WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.540 So it's great to be together today and it's great to start the year kind of with a spiritual 00:00:06.540 --> 00:00:12.839 perspective and reminding us of the foundation of our faith and who we're to look for. 00:00:12.839 --> 00:00:17.240 So I guess many of us, even many of us as we entered this morning, we said, Happy New 00:00:17.240 --> 00:00:24.920 Year and you'll have heard that a hundred thousand times over this last twelve hours 00:00:24.920 --> 00:00:25.920 or so. 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:29.360 And that's a great sentiment, isn't it? 00:00:29.360 --> 00:00:31.640 You know, it's a tremendous sentiment. 00:00:31.640 --> 00:00:37.960 Happiness is really important to us and it's very significant and God knows that as well. 00:00:37.960 --> 00:00:43.880 And I think what we sometimes forget is that our happiness is founded in a relationship 00:00:43.880 --> 00:00:44.880 with Him. 00:00:44.880 --> 00:00:49.680 At a very fundamental level, we will look for happiness in lots of different areas and 00:00:49.680 --> 00:00:54.320 He gives us happiness in lots of different areas, but not without Him. 00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:57.600 Not despite Him. 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:03.200 He wants us to enjoy the everyday things of living and life, but He wants us to do it 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:09.000 in His strength and focused on Him as our foundation in life. 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:15.039 You know, we didn't read the beatitudes of the sermon on the Mount, bless it is. 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:25.520 I know it's rather a maybe a soft interpretation or translation of the word that we have, that 00:01:25.520 --> 00:01:32.960 we use happy is, but blessed is slightly kind of more three dimensional and a bit deeper. 00:01:32.960 --> 00:01:40.560 But essentially it's happiness and Jesus has given us a recipe for happiness here that 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:42.400 we're to recognize and know. 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:47.040 And what He's doing in the sermon is really just teaching us the happiness of grace, the 00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:49.960 happiness of following His ways of grace. 00:01:49.960 --> 00:01:56.560 And so just briefly what I want to do is remind us again as we start the new year of the direction 00:01:56.560 --> 00:02:02.560 of travel that we want to be in, that we want God, that God wants us to be in, the channel 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:11.280 that He wants us to follow and recognize that His way is never merely comforting. 00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:16.120 I can't simply just spiritually rub your backs and say, there, there, I'll do that 00:02:16.120 --> 00:02:19.759 as much as I can, but there's also a challenge for us. 00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:26.639 There's also something to kind of face up to and recognize in the spiritual battle and 00:02:26.639 --> 00:02:32.080 kind of in the battle and in the difficulties we can say there, there, and know His comfort 00:02:32.080 --> 00:02:35.680 and know His strength for us. 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:42.680 So really the sermon is about practical, I want to be very, as you know, that's the 00:02:42.680 --> 00:02:48.640 bent of the direction so often of my preaching is to be practical, to take the theological 00:02:48.640 --> 00:02:52.680 truth and make it practical, make it real in our lives. 00:02:52.680 --> 00:02:55.600 And the sermon of Jesus is very practical. 00:02:55.600 --> 00:03:04.280 Take verse, you know, 47, when He says, everyone who comes to me and hears my word and does 00:03:04.280 --> 00:03:11.599 them, that is what He wants us to do, is to hear His word and do it. 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:13.360 He wants us to live it. 00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:15.719 He wants us to put it into practice. 00:03:15.719 --> 00:03:22.479 It is, you know, theology and truth must be for us, but you shouldn't sit here and just 00:03:22.479 --> 00:03:28.920 think we'll get through this half hour of theological stuff that's not really relevant 00:03:28.920 --> 00:03:31.920 and then I'll get back to my real life, my practical life. 00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:40.119 And it should be that everything that we believe takes its place to allow us blessing and happiness 00:03:40.119 --> 00:03:42.799 in our practical everyday living. 00:03:42.799 --> 00:03:49.719 So that's really, that verse there, verse 47 is really a summary of what Jesus wants 00:03:49.719 --> 00:03:55.479 us to take from this whole sermon, that we would hear His word and do His word in the 00:03:55.479 --> 00:04:00.359 strength of the Spirit, you know, not on our own strength, not as a way of earning favor, 00:04:00.360 --> 00:04:06.840 not in His strength that we would recognize, that as Christians we are empowered to live 00:04:06.840 --> 00:04:07.840 for Him. 00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:12.920 In other words, I've got, and you've got no excuses to be sinful. 