The Glorious Son: Perseverance

Hebrews is a really difficult book and it has a lot, it's one of those books of the Bible that you come to and you start to read it

and it actually has a lot of assumed knowledge which lies behind it.

So it's written to an audience which has been raised under the law of Moses and its regulations, culturally raised as Jews.

So the law defined their life, they circumcised their boys, they lived under the Ten Commandments,

they knew that God called them to love their neighbours as themselves,

they didn't eat things like prawn cutlets and pork buns.

Who had pork buns after church last Sunday night?

Yeah, one or two.

So they couldn't have lived in Chatswood.

They didn't work on Saturdays, they didn't wear nylon or lycra because that was their culture,

that was how God taught them to live their lives as his holy, as his different, as his set apart people.

And that's not where most of us come from.

I know that in our group some people have found Hebrews tedious and a struggle,

certainly not the Wednesday nighters because you've been doing Tulip with John Piper,

but in the group, some of the groups have been finding it hard,

others of the groups have been rejoicing it and I've been rejoicing it for myself as well.

But Hebrews is of high value because it forces us to see how Christ fulfils all that the Old Testament doesn't.

So Hebrews paints a picture, a startling picture of how Christ fulfils the Old Testament and doesn't abolish it.

So if you remember the words of Jesus,

do not think that I came to abolish the law and the prophets, I have come to fulfil them,

he said in the Sermon on the Mount.

So this passage which I'm preaching tonight begins with these words.

So if you've got your Bibles, have them open, Hebrews chapter 10 and I'm reading from verse 19.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

So he opens with these words and he's actually connecting with the words which go immediately before,

but it's even bigger than that because he's connecting with everything that has happened in this book before

and he's come to a change point.

There's a point here that really matters in the things that he wants to say

and he wants to build his argument on what has already happened in Jesus.

So the Old Testament system of worship was a model

or you might even say it was an early prototype of a far greater reality.

The law, the priests, the high priests, the temple of Solomon with its most holy place

were a kind of virtual reality.

They gave the people a glimpse, see it's ancient technology,

but it gave the people a glimpse of something that was real

but it didn't give them the reality itself.

Now it's a big problem if you confuse what is real with what it isn't

and the Jews did that.

They got wrapped up in the bricks and mortar of the temple

and this impressive building and they failed to see beyond it

to the reality that it was pointing to.

Show my age.

My parents got their first TV when I was born.

If they had one before I was born, they might never have been born, might they?

But I grew up watching the Flintstones and the Jetsons

and the ABC News in black and white.

The TV man came regularly to replace the burnt out valves.

You don't even know what a valve is in a television, do you?

Do you know what a valve was?

It's the ancient transistor.

And in your television set you might have 20 valves.

Well now in your computer you've got a billion transistors

built into that tiny little chip.

So these valves were like globes up in the ceiling.

You'd pull one out and throw it away every so often.

You'd get the repairman in to fix your TV.

So I was in year 12 in 1975 when colour television came in.

I think we were able to watch the sacking of the Whitlam government

in glorious colour.

We haven't got 3D TV yet.

I'm still working on it.

Not really.

But if we had one the other night

I'm sure it would have made me feel like I was there

watching Tomek play at Wimbledon.

But I wasn't.

Television's a virtual world.

Isn't the real thing.

And I can tell you I would rather have tickets

sitting courtside with the princess

than watching in the lounge room at home.

So when the preacher says, verse 19,

therefore brothers and sisters,

since we have confidence to enter the most holy place

by the blood of Jesus,

by a new and living way open for us through the curtain,

that is, his body,

and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

he's summarising.

And he's summarising everything that's gone before

and he's saying that the model is now obsolete

because we have the reality.

Because of Jesus,

we are now sitting courtside at Wimbledon.

Brian and Deb in their messages last week

said some great things about the passage that went before.

They said that the Old Testament system of worship

could take people so far but no further.

And the temple was a great example.

The nations could come into the outer courts.

The Jews could come a bit closer to the centre.

