When I was a kid, I thought that quicksand was
going to be a way bigger problem than it is.
Right? Like, it could be around any corner. And
if you're not paying attention, it's just going
to get you and pull you down. And as an adult,
I've never once had to worry about quicksand.
I don't know about you, but there are these funny
things that when you're a kid, you think they're
going to be a big deal or you think about them
all the time. And then you grow up and it just
doesn't take up a whole lot of mental space.
For me, one of those things was the zoo. Everyone
was talking about the zoo when I was a kid. What
are the animals? What sounds do they make? How
many at a time do they hang out with? And we'd
go to the zoo and we'd hang out. And as an adult,
I kind of stopped going to the zoo. And then
I had kids. And we started going to the zoo again.
And about a year ago, a little over that, we
went to the zoo. And my oldest daughter, Daisy,
was around two. And if you've been to the Reed
Park Zoo here in town, you know that the giraffe
exhibit is like the center of the universe, right?
Like everything really revolves. around the giraffe
exhibit. And so we walked up and people were
feeding the giraffes. And over next to it, there
was like some goat thing. And we're like, oh,
you want to see the goats, Daisy? And no goat
showed up. And I was kind of paying attention.
I heard there was some commotion over at the
giraffe exhibit. And I looked over there and
I walked over. I was like, Grace, Grace is my
wife. I was like, what's going on? She's like,
that duck flew from over there. And there's a
duck pond in the giraffe exhibit. She said that
duck flew over there and it picked a fight with
another duck. And they started fighting and the
fight came out. middle of the giraffe exhibit,
and that baby giraffe, it just kind of like waved
its foot at it, and now I think that duck's neck
is broken. I'm like, oh, no. And sure enough,
like, the duck is, like, something is catastrophically
wrong with this poor duck, right? And, like,
kids are looking. People are like, hey, is there
a zookeeper out there? Like, this is getting
kind of weird. And the baby giraffe that kind
of waved its foot at it is looking at it. And
then the big male giraffe walks up and starts
looking at the duck, too. And we're like, what
are they going to do? And the male giraffe is
looking at it. And it picks up its foot and it
hovers it over the duck. And I'm like, there's
no way. And it slowly starts to snuff out the
duck right there in front of God and everybody.
And we're like, what is, oh my gosh. And Daisy's
like, Daddy, what's happening? I'm like, circle
of life, baby girl. The trap pulls its foot off
and it didn't finish the job. And it takes this
other foot and it does it again. And I cannot
make this up. At that moment, there was a field
trip of eight -year -olds walking by. And I heard
one kid go, hey, what's happening to the duck?
There's a kid on the other side of the exhibit
crying, right? Like the teacher's like, we need
a zookeeper to the giraffe exhibit immediately.
And I was like straight up, I could not stop
laughing. It was the most appalling, shocking
thing I ever imagined I would see at a zoo. To
see a giraffe mercy kill a duck? Like, what?
That was not on my bingo card for that day. And,
like, the point is, like, we don't like to really
talk, right, about, like, when stuff dies because
it's, like, weird and it's awkward. And, like,
yeah, like, it was a duck. It was sad. But, like,
you know, it was a duck. But the fact of the
matter is that... there are things in our lives
that we encounter and we don't like to talk about
like, yeah, maybe that thing needs to be put
to death, right? And I'm not talking about like
the family dog, right? I'm not saying like, hey,
your family dog is too old. I'm gonna take it
to the vet. I'm not talking about that. What
I'm talking about are things that are actually
more covert and things that we have the tendency
to keep around long after they've proven that
they need to die off. And specifically, I'm talking
about ideas, beliefs, and habits that tend to
work like decay and disease in our lives. As
we go about our lives and we go about our days
and we collect information, we collect ideas
and voices, sometimes some of those are no good.
And sometimes they need to be dragged out and
cut out of our lives. And here's the thing. We
like to think of ourselves as rational. autonomous
human beings. In other words, we like to think
that when I make decisions on what to do and
what to think, I'm doing it by an objective measure.
I'm analyzing all of the data and I'm deciding
this is what's good and this is what's bad based
on objective data that is inarguable. But the
truth is that that is actually a complete fallacy.
That we actually make decisions based on emotions
and hopes. and fears far more than we make them
on reason. And what's more is we are constantly
being shaped and fed ideas by external forces
all the time, mostly playing on our emotions,
hopes, and fears. Right? The world around you
knows how you work if you didn't already know.
