God Speaks and Acts

Father, we ask that the Holy Spirit would be poured out upon us

with might and power and deep conviction at this time.

We ask, Father, that you would help us in the power of the Holy Spirit

to know that we are in your presence,

that Jesus is the Savior and that he is Lord.

And we ask, Father, that as you draw us into your presence

that we will know that you desire to give us grace,

to establish us and deepen us in your grace and your love.

And help us, Father, to be in your presence,

to receive from you in a worthy manner,

and to respond to you in a worthy manner.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

We're doing a sermon series entitled Knowing God.

And I guess I'm just going to use this.

I forgot about the mic.

I feel scattered this morning for some reason.

I don't know what it is.

Maybe it's the constant, unrelenting heat.

By the way, kudos to you folks to leave your

cool, air-conditioned domiciles

and to enter the soup and come here.

So way to go.

So we're doing a series called Knowing God.

And on one level, this is a very, very simple session.

Once again, on one hand, it's the idea.

In fact, if you could put up the first point, Claire,

that would be very helpful.

That unless the triune God revealed himself,

you could not know he exists.

Unless the triune God revealed himself,

you could not know he exists.

It's a very simple idea.

But, well, as part of my sermon preparation this week,

on Friday night, with some of my grandchildren,

I watched Angry Birds 2.

I don't like to just study, you know,

Calvin and Aquinas and stuff like that.

Occasionally, you need to prepare for things like this topic

by watching something like Angry Birds 2.

Actually, to be more honest, I was watching Angry Birds 2.

And as I'm watching Angry Birds 2, I thought,

wow, this actually sort of fits in with my sermon this week.

It was more that way.

Now, this isn't much of a spoiler alert.

And I don't know how many of you have watched

any of the Angry Birds movies.

But Angry Birds 2, sort of, I guess,

at the end of Angry Birds 1,

the red bird is the hero of the movie.

And what happens in Angry Birds 2

is that everybody's praising him all the time.

But it turns out that he has a very deep insecurity.

And his deep insecurity goes right from the time

he was a tiny, tiny, tiny little chick.

And as he grew up as a child and as a teenager,

and his great insecurity is that nobody would,

that he'd be all alone.

And it's not so much that he'd be all alone,

because all of us like being alone sometimes,

is that he'd be all alone in the sense

that nobody wanted to know him,

and nobody wanted to have a relationship with him,

that he would live,

he'd been living his life,

in a sense, unknown

and not able to know anybody.

And so he was reveling

in all of this praise,

the fact that people,

sort of,

would notice him.

He was reveling in it.

But really,

as I explain to my grandkids occasionally,

I'm sure much,

I'm sure they just completely and utterly ignored me.

The three-year-old has,

far more interested in the cute little red birds

and other birds up on the screen

than anything her papa's going to say.

But anyway,

the movie goes around upon this particular theme.

It's one of the themes of it.

And in fact,

the movie is touching on

one of the deepest human needs that we have.

Human beings have this profound need

to know and to be known.

Not just to know other people,

but to know and to be known.

One of the,

those of you who struggle with addictions

or alcoholism,

you might or might not realize this about yourself,

but for those of us

who've struggled with these types of things,

one of the problems that alcoholics and addicts have,

and in a sense,

it's a human problem,

but people who struggle with alcoholism or addictions,

they have it at a deeper level,

a more profound level,

a more potentially life-destroying level.

which is they have this deep fear

that if people actually got through the surface,

the force field that they put out,

and got to know them,

that people wouldn't like them.

That in fact,

often alcoholics and addicts

have this belief that

the more you know them,

the less you'll like them.

And yet,

and so what often they do is,

those of us who've struggled with those things,

is you try to numb it in some particular way

with the drugs or the alcoholism.

You're often still consumed with shame

at a deep level about yourself,

but even though you worry about this,

and so you create fronts,

and you do all this other type of stuff,

at the end of the day,

and you might try to numb it,

but you have this deep, deep, deep desire

to know and to be known

that all human beings have.

Just a couple of weeks ago,

Louise and I had supper with somebody,

and the woman's quite a remarkable woman.