00:04:12.920 --> 00:04:17.400 No excuses to say, hey, well, I'm just a sinner and this is the way I'm living. 00:04:17.400 --> 00:04:21.960 We will do that, we will sin, we'll fail, but we have no excuse for it because we are 00:04:21.960 --> 00:04:26.480 empowered to live a different way and when we sin we are empowered to be forgiven and 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:27.480 move forward. 00:04:27.480 --> 00:04:31.040 So basically, we're looking at a couple of things here. 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:37.480 We're looking at a generosity of spirit and we're looking at goodness of heart, lovely 00:04:37.480 --> 00:04:38.680 things, okay? 00:04:38.680 --> 00:04:42.120 A generous spirit and a good heart. 00:04:42.120 --> 00:04:46.360 And I'll just take the sections as they're broken down in the chapter that you have if 00:04:46.360 --> 00:04:49.439 you've got the Bible in front of you in page 863. 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:55.960 So Jesus starts with, the heading is judging others and really it's about a generosity 00:04:55.959 --> 00:04:58.959 of spirit towards other people. 00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:03.319 Now we know and we say again and again the gospel is intensely personal. 00:05:03.319 --> 00:05:07.839 It's about your relationship with Jesus Christ, you must recognize that you're sin and my 00:05:07.839 --> 00:05:13.399 sin is what He's taken on the cross and we have this ongoing personal relationship, but 00:05:13.399 --> 00:05:20.839 God forbid that you take that personal relationship and don't apply it societally or communally 00:05:20.839 --> 00:05:22.959 or in the church. 00:05:22.959 --> 00:05:29.879 Because the gospel that's intensely personal, that is intensely individualistic, powerfully 00:05:29.879 --> 00:05:35.879 should affect the way we behave in community with one another. 00:05:35.879 --> 00:05:43.560 It influences particularly not just our behavior in isolation but our behavior with other people. 00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:50.439 And I think this is a really underrated or under focused element of faith. 00:05:50.439 --> 00:05:53.959 We like to talk about our individual faith and how it's growing and how we're bearing 00:05:53.959 --> 00:06:00.759 fruit, but it's often revealed in the way we live and our attitudes towards other people. 00:06:00.759 --> 00:06:07.439 And Jesus focuses on that, our attitudes towards others and their failings. 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:12.639 So He's saying here, judge not and you will not be judged, condemn not and you will not 00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:13.639 be condemned. 00:06:13.639 --> 00:06:16.240 That's the whole focus of this section. 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:22.400 It's about the kind of spirit, the generosity or the miserly kind of spirit we have towards 00:06:22.400 --> 00:06:25.000 the failures of other people. 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:29.759 Now when Jesus is speaking here, He's not speaking about being discerning. 00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:33.639 He's not speaking about making right judgments because we're people that we make choices 00:06:33.639 --> 00:06:36.319 and we make judgments every day. 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:41.480 He's not giving us a license to be naive about people and thinking, oh, we don't want 00:06:41.480 --> 00:06:44.199 to make any judgments whatsoever. 00:06:44.199 --> 00:06:52.519 It's about judging other people with an ungracious, a graceless spirit or a graceless motive. 00:06:52.519 --> 00:07:01.319 It's about being miserly towards the failures of others, sensorious, hypocritical. 00:07:01.319 --> 00:07:06.240 This is not a very, this is a bit of a clumsy statement, but self unaware. 00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:12.680 We're unaware of our self before God, miserly with the grace that we've been generously 00:07:12.680 --> 00:07:13.680 given. 00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:18.120 So it's about a generosity of spirit and He's saying that this is what grace is about. 00:07:18.120 --> 00:07:25.560 It's about how we live and think about the failures and the mistakes of other people. 00:07:25.560 --> 00:07:33.840 And He gives three very quick principles that we are to embrace so that we are graceful, 00:07:33.840 --> 00:07:35.480 generous in our spirit. 00:07:35.480 --> 00:07:40.040 As we go into 2018, it's a great thing to put into practice in the church. 00:07:40.040 --> 00:07:45.439 That's what we want to be in St. Columbas in our community, you know, with all the 00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:48.360 failings and faults and mistakes that we make. 00:07:48.360 --> 00:07:54.760 And it's so easy to write them down and to elicit them and to remember them and to record 00:07:54.760 --> 00:07:55.760 them. 00:07:55.760 --> 00:07:58.800 And He wants us to think differently and be generous. 