According to His Will
Transcript
How are we doing this morning? Bless your souls. My name's Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. We're in the book of Ephesians, so if you want to go ahead and grab a Bible and go to Ephesians. If you have one of the white Bibles that's kind of been sitting on the chairs around you, will be on page 567.
And so that's where we'll be. We're studying through the book of Ephesians. When we planted this church a couple years ago, we said we wanted to be a gospel-centered community on mission. We want to be a gospel people. We want our lives to be built around the fact that Jesus Christ died to save sinners and to give them a place with him. Which means that we want to be Bible people.
Because the point of the Bible is to point us to Jesus. The goal of the scriptures is to get us to the fullness of understanding God's mystery revealed to us in Christ. So we want to be Bible people. So if you've been a part of our church for a while, maybe you've been hanging out on Sundays, you've been in a community group, you may have noticed that we've changed some of how we're doing things on Sundays. We're reading the Bible more. We're reading the Bible out loud together.
It's a little weird for me. Not reading the Bible, like that's good, but reading it out loud together, like I never did that. And it just feels a little odd to me. So if you're in that boat, I just want to explain a little bit of why we're doing that. We're like a vending machine that you put the coins in, but they didn't drop. And so you have to start smacking the side of the vending machine to get the coins to drop.
That's kind of how we are when it comes to believing and remembering all that is good and true about Jesus. That we maybe have it in our head, but it hadn't quite dropped to our heart yet. And so one of our goals on Sunday is to smack our heads with the gospel repeatedly, in as many ways as we possibly can, so that it will drop to our hearts. So that's going to be us reading the Bible. That's going to be us reading collectively together, saying things together. It's going to be us singing.
It's going to be us studying scripture together, because our goal is to saturate ourselves with this truth so that it sticks with us. So standing up and collectively reading underlying portions together is kind of weird for me. Maybe you love it, and I'm excited. I'm glad for you. But maybe the person next to you doesn't.
But last week we did that, and then three days later I remembered what we read. And I was like, okay, then fine. If it's weird but it helps me remember it, it's worth it. So good morning, and hopefully we can help ram the Bible into our brain so that it goes to our heart and sticks with us this morning. So that's one of the reasons why we study through books of the Bible together.
So we're in Ephesians. We're a couple weeks in, and we aren't that far into it, because Paul starts this letter off with a very big, very dense sentence. We read it last week, and now we're kind of zooming back in to try to understand a little more. So I'm going to pray, and then we're going to pick up in verse 3 and begin kind of our time this morning together studying the Word. So let's pray.
God, I just pray that through the power of your Holy Spirit we would see the immense glory of your grace towards us, that we would see the beauty in it this morning as we study this, and that as Paul meant it to be an encouragement, I just ask that it be an encouragement to us today as well. In Jesus' name, amen. We're going to go to verse 3. We're going to read 3 through 10, because I want to kind of focus in on something at the end there just to get us started, and then we'll go back to verse 3. So, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.
In love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight. This is what I want us to see as we get started this morning. Making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven, and things on earth.
Throughout that passage, it says that He chose us, He predestined, He did this according to the purpose of His will, and then it kind of comes there and it says, to reveal the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, as a plan for the fullness of time. And so what it's saying is that God's intention to save was a plan that He worked out according to the purpose of His will throughout history, that human history is playing out according to the will of God. That's what that passage is telling us. Now, this is very encouraging to us because God has never been surprised. He's never suddenly had to huddle up with Jesus and the Holy Spirit and say, what are we going to do here?
Like, He's never had plans that went differently than He had intended. Like, His overall plan for the world has worked out the way He has intended it. He's working all things according to the purpose of His will. So I don't know about you, very rarely do my plans work out. Like, have you ever planned the perfect vacation and came back more tired? Because the pictures weren't exactly the way they showed them online.
Like, you didn't know the carpet was going to make that noise when you stepped on it and, like, you were afraid to wear... You had to wear shoes. Like, we went on vacation one time and we just wore shoes in the hotel the whole time because I didn't know quite what we were stepping on. But it was like... Every time you walk somewhere, it was just weird. Like, there's...
