Father, this is your word.
It's your word to us.
It's not our word about you, but it's your word to us.
And we confess before you, Father, that we have our own criteria,
and if we're not careful, we judge your word.
But we ask, Father, that you humble us before your word
and help us to hear your word
so that your word will judge the desires of our hearts
and our thoughts and our plans
that we might hear your views and your perspective
and your good and gracious word to us
in the midst of our preoccupations.
Father, speak to us by your word.
Pour out your Holy Spirit with gentle but deep power
upon our mind, upon our wills, upon our hearts, upon our souls,
to the center of who we are.
Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us
and that we might hear your word and bring you glory.
And this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son,
and our Savior.
Amen.
Please be seated.
So today we're going to talk about
why Christians should be the principal relativists in Canada.
And we're also going to talk about the meaning of life.
But before we do that,
I want to talk to you about something which is sort of relevant
and you sort of need to have your Bibles.
It's something that happened to me on Friday.
And when I was in the Starbucks where I was working on my sermon.
So if you get your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 17,
it's sort of, there's something really cool
about this particular text in the Bible.
So on, on, on, there's a fellow in this one Starbucks
that I go to most mornings now.
My schedule has changed a little bit.
And he was in one of my,
he was in the very first church that I served in.
And he still goes to a liberal church.
And, and so he sees me many times in the week
working on my sermon.
So on Friday, he came up to me and said,
have you finished your sermon yet, George?
And I said, no, I haven't finished my sermon yet.
And then he said to me, George, you know,
I don't know how you do it.
Having to say something every week, I'd, I'd, I'd find it really hard.
And, and I said to him, well, uh, yeah, it's actually a bit easier
if you have to do it every week because you get into a bit of a rhythm.
But, you know, the main thing is that if I,
and here I was sort of making a little tiny bit of a dig at, at, at, uh, at his church.
I, I said that, uh, if I had to, if, if, if what I did on Sunday
was just get up and share my wisdom with the congregation,
uh, after three weeks, I would be in trouble.
And so would the congregation because I would have exhausted my wisdom
after three weeks.
But if what I try to do is just, we read a passage in the Bible
and then I, in a sense, hold the Bible like this to the congregation
and just try to help them understand what the Bible says.
Well, then every week there's a different Bible passage.
So there's always, I mean, it can still be hard to understand and all,
but there's just a different passage that I can point people to
and help them to understand it.
Now I know that he's read, uh, a couple of, um, of the critical types of books
about the Bible.
And I could tell from his expression that when I said that what I would try to do
would be to try to sort of just open the Bible to the congregation
and just try to help them understand.
I, I knew I could tell by the look in his eyes that he sort of thought,
well, you know, who knows what the Bible really is and, and, and, you know,
and who knows if it's even accurate.
So I said to him, uh, I almost said his name to him,
which wouldn't have been good.
I said, you know, listen, you just come over here for a second.
I want to show you something really cool, which I'm going to show you
something really cool about the Bible.
So I, we got the Bible.
And if you look to the end of chapter 17, look, you'll see that there's verse 34.
And then you look and see there's verse 35.
And then after that is verse 37.
If you have a modern Bible, if you have an old King James version of the Bible,
it might not do that.
But if you have a modern Bible, that's probably what it does.
I said, verse 34, there's verse 35, verse 35, and then verse 37.
And I said, you know, I almost said his name again.
We'll call him Fred.
That's not his name.
So I said, Fred, you know, here's the thing about the text.
I said, virtually every modern version of the text, I said,
there are thousands and thousands and thousands of,
literally thousands and thousands of manuscripts of,
of the New Testament that go back to very close to the time that it was actually written.
And I said, there's actually a scientific discipline whereby scholars
will compare the different manuscripts.
And when there's differences in the manuscripts,
they have a different, a way, a scientific way of trying to go back
and actually figure out what the original text probably was.
And I said, as archaeology discovers more text,
as archaeologists discover more text,
it gets easier and easier to try to be more confident
that we're actually reading the older text.
And I said, so, like when the King James Version
and the medieval age when they were developing the verse system,
there was a verse here which we now would say that wasn't there.
And he said, really?
I said, yeah.
And he looked and he saw, yeah.
And I said, you know, you go back and you get a good modern translation.
They'll all mention that.
And at the bottom, there'll be a little note
that'll tell you what the, you know, the verse was that was left out.
And I said, there's another thing.
I said, you just have to sort of take my word on it.
But he, every, this particular day, I still had the book open.
I was reading volume two of a commentary on Luke that was,
volume two is this fat and volume one is that fat.
So he sees me going through this commentary.
And I said, do you know that when there's two places in this text
where there's a little bit of a difference in the manuscripts,
and do you know that what scholars do, I said,
it's completely opposite to what you hear on PBS and TVO
and reading Globe and Mail and The Citizen,
they'll all tell you this thing and it's completely,
they're actually all wrong.
