WEBVTT 00:00:31.879 --> 00:00:34.240 When I was a kid, I thought that quicksand was 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:36.200 going to be a way bigger problem than it is. 00:00:38.619 --> 00:00:42.200 Right? Like, it could be around any corner. And 00:00:42.200 --> 00:00:43.399 if you're not paying attention, it's just going 00:00:43.399 --> 00:00:46.179 to get you and pull you down. And as an adult, 00:00:46.280 --> 00:00:47.979 I've never once had to worry about quicksand. 00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:51.420 I don't know about you, but there are these funny 00:00:51.420 --> 00:00:53.100 things that when you're a kid, you think they're 00:00:53.100 --> 00:00:54.840 going to be a big deal or you think about them 00:00:54.840 --> 00:00:56.939 all the time. And then you grow up and it just 00:00:56.939 --> 00:00:59.320 doesn't take up a whole lot of mental space. 00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:03.479 For me, one of those things was the zoo. Everyone 00:01:03.479 --> 00:01:06.620 was talking about the zoo when I was a kid. What 00:01:06.620 --> 00:01:10.200 are the animals? What sounds do they make? How 00:01:10.200 --> 00:01:13.920 many at a time do they hang out with? And we'd 00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:15.819 go to the zoo and we'd hang out. And as an adult, 00:01:15.879 --> 00:01:18.040 I kind of stopped going to the zoo. And then 00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:20.659 I had kids. And we started going to the zoo again. 00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:24.519 And about a year ago, a little over that, we 00:01:24.519 --> 00:01:27.420 went to the zoo. And my oldest daughter, Daisy, 00:01:27.560 --> 00:01:30.859 was around two. And if you've been to the Reed 00:01:30.859 --> 00:01:33.480 Park Zoo here in town, you know that the giraffe 00:01:33.480 --> 00:01:36.859 exhibit is like the center of the universe, right? 00:01:36.939 --> 00:01:40.200 Like everything really revolves. around the giraffe 00:01:40.200 --> 00:01:42.159 exhibit. And so we walked up and people were 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:44.200 feeding the giraffes. And over next to it, there 00:01:44.200 --> 00:01:46.219 was like some goat thing. And we're like, oh, 00:01:46.239 --> 00:01:48.000 you want to see the goats, Daisy? And no goat 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:50.040 showed up. And I was kind of paying attention. 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:51.879 I heard there was some commotion over at the 00:01:51.879 --> 00:01:53.900 giraffe exhibit. And I looked over there and 00:01:53.900 --> 00:01:55.560 I walked over. I was like, Grace, Grace is my 00:01:55.560 --> 00:01:57.280 wife. I was like, what's going on? She's like, 00:01:57.359 --> 00:02:00.400 that duck flew from over there. And there's a 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:03.459 duck pond in the giraffe exhibit. She said that 00:02:03.459 --> 00:02:05.439 duck flew over there and it picked a fight with 00:02:05.439 --> 00:02:07.599 another duck. And they started fighting and the 00:02:07.599 --> 00:02:09.599 fight came out. middle of the giraffe exhibit, 00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:12.800 and that baby giraffe, it just kind of like waved 00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:14.979 its foot at it, and now I think that duck's neck 00:02:14.979 --> 00:02:18.490 is broken. I'm like, oh, no. And sure enough, 00:02:18.689 --> 00:02:21.509 like, the duck is, like, something is catastrophically 00:02:21.509 --> 00:02:24.030 wrong with this poor duck, right? And, like, 00:02:24.110 --> 00:02:26.250 kids are looking. People are like, hey, is there 00:02:26.250 --> 00:02:29.169 a zookeeper out there? Like, this is getting 00:02:29.169 --> 00:02:32.090 kind of weird. And the baby giraffe that kind 00:02:32.090 --> 00:02:34.150 of waved its foot at it is looking at it. And 00:02:34.150 --> 00:02:36.830 then the big male giraffe walks up and starts 00:02:36.830 --> 00:02:38.409 looking at the duck, too. And we're like, what 00:02:38.409 --> 00:02:41.069 are they going to do? And the male giraffe is 00:02:41.069 --> 00:02:45.129 looking at it. And it picks up its foot and it 00:02:45.129 --> 00:02:47.430 hovers it over the duck. And I'm like, there's 00:02:47.430 --> 00:02:53.090 no way. And it slowly starts to snuff out the 00:02:53.090 --> 00:02:55.569 duck right there in front of God and everybody. 00:02:55.969 --> 00:02:59.689 And we're like, what is, oh my gosh. And Daisy's 00:02:59.689 --> 00:03:01.770 like, Daddy, what's happening? I'm like, circle 00:03:01.770 --> 00:03:06.870 of life, baby girl. The trap pulls its foot off 00:03:06.870 --> 00:03:09.810 and it didn't finish the job. And it takes this 00:03:09.810 --> 00:03:14.650 other foot and it does it again. And I cannot 00:03:14.650 --> 00:03:18.969 make this up. At that moment, there was a field 00:03:18.969 --> 00:03:22.789 trip of eight -year -olds walking by. And I heard 00:03:22.789 --> 00:03:26.569 one kid go, hey, what's happening to the duck? 00:03:28.590 --> 00:03:30.650 There's a kid on the other side of the exhibit 00:03:30.650 --> 00:03:33.469 crying, right? Like the teacher's like, we need 00:03:33.469 --> 00:03:35.870 a zookeeper to the giraffe exhibit immediately. 00:03:36.389 --> 00:03:38.509 And I was like straight up, I could not stop 00:03:38.509 --> 00:03:41.919 laughing. It was the most appalling, shocking 00:03:41.919 --> 00:03:44.979 thing I ever imagined I would see at a zoo. To 00:03:44.979 --> 00:03:47.219 see a giraffe mercy kill a duck? Like, what? 00:03:47.340 --> 00:03:52.039 That was not on my bingo card for that day. And, 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:56.199 like, the point is, like, we don't like to really 00:03:56.199 --> 00:03:58.860 talk, right, about, like, when stuff dies because 00:03:58.860 --> 00:04:00.819 it's, like, weird and it's awkward. And, like, 00:04:00.840 --> 00:04:02.819 yeah, like, it was a duck. It was sad. But, like, 00:04:02.840 --> 00:04:05.439 you know, it was a duck. But the fact of the 00:04:05.439 --> 00:04:09.030 matter is that... there are things in our lives 00:04:09.030 --> 00:04:11.909 that we encounter and we don't like to talk about 00:04:11.909 --> 00:04:13.430 like, yeah, maybe that thing needs to be put 00:04:13.430 --> 00:04:15.370 to death, right? And I'm not talking about like 00:04:15.370 --> 00:04:17.689 the family dog, right? I'm not saying like, hey, 00:04:17.709 --> 00:04:19.790 your family dog is too old. I'm gonna take it 00:04:19.790 --> 00:04:22.170 to the vet. I'm not talking about that. What 00:04:22.170 --> 00:04:25.009 I'm talking about are things that are