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:00.720 And He gives us three principles for our lives. 00:08:00.720 --> 00:08:05.480 It says, firstly, be like Christ, our teacher in verse 40. 00:08:05.480 --> 00:08:09.759 He tells us a disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:12.039 be like his teacher. 00:08:12.039 --> 00:08:16.039 And so that helps us to be generous, spirited, because we are learners. 00:08:16.039 --> 00:08:20.680 We'll always have the El Plate on in our Christian lives. 00:08:20.680 --> 00:08:22.920 We'll always be someone who is learning. 00:08:22.920 --> 00:08:23.920 What is it they have? 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:28.039 And people who have passed their driving test now is a P. What does that mean? 00:08:28.039 --> 00:08:29.039 Probationer? 00:08:29.039 --> 00:08:30.039 What does it? 00:08:30.039 --> 00:08:31.039 Pass. 00:08:31.039 --> 00:08:33.039 Is that what it means? 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:35.240 I thought it meant that you're still learning. 00:08:35.240 --> 00:08:37.360 I thought it was probationer or something like that. 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:41.960 But anyway, we never really lose our P. Plate or our El Plate as Christians, because we're 00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:43.879 always disciples. 00:08:43.879 --> 00:08:46.680 And we have to be like Jesus. 00:08:46.680 --> 00:08:49.480 The tendency Jesus says is to blind this. 00:08:49.480 --> 00:08:52.240 You know, how can a blind man lead the blind? 00:08:52.240 --> 00:08:55.279 That's what our tendency is to be spiritually blind. 00:08:55.279 --> 00:08:58.919 But He says, I've lavished grace on you. 00:08:58.919 --> 00:09:01.360 I've given you amazing amounts of grace. 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:08.680 Jesus says, I've left the classroom and I've hung on a cross. 00:09:08.680 --> 00:09:12.639 What I'm telling you, Jesus, is no mere academic ethic. 00:09:12.639 --> 00:09:14.519 It's no moralistic code. 00:09:14.519 --> 00:09:19.919 I've come and I've lived it and I've bled it and I've died and I've risen again in 00:09:19.919 --> 00:09:25.240 order to give you a life that you're to share with others. 00:09:25.240 --> 00:09:32.759 And we sit at His feet as recipients of new life, paid in full, graced, lavished on as 00:09:32.759 --> 00:09:36.080 undeserved mercy and we are to reflect Christ. 00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:38.960 Now you will do that tomorrow or not. 00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:41.240 And I will do that tomorrow or not. 00:09:41.240 --> 00:09:46.639 We will either lavish grace on others and especially on the failure of others, of our 00:09:46.639 --> 00:09:52.120 wives, our husbands, our children, our colleagues, our neighbors, or we will be miserly with 00:09:52.120 --> 00:09:53.120 grace. 00:09:53.120 --> 00:09:56.080 I'll keep it all to myself. 00:09:56.080 --> 00:09:57.080 That's the choice we have. 00:09:57.080 --> 00:10:01.159 Are we going to be like Christ our teacher? 00:10:01.159 --> 00:10:12.560 So the second principle is in, you know, tight and strong theological language, stop being 00:10:12.560 --> 00:10:14.799 a plank. 00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:16.679 Stop being a plank. 00:10:16.679 --> 00:10:19.120 That's what He says in verses 41 and 42. 00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:23.960 He says, we see a speck that is in our brother's eye but we don't know it's a log or a plank 00:10:23.960 --> 00:10:27.560 or a trunk of tree, a tree trunk that's in our own eye. 00:10:27.560 --> 00:10:32.679 You know, Jesus is making things very clear and very obvious for us the way that sometimes 00:10:32.679 --> 00:10:33.679 we think. 00:10:33.679 --> 00:10:42.200 We're very imbalanced and we do things in a very ironically, sadly humorous way in a 00:10:42.200 --> 00:10:43.200 sense. 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:49.080 If it wasn't so serious, it would be funny, I think, in the sense is what Jesus is saying. 00:10:49.080 --> 00:10:53.720 He's saying is that we're very quick to point out the tiny failings and others but we fail 00:10:53.720 --> 00:10:59.920 to see this large beam, plank, trunk that's coming out of our own eye. 00:10:59.920 --> 00:11:02.400 So he stopped being a plank. 00:11:02.400 --> 00:11:07.840 Jesus is invoking holy sarcasm to the mean spirited here. 00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:16.640 He's reminding us of the danger of us saying, oh, I see, yes, yes, I see, I see grace, I 00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:28.600 see Jesus, I see all that God has done but focusing rather on the minor failings of others 00:11:28.600 --> 00:11:36.720 rather than being self-aware that grace makes us self-aware. 00:11:36.720 --> 00:11:42.039 We can be Jesus is saying, and Jesus is saying it, I'm glad to say that, self-righteous tree 00:11:42.039 --> 00:11:43.039 trunks. 