Community

I love how it's written. I mean, he spells it out here. He starts purposefully breaking down these distinctions of people groups. He talks about the Jews and the Gentiles. They were coming together.

It was a counterculture community. Jews and Gentiles didn't hang out with each other before the church. It was forbidden by their cultures, right? And then you have the circumcised and uncircumcised, the religious and the non-religious, and then you have the barbarians and Scythians. Barbarians was a general term, and Scythians were those who were kind of like the meanest of the barbarians, and they were coming into the church.

And you have slave or free, and you have Christ is all and in all. And there's something different when Christ is all and in all. And my hope is to help you discover this antidote to what's going on today, this antidote of anger, this antidote to division. And I believe it's biblical community. I believe it's coming together and the power of a church loving in response to the unlove that's happening today.

So let's go, let's begin with Colossians 3, 12 through 17. And I want to say this, if you, we don't, we're not passing out notes, we're not passing out anything right now because of what's going on. We know we're trying to be as low touch as possible. So you can go on the YouVersion Bible app, very popular app. You can just type in Bible on your phone, download it if you don't have it.

And we have an event set up that has all the notes there. You can just look for Salt Church, and you'll look at week three, cross-cultural community. And if you can't, you know, if you're not able to do that this week, just know that every week we'll have something up there for you with those notes so that you can fill in. So the first thing I want to mention in Colossians here is we have to, a biblical community should look like Christ. It should look like Christ.

Look at what chapter 3, verse 12 says, Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothed, there's that statement again, clothed yourself with, what, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Those are things that often are tough to grab a hold of, right, in a culture that is very counter, that is not the culture that we are walking in. I love how it says, holy and dearly loved. It says, holy and dearly loved. It starts out with that one statement, you are holy.

And you are dearly loved. You are holy in that. You are set apart. It's a state of being. You have been set apart.

And here we are today being discipled by our news channels of choice. For many, it's about what the latest news article says or what the latest research says. But God has called us to be holy and to be set apart, to look to God, to look to Jesus and determine what. And Paul says, you know, you are God's chosen people, right? You are God's chosen people, holy and set apart.

And then it also says you are deeply loved. Man, that's enough right there to give you the strength to go through your day. Amen? To know that you are dearly loved. So before he even sets this out, know that you are holy.

And another little note here is that the holiday, we get the word holiday from holy, and it's a day set apart, a special day, right? You are so special. You are like a holiday that's been set apart, set specifically for God. So you are holy. And then it says, clothe yourself with these virtues, and that's gentleness, kindness, patience, compassion.

And with these virtues, and this can apply to anyone, anyone, anywhere, anytime, in any place. Where you're online and you're probably listening, maybe you're listening in Germany or somewhere like that. This could apply to you. This applies to any culture that we need to look like Jesus, we need to follow Jesus. And so many times, here's the thing, so many times Christians are known for how mean they are.

How many of you, this is a quick poll, how many of you have been hurt by a Christian before? I'll raise my hand. You've been hurt or you've been disappointed by a Christian, and for so many. And that's why it's so important for us to cultivate these virtues. We need to cultivate these virtues.

So we are told to clothe ourselves. Now what does that spiritual fabric really look like? What does this spiritual fabric that we're talking about look like in the life? So last week we talked about the Good Samaritan, and we kind of gave you a story, and we walked through that. But this week, I want to teach you what makes a person a Good Samaritan.

What really makes a person a Good Samaritan. I love the syntax of the original language as it pulls together the idea, because you are, which is God's chosen people, a state of being. He says, so be. So be. Apply these virtues.

Be these things. Put these things on. Because of who you are, because you are God's chosen people, you have been set apart. I want you to be those things. I want you to put on these things.

So take off the other things and put on these things. I think about people wearing different types of clothes. We've got gym rats that love gym clothes. And they wear gym clothes, and they wear the brands, and they put them on, and it kind of identifies them. But there's also some practical things to clothing for the gym.

You know, when you go into the gym, you want something that wickers. You want something that doesn't sweat as much. You're kind of cool when you're working out really hard. So you put on those clothes. I think about surf clothes.

