3:39
Jesus [music] shall ring wherever the sun does [singing] his success and journ
3:56
from shore to shore. [singing] Till moon shall wax and w no more. [singing] till moon shall wax and way [singing] no
4:14
For him [singing] shall endless prayer remain prayer remain and praises throng [singing] to crown his head. His [music] name thy sweet
4:26
perfume shall rise with [singing] every morning
4:50
[singing] Dwell on his love with sweetest song and inantes [singing]
5:03
shall proclaim [singing] early [music] blessings on his name. [singing] blessings on his name. [singing]
5:21
Blessings abound where [singing] he reigns. he reigns. The prisoner leaves [singing] to lose his chains. The weery [singing]
5:34
eternal rest. [music] rest. [music] And all the sons of want are blessed. And all the [singing] sons of want are
5:53
Let [singing] every creature [music] rise and bring [singing] [music] to our king. The angels [singing]
6:04
descend [music] descend [music] great songs again and earth. [singing]
6:16
Amen. And earth repeat [singing] the loud. Amen.
6:40
Good morning. I'm going to continue our reading appropriately from Sunday school in Zechariah uh in chapter 5. And I know in reading this last night I found very confusing. So
6:51
confusing. So prepare yourself. Um, then I lifted my eyes again and looked, and behold, there was a flying scroll. And he said to me, "What do you see?" And I answered, "I see a flying scroll.
7:03
Its length is 20 cubits, and its width is 10 cubits." Then he said to me, "This is the curse that is going forth over the face of the whole land. Surely everyone who steals will be purged away
7:13
according to the writing on one side, and everyone who swears will be purged away according to the writing on the other side. I will make it go forth, declares the Lord of Hosts. And it will enter the house of the thief and the
7:25
house of the one who swears falsely by my name. And it will spend the night within that house and consume it with consume it with its timbers and stones. Then the angel who was speaking with me
7:36
went out and said to me, "Lift up now your eyes and see what this is going forth." I said, "What is it?" And he said, "This is an going forth." Again he said, "This is their appearance in all
7:47
the land." And behold, a lead cover or a lead cover was lifted up, and this is a woman sitting inside the apha. Then he said, "This is wickedness." And he threw
7:58
her down into the middle of the apha and cast the the lead weight on its opening. Then he lifted up my eyes and looked, and there were two women, and there two women were coming out with the wind and
8:10
their wings, and they had wings like the wings of a stork. And they lifted up the apha between the earth and the heavens. I said to the angel who was speaking with me, "Where are they taking the
8:20
apha?" Then he said to me, "To build a temple for her in the land of Shinar. When it is prepared, she will be set there on her own pedestal.
9:13
Give [music and singing] when I call to God. You are my [chant] rightousness [singing]
9:24
to me. [music] Be gracious. Be gracious. Hear my prayer. You bring [music and singing] me in distress. How long will you, [singing and music]
9:36
oh sons of men, my glory turn to shame? [music] [singing] How long will you love vanity
9:50
and make [music and singing] deceit your name? The Lord [singing] will hear me when I call. Know this with
10:03
certainty. [singing] [music] The Lord has claimed the godly one, his
10:13
very own to me. [singing] When you are by your anger, stir it. Be
10:25
careful [singing] careful [singing] not to sin. Instead, [music and singing] be silent on your bed and [music]
10:41
[music] Present [singing] Present [singing] a rightuous sacriice and make [singing] the Lord your trust.
10:53
[music] Since many say who shows [singing] us good, your face, [music] Lord, shine on us.
11:04
You fill my [singing and music] heart with joy with joy on when wine and grain [singing]
11:15
increase. [music] Since you alone, Lord, keep [singing] me safe. I'll go to [music] sleep in peace.
11:45
How deep [singing] the Father's love for us. How last beyond [singing] all measure that he should give his [singing]
11:57
only son only son to make a wretch his treure. How great [singing] the pain of searing loss.
12:11
The [singing and music] father turns his face away face away as [singing] wounds which are the chosen
12:22
one bring many [music] sons [singing] to glory. Behold [singing and music] the man upon the cross.
13:30
But [music] I will boast in [singing] Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, his death [music] and resurrection. [singing]
13:42
Why [music] should I gain [singing] from his reward? his reward? I cannot give an answer. [singing]
13:56
heart. His wounds [music] have paid my ransom. [singing] Why should [music] I from his reward?
