WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.400 All right, so on the fifth Sundays, our plan going forward as has often been the practice 00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:14.359 is to do Q&A, and all of these questions have been sent in in advance, so 18 questions 00:00:14.359 --> 00:00:19.760 came through, which is quite a lot, and I've tried to curate them and take some of them 00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:24.740 and mold them with other questions so that we could at least address a bit of every one 00:00:24.740 --> 00:00:29.320 of them, and we've added a little bit of time shorting the service a little bit to try to 00:00:29.320 --> 00:00:35.000 do that, so we have, we're down to 11 now, and we may or may not get to all of them, 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:36.000 we'll see. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:41.600 So we're going to try to keep things three to four minutes apiece so that we can hopefully 00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:43.759 tackle them all. 00:00:43.759 --> 00:00:48.480 So we're going to alternate as well and how, and starting? 00:00:48.480 --> 00:00:53.039 By alternating, we mean if I can't answer that, I'll just pass it on, I could. 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:54.039 That's the idea. 00:00:54.039 --> 00:00:55.560 No, no, not at all. 00:00:55.560 --> 00:01:00.480 All right, so the first one is for me to start on, and somebody asked, I think this is the 00:01:00.480 --> 00:01:05.719 easiest question in the whole group, so I'll put it first. 00:01:05.719 --> 00:01:07.359 It's a really important question. 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:11.800 The question, oh, they're on the screen, okay, I didn't realize that. 00:01:11.800 --> 00:01:15.280 Why is it that we observe little grammar there? 00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:18.680 Why is it that we observe morally superior non-Christians? 00:01:18.680 --> 00:01:22.079 All right, so let me restate it in a different way. 00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:28.319 Why is it that in normal experience as a Christian, you have often seen very clearly that there 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:33.480 are people who are not believers that are at the most simple level nicer than you are, 00:01:33.480 --> 00:01:38.759 or kinder, or at a more grand level, there can be Christians who are truly believers 00:01:38.759 --> 00:01:44.159 that have major public sin, while there are non-Christians living next to them that live 00:01:44.159 --> 00:01:46.759 very virtuous lives by all measure? 00:01:46.759 --> 00:01:48.400 Okay, how do we account for that? 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:52.240 I think the question is asking, how do we account for that theologically? 00:01:52.240 --> 00:01:54.480 And the answer's rather simple. 00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:59.400 I'll try to be very brief with it, and that's the doctrine of common grace. 00:01:59.400 --> 00:02:08.680 So the doctrine of common grace says that even after the fall, God was pleased to continue 00:02:08.680 --> 00:02:14.280 to give good gifts to human beings and the world and the animals and all sorts of creation, 00:02:14.280 --> 00:02:18.560 all of creation, no matter what they believe in, right? 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:26.439 And so God's common grace is his gift of love, that he loves everything he's made, and he 00:02:26.439 --> 00:02:31.400 expresses that love by continuing at the most basic level to preserve life. 00:02:31.400 --> 00:02:35.920 So if you've ever drawn one single breath of oxygen, no matter what you believe in, 00:02:35.920 --> 00:02:38.360 you're a recipient of God's common grace. 00:02:38.360 --> 00:02:39.360 And that's for everybody. 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:43.000 If you've ever stood underneath the sunshine, you're a recipient of God's common grace. 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:46.520 If you've ever eaten a good meal, that's God's common grace. 00:02:46.520 --> 00:02:49.360 If you've ever listened to good music, that's God's common grace. 00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:55.159 How is it that people who are not Christians can be more virtuous outwardly than Christians 00:02:55.159 --> 00:02:56.159 sometimes? 00:02:56.159 --> 00:02:57.439 God's common grace. 00:02:57.439 --> 00:03:06.120 God gives the gift of what we call technically civic righteousness, the capability of being 00:03:06.120 --> 00:03:11.599 morally righteous in a way that is not meritorious or anything like that. 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:17.039 It doesn't please God entirely because it doesn't have subjectively in terms of the heart 00:03:17.039 --> 00:03:21.079 and orientation of believing in the Lord. 00:03:21.079 --> 00:03:23.680 Yet on the outside, it's virtue. 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:26.439 And so God gives human beings the capability of that. 00:03:26.439 --> 00:03:28.319 He also takes it away. 00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:31.359 I think there's a question coming later about that actually. 00:03:31.359 --> 00:03:34.479 How can you know when God has taken away the possibility of repentance? 00:03:34.479 --> 00:03:36.079 Well, common grace is connected to that. 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:41.680 Romans 1, that God can withdraw common grace, and you can see that very clearly expressed 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:46.160 in moral devolution and becoming more and more and more corrupt. 00:03:46.160 --> 00:03:48.680 That's a withdrawal of common grace. 00:03:48.680 --> 00:03:51.360 So common grace is not universal. 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:53.439 It's not, you don't get it by necessity. 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:55.560 It's God's pleasure to give it. 00:03:55.560 --> 00:04:01.760 And so he gives it to Christians and non-Christians alike and our ability to obey the law and 00:04:01.760 --> 00:04:03.880 the good food we eat in all sorts of ways. 00:04:03.880 --> 00:04:05.920 Do you want to add anything to that? 00:04:05.919 --> 00:04:13.679 Does that mean it's okay for Christians to be rubbish and allow non-Christians to be 00:04:13.679 --> 00:04:15.679 better than them? 00:04:15.679 --> 00:04:16.680 No. 00:04:16.680 --> 00:04:23.680 Well, you know, Paul, Romans 6, 7, 5, 6, and 7, you know, ask that question. 00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:27.519 Some Romans must have been saying, can I keep on sinning? 00:04:27.519 --> 00:04:32.039 And that would make more of God's glory if I get to keep sinning as much as I want, and 00:04:32.039 --> 00:04:34.800 then God keeps getting to pour His grace on me. 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:38.960 And Paul says that's foolishness, right? 00:04:38.960 --> 00:04:40.960 So, no. 00:04:40.960 --> 00:04:42.879 Yeah, absolutely. 00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:50.920 And I think as well, it's important sometimes to recognize that the motives that people have 00:04:50.920 --> 00:04:58.480 for being morally superior, and I don't mean that they're not morally superior. 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:05.120 They may outwardly look that will not be Christ honoring because they don't love Christ, and 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:11.400 if they don't love Christ, then their morality is therefore either to try and make them better 00:05:11.400 --> 00:05:17.280 than other people or to try and justify their own lives, their own existence. 00:05:17.280 --> 00:05:22.200 And so, their motive isn't to love Christ and to love others in the way that grace allows 00:05:22.200 --> 00:05:23.200 us to. 00:05:23.199 --> 00:05:31.560 But that doesn't, I don't think, excuse Christians from not seeking to be morally pure and upright. 00:05:31.560 --> 00:05:32.560 Yeah. 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:38.439 Yeah, I mean, there's a huge difference in civic righteousness and good works or righteousness. 