WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:16.780 Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. It is wonderful 00:00:16.780 --> 00:00:20.760 that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, either 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:24.920 by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray 00:00:24.920 --> 00:00:31.520 for us that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself? 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:37.939 The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, we really, 00:00:38.179 --> 00:00:42.579 I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the Bible, 00:00:43.240 --> 00:00:48.760 they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will 00:00:48.760 --> 00:00:54.560 do what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:59.340 non-Christian checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't 00:00:59.340 --> 00:01:04.680 hesitate to send us questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the 00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:07.760 types of things that you're really struggling with. So God bless. 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:15.340 Will you pray with me before we come to God's Word? 00:01:15.340 --> 00:01:26.939 Father, we depend on you and we trust in you and we ask for your Holy Spirit to touch us this morning 00:01:26.939 --> 00:01:32.780 so that we might hear your Word for what it is and trust you and obey you and walk with you 00:01:32.780 --> 00:01:37.500 more faithfully today. And this we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:01:37.500 --> 00:01:38.000 Amen. 00:01:39.140 --> 00:01:45.140 Kindly be seated. Great to see all of you and great to step in for George. My name's Steve 00:01:45.140 --> 00:01:52.239 and I'm pleased to be able to step in while George is away. Obviously, I thoroughly enjoy 00:01:52.239 --> 00:01:56.960 participating and celebrating the supper, but it's a special privilege to be able to open up the 00:01:56.960 --> 00:02:04.560 scriptures with you this morning. It's the Sunday in October when Protestant churches all around the 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:10.599 world celebrate the Reformation. And so I want to wish you happy Reformation Sunday. 00:02:11.920 --> 00:02:19.159 I'm not sure what the response to that is, but anyway, there you go. It was on October 31st, 00:02:19.719 --> 00:02:26.699 1517, that Martin Luther thought he'd start a little conversation about the practice and sale 00:02:26.699 --> 00:02:34.539 of indulgences in his day. And so he posted those 95 theses to the door of All Saints Churches. 00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:40.199 Now, I heard when I was in Wittenberg a couple of years back, maybe three now, that he didn't 00:02:40.199 --> 00:02:44.860 actually nail them because for whatever reason, the historians there know he didn't nail those, 00:02:45.219 --> 00:02:48.900 which we often see in those pictures. Apparently, he posted them somehow. Anyway, 00:02:49.240 --> 00:02:55.060 they got on to that door of All Saints Church. And the important question, of course, is what are 00:02:55.060 --> 00:03:02.840 indulgences? Many of you know, I expect, that they had come to be a way to be released from purgatory. 00:03:02.840 --> 00:03:10.039 The idea was that a surplus of merits, here was the theological justification, a surplus of merits, 00:03:10.140 --> 00:03:15.800 merits obtained by Christ and the saints, were stored up somehow in heaven. And so that these could 00:03:15.800 --> 00:03:23.520 be applied to you and me as pardons for sin if we perform the prescribed penance. The convenient 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:30.280 thing about this was that the sale of indulgences was helping the church to get out of financial 00:03:30.280 --> 00:03:39.340 straits and also to build St. Peter's Church there in Rome. Now, Luther wasn't the first to think that 00:03:39.340 --> 00:03:47.039 every detail about this project was especially great. But things came together in his time in such 00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:56.560 a way that formal separation from the papacy became inevitable by 1521. Now, I'm going to give a bit of 00:03:56.560 --> 00:04:01.640 an extended introduction because of the day that we're celebrating before we come to our passage, 00:04:01.640 --> 00:04:09.199 which I want to unpack with you. But the fact of the separation has caused many in our day to wonder 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:15.680 whether we're supposed to actually be celebrating the Reformation. In fact, one prominent theologian in 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:22.660 our own denomination wrote this not so very long ago. He said, I think the Reformation is not something 00:04:22.660 --> 00:04:28.280 to celebrate but is primarily something that we should lament, that it is primarily a tragedy. 00:04:29.900 --> 00:04:34.720 And the idea here is that Protestantism, while it may have been historically necessary, 00:04:35.400 --> 00:04:43.500 is fundamentally flawed because it left every believer, as it were, alone with his or her Bible, 00:04:43.700 --> 00:04:49.700 so to speak, and therefore free to kind of invent yet one more version of the Christian faith. 00:04:49.699 --> 00:04:58.500 Now, I would just give a quick answer to that. As long as sin reigns in the human heart, 00:04:58.979 --> 00:05:06.740 well, so will factionalism. This idea that we, just like Paul saw there and was speaking to the 00:05:06.740 --> 00:05:14.279 Corinthians about the factions that were forming. It's been a problem for the church ever since we got 00:05:14.279 --> 00:05:20.379 our start. Just consider that passage there in 1 Corinthians where Paul is writing to them about 00:05:20.379 --> 00:05:27.299 their divisions. And in any case, we have to say this. The Protestant Reformation was not an effort 00:05:27.299 --> 00:05:36.199 to set up a third team over and against Rome or Byzantium just to pick places in the Christian world. 00:05:36.500 --> 00:05:42.199 It wasn't a call to say, come join Team Wittenberg or come join Team Zurich or Strasbourg, 00:05:42.199 --> 00:05:49.879 which was another important center, or Geneva. It wasn't that at all. So what was it? 00:05:50.539 --> 00:05:58.099 Well, the Protestant Reformation was intentionally a Catholic movement, meaning a movement that aimed 00:05:58.099 --> 00:06:05.680 to safeguard the basic, central message of the gospel as a message for all nations and all times. 