Love On Another

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to the Met Church podcast. Here at the Met, we are all about connecting people to God and one another. If you have any questions or want more information about what's happening here at the church, then head to our [email protected] we would love to stay connected with you throughout the week through social media, so be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter now. Enjoy the message. [00:00:24] Speaker B: Well, good morning, everybody. It's great. Good to be back. Good to see you. I've been out a couple of weeks, had surgery on my eyes. So you're still a little blurry, but that might be a good thing. I don't know what this is going to be like with my notes, but I can tell you this, you all have a halo around you this morning. So when was the last time you went to church and you could leave and say, the pastor said I had a halo around me in church this morning. So you do. But it's great to see you guys. It's such a wonderful thing to have school back in session now football season is back. Isn't that great? So we're so excited about this time of the year. And I wanna thank those of you who have responded to my end of summer email and have been giving in that special offering. Thank you for that. We do what you do at your home when the budget gets tight, we tighten the budget. And so we do that. We make those adjustments so the church can be healthy. And so thank you for helping us with that offering and I am so appreciative of you. We have so many incredible people who are part of our church family. Last night, one of our couples there have a ranch west of Fort Worth and they've been involved in Rainers. You know what the Rayners are, that discipline of horse shows. And Cole and Kelsey have been a part of the Rainers for several years. In fact, they won the million dollar run in the Las Vegas a few years ago. Guess what? Last night they won it again. The million dollar run in Las Vegas. And so I'm so proud of them. Wanted to share that with you. So I'm gonna tell them when you come back and I'll see you at church again. See that little dot in front of your chair? That will link you to a giving link. And so. No, I'm serious. Well, I am serious, but I am very proud of them. I'm very proud of them. And then on the other end of the spectrum, while we're rejoicing with some of our members who are rejoicing we're also weeping with some members who are weeping. The Alford family, Little Matthew. Many of you know the health challenges that their son has had for many years. Well, they had to put him on hospice care yesterday. And so I was there at the hospital with them, been praying with them. A lot of our staff have been ministering to him. Many of you love them. Some of their small group is here this morning. And so he doesn't have much longer to be with us. But sometimes God heals people by taking them home. And so I hope you'll remember to pray for the offered family. And that's what we do as a church family, right? We care for one another, we love one another, we pray for one another. And that's what a church should be all about. In fact, that's what this series is all about. The power of one. We're looking at the times that Jesus gave a command to his church, of how a church is to act and to react to one another. In fact, when you look in the Bible, and particularly in the New Testament, that's directed to the church, there are 59 times where Jesus gives this command. Now, it's not a recommendation, it's not a suggestion. These are commands that Jesus has given to his church. Now, when I speak of the church, we want to understand who he's talking to. Because in the New Testament, there is a church that is universal, universal church. Now, what do I mean by that? I mean a church universal involves everyone who knows Jesus Christ as their savior. Whether you are a part of our orphanage in Uganda, they are a part of that church. Whether you are in Belize and a part of our mission group in Belize, you are a part of that church. Anyone who knows Jesus Christ as their personal savior is a part of the church or another word, the body of Christ. So there is a sense in which the church is universal, that we are connected with one another. Regardless of our geographical location, we're in the body of Christ. So that is a meaning of the word church. And then another meaning of the word church that you see in the New Testament is this Greek word, ekklesia. Ekklesia. And it is a church that is not universal. It is a church that is local, an identifiable body of Christ. When you get to the Book of Revelation, you see the letters that were written to local churches. It was the church at Ephesus and the church at Thyatira and the church at Colossae and the church at Smyrna. So these were letters written to particular churches. If he was Writing, he would say it is the church in Fort Worth, or at Fort Worth, the Met Church, or other churches that are sister churches that are here. So there is a church that is universal. And if you know Jesus as your Savior, you are a part of this universal church. And then there is a church that is local. And I would say everyone who knows Jesus ought to be a part of a local