A Transforming Hope

Father, we come before you confessing that we forget the gospel very quickly.

We forget about you. It's so easy to forget.

Father, even when we're in worship, it's easy just to be thinking about what we have to do at work or a bill or something else.

Father, it's so easy for us to have amnesia.

And we ask, Father, that the Holy Spirit would come with gentle and deep power upon us

to bring afresh to us the wonder and the glory and the power of the gospel,

what Jesus has done for us in a sinless life, sin-bearing death, mighty resurrection.

Father, pour out the Holy Spirit upon us that we might know Jesus more and be known by him more

and that we might long, Father, to be with you and the Holy Spirit and the Son forever.

And this we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. Please be seated.

When the lockdown happened, several people sent me emails wondering how on earth I was going to have any sermon illustrations

given that I couldn't go to coffee shops anymore.

And I have to confess, sometimes it was a little bit of a challenge for me

given that I was sort of locked out of a whole range of conversations,

especially in the early days of the lockdown.

So this week I had a conversation in a coffee shop.

There's a fellow that I've had quite a few friendly conversations with.

He's a wonderful, wonderful fellow.

The type of person, very secular, very successful in his professional career, now retired.

And he'd be the sort of guy that if you lived in a condo, you'd hope he lived above you or below you.

He'd always be quiet and he'd never complain.

If he was your neighbor, he'd always help you with whatever task.

Yeah, just the type of guy you'd love to have as your neighbor.

Well read, very, very thoughtful.

We've had some very interesting talks.

And I hadn't seen him.

He goes to Florida for the winter and I just hadn't seen him in this particular coffee shop until now.

And we had about a 10-minute conversation just the other day.

And the conversation turned to his just concern and puzzlement of what was going on in Canada, United States,

with the craziness, not just the lockdown, but the riots in the states and lots of just craziness going on.

And he shocked me by saying something to me that I wasn't expecting.

This is a secular fellow, secular Jew.

And he shocked me by saying, you know, George, the reason Canada and the United States isn't getting so much trouble

is because people have stopped going to church.

What?

You, a secular person, saying to me that the reason there's so many problems in our society

is because people have stopped going to church?

Like, okay, if you think I'm good at witnessing, I'm terrible at witnessing.

Like, this should have been one of those big doors you walk through, share the gospel.

I didn't know what to say.

Like, it was like the last thing in the world I expected him to say to me.

And he talked about it for a couple of minutes, and then the conversation kept moving.

But he said, you know, he said it's in church that, you know, schools are no longer able to really teach morality.

This is him saying this to me.

This isn't me.

Oh, just him.

They can't really teach morality.

The media definitely can't.

Hollywood definitely can't.

People get this basic moral teaching and learning how to live with people who are different than them in church.

And they don't go to church anymore.

They don't take their kids to church.

And that's part of the reason we have so much trouble.

So, I mean, one of the nice things about developing friendships is, and you can pray about this,

and I'll have some other time where I can talk to him about this,

because I wasn't really able to follow up very well in that particular conversation.

But I'm working on my sermon.

In fact, he'd interrupted me on working on my sermon.

And I'm thinking about Colossians and what I have to preach.

And it's one of those things, and I'll find out in heaven that one of you were praying for me,

because I realized about two years earlier in a coffee shop,

I had a very, very different conversation about the Christian faith and its effect on morality.

In that conversation, I finally had this remarkable opportunity to share with this person what it is that Christians believe,

that the Christian faith is not about advice.

It's not about moral advice.

It's a very different conversation.

It's not about moral advice.

It's not about how you live.

It's not about rules.

It's news.

And the person said, well, what's the news?

I said, well, the news is that Jesus has come from God,

and that by his sinless life, I'm giving you a short version of it,

his sinless life and his death upon the cross,

he's provided the means whereby you can be reconciled to God.

What Jesus did for you on the cross,

there was a context to this question with the person I was talking to.

The wonderful thing about it is that every wrong thing that you have ever done in your life

and ever will do in your life is dealt with by Jesus when he dies upon the cross,

like everything, from the moment you're able to make your first moral decision and you choose wrongly

to what is even for your future, and this was a young person,

and if you live 60 more years,

every single thing in the past, present, and future that you've ever done

is covered by what Jesus did for you and for me and for every person in the cross.

And when you put your faith and trust in him, you receive that.

Everything forgiven.

And this person's response to me, they looked at me for a second,

they said, that's terrible news.