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:12.959 It was a movement that said, look, if any of us, no matter where we are, hope to be faithful to the 00:06:12.959 --> 00:06:20.100 message of the apostles, we have to be ready to protest. That was originally a political, more of 00:06:20.100 --> 00:06:26.600 a political thing than religious, but it got used to describe this movement. It means we have to be 00:06:26.600 --> 00:06:34.740 prepared to take a stand. Well, take what sort of stand? And here, if you've studied any, much of the 00:06:34.740 --> 00:06:41.800 Reformation at all, you'll know that in the 16th century, we're talking about ideas that were going 00:06:41.800 --> 00:06:47.680 around where cardinals were in agreement with some of the basic concerns of Martin Luther. And so this 00:06:47.680 --> 00:06:57.639 is not a neat, neat break in the 16th century. There's still a lot of discussion. But the issue 00:06:57.639 --> 00:07:05.139 is related to a question we first have to ask before we even talk about what sort of stand. And that is, 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:15.800 is it possible for a church to become unreformable? In other words, is it possible for a church to come 00:07:15.800 --> 00:07:23.439 to a point where it stops depending on what gave it birth in the first place? What formed it so that 00:07:23.439 --> 00:07:31.360 it begins to invent an alternative system of belief? And the Protestant reformers were convinced that 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:37.480 this was possible. They weren't impressed with the idea that what the church needed was just 00:07:37.480 --> 00:07:46.019 better educated clergy or more aggressive anti-corruption efforts. They believed the church of their 00:07:46.019 --> 00:07:55.699 needed something like a renaissance, a rebirth, a reformation. A reformation not just in the heart, 00:07:55.819 --> 00:08:01.279 not just in our manners, in our way of living, but a reformation in what we teach and what we preach 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:12.259 and even how we celebrate things, resulting in a visible gathering outside of the structures that had 00:08:12.259 --> 00:08:19.300 previously been their home. Casiodoro de Reina, you've heard me talk about the Spanish reformers. 00:08:19.939 --> 00:08:25.839 He managed to escape the Inquisition in Spain, and he certainly saw it that way. He welcomed and 00:08:25.839 --> 00:08:34.080 celebrated la reformación, that was how he referred to the reformation, as a great work of God who had 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:42.080 seen fit to renew the church then, cleansing it from all the doctrinal error and accretions and 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:51.620 clutter, shall we say, that pastors had led it into through certain inventions, accretions. He referred 00:08:51.620 --> 00:09:01.200 to such accretions as dung, and they, since they obscured the grace and glory of the basic gospel message. 00:09:01.980 --> 00:09:11.780 So how does this or that church start down that path of becoming unreformable? Well, C.S. Lewis can help us a lot 00:09:11.779 --> 00:09:16.579 here, since he gave a lot of thought to mere Christianity and to the business of commending 00:09:16.579 --> 00:09:23.480 it to others. To answer a question put to him by Roman Catholic friends and a Roman Catholic 00:09:23.480 --> 00:09:31.059 fellowship in 1944, well, why are you not a Roman Catholic? And he had many close friendships who were 00:09:31.059 --> 00:09:38.799 in the Roman Catholic Church. Lewis said this, the real reason why I cannot be in communion with you is not 00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:45.399 my disagreement with this or that Roman doctrine, but that to accept your church means not to accept a given 00:09:45.399 --> 00:09:53.979 body of doctrine, but to accept in advance any doctrine your church hereafter produces. And then he gives a 00:09:53.979 --> 00:10:04.219 comparison. It's like being asked to agree not only to what a man has said, but to what he's going to say. What Lewis was 00:10:04.220 --> 00:10:11.160 appealing to, of course, was a standard to which the visible church must be accountable. So he said, 00:10:11.220 --> 00:10:17.759 in effect, we can discuss the particulars of official Roman Catholic teaching, if you like, 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:23.620 and that's all well and good. But this is not going to get us very far, because at the end of the day, 00:10:23.759 --> 00:10:31.259 agreement on this or that won't amount to much as long as you take the church itself to be infallible. 00:10:31.259 --> 00:10:39.240 In other words, as long as you trust the church to be entirely trustworthy as a guide in the Christian 00:10:39.240 --> 00:10:48.120 walk, you make the church accountable to itself and not to a standard outside itself. Imagine for a 00:10:48.120 --> 00:10:54.019 moment, just to give a simple illustration, that the rules of soccer are something you make up as you 00:10:54.019 --> 00:11:01.080 go along. Josiah and I were discussing this analogy. One of my grandsons imagines that soccer 00:11:01.080 --> 00:11:05.560 is something you make up as you go along. So it happens that when I'm out in the front yard, 00:11:06.160 --> 00:11:11.820 getting into a little game of footy, as the Brits like to say, I have in my brain some basic rules 00:11:11.820 --> 00:11:18.740 that have been set down somewhere in some book. But these are all of no use to Aidan. Sorry, 00:11:19.100 --> 00:11:24.780 even grandchildren now can serve as sermon illustrations. My grandson Aidan, they're of no use, 00:11:24.779 --> 00:11:31.379 because in his brain, soccer is by definition a process, not something regulated by rules and 00:11:31.379 --> 00:11:39.639 principles you look up in a book. Now, I'm obviously stretching the point here a little bit, but it 00:11:39.639 --> 00:11:47.600 does shed light, I think, on how a given church can make itself unreformable. And where do we see this 00:11:47.600 --> 00:11:54.940 happening? Well, just another illustration. I spent one fascinating weekend, back when I was a grad 00:11:54.940 --> 00:12:06.120 student, at a Russian Orthodox monastery. And here was a little slice of pre-1917 Russia, pre-revolutionary 00:12:06.120 --> 00:12:13.000 Russia, a little slice of pre-revolutionary Russia, dropped into the hills of upstate New York. I don't 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:17.840 know, maybe you've been there. It's a place called Jordanville. Of course, I was just an observer, 00:12:18.379 --> 00:12:26.179 as an inquirer, you might say, an observer of the routines there and of the seminary, had a seminary 00:12:26.179 --> 00:12:33.000 attached to it. So the abbot, he was a very kindly man. He kind of struck me as a kind of 00:12:34.039 --> 00:12:40.740 elder Zosima, who's the saintly elder in the Brothers Karamazov. Some of you may have met. Well, 00:12:40.740 --> 00:12:46.899 he was very gracious, and I enjoyed, of course, interacting with different seminarians who were 00:12:46.899 --> 00:12:53.139 living there. My Russian used to be a little bit better. But as I got ready to leave, one of them 00:12:53.139 --> 00:12:58.039 said to me something I wasn't at all expecting, because I was, I think, a little bit naive at the 00:12:58.039 --> 00:13:06.340 time. Now that you have experienced the life of the undivided church, are you ready to come home? 00:13:06.340 --> 00:13:11.139 That wasn't exact. They may not be the precise words, but that was the gist of it. 00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:17.639 And I would say that what I experienced there was no different from the problem that C.S. Lewis 00:13:17.639 --> 00:13:25.740 identified. The Orthodox Church may very well give special honor to Scripture in the life of the 00:13:25.740 --> 00:13:35.540 Church, as it does. Just read Callistos Ware or excellent interpreters of Russian or Eastern 00:13:35.539 --> 00:13:42.179 Orthodoxy for us today. But at the end of the day, something much wider than Scripture, 00:13:43.379 --> 00:13:48.500 an ongoing tradition, in fact, guides the faithful infallibly. 