Restoring Trust

I’m going to ask you to take your Bible, turn to the book of Phileiman. We’re going to begin reading there in just one second in the little letter of Phileiman. While you’re turning there, just want to say thank you to all of you who are here this morning. Always appreciate an opportunity to worship with the family of God and to study his word together so we might become better servants of his. As was mentioned by Ernie, this is my last Sunday here.

Uh me and Everett are here this morning. Leah and the other two kids already up in Kentucky. Uh they went to go get get things ready for us and uh just wanted to say thank you. It’s been a wonderful summer and it’s been uh wonderful to get to know you and worship with you. I want you to know that uh this church family, the elders here especially have done a huge incredible kindness to my family. Um and we’re so exceedingly grateful for that. And all of you have been so kind to us and great to us.

You’ve welcomed us warmly and made us feel like we’re truly apart even though we were only here for three months. Uh we felt we felt the kindness and the family feel here. We’re very thankful for that. I’m reminded of what Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church where he talked about that church and how he was separated from them, but he said, “For you are our glory and our joy.” Um, in other words, Paul was so thankful for that church, even though he wasn’t worshiping there at the moment, he could look back at that church and look at all the good things they were doing and say, “That’s that’s glory and joy that I share because I know my brethren there are doing so well.”

Later in that same letter, he would say, “For now, we really live if you stay true to the Lord.” And I feel the same way about you guys. I believe in this church. I love this church. And I feel like leaving here today that going forth I will really live knowing that here in Decar Prairie Decker Prairie, Texas, you guys are standing true to the faith and firm in the Lord. Appreciate you guys very much. Whether any of that made sense or not, I don’t know. I’m terrible at stuff like that. But uh hope you know how much we love y’all.

Phileiman. Beginning in verse 20, Paul writes this to the man Phileiman. He says, “Yes, brother. Let me benefit. Let me stop.” See, I am terrible at those things. There was something I wanted to mention multiple times and I forgot it. And I wasn’t trying to forget it. I want you guys also to know how grateful I am for Brent Moody. Uh Brent, I don’t know if you guys understand this as as a preacher, it’s it’s really actually quite difficult to adjust everything that you’re doing to make room for somebody else.

Now, when you welcome a second preacher in indefinitely, that’s expected and that’s understood and that’s that’s something you adjust to because it’s going to be a permanent adjustment. And I want you to understand Brent has done me a great kindness by making room for me this summer and he has been a true friend to me. I just want to make it clear that you guys have such a wonderful preacher in Brent. Somebody who is firmly committed to the truth. Somebody is a good friend of mine. Somebody who lives with character and integrity.

And I can’t believe I almost forgot to say that. I thought this morning all morning I need to say that and I kept forgetting. But I I just want to make sure that’s very clear. Um, I love Britt Moody. I love his family. And I’m so glad that you guys have him. All right, let’s try this again. Let’s see if I forget something else. Yes, brother. Let me benefit you from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you since I know that you will do even more than what I say.

At the same time, also prepare me a lodging, for I hope that through your prayers, I will be given to you. Apaffris, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you as do Mark, Aristotarkus, Deeus, Luke, my fellow workers. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. We began this series by talking about how amazing the delivery of this letter would have been. One bright and early probably Sunday morning, Fleiman is getting ready for the worship that happens in his house and out of nowhere something unexpected happens.

Onimus, a former servant of his who had wronged him deeply and run off to Rome, has shown up on his doorstep. And in his hands, he’s holding two letters. One of those letters is the book of the New Testament that we know as Colossians. It was a general letter written to the church of Colasse that met in Fleiman’s house. The other letter was addressed to Fleiman personally. It’s a letter that’s bearing his name. And it’s a letter that calls Fleiman to forgive the man bearing the letter, Onissimus.