assembly, a called out Ekklesia, a gathering, a church. And you are assembled this morning in a church. Now, what's unique about church is there's no two churches that are quite alike. We preach the same Bible, we love the same Jesus Christ, we have the same indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. But God has uniquely gifted churches for a specific purpose. Every church you go to, you may find that we're doing similar songs, pastors are doing similar messages. We're preaching from God's word. But every church will be unique in what they offer. They have emphasis in one area. Some churches do some things better than others. Some churches excel in different ways. So every church, when you think about it, is a unique expression of who God is. Now, this is our 30th year as a local church. And when Cindy and I and about 25 of our friends started this church down at Carroll High School, we really did have this vision and this idea of what God might do in and through this local church. And there weren't many in that time frame doing ministry quite the way we were doing it. You had Fellowship Church with Ed, and they had been around for a while doing great things. You had White's Chapel United Methodist, and they were about to branch into a more contemporary service. And they've done that very well. But when you get outside of one or two, maybe other churches, we were unique. I mean, if you liked this style of ministry, you came here because there wasn't a lot of other places to go. And. And over the course of 30 years, there's been a lot of different choices that people have when it comes to churches. They're springing up all the time. When you go to the car this morning, in a little while, there may be a church in the parking lot that wasn't there when you came in. You gotta swerve to get home or you'll hit a church. So they're everywhere. I'm not critical. I'm just simply saying that when we started 30 years ago, that wasn't the case. That's why, man, we were unique. And at one point we had to grow to six services. Cause we just couldn't get every. We were greasing and squeezing people in there, man. We couldn't get them in. Our church grew up. We were doing over 6,000 in our weekend services. And it was incredible to see how God was blessing the life of the church. But churches ebb and flow. And as the area has grown, God has brought more churches into this area that are very unique, which makes it challenging for people who are looking for a new church home. That's why I tell people men, and I know you are, but I emphasize the fact men make that a matter of prayer. We sincerely. If you're looking for a church and you're kicking the tires this morning, I want you to be where God wants you to be. If God wants you to be here, I want you to be here. If you don't feel this is your church, I want him to lead you to the place that you should be, where you can serve and grow in your faith. Now, here's what I will tell you this caveat. There are no perfect churches. There are no perfect pastors. You're not gonna find a perfect church. If you ever find a perfect church, don't join it. You will mess that thing up. So you just wanna find a church that you just feel. And sometimes you may have to attend for a while. Cause probably everybody that's been in church, you've got a bad church experience. My dad was a pastor. I've grown up in church. I'll put my story right up against yours. We both have reasons to never go to another church again. I've had trust issues with church. Believe me, I understand. When people say, I've been hurt in church, I say, me too. I understand. I get it. And I would tell people also, if you've never been hurt in church, you just didn't go long enough. Hang in there, baby. Somebody will run you down to the glory of God. Churches are imperfect institutions. We are imperfect. We wouldn't be here this morning if we thought we were perfect. We're here because we know we aren't. And we're just striving to be everything God would have us to be as leaders in a church. To live with integrity, to. To be the people of God, to genuinely be authentic. I wanna be the guy you see here. When you see me out in the lobby or out on the street, I'm that same guy. And so the authenticity of a church is something that is so significant. And I am praying that God will continue. As we move past our 30th year into the fall, you're gonna be hearing about some exciting things next weekend as we kick off our expo, where we're talking about all the ministries that are happening in the life of the church, giving you an idea where you might be able to plug in. And we're challenging people to become involved in the life of the church. I guess what I'm saying is what we're really not looking for necessarily is more members. Now, stay with me. We're looking for more ministers. We want people to see their value. You bring something to this church that we didn't have before you got here, you will minister to people that I will never know. We have people in all kinds of professions. We have people in legal profession and medical profession. We have educators in the room. We have business owners in the room. We have people who are in all kinds of trades and all different professions