The Church of Eleven22 - S01 E04 - Friends

Episode Date: March 18, 2020

We are wired for relationship. But authentic relationships require intention. In this episode Pastor Joby encourages us to move from rows at church to circles in groups. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. — 1 Corinthians 12:12

Howdy Church, Pastor Joby here once again to just share some devotional thoughts. What I just been praying through this week as we're in this time together is that, you know, the church is not an event. The church is not a building. The church is not a place. The church is a movement. This church is a movement for all people. And so we are the church.

And so you can't cancel church because you can't cancel people called out by Jesus for Jesus. But also, if you're only, experience with this movement is sitting in rows singing and listening to me talk, then you're not doing it right. Again, it's fine if you come and kick the tires a little bit and try to figure out if this is going to be the family that you belong to. But once you're in, then you're in. And the Bible says that if you're in Christ, then you are a part of his body, a member of his body. And so, in fact, 1 Corinthians 12,

it's what Paul teaches the church, that there's one body with many different parts, that Jesus is our head, and then all of us, like, belong to one another. And so if you are a disengaged body part, your future is not good. Like, if you lost a finger, your finger's not going to make it without you.

And if you were not plugged in, and I don't mean just slightly attend some of the events of a church, but if you're not a part of the body, then the future for you is tough. You know that Peter says that the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. And again, the roaring lion always seeks to devour that isolated one. You see, it's times like this in our country and in our city

when we begin to see how important it is to have to have, someone and others in our life. Like, do you have people that are loving you and praying for you? If you run out of toilet paper, do you have any friends that you can call and say, hey, I need a little help? Well, if you have been a part of 1122 for a while and you don't have people in your life that are praying for you,

then you're not doing it right. I want to encourage you. If you've never signed up for a disciple group, then you should get into a disciple group. You can go online right now. We've opened every group. There are no more closed groups. And so you need a band of brothers or sisters

and you can't wait until you really need them to begin to build them. Now is the time. I want you to look at Matthew chapter 26. It's the last week of Jesus' life. And he's just instituted the Lord's Supper. He sits down with his friends, the disciples. They have no idea what's going on.

The Bible says in the book of John, chapter 13, that Jesus, knowing that all things have been put under his authority, he got up from the table. He dressed himself as a servant to demonstrate his love for his disciples. And then he washed his disciples' feet. Peter has a little argument with him because Peter's always going to argue about stuff. And then eventually, Jesus says, I have set for you an example. You will be blessed if you do likewise. us. Now, I don't think he only means you'll be blessed if you serve, period. I think he means you'll be blessed if you have a band of brothers, if you have a group of men or a group of women that you do

life with, and all throughout that life together, you love one another, you pray for one another, you serve for one another, that Jesus says, it's not just random acts of kindness. Dude, random acts of kindness are great and the Christians should be the most not really randomly kind. We should be purposefully kind to one another because God is so kind to us because he poured his grace out on us at the cross. So for sure we should be participating in acts of kindness to people that we don't know all over the place all the time for sure. But Jesus says, I have set for you an example. You should be eating dinner with a group of people, studying the Bible with a group of people, serving that group of people and doing life of that group of people. We call that disciple group. Now again,

it doesn't have to be our disciple group. I don't care at all if it's one of our programs here at 1122. But if you are in Christ, you were designed by a triune God, God, the Father, God, the Son, God, and the Holy Spirit. He was God, the Godhead, is in a perfect love submission relationship with himself. and then we were created in his image, which means we were wired to be in relationships. And most of the relationships that we are in are really aimed that we would benefit from them. But when you get into a Christ-centered fellowship,

a group of people, studying God's word and praying for one another, you begin to learn on a daily and weekly basis what it means to submit to one another. You watch all your words, prayer life begins to change when you pray for the one and others in your group. You watch how your church life, that entire church experience is just different because our big old church, when you think church will begin, you'll first begin to think of the 10 or 12 or

so people that are in your disciple group. You see, we need each other. We need each other. So Jesus institutes the Lord's Supper. Peter makes all kind of promises, I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you. And Jesus is like, well, actually, before the alarm clock goes off in the morning, you're going to deny me three times. And Peter's like, nope, not me, never, ever, ever, ever. And then Jesus leaves the city of Jerusalem where all of that happened. And in Matthew chapter 26, verse 36, and following it says,

and then Jesus went with them to a place called Githemone. Gephsemini is on the other side of the Kidron Valley. It's at the base of the Mount of Olives. Gassimini means crushing, the place of crushing. What happened in the first century when they would make olive oil in these olive presses is there were three crushings. There was the initial crushing, which they would just put olives in a bag and set them up there, and just from the weight of the olives upon themselves,

the extra virgin olive oil would come out. And then they would put it through an olive press, and then there was a third crushing, which the, the, olive would be ground up by this huge stone. Jesus knows the beginning of that night and into the next day that he would be crushed. That like an olive is crushed all the way down to the pit, he knows that under the wrath of God for the forgiveness of sin,

he would be crushed down to the soul level. And so he goes to the Garden of Gathemone, and he says to his disciples, sit here while I go over there and pray. And then check this out. And taking with him, Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and trouble. Now, I don't know if you're familiar with what happens next,

but he says, hey, will you please pray for me? Okay, just pray, pray, pray, pray. And they keep falling asleep. And he goes before the Father, and he says, Father, if there be any other way, let this cup pass from me. The cup that he's talking about is the wrath of God to pay the price for the righteousness of God. And he means the cross.