Onimus had come seeking rec reconciliation. And in this letter, Paul urges Phileiman to forgive. And we’ve spent the last three lessons talking about how amazing that situation is and and what it requires from everybody in that situation to to mend this rift that had happened. It it requires Phileiman to demonstrate incredible forgiveness. It requires Onysimus to demonstrate deep humility. And it requires Paul, somebody who’s not even involved in the situation, to intervene and do everything in his power to get himself involved and bring these two men who are separated back together.

And I want you to appreciate that this letter kind of ends on a cliffhanger. I mean, we can make our assumptions. I think it’s pretty safe to assume that Fleiman does the right thing. But the letter doesn’t tell us, the Bible doesn’t tell us really how Fleiman responded to Onysimus. But even if we grant it that Fleiman responded well, and in that moment he hugged him and welcomed him back, I want you to appreciate that what happens here is not just one choice made in one moment.

that what happens here with Fleiman and Onysimus is now they need to rebuild the relationship that had been destroyed by Onysimus’ sin. They have to restore trust. And the question is, how do they do that? I mean, it’s one thing for Feliman to welcome him back, give him a hug that Sunday morning, sit next to him, and then say, “Okay, we’re done. I forgave you. You came home. We’re good to go.” But you and I know it’s not as simple as that. Because now they’ve got a relationship that’s been destroyed that needs to be rebuilt because now they’re going to be together.

Now they’re going to worship together every single Sunday. Now they’re going to hang out at each other’s houses and they’re going to go to all the same potlucks together and maybe have to sit next to each other and they’re going to have to learn how to trust one another and truly live in fellowship with one another. And the question is, how do you do that? How do you restore trust in a relationship that’s been broken? And that’s what I want to talk about this morning. But before we really get into it, I want you to understand that this is really a secondary question.

And I want you to appreciate that this that’s a question you can only ask after you’ve laid a solid foundation for reconciliation. I want you to understand that we cannot talk about restoring trust and rebuilding relationships until you’ve done what Fleiman and Onismus have already been called to do. You cannot talk about building trust until you as the offended party are willing to actually forgive. You cannot talk about building trust and restoring relationship until you as the person who has done wrong is willing to truly say, “I’m sorry.

I did wrong. will you forgive me? And I think a lot of times one of the reason why our relationships kind of stall out and don’t really end up being as beautiful, we don’t build the relationships we’re supposed to build is because ultimately we never lay that foundation. We try to restore this trust and build these relationships when we have not done the most fundamental things. Truly forgive and truly seek reconciliation. Far too often when we have conflict in our relationships, we are far too content with keeping that tension in place in living within that tense cold war so long as it doesn’t become a hot war.

We need to understand that before we can ever talk about restoring trust, we have to lay that foundation. true forgiveness, true humility. But let’s talk about what it takes to restore trust. Let’s say we’ve built that foundation. How do we build these relationships that have been torn down? I want to give you three things this morning. Three things we must do to restore trust in our relationship. And this is this first point’s going to sound like repeating myself, but give me a chance because it’s really not.

The first thing we have to do is we have to practice true forgiveness. And there’s a reason why I phrase it that way. Because we commonly make two mistakes when it comes to forgiveness, at least the way we think about forgiveness. And that often leads us to not forgiving others in the right way. And so I phrase it that way on purpose. We need to practice true forgiveness. Because here’s one of the mistakes we make when it comes to forgiving others.

We often think that forgiveness is something that happens in just one moment. We think forgiveness is a single choice you make. It’s a single obstacle you have to overcome. It may be really hard to do and it may be huge, but once you do it, once you get those words out of your mouth or once you actually hug that person again, then it’s over. I’ve forgiven you. We’re done. We’re good. Except that’s not how people work, is it? Is that how you work? Because that’s not how I work.

Once somebody’s done something wrong to me and I work up the courage and the strength to look at them and say, “I actually forgive you for what you did,” there’s still some hurt there, isn’t there? It doesn’t immediately dissipate and go away. We say those words, but the pain is still there. We say those words, but the memories are still fresh. We say those words, but if if it really was a a catastrophic offense, something that really hurts, then those emotions, they come in waves, don’t they?