and walks of life. You guys will minister to people that I will never know. And so I want you to see yourself as a minister. Which comes back to the series. I want to see yourself as fulfilling the command that Jesus gave to this local church. What is a local church? It's comprised of people. Now, in the Old Testament, God had a temple for his people. In the New Testament, get this, God has a people for his temple. In other words, we are the temples of the Holy Spirit. Old Testament temple for his people. New Testament people are his temple. We are the temples of the Holy Spirit. And I would ask this question, as I'm evaluating and assessing my involvement in a church, I'd ask this question, this is a telling question. What kind of church would this church be if every member were just like me? How loving would it be? How forgiving would it be, how giving would it be? How involved would it be? And here's why I say that. Because a local church will be no more, stronger, will be no stronger than the people who are a part of that local church. And so these ideas, these concepts, I would even call them virtues that he has commanded for us as his people to fulfill through the ministry of the local church. To are important. We started last week, Corey talked about the importance of forgiving one another, being compassionate to one another, being kind to one another. How important that this morning I'm gonna talk about loving one another. And as I was reading through these 59 commands that God has given to the church, I thought I had a thought. I thought, I think I can do this. I think I can do. I'm just being honest. I'm thinking, I'm thinking. I think, I think I can do that. And then I started thinking about some of the people that I know and how that affects my relationships with them. Do you have certain people in your life? You love them, but you may not like them. You know, somebody said to dwell above with saints we love, oh, that will be glory. But to dwell below with saints we know, well, that's another story. And I'm saying the challenges of these 59 one anothers are to people, not just people that we get along with, it's people you may not get along with, not with just people that you love, but it's people that you like. And the Bible is simply saying that we, as a church family, we will be known as we're going to see a moment by the love that we lavish, by the life that we live. And so it is so important that we consider this command love. In fact, look with me in John, the Gospel of John. Look at verse. I've got a couple of passages I want you to look at. But first look at John 13, verses 34, 35. Now understand, when Jesus spoke these words and John records them for us under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he was in the upper room hours before his death, and he's telling them something that he wants them to do. He's telling them really kind of the last words that he will give to his apostles before he is betrayed and arrested, tried and crucified. And here's what he said. Look at verse 34, a new command I give you. Now look, it's not new in the sense that they never heard him say this. In fact, if you look back in Leviticus 17, as far back as Leviticus, God had said this. So Jesus is not repeating. It isn't new in the sense that, that they haven't heard this. It's new in the sense that they've never really done this. And so he's saying, look, a new command I give you. Here it is. Love one another. Well, how, what's the standard? What does that look like? As I've loved you. How did God love me? How does God love you? Unconditionally. He loves us eternally. Have you ever thought about it? And let me just put a little parentheses here, we'll pick that up in just a second. Have you ever thought about, there's not one thing you could do this morning to make God love you more? Not one. And conversely, there's not one thing you could do this morning to make God love you any less. He loves you. And so here John is, he is repeating the words of Jesus as I have loved you so. You must note. Now note how emphatic he is. You must love one another. Here's the benefit. Look at verse 35. By this will all men know that you are truly my disciples. If you love one another, you say, by this will all men know you are my disciples. If you are, you know, doctrinally pure. That's not what he said. Not that. That's not important. He didn't say, by this shall all men know you are my disciples. If you know, you build great buildings, and buildings are necessary. We need buildings. He didn't say that. He said, the thing that's going to make you unique as a church, an ecclesia. The thing that will make you unique is how you love one another, how you treat one another. Then go to 1 John, chapter 4, if you will. Again, this is John writing. And notice what John says. Beloved, let us love one another. Why? For love is of God. And everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God. For God is love. Note now. In this love, in this love of God, it was manifested toward us that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him in this love. Not that we love God, but that he loved us. He sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Propitiation is the satisfaction of. For the justice of God on sin. He satisfied that he's the propitiation of our sins. So, beloved, if God so loved us, and he did, and he does, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us. And his love has been perfected or completed or matured in us. So you see the emphasis that John is placing on this idea of that you and I are to love one another. In fact, Jesus said in Matthew that it is the greatest command. There was a lawyer that questioned Jesus one time, and he was trying to entrap him. And he said to him, master, what is the greatest command? And Jesus said, all of the commandments could be wrapped up in this. