525,600 minutes. 525,000 moments so dear. 525,600 minutes. How do you measure? Measure a year. In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee. In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife. In 525,600 minutes. How do you measure a year in the life? How about love? How about love? How about love? Measure in love. Isn't it interesting how a stage play, a musical, can accurately capture so much that's true about life in this world? As the lyrics to Seasons of Love tell us, there is both laughter and strife, and our lives can pass us by so very quickly with meaninglessness if we are not careful. But Rent, it blends these helpful insights with a troubling outlook on the human condition. For example, these words from the song No Day But Today. The heart may freeze or it can burn. The pain will ease if I can learn. There is no future. There is no past. There's only us. There's only this. No other road. No other way. No day but today. There's only yes. Only tonight. We must let go to know what is right. No other course, no other way. I trust my soul. My only hope is just to be. There's only now. There's only here. No other path, no other way, no day but today. Believe it or not, these songs, they provide the perfect teaser for tonight's sermon. We're gonna recap what we talked about the last time I was here a few months ago, but most of you weren't here when we had that sermon, so that's why we're gonna recap it to provide the context and get you up to speed with what we're doing. And if you wanna get your Bibles ready, we'll be looking at 2 John. verses 12 and 13, but last time he recovered 2 John verses 1 through 11. And we're going to embrace the wonderful theme of community in fellowship that we find here in the last two verses of John's second epistle. It's going to be a special time we spend together and I am so looking forward to it. Not everybody here knows who I am. I'm Troy Skinner. I am the pastor of Household of Faith in Christ, a local house church in Frederick County. And so Household of Faith in Christ brings greetings to here, to Fairview Chapel. And I'm also the host of the Faith Debate radio program that airs on Sunday mornings on 930 WFMD each week at 9 o'clock on Sunday. So maybe you are slightly familiar with that. Who knows? At this point, you know who I am, you know what's outlined for this evening, what the message is gonna be, so let's get ready. Let's warm our hearts, let's stand if you're able, and let's sing out praises to God. Come ye thankful people. It's hymn number 543. In your blue hymnals, it should be at your seats. It's 543, come ye faithful people. ♪ Come ye thankful, ye humble ♪ ♪ Raise the song of harvest home ♪ ♪ All is safely gathered in ♪ ♪ Here the winter storms begin ♪ All the world is God's own field. Rudolph, to his friends and native, lead and tears together show unto joy or sorrow grow. ♪ First the blade and then the ear ♪ ♪ Then the full-born shall appear ♪ ♪ Lord of harvest, bread of wheat ♪ ♪ Wholesome, great, and pure made me ♪ ♪ For the Lord, our God, shall come ♪ ♪ And shall take his harvest home ♪ ♪ From his fields shall in that day ♪ ♪ All the fences verge away ♪ ♪ If his angels charge at last ♪ ♪ If the fire will dare to cast ♪ ♪ Through the cold years to shore ♪ ♪ In this harbor evermore ♪ ♪ Even so, Lord, quickly come ♪ ♪ To the final harvest home ♪ ♪ Gather now thy people in ♪ Freed from sorrow, freed from sin, There forever purified, In thy presence to abide. Come with all thine angels now, Praise the glorious Harvest Moon. Amen. Everyone may be seated. I don't know who has them, but I'm sure someone here has announcements. So we're going to pause to hear that. And I think it might be you, right? It's been you the last few times. OK. Thank you, first of all, very much, Josh, Joy, for coming tonight. I appreciate it. And we have Sarah Dorrance coming next week. And we have Mark Claiborne on the 5th of December. Here we are. Steve Lawson from Calvary United Methodist Church on the 12th. Gary White on the 19th. And again, we'll be blessed by you. And I'm looking forward, by the way, I should have told you, if you want to stick a piece of paper where you just were in your hymnal 543, we're going to basically be in that cluster. We're going to be looking at five singing from 546 and 545 later in the evening. At this point, we're going to have the yes. Oh, absolutely. Okay. And in addition, any trustees, just make sure you check your email. There's going to be a quick trustees meeting on December 5th after this class. And what time next Saturday? Well, let's look for an email about that. Okay. Huge disruptions. I don't have any details, so I'll have to ask you. All right. Any other announcements we need to make note of? Okay, at this point we're gonna take up a collection to support the ministry here at Fairview Chapel. So deacons, trustees, ushers, whoever's responsible for that, if you wanna come forward and get the offering plates. And what we're gonna do this evening, I'm not sure if this is what you might typically do, but we're actually gonna take up the offering with a moment of silence to contemplate God's blessing on our life. And at the conclusion of the offering being taken up, everyone who's able will stand and we'll sing the doxology together. All rise if you can. