Father, at this time, we invite those of us who are here and those who are entering into
worship as part of our online community, we ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit would do
a gentle but wonderful work in our hearts and help us to do what we want to do in our
best moments but can't do in and of our own self without the help of your Holy Spirit.
So, Father, we give permission, full and unreserved permission for you to rule in our hearts and speak into our hearts.
And we ask that you would do that this morning, that this, your word, would be brought deep into the very center of who we are
so that we might live lives that bring you great glory.
And this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
So, you don't want to go too far with analogies like this, but it's just like God to do certain types of things.
So, I'm going to be preaching on the Colossians text, and in the Colossians text you heard about how we have to put on compassion.
I shouldn't say that as if I'm making fun of it, but, well, compassion, meekness, humility, forgiveness.
And it sort of struck me, actually, yesterday, because, as my wife will very properly tell you, I can be very, very thick.
But it really struck, came home to me yesterday.
But it sort of came to me all week that it's just like God that in a week where every day I'm thinking about how to preach on putting on compassion, meekness, forgiveness,
that every single day this week I was involved in low-level conflict.
Like, every single day.
It's just like God.
That it wasn't as if I'm going to preach on, you know, compassion and showing mercy.
And so, this week, I don't know, I was at a cottage, just my wife.
Every day was better than the day before.
We were just lovey, lovey, lovey all the time.
And then I'd get up to come here on Sunday, and I'd get to say, oh, we all have to put on compassion and mercy and meekness and forgiveness.
And off we go, and I'd do it without having had to really struggle with it.
But actually, it's just like God.
Every single day this week, I was involved in low-level conflict.
Every day, I kept bringing to myself, one moment, I'm supposed to be putting on compassion while I'm dealing with this bleepity, bleepity, bleepity, bleep,
which is my flesh speaking, by the way, not the way a Christian should speak.
So, it's just like God.
That's what my week has been like.
Anyway, so we're going to be looking at Colossians chapter 3.
And it's verses, actually, we're going to begin, Andrew has from verses 10 to 14 on the screen, but we're going to begin at verse 9.
And that's because verses 10 and 11, and here's the other thing about this text, by the way.
Just when I said to you that all this week I had to struggle, I'm in low-level conflict in several different directions.
Every single day this week, I'm in low-level conflict.
But thanks be to God, I wasn't in any conflict with my wife, but I was in conflict with other people on behalf of the church and other types of things.
But, so every week I'm in conflict with, every day I'm in conflict with people.
I'm thinking about this text.
And the fact of the matter is that the things that Christ is asking us to put on aren't things that we would naturally put on.
And, in fact, they're probably not, like if you went to a management expert or a success expert, they're not what they would tell you to do.
There might be little bits and pieces of it, but they would warn you against this text.
They'd say, well, don't take it to extreme, it's all right to do that a little bit.
But what you need to do is you need to put on your big boy pants.
You need to put on your game face.
You need to get your shoulders back.
You need to be strong.
You need to be this.
You need to be that.
That would probably be the type of advice.
And just even when I said I'm praying and I, you know, in my mind I'm going to bleepity bleepity bleep.
I mean, that's, you know, probably a management coach would say, yeah, that's what they are.
Like, channel that.
Function.
Get that going.
Like, use that as a way to motivate how you go.
So, this text is going to be telling us to do something which is not really, I mean, parts of it are what Canadians would think of as are very good things,
but probably in every case they'd say don't take it to extremes.
Like, be careful or you're going to get caught.
You're going to become a doormat.
So, we're going to begin reading at verse 9, and that's because verses 10 and 11 are what I sometimes scholars call a Janus text.
Janus is a person in ancient mythology that was able to look at two directions at the same time.
And so, 10 and 11 is a really important verse.
It's on one hand looking back to what had just happened, and the other hand it's looking forward to what Paul is about to say.
And the reason it's really important as a Janus text is that what Paul had just been talking about before,
which was what we talked about in the sermon last week, is about a series of vices,
things which are bad that we have to put off, that we have to take off as clothing and throw away and not use.
And it's a really important thing to have a Janus text like that that summarizes the putting off before introducing the putting on,
because it's very easy for people to think, it's very easy to think of non-Christians to think this way about Christians,
and part of the reason non-Christians think this way about Christians is that this is often how Christians, in fact, talk.
As if the things which are most important about Christians is all the sin, all the bad things, all the things you have to stop.
