Craig Smith - Level Up By Settling Down
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I want to talk to you today about leveling up, and I’m curious how many of us are familiar with that phrase, «leveling up.» Not all that many? Okay, now I’m really curious. How many of you know about leveling up because you play video games? All right, yeah. If you don’t know what leveling up is, it’s a common term in video games where basically the character you’re playing goes to the next level. He gets stronger and better able to take hold of opportunities he wouldn’t have had otherwise. Uh, I do play video games. My favorite kind of video games are open world video games. Any open world video game fans? Yeah, I love open world video games. They’re different. There are story-based ones where you have to follow the story and accomplish each task. I don’t like those. I don’t need some programmer telling me how to live my digital life. I don’t need that. In open world games, you can go anywhere and kind of do anything.
What’s interesting, though, is that sometimes in an open world game, because you can go anywhere and do anything, you go into places and think, «I know there’s an opportunity here. I know there’s something good, like in that castle.» I’ve been playing this game called Enshrouded, and before anybody goes, «Okay, the pastor recommended it,» I did not recommend it; I just told you I’m playing it, okay? Right? And you can kind of go anywhere. The other day, I was like, «Okay, I know there’s something in this castle that I need. There’s a huge opportunity, but my character wasn’t a high enough level, so I couldn’t beat the boss that was keeping me out of the opportunity.» He was a tough boss, and I couldn’t beat him, or maybe I’m just not good enough- that’s entirely possible too. But I thought to myself, «Okay, I’m not a high enough level.»
So I left, went, and did a bunch of other things. Eventually, I leveled up, and my character got better. He got stronger, and then I remembered, «Oh, there was that castle,» and I went back. I was like, «Okay, I know this guy. It’s really hard to beat this foe.»
So I went in, and I was like, «Okay, I' ll do my best.» I hit him with my sword, and with one hit, he was dead. I was like, «Why was I so worried?» Oh right, since the last time I was here, I leveled up. I got better, stronger, and more able to seize opportunities that I wouldn’t have otherwise had.
Wouldn’t it be great if that were true in life? Wouldn’t it be great if you could level up in life? You can. In fact, not only are there moments when God says, «Okay, I want to take you to the next level,» but there are moments when God says, «This is my will for you. This is my requirement for you. It’s time to level up.»
And so, that’s what I want to say to you today. That’s what God wants to say to you today. It’s time to level up. It’s time to go to that next level. Let me show you specifically what I mean. If you want to follow along, we’re in First Thessalonians chapter 4, starting in verse 9. What Paul is doing is he’s going to talk to the Thessalonians, and he’s going to say, «You’re not doing anything wrong. This isn’t something you’ve done that’s bad, but you can do better. In fact, it’s time now to level up.»
I believe it’s what God wants to say to all of us on some level. He says, «Now about your love for one another, we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. And yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more.»
Now, not everybody knew what leveling up was, but I’m curious how many Bible geeks we have. How many of us know that in Greek there’s more than one word for love? Okay, I thought that might hit a few more people. Yeah, so in Greek there’s not just one word for love. In English, we just have one word for love, which is kind of weird, honestly, if you think about it, because we use the same word for radically different levels of love. Like, I can totally legitimately say in English, I love my wife and I love tacos. Like, those are not the same thing, right? Can we just agree those are not on the same level? But we just have the one English word, right?
You can say, I love my kids and I really love those extra fries the guys at Five Guys throw into the bag when you’re like, I love those, and I love my kids. Yeah, but they’re not the same level, right? We can say, you know, I love my neighbors; God said I’m supposed to love my neighbors. I love my neighbor, I really love my neighbors, and I love my noise-canceling headphones, which drown out my neighbors so I don’t even have to talk to them, right? Actually, on Friday, I was working in my shop, and I had my noise-canceling headphones on. One of my neighbors came into the shop, and he didn’t want to scare me, so he stood at the door for a while, and I didn’t notice him.
