Walk This Way: Marks of a Community with Rev. Terence Gray

Good morning. Good Good to see all of you guys. Good morning to everyone tuning in online this morning. In Matthew chapter 21 verse 13, Jesus said, my house shall be called a house of prayer. As a church, we're always praying, but our elders our elders here at Ward Church sense that in this moment, we need to set aside some intentional time just to go before our Lord in prayer.

This may feel like short notice, but when it's time to pray, it's time to pray. So today, we're gonna be setting aside thirty minutes after service for a gathered just a gathered time of prayer that's led by our elders. Today in the contemporary service, that's gonna take place here in the sanctuary right after service. And so we invite you to linger here, but I've been told if you have kids, make sure that you pick up your children from the children's ministry. Our our children's ministry volunteers would appreciate that and and they might want to attend the prayer gathering as well.

So what prompted this? As you've just heard our senior pastor Scott McKee, pastor Scott continues to battle cancer. That's the first thing. This past week, pastor Scott was hospitalized due to complications related to blood clots. He's at home now and we praise God for that, but we wanna set aside some intentional time to pray for him.

The second reason we're gathering is that many of you are carrying burdens as well. I heard from someone this morning that was carrying something really heavy. We want we want you to know that we hear you and we love you and we wanna pray for you and we're gonna set aside some time to pray for you as well. And thirdly, we are mindful that our world is in turmoil. There's a war in our world, many wars in our world.

This week, there were violent acts here in our own Detroit Metro community, and we just feel the need to call out to the Lord and pray. In all of this, our our elders sense that God is calling us to pray. So if you're able, we invite you to join us after service here in the sanctuary and our elders will guide us through that time. If you're able, let's go before the Lord, just bow our heads together in prayer. Oh, Father, we come to you acknowledging that you are God alone.

You are the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. So you see everything, you know what each individual is going through, you know our our our burdens that we carry with us into this room. And God, we lift those up to you. You know when the storm begins and you know what when the storm ends. God, we pray that you would be with us at this time as we spend some time in the word together.

I oh, God, I pray that you would move me out of the way, that I would decrease and that you would increase and be made much of in the lives of your people. God, I need you. I need your grace. I need your mercy. My words are not enough.

My studying is not enough. My intellect is not enough. Oh, God, I need your anointing, and we need you today. Send your ministering angels to to come alongside your people. For it's in the mighty name of Jesus that we pray together.

Amen. Astronauts call it the overview effect. The overview effect. The overview effect is the phenomenon that happens when an astronaut orbits into space for the very first time and gets their first glimpse of the Earth from space. It's mind blowing.

This planet that looked so big now is reduced to such a small size. They they see themselves flying over the storms, flying over the wars, flying over all of the things that seem so large here on earth. And a lot of times when an individual first sees this, their response is just, wow. Things that I thought were so big have been shown to be actually a lot smaller than I could have ever imagined. William Shatner, who was on Star Trek, if you're familiar with Star Trek, he actually got a chance to go into space, and this is what he said.

He said, everybody in the world needs to see this. Everybody in the world needs to experience this. This planet and this air that is keeping us alive, they are so fragile. The sky is thinner than your skin. You look up at that blue sky, then suddenly you shoot through it.

It's as if someone pulled a sheet off of the earth, and before you know it, you're looking into the blackness, the sky is so thin, and you're through it in an instant. He said everybody needs to experience this. Everybody needs to see this. I believe that the world that we currently find ourselves in is in desperate need of this kind of overview effect. Our differences seem to be so big.

The things that divide us seem to be so big that it's hard at times to imagine reconciliation, even reconciliation in the church. And sometimes when you're having a disagreement with someone, the things that you're disagreeing about can just seem so big that it's hard to see past it. I can even think of my own relationships or even my own marriage. Sometimes me and Ashley are having a disagreement, and whatever we're disagreeing about just seems so big. And then I have some time and some distance and I'm able to step aside and see that thing for what it really is.

And before you know it, I'm like, that was puny. That was so small. That was so petty. That's what happens when we're able to get a perspective shift. And I think our our world and our churches are in desperate need of this kind of perspective shift.

As we come to our text today in the book of Colossians, that's what Paul is offering to this church. The this church in Colossae is filled with people from different backgrounds, different experiences, different views on life, different challenges, and in many ways, they seem to be in an impossible situation because how are all these different kind of people going to make it as a church? Paul is starting to hear that their differences are starting to get big. Their differences are starting to get big, and therefore their unity is starting to be small. Let's take a look at the church at Colossae, and you'll soon see why the apostle Paul had to write this letter.