That’s how grief works. You feel good a little bit, then something happens and this wave of anger and frustration rolls over you and you feel like you’re back in the situation all over again, even though you said, “I forgive you for what you did.” We say the words, but often times we’re left still battling the hurt that the other person has caused. And so once you say the words, don’t think that your work is done. Don’t think that the battle is over because it’s not. It’s far from over. And that’s why that’s why forgiveness we need to understand is not something you just do once.

It is something you must practice continually. It is a conscious choice that you as a brother or sister in Christ have to make over and over and over again. It’s a burden that we must bear. And and then in the word forgiveness, the idea really really bears it out in the Bible. Do you know what the word means to forgive? In the Bible, the word forgive literally means the definition is to send away. It is to take that offense and say, “I’m banishing it.

I’m getting rid of it. I’m sending it away. Our English word forgive comes from a previous word which means to give up. And that’s something that we have to do. We have to do constantly. I have to say, I’m going to take this thing that you’ve done to me and I’m going to give it up. I’m not going to hold on to it and nurse it and think about it. I’m going to give it up. I’m going to send it away. This is this lines up well with Paul’s description of love in 1 Corinthians 13.

I want you to notice this. 1 Corinthians 13 beginning in verse four. Love is patient. Love is kind. It is not jealous. Love does not brag and is not arrogant. Does not act unbecomingly. It does not seek its own. It is not provoked. It does not take into account a wrong suffered. And I love that last phrase. It does not take into account a wrong suffered. Do you know what that means? That means that if you truly love somebody, when you forgive them, you clear their debt.

It means that you don’t take it into account. And when you decide how you’re going to treat that person, when you decide how you’re going to interact with them, how you’re going to talk with them, what you’re going to do for them, how much you’re going to love them, you decide that offense you you committed against me, I’m going to take that off the table. I’m not going to factor that into my analysis. I’m not going to take your wrong into account.

I’m not going to let your past mistakes affect the way I treat you. I may want to. I may still hurt. I may still remember, but I will not let what you did interfere and change the way I’m going to treat you. Understand? That’s what Fiman must be willing to do every Sunday when he sees Onysimus. Sure, he remembers. We all remember. We say forgive and forget. Does Does that any Does that actually happen? Have you ever forgotten a true offense that somebody committed against you?

That’s not how we work. We say forgive and forget, but that’s not the truth. The truth is forgive and continually send away those offenses that you cannot forget. That’s what Onysimuses must do every that’s what Fiman must do every Sunday. And that’s what we must be willing to do as well. I may remember, I may hurt, but I’m not going to treat you any differently anyway. But here’s a second mistake that we often make when it comes to forgiveness, and it goes along with the first. Sometimes what we do is we practice forgiveness and name only.

In other words, we say the words and we may say the words multiple times, but I don’t actually change the way that I treat you at all. Or maybe maybe I do. Maybe I changed the way I treated you a little bit, but but still because you committed that offense and because I we have that history that I’m still hurting from and I still remember, I’m I’m just always going to kind of hold you at arms length and there’s always going to be a little bit of tension in our relationship.

You know, one of the lies we tell ourselves about forgiveness is that we can forgive people, but sometimes when somebody’s committed offense against us, relationships change. There are consequences. Maybe maybe that’s not so much a lie, but it is it is something that I want to address and I want to think about for a second. This idea that you’ve committed offense against me and I forgive you, but relationships change. You know, the textbook example of this, I I don’t know if you guys have heard about this. I I heard about this like in every forgiveness sermon I’ve ever heard in my entire life.

When somebody wants to make the point, hey, I forgive you, but sometimes things are going to be a little bit different because of what you did. The textbook example is the embezzling deacon. Raise your hand if you’ve heard the embezzling deacon example. Either y’all don’t have hands or I’m alone here. But the example is this, right? You have a deacon in the church. He’s in charge of the treasury and he decided to embezzle thousands and thousands of dollars from the church treasury and everybody finds out and he’s in big trouble and he comes to the front.