00:05:38.439 --> 00:05:44.399 And the latter, which is only for a Christian, requires a changed heart, you know, without 00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:47.000 ... there has to be subjective and objective agreement there. 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:48.000 All right. 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:49.000 Number two, yeah? 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:50.240 Yep, number two. 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:52.399 Number two. 00:05:52.399 --> 00:05:57.000 Is it a sin to not respect someone? 00:05:57.000 --> 00:06:00.120 And then these are two different questions, but I just stuck them together. 00:06:00.120 --> 00:06:05.319 Can you respect someone when you disagree with their lifestyle, their understanding of ethics, 00:06:05.319 --> 00:06:07.359 all that sort of stuff? 00:06:07.359 --> 00:06:20.159 Yes, it is a sin to not respect other people, I think, because it's part of the counter-intuitive 00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:23.280 Christian life that we're called to live. 00:06:23.280 --> 00:06:27.280 What's happening today is that you only respect people that are like you. 00:06:27.280 --> 00:06:29.000 You only respect people that agree with you. 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:31.920 You only respect people that are part of your identity. 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:36.720 And you disrespect everyone that thinks differently and everyone that acts differently or has 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:40.640 different morality than you. 00:06:40.640 --> 00:06:46.440 But I think as Christians, we have a great opportunity to live and to show a different 00:06:46.439 --> 00:06:52.680 kind of worldview and a different kind of lifestyle by respecting everyone that we come 00:06:52.680 --> 00:06:58.199 across because we're all made in God's image. 00:06:58.199 --> 00:07:00.519 And we recognize that fundamental basic reality. 00:07:00.519 --> 00:07:05.839 It's one of the most important realities of the Christian faith that has given society 00:07:05.839 --> 00:07:11.720 is the equality of everyone, race, color, creed, sexuality, whatever it happens to be, 00:07:11.720 --> 00:07:14.000 all made in God's image. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:18.959 I think especially as Christians, because we understand that we are sinners, saved by 00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:19.959 grace. 00:07:19.959 --> 00:07:24.480 God didn't choose us because we were better or more moral or more upright, but He chose 00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:27.920 us because He chose us and He loves us. 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:29.720 And there is no merit in His choice. 00:07:29.720 --> 00:07:36.160 So we would be lost and damned as much as anyone else without the grace of God. 00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:40.360 I think the example of Christ, the way He treated people who were different from Him 00:07:40.360 --> 00:07:41.879 is very powerful. 00:07:41.879 --> 00:07:48.680 I think there's a powerful word in 1 Corinthians 5 where Paul talks to the church there and 00:07:48.680 --> 00:07:55.439 says, I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people, but it's not 00:07:55.439 --> 00:08:02.079 a tall meaning, sexually immoral of this world or the greedy or the swindlers or the idolaters. 00:08:02.079 --> 00:08:04.120 Since then, you would need to go out of the world. 00:08:04.120 --> 00:08:09.959 But I'm writing to you not to associate with those who are brothers or Christians who are 00:08:09.959 --> 00:08:15.039 outwardly sexual immoral and not living a graceful life. 00:08:15.039 --> 00:08:19.799 So I think there's a really clear message there about how we treat other people. 00:08:19.799 --> 00:08:26.319 And I think it's, we can also respectfully, I think this is another area of this import, 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:28.639 we can respectfully disagree with people. 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:33.120 It's not about being a doormat, it's not about saying to everyone, hey, it's okay, 00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:36.240 however you go, that's fine, that's your choice, you live the way you want to live. 00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:43.120 It's not like that, but it's even in our disagreement, even in our truth telling, we do it respectfully 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:45.039 and we do it lovingly. 00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:49.399 Jesus said, love your enemies, love those who persecute you. 00:08:49.399 --> 00:08:55.360 So we're called to do that and that's one of the great challenges, not to be divisive 00:08:55.360 --> 00:09:04.720 and not to be those who identify as Christians but we don't therefore not identify with others 00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:07.840 because we recognize that common humanity we share. 00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:14.120 Yeah, I just had one verse, I thought of 1 Peter 2.17, which I love how he addresses 00:09:14.120 --> 00:09:17.639 every, all sorts of classes of individuals in this statement. 00:09:17.639 --> 00:09:24.720 He says, show proper respect to everyone, love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:26.519 honor the king. 00:09:26.519 --> 00:09:31.279 And so there's your proof text, show proper respect to everyone. 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:32.279 Good. 00:09:32.279 --> 00:09:33.279 Yeah. 00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:39.839 And okay, Corey mentioned, number three, Corey mentioned in his sermon on Sunday about how 00:09:39.839 --> 00:09:45.919 the widows are given a special role in the church and this is in 1 Timothy 3, what passage 00:09:45.919 --> 00:09:51.000 five, and mentioned that it was like a deacons role in nature. 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:54.039 Why is it that we only have males who are deacons? 00:09:54.039 --> 00:09:58.439 And then a second question that was in the ballpark is outside of marriage in the church, 00:09:58.439 --> 00:10:02.240 how would you say the role quality of men and women should be different? 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:09.360 Okay, well, this is where we get into the hard things, harder questions to answer in 00:10:09.360 --> 00:10:10.360 brief. 00:10:10.360 --> 00:10:17.879 Yes, so I do think that in 1 Timothy 5, there is clarity there as well as an ax in a couple 00:10:17.879 --> 00:10:23.799 of their places about what we saw as a role of widows, widows who had been registered 00:10:23.799 --> 00:10:27.720 by the church in Ephesus to take on particular ministry. 00:10:27.720 --> 00:10:33.160 They had been set apart by the elders to take on particular ministry. 00:10:33.160 --> 00:10:39.360 One of the tricky things is that in the Bible, the word for deacon is sometimes a specific 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:43.279 word of office and sometimes a very general word. 00:10:43.279 --> 00:10:48.160 And so the word deacon, diaconos, diaconon just means servant. 00:10:48.160 --> 00:10:52.840 So it gets used all over the place to describe all sorts of people, people who we know were 00:10:52.840 --> 00:10:56.960 not deacons and office, but were servants, right? 00:10:56.960 --> 00:11:03.759 And so the way I was using it on Sunday was to refer to how these women were very clearly 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:09.920 set apart to do the role of service in the life of the church. 