Life Together
Speaker: John Lau
Date: 8th January 2023
Passage: Psalm 133:1-3
00:00:00 --> 00:00:15 Good morning. This January, we will introduce a few faithful followers of Christ, which is in our era, closer to our time, and who have run the race of faith.
00:00:16 --> 00:00:29 Today, I will present a German pastor and theologian who was imprisoned and later martyred near the end of World War II for plotting to assassinate Hitler.
00:00:30 --> 00:00:32 His name is Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
00:00:38 --> 00:00:50 During his imprisonment, the guards were friendly to him and secretly took him to the cells of desperate, dismaying prisoners to minister to them.
00:00:51 --> 00:01:02 They preserved his papers, essays, and poems, and even established a complete secret career service to his family and friends outside.
00:01:02 --> 00:01:10 And before his imprisonment, he was a senior minister in Barcelona, in England, also back in Germany.
00:01:11 --> 00:01:25 And he taught at a Bible college in New York for a year in 1930, where he saw firsthand the struggle of the black Christians and the fight for equality in a so-called Christian nation.
00:01:25 --> 00:01:33 He also traveled and preached even to Havana, Cuba.
00:01:33 --> 00:01:42 He was contemporary with Karl Barth and Gandhi in India, and he was there when the wars went up in Berlin.
00:01:42 --> 00:01:51 He also traveled and transferred to Vossenburg in the last few weeks of his life.
00:01:52 --> 00:01:54 They cut off all his contact with the outside world.
00:01:55 --> 00:02:05 And he spent those few weeks with men and women of many nationalities, Russian, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Italians, and German.
00:02:05 --> 00:02:09 One of them, an English officer, wrote,
00:02:10 --> 00:02:18 Bonhoeffer always seems to me to spread an amnesty of happiness and joy over the least incident,
00:02:19 --> 00:02:23 and profound gratitude for the mere fact that he was alive.
00:02:23 --> 00:02:30 He was one of the very few persons I have ever met for whom God is real and always near.
00:02:30 --> 00:02:39 Bonhoeffer's parting word to this Englishman, as he was led out by two civilians to face a gallop, was,
00:02:40 --> 00:02:43 This is the end, but for me, it's the beginning of life.
00:02:45 --> 00:02:50 A few years after his execution in the concentration camp at Vossenburg,
00:02:51 --> 00:02:55 a nearby church unveiled a tablet with this inscription,
00:02:55 --> 00:03:02 which translates to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a witness of Jesus Christ among his brethren.
00:03:03 --> 00:03:12 Born February 4, 1906, in Breslau, and died April 9, 1945, in Vossenburg.
00:03:13 --> 00:03:22 Bonhoeffer left a legacy of writing that has become a prized testimony of faith and courage for Christians worldwide.
00:03:22 --> 00:03:27 Bonhoeffer's most widely read book called The Discipleship begins,
00:03:28 --> 00:03:31 Cheap grace is a mortal enemy of our church.
00:03:32 --> 00:03:34 Our struggle today is for costly grace.
00:03:35 --> 00:03:38 So he's the first one that uses the term cheap grace.
00:03:38 --> 00:03:42 And today, I will mainly refer to a book called Life Together,
00:03:43 --> 00:03:46 where he opens with the psalm that we read just then,
00:03:46 --> 00:03:50 how great and present it is with God's people who live together in unity.
00:03:50 --> 00:03:56 Life Together is an inspiring account of a unique fellowship
00:03:56 --> 00:04:02 in an underground ceremony during the Nazi years in Germany.
00:04:03 --> 00:04:09 It can be treated as a bread for all people hungry for the real life of Christian fellowship.
00:04:10 --> 00:04:14 The publisher suggested every Christian should make it their resolution
00:04:14 --> 00:04:18 resolution to read Life Together at the beginning of every year,
00:04:18 --> 00:04:20 which I could not agree more.
00:04:20 --> 00:04:25 Reading it will help us to reset our expectation and understanding
00:04:25 --> 00:04:28 of what genuine Christian fellowship is all about,
00:04:29 --> 00:04:33 and allow us to refocus on our Lord Jesus Christ.
