WEBVTT 00:00:00.700 --> 00:00:06.940 Good morning again. Welcome again to those who are joining us for the first time. We have one 00:00:06.940 --> 00:00:13.780 final Sunday to remember and celebrate Christmas. Some of you know I'm from North Carolina and our 00:00:13.780 --> 00:00:21.379 license plates all say first in flight. And there's a reason for that. It's because in December 1903, 00:00:22.039 --> 00:00:31.359 Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first sustained, powered, controlled flight in human history in the 00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:38.659 dunes at Kitty Hawk on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Now, this was a major event. 00:00:40.099 --> 00:00:46.840 No one in history had ever accomplished this, and it's clear to us looking back that this event 00:00:46.840 --> 00:00:54.620 changed everything. The ability to traverse the globe physically connected our world in ways that 00:00:54.620 --> 00:01:00.680 went beyond anything anyone could have imagined at the turn of the 20th century. But here's the thing. 00:01:01.500 --> 00:01:12.340 At that time, almost no one cared. No one cared. Their hometown newspaper in Dayton, Ohio, 00:01:12.340 --> 00:01:19.140 thought it was so insignificant they didn't even report on it. It wasn't worth the ink in the paper 00:01:19.140 --> 00:01:26.200 to print. At the turn of the 20th century, all of the educated people and all of the most respected 00:01:26.200 --> 00:01:33.359 national newspapers like the New York Times were openly skeptical that human beings could ever 00:01:33.359 --> 00:01:41.780 actually achieve flight. So when they heard this story stirring, they assumed this is just a handful 00:01:41.780 --> 00:01:51.180 of nobodies in a remote town making outlandish claims. Story not even worth telling. And that is 00:01:51.180 --> 00:01:58.500 not unlike the events of the first Christmas. There were no front page articles, no press conferences. 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:06.980 Most of the world had no idea anything was amiss. The people who did hear something assumed this is 00:02:06.980 --> 00:02:15.340 probably just a handful of nobodies in a remote town making outlandish claims. Only later did it start to 00:02:15.340 --> 00:02:22.759 become clear that something significant had occurred. In fact, something extraordinary had happened. It was 00:02:22.759 --> 00:02:30.800 something that would go on to change the world. And that only became clear when a new kind of community 00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:40.680 began to emerge. Here's a letter from the second century AD that describes this new community. 00:02:42.320 --> 00:02:43.640 The writer says, 00:02:43.740 --> 00:02:48.520 Christians are indistinguishable from other people either by nationality, language, or customs. 00:02:49.520 --> 00:02:55.560 They do not inhabit separate cities of their own or speak a strange dialect or follow some outlandish 00:02:55.560 --> 00:03:01.800 way of life. With regard to dress, food, and manner of life in general, they follow the customs of 00:03:01.800 --> 00:03:11.900 whatever city they happen to be living in. And yet, there is something extraordinary about their lives. 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:18.319 They live in their own countries as though they were only passing through. They play their full role 00:03:18.319 --> 00:03:24.819 as citizens but labor under all the disabilities of aliens. Any country can be their homeland, but for them, 00:03:24.819 --> 00:03:31.840 their homeland, wherever it may be, is a foreign country. Like others, they marry and have children, 00:03:31.979 --> 00:03:39.439 but they do not expose them. They share their tables, but not their beds. They live in the flesh, 00:03:39.459 --> 00:03:43.639 but they're not governed by the desires of the flesh. They pass their days upon earth, 00:03:43.939 --> 00:03:50.620 but they are citizens of heaven. In many ways, this new community, these Christians, 00:03:50.620 --> 00:03:56.719 were indistinguishable from other people. They blended into the culture. They had normal jobs. 00:03:56.840 --> 00:04:03.120 They had typical families. And yet, there was something extraordinary about their lives. 