Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Which is true. You do not get to pick your family.
[00:00:05] No one interviews you before you're brought into a certain family to see if your personality fits with your family. There are no votes, there are no polls.
[00:00:18] Around Christmas time, some of us probably wish there was more of a process in getting into your family as you have to endure your uncle who thinks he knows it all and is always talking, or your aunts who are always bickering. And you wonder, how did they get in here?
[00:00:39] How did they become a part of this family? And I've said it many times, even when our family, we were adopting two kids from another country, we never set the four kids down that were already in our family and asked them how, how they felt about it. We didn't take a poll. We just brought home two new sons and said, here are your brothers, Love them.
[00:01:06] And that is the way the church is actually supposed to work.
[00:01:11] In the first century, there were no, there was no church hopping that if you didn't like one body of believers, you drove down the street and found another church. That's not the way it worked.
[00:01:23] In most cities, in most towns, in most regions, when a church came into existence, that's all it was.
[00:01:30] God was saying, here are your brothers and sisters. Love them. Here they are. This is your new family, Jew and Gentile. Love them.
[00:01:40] And In Acts chapter 17, we see the church in Philippi is formed this way.
[00:01:46] The story of the church in Philippi coming to an existence is one of the most diverse stories in the book of Acts. The spirit of God brings together different types of people.
[00:02:01] And that we see this, this issue showing up in the book of Philippians. There is a businesswoman who believes the gospel. There's a jailer in his family who believes the gospel. There is a slave girl who seems to be into a cult like practices.
[00:02:21] And they all become a part of this one body of believers. And God never set them down and asked them, are you okay with this?
[00:02:30] Are you okay with these being your brothers and sisters?
[00:02:35] No. The gospel comes in. The gospel transforms. The spirit of God gathers up these group of different people with different backgrounds, different preferences, different race, different economic status and puts them in a church together and says, now you have to experience unity.
[00:03:01] And this is how unity happens in the church. We've heard two sermons so far on unity. We'll hear one more next Sunday before we begin our next sermon series.
[00:03:13] But we see this is how unity begins. It is a supernatural work of God. That's what fellowship is, that's what community is. It is a supernatural work of God, and it is a reality already in the Church. It is how the Church exists, united.
[00:03:35] It is not necessarily something the Church does.
[00:03:39] God is the one who unites us. And we see this reality of unity beginning in verse one of chapter two.
[00:03:48] Look at verse one.
[00:03:50] So if there is any encouragement in Christ, now, this is probably better translated, since there is encouragement in Christ. He's speaking of a reality, something that already exists and something that Paul has experienced from this church already.
[00:04:13] Paul has been shipped off to Rome for preaching the Gospel. He is a prisoner. And this church in Philippi, they have great affection for him. And they have sent a man named Epaphroditus to serve him, to take gifts to him.
[00:04:33] And as Epaphroditus travels to Paul, he nearly dies because of this task.
[00:04:39] And so when he arrives, Paul is overwhelmed by the Church's generosity. He's overwhelmed by the Church's service to him. He's overwhelmed by the way that they are even sacrificing this servant in their midst, Epaphroditus, to serve him.
[00:04:57] And so Paul is saying here, as we begin this part of this passage, I've already experienced the reality of unity between you and I.
[00:05:08] We are united by the Spirit of God, and that has been displayed in the way that you have served me. And so he says in verse one, since there is encouragement in Christ now, the word encouragement means to walk alongside one another. What he's saying here is, since we are walking alongside one another already, and you have encouraged me in your service to me in Christ, since we are united in this way, we have one another to walk with as we walk with Christ together. Since this is already a reality we've experienced. Notice, he continues, any comfort from love.
[00:05:52] Now, the word comfort could be translated. Peace means no war, no tension, no hostility. This peace comes from the love of God.
[00:06:02] What he's talking about here is because God has loved us, we love one another, we establish peace with one another in our relationship with one another, because that's what God has done for us.
[00:06:15] Jesus died for you, an enemy of God. And when he died for your sins, he did away with any hostility that you would have between God and yourself.
[00:06:27] And so he says, because of this love, there should be no hostility between one another in the church. There should be peace because of this love. And Paul is saying, here I've experienced your peace through love that God has shown you. I have been a beneficiary of that ministry to me. Notice, he says, any participation.
[00:06:51] Now, this is actually could be Translated, sharing or fellowship together.
