Good News. God Does Not Love You Unconditionally.

Before we pray, last week, if you were here, I asked you to pray for me because next Sunday,

I get to speak on one of the favorite topics of Canadians, which is wives be subject to your

husbands. And so I was asking that you would pray for me. I realized this week that I should have

asked you to pray for me every, I mean, hopefully you pray for me every week. But this week, I get

to talk about homosexuality. Next week, wives be subject to your husbands. The next week, slaves,

slavery and Christianity. And then I get to talk about demons. So I have four really easy sermons

in a row. And so please pray for me every week. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Father, we ask,

we give you thanks and praise that you see us as we really are, with perfect clarity,

and yet you love us. And we give you thanks and praise that every word that you speak that seems

hard is a word that you speak to us for our good and comes out of your desire that we would connect

with you and that we would repent and turn to Jesus and receive those far vastly better things

that you have in mind for each of us. We ask that the Holy Spirit would fall with might and power and

deep conviction as we think upon your word. Lead us to Jesus. And this we ask in the name of Jesus,

your Son and our Savior. Amen. So the Bible text is Ephesians chapter 5, verses 1, the following. It

Ephesians 5:1

would be probably helpful to you if you have a Bible. The text will be up on the screen, but it's really

good to have your own Bible. And I just want to begin, before we start reading, I've sort of already

let you know a little bit about what's in the text, and we're going to go there very quickly.

But one of the first things we need to understand is that God does not love you unconditionally.

For many Christians in Canada today, that sounds like blasphemy. But the fact of the matter is,

is that God does not love you unconditionally. God loves you with a love that is incomparably better

than unconditional love. And the more we are gripped by the idea of unconditional love,

the harder it will be for us to understand the Bible, and the harder it will be for us to understand

God and Jesus and the gospel. So I'm going to come back to that, why I would say such an odd statement.

We're not going to begin with verse 1. I'm going to look and just try to bring your attention to

the actual text in question. So some of you might be wondering, why do I talk about texts like this

today? Let me tell you this. My hope and prayer is that you'll come to accept the gospel,

and that you will know Jesus as your Savior and Lord. The Christian walk, to be known by God,

to know the perfect forgiveness that comes through Jesus, to know the security that when Christ takes

you as his child, he will never abandon you, he will never abuse you, he will never let you go,

that you can begin to know the incomparable, inexhaustible love of Jesus is vastly worth it.

And my hope and prayer is that everyone here and your friends and co-workers and families and

neighbors will come to know the incomparable, vast, deep, pure love of the triune God. That's my hope.

And one of the things we do in this church is we preach through books of the Bible.

And that should be really good news to you if you're here as a seeker, or you're here as a skeptic,

or you're here just as somebody who's just a bit curious. Because we're never going to hide things

from you. It's not as if we're going to talk about all these, I can jump around a different text,

and then you become a Christian, and then you find out there's all these nasty bits you didn't know

about. You know, this is like taking you through the fine print. But when you go through the fine print

of the New Testament, you understand even more deeply the boundless, deep, pure love of Jesus.

So that's why we're looking at this text, not because I have some hang-ups about

sex or homosexuality or anything like that. It's just because I want you to know Jesus.

And I don't want to hide anything in the way of you becoming a follower of Christ. And for those of us

who are Christians, that your walk with Christ will be deeper and freer. So I want to begin with the hard

part, and then I'm going to look, we're going to jump back up to verse 1 and 2, and so we see how it is

that the Bible introduces this topic. But I want you to understand some things. Look at verse 3.

But sexual immorality and all impurity were covetousness,

covetousness, must not even be named among you as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness,

nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out of place. But instead, let there be thanksgiving.

Now, just to make sure that you understand this sexual immorality and impurity and covetousness,

Paul mentions it a second time. Look at verse 5 and 6.

For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure,

or who is covetous, that is, an idolater,

has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Let no one deceive you with empty words.

For because of these things, the wrath of God comes

upon the sons and daughters of disobedience.

Now, it's a very, very hard text in some ways.

And one of the things, you know, I sometimes joke,

in fact, I often joke, I look it up on the internet, so it must be true.

The three words that you see here, sexually immoral, impure, and covetous,

if I was to be doing a sermon point, and actually,

if you go on the webpage later and you see my points,

I have three different points,

and I use the Greek word porneia,

which is the word that's being translated here as sexual immorality.

