I want to talk this morning about the glory of the ordinary.
The glory of the ordinary.
Or as I shared with Dennis before, the glordinary.
Don't title it that unless you want to.
I don't care.
I blame it on Charles Spurgeon.
Thank you, love.
He said if you're not regularly creating new words, then what are you even doing with the English language?
That's my paraphrase of him.
So we have apostologic, which is Paul's way of thinking.
That's another combined word.
A man can't be an elder in the church if he can't manage his own home.
Can't manage the house of God if he can't manage his house.
That's apostologic.
And then we have the glory of the ordinary.
Well, let's pray and then we'll jump in here for a time.
Our Father in heaven, we give you thanks once again for the grace that is ours in Christ Jesus.
Lord, we thank you for the kindness that you have shown us, which we have not deserved.
And your faithfulness, your steadfastness in keeping us and caring for us.
Lord, we thank you for this church, for Christ's church.
And we pray today that you would strengthen your people.
That our faith would be strengthened.
That our knowledge of you would be increased.
That our affections for Christ and for one another would be raised.
And that you would equip us for the work to which you've called us.
We ask these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.
I want to read first, before we'll get to 1 Peter 3, which will be the primary text today.
I'm going to read a segment from Zechariah chapter 14.
We've just come out of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
It's now the Jewish New Year as of last week.
Coming up shortly on the 11th, it will be Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
And on the 16th, on through the 23rd, it will be the Feast of Tabernacles.
I'm not saying that so that you will all go back to Jewish roots and start having some formal
celebration of these things, though there can be some profit to that.
I'm saying that to think about something that I want to begin with in Zechariah 14.
Namely, that God is enthroned on high and remains a covenant-keeping God
and means to display his glory on real terra firma on the earth.
Tomorrow will be the one-year anniversary of the invasion from the terrorists from Gaza into different parts of Israel
in which hundreds of Israelis were killed, little babies were killed, women were ravaged and raped
in a rather makeshift operation of men flying over the border into Israel in little privately made paragliders
with generators on them.
And you have to wonder how such an elite military as the Israeli military could be penetrated by such rudimentary things.
And the answer to the question, which is also the answer to the question as to why Israel is yet preserved,
is that God is the God of Israel and has something to put on display of his glory.
And he's displaying that through their judgments, and he's displaying that through their mercies.
And that's something that we need to think about.
Zechariah 14 gives us a glimpse into what things are tending toward.
I'm actually going to read verses 8 through the end of the chapter and just give a few comments
before moving to the main text.
But I want you to understand that this is a post-exilic prophet writing here.
So this is after the Assyrian invasion and after the Babylonian invasion.
And therefore, what is being spoken of here pertains to the future.
Just after there's been a great time of trouble in verses 1 to 2,
just after God himself has planted his feet on the Mount of Olives in the following verses,
verse 4, we have this description of a time that will come when God, the Messiah,
will reign upon the earth from Jerusalem.
Verses 8 and following.
On that day, living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem,
half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea.
It shall continue in summer as in winter,
and the Lord will be king over all the earth.
On that day, the Lord will be one, and his name one.
The whole land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Ramon, south of Jerusalem.
But Jerusalem shall remain aloft on its site from the gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate.
Some of this sounds unfamiliar or irrelevant to you.
Just bear with me and walk through the text.
He's speaking about real places here.
This is part of my point.
To the corner gate and from the tower of Hananel to the king's wine presses.
Verse 11.
And it shall be inhabited, for there shall never again be a decree of utter destruction.
Jerusalem shall dwell in security.
And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem.
Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet.
Their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
Good luck explaining that to your children after the service.
And on that day, a great panic from the Lord shall fall on them, so that each will seize the hand of another,
and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of the other.
Even Judah will fight at Jerusalem.
And the wealth of all the surrounding nations shall be collected, gold, silver, and garments in great abundance.
And a plague like this plague shall fall on the horses, the mules, the camels, the donkeys, and whatever beasts may be in those camps.
Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come up against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the king, the lord of hosts,
and to keep the feast of booths, or the feast of tabernacles, Sukkot.
This is remarkable.
This is a description.
I'm convinced of the time which is called the thousand-year reign of Messiah,
where Christ is ruling on the earth over the nations.
Magnificent.
Delegates from the nations are coming to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of tabernacles with the redeemed Israel.
This is all happening on real terra firma, on earth, on land.
This is not a symbolic picture with little Cupid angels, fat babies in heavenly diapers,
shooting arrows at romanticists, and playing harps on clouds.
This is the fulfillment of what God has promised upon the earth.
Verse 17,
And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the king, the lord of hosts,
there will be no rain on them.
So the prophet says that during this time, this millennial reign of Christ,
the nations that will not honor the king, who is called here the lord of hosts,
it's not some future merely human king,
he's called the lord of hosts,
if they refuse to celebrate the feast of tabernacles,
then God will withhold rain from them, and their crops will not grow.
Actual judgment from God in real future time.
And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves,
then on them there shall be no rain.
There shall be the plague with which the lord afflicts the nations
that do not go up to keep the feast of booths.
This is one of the reasons we know that Zechariah is not speaking about the new heavens and the new earth here.
Because there is still some recalcitrance and rebellion from certain nations.
And we also know that it's not a statement of this age,
because the lord of hosts himself is physically present in Jerusalem,
ruling over Israel and the nations as king.
This is a remarkable passage that Martin Luther arrived at in his commentary in Zechariah,
and once he got to chapters 12 to 14,
the first time he made a go at it, he wrote,
I have no idea what this passage is speaking about.
And the second time he made a go at it,
he just gave up and didn't write anything.
And so his commentary on Zechariah was never finished.
And it's because he was fixed within an amillennialist frame of thinking.
And there was no denying here that this was a post-exilic prophet
who was not prophesying about the Babylonian exile.
And there's no doubt that it could not either have been about the Roman dictatorship over Israel,
or AD 70, because it concludes with Christ, or God in the text, Yahweh,
planting his feet on the Mount of Olives and ruling right there.
See?
I'm still getting at something here.
It's not an eschatology message.
Might sound like it so far, but it's not.
But it is, but it's not.
This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations
that do not go up to keep the feast of booths.
And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses,
Holy to the Lord.
And the pots in the house of the Lord shall be as the bowls before the altar.
I'm not going to get into whether or not,
or what the nature of some kind of tabernacle, temple would be during this millennial time.
That's for another discussion.
You can wrestle through it.
Like Adam said, wrestle through it for the next week and see what happens.
But whatever this time is where the Lord himself is ruling from Jerusalem,
it says every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to the Lord of hosts,
so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them.
And there shall no longer be a trader or merchant in the house of the Lord of hosts on that day.
In other words, no more foreigners manipulating the worship of God in the lives of God's people.
There will be no tables to overturn there.
The Lord will be there, but he will not be overturning tables.
He will be ruling over the nations.
And for the first time in the history of Jerusalem and of Israel and indeed of the world,
every pot, the most rudimentary elements of travel, of carriage, and of cooking,
whether it's for ceremonial meals or whether it's house to house in Jerusalem,
every one of them will be counted holy to the Lord.
For the light of Messiah will permeate everything.
Years ago when I was thinking about this passage for the first time and breaking my brain over what in the world it could mean,
I consulted David Barron's commentary, which I commend to you.
It was a student of Adolf Zephir, some of you know that name.
And in David Barron's commentary, once I arrived at chapter 14,
I found him writing that this idea of bells on horses and pots, ceremonial pots,
and the cooking pots from house to house in Jerusalem being called holy,
he said that concept is the glorious goal and climax of vision and prophecy altogether.
And I thought to myself, what in the heck is he talking about?
How could bells on horses and pots cooking meat be the glorious goal and climax of vision and prophecy altogether?
And I came to understand ultimately what he meant was,
in that day, the righteousness, peace, and joy of Messiah will permeate everything.
