WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.120 So, I want us to go back to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. We're looking at that in the morning. 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:13.759 Last week we saw that Paul wrote this letter to a young church plant. He and Paul Silas 00:00:13.759 --> 00:00:19.839 and Timothy had set up the church. They were church planters. They'd gone to Thessalonica 00:00:19.839 --> 00:00:26.039 and then they'd had to leave. And then Paul writes this letter, which Timothy, based on 00:00:26.039 --> 00:00:32.719 a report, has heard. And it's because the church is struggling in some ways. There's 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:36.679 a lot of battles. There's a lot of difficulties. There's a lot of opposition. So Paul writes 00:00:36.679 --> 00:00:43.039 this letter to encourage them. And it's very important for us to remember that these letters 00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:48.439 that were written became part of God's Word, which remains living and vibrant and important 00:00:48.439 --> 00:00:53.200 for us. And I think one of the things that's really important for us as we look at a letter 00:00:53.200 --> 00:01:02.880 like this is it helps us to understand the Bible, understand why it's got authority, 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:10.320 and understand our roots as a church as well. Because we know that roots matter, don't they? 00:01:10.320 --> 00:01:14.280 They're important. Knowing our roots matter. We know that matters in our families as well, 00:01:14.280 --> 00:01:19.040 doesn't it? Sometimes it helps us to understand who we are, sometimes for good, sometimes 00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:27.920 for bad. It does mould our belonging a little bit about what we've become. Some of you 00:01:27.920 --> 00:01:34.800 will know some of my... My dad was a minister. My grandfather was a Crofter fisherman in 00:01:34.800 --> 00:01:41.480 the West Highland of Scotland in Glenelgen in Skye. And many generations before that 00:01:41.480 --> 00:01:47.600 were Crofter fishermen in Skye. My mum's dad was also a minister in the free church, 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:53.239 and he was brought up and plucked in in the West Coast. So you can see that my family 00:01:53.239 --> 00:01:58.679 background has moulded a little bit of what I am. Deep down, I'm still a bit of a Crofter, 00:01:58.679 --> 00:02:04.439 I guess, maybe somewhere along the lines. And that does mould who we are, and it moulds 00:02:04.439 --> 00:02:11.199 what we are. It mustn't bind us, and it mustn't imprison us, but it does help us to understand 00:02:11.199 --> 00:02:18.479 who we are. And that matters as well for us as a church. And what we do want to be aware 00:02:18.479 --> 00:02:25.000 of is making that background an idol in our lives, don't we, or an imprisonment. But 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:30.560 it matters as a church as well. We're part of the free church of Scotland. It's a Presbyterian 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:38.759 church. We've got Scottish theological roots. Our office bearers are confessional, and they 00:02:38.759 --> 00:02:43.159 stand by the standards of the Westminster Confession of Faith. And that moulds the kind 00:02:43.159 --> 00:02:49.319 of church we are as well, our roots. But what I want to do is I want you to go back much 00:02:49.319 --> 00:02:56.000 further to our roots as a New Testament church, as the church of Jesus Christ, because that's 00:02:56.000 --> 00:03:02.239 the most important roots that we have, both individually as members of Christ's church 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:09.200 as Christians and also as a family of God together. Why we believe what we believe and 00:03:09.200 --> 00:03:14.320 what the foundation of that belief is, and how that should transform us as Christians, 00:03:14.320 --> 00:03:22.160 both as individuals and as a family together. So I want to look way beyond our denominational 00:03:22.160 --> 00:03:28.960 borders and beyond our local church borders and think of who we are as Christians, and 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:37.080 why we are Christians the way we are, and the authority that we fall under as Christians. 