What is a successful church? That’s hard to quantify isn’t it. If we were to poll a hundred Christians about their church, if it is a success or not, what kind of things would they look at? What measurements? What statistics? What characteristics?

The first thing they would mention is attendance. “Yes, our church is successful because we have a lot of people. Our building is full.” Or maybe, “No, we aren’t quite successful. We haven’t grown in a while.”

But is that a good idea of success? Just getting people through the door?

Maybe they would say its successful because the services are really good, the musicians are really talented, the preaching is really dynamic. “That’s a successful church! Because I really like it.”

But is that a good idea of success? Your personal enjoyment?

We’ve been looking at what it means to be a real success in life. It seems to me that Jesus would look at my life and call me “successful” when I am down here being the best husband I can be, an active loving and present father, and a pastor who deeply loves his church. Jesus modeled that for me. And he modeled it for you!

Success – true success – is not measured in statistics but in servanthood. Is it any different for a church?

When you talk to people about your church, I imagine you get asked, “What church do you go to?” That’s a great question, but it misses the mark if we’re really looking at true success. Going to church was not the goal of Jesus. Being the church was. I know, I know…it would be really awkward to ask someone, “What church do you be?” But the point is, if we only define ourselves by where we go, we miss out on a large chunk of what the church is all about.

Success is all about a destination, an arrival. When we talk about where we go to church, we’re thinking in those terms. You rarely hear anything in the New Testament about where people go to church. It’s more about what they do along the way. It’s journey over arrival.

Take a look at some of the hallmarks of a church that is following Christ the right way, centered on what Jesus made important:

• “Loving each other” (John 15:12)

• “Meeting each other’s needs” (1 John 3:17-18)

• “Encouraging each other and building each other up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

• “Praying together” (James 5:16)

• “Serving the poor” (Matthew 25:31-46)

• “Making disciples” (Matthew 28:19)

Those aren’t really signs of success. They’re signs of health. That’s what we need to focus on as a church, I believe. And a healthy church is supernatural in its love for one another.

Supernatural means a manifestation of event attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature. That’s a mouthful. To boil it down, the supernatural is often unexplainable even when experienced.

It’s hard to put your finger on it, but we all know it when we see it, feel it, live it. Experience it. That’s the type of love Jesus calls the church to. A love that is experienced but unexplainable.

Imagine you were there on day one, the founding of the church in Acts 2. Sings! Wonders! A holy wind and a rushing surge! And the response? You and I may think of supernatural like it’s a sci-fi epic, a novel about demons and angels, or some mysterious “other” that sets us apart. I’m not discounting the power of spiritual gifts. I just want to point out that wasn’t the focus of the first church. Their primary concern was loving each other. Getting together to share the word of God. Putting their devotion on the right things. Giving generously out of their resources.

That was the hallmark of a healthy church. And it still is. It’s hard to explain, and that’s okay. Because it’s supernatural love. It doesn’t come naturally. It’s hard to define or quantify. And it’s what I want for my church more than anything else.

The most tangible evidence for my faith in Christ is not believing the right things, my Bible reading, worship service attendance, the way I vote, the way I dress, or what I watch and don’t watch. It’s how well I love. The most important reason we get together each weekend is that it will expand our capacity to love.

How are loving this week? Who are you loving this week? And can you rely on the Spirit’s supernatural power to energize you to love more and better?

What are the keys to success? Everyone wants to know. Just punch that in Google, along with whatever field or career you’re in, and you’ll get no less than 2,000 articles that tell you how to achieve your specific dreams.

But what they won’t tell you is your destination.

You see, you can get the keys to success, but if you don’t know what success really is, it’s like driving without a road map. Or I guess without Siri, now that we all have smartphones.

Keys to success only work when you already know where you’re going. And you only know where you’re going if you know the type of person you want to be. So what is it? How do you want to be?

In our world, to move forward means to produce, regardless of what it does to your body, mind or soul.

