WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.240 Luke 15 verses 1 to 10. Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to Jesus, 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:12.839 and the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, this man receives sinners and eats 00:00:12.839 --> 00:00:19.120 with them. So I told them this parable, what man of you having a hundred sheep if he has 00:00:19.120 --> 00:00:24.039 lost one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the one that 00:00:24.039 --> 00:00:29.759 is lost until he finds it. And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing. 00:00:29.759 --> 00:00:34.560 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbour saying to them, 00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:40.759 rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost. Just so, I tell you, there 00:00:40.759 --> 00:00:44.759 will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous 00:00:44.759 --> 00:00:52.039 persons who need no repentance. Or what women having lost ten silver coins, if she loses 00:00:52.039 --> 00:00:57.240 one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds 00:00:57.240 --> 00:01:03.000 it. And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours saying, rejoice 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:09.079 with me, for I have found a coin that I had lost. Just so, I tell you, there is joy before 00:01:09.079 --> 00:01:14.879 the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Amen. This is God's word. We give thanks for 00:01:14.879 --> 00:01:24.679 the freedom and the privilege of being able to read His word together. So, yeah, it could 00:01:24.679 --> 00:01:29.560 be said no better than the theme loving the lost, which is the theme for today. It probably 00:01:29.560 --> 00:01:34.840 can be said no better than starting with the words of Christ Himself at different places. 00:01:34.840 --> 00:01:38.799 Well, not just the words of Christ, but the words of Scripture, which ultimately the words 00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:44.920 of Christ. We love because He first loved us, 1 John 4. Greater love is no man than this, 00:01:44.920 --> 00:01:51.920 that He lay down His one's life for His friends, John 15, 13. You see, just at the right time, 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:58.439 when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly Romans 5, 8. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 00:01:58.439 --> 00:02:10.840 you killed the prophets and stoned those. I knew this quote would get me. How often have 00:02:10.840 --> 00:02:20.120 I longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under his wings, 00:02:20.120 --> 00:02:27.759 but you're not willing? Jesus' words in Matthew 23. And these words and words like them remind 00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:32.359 us of our theme today, which is loving the lost returning. We're returning today to the 00:02:32.359 --> 00:02:36.639 lost chapter. I'm calling it the lost chapter. It's not really a lost chapter, but the theme 00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:44.000 is lostness, parable of lost sheep, lost coin, and the lost sun. Do remember that the parables, 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:50.479 they're not allegories. They're not the same as allegories. Not everything in the parable 00:02:50.479 --> 00:02:55.719 represents something directly. So you don't look at every single little element in the 00:02:55.719 --> 00:03:00.919 parable and try and relate it to something spiritual. I don't think, for example, that 00:03:00.919 --> 00:03:11.439 nine coins that the lady looked for, the woman who looked for her lost coin, I don't think 00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:17.439 the nine coins actually represent anything particular. They're just part of the story. 00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:22.599 And so we need to remember that. They're simple, they're illustrations to get across his teaching, 00:03:22.599 --> 00:03:30.039 his teaching in the context of the surrounding passages of Scripture. And really there's 00:03:30.039 --> 00:03:34.680 two main points, I think, in these two parables particularly, indeed or not, in the three of 00:03:34.680 --> 00:03:39.199 them, but we're not looking at the parable of the lost sun today. But in these two parables, 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:44.159 there's two main points. And the first is, it gives us a look. They illustrate Jesus' 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:50.519 heart, okay? And we'll see that from the context. And they challenge us to have a look at our 00:03:50.520 --> 00:03:57.840 own hearts. So it's that Jesus' heart is opened up and our hearts are opened up by these two 00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:06.480 parables, especially when it comes to our love for people who themselves don't know 00:04:06.480 --> 00:04:14.280 or love Jesus and who may even be enemies of Jesus in a very tangible way, in a very, 00:04:14.280 --> 00:04:21.319 maybe philosophical way or in their understanding of the universe. 