The priests could come a bit closer again

as they offered their bloodied sacrifices

and the place looked like an abattoir

with all the blood that was being shed.

But the most holy place

at the very centre of the temple,

behind the curtain,

was off limits to everyone

with the exception of the high priest

and he could go there only once a year

if he made special preparation.

And he died if he got it wrong.

And so the model

taught the people

that it was a big deal

to come into the presence of God.

It needed big perfection,

it needed big sacrifice.

And no one was just safe

to stroll into God's presence.

Like, how are you going, mate?

God's my mate, God's my friend.

You just couldn't do that.

And even if we tried,

we would be unable

because we can't get ourselves

into heaven.

And so the model creates a picture

that shows us the real world dilemma.

We are cut off from a holy God

who dwells in heaven

and we are unable to find our way

into his presence.

And it's like Christ has stormed

onto the centre court at Wimbledon

and taken us with him.

Christ, this is chapter 9, verse 24,

Christ did not enter

a man-made sanctuary

that was only a copy

of the true one.

He entered heaven itself

now to appear for us

in God's presence.

And so in chapter 10, verse 19,

and I've twisted the word slightly,

but I hope you see

that it's a true translation.

Therefore we have,

or it's true to the meaning,

therefore we have confidence

to enter heaven itself

by the blood of Jesus,

a new and living way

which has been opened

through his body.

So the old system's kaput.

Why would you sit in the,

can you imagine sitting

in the stands at Wimbledon

and you've got your TV

so that you can watch the match

when you're really at the match?

Wouldn't that be stupid?

Why would you go back

to animal sacrifices

in a fancy temple complex

when Christ has been sacrificed

once for all,

never to die again

and guaranteed a way

into the presence of God forever?

Never.

Ridiculous.

So Christ has changed the game

and the rubber hits the road for us

and you see that in verses 22 to 25.

He goes from talking about

what Christ has done

to talking about

what we're asked to do.

So let us draw near to God

with a sincere heart

in full assurance of faith,

having our hearts sprinkled

to cleanse us

from a guilty conscience

and having our bodies

washed with pure water.

And let us hold unswervingly

to the hope that we profess

for he who promised is faithful.

And let us consider

how we may spur one another

on towards love and good deeds.

Let us not give up meeting together

as some are in the habit of doing,

but let us encourage one another

and all the more

as you see the day approaching.

So he turns the spotlight onto us

and not just you individually

sitting in a pew tonight,

maybe with friends around you.

But he's speaking to us

as a group of people,

as the body of Christ,

those who have come to believe

in the Lord Jesus Christ

and who cling to him.

And five times he says to us

as a body,

let us.

verse 22,

let us draw near to God.

Come to God.

I don't know what's going on

in your heart tonight.

I love the invitational language

of the scriptures

where God draws us to himself.

One of the temptations we face

when gripped by sin

is to get into it.

You know,

you ever feel like

you're fighting a war

which will never be won

over and over and over again

and we can become

almost depressed

and down in the mouth

and we can throw our hands

in the air

and we can say,

what's the use?

And we pull away from God

and we think things like,

oh, he wouldn't want to know me,

I'm too bad for him.

And we do what Adam did

at the very beginning

of the Bible

when he sinned.

He hid from God.

God came looking for him

and he was afraid.

And he and Eve,

when they sinned,

became aware of their,

they were naked before God

before they sinned

and no shame.

And after sinning,

one of the awarenesses they had

was of their own nakedness

and they tried to deal with it

by putting a few fig leaves together.

Terribly effective.

But deep down,

we know that we are unworthy

and in our pride

and in our fear,

we run from God.

And the Bible says

things have changed.

Christ has made us worthy.

We can confidently stand

in God's presence

without shame,

clean,

washed,

pure.

And it does not matter

where we have been

in our lives

before we have come to him.

He is able to deal with it.

And all our sinful failure,

hate,

murder,

pride,

sexual sin,

malicious talking,

all swept away

by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ.