00:04:33 --> 00:04:39 Our current preaching series is based on Hebrews 12,
00:04:39 --> 00:04:41 verse 1 to 3, where it says,
00:04:41 --> 00:04:46 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,
00:04:46 --> 00:04:51 let's throw off everything that hinder and the sin that so easily entangle,
00:04:51 --> 00:04:54 and let's run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
00:04:55 --> 00:05:00 Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith,
00:05:00 --> 00:05:03 for the joy set before him, he endued the cross,
00:05:03 --> 00:05:07 scorned his shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
00:05:08 --> 00:05:11 Consider him who endures such opposition from sinners,
00:05:12 --> 00:05:15 so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
00:05:17 --> 00:05:23 So many situations in life can cause us to grow weary and lose our hearts,
00:05:23 --> 00:05:28 especially when we are facing now living in COVID.
00:05:28 --> 00:05:33 I remember it was about beginning or mid last year
00:05:33 --> 00:05:38 that I accepted that there will not be a post-COVID time soon,
00:05:39 --> 00:05:43 and we are to live with the realization that the virus will not go away,
00:05:43 --> 00:05:47 which helped me to face the daily life with renewed energy.
00:05:47 --> 00:05:54 I find Bonhoeffer's life together helpful also in providing two crucial realizations.
00:05:55 --> 00:05:59 A Christian comes together only through Jesus Christ,
00:05:59 --> 00:06:02 and a Christian needs others because of Jesus Christ.
00:06:03 --> 00:06:08 Apostle John reminded us in 1 John 4, 7-10 that,
00:06:09 --> 00:06:13 Dear friend, let's love one another, for love comes from God.
00:06:13 --> 00:06:16 Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
00:06:16 --> 00:06:20 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
00:06:21 --> 00:06:23 This is how God showed his love among us.
00:06:23 --> 00:06:27 He sent his one and only Son into the world, that we might live through him.
00:06:28 --> 00:06:29 This is love.
00:06:29 --> 00:06:35 Not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
00:06:36 --> 00:06:40 We have just celebrated the birth of Christ a few weeks ago.
00:06:40 --> 00:06:47 I hope amidst all the hassle and best of gift weapon, gift giving, and abundant visiting,
00:06:47 --> 00:06:51 you have a chance to stop and think about the meaning of Christmas.
00:06:52 --> 00:06:56 Christmas is how God showed his love among us,
00:06:56 --> 00:07:02 by sending his one and only Son into the world as an atoning sacrifice for our sin,
00:07:02 --> 00:07:06 so that we might live through him and love one another.
00:07:06 --> 00:07:13 Christians love one another and live through Jesus Christ is a given and non-negotiable.
00:07:14 --> 00:07:19 The implication of these verses is striking, especially in verse 7 and 8.
00:07:21 --> 00:07:28 If the characteristic of your life is not a God-like love that even cares for its enemy,
00:07:28 --> 00:07:29 then you don't know God.
00:07:29 --> 00:07:35 And by logical extension, you have not been born of God.
00:07:36 --> 00:07:36 Why?
00:07:36 --> 00:07:38 Because God is love.
00:07:40 --> 00:07:46 It's God's very character, essence, and nature to love.
00:07:47 --> 00:07:48 And as verse 10 demonstrates,
00:07:49 --> 00:07:55 God seeks the best for us, even at high cost and expenses to himself.
00:07:55 --> 00:08:01 If you have been struggling to hold a God-like love towards others,
00:08:02 --> 00:08:06 especially those you consider undeserving of your affection,
00:08:07 --> 00:08:11 those you have a legitimate, justifying reason to withheld your love,
00:08:12 --> 00:08:18 now is the time to question those reasons in light of what God has done for you
00:08:18 --> 00:08:21 in Jesus Christ to free you to love.
00:08:21 --> 00:08:28 Christians living under the love of God and others in a free country like Australia
00:08:28 --> 00:08:32 face another challenge in their relationship.
00:08:33 --> 00:08:39 We can take it for granted that Christians have the privilege of living among other Christians.
00:08:40 --> 00:08:41 At the beginning of Life Together,
00:08:42 --> 00:08:47 Bonhoeffer provides a timely reminder of what God has done through Jesus for us.
00:08:47 --> 00:09:17 It says,
00:09:17 --> 00:09:30 Let me encourage you to read through and mark the teaching of Hebrews 12 again,
00:09:30 --> 00:09:35 to fix your eyes on Jesus, who endured the cross and strong its shame.
