We're going to be looking at Colossians chapter 3, verses 15 to 17.
And if you have your Bibles, if you could turn there to that text.
And if you don't have Bibles, there's some Bibles up there that you can take as a gift from us for free.
But just as a bit of an introduction to the text,
it's not really so much an introduction as a request that you would give me a bit of help over the next couple of weeks.
Those of you who have Bibles and you look at 3, verses 15 to 17,
you'll see that right underneath that, verse 18 begins with Canada's most popular text,
Wives Submit to Your Husbands.
And so that's the very next text.
And in fact, after that, after it talks about husbands and wives,
it talks about parents and children, and then it talks about slaves and masters.
So I just ask your prayers.
I did actually consider, because next Sunday is the beginning of Advent,
I actually did consider that we would just break after this sermon
and then reconvene these sermons in the new year.
But I decided not to do it for two reasons.
One of them was it could give people the impression that we were going to avoid the text altogether.
They'd say, oh, okay, George is fine to preach the Bible when it's things he likes,
but when it's a bit contraculture or naughty, he skips it.
And I didn't want to give that impression.
One of the things, you know, for those who are watching this online and those of you who are here,
is that we preach through books of the Bible, and that's good.
If you're a seeker or you're a skeptic about the Christian faith, it's a good thing.
It shows that there's no fine print that you have to worry about later on.
We walk towards these texts.
The other reason I decided not to hold back on it is it could give the false impression
if on January 10th, after our sort of Christmas break, people came back,
and the first thing I did was preach a sermon on wives, submit to your husbands,
people would go, why does George have a thing about this?
Like, what a weird thing to do.
So I thought, you know what, we're just going to do with it.
And at first I was going to deal with wives and husbands and slaves and masters in the same sermon.
And a friend of mine talked me out of it, not because it would be bad to have those two things together.
But as you know, there's great events causing turmoil in south of the border and north of the border here in Canada.
And for many, many, many people in the chattering classes,
it's just assumed that the Bible condones slavery and therefore condones racism
and is not at all a source of wisdom.
And so he convinced me that I'm...
So over the next...
Here's the prayer request.
Over the next two Sundays, I'm going to talk about the wives and husbands text,
and I'm going to talk about the slavery text.
And so if you could just give me some extra prayers over these next two weeks
that I could do that in a good manner,
just bringing out what the text actually says.
Now, I don't know how many of you noticed when Shane read the text,
but there's a part of what Shane read this morning that can cause a lot of anxiety for Christians.
So what we're going to do is we're just going to read Colossians 3, 5 to 15 to 17,
and we're going to walk towards this text which causes many Christians anxiety.
And we'll read the text and I'll say why it causes anxiety,
and then we'll sort of walk towards that.
We'll try to figure out what's going on in the text.
And here's what the text says again.
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,
to which indeed you are called in one body, and be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,
teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom,
singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
And whatever you do, in word or deed,
do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him.
So what's the part there?
Well, there's several things which are a bit problematic.
I mean, just if you were, I think, to say to many of your non-Christian friends
that Christians want Christ to rule in their heart,
they'd think that's very weird.
Like who on earth wants some dead guy to rule in their hearts?
Like that's just a bit kooky.
We'll get to that in a moment.
But here's the thing.
I don't know.
There's enough people here and enough people watching this online
that you're probably a wide range of emotions.
I would be shocked if there isn't a single person here struggling with anxiety.
I would be shocked if there isn't a single person here struggling with depression.
I would be shocked if there isn't a person here struggling with loneliness or sadness.
There's almost definitely people here who are struggling with these types of issues
and other issues similar to that.
And so here we have a text that says in verse 15,
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,
to which indeed you were called in one body and be thankful.
And I know that for many years as a Christian,
I would read texts like this or have texts like this read,
and it would actually make me feel worse.
Why?
Because I didn't have that peace in my heart.
I was struggling with anxiety.
In fact, I was lucky to struggle with it.
Anxiety was winning.
Worry was winning.
Sadness was winning.
Loneliness was winning.
Depression was winning.
And yet here we have this text,
and it makes it sound as if like real Christians are letting Christ rule in their hearts,
and they don't feel those types of things.
They're not anxious.
They're not sad.
They're not depressed.
They're not lonely.