00:11:09.920 --> 00:11:17.040 Now all I want to do to address the question, to keep it brief, is just give you a couple 00:11:17.040 --> 00:11:25.560 arguments for why both why males have been restricted, I should say, the office of deacon 00:11:25.559 --> 00:11:30.279 has been restricted to males in the history of the Reformed church and the Catholic church 00:11:30.279 --> 00:11:32.599 that goes back beyond that. 00:11:32.599 --> 00:11:37.479 And then just kind of wear some of the text star that people debate about and just ask 00:11:37.479 --> 00:11:43.159 you to be a Berean and go think about this yourself, but then I'll just take two minutes 00:11:43.159 --> 00:11:44.159 on this. 00:11:44.159 --> 00:11:49.759 Okay, so obviously one of the most famous places is First Timothy 3 where we get two 00:11:49.759 --> 00:11:58.159 offices listed, elder and deacon, and there's a disputed point in the list about deacons 00:11:58.159 --> 00:12:03.840 where it says clearly of elders that there are to be men that have one wife. 00:12:03.840 --> 00:12:09.679 And when you come to the section on deacons down around verse 15 or so, I think it says, 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:17.559 and it can be translated either and their wives are to be reputable dot, dot, dot, and 00:12:17.559 --> 00:12:25.319 it lists the virtues of the wives of deacons, but there's no word in that verse for their 00:12:25.319 --> 00:12:31.000 what their so it's often translated and their wives so it can either be and the wives of 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:36.279 the deacons or and the women ought to be dot, dot, dot. 00:12:36.279 --> 00:12:44.599 And so people have debated a lot whether that that is referring to both male and female 00:12:44.600 --> 00:12:49.560 deacons and in Ephesus and what to do with that, but the majority position, the position 00:12:49.560 --> 00:12:57.360 of the church since the Reformation has been that it was restrictive to mail a mail office. 00:12:57.360 --> 00:13:03.560 And one of the reasons for that as well is when you go to act six, you see the initiation 00:13:03.560 --> 00:13:08.440 of the first deacons, the proto deacons as they're often called, seven men are chosen 00:13:08.440 --> 00:13:09.920 to be the first deacons. 00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:16.079 But what we also see very clearly, I think in both early church and in the Bible is that 00:13:16.079 --> 00:13:24.039 women were always set apart alongside the deacons to be in registered ministry. 00:13:24.039 --> 00:13:29.279 Okay, so not just in a general way, but in a more specific way than that those women 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:30.279 were chosen. 00:13:30.279 --> 00:13:35.079 And I think Timothy Paul goes through that list of how you could become one of these 00:13:35.079 --> 00:13:39.799 women, this role of widows and Ephesus, for example, in 1st Timothy five. 00:13:39.799 --> 00:13:46.679 We try to honor that here, that reality by having a women's pastoral team that works 00:13:46.679 --> 00:13:52.319 alongside both the elders and deacons that takes on these roles. 00:13:52.319 --> 00:13:58.240 So that's a very general answer that jumps around a little bit. 00:13:58.240 --> 00:13:59.240 Do you want to say anything? 00:13:59.240 --> 00:14:00.240 No, no. 00:14:00.240 --> 00:14:01.240 You don't? 00:14:01.240 --> 00:14:02.240 Okay. 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:03.240 Thanks. 00:14:03.240 --> 00:14:04.240 That's a good answer. 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:05.240 Yeah. 00:14:05.240 --> 00:14:08.240 Well, let me admit that I didn't really answer the question. 00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:18.320 Because what the question is asking is, can you prove from the Bible a theology of ordination 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:22.560 that is exclusively for men? 00:14:22.560 --> 00:14:28.680 And I can, we can't do that here, but I can refer you to the sermon I preached on 1st 00:14:28.680 --> 00:14:31.720 Timothy two as a good starting point for that. 00:14:31.720 --> 00:14:32.720 Yeah. 00:14:32.720 --> 00:14:36.080 But if you did ask that question, or if you're interested in more, please, please come and 00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:38.960 see me afterwards, I'd love to talk more about it. 00:14:38.960 --> 00:14:44.759 But let me just say that we do very much recognize the necessity of setting apart women for specific 00:14:44.759 --> 00:14:50.000 ministry and look at, we have vehicles here for doing that. 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:57.720 And our elders, you know, think about that and approve those women for ministry to serve 00:14:57.720 --> 00:14:59.600 alongside the men. 00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:03.920 So, additionally, this one's probably harder than the first. 00:15:03.919 --> 00:15:07.439 Not a marriage in the church, how would you say the role of qualities of men and women 00:15:07.439 --> 00:15:08.439 should be different? 00:15:08.439 --> 00:15:09.439 Okay. 00:15:09.439 --> 00:15:16.919 I'm also not really going to answer this, but what I want to do is say that one of the 00:15:16.919 --> 00:15:23.240 reasons that this question has to be asked is because of the failures of the church the 00:15:23.240 --> 00:15:33.199 last 70 years in appropriating what is largely American post-World War II economies, work 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:40.000 economies, and thinking that that is the norm throughout world history. 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:46.320 So the post-World War II economy, the household economy, is that men, you know, in the 1950s, 00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:50.759 you've seen it on all the TV, they leave the house, they go to work, the women stay home, 00:15:50.759 --> 00:15:54.200 the women don't work, that sort of mentality. 00:15:54.200 --> 00:15:57.480 The Bible has no time for that, none. 00:15:57.480 --> 00:15:59.280 It doesn't, it's apples and oranges. 00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:06.079 You can't find anything like that in Scripture, and that is a modernist way of thinking. 00:16:06.079 --> 00:16:09.559 And the reason I'm not going to answer it is all I want to do is instead point you in 00:16:09.559 --> 00:16:16.559 the direction of what the Bible does with male and female, a male and female economy, 00:16:16.559 --> 00:16:23.799 economy meaning how they live life in the world, Monday to Friday, right, which again 00:16:23.799 --> 00:16:25.480 doesn't make sense to a pre-modern person. 00:16:25.480 --> 00:16:29.840 Monday to Friday is nothing, it's not a thing in the pre-modern world. 00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:33.680 And that's this, a couple places, Proverbs 31. 00:16:33.680 --> 00:16:38.560 Proverbs 31 is one of the best helps that we can have for seeing how apples and oranges, 00:16:38.560 --> 00:16:41.480 this question is to a modern person and a pre-modern person. 00:16:41.480 --> 00:16:43.320 What do you see in Proverbs 31? 00:16:43.320 --> 00:16:53.000 You see a woman, a wife, who is the primary economic breadwinner in Proverbs 31. 00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:55.279 She's the one that's going out to market. 00:16:55.279 --> 00:16:59.759 She's the one that's going out to the harbor and looking at a ship and saying, this is 00:16:59.759 --> 00:17:04.359 a nice ship, I'm going to buy it, I'm going to buy these goods and take them to market. 00:17:04.359 --> 00:17:10.960 And the husband in that text is a man who is sitting at the city gate as a judge. 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:16.240 So he's some type of official in the city, judges would sit at city gates to determine 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:21.119 whether or not immigrants would be allowed through the city gate, for example. 00:17:21.119 --> 00:17:25.479 But the reason that it's apples and oranges and that Proverbs 31 plays this out very clearly 00:17:25.479 --> 00:17:30.519 is because there's no such thing as a person who, quote, stays home and doesn't work or 00:17:30.519 --> 00:17:34.879 something like that in the ancient world, in the ancient Eurystian, the Greco-Roman 00:17:34.879 --> 00:17:36.000 world. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:42.879 And that's because the entire economy was always committed to a household economy. 