Success in business is determined by increasing annual revenue and soaring stock prices. If you’re an artist, success is determined by how many pieces or books you sell. The success of a concert or sporting venue is based on tickets sold.

Successful parenting in our culture means your kids are successful. Against all odds, they are getting all A’s, having perfect attendance, achieving a character award, getting the solo in an orchestra or the lead in the play, starting QB job on the field. That ultimately leads to getting into the college they want – free of charge, of course – and finally landing that dream job with a dream spouse. So they can have kids…who are getting all A’s, having perfect attendance…

The cycle goes on. But are we going nowhere fast? I often wonder, “Is this what Jesus considers successful?”

In Mark 8:36 he asked us this same question. He measured out the importance of following him against the desire to gain wealth, fame, prestige, position. And here is his conclusion:

³⁶ And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?

Mark 8:36

What’s the list? How do you measure success? By a dollar amount? Okay, let’s try to “gain the whole world.” Let’s see what it would take.

Any idea what the net worth of the richest man in the world is? His name is Jeff Bezos and, among other things, he owns Amazon. He’s worth $112 Billion! I can cover the $112 part, it’s the Billion that will give me some trouble. Next on the list is Bill Gates. We all remember him, right? He would need another $32 Billion dollars, a third of his total net worth, to surpass Bezos. In fact, if you’re number ten on the list, and that means you’re Larry Ellison owner of Oracle, then if you doubled your total net worth you’d still be short of the goal to earn the whole world.

Take a sobering look at your bank account. None of us are in that neighborhood. We’re not going to be able to chase them down. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that it doesn’t matter. Our markers of success and living extraordinary lives don’t even make it on Jesus list. If it’s real success you’re looking for, you won’t find it in Forbes or Inc Magazine. It’s somewhere else.

It’s in the heart.

Consider a few questions.

Who or what is determining your worth?

Who are you trying to impress?

When will you find contentment?

Jesus didn’t define success with stats and figures. He came up with another idea. While the world chases riches, and the enemy tries to destroy, Jesus came to give us life – and life to the fullest!

Successful living is the glory of living fully alive!

What’s more successful than that? St Irenaeus put it this way: “The glory of God is men and women fully alive!”

What makes you fully alive? How can God use your life for his glory? It’s not in the extraordinary markers of riches, wealth, status, ladder-climbing, perfect attendance, and looks. If you’ve got any of those, then that’s nice. But that’s not what will bring you life.

Our lives are mostly lived in the ordinary. And when we realize that, we can live each day successfully by making the most of it, learning to listen to others, be present with them, and serve whoever needs us now.

That’s how I want to measure success. I don’t always get it right, but I’m trying.

“Onward and upward! To Narnia and the North!” This phrase appears in the book The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis. It is a statement of progress, of moving forward and success. Onward and upward is still a prominent idea in today’s culture. We live in a time in which success means everything is up and to the right. The numbers are always growing and always high. In our world, to move forward means to produce, regardless of what it does to your body or soul. Success in business is determined by increasing annual revenue and soaring stock prices. In the world of art, success is determined by how many pieces or books you sell. The success of a concert or sporting venue is based on tickets sold. This measurement even trickles into our Christian worldview. Often we measure the success of a congregation by crowd size, growing budgets, and building expansions.  We measure success as a Christian by the amount of time we spend praying, serving, and reading the Bible and speaking our vast knowledge with others. I often wonder, “Is this really what Jesus considers success?”

When I was invited to become the pastor of Northbrook Church, I left a congregation of 400 people in Colorado to pastor this new one in Wisconsin of around 1,000. I was moving up in the world (or so I thought)! Northbrook began to grow, new buildings were built, more staff was hired, and I began to think “I have arrived!” Ten years later Northbrook hovers around 2,000 people on the weekend, and by many people’s definition is a successful church. Yet I have discovered it is so much more than that.

