Father, you know that the fragility of each of us, the different ways that we're very fragile,
and you know the weaknesses of each of us, and you know our sins and our failings,
you know our strengths and our glories, you know the plan that you have for each one of us as well.
Father, we give you thanks and praise that you know each and every one of us completely, fully, perfectly.
And yet you love us, and yet you sent your Son to die for us.
And we thank you, Father, that when we put our faith and trust in Jesus,
that he comes and dwells each person who puts their faith in him.
So, Father, we ask that you grow within us a deep hope in Christ, the hope of glory.
And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Please be seated.
It's Thanksgiving weekend.
That's why we have these roses here at the front.
There's a lot of fear in the world right now.
There's a lot of tension.
Not everybody's filled with hysteria or filled with fear, but there's a lot of fear around.
And I regularly come into contact with people, and it just seems to emanate from them, their fear.
And I don't want to get into a bit of a discussion about the lockdown and how people are responding to it.
People ask me how I'm doing.
I tell them I'm trying to live free and without fear.
That's what I tell them.
And it actually often surprises them when I say that's my goal.
I want to live without fear, and I want to live a free life, free and without fear.
In fact, when I was just between the services, I mentioned that to a person.
They looked at me quite surprised, and you could tell that they were a person very fearful.
But then again, they're also working in a coffee shop, and they're probably fearful for their jobs as well.
But even before, we had the different types of lockdowns.
And we can see this in the States more than we can in Canada because of the election year
and because of other issues connected to the real problem of racism
is that there was a lot of fear in our country, and there's a lot of fear down south about a whole range of issues.
And university campuses actually are often a place with lots of fear,
where it's there, it's from places like that that we're most likely to see concerns about trigger warning,
being triggered, or microaggression, or, yeah, triggering safe places, microaggression.
Now, I bring these things up not to mock them at all, but just to think about them for a bit
and to consider how a lot of people, not everybody, but how more and more people in our society often think.
And I'm going to use two inspirational quotes.
The tech guy and I were having a bit of a question about this beforehand.
There's sort of two versions of the same quote.
And if you could put the first one up, that would be very helpful.
And we are balloons filled with feelings in a world full of pins.
Many of them, this is actually sort of a not very inspirational-looking poster.
But if you go and Google this, you can get T-shirts, cups, and posters.
And a lot of the posters are clearly of the inspirational mode, the soft colors,
you know, the young person, the balloon floating up into the air.
And it's obviously intended to be a bit of an inspirational idea.
We are balloons filled with feelings in a world full of pins.
And that's sort of a graphic way to explain or to get at.
Maybe not in that particular image.
But human beings are weak and fragile.
And there's lots of danger out there in the world.
And we have to do what we can to stop the danger because I'm weak and fragile.
And challenges to me are really threats to me.
And even the smallest little challenge is actually a threat to me.
And if you threaten me, I could burst and be irreparably damaged.
In fact, basically almost completely and utterly come to an end.
And what is very central to me are my feelings and my emotions.
That's what's really very, very central to me.
In fact, you know, even to say this, I think it's maybe safe on this, although I don't, I never know who watches this online.
And occasionally we get comments about things online at the online service to our online congregation.
But in fact, actually much of the rhetoric around Black Lives Matter.
Now, even when I say something like that, many people say, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, old white guy making comments about that.
Well, actually, isn't that reaction a little bit like this balloon that was just up there a moment?
The world, we are balloons filled with feelings in a world filled with pins.
And so if I make any type of comment about it, then that's actually a bit of a triggering type of thing.
And maybe I'm a pin that's going to burst it.
But in fact, actually in much of the rhetoric that comes out of critical theory,
but come into the mainstream of society, mainstream of university, mainstream of media,
is in fact, you can't, a person's feelings about how they're being treated,
trump any type of research or objective things.
Because what really matters about us is our feelings.
And if I'm feeling oppressed in any type of way, if I'm feeling threatened,
then that's not on me, that's on you.
Because there should be nothing that ever makes me feel threatened or makes me feel challenged.
Because fundamentally, why?
I am a balloon.
We are a balloon filled with feelings in a world full of pins.
And so whether it's the state or some other sort of university administrators,
those pins have to be dealt with because I'm fundamentally fragile.
But this is actually even better seen in the second version of the same quote.
So I'm not sure which version came first, by the way,
and it seems as if it's an anonymous type of quote.