00:04:03.580 --> 00:04:09.460 Something had happened that transformed these people to make them into something new. 00:04:09.460 --> 00:04:17.960 So the question before us is, what was it? What happened? And in Titus chapter 3, Paul gives us 00:04:17.960 --> 00:04:26.740 the answer. In short, these are people who have been reborn. They have been reborn. 00:04:28.199 --> 00:04:34.680 And when we talk about being reborn, we're really talking about three things. The dawning of a new 00:04:34.680 --> 00:04:42.180 perspective, the gaining of a new identity, and then the joining of a new community. So a new perspective, 00:04:42.319 --> 00:04:47.240 a new identity, and a new community. Let's pray, and we'll look at these words together. 00:04:48.620 --> 00:04:54.759 Our Heavenly Father, as you have come to be with us, what we celebrate at Christmas, so now we believe 00:04:54.759 --> 00:05:02.579 that you dwell with us, that you are Emmanuel. You are God with us. So now we ask, Lord, not because 00:05:02.579 --> 00:05:07.300 we deserve it, but because of your grace, that you would illuminate your word for us, that you would 00:05:07.300 --> 00:05:12.659 speak to our hearts in ways that we desperately need to hear this morning. And we pray this in your 00:05:12.659 --> 00:05:21.979 Son's holy name. Amen. A new perspective. Titus, if you're not familiar, a lot of people have never 00:05:21.979 --> 00:05:27.240 even heard a sermon on the book of Titus. It's a little book, one of Paul's pastoral epistles. 00:05:27.240 --> 00:05:34.480 Titus is a man who served as a bishop, the first bishop, over a network of churches in Crete. 00:05:35.240 --> 00:05:41.199 And Paul had left him in charge. And so this letter is something that Paul wrote later to encourage 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:48.319 Titus in his ministry. And Crete was a challenging place. It was a lot of upheaval. It was a lot of 00:05:48.319 --> 00:05:54.079 animosity. Cretans had a bad reputation for all kinds of reasons, some of it justified. 00:05:54.079 --> 00:06:01.879 And so it was a kind of rough area. And Titus's job is not an easy one. He has to oversee these 00:06:01.879 --> 00:06:07.000 churches in this very challenging sort of crossroads for the Mediterranean. 00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:13.919 In verse 3, Paul reflects on his earlier life. And he says this, 00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:21.879 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, 00:06:22.660 --> 00:06:29.120 passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others, and hating one another. 00:06:32.120 --> 00:06:38.600 Now, he could very easily be describing any of his Cretan neighbors. That was probably a pretty apt 00:06:38.600 --> 00:06:44.060 description. There was a lot of animosity, a lot of infighting. It was a hotbed for rebellion 00:06:44.060 --> 00:06:49.100 against the government. There was a lot of hatred to go around. The thing we need to recognize, 00:06:49.220 --> 00:06:55.520 though, is that Paul is talking about himself. And at first, this seems like a fairly harsh 00:06:55.520 --> 00:07:00.000 self-assessment. Most people, if you said that this was their background, would probably be offended by 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:08.680 today's standards. We also need to remember that Paul had probably been one of the most respected, 00:07:08.839 --> 00:07:15.420 upstanding people in his day. Paul had devoted himself to living an upright and a pure and a 00:07:15.420 --> 00:07:21.319 righteous life. He had memorized vast sections of the Old Testament. He was a rising star in the 00:07:21.319 --> 00:07:27.180 religious world. And yet, this is what he says about his past. And what we realize is this, at some 00:07:27.180 --> 00:07:31.900 point, the Apostle Paul, before he was the Apostle Paul, when he was still the Pharisee Saul, 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:41.340 began to look under the surface. He began to self-reflect. He began to look under all of the 00:07:41.340 --> 00:07:50.120 religiosity, all of the performative righteousness, all of the virtue signaling that characterized the 00:07:50.120 --> 00:07:55.780 culture of the religious leaders. And he began to actually see and admit the truth about himself 00:07:55.779 --> 00:08:04.519 love. And so, in this moment, he's saying, essentially, you know, Titus, when I look inside, 00:08:05.399 --> 00:08:10.479 when I looked inside, I saw a lot of things that I'm not very proud of. 00:08:12.259 --> 00:08:17.279 And to be honest, as much as I like to seem in control, there were passions and desires in me 00:08:17.279 --> 00:08:24.959 that I had no control over. And if I'm being totally honest, they controlled me. And my best hope was just 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:32.399 to hope that nobody found out. And then I saw other things. I saw envy. I saw resentment. 