00:03:37.080 --> 00:03:42.520 Because when Paul wrote to Thessalonian church, he wasn't just writing to them, he was writing 00:03:42.520 --> 00:03:50.920 to us as well. And he's giving his God-given credentials for speaking with authority to 00:03:50.920 --> 00:03:56.640 both to them and by God's grace to us as well. So I'm going to look at two things. I'm going 00:03:56.639 --> 00:04:04.359 to look at his apostolic foundation, the authority he has, both his gospel authority and the 00:04:04.359 --> 00:04:11.000 authenticness of his life. And then look at how that foundation is an example and becomes 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:17.639 an example to us in our lives as Christians, not just to take it or leave it, but to come 00:04:17.639 --> 00:04:26.240 under his authority as a delegated authority from Jesus. So Paul did this because there 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:31.000 seemed to be in this young church lots of different teachers coming in and teaching 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:36.639 heresy and bad mouthing Paul. And you don't want Paul and Silas and Timothy, they're just 00:04:36.639 --> 00:04:41.000 a bunch of nutters. Look, they've all left. Listen to what we are saying. And so there 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:48.199 was all kinds of strange teaching coming into this early church. So Paul is wanting to give 00:04:48.199 --> 00:04:54.360 his credentials and remind this young church that he has come from, that the message he 00:04:54.360 --> 00:05:01.639 has is from God and it's authentic, both the authority he has and the way his own life 00:05:01.639 --> 00:05:07.600 has been changed, their lives have been changed by God. And that's important for us because 00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:11.040 a lot of people will ask us to say, well, why do you believe the Bible? Or why do you 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:16.560 listen to what Paul says? You know, are you people just follow Paul or his old fashioned 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:22.040 now? Why don't you follow someone else? And lots of apostles come around today and say, 00:05:22.040 --> 00:05:29.080 you've got something very authoritative to say. But Paul said, and we say, no, the authority 00:05:29.080 --> 00:05:36.480 Paul had was given to him by God. And that remains important and significant for us today. 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:41.680 That's why we believe the Bible and we accept the Bible because we believe it has been given 00:05:41.680 --> 00:05:50.120 to us by God. And I'm going to start with that, that Paul claims in verse 13 of this 00:05:50.120 --> 00:05:57.079 passage that is broken down for us that he is bringing a message from God. And we also 00:05:57.079 --> 00:06:02.399 thank God constantly for this, that when you receive the word of God, which you heard from 00:06:02.399 --> 00:06:08.680 us, you accepted it, not as the word of men, but what it really is, the word of God, which 00:06:08.680 --> 00:06:15.079 is at work in you believers. So that's an astonishing claim. Paul's making an astonishing 00:06:15.079 --> 00:06:20.199 claim. You probably read over that and didn't think about it. It's an astonishing claim. 00:06:20.199 --> 00:06:24.680 Paul is saying, look, we've brought a message to you. It's not our own message. You accepted 00:06:24.680 --> 00:06:31.279 it as God's word. And that's exactly he's saying what it was. He says, we are specially 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:39.399 commissioned, set apart by God as apostles to bring God's word to the New Testament 00:06:39.399 --> 00:06:46.479 church. They have His authority. There's these great words in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 00:06:46.479 --> 00:06:53.679 19 and 20. And the children's worksheet has got a little kind of visual of that as well. 00:06:53.679 --> 00:07:01.919 Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 19 and 20 where he says, if I can find it, yeah, so then you're 00:07:01.919 --> 00:07:06.560 no longer strangers and aliens, but you're fellow citizens with the saints. That's all 00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:12.360 of us today with God's members of God's household. Built on what? Built on what? It's built 00:07:12.360 --> 00:07:18.720 on the Saint Columbus, it's built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:23.399 himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows 00:07:23.399 --> 00:07:29.519 into the holy temple of the Lord. So there and here Paul is saying, look, I've got gospel 00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:35.840 authority because I'm an apostle and the apostles were the foundation of the New Testament 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:42.599 church. They were given a unique role. They were those who were eyewitnesses of Jesus, 00:07:42.599 --> 00:07:49.279 who had been with Jesus, Paul himself. Uniquely so, as we're told if you read 2 Corinthians 00:07:49.279 --> 00:07:58.039 12, he received the message especially by revelation from God and the apostles. John 00:07:58.039 --> 00:08:05.039 