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:45.159 That's what we can be. 00:11:45.159 --> 00:11:53.039 Making lumber and cumbersome and unaware, humbly of what grace has done for us. 00:11:53.039 --> 00:12:00.240 He says we can be black, we can miss the point, we can be legalistic and we can miss judge. 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:03.000 We can focus the judgment on in the wrong way. 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:10.879 It should first of all be internal before it finds the external outlet with other people. 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:17.639 The interesting thing is, I think here, that it's in the context of faith. 00:12:17.639 --> 00:12:23.240 There's a piety about it, kind of rather ugly piety, isn't it? 00:12:23.240 --> 00:12:31.159 And we see it in ourselves because here Jesus says that the person says, brother, brother, 00:12:31.159 --> 00:12:32.159 sister. 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:38.480 And I kind of, there's a false piety about it. 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:44.519 And you say, brother, you say, I really do love you, but my goodness, these tiny sins 00:12:44.519 --> 00:12:50.039 you've got, I'm going to expose them because I'm holier and more righteous than you. 00:12:50.039 --> 00:12:51.639 And so I feel I should do that. 00:12:51.639 --> 00:12:56.039 So there is a piety, there's a false spirituality about it. 00:12:56.039 --> 00:12:58.000 It's not coming from an unbeliever. 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:02.240 It's not coming from someone who doesn't acknowledge the truth. 00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:05.159 But it comes with pride. 00:13:05.159 --> 00:13:07.600 And it comes with self-righteousness. 00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:14.360 So it causes only resentment because it's self-oblivious. 00:13:14.360 --> 00:13:15.759 And you know that, don't you? 00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:16.759 You've experienced that. 00:13:16.759 --> 00:13:17.759 I've experienced it. 00:13:17.759 --> 00:13:20.399 I've probably done it as well. 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:22.440 But you know that, don't you? 00:13:22.440 --> 00:13:29.560 When someone comes in a mask of spirituality to expose all your minor failings, you can 00:13:29.560 --> 00:13:36.320 just see tree trunks all over the place. 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:40.240 Now can I just add something significant there? 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:44.440 Jesus is not speaking about genuine accountability here. 00:13:44.440 --> 00:13:49.000 Genuinely coming and lovingly coming alongside a brother or sister is absolutely commended 00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:51.240 in Scripture. 00:13:51.240 --> 00:13:58.160 And it's something we don't do enough is lovingly, humbly, gently and honestly challenging 00:13:58.160 --> 00:13:59.160 one another. 00:13:59.160 --> 00:14:04.440 But it's vital, it's done, with Jesus saying it, it's vital, it's done the right way. 00:14:04.440 --> 00:14:13.160 It's vital, it's done in humility and with self-awareness and with a real degree of recognition, 00:14:13.160 --> 00:14:18.000 fear and trembling in many ways. 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:22.440 And that's what is amazing in our Christian community where there's that ability to be 00:14:22.440 --> 00:14:25.080 humble and honest. 00:14:25.080 --> 00:14:32.440 But we don't want a community that is miserly and ugly in the name of brotherliness or sisterliness. 00:14:32.440 --> 00:14:34.960 God's the second principle is about stopping a plank. 00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:39.640 The third one that He gives us in terms of this is what goes around, comes around, and 00:14:39.640 --> 00:14:44.680 this is really in many ways the most solemn of them in verse 38. 00:14:44.680 --> 00:14:50.040 It says, given it will be given to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running 00:14:50.040 --> 00:14:53.360 over it will put in your lap, for with the measure you use it will be measured back to 00:14:53.360 --> 00:14:54.360 you. 00:14:54.360 --> 00:14:57.960 The pouring out of grain into the lap. 00:14:57.960 --> 00:15:03.920 You know, if you just do it once quickly the grain just fills up. 00:15:03.920 --> 00:15:09.280 But if you shake it and it settles, there's more room for more grain and that's really 00:15:09.280 --> 00:15:12.320 the picture it's flowing with as it's shaken. 00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:17.200 All the air bubbles are taken out and there's much more room for the grain and it flows 00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:21.759 in a generous way as it's generously poured out. 00:15:21.759 --> 00:15:25.360 And He's saying, He's talking about the kind of measures we use. 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:30.840 Then are we generous in our judgment or are we miserly in our judgment? 