actually 00:04:25.009 --> 00:04:27.029 more covert and things that we have the tendency 00:04:27.029 --> 00:04:30.089 to keep around long after they've proven that 00:04:30.089 --> 00:04:35.209 they need to die off. And specifically, I'm talking 00:04:35.209 --> 00:04:39.189 about ideas, beliefs, and habits that tend to 00:04:39.189 --> 00:04:43.430 work like decay and disease in our lives. As 00:04:43.430 --> 00:04:45.970 we go about our lives and we go about our days 00:04:45.970 --> 00:04:48.990 and we collect information, we collect ideas 00:04:48.990 --> 00:04:52.310 and voices, sometimes some of those are no good. 00:04:52.529 --> 00:04:55.649 And sometimes they need to be dragged out and 00:04:55.649 --> 00:05:00.129 cut out of our lives. And here's the thing. We 00:05:00.129 --> 00:05:04.379 like to think of ourselves as rational. autonomous 00:05:04.379 --> 00:05:06.319 human beings. In other words, we like to think 00:05:06.319 --> 00:05:08.620 that when I make decisions on what to do and 00:05:08.620 --> 00:05:11.519 what to think, I'm doing it by an objective measure. 00:05:11.779 --> 00:05:15.500 I'm analyzing all of the data and I'm deciding 00:05:15.500 --> 00:05:18.079 this is what's good and this is what's bad based 00:05:18.079 --> 00:05:23.220 on objective data that is inarguable. But the 00:05:23.220 --> 00:05:26.639 truth is that that is actually a complete fallacy. 00:05:27.639 --> 00:05:32.060 That we actually make decisions based on emotions 00:05:32.060 --> 00:05:36.389 and hopes. and fears far more than we make them 00:05:36.389 --> 00:05:41.310 on reason. And what's more is we are constantly 00:05:41.310 --> 00:05:45.910 being shaped and fed ideas by external forces 00:05:45.910 --> 00:05:49.689 all the time, mostly playing on our emotions, 00:05:49.709 --> 00:05:53.250 hopes, and fears. Right? The world around you 00:05:53.250 --> 00:05:56.069 knows how you work if you didn't already know. 00:05:56.970 --> 00:05:59.350 The world around you that's designed to get your 00:05:59.350 --> 00:06:03.230 attention and your resources knows that the way 00:06:03.230 --> 00:06:06.170 that you make decisions is not always based on 00:06:06.170 --> 00:06:08.170 just reason. In fact, most of the time it's not. 00:06:08.990 --> 00:06:11.910 And so the messages that we often receive in 00:06:11.910 --> 00:06:16.649 our day -to -day lives specifically play on these 00:06:16.649 --> 00:06:18.949 parts of who we are, our emotions, our hopes, 00:06:18.970 --> 00:06:22.050 and our fears. And it's our responsibility to 00:06:22.050 --> 00:06:25.110 choose who and what we allow to influence how 00:06:25.110 --> 00:06:30.170 we think. Our decisions matter in this world, 00:06:30.250 --> 00:06:33.509 but our decisions rarely are, what am I going 00:06:33.509 --> 00:06:37.170 to believe? Our decisions usually are, what am 00:06:37.170 --> 00:06:41.769 I going to let influence what I believe? Right 00:06:41.769 --> 00:06:45.750 now, the landscape of what life looks like is 00:06:45.750 --> 00:06:47.870 changing really, really fast, and we all know 00:06:47.870 --> 00:06:49.709 that, and I don't want to sound like unk for 00:06:49.709 --> 00:06:52.240 anyone out there who knows what that means. Anyone 00:06:52.240 --> 00:06:53.980 who's under the age of 19 knows what I mean. 00:06:54.360 --> 00:06:56.100 Basically, I don't want to sound like an old 00:06:56.100 --> 00:06:58.699 boomer who's like, you know, the internet's changing 00:06:58.699 --> 00:07:01.560 stuff. Well, it is, right? Like, we live our 00:07:01.560 --> 00:07:04.819 lives more and more and more online. The average 00:07:04.819 --> 00:07:07.779 American spends about seven hours a day looking 00:07:07.779 --> 00:07:11.639 at screens, right? And these screens have been 00:07:11.639 --> 00:07:13.939 specifically designed to feed us outrageous, 00:07:13.939 --> 00:07:16.639 fear -inducing, and gratuitous content to keep 00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:23.019 us engaged for as long as possible. What we spend 00:07:23.019 --> 00:07:26.600 our time doing is designed to feed us ideas to 00:07:26.600 --> 00:07:30.860 influence the way that we think and we act. So 00:07:30.860 --> 00:07:33.079 I have a responsibility to pay attention to what 00:07:33.079 --> 00:07:37.480 I'm letting in my life. But the problem is, most 00:07:37.480 --> 00:07:43.319 of these ideas actually lead to decay and destruction. 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:47.779 Decay in our minds, our bodies, our souls, and 00:07:47.779 --> 00:07:50.399 the evidence... for this is clearly noticeable 00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:52.120 to the world around us i probably don't need 00:07:52.120 --> 00:07:53.620 to tell you all these things you already kind 00:07:53.620 --> 00:07:55.240 of know them intuitively because you live in 00:07:55.240 --> 00:07:56.360 the world and you pay attention but i'm gonna 00:07:56.360 --> 00:07:59.160 tell you them anyway right like what we see right 00:07:59.160 --> 00:08:01.319 now we see massive increases in anxiety depression 00:08:01.319 --> 00:08:04.720 self self -harm and mental health disorders since 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:07.240 the introduction of smartphones and social media 00:08:07.240 --> 00:08:11.519 specifically in kids and teenagers Social and 00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:13.879 political tribalism on both sides of the ideological 00:08:13.879 --> 00:08:17.579 spectrum has increased drastically, especially 00:08:17.579 --> 00:08:20.680 in the last 10 years. One in three U .S. adults 00:08:20.680 --> 00:08:23.720 say that they experience loneliness at least 00:08:23.720 --> 00:08:27.920 weekly. And statistically, we have more acceptance 00:08:27.920 --> 00:08:30.259 in our society of violence as an option to deal 00:08:30.259 --> 00:08:33.059 with people of different ideologies. And none 00:08:33.059 --> 00:08:35.879 of this comes out of thin air. It's introduced 00:08:35.879 --> 00:08:39.799 in the form... of an idea that plays on our emotions, 00:08:39.860 --> 00:08:43.440 hopes, or fears that is then given a place to 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:49.519 grow and live on as a part of us. Those things 00:08:49.519 --> 00:08:53.940 need to be killed. And if we don't root out decaying 00:08:53.940 --> 00:08:57.639 ideas, they will only fester and poison more 00:08:57.639 --> 00:09:01.500 of our lives. One of the best ways to see this 00:09:01.500 --> 00:09:04.519 and imagine this is with garden imagery. Preston 00:09:04.519 --> 00:09:07.039 was up here a second ago, and he talked about 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:09.639 how we're in the middle of our Before I Go series. 