It just developed somewhere in the ether.
Maybe somebody online or one of you folks can tell me afterwards which is first.
But notice this.
There's just two words difference.
But the two words are very, very significant because it goes to identity.
Right?
We are just balloons filled with feelings on a world full of pins.
We are just a world, a balloon filled with feelings on a world filled with pins.
This is really, in many ways, I mean, for many people, once again,
these are inspirational ideas that we are balloons filled with feelings in a world full of pins.
And note one of the things about it which is very, a bit worrisome
is that it actually, at the very, very heart of it, has we, they language.
There's we, the good people, the precious people.
We, the balloons, filled with feelings.
And then there's they, pins, the world of pins.
But this permeates the consciousness of much in media and much in the university
and much in our culture.
Sort of the complete opposite end of all those technocratic ideas of self-improvement
and self-empowerment and the secret.
But it's something which is growing and growing in our society
and I think helps to understand a lot of the fear which is going on in our world right now.
Now, once again, I'm not expressing any of these things to mock triggering
and to mock safe places.
I'm not doing that at all.
It's something we need to think and understand.
And in fact, many people would push back and say,
George, Christians have their own version of this, don't they?
In fact, I think I heard Shane say when he was reading the scripture text
that this was the text that you're going to preach on.
And doesn't that whole text encourage Christians to understand themselves in the same way?
Wasn't it seeming to be very, very afraid of studying philosophy
or having arguments or conversations with people
because if you do, you're going to get captured?
Like, isn't that sort of, like, aren't what you're describing
like almost something which the Bible teaches?
Well, people who comment like that have a lot of validity
because, in fact, it's been a very consistent Christian problem.
I'm ancient of days.
I heard Rex Murphy say that he was wrapping the pharaohs in his linen cloths
before he became a mummy.
And I sort of feel almost like I'm getting that old myself.
But in the church that I grew up in,
and then when I became a Christian that I attended,
there was very much a deep fear about knowledge and about the world.
In fact, I had people take me aside and say that I shouldn't go to Carleton
to study philosophy.
I should go to Prairie Bible College
because if I went to Carleton to study sociology and philosophy
and things, psychology and things like that,
I would end up losing my faith.
And there is, in fact, a very large Christian evangelical
or very Catholic.
There's different types of subcultures
where you just read the right type of literature,
you read the right type of blogs,
you watch the right type of movies
because there are, in fact, many Christians
who feel that we are Christians.
We are balloons filled with Christ
in a world full of pins.
And so we have to be very, very careful.
Well, just before we look at this,
I just want to, you know, when I was playing around with this,
you always have to be careful about rabbit trails.
But if you could put the first point up,
that would be very handy.
There's actually like a type of biblical image
which is sort of similar to this image
of we are balloons filled with feelings
or we are just balloons filled with feelings
on a world filled with pins.
And it's actually a biblical idea
which is sort of similar but profoundly different.
And different, in fact, if you compare the two things,
I don't know how you'd make a poster out of this,
an inspirational poster.
But this is actually a very, very, very different way
to understand things
even though it has some similarities to the balloon imagery.
And what I've done is I've put together
Genesis chapter 1 with basically
a big part of the book of Ecclesiastes.
And in the book of Ecclesiastes,
which begins vanity of vanities in most translations,
but vanity of vanities is a very poor translation,
it's better to understand the Hebrew word
which is all the way through the whole book,
like constantly, as the word vapor.
Something which is very, very transient.
In fact, for Canadians,
the best image of what the Hebrew word
is trying to communicate
is when it gets very cold out in the winter
in January or February,
and when you breathe, what do you see?
You see your breath.
You see vapor.
And that's actually the type of image
which the book of Ecclesiastes
is trying to communicate
about the fact that human beings
and all reality is temporary.
It changes.
It's fragile.
It's like the breath that you breathe
on a very cold winter's day,
and you can see the breath,
but you don't see it very long
because it passes very quickly.
And it's a message all the way
through the book of Ecclesiastes.
But at the same time,
I think it's in chapter 3,
it has this profound image
of how God has put eternity
into the human heart.
And he puts eternity into the human heart
in its context.
It's talking a little bit
about our longings and our yearnings,
that even though we are vapor,
there's a longing and yearning
for eternity
and a knowledge
that there is something
that is eternal
that isn't just something
which is transient.
And so if you put the Old Testament idea
of the image of God,
you get something like this.