And if you Google porneia, what does the Greek word porneia mean?

The very first entry you see to define porneia,

if you Google it, is a lie.

It's completely, utterly, thoroughly wrong,

in case you don't know what my view is on the matter.

It's completely invented,

a completely and utterly invented explanation of what porneia is.

You have to go down to several of the other ones,

and you get the true answer.

And what porneia is,

is this,

that God created human beings

so that we would have an interest in sex.

He made us as male and female,

and he designed sexual relations,

and he designed human beings

that sexual knowledge and sexual stimulation

is reserved for the holiest state of matrimony

between one man and one woman.

That's how God designed male and female,

man and woman.

It's how he designed,

from the very beginning of creation,

us to know sexual pleasure

for those of us who are called into it.

So God designed sexual knowledge

and sexual stimulation

to be reserved for those

who are in a marriage of one man to one woman.

And anything which is not that

is porneia.

Anything which is not that

is porneia.

So that would include everything

from going to a strip club

to looking at pornography

to same-sex sexual knowing

to cheating on your husband or your wife

or engaging in sexual knowing

outside of marriage.

All of those things

would be described as porneia.

And that's the Greek word there

for sexual immorality.

And the next word,

which is translated there as impurity,

that's a bit of an odd word.

And there's no really good word in English

to try to describe what the sin is.

But as I talked about it

a little bit last week,

and I don't expect you to remember that.

I have a hard time remembering

what I said last week.

Impurity is referring

not to sexual matters directly,

but a relationship with God.

And at the heart of it,

what impurity is,

is the attitude

and the habit of saying to God,

God, you're not my boss.

You're not my boss.

Now, most of the time,

we just live in the way

that God maybe designed us.

We don't do bad things.

But at a very, very deep

and fundamental level,

in every single human being,

there is a part of us

that wants to say to God,

you're not my boss.

You're not my boss.

You can't tell me to do that.

If I do it,

it's because I want to do it,

not because you say I should do it.

Because I'm the boss of me.

You're not my boss.

And the third sin,

which is mentioned here,

is covetousness.

And if you look at some translations,

it's translated as avarice.

And the Greek word

can be translated either way.

Covetousness is the sin of,

well, actually,

what avarice is,

is just basically greed.

Just want more, more, more, more, more,

more, more, more, more, more,

all the time.

More possessions,

more money.

It's disorder,

desire for possessions and money.

And the other word,

covetous,

is a similar type of idea.

It can mean that thing,

but it also is more competitive.

So,

covetousness would mean

that you not just look at George

and say, you know,

George is just a very ordinary guy.

And if he can be a pastor,

I think I can be a pastor.

That's not covetousness.

Covetousness says,

I want George's job.

You know,

that George will lose his job

so I can take his job.

That's the sin of covetousness.

Although it also includes the idea

of just wanting more and more

and more and more.

And the Bible describes

both,

all three of these things

as sort of categories of sin.

And the thing you need

to understand about it,

there's several things

you need to understand

about this,

which will become very clear

when we go back

and read verses one

and then we see how it is

that the Bible

comes to this place.

The first thing

you have to understand

is that this is not

us versus them language.

This is not us

versus them language.

This is describing

the persistent

perennial problems

of every single

human being.

In other words,

I stand before you

today as a man

whose sexuality

is disordered.

And I don't mean

to offend you,

but I am speaking

to a room full of people

whose sexuality

is disordered.

I am a man

whose relationship

with God

is disordered.

There is part of me

that whether I'm

conscious of it or not

wants to at times

say to God,

you're not my boss.

And I speak to a room

who have the exact

same problem.

And I stand before you

as a man

who has a disordered

relationship

to money and possessions.

possessions.

And I stand talking

to a room full of people

who have disordered

relationships

with money and possessions.

The Bible text

is describing

the human problem

and the human condition.

It's not describing

us versus them,

the pure versus

the impure,

the elite

versus the rabble.

It's bringing to light

the fundamental

human condition.

And in every case,

what the Bible

is describing

is that there's

something in us,

in our sexuality,

which is disordered.

There's something

about us

in our relationship

with God

that is disordered.

There is something

about us

that our relationship

with money and possessions

and positions

of authority

that is disordered.