00:04:21.319 --> 00:04:26.040 I think what's very important to remember in these two parables of the lost sheep and 00:04:26.040 --> 00:04:35.839 the lost coin is that the lost sheep and the lost coin, they represent us all. They represent 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:40.759 all of us. I don't think that these parables, and particularly not the first one about the 00:04:40.759 --> 00:04:46.480 lost sheep, I don't think that parable is primarily about Jesus speaking about reaching 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:52.800 out to the marginalized per se. I think that's part of it, and we'll see that, the sinners 00:04:52.800 --> 00:05:00.159 because he's speaking into the context of the Pharisees' rejection of such people. 00:05:00.159 --> 00:05:05.639 But he is saying because it accords with the rest of Scripture that in God's eyes every 00:05:05.639 --> 00:05:13.120 single one of us without Christ in our lives is a lost sheep, the lost coin, a lost sheep. 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:22.079 We're lost without Christ. We're all sinners without Christ and lost sinners and condemned 00:05:22.079 --> 00:05:29.800 sinners without Jesus Christ. We're all tax collectors, cheats and traitors and prostitutes 00:05:29.800 --> 00:05:37.120 and homeless and addicts. Whatever maybe, whatever element of society is rejected by 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:46.639 society is a recognition. We should recognize that we belong to that part of society because 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:55.120 every human being that has ever lived since the very beginning are born rebels of the 00:05:55.120 --> 00:06:01.079 living God. We're all lost before the living God. 00:06:01.079 --> 00:06:08.040 Interestingly, the 99 sheep are spoken of by Jesus as representing something. The nine 00:06:08.040 --> 00:06:16.199 coins aren't, but the 99 sheep are. They represent those who don't feel the need to repent in 00:06:16.199 --> 00:06:26.479 99. And that group of 99 represents those who either don't know they're lost or are 00:06:26.479 --> 00:06:35.519 believers, I believe, who are self-righteous and who look down on others who might have 00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:42.759 had a more colorful life than they have. I say believers and inverted commas. So the 00:06:42.759 --> 00:06:48.800 lost sheep and the lost coin represent us all. And I think that's important to recognize 00:06:48.800 --> 00:06:55.199 and it's important also to recognize the context into which Jesus gives these parables because 00:06:55.199 --> 00:07:00.240 He's wanting to expose who we love and who we don't love in our lives and what we think 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:05.680 of ourselves, particularly when we claim to be believers, when we claim to know and love 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:12.240 Jesus Christ and what we think of Jesus Christ Himself. Because the Pharisees in this passage 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:18.280 which we only really see a little bit from the beginning of the passage, the Pharisees 00:07:18.280 --> 00:07:24.079 got it wrong. And that's the context. The context is Jesus gives these parables in the context 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:31.680 of the Pharisees looking down their noses at Jesus and at those with whom Jesus was 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:36.639 fraternizing, the people that He was spending time with, the tax collectors and the sinners. 