They're not filled with worry.
And it would be even harder because I would be sitting in a congregation like this
or some other gathering,
and inwardly I'm struggling with this,
and all around, all the other people,
they have their good Christian game faces on,
and I would feel as if I was the only one
that there was some secret to the Christian life that I had misplaced
or hadn't got it,
because everybody else seemed as if that was what their life was like,
at least that particular moment in the service,
and here I was not experiencing these things at all.
And so, ironically or paradoxically,
the text that should be calling me to peace
was actually making me feel more worried,
more depressed, more alone, more sad,
because somehow or another I had missed
whatever it was that everybody else seemed to have.
And so, in a sense, the devil used this text,
which would be a help to me,
to actually make it harder.
Why is it that this text is implying
that Christians should feel and be a certain type of way,
and I was not experiencing that right this instant?
Is there something wrong with me?
And often, if you're at all,
often what happens is that two types of things happen.
I mean, one is that you can just feel worse,
but often what happens over time
is that Christians can become deeply cynical.
And by cynical, I mean there's these expectations
of the text, which are way up here,
and your experience seems to be way down here.
And so what ends up tending to happen
is you become cynical about the height.
And you know you don't go out
and try to diss it or anything like that,
but you just sort of come to the acceptance
that this is what the real Christian life is like.
And maybe roll your eyes then
when you listen to somebody in the radio
or read a book,
and they talk about these types of things,
and you've become cynical.
You've come to think that you've seen
through the appearances to reality,
and the reality is that the Christian life
is not like this,
but the Christian life is down here on a good day,
and often even lower.
And so what's going on in this really odd text then?
For those of you who've never struggled
with depression, sadness, loneliness, worry, or anxiety,
take this as an anthropological moment
to understand the rest of humanity.
But for those of us who have struggled
with these things and lost,
what actually is going on in the text?
So first of all, this text,
those of you who've been charting with us
over the last few weeks,
you'll know that this is part of a...
One way to understand it is that from...
Andrew, if you could put the chart up,
that would be very helpful.
Some of you will be familiar with this
if you've been here over the last couple of weeks,
and you'll notice that what I've been suggesting
is that in the book of Colossians,
beginning at verse 16 of chapter 2,
right down to chapter 3, verse 17,
Paul is actually presenting, in a sense,
not six steps to godliness,
but in a sense, if you...
It's as if there's a...
You know, if you shine a light into a diamond,
you see a range of, you know, colors
and everything that come out of it,
and it's as if, if you're sort of to reverse engineer that,
there's these six aspects to how it is that God grows you.
And so it's not like a step-to-step to success,
but it's just trying to bring before you, in a sense...
Like if you were to try to break down
what it was involved in running or walking,
those of you who, if you know occupational therapists
or physiotherapists,
they break down simple motions
into the different aspects
to do something which is just one motion.
In some ways, what Paul is doing here is describing...
And this is one way to put it together in the Bible.
There's other ways which are fit with it.
The six aspects of how it is that God grows you.
And so you might remember...
And so what we're looking at in verses 15 and 17
is the last two aspects of these six aspects.
We're looking at the one
where you let Christ rule in your heart
and do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so it begins, the chart begins,
some of you will remember,
where Paul says there's this fundamental choice
that you have to make.
Are you going to grow yourself
or is God going to grow you?
And for a Christian, you're made right with God,
not because of you being able to do it,
but because God does everything that needs to be done
in the person of his Son
and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
He does everything that has to be done
to make you right with him.
But a lot of us, we believe that,
but then we go on and act as if
becoming more like Christ is mainly up to us.
And so Paul has this section
and the end of it is,
who's going to grow you?
Will you grow you?
Or will I grow me?
Or will I let the Lord grow me?
And he hopes that you come to understand
that you have to make the choice
that God will grow me.
And I share, in fact,
if you can put up that picture,
I shared that, in fact, what happens is
we have this, you know,
human beings apart from Christ
are like a cut rose,
cut off from the ground,
cut off from the source of life.
And when we put our faith and trust in Christ,
in a sense, we are reconnected
to the source of life.
But it's more than that.
We're reconnected to the source of eternal life.
So all of our self-help projects
are really cut rose projects.
But God doesn't want to make us
into a cut rose.
He wants to make us into a giant sequoia.
