It's great to be back.
It is, this is a great place.
We had heard good things about it, but now we know they're true.
I think it was Yeats that said, there's no strangers here,
there's just friends you hadn't met.
And I think the truth of that really is in the body of Christ,
that it really is true, that the body of Christ,
that Christ breaks down the barriers between us.
So last week we were talking about, thank you very much, Ralph.
Last week we were talking about this good news about the gospel,
what Jesus has done for us, and how that impacts our view of ourselves.
We looked at how it really gives us perspective,
that it shows us who we are in relation to God,
that we are very small and sinful,
and yes, we are extremely loved by God and secure in Him.
But also how the gospel shows us that our guilt is removed,
it frees us from the power of sin,
that it removes our guilt,
and also that it fills us with the fullness of God.
And that gives us the strength to,
that even the desires for sin start to wither,
because we have full satisfaction in Christ.
And finally, we also saw that the confidence that we have in the future,
that we can trust God because He's proven Himself.
He's proven that His promises are good.
He's proven that He really does want what's best for us,
and is really willing to do what is best for us,
whatever the cost.
So because of the gospel, we have hope for the future.
We're just going to start with the same verse that we,
a few verses that we read at the beginning of last week,
2 Corinthians, chapter 5.
In the Church Bible, it's page 1161.
So 2 Corinthians 5, starting in verse 14.
He says,
For Christ's love compels us,
because we are convinced that one died for all,
and therefore all died.
And He died for all,
that those who live should no longer live for themselves,
but for Him who died and was raised again.
From now on, we know,
from now on, we regard no one from a worldly point of view.
Though we once regarded Christ in this way,
we do so no longer.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creation.
The old has gone.
The new has come.
We talked last week how the gospel changes everything.
It really literally changes everything.
And if you look particularly at verse 16,
it says,
From now on, we regard no one from a worldly point of view.
What we want to focus on this week
is how the gospel changes our view of others,
how the gospel changes our relationships with others.
How does it impact the way that we relate to the people around us?
So,
what we'll start with,
maybe recognize some common themes.
What we'll start with is,
what we saw last week is that the gospel gives us a new perspective on ourselves.
It shows us who we are in comparison to God.
And we talked about how the gospel kills our pride.
That there's really just no room for pride in the gospel.
It shows us that we're not the center of the universe,
as much as we like to pretend to be.
That we really are not the ones that are most worthy of even our own love and devotion.
That God is the one that is worthy of that.
That God really is the center of everything.
It shows us that other people, then,
are not rivals to our pretended throne.
Instead of other people being competition,
like,
you know,
if we're all trying to be the center of the universe,
then that's not going to work very well, is it?
We're all going to be bumping up against each other,
all trying to pull everybody else into orbit around us.
And,
we're always going to be pulling and fighting against each other,
if we're all trying to be the center of the universe.
But,
the gospel frees us from that,
because it shows us that instead of other people being rivals,
other people being a threat to us,
it shows us that they are fellow creatures,
made in the image of God,
just like we are.
That he is the center,
and that we all should be relating to him.
Paul says this.
Well,
let me just say,
it affects all kinds of things in our relationships with others.
And,
let me just take a couple of specific examples,
but it's not going to be exhaustive by any means.
But,
maybe the first one we'll look at is,
how does it affect our relationship with people
when they think well of us?
When they admire us?
When they see something that's good?
When they compliment us?
Paul says,
by the grace of God,
I am what I am.
And,
his grace to me was not without effect.
No,
I worked harder than all of them,
yet not I,
but the grace of God that was in me.
So,
basically,
if people notice anything good in us,
it's not like we can really even claim the credit.
Paul says,
by the grace of God,
I am what I am.
Even though he says,
I worked harder than anyone,
and yet not I,
but the grace of God
that was working in me.
So,
that frees us from the burden of trying to impress people.
It frees us from the burden of trying to bring people into our orbit
and make them recognize us
as the center of the universe.