It will all be regarded holy.
There will not be this sputtering of affections in God's people,
the sputtering of secularism in our hearts,
by which we function part of the day as functional atheists,
and part of the day maybe in a devotional time,
or when a brother calls us up to confess sin or something like that,
as those who are eager to worship our God.
And that day, according to the apostles,
God shall be all and all,
and Christ shall have the preeminence.
And this is a picture of that.
Did you see that thing?
How long has that been there?
Thank you, Dennis.
Well, I really would commend a deep study of Zechariah,
the whole book, but chapters 12 through 14 are remarkable in this respect.
And I have never read an amillennialist, postmillennialist, supersessionist commentary
on those passages that was coherent at all.
Even the times of suffering described in Zechariah 14, 1 to 4 in Jerusalem,
houses being pillaged, half of the city exiled, women being raped.
It's a horrible scene.
October 7th was a precursor, a picture of this time of Jacob's trouble
about which the prophets and the Lord Jesus speak.
Jeremiah 30, Daniel 12, Matthew 24, etc.
One of the commentaries said,
this description of Jerusalem is the description of global persecution
against the church throughout the whole of the church age,
which is one of the most ludicrous slights of hand that I've ever seen in exegesis.
Anything to remove the issue of Israel from the consciousness of the church.
Why is that, brothers and sisters?
Well, I'm not going to answer that question because we got to get to 1 Peter 3.
I'm not going to answer that at length.
But let me suggest to you that Satan has a scheme by which to disfigure the person
and glory and will of our God.
And if in any way he can get us to twist what is in God's word,
or to take, as Spurgeon said, to take God's meaning,
to tear it from his own words,
then to that degree will something of our worship also be disfigured.
And if Israel and the land and Jerusalem and the Jewish people
are no longer significant in any way to the purposes of God,
then there are supernaturally promised prophecies
that will find actual fulfillment for which we're not looking at all.
We're not praying about it.
We're not thinking about it.
It's totally removed from our doctrine,
from our prayers,
from our expectations.
And we may find,
in certain respects pertaining to Israel
or to other things pertaining to the Lord,
that in the day of his coming,
we are taken unawares,
when we should have been discerning better.
Jesus scolded the religious leaders
for being able to discern when a storm was coming in,
but not to be able to read what he called the signs of the times.
Well, I'm going to leave that there
and move into this glory of the ordinary,
because I've just read a passage that is rather unordinary.
This is a magnificent, terrifying, glorious, wonderful thing to think about.
And yet there's a sense in which all of the cataclysm
and judgments and remarkable mercies
that are poured out upon the earth copiously in the last days
are leading to something that is very ordinary,
and yet full of glory.
The glordinariness of the picture God gives us here.
And I wonder if you are aware that you, being in Christ,
have been swept up into that majestic narrative.
And that we sitting here today is another page or two
in the volume of church history, redemptive history.
Here we are singing to the lamb that was slain together
and hearing of him and loving him together
and praying that God would sanctify us
and teach us to discern the body
and teach us to build one another up.
This is a slice of church history.
It is ordinary, and yet it's not ordinary.
Do you see?
There is new covenant glory that has come to us in Christ.
If we could see who we really are in Christ,
our mouths would drop open.
There is a time coming when we shall be like him,
1 John 3, 2,
where we shall see him as he is.
But, brothers and sisters, we already are this.
And the Lord uses the ordinariness of the ordinary
very often to keep us in a place
by which we must walk according to faith
and not according to feelings.
There's a glory to be displayed through the church.
Paul calls it the demonstration of the manifold wisdom of God
through the people of God in Ephesians 3, 10.
It is the very holiness of God.
It is the very love of God.
It is rivers of living water.
It is a testimony, a confession, a witness.
It is the governance of God.
It is all things for us,
slowly but substantially becoming communion with him.
This is the fruit of justification.
This is what is at work in this church
and in every true church.
The grace of God in these ways.
Yet it appears ordinary very often
and we can lose touch with its sacredness and power.