And some people said
they didn't know what a giant sequoia is.
So I asked Andrew to find a picture.
Giant sequoias are the biggest trees
on the planet.
That's to give you just a tiny little bit
of a sense about how big
a giant sequoia is.
So we, in a sense,
one of the wonderful things
about being a Christian
is God, in a sense,
is saying give up your small ambitions.
Give up your ambitions
to be a better cut rose.
Like, die to those.
Don't you realize
that I want to connect you
through Jesus
to the eternal life of the Trinity,
the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit.
That's my plan.
And I want you to die
to your cut rose projects
because no cut rose
can connect itself back to life.
And beyond that,
you connect yourself to me
in eternal life.
I have a big surprise for you.
I'm not making you into a rose
that's connected to the ground.
I'm turning you into a giant sequoia.
And only God can do that.
And so, if you go,
yeah, there's the chart.
If you realize that's the first step,
that in a sense we have,
not the step,
but it's one aspect.
Only the Lord can grow me
into something that will be fit
for eternal life
and eternal fellowship
with the Father,
the Son,
and the Holy Spirit.
Only God can make me
so that when I see Jesus,
I will be like him.
And then, well,
what's another aspect of it?
The second aspect of it
is you set your mind on Christ.
And that,
I talk about how
we set our mind
on all sorts of things.
The Bible says
there's lots of times
we should do it.
Maybe every day
or going into meetings
or certain types of situations
where I say,
God, help me to set my mind
on Christ
and all his risen,
given that he died for me
on the cross,
set my mind on Christ
and all his risen,
sovereign,
Trinitarian glory.
And then,
another aspect of that
is I'm saying,
God,
you have to grow me.
I put myself in a posture
for you to grow me.
I'm going to set my mind
on Christ.
And I come to realize
I have to put things off.
And they use the illustration
of clothing.
That I go into situations
and I'm motivated by rivalry.
I'm motivated by a desire to boast.
I'm motivated to show
that I'm always right.
I'm motivated,
you know,
maybe by lust
or by greed
or by desire for power.
And I have to put those things off.
That's the clothing analogy.
And then,
the Bible is so wise
because it's not just putting off.
I think as I shared with it
when I was talking about it,
one way of defining somebody
who only breathes out
but never breathes in,
it's called death,
your final breath.
So the Bible doesn't just call you
to breathe out the stuff.
You have to breathe in.
And so,
you know,
God,
only you can grow me.
Help me to set my mind
on Christ
and all of his risen,
sovereign,
Trinitarian glory.
Father,
I realize that I have this rivalry
or this boasting
or this pride.
Help me to put it off.
I take it off.
Help me to take it off
and put on,
and you put on humility,
on love,
the different Christian virtues.
And now there's these two other steps
and it's very important
because the Christian life now is,
the Christian life,
you are in Christ
when you put your faith
and trust in Jesus.
You are in him
and he is in you.
So you face life
not by yourself,
but in him and with him.
And that's now
where these two verses come.
And so,
just again,
what do they say?
It says in verse 15,
and let.
That's give permission.
Invite and give permission.
That's what let means.
Like,
in a sense,
to say to Christ,
Lord,
please speak and rule
in all of my heart.
No area is out of bounds to you.
I hold nothing back.
Make your home in me
so I may live a grateful life
for your glory.
It's inviting
and giving him permission
to come in.
Verse 15,
and let the peace of Christ
rule in your hearts
to which indeed
you were called in one body
and be thankful.
Let the word of Christ
dwell in you richly,
teaching and admonishing
one another
in all wisdom,
singing psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs
with thankfulness
in your heart to God.
That's the letting.
And then the final thing,
and whatever you do
in word or deed,
do everything in the name
of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father
through him.
But,
once again,
there's some of us here
who struggle,
right now today,
are struggling with sadness.
We're struggling with grief.
We're struggling with anxiety.
We're struggling with worry.
We're struggling with these things.
And we read this text
about let Christ rule in your heart
with his peace.
And we're not feeling that.
And maybe even right now,
you thought,
that's a brilliant prayer
that you just prayed,
George.
I'm going to pray this right now.
And dang it,
after you pray the prayer,
you still feel anxious,
you still feel lonely,
you still feel sad,
you still feel grief.