I said, when there's a difference between two manuscripts
and they're not sure what to take,
I can tell you that in every modern translation
that's worth its salt, which is most of them,
they choose the difficult and awkward version
that makes complications in the text not the easy version.
Because the translators know that human nature is such
that if a copyist is going to make a mistake,
they're more likely to try to smooth over a difficulty
rather than to create a difficulty.
And so that's what they do.
And I said, you see, that's why we can be very confident,
whether you believe it or not,
whether you think it's God's word or not,
you can be very confident that what you're reading here
is very close to what Luke actually wrote.
So here's the first point for the morning.
And it actually is relevant to the rest of the things
that we're going to talk about,
although it might seem a bit odd.
But here's the first point.
So if the true and living God really speaks to humans,
it is only wise to want to hear him clearly.
Isn't it?
If the true and living God really speaks
or has really spoken to humans,
it is only wise to want to hear him clearly.
And that's why, you know,
there's always been a branch of Christianity.
There's always been some Christians
who are very fearful of the truth
and don't want to really ask these hard questions.
But, you know, really, at the end of the day,
we as Christians believe these aren't our words,
but this is God speaking to us,
that God was the one who caused these words to be written,
that he is speaking to us.
And so it's only wise to want to hear him clearly
and not get other people adding their own opinions.
We spend all day listening to people's opinions.
And if we're not listening to people's opinions,
we're listening to our own opinion in our head.
But surely, if God really speaks,
you want to hear him clearly.
And it's very, very interesting.
It'll become obvious as we go through the text.
One of the profound differences
between the Christian faith and Islam
is that in Islam,
there is no critical examination
as to what the original Koran was.
Because they're terrified of it.
And part of it has to do with the nature of God.
You see, it's a very, in a sense,
an autocratic God who's portrayed in Islam.
And you can still fall in love with autocrats,
and I'm not saying that there aren't many Muslims
who don't sort of fall in love with God,
but it's a type of autocratic God,
and a distant God, right?
Because even in the Koran,
God speaks to Gabriel,
and Gabriel speaks to Muhammad,
and Muhammad speaks to his followers,
and his followers write it down.
But in Christian faith,
like the one who is speaking here now
is one who dies for us.
There's a different understanding
of the nature of God,
that God is love.
And so we have this interesting concept
that as we have a clearer sense
that God is love,
it frees us up to look
and try to hear more clearly
what it is that God actually says.
And that's reflected then
in Christian scholars
who work with non-Christian scholars,
non-Christian archaeologists,
is to try to actually have the text
be as accurate and clear
as we possibly can get it.
So that's the first thing,
is that if the true and living God
really speaks to humans,
it is only wise to want to hear him clearly.
Now, I said to you,
some of you might remember,
I said that this text
is a perfect example
of why it is that Christians
should be the principal relativists.
We should be far more relativistic
than any other person,
than any other group in our culture.
Christians are often thought of
as being sort of narrow-minded,
as being absolutists,
but we should really be
the principal relativists.
And so let's look at the text
and we'll start to see
why that is the case.
So you hopefully still have your Bibles.
It's Luke chapter 17.
We'll begin at verse 20.
And here's how it goes.
Being asked by the Pharisees
when the kingdom of God would come,
Jesus answered them,
the kingdom of God is not coming
with signs to be observed,
nor will they say,
look, here it is,
or there.
For behold,
the kingdom of God
is in the midst of you.
Now, some of you,
and this often happens to me
when I talk to people at Starbucks,
is that they'll tell me
that the Bible is filled
with contradictions.
And some of you
might be thinking,
if you know a little bit
about what goes on
actually in Luke's gospel,
because in a couple of chapters,
Jesus is going to talk about signs
of his second coming.
In Luke's gospel,
three times he talks about
the second coming.
And this is the second time.
And in, I think,
it's two chapters from now,
he's going to talk about
the second coming again.
And he's going to say
these are some of the signs.
And some of you
might be familiar
with John's gospel.
And John's gospel
is organized
around significant signs.
And so,
is Jesus contradicting himself?
Is the Bible contradicting itself
when it says here,
the kingdom of God,
when Jesus says,
the kingdom of God
is not coming with signs
to be observed,
nor will they say,
look, here it is,
or there,
for behold,
the kingdom of God
is in the midst of you.
Well,
sort of two things.
In the New Testament,
there's two different words
in Greek
that are translated as sign.
And in this particular case,
it's one word,
and later on in chapter 19
and in John's gospel,
it's a different word.
And the two different words,
they're both signs,
but they have a specifically
different connotation.
So,
here's the difference.
Here's this first one.
The first one could really
be translated as
looking for symptoms.
That's what Jesus
is really saying.
And here's the significance
of it.
A couple of years ago,
my doctor retired.
It was sort of traumatic
for me.
I'd had him for a long time.
I had to find a new doctor.
And then I found a new doctor
about two years ago.
And this doctor believes
that people my age,
men my age,
should have a yearly checkup.