Because if that's true,

why on earth would you or any other Christian ever try to do good again for the rest of your life?

So you see, two conversations.

Our problems are because people have stopped going to church.

I tell a person it's not about moral advice or moral striving or moral living,

it's about the gospel.

Why on earth would anybody do something good if that's true?

The text that we're going to look at today actually talks about both issues

in a very, very powerful and instructive way.

So if you turn in your Bibles to Colossians chapter 1,

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

Colossians chapter 1,

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

this is the first week of a sermon series on the book of Colossians.

We're going to go through it from cover to cover or from beginning to end.

And we're looking at verses 1 to 14 today.

And now, a bit of a time moment here.

I do this occasionally.

Grammar nerd moment.

Okay?

And we know who are the grammar...

I mean, I don't know who all the grammar nerds are,

but you know if you're a grammar nerd.

So for the rest of you, just pause.

But for those of us who are grammar nerds,

at the original language, you have the first two verses,

which are two sentences.

And then verses 3 to 8 are one sentence in the original language.

And verses 9 to 14 is another single sentence in the original language.

And at the beginning of the second sentence,

you can see that the two sentences are linked.

Okay?

It's one of the things that no editor would ever allow Paul to do this today.

He would be told to rewrite and make smaller sentences.

But he writes this long, long sentence,

and then another long sentence.

And what it means is, because of the way the sentences build,

is that to understand what he's talking about,

in a sense, throughout most of 1 to 14,

you have to understand what he says at the end of the second sentence.

So that's what we're going to do.

We're going to first look at the end of the second sentence.

And I think I asked Andrew to put on the screen verses 13 and 14.

This is why it's good to have your own Bibles,

because it doesn't always perfectly match up.

I'm going to begin with the last little bit of verse 12,

and then verses 13 and 14.

And then I'll explain what's going on here,

and we'll get into it.

So here's how it works.

So I'll just start reading in verse 12,

and then you'll see what's going to be on the screen.

Giving thanks to the Father.

Now here's where it really begins.

Who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light?

Verse 13.

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness

and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins.

Now you'll notice in the language that God qualifies us,

that God delivers us, that God transfers us,

that God redeems us, that God gives us forgiveness.

And it's even stronger in the original language,

because in the original language there's a text,

a tense called the divine passive,

which makes it very clear to those reading it in the original language

that it's something God does.

So here we see these powerful sets of images,

that God qualifies us for something,

God delivers us, he transfers us,

he redeems us, and he forgives us.

That God, what we're seeing is that the triune God,

by his grace, accomplishes something marvelous for you

that you can never accomplish for yourself.

The triune God, by his grace,

accomplishes something marvelous for you

that you can never accomplish for yourself.

Now, I don't know how many of us have Jewish friends or acquaintances.

One of the things about Jewish people in Canada,

this isn't a put-down or anything, it's just an obvious,

I mean, virtually no Christian reads the New Testament in Greek,

and virtually no Jews that you meet today

reads what they would call the Torah or the Tanakh,

and we call the Old Testament.

They don't read it in Hebrew, they don't know it in Hebrew.

They would know whatever stories they know,

or texts they know, or even the Ten Commandments,

they'd know them in English.

And a similar type of thing happened,

was going on at the time that this letter was written,

in the early 60s.

There would have been in this congregation and in this region

a lot of Jewish people,

but most of the Jewish people probably didn't know any Hebrew.

And when they read their Bible, their Tanakh, their Torah,

they would have read a Greek version of it.

And when the pagans who had become Christians in Colossae,

when they read, they went to a church service like this

and opened the Bible,

they would read like from Isaiah or Exodus or whatever,

but it would always be from a Greek version.

They would hear everything in Greek,

and they spoke Greek.

And now the interesting thing in this text is

that let's say when the person was reading this letter

to the whole congregation,

he said,

just before I read this letter from Paul,

I want you to know something really cool.

And he'd get out maybe his version of the book of Exodus,

and he'd read this text out of Exodus

about how God takes the people of Israel

out of the slavery and bondage in Egypt

and brings them into the promised land.

And then he says,

oh, and there's something else that's really, really cool.

And he says,

I'll go to the book of Isaiah.

And then he reads these different parts

because one of the things about Isaiah

is Isaiah takes the same language of the book of Exodus,

and he talks about it

and uses it to talk about this time in the future

when God is going to do this remarkable thing,

not just for the Jewish people,

but for all people,

where he's going to deliver them

out of some type of bondage

into something like a promised land.