14:07
I cannot [singing] give an answer, but [music] this I know with [singing] all my heart.
14:18
His wounds [music] have paid my [singing] ransom.
14:43
It's at this time that we go before our Lord in prayer together. I'd ask any of you in Christ to pray and after a time we'll close us. Let's pray.
15:00
that we should share [snorts] in the righteousness of your son Jesus Christ. That that righteousness should be imputed to us and that our filthy robes be removed and replaced with pure white
15:12
garments. That we should be washed in blood. We who have no merit, we who have done nothing toward our own salvation, but owe all to your mercy, to your
15:26
grace. And yet your word says that it is by your grace and the manifestation of it through our salvation that you will be glorified. And so we ask that you would glorify yourselves in our midst and in our
15:39
lives. that the redemption that you have brought to each one of us who are in Christ be redowned to your glory and honor of to you. To you, oh Lord, be the glory forever and ever in Jesus Christ.
16:03
father, what more can we say? The words that you s pray that you have [snorts] done it all. You
16:14
gave us this wonderful, marvelous gift. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Pay the price of our sins. Pay them in full, Father.
16:28
His sacrifice, his blood. But we can give glory to you. We can be thankful. We need to be ever thankful
16:40
and pray that the Holy Spirit would continue to work within us, Father. That we would draw closer to you. The things that we do in our lives in
16:52
this world. this world. We bring glory to you and to you alone.
17:11
Heavenly Father, what more can be said than what has already been said through the generations the generations to bring more glory and honor and praise to your name. But yet we carry on to praise your name
17:25
because at one point that was our mocking voice mocking voice when you were dying on the cross. In that moment you called us
17:37
and we were able to come to you. We praise you Lord because what you have done is no attribution to ourselves but
17:48
in honor to your name only. And we praise you Lord this morning.
18:04
Father, we we are very grateful for what our Lord Jesus has done for us. The sacrifice that he made. Indeed, it is by his shed blood that we are washed clean and we have entrance. Father, we would
18:17
never disregard that disregard that blood, that precious blood. Father, when we look at the Psalms
18:27
that prophetically speak those words from Christ, when we look at the book of Job, that gives us an illustration. Father, when I meditate on the intense spiritual agonies that Jesus endured,
18:43
that the righteous savior should become sin. The immensity of the suffering he was willing to endure in obedience
18:53
in view of the glory beyond in view of the the reward of redeeming a people for your name. Lord, Please, I ask that you would be at
19:06
work among us. That we might measure up to that call. That those sacrifices that you made would be honored by us in our weakness.
19:18
That as we endure various trials. As we seek to be bonded in love, as we seek to see this body knitted and molded together into one body, each member
19:30
functioning according to its purpose, that the might grow up with maturity, the head who is Jesus Christ, that your name would be honored and glorified
19:41
among us even today. I ask these things in his name.
19:57
Dear heavenly father, we praise your name. We thank you, Lord, that you've allowed us to gather together and and to to pray to you, to sing to you, and and to listen to your word. We thank you for
20:09
the great benefit that you've given us all things in Christ, that you have that it's through his work that we we enjoy this. We ask that you would please
20:20
continue to be at work in us, uniting us, that we would honor you in our unity. Um, we do ask that you would please be with those who are absent from us,
20:31
whether it be through through traveling or through illness. We ask that you would please bring them back to us safely. We ask all of this in Christ's name. Amen.
20:48
I invite you to stand as we turn in our hinds to him number 67.
21:00
[clears throat] from Psalm 67. Prayer of mercy and grace as it seems from his people.
21:25
Oh [singing] God, to us show mercy [singing] and bless us in thy grace. Cause thou to shine upon [singing] us the brightness of thy face that
21:39
[singing] so thy way most holy on earth [singing] may [music] soon be known. and unto [singing]
21:50
every [chant] people thy saving [singing] grace be shown. Oh God, [chant] let all men praise
22:02
[singing] thee. Let all the nations sing. [music] In every land, let praisees [singing]
22:12
and songs of gladness bring. For [singing] that shall judge the people in earth and righteousness
22:26
and [singing] and [singing] through the earth the nations shall highest [singing] rule confess. rule confess. Oh God, let people [singing] praise
22:41
thee. Let all the nations sing. For [singing] earth in rich abundance
22:51
to us her fruit shall bring. The [singing] Lord [music] our God shall bless us. Our God [singing] shall
23:02
blessing sent and all the earth shall fear [singing] him to it.