I have a two-year-old son. My wife and I have to huddle up on a regular basis. I'll have to, like... I'll put him to bed. And then it's like, we have to recap the whole day and try to figure out how we're going to do this better tomorrow. My wife is a very smart lady and I'm like, all right, you've got to help me out here.
Because one of the things she's told me is that neither me nor my two-year-old knows how to de-escalate a situation. She is correct. He goes big, I go bigger. He goes bigger, I go biggest. Like, I'm... You know, it's like I'm not going...
And she's going, you can... You're an adult. And I'm like, yeah, I'm going to win. And... So we have to work on making plans all the time, but God's plans work out.
His purpose for the world is working out. And so let's go back and begin to ask, what is His purpose? What is He doing? What are these plans that He's working out? What was the plan for the fullness of time that He purposed according to His will? Okay.
Verse 3, right at the top. Blessed to be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. That's what we spent our time on last week. Verse 4, Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before Him, in love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of His will to the praise of His glorious grace with which He has blessed us in the beloved. Alright, so here's what I want us to see. We've got it pulled up so we can just kind of look at it together.
First it says that He chose us in Him and it also says that He predestined us. So I want to highlight that. That's what God did. That He chose us in Him and He predestined us. In Him there's Jesus. So every time it says in Him it's talking about Christ.
So what it's saying is that God chose the church. That's what Paul's telling them. So again, we're trying to be Bible people. We're just trying to understand what this passage is saying and it's saying that God chose the church in Christ. That He predestined which means that before everything got started He predestined it. So if you just look at the chronology of that it says He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.
So before the world got started God was already working on this plan. He was already actively through the purpose of His will choosing the church. Now, people will explain and have explained that as what it means is that He chose to save through Christ and He chose the church in general not in specific. But in the book of Revelation chapter 17 verse 8 it says those whose names were written down in the book of life before the foundation of the world. So it actually is saying that no, God chose in specific those whom He would save before the foundation of the world.
That's what the text is saying. Now, why? What was His purpose? What was He trying to accomplish? And so it says He chose us in Him that we should be holy and blameless and He predestined us for adoption. So God's immediate goals were to make us holy and blameless and to adopt us into His family.
That was the short term goal but it keeps going. There's a bigger goal. It says to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of His will to the praise of His glorious grace. That God's choosing and saving the church that God's adopting those who would believe in Christ was to the praise of His glorious grace. His ultimate purpose was to show in the Greek it kind of originally says the glory of His grace was to show how good grace is. So we're going to spend some time there this morning.
What is grace? Why is it glorious? And why would God as He purposed the world set it up in His saving and in His work through Jesus do it to point to how glorious His grace is? There's a pastor named John Piper. He's a pastor theologian. He's written a lot of books.
He in explaining this passage said that there's two other places in the New Testament where Paul helps give a definition for grace and we're going to look at those two because I do think it is helpful. So Romans 11 we'll have it on the screen. You're more than welcome to flip there but we'll have it on the screen. Romans 11 we're going to look at verses 2 through 7. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. So He's talking at this point in the book of Romans to a church in Rome and He's talking about God's relating to Israel the people of Israel in the Old Testament and now Him working through Jesus for the church and the church is all those who place faith in Jesus.
So He said God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah that's a prophet in the Old Testament how he appeals to God against Israel Lord they have killed your prophets they have demolished your altars and I alone am left and they seek my life but what is God's reply to him? I have kept for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. So what he's he's just telling a story he's saying remember this and then he's going to apply it to the church and what he says is don't you remember when Elijah said I'm the only one I'm the only one who hasn't worshipped someone else I'm the only one who hasn't run away from you and he said what was God's response?
