The Church of Eleven22 - S02E09 - Bear With One Another in Love

Episode Date: June 7, 2021

² with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³ eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. - Ephesians 4:2-3 Are you eager for division and point out what everyone else is doing wrong, or are you eager to maintain unity by showing grace?

Welcome to Deepen with Pastor Joby Martin. The Church of 1122 is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. And we're praying this message helps you deepen your relationship with him. Now let's dive in. Hey, church family. Welcome back to Deepin as we continue to dive into kind of this cross-pollination between where we are in the Gospel of John in our weekend services and one of the 59 one another's. that we find in the scriptures.

It continues to just weigh on me that in the New Testament, 59 times we are commanded to one another, one another. And so this past weekend, we were walking through the end of chapter four and the beginning of chapter five in the Gospel of John, where there's actually two healings.

But if you'll remember in that second healing, the healing by the pool of Bethesda, Jesus walks up to a man and there's a whole bunch of people hanging out at these pools. And the reason that they're hanging out there is because there's this myth or this legend that an angel would stir the water and whoever got in first was healed. And so Jesus walks up to a guy who apparently has been laying there for 38 years,

really, really long time. And he's asked him this very significant question. We spent some time on it this weekend. And the question is this, do you want to be healed? Which is a significant question. And this man, he responds not with, of course I do, or yes, I do, but he responds with a bunch of excuses as to why he can't get into the water. And one of the things that we talked about is some people don't actually want to be healed. Because if Jesus was to take away their pain,

if Jesus was to heal the wound that they have identified themselves by, then it would remove their excuse for bad behavior. It would remove their excuse for always being down in the dumps. And so there are some people that don't want to be healed. Now, here's the thing. Here's the way I see it. And obviously, I'm not Jesus, but I think if I had the power to heal, and I went up to a man and ask him, do you want to be healed? And the first thing that he began to speak back at me sounded like entitlement, sounded like excuses. sounded like, man, well, it's not my fault. I am just telling you my instinct would be to move on to him and find somebody else to heal.

But thank God, that is not how Jesus treated this man. And thank God, that is not how Jesus treats you or I. I mean, think about this. How patient is the Lord with you? Because he's going to tell this man, take up your mat and walk. And one of the things we covered, in the service this weekend is why in the world did Jesus tell this man to take up his mat? But the reality is, is because Jesus wanted everyone to know who this man is

and that his past was not going to define his future. But what Jesus did in his life was going to define his future. And one of the things that we said is how silly would it be for a man that could walk to lay back down on the mat that he was laying on for 38 years? Because that's a pretty nasty man. And how silly is it when you and I bought and redeemed sons and daughters? of the most high God, begin to go back to our old lifestyles and old temptations and do the things we used to do before we knew Jesus. It would be as crazy as a man that could walk laying down

on an invalance mat. And yet, even when we do that, and you know what I'm talking about, right? Like, do you ever struggle with the same thing over and over and over? Like Jesus has healed you, and yet when he walks back up into your life one day, he sees you laying back down in that same filth. and how patient is God with us. He is so patient with us. And yet, in the events we read about, how impatient were the religious leaders with the man that was healed.

So in light of that, which one are you? Are you more like Jesus, patient with one another? Or more like the religious leaders, impatient with one another? Which leads us to our one another. in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 2 the Bible says this be patient bearing with one another in love so just for a little context Ephesians chapter 4 says this verse 1 this is Paul speaking he says I therefore and anytime the Bible says therefore you want to see what the therefore is therefore and the therefore is there for and the

therefore is there because in chapter 3 what Paul is doing is he celebrating how good God is by his work in and through the church. He says, I give you and you alone glory because you have done exceedingly more than we ever hoped or imagined through you in the church. And so because of what God is doing in and through his people

and in and through his body, Paul says, I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. in other words you as the church have been called to do far more abundantly than you ever hoped to imagine that like the man at the pool of Bethesda once you meet Jesus then then you are to walk differently you don't lay down on that mat anymore you don't lay back down in that sin anymore why