What we will discover in the scriptures is that sometimes the message of Jesus is hard and the expectations challenging. There is a story in John 6:25-70. Jesus is giving a teaching concerning his sacrifice and the commemoration of it through communion. He made statements like “eat my body” and “drink my blood” and it really freaked people out. So much so that many of Jesus’ followers stopped following. “ From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him” (John 6:66). Often Jesus’ ministry was one that shrank—not one that grew. Many of the crowds stopped following him, and in the end, all his disciples fled. One even denied him three times. Ultimately his mission was fulfilled and the church was born. It was a church committed to fellowship, understanding the message of the gospel, and ministering to people.

Yet our perspective in culture is very different. Ask the average Christian to describe a great church; you might hear things like, “a really good service; the music style/volume/length of singing is exactly what I like.” You might hear things like, “the preaching is dynamic,” or deep or transformative. You may hear something about age-specific programs for children, teenagers, millennials and senior adults. You may hear about conveniences like great parking, a cool building, and fresh coffee. All of those are great things, but that is not the definition of a church that is “winning” in the Bible.

When you turn to scripture, a successful community of faith is doing things like:

“Loving each other” (John 15:12)

“Meeting each other’s needs” (1 John 3:17-18)

“Encouraging each other and building each other up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

“Praying together” (James 5:16)

“Serving the poor” (Matthew 25:31-46)

“Making disciples” (Matthew 28:19)

Jesus has a very countercultural view of what progress meant. His definition of success is not found in numbers, programs, or acquisitions. To be successful in his kingdom, you don’t strive to be first; you strive to be last. You don’t strive to be the master; you strive to be the servant.

“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” (Matthew 20:16)

“The greatest among you will be your servant.  For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:11)

In the gospels, the verbiage of success is found in words like love, humility, servitude, and peacemakers. (Matthew 5:3-11)
In this countercultural way, Jesus envisions a world that could be through the church.  Through the church, authenticity is embraced and people are welcomed. Through the church, people can find love in the midst of brokenness. Through the church, people are valued. Through the church, questions can be asked without fear of judgment and doubt, and be met with graceful words of comfort.  Through the church, our gifts and talents are maximized and used to do good in the world. Through the church, the poor are served, the marginalized are cared for. Through the church relationships are restored, people find wholeness and are encouraged and built up. This is progress, this is winning. This is something worth dedicating your life to.

There are some people who are so famous you just have to sort of hint about them and everyone knows who you’re talking about.

A dunk from the free throw line? That’s Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player of all time.

Moonwalk on stage. Everyone thinks of the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson.

Just ask, “Who ya gonna call?” and everyone will yell out in unison – “Ghostbusters!”

Okay, some of those examples are better than others. But you get the idea. There are plenty of pop culture, sports, and entertainment references that most of us get without having a lot of backstory or explanation.

It’s the same way in the Bible. There were people who were so famous that all you needed to do was make a reference, an off-handed quote, or present a picture. A shepherd? That’s probably David. Talk about bread in the desert? You’re talking about Moses. And calling fire down from heaven onto the mountain, well that’s gotta be Elijah.

Elijah was perhaps the most important prophet in the entire Old Testament. Jonah was a prophet too. He’s actually part of what are known as the “Minor Prophets,” due to the length of their books not for some lack of importance. Of course, we’ve said the book of Jonah is full of irony, so maybe the label fits.

In the last chapter of Jonah, we find our reluctant prophet completing his work. And he’s mad. He’s mad because God will forgive the people of Nineveh, and he doesn’t want that. So he goes outside the city and sits under some shade.

⁵ Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city.

⁸ When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

Jonah 4:5, 8

If you were an Israelite reading that in the days of Jonah, you’d immediately see the reference. It was like Jonah was moonwalking to the free throw line for a slam dunk. He was taking on the persona of the most important prophetic figure around – Elijah. The words are practically lifted from 1 Kings 19 where Elijah does the same thing, says the same thing.

