Towards Oneness - Part 1

Happy Sabbath, brethren! It's a real honor and privilege to be here with you today on God's Sabbath, to be His called people, and to worship together. I'd like to thank Kenzie very much for that special music today. Very, very powerful words from us to our God. Thank you very much for bringing that to us today.

I'd like to greet all of those of you who are online, who are worshipping with us today and meeting with us here together. It's always nice to be assembled, and sometimes we are alone or remote, and we get to be together in this way electronically, and that's a blessing as well. Of course, we have a rare calling, don't we, to become first fruits with Jesus Christ, the very first harvest into the family of God, into the divine kingdom of God, and to be able to reign and rule with Jesus Christ at His side, on the throne with Him, as it were, as His bride. It's a wonderful thing. He has called us from the weak and base things of society. We're not necessarily the most polished. We're not the most educated. We have some quirks. We're like every family. You have this aunt and that uncle and maybe that relative, that brother, sister, but we are the family that God has chosen, and Jesus Christ and God the Father have given everything they can. You know, as Kenzie was singing that song about creation and all that God has put into it, God has taken from nothing and created everything possible for you and me and humanity to succeed and fulfill the purpose for which He has created us. On top of that, to eclipse it, He has given everything He has, including His only Son, His only begotten Son. And Jesus gave everything up that He had, reduced Himself down humbly, as the angels said to Mary, to an impregnated egg. The Holy Spirit will come upon you and you will conceive. Jesus gave up all of that power and glory to live among us and ultimately to die for us. I'd like to turn to John 17 and verse 20 and focus on the goal that Jesus had in mind when He was about to be crucified. He had one goal in mind for you and me, and that's a goal that He expects you and I to achieve. John 17 and verse 20 says, Jesus prayed for those who will believe in Me through the apostles' word. We have the apostles' word, we believe, and here we are. And Jesus is praying for us, verse 21, that they all may be one, as you, Father, are in Me and I in you. That's a pretty high bar, isn't it? That we are to be one, as God the Father and Jesus Christ are one. And yet, that is why He's about to die. And He's praying for us that we will achieve that goal and that they also may be one in us. One of mind, one of spirit connected with the Spirit. Notice why. It's not so that we have some wonderful relationship with God only. That the world may believe that you sent Me. You and I have this goal from Jesus Christ before He died. He was rejected by humanity. So that we, through our oneness with God and with each other, can help the world believe that Jesus was real. That Jesus existed. That Jesus lived and died and rose again. That He is the way, the truth, and the life available for humanity now in the millennium, the second resurrection. That the world may believe through our love of this way of life and the unity that it brings. That they can believe in Jesus Christ.

Verse 22, Now, notice the words here. It's not a state we just suddenly enter into because we're in the church and we say we're united.

Rather, His terms are that they may be one just as we are one. And that they may be made perfect, complete, mature in one.

Becoming one together with God first and with each other is Jesus Christ's goal for you and me.

And that may be, hence to a process, a process of our using God's Holy Spirit in deliberate action in working to achieve that goal.

The Bible has all the steps to guide us in our quest, in our success of that goal.

But how do we start the process? That's what I'd like to talk about today.

How do we actually begin the process or restart the process?

That's, like I said, a very high bar, an impossible bar on our own.

And Jesus wants us to be, to become, to achieve this particular goal for His sake, for the Father's sake, as well as for the family's sake, the family of God.

So let's look into Scripture and discover a starting point that we can use in a renewed effort to obtaining oneness with God and oneness with each other.

Now, I'm not talking about anybody except one person in this room, and I'm drilling down on that person today, okay?

And that person's me. But I'd like to share that with you.

It's a journey that I am on with God's Word, and I would love for you to join me in that.

Work on this together. But it's work. But it's good work, and the results are really fantastic.

Let's begin by thinking about someone who comes to mind. Think about another person, anybody.

Pick a best friend. Pick an enemy. Pick, I don't know, a mother. Just pick somebody. Think about that person for a minute. What do you know about that individual? Well, that person may not even be where you are. The person may live across the country, around the world. Maybe somebody you've never met, but you've heard something. You've formed an impression. Maybe you bumped into them once, and whatever that was, you've formed an impression or a view of that individual.

