We are in the last week of the critical journey.
We've made it. We've rounded the corner. We are
on the last week of the critical journey. If
you have been here for all seven weeks, well
done. Good and faithful service. If you listen
to a podcast, there should be a sound for you
right now because you made it to the end of the
club. This is a monumental moment where we understand,
hopefully everything comes full circle today,
where you understand, you get to catch, if you
like, the glimpse of what this is all about.
If you're here and you go, I don't know about
this church thing, you came to a great day. You
know why? Because you're seeing where this is
going. If you hang out here, this is where it's
going. And so we started week one. We have a
graphic to kind of remind us of where we've been,
but we started week one with recognition of God.
And so recognition of God was I give my life
to Jesus, both as Savior and Lord at some point,
right? Like I give my life to him. And in giving
my life to him, what happens is I discover, hey,
I need people who have done the same thing. I
need to be around a community that has had the
same experience. And so what happens is within
the recognition of God, you begin to join community
and you start to realize quickly, hey, you know
more than I do. You live different than I do.
Would you teach me? And you kind of naturally
move into that next stage of the life of discipleship.
And the life of discipleship is best summarized
with you are just learning everything you can,
right? Like you are just taking in everything
about this new life you've been given. And at
some point you realize, hey, I've got gifts to
give. And you're like, I got to give them away.
God made me in a unique setting. I got to give
that way. I got to use it for the kingdom. And
so what happens is you begin to give this life
away. You step in and you begin to serve. And
at some point within serving, you naturally progress.
You naturally start to ask questions. The longer
you hang around God, you start to ask these deep
internal questions. You start to wrestle with
who is God and why am I here? Like you start
to wrestle with, do I really believe this Jesus
thing for myself? You start to wrestle with,
is he really trustworthy? Is he really good?
You start to wrestle with identity. And what
happens is sometimes people talk when they get
to this point, they talk like, hey, I'm losing
my faith. These questions are so intense that
I'm not even sure what I think about God anymore.
And so out of that, then at some point you emerge
on the other side, if you just keep going and
you step into this journey outward. And the journey
outward is you step into serving God again, but
it's completely different. Because now it's no
longer about you. The ego has died. There's been
a death to self. And in the death to self, what's
happened out of that is your motivation is others.
And I got good news for you, right? Like all
the other ones feel like there's this huge step
you got to take. The last one here, the life
of love. You just keep doing stage five. And
at some point you just kind of ride off into
the sunset. At some point, your life just looks
like Jesus. You love like Jesus. At some point,
when people spend time with you, they feel like
they were in the presence of Jesus. I mean, come
on. Does nobody want a friend that it feels that
way, right? I got the opportunity to observe
a memorial, a celebration of life for a gentleman
named Rodney yesterday. And those close to him
called him Pops. But one of the things I loved
was family member after family member after family
member got up and talked about Pops. And what
they talked about is how he moved through this
life. He was never in a rush. It was more about
you than it was about him. He couldn't go into
a room and not talk to everybody there and slow
down and see them. abundantly to help people,
both time and resource. And it's one thing to
do that to your family. It's another thing when
everybody gets up and says, this is what it looks
like. And maybe that's an image of what the life
of love looks like, is those people in your life
that you go, they look like Jesus if he was here.
The easiest version of this, And the life of
love and kind of moving into it is if you've
ever been around someone, like if you're a parent
and you've had now, like in my case, my daughter's
now had a baby. You know, when before the baby
arrives, everything's like baby moon. This is
going to be amazing. Everything's like glossy.
And all you're thinking about is, yep. Welcome
to sleepless nights. Right? Like you've got reality
beyond that. But what I loved watching my daughter
step into motherhood is to watch her naturally
begin to die to herself. To watch her naturally
begin to put the needs of this baby before herself.