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above the heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. ♪ Amen ♪ Father, we come before you and humbly offer to you this small token of what you've given us, just a reminder of your many blessings on us. We ask that those who are responsible for stewarding these funds would do so with wisdom and discernment and all to the glory and advancement of your kingdom as they seek guidance from your word and from your Holy Spirit. It is in Christ's name that we pray. Amen. If everyone would remain standing, we're going to sing from our Blue Hymnals again, this time 546. 546, we gather together. We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing. He chastens and blasphemes His will to make known. The wicked, oppressing, helps the ease from distressing. Saying praises to His name, He forgets not. His only. He's silent to guide us, our God with us joining, ordaining, maintaining His people He guides. So proudly we hailed thee, the flag in the air waving, Thou, Lord, most high, all glory be thine. We all do extol thee, I'll be your triumphant. And pray that thou still, my defender, wilt be. Let thy comprehension perceive tribulation. I need thee ever, praise, O Lord. Everyone may be seated. As is my habit when I am involved in helping to lead the worship and bring God's word to a congregation that is as intimate as this, when we do the prayers of the people, I like to encourage that it actually be prayers of the people, by the people, from the people. And so what we're going to do, if you're not familiar, some people might refer to this as a popcorn-style prayer. Maybe you've been in an environment like that. One person starts, and then when they're finished, anyone else who feels led or moved to to pray aloud, in turn, they pray aloud. And if you're just, for whatever reason, not comfortable doing so, you can pray silently, that's fine. Although, if you've never prayed aloud in front of a group before, this is a really safe space filled with a bunch of believers, brothers and sisters in Christ, for the most part, I would imagine. And so this might be a good time for you to think about doing that for the first time, if it is your first time. And at the conclusion of everybody having had a chance, after a period of time, when it feels like everybody who wants to pray a lot has had a chance to, I will close us in prayer. But to get us started, I've asked Teresa if she would open us in prayer. Let us pray. Father God, we come to you with prayer and praise and adoration, and we just thank you for this season of Thanksgiving when we're reminded to be thankful with the Lord. We know that every day we owe you thanks and gratitude. So thank you for the blessings in our lives, especially our families, Lord, because this is a time that we gather together. Thank you, Lord. Rebecca Todd is back with us. Thank you. Yes, Jesus. Thank you, Lord Jesus. I lift up Doris' prayer to you, Lord. She has a lot of pain in her body, Lord. She's in her 80s, had a hard time getting around. Lord, I just ask you to touch her physically and emotionally, Lord. Father, we thank you for your goodness and mercy and for your many blessings. We thank you for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who made and makes this relationship possible. We thank you, Lord Jesus. We thank you, Holy Spirit. And we thank you, Heavenly Father. In Jesus' name, we ask, pray, and give thanks. Amen. Lord, I want to lift up Shannon and her husband, Aaron. They lost a baby this week, and it's their second time around with this happening, so just please comfort them. Dear God, take care of Okie and Don and Non. Judy and Mac are dead, and there are so many people that need your help, my cousin Carolyn, decline, and very ill health. Take care of your body, the church, and this church. Let us go on in your ways and be thankful for everything. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Lord, I just ask you to be with Mary Paige, Lord Jesus. She's transitioning in her home, Lord. She has a lot of mental issues, Lord. I just ask you to make her mind stronger and her emotions stronger. Let her be focused on you. People that know you to her, Lord. In Jesus' name, I just ask you to open her heart and her mind to you. I also ask you to be with Mike Ward for cancer and Bruce Butler for cancer. Lord Jesus, be with them. Heal them, Lord. Your will, that they will be healed from this awful disease. Thank you, Jesus. Lord, I lift up the family of Vern Sundell, who passed away this week. Lord, I lift up Susan Martin and her family. I ask her and all of her peers to come home to you. Lord, I just ask you, as this Thanksgiving is coming, May our Lord, that people would think of you, Lord, that that's what they're grateful for. I just ask to have your Holy Spirit touch people at this time, on that day. Not let it be a commercial thing, but thanksgiving for all that you've done for us. Jesus. Father, you are a good God. Perfectly holy, holy, holy. In control of all things, even when we begin to doubt how true that is, as angst from the world swirls around us, but