So,
this past Friday,
I went for my yearly checkup.
And it's an odd situation.
We go into this tiny little room
and I sit down.
He says,
don't sit down for very long.
I'm a doctor.
Take your clothes off.
That feels very funny,
taking your clothes off.
He's dressed.
Actually,
it would be weirder
if he wasn't.
Then I wouldn't.
But it just feels pretty funny,
right?
And I take my clothes off
and he said,
you know,
I'm asking you to do this
not just to make,
not to make,
not because I want to make you
uncomfortable,
but he said,
you know,
he asked me to turn around
and he's looking to see
if I have funny looking moles.
And he's looking to see
if I have,
I don't know,
rashes or bruises
or cuts or scars
or something else.
He's examining me.
He stands,
in a sense,
in judgment
in a good sense.
I trust him.
He seems like a really good doctor
and he's standing
to observe symptoms
or signs
that according to his criteria
allow him
to make judgments
about my health.
And that's the image here.
So the Pharisees,
Jesus knows
that the Pharisees
want to be like a doctor
judging God's kingdom.
kingdom.
And they're saying,
Jesus is saying,
you folks
have your criteria,
your criteria
to judge
whether something
is God's
of God or not
and of the kingdom
or not.
And you are asking me,
according to your criteria,
what are the different signs
that are going to come?
And I'm telling you
what Jesus is saying is,
God's ignoring your criteria.
God doesn't give a hoot
about your criteria.
You can keep your criteria
if you want,
but if you keep your criteria,
you're going to miss
the kingdom of God.
You're going to miss it
completely and utterly.
You see,
God is relativizing
your criteria
to judge.
Because you know what?
And it's a common problem here.
What is it about us
when we try to judge
the kingdom of God?
Well, in our culture,
if it really is going to be
God's kingdom,
well, it has to have
this particular view
of human sexuality.
Or it has to have
this particular view
about how markets,
financial markets work
and the power of the state.
Or it has to have
this particular connection
to the teaching of evolution.
Or it has to have
this particular criteria
in terms of science.
Or it has to have
this particular criteria
in terms of how emotional it is.
Or it has to have
this particular criteria
in terms of how mystical it is.
And in our culture,
we have a whole range
of criteria
that we hold to
very, very firmly
that we use
to judge
whether something
might be God's kingdom.
And just like the Pharisees,
they're different criteria
than the Pharisees,
but it's the exact same
human drive.
And Jesus says,
God's going to ignore
all of them.
I mean,
that's actually a bit
striking.
But Jesus says,
God's going to ignore
your criteria.
Those aren't his criteria.
And in fact,
because you hold on
to your criteria
and aren't actually,
if God actually speaks,
isn't it wise
to hear him clearly
and listen
for his criteria
rather than yours?
And isn't that
the wise thing
to do?
And in fact,
he says,
and here's the next point.
And the first point,
in the original language,
if you translate it,
it actually has Jesus
sounding a little bit
like he's Yoda.
Okay?
Because what actually
it says,
when Jesus says,
like if they were
to translate it literally,
therefore,
there,
sorry,
it says,
for the kingdom of God
is in the midst of you,
it actually is saying,
Jesus is actually saying,
the kingdom of God
among you is.
Sounds like Yoda,
right?
The kingdom of God
among you is.
And it's sort of
ungrammatical.
It's sort of funny.
I mean,
this translation
was done after Yoda.
They could probably
get away with it,
you know,
as a Yoda-ish type
of thing that Jesus says.
But, you know,
what Jesus is saying
is here you're,
if you go back
and read just
what happened before,
Jesus has performed
a remarkable miracle.
And the implication
of the miracle is
that part of the reason
that the men knew
that they had been
healed of leprosy,
the implication is,
is that,
you know,
lepers,
because they lose
their sense of,
they lose any sense
of pain,
and so they eventually
lose things like
their eyes get gouged out,
they don't realize
they have something
in there ruining
their eye,
they have,
they can have their,
you know,
things can fall
on their finger,
they can cut their finger,
they can burn their finger,
they don't know
that that's happening,
so they end up
losing fingers.
And the implication
is that in the miracle
that part of the reason
that they knew
that they were healed
is that things like
fingers probably grew back.
All because of a miracle
by Jesus.
And,
and you see,
what we're going to see
in,
in Luke 19 or 20,
whatever it is
where he talks about,
what we see in,
in the Gospel of John
is that Jesus says,
God is giving you
all sorts of signs
that the Messiah
has come.
Like,
surely to a reasonable person,
a finger coming back
is a sign.
But it's not to them,
it's not their criteria,
right?
And so Jesus is saying,
here he is,
he's surrounded by Pharisees,
he says,
the kingdom of God
among you is,
and the original language,
the is,
is emphatic,
which is why I've sort of,
in this case,
I've made it higher,
I mean,
I capitalized it,
to try to,
is,
and Jesus is saying,
I,
when I came,
I have started
to bring the kingdom,
the kingdom of God
is inaugurated
in your midst,
by my ministry,
by who I am,
and by my disciples
who put their trust in me.
