[00:00:00] All right. Well, hello. Hello. Hello wherever you are. I have the privilege right now of welcoming you back. I'm so glad you're here. I want to say thank you. I want to say thank you for months on end now of opening up your home and inviting us to come in and share whether it's an evening service or a morning service that you're experiencing this. [00:00:18] And we're absolutely delighted. And, and, you know, it's been so fun because we've made so many friends, friends from around the world, literally from New Mexico to New Zealand and to wherever you are, man, it is wonderful. But I want to talk to you about one very important thing that I think I want to just challenge you to think about. [00:00:33] Now, listen, in our local communities, we are gathering back now and you are okay to not be there if you're just not ready. I just want to challenge you now again, this depends if you're in New Zealand, New Mexico or local find people that you can do life together with, because life is meant to be done together. It's better together. [00:00:53] But if you're local, whenever you're ready, I want to encourage you to come back and, and be a [00:01:00] part of the fellowship and see old friends and kind of renew relationships. And all of that is really, really important. Now, again, it's a balance. It's important, but not until you're ready. And I want you to understand, when you're ready [00:01:12] we're going to be here. In the meantime again, welcome. We're going to throw, I just want to say hi before we throw it into the bumper, throw it into the bumper, and then I'm going to dive right into the message. Thanks for

being here. [00:01:55] So several weeks ago, we began a brand new series. We're calling it, Love Beyond, and then there's a [00:02:00] blank. And the blank is that thing that we would put in there that would say, I can only go that far, but I can't go beyond that. The line is the limit and we're basing this whole series on one particular command. [00:02:12] Jesus gave is found in Luke 13:34-35 And it's a new command I give you love one another as I have loved you. So you must love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples. If you love one another and you might be going hey preacher, that's the third week in a row, you put that verse up there. [00:02:28] And the truth is, is that we're going to keep putting that verse up here, because this is where so many of us we want to get past it. We don't want to build our life on this. And I've said it this way. This is the foundational truth of Christianity Jesus said This will be the defining Mark that says my followers apart from everybody else. [00:02:47] And I want to say this tragically, when we fail to live out this verse, it really hurts the name of Christ. Now, listen, the reality is there's that we're the ones that don't apply this, not Jesus. We're the ones who don't live it [00:03:00] out, not Jesus, but when the church fails, it reflects badly on him. And that's a tragedy. [00:03:06] So what is it that you would say, well, I could love up to here, but not any further. Well, that's what goes in that blank. Now last week we talked about the idea of, I will. I will love to the edge of my fear. Okay. In other words, the fear will be the thing that blocks me from going further in loving people. [00:03:23] And then what we think is is that wherever we like we'll go this far, but we won't go any further. That as far as where I was maybe supposed to be over here, this thing will be my excuse for not being obedient. And in other words, I'm afraid and therefore I'm justified to not do what Jesus said. I, if I'm scared about those people, I don't have to love them. [00:03:44] And we're just being challenged in this. So last week we talked about fear and here's the, what we're going to talk about today. It's the idea of loving beyond our differences. You see what happens is there's we say all love, but as long as you're not different [00:04:00] than me and you don't make me uncomfortable. [00:04:02] And that's just simply not far enough. Now, when we talk about differences, lets just be honest. There's lots of differences. So differences are going to be the reason we don't have to love. There's so many reasons we wouldn't have to love. Let's just do a little exercise. Okay. And so whether you're watching this in your, in your living room with your family, or whether you're in one of our worship centers, Let me just say this. [00:04:30] Okay. We're going to do a little thing. And so participate as you're comfortable. All right. I'd encourage you to raise your hand I'm just going to fire through some things and we'll just got to get a look at how different we actually are. So a raise, raise your hand. How many of you are males? Raise your hand. [00:04:44] Okay. How many of you are females? All right, so we're different. How many of you consider yourself young? How many consider yourselves old? How many of you are married? How many of you are single? How many of you prefer Coke? How many of you would prefer [00:05:00] Pepsi? How many of you would say I'm a blue collar worker? [00:05:03] How many of you would say I'm a white collar worker? How many of you are a morning person? How many of you are an evening person? A night