23:38
I believe we're in Romans 14 this morning. Looking at verses 7 through 12, Romans 14.
23:50
Romans 14. Read that section of our text. And I'd like to ask Adam, we pray for the ministry of the word this morning. Romans 14, beginning in verse 7.
24:02
For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself. For if we live, we live for the Lord. Or if we die, we die for the Lord.
24:13
Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the
24:24
dead and of the living. But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we shall all
24:37
stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall give praise to God.
24:48
So then, each one of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, your word is a sweet
24:59
melody to our ears. Lord, we we are glad to join together as a body to study it and praise your name for it. We ask that you help us to tune our hearts to to
25:11
your word and to help us to live out what you call us to be. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.
25:28
John Dunn was an English poet and uh he was a cleric in the Anglican church uh back in the late 16th early 17th century about the time of Shakespeare. um he was a humanist as well and he's
25:39
most well known for his poem for whom the bell tolls and in that poem he writes no man is an island entire unto him itself every man
25:51
is a piece of the continent a part of the main the main and at the end in the last st the first stanza he says ask not for whom the bell tolls it tolls for thee
26:10
Dunn perhaps was um exaggerating the unity of the human race a bit. He says in that that same stanza, every man's death diminishes me.
26:21
Is that really true? Do we really are we really diminished by the death of so many millions every day?
26:33
or are we built up by the birth of so many millions every day? I I think Dunn was was following the Renaissance humanism and and the glory of the
26:43
concept of humanity. And in fact, it was the humanity that held us all together. But in a sense, what Dunn is saying here doesn't really differ appreciably from
26:55
what Paul says. For not one of us lives for himself and not one of us dies for himself. I didn't research this exhaustively,
27:08
but that phrase not one of us. I think it's only here in the Bible and it's rather intensive. [snorts]
27:18
He he doesn't say but no man lives for himself and no man dies for himself or even no one lives for himself. is not one of us lives for himself and not one
27:30
of us dies for himself. It It's one of those phrases that you read and you realize, well, I can't get out of this one, can I? The only way you can get out of this one
27:42
according to Paul is of course if you're not in Christ, then of course this doesn't apply to you. And it's a pretty powerful verse what he
27:53
says here. says here. But Paul differs from John Dunn in a very important way. As I said, Dunn's uniting force of
28:05
mankind is humanity. The whole idea of his poem is that as the human race, we are one with one another. The continent of which he
28:18
speaks, of which every man is a part, is the continent of humanity. To Paul, the unifying force is Jesus Christ. The continent or the the main of
28:31
which we are all a part is not humanity but the new humanity in Jesus Christ. So Dunn kind of missed it a little bit although his poem is very popular. But I
28:43
want to I want to ask do you realize how countercultural Paul's words are? Dunn intended his poem to be countercultural. He intended his poem to be a rebuke on
28:56
the selfishness that is endemic to human nature. The self-centeredness and the ignorance of of all others. One may think of of Marley, the ghost of Marade
29:08
in the Christmas Carol when Scrooge compliments him on on his business acumen and he yells, "Business? Business? mankind was my business
29:20
benevolence. Now I forget the rest. But basically the tradings of his of his money chamber were but a drop in the comprehensive a drop of water in the
29:30
comprehensive ocean of his business. That's that's the spirit of John Dunn. And and it's often the spirit of pulpits especially within the social gospel
29:41
movement that our business is humanity and that we are united to our brothers. you know, the brotherhood of man, the fatherhood of God, that kind of thing. That's not what Paul's talking about.
29:52
He's talking about a a completely different continent of which we are all a part. But not one of us can escape it. Not one of us in Christ can avoid the
30:04
the impact and the countercultural reality of Paul's words. When I was a boy, and I I I know you're gonna hate to hear this because I always
30:15
hated to hear it. When I was a boy, we lived in a suburban neighborhood. We were fairly typical postw World War II
30:26
families. And everybody in the neighborhood knew everybody. Nobody worried about where their kids were. We didn't lock our doors until I started sleepwalking.
30:41
We knew all the neighborhood kids and in the evening we we would play uh kick the can or we would play my favorite ghost in the graveyard. Don't know anybody's ever played that. The parents would sit
30:52
out on the front porch. But in the years since things have developed things that are that are kind of subtle that you don't really realize what's happening. For example, stockade
31:04
privacy fences. privacy fences. We didn't have such things. Automatic garage door openers. Well, the important thing is that they're automatic garage door closers.