And that's,

on one hand,

very bad news,

but it's also

very good news.

Because it means

that what God

desires for each of us

is something better.

That's what he desires

for me.

So let's look

at this covetousness,

for instance,

and possessions.

Here's one of the things.

Every single one of us,

it's normally easier

for us to recognize

a disordered relationship

with money and possessions

in other people

than in ourselves.

I'm just trying to think

of how many funerals

I've done.

Next year,

I'll have been ordained

35 years.

In the first 10 years

of my ordination,

maybe even the first 15 years

of my ordination,

I did probably

between 10 to 20 funerals

a year.

I was Barry and George.

And so I don't know.

I've maybe done

200 funerals.

I haven't done very many funerals

the last 7 or 8 or 9 or 10 years.

Let me tell you this.

Let's say I've done

200 funerals.

There has been only

one funeral

that I have ever done

where when I'm talking

to the family before

and the family and friends

before and the family

and friends afterwards,

there's only been one

funeral that I've ever done

where anybody has ever said

the problem with,

and I'm going to mention

his name because it's not

an embarrassing thing,

the problem with John

is he was too generous.

200 funerals,

only one person

has ever said

about another person

that the problem they had

was that they were

too generous.

They gave away

too much money.

Isn't that interesting?

Like, I can tell you this.

They're not going to say

about me at my funeral,

at least if I die

like in the next 10 minutes.

The problem with George

is he gave away

too much money.

And I don't want

to offend you.

I don't know how many

of you they're going

to say that about either.

Now, the funny, funny,

funny, funny thing

about John,

John Pierce, by the way,

a couple of us know him,

is that the person

who said it to me

that the problem with John

was he gave away

too much money.

When he died,

he had lots of money

still in the bank.

In fact, I said

to the person who said it,

I guess you were wrong.

He gave away

too much money.

He didn't have lots of money,

but he had enough money

to live every week,

even though the complaint

about him was that

he was way too generous.

He gave away

way too much money.

See, the fact of the matter

is that we notice

other people

that they're cheap,

that they seem to be

obsessed with possessions.

And it doesn't,

you know,

a friend of mine said,

this is in class talk,

by the way.

A friend of mine

once said,

the poor man

has three rust buckets

in his driveway,

none of which work.

The rich man

has a jaguar.

So it's not the matter

that the poor man

is consumed with possessions

because he has three cars.

Right?

It's not a class thing.

It's something which affects

every single human being.

We have a hard time

giving stuff away.

We have a hard time

being generous

to missions,

to the poor,

to the needs of the church.

We have a hard time

giving it away.

We have fixations

that we can have

about sunglasses

or watches

or shoes

or purses

or jackets

or clothing,

about a better car,

a better house.

And you see,

what's there

isn't that we shouldn't desire.

This isn't saying

that, you know,

if you're a young man

or a young woman here,

this isn't saying,

covetousness isn't saying

you shouldn't have

any desire

to try to make more money

so you can provide

for your needs

and the needs of your family

and the needs of your friends.

We didn't look at it last week.

But if you go back

and read the last bit

of chapter four,

you'll see that

Paul says that

when the gospel

hits a thief

and a thief receives

the gospel,

what a thief,

what the gospel will do

in a thief's life

will be eventually

to make them have

the desire

to work very,

very hard

so they can provide

for their own needs

and be generous.

That's how Paul says

the gospel will impact

somebody who's a thief.

And so,

what the Bible is saying

isn't just that

if you receive the gospel,

it's going to take away

any desire for ambition.

It's going to take away

any desire to earn.

No, it's not that.

It's just that

we somehow have

a way of making

certain possessions

and having more

and having these things,

they become a key part

of our identity

and they never satisfy.

They never satisfy.

And then the same thing

with this thing about God,

you're not my boss.

The thing which is

disordered there,

it's several.

It's as if

unless I,

at times when it comes up,

you know,

shake my fist at God

and say,

you're not telling me

what to do.

I'm going to tell me

what to do.

I'm the boss of my life.

I'm the one

who's going to pursue that.

I mean,

most of the time

we don't say that,

but when all of a sudden

the demands of God,

well,

let's just say with money,

that maybe you should consider

giving 10% of your money away

for the furtherance

of the gospel.

Whoa,

you're not my boss, God.