owl? How many of you would say I am an inside indoors kind of person? How many go Not me, man. I'm an outside outdoors. Kind of person. How many of you would say you have kids? [00:05:22] How many of you would say I don't have kids? How many of you say I wish I didn't have kids? I don't know. Anyway, how many of you would say for your kids, you prefer public schooling. How many of you would say I prefer private schooling or homeschooling? How many of you are fans of ASU? How many of you are fans of U of a, how many of you are fans of any team that plays football right now? [00:05:42] Because you're dying and you're missing it. How many of you would say you hate zoom meetings? How many of you would say you love zoom meetings. How many of you prefer when you use toilet paper to fold it? And how many of you prefer when you use toilet paper to wad it up? Sorry, I just had to throw that [00:06:00] in there. [00:06:00] Now. All of the things I just talked about are kind of this or that this or that, this or that, but the differences between us. I mean, that's the simple ones, the binary ones, but the reality of it, this is, there are so many more, I mean, there's just so many more options. Like how many of you would say, well, I prefer my hair when it's black. [00:06:18] Others would say, no, I prefer it when it's Brown and I have blonde hair. Blonde is the best. How many of you say red hair is The best? How many of you would say gray hair is The best? How many of you would say no hair is the best? That's the best option when it comes to sports? How many of you go man I'll tell you my favorite sport is football. [00:06:38] They go football. You kidding it's baseball, no its not baseball, it's basketball. Now you kidding You guys are crazy it is tennis. And of course I could go on and on and on how many of your skin is considered white? How many of it's considered black? How many of it is considered Brown? How many have considered how many would say no, my skin is it's [00:07:00] just dry. [00:07:00] I live in Arizona. It's just dry. Just consider it dry Ya see what I'm trying to show you. Folks is some something that's just obvious and that's. that we're not Alike. We're different. There's differences all around us. How many of you, how many of you belong to the correct political party? Raise your hand. Yeah. You all realize we do not all belong to the same political party. [00:07:23] Right. See, the truth is, is there's no end to our differences. This is, it's an infinite game. It's an infinite number. So the question is who is right and who is wrong? Now if we're honest, we're going to say that those who think like I think act like I act or like me are right. And those who think differently act differently or different than me or wrong. [00:07:50] Did, did God intend for this to be the way it is? Did God intend for us to all be alike and uh it is. It would be a better world. Is it a better [00:08:00] idea for us? If we were all identical, exactly alike. If God intended for us to be all alike, why why are no two snowflakes the same or no two sets of fingerprints, the same, or eye retinas as the same or two actual human beings that are identical. [00:08:17] Why did God create so much diversity And What, what does all of this have to do with loving beyond, with this theme of loving beyond? What, why, what does this even matter with all these differences? You see the differences become the excuses of why we don't have to do what Jesus said. Now I want to point something else out that Jesus said, he said this in Matthew chapter five. [00:08:40] And he said, if you love those who love you, what reward will you get are not even the tax collectors doing that. And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others do not even pagans do that? What was he saying here? What was the point? Does it take any faith in Jesus to love those who love [00:09:00] you to like those who like you. [00:09:04] To like those who liked the things that you liked to love to like those who you like to be with. Does it take any faith in Jesus to do that? Why did Jesus when he gathered his band of brothers? we call them the apostles. Why did he gather such a diverse group of people? You realized that there had to be spirited, campfire times when you got different points of view being reflected in the conversation. [00:09:34] Could it be that it's better, that we start to embrace our differences than push away. from them I want to show you something, Paul. said, I think this is interesting. This comes from 2 Corinthians chapter five. He said from, so from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view, Though once we regarded Christ in this way we do so no longer, we regard no one from a worldly point of view. [00:09:59] A worldly [00:10:00] point of view. What is exact, what exactly is a worldly point of view? How you could regard people? Can I throw out some ideas? Number one. It's whenever you communicate, Hey, I'm superior to you. That's a worldly point of view. I am better than you. I am more than you. I'm greater than you. Second would be. [00:10:18] I am right. And you are wrong. This is a worldly point of view. I'm right. You're wrong? I've got it. You don't three. If you don't see things my way, it is you