31:16
In our first house here in Greenville, we were also in a neighborhood, a culde-sac. And one of the houses was owned by a single lady. We don't know whether she was married or had children,
31:26
but we used to call her, the kids used to call her the headless body woman or the no, the bodyless headwoman. That's what she was, the bodyless headw woman because all we ever saw was her head in
31:37
her car driving into her garage and closing the door. We never even saw her get the mail. So, we just figured she was just ahead. Nobody. She was a nobody. Okay.
31:55
It is the nature of 21st century man to consider himself an island and in fact to insist upon that fact even within the church. I imagine it was the same in Dun's time.
32:06
I imagine it was the same in Paul's day. But in my time, I've seen it get a lot worse to where we we are we do not consider
32:16
ourselves to be part of one another or really part of anything else than ourselves. And perhaps the little island that we're building in our marriage and
32:26
in our own families. That's our island. Every believer then is an island. But Paul says, "No, we're not. Not one of
32:38
you lives to himself. Not one of you dies to himself. So living or dying, we are the Lord's.
32:49
We live in a world now with privacy fences, automatic garage doors. Our families are atomized and nomadic. is very unusual today to have families
33:01
that are living within 50 miles of the home in which they grew up. And that was somewhat true in my day as culture began to become much more mobile, much more
33:12
transient. But we were still within an easy drive to our aunts and our uncle's houses, to our grandparents' houses. Today, my six siblings are scattered up
33:26
and down the eastern seabboard. So that that's it's kind of like something that that this generation has
33:37
And I'm not saying that we need to go back, you know, go back to Leave it to Beaver and My Three Sons, go back to the 50s. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying, you know, that that's just kind of like a an illustration, an analogy.
33:48
What we're seeing in the world is atomization and independence. every man fracturing tectonically from the rest of humanity and becoming an
34:05
We're seeing it in the church, too. And and that's what Paul's addressing. I don't think Paul really cared one wit about the transient nature of the Roman Empire. He cared about the church at Rome. He cared about those things within
34:18
the church of Rome that were being allowed to divide. rather than to unite things that were not matters of doctrine. They were not matters of import. They were matters indifferent
34:30
and yet they were causing division and they were causing faction and eventually they were causing schism. So in a sense I think Paul would have agreed with what Dunn said. He would have modified it of course.
34:43
If we believe in the inspiration of scripture, I mean, if we truly believe in the inspiration that every word is God breathed and is profitable for our reproof, for our instruction, for our
34:55
training in righteousness, then we need to stop trying to get out of the crosshairs of many of the passages that we read and
35:06
certainly the ones that say, "Not one of us." Do not for a moment right now think well that doesn't apply to me because if it
35:18
doesn't apply to you again then you are not one of us. You are not one of Christ's that's not where we want to go.
35:28
But we need if we really believe in the inspiration of the scriptures then we need to seek to live that which we read. Not one of us lives for
35:39
himself. Not one of us dies for himself. Paul establishes Paul establishes the true situation and that is we belong
35:50
to the Lord, not to humanity. We've actually been delivered from the fallen corrupt aspect of humanity that we read about back in Genesis chapter 3. And but
36:01
that we witness throughout history and in our own day and in our own hearts. No, we've been we've been redeemed from that. We have died to that through baptism and have rise. We rise to walk
36:13
in newness of life. What is that newness of life? of life? It is a new humanity. It's a new creation that brings with it a completely new orientation.
36:25
So that no believer truly is an island. Again, looking at what he says in verse 8, for if we live,
36:37
we live for the Lord. Or if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or or die, we are the Lord's. What does this mean?
36:48
Well, it seems to me that much of the biblical message as it as it refers to the horizontal human level is God's
36:59
answer to Cain's defensive question. When God asks Cain, "Where where's your brother?" Cain says, "I don't know. Am I my
37:11
brother's keeper?" brother's keeper?" And it seems to me as I I read through the scripture and I I look at the even the Torah, the laws and the provisions, we'll be looking at the holiness code in
37:24
our plumline sessions and and how that related to the community of God's people. God's answer was is and has always been a resounding yes.