He confesses it. He gives up his sin. We forgive him, but relationships change. We’re not going to let that guy watch the money anymore. You heard that example? Maybe none of y’all have whatever. Thank you. Now, I’m not arguing against the wisdom of that, and I’m not saying that would be a good idea. It probably would be a bad idea to let a deacon who was embezzling watch the money again. But I do think that that problem is a phantom example that we use to justify our lack of true forgiveness of others.

Yeah, we may not ask the embezzling deacon to keep the money again, but that’s not a justification to let the family that hurt you never come to your house again. And it’s not an excuse to maintain distance in a relationship with somebody who said something mean to you one time. And it’s not a reason to continually bring up a record of wrongs that someone has committed against you and let it change the way that you treat them. Yeah, we may not let that guy watch the money. And yeah, that may change a little bit. We may put some guard rails up there, but that does not justify our lack of true forgiveness of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We need to understand that. And I know that because what we see in scripture is is we don’t see that relationships change when people forgive other people in scripture. You don’t see this Frankenstein half- alive zombie-like kind of forgiveness where you’ve said the words, but you stand on the sidelines still nursing your wounds. You don’t see that in scripture. Now, in in in some extreme cases, absolutely, there’s a need to put up some guard rails in certain relationships in extreme examples.

But I want you to understand that when you look in scripture, what you see is a picture not of relationships changing, but you see an example of full reconciliation. Isn’t this this what we see in Luke 15? The prodigal fully welcomes his son home. not in some kind of partial relationship. The prodical father doesn’t say, “Hey, I’m letting you come and live. You can stay in the house, but relationships change. Things aren’t going to be the same.” Isn’t this what we see in the story of Hosea and his wife?

Where Hosea fully reconciles with his unfaithful wife? He doesn’t look at her and say, “Hey, Goomemer, relationships change. Our marriage is never going to be the same because of what you did.” He buys her. He takes her back and says, “Let’s be husband and wife again fully.” Even in Matthew 18, that famous parable about forgiveness, the master, when that slave has that impossible debt that he’s acrewed, the master forgives him and he welcomes him back.

He fully remploys the slave that had accured that massive debt. Not in some kind of halfway slave servant relationship, but he puts him back in his position. What we see in scriptures is we see a God who promises full forgiveness through his son. Not not some kind of half reconciliation where relationships have changed. That’s what true forgiveness looks like. And we do need to take note that that’s not an easy thing to do. And often times hiding behind relationships change that feels a whole lot more safe and a whole lot more comfortable when we are called to forgive.

I want you to appreciate that all of these individuals in scripture when they fully forgive and welcome people back with no restrictions, they’re taking a risk. They are taking a risk that this person will wound them again. And for that reason, I think we have to appreciate that true forgiveness requires true vulnerability. Do you know what the word vulnerability means? Do you know what it comes from? It comes from a Latin word that means to wound.

Do you know what it means to be vulnerable? It means you are able to be wounded. And that’s what forgiveness requires of us. It means that we take a risk. And again, in all of those examples, that’s what we see. We see someone taking a risk. The prodigal’s father doesn’t change the relationship. What he does is he takes a risk. When I welcome this son back, I’m taking a risk that he’s going to do the same thing to me again and hurt me all over again. When the merciful master welcomes his servant back and forgives his debt completely, he’s taking a risk that that guy’s going to disappoint him again.

And guess what he does? When Hosea doesn’t divorce his wife, he takes a risk that Jose that that Goomemer might be unfaithful to him again and let him down again. When God the Father welcomes us home, he takes a risk that we might leave him and forsake him again. But he absorbs that risk. It’s worth the risk to be fully reconciled to us. We need to understand this is what Fiman must be willing to do. He has to practice continually true forgiveness.