And so there is this

extraordinary invitation,

we can run to Christ.

And we don't have to

fake it with him,

we don't,

we can speak honestly

to him without pretense,

we don't have to be somebody

to be in his presence.

A sincere heart,

something which just

tells the truth,

God,

you know what I am like.

You know me,

you know my thoughts,

you know what I have done,

you know what I struggle with,

you know my insecurities,

you know my fears.

Please forgive me,

please help me.

And as we do that,

the gospel reminds us

that our consciences

are made clean

again

as we put our hope

in Christ.

He lifts that

terrible burden

of guilt

and accusation

from us,

God sets us

truly free.

So Hebrews says,

draw near,

don't flee.

Stand fully secure

in what Christ

has done.

And then in verse 23,

second let us,

let us hold unswervingly

to the hope

that we profess.

Now this is like,

let's hang on

for the ride.

And I got this picture

in my mind

of one of those

dirty big roller coasters.

They used to have

a great big wooden one

at Luna Park

in Sydney.

And we would ride it

round and round

and round and round

again.

But you know,

the first click,

click,

click,

click,

click,

click,

click,

click,

click,

click,

click,

click,

she came to the top

of the big hill

and it began to roll

over the top

and then the downward ride.

The really bold ones

throw their hands

in the air.

The rest of us,

mere mortals like me,

we just hang on

to the bar

for grim life,

grim death.

I saw one in the paper

the other day

that would be interesting

to try out.

It's a new one in Japan

and it literally

goes up the big hill.

I saw a picture of it

and not only goes down,

it goes under

and down at an angle.

I need to draw it

the right way.

It does that.

It goes backward,

upside down

on the first hill.

Sounds really exciting.

But white knuckle ride.

And so he's saying

the admonition

is to cling to the hope

that we have in Christ.

Let us hold unswervingly

to the hope

that we profess.

Don't let go.

And he's writing

to believers

who are doing it tough.

He knows their circumstances.

Verse 32,

remember those earlier days

after you received

the light

when you stood your ground

in a great contest

in the face of suffering?

Sometimes you were publicly

exposed to insult

and persecution

and other times

you stood side by side

with those

who were so treated.

So these believers,

they'd made a great beginning,

a courageous beginning

and he knows

that they've had

a really difficult journey.

So verse 33,

public exposure

to insult

and persecution.

Verse 34,

joyfully accepted

the confiscation

of their property.

Can you imagine that?

Can you imagine

your mum or dad

losing your house

in Chatswood

or roundabout

because of their faith

in the Lord Jesus Christ

having taken it from them

being left

with all the insecurity

that flows from that?

I read the other day

about Christians

in some parts of Syria

right at the moment

doing it really tough.

They're trying to live

as godly citizens

in the towns

that they're living in.

They're trying to honour

their government

even though we look

at their government

and say what an appalling government

and the people in their town

who are dissatisfied

with their government.

Some of the people there

are saying join us,

rise up

or get out.

Join us

or get out.

There's no place

for you here.

Some of us

who have come

to hope in Christ

and this might be you

as a teenager

or a young adult,

you may have come

out of families

where he has not

been known before

and you may have

stepped outside

your family's rules

and values

in following Christ.

we've been ridiculed

and perhaps pitied

or despised

for what we believe.

Parents have a great way

of dropping a little word

and grinding the knife

a little bit,

twisting it a little bit

to make us feel uncomfortable.

I can remember

going out to prayer meeting

on a Tuesday night

after I became a Christian.

I was 18 or 19

and my dad had a,

it was partly because

of my own weakness,

my dad had a way

of humiliating me

because every week

he'd say where are you going?

He knew where I was going

but he made me say it

at the prayer meeting.

Friends who like to remind us

when we fail,

there is others of us

who perhaps miss out

on promotion

or perhaps opportunity

at work

because people know

what we stand for

and who we stand for

and perhaps we won't

be corrupted

or behave in some

of the ways

that they might applaud.

