Pharaoh's Hard Heart (Exodus 6:10-7:13)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Spencer. I am one of the pastors here. We're going to be in Exodus chapter 6 verse 10 through 713 as we continue to travel through Exodus together. So in college, my wife and I started dating our junior year.
So we were best friends before and we started dating February of my junior year. And it was taking a chance. Dating your best friend was serious enough. By the time the summer came along, it was even more serious. But that summer before senior year, we both spent the summer apart.
I was down in Myrtle Beach doing a summer beach project with a campus ministry and she was working for a camp. And we only got to see each other once in that period about halfway through the summer she came down and visited. That summer was big for me. I was thinking through a lot, processing a lot of bigger questions. And then about a week before she came down, I reached out to her and said, hey, listen, we need to talk. I've been thinking and processing some things and just we'll talk when you get down here.
And then the whole week, she was like, oh, no, this isn't good. Because back then, I don't know if it's still popular now, but like younger Christians would do the whole like breakup thing where it's like, I feel like God's just calling me to like a season of singleness. Or like, like over spiritualize that kind of stuff. And she's like, oh, has he gone down there for four weeks and God's worked in his heart and all of a sudden. So the whole week she's sitting on that.
And then she comes down and visits and I didn't waste any time. I said, let's go for a walk. So I went for a walk and I just said, listen, I've been I've been thinking a lot this summer and I finally have some clarity on something. For years, I've been wrestling with the sovereignty of God and man's free will. And I just I finally I don't know. I have a piece about it now.
And I just started to talk about how I got just been searching the scriptures and I finally had some peace. And she's like, what? Are you serious? She's like, I thought you were going to break up with me. I said, break up with you. Where did you get that crazy idea from?
No, I was falling in love with her. I was I was. No, that was not how that was going down at all. But I let her on and she was very upset. And it's been a joke ever since. We're a high loader with that.
But a couple of weeks ago, we were in Exodus four. And we came across this bigger theological question that showed up in 421 when it says, And the Lord said to Moses, when you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let you go. Let the let the people go. So that question I've been wrestling with is a question that many Christians have wrestled with.
When you come across passages like this, where it says he hardened the heart of Pharaoh. So what do you do with that? A couple of weeks ago, I said we didn't have the space to cover it that week. But we would in a couple of weeks. And now we are here. So we're going to take a look at this subject matter, what it means with this language of the hardening of Pharaoh's heart.
Because many Christians have wrestled with this. That if God hardens the heart of Pharaoh, if he makes Pharaoh do a thing, does that make Pharaoh responsible for his own sinful actions? Like how does that work? People ask, how is that fair? Or how is that just? These are some difficult questions to approach in the scriptures.
And this phrasing of God's heart and Pharaoh's heart shows up over and over and over again in the first half of Exodus. So it's front and center of our passage today. We're going to take a look at it. We're going to look at this passage. And then I want us to, as we work through it, take a step back. And then approach this bigger theological question in light of the rest of the story.
Now, I don't promise to resolve all the tension that's been held for 2,000 years as the church has tried to understand this. But I do believe if we take a far enough step back, we'll actually see this as really good. And we'll be able to find some peace about all of this. So, let me pray. And then we'll jump in. Heavenly Father, I pray that you would bless our time.
And your word is sharper than any two-edged sword. It pierces the division of soul and spirit, of bone and marrow. It reveals the thoughts and the tensions of the heart. God, I pray that you would use the word of God to do that in us this morning. And that we would respond in faith and worship and delighting in you. We ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen. All right, so let's jump in in verse 10. So the Lord said to Moses, Go in. Tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to let the people of Israel go out of his land. But Moses said to the Lord, Behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me.
How then shall Pharaoh listen to me? For I am of uncircumcised lips. But the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge about the people of Israel and about king of Egypt to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt. So as we saw a couple of weeks ago in Moses' calling, he has doubt. And this doubt seems to continue. He has a doubt.
He's like, how am I going to convince Pharaoh? I can't even convince the people. See, we left off in verse 9 of last week. And it said they had a crushed, a broken spirit. Because they first approached Pharaoh and then it didn't go as well. And Pharaoh afflicted heavy burdens on the people.
And now they're crushed in spirit. He's like, I can't even convince the people. He says, I'm a man of uncircumcised lips. Which is just a way of saying I have unclean lips. I'm not good enough. If I can't convince the people, how in the world am I going to convince Pharaoh?
Pharaoh. Now we know, as we're going to see next week, how God is going to convince Pharaoh through his wondrous, mighty Acts. He says, no, go to Pharaoh. And they're about to. And 10 through 30 is all one big chunk that's together. All of a sudden, it seems to come out of nowhere as a genealogy.
Which I know is everyone's favorite. It's a genealogy that just kind of shows up out of nowhere. I think a couple of reasons. I think it's there. I think it's to break up the story of Exodus. I think act 1 is the calling of Moses and him coming to Egypt.
And then act 2 is going to start with God performing his mighty, wondrous Acts. Also, this genealogy is Moses and Aaron centered. It doesn't go through all the tribes of Israel. It goes all the way up to Levi, which is the tribe of Moses and Aaron. And in a lot of Old Testament passages, it's told in the form of chiasm. That's a nerdy biblical word.
But what it is is basically this. This 10 through 30 section is Moses, then Moses and Aaron, leading up to the genealogy. Then it flows backwards, Moses and Aaron, and back to Moses, some of the exact same phrasing. So that's what's happening here in this genealogy. It's really legitimizing and verifying this is the Moses and Aaron who God used to do this. So, pick up in verse 14.
These are the heads of their fathers' houses. So, we've done genealogies before. We did it in Matthew. Genealogies are not like Ancestry.com. It's not catching every single person in the line. They're told thematically and theologically.
They're hitting major figures. And that's what happens in this because they're skipping lots of different people in the line. These are the heads of their fathers' houses. The sons of Reuben. Here's the first tribe. The firstborn of Israel.
Hanak, Paulu, Hezron, and Carmi. These are the clans of Reuben. The sons of Simeon. Jemuel. Jamin. Ohad.
Jachin. Zohar. And Shaul, the son of the Canaanite woman. Which, that's some commentary. That Shaul's dad married the wrong woman. He didn't marry Canaanite women.
Canaanites were pagans. They did things like sacrifice their children to foreign gods. That's just some commentary there. The son of the Canaanite women are the clans of Simeon. Verse 16. These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations.
Okay, so this is where we get to Moses and Aaron, their tribe. Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. The years of the life of Levi being 137 years. The sons of Gershon, Libni, and Shimei by their clans. The sons of Kohath, Amram, Mali, and Mushi. Sorry.
The sons of Kohath, Amram, Izahar, Hebron, and Uziel. The years of the life of Kohath being 133 years. Then verse 19. The sons of Merari, Mali, and Mushi. Which, those of you that want children's names and you want to alliterate your children's names. Those three are winners.
Okay. Keep going. These are the clans of the Levites according to their generations. Verse 20. Amram took as his wife Jochebed his father's sister. And she bore him Aaron and Moses.
Okay. Let me read that again one more time. Amram took as his wife Jochebed his father's sister. And she bore him Aaron and Moses. Okay. A little gross.
Okay. The Bible is not. Just being honest. The Bible sometimes is descriptive and not always prescriptive. Okay. This is before the Old Testament law that prohibits ancestral relationships.
And that is what happened here. So for those of you that were like, oh, genealogy is so boring. I bet you didn't know that Moses' mom was his great aunt. That's a thing. Which also I feel like had to be a little bit awkward in Leviticus when Moses is receiving the law from God. And we get to Leviticus 18 and it forbids ancestral relationships.
And it specifically in there lists a bunch of them. And it says, don't sleep with your aunt. I mean, that's just probably just thinking, man, I'm glad mama's gone. But daddy's a little younger. So he's going to take it real hard when he hears this.
Anyways. The years of the life of Amram being 137 years. Keep going. The sons of Izahar. Korah. This is the Korah who leads the rebellion against Moses.
Spoiler alert. It doesn't end well for him. Then we've got Nephag and Zichri. The sons of Uziel. Mishael. Elzaphon.
And Sithri. Verse 23. Aaron took as his wife Elishabah, the daughter of Amminadab and the sister of Nashon. She bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. The sons of Korah. Asir.
Elkanah. And Abiaseth. These are the clans of the Korahites. Verse 25. Eleazar, Aaron's son, took as his wife, one of the daughters of Pudiel. And she bore him Phineas.
We'll later see that Phineas, he ends a rebellion against God with zeal and a spear. These are the heads of the fathers, houses of the Levites by their clans. All right. Now we're going backwards in the Chiasm. Verse 26. These are the Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, bring out the people of Israel from the land of Egypt by their hosts.
It was they who spoke to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, about bringing out the people of Israel from Egypt. This Moses and Aaron. And then we end with Moses. Verse 28. On the day when the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, the Lord said to Moses, I am the Lord. Tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, all that I say to you.
Here's that phrasing again. But Moses said to the Lord, but behold, I'm of uncircumcised lips. How will Pharaoh listen to me? Okay. So that completes that section.
Then we move into chapter 7. Now, what I want to do first is I want to walk through the story. Walk through the story. Then we're going to come back and work through this bigger theological question of God's sovereignty and man's free will. So, verse 1. And the Lord said to Moses, see, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.
So Moses is the mediator, the prophet of God. And then he goes on to say, you shall speak all that I command you. And your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. But I will harden Pharaoh's heart. So there it is.
That's the phrasing. We're going to come back to that. And though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. So let me pause there for a second. He says signs and wonders. When you think about the ten things that happen that Moses performs to the power of God, what is the word that usually comes up in your brain?
Plagues. Plagues is only used once. That's more of how the Egyptians would have received them as plagues. It's more called five times wonders and then signs and wonders. It's just a very curious way we've learned that. Pharaoh will not listen to you.
And I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my host, my people, the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by great Acts of judgment. So he calls them my hosts, which is military language, my people, my children. And he's going to bring them out by bringing judgment on the Egyptians. Verse five. Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them. So God is going to have the showdown with Pharaoh.
With the king of Egypt. And as we saw last week, which was walking us through chapter five and chapter five, Pharaoh says this. Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? He arrogantly says that. And as we're going to see, we know exactly who this God is. And fair, you are about to find out who he is as he brings judgment.
On you and your people. Verse six. Moses and Aaron did so. They did just as the Lord commanded them. And Moses was 80 years old and Aaron 83 years old when they spoke to Pharaoh. So I mentioned this a few weeks ago and I'll mention it again.
God doesn't raise up a young, valiant, strong warrior. No, he calls Moses, who's 80 at this point, Aaron, 83. He uses men who are in the latter years of their life to accomplish his purposes. Just a really beautiful thing. So, verse eight. Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, when Pharaoh says to you, prove yourselves by working a miracle, then you shall say to Aaron, take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh that it may become a serpent.
So this is what happened at Mount Horeb. When God was showing his power to Moses. Through down the staff, it became a serpent. The serpent, which is going to be key, as it shows up here in a moment. The serpent is actually, the snake is actually a sign, a royal sign for Pharaoh. That's why sometimes we see Pharaoh tombs.
They have a snake here. This is part of the royal sign. And God is about to flex his power over this false God, Pharaoh. Verse 10. So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded.
Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants and it became a serpent. So he cast it down before the royal court, before Pharaoh. And then verse 11 says, then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers. And they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. For each man cast down a staff and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs.
So in every ancient Near Eastern royal court, a king would have different, different people in his court that had different arts. Magi, magicians, sorcerers. They had all kinds of people. And we were in teaching team this week. And Isaac, who's on our teaching team. He said, were these like, like sleight of hand?
Like almost illusionist type tricks? Or was this like dark, kind of satanic power they were tapping into to mimic, to answer what Aaron did with the staff? To which Chet said in true Chet form, it's a secret. Read the text. We don't know. We don't know if this was just sleight of hand or if this was deeper, darker satanic forces.
But they answer and counter with staffs that turned into serpents. And then as we're going to see in all of these wondrous works, God's power is greater. The snake swallows up their staffs. And then we get Pharaoh's response. Still, verse 13, Pharaoh's heart was hardened. And he would not listen to them as the Lord had said.
So, Pharaoh's heart was hardened. We are going to spend the rest of our time looking at that phrasing that shows up over and over again. So, let me state what I believe is the most biblical position on this. God, because he is the sovereign God and ruler over all things. God hardens Pharaoh's heart for his purposes. And Pharaoh is responsible for his own sinful choices.
That God, because he is the sovereign ruler over all things, God hardens Pharaoh's heart for his purposes. And Pharaoh is also responsible for his own sinful actions. Which in saying that, I know can raise some immediate questions. How do you reconcile those two statements? How does this work together? How do you understand this?
Another question that people ask is, how is this fair? How is this just? We can get to some of those questions. But in order to approach those, we have to do what we do with any question from the Bible. We have to look at the Bible and start there. What does the Bible say about this?
So, I first want to look at Exodus. And see what Exodus says. And then we're going to hopefully see what it means. So, let me put some back-to-back passages. 7.3 says, But I will harden Pharaoh's heart. That's God actively saying, I will harden Pharaoh's heart.
Then you get to verse 13 of chapter 7. And it says, Still, Pharaoh's heart was hardened. That's describing the passive state of his heart. And then in 15, it says, But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart. Now, that is Pharaoh actively hardening his own heart. So, that begs the question, which one is it?
Did God harden Pharaoh's heart? Or did Pharaoh harden his own heart? Now, folks that are uncomfortable with the idea that God hardens anyone's hearts, lean more into, no, Pharaoh hardened his own heart. That is something that I used to do for years. I was very uncomfortable with this idea that God would harden anyone's heart. That he would violate their will.
And for years, I leaned into 8.15. This passage, 8.15. It seemed to be the trump card here. But I came to realize this answer is incomplete. But there are Christians that hold to this.
The late, brilliant theologian, John Stott, once commenting on all of this, said that Pharaoh hardened his heart against God and refused to humble himself is made plain in the story. So God's hardening of him was a judicial act, abandoning him to his own stubbornness. What he just said was, is that, look, the text makes it plain. That Pharaoh hardens his own heart. So what's happening here is that Pharaoh, independent from God, is hardening his own heart.
And basically what God is doing in his justice is just letting him do it. It's pushing him into his own, let him go into his own stubbornness. And that is something that I would have defended years ago because that certainly fit the philosophical understanding of how God works with our will. But the problem is, that's not what Exodus says. That's not what Exodus says. And that argument ignores the rest of the scriptures because that's not how the scriptures treat Pharaoh.
Pharaoh certainly hardens his own heart. He does. Absolutely. But he does so because God ordained it to be that way. So to answer the question, did God harden Pharaoh's heart?
Or did Pharaoh harden his own heart? Yes. Both are true. But Pharaoh's hardening of his own heart doesn't negate the fact that God's plan was to harden his heart all along. But this is the plan from the start.
It was God's plan to bring judgment upon Egypt. He was not waiting for Pharaoh to make the first step. This was the plan all along. And we caught this as early as chapter 3 in Exodus in Moses' calling in verse 19 when it says, But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I, God, will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it.
After that, he will let you go. God says, I know that Pharaoh will not let you go unless compelled by my mighty hand. And when I've performed all of the wondrous Acts that I'm going to perform, I will make him let you leave. Then you will be free to go. And that picks up and continued in chapter 4. Verse 21.
And the Lord said to Moses, When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power, but I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. God is going to harden his heart. Now, some folks will try to play word games with that word harden. Some will say, Oh, that's just poetic language. It's not meant to be interpreted literally. Others will say, Well, actually, the Hebrew word for harden here, when it's used in other places, means to strengthen or to encourage.
So, for that first argument, this is not poetic language at all. That's the weakest argument there is. This isn't poetry. This is historical recounting. It is not poetic. And the second, it says, Well, the Hebrew word, when it's used elsewhere, means strengthen or encourage.
There are actually two Hebrew words for harden in Exodus. The way it's used in 7-3, but I will harden Pharaoh's heart. That word for harden only, always, means to harden, to stiffen. That's only how it's used. Now, the second word for harden, look at 7-13, it says, Still, Pharaoh's heart was hardened. That's the one that folks will play word games with because it is true.
When that is used outside the book of Exodus, it can mean to strengthen or to encourage. However, even if you take that meaning of strengthen or encourage and bring it into this passage and the other passages that's used in Exodus, what is Pharaoh being strengthened or encouraged to do? He's being strengthened or encouraged to disobey God's command to let the people go. That's what's happening here. That is why every single English translation I could find for 500 years of English translations, all of them translated the same. Harden.
Harden. Harden. Every single one. So, in 4-21, God tells Moses that he's hardening the heart of Pharaoh. That ultimately, Pharaoh's going to resist the command of God and he's going to bring wrath on and judgment on the Egyptians. And then you can go through the rest of Exodus and how this is used.
In 7-3, it says, I will harden Pharaoh's heart. That's God talking. In 7-13, it says, Pharaoh's heart was hardened. 7-14, Pharaoh's heart is hardened. Then in 8-15, it says, Pharaoh hardened, he hardened his heart.
That's Pharaoh actively hardening his own heart. Then in 8-19, but Pharaoh's heart was hardened. Then we get two more uses. We're in 8-32, it says, but Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also. And then it says in verse 34 of chapter 9, he, talking about Pharaoh, hardened, he sinned yet again and hardened his heart. So showing, Pharaoh hardening his heart, sinning against God.
Then, the rest of the story, 9-12, but the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh. 10-20, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart. 10-27, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart. 11-10, and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart. 14-4, I will harden Pharaoh's heart. 14-8, the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh.
14-17, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so they will go in after them. So not just Pharaoh, but the Egyptians too. Only three times does it mention that Pharaoh actively hardened his own heart. The rest is a mountain of evidence that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh for his own redemptive purposes. God is in control of the situation and it is going to come out in the way that he ordains it to be. Over and over and over again, Exodus tells us that God hardened Pharaoh's heart.
And then when you get to Exodus 9, as God is pouring out his judgment through signs and wonders on the Egyptians, this is what 9-16 says, but for this purpose, this is God talking, I have raised you up, to show you my power, show Pharaoh my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. God raised up Pharaoh so that God might display his power through judgment on a regime that has enslaved his people for 400 plus years. That all the earth would know the power of God. That's the rest of the Old Testament right there. Looks back to the event of Exodus. The surrounding nations of Israel and then the promised land, they know who this God is because of what he did to Pharaoh and to Egypt.
And that theme flows throughout the rest of the Old Testament. And it shows up over and over and over again. God, because he is the sovereign king, the ruler over everyone and everything, God hardens Pharaoh's heart for his purposes. And Pharaoh is responsible for his own sinful actions. And the Bible teaches that over and over again. Which can still leave us staggering, lingering with questions.
How do you reconcile those two statements? How do you reconcile those two truths? How does that work? Some will say, how is that fair? How is that just? And for many, that's not an academic question.
It's not. For many, that's not a question that gets debated in coffee shops and ivory tower conversations. There are real faces and real stories and real people attached to that question. You have sons and daughters and brothers and sisters. You have friends and neighbors and family and co-workers, people that you love. That's not an academic question for many at all.
It's a personal one. And when you have that greater theological question and you fast forward and say, what does that mean for our own salvation? What does that mean for us? Then you get to the New Testament. Then you get to the book of Romans chapter 9.