[00:06:57] If there is any fellowship in the Spirit, he's saying, here we share the same Spirit. That has been evident in your service to me, that when the Spirit came in and tied us to Christ, he tied us together.
[00:07:12] You have been connected to Christ by the Spirit, and when you were connected to Christ by the Spirit, you were connected to one another. And Paul says, I have experienced that through your ministry. We have the same fellowship. We're on the same mission. We've been saved by the same gospel. This is a reality that we are experiencing already in Christ.
[00:07:36] And notice where this unity leads to any affection or sympathy. Now, these two words refer to deep emotions that you have for one another.
[00:07:48] Love, compassion, kindness. You are drawn to one another in the context of the church. And again, Paul says, I've experienced that from you in the way you have gone above and beyond to serve me.
[00:08:02] But just as I have experienced these things from you to me, your ministry to me, I need you to experience this in the context of your church. That's why he says in verse two, complete my joy. What he's saying here is, it's not enough that you have served me like I've experienced joy from your service to me, your sacrificial service to me, I've experienced. But now I need you in the context of this church to experience that in the context of Philippi. There does seem to be some disunity in the context of this church. And what he's saying here is the way that I've experienced your fellowship. Now, I need you to experience that sort of fellowship in your church. On the Lord's Day, when you gather together in one another's homes, the way you resolve conflict, the way you've sacrificed for me, I need you to do that for one another.
[00:08:57] And how do you do it? Notice verse two continues. Being of the same mind, you remain united.
[00:09:07] You experience the reality of unity in the way you think.
[00:09:13] This word or this idea of same mind is used 10 times in the letter to the Church in Philippi, and it basically means, I need you to think the same thing.
[00:09:27] How do you experience unity? Think the same thing. But it's more than just generic thinking the same way or thinking the same thing.
[00:09:38] It's think the same about the Gospel.
[00:09:42] And this is the way a church exists.
[00:09:44] We believe the same things about the Gospel. We believe that it is only through Christ, his life, his death, his resurrection, his righteousness, that we can be saved from our sins and have eternal life. We believe the same thing about the Gospel. But he's saying something more here in the way that you believe the same thing. You have the same mind about the gospel. I need you to have the same thinking about one another, the gospel, the same thinking about the gospel changes the way you think about one another. And it does this. This is what he's referring to when he talks about unity. Here. You all have different roles.
[00:10:25] There are different genders in the church. Two genders in the church, different race, gifts, resources.
[00:10:38] So how do you think the same way when you're so different?
[00:10:43] How do you have the same mind with all of these differences?
[00:10:47] Well, you remember in Christ you have the same status.
[00:10:51] You may have a different function, you may have different gifts, you may be different ages, situations in life. But I need you to have the same mind about one another. Which means you understand, we all have the same status. Status in Christ.
[00:11:07] We stand before God, forgiven in Christ. But then he says, I need you to have the same commitment. He says, having the same love. This is a commitment to one another's good, no matter what it costs you. And it again, it is rooted in the reality that God has loved you, his enemy. He is committed to you, and so you love one another. I need everybody in the church to be that committed to one another.
[00:11:32] So you're thinking the same thing and you have the same commitment, which is love.
[00:11:37] And then you have the same service. Notice being a full accord. This is the only place this word is used in the New Testament. And it means to be one souled.
[00:11:47] And it refers to the fact that we are a body of many different members, but we function as one. You're going to hear more about that next week.
[00:11:58] But this word refers to the harmony. And it's also the idea of how different sounds or instruments that thousands of sounds in the songs that we have played and sung today are there, but they all come together to make one beautiful, one beautiful piece, one beautiful song.
[00:12:21] We are to be in full accord, one sold, all united in our service together.
[00:12:30] Notice for one purpose.
[00:12:33] Notice, he says of one mind.
[00:12:35] This refers to how all of these differences come together, have the same status, but are same level of commitment. Committed to serving one another for the purpose of the gospel. He refers here to the mission, one mind when it comes to your mission of preaching the gospel. And he's saying, I've experienced all of these things from you. I need you to act this way. I need you to be who you are in the church on a daily basis.
[00:13:07] Be who you already are. You see, God has already bound you together. You don't have to work on that.
[00:13:14] Sometimes we think about unity and fellowship and we think, I have to make that happen. No, God's already made that reality happen. What you have to work to do is experience it and express it by being of the same mind, viewing one another with the same status in Christ, committed to one another in the same love, serving one another, using your gifts for the same purpose.
