Antifragile

Father, you know that the fragility of each of us, the different ways that we're very fragile,

and you know the weaknesses of each of us, and you know our sins and our failings,

you know our strengths and our glories, you know the plan that you have for each one of us as well.

Father, we give you thanks and praise that you know each and every one of us completely, fully, perfectly.

And yet you love us, and yet you sent your Son to die for us.

And we thank you, Father, that when we put our faith and trust in Jesus,

that he comes and dwells each person who puts their faith in him.

So, Father, we ask that you grow within us a deep hope in Christ, the hope of glory.

And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Please be seated.

It's Thanksgiving weekend.

That's why we have these roses here at the front.

There's a lot of fear in the world right now.

There's a lot of tension.

Not everybody's filled with hysteria or filled with fear, but there's a lot of fear around.

And I regularly come into contact with people, and it just seems to emanate from them, their fear.

And I don't want to get into a bit of a discussion about the lockdown and how people are responding to it.

People ask me how I'm doing.

I tell them I'm trying to live free and without fear.

That's what I tell them.

And it actually often surprises them when I say that's my goal.

I want to live without fear, and I want to live a free life, free and without fear.

In fact, when I was just between the services, I mentioned that to a person.

They looked at me quite surprised, and you could tell that they were a person very fearful.

But then again, they're also working in a coffee shop, and they're probably fearful for their jobs as well.

But even before, we had the different types of lockdowns.

And we can see this in the States more than we can in Canada because of the election year

and because of other issues connected to the real problem of racism

is that there was a lot of fear in our country, and there's a lot of fear down south about a whole range of issues.

And university campuses actually are often a place with lots of fear,

where it's there, it's from places like that that we're most likely to see concerns about trigger warning,

being triggered, or microaggression, or, yeah, triggering safe places, microaggression.

Now, I bring these things up not to mock them at all, but just to think about them for a bit

and to consider how a lot of people, not everybody, but how more and more people in our society often think.

And I'm going to use two inspirational quotes.

The tech guy and I were having a bit of a question about this beforehand.

There's sort of two versions of the same quote.

And if you could put the first one up, that would be very helpful.

And we are balloons filled with feelings in a world full of pins.

Many of them, this is actually sort of a not very inspirational-looking poster.

But if you go and Google this, you can get T-shirts, cups, and posters.

And a lot of the posters are clearly of the inspirational mode, the soft colors,

you know, the young person, the balloon floating up into the air.

And it's obviously intended to be a bit of an inspirational idea.

We are balloons filled with feelings in a world full of pins.

And that's sort of a graphic way to explain or to get at.

Maybe not in that particular image.

But human beings are weak and fragile.

And there's lots of danger out there in the world.

And we have to do what we can to stop the danger because I'm weak and fragile.

And challenges to me are really threats to me.

And even the smallest little challenge is actually a threat to me.

And if you threaten me, I could burst and be irreparably damaged.

In fact, basically almost completely and utterly come to an end.

And what is very central to me are my feelings and my emotions.

That's what's really very, very central to me.

In fact, you know, even to say this, I think it's maybe safe on this, although I don't, I never know who watches this online.

And occasionally we get comments about things online at the online service to our online congregation.

But in fact, actually much of the rhetoric around Black Lives Matter.

Now, even when I say something like that, many people say, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, old white guy making comments about that.

Well, actually, isn't that reaction a little bit like this balloon that was just up there a moment?

The world, we are balloons filled with feelings in a world filled with pins.

And so if I make any type of comment about it, then that's actually a bit of a triggering type of thing.

And maybe I'm a pin that's going to burst it.

But in fact, actually in much of the rhetoric that comes out of critical theory,

but come into the mainstream of society, mainstream of university, mainstream of media,

is in fact, you can't, a person's feelings about how they're being treated,

trump any type of research or objective things.

Because what really matters about us is our feelings.

And if I'm feeling oppressed in any type of way, if I'm feeling threatened,

then that's not on me, that's on you.

Because there should be nothing that ever makes me feel threatened or makes me feel challenged.

Because fundamentally, why?

I am a balloon.

We are a balloon filled with feelings in a world full of pins.

And so whether it's the state or some other sort of university administrators,

those pins have to be dealt with because I'm fundamentally fragile.

But this is actually even better seen in the second version of the same quote.

So I'm not sure which version came first, by the way,

and it seems as if it's an anonymous type of quote.