And in chapter 9 of Romans, God, through Paul, uses Exodus and Pharaoh to explain how this works as it relates to our own salvation. So what does all this hardening language in Exodus mean? And the New Testament gives the answer. Verse 14, chapter 9, Romans. What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part?
By no means. The forceful by no means. God is not unjust. And then he gives an example. 4, verse 15. 4, he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.
So then, verse 16, it depends not on human will or exertion but on God who has mercy. Does it depend on the will of man? It depends on the mercy of God. Verse 17, 4, the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this purpose I have raised you up that I might show my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. That's quoting what we just read in Exodus 9. Verse 18, so then, he has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens he hardens whomever he wills.
So what do you do with that unbelievably difficult teaching? I have four biblical truths to end with. I have four biblical truths that would be helpful for us to humbly submit to and believe in light of all of this in Exodus and all of this teaching in the scriptures. Here's the first. We are responsible for our own sin. The Bible makes that abundantly clear.
We are responsible for our own sin. Just because God is sovereign over everyone and everything and God chooses us to harden whom he hardens and give mercy to whom he gives mercy to that does not absolve us of human responsibility. We are responsible for his own sin. You saw that in Exodus 9. In Exodus 9, 34 it says, but when Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and the thunder had ceased he sinned yet again and hardened his heart he and his servants. It's taught in Exodus.
He's responsible for his own sinful actions. And then you get to the New Testament. James 1. James 1 says, let no one say when he's being tempted, I am being tempted by God for God cannot be tempted and he himself can't be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one. And then he goes on to make it clear that each person is tempted when he's lured and enticed by his own desire. His own desire.
We are responsible for our own sin. Our own sin tempts us. God does not. 1 John 1.5 says, this is the message that we have heard from him and proclaimed to you that God is light. In him there is no darkness at all. There is no sin in God.
And he does not tempt and lure anyone into sin. The Bible makes that clear and abundantly clear. We are still responsible for our own sin. God does not make us sin. We sin and incur condemnation all on our own. That's the first biblical truth that we should humbly submit to.
The second is this. It is God's divine right to be sovereign over us. It is God's divine right to be sovereign over us. God is God and we are creatures. He made us. He rules over us.
Now, as Western Americans who celebrate freedom, independence, autonomy, as a birthright, that's what we celebrate as Americans. It is a birthright that we are free, autonomous, independent, human beings. We don't like that teaching at all. It's not something we're naturally accepting of. But God is God and he rules over us.
We are not autonomous. We are not independent. We are not free. The Bible makes this argument very clearly. You are either a slave to your own sinful desires. That you either obey your own sinful flesh and follow it to where it goes or you are a slave of God.
That God is your master. And in servitude to God there is joy and gladness and unbelievable blessings. But there is no middle ground. You are either a servant of one or the other. You are not free. And part of us wants to object and say, how is that fair?
Some will even use the language, I can't believe in a God who would work like this. I can't believe in a God who would do this. How? How can these two truths coexist? And God's answer to that is also in Romans 9. Pick up where I left off in Romans 9.
This is how God answers that. You will say to me then, why does he still find fault? Why does he still find faultness? For who can resist his will? That's the question that we have. Verse 20.
Here's the answer. But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Well, what does molded say to its molder? Why have you made me like this? Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? So God answers us.
He says, who are you, a mere pot, to question the infinite potter? Who are you, limited by design, human, to answer the infinite God? the response here is humility, humble yourself, you are a pot. That's fairly blunt. And the reality is, and the Bible also teaches this, that if you want fairness, and I think fairness in the way that people mean nowadays, which there really means justice, you want fair. Fair is that everyone gets condemnation, and everyone gets the wages of sin, which is death. Everyone gets hell. because everyone is responsible for their own sinful actions.
And I know how that sounds to some of you. I know. Like, I know the part of you that's like, I just know. Like, I used to rage against arguments like this. I could not for the life of me reconcile how God could be completely sovereign and we're responsible for our own, how does that work? And for me, it was not an academic exercise.
In the slightest, I had family that did not believe, I had friends that did not believe. Like, I understand that the inner turmoil of the soul and trying to wrap our minds around this, and then something just clicked in a way that's not unique to me at all. It has clicked for millions and millions of followers of Christ when they finally have discovered this third truth that I would encourage you to humbly submit to, and that is this, God's sovereignty and man's free will is a mystery to behold. God's sovereignty and man's free will is a mystery to behold. So the question is, how do you reconcile those two ideas?
We don't have to. We don't have to. You know why? Because we're not God. We don't have to know how all this works. We don't have to know.
It is a mysterious paradox that we're never meant to understand. A paradox is two seemingly contradictory ideas, two seemingly opposed truths that happen to both be equally true. Both of those are biblically true. They may seem contradictory, they are not. We don't know how it all comes together, and we don't have to. It is not a puzzle for mere human minds to solve.
It is a mystery that we're meant to behold. And wrestling with it and trying to understand it is like looking at the sun and trying to behold the sun for all of its power. That's what J.K. Chesterton says about mysteries. Sometimes it's like you're trying to understand the sun and all of its power and you look at it and it's blinding you. It's too much.
You can't take it in, but if you just would look at everything else, the sun lights up. Just behold the sun for what it is and its power and just look at everything else, then everything else will be seen more clearly. If you try to understand this mysterious truth and behold it and try to quantify it, it blinds you. But if you just would look at the Christian life with that lens and just accept the mystery, everything else is more clear. It is a mystery to behold and if you can arrive at that conclusion, then I submit to you a fourth truth that I think is beautiful. The sovereignty of God is meant to lead us to worship.
Four, the sovereignty of God is meant to lead us to worship. We don't have to try to reconcile everything, we don't have to counter debates. And even for those of you that may accept this, there's an arrogance that comes with it that tries to dogmatically go after other people. That is not what this is meant for. It is meant to humble us in worship. It is meant to humble us in worship.
The opposite of a hardened heart is not free will or volition, it is God's mercy. It is the mercy of God. That's what Romans 9 taught for. He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it depends not on human will or exertion but on God who has mercy.
The opposite is mercy. And those that want to reject this, I just would humbly submit to you, we don't need free will, we need the mercy of God. And when you realize that beautiful truth, in light of our own salvation, that is when you see how merciful our God is. The path of redemption and spiritual Exodus was not found by God taking judgment on Pharaoh, ultimately it's found in taking judgment on himself at the cross. And then when he takes judgment on himself on the cross and he conquers death at the empty tomb, he redeems and he shows mercy over and over and over again. And he pours out mercy on those who don't deserve it by his own sovereign choice.
I understand how that's hard to hold in your head. I do. Let me ask you this. A lot of times you'll see Christian families. They're a wonderful, Jesus-loving husband and a Jesus-loving wife. And they have two kids.
And they raised those kids in the exact same Christian household. Those kids heard the same teachings. They sat under the same Bible stories at night. They sang the same hymns. They were part of the same kids' ministries, the same student ministries. Their mamas prayed.
Their mama prayed every day for both of them that they both might taste and see that the Lord is good and abide in him forever. They are raised in almost the exact same ways. And you will watch one who furiously follows Christ and serves the kingdom of God. Another one rejects him outright. What do you do with that? What's the difference?
Was the other one more, were they wiser? Were they smarter? Were they morally better? No. It is the mercy of God. And when you realize how beautiful that truth is and how merciful our God is, you just get to worship.
You stop trying to figure all this out and you just say, thank you, Jesus. I don't know why you saved me. I don't know why you showed me mercy, but I'm going to praise you and worship you. And that's what we get to do now.
Proclaim the Gospel
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning. My name's Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. Grab your Bibles and go to Romans 1. That's where we'll start this morning, although we are going to look at a lot of different passages. We're in the second week of our All Nations series.
Last week, we looked at this map. Not that one. Not that map. And what we said was, that's a map. It's from Joshua Project. I would encourage you, you can go to their website and check it out.
You can also go to the IMB's website. They have similar maps. But that is showing unreached people groups. It's a map of unreached people groups. And as we talked about this, we stated three problems that David Platt listed, and we read through them. And it's over three billion people are currently unreached by the gospel.
That was problem number one. Now, unreached does not mean that over three billion people are not Christians or not believers. Unreached means that they don't have access to the gospel. As we said last week, it's unreached does not communicate to you someone standing before God, but their access to the gospel. And so these unreached people groups don't have churches around them, don't have the Bible in their language, don't have any sort of evangelical presence where people are trying to proclaim the gospel to them. Now, this is a map.
Yeah, you don't have to go back. I just forgot that it wasn't going to be there for a second. This is a map done by evangelicals. So there are places on the map that maybe have some Catholicism or some of the Orthodox Church or whatever. But this is just saying these are places where we don't know of anybody proclaiming salvation by faith, by grace in Christ.
We just don't we don't have that at this point. We said the second problem is that the church is practically ignoring the people in places most unreached by the gospel. That ninety nine percent of funds that go to missionaries goes to areas in the green and yellow and three percent and ninety seven percent of missionaries go to the green and yellow, which means that only one percent of money and three percent of missionaries are making it to the most unreached peoples. And we said the third problem was that the number of unreached people is higher today than ever before and will continue to increase until the church decides to change.
The number of unreached people is higher today than ever before and will continue to increase until the church decides to change. This is what we looked at last week. So look at the map again. We said we've got to go. The church has to get to the red area and the red area is difficult to get to. Unreached peoples are unreached for a reason.
They don't want to be reached. They're hostile to the gospel. Their governments don't want Christians there or they're just in really difficult locations. They're hard to get to. And so as we talked about this last week and we said that there's something needs to change. And the church, when I say we, I mean the church, but we're a part of the church.
But the global church has to begin to pursue these areas. We have to change where our money goes. We have to change where our missionaries go. But one of the things that that gets is kind of a natural response. I find that there's there's two. One of the first natural responses is this general.
That's awful. And I don't want to think about that too much. Because I don't really want to have to change what I'm doing. I don't. Oh, man, that's that's terrible. Please let us leave so I can go to lunch and try to think about something else.
I mean, that really is kind of it's a natural that if I think about it too much, the Lord might tell me to do something. If I pray about that, that he would call people, he might call me. So I don't know how like it there's that's part of it. And we've got to overcome that. But one of the other responses is just kind of a is that really how it works?
Like we said last week. That there are three point one eight billion people in unreached people groups. in the 1040 window and that many of them will be born. We'll live and we'll die and we'll have never heard the gospel, never heard the name of Jesus. But they'll live many of them in really hard places, that they'll live in a functional earthly hell, and then they will enter into an eternal reality without Christ. that they'll live in an earthly hell and go to an eternal hell. And one of the responses that is that really how is that really how it works? Is that is that fair?
So I want to address two questions that I think are genuine, come from genuine places as people consider the vast amount of lostness in the church's need to address it. The first one that we're going to look at is doesn't God have a plan for those who never hear? Another way of putting that is how is it fair for people to go to hell for not hearing about Jesus? Maybe a way you've heard it put is does the innocent person in India really go to hell because they never had a chance to hear about Jesus? Is that really how it works? How is that fair?
That's the first we're going to look at. We're going to try to walk through that idea. And the second one is this. If we believe in election, if we believe in the doctrine of election, if we believe, like Ephesians says, that God chose us in him before the foundation of the world, or as we looked in Revelation, that he's already purchased people. We said last week he's purchased people out of every tribe, tongue, language, nation, people group that we that they belong to him and that we can go. If we really believe that.
Isn't God just going to do what he's going to do? I mean, I got a lot going on. Can I just be trying to follow him here and just trust that God's going to do what he's going to do? If we really believe that, do we really have to hustle? I think those are two questions. I think those are two big questions.
I think those are two genuine questions. And we are going to try to trace out an answer to both of those this morning. And that's, we've got all of our work cut out for us to try to talk through both of those this morning. Both of them could have their own Sunday. They could have their own series. They could get their own books.
They're worth looking at and considering. We're going to try to give brief responses, almost the beginning of a response, to try to help us start in the direction of this is how the Bible responds to that. And we can talk more as we go if these are genuine things you struggle with. But we're going to try to trace out an answer to both of those. So we all got to put our adult pants on and get to moving this morning.
So let's pray for the Lord to help us. And we're going to read through this this morning. So, Lord, we ask for your grace. We pray that you would give us ears to hear and hearts to hear. That we might trust your word and trust your goodness. And that you might help us to respond in faith and faithfulness.
In Jesus' name, amen. First question. Doesn't God have a plan for those who never hear? Or how is it fair for people to go to hell for not hearing about Jesus? Or does the innocent person in India really go to hell because they never had a chance to hear about Jesus? The first thing that we need to see from the scriptures, I believe, is that no, the innocent person in India does not go to hell.
The problem is there is no innocent person in India. The Bible tells us that there are no innocent people. There's no innocent people in Yemen. There's no innocent people in Casey. Romans 1. We'll look at verse 18.
We're going to look at Romans 1, Romans 2, Romans 3, and then we'll look in Ephesians 1 at the passage we just read together a second ago. Romans 1. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Meaning that in our sin, we fight against what is real. We fight against what is true. For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them.
For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made. And this next part is key. So they are without excuse. That God has displayed his godness, his divinity, his greatness in creation. And that in creation what we do is we see that and reject it wholesale. Humanity rejects God's glory in creation.
That in our sin and our unrighteousness we suppress this. He goes on to say that we then elevate other things. But he says this. We'll read verse 21. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. That we choose darkness.
That we can see and perceive the glory of God in creation and that humanity rejects that. And so therefore, God's glory displayed in creation is effective only to help us reject him and to make a conscious choice to elevate something else or ourselves and to be darkened. And we are without excuse. Romans 2 verse 12. He says it this way. As he's talking to both Jewish people about Jewish people and Gentiles and he's trying to show them that even the law, understanding the law doesn't help and not having the law doesn't help.
He says, for all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. And all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. So he's talking to Jewish people and saying, y'all have the law and all that's going to do is condemn you and they don't have the law and all that's going to do is condemn them. That it's effective for them to perish without it because sin is sin and we've all sinned. Romans 3 verses 10 through 12. As it is written, none is righteous, no not one.
No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good. Not even one.
That our position before God is a position of rebellion and rejection and there is no innocence globally. Or as Ephesians 1 says, as Paul's talking to the church, we read this just a second ago and it gets really encouraging, but it starts very discouraging as it's talking to Christians. But this is the state of humanity without Christ. It says, you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.
That is humanity before God, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, desires of the body and the mind, children of wrath. That's mankind without Christ. As you begin to wrap your head around this, one of the first things that we want to say, that I want to say, that I used to say, was that seems very unfair. It goes against my general sense of fairness, which we've developed very, very young. Nobody really had to teach you fairness. You would yell, that's not fair.
We were doing something yesterday, and my younger son yelled at his older brother, he's cheating, he's breaking the rules. And we were participating in something that was not a competition, and had no rules. He just suddenly decided, what you have done is wrong. You've broken a rule. He was asked, what rule? And he said, I don't know.
I could just, I could sense it. But we have this sense of fairness, and our two kind of understandings of fairness are fairness of outcome. Everyone gets a treat. Everyone gets a trophy. And we feel this. If you sit a bunch of children down, and you hand out marshmallows, and then you just skip two of them, there's this sense of, oh, you forgot my mom.
I need a marshmallow. And you say, no, you just don't get them. It's like, this is very unfair. There's fairness of outcome, and fairness of opportunity. Everyone who works gets a marshmallow. Well, you didn't do your chores.
You don't get a marshmallow. That feels fair to us. So we have fairness of outcome, and fairness of opportunity. And when we look at the scriptures on this, we say, well, this doesn't feel like it fits either. It doesn't feel like this fits. Either sense of fairness.
Fairness of outcome, we all get the same thing. Or fairness of opportunity, we all get the opportunity to hear the gospel, and reject the gospel. If I knew that everybody would hear the gospel, and reject the gospel, that would feel more fair to me. If everybody would be told that Jesus will save them from their sins, and they would actively choose to reject Christ, that feels fair. Or if we all end up with the same outcome, that feels fair. And the response to this is, I don't think it is either one of those versions of fair.
And Paul, in addressing this in Romans 9, says, is there any injustice in God? So he moves it out of fairness to injustice. He says, no. And the reason he gives in Romans 9, is that God chooses to have mercy. That's very helpful for us to see. He says, there's no injustice.
There's mercy. Because the problem is, we're standing looking at this backwards. The question of the scriptures, is not, why does God not save some? It's, why does God save any? And the answer is, mercy. So it isn't fair, because fairness, is that we are all destroyed, dead in our sins.
What we receive from God, is grace, and mercy. And there is no injustice, because he pays the debt, of those whom he redeems, and pours out grace, and mercy. So the response to this, is to say, thank you Jesus, that I know this, that you in your grace, have redeemed me, that you have offered me mercy. Even if you aren't, a Christian, and you're just checking this out, or you've been around for a while, and you're not sure, how you feel about this, I want you to understand, the grace, and the mercy of God, that you have even been able to hear, that Jesus Christ, offers you salvation, if you will follow him.
Because, there's people all around the globe, that don't even get that, news. So, there's a logical argument, that helped me, because I used to feel this, I'd say, well it feels like, and I would just say, well maybe God does something, maybe God has some kind of plan, for those who don't hear, maybe God, you know, and it's this idea, it's what's called inclusivism, which is this idea that, you know, Jesus has died to save us, from our sins, and there's no salvation, outside of Christ, but maybe God works, in some way, for those who've never heard him, and he just includes them. As long as they've never heard, he just brings them along. But I heard a logical argument, I read it in a book, and it helped me, because it pokes a hole right in that, and what he said was this, if you never hear about the gospel, and by never hearing, you're automatically included, if we believe those are true, then the absolute worst thing, we can ever do to someone, who has never heard about Jesus, is tell them about Jesus.
If we were standing somewhere, and there were people, refugees, pouring off of an airplane, and we saw someone, going to tell them about Jesus, and we knew they'd come from some place, that had never heard the name of Christ, what we should do, if it's true, that they're automatically in, for never hearing the name of Christ, we should not run over, and tell them about Jesus, we should run over, and punch the people, who were trying to. Because all they're going to do, is increase the odds, that this person will reject Jesus, they're fine without him, but if they hear about him, they might reject him. If that's true, then 1040 Hope, is a despicable organization, and Empower One, who we're going to get to talk with, later today, should be removed from our building. We should not call ourselves, send, in the Baptist church, we should refer to it as stay, it should be like three S's, stay, shut up, the reality is, it's insane to think, that you would come to the scriptures, and come to the conclusion, that the worst thing I could do, is share the gospel with somebody, when we are told, explicitly, consistently, that they need to hear.
