Father, thank you for this day and for this time and we pray for For your help. We pray for your spirit to assist us We pray that Anything that we might look at in your word would Be applied to our hearts. It's wonderful how you work. It's wonderful how you take us places We did not expect to go and how you bless us when you get us there in those places I pray that this morning might be one of those places. I pray that there would be some surprising things for us Wonderful things for us this morning. I thank you for these people for their For their love for you for their desire to to grow to to know more of What Christ has purchased for them and I pray that you'd give it to them give it to all of us all of the fullness of what Christ has purchased Give more and more of that to us every day and I thank you for the progress That by your grace we have been able to make we are not all that we want to be O Lord and we are certainly not all that you would want for us to be But we give you thanks and praise you that we are not what we used to be and And so we praise and glorify your name for what has been done in us to this point and trust That your work will continue because you love us so very much and we thank you and praise you for all of that in Jesus name amen Okay last week we were We were talking about sanctification we looked at Romans 5 and
Let me just if I could refer you back to chapter 14 in Williamson's book it is page 114 this section on sanctification and In the first section and then I again, I just want to take a few minutes and talk a little bit more About about this this process of sanctification and here's the language that that Is is so important They who are effectively called and regenerated having a new heart and a new spirit created in them that this all begins with with Well, it all begins in the councils of eternity obviously before the foundation of the world God Determining to save the people for himself the triune God father son and Holy Spirit you remember that that rather simplistic way that I Suggested you might think about God's work. It is the father who conceived it the father thought it the son bought it and the spirit brought it It is the father who conceives Of of redemption and then covenants with the son who secures Redemption and then they commissioned the spirit who brings the benefits of that redemption and applies them to those whom the father had given to the Son before the foundation of the world well experientially for us you know in in Existentially in the midst of our existence and experience all of this begins with this work of the spirit By which we're effectively called and regenerated we're enabled to hear the God Gospel and respond to the gospel because the spirit regenerates us Creates us again, you know gives us new life new birth. That's where it all starts. We get a new heart. We get a new spirit So they who are affectionately called and regenerated having a new heart and a new spirit created in them are farther sanctified Really and personally through the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection by his word and spirit dwelling in them Okay, really and personally it's happening folks It's happening It's happened for you if you're a Christian you may not feel like it, but it's happening Okay, he who began a good working you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus It's happening The dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified and they more and more quickened and strengthened in all saving graces to the practice of true holiness without which no man shall see the Lord now Now that is what is going on and we know that it's a mixed deal We know that there is this warfare that's going on in our souls Our Bishop William Temple. I'm not a man. I'm a civil war You know that we know that and we sense that but the promises of scripture and the clear implications of the work of God in calling and and And then in commission you calling a people to himself and for himself and then giving them to be g giving them Jesus to be their Savior The clear implications are that when Christ sets out to save somebody he's going to accomplish what he sets out to do Okay This is what Job said, you know, I know that no purpose of yours can be forwarded Job 42 Okay, so when God sets out to save somebody he saves them to the uttermost He will most most surely bring to pass that which He has Purpose to do and the work that he's begun. He will complete Now this you know this section talks about the dominion of the whole body of sin being destroyed More the lust thereof more and more weakened and mortified and they more and more quickened and strengthened in all saving graces to the practice of true Holiness now the question is how does that happen and there's a little phrase in here Which is important. This is what I want to talk about for just a few minutes By his word and spirit dwelling in them Okay, father sanctified really and personally through the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection by means of his word and spirit dwelling in them what are the two things that were operative Operating functioning when a person was effectively called regenerated and responded to the gospel We talked about it last week or a couple weeks there were two things what were they What two things go on when somebody becomes a Christian There are two things what are they one scene one unseen do you need any more hints The preaching of the gospel and the operation of the spirit Okay, these two things What two things are operational when somebody grows in Christ
The preaching of the gospel and the operation of the spirit okay the same things And and when we talk about the preaching of the gospel or we talk about the word
The confession talks about the word and the spirit We talk about the word we're talking generally about the means of grace. Okay