For the last 15 years,

she's been one of the primary caregivers

for a youngish woman

who has severe cerebral palsy,

and she's completely and utterly uncommunicative

in terms of being able,

she has no verbal skills whatsoever,

and basically every single thing

that has to be done for her

has to be done,

she can't do anything herself,

everything has to be done for her.

She's completely helpless

and completely and utterly non-verbal.

And this woman has been caring for her,

one of the primary caregivers for this woman

for 15 years.

And I think the young woman's in her early 20s.

But one of the things

that came out very powerfully

as we were talking

is that even though this

very, very, very, very handicapped woman

with severe cerebral palsy

is completely non-verbal,

she can still communicate,

and she still knows,

and in fact, actually,

she really knows this woman,

we'll just call her Sue,

that there's in fact

a deep relationship

between the two of them,

even though she has no words.

Because, you see,

there is this fundamental human desire

to know and to be known.

And so this woman,

her face lights up

with a huge smile

when she sees Sue,

and Sue's face lights up

with a big smile,

and there's obvious ways,

even without having to use words,

that they can have a relationship.

Obviously not the same

as they can with somebody

who can speak

and all of that type of stuff,

but there is this profound relationship

that happens between them,

and for this woman

with the cerebral palsy,

she, like all human beings,

has this desire to know

and to be known.

It's a very, very profound

human need.

So when you hear this idea

that unless the triune God

revealed himself,

you could not know he exists,

often what happens

is we immediately want to go

into all sorts of types

of arguments about this.

There's obviously some problems

with the Christian idea

that what Christians would say

is that the way

that God reveals himself

is primarily

in four different ways.

That on one hand,

he reveals himself

through nature,

and by nature,

it's the creation.

That on one hand,

the conscience in human beings

is a bit of an indicator

that God exists.

The fact that we have minds

is a bit of an indicator

that God exists.

That just the beauty

and the grandeur of nature,

there are all these

different things

in the world outside

and the world inside of us

that in some ways

point to the fact

that there is a triune God

that does actually exist.

And then, of course,

Christians say

it's not just general revelation.

There's what's called

special revelation.

There's the Bible,

the Word of God,

that God has actually

communicated to us

with words,

that every word

ultimately in the Bible,

at least in the original manuscript,

is the exact word

that God wanted to be there

and that God communicates

through his Word.

And then, of course,

it's not just a matter

of general revelation,

the special revelation

of his Word,

that the preeminent way

that he reveals himself

is in the person of his Son,

in Jesus,

in what Jesus did

during his life

and the words that he said

and especially his death

upon the cross

and his resurrection,

that that's the pinnacle

of God's revealing himself

to human beings.

And that it's not just

a matter of us

knowing some stories

and things about Jesus

in the past,

that what happens

is that when God knows us,

when God comes

into a knowledge of us

and we come into

a knowledge of him,

it's mediated

not just by the Word

and by knowing Jesus,

but the Holy Spirit

literally comes

and moves in our lives

and brings,

in a sense,

Jesus home to us,

the Father home to us,

the Holy Spirit

comes into us

and that we know God.

And these are sort of

the basic Christian ideas.

But at the heart of it all

is this fundamental idea

that God wants,

not just fundamental idea,

however we want to talk

or think about this doctrine

of God revealing himself,

it has to always be understood

in the context of God,

of human beings

having this profound desire,

this profound need

to know

and to be known.

You see,

there's an extra mystery

to this,

which we all know,

and it comes up actually

in some of the ways

that people respond

to the idea

of Christian revelation.

I remember

one of my summer jobs,

I had to work

as a painter

in a bell building,

a bell telephone building,

and for the summer

we were working

in repainting

those parts of the building

that most people don't see.

It's where the heating

and the whole pile

of the behind-the-scene guts

of the buildings were

and I was with

this professional painter

and I had to be

his assistant

and we would paint

every day.

And he loved

to talk about the Bible

and loved to talk

about theology

and one of his big complaints

about the Christian faith

is that why doesn't God

just,

if God wants to know me

and he wants me

to know him,

why doesn't it

make it more obvious?

Like,

why doesn't he just show up

and appear to me

if that's what God

actually wants to know?

Well,

there's different versions

of it

and as I would talk to him,

he'd have different ways

of doing it.