I'm a surfer, so putting on surf clothes, going out, paddling out into the water in your surf clothes. And we kind of walk around with Quicksilver, Billabong, Hurley, Rip Curl, because we identify with that subgroup, right? We're putting on those clothes, and we walk around. I think I maybe have a surf shirt on right now. Yeah, I do.

So we wear these things. I'm wearing this preaching, but I identify with something I'm passionate about. But it also has some practical use to it. Clothing for the winter, for instance. I mean, we put on sweaters.

We put on warm clothes, right, in the winter. Right now, it's really hot, so we're dressing down a little more because we're in a different climate than in a different season than we normally are. But it's idea of putting on clothes and taking off others. And putting on clothes is significantly important, so spiritual growth is what we are putting on. Spiritual growth is what we are placing on, we are putting on, and what we are taking off.

And I love how he uses that. And when we put on virtues in our lives, in our Christian community, it's amazing how powerful and transformative it can be in a day of outrage. Amazing. Let me just share a little story, because it really does start with us, being like Christ. When we, obviously I'm going to get into the community part here in a second, but it really does start with us.

And there's a story of a taxi driver in New York City, and he was driving one of his last drives of that day, and he comes to this address, and he beeps the horn and waited several minutes. And, you know, normal taxi drivers, what would they do? They'd leave, and, okay, they're not there. Too bad, bro, I'm moving on. But this guy had something in him saying, you know, I need to go up to the door and knock on it.

So he goes up to the door, knocks on it, and out walks a 90-year-old woman. And she gave him a dress and said to the taxi driver, could you take me to these couple of places on the way? What he learned is she was on her way to hospice care, that beautiful ministry where people walk along with somebody in the last days of their life, the last part of their journey. And she was heading to a hospice house, and she wanted to take a cruise around to look at some of the things. And here's what he said.

We drove through neighborhoods where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had pulled up in front of a furniture warehouse that once had been a ballroom where she had gone dancing with her girl, as a girl, excuse me. Sometimes she asked me to float in front of a particular building or corner, or she would sit staring into the darkness saying nothing. And he explained that she finally got tired from the trip and eventually was ready to go on to the hospice. And he refused to let her pay, and he wrote this.

He says, almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held on to me tightly, and I gave an old woman a little moment of joy. And she said, thank you. And I squeezed her hand and then walked into the dim morning light. And behind me, a door shut.

It was the sound of the closing of a life. And he goes on the right. I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly lost in thought for the rest of the day, and I could hardly talk. What if this woman had gotten an angry driver or one who was impatient at the end of his shift?

Or what if I had refused to take the run or honk once and then drove away? On quick review, he writes, I don't think that I've done anything more important in my life. See, we don't want to miss this. He could have missed out on an opportunity if he thought what culture would think. But he was different.

So it takes putting on Jesus in an age of outrage to really make a difference, to make a difference in people's life, which leads me to the next point. And we do this together by forbearing and forgiving, to forbear and forgive. Number two, forbear and forgive if you're taking notes. Forbear and forgive. Now, when we think of the word forbear, we don't usually use that word.

It's not a common word we use. We don't say, I'm forbearing my children right now. Maybe some of us do that. I don't know. But we don't use the term forbear.

It's just our everyday language. Most of us know what it means. You know, patience, self-control, tolerance, things like that. But we don't just use forbear in our households like it's a normal everyday word. But I love going down to verse 13 in Colossians in our study of Scripture.

It says, bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone, and forgive as the Lord forgave you. Wow. Wow. So he talks about bear with. Now, I don't like the translation bear with in the NIV.

I like the King James Version forbear, you know, or forbeareth, if you want to say it like that, forbeareth. But because the idea of bear with just says I'm tolerating somebody for the time being. I'm trying to get through it. It's kind of like, oh, I just, if I could just hang with this person and just tolerate. But the idea of forbearing is actually wearing people's burdens.

It's actually walking out with people, even when they're burdened some, we bear those burdens together. So it's important for us to get that as Christians. We're not just tolerating people. We're actually walking out in Christian life, in Christian community, forbearing one another and forgiving one another. That's really interesting because in a world of outrage, there's a lot of lack of forgiveness right now, right?