So he got a little closer, and I still didn’t notice him or hear him because of my noise-canceling headphones, which I love. Then he got a little bit closer, and finally, I turned around; he was right there. So I screamed at him, and the poor guy was like, «Ah!» And I was like, «I almost killed my neighbor.» He’s kind of elderly, and I gave him a bit of a shock, and I was like, «That’s not loving my neighbor.» But I love my headphones so much! This isn’t really part of the message, but it’s like a bonus principle. Okay, here’s like a bonus principle for you today: sometimes we get so kind of wrapped up in the lower-level loves.
There’s nothing wrong with them; they’re not bad things. But sometimes, we get so wrapped up in the lower-level loves that we don’t level up to the higher-level loves, right? We love, you know-like, this is meddling, I know-but we love golf so much that we’re not leveling up in terms of our love for either. I love skiing, but maybe I’m not leveling up in some other area, right? There’s something we love. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s a lower-level love. We’re so consumed with that lower-level love that we don’t really have it in us to level up to the next level. You understand what I’m saying? I don’t know who that’s for, but maybe there’s somebody that God’s speaking to right now just to say, «Hey, listen. You’re so consumed with this lower level; it’s keeping you from leveling up.»
Okay, in English, that’s kind of a weird thing to talk about, but we have to because we just have the one word. But in Greek, there are actually different words to let you know exactly what level of love we’re talking about. Okay? And then there’s four main ones in Greek. By the way, I don’t do this all the time. Often, some of you are like, «Oh, I can’t. I’m so glad we’re getting this sermon finally.» I don’t do it a lot because every preacher who comes out of seminary thinks this is the sermon I’m going to tell you about the four loves because I learned it in Greek class, and I hated Greek class, but at least I got this out of it. So I’m going to be able to give you a message on this. I feel like it’s over, but in this case, it’s actually really important.
Okay, you got four different Greek words, and they’re kind of about levels of love. And so, the lowest level is what we call storge love. Storge love is just natural; it just happens automatically. There’s no real will involved; it just happens. Like loving tacos- that is storge love. Like, who doesn’t love tacos, right? If you’re human, you’re going to love tacos. It just happens, right? Like, if somebody says to me, «You know, I love beef brisket,» I’m like, «Well, yeah! Who doesn’t love a properly cooked beef brisket?» Besides my body; my body does not love it, but that’s because my body is stupid. Okay? Afterwards, it’s like, «We should not have loved that as much as we did,» and I’m like, «Yes, but I will love it forever.» Okay, that’s storge love. There’s not really any effort involved. It’s very natural; nothing wrong with it. It’s just that it doesn’t really require any effort.
The next level of love is eros love. Okay? Eros is what we would call romantic love. Okay? And it also tends to happen naturally because we’re attracted to somebody, and that leads us into eros love. So, I can say I love my wife, and you might go, «Well, yeah! Have you met her?» Yeah, I mean, my wife’s amazing. She’s beautiful; she’s an incredible leader; she’s caring; she’s kind. It just happens automatically. But there’s a level of effort involved because, you know, my wife-it’s natural to love her, but then I have to live with her. And by the way, it’s much harder to live with me than it is with her, but she’s not here right now, so we' ll tell it this way. Okay?
I don’t have to live with tacos, but I have to live with my wife, and she’s amazing. She’s beautiful, and she’s a brilliant leader. I mean, I don’t know if you guys know this, but I’m just bragging about my wife for a second. Like, she is serving-she and her team are serving over 1,200 pastors' wives in 20 countries. That’s amazing! She’s built this incredible… yeah, absolutely, applaud for my wife! There’s just a lot to love, but she’s not great with technology. I do a lot of tech support for my wife; she’s just not good with technology.
And the thing is, it’s not even her fault. I found out the other day why she isn' t great with technology. It blew my mind. We’ve been, you know, we' ve been working on, like, 33 years right now, and I’m still finding out new things about her. That’s how you know you’ve got a good marriage-if you’re still finding out new things about your spouse 33 years in. She drops this bomb in the middle of a conversation. She basically says, «Yeah, when I was a kid, like for two years, my parents took me every month to this old woman who taught me how to spin yarn.»