37:34
You are your brother's keeper. You are not actually your own keeper. You are your brother's keeper. And so what Paul is saying here and what
37:45
he says again in Philippians chapter 2 and Ephesians chapter 4 and many other places is God's answer to Cain because we keep asking that question is not my
37:59
responsibility. You know am I my brother's keeper? I've got enough to do on my own. And the answer keeps coming back. Yes, you are your brother's keeper. In fact, what God has done is he's providentially placed
38:10
your brother and your sister in his place and thereby he receives our gifts through them through them that we can give nothing back to God.
38:23
And so he has ordained that we should give that to him through his. This is what Jesus was saying when he said the the sheep will say to me when when did
38:33
we do this? And Jesus will respond, "Whenever you did it to the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto me." unto me." And so it's it's not to be interpreted
38:45
in a social gospel way that we're supposed to be looking out for our brother human beings and doing things for them. Not that we shouldn't be doing things. We should certainly be doing
38:56
things for others when it is in our power. But Paul also says that especially, you know, do good to all men, but especially in the household of
39:06
faith. In in other words, it's not that we're mean to other people and nice to Christians. That's not the point here. The point is is that the community of
39:18
faith, the new creation in Christ, is supposed to look totally different than the outside world. And the one thing that makes it look so
39:28
completely different from unbelieving, unredeemed humanity unredeemed humanity is this emphasis on being one another's keeper. This
39:39
emphasis in in not doing nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit, but rather considering one another more important than yourselves.
39:51
have this attitude which was in Christ Jesus. That that's really the core of Paul's ecclesiology. Paul's ecclesiology. That that's the very center and beating
40:03
heart of Paul's understanding of the church as the body of Christ. I think it supersedes all other human
40:16
affiliations. All of them. because is it the only one that endures forever and that includes marriage
40:26
because Jesus says that in the age to come we will neither marry nor be given in marriage. in marriage. It includes children because the scripture says for this
40:37
cause a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife. It may be hard for you to understand or accept, but you are not united to your children, nor them to you. The relationship
40:50
between a husband and wife is that the two shall become one flesh. But that's not the relationship between a parent and child. and child. And so if we think of all these things, we realize that they're all important.
41:02
They're very important. And in fact, if we if we allow them to be destroyed, then our testimony is destroyed. So please don't misunderstand me. But there is a higher calling.
41:14
It's almost as if, you know, John was the greatest among the the prophets and yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than John. That that
41:25
we're being called to a new creation, a a new orientation in terms of of the focus and ambition of our lives.
41:37
our lives. And it's not to ourselves. It's not to our own. It's not to those who are like us. And it's not to those who do things the way we do them.
41:49
The countercultural nature of Christianity is Christianity is unbelievable in the scriptures. And we might stand back and say, "Well, it looks good on paper."
42:00
But I think through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, it can look good in reality, too. I think it can. Now, I don't propose that any of this come by
42:12
the way of programs. It comes by the way of repentance. Repentance for being self-centered, for
42:23
being an island. I think it comes by way of prayer that God would would show us how to be our brother's keeper, to do
42:33
the one anothers that we read throughout Paul's letters. Paul's letters. But I think fundamentally what it comes down to is recognizing that this is a real thing
42:44
real thing and and that all of the arguments and and again I can say this I think because I think after so many years no one will mistake me as someone who doesn't care about doctrine.
42:57
But one thing that that has aggravated me, especially within my own kind of developed heritage of reformed theology,
43:07
is that they're always arguing with each other over the fine points of theology. We're always arguing about something. And and that may be the way it is this
43:19
side of the consummation of the ages, but I guess I have to think that it doesn't have to be that way. Verse
43:32
nine is a tough one. I want to spend a little bit of time there because as you read through this, I think so far what Paul is saying may be hard to incorporate into our thinking, but it's fairly easy to understand
43:43
conceptually what he's saying. I will say this that that what he's saying in this passage is fleshing out what he says back in chapter 12 when he says do not be conformed to the world but be
43:54
rather transformed by the renewing of your mind. Here's one of the ways. No, not one of us lives for himself. Not one of us dies for himself. But then in verse n he says, for to this end
44:09
Christ died and lived again. For to this purpose. Now, when you read a phrase like that, you're being shown a little bit of the mind of God
44:21
because God did or the son did everything that the father laid out for him to do. So, when someone says for this purpose or to this end, Christ did
44:32
something, it's not Paul explaining. It's it's God saying this is why Christ died and rose again. This is why Christ died and lived again that he might be Lord both of the
44:44
dead and of the living. I don't immediately see or did not immediately see what that had to do with
44:58
anything. But I also know that Paul's logic is often dense and needs to be carefully unpacked.