00:09:36 --> 00:09:40 Consider him, our Lord Jesus, who endured such opposition from sinners,
00:09:41 --> 00:09:44 so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
00:09:44 --> 00:09:50 Keep spreading the good news of God's salvation and bring many people into the fellowship of God.
00:09:51 --> 00:09:59 The tremendous and challenging application of this command is that we must go to those who do not want us there.
00:10:00 --> 00:10:03 We must share the gospel they don't want to hear.
00:10:04 --> 00:10:08 We must love those who may hate and even kill us in return,
00:10:08 --> 00:10:14 because Jesus connected us to him and each other through the new birth.
00:10:14 --> 00:10:18 We must live like Jesus among our friends and enemies.
00:10:19 --> 00:10:20 And that's what Bonhoeffer did.
00:10:22 --> 00:10:25 Bonhoeffer saw Christian fellowship as a gift of grace,
00:10:26 --> 00:10:31 a gift of the kingdom of God that any day may be taken from us.
00:10:31 --> 00:10:38 Therefore, let him who until now has had the privilege of living a common Christian life,
00:10:38 --> 00:10:42 reviled a Christian, praise God's grace from the bottom of his heart.
00:10:42 --> 00:10:45 Let him thank God on his knee and declare,
00:10:45 --> 00:10:47 this is grace, nothing but grace,
00:10:47 --> 00:10:51 that we are allowed to live in community with Christian brethren.
00:10:51 --> 00:10:56 Bonhoeffer saw Christian come together only through Jesus Christ,
00:10:56 --> 00:11:02 because without Christ, there's a discord between God and man,
00:11:02 --> 00:11:04 and between man and man.
00:11:05 --> 00:11:10 Christ become the mediator and make peace with God among men.
00:11:10 --> 00:11:13 Without Christ, we shall not know God.
00:11:14 --> 00:11:18 We will not call upon him nor come to him.
00:11:18 --> 00:11:22 And without Christ, we also would not know our brothers and sisters,
00:11:23 --> 00:11:24 nor can we go to them.
00:11:25 --> 00:11:28 Christ broke down all those barriers
00:11:28 --> 00:11:34 and made it possible for God and man and men and men to reconcile.
00:11:35 --> 00:11:40 So Christ should be the only reason that Christians come together in fellowship.
00:11:42 --> 00:11:47 Christian fellowship is not some extraordinary social experience,
00:11:48 --> 00:11:50 or some wishful idea of religious fellowship.
00:11:51 --> 00:11:57 The only reason that Christians come together in fellowship should be Christ.
00:12:01 --> 00:12:07 John 17, 23 recorded Jesus' prayer for all his believers before he died.
00:12:08 --> 00:12:10 He said, he prayed,
00:12:10 --> 00:12:12 My prayer is not for them alone.
00:12:13 --> 00:12:16 I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,
00:12:17 --> 00:12:18 that all of them may be one.
00:12:19 --> 00:12:22 Father, just as you are in me and I am in you,
00:12:23 --> 00:12:24 may they also be in us,
00:12:25 --> 00:12:28 so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
00:12:28 --> 00:12:31 I have given them the glory that you gave me,
00:12:31 --> 00:12:33 that they may be one as we are one,
00:12:34 --> 00:12:36 I in them and you in me,
00:12:36 --> 00:12:38 so that they may be brought to complete unity.
00:12:39 --> 00:12:41 Then the world will know that you sent me
00:12:41 --> 00:12:44 and have loved them even as you have loved me.
00:12:45 --> 00:12:48 Jesus prays for you, me, and all believers
00:12:48 --> 00:12:52 to be as one as the Triune God,
00:12:52 --> 00:12:54 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
00:12:56 --> 00:13:00 The Triune God is one in perfect unity.
00:13:00 --> 00:13:03 He has been working since that prayer
00:13:03 --> 00:13:05 to bring us, bring his follower
00:13:05 --> 00:13:09 to the oneness of unity through his Spirit.
00:13:10 --> 00:13:12 The Spirit that he gave us
00:13:12 --> 00:13:16 to help us to know that we live in him and he in us.