That's,
that's what's going on here.
And now Jesus is going to
then go on
and talk about the fact
that,
um,
that God,
in his sovereign wisdom,
has decided to,
to bring all things right
in a,
in a way which doesn't fit
with the way that we would
want to do it,
but it's the way that God
wants to do it,
out of his sovereign love.
That it's going to involve,
first,
the Son of Man,
Jesus,
uh,
coming and dying upon the cross
to redeem and to save
and to call to himself
a community of people,
a community of people
that's,
uh,
relativizes geography,
relativizes human institutions,
relativizes the nation,
state,
relativizes people,
groups,
that he's going to call
to himself out of
every people group,
out of every language group,
out of every religious
and spiritual group,
he's going to call people
out of these groups
that we think are important,
but the kingdom of God
is going to relativize,
and he is going to call people
out of all of these groups
into a community
centered around his Son,
a community,
uh,
of blessing
and of enablement
that blesses and enables.
that's,
that's what the gospels
are talking about.
Now,
some of you might say,
George,
I remember you reading this,
you just read this text
a few moments ago,
and,
you know,
okay,
George,
I know you've just said
that God doesn't sort of
use our criteria,
but it sounds,
I mean,
where the corpses are,
the vultures will gather,
I mean,
George,
that sounds like a really,
I don't know if I can
even possibly accept
any type of view of God
or any type of view
of the future
that's going to involve
such death and,
and chaos and,
and mayhem.
Well,
let's look and see what it,
see what the text says.
Verse,
you see,
so now Jesus has talked about
the fact that he's here,
and the,
the disciples are sort of
a bit confused about it,
and so Jesus is going to
talk to them,
really start talking about
his second coming
and what happens in between,
and,
and he's,
and,
and in the course of that,
he's going to talk about some,
he's going to give some
gruesome images.
So let's look,
verse 22.
And Jesus said to the disciples,
right,
now he's not talking,
he's talking to the disciples,
not the Pharisees,
the days are coming
when you will desire
to see one of the days
of the Son of Man,
and you will not see it,
and will say to you,
and they will say to you,
look there,
or look here,
do not go out
or follow them,
for as the lightning flashes
and lights up the sky
from one side to the other,
so will the Son of Man
be in his day.
But first,
he must suffer many things
and be rejected
by this generation.
And just sort of
pause there.
You know,
it's really an interesting thing here.
Look at,
again,
at verse 22.
The days are coming
when you will desire
to see one of the days
of the Son of Man.
And the Son of Man,
it's an image,
in this particular case,
it goes back to the book of Daniel.
It would have been recognized
by the Jewish people
as something that talks about
the end,
the end of the end of the end.
And he's saying that
you're going to,
the days are going to come
when you would desire
to see this future thing,
to desire to know
and to see
and have the future arrive.
And you know,
it's a very,
very common
human desire
to see the future
and to know the future.
It's a very,
very common
human desire.
like in,
when we talk about
people being progressives
in our society,
there's this sense of,
there's a future
that things are progressing towards.
And it's a very,
very deeply ingrained thing
within our culture.
And it's not just those
who are considered
to be progressives.
We all fundamentally desire
and have a hope
that the future is,
there's going to be something
good for us in the future.
And unless we're complete
and utter narcissists,
we not only want there
to be something good
for ourselves,
but to be good
for others as well.
That we want,
we want to have a sense
that things are going
to get better
in our economy,
that things are going
to get better politically,
that things are going
to get better in Canada,
and things are going
to get better
in other places.
And it's going to get
generally better
and it's also going
to be better for us,
for me as a particular individual
or for my family
and my friends.
And it's a very,
very powerful,
powerful desire.
If you watch movies,
in many movies,
I just,
I just read,
because I have Netflix,
I just re-watched Armageddon,
a Bruce Willis flick
from the 90s.
And there's a huge asteroid
the size of Texas
hurtling towards the Earth.
And when it hits the Earth,
it's going to be something
that will completely
and utterly destroy the Earth.
And when they say,
when they have the behind-the-scenes
thing about the White House
and them not wanting
to tell people
that it's coming,
why?
Because it will cause panic.
Right?
And nobody,
it's not when they say that
in the movie,
and there's lots of other movies,
similar types of themes,
right?
Is that you don't,
we,
because they understand
that partly what holds,
the glue that holds
whatever type of order
there is in society,
a big part of it
is with the idea
that there's a future.
some type of a future,
not only for myself
as an individual,
but for the culture
as a whole.
There's a very interesting
series of detective novels
that are called
The Last Detective.
And in it,
it,
I think it's by Ben Winters
or something like that.
And in it,
there's an asteroid coming
that's going to destroy
the entire Earth
and scientists know
the exact second
it's going to come.
