WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:15.599 Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:20.480 ! It is wonderful that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:25.679 either by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray for us 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:32.159 that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself? 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:37.359 The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:42.159 we really, I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the 00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:48.799 Bible, they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will do 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:55.120 what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a non-Christian, 00:00:55.119 --> 00:01:00.320 checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't hesitate to send us 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:05.280 questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the types of things 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:07.679 that you're really struggling with. So God bless. 00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:19.599 Let's pray. Father, thank you so much that you sent Jesus to be our Savior. Thank you that you love us and 00:01:19.599 --> 00:01:27.759 care for us. Thank you, Father, that you have made us to love, to love many things in many different ways. 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:34.719 We ask, Father, that you would have great mercy upon us and teach us and help us to order our loves 00:01:35.359 --> 00:01:42.879 in a way which is good, that brings glory to you, is good for the world, and is healthy and whole for us. 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:48.959 And I ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated. 00:01:54.719 --> 00:02:01.919 When I went to university a hundred million years ago, I was used to, you know, in high school, 00:02:01.919 --> 00:02:07.759 they take attendance. The attendance goes home to your parents. There's lots of assignments. Your parents, 00:02:07.759 --> 00:02:12.639 you know, anyway, there's all this stuff. I go to university. Nobody takes attendance. Nobody seems to 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:19.439 care whether you go to class or not. And so for, I have to confess, for my first term, 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:26.559 I went to next to no classes, and I spent lots of time in the coffee house and in the pool hall. 00:02:27.519 --> 00:02:31.519 In my first term of university, I became quite good at playing pool. I mean, which is, of course, 00:02:31.519 --> 00:02:38.479 why everybody goes to university, of course. And the result was, I had been used to the fact that, 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:42.479 you know, I was smart enough that in high school, I'm not boasting or anything, I was smart enough in high 00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:46.479 school that I could just get things done at the last second and get what, to my mind, 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:51.519 was an acceptable mark. Like, why work harder to get a better mark? And so I come to university, 00:02:51.519 --> 00:02:56.239 and all of a sudden, at the end, as December's rolling around, out of the five, and in that 00:02:56.239 --> 00:03:02.560 university, all of the courses were, like, from September to April. I guess they'd call it a full 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:09.039 course, not a half course. And I was failing three of my five courses in December. In fact, one of the 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:14.719 courses I was failing so bad, to my shock and horror, I realized there was absolutely no way 00:03:14.719 --> 00:03:21.039 that I could redeem it. I had to drop it and take a half course. I was a very bad student. And that was 00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:26.879 a big wake-up call to me. I had to work really, really hard the next term to try to turn things 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:34.079 around. And I was able to do that. I mention this because, you know, one of the most common 00:03:34.079 --> 00:03:39.039 human problems, one of the things which people come and talk to a counselor about, talk to their 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:44.879 friends about, it's the sort of thing that people wish that somebody would talk to the person about, 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:51.199 is we usually use the word, getting our priorities straight. But a better way to understand it is, 00:03:51.199 --> 00:03:58.079 actually, is to getting our loves properly ordered and straight. That we love the things that we should 00:03:58.079 --> 00:04:05.519 love in a bit of a hierarchy. You know, so, for instance, I'm watching a series right now on, 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:10.639 you know, I'm not going to tell, I'm not going to have free advertisement for the thing, but I'm 00:04:10.639 --> 00:04:16.719 watching series, and it's like a very, very common problem. There's a constant stress and tension 00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:23.760 in this particular case between the wife loving her job and how she loves her family, and the 00:04:23.760 --> 00:04:28.800 order that the husband is loving his job and his family, and there's great conflict. And at this 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:34.000 point in time, I'm not sure if the marriage is going to end. Because in this particular case, 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:39.840 the wife who wants to put her job above her family has just demanded that he has to just get on the 00:04:39.840 --> 00:04:44.960 program with that or walk away. You know, that's the type of show I watch. There are also killings, 00:04:44.959 --> 00:04:48.959 because, you know, I like to watch shows with other adventure other than this. But it's a very, 00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:54.719 very common problem. Like for me, I realized that I had my, it had to have a higher priority of passing 00:04:54.719 --> 00:04:59.919 than playing pool, which is like for most people like a duh, of course, right? But it's a far more 00:04:59.919 --> 00:05:06.319 complicated issue than we think, getting our loves ordered in a right way. This text that we're going 00:05:06.319 --> 00:05:10.639 to look at today, which at first doesn't look like it's talking about this at all, and in fact, 00:05:10.639 --> 00:05:14.399 for many people, it might be a bit of a like, what on earth is he talking about this? Did he really just 00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:19.359 call people dogs? And what's this about mutilating the flesh? It doesn't look like it talks about 00:05:19.359 --> 00:05:24.479 this, but one of the things that helps to set forward is a very wise biblical perspective 00:05:25.279 --> 00:05:30.959 about how you need to start to order your loves. In other words, to have the right priorities in 00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:36.000 your life. So I invite you to turn with me to Philippians chapter 3, verses 1 to 14. 