It just developed somewhere in the ether.

Maybe somebody online or one of you folks can tell me afterwards which is first.

But notice this.

There's just two words difference.

But the two words are very, very significant because it goes to identity.

Right?

We are just balloons filled with feelings on a world full of pins.

We are just a world, a balloon filled with feelings on a world filled with pins.

This is really, in many ways, I mean, for many people, once again,

these are inspirational ideas that we are balloons filled with feelings in a world full of pins.

And note one of the things about it which is very, a bit worrisome

is that it actually, at the very, very heart of it, has we, they language.

There's we, the good people, the precious people.

We, the balloons, filled with feelings.

And then there's they, pins, the world of pins.

But this permeates the consciousness of much in media and much in the university

and much in our culture.

Sort of the complete opposite end of all those technocratic ideas of self-improvement

and self-empowerment and the secret.

But it's something which is growing and growing in our society

and I think helps to understand a lot of the fear which is going on in our world right now.

Now, once again, I'm not expressing any of these things to mock triggering

and to mock safe places.

I'm not doing that at all.

It's something we need to think and understand.

And in fact, many people would push back and say,

George, Christians have their own version of this, don't they?

In fact, I think I heard Shane say when he was reading the scripture text

that this was the text that you're going to preach on.

And doesn't that whole text encourage Christians to understand themselves in the same way?

Wasn't it seeming to be very, very afraid of studying philosophy

or having arguments or conversations with people

because if you do, you're going to get captured?

Like, isn't that sort of, like, aren't what you're describing

like almost something which the Bible teaches?

Well, people who comment like that have a lot of validity

because, in fact, it's been a very consistent Christian problem.

I'm ancient of days.

I heard Rex Murphy say that he was wrapping the pharaohs in his linen cloths

before he became a mummy.

And I sort of feel almost like I'm getting that old myself.

But in the church that I grew up in,

and then when I became a Christian that I attended,

there was very much a deep fear about knowledge and about the world.

In fact, I had people take me aside and say that I shouldn't go to Carleton

to study philosophy.

I should go to Prairie Bible College

because if I went to Carleton to study sociology and philosophy

and things, psychology and things like that,

I would end up losing my faith.

And there is, in fact, a very large Christian evangelical

or very Catholic.

There's different types of subcultures

where you just read the right type of literature,

you read the right type of blogs,

you watch the right type of movies

because there are, in fact, many Christians

who feel that we are Christians.

We are balloons filled with Christ

in a world full of pins.

And so we have to be very, very careful.

Well, just before we look at this,

I just want to, you know, when I was playing around with this,

you always have to be careful about rabbit trails.

But if you could put the first point up,

that would be very handy.

There's actually like a type of biblical image

which is sort of similar to this image

of we are balloons filled with feelings

or we are just balloons filled with feelings

on a world filled with pins.

And it's actually a biblical idea

which is sort of similar but profoundly different.

And different, in fact, if you compare the two things,

I don't know how you'd make a poster out of this,

an inspirational poster.

But this is actually a very, very, very different way

to understand things

even though it has some similarities to the balloon imagery.

And what I've done is I've put together

Genesis chapter 1 with basically

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

a big part of the book of Ecclesiastes.

And in the book of Ecclesiastes,

which begins vanity of vanities in most translations,

but vanity of vanities is a very poor translation,

it's better to understand the Hebrew word

which is all the way through the whole book,

like constantly, as the word vapor.

Something which is very, very transient.

In fact, for Canadians,

the best image of what the Hebrew word

is trying to communicate

is when it gets very cold out in the winter

in January or February,

and when you breathe, what do you see?

You see your breath.

You see vapor.

And that's actually the type of image

which the book of Ecclesiastes

is trying to communicate

about the fact that human beings

and all reality is temporary.

It changes.

It's fragile.

It's like the breath that you breathe

on a very cold winter's day,

and you can see the breath,

but you don't see it very long

because it passes very quickly.

And it's a message all the way

through the book of Ecclesiastes.

But at the same time,

I think it's in chapter 3,

it has this profound image

of how God has put eternity

into the human heart.

And he puts eternity into the human heart

in its context.

It's talking a little bit

about our longings and our yearnings,

that even though we are vapor,

there's a longing and yearning

for eternity

and a knowledge

that there is something

that is eternal

that isn't just something

which is transient.

And so if you put the Old Testament idea

of the image of God,

you get something like this.