who are at fault, which is just a variant of that, of course. But if you don't see it the way I see it, my view isn't incorrect. Your view. This is the worldly point of view. [00:10:39] I'm right. You're wrong. And then fourth, I am normal. You are not, I am normal. This is the way you should think. This is the standard of all thinking that you would conform with my way of thinking. Now when Jesus has people treat others exactly the same way the world treats others it [00:11:00] diminishes the claim of Christ and the person of Jesus. [00:11:04] The reality is, is that we're called to be different and we're called to embrace the differences and not, not run away from them, not reject them. I want to take you to another couple of things. Paul wrote, just allow me, I'm going to. Put a number of passages, I just think are so relevant to this conversation. [00:11:20] This comes from 2 Corinthians 5:18 Paul said, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. In other words, what you used to be, what you once were, it's done away with the worldly way you were. You're no longer there. Okay. There it's a new beginning. The oldest gone the newest here. [00:11:42] Now all of this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ. And gave us the ministry of reconciliation. God used Christ to bring us together. And by the way, just heads up. There are no two more different people than me and Christ. He is sinless. I am not [00:12:00] how in the world could we be put together? [00:12:03] It's because he loved that, which was different than himself. He loved me. He loved you. Anyway, he gave us a ministry of reconciliation. Our job was to do this for people, bring them to God that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he's committed to us, the ministry of reconciliation in other words There's all this diversity out there. Church. What I want you to do is I want you to be the ones to build the bridge who go the distance who get beyond the differences. So we're, we are therefore Christ's ambassadors. Christ's ambassadors. Agents representing him in a foreign and distant place who have different customs and different values than the world in which we've been inserted though. [00:12:48] God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf. Be reconciled to God. Now he, God made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the [00:13:00] righteousness of God. Incredible difference between us and God. But Christ went the distance. He crossed the line. He came to us. [00:13:09] So that We could actually be recreated into something more. Now I want to just say about this. There's a couple of truths that I would like to kind of extract from this about being an ambassador. And number one, truth would be this. We can never make a difference in this world unless we're willing to be different in this world. [00:13:28] Okay. So the worldly point of view is I only like those who like me. I only like those who are like me. I only love those who love me. I only love those who I love to love. That's a worldly point of view. I'm going to be different than the world. I'm going to do what the world won't do. I'm going to cross that line. [00:13:47] I'm going to go into the other, I'm going to go the distance. I'm going to go into the other camp. I'm going to go make friends. So that's one truth. The second truth is this truth without making contact with others. We will never make an impact on [00:14:00] others. No contact, no impact. Say that with me church. Say that out loud. [00:14:05] No contact, no impact. Well, I don't want to hang out with people who are different than me. They make me uncomfortable, no contact, no impact. Now the second thing I want to show you that Paul said, and I, again, this is a little as like a mouth full, but it is so important that we understand this. Paul said it this way, though, I am free and belong to no one. [00:14:27] I have made myself a slave gave to everyone. I am living my life and giving my life away to all those people. I come in contact with. Many of them are very, very different than me because I want to win as many as possible. I want to make the greatest impact I can make with my life. So Paul said to the Jews, I became like a Jew. [00:14:49] I can learn that language he's saying, and he, of course he was a Jew and he let his Jewishness come out of him to win the Jews to those under the law. I became like one [00:15:00] under the law though. I, myself am not under the law, but so I could win those under the law to those, not having the law. I became like one, not having the law, although I am not free from God's law, but under Christ's law in other word I can only take this so far. [00:15:17] So as to when those not having the law to the weak, I became weak to win the weak. I have become all things to all people. So that by all possible means I might save some, I do all of this for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings. Now, look, look, look, I have become all things to all people. [00:15:37] So by all possible means I can win them. I will cross the barrier of our differences. So that I can become what they need for the sake of Christ folks. We are called to be Christ ambassadors. And the very premise is that we're living among