But it's a spiritual,

it's a new Exodus

and a new promised land in the future.

And so maybe the person reading,

just before he reads Paul's letters,

he says,

I want to do this really cool thing, okay?

I don't know if they use words like cool,

but let's say they did.

And they read these two things,

and then he reads these verses,

and they'd go,

oh, it's the same language.

He's using the same words

that when Paul is talking about qualifying

and delivering

and the share of your inheritance

and even the word light,

and when he's using the word forgiveness

and redemption,

it's all language from the book of Exodus

and the book of Isaiah.

And so what it means is that

they would all understand

that this isn't just something,

this isn't just something

which we would call spiritual or fanciful,

like have a good story

to inspire you,

to give you some hope,

that Paul is communicating

that this is what you've understood,

that God does something real for you,

that in the sinless life of Jesus

and his teaching and his miracles,

and then in his death upon the cross,

which you have to understand

is done in your place

and in your stead as a sacrifice,

and that when Jesus does this

and dies for you

and you put your faith and trust in him,

God does something objective

and real for you.

He takes you from the domain

or the dominion

or the realm

or the country of darkness,

and he does,

just like he did with Israel

when Israel couldn't get out of Egypt themselves,

and God does this remarkable series of miracles

to literally bring them out of slavery

and bondage into the promised land,

so God has done something to you.

He's literally bringing you out of dominion

and domain of darkness

and bringing you into a completely different land.

All the things that Isaiah had prophesied

were going to happen in the future,

that's what just happened in Jesus,

and that's what you've entered into

when you put your faith and trust in him,

and it's real.

It's not just an imaginary thing.

It's real.

You've actually moved.

You live, in a sense,

into a new realm,

in a new kingdom,

in a new place,

and that's all seen there in the language.

It's something real,

not imaginary.

Now, some of you might have

a whole range of questions

around something like that

because it's a pretty remarkable

series of statements.

I mean, the first one of the statements is,

well, one moment, George.

You might say that,

but their butts are still in Colossi.

And you might say,

that's true about us, George,

but your butt's in Ottawa.

And the other thing is,

George, don't you think it's a little bit

harsh to describe this world

as a domain of darkness,

a dominion of darkness?

Don't you think that's a little bit harsh?

Those are great questions.

So here's the first thing.

And one of the things

about doing a sermon series is,

I'm going to talk about this

a little bit more next week.

I'm not going to give you

any type of proof for this,

but I'm going to give you

an illustration

to help you understand

the point of the imagery

and to see why they say the imagery

so that you at least have

an understanding

of why it's reasonable to say this

from within the point of view

of the Bible,

which I would say

and Paul would say

is a way to truly

and really understand the world.

It's not just my lens,

it's the proper lens.

It's actually,

that's why early on

I kept saying truth,

the gospel of truth,

entering in truth.

And Paul means

that this conforms

with the real world.

That's the claim.

I don't know how many of you

know people

who've suffered with Alzheimer's

or some other type of dementia.

There's lots of different types

of dementia.

I know that at least

some of us have.

I first really came face to face

with it in the early 90s.

That's a long time ago

when a wonderful,

wonderful,

wonderful lady

who was unbelievably kind

to us as a family

and my wife and myself

and in fact,

we've actually gave her name

to one of our daughters

as a middle name

and we didn't want to believe,

didn't know much

about dementia or Alzheimer's

and as she started

to enter into it,

we didn't want to believe it.

But at a certain point in time

when a person enters

into Alzheimer's

and dementia,

you can,

it's a reasonable type of way

to understand

or think about it

that they in some ways

enter into darkness.

And by that I mean

they don't know you anymore.

Like they don't know you.

They learn in the early stages

of Alzheimer's

to act like they know you

but it's just an act

because they actually

don't know you.

I hope I don't disappoint

some of you

who are still hoping

to have as long

as you possibly can

that relationship

with the person.

But a time will come

when they'll think,

I mean if it was,

let's say,

my mom or dad

and it means not

but they might think

I was the brother

or the husband

or somebody else

who's their father

or who knows what.

And you can see

that in a sense

it's a way to understand

what happens to them

as they enter into darkness

where they don't understand

the real world,

they're not really living

in the real world,

they couldn't survive

in the real world

because once you have

that type of Alzheimer's

or dementia

you're completely

and utterly dependent

upon others caring for you

or you would die.

And it's a type of darkness.