00:08:33.720 --> 00:08:38.360 Maybe when he looked at other people who were further ahead in their careers, but younger. 00:08:39.939 --> 00:08:45.960 People who got more respect. People who got more recognition. And he says, and then I saw anger. 00:08:45.960 --> 00:08:52.780 And then I saw hatred. I saw all of this when I looked inside. And Paul looks inside. He begins 00:08:52.780 --> 00:08:57.740 to realize that there is this disconnect between the outward persona that he projects into the world 00:08:57.740 --> 00:09:05.379 and the inner reality. And he began at some point to realize the truth about himself that inside, 00:09:05.560 --> 00:09:12.200 he was spiritually dead, which is a way of saying spiritually helpless and unable to change. 00:09:12.200 --> 00:09:17.620 All of those years of religious study had done nothing to curb those passions. 00:09:19.040 --> 00:09:23.660 And once Paul realized that, Christmas began to take on a whole new meaning. 00:09:24.879 --> 00:09:28.500 This man had persecuted Christians, dragged them out of their homes, 00:09:29.680 --> 00:09:35.360 arrested them for the things they said about Jesus. But once he began to realize the truth about 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:42.040 himself, he began to realize the truth about Christmas. Here's how he talks about it in verse 4. 00:09:42.200 --> 00:09:47.980 You ask the Apostle Paul, what happened on Christmas? Paul says in verse 4, 00:09:48.379 --> 00:09:56.340 that's when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared. The goodness and loving 00:09:56.340 --> 00:10:07.000 kindness of God our Savior appeared, and he saved us. See, Paul realizes God has sent his goodness and 00:10:07.000 --> 00:10:13.960 loving kindness in the flesh. He realizes Jesus is God's goodness. Jesus is God's loving kindness 00:10:13.960 --> 00:10:21.580 in the flesh. And that changes everything in Paul's life. And see, this is how Christian rebirth begins. 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:27.720 It begins with a new perspective that we gain on ourselves. 00:10:27.720 --> 00:10:34.639 If you read the conversion stories of people all throughout history, whether it's people in ancient 00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:41.500 history like St. Augustine or a little more recent, people like John Newton, people like C.S. Lewis, 00:10:42.840 --> 00:10:52.879 people like Lee Strobel or Lacey Mosley, Jackie Hill Perry, all the conversion stories that are out there 00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:57.779 for us to read and ponder. You'll notice that they're different in lots of ways, but they all, if people are 00:10:57.779 --> 00:11:03.759 honest, they all have at least one thing in common, and that is that at some point, before these people came to 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:14.159 faith, their perspective changed. All these people I mentioned started out thinking fairly certainly about 00:11:14.159 --> 00:11:21.500 themselves as being good, self-sufficient, decent people. These are all people who thought, on balance, I'm probably one of the 00:11:21.500 --> 00:11:31.440 good guys. Upper 50%, at least, if not upper 25% of human beings. And then these people started to look inside. 00:11:33.639 --> 00:11:36.799 And with the help of the Holy Spirit, they began to see the truth about themselves. 00:11:37.799 --> 00:11:41.700 And this is the thing we need to realize. Only when we see the truth about ourselves, 00:11:42.120 --> 00:11:45.980 only then will Christmas become something more than just a sentimental holiday. 00:11:45.980 --> 00:11:51.980 Only when we realize the truth about ourselves will we realize the truth about what actually happened 00:11:51.980 --> 00:11:55.159 on that first night. But that means something very challenging. 