00:13:18 --> 00:13:20 As I say in 1 John 4, 13,
00:13:21 --> 00:13:24 Jesus creates a community for us
00:13:24 --> 00:13:27 to acknowledge our need for each other
00:13:27 --> 00:13:31 and in turn, draw us into the perfect unity he prayed for.
00:13:32 --> 00:13:35 Jesus Christ puts Christians together
00:13:35 --> 00:13:38 to testify and reveal to each other
00:13:38 --> 00:13:40 the works God has done in their life.
00:13:42 --> 00:13:45 Bonhoeffer illustrated the fantastic mechanic
00:13:45 --> 00:13:47 of this working among Christians.
00:13:48 --> 00:13:48 He said,
00:13:48 --> 00:13:52 God has put the work of God in Jesus Christ
00:13:52 --> 00:13:54 into the mouth of men and women
00:13:54 --> 00:13:58 so that they communicate and share them to others.
00:13:59 --> 00:14:01 When the word of God strikes one person,
00:14:02 --> 00:14:03 he speaks it out to others.
00:14:04 --> 00:14:08 God willed us to seek and find his living word
00:14:08 --> 00:14:10 in the witness of others,
00:14:10 --> 00:14:12 in the mouth of a fellow human.
00:14:13 --> 00:14:16 Therefore, Christians need another Christian
00:14:16 --> 00:14:17 who speaks God's word to them.
00:14:18 --> 00:14:21 They need another Christian again and again
00:14:21 --> 00:14:23 when they become uncertain and discouraged.
00:14:23 --> 00:14:27 For they cannot, we as Christians cannot,
00:14:27 --> 00:14:30 help ourselves without belaying the truth.
00:14:31 --> 00:14:32 Christians need other Christians
00:14:32 --> 00:14:34 as bearer and proclaimer
00:14:34 --> 00:14:36 of the divine word of salvation.
00:14:37 --> 00:14:40 We need other Christians solely because Jesus Christ.
00:14:42 --> 00:14:43 Bonhoeffer highlighted that
00:14:43 --> 00:14:46 the Christ in our heart is weaker
00:14:46 --> 00:14:49 than the Christ in the word of other believers.
00:14:50 --> 00:14:52 When our own heart is uncertain,
00:14:52 --> 00:14:55 the word of Christ come from other Christians is sure.
00:14:56 --> 00:14:59 When Apostle John said in verse 12,
00:14:59 --> 00:15:01 no one has ever seen God,
00:15:01 --> 00:15:02 but if we love one another,
00:15:03 --> 00:15:07 God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
00:15:07 --> 00:15:11 It means that when Christians love one another,
00:15:12 --> 00:15:14 that mutual Christian love is evident
00:15:14 --> 00:15:15 that the unseen God,
00:15:16 --> 00:15:18 who was once revealed in his Son,
00:15:18 --> 00:15:20 is now shown to his people.
00:15:20 --> 00:15:24 Christians need each other to make visible
00:15:24 --> 00:15:25 the invisible God
00:15:25 --> 00:15:28 that this world so desperately need to see
00:15:28 --> 00:15:29 and come to know.
00:15:31 --> 00:15:32 Bonhoeffer taught that
00:15:32 --> 00:15:34 the goal of all Christian community
00:15:34 --> 00:15:37 of living a common life in God's word
00:15:37 --> 00:15:39 is to meet one another
00:15:39 --> 00:15:41 as bringers of salvation,
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 of message of salvation.
00:15:43 --> 00:15:46 God permits us to meet together
00:15:46 --> 00:15:49 and give us a fellowship of a community of believers
00:15:49 --> 00:15:50 for that purpose,
00:15:51 --> 00:15:55 for us to bring the message of salvation to each other.
00:15:56 --> 00:16:00 He makes it necessary for us to meet each other.
00:16:00 --> 00:16:04 Is that what you have imagined
00:16:04 --> 00:16:06 for a Christian community?
00:16:07 --> 00:16:09 A place for you to be Jesus to others,
00:16:10 --> 00:16:12 to bring the message of salvation,
00:16:13 --> 00:16:15 helping others to understand the gospel,
00:16:16 --> 00:16:19 the great news of justification through grace alone.
00:16:20 --> 00:16:22 God's grace is the basis of the longing
00:16:22 --> 00:16:24 of Christ for one another.