himself in 1 John 1 chapter 1 says, this is that which was from the beginning, which we 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:10.760 have heard, he says, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon, we have touched 00:08:10.760 --> 00:08:15.360 concerning the Word of life. And he's reminding them and he's reminding us that the Bible 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:23.680 isn't just a bunch of books that's been written by godly people, it is given to the apostles 00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:30.040 as the foundation of the New Testament church. And Paul knew that. And so when Paul wrote 00:08:30.040 --> 00:08:38.039 this letter, he knew that he was writing the Word of God, not just his own thoughts. So 00:08:38.039 --> 00:08:41.840 the Bible doesn't need to be updated because it's God's revelation for us. Yes, I know 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:47.759 we need to contextualize it, but we don't need to update it. The apostles were given 00:08:47.759 --> 00:08:54.159 this derived authority and we, when we come to church, when you read your Bible in the 00:08:54.159 --> 00:08:58.639 morning, when you read it any other day, when you look at it online, whatever it is you're 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:05.439 reading, the living Word of God, God's message for you. That's why many of you can say, as 00:09:05.439 --> 00:09:11.120 I can say, that we've gone to the Bible sometimes and we felt God's right there with us, that 00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:18.759 He has spoken into my heart and into my situation. And it's clearly a living, breathing Word 00:09:18.759 --> 00:09:26.159 for us. So the apostles had this great foundation that, or they were this great foundation for 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:35.519 the church with the authority of God. And that authority was backed up by the authenticity 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:41.199 of their lives. And Paul is arguing that here in Thessalonians. So he's saying, look, we've 00:09:41.199 --> 00:09:46.559 been given the authority of God, we're apostles of God, and you've seen that our lives have 00:09:46.559 --> 00:09:51.879 changed. And I think he's doing that because he's comparing himself with some of the false 00:09:51.879 --> 00:09:56.720 teachers that had come into the church in Thessalonica. He said, their lives have not 00:09:56.720 --> 00:10:02.960 been transformed. So verses 3 to 6, he speaks about that. He says, you know, our appeal 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:07.879 doesn't spring from error or impurity. We don't want to try to deceive you. We've been 00:10:07.879 --> 00:10:11.480 approved by God and trusted with the gospel. We're not here to please men. We don't want 00:10:11.480 --> 00:10:16.919 to use flattery. We're not greedy for gain. So he's explaining that their lives back up 00:10:16.919 --> 00:10:21.759 the message that they've been given by God. They're not tricking or manipulating or using 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:29.000 flattery. In other words, they're not con artists. They're the genuine article accountable 00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:38.039 to God. They're there to please God and to bring His message transformed by grace and 00:10:38.039 --> 00:10:46.720 changed by grace. Now that is really important truth. Because what God is saying in that 00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:54.639 is God is saying that His primary way of revealing Himself to us is through people whose lives 00:10:54.639 --> 00:11:00.399 have been transformed. Now that goes on to affect all of us in our lives. Paul is saying 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:08.120 that the truth that I'm giving you is truth that has transformed my life. It's truth 00:11:08.120 --> 00:11:15.960 that's embedded in my existence. It's truth that has lived out in my life. It's truth 00:11:15.960 --> 00:11:22.400 that God has entrusted with me and my life has been transformed because of that. And 00:11:22.400 --> 00:11:28.560 we have to take this as well. That Paul's authority comes from his life being transformed. 