WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.599 Welcome to Church of the Advent. Some of you are brand new. Some of you have been here just a 00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:14.480 little while. You should know that our senior pastor, Tommy Hinson, is away on sabbatical. He 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:20.559 has finished three months out of a four-month sabbatical. During the summer, we have a chance 00:00:20.559 --> 00:00:28.500 to hear from a diversity of voices, and whenever they are not preaching, it'll be me. And yay! 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:38.600 While I've been preaching, we've been looking at Colossians chapter 4, verses 2 through 6. 00:00:39.399 --> 00:00:46.659 Four weeks ago, we looked at chapter 4, verse 2. Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful 00:00:46.659 --> 00:00:55.000 in it with thanksgiving. Continuous prayer and contemplative prayer moves God's people out 00:00:55.000 --> 00:01:00.520 into mission. After verse 2, Paul instructs the Colossians to pray for the spread of the gospel, 00:01:00.659 --> 00:01:06.299 specifically that God may open to him a door for the word to declare the mystery of Christ, 00:01:06.840 --> 00:01:11.960 that he may make it clear. Paul then gives further instructions about their role in spreading the 00:01:11.960 --> 00:01:17.700 gospel. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be 00:01:17.700 --> 00:01:21.680 gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. 00:01:21.680 --> 00:01:29.840 So we find here, chapter 2, verses 3 to 6, the mission of God's people to spread the gospel. 00:01:30.260 --> 00:01:38.280 And we're going to find—we're going to look at those later clauses in about a few weeks. 00:01:38.820 --> 00:01:44.360 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt. But before we do that, it would be helpful 00:01:44.359 --> 00:01:52.120 to first look at the gospel to answer the question, what is the gospel? We come from different backgrounds. 00:01:52.500 --> 00:01:59.700 Some are relatively new to Church of the Advent. You've been coming for a few weeks or months. 00:02:00.379 --> 00:02:06.680 Some of you are new to church altogether. Many of you have been at Advent for a while and have heard 00:02:06.680 --> 00:02:11.800 Tommy or me or Blake Johnson before me teach and preach about the gospel. Some of you have taken the 00:02:11.800 --> 00:02:17.280 essentials course way back when, and so a lot of what I'm saying tonight you'll already have heard. 00:02:17.400 --> 00:02:21.960 But Martin Luther gives preachers permission to be repetitive. When he wrote, 00:02:22.540 --> 00:02:28.939 the truth of the gospel is the principal article of all Christian doctrine. Most necessary is it that 00:02:28.939 --> 00:02:36.240 we know this article well. Teach it to others and beat it into their heads continually. That's what 00:02:36.240 --> 00:02:43.379 Martin Luther said. Now, I watched a lot of the World Cup, probably too much of the World Cup, and one thing I kept 00:02:43.379 --> 00:02:50.560 hearing over and over is, this team knows their identity. This team really knows their identity. 00:02:51.020 --> 00:02:56.420 This team, when they get down at the beginning, they don't forget their identity. This team, 00:02:56.480 --> 00:03:01.640 they know who they are and they know who they're not. Lots of talk about identity in soccer. 