Whether it's biblical sin or therapeutic sin or moralistic sin or religious sin, but we're often known for our don'ts.
At least that's how it's viewed on the outside.
Often the more conservative the church is, the more we're prepared to talk about the things that we shouldn't be doing.
But it's really important, and I have this, to summarize the don'ts by talking about the do.
Because, you see, if all of the Christian life is just about not doing things, well, that's completely impossible.
It would be as if I gave you advice to only breathe out.
If you only breathe out, you die.
Right?
You breathe out, and then you breathe in.
You breathe out, and you breathe in.
And so the Bible has this very, very healthy balance.
There's things we need to get rid of to purge from our lives.
But you don't just purge without clothing yourselves with something which is vastly and eternally better.
So if you look at it, here's how it begins in verse 9, at the end of the vice list, the sin list.
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices.
Now here's the beginning.
You'll see it in the original language.
The ESV captures it.
It's all part of the same sentence, in fact, right?
But it's now beginning to move the focus, summarizing the past, moving towards the next bit.
It says, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all in all.
Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved.
And there's going to be a list of eight virtues.
Compassionate hearts.
Kindness.
Humility.
Meekness.
Another word to translate that is gentleness.
Patience.
Bearing with one another.
And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
And I'm going to unpack what these are, but the last bit is very, very important.
And in the original language, it's seen to be not just the last thing in the list.
You know, as if your wife has given you or your friend has given you a shopping list.
And, you know, there's all the thing.
And the last thing on the list happens to be pick up the, you know, pepperoni or something.
It's just one more thing.
No, in the original language, it's the culmination.
It's a central point of the whole list.
And the way to understand it, and it's a really beautiful image.
It's part of the beauty.
One of the things which people from the outside of the Christian faith don't understand often is how, once you enter into the way of Christ, how emotionally satisfying it can grow into becoming.
And you see part of the beauty of the gospel, by the way, it has these seven virtues.
And then it says the love is the one that binds them all together.
And what you have to try to imagine is you just imagine our solar system.
And in our solar system, if there wasn't a sun at the center, which all of the planets spin around, then the planets would just be hurtling through space.
They would eventually just become, I mean, they just become very big, I guess, meteors or whatever.
Like just cosmic dust hurtling through the space.
But because the sun is at the center, it's holding all of the different planets in their orbit.
And that's the image which the Bible is trying to communicate here about love.
That love is at the very center.
That's what's helping you to understand what patience is going to be about, what forgiveness is about, all of these things.
If that's not the sun that's keeping the rest of the virtues spinning in the right way, they're all just going to go in chaotic directions.
Now, you can see how this is a bit of a list that could be a bit counterintuitive.
But let's go back to verse 10.
Let's go back to verse 10 to verse 10 and just try to understand a little bit about why it is that the Bible would encourage us to have such a list like this.
Like, why is it that would encourage me that when I'm in conflict that I should be thinking about these things?
And it's not just telling us to think about these things when we're in conflict.
Why is it that these, in a sense, make sense from the Christian worldview?
Well, look at it again, verse 10.
And have put on the new self.
And we're going to talk about it a little bit more in a moment, but put on as a clothing imagery.
And that's, if you think about it, intuitively a very good image to work with.
When I come home, I have a thing about shorts.
And so when I come home, as soon as I can, it depends.
Sometimes I come home and we have to eat right away.
But when I come home, if I have the time, you know, I put my dirty dishes, you know, I brought my food.
I put it in the sink.
And I, you know, take my gym stuff and hang it up.
And then I go into my room and I take off my clothes.
And I put on, you know, a ratty old thing to cover myself on the top.
And I put on these shorts that aren't really decent to be worn in public.
Like, I mean, they're just all ripped and everything.
And they're just really old and very comfortable.
And I'm home, right?
If I had to be meeting the queen, I would dress the appropriate way.
If you have an important interview, you dress the right way.
Going on a date, we have this understanding that clothes can contribute and fit with what it is you have to do.
In fact, they can really help you.
Some of you would say, how could I even go for a job interview if I'm dressed like this?
You know, I don't have my power stuff on to do what we have to do.
And so that's the image, the fundamental image which the Bible is using.
But it says here at verse 9, verse 10,
And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
And this is a very, very important set of ideas.
The new self is the self that you get because when you give yourself to Jesus,
there's several things which are going on here, and they're all really important to know.