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:47.680 Philippians chapter 3, verses 1 to 14. And this is how the text goes. And just in terms of the context, 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:53.759 this was originally a letter written while Paul was in jail. Later on, Paul is going to say he's lost 00:05:53.759 --> 00:05:58.319 everything, and you need to understand that when he says he's lost everything, he has lost everything. 00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:05.680 He was a person who had very, very, very, very high prestige within a subculture, mind you, the Jewish 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:10.480 subculture, but he had very, very high prestige. He was very well educated. He would have been well 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:16.240 respected, apart from his Jewishness in the Roman world, which they thought they were weird. But he would 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:20.800 have been very well respected because he's obviously very well trained in rhetoric. In a sense, he would have had 00:06:20.800 --> 00:06:27.840 two PhDs, a PhD in Jewish studies and a PhD in pagan studies. So he could outdo the pagans in 00:06:27.840 --> 00:06:33.840 understanding rhetoric and paganism. And he loses everything. He's in house arrest, all because he 00:06:33.840 --> 00:06:39.439 believes that Jesus rose from the dead. And so this is part of the letter, and here's how it goes. 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:47.759 Actually, I'm going to say a geeky thing. Okay. Those of you who are a bit of nerds, 00:06:47.759 --> 00:06:52.719 just here's where you get to nerd out for the rest of you. Just try to hold your attention for like 30 00:06:52.719 --> 00:06:59.519 seconds. The nerdy thing is this. We're going to read from verses 1 to 14, but you don't understand 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:04.959 what goes from 1 to 8, and you don't understand what goes from 10 to 14 unless you understand 9. 00:07:04.959 --> 00:07:10.000 Like for those of you who are geeky and reading documents, like 9 is the thing that turns it all 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:15.199 around. And if you want to read the whole book, as I've said time and time again, Philippians 2, 5 to 11 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:20.159 is what illuminates everything in the book. Okay. Geeky moment over. Let's read. 00:07:21.680 --> 00:07:27.120 And it starts like this. Remember, it's going to eventually get to the topic of how do you begin 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:34.319 to order your life in a way which leads to human flourishing, is good for other people, and well, 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:38.800 in this particular case also brings glory to God. And it begins like this. Finally, my brothers and 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:44.639 sisters, rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you as no trouble to me and is safe for you. 00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:53.759 Look out for the dogs. Look out for the evildoers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh. Now, 00:07:53.759 --> 00:08:00.480 just pause. They didn't like dogs back then. Like my, one of my daughters just got a puppy, 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:09.599 six weeks old, I think, seven weeks old. She is absolutely adorable. If they could ever genetically 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:16.640 manufacture an animal that always stayed seven weeks old, they would sell a hundred trillion of those. 00:08:17.439 --> 00:08:23.600 They're really adorable. But the ancients saw dogs as scavengers, garbage eaters, 00:08:23.600 --> 00:08:28.560 vomiters of the garbage. Okay. And so you might be saying, look out for the dogs. Verse two, 00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:34.080 look out for the evildoers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh. And I'll tell you what that 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:40.160 means in a moment. Like why is Paul talking about this in such strong language? Especially after he's 00:08:40.160 --> 00:08:45.920 just talked about joy. And then it goes on, verse three, for we are the circumcision, what on earth 00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:52.159 that means? Who worshiped by the spirit of God and spirit, as you can see, is capitalized and glory in 00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:57.919 Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. So what's going on here? Is this like, is he being a 00:08:57.919 --> 00:09:04.879 little bit anti-Semitic? Like why is he talking about where the, the real circumcision and is no 00:09:04.879 --> 00:09:09.519 confidence in the flesh? Like, does that mean he doesn't like the body? Like, and then verse four, 00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:16.840 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh. Also, if anyone else thinks he has reason 00:09:16.840 --> 00:09:23.879 for confidence in the flesh, I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of 00:09:23.879 --> 00:09:28.840 Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, 00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:34.500 a persecutor of the church. And then you're wondering, like, good grief, like, why would anybody think 00:09:34.500 --> 00:09:40.360 that persecuting people is a sign of you're a good guy? And as to righteousness under the law, 00:09:40.799 --> 00:09:45.460 blameless. And this, this is just like a weird list. Like if, just think about it for a second, 00:09:45.879 --> 00:09:49.639 like, I mean, put your hand, no, you don't have to put it around. How many people, if I went and read 00:09:49.639 --> 00:09:54.159 this as in a coffee shop, as like the best accomplishments in the world, how many people 00:09:54.159 --> 00:09:59.879 do you think would put up their hand and say, well, that's really an impressive list? Like nobody, zero. 00:09:59.879 --> 00:10:07.379 Like, and that, by the way, is part of God's longer-term point about the whole thing. 