two preschoolers, Jackson and ready were best friends and they put together this master plan to trick their teacher. And so four year old Jackson decided to get a haircut exactly the same as his best friend, Ready, So that the teacher couldn't tell them apart. And so they were so excited. So when they showed up for class, we'll see if they were successful, go ahead and show The two Best Buddies Here, Jackson and Ready. Okay, I can't tell them apart. You know, there's they had this great plan. Well, this story tells us really two things. Number one, it shows the innocence of Children and how the innocence of Children really reads love and connection and unity amongst us all. But second, the fact that this story went viral actually demonstrates just how much division we have in our country right now. The truth is, is that we were all made in the image of God and that being made in the image of God gives us equal value. It means that we are family. In fact fellowship. The idea of fellowship. I know it sounds really churchy, but at its core fellowship means that you were formed for God's family, that you were formed for God's family and this idea of fellowship, It's one of the main purposes of our life. We're in week three of our series, what on Earth am I here for? We're trying to answer. We're trying to answer life's biggest questions and that is one of what is our purpose. And in week one we shared that, discovering your purpose is not about meeting the expectation of others, but ultimately it's about experiencing jesus. And then last week we talked about worship, but how, how peace is possible when you worship an unshakable god. And today we're talking about what does it mean to be in fellowship? In other words, it's what does it mean to be family? And while there are a lot of things that divide us today, race, ethnicity, gender, class, context, location, politics, there's so many things that cause division. We're not going to dive into all of those differences, but rather we're going to spend a few minutes this morning and just do a deeper dive into what is it exactly that unites us? If everything in this world seems to divide us and pull us apart from each other, What is it that we can actually join into together? And so we're going to discuss what it means to be family. The author of john the Gospel also wrote some letters towards the end of his life. And so you might have heard of the verse, john 3 16 for God, so loved the world that he gave his only son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Well, this morning, we're going to start off by looking at first john 3 16. So he wrote three letters towards the end. So 1st, 2nd 3rd john and first, john 3 16, he says this, it's up on the screen, he says, by this, we know love that, he referring to jesus, that jesus laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers, this is how we know love that Jesus gave his life for us and then that second part of the first says therefore we should give our lives for other people. And I had one of those obvious but also light bulb moments in preparation for this week's message and that is this. If you want to write this down, jesus did not die for others so that you can live for yourself, Jesus did not die for others so that you and I can live for ourselves. This is completely counterculture cultural to what our world is teaching you everything in marketing and in media and social media is no, you can have it your way, have it, how you want it, feel how you want to feel, if it feels good, do it, Everything is for you, Everything is personalized, everything is tailored and customized to your desires, your hopes, your dreams and it's me, me, me, me, that is in a sense, even the american dream right to make something of yourself to get all that you can while you can and the person with the most power, the most stuff for the most relationships at the end supposedly wins the problem is even if you are successful in all of those things, even if you get all the stuff you have all the fame, you gain all the money, you get all the power at the end of it, you end up nowhere. Have you ever been driving around trying to find a place and you come onto a dead end? It's very frustrating, right? Wait, I was going somewhere and it just stops. That's one thing I had to learn about the roads here in phoenix, they technically go all the way across, right, So like for example joe max, I'm like oh joe max west side, east side, well I'm on the east side of phoenix, it's on joe max on the west side, I'll just take joe max all the way there's a problem, joe max just stops as it seems like all the roads and it always stops right where you want them to connect right, life is the same way that we're on a road that we think we know where we're going and then all of a sudden it just stops and so while this world tries to sell you this idea literally spending billions of dollars to convince you that life is all about you? We have to take a moment and pause and say, does that actually bring joy? Does that actually bring purpose? Does that actually bring meaning to my life or am I constantly searching for the upgrade the new? The next thing, I believe that true purpose true meaning in life comes when we realize that as jesus gave his life for others that we are called to live our lives for others that you have been blessed so that you can be a blessing to other people. Well, what does that look like? What does it mean really to have family to reach out? Well, there was a christian convention a couple years ago, different groups were gathering, well one sect of Christianity like this church that there are different groups out there and some of them are more exclusive than others. If you know what