That's why the anger's there. That's why the division's there. Forgiveness is not something that's common, but it tells us to forbear and to forgive. Forgive as the Lord forgave you, right? So, and see how it, the gospel is tied to this very idea of forgiveness.

This is just cool because the as, forgive as the Lord forgave you. This direct connection forbearing and forgiving is directly tied to the gospel, and that's what motivates us to want to forgive. See, that's the whole motivational piece. The gospel message is all about forgiveness. So I can look to the gospel, pull from the gospel.

Will God forgave me? Therefore, I can forgive those who are unforgiving even. So we forgive, and it's not always easy to forbear people, right? It's not always easy like those people that drive in the fast lane going 30 miles an hour. Yes, if that was you this morning, I forgive you.

That person that walks around with their cell phone to their ears, yelling into it like it's a speakerphone. Hey, mommy! Hey! I mean, I forgive that person even though it's terribly annoying. Or this is going to really hit home, you cat people that want to post your cats every few minutes about the cat doing something.

Why not dogs for a change? I'm a dog fan, but cats I'm still working on forgiving God- forgiving people. For a certain amount of people they're serving. Did I say forgiving God? I've asked God for forgiveness for judging Him for making cats, but you know, that's what I was getting at.

So these cat lovers out there, some people are harder to bear than others, and burdensome people are harder, are just harder to burden, right? And we like to pick and choose who we kind of get along with, right? And that's how it is. It's easy to get along with people who are easy to forbear, but Biblical community says we forbear and we forgive. And this is why we need to move from association to participation.

Association to participation. Move from just being associated with Christ and a community to be participants with Christ and a community. And this is so significantly important. There's people that will say, I'm associated with Salt Church. I love Salt Church.

I, that, Leon Dunning is my pastor. In fact, I had somebody the other day that, or actually it was before COVID, it was around February. A friend of mine says, hey, you know so-and-so? I said, yeah, yeah, yeah. He says, oh, they go to your church, and they were talking about how great of a pastor you are, and that you were their pastor and stuff.

I said, that's great, but in the back of my head, I haven't seen that guy in six months. How am I his pastor, you know? But that's what happens a lot of time in church life, is that we come, and we sit in rows. We come, and we associate with the ministry, right? Like we say, I'm a part of Salt Church, and Salt Church is my home church.

So, Leon Dunning is my pastor, but we often come in, and we come out, and we don't participate. So, we need to move from just come and sit facing forward to actually circles, and I know that's hard to do in COVID situations right now. But we need to sit in circles, come together. We are in proximity, but not in community in a lot of places. We're proximity to each other, to forbear and forgive means to be in community, and we should move from circle, from rows to circles.

I think it's significantly important that we do that. And 1 Thessalonians says it like this, so encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing. So, we need to encourage each other. We need to build each other up. And how do you do that?

You don't do that by sitting in rows staring at your pastor on Sunday morning. You do that by real solid biblical community where you're able to come together. Now, thirdly, we need to do this. We can look like Jesus. We need to look like Jesus.

We need to forbear and forgive, but we also need to lead in love. Now, this is really important, lead in love, because love is always seen as something supreme in Scripture. And we've got a lot of people that may have a lot of obscure biblical knowledge, and they know they have the Ph.D., or maybe they're working on it, or they may be the person who's really smart and intelligent, and they know a lot of random Bible facts, and they say, well, we need deeper Bible teaching in churches, and they bounce from church to church, you know, like, where's the pastor that doesn't do the topical messages?

We need expository. We need exposition of Scripture, you know, because this is, you know, you've got those people. And it's okay, and I'm not putting that down, because I believe that we need to study. We need to get deep in Scripture. That's the purpose.

I push people to small groups to go further into what I share on Sunday mornings and in other parts of Scripture. It's really important to get that. Miranda and I have more degrees than you can think of. We've got so much student loan debt, it's not even funny. So somebody can bless us if y'all want to pay off our student loan debt, you know, bless your parents.

I'm just playing, guys. I'm just playing. But Miranda's not playing. So we've got more degrees than you can think of. So I'm not putting down academia, but if it doesn't have love attached to it, it's nothing.