00:03:01.639 --> 00:03:09.519 Interesting. I've never played soccer, but I am a bit skeptical that identity is that important to a 00:03:09.519 --> 00:03:16.579 soccer team. But for the church, it's crucially important. Crucially important that we understand 00:03:16.579 --> 00:03:25.799 our identity, and our identity centers on the gospel. It tells us who God is and who we are. It tells us 00:03:25.800 --> 00:03:33.960 why we exist and what our mission is. Why does Church of the Advent exist? Why do we exist here in 00:03:33.960 --> 00:03:40.760 Columbia Heights, in Canaan Baptist Church, in Washington, D.C., and not somewhere else? 00:03:41.880 --> 00:03:48.160 So tonight we're going to look at the gospel. Just one point tonight. We're going to look at the 00:03:48.159 --> 00:04:03.039 gospel. What is the gospel? So let me pray. We may not have known it, Lord, when we arrived, but we all 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:15.639 need to hear the gospel tonight. Your gospel has a lot of work to do in each of our hearts. 00:04:15.639 --> 00:04:19.800 Lord, would you accomplish that tonight? 00:04:21.919 --> 00:04:26.419 As we hear the gospel, as we taste it, as we see it, 00:04:27.419 --> 00:04:38.839 we look forward to your activity here, Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, do come. Amen. 00:04:38.839 --> 00:04:47.579 So we should know what the gospel is, after all, because our vision and value statement begins like 00:04:47.579 --> 00:04:53.199 this. As a church, we seek the flourishing of Washington, D.C. by building gospel-centered 00:04:53.199 --> 00:04:59.659 communities. Gospel-centered communities. We should know, well, what we are centered on. And we're going 00:04:59.659 --> 00:05:05.620 to use the book of Colossians to guide us. So what do you think of when you hear the word 00:05:05.620 --> 00:05:12.399 gospel? Well, you might think of a certain style of music. You might think of it as an adjective, 00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:19.519 as in the gospel truth. You might think of it as a belief, or a set of beliefs, or an idea 00:05:19.519 --> 00:05:27.579 that the gospel is the minimum doctrine one has to believe in order to go to heaven when one dies. 00:05:27.579 --> 00:05:35.800 Well, the word gospel literally means good news, and it is a translation of the Greek word 00:05:35.800 --> 00:05:43.060 evangelion, which was a great announcement of a mighty victory, or a new king. It was a word that 00:05:43.060 --> 00:05:48.379 already existed in Paul's day when he used it. According to legend, after the Greeks defeated the 00:05:48.379 --> 00:05:58.000 Persians at the Battle of Marathon, Pheidippides ran 26 miles back to Athens to deliver the evangelion, 00:05:58.120 --> 00:06:04.339 the good news of victory. He proclaimed, joy to you, we have won, and then he immediately had died, 00:06:05.219 --> 00:06:12.399 again proclaiming joy to you. We find an inscription which was found chiseled on the ruins of an old 00:06:12.399 --> 00:06:19.799 government building in Asia Minor, dated around 6 BC. The most divine Caesar we should consider equal to 00:06:19.799 --> 00:06:26.120 the beginning of all things, for when everything was falling into disorder and tending toward dissolution, 00:06:26.439 --> 00:06:32.500 he restored it once more and gave the whole world a new aura. All the cities unanimously adopt the 00:06:32.500 --> 00:06:38.319 birthday of the divine Caesar. That's the new beginning of the year. Has brought our life to the climax, 00:06:38.459 --> 00:06:42.060 perfection, and giving to us the Emperor Augustus. He has put an end to war, 00:06:42.060 --> 00:06:48.420 and to set all things in order. And having become God manifest, Caesar has fulfilled all the hopes of 00:06:48.420 --> 00:06:53.500 earlier times. The birthday of the God Augustus has been for the whole world the beginning of 00:06:53.500 --> 00:06:59.740 Evangelion. The birthday of Augustus. It's the gospel. It's the good news concerning him. 00:07:01.939 --> 00:07:10.259 So Paul is using this word gospel correctly. It's a royal announcement. Paul is making a royal 00:07:10.259 --> 00:07:20.339 announcement. The gospel is about a royal affair. It concerns a king. It's King Jesus, the Christ, the 00:07:20.339 --> 00:07:29.579 anointed one. And the gospel reports an event, the death, burial, and resurrection of this king. 00:07:29.579 --> 00:07:36.839 It's an announcement that Jesus Christ is king. And that through his death and resurrection, 00:07:36.839 --> 00:07:40.439 he has secured a victory over sin and death. 