00:10:09.720 --> 00:10:15.100 The things that often people think of as marks of somehow superiority and excellence to other 00:10:15.100 --> 00:10:19.779 people, or at least very shortly afterwards, people are just thinking that's pretty lame, okay? 00:10:20.860 --> 00:10:27.299 But verse 7, but whatever gain I had, whatever good things, in a sense, I had, I counted as lost 00:10:27.299 --> 00:10:32.639 for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:37.919 Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:44.039 as rubbish. And the word there is actually, it's, you have to understand, he's just, this 00:10:44.039 --> 00:10:51.259 is the equivalent in his day of me dropping an F-bomb right now. Okay, for people reading 00:10:51.259 --> 00:10:55.399 this back then, when he uses the word rubbish, he's just dropped the equivalent of an F-bomb 00:10:55.399 --> 00:11:03.959 on them. And it's like, he's saying that everything that he's had, all the things, he counts them 00:11:03.959 --> 00:11:12.699 as, you know, crap, stuff that comes out of the one part of your body that has to be buried 00:11:12.699 --> 00:11:17.159 or dealt with that you don't want to smell. Like, that's what he's saying. In order that 00:11:17.159 --> 00:11:21.600 I may gain Christ. So, what is, like, what on earth is going on here in this text? Is he, 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:26.740 is he really just saying that every good thing he's ever done, every good deed that he's ever 00:11:26.740 --> 00:11:33.080 done is just like human or animal excrement? Is he saying that we should think this way, 00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:38.540 that we should value Christ in such a way that we feel everything else is just like complete and utter 00:11:38.540 --> 00:11:44.100 garbage? Like, does it mean that you can never just say, boy, chocolate milkshakes are really good? 00:11:44.100 --> 00:11:52.060 Or, you know, gosh, I really like having a nice steak. Like, is, like, if I love my child, like, 00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:57.940 what on earth is Paul saying? And then we come to verse 9, and it's when we come to verse 9, 00:11:58.100 --> 00:12:02.399 I'll read the end of verse 8 again and then verse 9. That's when, if we understand what's going on, 00:12:02.420 --> 00:12:07.580 we'll start, we can go back and understand what Paul's actually saying. And it says, 00:12:07.580 --> 00:12:14.500 that I may gain Christ, in verse 9, and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that 00:12:14.500 --> 00:12:20.920 comes from the law. And here he means what our Jewish friends would call the Tanakh, and we would 00:12:20.920 --> 00:12:27.040 call the Old Testament. But that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that 00:12:27.040 --> 00:12:34.740 depends on faith. So, what's going on here? Well, just to help us to begin to understand what's going 00:12:34.740 --> 00:12:41.340 on here, I'm going to have to give, so, here's the thing. Did you know this? That Paul uses the phrase 00:12:41.340 --> 00:12:50.740 in Christ, union with Christ. Paul, in his letters, uses this over 160 times. Over 160 times. When I've, 00:12:51.060 --> 00:12:55.399 over these last few weeks, when I've talked about in Christ being important, not minor, it's important 00:12:55.399 --> 00:13:00.379 because that's, that's the main way that Paul describes what it means to be a Christian. In fact, 00:13:00.379 --> 00:13:07.379 nowhere in Paul's writings does he ever refer to anybody as a Christian. The word Christian only 00:13:07.379 --> 00:13:15.240 appears three times in the New Testament. Two of them are by non-Christians mocking Christians. 00:13:16.220 --> 00:13:21.820 And the other one is in, in 1 Peter. And in fact, so if, if, you went back in time, and Paul had to fill 00:13:21.820 --> 00:13:26.340 out a census, and he saw the list of things that he could be called, and he might seize the word 00:13:26.340 --> 00:13:33.980 Christian, and then they give a blank other, you know what he would probably write? A man in Christ. 00:13:36.360 --> 00:13:44.000 That's how he'd probably describe himself. A man in Christ, in union with Christ. So this idea of 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:47.259 union with Christ, which I've talked about before, I'm going to say some more about it, that there's 00:13:47.259 --> 00:13:53.060 lots of different aspects to this profound reality and profound mystery that, you know, in a sense, 00:13:53.059 --> 00:13:57.559 a better way to understand who I am other than the word Christian, because the word Christian is so 00:13:57.559 --> 00:14:07.219 debased, is I am a man in Christ. That's where I'm found. That's my spiritual and heart location. 00:14:08.939 --> 00:14:14.599 So let's get a metaphor about, try to get one way to try to understand this mystery. You need several 00:14:14.599 --> 00:14:20.419 metaphors. They don't all fit together, but they're all trying to get at this, this same analogy. 00:14:20.419 --> 00:14:25.099 Let's say you wanted to go to Vancouver, and you're going to go to Vancouver by plane. 00:14:26.179 --> 00:14:32.959 So how do you have to relate to the plane if you're going to get to Vancouver? I got this analogy, 00:14:33.299 --> 00:14:37.779 I can't remember the name of the priest, but he's a priest in Sydney Diocese in Australia. 00:14:38.839 --> 00:14:43.939 So how do you, if you want to get to Vancouver, and the plane is going to be important, how do you 00:14:43.939 --> 00:14:47.519 relate to the plane? Well, if somebody says to you, well, I'm going to follow the plane. 00:14:47.519 --> 00:14:53.279 Good luck for that. That's not going to work. If you say, I'm going to imitate the plane, 00:14:53.980 --> 00:14:57.259 well, that's not going to work. If you say you're going to learn from the plane, 00:14:57.579 --> 00:15:03.399 that's not going to work. If you want to be under the authority of the plane, that's not going to 00:15:03.399 --> 00:15:09.259 work. If you want to be inspired by the plane, that's not going to work. What do you have to do? 00:15:09.259 --> 00:15:18.720 You got to be in the plane. And wherever the plane goes, that's where you go. Whatever happens to the 00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:26.879 plane is what's going to happen to you. And in the same type of sense, we need to be in Christ. 00:15:28.220 --> 00:15:33.700 If the goal is to be connected to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, 00:15:33.700 --> 00:15:40.300 we need to be in Christ. If you are in Christ, located in him, found in him. Look at verse 9 again, 00:15:40.420 --> 00:15:49.280 right? In verse 9, it says, and be found in him. If you want to end up being in Vancouver, you got to 00:15:49.280 --> 00:15:54.580 be found in the plane. Get into the plane at some point in time, and then in Vancouver, you're going 00:15:54.580 --> 00:15:58.940 to be there. Whatever happens to the plane happens to you. Wherever the plane goes, you go. And we need 00:15:58.940 --> 00:16:04.960 to be located in Christ. And that's the fundamental image to try to understand. And so all of the other 00:16:04.960 --> 00:16:09.800 things, I mean, there are different ways, of course, where we follow Christ and under his authority. But 00:16:09.800 --> 00:16:16.660 those things only make sense if we're actually in him first. So what's going on then in these things? 