The world around you that's designed to get your
attention and your resources knows that the way
that you make decisions is not always based on
just reason. In fact, most of the time it's not.
And so the messages that we often receive in
our day -to -day lives specifically play on these
parts of who we are, our emotions, our hopes,
and our fears. And it's our responsibility to
choose who and what we allow to influence how
we think. Our decisions matter in this world,
but our decisions rarely are, what am I going
to believe? Our decisions usually are, what am
I going to let influence what I believe? Right
now, the landscape of what life looks like is
changing really, really fast, and we all know
that, and I don't want to sound like unk for
anyone out there who knows what that means. Anyone
who's under the age of 19 knows what I mean.
Basically, I don't want to sound like an old
boomer who's like, you know, the internet's changing
stuff. Well, it is, right? Like, we live our
lives more and more and more online. The average
American spends about seven hours a day looking
at screens, right? And these screens have been
specifically designed to feed us outrageous,
fear -inducing, and gratuitous content to keep
us engaged for as long as possible. What we spend
our time doing is designed to feed us ideas to
influence the way that we think and we act. So
I have a responsibility to pay attention to what
I'm letting in my life. But the problem is, most
of these ideas actually lead to decay and destruction.
Decay in our minds, our bodies, our souls, and
the evidence... for this is clearly noticeable
to the world around us i probably don't need
to tell you all these things you already kind
of know them intuitively because you live in
the world and you pay attention but i'm gonna
tell you them anyway right like what we see right
now we see massive increases in anxiety depression
self self -harm and mental health disorders since
the introduction of smartphones and social media
specifically in kids and teenagers Social and
political tribalism on both sides of the ideological
spectrum has increased drastically, especially
in the last 10 years. One in three U .S. adults
say that they experience loneliness at least
weekly. And statistically, we have more acceptance
in our society of violence as an option to deal
with people of different ideologies. And none
of this comes out of thin air. It's introduced
in the form... of an idea that plays on our emotions,
hopes, or fears that is then given a place to
grow and live on as a part of us. Those things
need to be killed. And if we don't root out decaying
ideas, they will only fester and poison more
of our lives. One of the best ways to see this
and imagine this is with garden imagery. Preston
was up here a second ago, and he talked about
how we're in the middle of our Before I Go series.
You saw the bumper. We're talking about the final
discourse of Jesus with his disciples, right?
So Jesus knows that he's about to let himself
get taken and murdered. He's like, that's coming,
like tomorrow, right? So this... is the point
at which he's imparting all of his final words
of wisdom and encouragement and instruction in
his closest relationships, his disciples who
have spent three years of their lives living
like every day together with him. And so where
we are here is before what we're about to talk
about here, before Jesus has already talked about
a couple things. Number one, he said, hey, it's
coming. I'm about to go away. I'm about to get
killed. Also, I promise I'm gonna take care of
you. Right? You're going to find ultimate fulfillment.
You're going to find your place with the creator
of the universe. Because I'm going to go before
you, I'm going to get it ready for you. And when
I'm gone, there's this thing that's going to
happen. You're going to get the Holy Spirit as
an advocate. And it's going to live with you
and is going to teach you in my absence. He's
already laid all this stuff out. Right? So a
basic question, all right, what's next? Okay.
So all this is going to happen. You're going
to leave. You're going to prepare your way. The
Holy Spirit is going to come. So, like, now what?