We're talking about the means of grace the word Can be understood in a narrow sense. I think it's probably understood in the narrow sense here in the confession but it points To something that's wider and that is the idea of the means of grace All of which in the end have their connection to the word Okay, all of which have their connection to the word the word defines all of these other realities all of these other means Okay, now do you know what we mean when we're talking about the means of grace Okay, let me ask you this question. What are the means of grace? Name them just name some worship prayer sacraments fellowship Now Let's make sure we know what we're talking about we talk about fellowship when I talk about potluck suffers here Okay, that's a part of what goes on when God's people are gathered together. They eat meals together Okay, they did it in the Bible. We do it now and we'll do it in heaven Okay, but fellowship is not potluck suffers and and that sort of thing Fellowship is iron sharpening iron Fellowship is bearing one another's burdens fellowship is forgiving one another is God and Christ is forgiven You fellowship is submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ fellowship is Loving one another to confront one another fellowship is confessing your sins one to another okay Fellowship is really the fellowship The body of Christ the people of God bumping into each other and knocking the rough edges off of each other Pleasant business, right All right, what's another means of grace? Yes, yes, yes The it's sir. I mean we typically think of discipline apart from fellowship But but church discipline occurs in the context of the fellowship. Okay, so you've mentioned another one discipline discipline both positively and negatively Considered and negative probably not the best term but but when you think of discipline positively you're talking about About the kind of thing that happens when a person is regularly employing the means of grace It's it's it's being being a discipline. It's being a disciple a follower of Christ Okay, that's the discipline in the positive sense discipline in the negative sense is that corrective Discipline where a sheep wanders off and the shepherd has to use the crook and the staff to you know Get him around the neck and yank him back in line Not pleasant it hurts, but it's necessary and it is done because of a concern for the well-being of the one who has wandered off Okay, and I just want to say to you people ask me this all the time not all the time I get this frequently do you care about church discipline at St. Paul's the answer is yes We do it is not fun. It is hard, but it is something that we do and we have done And and we've been fortunate to see In a couple of cases anyway some correction We've been like like many churches. We've been brokenhearted when the process is not worked That's God's business. All right church discipline. What what are other means keep keep keep pardon me
That's a kind of a fruit you know Fruit of fellowship something that goes on in the fellowship Do I have prayer I've got prayer okay scripture all right scripture say a couple things about it scripture preached scripture Huh, teach Okay, preached and taught any burians in here Red read and studied
Red and studied There is a collect that we pray every year And I don't remember what Sunday it is that we pray this collect But it is a collect in which we express gratitude to God for his having given the word And we call upon him to stir us up so to read mark and study his word That we might derive the benefits therefrom Okay, we pray that every year at this church Applied yeah Okay Red studied applied okay All right any other means Okay service and let me just let me just put one down here that we don't often think of as a means but obedience is a means Keeping the commandments of Christ you remember from John 15 If you abide in me If you obey my commandments you will abide in my love see it is by it is by means of obedience by keeping Christ's law that we abide in his love and we know his love Now I said that all of these things have a real connection to the word and I think you can see that fairly clearly It is the word that defines worship it is the word that defines how we pray it is the word that defines the sacraments It is the word that defines the fellowship and discipline it is the word that defines itself It's to be preached and taught read study to apply it is the word that defines our service It is the word that tells us how to obey all right So you can understand the word narrowly in the in the in the confessional sense that that it is by means of the spirit and the word But it's by means of all of these things that God and God gives to us Um, and it is in that mix of things that the spirit works All right now here's the thing here's what I wanted to say and this is so important We get I do this you do this we all do this okay everybody does this We get this whole thing turned upside down These means of grace we get this thing inverted Rather than seeing the means of grace as means which God has appointed for us for our growth We get it turned upside down in this sense We begin to think of these means as means by which we are in God's favor That God likes us better if we read the Bible more See, I mean God likes the Bereans better in this congregation because they've made a commitment to reading their Bibles See and God really likes the Bereans in this church who are current
See but but the Bereans who have fallen behind he doesn't like quite as much Right he's just not he's not as happy with sluggards like me who are several days behind I hope my sin makes you feel better about your sin, you know Right misery loves company see isn't that how we start thinking Right and what are we doing when we do that we are denying That the obedience death resurrection ascension and present high priestly office of Christ work of Christ at the right hand of the Father Aren't sufficient for the totality of my sin and so I have to do these works. I got to do these things The compensate for what is deficient in the work of Christ I got to read my Bible more I got to pray better. I got to witness the more people then God will really like me You know then God will really like me that is not what this is about These are not means by which we earn God's favor these are those things which God is appointed that we might get well Okay, sin is no longer a legal problem for us There is no threat of condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus We have nothing to fear if you're Christians morning you have nothing to fear Absolutely nothing Okay, you have nothing to fear Because before the law you are justified you are robed in the righteousness of Christ you are declared innocent plus you've been made a son or a daughter Okay, but While sin is not a legal problem for us. It certainly is an existential experiential problem for us Isn't wherever there is sin there is death Okay, and God has appointed these things These means all again which have their connection to