we know that you are in control, and we lift up these petitions on behalf of those who are struggling with illness. We know that you are the great physician, and that if it be according to your plan, you certainly can and will bring healing. And for those families who are mourning loss, we know that for those who are followers of your son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we are praying this evening, that those families need not mourn as those who have no hope, because we know that you being the great physician in an ultimate sense means you have defeated even death, and we share in that victory, and we will live forevermore. Even now, through the power of your Holy Spirit, we have a taste of what that eternity will be like. for all time to come. We ask your blessing upon our nation, upon all the leaders around the world. We ask that you would give wisdom and excellent discernment to state and local officials, in addition to the national and international leaders, that those who do not know who you are or would appear to reject who you are would be convicted, that you would bring them to salvation. and that we would experience the bounty that comes from such an awakening by those who are in power and authority. We ask your blessing on this gathering this evening, that you would clear our mind from cluttering thoughts, that we would focus on the truth of your word, that we would receive it as intended. Your word is meant to convict the heart of sin and to encourage your people unto obedience. knowing that all of our confidence rests not in ourselves and what we can do, all of our confidence rests in what Jesus Christ has done. Thank you, Lord. Amen. Absolutely. He's hoping to be home by the end of this month, if not by next year. So he's heading in the right direction. Also, a couple of weeks ago, when I first couldn't be here, I had access to where I had had some liver work done a few years before. Was up all night, was in some pretty bad pain, contemplating going to the emergency room, but I refused to do that. Finally, after a night of nastiness, I lifted the whole thing up to God. Within five minutes, I was asleep. When I woke up, the abscess was no longer swollen. There was no sign of problem beforehand. It was a task week. I did go down and see the surgeon who had done the work originally at the urging of my doctor and nurses of dialysis. He pushed and prodded as hard as he could. He said, whatever you're doing, keep doing it. I told him exactly what I'm telling you now. God is always on the job. The God of 4,000 years ago is the same God of 2,000 years ago is the same God as today. He is a God who moves and responds to prayer, and we praise him for these reminders. Thank you for sharing. All right, I mentioned our message is gonna be from 2 John, so if you don't already have your Bibles open, this would be a good time to turn there. Not to be confused with the Gospel of John, or 1st or 3rd John, this is the 2nd Epistle of John, so very close to the end of your Bible. An old man turned 98. He won the lottery, and he died the next day. Isn't it ironic, don't you think? It's like rain on your wedding day. It's a free ride when you've already paid. It's the good advice that you just didn't take. Who would have thought? It figures. Well, life has a funny way of sneaking up on you when you think everything's okay, everything's going right. A traffic jam when you're already late. a no smoking sign on your cigarette break. It's like 10,000 spoons and all you need is a knife. It's meeting the man of your dreams and then meeting his beautiful wife. Isn't it ironic, don't you think? A little too ironic. Yeah, I really do think. Alanis Morissette, without realizing it, sang a song that blasted from many radios about a quarter century ago. And it really captures a huge theme in today's sermon. Now, last time I preached here at Beardview Chapel, we were talking about the second epistle of John, and we covered the first 11 verses. This week we're going to read the entire letter all the way through, and as you can see, it won't take long. It is the book of the Bible with the fewest number of verses, just 13. So picking up with verse one all the way through to the end. And to her children, whom I love in the truth. And not only I only, but also all who know the truth. Because of the truth which lives in us and will be with us forever. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father's Son, will be with us in truth and love. It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command, but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you've heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. I say this because many deceivers who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming into flesh have gone out into the world. Any such person is a deceiver and the antichrist. Watch out. that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God. Whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work. I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face so that our joy may be complete. The children of your sister who was chosen by God send their greetings. This is the inspired, inerrant, infallible word of God, and