And I think there are

other days,

dark days which come

upon us for all sorts

of reasons

when we don't feel

like Christ is very near.

Holding on,

clinging to the hope

that we profess

is the same

as holding on

to the gospel

that we have been taught.

And it's like

don't lose heart,

don't shrink back,

cling tenaciously

to this hope

that we profess,

don't let go

of Christ

no matter

how tough

it is.

So the first

two let us's

are about

clinging

to Christ.

The last three

are about

clinging

to each other.

And they're about

the sort of relationships

that Christian believers

have with one another.

So verse

30,

24,

let us consider

how we may

spur one another

on toward love

and good deeds.

Verse 25,

let us not give up

meeting together.

Verse 25,

let us encourage

one another.

Now I've got to tell you

sometimes we Christians

read this verse

and we think

oh that's the real,

that's why we've

got to come to church.

I didn't say to you

you've got to come

to church

but that's the thing

that we sometimes

use to say

you've got to come

to church.

And we present it

like it's some sort

of law or rule

or principle

that we've got to obey.

Go to church,

keep the rule,

make God happy.

That sounds like fun

doesn't it?

Can you see

how barren

and sterile

that is

compared to the richness

of what these verses

convey?

This is about

the whole body,

this is all of us

working with energy

together

in response

to who Christ is

and to what Christ

has done.

And so the focus

of our interactions

become things like

how can I encourage you?

I don't come to church

thinking oh what are they

going to do for me tonight?

How can I encourage you?

What might I do here

tonight which serves?

What might I say here

tonight that builds

somebody up?

What person might I know

around the building

who looks a bit lonely

or on their own

or nobody's talking

to them?

Maybe I'm the one

who can step out

of my comfort zone

and speak to them.

See what word

can I speak

that builds you up

in Christ

or grows you

in Christ?

And sometimes

most of the time

it will be

an affirming word

and occasionally

it will be

a corrective word.

A few weeks ago

one of my sisters

said to me

after one of the services

that I was promoting

our small groups

in a less than

embracing way.

So I was making it

sound like some of them

are a bit too exclusive

so there's no room

there for you.

And she said

we've got to be

more generous

than that.

And I went

oh.

But it was said

to me really gently

it was easy to hear

and she was right.

And if my Christian

sister had not

said that to me

I would not have

seen it

but I can stand

here tonight

and say to you

she was right

that was a really

good thing

to be shown.

Remember what I said

the context?

a little bit

of that

and a lot

of the other.

I see things here

I think on Sunday

night

I see it in the

morning as well

you know our

service finishes

we speak to one

another

we interact

which is just

fantastic

and see

conversations go

on and sometimes

your heads go

down

as you actually

stop and pray

for one another.

I think that

type of interaction

is enormously

encouraging

and great

ministry

while we're

together.

This will be

harder for some

of you because

depending on your

circumstances you

may have your

own home or

the own place

where you live

others of you

will be in your

parents places

and so that

will have some

bearing on the

sort of hospitality

that you can

exercise but

hospitality is a

great way of

Christians getting

together to

encourage one

another going to

one another's

homes.

We do it in

some measure in

our small groups

some of our

small groups

meet in

people's homes

but it's not

just a formal

meeting like a

small group

it's an informal

meeting where we

have friends over

I think I've

heard of fellow

sleep which some

of the girls

were doing and

the joy of

that coming

together for

Christian

encouragement

moving around

one another's

home that's

just a fantastic

thing to be

able to do

but it's looking

around as well

and seeing who

can we pick up

into these networks

of relationships

that we have

who can we

invite amongst

us

who might not

be one of

us but perhaps

we would like

them invite them

to join us or

that we might

go to them.