[00:13:43] We are to be united in our thoughts about one another.
[00:13:46] What that means is we don't demand in the church everyone to be like me.
[00:13:52] How boring would that. That would be horrible if everybody was like me.
[00:13:57] So boring.
[00:13:59] And so you don't force or demand everyone to agree with every tentance, your brand of theology.
[00:14:09] Now, we have a doctrinal statement that determines what we believe as a church.
[00:14:15] We're not going to disagree with that.
[00:14:17] But there's certain brands of theology that some of us like more than others.
[00:14:23] We don't force that. We don't say, I can't be a part of this unless you say it the way I say it and think the way I think.
[00:14:33] We need to be united in our thoughts. We need to say, no, we're different, but we are one in Christ.
[00:14:39] Or the way you educate your kids.
[00:14:42] We have folks who send their kids to public school, have teachers in public school. We have homeschool families, private school families.
[00:14:53] We have all these differences, but we are united in the way that we think about one another.
[00:14:59] And there are hundreds of ministry preferences that are fleshed out on a weekly basis around here.
[00:15:09] I wouldn't do it the way you're doing it. I don't agree with the way you're doing it. We're going to have the same mind.
[00:15:16] Remember, we are one in Christ, and the world around us is to think, why in the world would these people even speak to one another?
[00:15:26] They're so different.
[00:15:27] Sameness doesn't magnify the grace of God.
[00:15:31] But being completely different in our preferences, in our backgrounds and our desires, but coming together in Christ for one purpose does that magnifies the gospel. We look around and say, my goodness, these people would never even speak to one another on a daily basis. But they love Jesus and they come together and they sacrifice their preferences for this purpose. That's what it means to be of one mind, to think the same way, and we commit to one another.
[00:16:05] I've heard it said that you will see someone's maturity in Christ, which is measured by their love in the context of a church.
[00:16:16] When they don't get their way.
[00:16:18] You will see how much they've really grown in Christ, if they've really cultivated the love of Christ in their heart. Because a lot of times we don't get our way. What do we do?
[00:16:31] We bounce.
[00:16:33] I got to find another church where I can get my way.
[00:16:36] And we alienate.
[00:16:39] No, he says here, you got to have the same love for one another.
[00:16:42] And I will say, almost 30 years of ministry, some of the best experiences I've had as a leader pastor are when people disagree with me. Now, don't do that much.
[00:16:56] It's a joke told. You could get weird today, but.
[00:17:01] And I look back and go, they didn't leave.
[00:17:04] They're actually more committed to this church than they were before.
[00:17:09] And that's what the church is to be like. I don't bounce. I don't leave. No. We have the same love and commitment. We're united in our service. We take all of our gifts and all of. Of our abilities to serve this one body. And understand this. You are united in the way that you serve full accord together serving together, using your gifts, using your resources and the sounds you make and the music you play may be the answer to someone else's prayer in the church. The things that you have and the things that you're good at.
[00:17:42] There could be someone praying right now that they have need for those things. They need that type of service. They need that type of help. And so you've got to be united in your service to serve so that they can be served.
[00:17:58] This is the way the church works. United in service, united on mission. We talk about the supremacy of Christ in all things for the joy of all peoples. That transcends all differences. It overwhelms all conflicts.
[00:18:12] But we're to be united in our thoughts, our commitments, our service and our mission. But next we see unity is action.
[00:18:21] Verse 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition. Now this phrase refers to self campaigning, promoting yourself.
[00:18:31] And so we want to experience the reality of unity.
[00:18:35] So we think the right way. We're committed the same level serving.
[00:18:40] We're on mission together.
[00:18:42] But how is it fleshed out practically?
[00:18:47] How did.
[00:18:48] Where, where does this come from? How is this fleshed out? Verse 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition, meaning do not campaign, campaign for yourself.
[00:18:59] So you're not going around promoting your agenda. You're not going around promoting self.
[00:19:06] Notice he says or conceit. This is vain glory. This is working to promote yourself, your recognition.
[00:19:14] And why is it vain glory? It's because Jesus is king.
[00:19:19] Makes no sense for you to promote yourself in your Name, because he's king and his kingdom lasts forever, and his glory lasts forever. And so whatever little glory you get now by promoting yourself is useless. It's vanity.
[00:19:33] Notice, he says, but in humility, this refers to the fact that I understand who I am. I'm not Jesus.
[00:19:42] I'm not king.