00:11:28.560 --> 00:11:33.320 And you know Paul's a great example of that, isn't he? Because he was murdering Christians 00:11:33.320 --> 00:11:40.200 and God changed his life and changed his heart in an ongoing way. Now there's a very important 00:11:40.200 --> 00:11:46.480 principle there that the revelation of truth is much more than me standing here and preaching 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:52.840 to you from the Bible. It's much more than just imparting facts. It's much more than 00:11:52.840 --> 00:11:59.960 just a brain dump onto you. It's much more than you just saying yes to some moral truths 00:11:59.960 --> 00:12:09.840 and living in a certain way. But the truth of Jesus Christ is empowered when it comes 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:16.120 through lives that have been changed by Jesus Christ, by hearts that have been changed, 00:12:16.120 --> 00:12:21.920 by the eyes of our hearts being enlightened. It's not just that, you know, take this, read 00:12:21.920 --> 00:12:26.920 that and see what it's like and walk away. That is not what the truth is. And we'll see 00:12:26.920 --> 00:12:34.440 that throughout our understanding of the apostolic leadership that we have here in this passage. 00:12:34.440 --> 00:12:41.000 The apostles were people who were taking the truth of God's Word and were living it in 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:47.480 that family context and loving it and loving the people they were with. They were ambassadors, 00:12:47.480 --> 00:12:55.080 they weren't academics, they were not just passing on a formula, they weren't scientific, 00:12:55.080 --> 00:13:03.920 they were active, authentic, living, breathing Christians. And so we find when we live the 00:13:03.920 --> 00:13:12.160 truth or when we seek to share the gospel with people, its authenticity, its power is 00:13:12.160 --> 00:13:22.879 made known by our own changed lives. And that's so terribly important that we recognize that, 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:29.039 that we recognize that people's lives will be changed because our lives have been changed. 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:34.639 So that is what gave them the authenticity. I'm going to say a little bit more about that 00:13:34.639 --> 00:13:42.120 because it's very important to Paul that the found, it wasn't just that they had a foundation 00:13:42.120 --> 00:13:50.759 and that's our foundation for our New Testament church. But that foundation was lived out by 00:13:50.759 --> 00:13:57.080 their ongoing example. What we have in these verses is a brilliant example of leadership 00:13:57.080 --> 00:14:03.840 in the church. Both formal and informal as I was saying last week and 90% of you here 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:09.120 have an informal leadership role, probably 100% of us have some kind of informal leadership 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:18.159 role in our lives and in our church. And the important example is, so if you've wondered 00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:25.039 what is the relevance up till now and you thought, well, okay, this is a bit dry. Remember 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:32.519 from now on, if you're a Christian, your life is up for being imitated. And that's hugely 00:14:32.519 --> 00:14:33.519 important. 00:14:33.519 --> 00:14:40.120 In verse 6 of chapter 1, Paul says that, you became imitators of us and of the Lord. And 00:14:40.120 --> 00:14:47.240 then in chapter 2, in verse 14, it says that you became imitators of the church of God 00:14:47.240 --> 00:14:54.440 and Jesus Christ. Very important truths there, that our lives are examples and the apostles' 00:14:54.440 --> 00:15:03.960 lives were examples. And that's hugely significant for us because we are to imitate our apostolic 00:15:03.960 --> 00:15:10.960 founders and we're also to imitate our leaders. And people are to imitate you as a Christian 00:15:10.960 --> 00:15:15.360 and you are to imitate other Christians. Now, that's a great, that's an important thing, 00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:21.360 isn't it? Because we talked about family before. And sometimes what we learn from our family 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:29.080 is how we live. We imitate them, sometimes for good, sometimes for bad. Now, in church, 00:15:29.080 --> 00:15:37.720 our lives are imitable for good or for bad. Because whether we recognize it or not, our 00:15:37.720 --> 00:15:44.519 lives are being, are modeling our Christian understanding. And we need to think about 00:15:44.519 --> 00:15:49.159 what that looks like. And Paul recognized that importance. And so there was two things 00:15:49.159 --> 00:15:55.079 about Paul that he speaks about here. He speaks about his character and he speaks about his 00:15:55.079 --> 00:16:03.439 conduct. Okay? And we can broaden that all to our lives as Christians. In verse 12, he 00:16:03.439 --> 00:16:10.840 says another astonishing thing. Previously, he talks about speaking the word of God. And 00:16:10.840 --> 00:16:19.720 then in verse 12, he says that we are, sorry, in verse 10, he says, you are witnesses and 00:16:19.720 --> 00:16:26.399 God also how holy, righteous and blameless was our conduct towards you as believers. 