In 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 9 and following,
the apostle Paul writes to the church at Thessalonica,
now concerning brotherly love,
you have no need for anyone to write to you
for you yourselves have been taught by God
to love one another.
For that indeed is what you are doing
to all the brothers throughout Macedonia.
But we urge you, brothers,
to do this more and more
and to aspire to live quietly
and to mind your own affairs
and to work with your hands as we instructed you
so that you may walk properly before outsiders
and be dependent on no one.
What a wonderful passage.
I cannot help but imagine the apostle Paul
a week after perhaps having raised Eutychus from the dead
or having the sense of triumph
in a new church that had been planted
in one of those pagan cities.
And there he is in a season
where the church is not supporting him financially,
which he had back and forth,
and spending 40 or 50 hours
making canopies out of leather
for buildings
and interacting with centurions
because he was a Roman citizen
and interacting with them
as he's making a canopy
for the new station
for the soldiers that are moving into this town,
whatever.
He's giving himself to mundane things.
He's aspiring to live quietly.
Everything for him in new covenant grace
has become precious.
And the glory of Zechariah 14
that will permeate the earth,
the glory of God will cover the earth
as waters cover the sea.
That glory is already being tasted
and demonstrated in the life of the apostle.
This is what gives him the kind of heart
and the kind of wisdom
to see the church in the way that he sees it,
to be able to esteem the weakest of members
and not merely men who are elders
or men or women who are most gifted,
but to love the body of Christ.
This all comes from Paul's awareness
of the sacredness
of that which the world deems ordinary.
I'm reading a biography,
a few of you guys in the Workman's Trust
at least know about this,
about an international ministry leader
that was discovered to be in multiple affairs
and even abusing minors
and all of this really horrible, horrible story.
But there was a point in his life
where the man writing the biography
who was his Bible college roommate
and was the guy that helped him
start the ministry in the 1980s
was talking to another leader
from a denomination
that knew this man
who eventually would be exposed.
And that denominational leader
asked the man who's writing this book
years later,
asked him,
do you know what that leader's greatest fear is?
And the man who believed
he was so close to this man
and helped him found the ministry
and all of this said,
well, I think, you know,
probably drowning.
He doesn't get anywhere near water.
He's actually morbidly,
morbidly,
he's terribly afraid of drowning.
And he said,
well, that, okay,
that makes sense.
But that is not his greatest fear.
And he said,
well, okay,
maybe you know him better than me,
but I've been with him
for the last 10 years.
And the guy said to him,
his greatest fear actually
is that at the end of his life,
he should be counted ordinary.
That he would be ordinary.
That he would not have a ministry
that stands out.
That he would not have a name
that leaves a great impact.
That he would have no biography
written of him.
That he would not have
a special calling
among those who are
the holy ones,
the saints.
That he would not be regarded
as gifty.
That he would not be regarded
as successful.
That he would not in any way
stand out in such a way
that he could be regarded
as more than ordinary.
And in that fear,
he did all kinds of drastic things
and moved all kinds of chess pieces
and manipulative ways
that built a large organization
that was known by many,
built a semblance of devotion
even in his life
with fasting and prayer
and study and all kinds of things
when under the hood,
there were piles of poison.
And according to this man,
much of what was fueling that
was his fear of being ordinary.
We're going to have to get over that
if we're going to build the church
in a way that pleases
the one who is the head
of the church.
Because pots and pans
and bells on horses
need also to be regarded
as holy.
And the thing that makes
anything significant
is the presence
of the only one
who is worthy
of being looked upon
with worship.
And that's going to happen,
brothers and sisters.
So let's just think about
a few points
and then we'll touch
on 1 Peter 3.
Let me think for just a moment
and give comment
on the glory of the ordinariness
of this local church.
The glory of the ordinariness
of this local church.
It really should be true
of any local church,
no matter how large or small,
that the lives of the saints
are treated with reverence
and cherished and stewarded
in such a way
that even the things
about one another's lives
that don't seem impressive
or that don't stand out
are stewarded with reverence
and with the fear of the Lord
and with selfless love
toward one another.
