If you're looking in one of the Pew Bibles, that is page 1008.
Hebrews chapter 12, today we're looking at verses 4 through 11,
but I'm going to start at the beginning of the chapter,
which we read last week as well.
So, chapter 12, beginning at verse 1, and we'll be focusing in on verses 4 through 11.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely,
and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself
so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted.
In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.
It is for discipline that you have to endure.
God is treating you as sons.
For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated,
then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us,
and we respected them.
Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?
For they disciplined us for a short time, as it seemed best to them.
But he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.
For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant,
but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness
to those who have been trained by it.
A few years ago, my wife and I decided to do some exploratory house hunting
in New Haven.
We weren't actually quite ready to buy a house,
but we wanted to see what was out there.
So mostly my wife poured over real estate listings online,
and I'd periodically get two or three emails with links
to potential houses somewhere in New Haven that we could buy.
Now, two of them I remember in particular.
Both were in neighborhoods we liked.
Both were in our price range.
Neither was a fixer-upper.
We knew we couldn't deal with that.
And both had a series of attractive pictures online.
But one of them, when we visited it, had been recently broken into,
and all the copper piping in all the radiators had been cut out,
which apparently is not a totally uncommon experience.
The other looked nice from the outside,
had nice hardwood floors,
but every floor was warped.
So one end of the room was about one or two feet higher than the other.
So everywhere you were in the house,
you were topsy-turvy and tilted.
And even the real estate agent who was showing it said,
I don't think you should buy this house.
High expectations, disappointing results.
Have you ever embarked on a journey,
started a new job, begun a new relationship,
gone away on vacation with high expectations,
but found that the results were disappointing?
And so you begin to wonder,
should I keep at it?
Should I keep looking for a house?
Or should I keep even consider buying?
Or should we just rent?
Should I keep at this new relationship,
or this new job,
or search for something else,
where I can direct my energies?
Well, the people that the book of Hebrews was written to
were in a similar situation spiritually.
They had become Christians,
and they were initially excited to embark on this new journey
of following Jesus,
and being a Christian community together,
and displaying Christ's love to the world.
But over time, the initial excitement faded away.
It was harder than they expected.
Perhaps they expected that becoming a Christian
would make their life easier.
The opposite happened.
They were suffering.
Not just in the normal ways that everyone else suffered,
but they were suffering particularly because of their faith.
They were being insulted and rejected.
Some of them had even lost their property.
It had been taken away.
And they were tempted to throw in the towel
or to gradually withdraw from their commitment to Christ
and begin to shift their energies
and place their identity in something else.
The question they were asking was something like this.
If we are, in Jesus Christ,
God's sons and daughters destined for glory,
why is our life full of suffering and shame?
And the whole book of Hebrews is written
to address that question.
And today's passage gives us an important piece of the answer.
Now, this passage doesn't give us a comprehensive explanation
for why there is suffering in the world.
Suffering is a complex reality.
And different passages in the Bible
speak to different aspects of that reality.
But this passage does give us a very important perspective
for when we face suffering personally.
Now, what this passage says is this.
It says,
In Jesus Christ, yes, we are God's sons and daughters
destined for glory.
But God, as our Father,
is training and shaping and preparing us for that glory
through painful sufferings,
through discipline, as it says.
Now, in this passage, we'll see three things.
We'll see first the character of God's discipline
in verses 5 and 6.
Second, we'll see the necessity of God's discipline
in verses 7 and 8.
And third, we'll see the benefits of God's discipline
in verses 9 through 11.
So, first, the character of God's discipline.
Now, the word discipline is repeated over and over,
nine times in this passage.
And I think it's not anywhere else in the book of Hebrews.
So, it's clearly the main theme of this passage.
But you might ask,
Well, what exactly does discipline mean?
Now, most of us, when we hear the word discipline,
we immediately think of correction.
Now, that's part of,
one important part of God's discipline
is correcting us.
Verse 5 talks about being reproved.
That word means verbally rebuked
or verbally corrected by the Lord.