They had some serious differences going on. They had Jew and Greek, some with covenant privilege and and the unclean latecomers. You had some who had grown up under the the the traditions of the law, and maybe they are are afraid they're afraid of the fact that with all this change taking place, maybe just maybe I'm gonna lose my traditions and my customs in this, and then you have new people coming in and they say, what, do I have to do that? Do I have to follow those rules and those traditions and those customs? And how do we make it?

So you have the Jew and the Greek. You have the circumcised and the uncircumcised, those who conform to the traditions of the privileged and those who bear no marks of that privilege. All of this is taking place at the church at Colossae. You have the barbarians, and this really caught my attention this week as I was looking at this. The barbarians were considered to be the foreigners, the uncultured, or foolish by Greek and Jewish standards.

I didn't know this, but the word barbarian is kind of a ethnic put down. Essentially, if a person didn't speak the language of of the culture here, they would say, don't understand what they're saying. Bar bar bar, therefore barbarian. And so that that that phrasing of barbarian was actually a put down. And so you have people who who have been called barbarians by the Greeks and the Jews, and now they're in the same church.

Now they're trying to figure out how to make this work. And then you hit the Scythians. The Scythians, these were the distant people north of the Black Sea. According to one scholar, they were the epitome of unrefinement and savagery, of whom Josephus wrote, Scythians who delight in the in the murdering of people and are little better than wild beasts. So he had all of that going on in the same church, and they are attempted to elevate those differences.

They have some very significant differences. They also had slave and free, and people who were on the opposite poles in the economic strata of society. And all of these people show up and they say, we're gonna have some church together. And they're like, I don't know how we're gonna do this. I don't know how we're gonna make it.

And so the apostle Paul drafts this letter to the church. In in this day, in this time period, when the church will receive a letter like this, everyone would gather together in a space, and then someone would stand up, usually one of the elders of the church, they would stand up, and they would read that letter to everyone in the room, and I just imagine this room full of Jews and Greeks and barbarians, and I feel even terrible saying that now, now that I've learned what that means, and Scythians and slave and free. And they're all trying to gain some understanding of how do we do this thing. And this is what the Apostle Paul says. I love that first word.

That first word is packed with meaning. Paul says, here, as they're all gathered reading, here hearing this be read, here, there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and is in all. Essentially, what Paul is doing here is blowing up some of the human categories and saying that in here, in the church, it's gonna be different. I know how you treat each other out there. I know you call them barbarian out there.

I know that you guys have fought for centuries out there, and you have tough history with one another, but in here, there is no Jew, there's no Gentile, there's no circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free. What does Paul mean by this? What does he mean by this? What what's being said here? I wanna clarify what's being said and what's not being said.

This can be interpreted misinterpreted to mean that, well, I guess none of our differences matter, none of our cultural distinctions matter. I don't think that's what it's saying. Paul isn't idolizing culture and he isn't erasing culture. The gospel doesn't idolize culture, but the gospel also doesn't erase culture. The gospel redeems culture.

And in context, I think what he's saying is something like this. In the community of Christ, we are we we are more than what we look like, what we've been through, and where we come from, while never having to deny what we look like, what we've been through, or where we come from. Christ transcends human categories. So we show up, we bring ourselves, but we don't idolize those things nor do we erase those things. And Paul is trying to get this community here to see themselves differently.

He's trying to get these people with all of these all of these differences to see themselves as the family of God. So he says, bring it all, bring all of you. I imagine in this time period, there was probably someone who had been called a barbarian, and they're sitting in the church, they're sitting in their fellowship, and maybe they're wondering, is my culture going to be accepted here? Is my language going to be allowed here? My language has been made fun of, I've been called a barbarian, I wonder is that ever going to be accepted here?

But little do they know that language that they might be a little tempted about. There's gonna be Bible translations written in that language. There's gonna be hymns and gospel songs and liturgies written in that language, and people are gonna sing praises to God in that language, and it's gonna be a sweet aroma to him. There's gonna be sermons preached in that language. Or friends, they're gonna be prayers prayed to God, and those prayers are gonna be sweet to the ear of God.

They're gonna be prayers in that language because the gospel does not idolize or erase culture, the gospel redeems it. And one day, every tribe and tongue will surround the Lord, and all of those languages will sing praises to God. And that's what Paul is trying to get this church to see. I love the way pastor John Piper, pastor and scholar John Piper says that he says, Christ is all. Once we boasted in our culture, in our intellect like the Greeks, but now Christ is all.

