WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:12.439 Okay, I'm just going to read that short passage from Galatians chapter 3 and from verse 24. 00:00:12.439 --> 00:00:15.960 And just say a few words about that. 00:00:15.960 --> 00:00:21.440 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came in order that we might be justified by 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:22.440 faith. 00:00:22.440 --> 00:00:25.039 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. 00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:28.719 For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. 00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:33.119 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:35.000 There is neither Jew nor Greek. 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:36.799 There is neither slave nor free. 00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:39.000 There is no male or female. 00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:41.320 You are all one in Christ Jesus. 00:00:41.320 --> 00:00:47.480 And if you are Christ's, then your Abrams offspring errs according to the promise. 00:00:47.480 --> 00:00:51.600 Just want to say a few words for a few minutes before moving on. 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:57.000 I think this is a reminder to us of our call to be a child of God and what it means to 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:00.760 belong to Jesus and to be those who belong. 00:01:00.760 --> 00:01:04.159 And there is always gospel implications for that. 00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:08.240 And I think it was one of the problems that the Galatian church had was that they weren't 00:01:08.240 --> 00:01:13.680 really thinking through the implications of what Jesus had done for them. 00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:18.439 And it was damaging because therefore they had a damaging perspective. 00:01:18.439 --> 00:01:21.159 They were high jack kind of. 00:01:21.159 --> 00:01:27.239 The church was hijacked by theological infighting about the nature of grace, what it looked 00:01:27.239 --> 00:01:31.519 like, who could be called believers, the place of the law. 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:36.560 And it all became a bit messy and a bit of a power struggle and a consuming battle for 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:37.920 them. 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:43.920 And it was unhelpful because they were brandishing, some of the false teachers were brandishing 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:49.159 their interpretations of truth in such a way that made it a completely different gospel 00:01:49.159 --> 00:01:53.719 and was alienating some people from the gospel. 00:01:53.719 --> 00:02:01.920 They were using their theology as a stick to beat other people with for power and control. 00:02:01.920 --> 00:02:08.280 And that meant that the church in Galatia, which Paul was writing to, became very insular, 00:02:08.280 --> 00:02:10.359 became focused in itself. 00:02:10.359 --> 00:02:12.840 It wasn't so much as about the Lord's kingdom come. 00:02:12.840 --> 00:02:15.639 It was about the Galatian kingdom come. 00:02:15.639 --> 00:02:20.919 There was opposing factions within the church's internal battles. 00:02:20.919 --> 00:02:25.679 And they've lost their focus on loving God and loving their neighbor. 00:02:25.679 --> 00:02:30.199 And it became all about themselves and about survival and about what they thought and about 00:02:30.199 --> 00:02:32.000 their theology. 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:40.239 And of course that inevitably led to division in chapter 5 and verse 15, we have these words 00:02:40.240 --> 00:02:45.840 from Paul, but if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you're not consumed 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:47.400 by one another. 00:02:47.400 --> 00:02:52.280 So there was this provocation and there was this envy of one another. 00:02:52.280 --> 00:02:58.520 And it was in the name of Jesus in some ways, because they were at least in the name of 00:02:58.520 --> 00:03:00.840 their own theological position. 00:03:00.840 --> 00:03:05.719 But it brought division to them and it meant that there was... 00:03:05.719 --> 00:03:11.240 They were revealing qualities in the church that actually come very naturally to all of 00:03:11.240 --> 00:03:13.840 us. 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:18.919 And they weren't living out the gospel of grace and they weren't recognizing the truth 00:03:18.919 --> 00:03:25.079 that we read at the beginning there from chapter 3 and verses 24, 29, neither junior, Greek, 00:03:25.079 --> 00:03:30.000 neither slave nor free, male nor female, you are all one in Jesus Christ. 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:37.840 And that's a great reminder to us of the worldwide kingdom of grace to which we belong this evening 00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:40.439 here in St. Columbus. 00:03:40.439 --> 00:03:45.960 If our theology, if our understanding of God and of grace puts a heavy burden on us 00:03:45.960 --> 00:03:55.159 or makes us feel constantly guilty and demands more of us all the time in a pressurized way, 00:03:55.159 --> 00:04:00.560 if we're more concerned about the purity of other people or whether other people think 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:06.879 like me, then thinking about our own hearts and about the gospel in our own hearts. 00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:13.319 Or even if we see mission as something that is motivated either by pride, the amazing things 00:04:13.319 --> 00:04:18.519 we know, or by guilt, I've got to do this because I have to. 00:04:18.519 --> 00:04:23.879 It's an unhealthy perspective because grace is an amazing thing. 