Verse 14 says, and over all these virtues put on love. He's talking about putting on love. If you don't have love, nothing holds together. That's why it says, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Now let me give you the word description of what, the picture description of what this looked like for the people who were listening to this.

So binding things together. People in that day wore robes. If you go to the Middle East, there's a lot of robes, right? There's something about desert, heat. People like to wear robes.

It's cooler or whatever. And they would put all their garments and their robes on, and then they would take a belt, and they would strap the belt around them. They would bind everything together with a belt. So the picture here, the symbolism here is the outermost facing virtue is love. The outermost facing piece of the garment is the belt.

So the outermost facing piece that people see is love. So it's important. This is what people see. This is what changes lives. If we have everything, if we have the great music, we have the great communication through sermons, if we have the perfect facility, if we have all those things.

In fact, he goes on in Colossians to talk about having visions, people having visions and having gifts and having all these things. But he says, you know, Paul's like, if you don't have that, those things are great, but if you don't have those things, then you're missing out. It's really not about all those things. It really comes down to love. If love is what shows in our outermost presentation of our lives, people will see that in our lives as a biblical community.

And there's a lot of ways we can go. We can go the way of anger. We can go the way of division when we are faced with the culture today. We can get upset. We can get angry with people.

We can dislike people. We can have bad attitudes. Or we can do what the Apostle Paul says and call love the most excellent way. The most excellent way. So I love how Ed Stetzer puts this.

He says, a loving church and true community produces loving Christians who counter the age of outrage. So we can counter the age of outrage. That's why John 15 says, this is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. And then Hebrews says, let us think of ways to motivate each other to acts of love, right? Love and good.

And then, fourthly, the scripture shows us in Colossians that we are to dwell in peace. We are to dwell in peace. There's a lot of reasons people are angry today. I think some of them are probably just the insecurity of life. They're afraid that their rights and their privileges are going to be taken away from them, so it brings a lot of anger and a lot of fear about what's going on.

They're afraid of what type of leadership when it's election season, who's going to take. And I find it interesting that every election season, whoever the president ends up being, it's doom and gloom on the opposite side of the house, right? It's like, I remember when Bush was elected, oh my, the end of the world, things are going to happen, you know, it's just going to, you know, that fascist is going to take over and this and that. And then when Obama came in, it was like, oh no, it's the, you know, and now, now, oh my goodness, Trump, it's just like everything's just going to blow up and every, nothing's going to exist anymore. And that tends to be the way people think.

And people focus typically because they're afraid and they lack peace. And we're in a culture that insinuates fear. Like fear is the driving force. But we're called as believers to have a state of being of peace. And I love how he uses that word, dwell in peace, because dwell suggests to live in, to set a foundation in, kind of the walk in.

We walk in peace. We're kind of cruising in peace. We're, we're just pieces with us as a part of who we are. We're walking in peace. And it's so important for us to walk and dwell in peace.

Look it. The peace of Christ rule in your heart. Since as members of one body, you were called to what? To peace. And be thankful.

And be thankful. So we need people, see some people, I love, you know what? I love how people think they can tip the scales of an election or they can change their family's mind or whatever by posting something on social media. They think, well, I've got the right answers. I'm going to just put this up here.

Maybe somebody will listen that. Maybe I'll educate somebody. But I've never seen any election, anybody on one side of the house switch to another based on social media. So my question is, how many bridges are you burning by getting feisty, by getting angry? And I know you got a lot of passion in you.

That's what makes great Christians, having the right passion, focusing that passion in the right area, right? You got a lot of passion in you. But the question is, are we bringing unity? My question is, how are you handling spiritual biblical unity with your brothers and sisters in these places that you're having these discussions? Are you coming together, you know, respecting each other and your differences?

Or are we burning bridges in those areas? So we have to ask ourselves that question. But at any rate, people are afraid and angry. But really what it comes down to, guys, if you walk in peace, the only way to obtain peace is to know who our father is, to know that he's sovereign, has it all in control. I think about my kids.

My kids are very cautious kids. And some of you are like, I got that daredevil son, you know, that's like jumps off of, you know, stuff and breaks things all the time. And I can't hold on. I can't. I don't know what he's going to do.