00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:42.519 We're all drawing near to Jesus despite if you see the previous chapter. Jesus speaking 00:07:42.519 --> 00:07:48.360 about the cost of discipleship, the deep, deep cost of being disciples. Yet they still 00:07:48.360 --> 00:07:52.759 were drawn to the love and to the message and the person of Jesus. The Pharisees and 00:07:52.759 --> 00:07:58.399 the scribes, the religious leaders, they were looking down on them and on Jesus and this 00:07:58.399 --> 00:08:04.120 man received sinners and needs with them. So He told them this parable. So it's in that 00:08:04.120 --> 00:08:10.879 context that Jesus speak. First they were careless, they were self-centered, they thought 00:08:10.879 --> 00:08:16.199 more highly of themselves than they ought to have thought, especially as they could judge 00:08:16.199 --> 00:08:21.639 themselves against other people, the sinners and the tax collectors. Now I wonder if Jesus, 00:08:21.639 --> 00:08:27.079 when He told this parable of the shepherd and of the lost sheep, whether He was thinking 00:08:27.079 --> 00:08:36.679 of the Old Testament prophecy in Ezekiel, in Ezekiel which speaks about the religious 00:08:36.679 --> 00:08:42.679 leaders of the day being poor shepherds of the sheep. And the prophecy there says, because 00:08:42.679 --> 00:08:49.159 my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than the flock. 00:08:49.159 --> 00:08:52.480 Therefore you shepherds hear the word of the Lord. This is what the sovereign Lord says. 00:08:52.480 --> 00:08:57.720 I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. So here we have 00:08:57.720 --> 00:09:06.139 the, almost Jesus, reminding them of this prophecy of their bad leadership as religious 00:09:06.139 --> 00:09:11.279 leaders of the day. They were self-centered, they cared more about themselves and regarded 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:17.960 themselves as holy, not like other people. You know, the prayer of the Pharisee who went 00:09:17.960 --> 00:09:22.759 up and said, Father, I thank you, I'm not like this wretched sinner here. I'm a good 00:09:22.759 --> 00:09:28.040 guy. And how Jesus just really hated that attitude. So they were careless at that level. 00:09:28.040 --> 00:09:32.200 But they were also critical, weren't they? As religious leaders, they were critical of 00:09:32.200 --> 00:09:38.879 Jesus. This man received sinners and eats with him. They were critical of his message 00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:46.400 of his means of evangelism. They didn't like his social life. They didn't like the fact 00:09:46.399 --> 00:09:52.840 that he had friendships among those that were outcasts and who were rejects and who couldn't 00:09:52.840 --> 00:09:59.840 possibly belong to the living God. That's the context of looking at this passage about 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:02.759 loving the lost. 00:10:02.759 --> 00:10:13.639 Now where might we be tempted to be loveless? And as all preaching does, it comes from one 00:10:13.639 --> 00:10:18.439 zone experience. So when I speak about the possible temptations of where we might be 00:10:18.439 --> 00:10:26.799 loveless, it's because I know all about them in my own heart. We can be tempted to be blind 00:10:26.799 --> 00:10:32.319 to our own commonality with all of society. With every person we meet, whoever we rub 00:10:32.319 --> 00:10:39.039 shoulders with, isn't it so easy for us, even in the privacy of our own hearts or homes, 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:46.639 to look down on or to reject others, especially those maybe who reject us or reject the Christ 00:10:46.639 --> 00:10:50.959 that we love. I'm not talking about loving one another this week, about the church, about 00:10:50.959 --> 00:10:57.639 Christians. We did that last week. So easy for us though to condemn and to judge those 00:10:57.639 --> 00:11:08.439 who don't believe, to forget who we are, to forget that we were lost and that Christ 00:11:08.440 --> 00:11:16.440 found us, to forget our ongoing heart on a daily basis, to forget grace, to be self-absorbed 00:11:16.440 --> 00:11:22.520 with our own decency, our own life, our own efforts, our own goodness, and it all revolves 00:11:22.520 --> 00:11:28.320 around ourselves. What was it He said, who cared not only for themselves rather than for 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:37.600 my flock? And there's that reality of not having a care for those who need search for, 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:43.840 those who are lost. To blind to our own commonality with humanity, blind and also critical sometimes 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:51.320 of others who don't know Christ. The poor, maybe sometimes the disenfranchised, the 00:11:51.320 --> 00:11:56.440 homeless, the addicts. Sometimes we join the chorus, don't we, of society and we keep 00:11:56.440 --> 00:11:59.320 our distance and say, well, it's probably their own fault that they've got to where 00:11:59.320 --> 00:12:07.240 they are. The immoral, the atheists, the secularists, we condemn them with nothing in common with 00:12:07.240 --> 00:12:15.720 them, we think. We sometimes even fight against them without much