00:11:56.440 --> 00:12:01.800 That means admitting that our only hope is to be rescued. It means admitting 00:12:01.800 --> 00:12:09.440 our powerlessness, that we need someone to save us. And I don't know about you, but that runs against 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:17.100 everything in my being. And it runs against everything in our culture. Because we live in a culture that 00:12:17.100 --> 00:12:26.520 defines adulthood, that defines success as self-sufficiency. We live in a culture that 00:12:26.520 --> 00:12:34.300 prioritizes and is obsessed with self-optimization. You know the Cambridge Dictionary Word of the Year 00:12:34.299 --> 00:12:47.120 for this past year? The word manifest. Now, it's not the older use of the word manifest. It's the 00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:52.959 newer use of the word manifest. It's a word that's been popularized by gurus and celebrities. 00:12:54.079 --> 00:13:01.559 The concept is manifesting. It's a new age concept that if I know the things that I want in my life, 00:13:01.559 --> 00:13:06.199 I can focus on those things and send them like vibrations out into the universe, 00:13:06.919 --> 00:13:12.699 and that if I do that successfully, the universe, whatever that means, will return those things to me, 00:13:12.979 --> 00:13:19.500 that I can manifest the life that I want. So we live in a culture where people actually believe 00:13:19.500 --> 00:13:28.179 that they can control reality with their minds. The truth is, we are spiritually helpless. 00:13:28.179 --> 00:13:35.279 Now, that's the opposite message. That's the opposite message. So one of them is true, 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:42.759 and one of them is not. The truth is, we need someone to save us. And this is what Jesus came 00:13:42.759 --> 00:13:49.599 to do by offering us not just a sentimental holiday, but a new identity. That's what Paul 00:13:49.599 --> 00:13:53.859 means when he talks about the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. 00:13:53.860 --> 00:14:00.560 The Holy Spirit begins to work in you, begins to regenerate you, begins to illuminate the truth 00:14:00.560 --> 00:14:07.100 about yourself to you. And then you begin to see the truth of the gospel. You begin to see that God 00:14:07.100 --> 00:14:15.980 saves us, not because we deserve it, but because of his mercy. And then we are baptized. This is what 00:14:15.980 --> 00:14:20.300 Titus almost certainly has in mind when he talks about the washing of regeneration. 00:14:20.299 --> 00:14:28.799 And in baptism, our old identity is washed away. And we are given a new identity. Paul says, 00:14:28.939 --> 00:14:35.919 heirs according to the hope of eternal life. And you need to understand this new identity is 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:41.819 something that God has promised his people for centuries. It's what people have been waiting on. 00:14:42.719 --> 00:14:47.279 And we actually see a beautiful reference to it in our Old Testament reading for this morning. 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:50.459 Listen to what God says. 00:14:52.459 --> 00:14:58.720 Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth. Say to the daughter of Zion, 00:14:58.860 --> 00:15:04.939 behold, your salvation comes. Behold, his reward is with him and his recompense before him. 00:15:05.919 --> 00:15:13.539 And they shall be called, here's the new identity, the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord. 00:15:13.539 --> 00:15:20.120 And you shall be called, sought out, a city not forsaken. 00:15:21.779 --> 00:15:27.120 That's what the new identity means. It means that no matter what you've done, no matter who you were, 00:15:27.379 --> 00:15:32.159 no matter what used to be true about you, when you come to faith, when you're baptized, 00:15:32.740 --> 00:15:39.919 you are no longer that person. God has renamed you. And from here on out, 00:15:39.919 --> 00:15:52.199 you shall be called holy, redeemed, sought out. Now imagine how different your life would be 00:15:52.199 --> 00:15:58.899 if these were the things that you rooted yourself in, if these were the things that you most believed 00:15:58.899 --> 00:16:06.639 to be true about you. How much easier would it be to admit your mistakes or to receive criticism 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:11.659 if your identity was rooted in the truth that you have been made holy? 00:16:13.439 --> 00:16:17.500 All of your defensiveness, all of your self-justification would evaporate. 