WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:11.480 Years ago, I lived on the north shore of Boston, and there are a lot of little beaches up there, 00:00:11.560 --> 00:00:17.280 and I had a good friend who bought a rubber inflatable raft, and some of us thought it 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:22.699 would be a good idea to take this raft to one of those little rocky beaches and to paddle out 00:00:22.699 --> 00:00:30.879 and see how far out we could get. You see where this is headed, and we all pack into this raft, 00:00:31.660 --> 00:00:36.219 and we start paddling it out, and we make it past the breakers, and then this strong current 00:00:36.219 --> 00:00:43.079 grabs a hold of us, and we start moving down the beach, and our paddles are powerless against this 00:00:43.079 --> 00:00:50.359 current, and then the sky starts to get darker and darker, and a storm hits, and it sounds like we're 00:00:50.359 --> 00:00:58.519 still in Jeff's Jonah series. A storm hits, and the water gets choppy, and then the big waves start 00:00:58.519 --> 00:01:04.900 to come in, and before long, we're desperate, and eventually, we capsize, and we're all holding on 00:01:04.900 --> 00:01:11.439 to this upside-down raft, trying to drag it back toward the shore. Eventually, obviously, we all 00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:18.159 made it back. Praise God. But we learned a very valuable lesson, and in fact, a whole slew of 00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:23.560 lessons that day, there were a lot of things that we were obviously lacking, right, including common 00:01:23.560 --> 00:01:30.379 sense. But one of the main things that we were lacking, and we didn't know this because none of 00:01:30.379 --> 00:01:39.379 us are very familiar with boating. One of the things we lacked was ballast. Ballast is essential, 00:01:39.699 --> 00:01:45.599 especially for larger boats, especially sailboats. In order to navigate the open ocean, 00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:51.839 they need something called ballast, which is essentially weight in the hull. It's in the bottom 00:01:51.839 --> 00:01:57.780 of the boat that keeps the boat upright, and sometimes that ballast is attached to a keel, 00:01:57.879 --> 00:02:04.239 and so this is a diagram of one such boat, and you see right here, there's this ballast bulb that, 00:02:04.439 --> 00:02:11.639 in this case, weighs 8,400 pounds made out of lead. So that's a lot of weight on the bottom of a boat, 00:02:11.639 --> 00:02:17.079 but it's very important to have that weight because that ballast keeps the boat upright. 00:02:17.699 --> 00:02:23.419 So when the currents and the wind and the waves are all working on this boat, the ballast keeps the 00:02:23.419 --> 00:02:31.659 boat up, and it keeps it from capsizing. It does not matter how nice your boat is. I read a story of 00:02:31.659 --> 00:02:41.359 back in the 90s. A guy built and custom built a $650,000 racing vessel that had all the latest 00:02:41.359 --> 00:02:47.019 technology. He wanted to sail around the world, and then he disappeared a few days after departing, 00:02:47.079 --> 00:02:53.139 and they eventually found the craft upside down floating in the water, the mast plunging down 00:02:53.139 --> 00:03:00.839 into the deep, and they noticed right away what the problem was. The ballast had been sheared off. 00:03:01.199 --> 00:03:07.159 This is, in fact, the design from that boat, and that piece holding that ballast had just been sheared 00:03:07.159 --> 00:03:12.739 off, and so without that ballast, that really nice, fancy, high-tech boat flipped right upside down. 00:03:14.219 --> 00:03:20.399 Ballast is absolutely essential. The reason I'm talking about this is the ballast is also crucial in 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:30.700 life. We need a ballast, what we might call spiritual ballast, because life is extremely difficult, 00:03:31.819 --> 00:03:38.520 and in a swimming pool, you can have a raft like we had, maybe in a nice small pond, but real life isn't 00:03:38.520 --> 00:03:44.319 lived out in a swimming pool or a pond. Real life is like sailing on the open ocean, and there's currents 00:03:44.319 --> 00:03:51.699 and big waves and storms and wind, and we need something that keeps us upright and keeps us going forward. 00:03:52.620 --> 00:03:59.039 Otherwise, we'll capsize, and if you have something like that in your life, if you have ballast, 00:03:59.280 --> 00:04:04.079 then you can really face anything, and we all can probably think of people in our lives who are like that. 00:04:04.120 --> 00:04:09.819 They just seem to be able to move through all kinds of tragedies. They know it. They face it. 00:04:09.819 --> 00:04:15.400 They grieve it, but it doesn't capsize them, and we know other people who maybe face relatively less, 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:23.360 and somehow everything seems to be a 10 out of 10 crisis, and they're turned upside down, and the 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:30.100 difference likely is that some people tend to have ballast that keeps them right side up. So the question 00:04:30.100 --> 00:04:36.620 we want to ask this morning is, where do we get that kind of ballast? Where does that come from? And I know 00:04:36.620 --> 00:04:40.519 we have some kids here, and what we've been doing every week is giving the kids an image to focus on. 00:04:40.600 --> 00:04:45.579 You have hopefully some art materials, things you can draw with. This week, I'd love for you, I'll give 00:04:45.579 --> 00:04:53.180 you two options. One is I want you to draw a beautiful sailboat moving through the water, tall sails, 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:58.819 mast, beautiful sky. You can draw a storm if you want. Option B is that you draw what you would imagine 00:04:58.819 --> 00:05:04.699 my friends and I looking like in the raft. And bonus points if you get the tears on my cheeks 00:05:04.699 --> 00:05:10.479 as I was crying out for God to save us. But those are your options for art this morning. 