But here's the thing

and I'll tell you

some of the things

that he would say

and they're things

which I've heard

from many other people

over the years.

Actually,

every criticism of God,

in a sense,

reveals something about us

and it reveals something

about us,

not just in our relationship

with God,

but actually the fears

and the longings

that we have

and the problems

and idiosyncrasies

we have

even if we want

to know another person.

So, for instance,

why couldn't God

just make some display

every night?

If he really wanted

to be known,

if he really wanted

you to know him

and if he really wanted

you to know him

and he wanted to know you,

why couldn't he make

his existence

more obvious?

So, one of the obvious ways

that he could make it

more obvious

is that, I don't know,

every night

at five minutes

before midnight

and he would do it

in every time zone

from five minutes

before midnight

to midnight,

every night

there'd be a big thing

in the sky

that everybody could see,

the appropriate language,

all of the appropriate languages,

I exist

and I want to know you.

Like, why wouldn't God

do something

very, very obvious

like that

that every human being

every night

if they wanted to know

whether God existed,

they just had to be up

at five minutes to minute

or set their camera

or whatever

and they could see

this sign every night.

Why wouldn't God

do something like that?

If he really wanted

to know you

and to be known by you,

why wouldn't he make

his existence

far more obvious

than general revelation

and the Bible

and Jesus

and the Holy Spirit?

But if you think

about it for a second,

for many, many, many

people in the world,

if God did something

like that,

maybe for many of us

even here,

how would we respond

to it?

The fact of the matter

is that we wouldn't

respond to it

by saying,

good grief,

God really does exist.

I better allow him

to know me

and I'm going to allow him

to speak his word

into my life

and I'm going to love him

and I'm going to adore him.

No.

How would most of us react?

Why is God so showy?

Is he needy?

Like,

why does God have to do

such a big thing

like that every night?

Like,

he's too showy,

he's too pushy,

he's too needy.

Like,

you know,

God shouldn't reveal himself

in that way.

That's how we'd respond.

If,

instead,

God was to try

to be very present

in your consciousness,

in your emotions,

if he decided

to reveal himself

in such a way

that you could never

just evade him,

that you always

immediately felt him

as a very,

very,

very present power

in us,

it probably wouldn't

lead us to want

to worship him.

In fact,

what we would say

is that he's

too intrusive,

too intimidating,

and we would take him

to be more like

a stalker

than a lover.

if God was to provide

a human being

with a knocked-down,

dragged-down,

unrefutable,

logical argument

and set of logical arguments

for his existence,

we would say,

why all this cold logic?

Why no creativity?

Why no love?

If God was to only,

if God was to give you

less evidence

for his existence,

if he was to give you

less evidence

than the Bible

or Jesus,

we'd say,

why doesn't he give us more?

If we were,

if he had only created

one religion

so that we had

absolutely no choice,

we'd either have to follow

the one religion

that he created

and he would stop

all other religions

from existing,

our response

would always be,

I think I could do

something a little bit better.

And if he forced you

to believe in him,

well,

it would be like

when I was a kid

and you'd get wrestling

with a bully

or a bigger kid

and they'd get on top of you,

they'd finally wrestle you down

and they'd say,

I'm not going to let you up

until you say

that I'm better than you.

Well,

you'd fight against him

and fight against him

and fight against him

and eventually you'd say,

okay,

you're better than me

to get him off of you.

But inwardly,

you'd say,

no,

you're not.

you're worse than me.

But you wouldn't say it out loud

because you want to get up.

And that's what would happen

if God was to do something,

was to,

in a sense,

force us to believe in him,

that the fact of the matter is,

is that if he forced us

to try to believe in him,

we'd end up saying,

I don't believe in you.

In fact,

we actually would say

that we hate him.

You see,

here's part of the thing,

is that not only

human beings

have this profound

and deep need

to know

and to be known.

The fact is that

when I described

how addicts

and alcoholics

often

have this

deep fear

within them

that if you really

got to know me,

you wouldn't like me,

you wouldn't love me,

you'd like me less,

that all of us

can resonate with that

to some extent.

that

even for the most

narcissistic amongst us,

there would still

probably be

a tiny bit of a

awkwardness

and embarrassment

about some of the things

that are about us.