And then she wanted to move on in the conversation. And I’m like, «No, no, no, no, no. Back up! You spent two years learning how to spin yarn?» And, like, light bulbs! I was like, «Well, that’s why you’re not good with technology.» Same age; from 10 to 12, she learned. From 10 to 12, my parents sent me every week to computer programming classes. Your parents sent you to spin yarn? No wonder you’re not great with technology! Right? But there’s a little effort involved. You understand what I’m saying? Like, there’s a lot to love, but there’s some effort involved. That’s why it’s a next-level love, right?
And then there’s philia, which is kind of friendship love. And sometimes we combine philia with adelphos, which is the Greek word for «of the same womb» or «brother,» the way we normally translate it. So, we shove them together: philia adelphos, which is Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love-maybe you’ve heard that. It’s those two words put together. But it’s a friendship love, and it’s a next-level love, but it’s still good for us, right? I mean, loving our friends might take a little bit more effort, but there’s still some reciprocity to it, right? You know, like, «I love you; you kind of love me back. We take care of each other; we have each other’s backs.» It’s a next-level love, but there’s still this thing that, you know, it’s really good for me.
And then there’s another level of love. And some of you, if you spend enough time in church, you already know this next level of love. It’s called what? Go ahead and say it out loud: Agape. It’s an other-serving, self-sacrificing love. It’s a love that says, «I love you whether you love me back or not.» It says, «I serve you whether you serve me back or not.» It says that I give to you regardless of whether or not I have any reason to expect anything in return. That’s next-level love.
The reason I’m sharing this with you is that if you don’t know about these different levels of love, it might be possible to read what Paul says here and just think, «Oh, he’s saying you’re killing it when it comes to loving others.» I mean, he says, «Now about your love for one another, we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.» You do love each other. And in fact, it kind of sounds like he’s just saying, «You’re nailing it; you’re killing it on this loving others thing.»
But actually, because we only have one word in English for love, there’s a deeper reality here. The deeper reality is that Paul’s saying you’re not doing bad, but you could do better. He says, «Actually, I want to take you to the next level,» because he’s using two different Greek words for love here. He says, «Now about your love.» That’s the philia word; it’s the friendship love. He says, «Now about your friendship love for each other.» That’s a high-level love.
But he says, «We don’t need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love.» And that word is the next-level love -it’s agape love. He says, «You’re loving at this friendship level. That’s a high level, but you’ve been taught by God to have this self-sacrificing, other-serving love.» In fact, he drops back down, and he says, «You do love philia; you do have this friendship love for all of God’s family throughout Macedonia.» That was the region of the Roman Empire they lived in.
So he says, «Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more.» What he’s basically saying is, «Look, you’re not doing bad, but you could do better. You’re loving at a pretty high level, but it’s time to take your love to the next level. You’re loving here, and that’s great, but I actually want you to go here. I want you to go from this friendship to this self-sacrificing, other-serving love.»
He says, «It’s time to take your love to the next level. You’re doing good, but God’s calling you to step it up.» He says, «This is the kind of love that you were taught by God about,» which is an interesting phrase, right? He says, «You yourselves have been taught by God.» He says, «I don’t even need to write about this because God has taught you Himself.»
How has God taught them? The answer is this: This is the essence of the gospel message. He says, «God has taught this because this is exactly the kind of love that God has demonstrated.» It’s the heart of this thing we call the good news, right? The good news is rooted in this next-level agape love, right? It’s John 3:16–"For God so loved the world,» and that’s agape, by the way-"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life.»
He says, «God didn’t wait until you showed that you were worthy. You weren’t worthy; you were sinful. We’re all fallen away; we’re all running from God. He didn’t wait until you cleaned yourself up as best as you could and then said, 'Okay, now that you’ve proven that you’re serious, I guess I’ll do what I have to do to get you to the next step.' No, no. While we were still sinners-actually, what the Bible says is while we were yet sinners-Jesus died for us. Why? Because He loves us. And it’s agape love. He said, 'I love you so much, I’m going to send my own Son who’s going to pay the price for every wrong you’ve ever done, and if you will just follow Him, you will be forgiven. You will be adopted into the family of God. You will be saved.'»
Paul says I didn’t need to write to you about that next level of love because that’s what God taught you by sending Jesus. Right? God’s taught you Himself what next level love looks like. And the Apostle John goes on to write later, this is what God demonstrates. He says, «We love,» and that’s agape love, by the way. He says, «We love because He first loved us.» It’s what God demonstrates. That’s how they were taught this level of love. It’s what God demonstrates.
