Faith, Hope and Love

Father, we ask that you would gently pour out your Holy Spirit upon us,

gently and deeply pour out your Holy Spirit deep within us.

And Father, we ask that you would write these words in our hearts,

in the command center of who we are,

so that we will be disciples of Jesus who are gripped by the gospel,

learning to live for your glory.

And all this we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Please be seated.

So, I noticed in the newspaper yesterday that there's been a poll done

about what different Canadians think about religious pluralism

and the presence of different religions in Canada.

And I suppose that it depends if you're an optimist or a pessimist.

If you're an optimist, you can say that we're more popular than Muslims.

If you're a pessimist, you could say that we're less unpopular than Muslims.

But that seems to be the result of a particular survey.

In fact, we seem to beat them by a wide margin,

but there's still a majority of Canadians who would find us suspicious.

And one of the things I think that many non-Christians would think about Christians

is that we're obsessed with certain topics,

that we're obsessed with sex, we're obsessed with money,

we're obsessed with power, we're obsessed with rules,

and we like to exclude people.

And that would be, I think, how a lot of Canadians would just sort of think about Canadians,

about Christians like us.

So, the text of Scripture today talks about this very, very much, actually,

and it's a very, very helpful text for us.

I mean, all of the Bible's helpful,

but it's very helpful for us in terms of how we see ourselves

in light of how Canadians see ourselves.

So, if you turn with me in your Bibles to Galatians 5,

Galatians 5, beginning at verse 1,

we'll just see what the Bible has to say.

And those of you who remember, and we're here last week,

last week we talked about Galatians 5, verse 1, but I'll read it again.

Galatians 5:1

It's sort of an unusual verse in Galatians.

Galatians 5, verse 1,

Galatians 5:1

it sort of is just there.

And in some ways, it's the summary of the whole book,

and in another, so it helps you sort of understand what goes before and what comes after.

And so, here it is.

It's a great, great verse, well worth memorizing.

Freedom, Christ has set us free.

Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to yoke of slavery.

And this describes to us the purpose that Jesus came to die on the cross.

He came to die on the cross so that ordinary people like you and me would be free.

That when we put our faith and trust in Jesus,

that there would be a basic freedom bestowed to us.

And that not only are we made free when we put our faith and trust in Jesus,

but God's desire is that this freedom would only get deeper and deeper and stronger and stronger

and a more real presence in our life.

And in the middle of it all, he uses this military analogy, which is stand firm.

If you've seen some old war movies, it's the same type, it's an actual military term,

and it would be as if, you know, the major says to the sergeant,

you and your platoon, you've got to keep that hill.

You can't lose that hill.

You've got to stand fast on that hill and not surrender it.

And that's the exact same image which is used here in this text.

For freedom, Christ has set us free.

Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

And we talked about this last week.

I can't say more about it now other than to say this.

So here's this ringing announcement of freedom and a warning about slavery.

So what is it that you think that Paul, the Bible, is now going to talk about next?

Especially in light of this fact that there is this problem that even though Christ has made us free,

that we could slip into slavery.

So, you know, I think if you were to, for many people, you'd think,

and maybe many Canadians would think, okay, well, here's where the Bible is going to warn us

about being involved in sexual things.

Or maybe it's going to either be one of those contradictory things where it's going to talk about

warn us against money as if it's evil,

or talk about how we've got to give the church lots of money.

Or maybe it's going to now talk about, I don't know, drinking too much.

Or it's going to talk about anger.

It's going to talk about violence.

Or if you're more on the left, now it's going to talk more about injustice or something like that.

And so it's very, very, very striking that after this big declaration of freedom

and this warning that you can slide into slavery,

what's the very first thing that the Bible warns us against?

Religion.

Like, just let that settle for a second.

Not sex and drugs and rock and roll.

Not oppression.

It warns us about religion.

Like, that's actually quite stunning.

And regrettably, it's counterintuitive to most of us Christians.

And it's definitely counterintuitive to Canadians.

That that's what the Bible is going to warn us about.

But that's exactly what the Bible warns us about.

Look at verses 2 to 4 again.

Verses 2 to 4 of Galatians chapter 5.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

Look, I, Paul...