You see,

the message of the Bible

is this,

that in the real world,

the real world,

in the real world,

and I know I'm going to get

pushed back about this

but I'm going to say it,

in the real world

we know that everything

can't possibly happen

by chance.

Like if I was to tell you

that the Ottawa Little Theatre

was a result of one day

there was a whole pile

of industrial waste

and a whole pile

of construction materials

that were just parked there

and there was an explosion

and when the explosion

was all over

and the dust cleared,

lo and behold,

the Ottawa Little Theatre

is just the way it looks today

with this paint

and the electricity turned on

like nobody would believe you.

If I was to say

that this was just

where they stored

a whole pile of things

and there are windstorms

and after like 30 years

of windstorms,

this is what resulted,

nobody would believe you.

But the fact of the matter is,

is that the ecosystem

of the earth

is vastly more complicated

than the Ottawa Little Theatre.

Your body

is vastly more complicated

than the Ottawa Little Theatre.

And if you were to talk

to somebody

like James

or you were to talk

to somebody like Jeremiah,

they could even tell you

that the cell,

one little cell in your body

is vastly more complicated.

The Ottawa Little Theatre

is simple compared to one cell

and they would blow you away.

And so, in a sense,

what the Bible says,

and this is the great argument

of Romans,

is that everybody,

if they're really honest,

knows that there can't be

that the thing

which is most basic

is a what

and that human beings

and love

and knowledge

and insight

and all of this

and all of the order

is just a result

of blind chance

that nobody really

believes that.

That on one level,

when we're really pushed,

we have to understand

that this had to have been

created by a who.

And in fact,

more than a who

because it's beyond this,

but only the gospel

really communicates,

but only the gospel

has this one God

and three persons,

three persons,

one God,

the Father,

the Son,

and the Holy Spirit

and an eternity of love

and in a sense

of revealing

and community

and it's out of the Father,

the Son,

and the Holy Spirit,

three persons,

one God,

that all things

have been created

and even though

evil has entered,

not because of God,

but evil enters

and is disarming

and caused breakdown

in relationships

and brings death

and brings our propensity

to still do bad things

and to be selfish,

that the fact of the matter

is is that God

has created all things,

he sustains all things,

he's present

and he's powerful

and active

and it's hard not even

to look at any type of face

or experience any love

and not realize

that there must be a love

that has made all things,

that designed all things

and to live in complete

and utter denial of that

is just like a person

with Alzheimer's.

It's to be in the realm

of darkness.

Imagine for a moment

it's me

in 40 years,

30 years

and I have Alzheimer's

and I can't recognize

my wife,

I can't recognize

my children,

I can't recognize

my grandchildren anymore

but by then,

by the grace of God,

there's a cure

for Alzheimer's

and it's a very,

very quick acting cure.

They put a needle

in your body

and they inject it

and within five minutes

it's gone

and can you just imagine,

can you imagine

what it would be like

to have a camera

on that scene

that I'm just

the blank,

blankness of dementia

and this medicine

comes in

and five minutes later

I've been looking

at all these faces

in the room,

my wife,

my kids,

my grandkids,

their spouses,

not any recognition

and all of a sudden

I go,

Louise,

Tosh,

Jesse,

there'd be tears,

right?

There'd be tears

and there'd be laughter.

I was in darkness.

I was in the domain

of darkness.

I was under the rule

of darkness

and I've entered

into light

and that's what

the Bible says

is accomplished

by Jesus

and just as no

Alzheimer's patient

or dementia patient

can cure themselves

when they are in

Alzheimer's and dementia

but whatever,

if there is ever

a cure for that,

it will come from

those who don't have it.

So it is

that we cannot fix

our darkness

ourselves

and are dependent

upon salvation

from outside,

from God.

And God the Father

through the Son

and the power

of the Holy Spirit

through Jesus'

sinless life

and sin-bearing death

and God

brings that message

home to your heart.

He pierces your darkness.

2 Corinthians 4

2 Corinthians 4:1–6

verses 1-6

and He moves you

into this new domain

and you can see

the reasonableness

of the imagery.

You have to watch

the time.

Well,

Jesus' sinless life

and sin-bearing death

is offered by grace

and when we receive it,

God transfers you.

Now,

okay, George,

what about this whole thing

about,

you know,

you're still in Ottawa

and

and why would you do,

is it just all future

and how does that still

give you any type

of incentive

to do any good acts?

Well,

this is where

the rest of the text

will help us.