45:09
We've already been told that he writes things some things difficult to understand and this is one of them. What what does Christ dying and and his resurrection have to do with his being Lord of the dead and of the living? What
45:20
what are we talking about here? Well, first of all, context once again, as always, is the key. And the overall context of this statement is still the beginning of this
45:32
kind of thought in chapter 14. accept without judgment or condemning. And he's going to return to that theme. So we know that he hasn't left the theme of
45:45
accepting the weak but not to condemn them, but also accepting the strong but not to judge them. So it's still that
45:56
inner relationship of believers, some weak and unable to do certain things, others strong and able to do them with a clear conscience. That is still the context of this statement. And the
46:08
immediate context is what he just said or what he's about to say that we each have one judgment and one judge.
46:18
Verse 10, for we must well uh verse 10, he says, "But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt?"
46:30
And here's this is what connects back to verse 9. For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God. Then verse 12. So then each one of us, the not one of
46:42
us who lives for himself, that not one of us who dies for herself, each one of us will stand before the judgment seat of God and give an account. Paul says
46:55
this again in 2 Corinthians 5. He says,"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the
47:06
body according to what he has done, whether good or bad." I'm not going to go into detail on this,
47:17
but most sermons that are preached on that verse in 2 Corinthians 10, I'm sorry, 5 verse 10, [clears throat] interpret the body as our individual
47:32
flesh. It is Paul's usual treatment to use the word flesh when he's talking about our individual walk with God in
47:46
Christ. The emphasis in the whole letter of Corinthians is not the individual but rather the body. So for example in chapter 11 when he
47:56
says therefore examine the body he's not talking about our individual sins our individual deeds he's talking
48:07
about our life in the body and that's exactly what he's talking about here and don't get me wrong please our life in
48:18
the flesh also matters but we tend tend to moralize Christianity. We tend to atomize it and to distill it down to rules by which we
48:30
must live in order to be accepted by God. And by we, I mean me, what I must do, what I must not do. That is not what Paul is emphasizing in any of his
48:44
letters. We must live in the body, the body of Christ. And when we stand before the Lord, which we all must do, that doesn't get
48:55
preached very often, we must give an account, and we will be recompensed, and we will find that some of our work will be wood, hay, and stubble, and it
49:05
would be burned up, and we will be saved. yet as one passing through the fire. But by the grace of God through the Holy Spirit, some of our deeds will be gold, silver, precious stones,
49:20
and for those we will hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master." But what is the forum for all this? What is the venue? I submit that as far as Paul's concerned,
49:31
this is the venue, the body of Christ, of which each of us is a joint and a ligament, and each one must contribute that which causes the building up of the
49:42
body in love. So that phrase, he's Lord of both the dead and the living, that phrase has been twisted. And there are those who
49:54
who advocated the baptizing of the dead or for the dead. Paul even refers to that in 2 Corinthians 15. Thank you very much, Paul.
50:04
much, Paul. Still don't understand what he's talking about there. The Mormons do this. They baptize for the dead. That's why they get you on ancestry.com, by the way, so that they can baptize you into their
50:15
realm of salvation. But if you've done ancestry.com, don't worry about it. It's like food sacrificed to idols. Just enjoy it. I mean, no big no big
50:26
deal. Um, but if you haven't done that yet, go to 23 and me and avoid the Mormons altogether. Mormons altogether. So, the references here is if we die, we
50:36
die to the Lord. If we live, we live to the Lord. And the summary of that is whether we live or whether we die, we belong to the Lord. That that's all the thought here. It's a little convoluted. a lot of death, a lot of living, and the
50:49
Lord is at the center of it. So what he's what he's really saying here is that if we live, our deeds will go before us to the judgment seat of
51:01
Christ. If we die, we go to no other tribunal than the judgment seat of Christ. So the picture that he's portraying here is that before each one of us as we live
51:12
within the body, not each one of us as we live our own Christian life, but each one of us as part of the body has before him or her one Lord to whom we live
51:27
and one Lord for whom we die. And the judgment of our life and the judgment of our death belong to one Lord. one tribunal. Therefore, he says,
51:40
why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you hold your brother in contempt? You see, he's already said this earlier when he said, "Who are you to judge the
51:52
servant of another? To his master, he will stand or fall, and stand he will because the Lord is able to make him stand."