00:16:24 --> 00:16:31 If you have not been actively seeking
00:16:31 --> 00:16:32 to join a Christ-loving,
00:16:33 --> 00:16:34 life-changing community
00:16:34 --> 00:16:36 and have been missing in action
00:16:36 --> 00:16:39 in fellowshipping with other Christians regularly
00:16:39 --> 00:16:41 outside Sunday corporate service,
00:16:42 --> 00:16:43 in that case,
00:16:43 --> 00:16:45 you are fighting with Jesus
00:16:45 --> 00:16:47 in his plan for you
00:16:47 --> 00:16:48 to be one with other.
00:16:48 --> 00:16:50 You are running in the opposite direction
00:16:50 --> 00:16:52 in the race of faith.
00:16:53 --> 00:16:56 It's time to stop fighting with God
00:16:56 --> 00:16:58 for whatever reason you might have
00:16:58 --> 00:17:01 of not joining in building a community
00:17:01 --> 00:17:02 of followers of Christ.
00:17:03 --> 00:17:04 As Bonhoeffer puts it,
00:17:05 --> 00:17:09 Christianity means community through Jesus Christ
00:17:09 --> 00:17:11 and in Jesus Christ.
00:17:13 --> 00:17:16 If you are not regularly in a community of Christians,
00:17:16 --> 00:17:19 you are not living your Christian life properly.
00:17:23 --> 00:17:24 To Bonhoeffer,
00:17:25 --> 00:17:28 when God's Son took on flesh,
00:17:29 --> 00:17:31 He truly and boldly took on
00:17:31 --> 00:17:33 our pure grace,
00:17:33 --> 00:17:34 our being,
00:17:34 --> 00:17:35 our nature,
00:17:35 --> 00:17:36 ourselves.
00:17:37 --> 00:17:38 This was the eternal counsel
00:17:38 --> 00:17:40 of the giant God.
00:17:41 --> 00:17:42 Now we are in Him,
00:17:42 --> 00:17:43 where He is.
00:17:44 --> 00:17:45 There we are too,
00:17:45 --> 00:17:46 in the incarnation,
00:17:47 --> 00:17:48 in the cross,
00:17:48 --> 00:17:49 in His resurrection.
00:17:50 --> 00:17:51 We belong to Him
00:17:51 --> 00:17:52 because we are in Him.
00:17:53 --> 00:17:55 That is why the Scripture
00:17:55 --> 00:17:57 calls us the body of Christ.
00:17:58 --> 00:18:00 As the body of Christ,
00:18:00 --> 00:18:01 we are called to live in unity.
00:18:02 --> 00:18:03 However,
00:18:03 --> 00:18:04 looking through the Bible
00:18:04 --> 00:18:05 and world history,
00:18:06 --> 00:18:07 unity among God's people
00:18:07 --> 00:18:09 was very short-lived
00:18:09 --> 00:18:10 and imperfect.
00:18:10 --> 00:18:15 But the absence of unity
00:18:15 --> 00:18:16 is the best teacher
00:18:16 --> 00:18:18 of the blessing of unity.
00:18:20 --> 00:18:21 Looking back at the last section
00:18:21 --> 00:18:22 of our text today
00:18:22 --> 00:18:25 from 1 John 4,
00:18:25 --> 00:18:26 starting from verse 17,
00:18:27 --> 00:18:30 this is how love is made complete among us,
00:18:30 --> 00:18:32 so that we will have confidence
00:18:32 --> 00:18:33 on the date of judgment.
00:18:34 --> 00:18:35 In this world,
00:18:35 --> 00:18:36 we are like Jesus.
00:18:36 --> 00:18:39 There is no fear in love,
00:18:40 --> 00:18:42 but perfect love drives out fear
00:18:42 --> 00:18:44 because fear has to do with punishment.
00:18:45 --> 00:18:45 The one who fears
00:18:45 --> 00:18:47 is not made perfect in love.
00:18:48 --> 00:18:51 We love because He first loved us.
00:18:51 --> 00:18:53 Whoever claims to love God
00:18:53 --> 00:18:55 yet hates his brother or sister
00:18:55 --> 00:18:55 is a liar.