So if you take your Bibles,

so hopefully they're open,

now you go back

to the beginning of the text

and let's read it

and we'll see how Paul

approaches these particular

types of issues.

Verse 1,

so now we know the end

and it's the end

is in a sense

influencing everything

that Paul says

leading up to it.

It's the end

in a sense

that illuminates

the rest of the text

and here's how it goes.

Verse 1,

Paul,

an apostle of Christ Jesus

by the will of God

and Timothy,

our brother,

to the saints

and faithful brothers

and sisters in Christ

at Colossus,

I grace to you

and peace from God

our Father.

By the way,

one of the indirect ways

I'll just share with you now

of the proof

of what I've just said

is who's writing

this letter

and the remarkable

transformative word

that he's referring

to a whole pile of pagans

and calling them

his brothers and sisters.

The person who writes

this particular text,

his name is Paul,

used to be called Saul

and history shows,

and by the way,

Bart Ehrman

and even most of

the staunchest

biblical skeptics

don't deny,

in fact,

they would say

that it's historically certain

that there was

an historical man

by the name of Paul

and that he,

in fact,

was a violent

persecutor

of the Christian faith

and that his entire life

was transformed

and that he would tell you,

Bart Ehrman,

most biblical scholars,

even the most skeptical

and agnostic,

would say that,

in fact,

that transformation

would come,

if you ask Paul,

because he said

that he saw Jesus

after Jesus had died

and risen from the dead.

And that's what

completely and utterly

transformed

the entire direction

of his life.

And here he introduces

himself as Paul,

an apostle of Christ Jesus

by the will of God

and Timothy,

our brother,

to the saints

and faithful brothers

and sisters in Christ

at Colossi,

grace to you

and peace from God,

our Father.

And the word saint,

by the way,

just means an ordinary person

who's received

the gospel

and now God

has taken them

as his own.

That's all it means.

A saint is one

who belongs to God

for his purposes.

Not weighing our merits,

that's all a saint is.

It's not a special person.

It doesn't even mean

you're very good at living.

It means that God

now owns you

and you're starting

to learn to know

what it means to live

owned by the triune God.

And then the first

big long sentence,

I'll read it

all eight

and then we'll just pause

and camp there a little bit

with the time we have left.

We always thank God,

verse three,

we always thank God.

Here's Paul giving a report

about how we praise for them.

We always thank God,

the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

when we pray for you,

since we heard of your faith

in Christ Jesus

and of the love

that you have

for all the saints

because of the hope

laid up for you in heaven.

See, there's that

faith, hope, and love.

It's one of, I think,

either eight or nine times

in the New Testament

that those words

are used together

in some manner.

And I'm going to return to it.

I'll read it again.

When we heard

of your faith

in Christ Jesus

and of the love

that you have

for all the saints

because of the hope,

the reason you have love

is because of the hope

laid up for you in heaven.

Of this you have heard before

in the word of the truth,

the gospel,

which has come to you

as indeed

in the whole world

that is bearing fruit

and increasing,

as it also does among you,

since the day you heard it

and understood

the grace of God

in truth,

just as you learned it

from Epaphras,

our fellow servant.

He is a faithful minister

of Christ on your behalf

and has made known to us

your love

in the Holy Spirit.

And we'll just sort of

pause there

for a moment.

And here's the big idea

in the text.

The gospel shapes us

for a hope.

The gospel shapes you

for a hope-drawn life

that transforms.

The sermon series

is called

The Means of Grace.

I almost called

the sermon series

A Hope-Driven Life.

A Hope-Driven Life.

You know,

maybe people would

mistake it

with Rick Warren's book

and I'd sell

20 million copies

and we'll buy

a church building.

I don't know.

No.

Anyway,

but that's what

we're seeing in here

is the importance

of a hope-driven life.

You see,

the fact of the matter

is that often

when we think

of morality,

we think of

in terms of moral rules.

You understand moral rules

and you try to follow them.

And obviously,

that's an important

part of morality.

But in fact,

a far more important

morality is being

drawn by something.

You should read,

if you haven't read it,

Viktor Frankl's book.

Oh, sorry.

I should have written it down.

What's that?

Yeah,

Man's Search for Meaning.

And one of the things

which is so wonderful

about this is

he talks about

who survived the Holocaust

and those who survived

the Holocaust

were those who had

some type of hope,

some type of meaning.

And meaning

and hope

can draw you

into a whole way

of living.

And that's,

in a sense,

the big idea.