00:17:42.879 --> 00:17:47.719 Everybody in the household did the same thing together to bring the goods to market, whatever 00:17:47.719 --> 00:17:48.799 that was. 00:17:48.799 --> 00:17:52.919 And there was a head of family, a husband was the head of the family, but underneath 00:17:52.919 --> 00:17:58.759 him, everybody in a household was much bigger than just husband, wife, and children. 00:17:58.759 --> 00:18:00.319 It would include all sorts of people. 00:18:00.319 --> 00:18:02.720 There was no places to go and work. 00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:06.519 There was no getting up early in the morning and getting dressed and leaving. 00:18:06.519 --> 00:18:09.519 Everything happened as a part of the household economy. 00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:16.720 And so when you try to do Bible reading in order to discern, well, what jobs can men 00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:17.720 do? 00:18:17.720 --> 00:18:18.720 What jobs can women do? 00:18:18.720 --> 00:18:22.519 What are all sorts of questions that the church does in the contemporary world? 00:18:22.519 --> 00:18:25.240 It's apples to oranges to the biblical world. 00:18:25.240 --> 00:18:30.720 It doesn't work out at all because the biblical world is a world of household economies, not 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:31.720 workplaces. 00:18:31.720 --> 00:18:34.600 There aren't such a thing as workplaces in the biblical world. 00:18:34.600 --> 00:18:37.360 So I'm not answering the question. 00:18:37.360 --> 00:18:42.759 I'm helping us understand the contextual difference. 00:18:42.759 --> 00:18:43.759 And I'm going to leave it at that. 00:18:43.759 --> 00:18:45.259 Do you want to say anything? 00:18:45.259 --> 00:18:48.480 He's talking about fruit there, apples and oranges. 00:18:48.480 --> 00:18:50.160 I think, yeah, absolutely. 00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:52.319 I was actually going to bring up Proverbs 31. 00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:54.759 It's a very powerful chapter. 00:18:54.759 --> 00:18:59.480 Entrepreneurial women of great resource. 00:18:59.480 --> 00:19:05.360 Some of the core women of the New Testament were clearly rich. 00:19:05.360 --> 00:19:11.120 Business women who helped support the church. 00:19:11.120 --> 00:19:17.599 So again, yeah, I don't really see. 00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:24.679 We come with such baggage from our world, I guess, but yeah, the role is open. 00:19:24.679 --> 00:19:28.159 And we seek to support and encourage that in any way we can. 00:19:28.159 --> 00:19:29.159 Yeah. 00:19:29.159 --> 00:19:32.559 Number four, another good question, hard question. 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:38.639 How do you know if it's too late for you to repent like Esau in Hebrews 12, 17? 00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:49.680 Okay, so Hebrews 12, 17 is referring back to Esau and his loss of the birthright to his 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:51.880 brother. 00:19:51.880 --> 00:19:57.960 And it says, see that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright 00:19:57.960 --> 00:19:59.640 for a single meal. 00:19:59.640 --> 00:20:03.080 For you know that afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected for 00:20:03.080 --> 00:20:07.080 he found no chance to repent though he sought it with tears. 00:20:07.079 --> 00:20:11.799 And I guess there are people who have read that and thought, man, that's a disaster. 00:20:11.799 --> 00:20:17.639 There's someone who wanted to repent, but he wasn't able to. 00:20:17.639 --> 00:20:23.079 And that has caused a lot of people real heartache and potentially the person who asked the question, 00:20:23.079 --> 00:20:29.839 real heartache, if you look at the question, you know, is it too late for you to repent? 00:20:29.839 --> 00:20:37.199 And I think the question, the passage itself helps us to understand a little bit. 00:20:37.199 --> 00:20:44.399 And there's also questions about what is being spoken of here and what he sought with tears. 00:20:44.399 --> 00:20:47.119 What was it that he sought with tears? 00:20:47.119 --> 00:20:49.919 Was it repentance or was it the blessing? 00:20:49.919 --> 00:20:56.319 And I think many commentators would say that the reason that he was crying, because if 00:20:56.319 --> 00:21:00.439 you go back to the original passage, you see that he was tearful and weeping because he 00:21:00.439 --> 00:21:03.799 pleaded with his father to get a blessing, to get the blessing, the birthright. 00:21:03.799 --> 00:21:07.319 And he wasn't able to get it because it had been given out to his brother. 00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:14.439 And so the it that he sought here in this passage is probably not repentance, but probably 00:21:14.439 --> 00:21:16.439 was the birthright. 00:21:16.439 --> 00:21:18.919 So he did lose out on the birthright. 00:21:18.919 --> 00:21:24.519 And that's for sure, even though he wept over it, he didn't receive the birthright. 00:21:24.519 --> 00:21:33.960 But as for repentance, I think, though he sought it, he found no chance to repent. 00:21:33.960 --> 00:21:38.400 And I think that's really probably referring to the fact that was the then, you know, could 00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:42.480 he have done anything to get the birthright back, to change things, to change the way 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:45.639 he'd behaved and to gain the birthright. 00:21:45.639 --> 00:21:47.799 And no, there was nothing he could do. 00:21:47.799 --> 00:21:51.160 So there's nothing he couldn't change his mind, he couldn't change the past, couldn't 00:21:51.160 --> 00:21:53.359 put the clock back, he couldn't get the blessing. 00:21:53.359 --> 00:21:55.679 So there was no opportunity for him to get that. 00:21:55.679 --> 00:21:57.759 And I think that's really what it means. 00:21:57.759 --> 00:22:04.759 I think it could also, you could also look at 2 Corinthians 5-10, I think which may be 00:22:04.759 --> 00:22:10.279 Germain a little bit too, the whole kind of idea. 00:22:10.279 --> 00:22:11.279 Is that the right? 00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:14.279 2 Corinthians 5. 00:22:14.279 --> 00:22:25.639 Carry on, talk among yourselves for a minute. 00:22:25.639 --> 00:22:31.879 I did have it there and I lost it. 00:22:31.879 --> 00:22:32.879 Anyway, forget about that. 00:22:32.879 --> 00:22:36.759 You just, you can look at, I'll send you something with that at home. 00:22:36.759 --> 00:22:45.720 It's the passage that speaks about the difference between godly sorrow and worldly regret. 00:22:45.720 --> 00:22:52.720 And I think that also could be opposite in speaking about Esau because we're told in 00:22:52.720 --> 00:22:56.960 Hebrews that he was godless and immoral. 00:22:56.960 --> 00:23:05.759 So it's likely that rather than repentance, he was remorseful for sorry for himself and 00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:07.319 not truly repentant. 00:23:07.319 --> 00:23:15.680 I think we can safely say, clearly say that anyone who truly seeks the Lord in repentance 00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:18.519 will find the Lord. 00:23:18.519 --> 00:23:22.720 Repent and believe, you and your household will be saved. 00:23:22.720 --> 00:23:27.640 There's no instance in the Bible of anyone who truly repented, who was rejected and 00:23:27.640 --> 00:23:28.640 turned away. 00:23:28.640 --> 00:23:31.720 So I think we need to look at the character of Esau. 00:23:31.720 --> 00:23:38.720 We need to look at what the scripture says about his character and how he responded to 00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:40.559 the loss of the blessing. 00:23:40.559 --> 00:23:47.640 And it was really a loss of privilege, a loss of wealth and a loss of position that he sought 00:23:47.640 --> 00:23:51.160 to gain tearfully again rather than a relationship with the Lord. 00:23:51.160 --> 00:23:52.160 Yeah. 00:23:52.160 --> 00:23:58.720 I would just add that I think if you're asking the question for yourself, then the answer 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:01.960 is that it is not too late. 00:24:01.960 --> 00:24:07.600 The fact you're asking the question is a good sign always. 