00:16:16.700 --> 00:16:23.440 If you start to understand this, you get a bit of an idea. I periodically have Instagram on my phone, 00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:28.440 and true confessions, if I have Instagram on my phone, I can waste 40 minutes scrolling. 00:16:28.940 --> 00:16:35.280 And so I have to take the app off, because it's hard to have the willpower once you start scrolling, 00:16:35.380 --> 00:16:39.820 for me at least, to start. Anyway, one of the things you'll see on Instagram, I'm not on TikTok, 00:16:40.540 --> 00:16:46.760 you'll often see things of, you know, bad passengers in planes. You know, maybe somebody's taken another 00:16:46.760 --> 00:16:51.260 person's seat and refuses to get off, or somebody who's banging the seat, and they'll have things, 00:16:51.260 --> 00:16:56.680 what do you think about this, right? So imagine you get on a plane to go to Vancouver, and as soon as 00:16:56.679 --> 00:17:03.399 the plane has reached a certain altitude, people get up, and they're big, huge, tough-looking men and 00:17:03.399 --> 00:17:08.720 women, lots of, you know, tattoos, huge steroid muscles, and they say, every male on this plane, 00:17:08.819 --> 00:17:12.240 now that you're on this plane, you all have to be circumcised without anesthetic. 00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:21.420 Well, if you think there's outrage over banging a seat, if this was filmed, I mean, obviously, 00:17:21.539 --> 00:17:26.920 the whole thing's completely and utterly ridiculous. You don't need to be circumcised if you're already 00:17:26.920 --> 00:17:36.920 on the plane. It has nothing to do with getting to Vancouver, right? Well, what Paul here is saying, 00:17:36.920 --> 00:17:42.120 if you're in Christ, that is what is going to make you right with God and get you to heaven. 00:17:43.560 --> 00:17:48.100 And if you're already in Christ and you want to get to heaven, people who now say you have to be 00:17:48.100 --> 00:17:49.140 circumcised, 00:17:50.140 --> 00:17:54.000 they're evil. 00:17:54.000 --> 00:18:02.299 In fact, the mutilator of the flesh, the analogy there is that it's, is that not only are you just, 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:08.180 it's not a, you see, for the Jewish people, circumcision is a mark that the, for only male 00:18:08.180 --> 00:18:14.599 circumcision, female circumcision is not a Jewish thing, but the Jewish scriptures, the Old Testament, 00:18:14.759 --> 00:18:18.680 which are also Christian scriptures, would find the whole idea of female circumcision completely 00:18:18.680 --> 00:18:26.340 abhorrent. Female circumcision is a way to oppress women, plain and simple, and it would never be 00:18:26.340 --> 00:18:32.620 tolerated. But for a man, it's a sign of the covenant that you belong to Yahweh or Jehovah. 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:40.100 But if you are in Christ and now you think you need to be circumcised, all you're doing is 00:18:40.100 --> 00:18:45.560 mutilating your flesh and showing that you have not, that you're not in Christ. That's what he's saying. 00:18:45.559 --> 00:18:49.059 And then, and then you think about it for a second. 00:18:50.679 --> 00:18:55.859 You know, I, I, I sometimes like watching, I don't watch zombie movies too much. I don't watch plague 00:18:55.859 --> 00:18:59.819 movies and end of the world. I, I sort of like certain types of end of the world movies and all 00:18:59.819 --> 00:19:06.019 of that. But, you know, if, if there's a play, if there's zombies sweeping through an area and 00:19:06.019 --> 00:19:11.480 there's planes that are, that have come to rescue people who aren't infected by the zombies and, and, 00:19:11.559 --> 00:19:15.079 and they're going to be taking off and they're going to go to a place where it's safe or a place where it's 00:19:15.079 --> 00:19:19.859 safe from the plague or whatever it is. If there's somebody at the, at the door saying, 00:19:20.019 --> 00:19:24.599 just so you know, if you get on this plane, all of the men are going to be circumcised. 00:19:27.220 --> 00:19:31.619 That would be horrific. Good grief. They're zombies. They're going to kill me. They're going to, 00:19:31.619 --> 00:19:35.119 the plague is going to kill me. And you're saying I can't get on the plane unless I'm circumcised 00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:43.379 without anesthetic. So for spiritual movements that claim to be Christian, that claim that you have 00:19:43.380 --> 00:19:47.480 to do these types of things, what is it going to do? I have, I want to have nothing to do with it. 00:19:48.020 --> 00:19:53.880 I'm not going to get involved with it at all. In fact, it's, it's something evil. If in fact, 00:19:53.940 --> 00:19:58.560 the plane is something that's not just going to take you to Vancouver, but is in fact going to help 00:19:58.560 --> 00:20:06.860 you to, to, to go into, into safety. So that's, that's, that's partly what Paul is doing when he's 00:20:06.860 --> 00:20:10.900 talking about it in this, about looking at verse two, looking out for evildoers. You know, 00:20:10.900 --> 00:20:14.900 and then when he says, for we are the circumcision who were verse three, for we are the circumcision 00:20:14.900 --> 00:20:18.680 to worship by the spirit of God and glory in Christ and put no confidence in the flesh. 00:20:18.680 --> 00:20:24.040 And then he goes and gives all of these types of lists. So one of the other things I need to say 00:20:24.040 --> 00:20:33.780 now, I might not have said this, I might not have said this two years ago, but ever since October 7th, 00:20:33.779 --> 00:20:44.379 2023, it has been revealed how many people in Canada are deeply anti-Semitic and hate Jewish people. 00:20:46.519 --> 00:20:52.460 And it is at the point right now in Canada that, and I'm trying to figure out how to write a blog 00:20:52.460 --> 00:21:00.319 on this to help people. Christians need to consciously not allow themselves to be formed by anti-Semites. 00:21:00.319 --> 00:21:06.319 Most of the discourse, I'm going to be a bit political here right now. I'm not being political, 00:21:06.460 --> 00:21:10.879 I'm being moral. Most of the discourse around what's happening in Gaza right now, 00:21:11.700 --> 00:21:16.919 the people who are talking about it are worried about not offending anti-Semites. 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:26.819 And so it changes how they speak. And we need to be very careful that we are not formed by anti-Semitism. 