The gospel shapes you

and the gospel shapes me

for a hope-drawn,

a hope-driven life

that transforms you.

See,

go ahead and look again

at that verse.

It's verses 4 and 5.

Since we heard

of your faith in Christ,

so you put your faith

in Christ Jesus.

And when you put your faith

in Christ Jesus,

what happens?

You understand

that God does something

that you cannot do

for yourself,

that he transfers you

from the domain,

the dominion,

the kingdom of darkness,

and he transfers you

into the kingdom of light,

into the kingdom

of his beloved Son,

and to have an inheritance

in that,

to be redeemed,

to be forgiven,

because he has brought you

out of slavery,

he has brought you

out of darkness,

he has transferred you

to another life.

And so you put your faith

and trust in Jesus

and that's what happens.

And now that you have

that hope

that's secure,

since we heard

of your faith

in Christ Jesus

and of the love

that you have

for all the saints

because

of the hope

laid up for you,

in heaven,

is that that hope

draws you

into a life of love.

You enter

the Christian life

by faith in Jesus

with empty hands.

Nothing in my hands

I bring.

All I can do

is ask that you will do

what I cannot do myself.

And God the Father

says to you,

George,

I'm so glad you asked.

I have longed for you

to hear the gospel

and to say yes.

Welcome.

Your sins are forgiven

in Jesus.

The Holy Spirit

indwells you.

Your final destiny

is not death

and is not darkness.

Your final destiny

is to be in the kingdom

of my beloved son

and to share the inheritance

of the saints in light.

And knowing that

that is my final destiny,

it draws you

into a life

of love.

Not just for brothers

and sisters,

but for the world.

Some of you might say,

well,

a hope in heaven?

Like a hope in heaven?

And all that stuff

about all forgiven?

Well,

here's the first

of the thing

is that you have

to understand

that the Bible

when it says heaven

doesn't mean

Canadian heaven.

You see,

for most Canadians,

when they talk about heaven

after death,

what do they say?

And you're a guest here.

I don't,

you know what?

I guess I do want

to unsettle you.

I shouldn't say

I don't want to.

I do.

I want to put a peb,

I want to put a little

tiny rock in your shoe

to irritate you.

Please forgive me,

but that's what I want to do.

Because the average Canadian

says,

well,

we go to a better place

when we die.

We go to a spiritual place.

They'll say that their mom

now looks down on them.

Their mom lives

in their heart.

Their mom lives

in the waves

and the trees

and the beauty

of the mountains

that their mom

or their dad,

that they dwell in.

And that type of wispy,

unspiritual,

ethereal,

sorry,

a big word,

insubstantial life

won't motivate you

to do a blessed thing.

And to be honest,

as Woody Allen said,

I don't want to live

in somebody's heart

when I die.

I don't want to die.

I want to keep living

in my condo.

Like,

I'm giving it

slightly different words.

Like,

that will motivate nothing.

But that's not what

the text is saying.

That's not what heaven is.

What is,

what's it talking about?

It's saying,

you know,

it sort of said

in a bit of a shadow form

in Genesis 3,

in Genesis 3,

but you get this bit

of an image

of what it was like

in Genesis 3,

even as it's revealing

that the tragic fall

of the human race,

that what was like

before the fall

is that day by day,

God walked with Adam

and Eve

in the garden

in the cool of the day.

They had spent the day

tending

and making paradise

even more paradise

as they tended the garden.

And at the cool of the day,

in the breeze

of the Holy Spirit,

they walked with God

and with each other

naked and unashamed.

What is heaven?

Heaven isn't some wispy

and insubstantial place.

It is the promise

that the time will come

when in the new heaven

and the new earth,

you and I,

naked and unashamed,

will walk with each other

after tending paradise

and will walk with Jesus

under the gaze

of the Father

as the Holy Spirit

blows and moves

the hair on our heads,

the branches on the trees.

And we will be home.

And we will be safe

and we will be secure

and we will be adventuresome.

We will laugh.

We will dance.

We will tell stories

and we will build.

And we will walk on water.

And that's the hope

that's secure.

Being with the Father

and the Son

and the Holy Spirit

and with each other,

naked and unashamed,

at home,

knowing.

And that is your end

in Christ.

And there will be people

from Africa

and people from China

and people from Korea

and people from Singapore

and people from North America

and people from Wales

and people from the Arctic.

And we will be every color

under the rainbow

and we will be one

and we will be at home

and we will be at peace.

And that is the hope.