It frees us
not to have to point to ourselves anymore.
Not to have to try to build ourselves up anymore.
It frees us from this charade of trying to convince everyone that we are the main thing,
that we are the greatest.
And that's a huge freedom.
But what about when we make mistakes?
What about when those things that are not pretty about us,
those things that are not nice about us,
come out,
and people see them,
and they criticize us?
I mean, we can't do the same thing then.
We can't say,
deflect the credit to God then.
We have to own that.
But once again,
what we see is that the gospel,
it kills our pride.
The gospel proclaims to everyone,
from the rooftops,
quite loudly,
if we claim the gospel
in our own lives,
what we're claiming is
that we are so sinful,
that we are so,
we were so wrong,
that what it took to forgive us
was the death of Jesus Christ.
This is what we're claiming as Christians.
We're claiming that
our sin was so bad
and so serious
that Jesus had to die
in order to forgive us.
And once we've admitted that,
then it shouldn't be,
we shouldn't be surprised
by the sin in our lives.
We shouldn't be surprised
when it shows up.
We've already admitted
that we're sinners.
We've already admitted
that it took the death of Christ
to forgive us.
So that means that
if anyone is criticizing us,
that means that if anyone tells us
how bad we are,
we don't have to disagree.
We don't have to defend ourselves.
In fact,
we can agree wholeheartedly.
We can even,
I mean,
if somebody wants to tell us
how rotten we are,
we can tell them,
look,
you don't even know
the half of it.
I'm much, much, much worse
than you think I am.
I'm much worse
than I think I am.
But that's a freeing thing
because it frees us
from having to actually
defend ourselves
or from having to pretend
to be something
that we're not.
Paul said to Timothy,
he said,
this is a trustworthy saying
that deserves full acceptance.
Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners
of whom I am the worst.
He didn't beat around the bush.
He just said,
I'm the worst.
My sin is terrible.
He puts it plainly out there.
And it sounds,
it sounds awful
to say something like that,
but it's actually
wonderfully freeing.
And it gives glory to God
because he's the one
that's forgiving us.
He's the one
that's changing us.
Now I have lots of practice
defending myself
when people come at me
with criticisms.
I've told my wife
many, many times
why she was so wrong
about the things
that she was saying
that I had done wrong.
But I tell you,
we need to realize
that the gospel
means that my sin
is already on display.
And that when my sin
is on display,
God's grace and mercy
is on display as well.
We don't have to try to hide.
We don't have to try
to cover it up.
We need to rest
in the forgiveness
that we've received
from Christ.
So we don't have to pretend.
We don't have to defend.
Now I realize
that if we're wrongly accused
of something
that's slightly different.
But still,
even when people
are wrongly accusing us
of things,
well now oftentimes
there's more truth
in their accusations
than we like to admit.
But even if it's wrong,
even if the accusation
isn't even true at all,
we can still say
that no matter what
people could bring against us,
no matter what the accusation
they could come at us with,
the truth of our rebellion
against God
and the seriousness of that
and what it caused Christ
to forgive us
is actually worse
than anything
people could accuse us of.
And yes,
his forgiveness
is bigger.
Now it's not that
we resign ourselves
and we just say to people,
well, yeah,
I'm a sinner,
that's it,
you're going to have to deal with it.
That's the way it is, buddy.
It's not that we resign ourselves
to just live in sin.
The Bible doesn't present that at all.
In fact,
what the Bible says
is that if we confess our sins,
he is faithful to forgive us,
but it doesn't stop there.
It says,
and cleanse us
from all unrighteousness.
So we can come to people,
when they come to us
and say,
you're wrong,
you've done this wrong,
you've failed here
and here and here,
we can say yes,
we can own that,
we can say,
yes,
that's a problem,
but I have hope,
not because I'm going to try harder,
I have hope
because the blood of Jesus
forgives me
and the power of Jesus
cleanses me
from all unrighteousness.
My hope is not
in turning over a new leaf
and trying again
and trying to do it better.