Who have not bowed the knee to Baal. So what he's he's just telling a story he's saying remember this and then he's going to apply it to the church and what he says is don't you remember when Elijah said I'm the only one I'm the only one who hasn't worshipped someone else I'm the only one who hasn't run away from you and he said what was God's response? No no you're not the only one
I've kept a remnant for myself I've kept a group and so then Paul says so too at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace so there's that idea again that God chooses that He because He's God chooses but He did it by grace and so now He's going to help us understand give us a definition
For grace but if it is by grace it is no longer on the basis of works otherwise grace would no longer be grace so He gives us kind of a negative definition but what He's saying is but if it is by grace it is no longer on the basis of works otherwise grace would no longer be grace if you add in works
Grace ceases that's what He's saying so like if I gave you a glass of water it's water if I add a little bit of poison is it still water I think police officers would say it was poison I've watched enough of those creepy murder shows with my wife to understand how this works a little bit of poison
Makes it poison what He's saying is grace is unadulterated like it has nothing else added to it once you add in a little bit of effort a little bit of work a little bit of here's what I did grace is no longer grace that's the definition He's giving us here so here's what's helpful
For us to see that God we may be tempted to say okay okay okay okay if the Bible says that God chooses God chose whom He would save and if it says He chose specific people then maybe God before He founded the world because He's God and He's outside of time
And just so y'all know all the timelines get really confusing when God enters in because He is outside of time like He created time so He's before it and after it and in the middle of it and so some of the logic begins to break down just so you know so if you'd like to get a headache think about that for a while but
God's outside of time but He looks forward in the future and He picks the people He likes He picks the people who have it together He picks the people who have this certain quality He picks the humble He picks the good He picks the nice He does all these kind of things but what Paul's saying is no as soon as you add in here's the thing they did here's the effort they put forth here's the quality
They had it's no longer grace so who'd He pick? people based off of nothing so far that's all that's all we've got so far there was no marker no indicator no here's who I'm going to save but Paul in another in 1 Corinthians gives us a little more of a definition that I think is helpful for us 1 Corinthians we'll look at this one again we'll highlight some stuff
In it as well for consider your calling brother so he's writing to the church and he's saying remember when you were converted remember when you became a Christian for consider your calling brothers not many of you were wise according to worldly standards not many were powerful not many were noble birth but God chose what is foolish in the world
To shame the wise God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong okay so here's why here's why God chose what He chose it says He looks at the church and says remember when you became a Christian how many of y'all had it together let's do this this is collective just sit for a minute remember when you became a Christian how many of you would say oh I was crushing it
Oh man I became a Christian at the pinnacle of life for me He's like no not many of you were smart not many of you were strong not many of you were influential not many of you were powerful He's leaving a little room maybe some of you a little bit but not many of you had it together and then He says here's what God did He chose what is foolish that's y'all that's us that's the church
To shame the wise and He chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong He keeps going go to the next section yeah God chose what is low and despised let's cross stitch that on a pillow that'll be our Bible verse low and despised not only do people not really pay attention to me and I'm very low but also I'm disliked low and despised in the world even the things
That are not to bring to nothing the things that are so that no human being might boast in the presence of God we're going to look at that bottom verse in just a second but I want to explain this real quick what He says is that God when He picked the church when He chose whom He would save when God went to work for salvation He chose the weak the small the dumb the uninfluential those who do not
Have it together in order to shame the wise to shame the strong to shame the influential that when we look in the world and we'd say these are obviously the people who have it together Jesus says well I'm not picking those I'm picking these and we're going to make them look like fools I played college football I was on the team it was my sophomore year I had a helmet I had a locker
I was moving up in the world it's big things you guys they let me have a practice jersey and cleats but what I really wanted to do was ride the bus I wanted to get something that actually let me dress because every week you'd go look at a list of names and I'd go to the piece and then I would go to my room because there was no like my name wasn't on the list and so I was working really hard just to get on a special team so I was going for kickoff and all I was on