New sheet

tonight's got the

great example of

the parish picnic

and barbecue coming

up in a couple of

weeks time which is

an opportunity for

us as a congregation

to mix with people

from the other six

congregations at

St Paul's and

perhaps have a

better awareness of

the bigger picture of

who we are and the

different cultures that

are represented and

the different backgrounds

that people have.

in my last church

I saw some lovely

ministry happen

amongst our older

people so

sometimes the

oldies would

grizzle about

the younger ones

you know if you

write on the walls

at church

at kids church

with chalk

then some of the

oldies look at

stuff like that

and go

not the way to

treat the building

but

that's because

of the ways

that they've been

taught in the past

and we'll talk

more about that

in a minute

so some of

these older

ladies

rather than

grizzle

I'll tell you

something

our older people

sometimes say

what are the

young people

doing

we'd like to

see more of

them we'd like

to know what

they're doing

so they are

interested but I

think they almost

expect you to

come to them

which might not

be the right way

to do it

and I say

things to them

I think this

church is very

much like my

last church

that the young

people are

heavily involved

in ministry

it's a great

thing

so the young

people are

leading the

kids church

ministry and

they're leading

the youth

ministry and

they're leading

D teams and

they're actually

quite heavily

involved in the

sort of commitments

that they make

here and the

older people look

at me sometimes

and go oh I

didn't realise

that I forgot

that and same

back where we

came from and

after a while

one of the

groups of women

got themselves

together and

decided well we

want to encourage

our young leaders

so they decided

they put on a

celebration dinner

for them they

put on a dinner

where they

spoiled them and

they invited all

the youth leaders

along gave them

a great meal just

to show appreciation

to them for the

ministry which they

were doing

wonderful thing

I saw those

ladies go and

later one of the

ladies in that group

became very

dissatisfied that

they really

didn't do a lot

for other people

and so they

made a pact

amongst themselves

and these older

ladies all got

together and one

at a time they

worked around some

of the groups at

church and they

invited them out

to the same sort

of thing they put

on a dinner for

them they'd have

them along to

encourage them in

Christ and guess

what happened when

they did that

there were all

sorts of other

fingers and webs

that got established

in relationship and

far more appreciation

that was happening

for one another and

what was going on

and who people

were and it

was just great

so hospitality

a great means of

generously spurring

one another on in

love and good deeds

I'll tell you another

story and I'm looking

here tonight I don't

think Anne Newman

would mind me

singling her out

yes she did she

winced

but Anne is one of

a number who are in

this church family

because of the way

that they were

cared for in

Christ when they

went through a

very difficult time

in life and they're

amongst us now

they've grown in

Christ but they've

been loved in

Christ and there's a

track record of 20

or 30 years which

goes on in some of

those relationships

so for all of us

some of the

relationships we have

now tonight amongst

us as friends here

I would hope and

pray have an enduring

quality to them which

will be seen over a

very long period of

time I'm going to

say this I said it to

the morning people but

I'm going to say it to

you because I think it

bears here as well but

I've only been here 18

months and I've seen the

downside as well I

have seen some people

leave church because

they haven't been

included they've never

been asked into

somebody's home or

into their group of

friends they'll come to

church and really

stand alone nobody

talks to them I

watched a couple this

morning who've been

here for quite a while

more than 12 months and

out there on the deck

they were alone for a

long time before anybody

spoke to them

other people leave

because they don't like

the way we work so

they don't like the way

we run a service so

they don't like having

to speak to other

people about their

faith there's some old

people who hate talking

to people about faith

and so we we do

things I think you do

it at Sunday night

church I've seen you

Sam will throw out a

question from the front

and what he'll say he'll

send you to go and

interact over it and

part of that is is

actually training you

training us to be able

to talk to one another

about things of faith and

to feel comfortable

talking about things that

are perhaps more

substantial than how's

the weather do I like

the colour of church

or stuff that we we

don't really draw that

close to one another

I love speaking to our

Chinese friends because

some of them are very

quick to say I'm not a

Christian but guess what

they're happy to talk

about it

we've been promoting

life journals at church

Sam hold it up it's got

it there with him it's

fantastic and I think I

want to say to you that

these are not just about

you and your walk with

the Lord which it is

they are about us as a

body growing in our