Remember I said that the Christian life isn't just about not doing sin.
Well, it's the same thing for what happens.
Why is Jesus so important?
Why is what he does on the cross so absolutely important to us?
Well, it's not just, as Paul talks about earlier in Colossians,
that you can think about the idea that every single thing that you've ever done wrong,
everything that anybody might accuse you of,
anything that you might be ashamed of,
anything that you accuse yourself of,
if one of the things that you can do is just picture that when you're thinking about Jesus on the cross,
just imagine that every single thing from the moment that you were able to do a wrong act
until no matter how far the future is,
that in all of these cases,
every single item with nothing left over was nailed above Jesus' head,
and he took the punishment that you deserved for every single thing on the list.
And that's an important aspect of why the cross is so important.
But the cross is important for another feature as well.
It's not just what Christ took away,
but what he clothes you with,
what he gives you.
And that's why his life is so important.
That's why it wouldn't be Christianity if all of a sudden,
just like on Palm Sunday,
God parachutes Jesus as a fully formed adult into the world,
or even better,
on Friday morning as a fully formed adult,
Jesus just gets parachuted in by God,
and God then has him nailed to the cross,
and he rises from the dead.
That would only be dealing with the things which are wrong.
It would be as if,
well, it just would be dealing with the things that are wrong.
But the other aspect of the gospel,
which is so unbelievably important,
is that God, the Son of God,
humbles himself by taking,
by setting aside his glory,
his prerogatives,
his divine splendor.
He, in a sense,
puts aside that constant unveiled fellowship
with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
and remaining fully God,
he takes into himself our human nature,
and he doesn't,
he becomes this one person,
God, the Son of God.
He's also fully,
fully human,
and he's humbled himself
even to be entering into the human story
as the zygote attached to his mother's womb.
And he lives a completely and utterly human life.
It's a lower working class life
as part of a conquered people
under the empire of pagans,
and he lives a fully human life.
And the Bible said he lives a fully human life
without ever sinning,
without ever having his relationship with God,
the Father,
ever broken or compromised.
And so what happens is,
when you're putting your faith and trust in Jesus,
when you reach out to him
and say,
Jesus be my Savior,
Jesus be my Lord,
and Jesus reaches down,
he crosses that infinite distance,
so to speak,
from heaven to where you are,
wherever you are today
or wherever you were
when you put your faith and trust in Jesus
or wherever you were
when you realized
that there'd never been a time in your life
that you hadn't had
your faith and trust in Jesus
because you grew up in a Christian home
and you just grew up as a Christian,
so to speak.
That not only does God take away all of your sin,
but Jesus' perfect life,
his unbroken fellowship with the Father,
that now becomes yours.
That now becomes yours.
And God the Father,
God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit
come and actually live within you
and in a sense you now have life.
It's already now present within you.
And so the Bible uses this image of the new self,
the new you, so to speak.
And this is where there's this,
I'm not going to talk about very much,
but there's this very important biblical idea
called the already not yet
that we need to have in our minds
to understand what it is exactly
that Christ has done for us.
Because on one hand,
you can almost sort of use the image of a seed
as if the seed of eternal life
has now been planted within who I am
when I put my faith and trust in Jesus.
The Holy Spirit now indwells me.
And that's the already.
That's the exact same life
that will blossom and flourish
in the new heaven and the new earth
that will allow me to spend
or you to spend
an unbroken eternity
in the presence of God the Father,
God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit,
enjoying in a sense their household,
their life,
breathing their air,
seeing their beauty,
being transformed by that.
And that is already in a sense yours in Christ,
but it's like a seed.
Not yet.
I still do sinful things.
I still do wrong things.
I still have a body
which is fit for this earth,
not for the new heaven and the new earth,
which is to come.
And that's why if you look at verse 10,
it says,
and put on the new self,
which is being renewed in knowledge
after the image of its creator.
And this is a really important
and wonderful truth
to understand why it is
that you should be trying
to put on compassion,
why it is that you should be trying
to put on humility,
why it is that you should be trying
to put all of these things on.
You see,
it's,
remember I said,
see,
already not yet.
So,
I'm to put this stuff,
I need to constantly be renewed
because God is working in me
and he is working in you
to prepare you for a particular destiny.
And what is that destiny
which he is preparing you for?