But at the heart of that

is this

disordered understanding

that God will care for you

and that you have

a type of integrity

and a type of value

and a type of worth

that God himself guarantees.

You see,

because we have this

disordered relationship

with God

and we think we have

to assert our place

that we won't be forgotten,

that I have autonomy,

that I have integrity,

that people can't walk over me,

and there's not anything wrong

with some of those desires

that people can't walk over you,

they can't just treat you

with disrespect,

they can't belittle you,

they can't do all of those things,

but it's disordered

because we feel

that it's all up to us

so that it even comes

in terms of God

without understanding

that the very,

very heart of the gospel

is that God saw you

and he loved you so much

that Jesus comes,

God,

the Son of God,

leaves heaven,

strips himself

of his divine prerogatives,

his authority,

his glory,

his majesty,

but still remaining God,

takes into himself

our human nature,

lives a fully human life,

dies bearing in himself

all your sin,

all your rebellion,

all your shame,

all this stuff about you

that's just not right,

every accusation

that could ever be against you,

he does that

and he takes it for you

and dies for you

because he loves you,

because he wants

to restore you

to the integrity

and the value

and the dignity

that you should have

in this life

and that you will have

into all eternity

and so our disordered

relationship with God

means that we have

to grasp these things

and we have to usually

end up saying them

at the expense of others

because if God wants me

to let's say be more,

you know,

to be sexually faithful

to my wife

and I end up saying

I don't want God,

you're not my boss,

I'm going to do,

I'm the boss of my life

and I end up doing something

that not only offends

against God

but ends up damaging

my wife and my family

and my kids

and the church

and everybody, right?

Because that's what happens.

We're disordered with God

and it means we end up

being disordered

with the creation.

We're disordered

around possessions

and so it fuels

raping the environment,

it fuels rage

against other nations

and wars,

it fuels class warfare,

it fuels all these

terrible things

because our relationship

with money and possessions

is disordered

and our relationship

with God is disordered

and it fuels this injustice

that I have to prove

that you are not my boss, God

and when I end up

acting that out,

people are hurt

and I am hurt as well.

The same thing with sexuality.

The biblical truth is

that we aren't just

some random collection

of atoms

and we now have to define

and identify ourselves

by our own terms

but God has designed us

for a purpose

that fits,

that has integrity

and that while the initial words

of the gospel

and the Bible

seem to be very hard,

if we just always remember

that everything that is said

is said because Jesus loves you so much

he died for you on the cross.

He tasted death for you.

He tasted judgment for you.

He tasted God's wrath,

just wrath for you.

That you would be reordered

as God designed you to be

in a way that will bring him glory.

So let's go back.

I've spent almost the whole sermon

just trying to get

those three terms

into you.

Let's go back

and see how

what I've just been saying

actually flows out

of what the Bible says.

Look at how it's structured.

Actually,

excuse me,

we don't have it up on the text.

This is the advantage

of having your own Bible.

If you look at verse 32,

the last verse

of chapter 4 of Ephesians,

I'll read it to you

if you don't have your Bibles.

It says this,

Be kind to one another,

tender-hearted,

forgiving one another,

as God in Christ

forgave you.

And then you look at chapter 5,

the very next word after it says,

As God in Christ forgave you,

therefore,

therefore,

be imitators of God.

Right?

To be gripped with the idea

that God in Christ forgave you.

Remember,

God in Christ forgave you,

therefore,

be imitators of God

as beloved children

and walk in love.

And walk in love.

As Christ loved us

and gave himself up for us,

a fragrant offering

and sacrifice to God.

on one level,

you want to know

the entire understanding

of Christian moral teaching?

Walk in love.

Walk in love.

That's what Jesus says,

the two great commandments,

love the Lord your God

with all your heart,

mind, soul,

and love your neighbor

as yourself.

Walk in love.

It's said quite a few places

in the New Testament,

walk in love.

But notice here

how what the Bible

is talking about

is not unconditional love.

I don't know

if he invented the term,

but the one

who made the term

of unconditional love

very, very popular

is a man

by the name of Carl Rogers

who invented

a type of therapy

called Rogerian therapy.

Now,

I'm not saying

this next thing

because anything

an atheist says

is dumb

and it's not that.

Obviously,

that would be

a stupid thing

for anybody to say.