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:12.220 You saw the bumper. We're talking about the final 00:09:12.220 --> 00:09:15.360 discourse of Jesus with his disciples, right? 00:09:15.480 --> 00:09:19.620 So Jesus knows that he's about to let himself 00:09:19.620 --> 00:09:22.519 get taken and murdered. He's like, that's coming, 00:09:22.620 --> 00:09:26.610 like tomorrow, right? So this... is the point 00:09:26.610 --> 00:09:28.870 at which he's imparting all of his final words 00:09:28.870 --> 00:09:32.129 of wisdom and encouragement and instruction in 00:09:32.129 --> 00:09:36.710 his closest relationships, his disciples who 00:09:36.710 --> 00:09:38.690 have spent three years of their lives living 00:09:38.690 --> 00:09:42.549 like every day together with him. And so where 00:09:42.549 --> 00:09:46.850 we are here is before what we're about to talk 00:09:46.850 --> 00:09:48.610 about here, before Jesus has already talked about 00:09:48.610 --> 00:09:50.570 a couple things. Number one, he said, hey, it's 00:09:50.570 --> 00:09:53.250 coming. I'm about to go away. I'm about to get 00:09:53.250 --> 00:09:56.700 killed. Also, I promise I'm gonna take care of 00:09:56.700 --> 00:10:01.320 you. Right? You're going to find ultimate fulfillment. 00:10:01.320 --> 00:10:03.919 You're going to find your place with the creator 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:06.019 of the universe. Because I'm going to go before 00:10:06.019 --> 00:10:07.919 you, I'm going to get it ready for you. And when 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:09.940 I'm gone, there's this thing that's going to 00:10:09.940 --> 00:10:12.159 happen. You're going to get the Holy Spirit as 00:10:12.159 --> 00:10:14.259 an advocate. And it's going to live with you 00:10:14.259 --> 00:10:17.299 and is going to teach you in my absence. He's 00:10:17.299 --> 00:10:19.399 already laid all this stuff out. Right? So a 00:10:19.399 --> 00:10:21.279 basic question, all right, what's next? Okay. 00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:22.840 So all this is going to happen. You're going 00:10:22.840 --> 00:10:24.159 to leave. You're going to prepare your way. The 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:25.799 Holy Spirit is going to come. So, like, now what? 00:10:26.120 --> 00:10:27.840 Like, what are we actually gonna do in the way 00:10:27.840 --> 00:10:30.639 we interact with the Spirit and with each other 00:10:30.639 --> 00:10:33.720 and live in the world if you're not gonna be 00:10:33.720 --> 00:10:36.139 here, right? You've been pretty important to 00:10:36.139 --> 00:10:40.740 us, Jesus. What's the deal? And so we pick up 00:10:40.740 --> 00:10:45.080 in the beginning of John 15, and as Preston says, 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:48.659 if you're not familiar with this passage, this 00:10:48.659 --> 00:10:50.759 is where, like he said, this is where we get 00:10:50.759 --> 00:10:55.610 our name as a church. So Rob decided to leave 00:10:55.610 --> 00:10:59.429 town before we talked about like the namesake 00:10:59.429 --> 00:11:01.889 of our church. And he said, Joe, you're up? And 00:11:01.889 --> 00:11:06.450 he said, you got a boss. No, I'm happy because 00:11:06.450 --> 00:11:09.110 if you know, like if you've spent any amount 00:11:09.110 --> 00:11:10.429 of your life reading the Bible, you know there 00:11:10.429 --> 00:11:12.669 are like some greatest hits verses in the Bible, 00:11:12.769 --> 00:11:14.929 right? Like, you know, like in the old days of 00:11:14.929 --> 00:11:17.559 actually CDs, right? You'd go to the CD. the 00:11:17.559 --> 00:11:19.899 CD store, they'd have the greatest hits of like 00:11:19.899 --> 00:11:22.539 the Beatles or whatever, right? Like if there 00:11:22.539 --> 00:11:24.960 was a greatest hits album of the Bible, this 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:28.679 would be on it. And it's for good reason. And 00:11:28.679 --> 00:11:32.240 so we pick up in John 15, verse one, it says 00:11:32.240 --> 00:11:35.940 this, I am the true grapevine, this is Jesus 00:11:35.940 --> 00:11:38.320 talking, I'm the true grapevine and my father 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:41.720 is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of 00:11:41.720 --> 00:11:44.360 mine that doesn't produce fruit and he prunes 00:11:44.360 --> 00:11:47.000 the branches that do bear fruit. So that they 00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:50.779 will produce even more. You have already been 00:11:50.779 --> 00:11:53.279 pruned and purified by the message I have given 00:11:53.279 --> 00:11:57.720 you. Remain in me and I will remain in you. For 00:11:57.720 --> 00:12:00.580 a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed 00:12:00.580 --> 00:12:03.940 from the vine. And you cannot be fruitful unless 00:12:03.940 --> 00:12:08.080 you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine and you 00:12:08.080 --> 00:12:09.779 are the branches. Those who remain in me and 00:12:09.779 --> 00:12:12.480 I in them will produce much fruit. For apart 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:16.500 from me, you can do nothing. Anyone who does 00:12:16.500 --> 00:12:18.279 not remain in me is thrown away like a useless 00:12:18.279 --> 00:12:20.879 branch and withers. Such branches are gathered 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:23.860 into a pile and burned. But if you remain in 00:12:23.860 --> 00:12:27.460 me and my words remain in you, you may ask for 00:12:27.460 --> 00:12:31.259 anything you want and it will be granted. When 00:12:31.259 --> 00:12:33.639 you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples 00:12:33.639 --> 00:12:37.580 and this brings great glory to my Father. So 00:12:37.580 --> 00:12:41.899 right away, Jesus hones in on this pruning and 00:12:41.899 --> 00:12:44.340 cutting imagery. Something that's interesting 00:12:44.340 --> 00:12:45.679 that stuck out to me a couple years ago when 00:12:45.679 --> 00:12:47.840 I was reading this, he talks about dead branches 00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:50.240 and he talks about living branches. See what 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:51.580 he did there? There it is. He talks about dead 00:12:51.580 --> 00:12:54.039 branches. He talks about living branches. The 00:12:54.039 --> 00:12:55.700 dead branches get cut off. The living branches 00:12:55.700 --> 00:12:59.820 get pruned. They both get cut. So right away, 00:13:00.139 --> 00:13:01.879 and I thought this was so interesting, I was 00:13:01.879 --> 00:13:03.159 like, epiphany, no one's ever thought of this 00:13:03.159 --> 00:13:04.720 before. They have. People have thought about 00:13:04.720 --> 00:13:07.519 