Let me say this too; it’s also what He delights in. We talked last week about the difference between appeasing God and pleasing God. And appeasing God is all about trying to make God frown as little as possible. Make sure you follow the rules and don’t break the regulations so that you know you don’t make God sad, right? But pleasing God, which is what Paul writes, he says, «I’m here.» Christianity is about pleasing God. It’s about living a life that’s not about trying to make God frown as little as possible. It’s actually a life of making God smile as much as possible. It’s about a life that’s lived in alignment with Him, that walks in sync with Him, whose heart is synced up, beating with His, and our eyes are focused on the same things, and we’re about what He’s about. And when that happens, God smiles. He delights. He rejoices over us.
Can I just tell you, this is one of the ways that we bring delight to our God when we take our love to that next level. And we don’t love others because, well, it’s going to come back and benefit me, but we love others because this is what God demonstrated, and this is what God delights in. And if that’s not enough-and I think it should be enough, shouldn’t it? Like, isn’t the fact that God demonstrates this love for us and that He delights in us, shouldn’t that be enough for us to say, «Okay, I want to take my love to the next level»? It probably should be. But in case it’s not, I should probably also tell you this: It’s also what He demands. Okay? It’s what He demands.
Jesus was talking to His disciples. He said, «A new command I give you.» Pay attention to that word, command. He didn’t say, «A new suggestion I have for you.» He didn’t say, «I have had this really novel idea; I think maybe we should try.» No, no, no. He said, «This is a command. It’s not an option. Get it done. Take your love to the next level.» He said, «A new command I give you: Love one another.» And that’s that agape love. That’s the Greek word there. «As I have loved you, as I have given agape, self-sacrificing, other-serving love to you, you must love one another.» So understand, God demonstrates, He delights in, and He demands this next level love. Okay, but how do we do that?
Here’s what Paul says-so important. He says, «I’m going to tell you how to do it, or at least how to make it easier, at least how to get started on leveling up your love.» He says, «And to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, you should mind your own business.» I really like that. «You should mind your own business and work with your hands just as we told you.» And understand this is not another set of things. He’s not like, «Level up your love, and do this and this.» No, no. He says, «I want you to level up your love, and now I’m going to tell you what’s required for that to happen.»
And basically what he says is, look, if you’re going to love up here, you have to live down here. There’s a foundation your feet have to be on. Okay? There’s something that has to be in place here. You’ve got to be settled in on this. If you’re going to love up here, you’ve got to be settled in down here. Okay, there’s a foundation that you have to stand on. And the foundation, he says, is that you would live a quiet life. What does that mean? I’ve heard people use it in different ways, and I think they’re usually mistaken.
I’ve heard people say, «Well, yeah, this is why we shouldn’t be, you know, putting the gospel right in front of everybody and constantly sharing our faith and making people uncomfortable with the fact that we follow.» Because he says, you know, we should have a quiet faith. No, that’s not what he’s talking about at all. The Bible’s actually very clear: we should be sharing our faith; we should be sharing the good news of Jesus with the people that God has put in our sphere of influence. He doesn’t say to be quiet about the good news; that’s not what he’s talking about.
Some people say, «Well, yeah, this is why we shouldn’t ever call out sin,» because Paul says we should live a quiet life. So we shouldn’t be going around judging other people. And by the way, it’s interesting. The Bible does say, Paul says, like, who it’s not on us to judge the world, but he says, «Shouldn’t we judge those in the church?» Not in a sense of condemnation, but shouldn’t we care about each other enough to go, «Hey, you’re living out of alignment with God’s will; you’re living in sin, and I need to tell you the truth because I care enough about you to want to get you back on the path, get you back into alignment with God’s will?»
We’re not supposed to be quiet about those things; the Bible says, «No, we’re supposed to confront sin especially in the body.» Okay, so what does it mean to live a quiet life? It’s such an interesting word, and it’s actually that the Greek word that’s being translated as quiet is used in a number of different ways in the Bible. Sometimes it’s used to talk about falling silent, not being silent, but falling silent. It’s used to talk about somebody who was being loud and now has gotten quiet; they’ve fallen silent. It’s kind of an interesting usage of the term.