In the Baptist church, we should refer to it as stay, it should be like three S's, stay, shut up, the reality is, it's insane to think, that you would come to the scriptures, and come to the conclusion, that the worst thing I could do, is share the gospel with somebody, when we are told, explicitly, consistently, that they need to hear. What is, what happens to those, who never hear? The answer is, they are not held accountable, for not hearing, they are held accountable, for their sin. We are not condemned,
For our lack, of hearing the gospel, we are condemned, for our choosing, to reject God, rebel, against him, and the Bible is clear, that it is the gospel, proclaimed, that people need, if you look at Romans 10, love this passage, after Paul, in Romans 9, and if you have concerns, about this, questions about this, read Romans 9, spend some time there, but after Paul, discusses this idea, that God has mercy, and there is no injustice,
In him, he then says this, how then, oh verse 13, for everyone, who calls on the name, of the Lord, will be saved, and I want you to see that, if you have not placed, your hope in Jesus, I want you to know, that everyone, who calls on the name, of the Lord, will be saved, he will not fail, to save anyone, who comes to him, and asks for salvation, and forgiveness, you aren't too far gone, you aren't too sinful, you aren't too broken,
You aren't too anxious, you aren't too messed up, everyone, who calls on the name, of the Lord, will be saved, but then he says this, how then, will they call, on him, in whom they have not believed, so you have to believe, in him, to call on him, how are they to believe, in him, of whom they have never, heard, so he's addressing, this question right now, how will they, believe if they've never heard, he says, how are they to hear,
Without someone preaching, and how are they to preach, unless they are sent, as it is written, how beautiful, are the feet of those, who preach the good news, there are people, who have not heard, there are people, who do not, have not called on him, because they have not believed, and they need to believe, and in order to believe, they need to hear, and in order to hear, somebody's got to go, tell them, in order for them to go, God sends them, and the church, sends them, Paul when he's writing this,
He's going to end by saying, I'm going to come visit y'all, and y'all are going to send me to Spain, I hope to be helped, and sent along by you, to Spain, meaning that the church, sends and goes, and that somebody's got to proclaim, this message, because John 14 6 says, I am the way, and the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the father, except through me, that there is hope of salvation, but it's in the name of Christ, it's in the work of Christ, and it's in those sent by Christ, to proclaim the name, and the work of Christ, we've got to go, second question,
Again that is not, a full answer, but I think it is a helpful answer, second question, is if we believe in election, isn't God just going to save, who he's going to save, isn't God just do, what he's going to do, when we talk about election, I know for some of us, we immediately freak out a little bit, but that's just because, you're an American, and elections are stressful, but when the Bible talks about election, here's the idea, that it's coming with, just try to define, what I'm talking about, Ephesians 1 said, even as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, meaning that God did choosing,
He chose, his prerogative, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and blameless before him, in love he predestined, predestined means destined, is the end, pre is the beginning, so he predestined, us for adoption to himself, as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, not ours, to the praise of his glorious grace, meaning that he offers grace, 1 Corinthians 1 26 29, says it this way, for consider your calling brothers, not many of you were wise, according to worldly standings, again it's a calling, not many were powerful, not many were of 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, God chose, what is 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, this idea that we would not, stand in front of him and go, I'm the one who chose, I'm the one who figured it out, I'm the one who sought, I'm the one who, that's not how it works, we don't boast in his presence, Romans 9, though they were not yet born,
And had done nothing, either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election, might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls, or as Jesus says in John 6, no one can come to me, unless it is granted him by the father, so the question is, if that's true, why the hurry, what's all the fuss about, I got personal things, I got to work on, can't we just do, what we're supposed to here, well the Bible, turns that attitude on its head, in an extremely encouraging way, the Bible doesn't say, that election slows down, our drive for mission, it says election,
God's redeeming of those, whom he will redeem, by his grace, drives our mission, Acts 18, I love this passage, Paul's in Corinth, facing opposition, and Jesus says, the Lord said to Paul, one night in a vision, do not be afraid, but go on speaking, and do not be silent, keep proclaiming this message, for I am with you, no one will attack you, to harm you, that's good, because sometimes that's not true, for Paul where he's in places, so if he says that, it's like sweet, for I have many in this city,
Who are my people, you keep proclaiming this message, there are people, who are going to be saved, they belong to me, do not stop talking, you continue, you press on, you don't be afraid, you stand strong here, because we're about to do something, in Corinth, and there are people here, who are mine, I want to read, two quotes, about this idea, from two people to us, who are well known, helpful theologians, one's an African pastor, his name's Christian Lawanda, maybe we don't know him that well, I heard a sermon,
We preach, and he said this, and I felt, it was helpful, he says, preaching is not just a command, this idea that we're to go, proclaim this message, that we're to teach the word, that we're to call people, he says, it's not just a command, it is a divine honor, that we get to participate, in what God is doing, it's not just a command, it's a divine honor, and the well known theologian, George Garcia, who's one of our community group leaders, he said it this way, God's people are out there, we know that, via scripture,
And he has strictly, and graciously, commanded us to go and speak for him, what a wonderful, undeserving opportunity, that is, strictly, and graciously, commanded us to go, and speak for him, what a wonderful, undeserving opportunity, that is, they're there, they belong to him, we get to, go, we have to go, and we get to go, by God's grace, that's the way, the Bible treats it, Acts 13, 48,
Says when the Gentiles, heard this, they began rejoicing, and glorifying, the word of the Lord, and as many, were as appointed, to eternal life, believed, they went, and proclaimed this message, and as many, who were supposed to believe, believed, as many, who were as appointed, to this, believed, which means that, we have the freedom, to proclaim, trusting God, and his sovereignty, to work out,
His gracious work, to redeem, that we get to proclaim, this message, and people will respond, why should you be aggressive, in sharing the gospel, with the people at your gym, because those who are going to believe, are going to believe, and you need to, you need to talk to them, why can you pray, and plead for the people, in your office, and why can you talk to them, and why can you go out on a limb, to share the gospel with them, because some of them, are going to believe, why can you knock on doors, in your neighborhood, people don't do that anymore, well,
People don't have a wonderful message, to share with people, get to know your neighbors, invite them to your home, have a cookout, offer them breakfast, give them coffee, and tell them about Jesus, and why can we do this, why do we go out of our way, to do this, because there are going to be people, who believe, because God has chosen, in his grace, to redeem, and we get to participate, that's what Paul says, in 2 Timothy 2 10, therefore, I endure everything, for the sake, of the elect, that they also,
May obtain the salvation, that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory, I love that, he says, I endure everything, for the sake of the elect, so that they might, obtain, salvation that is in Christ Jesus, why would we go, why would we spend our money, why would we spend our time, why would we spend our energy, here and there, why would you, who don't want to talk to anybody, talk to somebody, who you've never met, why would you endure that, so that the elect, might obtain the salvation, that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory,
Why would you change your budget, to support missionaries, why would you endure that, so that the elect, might obtain the salvation, that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory, why would we learn a new language, why would we translate the Bible, in that language, why would we spend the money, and the effort, and the lives, to get to a place, where people don't want us, why would we endure that, so that those who belong to Jesus, will obtain, salvation, and joy, and hope, and glory, in Christ, if you believe,
In the doctrine of election, that does not slow you down, that spurs you on, if we believe, that God is going to redeem, then we go with confidence, not trepidation, if we believe, that there is hope, of salvation, for those, in every tribe, in every language, in every nation, in every people, that they will all be gathered, around the throne, then we go, to every tribe, and to every language, and to every people, and every nation, why, so that they also,
Might obtain, the salvation, that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory, why will we endure it, because we have brothers, and sisters, who are going to belong to us, and to the king forever, and how will they hear, if no one preaches, and how will they preach, if they aren't sent, so we go, with joy, and delight, and confidence, in the glory of a good God, who redeems, what, doesn't God have a plan, for those who have never heard, yes, it's his church,
That we would be obedient, and go, trusting in his sovereignty, to redeem, and to save, because he's good, it's John 10, 27, where Jesus is speaking, he says, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, so we go, and we proclaim, here, and there, knowing that Jesus, is going to work, and bring about, redemption, the band's going to come back up, and this morning, together,
As a church, we're going to take, communion, we're going to celebrate, that Jesus Christ, died to save, sinners, that we were, like the rest of mankind, children of wrath, that we were, guilty before God, that we were, undeserving of grace, that's the reality, not that God is unfair, in condemning sinners, but that God is unfair, in saving us, that he's merciful, he's not unjust, he's good, and that if we can sit, for a moment,
And know the level, of our sin, and wickedness, and sit for a moment, and clearly see, into our own hearts, how despicable we are, and be overwhelmed, that God would look upon us, to tell us of his son, to pour his love, and his grace on us, and that we might celebrate, one more time together, that Jesus Christ, died to save sinners, and that one day, he's coming back to claim us, that's what communion is, that his body was broken for us, that his blood was shed for us, that our sins are covered, by his work, not ours,
And that we stand, in the middle of two points, two points in eternity, that Jesus Christ came, and he died, and that one day, he returns, to rescue, and reclaim his people, and we have just a little bit, of time here, where we proclaim, his death until he comes, and that's a reality, that we're doing, when we take communion, and that's what our lives, are supposed to look like, that we proclaim his death, until he comes, that Jesus Christ, died to save sinners, so we participate, in his goodness,
In his grace, knowing that he works, to redeem, and to save, so I would, have you take a moment, to consider your sin, to consider, the grace, of your savior, and then to consider, all those in the world, who have not heard, this news, and to ask the Lord, that we might be people, who care, that we might be people, who see that, and that are willing, to change our lives, that we would not, one day stand before him, and have our money,
And our time, declare to us, and declare to him, that we were good Americans, who lived lives, of luxury and comfort, and failed to see, the glory of joining him, in his gracious, eternal mission, but that we would be people, who look like we believe this, so by God's grace, we're going to celebrate, that he saved sinners, both us, with hope, to proclaim his death, until he comes, if you are not a Christian, communion is not for you, this is something, that Christians partake in, taking very seriously,
The work of Christ, on our behalf, if you are not a Christian, I would invite you, to call on his name, and to be forgiven, and redeemed eternally, now, because all who call, in the name of Jesus, will be saved, let's pray, God I pray, that it would be true, for us, that when somebody, asked us, to give an account, for our lives, to give receipts, to explain, why we live, and work the way we do, that we would be able,
To answer in chorus, with Paul, I endure everything, for the sake of the elect, that they may, obtain salvation, in Christ, that by your grace, and the empowerment, of your spirit, that that would make sense, of our lives, God we thank you, that you have, mercy, that you do not leave us, in our sin, and our wickedness, and our rebellion, that you do not leave us, in a place, where we hated you, and love to everything else, so Lord,
As we take communion, this morning, we praise your name, that you are good, and merciful, you, to help us, and we should steadfasten, and both of us, and remaining, as we may as well, and for the sake of the most, as we may as well, as we may as well, as we may as well, as we may as well, as we may as well, and ouraaloo account, and the sign, as we may as well, as we may as well, and almost as we may be,
Empower One Interview with David Taylor
Sola Gratia
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
O worship the King, all glorious above, and gratefully sing His wonderful love. Our children defender the Ancient of Days, a billion in slender and burdened with praise. Good morning. My name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. I have a super fun announcement to make.
It seems that our restrooms in the lobby have been going a little crazy this morning. So if you need to use the restroom, you can go check it out. Maybe this situation has resolved itself in the last ten minutes. If it has not, there will be somebody to direct you to a different part of the building. You're welcome. Okay.
So we are in our five solas series, taking a break from walking through books of the Bible to look at the five anthems of the Protestant Reformation. The five main teachings, the five main doctrines that come out of the Protestant Reformation that formed the tradition that we are in now, that shape what we believe and how we practice what we believe. Last week we were in Sola Scriptura, which is Latin for Scripture Alone. And this week we're looking at Sola Gratia, which is Latin for Grace Alone. So when I was in, I became a Christian when I was 17.
That's when I came to faith. And when I came to faith, there were a few things that I understood. I understood that Jesus died for my sins. I understood that He was raised in order that I might have a new life in Christ, that I needed to be born again, that the old was gone, the new has come, is what 2 Corinthians 5 teaches. I understood some of the basics of the gospel, that faith was not the kind of the southern Christian in name only. I'm a Christian, but I don't actually practice this, that it was a full surrender to Christ.
I understood that, but I was real raw and green on everything else. I didn't really know the Bible hardly at all. And then I got to college my freshman year, and I was in a Bible study. And we were reading Ephesians 2 together. And I just went, what? Like this is in the Bible?
Like we were reading Ephesians 2, and it says that you are dead in sin outside of Christ. And then we keep reading, and then we get to verses 8 and 9. And it says, for it's by grace that you, this is what we read earlier together in our liturgy. For it's by grace that you've been saved through faith. That it's not of your own doing. It's not of works.
So that... Oh my God. Look at that. No? No? Let's go one more time.
My back. Head, hand, hand, hand. All right, you guys. I'm going to grip this like it's the rat battle. Here we go. Come on.
Oh, we're back. Here we go, you guys. Yes, technical difficulties all around this morning, but we're good. So, when I read that it was by grace alone, it blew my mind. I was like, you mean to tell me that I didn't bring anything to the table? That I brought my sin and my rebellion, but I have to do anything to earn the favor of God?
It absolutely, it wrecked me. I was like, this is amazing. And guess what? I was not the first person this happened to. I wasn't. 500 years before, the reformers who had not had the scriptures.
This is what we talked about last week. They did not have the scriptures that the Catholic Church had. The translation of the Bible that was in Latin. The common people weren't able to read it. But once the common people got the Bible in their language, they were able to read passages like Ephesians 2.
They went, what? This is in here. This changes the game. And that's what grace does. So, we're going to look at grace alone today and how beautiful and good this is for us. We're going to look at this in three different ways.
The first is the recovery of true grace. The second is the rediscovery of planned grace. And the third is the implications of endless grace. So, let me pray for us and then we will begin. Father, I thank you that we have your word, that it is sharper than a two-edged sword, that it pierces the division of soul and spirit of bone and marrow, that it sinks into our hearts to show us the goodness of the gospel and where we need to grow. And grace is beautiful and it is good.
But we need to have open hearts to hear what you have to say. So, God, I pray that you'd open our hearts this morning, that we would be present, and we would respond. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, first, we're going to look at the recovery of true grace. So, grace can be used, that word, broadly, to mean a few different things in the New Testament. It comes from the Greek word, charis.
So, if you're wondering why we named our third child charis, there you go. It means grace in Greek. It can mean a few different things. It's like people will often say, can somebody, before we eat, say grace? And what do they mean? I mean, can you say the blessing?
Because in the New Testament, you see over and over again, grace is used as a blessing. Grace to you. You hear about spiritual gifts and charismatic, right? Well, the base word for charismatic is charis. It comes from grace. Like, grace has a few different uses throughout the New Testament.
But when we are talking about sola gratia, sola grace, grace alone, what we're talking about is salvific grace, salvation grace. We're talking about how we are saved. And sola gratia and sola fide, grace alone and faith alone, are separated. They came to the realization of Martin Luther at the same time, the Reformers at the same time. But they're separated for a reason.
Because faith alone shows the mechanism, shows how we are saved. But grace explores why. Why we were saved. Now, Catholics and Protestants will both say that you're saved by grace. But how we define grace there is different.
And some of you might be saying, oh my goodness, we're going to argue about semantics and how a word is defined and how it's used. Yes. Absolutely so. Like, our faith is built on the Word of God. It's built on semantics. Like, if someone in the press pool for the President asked him this week and said, hey, are we going to be in a nuclear war with Russia?
And he said, possibly. Yeah. How he defines possibly is really important. The implications of that are huge. If he means, well, actually, yeah, possibly. And at this point, it's a real possibility.
We are buying potassium iodine pills. Like, we're building bunkers. We are getting ready for nuclear fallout. The implications of that are huge. But if you meant, well, actually, possibly.
I mean, there's an endless amount of possibilities. Right? So, I'm sure it's certainly possible. That's a way different definition of the word possible. The implications of that are way different. That's how it works with grace.
It's important how we define our terms. For Catholics, grace is a gift in cooperation. Okay? Grace is a gift in cooperation. They have a few different descriptors of grace, but one of them is justifying grace. So, for the Catholic Church, justifying grace, it starts with baptism.
Because in the Catholic Church, they believe that you are saved by baptism from a Catholic priest. And we as Protestants say, no. No, we don't believe that at all. But for the Catholic Church, yes, you are saved by grace at baptism. And that work continues in penance and in confession and in other sacraments. And grace, therefore, is a cooperative work.
And that is the teaching of the Catholic Church. Now, as we saw last week, as we saw last week in Sola Scriptura, that for the Catholic Church, Catholic doctrine is greater than the Scriptures. Right? So the Scriptures are supporting evidence for what the Church teaches. And we as Protestants say, no. The Bible says something different.
It says in 2.8 and 9 of Ephesians, what I mentioned earlier, For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God. Not a result of work, so that no one may boast. First, we look at this very differently. We say, did you not see?
It says, this is not of your own doing in the slightest, that grace is a one-way work of God. And the context of Ephesians 2 leading up to that shows that. It says that we were dead in trespasses and sins. Verse 1, you are dead in trespasses and sins. You are spiritually dead. Unable to make your way to God.
In verse 4, he says, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which He loved us. That's the great love that He loved us. Not the love that we bring to the table. Verse 5 and 6, he says, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. That God is the one that makes us alive. He says, by grace you have been saved and raised up with Him and seated with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
That God is the one that raises us up in faith. One of the more popular definitions I've heard over the years that I appreciate for grace is an acronym for grace. God's riches at Christ's expense. That we get the riches of God, the infinite beautiful riches of God at the expense of Christ on the cross crucified. That is a gift to us. We cannot earn that in the slightest.
It would be like if I gave you a brand new custom Rolls Royce. Okay? Like the most expensive Rolls Royce in the world is a custom made Rolls Royce. It's about 10 to 12 million dollars. So let's say I give you that Rolls Royce.
You know what? I'm going to up the ante. It's got a full tank of gas. Which pretty much just doubled the value at this point. Right? So I give you this Rolls Royce and you go, man, that is so good.
And then you pull out your wallet and you got five fresh hundred dollar bills. And you say, here you go. One, two, three, four, five. Thank you. Thank you so much for this gift. I would be like, listen, I don't think you understand the exchange that just happened.
I just gave you a 12 million dollar car. I'm not looking for your money. Especially not that. That's us. When we misunderstand that the gift of Christ and what He has done for us, that His crucified flesh, His perfect record that was nailed to the cross on our behalf. That's a gift that we cannot earn in the slightest.
And it doesn't just affect how we define the mechanism, which is faith. Because Protestants, as we'll get into next week, we believe it's faith alone. In the Catholic Church, it's faith and works. It's not just that. It affects how we view ourselves. It affects how we view God in salvation.
Because in grace alone faith, there is no room for boasting. Like we don't have a righteous leg to stand on above anyone else. In grace alone faith, there's no separation between the priesthood and the laity. Meaning the pastors and priests and the lay people. In the Catholic Church, there is. There's a holy separation there.
All the way down to how they are dressed. There's a distinction there between the priesthood and the laity. But we as Protestants, because of grace alone, we look at that and say, no, we believe in the priesthood of all believers. We believe that all of us have received the same amount of grace. There is not this distinct holy separation between us as four elders of this church and you. Now, the Bible does call for respecting the pastors and elders of the church.
So we probably go too far in the other direction because we disrespect each other quite a bit. If you've sat in our sermons long enough, you know that I will make jokes about Chet who preaches the other half of the time. And then Chet will make funnier jokes about me when he comes up and preaches. Right? So we do this.