But in this case,
people know of it
several years in advance.
And the books
talk about
how does society
hold together
when we all know
that everything
is going to end
in two years
or whatever it is
or a year and a half.
In fact,
the preface,
the interesting dilemma
of all of the three books
is worked out
in each case,
he's,
like police forces,
you know,
nobody shows up to work,
things all start breaking down,
people are committing suicide,
and in the midst of it,
a cop wants to solve a murder.
And the thing
which helps to drive
the novel
is why would you bother
trying to solve a murder
when everything's going
to end in a year?
And his co-workers
think he's nuts.
And the novels
discuss this very
interesting possibility
of everything
is going to end.
Like,
how do you live together?
And what is it you do?
And so we all have
this instinctive sense
that the future matters,
that we desire
to know something
about the future,
and that we desire
to have this sense
that the future
is going to be
something worthwhile,
good for myself
and good for more than me.
And that's a fundamental desire.
And in fact,
within that,
like the same,
you know,
if you were one
wondering about
why is it that this text
is going to talk about
these gruesome details,
the funny thing is
that within our own views
of the future,
and it's going to be
different if you're
on the left
and different if you're
on the right,
but whether you're
on the left or the right,
depending on our view
of the future,
we have this sense
of judgment
that will come
if we don't heed
our view of the future
and act appropriately.
And so it is,
if we don't heed,
I'm not making
political points here,
I really am not,
and I hope I don't
lose you all
as to wondering
whether George
is a global warming
skeptic or not,
okay,
but just bear me out.
You know,
it's a very,
very common type
of view that,
you know,
the earth is warming
because of human activity
and if we don't deal
with it,
there's going to be floods,
there's going to be hurricanes,
there's going to be tornadoes,
there's going to be earthquakes,
there's going to be
mass death,
there's going to be
mass starvation.
What are we saying?
If we don't follow
our understanding
of how to live,
which is connected
to a good future,
lots of people
will die.
And on the right,
you know,
if we intervene
with markets
in the wrong way,
if we tax too much,
if we do this,
if we do that,
then there's going
to be deforestation,
there's going to be poverty,
there's going to be
unemployment,
there's going to be
wars connected to it,
and there's going to be
all sorts of people dying.
And it's very,
very funny
that on one hand,
it's a very,
very common idea,
apart from the Bible,
that if you don't
sort of do
certain types of things,
all sorts of people
will die,
but when it comes
to the Bible
and we see that
the future could involve
a judgment
that involves death,
we say,
I have a hard time
with that.
I have a hard time
with it.
But you see,
here's the profound
difference between
whether it's this
global warming view
or a more right-wing
type of view,
is that in both
of those cases,
it's completely
and utterly impersonal.
And there really
isn't a sense
no hope
unless you toe the line.
But in the Bible,
as we're going to see,
it's a personal God
who judges,
but who doesn't
just judge,
he does something
vastly more remarkable
than the ideologies
and the common
viewpoints of our day.
If you could put
the point up,
Andrew,
this is what
Jesus is teaching us.
The judgment
of the living God
must fall
and will fall
on every person.
The question
before me is,
will it fall
on me as I deserve
or,
by God's grace,
will it fall
on Jesus
in my place?
The judgment
of the living God
must fall
and will fall
on every person.
The question
before me is,
will it fall
on me as I deserve
or,
by God's grace,
will it fall
on Jesus
in my place?
I mean,
everything that we
are to hear
about,
see,
and that comes out
in verse 25,
it's the fifth
of the six times
in the gospel
of Luke
where Jesus
talks about the fact
that he's going
to Jerusalem
to die.
Right?
Come here just about
every week,
every part we're
reading right now
from chapter 9 on,
every part is to be
understood as Jesus
is going to Jerusalem
to die.
He's going to Jerusalem
to die upon the cross.
That looms over
everything in his teaching.
And we Christians
understand that
unlike the left wing
or right wing
or historical other views
which tend to be
impersonal
and tend to all involve
us in some way
keeping the party line
of those who are
predicting some type
of future calamity,
Jesus is going
to Jerusalem to die.
God will bring
all things to an end
but before that
in mercy,
the judgment
that you and I
deserve will fall
on Jesus.
That's the gospel.
And it has
no parallel
with our
other types
of cultural
understandings
of doom
of the future.
Rather than
having to
toe the line,
Jesus
walks in our
stead
and dies
in our stead.
and if we
put our faith
and trust
in him,
then the judgment
that I deserve
by grace
will fall
on Jesus.
See,
that's the gospel.
That's why,
see,
one of the things
that the Pharisees
were thinking
is that they do
all of these
particular good works
and then God's kingdom
will come
and they just sort of
enter in
and Jesus
understands that
no amount of
good works
done in advance
will be something
that then means
that now Jesus
accepts you
and whatever he's
done on the cross
will be,
it can't be that.
The whole judgment
on my life
falls on Jesus
and I cannot
lessen that
in any way
by my actions.