So what on earth is going on?
So here's the problem
that we Christians have.
We Christians,
we just think of peace,
this type of peace,
in one way.
In fact,
we just think that
there's really no other way,
ultimately,
to think about it
other than as a type of,
a set of pleasant emotions.
And that's what we understand by it.
Like in our culture,
we talk about negative emotions,
negative emotions,
and positive emotions.
It's just,
I hear Christians use that language
all of the time.
And,
and,
uh,
pleasant,
uh,
positive emotions
are ones that we feel pleasure
in having.
And negative emotions
are ones that we don't feel
any pleasure in having.
And we just assume
that when we see the word peace,
that we're asking God
to give us this set
of positive emotions
which we identify with peace.
And we just so completely
and utterly believe that,
it's hard for us to imagine
that the Bible,
like in a sense,
if Paul was,
he could go back in time
and tell Paul,
this is your problem
with what he just wrote,
he would look at you and said,
huh?
Like,
haven't you ever heard?
And he would ask you,
because obviously they knew
that there were feelings
and emotions,
I mean,
it wasn't as if
that was just invented
by North Americans
70 years ago.
People had emotions back then.
But he would understand,
no, no,
the text isn't talking about
God giving you emotions,
it's talking about
something objective,
to which we would then
go to him,
huh?
Like,
how does that even make
any type of sense?
Do you mean objective?
Do you mean it's permanent?
No.
So here's the analogy,
and here's,
I think,
an analogy that would help
you to understand it.
Imagine that you're off
in the bush
or something like that.
Compassion gets you
to go on some remote
little compassion project
a week down the Amazon
or something like that,
and you break your leg.
And while you break your leg,
they can't really fix it,
or they sort of fix it,
but they do a really crappy job.
You and your buddies
do a really crappy job.
And it hurts the whole time,
and in fact,
it even starts to set,
but it's not setting correctly.
However,
it's not that bad
because one of the people
on the tour
have a lot of drugs,
and they basically
just give you enough drugs
all the time
that rather than feeling
the broken leg,
you actually feel pretty good.
You have to hop everywhere,
but you actually feel pretty good.
And so,
that's the difference
between subjective
and objective.
You see,
what we tend to think of
is it's something
like a feeling.
In other words,
what we're really thinking
when we read this text,
we want God
to give us a drug
that will make us feel
positive emotions.
But God said,
no,
I'm going to fix
the broken leg.
Like,
I'm going to bring you health.
That means,
I'm going to break,
re-break your leg
because it didn't help,
it didn't set,
right.
Yes,
you heard me right,
George.
I'm going to re-break
that part.
I mean,
that's what you want
the doctor to do.
I don't know how many
of you have watched,
one of my favorite movies
is 13 Hours.
I'm a sucker
for real life
war heroism movies.
It's like,
I'm a sucker for it.
And it's based,
13 Hours is a movie
based on
2012
Benghazi
in Libya
when the US
ambassador to Libya
was killed
and the compound
was overrun
and there was a big battle
around another compound
and it was
a story about
these six
special forces
contractors
who basically
defend this reel
for 13 hours.
Anyway,
that's the movie.
It's not a spoiler,
but one of the people
in the movie
gets hit by a mortar
and it wrecks up
his leg.
Other things happen
to the rest of them.
And one of the things
about the movie
is at the end,
if you watch the movie
right to the end,
they show you
the picture of the person,
what the person
really looked like.
And I can't remember,
but I think to get
his leg fixed,
it took 13 surgeries.
It was something like that,
13 surgeries
to get his leg fixed.
And so you see,
that's what's going on.
That's what the piece is.
That's what you're
asking God to do.
You're asking Christ
to come in
and rule in your heart
and what you're asking
him to do
is to do those surgeries,
those breaking
and re-breaking
and the surgeries
and the splints
and all of the discomfort
to be healed.
That's what he will do
objectively.
You see,
if we had a friend,
like if that person
was our friend,
the person who needed
13 surgeries,
and he said,
you know what?
They can just give me
an endless supply of drugs
that makes me feel good
and I'll just hop
for the rest of my life
on one leg.
You'd say to him,
you're nuts.
Like who on earth,
like what rational person
would ever choose that?
Right?
That's how we would do it.