00:21:26.819 --> 00:21:33.519 It is a profound and great evil. And so there's a way of maybe people looking at this and saying, 00:21:33.639 --> 00:21:38.419 oh, it looks like Paul is rejecting Jewishness. That's not what he's doing at all. In fact, 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:44.119 if you just go down to verse 5, circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel of the tribe of 00:21:44.119 --> 00:21:52.339 Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. What he is saying is, nobody loves the Jewish people and Judaism more 00:21:52.339 --> 00:22:00.619 than me. I love the people. I love the language. I love the food. I love the songs. I love the land. 00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:08.740 I love it. That's what he means when he says a Hebrew of Hebrews. So what's going on here in this 00:22:08.740 --> 00:22:14.480 text? Well, there's two different things that are going on here with the text. The first one is, 00:22:14.480 --> 00:22:22.559 and this is something that it's more talked about in other places. Because, you see, Paul, everything 00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:30.299 for Paul changed. He really was profoundly and deeply Jewish, even to the point of if he thought 00:22:30.299 --> 00:22:35.640 people were going to hurt his people, he would do whatever he could to stop them. That's what he 00:22:35.640 --> 00:22:39.599 meant by persecuting Christians. He thought that they were going to actually hurt the Jewish people, 00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:47.519 and he would do whatever he could to stop the Jewish people from being hurt. And so everything 00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:53.759 changed, though, when he actually saw the risen Jesus. He knew the grave was empty. He knew that 00:22:53.759 --> 00:23:00.000 the grave clothes were there. He knew that they never found the body. And good grief, he actually 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:06.959 sees the risen Jesus and talks to the risen Jesus. And everything in Paul's life goes completely and 00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:13.360 utterly different when he is confronted with this profound fact and truth of the resurrected Jesus. 00:23:14.240 --> 00:23:21.279 Everything changes. And one of the things that he comes to realize is that the law is completely good. 00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:27.600 The Old Testament law, the Tanakh, is completely and utterly good. But it's a mirror 00:23:27.599 --> 00:23:36.000 that shows you that you need to be cleansed. Now, here's the point. 00:23:39.839 --> 00:23:46.319 If you have a mirror and it shows you that you need to be cleansed, you don't use the mirror to clean 00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:53.919 yourself. That's ridiculous. If you look at it, have a mirror and it make you look all drawn and tired and 00:23:53.920 --> 00:23:59.360 you realize that maybe you're a bit dehydrated and need to be fed. You don't use the mirror to feed 00:23:59.360 --> 00:24:07.519 yourself. The mirror reveals your condition and your need. But the mirror itself is not what is going 00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:14.640 to clean you or feed you. For that, you need Christ. That's the first thing that's going on here. But 00:24:14.640 --> 00:24:20.800 there's a far more common and more profound issue here for us that aren't probably very tempted to go 00:24:20.800 --> 00:24:31.600 out as adults and be circumcised without an aesthetic. We are always bedeviled by the super spiritual. 00:24:34.320 --> 00:24:40.160 Christians are always bedeviled by the super spiritual. Gosh, you know, look at that guy. You know, 00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:46.640 I'd be honest, George, I'm trying to learn the habit of reading my Bible, you know, but gosh, George, 00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:54.640 I just while following this guy on Instagram, and gosh, he reads 50 chapters of the Bible a day. 00:24:55.600 --> 00:25:01.680 And he's now four-fifths of the way through memorizing the entire book of Psalms. 00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:07.519 Like, and he just talks about that. If you want to be a real Christian and really be blessed, that's what 00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:12.000 you've got to do. And then maybe somebody else is saying, George, I just was watching this guy, 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:16.799 and he's living like it's subsistence poverty. And he says, if you want to be a real Christian, 00:25:16.799 --> 00:25:20.960 if you want to really claim the promises, if you really want to know Christ, you've got to give 00:25:20.960 --> 00:25:26.879 away 80% of all the money you earn. And gosh, he does it, George. And I, like, I'm just feeling like 00:25:26.879 --> 00:25:32.400 I'm such a loser compared to them. Or somebody else is saying, I've had these profound spiritual 00:25:32.400 --> 00:25:37.360 experiences. Or I've been able to fast for all of these lengths of times. Or, you know, whatever it 00:25:37.360 --> 00:25:42.560 is. And there's always movements that are going through the Christian church where we are supposed 00:25:42.560 --> 00:25:48.960 to be completely and utterly impressed by how spiritual people are. And spiritual people always 00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:55.920 work at externals. It always has to do with having a more powerful mind. They don't put it that way, 00:25:55.920 --> 00:26:01.680 but a mind that can master more things. Or a will that can deal with, you know, maybe being in 00:26:01.680 --> 00:26:06.960 frigid waters, or wearing horrible clothes, or, you know, like, in terms of the make you itchy. Or, 00:26:06.960 --> 00:26:10.960 you know, it's always about your will. It's always about your mind. It's always about having better 00:26:10.960 --> 00:26:15.360 emotions. It's always about these types of things. And it doesn't matter if you're in the evangelical 00:26:15.360 --> 00:26:20.880 world, if you're in the charismatic world, mainstream Protestantism, you know, Catholicism. 00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:27.120 There are always these people who are to be to us the exemplars because they are super spiritual. 00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:32.960 And you go back in time of that, what's going to prove people more than anybody else? And if you 00:26:32.960 --> 00:26:37.120 really want to be spiritual and you're a 40-year-old man, you've got to go out and get circumcised. 00:26:39.840 --> 00:26:44.300 Everyone's going to say, wow, that guy's serious. That's a serious Christian. 00:26:44.299 --> 00:26:52.139 Like, maybe I'm not a very serious Christian. And what does Paul say? It's all rubbish. 