everything I've thought about before. But no 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:09.740 matter who you are, where you are, how connected 00:13:09.740 --> 00:13:12.669 you are to Jesus, Right? Something is going to 00:13:12.669 --> 00:13:19.009 get cut in your life. And I Googled. I just pounded 00:13:19.009 --> 00:13:20.629 it into the Google machine. I was like, hey, 00:13:20.710 --> 00:13:22.549 like this is the prompt. What are the consequences 00:13:22.549 --> 00:13:26.200 of not? pruning a plant. And you're going to 00:13:26.200 --> 00:13:29.059 see basically the unadulterated version of just 00:13:29.059 --> 00:13:30.740 what Google will spit out at you. And the reason 00:13:30.740 --> 00:13:33.759 why I didn't edit it is because it's such a good 00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:36.039 picture, I think, of actually what we're talking 00:13:36.039 --> 00:13:38.019 about here. The only thing I put in there is 00:13:38.019 --> 00:13:41.000 in the parentheses. So, first, the consequences 00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:43.360 of not pruning is, number one, is reduced blooming. 00:13:44.100 --> 00:13:48.139 The plant produces fewer, smaller flowers. In 00:13:48.139 --> 00:13:50.600 other words, the fruit or the good things that 00:13:50.600 --> 00:13:54.710 the plant produces are of poor quality. Number 00:13:54.710 --> 00:13:57.250 two, a weak and leggy structure. The shrub becomes 00:13:57.250 --> 00:13:59.750 overgrown, unmanageable, and floppy with weak 00:13:59.750 --> 00:14:02.850 stems that cannot support the blooms. In other 00:14:02.850 --> 00:14:05.649 words, it has an inability to produce fruit at 00:14:05.649 --> 00:14:09.929 all. Disease susceptibility, poor air circulation, 00:14:09.950 --> 00:14:12.610 and buildup of old wood increase vulnerability 00:14:12.610 --> 00:14:17.610 to pests and diseases. In other words, becomes 00:14:17.610 --> 00:14:20.710 vulnerable. Or if we're the plant, we become 00:14:20.710 --> 00:14:23.370 vulnerable to destructive ideas and beliefs. 00:14:24.370 --> 00:14:27.889 There's pests and diseases. Reduced vigor. The 00:14:27.889 --> 00:14:30.730 plant wastes energy on old, unproductive wood 00:14:30.730 --> 00:14:34.210 rather than new growth. We have a decreased capacity 00:14:34.210 --> 00:14:36.629 for good. And then there are also safety hazards. 00:14:36.710 --> 00:14:38.750 Dead, broken, or diseased branches can accumulate, 00:14:38.990 --> 00:14:42.850 potentially damaging the plant. There's pain 00:14:42.850 --> 00:14:45.450 and suffering in our lives if we put ourselves 00:14:45.450 --> 00:14:51.480 in that position. But Jesus' goal for us is that 00:14:51.480 --> 00:14:53.879 our lives would produce good things or fruit 00:14:53.879 --> 00:15:01.379 as he says in this imagery. But what are those 00:15:01.379 --> 00:15:02.919 good things and how do we live our lives in a 00:15:02.919 --> 00:15:05.340 way that will make those good things come out 00:15:05.340 --> 00:15:09.799 of us? Well, we sang a song earlier. The second 00:15:09.799 --> 00:15:13.570 song we sang was about abiding. In this translation, 00:15:13.710 --> 00:15:15.870 it said, remain in me as I remain in you. Other 00:15:15.870 --> 00:15:19.110 translations use the word abide. Unless you're 00:15:19.110 --> 00:15:21.789 a big Lebowski fan, you probably don't hear the 00:15:21.789 --> 00:15:26.649 word abide a whole lot. The dude abides. Really, 00:15:26.970 --> 00:15:32.250 the word abide, the meaning here is closer to 00:15:32.250 --> 00:15:36.679 make your home in. Right? Abide in me as I abide 00:15:36.679 --> 00:15:39.980 in you. Make your home in me, and I'll make my 00:15:39.980 --> 00:15:44.960 home in you is what Jesus tells us. Right? And 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:49.200 right here in John 15, 9 through 12, it says 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:52.740 this. It says, I have loved you even as the Father 00:15:52.740 --> 00:15:55.159 has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey 00:15:55.159 --> 00:15:58.679 my commandments, you remain in my love. You make 00:15:58.679 --> 00:16:01.580 your home in my love. Just as I obey my father's 00:16:01.580 --> 00:16:03.539 commandments and remain in his love, I've told 00:16:03.539 --> 00:16:05.720 you these things so that you will be filled with 00:16:05.720 --> 00:16:09.860 my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow. And this 00:16:09.860 --> 00:16:12.299 is my commandment, love each other in the same 00:16:12.299 --> 00:16:15.679 way I have loved you. So the way that we are 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:18.299 pruned and the way that we are purified, as Jesus 00:16:18.299 --> 00:16:21.779 puts it here, is by making our home in him, by 00:16:21.779 --> 00:16:26.539 making our home in his love. And specifically, 00:16:26.679 --> 00:16:30.210 right here in the passage we just read, Jesus 00:16:30.210 --> 00:16:34.090 is actually making a commitment to his disciples 00:16:34.090 --> 00:16:38.070 and asking for their loyalty in return. What 00:16:38.070 --> 00:16:39.870 he's saying is, I will connect you to the Father, 00:16:39.990 --> 00:16:42.149 right? He says, make your home in me, abide in 00:16:42.149 --> 00:16:45.070 me, remain in me as I've remained in my Father. 00:16:46.129 --> 00:16:49.590 Right? He's actually going to connect us with 00:16:49.590 --> 00:16:53.049 the Creator. And now, what he says, he says, 00:16:53.090 --> 00:16:55.230 obey my commandments. Now you must pour out this 00:16:55.230 --> 00:16:59.429 same kind of love on one another. And right here 00:16:59.429 --> 00:17:00.870 at the end of the passage we just read, he says, 00:17:00.950 --> 00:17:03.309 this is my commandment, love each other in the 00:17:03.309 --> 00:17:07.410 same way that I have loved you. And so if you're 00:17:07.410 --> 00:17:09.829 following, what Jesus is saying is this, in the 00:17:09.829 --> 00:17:12.549 life that you're gonna have to figure out and 00:17:12.549 --> 00:17:16.170 make decisions about in my absence, you gotta 00:17:16.170 --> 00:17:18.390 understand some things right at the top. There 00:17:18.390 --> 00:17:20.130 are going to be pieces of your life that are 00:17:20.130 --> 00:17:22.210 going to be dead and decaying, and if you leave 00:17:22.210 --> 00:17:24.829 them there, it's gonna lead to death and destruction, 00:17:25.049 --> 00:17:29.779 period. And if you want to get those out of your 00:17:29.779 --> 00:17:35.119 life, you need to make your home in me. And if 00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:39.140 you do that, if you make your home in me, I will 00:17:39.140 --> 00:17:43.359 connect you to the creator, the one source of 00:17:43.359 --> 00:17:45.380 life. Do you know how you make your home in me? 00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:48.019 You obey what I tell you to do. And I'm telling 00:17:48.019 --> 00:17:50.019 you to love one another the way that I have loved 00:17:50.019 --> 00:17:55.880 you. So Jesus lays out a roadmap, right? He says, 00:17:56.299 --> 00:17:58.920 Cut the stuff out of your life by loving me and 00:17:58.920 --> 00:18:04.380 living my words. And the fruit he talks about 00:18:04.380 --> 00:18:08.839 is based in this loving relationship. That is 00:18:08.839 --> 00:18:10.180 what he's talking about. When he says bear much 00:18:10.180 --> 00:18:12.200 fruit, and then he follows it up with obey my 00:18:12.200 --> 00:18:15.200 commandments, love one another, what he is saying 00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:17.000 is the fruit that I want you to bear, what I 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:19.220 want to come out of your lives, the way you're 00:18:19.220 --> 00:18:21.880 gonna know that you're connected to me, is if 00:18:21.880 --> 00:18:25.700 your relationships are built in love. But it's 00:18:25.700 --> 00:18:29.440 a unique and particular kind of love. And he 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:33.000 goes on to explain it this way. In verses 13 00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:34.900 through 17, he says, There is no greater love 00:18:34.900 --> 00:18:37.359 than to lay down one's life for one's friends. 00:18:38.119 --> 00:18:40.720 You are my friends if you do what I command. 00:18:41.299 --> 00:18:43.660 I no longer call you slaves because a master 00:18:43.660 --> 00:18:46.940 doesn't confide in his slaves. Now you are my 00:18:46.940 --> 00:18:48.700 friends since I have told you everything the 00:18:48.700 --> 00:18:51.700 Father told me. You didn't choose me. I chose 00:18:51.700 --> 00:18:54.619 you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting 00:18:54.619 --> 00:18:57.519 fruit so that the Father will give you whatever 00:18:57.519 --> 00:19:00.000 you ask for using my name. This is my command. 00:19:00.500 --> 00:19:08.380 Love each other. The greatest love is to lay 00:19:08.380 --> 00:19:12.519 down your life for your friends. You know, I 00:19:12.519 --> 00:19:14.640 heard someone say once, that doesn't seem like 00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:17.000 the greatest kind of love because you already 00:19:17.000 --> 00:19:19.700 like your friends. Like, wouldn't it make more 00:19:19.700 --> 00:19:21.339 sense to say, like, the greatest kind of love, 00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:24.420 like, truly self -sacrificing and, like, not 00:19:24.420 --> 00:19:26.019 self -serving at all would be to lay down your 00:19:26.019 --> 00:19:28.220 life for your enemies? Like, wouldn't that make 00:19:28.220 --> 00:19:31.059 more sense? Right? But Jesus clearly says to 00:19:31.059 --> 00:19:34.940 lay down your life for one's friends. Right? 00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:38.160 Our world might say the greatest kind of love 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:43.269 is to lay down your life for one's spouse. Or 00:19:43.269 --> 00:19:44.970 lay down your life for one's kids. Or lay down 00:19:44.970 --> 00:19:47.750 your life for one's in -group. Or lay down your 00:19:47.750 --> 00:19:50.349 life for one's political party. Or lay down your 00:19:50.349 --> 00:19:53.250 life for one's social cause. Lay down your life 00:19:53.250 --> 00:19:55.210 for the people that you really are connected 00:19:55.210 --> 00:20:02.619 to. How can this be the greatest type of love, 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:05.779 to lay down your life for your friends? And what 00:20:05.779 --> 00:20:08.599 we need to understand is the context in which 00:20:08.599 --> 00:20:10.619 Jesus is talking to his disciples and using the 00:20:10.619 --> 00:20:13.700 word friends. The word he uses here is the Greek 00:20:13.700 --> 00:20:15.380 word phylos. So if you didn't know, the whole 00:20:15.380 --> 00:20:17.680 New Testament is written in Greek, right, because 00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:20.539 it was the language of the time that pretty much 00:20:20.539 --> 00:20:24.329 everyone spoke. And the Greek word... For friends, 00:20:24.349 --> 00:20:26.309 here's phylos. It's the same root word where 00:20:26.309 --> 00:20:29.390 we get the name of Philadelphia, right? You hear 00:20:29.390 --> 00:20:32.450 like brotherly love, right? Phylos. Well, the 00:20:32.450 --> 00:20:34.589 Greeks had a specific idea of what friendship 00:20:34.589 --> 00:20:37.250 was. The Greeks' idea, and this comes from Plato 00:20:37.250 --> 00:20:39.589 and Aristotle, they're like, hey, friendship 00:20:39.589 --> 00:20:42.049 is like you and me equals, equal level, arm and 00:20:42.049 --> 00:20:44.170 arm. We make a mutual agreement. We are friends. 00:20:44.369 --> 00:20:46.869 And that, in a lot of ways, is how we view what 00:20:46.869 --> 00:20:49.390 friendship is. When I talk about my friends here 00:20:49.390 --> 00:20:51.349 today, that's kind of like the natural way that 00:20:51.349 --> 00:20:53.869 we, a lot of times, will view friendship. But 00:20:53.869 --> 00:20:58.279 the Romans, the Romans were occupying. Jerusalem 00:20:58.279 --> 00:21:01.160 at this time. The Roman culture was the way of 00:21:01.160 --> 00:21:03.460 the land at this point. And the Romans viewed 00:21:03.460 --> 00:21:05.460 friendship completely differently. The Romans 00:21:05.460 --> 00:21:09.480 saw friendship not as equals, but all of the 00:21:09.480 --> 00:21:11.740 Roman society was built in vertical relationships, 00:21:12.099 --> 00:21:15.359 right? So you have different status in society, 00:21:15.559 --> 00:21:18.980 which tells you how you can or cannot act, who 00:21:18.980 --> 00:21:21.640 you can or cannot act with, what access you have, 00:21:21.720 --> 00:21:24.000 right? It's very hierarchical social structure 00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:27.970 here. And there's a system that the Romans had, 00:21:28.130 --> 00:21:32.529 and it was called patronage. And essentially, 00:21:32.750 --> 00:21:35.670 someone of a noble or royal class who had more 00:21:35.670 --> 00:21:39.069 access and more ability to socially move about, 00:21:39.410 --> 00:21:44.390 this noble or royal patron would basically sponsor 00:21:44.390 --> 00:21:48.589 a client. So what that would do is the client 00:21:48.589 --> 00:21:51.710 of a patron had a couple things. Number one, 00:21:51.769 --> 00:21:54.829 they were a representative. Of the patron, right? 