00:15:30.840 --> 00:15:36.000 In other words, as we go into 2018 and I'm trying to be practical as we move forward, 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:42.960 if we're unforgiving, if we're sensorious, if we're quick to judge, if we're miserly, 00:15:42.960 --> 00:15:48.919 then that will be, God says that will be reflected in the way other people treat you. 00:15:48.919 --> 00:15:54.200 It will be reflected, it will be the atmosphere that you start to breathe and it will take 00:15:54.200 --> 00:15:58.480 you further and further and further away from grace and from God. 00:15:58.480 --> 00:15:59.480 It's joyless. 00:15:59.480 --> 00:16:00.480 It's judgmental. 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:04.000 It's a spiral downwards. 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:10.480 And the great challenge in it is that there may yet be a real solemn judgment in God that 00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:13.040 you've never understood grace. 00:16:13.040 --> 00:16:20.400 That you've never understood the marvel of grace, that you're merely an ugly religionist. 00:16:20.400 --> 00:16:22.400 Isn't that awful? 00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:25.279 Because that's who Jesus is speaking to. 00:16:25.279 --> 00:16:31.679 He's speaking to those of us who know the truth and who presume on the truth. 00:16:31.679 --> 00:16:37.480 But sometimes, if we are honest and look in a mirror, we are being unforgiving, sensorious 00:16:37.480 --> 00:16:39.360 and graceless. 00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:46.799 The challenge for us is to be reveling and rejoicing in the miracle of grace and living 00:16:46.799 --> 00:16:50.519 it in our life with others. 00:16:50.519 --> 00:16:57.240 So this year, let's work against the warnings that God in His love and grace gives us sometimes. 00:16:57.240 --> 00:16:59.919 Let's work at loving our enemies. 00:16:59.919 --> 00:17:02.480 Let's work at being merciful. 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:08.920 Let's work at being generous in forgiving the faults of other peoples. 00:17:08.920 --> 00:17:15.639 Let's work at genuine accountability where people will accept the challenges we give 00:17:15.640 --> 00:17:22.120 and we will accept the challenges others give us because it's done in humility and with 00:17:22.120 --> 00:17:24.160 the right motive. 00:17:24.160 --> 00:17:30.400 So the generosity of spirit is understanding grace. 00:17:30.400 --> 00:17:34.240 It's very practical, isn't it, about judging others? 00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:38.120 The second thing, very briefly, really is goodness of heart. 00:17:38.120 --> 00:17:41.920 That's the second thing when we think about grace and that's under the heading of a tree 00:17:41.920 --> 00:17:43.759 and it's fruit. 00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:44.759 And it's very simple. 00:17:44.759 --> 00:17:46.160 You don't need to spend much time. 00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:49.680 It's self-explanatory, but it's no less challenging. 00:17:49.680 --> 00:17:55.839 For no good tree bears bad fruit, not again does a bad tree bear good fruit. 00:17:55.839 --> 00:18:02.119 Each tree is known by its fruit and then He gives examples of what doesn't happen. 00:18:02.119 --> 00:18:04.039 It's natural in a sense. 00:18:04.039 --> 00:18:06.400 It is spiritual, but it's natural. 00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:12.839 If we have come to faith, if we have received grace, we are reborn. 00:18:12.839 --> 00:18:20.679 And we are reborn with the Holy Spirit in us so that we bear the fruit of mimicking Christ 00:18:20.679 --> 00:18:25.879 and being like God in our own individual lives. 00:18:25.879 --> 00:18:31.559 Grounded and rooted in His grace, that should be reflected. 00:18:31.559 --> 00:18:36.039 The invisible, I'll say a bit more at this end, the invisibility of the roots going down 00:18:36.039 --> 00:18:42.359 into His grace should be visible in the fruit that we bear. 00:18:42.359 --> 00:18:45.559 And again, that's very practical. 00:18:45.559 --> 00:18:56.639 And sometimes I think we mystify faith too much and we leave it at the invisible thing. 00:18:56.639 --> 00:19:01.519 Yes, you have faith, you have trust, you have heart, joy, love, peace, all these things. 00:19:01.519 --> 00:19:03.919 But we don't make it practical. 00:19:03.919 --> 00:19:11.199 But if we have these things, they will bear fruit in your day-to-day life and mine. 00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:20.519 So we're to make prayer and meditation the workbench where we begin to fashion the fruit 00:19:20.519 --> 00:19:23.000 of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives. 00:19:23.000 --> 00:19:24.400 And that's hugely significant. 00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:30.360 I think we are going to spend some time in the new year in our evening service going 00:19:30.360 --> 00:19:31.840 through the fruit of the Spirit. 