00:26:54.379 --> 00:27:04.299 Ignore it. Forget about it. Be found in Christ. You see, in a sense, the first eight verses up into 00:27:04.299 --> 00:27:09.659 verse nine are trying to tell you, warn you, like, if I had three points for the sermon, the first thing 00:27:09.660 --> 00:27:14.779 is that the first eight verses tell you that counterfeit spiritual growth is toxic and deadly. 00:27:16.540 --> 00:27:23.019 Counterfeit spiritual growth is toxic and deadly. The middle part, verse nine, is that if you're found 00:27:23.019 --> 00:27:29.660 in Christ, you are made right with the triune God. And the third part is verses 10 to 14, 00:27:30.460 --> 00:27:36.460 which describes what gospel growth looks like in the real world. And the real world is already 00:27:36.460 --> 00:27:42.620 not yet. So what's he saying when he talks about everything of his loss? Like, look at verses, 00:27:43.660 --> 00:27:49.660 verse eight. I count, no, verse seven. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 00:27:50.299 --> 00:27:55.680 Indeed, I count everything as loss. He goes beyond the Jewish type of stuff to just every type of thing. 00:27:55.840 --> 00:28:01.559 Count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, 00:28:01.559 --> 00:28:08.039 I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as human and animal excrement in order to 00:28:08.039 --> 00:28:15.000 my gain Christ. So is Paul here saying that, you know, even though I was very kind to my elderly love, 00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:22.919 my elderly mother, even though I'm very, very, very generous to, you know, to young families with 00:28:22.919 --> 00:28:28.279 children, even though I'm, you know, I've prayed and I've read the Torah, it's all completely human 00:28:28.279 --> 00:28:33.480 excrement. Is that what Paul, no, Paul is not saying that at all. It all has to do with having ordered 00:28:33.480 --> 00:28:41.720 loves. One of the things I like about in apocalyptic movies, you know, where some type of 00:28:41.720 --> 00:28:58.000 But after everything falls apart, if you read that, watch the Quiet Place 3, for instance, they try to give 00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:07.059 people money. And the guy says, what use is money? Like given where we now are, what use is money? 00:29:07.059 --> 00:29:14.000 We all understand that, right? And so what Paul is saying, it's going to, and we're going to see it a 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:20.220 little bit more in the next few weeks as the book of Philippians comes to a close. Paul is just saying, 00:29:20.599 --> 00:29:26.399 you know, listen, none of those things, if your goal is to actually be with God in heaven, none of those 00:29:26.399 --> 00:29:32.799 things are going to get you there. You got to be found in Christ. That's what you got to be found in. 00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:39.700 You got to be found in Christ. It's only if you're found in Christ that you will be made right with God. 00:29:42.460 --> 00:29:47.720 And if there really is a God that does exist, 00:29:48.419 --> 00:29:56.039 if there really is a God that does exist, if Jesus really did rise from the dead, and if he really did 00:29:56.039 --> 00:30:01.720 rise from the dead, there is no person better than him who can tell you what that God, the true God, 00:30:01.720 --> 00:30:06.779 is like. It vindicates and authenticates him as the one that we should listen to. 00:30:07.460 --> 00:30:15.019 He is the one who helps us in secular, in Canada, to understand that if Jesus really rose from the 00:30:15.019 --> 00:30:19.660 dead, the way we normally frame the world and the discourse we have from the world has to be 00:30:20.380 --> 00:30:26.200 adjusted to take into account the reality of the risen Jesus. 00:30:26.200 --> 00:30:33.559 Jesus. And if there really is a triune God that exists, it is very obvious that human beings are 00:30:33.559 --> 00:30:44.340 estranged from him and separate from him. And it is surely wise to think that if there is a triune God 00:30:44.340 --> 00:30:52.900 that really does exist, that we should be in union or at peace or reconciled to him. 00:30:52.900 --> 00:31:00.840 Because every single one of you will die. So will I. 00:31:07.040 --> 00:31:14.440 And so if there really is a triune God that does exist, the most important thing you must, 00:31:14.440 --> 00:31:21.360 the most important love you must have, the highest priority you should have, 00:31:22.180 --> 00:31:25.200 is to be reconciled to him and to know him. 00:31:25.200 --> 00:31:32.860 And the Bible here isn't saying that there aren't any other loves you have. In fact, the message of 00:31:32.860 --> 00:31:37.140 the Bible is this. So you just think about it. You know, Stephen Covey wrote a book quite a few 00:31:37.140 --> 00:31:42.019 years ago, but what he came about with the seven habits of highly effective people, it continues 00:31:42.019 --> 00:31:46.759 to be present in lots and lots of the books on productivity. And it's the very fundamental 00:31:46.759 --> 00:31:51.600 message that you begin with the end in mind. And if you begin with the end in mind, you put first 00:31:51.599 --> 00:31:56.319 things first. So one of the things I try to do with pastors is to say the most important thing 00:31:56.319 --> 00:32:01.899 that they do in their week to feed people and lead people is their sermon. And so you need to fight 00:32:01.899 --> 00:32:06.019 the busyness of pastoral life and say that you're just going to work on your sermon with the little 00:32:06.019 --> 00:32:10.659 cracks and pieces of your life, because all these other things are important, but they're not actually 00:32:10.659 --> 00:32:16.000 as important in the pastoral ministry. And so if that's the big thing that you can do week in and week 00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:20.919 out, it has to be the first thing you put into your schedule, not the 53rd thing you put into your 00:32:20.920 --> 00:32:26.400 schedule, or the 15th thing, or even the second thing. It has to be the first thing you put in 00:32:26.400 --> 00:32:32.840 your schedule, because that's just wise. If you don't get the first thing first, all the other 00:32:32.840 --> 00:32:38.560 things are going to be out of order. And so if you don't put loving God and being reconciled to him 00:32:38.560 --> 00:32:44.300 as first thing in your priorities, all the other priorities are going to be out of whack. You've got 00:32:44.300 --> 00:32:48.240 to get the first thing first. You've got to begin with the end in mind. That's just common sense if you 00:32:48.240 --> 00:32:54.380 think about it. And so what the Bible, the big message of the Bible is that it's as you first 00:32:54.380 --> 00:33:01.079 you get that thing set. And by the way, this is very hard. Like when it comes to