I think back when you were a kid, did you have a perfect place, or a special place maybe? Ah, my dad, I always wanted Tinker as a kid. And when I was about nine years old, dad put up a new fence in the backyard. And my dad does not tinker very well, so the new fence took a month and a half to put up.
But I had quite the cash of old fence boards after this. I built myself a fort in the corner of our backyard that stayed up a little bit longer than it should have. I got embarrassed in high school when my friends came over and they were like, what's that weird, I got to get you a fort in the back. I didn't want to mock, I was in like 10 minutes until you got here.
It's a little place. We all had these special places, these favorite places. The thing about is a kid, we had them. They might be like a grandparent or an aunt or a family friend's house.
Is adults, we still have them. I've got my places around town, I like to go hang out at. Okay, we have our favorite restaurants, right? We have maybe, my family goes on vacation in the exact same place every year, the whole family.
I love New Bronze Falls. And we end up having a state of different place every few years because I'm such a good seven kids. But it's New Bronze Falls, I love it. It's my favorite place to go on vacation.
We have these special places, these perfect places. Kids and adults, we also, sometimes we have the exact opposite. Sometimes we have horrible places. We have memories that get attached to places.
And we just don't want to go back there. Sometimes it can be funny about a restaurant we went to one time, we swear we will never go to again. And it makes all of our friends have to make their Friday night dinner plans around the restaurants we want to go to. There's certain memories in life that are attached to places that we just don't want to go there.
What's frustrating sometimes is, and some of you know what I'm talking about when you have perfect places that end up being horrible places too. And there's this weird disjunction in our heart and our soul about these places that used to matter that don't matter anymore. Or sometimes we find a place that used to have very bad memories attached to it, something very good happens. And it becomes sacred to us almost.
I've got a couple of those I've collected too. And places are important to us. But can we agree on that? But here's the thing places are also important to God.
And what we see in scripture is that God is extremely interested in the idea of place. That seems often a little weird to think about. But let's stretch our Bible memory out, those of you who grew up in vacation, Bible school or something like that. I think of the places that we can think of in the Old Testament that matter to God.
Like the first few chapters of Genesis we read about this place called Eden. And it's uniqueness. We realize that there's also like, when God told Abraham to go sacrifice Isaac, take you on top of this mountain. And then God tells Moses, I need you to come meet me on top of this mountain.
And I've said before, if you read in the Bible and a mountain comes up, just kind of open your eyes up because something cool is probably about to happen. It's a tendency it goes there. When we think about, when God brought his people out of Egypt into the Promised Land, and God spoke specifically about this Promised Land where his people would come and be this beacon of God's goodness and God's graciousness. And all throughout the read the book of Joshua, it keeps saying in the land had rests, the land had rests.
Like a physical proximity of this Promised Land mattered to God. And we think about Jerusalem as a space. I mean, people have been fighting in and around and over Jerusalem for 5,000 years. It's a place.
It's a place that matters to God and his people. God is interested in these ideas of places. As we finish up these conversations that we've had over these last few weeks about being a neighbor and being a good neighbor, and what does it mean to look at neighborhoods as realities, we're going to finish it up by talking about place. We're going to talk about perfect place because who does not want the perfect place?
Let's be honest here, who has this idea of a house they want to build in the back of their mind one day? I want a garage bigger than my house with a bathroom in it. The house can, it could be 400 square feet for all I care. But I want a big garage.
We want the perfect place. Who doesn't want the perfect place? And God's interested in the idea of places. And so how do we put this together?
And what do we mean for us to look in the scripture and to think what does Jesus say and tell us about places? And how can that perhaps change everything? And so we're going to start off in scripture in a very familiar verse. Those of you who've been around Foundry for a long time will know some of these things.
But so much of our vision of Jesus is big enough. We talk about it when we just live inside of John 1 14. I'm going to read in a couple of different translations this morning. You're going to see where this whole neighborhood's thing.
It's something bigger than us just talking about not being embarrassed when you have a Foundry circle on the back of your truck and your neighbors rolling the ros at you. It's a lot bigger. That's why I was scared to put one on because I drive very bad, honest. But John 1 14, so the word became human and made his home among us.
He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father's one and only son. That first part of the word became human and made his home among us. Now we put that on t-shirts before.
We liked that first so much. We're going to read back a different translation of a possibly one of the most influential biblical scholars of the 20th century. He made a translation of the Bible called the message. And this is what Eugene Peterson, he looks like Gandalf, by the way.
This is how he translated it. The word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one of a kind glory, like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish. The word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.
I mean, there's so much stuff that goes inside of that. But we say constantly here at Foundry is what we realize that means that Jesus is here with us right now, right where we are. And I want to think about that a little bit this morning, because there's some assumptions and some expectations that come from that. Because I think that many times we can understand this idea of Jesus in Jesus and heaven and Jesus as God.