Was on the practice squad kickoff team which means that when they were kicking off to the actual return team I got to run down and try to tackle them and I was just doing my best to try to show them you should want me to play football for you we're in film and I'm watching and I was the first one down I'm running with some fast guys like there's some guys on this team that like I I was the first one down the second time I'm the first one down the third time I mean these are just sprints we're running as fast as we can
And trying to run into someone and so I'm every single time I'm running as fast and finally the coach goes stop takes his little red pointer he goes go back he says is this Phillips Phillips I was like yes little college football butterflies I'm like yes here we go he goes Phillips look at this he shows it he says
Phillips is the first one down show the next one Phillips is the first one down show the next one Phillips is the first one down and I'm going yes here we go he's going to say Phillips well done good and faithful football player you may now ride the bus what's he say he points the pointer at everyone else and goes Phillips is the first one down y'all aren't trying he used what was slow to shame the fast he used what was weak to shame the strong he used the thing that was not
To bring to nothing the things that were like he that's what he did and that's what God does in the church that if you are a Christian you're low and despised you're weak and you're small you're nothing and then God has claimed you and here's why he gives us the negative reason and the positive reason here's the negative reason so that no human being might boast in the presence of God that on the day when Jesus Christ comes to claim
His church it will not be a group of people that rise up and say finally our goodness is on display finally our morality paid off finally our wisdom our rightness our accomplishment our suffering finally our humility has been acknowledged and we'll get to look around at those who did not have it together no no one boasts
In the presence of God he grabbed all of those who had nothing to offer nothing to display nothing to show nothing that was honorable and he saved them for go to the next the next section and because of him that's Jesus you are he's talking to the church we're in Christ Jesus and who became to us wisdom from God righteousness righteousness means right standing all that is good about us sanctification
Which means that he's slowly working out in us to make us better and redemption meaning that he bought us out of sin to set us free so that as it is written let the one who boasts boast in the Lord do you know who's magnified on the day that Jesus claims his church Jesus because nobody bought by Jesus brought anything to the table except their own sin they were low they were despised they were wicked
They were broken they were dead in sin slaves to sin and Jesus saved them and on that day we boast in Jesus that's what it says let the one who boasts boast in the Lord that as Christians our claim is that Jesus is good and Jesus is holy and he's redemption for me and he's righteousness for me and he's sanctification for me not my ability to memorize scripture not my ability to obey not my ability to be moral not what movies I have and haven't watched just Jesus not what I did do
Or didn't do or how I've repented or like it just Jesus he's what makes me good that's grace so back in Ephesians Paul says that he chose before the foundation of the world to make us holy and blameless meaning we weren't homely and blameless but he makes us holy and blameless that he predestined to adopt us meaning it wasn't just about getting rid of our sins but it was about welcoming us in bringing us into the family
That we get God out of this and he did this to the praise of his glorious grace to show how good his grace is it'd be like a little league coach who wanted to display how great of a coach he was so he let everybody else pick and said give me all the kids nobody wants and then won the tournament with them and it would be to display he's a great coach
It's kind of what God was doing on a much more massive scale when he chose the church he claimed all those who had nothing to offer nothing to show nothing that was amazing about them or glorious or awesome and then he makes them holy and blameless and brings them into his family now I think if we think about this if you're like me
You're looking at this and you're going okay I see that the Bible says that it bothers me a little bit it doesn't sit quite right with me like I get that I didn't bring anything to the table I'm not really upset by that I see the Bible says but here's the question I have and here's what I think one of the common kind of and I want to take just a minute to try to help us think through this
I think common common response is but wait we're free and if God just saves whoever he wants to save and if he actually wrote our names down and if he did it based off of nothing then that means he just chose and did what he wanted doesn't it make us not free doesn't it make us some sort of like puppets isn't this just like a big play where God's just acting stuff out
And if you didn't have that pushback I gave it to you so sorry that's a that's a that's a tension I feel I want to give two quick answers to that first one about us being puppets doesn't this just make us robots we don't get to say that because the Bible does not say that it's logically it makes logical sense to say well if God chooses then I had no choice
In the matter but the Bible doesn't let us say that and we try to get our theology from the Bible see the Bible says that you do have a choice and that your choices do matter consistently like when Jesus says he came and he began preaching repent for the kingdom of God is at hand when he says repent he means it he means see your sin
Turn when all the times where it says like choose this day whom you'll serve or God saves all those who believe in him or everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved like this call to like if you repent if you acknowledge if you turn like it it means it it's a genuine call if you just look at the book of Ephesians