I'm talking about, I'm not gonna call out names on it, but there was a very exclusive section of people that were very judgmental that it was us versus the rest of the world. And so they had a meeting outside of the convention center with their their people were gathering and they had a big sign out front that said jesus only like yeah we're gonna stand well, then a big gust of wind came by and it wasn't a really well made sign. And so the wind blew off the J. The E. And the S from the sign. And so while they were meeting everybody else walked around and they saw a sign that read us only and well it's kind of silly to think about a sign that just says us only. The truth is that's how many of us live. Maybe your circle is bigger than others, but a lot of us draw a circle and anybody outside of that circle we judge or there's a hesitation. We pause. We retreat from we pull ourselves away from. But scripture teaches us that it's not an us versus them mentality that God so loved the world. And while the path to jesus, the path to heaven and belief in jesus is exclusive. He says jesus is the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through him. While that path is exclusive, the people who can go on that path is as inclusive as possible. All races, genders, ethnicities, whether you have money or you don't, no matter what section of the world in which you live, you have access to the forgiveness and the power of jesus through the gospel. If you have your bibles open up to Ephesians, it's a letter written by the apostle paul, mm hmm. And if ever anybody wants to write about inclusion, it can actually be paul because On one hand here is this really religious guy. He was the guy that in class got 100 on the tests and then broke the curve for everybody else. You know, y'all, Every class had that person right. This was paul. He kept all the rules. He did everything. But then he was so zealous for his faith that before he met jesus, he was actually persecuting and supporting the killing even of christians now he comes to faith on the road to Damascus in Acts chapter nine and then becomes the megaphone or the main voice of launching this movement called Christianity and he goes and to the rest of the people who say no guys, it's not about judging, it's about including everyone and uniting together as a body of believers that we gather together not for our sake, but for the world and for the glory of God. And so what is it that unites us? And so he writes this letter of Ephesians and he's in prison and he writes and just to give you a little bit of background on this, that the first three chapters of the letter really talk about our wealth in jesus, so for by grace, you have been saved through faith and that you have inherited the riches of his glory. And so the first three chapters are all seen as like theology of like who is jesus, who is God, who are we as sons and daughters of God, And then in Chapter four where we're going to focus in today, he makes a turn and then says, Okay, but if we've been given this wealth, it should impact how we walk and we should walk together. And so in chapters 45 and six, he actually breaks down and says, okay, in your relationships, how you live, how you serve how you treat one another should be in light of the wealth that you have from God already. If you're already rich in the gospel of jesus, you're not trying to take from anybody else, but rather you spend your life giving to everybody else because you've already been blessed ultimately to be a blessing. And so we pick it up in Ephesians chapter four Verse one and Paul writes This I therefore so building on those first three chapters I, therefore a prisoner of the Lord. I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called with all humility and gentleness with patients Bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit Just as you were called to 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 has was given to each one of you or each one of us according to the measure of christ's gift. And so he's saying therefore, in view of what God has done for you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called actually in the original language, those words calling, we're two different words. One of them means really this idea of a divine invitation. If you received an invitation in the mail, it was, it was something that you know, you want to come to a party. We've talked about this before in our launch team before we started that it's a good thing that the ladies in the house when you have wedding are typically more in charge of the wedding invitation. Right? It's gotta have parchment, it's gotta have little tassels and frilly things and look really formal. If the invitation to our wedding, it was left up to the guys, in most cases, it would be like a group text message the thursday before. Right? How you doing anything? You know, it's just like the the invitation itself matched the occasion of the environment. Well, this invitation matches the second calling, which means to bear the name of God. And so that when you combine the two, when he's saying, walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called? What he's saying is walk in a manner worthy of receiving the divine invitation to bear the very name of jesus. That's cool, Right. You've already received this. In fact, it says in here that it says that you are eager to maintain the unity of the spirit. That means that by default, you were given unity. You were united throughout. Now, a few verses later that we won't get to in verse 13, it says, now make sure you attain unity and faith. Well, how is it? That unity is both something to maintain you already have it and obtain to achieve? What's this