52:04
So again, it's not like done where we're looking at each other and thinking what can we do to be a part of humanity, to be a contributing part of
52:14
humanity. That's a really nice thought. Yes. But that's not Paul's thought. Paul would say, as he says elsewhere, keep your eyes fixed upon Jesus.
52:25
It's that's where our eyes are. They're fixed upon Jesus, but they're not fixed in such a way that there's no one else in the room. So much of modern Christianity says, you know, what you do in your prayer cause
52:36
closet, that's what's important. Your personal walk with Jesus. How many times have heard that and want to throw it in my mouth? You know, your personal relation, your personal Lord and Savior,
52:47
like a personal valet or a personal gift buyer. What what what do you the Lord is our personal s? No, he is the Lord of heaven and earth and he's the head of the church the church into which we who are in Christ have
52:59
been baptized. He's the body. We are the ligaments. We are the joints of which he is the head. And so it's it's it's the matter that he's teaching
53:09
in Ephesians 4 that our focus is not really on one another, but the outcome our of our focus which is on Christ is one another. I don't know if that
53:21
makes sense. I hope it does because if we focus on one another, then we just become a social club. And we also find out that we don't agree with one another and sometimes we don't
53:33
even like one another. And that's what the church does all the time. We decide on our fellowship on the basis of others one anothers who are within the little group that we like and we agree with.
53:46
But if we focus on Jesus Christ for whom there's nothing we can do. He's the Lord of all. He's the eternal son of God. He is majestic in glory. And he says,
54:00
"Because you did it to the least of me, these my brethren, you have done it unto me." So while we're focusing on the head, we're focusing on the judge, on Jesus Christ. The result of that focus
54:12
is to be our brother's keeper, to love one another, to accept one another, but not for the purpose of judgment, to allow and respect the strong, but not
54:25
for the purpose of condemning. And what results of all this is a unity and a harmony that flows from Jesus
54:40
And this is in my opinion the fleshing out as it were of what Paul says in Galatians when he says for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. That I have
54:50
been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live, wait a minute, Paul, you just said you no longer live.
55:01
No, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. The focus is always Jesus. The outcome is always one another, a new creation
55:12
with a new orientation. And that is what Paul envisions for the congregations of Jesus Christ. He again the unity and harmony that is is not
55:26
manufactured. We can't just make it happen and we can't simply distill ourselves down into little groups of agreement and say now we've reached unity and harmony
55:38
because what we will find is with that perspective with that horizontal and really very selfish self-centered perspective we will not be unified for very long.
55:50
very long. I think it's true even if you distill it all the way down to one single individual because frankly we're not totally at a peace with
56:01
ourselves either. ourselves either. And so there must be something greater. There must be something higher. And Paul is saying absolutely it it is the unifying bond that every believer has
56:15
with every other believer through Christ the head. Paul says Paul says in Ephesians 4, "Speaking the truth in
56:26
love, we are to grow up in all things into him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being filled
56:37
and held, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of
56:48
the body for the building up of itself in love. in love. Let us pray.
57:03
Father, the vision that Paul presents to us in so many places we know is is your dimly, but then we shall see and know face to
57:19
face. So we know that it is perhaps unlikely that we will attain the glory of this grace
57:30
and the reality of a humanity that is truly unified and harmonious in Christ. But we ask and we plead
57:42
that with each passing day and each passing year we might approach that goal. and not be conformed to the world, but rather transformed. rather transformed. And that by your word and the work of
57:53
your Holy Spirit, our minds might be renewed, that we might not we might understand that not one of us lives to himself. Not one of us dies to himself, but living
58:05
and dying, we live and die for the Lord. We pray father that you would stir us up
58:16
to devotion to the head and in response that you would continue to pour out your gifts through your Holy Spirit so that each one of us as a joint and a
58:28
ligament might provide what is needed for the body to grow up into the head that we might all become a mature man,
58:39
the image of Christ on earth. For we ask these things for his glory, for his exaltation, for the good of his church. We ask in
58:49
his name. Amen. Please stand for the benediction this morning from Hebrews chapter 13. Now the God of peace, who brought up
59:01
from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in
59:13
his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