But at the same time,

there's something

ornery about us.

There's something about us

that in terms of,

not only we have

this deep desire

to know and to be known,

but we also have this,

in fact,

sometimes we have

just this profound

frustration

that we can't know

and that we can't be known

and sometimes we just

have this profound

frustration

that when we try

to make a good friend

or something like that,

we put our foot

in our mouth,

we trip over

what we want to do,

that we come on

too strong

and force them

and then they think

we're like a stalker

or where we come across

as too needy.

The fact of the matter

is that we both

want to know

and to be known,

but there's part of us

that doesn't really

want to know

and to be known

and there's part of us

that worry that we'll do it

in such a way

that it overwhelms

our freedom

and there's part of us

in such a way

that makes us worry

that we don't want

to give up,

we don't want to surrender

all of ourselves,

we're afraid of being

fully revealing

and that we human beings

are very, very complicated

and the only solution

to most of that stuff

is a love,

a love that is deep

and that is real

and that is unchanging

is,

that's actually connected

to wanting to know

and to be known

is a desire for love

because it's,

for those of us

who've experienced it,

one of the great mysteries

about great love

is that

when we are most in love

we are both,

we feel both most free

and most bound

to the other person

at the same time.

And so we human beings

are a riddle and a mystery

and it's,

if we think about that

a bit more deeply,

it's hard,

actually,

we start to realize

it's actually hard to think

that if God wants to know us

and to be known by us,

that part of the problem

with that ever happening

is in us.

Probably the best text

in the Bible

to help you understand

what it means

for God

to want to know you

and to be known by you

is seen

in Matthew chapter 11

Matthew 11:25–30

verses 25 to 30,

which is what we'll look at

just very briefly right now.

It was the gospel text

which I read

and it goes like this.

At that time,

Jesus declared,

I thank you,

Father,

Lord of heaven and earth,

that you have hidden

these things

from the wise

and understanding

and revealed them

to little children.

Yes, Father,

for such was

your gracious will.

All things have been handed over

to me by my Father

and no one knows

the Father,

no one knows,

sorry,

all things have been handed over

to me by my Father

and no one knows

the Son except the Father

and no one knows

the Father except the Son

and anyone to whom

the Son chooses

to reveal him.

Now just sort of,

you know,

pause there for a second.

Here's this very interesting

little thing

just up a bit before

that God has hidden

these strings

from the wise

and understanding

but revealed them

to little children.

You see,

the type of knowledge

that we ultimately desire

to know

and to be known

is,

it's not something

that depends upon

our IQ.

Like,

to know,

to try to figure out

quantum mechanics,

to try to figure out

some very,

very complicated

mathematic things

requires a particular

type of mind,

a very,

very high IQ.

People who can figure out

a lot of complicated

engineering things

or accounting things

or are very,

very good

at amassing

a lot of knowledge

about history

or strategy

or technique.

It requires high IQs

and it requires

lots of disciplines

and it's a very,

very small number

of people

and the harder

the knowledge is,

the smaller

the number of people are.

but we know

that that's actually

not the type of knowledge.

I mean,

that's a good knowledge

if you have those,

that type of mind.

Good for you.

Use it wisely

and well to the glory

of God.

But that's,

that the amazing thing is,

is that that type

of personal knowledge

is something

that a person

with severe

cerebral policy

is capable of.

A Down syndrome

child is capable of.

a street person

terribly broken

by their drug addiction

or their alcoholism

or their mental illness

has the potential

to have this type

of personal knowing

and to know.

And so when Jesus says here

that it's been hidden

from the wise

and the learned

but made available

to children,

it's not just talking

about a type of humility

to receive from Jesus

to start to realize

that maybe

if the problem

of knowing

and knowing God

isn't so much

and how God does it

but the problem

is in me.

The problem is

that somehow or another

there's something

broken and angular

and both very,

very desirous

but very,

very fearful

and very,

very confused

and the problem

is in me

that that message

about the little child

is giving us

a bit of a clue

that maybe we need

to be the,

to understand

that we need

to be the ones

to sort of stop

for a second

and let God be God

and for him

to do something

to reveal himself to us

but it's also

letting us know

that the type

of knowing,

this type

of personal knowing,

this type of love

that is ultimately

what God wants

to communicate to us

is something

that in fact

even children

are capable of,

that all human beings

are capable of.