That's what Seth
was encouraging us toward
during the Lord's table.
But I wonder if you all
get discouraged at all.
I've known this feeling
of discouragement
many times in my life.
We had a house church
for about 11 years
that we led
and there were many times
where I thought to myself,
what are we doing here?
Where I thought to myself,
okay, is this really fruitful?
And I thought to myself,
man, are these guys
ever going to become elders?
Good grief.
What's taking so long?
And I thought to myself,
are we, are we bearing fruit
in such a way
that glorifies Jesus?
And I also thought, remarkably,
partly owing to that one ministry
that I mentioned earlier,
to people that I knew from there
who looked upon our little church
in a condescending way, frankly.
I have no other way to put it.
That's what it was.
I also felt a sense
of inferiority at times.
I also felt to myself,
I don't know if I should
be doing this anymore.
Well, I don't think any of you
are deeply discouraged
about Christ's church.
I haven't heard anything like that,
though I'm sure you've had times
where you have felt discouraged.
And I want to just re-up you
as a people to remember
that there is glory
in the ordinariness
of this local church.
There is glory here.
What makes you significant
is not your good looks,
though you're all decent.
Or your giftedness,
though there's giftedness here.
What makes you significant
is the same thing
that will make the bells
on the horses
in future Jerusalem significant.
The very light of Christ,
the preeminent one.
And he is here with you
by the Holy Spirit.
You are being made
into a temple
for God's dwelling
by the Spirit.
Ephesians 2.
There is glory
in that ordinariness
in this local church.
Do not despise
the day
of small beginnings.
And by which I don't mean
Christ's church
will one day be a mega church.
I mean,
do not despise
the day
when God is continuing
to shape you
as a people
who know what it means
to walk
in the fear of the Lord
and the comfort
of the Holy Spirit
together.
Because what is knit
in these days
is what will be
the foundation
for who will come,
who will be saved,
who will be discipled,
and whom you send out
to plant and nurture churches
in other places.
What the timber
and essence
of your life together
is,
is what will be replicated
as you go on
seeking to build up
this local body
and ultimately
sending others out
in days to come
by the grace of God.
Do not despise
or overlook
the glory
of what's happening here
because,
however ordinary
it very often feels,
it is precious
to God
and he shed his blood
exactly for it.
This is a slice
of church history.
This is becoming
a new theme for me.
Just making myself
more aware,
we just finished
the church history course
in the Workman's Trust
and I couldn't help
but realize a few things.
Number one,
that all of these figures
in church history
were notably flawed
and that every one of them
God sustained.
every one of them
that was counted faithful
at the end of their lives
with all their sins
and weaknesses,
God kept them
and they went to the grave
with a testimony
of his faithfulness.
May it be the same
for every member
of this church.
There's glory
in this local church.
Number two,
I have four.
The glory
in regular hardships.
Well,
we hear this all the time.
We hear this again.
Yes,
you do.
Yes,
I do.
Life
is hard.
Being a mother
of little children
is difficult.
Being a single person
who wants to get married
is difficult.
Being a man
who is seeking
to grow up
and to eventually
be appointed
as an elder
is chastening
and sifting.
Being a Christian
in a fallen world
that hates Christ
is to live
in a mode
of resistance
in one sense
for all of our life.
You must go through
many hardships
to enter the kingdom
of heaven,
the apostles said.
Life
has within it
sufferings.
One Bible school
president
spoke to his
graduates well
on their graduation days.
They were going off
to pastor churches
in other parts
of the world
by teaching them
with a,
what do you call it?
What do you call it?
A speech
at a graduation thing?
Yeah,
commencement speech
and the title of it
was,
to these men
who are going to be pastors,
thou shalt have spells.
In other words,
you're going to have
sufferings,
tribulations,
things are coming
your way
that are going
to humble you,
sift you,
reveal things in you
that you didn't know
could be revealed
when you thought
you were so sanctified
in that area
and now there's
a new season upon me
and why am I being proud?