00:24:07.600 --> 00:24:08.600 All right. 00:24:08.600 --> 00:24:13.720 Number five, a couple of questions here about the book of Romans. 00:24:13.720 --> 00:24:15.039 I think these will be quick. 00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:19.559 What especially is Paul referring to in Romans 8.18 when he says, in reference to our present 00:24:19.559 --> 00:24:25.279 sufferings, being incomparable, quote, with the glory that will be revealed in us? 00:24:25.279 --> 00:24:31.440 What does that future glory look like and why does Paul say it will be revealed in us? 00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:35.319 And then there's a second question here as well about Romans five that's very close to 00:24:35.319 --> 00:24:37.359 this, the first one. 00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:41.920 What does quote we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God mean? 00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:46.279 I think I can answer both of them just by answering one of them. 00:24:46.279 --> 00:24:53.680 Romans 8.18 says, for I consider the sufferings of the present time are not worth comparing 00:24:53.680 --> 00:24:58.759 with the glory that is to be revealed to us or in us. 00:24:58.759 --> 00:25:03.200 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:06.120 Verse 19, that's important. 00:25:06.120 --> 00:25:13.120 On the one hand, I think it's very simple here that he's talking about a post-resurrection 00:25:13.120 --> 00:25:14.120 life. 00:25:14.120 --> 00:25:20.600 So the glory that is to be revealed in us is only to be found in the life that is resurrection 00:25:20.600 --> 00:25:21.600 with Christ. 00:25:21.599 --> 00:25:27.119 Here comes again and in the second coming, the creation, the present sufferings of this 00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:32.439 current order of creation are not worth comparing with the glory of the resurrection life that 00:25:32.439 --> 00:25:34.919 is to be revealed in the coming of Jesus Christ. 00:25:34.919 --> 00:25:42.839 So that's the simplest way of talking about it, but the questioner is asking the in us, 00:25:42.839 --> 00:25:44.559 the glory that's going to be revealed in us. 00:25:44.559 --> 00:25:48.959 You could say, okay, well, that's the resurrection life itself. 00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:54.120 The resurrection life will be revealed in me, but I do think there's something more 00:25:54.120 --> 00:25:55.120 there. 00:25:55.120 --> 00:25:57.600 And I think that that's what the questioner was probably asking. 00:25:57.600 --> 00:26:03.000 The next verse says, the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons 00:26:03.000 --> 00:26:08.120 of God, which have to be revealed in resurrection. 00:26:08.120 --> 00:26:15.120 But I believe Paul here is going back to his creation theology and in creation, Adam and 00:26:15.119 --> 00:26:21.239 Eve were made to be rulers of the land of the world. 00:26:21.239 --> 00:26:27.399 They are given the task to be both priests of creation, priests primary job is to worship 00:26:27.399 --> 00:26:34.359 and royal stewards of creation to be the kings of creation above all other creatures. 00:26:34.359 --> 00:26:40.479 I think that in the second coming of Christ, part of what the everlasting life, eternal 00:26:40.480 --> 00:26:49.519 life means is that human beings will once again take their place as rulers of creation 00:26:49.519 --> 00:26:54.640 in a way that Adam and Eve were meant to be if they would have obeyed the commands of 00:26:54.640 --> 00:26:56.140 God. 00:26:56.140 --> 00:26:59.039 And we get that very clearly in Paul. 00:26:59.039 --> 00:27:05.640 Paul tells us that we are already seated on a throne with Jesus Christ, that Christ is 00:27:05.640 --> 00:27:12.960 the king of creation, the king of new creation, and that he has named to us brothers and sisters, 00:27:12.960 --> 00:27:17.360 sons and daughters of God, the father who is king of creation. 00:27:17.360 --> 00:27:19.520 And he speaks of our inheritance. 00:27:19.520 --> 00:27:26.680 It's the language of a royal son, a royal daughter receiving their right to the land, 00:27:26.680 --> 00:27:29.800 to rule, to have the possessions of the land. 00:27:29.800 --> 00:27:34.960 And so I believe that this text is, of course, talking about the resurrection life, but even 00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:40.400 more than that, it's talking about the life of dominion that the human being will take 00:27:40.400 --> 00:27:43.200 hold of in new creation. 00:27:43.200 --> 00:27:49.360 We have a very strange text, like 1 Corinthians 6-3, that if you don't have a theology like 00:27:49.360 --> 00:27:56.600 this, then I don't think you can make sense of, and that's, humans shall judge angels. 00:27:56.600 --> 00:28:01.640 In the next, in the new creation, human beings will judge the angels. 00:28:01.640 --> 00:28:07.920 The word judge there doesn't mean like a judiciary, like giving a punishment. 00:28:07.920 --> 00:28:10.120 Judge is a word for rulership. 00:28:10.120 --> 00:28:14.960 They will rule over, meaning that in the new creation, God will put humans in the place 00:28:14.960 --> 00:28:19.720 he wants them, where he intended Adam and Eve to be, and that says the true royal stewards 00:28:19.720 --> 00:28:22.800 of creation underneath Christ the king. 00:28:22.800 --> 00:28:26.360 So that's what I take it to mean. 00:28:26.360 --> 00:28:29.480 Romans 5, we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 00:28:29.480 --> 00:28:35.799 The hope that is the glory of God is the hope of the revealing of the Son, Christ, as the 00:28:35.799 --> 00:28:39.200 revelation of God's glory in the world, his second coming. 00:28:39.200 --> 00:28:40.200 Same thing there. 00:28:40.200 --> 00:28:41.200 Yeah. 00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:42.200 No, that's good. 00:28:42.200 --> 00:28:43.200 Okay, great. 00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:46.120 Number six, we're moving right along. 00:28:46.120 --> 00:28:47.680 I think we can finish. 00:28:47.680 --> 00:28:52.720 Which spiritual lesson, this one gets away from the really tough things, I think you 00:28:52.720 --> 00:28:55.279 just asked something helpful. 00:28:55.279 --> 00:29:01.279 Your spiritual lesson that you have had to learn has helped you the most in your Christian 00:29:01.279 --> 00:29:02.440 walk. 00:29:02.440 --> 00:29:06.079 And then what three books outside the Bible have most shaped you? 00:29:06.079 --> 00:29:10.720 Okay, just to go back to the last question, it was 2 Corinthians 7. 00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:14.559 I was looking at 2 Corinthians 5. 00:29:14.559 --> 00:29:19.680 2 Corinthians 7 verse 10 is, For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation. 00:29:19.680 --> 00:29:22.720 Without regret, there is worldly grief produces death. 00:29:22.720 --> 00:29:25.160 Okay, that was what I was looking for. 00:29:25.160 --> 00:29:33.240 So these are really, they're very difficult questions because it's very hard to pinpoint 00:29:33.240 --> 00:29:37.800 or to shrink down everything into one sentence. 00:29:37.800 --> 00:29:42.040 What spiritual lesson have you most, you had learned to help? 00:29:42.040 --> 00:29:50.840 I think, I don't quite know what that means. 00:29:50.839 --> 00:29:58.559 I think that my experiences in life have led me to appreciate that God never leaves 00:29:58.559 --> 00:29:59.559 me. 00:29:59.559 --> 00:30:02.399 That's probably one of the biggest things. 00:30:02.399 --> 00:30:06.399 He is faithful even when I am not and when I have not been. 00:30:06.399 --> 00:30:14.000 And sometimes I don't see that at the time, but I look back and I see it. 00:30:14.000 --> 00:30:17.679 It's a great thing to look back in your Christian life because you see things much more clearly 00:30:17.679 --> 00:30:18.679 that way. 00:30:18.680 --> 00:30:23.360 My insight is a great thing for us as Christians because we often, it's often as we look back, 00:30:23.360 --> 00:30:29.519 we see that God has never left us even though we felt that we were alone and even that He's 00:30:29.519 --> 00:30:31.680 been faithful when we've been not. 00:30:31.680 --> 00:30:40.320 The other thing is, I think, patience, learning patience because the older I've got, the 00:30:40.319 --> 00:30:50.879 less I know and the less I realize I know and the more I focus on what I do know or 00:30:50.879 --> 00:30:53.480 what is revealed. 