Probably go a little bit hard in the other directions because it does talk about respecting elders. But the point we're trying to make is that there's nothing great and glorious and super awesome about us. It is grace alone that we are who we are. In a grace alone faith, as we'll get in next week, there's no need for indulgences, which was a practice at the time of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation of purchasing, buying indulgences to get people out of purgatory, which we looked at last week. Purgatory isn't scriptural anyways. But the idea that you could give money to get someone into heaven is evil.
We don't believe this in the slightest. The scriptures do not teach it. It is by grace and grace alone. There are no rituals, baptism, praying to saints, Hail Marys, anything that, any of those extras, also that we would add to it, none of it. It is by grace and grace alone. We, as Protestants, look at this and say, grace isn't really an act to begin with.
That grace is God's nature towards His people. It's His nature towards God's people. That grace is, like, grace is like a giant lake. Okay? It's like a big lake of God's grace. And what flows out of that is the river of faith.
Alright? So, faith flows from this lake of grace. And as our faith flows from this, there are no outside external tributaries. Right? There are no creeks or small rivers that flow into it outside of the lake of grace. Your good works, your being at community group on a regular basis, baptism, none of that is an outside work.
It all flows completely and solely from the lake of grace. From grace alone from our God. Even as we completed that in the liturgy earlier in Ephesians 2.10 when it says, for we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Those display the faith that God has gifted us but all of that, everything flows from the lake of grace. It all comes from the grace of God. And this had been missing for a very long time in the church.
And then when the reformers like Luther and Zwingli and Calvin, when these reformers and the people of that time read the Bible and saw this, they went, man, we've got to get back to this. This is really, really good news. And that began to be recovered. And as they were recovering this aspect of grace, one of the things that they rediscovered was planned grace. We're going to look at the rediscovery of planned grace. So, as they're rediscovering the Scriptures, they rediscovered this aspect of planned grace that had been lost for centuries.
This aspect of grace reawakened the church, the Western church, to the sovereignty of God in salvation. As they're reading the Scriptures, they began to see this, that a teaching that had been largely lost since about 400 A.D. Augustine was one of the last major church figures to write about this. They saw the Scriptures and said this idea of planned grace needs to be further explored. And in one of Luther's most famous works, he wrote something called The Bondage of the Will. And The Bondage of the Will, which is probably Luther's best work, in The Bondage of the Will was a response to a brilliant Catholic scholar named Erasmus.
Erasmus was brilliant. I mean, everyone in Europe knew Erasmus was one of the top scholars at the time. Now, Erasmus stayed Catholic because he sat on the fence during the Reformation. He agreed with the Reformers and their critiques of the corruption of the Catholic Church. Some of that led to the much-needed Counter-Reformation that cleaned up a lot of the really grotesque things that were happening in the Catholic Church and led it on a better path. But Erasmus was on the fence and he agreed with some of those critiques, but he disagreed with some of the theology of the Reformers.
And as the Reformers were being kicked out and excommunicated from the Catholic Church, he stayed put. He did not go with them. So Luther wrote a very respectful disagreement in the bondage of the will with Erasmus' view of salvation, which for Luther was a lot because if you read his writings, he wasn't very respectful of any of his opponents. But he was very respectful of Erasmus and he wrote this disagreement because Erasmus believed that sinners of their own free will and volition could cooperate with God in salvation. This is a doctrine of, it's called synergism, the idea that you can, your will and God's will combine for faith.
Whereas the Protestant tradition taught monergism, which is one, the will of God. And honestly, Erasmus' position in his theology went on to influence a lot of Protestant denominations, the Methodist Church, a lot of Pentecostal churches, even a lot of Baptist churches. But Luther disagreed with this and he wrote The Bondage of the Will. And in one of the sections of that text, he said this, First, God has promised certainly His grace to the humble. That is, to the self-deploring and despairing. But a man cannot be thoroughly humbled until he comes to know that his salvation is utterly beyond his own powers, counsel, endeavors, will, and works.
And absolutely depending on the will, counsel, pleasure, and work of another that is God only. That he argues that it's utterly beyond our own will, our own good endeavors, our own counsel, that our hope firmly rests on the will, counsel, and pleasure of God alone. Some of you may be familiar with this teaching. This is the teaching of election or the teaching of predestination, the idea that God chooses those whom he will save. And we see this throughout the New Testament over and over again. I'll just give you a few passages.
In Ephesians 1, 4-6, it says, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. That God chose us before the foundation of the world, before time. He says, in love, he predestined us for adoption. That is being, as Ephesians 2 says, we're once children of disobedience. He brings us and adopts us into the family of God. 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 blessed us in the beloved.
You see that in Ephesians 1. You see it in Revelation. The book of Revelation, there are two references to this book of life. There are those that before time, their names are written in the book of life and in those who are not. And in 13, it's talking about those who are going to worship and follow the beast. That is the Antichrist type figure.
He says, all who dwell on the earth will worship it. That's the beast. Everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. You get to 2 Timothy when Paul is writing to Timothy to give him encouragement. He says in verse 9, he says, who saved us and called us to a holy calling. Not because of our works, but because of his purpose and grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.
You see this teaching over and over and over and over again in the New Testament. you see the sovereignty of God in salvation. And as the Protestant Reformation was getting going and they were reading the scriptures for the first time, this was being rediscovered. Now, many Christians have wrestled with this, have wrestled with these passages. Myself included. I became a Christian in a Methodist church, which is a Wesleyan, Armenian tradition. And for years, I wrestled with this.
I wrestled with the idea of fairness in this. Well, how is it fair that God would choose some and not others? That's really what it boils down to. Like, I wrestled with this. How is that fair? I got people that I love, that I know, that don't know Christ.
How is that fair? I wrestled with this. And I had some reform-leaning brothers who would sit down with me and some of them not as, some of them very bluntly would say, listen, you know what's fair? Everyone goes to hell. They would say that we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We've rebelled against His good nature and His good works and His good design.
Fair is we all receive punishment. And I was like, I don't like how bluntly you're telling me this, but I don't know how to argue with you on that either. And I wrestled with this. And I would do this, it's a bit of a textual dance. I would say, well, no, what's actually happening is that God, outside of time, looks inside of time and He looks at us and He foreknows who's going to choose Him and He knows that who's going to choose Him and place faith in Him and that's who He elects and then outside. And in the past, and I would do this dance, which you can do philosophically, but the text just doesn't say that.
Over and over again, it makes it clear that it's God's sovereign choice. And I wrestled with this. I wrestled with the book of Romans over and over and over again. But I kept reading the Bible. And if you're struggling with any of these aspects of faith, which are very difficult, mysterious, that's my encouragement is to read the Bible and come back to the Bible. Don't deal in outside philosophy.
Come back to the Scriptures. And after years of wrestling with this, there was one summer I had a job at a resort cleaning public bathrooms. Had a lot of time to myself. Cleaning bathroom after bathroom after bathroom. I'm an extrovert, so I love talking to people, but that's a job where you don't talk to people because it's real awkward and weird. So I had a lot of time to think and I was wrestling with this idea, wrestling with this theology, and then it finally dawned on me, I don't have to know why God does what He does.
I don't have to know why God chooses whom He chooses. I don't have to know why God doesn't justifiably give the wrath of God towards all of us for our rebellion. I don't have to know why any of this is the way that it is because I am not God and His ways are higher than my ways. I will never understand the mind of God. These things are too wonderful for me. You know what's funny?
Paul, I think, felt the same way. Romans 1-11, those 11 chapters are some of the most beautiful, some of the most beautiful literature that's ever been written. It's incredible. And he's wrestling with this. Alright? He's saying very tough.
You get to Romans 9, you're just like, oh man, this is really difficult. He's under the inspiration that God is inspiring him. He's writing this beautiful, wonderful text. And then he gets to chapter 11, the end of his long argument because the first 11 chapters are theology and the last 5 are the application of that theology. And he's wrestling with this. And he finally just throws up his hands because it's just too wonderful for him.
And he just starts to praise God in verses 33-36. He says, oh, the depths of the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. It's just too deep for me. He says, how unsearchable are His judgments. How inscrutable are His ways. Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Who has been His counselor? Who has given a gift to Him that He might be repaid for from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever and ever. He's like, I don't get it. I don't understand it. He's too glorious.
And I will rest in the mystery of God. And Luther came to the same conclusion in the bondage of the will. He says, the dreadful hidden will of God who according to His own counsel ordains such a person as He wills to receive and partake of the mercy preached and offered. This will, hear this, this will is not to be inquired into but to be reverently adored as by far the most awesome secret of divine majesty. The doctrine of God's plan's grace is not meant to vex and bother us into this existential crisis where we're like, I don't know. It's not what it's meant to do at all.
Our ways are not as ways. Our thoughts are not as thoughts. It is meant to drive you to a humble, deep worship where you just say, thank you Jesus that you saved me. I don't know why you saved me. I don't deserve it. I haven't earned it.
I've sped upon your goodwill. I've rebelled against you but praise you Jesus that you redeemed me. That is what it's meant to lead us to. That it's not of our own will and it's not of our own good works but praise God and if you can get to that place, brothers and sisters, you will find peace. You will find peace knowing that He's higher than us but He's good to us and as a finite human being that's good enough for me. So, when you get to that place, you can just worship.
That's why an amazing grace, you don't see, He didn't go in there and just write a whole bunch of things about all the theology. He just praises God. He says, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, a broken wretch dead in sin like me. I once was lost but now I'm found, was blind but now I see. you can just praise God and rest in the planned grace that He's been given to us and when you get to that place, when you start to understand the depths and the mystery and the beauty of grace, then you can really appreciate and understand the implications of His endless grace. That's the third thing I want us to see today.
The implications of His endless grace. There are lots of them. I only have time for three. First, grace removes the pressure. Grace removes the pressure. In doing a lot of preparation for this series, I spent a lot of time reading different Catholic doctrine and scouring different Catholic teachings and I stumbled upon this Catholic blog from a monastery in Kansas and this monk was writing about one of the most famous stories of Saint Benedict.
So, Benedict of Nercia was basically like the Billy Graham of monks. Okay? Really big deal. And he was writing about this famous story about Benedict who one day was walking down a path and he became tempted to lust over the thought of a woman. Now, this is how he responded. I'm going to read word for word how this monk retells this story because I think how he retells it actually is very helpful to understand the difference here.
He says, just then he noticed a thick patch of nettles and briars next to him. Throwing his garment aside, he flung himself naked into the sharp thorns and stinging nettles. You catch that? He stripped off his clothes naked and he jumped into a briar patch. Then he rolled and tossed until his whole body was in pain and covered with blood.
Yet once he conquered pleasure through suffering, his torn and bleeding skin served to drain off the poison of temptation from his body. I want to read that again and absorb what he said. His torn and bleeding skin served to drain off the poison of temptation from his body. Before long the pain was burning. His whole body had put out the fires of evil in his heart. It was by exchanging these two fires that he gained victory over sin.
Now, part of me wants to admire that approach to sin because Jesus teaches to give a really serious response to sin. In the Sermon on the Mount he says, cut off your hand if you're tempted by lust. That is strong, intense, metaphorical language. You don't read the book of Acts and read about a bunch of one-handed apostles, a bunch of one-handed Christians. You're not going to read the book of Acts and read about how Paul and Barnabas were walking down a path that got tempted and they threw themselves into a barpratch and cut themselves up into the blood, the poison drained from their body. You're not going to read that because they believed in grace alone.
You cannot earn the favor of God and achieve perfection. Jesus did that on our behalf. So, you may look at that story. And look at that story. I think that's kind of silly. But I would argue that we do this in a different way.
That when we approach the sinful fallen parts of our nature, we do this. How many of us will work ourselves into deep anxiety or depression because we're trying to do it all. We're trying to achieve perfection. We're trying to prove ourselves over and over again to God, to others, for the approval of God, for the approval of others. We try to control everything we can because we've got to conquer sin. We've got to do it right.
And we work ourselves into this deep sadness and anxiety because we don't understand the grace of God. How many of us hurt ourselves because we don't like the sin and fallenness in our lives? how many of you have been tempted with suicidal thoughts because you look at your life and you just, you hate it. You hate the sin in your life and you wish it was over. How many of you engage in a negative cycle of cruel talk and you talk down to yourself all the time? You talk to yourself in ways that you would never let anybody else talk to you. We do this.
When we face our sin and our brokenness, we beat ourselves up. We're our own worst enemies. And it's no more effective or pious or holy than what Benedict did. And it never, hear this, it never fuels effective repentance. Christian, the pressure is off. If you're in Christ, there is no pressure that you're not having to fulfill the law and all the commandments of God because that's been fulfilled in Christ.
And that was nailed to the cross on our behalf. The pressure is off. Any attempt to gain righteousness on your own is pulling out $500 bills for a Rolls Royce that's trying to purchase a gift that has been given to us. You need to see the lake of His grace that is upstream and say, praise Jesus that I don't have to earn this. Though I deserve punishment, you paid for me. You need to rest in His grace.
The pressure is off. God, hear this, God the Father, He saw you and He said, you're mine. Before you were ever thought of, He said, you are mine. You are my child. That Christ, before you ever thought of, His death, His brutal death on the cross was for you. His blood shed was for you. that you are gifted the Holy Spirit who sealed your faith and who will carry you all the way to the finish line until He calls us home.
The pressure is off. We need to see the beauty of His grace from the moment of belief until we go home. Listen, the enemy, he can point at the worst parts of your sin and say, how gross is this? How bad are you? How disgusting is this? And you know what you can say?
Yeah, you don't know the half of it. But you also don't know my Savior. You'll never know Him. And He died for all of that and did something. And that's how good my God is. We rest in the grace of God and it takes the pressure off and the next thing it does is it removes our boasting.
Grace removes boasting. I personally have never understood the self-righteous Christian. It's been very hard for me to understand the thought process of anyone that positions themselves above anyone else. I just don't get it. I think maybe God has been gracious to me because He shows me my sin on a regular basis. And I see it and I'm like, man, that crap is gross.
No. Thank you, Jesus, that you died for this. I don't have a category for anyone that can position themselves over somebody else. I just don't. Because I'm like, have you not read when it says, not a result of works that none may boast? Do you not see that?
I don't understand that. But I do understand that you need to get past your own pride and inflated self-worth. Those are heinous in the eyes of God. And that maybe, may be the only reason that you've not gone down the rabbit hole of depravity. Right? For the self-proclaiming Christian that says horrible things about sexuality or drugs or work ethic or fill in the blank, maybe the reason that you've not gone down the rabbit hole of depravity is because God has not let you.
The reason that you are not a drug addict, the reason you did not fall headlong into the opioid epidemic is because God did not let you. The reason that you are not a jihadist Muslim is because you were born in this country. That was God's choosing. You were not born in the darkest parts of Afghanistan. The reason you are who you are is because the sovereign God made it so. So you have to get off your high horse.
You have to realize that you are who you are because God has been gracious to you. And approach him in humble repentance and worship. To look at our souls in the mirror and realize that every decent quality that is of God comes from him. Listen, this is an aside for a few of us. This also applies to those who boast about their theology. This also applies to those, and listen, I am as reformed as the next guy.
You can go to my office, you can go to my bookshelf, and I got Piper, and Keller, and Dever, and Grudem. I got them all. I got the Institutes that's right behind me. Listen, the person who is boastful about their theology has not been humbled by the doctrines of grace. It should not lead you to a position of arrogance. It should lead you to a deep position of humility.
Grace removes boasting, and lastly, grace gives glory. Grace gives glory. Paul, Luther, Calvin, each of them understood good. That grace alone means that it is from Him, and through Him, and to Him. It is to His glory. Calvin once said, he said, the glory of God shines indeed in all creatures on high and below, but never more brightly than the cross.
And that is sure, and that is true. Which means, listen, which means that the darkest parts of your flesh, the parts you are most ashamed of, the parts that plague you the most, that is where His grace shines the brightest. And that is where God gets unbelievable, uncomparable glory. That every time God bends a center to faith and belief, God gets glory. That every time you have victory over sin, God gets glory. glory that God willing as you are on your deathbed and there are saints around you singing hymns and you are murmuring them in your final breaths of life praising God, God gets the glory because all of that is by grace alone.
And that is what we have to remember. Matt and Kelly are going to come up and they're going to finish us out.
A Better Foundation: Free To Serve
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.
Transcript
Uh which means uh the fact that we believe that Jesus is better the the message of the Gospel that he went to the cross and the empty tomb because of that we get to live in the reality of grace because of that truth we as Christians and as a Church fight to stay rooted and centered in that and one of the ways that practically shows up on a sunday morning is that we are our gatherings are centered in the word so you're going to hear the some Scripture read this morning our songs come from the word of.
God we're going to preach that comes out of the word the word is what keeps us centered in the Gospel our groups do this as well our groups are smaller groups of our Church family that live life together uh in everyday life and also meet uh during the week one of the things we do regularly in groups is we open up the word because God has spoken a lot of times we're trying to figure out and pray and figure out what.
God wants for us which is good but he also has spoken in his word and in our groups we get to be molded and shaped into the image of Christ by studying his word so that's an encouragement for us as a Church not just in groups not just on sunday but to be also be in his word on a regular basis as we seek to live out being a Gospel centered community on mission uh if you are new welcome if you're joining us online.
For the first time welcome we're glad that you are joining us one of the easiest ways to get plugged into our Church is to check out our community groups you can go to our uh our website meal citycasey.com you can look at our community groups page you can fill out a form there and we would love to uh to to reach out to you to tell you about our groups tell you where they meet uh but we're glad you're joining us this morning we hope this morning is a blessing to you.
If you are not new and you call this Church home we invite you to give and to continue to give generously you can give by giving in the gift slots you can also give online as well but we walk out the Gospel in generosity and that is also opening up our wallets all right so just a couple of quick housekeeping tips first all the lights are not on in here and that's for a reason we're trying to keep it cool uh as we are getting ready in the next few weeks to change out the hvac unit that powers this which is a part of our larger construction plans which.
If you walked in you saw it's starting to change but one of the first changes that you'll notice is that that part of the hallway and those bathrooms are off limits so we have a couple different bathroom options if you need to use the restroom in this building right next to us if you are a man you can go downstairs into our kid city space we're not having kid city so you can go down there and use the restroom there for our ladies in that building right there you can also go up into our office and around the corner and there's a bathroom there also.
If you don't want to climb steps our fellow our fellowship hall two buildings over is open uh and you can use the restrooms there there's a men and women's restroom there all right so let me pray for us the guy prepare our hearts for worship and then i'm going to open us from psalm father thank you so much that we get to come and sit under the authority of your word that we get to hear it we get to read it together we get to sing songs from it and you get to mold us in shape as the preaching of your word got to pray that you would meet us here this morning we ask.
This in Jesus name amen if you're able stand i'm gonna call us to worship from psalm oh sing to the lord a new song sing to the lord all the earth sing to the lord bless his name tell of his salvation from day to day declare his glory among the nations his marvelous works among all the peoples for great is the lord and greatly to be praised he is to be feared above all gods for all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols.
But the lord made the heavens splendor and majesty are before him strength and beauty are in a sanctuary would you see with us call for songs fix the and here i am is is one two three we have been justified we have been justified by faker Jesus Christ but solely by his grace we stand once found thy sin and shame now slain righteousness making Jesus is glory of God oh great joy to sing about the lord savior Jesus Christ Jesus oh a reading from ephesians chapter 2 verses 2 12 through 18.