So in the text,
when it's saying,
when you're saying Christ,
because Christ is the
Prince of Peace,
right?
What is Christ?
Christ is the one
who by his sinless life,
the life that you could
never live on your own,
has lived the life
that you need to live
but you were never
able to live.
And his death
upon the cross
is a dying
for the,
all of the consequences,
all the just accusations
and consequences
against you
which are properly yours
that,
you know,
should properly fall on you,
properly fall on you,
they fall on him.
And so he both,
in a sense,
clothes us
with his righteous life
and he deals
with the consequences
of our sin
and so when we put
our faith and trust
in him,
he enters into us
and we enter into him
and he makes us
right with God.
He reconnects us
to the Father,
the Son,
and the Holy Spirit,
the life of the Trinity.
He reconnects us
objectively.
The lowliest person,
the worst person
who puts their faith
in Christ,
that's what objectively
has happened to them.
Not God weighing your merit,
saying you're a good boy,
pretending you're a good boy.
No.
He says,
you're a really terrible person.
I know you're a really
terrible person.
In fact,
God says,
you're vastly worse
than you even imagined.
You're vastly worse
than your enemies
who think you're bad.
You're actually worse
than that.
But I love you.
And Jesus came
to die upon the cross,
taking all of the worst
that you have done
and dealing with that
in terms of the consequences
that were required
by justice
and by love
and by goodness.
And the life
that you could never,
ever possibly live,
that is what will clothe you.
And when you put your faith
and trust in my son,
who's risen from the dead,
he makes you right
with God
and reconnects you to him.
And so he
is the prince of peace.
And when we ask him
to come and rule
in our hearts
and our minds,
he's saying,
well, George,
I could give you
an overwhelming emotion
that would just cover up
all those things within you
which are broken.
I could do that.
But wouldn't you rather
be fit for heaven?
Wouldn't you rather
have those times
when I break you?
Break you out of love?
You ask me to rule,
I will rule.
I will come to break
and to heal,
to reconnect.
And not only that, George,
at the end of it all,
you won't just be a rose
connected to the plant.
You will see me
face to face
and I will smile
and say,
I am so glad
you are here.
And then you will see Jesus
and your great,
complete and utter shock,
you will be like him.
And I have been working
on that
and that's my plan.
That's what I will work on
in you and with you.
That's what you're asking
Christ to do.
You are asking Christ.
When you say,
Jesus,
I please speak
and rule in all my heart.
No area is out of bounds
to you.
I hold nothing back.
Make your home in me
so I may live a grateful life
for your glory.
You put yourself
in that posture.
I can't grow me.
I can't fix me.
But I know that when I,
as I read your word,
because that's what
the word of Christ is.
The word of Christ
is in a sense,
it's the good news
of the gospel.
The good news
of the gospel
in the context
of what all
of the Bible teaches.
And it's what
all of the Bible teaches
in the context
of the gospel.
That's what the word
of Christ is.
It's not just the Bible.
It's the Bible understood
in light of the gospel.
And it's not just the gospel.
It's the gospel understood
in light of all
of the Bible.
That as we read
the word
and we read the word
and we say,
Jesus,
I'm not just,
I know it's not just
a matter of reading words.
This is the means
of grace.
You have said
that you not only
are to rule in my heart
but you can't,
he can't rule
if he doesn't speak.
Can he?
And how can he speak
without ruling?
When our kids were young,
I would like to tell them,
this would be one
of those dad things,
they'd probably all
roll their eyes at me.
That's fine.
That's kids,
dads say things,
kids roll their eyes.
That's just,
it's part of the dance,
right?
And I'd say,
this is a democracy.
Every one of you kids
has one vote,
my vote's worth a billion,
your mom's vote worth a billion,
let's vote two billion to nine.
Okay?
I guess we're going to do this.
But it's a democracy.
I just happen to get
a billion votes.
It's the same type of thing.
If God's speaking
into your life,
it can't possibly be,
well,
my wife says this,
my daughter says this,
and God says this.
Well,
God,
it's two against one.
I guess I'm going to do
what my wife and daughter says.
No,
he can't speak
without ruling.
And he can't dwell
without ruling.
And so in the text,
look at it again.
And let the peace of Christ
rule in your hearts,
to which indeed you are called
in one body
and be thankful.