My hope is the power of Christ
to change me
and to cleanse me
from all unrighteousness.
And we need to share that
with other people
when they come to us
with criticism.
We can own
the things that we've done
and yet we can own them
with hope
because the gospel
does something
that nothing else can do.
The gospel
kills our pride
and yet at the same time
gives us
supreme confidence.
Now usually
we put those two things together.
Usually if somebody
is very confident
that's because
they're very proud
of their own abilities.
But the gospel
separates those things
in a way
nothing else can.
The gospel
completely kills,
destroys
any hope
of our having pride
in ourselves
because it shows us
who we really are.
And yet at the same time
the gospel
gives us
the supreme confidence
that is greater
than any confidence
we could have
in anything else
because it's in Christ.
we have a secure
hope in Christ
that's better
than anything
we could have
in ourselves.
There's no condemnation
from God
so why would we need
to fear
condemnation from people?
Our security
as God's children
gives us confidence
to live
without needing
to seek the approval
of other people.
I mean,
everybody wants approval.
Most of us seek it
from other people.
But when we have
the approval
of our creator
secure
in Christ
we're free
from that
never-ending treadmill
of trying to win
people's approval
trying to keep
people's approval
which just
just goes on
and on and on.
But when we have
our creator's approval
secure
then that
puts an end to that.
We don't need
people's approval
so much anymore.
So the gospel
gives us
perspective.
It shows us
that the praises
and criticisms
it shows us
that the approval
or disapproval
of other people
are not ultimate.
It shows us
that we don't have
to pretend
to be something
that we're not.
We don't have
to defend ourselves.
We can own our sin
and yet we don't
have to try
to hide it
or anything
because it's
covered in Christ.
And we have
the power
to change
because we have
of him as well.
So the gospel
shows us
that God's
perspective
really is what
matters
and that God's
perspective on us
is that he's
loved us so much
that he's been
willing to die
for us
to give us
life
to give us
new life
in him.
He's loved us
beyond anything
that we can imagine.
So really
it's not just
perspective
that the gospel
gives us now
it's this huge
amount of freedom
as well
because all of a sudden
we don't need
people the way
that we used to.
We talked about
we don't need
their approval
so much.
We've looked to
people to fill
our need
for approval
that we crave
but God's approval
makes the approval
of people
seem pretty small.
We've looked to
people
to fill us
with the love
that we long
for
and yet God
gives us this
showers us
just dumps
this huge
amount of love
that is just
unimaginable
unconditional
amazing love
and he pours
it on us
freely.
It makes
any kind
of human
love
seem pretty
pale in comparison.
We've looked
to people
to give us
an identity.
We've looked
to people
to recognize
that we're
something great.
We've looked
to people
to recognize
that our
accomplishments
are something
significant
but when
the God
of the universe
is willing
to give
his life
to save
us
then our
significance
is not
in question
anymore.
And our
identity
as his
children
is secure
and people
can't change
that.
So we
don't need
people
the way
that we
used to
need people.
And once
again I think
here's the
unique ability
of the gospel
to separate
things that
the world
can't separate.
Because
we already
saw how the
gospel can
kill pride
on the one
hand while
at the same
time giving
us the
supreme
confidence
which usually
you couldn't
separate.
But the
gospel also
does this.
It frees
us from
needing
people
while at
the same
time giving
us the
new ability
to love
them like
we've never
loved them
before.
Now in
the world
those things
usually go
together.
If you listen
to love songs
and things
a lot of
times it's
you know
I need you
so much
I can't
live without
you.
A lot
of love
is love
of necessity.
Basically
I feel like
I really
need you
so you
fill that
need so
I love
you.
But the
gospel
completely
changes that.
That kind
of love
when it
comes down
to it
if you
love somebody
because they're
filling the
empty places
in you
then that
kind of
love is
ultimately
selfish.
Because it's
really about
the empty
places in
me.
It's not
about you.