00:07:43.740 --> 00:07:48.379 Colossians 1 says that he is the image of the invisible God. 00:07:49.439 --> 00:07:52.819 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. 00:07:52.819 --> 00:08:00.779 And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the 00:08:00.779 --> 00:08:05.939 blood of his cross. In chapter 2 of Colossians, Paul writes that God raised him from the dead, 00:08:06.600 --> 00:08:11.519 and that the Colossians were made alive together with him, having forgiven them all of their trespasses. 00:08:12.100 --> 00:08:18.060 The book of Colossians is a proclamation of the gospel. It's an event. The death and resurrection of Jesus. 00:08:18.060 --> 00:08:26.879 Now many other religions are founded on a set of teachings, or philosophies, or private revelations. 00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:37.879 Christianity is unique in that it is founded on a proclamation of an event in history, which makes it falsifiable. 00:08:40.259 --> 00:08:47.320 Paul says that this event brings about reconciliation to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven. 00:08:48.059 --> 00:08:51.119 Well, why is reconciliation required in the first place? 00:08:52.439 --> 00:08:54.599 To answer that question, we need to go to the beginning. 00:08:56.119 --> 00:08:59.799 Colossians 1 says that by Christ, all things were created. 00:08:59.899 --> 00:09:02.419 All things were created through him and for him. 00:09:03.099 --> 00:09:09.239 And when we read Genesis 1, we read that all things were created good, including humanity. 00:09:10.019 --> 00:09:11.539 Yet things went terribly wrong. 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:15.019 Man rebelled against God, and everything broke. 00:09:15.019 --> 00:09:17.899 Every week in our liturgy, we say this. 00:09:18.819 --> 00:09:20.159 The priest confesses, 00:09:20.439 --> 00:09:24.500 Yet we did not give thanks to you or honor you as God, but turned away. 00:09:25.199 --> 00:09:31.699 Falling into sin, we and all your works became subject to misery and death. 00:09:32.360 --> 00:09:35.299 Just a couple chapters later, when we read Genesis 3, 00:09:35.299 --> 00:09:40.859 We see four levels of alienation that require reconciliation. 00:09:41.979 --> 00:09:47.719 We become alienated to God, alienated from God, which brings about spiritual death. 00:09:48.299 --> 00:09:56.519 We become alienated from ourselves, and we now experience things like shame, psychological alienation. 00:09:56.519 --> 00:10:03.759 We become alienated from each other, bringing about all kinds of social alienation, 00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:06.799 on the personal level and on the macro level. 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:12.000 And we were alienated from creation itself, which means the world is broken on a cosmic scale. 00:10:12.600 --> 00:10:15.960 And I don't need to prove that last point to you, do I? 00:10:16.159 --> 00:10:20.379 It doesn't feel like the world is functioning the way it was meant to function, 00:10:20.379 --> 00:10:23.720 from ongoing war in Syria and ethnic cleansing in Nigeria, 00:10:23.720 --> 00:10:29.500 to an overturned duck boat in Missouri and wildfires in California. 00:10:29.779 --> 00:10:33.860 We look all around and see a world that is not the way it is intended to be. 00:10:34.980 --> 00:10:38.220 So which of these did Jesus come to fix, of those four? 00:10:39.179 --> 00:10:45.379 Is it spiritual, psychological, social, or cosmic alienation? 00:10:46.340 --> 00:10:47.899 Well, it's all four, right? 00:10:48.360 --> 00:10:49.460 He came to fix it all. 00:10:49.460 --> 00:10:54.639 Well, Colossians says that through Jesus, God reconciles to himself all things, 00:10:54.780 --> 00:10:56.420 whether on earth or in heaven. 