But in this instance, Jonah is anything but a great example. He feels down on his luck not because he’s being pursued by his enemies and feels abandoned and all alone. He feels bad because God is going to do what he does best, show some mercy and loving-kindness.

Jonah is, basically, a parody of a great prophet. He’s a laughing stock at this point. He’s anything but Elijah. He’s like the opposite of the greatest example. He’s what we should never do.

That’s one of the reasons I like this book so much. It takes some other tales and flips them on their side. And in the process, it not only entertains but enlightens.

When we take our lives and turn them, what do we see? Are we reflecting the same mercy and grace of God? Are we sprouting loving kindness wherever we go?

Or are we rolling over and asking God to just kill us now?

You get to choose. Do you want to be a parody or an example? We can be what the world thinks of when they think of hypocritical believers. Or we can smash the concept to pieces and put God’s love on display. It’s up to us.

When you read the second chapter of Jonah, it’s almost a relief. Finally, this reluctant prophet has turned a corner. He’s calling out to the Lord. He remembers God, and he prays to him. He’s thankful, he’s sacrificial, he seems repentant.

But looks can be deceiving.

Remember, the Bible wasn’t written in English. The Old Testament, with a few exceptions here and there, was first penned in Hebrew. And Hebrew has different words and rules than English does. Most of the time, you don’t really need to know those words or rules to enjoy the Bible and get out of it what God put into it. But there are a few times where knowing a rule or two can actually help you understand the bigger picture.

Jonah 2 is one of those times. From the opening line of the prayer something is going on that tells you a lot about this man Jonah. Take a look.

“In my distress I called to the Lord,
and he answered me.” (Jonah 2:2)

If you think you’ve heard those words somewhere before, you may be right. Take a look at this passage from the Psalms.

“In my distress I called to the Lord,
and he answered me.”(Psalm 120:1)

Same words. Same emotions. Same ideas.

But different attitudes. Why? Because of a little change in the word order. You can’t really see it in the English translation, but it’s there in the Hebrew.

Psalm 120 begins this way in the original text: “To the Lord I called…” But Jonah 2 starts this way: “I called to the Lord…”

You may be asking what the big deal is. It’s just moving words around. We do it all the time. All the time we do it.

But in Hebrew it is a big deal. One of the rules is, put the important stuff up front. If you want to stress an idea, say it first! What does the Psalmist want to stress? God, and his reliance on him. What does Jonah want to stress? His own act of prayer.

It’s a very small and subtle point. But if you were a Hebrew speaking ancient Israelite, it would have been like an alarm going off or a siren flashing. “Get a load of this guy! He thinks he’s so great. He wants everyone to know that he’s praying to God.”

The rest of his prayer sort of plays out that way too. Take a look.

“When my life was ebbing away,
I remembered you, Lord,
and my prayer rose to you,
to your holy temple.” (Jonah 2:7)

Who actually prayed? When he was on the boat, Jonah was asleep. It was the sailors who were praying.

“Those who cling to worthless idols
turn away from God’s love for them.” (Jonah 2:8)

Hey! Shout out to those pagans in Nineveh! And the ones on the boat. Remember, the sailors were the ones who turned to God’s love for them after seeing the sea calm down when Jonah went down into the depths.

And the people of Nineveh would be turning to God, too. As they repent, they lay their trust on God’s love for them.

“But I, with shouts of grateful praise,
will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’” (Jonah 2:9)

Shouts of grateful praise…like the sailors who were saved from the storm. Sacrifices…like the ones those pagan seamen offered right on their ship. A vow made and made good…like the vow that the King of Nineveh enforced on the city, even including the animals (Jonah 3:5-9)!

In every one of those lines of Jonah’s prayers, he’s putting himself first. He’s making himself out to be so great, such a big man! Those pagans? They have no idea. And if they did, they wouldn’t be anywhere close to as faithful as Jonah.