idea that God has given you the fruit of the spirit, he has given you the power so that through all of creation, in every area of and every era of time. That despite the divisions and difficulties and the circumstances that the world will place you in the unifying factor is jesus and the Gospel back in the day of him writing this, christians had no power. It was just starting. They were being persecuted and attacked and paul's right. No, but you can have unity and you can maintain because God already gave it to you. He gave you this gift. He gave you the ability. Therefore, it's our job and humility and gentleness and peace. And love to hang onto it collectively together. Tim Keller talked about how really understanding this idea of the Gospel and the power behind it is that it changes everything he said. You know, if you were on the titanic, it didn't matter if you were hugging somebody or mugging somebody. The boat was going down in the same way. Like really outside of the Gospel outside of scripture, when you don't hang on to the Gospel and the forgiveness and love that he offers at the end of the day, you can run run run after things and possessions and popularity. But the boat's going down like it's not gonna save you. It's not like you get to take that stuff with you when you go. And so what is it that we can hang on to? Well, we can hang on to this idea of fellowship. This idea that we are all family despite our differences. He actually gives us in their seven things that unite us as christians, he gives us here. And ultimately, it's a reminder that Jesus did not die for others, so that you can live for yourself. But rather he actually goes on and He says that we are one body. It says that we are one body, which means that that's the church. The church collectively is described as the bride of christ. And you don't know if you've ever been out in public, you might like maybe you're friends with somebody, but you don't necessarily like someone's spouse that's never happened to anybody, right? But you don't make public remarks against that person's spouse or loved ones or you don't you don't make fun of that person's kid, that's just mean and cruel. But especially if you do it right to their face. The reason I say that is that the church is described as the bride of christ. Some people say, well, I just believe in jesus, I don't need the church, I would be hesitant to make fun of God's woman, Okay, I would be hesitant to make fun of God's child that we are all made in his image and that he loved us so much to die for us. And so instead of adding fuel to the fire and causing more division and pointing out problems rather we find the things that unite us and we celebrate and we find the love that Jesus had for us that we can have for each other. So we're united as the body, but also were united under the spirit, the same spirit comes into dwelling, those who believe in jesus, just as the band here was all their instruments are tuned together that they're tuned to a standard. That when they're tuned to key to a standard, they also become in tune with each other, that when we're in tune with God, we become in tune with each other, going on different mission trips over into different countries at different stages. It's been incredible to walk into an environment that I've never been in before. Some cases I don't even speak the language, but yet I feel a connection with other believers throughout the world. That's the Holy Spirit. We're also united in one hope, it's one hope because we longed for heaven, we have one Lord jesus who is both the son of God and our savior, we have one faith, it's a belief in jesus that ultimately we have one baptism. Now, is it talking about physical baptism or baptism into the spirit? People disagree on that, but both point to the fact of it's a representation of being saved and then it has, We have one father who is over all and through all and in all notice that you see in this picture the father, the son, the Holy spirit heaven belief each other the church. These are the things that throughout, all of history, in every context, in every country around the world right now, these are still true and while we differ politically, while we differ in preferences, these should unite us and and urge us to move forward together. One of the sayings I heard when I was first getting into ministry was that, that he said, if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together, if you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together. And I've held on to that truth and I've seen it play out in the context of ministry. I am humbled and amazed at everyone who was here this morning a year ago at this time, Mission Grove was an idea. We're not even one, we're a church and diapers learning to walk right. Our one Yeah, you can clap for that. Our one year anniversary is coming up on October six that here we stand together united. That ministry happens when people gather and work together for the common purpose and good of each other. It is incredible to see God move when people with different skill sets, different personalities come together as the body and unite for the purpose of glorifying him and sharing his message that just not even a year ago, we went from an idea to now a functioning local expression of the church that is having an impact into the community that is serving families, that is blessing families, that is helping um, each and every single week and we're seeing lives radically changed for the gospel because people have bought in together as one body and in one faith united around the gospel. We see this connection, we see it play out, but the same goes for your life and this is not about a sermon on same marriage, it's