people who are different than us who have a point of view. [00:15:57] That's different than our point of view, [00:16:00] who can be fine with all kinds of division. Be fine with all kinds of hostility, be fine with all kinds of abuse, but we're to be different now. Where did we ever learn? Not to love people who are different. Where did, like, where did this come from? Who told us? We had to not love people who are different. [00:16:20] Who taught us this value that different is bad. Different is dangerous. Are we simply going to conform to the world now again? Paul said it this way. In Romans 12, do not conform to the pattern of this world. The worldly point of view, do not adopt and kind of infuse your life with a worldly way of doing things. [00:16:45] Bu be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And I'll just stop there. God wants to change us. He wants us to become so much more. We have to learn how to think differently than the world. When we come to Christ, we're going to be guided by the, the peoples [00:17:00] of the world are going to be guided by the principles of Jesus. [00:17:02] Jesus said, we need to learn how to love everyone. And that means we're going to have to buck the system of the world in which we live. So I want to do something I don't want to just want to throw you to a news item that I just think is very intriguing. Watch, watch this. [00:17:23] We end the week with this story of two little girls. They are just four years old, but grownups could learn a lot from them. Here's Steve Hartman on the road. Miami preschoolers Jia Sarnicola and Zuri Copeland say they're not best friends. They say they're closer than that. Closer than mere sisters. even In fact, JIA and Zuri truly believe they're twins, Ashley and Valencia are their moms. [00:17:53] They will tell you that they are twins and they have a long list of reasons why to back it up to them. What makes [00:18:00] a twin. Uh, similarities, similarities For example, the girls say they're both 4 their birthdays are practically the same day. And of course the obvious physical similarities. So what am I looking at here? [00:18:13] The same height Oh, because you're the same height. Clearly twins, which is why they also insist on matching outfits whenever possible. So far Ashley and Valencia have indulged them, but they also recognize there is some bitter to this sweet, you know, you're happy for, you know, for a few seconds and then you become sad because they have to grow up and then society takes over. [00:18:40] Indeed society has already tried to take over last month. Zuri and Jia were at a birthday party when an older kid told them they couldn't be twins because they don't have the same skin color JIA broke down. But through her tears, she got out this rebuttal. She said, you don't know what you're [00:19:00] talking about. [00:19:00] We're twins because we share the same soul. Uh, I just get chill, bumps. Um, soul I was just like thrown by just that word. Yeah. Obviously what JIA was trying to say is that at our core, we are one. And as we look back on this year with all its division and racial strife, it's important to remember that, while all this was going on. [00:19:28] So was this, we have a lot to learn and we can learn from children. In fact, the moms say they already have pretty sure we've never talked so much on the phone and that's what the twins want for all of us. To push back against the cynics Some girl said we are not twins and we are We are twins and to stop it with this discrimination business once. And for all, And it made her sad that way they say we can move on [00:20:00] to the more important things in life You know what we're going to get today. [00:20:06] What We're going to get ice cream Steve Hartman. Oh, on the road without ice cream in Miami. Alright, well, those are two beautiful little girls, but you know that they're living in a world, that's going to do everything within them to separate them. And I just want to remind you, you know, when you're a child, things like skin color just doesn't matter. [00:20:31] It just doesn't matter. Differences. Don't matter to you. Every, every friend you make is like an adventure you get to go on and you get to discover and find out so much about what you didn't know So who's going to teach these children the way it is. Are they going to grow up with a worldly mindset or a different mindset, a kingdom mindset? [00:20:51] Well folks it's really gonna depend on the ambassadors of Jesus who have a message of reconciliation and whether we live this out, [00:21:00] not, not in words, but in the way we love people. It's going to determine whether or not these girls grow up to love each other, or somewhere along the road, learn to hate each other. [00:21:12] So, let me get real personal. Here. It is the calling of the church to be the ambassadors of Jesus, to a lost world. We're to find ways to bridge the difference. That's holding us apart. The thing that's keeping us from each other. For us to do that. Something has to change. We have to do more than we've ever done. [00:21:37] We have to go further than we've ever gone. So if I, if I can be real candid with you, I want to, I want to say something that is very convicting, very challenging. Christians. Don't