You are like a vapor,

yet you bear the image

of the triune God,

and he has put eternity

into your heart.

Similar to the balloon image,

but very different.

But let's look at this whole question.

If you turn in your Bibles

to Colossians chapter 2,

Colossians 2:9

verse 9,

verse 8 and following,

let's look at this text

and see if in fact

this text could be used

to say that Christians

are like balloons

and world filled with pins.

And in other words,

there's danger all around us

and that challenges to us

or hard times to us

will just fundamentally

we're weak

and we're only going to get weak

and challenges

will just make us weak

and so we need to live

very, very protected

and closeted lives.

Well, let's look at the text again

and see what it says.

And at first,

it says this,

see to it that no one

takes you captive

by philosophy

and empty deceit

according to human tradition,

according to the elemental spirits

of the world

and not according to Christ.

I'll read that again.

And in fact,

actually,

if this was all you knew

of this whole topic

in the Bible,

then you'd have to

sort of maybe think

that it's talking

about this type

of a balloon imagery

of us being very,

very fragile.

See to it that no one

takes you captive.

It's clearly a warning,

by the way.

It's a warning,

a threat.

That's very clear

in the original language

as well.

It's a warning

that there's a threat,

there's a danger.

And it puts it like this,

see to it that no one

takes you captive

and here the idea

is that you'll become a slave.

Whether it's ships

in battle

taking another ship,

defeating another ship

and making the crew captive

or whether it's an army

that defeats another army

and so the soldiers

are caught

and are captive

and when you're caught

as captives

at the time

that Paul was writing,

then you're sold

into slavery.

And so there's just

clearly a type

of a threat

that there's a way

of encountering people,

there's ways

of encountering arguments

that can lead

to you being kept,

being taken captive.

See to it that no one

takes you captive

by philosophy

and empty deceit.

Why?

Well, because you see

this philosophy

is empty,

it's deceptive

and it's according

to human tradition.

In other words,

it just comes out

of human beings

that are in rebellion

against God.

That's just what it emerges

out of.

And it is according

to the elemental spirits

of the world.

And that's a reference

to demons,

by the way,

fundamentally.

So, in other words,

there's things

which will deceive you,

they're empty,

there's philosophies,

and philosophy here

means any system

of knowledge.

It can refer

to a religion,

it can refer

to an ideology,

it's just any system

of knowledge.

It would be sort of

a more literal way

of translating

into our language

any system of knowledge,

any system of thinking,

any system of discourse

or conversation

or of religion

is ultimately

just something

that comes merely

out of human beings

in rebellion

against God

or from demons.

And you have to be careful

they don't make you slaves.

And so this,

in fact,

does sound very much

almost,

doesn't it,

as if the world

is filled with danger

and we have to be

very careful.

But,

but,

if this was the only verse,

that's, I think,

how we'd have to take it.

But it's not the only verse.

And the verse goes

in a very surprising direction

immediately after that

in verse 9.

And just before I start

reading verses 9 and 10,

I'm going to put

the big idea

behind verses,

one of the big ideas

behind verses 8 to 15,

and in fact,

the whole book of Colossians.

If you could put

the point up here,

I'll explain it in a moment.

It is this,

in Christ,

you are anti-fragile.

In Christ,

you are anti-fragile.

It's the big idea

of the text.

I'll explain what it means

in a moment.

But let's look at

verses 9 to 10.

So,

here we have this apparent danger,

but yet what happens

in verse 9?

It doesn't go on and on

and on and on

about the danger.

In fact,

it goes in a very,

very different tact

to help us

to understand the danger.

It goes like this

in verse 9.

For in him,

that's Christ,

in him,

the whole fullness

of deity dwells bodily,

and you have been filled

in him,

who is the head

of all rule

and authority.

It's a very,

very,

it's the,

these two verses

are the memory verse

for this week.

Those of you who look

at my blog,

I know there's two

or three of us,

and after the blog

comes the growing

in grace,

and I always suggest

a memory verse

to try to memorize

for the week.

And for this week,

our memory verse

is verses 9 and 10.

For in him,

the whole fullness

of deity dwells bodily,

and you have been filled

in him,

who is the head

of all rule

and authority.

And rule and authority

there are references

to demonic powers

in this particular case.

So notice this very,

very,

very powerful image

that when you put

your faith and trust

in Christ,

you go in him.

And yet,

in a sense,

when you go in him,

he fills you

with all of his fullness.

It's a little bit like,

it's almost as if,

in a sense,

the vapor.

Remember I said

that you bear

the image of God,

and your vapor

that bears the image

of God,

and God has put eternity,

the longing for eternity

into your heart.

It's as if when the vapor

enters eternity,

eternity fills the vapor.

When you put

the vapor

into eternity,

eternity fills

the vapor.

And if eternity

fills the vapor,

it's eternal.

So what does this mean?

So you see,

the very, very first thing

it's trying to communicate

to us is,

yes,

the world is dangerous,

and I'm going to return

to that at the end

if I don't yell at me

or something like that,

and I'll make sure

that I talk about it.

But yes,

there are dangers,

there are demons,

and there are,

in fact,

systems of thought

that are just human

tradition and rebellions

against God.

That's absolutely true.

To not think that

is to be foolish.

To not think that

is just literally

to be foolish.

There really are dangers.

However,

when you're thinking

about the dangers,

remember this.

Remember that when you

put yourself in Christ,

Christ filled you,

and now you have been

filled in him

who is the head

of all rule and authority,

and he is the fullness

of deity,

and he now

is filling you.

In Christ,

you are anti-fragile.

So what is this idea?

It's a very,

not very,

very well-known idea,

being anti-fragile.

It was developed

by a Lebanese thinker

about eight years ago,

and it was developed

by a Lebanese thinker

because he thought

that English

was missing a word

for an important idea,

and because English

was missing a word

for an important idea,

we kept being misled

in how we understood

and analyzed things

because it's easy

for human beings,

and he's writing this

in 2012,

to think that we're

fundamentally fragile,

that chaos or threats

are going to always

just make us weaker,

and so he uses

these two analogies

leading up to the third one.

Imagine for a moment now

that rather than this

being a Starbucks coffee cup,

which happens to have

water in it right now,

and I have a wine glass here

because when it comes time

for communion,

I don't want just

a little tiny bit of wine.

I want a wine glass

of wine during communion,

so I brought my own wine glass,

and it's up here,

and sometimes I get talking

like this,

and I go like this,

and I knock the wine glass

off of the table,

and it falls on the ground,

and what's going to happen?

It'll break.

Why?

Because wine glasses

are fragile.

So I do that one week,

and then the next week,

Lisa, realizing that I've

just broken a wine glass

and that given how I talk,

I'm going to break them

every week,

she brings me,

out of the goodness

of her heart,

a plastic wine glass

so that when I get excited

and I move my hands like this,

I knock the plastic wine glass

down to the ground,

and nothing happens

to plastic, right?

I just pick it up,

wipe it off,

and I can use it

time and time.

Every week,

I can knock that plastic

wine glass down on the ground,

and I'll just keep going

and going and going.

But human beings,

and much in reality,

is neither fragile or plastic.

There's a different category,

and that's where he developed

this term anti-fragile.

That there are,

I mean,

obviously,

things which are anti-fragile

can die,

but a characteristic

of being anti-fragile

is that,

in fact,

challenge

is necessary

for it,

and challenge

and threat

makes it stronger,

not weaker.

And he uses two examples

to try to communicate that.

The first is bones.

If I was to decide

over the next week

that I want to protect

my bones,

my skeletal structure,

and so all I'm going to do

is just sit on a couch.

Occasionally,

I'll have people lift me up

so I don't get bed sores,

but I'm just going to sit

on the couch

for a whole year.

At the end of the year,

my bones will be weaker,

not stronger,

because the fact of the matter is

is if you want to have

strong bones,

walk.

If you want to have

strong bones,

do other things

with your upper body,

because if you don't,

your bones will actually

get weaker.

Your bones are

anti-fragile.

I can fall off of something

and literally break my bones,

which obviously

isn't a good thing,

but my bones need

constant stress

to actually be healthy

and to be healthy

for a long time.

The other example

that he used

was an immune system,

believe it or not.

If I got all of a sudden

very, very unbelievably

terrified about COVID-19

and I call up Bill Gates

and say,

could you lend me

a billion dollars

to create an environment

where for the next

six months

or nine months

or a year

before a vaccine is found,

I'm going to be

in an environment

that has no germs,

no viruses,

it's completely,

utterly,

1,000% sterile.

And I was to live in there

and somehow

all of the food

that came in

was always protected

against that.