Right? That's how this is supposed to work. That
the closer you get to Jesus, the more you hang
around Jesus, the more that you just naturally
begin to give your life away. That you begin
to love like him. And so if Jesus, if we're going
to love like Jesus, then Jesus has to be the
model. And as Jesus is the model, then we have
to look at the things of, okay, what made Jesus
anchored? What made Jesus hold true north? Because
his life wasn't easy, right? Like his mission
wasn't easy, but what allowed Jesus to love at
a pace that wherever he went, he was interruptible.
Wherever he went, he had time and compassion
for those around him. How did he anchor that?
And in John, John chapter 14, Philip has asked
him a question. And the question has to do with
the father, right? And Philip goes, hey, show
us the father, right? And that'll be enough for
us. To which Jesus then responds in verse nine,
Jesus answered. Don't you know me, Philip? Even
after I have been among you such a long time,
anyone who has seen me has seen who? The Father.
So to see Jesus, to see Jesus was to see God
the Father. So if you knew Jesus, you knew God
the Father is what he's saying. How can you say,
show us the Father? Don't you believe that I
am? In the Father. Key words, I am in the Father.
And the Father is in me. The words I say to you,
I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it
is the Father living in me who is doing the work.
Believe me when I say I am in the Father. Okay,
you guys, is it hot in here? Okay, can we do
something about that, please? I was like, I don't
know if it's just that I got a fever right now
or like, but it's hot. Okay, sorry. Let's go
back. Verse 10. Don't you believe that I am in
the Father and the Father is in me? The words
I speak to you, I do not speak on my own authority.
So he's going, when I speak, it's not even about
me. He goes, it's not on my authority. It's the
Father's. So it's the father working in me. Rather,
it is the father living in me who is doing the
work. Okay, so what Jesus is getting at is that
if you have seen him, you've seen the father.
Now connected to that as he goes, my identity
is I am in the father. We are one. Well, if you
have been on this journey and you've had recognition
of God, right? Like you have given your life.
then at the point of giving your life to Jesus
as Savior, the New Testament writers used language
about you. And guess what that language was?
You are now in Christ and Christ is in you. You
are in Jesus and Jesus now lives in you. So much
so that the apostle Paul goes, hey, it's not
even my life anymore. The life I live is no longer
mine. The life I live is Christ in me. And so
there's this reality that's happening in the
life of Jesus where he connects the exact same
dots. Where he goes, hey, you're looking at me.
It's the Father in me doing these works. And
then what we're told is for you, as you live
the life of love, guess what your identity is?
You are in Christ and Christ wants to work through
you. The journey of the life of love is that
you become more and more and more. where you
die and Christ lives. That's that sailing off
into the, and then along with that in John chapter
six, John chapter six, verse 38. For I have come
down from heaven, not to do my will, but to do
the will of him who sent me. So Jesus goes, hey,
my purpose, my purpose is to do the will of God.
Do the will of the Father. So the Father has
sent me here. So now put yourself in the context.
You said yes to Jesus. Now what has happened
with your life is you are sent, you are sent
into your life now by Jesus for everyone around
you, right? So your response, your purpose, if
we're looking at Jesus at the model, my identity
is in Jesus and my purpose, my purpose is what
Jesus did, to do the will of God. to do the will
of the Father, which sounds really easy, right?
And so if we're going to look at Jesus as the
model and we're going to live a life of love,
then there's just some things that we've got
to just slow down and catch. And one of them
is this, that if you're going to live a life
of love and you're going to look like Jesus,
you got to live like Jesus. You got to live like
Jesus. You know what Jesus lived his life with?
Radical obedience. There's a phrase I've come
to love kind of in this whole conversation that
it's this idea of obedience regardless of the
consequences. Isn't that beautiful? That I know
my identity so much that I am in Christ. And
that means that that is my identity. My identity
is not attached to any nationality. It transcends
it. My identity is not attached to any specific
group. My identity is not attached that I like
to go to the players' championship. I enjoy golf.