Like, what are we actually gonna do in the way
we interact with the Spirit and with each other
and live in the world if you're not gonna be
here, right? You've been pretty important to
us, Jesus. What's the deal? And so we pick up
in the beginning of John 15, and as Preston says,
if you're not familiar with this passage, this
is where, like he said, this is where we get
our name as a church. So Rob decided to leave
town before we talked about like the namesake
of our church. And he said, Joe, you're up? And
he said, you got a boss. No, I'm happy because
if you know, like if you've spent any amount
of your life reading the Bible, you know there
are like some greatest hits verses in the Bible,
right? Like, you know, like in the old days of
actually CDs, right? You'd go to the CD. the
CD store, they'd have the greatest hits of like
the Beatles or whatever, right? Like if there
was a greatest hits album of the Bible, this
would be on it. And it's for good reason. And
so we pick up in John 15, verse one, it says
this, I am the true grapevine, this is Jesus
talking, I'm the true grapevine and my father
is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of
mine that doesn't produce fruit and he prunes
the branches that do bear fruit. So that they
will produce even more. You have already been
pruned and purified by the message I have given
you. Remain in me and I will remain in you. For
a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed
from the vine. And you cannot be fruitful unless
you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine and you
are the branches. Those who remain in me and
I in them will produce much fruit. For apart
from me, you can do nothing. Anyone who does
not remain in me is thrown away like a useless
branch and withers. Such branches are gathered
into a pile and burned. But if you remain in
me and my words remain in you, you may ask for
anything you want and it will be granted. When
you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples
and this brings great glory to my Father. So
right away, Jesus hones in on this pruning and
cutting imagery. Something that's interesting
that stuck out to me a couple years ago when
I was reading this, he talks about dead branches
and he talks about living branches. See what
he did there? There it is. He talks about dead
branches. He talks about living branches. The
dead branches get cut off. The living branches
get pruned. They both get cut. So right away,
and I thought this was so interesting, I was
like, epiphany, no one's ever thought of this
before. They have. People have thought about
everything I've thought about before. But no
matter who you are, where you are, how connected
you are to Jesus, Right? Something is going to
get cut in your life. And I Googled. I just pounded
it into the Google machine. I was like, hey,
like this is the prompt. What are the consequences
of not? pruning a plant. And you're going to
see basically the unadulterated version of just
what Google will spit out at you. And the reason
why I didn't edit it is because it's such a good
picture, I think, of actually what we're talking
about here. The only thing I put in there is
in the parentheses. So, first, the consequences
of not pruning is, number one, is reduced blooming.
The plant produces fewer, smaller flowers. In
other words, the fruit or the good things that
the plant produces are of poor quality. Number
two, a weak and leggy structure. The shrub becomes
overgrown, unmanageable, and floppy with weak
stems that cannot support the blooms. In other
words, it has an inability to produce fruit at
all. Disease susceptibility, poor air circulation,
and buildup of old wood increase vulnerability
to pests and diseases. In other words, becomes
vulnerable. Or if we're the plant, we become
vulnerable to destructive ideas and beliefs.
There's pests and diseases. Reduced vigor. The
plant wastes energy on old, unproductive wood
rather than new growth. We have a decreased capacity
for good. And then there are also safety hazards.
Dead, broken, or diseased branches can accumulate,
potentially damaging the plant. There's pain
and suffering in our lives if we put ourselves
in that position. But Jesus' goal for us is that
our lives would produce good things or fruit
as he says in this imagery. But what are those
good things and how do we live our lives in a
way that will make those good things come out
of us? Well, we sang a song earlier. The second
song we sang was about abiding. In this translation,
it said, remain in me as I remain in you. Other
translations use the word abide. Unless you're
a big Lebowski fan, you probably don't hear the
word abide a whole lot. The dude abides. Really,
the word abide, the meaning here is closer to
make your home in. Right? Abide in me as I abide
in you. Make your home in me, and I'll make my
home in you is what Jesus tells us. Right? And
right here in John 15, 9 through 12, it says
this. It says, I have loved you even as the Father
has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey
my commandments, you remain in my love. You make
your home in my love. Just as I obey my father's
commandments and remain in his love, I've told
you these things so that you will be filled with
my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow. And this
is my commandment, love each other in the same
way I have loved you. So the way that we are
pruned and the way that we are purified, as Jesus
puts it here, is by making our home in him, by
making our home in his love. And specifically,
right here in the passage we just read, Jesus
is actually making a commitment to his disciples
and asking for their loyalty in return. What
he's saying is, I will connect you to the Father,
right? He says, make your home in me, abide in
me, remain in me as I've remained in my Father.
Right? He's actually going to connect us with
the Creator. And now, what he says, he says,
obey my commandments. Now you must pour out this
same kind of love on one another. And right here
at the end of the passage we just read, he says,
this is my commandment, love each other in the
same way that I have loved you. And so if you're
following, what Jesus is saying is this, in the
life that you're gonna have to figure out and
make decisions about in my absence, you gotta
understand some things right at the top. There
are going to be pieces of your life that are
going to be dead and decaying, and if you leave
them there, it's gonna lead to death and destruction,
period. And if you want to get those out of your
life, you need to make your home in me. And if
you do that, if you make your home in me, I will
connect you to the creator, the one source of
life. Do you know how you make your home in me?