00:05:10.719 --> 00:05:16.539 The question is, where do we get this ballast from? We're looking at Romans chapter 8. This is the 00:05:16.539 --> 00:05:22.159 climax of everything that Paul has set up as his entire letter, all eight chapters. And it feels kind 00:05:22.159 --> 00:05:26.560 of weird for me to have been gone for a few weeks of rest, and then to come back, and then I get to 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:31.500 preach this climactic verse. It doesn't feel fair. I feel like I should have earned it to kind of, you know, 00:05:31.500 --> 00:05:36.560 work through, you know, chapters 5 and 6 and 7 to get to this point. But this is where Paul has been 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:42.980 driving his entire letter to get to this climactic section. It climaxes in verse 38 and 39. 00:05:43.860 --> 00:05:49.620 And all of this is aimed at really giving us one thing, right? The entire chapter 8 is talking about 00:05:49.620 --> 00:05:54.100 all the things that the Holy Spirit does in our lives. He's already talked about all the things that 00:05:54.100 --> 00:05:59.519 Jesus has done, right? And we get to verse 8, and here's all the things the Holy Spirit does. Why does all 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:06.779 this matter? What's the end goal? It's so that Paul can give us ultimate assurance, 00:06:08.039 --> 00:06:15.740 ultimate assurance that no matter what, nothing can separate us from God's love. 00:06:17.319 --> 00:06:24.919 Nothing. And that ultimate assurance is the greatest spiritual ballast we will ever find. 00:06:24.920 --> 00:06:32.920 Because with the weight of that truth sitting in the center of your life, you will always stay upright. 00:06:33.300 --> 00:06:38.620 And once you have it, you can never lose it. And that's what makes it unique. So we're going to 00:06:38.620 --> 00:06:45.340 look at this passage in more detail, spiritual ballast of this assurance of God's love. Why do we need it? 00:06:45.339 --> 00:06:52.819 How do we get it? Let's pray. Lord, we thank you this morning that despite whatever challenges we 00:06:52.819 --> 00:07:01.299 faced, maybe getting here, Lord, packing up, getting our kids dressed, traffic, parking, heat, 00:07:01.839 --> 00:07:08.219 Lord, whatever might be pulling at our minds, distracting us, things that are vying for our 00:07:08.220 --> 00:07:15.100 attention, whatever sources of stress or anxiety, we're tamping down, Lord, whatever conflicts we 00:07:15.100 --> 00:07:21.660 may have been working out as we walked in the door. Lord, we thank you that your spirit is here with us 00:07:21.660 --> 00:07:29.880 and that you are a God who speaks. And you speak out of a heart of love. And your eternal nature is 00:07:29.879 --> 00:07:38.159 always to have mercy. So we pray that, Lord, out of your mercy and grace and out of your heart of love, 00:07:38.199 --> 00:07:43.800 you would speak to your children this morning. We need to hear your voice. We pray this in your son's 00:07:43.800 --> 00:07:53.100 holy name. Amen. So why do we need this assurance, this ballast? In verse 35, Paul lists some of the 00:07:53.100 --> 00:08:00.820 realities that we have to face in life. So he says tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, 00:08:01.140 --> 00:08:07.960 nakedness, danger, sword. Let's put this in more modern context. He's talking about outer struggles, 00:08:09.400 --> 00:08:15.660 circumstantial difficulties, things that we have no control over. He's talking about inner struggles, 00:08:15.660 --> 00:08:26.280 distress, right? Distress, things like anxiety, depression, loneliness, hopelessness, despair, right? 00:08:27.540 --> 00:08:32.540 He says persecution, that's the suffering that you endure, either soft persecution or more 00:08:32.540 --> 00:08:39.620 hard-edged versions of persecution because of your faith. Famine and nakedness refer to physical 00:08:39.620 --> 00:08:47.779 vulnerability, our creatureliness, and how easily our sense of safety and comfort can be taken away. 00:08:49.080 --> 00:08:51.759 Some of us deal with chronic pain and illness. 00:08:54.560 --> 00:09:01.320 Danger means the fear that we feel in the face of an unknown future. All of the possibilities right 00:09:01.320 --> 00:09:07.639 around the corner awaiting us tomorrow that we have no control over. And of course, the sword refers to 00:09:07.639 --> 00:09:15.259 the greatest threat of all, that existential reality looming just outside of the reach of our imagination, 00:09:16.100 --> 00:09:25.799 but always there, the reality of death that waits for us all. And what Paul is essentially laying out is 00:09:25.799 --> 00:09:33.480 this fact, life can be extraordinarily challenging. And for those who claim to believe that God loves us, 00:09:33.480 --> 00:09:41.940 life doesn't often look like God is loving us. It often feels like we are on our own. 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:52.259 That we are cast adrift in the open ocean to fend for ourselves. And so we all have things that we rely on 00:09:52.259 --> 00:09:59.480 to give us stability and comfort. And whatever that thing is, whatever you rely on to ground you as you're 00:09:59.480 --> 00:10:05.940 dealing with, dealing with anxiety and stress and vulnerability and fear, depression, whatever you rely 00:10:05.940 --> 00:10:08.639 on, that is essentially your ballast. 00:10:10.539 --> 00:10:16.920 Right? So what are the things that you cling to when life starts to get hard and when the waves get high? 00:10:17.080 --> 00:10:21.440 Whatever you look at and you say, as long as I have this, I'll be okay. 00:10:21.440 --> 00:10:28.040 Whatever you look at and you say, as long as I don't lose this, I'll be okay. 00:10:28.500 --> 00:10:35.820 You can take everything else away from me, but as long as I don't lose this, I'll stay upright. 