He is preparing you for that destiny
where,
as I said before,
you are in the presence of the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
You get to actually,
in a sense,
begin to taste
and see
and experience
and breathe
and reflect
that unending,
eternal dance
whereby the Father
reveals himself
to the Son
and the Son reveals
himself to the Father
and the Holy Spirit
reveals himself
and there's this dance
and you see their goodness
and you see their humility,
you see their self-giving,
you see their other-centeredness,
you see the beauty,
the glory,
the splendor
and God is preparing
ordinary human beings
like you and me
to actually be able
to be in the presence of that
and not just to be
in the presence of that,
to know that we are home,
to breathe it,
to delight in it.
And so we need to be renewed.
And as,
and that's,
and then it goes on to say,
and you put off,
so you're going to be
putting on the new self
which we'll talk about in a moment,
you take off the old self
and have put on,
which has been renewed
in the image of its creator,
which means that God
is making you more
and more human
the way God originally
intended human beings to be.
He's not turning you
into an angel,
he's not turning you
into an aardvark,
he's turning you
into more and more
what a human being
is supposed to be.
And it gives you
this little tiny bit
of a glimpse
that if in fact
Adam and Eve
had not fallen,
it's as if
God's always plan
was not just
that Adam and Eve
would have continued
to be the way they are
but that they
would one day
be transposed,
be in a sense
elevated
or another stage
of even vaster glory
and splendor
and of being themselves.
And so it is
that we are
becoming more
as God intended us to be
but at the same time
God wants to work
within us
to make us
more the type of person,
the type of being
who can dwell
in the Trinitarian glory
and splendor
and beauty
and delight
and love
and joy
and happiness
and music
and movement
all embodied
and that's God's
ultimate destiny
for you and me.
And in verse 11,
here there is not
Greek and Jew
circumcised
and uncircumcised,
barbarian,
Scythian,
slave,
free,
but Christ
is all
in all.
And one of the things
which is so powerful
about this text,
I'm just going to say it now,
on a couple of Sundays
from now,
I'm going to spend
a whole service
just talking about slavery
because Colossians
is going to talk about
slaves and masters
and we're going to look at it.
But one of the things
which is so unbelievably
significant about this text
is that as this text
grips you,
slavery
becomes unthinkable.
and it becomes
unthinkable
in a way
that is not true
of secularism
or of atheism
or of any other religion.
That as it grips you,
that even the worst
barbarian
who's also completely
and utterly enslaved,
that when they hear
that the words
that Jesus has died
for them
and that his perfect life
is also for them
and that we are to have
an obligation
to tell the worst
barbaric slave
of the worst
barbaric slave
that they can hear
the gospel
and that when they receive
the gospel,
the exact same benefits
that I have just described
for you and me
is for them,
that they are being renewed
in the knowledge
of the Creator,
that they are being prepared
for eternity
with the Trinity.
The more that grips you,
the more slavery
is unthinkable,
which is vastly
more important,
the big problem
that most of our culture
has with the Bible
and slavery
is that our culture
is addicted
to virtue signaling.
Complete,
empty,
mindless,
self-righteous,
self-justifying
virtue signaling.
And they want to see
virtue signaling there
and it's not there
but what the Bible
does instead
is vastly more precious.
As this grips you
and slavery becomes
increasingly unthinkable
in a world
that just took
slavery
as part of the natural order
and the good order
of things,
it becomes
unthinkable.
And then we become,
because Christ is all in all,
put on then,
verse 12,
as God's chosen ones,
holy and beloved,
compassionate hearts,
kindness,
humility,
meekness,
patience,
bearing with one another
and if one has a complaint
against another,
forgiving each other
as the Lord has forgiven you,
so you also must forgive
and above all these,
put on love
which binds everything together
in perfect harmony.
so there's this,
this is the one aspect
of the six.
If you could put this up,
Andrew,
you can just look at it.
I'm not going to spend
much time on it,
right?
This is something
that begins at the end
of chapter 2
and it's going to go right
until chapter 3,
verse 17
and then it's going to be
shown how it works
itself out
in certain types
of fundamental relationships.
And the first,
and in a sense,
the Bible's asking you
not just to do one
but in a sense
to think of all six
as being part
of a single act.
And the first act
is to ask yourself
the fundamental question,
am I going to grow me
or is God going to grow me?
And I've talked about that.
I won't talk about it
as much right now.