And if you look through the Bible,
there's numerous examples of this.
So, God sent the prophet Nathan
to confront King David
when David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
Or when James and John came to Jesus
and they were asking for the best seats in God's kingdom,
Jesus rebuked them.
He said,
You don't know what you're asking for.
You don't know what my kingdom's all about.
You're totally missing the point.
Or after the resurrection,
Jesus told Peter that Peter would suffer a painful death
for Jesus' sake.
And Peter turned around and looked at John and said,
But Lord, what about him?
What's going to happen to him?
And Jesus said,
What does that matter to you?
You follow me.
Verbal rebukes are not unusual in the Bible
because even the best of Jesus' disciples
have a tendency to go off track
and do stupid things.
So, the book of Proverbs says,
Better is open rebuke than hidden love.
A loving, thoughtful, clear word of correction
or rebuke should not be unusual
in a community of growing Christians.
Second Timothy says,
All scripture is useful for many things.
And the first thing it says is rebuking and correcting.
You know, if nobody ever dares to correct or rebuke you,
it is probably not a sign that you are perfect
and you don't need any correction.
It may indicate that you are too proud
or too private
or too prickly
and you are missing out on some of the correction
that God knows that you need
and will benefit from.
Now, verse 6 goes even further
in talking about correction.
It says,
The Lord chastises every son whom he receives.
Now, the word translated chastise
refers to physical affliction for wrongdoing.
Sometimes God afflicts us physically
in order to correct us.
In other words,
sometimes God intentionally allows us
to experience the bitter fruit
of our own foolish decisions
to show us how poisonous sin is
and to bring us to hate it
and turn away from it
and turn back to him.
In the Old Testament,
we see this pattern over and over,
especially if you read the book of Judges.
Basically, the book of Judges has this cycle
and it happens about eight times.
The people of Israel,
they abandon God,
they abandon the Lord,
they go after other gods,
and so God says,
okay, I'll let you experience
what it's like
to not be under my rule
and to be under the rule
of oppressive idols.
So he lets them go
into the hands of their enemies
and their enemies oppress
and enslave them
and finally they cry out to the Lord
and God sends them a deliverer.
You see, God never abandons his people,
but he afflicted them for a time
in order to correct them
and bring them back to him.
Psalm 119 verse 67 says,
before I was afflicted,
I went astray,
but now I keep your word.
So God's discipline includes
both verbal and physical
corrective measures.
But the concept of discipline
in this chapter
is actually much broader
than correction.
The word translated discipline
commonly referred to educating
or training young people
in a variety of contexts.
It could refer to athletic training.
It could refer to scholarly instruction
or moral development.
And in the context of this passage,
the dominant image
is of a parent instructing a child.
And again, as a parent,
the role of a parent
includes correction.
It's an important
and necessary part of parenting.
And sometimes that's,
you know,
for those of us who are parents,
it's hard, right?
It's never pleasant
to correct your child.
And sometimes when we have
to administer corrective discipline
to our kids,
whether it's a verbal rebuke
or age-appropriate physical discipline
or consequences,
or simply saying no to a request,
sometimes it feels like
we've failed as parents.
Or our kid was bad,
so we had to discipline them, right?
And maybe you feel ashamed,
especially if your kid makes a scene
in front of other people.
Or we feel bad about saying no
to a request.
But the Bible says,
actually,
if we're correcting our children
in a godly manner,
not out of impulsive rage,
but out of concern
for their ultimate well-being,
we're doing exactly
what a parent is called to do
by God.
Loving correction.
But on the other hand,
the role of a parent
is much more than reactive correction.
The role of a parent includes provision
for a child's needs,
encouragement of a child's strengths,
preemptive warning against future dangers,
intentional training for future opportunities,
and attentive presence
in a child's life.
The writer of Hebrews begins
by quoting from Proverbs 3,
a father's words to his son.
And the whole book of Proverbs
is framed in this way
as parental guidance,
parental exhortation,
parental encouragement
to a growing child.