[00:19:44] I'm a creature that God created. I sinned against him. I need Jesus. You find your place in the world, which means you don't deserve to be on the pedestal. You don't deserve to be on the throne, which is what he says here. Count others more significant than yourself. That literally means take yourself off the pedestal and put others on it.
[00:20:05] Now, practically, the way that works out is you are more concerned about what others need than what you want or your name or your recognition. You are walking around the church investigating, what do you need? What do they need? Do they need anything?
[00:20:23] And you're willing to serve you put them on the pedestal to serve him or to serve them? And notice, verse four. Let each one of you look out not only to his interest, but also the interests of others. This would be better translated. Do not serve only yourself.
[00:20:38] Do not just serve yourself, but serve others. And it's that New Testament idea of love that Jesus teaches us, that we are to love others as we would love ourselves.
[00:20:49] That's what he's getting at here, the same sort of intensity that you would use to serve yourself. Now, you take yourself off the pedestal, you put others on it, and with the same intensity, you would serve your desires. You serve them, you give yourself over to them in the same way.
[00:21:06] But we see here, unity is an action.
[00:21:09] You've got to understand this.
[00:21:12] Unity is not just a vibe in the church.
[00:21:16] We think about churches and we think about community, and we think, well, some churches just have it.
[00:21:22] People come here and they talk to me, they say, how do y' all do that? How do. Like as. It's a. Like, it's a vibe.
[00:21:31] Like we're passing something out when you come in, and it's just this magical pill that we all take. Where does that unity come from? It's not a vibe. It's not a passive thought.
[00:21:44] Not something that just happens. It's an action.
[00:21:48] It's choosing not to serve yourself, but to serve others. That's the way it happens in the church. And this simply isn't just tolerating one another. Sometimes we think about unity and we think, I just got to tolerate you. I just. Pastor Eric's sermon, he didn't mean this, but I just got to put up with you or bear with you know, the gospel does that for us. I'm able to put up with you because of the gospel. I'm able to bear with you because of the gospel. But it takes action.
[00:22:18] It takes action to do it. It's not just a thought or a passive feeling in the church. This also means it's not something that you just demand of others.
[00:22:31] Where you walk around the church and say, unity me, community me, fellowship me.
[00:22:41] And so when you don't feel connected, you don't just demand that from the church.
[00:22:47] No, that's when you get in the trenches and you serve more.
[00:22:50] That's when you begin to think about others.
[00:22:54] When you don't feel connected, you get after it. You fill out a connect card. You say, how can I get more involved?
[00:23:01] You go to your BFG leader and you say, do you need help? And they're going to say, yes, I need help.
[00:23:08] I need someone to help me clean my house on Sunday. And I need someone to help bring meals. And by the way, I need you to be here a little bit more and help with those things. And you get involved.
[00:23:19] You don't withdraw.
[00:23:21] That's not where unity comes from. This church isn't unified enough, so I think I'll withdraw from it.
[00:23:28] That makes no sense.
[00:23:31] And it's not just serving people who are like you and agree with you.
[00:23:38] That's not unity. That's idolatry.
[00:23:42] That you might as well be. You are serving yourself in that way. Let me find the people who are like me and let me find the people who tell me what I want to hear. That's self idolatry. And there's no one to be united to in that way.
[00:23:56] No, you look out for others and you begin to serve others.
[00:24:00] You're willing to serve others who are very different from you.
[00:24:05] I talk to people a lot around here and they have a lot of differences.
[00:24:09] And they'll say, did you know so and so listens to that preacher?
[00:24:16] And I'll say, yeah, okay.
[00:24:19] Why are you so tore up about it? They're not a hair, they're not a heretic. First of all, if it was false teaching, we would address it. But it's just a preacher they don't like.
[00:24:30] Or did you know they like the president?
[00:24:36] Or did you know they don't like the president?
[00:24:39] Yeah, why are you so tore up about it?
[00:24:42] Did you know they don't vaccinate their kids?
[00:24:47] Do you think they discipline their kids?
[00:24:52] Can you believe he wants a pickleball court, not a prayer Garden at the new building.
[00:24:58] That's Amos.
[00:25:02] If there are pickleball courts over there, it's Amos.
[00:25:08] But there are so many differences, and I use those as illustrations because we get so caught up on things that don't matter.
[00:25:18] Who cares?
[00:25:20] Who cares?
[00:25:22] But here's the catch.