At the end of the year,

my immune system

would not be stronger,

it would be weaker.

because immune systems

actually need,

like right now,

for those of you

who are paranoid,

welcome to Church of the Messiah,

I will make you

more paranoid.

But the fact of the matter

is we're always

in contact with viruses,

we're always in contact

with germs,

we're always in contact

with all that type of stuff,

and it helps make us healthy.

Which is why sometimes

if you use too much

antibacterial things

in your soap,

it'll actually be worse for you

than using non-antibacterial.

You need to have experience

with bacteria

to be healthy and strong.

And so,

what the Bible is saying here

with this profound truth,

it's saying,

yes, there's dangers,

okay?

There are people,

there are movements

who will try to make you captive.

There are, in fact, demons.

There are, in fact,

teachings which are influenced

by demons to some degree.

And there's human tradition

that just merely comes out

of rebellion against God.

Yes, that's true.

But you are not

a balloon

filled with the Holy Spirit

in a world full with pins.

You are anti-fragile.

And, in fact,

if you just live in your ghetto,

it's only going to make you weaker.

I mean, one of the things

which is so profound

about this text,

which is missed

by people who interpret

in a fragile way

rather than an anti-fragile way,

is that Paul wrote this

while he was in jail.

Why was he in jail?

He was in jail

because he told people

about Jesus.

And when he told people

about Jesus,

they would have arguments

with him.

And quite literally,

they weren't able

to beat him

because he could respond.

So what did they do?

They threw him in jail.

It's the same thing

with the Pharisees

and the Sadducees.

They couldn't beat Jesus

in arguments.

So how did they respond?

We've got to kill him.

And so the message

of this text

is to say,

Christian,

you are anti-fragile

when you are in Christ.

That's who you are.

And if you're anti-fragile,

that means you need

to seek to do good

in your workplace.

And anytime you seek

to do good in your workplace,

there'll be people

who will push back at that.

You need to seek

to make sure

that in your workplace

there's justice.

And if you do that,

there will be people

who push back.

In your neighborhood

or in your community,

you need to speak

against racism

or any type of prejudice

or discrimination.

And if you do that,

there'll be people

who push back at you.

And you need to share Jesus.

You need to tell him

that in fact,

there is a God

that does exist.

And the God that does exist

isn't the God of Canadians.

The God that does exist

is the Father,

the Son,

and the Holy Spirit,

three persons,

one God.

And this sounds like

a bit of an odd idea,

but in fact,

it is in fact

the true nature of God.

And this is a wonderful truth.

And Jesus is the only way

to heaven.

And he is the one

who can fit you for heaven.

He is the one

who can make you anti-fragile.

He is the one

that you who are vapor,

made in the image,

bearing the image of God

and with eternity

in your heart,

that he is the means

by which you enter

into eternity.

And when you enter

into eternity,

you are filled with eternity.

You are no longer

just vapor.

And when you say that,

people will push back.

But that's good.

That's good.

Still do good.

Still be kind.

Still pursue justice.

Still share the gospel.

Brothers and sisters,

you are anti-fragile in Christ.

You are anti-fragile.

And by the way,

because what happens in Christ

is we are restored

to true humanity,

it means that the model

of human beings

fundamentally being anti-fragile,

which is so common

in our culture,

is wrong.

I mean,

people in our culture

being fundamentally fragile

is not true.

I mean,

obviously,

on one hand,

it's true,

people are fragile.

But this idea

that to be in a world

where you can never

have anybody question you

or challenge you

is a good world

is actually fundamentally wrong.

It's an anti-human idea

and will only lead to harm

in any school,

community,

neighborhood,

or country

where the idea grows.

Paul goes even deeper

into this

to try to argue

and try to bring home to you

how important this idea

is about Christians

being anti-fragile.

Look what comes right after

verse 10

in verse 11.

In him,

so he continues

to deepen the idea

and he's going to use

an Old Testament image,

what our Jewish friends

call the Tanakh

and Christians

call the Old Testament.

He uses an Old Testament image

and he uses a New Testament image

and he shows how both of them,

how they point to something,

these rituals and symbolism,

the symbolism of circumcision,

for Israel

and the ritual of baptism,

point to a reality

that only God can do.

And just by the way,

the Bible only talks

about male circumcision,

never female circumcision.

Female circumcision

would have been viewed,

it should be viewed

as abhorrent.

