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“As with any true benediction, Paul gives God all the glory for causing
believers to persevere in faith to the end. This perseverance has its
roots in the power of the gospel, which centres on Jesus Christ. This
ability of God is one deserving of worship, which makes it a common theme
in doxology: ‘Now to him who is able…’” -
“Many today are uncomfortable with the idea of obligation to God…or at
least find it difficult to square with their idea of grace. But the
biblical view of grace and reciprocation is much closer to the Greco-Roman
norm of Paul’s day in which, it is well documented, there are certain
obligations placed on the recipients of grace. The greater the gift, the
more the recipient was obligated to respond in honour, thanksgiving,
faithfulness, public rejoicing and reciprocal gifts…
God’s grace is unconditioned - that is, given without prior conditions
being met - but it is not unconditional - in that it does expect a response
in the form of faith, obedience and moral transformation. Faith apart from
works is useless, it is dead (James 2:26).” -
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“This week Josh pointed out to me that the phrase ‘faith like a child’
isn’t in the bible. ‘A childlike faith’ is actually bad theology given
Hallmark-like ubiquity. So what is the common thread? What do all kids
have? It’s need. Children are completely dependent on others. They are not
self-sufficient. In a culture of doers, a society of adults, because a
child can not do anything for themselves, they are the least important,
have the least status, smallest value. And, according to Jesus’ social
handlers, the least right to approach him. And more than saying let them
come, Jesus says to his very grown up disciples; ‘one thing you lack: be
like them’.” -
“Paul had an unyielding disposition of joy that was rooted in God’s
faithfulness to mature His churches…Whenever Paul thought of the Philippian
believers, his heart was immediately and consistently moved to an attitude
of thanksgiving and praise to God, for what God was doing in the church in
Philippi…Paul’s prayer is that we will embody what we learn from the Bible.
True knowledge of the Bible is thus not something detached from our love of
God and others, but is as a container that God increasingly fills for our
love to abound more and more…So be diligent, learn the Scriptures; trust,
and seek to have God’s love poured into your knowledge. And use it for what
is excellent and praiseworthy, so that God may be glorified in us, and
cause us to grow in His ways.” -
“All of this takes place in the church, among genuine believers who have
serious disagreements and cause harm to one another, willfully or
unintentionally. Each is in a process of maturing and sanctification.
Rather than to despise each other’s weakness, rather than to judge and
slander one another, we must bless. Rather than to repay evil in
vengeance, we should love those who have been our enemies. Christ did not
please himself. He bore reproach when he had the power not to have been
reproached. He suffered when he had the power not to have suffered what he
suffered, had he been minded to look to his own pleasure. He suffered for
the sake of those who caused his suffering. This is the love genuine…” -
“Paul’s main point here is not to try to overturn the convictions of the
weak, but to call for unity despite these matters which should not divide
the church…here he gives instructions on how to love one another despite
our differences. The genuine love of living sacrificially will be
concerned for the unity of the church, the spiritual health of our brothers
and sisters, and the glory of Christ will be our ultimate goal…” -
The main point of this passage is this: strong and weak Christians alike
need to stop despising and condemning each other because it is the Lord,
and he alone, who has the right to assess the believer’s conduct on issues
which are left to conscience…Church, we must cease from despising and
condemning each other because it is the Lord, and he alone, who has the
right to assess our conduct on issues which are left to conscience. On any
given divisive issue, there will be those who are correct - the strong -
and those who are incorrect - the weak. In either case, it is never
acceptable to reject fellowship with another genuine believer over
doctrinal disagreements that do not distort the gospel: God has already
welcomed them. -
“This might well be the hardest sermon I’ve ever had to write…In preaching
the whole truth of scripture, verse by verse, your elders and I can't dodge
the difficult stuff…There is such joy and healing found even in hard
passages, and while these verses are not easy, I have been excited to stand
here to speak to you, not my own words, but the words of sacred scripture.
It has been my prayer in preparing this message, that you will hear the
clear and strong will of God for marriage, tempered by his gentle and
compassionate words of hope for those who have known divorce…Truly, this is
a tender topic, and though God’s standard is nothing short of perfection,
please hear: His mercy is nothing short of exquisite. God is a God of love,
and the elders and I are longing to give care and counsel to any in need.
We love you and want to walk humbly and graciously with you on God’s path.
Christ is able. God is good. Amen.” -
For Paul, one is either in Adam or in Christ—the old person or the new
person. But this reality must also be lived! Although believers are in
Christ, they must actively renounce sin and vigorously embrace
righteousness! “Cast off” and “put on” are action words. We have a choice
to make. God does not call us to simply rest in Christ - He calls us to act
in light of the fact that Jesus is now our Lord. To put on the Lord Jesus
Christ is a command to be what we are in Christ. This is the morality of
the NT: Be who you are! -
Paul masterfully defends the grace alone gospel by asserting that obedience
is the central demand of the gospel, in that it produces sincere love for
our neighbour, and thus provides for the law’s complete fulfillment.
Obedience is part and parcel of the gospel, not separate, not a balance of
grace and law, but obedience comes as a result of hearing and believing the
gospel… -
“God’s righteousness, his holiness, elicits more than just the automatic
result of death and destruction of wickedness, it means also, that he
consciously abhors evil as well. Rightly, he is filled with just rage and
anger over sin and wickedness, which is why the bible uses the word wrath,
he hates evil as it is utterly incompatible with his holiness…Talk of an
angry God seems to some, a belittlement, that wrath ought to be beneath the
God of the bible. But this is terrible logic. You and I should want a King
who champions good and punishes evil. Anything other is itself wickedness.