get past the differences among themselves to have anything left, to make a difference in the world. In other words, it's so easy for us to fall in conflict with one another for the church to [00:22:00] literally be so concerned with the differences between us, that we, we don't even love each other the way Jesus wanted us to love. [00:22:08] Now, here's the deal. If we don't learn how to love each other, then we'll never learn to share love with the world. We will absolutely. And utterly fail as ambassadors. And I have failed at this before. And. I often prefer to be like, maybe what you like to be, which is around people that I like. And they're like me, and it's really easy to just go, you know what? [00:22:35] I'm good. I've got enough. And I'm good. The problem is when I surround myself with people who are just like me, my world becomes smaller and smaller and smaller because we're becoming so aware of the differences. There's so many things that can exclude people and push them to the perimeter. And you know what happens when you're surrounded by people that are just like you, you begin to atrophy, you don't grow, you don't become, you don't experience [00:23:00] what God has for you now wanna illustrate this. [00:23:04] And again, I'm just candidly with some personal stories that I think can communicate a little bit of what I want to communicate. I want to introduce you to a couple of friends of mine and how God has used them to show me a bigger vision of maybe what. He has in store. I want to introduce you to this guy right here. [00:23:22] Some of you immediately recognize him, you know who he is. He's Tom Shrader Tom was for years, the pastor of East Valley Bible and just a wonderful, wonderful man. But I got to tell you, in the early years, I'd only heard of Tom. I never had a chance to meet him. And it became obvious by things. I would hear that he and I have kind of a different understanding of God, a different theological framework now, not it's not a heresy or anything like that. [00:23:51] We just see things a little bit differently and there'd be a lot of reasons for, and I not to become friends because we're just too [00:24:00] different when it comes to understanding how scripture works and. yet what happened was, uh, through a series of circumstances, we were able to cross the bridge and really get to know each other a little bit. [00:24:12] And you know what I discovered, I, I love this guy. He died last January, January of 2019. And I grieved over his loss. I felt like a brother had died. I would never have believed it was possible, but you know what I can tell you about Tom, while we don't share the same theology, he and I share the same soul. [00:24:34] And that's what it's all about folks now. That's I can't even imagine how much less my life would be. If I didn't know, Tom, he's made that big of a difference. Oh, Tom, let me introduce you to another friend. This is David. Wade David David Wade, oh man. I love this guy. David Wade is the pastor of Mt Calvary Baptist church in Mesa. [00:25:00] [00:25:00] He and I are neighbors. We live in the same hood. And David I've gotten to know him over the years. I got to know him because he would drive by my house. And if I was ever out, he would stop and then we would just start talking and he'd be in his car. And I, my head would be in his car and my feet are on the street and we just got to know each other more and more. [00:25:20] We got to know each other and kind of catch kind of the spirit of each other. And. I got to tell you something about him. As I've gotten to know him better, we don't just meet in the streets anymore. We actually spend time together, but I've been meeting some of his friends. I got to tell you that that culture, that he's a part of is so different than my culture. [00:25:40] And some of the things that his culture is about making me incredibly uncomfortable with, you know, what I want to tell you about my, my, my friend, David, he and I, we don't share the same culture, but he and I share the same soul. I can't imagine what my life would be like without knowing David he's made me so much better. [00:26:00] [00:25:59] Nobody that I know hasn't said more encouraging, more uplifting, more supportive. I mean, this guy has blessed my life over and over again in huge ways Can't imagine what I'd have lost, not knowing him. Okay. One more real quick. And you might have a hard time seeing this because it's kind of light. But this, this is Pat and Fritz. [00:26:21] Okay. Now Pat and Fritz are not pastors. Okay. Pat and Fritz that in fact, they're such good friends, but I got to explain something. They're Catholics. I'm not a Catholic I'm a Protestant they're Catholics. And we're really, really, different man. but I gotta tell you something. These two. They have opened my eyes. They're part of a Catholic organization called the Focolare, which I wish I had time right now to describe to you It's a wonderful organization that produces wonderful people like these two, but the Focolare are committed to living the life of Jesus and literally going out wherever you can serve and finding [00:27:00] places to serve and serving. [00:27:01] And these two guys I'm telling you, they love Jesus and they, they