If you would please read the underlying portion portions along with me remember that you were at that time separated from Christ alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world but now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ for he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two.
So a little bit last week we're going to take another step into that and really it's this if the if government is super supposed to promote what is good and hold at bay what is evil then you have to know what is good and what is evil you have to have an answer for that you have to know what is good and what is right and what is wrong and what is true and what is false we have to be able to answer those questions.
So that in order for us to agree on what government ought to do we have to have a fundamental answer to what is good and what is bad what is right and what is wrong and everybody's got to find that answer somewhere you need to be able to answer that question what is good how do you know or what is good why this is something i learned when i had a three-year-old who would ask why to everything you said and i realized i had a couple of options i could lose my mind seemed like it would be bad.
For the overall joy of our household and functioning i could just tell him to shut his mouth but i went with the third option which was try to make a game out of it and see how many of these questions i can answer and what i found was that if you hit me with a string of why questions long enough we will make it to God the father creator of the universe to the trinitarian God who has made all that we know.
So we stop in the truck and why'd we stop it's a red light why is there a red light and we would go and we would go from invention and creation to the dignity of human life because vehicles should just run into each other why we don't want people to die why don't we want people to die because God created man and woman in his own image he poured dignity and value in them why because he's good because he's trinitarian because he loves and he created humanity why that's it we made it to the end we're going to have to start a new line of questions.
But what i found was that my foundation if you ask why enough i made it back to God and the reality is we have to be able to answer questions that way why is this policy good why is this bad why is this wrong why why why eventually you'll make it back to your foundation you'll make it back to the root of your understanding of how things ought to function and so as Christians we have a different foundation which makes us into a different people.
So we participate differently i usually different three times we'll explain it better as we go but that's where we are we have a different foundation which makes us into a different people so we participate differently we don't look the same as the rest of our culture because we are believers so we just read in verse 13 but jump back up to chapter 2 verse 4. now this Paul is Peter is not directly addressing government and politics what he's talking about is much bigger.
But we're looking through the lens of how we ought to think about government and politics and i think this passage is helpful so first Peter chapter 2 verse 4. as you come to him that's Jesus a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ for it stands in Scripture.
Behold i am laying in zion a stone a cornerstone chosen and precious and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame that's Christ so the honors for you who believe but for those who do not believe the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone stumbling at a rock of a fence they stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do as Paul's there for a second Christ is our cornerstone and we are being built up off of him.
Now a cornerstone was the chief stone they laid it first and it gave direction and alignment to the rest of the stones so we work our way back to Christ and he gives us direction and he keeps us in line but the rest of the world does not have Christ as their cornerstone does not work their way back to him as their foundation does not work their way back to him as their answer to why why why why why so we are fundamentally starting in a different place than the rest of the people around us even.
If they agree with us on certain things about unemployment benefits or the size of government or how voting ought to work we have a fundamentally different foundation from which we begin that he keeps us in line that he gives us direction and they stumble over they trip over this that they have not placed their hope in Christ they have not seen him as their foundation they're not built off of him those who do not believe in Jesus are starting from a different place and they do not obey and i love that i want to pause.
For just one second and point that out he's our cornerstone and they stumble over him because they disobey the opposite of that is what we do which would be obey yes it hurt to even think about it didn't it we obey i think that's really helpful because it doesn't say they stumble over him because they disagree and we agree they disobey and we obey the reason this is helpful is that as a Christian there is much in the Bible that you might begin in disagreement with that's to be expected you came to Christ.
Because you were a sinner because you realized that there was something wrong about you and the way you've treated people and the way you thought about the world and that you needed to be redeemed you needed to be fixed you needed hope you needed someone to die for you to make you write and then you read something in the Scriptures and you're like well i don't like that of course not you're messed up if you could have perfectly written this down you wouldn't have needed to.
Jesus to die for you there are things in here that we disagree with what do we do we obey that's extremely helpful specifically when it comes to us setting our alignment when it comes to what we ought to vote for and work for sometimes they're going to be things in here that we don't like that we actually like how our culture thinks about it ah i don't like that but i do like capitalism i don't like that but i do like what this professor has been teaching and the reality is they don't have the same foundation we have the same foundation and you have to stay in line with the cornerstone.
So we obey they disobey they stumble over it but here's the reality we use Christ to set for us our line to mark for us what is good what is right what is inbounds what is out of bounds that's what a cornerstone does now he does this in a spiritual way that he redeems us and makes us into a spiritual house but we're talking about our approach to politics our approach to government so this also applies and i think it's helpful.
For us but the reality is everybody is getting an answer to what is justice what's injustice what's equality what's inequality what's right what's wrong they all have to have an answer somewhere they have to have something that backs that up we have a foundation the rest of our world the rest of the us most of whom don't believe that there is a God don't have the same foundation i'd argue don't really have any foundation i want to read a bit from an article this was in the duke law journal it was written by arthur allen left he's a professor of yale law at yale law school and he's talking about law he's talking about where.
We get our laws and how we keep our laws and why do we hold to certain laws and not other laws that's what professor does so he's writing about this and his article is called unspeakable ethics unnatural law what he means about that ethics what's right and wrong law the system of government we have out of that what he means about that by being unspeakable and unnatural he's addressing the idea that there is objective moral law that is not made up by man.
But exists outside of humanity it's unnatural that's what he means by that and it's unspeakable meaning we didn't come up with it as Christians we believe this there's a God he speaks it down to us he gives Moses Moses doesn't go up on the mountain with the elders and they come up with their best idea of what the law should look like God hands him the law and says take it back down he argues that that doesn't exist that all law all ethics all morality all good bad and otherwise is made up by humanity that's the point of his article.
But at least he's honest about it he says this doesn't exist and then he says that's terrifying that life would be better if there was objective morality outside of us but it doesn't exist there is no God there is no objective morality all of it is us making it up that's what he talks about he says that we have to be able to answer what he calls the grand says who he says the ultimate bar room and school yard says who someone tells you you can't do that you can do this this is wrong it says who who puts you in charge who's to tell me what's right and wrong and he says the reality.
Is if we're the ones making it up we have no answer to says who other than says us says the majority says what i think is right we don't have anyone to appeal to there's no teacher in the classroom there's no one that speaks the law down to us does that make sense what he's talking about okay so this is how he ends his article all i can say is this it looks as if we are all we have given what we know about ourselves and each other this is an extraordinarily unappetizing prospect i i agree with him.
If we're all we have that is extraordinarily unappetizing that sounds awful looking around the world it appears that if all men are brothers the ruling model is cain and abel so he's honest he's intellectually honest he says there is no God and then he says step two uh-oh that sounds awful if we look around that's what we've got and it's gonna be bad he keeps going he says neither reason nor love nor even terror seems to have worked to make us good and worse than that there is no reason why anything should only.
If ethics were something unspeakable by us could law be unnatural and therefore unchallengeable so he's saying if it came down from God then it would be beyond us and we wouldn't be able to challenge it but since it doesn't and we've just made it up we're in trouble and this is what we said last week that this is where good government is a good gift to us breaks down that it can't make us good it can't fix us so he keeps going as things.
Now stand everything is up for grabs think about that we're actually watching that play out right now everything is up for grabs because everybody's coming in with a different foundation about what is right is it what the majority says that's why you see all these polls that just say this many americans now believe blank because the idea is that if the majority of us believe it then it's okay there's some people who are pushing for the biggest thing at the back of this is personal freedom or equal opportunity or equal outcome or private property or happiness everybody's got something at the back of of why does this matter says who and we're seeing this play.
Out right now where everything's up for grabs but then he says this nevertheless napalming babies is bad starving the poor is wicked buying and selling each other is depraved those who stood up to and died resisting hitler stalin amin and pol pot and general custer ii have earned salvation those who acquiesced deserve to be damned there is in the world such a thing as evil altogether now says who God help us he says there's no God therefore we're in trouble conclusion not base it's it's like point a point b point green it does not follow that name palming babies is bad it does not follow that standing up to evil is bad or that there.
Is even such a thing as evil it doesn't fit in his logic but he says we know this it doesn't fit that's his whole point says who God help us and he's argued the whole time there is no God i 100 agree with this person except for his foundation he stumbles over the cornerstone and then comes up with a very logical premise out of that and the reality is this last part where he ends and says napalming babies is bad the reason why we currently culturally believe that is that we're riding a 2 000 year wave of judaism and christianity we keep running this out we may not believe that anymore once we stop having.
Objective morality everything's up for grabs everybody's standing on the same footing and eventually it can fall down to who's the strongest who's got the majority who has the most power we're fundamentally coming at this differently than everyone else we believe there is a God there is an unspeakable ethic there is a natural law and it is unchallengeable i buy us and we obey it this is why you'll see that some people will say well we know this is wrong and they're appealing to something that actually doesn't fit in their logical framework.
Because how do they know if they're logical and they'll stick to it my cousin i had a conversation with him and he was saying that logic that the rules were based on who is mostly in charge what the majority believes my cousin the first generation nigerian-american i asked him do you think it was okay in germany because the nazi party was in charge that they eradicated jewish people and black people because they were in charge and he was willing to stick with his logic and he said i guess.
If they were the people in charge i'm not okay with that i don't think that's how this works i think that this guy's right that that is evil and they ought to be stood up against but that's where Christians come from we have a cornerstone that keeps us in line so we fundamentally are coming at this differently and we have direction in the Scriptures that tell us things about marriage about murder about the value of human life about what parents are.
For over and over again in the old testament we're told things in in the leviticus in Exodus leviticus deuteronomy they give personal moral law about lying and adultery but they also give rules about how we ought to interact with each other that the criminal justice system ought not to be bent towards the poor or the wealthy how people in the society are supposed to handle their money how wages are supposed to be handled how business practice sexual sin high interest loans how people treat foreigners how capital punishment works like there's all this stuff that has to do with.
Because God is setting for us what things ought to look like that we get to look to the Scriptures to set for us a guideline not a political platform of what our current people pundits are running and what they say they're going for but we get to look to the word to help keep us in line and it's going to say some things you disagree with it ought to i would argue that if you read if if in your Bible reading it perfectly agrees with you all the time you aren't reading your Bible very.
Well if this never corrects you you're not reading it correctly there's some places where it ought to push you but we're told about how to treat the poor that hard work is good adultery is bad drunkenness is bad gluttony is bad that's in proverbs but then the prophets come in and they say that God's going to judge people for bad business practices and the treatment of the poor or how they care about wealth more than the poor you see we have a lot in the Scriptures that helps give us what our foundation is meant to guide us in and we ought to be people of the book who obey the word and that's going to.
Make us look different from the rest of our culture and it's going to make us appeal to a grand says who that they don't agree with okay but we don't get to change what our cornerstone is so we're coming at this differently so we participate differently so we have a different foundation which makes us into a different people verse 9 keeps going so he says they stumble over this but you are a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people.
For his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light i think if we sat in that verse we might have a amount of political clarity that we lack you're a chosen race in Christ he redeems the race that you're given your current race that you were born into is not primary you're a royal priesthood that we're meant to represent man to God and God to man that's what a priesthood does we're a holy nation and and it doesn't after that chant usa usa or aussie aussie aussie your people.
For his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into a marvelous light that we've been made into a new people because we have a new foundation we've been redeemed and rescued by Christ once you were not a people but now you are God's people once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy don't you love that the primary identifier of us as a people is that we've received mercy isn't that beautiful that you're not going to get what you deserve you're going to get grace that you're loved and you're welcomed and that's foundational.
For us as we walk in Christ he says beloved i urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul keep your conduct among the gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation he calls the sojourners in exiles a sojourner is a traveler who does not live here and exile is someone who does live here.
But this isn't their home i'll be honest with you a lot of times when i listen to political candidates when i think about the future of the united states i feel very at home here and when i feel very at home here i feel very worried about things at times i have a lot of fear that rises up because i feel like i belong here i'm a citizen here my future is at stake and the reality is i'm a traveler and an exile this isn't my home i have a home i'm on my way to it i get to live in a certain way.
Now but i have a home and i'm going to be honest with y'all i love the united states the home i'm headed to is so much better it's glorious it's beautiful i'm redeemed and welcomed i receive mercy there i get to live here as an exile and a sojourner but my home that we're headed to is beyond compare and if we lived like that we're currently trying to help support uh the rockies as they move to honduras to be missionaries and the reality is they're going to show up and it's going to unlock some things in their brain.
Because they didn't weren't born there it's going to free them up in some ways to show up and go oh yeah the main point is to help people love Christ and to make this place better they're not going to show up and be like all right let's start promoting a candidate let's find out who's running for honduras house seat for our area i don't even know if they have a honduras house they may just be like let's pick a new i don't know what they got el presidente spanish i don't know.
But you know they're not going to they're exiles they're sojourners they're here to make this place better to love the people around them and the reality is some of us are far too at home here we fit better amongst our political party and we fit better amongst other americans who were born in a similar place to us who have similar skin tone who have a similar taste in food and music when we're meant to be sojourners and exiles working for good we've been made into a different people three we're back to.
Verse 13 now so we participate differently be subject for the lord's sake to every human institution whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good for this is the will of God that by doing good you should put the silence the ignorance of foolish people we're supposed to be doing good which means we're supposed to have a definition for what is good and it's supposed to be in line with the cornerstone in obedience to the word.
So we're supposed to know our bibles love our bibles love Jesus trust Jesus when we disagree with him and then be actively a part of doing that in the world government is meant to praise good we're meant to do it i think sometimes we think our role is to vote and then they better do it no we're meant to to do it we're meant to be the ones actively doing good and he says this for that's the will of God that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people live as people who are free not using your freedom as a cover-up.
For evil but living as servants of God live as people who are free remember who you are live like it i was growing up i loved the movie Peter pan and then the movie hook came out with robin williams and i loved that movie that movie is like a sequel to Peter pan and it's kind of terrifying because hook Peter pan like marries a lady moves the world forgets he was Peter pan he's just trying to live his life and move on.
But hook's in neverland growing more and more psychotic every day and he comes up with a plan to come to the real world and steal Peter pan's children he's going to abduct his children and this is a two-part plan and it's brilliant it's to get Peter pan to come back and fight him but if Peter pan won't come back he'll just raise Peter pan's children as his own back up revenge and when i watched that i was a little kid and the idea that captain hook could come bust in and steal me take me to neverland like the cartoon is like oh cool i get to go to neverland and hang out with Peter pan.
And then the sequel is like oh no captain hook might just take me to neverland and raise me as this child but the part of the movie that's playing out is that captain hook in neverland kind of makes you forget and captain hook's trying to make these children think they're his and they're these moments where they kind of forget who their father is and so they become really at home in neverland and then there are these moments where they shake out of it and they.
Remember wait wait no i know who my dad is and i actually don't belong here and sometimes i think we're we're having to play that out as we walk through life that there are times where we just feel really at home here and we kind of forget where our home is and who our father is who our allegiance allegiances to and then there are other times where we can kind of shake out of it and go oh no no no no this is actually isn't what is primary.
For me this is what matters the most to me and i'm supposed to be participating very very differently from the rest of the people i'm supposed to be getting my marching orders from here not cnn or fox news not msnbc or npr i can get some information from them they don't keep me in line this does they don't give me my foundation this to us i think sometimes we have to shake out of it but he says you're free so Church family.
For those of you who when you think about politics when you think about november your chest tightens up and fear wells up inside of you you are free your hope is secure your salvation is locked in Christ your future your home participate like someone who is free it doesn't have to work out the way you want it to it doesn't have to work out the way you think it ought to the reality is a lot of times God's good work on earth looks really really bad.
For the people of God God's good work on earth looks really bad for the people of God read this for a little while and remind yourself that he's good even though there are times where it doesn't work out well for the people who love him or know him where they aren't liked where they don't fit in hebrews 11 where they're sown into they have a better hope and a better country you're free and for those of us who because it's so corrupt or.
Because we're so jaded or because we're kind of lazy and just don't care that much we don't participate he says don't use your freedom as a cover for evil your servants of God so do good serve we're free to serve to serve him to fight for what is good to do good amongst the people we live near my parents host a family reunion they've started this couple years back and when we go to our family union we cook a pig we swim in a pond stuff you would assume my family does we all you know i don't know have a big splatoon.
For all the ladies to sit around chew tobacco whatever that part's not true but we do swim in a pond and we were swimming with my cousin and my brothers and i we go down and swim at my parents house some in their pond and so we had grabbed these little floats we knew what they were we were sitting in the water and we're either sitting on a float or you're just standing on one it's just a little like foam surfboard thing and my cousin's there swimming with us and we're all just sitting there floating around talking.
And then one of our little floats shot out from under our feet and we swam over and got it my cousin goes you all have floats we were like yeah and we've been hanging out for a while he'd been treading water for like 30 minutes he was exhausted he got afloat he was sitting there he was like oh he said i kept telling myself if they can do it i can do it if they can keep themselves up i'll keep myself up he said and i was really impressed.
Because everyone saw y'all be talking to both your hands would come out of the water and i thought goodness these guys know how to tread water the reality is as we participate in politics as believers we have something holding us up we have a hope we have a future if it gets rocky if it gets exhausting everybody else around us is going to be freaking out they're going to want us to freak out with them everyone else around us is going to be anxious and tired.
Because they don't have the hope we have and the reality is if all we do is join them we act as if we we deny the hope that we have when we ought to be pointing them to the hope that we have we ought to be proclaiming the excellencies of him who has called us out of darkness and into marvelous light the reality is as we get around people who want to talk to us about how if this doesn't work out everything's going to fall apart you get to say hey guess what i know a story and everything does fall apart and everything does work out and it really just depends on has Christ redeemed.
You or not we get to be the only people who keep our heads when everything else gets difficult we get the own the only people at ease and very complicated difficult painful situations and we ought to be you're free to do good because our hope is set in Christ our foundation is set in Christ and you ought to be able to take your political opinions and ask why why why why why and work yourself back to here and if all your political opinions work back to culture political candidate this seems right to me.
But we don't have it tied off here we have a problem so we ought to be people of the word with the hopes that secure in Jesus who are the only ones who are able to keep our heads because we have a foundation when nobody else does the band's going to come back up we're going to sing to Christ we're going to all be able to keep our heads in the middle of a political season when everybody else is losing theirs take a deep breath you're free and from that position of freedom let's do good let's know what good is and let's be actively a part of it in our culture that's our hope that.
We would grow in that as people redeemed by Christ let's pray God we thank you for your grace we thank you for the love that you have shown us and that you joined us that you might die to redeem us so that we might have a hope that is held secure as first Peter chapter one says because you walked out of the tomb we have a hope that is held secure by your power in the heavens waiting for us so may we be your servants here who are exiles sojourners that do good as people who are free as only we can.
Because this does not have to work out for us here because everything will work out for us in Christ by your spirit lead us to be servants to be free to have hope and to not be swayed by everything that's around us in Jesus name amen would you stand with us as we worship hi is to use oh is he was i stand shall we she oh is oh Jesus paid it he was you may be seated all right a couple announcements before we get out of here.
Today i want to apologize to our people online was not your fault the internet cut out but we're continuing to work on that make that better another announcement dr ken uh was our transitional pastor and was a part of our Church up until this past week so it is a bittersweet announcement he is not wasting his retirement uh he is using it for the glory of God and one of his uh his his his calling his primary calling in retirement is uh to help churches in this area and he accepted the interim position at saluda baptist Church around 378 which is bittersweet.