My identity is not there. Rather, my identity
is in Christ. What this means is this. You've
got to live like Jesus, which means you've got
to be obedient even when it's not convenient.
Right? You've got to be obedient even when it
means it's the opposite of what I want. How do
we know that? You look at Jesus. He's in the
garden. What does he do? He submits himself to
the will of God. Even later it captures it in
Philippians. It says he became obedient to death
on a cross. Church, we don't even grasp this.
If we're honest, we don't even grasp our faith
costing us something. We don't even grasp. There's
people on the planet today that will give their
life in the name of Jesus because they will not
renounce him. There's people on this planet that
today will become obedient unto death. Why? Because
they are so convinced that they what? They want
to look like Jesus. And we struggle. We struggle.
I struggle. We've just given up Starbucks because
Jesus asked me to. All right, let's get honest.
Hey, John, I don't want you to watch that show
anymore, but I like that show. Yeah, well, that
show doesn't lead you closer to me, but I like
it. Right? That's where the rubber meets the
road. But I really, really, really have become
good friends with this person. And I think I
like him. I think we're going to move in together.
Jesus isn't leading you to do that. Just so we're
clear. Right? Because there's a dying to self
that happens. If we're going to live and look
like Jesus, then there's a point where we go,
I am going to be radical in my obedience even
at the cost. Even at the cost that is inconvenient.
Another point that picks up on this is as you
live the life of love, you recognize that you
grow in struggle. You grow in struggles and hardships.
We talked about it last week, right? That Paul
delights in hardships and beatings and persecutions.
It's like, sign me up for that, please. Let's
go there. And yet I love that we're a church
that has a theology of pain. What I mean by that
is that pain has a purpose in our life. It's
not wasted by God because he is a good father
and everything that comes from him is good. And
so the reality around this idea of there's within
the struggle, when you are in a life of love,
when you are moving towards a life of love, you
welcome struggles because you recognize the struggle
is for growth and it is to help you die more
to yourself and look more like Jesus. Sign me
up for that. That's how I know you guys. I know
I'm not in the life of love. You know why? I'm
still a pansy. I don't want hardships. I like
comfort. And what is God doing? He's working
that out. He's working that away. Why? Because
in hardships, what you realize the further you
get, because now you can trust him and you can
trust him even in that. I mean, think about it
for a second, right? Peter. Peter writes in 1
Peter, he goes, hey, you know what? Blessed are
those who suffer for the name of Jesus. The life
of love goes, man, I am blessed. Why? Because
the goal of my life is to look like Jesus. What
did Jesus do? He showed up and suffered. And
so it's this idea that as we move through this,
these markers of maturity. Another one is this,
that you live a life of compassion. You live
a life of compassion. You look at Jesus. If he's
the model, what you see of Jesus is he moved
everywhere with compassion. Right? He was interruptible.
You could read story after story after story.
There's one in particular. It's a really long
day. And at the end of the day, there's a knock
on the door. And he's exhausted. And the knock
on the door is the town has brought all of the
sick. They brought all of the demon -possessed.
You guys, this is how I know I'm not in this
stage yet. If you show up at my house at eight
o 'clock at night with all of the people, with
all of the needs, I'm going to be like, you can
call Jenny and set up appointments. I'm not there
yet. But the life of love lives out of compassion
all the time. And it's beautiful. If you look
at Luke, Luke chapter six, Luke chapter six,
Luke chapter six, verse six. On another Sabbath,
he went into the synagogue and was teaching.
And a man was there whose right hand was shriveled.
The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were
looking for a reason to accuse Jesus. So they
watched him closely to see if he would heal on
the Sabbath. But Jesus knew, What they were thinking
and said to the man with the shriveled hand,
get up and stand in front of everyone. So he
got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them,
I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath to
do good. Or to do evil. So the Sabbath, just
so we're in the same conversation, the Sabbath
was a list of rules and regulations that they
believed you had to keep. God blessed the Sabbath.
And so they told you how to live the Sabbath.