relationship with Christ

you will have much more

that you can share if you

give time and effort to

reading God's word and

relating to him you will

grow in godly wisdom you

will grow in a true

understanding of his word

as the Holy Spirit teaches

and changes you I think a

lot of my ministry comes

from my walk with Christ

I began the service of

this morning at 830 by

talking about what Christ

had said to me in my

quiet time this morning as

he read his word it's

fresh for me it's real

it's alive it's not just

something that I learned

somewhere in the past to

keep talking about and so

I want to say to you that

if you are not reading your

Bible you won't have

anything fresh to share

from your current walk

with Christ and if you're

not praying how can you

look your brother or

sister in the eye and say

I'm praying for you now

people often ask me to pray

for them and if you ask me

I am most likely to say can

I pray for you right now and

one of the reasons I want to

do that is because I don't

want to be the hypocrite who

says yes I'll do it and

then walk away and forget

great way for us to

interact with one another

so there's five let us's and

they boil down to two let us

cling to Christ and let us

cling to one another that is

the whole of church life I

want to say something from

verse 26 before I begin to

wrap up and that and it

says this and this leads

into the rest of the

passage even though I won't

go there but he says if we

deliberately keep on sinning

after we have received the

knowledge of the truth no

sacrifice for sin is left and

it's a bit of a clangor

because it comes after all

this good stuff and it seems

to come from left field and I

think if any of us are

sitting here tonight with a

tender conscience which is a

great thing to have you may

feel unsettled because we are

very aware of sin in our life

and at first reading this sort

of verse seems to undermine our

assurance and creates a lack of

confidence in Christ and you

ask yourself but how do you

treat this verse when I've

already spent considerable time in

this message urging you to draw

near to God sin and all the

passage is saying come near to

God and this is saying oh

there's no sacrifice left for

sin if we deliberately keep on

sinning but when I sin I do

deliberately sin how do I

reconcile these sorts of

things and I think the answer is

in the context he's writing to

Jewish believers who've come to

believe in Christ at great

personal cost he's urging them to

persevere they've already hung in

there through humiliation and

ridicule they have put up with

gross injustices like the

confiscation of their property

but in the pressure it seems that

some aren't getting together

anymore I used to go to church

oh yeah that was good a while back

and it might be that they're even

shrinking back and going back to

some of the Old Testament ways of

worship and they may well say I love

God but this Jesus stuff is just a

bit too hard and the writer is

saying there is no other way there

is no sacrifice for sin except

Christ and if you walk away from

Christ there is no other way to

heaven you can't go back to

worshiping a Jew as a Jew like you

were before or any other way and

find your way into God's heaven and

that is why he urges them to cling to

Christ and to cling to one another

I began this message speaking about

virtual reality and reality some of

you spend too much of your lives

living in virtual reality what's

that computer games and iPods and

iPads I love them but we can be

there for too long

have a think about this building we

meet in a building which we call

church very unfortunate name

some of our older members were taught

from children so by ministers like me

they were taught as children that this

is the Lord's house so it somehow or

rather becomes a special building

it's got a little bit of a mix of

temple thinking in there you know the

place where God dwells and yet David I

think said the Lord does not dwell in

buildings made by man so we know good

Bible teaching some of you think it's a

great old church for your wedding and

maybe you want it looking like this so

that you got a nice long old walk down

we could turn it sideways what would

do with that what happened the aisle

I guess you'd have to do a right angle

turn as you came down wouldn't you

but the building is fake as far as the

things of God are concerned this is 60

years old I thought it was a much older

church when I came here it's sandstone

exterior gives the appearance of being a

very old building and do you know it's a

it's a sandstone building you get below

that mortar and it's double brick walls so

if we get a Christchurch type earthquake

we'll all be buried here

the organ pipes

they're fake

they're cardboard tubes

can you believe it?

they're cardboard tubes

you could set the bottom of one of them on

fire and it'd blow like a chimney all the

way to the top

if you go across the road and you know

the elevator up the side of the

building I've been up there it's a

great ride you ought to take it it's

free you go up the top great view of

the mountains but you look down on

church you know what you see it's built

like a cross

so it's built to a particular way of

thinking and it's model something

we call the table up the front's cool

what is it?