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. Love your neighbor as yourself. When you think about the Ten Commandments, about four of them are directed to how we love one another. About six of them are directed to how we love. And what he's saying is, if I loved you the way I should, I would never violate a command against you. If I love God the way I should, I would never violate a command against him. So you see the significance of love. It keeps us in the right relationship with God. And as we are in right relationship with God, we are in right relationship with one another. And again, I go back to that. Guys, this is a command that Jesus has given to his church that we're to love each other. Well, let's break it apart for all my note takers. What then would be a great definition of love? What is he driving at? How could love be defined? Well, the Greek language, which you have, your new testament, is written in Greek. They were. They had at least four words, maybe five that denoted love. In our English language, we just have that one word. And so we have to use nuance and we have to use context so people know how we mean love. You may say, I love my children. And you may say, I love fried chicken. Well, you don't love fried chicken the way you love your children. But we get the point. It's the same word, but you use it in a different context. I love my spouse. I love football. Well, you know, again, you're using it in a different context. Well, when it came to the Greeks, the Greeks had different. For example, one of the words that denoted love was erosion. Eros. We get the English word erotic from that word. It is the idea of a physical love. Eros. And then you have this word storge. Storge. That is a word that denotes a fondness of an affinity for someone. You may work with someone that you don't know them very well, but your impression of them. They're a nice person. I work with them. I say hi every morning. We talk a little bit and we pass each other. But they're great. From what I know about them. They maybe a neighbor. You don't know them that well, but they're good people and they wave and they, you know, they take care of their place. And they seem to do really well. Storge. You have an affinity for an affection of that person, Then you have. The next level is phileo. We get the city, Philadelphia. We get that word from that word. It is brotherly love. It is a connection that you have with someone who is a friend more than an acquaintance. And if you're blessed with those kind of people in your life, you're blessed indeed. Where you have people that you know, but then there are those friends that you have in your life. Phileo. Phileo. That's a friendship. And then the highest level of love is what he's talking about here. This is why this is important that we understand. He's saying agape. Agape. It is God's love. And think about God's love. God's love is not based upon performance. God's love is not based upon position. God's love is not based upon our possession. God doesn't say, I love you if provided I love you, provided you do this, that, or the other thing. In other words, if you can live up to the standards that I've set, then I will love you. It's not based on that. In fact, if you want to see a proof for what I just said, look at Romans 5:8. Romans 5:8 says, While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Christianity is not behavior modification. God does not change a person so that he may then love that person. He loves a person so that he might then change that person. God loves us just as well. Remember that old hymn? Just as I am without one plea but that your blood was shed for me. O Lamb of God, I come. That's how you come to. You come to Jesus. Just that you are. And when you come to him, he doesn't look back at you and say, well, if. If you need to do that or. Or he doesn't say, because I love you. Because you bring something to the table. You're talented, you're gifted. I need you on my team, man. We might do big things in my church if I had you. No, it's not that at all. In fact, another old hymn said in my hand, no price I bring simply to the cross. I cling. Paul said, if I glory anywhere, I glory under the cross. Look, we don't bring much to the table. Isaiah said, you gotta remember the rock from which you were hewn and the pit from which you were digged. In other words, we just come to Jesus saying, God, I'm broken. I'm sinful, I'm lost. I'm imperfect. I'm flawed. And God just says, I'll take you just like you are. I don't love you if you do this. And I don't love you because I love