00:10:36.020 --> 00:10:37.260 That's your ballast. 00:10:39.540 --> 00:10:43.960 So a lot of us look for that, especially people who move to a city like D.C. 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:46.000 A lot of us are hardworking, ambitious people. 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:49.820 So a lot of us, at least some of our ballast comes from our career. 00:10:50.059 --> 00:10:56.259 As long as my career is moving forward and I have a stable job and I feel like there's upward mobility 00:10:56.259 --> 00:10:59.759 and I'm feeling successful relative to my peers, then I'll be okay. 00:11:01.159 --> 00:11:07.500 Some of us try to find it in romance, in new relationships, dating relationships we're excited about, 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:12.299 people who seem interested in us and affirm us, or maybe in marriage we get married 00:11:12.299 --> 00:11:15.000 and we think this will be the person who's my ballast. 00:11:15.979 --> 00:11:18.979 And now I'll have some grounding, and as long as we're together. 00:11:20.319 --> 00:11:22.479 Some people find it in their kids. 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:28.559 As long as my kids are safe, I can deal with anything as long as my kids are okay. 00:11:29.939 --> 00:11:34.519 Some of us try to find it in making a difference through meaningful pursuits and causes. 00:11:34.620 --> 00:11:35.919 I'm going to give myself to this thing. 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:40.439 I'll sacrifice everything, but as long as I feel a sense of meaning and purpose, then I'll be okay. 00:11:40.439 --> 00:11:41.419 That's your ballast. 00:11:42.299 --> 00:11:48.719 And it's natural, it's normal for us to rely on those things to give us some sense of grounding and worth and stability. 00:11:49.379 --> 00:11:53.339 For a lot of people, this is maybe worth delving into a little more, for a lot of people, 00:11:53.779 --> 00:11:57.019 your ballast comes at least in some measure from your health. 00:11:58.500 --> 00:11:59.199 From your health. 00:12:00.019 --> 00:12:02.799 There's a philosopher named Simon Critchley who writes about this, 00:12:02.859 --> 00:12:07.719 and he writes about the fact that even though religious belief is still fairly strong in the West, 00:12:07.720 --> 00:12:10.800 I mean, the percentage of people who believe in God, who believe in the supernatural, 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:16.200 who believe in the possibility of miracles, still relatively high in the West, but here's what he says. 00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:22.180 The deeper truth is that such religious belief, complete with a heavenly afterlife, 00:12:22.740 --> 00:12:26.720 brings believers little solace in the face of death. 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:32.820 Very religious society, but not a lot of comfort drawn from those religious beliefs. 00:12:32.820 --> 00:12:40.080 The only priesthood, he says, in which people really believe is the medical profession. 00:12:41.280 --> 00:12:47.140 And the purpose of their sacramental drugs and technology is to support longevity. 00:12:47.860 --> 00:12:52.400 The sole unquestioned good of contemporary Western life. 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:54.899 I thought that was very insightful. 00:12:56.279 --> 00:12:58.000 The priesthood of the medical profession. 00:12:58.079 --> 00:12:58.959 Now, my dad's a doctor. 00:12:59.039 --> 00:13:00.319 A lot of you work in the medical profession. 00:13:00.439 --> 00:13:04.480 This isn't anything against the medical profession as a career. 00:13:04.600 --> 00:13:07.039 Thank God for all of you. 00:13:07.100 --> 00:13:11.860 It is, though, raising a question about how much stock we put in and how much we prioritize. 00:13:12.679 --> 00:13:14.439 Longevity is an unquestioned good. 00:13:15.980 --> 00:13:21.199 For many people, our ballast does our own health and, to some degree, comfort. 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:22.720 As long as I have that, I'm okay. 00:13:23.140 --> 00:13:27.660 You may be familiar with the tech entrepreneur, Brian Johnson. 00:13:29.040 --> 00:13:30.100 Apologies for the photo. 00:13:30.200 --> 00:13:31.800 It'll make sense in a moment, hopefully. 00:13:32.759 --> 00:13:34.820 Brian Johnson made his money in tech. 00:13:34.900 --> 00:13:36.700 He's sort of, as people like to say, a tech bro. 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:46.000 And now he spends $2 million a year trying to reverse his age to prove, as he has said, 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:50.280 to prove that decay is not inevitable. 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:55.320 In other words, to prove that death is not inevitable. 00:13:57.440 --> 00:14:02.520 Combating one of the core principles of thermodynamics that we see all through the universe, 00:14:03.140 --> 00:14:06.940 the law of entropy, he's saying is not inevitable. 00:14:06.940 --> 00:14:09.000 Right? 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:15.300 And so he has an entire regimen to try to restore his body to that of a teenage boy. 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:20.100 He employs a team of 30 doctors and regenerative health experts. 00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:23.500 He takes 61 pills a day. 00:14:23.680 --> 00:14:32.640 He receives plasma infusions, right here, from his 17-year-old son as a part of this. 00:14:32.639 --> 00:14:36.399 It's a sort of vampirism in a way. 00:14:36.960 --> 00:14:43.139 He eats 70 pounds, 70 pounds of brown vegetable mush every month. 00:14:43.139 --> 00:14:52.919 He wakes up at 4.30 a.m. every day, and every hour of his day is monitored and regimented according to an algorithm. 