thought or prayer about 00:12:15.720 --> 00:12:22.480 their lives, their hearts, their vulnerabilities, their fears, their lostness, their questions, 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:28.919 their search. We can be critical. But maybe on a completely different angle, looking at 00:12:28.919 --> 00:12:33.799 it from a different perspective, it's not that we judge, it's not that we condemn, it's 00:12:33.799 --> 00:12:37.879 not that we separate ourselves, it's not that we're careless about people's souls, it's 00:12:37.879 --> 00:12:45.159 that we don't feel any separation at all. We don't consider their lostness. We're happy 00:12:45.159 --> 00:12:50.279 basically to live by the same standards and the same values and the same friendships of 00:12:50.279 --> 00:12:58.479 everyone around us. Because possibly we're living without Christ ourselves. That's a 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:06.240 temptation in our lives that we love people who are not Christians, which is a great thing. 00:13:06.240 --> 00:13:13.519 But we simply love them in a kind of human way. We don't see them in their relationship 00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:19.560 or their estrangement from their Creator, their Father, their God, their lostness. And 00:13:19.560 --> 00:13:25.759 the judgment that they, as we were all under, the separation, the death, the judgment and 00:13:25.759 --> 00:13:33.519 the hell, it's unthinkable for us, unthinkable. So we don't think about it. And we don't think 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:39.799 about them in that way. We love them, we socialize with them, we have great relationships with 00:13:39.799 --> 00:13:47.080 them, many maybe who are not Christians. But we never share our faith. We never tell them 00:13:47.080 --> 00:13:53.000 in love and gently and graciously in our own words, their need for Christ as our need for 00:13:53.000 --> 00:13:57.519 Christ is real. Because we're all in the same boat, aren't we? That's what Jesus is teaching 00:13:57.519 --> 00:14:03.879 us here about lostness. So that we're called then, these might be some of the temptations, 00:14:03.879 --> 00:14:08.879 you might have other temptations also. But we're called then to be imitators of Christ's 00:14:08.879 --> 00:14:14.039 love. There's a great verse, Ephesians 5, 1, it says, Therefore be imitators of God as 00:14:14.039 --> 00:14:19.200 beloved children and walk in love as Christ's love does and gave himself up for his fragrant 00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:24.720 offering and sacrifice to God. So we're called there to imitate Jesus. We can't imitate Him 00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:28.000 by going to the cross, that's not what we're called to do. But we're called to imitate 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:33.160 His love because He gives us His love in Christ. We're indwelt by His love through the Holy 00:14:33.160 --> 00:14:38.120 Spirit. And we saw as, I think we saw maybe the last two weeks, that it's a very different 00:14:38.120 --> 00:14:46.240 kind of love to merely natural love. And we're to love those who aren't Christians and those 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:51.680 who are lost and maybe those who are enemies of us sometimes because of our faith. We're 00:14:51.680 --> 00:14:57.799 to love them because that's how we were once. We were lost ourselves and we've been touched 00:14:57.799 --> 00:15:03.039 and saved by divine love. And that changes everything. So take time this morning, just 00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:08.480 for a few moments, not this morning, any time at some point today, just to consider that 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:17.279 again, to consider what it means to be embraced and to be subsumed and to be covered and to 00:15:17.279 --> 00:15:22.920 be looked after by Christ's love. Maybe it's, particularly things have gone really easily 00:15:22.920 --> 00:15:27.480 for you in your life. Listen to those who have gone through deep difficulty and loss 00:15:27.480 --> 00:15:34.600 and sadness and trial and tribulation who are Christ's. And see how much Christ envelopes 00:15:34.600 --> 00:15:42.800 them at that time. See the peace that they enjoy. Unmistakably miraculous. Not when 00:15:42.800 --> 00:15:49.960 things are great, but when things are difficult and troublesome, where you think you'd be 00:15:49.960 --> 00:15:55.620 tempted to give up your faith. That's very often you will find the deepest expression 00:15:55.620 --> 00:16:00.279 of God's love in your life. And remember that, and if you're in a dark place today, 