WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.839 Now, you turned back with me to Romans chapter 15 and the first 13 verses. 00:00:05.839 --> 00:00:09.759 If you're visiting with us today, we've been looking at Romans for a number of months. 00:00:09.759 --> 00:00:16.399 We took a break at one point and we're now almost at the end of Romans. 00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:18.960 We're getting towards the end. 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:23.080 And we've only got another couple of weeks left to look at this great book. 00:00:23.079 --> 00:00:31.479 And we've seen that the first 11 chapters are really intense theology. 00:00:31.479 --> 00:00:37.920 And we have then moved from chapter 11 onwards into more practical outworking of that truth. 00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:40.599 Now I wasn't here last week. 00:00:40.599 --> 00:00:43.840 Thomas was preaching on chapter 14. 00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:46.439 And this is a continuation of chapter 14. 00:00:46.439 --> 00:00:51.159 So if I'm going to repeat everything that Thomas has said, then you'll forgive me. 00:00:51.159 --> 00:00:53.159 It's obviously worth repeating if that's the case. 00:00:53.159 --> 00:01:02.479 I'm not sure exactly what Anglic took on chapter 14, but this is a continuation of the argument from that chapter. 00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:06.840 And really Paul, I think, is talking about two main concerns here. 00:01:06.840 --> 00:01:16.959 And it's to do as a continuation from the previous chapter, it's mainly to do with the attitude of the strong Jewish believers in the church in Rome 00:01:16.959 --> 00:01:26.759 towards the Gentile believers, those who had come in from outside of the Jewish faith and they'd come together under the Christian umbrella. 00:01:26.759 --> 00:01:39.079 Who they regarded, the Jews regarded the Gentiles as weaker Christians, as theologically not as astute and understanding as they were, not as mature. 00:01:39.079 --> 00:01:44.479 And Paul is wrestling with this argument here, wrestling with this attitude that they have. 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:49.920 And he's telling them that they have to think differently and they have to remember that they are one in Christ. 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:53.400 And it's a hugely significant and important truth. 00:01:53.400 --> 00:02:04.120 And he broadens it to apply to just how they think generally and how they respond generally to anyone at which we'll see those outside the church. 00:02:04.120 --> 00:02:08.520 Now I think that that truth always remains relevant for us. 00:02:08.520 --> 00:02:19.040 And you need to think about how Jewish Gentile divide can be significant in a Scottish Presbyterian context and why it matters. 00:02:19.040 --> 00:02:28.719 Well, I think it does matter because it's all to do with our attitudes towards other Christians and other people. 00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:34.719 Maybe you regard yourself this morning as a very strong Christian, Christian who's been alone for a long time. 00:02:34.719 --> 00:02:41.599 Maybe you feel you're in with a free church, bricks here, and that you've always been part of the church. 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:49.800 And maybe when you see other people come in to the church or you meet with other Christians who are very different, 00:02:49.800 --> 00:02:54.960 then your attitude maybe to them is not what it should be. 00:02:54.960 --> 00:03:03.960 If people come with a different understanding or with no understanding or if newcomers come into the church, people with no faith at all, 00:03:03.960 --> 00:03:08.920 maybe you regard them as being very different or having no spiritual pedigree. 00:03:08.920 --> 00:03:19.680 And it's hugely significant how we respond to other people and how we welcome them and how we love them and how we are united with them. 00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:31.800 You know, as you know, I was in the States last week and I was speaking about St. Columbas and I was speaking at a commission conference and about the church planting that we've been doing. 00:03:31.800 --> 00:03:41.719 And of course, needless to say, those of you who know the story here will know the promises that God gave that brought me to St. Columbas, 00:03:41.719 --> 00:03:45.280 one of them being that I have many people in this city. 00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:49.320 Now, I still believe that promise is to be outworked. 00:03:49.320 --> 00:03:56.400 In our context, we want to see more and more people coming to faith in Jesus Christ and being part of the church here in St. Columbas. 00:03:56.400 --> 00:04:03.439 But if that, when that happens and it has happened in a small degree, but we want to happen, want to see happening much more, 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:07.439 our attitude to new believers is going to be very, very important. 