And it was all these rules that you had to keep.
And so Jesus is now challenging. He says, I ask
you, which is lawful on the Sabbath, to do good
or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it.
He looked around at them all and then said to
the man, stretch out your hand. He did so and
his hand was completely restored. But the Pharisees
and the teachers of the law were furious and
began to discuss with one another what they might
do to Jesus. Okay, so Jesus moving with compassion,
right? I love that if you're going to move with
compassion in your life, you see people, you
see their pain. You feel their pain first before
you see the issue. I'll be honest with you. In
America, in Western society, we're not good at
this. We want to make it about the issue and
miss the person. What you see with Jesus when
he lived a life of compassion, he never missed
the person. And so in this setting, he has, I
love it. He has him stand up in front of them
all. You couldn't miss what he was doing. This
moment is like drop the mic moment because he
can tell how mad they are. And I love that this,
Jesus sees the person, he stands up and his hand
is healed in front of them. Why? Because Jesus
chose to see the person, to see the pain, to
step into the pain and to bring healing, even
at the expense of what? The opinion of those
around him. Church, maybe we just need to rally
around that as we move towards the life of love,
we're going to be people that make a bunch of
people uncomfortable and unhappy because we don't
look like them anymore. We don't sound like them
anymore. The things that they care about, we
don't care about anymore. What we care about
is that you would see Jesus in everything that
I do, that you would feel like you had been with
Jesus, that we move like Jesus. There's another
story in Luke chapter seven and verse 11. Soon
afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain and
his disciples and a large crowd went with him,
along with him. As he approached the town gate,
a dead person was being carried out. The only
son of his mother and she was a widow. Like culturally,
we don't have time to unpack it. This is a massive
moment in this woman's life. This is a massive
loss. This is not just the loss of a child. This
is above and beyond that. And a large crowd from
the town was with her. When the Lord saw her,
his heart went out to her and he said, don't
cry. Then he went up and touched the buyer they
were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still.
He said, Young man, I say to you, get up. The
dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus
gave him back to his mother. No? Doesn't do it
for you? Isn't it funny? Isn't it funny? We can
read this. I was thinking about this earlier
because we do run -throughs and make sure all
the verses are on screen. And I'm reading this
and I'm like, I just read about the dead coming
back to life and we read it like, yeah, and he
came back to life. Right? But that's who Jesus
is. And I love this setting, right? Because there's
this funeral procession happening. And as the
funeral procession is happening, The people are
doing the work of love. They are mourning for
this lady. They are doing the work of love alongside
her. I find it fascinating that their work of
love was from a distance because they didn't
have true compassion. Because there was still
a distance because if they came into contact,
they would become unclean. So there is a, I will
be with you to a certain point, but I will not.
And I love that Jesus' act of love, if we're
going to look like Jesus, then we've got to do
the things that Jesus did. And what you see about
this life of love is you move with compassion
in everything you do. And I love that Jesus steps
into this moment with her. And it says the reason
he did it is his heart. His heart, the seat of
his emotions, the seat of his soul went out to
her. And what does he do? He does the unthinkable.
He reaches out and he touches. Why? Because compassion
will move you towards people and their pain every
time. If we are going to love, and live a life
of love like Jesus, we're going to have to move
into the pain. Here's an example, just because
we've been talking about it. You guys, the 200
,000 that we've been talking about, that 200
,000, like it could become just, okay, I gotta
go pray about that. But if you pray about it
and you miss the people, which is why we've spent
weeks talking about the people that show up in
those spaces, I would encourage you that before
you make a decision, show up at Park Collective
and the Commons and go see on a Thursday night
what's happening with the youth over there. I
would encourage you, show up on a Wednesday.
Go sit with the recovery people. There's Bible
studies that are happening. They would love to
have you, but hear some of the stories because
it will transform your heart. We're transformed
by people, not by issues. We're transformed by
people, not simple. I've got to wrestle with
this thought. I would encourage you to show up
over here on a Wednesday and just look at the
amount of students that are showing up because
they have a passion to know Jesus and we have
the opportunity to change their lives forever.