He must be willing to open himself up and and be willing to enter into a relationship and risk getting hurt all over again by Onysimus. And that’s true in all relationships that until you’re willing to take a risk with somebody who’s hurt you, you’re never going to be able to restore trust and rebuild a relationship. We must practice true forgiveness. Now, let me stop here. push the pause button. That’s a really long point. I promise you I don’t have three points that are equally long this morning.

Let me say this that also if we’re going to restore trust, we also need to strive to bear fruit. And this is true for the person who offended the other one. And hopefully once we understand just the lengths that a forgiving person has to give to the person who’s seeking forgiveness, they’ll understand just how much they should strive to make things right on their own end. Forgiving truly is not easy. And so the person who offended somebody else needs to work hard to build trust.

And they do that by doing everything in their power to bear fruit and show that they have truly changed. You know, just as we struggle with practicing true forgiveness, sometimes we struggle, a lot of times we struggle with demonstrating true repentance. In fact, I’m sure you’ve all seen somebody weaponize the command to forgive. Yes. You ever had that happen to you? You ever done that to somebody? Well, I did you wrong, but hey, now you have to forgive me.

I asked forgiveness. Now you got to do it. Now you got to let me back in. Now you got to forgive me. There’s no restrictions. That’s not Christlike. You got to welcome me back. Do it now. Do it now. Forgive me now. And all of that is true. But that kind of attitude that weaponizes the command to forgive shows that you probably don’t understand the part you’re supposed to play in restoring trust. When you hurt somebody, your role is not to demand their forgiveness and go on your merry way.

Your job is to work as hard as you possibly can to d to to restore their trust by bearing fruit that shows repentance. I want you to appreciate this is how Jesus told us how we’re supposed to judge others. Isn’t that what he said? You will know them by their fruits. Matthew 7:16. That’s how you’re going to know who a person really is. Don’t listen to just what they say. Watch what they do. See what kind of fruit they bear. And this is how other relationships in in scripture are restored. Understand that the prodigal’s journey home to the father, that’s evidence.

That’s evidence of his repentance. That’s the fruit that he strives to show. And you better believe, I guess we’re going beyond scripture here, but you better believe that once the prodigal got home, he did everything in his power to demonstrate to his father, I’m not the kind of son that’s going to leave you again. That’s what we would expect from him, isn’t it? We see this in other relationships. You have a real life example of this with with Paul and John Mark.

You remember in the in the go and not the gospel of acts in the book of acts Paul takes John Mark on a mission with him on a journey with him and John Mark turns turns around and he goes away and he lets Paul down and destroys that trust because he wasn’t willing to go on the journey like they were supposed to. But later on you see Paul will say this in 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 11. He says only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you for he is useful to me for service.

And so what you have in Paul and John Mark is maybe not an issue of sin but you certainly have an instance where there is broken trust. And yet we see in 2 Timothy 4:1 that trust was able to be restored. it was able to be restored because first of all Paul was willing to take a risk. He was willing to forgive John Mark and trust him again and try to work with him again. And it also happens because John Mark has borne fruit. He has demonstrated through his life in these intervening years that he’s not the kind of person that can’t be depended on anymore.

He is dependable. He is responsible. He is going to fulfill his commitments. And because of that, Paul willing to forgive and John Mark striving to bear fruit, you have a beautiful example of what restored trust looks like. Bring him with me. He’s useful in the service. And we need to do the same thing. We need to do everything in our power to demonstrate to the one that we hurt, I’m not doing that again. And practically what that looks like in my mind is it means you do everything in your power to do the opposite of the thing that you did before.

Maybe I’m somebody who hurt somebody else because I lost my temper and I lost control. Well, guess what? I need to do everything in my power. I need to focus my life on showing self-control to demonstrate to others I’m not going to lose control again. If I am somebody who hurt you because I gossiped about you, then I need to become the kind of person who is more careful than everybody else about guarding my tongue. If I have been a divisive influence, then I need to make sure I do everything in my power in the church or wherever I am to be a pillar of unity.