Why do I have envy
against this other brother
or sister?
Why am I doubting God?
Why do I have anxiety
over this?
What's going on?
I thought I was already
matured beyond this.
And the Lord says,
I discipline you
because I love you.
And I want your joy
in me to be so full
that it will spill over
onto others.
And for that to happen,
you're going to have
to go through
my fatherly squeeze.
And I am faithful
to continue
to squeeze.
Well,
that will include
regular hardships.
In a sermon called
The Happy Christian,
I was pleased to hear
Daniel Bergthold
teaching Sunday school
this morning
and went to the Sunday school
class and then
prayer meeting
then came here.
And he quoted
out of this,
although I'll have to tell
him later
if he ever hears this,
he quoted
the popular paraphrase.
He didn't actually quote
what Spurgeon says,
so,
but you know,
but we're all growing still.
In the sermon,
Charles Spurgeon,
sermon called
The Happy Christian,
Spurgeon said,
the worldling
blesses God
while he gives him
plenty.
You ever heard
an unbeliever
thank God
for something?
I mean,
I get a promotion
or whatever,
thank God in heaven.
You know,
God doesn't know
the Lord from Adam.
But the worldling
blesses God
while he gives him
plenty.
But the Christian
blesses him
when he smites him.
The Christian
blesses God
when God
smites him.
He believes
him to be
too wise
to err
and too good
to be unkind.
He trusts him
where he cannot
trace him.
Looks up to him
in the darkest hour
and believes
that all
is well.
This is right
at the heart
of so many
precious hymns
that have been
written
throughout the years
and this must
be maintained
and cultivated
by the church
an awareness
that we will
suffer hardship
and there will
be sufferings
even in many
places
if not most
by the time
this whole thing
is wrapped up
persecution
against the church
and we must
be able
to discern
our father's
heart
if we can't
trace exactly
what his hand
is doing
in every instance
this is vital
there's glory
in regular
hardships.
Number three
the glory
in gospel
grace
the glory
in God
with us
let us
continue to return
to the gospel
there is glory
in the gospel
and if in your
Christian life
you can find
glory
nowhere else
if God's glory
is impossible
for you
to see
the shape
of
or to feel
the nearness
of
in every area
then return
to this
that Christ
Jesus
was crucified
for you
and for this
church
for his church
return to gospel
grace
over and over
and over again
almost every song
was just gospel
infused today
which I love
and I know you
brothers and sisters
fellowship over the gospel
which I love
and I say
again
in these early
months
of this church's
existence
keep that
the foundation
and return there
always
it will dispel
our selfish
sentimentalism
our complaining
our grieving
and groaning
our divisions
our tendencies
of pride
that we have
toward one another
the gospel
of grace
cures all
and therefore
let us
return to it
constantly
it might seem
like a mundane
thing
to return there
always
but that's
where the glory
is
last point
the glory
of the cross
well there's
the glory
of Christ's cross
of which we've
been speaking
but I'm speaking
about the glory
of the disciples
cross
just for
an abbreviated
encouragement
you can go
check the
bellicose
website
some weeks
ago
I preached
on
a brother
reminded me
of it
last night
otherwise
I might have
forgotten the
title
the crippling
conflation
of Christian
crosses
there is the
cross of
Christ
which has
accomplished
its purpose
and there's the
cross of the
believer that we
must carry
we cannot
justify
ourselves
as Christ's
cross has
done
but we
must carry
our cross
in light
of his
and in
John chapter
12
the Lord
Jesus said
now among
those who
went up
John tells
us firstly
among those
who went up
to worship
verse 20
of John 12
at the feasts
were some
Greeks
so these came
to Philip
who was from