00:16:00.279 --> 00:16:05.120 if you're struggling, if you want to give up, if you're looking at other people, if 00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:11.120 you feel God isn't answering, please go back to be comforted and to sense your value and 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:15.600 to know your healing in Jesus Christ. And that love which passes understanding, it's 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:20.480 very difficult to explain. Sometimes a preacher is incredibly difficult because you can't 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:29.360 explain. In the old Scottish terminology, better felt than tell. And that's true for 00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:34.240 us. And it must be true for you. And all of the testimonies, great reading these testimonies. 00:16:34.240 --> 00:16:39.879 Sorry, we're, Chloe and I are both feeling like the cat that got the cream. Because, 00:16:39.879 --> 00:16:43.000 and the elders, because we've read all these testimonies. But nearly all of these testimonies 00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:49.360 speak about the importance of many of them moving from a place of intellectual knowledge 00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:54.039 and being brought up in Christian homes. But then realizing it's much more than that. It's 00:16:54.039 --> 00:17:01.599 a heartfelt recognition of Christ in my life, in my heart, and my need personally for forgiveness 00:17:01.599 --> 00:17:06.599 and redemption. That's a different love. And we're called to live with that different 00:17:06.599 --> 00:17:15.839 love in our lives. And it's a love that enables us to have a significant presence in the world, 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:22.039 significant presence. Look at the story. Jesus is very significant in the story. And also, 00:17:22.039 --> 00:17:28.159 as He's represented in the parables, the shepherd, the woman, they both play very important, 00:17:28.159 --> 00:17:33.240 significant roles in the parable. And He is significantly visible eating and drinking 00:17:33.240 --> 00:17:43.119 with publicans and sinners. And He is receiving them. There's a great significance in His 00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:51.960 presence in that context. And so I say in terms of loving the lost, just be there. 00:17:51.960 --> 00:17:59.240 Just be there with them. You've got to be in it to win it. You've got to be there. You've 00:17:59.240 --> 00:18:04.680 got to be in their company. You've got to let them know that you're a real person. You've 00:18:04.680 --> 00:18:09.640 got to eat and drink with them. You've got to be in that place where your presence is 00:18:09.640 --> 00:18:15.240 known. And your presence, remember, is the presence of God the Holy Spirit in you as 00:18:15.240 --> 00:18:22.759 well, your Christ's children in that context. So your significant presence is important. 00:18:22.759 --> 00:18:29.640 We're not called to be isolationists. We're not called to be monastic. We are called to 00:18:29.640 --> 00:18:35.480 be in and among people to live that life and to share that life. And that's what we and 00:18:35.480 --> 00:18:42.039 what you must be, I hope, and pray in St. Columbus as you continue to be. And with that, 00:18:42.039 --> 00:18:49.599 then will be a love for the lost, a love for them, that you value them more than you value 00:18:49.599 --> 00:18:57.440 your own life, that you take time, that we take time to understand them, to understand 00:18:57.440 --> 00:19:03.759 their questions, to listen to them, to not just come and ram gospel truth down their 00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:09.359 throats whether they want it or not. Never works. Commit time to them. Show them that 00:19:09.359 --> 00:19:14.639 they're not a project, that you just love them for who they are. Love them as those 00:19:14.639 --> 00:19:20.639 who are made in God's image. Love them as God's estranged children. See beyond their 00:19:20.639 --> 00:19:28.919 outward rejection sometimes and rebellion. Take the initiative with them. Don't be afraid 00:19:28.919 --> 00:19:35.759 to be yourself among them. Be the first in St. Columbus to worship this visitor that comes 00:19:35.759 --> 00:19:43.400 in to the church as well. Be the one in your street or in your close or in your halls or 00:19:43.400 --> 00:19:51.400 whatever you happen to be who reaches out to those around you. Be the one who acts in 00:19:51.400 --> 00:19:58.759 love and shows acts of love to strangers. Develop long-term relationships with people 00:19:58.759 --> 00:20:04.359 who don't know and love Christ because you love them. And that's what we do when we love 00:20:04.359 --> 00:20:12.719 people. We make long-term relationships with them. Go to the office social when it's difficult 00:20:12.719 --> 00:20:21.319 and recognize that these things for us should become natural with His supernatural love 00:20:21.319 --> 00:20:26.879 in us, if that makes sense. You know what I mean? Because that's what Christ's appealing 00:20:26.879 --> 00:20:32.479 to here for the Pharisees. He's saying, He's not saying, I'm the shepherd and He's not 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:39.000 saying I'm the woman in the parables. He's saying, what man, which one of you, He says, 00:20:39.000 --> 00:20:46.200 having a hundred sheep or the woman, you know, having ten silver coins if she loses one, 00:20:46.200 --> 00:20:51.120 doesn't light a lamp in front. He's saying, even to the Pharisees, this is what you should 00:20:51.120 --> 00:20:57.559 do. This is absolutely natural for a shepherd or for a woman who is poor and who's lost 00:20:57.559 --> 00:21:04.519 one of her ten coins that enables her to live. It's natural. It should for us as believers 00:21:04.519 --> 00:21:11.799 become natural to reach out. Christ's appealing a good shepherd naturally, a poor woman naturally, 00:21:11.799 --> 00:21:16.879 a loving father, naturally would do when faced with a lost sheep, a lost coin, or a lost 00:21:16.879 --> 00:21:24.440 son. And it should be our natural, spiritually natural, if I can use that mixed metaphor, 00:21:24.440 --> 00:21:30.039 really natural default position when we're indwelt by the Holy Spirit. We are becoming 00:21:30.039 --> 00:21:41.880 children of grace who love like Jesus loves and who eats and drinks with sinners. And 00:21:41.880 --> 00:21:49.600 that will take us out of our comfort zone. It will also take us into spiritual risk. 00:21:49.599 --> 00:21:56.159 It always will take us into spiritual risk. It will take us to places of temptation. It 00:21:56.159 --> 00:22:00.679 will take us to a place where we're tempted to reject others. It will take us to a place 00:22:00.679 --> 00:22:08.519 where other Christians will criticize us for our fraternizing with the lost. That's why 00:22:08.519 --> 00:22:15.519 you need to go into these situations prayerfully and full of Jesus and full of His love and 00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:22.319 full of a right perspective. Because very often we can use our friendship with those 00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:30.799 who are not Christians as justification for living in a Godless way ourselves, can't we? 00:22:30.799 --> 00:22:35.960 And that's not what I'm speaking about here. Because the recognition is that with Christ's 00:22:35.960 --> 00:22:42.480 love, there's a recognition for those whom we are befriending and loving and sharing our 00:22:42.480 --> 00:22:52.000 lives with that repentance is everything. Repentance for them is everything. Because 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:58.079 it's the 99 who don't see their need of repentance that Jesus is speaking about. And he's saying 00:22:58.079 --> 00:23:05.839 implicitly, if not explicitly, that the returning lost sheep is the one who's repented and who 00:23:05.839 --> 00:23:15.159 is met with the Savior again. That gospel terminology is so important. That in seeing 00:23:15.159 --> 00:23:19.879 these friendships, we're seeing them from the perspective of a child of Christ who wants 00:23:19.879 --> 00:23:28.319 others to become children of Christ, children of the Father through His loving grace. I 00:23:28.319 --> 00:23:33.319 would have to preach my last sermon and mention C.S. Lewis. And I've probably quoted this 00:23:33.319 --> 00:23:38.759 many times here before from the weight of glory, very powerful sentence, quite long. 00:23:38.759 --> 00:23:43.599 It's a serious thing, he says, to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses to 00:23:43.599 --> 00:23:48.159 remember that the dullest, most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature, 00:23:48.159 --> 00:23:54.079 which if you saw now, you'd be strongly tempted to worship or else a horror and a corruption 00:23:54.079 --> 00:24:02.319 so as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities 00:24:02.319 --> 00:24:09.319 that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all our friendships, all our 00:24:09.319 --> 00:24:17.359 loves, all our play, all our politics. There are no ordinary people. You've never talked 00:24:17.359 --> 00:24:25.240 to a mere mortal, nations, cultures, arts, civilizations. They're mortal and their life 00:24:25.240 --> 00:24:32.319 is two hours as the life of a nat, but