Now, God's discipline,
like that,
of a good teacher or coach or parent,
is proactively training and testing us
to develop in us
a greater capacity for endurance.
It's not only correcting us,
it's also training us.
And God envisions a glorious future for us
far beyond what we can imagine.
And he leads us through painful experiences
in order to shape and prepare us
for that future.
You know, if you are a teacher
and you are assigned
a class of eighth graders
who are failing math
and who say they hate math
and are completely bored by it,
you don't just come into the class
and start berating the students
and saying, you guys are all
a bunch of failures.
Look at how you've failed in the past.
Look at how terrible you are.
No, if you're a good teacher,
you see not only their past failures
and their present struggles,
but also their future potential.
You see the beauty
and elegance
and usefulness of math
that they are currently blind to.
And you want to introduce them to that.
You see the students' intellectual abilities,
which they probably express
in all kinds of other creative
and mischievous ways.
But if developed and focused,
that could enable them
to not only pass,
but even excel
in the math,
in math.
And that's what motivates you
to challenge them
and call them to a higher standard
and refuse to give up on them.
Because you can see
what they can't
or don't want to see.
Now, there's a spiritual analogy here
in many respects.
For the most part,
when we look at ourselves
or when we look at other people,
we see ourselves
as we are today
or as we have been in the past.
But when God looks at us,
He is not limited
to the past and the present.
He sees not only our past patterns
and our present struggles,
He also sees perfectly clearly
the glorious creature
that He has created us to be
and that He is intent
on bringing us to become
in Christ.
And so He brings us
into situations
that we think
are far more than we can handle
and might seem
totally overwhelming.
And we think,
I can't handle this.
There's no way
I can get through this.
And God says,
but I can see
what you can't.
You know,
when Jesus first met
Simon Peter
in the Gospel of John chapter 1,
His name was just Simon
at that point,
but Jesus named him
Peter,
which means rock.
But then if you go on
and read the Gospels,
Peter seems like
the most unstable man
of all the twelve disciples.
Right?
Jesus says,
who do you say that I am?
And Peter says,
you're the Messiah.
And Jesus says,
that's right.
And then,
two seconds later,
Jesus says,
well,
as the Messiah,
I'm going to have to suffer.
And Peter takes Jesus aside
and says,
oh, no, no, no,
Jesus,
you don't know this.
I need to instruct you
and tell you a better way.
And Jesus says,
get behind me, Satan.
You've totally missed the point.
You think you know
what I'm about,
but you need to learn.
Or at the Last Supper,
1 Peter says,
Jesus is coming around
washing the disciples' feet,
and 1 Peter says,
not me,
Lord,
you shall never wash my feet.
And then,
he flips,
and he says,
Jesus,
don't just wash my feet,
wash my hands,
wash my head,
wash everything.
And then later on that night,
as the opposition grows,
he says,
Jesus,
I'm ready to lay down
my life for you.
And then a few hours later,
he denies Jesus three times.
Right?
Peter is
the most bipolar disciple
ever.
Right?
He's flipping
from one end to the other,
from one end to the other.
And Jesus calls him a rock.
You see,
Jesus doesn't just look at Peter
and evaluate him
based on how he currently is
and how he's currently behaving.
He sees
what he intends Peter to become.
He says,
Peter,
I'm going to make you
into a rock,
into a stable person,
into a leader
of the early church.
And he does.
If you read the book of Acts,
Peter stands firm.
And he proclaims the gospel.
In his first letter,
Peter talks about
how all of us,
like living stones,
are being built together
into a house
by which God lives,
in which God lives
by his spirit.
You see,
God the Father
is committed
to building his house.
And he's committed
to making every one
of his children
into all that he has
called us to be.
He's committed
to correcting us
when we go wrong.
And he's committed
to training us
to develop our endurance.
That's the character
of God's discipline.
Now, second,
we see the necessity
of God's discipline.
We see this in verses
seven and eight.
And in these verses,
the author is drawing on
two well-known
cultural practices
in the ancient Roman world.
Or cultural practices
or family arrangements.