Bethsaida
in Galilee
and asked him
sir
we wish
to see
Jesus
Philip
went and
told
Andrew
and Philip
went and
told
Jesus
and Jesus
answered
them
the hour
has come
for the
son of
man
to be
glorified
truly
I say
to you
unless
a grain
of wheat
falls
into the
earth
and dies
it remains
alone
but if
it dies
it bears
much
fruit
he speaks
about his
own cross
here
but then
he turns
to the
disciples
and says
whoever
loves his
life
loses it
and whoever
hates his
life
in this
world
will keep
it
for eternal
life
there is
glory
in the
dailiness
of the
carrying
of our
cross
if any
man would
come after
me
he must
deny
himself
take up
his cross
daily
and follow
me
now we
close with
1st Peter
the last
two verses
of chapter
2
and
9 verses
in chapter
3
and we'll
be done
by noon
so that's
a 45
minute
message
that's a
if you're
tending
towards
cessationism
let me
encourage you
against it
if Brian
Pirtle can
finish the
sermon
in 45
minutes
that's
miraculous
I want
us to
think about
the glory
of the
ordinariness
in terms
of our
day to
day lives
and the
governing
that God
is increasingly
giving us
as his
people
you know
in the
age to
come
whatever
it means
we're
going to
rule
and reign
with
Christ
okay
it's a
matter of
stewardship
and on that
day we'll be
able to do it
in glorified
bodies with
no sin
and no
unbelief
and no
discouragement
but he's
already giving
us stewardship
of the gospel
of fellowship
with one
another
of our
lives
of our
money
of our
relationships
for those
that are
married
of our
spouses
for those
that have
children
of our
children
and these
things are
all vital
and quite
ordinary
and abused
all the
time by
people in
and outside
the church
let us
start with
the gospel
in 1st
Peter 2
24
he himself
bore our
sins in
his body
on the
tree
that we
might die
to sin
and live
to righteousness
by his
wounds
you have
been healed
for you
were straying
like sheep
but have
now returned
to the
shepherd
and overseer
of your
souls
precious
foundation
Paul warns
in 2nd
Timothy 4
3
that in
the last
days
men and
women will
acquire
teachers for
themselves
that are
self-serving
and they
will reject
what he
calls
sound
teaching
sound
teaching
which word
can be
translated
just as
readily
healthy
teaching
wholesome
teaching
I think
when we
hear
sound
as
post
modernist
people
that are
jealous
for
truth
now
we
think
sound
we
think
accurate
teaching
which
is
true
but
it
means
more
than
that
it's
wholesome
it's
the
life-giving
teaching
of course
it's
all
accurate
if it's
according
to
God's
word
but
it's
tending
toward
the
health
of
those
who
were
dead
and
diseased
in
sin
the
building
up
of
the
church
the
transformation
of
the
nations
which
is
why
in
Revelation
22
the
tree
of
life
is
seen
as
a
tree
whose
leaves
are
for
the
healing
of
the
nations
so
there's
the
gospel
foundation
let us
ask
in terms
of our
marriages
those
who are
married
here
if
we
are
seeing
the
glory
of
the
ordinary
or
missing
it
verses
three
and
following
likewise
wives
be
subject
to
your
own
husbands
so
that
even
if
some
do
not
obey
the
word
they
may
be
won
without
a
word
by
the
conduct
of
their
wives
when
they
see
your
respectful
and
pure
conduct
do
not
let
your
adorning
be
external
the
braiding
of
hair
the
putting
on
of
gold
jewelry
or
the
clothing
you
wear
but
let
your
adorning
be
the
hidden
person
of
the
heart
with
the
imperishable
beauty
of
a
gentle
and
quiet
spirit
which
in
God's
sight
is
very
precious
for
this
is
how
the
holy
women
who
hoped
in
God
used
to
adorn
themselves
by
submitting
to
their
own
husbands
and
Sarah
obeyed
Abraham
calling
him
Lord
and
you
are
her
children
if
you
do
good
and
do
not
fear
anything
that
is
frightening
along
these
lines
in
Ephesians
5
33
Paul
said
let
the
wife
see
to
it
that
she
respect
her
husband
let
me
just
ask
the
wives
directly
is
there
any
sense
in
which
you
might
be
slipping
into
the
sin
of