And if
you're not
filling the
empty places
in me like
I expected
you to
well there's
a whole lot
of love
songs about
that too.
Those are
the sad
kind.
The breakup
ones.
But the
gospel transforms
that whole
dynamic.
Because what
it does is
it fills
our emptiness
with God's
love.
It fills
us so
much that
David can
say you
anoint my
head with
oil my
cup
overflows.
It fills
us so
much that
it fills
us to
overflowing.
So this
security that
we have in
God means
that we
don't have
to seek
our security
in other
people.
We don't
have to
seek,
try to get
from other
people the
things to
fill us.
But that
doesn't mean
that we
don't love
them.
In fact
what it
means is
quite the
opposite.
Because it
actually gives
us the
freedom to
love others
without needing
to put a
list of
conditions on
what they
need to
do for
us.
We're free
to love
others without
needing them
to fill us
up at the
same time.
In other
words,
basically,
we are free
to love
others the
way Christ
loved us.
Because when
he loved us,
it certainly
wasn't because
we could give
something back
to him.
Ephesians 5
says,
follow God's
example,
therefore,
as dearly
loved children.
Walk in the
way of love,
just as Christ
loved us and
gave himself up
for us as a
fragrant offering
and sacrifice
to God.
He gave out
of his
fullness to
people that
were completely
empty,
who had
nothing to
give in
return.
And now,
if we are
filled with
his fullness,
we can give
to others out
of his
fullness,
not out of
our own,
but out of
his fullness
as well.
I mean,
Jesus told us
to love our
enemies.
Now,
that command
doesn't even
make sense
unless you
see it in
this context.
Because the
way Christ
loved us
was that he
loved even
when we were
his enemies.
Enemies don't
have anything
to give us
except pain
and heartache,
really.
I mean,
that's what we
expect from
enemies.
And yet,
God gave
out of his
fullness even
while we were
his enemies.
So,
now we are
free to
love others
as well
without needing
a return
on our
investment.
So,
the gospel
gives us
perspective.
It shows us
who we are
and it shows
us that we
don't have to
hide,
that we
don't have
to pretend,
we don't have
to pretend
to be something
that we're not,
we don't have
to defend
ourselves even.
we don't have
to try to
win people's
approval
because God
already loves
us.
He's already
paid the price
for our sin
and he's
given us
the strength
to follow
him.
And the
gospel frees
us to love
other people
freely out of
the overflow
of what God
has given
us.
But I think
there's a bit
more.
Last week we
talked about
the hope
that we have
in what
God has
done that
it gives us
hope for the
future as well.
and that
hope affects
the way
that we
relate to
others as
well.
If you read
through Romans
you see
Paul spend
chapter after
chapter developing
the gospel.
And what
exactly is the
gospel?
That we're all
guilty before
God but
that God
has given
Christ and
that he's
paid for
our sin and
that he's
provided a way
to come back
and to be
his children.
And Romans
chapter 8 is
kind of the
climax of all
of this.
And it's full
of amazing
things.
That we're
adopted into
God's family
that there's
no condemnation
for those who
are in Christ.
He talks
about, you
know,
just,
he just,
it's full,
that there's
nothing that can
separate us
from the love
of God.
Do you know
this chapter,
Romans 8,
is one of the
most popular
because it's
so full of
just these
amazing things
that the
gospel,
the promise
that the
gospel holds
for us.
So then,
what does
Paul say
directly after
Romans chapter
8?
The first
verse of
Romans chapter
9,
the first
two verses,
he says,
I speak the
truth in
Christ,
I am not
lying,
my conscience
confirms it
through the
Holy Spirit,
I have great
sorrow and
unceasing
anguish in
my heart.
What?
I mean,
he's just
said,
like some of
the most
amazing
truth,
that there's
no condemnation
in Christ,
that we're
adopted into
Christ,
into God's
family,
that nothing
can separate
us from
the love
of Christ.