because you can walk you have been healed so take up your mat and walk that the gospel changes the way we live, the gospel changes the way we walk. This is called progressive sanctification. So he says, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling of which you've been called. First two, with all humility, like you didn't get yourself off the mat, with all humility and gentleness with patience, bearing with one another in love. You see this? So Jesus has healed a bunch of us, right? Like hopefully most everybody in your disciple group, the majority of the people that come to our church, we were laying in the filth of our sin, and through the good news that the gospel of Jesus Christ, Jesus has healed us from that sin and shame and said, get up and walk. And yet what Paul says is as you

were walking in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ, you are going to be walking amongst brothers and sisters, and we have a tendency to stumble and fall down. We have a tendency to lay back down on the mat that we were before. And instead of walking in pride and treating people as projects and treating one another with impatience and canceling one another because of one thing they said

or one view they have, instead the way we're supposed to treat each other, Christians, is this, with all humility and gentleness with patience, bear with one another in love. me ask you this, in your Christian walk, has anyone ever been patient with you? Has anyone ever helped you bear a burden with gentleness and love? Man, listen, if you got saved young, I can tell you who did, your parents. You know what it took to put up with you? Two men that I've forever grateful for. Dr. Bill Ross is the first pastor that hired me out of seminary

and all of the young and dumb things I did in the name of youthful zeal for Christ were pretty idiotic, and he would bear with me with great patience and humility. Pastor Jerry Sweat, back at Beach, he bore with me and all of my emotions and outrage and all of the intensity that I brought to meetings and idea, and then currently our elders, they, with great humility and patience bear with me and all the things that I want to accomplish because I think either you're good at making stuff happen or making excuses and never, never both. But you know what Jesus does with the man that makes excuses?

He just leans in knowing what this man has been through. And the reality is this, is if we are all sinners, then why are we surprised that we must bear with one another? And the idea that the word picture here in bearing with one another, other in love, it doesn't just mean like to put up with. It means to help carry the load. That's what it means. So when the, when the burdens of life are really heavy on the brother or sister

around you, church, and they stumble and they fall, what do you do? Do you point your finger and say, how dare they? I can't believe they would stumble that way. Or in humility with gentleness and patience, do you get down there with them and help them bear? that load in love. He goes on to say this in verse 3, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Are you eager for division?

Are you eager to point out what everybody else is wrong? Are you eager to point out what all the other churches are doing that you don't agree with, whether it's in their method or whatever it is? Or are you eager to maintain unity

by showing grace? Because I think the Bible would say that if you were eager to point out what everybody else is wrong, then you are eager to do the enemy's work and not to bear with one another impatience. And he closes it this way. He says,

There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called into one hope that belongs to your call. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.

one, one, one, one, one. Imagine if the church was unified as one right now. Imagine if every single believer came together right now and with patience and great humility, we bore with one another in love. And then Paul's going to quote the Old Testament, and then he's going to give us this word picture about what the church is supposed to be that I think helps us bear with one another with great patience and humility. It says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captus, and he gave gifts to men. in saying he ascended, what does it mean, but that he also descended into the lower regions, the earth, he who descends is the one who also ascends far above all the heavens that he might fill all things. A part of what this simply means is this, is that the gospel is not that we can ascend

the mountain, but it's that Jesus has descended from heaven to earth on a rescue mission to take us and then ascend back to heaven. And then he says, this. And he gave, he's talking about the church, and he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, the teachers. These are five different vocational type gifts in the church. The way we would think about this in the 21st century is this, is that some of us he called to full-time vocational ministry. We would call that church staff. That's like me. And the reason that he called me to do what I do is to do this is to equip the saints for the work of ministry. That's most of you to equip the saints. If you know Jesus as Savior, you're a saint. That