the word itself It's the word that defines everything again. That's why the confession starts where it starts starts with the scriptures God has appointed these things That we might grow that we might get well Okay, and and it is the prolonged use of these means which God has appointed That in conjunction with the operation of the spirit will result In our spiritual growth They will now let me let me make a bit of an observation which is Which is this There's a tendency for us to be preoccupied We you know, it's a it's a long run, right? It's a long race The bar is high You know, and we're all trying to dunk basket balls with a vertical jump of about three inches You know and we can't get there The bar is high and we tend to focus upon and be preoccupied with how far short we fall Don't we aren't we I mean aren't we pretty painfully aware of the distance that there is yet to be traveled Okay, now I don't I don't want for a moment to suggest Uh Or even hint at lowering the bar. They don't want to do that I don't want to suggest that we not pay attention to the distance that there is yet to travel But I do want to suggest this I want to suggest that because over the course of years or even hours months Days if you're a new Christian. I do want to suggest that because of God's commitment to you A settled commitment before the foundation of the world Because he has called you to himself And made you his child given you new life a new heart and a new spirit Created within you because he has done that and because he has appointed these means For your growth You are to celebrate and give thanks for a grace which has brought you The to the point where you are today Okay, if you are preoccupied with how far you have yet to travel If the whole focus of your Christian life is upon your failure Then you're not rendering praise and thanks to the God who has brought you to this to this point You see what I'm saying God is determined to do this And yes, I know your sinners and yes, you're aware of your of your failings And how far short you fall. I'm aware of it too in my own life and in yours. I might end Um, at least some of it. Okay, I'm aware of that stuff in us But I don't want us to lose sight of the fact that the grace of God is real and operational and powerful And that as we employ these things the spirit comes alongside these things and progress is made. Okay
Uh, go ahead Take it and God be with you
We didn't send him away Unfed Uncloth Be well my brother Okay, you see what I'm saying there needs to be this sense in which we look back over our shoulders and we acknowledge As I pray at the beginning We're not all that we want to be we're not all that God wants us to be but thank God we are not what we used to be We are not what we used to be and the people of God must Celebrate the progress that has been made because a celebration of the progress that has been made is a celebration of the grace of God and that is giving God the glory that is due his name Not to do that is to rob God of his glory You see So there will be movement because God has determined that there will be movement and as there is movement we praise God and thank him for what he's done But these are means which God employ this is like medicine, okay This is like medicine This is this is the healing Saved these are the things which God gives us in conjunction with this spirit They affect change and transformation over the period of the years of our life Okay, so we don't do these things to earn God's favor got Christ's already done that enough to worry about that We do these things because by them we benefit may not barbed up the girls shopping yesterday and I was home All day Pretty much all day and you know did some stuff around the house and the rains came and so that Outside stuff got washed out and I you know I sat for for almost two hours Doing some stuff and getting ready for this morning, but then just sitting and reading my Bible I mean it was wonderful. It's like God showed up, you know And I'm surprised when that happens You know, but he does he shows up And and and you sense that there is this work going on in your soul as you employ these things Sometimes you don't but always it is going on okay So the means of grace are those things which God has given to us and they are like a medicine which we employ As the spirit comes along he makes those means effectual in our lives and this process of sanctification Proceeds Okay, all right Let's um Let's let's talk what what what what is on your mind? What do you want to ask about? From anything we've talked about or anything else as far as that goes
Ken The question is And by the way just just so you know this doesn't have anything to do with anything we've talked about so far in this class, but I I don't think But that's okay because I said you could do that question is The in a Bible it says it says this in fact in Matthew 7 I believe don't cast your pearls before swine Don't throw your valuables before pigs Um, and the valuable there is the gospel of course and the question is do you do you encourage somebody to read the Bible just so that He can point out its errors and flaws and faults and and and that sort of thing Um Well, let me let me answer it this way. I think I do think that in conversations with non-believers You do get to a place where where you just sort of sense That there's not a responsiveness here and that the appropriate thing is is to stop talking And you know to to not to cast your pearls before swine not to To throw the precious gospel before those who will just tram trample an underfoot um Whether a particular application of that principle is to is Is in uh discouraging people from reading the Bible just because they have an agenda to disprove it I'm not sure because you never know what's gonna happen when somebody comes in contact with the word And uh, so I would be reluctant to say to somebody don't read the Bible. You got a bad attitude Um, in fact, I I would tend to say to somebody who has a problem with the gospel. I would tend to say or tend to ask In a polite way to even know what you're talking about if you have you even read the gospels or if you just read the news accounts You know and and I'd be inclined to encourage him and and really sort of challenge him at that point say You know, you might want to read the gospel just so you know what you're talking about and then pray like a fool For for the spirit to operate and that person's life through the word