Once we gloried in our tradition and our religious rigor like the Jews, but now Christ is all. Once we got our strokes because of our ethnic pedigree, but now Christ is all. Once we reveled in not being like the barbarians and the shabby Scythians, but now Christ is all. Or once we resent it not being the cultured, not being the rigorous, not having the cultured pedigree, not having the wealth and refinement, but now Christ is all. And because Christ is all, I don't walk in superiority, but I also don't walk in inferiority because Christ is all.

And that's what he's trying to get this church. This is how they're gonna make it. They wonder how we're gonna make it. You're gonna you're gonna make it by acknowledging that Christ is all and Christ is in all. I can't despise my brother or sister when Christ is in them.

Christ is all, and Christ is in all. He's trying to help them reframe their identity. He's given them that perspective shift. He calls them chosen, holy, and love. See, friends, when we see ourselves as our creator sees us, we live as we were created to live.

When we see ourselves as our creator sees us, we live as we were created to live. Let's go to Colossians chapter three verse 12. Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. He says, you are chosen, you are holy, you are loved. Can you imagine that a Scythian who's known for this terrible reputation, now they're they're they're being called holy?

Can you imagine someone who's been rejected all of their lives and kept out of the inner circle all of their lives and not knowing whether they fit in this place? Now they're being told that they're dearly loved. Paul is wanting them to see themselves differently, because when we see ourselves the way that our Creator sees us, then we begin to live as we were created to live. Then we begin to see that we are created for so much more. We're not defined by our past, We're not defined by our mistakes.

We're defined by the fact that we are children of the most high God, and that's what Paul is trying to get this church at Colossae to see. This is how you're going to make it. This is how you're going to glorify God. This is how you're gonna introduce something different into the world because I know I know how the world treats each other out here, but maybe, just maybe, the way we treat each other in here is gonna influence the world out there. He says you're more you're more than you ever thought that you were that you ever were.

You're you're chosen. You're holy. And not holy because you kept all of the rules. Not not holy because you know all of the right things and all the all of the secret handshakes and that you have all of the ingredients right. You are you are holy because God has given you a new identity.

So how are they going to make it? He says, clothe yourselves, clothe yourselves compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. You're a new person, so it's time for you to start wearing new clothes. So he says clothe your clothe yourself. In the ancient church, starting in around the fourth century, the tradition of baptism was a lot different than our traditions for baptism today.

In in the ancient day, they did some things that we probably wouldn't do here at Ward Church, but I really appreciate the imagery of the way the ancients did baptism. When a person was a candidate for baptism, they would show up that day wearing their old clothes. And though those old clothes were a symbol of their old lives. And so they would show up wearing their old clothes, but then they would take off those clothes symbolizing a putting off of the old life. They would take off all of their clothes.

I'm only comfortable taking this off, and this is where I will stop. But an individual would take off their clothes and they would get into the water, and there they would be baptized. That water would symbolize their their them being cleansed and them being made new. After they would get out of the water, they would be handed a white robe and then they were put on that white robe. That robe symbolizes putting on the new, putting on humility, putting on love, putting on patience, putting on kindness.

They would be clothed in something new because they had become something new. A person who had felt rejected, now they are clothed as the chosen, the holy, and the beloved. Now, they didn't stop here. As I was looking this up this week, this really caught my attention. They didn't just wear it and take it off.

According to this ancient tradition, they would wear the robe for eight days. They would continue to wear that robe throughout the week as they went to work, as they did their chores, as they as they came and went, they would keep this robe on as they went throughout the town showing that they had become something new, as a symbol of the fact that they are clothed in the righteousness of God, and now they are living a new and different life. Can you imagine that? Can't imagine going to the gym in this and then going to the DMV and trying to catch a flight in this, but they but they but they they did this as a way to say that I'm walking in this now. This isn't just a one time thing, but I'm walking in something new.

So how is the church going to make it? This rope don't want to come off me. How's the how's the how's the church going to to make it? I think the secret is in the robe. How are we gonna make it past our differences?

I think the secret is in the robe. How are we gonna have peace in our relationships, in our marriages, in our friendships? I think the secret is in the robe. We have to clothe ourselves with humility, with patience, with love, and with kindness. Otherwise, I think if we exalt ourselves, we're just gonna tear ourselves we're gonna tear each other apart.