And you see,

this language of hope

and the transformation

it makes

for you to take risks,

to do hard things,

because the fact of the matter is,

as we all know,

to love

requires doing

hard things.

Anybody who thinks

that to love

never involves

doing hard things

doesn't know

what it means

to love.

because to love

you need to endure.

To love

you need to have patience.

To love

it means

that you have to learn

how to forgive.

To love

means you have to learn

how to say sorry.

To love

means you need to realize

that you need to repent

because you've done

something wrong.

To love

means that you have

to humble yourself

and put yourself out

and sacrifice yourself.

It means doing

hard things.

It means

learning to forgive.

it means pursuing

reconciliation.

You can't love

without taking risks

and doing

hard things.

And if

you think

your status in life

as a good person

depends upon

you being right

and you being good,

it is devastating

to realize

that you have been

a jerk.

And you can use

some other foul language.

But if you understand

that my place

before God

does not depend

upon my performance

but that in fact

my destiny

is secure

and that means

I can look and say

well you know what?

I was wrong.

You know what?

I need to say I'm sorry.

You know what?

I haven't forgiven them

and I need to learn.

You know what?

I need to go that extra mile.

You know what?

I need to die to myself.

But you see

if you hear this message

of the gospel

and you say to yourself

you see this is what

the gospel does

and this is why

hope in all matters.

It's going to reveal

whether you think

you've tricked God

or whether you've

actually really

received the gospel.

You see because if

and this is what

my friend didn't get

if you hear this news

and you go

everything forgiven?

Whoa!

Can I ever be a jerk now?

Like you watch out folks.

I don't have to worry.

I can cheat.

I can lie.

I can be greedy.

I can be obnoxious.

Why?

Listen.

Jesus has forgiven

all my sins

and I'm going to heaven.

This is the best deal

in the world.

I get to sin

which I love

and God gets to forgive me

because he loves?

Woo!

What a great religion.

Why can't more people

choose it?

But you know what?

If that's what you think

you've done

you can never trick God.

Only a fool thinks

they can trick God.

But if you understand

that what Jesus

is offering you

isn't a license

to do as many evil things

as you want

and selfish things

you want for the rest

of your life

and be scot-free

that what you really

understand

is that God

is offering you

to be reconciled

to himself

and has done

everything that needs

to be done

and you can do

none of that.

He does it all

and is given to you

as a gift

and nobody ever

fully understands

that perfectly.