00:19:31.840 --> 00:19:35.000 It's great, brilliant part of the Bible. 00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:40.000 And we're going to go through the fruit of the Spirit, its love, its joy, its peace, 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.319 its forbearance, its kindness, its goodness, its faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, 00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:47.200 against such things there is no law. 00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:49.319 So we bear fruit. 00:19:49.319 --> 00:19:53.079 We don't get turnips from apple trees. 00:19:53.079 --> 00:20:00.519 You don't go to a butcher for vegetarian food, nor to a curry house for semolina. 00:20:00.519 --> 00:20:07.519 Let's be people who say we're Christians and Jesus says then, who live out as Christians, 00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:13.720 not so much in our heads, but practically in our lives or taking what's in our heads 00:20:13.720 --> 00:20:15.359 and applying it to our lives. 00:20:15.359 --> 00:20:18.000 I'll finish with this, the conclusion. 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:23.440 The conclusion is a case study in verses 46 to 49 that we know very well about the two 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:25.960 different people that build their house. 00:20:25.960 --> 00:20:27.319 That is their life. 00:20:27.319 --> 00:20:29.440 It's a picture of their lives. 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:33.279 And it's very interesting. 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:34.920 It's a really, I mean it's a very well-known picture. 00:20:34.920 --> 00:20:35.920 It's very interesting. 00:20:35.920 --> 00:20:40.039 Identically, I mean outwardly, they're identical. 00:20:40.039 --> 00:20:46.720 There's certainly no evidence in the picture that we're given of the two men who build 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:48.560 their houses and build them differently. 00:20:48.560 --> 00:20:51.160 That they have the same skills. 00:20:51.160 --> 00:20:55.800 We're not told that one is an expert builder and the other is just a jack of all trades 00:20:55.800 --> 00:20:59.480 or a fly-by-night or whatever. 00:20:59.480 --> 00:21:01.720 They've got the same task. 00:21:01.720 --> 00:21:05.880 We're not saying that one is a great house to build and the other is just a simple shack. 00:21:05.880 --> 00:21:07.760 They're both building homes. 00:21:07.760 --> 00:21:12.120 Everything appears to be equal in the picture that Jesus gives here as he sums up the sermon 00:21:12.120 --> 00:21:14.400 on the Mount. 00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:21.880 But it's not so much about the type of house or the characteristics of them or the qualities 00:21:21.880 --> 00:21:23.760 or the gifts of the men. 00:21:23.760 --> 00:21:27.240 It's about the preparation. 00:21:27.240 --> 00:21:30.280 It's about how they prepare to build their house. 00:21:30.280 --> 00:21:32.160 That's the key. 00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:34.880 One digs deep. 00:21:34.880 --> 00:21:36.880 One researches. 00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:41.440 One puts huge effort into the foundation. 00:21:41.440 --> 00:21:48.000 Before anything becomes visible, he puts a lot of work, kind of unseen work, into the 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:49.280 foundation. 00:21:49.280 --> 00:21:55.580 He understands the nature of the house that he's building and what it needs to be founded 00:21:55.580 --> 00:21:58.960 on if it's going to withstand the storms. 00:21:58.960 --> 00:22:02.760 The other, he looks for a quick roof over his head. 00:22:02.759 --> 00:22:06.400 They might have been using the same blueprint. 00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:11.680 It might have looked exactly the same, the house on the outside. 00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:15.279 But one of them just wanted a good looking house. 00:22:15.279 --> 00:22:20.319 One of them gave no thought to the future and no thought to the foundation that was 00:22:20.319 --> 00:22:22.160 needed. 00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:24.079 And that's the difference between the two. 00:22:24.079 --> 00:22:26.319 That's what Jesus is trying to point out. 00:22:26.319 --> 00:22:31.279 He's trying to point out, it matters what the invisible work, the foundational work that 00:22:31.279 --> 00:22:40.279 we do, we can counterfeit grace, we can counterfeit being Christians, but it will always out. 00:22:40.279 --> 00:22:44.039 It will always be revealed particularly in the storms of life. 00:22:44.039 --> 00:22:45.680 And so Jesus said a couple of things. 00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:50.399 He's saying, one, it's possible to have a counterfeit faith. 00:22:50.399 --> 00:22:52.599 And that's very significant. 00:22:52.599 --> 00:22:57.960 Verse 46, he says, Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do I tell you? 00:22:57.960 --> 00:22:59.720 You know, there's another passage in the New Testament. 