Maybe they did something that really befriended you, and you just think that person is a certain way. Or somebody said something or did something that disenfranchised you in your mind.

But we all know a person, so think of a person.

We might say, I have this individual, and that individual did something in the past, and that's what I remember them by. That's their box. And we just have this box. You say a person's name, and that's the box.

We think of somebody who was enjoyable to be with, loved to be with, enjoyed to be around. That's their box. I like to keep that box close. You have another individual who is, once upon a time, they smelled bad. I mean, they really smelled bad. That's their box. You know how that is? You kind of keep them there.

Somebody who did something once upon a time, maybe a few years ago, and it was really a, hmm, that's their box.

Boxes are great for storing things. They're also great for shipping things. We put somebody in a box. If we don't like them, we slap a label on that, and they're gone.

We just put them out there somewhere, and that individual stays away. Others can be a best friend. We have special boxes for them. They're jewelry boxes, fancy boxes. Until they do something to offend you, it's like, oh, oops, that's a shipping container. Off you go.

I do this. I imagine most humans do this. We help each other sometimes clone boxes. Someone may have a box, but maybe you tell somebody else about the box. They make a box just like it. We start cloning boxes. They never met the person. I know sometimes there are people around the world or across the country that'll have a feeling about somebody. They might be here, might be somewhere else, but there's your box. You just got a clone box.

They've given it to you, and that person's in a replicated box. Well, we might call that the box principle of multiplicity. We humans are kind of good at that. We might call that rumors or various things that we say. Boxes are interesting. We can have divisions of boxes. This division. All the people in this group or whatever, that's the division of boxes. That's over here. Another group, that's the division. I associate with this group. Oh, this is my box. You'll notice that people don't tend to go from division to division if they have that concept.

That division, I stay away from that division. See, division kind of divides things, doesn't it? Alliances or segregations of boxes. We get distance from each other, and this really happens. And if we're not careful, the name that our church organization bears might not fully reflect what Jesus Christ wants us to be. So I want to talk to that today. How do boxes get made and assigned?

Well, we're pretty good at this. We hear something. For instance, this is a true story. A man committed adultery with someone else's wife, and then he killed that woman's wife. Murdered him. Then he married her. It's not very good. He then numbered Israel, and 70,000 people died because of his sin. There's your box, King David. We all know that box, don't we? We think of David. We've got him in the box. But let's ask this question as we look at step one towards oneness.

The title of the sermon is Towards Oneness. What first step can we make? As we approach Pentecost, a day in which all were gathered together in one accord, and they shared things in common, and over the next few days, they really grew together in oneness. As we approach that Holy Day, I'd like to set a goal for myself and invite you to join me to work through some Biblical steps that we might be able to identify, so that with a fast, at a convenient time for everyone, perhaps the Friday before Pentecost, we might be able to be ready and one to step into that double festival, really one with God and with each other, more so than we perhaps have been in a while.

Step one, how does God view David? How does God view each of us? How does God view those whom we humans tend to, as I would say, put in boxes? Let's go to Acts 13 and verse 22. Acts 13 and verse 22. God has a little different view than we do of people who make mistakes, people like myself who make mistakes, and individuals can sort of make you a permanent box when you do that, sign you that, leave you there, keep you there. That's who you are. In Acts 13 and 22, we break into this verse, and he, God, raised up for them David as a king, to whom also God gave testimony.

God said this, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all my will. That's a truthful representation of a man that I tend to keep in a box. Verse 23, and from this man's seed, according to the promise, God has raised up for Israel a Savior, Jesus. Through that man, a man after God's own heart, Jesus Christ was born. That's how God sees David. If we go to his next role coming up in the millennium, we might think, well, he is disqualified because, because, and I mean, after all, look at his box.

But let's look in Ezekiel 37 and verse 25. Ezekiel 37 and verse 25. When we come to the next age that we look forward to, and we're reigning with Christ as the bride, it says, Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob, my servant, while your fathers dwelt. And they shall dwell there, they, their children, their children's children, forever. And my servant David shall be their prince forever. Jesus Christ is busily preparing a place for you in the family home, in New Jerusalem, in Jerusalem, in the Father's house.