00:16:26.399 --> 00:16:35.040 And then he goes on verse 12 to say that they walked in a manner worthy of God. Wow! So 00:16:35.039 --> 00:16:42.199 all you can say that is he called himself holy, righteous and blameless. And what does 00:16:42.199 --> 00:16:49.559 that mean? Does that mean he was just picture perfect? Does it mean that he just lived his 00:16:49.559 --> 00:16:56.240 wonderful, holy, blameless and righteous life? What really, does that stand, are you looking 00:16:56.240 --> 00:17:00.759 at that stand and say, well, I certainly can't attain to that. I can't stand before the 00:17:00.759 --> 00:17:06.200 mirror and say that, let alone stand before God and say that. Well, let's think about 00:17:06.200 --> 00:17:14.160 what that means. It really simply means that he understands the gospel. He understands 00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:23.440 that there is one who lived a holy, blameless and righteous life, but lived it for him. 00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:28.359 And when he put his trust in Jesus, he was covered in that holy, righteous, blameless 00:17:28.359 --> 00:17:36.000 living. Now if I could see spiritually today, clothing, spiritual clothing, I would see 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:42.959 everyone in the congregation here who has taken Christ as Savior. If I could see, I 00:17:42.959 --> 00:17:48.879 would see that clothing covering every Christian. So every Christian is holy, blameless and 00:17:48.879 --> 00:17:54.240 righteous because they are covered in the righteousness of Jesus. And Jesus has taken 00:17:54.240 --> 00:18:02.720 our sins and paid for that on the cross. So it's a recognition that the gospel enables 00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:08.799 us to stand before God as holy, righteous and blameless because of Jesus, but it also 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:16.920 is speaking about someone whose heart is right before God, who recognizes and knows that 00:18:16.920 --> 00:18:24.120 he is constantly dealing with the sins that bring him back to God, that come to God for 00:18:24.120 --> 00:18:31.720 need for independence and forgiveness and confessing sins and humbly living independence 00:18:31.720 --> 00:18:39.160 on God. That's what it means to be holy, righteous and blameless, is to trust in Jesus and it 00:18:39.160 --> 00:18:46.360 means to obey Jesus because we love Him and serve Him. And when we fail to obey Him, we 00:18:46.359 --> 00:18:51.879 go back to Him for forgiveness and for renewal and for a new start and for a new beginning 00:18:51.879 --> 00:18:58.839 because He loves us and because He always accepts us and because He always forgives us. 00:18:58.839 --> 00:19:06.439 So Paul had this life and it was read by everyone and it was imitated by people, holy, righteous 00:19:06.439 --> 00:19:14.639 and blameless. Which of us can say that? We should all be able to say that if we understand 00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:22.520 the gospel because it's not a proud statement, it's a humble statement recognizing Jesus. 00:19:22.520 --> 00:19:29.000 And his character had this authenticity and had this motivation that he was there to please 00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:34.600 God because God was worthy. In other words, he's setting himself apart from the kind of 00:19:34.600 --> 00:19:39.160 false teachers that were setting themselves up in Thessalonica, were there for money or 00:19:39.160 --> 00:19:45.080 were there for popularity or for there to just twist the gospel. And he said, no, look, 00:19:45.080 --> 00:19:50.440 I'm not here to please you. I'm not here, I'm not motivated by anything that might be 00:19:50.440 --> 00:20:01.640 impure but God is worth it. God is worthy and I'm here to please Him because of who He 00:20:01.640 --> 00:20:09.120 is. And it's that recognition, a great recognition that we serve God not to be seen, we serve 00:20:09.119 --> 00:20:16.959 God not to tick legalistic boxes, we serve God not somehow to earn His favor but because 00:20:16.959 --> 00:20:26.000 He's worthy. He's simply worthy. He is worthy of everything we are and everything we do. 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:32.879 I'm reading a really good book just now. I don't read very much. That's something to 00:20:32.879 --> 00:20:39.079 do with my crofting background. But I'm reading a really good book just now and it's called 00:20:39.079 --> 00:20:47.000 Gay Girl, Good God. Read it. If you have time, read that book. It's a spectacular book because 00:20:47.000 --> 00:20:54.639 that's a girl who recognize that God is worthy in the battles and the struggles that she's 00:20:54.639 --> 00:21:04.679 facing, the same sex attraction. Unbelievably insightful, deep recognition of the worthiness 00:21:04.680 --> 00:21:17.080 of God. And that is hugely important that we serve God and follow God because we recognize 00:21:17.080 --> 00:21:22.560 that He is worthy and recognize He is glorious. 