Except he’s completely wrong. Even in a humble prayer, Jonah can’t seem to get out of his own way. I wonder if I ever do that? I hope I never pray like this, putting myself first. Talking myself up to God. But I know I have. False humility and plenty of I’m-better-than-thems.

True repentance can only come from a heart that is humble. Without humility, our words are empty. Jesus told us not to waste our words just to be heard (Matthew 6:5). May our prayers be heartfelt and humble, heavy with the realization that God is God, I’m just me, and everyone is deserving of mercy.

Our religion, Christianity, is unlike other religions in a lot of ways. I’m not going to list them all. But this weekend we pointed out one major way our religious belief system runs counter to nearly all systems today.

It’s not that we have a list of doctrines. Many faiths do. It’s not our reliance on miracles. Those stories run rich and deep.

It’s that our faith can be summarized in two words: “With Christ.”

All month long we’ve looked at this massively powerful word “with”. With your spouse, your family, your church, your world, and your God.

Finally, we come to the one phrase that tops them all. But how is the “with Christ” life different? And how does it make us different? I think of my kids.

My love for my children is not functional but formational. In other words, it’s independent of anything they do. It’s determined by who they are.

Let’s unpack those words “functional” and “formational” a bit more. If you were with us this past weekend then you saw how Ephesians 2:1-10 really answers this question quite well. So I’m only going to highlight the important parts.

A functional faith asks, “What should I do to earn God’s favor?” That’s the starting point. A list of “shoulds” that we live our lives by. Functional faith looks to gain grace by working for it. Unfortunately, that often results in a self-centered spirituality. We believe we can work for our righteousness. In effect, it becomes selfish.

Selfishness is at the heart of transgression and sin. When we seek to meet our God-given needs and desires outside of the God-given design for those desires, we call it sin. It’s not a sin to want. It’s a sin to seek those wants in other ways.

One want that we all have because of the world we are born into is a  spiritual life. We are, as a matter of fact, born spiritually numb. We lack the capacity of righteousness on our own. So we work for it, we strive for it, we “should” ourselves to death for it.

On the other hand, a formational faith puts all the work in God’s hands. We are merely recipients of it. We look to be transformed into a Christ-likeness. We “get to” not “have to” do good things. We are counted righteous not by what we believe but by who we trust.

And that brings us back to my kids. Man, I love them. And you know what? It’s not because they’re perfect. Oh no. They give me a headache sometimes. They mess up just like any other kid their age. (And truth be told, I mess up as much as any parent my age).

But I love them, not based on what they do but on who they are. They could never earn my love. When they do good, I’m happy. When they make their beds without being asked 100 times, I’m pleased. When they excel at sports and school, it makes me very proud.

But those aren’t the reasons I love them. I love them because they are my kids. I could never stop loving them. I won’t stop loving them. They can’t do anything to earn my love, and they won’t do anything to lose it.

We are God’s children. Get that into your heart. There is not one thing you can do to earn God’s love. And there is no list of mistakes you’ll make that will make him stop loving you. Why? Because you are “with Christ.”

When we accept Jesus as our savior, we enter into a relationship. That’s what faith really is. And that relationship is not determined by a bunch of “shoulds.” It’s grounded in the work of Jesus. Accomplished. Finished. Done. It’s just up to us to accept the free gift and live with Christ.

“With.” There’s a lot of power in that word. It speaks to the desire we have to relate to another person. To connect deeply on a deep level.

I believe we all have the want to be “with” other people. Even introverts love to be with others. They may express it differently than extroverts. But no matter what, the word “with” holds power.

Perhaps the most important “with” is marriage. Relationships are hard work. They can be tough. They’re not always clean. They’re not always even or equal. It takes time and attention to make “with” work. And marriage is no exception.

God’s intent for marriage is that it is a life giving partnership. And yet for so many it is a struggle and a relationship of deep pain.

The problem is that many have bought into the notion that marriages are based on love, and love should be easy. It feels great. We all want it. Why isn’t it just simple?