I need to accept
that the judgment
that I deserve
falls on Jesus
in my stead.
and when I turn
to God
and accept
the power
of God
for salvation
that he offers,
then I am his.
Then I am his.
So as we're reading
all of these
other things,
we read them
in light of verse 25
of Jesus
bearing our judgment
upon ourselves.
So you see,
that's why
on one hand,
see,
again,
is that grace
is profoundly
relativizing.
It relativizes
all human religion
and all human
spirituality
because all human
religion and all
spirituality
is an attempt,
different sets
of advice
about how to
live your life
and how to,
in a sense,
merit God's favor
or bring in
God's rule
or bring God
down
or into our sphere
or whatever it is,
but it's always
advice.
And the gospel
is not advice,
it's news.
It's news
of a power
of God
for salvation
that comes in
and relativizes
all natural
human religion
and all natural
human spirituality,
all attempts
to toe the line.
It relativizes
all of this
with the news,
the announcement,
that the power
of God
for salvation
has arrived
if we are willing
to set aside
our criteria
and to accept
what God
has done.
So let's look
a little bit more
at this relativizing
because it's going
to get sort of
deeper into the text
in a very clear way.
Look at verse 26.
Just as it was
in the days of Noah,
so will it be
in the days
of the Son of Man.
They were eating
and drinking
and marrying
and being given
in marriage
until the day
when Noah
entered the ark
and the flood
came and destroyed
them all.
Likewise,
just as it was
in the days
of Lot,
they were eating
and drinking,
buying and selling,
planting and building,
but on the day
when Lot
went out
from Sodom,
fire and sulfur
rained down
from heaven
and destroyed
them all.
So will it be
on the day
when the Son of Man
is revealed.
It's going to be
a day of judgment.
Jesus dies
on the cross
to save,
but, you know,
in that point,
the judgment
of the living God
must fall
and will fall
on every person.
The question
before me
is will it
fall on me
as I deserve
or by God's grace
will it fall
on Jesus
in my place?
Continue reading
in verse 31.
On that day
let the one
who was on the housetop
with his goods
in the house
not come down
to take them away
and likewise
let the one
who was in the field
not turn back.
In other words,
don't turn towards
the world.
Don't think
you can sort of hide.
Don't think
that it's going to
all be about you
being able to,
you know,
live in your bunker.
Here's the right wing
version of judgment.
You're going to be able
to live in your bunker
and outlast the apocalypse
and then emerge
on the other side
after the radiation's
gone away
to have a triumphant
white earth future
or whatever it's going to be.
Don't bother thinking
any of those types of terms.
Remember Lot's wife.
Whoever seeks
to preserve his life
will lose it
but whoever loses his life
will keep it.
Jesus means
loses his life
when he gives his life
to me.
I tell you
in that night
there will be
two in one bed.
One will be taken
in the other left.
There will be
two women grinding together.
One will be taken
in the other left.
And they said to him
where Lord?
He said to them
where the corpse is
there the vultures
will gather.
But notice those
last few verses
34 and 35
and that night
the judgment
will come.
Like we tend to
how do we tend
to judge the world?
We tend to judge people
by whether they're
you know
Caucasian
or African
Canadian
or Asian.
We tend to judge
people by
economics
by social class.
We tend to judge
people
by education.
We tend to think
things like
the family
or marriage
are really
really
family is really
important
or the tribe
is really important
or the clan
is really important
or economic
arrangements
are really important.
And Jesus says
that you're going to
have two people
lying together
whether it's
you know
a mother
with her kids
or a husband
and a wife
or you know
a gay relationship
or whatever
one will be taken
and one will be left.
Those things
that we think
are most important
and most absolute
are relativized
by the judgment
of God.
That the image
of the two women
grinding together
it's an image
of the family
of the clan
of the tribe
of the economic unit
of the social class
things that we think
are so important
when we judge each other
and when we evaluate
each other
and one will be taken
in the other left
that once again
the things in this world
by which we rate people
that we rate ourselves
which we think
are so important
is he slim?
Is he fat?
Is he smart?
Is he good looking?
Is he ugly?
Is he successful?
All of these things
that we think
are so important
that we use
to judge ourselves
the Bible here says
the judgment of God
will completely
and utterly
relativize.
They don't matter.
We live in a world
where all sorts of things
are treated
as the basis
of judgment
and from the perspective
of Jesus
and of his word
they do not matter
and they are not
the basis of judgment.
It won't be
that heaven
is filled
with rich successful people
and all the poor people
not.
There will be poor
there will be rich
there will be well educated
there will be people
who are not well educated
there will be people
with high IQs
there will be people
with very very low IQs.
The Bible relativizes
all of that.
See here's the
here's the thing
Canadian moral relativism
robs life
of true meaning.
biblical relativism
clarifies
and reveals
true meaning
in life.
If you could put
that point up.
Canadian moral relativism
robs life
of true meaning.