you. Here it is. In spite of. That's the love of God. Well, if we are to love as he loves, then how are we to love people? We don't love them if they do certain things. And we don't love them because they've done certain things. We love them in spite. What is the church to be like? The church is to be a welcoming place. The church is to be a place where we reach out to lost people. And we love the lost because that's who he died for. He died for the lost. And sometimes we get into these churches that I would call them conclaves of the completely convinced. And we forget where God has brought us. And if you're not careful as a Christ follower, you can begin to look down your nose at other people who were where we once were. You see, as someone as well said, we all sin. We just sin differently. And the part of the church is to be the hands and feet of Jesus and man. When you look at Jesus, do you know one of the things they said about him? They said, he's a friend of sinners. Now, they meant that as a criticism, but I tell you, it's one of the greatest compliments they ever could have paid to the Son of God that he was a friend to sinners, meaning that he had redemptive relationships with people who did not know him. What are Christians to do when we break out of this holy huddle? We ought to have redemptive relationships with people who do not know Jesus. We ought to love those people and we ought to pray for the opportunity to share Jesus with those people. As I've told you before, your life and mine might be the only Bible someone ever reads. The only picture of Jesus somebody might ever see is a picture they see lived out through me. That's why I would tell all the students in the room, you've got friends that you're meeting at school who don't know Jesus. And the only Jesus they may ever see is the Jesus they see in you. And so as you are building redemptive relationships. Relationships, then you're opening the door for an opportunity to share your faith with Jesus concerning Jesus, I should say so. The church is to love people as God loved people. And when you look at John 3:16, he said God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him would never perish but have everlasting life. So this is the love that is defined. Let me give you the second thought. And that is a love that is developed. This is not something we naturally possess. To love people the way I've just described isn't natural. It's not natural. The natural thing is to love people who love you back. And believe me, they're easier to love. Wouldn't you agree? Isn't it easier to love somebody that loves you back? They love you and they think you're the funniest person to ever live. You go, I love that guy. I love. It's easy to love people that love You. But that's not what he's driving at. He's saying, we are. We are to love the unlovable and that. Listen, that's just not natural. The spirit of the world is to get all you can. Can all. You get set on the lid and spoil the rest. And it's just not natural. It is not natural to love people with this kind of love. So my point is it has to be developed. It has to be developed. We have to learn how to. It isn't natural, it's supernatural. So it's something that God has to develop in my life. And the beautiful thing about this is the person writing this. John was not always a loving person. When you first meet John in the Bible, the first mention of John, it's in Mark 10, verse 37. First time you see about. You know what John, you know what his nickname was? You ready for this? The son of thunder man. He was a mess. And when you study the things we know about him in scripture, you see, wow, he was presumptuous. When he came to Jesus, he said, I wanna sit on your right hand or on your left hand. In other words, I don't wanna just be on the team. I wanna be the captain of the team. I don't wanna just work in the organization. I wanna lead the organization. I don't want to just. I don't want to be a part of this group. I want to have a title. That's how he came in. He came in hot. And so he was a man who was presumptuous. You look in Mark, chapter three, you see that he was arrogant, he was unloving. In Luke, chapter nine, whenever he's following after Jesus and they were going to cut through some land that belonged to the Samaritans and. And the Samaritans and the Jews didn't get along at all. And so the Samaritans said, you Jewish people aren't coming across our property. You're going to have to go around. Which was way out of the way. You know what John the son of Sunder said? That's hard to say. Son of thunder, he said, jesus, why don't we just call fire down and burn them out? Isn't that sweet? Let's just call it an airstrike. I mean, Jesus, you've got the power. Burn them out. They're not accepting of you. They're intolerant. So think about it. He was presumptuous. He was arrogant, he was intolerant, he was unloving. I mean, in Luke, chapter 9, verse 50. He saw other Christ followers doing ministry in a different way. They were casting out demons in a way that he didn't think it should be done. And he said, why don't you tell them to stop? And Jesus looked at him and said, john, if they're not against us, they're for us. I'm not gonna tell them. Well, they