Because being in love and staying in love are two separate things. But the relationship of marriage is so important that it’s worth the effort.

If you are in a good marriage that you want to be great, or a bad marriage that you want to be good, or a broken marriage that you want to mend, you are looking for answers. You are looking for some guidance. And since the Bible says a lot about marriages, why not go there looking for those answers? It’s a great start.

But the Bible is not a place to just find the answers and plug them in. The scriptures are less about information and more about formation. That’s why passages like the one we looked at this week, Ephesians 5:21-33, are so difficult. They don’t give us a neat and tidy answer. Instead, they force us to go within ourselves in search of solutions.

We live in an information saturated culture. We think if we can just get the right information – If I can just read the right book, get the best technique or program that life will be good. We bring this to our marriage and think we can crack the code. Instead, our concentration gets cracked and our marriage remains un-mended.

What are some of those things we search for, the information we think will fix us? Frist of all, I believe people are looking for rules. They want to know the 1, 2, 3 of a successful marriage. What time do I get up? How do I avoid a fight? What do I say to spouse to fix the problem?

The problem with rules is that as soon as you start following them, you fall into an exception. Every rule has an exception. There is always a “Yeah, but…” attached to a relationship. No real relationship will follow the order of your rules. Instead, you’ll always find the exception. So, we need to lean into the exceptions and let our relationship breath with life.

Another way we seek answers is through labels. The passage in Ephesians 5 is a great example. There are people who line up on either side of the coin and call themselves either “Complementarians” or “Egalitarians.” Complementarians see the roles of husband and wife as gender-specific yet complementary to each other. Egalitarians see it more interchangeable, with decisions being made together.

But labels fail when we try to use them to encompass the greatness of a marriage relationship. You may read the examples of each label and think, “Yeah, that’s not us. That wouldn’t fly in my marriage.” And that’s fine. Because love always abounds labels.

The answer – or at least one answer – is not found in rules or labels or to-do lists or talk-it-outs. It’s found in the core idea of “mutual submission.” Another way to say it is “self-giving.” I give up my self in order to put my wife ahead of me. And she does the same.

Self-giving means putting the other person first and seeking their welfare above one’s own. What is clear from the scripture is that a marriage thrives when both partners commit to giving of themselves to the other. How are we doing that? Putting action to the feeling of love is the key. 

Self-Giving begins with Christ, not your spouse. It’s actually the heart of the Gospel. You don’t submit to one another out of reverence for one another, but out of reverence for Christ. When Christ is the center of your life – individually – then self-giving is the fuel of your marriage together. It only makes sense that two people give to each other when you consider it through the story of Jesus. When you see the God of the universe lay down his own life, then you begin to understand how we are to follow that example into marriage.

And this self-giving, it’s not just for marriage. Over the next few weeks we’ll look at some other examples of “with” that drive our church, our community, our world. But it begins with putting others ahead of ourselves in love.

We’re asking some tough questions this Christmas. We should not be afraid of questions. We invite them. We honor them. And we grow from them.

How can we grow from a question of trust? How can you believe better if you actually lean into the doubts you may have instead of just ignoring them? We’ll get to that.

The Christmas story actually begins with an angel. But not the one you’re thinking of, the one who appeared to Mary or the ones who appeared to the shepherds. This was an angel who appeared to an old man, Zechariah. A priest, working in the temple. Praying for a son in his old age.

And when the angel appeared, he said, “Great news! Your prayers are answered.”

Zechariah’s response? Doubt. Unbelief. “How can I be sure?” he wondered.

But the angel was right. And Zechariah’s wife, Elizabeth, was pregnant.

But the story doesn’t stop there! This boy would be named John. And he would not follow in his father’s footsteps. Instead, he would come before the footsteps of Jesus. He would lead the way.