So first,
in the Roman world,
fathers had absolute authority.
authority over their family.
Legally,
and basically,
no one could override
a father's decision
on behalf of one
of his family members.
That was the law
in the Roman Empire.
That's the first thing,
the absolute authority
of the father.
And second,
the unique status
of sons.
So sons,
when they grew up,
would carry on
the family name
and would receive
an inheritance.
And so the father
was particularly involved
in training
and preparing
his sons
to receive that inheritance
and carry on
the family name.
Now this was not true
of daughters
under Roman law.
It was also not true
of sons born
out of wedlock
or born to a slave.
These were seen
as illegitimate
and not subject
to the authority
of the father.
Now that's the
cultural background.
Okay,
the author of Hebrews
is not affirming
every aspect
of the cultural background.
Actually,
he's undermining it,
some of it,
as we'll see later.
But what the author
of Hebrews is doing
is he's taking
these common images
from their culture
and he's just using
the imagery
to describe
God's relationship
to us
as his children.
So he's saying
God is the ultimate
father.
God has absolute
authority
over all his creation
by definition.
No one can override
God's decisions.
But God is not just
an impersonal force.
He's not just
a distant ruler.
He's a father
who loves
and receives
his children,
as verse 6 says.
From eternity past,
God the Father
has poured out
his love
and shared his glory
with his only begotten son.
But Hebrews tells us
that God's only begotten son
who became a human being
in Jesus Christ
has chosen to extend
his status
to us
as sons
and daughters of God.
So everyone
who is united
to Jesus through faith,
Jesus calls us
brothers.
Earlier in Hebrews
it says Jesus is not ashamed
to call us
his brothers.
And because Jesus
were Jesus' brothers,
we're now God's sons.
Now,
in using that language
of brothers and sons,
or verse 7
where it says
God is treating you
as sons,
it's not excluding
or marginalizing
female Christians.
What it is saying
is that God's family
operates on a completely
different principle
than the Roman world.
What he's saying
is that in God's family,
male and female Christians
both bear the name
of Jesus
and both have
full inheritance rights.
Both enjoy the blessings
that were only reserved
for sons in the Roman culture.
And he's saying
in the family of God,
whether you're male
or female,
you receive all those
blessings from God.
Full inheritance rights
and fully bearing
the family name
and an honored status
in the family.
So he says
in a Christian church,
it's totally different
than in the Roman culture.
But he says
just as
a Roman father
would intentionally
train
and prepare
his sons
to carry on
the family name,
God intentionally
trains and prepares
every one
of his children.
So at times
God rebukes us
through his word.
At times
he may even
chastise us
through affliction.
But he is always
training us,
stretching us,
preparing us
for glory
through hard
and painful experiences
because we are
his children
and he is utterly
committed to us
becoming all
that he has made us
to be.
So Proverbs says
don't regard lightly
the discipline
of the Lord.
In other words,
don't disregard it.
Don't run away
from it.
Don't ignore it.
But he also says
don't become weary
when rebuked by him.
In other words,
don't fall into despair.
God's not disciplining
you because
he's rejected you.
He disciplines you
because he loves you.
He's training you
and bringing you
even through hard
experiences to teach
you a greater depth
of trust in him.
He's shaping
and forming
your character
and forging you
like metal
that is refined
through the fire.
And when you are
tempted,
remember that
your greatest
brother,
Jesus,
was also tempted.
It says
Jesus was made
perfect
through his suffering.
Now it doesn't mean
that Jesus
never needed
to be corrected,
but Jesus
was tested.
He was trained.
He was stretched
in order to develop
his endurance
and demonstrate
his perfect faithfulness.
So when we receive
God's discipline,
when we are trained
by it,
it is a sign
that we are truly
God's children,
that we are truly
connected to God
through Jesus,
that we are truly
included in God's family
as brothers and sisters
of Jesus.
So that's the necessity
of God's discipline.
We've seen the character
of God's discipline,
the necessity
of God's discipline,
and finally,
we see the benefits
of God's discipline
in verses 9 through 11.