00:13:49.939 --> 00:13:55.699 A much, something much wider than Scripture. And it's this, it's this dynamic thing that guides the 00:13:55.699 --> 00:14:02.019 faithful. It's not, it's not something that the tradition itself is accountable to. 00:14:02.019 --> 00:14:08.819 In the Protestant world, we make the same sectarian, in other words, anti-Catholic 00:14:09.939 --> 00:14:17.779 mistake or move when we say that our, that only our fellowship here counts as the true local church. 00:14:17.779 --> 00:14:23.139 I, I could illustrate that with another encounter, but I won't, but ask me later. But we do that 00:14:23.139 --> 00:14:28.740 sometimes. And, and it happens in the Protestant world too. And what, what's the result? Well, 00:14:28.740 --> 00:14:36.500 we start giving ourselves license to, well, to make up stuff, right? Even stuff that might be quite secondary, 00:14:37.060 --> 00:14:42.899 but, but that, but that we say, hey, you need to do this if you want to experience the fullness of, 00:14:42.899 --> 00:14:54.580 of what the Holy Spirit has for His people, right? Or we, we say, you need to do this to really be involved in what God is doing in the world today. 00:14:54.580 --> 00:15:02.420 You need to have this particular form of church government, or you, you need to have the evidence of, 00:15:02.420 --> 00:15:15.460 of speaking in tongues to, to show that you, that the Holy Spirit is, is active in your life. And we, and we make that something necessary for, uh, identifying with the church in its fullness. 00:15:15.460 --> 00:15:27.220 Anyway, just some examples. So let, let me, let me return briefly then to the question of taking a stand, of protesting before we come to our, our passage. 00:15:27.620 --> 00:15:37.759 We can say from the historical record that the reformers got themselves into trouble because they were questioning things that had come to be commonly received. 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:44.740 This was how it was put to Luther when he was asked to get in line with official church teaching and practice. 00:15:45.860 --> 00:15:59.779 But he was convinced that the sale of indulgences, the cult of the saints, the sacrifice of the mass were things as practiced then that obscured the basic message of the gospel. 00:15:59.779 --> 00:16:09.240 To practice them basically meant this, Christ's sacrificial death for us on the cross is not enough. 00:16:10.620 --> 00:16:18.199 And in teaching this, the church was inventing another gospel and robbing the faithful of any assurance of salvation. 00:16:18.200 --> 00:16:26.620 And in our own day, without going into examples, because I spent some time on this in that series I did on, on the challenge of progressive Christianity, 00:16:26.900 --> 00:16:31.879 it's all too clear that large sections of our own Protestant world have been doing the same. 00:16:32.620 --> 00:16:37.900 Obscuring the gospel with inventions of our own, uh, of the same order. 00:16:39.040 --> 00:16:41.480 So here's my take on the gift of the Reformation. 00:16:41.720 --> 00:16:47.680 Remember, it's not a come join, come join team Anglican, come join the Protestant, come join team Protestant. 00:16:47.679 --> 00:17:07.119 It's, it's, it's the, under God, come help, come receive the, the, the, the Reformation gift of discerning the tools, uh, get, take, embrace these tools to, to discern what is basic Christianity. 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:17.359 To turn out to be the same tools to, to safeguard basic Christianity as it goes forward in time and to, uh, and to all the nations. 00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:19.299 And that's where Luther took his stand. 00:17:19.299 --> 00:17:30.400 He took it on the final authority of scripture, not disregarding tradition, not setting it aside, but taking his stand on the final authority of scripture. 00:17:30.400 --> 00:17:35.980 So I'll just mention two, two key tools that the Reformation gave us. 00:17:35.980 --> 00:17:45.420 First, as Jesus's sacrificial death on the cross was, was more or less kind of extended into a process that took place on an altar. 00:17:45.420 --> 00:17:48.980 And that was supplemented by the merits obtained by the saints. 00:17:49.039 --> 00:18:04.000 The reformers insisted that God adopts us as his children, not once he sees us that we're faithful in performing religious observances and doing good deeds, but by grace alone, through faith in Christ alone. 00:18:04.300 --> 00:18:07.259 These were the solas that were the battle cry. 00:18:07.259 --> 00:18:13.279 And here Ephesians two, eight and nine, uh, was highlighted for it is by grace. 00:18:13.500 --> 00:18:15.500 You have been saved through faith. 00:18:15.599 --> 00:18:17.339 And this is not from yourselves. 00:18:17.339 --> 00:18:21.619 It is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast. 00:18:22.559 --> 00:18:36.579 And second, hold that same image of something becoming a process as, as God's word written was more or less collapsed into a process owned by the church, by an infallible church. 00:18:36.579 --> 00:18:40.679 The reformers insisted that only the scriptures can be infallible. 00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:50.659 It wasn't that other texts, as I said, were to be just set aside or that we could just ignore the church's teaching role, an important role in our lives. 00:18:50.779 --> 00:18:54.220 But the scriptures alone had that final authority. 00:18:55.639 --> 00:19:03.460 So something had to serve as a standard by which to judge all human words, all human insights, experiences, traditions. 00:19:03.460 --> 00:19:15.079 And the reformers were unanimous in their belief that God himself has provided that standard in the Bible since the Bible didn't owe its authority to men. 00:19:15.079 --> 00:19:27.699 The reformers also made it clear that for anyone to receive God's word for what it is, the Holy Spirit has to impress it on our hearts. 00:19:27.700 --> 00:19:42.799 And so may that be our prayer, that the Holy Spirit will do just that as we come this morning to this portion of scripture that Chris read to us, Psalm 119, starting at verse 129. 00:19:42.860 --> 00:19:50.000 I hope you follow with me as we work our way through it and see it in three sections. 00:19:50.000 --> 00:20:01.019 I want to consider basically as an overall theme of this passage, that lesson that Paul learned in the midst of suffering and hardships. 00:20:01.740 --> 00:20:12.099 And that was that God's strength, as he said in 2 Corinthians 12, 9, is that God's strength is made known, it's made perfect, he says, in weakness. 00:20:12.099 --> 00:20:24.439 And in the same way, I think our passage teaches us that God's power, God's word shines through as something glorious precisely in the midst of human weakness and frailty. 