You just have to walk over a couple chapters in Luke to find the story of John the Baptist. And it’s…a bit weird. He wore funny clothes. He ate funny food. And he had a funny way of showing his devotion to God. Instead of asking the people to follow the age-old traditions of temple sacrifices, just like his father, he invited them to be cleansed through a process called baptism.

That’s why he was called “John the Baptist” after all.

Now, his parents knew all of this before he grew up. Even before he was born! And we don’t know how much they shared with him, but I’m sure it was plenty. He had to have known that one day he would reveal to the world that his own cousin Jesus (yes, they were related) was the coming Messiah!

But it took a long time. At least thirty years.

And in that time, what was John doing? He was preparing the way. He was living in the desert. He was practicing the presence of God and learning the ways of a prophet.

Jesus? He was a carpenter. He followed his earthly father’s trade, we don’t know for how long. But he didn’t jump into the Rabbi business, into the teaching profession, into ministry right away.

I wonder how that affected John the Baptist?

Put yourself in his shoes. Your whole life you’re told that you’re special. That you’re on assignment from God. That you were born to your parents in their old age for a specific reason. You would usher in the Kingdom of God! What a great honor!

But not yet. You have to wait. And wait. And wait.

And wait.

For thirty years, you wait for Jesus to do something, anything!

At family gatherings, I bet he kept his eye on cousin Jesus. “He’s standing up. Is this it? Will he tell us that he’s the – no, just going to get more food.”

How many times did he doubt? How often did he wonder? How many prayers of his ended with “How can this be, God?”

But he persevered. He leaned into God. He trusted just in him.

Then one day, while he was baptizing people in the Jordan River, as one named “the Baptist” would obviously do, he looked up and saw his cousin.

He grabs a couple of his disciples. He points in Jesus’ direction. “Look! There he is! The lamb of God. Follow him and listen to what he has to say and obey every one of his words!!!”

After years and years of waiting and wondering, his mission came true. What was it that gave him the hope to hold on?

First, he trusted that God was good. He was good to his parents, after all. Even in their old age God gave them the desires of their heart, a baby boy.

Second, he trusted God’s character. Imagine how many nights he went to bed hearing his father repeated the Torah and his mother praying over him. He couldn’t get away from how good God was.

Finally, he trusted that God would do what is right. Those agonizing years of obscurity. The incredible decision to abandon the priesthood. He trusted that it was all part of God’s good plan for him.

What have you been hoping for so long that you’ve given up? You wonder if it will ever come true. Hold on! God is good, God’s character is great, and his plan for you is just right.

What’s it mean to be together? Are we just talking about being in the same place at the same time? Is that’s all there is to it?

If you’re married, I can imagine you already know the answer to that. Spending quality time together doesn’t mean the two of you are just in the same vicinity, taking up the same space at the same time, breathing the same air.

In marriage, and in family and friendships, with a team or a company, together means more than just being in the same room.

Together means you take time, you stop and notice. You see each other. You share with each other. God is together with us when he came to earth as a human, in Jesus Christ. Jesus showed us what it means to be together when he stopped to take notice of a leper, when he turned to the thief on the cross. At no time was Jesus not ready to be together.

We need togetherness if we want to provide a witness for God to this world. We need to be willing to go past just being in the same place at the same time. It needs to be deeper.

As I was thinking through this week’s message, I wanted to share some ways here at Northbrook that we are together. For all intents and purposes, these are non-negotiable. These are not options. If we really want to do this thing called together, we all need them.

1. We are Together when we Worship

Coming to church is not a social event. It’s a part of an extended life of dedication to Jesus. I don’t need to get into the theology of biblical basis for this. If you’ve been a part of Northbrook long enough you know there is something special and different about being here with all of us on a weekend. That feeling is togetherness.

We sort of expect you to show up if you call Northbrook home. It’s not about guilting you into coming, it’s about celebrating our togetherness.