I got to watch him all the time. My kids aren't like that. So I'm kind of blessed. I've never really had to worry about my kids going and sticking something in a socket or anything like that, even when they were little, because they're just cautious. They don't do a lot of daredevil type stuff.

So we go to the beach. They love the beach. We play at the beach all the time, jump in the waves, dive into the waves, swim, all that kind of stuff. But they're very cautious when they first get there. And they go up to the water and they'll kind of play at the water and stuff.

And then they get a little more used to it and this and that. But they're always asking me to come in the water with them. Dad, come with me because we want to go out. We want to do stuff. Come on with me.

And they'll stand at the edge of the shore. Max is getting a little better. He'll jump out there by himself now. He's getting a little older, so I have to watch him a little more. But they always like just kind of stand at the edge of the shore and they wait for me to go in with them.

But once I go in with them and I'm not even holding them, I'm just there with them, they start getting a little deeper. They start diving into the waves. They start riding the waves in. They start flipping. They flip and come up smiling.

You know why? Because their father is there. They trust their father. They trust their father. They know that their father, when they go under, their father's going to pick them up.

They know that they can't drown because their father's going to dive in after them if they go under the water for a little bit too long. They know that their father is there because they trust their father. And when the waves of life and the winds of things that come our way happen, we need to tap into a father that we know is with us. Some people ask me, why are you not afraid? Why are you not fearful?

When all this started happening, you just seemed like you had a smile on your face and you're ready to get at it with the ministry and stuff. What keeps you? I said, because I have read the Bible and I know the end of the book and I know who wins. I know who wins and I am not worried because I trust my father. I trust my father.

So, we need to live that way. Let me go back down here. I got a little excited and threw my iPad way down on my notes here. Amen. So, we need to dwell in peace.

Now, remember, I love how the statement ends, to be thankful. To be thankful. It's really emphatic how he says that. He says, be thankful. You ever had your parents say, you just need to be thankful.

You need to be thankful because I used to have to walk up hill both ways in the snow, you know, do the Bill Cosby deal, you know. When I asked for a quarter, my dad, you know, gave me a whole lecture about something else, you know. And I think of my kids, anytime the Wi-Fi goes out, they can't watch their iPad or they can't watch their TV program. I said, you need to just be thankful because we had one TV in our house. That square box that they knew nothing about, you know.

They're like, whoa, what is that, Daddy? When I looked at a picture, Daddy, is that a TV? Yeah, that's a TV, you know. And not only that, we had to get up off the couch to go and we had to turn this little thing called a dial, click, click, click, click, you know. And you had to find it and there were five channels, you know, five channels.

And if you missed your show, you had to wait months for the rerun or not. I don't see it at all. And these kids, man, they could just turn it on right now and do that. You know, I'm going back and I'm going back. Just be thankful, guys.

Just be thankful. My daughter says her TV. We put a TV. She's six years old, and we have a TV in her room. I thought it would be cool so she wouldn't hog the TV all the time in the front of the living room.

You know, the living room is a bigger TV and stuff. She was on it all the time, and I was like, okay, we'll just get her a little TV for the room. That's not good enough. She's got to go back up there and have the big TV. I mean, just be thankful.

And this is kind of what that's getting us. He says, and be thankful. Be thankful because when we are thankful, our attitude changes, right? When we are thankful, we look different. When we are thankful, we are changed.

When we learn to be thankful for what we have, where we are. Thankfulness is so important. We need to be thankful. Some of you are like, well, Leon, I've got a lot of rage and anger going on in my life. What does it take?

What do I need to do? Well, we need new input. New output requires new input. So when we're putting off the things, we need to put on these virtues. See, this is what community does here in Colossians 3, 16 and 17 to kind of end this.

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Singing to God with gratitude in our hearts. It's kind of hard to sing right now when we have masks on, but there's something powerful when we're singing together in song and spirit. But I love the teaching and admonishing that we teach each other, we admonish each other, we correct each other when correcting needs to be. That's why we move from just association to being a part of a community, a powerful community where we can grow in our knowing God and being like God.

Singing to God with gratitude in our hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of Jesus Christ. Some people ask, what's your purpose in life? What is my purpose in life? What's my will in life?