And God's word
wants you to say,
if my destiny
is to be like Jesus,
then how on earth
could I possibly grow me?
Only God can grow me.
So Lord, grow me.
The second thing is
set your mind on Christ
in all his,
as I put it,
in light of the cross,
set your mind on Christ
in all his risen,
sovereign,
Trinitarian glory.
And then last week
we talked about
how you have to put off
your old self
or put off sin,
not as the world defines it
but as the Bible defines it.
And now we come here
to this next step
which is put on Christ.
Actually,
I'm going to put it as
given your destiny in Christ,
put on the biblical virtues.
Given your destiny in Christ,
put on the biblical virtues.
And then we're going to look at
let and do
which is what we're going to look at
next Sunday.
But as I said,
you look at these virtues
and just think,
I've been in a week
where I've had low-level conflict
all week.
And Daniel got to see
a little tiny bit of it
and, you know,
he'll know that
Daniel,
people who know me
know that I have lots of flesh.
Because you see,
here's the thing
about all of these six things
including this put on.
When we start to walk
in the path of these things,
it doesn't lead to success,
it leads us to meet our flesh.
When we try to start to walk
in the path of these things,
it doesn't lead us to success,
it leads us to meet our flesh.
And then there is a success,
by the way,
after that.
But first,
you constantly meet your flesh.
So,
for instance,
okay,
I have to put on Christ.
It's only when you think about
the fact that you need
to put on Christ,
I mean,
set your mind,
my mind on Christ
in all his risen,
sovereign,
Trinitarian glory,
that I realize
how many things
I already have my mind set on.
I have my mind set on rivalry.
I have my mind set
on being able to boast.
I have my mind set
on the fact
that I think I'm right
all the time.
I have my mind set
on wanting to win.
I have my mind set
on revenge.
I have my mind set
on things,
maybe that are connected
to wounds
that I've never forgiven.
I have my mind set
on all sorts of things.
And that if I want
to set my mind on Christ,
there's all that flesh
that I have to deal with.
It's the same thing
with put on.
Under Paul,
I'm putting on Christ.
Well,
the fact is,
I have all sorts of things
I'm wanting to put on.
I'm going to have this phone call
and I'm going to have
this phone call
and I can just feel myself
putting stuff on.
I'm putting on
the things I want to say.
I'm putting on
that I'm not going to back down.
I'm putting on
that I'm always right.
I'm putting on
that I'm going to be
a guy and assertive.
I'm putting on
all this stuff
and maybe I'm putting on
a fear that I can't do
all those guy things
that guys are supposed to do.
That's what I'm putting on.
And so this text
leads me
to confront my flesh.
That part of me
is a human being
which is in rebellion
against God.
That's what I come
face to face with.
And that leads
I have to be
that leads to
an analogy
for us to understand
this particular text.
These things
that we are to put on.
Means of grace
there's many things
in the Bible
which are means of grace
and these are some of them.
And in all cases
of means of grace
remember
I can't
I can't turn myself
into a person
so that when I see Jesus
I'm going to be like him.
I can't do that.
I only God
can do that.
By definition
I see Christ
and he turns me
into someone like him.
That's something
that only he can do.
But the means of grace
is a posture
of obedience
to God's word
so God
can do
what only he can do.
All of the means of grace
are an invitation
to take a posture
of obedience
to do
what only
he can do.
even if that
is not
not only
not intuitive
it's
it's not even
counterintuitive
it's just nonsense.
So
here's an
Old Testament story
which is maybe helpful
for us to get our mind
around this.
There's a story
in 1 Kings 8
it's not as well known
as it should be
but it's a very
very wonderful story.
And the nation of Israel
has come to one of its
darkest
lowest times
and God
has called Elijah
to be
a lone witness
against a culture
which is completely
and utterly
abandoning God.
And to our secular
friends and to Christians
this might sound
like I'm complaining
like for many Canadians
it says
George
it's as if you're
complaining about pluralism
when you say that.
But
when you go back
and you read
the stories
in the Old Testament
what our Jewish friends
what my Jewish friends
call the Tanakh
you have to realize
what's going on
when they leave
the worship
of Yahweh
the Lord
and they start
to take up
with other gods
because it's not
just a neutral matter
it's not just
that one of you
like to
I don't know
sing praise songs
another one of you
like to sing hymns
no no it matters
why does it matter?