as such, it is a fully sufficient rule and guide for faith and life practice. Those who are near to hear, let them hear. Today we're most interested in the final two verses of 2 John, since we covered the first 11 verses the last time that I was here with you. And these final two verses, they scream to us community, authentic community, tactile, physical presence with each other, face to face, complete joy. Living as family, as the family of God. Greeting one another with love. Walking in the truth of who we are in Christ. Community. Balancing and blending truth and love. These are the primary concerns for the Apostle John. They can tell by just how frequently he uses the words truth Love. Here's a Bible study tip for you as you're reading the Bible, any passage of scripture, try to make note of repetitive words, repetitive phrases. It can help you to key in on what they might be, the author might be trying to say to you. Just keep in mind, there was no internet 2,000 years ago. There wasn't even a printing press 2,000 years ago. And so efficiency in writing, it was kind of important. It's sort of like when you're sending out a tweet, you know, a similar concept anyway. On Twitter, you have to conserve your words, even conserve your letters, so that you can squeeze in what you want to say in as few characters as possible. And it's kind of like this with the ancient writers. They have somewhat similar concerns. And so John, he would not say the same thing over and over unless it really mattered that he say the same thing over and over. So what is John especially concerned to tell us? What's the theme of utmost importance to him in this letter? Truth and love. And we know this because in a letter with just 13 verses, he uses the word truth five times and the word love five times. And then he contrasts these with liars who seek to steal our joy, robbing us of love by robbing us of truth. These are the themes that bring us up to the final two verses of this letter. To help make better sense of these final two verses, let's review and recap some of the things from our last time together. This will help to set the context. So this book of the Bible is a letter, sometimes also called an epistle. Its author is the elder. And whomever is this elder, he is well known to the original readers and his authority is not in dispute. Imagine you send some mail, a letter, and you sign it elder, or maybe a better example for us in our contemporary setting, you sign it honey. Now think of the person who's opening that letter, slicing open that envelope, they pop it open, they read the letter, they see the signature. What sort of relationship must you have with that person, the reader, if you signed it honey? Would you send that letter if you thought for even a second, gee, I wonder if they'll know who honey is? Might they have another honey? If there was any chance of this at all, well, you would sign your letter differently, right? So the writer here, he knows that his readers know him well. They know him super well, really well. It's a deep, abiding kind of knowing. It is a trusted, loving kind of knowing. It's a respected and valued kind of knowing. He can call himself the elder and be confident that They know who he is. Now, we don't have all of these same advantages because we weren't walking the planet 2000 years ago, but the church tradition has long held, has always held that this elder is the Apostle John. And personally, I'm completely convinced this is exactly who it is. John, a man, to maintain the truth of the gospel. Jesus really existed. Jesus really lived, died, rose again, ascended. Jesus really embodies truth and love and life. Jesus really is God. This is what the church believes. This is what the church knows. And John consistently in all five of his New Testament writings is careful to remind us of what we already know. He's careful to help us not forget. We must not forget that we as Christians are God's children. We are to live our lives in this truth. We are to walk out this truth in love. We are to live and to love as a family, in community. We must recognize this grace, mercy, and peace that comes from God. from God the Father and from God the Son, because of God the Holy Spirit, we know this truth, the Holy Spirit, he lives in us, he's with us forever. We must remember, we must, lest we forget, and become like the lost, wandering after lost hope. lest we forget and are unable to guide other misguided beggars to where the food is. Lest we forget and end up living lives like those lived by the characters in the Broadway musical Rent. Not too many years ago, the 20th anniversary edition of the show Rent brought its tour through our area and friends of mine had a couple of extra tickets and they invited my wife and I to attend the show with them. They wouldn't let us pay for the tickets. They wouldn't even let us pay for parking. It was completely, totally their treat seeing Rent. And what a treat it was. I mean, fascinating story. as it turns out, provides the perfect foil for the telling of the gospel. And I suppose that this is probably the result of a happy accident, because I doubt that the writer of the play imagined that a preacher would one