By having them step into a recognition of God,
by having them get on this journey way sooner
than some of us wish we would have. We have the
chance to do that, but you won't step in and
you won't be moved with compassion if you don't
see people. You have to see people. Another way
that Jesus is our model is he was detached from
things. You know what I love about people in
the life of love? is they don't renounce things.
It doesn't mean that all of a sudden they're
like, oh, I just don't like stuff anymore. Instead,
what's happened is their heart's no longer attached
to it and they've learned that they can live
without it. It's this beautiful thing that happens.
It doesn't mean that they're not going to tell
you what's nice and what's not and what they
would love and what they have. But the life of
love is this beautiful detachment from things.
Another thing about the life of love is level
doesn't matter. What do I mean by that? Where
they serve doesn't matter because the question
they are now asking is what do you want me to
do? What do you want me to do, God? And it's
radical obedience. And what I love about people
in the life of love, right, because you think
about the critical journey, they're the most
mature people we have in our church family. But
what I love about it is they're probably serving
in places you never see them. They're behind
the scenes because none of that matters anymore.
What matters is they're serving where God has
called them to serve. We have an elder in the
church. That for many, many years, as long as
I have been at Heights, he has showed up on a
Wednesday night to put a melody to memory verses
for our kiddos. I think it's second and third
graders, not positive on that. Sometimes he raps.
You would never know that if I didn't say that.
Because it doesn't matter to him. He's an elder.
He could pull rank and go, that's too low for
me. You know what I love about Jesus? There's
a moment around the table where Jesus takes off
an outer garment and picks up a towel. And he
does the most menial task. He gets down and he
washes the feet of the disciples. What is the
model of the life of love? It's an act of service
that you will sit in the most menial spot because
none of that matters anymore. It's beautiful.
And again, this is how I know I'm not at the
life of love yet. Because there's all these things
that I go, man, God is still working on me. God
is still working on me. God is still working
on me. Can I encourage you? I don't know how
you feel about the critical journey, how you
feel about where you are, but remember, the whole
kind of point of this, excuse me, the whole kind
of point, the whole point of this was that you
would find your home base. You would find your
stage. And you would recognize, God, this is
where I'm at in my journey with you. And you
would have an active way to begin growing and
step forward. I don't know if you've seen it
or not, but there's these eagles from Big Bear.
No? Yeah, some do. Shadow and Jackie, right?
It's pretty amazing. They got their babies now.
It's pretty phenomenal. A couple of years ago,
a friend of ours got us watching it. If you ever
want something relaxing in the morning, by the
way, just put it on and watch the sunrise come
up. with an eagle sitting on a nest. That's pretty
incredible. What's incredible about the eagles
is how they continue to build their nest. They
continue to come back and strengthen. They continue
to come back and clear out the bottom and put
new bedding down. They get rid of the old food
and they bring in new twigs, sticks, whatever's
needed. And they continue to reinforce it and
build it up. And the nests become quite large.
When you think of the critical journey, think
of a nest. You are reinforcing. You may be in
a productive life, but it does not mean that
you're not stepping back and continuing to learn
and continuing to put rhythms in your life. And
what you're doing is, even though my home base
is stage three, what I'm actually doing is I'm
just shoring up the nest. I'm adding to it, right?
And you may find yourself further on the journey.
I love that during COVID, one of the things I
realized is I needed better rhythms in my life.
And I spent a journey with God where things that
I thought I knew, I didn't know. And so it was
back to the life of discipleship. And it was
all these rhythms that I needed to get more secure
in my life. But you cycle back and you cycle
through. It's not just like you just weave on
a journey. It's like a nest. You keep going back
and you keep building up that part because you
realize it got weak. You keep, even though, even
though your stage may be one of the others. And
so I got a question for you as we close. Where
are you stuck? We're all stuck. Where are you
stuck? Where do you need to reinforce the nest?