00:20:26.819 --> 00:20:38.500 So let's look at three things in this passage, the nature of God's word itself, the human need, and then the impact of God's word as we put our trust in it. 00:20:38.500 --> 00:20:42.279 So let's hear verses 129 and 130 once again. 00:20:43.180 --> 00:20:43.920 The psalmist says, 00:20:44.339 --> 00:20:50.160 Your testimonies are wonderful, therefore my soul keeps them. 00:20:51.059 --> 00:20:54.279 The unfolding of your words gives light. 00:20:55.079 --> 00:20:57.359 It imparts understanding to the simple. 00:20:59.940 --> 00:21:06.000 Now the teaching about the nature of God's word here is already in these images very rich. 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:11.019 And no doubt there are some powerful sermons just on these verses. 00:21:11.460 --> 00:21:19.460 But let me just mention three things I would want to highlight if I were to select just those verses as a sermon. 00:21:19.559 --> 00:21:25.319 I would want to say, first of all, that God's testimonies are things that are recorded. 00:21:25.319 --> 00:21:38.619 Throughout the whole psalm, God's testimonies, which is more or less synonymous with statutes and precepts and decrees and commandments, 00:21:39.539 --> 00:21:42.599 his words, his speech, his law. 00:21:43.879 --> 00:21:48.759 They have been given to us in writing or in oral form. 00:21:48.759 --> 00:21:52.920 But in either case, we can say this, God has spoken. 00:21:55.500 --> 00:21:59.599 He's made his way and his will known to us. 00:22:00.359 --> 00:22:02.859 Now this, you're going to say, isn't that obvious? 00:22:04.299 --> 00:22:09.420 But it's always worth remembering, I think, that God's word is not wordless. 00:22:10.579 --> 00:22:11.900 Let me underline that. 00:22:11.900 --> 00:22:17.660 I used to imagine, I don't know if you ever did, that God's word was wordless. 00:22:18.759 --> 00:22:25.019 And that we fumble around for words after we've had that kind of immediate mystical experience of God. 00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:34.560 And then, so the point here is that it doesn't originate, God's word does not originate in the human heart. 00:22:35.280 --> 00:22:37.320 And it's not contentless. 00:22:37.319 --> 00:22:42.819 It comes to us from outside ourselves in intelligible speech. 00:22:43.519 --> 00:22:46.759 Holy Spirit inspired, intelligible speech. 00:22:47.179 --> 00:22:50.839 Now the second thing about God's testimonies is that they're to be opened up. 00:22:52.399 --> 00:22:54.039 That's what unfolding means. 00:22:54.839 --> 00:22:57.240 Another translation says expounded. 00:22:57.240 --> 00:23:06.319 The point is that they're not there so we can just kind of recite them mindlessly, which we're prone to do, 00:23:06.460 --> 00:23:08.980 or display them somewhere on some nice picture. 00:23:10.660 --> 00:23:16.759 But so that we can explain them, unpack them, interact with them, which is the mark, one of the marks, 00:23:17.019 --> 00:23:20.980 not the only mark, but one of the marks of a church. 00:23:20.980 --> 00:23:26.440 Because we learn to love God's word together. 00:23:27.279 --> 00:23:34.200 And we seek to discuss it, and unpack it, and interact with it, and ask questions about it, struggle with it, wrestle with it. 00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:39.519 The third thing to highlight about God's speech follows from the business of unfolding. 00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:41.519 It's directed to the simple. 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:47.839 Now here, simple, as I looked at John Wycliffe's early translation, 00:23:48.519 --> 00:23:53.019 the simple refers to the untaught or the unlearned. 00:23:53.559 --> 00:23:56.099 Today we might say those with no formal education. 00:23:56.299 --> 00:23:59.799 But I don't think the point is that it's directed to them alone, 00:24:00.359 --> 00:24:08.519 but that even they can receive God's light, knowledge of who he is, and what he asks of us. 00:24:08.519 --> 00:24:14.460 It's a question here of approaching God's word with humility, 00:24:15.059 --> 00:24:21.180 and letting it do its work in us, having its way with us, rather than the other way around. 00:24:22.220 --> 00:24:26.639 Now these reveal truths that God has spoken intelligibly, 00:24:26.759 --> 00:24:28.720 that his speech is to be expounded, 00:24:29.099 --> 00:24:33.379 and that enlightens those who approach it with a teachable heart. 00:24:33.700 --> 00:24:35.259 Cause us to declare this, 00:24:35.259 --> 00:24:38.000 Your testimonies are marvelous, Lord. 00:24:38.519 --> 00:24:44.559 They are more to be desired than gold, as Psalm 1910 says. 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:48.859 Yea, than much fine gold in the King James. 00:24:49.259 --> 00:24:53.240 I don't know about you, but I'm encouraged this morning, 00:24:53.539 --> 00:24:58.660 as I think about the exposition of the word as a means of grace. 00:24:59.180 --> 00:25:05.299 Something central to the Reformation vision of making the proclaimed word 00:25:05.299 --> 00:25:10.700 and the explained word central to the way we do church. 00:25:10.700 --> 00:25:15.960 I'm encouraged as I see what we might so easily take for granted. 00:25:15.960 --> 00:25:19.700 I'm encouraged when I see God raising up teachers and preachers 00:25:19.700 --> 00:25:27.000 and people who dedicate so much of their time to helping us understand God's word. 00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:31.359 Well, with that, let's turn to the second theme, the human need, 00:25:31.559 --> 00:25:36.960 which we learn about in verses 132 to 135. 00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:38.279 So let me read those again. 00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:43.759 Turn to me and be gracious to me, 00:25:43.759 --> 00:25:47.059 as is your way with those who love your name. 00:25:47.059 --> 00:25:52.019 Keep steady my steps according to your promise, 00:25:52.279 --> 00:25:55.119 and let no iniquity get dominion over me. 00:25:56.419 --> 00:26:00.059 Redeem me from man's oppression that I may keep your precepts. 00:26:01.019 --> 00:26:04.720 Make your face shine upon your servant and teach me your statues. 00:26:04.720 --> 00:26:13.860 Here we have, in these four verses, we have the shape of the human need. 00:26:15.700 --> 00:26:16.980 So what is that shape? 00:26:17.100 --> 00:26:22.299 Well, the first thing we need is God's presence and his mercy. 00:26:23.440 --> 00:26:25.200 Turn to me, we learn to ask. 00:26:25.279 --> 00:26:27.720 And this psalm is teaching us, isn't it? 00:26:27.740 --> 00:26:29.039 It's teaching us how to pray. 00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:36.139 We learn to ask for God to turn towards us 00:26:36.139 --> 00:26:39.740 because God wants us to know that our most basic need 00:26:39.740 --> 00:26:42.899 is not for the good things that he bestows. 00:26:43.960 --> 00:26:50.000 It's for him, for the right relationship that only he can give us. 00:26:51.019 --> 00:26:56.039 And so we depend on the mercy that comes to us from his grace 00:26:56.039 --> 00:26:58.859 so that that right relationship can be restored. 00:26:58.859 --> 00:27:00.539 And that's the foundation. 