One of the things
which is completely
and utterly unique
about the Christian faith
about the book of Genesis
is
like all of those
other religions
that the Jewish people
are tempted to go after
and have started to go after
and by the time
Elijah has come
basically everybody
in the country
from the religious elite
to the political elite
to the cultural elite
down to the average
the poorest
the poorest person
in the culture
all of the other religions
at the very heart of them
why did they create
human beings?
in all cases
they created human beings
because the gods
wanted more slaves
human beings
were created
to be the slaves
of the gods
we already know
what it's like
in a culture
right now
there's a very major
world religion
which understands
that it's part
of the very fundamental
sense of what it means
for God to have created
how on earth
can you
what does it mean
if you have a view
that the gods
that you go to worship
that they only created
human beings
to be slaves
what does it mean
when you go
to start to worship
these gods
and goddesses
it's going to mean
that you go to the temple
to sacrifice your child
to kill your child
to appease
the wrath of God
it's going to mean
that you sell
your excess daughters
to the temple
so they can become
prostitutes
so that when you
want to go worship
you go have sex
with these women
what does it mean
in terms of
how you view children
and family
and how does it view
the whole thing
in many of those religions
it's all about
the particular power
of the man
including being able
to exercise sexual power
there's a massive
in that particular culture
the ruler
is either a god himself
or the specific agent
of the god
and so when they're
going after these things
it's not just about
well they happen to like
I don't know
wearing these types of robes
and you like having
no there's a whole worldview
there's a whole way
of ordering culture
there's a whole way
of understanding politics
which is involved
anyway so Elijah
has this contest
he's got the attention
of the people
and the king
because he's declared
that there would be
no rain
and there was no rain
and then God tells them
it's time now
that you've got
their attention
go and challenge
the gods and goddesses
of the world
of the nation
and go and challenge them
to a contest
and here's the contest
you can have your
hundreds and hundreds
and hundreds of priests
and you make a simple
make whatever altar
you want
put wood on the altar
put a sacrifice
on the altar
I all by my little lonesome
I'm going to be over here
I'm going to make an altar
and I'm going to put wood
on it
and I'm going to put
a sacrifice on it
and the contest
is very simple
whichever god
or gods
sends the fire
that's the real one
and they agree to it
and there's hundreds
and hundreds of prophets
this is in 1 Kings chapter 8
and they make
their elaborate altar
they put their sacrifice
they put their wood
they do their whole spectacle
it would be
the sort of thing
you know
listen
the YouTube video
would be on theirs
not Elijah
just by himself
unless he did
at the end
it would all be on Elijah
they'd been wishing
they'd film it
but you know
they have
and then
Elijah had
Elijah was
ornery
so by the end of the day
the gods and goddesses
aren't setting the fire
he sort of said
ah you know
maybe your gods and goddesses
are all off in the bathroom
and you just need to
be a bit louder
or something
they're having a snooze
come on
wake them up
maybe they'll come
and send the fire
nothing happens
here's the point
of the analogy
so what does Elijah do
he says
okay now it's my turn
he takes a very very
simple set of rocks
he takes the wood
he has them dig
a big trench around it
he puts the sacrifice
on top of it
and then he starts saying
pour water on the wood
and then pour more water
on the wood
and pour more water
on the wood
and then he calls out
to God
God I know you hear me
and God sends fire
and consumes the wood
and the sacrifice
now here's the point
of this analogy
if you go camping
later on
next spring
or maybe even now
and if you maybe have it
that you know
your wife says
I'm going to get this set up
you know hubby
why don't you
get the fire going
and you know
get the meat cooking
or the tofu frying
or whatever
and I always want to be sensitive
to my vegetarian friends
and then
you know
the wife turns around
and you put the wood
you know
you made a nice big pile of wood
oh it's going really well
and then the next thing
she sees is you pouring water
on the wood
she'd say
time out hubby
you really are clueless
maybe she'd say
something stronger
that's not how you make a fire
pouring wood on it
that's the wrong way
to do it
okay
so what it is
in other words
God giving this story
in 1 Kings 8
of something
which doesn't make
any natural sense
and in some ways
all means of grace
are like this
okay
God
okay
God
you're telling me
that if I go into
these types of conflicts
I've got to put on