do hymns or they do contemporary music. They're not like us, they're different than us. And so they're doing it wrong. And Jesus had to call him out. He had to say no. He said, if they're worshiping sincerely and they're doing it with all their heart, I'm not gonna call em out. They're not doing anything. They're just different. They're not wrong. But what's my point? The point I'm driving at is when you meet John, he's not loving. This had to be developed. This wasn't natural. The natural tendency of him was to be self centered and selfish and look out for number one and not be open to loving other people, especially people who are very different from him. So John had to change. And man, when you read Revelation 1:10 and you see the words that he speaks here. He said, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, five times in the Gospel of John, you hear John say of himself, I'm the one Jesus loves. In Acts chapter 8. This is astounding. In Acts 8, 14, 15. Listen to this. He's praying that the Samaritans will know Jesus. Wait a minute. The same Samaritans that he said, let's call fire down from heaven and burn em out. Cause they wouldn't let em go across their land. Yeah, same group, same man over here. He's saying, let's burn them out, let's send them to hell, let's just write them off. And Jesus said, chill it John. Loosely, with your hands laid. Just hang on, slow your roll there bud. And John changed. And now when you get to Acts, he's saying, lord, save these people, Lord, change their life, Lord, love them. I want to be in heaven with these people one day. What happened to John? This love was developed in him. How is that love developed? It's in the text that I just read. He said, when we abide in him, when you abide in him, if you abide in Jesus, you dwell with him, you remain close to him, you walk with Him. How do you abide in Jesus? It's this metaphor of I walk with Him, I work with Him, I live for Him. I love him. I lean into him. I listen for him. I'm abiding in him. I start my day with Jesus, and I continue my day with Jesus, and I end my day with Jesus. And what happens when you are spending that much time with Jesus? He begins to develop you and a process begins to happen. When he is slowly but surely conforming you into the image of his son, he's developing you. He can take a cold heart and make it warm. He can take a hard heart and make it soft. He can take an indifferent heart and make it loving. He can take a selfish heart and make it giving. The answer is to change the heart. So many times pastors in my profession and other church leaders get frustrated because they don't see maybe the development in the life of church people that they feel that they should see. And they see people living on such a low level compared to where God would have them be. And the tendency is to try to manipulate them or manufacture spiritual growth that doesn't rest with them. And sometimes, and I've been a part of churches like this, my dad was a pastor. In frustration, a pastor will preach a hard message thinking he's gonna change people. And I don't know that that works. If they're not generous. I don't know just beating them up over a lack of generosity is gonna change anything. I don't know if they're loving. Just shouting at them that you're unloving is gonna change everything. Why? Cause it's a heart issue. It's a heart issue. So what I've learned and tried to do in my style of ministry is I try to preach to the hearts of people. Because I know when you as a Christ follower, when I as a Christ follower, when we are walking with Jesus, he begins to transform our heart. So I'm not doing it because my church said I should. And I'm not doing it cause my pastor demands, you know, that I. It's not that I'm doing it because this is what God is leading me to. I want to be loving and I want to be generous and I want to serve and I want to make a difference because it's my heart. And I'm telling you, man, people can pick it up pretty quick if you don't have a heart for them. People can pick up inauthenticity. That was a hard one. Really quick. And there's just a vibe they get. They can almost tell there's just something off with this person or with this place. Because all a church is, is the collective group of individuals. And when we as individuals aren't genuinely loving, it will become who we are, our identity collectively. And people pick up on that. That's why Jesus said, by this will, all men know you are my disciples because you love each other. How has it developed? Just dwell in him this morning. It's nothing to be ashamed of. If you say, I'm not as loving as I know I need to be, I know it's a heart issue. It's a heart issue. That's all it is. I'm like going to your cardiologist this morning and I'm just telling you, okay, you've self identified this. It's a heart. Okay, that's all right. Here's the prescription. Abide in Jesus, get in his word. Be a part of our group that's reading through the scripture. Just get in his word. Begin to pray. You say, I don't really know how to pray, but what do you worry about? Pray about that you'll learn how to pray. Some of you will be prayer warriors. I mean, you got a lot to worry about, right? Abide in me. And when