Verse 9
says that God's discipline
leads to life.
Now in verses 7 and 8
emphasize some of the parallels
between God
and human parents,
but 9 through 11
emphasize some of the contrasts,
and both are important.
Verse 9 says,
we had earthly fathers
who disciplined us
and we respected them.
Shall we not much more
be subject
to the father of spirits?
Now when you read that,
the contrast seems to be this.
If we respected
our earthly parents,
literally it's our fathers
of the flesh,
it means parents
who are mortal
and weak
and subject to change.
If we respected them,
he's saying,
how much more
should we surrender
our lives
without reservation
to God,
the father of spirits?
In other words,
the father
in whom there is no
change or turning.
But actually,
the real surprise,
if you're looking down
at verse 9,
you notice that I left out
the last two words
when I read it.
We had earthly fathers
who disciplined us
and we respected them.
Shall we not much more
be subject
to the father of spirits
and live?
That's the real surprise
of verse 9
is the promise of life.
It's saying,
God doesn't just
call out for our respect
and deserve our respect.
He also graciously
gives us life.
Eternal life.
Abundant life.
Life in his presence.
So that's the first promise.
That God's discipline
is preparing us
for abundant life.
The second promise
in verse 10
is that God's discipline
is preparing us
to share in God's holiness.
Again,
there's another contrast.
They disciplined us
for a short time
as it seemed best to them.
In other words,
human parents
have a limited role
and their efforts,
even if well-meaning,
are imperfect
as it seemed best.
But he disciplines us,
God disciplines us
for our good
that we may share
in his holiness.
God's discipline
has a lasting effect,
an enduring role.
And this is a very important
distinction to remember
because it's very natural
for us to project
onto our ideas about God
our experience
of our own parents.
And sometimes
that makes us hard,
that makes it hard
for us
to relate to God
as he really is
because our experience
with our own father
or mother
or even
their weaknesses
or their absence
makes it hard for us
to draw near to God
in the way
that he reveals himself
as a father
who loves
and receives
his children,
who is faithful
and committed
and unfailing
in his love.
And Hebrews reminds us
that God is utterly distinct
from even the best
of human parents.
He is the one
who embodies
and defines
true fatherhood.
Our parents did the best
they could
for a limited time.
But God's discipline
is utterly pure
and lasting.
It's so that we may share
in his holiness.
In other words,
in God's
unstained purity,
in his perfect
wholeness,
unbroken.
Hebrews has already told us
that through the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ
we're set apart
for holiness.
We're sanctified.
It's the same word.
Set apart for holiness.
And he's saying
through his discipline
he's making us
into what he's already
called us to be.
He's making us
to share
in that holiness
that we've already
been set apart for.
So there's the promise
of life,
of holiness,
and third,
the peaceful fruit
of righteousness.
Now verse 11
is very honest.
He says,
for the moment
all discipline
seems painful
rather than pleasant.
Isn't that true?
Right?
In almost any kind
of training
there's an ironic
pattern.
If you're studying
the more you learn
the more you realize
how much you don't know.
I was a history major
in college.
I had to take
two courses
in American history,
two courses
in European history,
three courses
in other parts
of the world,
and three electives.
I even took
a couple of extras.
What I realized
over time
is that I hardly
know anything
about history.
Half the time
when people come
to me and say,
oh have you read
this book
written by this historian?
I'll say,
I have no idea
who that historian is.
Or do you know
about this American
president who lived
in the late 19th century?
And I'll say,
none of my history
classes covered that.
I'm completely ignorant.
I'm sorry.
I'm a history major
and I'm nearly ignorant.
Let alone
all the other 50 majors
that I didn't major in.
There's a similar pattern
in athletic training.
The stronger you get,
the weaker you feel.
Right?
You go out for a good
workout with the team
or you go to the gym
to lift,
you come back
an hour and a half later
feeling weaker
and more tired
and sore
than when you started.
Spiritually,
the more clearly
you see God's character
and God's law
and God's calling
for you,
the more clearly
you see how far
you have to go
and the flaws
that are still there.