All right, here's what I mean, that if you're
in a recognition of God, right, so you've said
yes to Jesus, then one of the common places for
you to get stuck is you need community. And so
I would just encourage you, if you feel like
I've said yes to Jesus, but you haven't stepped
into community, step into community. That's the
next natural progression of your growth. Those
of you that go, I'm in the life of discipleship.
I'm learning all this stuff about Jesus. You
know how you get stuck in the life of discipleship?
You think you're right and everybody else is
wrong. You just keep consuming information. You
keep reading books and the more books you read,
you read them by the same authors, right? You
read them from the same stream and they just
back up everything you think. That's dangerous,
by the way. And so what happens then is you think
you're right and everybody else is wrong and
you can get stuck by just being consumed by proving
your point and building your knowledge. Another
way that you get stuck within the life of discipleship
As you're here and everything's great, right?
And then you realize, hey, something I think
is right, they don't think is the same way. And
so I'm gonna go somewhere else. And here's what
happens. You get to the next place and you get
to the next place. You're so excited. This is
the best church I've ever been at. You're the
best communicator I've ever heard. I don't mind
it when you say that. Just kidding, just kidding.
Right, but you get there and you're like, everything's
so good. And seriously, when people show up that
way, you know what I think? Give it four months
and we're gonna make you mad. We're gonna hurt
you and you won't be here anymore because you'll
be onto the next group that you need to find
the group that thinks just like you because you've
become so rigid. And that's how you get stuck.
If you find yourself becoming rigid, You need
to spend time in community and allow community
to work through that stuff. If you're in the
life of production, meaning you're doing work
for God and you feel like, man, I'm serving and
I'm going, here's the thing. Ambition, ambition
is how you get stuck. What do I mean by that?
Oh, you're climbing forward, right? Like if I
do this, then I'm gonna end up there and I'm
gonna end up there. And what happens is you create
a false identity. Instead of your identity being
in Christ, it's now in you. And then you burn
out. And so if you find yourself burning out,
there's a good chance that you need to step back
and go, hey, I've held on to some stuff here.
Stage four, the way you get stuck in that if
you're in the inward journey. Here's the thing,
you guys. Stage four is a needed part of your
growth. You have to go through the pain of wrestling
with God. You have to. But here's the thing.
We can get stuck looking internally. We can get
stuck making it about us. We can get stuck looking
at who we are. We can get stuck looking for answers
that just don't exist. There are some questions
that you will never have answered this side of
eternity. And I think sometimes when we get to
eternity, we won't care. I got good news for
you. When you get to stage five, you don't get
stuck. You know what you do in stage five? You
just drift off into the future and look like
Jesus. You love like Jesus. Can you imagine,
you guys, a group of people who every single
time people spend time with them, they go, it
was like being. with Jesus. Can you imagine a
place where people come and sit with you and
they go, it was about everyone else. It was about
looking and living and loving like Jesus and
not like us. That's why this journey is so critical.
Do not give up. Keep walking forward. Keep asking
questions. Because the end goal is that we will
look and we will love like Jesus. Would you pray
with me? God, thanks for loving us the way you
do. God, thank you that you are the God that
does the impossible. You are the God that takes
the broken, the fragmented of humanity and you
put it back. God, you take dead things and you
bring them to life. God, as you continue to take
us from dead and you continue to move us to live
the life of love you created us for. That we
would look and reflect you in everything we do.
God, the image is that you are taking it from
a grave and you are making it a garden. You are
bringing life where there was once death. And
so God, we just celebrate that today. We just
celebrate you today. We celebrate what you're
doing in our lives today. God, help us to know
where we're stuck. Speak to us, we pray. But
God, as we just give worship back to you because
you are worthy. Thank you for bringing life.
from death today. We are grateful, and everybody
said, amen.