00:22:59.720 --> 00:23:04.880 He said, People will say to me on that letter, Lord, Lord, and He will say, depart from me, 00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:06.440 I didn't know you. 00:23:06.440 --> 00:23:08.880 Very solemn words. 00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:12.839 And he's saying to church people, he's saying to St. Columbus people, he's saying to us 00:23:12.839 --> 00:23:19.079 as Christians, as professors of Christ, he's saying it's possible to have a counterfeit 00:23:19.079 --> 00:23:26.720 faith, to have an outward edifice that looks the same as the next person, but one is a 00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:29.600 genuine believer and the other is not. 00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:34.959 It's possible to talk a good game, but not have the spiritual foundation, the heart, 00:23:34.959 --> 00:23:42.159 the grace for the storms of life, to have a wrong expectation of what happiness to go 00:23:42.159 --> 00:23:47.359 right back to the beginning or blessing from God is. 00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:54.679 And so sometimes when we think that we are following Jesus and then we don't get the 00:23:54.680 --> 00:24:03.000 kind of happiness that we expect, the blessing that we expect, we turn away from Him, because 00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:08.580 the blessings we've expected are on our terms. 00:24:08.580 --> 00:24:14.360 We don't want the battle, we're not interested in the sufferings, we blame God for all His 00:24:14.360 --> 00:24:21.000 unanswered prayers and His carelessness towards us, and the storms of life turn us away from 00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:27.839 Him, because we've been wanting our happiness and our blessings, not the blessings that 00:24:27.839 --> 00:24:32.039 He offers with His grace. 00:24:32.039 --> 00:24:40.400 We can know that our faith is in danger of being counterfeit when we're tempted to turn 00:24:40.400 --> 00:24:45.279 away from Him, all of us are tempted to turn away from Him, and that's a great challenge 00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:47.079 for us. 00:24:47.079 --> 00:24:56.039 But if your answer, if your fixed position in life, in the battles, in the struggles, 00:24:56.039 --> 00:25:02.279 and in the things you don't understand, is to turn away from God, to fail to see God 00:25:02.279 --> 00:25:10.240 as good, and to fail to understand the cross as His deepest guarantee of His love and His 00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:17.920 good will towards us, then the danger is we haven't understood grace, we haven't understood 00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:20.039 our own hearts. 00:25:20.039 --> 00:25:27.599 If it's much easier for us, and as a default position, we judge other people, we measure 00:25:27.599 --> 00:25:34.920 ourselves by them, we balance how good Christians we are, compare with other people, and make 00:25:34.920 --> 00:25:41.039 ourselves feel good about ourselves, rather than always taking ourselves to the perfect 00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:51.200 one, who exposes the motives and the hypocrisy and the blindness of our hearts, then we have 00:25:51.200 --> 00:25:56.200 to ask where our foundation lies, with all our knowledge and with all our upbringing, 00:25:56.200 --> 00:25:59.880 with all our tradition and with all our background. 00:25:59.880 --> 00:26:05.360 It's a date, it's what you will do, and I will do is we rise from here as we go into 00:26:05.360 --> 00:26:06.360 life. 00:26:06.360 --> 00:26:11.880 So, it's possible to have a counterfeit faith, and that's a challenge and a warning. 00:26:11.880 --> 00:26:17.920 And lastly, within that conclusion, heart change is what we need to focus on as we go 00:26:17.920 --> 00:26:18.920 into 2018. 00:26:18.920 --> 00:26:34.120 There's a great verse in Isaiah chapter 29 and verse 13, right in the middle of the 00:26:34.120 --> 00:26:35.120 Old Testament. 00:26:35.120 --> 00:26:39.360 The Lord said, because these people draw near to me with their mouth and on them with their 00:26:39.360 --> 00:26:47.840 lips, while their hearts are far from me, and they only fear the commandments that are 00:26:47.839 --> 00:26:50.599 taught by men, and He goes on to expose that. 00:26:50.599 --> 00:26:53.000 Hearts being far from me. 00:26:53.000 --> 00:26:54.559 Heart changes the foundation. 00:26:54.559 --> 00:27:00.639 That's the right, you know, we talk about resolutions, let's forget about resolutions, 00:27:00.639 --> 00:27:06.480 but let's just remember the focus of 2018 is our heart, and our heart relationship, dealing 00:27:06.480 --> 00:27:14.439 with our heart, having that deeply rooted honesty with God, which then is reflected in 00:27:14.440 --> 00:27:21.759 that deeply rooted honesty and forgiving perspective towards others. 