[00:25:24] When you see that you are to move in toward those people, not away from them. We are so divided by silly things in the life in our country, things we read and heard online and subtweeted and retweeted and we're so tore up and we don't even know what anybody believes, but we're alienated.
[00:25:49] Well, what happens in the church is when I see they're not like me and they disagree with me, I move toward them.
[00:25:57] That's what he's talking about here.
[00:25:59] Unity is action, and that's the kind of action that it is. But where do we get it from? We see the wisdom of unity in Christ, beginning in verse 5. Have this mind among yourself in the church which is yours, in Christ Jesus. Now, this is so important. In Christ, you already have what you need to be united. You're not working this up. Unity is already a reality. You've been united. You just need to experience it by serving one another.
[00:26:30] And you have the ability to do it in Christ, not just his example.
[00:26:36] You've been united to Christ, so you have the spirit of Christ, who gives you the wisdom of Christ. And this is the wisdom of Christ, verse 6, who, though he was in the form of God, now this isn't a disguise. This is everything it means to be God.
[00:26:54] Jesus is and always has been.
[00:26:58] He was in the form of God, we might even say the position of God, but he did not count equality with God, the status that he had being God, the right to be in God, a thing to be grasped. Now, that word grasped means to snatch away.
[00:27:16] So Jesus didn't say, I'm God, I'm King of glory, and I'm going to hold on to that as tightly as I can and rip it away, rip the privileges that I could give to my people away from them by clinging to my status, my authority, my rights in heaven.
[00:27:38] No, he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of man. This simply refers to the restraint it took for him to take on flesh, the sort of surrender it took for him to become a human.
[00:27:55] He didn't empty himself of deity. It is simply the rights and authority and power that he had as king of glory, God.
[00:28:05] And then verse eight, being found in the in human form everything it meant to be a man.
[00:28:12] Embryo toddler man.
[00:28:15] All the rights of being God, from that to every restriction of being a man. He humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, and even death on a cross.
[00:28:26] This is ultimate humiliation.
[00:28:29] A Roman cross.
[00:28:31] The Romans hated humiliation, by the way they prized glory and power, prestige, recognition. But the wisdom of Christ is you let go of those things, you go from the highest of high to the lowest of low. What he's communicating here is there were no parameters on Jesus's humiliation to serve us. There were no limits.
[00:28:58] The highest of high, greatest power, right authority to the lowest of low. Not just becoming a man, but dying on a Roman cross, cursed as a loser.
[00:29:14] The lowest of lows. There were no limits to his sacrifice, meaning there were no limits to the way he considered others as more significant than himself to serve them. And if Jesus can do that, that is the attitude we are to have. That produces unity in the Church. But notice where it leads. Verse 9.
[00:29:33] Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name. So he let go of the status, but now he's been raised to the right hand of God, highly exalted. The words here mean you can't be exalted higher than Him. But then he's given the name that is above every name. So that at the name of Jesus, which means Savior, there's only one who could save. There's only one Messiah, and every knee should bow before him. The one who humiliated himself to die for our sins in heaven and on earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. What we see here is the way to exaltation is through humiliation.
[00:30:17] And it is what preserves and expresses and keeps unity in the Church.
[00:30:22] Asking the question, how can I be like Jesus?
[00:30:26] How can I sacrifice my rights and my privileges to serve others? My convenience. I deserve.
[00:30:33] I deserve mine. Here's where that illustration would come in.
[00:30:37] I deserve mine, my time, my energy, my resources.
[00:30:43] But I'm going to sacrifice that for the good of the Church. And if everyone in the Church has the wisdom of Christ, you stay united.
[00:30:50] It's when we go rogue and we say, I want mine. I want my stuff, I want my agenda. I want my preferences. Mine, mine, mine.
[00:31:00] It destroys unity in the church, but joyful unity is achieved through Christlike wisdom.
[00:31:07] This is why VBS is such an identity marker for us as a church.
[00:31:14] We're often asked, why do vbs?
[00:31:18] And there are a lot of reasons we could Give one. It's our largest outreach.
[00:31:25] We get to interact with all kinds of families across Richmond. There are people here today. You first came to our church because of VBS and we're going to keep doing it so more and more people can hear the gospel and we have a long term vision for it.
[00:31:41] We work really hard this one week because we want to see months and years, we want to see generations of kids grow up, believe the gospel and sent out with the gospel. So we're going to keep doing it.