00:21:22.560 --> 00:21:33.560 So foundation by example in character and also in conduct and in verses 7 to 12, he 00:21:33.559 --> 00:21:40.079 speaks about the way he lived as an apostle among them. Now this is great as well. He 00:21:40.079 --> 00:21:47.399 talks in verse 7, we were gentle among you like a nursing mother taking care of her children 00:21:47.399 --> 00:21:54.279 and then he goes on to say that he was like a father to them as well. So we've got this 00:21:54.279 --> 00:22:05.440 family motif that Paul is using here to describe the love and the care and the conduct he had 00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:13.319 within the church, a family motif. Now I'm going to speak just for a moment to the men 00:22:13.319 --> 00:22:21.480 here. Okay, the macho men, strong men, the men who are emotionally unable to express 00:22:21.480 --> 00:22:25.759 themselves very well and I'm including myself in that because that's what we're like, aren't 00:22:25.759 --> 00:22:29.559 we? We're not that good at expressing our emotions. And when the preacher starts talking 00:22:29.559 --> 00:22:33.720 about things like opening your heart and being honest with one another and being vulnerable, 00:22:33.720 --> 00:22:38.519 you just kick back and say, oh no, I'm a real man. I can't do these things. I'm not good 00:22:38.519 --> 00:22:45.640 at that. Leave that for the girls and the women because that's what's in touch, they're 00:22:45.640 --> 00:22:51.520 in touch with their emotions much more and much more sensitive to that. And here's Paul. 00:22:51.520 --> 00:22:57.680 Here's Paul who was whipped and beaten up and imprisoned and left for dead and shipwrecked. 00:22:57.680 --> 00:23:03.080 He was a man's man and very often he was writing these letters in prison. And what does he 00:23:03.080 --> 00:23:09.800 use? He says, I was gentle among you like a mother nursing her baby on her breast. That's 00:23:09.799 --> 00:23:16.159 what he's saying here. He said, the incredible bond for a mother with their nursing child, 00:23:16.159 --> 00:23:26.279 that's how I cared for you. Now that's real manliness. That's real tough, hard manliness. 00:23:26.279 --> 00:23:35.799 Being able to say that, that's a real man because he recognized that gentleness is controlled 00:23:35.799 --> 00:23:44.480 strength. It's that giving of ourselves in gentle and loving motherly concern for one 00:23:44.480 --> 00:23:50.240 another. That is the kind of apostle. Is that the image you have of the apostle Paul? Probably 00:23:50.240 --> 00:23:58.599 not. Particularly from a non-Christian background, Paul would be called the great misogynist, 00:23:58.599 --> 00:24:03.440 wouldn't he, for all the things he said about, allegedly said about the role of women and 00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:09.279 things like that. But yet here we have him recognizing so powerfully the gentleness of 00:24:09.279 --> 00:24:17.279 being a leader within the family of God, like a mother with a nursing baby. What is a more 00:24:17.279 --> 00:24:22.519 intimate picture than that? But he also uses the picture of a father as well, for you know 00:24:22.519 --> 00:24:27.640 how verse 11, like a father with his children, we exhorted each of you, encouraged you and 00:24:27.640 --> 00:24:34.280 charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God. Parental oversight and love and care and 00:24:34.280 --> 00:24:41.680 protection. You know that picture of good parents, isn't it? I know sometimes you might 00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:50.400 have had bad parents and difficult relationships and broken lives and abandoned fathers or 00:24:50.400 --> 00:25:00.280 distant mothers, it may be. But in that picture of great family bond and love, there's this 00:25:00.280 --> 00:25:09.080 utterly sacrificial, caring, loving, protecting, exhorting, you know, like that father, a picture 00:25:09.080 --> 00:25:14.720 of encouraging you, exhorting you. When I think of that picture, I think of my own kids 00:25:14.720 --> 00:25:19.640 when they were wee, maybe we were at the beach or something like that, and there would be 00:25:19.640 --> 00:25:24.960 rocks to climb on and one of them would stand high up on a rock and I'd say, come on then, 00:25:24.960 --> 00:25:30.960 come on, jump. Jump into my arms, maybe 10, 15 feet and you could see them swithering. 