00:27:00.740 --> 00:27:03.799 That's what it is that we need to be asking for. 00:27:05.019 --> 00:27:08.659 In the second place, from there, we need his direction, don't we? 00:27:08.799 --> 00:27:13.539 We need his direction, and we need spiritual protection. 00:27:14.319 --> 00:27:16.519 Notice how God teaches us to ask for those things. 00:27:16.899 --> 00:27:20.119 He wants us to know that our steps are to be guided 00:27:20.119 --> 00:27:24.159 not by our own intuitions and our own insights and hunches, 00:27:24.219 --> 00:27:25.099 but by his word. 00:27:25.099 --> 00:27:29.319 That's what according to your promise means. 00:27:29.319 --> 00:27:34.759 And isn't it wonderful that in the next breath we learn to say, 00:27:34.879 --> 00:27:35.859 we're taught to say, 00:27:36.079 --> 00:27:38.539 so that sin won't have its way in my life? 00:27:39.519 --> 00:27:42.799 The truth here is that as we abide in God's word, 00:27:43.279 --> 00:27:46.599 we come to realize that it serves both to guide us, 00:27:47.079 --> 00:27:48.819 but also to protect us 00:27:48.819 --> 00:27:52.779 from the iniquity that comes up right out of our own hearts. 00:27:52.779 --> 00:27:55.599 And then in the third place, 00:27:55.700 --> 00:27:57.680 we need deliverance from external harm, 00:27:58.160 --> 00:27:59.139 from man's oppression, 00:27:59.399 --> 00:28:01.859 from harm that comes to us from outside ourselves, 00:28:01.960 --> 00:28:03.059 not from our own hearts. 00:28:03.279 --> 00:28:07.460 Even as we know that to follow Jesus 00:28:07.460 --> 00:28:10.259 is to experience persecution in this life, 00:28:10.460 --> 00:28:13.139 we learn that it's not unspiritual 00:28:13.139 --> 00:28:15.319 to ask God for this kind of protection. 00:28:16.399 --> 00:28:17.420 Notice the reason. 00:28:17.420 --> 00:28:20.519 We ask for it so that we can keep his commandments. 00:28:22.759 --> 00:28:25.160 Now, since his commandments don't only pertain 00:28:25.160 --> 00:28:27.820 to that vertical relationship with God, 00:28:27.880 --> 00:28:30.600 but also to our horizontal relationship with others, 00:28:30.779 --> 00:28:32.900 we're asking that God's justice, 00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:33.779 his righteousness, 00:28:34.200 --> 00:28:36.400 might be manifested in the day-to-day, 00:28:36.480 --> 00:28:37.600 in the world around us. 00:28:38.860 --> 00:28:41.840 And finally, we need instruction in God's law. 00:28:42.300 --> 00:28:43.600 Since we're called to pray, 00:28:44.120 --> 00:28:45.800 teach me your statutes. 00:28:45.799 --> 00:28:50.819 We do this trusting that God's face and his favor 00:28:50.819 --> 00:28:53.119 will shine on us continually. 00:28:54.779 --> 00:28:57.419 Now, this is a little sidebar, 00:28:57.519 --> 00:29:01.519 but just a way of engaging the text. 00:29:01.579 --> 00:29:04.819 As you take passages like these in the Psalms, 00:29:05.579 --> 00:29:07.960 I encourage you to take note of the logic 00:29:07.960 --> 00:29:11.599 and the shape as you study them. 00:29:11.639 --> 00:29:12.779 I'm sure many of you do. 00:29:13.159 --> 00:29:14.659 But I think you'll find it a blessing 00:29:14.660 --> 00:29:17.680 to understand something of how God teaches us 00:29:17.680 --> 00:29:23.300 to depend on him for this comprehensive need that we have 00:29:23.300 --> 00:29:27.019 for direction, for protection, for instruction, 00:29:27.420 --> 00:29:31.240 which he promises to give us by his word. 00:29:31.680 --> 00:29:35.400 And it's there as a promise and as a prayer in this psalm. 00:29:35.400 --> 00:29:37.800 And this brings me to the third heading, 00:29:38.700 --> 00:29:42.040 the impact of God's word as we trust in it. 00:29:43.019 --> 00:29:45.900 When we come to God's word humbly, 00:29:46.460 --> 00:29:49.060 what sort of response does it evoke in us? 00:29:50.420 --> 00:29:54.160 Well, have a look again at verses 129 and then 131. 00:29:54.620 --> 00:29:57.280 We see there that God's word moves us to obedience 00:29:57.279 --> 00:30:00.599 and to thirst for more of his word. 00:30:01.000 --> 00:30:02.839 So we learn to declare to God, 00:30:03.240 --> 00:30:04.920 your testimonies are wonderful, 00:30:05.680 --> 00:30:07.339 therefore my soul keeps them. 00:30:08.700 --> 00:30:10.980 And that I open my mouth and pant 00:30:10.980 --> 00:30:13.339 because I long for your commandments. 00:30:14.980 --> 00:30:16.660 Now, what's key here, I think, 00:30:16.720 --> 00:30:19.220 is that the basis and end of our longing 00:30:19.220 --> 00:30:22.480 and desire to obey is God's word itself. 00:30:22.480 --> 00:30:26.000 This speaks to us of that wonderful, remarkable encounter 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:30.700 that the Holy Spirit brings about through the word, 00:30:32.360 --> 00:30:35.220 drawing us into a relationship of trust. 00:30:35.640 --> 00:30:39.440 It's not our natural longing, as we know so well. 00:30:39.519 --> 00:30:41.920 In fact, it's not hard at all, isn't it, 00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:44.960 to demonstrate how distracted we become 00:30:44.960 --> 00:30:47.640 and how preoccupied we become with things 00:30:47.640 --> 00:30:48.640 that are of little value. 00:30:49.120 --> 00:30:51.799 The simple and only reason that we ever 00:30:51.799 --> 00:30:56.460 come to think and describe God's statutes as marvelous 00:30:56.460 --> 00:31:00.019 so that we long to actually know him more and more 00:31:00.019 --> 00:31:03.799 is that God has let his word unfold before us 00:31:03.799 --> 00:31:08.440 and in us, bringing light and hope and joy 00:31:08.440 --> 00:31:09.799 into our lives. 00:31:11.220 --> 00:31:14.559 Now, if you've never heard God's word 00:31:14.559 --> 00:31:15.799 as a marvelous word, 00:31:15.799 --> 00:31:20.299 and that is your desire today, 00:31:20.460 --> 00:31:23.460 to come to him in humility, 00:31:23.619 --> 00:31:26.639 then let me encourage you to take that promise 00:31:26.639 --> 00:31:27.659 in verse 130. 00:31:28.539 --> 00:31:30.339 It's God's promise to you today. 00:31:30.960 --> 00:31:34.259 The unfolding of your words gives light. 00:31:34.960 --> 00:31:37.240 It imparts understanding to the simple. 00:31:37.240 --> 00:31:42.019 Now, there's a second response 00:31:42.019 --> 00:31:44.480 that God's word evokes in us here in the passage, 00:31:44.620 --> 00:31:46.559 and it's there in verse 136. 00:31:47.519 --> 00:31:49.960 Streams of tears flow from my eyes, 00:31:50.200 --> 00:31:51.900 for your law is not obeyed. 00:31:53.480 --> 00:31:56.440 Let me call this the missionary response. 