And one translation calls your place a mansion. It's not that it's a separate mansion, but the Greek word there describes a place in that house that is really nice, really royal. That's how God sees you, all of you, young people, old people, people who believe Him that are in the process of developing into the first fruits of the kingdom of God. So what does that say about our boxes? Kind of makes them seem trivial and misplaced. After all, I ask myself, what box do I put me in? I don't have a box.

Do you have a box for yourself? That's a curious thing, isn't it? You're just fine. Everybody else has a box, but you don't have a box. There's ego popping up. We show love and mercy to ourselves in forgiveness. We come to the Passover each year. We're so grateful for Christ's sacrifice that forgave us of a mountain of sins and continues to cleanse us every day when we pray. We come before God, honorable and loved and pure in His sight. And everybody else is in a box if we're not careful. God is love. He shows us mercy, and we do too, conditionally, somehow. We make people work for mercy.

We make them beg for it and plead for it. If they don't quite fit every little thing that we require of them, they don't get it. They stay in the box. But God is very merciful, and He is a God of love, agape love. Agape love comes with a mindset that has fruits of the Holy Spirit of those who are led by it, which are agape love in us and joy and peace. The word peace in the Greek is irane, and one of the definitions of irane is harmony. If you ever go to a choral presentation with a symphony orchestra behind it, like the Hallelujah Chorus or something, you'll see, if you observe, everything there makes a different sound.

Every voice is different. There's sopranos, altos, basses, and tenors besides that. Every instrument plays a little different part, different sound. Everything is different, but it's all in harmony, and for it to be in harmony takes great effort and precision by all those involved. So God has a body with many different parts, Jesus Christ's body with many different parts, that if they work together, we'll be unified in harmony, this peace. And that's a core fruit that God is expecting to see us use. The love chapter, as we call it in 1 Corinthians 13 and verse 5, says, love thinks no evil.

It didn't say it didn't think a little bit of evil. It thinks no evil. Now, some people think, well, if you don't think ill of somebody, then you're kind of being a Pollyanna. But agape love and God the Father thinks no ill of anyone who is repentant, who is trying and striving and working to obey and being led by His Holy Spirit. We get a fresh do over every day. Every day is like a brand-new canvas to paint on. And what a refreshing thing that is. For you, what about everybody else?

What about everybody else? Our thoughts need cleansing from thinking ill of others. Mind does. It's an easy thing to gravitate to because of my selfish human nature, low self-esteem, whatever it might be. But with God's Holy Spirit, we can have self-control and say, you know what? Forget that. Forget that. I will think no ill of anyone. And how can we begin this process? How can we start this process towards cleansing our mind of thinking less of others?

Let's go back to Isaiah 58 and verse 1. Isaiah 58 and verse 1. We just love this verse. We love to holler this verse at others. Isaiah 58 and verse 1. Cry aloud. Spare not. Lift up your voice like a trumpet.

Wow. Them people need to hear this gospel. You can just get engaged with this, right? But what does he say? Tell my people their transgression. Oh, who's this message to? Well, back in Isaiah's day, it was till the house of Israel and the house of Jacob where God's people. Today, if we're going to cry aloud, spare not and tell my people their transgression and the house of Jacob, the Israel of God, Old and New Testament, their sins.

We need to look at ourselves, don't we? We need to look at ourselves. When you point this scripture at ourselves.

In verse 2, breaking in, it says, they seek me daily. They delight to know my ways as a nation that did righteousness. And we do.

We are children of God, but are we always godly children? See, this is the first point we need to stop and look at. Are we always godly children?

Because in verse 4, God says in this context, indeed you fast for strife and debate and to strike with the fist.

We can offend each other, we can hurt one another, and then we can start retaliating, and we can start boxing up, we can divide up, we can start shipping like crazy, hire a service to ship people to the North Pole in our minds.

And what are we doing? These things generate feelings and hurts and retaliation, which results in a war of words. Let's go to James 4 and verse 1, and I'm not going to read verse 1, but you know what it says when we get there.

James 4 and verse 1, where do wars and fights come from among you and the Church?

Well, it comes from fractured relationships, but let's skip that and drop down to verse 11.

Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. See, don't speak ill of one another.

If you look at the book of James through this lens, take yourself, put yourself out of the forefront of life. You'll see that theme throughout the entire book of James.

Change me into we, and you'll see that theme throughout the book of James.