00:14:54.919 --> 00:14:56.600 As one journalist put it, 00:14:57.259 --> 00:15:00.500 from the photos, these measures certainly seem to be working. 00:15:01.059 --> 00:15:05.139 The 45-year-old tech entrepreneur looks approximately 43. 00:15:05.139 --> 00:15:20.980 But Johnson represents a growing sense that we have as our technology and science and wealth go up that we can do anything. 00:15:21.720 --> 00:15:26.980 And one of the greatest fields yet to be conquered is that sense of the inevitability of death. 00:15:26.980 --> 00:15:36.340 That one day my health will be sheared off like that ballast was sheared off of that sailboat. 00:15:37.159 --> 00:15:47.659 One day Brian Johnson is going to die, and there will be a recognition that while he may have extended some of his years 00:15:47.659 --> 00:15:53.580 in whatever relative quality of life he has chosen, he will not live forever. 00:15:53.580 --> 00:16:00.840 And this illustrates really the biggest problem with most of the things that we rely on to be ballast in our lives. 00:16:00.980 --> 00:16:09.280 Whether it's your health, or your friends, or your marriage, or your family, or your career, or your security, or your comfort. 00:16:09.720 --> 00:16:16.639 At any moment, at any moment, any of these things can be taken away. 00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:20.980 You are one doctor's visit away. 00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:23.639 One phone call away. 00:16:24.679 --> 00:16:27.659 From that thing being sheared off. 00:16:29.439 --> 00:16:31.120 And you're losing your ballast. 00:16:32.799 --> 00:16:38.259 So, any of these things, if they become that weight in the whole of our lives, 00:16:38.779 --> 00:16:42.740 there's a fundamental insecurity that comes along with that. 00:16:42.740 --> 00:16:46.340 It's a kind of conditional ballast. 00:16:47.700 --> 00:16:49.580 And as long as you have it, you're okay. 00:16:49.680 --> 00:16:52.659 But there's always that nagging voice in the back of your mind that says, 00:16:52.919 --> 00:16:55.139 I could lose this thing, and then what? 00:16:55.399 --> 00:16:56.680 I can't imagine that. 00:16:57.779 --> 00:17:01.600 So, a lot of times, whatever that is, we build our entire lives around that thing. 00:17:01.680 --> 00:17:03.799 It becomes a kind of idol that we worship. 00:17:03.919 --> 00:17:05.000 It becomes our God. 00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:14.839 So, the ballast that we need has to be something that we can't lose. 00:17:15.180 --> 00:17:20.859 It has to be something that can't be taken away, that can't be sheared off no matter what, 00:17:20.920 --> 00:17:22.019 even in the face of death. 00:17:23.059 --> 00:17:26.980 And that is the entire point of this passage in Romans chapter 8, 00:17:26.980 --> 00:17:34.980 that there is only one thing in life that once you have it, it can't ever be taken away, even in death. 00:17:36.740 --> 00:17:44.240 And that is the reality, the fact, the ultimate weight and glory of God's love for you. 00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:51.620 And we're not talking about just the general sense in which, yes, God loves everybody. 00:17:51.859 --> 00:17:58.200 The highly personal, eternal, covenantal love that God has for you, for his people. 00:17:58.299 --> 00:18:01.140 If you were to ask your parents, do you love me, Mom? 00:18:01.220 --> 00:18:02.140 Do you love me, Dad? 00:18:02.220 --> 00:18:03.579 Well, we love everybody. 00:18:03.880 --> 00:18:04.960 That's not what you want to hear. 00:18:05.500 --> 00:18:07.400 If you ask your spouse, do you love me? 00:18:07.660 --> 00:18:08.759 Well, I love all people. 00:18:08.759 --> 00:18:14.339 You want to hear, I love you. 00:18:14.519 --> 00:18:15.579 I want you. 00:18:15.859 --> 00:18:17.299 I've chosen you. 00:18:19.400 --> 00:18:20.480 God's covenant love. 00:18:20.619 --> 00:18:21.539 How do we get that? 00:18:23.299 --> 00:18:26.839 We have to recognize three things that come from this passage. 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:31.240 Number one, we have to recognize there's a reason that we long for this deep down, 00:18:31.539 --> 00:18:34.359 and it's because this is the reason that God made us. 00:18:35.420 --> 00:18:38.539 God made us to be loved. 00:18:38.759 --> 00:18:44.259 There's a great saint in history that some of you are familiar with, St. Augustine, 00:18:44.359 --> 00:18:51.940 who wrote the famous book, The Confessions, about his life before coming to faith in Jesus 00:18:51.940 --> 00:18:52.920 and how that happened. 00:18:53.640 --> 00:18:59.099 And he essentially tells the story of the things that he looked to to be ballast in his life, 00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:05.599 largely career, ambition, and various forms of hedonistic pursuit. 00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:14.740 But he slowly came to see something really profound, that all of these pursuits amounted to a disordered 00:19:14.740 --> 00:19:18.219 and misguided search for God's love. 00:19:19.219 --> 00:19:21.379 He's like, I thought I was running away from God. 00:19:21.439 --> 00:19:23.019 I thought I was running away from it all. 00:19:23.039 --> 00:19:27.980 But I realized that in all of my running, the thing that I was really looking for was God's love. 00:19:27.980 --> 00:19:32.819 You know, there's that quote from the novelist Bruce Marshall. 00:19:32.980 --> 00:19:37.579 It's often attributed to people like Chesterton or Lewis, but it really comes from Bruce Marshall. 00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:39.839 Mid-20th century novelist, 00:19:40.519 --> 00:19:45.220 the young man who rings the bell at the brothel is unconsciously searching for God. 00:19:45.220 --> 00:19:52.120 The young man who rings the bell at the brothel is unconsciously looking for God. 00:19:53.380 --> 00:19:57.860 New York Times published a piece, I think it was last week or the week before, style section. 