00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:21.639 And we mustn't have an arrogance or dismissal or a lack of concern for those who come in because they're different and because they don't know things or because they do things and think things differently from us. 00:04:21.639 --> 00:04:34.199 So it always remains a hugely significant thing, our attitude to other Christians in our community and in the world, and also our attitude to other people. 00:04:34.199 --> 00:04:42.879 So there's two principles, I think, in this passage that we'll look at quickly that are very significant to understand how we think about other people. 00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:49.959 The first is, with respect to our Savior Jesus, Jesus Christ didn't please Himself. 00:04:49.959 --> 00:04:57.879 Verse 3 tells us that, for Christ did not please Himself, but as it is written in Psalm 69, 00:04:57.879 --> 00:05:03.159 the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. 00:05:03.159 --> 00:05:11.439 So He didn't please Himself. That's what Paul is saying here. He's the one who's our example. 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:20.560 The word pleasing Himself there just means He became a willing servant. He became someone who was, who wanted to win the favor of other people. 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:26.199 Now that's a really good description of that word, that Christ didn't please Himself. 00:05:26.199 --> 00:05:31.839 That's the essence of what Jesus came to do for us. 00:05:31.839 --> 00:05:46.560 In His work of salvation and coming to humanity and coming to earth and taking on the form of a person, He did so not to please Himself. 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:49.559 You know, it's the essence of our understanding of Jesus. 00:05:49.559 --> 00:05:57.120 As a twelve-year-old in the temple, in the desert when He was tempted by Satan, when He went to the wedding in Cana, 00:05:57.120 --> 00:06:02.079 when He was confronted with crowds, when He was faced with a lack of faith among His disciples, 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:09.439 when the crowds wanted much more of His time, when He walked with Judas, when He was in the garden facing the insults of the soldiers, 00:06:09.439 --> 00:06:13.879 when He was silent before Pilate, when He allowed Himself to be nailed to a cross. 00:06:13.879 --> 00:06:20.959 He resisted sinful selfishness. He wasn't here to please Himself. 00:06:20.959 --> 00:06:37.120 He was thinking of others, and He was resisting the glory of being God, and He put that aside in order to be our Savior and to be a Redeemer. 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:44.240 And that is the attitude that we are to take into our Christian lives, because this is about interaction between people. 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:50.639 You know, you're all here, you're all sitting beside one another, and you'll all go into a working week of interacting with people, 00:06:50.639 --> 00:07:01.439 and He says, you are to be people who imitate Jesus Christ, who didn't live to please Himself. 00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:08.879 And so the question goes out to us, who are, you know, can you consider today who you're pleasing in your life? 00:07:08.879 --> 00:07:14.519 Who is it that you want to impress? And who is it that I want to impress in my day-to-day living? 00:07:14.519 --> 00:07:22.959 Think about it when you're criticising someone from a distance. When we're judging people's motives, yet we don't really know them. 00:07:22.959 --> 00:07:29.319 When we despise someone who thinks differently, theologically or philosophically from us. 00:07:29.319 --> 00:07:34.919 When we reject someone who has not been a real Christian. 00:07:34.919 --> 00:07:42.560 When we do so to make ourselves look good, when we're building our own ego and avoiding this challenge of Jesus Christ, 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:50.280 which is to remember that because He didn't please Himself, nor are we to do that. 00:07:50.280 --> 00:07:58.120 And it's in this great conflict within the church where the Jews and the Gentiles with it, at loggerheads with one another. 00:07:58.120 --> 00:08:10.360 They weren't united and under Christ within the church. And Paul is saying, look, let us, let each of us please His neighbour for His good to build Him up. 00:08:10.360 --> 00:08:21.000 Because of what Jesus has done. And that's the practical outworking of the theological truth of the first eleven chapters of Romans. 00:08:21.000 --> 00:08:27.000 As we know what Jesus has come to do, we are to please our neighbour for their good. 00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:34.920 And you see immediately Paul is broadening it not just to our fellow Christians, but to our neighbour. 