You are like a vapor,
yet you bear the image
of the triune God,
and he has put eternity
into your heart.
Similar to the balloon image,
but very different.
But let's look at this whole question.
If you turn in your Bibles
to Colossians chapter 2,
verse 9,
verse 8 and following,
let's look at this text
and see if in fact
this text could be used
to say that Christians
are like balloons
and world filled with pins.
And in other words,
there's danger all around us
and that challenges to us
or hard times to us
will just fundamentally
we're weak
and we're only going to get weak
and challenges
will just make us weak
and so we need to live
very, very protected
and closeted lives.
Well, let's look at the text again
and see what it says.
And at first,
it says this,
see to it that no one
takes you captive
by philosophy
and empty deceit
according to human tradition,
according to the elemental spirits
of the world
and not according to Christ.
I'll read that again.
And in fact,
actually,
if this was all you knew
of this whole topic
in the Bible,
then you'd have to
sort of maybe think
that it's talking
about this type
of a balloon imagery
of us being very,
very fragile.
See to it that no one
takes you captive.
It's clearly a warning,
by the way.
It's a warning,
a threat.
That's very clear
in the original language
as well.
It's a warning
that there's a threat,
there's a danger.
And it puts it like this,
see to it that no one
takes you captive
and here the idea
is that you'll become a slave.
Whether it's ships
in battle
taking another ship,
defeating another ship
and making the crew captive
or whether it's an army
that defeats another army
and so the soldiers
are caught
and are captive
and when you're caught
as captives
at the time
that Paul was writing,
then you're sold
into slavery.
And so there's just
clearly a type
of a threat
that there's a way
of encountering people,
there's ways
of encountering arguments
that can lead
to you being kept,
being taken captive.
See to it that no one
takes you captive
by philosophy
and empty deceit.
Why?
Well, because you see
this philosophy
is empty,
it's deceptive
and it's according
to human tradition.
In other words,
it just comes out
of human beings
that are in rebellion
against God.
That's just what it emerges
out of.
And it is according
to the elemental spirits
of the world.
And that's a reference
to demons,
by the way,
fundamentally.
So, in other words,
there's things
which will deceive you,
they're empty,
there's philosophies,
and philosophy here
means any system
of knowledge.
It can refer
to a religion,
it can refer
to an ideology,
it's just any system
of knowledge.
It would be sort of
a more literal way
of translating
into our language
any system of knowledge,
any system of thinking,
any system of discourse
or conversation
or of religion
is ultimately
just something
that comes merely
out of human beings
in rebellion
against God
or from demons.
And you have to be careful
they don't make you slaves.
And so this,
in fact,
does sound very much
almost,
doesn't it,
as if the world
is filled with danger
and we have to be
very careful.
But,
but,
if this was the only verse,
that's, I think,
how we'd have to take it.
But it's not the only verse.
And the verse goes
in a very surprising direction
immediately after that
in verse 9.
And just before I start
reading verses 9 and 10,
I'm going to put
the big idea
behind verses,
one of the big ideas
behind verses 8 to 15,
and in fact,
the whole book of Colossians.
If you could put
the point up here,
I'll explain it in a moment.
It is this,
in Christ,
you are anti-fragile.
In Christ,
you are anti-fragile.
It's the big idea
of the text.
I'll explain what it means
in a moment.
But let's look at
verses 9 to 10.
So,
here we have this apparent danger,
but yet what happens
in verse 9?
It doesn't go on and on
and on and on
about the danger.
In fact,
it goes in a very,
very different tact
to help us
to understand the danger.
It goes like this
in verse 9.
For in him,
that's Christ,
in him,
the whole fullness
of deity dwells bodily,
and you have been filled
in him,
who is the head
of all rule
and authority.
It's a very,
very,
it's the,
these two verses
are the memory verse
for this week.
Those of you who look
at my blog,
I know there's two
or three of us,
and after the blog
comes the growing
in grace,
and I always suggest
a memory verse
to try to memorize
for the week.
And for this week,
our memory verse
is verses 9 and 10.
For in him,
the whole fullness
of deity dwells bodily,
and you have been filled
in him,
who is the head
of all rule
and authority.
And rule and authority
there are references
to demonic powers
in this particular case.
So notice this very,
very,
very powerful image
that when you put
your faith and trust
in Christ,
you go in him.