And let the word of Christ
dwell in you richly,
teaching and admonishing
one another
in all wisdom,
singing psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs
with thankfulness
in your hearts to God.
And some of you are saying,
well,
this is a bit of a confusing text
because it seems to be
talking just to you,
but then it seems to talk
as if it's talking
to all of us.
And here's one of the things
which is so important
in the Bible.
I know there's a whole pile
of Christians which say
you're not supposed to dance.
But this text
is introducing us
to the profound call
to the great dance.
And in that great dance,
it's this.
The Bible always speaks
to us personally.
It speaks to me
as George.
George,
you need to die
to your cut rose projects.
You need to realize
that only I,
this is in a sense
what God is saying,
George,
you need to realize
that only I can grow you.
You need to put yourself
in a humble posture
of obedience
so that I can grow you.
And set your mind
on Christ
and put off your sin
and put on virtues
and call out to me.
I'm so wishing
for you, George,
to call out to me
in today
and say,
Jesus,
speak in my heart,
rule in my heart.
There's,
you have all of my heart.
I have no conditions.
I hold nothing back.
In the heights of my heart,
the depths of my heart,
the widths of my heart,
the heights and depths
of my life,
in every emotion,
in every thought,
every penny
under my control,
all my time,
come and speak
and rule in my heart.
I know you will bring peace
because you are
the Prince of Peace.
And God wants us
to say that to him
in a humble posture
of obedience
and to say it over
and over and over again
because we live in time
and it's not as if
we just say it to him once,
just as if I only said
to my wife once,
I love you
and then you should just
believe me
for the rest of your life.
We would all know
that that is inadequate.
That's not how
human beings function.
It's no different with God.
Like, I don't say these things
hoping that if I say it
to him enough
that he'll finally
love me,
it comes out of the fact
that I said it to him once
for him to become
my Savior and Lord,
that I say it to him
time and time and time again.
It's because I need to.
I need to come to him
time and time again
because it's so easy
to allow rivalry
or boasting
or pride
or envy
or greed
or impatience
to start to rule
my life.
I need to keep,
remember,
oh yes,
okay,
set my mind on Christ,
put off this.
Father,
help me to put on love
and humility
and let come in
and rule
and speak.
And here's the great dance.
It's a personal word to me,
but it's a word to all of us
at the same time.
You see,
it's not just that I'm to have
my private times
reading the Bible
or to listening to
some beautiful music
that has spiritual words
and biblical words
and wisdom
that can speak to my heart,
but I need you
to tell me things
about the Bible.
I need you
and others to teach me.
I need you to sing.
I need you to sing
while I'm here.
And you need me
to do that to you too.
You need to hear me singing
and speaking the word.
You see,
it's this dance between,
if you go,
I think there's like 70
or 80 times in the Bible
the phrase one another,
in the New Testament,
the phrase one another comes.
There's all these
one another texts
and that's the wonderful dance.
We're constantly being reminded
of the one another,
but we're also constantly
being reminded of the one.
It's not just the one,
the one,
the one.
It's not just the other,
the other,
the other.
It's the one
and the one another.
There's this dance.
You see,
that's why we need
to gather and worship.
It's why we need
to be in small groups.
It's why we need
to have mentors
and spiritual friendships.
It's why we need
to have Christian families.
families.
It's why,
you know,
especially during this time
of lockdowns
when families
can't bring their kids
to Awana
or bring their kids
to Sunday school,
it's really important
for parents
to not just watch
Messiah Kids online,
but to maybe embrace
the discipline
of doing the New City Catechism
with your family
throughout the week
or the Heidelberg Catechism
or making sure
there's a time every day
when you just read
a Bible story
with your kids
or for moms and dads,
but especially,
it's often moms.
Most of us really learn
how to pray
from our moms.
I'm not saying this
so that dads
can get let off the hook,
but it's often the moms
that are really the best
at teaching their kids
how to pray
and to pray for your kids
and to say grace,
like the means of grace
that you need
to take on in your home
because we need
Christian families.
We need small groups.
We need spiritual friendships.
We need that.
We need the one another.
We need to have it
that there's a wide group.
And by the way,
in case I suggested this
to Amy
because she's singing today
a psalm,
a hymn,
and a spiritual song,
by the way.