00:08:34.919 --> 00:08:43.839 You know that the teaching of the neighbour in the churches, and Paul is not just within the church, it's outside the church as well. 00:08:43.839 --> 00:08:52.319 It's a broader principle of grace. Yes, it must first be outworked within the gospel community. 00:08:52.320 --> 00:09:05.040 Putting other people first and seeking their good, serving them in order to do them good. 00:09:05.040 --> 00:09:09.720 Think of their good rather than thinking about our own good. 00:09:09.720 --> 00:09:14.760 Wanting to build them up rather than seeking to tear them down, isn't it? 00:09:14.760 --> 00:09:17.440 So much of what we do is tearing people down. 00:09:17.440 --> 00:09:23.800 I think it is becoming worse in our community with social media. I know, sorry, I'm banging on about social media again. 00:09:23.800 --> 00:09:35.640 But I went on to the evening news social media site this week because you may be aware that they're probably going to start charging 00:09:35.639 --> 00:09:47.840 exorbitant fees for parking on Johnson Terrace and around about here on a Sunday. And they're also going to have a city centre wide car free zone once a month on a Sunday. 00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:54.799 So, you know, there are challenging implications for us as a church, for those of you who take cars. 00:09:54.799 --> 00:10:00.559 I won't, of course, be environmentally friendly. But, you know, those of you who are so lazy and can't get it. 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:09.599 No, sorry, I'm only, but you know, there's that challenge. And I went online and the comments. 00:10:09.599 --> 00:10:21.359 It was quite remarkable how quickly the comments following on from one another descended into absolute vitriol. 00:10:21.359 --> 00:10:28.759 You know, people being vitriolic and horrible to one another based on what they were saying in their comments. 00:10:28.759 --> 00:10:33.080 There was very little politeness, there was very little respect for other people's opinions. 00:10:33.080 --> 00:10:40.439 There was a great deal of mockery and a great deal of angst and just nastiness. 00:10:40.439 --> 00:10:45.159 And we see that, don't we, again and again in social media. It allows us to do that. 00:10:45.159 --> 00:10:52.960 We hide behind it and we can be vitriolic and mean. And that sometimes then spills over into the way we treat one another. 00:10:52.960 --> 00:11:00.720 We are to be different from that in the church. We are to treat, we are to seek the good of others and seek to please others 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:07.240 to build them up for their good spiritually. That's a hugely significant attitude for us. 00:11:07.240 --> 00:11:17.320 So we need to think hard about our church life, our family life and our workplace, our interactions and our attitudes to others. 00:11:17.320 --> 00:11:24.000 Especially those that we disagree with, especially those that are different from us, especially those who are new to us, 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:29.120 especially those who aren't part of our inner sanctum. 00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:32.960 We need to think seriously about being outward looking. 00:11:32.960 --> 00:11:39.960 You know how often I've said, and this is a minor point, and it's not particularly, ultimately related to this, 00:11:39.960 --> 00:11:48.360 but you know how difficult it is if in the church here at coffee and tea, all newcomer might see as your back, 00:11:48.360 --> 00:11:53.639 because you're in a circle all facing and drinking tea and coffee. 00:11:53.639 --> 00:11:58.240 And they only can see your back. How difficult that is, how insular it can be. 00:11:58.240 --> 00:12:01.480 It's a very small point, it's a very physical small point. 00:12:01.480 --> 00:12:08.680 But as we look out, as we think of others, as we seek to please others, then we're moving beyond pleasing ourselves. 00:12:08.679 --> 00:12:16.399 We're moving beyond simply looking for our own company. That's a very minor thing. 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:24.199 So the first principle is that Christ didn't please himself, and we are to work that out in our Christian lives. 00:12:24.199 --> 00:12:29.879 The second principle is that Christ accepted you. 00:12:29.879 --> 00:12:39.120 Verse 7 says that, you know, therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God, 00:12:39.120 --> 00:12:46.559 or accept one another as Christ has accepted you for the glory of God, or receive one another as Christ has received you. 00:12:46.559 --> 00:12:55.519 It's a great and really strong word, and welcome and receive and accept doesn't really cut it. 00:12:55.519 --> 00:13:02.559 It doesn't express the depth. It means receive, but with a really strong personal interest. 00:13:02.559 --> 00:13:08.399 It doesn't just mean anodding acquaintance. It means having a real concern and an interest in other people. 