And yet,
in a sense,
when you go in him,
he fills you
with all of his fullness.
It's a little bit like,
it's almost as if,
in a sense,
the vapor.
Remember I said
that you bear
the image of God,
and your vapor
that bears the image
of God,
and God has put eternity,
the longing for eternity
into your heart.
It's as if when the vapor
enters eternity,
eternity fills the vapor.
When you put
the vapor
into eternity,
eternity fills
the vapor.
And if eternity
fills the vapor,
it's eternal.
So what does this mean?
So you see,
the very, very first thing
it's trying to communicate
to us is,
yes,
the world is dangerous,
and I'm going to return
to that at the end
if I don't yell at me
or something like that,
and I'll make sure
that I talk about it.
But yes,
there are dangers,
there are demons,
and there are,
in fact,
systems of thought
that are just human
tradition and rebellions
against God.
That's absolutely true.
To not think that
is to be foolish.
To not think that
is just literally
to be foolish.
There really are dangers.
However,
when you're thinking
about the dangers,
remember this.
Remember that when you
put yourself in Christ,
Christ filled you,
and now you have been
filled in him
who is the head
of all rule and authority,
and he is the fullness
of deity,
and he now
is filling you.
In Christ,
you are anti-fragile.
So what is this idea?
It's a very,
not very,
very well-known idea,
being anti-fragile.
It was developed
by a Lebanese thinker
about eight years ago,
and it was developed
by a Lebanese thinker
because he thought
that English
was missing a word
for an important idea,
and because English
was missing a word
for an important idea,
we kept being misled
in how we understood
and analyzed things
because it's easy
for human beings,
and he's writing this
in 2012,
to think that we're
fundamentally fragile,
that chaos or threats
are going to always
just make us weaker,
and so he uses
these two analogies
leading up to the third one.
Imagine for a moment now
that rather than this
being a Starbucks coffee cup,
which happens to have
water in it right now,
and I have a wine glass here
because when it comes time
for communion,
I don't want just
a little tiny bit of wine.
I want a wine glass
of wine during communion,
so I brought my own wine glass,
and it's up here,
and sometimes I get talking
like this,
and I go like this,
and I knock the wine glass
off of the table,
and it falls on the ground,
and what's going to happen?
It'll break.
Why?
Because wine glasses
are fragile.
So I do that one week,
and then the next week,
Lisa, realizing that I've
just broken a wine glass
and that given how I talk,
I'm going to break them
every week,
she brings me,
out of the goodness
of her heart,
a plastic wine glass
so that when I get excited
and I move my hands like this,
I knock the plastic wine glass
down to the ground,
and nothing happens
to plastic, right?
I just pick it up,
wipe it off,
and I can use it
time and time.
Every week,
I can knock that plastic
wine glass down on the ground,
and I'll just keep going
and going and going.
But human beings,
and much in reality,
is neither fragile or plastic.
There's a different category,
and that's where he developed
this term anti-fragile.
That there are,
I mean,
obviously,
things which are anti-fragile
can die,
but a characteristic
of being anti-fragile
is that,
in fact,
challenge
is necessary
for it,
and challenge
and threat
makes it stronger,
not weaker.
And he uses two examples
to try to communicate that.
The first is bones.
If I was to decide
over the next week
that I want to protect
my bones,
my skeletal structure,
and so all I'm going to do
is just sit on a couch.
Occasionally,
I'll have people lift me up
so I don't get bed sores,
but I'm just going to sit
on the couch
for a whole year.
At the end of the year,
my bones will be weaker,
not stronger,
because the fact of the matter is
is if you want to have
strong bones,
walk.
If you want to have
strong bones,
do other things
with your upper body,
because if you don't,
your bones will actually
get weaker.
Your bones are
anti-fragile.
I can fall off of something
and literally break my bones,
which obviously
isn't a good thing,
but my bones need
constant stress
to actually be healthy
and to be healthy
for a long time.
The other example
that he used
was an immune system,
believe it or not.
If I got all of a sudden
very, very unbelievably
terrified about COVID-19
and I call up Bill Gates
and say,
could you lend me
a billion dollars
to create an environment
where for the next
six months
or nine months
or a year
before a vaccine is found,
I'm going to be
in an environment
that has no germs,
no viruses,
it's completely,
utterly,
1,000% sterile.
And I was to live in there
and somehow
all of the food
that came in
was always protected
against that.