But he reminds us
that's all part
of the process
of growth
and training.
For the moment,
it seems painful.
But in the long term,
there's a peaceful
harvest of righteousness
for those who have
been trained
by it.
Let me close
with a quote
from C.S. Lewis.
He talks about
our life as a house,
as God who has
purchased us
and bought us
and is making us
into what he's
called us to be.
He says,
imagine yourself
as a living house.
God comes in
to rebuild that house.
At first,
perhaps,
you can understand
what he is doing.
He's getting the drains
right and stopping
the leaks in the roof
and so on.
You knew that these
jobs needed doing
and so you were
not surprised.
But presently,
he starts knocking
the house about
in a way that hurts
terribly and does
not seem to make
any sense.
What on earth
is he up to?
The explanation
is that he is
building quite a
different house
from the one
you thought of.
Throwing out
a new wing here,
putting on an
extra floor there,
running up towers,
making courtyards.
You thought you
were being made
into just a little
cottage.
But he is building
a palace.
He intends to come
and live in your
house himself.
Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you
that you see
as our Father
far beyond
what we can.
we thank you
that you have
destined us
for glory
through Jesus Christ
as your sons
and daughters.
We pray that you
would teach us
to endure,
to trust
what you are doing
even when it
seems confusing
and hard.
We pray that we
would be trained
by your discipline,
that we would receive it,
that we would not
despise it
or run away,
and that we would
not crumple
under it
and despair.
But Lord,
we pray that you
would remind us
that you are
a faithful Father
who disciplines
those you love.
Lord,
thank you for this
word.
We pray that you
would make it
fruitful in our
lives this week.
In Jesus' name,
amen.
Well,
this morning,
we're going to
celebrate baptism.
baptism.
And baptism
is a wonderful,
symbolic declaration
of our status
as God's children
who are brought
into his family
through Jesus.
Maybe you're here
and maybe you're
exploring Christianity.
Maybe you haven't
yet put your faith
and trust
in Jesus Christ.
You haven't yet
said,
yes,
I want to embark
on that journey
with him.
Well,
baptism is a
symbolic picture
of what it means
to do that,
to take the plunge,
to surrender
your life to Jesus.
And so,
it's an invitation
to consider that
and consider
what God
is calling
us into.
Baptism
represents a few
things.
It's getting dunked
in the water,
washed in the water,
and it represents
the work of Jesus
Christ that has
cleansed us
from our sin.
Now,
baptism is not
the way to wash
away your sin.
Getting dunked
in a pool
doesn't wash
away your sin.
But Jesus Christ
died on the cross
so that we would
be cleansed
and forgiven,
and baptism
is a symbolic
picture of what
God has already
done.
It's also
a public
identification
with Jesus.
And,
and,
and in a short,
and it's,
when Jesus
was baptized,
the heavens
were torn open,
and God the Father
said,
you are my son,
with you I am
well pleased.
And we,
when we turn to
Jesus and trust
in him,
and when we
follow him
through baptism,
we receive an
assurance that we
also are God's
adopted sons and
daughters,
beloved,
and included in
his family that he
is well pleased
with us.
So,
if you've been
baptized,
consider this a
reminder and a
reaffirmation of
your own baptism.
Remember what God
has promised you.
If you haven't been
baptized,
consider it an
invitation.
And if you want
to talk more about
it,
feel free to find me
after the service.
Matt,
would you come to
the front?
Matt's going to
share some of
his story of how
God has worked in
his life.
I don't think he
knew that I was
preaching on this
passage,
and I didn't,
we didn't coordinate
our stories,
but I've seen what
he's going to say.
It actually connects
with this passage
really well.
So,
Matt,
why don't you
come and share
some of what
God's done in
your life.
Hi,
everyone.
There's a lot
of people out
here.
Morning.
For those of
you I haven't
had the pleasure
of meeting,
I'm Matt
Sherman.
Hopefully,
I'll get to
meet a lot
of you at
some point
or another.