We sang a hymn
at the offertory.
We're going to sing a psalm
and then we'll sing
a spiritual song.
That's just a bit of a,
I thought,
whoa, you know,
it can be organized
occasionally here
at Church of the Messiah.
So,
just one final thing
about this text.
So,
this is the let,
right?
The let is just,
is saying,
having this posture
where you say to God,
you know,
I could go on
and on and on
and on about this
because it helps you
to understand
why so many things
that the world,
our culture
at a certain particular time
says are fine
or just completely abhorrent.
You know,
if you went back
in time to 1860,
a slave owner
couldn't say,
Jesus rule in my heart
except when it comes
to slavery.
That would be,
a slum landlord
couldn't say,
can't say,
come and rule in my heart
except when it comes
to how I deal
with my tenants.
If,
if,
if you were watching this
and you're,
and you have a sweatshop,
you can't say,
Lord,
come and rule in my heart
except when it comes
to how I deal
with my employees.
You can't say,
Lord,
come and rule in my heart
except when it touches
on my sexuality.
You can't say,
Lord,
come and rule in my heart
except when it comes
to how I handle money
and whether I'm going
to be generous.
And the call is,
okay,
you can come,
Lord,
and be the Prince of Peace
in my guest room
and in the workshop,
but everywhere else
is out of bounds.
No.
Lord Jesus Christ,
Prince of Peace,
I invite and give you
permission to come
into all of my heart.
I hold nothing back,
nothing at all.
Please rule in it
and speak into it.
And one just final thing,
the final text,
the do,
verse 17,
and whatever you do
in word or deed,
do everything in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ,
Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God
the Father through him.
It's our memory verse
for the week.
All of these three verses
could have been
the memory verses,
by the way.
They're good verses
to memorize.
And whatever you do
in word or deed,
do everything in the name
of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God
the Father through him.
And obviously,
because it's part of this,
in a sense,
this set, right?
It doesn't mean,
oh, I can lie
in the name of Jesus.
I can cheat
in the name of Jesus.
I can steal.
No, no,
those are things
that you're putting off,
right?
And it's not just saying
that you should be thankful
for the terrible thing
that happens to you.
It's not calling
to be thankful
for the fact
that the doctor
just said
you have stage 3 cancer
or the doctor
just tells you
you have a serious
heart condition
or you've just heard
that you've had
a terrible financial setback.
It's not saying
be thankful for these.
What it's saying
is that
you don't walk
the Christian life
by yourself.
I mean,
not only do you have
the one another,
more importantly,
you do it with Jesus.
And you have to do
whatever you have to do
to deal with that
stage 3 cancer,
whatever you have to do
to do with the heart problems,
whatever you have to deal with
to do with the financial setback
or the relational setback
or the job setback
that you've just had.
You have to deal with it.
But you do it
in the name of Jesus
giving thanks to the God,
the Father.
You're doing it,
giving thanks.
One of the things
you're primarily giving thanks to
is this.
The end of the story
changes the whole story.
The end of the story
changes the whole story.
And remember,
at the beginning of this,
what do you do?
You set your mind
on Christ
in light of the cross.
You set your mind
on Christ
in all his risen,
sovereign,
Trinitarian glory.
Because at the end
of the story for you,
if you are in Christ,
whether the end
of the story is
because Jesus returns
before you die,
if you're one of the lucky ones
who will be here
when he returns,
or if it isn't
in the moment of death
when you see God
face to face,
the end of the story
for you is that
God the Father
gives you the biggest smile
you have ever seen
in your entire life.
And says,
I am so glad
you are finally here.
I am so glad
you can see me
with no veil,
nothing hidden.
And the end of the story
is that not only
does the Father
give you the biggest smile
that you have ever seen,
radiating warmth
is that you then
see Jesus.
And the next thing
you know,
you look down
at yourself
and you don't even
recognize yourself
because you have
become like him.
And that is the end
of your story.
And so you can walk
towards difficulties
and you can walk
towards troubles.
And you can walk
towards successes
and you can walk
towards joys
and you can walk
towards growth
and all of those things,
but you can do everything
in the name of Jesus,
giving thanks to God
the Father,
grateful for grace.
Here's this final thing
I want to share with you.
It's a real,
it just,
I wasn't going to talk
about it.