disrespecting
your
husband
are
you
making
it
your
aim
not
only
to
refrain
from
saying
the
most
drastically
disrespectful
things
but
in
the
positive
sense
are
you
seeing
to
it
by
faith
that
you
are
respecting
him
which
is
more
than
just
not
disrespecting
him
it's
respecting
him
and
I
want
you
to
know
God
has
given
you
a
gift
a
strength
and
a
power
in
the
life
of
your
husband
that
if
you
by
faith
respect
him
with
the
Lord's
glory
in
view
he
will
be
better
helped
by
you
to
be
a
godly
man
and
to
do
what
God
has
called
him
to
do
as
a
man
if
instead
you
find
yourself
giving
expression
to
the
disappointments
that
he
will
bring
to
you
will
find
him
more
emasculated
less
likely
to
give
himself
this
self
sacrificial
love
less
likely
to
walk
in
wisdom
more
likely
to
look
elsewhere
for
satisfactions
that
are not
wholesome
and
healthy
it
doesn't
mean
that
if
he
does
that
it's
all
your
fault
he's
responsible
but
I'm
telling
you
there's
a
government
of
God
at
work
here
in
terms
of
how
we
relate
to
one
another
and
I
want
to
ask
are
you
seeing
to
it
that
you
respect
your
husband
you
have
to
look
to
the
Lord
to
do
that
it's
not
based
on
his
performance
it's
based
on
the
your
children
let me
ask
directly
to
us
as
men
are
there
any
ways
in
which
we're
slipping
into
a
way
of
viewing
looking
upon
the
ordinariness
of
this
covenant
marriage
that
we
have
and
twisting
it
in
such
a
way
devaluing
it
in
such
a
way
that
we
are
not
fervently
loving
our
wives
as
Christ
loved
the
church
I'm
not
saying
do
you
cut
them
down
all
the
time
do
your
voice
if
that's
true
then
yes
repent
but
I'm
not
saying
bring
it
back
to
zero
here
brother
I'm
saying
look
to
Christ
repent
of
sinning
against
her
in
ways
of
commission
and
ask
are
there
sins
of
omission
ways
I
should
be
loving
her
that
I'm
not
loving
her
because
you
will
find
that
the
less
and
less
a
woman
sees
and
knows
the
love
of
her
husband
that
is
the
more
difficult
it
will be
for her to respect him.
I can't tell you how many times
I've sat down with married couples
who are having issues
and the difficulty is
the husband saying
I don't feel respected
and the wife saying
I don't feel loved.
And those feelings are not always entirely accurate
but they've always got their finger
at least on part of the pulse.
And so we need for the honor of Christ
in the ordinariness of our relations
to be relating to one another
in such a way
as God has commanded
are you
are you doing that
brothers and sisters
because that will affect
the worship of this church
the disciples that are made
the example
that is set
and
on
and on.
Lastly
verse 8
to the whole church
married and single
parents and children
finally all of you
have unity of mind
sympathy
brotherly love
a tender heart
and a humble mind
do not repay evil for evil
or reviling for reviling
but on the contrary
bless
for to this
you were called
that you may obtain
a blessing.
and so church
let us love one another
let us walk
in the fear of God
and in the comfort
of the Holy Spirit
in 1536
on this day
William Tyndale
was strangled to death
tied to a stake
and his body burned
before the people
of Brussels
because he labored
long
painstakingly
to do something
that was massive
in history
but that
day by day
must have felt
rather mundane
translating the whole
New Testament
into English
straight from the Greek
and about half
of the Old Testament
from the Hebrew
into English
before he was executed
it was the accumulation
of William Tyndale's
steady
state
obedience
to God
that produced fruit
that would last
forever
and it's no less
significant
what we have
with our spouses
what we have
with one another
as the church
each member
what we have
in the parenting
of our children
in the stewarding
of all things
may it be for us
that just as
in the age to come
we experience
more and more
ourselves
of what it means
that Christ
is all
in all