Biblical relativism
clarifies
and reveals
true meaning
in life.
See Canadian moral relativism
is usually around
matters of sexuality
and certain other types
of religious
and spiritual practices
and it leaches
into basically
just a relativism
around morals
what's right
and what's wrong
and it really
ends up just creating
that it's sort of
up to me
to make all of those
types of decisions
and I'm the one
who sets the criteria
about the type of end
and about the type
of what's right and wrong
and it's right and wrong
for me
and it's really
in a sense
like
I don't know
if you've ever done this
with little kids
and you say
can you hit the bullseye
in this pond
and you know
it's a very very still pond
or something
and they might look
at you quizzical
and you take a rock
and you throw the rock
and it lands
in the still pond
and then there's
the ripples that go out
and it looks like a bullseye
and wherever the stone lands
you've hit the bullseye.
Pretty cool eh?
And you know
so a little kid
might throw that
you know
and it goes into
the still pond
and there's a bullseye
they hit the bullseye
every time
but that's really
what Canadian moral relativism
says
and you know what
that's sort of fine
when you're a kid
but ultimately
it's sort of boring
and it only works
while we're being
very successful
and while we're young
and part of the desire
and drive
part of it
not all of it
but part of the drive
for state assistance
for doctors
to be able to have
the right to kill people
when we ask
or when our loved ones ask
which is a whole
dark corridor
of that whole projection
is because we
are in control
of our meaning project
and we are fine
with it
when we're
you know
sexually desirable
and economically viable
and able to entertain
and amuse ourselves
and once that goes
there's no meaning
to life.
Biblical relativism
by relativizing
all of those things
one of the things
it does
is it says
that the meaning
of life
is not found
in space and time
that if you follow
the different longings
and yearnings
of our life
and you follow
that trajectory
you realize
that the meaning
of life
has to be outside
of space and time
but have relevance
to space and time
and that's what
Jesus says
he says
that the kingdom
of God
in the midst
of you is
that God
is calling
to himself
by all who put
their faith
and trust
in Jesus
it doesn't matter
if you've been
a street person
or if you're
a high tech executive
if you're a soccer mom
if you're a gay activist
if you're an iman
in a mosque
it doesn't matter
if any of those things
if you heed the call
of Jesus
to come to him
he will in no wise
you know
come to me
all who labor
and who labor
and are heavy laden
and I will give you rest
take my yoke upon you
and my yoke is easy
and my burden is light
I will bring you peace
and Jesus will take anybody
and when they come to him
in repentance
and faith
he calls us
into a community
of meaning
a community
centered around
the living God
a community
to bless
to enable
for us to do
good works
of love
for people
with eternal meaning
and for us
to do things
that actually
bring God glory
I mean one of the
interesting things
is when you
you look at the other
Pauline epistles
Paul gives advice
to slaves
about even though
they're economically
and politically
and legally
completely
and utterly bound
the epistles
are dynamite
to the slave
empires
of the world
because
Paul says
you can belong
to Jesus
and there are ways
that you can act
as a follower
of Jesus
even as a slave
that bring
God glory
the world
says
you belong
to me
you are
under
my foot
and Jesus
says
come to me
all who are
burdened
and heavy laden
and I will
give you rest
take my yoke
upon you
and learn
from me
for I am
gentle
and lowly
of heart
and you
will find
rest
for your soul
for my yoke
is easy
and my burden
is light
and even though
you are a slave
in the eyes
of the world
I will accept
you as mine
you are part
of my community
and there is a way
for you to live
where you are
bound as you are
that will bring me
glory
your life has worth
and value
and meaning
just to bring this
all home now
with the 40 minutes
here's the
if you could put up
the next point
Andrew
and then I'm going
to just give you
three prayers
to pray
to help make it
sort of
bring it home
here's the first thing
here's what we are
to understand
when we become
a child of God
we can say
I am the adopted
and reconciled child
of the crucified king
who walks with me now
and who will come again
so good things
with eternal meaning
can be done today
and tomorrow
and every day
until the end
we can say that
I am the adopted
and reconciled child
of the crucified king
who walks with me now
walks with me today
and who will come again
so good things
with eternal meaning
can be done today
and tomorrow
and every day
until the end
and this doesn't just mean
spiritual things
it means good things
where you work
it means good things
in your neighborhood
it means good things
with your family
it means good things
that will help
to spread the gospel
and relieve suffering
and it means good things
in terms of music
or poetry
or art
or scholarship
and it just means
that there's this whole world
of good things
that it's possible
for us to do
that it's possible
every day
as I'm going to show you
in a moment
to wake up
and say to God
what good things
would you have me do today
for the good of people
and for your glory
and as a follower of Jesus
this is not an absurd question
it's a real question
and you might say
well I don't know
I'm going to spend my day
in a cubicle
looking at a screen
but the question still is
not to have the cubicle
and the screen define you
but to say to God
what good things
can I do today
to love people
and to bring you glory
and you can pray that to God