So look how it begins.

Verse 2.

Look.

Just look.

Right now, he's going to remind them of something that he established in chapters 3 and 4.

But he said, look.

I, Paul, see to you that if you accept circumcision,

Christ will be of no advantage to you.

Like, it won't profit you at all.

It's like...

It's like...

He's going to be completely worthless.

What's an example?

If I said to you,

can I buy that car with the color blue?

Ooh.

You'd go,

George, is this a type of absurdist humor?

Like, you don't buy things with color.

Like, you buy things with money.

And what Paul is saying here is that it's like if you go down the route of circumcision,

which I'm going to explain in a moment,

it's...

That means you've made Christ completely and utterly, you know, worthless.

Like, you can't use Christ to buy whatever it is that religion thinks it's buying.

You just can't do it.

Read verse 2 again.

Look, I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision,

Christ will be of no advantage to you.

I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision...

And just pause here.

When we talked about this quite a few weeks ago,

just remember the Bible would see female circumcision as completely abhorrent.

Female circumcision is always an attempt to enslave women.

To make them not even second-class citizens,

but lower than second-class citizens.

And the Bible would condemn it if it was aware of it.

It's just talking about male circumcision,

which is a very, very different thing.

Read verse 3 again.

I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision

that he is obligated to keep the whole law.

You are severed from Christ,

you who would be justified by the law...

Justified means be made right with God.

By the law, you have fallen away from grace.

It's very, very strong language.

So what is it that Paul is warning them about?

Well, here, if you could put up the first point,

that would be very helpful.

What Paul established earlier is that for religion to work,

in quotation marks,

you need to keep 100% of the rules 100% of the time

and get a score of 100%.

Now, Paul is just saying,

listen, I'm Paul, I'm an apostle,

I'm reminding you of this.

But Paul isn't just saying this because it popped into his head.

He said, listen, if you read the Bible itself,

if you read the Bible itself,

that's what the Bible teaches.

That that's the whole reason why God said,

okay, I know that human beings have this great desire

to justify themselves, become like God,

make themselves right with me as if they're God.

And they think they can do this in their own way,

in their own strength,

in their own power,

in their own imagination.

So in a sense,

in 2 Corinthians talks about it,

that means that we can boast relative to God.

And so I'm just going to, you know,

I'm just going to give you an example.

If you actually want to try to make yourself right with me,

I'm going to sell the problem to you.

I'm going to tell you what the laws are

that you have to do to be holy

and to approach a holy God.

And Paul earlier in chapter 3 and 4 just said,

listen, if you listen to the Bible,

what God says is you've got to keep all of them.

And what does all of them mean?

All means all of them.

All of them means 100% of them.

And you've got to keep them 100% of the time.

And you've got to get a score of 100%.

And if you follow the Bible and you read that,

then what your response should be is one of two things.

What your response should be is,

Lord, have mercy.

That's impossible.

But what's the religious and human response?

Presumption.

And presumption is...

Brian has to keep 100% of the laws,

100% of the time you get 100%.

But, you know, I'm me.

I get a pass on some of them.

Like, I get a pass on the ones that I can't keep.

And I don't have to have...

Because I'm me, I don't have to have 100%.

Like, I just have to have a percent

that basically I'm satisfied and happy with.

And I have to have a percent on that percentage of times.

It sort of is fine with me,

and it's a type of presumption.

And, in fact, actually,

if you want to get the next point,

that would be great.

One perennial counterfeit

to saving faith in Jesus

is presumption.

It's just presumption.

Because we want to try to make our way

right with God,

and, you know,

there's Catholic versions of this,

there's Evangelical Protestant versions of this,

there's traditionalist Anglican versions of this,

there's charismatic versions of this,

there's Eastern...

Like, there's a lot...

There's all sorts of different ways

that we can start to add some types of rules

or rituals that you really have to keep

if you want to be a real Christian,

a serious Christian.

And if you don't keep those types of rules,

you're not a real Christian,

you're not a serious Christian.

But what it is,

is we don't actually keep those.

Like, that's what the Bible constantly establishes.

It doesn't...

We don't keep them.