If there be any other way for people to be reconciled unto you, Father, then let this cup pass from me. In other words, if what most people in the 21st century believe is true, that all roads lead to God, that you could just be good enough or align your chakra or be a good person or pray to whatever God you want. Father, if all roads lead to heaven, if there be any other way, then let's take mine off the table. Seems like an awful waste of my blood on Calvary if all you've got to do is be a pretty good person to get to heaven. And then he says, yet not my will, but your will be done. Jesus himself says that he is sorrowful, even to the point of death,

and then he asked these three, Peter James and John, remain here and watch with me. Then he goes on a little further. Dr. Luke, the gospel writer, lets us know that Jesus' prayers are so intense that he's sweating, drop some blood. Now listen, I don't think it's because he was afraid of the cross physically, though there was a lot to be afraid of. But church history tells us of martyrs who, while standing in the fiery flames of being burned to death,

they would cry out glory to God or sing psalms or those kind of things. There's a story of one martyr in India that while they were skinning him alive, he says, God, I praise you that you would remove this cloak of flesh that I may put on your glory any minute. So we know Jesus is. every bit as tough as those martyrs, if not more. But what Jesus is sorrowful about

is being separated from his father enduring the full wrath of God. So he says, not my will, your will be done. And then if you've been around Bible study, he gets arrested that night. And then the first domino falls that leads all the way to the cross and ultimately the resurrection.

But here's why I was led to this passage, okay? Jesus knowing what he is about to go through at the cross. Jesus knowing that he is at the tipping point of all eternity, the Lamb of God slain for the forgiveness of sin. When Jesus is dealing with that, and he goes into the Garden of Gassimony, and think about, man, Jesus is before all things, that he is preeminent.

All things have been made by him, for him, through him, and to him. Jesus is the Christ, the second person of the Godhead, co-equal and co-eternal with God the Father and God the Spirit. Everything that has been made has come through the words of Jesus, and in the beginning was Jesus, and then one day the word put on flesh, and he dwelt among us. Jesus, the one who reigns on high, the one who will return with sword and horse and trumpet and judgment.

This Jesus, when he gets to this place in his life, He asked some guys, hey, small group, will y'all come pray with me? So if you're not plugged in, I need you to help me understand something. How in the world can we think Jesus, the author and perfector of life, feels like he needs to be surrounded by some people praying for him,

but you think you can do this Christian life on your own? See, I don't think you're doing it right. And I think because of all of the things going on in our world, now with quarantines and no large gatherings and the fact that 1122 we're moving online for just until we can get together to meet again, I think this would be the perfect opportunity for you to take that step forward by faith and say, all right, you know what, sitting in one of these rows is not enough. I need to be in circles with men or women that love me, with people that are serving me and that I serve them that are praying for me and I pray for them so that when I go

through the toughest times in my life, I've got two or three people that I can immediately say, hey, you, you, and you, will you come and remain with me as I seek the Lord in this place in my life? Church of 1122, I need you to trust me on this. I need you to trust me. Is that God has designed you for these kind of relationships. And if you're not in these kind of gospel-centered, Christ-fueled relationships with brothers and sisters in Christ, then you're missing out. And not only that, not only are you missing out

on what those groups could have for you, but we've got all kind of groups here at our church and they are missing out because you are contributing your part there. So in this time where, at least this weekend, we can't get together at our physical campuses, would you take a step?

And would you join up with a part of the body that we call disciple group? It's pretty simple. You can go online. You can join a group. You can find out where it is. You can begin to show up. And I promise you. Like Jesus said, I have set for you an example. You will be blessed if you do likewise. Would you pray with me? Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank you for the family that is the church. And Lord, I thank you for the brothers and the sisters that are a part of 1122. And Lord, I just pray for the men and women or the students that have not taken that step to get you.

connected. Lord, I pray they would. Lord, I pray Holy Spirit that you would just make it very, very clear that we need each other. And if Jesus needed people praying with and for him, then we for sure need people praying with and for us. And so God, in a sense, I thank you that this weekend we can't all meet together the way we are accustomed to. And I pray that Spirit of God, that you would use this non-normal weekend to drive us to a new normal. That just like the early church did in the book of Acts, that we would gather together in the temple courts, Lord, we would gather together at all of our facilities on weekends when we're able to again, and that we would meet house to house, break bread together, study the apostles' teaching, and pray for one another.

We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you, church.