When we elevate anything else, I think that's how you get the friction and and that's how fellowship and community and relationships fall apart. Paul is saying, clothe yourselves. Clothe yourselves in something new because you are something new. Something far more beautiful than you can ever be on your own because this this new attire that you've been given is an absolute gift from God. And this this is how they're gonna make it.

Let's continue in our text. He says, bear with each other and forgive one another. And if any of you has a grievance against someone, forgive as the Lord forgave you. I think this is a wink wink moment from Paul. He knows that people have grievances against each other, but I love how he says, if any of you has grievance against someone, forgive as the Lord has forgiven you.

And overall, these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. He says that's how you're gonna make it. When you put on those new clothes that God has given you, you're gonna make it by putting on love, and you'll be binded together in perfect unity that way. He continues here. He says, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body, you are called to peace and be thankful.

He said, let peace rule. Not anger, not rage, not pride, not ego, not lust, not envy. He says, let peace rule in your hearts. And and if you let peace rule in your hearts individually, you will have peace in your community collectively. Once again, he's redefining them.

They walked into that that that room, maybe a group of different individuals and different cultures and backgrounds, but now he says, you guys are one body, and you were called to peace. And be thankful, be thankful you have received the gift of God. Be thankful you have received grace. Be thankful in how you how you go about things, go about things with a heart of gratitude. And he he talks to them about how to treat to treat one another.

He says, let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom. When you're fellowshipping with one another, don't waste each other's time, but offer something good, some admonishment, some truth, some wisdom. When you have spent some time with the people of God, it just should it should feel different. You should walk away having received something of value from those people. So he says, teach one another, admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the spirit, singing to God.

And here here's that word again, with gratitude in your hearts. And that's that's how you're going to make it. That's how we make the most of our time together. So when we show up as the church, we can be tempted to compare ourselves to one another. And here's the thing about comparison.

Comparison will either torture you or it will tempt you to pride or it would it will tutor you toward growth. When you look to the side and you experience different people in the church, comparison will either torture you if you think, oh, that person just has it so much better than me, or that person is so much better than me, or it will tempt you to pride, oh, I'm so much better than that person, I'm so glad that I'm not like that person. Or in your relationships, you can allow those differences to tutor you. How might I learn from that person? And maybe just maybe in the difficult relationships, that's where we get the most tutoring, That's where we learn the most.

Maybe that's an opportunity to be tutored in Christ likeness, and you're wondering, God, why did you put me in that relationship? Why did you put me in that group? Why did you put me on that team and that job and this place? It's difficult. Me and that person have friction.

Maybe God is using that relationship as an opportunity to tutor you. We can compare ourselves to people, look down on them, we can compare ourselves to people and and and feel like we have to look at the up at them because they have it so much better than us. But when we compare ourselves to God, I think things get put in their right place. If we really want a perspective shift, if we real if we really want that overview effect where you see things for what they really are, for me, I get that experience when I set my focus on the cross. When I set my focus on the cross, I realized that that perfect man, the perfect lamb of God is on that cross because of me.

He is perfect, and he is humble, and he is patient with me, and he could have gotten down off of that cross, but he doesn't. And all of a sudden, my self righteousness and my ego and my pride begin to shrink. And anything that anyone has done to me begins to shrink, because what anybody has done to me does not compare to the fact that I have put the Son of God on the cross because of my sin. And so when I set my focus on him, my righteousness and my pride and my ego begin to shrink, And I am tutored by grace. And that's my prayer.

And I know that's your prayers as well. Oh Lord, tutor me as I look at the cross and I see the patient, humble, loving son of God. Oh, God, tutor me in your ways. I am not kind like you. I am not patient like you.

I am not loving like you. Oh, God, tutor me. Oh, God, tutor me in your ways to help me become more like you. The question I have for you today as we prepare to transition, how might God be tutoring you through your relationships right now? How might he be tutoring you?

For some of us, we're being tutored in patience. For some of us, we're being tutored in courage. We need to we need to exercise some courage. For some of us, we've been tutored in kindness. God put you in that position, in that relationship to help you become more like him.

And I believe as we show up in the church as people who have our gaze set on God, that's where the magic happens, that's the genius of the gospel. Will you pray with me? Oh, father, we come before you in the mighty name of Jesus grateful for your word. God, help us to set our attention and our affection on you, not on our brother or our sister where we're constantly comparing ourselves to them, but help us to set our eyes on the cross. Oh God, you are good to us.

You have been so good to us, and you deserve glory for that. God, we thank you and we love you. It's in the mighty name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.