00:30:53.480 --> 00:30:57.559 And I don't worry so much about the stuff I don't know because I trust Jesus that He 00:30:57.559 --> 00:30:58.799 knows. 00:30:58.799 --> 00:31:04.079 And that's a great relief and that's a great release for me that I don't need to know 00:31:04.079 --> 00:31:06.119 all the time. 00:31:06.119 --> 00:31:10.759 And He has always guided me through, even when it's stuff I don't like. 00:31:10.759 --> 00:31:14.839 So I think patience and His faithfulness. 00:31:14.839 --> 00:31:23.159 Books, really difficult because I find books are things very much for seasons. 00:31:23.159 --> 00:31:28.039 So they're seasons of life when one book means more to you than another. 00:31:28.039 --> 00:31:36.359 And because those of you who know of me know me well, I'm not a great reader, I try and 00:31:36.359 --> 00:31:39.759 read people more than I read books. 00:31:39.759 --> 00:31:48.079 And that's just the way I am, although I read a lot for my profession, of course. 00:31:48.079 --> 00:31:52.399 But if I were to choose three books, it would be A Faith to Live By by Donald MacLeod, which 00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:58.280 kind of summarised the lectures that he gave when I was in the Free Church College as it 00:31:58.280 --> 00:32:04.000 was then, which has consistently been a significant and important book, theologically grounding 00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:08.160 my life and my faith and even my ministry. 00:32:08.160 --> 00:32:14.080 Second book would be How People Change by Trip and Lane or Instruments in the Redeemer's 00:32:14.080 --> 00:32:15.080 Hands. 00:32:15.080 --> 00:32:21.519 Two books that have been hugely influential in recognising and applying biblical truth 00:32:21.519 --> 00:32:25.639 to every situation in my life, which I think I've found very helpful. 00:32:25.639 --> 00:32:29.000 And kind of pastorally, probably the best. 00:32:29.000 --> 00:32:32.879 I don't mean that, that sounds very, I'm only reading for the sake of the work. 00:32:32.879 --> 00:32:38.960 But in my own life as well in terms of understanding suffering, I think when God weeps by Joni 00:32:38.960 --> 00:32:45.680 Erickson-Tarra, it's an immensely powerful book about suffering from someone who knows 00:32:45.680 --> 00:32:46.799 a lot about suffering. 00:32:46.799 --> 00:32:51.359 So these would be certainly three very significant books. 00:32:51.359 --> 00:32:54.199 The first question for me is pretty much, I was going to say the same thing that you 00:32:54.199 --> 00:32:56.399 said. 00:32:56.399 --> 00:33:02.639 I think the realisation more and more that as it used to be said that we all stand quorum 00:33:02.639 --> 00:33:06.599 dayo before the face of God at all times. 00:33:06.599 --> 00:33:13.879 So about the truth that God sees me and every single one of us here tonight all the time 00:33:13.879 --> 00:33:19.959 and sees you all the way to the bottom, all the way to the deepest parts of your heart 00:33:19.960 --> 00:33:26.039 and says son, daughter at the same time. 00:33:26.039 --> 00:33:34.400 And if there was a second subordinate one for me, a truth is just Heather actually mentioned 00:33:34.400 --> 00:33:40.640 this to say something about this today, but just waking up to the idea from time to time 00:33:40.640 --> 00:33:45.240 that I am completely unnecessary, contingent. 00:33:45.240 --> 00:33:47.160 Well Heather said that to you. 00:33:47.160 --> 00:33:48.160 Yeah, that's true. 00:33:48.160 --> 00:33:51.120 That's true, what do you think? 00:33:51.120 --> 00:33:57.040 She was to be fair to her, she was referring to this truth in her own life. 00:33:57.040 --> 00:33:58.519 She was speaking theologically. 00:33:58.519 --> 00:34:02.560 Yeah, exactly. 00:34:02.560 --> 00:34:06.560 But it is true for all of us. 00:34:06.560 --> 00:34:09.800 We're unnecessary, we're contingent beings. 00:34:09.800 --> 00:34:14.800 We don't need to exist and God doesn't need us, not at all. 00:34:14.800 --> 00:34:15.800 So those are the two for me. 00:34:15.800 --> 00:34:20.760 So three books, I don't know, is really the answer. 00:34:20.760 --> 00:34:26.560 I would be lying if I didn't say bobbins reform dogmatics, it has to be said. 00:34:26.560 --> 00:34:33.000 Augustine's Confessions, I think, I don't know if I have a third that I can say just 00:34:33.000 --> 00:34:39.000 clearly Calvin's Institutes would be another for me. 00:34:39.000 --> 00:34:42.600 But yeah, all right, let's move on. 00:34:42.600 --> 00:34:45.760 Okay, this is a tough one. 00:34:45.760 --> 00:34:53.640 Someone also asked a question about, question seven about side B Christianity. 00:34:53.640 --> 00:35:00.160 Yeah, and so the question or ultimately ends up asking the question, when does temptation 00:35:00.160 --> 00:35:02.520 become sin? 00:35:02.520 --> 00:35:06.280 The reason they're asking the question is because they asked a previous, they reflected 00:35:06.280 --> 00:35:10.280 briefly in it on what's called side B Christianity. 00:35:10.280 --> 00:35:13.800 At first I wasn't going to say a word about side B Christianity, but I think Derek thought 00:35:13.800 --> 00:35:14.800 it would be helpful too. 00:35:14.800 --> 00:35:26.160 I will, side B Christianity is an idea in largely, largely a you that you see in the 00:35:26.160 --> 00:35:32.080 US, but there are some theologians elsewhere that also emphasize side B Christianity. 00:35:32.080 --> 00:35:34.240 Side B Christianity says three things. 00:35:34.240 --> 00:35:42.680 Okay, it says one that same sex relationships are sinful, like a traditional Christian ethic. 00:35:42.679 --> 00:35:48.119 And that a person who is same sex attracted needs to be committed to chastity, to living 00:35:48.119 --> 00:35:49.759 a chase life in the midst of that. 00:35:49.759 --> 00:35:58.679 Number two, that the sin in same sex relationships only happens not at the level of desire, but 00:35:58.679 --> 00:36:00.799 at action. 00:36:00.799 --> 00:36:06.000 Okay, so that's the caveat inside B Christianity. 00:36:06.000 --> 00:36:14.000 And the third thing would be that because of the call to living a chaste life, it's 00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:20.119 necessary to seek what's been called spiritual friendships, which are serious committed 00:36:20.119 --> 00:36:25.159 spiritual relationships with the same, with a person of the same sex. 00:36:25.159 --> 00:36:27.920 That is of course not sexual in any way. 00:36:27.920 --> 00:36:32.559 So that's a basic overview of what's called side B. There's lots of reasons that is called 00:36:32.559 --> 00:36:33.559 side B. 00:36:33.559 --> 00:36:34.559 There's a side A. 00:36:34.559 --> 00:36:38.480 I won't get into all the differences right now. 00:36:38.480 --> 00:36:43.639 Can I just ask very quickly, how hands up people have heard of side B Christianity? 00:36:43.639 --> 00:36:47.480 I'll say four, five, six. 00:36:47.480 --> 00:36:48.480 Okay, interesting. 00:36:48.480 --> 00:36:54.639 Yeah, so side B, this is a very significant debate in the United States right now, very 00:36:54.639 --> 00:36:55.639 significant. 00:36:55.639 --> 00:37:00.239 The General Assemblies of many of the churches will meet in the next month or so to discuss 00:37:00.239 --> 00:37:04.320 this as they have been for the past couple of years. 00:37:04.320 --> 00:37:10.160 So that's what's behind this because inside B Christianity, it has an idea that temptation 00:37:10.160 --> 00:37:18.200 is not sinful, that desire is not necessarily sinful, but that what is sin is only when 00:37:18.200 --> 00:37:22.120 sin happens when you act. 00:37:22.120 --> 00:37:28.400 And I think when you look at the theology of Christianity from all the way back to the 00:37:28.400 --> 00:37:38.840 Bible to Paul and Ford, that that can't be the case, that desires that are out of accord 00:37:38.840 --> 00:37:44.000 with God's moral law are sinful even as desire. 