So what happens is that

we just have basic presumption

that there's just something about me

which gives me a pass.

Or maybe, if I'm very generous,

about us,

the chosen,

the elect,

those of us in this congregation,

those who braved the rude wind's wild lament

to come to church today.

That's a quote from a hymn.

And...

But...

That's the constant aspect

of the religious spirit.

You know, we true Christians

who don't sing to guitars.

We true Christians

who do sing to guitars.

There's something that we start to add

to the gospel of grace

that we think is required.

And we might always worship with it,

with guitars, for instance.

Since that's a simple one.

But Paul is making a fundamental...

You know, a far bigger thing

is that once you start adding things to Jesus

and what he's done for us on the cross,

you're, in a sense,

taking Jesus out of the equation altogether

because God makes us right with himself

by faith alone,

by grace alone.

In other words,

it's all because of God's grace

because we can't keep the rules.

And how do we receive that grace?

We put our faith

and only our faith

in Jesus

and only in Jesus.

And only in Jesus

means Jesus

with nothing added to it whatsoever.

But some of you might say,

George, I'm a little bit...

You say that,

but George,

doesn't Paul...

Doesn't the Bible contradict

what you just said?

Doesn't it say

that you can fall away from grace?

Well, look again at what it says.

Look at verse 3.

I testify again

to every man

who accepts circumcision.

And by the way,

what circumcision meant...

I meant...

I said I was going to explain it.

Paul is going to,

in a moment,

tell us that

it doesn't really matter

whether we're circumcised.

He's using circumcision

sort of as a word

to capture

those who feel

that they have to keep

the Old Testament law.

They need Jesus

plus Moses

to be made right with God.

They need Jesus

plus religious rules

to be made right with God.

And he's using circumcision

as sort of a way

to talk about all of that.

Just as if we want to talk

about big business,

I've used this example before,

we don't necessarily talk about,

you know,

post-industrial

democratic capitalism

and its different mechanisms

in terms of unions

and monetary policy

and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

What we just say

is we talk about Wall Street

or big business

or Bloor Street, right?

And so that's what Paul's using here

with this word circumcision.

He's using it as

not as the act itself

but as sort of a way

of encapturing the desire

to make ourselves right with God

by following rules.

And in this case in particular,

the different rules

revealed in Leviticus, etc.

in the Old Testament

that God had revealed,

Paul establishes earlier,

to sell us the problem,

to bring us to the point

of saying one moment,

if I want to go down this route

of trying to make myself

right with God,

I've got to keep 100%

of the rules,

I've got to keep them

100% of the time

and I've got to get

a score of 100%.

And once that sort of hits you,

you realize that's impossible.

That's completely

and utterly impossible.

And so the whole purpose

is to get us to call out to God

and say,

Lord, have mercy.

Unless you have mercy

and you do something

I cannot do,

I am doomed.

And God,

I can't believe

that you want,

you will just let me be doomed

because I know

that you are a God

of steadfast love,

that you are a God of mercy.

And in a sense,

it's calling out

for the Old Testament saints

to say,

I don't know how

you're going to do it, God.

I don't know what

you're going to do.

But God,

I need mercy.

I need you to do

what only you can do

to make someone like me

right with you.

And Jesus

and his death upon the cross

and resurrection

is God keeping his promise

for all those Old Testament saints

and everyone afterwards

who comes to realize

that keeping,

if our goal

is to make ourselves

right with God

by our actions,

it'll never work.

It'll never work.

The only reason

we think it will work

is because we have

presumption.

that we get a pass

on all the things,

we get a pass

on enough of the things

and get a good enough mark.

And why is it different for me

than those nasty other people,

those nasty Roman Catholics,

if you're a Protestant

or if you're a Catholic,

those nasty Protestants,

was because it's,

well, there's something about us.

I mean,

why wouldn't God give me a pass?

Look at me.

You know?

Now,

we never consciously say that,

but we can see

that those who embark

upon the path of religion

and therefore

are embarking upon presumption

are always going to be insecure.

In fact,

it's one of the reasons

why

for many people,

when they cast off

all religion,

they find it liberating.

Why?

No more pretending.