00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:14.000 We're to accept them by being interested in them. 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:21.679 And that's, again, the outworking of our understanding of Romans 1 to 11. 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:26.639 Remember the beginning of Romans chapter 12, which said, in the light of God's mercies, 00:13:26.639 --> 00:13:29.839 and that was a summary of the first 11 chapters. 00:13:29.839 --> 00:13:36.079 So it's in the light of really what Christ Jesus has done for us and has accepted us, 00:13:36.079 --> 00:13:42.959 because of His grace and mercy, that we are to have that same attitude in the relationships we have with others. 00:13:42.959 --> 00:13:48.799 Not just that we please them as Christ, or we don't please ourselves, 00:13:48.799 --> 00:13:52.399 but we also accept others in the way that Christ has accepted us. 00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:59.120 So our understanding of the living God who faced our death and our hell on the cross 00:13:59.120 --> 00:14:02.639 is fundamental to how we treat other people. 00:14:02.639 --> 00:14:10.719 So chapters 1 to 11, deep, deep, meaty theology, affects how you act here, and how I act, 00:14:10.719 --> 00:14:15.679 and how I interact, and how we interact as people. 00:14:15.679 --> 00:14:21.519 What we know, what we understand of Christ changes how we treat one another. 00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:23.919 It's fundamental in Christ. 00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:27.039 We know that God has accepted us. 00:14:27.039 --> 00:14:33.679 We don't need to try and look good with God to be accepted as Christ. 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:37.519 He's seen us all right with the Father. 00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:42.719 He's made things right with the Father in His just and loving act of sacrifice. 00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:49.040 It's breathtaking when we know the depravity of our own hearts and the requirements of God's law. 00:14:49.040 --> 00:14:58.879 It's breathtaking. It's bone shaking to know that we've accepted by God in Christ. 00:14:58.879 --> 00:15:06.160 And He now wants us to bring praise to Him for the glory of God, therefore welcome, accept, 00:15:06.159 --> 00:15:13.039 receive one another, sorry, in Christ as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God. 00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:17.600 Do you see the link between the first 11 chapters of this book? 00:15:18.319 --> 00:15:26.559 We bring, you bring glory to God when you accept, when we accept one another, when we do likewise. 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:28.159 That's a great thing, isn't it? 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:35.039 That's what we're created to do in our marriages, in our individual family relationships 00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:37.839 with our neighbors within the church. 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:43.439 We're longing to see an explosion of grace and conversions in this church, 00:15:44.319 --> 00:15:53.120 but nobody will stay in a church if we don't practice what we know to be true. 00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:56.879 And we do, we do, we do practice that. 00:15:56.879 --> 00:16:03.120 And we want to practice it more, it's not soft theology, it's core theology, it's core truth. 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:08.639 As we live out this pleasure of others and live out this acceptance of others, 00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:15.120 we will find a comfortable and good place to be together in Christ. 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:18.480 So there's two principles. 00:16:19.200 --> 00:16:25.759 And briefly, can I give two challenges as we deal with that, as we think about pleasing others 00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:28.639 and Christ accepting others. 00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:32.320 And remember the context of the Jew and the Gentile here in Rome. 00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:34.480 And our own particular context. 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:37.440 The first is the first challenge is to receive God's help. 00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:40.240 Because when you see that challenge, that is so difficult to do. 00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:43.680 And maybe you think that in your Christian life generally. 00:16:43.680 --> 00:16:49.200 I know, I sometimes I despair at the demands that Christ makes of us. 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:54.560 And the easiest thing is to just give up, to walk away or just to tread water. 