day see the play for the first time and would turn what he saw into a sermon illustration. But I could be wrong. After all, there are self-conscious religious references throughout the story. The setting is in New York City, and it begins at Christmastime. And after spending its time during the holidays, the musical, it skips ahead quickly through a calendar year before it comes full circle and wraps up at Christmastime. This can't be a complete accident, can it? There is a Christ message in this play. To put a finer point on it, there is an anti-Christ message in this play. And as a result, we get our foil for the telling of the gospel. In 2 John, we are warned, we are put on guard against deceivers who deny Christ. These liars. are a foil for the truth in John's letter. If we aren't careful in being defenders of the truth, if we fail to beware, if we buy the lie, what do we get? We get the world of rent. Now I'm no theater critic. I knew nothing at all about Rent before I saw it this first and only time in my life, and so I might be missing some important things, but here's what I saw. When I was sitting in a $100 seat about midway up the rows, the primary character in Rent is a struggling artist, a documentary filmmaker, and he is seeking to find his identity in his career. If only he can tell someone's story with celluloid, then life will have meaning. Another main character is a struggling artist of a different sort. He's a singer-songwriter yearning to write just one last glorious song. And then he'll fulfill his identity. Then he can die a happy man. Another major character finds escape in erotic dance and in drugs, heavy duty drugs. She's an addict. I suppose this is her identity. And she would gladly trade it for a relationship though. I mean, if only she could find love, honest love from someone who will help her to become the best version of herself. One of these faulty relationships she involves herself with, in which she places her identity, is with the singer-songwriter whom I've mentioned. And another such relationship for her is with a former boyfriend who seeks escape through his newfound wealth. His new identity as a rich guy isn't all that he imagined, and so he finds himself once again wanting the drug addict girlfriend to be back in his life, but she keeps rejecting him over and over again. Another character in Rent looks to control his life and to control the lives of others by peddling drugs. The hero of the story seeks his identity in a gender he was not born possessing. His lover seeks identity in same-sex relations and seeks meaning and purpose in philosophy. Yet another character lashes out against convention with bisexuality and wild performance art. Her identity is sadly wrapped up in that of a person who conforms to nonconformity. Throw in a lesbian lawyer and themes of homelessness and suicide and a money-grubbing minister and some police brutality for good measure and you have one very complicated plot. Seriously complicated. At intermission, people could be overheard talking to total strangers asking, do you know what's going on? So many characters, so many subplots, so much subtext, and interwoven themes. I mean, there's so much irony that was lost nearly on all of us who were in attendance because we couldn't keep track. Well, there's some irony for you right there. Rent tries to say so much, that for many of us in attendance, it ended up saying nothing at all. But I did pick up at least some instructive points of irony, although maybe not exactly the sort of irony that the playwright intended. For example, there are protests against perceived injustice that lead to riots, which of course has no regard at all for justice. One of the secondary characters is an anarchist opposed to law enforcement who ironically gets mugged and is in need of help from law enforcement. There's a recurring meeting throughout the show of people who are dying from HIV infection and ironically they call their group life support. The stars of rent, they live in a dilapidated, cold building with their electricity turned off, an apartment that no one would desire to call home. And yet they ironically need to break in to live in an unlivable situation, a totally abandoned building. Now why? Why do they have to break in to such a horrible place? Ironically, they're padlocked out of the building by the owner because the owner wants to protect this dilapidated building from them, even though he is going to demolish it anyway. Now you might be thinking at this point, holy schmoly, we must be running out of track by this point on the ironic railway train, right? But no, you'd be wrong. The irony train, it just keeps on moving down the track in increasingly sad ways. that illustrate where life takes us when we jump the tracks, it's carrying the truth train. The characters in Rent, they do seek relationship. And externally, they appear to have community. And this is good, but, ironically, their relationship, their community has no foundation. The songwriting and dancing lovers in Rent that I mentioned, they break up. Some of the characters, they leave New York City, their home, the place that's home to pretty much everyone they supposedly care about, they