Anger against sin exists because of love for righteousness, holiness,
purity and good.” -
“Through the cross we are a rescued people. And a freed people are a
singing people. If you think of nations and people groups that have been
released from captivity, the joy and the exuberance of freedom from
bondage. Today, Good Friday, tells the story of a rejoicing people…” -
“Our passage this morning still falls under the main heading of Romans
12:1-2. We are still exploring what it means “to present your bodies as a
living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual
worship,” and this will require that we are not “conformed to this world,”
but instead are “transformed by the renewal of your mind,” so that we will
be able to discern the good and acceptable will of God…We are also still
exploring the subheadings of Romans 12:9 and 21, and what it looks like to
live out The Love Genuine by “overcom[ing] evil with good.” Giving
ourselves wholly to God, and being transformed in our thinking, is
expressed in how we relate to all of the various earthly authorities in our
lives. God’s instructions regarding how to relate to our government are
part of “the obedience of faith” to which we are called, part of what it
looks like when the gospel transforms our lives, and part of how we ensure
that our worship to God is holy and acceptable…” -
“This teaching, above any other, strikes directly against all our most
precious and ingrained inclinations. The christian church has been called
the upside down kingdom, because these few words, coupled with Jesus own
servant-like actions, flip on its head what it means to be a human created
in God’s image. There is nothing more carnal and normal, natural yet so
heinously sinful than looking out for number one. And Jesus says, there is
nothing more spiritually necessary, than to die to self and considering
others more important than yourself. So Jesus says, If anyone would be
first, he must be last and servant of all.” -
“Even though believers can be severely mistreated by others we should never
forget that we are dearly loved by God, chosen to be his own. Rejection by
others is a deep wound, but remember the mercies of God. The salve of God’s
love is our healing. But because God created us with an innate desire for
justice - at least when it comes to others - we will not be able to conquer
feelings of revenge unless we recognize that God will eventually set all
accounts right. We will fall prey to retaliation in the present if we did
not know that God will vindicate us in the future. The recognition that God
will judge our enemies is crucial for overcoming evil with good. When we
are mistreated and abused and our rights are infringed upon, we are not to
give in to the desire to set things right. We are not to give into the
desire to make this fair…to get back at them. Rather, we are to place the
fate of our enemies firmly in God’s hands, realizing that God is the only
one who is qualified to judge, and the only one who can really give people
what they truly deserve. It is only appropriate and reasonable, with this
in mind, to resist seeking revenge, because you and I cannot rightly
judge…” -
“Paul is not now just listing random pious acts. But he is teaching us that
a church which offers itself to God must do so out of a sincere love that
expresses itself in these ways. And if the impetus - the motivation for
these acts - comes from knowing the mercies of God, and this gospel is all
about being reconciled to God and adopted into his family, then we must
devote a great deal of our energy to communicating with God so that our
relationship can grow. If the genuine love we express to one another is
motivated and empowered by the love of God experienced, then we must grow
in that love. Friends, your relationship with God is not an individualistic
thing, because it affects all of us; everyone around you and everyone who
is influenced by them and so on and so on until the whole church is
strengthened by the Spirit’s work in you!” -
“It may shock you, in this modern age, to see that Paul does not deal with
the problem of pride by appealing to the concept of equality…Paul’s larger
emphasis in these chapters is the unity of the church….(T)he shocking thing
here is that the church is not called to unity by seeing our equality, but
by seeing our diversity. Certainly, Paul has earlier emphasized the
equality of all people - in that we have nothing of value to offer God and
have done nothing to deserve anything good from God at all.…(but) the
central point here is that each believer has something unique to contribute
to the proper functioning of Christ’s body, and that despite our many
inequalities, we can have unity when we each offer ourselves as living
sacrifices to God by existing for each others’ good…” -
“So why does Paul wait until now to begin discussing Christian living?
That’s what he should be focusing on right? Obeying the command of Christ
to “Go and make disciples”… Why the long theology lesson? And shouldn’t the
message of the church just focus on victorious Christian living and godly
behavior? Theology confuses and doctrine divides, right?
If we start with a list of instructions, we will tend to start trying to
accomplish those things without the gospel motivation required in order to
genuinely fulfill them from a motivation of love towards God. I can tell
you: be humble, be generous, be selfless; But these are worthless
instruction unless we begin to understand what God has done as a free gift;
the mercy he has shown to undeserving sinners like you and me; the people
God has formed from among those who had no right by birth or by merit to be
called the children of God.” -
“(I)f there’s one thing I want you to understand from this message today -
one thing that’s more important than anything else I’ll speak this morning
- I want you to catch who the father came to see with his son:
‘Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has an evil spirit.’ (v.17)
No matter what your expertise is in life, no matter how gifted a pastor or
counselor or friend you are, when someone comes to you for advice or help,
they are not coming to you. They are coming to Jesus. They are asking him
for help. You are only a messenger. You are only a conduit. If you don’t
give them Jesus, you are at best being a hindrance.” -
“He is changed in body, transfigured. And this is the english equivalent of
the original greek word metamorphao, where we get the word metamorphosis…In
that moment Jesus is recognizably himself, and yet totally altered. The
shroud of reality is temporarily lifted and Peter, James and John see Jesus
as he truly is. I think it’s really important we understand that Jesus
didn’t just suddenly start glowing all bright, but that the radiance, the
blinding white brilliance, the beaming bodily intensity that is so bright
that it actually makes his clothing luminescent, is his natural state. He
is light! Because he is himself all consuming light. What they are seeing
is his natural state, so what they see the rest of the time is a glory
hidden, only his human nature is visible…The rest of the time Jesus is
shrouded, his glory covered, radiance veiled, just as Moses had to be
veiled after he had met with the Lord.” - Visa fler