There are 41 as we keep going through the book of Ephesians there are 41 direct commands meaning that Paul looks at the church and says do this make a choice change at one point he says do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God that's Ephesians 430 don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God meaning that we can act in such a way as to hurt God
At another point in Ephesians 5 he lists off a whole bunch of sins and then he says because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience so what he's saying is that it's because of our sin it's because of our rebellion God's wrath is coming one of the things the Bible makes very clear is that we have moral responsibility that our choices
Are real choices that actually matter we are not robots or puppets the Bible says very clearly that God works everything according to the purpose of his will that he he accomplishes that what he set out to accomplish that he's going to work all things in accordance with his will for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose
That he's declares the end from the beginning that he chose those whom he would save like it says that very clearly but it also says that you choose that you actively choose sin that you have actively willfully rebelled against God that you need to repent and choose to follow God like it says both of those clearly and the question
Is well how do those fit together and the Bible does not tell us that which I have one small answer and then the illustration help us picture this small answer is it doesn't perfectly fit together as frustrating as that is especially for the people who have to have it fit together we can trust
That if God were going to develop a system there's a good chance it would be more complex than what we could come up with so I'm willing to at least concede that he could come up with something better than I could come up with that would have components that are more difficult to understand than I could come up with the other
Thing and this is just an illustration to help you think about it a theologian named G.K. Chesterton said that there are some philosophies some ways of thinking about the Bible some theology some philosophies for the world that are like the moon they make perfect logical sense you can define their edges clearly you can stare at them endlessly
But they don't light everything up they make that philosophy makes perfect logical sense you can study it you can know it in and out but it doesn't light everything up he said the sun is not like that I don't know if any of y'all when you were looking at the solar eclipse learned as the sun poked its head back out that the sun even a little
Bit of it is really bright I know Donald Trump learned that the sun's really bright he stared directly into it his point about the sun what he says is the sun's not like that the sun is not easily stared at it's not
It doesn't have easily defined edges you can't just wrap the sun around like you can't do it but the sun lights everything up I think this fits into that category it's not easily perfectly understood how this fits
Together but to say that God sovereignly rules over the universe and we are free moral agents does light up all of scripture it even makes sense of some passages that that are like in Acts 2 23 Peter's preaching by the power of Holy Spirit and he says Jesus delivered up
According to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God meaning that Jesus went to the cross why because of the definite plan and foreknowledge of God that was what was going to happen and then he ends the sentence by this you crucified and killed
By the hands of lawless men definite plan and foreknowledge of God you did it in lawlessness mean open rebellion you actively chose this and it's like which is it the Bible says yes yes it is both it's in Isaiah 10 one of my
Favorite passages that perfectly displays this Isaiah 10 5-12 God tells a nation I'm going to raise you up and I'm going to use you to conquer nations and you're going to be like a tool in my hand and then he says and the whole time you're going to be arrogant and actively participating
In it and as soon as I'm done using you I'm going to punish you for your wicked sins and it's like what did they did they do it or did you do it were they a tool in your hand or were they actively choosing to sin and the Bible says yes now I'm going to be
Honest with y'all I have there are days when this is immensely comforting to me and there are days where this is very frustrating and there are times where I'm going I don't I'm wrestling with God I'm like how does this work and how does this work itself out and if that's true isn't this true and trying to study the Bible on it and
There's something that wins me over so back back in Ephesians let me let me pause before we go back to Ephesians let me say this there is there's an inclination in us to say no I'm free I'm free God can't overstep his bounds the Bible
Though does not agree with you on your freedom the way you think it would it actually says this Romans 7 14 says Paul's writing he says I know that the law is spiritual but I'm of the flesh sold under sin meaning I'm a slave Jesus says truly I say to you everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin
Ephesians 2 says we're dead in sin so this freedom that we have is actually a freedom to be dead in sin or a freedom to be a slave to sin you are absolutely free to choose to rebel against God and run in sin but in order to be set free from slavery or brought back to life you actually need Jesus to overstep
His bounds to come rescue you it's a little bit like if you were at a swimming pool and somebody drowned and the life guards got in and pulled them out and they were laid out on here and they were pale and you could see water kind of coming out of their