about whatever stage of life you're in, you need people around you, friends, community, in your workplace. This is true in all cases, wherever you find yourself if you want to go fast, sure, go alone. You know, my wife and I joked that packing for a vacation when you're newly married without kids is radically different than when you have kids, right? Do you want to know how people who are just newly married go out? Hey, you want to go out? Cool. That's it. That's all there is to it. Once you have kids, well we got the babysitter, we have this, we have the bottles, we have the bottle warmer. Do we have this? We have a change of clothes. Do we have the, do we have the blanket? Do we have this? We have this. Do we have the, if you're going overnight, It's the pack and plays just like you feel like you're packing for like just the end of the world and Armageddon when you're going out with small Children, isn't it? It's amazing you're going, you're just going like you're you're going on a trip for one day and you feel like your your van or your car is packed to the brim that you had to get one of those extra things and put it on top and you don't even know what you're packing. But every time you go, you pull out of the driveway and guaranteed you will have forgotten something. And that is the one item that your child will need and the one item that your child will cry for consistently until you receive, right? Do you know how parents like newlyweds? Not even parents yet, newlyweds go to bed, Good night. I love you. Do you know how parents of young kids go to bed? Good luck. Mhm. Your turn and then it's a race to see who can pretend that they're asleep longer when the baby is crying, That you can, can I elbow while still acting to see who would you like? Right? Like, you know, like it complicates things, right? If you've ever gone on a trip with a group of friends, why is it impossible to decide where you're gonna go to eat, right? Everyone eats and you can just go to the store, but when you're a group of people on a trip, it takes like an hour to decide And it's like where do you want to go? I don't know where you wanna go, I don't know and like 10 people say, I don't know that one person picks and then what does everybody agree on? Well I don't want to go there, right, anytime you do something with a group that complicates things, but why do we do it then? Because it makes an impact? If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, if you want to go far, go together. If you want to have a lasting relationship in marriage, surround yourself with people that can keep you accountable, encourage you if you want to go far, surround yourself with friends that are going to encourage you on those down days and that they're gonna bring you back to earth on those good days. If you want to go far in your workplace, focus on building a team of leaders that will lead other teams, that together collectively, that you can accomplish that mission for your organization, that it's not an isolated sport, but really it's a team sport together in business and community, in sports, in your family wherever you find yourself understand this, that you will go further when you're together with other people. It's tougher. It is, but you will find purpose, you will find joy when you serve people as jesus has served you. So how do we do that? How do we do that? Well for four things Is that you have to be willing to give or share number one. You have to be willing to share in your time. You have to be willing to share in your time. Love can be spelled T I M E did you need time with one another? It takes intentionality behind that. Secondly, you need to share in your talent. You've been given a gift set a personality. Some people connect emotionally, others love to solve problems. My wife and I joked that when we took those personality tests and there's an extreme of logic and emotion that I scored 100% on logic and 0% on emotion and then she scored 100% on emotion and 0% on logic. And so like, oh, this would be why we argue something will come up and we'll go and I'll go, oh, well, here's five ways to solve it. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And then she'll go, I wonder how that person's feeling. I'm like, there's no time for feelings. We gotta solve this thing, right? But there's the connection point in both. And so, however, you're wired, you have abilities and gifts and skill sets that the body needs that we are not the church unless we all collectively or the church Church is not just a building that you attend, but it's a family to belong to. So you need to share those talents, those gifts with others. The third thing is to share in your treasure to share in your treasure. My oldest is going to be a business person and it scares me a little bit. He took a science project and took all the extra candy and sold it to his friends at school for money. It's not saying that was healthy, but this is the way his mind goes. And so he won the prize in the book fair for this little stuffed animal and he was like, Oh I bet I can make $5 from this. Yeah. And so he was gonna sell it. But then that week, same week um at the school where he attends, they placed fifth graders with kindergarten buddies. And so he decided instead actually to give this little stuffed animal to his kindergarten buddy. And and I was like how did that feel? I was like, well I didn't make $5,000 but it felt really good because it feels good when you give. It really does when you give you are reflecting the heart of jesus. You can give without loving but you cannot love without giving. That love is best expressed not when you feel something, but when you do something, jesus laid down his life for others, he