as immortals that we joke with, work with and 00:24:32.319 --> 00:24:42.200 marry, snub and exploit, immortal horrors are everlasting splendors. That's someone 00:24:42.200 --> 00:24:47.640 who grasped the love of Christ and what it was to live in society and to recognize the 00:24:47.640 --> 00:24:54.880 need for repentance. And so in our friendships, we're recognizing that that's something important 00:24:54.880 --> 00:24:59.680 that through our friendships and through our trust and through our love with the lost that 00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:05.040 we're able to tell them. Tell them about Christ, tell them about ourselves, tell them about 00:25:05.040 --> 00:25:12.640 our story, tell them and work through that and learn how to do that. It's not a formula, 00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:18.600 it's not a tick box, it's not a tick box. Don't do it in Bible speak. Don't necessarily 00:25:18.600 --> 00:25:24.200 tell someone you need to repent because they don't know what that means, but teach yourself 00:25:24.200 --> 00:25:32.120 to learn and I teach myself, we must teach ourselves to learn how to understand them so 00:25:32.120 --> 00:25:36.080 that they will understand what we want to share with them that is so important to us. 00:25:36.080 --> 00:25:41.080 That's why Jesus so often spoke in parables. Pray in the Holy Spirit for them. Pray for 00:25:41.080 --> 00:25:47.080 the wisdom and the courage and the boldness just to be able to live in their company and 00:25:47.080 --> 00:25:53.640 when the opportunity reveals itself as we are living for Christ, then enable us to just 00:25:53.640 --> 00:25:59.040 share that with passion. I don't care if they're stumbling words. They don't care if they're 00:25:59.040 --> 00:26:04.200 stumbling words. They would rather that than some kind of silky smooth presentation that 00:26:04.200 --> 00:26:11.080 leaves them cold because it comes from the heart and because it's what we are and what 00:26:11.080 --> 00:26:19.280 we struggle with and try to be and why is it so important? Because as we saw before, 00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:29.000 this passage is also all about celebration. It's all about joy in heaven. Fix our eyes 00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:33.799 on Jesus, Hebrews 12 to the pioneer and perfecter of our faith for the joy that was set before 00:26:33.799 --> 00:26:38.960 Him, endured the cross, scorning at shame, sat down at the right hand of the Father. 00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:47.000 We're not told a lot about heaven's activities in the Bible, but we are slammed with it here 00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:52.680 in all of these parables. Jesus came from heaven and Jesus knows exactly what heaven's 00:26:52.680 --> 00:26:58.160 about and He knows that the focus of heaven and the activity of heaven is that it's a 00:26:58.160 --> 00:27:12.279 party of celebration for those who believe. It's a celebration when one sinner who depends 00:27:12.279 --> 00:27:22.200 comes into the kingdom. Jesus on the cross, in His resurrection, who does He take with 00:27:22.200 --> 00:27:28.200 Him? He takes with Him the criminal on the cross, the first to enter into glory as His 00:27:28.200 --> 00:27:37.399 first triumphant fruit of His labor. And if you do have time, I'll say, many of you 00:27:37.400 --> 00:27:45.720 I know will have heard this. You'll have seen it. And it's a clip from a pastor who, because 00:27:45.720 --> 00:27:51.880 I'm at the front of the church, I've forgotten his name and he's really famous, but he speaks 00:27:51.880 --> 00:28:00.080 about this story, about the criminal on the cross who comes to you. What's his name? 00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:07.399 Everyone knows it. Corey, you know who he is. It's a Scottish guy who's in America. Alsterbeg, 00:28:07.399 --> 00:28:13.720 that's it. Okay, he would have to be Scottish, even though he's in America. But honestly, 00:28:13.720 --> 00:28:22.759 it's one of the most powerful things you'll hear. And we shouldn't really record this, 00:28:22.759 --> 00:28:28.960 but as you're listening to that, look at the faces of the guys behind him, because I don't 00:28:28.960 --> 00:28:34.000 think they like what he's saying. And I think that's quite good, because it's an amazing 00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:38.799 passage. And do read it, if you can find it, I'll put it on the pastoral team's website, 00:28:38.799 --> 00:28:48.920 WhatsApp group. Joy it brings to heaven. Celebration. And if you're a believer, I'm sure you know 00:28:48.920 --> 00:28:54.519 that