We have amnesia

we forget it

we slip back

into old ways

that's why we need

to gather together

that's why we need

to have Christian friendships

that's why we need

to have discipleship

that's why we need

to have small groups

where we can be reminded

during the week

that God still

is on his throne

that Jesus loves me

that my destiny

is the new heaven

and the new earth

and we need things

like small groups

we need

we need Christian friends

we need

to spend time in prayer

and we need to gather

on Sunday morning

because we forget

because we have amnesia

but if you hear the gospel

and you start to realize

what this means

the burden of performance

the burden

of the fact

that there's wrong

that I've done

that I can never repay

that there's failure

to do good

that I can never repay

that it's all been dealt with

and that Jesus

does this all for me

that he has

taken my doom

upon him

and that he has offered me

his destiny

and rather than thinking

I've tricked God

I've got him

you go

free at last

free at last

thank God almighty

I'm free at last

see that's why

to really understand

the gospel

begins to give you

a hope that transforms

how you do your life

not a license

to do wrong

but a hope

that begins

to transform

how you do your life

just want to say

two things very quickly

I know I have a problem

with time

you know one of the things

that's really interesting

cool about this text

one of the things

we're going to talk about

I think it's the second

to last Sunday

is we're going to talk

about the problem

of slavery

okay

why don't you try

to remember this

who's Epaphras

well nobody knows

that

here's the answer

Epaphras is a nickname

what is his real name

his

Epaphras is his nickname

his full name

is Epaphroditus

what does that mean

in honor of Aphrodite

the fellow

the fellow

who planted

the church

was a man

who before

he met Jesus

he was named

in honor

of the goddess

Aphrodite

you want to know

something else

which is really

really really cool

that in most cases

in the ancient world

if you came across

a man named

Epaphraditus

you know what he was

a slave

the gospel

transforms

a slave

into a free man

who plants

churches

and shares

the gospel

and changes him

from being a man

dedicated to the goddess

Aphrodite

to the brother

and sister

of you and me

the share

and the bearer

of the gospel

keep that in mind

when we come to the topic

of slavery

in the text

look at the last sentence

verse 9

and so from the day

we heard

we have not ceased

to pray for you

asking that you may be

filled with the knowledge

of his will

in all spiritual wisdom

and spiritual wisdom

here means

not like

woo

spiritual stuff

it means wisdom

that comes from

the Holy Spirit

that's what it means

in the original language

and understanding

so as to walk

in a manner

worthy of the Lord

see here's the thing

the Bible constantly

teaches us

that we live

in the already

not yet

that when we're

redeemed by Jesus

our destiny

is secure

our hope

is secure

our end

is secure

but Jesus

doesn't just sort of

take us

as soon as we give

our lives to Jesus

and then he

it's like the rapture

and he instantly

takes us to heaven

we still have to live

this life

and that means

on one hand

the already

is true

the final word

about me

is true

but it's not yet

it's not yet

I still need to learn

how to love better

I need to learn

how to forgive better

I have to learn

to take risks better

I have to learn

how to dwell

in the truth better

I have to learn

how to dwell

in compassion

better

and justice

better

and kindness

and mercy better

I still have to learn

those things

drawn

by my end

being secure

and that's why

this word walk

is there

walk

means as I go

through my day

as I go from here

to chatting with you

after the service

to stopping off

at a coffee shop

to buy a coffee

on my way home

to spending time

with my family

to exercising

to reading

to having supper

that's walk

it's how you do

your life

verse 10

so as to walk

in a manner

worthy of the Lord

fully pleasing to him

and over the next few weeks

we'll talk about

how to walk

in a manner

drawn by the hope

of the gospel

what does that mean

it means

it will bear fruit

in every good work

and it means

will increase

in the knowledge

of God

and that not only means

knowledge about God

but actually knowing God

and being known by him

it's personal knowledge

and then verse 11

that you'll be strengthened

with all power

according to his glorious might

for all endurance

and patience with joy

because that's what we need

if we want to live

lives of love

isn't it

we have to be

we have to be able

to endure

and we don't want

to do white knuckling

with a sour grumpy face

always saying

got to

got to

got to

we want to move

to the point

where we say

get to

I get to love

I get to take risks

I get to share the gospel

not got to

get to

then verse 12

giving thanks to the father

like that's part of what it means

to be strengthened

to walk

by this hope

is to become more

living a life

out of thankfulness

to the father

who has qualified you

to share

in the inheritance

of the saints

and light

he has delivered us

from the domain

of darkness

and transferred us

to the kingdom

of his beloved son

in whom we have redemption

the forgiveness

of sins

praise God

I'd like you all

to stand please

Andrew

could you put

the general

thanksgiving up

that would be

really helpful

thank you

and

if you haven't

given your life

to Jesus

there's no better

time than now

to just say

father

thank you

for Jesus

I understand

that

it's hard for me

to completely

understand darkness

but I get it

I get that

you need to do

something

that I can't

do for myself

and you know

whatever goodness

you've done

in your life

he doesn't take it

away and say

that hasn't been good

it gets

ennobled

it gets empowered

it gets strengthened

it gets more

it just

you brought

you get into the light

fully

and there's no time

now that's better

than now

to give your life

to Jesus

and probably

every week

this ancient prayer

this call to worship

I'm writing my blogs

about it

this in many ways

perfectly expresses

lots of what I've

tried to say today

in a very compact

message

and every week

in my sermon

we're going to end

with this general

thanksgiving

because it perfectly

expresses so much

of what the Christian

life is like

in light

of the Colossians

so would you pray

call out to God

with me

in the words

of this prayer

Almighty God

Father of all mercies

we then

unworthy servants

do give you

most humble

and hearty thanks

for all your goodness

and loving kindness

to us

and to all people

we bless thee

for your creation

preservation

and all the blessings

of this life

but above all

for thine 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

sorry that's not

what my blogs run

sounds

that was in one of my blogs

not the one I've run

let's just pray

one more time

Father pour out

the Holy Spirit

upon us

you know how quickly

we forget

the hope of glory

we ask that you

deliver us

from amnesia

and that we would

remember this

and we ask Father

that you would guide us

into small groups

and spiritual friendships

and other such things

so that throughout the week

we have other ways

to be reminded

of who Jesus is

and what he accomplished

for us on the cross

and how to then live

in a hope filled

transformative way

that is worthy of you

and is good for others

and this we ask

in the name of Jesus

your son

and our savior

and all God's people said

Amen

I

I