leave for Santa Fe. People have lost their way looking for Santa Fe, which ironically is Spanish for holy faith. Growing weary of chasing dreams, they change dreams or abandon dreams. Growing weary of chasing true love, the characters in Rent, they get caught up in various sexual relationships, On again, off again. Adultery is a significant minor theme. We all know this is true, not only for the fictional lives that we see in the theater. It's unfortunately true for real lives outside the theater. What I saw in Rent, I have seen in the real world. You have two, I'm sure. The one guy, the one guy in Rent who actually has an actual career path quits his job. Many of us, we know people like this fictional filmmaker, don't we? Numerous times throughout the musical, the character's parents, they leave these plaintive voicemail messages for their adult children, and the messages are simply ignored, much to the delight of the audience, by the way. Well, many of us, we know families like this fictional fodder for laughter from the crowd, don't we? Poverty is strangely celebrated in rent, and yet, ironically, the need for cash is met by stealing from an ATM machine. We all, many of us anyway, know individuals like this too. People who will wear poverty like a badge, but they will gladly take from those who have more out of selfishness. If you ever see Rent, you'll note that they sing exuberantly toward the end that there's no day but today. And yet everyone in the show is haunted by questions of eternity. If you see Rent, or rather, if you have seen Rent, I guess, I already talked to you briefly about having not seen it, some of you might have seen it, and so if you have, you might remember that towards the end of the show, or maybe it's the climax of the show, there's one character who has a near-death experience, and he sees a white light, an angelic vision, It's an angelic vision of a friend who had died earlier in the telling of the story. And this dead friend actually is the cross-dressing hero of the story. Ironically, his name is Angel. But the point is it's this near-death vision kind of thing. That's the point I'm hoping you'll note here. And so it's in theory only that there's no day but today. Rent can't escape the yearning for happily ever after. The eternal glory we were created to enjoy. But there is no happily ever after without Christ. This is why God has given us this sober warning in 2 John, picking up with verse seven. I say this because many deceivers who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God. Whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work. If you are God's elect, then you cannot lose your salvation. Now, I understand there are some, perhaps even in this room, who will argue that point, will argue otherwise, but I am firmly confirmed from the pages of Scripture that saints persevere to the end, and true believers in, followers of Jesus are saints. However, there are rewards for us. And it seems from what we just read that this reward can be lost. It's according to verse eight. Now I'm not sure that these lost rewards are all heavenly in nature. When we allow the snakes into our midst, As teachers of an anti-gospel, or a non-gospel, or what the Apostle Paul would call another gospel, it disrupts our community of faith. This strong, healthy community is a reward to us. In union with Christ, and by extension in union with one another, by Christ's spirit, we experience great rewards now. This authentic, rooted in truth and love relationship of brothers and sisters, that's what we're after. I would argue that it's one of the rewards. that's alluded to here in John's letter, and it's what John is after. Look at verse 12. Verse 12 says, I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face so that our joy may be complete. Your writing letters is nice. I wish we still did this more than we do, you know? Pen and paper, paper and ink rather than keyboards and touchscreens, wouldn't that be nice? But even paper and ink are a poor substitute for face-to-face connection. John, he wants us to have joy that is complete. God wants this for us. and he's shown us the way. It's the way of truth and life. It is the way, the truth, and the life, as said by Jesus, which is recorded for us, by the way, in John's gospel account in chapter 14, verse six. It's achieved by obedience and perfect love. Now, our obedience and our love, well, it certainly falls short of perfection, but Christ's does not. His obedience and love are perfect and we rest upon what he has done and is doing. And as a result, we have a universal church that is filled with our Christian brethren, sister churches all across the planet filled with God's children, others who are also chosen by God. and with them we have grace, mercy, and peace. We have it with our fellow believers because of our fellowship in Christ. Through Jesus we have grace, mercy, and peace with God. And so we also have it with one another. The final verse of today's passage says, the children of your sister, who is chosen by God, send their greetings. This communing fellowship that I'm focusing on here tonight, the letter brings us to, this is the reality in answer to the failed fable of rent. I