I don't have to pretend

I actually like to visit

with some old lady

when what I really want to do

is sit down all afternoon,

watch NFL football,

eat potato chips,

and drink beer.

I don't have to pretend

I like these people.

I can just go to the bar

and if I don't fit in

with the people in this bar,

I just go to another bar.

I just keep going

to different bars

until I'm either,

you know,

sufficiently blitzed

or I find a group of people

who just sort of fit with me,

you know?

But, you know,

in a bar,

they just sort of live

and let live.

And so for many people,

it's why they actually feel

a sense of liberation

when they leave religion.

But the Bible here,

remember,

the Bible says that

the gospel is not good religion.

The Bible,

the gospel is not good advice.

The gospel is not good rules.

The gospel is not good requirements.

The gospel is good news.

And what is that good news?

God has done with power

and accomplished with power

something that we human beings

can never do ourselves.

God has done something

in the person of his son

in his death upon the cross

that we receive purely and utterly

because he is gracious and merciful

and all we do is put our hands out

in faith and trust

and he gives us

what we cannot accomplish

when we put our faith and trust in Jesus.

And why has God done this?

God has done this.

God has done this.

So that you and I can be free.

And so you and I can grow in freedom.

So one of the things that has to die in us

is our presumption.

Like it's very hard

because presumption is very addictive.

presumption is very, very addictive.

But you know, as the gospel grips me,

it's not, I mean, it still can be very, very hard

when maybe one of my kids reminds me

of something that I did to hurt them many years ago.

And that can be very hard

and it can upset my view of myself

and my view of what I was like as a dad.

You know, but at the end of the day,

what do I have to say?

That in light of the cross,

I know that I'm a sinner.

And in light of the cross,

I know that I've not been perfect,

can't be perfect, will never be perfect.

And in light of the cross,

I can think about the fact that

I'm only made right with God

by what Jesus has done

and my sins have been forgiven.

And my identity and my security

do not come from trying to get people

to think I've succeeded 100% of the time

and 100% of the laws with 100% mark.

And so as we are gripped by the gospel,

there's the possibility that our security

and our identity is now

in what God has,

a destiny that God has given me.

And I can say to my kids,

hopefully,

without having to spend 10 years

in therapy and remorse

and beating myself up,

I'm really sorry that I hurt you.

I am really, really sorry that I hurt you.

Or to our friends,

or to our parents,

or to our spouse,

or to our employers.

You see,

presumption,

the more we are dictated

and ruled by presumption,

the harder it will be

to both accept responsibility

and ask for forgiveness.

But the more we are gripped

by the gospel,

then whether we realize it or not,

there is something within us

which is grounding us

and shaping us

and propelling us

and drawing us

to a type of security

and identity

based on God

accomplishing something for us

that begins to free me up

to acknowledge lack

and sin

and ask for forgiveness

as I apologize.

If you could put up

the next point.

Once I am gripped

by God's grace,

he will never let me go.

This text in verse 5

about falling away

from grace,

it's to be sort of understood

in two ways.

The one way

is to understand

that, you know,

what I've just described

by being sort of gripped

by the gospel

and that once we're gripped

by the gospel,

but there is this older

Christian terminology

called backsliding.

It's old-fashioned terminology,

but it's been lost

by the church,

but we should get it.

I mean,

this is what the Bible

teaches us,

that it is possible

for me to slip back

into presumption,

slip back into rules,

slip back into legalism.

That's called backsliding.

You're falling away,

but once God's grace has me,

I can't lose it.

Why?

Because it's God's,

not mine.

That's why.

It's God's grace,

not my presumption.

And the second thing is,

and this is what Paul

is talking about here,

he's writing to a church,

and it's not always clear

in any local congregation

all who are in fact Christ's.

And for those who have yet,

not yet come to Christ

in a saving way

and are feeling

that this new thing

is better because

it's religion,

then Paul is warning them

that if you go down

that route,

you're walking away

from Christ,

you're cutting yourself

away from grace,

and what are you walking to?

Presumption.

And let me tell you,

in a marriage or relationship,

presumption really helps

a marriage.

Not, okay,

I'm saying the opposite.

Presumption ruins relationships

and ruins life.