00:16:55.280 --> 00:17:00.240 And yet in the challenges he says, when he gives us these principles, he says, 00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:03.440 well, I now challenge you first to receive God's help. 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:04.960 That's great. 00:17:05.519 --> 00:17:09.120 He says that he doesn't ask us to do anything without his help. 00:17:09.120 --> 00:17:10.960 So in verses four and five, he says, 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:14.880 look, for whatever was written in formaries was written for our instruction that through 00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:18.640 endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hoped, 00:17:18.640 --> 00:17:23.359 may the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another and 00:17:23.359 --> 00:17:23.759 so on. 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:26.400 So the challenge is to receive God's help. 00:17:26.400 --> 00:17:32.160 Firstly, in the Bible, God's word that he speaks about here, whatever was written in former days. 00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:39.200 So every part of the Bible, the Bible Society know all about that. 00:17:39.200 --> 00:17:41.280 Every part of the Bible has value. 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:46.400 Not all of it is equal or as easy, as significant as each other part. 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:47.840 But it's there to teach us. 00:17:48.560 --> 00:17:53.120 It's, and it's a great way to approach our understanding of the Bible, seeing it as an 00:17:53.119 --> 00:18:00.719 opportunity to learn about what God wants for us, not as a textbook, but as a living manual that 00:18:00.719 --> 00:18:02.399 God has given to us. 00:18:02.399 --> 00:18:04.479 And he says, look, I'm the teacher. 00:18:05.199 --> 00:18:06.319 I'm the teacher here. 00:18:08.479 --> 00:18:09.519 God is teaching us. 00:18:10.639 --> 00:18:14.079 It's the primary way that he teaches us to be his disciples. 00:18:14.719 --> 00:18:21.039 So if the word of God has a little place in your life, then really, God has a little place in your 00:18:21.039 --> 00:18:25.839 life. If our Bible is shut, then our relationship with God is really shut. 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:27.519 It's not happening. 00:18:28.159 --> 00:18:34.399 It's impossible to know Him and follow Him if we're not willing to be taught by Him and led by Him. 00:18:34.960 --> 00:18:37.759 And he says he gives us the word of God for that. 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:43.920 And through that, he instills, what is he saying, endurance and encouragement. 00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:44.799 And that's repeated. 00:18:44.799 --> 00:18:45.759 You see that? 00:18:45.759 --> 00:18:46.720 It's repeated twice. 00:18:46.720 --> 00:18:48.480 He says it in the space of two verses. 00:18:48.480 --> 00:18:52.960 He says, may the God of endurance and encouragement give you endurance and encouragement. 00:18:53.839 --> 00:18:55.599 So he's the giver of these things. 00:18:56.480 --> 00:18:59.120 What's the hardest for you as a Christian? 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:00.880 Endurance. 00:19:01.680 --> 00:19:02.319 Keep on going. 00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:04.400 It's very easy to give up. 00:19:05.680 --> 00:19:07.519 What's the most frustrating thing as a Christian? 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:09.120 Discouragement. 00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:14.000 Usually from other people or sometimes from circumstances. 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:20.319 And he says that he's the God of encouragement and endurance, and both of them come through His word. 00:19:21.839 --> 00:19:22.319 Isn't that? 00:19:22.319 --> 00:19:24.240 That's the great gifts He gives us. 00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:27.519 And that's why we go to His word for endurance, for perseverance, 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:30.640 and for encouragement, to hear what He says. 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:35.519 And His promises are tremendous, tremendous for us. 00:19:35.519 --> 00:19:38.319 So there is a point here just to stop and reflect. 00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:46.079 If you're receiving God's word, the challenge of receiving God's word so that you're able to 00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:52.399 not please yourself and able to accept others, receive others with a real personal interest, 00:19:52.399 --> 00:19:56.559 have a care and concern for them that's beyond just a slapstick smile. 00:19:58.159 --> 00:20:03.359 It's to receive God's help in the Bible and also from His Holy Spirit. 