00:21:54.930 --> 00:21:59.210 So, like, an action against the client was, in 00:21:59.210 --> 00:22:01.250 essence, in a way, an action against the patron, 00:22:01.309 --> 00:22:03.829 right? So you get some protection. Also, like, 00:22:03.910 --> 00:22:06.529 the patron will broker deals for you, right? 00:22:06.609 --> 00:22:08.529 Like, hey, let me talk to my people who are of 00:22:08.529 --> 00:22:10.789 this higher class so maybe we can work something 00:22:10.789 --> 00:22:13.130 out for you, right? The patron was able to get 00:22:13.130 --> 00:22:17.920 better access for their clients. Also, the patron 00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:20.359 would ask the clients to do stuff for them, right? 00:22:20.420 --> 00:22:22.559 Because you're my representative, so I need you 00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:25.119 to be in this context and do this thing for me 00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:28.460 to represent me, right? It was an asymmetrical 00:22:28.460 --> 00:22:32.079 relationship based on longevity and reciprocity. 00:22:32.460 --> 00:22:35.059 Basically, we're of different statuses, this 00:22:35.059 --> 00:22:37.740 is a lifelong deal, and I give you something 00:22:37.740 --> 00:22:40.119 and you give me something. That's patronage, 00:22:40.259 --> 00:22:46.769 right? And what Jesus does here, as evidenced 00:22:46.769 --> 00:22:49.109 by this metaphor of vine and branches, the vine 00:22:49.109 --> 00:22:53.210 being that which sustains the branch, he's putting 00:22:53.210 --> 00:22:59.289 himself in this unequal relationship, right? 00:22:59.470 --> 00:23:02.410 Jesus right here is saying, like, I'm your patron 00:23:02.410 --> 00:23:07.529 and you're my clients, right? And in the Roman 00:23:07.529 --> 00:23:10.390 world, what the patrons would call their clients 00:23:10.390 --> 00:23:14.099 were phylos. So when he says, you are my friends, 00:23:14.140 --> 00:23:18.220 I'm your patron, you are my clients. And what 00:23:18.220 --> 00:23:20.279 he does is he invites them into this lifelong 00:23:20.279 --> 00:23:23.400 commitment with himself. Where Jesus, the patron, 00:23:23.480 --> 00:23:25.720 acts as a broker for the clients and intercedes 00:23:25.720 --> 00:23:29.160 with the father. And Jesus' friends are to act 00:23:29.160 --> 00:23:34.119 as a proxy or an agent in his absence. But what's 00:23:34.119 --> 00:23:37.420 different from the Roman system and novel is 00:23:37.420 --> 00:23:40.000 this, that Jesus chooses us, not the other way 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:43.640 around. Because in the Roman system, if you wanted 00:23:43.640 --> 00:23:45.420 someone to be your patron, you had to like pledge 00:23:45.420 --> 00:23:48.099 fealty to them and like, will you accept, you 00:23:48.099 --> 00:23:51.240 know, like you to be my patron? But Jesus says, 00:23:51.279 --> 00:23:55.319 nope, you didn't choose me. I chose you. I want 00:23:55.319 --> 00:23:57.920 you to benefit from the relationship that you're 00:23:57.920 --> 00:23:59.559 going to have with me because of the relationship 00:23:59.559 --> 00:24:03.079 that I have with my father. It lifts the client 00:24:03.079 --> 00:24:07.539 up. And in this sentence, it's the first time 00:24:07.539 --> 00:24:09.519 in the entire book of John that Jesus calls his 00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:11.960 disciples friends, and it's the first time that 00:24:11.960 --> 00:24:14.759 he calls them slaves. Right? He might use the 00:24:14.759 --> 00:24:17.359 word servants or disciples, but friends and slaves. 00:24:17.559 --> 00:24:18.819 It's the first time he's called them either one 00:24:18.819 --> 00:24:23.130 right here. In the Roman culture, slavery was 00:24:23.130 --> 00:24:25.150 a very common thing. It was very different than 00:24:25.150 --> 00:24:28.250 how we imagine it in our American context and 00:24:28.250 --> 00:24:31.049 chattel slavery in the 1700s and 1800s. It was 00:24:31.049 --> 00:24:34.109 a different kind of deal. But a slave in the 00:24:34.109 --> 00:24:37.650 Roman culture, you had no horizontal ability 00:24:37.650 --> 00:24:41.410 socially. Your relationships really was just 00:24:41.410 --> 00:24:43.190 with your master and it was a vertical relationship. 00:24:44.430 --> 00:24:47.529 But oftentimes when masters would free their 00:24:47.529 --> 00:24:49.650 slaves in the Roman culture, and then the slave, 00:24:50.359 --> 00:24:53.059 would then come under the master. The master 00:24:53.059 --> 00:24:55.519 is instead of their, now instead of their master, 00:24:55.740 --> 00:24:57.539 they're their patron. Now instead of the slave, 00:24:57.579 --> 00:25:01.299 they're a client or a phylos. And what this would 00:25:01.299 --> 00:25:04.319 do if the master would change that type of relationship 00:25:04.319 --> 00:25:07.900 is it would essentially resurrect and give new 00:25:07.900 --> 00:25:12.140 social life to the former slave. Because now 00:25:12.140 --> 00:25:14.740 as a client and no longer a slave, as a phylos, 00:25:14.740 --> 00:25:18.140 as a friend, you now have horizontal access. 00:25:20.139 --> 00:25:24.359 to interact with and have relationships with 00:25:24.359 --> 00:25:29.220 and live life alongside the people on your same 00:25:29.220 --> 00:25:34.880 level. And so what Jesus is doing, as he's saying, 00:25:35.059 --> 00:25:40.339 because I am viewing you in this way, I am resurrecting 00:25:40.339 --> 00:25:44.559 and I'm giving you new life, not just socially, 00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:48.480 but spiritually. Because now you can interact 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:51.940 on the same level no matter what your physical 00:25:51.940 --> 00:25:55.400 worldly status is. Because your spiritual one 00:25:55.400 --> 00:25:57.720 is that of an equal playing field as defined 00:25:57.720 --> 00:26:01.200 by me. Because I am standing in for you. And 00:26:01.200 --> 00:26:07.640 I'm representing you. So when Jesus says the 00:26:07.640 --> 00:26:10.519 greatest love is to lay down your life for your 00:26:10.519 --> 00:26:13.480 friends, he's saying that... The greatest love 00:26:13.480 --> 00:26:15.799 is to lay down your life for those who might 00:26:15.799 --> 00:26:21.839 actually be beneath you. And there's no reason, 00:26:21.880 --> 00:26:25.240 if you look at a worldly point of view, why you 00:26:25.240 --> 00:26:29.480 would ever do this. And especially imagine this 00:26:29.480 --> 00:26:32.819 Roman culture. They're beneath you. They can't 00:26:32.819 --> 00:26:35.980 give you anything. There's no value practically 00:26:35.980 --> 00:26:38.079 in it for you. But the only reason why anyone 00:26:38.079 --> 00:26:39.680 would do something like this, to actually... 