00:19:58.360 --> 00:20:05.259 This actor, comedian, Jenny Gorlick, just writes about reality of life in New York, in L.A. 00:20:05.259 --> 00:20:09.299 She does a stint in L.A. looking for kind of her big break. 00:20:09.299 --> 00:20:14.919 She talks about being ghosted by the guy that she's dating and really likes. 00:20:15.539 --> 00:20:20.799 She talks about being dumped by her best friend who starts to get acting roles and become more successful. 00:20:21.639 --> 00:20:27.019 She talks about being passed over again and again and again for gigs that she auditions for. 00:20:27.539 --> 00:20:31.180 And she talks about the exhaustion of having to constantly audition. 00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:34.000 Auditioning for romance. 00:20:35.019 --> 00:20:36.180 Auditioning for friendships. 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:38.879 Auditioning for acting gigs. 00:20:39.299 --> 00:20:44.180 And she talks about the exhaustion of constantly putting everything out there only to be told, 00:20:44.440 --> 00:20:46.259 No, you're not the one. 00:20:46.839 --> 00:20:48.279 Thanks, next. 00:20:48.859 --> 00:20:52.539 Over and over and over in every sphere of her life. 00:20:53.159 --> 00:20:58.639 And at the end of the, you know, there's a lot we could dwell on in that, in that, in that, if we had time, you should read it. 00:20:58.879 --> 00:21:01.480 But at the end, she says something that really caught my attention. 00:21:01.480 --> 00:21:03.960 She says, There are thousands of no's. 00:21:05.500 --> 00:21:07.759 But they say it only takes one yes. 00:21:07.759 --> 00:21:07.819 Yes. 00:21:09.220 --> 00:21:10.839 And I'm worth a yes. 00:21:12.519 --> 00:21:19.019 She's aware on some level deep down that there is one yes out there. 00:21:19.019 --> 00:21:23.059 There's one yes that she's really looking for. 00:21:23.980 --> 00:21:25.839 There's one yes that really matters. 00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:28.579 And I'm not sure she would articulate it this way. 00:21:29.819 --> 00:21:36.599 But as I read it, I thought, This is a person who is yearning for that one ultimate yes. 00:21:37.599 --> 00:21:44.139 And I think we all live in search of that one ultimate yes. 00:21:44.140 --> 00:21:50.640 For someone whose opinion matters in some ultimate way to look at you and say, I want you. 00:21:51.520 --> 00:21:53.100 I've chosen you. 00:21:53.640 --> 00:21:55.660 I'm committing myself to you. 00:21:56.940 --> 00:21:58.100 You're the one. 00:21:59.100 --> 00:21:59.340 Right? 00:21:59.460 --> 00:22:00.460 You have worth. 00:22:00.600 --> 00:22:01.600 You are cherished. 00:22:01.780 --> 00:22:02.740 You are loved. 00:22:03.640 --> 00:22:05.280 That one ultimate yes. 00:22:05.279 --> 00:22:19.319 And as St. Augustine realized in his quest, all of these pursuits in our lives, all of these other sources of ballast are really a quest and a longing for God's love. 00:22:19.319 --> 00:22:36.059 As he realizes in his confessions, very famously, you have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you, until we have the weight of your love in the whole of our lives. 00:22:38.299 --> 00:22:41.980 God's made us for himself to know his love and to love him in return. 00:22:42.220 --> 00:22:42.679 Here's the thing. 00:22:42.759 --> 00:22:46.240 Until you come to recognize that, your life is not going to make sense. 00:22:46.240 --> 00:22:53.039 Because everything that you pursue, everything that you go after, there's only two possibilities. 00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:57.440 One, you don't get it, and it eludes you. 00:22:57.620 --> 00:22:59.599 Or maybe the worst possibility, you get it. 00:22:59.920 --> 00:23:02.779 And then you realize it's not the thing that you thought it was. 00:23:04.400 --> 00:23:07.440 It doesn't do for you what you thought it would do. 00:23:07.599 --> 00:23:11.940 You know, I was talking yesterday with some friends about how many celebrities make it and they get famous. 00:23:11.940 --> 00:23:17.279 And then it crushes them because they realize I've been chasing this for most of my life and now I got it. 00:23:17.820 --> 00:23:18.960 And it's not the thing. 00:23:19.120 --> 00:23:20.779 It's not the weight in the whole of my life. 00:23:20.860 --> 00:23:22.440 It's not doing what it was supposed to do. 00:23:22.539 --> 00:23:23.100 Now what? 00:23:25.140 --> 00:23:27.100 So the first thing is this is what we were made for. 00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:31.600 The second thing we have to realize is this is the mission that Jesus came to accomplish for us. 00:23:32.100 --> 00:23:33.660 This is why Jesus came. 00:23:33.660 --> 00:23:40.720 The most important part of the story for St. Augustine was not only his realization about his own heart, that he's been searching for God. 00:23:40.980 --> 00:23:48.460 More importantly, it was his realization that in spite of the fact that he was running from God, that God had been pursuing him. 00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:59.240 That God had been orchestrating events in his life to ultimately lead him back around into God's embrace. 00:23:59.240 --> 00:24:06.220 And, you know, Paul's entire letter to the Romans up to this point says this again and again in different ways. 00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:11.039 That on our own, human beings live lives on the run from God. 00:24:11.400 --> 00:24:15.400 And he says, you know, there are some people who do this in irreligious ways. 00:24:15.559 --> 00:24:17.000 They leave God behind. 00:24:17.180 --> 00:24:20.559 They want to make their own meaning and live how they please. 00:24:20.559 --> 00:24:25.500 But then there are other people who run from God through their religious devotion. 00:24:26.119 --> 00:24:35.519 By thinking that through their devotion, through their piety, through their moral excellence, they can somehow aspire to God's standard. 