And now
he's saying
there's great
sorrow and
unceasing
anguish in
my heart,
like how
does this
follow?
But he
explains why.
He explains
why in
verse 3.
He says,
for I wish
that I
myself were
cursed and
cut off from
Christ for
the sake of
my people,
those of
my own
race.
The reason
he's upset,
the reason
that he has
sorrow,
is because he
sees the
people around
him.
He sees that
they don't
have the
same hope
that he
has.
He's just
been dwelling
on how
amazing,
how wonderful
the gospel
is in his
life,
in those who
believe,
and the great
promise that
it has for
us,
and this
awesome
security that
it gives
us.
And what
it leads
him to
is to
say,
I have
sorrow and
unceasing
anguish.
Yes,
there's great
joy in
the gospel,
and yet at
the same
time,
he has this
sorrow in
his heart
that not
everyone is
experiencing
these same
benefits that
he is.
So,
it caused
him constant
grief,
and the
more he
dwelt on
the gospel
in his
own life,
the greatness
of it,
the more
he wanted
other people
to experience
it as well.
In other
words,
really,
the hope
that we
have in
the gospel
is the
foundation
of evangelism,
that we
want other
people to
experience that,
whether they
are here,
whether they're
in Kosovo,
whether they're
in Derby,
or wherever
they are,
we want
other people
to see
Christ for
who he really
is,
and to
experience the
hope that we
have in
him.
And it
also,
you know,
the gospel
gives us
hope that
no matter
who we're
talking to,
that no
matter where
we go,
the gospel
can reach
those people.
And no
one is
beyond the
reach of
God's mercy
because of
the greatness
of what
Christ has
done.
No one
is actually
beyond the
reach,
and that we
can never
give up on
anyone,
but we can
rest in the
fact that
the gospel
is not just
words that
we say,
but the
Bible says
it's the
power of
God for
salvation to
all who
believe.
And I
think Paul
himself is
a great
example that
the gospel
has no limits
on who,
there's no
limits on who
can be saved.
Paul himself
had done
horrible things
persecuting
Christians,
and yet God
saved him.
We never
give up hope
on anyone
because the
gospel is the
power of God
for salvation.
It's not just
the power of
God for salvation
for others.
It's the
power of God
that is at
work in us,
in our
salvation,
constantly
making us
more and
more in
our day-to-day
life like
Christ.
Every attitude,
every decision,
every interaction
with others,
everything that
we are,
everything that
we do,
everything is
impacted by
the gospel.
Everything
should be
founded on
the gospel.
people.
And so
what I'd
really like
to encourage
you,
like there's
a lot of
other areas
that we
could have
gone into
and how
the gospel
impacts our
relationship with
others.
I mean,
we could have
talked about
how the gospel
breaks down
barriers within
the body of
Christ,
that all the
things that
used to divide
us,
you know,
Paul talks
about there's
neither Jew
nor Gentile,
slave nor free,
male nor female,
they're all one
in Christ,
how the gospel
brings us
together and
unites us.
Or we could
have talked
about how
the gospel
gives us
the ability
to forgive
others.
The gospel
has implications
for everything.
But what I
really encourage
you to do
is just to
constantly,
daily,
remind yourself
of what
Christ has
done for us
and whatever
we're doing
and whoever
we're relating
to,
that we should
relate to them
on the foundation
of the gospel
and when we
think about
ourselves,
we should
think about
ourselves
on the
foundation
of the gospel
and when we
do things
and when we
think things,
whatever it is,
everything should
be built
on the foundation
of what Christ
has done for us,
of who he is
and what he's
done on the cross
and what the
gospel means
in our lives.
So I would just
encourage you,
please,
you know,
take time
and not just,
I'm not going to
just say this week,
but every day
we constantly need
to be reminded
of what Jesus
has done for us
and we need
to build our lives
on that foundation
and that will
impact how we
view ourselves
but it will
also impact
how we relate
to others
and how we
do everything.
So that's
what I want
to leave you
with today.
Thank you.