationships that she is committed 00:36:46.070 --> 00:36:48.489 to give herself in that space going forward. 00:36:48.909 --> 00:36:51.269 And she gave permission to share this story and 00:36:51.269 --> 00:36:53.989 you can hear more to it later. But what I share 00:36:53.989 --> 00:36:57.110 it, what I share it is to remind you of the power 00:36:57.110 --> 00:37:01.079 of Jesus in our closest relationships. It can 00:37:01.079 --> 00:37:03.739 come and encounter us no matter where we are 00:37:03.739 --> 00:37:06.980 at, and it flips our life around and brings us 00:37:06.980 --> 00:37:10.340 into a new way of engaging with God, where there's 00:37:10.340 --> 00:37:12.639 brothers and sisters, there's people to create 00:37:12.639 --> 00:37:15.039 generational blessing through, and there's a 00:37:15.039 --> 00:37:17.980 partnership for God's kingdom that flows out 00:37:17.980 --> 00:37:20.880 of what she does. And that's the beauty of Jesus 00:37:20.880 --> 00:37:23.780 in all of life, right? I want to invite you to 00:37:23.780 --> 00:37:29.780 pray with me in that. Lord, I thank you for the 00:37:29.780 --> 00:37:32.679 incredible way that you have extravagantly stepped 00:37:32.679 --> 00:37:34.820 towards us. And I thank you for the way that 00:37:34.820 --> 00:37:37.059 you have encountered us and engaged us and moved 00:37:37.059 --> 00:37:41.639 us by your great love for us. And no matter what 00:37:41.639 --> 00:37:44.079 cultural aspect that we find ourselves in and 00:37:44.079 --> 00:37:46.219 no matter what messy family background we find 00:37:46.219 --> 00:37:50.099 ourselves in, you step towards us and you breathe 00:37:50.099 --> 00:37:53.860 new life, resurrection life into that. And when 00:37:53.860 --> 00:37:56.929 you do that, your kingdom comes and your will 00:37:56.929 --> 00:38:00.230 is done. And we're so deeply thankful for that. 00:38:00.369 --> 00:38:02.730 So Lord, would we be people that would help to 00:38:02.730 --> 00:38:05.590 magnify you in all of life? Would we join in 00:38:05.590 --> 00:38:08.429 creation singing your song, representing you 00:38:08.429 --> 00:38:11.150 to the world who needs relational wholeness? 00:38:12.010 --> 00:38:14.150 We pray this all in the wonderful name of Jesus. 00:38:14.710 --> 00:38:40.969 Amen. If God is calling you to support our ministries, 00:38:41.010 --> 00:38:43.670 you will find giving options on our website. 00:38:44.510 --> 00:38:47.929 And remember to join us next week. God bless 00:38:47.929 --> 00:38:48.170 you.