the greatest joy you've had, apart from your own coming to faith, is when someone you 00:28:54.519 --> 00:29:02.160 love, who you've prayed for, maybe you haven't witnessed to or you haven't known even terribly 00:29:02.160 --> 00:29:08.960 well, but when someone comes to faith, that is the greatest joy you experience. It puts 00:29:08.960 --> 00:29:14.480 everything into perspective. Whatever else happens in their lives, the greatest thing 00:29:14.480 --> 00:29:20.480 is they have come to know the Savior who has transformed your life and with whom you can 00:29:20.480 --> 00:29:26.759 hold hands on into eternity. That's what it's all about. And that's what it needs to be 00:29:26.759 --> 00:29:34.160 continually, as it will be, all about in since he's individually, since he's a congregation, 00:29:34.160 --> 00:29:41.720 and ourselves as individuals, aware of our need to keep stripping back, to have a focus 00:29:41.720 --> 00:29:48.400 on loving God, loving one another, loving the lost. That's a great focus, isn't it? 00:29:48.400 --> 00:29:53.240 And prayerful dependence. We don't know how to do it so often. We need the Holy Spirit 00:29:53.240 --> 00:29:59.519 to guide us and challenge us and keep us moving into that place of glorious grace and truth. 00:29:59.519 --> 00:30:08.920 And when you do, you'll be more than okay. And the next Kingdom chapter here will be 00:30:08.920 --> 00:30:22.000 even better. Let's pray. Father God, we pray for your guidance and help. We pray for your 00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:31.480 Holy Spirit to teach us and lead us. We pray for many, many more celebratory times, instances 00:30:31.480 --> 00:30:39.360 in our church plants, in the Scottish church, and the worldwide church, many converts to 00:30:39.360 --> 00:30:49.200 Christ, many baptisms, many celebratory reflections of heaven. Remind us that that is what will 00:30:49.200 --> 00:30:55.519 enable us to taste heaven probably more than anything else will be when we sing and celebrate 00:30:55.519 --> 00:31:02.559 in the way that heaven sings and celebrates over those who come to know and come to faith 00:31:02.559 --> 00:31:09.359 in Jesus Christ. We pray for that. We think of the Palestinian, Israeli conflict and the 00:31:09.359 --> 00:31:15.119 need for a miraculous intervention on the ground. We've heard of many who have come 00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:21.319 to faith and been transformed among the Palestinians and the Jews, and we pray for more of that. 00:31:21.319 --> 00:31:26.240 We pray for it in Iran and Iraq. We hear of many people who have come to know Christ 00:31:26.240 --> 00:31:31.159 through dreams that Christ has appeared to them in the difficulties and the dangers of 00:31:31.159 --> 00:31:35.960 professing Jesus in that environment. We pray for more of that. We pray for it in Pakistan 00:31:35.960 --> 00:31:45.399 and in India and in China and in places where the gospel is flourishing and many, many thousands 00:31:45.399 --> 00:31:48.279 of people are coming to Christ. So what we pray for these countries of the world, we 00:31:48.279 --> 00:31:54.519 pray for ourselves. Help us not to think that the day of God's favour is past us. Help 00:31:54.519 --> 00:31:59.079 us to believe that there are many great things. I thank you for the 200 pastors that met in 00:31:59.079 --> 00:32:05.759 Falkirk this week, fasting and praying for Scotland and praying for the gospel. And we 00:32:05.759 --> 00:32:10.200 pray that that would bear fruit. And we ask and pray that we would see more of that in 00:32:10.200 --> 00:32:15.079 our day, that the churches would not be big enough to hold those who come to faith. That 00:32:15.079 --> 00:32:20.559 it would be a revival of your cause and of your kingdom. That the churches that are being 00:32:20.559 --> 00:32:27.759 emptied at the moment and being sold off or being united with lots of other churches and 00:32:27.759 --> 00:32:32.559 their spare buildings, that they would become new churches and new plants. And they would 00:32:32.559 --> 00:32:38.240 be filled with people worshiping you and reflecting heaven again. We rejoice in these things and 00:32:38.240 --> 00:32:44.240 we pray for them. And we ask that we would play a very small bit. We pray in our city 00:32:44.240 --> 00:32:48.319 a significant role along with all the other churches we love and we are in connection 00:32:48.319 --> 00:32:55.839 with in the city here, that we would see many, many people coming to know Jesus in His power 00:32:55.839 --> 00:33:03.319 and in the amazing reality of sharing that shepherd's love for the lost. So enable us 00:33:03.319 --> 00:33:16.279 to do it in Jesus' precious name. Amen.