Do not speak ill of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil or ill of a brother lifts himself up and judges a brother, speaks evil of the law, judges the law.

See, if we elevate ourselves with an ego that thinks, I have some superiority here that's focused on me, then things go awry.

There's one book that I think is excellent for any type of business, any executives, or any politician. It's called Ego is the Enemy.

And what this book says, even from a human understanding, is all the way back through time, all the empires, all the companies, all the endeavors, all any leadership, tends to have right here a judging of others and looking down on others.

And if we allow ourselves then to speak ill of someone else, it's done from a superior mindset.

I find a fast can help me focus on some of the issues and disunities that I am contributing.

And I think a fast will do us well as a whole body to not fast for some thing, but to fast for this one realization of where I might be contributing.

In verse 10, humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up.

Humble yourselves. That is the key.

God can help expose the cause of our disunity at times.

If we ask Him in humility to show us that, then we can grow beyond that. We can go beyond that particular speed bump and make progress.

Let's notice in Isaiah 58 and verse 6.

Isaiah 58 and 6.

God says, is this not the fast that I have chosen? Notice carefully what He says.

To loose the bonds of wickedness.

To loose the bonds. Somebody is bound in something.

To undo the heavy burdens.

At times, you and I, especially I, can lay a burden on someone.

I can put them in a box. I can keep them there. I can make them feel like there is some burden they have to bear.

They can't get out from under it. You know what I'm saying?

You don't let them out from under it. They are just stuck that way.

This is to undo the heavy burdens. To let the oppressed go free.

Someone that you or I might oppress, keep them restricted.

Let them go free and let you break every yoke. We can do this to each other. We can do this to other people.

In verse 9, Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer, and you shall cry, and he will say, Here I am, if you take away the yoke from your midst, and the pointing of the finger, and the speaking wickedness.

Rather than I find in my life that I have spent much too many days, hours thinking about people, that they are somewhere else, but you have this thing about them and their box, and you just assign, This is what they are.

You point the finger at them. You speak ill of them.

Then when you are around them, they are not that way at all. They are wonderful people. They are people who are skilled, and they are talented, and they have God's Spirit flowing through them.

But we tend to restrict one another by putting a yoke on them.

And it says here, in verse 10, If you extend your soul to the hungry, there are so many in our church that they are starving for love. They really are.

Maybe they don't have the right personality, or somebody has put them in a box, but they are starving for love, for some sort of just validation that they are in the body. Some validation that they can contribute, that they are meaningful, and satisfy the afflicted soul, the one who gets beaten and boxed, and they just feel stuck.

If so, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as noonday, and the Lord will guide you continually. That's what we want. We want to be the united church of God that is helping and contributing to the growth of the body, which every part does its share.

God's solution to boxes is for us to get rid of boxes.

No boxes. Release everyone.

See each other as God sees them, truthfully.

Now some will say, oh, but this person has this wrinkle, and this one has this sort of edgy defect, and what are you going to do? You're just going to ignore that?

No, I said truthfully, because God sees us truthfully.

God is not dumb. He's not blind, right? He's not deceiving himself. He's not ignorant.

Let's go to Deuteronomy 4 and verse 2.

I've always said Israel in a box. It's a big box, but nevertheless, they got their box.

You know that group.

Deuteronomy 4 and verse 2.

God says to Israel, for you are a holy people.

The word godly in part can mean, the word holy in part can mean godly. It's an aspect of it.

And godly people? You think, really?

In whose eyes? In whose eyes would he say that?

My eyes?

But here's what God said.

You, Israel, are a holy, godly people to the Lord your God.

His eyes saw them in that way as much as he could, as much as he was able to.

And the Lord has chosen you to be a people for himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

Our God has a very wonderful, optimistic, very forgive-and-forget-I-don't-think-about-that-I-just-see-you-now-and-just-so-pleased.

Let's go forward. Let's take some more steps forward.

How does God truthfully view the holy church that Jesus founded with his blood?

Let's be reminded of God's true view of you and me.

1 Peter 2 and verse 9.

1 Peter 2 and verse 9. Sometimes we don't focus on the praises that God gives us because there's so much of the Bible that says, you're not perfect yet. Keep growing. Keep overcoming. We're never good enough.