I am a unifying force now, not a divisive one. If I’ve been deceitful and dishonest and have hurt other people because of that, I need to focus on speaking the truth always in every situation. We need to be the kind of people who strive to bear fruit that shows everybody around us, you can trust me again because I’m not the same person anymore. I want you to appreciate that Paul knows how important that is. And that’s why he when he writes this letter to Fleiman, he makes sure to mention that he has seen fruit in Onissimus.

Notice what he says in Fleiman 10 vers Fiman vers 10 through13. I appeal to you for my child Onissimus whom I begotten in my imprisonment who formerly was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me. I have sent him back to you in person that is sending my very heart whom I wish to keep with me so that on your behalf he might minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel. Notice what Paul says to Fleiman. Hey, I want you to know you haven’t been around him in Rome, but guess what?

He’s bearing fruit. He used to be useless to you, but now he’s very useful. He will be useful to you. In fact, he’s so useful, I wanted to keep him here. That’s what Onysimus does. He bears fruit. And in that way, he helps Fleiman restore trust. And so maybe that’s a question I need to ask myself about my own relationship. What kind of fruit do my brothers and sisters that I’ve hurt need to see in me? What do I need to focus on so that they can look at my life and they can feel like they can trust me again?

That’s how we restore trust in one another. Let me say this thirdly and finally and most shortly that restoring trust means that all of us need to watch our words carefully. In our last lesson, Britt made the point, the excellent point that fellowship is a responsibility that all of us bear even if we aren’t the ones involved in the conflict. That’s what Paul does, right? He isn’t the one who hurt Fiman. He’s not the one who offended Fleiman and he’s not the one who asked forgive Anessimus but still because he knows the situation he gets involved because fellowship is not just about me and you.

It’s about all of us together. Because when fellowship is broken between me and you everybody is impacted by that. And so understand all of us have a part to play in healing conflict. And sometimes that means if you are intimately involved that means you need to step up. You need to have the courage to bring two brothers or two sisters that you know that are that are apart. You need to do what you need to do to bring them together. And sometimes you aren’t intimately involved, but you still have a role and that is to be very very very careful about what you choose to say.

You need to watch your words and that means a couple of things. First of all, that means you need to be very quiet and careful about the assumptions that you make about the conflict that happened. Because that’s something that’s really easy to do, isn’t it? We hear about two people that aren’t getting along. We hear about a problem that people have and we instantly start making assumptions. Well, based on my experience with that person, I can see how this could have happened. And then, well, that probably happened after that. And then they responded this way and the reason they responded that way is because of this. and and now I know I haven’t talked to anybody, but now I know exactly what happened because I’ve made all of these assumptions.

And then once we make those assumptions, what do we start doing? Well, then we feel so proud of ourselves, we start sharing our conclusions with other people. And that’s not a recipe for unity. In fact, Proverbs 16:28 says, “A perverse man spreads strife and a slanderer separates intimate friends.” That’s what we’re doing. We make an assumption. We believe that it’s true. We share it with other people. That’s what slander is. And it separates intimate friends.

Secondly, we need to watch our words. That means that we need to be the kind of people who let conflict die. As the kids would say, we need to make sure that in our church there is no deep lore hanging around. And every church in my experience has some deep lore. Okay? And what I mean by that is you go to a church and you become a part of that church and if you’re there for long enough, maybe six months to a year, somehow you find out who offended who and how long ago it was and whether or not they’re still good.

You know what I’m talking about? Sometimes we have that history that’s still hanging around. And do you know why that history sticks around? Even if the people have made up and they’re good, do you know why people still talk about it? because people still talk about it. Proverbs 17:9, “He who conceals a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates intimate friends.” That’s what we do sometimes is there’s a conflict and it may have been forgiven, it may have been moved on, it may be ancient history, but because we keep talking about it, we keep the conflict alive.