But I do think you get to a place in conversation with non-believers where you just you know, you have you have to back up um You have to back up and And be silent Okay, anything else? Now come on. I I didn't do that good at job Yeah Is Bob gonna cover the book of Revelation or is Bob gonna cover You mean in the class? Yeah Yes, he will yes, he will go over eschatology. Yeah Okay, you know what um it used to be It used to be the case that whenever somebody would ask a question about the revelation I you know, I had the response, you know Next question, you know But I don't anymore I I preached through the whole book a couple of years ago and um This I mean this may you know, this probably will turn your paradigms upside down, but but I tend to be convinced that When John says Very early in the book I mean you can't get earlier than verse one um When John says in verse one the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show his servants things which must shortly take place The John meant what he was saying He was not he was speaking about things that he expected to happen in a short period of time And and I I think you have to employ one of the principal rules of interpretation when you come even to a whole book like this You have to take what is clear and interpret what is less clear in terms of what is clear And John says these things are gonna take place shortly Now you you can you can say that he's speaking figuratively there Which I don't well I think that does violence to the text it does violence to the whole sense of language You can you can say that he's speaking figuratively there As well as through the obvious figures of the rest of the of the revelation Or what makes more sense harmonitically in terms of principles of interpretation what makes more sense is that you take him seriously when he says these things are gonna happen shortly And all of these figures that are that are employed for the describing of what is about to take place shortly Which have their roots in Daniel and Ezekiel and Zechariah and various other books Those are those are metaphors pictures descriptions which were well known by the Hebrew people the implications of which they clearly understood in their day But which 20 centuries of illiteracy and bad hermeneutics obscure our Vision to okay You know the tendency when you come to the revelation is to think the 10% of it is fulfilled and 90% of it is yet to be fulfilled I think the percentages are exactly the opposite I think I think what John is talking about what he's referring to is the destruction of Jerusalem Who is the Babylon of revelation the harlot who has gone after other gods It is the most theologically significant event after the work of Christ in all of human history The most significant work obviously is the work of Of Christ in his being the fulfillment of all the Old Testament types and prophecies and then his life death and resurrection But think about it From a theological standpoint not from the vantage point the horizontal vantage point of the nations of the earth Who look on Israel as being this this third rate petty power dominated by by Rome Now that's the horizontal view The theological view is that this is the city of David This is the place where the one true God has caused his name to dwell and so there is no more significant place There is no greater city on the face of the earth among the kingdoms of men You know and and so that that the authors of scripture would come at this event and see it in its cosmic significance and proportion is not surprising Given a theological perspective about the city of Jerusalem Okay, and I frankly think that's what's going on There's there's a lot of overlap, you know, it's like a it's like a mosaic This is apocalyptic literature And you gotta be real careful and I think you have to be very very careful to impose the the grammatical historical exegetical hermeneutic, you know those principles of interpretation on the book of Revelation because it doesn't You know you don't do that with Psalms you don't do it with Proverbs And I don't believe you should do it with apocalyptic literature either so And and I'll tell you when I sort of wrestled through that it's like the whole thing just kind of came into In the focus, you know, yeah Larry for me anyway
Yeah In the sermon you mean or this yeah You know
What happens when I take a sort of a cafeteria approach to the means of grace that that You know, I'll go to church You know sort of periodically or even regularly, you know, I'll be there on Sunday morning, but And maybe I'll read my Bible, but I'll not you know, I'll not exert myself to try and study it or read other good Christian literature, you know, explaining it or whatever what happens I think what happens for me is a Christian in that realm happens when I same thing happens when I eat bad food If I eat too much sugar If I don't if I don't get to the why and you know and do do my routine if I'm not doing the stuff that I need to do Then I'm going to get flabby and sloppy and that will have an impact on the rest of the church That will weaken the rest of the church, you know, that the church is like a chain and the chain is only as strong as its weakest length Link in in some sense, you know And we are if you look at the Ephesians 4th thing And other passages of 1 Corinthians
10 or 11 that I don't remember where it is now, but the talks about us about there being one One Lord one faith one baptism one God and Father of a Saul One body of whom we are all members There is an interconnectedness about the church and to the extent that That any portion of that body is weakened by neglect then the whole body suffers a consequence certain consequence And you know the thing the thing Larry is It's like you know, I want to get well I want to I'm tired of being sick and I want to get well Spiritually well, I want to know what it means to rest in God trust in God delight in God and those things don't happen They just flat don't happen if I'm not employing the means Which God has appointed for me And it does require discipline, you know, and this Berean thing I think it's a wonderful thing because it's a way for us to encourage each other, you know It's nobody's nobody's taken taken taken names. Nobody's checking boxes. That's not what this is about You know, this is about us about us together I'm just trying to find something that will enable us to encourage each other You know, so does that answer the question?