But when we're doing that, notice how God sees us.

But you are a chosen generation.

I chose you from before the foundation of the world. I chose you from those who would not really respect you in society, but I chose you.

And I see you as a royal priesthood. Royalty. That's God's view. Royalty.

You have his mind, his Holy Spirit. You are a son or daughter of God.

You are related to the King of Kings. You are royalty in God's eyes.

He honors you and he respects that. That you may... Oh, wait a minute. A holy nation. A godly nation.

The church of God is like a nation of gods that is godly. God is the most godly, but with his spirit, we are godly too. And he loves that nature. He loves it. He wants to see it blossom in you and me.

His own special people. Doesn't matter what anybody else says. That's how God sees you. And he sees all the people in his church everywhere.

We need to see the truthful, honest description of people through the eyes of God, as it says in verse 10, who were once not a people, but are now the people of God. We need to respect them, honor them.

What's missing here is our unforgiving thoughts about each other.

There's a lady in the audience today who came in wearing slacks. And I'm sure someone might have said, that lady should probably have a dress on for church. There's her box. We do that to people.

But we don't stop to think that, well, that lady in her journeys had leg surgeries for very painful veins, and she wears things on her legs to help her be able to be here. And those things that are on her legs are not able to be worn under a dress and covered properly. So, you know, she comes in slacks.

There is a reason why every one of us has the quirks, the differences, the things on the outside that maybe put us in a box, somebody's box.

We don't know how any of us got here. We just see how we arrived, and we kind of judge based on differences.

You can see the way your grandparents grew up and all they went through in the Great Depression era, and then their children, what they went through in wars and poverty and struggled and came through and had some kids, and then they had you, and then you had some kids. And, you know, here we are. We don't see that. We just make some casual observations, and we make criticisms based on some perfect model that we wish everybody else had.

We need not to do that.

Let's go to Luke 11 and verse 12 and see the focus that Jesus Christ has given us in this regard every day. He wants you and me to start out with a fresh look at each other every day, a godly look, a truthful look. Luke 11 and verse 12.

So Jesus said to them, when you pray, say, our Father in heaven. See, there's actually no me or I that's taught in prayer.

Rather, it is changing me to we, to embrace others, to lock arms with others. And he says, when you pray, our Father in heaven, and how do we pray that we come boldly before the throne of God, whenever you get on your knees, you need to understand that you are there with perhaps hundreds or even thousands of your brethren that are there at the same time. Somewhere around the world, we're all praying at the same time. And in that vision of a sea of glass that we come before God's magnificent throne, and the brightness and the glory and the sounds and the beautiful designs and decorations and the order and the organization of the 24 elders and the living creatures, we are honored to come there boldly before the throne of God.

And there we are. When you pray, say, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. The word kingdom, if you look it up in any Bible dictionary, talks about the rain. Your rain come. When do we want Jesus to rain? How about now, today, as we pray this? I want you to rain, and your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. I want you to rain, and your will to be done when Christ returns as we rain with you in the millennium. I want your rain to be there, and your will to be done in the second resurrection. In fact, I want your rain and your will to be done throughout all eternity in New Jerusalem as the wonderful way of God proceeds from the throne.

We always want that. Verse 3, give us this day our daily bread. Give us Jesus Christ. Give us God the Father and Christ living in us. Give us your Holy Spirit so that we can all live and think like you do today.

And forgive us our sins. For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. That is our daily prayer. That's what Jesus Christ said to do. We're there together on our knees whenever we pray, asking, forgive us our sins as we also forgive everyone who's indebted to us. There are no boxes. There's no place for a box. And whatever happened yesterday or last year or ten years ago, it's gone.

That went away with Christ's sacrifice. That went away when we first prayed, forgive us. When we rise from our prayers every time, we are all sinless together. We are all being perfected through Jesus Christ. We are all, as it says, royal. We are all holy. We are all special people in the family of God. The fallacy of our boxes is that they're all actually empty. There's nobody there. All those things we hold against people, they don't exist. When David prayed Psalm 51, he was no longer guilty of anything that you and I might hold against him.

It simply doesn't exist. And that's the beauty of God and Jesus Christ. In her special music today, it was sung. Sorry. A thousand failures are just wiped away. We begin to see the Genesis reflected in the statement, this Genesis of boxes or issues, in the statement that we have not always treated ourselves or one another properly.