So, Paul doesn't just sort of

warn them about these counterfeits,

but he also then reminds them

in a very, very powerful,

densely packed text.

He reminds them powerfully

of faith, hope, and love.

And by talking about faith,

hope, and love,

he helps them to understand

if the counterfeit

of Christian faith

is presumption.

What does true faith look like?

Verses 5 and 6

of chapter 5.

For through the Spirit,

that's the Holy Spirit,

by faith,

we ourselves

eagerly wait

for the hope

of righteousness.

For in Christ Jesus,

neither circumcision

nor uncircumcision

counts for anything,

but only faith

working

through

love.

It's a very dense text.

For through

the Holy Spirit,

by faith,

we ourselves

eagerly wait

for the hope

of righteousness.

Now, here,

there's a,

one of the things

that was really powerful

for me this summer

when I spent time

in Angola,

is it,

and some of you

who speak multiple languages,

you already know this,

but it was very powerful

put to me

because I had to speak

and I would be

regularly translated

into Portuguese

and sometimes

into one of other,

the other tribal languages.

And,

and one of the things

that constantly came to me,

especially afterwards,

is that people would debrief,

is how sometimes

even simple words

in English

had no equivalent,

no simple equivalent

in the other language.

And then sometimes,

I would just say,

like my 10 words in a row,

and the other person

would speak

for a couple of minutes

and it was always

very funny

because sometimes

they'd be interrupted

by somebody

in the congregation

and they'd have

a little bit

of a conversation

about how to try

to translate

some simple word.

I gave the example

how in the tribal

language group,

they have,

I can't remember

the exact number,

but it's something

like 27 different words

for spirits,

but they don't have

a generic word for it.

And every spirit

is basically

what we would call

a demon.

So when I just said

something about

the Holy Spirit,

it caused this

long conversation.

So why am I saying this?

Because of the word hope

here in the text.

The word hope

in the text.

If you look again

at verse 5,

it says this,

For through the spirit,

by faith,

we ourselves

eagerly wait

for the hope

of righteousness.

Now,

in Canadian English,

what does hope mean?

Hope means

something weak.

I hope

the senators

win the Stanley Cup

before Matt Duchesne

goes somewhere else.

Now,

what do you folks

think about that?

Do you think

I'd bet

all of my

RRSPs on Matt?

No,

you'd want to have me

going for therapy

or something

if I did something

like that.

You'd say,

George,

that's a foolish thing

because,

I mean,

what are the odds?

You can hope for it

but it's just like a,

just sort of hope.

In the Bible,

hope doesn't mean that.

Hope basically means

assurance.

A type of humble

or blessed

assurance.

difference.

And there's no way

to translate that

even easily

into English

without having

a couple of sentences.

By the way,

it's one of the reasons

why

it's part of God's

original intention

that there be

local churches

because

we're all called

to read the Bible

as individuals

but we can't just

read the Bible

as individuals.

We need people

to help us

read the Bible,

to help us

to understand it

and explain it.

One of the things

that you should pray

for me

is that

when I preach

and teach

that at the end

of it

you are more able

to read the Bible

for yourself

in an accurate way.

So just,

could you put up

the next point?

Here's the first thing.

It's very,

very interesting.

Remember,

the way the world

sees us

is that we're

obsessed with money,

we're obsessed

with sex,

we're obsessed

with power

but here

Paul is saying

the gospel

calls us

to freedom,

the gospel

makes us free

and then it warns us

and what does it warn us?

It warns us first

about religion

and now it's going

to start to try

to explain once again

what the gospel is.

One of the things

it does

is it talks about hope

and the fact

of the matter is

is that

we hunger

for hope,

for true hope.

We warn our friends

that this is a false hope,

that it's a vain hope,

that it's a foolish hope,

that it's a,

you know,

you know,

I don't know,

you know,

my Toronto friends

in Toronto

would say

it's a vain hope

to hope

that the Senators

will ever win

the Stanley Cup,

George,

because the Leafs

are going to win

the Stanley Cup

many times

before Ottawa

ever wins.

So that's,

you know,

that's a joke,

right?