00:37:44.000 --> 00:37:48.119 And so when does temptation become sin? 00:37:48.119 --> 00:37:53.680 Well, there's a couple places in scripture where we see someone tempted but not sinning 00:37:53.680 --> 00:37:54.680 like Jesus. 00:37:54.679 --> 00:38:00.000 So there's an argument there, well, look, you can be tempted and not be sinful at all. 00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:01.799 But here's the difference. 00:38:01.799 --> 00:38:07.759 The Bible nuances between two types of temptation, objective temptation and subjective. 00:38:07.759 --> 00:38:12.679 Objective temptation is temptation on the outside of you, a circumstance, one that you 00:38:12.679 --> 00:38:18.519 didn't create, like when Satan comes to tempt Jesus, that's an outward temptation. 00:38:18.519 --> 00:38:25.079 An inward temptation is when you have a desire to sin inside of you. 00:38:25.079 --> 00:38:30.639 Jesus had objective temptation, never subjective temptation. 00:38:30.639 --> 00:38:33.840 But we all have subjective temptation as well as objective temptation. 00:38:33.840 --> 00:38:37.440 A subjective temptation is sin. 00:38:37.440 --> 00:38:39.480 It's an expression of sinfulness. 00:38:39.480 --> 00:38:41.980 It's part of a fallen nature. 00:38:41.980 --> 00:38:45.960 When we want bad things, even if we don't act on them, it's still part of our sinfulness. 00:38:45.960 --> 00:38:52.440 And so that's basic Christian teaching really for the last 2000 years. 00:38:52.440 --> 00:38:53.440 Yeah, so anything? 00:38:53.440 --> 00:38:59.199 No, I think it's a really difficult question. 00:38:59.199 --> 00:39:00.199 It's very difficult. 00:39:00.199 --> 00:39:03.320 Yeah, and it's difficult debate. 00:39:03.320 --> 00:39:04.320 Yeah. 00:39:04.320 --> 00:39:10.400 Yeah, I would need to think more about that. 00:39:10.400 --> 00:39:12.920 I think we should go on to the last two questions because we've... 00:39:12.920 --> 00:39:13.920 Because of time is short. 00:39:13.920 --> 00:39:14.920 Okay. 00:39:14.920 --> 00:39:16.599 Yeah, that's fine. 00:39:16.599 --> 00:39:19.639 So it would be 10 and 11. 00:39:19.639 --> 00:39:20.639 Okay. 00:39:20.639 --> 00:39:22.360 So a couple of you were having a skit. 00:39:22.360 --> 00:39:23.760 We're sorry about that. 00:39:23.760 --> 00:39:28.639 10 and 11, what is the purpose of a sermon in communal worship? 00:39:28.639 --> 00:39:33.200 And what do I do if I don't get the point of the sermon? 00:39:33.200 --> 00:39:37.039 If you don't get the point of the sermon, just sack the minister. 00:39:37.039 --> 00:39:38.039 And... 00:39:38.039 --> 00:39:39.760 Or, no, don't do that. 00:39:39.760 --> 00:39:42.720 But if you don't get the point of the sermon, do ask the minister. 00:39:42.720 --> 00:39:44.480 Do ask whoever's preaching. 00:39:44.480 --> 00:39:45.480 I think that's really important. 00:39:45.480 --> 00:39:52.159 So now you might have to go away, both from your point of view and from, for example, 00:39:52.159 --> 00:39:53.880 Minor Corey's point of view. 00:39:53.880 --> 00:39:59.440 I was thinking, oh, we've got across a great message there today and everyone goes out 00:39:59.440 --> 00:40:02.639 not having a clue what you've talked about from that kind of point of view. 00:40:02.639 --> 00:40:06.840 It's very important if you don't understand something that you say or if you don't get 00:40:06.840 --> 00:40:12.480 the reasoning or if you think it was wrong in terms of understanding Scripture that you 00:40:12.480 --> 00:40:17.639 talk about that, that's very important. 00:40:17.639 --> 00:40:19.000 Because you should understand the sermon. 00:40:19.000 --> 00:40:21.760 It's very important to understand the preaching of the word. 00:40:21.760 --> 00:40:24.360 The preaching of the word is critical to us. 00:40:24.360 --> 00:40:28.719 We believe that's what God commands the church to do is to... 00:40:28.719 --> 00:40:36.199 There's a kind of semi-technical phrase for preaching that is given to those who are commissioned 00:40:36.199 --> 00:40:45.439 by the church or deigned, chosen by the church and by God and with that authority of being 00:40:45.439 --> 00:40:50.919 leaders and teachers, preachers and teachers, as we saw this morning when we were looking 00:40:50.919 --> 00:40:54.519 at Timothy. 00:40:54.519 --> 00:40:58.519 It's to be something that we regard as significant. 00:40:58.519 --> 00:41:03.399 It's not just a homily in a kind of take it or leave it in a way. 00:41:03.399 --> 00:41:04.879 It's the authority of God. 00:41:04.880 --> 00:41:08.160 So I've said this quite a lot over the years here. 00:41:08.160 --> 00:41:12.960 You're involved in the sermon as much as I am or a chore because you need to be receiving 00:41:12.960 --> 00:41:13.960 it. 00:41:13.960 --> 00:41:14.960 You need to be acting on it. 00:41:14.960 --> 00:41:16.640 You need to be drawing it out. 00:41:16.640 --> 00:41:19.360 You need to be saying, what is God telling me today? 00:41:19.360 --> 00:41:24.400 What am I being asked to obey, to follow, to serve, to change, to repent, to be encouraged 00:41:24.400 --> 00:41:26.000 by, to be uplifted? 00:41:26.000 --> 00:41:30.760 Every one of us should go out of a sermon changed and we all play part in that. 00:41:30.760 --> 00:41:34.840 It's proclamation of truth. 00:41:34.840 --> 00:41:44.120 The teaching of truth, it's the invitation of the gospel to come to faith and it's the 00:41:44.120 --> 00:41:47.360 pattern that we're given in the New Testament church. 00:41:47.360 --> 00:41:53.920 I think for us here, we look for the Sunday morning sermon, the Sunday sermons particularly 00:41:53.920 --> 00:41:54.920 to be inspired. 00:41:54.920 --> 00:42:01.800 I hope we aim them to be challenging, inspiring and motivational in the best sense of that 00:42:01.800 --> 00:42:06.320 word in a scriptural and spiritual way. 00:42:06.320 --> 00:42:09.800 We want it to be a highlight of your... 00:42:09.800 --> 00:42:15.760 Obviously a highlight of your week, that sounds a bit... 00:42:15.760 --> 00:42:21.400 Spiritually, I mean, this time together, it should be our highlight, spiritually, worshiping 00:42:21.400 --> 00:42:24.880 God and hearing from Him. 00:42:24.880 --> 00:42:27.600 And we should be hiding behind the word. 00:42:27.600 --> 00:42:29.160 It's not about us. 00:42:29.160 --> 00:42:30.760 It's about Jesus and the Word. 00:42:30.760 --> 00:42:32.120 And we kind of hide behind... 00:42:32.120 --> 00:42:37.240 That's why it's much easier for a preacher to preach than to give... 00:42:37.240 --> 00:42:41.680 Than to be an emcee at a wedding or to give a speech at something where it's just about 00:42:41.680 --> 00:42:42.680 himself. 00:42:42.680 --> 00:42:47.520 Preaching, you're hiding, you're hiding behind the lectern, but you're hiding behind the 00:42:47.520 --> 00:42:48.520 Word. 00:42:48.520 --> 00:42:50.040 You're coming under the... 00:42:50.040 --> 00:42:53.480 You're coming under the authority of the Word just as much as anyone else. 00:42:53.480 --> 00:43:02.360 And I think that has that communal purpose for us every week and it's counter-cultural 00:43:02.360 --> 00:43:03.360 again. 00:43:03.360 --> 00:43:10.760 Yeah, I'll just mention, I think we're saying very complimentary things here. 00:43:10.760 --> 00:43:12.039 Just put it in the most controversial way. 00:43:12.039 --> 00:43:19.719 I don't really think that sermons exist for us to remember what was said all that much 00:43:19.719 --> 00:43:27.000 because most often, and I have done this with our trainees that we have and that are candidates 00:43:27.000 --> 00:43:33.399 for ministry, I'll ask them, what did the preacher say yesterday? 00:43:33.399 --> 00:43:37.039 And these guys are all in seminary, so you think they're probably taking notes and stuff, 00:43:37.039 --> 00:43:43.919 but it's very rare that they can actually restate the points from yesterday's sermon, 00:43:43.919 --> 00:43:46.159 which is really interesting. 00:43:46.159 --> 00:43:50.039 So I say that to just simply say, the content of a sermon is very important. 