00:31:57.420 --> 00:31:59.180 Whatever motives we might have 00:31:59.180 --> 00:32:00.559 to share the good news with others, 00:32:00.559 --> 00:32:01.660 and there are many good ones, 00:32:01.660 --> 00:32:05.160 we see here that the most basic motive 00:32:05.160 --> 00:32:07.680 for sharing the good news with others 00:32:07.680 --> 00:32:11.040 is the realization that God's name isn't honored 00:32:11.040 --> 00:32:11.960 the way it should be. 00:32:13.840 --> 00:32:17.779 That instead of seeking God's kingdom, 00:32:18.060 --> 00:32:20.060 his power, and his glory, 00:32:20.180 --> 00:32:22.040 people build their lives around things 00:32:22.040 --> 00:32:23.259 that are just passing away. 00:32:24.940 --> 00:32:26.980 Now, here again, we're aware of how much 00:32:26.980 --> 00:32:28.779 our own motives are disordered 00:32:28.779 --> 00:32:32.799 and how much we need God's continued renewal 00:32:32.799 --> 00:32:34.299 and reformation of our hearts, 00:32:34.379 --> 00:32:36.899 but I think the message of the verse 00:32:36.899 --> 00:32:38.720 is meant to encourage us. 00:32:39.379 --> 00:32:41.619 To the extent that Christ abides in us 00:32:41.619 --> 00:32:43.279 and we abide in him, 00:32:43.319 --> 00:32:46.559 we find ourselves increasingly more and more troubled 00:32:46.559 --> 00:32:49.099 by the fact that his will and commandments 00:32:49.099 --> 00:32:52.519 are publicly derided, publicly ignored, 00:32:53.139 --> 00:32:55.879 or twisted under the form of some 00:32:55.880 --> 00:32:59.700 other form of religion 00:32:59.700 --> 00:33:03.100 or having the appearance of godliness. 00:33:04.460 --> 00:33:06.240 Now, I trust that as we've worked 00:33:06.240 --> 00:33:08.680 through this passage this morning, 00:33:08.680 --> 00:33:10.580 we've seen something of the glory 00:33:10.580 --> 00:33:12.340 of God's word 00:33:12.340 --> 00:33:15.180 and how it addresses our deepest needs and longings. 00:33:16.040 --> 00:33:18.320 So to move towards a conclusion, 00:33:19.040 --> 00:33:20.240 what does this mean 00:33:20.240 --> 00:33:23.140 when it comes back to celebrating the Reformation? 00:33:23.140 --> 00:33:28.080 Well, I want to leave us with three good reasons 00:33:28.080 --> 00:33:30.560 why I think we should celebrate the Reformation today 00:33:30.560 --> 00:33:32.600 with thanksgiving to God 00:33:32.600 --> 00:33:36.000 for all those that he raised up 00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:39.640 to reform the church, 00:33:40.360 --> 00:33:43.020 not a once-and-for-all Reformation, 00:33:43.600 --> 00:33:45.360 but to an ongoing Reformation. 00:33:46.020 --> 00:33:48.120 Each of these reasons highlights the way 00:33:48.120 --> 00:33:51.720 in which the power and majesty of God's word, 00:33:51.720 --> 00:33:55.000 such as we see here in Psalm 119. 00:33:56.279 --> 00:33:59.799 Revolutionized is the only word that fits. 00:34:00.640 --> 00:34:03.620 Revolutionized the reformers' thinking about the church. 00:34:05.120 --> 00:34:07.539 Specifically, it helped them to recover 00:34:07.539 --> 00:34:09.280 biblical images of the church 00:34:09.280 --> 00:34:12.559 which had been obscured or forgotten. 00:34:13.740 --> 00:34:15.659 And this, in turn, helped them and us 00:34:15.659 --> 00:34:17.480 to think more biblically 00:34:17.480 --> 00:34:19.159 about where we're going 00:34:19.159 --> 00:34:20.480 as God's people, 00:34:20.880 --> 00:34:21.880 where we've been 00:34:21.880 --> 00:34:24.059 as God's people, 00:34:24.159 --> 00:34:26.000 and what our present task is. 00:34:26.679 --> 00:34:29.760 So let me allude to those briefly. 00:34:30.559 --> 00:34:31.940 Question one, where are we going? 00:34:33.420 --> 00:34:35.360 Here the image or model of the church 00:34:35.360 --> 00:34:37.039 that emerged was not of a powerful, 00:34:38.039 --> 00:34:39.039 established institution, 00:34:39.980 --> 00:34:41.659 but of a called-out people 00:34:41.659 --> 00:34:43.759 who know that they have no 00:34:43.759 --> 00:34:45.559 lasting city here, 00:34:45.599 --> 00:34:48.639 in the words of Hebrews 13, 14. 00:34:48.879 --> 00:34:50.440 But seek which city? 00:34:50.779 --> 00:34:52.059 Well, the city that's to come. 00:34:53.339 --> 00:34:55.219 From here, we recognize our need 00:34:55.219 --> 00:34:56.519 for ongoing reform, 00:34:56.940 --> 00:34:59.500 since we can never confuse the church 00:34:59.500 --> 00:35:00.379 with God's word, 00:35:00.799 --> 00:35:01.859 something we're in the habit 00:35:01.859 --> 00:35:02.799 of doing sometimes, 00:35:03.179 --> 00:35:05.199 since we depend on God's word, 00:35:05.199 --> 00:35:07.539 and we owe our existence to it. 00:35:08.480 --> 00:35:10.559 Just as faith in the life 00:35:10.559 --> 00:35:12.460 of you and me 00:35:12.460 --> 00:35:14.639 comes from hearing 00:35:14.639 --> 00:35:16.219 and hearing from God's word, 00:35:16.319 --> 00:35:17.399 Romans 10, 17, 00:35:17.559 --> 00:35:18.399 so the church 00:35:18.399 --> 00:35:20.500 is a creation of the word 00:35:20.500 --> 00:35:22.359 and is sustained by it. 00:35:22.859 --> 00:35:24.119 So that's where we're going. 00:35:25.159 --> 00:35:26.099 Where have we been? 00:35:26.559 --> 00:35:28.259 What can we say about our past? 00:35:28.980 --> 00:35:31.000 And what can we say about 00:35:31.000 --> 00:35:35.860 his way with those who love his name, 00:35:36.019 --> 00:35:37.400 as verse 132 said. 00:35:37.780 --> 00:35:39.699 His way with those who love his name. 00:35:40.039 --> 00:35:41.260 Here the reformers recovered 00:35:41.260 --> 00:35:43.340 the biblical theme of the church 00:35:43.340 --> 00:35:45.820 as a priesthood of all believers. 00:35:46.380 --> 00:35:50.739 That royal priesthood in 1 Peter 2, 9. 00:35:51.360 --> 00:35:52.639 A people set apart, 00:35:53.239 --> 00:35:55.239 God's people set apart by him 00:35:55.239 --> 00:35:56.760 to be a holy nation, 00:35:57.280 --> 00:35:58.559 called to announce something, 00:35:58.679 --> 00:36:00.260 called to declare his praises. 00:36:01.000 --> 00:36:03.539 Who called that people out of darkness 00:36:03.539 --> 00:36:05.920 into his marvelous light. 00:36:06.679 --> 00:36:08.159 Now apart from reminding us 00:36:08.159 --> 00:36:09.519 that we depend on God 00:36:09.519 --> 00:36:12.239 to bring us to his promised land, 00:36:12.480 --> 00:36:13.980 this model of the church 00:36:13.980 --> 00:36:16.159 as the priesthood of all believers 00:36:16.159 --> 00:36:17.940 has taught us 00:36:17.940 --> 00:36:20.079 that there's no strict division 00:36:20.079 --> 00:36:21.360 between lay and ordained. 00:36:22.199 --> 00:36:22.980 And that the church 00:36:22.980 --> 00:36:23.840 is not the clergy, 00:36:24.079 --> 00:36:24.719 as I recall, 00:36:25.340 --> 00:36:27.079 which was the assumption 00:36:27.079 --> 00:36:28.679 of one young man 00:36:28.679 --> 00:36:30.460 who said back in England, 00:36:30.460 --> 00:36:32.159 I'm going into the church, 00:36:32.420 --> 00:36:34.679 which meant I'm going to be ordained. 00:36:35.380 --> 00:36:35.639 Right? 00:36:35.740 --> 00:36:37.380 There isn't that confusion there. 00:36:37.619 --> 00:36:39.099 It follows from there 00:36:39.099 --> 00:36:40.960 that biblical literacy 00:36:40.960 --> 00:36:42.639 is not something 00:36:42.639 --> 00:36:44.599 for a special class of Christians. 00:36:45.840 --> 00:36:47.099 Or that godliness 00:36:47.099 --> 00:36:48.960 is the calling of a select few, 00:36:49.400 --> 00:36:50.460 while the rest of us 00:36:50.460 --> 00:36:51.139 can be content 00:36:51.139 --> 00:36:53.380 with just being ordinary Christians, 00:36:53.840 --> 00:36:55.840 with a call to a lesser standard. 00:36:55.840 --> 00:36:58.519 So that's the future, 00:36:59.059 --> 00:36:59.800 very briefly, 00:37:00.019 --> 00:37:00.700 and the past, 00:37:00.760 --> 00:37:01.300 where we've been. 00:37:01.380 --> 00:37:03.200 Well, what is the church's business 00:37:03.200 --> 00:37:03.880 in the present? 