But it's very interesting

that Carl Rogers

who invented this term

of unconditional love

as well as other aspects

of his therapy

is also the fellow

who won the award

by the American Humanist Association

for the top atheist

in 1964.

And at the very,

very heart

of Rogers' endeavor

was that he wanted

to separate love

from a sense of morals.

That's what

unconditional means.

He wants to separate out

the idea of right and wrong,

the idea of just and unjust.

He wants to separate

all of that

so that all you have

is unconditional love

and unconditional positive regard.

But that is not a wise idea.

It's very interesting.

One of my favorite authors

is a man,

Reed,

I've had a temporal,

Reed Farrell Coleman.

And you might not remember it,

but several times

over the years

I've quoted parts

of his writings to you.

He's an atheist

and he's very,

very, very articulate

in his stories.

He often articulates

aspects of atheism

just so beautifully.

Occasionally,

I've quoted him to you.

I just finished reading

a novel of his.

And it's an interesting thing

because at the heart

of the novel

is that there's the opioid,

I can't pronounce

that word very well,

the opioid,

is that right?

Vaguely right?

Opioid addiction problem

in this community

where this fellow

is a police chief.

And somebody dies

as a result

of taking this chemical

laced with something

that kills them.

And he tries to figure it out

and he ends up discovering

that many of the,

both some of the poor people,

but many of the rich people,

that their daughters

or their sons,

have become addicted

to the opioid crisis.

And it's very interesting.

Remember,

the writer's an atheist, right?

And the way he,

what he does

is that he does it

very powerfully

in the context

of the narrative

to show that many

of the parents,

what they did is,

in a sense,

they showed unconditional love

to their daughter and son

and ignored their addiction

to the kids' great harm.

In fact,

the young woman

that launches the whole story,

her parents gave her

unconditional love

and turned their eye

and enabled her addiction,

which led to her death

by a drug overdose.

Remember,

the author's an atheist.

And as he's going

to try to figure this out,

he discovers

the different parents

who love their daughter

or their son,

but when they find out

about the addiction,

they take action.

If you have a loved one

and they're addicted

to an opioid

and you turn your eyes

and just unconditionally

love them

and don't confront them

so they will deal

with their addiction,

you are not loving your kid.

You are not loving your kid

or your husband

or your wife

or your grandparents

or your aunt

and your uncle.

You are not loving them.

And it's very powerfully

put in this novel

by an atheist.

You see,

the fact of the matter is

it's not loving

to ignore

all sorts of things

that are going on

in somebody's life

that are just bad.

You know,

if a wife discovers

that her husband

is going to strip shows,

she shouldn't

unconditionally love him.

She should kick him

in the butt

and say

it's unacceptable.

Occasionally,

I've had marriage counseling

with somebody

and at some point in time

it starts to dawn on me

that there's probably

physical abuse

going on

in the marriage.

And so I ask

the direct question

to the woman.

Is this guy hitting you?

Long, silent pause.

Husband sinks lower

in the seat.

Finally,

she says yes.

I don't show the man

unconditional love.

I say,

you gotta stop

hitting your wife.

Beginning of the story,

middle of the story,

end of the story.

Unacceptable.

And I say to her,

I will give you

every help I can

to make sure

he doesn't do it

and if you need to,

you leave him

because it's completely wrong.

And so what do we see here?

You see,

the thing is,

is God's love to you

is not unconditional.

It is unfailing.

And God's unfailing love,

he is also unfailingly good.

He is also unfailingly just.

He is unfailing.

He is unfailingly merciful.

He is unfailingly true.

And none of these things

are in conflict

with each other.

And so it is.

God doesn't look at us

in our condition

and say,

I'm just gonna

unconditionally love George

while he goes to hell.

I'm not gonna

unconditionally love George

while he gives me

the finger

and shakes his fist at me

and does wrong things

and is all massively

screwed up

about possessions

and money

and he's gonna get

more screwed up.

I'm just gonna

unconditionally love him.

No!

Look at it again.

Verse 32 of chapter 4,

As God and Christ

forgave you.

5.1

Therefore be imitators

of God

as beloved children

walk in love

as Christ loved us

and gave himself

up for us

a fragrant offering

and sacrifice

to God.

Unfailing love

pays a price

for the good

of the other person.

Clear eyed

about what is right

and wrong.