No woman should ever

be circumcised.

It's an abhorrent idea.

And whenever you see

circumcision in the Bible,

it's only referring

to male circumcision,

never female circumcision.

But listen to this.

Verse 11.

In him also,

you were circumcised

with a circumcision

made without hands

by putting off

the body of flesh

of the flesh

by the circumcision

of Christ.

It's a,

and having been buried

with him in baptism

in which you were also

raised with him

through faith

in the powerful working

of God

who raised him

from the dead.

They're very,

very dense sentences

and I don't want to spend

a whole lot of time with it,

but what it's saying is

that if you go through

and read the whole Old Testament,

you'll see that

to be a Jewish person,

you had,

the male had to be circumcised,

but it also said

that in fact circumcision

pointed to a spiritual reality

that God wanted people

to enter into.

It pointed to something

that only God could do

and circumcision was a,

in a sense,

by dealing with

the whole process of life,

there's a sense of a

cutting away

of mere human life

to be separate for God

and that's something

which Christ does

for us on the cross

and in the same way

in baptism,

there's this picture,

the wonderful picture

of a human being

being in a sense dying

but also being

immersed in the water

so they're immersed

in Christ,

they're immersed in death

but they're united

with Christ

because they're immersed

in water,

they're immersed in death

by being with Christ

and then they're raised

from the dead

and it's the same image

that when we put

our faith and trust

in Christ

that we are immersed

in eternity

and we're immersed

in his dying,

we're immersed

in his resurrection,

we're now immersed

in life

and this is only something

that God can do

and then he continues

to sort of double down

on this image

of what it is

that Christ does for us

in verses 13 and 14.

Look how it goes.

And you who are dead

in your trespasses

and the uncircumcision

of your flesh,

God made alive

together with him

having forgiven us

all our trespasses

by,

and the word here

is cancelling

but a better word,

a more literal word

would be expunging

and I think the reason

the translators

didn't use the word

expunge

is that not many people

know what that word means

but it means a complete,

it would be

to completely erase

everything,

it would be

to completely remove.

It would be as if

somebody

who's been very,

very bad

and very,

very naughty

wanted to run

for president

and they were

very worried

about all of the things

that they'd said

in social media

for the last 20 years

of their life

and there was some,

one of the smart person

came up with a way

to expunge

all of it

from the internet

and from everybody's computer

so that it's not even

there anymore,

that's the word.

And so by expunging

the record of death

that stood against us

with its legal demands

and rather than legal demands,

a better word

is regulations there,

this he set aside

or expunged,

nailing it

to the cross.

And here's the image here

which is very,

remember this is all him

doubling down

on this image.

So we have cut flowers here,

we have roses.

After the service,

everybody here is welcome

to take a rose home.

Just happy Thanksgiving.

But here it is.

If you could put up

the point, Andrew,

that would be very helpful.

What the Bible text

is saying here is this,

that apart from Christ,

a human being

is a cut rose.

Apart from Christ,

a human being

is a cut rose.

You see,

these roses,

they're in water.

I learned the hard way

that it has to be

cold water,

not hot water.

And there's whatever

that little preservative

food stuff is

that you get

when you buy roses,

it's mixed into the water.

But these roses are dying.

In a sense,

they're dead,

aren't they?

I mean,

they look beautiful.

But they're not

planted in the ground.

And that means

they're cut off from life.

They're literally

cut off from life.

And every human being

apart from Christ

is a cut rose.

Beautiful.

Every human being

is beautiful.

But a cut rose.

And one of you

can correct me afterwards.

I looked on Google

and I seem to get

an answer on Google.

And if Google tells you

it's true,

it must be true,

as we all know,

because they only tell you

the truth on the Internet.

But from what I understand,

it's literally impossible

to take one of these

and go take home

and plant it

or to splice it

into a rose thing.

That it's literally,

there's no hope for this.

Each rose that you take

will only

wither and wilt

and die.

There's absolutely

no hope from it.

And you see,

this is what actually

Paul is trying to say.

You know,

the whole image,

the whole image

of circumcision,

of cutting,

is to help emphasize

that you are a cut rose.

But what actually,

there's this profound,

if your heart is circumcised,

what God does

is he takes that part

of your heart,

that part of who you are,

that who you are,

which is in rebellion

against God,

and he cuts it away

so that you can be

reattached to God.

It's a miracle.

A miracle of grace

that God does for you.