00:37:05.160 --> 00:37:06.280 Since the reformers 00:37:06.280 --> 00:37:08.180 had left the papacy behind them, 00:37:09.000 --> 00:37:10.940 they inevitably had to answer 00:37:10.940 --> 00:37:11.539 the question, 00:37:11.880 --> 00:37:12.840 well, where's the church? 00:37:13.640 --> 00:37:14.519 Ubi ecclesia. 00:37:15.800 --> 00:37:16.660 Where's the church? 00:37:17.340 --> 00:37:18.539 And that what they recovered 00:37:18.539 --> 00:37:19.240 from scripture 00:37:19.240 --> 00:37:19.840 was that basic 00:37:20.360 --> 00:37:22.440 local Christian fellowship 00:37:22.440 --> 00:37:23.840 that we find in Acts 2.42, 00:37:23.840 --> 00:37:25.680 that was marked 00:37:25.680 --> 00:37:27.760 by its devotion 00:37:27.760 --> 00:37:29.300 to the teaching 00:37:29.300 --> 00:37:30.200 of the apostles, 00:37:30.519 --> 00:37:31.740 by its devotion 00:37:31.740 --> 00:37:32.500 to fellowship 00:37:32.500 --> 00:37:33.740 and to breaking bread 00:37:33.740 --> 00:37:34.840 and to praying together, 00:37:35.320 --> 00:37:38.200 that basic local church. 00:37:39.220 --> 00:37:40.180 What this means 00:37:40.180 --> 00:37:41.760 is that the 16th century, 00:37:42.280 --> 00:37:44.160 as the 16th century Christians, 00:37:44.740 --> 00:37:47.220 we're learning to say 00:37:47.220 --> 00:37:49.180 with the 16th century Christians, 00:37:49.640 --> 00:37:50.860 Calvin, Cranmer, and others, 00:37:51.039 --> 00:37:52.120 that the church 00:37:52.120 --> 00:37:53.500 is to be found, 00:37:53.500 --> 00:37:54.420 where is the church? 00:37:54.780 --> 00:37:55.860 Well, it's to be found 00:37:55.860 --> 00:37:56.940 wherever God's word 00:37:56.940 --> 00:37:58.139 is faithfully preached 00:37:58.139 --> 00:38:00.239 and where the gospel sacraments 00:38:00.239 --> 00:38:01.000 are celebrated 00:38:01.000 --> 00:38:02.579 as Jesus commanded. 00:38:02.699 --> 00:38:04.179 That creates a wide tent. 00:38:04.719 --> 00:38:05.920 That's a very wide tent 00:38:05.920 --> 00:38:06.780 under God 00:38:06.780 --> 00:38:09.039 for, as we think about 00:38:09.039 --> 00:38:10.059 Christian unity, 00:38:10.139 --> 00:38:11.119 which I'll say a word about 00:38:11.119 --> 00:38:11.639 in a second. 00:38:12.219 --> 00:38:13.599 What this meant in practice, 00:38:14.019 --> 00:38:14.219 though, 00:38:14.260 --> 00:38:15.619 as we think of the church gathered, 00:38:15.980 --> 00:38:16.840 was that the church, 00:38:16.840 --> 00:38:19.100 the church's centralized 00:38:19.100 --> 00:38:20.980 institutional structures, 00:38:21.340 --> 00:38:23.980 receded into the background 00:38:23.980 --> 00:38:26.240 as the worshiping community 00:38:26.240 --> 00:38:27.519 came into the foreground. 00:38:28.000 --> 00:38:29.160 Here, the high point 00:38:29.160 --> 00:38:29.940 of public worship 00:38:29.940 --> 00:38:31.740 became the reading 00:38:31.740 --> 00:38:33.500 and exposition of Scripture 00:38:33.500 --> 00:38:35.140 so that the faithful 00:38:35.140 --> 00:38:36.059 could feed on 00:38:36.059 --> 00:38:37.140 the living bread of heaven. 00:38:38.700 --> 00:38:39.260 Accordingly, 00:38:39.300 --> 00:38:39.960 the sacraments 00:38:39.960 --> 00:38:40.559 were understood 00:38:40.559 --> 00:38:42.340 not as optional extras, 00:38:42.340 --> 00:38:43.079 but something 00:38:43.079 --> 00:38:44.900 which served God's word. 00:38:45.519 --> 00:38:46.300 Visible words, 00:38:46.360 --> 00:38:47.140 as Calvin said. 00:38:48.840 --> 00:38:49.620 In a way, 00:38:49.740 --> 00:38:50.220 the church 00:38:50.220 --> 00:38:51.420 was just as much 00:38:51.420 --> 00:38:51.960 an event 00:38:51.960 --> 00:38:54.700 as a fixed place 00:38:54.700 --> 00:38:55.380 you could look up 00:38:55.380 --> 00:38:55.920 on a map 00:38:55.920 --> 00:38:56.920 if you think about it. 00:38:57.360 --> 00:38:58.400 That idea 00:38:58.400 --> 00:38:59.900 has troubled some. 00:39:00.019 --> 00:39:00.280 The idea, 00:39:00.360 --> 00:39:00.800 oh, okay, 00:39:00.880 --> 00:39:01.420 so the church 00:39:01.420 --> 00:39:02.360 is just this 00:39:02.360 --> 00:39:03.420 disconnected series 00:39:03.420 --> 00:39:04.420 of events 00:39:04.420 --> 00:39:05.360 that happen here and there. 00:39:05.440 --> 00:39:05.620 Well, 00:39:06.140 --> 00:39:06.940 not precisely, 00:39:07.079 --> 00:39:08.340 but we need to understand 00:39:08.340 --> 00:39:10.019 that the proclamation 00:39:10.019 --> 00:39:10.980 of God's word 00:39:10.980 --> 00:39:12.140 is a means of grace 00:39:12.139 --> 00:39:13.480 and that this event 00:39:13.480 --> 00:39:14.940 of God using 00:39:14.940 --> 00:39:16.079 the faithful proclamation 00:39:16.079 --> 00:39:16.859 as a means 00:39:16.859 --> 00:39:18.879 to draw people to Jesus 00:39:18.879 --> 00:39:20.460 and to keep them in Jesus 00:39:20.460 --> 00:39:22.739 was just that. 00:39:22.839 --> 00:39:26.039 It was the event 00:39:26.039 --> 00:39:28.179 that is being highlighted there. 00:39:28.639 --> 00:39:29.000 Yes, 00:39:29.099 --> 00:39:30.239 the event needs to be, 00:39:30.359 --> 00:39:32.139 we need to seek under God 00:39:32.139 --> 00:39:33.259 to safeguard it, 00:39:33.659 --> 00:39:35.219 but that becomes secondary. 00:39:35.460 --> 00:39:36.679 So this obviously 00:39:36.679 --> 00:39:38.219 has implications for unity. 00:39:39.079 --> 00:39:39.480 Here's where 00:39:39.480 --> 00:39:41.159 a Protestant insight 00:39:41.159 --> 00:39:42.679 is actually 00:39:42.679 --> 00:39:44.019 quite a wonderful thing 00:39:44.019 --> 00:39:44.879 and easy to miss. 00:39:45.879 --> 00:39:46.980 The fact is, 00:39:47.019 --> 00:39:48.500 as I suggested earlier, 00:39:48.879 --> 00:39:49.659 we tend to have 00:39:49.659 --> 00:39:51.480 a kind of rose-colored view 00:39:51.480 --> 00:39:52.440 of early unity 00:39:52.440 --> 00:39:53.119 with things 00:39:53.119 --> 00:39:53.899 more or less 00:39:53.899 --> 00:39:55.039 only disintegrating 00:39:55.039 --> 00:39:55.719 later on. 00:39:55.960 --> 00:39:57.039 But the recovery 00:39:57.039 --> 00:39:58.319 of the biblical model 00:39:58.319 --> 00:39:59.019 of the church 00:39:59.019 --> 00:40:00.179 as a pilgrim people 00:40:00.179 --> 00:40:02.219 needing constant reform, 00:40:02.420 --> 00:40:03.539 constant reformation 00:40:03.539 --> 00:40:04.719 by God's word 00:40:04.719 --> 00:40:05.859 allows us to see 00:40:05.859 --> 00:40:06.579 that unity, 00:40:07.480 --> 00:40:07.599 which, 00:40:07.819 --> 00:40:08.619 while it's a gift 00:40:08.619 --> 00:40:09.679 of the Holy Spirit, 00:40:09.679 --> 00:40:11.960 is also a task 00:40:11.960 --> 00:40:13.819 that we are to maintain 00:40:13.819 --> 00:40:15.619 until Jesus comes again. 00:40:16.719 --> 00:40:17.339 And the question 00:40:17.339 --> 00:40:18.159 from there becomes, 00:40:18.480 --> 00:40:18.599 well, 00:40:18.639 --> 00:40:19.719 by what means 00:40:19.719 --> 00:40:20.900 are we to seek 00:40:20.900 --> 00:40:21.719 to be in fellowship 00:40:21.719 --> 00:40:22.279 with others 00:40:22.279 --> 00:40:23.559 who call Jesus Lord? 00:40:24.400 --> 00:40:24.679 Well, 00:40:24.719 --> 00:40:25.559 with the Reformers, 00:40:25.619 --> 00:40:26.639 we can be confident 00:40:26.639 --> 00:40:27.900 that our unity 00:40:27.900 --> 00:40:29.940 isn't fundamentally 00:40:29.940 --> 00:40:31.699 an institutional one. 00:40:32.400 --> 00:40:33.019 I'm not an 00:40:33.019 --> 00:40:34.179 anti-institutionalist, 00:40:34.259 --> 00:40:35.380 please don't get me wrong, 00:40:35.380 --> 00:40:38.019 but our fundamental unity 00:40:38.019 --> 00:40:39.320 is not institutional 00:40:39.320 --> 00:40:41.320 since the institution 00:40:41.320 --> 00:40:42.920 owes its existence 00:40:42.920 --> 00:40:44.039 to something greater. 