There was a point in Jesus' ministry when he was healing people, which is great, but he was healing people on the Sabbath, and they were supposed to rest on the Sabbath. So people were kind of upset, and some religious leaders were all worked up, so they were trying to shout Jesus down. Jesus basically asked them a question, and the essence of the question was, «Well, you’re experts in the religious law, the scriptures. Do the scriptures say that it’s unlawful to do good on the Sabbath?» And they were like, «Well, if we say yes, then, you know, the people are going to get mad at us. If we say no, then we’re going to be hypocrites, and so I don’t know what to say.»
And so it says they fell silent. It’s the same Greek word. So they were all worked up, but then they fell silent. Does that make sense? It can also be used to talk about contentment; specifically, it’s sometimes used to talk about the expression on our face when we’re hungry for something that hasn’t been supplied to us yet, and we’re clearly, like, laser -focused, «I got to go get that,» right? And you can even see it on our faces. The word is used sometimes to talk about that: a face growing still when it loses that striving after what hasn’t been supplied. It’s actually used in the book of Genesis. You remember Cain and Abel? It’s a word that was used.
See, Cain was all worked up because God had blessed his brother Abel’s flocks, and they had gotten bigger. But God hadn’t blessed his fields; they hadn’t become more productive. And so he was jealous, and he was frustrated. And God had a conversation with him. God basically said, «If you do what is right-if you stop worrying about what I did for your brother and just focus on doing what is right, and not about getting more — will your face not be,» and then it uses that Greek word. Sometimes we translate it as «your face will be lifted up,» or «your face will be at peace,» or literally, «your face will become quiet.»
There’s a peace that comes over you when you’re no longer striving for what hasn’t been supplied yet. And you go, «Well, if God gives it, great. If He doesn’t, great.» It’s used sometimes to talk about that contentment kind of idea. Sometimes it’s used to talk about waiting patiently. When Moses was about to go up on the mountain to get the Ten Commandments, he went to the people and said, «Hey, wait patiently. Just wait here while I go up there.» He went up there, and they didn’t wait patiently. They got all worked up and ended up making a golden calf, and things did not go well after that because they didn’t do this word. They didn’t wait patiently. It can be used to talk about something just settling down.
One of my favorite proverbs in the Bible is Proverbs 26:20: " Without wood, a fire goes out; and without gossip, a quarrel dies down.» Isn’t that great? Maybe you’ve had an experience where you had a group of people that always seemed to be in turmoil, and you could never figure out why everybody was always so worked up about everything. Then somebody left the group, got a different job, went somewhere else, and got fired, or moved somewhere else. Suddenly your group became much more peaceful and calm, and you realized, «Oh, there was a gossip who’s gone.» And once the gossip stopped stirring things up, everything settled down. Does that make sense?
That’s kind of the consistent meaning of this word; it’s this settling. Take a big breath right now. You feel that? That’s this word. I know you came from a hard week, and I know you have a lot of stuff going on. I know there’s probably some stuff in your family that’s hard. Maybe there are things at work that aren’t going well. Maybe there’s some health stuff going on, or you need something that God hasn’t provided yet, and you’re waiting for it, or you’re anxious about something. And God says, «Take a big breath. Settle down.» And what Paul says is God calls you to the next level of love. But here’s the thing: you can’t level up until you settle down. Does that make sense?
That’s what he’s saying. You can’t level up until you settle down. You’re too worked up about what’s going on in the world, and you’re probably too worked up because you think you know what’s going on in the world, and you don’t. You think you do because you keep watching all these news things, and you think you’re getting a real picture of the world, but actually what you’re getting is whatever the algorithm keeps sending you because you spent enough time on that. It’s like, «Okay, send more of that.» Then you’re like, «Well, I don’t know why everybody else isn’t as worked up as I am.»