And let's use the image of,

remember,

I was using that type

of image of being filled

with Christ.

You're in him

and you're filled in him

because you're in him.

And it's the same type

of thing,

is that,

is the same image

that God does this miracle

by which this cut rose,

which is,

can't be replanted

and you're like that

and there's nothing

you can do about it,

but in Christ

you are now immersed

in Christ in his death

and immersed in his life.

And now you are immersed

in life

and God does this miracle

whereby the cut rose,

is now replanted

in the source of life.

You and I are in Christ.

You and I are in eternity.

And only eternity,

which is a bit of a symbol

for God,

can do that.

You can't do it yourself,

but he does it for you.

And then just to close

and then we're going

to wrap it up,

look at the very final word.

We'll read verse 14 again

by canceling the record of debt.

This is this idea

that every time

you do something wrong,

there's a type of debt.

And then when it said,

that stood against us

with its legal demands

and a better image

is actually regulations.

And like the different

regulations of the world,

Paul's going to develop

this image

in the next week

we'll look at it.

But everything

that in fact

is truly done wrong

by God's perfect standards

and everything

that's done wrong

according to human regulations

and how human beings think,

all of those things

that cause us

a sense of guilt

and a sense of shame,

God will sort out

all of those things

that are human regulations

that have a grain

of truth to them

and those which are just foolish

or even evil or demonic,

but they feel like

they're against us.

And so, Paul,

it's this double image

of, in a sense,

real moral truth

and human regulations.

That's the double image

here in this verse

is that what you and I

have to understand

is that whatever it is,

the things which are

really wrong

that you've really done

where there's really a debt

and you can't deal with it

and all human regulations

and God will sort out

which ones are true

and which ones are

just stuff you shouldn't

even think about,

all of those

are nailed to the cross

when Jesus dies

to understand that

Jesus is bearing that for you.

And then in verse 15,

he disarmed the rulers

and authorities,

once again a reference

to demons,

he disarmed the rulers

and authorities

and put them to open shame

by triumphing over them

in him.

So two things.

Most of our culture

now believes in demons.

When I was preaching

back when I first ordained

in 1985,

probably very few people did.

And so I'd have to argue

for the existence of demons.

Now we have to argue

for other types of things

because the majority

of our culture accepts them,

but they don't really accept them

in the sense that

they still believe foolish things

like in Ghostbusters

that an evil spirit

can be put in a box

because if you have

some type of electricity

or something like that,

which is just foolish.

But if there really is,

in fact,

a being

which is invisible in spirit

that can affect you

and is hostile to you,

then it means

there can be

no greater enemy.

You can't shoot it.

You can't poison it.

It doesn't care about Twitter.

You can Twitter mob the devil

all day

around the block

and only make him happy.

You can't shoot him.

You can't do anything.

You can't starve him.

And if there is a being like that,

and that being

and the demons

have in fact

also been disarmed,

then Christian,

in Christ,

you are anti-fragile.

How does he disarm them?

Because the main way

that the demonic world

affects human beings

is through accusation,

lies, and slander.

You're a terrible person.

You're a failure.

You'll never be a success.

You see that thing

that you said

the other day in the party?

Everybody's thinking about it

and they all think

you're a terrible, evil person.

You're ugly.

You weigh too much.

You don't weigh enough.

You're not strong enough.

You're too

over too many muscles.

It doesn't matter.

That little voice

that sits on your shoulder

that speaks to you

and to me all the time,

that's how every human being

experiences slander.

Nobody will ever forgive you.

You will never forgive yourself.

This is the end of you.

You're terrible.

And if,

when the demon does

whisper into your ear,

this is a text to say,

in Christ,

I am anti-fragile.

In Christ,

demon,

when he died on the cross,

every real thing

that I've done wrong

was named by God

and put on that cross

and he paid for me

because he loved me

and every regulation,

and I can't figure out

whether I,

what I should care about

all these cultural things

and which are right

and which are wrong.

I can't figure out

if I should lose weight,

put on muscle,

have more money,

give more money away.

I can't figure out

all your regulations,

but I can tell you this,

whatever regulations there are,

that was on the cross too.

He paid them all.

So shut up,

demon.

Cling to the cross.

Christian,

you're anti-fragile.

I want to conclude

with the final idea

and I'm going to just talk

a little bit about

the earlier text.

If you put up the final point,

that would be wonderful.