00:24:35.619 --> 00:24:38.419 And he says both are just ways of running from God. 00:24:39.720 --> 00:24:46.159 And the whole point that he makes is that all of salvation history is the story of God pursuing people who are running from him. 00:24:46.160 --> 00:24:55.040 You know, in the lectionary, the Old Testament reading was a confession that comes out of Nehemiah that says what we then hear recapitulated in the psalm that we just read. 00:24:55.400 --> 00:25:04.340 That in the midst of God's people rebelling against him and complaining to him and having no faith in him and worshiping idols in the wilderness back in the Exodus, 00:25:05.180 --> 00:25:11.100 God is nevertheless loving them and providing for them and feeding them and nourishing them. 00:25:11.099 --> 00:25:16.359 That's the picture of a God who is continually pursuing his people. 00:25:17.939 --> 00:25:21.139 And this is what Paul says as he builds to this crescendo. 00:25:21.980 --> 00:25:25.879 Verses 29 and 30, God looked at you and God said, yes. 00:25:27.639 --> 00:25:29.299 The ultimate yes. 00:25:29.839 --> 00:25:31.339 I want you. 00:25:32.179 --> 00:25:33.679 I want you for myself. 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:38.700 And Paul says he set you apart to be conformed to the image of his son. 00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:40.080 He called you. 00:25:40.220 --> 00:25:42.080 He awakened and enlivened your heart. 00:25:42.299 --> 00:25:45.000 He justified you through the death of his son on the cross. 00:25:46.019 --> 00:25:50.640 And so right now at this very moment, Paul says in verse 34, even as we sit here this morning, 00:25:51.860 --> 00:25:55.240 Jesus is standing before the father interceding for us. 00:25:55.240 --> 00:25:58.640 And he's not saying, oh, give him a break. 00:26:00.519 --> 00:26:05.620 He's saying all of their running, all of their rebellion has been dealt with. 00:26:05.900 --> 00:26:07.160 Look, it's right here. 00:26:07.220 --> 00:26:08.440 It's all been dealt with. 00:26:09.120 --> 00:26:12.680 There's nothing standing in the way anymore, father. 00:26:12.859 --> 00:26:13.779 These are your children. 00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:17.880 Let them run to you and feel your embrace. 00:26:17.880 --> 00:26:25.720 All of this reaches a climax then in verses 38 and 39 where Paul says, because of everything 00:26:25.720 --> 00:26:32.440 that God has done in history, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us 00:26:32.440 --> 00:26:35.640 from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, not even death. 00:26:36.980 --> 00:26:37.840 Not even death. 00:26:39.040 --> 00:26:41.860 Now, there are some people, we don't have time to really get into this, but there are some 00:26:41.860 --> 00:26:46.280 people who believe they read certain parts of scripture which seem to indicate this. 00:26:46.279 --> 00:26:48.339 They believe that you can lose your salvation. 00:26:49.379 --> 00:26:54.059 They believe that you can come to faith and follow Jesus for a while and then maybe you 00:26:54.059 --> 00:26:59.359 go to college and you take an intro to philosophy class and you sort of, you know, you read some 00:26:59.359 --> 00:27:02.440 Nietzsche and then you, you know, you're done with it, right? 00:27:02.500 --> 00:27:03.619 And you lose your salvation. 00:27:05.599 --> 00:27:06.559 I don't believe that. 00:27:07.980 --> 00:27:12.039 I think that once you come to God and once you belong to him and once you have his love, 00:27:12.079 --> 00:27:14.319 I think these verses in 38 and 39 are true. 00:27:14.319 --> 00:27:20.839 I think that there's nothing that can separate you from the love of God, even you. 00:27:22.240 --> 00:27:22.960 Even you. 00:27:24.839 --> 00:27:31.960 So I know there are people who in various ways are, you know, struggling in their faith. 00:27:32.119 --> 00:27:34.079 They're deconstructing their faith. 00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:38.799 There are people who maybe have come to faith at some point and you've walked away from your 00:27:38.799 --> 00:27:39.720 faith for various reasons. 00:27:39.839 --> 00:27:41.019 Probably a lot of them are good reasons. 00:27:41.019 --> 00:27:45.139 Maybe you've been hurt by pastors or hurt by the church or hurt by the things that you 00:27:45.139 --> 00:27:45.879 see in the culture. 00:27:49.220 --> 00:27:50.379 God loves you. 00:27:54.339 --> 00:27:55.779 God is pursuing you. 00:27:58.259 --> 00:28:00.319 God will continue to pursue you. 00:28:00.319 --> 00:28:01.319 God will continue to pursue you. 00:28:01.319 --> 00:28:04.099 And nothing will ever separate you from his love. 00:28:04.460 --> 00:28:05.220 Not even you. 00:28:06.279 --> 00:28:10.779 Because the thing that makes Christianity different from other religions and traditions is it actually 00:28:10.779 --> 00:28:12.460 doesn't hinge on our devotion to God. 00:28:13.439 --> 00:28:15.059 It doesn't hinge on our commitment to God. 00:28:15.960 --> 00:28:21.379 On my best day, my commitment is a fragile, almost futile thing. 00:28:21.380 --> 00:28:28.000 Our entire faith and relationship with God hinges on his devotion to us. 00:28:28.900 --> 00:28:31.060 And when God makes a commitment, he doesn't break it. 00:28:35.120 --> 00:28:43.440 The third thing that we need to realize, the final thing for this morning, is that the first 00:28:43.440 --> 00:28:46.000 thing was this is the reason that God made us to love us. 00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:54.180 The second is that Jesus came to accomplish everything, everything that might impede our 00:28:54.180 --> 00:28:55.099 relationship with God. 00:28:55.200 --> 00:28:56.619 This is the entire reason Jesus came. 00:28:57.640 --> 00:29:01.000 Number three, this is the ministry of the Holy Spirit in us. 00:29:01.700 --> 00:29:06.019 All that Paul says about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in chapter 8 is really aiming at this. 00:29:06.079 --> 00:29:12.480 These are different ways that the Holy Spirit seals us in God's love. 00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:20.240 For those who are Christians, you might hear what I'm saying and think, well, you know, I know God loves me. 00:29:20.519 --> 00:29:24.420 And yeah, you know, I learned this when I was 8 in Sunday school. 