It’s because they’re getting a different set of stuff. They’re worked up about something else. But you’re too worked up about what’s going on in the world to take your love to the next level. You understand what I’m saying? You’re too worked up to level up. You’re too worked up about what he said, about what she did; you’re too worked up to level up. You’re too worked up about what you don’t have. A lot of times what happens is we’re like, «But if I could just get that, then I could level up my love,» right? If I could just get the promotion and the bigger paycheck, or that house or those possessions, if I could just level up those things, then I could level up my love because then I would have more things to love people with, right?
It doesn’t work that way. I was walking through the parking lot yesterday at our Littleton campus, and we hosted a car show. Did anybody go to the car show? Nobody? Cool. It’s totally cool, 'cause it’s not for you. We do these kinds of things all the time because we go, «Hey, as a church, we want to host you.» We do these kinds of things for the community all the time, and the reason is that we know at some point they’re going to have a crisis, and they’re going to be drawn towards Jesus. They’re going to go, «Where do I go?» We want them to have a good experience with the church so they can go, «Okay.»
But here’s the thing: I was walking through the car show, and I was seeing-I’m not a car guy. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it, but I’m just not wired that way. I just don’t love cars. But I will be honest: I walked past a Maserati, a Lamborghini, and a McLaren, and I was like, «I might be a car guy if I had that. I would not mind having that.» But can I just tell you that, first off, I know I’m never going to be that kind of car guy, okay? And second, I also know that even if I had that kind of car, that doesn’t mean I’m going to level up my love. I can scientifically prove this to you because I’ve been doing a study on it for a while now.
See, when I’m on the road and I see somebody wanting to get in, I let them in. I’m just like Jesus like that, okay? I just am. I’m sorry; I’m just telling it like it is. But in my head, I’m also keeping this tally of when they get in-do I get a wave? That’s all I want. I don’t need you to turn around and be like, «Oh, thanks.» I just need that little wave, right? And I’ve been keeping a tally about how many times that happens. I’ve noticed something interesting: the more expensive the car, the less likely I am to get the wave. The beat-up Toyota Camry? I almost always get the wave. The McLaren? Almost never.
We get so worked up about that thing that we want, right? We’re like, «Yeah, if I could just get that, then I could level up in so many other ways.» It doesn’t work that way. And maybe there’s something that you’re striving after that hasn’t been supplied. And God wants to say, «Listen, you’re too worked up to level up. You’re too caught up in comparing yourself to others. But she, and he, and they’re like this, and no, no, no, no, no. Settle down.»
Do you remember that old Saturday Night Live «Simmer Down» lady? I’m on a Saturday Night Live kick right now. Last week it was Jack and Andy; this week it’s the Simmer Down lady. She would, anytime anybody got the least bit excited — they’re not yelling; they’re just getting a little worked up-she’s like, «Simmer down now! Simmer down now!» That’s basically what Paul’s saying. You’re too worked up to level up. Simmer down. Settle down. You can’t love here if you’re not living at this quiet, content, settled level. And he gives us two ways to do it, right? You see them. He says, «Mind your own business.»
You’re so worried about those people that you’re not worried nearly enough about you. I know that’s bad grammar; just let it go. I mean, this is the Jesus parable, right? Why are you so worried about that speck of dust in your brother’s eye when you’ve got a 2×4 sticking out of yours? Funniest parable I’ve ever seen; I love that one. He goes, «Stop worrying about them. Worry about you.» It’s why, at Mission Hills, we say all the time we need to spend more time looking in the mirror than out the window.
He says, «Mind your own business. Deal with your own house first. Level up your own love first before you start worrying about everybody else.» And he says, «And if you need some help doing that, work with your hands.» He says, «You’re so idle. You’ve got so much free time on your hands that you’ve become a busybody.» So the solution to being a busybody is to keep your body busy. Well, that’s good. I didn’t plan to say that last service; it just came out. I think it was a Spirit thing. But now I’m like, «Oh, that’s definitely a Spirit thing.» Like my grandma used to say, «Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.»
Anybody remember that one? It’s in the Bible; it’s not just grandma. It’s Bible. You don’t have enough to keep you busy, so you become a busybody. And the solution to that is to make your body busy.