00:18:56 --> 00:18:57 For whoever does not love
00:18:57 --> 00:18:58 their brother and sister
00:18:58 --> 00:19:01 whom they have seen
00:19:01 --> 00:19:02 cannot love God
00:19:02 --> 00:19:04 whom they have not seen.
00:19:04 --> 00:19:05 And this is,
00:19:06 --> 00:19:08 He has given us this command.
00:19:08 --> 00:19:09 Anyone who loves God
00:19:09 --> 00:19:10 must also love
00:19:10 --> 00:19:11 their brother and sisters.
00:19:13 --> 00:19:14 Too often,
00:19:14 --> 00:19:19 Christians are not known
00:19:19 --> 00:19:21 for the love of others
00:19:21 --> 00:19:22 or unity.
00:19:23 --> 00:19:24 Sometimes,
00:19:24 --> 00:19:25 these criticisms
00:19:25 --> 00:19:26 are unjustified.
00:19:27 --> 00:19:28 But unfortunately,
00:19:28 --> 00:19:29 at other times,
00:19:29 --> 00:19:30 we are guilty as charged
00:19:30 --> 00:19:32 that we are not known
00:19:32 --> 00:19:33 for our love for each other
00:19:33 --> 00:19:34 and for our unity.
00:19:35 --> 00:19:37 And this is often manifest
00:19:37 --> 00:19:39 in our Christian relationship
00:19:39 --> 00:19:41 with our leaders.
00:19:43 --> 00:19:43 A common mistake
00:19:43 --> 00:19:44 of a Christian
00:19:44 --> 00:19:45 is to think that
00:19:45 --> 00:19:47 our pastor and minister
00:19:47 --> 00:19:49 are there to take care of us,
00:19:49 --> 00:19:50 that they do not need
00:19:50 --> 00:19:51 our encouragement.
00:19:53 --> 00:19:53 They are there to show
00:19:53 --> 00:19:54 God's love to us.
00:19:55 --> 00:19:55 However,
00:19:56 --> 00:19:57 they are also there
00:19:57 --> 00:19:58 to correct us
00:19:58 --> 00:19:59 and set us straight.
00:20:00 --> 00:20:01 We have an unhealthy sense
00:20:01 --> 00:20:03 of fear and worry
00:20:03 --> 00:20:04 about being corrected.
00:20:05 --> 00:20:07 We grow a love-hate relationship
00:20:08 --> 00:20:09 with those God put
00:20:09 --> 00:20:09 into authority
00:20:10 --> 00:20:11 in our life.
00:20:13 --> 00:20:14 And we end up fighting
00:20:14 --> 00:20:16 with and not fighting
00:20:16 --> 00:20:17 for our pastors.
00:20:17 --> 00:20:21 If we claim to love God
00:20:21 --> 00:20:22 yet hate the brother
00:20:22 --> 00:20:23 or sister,
00:20:23 --> 00:20:24 we are liars.
00:20:24 --> 00:20:25 If we do not love
00:20:25 --> 00:20:27 those who we see daily,
00:20:28 --> 00:20:29 how can we love God
00:20:29 --> 00:20:30 whom we have not seen,
00:20:31 --> 00:20:32 especially those God
00:20:32 --> 00:20:33 put into our life
00:20:33 --> 00:20:34 to lead us?
00:20:35 --> 00:20:35 That's why I got
00:20:35 --> 00:20:36 a little gift for everyone.
00:20:37 --> 00:20:38 I bought it for you,
00:20:38 --> 00:20:39 okay?
00:20:39 --> 00:20:40 Out of my own pocket.
00:20:41 --> 00:20:42 But because I found
00:20:42 --> 00:20:43 this very, very helpful,
00:20:44 --> 00:20:45 I really want you
00:20:45 --> 00:20:45 to read this.
00:20:45 --> 00:20:47 I believe this book,
00:20:47 --> 00:20:49 Fight for Your Pastor,
00:20:49 --> 00:20:50 written by Peter Orr,
00:20:51 --> 00:20:52 which is a New Testament lecturer
00:20:52 --> 00:20:53 at Moore College,
00:20:54 --> 00:20:55 is an excellent companion
00:20:55 --> 00:20:56 to the book
00:20:56 --> 00:20:58 of Life Together,
00:20:58 --> 00:20:59 written by Bonhoeffer.