00:16:18.899 --> 00:16:22.500 You know, if you're rooted in that, then you're more likely, if somebody criticizes you, 00:16:22.819 --> 00:16:28.259 instead of defending and justifying yourself, your response is probably going to be, 00:16:28.620 --> 00:16:33.120 you don't know the half of it. You think that's the worst thing about me? 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:41.919 Man, I could tell you some stories. But I've been made holy. Not because I deserve it. I clearly 00:16:41.919 --> 00:16:46.720 don't. But because God is that kind of God. How much easier would it be to forgive other people, 00:16:46.919 --> 00:16:52.340 to seek reconciliation, if our identity was rooted in being redeemed? If that was your name, 00:16:52.580 --> 00:16:59.039 I'm redeemed. If the deepest truth about you is that the God of the universe paid an unimaginable 00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:08.079 price to forgive you and to purchase you, how could you not forgive somebody for whatever trifle 00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:15.240 they committed against you? And imagine just for a minute how different our lives would be 00:17:15.240 --> 00:17:22.819 if the thing that we most believed to be true about ourselves was this, you are sought after. 00:17:22.819 --> 00:17:31.099 You're sought after. In Jane Austen's book, Persuasion, I think it's her last book, 00:17:31.759 --> 00:17:38.259 a woman named Anne is engaged to Captain Wentworth, but her family and friends persuade her to break it 00:17:38.259 --> 00:17:45.720 off. Can't imagine anybody doing that kind of thing. But they break it off. If you know anything 00:17:45.720 --> 00:17:49.059 about our background, same thing happened to Laura and me. That's a different sermon. 00:17:49.059 --> 00:17:56.179 But in Jane Austen's book, they break off the engagement. They don't think he's a good enough 00:17:56.179 --> 00:18:02.279 social standing for her. It's a more practical decision to marry somebody else. And then years 00:18:02.279 --> 00:18:10.720 go by. Years go by. And she can't stop thinking about him. And she's still in love with him. And no 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:17.440 matter what happens, her heart remains firmly turned in his direction. But she assumes that he's angry. 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:24.759 She assumes that he resents her. She assumes all the worst things. And at the pivotal moment in the 00:18:24.759 --> 00:18:29.400 book, she is at a writing desk. She's been over her writing desk. And she discovers a letter 00:18:29.400 --> 00:18:36.500 that he has left for her. And she opens the letter. And here's a section of that letter. 00:18:36.500 --> 00:18:43.700 This is from Captain Wentworth to her after over eight years. He says, 00:18:43.819 --> 00:18:51.779 I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. 00:18:52.940 --> 00:19:01.859 You pierce my soul. I'm half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious 00:19:01.859 --> 00:19:09.779 feelings are gone forever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when 00:19:09.779 --> 00:19:15.740 you almost broke it eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman 00:19:15.740 --> 00:19:22.539 that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. 00:19:22.539 --> 00:19:36.099 And Anne can hardly breathe, let alone speak. There's a kind of agony in her. There's a joy that 00:19:36.099 --> 00:19:43.299 is so overwhelming it almost breaks her. And also a remorse for all of the time that they could have 00:19:43.299 --> 00:19:50.279 been together that has been lost. And this realization that she is still and perhaps always has been, 00:19:50.279 --> 00:19:58.759 the sole object of Wentworth's undying affection fills her with an overpowering joy. 00:20:00.139 --> 00:20:07.680 And I would submit to you that that is just a glimpse, just the faintest glimmer 00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:14.440 of what God has in mind when he looks at us and says, you are sought after. 00:20:14.440 --> 00:20:21.759 Now, this is one of the most famous passages in all of Austin's writing. And I think that one of 00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:26.940 the reasons it's so famous is because it resonates with us. And I think the reason it resonates is 00:20:26.940 --> 00:20:33.960 because somewhere deep down, this is what all human beings long for. This is what we all want to hear. 00:20:34.100 --> 00:20:41.340 Deep down, I think we're all longing for someone to tell us, you are sought after. I think that's why 00:20:41.339 --> 00:20:45.799 we strive for the things that we strive for. Now, men and women, we may do this differently. 