You obey what I tell you to do. And I'm telling
you to love one another the way that I have loved
you. So Jesus lays out a roadmap, right? He says,
Cut the stuff out of your life by loving me and
living my words. And the fruit he talks about
is based in this loving relationship. That is
what he's talking about. When he says bear much
fruit, and then he follows it up with obey my
commandments, love one another, what he is saying
is the fruit that I want you to bear, what I
want to come out of your lives, the way you're
gonna know that you're connected to me, is if
your relationships are built in love. But it's
a unique and particular kind of love. And he
goes on to explain it this way. In verses 13
through 17, he says, There is no greater love
than to lay down one's life for one's friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command.
I no longer call you slaves because a master
doesn't confide in his slaves. Now you are my
friends since I have told you everything the
Father told me. You didn't choose me. I chose
you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting
fruit so that the Father will give you whatever
you ask for using my name. This is my command.
Love each other. The greatest love is to lay
down your life for your friends. You know, I
heard someone say once, that doesn't seem like
the greatest kind of love because you already
like your friends. Like, wouldn't it make more
sense to say, like, the greatest kind of love,
like, truly self -sacrificing and, like, not
self -serving at all would be to lay down your
life for your enemies? Like, wouldn't that make
more sense? Right? But Jesus clearly says to
lay down your life for one's friends. Right?
Our world might say the greatest kind of love
is to lay down your life for one's spouse. Or
lay down your life for one's kids. Or lay down
your life for one's in -group. Or lay down your
life for one's political party. Or lay down your
life for one's social cause. Lay down your life
for the people that you really are connected
to. How can this be the greatest type of love,
to lay down your life for your friends? And what
we need to understand is the context in which
Jesus is talking to his disciples and using the
word friends. The word he uses here is the Greek
word phylos. So if you didn't know, the whole
New Testament is written in Greek, right, because
it was the language of the time that pretty much
everyone spoke. And the Greek word... For friends,
here's phylos. It's the same root word where
we get the name of Philadelphia, right? You hear
like brotherly love, right? Phylos. Well, the
Greeks had a specific idea of what friendship
was. The Greeks' idea, and this comes from Plato
and Aristotle, they're like, hey, friendship
is like you and me equals, equal level, arm and
arm. We make a mutual agreement. We are friends.
And that, in a lot of ways, is how we view what
friendship is. When I talk about my friends here
today, that's kind of like the natural way that
we, a lot of times, will view friendship. But
the Romans, the Romans were occupying. Jerusalem
at this time. The Roman culture was the way of
the land at this point. And the Romans viewed
friendship completely differently. The Romans
saw friendship not as equals, but all of the
Roman society was built in vertical relationships,
right? So you have different status in society,
which tells you how you can or cannot act, who
you can or cannot act with, what access you have,
right? It's very hierarchical social structure
here. And there's a system that the Romans had,
and it was called patronage. And essentially,
someone of a noble or royal class who had more
access and more ability to socially move about,
this noble or royal patron would basically sponsor
a client. So what that would do is the client
of a patron had a couple things. Number one,
they were a representative. Of the patron, right?
So, like, an action against the client was, in
essence, in a way, an action against the patron,
right? So you get some protection. Also, like,
the patron will broker deals for you, right?
Like, hey, let me talk to my people who are of
this higher class so maybe we can work something
out for you, right? The patron was able to get
better access for their clients. Also, the patron
would ask the clients to do stuff for them, right?
Because you're my representative, so I need you
to be in this context and do this thing for me
to represent me, right? It was an asymmetrical
relationship based on longevity and reciprocity.
Basically, we're of different statuses, this
is a lifelong deal, and I give you something
and you give me something. That's patronage,
right? And what Jesus does here, as evidenced
by this metaphor of vine and branches, the vine
being that which sustains the branch, he's putting
himself in this unequal relationship, right?