Right That's right There is something we need to be doing I mean it you know again a person who goes to a doctor for a surgery Um is usually given some sort of regimen for rehabilitation Now when surgery is done, you know, the operation is over the problem in a certain sense is gone But now there's this this process of getting well you can pay attention to the doctor And get well quicker or you can disregard What he says and run the risk of of doing real harm to yourself You know, and that's that's what this is this Christ gives us a sort of a regimen for For getting well Now we're not going to be perfectly well. I'm not you know that into that but But there can be real progress We can know life Christ said I've come that you might have life and have it abundantly That's not more toys. You know that it's it's a deep lasting pervasive joy in the gospel but Bubb These guys are deferring to one another they're There's submitting a way
Hard time sorting it out We're sandwiched between six and eight The man in Romans chapter seven slave Then six and eight very clear that we're not controlled by some we're not slaves How does that all fit in with The man whether it's Paul or not in chapter seven being a regenerate Individual versus what you see in chapters six and eight. Yeah That's that's a good question that of course is the the point of tension for people who Disagree about who is in view in Romans seven If you look at the first verses of chapter six those verses describe our union with Christ and uh Being buried with him this is verse four uh Buried with him through baptism in the death that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father even so We also should walk in newness of life um And then he goes on to say In verse 11 likewise you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord um Verses 12 and 13 Do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lust do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin But present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God Procensual not have the minion over you for you're not under law but under grace Those verses right there are that You know that's a that describes this um The condition that we're in right now There there is something radical that has happened and from which we have been delivered I'm giving you my explanation of six seven eight Something radical that has happened in our souls and that radical thing is regeneration Okay, we uh, oh they took my pen um When when we talk about the effects of the sin we talk about its penalty it's power and its presence Okay, and by justification The penalty of the sin is take of my sin is taken away By regeneration that power is broken Okay, but it's not completely eradicated The power is broken, but it's not eradicated So Paul can say we've been raised from death to life That's the work of regeneration. We've been united to Christ and he can make an appeal to us Based upon that regeneration that we not go on any longer presenting ourselves to sin For it to to be a master over us But instead because we've been regenerated there is a freedom which we have now that we didn't have before Which which and and it is to that freedom that he makes the appeal that we present ourselves now to God Um, that that he might produce righteousness in us, okay? But but you see that's that's the that's the tension That that is the experience of the believer I see six and seven as actually six twelve to thirteen fourteen As saying the same sort of thing in different language that you see in chapter seven Okay, there I there is the possibility and the confession recognizes There is the possibility that through my neglect and disobedience I can submit myself to the power of sin and it can dominate me that can happen Francis Schaeffer in his book True Spirituality which is a great book which I if you've never read it, I'd encourage you to read it says that we are unlike all other creatures you know In the in the whole of the universe in that we have the capacity for the bringing forth Of fruits of righteousness and we have the capacity for bringing forth the fruits of evil That week, you know, we can do that. I mean the devil and his minions only bring forth evil The the angels and we when we're perfected have the capacity for bring Alone, but in this condition we do have the capacity for bringing forth both good and evil But Paul's appeal to us in chapter six is that we wreck in ourselves dead to Christ that we remember who we are And he appeals to this transformation and says don't don't go on doing this anymore Don't turn yourselves over to sin that you might that you might be enslaved by it again But turn yourselves over to God moment by moment repeatedly in an ongoing way that you might bring forth the fruits of righteousness This is a I would say this is a pastor who's speaking now This is not a systematic theologian who's offering you a theology of sanctification This is a pastor now who is writing Writing out the implications of the gospel the implications of regeneration Don't do this anymore because God has done this work in your soul. He's raised you from death to life Now present yourself to him that righteousness might Might emerge and I'd say the same thing is going on in seven and eight. It's just He's using a different sort of figure different sort of Of language and and again as I said a couple weeks ago the reason that I really think that he's describing the Christians experience Is because he says that he delights in the law of God in the inward man The