For us sweet because they are getting a pastor who we love dearly and we know he's going to do a great job bitter because we will not be seeing him as much anymore so we love him uh as pastors we love him this Church loves him we owe so much to him we thank Jesus for him so if you're friends with joy on facebook send a message over uh continue to reach out them how much we love them um but that is the update on that.
If you are not a part of a group we would love you to be a part of a group and chet is going to be down in the construction area to be able to answer any questions you might have and tell you about our groups if you have any questions about our Church he'll be down there uh to answer them uh if you are part of this Church we invite you to give we have the giving slots you can also give online i'm going to close this with a word from.
First thessalonians 5 verses 23 through 24 now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our lord Jesus Christ he who calls you is faithful he will surely do it amen you guys have a great day.
Good Government
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is spencer i'm one of the pastors of Mill City Church of casey so this is our second week in a row where because of some coveted exposure we're being cautious and we're live streaming so you're joining us online welcome uh glad you're joining us uh we as a Church believe that Jesus is better than everything else because this is true we get to be a Gospel-centered community on mission which is really important for us individually and as a Church right.
Now as culture is is raging as there's all types of of chaos whether it's coveted whether it's the economy or right now in a heightened political climate which is why we're walking through this series messiah 2020 that no matter what we are walking through we don't have to shift with the rest of culture we have a hope that is secure we are Gospel center that our hope is completely bound up in Christ crucified and raised from the grave that our hope is eternal and we live as eternal people in this world living out the Gospel together that's the hope that we that we celebrate on sundays as we sing songs and worship as we sit.
On the authority of God's word it's also the hope that we get to be grounded and centered in in community groups so one of the things we have in our Church is we have community groups which are smaller groups of our Church family that that live life together that that meet regularly that open up the Bible that eat meals together when it's not in a season where we have to not eat meals together uh but we do this to live out the Gospel together to celebrate who.
Jesus is to keep us centered in the Gospel as a Church family so if you're new welcome we'd love to invite you into that to connect you to some of our groups one of the easiest ways to do that is to go to our website millcitycasey.com and you can go to our community groups page you can fill out some information and we can connect with you and kind of tell you more about our groups which one might be good for you to check out.
If you are not new and you call this Church home we invite you to give we believe that our response to the Gospel is generosity and we open up our wallets in doing that so if you're part of our Church family you can give online you can also come by during the week and drop off checks at our office so i'm going to uh to pray for us that i'll prepare our hearts for worship and i'm going to call us to worship from psalm 95.
Father i thank you that we get to worship because of your great love because you came and you rescued us and you redeemed us that we get to uh sit in an eternal reality and out of that we get to praise we get to sing songs i pray you prepare hearts for worship prepare our hearts to to be to sit under your word we ask us in Jesus name amen i'm going to call us to worship from psalm 95 it says this oh come.
Let us sing to the lord let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation let us come into his presence with thanksgiving let us make a joyful noise with songs of praise for the lord is a great God and a great king above all gods in his hands are the depths of the earth the heights of the mountains are his also the sea is his and he made it and his hands form the dry land oh come let us worship and bow down.
Let us kneel before the lord our maker for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand wherever you're joining with us today let's worship together praise the lord the almighty oh my adoration shelters us under have you not seen how our desires have been granted surely his goodness if this praise to the lord oh let all that is in me adore all that hath life and breath come now with praises before again me again.
Lord now my my life is our first treasure may i reach heavens still be my vision i once was lost in darkest nights first i would refuse to upon display your suffering is hallelujah all i have is Christ hallelujah is my life the truth in any way you choose is is Jesus God all we have to claim before you is Jesus and we're thankful this morning that as your Church we are thankful for the cross of Christ we're thankful that he rose from the grave.
Lord this morning as your Church we pray that you would speak to us that that would be the cry of our heart that all we have is Christ and so we pray that you would reveal yourself through your word that you would speak through chet as he comes to preach in Jesus name amen my fellow americans good morning my name is chet phillips i'm one of the pastors here we are in our second week of our messiah 2020 series we're only doing three weeks on this we're taking a brief pause from the Gospel of Matthew to try to get some sound footing to kind of catch our bearings in the middle of the american political.
Season which seems to be unending at this point but we are in an election year and we wanted to address and begin to ask the questions how as Christians ought we to approach politics how should we think about it what should we do what shouldn't we do and just try to catch our breath and get some firm footing so the primary goal of this series is to help us understand that Christians ought to approach politics distinctly from the rest of our neighbors that we ought to have a distinct approach and understanding to government and two politics.
Because we are first and foremost Christians before we are citizens of any earthly place we said last week that we think we ought to look more similar to believers around the globe than just those who happen to vote like us in our own nation and so that's our goal we've got three weeks to do it what we said last week was that we cannot approach politics in the same way as our cultural allies and those who are across the aisle from us we can't approach it the same way.
Because the way we're currently pushed to approach politics is to have a high amount of fear so that we'll give our sole allegiance to a political party or a political leader and then work with a bit of anger and animosity and venom to conquer our political enemies that ultimately our culture is telling us we need a messiah we need a savior we need someone to come in and fix all of our problems to give us a hope and a future and we already have a messiah we already have a savior we already have a hope and a future we are already citizens of an eternal kingdom.
Therefore our approach to politics has to be distinct and so we just tried to dismantle some things last week and this week we're beginning to build it back up a little bit so we're asking the question is okay if we shouldn't approach it as if we need a messiah and if we shouldn't approach it with this amount of fear and anxiety and anger how should we look at politics how should we approach this is government good should we have a government that's kind of where we're starting it's like what's a what's a baseline approach to an understanding of how the Bible treats government.
Because some of us in christianity and some of in our Church family would want to say well politics is just too corrupt our system is too broken Christians shouldn't participate at all others would say well Christian's primary role is the Gospel and the proclamation of the Gospel and that we're spiritual beings and that we ultimately need to see God work so we just need to preach the Gospel and let the world sort itself out but reality is we're called to love.
God and our neighbors and that does mean that we have to live in the place we are and interact in the place we are i have two sons i have a five-year-old and a two-year-old and the two-year-old is just beginning to speak uh he's just kind of putting some stuff together and there's times where they'll be off playing together and um you hear him laughing you'll hear him play and then all of a sudden there'll just be chaos screaming shouting arguing.
And then i'll hear the pitter patter of little feet down the hall my two-year-olds are running down the hall crying and he his brother's name's archer but he pronounces it shasha or arsha he hasn't gotten it yet but he'll come down the hall and he'll say and i know what he's saying he's looking at me and he's saying father i beseech you without your good governance it's anarchy it's become lord of the flies the strong rule over the week and you must come rule and give some boundaries.
So that we might have life and have it flourishing i look at him and say i understand son but really he's asking for good government and the reality is we all need good government and God designed government to be good for our sake in the garden prior to sin he tells adam and eve that they would rule and have dominion and that they would multiply and flourish but God meant for there to be some guiding principle some rules some leadership prior to sin and we don't outgrow government we aren't saved from government we're actually saved into a government that.
Jesus is a king and we're told in isaiah that his of his government and his peace there will be no end so we're not moving to heaven and entering into this free no government system we're moving in and having a king that God's design for government is good and that we're in the middle now where there is sin and it's meant to function in a certain way and so we need to understand how to approach it so what we're going to try to aim at.
Today is the understanding that government is good because it was instituted by God to limit evil and promote good for the good of those governed the government's good because it was instituted by God to limit evil and promote what is good for the sake for the good of those governed and that as Christians we ought to participate but we ought to participate as those who have an eternal perspective so let's pray and we'll jump in God we thank you for your grace we pray that as we seek to be good citizens of your kingdom who have been placed here that we would be good citizens of where we are with an eternal perspective working towards.
The good of our neighbors we thank you for government and its intended design for us and we pray that we would grow in our understanding and appreciation of it today in Jesus name amen go to romans chapter 13. we're going to be looking at romans chapter 13 verses 1 through 7. this is Paul writing to the roman Church and he's talking to them about how they ought to think about government he's done a lot about how they ought to interact with each other and how they ought to approach the.
Lord but he's talking now about how they ought to approach the being citizens in where they are so it says this romans 13 verse 1 let every person be subject to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God i'm going to read that again for there is no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God therefore whoever resists the authorities resist what God has appointed and those who resist will incur judgment.
For rulers are not a terror to good conduct but to bad would you have no fear of the one who is in authority then do what is good and you will receive his approval for he is God's servant for your good but if you do wrong be afraid for he does not bear the sword in vain for he is the servant of God an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer therefore one must be in subjection not only to avoid God's wrath.
But also for the sake of conscience for because of this you also pay taxes for the authorities are ministers of God attending to this very thing pay to all what is owed to them taxes to whom taxes are owed revenue to whom revenue is owed respect to whom respect is owed honor to whom honor is owed so Paul says that all institutions are instituted by God and that there are for our good for your good and i can feel it even as i'm reading that.
Because i can feel it in myself but i can feel it in us that we we just want to hold on i got a question like there's the the ultimate american question that just rises in us is what about bad governments what says don't don't resist them but but i have what about bad governments what about in algeria where they're shutting down churches what about in china when the government's overreaching when they're saying that you can't even be a Christian when they're rounding them up or arresting them or making them have only certain places and certain ways that they can meet what about.
When there's a king who puts taxes on your tea but won't let you have representatives in parliament what do we do when there's blatant governmental evil and overreach that's the question we want to ask immediately to push back on this because the idea that God is over all institutions that he's working through all of them for our good does not seem like that always plays out that way and there are times where it feels like the government is overstepping we currently in our culture right.
Now have people who are standing against government authority we have those who are marching who are standing in roads and blocking off bridges and protesting we have churches that are saying even though the local authorities have told them they can't meet they're going to anyway and it really depends on which side of the aisle you fall on as to which one you're saying yes and amen and oh how dare you but we currently have this question even playing out with us and it's what do we do.
And so i think we have to answer that quickly before we can get into God's good design one the good news for bad government is that all government is under the authority of God the good news for us in bad government is that all government is under the authority of God which means that it will be judged it will be held to his standards and judged according to his purposes and that even in the midst of bad government God can work good he does this throughout the old testament he raises up leaders he lowers leaders he raises up kings he lowers kings he raises up nations he lowers nations they work at his discretion he.
Can revoke them or install them as he wills and so that those that do evil at times are used for God's purposes even pagan kingdoms the babylonian kingdom was used for God's purposes for his people to to punish them to correct them as judgment on his people but then he sent the persians in to punish and correct the babylonians and to bless his people and God does this throughout history so even in the midst of a place where Christians are in a bad government they can hope and trust that.
God is good over it secondly the primary role for Christians is not to just transform our governmental systems or to seek power but to testify to an eternal truth to testify to an eternal kingdom that's our primary role that's what pastor wang yi who's a pastor in china who was arrested by the communist government he had pre-written this and told his Church to publish it if he had been arrested for more than 48 hours i want to read an excerpt from this he says as a pastor my disobedience is one part of the Gospel commission.
So he's disobeying the government by having house churches Christ's great commission requires of us great disobedience the goal of disobedience is not to change the world but to testify about another world he goes on from that to say that he doesn't believe that Christians ought to be changing the institutions but that they ought to be primarily focused on eternal things he says this all acts of the Church are attempts to prove to the world the real existence of another world the Bible teaches us that in all matters relating to the Gospel and human conscience we must obey.
God and not men for this reason spiritual disobedience and bodily suffering are both ways we testify to another eternal world and to another glorious king so that the primary role of Christians is not just to transform government not to have all the policies that we wish we would have but to proclaim another kingdom and so when there is a bad government we still have a primary role to play in proclaiming another kingdom which does at times mean as weighing ye is walking out some form of disobedience.
For the greater purposes of God but not for the greater purposes of our political candidate party or system of choice if this is attention that you're trying to work out i would encourage you to read first Peter chapter two i would encourage you to read all of wang yi's letter it's called my letter of uh faithful disobedience i would encourage you to read dr martin luther king jr's letter from a birmingham jail as a kind of a starter on how to ought we to think about Christians interacting with governments.
When government's not operating properly but primarily today we're looking at God's good design so we're going to focus on that not when it goes wrong because it does go wrong in sin and we do have hope that God is an authority over it and we'll judge it but what's his good design for government you see government matters because people matter life matters joy matters there's the people around you matter and so God has designed it for us to have government the reality is without government there are those who would say wouldn't it be better.
If the government just wasn't involved wouldn't life be better if there just was no government the answer to that is no it wouldn't without government the strong make the rules the weak are pushed to the side sin reigns every time a even an evil government falls immediately it's not like oh good the government's gone now everybody can be nice to each other that's not what happens when a bad government falls there's sin women are raped children are abducted people are murdered.
God instituted government however flawed for good purposes so this is what he says that we ought to be subject to the governing authorities and even there as he walks this out Christians ought to begin looking different than those around us he says be subject to the governing authorities pay your taxes you ought to pay what is owed to those who tax you it says pay honor oh give honor to those whom it's owed so that Christians ought to be respectful you ought to be able to speak about whoever's in leadership over you in a gracious respectful way even as you disagree with them and that right.
Now just doing that will make Christians look distinct from those in their political party that if we can see the good in others and we can speak to the good and others if we can acknowledge where they're right acknowledge where we're wrong and speak in an honorable way of those that we vehemently disagree with will begin to look more the way he's designed for us to look but see the primary role of of good government is to discourage what is evil and to encourage what is good and he gives more attention on discouraging what is evil that's the basic approach the basic role of government it's that to be under God's authority discouraging evil carrying.
Out God's wrath on the wrongdoer and promoting what is good i mentioned my boys earlier but that's the system primary system of governance at my house i want my boys to grow up i want them to love Jesus but much of the work i'm doing with them is i'm just looking at discouraging what is bad and encouraging what is good and if you're a new parent start there is this behavior good will it help them live in our house does it make me like them is this the type of person i want to be around will this help them live in society encourage that is this behavior bad does this make me not want to.
Live with this person you see children have parents for a reason they're meant to have some governance they would not be better off without you they will make terrible decisions and you're supposed to help them grow into a person that can live in the world very simply at my house one of the rules is if you cry and throw a fit you don't get what you're crying and throwing a fit for it makes my decision easy you don't get to watch that you don't get to eat that you don't get to do the thing you wanted.
Because if i give it to them after they cry and throw a fit what i've taught my children is that in order to be happy they need to be miserable and that's not good for them and the reality is that small scale picture of parenting is ultimately what govern government is supposed to do for us as we are adults and still sinful that they're meant to hold evil at bay and encourage what is good he gives again more attention to discouraging evil.
But let's talk about the encouraging good for a second that they're there for our good this means that governments the Bible doesn't give us a system kings parliament a senate a house of representatives a president voting not voting it doesn't give us that it just says that government was designed these things are instituted for our goods so that there would be some system some oversight and someone who avenges what is wrong and promotes what is good so some of the ways that happens here you can we.
Then get into debates about how big should it be how little should it be how much should they promote how much should they discourage but the reality is under God's authority then there's just some how are they going to practically walk that out as long as they're in line with what God says is good and bad so some examples our government promotes generosity it promotes charitable work charitable organizations don't have to pay taxes our Church doesn't pay income tax we don't pay uh property tax we don't pay tax on the land that we live we people who give money to charitable organizations get tax benefits that's them encouraging things that they think are good our.
Government gives money towards education that's them encouraging things that they think are good that help for human flourishing and that's okay that's inside the bounds of the role of government they discourage evil and there are some places where they they maybe don't discourage it but they least shouldn't encourage it the reality is it's not a it's not against the law to lie if you want to tell people that your benchmax is higher than it really is if you want to tell people that the fish you caught was way bigger than it actually was.
If you want to tell people that you caught a lot of fish when you didn't that's all sin but there's no government control over that but then the government does step in when there are places where people are lying in business or they're lying about a business ben johnson was telling us in lebanon they the government recently took up 40 tons they confiscated 40 tons of expired chicken the chicken was dating back to 2016 that was being sold in markets there they came and confiscated it.
Because the government was like this is unhealthy this is unsafe and you're lying about it and the government's put some restrictions around that and they're discouraging something that's bad it's not good for their people to all be sick with eating bad chicken so they step in and those are some of the roles of government how much how far where those are the things we get to discuss but that's inside the realm of God's good design for government the Bible says that they carry the sword he is the servant of.
God an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrong doer that he does not carry the sword in vain this is one of the primary functions of the government to have a military to have police that's good they're servants of God for our good one of my favorite scenes at the end of the movie the guardians of the galaxy and if you haven't seen it it's like a heist movie but in space one of my favorite scenes is after these criminals who are the main people you're following they save this planet.
And so they tell them that their criminal records have been wiped clean because they saved the planet because they came together and did something good they wiped their criminal records clean and so they're talking to the police officer and one of them says okay well let me ask you a question now that my my slate's wiped clean what if i see someone who has something that i want more than they do and i just take it the police officer says yes that's theft that's that's against the law you will go to jail.
Because that make any sense i want it more than they do and they just kind of push him out of the way and then one of the bigger meaner guys on their team looks at him and goes okay well let me ask you something if someone does something that i find irksome so i remove his spine and the police officer looks at him and goes yeah that's that's murder that's like one of the worst things you can do you would also go to jail and as that's meant to be play out.
For humor but the reality is with no laws with no one enforcing what is good with no one avenging what is wrong the smartest the strongest the meanest often succeed people just do what's right in their own eyes they just take advantage of those who are weak those who are smaller that government is meant to be a good avenger on your behalf in romans chapter 12 the chapter before this Paul's talking to them and he tells them that God is the primary avenger don't be avenged.
When someone does you wrong but leave it to the wrath of God that God is the avenger of all wrongdoing but then in romans 13 he says secondarily God has given the sword to governments to avenge on his behalf for our good my brother is a police officer he's a sheriff's deputy and he is according to romans a servant of God for our good that when someone breaks into someone's home and takes what doesn't belong to them when someone harms someone.
When someone uh because they're bigger physically abuses someone that God has instituted for there to be those who are avengers for the good of those who live in this area that they might have someone to call they might have some resource to go to that God has designed this for our good they're those in law enforcement in our Church family those who've been in military and our Church family and that's a good thing to do they're servants of God for our good.
And so they ought to act as servants of God for our good the the part there that that adjusts how we approach politics and how our politicians act and how our military and police is that they serve God first and foremost and so they ought to act in line with him and therefore work from there so this plays out that that is one of the primary ways that we get to push our government towards what is good is by bringing them in line with the word of.
God and we're going to talk more about that next week and how we we actually get to play that out personally as we interact with our world and as we live out as people who live here but some examples of how this has worked in the past william wilberforce became a believer and he began to push the english government to get to abolish slavery he began to say that you're under God and slavery is wrong so you're out of bounds and what you're allowing and you need to abolish slavery he also pushed.
For uh good treatment of animals because of the same thing he was like no you ought not there ought to be some laws that prohibit this sort of behavior in the u.s one of our greatest thinkers and writers and speakers is frederick douglass who was a freed slave who had no political agency whatsoever could not vote had just earned his freedom had been property most of his life but he began to push he began to speak he began to proclaim he was a amy pastor at one point and he began to push those in leadership and said government ought to be in line with.