Eyes and nose and the life guard said can I resuscitate you may I resuscitate you go get the waiver go get the waiver he's gotta sign a waiver he's like no just he's not gonna sign a waiver resuscitate
Him that's us we're slaves in sin we're dead in sin and unless Jesus just kicks down the door and rescues us we're stuck children of wrath that's what he adopted us out of Ephesians 2 says we were children of wrath sons of disobedience
That he adopted us into his family but he had to act in order to set us free so the freedom that we like to believe that we have is not as free we actually need Jesus to set us free it's what John 8 36 is where
Jesus goes he says if you sin you're a slave to sin but if the son sets you free you'll be free indeed we actually need Jesus to go to work on us back to Ephesians as I wrestle with this and am
At times relieved and frustrated I think here's what the Bible says repeatedly that silences my frustration or calms my fears about God and his plan verse 7 talking about God working everything according to the purpose of his will this is working out perfectly and then it
Says this in him we have redemption through his blood God before the foundation of the world said I'm going to save you I'm going to carry you on my own back I'm going to take your sin into my flesh
I'm not going to sit up here and be distant from it I'm going to join you and be crushed for it and I think at times we forget that our redemption is through his blood that when God chose to adopt us he chose to adopt us in
Him that when he chose to redeem us he chose to redeem us in him that our salvation comes through Jesus who redeemed us through his blood that God's plan and mystery for the fullness of time was that Jesus Christ would be tortured suffer be punished
Be crushed would breathe his last and be laid in the tomb dead and that when I have this tension of like God are you good and how does this work and I just get to go back to the cross and say I know you love me and I know you're good I know you're for my good and that whatever this plan was
If I would like to think that maybe you could have done it differently the way you ordained it and laid it out and purposed it was that you would save us at great cost to yourself and I can trust you that's what wins me over is that we saved we're saved we're redeemed we're chosen by way of the cross at great cost
To God himself and through great pain and by his blood so there's a tension and there's some mystery but our hope will be forever in the fact that Jesus saves through the cross now when Paul wrote this his goal I don't believe was just to tell us some theology
Just to talk to us about big picture things about God he actually starts his letter here and then he works his way through the rest of it so I think here's where he was going look in verse 9 we'll read 9 and 10
Making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him things in heaven and things on earth what he's
Saying is that as God did this one of the implications of it one of the reasons behind it one of the ways that it works is that it actually unites us that he unites us with him and it unites us that everything is united in him
And that's one of the reasons Paul writes this letter to the Ephesians he talks about unity a good bit here's what he's saying if if we're saved saved by something we did then who's in who's accepted who's
Welcome those who do the thing whatever it is memorized behaved well enough we're good enough repented enough prayed enough whatever whatever whatever we kind of get zoned in on we say if you
Do this then you're in like this is what makes you in this is what makes you good this is what makes you okay
Now we know that all those who are saved will call on the name of the Lord will place faith in Jesus we're not saying that people
Are saved outside of that we are saved through Christ it's in him and nobody will be saved under any other thing here's what
Paul immediately applies this to racial prejudice it's the first thing he goes after when he's talking about unity we saw as we began this book we read in Acts
Where they had a big riot and they noticed the guy was Jewish and so they chanted great is the Artemis of the Ephesians for
Two hours these Greek people in this area in Ephesus or his skin tone or his pants I don't know what looked Jewish about
Him but they saw he was Jewish and they chanted great as Artemis of the Ephesians for two hours that's some serious racial tension
That would be like saying something was going on down at the courthouse or down at the state house and somebody showed up and
Was trying to calm them down but when they saw he was white they yelled this for two hours or when they saw he
Was black they yelled this for two hours and nobody could calm them down it's like whoa that's some that's some devoted racial tension
Because I'm not chanting anything for two hours but they did so Paul immediately applies this to racial prejudice and here's what he's saying
Here's how this works with racial prejudice cultural prejudice you like the stuff you like you appreciate the things you grew up with and
Enjoyed like there's something about your own heritage your own people group your own language your own that begins to think this is the
Best version of it we have this some with people who've moved to South Carolina from places up north and they talk to us
About like the types of bread that you can find up north or the types they miss sausage I remember I went to Virginia
And I was like y'all even have barbecue places like what is this I talked to a guy into trying to make it and
He made it and I was like this is terrible you just never mind like you made it worse you somehow made it worse