you abide in him, he will develop the love. Here's the last one. And we'll go home. This love that is defined and this love that is developed in this text, thirdly, is a love that should be demonstrated. Demonstrated. Can I go back to kind of where I started in John 13? That passage I told you that was in the upper room. You remember what happened when they got to the upper room? You remember one of the astonishing things Jesus did the minute the boys got up there? He washed Simon Peter's feet. Now, I'm not saying break off the shoes and wash your neighbor's feet. I'm talking about a principle. I think everybody ought to wash their feet, by the way. But I think there's a different principle here he's driving at. It was an act of service. And there was a spiritual connotation. Back in that day, if you were invited to a dinner at a neighbor's house, at a friend's house, it was customary that the tables were probably about 18 inches from the floor. They had oversized pillows around the table. Some of you interior decorators in here would love that look. And they had these oversized pillows around the table. And what you would do when you came to the house, they would have somebody there, a family member. If you were a wealthier person, you might even have a staff member. And they would be there. There would be two basins of water. One basin of water would be you wash your hands. The other basin of water is you would wash your feet. And the reason you washed your feet is because the typical footwear of the day were sandals. And you walked on those stony, dusty roads and your feet would get dirty. And the reason you wanted clean feet is because you're gonna be sitting at a table or at a table, reclining on a pillow, and your feet are gonna be in close proximity to the face of, of your dinner partner. So they're gonna be very interested in you having clean feet. So it was just part of the custom and it was part of civilized society. You wash your hands and for God's sake wash your feet. But when you get to the upper room, there's no one at the door. And those guys were so preoccupied with the idea that Jesus is going to leave us and where will that put us? They were so self centered with what their life was gonna look like without him, they don't even notice that. And when you read the context of the upper room, they just go and take their places around the table, ready to eat and hear what Jesus had to say. And Jesus goes and gets to the basin with the towel and he starts with Simon Peter, who was the loudest in the group. And he began to wash his feet. And Simon Peter was so humbled and convicted that the Savior, the Lord would wash his feet. He said, lord, no, you don't know. My goodness, you don't need to do that. And Jesus said, if I don't wash your feet, you can't fellowship with me. I'm not gonna sit here and eat with you and break bread with you with them nasty feet. But there was another level of meaning to that because Simon responded and said, well man, if you're gonna break fellowship, just wash me all over. I don't want you to break fellowship. And Jesus said, no, you don't need to be washed all over. You're already clean. I just need to cleanse the part of you that comes in contact with the dirty world at your feet. Now what was he saying? If I'm gonna fellowship with you, you're going to dwell with me. You gotta keep your feet clean. That means that part of me and that part of you that touches a dirty world every day, it's gonna get dirty. I'm gonna say things that aren't real. Sanctified. I'm gonna think thoughts that aren't real. Wonderful. And so I know that I'm gonna sin. 1 John 1:9 says, we confess our sin. He's faithful and just to forgive Us, our sin cleanse us from all unrighteous. So when I confess my sin as a Christ, it doesn't affect my relationship. I'm already clean. I received him as my Savior. I was washed in the blood to the price he paid on the cross. I just need the part of me that comes in contact with this dirty world cleansed. And that's my feet. And that affects my fellowship with him. And ladies and gentlemen, one of the ways whereby we demonstrate the love of God is we walk with him and we live in an examined life. And we say, lord, as far as I know, there's nothing between me and you that would keep you from developing your love in and through me. And Father, help me to love people as you love them. And I'm telling you guys, if we could get just a core of our church that really caught the significance of loving people, it would change everything about our church. It would change the entire culture. And I don't want to manipulate it. I don't want to try to manufacture it. Look, I am tired of that. When we started the church, you know, we used to think, well, you gotta have a gimmick. You gotta have a hook to get people. I'm not critical of some of these guys that use gimmicks and hooks, but I'm tired of juggling and swallowing swords to get people to come to church. You know what I'm saying? And I think most people are tired of seeing that too. I think most people just wanna go where there's some authenticity, where the worship is genuine, where the message is practical, where the vibe of the church is authentic. And one of the things that