But we warn each other

about false hopes,

vain hopes,

counterfeit hopes,

but we all know

that human beings

need hope,

we crave hope,

we starve,

and when we start

to come to a point

in time

when we feel

that there is no hope,

that all we have

is despair,

and in the middle of it,

if you could put up

the next point,

what Paul says here

is that the Holy Spirit

grows in Christians

a humble assurance

that we are not doomed,

but that in Jesus Christ

crucified,

we will one day

walk in the garden

with God

naked and unashamed.

This is not presumption

because, you see,

the Holy Spirit works.

When it says by faith,

it doesn't just mean,

well, I have faith in this

or faith in that.

No, it means

every time you see

the word faith

here in this context,

it's always for saying

about faith

in Jesus Christ

and Him crucified.

Faith in God's

powerful,

effective grace

that we receive

when we,

by faith,

believe what God,

receive what God

has done for us

in the person of His Son.

And so the Holy Spirit

both draws us

to a saving faith

in Jesus,

but the Holy Spirit

doesn't just draw us

to a faith

in the saving work

of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit,

one of the things

the Holy Spirit

quietly does in our lives

is continually draw us

back to Jesus

and Him crucified.

And part of the work

of the Holy Spirit

in our lives

isn't just to have us

have certain emotions,

you know,

we all want to have

great emotions,

right,

or emotions

that we find pleasant.

But the work

of the Holy Spirit

isn't a work

of emotions primarily,

it's work in this text

to constantly bring us

back to this faith

in Jesus Christ

and Him crucified

and what it is

that God has accomplished

in the person

of His Son.

And what He's accomplished

in us

is that it is now

not my ability

to follow rules

that makes me right

with God,

but Jesus'

perfect obedience,

His perfect rule-keeping,

His death

upon the cross

that deals

with my shame,

that deals

with my failures,

that deals

with my outright evil

and my outright lack,

and that it's

His wholeness

and His completeness

and His perfect sacrifice

made actual

here on earth.

And God,

through this,

does something

which I can never do,

but He does,

and He does it completely

without reservation.

He does it fully,

and that when I put

my hands out

because He said,

George,

if you just put

your hand out,

I will give you

a promise that will

make you mine forever,

and mine forever

means mine forever,

and when I put

my hand out

and He gives me Jesus

and He takes my hand,

He will never

let me go.

And in a sense,

when I put my faith

in Jesus,

the final word

about me

from the only person

who matters,

who is God Himself,

has now been spoken,

and I know it,

that there might be

times I backslide,

there will be times

I backslide.

There are definitely

aspects of sin

within me

that I have to deal with,

but I am not doomed.

In Christ,

my destiny

is that one day

I,

with others

who are Christ's,

will walk in the garden

once again with God

in the cool of the day,

and I will be naked

and unashamed.

That is a blessed assurance.

That is the Christian hope.

And it's the opposite

of presumption,

because it's based,

in a sense,

on giving up any hope

in my own power

and abilities,

and my own specialness.

And saying,

only God,

only you.

And look what else it does.

He also describes

what faith is again

in the very next verse.

So verse 5 again,

for through the Spirit,

the Holy Spirit,

by faith,

we ourselves

eagerly wait.

In other words,

we eagerly have

an assurance

for the hope

of righteousness.

The righteousness here

once again means

being right with God

in a way that's right.

verse 6,

for in Christ Jesus

neither circumcision

or uncircumcision

counts for anything.

It doesn't matter

if you're circumcised

or uncircumcised.

Go ahead.

If you're a guy,

get circumcised.

Circumcise your boys

if you want.

Don't circumcise them.

It doesn't matter.

It's just a personal preference.

But what matters?

Verse 6,

only faith

working

through

love.

Only faith

working

through love.

Now there's a Latin phrase

which I'm not going

to try to say

because I don't know

how to pronounce Latin.

This actually,

one of the things

just recently

we celebrated

or many people

celebrate the 500th

anniversary

of the Reformation

and one of the things

which slipped

into the medieval church,

the medieval church

was in fact

the complete opposite

of what this verse says.

And there's a Roman,

there's a Latin phrase

for it.

But basically

in the medieval church

they began to say

that what works

is that love,

my love

forms faith.