At the end of the year,
my immune system
would not be stronger,
it would be weaker.
because immune systems
actually need,
like right now,
for those of you
who are paranoid,
welcome to Church of the Messiah,
I will make you
more paranoid.
But the fact of the matter
is we're always
in contact with viruses,
we're always in contact
with germs,
we're always in contact
with all that type of stuff,
and it helps make us healthy.
Which is why sometimes
if you use too much
antibacterial things
in your soap,
it'll actually be worse for you
than using non-antibacterial.
You need to have experience
with bacteria
to be healthy and strong.
And so,
what the Bible is saying here
with this profound truth,
it's saying,
yes, there's dangers,
okay?
There are people,
there are movements
who will try to make you captive.
There are, in fact, demons.
There are, in fact,
teachings which are influenced
by demons to some degree.
And there's human tradition
that just merely comes out
of rebellion against God.
Yes, that's true.
But you are not
a balloon
filled with the Holy Spirit
in a world full with pins.
You are anti-fragile.
And, in fact,
if you just live in your ghetto,
it's only going to make you weaker.
I mean, one of the things
which is so profound
about this text,
which is missed
by people who interpret
in a fragile way
rather than an anti-fragile way,
is that Paul wrote this
while he was in jail.
Why was he in jail?
He was in jail
because he told people
about Jesus.
And when he told people
about Jesus,
they would have arguments
with him.
And quite literally,
they weren't able
to beat him
because he could respond.
So what did they do?
They threw him in jail.
It's the same thing
with the Pharisees
and the Sadducees.
They couldn't beat Jesus
in arguments.
So how did they respond?
We've got to kill him.
And so the message
of this text
is to say,
Christian,
you are anti-fragile
when you are in Christ.
That's who you are.
And if you're anti-fragile,
that means you need
to seek to do good
in your workplace.
And anytime you seek
to do good in your workplace,
there'll be people
who will push back at that.
You need to seek
to make sure
that in your workplace
there's justice.
And if you do that,
there will be people
who push back.
In your neighborhood
or in your community,
you need to speak
against racism
or any type of prejudice
or discrimination.
And if you do that,
there'll be people
who push back at you.
And you need to share Jesus.
You need to tell him
that in fact,
there is a God
that does exist.
And the God that does exist
isn't the God of Canadians.
The God that does exist
is the Father,
the Son,
and the Holy Spirit,
three persons,
one God.
And this sounds like
a bit of an odd idea,
but in fact,
it is in fact
the true nature of God.
And this is a wonderful truth.
And Jesus is the only way
to heaven.
And he is the one
who can fit you for heaven.
He is the one
who can make you anti-fragile.
He is the one
that you who are vapor,
made in the image,
bearing the image of God
and with eternity
in your heart,
that he is the means
by which you enter
into eternity.
And when you enter
into eternity,
you are filled with eternity.
You are no longer
just vapor.
And when you say that,
people will push back.
But that's good.
That's good.
Still do good.
Still be kind.
Still pursue justice.
Still share the gospel.
Brothers and sisters,
you are anti-fragile in Christ.
You are anti-fragile.
And by the way,
because what happens in Christ
is we are restored
to true humanity,
it means that the model
of human beings
fundamentally being anti-fragile,
which is so common
in our culture,
is wrong.
I mean,
people in our culture
being fundamentally fragile
is not true.
I mean,
obviously,
on one hand,
it's true,
people are fragile.
But this idea
that to be in a world
where you can never
have anybody question you
or challenge you
is a good world
is actually fundamentally wrong.
It's an anti-human idea
and will only lead to harm
in any school,
community,
neighborhood,
or country
where the idea grows.
Paul goes even deeper
into this
to try to argue
and try to bring home to you
how important this idea
is about Christians
being anti-fragile.
Look what comes right after
verse 10
in verse 11.
In him,
so he continues
to deepen the idea
and he's going to use
an Old Testament image,
what our Jewish friends
call the Tanakh
and Christians
call the Old Testament.
He uses an Old Testament image
and he uses a New Testament image
and he shows how both of them,
how they point to something,
these rituals and symbolism,
the symbolism of circumcision,
for Israel
and the ritual of baptism,
point to a reality
that only God can do.
And just by the way,
the Bible only talks
about male circumcision,
never female circumcision.
Female circumcision
would have been viewed,
it should be viewed
as abhorrent.