00:21:01 --> 00:21:03 Please take this home.
00:21:03 --> 00:21:04 I left one
00:21:04 --> 00:21:05 in each alternative seat.
00:21:06 --> 00:21:07 If you don't have one,
00:21:08 --> 00:21:09 grab the one
00:21:09 --> 00:21:09 in front of you
00:21:09 --> 00:21:10 or come over here.
00:21:10 --> 00:21:12 There's more down here
00:21:12 --> 00:21:12 in the box.
00:21:14 --> 00:21:15 Please take this.
00:21:15 --> 00:21:16 Read it at least
00:21:16 --> 00:21:17 once a year.
00:21:18 --> 00:21:19 We want you to learn
00:21:19 --> 00:21:20 from this book.
00:21:21 --> 00:21:22 There are seven
00:21:22 --> 00:21:23 action points for us
00:21:23 --> 00:21:27 to care for our pastor.
00:21:28 --> 00:21:29 Fight,
00:21:30 --> 00:21:30 encourage,
00:21:31 --> 00:21:31 listen,
00:21:32 --> 00:21:32 give,
00:21:33 --> 00:21:33 forgive,
00:21:34 --> 00:21:34 submit,
00:21:35 --> 00:21:35 and check.
00:21:36 --> 00:21:38 This may not come naturally,
00:21:39 --> 00:21:40 but they are vital
00:21:40 --> 00:21:41 for our Christian community
00:21:41 --> 00:21:43 to have a healthy relationship
00:21:43 --> 00:21:45 between those who are leading
00:21:45 --> 00:21:47 and those who are following.
00:21:48 --> 00:21:49 These seven actions
00:21:49 --> 00:21:50 will provide
00:21:50 --> 00:21:51 an excellent balance
00:21:51 --> 00:21:53 to what Bonhoeffer has said
00:21:53 --> 00:21:55 about what a Christian leader
00:21:55 --> 00:21:55 should do
00:21:55 --> 00:21:57 in the fellowship of Christ.
00:21:58 --> 00:21:59 And as we consider
00:21:59 --> 00:22:00 how we should run
00:22:00 --> 00:22:01 the race of faith,
00:22:02 --> 00:22:03 resetting our expectation
00:22:03 --> 00:22:04 and understanding
00:22:04 --> 00:22:05 of what genuine
00:22:05 --> 00:22:06 Christian fellowship
00:22:06 --> 00:22:07 is all about,
00:22:08 --> 00:22:09 allow ourselves
00:22:09 --> 00:22:10 to refocus
00:22:10 --> 00:22:12 on our Lord Jesus Christ.
00:22:13 --> 00:22:14 Let's also consider
00:22:14 --> 00:22:15 how we are
00:22:15 --> 00:22:17 to care for
00:22:17 --> 00:22:18 those God put
00:22:18 --> 00:22:19 into our life
00:22:19 --> 00:22:20 to guide and lead us.
00:22:21 --> 00:22:23 My wish for everyone
00:22:23 --> 00:22:23 in 2023
00:22:23 --> 00:22:24 is the same
00:22:24 --> 00:22:25 as Paul's word
00:22:25 --> 00:22:26 to the brothers and sisters
00:22:26 --> 00:22:27 in Corinth.
00:22:27 --> 00:22:29 I hope you memorize
00:22:29 --> 00:22:30 this verse
00:22:30 --> 00:22:31 for this year.
00:22:32 --> 00:22:33 It's from 1 Corinthians
00:22:33 --> 00:22:34 chapter 10, 31.
00:22:36 --> 00:22:37 Maybe you can read it together.
00:22:38 --> 00:22:38 So,
00:22:39 --> 00:22:40 whether you eat
00:22:40 --> 00:22:41 or drink
00:22:41 --> 00:22:43 or whatever you do,
00:22:44 --> 00:22:44 do it all
00:22:44 --> 00:22:46 for the glory of God.
00:22:47 --> 00:22:48 Whether you eat
00:22:48 --> 00:22:48 or drink
00:22:48 --> 00:22:50 or whatever you do,
00:22:50 --> 00:22:51 do it all
00:22:51 --> 00:22:52 for the glory of God.
00:22:53 --> 00:22:54 To God be the glory.