It's not just something

for the intellectual

or the IQ elite.

It's something

which is just

deeply human

and is available

from everything

from the tiniest

little baby

to the most

handicapped individual

to the most broken

by illness

or addictions

to the most brilliant

in theory

all are capable

of having this

type of knowing

and known

and be known

and which is all

characterized by love.

And then it's further

when Jesus said

in verse 27

all things have been

handed over

to be my,

my father

and no one knows

the son except the father

and no one knows

the father except the son

and anyone to whom

the son chooses

to reveal him.

This is just this doctrine

which I said

at the beginning

that unless the triune God

wants to reveal himself

we could never

possibly know him.

And Jesus is saying

that, you know,

at the end of the day

all of the Bible

all of general revelation

all of the Bible

and by general revelation

that includes the fact

that if you start

to actually analyze

and look at your heart

and if you realize

that there's this desire

to know

this fear of being known

this desire for love

this fear of being loved

this, this,

these false starts

these successes

and all of this complication

and that that's pointing

to that there's some type

of a riddle about you

that unless God comes in

in a way

that respects your freedom

and respects your integrity

and your dignity

and comes in

and offers himself

in a way

that you can receive

and does what you cannot

do for yourself

that you cannot even

possibly know him

but that all,

all of the general revelation

and special revelation

of the Bible

all of it culminates

in the person of Jesus.

in his life

and his death

and his resurrection

that he is going

to be the one

that makes it possible

for human beings

like you and me

to know God

and to be known by him

for him to reveal himself.

And it's very,

very interesting

because it says

all things have been

handed over to me

by my father

and no one knows

the father

and no one knows

the son except the father

and no one knows

the father except the son

and anyone to whom

the son chooses

to reveal him

and then we sort of

have this pause.