00:40:45.380 --> 00:40:46.260 Neither is it 00:40:46.260 --> 00:40:47.480 a sentimental one 00:40:47.480 --> 00:40:49.820 where we ground fellowship 00:40:49.820 --> 00:40:50.599 in a feeling 00:40:50.599 --> 00:40:52.900 that we're one with others. 00:40:53.360 --> 00:40:54.500 It's got to be more than that. 00:40:54.640 --> 00:40:55.079 Ultimately, 00:40:55.800 --> 00:40:57.559 unity has to be based 00:40:57.559 --> 00:40:59.559 on what God has revealed 00:40:59.559 --> 00:41:01.760 because it's his word 00:41:01.760 --> 00:41:02.820 that created 00:41:02.820 --> 00:41:04.180 and sustains the church 00:41:04.179 --> 00:41:06.079 as it goes to all nations, 00:41:06.659 --> 00:41:07.819 marking it with the marks 00:41:07.819 --> 00:41:08.899 of love and hope 00:41:08.899 --> 00:41:10.099 and the cross. 00:41:11.079 --> 00:41:11.339 Now, 00:41:11.399 --> 00:41:12.219 if this is true, 00:41:13.059 --> 00:41:14.639 what we're called to today 00:41:14.639 --> 00:41:15.619 is the hard work 00:41:15.619 --> 00:41:16.639 of being clear 00:41:16.639 --> 00:41:17.879 about what is 00:41:17.879 --> 00:41:18.940 mere Christianity. 00:41:19.940 --> 00:41:21.119 I've heard George say, 00:41:21.619 --> 00:41:22.379 as Anglicans, 00:41:22.559 --> 00:41:24.099 Anglicanism at its best 00:41:24.099 --> 00:41:25.819 is having a go 00:41:25.819 --> 00:41:26.919 at mere Christianity. 00:41:27.399 --> 00:41:27.879 I don't think 00:41:27.879 --> 00:41:29.059 those were his words exactly. 00:41:29.359 --> 00:41:30.159 But in this sense, 00:41:30.239 --> 00:41:30.739 C.S. Lewis 00:41:30.739 --> 00:41:31.699 was being 00:41:31.699 --> 00:41:32.879 a great missionary 00:41:32.880 --> 00:41:34.320 and a great Protestant 00:41:34.320 --> 00:41:35.980 when he said this, 00:41:36.619 --> 00:41:37.400 Ever since 00:41:37.400 --> 00:41:38.900 I became a Christian, 00:41:39.360 --> 00:41:40.260 I have thought 00:41:40.260 --> 00:41:41.140 that the best, 00:41:41.400 --> 00:41:42.720 perhaps the only service 00:41:42.720 --> 00:41:43.500 I could do 00:41:43.500 --> 00:41:45.260 for my unbelieving neighbors, 00:41:45.440 --> 00:41:46.740 was to explain 00:41:46.740 --> 00:41:47.619 and defend 00:41:47.619 --> 00:41:48.440 the belief 00:41:48.440 --> 00:41:50.000 that has been common 00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:51.720 to nearly all Christians 00:41:51.720 --> 00:41:52.579 at all times. 00:41:53.180 --> 00:41:53.640 Hear this, 00:41:54.079 --> 00:41:54.760 notice this, 00:41:55.019 --> 00:41:55.860 this Catholic, 00:41:56.039 --> 00:41:57.360 this universal urge, 00:41:57.619 --> 00:41:58.900 what has been believed 00:41:58.900 --> 00:42:00.840 in all times 00:42:00.840 --> 00:42:01.720 and in all places. 00:42:01.860 --> 00:42:02.480 Together with, 00:42:02.700 --> 00:42:03.400 there's got to be 00:42:03.400 --> 00:42:04.460 a standard, right? 00:42:04.619 --> 00:42:04.960 What has, 00:42:05.220 --> 00:42:06.160 this discerning, 00:42:06.280 --> 00:42:07.340 what is mere Christianity 00:42:07.340 --> 00:42:08.900 that he does so well 00:42:08.900 --> 00:42:09.660 in his book. 00:42:10.380 --> 00:42:11.660 So I'll close with this. 00:42:13.340 --> 00:42:14.680 The life and witness 00:42:14.680 --> 00:42:16.019 of the Protestant reformers 00:42:16.019 --> 00:42:17.360 is to be celebrated 00:42:17.360 --> 00:42:19.139 because it draws us 00:42:19.139 --> 00:42:21.220 into a two-fold task, 00:42:21.420 --> 00:42:21.920 and we can say 00:42:21.920 --> 00:42:23.360 a two-fold hope, 00:42:23.480 --> 00:42:23.960 if you like, 00:42:24.340 --> 00:42:25.720 as world Christians, 00:42:25.840 --> 00:42:26.700 which is what we are, 00:42:26.699 --> 00:42:28.339 under the authority 00:42:28.339 --> 00:42:29.299 of God's word. 00:42:29.439 --> 00:42:29.859 First, 00:42:31.019 --> 00:42:31.859 to announce 00:42:31.859 --> 00:42:32.839 with all those 00:42:32.839 --> 00:42:33.899 who trust in Jesus 00:42:33.899 --> 00:42:36.279 that he and he alone 00:42:36.279 --> 00:42:37.519 is our one hope 00:42:37.519 --> 00:42:38.819 in life and in death. 00:42:40.339 --> 00:42:41.000 And second, 00:42:41.279 --> 00:42:42.179 to discern 00:42:42.179 --> 00:42:43.639 when we're called 00:42:43.639 --> 00:42:44.819 to work for renewal 00:42:44.819 --> 00:42:45.539 from within 00:42:45.539 --> 00:42:46.579 the structure 00:42:46.579 --> 00:42:47.199 that we happen 00:42:47.199 --> 00:42:47.980 to belong to, 00:42:48.219 --> 00:42:49.819 and when we must 00:42:49.819 --> 00:42:50.519 separate 00:42:50.519 --> 00:42:51.779 from a body 00:42:51.779 --> 00:42:53.219 that has made itself 00:42:53.219 --> 00:42:54.139 unreformable. 00:42:56.699 --> 00:42:57.219 Shall we pray? 00:43:01.419 --> 00:43:01.859 Father, 00:43:01.919 --> 00:43:02.359 we thank you 00:43:02.359 --> 00:43:03.059 for the witness 00:43:03.059 --> 00:43:05.980 of the reformers today 00:43:05.980 --> 00:43:07.159 as we celebrate 00:43:07.159 --> 00:43:08.599 the Reformation. 00:43:09.279 --> 00:43:10.319 We do this 00:43:10.319 --> 00:43:13.419 not out of a desire 00:43:13.419 --> 00:43:16.559 to carry our team flag, 00:43:16.679 --> 00:43:17.539 but to recognize 00:43:17.539 --> 00:43:19.279 that it's only by your word 00:43:19.279 --> 00:43:19.980 that we live. 00:43:19.980 --> 00:43:22.340 we ask that you 00:43:22.340 --> 00:43:22.599 would 00:43:22.599 --> 00:43:24.840 make us 00:43:24.840 --> 00:43:25.579 alert 00:43:25.579 --> 00:43:26.599 to opportunities 00:43:26.599 --> 00:43:27.940 to share our faith, 00:43:28.179 --> 00:43:29.579 but also to be 00:43:29.579 --> 00:43:30.940 one with all those 00:43:30.940 --> 00:43:31.920 who trust in you, 00:43:32.719 --> 00:43:34.820 to find ways 00:43:34.820 --> 00:43:35.519 to announce 00:43:35.519 --> 00:43:36.219 the same 00:43:36.219 --> 00:43:37.719 message of hope 00:43:37.719 --> 00:43:38.639 and joy 00:43:38.639 --> 00:43:39.760 in the world 00:43:39.760 --> 00:43:40.440 that we live in 00:43:40.440 --> 00:43:41.219 that you've called us 00:43:41.219 --> 00:43:41.760 to be in. 00:43:44.360 --> 00:43:45.460 Help us to look 00:43:45.460 --> 00:43:46.699 generously upon others, 00:43:47.320 --> 00:43:48.199 help us to listen, 00:43:48.199 --> 00:43:50.519 help us to discern 00:43:50.519 --> 00:43:52.859 from day to day 00:43:52.859 --> 00:43:53.500 what it is 00:43:53.500 --> 00:43:54.699 you call us to do 00:43:54.699 --> 00:43:55.980 when it comes 00:43:55.980 --> 00:43:56.739 to questions 00:43:56.739 --> 00:43:57.359 of unity, 00:43:58.359 --> 00:43:59.839 that in all this 00:43:59.839 --> 00:44:00.659 we trust in your 00:44:00.659 --> 00:44:01.299 mighty word 00:44:01.299 --> 00:44:03.239 and in its power 00:44:03.239 --> 00:44:04.099 to change us, 00:44:04.279 --> 00:44:05.019 to redeem us, 00:44:05.159 --> 00:44:06.159 to transform us, 00:44:06.359 --> 00:44:07.139 to live for you 00:44:07.139 --> 00:44:07.659 in this world. 00:44:07.739 --> 00:44:08.480 In Jesus' name, 00:44:08.960 --> 00:44:09.279 Amen.