We struggle with the humanity of Jesus and we struggle with the right now right here of Jesus. Like I'm cool with him like in the past, like in the Bath Road, there's the book. I'm cool with this idea of him coming back in the future, but I just don't know what to do with him right now. The word became flesh and made his home among us, Peterson says, and moved into the neighborhood.
If we try to find what this whole word means, it's among us, it's well among us, live with us. If we really get into it, it's weird because it's the same word it's used for a tent in the Old Testament, for a tabernacle, more specifically, that God came and he put his home here with us. And there's all sorts of metaphors and you dig into the idea of he stretches the boundaries of himself out to cover over his people, but he resides with us and he moves with us and he lives with us and he bees with us right here and right now. And so when John started off his story of Jesus and who Jesus was, is what he decided to start off with.
God became like us and stayed God and he came to us. See, we experience this, this is glory, this is truthfulness of who he is, this visible glory because we've experienced his love and faithfulness. It's unfailing love, unfailing faithfulness. Now sometimes I say that, sometimes we get mad at that because you say, Chad, I'm not experiencing unfailing love and faithfulness very well.
Sadly, we try to get that unfailing love and faithfulness from everybody but Jesus and we expect it the way that we see failed love and failed faithfulness and failed expectations and other people. But because we have a hard time imagining Jesus close to us, we can't wrap our heads around what this love is like, what this faithfulness is like. This passage just tells us to do is we don't need to look away in the future for Jesus and we don't need to look away in the past for Jesus that we need to look right in front of us for Jesus. Because our experiences with him are right there.
We can't get this unfailing love and faithfulness anywhere else. He's right alongside of us. And that's a difficult journey to comprehend. But this whole dwelling with, this idea of God being here with us, John was a big fan of that idea of that language.
And so John wrote John. So we see this idea of God being with us there. God also wrote, John also wrote three letters. So first John and second John and third John.
And he talks about it a little bit in there. But John also wrote the weirdest book in the Bible, John wrote Revelation. Now some of you right now, like the Kachad just said the R word, what's going to happen is it's about to get weird. Well, it's John Revelation.
Of course, it's going to be a little bit weird. But let me read you possibly my favorite six verses of scripture ever. And we see more about this neighborhood, but more about this being with, this dwelling with. And in there, I think we actually find a lot of the answers to the questions that we have about finding perfect places.
This is what it said. So Revelation 21, I'm going to read one through six. John said this, I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the old earth and the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone.
And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, like a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud shout from the throne saying, look, God's home is now among his people. And he will live with them. And they will be his people.
And God himself will be with him. And he will wipe every tear from their eyes and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. And the one sitting on the throne said, look, I'm making all things new.
Then he said to me, write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true. And he also said, I'm now, it's finished on alphanio, omega, the beginning and end. To all her to thirsty, I'll give freely from the springs of the water of life. John saw something new.
Something he said, the old was gone and the new was here. And it was coming straight from God. And this word for new is a little bit different. Sometimes we all like to get new stuff, right?
Like our neighbor, we talked a lot about coveting and wanting what your neighbor has. So say your neighbor gets something like a really cool new vehicle you like or a new purse or a shotgun or whatever. And we start coveting it. Paul, do not covet your neighbor's stuff.
Well, I want that shot, John. But you can't get the same pad another person has to be too weird. You got to get in your own pattern, right? Or you might get the same vehicle, but you're going to get a different color.
So it's new. But you've seen it before. This is a completely different. This is a new that is only expressed in the idea of a relationship of God and people.
This is a new, it's absolutely wholly different. This is a new that has never been seen before. It was not previously present, completely new. And this matters because oftentimes, our idea of perfect places simply aren't big enough.
And Henry Ford was asked about the Model T. And he said, if people would have had their mind, they would have made a faster horse. We want faster horses, not car. Does that make sense?
What we want is simply not big enough for what God has. For what we think is that perfect place is simply not big enough. It doesn't change things enough. It doesn't eradicate hurt and crying or pain enough.
It does not provide a relationship at the level that God wants to give us relationship. It does not provide healing at the level that God wants to provide us with healing. It does not provide fulfillment at the level that God wants to provide fulfillment. It does not give us the idea of purpose.
It's the level that God wants to give us purpose. God is saying, I will make all things new. And it will be unlike anything you've ever seen before. Also think about where John is.
Did John say that he was taken away, or did John say that God came to him? John didn't go anywhere in this vision. And far too often, we think of the perfect place. And we think of an eternal reality of God or heaven as being elsewhere, that we get to get ourselves out of this situation.
Then we get to go somewhere else new. Well, we're seeing the Scriptures a very different thing. God's saying, this is going to be remade. I'm coming to you.
Think about that. Since the first relationship to God had with people with Adam and Eve and Eve, God has been coming to us. When we pray the Lord's prayer, we say on earth as it is in heaven, what John is kind of trying to describe. They're seeing right now.
Actually, it's on earth as it is in heaven. It's also on heaven as it is in earth. The God, the depth of God's love for us is so big that he will come to us for eternity. He will make this place perfect again.