No woman should ever
be circumcised.
It's an abhorrent idea.
And whenever you see
circumcision in the Bible,
it's only referring
to male circumcision,
never female circumcision.
But listen to this.
Verse 11.
In him also,
you were circumcised
with a circumcision
made without hands
by putting off
the body of flesh
of the flesh
by the circumcision
of Christ.
It's a,
and having been buried
with him in baptism
in which you were also
raised with him
through faith
in the powerful working
of God
who raised him
from the dead.
They're very,
very dense sentences
and I don't want to spend
a whole lot of time with it,
but what it's saying is
that if you go through
and read the whole Old Testament,
you'll see that
to be a Jewish person,
you had,
the male had to be circumcised,
but it also said
that in fact circumcision
pointed to a spiritual reality
that God wanted people
to enter into.
It pointed to something
that only God could do
and circumcision was a,
in a sense,
by dealing with
the whole process of life,
there's a sense of a
cutting away
of mere human life
to be separate for God
and that's something
which Christ does
for us on the cross
and in the same way
in baptism,
there's this picture,
the wonderful picture
of a human being
being in a sense dying
but also being
immersed in the water
so they're immersed
in Christ,
they're immersed in death
but they're united
with Christ
because they're immersed
in water,
they're immersed in death
by being with Christ
and then they're raised
from the dead
and it's the same image
that when we put
our faith and trust
in Christ
that we are immersed
in eternity
and we're immersed
in his dying,
we're immersed
in his resurrection,
we're now immersed
in life
and this is only something
that God can do
and then he continues
to sort of double down
on this image
of what it is
that Christ does for us
in verses 13 and 14.
Look how it goes.
And you who are dead
in your trespasses
and the uncircumcision
of your flesh,
God made alive
together with him
having forgiven us
all our trespasses
by,
and the word here
is cancelling
but a better word,
a more literal word
would be expunging
and I think the reason
the translators
didn't use the word
expunge
is that not many people
know what that word means
but it means a complete,
it would be
to completely erase
everything,
it would be
to completely remove.
It would be as if
somebody
who's been very,
very bad
and very,
very naughty
wanted to run
for president
and they were
very worried
about all of the things
that they'd said
in social media
for the last 20 years
of their life
and there was some,
one of the smart person
came up with a way
to expunge
all of it
from the internet
and from everybody's computer
so that it's not even
there anymore,
that's the word.
And so by expunging
the record of death
that stood against us
with its legal demands
and rather than legal demands,
a better word
is regulations there,
this he set aside
or expunged,
nailing it
to the cross.
And here's the image here
which is very,
remember this is all him
doubling down
on this image.
So we have cut flowers here,
we have roses.
After the service,
everybody here is welcome
to take a rose home.
Just happy Thanksgiving.
But here it is.
If you could put up
the point, Andrew,
that would be very helpful.
What the Bible text
is saying here is this,
that apart from Christ,
a human being
is a cut rose.
Apart from Christ,
a human being
is a cut rose.
You see,
these roses,
they're in water.
I learned the hard way
that it has to be
cold water,
not hot water.
And there's whatever
that little preservative
food stuff is
that you get
when you buy roses,
it's mixed into the water.
But these roses are dying.
In a sense,
they're dead,
aren't they?
I mean,
they look beautiful.
But they're not
planted in the ground.
And that means
they're cut off from life.
They're literally
cut off from life.
And every human being
apart from Christ
is a cut rose.
Beautiful.
Every human being
is beautiful.
But a cut rose.
And one of you
can correct me afterwards.
I looked on Google
and I seem to get
an answer on Google.
And if Google tells you
it's true,
it must be true,
as we all know,
because they only tell you
the truth on the Internet.
But from what I understand,
it's literally impossible
to take one of these
and go take home
and plant it
or to splice it
into a rose thing.
That it's literally,
there's no hope for this.
Each rose that you take
will only
wither and wilt
and die.
There's absolutely
no hope from it.
And you see,
this is what actually
Paul is trying to say.
You know,
the whole image,
the whole image
of circumcision,
of cutting,
is to help emphasize
that you are a cut rose.
But what actually,
there's this profound,
if your heart is circumcised,
what God does
is he takes that part
of your heart,
that part of who you are,
that who you are,
which is in rebellion
against God,
and he cuts it away
so that you can be
reattached to God.
It's a miracle.
A miracle of grace
that God does for you.