00:10:57.360 --> 00:10:57.720 How? 00:10:58.340 --> 00:11:01.180 By making peace by the blood of his cross. 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:04.940 The gospel is good news for us psychologically. 00:11:05.139 --> 00:11:07.780 He frees us from fear and shame. 00:11:08.879 --> 00:11:10.820 It's good news for us socially. 00:11:10.960 --> 00:11:17.360 He brings a palpable peace between people and puts us into community, 00:11:17.360 --> 00:11:20.639 rich, thick community with one another. 00:11:20.639 --> 00:11:28.440 And it's good news for those suffering from the forces of poverty, injustice, racism, and war. 00:11:29.240 --> 00:11:32.820 God intends to fix all of these things. 00:11:32.820 --> 00:11:42.580 And it's good news for us personally, spiritually, between us and our creator God. 00:11:44.500 --> 00:11:46.680 Colossians 1.13 says, 00:11:46.679 --> 00:12:00.339 Colossians 2.13 says, 00:12:00.339 --> 00:12:12.099 Here, Colossians describes our plot as belonging to a domain of darkness. 00:12:12.100 --> 00:12:25.920 God's power. 00:12:25.920 --> 00:12:29.519 We've been delivered from guilt and shame. 00:12:29.519 --> 00:12:30.879 We're free. 00:12:30.879 --> 00:12:31.879 We're free. 00:12:31.879 --> 00:12:32.159 We're free. 00:12:32.299 --> 00:12:34.419 Not free from obedience. 00:12:34.620 --> 00:12:39.659 Not free from God's law, but free to obey God. 00:12:41.980 --> 00:12:46.899 Just last night at the Revoice Conference in St. Louis, Wesley Hill said, 00:12:47.340 --> 00:12:49.899 We all stood under condemnation. 00:12:50.860 --> 00:12:54.100 Jesus did not combat shame by rewriting the rulebook, 00:12:54.340 --> 00:12:59.320 but by removing condemnation and liberating sinners to a new way of life. 00:12:59.320 --> 00:13:01.760 So to summarize, 00:13:02.320 --> 00:13:07.860 God's gospel is the life-transforming message of salvation from sin 00:13:07.860 --> 00:13:14.060 and all its consequences through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:13:14.060 --> 00:13:18.940 It is both a declaration and a summons, 00:13:19.320 --> 00:13:21.920 announcing what has been done for us in Christ 00:13:21.920 --> 00:13:28.540 and calling us to repentance, faith, and submission to his lordship. 00:13:29.320 --> 00:13:32.600 So let's look at those three things we've been summoned to. 00:13:33.140 --> 00:13:36.100 To repentance, submission to his lordship, and faith. 00:13:36.120 --> 00:13:38.520 You could say we've been summoned to do something, 00:13:38.620 --> 00:13:40.640 to confess something, and to believe something. 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:43.480 So what have we been summoned to do? 00:13:43.660 --> 00:13:44.480 It's repentance. 00:13:46.060 --> 00:13:49.200 Paul talks about repentance this way. 00:13:49.200 --> 00:13:53.720 Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you, 00:13:54.900 --> 00:14:01.460 sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, 00:14:01.700 --> 00:14:02.900 which is idolatry. 00:14:04.100 --> 00:14:07.740 On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. 00:14:09.180 --> 00:14:10.620 In these two you once walked, 00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:12.200 when you were living in them, 00:14:12.259 --> 00:14:13.500 but now you must put them all away. 00:14:13.620 --> 00:14:15.240 Anger, wrath, malice, slander, 00:14:15.240 --> 00:14:16.899 and obscene talk from your mouth. 00:14:19.620 --> 00:14:21.759 Paul says that repentance is putting those away 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:23.600 and turning to Christ. 00:14:24.080 --> 00:14:25.100 Put these off. 00:14:25.279 --> 00:14:27.220 Put on Christ. 00:14:27.379 --> 00:14:28.220 Put on love. 00:14:28.379 --> 00:14:30.120 Put on graciousness. 00:14:30.259 --> 00:14:32.220 Put on peace. 