That we're not escaping this world. But we're seeing the kingdom come to earth. Y'all, we're looking for the perfect place. What if the perfect place is right in front of us?
What if the perfect place is right in front of us and we've not prayed enough? We've not gone just deeply into a relationship with God, deeply into the Holy Spirit that we just simply can't see the things that God is doing around us right now. It'll be a time and place where everything will be made perfect. I firmly believe that at the end.
But what if we see in our own neighborhoods right now through our own relationships with people? What if we simply aren't thinking big enough and we're missing out on things? What if God has put us exactly where He wants us to be? Okay?
So our dreams of escaping this place and getting out of here, oh, if I can only go to Dallas. I'm not gonna have any burrito joints. Okay, I would love a burrito joint tomorrow. In real barbecue, but I digress.
What if God has us in our perfect place? What if God has you in the exact place He needs you to be? And our, and our, and your job now is to pray for Him to open your eyes up enough to see exactly what He wants you to do, what He needs you to do. I've said it so many times the last few, few weeks I'm waiting for somebody to hit me the next time I say it, but you're the best person to reach the people that you know.
And God's put you in your perfect place. This thing, our perfect place is they, they, they aren't a destination. Our perfect place is a remission. Three things that happen when we realize this when we lean into this, our perfect place is a mission of relationship from the very beginning.
God has been in a relationship with His people. God was relating to Adam, relating to Eve and the very end of things. He says, I'm going to be with my people and they will be, and people and I will be there God and I will live there with them. It's always been about a relationship.
If this Jesus thing has always seemed frustrating to you, if this Jesus thing has just seemed kind of distant and I don't really know how this makes sense. What I challenge you on right now is how much of a relationship if you made it. Has it been something that just propositionally happens in your mind? Oh, Jesus is there, I believe in Jesus.
Has it been something just your parents handed down to you or the area or have you placed yourself into a relationship with Him? It's possible for us to know a lot about Jesus and to not know Jesus. Jesus offers us a mission of relationship because He's always been here with us and He's going to consistently be sending Himself to us even at the end. This is a mission of fulfillment, okay?
And fulfilling the things that God is trying to fulfill but also fulfilling for our own lives. Think back, he gave Adam a job. How many of you react to that? How many of you have been having a job at heaven?
He told Adam I need you to be the caretaker and he gave him responsibilities. He gave him the capability to make decisions. He gave him a way to fulfill himself inside of this thing. You imagine what's the most fulfilling thing for you to do?
We're going to be working towards these missions and these end goals for all of eternity. So why does he not give him to us now to do? He wants us to be deeply, personally fulfilled and that's going to happen in unique ways for each and every one of us. Gone is the idea of heaven is just us doing our favorite thing every time we want to do.
So that's about an individual's idea. This is not about the church's idea. I know my friend Ben, I'm going to pick on Ben. Ben probably wants to fish for all eternity in heaven.
Ben, what would you do to put me in the boat for heaven? Am I still going to be scared of fish in heaven? Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is fulfillment in a bigger way than we can conceptualize.
The last thing is this, this is about expansion. God's always been moving outwards. We see the garden as first couple of chapters of Eden. And we're not going to read the last five chapters of Revelation, but what we see is that that garden turns into the whole earth.
That garden expands out into this place of relationship in this place of fulfillment and of purpose encapsulates the entire earth. So shouldn't we be expanding that kingdom now where we see it and how we see it? Looking for those perfect places, those places God has called us to, these places he has put us in. God's always been in the business of expansion.
Jesus, I've been thinking about this so much since about a year ago, when Jesus says multiple times in the gospels and he says, you will do even greater things than I have. Y'all think about that? Jesus says you will do even greater things than I have. The big guy said that.
Let's be honest here. Do you think that you're capable of doing bigger things than Jesus did? But he said it. What does it mean to unlock that?
What does it mean for us to live into that vision that he poured out for us there? Do you will do even bigger things than me? The expanding idea of God has been handed to his people. That we're looking for that perfect place.
We're going to push into it. A lot of times we think of the good old days being, and I'm not old enough I feel like to understand and to have good old days, but over the last couple of years I've caught myself thinking that way. It's like, man, I wish it was 1996. That was some change of so around.
Good old days. What if the good old days were in front of us? We prayerfully expand into that vision that God has given us. No, we're in our perfect place right now.
What we do is that we ask Jesus to open our eyes and our ears and our mind for us to begin understanding what it's like to live life right alongside of him, right in the place where he has put us at. Let's pray. Jesus, help us to see things bigger. Help us to have unquouted eyes, to have an unquotted reality of what things look like.
To grow deeper and deeper into your vision for this world. Help us to realize that our vision sometimes is simply too small. Jesus, help us to understand what does it mean to be working alongside of you in this mission in this place. Help us to grow outside of ourselves and to grow into your church.
Bigger every day. Let me pray.