How long are we going to keep quoting that? Isn't it time we put that one to bed? Are we avoiding taking this first step? In 2 Chronicles 7 and verse 14, 2 Chronicles 7 and verse 14, whenever I start thinking about this, I start singing the special music that was based on this. 2 Chronicles 7, 14. If my people, now who are God's people?

Well, we already know from God. You're my people, special treasure. If my people who are called by my name, check the church seal, Church of God, will humble themselves, not the judgmental, I'm able to criticize and critique. No. If they will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and heal their land. He will heal any fractures that are in the temple that is being built, the body of Christ.

God wants that. I have a personal goal by Pentecost. I hope you'll join me in. And that is Philippians chapter 2 and verse 2. Let's turn there. Philippians chapter 2 and verse 2. This is where I want to be by then. And this is just step one, and I hope our teachers, elders, and individuals who are doing daily Bible studies will look for the other steps following this one so that we can continue to progress.

And I'll try to write something in the Home Office weekly update towards some steps that we can take as it leads up to that fast on May 30th, or whatever day is more convenient if that is necessary. Philippians 2 verse 2, breaking into the verse, here's the goal for Pentecost. Being like-minded, having the same agape love, being of one accord and of one mind.

It's there, it's always there, but when are we going to do this? When am I going to do this? But you see, that's the goal and the process begins with the next verse, verse 3. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition, through the I, through the me, or conceit, the ego.

But rather, in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Not equal with ourselves, actually better than ourselves. And we can come to the mind that God has and how He views other people. We take people out of their boxes and put them on the trophy shelf of higher than us. And we honor them along with Jesus Christ, and we honor them and think, wow, these are special. And we look up and not down.

In verse 5, we find this mind is in the first of the first fruits, Jesus Christ, the head of the church, our husband.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. He was the humblest of the humble. He was so humble that his arrival as a human was a fertilized egg in an unmarried teenager. That's pretty humble. When the angel told Mary, you know, you're going to conceive through the Holy Spirit, that's how he started. If he is that humble and teaches us to love and serve and sacrifice for one another, and by loving one another as he loved us, we will be known as his disciples.

We have a clue then.

This reflects then, in verse 7, the one who made himself of no reputation. It wasn't about me, it wasn't about him. Taking the form of a bondservant, a bondservant is one who forms a bond. He wasn't forced to be a servant or a slave. He requested it. He says, I want to do this.

In the coming in the likeness of men, and being found in the appearance of a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death on the cross. And therefore, because of his work and his humility and the bringing of the oneness to the body, God has exalted him and given him the name which is above every name.

And that's what Jesus is reserving for you and me, a place on the throne with him, a place equivocal as a bride for God in the millennial reign of Christ for a thousand years.

When you think of Jesus' view of us, you can go back to Ephesians chapter 5, and he says his wife is being cleansed, right? And she is a respecter. He's very excited. A bride for Jesus Christ is the greatest anticipation currently in the kingdom of heaven. That was planned before the foundation of the world. You were chosen before the foundation of the world to supply God with a wife for his son, Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ is so desirous of that, he gave his life, his very life for that.

In Revelation chapter 19 and verse 7, it says, And the bride, the wife, has made herself ready. That's what we're doing. And she is dressed in fine linen white and clean, which is the righteous acts of the saints. He sees you and me, not only then, but now, dressed in fine linen, because it's the righteous acts of the saints that are the type for that dress.

He sees us washed. He is excited. All of heaven will rejoice at that moment in time.