00:43:50.039 --> 00:43:57.639 It's got to be biblically faithful and addressing the current issues of the day. 00:43:57.639 --> 00:44:02.039 But at the same time, I think sermons are moments like you're saying where the Holy 00:44:02.039 --> 00:44:08.239 Spirit comes and meets with us in a unique way and affections get stirred in such a way 00:44:08.239 --> 00:44:14.599 that you don't realize you're being changed, but over the years you are being changed. 00:44:14.599 --> 00:44:20.440 And you're not going to remember most of the time on such and such days, so and so made 00:44:20.440 --> 00:44:24.480 this point about Scripture, about this verse, whatever. 00:44:24.480 --> 00:44:27.119 Sometimes you do, but most of the time you don't. 00:44:27.119 --> 00:44:28.119 I don't. 00:44:28.119 --> 00:44:29.119 Do you? 00:44:29.119 --> 00:44:30.119 No. 00:44:30.119 --> 00:44:31.119 No? 00:44:31.119 --> 00:44:32.119 Okay. 00:44:32.119 --> 00:44:33.119 I don't remember why I preached. 00:44:33.119 --> 00:44:34.119 Yeah, I don't either. 00:44:34.119 --> 00:44:35.759 I can't remember what I preached on either, so that's what I'm saying. 00:44:35.759 --> 00:44:40.679 But that's why we say that the preaching moment is the proclamation of the Word of God, the 00:44:40.679 --> 00:44:43.199 Holy Spirit promises to come and bless it. 00:44:43.199 --> 00:44:49.359 And so the Spirit works on us even when we can't say two days later what it was about, 00:44:49.359 --> 00:44:55.319 you're being changed actually in little ways over time in a way that you don't know it. 00:44:55.319 --> 00:45:00.000 So it's an experience of the affections, I think, more than the mind. 00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:03.039 But last one? 00:45:03.039 --> 00:45:04.039 Last one. 00:45:04.039 --> 00:45:11.399 We talk a lot about how when God looks at the believer, he sees only the finished work 00:45:11.399 --> 00:45:13.039 of his son. 00:45:13.039 --> 00:45:17.800 But in the Bible, God still chastises believers for their sin. 00:45:17.800 --> 00:45:20.880 Does God still see sin in believers? 00:45:20.880 --> 00:45:24.360 Does God still see sin in a believer? 00:45:24.360 --> 00:45:31.719 Yes and no, is the answer, I think. 00:45:31.719 --> 00:45:34.440 But the no has to be first. 00:45:34.440 --> 00:45:46.320 And the no is that Paul teaches us very clearly that if you believe in Jesus Christ tonight, 00:45:46.320 --> 00:45:50.119 that you are what he calls in Christ. 00:45:50.119 --> 00:45:53.920 And we call that union with Christ. 00:45:53.920 --> 00:45:58.240 And when he talks about our union with Christ, he puts it all in the past tense. 00:45:58.240 --> 00:46:02.079 He'll say, you have died with Jesus. 00:46:02.079 --> 00:46:04.220 You have been raised with Jesus. 00:46:04.219 --> 00:46:06.919 You were buried with Jesus. 00:46:06.919 --> 00:46:08.759 You have been resurrected with Jesus. 00:46:08.759 --> 00:46:11.299 You sit on a throne with Jesus. 00:46:11.299 --> 00:46:17.000 So he uses past tense language to describe your condition in Christ. 00:46:17.000 --> 00:46:22.639 And that is so serious that what he means is that when Jesus went to the cross, if you're 00:46:22.639 --> 00:46:26.319 a believer, you died that day. 00:46:26.319 --> 00:46:31.679 And so the reason that one day you will stand before God and he will say, I see no sin in 00:46:31.679 --> 00:46:37.839 you is because on the day of Christ's death, you were so united to Jesus Christ that you 00:46:37.839 --> 00:46:40.119 died on the cross with Christ. 00:46:40.119 --> 00:46:43.719 Christ died with you, you and him, he and you. 00:46:43.719 --> 00:46:46.239 Then and there, that's union with Christ. 00:46:46.239 --> 00:46:53.719 So that means that legally and by the spirit, we often say mystically or by the spirit, 00:46:53.719 --> 00:46:58.079 you were so united to Jesus that God sees no sin in you. 00:46:58.079 --> 00:47:04.000 Because your sins already been crucified and actually Neil DM at General Assembly last 00:47:04.000 --> 00:47:06.599 week gave a great illustration of this reality. 00:47:06.599 --> 00:47:10.719 He was talking about something different, but he talked about how a lawyer will stand 00:47:10.719 --> 00:47:16.000 in front of the person that they're defending so that the judge cannot see the person. 00:47:16.000 --> 00:47:18.679 I think he said he does that. 00:47:18.679 --> 00:47:24.319 That's union with Christ that God tries to, when God, the judge stands and looks, he sees 00:47:24.319 --> 00:47:26.480 the advocates, not you. 00:47:26.480 --> 00:47:29.480 You're so in Christ that he sees Jesus. 00:47:29.480 --> 00:47:32.639 So legally you're innocent. 00:47:32.639 --> 00:47:37.480 But because we live in the now and not yet, we still live in this body of corruption with 00:47:37.480 --> 00:47:39.079 sinful passions. 00:47:39.079 --> 00:47:47.480 And so like a good father, legally sin free, actually lived life full of sin. 00:47:47.480 --> 00:47:51.840 So Luther said you're justified and you're also a sinner at the same time. 00:47:51.840 --> 00:48:00.640 And so like a good parent, God punishes and love his children at times in different ways, 00:48:00.640 --> 00:48:07.120 chastises like a parent who's disciplining a child who's still living in sin. 00:48:07.120 --> 00:48:09.240 But I'll stop talking and let you talk. 00:48:09.240 --> 00:48:16.760 But with this phrase, I think the best way to sum this up is what Paul preaches is, 00:48:16.760 --> 00:48:21.079 Christian, become who you are in Christ. 00:48:21.079 --> 00:48:25.599 To live life in accordance with what you actually are. 00:48:25.599 --> 00:48:29.400 You are sinless in Christ Jesus legally. 00:48:29.400 --> 00:48:33.759 So live your life in Christ. 00:48:33.759 --> 00:48:35.599 Let that be on display. 00:48:35.599 --> 00:48:39.039 Fight for holiness because you are holy legally. 00:48:39.039 --> 00:48:40.119 So become what you are. 00:48:40.119 --> 00:48:43.119 I think that's a way of summarizing Paul's teaching on this. 00:48:43.119 --> 00:48:44.119 Oh, good. 00:48:44.119 --> 00:48:45.119 No, that's good. 00:48:45.119 --> 00:48:46.119 Okay. 00:48:46.119 --> 00:48:47.119 All right. 00:48:47.119 --> 00:48:49.480 Well, we had to skip a couple. 00:48:49.480 --> 00:48:53.760 So sorry about that. If yours got skipped, we'd love to chat with you at the end. 00:48:53.760 --> 00:48:59.639 If there's anything tonight as well that you want some clarity on, you were frustrated 00:48:59.639 --> 00:49:02.480 by, that's okay. 00:49:02.480 --> 00:49:05.519 We welcome that very much. 00:49:05.519 --> 00:49:08.280 One of the things is I'm shooting from the hip a little bit. 00:49:08.280 --> 00:49:12.559 So probably said some things that I'll listen back to and think we could have said that 00:49:12.559 --> 00:49:14.599 better differently. 00:49:14.599 --> 00:49:17.000 But please do come talk. 00:49:17.000 --> 00:49:18.559 And also this is always available. 00:49:18.559 --> 00:49:19.960 We always want to get together. 00:49:19.960 --> 00:49:23.559 We always want to talk about the things of God. 00:49:23.559 --> 00:49:24.559 So let me pray. 00:49:24.559 --> 00:49:25.559 Or do you want to say something? 00:49:25.559 --> 00:49:26.559 No. 00:49:26.559 --> 00:49:27.559 Okay. 00:49:27.559 --> 00:49:28.559 Let me pray. 00:49:28.559 --> 00:49:30.079 Father, we give thanks for this time. 00:49:30.079 --> 00:49:32.199 We give thanks for Sunday nights. 00:49:32.199 --> 00:49:37.559 And we pray for our church and the people who are here tonight that you would bless them. 00:49:37.559 --> 00:49:41.920 May the words that have been spoken be true and where they're not. 00:49:41.920 --> 00:49:46.000 May we be like Bereans and be able to discern the differences. 00:49:46.000 --> 00:49:50.239 And like Derek preached this morning, Lord, give us hearts that would confront one another 00:49:50.239 --> 00:49:54.000 and be happy to talk but not gossip. 00:49:54.000 --> 00:49:58.960 And so we do ask for that spirit amongst the body, Lord, that we would always be searching, 00:49:58.960 --> 00:50:03.280 always be hungry for the knowledge of the things that you've revealed to us. 00:50:03.280 --> 00:50:05.880 Open our eyes to see what was and we pray. 00:50:05.880 --> 00:50:06.880 In Christ's name. 00:50:06.880 --> 00:50:16.880 Amen.