patience
meekness
compassion
humility
and forgiveness
we laugh
that we wouldn't even
think about it
because we just
plunge in
right
you know
we plunge in
Bible down
fists up
that's how we live
literally
our flesh
says George
our flesh
without even thinking
about it
Bible's down
Bible's closed
fists up
and we need to
understand
that at the heart
of all the means
of grace
is this sense
that we are
to put ourselves
in a posture
of humility
and obedience
before God
to do what only
God
so that God
can do
what only God
can do
always remembering
that he does
on one level
care about
what goes on
in the earth
but he
doesn't have to
just
he can
work on
lots of levels
at the same time
in fact
not only can he
that's what he does
we'll go to heaven
and the new heaven
and the new earth
we will just
one of the things
I think
he'll maybe do
is he'll show
the whole
of human history
and we can
hardly keep
more than
one or two
things going
at the same
time
but he can
keep billions
of things
going on
the same
time
and he can
at one level
be working
in such a way
that George
will turn into
a being
that can be
fit for heaven
at the same
time he can
be working
in a way
that cares
for the earth
and cares
for the politics
cares for the economy
cares for others
and so in this
particular thing
given your destiny
in Christ
put on the
biblical virtues
that's verse 12
put on then
as God's chosen
one
holy and beloved
compassionate hearts
and if you're
at all visual
I meant to do
this and I forgot
I mean it might
literally be
because remember
you begin with
who's going to
grow me
where do I
set my mind
put off
put on
let
and do
and here we're
just focusing
on the put on
part
because all six
of those aspects
are very very
important
and it might be
how we begin
the day
it might be
that you
you ask the
Lord to help
you to remember
before that
phone call
that you just
pause
and pray
through these
types of things
and realize
okay Lord
I got to take
off this
rivalry shirt
I've got to
keep off this
that I always
have to win
I have to
take off
this layer
of clothing
that's connected
to anger
I need to
take off
this layer
of clothing
which is
composed of
being able
to use my
tongue to
abuse and to
win
I need to
take that
off
and now I
need to put
some of these
things on
and the first
thing I need
to put on
is compassion
and it might
even just help
you if you
even just
imagine that
those are
clothing
and if you
are very good
at visuals
and some of you
are you can
just imagine
how rank
it is
it looks
shiny but
it's in fact
filthy and
foul and
you're taking
it off and
you just dump
it and then
you're reaching
over maybe
imagine your
Bible on a
table like
this and
you put on
compassion
and you put
on kindness
and you put
on humility
I think we
all have a
pretty good
idea about
what kindness
and compassion
are by the
way compassion
and kindness
you're not
kind towards
evil you're
kind towards
people
you're not
compassionate
towards evil
you're compassionate
towards people
if you start
to become
kind to evil
you are moving
in a demonic
direction
if you show
compassion
to evil
you are moving
in a demonic
direction
but you show
compassion
and kindness
to people
and humility
very briefly
you see all
of these things
you could do
a whole sermon
on each one
of them
but humility
is fundamentally
several types
of things
if you think
of the natural
tendency of every
human being
is to become
like a black
hole
to suck in
everything
into themselves
and humility
is that ability
that virtue
where you start
to look to
the other
and we all
know that in
many ways
we are most
ourselves
and we don't
look within
but look without
if you've ever
if some of you
who dance
when you lose
yourself in the
dance
in some ways
you become
most yourself
for those of you
who are really
brilliant at art
in some ways
when you lose
yourself to the
writing or the
creativity
you become
most yourself
in friendship
when you're most
enjoying your
friend
in some ways
you're most
yourself
in love
when you are
in most
completely and
utterly enamored
with the other
in many ways
you are most
yourself
and that is
the heart
of humility
and the next
one is meekness
or sometimes
gentleness
and if we
think about
this
meekness
is not
weakness
now I know
there's a whole
range of
superhero things
that are going
on in the world
right now
but if you
think about it
at the
traditional
superheroes
at the best
all of them
are meek
because in
all of them
whether you
think of
somebody like
spider-man
or batman
or whatever
it might be
spider-man
the child
is falling
from a ledge
and what is
the meekness
of spider-man
not saying
well it sucks
to be you
or making
a really hard
landing
that actually
does almost
as much
damage to
the child
as if he
just let
him fall
no
how does
television
present it
that in a
sense
spider-man
or whatever
catches the
child in
such a way
as it is
as if gentle
hands slowly
stop the