2. We are Together when we Serve

Serving at Northbrook is a special privilege, or at least it should be viewed that way. It’s a time we stop and notice others beside ourselves. I love it when I hear that a member of our church found someone new at Northbrook, reached out on a weekend service, helped their kids checked in or showed them where to sit. That’s togetherness.

We sort of expect you to get involved in some way in some ministry here if you call Northbrook home. It’s not about guilting you into service, it’s about providing an opportunity for all of us to utilize the gifts God gave us together.

3. We are Together when we Get Involved in the Community

Together doesn’t just happen here in this building each weekend. It happens out there, in the community around us. It happens in your community. When you reach out in an intentional way to help meet the needs of those you live with, that’s togetherness.

We sort of expect you to be active members of your community – whether it’s one of our service projects or when you do it on your own. It’s not about guilting you into volunteering, it’s about showing the world our togetherness.

4. We are Together when we Live Our Daily Lives

It doesn’t take a special event or program to be together. Together starts with our lives together with God. When he rules in your life, your life will be different. We act different, we respond different, we sometimes even look different. That’s togetherness.

We sort of expect you to live lives that are worthy of being a Christ follower if you call Northbrook home. It’s not about guilting you into a moral life, it’s about living a life in response to what God has already done for us. It’s about doing that as a sign of the togetherness that we share each week when we gather.

These are just four ways that togetherness is realized here at Northbrook. And I’m convinced that if we did that consistently, then we would find more togetherness, not less. That people who know us or see us would sense that togetherness. An

The Bible is full of good news.

The Church is all about telling the good news.

The Christian life is living out the good news.

But it sometimes takes some bad news to really understand what that good news is. So I want you to think about something. Put yourself in the shoes of a criminal condemned to die. What would you do? How would you react at that moment of death?

I need to tell you one more thing. This is no ordinary death. This is the worst penalty ever leveled on human beings in history. This death penalty is a crucifixion. You are tied to a beam of wood. Spikes are driven through your wrists, your ankles. You hang and slowly suffocate until you die.

This is what Jesus went through. But he wasn’t alone. Two other men hung on either side of him. Two thieves, the most common translations tell us. They were more than common thieves, though. They were rebels, Roman dissenters, instigators.

They were terrorists.

They deserved to die. That would be justice.

And when one of them curses Jesus, the other says just that.

Luke 23:40-41

⁴⁰ But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? ⁴¹ We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

The thief uses that one word – Justice. It is for justice that he and the other thief are there on a cross that day. It is what they deserve. But Jesus did not deserve it.

Was it injustice? Or was it something else?

We want justice, especially for ourselves. We want things to be fair and square. When it comes to serving a slice of cake or a scoop of ice cream to my kids, justice reigns supreme! Each one will go to great lengths, measuring and weighing, to make sure that the other doesn’t get more than them. They want the scoop or the slice to be equal.

I guess you could call that just dessert?

But the truth is, we don’t really want our just desserts. We don’t want what’s coming to us. We don’t really want what we deserve. We want what we don’t deserve.

We all sit in the place of judgment and justice with those two thieves. We have all done something for which we deserve punishment. Maybe not as severe as a death penalty, sure. But it’s definitely not what we want.

We want mercy when it comes to us. Even when we demand punishment for others.

We deserve punishment. We get mercy.

And that’s the good news. Great news! It takes getting to the bottom of the bad news to really understand the good news. Without getting that in our head, that we don’t get what we deserve – and we deserve the worst – we can’t truly understand mercy.

Mercy is the result of God’s love for us. And it is the cause of our great joy. When we get that full picture of God’s mercy, we must respond with praise, with worship, with gratitude and thankfulness. There is no other response.

So, when you’re living out life in the good times, don’t forget that it’s only because you are one of the many recipients of God’s mercy. The first? Well, on the day of Jesus’ crucifixion, the first recipient of his mercy was a thief. Someone who didn’t deserve life. Someone who deserved death. But someone who got paradise with Jesus.

Do you get what you deserve? If not, it’s part of God’s good news for all of us.