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:05.200 Of course, verse 13 at the end, 00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:09.440 may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing so that by the power of the 00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:11.360 Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. 00:20:11.360 --> 00:20:13.519 Same thing about hope again. 00:20:13.519 --> 00:20:18.080 So the challenge is to receive God's help through His word, which He teaches us, 00:20:18.080 --> 00:20:21.519 and through the Spirit of God, the power of God in us. 00:20:21.519 --> 00:20:30.319 He's the provider of joy, peace and hope as we rely on Him to change us and to make us more like Him, 00:20:30.319 --> 00:20:37.039 to do the impossible, to be like Jesus, to not please ourselves and to accept one another. 00:20:37.759 --> 00:20:42.159 But the great thing is, and I want to stress this, we're not left alone to do that. 00:20:42.159 --> 00:20:44.960 It's not just a do-it-yourself manual, the Bible. 00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:50.879 He asks us to do the impossible by grace, but He gives us the Holy Spirit to do it. 00:20:51.919 --> 00:20:58.559 One of the things that I got the chance to do, I'm not going to talk about America, okay, but 00:20:58.559 --> 00:21:02.480 one of the things I did, I managed to do was to do some reading on the plains. 00:21:03.359 --> 00:21:07.039 And I had a book that I've been reading, but I haven't been able to finish because it's quite 00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:11.839 heavy, and it's by Jordan Peterson called 12 Rules of Life. 00:21:12.639 --> 00:21:13.519 Some of you may know it. 00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:20.960 Jordan Peterson is a clinical psychologist from Canada, and he's kind of shot to fame recently 00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:28.400 for challenging a lot of the assumptions of ideologues, both on the left and on the right, 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:30.559 making them generally unpopular with everyone. 00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:37.440 And he's not a Christian, and he's not writing from a Christian point of view, 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:40.720 but he's writing from his professional and his academic experience. 00:21:41.519 --> 00:21:46.960 And it's interesting, his book does draw a lot from Christian morality and from what he says 00:21:46.960 --> 00:21:52.960 as the stories of the Bible, the myths of the Bible as he sees them. 00:21:54.400 --> 00:22:00.240 And he is giving what he believes are his 12 steps to a better life and rules for living. 00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:03.840 And I found as I read through, I've still not managed to finish it, 00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:09.440 flights beyond flights and everything. I still get, I find it pretty heavy going, 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.799 but there's some really interesting pieces of advice in it, some really insightful, 00:22:14.799 --> 00:22:23.759 insights into human nature and into living. But he exposes, he speaks a lot about good and evil, 00:22:23.759 --> 00:22:30.480 and he exposes a lot about the reality of evil, but he has no answer. I don't find 00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:38.480 to the need for a heart change. It's really lonely advice. It's really isolating advice. 00:22:38.480 --> 00:22:45.200 I read it and despair because it's still a counsel of self-help. He leaves people and he 00:22:45.200 --> 00:22:50.880 leaves his readers with no hope outside of themselves. He seeks to bring great hope from 00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:57.440 within themselves. And within that all, I think he hugely misunderstands grace, as this grace is 00:22:57.440 --> 00:23:02.480 just a kind of, you know, you just cover yourself with grace and then you live any old way. And 00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:12.319 I think he misunderstands grace entirely because what grace enables us to do is to recognize that 00:23:12.319 --> 00:23:22.720 we are indwelled by the power of God's Spirit to change. It's not that we're kind of using Jesus 00:23:22.720 --> 00:23:28.079 as psychological crutch and say, well, I can't do anything myself, so I need a savior and that's it. 00:23:28.079 --> 00:23:33.279 And we just were saved and God forgives us and then we carry on living any old way. It's not that. 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:40.079 We recognize the dependence we have and the dependence we need, but it's a dependence to 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:47.199 change by his grace because of the salvation we've received to become like Jesus. And we've got the 00:23:47.199 --> 00:23:53.359 power of God's Spirit in us to enable us to do that. And so it's not a counsel of despair. 