Clear eyed

about what is

destroying their lives.

God's love

is not unconditional.

It is unfailing.

It is pure.

And it is completely

and utterly

at one with justice

and mercy

and the good

and the true

and the right.

And that's what

we should aspire to.

That's what we should aspire to.

So in light of that,

let's look at the rest

of the text.

We'll go through it

very quickly.

Right?

Verse 2

And walk in love

as Christ loved us

and gave himself

up for us

a fragrant offering

and sacrifice

to God.

But sexual immorality

pornea

and all

telling

living your life

with this deep attitude

that God

is not your boss

and you have to grasp

your own position

and your own power

not trusting God

or not trusting

other human beings

to love you

or covetousness

a completely

and utterly

screwed up

relationship

with possessions

with positions

of authority

and with money

must not even

be named among you

as is proper

among saints

and saints here

just means

the ordinary

average Christian.

if you've given your life

to Jesus

you're a saint.

Let there be no

filthiness

nor foolish talk

nor crude joking

which are out of place

but instead

let there be thanksgiving.

I don't have time

to go into it

don't understand this

in class terms

as if it's talking

about refined people

in Rockcliffe

versus how

the guy

working the jackhammer

talks

this language

refers to both.

Okay?

This isn't

Rockcliffe people

I hope

I'm not insulting

if you live in Rockcliffe

I don't mean that way

but it's not

class-based

stuff.

Okay?

It's not class-based

but I don't have time

to go into it.

Verse 5

For you may be sure

of this

that everyone

who is porneia

or saying

God you're not my boss

or who is

covetous

that is

disordered around

possessions

money

and positions

of authority

that last problem

that's the problem

of idolatry.

They have no

inheritance

in the kingdom

of Christ

and God.

Let no one

deceive you

with empty words

for because

of these things

the wrath of God

comes upon the

sons of disobedience.

And by the way

you might not know this

but we used to be

part of the

Anglican Church of Canada

our congregation

is older than

the Diocese of Ottawa

and in 2008

this text is

perfectly expressing

why we believed

we had to separate

from the Diocese of Ottawa

because the Diocese of Ottawa

declared as a doctrine

that there is a way

of being sexually disordered

that is in fact

not sexually disordered

but is blessed

and is something

that people

should emulate

and the Bible

says it's the

complete opposite.

It's the complete opposite.

Verse 7

Therefore do not

become partners

with them

and partner

here means

it doesn't mean

that you shouldn't

work with people

like that

it doesn't mean

you shouldn't

have neighbors

like that

it means a deep

intimate sharing

of purpose

and direction

with them.

For at one time

verse 8

you were darkness

but now you are

light in the Lord

walk as children

of light

for the fruit

of light

is found

in all that is good

and right

and true.