gave for God. So loved the world that he felt really, really like hard about them. No, it says for God, so loved the world that he gave that when you give when you are generous, I found that God blesses you in return and you find meaning and purpose and joy in the process, because you were living as jesus lived and then the last one, the last one is not really talked about a whole lot. The last thing is that we need to share in our troubles growing up in a church setting, I just saw too many times where you're going through a difficult circumstance and then you come into a church setting and people ask, how's it going? Like, fine, fine, good, fine. We put on this mask because we feel like we have to live up to a certain image when if we were open and honest with each other, I think that we would connect at a deeper level that God might have you walking through a difficult circumstance right now, so that you can connect and minister to somebody else who's walking through a similar situation. Well, you can connect with giving, you can connect in time, but I'm telling you, telling you there is nothing that will unite people in this world, like suffering. I'm walking through a difficult circumstance when my wife and I decided to foster, I had this picture in my head of like, man, this kid's going to be in a difficult circumstance and we're just gonna pull them out of the trench and this is gonna be great and it's gonna be awesome and we're gonna be heroes and already had headlines mapped online for, I would be described, Oh yeah, we're heroes, but that's not what happens, Trust me, that's not what happens. You don't pull someone out of the trench. What happens is you jump in the trench with the person and you walk step by step side by side, which is why we're called to walk in the calling, that we have been called to walk as Jesus walked his name meaning Emmanuel God with us, to walk side by side, hand in hand with someone else who is suffering so that we can persevere together and realize that while jesus is all we have God is all we need and that we grow closer to him in our pain and through our suffering when we share that with one another, that when we love each other, the way that God has loved us, Jesus himself said in John 13, that the world will take note and the world will know that you are my disciples, but we need, we need to be on the same page, We need to stop dividing on social media, we need to stop dividing on things and I'm not saying that we don't have differences, but understand that what unites us is greater than what divides us and then when we're united in faith and in love and in the father, the son and the holy spirit and as the body of the church, that revival breaks out, there's a story of two guys who are on a tandem bike and they were riding up this hill and it really was a struggle going up the hill and they got to the top of the hill and one guy said to the other and said, man that ride was tough to which the other writer said it sure was, and if I hadn't kept my hand on the break, we might have fallen backwards. Some people in the church, I feel like are hanging onto the break while we're trying to move, some people are rowing in a different direction. Have you ever been in a canoe where, where one person was paddling and the other one wasn't or was going in the opposite direction. It's really difficult, frustrating, isn't it? But if we understand that we have been called to one faith and one god And we have one hope, one salvation, that we've all received forgiveness through jesus and that because we have been forgiven, we can forgive others because we have been loved, we can love others, that because we have been blessed, we can bless others and that we recognize that jesus did not die for others so that we could live for ourselves, but so that we could give our lives to something greater and connect in the process and that is family and that is fellowship as the band cups comes up on stage, I just want to close this morning just without a special time yesterday, I just was honored and privileged to be with Cheri and Bill and they celebrated the life of of Sherry's mother some of the families here with us and I gotta say that was one of the most God honoring memorials that I've ever been to. And and one of my favorite phrases that I heard said Sherry about your mom was that they said you could not mention her name without mentioning jesus. Can the same be said of us and can the same be said of mission growth. I would love nothing more that when people hear the name Mission Grove even if they don't attend here, even if they disagree with us, may everyone in this community in this valley be able to say when they hear the name Mission Grove. Those people love God and they love each other that is family and that is fellowship. Let's pray Dear Emily Father, we thank you and we praise you that amidst all of our shortcomings God you saved us. And despite all our differences we are called to be united in you God. If there are those who have not prayed to receive you when we do so now. But we acknowledge our own sin that we cannot make it to heaven. And when we trust our lives in you that you are the way to heaven that you are Lord God thank you for saving us. We commit our lives to you but also God we commit our lives to each other because you did not die for others so that I could live for myself. God, you died for others so that we could live for you and that we could love others the way that you loved us help us to be that family help us to overcome our differences with what unites us God, we are no longer bound to the slavery of sin. Go, but we are united as sons and daughters and Children of you, God, in your son's name, we pray. Amen.