represent him so well. They're both single guys and just wonderful, wonderful men. I am so blessed. You know what? I don't share the same faith with them. I'm not Catholic, but I share the same soul with them. They've changed my life. I'm so glad I've met them. [00:27:22] So here's the point I'm trying to give you folks. These guys all have shown you. They're not alike that at all. They're just not alike. They're different. And what, what would I have lost if I didn't know those guys? How much more shallow would my life have been? So I just want to a couple of things I want to say here, the more diverse your life, the richer your life. [00:27:45] I think this is why Jesus is going get beyond the barrier go further. The more diverse your life, the richer your life will be. And in fact, I will say it this way. There was a big idea to this message. This would be it differences are the door to [00:28:00] experiencing more. You know you're made for more. If you don't go through that door of differences, you're going to live a diminished life. [00:28:07] It's going to be less than what God wanted you to have. And we're never going to change the world. Folks. If we don't learn how to love, like Jesus told us to love. So what do we do with differences? Well, let me just suggest two things as I close number one. What to do, change, how you think about differences. [00:28:26] Differences are not bad. Differences are. Just different differences are these incredible things that give us windows and doors into something beyond anything we've ever experienced change. How you think about differences and then second change, how you react to differences. You know, what worldly people do with differences. [00:28:51] They respond with disgust or condescension. Well, mostly fear and they [00:29:00] go, you know what? I can't get to know you. I can't cross that bridge because you're just not like me. Um, so just understand this folks. If we're ever going to change the world the way Jesus tasked us as his ambassadors to change the world, we're going to have to learn how to love beyond our differences. [00:29:17] And when we do, we're going to experience a much richer life. Now I've been limited in what I can talk about here. What about different ethnicities? Should we love different ethnicities. I don't know. What do you think Jesus wants us to do? Should we love people of who are of a different faith? Should we make friends with people who believe differently than we believe? [00:29:36] What about people who are having different sexual orientation are because they're maybe different. Should we not love them? Or should we find the way to build a bridge and love them? People have different values. As ambassadors folks, we'll never reach them. if We don't make contact and put [00:30:00] beyond our differences and go, there's a greater, more important thing at stake here. [00:30:03] Now I've tried my hardest to say this the best. I know how, and I probably failed miserably, but I got, I've got to tell you, I watched a video of somebody who was so eloquent. It was so crystal clear. It was so. I should have just showed you that video. And we could all just call it a day and said we went to church, but, um, I just thought I'll just close with a little bit of what he said, so you can hear it when it said really, really well. [00:30:28] So catch this. [00:30:31] There's lots of ideas of how you can change the world. Some people think you should just complain about it. That won't change the world.That'll just make it mad. Some people think you have to have lots of money and money, Make it rain everywhere you go. [00:30:52] Holla for a dolla Some people think you have to be really loud and yelling a lot. It's like with a bullhorn shouting [00:31:00] Ya heard Other people choose, to just make fun of everything. That's dumb. That's dumb. Everyone's dumb. It's easy to make fun of stuff. But it's cooler to make stuff. Some people think changing the world can only be done by the smartest person in the world. Just put them in a room and let em Figure it out. [00:31:24] Food. Wow. Was like so amazing. Some people see the bad in the world and they just decide to ignore, it but that won't help. anything Some people think you have to be famous and super cool In fact Lots of people think you have to be really powerful and to make a difference like being there or similar for president. But the truth is a title. [00:31:51] Doesn't make you more important. The world is changed by you. It's One person filled with love and they just have to live it [00:32:00] out So they do something awesome. Then that person is filled with love and they do something awesome. [00:32:05] It just goes on and on and on and next thing you know everything's awesome. Some people think it's impossible to change the world. It's impossible to change the world. Well, you can see why they could think that living in the world with kids who are hungry, people who are homeless families, weren't happy. [00:32:25] I'm just I trying to figure it out like everybody else man I do know this though Next time you feel overwhelmed or totally alone. Remember this Thanks. Don't have to be the way they are. The world is changed by ordinary people, people living out big walls. [00:32:44]