Living All In

The following video transcript has been lightly edited

Hi, Jesus tells us that the kingdom of heaven is like a man who finds a field with a treasure in it. He hides the treasure and with joy goes and sells everything he has to buy that field. He's so excited. He's all in. What I want to talk to you about today is what it looks like for us to be all in as we follow Christ, or all in as a church. And the way I'm going to do that is actually to look at an exhortation that Paul gives to the Thessalonians in chapter 5. And this is a bit of a mash up because it gives us context and a picture of what it looks like to be all in, in the same way the man who bought a field and went all in with joy is.

And what we're going to discover is that for a church or as individuals to be all in, Paul gives us three things. He says you want to create a community that's healthy for human growth. Second, you want to always seek the good. And third, you want to connect to transcend joy. Those three things, that's what it looks like to live all in when we think about it through the lens of Paul in 1st Thessalonians 5.

What he says is, he says, hey, encourage the idlers. He says, challenge those who are sitting around and doing nothing. He says, take care of the weak, encourage the faint hearted, be patient with everyone. When we think about this, we live in a world that is often absent community. We are at times overly obsessed with ourselves.

I was on a trip recently and I just couldn't. Take my eyes off of the number of people that were always just taking photos of themselves and how different that is. In the midst of that, I think that what the church is supposed to do is to create a community. A community that cares for each other, a community that builds together, a community that learns to be patient with one another.

And here's the thing that's interesting. In the midst of this season of self obsession that we see on social media and other things, People aren't actually growing in happiness. They're growing in anxiety and depression. And so there's this wonderment of, is it actually even helping? But what if we were to grow and flourish because we grew in love?

Here's the thing that happens when we learn to be patient with others. When we learn to offer care to others and ask for care ourselves, then we're learning to grow in love and in that time and in that place. We're going all in. So in your family, in this church, let's be a people that learn how to go all in by creating a community that's helpful for human growth.

And that happens through care and love and connection. So who could you encourage? Who could you admit that you need help to? Either one of those steps is going to help you and help us become the community we need to be.

The second thing that Paul says is he says seek the good. He says seek the good test -everything hold fast to what is good And just in case if you didn't get it, he says abstain from evil. So he says in everything you do seek good and then he says think about what you're doing test it. Is it good or is it not? In the times of challenge hold fast to the good and in case you're missing it, just so that we're clear, he says, abstain from evil, which is the opposite of good. So he's all about seeking good for the church and the world.

I was recently visiting a city and they talked about how the work of some created these beautiful parks and these areas that gave the future to the city and serve the good. And so I think for all of us, we often do things for a variety of reasons. Sometimes we do things because it's easy. Sometimes we do things because other people are doing it. Sometimes we do things because it gives us momentary pleasure. But how often do you think, is the thing I'm doing, is it for the good?

One of the things that God asks of us is to be good stewards of our life. And that means seeking the good. For the church, for the world. And so how might you do that? How might you look around in your world? How might we do that together and seek the good? What are the kind of things that can create flourishing for others? Those are the kind of things that we want. And that's what living all in looks like. Buying the field with joy is giving our lives to the good of one another and the world.

The last thing that Paul talks about is connecting with transcendent joy. He says, rejoice in all things, pray constantly and give thanks in all circumstances. I think these three things, what they do is they help us disconnect from the flat world, that all we see in front of us is all that there is.

And rather, when we rejoice in all things, we're learning that even in the midst of hardship, there's joy to be found. When we're praying constantly, we're connecting ourselves to the narrative and story that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is what is the life, death, and resurrection of this whole universe.

That the world was created good, but broken and will one day be restored. And so by praying all the time, we're connecting ourselves to that. Giving thanks in all circumstances is not that we're thankful for all circumstances. It's just that even in the midst of hard circumstances, there are still things to give thanks for.

And when we do that, we connect to transcendent joy. And I think there's two ways to think about it. There's the fun way to think about it. And the hard way to think about it. We think about it from a fun way. I want you to think about Ferris Bueller and Ferris Bueller's day off. He says, life moves pretty fast. And if you don't stop to look around, you might miss it. I think that's so true for all of us. We get caught up in so many things that we're not connected to the transcendent joy that's all around us. So we want to rejoice. We want to have fun and we want to pray. We want to connect and we want to celebrate.

You can't fake those things. You got to lean into them. You got to practice them. We're going to embrace them. On the hard part, the rejoicing in all things and giving thanks in all circumstances. How do we do that? What's that all about?

Well, I think if we believe that both mourning and dancing are movements of grace, then we can embrace those seasons of our life and trust that God will bring new life out of them. That even in the midst of death, just as we see in the cross, that God can bring new life, even for us. And while it might not always be now and the way we want, that we can live with a sense of open handedness that God is at work. So if you've discovered this treasure, this joy of the Kingdom of Heaven that is found through Christ, I want you to go all in.

I want us all to go all in together, creating a community of growth. Where we can all flourish as we care for one another, creating a community that seeks the good. And ultimately a community that connects to transcendent joy that is able to celebrate and mourn together, trusting in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, that that is the life death resurrection of the world.

I hope you have a great week. Can't wait to see you again. Take care.