00:14:32.220 --> 00:14:35.180 Now, the talk of repentance, 00:14:35.379 --> 00:14:38.240 it feels negative, 00:14:38.820 --> 00:14:40.120 feels dark, 00:14:40.259 --> 00:14:43.500 and the actual doing of it is difficult sometimes 00:14:43.500 --> 00:14:45.480 and painful sometimes. 00:14:48.960 --> 00:14:51.960 But the act of repentance is renewing. 00:14:52.120 --> 00:14:52.879 It's life-giving, 00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:55.420 not just to ourselves, but to the world. 00:14:55.639 --> 00:14:58.120 Repentance can be a missional act. 00:14:58.120 --> 00:15:02.399 Frederica Matthews, 00:15:02.500 --> 00:15:04.080 who's an Orthodox author, 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:04.580 says, 00:15:04.820 --> 00:15:07.279 the ancient Christian literature on repentance 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:08.779 is beautiful, 00:15:09.419 --> 00:15:11.120 full of simplicity, humility, 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:12.279 and spreading peace. 00:15:12.759 --> 00:15:15.379 There is nothing in it of masochism or despair. 00:15:16.220 --> 00:15:18.440 Those who know themselves to be so greatly forgiven 00:15:18.440 --> 00:15:19.659 are far from gloomy, 00:15:19.860 --> 00:15:22.879 but are flooded with joy and deep tranquility. 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:26.500 Those who are forgiven much love much. 00:15:26.500 --> 00:15:29.600 They find it hard to hold grudges against others. 00:15:29.860 --> 00:15:33.139 They find it hard to hold anything in this life very tightly. 00:15:33.700 --> 00:15:34.399 For the Christian, 00:15:34.539 --> 00:15:36.299 two things seem to be ever linked, 00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:39.139 sorrow over sin and gratitude for forgiveness. 00:15:40.299 --> 00:15:44.700 Repentance is the source of life and joy. 00:15:47.320 --> 00:15:48.840 Now, I've talked to several people 00:15:48.840 --> 00:15:50.500 just these past few weeks who say 00:15:50.500 --> 00:15:53.100 they're embarrassed to be at church. 00:15:54.100 --> 00:15:55.600 They're embarrassed to be at Advent. 00:15:56.500 --> 00:15:59.879 Because they've messed up in some way or the other. 00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:03.419 But the good news of repentance 00:16:03.419 --> 00:16:05.879 is that we're all a mess. 00:16:05.960 --> 00:16:07.820 We are all repenting. 00:16:07.940 --> 00:16:10.580 We are all in need of forgiveness. 00:16:10.740 --> 00:16:11.879 We cannot belong 00:16:11.879 --> 00:16:15.980 unless we confess we are a mess. 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:19.000 And we are all in need of God's grace. 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:27.320 So there's something to do, 00:16:27.379 --> 00:16:28.059 which is repentance. 00:16:28.259 --> 00:16:30.659 There's something to confess. 00:16:31.320 --> 00:16:33.940 If the gospel is a royal announcement, 00:16:34.940 --> 00:16:36.340 then as his followers, 00:16:36.340 --> 00:16:39.080 we are to confess that Jesus is Lord. 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:41.059 He is our king. 00:16:41.860 --> 00:16:43.899 We follow our king and obey him. 00:16:43.899 --> 00:16:45.860 And then there's something to believe. 00:16:46.319 --> 00:16:47.980 That God raised him from the dead. 00:16:48.019 --> 00:16:49.360 That the resurrection happens. 00:16:50.319 --> 00:16:52.459 That is where our faith lies. 00:16:54.459 --> 00:16:55.919 If we confess with our mouth, 00:16:56.039 --> 00:16:56.879 Jesus is Lord, 00:16:56.959 --> 00:16:57.879 and believe in our hearts 00:16:57.879 --> 00:16:59.220 that God raised him from the dead, 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:01.319 then you shall be saved. 00:17:01.320 --> 00:17:05.960 In the gospel, 00:17:06.100 --> 00:17:07.960 God forgives our rebellion. 00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:09.519 He rescues us 00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:11.680 and unites us to his son, Jesus. 