Here's the message of the text.

Christian,

brother and sister in Christ,

if you are here

and you've put your faith

and trust in Jesus,

you are my brother,

you are my sister,

you are my brother or sister,

you walk in the dying days

of the doomed dragon.

That's where we live right now.

We live in the dying days

of the doomed dragon.

So remember,

you have been filled in Christ

in whom the whole fullness

of deity dwells.

do justice,

do kindness,

do mercy,

share the gospel,

cast out demons,

counsel people

who are thinking

that they get weaker

and weaker

and weaker

all of the time

and live free,

live without fear.

Now,

the earlier text

warns us against presumption.

That's what it warns us against.

See,

presumption is the great substitute

to faith.

In faith,

and by the way,

if you've never read

the Narnia Chronicles,

read,

I think it's Prince Caspian.

There's this spectacular image

in the middle

of Prince Caspian

where there's this poor kid

called Eustace

who's really a miserable kid

who does all these terrible things

and he does something

that turns him into a dragon

and Aslan is this Christ figure

and Aslan comes

and attacks Eustace

and he feels these,

the Aslan's claws

ripping at the flesh

but what he doesn't realize

is that as Aslan's claws

are ripping away

at the flesh

that what he's doing

is he's killing the dragon

so that the real Eustace

can stand before him.

It's a very wonderful image.

You should read it.

It's in the Narnia Chronicles

by C.S. Lewis.

I know it's written

for 12-year-olds

but it's just spectacular stuff

and you should read it.

And guess what I'm going to say

is that no human being's faith

is so unbelievably pure

without any type of presumption

that God's waiting

until there's no presumption

until you're only 100%.

That's another type of works.

He weighs,

he doesn't weigh my merits.

He pardons my offenses.

He's not waiting for me

to have only 100% pure faith

with no presumption.

He takes that little tiny

mustard grain of faith

in the forest of presumption

and he takes me as his own.

Praise God.

That's so wonderful.

But the presumption

is the substitute of faith.

Presumption is this sense

that somehow or another

it's because of who I am.

It's because I'm white.

It's because I'm black.

It's because I'm Asian.

It's because I'm African.

It's because I'm American.

It's because I vote for Trump.

It's because I hate Trump.

It's because I'm good at church.

It's because I do all of these types of things

that God loves me

and it's a type of presumption

and this type of presumption

means you're already dead

and you're going to fall prey.

You're already filled

with human tradition.

You're already filled with the seed

and you're just going to be

more prey to it.

Because you see,

real faith says,

Father, grow in me

more and more and more

a sense that apart from you

I am a cut rose.

And it's only by the miracle

of your grace

that you have done the miracle

of giving me new life

and new birth.

nothing in my hands I have.

And it's not my sanctification

that determines my justification.

It's all grace,

all grace,

all the time.

So if you have a world

with a doomed and dying dragon,

the dragon's dangerous.

But Christian,

you're anti-fragile.

You are going to die,

by the way.

And maybe you'll end up

being thrown in jail.

And maybe all sorts of other types

of things will happen to you.

But remember,

what?

You walk

in the dying days

of the doomed dragon.

So remember,

we need to remember it.

That's why we come to church.

That's why we have small groups.

That's why we have spiritual

and Christian friends.

That's why we read the Bible.

Because we need to remember,

you have been filled in Christ

in whom

the whole fullness

of deity

dwells.

I invite you to stand.

And we're going to close

by saying together

the general thanksgiving

from the Book of Common Prayer,

which I think is

just a wonderful,

especially in the Book of Colossians,

a wonderful reminder

of grace

and how we are

to live our lives.

So please pray it with me.

Almighty God,

Father of all mercies,

we are unworthy servants

to give you

most humble

and hearty thanks

for all your goodness

and loving kindness

to us

and to all people.

We bless you

for our creation,

preservation,

and all the blessings

of this life.

But above all,

for your inestimable love

in the redemption

of the world

by our Lord Jesus Christ,

for the means of grace

and for the hope of glory.

And we beseech you,

give us that due sense

of all your mercies,

that our hearts

may be unfeignedly thankful,

and that we show forth

your praise

not only with our lips,

but in our lives,

by giving up ourselves

to your service,

and by walking before you

in holiness

and righteousness

all our days,

through Jesus Christ,

our Lord,

to whom with you

and the Holy Spirit

be all honor and glory,

world without end.

Amen.