you know the unregion that's first 22 the the unregionary man doesn't delight in the law of God I don't I don't think he may have some appreciation for it But the unregionary man doesn't know the struggle the conflict the intense warfare that's described in chapter 7 This this delight in the law of God and the sense of of being Revolted by the realities of his own sin and then in chapter 8 he goes on to say I think in chapter 8 basically what he said in chapter 6 Only now using the imagery of the spirit Okay by the spirit mortified you know put to death the lust of the flesh you're you're different now um Verse 12 chapter 8 therefore brethren we are not debtors to the flesh to live according to the flesh for you live according to the flesh you will die But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live as many as are led by the spirit of God These are the sons of God you have not received the spirit of bondage again the fear but you've received the spirit of adoption See it's slightly different language of it's the same kind of appeal. This is who you are so based upon who you are um Don't don't uh Don't go on living according to the flesh Okay, yeah, Maria yeah, it's the right um, but I guess I struggle with the strength of some of those Verses in their the contrast with the version in eight where he says I was I have a slave Yeah, I'm controlled by sin and then verse says we are not And I understand that on the one hand They can't be in under general person, but on the other hand I can't see how it's under general person in light of yeah Those voices in a and and yet I can't understand it. I mean I'd be again This is I mean it is a theology of sanctification, but it's a guy speaking as a pastor Two people who are in the midst of the struggle and I think speaking's auto somewhat autobiographically I think he's speaking generally about the Christian experience, but I think he's speaking out of his own out of his own out of his own struggles and again I think we all have sensed there are these times when when this when when sin within me dominates me Not forever not permanently, but in that moment I feel absolutely powerless and helpless To resist this. What do I do in that? I cry out. Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ And I and I you know, where do I go? You know, do I as Rich Steele said last week? Do I beat myself up and then go try harder? That's fruitless That's fruitless. No, I go back to Christ again. I present myself to Christ I reckon myself to be dead to sin and alive to God in Christ and I present myself to him That he might do something in me that I'm powerless to do for myself I go back to the cross Yeah, yeah, I mean, I use the means of grace, but but even the means of grace aren't You know, those things You know, it's it's got to be the spirit who Really Christ by his spirit who who comes along to help me But you you had your hand up Okay, I still want to lose you you sign my check every two weeks
Right
Right And we're now walking through it. Right. And so I think that then I have read On the thing that's reckonin the mortified and it doesn't give me any kind of I am know on Getting past
Yeah Yeah, the the point is that the that the land and you've said the same thing The language of scripture is so definitive and so strong You know, I mean let listen to this You think that one's strong and I think it's strong listen to this
But God who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us Even when we were dead and trespasses made us alive together with Christ And raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of his grace and now I'm still here I want to be there But I ain't there yet and that's you know that one of the one of the intriguing things About particularly Paul's language is this is this already this this sort of language of all already fulfilled and not yet fulfilled already completed and not yet completed we have been saved But we are being saved Yet we will be saved in the future that there there is this This this sense in which We we are dead We are raised in Christ not only raised in Christ, but we have ascended with Christ and we are seated with him in the heavenly places We are our position is secure our place is secure and and that's how we're to think of ourselves and reckon ourselves You know, I mean it's it's it is very very lofty and very strong language and the Christian Is is the is the recipient of Of the future glory which is intruded from the future back into the present This is the kingdom of the spirit right here This is this is this is the kingdom of Christ where he reigns and dwells in the midst of his people you know and and so what comes along with that is this expectation that there should there really should be This this this righteousness this justice this Distinctiveness this differentness about the church so that the church is differentiated from the world and is recognized as being the kingdom of Christ That future kingdom intruded into the present For us individually for us together as a body I'm agreeing with you. It's it's very it's very it's more than intriguing. It's very very challenging Language
And himself and in our society
Glad to hear that
Maybe Maybe yeah Could be Um Well, where are we here? Do you want to talk about this some more? Let's I gotta we're in another minute