I came here
just shy of a
year ago to
take up a job
at the University
of Bridgeport.
as a librarian
and thankfully,
before I came
out here,
a number of
friends I knew
who knew folks
in Connecticut
had recommended
Trinity,
so it seemed
like a good
place to check
out and I was
really glad I
had been able
to spend the
last 11 or
so months
worshiping with
everyone and
getting involved
in small group.
It's been a
really good
opportunity to
worship and
minister out here.
so I'm
particularly
happy today
that I'll be
coming into
membership and
as Pastor Greg
noted,
getting baptized.
I was baptized
as an infant,
but theologically
I've come to
a different
understanding of
baptism more in
line with what
Greg has
mentioned.
so I'm glad
to be able to
do all this
and kind of
publicly profess
my faith in
Christ as Lord
and Savior,
and I have not
looked at this
nearly enough,
so I'll probably
be paying more
attention to the
sheet than you
guys.
My apologies.
But I've been
asked to,
you know,
give you a little
bit of idea
how I got here
and the work
of grace that's
been done in my
life.
So I started
out growing up
in a small town
in Wisconsin
with my family.
We largely
attended a
United Methodist
church.
They'd done a
pretty good job
of providing a
foundation to
build my faith
off of,
but I wouldn't
say I knew
Jesus at that
point in time.
In high school
I tended towards
the more common
misperception of
him as a
friendly God
who would give
us what we
wanted and,
you know,
want us to be
happy.
And there's
some truth to
that,
but even at
that point I
don't think I
was entirely
content with
that viewpoint.
And so when I
started at the
University of
Wisconsin in my
freshman year,
I wanted to
make sure that I
got plugged in
with a group of
believers to
really understand
who Jesus was
and learn more
about him.
Thankfully the
Lord saw a fit
to connect me
with the local
navigator ministry
my freshman year
and he used
that just
great,
absolutely awesome
community to
teach me who
he really was.
By the end of
my freshman year,
I can confidently
say that I knew
who Jesus was
and that he
was my Lord
and I kind of,
I started loving
him not for the
nice things he
could give me
and fulfilling
the sinful
desires of my
heart, but
rather that I
started loving
him for who
he was and
what he's already
done for us
in his death
on the cross.
So I can,
and I can see
from that over
the years how
it's, he's been
reshaping my
desires to be
more in line
with his.
Yet, unlike
what a lot of
prosperity preachers
have to say,
God doesn't
promise us to
fulfill all our
desires and
give us a life
easy or to
make us wealthy.
So after
graduating from
Madison, I had
to deal with my
fair share of
hardship as well.
A few prolonged
periods of
unemployment, some
very difficult work
environments, being
strapped for cash
financially, some
medical issues, and
just struggling to
put those habitual
sins to death, which
is still a really
frustrating desire.
Yet, while he
doesn't promise to
give us an easy,
prosperous life, he
does promise us
himself that he'll
be with us and
that he'll never
forsake us.
And that is a
promise I can
definitely say I've
seen time and
again.
I can remember the
gracious way he
used the situations
and for my
friends to place
me in graduate
school at a time
that I thought it
was entirely
unlikely.
I remember his
provision and
comfort during those
periods of
unemployment, comforting
me, providing for
my needs at the
time, and helping
me to see, even
when I had no
prospects, that he
was good and he
was sovereign, and
that I was far
better to trust on
his provision rather
than on my own
skills.
And I definitely
remember his grace
in giving me the
opportunity to go
overseas for six
weeks and be part
of a team to help
with a short-term
ministry and see
seven people come to
Christ at the time
we were there, and
be given the fun
privilege to help
those new folks
understand and learn
about the scripture
and the gospel.
And I've certainly
seen his grace in
him bringing me out
here in a very rapid
and rushed manner
and being able to
plug in with you
guys and be
provided for all of
my needs in moving
to this new
community.
So I'm particularly
glad he's brought
me into this
community, and I'm
happy to be able to
join you all today
and look forward to
be ministering with
you all while I'm
here in New Haven.
Thanks.
best
Thank you.