Do whatever you do, whether in word and deed, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that's your will for your life right there. Right? Whatever you do, your will is whatever. That's another sermon for another day. But do it all in the name of Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Why? Because Christ is all and in all. What does that mean? That Christ is enough. That Christ is more than enough.

That Christ is the most important thing in my life. Of everything else in life, Christ is the most important thing. And it's expressed in my outermost garment, my belt with love. Loving people, letting love leave. It reflects the virtues that I put on.

We need to take off. We need to put on. New output requires new input. So let me just say this in closing. My question for you is how are you doing with biblical community.

If you are not in community, if you are in association, I want to challenge you to begin to move in participation in a community. Because you are not going to experience the transformational power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of biblical community until you make a decision to do it with people. If you are just living in association, you are missing out on these life-giving things that God has for gospel people, a gospel community, the power to transform. This is how we experience Christ is all and in all. You have to completely trust in the Father and you don't have to be afraid.

You don't have to be afraid. We don't have to be afraid today. We can be a group of people that's so captivated by Christ who is all and in all. A trust in the Father, leading with love, being thankful, and a group of people that can change the world. So in closing, some of you might, and no matter where you are on your spiritual walk, some of you might be saying, you know, it is time for me.

It is time for me maybe to take that next step. And we've got a lot of, even here at the church, a lot of opportunities to be in biblical community. You can go to the Welcome Center. There's ways to get connected. Somebody can connect with you there.

What's going on? Get some information about the church. We've got salt groups that are meeting all the time. There's all kinds of ways to really get connected. I would just like to mention, if you're a surfer, we've got Ron Heider here today.

We're going to be bringing in a Christian surfer chapter to reach lost surfers for Christ. And we're excited about that. So we're going to do an opening next week for that. It's a great, great opportunity to get involved in that. He's got a real heart to evangelize for the lost.

Just great ways to get plugged in. It's time to take the next step in our spiritual growth, pulling off the things that don't belong and putting on the things that do and walking in biblical community and the power of Christ through the Holy Spirit in a transformation way. At a greater level, there are some of you that may not have a relationship with Christ today. But can I tell you that you have a Father that loves you, that loves you passionately and desperately, that He actually gave His Son for you, that He gave His life for you, that you no longer have to walk in fear, have to walk in fear because you've got a Father that you can trust when the waves come in and the winds of life. You know He'll pick you up.

You know He'll take care of you because we have a sovereign God who loves you passionately and He'll carry you all the way into eternity. New life can start today. And that happens simply by believing in the Father's Son who came to this earth and gave His life on the cross for your sin so that you can have a relationship with So, if you're out there, if you're in here, wherever you are, let this be the decision of all decisions today. Let this be the transformational point that takes place in your life that changes and alters everything in eternity, because He wants a relationship with you. And it's not about how good you are for trying to do that.

It's simply about the Father, a God, a personal God who absolutely loves and endures. And all you have to do is call on His name and believe you will be saved. If you pray this with me and all the congregation, if you bow your heads and just make this moment precious, this powerful moment. Father, in the name of Jesus, we ask that every, under the sound of my voice and every person listening to this, that you would begin to pull the hearts of people towards you. And I pray in the name of Jesus that you would begin to help them see that you are a loving Savior that cares deeply for them.

So, if everybody out there would just pray this with me, if that's you, if that's what you need, if that's what you know you're missing in your life, you pray this with me. Lord, I believe that you are the Son of God. I believe that you are God. And Jesus, I believe that you are the Son of God that gave your life for our sin. Lord, I receive you as my personal Savior.

Come into my life and transform me from the inside out. I walk with you from this day forward. In Jesus' name. Amen. Hallelujah.

If you gave your life to Christ today, please connect with us through our digital connection card at saltchurch.org slash give, or give, slash card. And we want to get to know you out there. You can also visit our Welcome Center if you're here today. We've got some Bibles.

We've got some other material that you can connect. We can connect with you to get you started on this life that's going to be amazing. It's going to be dynamic. Things are going to change in your life. It's going to be wild.

It's going to be a wild ride. It's going to be cool. So, God bless you guys. We'll see you next week. My wife's going to end us out here.

Bye.