God and he pushed for the abolition of slavery he pushed for better rights for women because he said this is what God has designed for us and our government ought to be in line in promoting what is good and holding back what is evil and it worked him and others were able to push to get us to line up with more of God's will and God's good design for us and this is one of the ways that we get to participate as americans you get to vote you get to call your elected officials we live in a place where we have representation that we're supposed to have those who are in our leadership represent us.
Spencer was telling me this week that he had heard that they were getting rid of the adoption tax credit that some of the leaders in south carolina specifically those in the republican party were pushing for this because we live in a primarily republican state and most of our leaders are in the republican party they were pushing for getting rid of the adoption tax credit and so he said he called he called every leader in every in the districts he was in.
So his senators his congress people and he said if you're a republican and you're saying you're pro-life then you also need to be pro-adoption you need to help promote this that's what he called and told them and they ended up not passing it and so two of our pastors right now are in the process of adoption and they get to apply for this tax credit so spencer asked me to tell them on his behalf matt razzier welcome spencer fought for what was good.
So that we might promote what is good in our government and we get to do the same thing that God designed government to be a generic grace-filled good for the world that we're meant to have it and so we ought to be in subject in subjection to it paying taxes honoring those that are our leaders praying for them because God designed this to be good to help us but the reality is while government is good and is meant for our good it does have limitations.
So go back just a few pages to romans chapter 8. so in romans Paul has been walking through salvation he's been walking through our need for Christ by the time we've made it to romans 12 13 and forward he starts giving more practical advice but prior to this he's been giving a lot of theological understanding and so in romans 8 he's talking about the law of God to the law that God gave to Moses and the people of Israel so this is ceremonial law this is the law that of how of his moral law how they ought to relate to.
God this is uh state law how they ought to relate to one another this is the law that God handed to Moses so when it says law here in a second it doesn't just mean the laws we have on the books it actually means the law that God gave to Moses so here's what it says romans 8 verses 3 and 4. for God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh.
For sin he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit so what Paul is getting at there is that the law that God gave to humanity could not ultimately fix human hearts it could not redeem them it could not change them it was a good law but it could not do he says God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do the reason i want us to.
See this is that if the law that God gave to Moses could not change human hearts i hate to break this to you but we will not pass a law in the united states that will be capable of doing it if the law given to the people of God after the Exodus could not ultimately fix them but was meant to show them their inadequacies and their need for Christ then any law we pass any good we promote any evil we prohibit will not ultimately be able to fix our hearts and this is important.
For us as Christians to understand government was given as a good for us but it cannot ultimately fix what is wrong with us it can hold evil at bay it can promote things that are good but Christ has done what the law cannot do he has come in the likeness of sinful flesh for sin to condemn sin in the flesh Jesus Christ came that he took on sin that he died for our sin so that as we place faith in him we might walk in the spirit not in the flesh that we might be changed internally that our hearts might be changed that we might be made new we touched on this idea last week.
When we read a quote from russell moore but what he was getting at was that we could actually get the the right president the best president the right congress the best congress the right policies the best policies but if we do all of that and get the wrong savior we have failed and so Christians are not looking for a savior we have one but we understand that government is good and therefore we ought to participate and promote it as those who understand it is good.
But it is not ultimate we cannot place all our hopes there we cannot place all our trust there we cannot believe that it will fix us that it will save us it will change everything for us that we know ultimately it's good but it's limited and therefore we participate in what is good but we trust that only Jesus will ultimately save us and change our hearts and so we work towards that end i love this quote from martin luther king jr getting at this idea he says it may be true that the law cannot make a man love me.
But it can keep him from lynching me and i think that's pretty important i love that quote and i think it gets at this idea that we believe that government is good that we ought to have it that it's good to have police it's good to have those promoting what is good and prohibiting what is evil and policing that and overseeing that and caring for that and working towards that that they're servants of God for our good so we appreciate our politicians we appreciate those who are in leadership we pray.
For them and we hope for good ones and we trust that God oversees all of that and that ultimately laws will not fix what is broken in us that we have hope for God to do that for our good through Christ so we participate but understanding the limitations we do not give our full hope and our full heart to it we trust that Jesus will ultimately change us and that we need him over and above the good government that God has given us.
So i want to push on those who are politically apathetic have no desire for it it's such a drain on you you think it's a waste of time i want you to see that God designed it for good and that we need good loss we need good oversight we need good to be promoted and evil to be prohibited and i want to encourage you to begin participating there are some people in our Church who should run for office we should have Christians that are holding public office and they should be Christians there's this idea that they should check their christianity at the door.
But nobody else has to do that the the secular humanist doesn't have to check that at the door in order to help make good laws and so we don't believe Christians should either we think you should go and be a Christian and you should help promote what is good and discourage what is evil and that you should use the Bible because ultimately all authority is derived from God you should use that as a good example of how you ought to do this.
So we think some should run for government run for office we think that those who would say but it's too corrupt and therefore you don't want to participate i would push back and say if it's too corrupt we ought to participate all the more we're given avenues for it as Christians in the united states there are some places where we wouldn't but we ought to push we are to participate we are to seek to have that changed so that this can be a good that.
God has given us you ought to vote and here's the thing about voting it's difficult when we only have two parties and you don't like either of the candidates the reality is if you as a Christian are not allowed to vote for anyone who has holds a policy that you disagree with or you as a Christian are not allowed to vote for anyone who holds a moral position a personal position moral action that you disagree with you will not vote so we need to be able to vote understanding that it is not a full endorsement of the character it's not a full endorsement of everything.
But that we've looked and said we think a good bit of this lines up with the heart of Jesus for the good of our nation and we're going to participate and where they're wrong and where they're off we're going to acknowledge it we're going to push for better we're going to practice different things in our personal life that help make up for the fact that i voted here but now i've got to make sure that i come up with some of the deficiencies here.
So you can vote it's not a full endorsement but then you ought to participate in a way that helps compensate start local if you're having a hard time getting motivated to be involved in politics start local this is something i need to grow in is paying attention to our local officials our local leaders caring about them knowing what they're for knowing what they affect but we ought to be involved in the local politics of our city not just our national politics pray that we're meant to pray.
For those who are in authority over us pray for their good not just pray that they would do what we want them to do but that the lord would use them that he'd give them wisdom that he would guide them that he would save them that we would pray for our leadership and lastly trust Jesus government is good and it's a blessing and we should be thankful for it we should be thankful for those who serve for our good they serve under.
God and his authority but we should ultimately trust him that even where things are bad and difficult and things where things are mishandled because we have sinners filling all the offices in our land we would trust that Jesus is working that he will judge what is evil and that all governments are ultimately instituted through him and therefore work at his will and when they get out of line he can remove them or he can bless them and he works through them.
For his good purposes even though we can't always see them so trust him to change hearts trust him to oversee the government we're in and participate in a healthy way understanding that it's good but it's not ultimate so for those of you who have placed too much hope in our political systems too much hope in a political party i would encourage you again this week to repent to begin to detox to begin to break that down so you might understand that it's good.
But ultimately we need God over top of it we need God down here with us changing our hearts and for those of you who've rejected all of this i'll push you to be involved to be engaged because it's a good gift from God that's meant for our good and for the good of our neighbors let's pray God we thank you for your grace your love towards us we pray that you would bless our nation that you would bless our leaders that you would change their hearts that you would give them wisdom and that they would be good servants of yours to discourage evil to promote good.
For the good of those who live in this land i pray that you would help us to not place too much hope in political parties or political systems but to trust you and we pray that you would help us not to be falsely wrongly apathetic towards something a gift that you have given us that we might be engaged for the benefit of our neighbors oh my God like you there is your grace your love exceeds the heaven's reach my my your faithfulness my my guilt and cross laid on your shoulders in my place you broke my bones glory to your.
Lord all right so uh just a couple announcements before we close out uh if you are are new we'd love to uh love for you to check out one of our groups one of the easiest ways you can do that is go to our website go to our community groups page and to fill out some information we'd love to be able to journey with us as we walk through this series as we uh walk through the Gospel together every week in groups come join us uh we'd love to get you connected there.
If you are a part of our Church just a reminder again you can give online uh by going to our website and you can also give by coming by the Church coming out of the building during the week and dropping off checks i want to close us with a word from hebrews 13. it says now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our lord Jesus the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant equip you with everything good they may do his will working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through.
Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever amen you guys have a great day.
American Idol
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is spencer i'm one of the pastors here uh obviously we expected to be live in person this morning but because of some coveted exposure we want to be safe so we are live streaming online if you're joining us we're glad you're joining us here we as a Church we believe that Jesus is better than everything else and because of this we get to be a Gospel-centered community on missions so this morning that looks like worshiping from home that looks like singing songs listening to the word of.
God being preached and responding in faith and repentance but it also means that we get to be a collection of community groups that meet throughout the week it's one of the things we talk about that are our community groups our smaller groups of our Church family they're not events they're not something that you go to it's not it's not a function it's your people it's your people that you get to journey through life with that you get to go through good times and bad times with you get to come and bear burdens you get to come and celebrate what.
God is doing and and learning about the Gospel together so for some of you this week that's going to be through facetime or jitsy or zoom or or skype and our encouragement for you is to be present it's not an event uh it is better to be together but it's not an event that we just uh that we get to skip out on it's a people that you get to see face to face that's in person or through a screen there are people that you get to gather with uh and walk through the Gospel with and walk through this sermon series that we are walking through the next three weeks.
So that's a little bit about who we are as a Church and if you're new we want to invite you into that one of the ways you can find out about community groups in our Church is to go to our website millcitycasey.com you can go to our community groups tab uh and you can fill out a connect form when someone can follow up with you and tell you about our groups tell you uh what groups you can go and check out.
But we're uh glad you're here with us this morning tuning in online uh if you are part if you are a part of our Church family we invite you to give you can give online at our website we have a giving tab you can also drop off checks here at the office uh throughout the week so i want to pray that uh right now God prepare our hearts from worship wherever we're tuning in from and then i'm gonna read from psalm 100.
Father i thank you that we get to worship wherever that is we get to sing your praises we get to sit under your word you get to form us and shape us and mold us into your image God i pray that you help us be present that you help us focus that you help us join in worshiping you we ask this in Jesus name amen all right this is a reading from psalm 100 make a joyful noise to the lord all the earth serve the.
Lord with gladness come into his presence with singing know that the lord he is God it is he who made us and we are his we are his people and the sheep of his pasture enter his gates with thanksgiving enter in his courts with praise give thanks to him bless his name for the lord is good his steadfast love endures forever and his faithfulness to all generations let's sing together worthy of worship worthy of worship worthy of the grace souls we can.
See father creator you are worthy savior you are and wonderful worthy of worship and praise of reverence worthy of fear worthy of love and devotion worthy of all this and added to these father creator you are worthy save your sustainer you are almighty father master and lord king of all kings and redeemers savior and source of a life without in worthy and wonderful i got a firm foundation alright the only solid ground the nations rise and fall kingdom comes one strong.
Now shaken we trust forever in your name the name of Jesus we trust the name of Jesus you are the only king forever almighty God we lift you higher you are the only king forever forevermore you are victorious you are the only king forever almighty God will lift you higher you are the only king forever forevermore you are victorious knee will bow we bring our expectations our hope is anchored in your name the name of Jesus we trust the name of.
Jesus you are the only king forever almighty God we lift you higher you are the only king forever forevermore you are victorious you are the only king forever almighty God will lift you higher you are the only king forever forevermore you are victorious the name of Jesus from age 28. you are the only king forever almighty God will lift you higher you are the only king forever forevermore you are victorious you are the only king forever almighty God will let you higher you are the only king forever forevermore you are victorious a reading from.
First Peter 1 3-9 blessed be the God and father of our lord Jesus Christ according to his great mercy he has caused us to be born again to a living hope for the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable undefiled and unfading kept in heaven for you who by God's power are being guarded through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time in this you rejoice though now for a little while if necessary you have been grieved by various trials to the tested genuineness of your faith more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire may be found to result in praise.
Glory and honor at the Revelation of Jesus Christ though you have not seen him you love him though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with a joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory obtaining the outcome of your faith salvation of your souls how great the castle then lay between us how high the mountain i could not in desperation i turned to heaven and spoke your name into the night then through the darkness your loving kindness tore through the shadows of my soul the work is finished the end is written.
Jesus Christ who could imagine so great a mercy what i could fathom such boundless grace the God of ages stepped down from glory to where my sin and bear my shame the cross has spoken i am forgiven the king of kings calls me beautiful savior i'm yours forever Jesus Christ hallelujah praise the lord who set me free hallelujah death has lost his script on me you have broken every chain there's salvation in your name Jesus Christ death has lost its grip on me you have broken every chain this salvation in your name.
Jesus the Christ that sealed the promise your very body began to breathe out of the silence the roaring lion declare the grave then came the morning that sealed the promise your very body began to breathe is set me free hallelujah death has lost its grip on me you have broken every chain this salvation in your name Jesus Christ oh God you are my living God we're thankful this morning that we get to claim Jesus as our living hope Jesus who came of his own will came of his own purpose to rescue us to redeem us we are grateful this morning who lived a perfect sinful life a sinless life he died on the cross.
For our sins and rose from the grave God that that's our hope this morning and i pray that we would put our hope in Jesus uh as we open up your word this morning we pray that you would speak to us you would help us learn help us grow we ask this in Jesus name amen well good morning i uh i really like that bumper i'm excited that we are getting to start a series together looking at politics but as we do that we we need to kind of set uh some ground rules and be able to come in this.
Well so we talk a lot about politics in the united states we talk about them almost unceasingly and we are in the middle of an election year and so you might already be overwhelmed by how much you're having to hear about political candidates and political parties and political hopes and dreams and political fears but we wanted to take some time as a Church family to discuss politics and our approach as Christians to politics so even as we begin that i know that.
For some of you that brings up a lot of fear or frustration or a desire that we as a Church would never discuss these things maybe you even believe that the Church should never discuss these things others of you may be very excited and want to talk about politics maybe you're like finally we should have already been talking about this and i'm willing to bet there's a big mixture of all of that across our Church family we want to be able to discuss this in a healthy biblical way just.
Because something is tense or difficult in our culture does not mean we have to shy away from it or we ought to shy away from it often it means we we ought to press in we as a Church ought to investigate and discuss and look at and so as we move into this series together i want to give a few things for us one is it's not going to be that long of a series we're only taking three weeks we're not going to get to say everything that ought to be said about it.
But we're also not going to spend a ton of time on it what we're trying to do is set a foundation for how we ought to approach politics and since we're in such a heated political climate we need to have some biblical wisdom as to how we ought to approach we understand that our Church family differs on policies and politics and we we we think that's beautiful and that ought to happen inside the Church but we want to have a baseline.
For how do we as Christians engage in the political processes around us without losing our mind or without losing our souls and so as we walk through this realize it's a three-week series not everything will be able to be said certainly not everything will be able to be said in each sermon if there is something that frustrates you makes you angry makes you aggravated don't value your politics above being Church family and let's press in and talk about these things come talk to me let's clarify what i said what i meant to say go talk to the people in your group as we walk through this.
But we're going to try to as best we can look like God look God like and graciously walk through this as Christians as we move forward so the point of this series is that we believe that Christians ought to look different from our culture when it comes to our political engagement that Christians ought to be distinct from those around them and how they think about and approach politics we believe that we believe that we ought to have a different viewpoint and a different starting point.
And so that you should look more like the Christians on the other side of the globe that when we boil down your life and your hopes and your aspirations and the way you walk through life that you should look more like a believer in china or india or russia than just someone who looks like you and votes like you in the united states that we ought to have a distinct way we approach politics as believers over and against those who we would technically be in the same political party as that's what we're trying to discuss.
Look at for the next three weeks specifically today we're going to look at the fact we're going to take kind of a zoom in on our current political climate and look at how our culture demands that we approach politics and ultimately what they're asking of us is to approach a political candidate or a political party as a hero and a savior to elevate one party one candidate as a messiah who will lead us into a bright future and to understand that the other candidate the other party is evil and destructive that they ought to be feared that's kind of the current political climate that we have.
So we're going to investigate that a little bit and try to see how we as Christians ought to approach this step away from that and have a different on-ramp to our approach to politics so let's pray and we'll begin to look at that this morning God we ask for your grace and your wisdom as we walk through this we know that just live streaming and then gathering in our groups is not our ideal not our desired way to approach this but we also know that through the power of your Holy Spirit and through the the way you work in your Church which is not a location or an event.
But a people that will be just fine as we study your word together and seek to be good missionaries in our city and so we pray that you would bless this as we study together and as we get to gather together in community groups that we would grow in our understanding of who you are and how we ought to approach government and the political process in the place that we live we ask for grace in Jesus name amen if you'll grab your bibles and go to Philippians chapter 3.
That's where we'll spend our time today it's going to take us a minute to get there but go ahead and flip there get to Philippians 3 we're going to be looking at verse 17 through and we're going to have to talk through a few things before we start in that passage so that we can kind of set the groundwork for what we're looking at but we will get there politics is neutral in general the idea of politics is just taken from the greek word polis which means city and it's how do we organize ourselves as a city how do we organize ourselves as a group of people what's inbounds what's out of bounds what works.
Towards human flourishing and what doesn't these are the questions that politics have to answer so in general politics is neutral now we use the word with a negative term because we've filled up politics with people and once we do that we get partisan politics and we get someone being political which just means they're maneuvering things so that they can get the most benefit without any skin in the game and so but when we're talking about this as we approach it it's the idea of government is good it's a common grace blessing from.
God it is something that we ought to participate in celebrate and enjoy that the idea that humans should collectively have ways that they govern themselves and that they keep society in order and work towards human flourishing is good and it's a gift from God and we will talk specifically next week and the week after about how we ought to engage and how we ought to press them but as we start today we want to just approach understanding how we get to where we've elevated political parties and political candidates to the position that they're in or we are really in some ways at our heart level looking.
For a savior looking for a messiah someone that we can hope in some party that we can trust in something that would put us at ease and at rest and deliver us to the promised land so as we were working on this i got with josh pabone and inspired by old political cartoons we drew up well josh drew up the government octopus and so here it is this is the the octopus of government now this is not meant to scare you.
If you're scared of octopus i'm sorry this is meant just to show you how the government can attach to and be involved in so many things that matter to us so if you look at his little headband that's the government if you see tucked up behind him he's got comfort and power because ultimately that's what happens if the government has some power and it offers us power if we're in line with it it offers us some comfort it kind of has these things that we care about and pursue and it touches all these things that really matter to us justice schools health money happiness we're going to do something that we haven't done before.
But we're going to try out as we're trying to learn how to do this well i'm going to stand to the side here and we're going to try to have this pulled up over here so that we can see it it may move around a little bit as we get it adjusted adjusted but this is the neutral not meant to scare you government octopus that touches all the things that matter and you can see how we begin to place a lot of hopes in who's in power.
Because the government affects justice what happens in our court system what do you go to jail for are there jails are there prisons who runs them how long do you have to stay there what are the conditions there how do you seek justice if you've been wronged who decides what is right and wrong you see every government whether it's big or little whether it's a a democracy or a dictatorship it's going to address some of these issues it's going to have answers to some of these problems.