Now, now in the ancient world, all labor was manual labor. And so he’s basically just saying to stay busy. Just work. He’s not advocating the hustle culture that we live in. He’s just saying to focus on the work God has given you to do, the family He’s called you to love, the kids He’s called you to raise, and the people He’s called you to serve. Focus on that, and you’re going to find a lot of this other stuff settles down, and then you can level up. Some of it might have been that when Paul was there, he told them Jesus is coming back, and they said, «When?» He said, «We don’t know. It could be any day.» Some of them were like, «So like tomorrow?» He’s like, «It could be.»
And by the way, you understand the reason Jesus didn’t tell us when He’s coming back is so that we don’t wait until the last minute to get everything ready. Kleta is traveling right now, and my plan was to keep the house spotless. Did not happen. But I know exactly when she’s getting home, and I waited until the last minute. I will wait until the last minute. And God says, «I don’t want you doing that with your life, so I’m not going to tell you when He’s coming.» But some people heard Him say He’s coming. «Yeah, it could be tomorrow,» and they’re like, «Okay, I’m quitting my job.» And now they’re idle; their bodies aren’t busy. And so they’ve become busybodies, creating division, and everything’s getting all worked up. And he says, «You can’t be worked up and level up.»
So he says, «Work with your hands. Stay busy with what God has put in front of you.» And here’s why this is so important. Here’s why there’s so much conversation about leveling up our love. Paul says, «So that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.» He says, «Listen, you’re quitting your jobs. Stop! Because you know Jesus didn’t come back yesterday, right? He thought He might. So you didn’t go to work, and He didn’t come back. And now you don’t have the money you need to buy bread, so you’re having to beg for it. Other people are having to care for it. You’re becoming dependent on everybody.»
And sometimes that happens. Sometimes we find ourselves in those positions where, through no fault of our own, we don’t have what we need. And part of our job as the church is to actually supply what is needed to those in the body who are struggling. We do that at mission all the time. Because of your generosity, we have the resources to help people pay bills when they lose jobs or to cover medical expenses that they just didn’t have the money for. We’re able to do that because you all are busy, you’re working, and then you’re giving generously out of the overflow of that. He says, «But if you don’t have a job, if you’re not busy, then you’re dependent. You’re receiving all that but you’re never able to contribute to it.» And he says, «But there’s another reason why I want you to be busy, and that is so that you can win the respect of outsiders.»
He says, «Here’s the thing. The gospel is rooted in love, right? I mean, that’s what it is. It’s rooted in love. And the thing about a gospel that is rooted in love is that it can only be revealed by love. If we go and tell people God loves you with this self-sacrificing, others-serving love, and yet we don’t have that same love for others, what we proclaim is kind of hard to buy, isn’t it? They say, 'Well, Christians say that God is love, but they’re not very loving.' Oh, that’s a problem, isn’t it?» And he says, «It’s not that stoic love. It’s not that eros love. It’s not even the philia love. It’s this self-sacrificing, others- serving -it’s this agape love. You’ve got to be able to show that to the world because that’s what draws the world to God.»
So you got to level up. It’s why this matters so much. This is the purpose of the church, right? I mean, some of you are new. You haven’t heard me say this, but you need to understand that if you’re going to continue coming here, we’re a church that is rooted in God’s purpose for the church. And what’s the purpose of the church? The church exists because God loves the world and wants them to know it. That’s the whole reason there’s a church. He said to Peter, «I’m going to build my church on you,» the first time he used the word «church.» And he said, «And the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.»
In other words, you’re going to invade the gates of death with the message of life. That’s what the gates of Hades were. In Greek mythology, they were the gates that kept the dead in the dark. And God said, «No, no, we’re bringing light, and you’re going to break through those gates. They’re not going to hold you back. You’re going to invade the gates of death with the message of life.» That’s why there’s a church. You got to speak this gospel. But the gospel that’s rooted in love is revealed by love. So he says, «You got to level up.» And yeah, as a church, there are things that we do that are not just evangelism. Okay? Sometimes I need to throw this in because people get concerned. They’re like, «Well, so you don’t think that evangelism is really important, but you don’t think discipleship’s important?»