no we call it a table and it is a table

it's flat surface that you put things on

but in most Anglican churches the majority

of Anglican churches around the world do

call it an altar

and the rail around it that marks off that

area behind the rail is it's called the

sanctuary

the holy place

someone somewhere in our history and I

think maybe particularly in the 1800s

thought that we were in the business of

doing sacrifices

so we've got our architecture

confused with our theology

and we have to let the Bible rule over

our architecture

Hebrews says incredibly clearly

that there is only one sacrifice that

matters

the death of Christ has put an end to

all the rest

he has done everything necessary to

take us into the presence of God he

takes us into heaven

and so it's easy for us at this service

especially to mock the old stuff

because that's maybe not where we've

come from with those modes of thinking

but if you've been sitting in church 60

years ago some of that stuff's what you

would have been told and some of that

stuff's the baggage that you would be

carrying now and wrestling with

but we have just read a passage

which absolutely emphasises that it

emphasises that it is what happens in

this auditorium that matters

and what happens outside this auditorium

that matters in our lives and the lives

of believers

when the Jews stopped listening to Paul at the

synagogue in Corinth he moved next door to the

hall of Tyrannus and kept teaching what he was

teaching in church

just changed buildings

didn't change what he was doing

just rented a hall and kept going for it

got the believers together

they encouraged one another in love and good deeds

they kept clinging to Christ

even as they clung to one another

and so I think it is absurd

that we would ever hang on to virtual reality

and miss out on the real thing

Amen

Sam can tell me what to do

he can tell me to go

or stay

but we talked about this after the service this morning

and you felt like there were some implications

that might flow through

from some of this thinking even to 5.30

in a way that it doesn't for the older ones

you want to take us there

and at the same time

if we've got a minute

I'll just throw it open to questions

that might flow from what we've been talking about

Do you want to do that first?

Yep, anybody getting questions?

I haven't got my Bible in my hand

I might need it in my hand

if you ask a hard one

Sorry, question was

how come we don't make the sign of the cross?

which is a particularly Catholic tradition I think

Yeah, there are some churches

where it's a very normal tradition

so Catholic, Orthodox

some of the people do it

it will come down to what they've been taught

it's not something we have taught

because you don't see it as something

which is prescribed in the scriptures

so I won't say it's a bad thing to do

but for me straight away

I don't see a reason to teach you to do it

and I think it's probably wiser

for us not to mock those who do

That got off lightly, didn't it?

Yeah, it did

Luckily for you

there's a chance to continue

churching together in this building

after we've finished the formal part

so maybe you've got questions

that might come up afterwards

that you might want to ask Chris

or even chat about with one another

Me and Chris were talking a little bit

about this this morning

in terms of

we hear this sort of message

and it's really easy for us to think

those silly old people

that think that's an altar

or those silly old people

who are really excited about cardboard tubes

or whatever it is that they had

but I just wanted to leave you guys

a bit of time right now

to maybe reflect that

we have lots of things of our own

that have become part of

what church must be

I think for me

reflecting personally

and in conversations with people

it might sound silly

but what time we do church

is very precious for some of us

Church shifts by half an hour

and all of a sudden

it's not the same church

I used to be a part of

it might be the fact

that we had the offertory

in song 3

instead of the last song

which we don't have another song

so it was the last song

but things like that

that we just grab hold of

because that's what we've been doing

our whole life

we've been in church

and what this passage

has challenged us to reflect on

is that there's

there's two commands in there

two let us commands

that really matter

and maybe we need to reflect

on what other things

we're clinging onto

on top of Christ

and one another

so I want to give you

some time right now

to ignore that

and just reflect for yourself

what might those things be

that you've kind of elevated

onto that level

alongside Christ

and one another

when it comes to

what church is

you've done

ready to click on miss

of each other

from near to the

Like this

it can be

through and once

I can biri