[00:31:53] But one of the kind of offshoot benefits of it is experiencing the unity of our church during this week of ministry.
[00:32:04] It is a joy to see this church serve together where every member is called to sacrificial joy, refusing convenience for the good of one another.
[00:32:19] And we know ultimately that makes us happy.
[00:32:22] Serving others makes us happy.
[00:32:25] That's why the decoration team is the happiest group of people in the room.
[00:32:30] Am I right?
[00:32:32] Oh, Dene came home yesterday and I was thinking she's going to be exhausted. She's been at that church weeks nights doing things I don't understand, decorating things.
[00:32:47] And I thought she was going to be exhausted. She came home cleaning ready to. Just ready to do whatever.
[00:32:54] She was excited. She had all kinds of. I was like, no, I'm tired.
[00:32:59] We got a full week of ministry. I went to bed before she did last like an hour before she did last night.
[00:33:07] But it makes you happy to serve in this way.
[00:33:10] I was here this week and aside from grunt work, I tied a string to. I'm not supposed to say the snakes in there, but there's a snake in there and I tied.
[00:33:20] I had to or it wouldn't work here. I had to tell you what's in there. I tied a string to it and then I cut a banner right there and that banner is not even square. I did that. It's horrible. It's horrible. It's a horrible banner.
[00:33:35] And I tied a. I did a zip tie thing back there on a wagon wheel and I was exhausted.
[00:33:44] It stressed me out because I had Priscilla, hey, get it right. And then I was exhausted. That's why I left and went home.
[00:33:55] But here's my point.
[00:33:59] If VBS was just me, it would be horrible.
[00:34:03] It would be awful. And everybody's amening.
[00:34:08] Here's your stale crackers in a Dixie cup and let me tell you about Jesus.
[00:34:13] But it's not just me and I'm so thankful.
[00:34:16] I would begin to list all the people who've served for the last two months and I would leave somebody out, but there's so many people who've given themselves over to have gifts and abilities I don't have. And then tonight, the sort of logistic nerds, they'll come in and they'll start organizing everything. And then we'll have people making food, and then there'll be hospitality and the people working with the crafts, and people just enjoy hanging out with kids and singing the spirit songs and dancing. We'll have our greeters, we'll have security. We'll have people in the parking lot. And then on Friday, everybody be back. Friday, we will have grunt labor just getting after it. And it's a week where you just stand back and go, wow, look at all of these people who are so different, with so many different gifts. And they come together in this one week, sacrificing their convenience.
[00:35:06] And it's what unites us.
[00:35:08] It reminds us of who we are.
[00:35:11] It reminds us of what God has done.
[00:35:15] Unity. It's a reality we get to lean into.
[00:35:19] One of the things Philippians chapter two teaches us is that Jesus, who is the most exalted. One of the things Paul's doing here is Jesus is the most exalted. So we would say, well, then he's the happiest, right?
[00:35:32] And the book of Philippians is about joy.
[00:35:35] So Jesus is the one who has the most joy. It's the centerpiece of the book.
[00:35:40] Jesus is the most exalted, so he's the happiest.
[00:35:44] Well, he's the happiest because he sacrificed the most, he suffered the most for us.
[00:35:51] And we know what this is like as parents.
[00:35:54] That joy comes through sacrifice.
[00:35:57] Because when as parents, we so often want our kids to be happy, I just want you to be happy. And we're tricked. Sometimes we're deceived because we think, to make them happy, I have to give them everything they want to make them happy, I have to make life easier for them. And then we get to certain stages and we go, why is my kid so miserable?
[00:36:22] Why is he no joy to be around?
[00:36:25] Oh, I've been giving him everything he wanted. I've been giving her everything she wanted. And then you realize that's not what makes them happy.
[00:36:34] Well, God's the same way.
[00:36:36] He understands that getting everything you want will not make you happy. That's why he leaves us here in a life that's really, really hard.
[00:36:44] Because what makes us happy is Jesus in clinging to Jesus through very difficult, hard things and sacrificing and suffering for others.
[00:36:52] And in the church, he says, here's a bunch of people that aren't like you.
[00:36:57] Not going to make unity easy in the church.
[00:37:01] It's going to be hard, it's going to be difficult, but it's going to make you happy when you work toward it, when you serve and you suffer like Jesus.
[00:37:10] Here's your brothers and sisters do some hard things together because you don't get to choose your family, but you do get the privilege of loving your family.