Okay, now he's going

to say that

only people who are

same-sex attracted

he's going to reveal

himself to

or only those

who are other-sex attracted

he's going to reveal

himself to

or only people

who are from Africa

or only people

from a wealthy neighborhood

or only people

from Asia

or he's only going

to talk about

good people

or he's only going

to reveal himself

to special people

he's only going

to reveal himself

to people

who have positive

self-regard

or a good sense

a good control

in their life

and are successful

or he's only going

to reveal himself

to those who are broken

in particular ways

in whatever ways

that we try to spin it

as if all of a sudden

there's going to be

some type of a criteria

by which Jesus

is going to reveal

the father to us

this all comes out

but in the very same breath

that he says

that no one knows

the father

except the son

and anyone

to whom the son

chooses to reveal him

his very next words

are come to me

all who labor

and are heavy laden

and I will give you rest

are you same-sex attracted

come to me

all who labor

and are heavy laden

are you heterosexual

come to me

all who labor

and are heavy laden

are you watching this

in Africa

or in Singapore

or in South America

or in Rockcliffe Park

or in Ledbury

come to me

all who labor

and are heavy laden

and I will give you rest

take my yoke upon you

and learn from me

for I am gentle

and lowly in heart

and you will find rest

for your souls

for my yoke

and my burden

is light

come to me

all who labor

and are heavy laden

and I will give you rest

take my yoke upon you

and learn from me

for I am gentle

and lowly in heart

and you will find rest

for your souls

for my yoke

is easy

and my burden

is light

see the triune God

reveals himself

to be known

and to know you

in a covenant of love

that's the second point

the triune God

reveals himself

to be known

and to know you

in a covenant of love

not in a one night stand

not in a fling

not in an affair

but in a covenant of love

that he desires

to reveal himself

to you

so that you will know him

and he will know you

and then that knowing of you

and knowing of him

can be something

that will continue

and deepen

there obviously

at your end

there can be step backs

and stepping away

and confusion

and all of those types

of things

but that he

wants to do this

to know you

and to be known by you

in a covenant

of deep love

that respects your freedom

and who you are

I mean

actually if

here we'll just say

one more thing

maybe one more story

and then we'll bring this

to a close

if you could put up

the third point

the person words

and works

a work of Jesus

reveals the triune God

and redeems all

who receive him

it's a very simple point

but here's the story

that shows the depth

the depth of his love

if you turn in your Bibles

to Luke chapter 23

Luke 23:35–43

verses 35 to 43

Luke 23 verses 35 to 43

Luke 23:35–43

we have this very wonderful story

only recorded by Luke

obviously based on

eyewitness testimony

of one of the things

that happens

when Jesus is hanging

on the cross

and here's how

the story goes

and the people

stood by watching

but the ruler

scoffed at him

saying

he saved others

let him save himself

if he is the Christ of God

his chosen one

in other words

and then the soldiers

also mocked him

coming up

and offering him

sour wine

and saying

if you are the king

of the Jews

save yourself

and there was also

an inscription

over him

this is the king

of the Jews

and one of the criminals

who were hanged

railed at him

saying

are you not the Christ

save yourself

and us

you see

in other words

what they wanted

was they wanted

Jesus to reveal himself

in a type of way

of power

that if he had done it

it would be like

knowing your bank statements

it would be that type

of knowledge

it would be like

seeing the sign

in the sky

that even after you

saw the sign

in the sky

of God revealing

himself like that

every day

you'd still just say

well that's just

an interesting fact

of nature

it's not a personal

type of knowing

you see

at the heart

of all love

all love

is always going

to have to involve

sacrifice

after sacrifice

a giving of yourself

and a giving of yourself

and even a type

of sacrifice

to receive love

a sacrifice

of setting aside

your pride

that you can do this

for yourself

to receive the gift

of love

from the other person

to not think

that when

a young child

tells you a joke

that you could tell

the joke better

but to sacrifice

those desires

of pride

and arrogance

and to just

take great delight

that that young child

would like to have

a conversation

with you

and that they

would share

no matter how

poorly told

that joke

you see

it's the proud

and the arrogant

and the desire

for power

the opposite

of what Jesus

was talking about

in Matthew chapter 11

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

that keeps us

from knowing

and being known

it's yet another

reason why he said

that unless you're

like a little child

that it's little children

that he reveals it to

it's that type

of humility

it's that type

of childlike love

that both

to know another person

you're going to have

to make sacrifices

for the other person

and that even

in receiving love

you need to make

sacrifices

that put to death

your pride

to be able to receive

that love

and that affection

from the other person

and so here we see

that even as Jesus

is dying upon the cross

the demands

of people

who are crucifying him

and even sharing

his death

is for him

to reveal himself

in a way

which is merely

of power

which would merely

be that we know

something about him

but given that God

wants to reveal himself

in such a way

that you can know him

and be known by him

in a covenant of love

and given that you're worried

and should be

that he's going to do

something to overwhelm

your freedom

and also just worried

about your own inability

to really love

that even your best

relationships of love

on this side of the grave

are often filled

with things

that constantly

need forgiveness