00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:35.520 Were they going to do, my dad wasn't going to walk away, you know, the left of the mountain, 00:25:35.520 --> 00:25:39.280 okay, you make yourself, it's not going to happen, is it? He's going to catch them. You're 00:25:39.280 --> 00:25:46.160 just exhorting them to take that risk, exhorting them to trust. And that happens a million times 00:25:46.160 --> 00:25:54.440 in our parental role and you may remember it as a child with your parents. But there's 00:25:54.440 --> 00:26:08.279 that family bond of love and commitment and of closeness. That's the picture of the church. 00:26:08.279 --> 00:26:16.879 That's what St. Columbus is encouraged and invited and authoritatively demanded to be 00:26:16.879 --> 00:26:20.799 like by God. He says, that's the kind of church I want you to be. That's the kind of 00:26:20.799 --> 00:26:24.279 leaders, elders, that's the kind of elders I want you to be, deacons, that's the kind 00:26:24.279 --> 00:26:28.799 of deacons I want. People who run the Cresce, people who run Sunday School, people who are 00:26:28.799 --> 00:26:33.799 in a group of women's pastoral team, that's the kind of leaders, informal, informal, that's 00:26:33.799 --> 00:26:40.599 the kind of Christians I want you to be, a family together in that committed and loving 00:26:40.599 --> 00:26:48.839 and forgiving and sacrificial and life-transforming way. Do you see what I mean? Do you see that 00:26:48.839 --> 00:26:53.879 being in the free church is not about being reformed primarily, it's not about having 00:26:53.879 --> 00:26:58.759 good understanding of the Bible as it were on its own. That's not what sets us apart, 00:26:58.759 --> 00:27:04.640 that's not orthodoxy. What is orthodoxy is taking that reform teaching and the apostolic 00:27:04.640 --> 00:27:13.240 message and the truth of God's Word and incarnating it, living it out, being changed, being transformed 00:27:13.240 --> 00:27:19.079 by the gospel because that's the apostolic picture. And that's the leadership model and 00:27:19.079 --> 00:27:27.680 that is the family community model we have because why? Well, it's God's authority, but 00:27:27.680 --> 00:27:38.400 also that's what you imitate or it's we imitate and that's what we're to imitate because if 00:27:38.400 --> 00:27:43.640 we're not imitating that, we're imitating something else, something lesser, something 00:27:43.640 --> 00:27:49.519 more formal maybe, something more distant, something more critical, something where we 00:27:49.519 --> 00:27:57.360 find fault easily, where we're not committed in a parental love, where we critique and stand 00:27:57.359 --> 00:28:03.000 a distance, a don't become involved. Maybe it's because of our family experience naturally, 00:28:03.000 --> 00:28:07.839 maybe because we've had difficult times, maybe we don't trust. That book that I was speaking 00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:13.719 about speaks a lot about trust, a whole lot about trust and how difficult it can be to 00:28:13.719 --> 00:28:19.159 trust people if your trust has been broken many times and in many ways. And we've got 00:28:19.159 --> 00:28:24.000 to remember that as churches, when people come into our churches, they're maybe scared 00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:27.559 of the building, they're maybe scared of the community, they may be scared of the whole 00:28:27.559 --> 00:28:32.920 idea of church because their trust has been broken so many times both in life and maybe 00:28:32.920 --> 00:28:40.359 in church. And we need to work hard to regain people's trust by loving and serving and following 00:28:40.359 --> 00:28:48.559 them, following Christ by loving them. That's not easy, is it? You remember how tough it 00:28:48.559 --> 00:28:54.240 was for your parents? You remember maybe yourselves today here as young parents, how tough it 00:28:54.240 --> 00:28:58.679 can be? There are some glorious things about having children but you know how tough it is 00:28:58.679 --> 00:29:07.319 as well. You've experienced that but we keep on going. We don't trade them in, we don't 00:29:07.319 --> 00:29:17.319 give up, we don't fail, we keep loving and serving and in grace we can do that because 00:29:17.319 --> 00:29:22.639 God gives us the strength to do it. We don't rely on ourselves, we don't excuse failure, 00:29:22.639 --> 00:29:29.480 we don't excuse the need to forgive others, we don't excuse bad behavior but we seek 00:29:29.480 --> 00:29:37.599 by God's grace to have that authentic character motivated by God's worth that produces the 00:29:37.599 --> 00:29:45.359 conduct that is, that we are confident people will imitate because as they imitate us, 00:29:45.359 --> 00:29:52.639 they are imitating Jesus Christ. And I finished with this last verse. I've kind of jumped 00:29:52.639 --> 00:29:58.639 a little bit from the different verses so forgive me for that. It's the way it fitted 00:29:58.639 --> 00:30:04.119 