00:29:24.579 --> 00:29:25.660 And I know God loves me. 00:29:25.819 --> 00:29:27.259 With all due respect, do you? 00:29:29.579 --> 00:29:30.259 Do you? 00:29:30.339 --> 00:29:33.860 Because if you really did in the way we're talking about, it would change everything in your life. 00:29:33.859 --> 00:29:40.919 You know, I'm reminded a pastor tells this story of a 16-year-old girl in his congregation who's depressed 00:29:40.919 --> 00:29:44.519 and feels a lot of despair and hopelessness. 00:29:44.559 --> 00:29:45.899 And he meets to try to encourage her. 00:29:45.939 --> 00:29:47.779 And he's talking to her, you know, God loves you. 00:29:47.939 --> 00:29:49.619 And she goes, yeah, I know. 00:29:49.699 --> 00:29:50.699 I know God loves me. 00:29:50.740 --> 00:29:53.000 I know Jesus died for my sin. 00:29:53.059 --> 00:29:54.000 I know I'm going to heaven. 00:29:54.059 --> 00:29:58.299 But what difference does that make when no boy at school will even talk to me? 00:30:00.619 --> 00:30:03.259 And she's articulating, I think, the reality that we all struggle with. 00:30:03.259 --> 00:30:04.799 I know on some level, right? 00:30:04.920 --> 00:30:06.480 I know on some level God loves me. 00:30:06.519 --> 00:30:08.680 But the thing that I really care about is here. 00:30:09.500 --> 00:30:11.920 Now, that's a very normal thing for a 16-year-old to care. 00:30:11.960 --> 00:30:15.140 It's a normal thing for a 36-year-old to care about, 56-year-old to care about. 00:30:16.519 --> 00:30:19.079 But it illustrates something that Jonathan Edwards talks about. 00:30:19.079 --> 00:30:24.259 There's a difference between understanding God's love at a conceptual level and really experiencing it, 00:30:25.099 --> 00:30:29.299 feeling it, feeling the weight of it in the whole of your life. 00:30:29.799 --> 00:30:33.099 And this is why we need the Holy Spirit. 00:30:34.119 --> 00:30:38.279 Even for those of us who have been Christians for decades, it's easy to lose touch with God's love. 00:30:38.440 --> 00:30:41.099 And this is not something that we can rationalize our way into. 00:30:42.220 --> 00:30:45.940 It is something that the Holy Spirit has to do supernaturally in you. 00:30:47.140 --> 00:30:47.539 Right? 00:30:47.539 --> 00:30:52.119 There has to be a spiritual pressing into your heart of the love of God. 00:30:53.619 --> 00:30:58.879 You know, I've come to realize in my own life, I've come to, you know, I'm 45 and almost 46. 00:30:59.220 --> 00:31:00.980 And I've been a Christian for a few decades. 00:31:00.980 --> 00:31:06.259 And I'm starting to recognize signs in my life when I've really lost hold of God's love. 00:31:07.539 --> 00:31:08.940 Some of those signs are this. 00:31:09.039 --> 00:31:12.620 You know, I start to recognize that I'm struggling with a lot more anxiety and stress. 00:31:12.619 --> 00:31:16.659 It's pressing on me way more than it normally does. 00:31:16.859 --> 00:31:17.959 I'm losing sleep. 00:31:18.779 --> 00:31:26.419 I'm waking up at 3 o'clock, 4 o'clock in the morning, mind whirring with things that are causing stress. 00:31:26.420 --> 00:31:30.340 Because obstacles in my life start to seem disproportionately large. 00:31:31.360 --> 00:31:36.900 I start to look around and it feels like I'm in a valley of insurmountable options. 00:31:38.500 --> 00:31:43.320 I start caring a lot more about the approval or disapproval of other people. 00:31:43.440 --> 00:31:45.160 That starts, like, haunting me. 00:31:46.279 --> 00:31:47.980 I start to become more defensive. 00:31:49.039 --> 00:31:51.800 And part of that is because I start to become a lot more critical of myself. 00:31:52.480 --> 00:31:55.080 That voice of critique just starts to amp up. 00:31:55.079 --> 00:32:01.799 And I recognize from time to time these, you know, I used to think, well, I need to do just some deep breathing. 00:32:01.899 --> 00:32:02.839 I need to go for a run. 00:32:03.119 --> 00:32:06.599 And, you know, I need to talk this out with somebody. 00:32:06.779 --> 00:32:09.399 And, you know, all of that is helpful, not knocking that. 00:32:09.480 --> 00:32:23.139 But what I've come to recognize kind of more recently is that actually all of that is directly related to the extent to which God's love has become an abstract concept for me. 00:32:23.140 --> 00:32:28.280 Where it's no longer the weight holding me upright. 00:32:29.060 --> 00:32:32.740 It's become this thing that I talk about and teach about and read about. 00:32:33.140 --> 00:32:35.440 But it's not the thing that keeps me up in the water. 00:32:35.440 --> 00:32:40.980 And I've realized that when that happens, there's only one thing I can do. 00:32:41.039 --> 00:32:46.180 And it's to go to the Holy Spirit and to pray for the Holy Spirit to re-immerse me in God's love. 00:32:47.820 --> 00:32:50.039 You know, ballast is often controlled by water. 00:32:50.140 --> 00:32:51.120 It's like a water tank. 00:32:51.180 --> 00:32:52.720 And you fill that tank with water. 00:32:52.759 --> 00:32:54.340 And it creates that weight that you need. 00:32:54.640 --> 00:33:00.000 And it's almost like we need the Holy Spirit to fill that tank with God's love. 00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:03.039 Until it turns us upright again. 00:33:04.039 --> 00:33:07.960 And so, you know, this summer I spent, I had only one goal for this summer. 00:33:08.160 --> 00:33:10.240 And it was remember that God loves me. 00:33:11.799 --> 00:33:16.480 And I spent time reading and praying and thinking, meditating and hiking and fishing. 