If people are going to exist with one another so government attaches itself to justice and has to answer some questions for us and sometimes when it doesn't give an answer it's that's an answer it pushes it into the market it puts it into how people will handle it on their own schools so that this government octopus can address schools which is our children are they safe are there standards that all schools have to meet or is it just if you have enough money you can get a good education.
And if you don't you don't are there health standards are there safety standards who's teaching them what are they learning are they being indoctrinated in all the good things we want them indoctrinated in or they being indoctrinated in all the evil things that will lead them to stray see this matters this is why when we talk about government it matters to us our health is tied up in this what happens when you go to the hospital is it clean is it nice is that just based off of whether you have money or the area you live in has money are there standards that that medicines have to meet are there standards that doctors have to.
Meet who sets those standards who controls that how much does it cost who pays for it these are questions that government answers or chooses not to answer and just pushes out into the world but it matters it matters the type of care you get the type of care your family gets if you look at happiness we have that on there the way we've worded that in the u.s is this idea of a pursuit of happiness that the government is meant to help you not be infringed upon by them and not be infringed upon by the people around you that you can have some level of freedom this isn't the case everywhere.
But it is here and it does matter as we're trying to talk about our political landscape can you own property can you defend it or not can people take it from you is there some amount of upward mobility can you work certain jobs or not depending on who you are your skin color your race your family of origin whether or not you started off wealthy or poor like there's this level of what kind of boundaries do i have the government affects our money they set a currency is it a good currency is it a bad currency how much do you earn.
When you work does the government control that how many hours can your employer ask of you all these things government effects and so all these things matter to us and so you can begin to see how we would begin to elevate this and in reality in a culture where we step away from God where our culture drifts from understanding that God is sovereign that he rules over everything for us this matters more and more and more this idea of this government octopus matters more and more.
If we're to trust it over and against trusting God as he works it always has mattered but the more our culture shifts away from God the more we begin to look for this to deliver us the kingdom this to deliver us the promised land this to keep us safe this to give us a hope and a future and so this is where political parties begin to step in this is where political candidates begin to step in because all these things matter to us they're tied to our hearts.
And so it's easy for us as they're clumped together for us to look to political hopes as our true hope so if this is good if it's your political candidate of choice then everything is awesome everything works out beautifully it's like this governmental octopus is not just touching these things but it's hugging them it's protecting them it's keeping you safe if your candidate is in office or if your hopes and dreams are being fulfilled by those in congress maybe if you're in another part of the world and you have a benevolent dictator this is the way it works that this offers a lot of security a lot of safety it helps you.
When you walk through the world to know where your place is but if it's not your candidate of choice it's terrifying if it's not your party this this octopus is now snaking its way around it's sucking the life out of you it's it's here to harm you and destroy you this is easy for us to believe it's easy for us to feel this because the government has an effect on so many things for us it's easy for us to be able to.
See this and there's part of this that's absolutely true you start looking at it and go no the government does have a large role to play and what your day-to-day life looks like the government has a large role to play in and what your whole life looks like whether it's good or bad and so we begin to place a lot of hope a lot of intense passion around how is this going to play out but the reality is Christians cannot approach it the same way that our culture has begun to call us to here's what i mean the cultural push right.
Now is kind of a three-step process first they're going to convince us that the stakes are high and that's easy to do this idea that the stakes are high is easy to convince us that we ought to place a lot of hope in how this would work out because if it goes bad it goes really bad but if it goes good it can go really good and so this is why we've begun to give a lot of rhetoric and language towards how this plays out that we've got to give a lot of rhetoric and language tours who is to be trusted who is to be elevated you hear things like donald trump is an existential.
Threat to america he's an existential threat to democracy that our democracy the united states won't exist i saw somebody post recently on facebook or on twitter that this we were facing the fight of our lifetime and if donald trump was not elected it could mean the end of christianity we've begun to elevate this language and what happens on both sides is we start to pump up one leader or one party as the hero and we begin to pump up the other one as the villain and we're told by everybody.
When you turn on the radio when you turn on the news when you flip through your news feed on your phone nobody is coming to you and saying hey calm down it's going to be all right we're gonna we're gonna last beyond this we're gonna be okay everybody is working us into a frenzy to tell us how high the stakes are i've only seen a few elections but what i know about them is that the stakes were highest they'd ever been the.
First one i ever saw and then they were the highest they've ever been and they got higher and i'm going to go ahead and tell you that in 2024 when we're having another election i seriously doubt they're going to come on your news feed and say hey the stakes are a little bit lower than last time i feel like we're going to continue to barrel towards this cataclysmic future because the more we fear the more we approach politics with fear the more we.
See how this is snaking in and could either protect us and guard us or or snatch life away from us and so they build this up on one side you have a Christ and on the other side you have an antichrist and you may say that's that's a bit strong well the reality is i we lived through an election where the the candidate was called an antichrist i actually remember leading a Bible study in college and some of the guys on our football team came and asked me hey i've been hearing that obama is the antichrist do you think that's true i said no i don't i don't think that's true i think people politically.
Don't like him they disagree with his politics i don't think he's the antichrist but we've begun to elevate this so on this side you have a hero and on this side you have a villain this side we're going to exalt them we're going to exalt a party this side we're going to vilify it this side we have a Christ and an antichrist someone who will lead us to the promised land someone who will give us a hope and a future and someone over here.
If they're elected there will be blood in the streets you will be hunted everything you hold dear will be taken from you everything you've ever hoped in or trusted will be gone everything that you've ever built or loved the type of person you are will be snatched from you your children will be destroyed this is the type of language we see that over here we have a savior and over here we have the devil and over here we have a 75 year old white man and over here we have a 75 year old white man.
Well that one's the same but you can see how we build this up to a fever pitch and it doesn't matter the language is the same the rhetoric is the same and you can insert whichever party you want and sometimes it doesn't just get wrapped up around the candidate often it gets wrapped up around the policies or the party but they want us to believe that the stakes are higher than they've ever been and that you ought to be afraid secondly once we are rightfully fearful we're told to join a tribe you got to pick a team it's not just a team this is a tribe this is the people to whom you belong what.
They're demanding is not just pick some policies you like but they're saying no pick a party to which you give allegiance wholehearted devotion because when there's a tribe we cannot show weakness when there's a tribe we can't have internal fighting if we have weakness over here that's how the other team wins if we're fighting things out on our side if we don't have agreement on our side so everybody has to step in line you have to perfectly agree you have to defend your tribe over and against the other tribe i have two brothers my dad uh consistently told us that we were a team that it was us to me and my two brothers against.
The world even to the point at one time i told on my other brother and my dad called me a narc told me i was singing like a canary and he said it's not you and me against your brother it's you and your brother against me and i thought this is a weird family dynamic but okay but what he was trying to put in me was that my brothers would be my brothers forever and he would say these are your brothers you don't disagree with your friends over against your brother you don't you defend your brother he told us that.
If we were out somewhere and one of our brothers one of my brothers got himself into trouble by running his mouth or doing something wrong it was my job to help defend him and then when we got alone i could hit him upside his head for being a but i couldn't do it when we were out i had to defend him the reality is that's what we're told about our political tribe blood level allegiance you line up with us perfectly once we're fearful once we've picked a tribe the.
Third one's simple win destroy your enemies this is what's asked of us in our political landscape that you need to understand how much is at stake you need to be afraid you need to join our team and we must win at all costs this is the fight of our lives we must take them down you don't understand how they will rob you of everything you hold dear how they would snatch it from you everything will be destroyed we must win they want us to be outraged they want us to be angry they want us to hate the other side.
If we can see them as a big block of something dangerous rather than humans who were walking out life trying to figure things out then all the better the reality is as Christians there are things we ought to be outraged over there are things we ought to be angry about but not constant fear-driven anger over every little thing not anger that's only against one political party and not the other but anger for the things of God it's a slow anger that continually works towards things that matter justice mercy the value of life there are things that we ought to be outraged over.
But we don't just shout it out we work towards good ends but the reality is they want us to be fearful give our full allegiance and on the attack ultimately they want us to pick a and have a savior do you see how that's a problem for us do you see how Christians can't really join that let's go to Philippians 3. hopefully you're already there i said it take us a minute to get here but this passage is so helpful for us this is Paul writing to the Church in philippi he says brothers join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us who are.
Our leaders Christians who do we keep our eye on godly faithful men and women who follow Jesus for years who do we get our political marching orders from Scripture and those who love Christ not just the political candidates of choice so he says keep your eyes on them that's not exactly he's not talking about a political thing here but i just wanted us to see that that's we join in imitating those who've come up before us verse 18 it says for many of whom i have often told you.
Now tell you even with tears walk as enemies of the cross of Christ their end is destruction their God is their belly and they glory in their shame with mind set on earthly things says those who are opposed to Christ their God is their belly meaning their passions their desires their lusts their desires of the flesh that they glory in their shame meaning all the things that are terrible are the things that they uphold as wonderful they brag about their greed they brag about their promiscuity they brag about all the things that are sinful and broken they glory in them their minds are set on earthly things all they can.
See is here and now what most benefits me here and now so he says there's this whole group of people that are walking as enemies of Christ and their end is destruction we have a picture of this to try to help us see this when when our culture tells us the stakes are high and what they mean is the political future of america is in danger if you don't act your political hopes and dreams won't be lived out the reality is we're already in a situation where the stakes are high all of creation is groaning waiting.
For God's Revelation of himself groaning waiting for him to redeem the Church and the reality is all of creation is going to be either redeemed or judged every person we know is going to be redeemed by Christ they're going to have a Christ-filled eternal future or they're going to be condemned in their sin those are the stakes that's the situation we find ourselves in and so when Paul says this he says their end is destruction their God is their belly and they glory in their shame he doesn't say this smugly he doesn't say this pridefully he says i tell you this even with tears they walk as enemies of Christ the reality is uh the.
Enemies are not political enemies they're not enemies of this party or that party they're enemies of Christ and Paul says this with tears with the hope that there would be so few of them that most people would walk into the freedom that's offered through Jesus and salvation and have an eternity with him so when they tell us the stakes are high the reality is the stakes are far higher than they know and we don't have political hopes that will fix them we have an eternal game that we're playing we have an eternal hope that is set we have an eternal judgment that is he coming.
So Christians cannot participate in the fear they want us to have over our short run political future Christians cannot participate in the fear they want us to have over a short run political future because we come from a different place understanding who the true fear is that we ought to fear him who can do more than kill the body but can also destroy the soul that we ought to fear him who rules over the cosmos and rules over history and who raises and lowers nations and who redeems in Christ in Christ alone we cannot participate in the fear they want us to have over short-run political situations and scenarios.
When they tell us to join a tribe to give our allegiance they're saying pick who you think will save you listen to this policy listen to this listen to that weigh it out and then pick one and join and fight for that end there's a scene in monty python's quest for the holy grail it's a really dumb movie they're running around questing for the holy grail that's what they're gonna go find one they go to this castle they announce that they're on a quest to find the holy grail and the guy leans over the edge of the castle and says we've already got one.
And then he ducks down and says i've told him we've already got one he's just messing with him but he he says we've already got one we already have a holy grail we don't need to join your quest and that's how i feel that Christians ought to respond when they say pick a tribe we've already got one i already have a savior i already have a hope this is what he says in Philippians 20 3 chapter 3 verse 20. but our citizenship is in heaven you already have a tribe you already have a people and from it we await a savior the.
Lord Jesus Christ we already have a messiah we already have a hope and a future we already have a glorious promise of progress so when they tell you that you ought to be afraid and you ought to join a tribe you need someone to save you we already have someone to save you and i'm awaiting a savior i'm not awaiting a savior from the republican party we're not sitting and awaiting a savior from the democratic party we're not waiting for their policies to come in to redeem and rescue we already have a savior we already have a hope we already have a future i recently watched the play hamilton.
Because it's on disney plus spencer talked about that about a week ago i thoroughly enjoyed it i think it was well done i liked the artistic nature of it i enjoyed my wife and i more enjoyed getting to see the history of things we kept looking up stuff to see if it was true we looked up to see who hercules mulligan was which by the way i know that our Church family keeps having new babies hercules mulligan is a sweet name and has the benefit of being gender neutral boy or girl would work excellently that's less true.
But it's a really good name and so we're watching this and i i enjoyed i enjoyed watching and seeing the history and thinking through this and how the united states fought against the largest empire in the world at this time and and won their independence it's fun for me to celebrate that and see that i like that we got rid of a king and got a republican democracy a democratic republi republic that's the word i was looking for it's the same thing kind of.
But we got a democratic republic i love that the queen can't show up and get rid of all of our governmental officials like she can in i don't know other places around the world like australia i appreciate that we have this but the reality is i long for the day when the king rides in and overthrows this democracy i long for the day when i no longer get to vote because i'm a servant in the house of God and all the good things are taken care of.
Because i already have a savior and from heaven we await our hope we are citizens of heaven and we can participate in the good things that government has now but our hope does not reside here and our allegiance cannot be given here because it's been given to Christ we cannot participate at the same level that those who have no hope can we ought not to this is a quote from russell moore in his book onward he's the president of the southern baptist ethnic ethics and religious liberty council he says this it would be a tragedy to get the right president the right congress and the wrong Christ he goes on to say that.
If we accept anybody who says they'll be a they're a Christian as long as they have our political leaning and we elevate them even though they show no marks of being a Christian what we're actually demonstrating to the world is that we love politics over Christ we're actually demonstrating what our real hope is and who our real savior is and it's a problem we're told then to destroy our enemies the reality is the enemies are enemies of the cross of Christ and we do not approach them with hate.
But with tears we're told that we ought to fight against our enemies that we bought ought to be outraged that those who would destroy america but the reality is their end is destruction because they're destroying themselves because they walk as enemies of the cross of Christ and so we join with our God who died for his enemies who told us to love our neighbors and love our enemies we cannot participate in the anger and the outrage they want us to have against the political party.
Because we are not just playing out a political hope we can't participate in the fear we can't give our allegiance and we can't walk in the anger they want us to have because we understand how the world actually works Christians ought to have a distinct approach to politics and to government we're called to participate we're called to work actively in them we're going to talk more about that but first we've got to repent of where we've elevated a political party to a hope into a messiah that can give us the future we want and and denigrated the.
God who has already done that for us in Christ and from whom we await salvation we need to repent this is as he continues out in verse into verse 20 he says we await a savior the lord Jesus Christ and he says who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself i want to finish up by reading two quotes that i think are helpful for us and we'll spend some time this week in our community groups walking through uh some questions that help us begin to.
See and untangle where we might have begun to worship and elevate a political party over our savior brett mccracken wrote this for the Gospel coalition i think it's helpful he says here's the hard truth for believers wanting political influence in these times consistent faithfulness to Scripture will never square with total alignment with any political party a Gospel agenda is not set by partisan think tanks in washington dc it's set by Scripture a Gospel agenda may align with some aspects of one political party and some of another and should spur us to engage in those areas.
But it also decidedly rejects some aspects of both God's agenda is better bigger and more glorious than any one party nation culture or time the mission of Jesus will outlast every white house tenure it will outlast america itself for the Christian the right side of history is always the side that places faithfulness to the eternal God above loyalty to a temporal tribe if we have begun to elevate our political party and our hopes are set in them and you'd feel more comfortable knowing that your political candidate won and that you began 2021 with the right political candidate and you care more about that than who's on the throne in the eternal heavens ruling over history.
We have a problem if you're more willing to evangelize for your political party of choice but have no words for those who don't know Christ we have a problem but the reality is we await a savior who redeems and works and transforms and has everything in subjection to himself and we have hope so we come in from a different angle hebrews 12 28 says therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken and let us offer to.
God acceptable worship with reverence and all some of us have begun to worship political parties we've begun to worship political candidates we've worshipped our way into this and we need to worship our way out for us to begin this as we approach following the lord well we need to begin setting our hearts and hopes on Christ and not political agendas we've been being stirred up in fear and tribalism and anger and we need a reset we need to spend time this week in our Scriptures before the face of.
God reminding ourselves of the eternality of the mission we've been sent on it's not a short run one the reality is there will be a king who rules forever and we have hope only as we have hope in him we'll finish with this leslie nubigen he's a missionary went to india went back to the uk and saw that there was that as he had gone to india to be a missionary when he finally came back he realized that the uk had drifted as.
Well and this is one point he talks about our hope not being governmental he says the point is that a transformed society is not our goal great as that is our goal is the holy city the new Jerusalem a perfect fellowship in which God reigns in every heart and his children rejoice together in his love and joy and though we know that we must grow old and die and that our labors even if they succeed for a time will end will in the end be buried in the dust of time and that along with the painfully won achievements of goodness there are mounting seemingly irresistible forces of evil yet we are not dismayed we know.
That these things must be but we know that as surely as Christ was raised from the dead so surely shall there be a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness and having this knowledge we ought as Christians to be the strength of every good movement of political and social effort because we have no need either of blind optimism despair we get to begin in a place of hope and certainty we get to approach the political landscape of our nation distinctly from our neighbors who don't know Christ we understand the reality of the eternal situation we're going to walk in.
And so we ought to worship we ought to celebrate that we have a kingdom that will outlast all kingdoms that we have a kingdom that cannot be taken shaken or destroyed and we have to begin there if our starting point is not that our savior is Christ and that we are brothers and sisters and citizens of heaven we won't be able to even begin understanding how we ought to approach something temporary and good like politics let's spend this week repenting let's spend this week confessing let's spend this week re-setting our hearts and hopes.
So that we might move forward participating fervently for the good that is in government but doing so without either despair or blind optimism understanding that we have a savior let's pray God we thank you for your grace we pray that we would be politically active but that we would be politically active as Christians who have a hope and a future who have a citizenship in heaven secured by Christ and Christ alone help us to repent this week as everything around us calls us to fear and allegiance and anger may we live as.
If we believe in Christ amen may your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven for yours is the kingdom the power and the glory forever you reign swelling lives we will be the Church to live our your heart oh God rise up in us we'll show the world how you love Jesus take our heart and make it yours salvation over us the fight was one on the cross to take may your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
For yours is the kingdom the power we will be the Church to live out your heart oh God rise up in us we'll Jesus take our heart and make it yours salvation voices make a joyful noise make a joyful noise and raise your voices make a joyful noise oh God rise up in us we'll show the world how you love Jesus take our heart and make it yours salvation over for you have overcome the world all right before we uh let's get out here.
Today before you guys tune out uh a couple announcements uh we encourage you if you're not a part of a group to jump in with a group you can go to our community groups page you can find out some more information there fill out a contact form and we can connect you uh to a group uh for our Church family that's in groups we invite you to to be present in group this week whether that's uh through uh facetime or jitsi or whatever or it's in person uh be present and uh and let's walk through this very difficult subject together let's watch this with a lot of grace and repentance also.
If you're part of our Church family we invite you to give you can give online on our website you can also drop off checks at the office during the week uh we hope to be back in this room uh this coming uh this next sunday uh but we're gonna have to wait and see so there'll be more information on that at the end of the week so let me pray that we respond well as we walk this out as a Church family.
Father i thank you that you give us your word and that it pierces our hearts it exposes the thoughts and intentions of our hearts so that we can walk and repentance so that we can see that you are our ultimate king and your kingdom is not of this world God i pray you give us grace for one another this week that we walk through this together that you would keep us safe we ask us all in Jesus name amen.