in with the sermon really but I think verse 8 in many ways is a summary of this whole 00:30:04.119 --> 00:30:10.240 section, might even be a summary of the whole book, letter. I think it's a terrible, I 00:30:10.240 --> 00:30:15.960 shouldn't say a terrible, I don't think it's the best translation I think it's in the ESV 00:30:15.960 --> 00:30:20.400 it's a little bit kind of old worldly and old fashioned, I don't think it's the best. 00:30:20.400 --> 00:30:25.559 So being affectionately desirous of you, I mean whoever says that now, oh I affectionately 00:30:25.559 --> 00:30:29.599 am affectionately desirous of you, it's not really the common tongue, it's not really 00:30:29.599 --> 00:30:38.160 what we would say, we would probably say because I love you very much, I love you very much. 00:30:38.160 --> 00:30:42.880 Because of that, he says, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God 00:30:42.880 --> 00:30:49.720 but also our own selves because you'd become very dear to us. That is a great summary of 00:30:49.720 --> 00:30:52.960 what I've been trying to say, I might, I should have started with that and maybe I should 00:30:52.960 --> 00:31:00.680 have just read that and just said amen. But that is the model that God has given for us 00:31:00.680 --> 00:31:08.799 because Paul is a foundational apostle and the church is built on the apostles foundation 00:31:08.799 --> 00:31:13.920 and that's the kind of people he wants us to be. He says, he wants us to be people who 00:31:13.920 --> 00:31:20.279 love each other so very much that we share the gospel with each other when we go for 00:31:20.279 --> 00:31:27.880 our walks with Sparkle sisters or whatever else it is and we share with them our very 00:31:27.880 --> 00:31:35.000 lives, why? Because they become dear to us. Be honest with yourself this morning, I hope 00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:42.840 you are as I need to be. Can you say that if you're a visitor with your home church connection, 00:31:42.840 --> 00:31:47.400 maybe you're not a Christian and you're wondering what on earth the gospel is all about, I hope 00:31:47.400 --> 00:31:54.160 that we've made a little bit clearer what it is to be loved by Christ and to serve Him. 00:31:54.160 --> 00:32:00.840 As members and people involved in St. Columbus, would that summarize how you understand your 00:32:00.840 --> 00:32:08.160 commitment to St. Columbus? That we share with each other not just the gospel but we 00:32:08.160 --> 00:32:14.640 share with each other our very lives because people have become so dear to us. That's a 00:32:14.640 --> 00:32:19.920 great model and you know what, it's a great model for discipleship. I think it's an even 00:32:19.920 --> 00:32:29.279 better model for evangelism. We share the gospel with people because people are dear 00:32:29.279 --> 00:32:35.519 to us, because we love them and because we're willing to share our lives with them. Why 00:32:35.519 --> 00:32:41.880 is the gospel not effective? Why is our evangelism not effective? May it be something to do with 00:32:41.880 --> 00:32:50.640 that? That we are not sharing our lives with them to the extent that they know how dear 00:32:50.640 --> 00:32:56.640 we are, they are to us. And how dear the gospel is and how worthy God is to us. We're not 00:32:56.640 --> 00:33:03.400 known. We're not a book that's known and read or it may be a book that people are judging 00:33:03.400 --> 00:33:10.440 simply by its cover because that's all they see. But we never open it up. Do we open up 00:33:10.440 --> 00:33:18.120 our lives to people so that they see who we are and see that we're transformed and see 00:33:18.120 --> 00:33:27.000 the gospel in all its power transforming us to be authentic Christians and attractive 00:33:27.000 --> 00:33:33.200 at that level. I hope so. Amen. Let's pray. Father God, help us to live our lives in such 00:33:33.200 --> 00:33:39.920 a way that is holy and blameless and righteous, not in ourselves, not because we're better 00:33:39.920 --> 00:33:46.600 than anyone, but because we're covered in Your holiness and righteousness and perfection. 00:33:46.600 --> 00:33:52.720 And because we come and recognize our need of You changing our hearts, transforming our 00:33:52.720 --> 00:33:59.759 hearts from the inside out, dealing with our sin and the just wrath that we face if we 00:33:59.759 --> 00:34:07.800 stay apart from You. And Lord, help us to see and live that and express that and share 00:34:07.799 --> 00:34:15.519 that with others in our lives. We pray for people to become Christians in our circles 00:34:15.519 --> 00:34:23.719 of influence that people would see, that the gospel is coming with not just in word only, 00:34:23.719 --> 00:34:40.119 but in the power and conviction of the Holy Spirit. We ask that in Jesus' name. Amen.