Jesus right here is saying, like, I'm your patron
and you're my clients, right? And in the Roman
world, what the patrons would call their clients
were phylos. So when he says, you are my friends,
I'm your patron, you are my clients. And what
he does is he invites them into this lifelong
commitment with himself. Where Jesus, the patron,
acts as a broker for the clients and intercedes
with the father. And Jesus' friends are to act
as a proxy or an agent in his absence. But what's
different from the Roman system and novel is
this, that Jesus chooses us, not the other way
around. Because in the Roman system, if you wanted
someone to be your patron, you had to like pledge
fealty to them and like, will you accept, you
know, like you to be my patron? But Jesus says,
nope, you didn't choose me. I chose you. I want
you to benefit from the relationship that you're
going to have with me because of the relationship
that I have with my father. It lifts the client
up. And in this sentence, it's the first time
in the entire book of John that Jesus calls his
disciples friends, and it's the first time that
he calls them slaves. Right? He might use the
word servants or disciples, but friends and slaves.
It's the first time he's called them either one
right here. In the Roman culture, slavery was
a very common thing. It was very different than
how we imagine it in our American context and
chattel slavery in the 1700s and 1800s. It was
a different kind of deal. But a slave in the
Roman culture, you had no horizontal ability
socially. Your relationships really was just
with your master and it was a vertical relationship.
But oftentimes when masters would free their
slaves in the Roman culture, and then the slave,
would then come under the master. The master
is instead of their, now instead of their master,
they're their patron. Now instead of the slave,
they're a client or a phylos. And what this would
do if the master would change that type of relationship
is it would essentially resurrect and give new
social life to the former slave. Because now
as a client and no longer a slave, as a phylos,
as a friend, you now have horizontal access.
to interact with and have relationships with
and live life alongside the people on your same
level. And so what Jesus is doing, as he's saying,
because I am viewing you in this way, I am resurrecting
and I'm giving you new life, not just socially,
but spiritually. Because now you can interact
on the same level no matter what your physical
worldly status is. Because your spiritual one
is that of an equal playing field as defined
by me. Because I am standing in for you. And
I'm representing you. So when Jesus says the
greatest love is to lay down your life for your
friends, he's saying that... The greatest love
is to lay down your life for those who might
actually be beneath you. And there's no reason,
if you look at a worldly point of view, why you
would ever do this. And especially imagine this
Roman culture. They're beneath you. They can't
give you anything. There's no value practically
in it for you. But the only reason why anyone
would do something like this, to actually...
actually be willing to put their life on the
line to give up their life for someone of lower
status than them is simply out of love and recognizing
their value that they inherently have. Because
of the love, because of love, it only makes sense
in the context of Jesus first loving us. By Jesus
being willing to die for us, he declares that
all of us are of the highest value, and therefore
all people are equally deserving of love from
others, leveling the social playing field regardless
of social status. And this is why the rot and
the decay has got to get cut out, because the
ideas of the world will deteriorate the true
love of Jesus in our lives and keep us from bearing
the fruit of relationships built on love, the
one kind of fruit that lasts. Because if we have
the rot and decay and the ideas of how the world
works that are built on anything other than the
fact that the creator of the universe loves you
so much that he'd be willing to die for you even
though there's no reason why he ought to. Any
idea that is built on any foundation other than
that is going to fester and it's going to rot
and it's going to decay and it's going to lead
to destruction. So if you make your home in Jesus,
he'll kill the decay in your life. He promises
to be dependable if you pledge yourself to him.
And your pledge is to follow his command and
love as he loved. And his love is defined by
the willingness to go as far as to die for those
less than himself. And because he's killed the
decay in your life, you can now love as he loved
you, which creates lasting fruit. This fruit
is truly loving relationships that will have
meaning past your life on earth. That means that
you can tell if you're making your home in Jesus
based on the state of your relationships with
others. Are your relationships marked by love?
Not just like the ones that are like easy, like
I love my kids. Like those relationships are
marked by love. Like all things considered, like
there are my hard days, you know, like sometimes
they're punks. Ryder will not stop climbing on
stuff. Like seriously, like I turn my head for
a second and he's just like on like the cabinet
under the TV. I'm like, you're gonna die, get
off there. Right, like. And then he like whines
and you take him off and like, oh, like, right.
But like, that's the worst of it. You know, like
it really, all things considered, it's pretty
easy to love him. It's hard to love the person
who's pretty diametrically opposed to my ideals
or says that like, because I believe what I believe,
I'm a dangerous person. That's hard to love that
person. That's really hard to love them, right?
Or the person who's actually done things to hurt
me or my family. It's really hard to love them.
Jesus doesn't make any carve outs. Be marked
by my love. By this, they're gonna know that
you're my disciples if you love one another.