Like I don't know how you made and what Paul what made you special what saved you what what was good about you why
Were you redeemed why were you accepted what made you okay and he's standing in between them and they're saying nothing just Jesus and
He goes okay so y'all are fine you can get along because you don't have to look at anybody and say here's what makes
Me better and here's how I look down on them this is one of the things we talk about on a regular basis but
If I get all my value from hard work who has to be the bad guy lazy people they're ruining society they're destroying everything
They have to be the bad guy if I get all my value from hard work if you get all your value from your race from
Your heritage who has to be the bad guy anybody not of your race and heritage and usually just because that's too broad pick
A specific one and hate them the most if you get all of your value from being a mom who do you have to
Look down on bad moms they have to be the world's criminals in order for you to be the world's savior for you to
Be good but Paul says he stands in the middle accepted so here's what happens is this as we begin to truly believe that
We are saved by grace and grace alone here's how this begins to work Paul first applies it to racial prejudice secondly he just
Applies it to sin and he goes hard after it here's what we get to say if we believe that we're saved by grace
And grace alone guess how hard we get to be on sin infinitely aggressively insanely hard on sin I can sit you down you
Can sit me down we can sit in our community group and say what you are doing is wrong what you are doing is
Wicked what you are doing is despicable it's broken it's destroying your family it's destroying you and we can do all of that without
Condemning you you're not condemned because Jesus can save you we also get to be infinitely hopeful in the midst of our own sin in the
Midst of other sin because we believe that Jesus is who makes us okay so that when you're in the middle of sin and
You start noticing it and confessing it so one of the reasons we go really hard after it is because people don't notice it's
Going to be a train wreck it's terrible it's destructive we go hard after it as soon as they go you're right I'm a sinner I need
Help what do I do I'm a terrible person we go Jesus is great he's what makes us okay he's what invited us in he's what fixes
Us you're not more wicked than we are we just had to talk to you tonight two weeks from now y'all be talking to
Me I have a conversation like that recently in my community group where it was like this is we just believe that we're saved by grace through
Jesus that's our hope so we get to be infinitely hopeful in the midst of sin this means that we actually can be united
Our culture currently says the only way to be united is relativism that's the best thing culturally we've come up with which just means
That everybody's right everybody's welcome we're just going to be open minded everything you believe is good and welcome and open and we're all welcome
And if we'll all be relativists then we're all welcome the problem with relativism is you can only welcome other relativists relativists do not
Like me because every time I'm like no I don't believe that at all I think there are people who are definitively wrong and
There are things that are actually wrong in the world and there are actual right answers they're like you're ruining society and it's like
Well I'm no longer welcoming your club but I don't think I'm ruining society you can only be open minded the problem with open mindedness
Is it only welcomes other open minded people but the gospel means that we can say I think you're wrong I think you're causing
Problems I think this is broken and I love you I have hope for you I believe I can learn from you because I
Don't think I'm special I don't think I've accomplished anything I think I've been saved by grace so we have infinite hope in the
Midst of walking with people who are caught up in sin we have infinite hope in our own sin we believe that we can
Walk with people and be absolutely clear about the terribleness of sin and the hope in Jesus because he's what ultimately saves us and
As a bonus we just don't get to take ourselves all that seriously Christians don't take themselves that seriously because why am I a
Christian because God's really good he's got a sense of humor he chose what was low and despised and weak and dumb and here I am I'm not better than
You I'm not smarter than you I actually think you probably got it together more than I do but I just believe that Jesus saves
Sinners and I'm welcome because he's welcomed me that's the hope we have in Christ that we are saved by grace that he did how glorious and
Good he is and that we who have nothing to offer get welcomed and invited in band's going to come back up and we're going to pray and
Then we're going to sing together God we thank you for your goodness towards us that we are saved by grace that we can forever rest in the fact that we brought nothing to our salvation that we have not
Earned anything that we have not been smarter or more humble or understood it better but that we are saved purely because Jesus has become for us righteousness and redemption
And sanctification and wisdom and that on that day we'll boast in him and him alone we ask Lord that that would become so true and real to us that we would be hard on sin welcoming and gracious towards sinners that we would be open to all of those from different
Backgrounds and histories remembering that we've been brought in by you and you alone and nothing we have done or accomplished has made us okay we pray Lord that we would take you and your word very seriously and then
We'd have a really good sense of humor and a really immense joy as we follow you in life we love you we praise you in Jesus name amen and God all Jesus will one may may sell yours
Ty