I'm not going to tell you
what it is
but you can pray that to God
that your life
has meaning and direction
that there's one
that you can talk to
and bring to
and a community
that you can bring
those things to
and you can address them
in your small groups
or other places
in terms of
what are the good things
that I can do
where I am
that will love people
and bring God glory
that's the heart
of this text
is that when we come
to Jesus
because he has
taken upon himself
the judgment
that we deserve
you see
no amount
of good works
or success
makes us more
attractive to Jesus
it's not as if
we can say
okay Jesus
you only have to die
for 97%
of my sins
because I've sort of
covered it
these 3%
with my actions
but once we become
a follower of Jesus
the automatic question
is
by grace
what good things
can I do
to love people
and bring you glory
so that's why
our mission statement
is
making disciples
of Jesus
gripped by the gospel
living for his glory
so here's three prayers
the first one
Andrew
there's
no point
talking about all of this
if you haven't given
your life to Jesus
and I just want to urge you
if you haven't given
your life to Jesus
there's no better time
than to do it right now
you don't have to say
George
if you know how much
pornography
I've just looked at
before I came here
if you know how
bad I'm doing in school
if you know how bad
my finances were
George
if you knew that
you'd know I have to
I have to get these things
under control
before I can come to Jesus
and that's not the case at all
it's not the case at all
there's no better time
than now
if you've never made
that transaction
to use a prayer like this
and say
Jesus of Nazareth
Son of the living God
Messiah
have mercy upon me
and be my only Savior
and my only Lord
today and to eternity
and if you pray that prayer
with your heart
Jesus will come in
and be your Savior
and your Lord
and for those of us
who've prayed that prayer
if you could put up
the second prayer
Andrew
these things will all
be on the web page
if you want to write
them down later
every day
we could wake up
and say something like this
Jesus
what good things
will you have me do today
for the good of people
and for your glory
the kingdom of God
in the midst of you
is
I will return
and the returning
doesn't mean
that we no longer
have economic
that we don't have jobs
or we don't have families
but it means that
when we're in our jobs
and in our families
and in our cities
and in our communities
every day
what's
there's a book
that I'm reading right now
which is really good
what's best next
Jesus
what's best
next
that you would have me do
Jesus
as I'm going into this day
as I'm going to work
what good things
will you have me do today
for the good of people
and for your glory
for the good of the job
for the good of my boss
for the good of the employees
for the good of this city
for the good of my family
for the good of my neighbors
for the good of my church
for the good of the kingdom
and here's the third prayer
put up
Jesus
help me to do
small
thankless acts of love
in light of your presence
in your return
I mean
isn't that
a great prayer
to pray
there's all sorts
of thankless things
that have to be done
I don't know
how often
we thank the people
who are hosts
in the morning
we didn't have a host
at the door
handing the line
to people
and we wouldn't be able
to rent the Ottawa
little theater
I don't know
how often we thank
the people
who care for children
or how often
we thank the people
who do the coffee
there's all sorts
of tasks
that Amy does
just sort of
in the office
in terms of our books
so we get our
income tax receipts
there's small
thankless acts of love
of Barbara
and others
there's small
thankless acts of love
and maybe we don't
thank each other enough
but you know what
the doctrine
of the second coming
of Jesus
that he will return
will mean that
there's no small
act of love
that we do
that right now
is not thankless
but that will one day
receive the thanks
of the one who really matters
when God says
I'm so thankful
I'm so glad
that you did this
that you did
these small
thankless acts
of love
for the good of people
and for my glory
let's stand
father
if there's any here
who have not yet
given their lives
to Jesus
to trust him
as their savior
and follow him
as lord
I ask father
that you'd help them
to pray that prayer
which was up there
a few moments ago
that they would call out
to Jesus
to be their savior
and their lord
and father
for us
who are your people
we know
that you have not
redeemed us
because we have
the most pure lives
the most holy lives
the most successful lives
the richest lives
the smartest lives
the most fit lives
or any other type
of criteria
which is important
in Canada
but you do not
weigh our merits
you pardon our offenses
when your son
died upon the cross
to redeem us
that he bore
the judgment
we deserve
in our place
and father
we thank you
for the power of God
for salvation
that you offer
we receive it humbly
and so father
as the child
of Jesus
make us a disciple
gripped by the gospel
living for your glory
father help us
to wake each morning
to ask throughout the day
what good thing
would you have me do now
that loves people
and brings you glory
and father
some of us
really need to be encouraged
to take great big steps
of faith
but for all of us
a more pressing problem
father
is our willingness
just to do small
thankless acts of love
and so father
we ask that you
help us
to look around
and to notice
and to do these
small thankless
acts of love
mindful that Jesus
is with us
and that he will return
all these things
we ask in the name
of Jesus
your son
and our savior
amen
has been
we ask in the epitome
about Mr.
and you
can know
what
it depends on
the truth
and
you
can know
how
about
how