00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:57.679 When you read the Bible and when you see the standards of God's Word, it's not to me to think, 00:23:57.680 --> 00:24:05.840 I can never be like that. I'm a hopeless, rubbish Christian. It's to make us see I need Jesus Christ 00:24:05.840 --> 00:24:12.560 to enable me to have a transformed heart. And that is hugely significant, I think. So it's to 00:24:12.560 --> 00:24:17.600 receive God's help. That's the first challenge. And the second challenge is to respond to God's 00:24:17.600 --> 00:24:24.000 command. We need to respond to God's command. And the core of that whole command in this whole 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:30.400 two kind of chapters, he says in verse 5, may the God of endurance and courage be given, 00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:36.079 grant you to live in such harmony with one another and accord with Jesus Christ that together 00:24:36.079 --> 00:24:40.079 you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:24:43.759 --> 00:24:51.279 So the command is unity. It's to be united, to be of one mind, one accord, be together 00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:58.319 in Jesus Christ. It's the stuck record truth that we say here again and again. This is no 00:24:58.319 --> 00:25:06.319 Cinderella theology. Unity is at the very core of the gospel. And when we come together 00:25:08.079 --> 00:25:14.079 in worship, we come, we're to come with one voice. That's one of the reasons we sing. 00:25:14.079 --> 00:25:22.079 We sing with one voice. We sing together. It's part of the expression of our unity in Christ. 00:25:22.079 --> 00:25:27.279 That's why singing such a collegiate thing, it's such a great unifying thing, because we're 00:25:27.279 --> 00:25:32.879 acknowledging who Jesus Christ is. And we're saying with one voice, and we say at the end of the word, 00:25:32.879 --> 00:25:40.480 amen, with one voice, that this is the God who we worship. And it must be something that convicts us 00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:47.360 at ground level. It mustn't just be something we say outwardly. And it's not something, it's why 00:25:47.360 --> 00:25:53.680 corporate worship matters. It's the embodiment of being and belonging. It's where we get the 00:25:53.680 --> 00:26:01.120 enduring and the encouragement to keep going. And it is to reflect what is in our hearts, 00:26:01.120 --> 00:26:07.839 the unity that we have. So it's not an outward thing that simply we do ritualistically. It's 00:26:07.839 --> 00:26:14.959 a reflection of the inner recognition that Jesus has transformed us, that we are not here to please 00:26:14.959 --> 00:26:22.480 ourselves, and we also receive and love one another. We accept one another. That's a great 00:26:22.480 --> 00:26:29.359 thing in a church, that we accept one another. We're meant to be diverse. We're meant to be weak, 00:26:29.359 --> 00:26:35.599 or strong, or Jew, or Gentile, or Scottish, or English, or American, or Jordanian, or whatever 00:26:35.599 --> 00:26:42.480 it happens to be, that we come together and in Christ we're one. We accept one another with a 00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:48.719 generosity of spirit, with a forgiving spirit, thinking the best of one another, going the extra 00:26:48.719 --> 00:26:54.799 mile for one another, being servant-hearted towards one another, and in unity and so doing, 00:26:54.799 --> 00:27:02.079 we're glorifying God. See, that's why all these Old Testament Psalms are quoted here, 00:27:02.079 --> 00:27:07.199 in the end of that section. We don't have time to look at it, because that was God's plan, 00:27:07.199 --> 00:27:13.359 it was to be a united people, Jew and Gentile together, coming to a rich and poor, male and female, 00:27:14.079 --> 00:27:20.000 all coming together under the banner of the gospel. That was always his plan for the church. 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:28.000 That's what brings him glory when we see that. So we are part of a church where there are weak 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:32.640 and strong, there's insiders, outsiders. Maybe you feel you're struggling to fit in, 00:27:33.440 --> 00:27:39.920 you may feel unwanted, you may feel isolated. God's purpose for you is exactly the same, 00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:47.279 as for the strong, as for the leader, as for the mature believer. It's together that we praise 00:27:47.839 --> 00:27:54.640 and rejoice, and we know we've accepted, and we know that Christ died by not pleasing himself, 00:27:54.640 --> 00:28:01.840 but by sacrificing and emptying himself for the glory of God and for the good of His people. 00:28:03.040 --> 00:28:09.520 And I think we have to grasp that, because if we don't, we will not be changed, 00:28:09.519 --> 00:28:24.799 and Christ is about changing us for His glory. Amen. May God bless our thoughts on that passage.