00:17:12.779 --> 00:17:13.600 Colossians 3 says, 00:17:13.700 --> 00:17:15.240 you have been raised with Christ. 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:18.320 Your life is hidden with Christ and God. 00:17:19.640 --> 00:17:21.799 We're united to Christ. 00:17:21.920 --> 00:17:25.059 This means that when the father looks on you, 00:17:25.140 --> 00:17:27.519 he sees his son, Jesus. 00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:28.740 When you walked in here, 00:17:28.740 --> 00:17:31.319 did you think that the father was frowning on you, 00:17:31.460 --> 00:17:33.819 disappointed in you? 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:35.220 Did you even wonder 00:17:35.220 --> 00:17:36.519 if he was paying you any attention? 00:17:37.140 --> 00:17:38.420 Well, no. 00:17:39.220 --> 00:17:41.359 He was not disappointed in you. 00:17:41.420 --> 00:17:43.339 If you are in Christ, 00:17:43.859 --> 00:17:45.220 that he delights over you. 00:17:45.579 --> 00:17:46.880 And you don't have to do anything 00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:49.640 to earn his delight and favor. 00:17:49.759 --> 00:17:50.519 Because when he sees you, 00:17:50.579 --> 00:17:51.460 he sees his son. 00:17:51.579 --> 00:17:56.240 And he's just eternally delighted with you. 00:17:56.500 --> 00:17:57.759 Infinitely delighted with you. 00:17:58.740 --> 00:18:02.960 When we are united to Christ, 00:18:03.019 --> 00:18:04.700 we're also united to his mission. 00:18:05.720 --> 00:18:06.740 You could say the church 00:18:06.740 --> 00:18:09.000 doesn't even have a mission. 00:18:09.120 --> 00:18:10.559 The church is a mission 00:18:10.559 --> 00:18:12.960 because we are united to Christ. 00:18:16.120 --> 00:18:16.640 Therefore, 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:19.339 wherever God's people gather in worship, 00:18:19.900 --> 00:18:21.579 they are an outpost 00:18:21.579 --> 00:18:23.180 of God's mission to the world, 00:18:23.460 --> 00:18:24.539 declaring the good news 00:18:24.539 --> 00:18:26.980 that God makes all things new. 00:18:26.980 --> 00:18:31.180 The gospel is why we're here. 00:18:31.799 --> 00:18:33.220 It's good news for us, 00:18:33.220 --> 00:18:34.099 for our families, 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:34.860 for our neighbors, 00:18:35.180 --> 00:18:36.980 for Canaan Baptist Church, 00:18:36.980 --> 00:18:38.880 for the poor in our area, 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:41.000 for the flourishing of Columbia Heights 00:18:41.000 --> 00:18:42.319 and Washington, D.C., 00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:44.579 and its businesses and art studios, 00:18:44.779 --> 00:18:46.299 its nonprofits and charities, 00:18:46.700 --> 00:18:46.980 its agencies. 00:18:46.980 --> 00:18:49.180 It's why we arrive early 00:18:49.180 --> 00:18:50.559 to set up and rehearse, 00:18:50.779 --> 00:18:53.079 why we play a guitar or run sound. 00:18:53.339 --> 00:18:54.700 It's why we set the table. 00:18:55.360 --> 00:18:56.700 It's why we greet at the door. 00:18:57.160 --> 00:18:58.400 It's why we teach our children. 00:18:58.599 --> 00:19:00.579 It's why we sing God's praises. 00:19:00.700 --> 00:19:03.420 It's why we sit and hear 00:19:03.420 --> 00:19:05.039 his word proclaimed. 00:19:05.360 --> 00:19:07.620 It's why we share the table 00:19:07.620 --> 00:19:09.339 spread before us. 00:19:09.339 --> 00:19:10.659 And after we've been fed, 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:11.980 he sends us out to love 00:19:11.980 --> 00:19:13.879 and serve the Lord. 00:19:14.740 --> 00:19:16.019 Joined to his son, Jesus. 00:19:16.559 --> 00:19:17.599 Joined to his mission. 00:19:18.059 --> 00:19:18.859 In the name of the Father 00:19:18.859 --> 00:19:19.500 and of the Son 00:19:19.500 --> 00:19:20.480 and of the Holy Spirit. 00:19:20.879 --> 00:19:21.099 Amen. 00:19:21.099 --> 00:19:22.099 Let's pray.