So that love

comes first.

So what does that mean?

Well I have to

love the sacrament.

I have to love

the blessed virgin.

I have to love

the poor.

I have to love

the institution.

I have to do

these types of acts

of love.

And as I do

these types of love,

then faith

in Christ

will be formed

by which I'm saved.

But this text says

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Faith

working

through love.

If you could put up

the next point

that would be great.

Saving faith

in Jesus Christ

crucified

expresses itself

in self-giving love.

See, how is one of the ways

that we understand

that we've come

to a saving faith

in Jesus Christ?

Not that automatically

we become like

a Mother Teresa.

but that as this gospel

of grace grips us

and we put our faith

and trust in him,

that as God's grace,

as Jesus

and his self-giving death

upon the cross,

as that starts to ground us

and shape us

and nudge us

and draw us,

one of the things

that we find

being expressed

in our being gripped

by this gospel truth

is that

we start to express

and do things

that are self-giving love.

We do.

But some of you might say

I have to wrap this up.

Isn't God mean?

Didn't Paul say something

in this text

that John read

just a few minutes ago?

Isn't he very mean?

Doesn't Paul say

that men who want

to go down this route

should castrate themselves,

cut off their male

sexual member?

Well, he does actually.

I don't know

if you caught that.

Look at verses 7 through 12.

You were running well.

Who hindered you

from obeying the truth?

This persuasion

and the word

in the original language

here, persuasion here,

persuasion in English

is a neutral word.

It's a good word.

But in the original language

it has a bit of a sense

of like what the con man

does to persuade you.

There's a sense there

in the original language.

This persuasion

is not from him

who calls you.

A little leaven

leavens the whole lump.

In other words,

once false teaching

comes into your church,

it's going to go

throughout the entire church.

It's going to touch everything.

And then he says,

I have confidence

in the Lord

that you,

that he's a plural,

you,

the congregation

will take no other view

and the one

who is troubling you

will bear the penalty

whoever he is.

In other words,

he's just saying,

listen,

at the end of the day,

God is going to deal with this.

God's going to deal with this.

We have to deal with it

in terms of maybe

excluding them

from teaching,

but God will deal with them.

But if I, brothers,

still preach circumcision,

because maybe

the false teachers

were saying

that Paul used to

be very zealous for it,

which is true.

Maybe he's referring

to the fact

that he had

Timothy circumcised

for ministry

amongst the Gentiles,

but whatever it is,

they're twisting things.

He says,

why am I still

being persecuted?

In that case,

the offense of the cross

has been removed.

I wish those

who unsettle you

would emasculate themselves.

As long as he doesn't

do anything,

it's a very, very,

you know,

if you ever read,

I don't think

this is a spoiler,

but if you ever read

the really excellent novel

World War Z,

don't see the movie,

read the book.

In fact,

the book has virtually

nothing to do

with the movie.

And one of the things

in the book

is that there's

a guy who becomes

very rich

by selling

an antidote.

He says that

if you take this,

it will mean

that you won't

become a zombie

if you're bit

by a zombie.

And it's a lie.

And it's part

of the dynamic

of the book.

And,

I mean,

wouldn't you hate

somebody?

Like,

wouldn't you just

want some

unbelievable punishment

to happen to somebody

who willingly

becomes rich

selling false

confidences

to people?

You see,

part of the reason

that we have trouble

with Paul's language

is that we,

at the end of the day,

we start to slide

into the Canadian belief

that the gospel

and religion

is just like talking

about ice cream flavors.

It doesn't really matter

in terms of our

eternal destiny.

But if we're gripped

with this idea

that there really is

our eternal destiny

hangs on this,

then this is not

extreme language.

But here's the thing.

If you could put up

the next point,

I'm going to have to

run through my points

quickly.

Embrace the offense

of the cross of Christ.

Embrace the gospel.

That's what Paul

is saying here, right?

He's saying

the gospel is an offense.

Why is it an offense?

Because the gospel

tells us

our rules won't work.

The gospel warns us

about presumption.

The gospel warns us

about these things.

It undercuts our pride.

It undercuts our boasting.