00:20:46.279 --> 00:20:51.299 We may feel it and experience it differently. But I think this is why we strive for success 00:20:51.299 --> 00:20:58.439 at work and for attention and recognition and approval and affirmation, the attention of other 00:20:58.439 --> 00:21:03.799 people. I think this is the reason we long for these things. I think it's because deep down, 00:21:03.899 --> 00:21:07.319 we know that this is what we were made for. And here's what the gospel says. 00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:16.059 Long ago, humans were in relationship with a God, but we broke it off because we thought our lives 00:21:16.059 --> 00:21:20.859 would be better. It was a very practical decision. We could make our own decisions about where we want 00:21:20.859 --> 00:21:29.899 to go and how we want to live. But God never stopped loving us. And the gospel says that God's goodness 00:21:29.900 --> 00:21:37.560 and loving kindness has now appeared. And we got more than a letter. We got God in the flesh. 00:21:38.500 --> 00:21:48.560 And that God has come to say, I have loved none but you. I have always loved you. And he has come to 00:21:48.560 --> 00:21:56.960 offer himself for those who would receive him. And so in this way, we see that when we begin to gain that new 00:21:56.960 --> 00:22:03.220 perspective on our hearts, that begins to shift how we see Christmas and we begin to realize that 00:22:03.220 --> 00:22:08.019 Christmas is actually telling us that the thing that we're most longing for has happened. The God 00:22:08.019 --> 00:22:16.120 who made us and loved us has been seeking after us and now he's here. And when that realization hits 00:22:16.120 --> 00:22:24.279 you, and for some of us, it is the slow dawning of dusk turning to day. For others, it is like an earthquake. 00:22:24.279 --> 00:22:31.319 But however that realization hits you, when it does, your identity completely changes. 00:22:32.819 --> 00:22:38.599 But the problem is that new identity in us is very, very, very fragile. 00:22:40.059 --> 00:22:48.240 And so we need the support of a community to sustain it. The new identity is fragile. It is so easy to 00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:55.099 come to faith, to receive this new identity, to have a few days of, or a few weeks, or maybe a year 00:22:55.099 --> 00:23:01.180 of feeling on top of the world. I see this a lot with people who come to faith. They come to faith and 00:23:01.180 --> 00:23:06.160 they're exhilarated for a season. But then there's a kind of falling off of the excitement. 00:23:07.440 --> 00:23:12.279 And people tend to forget very quickly. We tend to go back to living the way we used to live, 00:23:12.279 --> 00:23:19.579 as though nothing happened. Just as a child needs the love and support of a family, a Christian 00:23:19.579 --> 00:23:26.299 needs the love and support of a church. We're not designed to live out of this new identity in a vacuum. 00:23:27.579 --> 00:23:34.920 And this is why the bulk of this letter is Paul instructing Titus to do everything he can 00:23:34.920 --> 00:23:41.640 to safeguard this community so this new identity of God's people will be protected and nurtured and 00:23:41.640 --> 00:23:50.400 strengthened. Verse 1, remind them of these things. Verse 8, insist on these things. Verse 9, avoid 00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:57.120 unprofitable controversies that will distract from these things. Paul's saying, you have no idea how 00:23:57.120 --> 00:24:04.900 precious this is. Your job as a pastor, your job as a bishop is to do everything you can to do 00:24:04.900 --> 00:24:11.640 to safeguard that in your community. And he says, you know, there may even be some situations where 00:24:11.640 --> 00:24:18.280 someone in the community represents such a threat to this new culture. They represent such a threat 00:24:18.280 --> 00:24:23.640 to this new way of life that they need to be removed. There may be a situation where somebody is living 00:24:23.640 --> 00:24:31.600 so against these truths that they need to be removed, hopefully temporarily. You know, verses 10 and 11 00:24:31.599 --> 00:24:36.599 refer to a situation where someone's behavior is so harmful and divisive that for the good of the 00:24:36.599 --> 00:24:42.419 whole, that person