And let's use the image of,
remember,
I was using that type
of image of being filled
with Christ.
You're in him
and you're filled in him
because you're in him.
And it's the same type
of thing,
is that,
is the same image
that God does this miracle
by which this cut rose,
which is,
can't be replanted
and you're like that
and there's nothing
you can do about it,
but in Christ
you are now immersed
in Christ in his death
and immersed in his life.
And now you are immersed
in life
and God does this miracle
whereby the cut rose,
is now replanted
in the source of life.
You and I are in Christ.
You and I are in eternity.
And only eternity,
which is a bit of a symbol
for God,
can do that.
You can't do it yourself,
but he does it for you.
And then just to close
and then we're going
to wrap it up,
look at the very final word.
We'll read verse 14 again
by canceling the record of debt.
This is this idea
that every time
you do something wrong,
there's a type of debt.
And then when it said,
that stood against us
with its legal demands
and a better image
is actually regulations.
And like the different
regulations of the world,
Paul's going to develop
this image
in the next week
we'll look at it.
But everything
that in fact
is truly done wrong
by God's perfect standards
and everything
that's done wrong
according to human regulations
and how human beings think,
all of those things
that cause us
a sense of guilt
and a sense of shame,
God will sort out
all of those things
that are human regulations
that have a grain
of truth to them
and those which are just foolish
or even evil or demonic,
but they feel like
they're against us.
And so, Paul,
it's this double image
of, in a sense,
real moral truth
and human regulations.
That's the double image
here in this verse
is that what you and I
have to understand
is that whatever it is,
the things which are
really wrong
that you've really done
where there's really a debt
and you can't deal with it
and all human regulations
and God will sort out
which ones are true
and which ones are
just stuff you shouldn't
even think about,
all of those
are nailed to the cross
when Jesus dies
to understand that
Jesus is bearing that for you.
And then in verse 15,
he disarmed the rulers
and authorities,
once again a reference
to demons,
he disarmed the rulers
and authorities
and put them to open shame
by triumphing over them
in him.
So two things.
Most of our culture
now believes in demons.
When I was preaching
back when I first ordained
in 1985,
probably very few people did.
And so I'd have to argue
for the existence of demons.
Now we have to argue
for other types of things
because the majority
of our culture accepts them,
but they don't really accept them
in the sense that
they still believe foolish things
like in Ghostbusters
that an evil spirit
can be put in a box
because if you have
some type of electricity
or something like that,
which is just foolish.
But if there really is,
in fact,
a being
which is invisible in spirit
that can affect you
and is hostile to you,
then it means
there can be
no greater enemy.
You can't shoot it.
You can't poison it.
It doesn't care about Twitter.
You can Twitter mob the devil
all day
around the block
and only make him happy.
You can't shoot him.
You can't do anything.
You can't starve him.
And if there is a being like that,
and that being
and the demons
have in fact
also been disarmed,
then Christian,
in Christ,
you are anti-fragile.
How does he disarm them?
Because the main way
that the demonic world
affects human beings
is through accusation,
lies, and slander.
You're a terrible person.
You're a failure.
You'll never be a success.
You see that thing
that you said
the other day in the party?
Everybody's thinking about it
and they all think
you're a terrible, evil person.
You're ugly.
You weigh too much.
You don't weigh enough.
You're not strong enough.
You're too
over too many muscles.
It doesn't matter.
That little voice
that sits on your shoulder
that speaks to you
and to me all the time,
that's how every human being
experiences slander.
Nobody will ever forgive you.
You will never forgive yourself.
This is the end of you.
You're terrible.
And if,
when the demon does
whisper into your ear,
this is a text to say,
in Christ,
I am anti-fragile.
In Christ,
demon,
when he died on the cross,
every real thing
that I've done wrong
was named by God
and put on that cross
and he paid for me
because he loved me
and every regulation,
and I can't figure out
whether I,
what I should care about
all these cultural things
and which are right
and which are wrong.
I can't figure out
if I should lose weight,
put on muscle,
have more money,
give more money away.
I can't figure out
all your regulations,
but I can tell you this,
whatever regulations there are,
that was on the cross too.
He paid them all.
So shut up,
demon.
Cling to the cross.
Christian,
you're anti-fragile.
I want to conclude
with the final idea
and I'm going to just talk
a little bit about
the earlier text.
If you put up the final point,
that would be wonderful.