It undercuts our thinking

that we're superior

because we're Anglicans

or because we're white

or because we're black

or because we're Canadians

or because we're Africans

or because we're Chinese.

That the gospel

keeps relativizing this

and undercutting this

and offering a completely

and utterly different way

of being made right with God.

It relativizes things

that we want to make

absolutes out of.

It is constantly an offense

and Paul is saying

I've embraced

the offense of the cross.

That's the gospel.

Could you do it too?

Just in closing,

look at verses 13 and 14

because Paul once again

goes back to the theme

of the letter.

For you were called

to freedom,

brothers and sisters.

Only do not use your freedom

as an opportunity

for the flesh,

but through love

serve one another.

for the whole law

is fulfilled in one word.

You shall love your neighbor

as yourself.

But if you bite

and devour one another,

watch out that you are not

consumed by one another.

You see,

if you understand

the whole law

is assumed in one word,

one phrase,

you shall love your neighbor

as yourself,

whoever believes

that they had done that

100% of the time

and gotten 100%.

Who other than someone

with proud presumption?

Just if you could put up

the next point.

So what Paul is saying here

is another perennial counterfeit

to saving faith in Jesus

is self-serving faith.

Why?

Because the self-serving faith

is a religious faith

that means that we can just

serve our appetites.

It's wanting to give ourselves,

hearing about the gospel

and then thinking

that if we just sort of

mentally assent

to a certain thing

or do a few rules,

that it means we can do

whatever we want in our life,

but at the end of the day

we're going to go to heaven.

It's not getting this whole

being cut

and our whole need

for God's mercy

and dependence.

It's not understanding

that giving ourselves

to Christ

and the gospel

means that we will now

have this pressure

that comes from within

for self-denying,

self-effacing love

that is good

for the other person.

And when Paul says

this one whole verse

summarizes the whole law,

if you could put up

the next point,

the law that he's saying

that true love

is a form of goodness

and holiness

which energizes me

to give myself

for the good

and holiness

of the other

to the glory of God.

Why?

Because what does

the law do?

The law talks about

the holiness of God.

It talks about goodness.

It talks about truth.

If you read

the Old Testament

for the first books

of Moses,

it talks about beauty

as well.

And so he's not saying

that love is just

somehow something like

give me, give me, give me

or having a particular feeling

that love

is at one with goodness

and love is at one

with holiness

and love is at one

with goodness

and holiness

and is at one

with desiring

to be with the God

who loves,

who is good

and who is holy.

And it means that

if I'm going to do

true love,

if I'm acting

in a loving way

to another person,

it's not going to be

something that hurts them,

that wounds them,

that leads them

far from God.

That my act

of self-giving love

is going to be

something that is good,

that serves them

in a way

that's good for them

and in a way

that is holy,

that in a sense

fits them for God

or draws them

close to God

and that that

is what happens

when we put our faith

in Christ

is that this energy

comes to move us

in this direction.

And why does the world

need the gospel then

if you could put up

the final point?

We hunger for love.

Every single person

that we will meet

hungers for hope

and hungers for love.

they might not realize it

but they hunger for God

and they might not realize it

but they hunger

for what only God

can do

and has done

in the person of his son.

Please stand.

Father,

your word warns us

about presumption.

Father,

may your Holy Spirit

move and work

in our lives

to help presumption

die in us

and create within us,

Father,

rather than presumption

to be more gripped

by true faith

in the gospel.

And Father,

your word warns us

of the possibility

that our faith

is just a matter

of serving ourselves

and that we can be deceived.

And Father,

we ask that your Holy Spirit

and your word

would work in our lives

to lead us away

from self-deception

and lead us, Father,

towards having a true faith

which expresses itself

in such a love.

And Father,

we do hunger

and we do thirst

ourselves

for love

and for hope.

And we thank you,

Father,

that you both

meet our thirst

in the person

of your son

and that as you

meet our thirst,

you create

an even deeper thirst,

a thirst which is

filled with joy

as you draw us

to yourself.

Father,

may your Holy Spirit

make us disciples

of Jesus

who are gripped

by the gospel,

learning to live

for your glory.

And we ask this

in the name of Jesus.

Amen.