children, 00:33:01.960 --> 00:33:07.420 the easiest thing in the world is to think the high priority is piano lessons, sports lessons, 00:33:07.620 --> 00:33:12.000 dance lessons, this lesson, this lesson, this lesson, and Christ comes way down. 00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:18.579 When it comes to how you're going to use your time, it's really important you do this and this and this 00:33:18.579 --> 00:33:23.099 and this and this and this and this, and serving Christ goes way down here. When it comes time to 00:33:23.099 --> 00:33:28.180 money, what is it that most of us want to do? We want to put, well, you know, I need to pay this, 00:33:28.240 --> 00:33:31.220 I need to pay this, I need to pay this, I need to pay this, I need to pay this, I need to pay this, 00:33:31.240 --> 00:33:35.279 and if there's anything else that's left, I'll give that to God. But that's not, those aren't the 00:33:35.279 --> 00:33:44.839 right priorities. Those are messing up your life. You've got to get the first thing, the highest 00:33:44.839 --> 00:33:49.039 things high. And so the message of the Bible is not going to be that you're just the love of God 00:33:49.039 --> 00:33:55.700 and all other loves are obliterated. The message of the Bible is you love the greatest thing the 00:33:55.700 --> 00:34:03.119 greatest amount. You love small things a small amount. You love medium things a medium amount. 00:34:03.119 --> 00:34:07.099 You put things bigger than medium, bigger than a medium amount. 00:34:09.199 --> 00:34:14.199 But you get there by putting the first thing first and then realizing that these other things, 00:34:14.559 --> 00:34:18.920 and the other thing is it's not just a matter of priorities. There's a person, like look at verse 00:34:18.920 --> 00:34:28.940 nine again. Verse nine, it says, and be found in him. So it's as if every day I wake up and I say, 00:34:28.940 --> 00:34:34.920 okay, where am I? And it's not just that I wake up every day and say, okay, I'm in Ottawa. I'm at home. 00:34:35.639 --> 00:34:42.659 It's I'm in Christ. That's where I find myself. I'm in Christ. Okay, how's my day going to work now 00:34:42.659 --> 00:34:48.460 that I'm found here? That's where I am. Every day, find yourself in Christ. Remind yourself throughout 00:34:48.460 --> 00:34:53.420 the day, okay, where am I? Where am I? Yeah, yeah, I'm at the Bible house working or I'm at the coffee 00:34:53.420 --> 00:35:00.900 shop working, but fundamentally even deeper, I'm find myself in Christ. I need to find myself there 00:35:00.900 --> 00:35:06.119 that you see. And here's part of the beauty of this analogy. And this is where the plain analogy 00:35:06.119 --> 00:35:10.440 breaks down for what it means to find in Christ, that when you give yourself to Christ, 00:35:11.220 --> 00:35:17.460 he enters into you and you enter into him. And it's not now that you're in Christ and he is distant. 00:35:17.460 --> 00:35:22.199 Jesus is closer to you than you are to yourself. 00:35:24.599 --> 00:35:30.900 He is closer to your mind than you are to your own mind. He's closer to your breath. 00:35:32.340 --> 00:35:37.400 He's closer to you than your breath is to you. That's how close he is. That's where you are found. 00:35:40.900 --> 00:35:44.720 And what does that mean in terms of how you live? Well, it's not going to mean you don't kiss babies and 00:35:44.719 --> 00:35:49.699 think puppies are adorable, but it definitely doesn't mean you have your whole life centered 00:35:49.699 --> 00:35:54.599 around those types of things because you need his help to order your loves and order your priorities 00:35:54.599 --> 00:36:01.759 and to trust him in prayer that he's going to do that. And go on again in verse 9, 00:36:01.799 --> 00:36:06.599 and be found in him not having a righteousness. And righteousness here means being right with. 00:36:06.699 --> 00:36:12.619 And it also has not just that you're right with something, right? Like, you know, if Louise and I 00:36:12.619 --> 00:36:16.799 have had a fight, and then the question can be, okay, are we right with each other? 00:36:18.500 --> 00:36:23.219 And the word here of righteousness includes not only being right with, but it also has a word of, 00:36:23.319 --> 00:36:30.460 it has a sense of intimacy, and it also has a sense of covenant, of an ongoing relationship of 00:36:30.460 --> 00:36:36.880 mutual responsibilities. And so it says, and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own 00:36:36.880 --> 00:36:42.300 that comes because I'm really good at doing things. The only way I can be right with God 00:36:42.300 --> 00:36:45.740 is that which comes by putting my trust in Christ. 00:36:47.860 --> 00:36:53.519 And then he's the one that makes me right with God, and he makes me right with God, 00:36:53.619 --> 00:36:55.720 and I am in union with him at the same time. 00:36:55.719 --> 00:37:00.899 How much do you have to know to become a Christian? 00:37:04.139 --> 00:37:08.679 You have to deal enough with your doubts, and you have to deal enough with your longings, 00:37:09.000 --> 00:37:14.539 that you make an internal change in who you are, that you'd come to realize you trust him. 00:37:17.299 --> 00:37:18.359 You trust him. 00:37:19.899 --> 00:37:21.480 You want to be in union with him. 00:37:21.480 --> 00:37:26.019 And that doesn't mean you don't have questions. You can have questions. 00:37:26.440 --> 00:37:28.740 You can have doubts. You can have all sorts of things. 00:37:29.639 --> 00:37:32.440 But at some point in time, you just realize, you know what? 00:37:33.340 --> 00:37:34.840 I think I now trust him. 00:37:36.900 --> 00:37:40.119 I think I've passed from not trusting him to trusting him. 00:37:41.099 --> 00:37:43.840 And then one of the best things you can do is just to claim that in prayer. 00:37:45.079 --> 00:37:48.360 Lord, I don't know how it happened, but I now trust you that you're my savior. 00:37:48.360 --> 00:37:53.500 Be my savior. I want to be found in you and have you in me. 00:37:55.680 --> 00:37:59.360 This is just very briefly in terms of the... 00:38:01.360 --> 00:38:05.300 Remember, I said the three big parts are the counterfeit growth is toxic and deadly. 00:38:05.420 --> 00:38:06.320 That's the first eight verses. 00:38:06.500 --> 00:38:08.940 Then verse nine is found in Christ and made right with God. 00:38:09.039 --> 00:38:12.860 And then the last things is gospel growth in terms of the already, not yet. 00:38:13.180 --> 00:38:15.400 And here we get more of this aspect of intimacy. 00:38:15.400 --> 00:38:18.480 Just look very briefly at verses 10 and following. 00:38:18.619 --> 00:38:23.639 It says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection 00:38:23.639 --> 00:38:27.680 and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. 