Here's the message of the text.
Christian,
brother and sister in Christ,
if you are here
and you've put your faith
and trust in Jesus,
you are my brother,
you are my sister,
you are my brother or sister,
you walk in the dying days
of the doomed dragon.
That's where we live right now.
We live in the dying days
of the doomed dragon.
So remember,
you have been filled in Christ
in whom the whole fullness
of deity dwells.
do justice,
do kindness,
do mercy,
share the gospel,
cast out demons,
counsel people
who are thinking
that they get weaker
and weaker
all of the time
and live free,
live without fear.
Now,
the earlier text
warns us against presumption.
That's what it warns us against.
See,
presumption is the great substitute
to faith.
In faith,
and by the way,
if you've never read
the Narnia Chronicles,
read,
I think it's Prince Caspian.
There's this spectacular image
in the middle
of Prince Caspian
where there's this poor kid
called Eustace
who's really a miserable kid
who does all these terrible things
and he does something
that turns him into a dragon
and Aslan is this Christ figure
and Aslan comes
and attacks Eustace
and he feels these,
the Aslan's claws
ripping at the flesh
but what he doesn't realize
is that as Aslan's claws
are ripping away
at the flesh
that what he's doing
is he's killing the dragon
so that the real Eustace
can stand before him.
It's a very wonderful image.
You should read it.
It's in the Narnia Chronicles
by C.S. Lewis.
I know it's written
for 12-year-olds
but it's just spectacular stuff
and you should read it.
And guess what I'm going to say
is that no human being's faith
is so unbelievably pure
without any type of presumption
that God's waiting
until there's no presumption
until you're only 100%.
That's another type of works.
He weighs,
he doesn't weigh my merits.
He pardons my offenses.
He's not waiting for me
to have only 100% pure faith
with no presumption.
He takes that little tiny
mustard grain of faith
in the forest of presumption
and he takes me as his own.
Praise God.
That's so wonderful.
But the presumption
is the substitute of faith.
Presumption is this sense
that somehow or another
it's because of who I am.
It's because I'm white.
It's because I'm black.
It's because I'm Asian.
It's because I'm African.
It's because I'm American.
It's because I vote for Trump.
It's because I hate Trump.
It's because I'm good at church.
It's because I do all of these types of things
that God loves me
and it's a type of presumption
and this type of presumption
means you're already dead
and you're going to fall prey.
You're already filled
with human tradition.
You're already filled with the seed
and you're just going to be
more prey to it.
Because you see,
real faith says,
Father, grow in me
more and more and more
a sense that apart from you
I am a cut rose.
And it's only by the miracle
of your grace
that you have done the miracle
of giving me new life
and new birth.
nothing in my hands I have.
And it's not my sanctification
that determines my justification.
It's all grace,
all grace,
all the time.
So if you have a world
with a doomed and dying dragon,
the dragon's dangerous.
But Christian,
you're anti-fragile.
You are going to die,
by the way.
And maybe you'll end up
being thrown in jail.
And maybe all sorts of other types
of things will happen to you.
But remember,
what?
You walk
in the dying days
of the doomed dragon.
So remember,
we need to remember it.
That's why we come to church.
That's why we have small groups.
That's why we have spiritual
and Christian friends.
That's why we read the Bible.
Because we need to remember,
you have been filled in Christ
in whom
the whole fullness
of deity
dwells.
I invite you to stand.
And we're going to close
by saying together
the general thanksgiving
from the Book of Common Prayer,
which I think is
just a wonderful,
especially in the Book of Colossians,
a wonderful reminder
of grace
and how we are
to live our lives.
So please pray it with me.
Almighty God,
Father of all mercies,
we are unworthy servants
to give you
most humble
and hearty thanks
for all your goodness
and loving kindness
to us
and to all people.
We bless you
for our creation,
preservation,
and all the blessings
of this life.
But above all,
for your inestimable love
in the redemption
of the world
by our Lord Jesus Christ,
for the means of grace
and for the hope of glory.
And we beseech you,
give us that due sense
of all your mercies,
that our hearts
may be unfeignedly thankful,
and that we show forth
your praise
not only with our lips,
but in our lives,
by giving up ourselves
to your service,
and by walking before you
in holiness
and righteousness
all our days,
through Jesus Christ,
our Lord,
to whom with you
and the Holy Spirit
be all honor and glory,
world without end.
Amen.