00:27:21.759 --> 00:27:26.240 No one else can do it for you, only God. 00:27:26.240 --> 00:27:32.840 You can only do it as you plug in to a relationship and an honest wrestling of your own heart 00:27:32.840 --> 00:27:39.640 and soul with God, and no one else can do it for me, in a living, daily, dependent relationship. 00:27:39.640 --> 00:27:40.799 We're going to encourage that this year. 00:27:40.799 --> 00:27:48.519 We're going to encourage a church-wide Bible reading program, which encourages us individually 00:27:48.519 --> 00:27:53.119 to read through the Bible, to encourage one another to do it, because it's tough, isn't 00:27:53.119 --> 00:27:54.119 it? 00:27:54.119 --> 00:27:58.240 To daily, every day read through the Word, listen to His voice, and take that and apply 00:27:58.240 --> 00:28:00.079 His truth to our lives. 00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:01.079 We'll launch that soon. 00:28:01.079 --> 00:28:04.039 I know it's the beginning of the year, but we will launch it. 00:28:04.039 --> 00:28:06.519 You'll catch up. 00:28:06.519 --> 00:28:11.039 And that's the first project for each of us. 00:28:11.039 --> 00:28:13.680 Are you going to change the world? 00:28:13.680 --> 00:28:17.599 Are you going to change your circumstances? 00:28:17.599 --> 00:28:22.160 Go first to God to change your heart. 00:28:22.160 --> 00:28:24.599 That's the most important thing in 2018. 00:28:24.599 --> 00:28:26.440 That priority never shifts. 00:28:26.440 --> 00:28:29.879 And as He changes our hearts, yeah, our circumstances may or may not change. 00:28:29.879 --> 00:28:32.799 Certainly, our attitude to them will. 00:28:32.799 --> 00:28:37.519 But He may or may not change the world, but we hope He will do a new thing. 00:28:37.519 --> 00:28:39.639 And we pray He will do a new thing. 00:28:39.639 --> 00:28:41.879 And we're longing to see fruit. 00:28:41.879 --> 00:28:46.200 We're longing to be people more and more who are not just hearers of the Word, as James 00:28:46.200 --> 00:28:53.039 says, but doers of the Word, because we're enabled, we're brought to life to be doers 00:28:53.039 --> 00:28:54.680 of the Word. 00:28:54.680 --> 00:29:02.680 Let's have that outward obedience, which is the dirty word today, stemming from an inward 00:29:02.680 --> 00:29:10.920 change, taking responsibility, partnering with the Holy Spirit, bearing fruit, not blaming 00:29:10.920 --> 00:29:18.400 God or others or circumstances, but dealing with the sinful separation from the living 00:29:18.400 --> 00:29:19.400 God. 00:29:19.400 --> 00:29:26.279 So that's a real corporate and a personal challenge for 2018 to remember who God is 00:29:26.279 --> 00:29:28.840 and where our foundation must lie. 00:29:28.839 --> 00:29:34.720 That's great, it's great, because He has provided all we need. 00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:38.559 And we needn't wrestle in our own strength. 00:29:38.559 --> 00:29:44.119 We needn't be paralyzed by our own failures, because we all have them. 00:29:44.119 --> 00:29:49.079 And we needn't judge ourselves in relation to other people and make ourselves feel good 00:29:49.079 --> 00:29:52.879 about ourselves because we're better than others and can judge them. 00:29:52.880 --> 00:30:00.960 Let us just get right with Jesus Christ and allow Him to enable us to be counterculture 00:30:00.960 --> 00:30:06.360 and counter community in the way that we live, in a generosity of spirit and in a goodness 00:30:06.360 --> 00:30:07.360 of heart. 00:30:07.360 --> 00:30:09.440 I mean, let's pray briefly. 00:30:09.440 --> 00:30:14.600 Heavenly Father, help us to be like You. 00:30:14.600 --> 00:30:18.000 Forgive us when we are so not like You. 00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:24.960 Forgive us when we do that horrible thing of grasping grace like it's a big, expensive 00:30:24.960 --> 00:30:33.799 present and then not sharing it with our siblings, our friends, our neighbors, not sharing it 00:30:33.799 --> 00:30:43.799 really with our heart, but simply possessing it in some kind of jealous way that misunderstands 00:30:43.799 --> 00:30:50.680 that it is, it's smell, it's perfume, it's beauty. 00:30:50.680 --> 00:30:58.839 It is only real as it is shared and broken and gifted out to others and experienced and 00:30:58.839 --> 00:31:00.839 expressed. 00:31:00.839 --> 00:31:08.319 Lord, help us because we struggle with that and our default position is selfishness. 00:31:08.319 --> 00:31:11.159 And help us to overcome these things by Your grace. 00:31:11.159 --> 00:31:12.159 Help us to persevere. 00:31:12.160 --> 00:31:19.400 May we not be paralysed by the whispers of the evil one who says, we've gone too far. 00:31:19.400 --> 00:31:22.680 We haven't understood enough. 00:31:22.680 --> 00:31:24.840 We are hypocrites. 00:31:24.840 --> 00:31:32.240 Lord, quench that desperate voice that often whispers in our ears. 00:31:32.240 --> 00:31:40.080 He is defeated and he is thrashing about in his defeat to try and bring others down. 00:31:40.079 --> 00:31:44.839 And we pray that we would not let him remind us of the battle we are in this year, but 00:31:44.839 --> 00:31:48.319 also remind us of the victory in Christ. 00:31:48.319 --> 00:31:49.720 We ask it in His precious name. 00:31:49.720 --> 00:32:10.559 Amen.