I love about what we do is we demonstrate the love of God through what we do for hurting people. Again, I'm closing, so this is my second close. So you really know I'm right there at the line. So we're about done here. Our largest home missing is our CRC. A lot of things have changed over 30 years. One of the things is, in my home, things have changed. The girl that was with me when we started this thing isn't with me today. And one of the great joys of my life was to see that facility named in her honor in her memory. And through that facility, we are seeing, and I'm not exaggerating, I know some pastors said, don't exaggerate. I've told you a million times, we're seeing literally thousands of lives touched and changed every week through that home mission called the crc. And it's not just about Providing food, it's providing resources. We're trying to help people get out of the circumstance that they found themselves in. But as a church, we don't want anyone to come to us broken and hurting and needing help that we turn away. Most churches have a heart to help people. They just don't have the resources. And we struggle a little bit that as well. But we took a big step of faith a few years ago, and we said, you know, we're gonna refi the church to bring the note, price the payment down, and the difference in that payment will be enough to where we could build a $4 million building. And just believing God, that this building could be dedicated to helping hurting people. And that's what we did. And hundreds of you volunteer, and if you doubt what I'm saying, just sign up some week and come see it for yourself. They took care of nearly 700 families yesterday. It looked like chick fil a on steroids out there. I mean, wow. It's incredible. And I don't know how many of you saw this. We had two little boys that had a lemonade stand, and those two little boys brought this past week, a little baggie full of cash. And they said, this is the proceeds of our lemonade stand, and we're gonna give that to the work of the crc. Holy cow, man. That was amazing. It's not the amount, it's the heart. I pray those little boys will be Fortune 500 owners one day. And God would just bless those little boogers. I love that, man. All right, my third closing now. I've been out a couple of weeks. I got a lot to say. I don't have anybody home to talk to. So I'm going to talk to you for a minute. Using up my words. And men, we don't have as many words, do we? So, you know, I'm really needing to talk, but I'm just saying, I don't know how long God's going to leave me here. I'm 68. I'll be 68 in a couple of months. I really. I hope and pray somebody said, well, Bill, now that's when he's in heaven. Do you think he'd retire at some point? And I've thought about it, and I thought, as long as people are showing up to hear what I have to say, I think I'll just keep doing it. I don't know what else to do. I just, you know. And those of you that are worn out with me are going, don't encourage him. He's that Close, but it's just a thing where you get tired of the ebb and flow. You get tired of the stress and the pressures as you do in your stuff. But what else am I gonna do? Sit around, look at horses and longhorns for the rest of my life? I mean, as fun as that is, it wouldn't be as fulfilling for me. I wanna spend the next 10 to 15, if God gives me that long, just pouring into people. I don't wanna work people. I just wanna preach God's word and I wanna see what people will take that word and apply it in their lives and begin to help people who are hurting. Nothing would bless me more than to see this church genuinely be the church that helps the hurting, that draws people to Jesus. One of these statements that I've heard, and I know you've heard it said before, people do not care how much you know until they know how much you care. Jesus said, by this will all men know you are my disciples if you love one another. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your word. Your word, as Isaiah said, never returns void. It always accomplishes the purpose for which it was sent. Father, now that we've heard your word, I pray we'll examine our own heart. And that we'll ask ourselves as we walk from this room this morning, what kind of church would the Met Church be if every member were just like me? How loving would we be? How giving would we be? How forgiving would we be? How serving would we be? How effective would the ministry be if everyone were just like me? And then to realize, I am the church. I am part of this fellowship, and God has commanded that I love one another. So, Father, develop that kind of love. I pray you'll develop in me a greater, deeper, stronger capacity to love people. Father, I pray you'll move in the hearts of your people like never before. In our 30th year, I pray, Father, for those who may not know you as Savior, that this might be the moment where they swallow their prayers and they say, lord Jesus, just as I am, I come to you. I receive you as my Savior, and with all that I know about me, I trust all that I know about you. Come into my heart, forgive my sin, and I'll give you thanks and praise in Jesus name. Amen. [00:43:41] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.