child from
falling so
there's absolutely
no harm done
to the child
and that's
the spirit
of meekness
it goes
with strength
it's using
your strength
to not
needlessly
hurt the
person
in fact
the more
we grow
in humility
and meekness
and all of
these are
fitting us
to be with
God
from all
eternity
the easier
it is
to stand
to tyrants
and refuse
their claims
because it's
all part
of a
all part
of a
process
by which
we set
our minds
on Christ
and understand
Christ is
the hope
of glory
forgiving
each other
I've talked
bearing
with one
another
that actually
is one
that if you
understood
the image
you'd see
it as a
good thing
in a sense
the underlying
image of
bearing up
we've all
been in
situations
where everything
seems to be
falling apart
maybe it's an
office
your whole
office seems
to be in
conflict
and in
crisis
or your
family's all
in conflict
and crisis
and there's
one person
bearing up
under it
in a sense
it's the one
person who's a
bit of a voice
of sanity
and balance
while everything
seems to be
falling up
that's the
image there
to bear up
under the
conflict
which is
going on
so that
there's
in a sense
some type
of hope
for something
to be rebuilt
and then
when it says
I think we
understand a bit
patience
and forgiving
forgiving doesn't
mean forgetting
it doesn't mean
that you give
a past evil
but it's
one of those
things
unless you learn
to forgive
the wrong
that's been
done to you
will continue
to eat away
at you
and eat away
at you
and eat away
at you
and eat away
with you
and destroy
you
and then
all of these
things
love is the
center of all
of these
things
a word
which was
basically
popularized
by Christians
it was popular
in Greek
literature
but not
popular
it was present
as a word
in Greek
but basically
unused
it's that
complete
and utter
self-giving
for the benefit
of the other
it's in a sense
a passion
for self-giving
for the benefit
of the other
and in all
of these cases
there's never
a compromise
with evil
there's never
a compromise
with injustice
there's never
a compromise
with hatred
but it's a very
very different
way
of entering
into relationships
and trying to
deal with it
for the good
of the person
because
and here we'll end
God takes no
delight in the
death of a sinner
but rather
that they will
turn from
their wickedness
and live
said three times
basically the same
way in the book
of Ezekiel
it's one of the
heart of Anglican
spirituality
is found in
the book of
common prayer
for morning prayer
and evening prayer
that God takes
no delight
in the death
of a sinner
but rather
that they will
turn from
their wickedness
and live
it's not so much
that we win
arguments
but that we
win people
and it's not
so much
that we win
people for
ourselves
but we win
people for
Christ
that is
the Father's
heart
for you
and for me
let's stand
Father we
we know
that many
of the things
which your
word tells us
to do
are viewed
as foolishness
or even evil
in the eyes
of the world
our commitment
to life
our commitment
to love
our commitment
to your word
our commitment
to Christ
Father many
of these things
are seen
as foolishness
that we
are to learn
to try to be
committed to
humility
rather than
pride
Father these
are mysteries
and they're
mysteries to our
flesh and often
mysteries to us
and we ask
Father that
you would grip
us
grip us
with the gospel
that that the gospel
might be the narrative
by which we begin
to understand
ourselves in the
world
that you are a
God that does
exist
that you are real
and that you are
true
and that you are
sovereign and will
bring all things
to their proper
order and
conclusion
and that you
know why we
were made
and how we
were made
and how we
are to thrive
and that we
would trust
your word
and your
wisdom
we would ask
questions
and that we
would come
together
and pray
together
and weep
together
and rejoice
together
and question
together
as we study
your word
not doing this
by ourselves
but doing it
with others
but we ask
Father that you
would grip us
with the gospel
and grip us
with your word
and grip us
with such a deep
confidence in Jesus
and who he did
who he is
and what he did
for us on the cross
that we can look
at your word
and be willing
to say
Father I know
it goes against
my flesh
but help me
to take a posture
of obedience
trusting in your word
so that you
will bring the fire
Father from my flesh
it looks like you're
asking me to pour
water on the wood
but grant me
Father that deep
confidence
that you know
what you're doing
that you are faithful
and true to your word
and that as we take
postures of obedience
to your word
trusting in you
that you will do
that great and mighty work
that you Father
will bring the fire
as you change us
from one degree
of glory
day by day
so that one day
we will see Jesus
face to face
and we will be like him
and we will hear you say
welcome
my beloved
and chosen
one
welcome
and all these things
we ask in the name
of Jesus
your son
and our savior
amen