00:33:16.680 --> 00:33:20.880 And all of the things where I feel like I am able to connect with the Spirit. 00:33:20.880 --> 00:33:24.500 And one of the passages I really read was Romans 8. 00:33:25.060 --> 00:33:25.820 Including these verses. 00:33:25.940 --> 00:33:27.860 So I was amazed actually when I looked at the lectionary. 00:33:28.060 --> 00:33:31.220 Coming back and realized this is what I'm going to be preaching on this week. 00:33:32.420 --> 00:33:37.600 Because this is one of those places where we see very clearly the reality of God's love. 00:33:37.900 --> 00:33:41.080 And the need for the Holy Spirit to press it into our souls. 00:33:42.160 --> 00:33:44.300 And God has really answered those prayers. 00:33:44.299 --> 00:33:54.119 And I stand before you as somebody who I think at least for the time, at least for now, at least for today, I feel grounded and rooted in God's love. 00:33:55.319 --> 00:33:58.079 We were with some friends last night cooking out on the deck. 00:33:58.180 --> 00:33:59.919 And I just felt a sense of God's delight. 00:34:01.399 --> 00:34:03.980 And for me that is many times a very hard one. 00:34:04.720 --> 00:34:09.639 And I can sometimes go months or even years in some cases without really feeling that. 00:34:10.420 --> 00:34:13.559 And so it was a delight to experience that. 00:34:15.300 --> 00:34:17.820 At one point I literally wrote a sentence in my journal. 00:34:18.980 --> 00:34:20.180 This may seem cheesy to you. 00:34:20.220 --> 00:34:20.780 It is cheesy. 00:34:22.120 --> 00:34:22.980 I don't care. 00:34:24.560 --> 00:34:25.539 Don't judge me. 00:34:25.640 --> 00:34:26.220 It works. 00:34:27.600 --> 00:34:28.780 I wrote this in my journal. 00:34:28.780 --> 00:34:33.560 For I am sure that blank will never be able to separate me from the love of God and Christ Jesus our Lord. 00:34:34.080 --> 00:34:35.500 I wrote that on one side of my journal. 00:34:36.080 --> 00:34:37.960 And then I realized that I needed a bigger blank. 00:34:38.660 --> 00:34:41.740 And so then I just started listing things on the right side of my journal down the column. 00:34:42.200 --> 00:34:43.200 And I won't tell you what those are. 00:34:43.260 --> 00:34:44.080 It's between me and God. 00:34:44.539 --> 00:34:47.220 But there are many things. 00:34:49.140 --> 00:34:55.960 That when they start to occupy too much of my time and attention they start to pull me away from God's love. 00:34:56.699 --> 00:35:04.860 And so I had to write it out because I'm the kind of person I'm very thick headed and I need to actually just write things down and then read what I wrote to get it into myself a little bit. 00:35:05.519 --> 00:35:06.539 And so I just wrote it out. 00:35:06.539 --> 00:35:13.480 And then I went through and I substituted the things one by one into that blank as a way of praying to God. 00:35:14.400 --> 00:35:15.980 Praying God's word back to himself. 00:35:17.440 --> 00:35:19.059 It was extremely helpful for me. 00:35:19.059 --> 00:35:22.460 And I began to feel that ballast returning. 00:35:22.460 --> 00:35:32.800 So imagine what your life would be like if God's love for you was the deepest, truest reality in your life. 00:35:32.920 --> 00:35:34.860 How would that change the way you deal with anxiety? 00:35:34.860 --> 00:35:37.099 How would it change the way you deal with conflict? 00:35:37.780 --> 00:35:41.700 How would it deal the way you deal with outer criticism or inner criticism? 00:35:41.699 --> 00:35:46.159 How would it deal with the way you parent or the way you spend your time or your money? 00:35:47.500 --> 00:35:49.759 How would it change the way you think about relationships? 00:35:51.599 --> 00:35:55.960 And whenever I'm tempted to doubt God's love I take a page out of Paul's book. 00:35:57.239 --> 00:35:58.399 I do what he did. 00:35:58.679 --> 00:35:59.719 And I look at the cross. 00:35:59.719 --> 00:36:11.339 Because unlike the kind of sentimental love that exists in the world, the kind of feel-good sentimentality love that we are so often surrounded by, 00:36:12.119 --> 00:36:16.299 this is a concrete love that has been acted upon in history. 00:36:18.079 --> 00:36:21.419 This is someone who doesn't just say, I feel love for you. 00:36:21.420 --> 00:36:30.780 This is a being who is love and who has done the most profound act of love imaginable in history for us. 00:36:30.900 --> 00:36:35.840 Paul says in 32, whenever we're tempted to doubt God's love, whenever it starts to become abstract, 00:36:36.400 --> 00:36:45.900 he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 00:36:45.980 --> 00:36:48.940 A God who did that, there's nothing he won't do for you. 00:36:49.720 --> 00:36:50.360 Let's pray. 00:36:52.260 --> 00:36:55.420 Lord, we thank you for your word. 00:36:55.539 --> 00:37:00.480 We thank you for just what is an amazing reality. 00:37:07.340 --> 00:37:12.940 So many of us are tempted to imagine that when you think of us you roll your eyes. 00:37:16.360 --> 00:37:17.760 That it's tsk, tsk. 00:37:17.760 --> 00:37:21.460 I've been so patient. 00:37:22.720 --> 00:37:24.000 And what have they done? 00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:27.180 That you feel frustration or disappointment. 00:37:27.400 --> 00:37:32.240 Lord, we see in your word the truth. 00:37:32.239 --> 00:37:41.219 Lord, I pray that you have loved us and known us and pursued us across thousands and thousands and thousands of years. 00:37:42.799 --> 00:37:43.979 The ultimate lover. 00:37:45.539 --> 00:37:51.079 Lord, I pray that through the prayer and the singing, the scripture, the sacraments, 00:37:51.079 --> 00:37:55.079 we would taste and see and feel and know and experience that love. 00:37:55.340 --> 00:37:56.539 We pray this in your son's name. 00:37:56.679 --> 00:37:56.860 Amen. 00:37:56.860 --> 00:37:56.960 Amen. 00:37:56.960 --> 00:37:58.519 Amen. 00:37:58.519 --> 00:37:59.320 Amen. 00:38:15.599 --> 00:38:16.639 Amen.