Brothers and sisters, we need to let it die. And we also need to be the kind of people who cherish peace. We need to make sure we’re not the kind of people who reach out and grab hold of conflict and contention. Proverbs 26 verse 20- 21. For lack of wood, the fire goes out. And where there is no whisperer, contention quiets down. Like charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. That word contentious is a really important word.

Do you know what it means? It means to reach out and reach out to grab hold of fighting and conflict, right? It means you’re going out there and you’re trying to hold on to conflict instead of pursuing peace. You’re the kind of person who pursu pursues conflict and division. And the truth is, we need to admit this about ourselves. Sometimes that’s exactly what we’re tempted to do. There are some people, in fact, that’s not true. All of us to some degree in certain instances in our lives, we want to reach out and grab hold of conflict for whatever reason.

Maybe it’s cuz I’m mad. Maybe it’s because other people I want to make myself look better by tearing other people down. Maybe it’s just because I want a little bit of drama in my life. And it’s interesting to know what kind of conflict’s going on. We need to understand we cannot be those kind of people who reach out and grab hold of conflict. We need to be the kind of people who reach out and grab hold of peace. And we need to decide in our lives what matters more.

Does unity matter more to me or knowing what happened when there was a conflict. Does unity matter more to me or does it matter more to me to know who was on what side of what conflict that happened? Does unity matter more to me? Or does it matter more to me that I become the official conflict historian of this church? Which matters more, peace or conflict? And we need to ask ourselves if we’re willing to change the way we do business. Are we willing to actually become the kind of people who watch what we say for the sake of peace and unity?

And here’s the sobering reality that that Proverbs 26 makes very clear to us that it is entirely possible that there could be two brethren who are in conflict, two brothers who could be working hard to unite and no longer be divided. And I from the outside of the conflict, I could make their ability to trust I could ruin their ability to trust one another because I’m not willing to be quiet. Wouldn’t that be a shame that a brother and a brother who are in conflict want to make it better, but I get involved because I’m not watching my words?

The only way we’re going to be able to restore trust is if we’re very careful with the things that we say, especially in instances when the conflict has nothing to do with me. I want to end this morning in Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2, beginning in verse one. Philippians 2 and verse one. Therefore, if there’s any encouragement in Christ, if there’s any consolation of love, if there’s any fellowship of the spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests. but also for the interests of others. [snorts] We need to understand and Paul makes clear in that passage that this relationship we have with one another, it matters and that all of us have a part to play. Let’s make sure we all play our part. Well, I want to close this morning by talking about how odd it is that we’ve spent so much time talking about this.

Isn’t it interesting that as people who are in a relationship with one another, we have to spend so much time talking about the relationship that we share with one another. It’s kind of like if you had a business that just had a bunch of meetings and focused all of their attention on what it means to be a business. That wouldn’t be a very effective business, right? You need we need to understand and sometimes we lose sight of the fact that there is a bigger picture at play.

That we’ve been brought together not just to be together. We’ve been brought together to accomplish a purpose. And whenever we don’t have this fellowship, whenever we don’t have this trust with one another, it hampers our ability to fulfill that mission. Our mission is to help one another get to heaven and help the lost in this world find Jesus. any conflict, any fighting, any disunityity that we have hinders our ability to do that. So, let us make sure that we strive to be united, that we are diligent to preserve this unity, this fellowship that God has created in us.

And maybe you’re here this morning and you realize that you’re not a part of this fellowship. You realize that you’ve never been saved by the blood of Jesus. That’s how we that’s how we become a part of his church. The Bible tells us that if we believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, if we’re willing to repent of our sins and change the way we live our life, no longer living for ourselves, but choosing to live for Jesus, if we’re willing to confess our faith before men, then we can be baptized in water.

That’s what Peter says saves us, right? Baptism now saves you. That’s 1 Peter 3:21. You can be baptized in water to have your sins washed away. You can rise to walk in newness of life. You can have the hope of heaven in your heart. And you can become a part of this mission here.