00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:41.980 actually be willing to put their life on the 00:26:41.980 --> 00:26:45.180 line to give up their life for someone of lower 00:26:45.180 --> 00:26:49.319 status than them is simply out of love and recognizing 00:26:49.319 --> 00:26:55.539 their value that they inherently have. Because 00:26:55.539 --> 00:27:01.180 of the love, because of love, it only makes sense 00:27:01.180 --> 00:27:06.880 in the context of Jesus first loving us. By Jesus 00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:08.980 being willing to die for us, he declares that 00:27:08.980 --> 00:27:11.779 all of us are of the highest value, and therefore 00:27:11.779 --> 00:27:13.960 all people are equally deserving of love from 00:27:13.960 --> 00:27:16.279 others, leveling the social playing field regardless 00:27:16.279 --> 00:27:20.220 of social status. And this is why the rot and 00:27:20.220 --> 00:27:22.859 the decay has got to get cut out, because the 00:27:22.859 --> 00:27:26.099 ideas of the world will deteriorate the true 00:27:26.099 --> 00:27:28.859 love of Jesus in our lives and keep us from bearing 00:27:28.859 --> 00:27:32.119 the fruit of relationships built on love, the 00:27:32.119 --> 00:27:36.000 one kind of fruit that lasts. Because if we have 00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:38.799 the rot and decay and the ideas of how the world 00:27:38.799 --> 00:27:41.460 works that are built on anything other than the 00:27:41.460 --> 00:27:43.839 fact that the creator of the universe loves you 00:27:43.839 --> 00:27:45.859 so much that he'd be willing to die for you even 00:27:45.859 --> 00:27:50.319 though there's no reason why he ought to. Any 00:27:50.319 --> 00:27:52.660 idea that is built on any foundation other than 00:27:52.660 --> 00:27:55.619 that is going to fester and it's going to rot 00:27:55.619 --> 00:27:57.400 and it's going to decay and it's going to lead 00:27:57.400 --> 00:28:02.039 to destruction. So if you make your home in Jesus, 00:28:02.180 --> 00:28:04.339 he'll kill the decay in your life. He promises 00:28:04.339 --> 00:28:06.319 to be dependable if you pledge yourself to him. 00:28:06.380 --> 00:28:08.440 And your pledge is to follow his command and 00:28:08.440 --> 00:28:11.359 love as he loved. And his love is defined by 00:28:11.359 --> 00:28:14.380 the willingness to go as far as to die for those 00:28:14.380 --> 00:28:17.119 less than himself. And because he's killed the 00:28:17.119 --> 00:28:19.799 decay in your life, you can now love as he loved 00:28:19.799 --> 00:28:22.500 you, which creates lasting fruit. This fruit 00:28:22.500 --> 00:28:25.880 is truly loving relationships that will have 00:28:25.880 --> 00:28:32.170 meaning past your life on earth. That means that 00:28:32.170 --> 00:28:33.630 you can tell if you're making your home in Jesus 00:28:33.630 --> 00:28:35.230 based on the state of your relationships with 00:28:35.230 --> 00:28:39.349 others. Are your relationships marked by love? 00:28:39.670 --> 00:28:42.309 Not just like the ones that are like easy, like 00:28:42.309 --> 00:28:46.849 I love my kids. Like those relationships are 00:28:46.849 --> 00:28:48.569 marked by love. Like all things considered, like 00:28:48.569 --> 00:28:50.150 there are my hard days, you know, like sometimes 00:28:50.150 --> 00:28:52.410 they're punks. Ryder will not stop climbing on 00:28:52.410 --> 00:28:54.730 stuff. Like seriously, like I turn my head for 00:28:54.730 --> 00:28:57.210 a second and he's just like on like the cabinet 00:28:57.210 --> 00:28:59.009 under the TV. I'm like, you're gonna die, get 00:28:59.009 --> 00:29:02.099 off there. Right, like. And then he like whines 00:29:02.099 --> 00:29:04.299 and you take him off and like, oh, like, right. 00:29:04.779 --> 00:29:07.440 But like, that's the worst of it. You know, like 00:29:07.440 --> 00:29:08.839 it really, all things considered, it's pretty 00:29:08.839 --> 00:29:10.559 easy to love him. It's hard to love the person 00:29:10.559 --> 00:29:13.420 who's pretty diametrically opposed to my ideals 00:29:13.420 --> 00:29:16.319 or says that like, because I believe what I believe, 00:29:16.380 --> 00:29:18.819 I'm a dangerous person. That's hard to love that 00:29:18.819 --> 00:29:22.519 person. That's really hard to love them, right? 00:29:23.200 --> 00:29:25.200 Or the person who's actually done things to hurt 00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:27.619 me or my family. It's really hard to love them. 00:29:30.180 --> 00:29:35.519 Jesus doesn't make any carve outs. Be marked 00:29:35.519 --> 00:29:39.880 by my love. By this, they're gonna know that 00:29:39.880 --> 00:29:41.420 you're my disciples if you love one another. 00:29:42.859 --> 00:29:44.980 And using this kind of Roman language implies 00:29:44.980 --> 00:29:47.000 that we have a binary choice, right? Because 00:29:47.000 --> 00:29:49.400 you can't have two rival patrons that have different 00:29:49.400 --> 00:29:51.160 ways of seeing the world who are gonna ask you 00:29:51.160 --> 00:29:53.839 to represent different things, right? The big 00:29:53.839 --> 00:29:56.299 main patron of this time was Caesar, right? He's 00:29:56.299 --> 00:29:58.420 a patron of the whole Roman Empire. Essentially, 00:29:58.500 --> 00:30:01.240 like, you're loyal to Caesar, right? He says, 00:30:01.259 --> 00:30:03.259 here, I have the whole power of the Roman Empire 00:30:03.259 --> 00:30:06.539 behind you. So if someone mistreats you as a 00:30:06.539 --> 00:30:09.140 Roman citizen, well, we got the Roman laws and 00:30:09.140 --> 00:30:10.460 military and they're gonna come vouch for you. 00:30:10.990 --> 00:30:13.289 That's what you get when Caesar's your patron. 00:30:15.130 --> 00:30:21.390 But where Caesar promises power to reciprocate 00:30:21.390 --> 00:30:25.809 loyalty, Jesus promises love for you to reciprocate 00:30:25.809 --> 00:30:28.430 love for others. If you follow my command and 00:30:28.430 --> 00:30:31.269 love others, I will love you in the way that 00:30:31.269 --> 00:30:36.779 transforms your life. And following the commands 00:30:36.779 --> 00:30:39.119 of Jesus and declaring him as your patron ultimately 00:30:39.119 --> 00:30:42.000 forsakes Caesar as your patron. And we don't 00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:43.759 live with Caesar today, but we live with other 00:30:43.759 --> 00:30:47.470 stuff that basically is Caesar. Right? The stand 00:30:47.470 --> 00:30:49.089 in today, I mean, just think about it. You have 00:30:49.089 --> 00:30:51.349 leaders of political parties. You have social 00:30:51.349 --> 00:30:53.670 media platforms and everything they promise us. 00:30:53.869 --> 00:30:56.430 You have lucrative careers that promise us a 00:30:56.430 --> 00:30:58.930 certain kind of lifestyle. Wellness gurus, sexual 00:30:58.930 --> 00:31:01.329 liberators, entertainment corporations, religious 00:31:01.329 --> 00:31:04.569 so -called prophets, military strong men, everything 00:31:04.569 --> 00:31:08.730 that says be loyal to me, do it my way. Keep 00:31:08.730 --> 00:31:12.809 me in power and I'll keep you safe. Or I'll make 00:31:12.809 --> 00:31:14.829 your life easier. Or I'll make it more convenient. 