needs to be removed. Now, whenever this is done, it is always done with a hope and the 00:24:42.419 --> 00:24:49.179 prayer that that person will be restored to the community, that they will repent. This is referring 00:24:49.179 --> 00:24:55.759 in many cases to what we call these days church discipline. This may sound harsh to people if you've never 00:24:55.759 --> 00:25:03.000 heard any reference to this before. But imagine you're an alcoholic and you're trying to get sober 00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:08.920 after years and years and years of addiction. And you go to an AA meeting hoping to find support from 00:25:08.920 --> 00:25:13.879 other people who are doing the same thing. They're committed to the same journey of freedom as you are. 00:25:15.099 --> 00:25:21.839 And imagine someone shows up to that AA meeting not long after you start, and that person claims to be in 00:25:21.839 --> 00:25:27.919 recovery. They claim to be sober just like you, but they bring a big cooler of beer with them to the AA 00:25:27.919 --> 00:25:32.839 meeting. And they start handing out beers to everybody in the meeting while they're talking 00:25:32.839 --> 00:25:39.299 about their story of sobriety. Right? You'd pull that person aside and you'd say, hey, this isn't in line 00:25:39.299 --> 00:25:45.839 with the journey of freedom that all these people are on. You're actually doing something that's 00:25:45.839 --> 00:25:50.879 actually going to get people moving in the other direction. You're putting people at risk of going back 00:25:50.880 --> 00:25:56.740 into slavery. And after again and again and again admonishing that person, please don't keep doing 00:25:56.740 --> 00:26:00.820 this. If they kept doing it, you would have no choice. For the good of the group, you would say, 00:26:00.900 --> 00:26:07.900 hey, until you're serious about sobriety, you can't come to this meeting. And what we need to understand 00:26:07.900 --> 00:26:13.120 is that the church is that kind of place. The church is a place for people who are serious about 00:26:13.120 --> 00:26:19.320 spiritual transformation, who have looked at that old life and have said, I don't want that anymore. 00:26:19.319 --> 00:26:22.960 I don't want the slavery to those desires. I don't want the slavery to those passions. 00:26:23.339 --> 00:26:28.039 I don't want the slander. I don't want the bitterness. I don't want the false accusations. 00:26:28.460 --> 00:26:33.460 I don't want the misinformation. I don't want all the ways people talk about each other behind each 00:26:33.460 --> 00:26:37.279 other's backs and assume the worst about their motives and say horrible things about them. 00:26:37.960 --> 00:26:40.419 I don't want all of the conflict and all of the bitterness. 00:26:40.420 --> 00:26:47.060 I want to live out of a new identity. I want to live out of the reality that I'm holy, that I'm 00:26:47.060 --> 00:26:53.000 redeemed, that I'm sought after. And I want to be around people who are going to encourage me to stay 00:26:53.000 --> 00:26:58.380 rooted in that because everyone else in my life is trying to pull me back to the way I used to be, 00:26:58.380 --> 00:27:04.800 and I want to be free. So the church is a place for people who are serious about spiritual 00:27:04.800 --> 00:27:10.800 transformation, who are serious about learning how to live out of a new identity, people who want to 00:27:10.800 --> 00:27:15.300 know what life looks like when we're rooted in the truth that we really are all of these things. 00:27:16.340 --> 00:27:18.720 Now, that doesn't mean that the church is full of perfect people. 00:27:20.820 --> 00:27:23.880 That's very important to understand. Sometimes you hear people say, well, I don't go to church 00:27:23.880 --> 00:27:28.100 because it's full of hypocrites. You know, that's like saying I don't go to the gym because there's 00:27:28.100 --> 00:27:33.480 people who are out of shape there. I don't like going to the hospital because there are some sick 00:27:33.480 --> 00:27:39.400 people in the hospital. You would only want to go to a gym where there's fit people or a hospital 00:27:39.400 --> 00:27:44.760 where there's well people? I don't think so. Why does a gym exist? Why is the hospital even there? 00:27:45.600 --> 00:27:51.460 It exists for the people who need it. It's the same as a church. A church exists because, hey, 00:27:51.460 --> 00:27:58.120 in different ways, we are all hypocrites. There's just people who have the guts to admit it and the 00:27:58.120 --> 00:28:01.920 people who don't and the people who like to pretend we can control the universe with our minds. 