In verse 10

and this is actually

not as good a translation

as it is

it actually says

not try to discern

the Bible

literally says

and discern

it implies

that you can grow

it implies

that God

is saying

I'm giving you

your Holy Spirit

this is going to happen

to you

you are going to

increase in discernment

and discern

what is pleasing

to the Lord

take no part

did I

oh

the next part

verse 11

sorry yeah

verse 11

take no part

in the unfruitful

works of darkness

but instead expose them

for it is shameful

even to speak

of the things

that they do

in secret

verse 13

but when anything

is exposed

by the light

it becomes visible

anything that becomes

visible is light

therefore it says

arise oh sleeper

and rise from the dead

and Christ

will shine on you

just a

couple of things

about this

it's a very very

compact language

here

one of the things

that we understand

is that light

and darkness

can't coexist

and once again

when the Bible

is describing

darkness

it's describing

the human condition

and what happens

is in a sense

what the Bible

is saying

is that you have

to understand

that every human

being is characterized

by a type of darkness

and all the darkness

in the world

will never create light

this is another

image of what

salvation is

that all the darkness

in the world

will never

create light

light

has to enter

darkness

from somewhere

other than darkness

light

is light itself

and light

enters darkness

darkness

will never

create light

and so

he's giving here

this

this

this simple

picture image

of what happens

and what it means

to be a Christian

George

there is no

there's nothing

in me

that is light

that comes

from me

and the only light

is that

uncreated light

of God

and God

the Son of God

and of the Holy Spirit

and that uncreated light

enters the darkness

and the darkness

has not understood it

it hasn't been able

to comprehend it

it hasn't been able

to defeat it

it hasn't been able

to overcome it

and all

who

allow

the light

to come

in them

are no longer

darkness

but are light

and the light

that I have

as a Christian

this isn't something

I can boast in

because the light

doesn't come

from me

it comes from

God

as a gift

of grace

and the light

that comes

to me

that's a gift

of grace

is something

that I reflect

but does not

emerge from me

and this language

of exposing

it's all very

technical language

if I had time

you could try

to unpack

all of the

different technical

language

but it's basically

just saying this

that what you do

is you share

with people

their darkness

not to depress

them

but the light

bringing the light

to them

is telling them

the gospel

and the purpose

of telling them

the gospel

is so they receive

the gospel

and become light

that's what he's saying

it's not a matter

of us versus them

it's not about

the fact that

I'm so good

and I've accomplished

all these things

and you just suck

not like that at all

you share the gospel

in the hope

that they receive it

and they become

light themselves

and the really

interesting thing

it's just like

a couple of chapters

ago

if you look

what Paul does

with these scripture

texts here

awake oh sleep

and arise from the dead

and Christ will shine

on you

it's a bit of a mash

of part of Isaiah

I can't remember

if it's 29 or 26

and Isaiah 60

but the interesting

thing is

what Paul has done

here is he's saying

I'm summarizing

most of Isaiah

with these two quotes

and the way the grammar

works

and it's because

God knew

what he was going

to do with Jesus

600 years

after Isaiah

was written

that he had

Isaiah written

that's what I'm saying

God knew

he was going to send

Jesus in 600 years

so he had Isaiah

written

and these two

bits of quotes

of Isaiah

summarizing a big part

of the whole message

of Isaiah

that's why he wrote

that 600 years ago

so people

would start to

understand and be

prepared

what it is

that Jesus

was going to do

for you

friends

there is nothing

special

about me

I am just

one beggar

born in darkness

who received

the light

who wants to

share with you

that there is

light

that can enter

your darkness

and make you

light in such

a way

that you begin

to become

more light

in your life

right now

but it is

but a small

and tiny

beginning

but the light

will never

leave you

and will prepare

you

for an eternal

weight

of glory

an eternal

weight

of glory

where we are

perfectly

ordered

by our loving

creator

and filled

with him

in light

for all

eternity

with no end

invite you to stand

if you're here

as a guest

or you've been

here for many

many many many

years

and things

just haven't

clicked

very very

simple

just say

father

there is a

darkness

in me

that cannot

be defeated

my attempts

to defeat

it are

darkness

itself

you have

sent

the true

light

into the

world

send

Jesus

the true

light

into my

life

that I

might be

yours

that I

might be

light

beginning

today

for all

eternity

and in

your own

words

say that

to God

and he

will say

yes

and for

the rest

of us

there's other

prayers we have

to pray

because we

all know

there's things

within us

which are

disordered

let's pray

father we

thank you

that you

saw our

disorder

you saw

how we

grasped at

possessions

and grasped

at money

and grasped

at positions

of authority

how we

grasp

in the

areas of

sexuality

how we

grasp

in terms

of maintaining

our integrity

and our

autonomy

and our

terms

at the

expense

of others

while waving

our fist

at you

father you

saw all

those things

and still

you loved

us

and sent

jesus

to die

upon the

cross

for us

the light

uncreated

light

uncreated

love

eternal

light

eternal

love

entered

our

dark

world

and died

in our

place

as an

act of

love

that we

when we

receive the

light

might be

yours

forever

might become

light

might become

a child

of light

father grip

us with

the

gospel

and father

as you

help us

to be

more

gripped

by the

gospel

continue

to help

us to

be filled

by the

holy

spirit

to walk

in love

and to

walk in

thankfulness

for all

that you

have done

father

you know

our

deepest

need

this

morning

the

deepest

disorder

of our

lives

right

this

morning

you know

the

unique

deepest

disorder

of each

one

who is

here

and we

ask

that

you

would

come

and bring

your

healing

authoritative

light

to bear

at each

of our

points

of deepest

disorder

that you

sovereignly

know

we invite

you to

do that

we give

you permission

to do

that

we long

for you

to do

that

that we

might be

more like

Jesus

and all

God's

people said

Amen