mean, I've spent a significant portion of our time this evening on rent. And I have done so because in it we see the world. Lost and confused, alone and sick, desperate and deceived. And when we're not careful to remember God's word, we end up the same way that the characters do in the Broadway musical. Wrapped up in our career, like the filmmaker. Wrapped up in bold new experiences like the lesbian. Raging against the system like the rioters. Raging against former loved ones like the boyfriend and girlfriend. Ignoring our family members like the renters who ignore their parents' phone calls. ignoring the consequences of our choices, like those in the play ignore the reasons that they are ill. Wishing for fame like the songwriter, wishing for escape like the philosopher. Angry at religion, wealth, societal norms, like many of the supporting characters. angry at God, like the writer of Rent seems to have possibly been. Rent, through the performance of his actors, it does call to community. But it is a community without a foundation. Everyone in this community is mostly aimless and ill, not understanding the reality of love or death. Neither one. They're chasing happiness and missing joy. Yearning for identity, but afraid to discover who they really are. Rent. It kind of has a happy ending in its own sort of warped way. But I left the theater and I was imagining the ongoing lives of these pretend people. If there were another act to be performed, you'd just know that it would be filled with more disappointment and depression and death. Intoxication, infection, and infatuation, they still infested their circumstances. As an audience, we are made to push these things from our mind for a few minutes of singing and smiling and standing ovations. But if these actors on the stage are anything like the characters they portray, well then once that curtain dropped, they could pretend no more. Just as with the stage play. God, through the pen of John, calls us to community. But the church community. has a foundation. Jesus Christ brings purpose and life. He is love. He has conquered death. And so we rest in his joy that is made complete by fellowship. A group of believers who know who we are and who are we are co-heirs with Christ. No fear of what awaits when our curtain comes down. Because we know then that we join our loving Lord. And there is another curtain that is described in the Bible. We find it in the pages of the Old Testament and actually in the Gospels as well, the temple curtain. It represents separation from God. And it was torn in two when Jesus Christ died on the cross. With that work of Christ finished, we now eagerly await the full restoration of everything. It'll be completed the second coming, as we enter into the season where we recognize and celebrate his first. And at his second coming, oh, what a musical you'll break out then. Let us begin to enjoy it with one another, even now. Let's pray. Father, we praise you for your eternal plan of salvation for those whom you call to yourself. We ask that you would help equip us to live a life like you command us and to love like you love, that we would demonstrate the reality of Christ in us, that we would always sing your praises, that we would not shy away from being bold and declaring the truth of the gospel to a world who needs to hear the truth. Help us to better understand these letters that you've given us in the New Testament. so they can internalize their truths, apply them to our lives, and that we may experience the reality of what you've given us, your grace, mercy, and peace. We lift all these things up to you in the name of our Lord, our King, our Savior, your Son, Jesus Christ. If everyone was able, let's stand. We're going to sing our final hymn of the evening. Hymn 545. 545, count your blessings. And of all my tributes to our ancestors, Many are discouraging me, all is lost. Count to many blessings, name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord has done. Count to blessings, name them one by one, Come to blessings, see what God has done. Come to blessings, freedom from my God. How to many blessings see what God has done? Are you ever burdened with the load of care? Does the cross seem heavy? You are called to bear. Count your many blessings, every dowel will fly, and you will be singing as the days go by. Count your blessings, think them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God has done. Count your blessings, And we look at others with new glance and goal. Think that there's as promise to this world, but no. Count your many blessings, money and the pie, Your reward in heaven, or your hope on high. Count your blessings, make them one by one, Count your blessings, see what God has done. Count your blessings, leave them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God has done. So may the conflict, whether great or small, do not be discouraged, God is over all. Count your many blessings, angels will attend. Heaven and earth forgive you to your journey's end. Count your blessings, make them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God has done. Count your blessings, make them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God has done.