and other types

of intervention

of grace

to make up

for your mistakes

and your inabilities

and your weak

and your lacks

and your brokenness

and the things

that you do

that are just wrong

and that what we really need

is on one hand

within the context

of a covenant of love

is by respecting

our freedom

and knowing us

as we really are

with nothing left out

every single wart

every single bad thing

every shame

every excellence

to have that type

of perfect knowledge

which is shown to us

in a sacrificial love

and God doing

what we cannot do

but not overwhelming

our freedom

but respecting who we are

and still an act of love

that's what we need

from God

and we can only receive it

if we put down

our weapons

and just say

God I don't know

what on earth

you could do

with a mess

a person like me

and that's where

the next part

of the story

is so powerful

verse 40

but the other

rebuked him

saying

do you not fear God

since you are under

the same sentence

of condemnation

and we indeed

justly

for we are receiving

the due reward

of our deeds

but this man

has done nothing wrong

and then he turns

to Jesus

now Jesus knows

that this guy

is not a good guy

his

this guy

has already

just publicly

confessed

that he deserves

to die

whatever he did

that was wrong

it has led him

to this point

in his life

that he deserves

to die

and there is

nothing he can do

to fix that

he can't

all of a sudden

say I'm going to

learn how to do

the Hail Marys

I'm going to learn

how to use

the book of Common Prayer

I'm going to have

a charismatic experience

I'm going to start

to clean up my act

I'm going to stop

drinking

I'm going to stop

doing drugs

I'm going to stop

doing all these

you know all the

affairs I had

I'm going to start

making some money

I'm going to get

my life in control

I'm going to go

he can do nothing

he's hanging up

there on a cross

and he's doomed

and he turns

to Jesus

and says

Jesus remember me

when you come

into your kingdom

he's like this

other famous

story in the gospel

where Jesus says

you know the

the proud religious

person says

look at me

I do this

I do this

I do this

boom boom boom

boom boom boom

boom boom

alpha male

and then there's

other person

who's lived

a completely

disreputable life

and all he does

is stand at the

back and says

have mercy upon me

a sinner

doesn't even look

his eyes to heaven

and Jesus says

the man who was

at the back

he's the one

who wants home

forgiven

not the guy

who just parades

all of his things

and so this guy

says Jesus

remember me

when you come

into your kingdom

I mean he sees

with the eyes

of faith

that Jesus

actually is

the king of kings

the king of love

the king of beauty

the king of peace

that his kingdom

is the one

that is characterized

as what I call

the covenant

of love

that's what the

bible calls it

he literally

can say to Jesus

nothing in my hands

I bring

simply to you

I cling

and Jesus'

response to him

is truly

I say

to you

today

you will be

with me

in paradise

today

you will be

with me

in paradise

you see

the triune God

reveals himself

to be known

and to know you

in a covenant

of love

Jesus knows

every single thing

about you

when he dies

for you

and still he dies

for you out of love

and he doesn't

expect you

to fix yourself

to be with him

and to know him

he has to do

it all

and he just

asks for you

to stand

and come into

his presence

and humbly

say

Jesus take me

as your

as your own

be my savior

and be my lord

hard for me

to believe

that your desire

is to know me

in a covenant

of love

and to have me

know you

in a covenant

of love

that begins

on this side

of the grave

and will go

to all eternity

but just as you

said to the thief

on the cross

today I say to you

today you will be

with me in paradise

I claim that

prayer promise

is my own

that I trust

that what you did

on the cross

is good enough

to make me your own

and your covenant

of love for all

eternity

that you can do

what I cannot do

you can come

into me

and make your

home in me

and fit me

for heaven

and be my

hope for glory

reveal yourself

to me

and start to

so free me up

as I think

upon your death

upon the cross

and your great

love for me

that I can start

to reveal myself

to you

knowing that

you will not

be ashamed

or turn your face

away in disgust

at anything

I share with you

but that your

response will

always be to me

child

child

child

let me know

you more

please come

higher into me

and know me

more

invite you all

to stand

let's bow our

heads in prayer

father

we give you

thanks and

praise

that you

desire to

know us

in a covenant

of love

and we give

you thanks

and praise

that when we

put our

faith and

trust in

Jesus

we enter

into that

covenant

of love

with you

that we

are in

Jesus

and he

is in

us

that the

Holy Spirit

brings us

into that

covenant

of love

and that

you will

never let

us go

and we

give you

thanks and

praise

father

that you

who are

infinite

Lord

Jesus

Christ

you

who are

infinite

Holy Spirit

you

who are

infinite

that your

love is

infinite

your goodness

and your

beauty

is infinite

and that

our small

beginning

steps of

knowing you

and being

known by

you on

this side

of the

grave

can

continue

on and

on and

on into

the depths

of eternity

and never

be exhausted

because you

are the

infinite

beauty

and infinite

goodness

and infinite

love

and we

give you

thanks and

praise that

you have

made us

for yourself

as Augustine

said

and that

it is only

in you

that our

hearts begin

to know

the rest

the rest

the wholeness

and completeness

that you desire

for your

children

for all

eternity

so father

we give you

thanks and

praise

that you

are god

that jesus

is our

savior

that the

holy spirit

brings us

to jesus

and brings

us to

you

and we

ask that

you would

do your

work more

and more

in us

today

to the

end

and all

this we

ask in the

name of

jesus your

son and

our savior

amen

for

your

family

one

one

one

one

two

three

one

one

one