No, no, discipleship’s really important. What we say here at Mission Mills is our mission. Everything we do is about helping people become like Jesus. That’s discipleship. And join him on mission. That’s evangelism. And the thing is, you can’t join him on mission-you can’t live with agape love-if you’re not growing in your faith, if you’re not being discipled, if you’re not taking those next steps of obedience. So we do discipleship all day, every day. But the purpose is to reveal to the world that there is a God who loves them and desperately wants them to know it. And what Paul says is if you’re going to level up to that kind of love, you’re going to have to settle down a little bit because God’s going to give you those opportunities. You understand? God’s going to give you chances to speak that truth into the lives of the people in your sphere of influence.
The book of Ephesians says that he has created good works for us to do-good works in advance for us to do-where you’re going to run into those opportunities. The question isn’t whether or not you’re going to have the opportunity to invade the gates of death with the message of life. The question is, when the opportunity comes, are you going to be at a level that will allow you to seize that opportunity? You with me? So he says we got to level up. He says, «Steady hands make for ready hearts.» That’s the name of the series, by the way. This is why we called it this: steady hands, ready hearts. Because when we live these settled lives, when we’re not all worked up about stuff that’s out of our control, when we’re not all worked up, we can level up. And when we level up, the world takes notice. Steady hands, ready hearts.
And so here’s the question I want to challenge you with this week. Here’s what I want us as a church to wrestle with: What’s keeping you from leveling up? Maybe you’re too busy, and you need to look through your life and say, «You know, I’m doing a bunch of stuff that honestly is not letting me settle down enough to level up. Maybe I need to cut something out of my life.» Or maybe you’re just really tired because you’re so busy. Or maybe you’re all worked up because you keep falling into the comparison trap.
Do you know that comparison is the enemy of contentment? And it’s so hard not to compare these days, right? This is the reason, by the way, I don’t go on Facebook or Instagram very much. And if you send me a note through there, it’s going to be three weeks before I get back to you.'Cause I struggle with it. I see the things. And even when I’m not trying to see the things, I end up seeing the things that make me compare. I was on YouTube the other day’cause I do woodworking stuff and I got a woodworking channel. And so I was just looking for something, and I scrolled and I got this little feed of shorts.
You know what shorts are? They’re these little short videos, and our comms team does a great job. They put little shorts of my message up there, and I saw myself come up. Right next to me, I saw a good friend of mine, who leads a much larger church. Below both of us was the number of views that each video had. I think I had several thousand views, and his had several thousand less, even though he leads a much bigger church. I felt like the Holy Spirit said to me, «Do you feel good about yourself?» I was like, «Yeah, kind of.» Then the Holy Spirit said, «Keep scrolling.» So I scrolled down.
The next short that popped up was another friend of mine in a much smaller church. He had ten times my views and my other friend’s views combined. I didn’t feel so good. That’s what comparison does, right? It gets us all worked up. When you’re worked up, you can’t level up. Maybe it’s greed; maybe you’re hungry for something that has you striving for what God hasn’t supplied. It’s not that it’s bad, but it’s just not time yet. But you’re striving and you’re not settled. Because you’re not settled down, you can’t level up. What’s keeping you from leveling up?
Hey God, I want to ask your Holy Spirit to do a work among us right now. We recognize the clarity of your word here. We need to settle down a little bit. We need to not be so worked up by the things of the world, not so worked up by the lies of the enemy, not so worked up by the distractions of the devil. We need to settle down so that we can level up to this next level of love that draws the world to you like nothing else will. So we ask that your Holy Spirit would do a work among us right now and show us what is keeping us from leveling up. Give us the courage to respond, to surrender, and to submit to that conviction in our lives in this moment. Some of us this weekend need to respond to the love that you’ve demonstrated. God, there are people listening to this message all over the world right now who don’t have that relationship with you, which is the foundation for everything we’re talking about.
If that’s you, I hope that if nothing else today you’ve heard how much God loves you, how sacrificially he has loved you. If you’ve never begun a relationship with him, I want to encourage you in this moment simply to make that commitment to respond to his love by saying, «God, I have sinned, and I’m sorry. Thank you for loving me anyway. Jesus, thank you for that agape love that took you to the cross. I believe you rose from the dead, and I’m ready to surrender to you to start following you. Amen.»