It was in my notes,
but as I was driving here,
I just really felt
that I needed to add it,
even if it adds
an extra minute or two
to the sermon.
To understand verse 17
is to completely
and utterly
begin to lose
the pagan sense
of God's will
that captivates
the church.
You see,
many Christians
have a completely
pagan notion
of God's will
that if it comes down
to me trying to discern,
should I go to this school?
Should I go to Ottawa U
or should I go to Carleton?
Should I go to Ottawa U
or go to Queens?
Or should I get this house
or should I go to that house?
And a lot of times
we Christians
have this understanding
that if you miss God's will,
your life is screwed.
You know that the rest
of your life
is just in turmoil
because you should have
gone to Ottawa U,
not Carleton,
or whatever it is.
You should have taken job A,
not job B.
You know,
you should have done whatever.
And that's a pagan notion.
Do you see that anywhere
here in verse 17?
It doesn't say,
and whenever you finally
figure out what God's will is,
then all these good things
will happen,
but if not,
it sucks to be you
because your life
is screwed up.
No,
that's not what it says.
What does it say?
Obviously,
it's not saying
choose sin and God will...
No,
it's saying,
you know what?
Think through the best thing
about whether you should
go to this university
or that,
or which house you should buy,
or which job you should take,
or when you retire,
or, you know,
whether to plant roses,
or what...
Like,
think the best thing you can.
Like,
pray about it and think about it.
God doesn't want to...
Do your life with Jesus,
but you know what?
Whatever you do,
whether you go to Ottawa
or you're at Carleton,
or you work for this job
or that,
or you...
Whatever you do,
do it in the name of Jesus
with thanksgiving,
and you know what?
God is going to bless you.
He's going to bless you.
He's going to make you into...
He's only making you
into a giant sequoia.
It's an invitation
to living
in a way better way.
Andrew,
could you put up
the final point,
please?
I'd like you all to stand
because I bring the sermon
to an end.
And the final point
is a bit of a prayer,
and it's...
I put it down as,
Lord, speak and rule
in all my heart.
No area is out of bounds
to you.
I hold nothing back.
Make your home in me
so I may live
a grateful life
for your glory.
That's trying to summarize
the whole teaching
of this text.
And it's the culmination
of the text.
And one of the things
which I invite you...
You know,
you can use your own words.
I write this down
because maybe it would be
something that'd help you.
But, you know,
for those of you
who haven't given
your life to Christ,
this can also be
a conversion prayer for you.
Like, it's both,
in a sense,
very, very real sense.
The way,
if you haven't...
If you've not always
been a Christian,
and this could be...
If you speak to Jesus,
he hears it,
and he'll do this.
He will make his home in you.
Like, he will do it.
And for those of us
who are Christians,
it's just part of living out
verses 15, 16, and 17.
It's a prayer
for every day of our life,
for the rest of our life.
And for those who haven't
given their lives to Christ,
it's the beginning of new life.
So, there's no...
You don't have to say it
out loud with me,
but if the Lord
puts it on your heart,
if you would join with me
in praying this prayer.
Lord,
please speak and rule
in all my heart.
No area is out of bounds
to you.
I hold nothing back.
Make your home in me
so I may live
a grateful life
for your glory.
We should add in Jesus' name.
Amen.
So, let's just pray.
Father,
we ask that you would
bring these words home.
We thank you, Father,
that you don't just want
to give us drugs
that covers over a leg
that...
or things in our lives
that would require
13 surgeries.
Father,
you don't just give us drugs,
leaving us broken
and rotting,
but that you bring life.
You want to reorder
and heal us
so that we are healthy
and whole
and fit for heaven.
Father,
we thank you
that you are vast...
you have a vastly wiser
and better plan for us
than what our culture
suggests we need.
And we ask, Father,
that you help us
to fix our minds
and keep our minds in Christ.
Help us to be faithful
in reading your word
and sharing your word
and singing over each other
and speaking into
each other's lives
and speaking and receiving that.
Father,
help us to be such individuals
and such a church
all for your glory.
We ask not only
for those at 8,
those at 10,
and those who are part
of our online congregation,
Father,
we ask for this wonderful act
of reformation
and revival in our lives
all for your glory.
And we ask this
in the name of Jesus
and all God's people said,
Amen.