00:38:28.300 --> 00:38:31.139 And what this is just meaning is this, is that, you know what? 00:38:31.340 --> 00:38:33.660 That's where if you go back to Philippians 2, 5 to 11, 00:38:33.820 --> 00:38:38.380 and everything from Jesus' birth to his death to his resurrection, 00:38:38.900 --> 00:38:41.860 when you are in union with Christ, you are in union with all of that. 00:38:41.860 --> 00:38:43.840 All of that. 00:38:44.180 --> 00:38:46.240 And that is this profound truth. 00:38:46.539 --> 00:38:50.480 It means when you go through hard times of suffering, Jesus has suffered. 00:38:50.920 --> 00:38:54.780 When you go to start to begin to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:58.620 he walked through the valley of the shadow of death and even death itself. 00:38:58.760 --> 00:39:00.059 And he is with you. 00:39:00.180 --> 00:39:03.340 You are in him, in union with him. 00:39:03.440 --> 00:39:06.440 Even when you suffer, he is with you. 00:39:06.440 --> 00:39:11.099 I mean, one of the things which is so beautiful about this set, which is all messy, 00:39:11.380 --> 00:39:16.639 is that every single one of us, even the most put together, internally is a mess, 00:39:16.840 --> 00:39:20.039 and he is with you in your mess. 00:39:21.579 --> 00:39:22.099 Amen? 00:39:22.099 --> 00:39:22.300 Amen? 00:39:25.260 --> 00:39:31.159 He is with me in my mess to make something which is beautiful. 00:39:31.159 --> 00:39:36.879 And then it says here, verse 11, that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection 00:39:36.879 --> 00:39:37.339 of the dead. 00:39:37.460 --> 00:39:39.099 And that's just him being very humble. 00:39:39.359 --> 00:39:42.960 That's not saying that he has doubts about attaining to the resurrection of the dead, 00:39:43.019 --> 00:39:48.460 but he's just, it's a type of verbal posturing to, not posturing in a bad sense, 00:39:48.519 --> 00:39:51.559 a verbal posture that it's all completely because of him. 00:39:51.639 --> 00:39:55.679 My hope in resurrection from the dead has nothing to do with me, all to do with him. 00:39:56.519 --> 00:40:00.199 And then it says, verse 12, not that I have already obtained all these glorious things. 00:40:00.199 --> 00:40:04.559 And when it says here already perfect, that there's a telos word there, or that I'm already 00:40:04.559 --> 00:40:05.119 in heaven. 00:40:05.339 --> 00:40:07.339 I'm not obviously in heaven. 00:40:07.399 --> 00:40:10.019 I'm still here, and there's mess, and I'm a mess. 00:40:10.239 --> 00:40:17.719 But I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 00:40:18.739 --> 00:40:22.079 That's my confidence in dealing with the mess in my life. 00:40:22.559 --> 00:40:24.139 He's got a hold of me. 00:40:24.659 --> 00:40:26.139 It's worth it to repent. 00:40:26.679 --> 00:40:28.239 It's worth it to be generous. 00:40:28.239 --> 00:40:31.399 It's worth it to stand for Christ in your workplace. 00:40:31.879 --> 00:40:35.699 It's worth it to be opposed to the anti-Semitism in our culture. 00:40:36.019 --> 00:40:38.579 It's worth it to be opposed to the culture of death. 00:40:38.899 --> 00:40:39.899 He's got you. 00:40:40.659 --> 00:40:41.879 He's got me. 00:40:43.239 --> 00:40:48.819 Verse 13, brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do, 00:40:49.179 --> 00:40:50.639 forgetting what lies behind. 00:40:50.759 --> 00:40:54.699 In other words, not being worried about all those things, and straining forward to what 00:40:54.699 --> 00:41:00.960 lies ahead, I press on toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ 00:41:00.960 --> 00:41:01.379 Jesus. 00:41:01.699 --> 00:41:07.199 Every day when you wake up, God is saying, George, I want you to remember that you're 00:41:07.199 --> 00:41:08.099 found in Christ. 00:41:08.980 --> 00:41:12.799 George, I want you to remember that there's mess in your life that needs to be worked on 00:41:12.799 --> 00:41:14.739 as you're found in Christ. 00:41:14.739 --> 00:41:19.599 I want you to remember every day that the final word about you will not be how many people came 00:41:19.599 --> 00:41:20.099 to church. 00:41:20.519 --> 00:41:24.219 I want you to remember that the final word about you is not going to be the mess in your 00:41:24.219 --> 00:41:28.500 life or how much you're suffering or even your pain or even as you come to the hour of death. 00:41:28.599 --> 00:41:35.659 I want you to remember that the final word about you is you will be in glory with me. 00:41:38.000 --> 00:41:39.079 I invite you to stand. 00:41:39.079 --> 00:41:46.539 Bow our heads in prayer. 00:41:53.619 --> 00:41:56.259 Father, we give you thanks and praise that you love us. 00:41:56.980 --> 00:41:59.759 We thank and praise you that you have for your children. 00:41:59.920 --> 00:42:03.779 For those, Father, who are your lost sheep, who haven't yet come to a faith in Christ, 00:42:04.259 --> 00:42:05.960 you are calling them by name. 00:42:06.099 --> 00:42:07.619 You are calling them to come to you. 00:42:07.619 --> 00:42:09.059 That's your constant call. 00:42:10.440 --> 00:42:13.920 Your constant call, Father, is that they would hear Jesus say, 00:42:14.420 --> 00:42:18.139 come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. 00:42:18.219 --> 00:42:22.159 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly of heart and you will 00:42:22.159 --> 00:42:23.339 find rest for your soul. 00:42:23.779 --> 00:42:29.119 Father, we know that is what you call all to, but especially those who are not yet in Christ. 00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.980 And Father, for those of us who are in Christ, we thank you so much that your constant call 00:42:34.980 --> 00:42:41.559 to us is that we might know that we are found in him, in union with him, that he has us. 00:42:41.559 --> 00:42:48.199 That the mess in our life and the pain in our life and even the accomplishments of our life, 00:42:48.259 --> 00:42:50.159 those aren't the final words about us, Father. 00:42:50.259 --> 00:42:51.480 Our final words are in you. 00:42:51.940 --> 00:42:56.820 And so, Father, we ask that you would, by your Holy Spirit and by your gospel and by your word, 00:42:56.920 --> 00:42:59.820 that you would help us, Father, to make Christ the highest thing. 00:42:59.820 --> 00:43:06.600 Not that other things are not important, but that he will be supreme in us and with him, 00:43:06.940 --> 00:43:12.180 that you will help us to order all of our other loves, order our friendships, order our jobs, 00:43:12.380 --> 00:43:17.580 order our relationship with money and time, order our politics, order all that we are, 00:43:18.039 --> 00:43:20.340 all of our loves and all of our affections, Father. 00:43:20.400 --> 00:43:24.820 We ask that you would order them in a way that is going to bring us true flourishing, 00:43:24.820 --> 00:43:29.120 flourishing, is good for our city and our world, and brings you glory. 00:43:29.460 --> 00:43:36.100 And we ask these things in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior, and all God's people said, Amen.