00:28:05.559 --> 00:28:11.819 The church is a place for people who are serious about spiritual transformation. 00:28:13.640 --> 00:28:18.740 Doesn't mean it's full of perfect people. Quite the opposite. But it means if you're somebody who 00:28:18.740 --> 00:28:23.480 wants to be free, who wants to live out of a new identity, wants to know that you're holy and 00:28:23.480 --> 00:28:30.160 redeemed and sought after, that's where you need to be. And what we see in this passage, last thing 00:28:30.160 --> 00:28:35.079 we want to look at is that when you have a church full of people like this, they look like what we 00:28:35.079 --> 00:28:43.039 see in verses one and two. I mean, just look at this just snapshot. These are the people who make the 00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:48.579 most ideal citizens wherever they live because they have a very balanced view of politics. That 00:28:48.579 --> 00:28:55.000 would be really helpful in the coming weeks. These are people who engage. They vote their conscience, 00:28:55.759 --> 00:29:00.720 maybe even run for office. They're willing to submit to the local authorities. 00:29:02.200 --> 00:29:07.740 Now, people in Crete were very likely to try to overthrow the government. Most cases, they don't do that. 00:29:07.740 --> 00:29:15.059 They submit. On the other hand, they don't worship the local authorities. There's a big cult of emperor 00:29:15.059 --> 00:29:20.759 worship in Crete and other places. So they don't worship and idealize their political leaders. They 00:29:20.759 --> 00:29:24.740 don't demonize their political leaders. They know that they're just normal, sinful people like everybody 00:29:24.740 --> 00:29:32.500 else. They vote, they engage, they move on. They seek the common good. He says they're always ready to do 00:29:32.500 --> 00:29:37.599 good work. They're very careful to use their words in ways that build others up. They never use 00:29:37.599 --> 00:29:43.219 words in ways that tear people down either to their face or behind their back. They're peacemakers. 00:29:43.379 --> 00:29:47.679 They're reconcilers. They assume the best about other people and their motives. When there's a 00:29:47.679 --> 00:29:51.399 vacuum of information and they don't know what's going on, they assume the best about everyone 00:29:51.399 --> 00:29:58.099 involved. They treat everyone with dignity and respect. And I got to say, wherever churches like this 00:29:58.099 --> 00:30:05.719 are located, those neighborhoods benefit. Those cities benefit. All of the residents benefit, 00:30:05.720 --> 00:30:12.600 regardless of whether they ever darken the door of that church. And Paul says, we got to safeguard that. 00:30:14.700 --> 00:30:21.400 So as this Christmas season comes to a close, as we take down the lights, as we sweep up our pine 00:30:21.400 --> 00:30:28.420 needles, as we make our resolutions, the question remains, what do the events of the first Christmas 00:30:28.420 --> 00:30:37.340 mean for us personally? Was it just a handful of nobodies in a remote town making outlandish claims? 00:30:38.340 --> 00:30:44.259 Or are we open to the possibility that the goodness and loving kindness of God has actually appeared? 00:30:44.820 --> 00:30:50.880 That now it is possible for us to be reborn, to become something altogether new, 00:30:50.880 --> 00:30:57.960 to know that the thing most true about us is that we are holy, that we are redeemed, and that we are 00:30:57.960 --> 00:31:05.520 sought after. Let's pray. Our Lord and Heavenly Father, we thank you for the truth at the heart of 00:31:05.520 --> 00:31:12.800 this. And know that this is a truth that has to be spiritually pressed into our hearts for it to 00:31:12.800 --> 00:31:19.000 change us. And so we pray that as we continue in our prayers, in our confession, and as we gather 00:31:19.000 --> 00:31:25.559 around your table, that we would encounter you, the God who wrote these words for us, now that you 00:31:25.559 --> 00:31:32.880 have kindled a hope in us, be true to your word, and meet us, those of us who open ourselves to you, 00:31:33.319 --> 00:31:39.079 with a fresh realization of what these things mean for us. We pray this for our good, 00:31:39.079 --> 00:31:40.900 in your glory, in your Son's name. Amen.