And using this kind of Roman language implies
that we have a binary choice, right? Because
you can't have two rival patrons that have different
ways of seeing the world who are gonna ask you
to represent different things, right? The big
main patron of this time was Caesar, right? He's
a patron of the whole Roman Empire. Essentially,
like, you're loyal to Caesar, right? He says,
here, I have the whole power of the Roman Empire
behind you. So if someone mistreats you as a
Roman citizen, well, we got the Roman laws and
military and they're gonna come vouch for you.
That's what you get when Caesar's your patron.
But where Caesar promises power to reciprocate
loyalty, Jesus promises love for you to reciprocate
love for others. If you follow my command and
love others, I will love you in the way that
transforms your life. And following the commands
of Jesus and declaring him as your patron ultimately
forsakes Caesar as your patron. And we don't
live with Caesar today, but we live with other
stuff that basically is Caesar. Right? The stand
in today, I mean, just think about it. You have
leaders of political parties. You have social
media platforms and everything they promise us.
You have lucrative careers that promise us a
certain kind of lifestyle. Wellness gurus, sexual
liberators, entertainment corporations, religious
so -called prophets, military strong men, everything
that says be loyal to me, do it my way. Keep
me in power and I'll keep you safe. Or I'll make
your life easier. Or I'll make it more convenient.
The world wants to build relationships around
power dynamics, but Jesus wants to turn those
on their head. He would be willing to die for
those that are seen as below him. Anything that
asks for our loyalty that isn't explicitly marked
by love will only ever keep us from making our
home in Jesus. If you follow the entire course
of what we've talked about, the ultimate thesis
of it is this. If you look at your life and you
can't say that your relationships are marked
by love, then you're not living in Jesus. The
thing is that Christians should be the experts
on relationships and how to live. We should be
the ones on the cutting edge on how to live in
today's world. instead of outsourcing it to the
secular, self -esteem -oriented, self -care -obsessed,
self -gratifying world. The living God is telling
us how to live. We should be the ones who are
out there saying, no, I think I got the answers
for a better life, right? But you can only get
that if you live, if you make your home in Jesus,
if you make your home in the love that he has
for you. And you know how you do that? You obey
his commands. To love one another as I have loved
you. Where worldly relationships are marked by
convenience, gratification, and self -preservation,
true relationships, as Jesus calls us into, are
marked by love and compassion. Are you willing
to be inconvenienced or deny your own interests
for the sake of others? Would you throw away
your smartphone because it keeps feeding you?
Toxic ideas. They're so convenient though. But
those ideas are going to fester. Maybe that's
not where it is. We spend less time on the news
or less time filling your head with certain messages
about how relationships are going to work in
today because they're not based on compassion
and love. But man, gosh, that story is so engaging.
Right? It's enticing. But the message of Jesus
is pretty clear. If we pledge our loyalty to
anything that is not based in love, it is going
to get in the way of Jesus. It's going to steal
our soul. And it's going to cause us to never
be able to bear true lasting fruit in the form
of loving relationships. So what do you represent
and what will I ask of you in return? My final
thing is this, just to wrap it all together,
these four things. What Jesus says is we must
be free of the control of the world in order
to love completely. Making your home in Jesus
is the only way to be free from the world. Loving
like Jesus ultimately gives you meaning in the
form of loving relationships. And if your relationships
and interactions with others are not marked by
love, then you aren't making your home in Jesus
full stop. I'm gonna pray to end our time and
I'm just gonna pray over this passage in 2 Corinthians
chapter five and this is the apostle Paul talking
and what I love about understanding the words
of Jesus is then you look at all of the people
who write after his life and you're like, they're
just riffing on everything he's saying and this
is one of my personal favorite passages in the
whole Bible and Paul just, I think, more eloquently
than I ever could. Talks about what it looks
like to actually do what Jesus is talking about.
So please pray with me. Lord, we ask that you
be in our hearts and help us to believe and live
out these words as Paul so eloquently puts them.
Either way, Christ's love controls us. Since
we believe that Christ died for all, we also
believe that we all have died to our old life.
He died for everyone so that those who receive
his new life will no longer live for themselves.
Instead, they will live for Christ, who died
and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating
others from a human point of view. At one time,
we thought of Christ merely from a human point
of view. How differently we know him now. This
means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become
a new person. The old life has gone. A new life
has begun.