00:31:16.650 --> 00:31:18.410 The world wants to build relationships around 00:31:18.410 --> 00:31:21.049 power dynamics, but Jesus wants to turn those 00:31:21.049 --> 00:31:24.970 on their head. He would be willing to die for 00:31:24.970 --> 00:31:36.450 those that are seen as below him. Anything that 00:31:36.450 --> 00:31:39.150 asks for our loyalty that isn't explicitly marked 00:31:39.150 --> 00:31:42.730 by love will only ever keep us from making our 00:31:42.730 --> 00:31:49.869 home in Jesus. If you follow the entire course 00:31:49.869 --> 00:31:53.410 of what we've talked about, the ultimate thesis 00:31:53.410 --> 00:31:56.250 of it is this. If you look at your life and you 00:31:56.250 --> 00:31:58.430 can't say that your relationships are marked 00:31:58.430 --> 00:32:04.509 by love, then you're not living in Jesus. The 00:32:04.509 --> 00:32:06.289 thing is that Christians should be the experts 00:32:06.289 --> 00:32:10.009 on relationships and how to live. We should be 00:32:10.009 --> 00:32:11.670 the ones on the cutting edge on how to live in 00:32:11.670 --> 00:32:14.269 today's world. instead of outsourcing it to the 00:32:14.269 --> 00:32:16.849 secular, self -esteem -oriented, self -care -obsessed, 00:32:17.009 --> 00:32:22.490 self -gratifying world. The living God is telling 00:32:22.490 --> 00:32:26.130 us how to live. We should be the ones who are 00:32:26.130 --> 00:32:27.950 out there saying, no, I think I got the answers 00:32:27.950 --> 00:32:31.250 for a better life, right? But you can only get 00:32:31.250 --> 00:32:34.829 that if you live, if you make your home in Jesus, 00:32:34.950 --> 00:32:38.009 if you make your home in the love that he has 00:32:38.009 --> 00:32:39.710 for you. And you know how you do that? You obey 00:32:39.710 --> 00:32:43.150 his commands. To love one another as I have loved 00:32:43.150 --> 00:32:49.029 you. Where worldly relationships are marked by 00:32:49.029 --> 00:32:51.109 convenience, gratification, and self -preservation, 00:32:51.250 --> 00:32:56.529 true relationships, as Jesus calls us into, are 00:32:56.529 --> 00:32:59.829 marked by love and compassion. Are you willing 00:32:59.829 --> 00:33:02.470 to be inconvenienced or deny your own interests 00:33:02.470 --> 00:33:07.690 for the sake of others? Would you throw away 00:33:07.690 --> 00:33:09.609 your smartphone because it keeps feeding you? 00:33:10.430 --> 00:33:16.130 Toxic ideas. They're so convenient though. But 00:33:16.130 --> 00:33:18.890 those ideas are going to fester. Maybe that's 00:33:18.890 --> 00:33:21.930 not where it is. We spend less time on the news 00:33:21.930 --> 00:33:25.890 or less time filling your head with certain messages 00:33:25.890 --> 00:33:27.529 about how relationships are going to work in 00:33:27.529 --> 00:33:30.369 today because they're not based on compassion 00:33:30.369 --> 00:33:34.630 and love. But man, gosh, that story is so engaging. 00:33:36.029 --> 00:33:39.490 Right? It's enticing. But the message of Jesus 00:33:39.490 --> 00:33:46.950 is pretty clear. If we pledge our loyalty to 00:33:46.950 --> 00:33:49.990 anything that is not based in love, it is going 00:33:49.990 --> 00:33:52.250 to get in the way of Jesus. It's going to steal 00:33:52.250 --> 00:33:54.769 our soul. And it's going to cause us to never 00:33:54.769 --> 00:33:57.170 be able to bear true lasting fruit in the form 00:33:57.170 --> 00:34:01.609 of loving relationships. So what do you represent 00:34:01.609 --> 00:34:07.559 and what will I ask of you in return? My final 00:34:07.559 --> 00:34:10.199 thing is this, just to wrap it all together, 00:34:10.420 --> 00:34:13.239 these four things. What Jesus says is we must 00:34:13.239 --> 00:34:15.980 be free of the control of the world in order 00:34:15.980 --> 00:34:19.559 to love completely. Making your home in Jesus 00:34:19.559 --> 00:34:24.280 is the only way to be free from the world. Loving 00:34:24.280 --> 00:34:26.460 like Jesus ultimately gives you meaning in the 00:34:26.460 --> 00:34:29.940 form of loving relationships. And if your relationships 00:34:29.940 --> 00:34:32.119 and interactions with others are not marked by 00:34:32.119 --> 00:34:34.099 love, then you aren't making your home in Jesus 00:34:34.099 --> 00:34:42.030 full stop. I'm gonna pray to end our time and 00:34:42.030 --> 00:34:45.909 I'm just gonna pray over this passage in 2 Corinthians 00:34:45.909 --> 00:34:48.909 chapter five and this is the apostle Paul talking 00:34:48.909 --> 00:34:52.650 and what I love about understanding the words 00:34:52.650 --> 00:34:54.849 of Jesus is then you look at all of the people 00:34:54.849 --> 00:34:57.070 who write after his life and you're like, they're 00:34:57.070 --> 00:35:00.449 just riffing on everything he's saying and this 00:35:00.449 --> 00:35:02.969 is one of my personal favorite passages in the 00:35:02.969 --> 00:35:06.329 whole Bible and Paul just, I think, more eloquently 00:35:06.329 --> 00:35:09.130 than I ever could. Talks about what it looks 00:35:09.130 --> 00:35:11.309 like to actually do what Jesus is talking about. 00:35:11.449 --> 00:35:17.889 So please pray with me. Lord, we ask that you 00:35:17.889 --> 00:35:22.969 be in our hearts and help us to believe and live 00:35:22.969 --> 00:35:25.769 out these words as Paul so eloquently puts them. 00:35:26.710 --> 00:35:31.130 Either way, Christ's love controls us. Since 00:35:31.130 --> 00:35:33.269 we believe that Christ died for all, we also 00:35:33.269 --> 00:35:36.150 believe that we all have died to our old life. 00:35:37.039 --> 00:35:39.920 He died for everyone so that those who receive 00:35:39.920 --> 00:35:43.079 his new life will no longer live for themselves. 00:35:44.199 --> 00:35:46.780 Instead, they will live for Christ, who died 00:35:46.780 --> 00:35:50.239 and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating 00:35:50.239 --> 00:35:53.239 others from a human point of view. At one time, 00:35:53.239 --> 00:35:56.079 we thought of Christ merely from a human point 00:35:56.079 --> 00:36:00.500 of view. How differently we know him now. This 00:36:00.500 --> 00:36:02.900 means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become 00:36:02.900 --> 00:36:07.000 a new person. The old life has gone. A new life 00:36:07.000 --> 00:36:08.139 has begun.