Yeah Way of doing that. Yeah, I think we just feed ourselves when You know, God forbid we would tell people that the Christian life is going to make everything wonderful Yeah, it doesn't we need to I need you to stand up and say that you stand because so do I Right admitting that one to another helps You know that we're all yeah, we're in this together Yeah Katie you make a good great point and I'd like to if I could draw this to a close with this I I've been I don't know why this is but I've been reflecting frequently lately on On the fact that the the world of the Bible is an agrarian world It's it's an agricultural world and it's a world that we don't know anything about And there are you know, we're urban people We're we're technologically oriented people and and the agrarian world the agricultural world is a world that we just We don't have categories for and so and so the idea of growth Which is which is just woven into the fabric of of an agrarian world Is a category that just doesn't exist for us and and all of the habits and the character traits and the virtues that emerge in a person Who lives in an agrarian sort of a world those habits and virtues are very difficult for us to come by Very difficult for us to come by I think harder for us than than folks Than folks who lived in this particular world I mean you don't you don't have to wait any more than 30 seconds for your food 30 seconds to 30 minutes and you've got you don't have to wait through the seasons of planting and growth And then harvest and then at the end of the harvest season you don't have to ask yourself the question now How much of my big Mac Am I going to set aside as seed corn for next year? How much of this am I not going to consume because if I do it will mean that next year I won't have enough seed corn to plant my crops which will sustain my life in the following year I can just drive the McDonald's get my big Mac. I don't have to wait through the seasons I don't have to wait through all of the unpredictabilities that there are in an agrarian society I don't have to wake up one morning and look out at my cornfields and see that Hale has wrecked it all it's wrecked what I was going to consume and it's wrecked my seed corn See I don't have to trust in the providence of God and in the mysteries of God's providence having those character traits of patients and perseverance And trust in God having those things cultivated because I can go to a technology You know, I can go to a hospital. I can go to a fast food restaurant. I can go to my computer I can do you know, I don't have to get on a boat and travel for 13 or 14 weeks To get to another part of the world so that I can have communication with somebody in another part of the world Or put my letter on a boat and and not know whether the person I've addressed it to will receive it in six weeks Or six months or two years Trusting that a couple of boats are going to pass so that these male bags can be exchanged Yeah, I don't I don't have to if I want to talk to somebody I mean, I've frustrated you yet when you try and call my house and my line's busy because I have three teenage daughters Do you know what that's a function of that's a function of impatience born out of living in a technological society And and so this idea that the Christian life is a growth thing where there are seasons of dormancy where nothing seems to be Going on But we're all kinds of nutrients are being stored for future growth. We don't have any we have no idea about that
We want fruitfulness. We want to be hot house plants. We want you know, we want instantaneous results and the Christian life didn't like that It's a long slow arduous growth Where there are times of dormancy and there is pruning and there are periods of fruitfulness And then there is being cut back so that you can be more fruitful That's you know, that's the world we live in. So I think that's a great point Katie and I do think that that That helps us to to understand some of what's going on the other thing. Let me just say this really quickly Um, the the language of Roman seven is overwhelmingly Frightening language, I guess you could say
So I don't think I don't think we I don't think we really Appreciate what Christ has done until we see just how Just how corrupt our hearts are just how powerful that the minion of sin is and can be And I think God gives us those moments like the Romans seven thing just to remind us yet again How desperate we are so that we cry out. Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ who gives us Whatever it is he gives us The victory Is that Romans or is that first Corinthians
Let me just let's just do this here Yeah, a wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death I thank God for Jesus Christ our Lord and that's that's where he goes back again and again to Christ Okay, we need to stop. It's been good. Been fun. I hope helpful So be encouraged be encouraged God is more committed to this than you are Okay, he really is far more committed to this than you are He really is what he started he's going to bring to completion Let's pray right Right Let's pray Lord continue your work in our lives Grantish your spirit and grant that is as we read and as we talk to one another and seek to encourage one another Grant that all of these things plus the sacraments plus your word preached plus Sunday school classes Plus our own miserable attempts at obedience Lord made all of these things move us forward in our Christian lives would you Would you anoint them all baptize them all with your spirit So that we become the people that you'd have a speed that you might be glorified And so that we might know great joy in the gospel and be with us as we come to worship we pray in Christ name amen