should be good news, especially if you're Catholic. Know that. If you know Jesus, you're a saint. For the work of ministry. Did you know that according to the Bible, guess who's supposed to be doing the ministry around here at 1122? You. That's right. You. My job is to equip you for the work of ministry. And think about it. Most of the people I know are Christians and church people and believers, and I work really hard to make sure that I'm in my neighborhood and those kind of things trying to share the good news of the gospel. But my primary job is to build you up for the work of ministry. And then he goes on to say, for the building up of the body of Christ. Church, not tearing down the body of Christ. Now, I will tell you this, 1122, you are some of the most encouraging people I've ever been

around in my entire life. The emails I get, the encouragement I get, praise God, thank God. But we are continuously living in a world where Christians are divided over all kinds of things. Now, we hold to sound doctrine without a doubt. And anyone, we're going to talk about this next week. If anyone teaches a different gospel than the good news of the gospel of Jesus, Christ, that's not what we're talking about. But when people divide over secondary issues and denominational issues, how silly is that? Because you have been equipped for the work of ministry for the building up of the body until we attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That's a high calling for

the church. The church is supposed to grow up to like full adulthood. so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. You know what that verse there is called? That's called the nightly news. That's it. There's deceitful schemes. There's craftiness.

There's people being tossed to and fro by waves carried by every wind of doctrine. That's not what we're supposed to be. Rather, here's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to speak the truth and love. So what this means is we're not supposed to overlook sin. We are for sure supposed to love one another enough, to encourage one another, to point out sin in each other's life. You just do it in love.

We confront sin, no doubt. Rather speaking the truth than love, we are to grow up in every way into Him, who is the head into Christ, for whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint in which it is equipped. When each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. church, are you building up or tearing down the body of Christ? In your prayers, in your comments, in your online activity, are you walking in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ?

And the reason, the reason, the reason, the reason, the reason, the reason that we are to bear with one another is because Jesus bore our sins at the cross. So let me ask you this. Is there anybody that you are first? frustrated with right now. And you probably say yes. I mean, if you're a human being who knows other sinful human beings, then humans can be frustrating, can they not?

Well, the reason that we are supposed to be patient and humble and gentle and bearing with one another in love is because, aren't you glad that by the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross, that for whoever believes in him, this is hard to understand. not frustrated in you. And you know why he's not frustrated in you? It's not because you're not frustrating. It's not because you're not sinful. It's not because you don't lose your temper. It's not because you make promises and don't keep him. It's not because you are living out God's law

perfectly. No, no, no, no. The reason that God is not frustrated in you is because this is love. Not that you loved him, but he loved you and he sent his son, Jesus, has to perpetuation for your sin. propitiation means a payment that satisfies. And if you were in Christ, that means that the wrath of God, the perfect justice of God, has been fully satisfied in Christ at the cross. Therefore, God cannot be dissatisfied in you. He knew what he was getting when he purchased you and me. And so, if God can be patient with us, if God humbled himself at the cross to die in our place, if God bore our sins on the cross, then shouldn't we humble ourselves, be patient with one another, and bear with one another in love? And the result of that is unity in his body.

And so that's what I'm hoping for us, church. Let's pray. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, the reality of it is, is every single one of us are that invalid laying by the pool of Bethesda, and we need somebody to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. God, I pray that even in this moment right now, would you bring to mind that coworker, that family member, that brother or sister, that disciple group member that we are so frustrated with? And we catch ourselves just in our own little imaginary conversations

saying things like, I just can't do this anymore, I'm over it, I'm not putting up with it anymore. And then would you remind us through the blood of Jesus that you have never said that about us. And may your loving grace fill us up so much that it overflows in humility and patience and gentleness

towards one another that we would bear with one another in love. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for joining us for Deepen with Pastor Jobi Martin. If you're looking for additional resources to help you further

deepen your relationship with Jesus Christ, visit COE22.com slash resources. We're praying this message you heard today helps you experience God in a unique and fresh way. And as always, be free.