When we look at Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 15, notice how we get there. Notice how we get to the point where we're ready. Ephesians 4 really is about the church of God, mostly. Verse 11 will talk about how he appointed those in the church and what those were for, those leadership roles for teaching. We come on to verse 15 now. He says, but speaking the truth in love... Let's just pause there for a minute. This is about the church in this context, so it's not preaching the gospel as being the truth, but speaking the truth is one Greek word in love associated with it. So you're speaking the truth about the body in agape love and the result is that you may grow up in all things into Him who is the head Christ from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies according to the effective working by which every part does its share causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. No boxes, no condemnations. Every part is necessary. Every part is unique. Every part is contributing. And it's growing in oneness into a single body. Sometimes we see other people's exterior like we see onions for sale at the store. I like to buy onions. You go to the store and there's a bunch of onions. And then you're going to get some onions. Well, I'm pretty picky about onions. So these onions have been shipped and banged around a little, and that dry skin around the outside, I like it when it's looking good. Some of that skin is broken. Some of it's pealy. You only see a bunch of peels floating around the onion bin. And then some will have a bruise, a little soft spot. Some will have roots growing out. You know what I'm saying? We can see each other like onions, but you're not careful. Some of them will burn your eyes. But God looks on the heart of his onions. All of us, when we get an onion, no matter what it is, we love to sort of take the skin off, don't we? And I even like to take the whole first layer off, almost no matter. I just get rid of that first layer. And what is below that is just a wonderful onion. Just pure onion, and it's firm, and it's just gorgeous, and just hardly wait to taste that onion. That's how God sees us. You and I don't have eyes to see the hearts of each other, but God does. And so his truthful assessment of us is that we are pure on the inside.

In Philippians 4, verse 8, we're encouraged to look at each other through that pure, acceptable, perfected, cleansed, holy view. Philippians 4, verse 8, to look at each other as forgiven and pure and godly and conquering, and one holy wife, ready to be presented to Jesus Christ at his return. So Philippians 4, 8, finally, brethren, whatever things are true, your brothers and sisters have no sin. That's a truth. Because we were forgiven when we prayed this morning. We were forgiven at baptism. We go through our days being forgiven. Your brothers and sisters are sinless in the eyes of God.

Until we make mistakes, and then the next day or the next prayer, we're sinless again. That's a beautiful thing that God gives us, this fresh canvas to paint on. It's always clean. It's always fresh. He puts out of his mind. We need to do the same. So whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, each of us is noble. We have the noble, holy Spirit of God the Father flowing in us, and we are nobility as the sons and daughters of God in heaven.

Whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, that word good report comes from a single Greek word, you famous. If you look at the word in the Greek, it's kind of how you can pronounce it. You famous. How many? You famous. Whatever is of good report, the Greek word means well-spoken of, reputable, reputable. See? Good. About others. Whatever things are good, if there is... Now, sometimes people make it a little challenging, the outside of the onion. Okay? So Paul covers that as well. If you have a little trouble sometimes, well, try this. If there is any virtue, he says, if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. So you then see this truthful view that we can have of each other, which God Himself has of you and me. So I'd like to conclude by reading 1 Peter chapter 3. We begin in verse 8. 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 8. We begin with the goal again. We have to make a first step towards that goal, but let's start with the goal.

Finally, all of you be of one mind. This is heading towards oneness now. There's the goal set out. All of you be of one mind. Our goal by Pentecost, let's endeavor each one of us to be of one mind towards one another. Oneness in unity. Be the United Church of God, not only in name, but in absolute belief and thought of each other.

And of God. But how? How? Let's continue reading. Having compassion for one another. You know, some individuals have challenges that are extreme. I would say some of those who fight the hardest for the the gway of God, who strive to overcome harder than anyone else, are bound by some chemical or mental view that is so captivating, so holding on them. They may have grown up in it. They may have somehow been formed in that mindset. But they work on it every day, so very, very hard. And we need to have compassion on them. Compassion for one another. Love as brothers. Be tender-hearted. Be courteous. Not returning evil for evil or reviling. No boxing up. No shipping anybody off. No responding to cause divisions at all. But on the contrary, if somebody has a little evil thing that you feel is evil or reviling, on the contrary, return blessing. Blessings. Knowing that you were called to this. There's your calling. This isn't just an option. We are called, as Jesus Christ said in John 17, we are called to be one with God and one with each other to give God the glory. And if we do that, notice, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. You may be in the kingdom of God as a son and daughter or a son of God forever.

Verse 10, For he who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from speaking evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek a rainy harmony, peace, and pursue it. This is work, brethren.

This is a task that you and I will be challenged with, perhaps more than any other task in our life, is to develop oneness with God and oneness with each other.

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayers.

So let's be working to root out any type of hottie criticism or any barriers or condemnation or speaking or thinking ill of anyone. And let's begin to show the fruit of holy hearts with Christlike thinking.