00:04:23.879 --> 00:04:26.560 And we belong to an amazing God. 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:32.079 And it's incredible to be overwhelmed by His love. 00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:39.040 I think God always wants us to remember two things in relation to our belonging to this 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:42.159 great gospel of grace. 00:04:42.159 --> 00:04:49.040 One is if I'm in heaven at the end, which I believe I will be by grace and because of 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:53.600 what God has done, it is because of grace alone. 00:04:53.600 --> 00:04:58.560 Grace alone, that's what enables me to get, not by my good works, not by my theology, 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:00.080 not by anything else. 00:05:00.080 --> 00:05:04.360 The amazing thing is I'll be there because of God's grace. 00:05:04.360 --> 00:05:08.280 And also heaven, the new heavens and the earth which we mentioned and talked about this morning 00:05:08.280 --> 00:05:10.400 will be a host. 00:05:10.400 --> 00:05:16.640 Heaven will host a multinational, multi-ethnic, celebratory kingdom of all kinds of people, 00:05:16.640 --> 00:05:22.600 of all kinds of different theological backgrounds, of different nationalities, of different races 00:05:22.600 --> 00:05:24.720 and male and female altogether. 00:05:24.720 --> 00:05:30.879 There'll be Arminians, Calvinists, Presbyterians, Cessatianists, Charismatics, Baptists, Presbyterians 00:05:30.879 --> 00:05:32.840 and everything in between. 00:05:32.840 --> 00:05:35.280 And even some Bavincians will be there. 00:05:35.280 --> 00:05:37.439 Sorry, I had to get that in. 00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:39.640 But there will be everyone. 00:05:39.640 --> 00:05:47.840 And we need to remember in our unity who will share glory with us and the importance of 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:53.699 God's grace so that as a church we're always going to be and always have to be outward 00:05:53.699 --> 00:05:59.319 looking in the way that the Galatian church had become insular and opposite to what the 00:05:59.319 --> 00:06:01.479 Galatian church had become. 00:06:01.479 --> 00:06:08.199 So in our Christian lives and in our belonging to Sincere's family, it's not all about Sincere's. 00:06:08.199 --> 00:06:12.199 It's easy to lose our perspective and get bogged down and just think it's all about 00:06:12.199 --> 00:06:16.439 what we're doing, especially maybe for us as leaders to do that. 00:06:16.439 --> 00:06:21.160 We're always to be those who are welcoming the nations that come towards us. 00:06:21.160 --> 00:06:26.959 We're always to be interested in supporting mission in other nations and in the nations 00:06:26.959 --> 00:06:34.040 that come to the city in commitment and in empathy and in joy and sharing God's vision 00:06:34.040 --> 00:06:35.839 for the world as our neighbor. 00:06:35.839 --> 00:06:42.000 Because remember even on the cross, Jesus Christ is looking out for others for the joy 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:45.600 set before Him, not thinking of Himself. 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:51.600 So we will be outward looking and therefore as a result we seek not to be by God's grace 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:58.320 disunited but united, not divided but united with this vision. 00:06:58.320 --> 00:07:03.960 Generous towards other Christians who think differently from us but also passionate that 00:07:03.960 --> 00:07:06.280 there's no other gospel. 00:07:06.280 --> 00:07:10.720 And a recognition that we need others and it's good to love others who have a different 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:13.680 perspective as we learn from them. 00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:19.519 And a genuine commonality in our understanding of the Kingdom and of Christianity and of 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:27.400 grace that creates doors and not walls, both locally, nationally and internationally. 00:07:27.400 --> 00:07:31.639 And we rejoice in that unity that we can share. 00:07:31.639 --> 00:07:37.040 So as Mary was saying, that's our goal and that's our vision and that's the perspective 00:07:37.040 --> 00:07:43.560 we have. Why is that? Because it's right, because it's biblical and because it's very 00:07:43.560 --> 00:07:44.560 powerful today. 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:51.600 You know, we've seen the world increasingly polarized and sometimes the church getting 00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:54.200 sucked into that. 00:07:54.200 --> 00:08:00.040 Much suspicion, much polarization, much hate within the world. 00:08:00.040 --> 00:08:09.040 Now we've got to stand up for the truth but we have to do it in such a way that is united 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:14.080 as Christians and also gracious as we reach out with the gospel. 00:08:14.080 --> 00:08:20.879 We have such good news, it is a revolution and we are to be reminded of the unity that 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:28.240 the gospel brings and the church is to reflect that unity of being neither dune or Greek, 00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:33.240 neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, you are all one in Jesus Christ. 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:38.879 If you are Christ's, then you're Abrams offspring, heirs according to the promise. 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:39.879 Amen. 00:08:39.879 --> 00:08:59.559 So just a few thoughts on that verse this evening.